Volume I Part 15 (1/2)

There was half a day's work necessary to clear away the wreck, and the steadily advancing lights of the British s.h.i.+p told that not half an hour could be had to prepare for the battle.

There was no hope that resistance could be successful, but the brave hearts of Nicholson and his officers recoiled from the thought of tamely striking the flag without firing a shot. So the drummers were ordered to beat the crew to quarters; and soon, by the light of the battle-lanterns, the captains of the guns were calling over the names of the sailors. The roll-call had proceeded but a short time when it became evident that most of the British renegades were absent from their stations. The officers and marines went below to find them.

While they were absent, others of the renegades, together with about half of the crew whom they had tainted with their mutinous plottings, put out the battle-lanterns, and hid themselves deep in the hold. At this moment the enemy came up, and opened fire.

Determined to make some defence, Nicholson sent the few faithful jackies to the guns, and the officers worked side by side with the sailors. The few guns that were manned were served splendidly, and the unequal contest was maintained for over an hour, when a second British man-of-war came up, and the ”Trumbull” was forced to strike. At no time had more than forty of her people been at the guns. To this fact is due the small loss of life; for, though the s.h.i.+p was terribly cut up, only five of her crew were killed, and eleven wounded.

The frigate that had engaged the ”Trumbull” was the ”Iris,” formerly the ”Hanc.o.c.k” captured from the Americans by the ”Rainbow.” She was one of the largest of the American frigates, while the ”Trumbull” was one of the smallest. The contest, therefore, would have been unequal, even had not so many elements of weakness contributed to the ”Trumbull's” discomfiture.

Taking up again the thread of our narrative of the events of 1780, we find that for three months after the action between the ”Trumbull” and the ”Watt” there were no naval actions of moment. Not until October did a United States vessel again knock the tompions from her guns, and give battle to an enemy. During that month the cruiser ”Saratoga” fell in with a hostile armed s.h.i.+p and two brigs. The action that followed was brief, and the triumph of the Americans complete. One broadside was fired by the ”Saratoga;” then, closing with her foe, she threw fifty men aboard, who drove the enemy below. But the gallant Americans were not destined to profit by the results of their victory; for, as they were making for the Delaware, the British seventy-four ”Intrepid”

intercepted them, and recaptured all the prizes. The ”Saratoga”

escaped capture, only to meet a sadder fate; for, as she never returned to port, it is supposed that she foundered with all on board.

The autumn and winter pa.s.sed without any further exploits on the part of the navy. The number of the regular cruisers had been sadly diminished, and several were kept blockaded in home ports. Along the American coast the British cruisers fairly swarmed; and the only chance for the few Yankee s.h.i.+ps afloat was to keep at sea as much as possible, and try to intercept the enemy's privateers, transports, and merchantmen, on their way across the ocean.

One United States frigate, and that one a favorite s.h.i.+p in the navy, was ordered abroad in February, 1781, and on her voyage did some brave work for her country. This vessel was the ”Alliance,” once under the treacherous command of the eccentric Landais, and since his dismissal commanded by Capt. John Barry, of whose plucky fight in the ”Raleigh” we have already spoken. The ”Alliance” sailed from Boston, carrying an army officer on a mission to France. She made the voyage without sighting an enemy. Having landed her pa.s.senger, she set out from L'Orient, with the ”Lafayette,” forty, in company. The two cruised together for three days, capturing two heavy privateers. They then parted, and the ”Alliance” continued her cruise alone.

On the 28th of May the lookout reported two sail in sight; and soon the strangers altered their course, and bore down directly upon the American frigate. It was late in the afternoon, and darkness set in before the strangers were near enough for their character to be made out. At dawn all eyes on the ”Alliance” scanned the ocean in search of the two vessels, which were then easily seen to be a sloop-of-war and a brig. Over each floated the British colors.

A dead calm rested upon the waters. Canvas was spread on all the s.h.i.+ps, but flapped idly against the yards. Not the slightest motion could be discerned, and none of the s.h.i.+ps had steerage-way. The enemy had evidently determined to fight; for before the sun rose red and glowing from beneath the horizon, sweeps were seen protruding from the sides of the two s.h.i.+ps, and they gradually began to lessen the distance between them and the American frigate. Capt. Barry had no desire to avoid the conflict; though in a calm, the lighter vessels, being manageable with sweeps, had greatly the advantage of the ”Alliance,” which could only lie like a log upon the water. Six hours of weary work with the sweeps pa.s.sed before the enemy came near enough to hail. The usual questions and answers were followed by the roar of the cannon, and the action began. The prospects for the ”Alliance”

were dreary indeed; for the enemy took positions on the quarters of the helpless s.h.i.+p, and were able to pour in broadsides, while she could respond only with a few of her aftermost guns. But, though the case looked hopeless, the Americans fought on, hoping that a wind might spring up, that would give the good s.h.i.+p ”Alliance” at least a fighting chance.

