Famous Privateersmen And Adventurers Of The Sea - free ebook by Charles H. L. (Charles Haven Ladd) Johnston

Famous Privateersmen AND ADVENTURERS OF THE SEA

Their rovings, cruises, escapades, and fierce battling upon the ocean for patriotism and for treasure By...

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CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON

Author of “Famous Cavalry Leaders,” “Famous Indian Chiefs,” “Famous Scouts,” etc. Illustrated Decorative crest BOSTON Decoration THE PAGE COMPANY Decoration PUBLISHERS FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES BY CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON Each one volume, large 12mo, illustrated, $1.50 THE PAGE COMPANY 53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. From “The Army and Navy of the United States.” “AGAIN THE CANNON MADE THE SPLINTERS FLY.” ( See page 273 . ) Copyright, 1911, By L. C. Page &amp; Company (INCORPORATED) All ri

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PREFACE

My dear Boys :—The sea stretches away from the land,—a vast sheet of unknown possibilities. Now gray, now blue, now slate colored, whipped into a thousand windrows by the storm, churned into a seething mass of frothing spume and careening bubbles, it pleases, lulls, then terrorizes and dismays. Perpetually intervening as a barrier between peoples and their countries, the wild, sobbing ocean rises, falls and roars in agony. It is a stoppage to progress and contact between races of men and warring

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CARLO ZENO HERO OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC (1344-1418)

“Paradise is under the shadow of swords.”— Mahomet. CARLO ZENO HERO OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC (1344-1418) T HE torches fluttered from the walls of a burial vault in ancient Venice. Two shrouded figures leaned over the body of a dead warrior, and, as they gazed upon the wax-like features, their eyes were filled with tears. “See,” said the taller fellow. “He has indeed led the stalwart life. Here are five and thirty wounds upon the body of our most renowned compatriot. He was a true hero.” “You spe

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SIR FRANCIS DRAKE ROVER AND SEA RANGER (1540-1596)

— Drake. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE ROVER AND SEA RANGER (1540-1596) T AKE care, boy, you will fall overboard. Take care and do not play with your brother near the edge of our good ship, for the water here is deep, and I know that you can swim but ill.” The man who spoke was a rough, grizzled sea-dog, clad in an old jersey and tarpaulins. He stood upon the deck of an aged, dismantled warship, which—anchored in the shallow water near Chatham, England,—swung to and fro in the eddying currents. Around him,

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SEA IRONY

— Heaton....

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SIR WALTER RALEIGH PERSECUTOR OF THE SPANIARDS (1552-1618)

“All great men have lived by hope.”— James Freeman Clarke. YOUNG RALEIGH AND A COMPANION LISTENING TO TALES OF THE SPANISH MAIN. SIR WALTER RALEIGH PERSECUTOR OF THE SPANIARDS (1552-1618) — Chant of the Plymouth Dock-Hand. B OYS! You have all heard about the Square Deal . Well—Here is the story of a man who didn’t get one. Walter Raleigh was a brave man; he was an able seafarer; his younger manhood was spent in the midst of the most brilliant Royal Court which England has known. He proved his co

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THE VANISHED SAILORS

— Ballads of the Day....

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JEAN BART THE SCOURGE OF THE DUTCH (1650-1702)

As long as selfishness remains a Human Passion,—Warfare will continue. JEAN BART THE SCOURGE OF THE DUTCH (1650-1702) — Rhymes of The Dutch Channel Fleet. —1676. T HE good ship Cochon Gras boiled along off the coast of Normandy under a full spread of canvas, for the breeze was light, and was from the southward. A boy of sixteen stood at the helm. He was well bronzed by exposure to the elements; was sturdy and strong. His dark hair waved luxuriantly about a face in which keenness and shrewdness w

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DU GUAY-TROUIN THE GREAT FRENCH “BLUE” (1673-1736)

“Self trust is the essence of Heroism.”— Plutarch. DU GUAY-TROUIN THE GREAT FRENCH “BLUE” (1673-1736) — Song of the French Royal Marine. —1695. Y OU must be a churchman, Rénee,” said the good Luc Trouin, turning to his little son. “I have always had a great ambition to have a child of mine in the church, and I feel that you are in every way qualified for the position of a prelate.” But little Rénee hung his head. “Look up, boy,” continued the amiable Frenchman. “I know that you are not now pleas

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EDWARD ENGLAND TERROR OF THE SOUTH SEAS (1690?-about 1725)

— Old Ballad. EDWARD ENGLAND TERROR OF THE SOUTH SEAS (1690?- about 1725) — Log of the Royal James. H IT him with a bottle, he deserves it, th’ brute!” The man who spoke was a thick-set sailor of some forty-five summers, with a swarthy skin, a brownish mat of hair, a hard visage, and a cut across one eye. He stood upon the deck of a good-sized brig, which was drowsily lolling along the coast of Africa. “Yes, he treated us like dogs aboard th’ Cuttlefish . Here, give me a shot at ’im.” Thus cried

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WOODES ROGERS THE BRISTOL MARINER (?-1736)

“If you want to win a lass, or a sea fight; don’t cajole. Sail in!”— Old Proverb. WOODES ROGERS THE BRISTOL MARINER (?-1736) Y ES, you can have the Duke and the Duchess . They are both staunch craft and we expect to get a good return for our investment in them.” The fellow who spoke—a stout-bodied Quaker—looked quizzically at a bronzed sea-captain, who, cap in hand, stood before him. By his side were seated a number of merchants, fat, sleek, contented-looking. They were giving instructions to Ca

