The National Register.
London, England, 1809-10-08 00:00:00

. •
The following instance of persevering bravery has hardly,
if ever, been exceeded by any class of the British Marine :
Extract of a Leiter from Capt. Frazer Smith, Mle of the ship
Neptune, of Oreenock, elated' Lima, April 25, 1809.
" We had a tedious, passage round Cape Horn; shrike ae
American whaler. and gave two broadsides to a Portuguese man
of war,- who we thought waist Frenchman. We put into seve-
ral places alOng the coast df Peru without molestation ; but one
morning, as we lay at anikeiina creek, we saw•
privateer
standing right in uppn as. • •We immediately hove the anchor up
and prepared.for action; and an engagement ensued, that was
kept up with great spirit Air four hours. We were much hurt
in ourails and rigging, hurfinding us too strong for him, he took
advantage of his superior sailing, and left us. We got our da-
mares repaired, and from that time (December last) till the 4th
of February, we remained undisturbed. On that rhy, however,
the said privateer paid us another visit, accompanied by the
Hero. of London, a prize to her. Though these made two to
one against us, i trusted to the strength of my metal, and to the
courage of' my crew; and I am happy to say, that in the result
I was not disappointed. The tiring began when we were within
pistol shot of each other, and was continued with destructive
effect during the whole of the action ; they played upon us with
grape shot from their 24-pounders unmercifully, and would
have swept away many of my brave crew, had they aimed
more at the hull of the vessel; hut their fire was directed
chiefly to our sails and rigging, and I am sorry to say they were
too successful in injuring those materially; indeed, they render..
ed the vessel almost unmanageable. We, however, paid them
back in their own way, and succeeded in bringing down the
privateer's top-masts and yards. They stood out for upwards
of four hours, but finding us too many for them, they put tip
their helms and set off, leaving us the field. though the victory
was dearly bought, the vessel having suffered great ii jury, and
four of my seamen were dangerous) v wounded. Since I came
here I am told the privateer had 18 men killed, besides seve-
ral wounded, which I really believe, as our fire was directed
lower than theirs, and their decks were crowded Vi ith men.—
We got our damages repaired as well as we could, and pur-
sued the of of my voyage, pretty cenfident that we
should meet no further interruption. Iu this, however,
was unhappily mistaken. for on the 20th of the same month
I had a new and more powerful enemy to encounter.
large privateer mounting 22 guns and 170 mess appeared in the
offing under an American flag. We stunt saw he was au enenl
and found his neutral flag was intended to deceive us. We pre-
pared to tight him at the same time we endeavoured to avoid him ;
we perceived that lie sailed well. and whenever I fouad that lie
gained on us, I gave orders to slacken sail, that we might the
sooner bring on an action there was an avoiding. About mid-
night we wer,- nearly alongside of each other, and immediately
exchanged broadsides: the action then went on, supported on
both sides by an :I:esihant aid destructive ire. After fighting
for ne!4rly three hours, neither of us could gain any ascendancy,
a;ld the pause that eese,:d between then and day light was em-
ployed by both in re pairing damages. At day-light, we renewed
the action. :r•c: " ught desperately; still, however, so equally
we seemed Iltitt (cited, that neither could compel the other to yield,
the daring attempts of the one being constantly defeated by the
valour of the other. You will scarcely believe that we actually
maintained this obstinate and lung contest from Monday at mid-
night till Thursday at noon. The pauses that ensued between
our numerous actions were employed by both in constantly pre,
wain., for a renewal of the combat, and no sooner had the one
cleared away his wreck, then he again manosuvred, and again
renewed the work of destruction. At length my anininnitioo
got low, and when we struck there was another shot in the
locker. My crew were warn out by excessive fatigue, for none
of us slept an hour during our extraordinary contest, and we
had little time to spare for food. Besides, the loss of my vessel,
have to lament the fall of Mr. Addison, my Chief Mate, who
was killed on the second day of the action; as well as ibis ex-
cellent young man, my boatswain, carpenter, gunner, and four
valuable seamen were also killed in the course of the action,
and myself and nine of the crew wounded. When the flag that
had day after day, and night after night bidden defiance to the
enemy, was at length struck, the vessel was an entire wreck,
and literally knocked. to pieces; our main-top-mast and twain-
yard shot aw a VI all our sails cut to rags, and not a single shroud
left standing:. The privateer that took me was once the Vulture,
Captain Christie, of London; and though exceeding well arm-
ed and maimed, was given up to a brig of three guns, without
firing a shot; so that to this circumstance I may attribute Al
capture, and all that has fellowed."