while the legs and feet were as bare as the hand of dame Nature fashioned them. The officer who boarded us, when we arrived in the bay, was one of the originals of this picture; and he strutted about our deck in his bare feet, a negro holding an umbrella to shade his sooty face, with as much self-complacency, as any full-rigged dandy on the pavé of the city.

There was a battery at the entrance of the bay; its exterior was imposing, and I know nothing of its condition from my own observation, but it was the subject of a good deal of merriment among our crew. One of their galley stories was, that our captain offered to salute the town, provided the salute would be returned; and that the governor declined, because his carriages were so rotten that he was fearful of dismantling his guns; this catastrophe having happened to several, the last time they were discharged. I one day witnessed the parade of the guard; and the sight would have called into use the pencil of Cruikshank, had he witnessed it; for there is no portion of hyperbole in saying, that there was not a single serviceable musket, nor a complete suit of clothing in the whole squad, from commander downward.

In three days we had completed our watering; and on the fourth, we set sail from Porto Praya, with our decks full of pigs and goats, and our taffrail strung with bananas, and each mess reinforced with at least one monkey; and for all these, I believe, not a single dollar in money had been paid; its place being supplied with old clothes and ship's stores. We now headed for the coast of Brazil; and we saw nothing but the wide expanse of sky and ocean, for fifteen days, when we spoke a Portuguese brig from Lisbon, bound to Pernambuco, with a cargo of salt and wine; and the next day we spoke another brig, for the same destination. On the 21st of November, two hours after midnight, we were aroused by the cry of All hands ahoy!' and on gaining the deck, we found that a sail was in sight on our weather-bow, standing to the south and westward. At half past 2, we tacked ship, and got to the windward of her, and gave chase. The stranger soon evinced no very great reluctance to a meeting, for in an hour or two, although we did not gain much

upon her, she hauled up to the wind, and stood for us, having Spanish colors displayed. We perceived that she was a large and warlike looking ship, much superior to us in size, and showing a battery of more than 20 guns; but the general opinion forward of the cabin was, that she was an armed merchantvessel, and that her crew did not correspond with her great size and her superior armament. The sailors and petty officers were ripe for a conflict, anticipating, with much certainty, her speedy capture, and indulging in golden anticipations of a rich prize. At 6 A. M., we were near enough to throw a shot across her, but she did not heed it. We then discharged a gun directly into her, when she hauled down her Spanish flag and run up the English

one.

Our

We then gave her a broadside, which she was not slow in returning, and the conflict went on with rapidity; but our distance was such that not many of her shot came on board of us. guns were sixes ad long aines; hers were evidently of a larger calibre, but being short ones, they did not throw the shot so far as ours. One of her shot struck our mizen-mast, and more than half cut it off; another carried away our spanker-boom, and some of our other spars were wounded, and some of our running and standing rigging shot away; but not a man was hurt.

We could see that our shot was doing execution on the enemy, but to what extent we knew not. Our men were anxious for a closer conflict; but he whose right it was to command, did not order it. So we battered away in this manner for two good hours and a quarter, when the command came to cease firing. When we ceased, the enemy ceased also. Refreshments were now served out to our crew, and the general expectation was, that we should now run down to her, give her a broadside, and board her; and our men were ripe for it.

Here we lay, looking at each other, and doing nothing in the fighting line for nearly an hour, when the enemy made sail to the south, we following the example; and the English vessel occasionally firing a few shots at us. Shortly after we tacked to the northward, and he did the same; but we outsailed him, and his shot did not reach us; and in a little while he wore ship and left us.

In this action, which to us was bloodless, we expended 350 shot, and nearly as many cartridges.

Our captain was a gentleman and a worthy man, and I believe that he was a brave one; but his judgment did not square with the opinion of the crew; they believed we could have taken this ship with ease, by going alongside of her; but he thought that the risk was too great to be attempted. I was, nearly two years after, able to ascertain, that the former opinion was the correct one, as I fell in company with one who was on board of her at the time, and from him learned that she had a crew of only about forty men and boys; and that, at the time we ceased firing, they had deserted their quarters and gone below, and were only prevailed upon to man the guns again by our failing to lay alongside her. She was a valuable ship, belonging to Liverpool, and was bound for one of the Brazilian ports.

