The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1814-07-16


= \. o4aee his attack, the Phoebe placing
herceli under my stern, and the Cherub on my
stateo2Td low but the Cherub soon finding
rel s',iaGon not one, bore up and ran ,is-
Ter iny s,er1l also, where both Ships kept up
-ho; i'lk Y IRE. j had got three long L.
pcunde'S on, 4 the stern ports, which were
TorNed with 50 much bravery ;,,,l Ill, that
~ hai an hour We So disabled both as 10 COM
PEI them to hanl off TO repair damages. In
ne course of this firing, had by the great
cHcruons It Mr.. Edward Barncw;.l, the Ac-
ting Sailing-Inastcr, assisted by MIR. I.inscctt,
the boatswain. succeeded i'll getting springs
on our cable three different times but the fire
OF the enemy was excessive, that before
we co'Li set our broaGSidc 70 bear, they were
shot a~ay, and thus rendered useless to us
My sh'F had received many injuries, and Sc
rcral had been killed and wounded but
my brave otGcerS and men, Notwithstanding
the untarorab.e circumstances under which
we were brought to acton, and the powerful.
force opposed to Us, were no WAYS diSCour-
aSed-aI appeared determined to defeId
their ship to the last extremity, and to die in
preference to i shameful surrender. Our gaff,
with the ensign and the motto h,g 1T the mi
zen, had been Shot away, ut FREE TRADE
AND SAILORS RIGHTS continued to fly at the
fore. Our ensign was replaced by another :;
and to guard against similar cveEt, an ensign
was made fast III the mizen rigging, and Sc
veal Jacks wee hoisted III different parts
OF the ship. The enemy soon repaired his da-
images for q fresh attack he now placed
himself, with both his ships. on my stsTboarG
quarter, out of the reach # my carronaGcs,
and where my stern guns could not be oro't
to bear he there &eptup most CALLING FIRE,
which It was out OF my power TO return, when
saw no prospect OF i.ju.'ing him without get
ting under way and becoming the assaiiant. Ny
top-sah sheetsS1 haliards were all shot away, as
well Is the jb & fore-top-mast-st, rsail-hali-
ards. L he only rope not cut was the bying-
jb-haliards; and that being the only sail I
could set, caused IL tc be hoiSted, ny cable
to be cut, and ran down on both ships, with
an intention OF laying the Phoebe on board
The firing on both sides was now tremendous
had let fall my fore-top-sah & fore-sail, but
the want OF tackS and sheets rcn cred them
almost useless to uS--yct we were enabled,
tor short time, 20 close with the enemy &
although our decks were now strewed with
dead, and our cockpit filed with wounded
although our ship had been several times on
hre, and was rendered perfect wreck, we
were still encouraged to hope to save her,
from the circumstance of the Cherub, from
her crippled state, being compelled to haul off
She did not return to close action again, al
though Sc apparently had it in her power to
do SO, but kept up distant firing with her
long guns The Phoebe, from our disabled
state, was enabled however, by cdging off, to
choose the distance which best suited her
long guns, and kept upa tremendous fire on
us. which moved down my brave companions
by the dozen. Many ofmy guns had been rem
dered useless by the enemy's shot, and many
of them had had their whole crews destroyed
We manned them again from those which
were disabled, and one gun in particular was
three times manned-hfteen men were slain
at itin the course of the action but, strange
as 1t may appear, the captain Of it escaped
with only slight wound.
Finding that the enemy had it in his power
to choose his distance, now gave up all
hopes of closing with him, and as the wind,
for the moment seemed to favor the design, l
determined to endeavour to run her on shore,
land my men and destroy her. Every thing
seemed to favor my wishes. We had APP
preached the shore within musket shot, and
had no doubt OF succeeding, when, in an in
slant, the wind shifted from the land (as is
very common in this port iii the latter part of
the day. and payed our head down on the
Phoebe where we were again exposed to
dreadful raking fire. My ship was totally
unnlanageable yet, as her head was toward
the enemy, and he to- lecward of me, still
hoped to be able to board him. At tits mo-
ment Lieut.. commandant Downes came on
UodTu 10 TCCclNe my OTucrS, uNCtr the I'M
preston that should soon be prisoner
lie could be Of no use 10 Ne in the then
wretChed state ofthe Essex and finding (from
the enemy's putting his helm up) that my
last attempt at boarding would not succeed, /
directed him after he had been about IOmin-
utes on board, to return to his own ship, to be
prepared for defending and DESTROYING her in
case of attack. He took with him several of
my wounded, leaving three of his boats crew
on board to make room for them. The Che
rub now had an opportunity of distinguishing
himself, by keeping up hot fire on him du-
ring his return. The slaughter on board my
ship had now become horrible, the enemy
continuing to rake us, and we unable 70 bring
gun to bear. / therefore directed a hawser
to be bent to the sheet anchor, and the an
Choir TO be cut from the bows to bring her
head round this succeeded. We again got
our broadsde TO bear, and as the enemy was
much crippled and unable TO hold his own.
have no doubt he would soon have drifted
ont Of gun SHOT before he discovered we had
anchored, had not the hawser unfortunately
parted. My ship had taken FIRE several times
during the action, but alarminfly so forward
and aft at this moment, the flames were burs-
ting up each hatchway, and no hopes were
entertained of saving her (; our distance from
the shore did not exceed three quarters of a
mile, and hoped -inany of my brave crew
would be able to save themselves should the
ship blow mp, 40 l was informed the fire was
near the magazine, and the explosion Of
large quantity of powder below served to in