Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1813-03-01


fire, general action with round and grape hot
then commenced, the enemy keeping at much
greater distance than wished, but could not
bring him TO closer actor. without exposing
ourselves to several rakcs. Considerable ma.
nOauvres were made by both vessels to rake
and avoid bcing raked. The following M.
nutes were taken during the actor
ht2 10 P. N. Commenced The action within
good grape and canns'er distance,
the enemy To wndward (but much
further than wisncd.)
At 2 50 Oar |1Iesl VS. shot en;ire'y awav.
30 Determined to close win the enemy,
notwithstanding his rakny; set the
fore and niaiusail and lufi u up close
to him.
50 The enemy jib boom got foul ofour
mizen rigging.
90 The head al the cnemy's bowsprit and
Jib boom shot away By us.
Sc shot away the eneiny's toremast by
tie board
9 Is Siio. away his main top-mast above the
Cap.
S 40 Shot away gaff ard SPEAKER boom
IS Shot away his mizcn mast nearly by
the board.
405 Having slsnced the fire ofths enemy
completely, and his colors in iaain
rigging being down, suppa ed he had
s;rG"k, then hauled aboard tae cours-
tS 10 ShDJt auS1u 10 repair our rig
Ein5 which was extremely cut, leaving
the enemy complete wreck soon
after discovered the enemy's tag was
still fying--IIove too to repair some
at our damage.
4 90 The enemy's main mast wont nearly
by Tire board.
IS Got very close to the enemy in very
eI'cctua! rIkiaS Position, athwart his bows, and
was at the very instant of raking Inn, when he
pr,,Ientiy eli L. g.. 4
feed the brcadside to have raked him, his
additional loss must have been extremely great ,
as he laid IAN unmanageabie wreck upon the
water. After Tie enemy had struck, wore ship
and recied the ;7psails, then hoistcd out one OF
the only two remaining boats we had lief, out
OF eight, and sent Lieut.. Parker, lst ofthe Con-
stitution, totake possession ofthe enemy, which
proved 10 be his Britannia Majesty's frgate
Java, rated SO but carried 40 guns, and man
ned with upwai DIS of 400 men, commanded by
captain Lambert, u very distinguished officer,
who was MORALLY wo4Aded. The action con.
tlnued iro;h tic commencement to the end of
the fire one hour and Five minutes. The
Constitution had 9f<ili&d bud IS wounded The
enemy had 60 kilfeI, Ill certainly woun,, ed,
Int by - letter written on board the Conslitu.
ton nv one OF the officers Of the Java, and &C
cidcntly found, it is evident the cncmy's wound
ed must have been considerably greater than
above stated, and who must have died OF
lheir wounds previously to their being remov-
cd. The LITTER states 60kIled and ~ wound
&C. The Jav;. lad her own complement o men
complete, and upa ards Of 1uO supernuniera
ries, going TO JON the British ships OF war III
the East Indies, also several officers, passen
gers, going cut on promotion. The force o,
the enemy M number oi ni,,n AT the commence
ment o! the action WAS no doubt considerAbl
greater than VIC lave bt en- able 10 ascertain,
which is upwards of 400 men. Tic officers
were extremely cautious III discovering the
number. BY her quarter bill, She had one nan
more stationed to each gun than we had.
The Constitution was very much cut in her
sails and rigging and many of her spars injur-
ed. ~ +. Nj. the boat returned with Lieut.
Chadj, the first Lieutenant of the enemy's fri.
gate, and Lieutenant General Ils.op (appoint
ed Governor of Bombay,) Major Wa ker and
Captain Wood belonging TO his staff.
Captain Lambert ofthe Java was TOO danger
ously wounded TO be removed immediately
The cutter returned on board the prize for the
prisoners, and brought captain Marshall, mas
ter and commander of the British navy, who
was passenger on board, Us also several other
naval officers, destined for ships in the East In.
dies.
The Java was an important ship fitted out in
the completcst manner, to carry Lieut.. Gen
Ilislop and staff to Bombay, and several naval
officers tor different ships in the r. Indies and
had dispatches for st. Helena G.. of Good Hope
and every British establishment in the India
and China seas. She had on board copper foi
"a and two briggs building at Bombay, and
expect a great many ether valuables but ever,
thing was blown up in her, except the officer'i
baggage, when we set her on fire at p Nj
OH the first ofJanuary, 1913, (nautcal time,),
Prisoner board the american Gipate Con
sti'ution, ST. SaiVadOre, Jan. l, 1918, Brasiks
My Dear SRI sorry TO inform you o
the unpleasant news OF Mr.. c.. coi2ne's death
blr. Gascognc and myself were shipnates il
the Marlboro, and first came to sea together
He was shot in the early part of the action b,
round shot in bis right thigh and died few
minutes after; other of his mess mates farce
the same fate, together with so men killed an,
10 wounded. The official account Won n,
doubt heard Of before this reaches YOU. be,
you viii let all his friends and relations hear O
his untimely fate. We were on board the ia
va frigate for passage to Iulia, when we fel
in with this frigste. Two parcels have sen
you under good care-hope this will reach yo
safe. Yours' fully
(SignedD II. ID. C0RNECK.
1t. Peter V. Wood, ed regt OF Foot,
Isle OF France, or Bourbon, East Indies"
a true copy,
WI. BAINBRIDCE.
HoTE-Mr. Cloete, bNyslibm this letter wa
MT leIt 90, nx.