This untoward event had a material influence on the remainder of our cruise; it threw a chilling blight over the golden harvest which, up to this time, we had expected to reap. Confidence was gone-exertions were slack

ened, and the end of the cruise was looked to with impatience. Matters were not improved when, three days after, we saw a brig, which those forward of the cabin supposed to be a merchant one, but which those aft pronounced a man-of-war. We ran from her, and out-sailed her. The word was now homeward-and toward home we sailed. We experienced tempestuous weather as we approached the American coast; and we saw several sails on our passage home, but we spoke nothing beside an American ship and a Spanish schooner. On the 7th of January, 1813, we arrived at Portsmouth, in New-Hampshire, and here our captain left us.

While at Portsmouth, we had the misfortune to lose two men by the capsizing of a boat, while attempting to weigh one of our anchors, and our ship drifted ashore, on to a sand beach, on the eastern side of the river. We got her off, however, with but little trouble, and she sustained no material injury. In a few days we left Portsmouth, and proceeded to our own port, and all hands were discharged.

My four months experience in privateering had satisfied me that this vocation did not accord with my inclination, so I staid on shore a few months, seeking some other employment; but none presented itself, and I was obliged, therefore, to look again for a chance in a privateer, as a means of present subsistence. There was a schooner fitting out, the owners of which offered me a berth, and I accepted it. She was an anomaly in naval architecture, being a long, low, narrow, and sharp craft; and her bottom, from stem to stern, being formed on the model of a wedge. Her masts were tall, taunt, and reedy, and had a most roguish rake toward her stern. Her sails, too, corresponded with her masts, and had a wicked and plundering look. The current saying of the time was, that she was built to suit a mainsail which had belonged to

a schooner, called the Growler; and which the owners of our vessel had fitted out about the same time. Be this, however, as it may, and whoever was the erratic genius that conceived the model of our schooner, she was the most comical piece of whimsicality, that the wild fancy of man ever hit upon.

She was first named "The Grumbler," and if she was not herself faithful to her name, she was the cause of a great deal of grumbling in others. The carpenters grumbled at building such a shapeless craft-the sail-maker grumbled at the old mainsail-the owners grumbled about the expense of building her and the officers grumbled, because there could be found but a few men who were reckless enough to risk their lives in her; and the few who, under the influence of strong potations

of whiskey, which was liberally dealt out to all candidates for the honor of sea-martyrdom, made the desperate resolution of seeking it on board of the gallant Grumbler, they, too, grumbled, not so much at the quantity, as at the villainous bad flavor of the whiskey.

The whiskey was not all potent in this case, for men were scarce, and vessels were plenty-so after essaying to get a crew in our own port, we sailed away to Boston, hoping to complete one there. But it would not do, men were shy, and we gathered but a few, and we set out to return to our own port again, and on the way, we got upon a rock. The high tide floated us off again without a hole in our bottom, and with no injury, save a little copper knocked off, and this was soon placed.

re

We now opened a rendezvous again, and at last, by the aid of the whiskey, and the free use of that description of rhetoric which the Irish call blarney, together with a few dollars advance to each, as bounty money, we gathered together about forty men and boys, and set sail on our cruise, on a bright and beautiful summer's day.

Our crew was altogether as whimsical as our schooner. They reminded me in all but numbers, of the description a downeast skipper gave of the crew of his lumber coaster, viz.: “An old man, a little boy, a 'tarnal fool, and a Frenchman." Such a hatless, shoeless, shirtless, graceless, unwashed, but not unwhipped set of ragamuffins, I believe never before indulged the gregariousness of their natures by congregating together. I had heard much of the picked crews of American privateers, and when I stood on the deck of the schooner, and surveyed the motley group around me, I could not but think, that we, too, had a picked crew, and that if the old gentleman, who has the charge of the fires in the nether regions had had the selection, he, too, would have picked just such another.

On board this shapeless vessel, be hold me, a simple and beardless youth, installed as captain's clerk; and because the clerk's duties were likely to be, "like angels' visits, few and far between," I was also purser to this motley crew; and because these two were not of "occupation sufficient," our worthy captain had the goodness to

assign me, in the quarter bill, the post of sergeant of marines.

I have said, that our schooner was at first called the Grumbler, but when our owners went to take out her papers for the cruise, being probably tired of the grumbling that she had occasioned, they registered her as The Frolic."