As Barry strode the quarter-deck, watching the progress of the fight, encouraging his men, and looking out anxiously for indications of a wind, a grape-shot struck him in the shoulder, and felled him to the deck. He was on his feet again in an instant; and though weakened by the pain, and the rapid flow of blood from the wound, he remained on deck. At last, however, he became too weak to stand, and was carried below. At this moment a flying shot carried away the American colors; and, as the fire of the ”Alliance” was stopped a moment for the loading of the guns, the enemy thought the victory won, and cheered l.u.s.tily. But their triumph was of short duration; for a new ensign soon took the place of the vanished one, and the fire of the ”Alliance” commenced again.

The ”Alliance” was now getting into sore straits. The fire of the enemy had told heavily upon her, and her fire in return had done but little visible damage. As Capt. Barry lay on his berth, enfeebled by the pain of his wound, and waiting for the surgeon's attention, a lieutenant entered.

”The s.h.i.+p remains unmanageable, sir,” said he. ”The rigging is badly cut up, and there is danger that the fore-topmast may go by the board.

The enemy's fire is telling on the hull, and the carpenter reports two leaks. Eight or ten of the people are killed, and several officers wounded. Have we your consent to striking the colors?”

”No, sir,” roared out Barry, sitting bolt upright. ”And, if this s.h.i.+p can't be fought without me, I will be carried on deck.”

The lieutenant returned with his report; and, when the story became known to the crew, the jackies cheered for their dauntless commander.

”We'll stand by the old man, lads,” said one of the petty officers.

”Ay, ay, that we will! We'll stick to him right manfully,” was the hearty response.

But now affairs began to look more hopeful for the ”Alliance.” Far away a gentle rippling of the water rapidly approaching the s.h.i.+p gave promise of wind. The quick eye of an old boatswain caught sight of it.

”A breeze, a breeze!” he cried; and the jackies took up the shout, and sprang to their stations at the ropes, ready to take advantage of the coming gust. Soon the breeze arrived, the idly flapping sails filled out, the helmsman felt the responsive pressure of the water as he leaned upon the wheel, the gentle ripple of the water alongside gladdened the ears of the blue-jackets, the s.h.i.+p keeled over to leeward, then swung around responsive to her helm, and the first effective broadside went cras.h.i.+ng into the side of the nearest British vessel. After that, the conflict was short. Though the enemy had nearly beaten the ”Alliance” in the calm, they were no match for her when she was able to manoeuvre. Their resistance was plucky; but when Capt. Barry came on deck, with his wound dressed, he was just in time to see the flags of both vessels come fluttering to the deck.

The two prizes proved to be the ”Atlanta” sixteen, and the ”Trepa.s.sy”

fourteen. Both were badly cut up, and together had suffered a loss of forty-one men in killed and wounded. On the ”Alliance” were eleven dead, and twenty-one wounded. As the capture of the two vessels threw about two hundred prisoners into the hands of the Americans, and as the ”Alliance” was already crowded with captives, Capt. Barry made a cartel of the ”Trepa.s.sy,” and sent her into an English port with all the prisoners. The ”Atlanta” he manned with a prize crew, and sent to Boston; but she unluckily fell in with a British cruiser in Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, and was retaken.

Once more before the cessation of hostilities between Great Britain and the United States threw her out of commission, did the ”Alliance”

exchange shots with a hostile man-of-war. It was in 1782, when the n.o.ble frigate was engaged in bringing specie from the West Indies. She had under convoy a vessel loaded with supplies, and the two had hardly left Havana when some of the enemy's s.h.i.+ps caught sight of them, and gave chase. While the chase was in progress, a fifty-gun s.h.i.+p hove in sight, and was soon made out to be a French frigate. Feeling that he had an ally at hand, Barry now wore s.h.i.+p, and attacked the leading vessel, and a spirited action followed, until the enemy, finding himself hard pressed, signalled for his consorts, and Barry, seeing that the French s.h.i.+p made no sign of coming to his aid, drew off.

Irritated by the failure of the French frigate to come to his a.s.sistance, Barry bore down upon her and hailed. The French captain declared that the manoeuvres of the ”Alliance” and her antagonist had made him suspect that the engagement was only a trick to draw him into the power of the British fleet. He had feared that the ”Alliance” had been captured, and was being used as a decoy; but now that the matter was made clear to him, he would join the ”Alliance” in pursuit of the enemy. This he did; but Barry soon found that the fifty was so slow a sailer, that the ”Alliance” might catch up with the British fleet, and be knocked to pieces by their guns, before the Frenchman could get within range. Accordingly he abandoned the chase in disgust, and renewed his homeward course. Some years later, an American gentleman travelling in Europe met the British naval officer who commanded the frigate which Barry had engaged. This officer, then a vice-admiral, declared that he had never before seen a s.h.i.+p so ably fought as was the ”Alliance,” and acknowledged that the presence of his consorts alone saved him a drubbing.

This engagement was the last fought by the ”Alliance” during the Revolution, and with it we practically complete our narrative of the work of the regular navy during that war. One slight disaster to the American cause alone remains to be mentioned. The ”Confederacy,” a thirty-two-gun frigate built in 1778, was captured by the enemy in 1781. She was an unlucky s.h.i.+p, having been totally dismasted on her first cruise, and captured by an overwhelming force on her second.