The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-17 00:00:00

The Shannon and the Chesapeake,

(From Yonge's History of the British Navy.)
No ships more nearly equal to one another could
have been found in the navies of the two countries.
What advantage existed on either side was in favour
of the Chesapeake. Her broadside weighed fifty-
two pounds more than the English ship ; her ton-
nage exceeded that of her antagonist by nearly
seventy tons ; her crew was the more numerous by
a hundred and ten men ; a superiority of no small
importance is a conflict eventually decided by
boarding. Capt. Lawrence did not decline the
challenge. In the afternoon of the Ist o' Jane the
Chesapeake was seen coming out of the harbour
and the whole populace of Boston had assembled on
the pier to witnees the combat, and to greet their
countryman on his triumphant return. Capt. Broke
at once brought his ship into a favourable position,
and then hove to to receive his assailant. At half-
past five the Chesapeake reached him. Neither ship
had fired a gun till she came within hail; but then,
as she hauled up on the starboard side of the British
frigate, both ships, steering full under their top•
sails, at the same moment opened their fire. Not
more than two or three broadsides had been ex-
changed, when the superior training of the British
gunners began to show itself. The damage they
had inflicted on the Chesapeake was already seen in
its results. She was no longer steered with the
necessary accuracy, but fell on board the Shannon,
her wizen-channels locking in with the main rigging
of our ship. Capt. Broke went forward to ascertain
her position and condition, and observing that many
of her crew were deserting their guns, gave the word
to prepare to beard. It was eagerly received. As
the boarders swarmed up, the Shannon's boatswain,
Mr. Stevens, a veteran who had fought in Rodney's
great victory at Port Royal, lashed the two chips
together, disregarding the sword-cuts which the
Americans showered upon him while thus engaged,
and which cost him an. arm ; and, in a moment,
Capt. Broke himself led his men on to the enemy's
deck. The ammunition of the Chesapeake, like
that of all the other American frigates, had been
curiously made up of novel missiles, such as long
bars linked together to cat the shrouds of any
antagonist ; and with a view to this particular con-
flict, in which they expected the British Bailors to
board them, they had had recourse to a contrivance
which we ourselves had practised, though in a
somewhat different manner, in the time of Henry
the Third, but which „bid probably never since
been used on board a ship. They had prepared
fa
quantity of unslaked lime to cast in the eyes o
their assailants; but they had worse luck with. this
device than we had had on the former oceasemanek;
for a shot from the Shannon had struck. the
which contained it, and had scattered its
Shannon's
ovens owners. So that, when the" contents
boarders reached their deck, the A
themselves deprived of one resourtcoeni:lve found
nlywricans
huipcohnthbeit
had reckoned, and had nothing
A brief but ter-
their own strength and coura
hime ns e
tl
hf e w
ha
es a
dd
ap
ne
rately wounded by a awn
rible struggle ensued. Btrdtgeeut.
dewbyfrhoismeidthee; shtioscpkurosfera,
d
debal
a stillusk e t.m onreisdcalnegrkerfoeulls
shipmates, had volunteered to take
m clergy
the same Enthusiasm that I
too, who, fired w
party, was slain by a rausket-
tahneimcaotmedmat
ofa
of our men
shot. In less than five minutes fifty
fell; but the loss of the Americans was ~ f
ar greater.
The Chesapeake's maintop was filled With riflemen,
but a gallant young midshipman of the name
of
W. smith, with a small party, stormed their post
and drove them down ; and then the Shannon's
first lieutenant, Mr. Watt, hauled down the Stars
and Stripes, and hoisted the British Union Jack io
its was the last act of the gallant officer;
he
been severely wounded, and now'
had place.
already It.
while thus engaged, he fell shot through the head,
it is believed by a gun from his own ship,
where
the men who had been left behind were not aware
that the conflict was over. Indeed, some of the
American crew, who hid fled down the hold, still
kept up a
- fire up the hatchways,
ed on deck
who, in spite of his wounds, still remain
of his men
till Captain Broke,
directing the operations, ordered
to fire down below, theyymbilinutes from the
I the Chesapealze was ours in
tl souirreendered, and
commencement of the conatteesd
the
gallantry of the
very heavy, and folly.
on
which
thseller loss had been
atetnet skill of Captain Broke's
crew, and the pre -
were killed, her captain, her
uring and before the action.
arrangement:, botheamd
Smeaysetnerty, ,oofdtite;nalleientenants being included in the
damaged ; the Ci.e •
a hundred were wounded. The hulls of
severely eesapee.ee,
thickness or e- timber,
spitein of the superior
:this respect also the greater sufferer ; but
nboutmhbsebri;ps were
being in
80 entirely had both crews agreed in keeping their
fire low, that the rigging was almost untouched,
and, accoraiog to Coptida B;oke's report,both

two neighbours seem to have availed themselves of
every opportunity to annoy end exasperate each
other. At length, on the 20th oflast July, Franeke, it
seems, irritated at the abuse Hornidge had lavished
upon him a short time before, disturbed his neigh-
bour. in such a way as made his blood boil with
Arming himself with deadly weapons, he
wentur y .
of
.8 into his garden, and, forcing his way into that
upon
after
causedhimneighbour,inflicted
suchh
s sdesvaetrhe. wounds The as in
a shorttime prisoner
pleaded in extenuation
h. of his crime that his passion
had overpowered —that he had been so exas-
perated by the petty,
annoyances inflicted on him,
more especially by
that he had lost all co the wife of the murdered man,
two witnesses were heardntrol over himself. Twenty-
three for the defence. Ia for the prosecution, and
speech of three hours
the Advocate-General detaai'
the accused, and worked up 474 the past history of
resting narrative the circumstances a painfully inte-
resting
murder. At the conclusion :ha.
which preceded
is said to have been one of the
mostis speech, which
efforts of forensic eloquence ever heard magnificent
ina Dutch
court of justice, he demanded that the court should
pass upon the prisoner sentence of death, and
h
inflict on him the—of course formal—fine father
er
6(:)
guilders. The counsel for the defence pleaded in
mitigation of the charge that the crime had been
committed in a fit of exasperation, and that jus-
tice would he satisfied by a verdict of manslaughter.
The court has deferred sentence till 18th December.
Throughout the trial the court was crowded ;
while the aged prisoner seemed bowed down with a,
grief which won for him the commiseration even
of those who felt most strongly the condemnatory
character of the evidence elicited by the prosecu-
tion. The opinion generally entertained is that the
evidence is not of a character that will permit the

court to be influenced by the counsel for the defence,
and that sentence of death will accordingly be re-
corded. The King, however, almost invariably
remits the extreme sentence into imprisonment for
life. A few years ago, too, an aged Dutch officer
was convicted of poisoning his mistress, but his
sentence was remitted into a life-long imprisonment,
and therefore it is not probable that a petition to
his Majesty in this case will be made in vain.