Our harbor, then, astern, we bounded merrily over the blue waters, skimning like a sea-mew the light curling waves, and wending our way to the eastward toward the British fishing grounds, to fish for a few straggling and quiet merchant vessels, which might chance to be bound on their way to Halifax or Pictou, and which had committed the, to us, unpardonable sin of being manned by an English crew, of sailing under English colors, and of being owned by British subjects.

We were bounding, then, I say, over the calm waters; night had thrown its dusky curtain around us, when we made the right pleasant discovery, which many on shore had predicted while we were fitting out, that our little schooner, however she might dance blithely over a light sea, with light winds, lacked bearings, and had no power to keep up amid harsh waves and howling storms.

We were going before the wind, with no square-sail set, save only our foretopsail, and that reefed, when the wind suddenly shifted a-head, and our poor, non-descript, wedge-like vessel, was settling down fast by the stern. I had retired to my sleeping burk, my senses wrapt in forgetfulness, when I was awakened by a tunrultuous noise on deck. My first thoughts were, that we had got aground; my second was, to spring on my feet; but whatever was the occasion of the racket, instinct prompted me to rush upon deck. I made a rapid transition from our wardroom through the hatchway, in almost a state of primeval nudity, and alighting on the lee-side of the deck, I found myself immersed to my waist in water.

Our crew were all teetotal coldwater men, then, despite the whiskey.

Our deck was in a wild confusionevery thing buoyant was afloat, sailing about in most admired disorder. Officers were shouting; men running hither and thither, some cursing, and others trembling, but each one endeavoring to

do something to avert the catastrophe, we were so eminently threatened with. Notwithstanding my fright, I could not help being amused by the exhibition of the ruling passion, strong in dire extremity, displayed by our surgeon. He had been fiddling, for he was a votary of Orpheus as well as of Esculapius, and had been a dancing-master, and he found his way on deck, fiddle in hand, quicker than he ever cut a pigeon-wing in his life. The fiddle had cut adrift from the doctor, and was congregating with oakum wads, handspikes, boat's oars, “et id genus omne," in the lee scuppers. Put on and batten down the hatches," shouted the excited voice of the captain. "Give me my fiddle," cried the doctor. "Knock out the ports," roared the sailing-master. Save my fiddle," moaned out Mr. Medico. "Look out for the booms," uttered the stentorian voice of the boatswain. "Look out for my fiddle," said the shriller voice of the surgeon. At last, the hatches were secured, the bulwarks knocked away, the booms lashed together, and the fiddle restored to the doctor, with no other injury than its being pretty well water-soaken. The squall, luckily, was of short duration-it was what the sailors called a white one; we made out to get the schooner again before the wind, to dislodge the water from the deck, and to pump it out of the hold, and our submarine voyage was postponed for that time. We kept on our way, sorely against the wishes and opinion of all on board, except the captain; he did not wish to appear craven, and he put on a show of confidence and resolution, which, I believe, his heart belied. No one went below again that night, but all were gathered together in groups about the deck, discussing the folly and temerity of the captain; at last we came to the determination, and went aft in a body, and told him we could proceed no further on the cruise. He caused us all to sign a paper, by which we agreed to pay back to the owners the bounty money we had received; this done, he gave his orders to put about, which were executed with alacrity, and we run the ill-fated schooner into port again the next day, after a hard chase by an English frigate, and cast anchor opposite to the ship-yard, in which she had beer a few weeks before built.

Our fate, in our comical little vessel, having well nigh proved tragical, our owners caused a railway to be constructed, the first ever invented for a like purpose; and had her hauled up again on to the same stocks from which she had been a short time previously launched. Her wedge-like bottom was entirely remodelled, and from her new construction, if she did not so well promise to come up with an enemy, she was far more likely to keep up herself. When she was again launched, a rendezvous was opened for the purpose of shipping a crew, as most of our officers and crew were satisfied with their short cruise, and had scattered again in various directions.

As for myself, my worldly prospects had not improved; my heart was heavy, and my pockets were light: and it mattered but little to me where I went, or how; so with little care, as to the consequences, I enlisted again in the schooner, in my old capacity.

Our new captain was a short, dapper, agile little fellow, smart withal, and capable, a good sailor, brave as a lion, good-natured, generally, and kind and attentive to those under his command.

