Star.
London, England, 1809-11-14 00:00:00

THE JOHN BULL PRIVATEER.

- - -
Extract elf a letter froth Captain JOHN TREGOirETIIs
late Comfilanderof the pri%iate ship of war JOHN BULL,
of Plymouth, to his Owner
" Hce?ital at Dieppe, October IS, 1809.
will inform you that after sailieg frcnin Plymouth
in the cutter under my command, with 36 men, on Sunday the
10th ult. I proceeded off the entrance of Modals River, but by
repeatedly chasing to the N. E. I was on Tutuday following. the
12th, off Portland, on which day I spoke the ship Pomona, from
St. Kitt's to London, laden with sugar, rum, &c. having parted
convoy three weeks before, from the West-India fleet; and I al o
spoke, the afternoon of the same day, a brig from Mogador
bound to London : that night was chiefly calm, and on the fol-
lowing morning, the 13th; at 8 a. m. Dunose bore per compass,
N.N.E. about three leagues, wind westward, ! stood off with the
ship's head to the N. and E. At 11 a. as. saw two tuggers in the
southern quarter, standing to the Northward, under all sail, there
being 'at the same time several sail of Merchantmen passing up
Channel in-shore, two sail of which I believed to be the above-
mentioned vessels I before spoke ; and by the tuggers' manceuvrea
their intention was to eapturt‘the Merchantmen, for they did not
appear desirous of having any thing to do with the John Bull ;
but notwithstanding my being aware of the superiority of their
force, it was impossible for me, as a British Officer, who studied
the honour of my country, to prevent giving the enemy battle, as
none of our. cruizers were to be seen, and night coming on, there
was every probability of their capturing some of the Wrchaet.
men then around us, had I permitted them to proceed unmolested;
the John Bull being to Windward, and ahead of the largest
of the two loggers, the Isle of Wight then bearing per compass
N. W. about nine leagues, I cleared at one P. M. for action, and
bore down (the other lugger immediately tacked and stood to the
southward) at 40 minutes past three P. M. when within a plain
shot, that I hauled my wind and began the ..ctimt; my been f ,r the
first half hour behaved very well, which had they centinued to do,
there was no doubt of taking or sinking the enemy, but owing to
the superior sailing of the lugger, there was no possibility to pre-
vent her closing with us, as I could discern front the number of
men at small arms their intention of boarding us, and had the
whole of my crew behaved themselves as British seamen, we
should undoubtedly have conquered them ; but as their musquetry
galled us rather heavy, It; of my crew cowardly abandoned their
quarters and fled below ; I could not afford time to driie them
tip, and no alternative was left but to fight on to a man. The
enemy then laying alongside, with nearly all his crew at small
arms; he had on board eighty-seven wee, forty of whom, I since
Understand, were stationed with musquetry, forty were appoint-
ed to board, and the remainder worked the vessel. I had then
to defend the John Bull with sixteen men, the remaining four
werq required at the magazine, galley, and helm; those Who had
deserted their quarters at the early part of the action being still
beloW. In this state, I was the first wounded, by a me.quet-shot
thrOugli my left shoulder and again in the back part of my head.
Twelve out of thy sixteen brave fellows fell, before the French-
men boarded us, far they were until then successively repel:L.(l
and driven back to their own ship.

" The British flag was nbt hauled down by any of my crew,
on the contary, some of my wounded got forward and set fire to
the cutter, *hich nearly bad the desired effect, for it ss st; with
difficulty put out by the crew bf the lugger. The 1:c:ion lasted
one hour and £lO minutes; tke enemy succeeded la b larding us
at 5 P. M. and on getting possession I expected they would give
us no quarter, as they stabbed Mr. Charles Wright. my second
officer, in the body, with a poniard, of which wound he died on
the Friday following; they would rot permit my surgeon to
dress any of the wounded; all cif its, therefore, I vault faint with
the loos of blood ; we were plundered of every article we pos-
sessed, but the cowardly wretches who had run from their quar-
ters were treated with kindness by the enemy. All my pspers,
letters of credit, watch, clothes, &c. were taken (rem me—even
the eclat I was wounded in was plundered, and 1 was led to the
hospital with only my trowsers, Mitt, and waistcoat ; the whole
of the wounded were served the same ; my surgeon was wound-
, ed in the face by a ruffian with a pistol, some time atter the action.
—The lugger proved to be the Pr,v6.peur, of Dieppe, under
the command of Capt. Antonio Belidair (a Portuguese), and who
formerly was master of the Ambuscade lugger, when she en-
gaged his Majesty's hired vessel Sandwich, a few months since;
this man was extremely disappointed, by means of the action
with the John Bull, front capturing the ships in sight at the time,
and to which reason I attribute our severe treatment.

" The Prevoyeer mounts 14 guns, four of which are brass 18-
pounders • ; the principal part of her crew appeared to be Eng.
lish ; she lost seven men killed, and eleven wounded, besides suf-
fering in the hull, which is much shattered; she is quite new, on
her first cruize,and sails remarkably fast, all our wounded are in
the hospital with me, and are recovering ve:T fast, except Mr.
Connery, who was dangerously woulid% a hall having passed
through his lungs, and is since dcati.—We expect in about a
month, to be marched in the country as far as Cambray prison.—
I trust that a liberal people will reward ow• A. rvices, and be con-
vinced we did our• duty when opposed to such superior force. I
hope that the usual liberality of the Committee, at Lloyd's, as well
as the directors of the Patriotic Fund, will consider us deserving
thei? protection, for we are convinced that by resisting the pro-
gress of the Prevoyeur, we saved Some of our country's valuable
ships from sharing a similar fate to ourselves.

" I am truly sorry to say, to the disgrace of the name of a Bri.
tish sailor, that 12 of these fellows who deserted their quarters
during the action, entered themselve3, on our arrival at Dieppe,
as seamen on board the Prevoytur. lam in hopes of soon being
released front this state of confinement, in order that I may return
to England to the support of a distreihed wife and young family.
" I am, Sir, your most obedient and faithful servant,
JetiN nicroowxTe."

The following are the names of the men who de-
serted from their quarters, twelve of whom entered
on board the enemy's vessel at the time of capture:
John Brown, John Bynes, John M'Lean, John Lockart, Jo.
seph Day, Thomas Barker, Hugh Devo, Samuel Taylor, John
Steil*, Lewis Joseph, Frahcis Ucrnialder, Joseph Almeda, John
Affance,Thinds Antonio, Joseph Barbosa, Francis Gondola's.
• The John Bull mounted 10 guns only.

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