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FORTUNATUS WRIGHT THE MOST HATED PRIVATEERSMAN OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA (1715-1765)

“It was a high counsel which I once heard given to a young person: ‘Always do what you are afraid to do.’”— Emerson. FORTUNATUS WRIGHT THE MOST HATED PRIVATEERSMAN OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA (1715-1765) — Chants of the Eastern Clipper Ships. —1846. I N the year 1744 war was declared between England and France. French privateers harried the coast of her rival, caught her merchantmen whenever they ventured away from stout men-o’-warsmen, and chased them in the blue, shimmering waters of the Mediterr

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GEORGE WALKER WINNER OF THE GAMEST SEA FIGHT OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL (1727-1777)

“‘War is Hell,’ said General William T. Sherman. But,—better have war than bow to an inferior nation.”— Doctrines of the Strenuous Life. GEORGE WALKER WINNER OF THE GAMEST SEA FIGHT OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL (1727-1777) — Chants from The Channel. —1769. I T was the year 1739, and the good people of Charleston, South Carolina, were in a great state of agitation. Little knots of merchants, sailors, clerks, and dock-hands clustered about each other in the narrow streets. And, above the hub-bub of many

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BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD

From “The Army and Navy of the United States.” AMERICAN PRIVATEER TAKING POSSESSION OF A PRIZE....

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JOHN PAUL JONES THE FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NAVY (1747-1792)

“Every generation has its own war. To forget the disagreeable is a characteristic of the human mind.”— The Philosopher. JOHN PAUL JONES THE FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NAVY (1747-1792) — Song of the English Privateers. —1794. A FRENCH frigate lay in the silvery water off Norfolk, Virginia, and, as she swung quietly upon her anchor chains, a small sloop came bobbing alongside. A hail arose from her stern, where sat a man of about twenty-eight years; of medium stature, strongly built and swarthy. He w

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THE ESCAPE

— Old Ballad. “If you want ter learn how ter fight, why jest fight.”— Dock-end Philosophy. CAPTAIN SILAS TALBOT STAUNCH PRIVATEERSMAN OF NEW ENGLAND (1751-1813) — Ballads of Rhode Island. —1782. A TRADING vessel, laden with wheat, from Cardigan in Wales, was lying to in the English Channel. Nearby rolled a long-bodied American Privateer, while a boat neared the trader, in the stern of which sat a staunch, weather-beaten officer in a faded pea-jacket. It was the year 1813 and war was on between E

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CAPTAIN “JOSH” BARNEY THE IRREPRESSIBLE YANKEE (1759-1818)

“Never strike your flag until you have to. And if you have to, why let it come down easy-like, with one, last gun,—fer luck.”— Maxims of 1812. CAPTAIN “JOSH” BARNEY THE IRREPRESSIBLE YANKEE (1759-1818) I T was about eight o’clock in the evening. The moon was bright, and as the privateer Pomona swung along in the fresh breeze, her Captain, Isaiah Robinson of New York, laid his hand softly upon the shoulder of his first officer, Joshua Barney, saying, “A ship off the lee-quarter, Barney, she’s an

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ROBERT SURCOUF THE “SEA HOUND” FROM ST. MALO (1773-1827)

“If you would be known never to have done anything, never do it.”— Emerson. ROBERT SURCOUF THE “SEA HOUND” FROM ST. MALO (1773-1827) I T was a sweltering, hot day in July and the good ship Aurora swung lazily in the torpid waters of the Indian Ocean. Her decks fairly sizzled in the sun, and her sails flopped like huge planks of wood. She was becalmed on a sheet of molten brass. “I can’t stand this any longer,” said a young fellow with black hair and swarthy skin. “I’m going overboard.” From his

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LAFITTE PRIVATEER, PIRATE, AND TERROR OF THE GULF OF MEXICO (1780-1826)

— Stevenson. LAFITTE PRIVATEER, PIRATE, AND TERROR OF THE GULF OF MEXICO (1780-1826) — Old Ballad. —1810. C APTAIN, we can’t live much longer unless we have food. We’ve got enough to last us for two weeks’ time, and then—if we do not get fresh provisions—we’ll have to eat the sails.” The fellow who spoke was a rough-looking sea-dog, with a yellow face—parched and wrinkled by many years of exposure—a square figure; a red handkerchief tied about his black hair; a sash about his waist in which was

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THE MEN BEHIND THE GUNS

— Rooney ( Adapted )....

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RAPHAEL SEMMES DESPOILER OF AMERICAN COMMERCE (1809-1877)

“Sit apart, write; let them hear or let them forbear; the written word abides, until, slowly and unexpectedly, and in widely sundered places, it has created its own church.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson. RAPHAEL SEMMES DESPOILER OF AMERICAN COMMERCE (1809-1877) — Song of the Chief Mate of the Alabama. —1864. I T was off the east coast of South America. The year was 1864, and a little schooner—the Justina —bobbed along, with the flag of the United States Government flying jauntily from her gaff. Suddenly

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RETROSPECT

Illustrations have been moved slightly where necessary so that they are not in the middle of a paragraph. The frontispiece and advertising matter have been moved to follow the title page....

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