With this captain, a pretty good set of subordinate officers, and such a crew as we could pick up, numbering, all told, about fifty, we departed from port, and sailed to the eastward, being bound, as before, of the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The first day out of port, we overhauled an American ship bound in, which our captain suspected was sailing under a British licence. He managed the thing very adroitly, passing ourselves off as an English privateer which had made some noise upon the coast; and he deceived the master of the ship, who produced his license. We accordingly put a prize-master on board, and the ship was condemned as our prize by the Admiralty Court. In a few days, being off Halifax, we captured a small schooner belonging to some port in Nova Scotia, and manned her out as a prize; but she was retaken some days after.

She was not, however, of much value. Proceeding eastward, over the Green Bank, or Bank Verd, as it is laid down on the chart, we cruized for some time off the island of St. Peters or Miquelon. This island was inhabited by Frenchmen, who were mostly

fishermen; and, as far as the eye could range on the ocean, might be seen their small vessels employed in fishing. These boats were of an unique appearance, and their sails being tanned to preserve them from the action of the perpetual fog of this coast, added to their singularity. We at first made a great fluttering among these poor fellows, but in the course of a few days, finding that we did not molest them, and that we honestly paid them for all we bought of them, their fear wore off, and they became our very good friends. They appeared to be a simple and unsophisticated race of mortals, but very poor. After cruising about here for some time, without making any captures, we at last fell in with a fleet of vessels, bound from England for Mirimachi and Pictou. They were under a strong convoy; but we dodged about until they became scattered, following them almost out of sight, till their near proximity to the coast had rendered them careless; when we pounced in among them. We sometimes captured two or three a day; but they were not worth manning out, being in ballast, going to obtain cargoes of lumber; so, after taking out their crews, and what articles of value they had, we burned them. In this way, in the course of a few days, we captured and burned some ten or a dozen, I have forgotten exactly how many; and I have lost my journal of this cruise.

We one day ran in between two vessels; the one to the windward was a ship, and that to leeward a brig; we threw a shot at the ship, and she hove to. We were preparing to take possession of her, the boat was alongside, and the prize-master and crew in readiness to go on board. I had but just come up out of the cabin, where I had been writing the instructions to the prizemaster, and was in the act of delivering them to him, when the brig to leeward opened a smart fire upon us. We got in our boat as quickly as possible, and run down to the brig; but she did not like our near approach, and fled. We were near an island, and there was a pretty deep harbor; for which she made. She succeeded in getting in, and they ran her on shore, and the crew deserted her and took to the bushes; the place being uninhabited. There was a bar, over which we did not dare to venture; so our captain

sent in our boat to destroy her. In the hurry of getting the boat in, at the beginning of the chase, she had been injured, so that she leaked badly; but by incessant bailing the crew made out to reach the brig. The crew from the shore kept up an incessant fire of musketry upon our men, but they loaded one of the brig's guns with ball and langrage, and discharged it at them, and were not much annoyed after this. Our men cut a hole in her bottom, and then set fire to her. They had hardly completed this service, when we hastily recalled them, for we saw an armed brig coming round a point of the harbor and we knew that we had got to run for it. We took our men on board, letting the boat shift for itself, and made all sail. It was late in the afternoon, and we were chased all night; but the next morning we had distanced the brig, so that she gave up the chase.

This cruise did not prove profitable in gaining prize-money; but it was a very pleasant one. The weather was, all the time, serene; harmony existed on board, and we were, a great part of the time, either chasing or being chased, so that we were almost continually excited with expectation of gain or fear of capture. At our leisure hours, we were engaged in fishing, and the fish were abundant and of good quality.

We were victualed and provided only for a short cruise, and the time having expired, we put about, and proceeded on our way home, where we arrived without any material incident, and where we found that our trip, for all purposes of profit, might as well have terminated the first day out; as all the prize-money we derived was from the American ship, and she was not of much value.

The season was now too far advanced to try St. Peter's fishing-ground again; and our new destination was to the West Indies. Some of our officers, and many of our crew now left us, and we had to procure new ones. This, with some repairs upon the schooner and taking in stores, detained us in port for several weeks. Not succeeding in getting as many men as we wanted, (for the inducements given to seamen in the United States service were greater than in private armed vessels, and the character of our schooner