Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1820-07-18

1 IN "a
being determined TO hoard the Helen, va
,iety OF measures were adopie d to disguise
the William, and give her the appearance
Of an armed vessel. The end Of a spar was
manufactured into quaker. At about 8,
on the evening Of the second. arlde was fired
At the Helen, and the master was ordered to
come on board with her papers. Captain
Cornish making some objections. the qua
ker was shown. With anthorn and candle
lighted, and Delano Threatened to fire into
the brig. The boat Of the Helen was final
" lowered, and the greater part Of the crew
in j, proceeded towards the pirate. The
principal part Of the Williams crew in the
mean time had been placed armed in the
boat, and as Captain Cornish approached
the William, rowed rapidly towards the he
len, and boarded her. As Captain Cornish
came nearsfhe William, he was ordered to
rest on his oars, and as soon as the pirates
had taken possession Of the Helen to return
to hi. own ship. On returning on board, he
and his boats crew were seized. one by one,
| forced into the forcecastle, and there con.
| fined by mailing the matches over them
They were there confined through the night
and subsequent day, almost sufocated for
want of air, and guarded by men armed with
| pistols; in the mean time. the :wo vessels
were lashed by the side Of each other, and
the Helen was plundered Of large amount
of valuable goods. Part of the Helen's
GREY once succeeded in forcing the hatch
way, and forced the deck, but they were
forced back, and the matches more strongly
secured over them by strong spikes. The
person who stood sentinel over them, at last
told them that he was going aft--tbreatened
them with instant death il they should pre-
sumo 10 stir--but told them that in an hour S
time, if they remained quiet, they should be
set at liberty. The crew soon found that
,be water wac pouring into the vessel, and
were satisfied their destruction was deter
mined upon. By great exertion they sue.
ceeded in bursting open the hatch. and eau
tiously proceeded upon deck, which they
found deserted. They saw the pirate YES
sci league distant, and their own a COM
plete wreck--slx feet water in the hold, and
rapidly increasing through holes bore d in the
hold and cabin-the ropes cut-most Of the
cargo plundered-the long boat stove and
jolly boat stolen-the pump gear destroyed
the ships papers, charts, compass, clothing
and provisions taken away-and the name
painted upon her stern and long boat erased.
They endeavored to re6t the pump, but
found it impossible. They hastily repaired
the long boat by tarpauiins. and succeeded
in getting her in condition, with constant
baiIing, TO keep aaoat. 1t was now near
sunset, and they sought, q doubtful safety in
the long boat, taking care to row in such
direction as TO keep the wreck between
them and the pirate until dark, after which
they stood directly tor the Spanish shore -
At a O'Clock on the following morning they
fell in with Greek brig, which carried then
in towards Alicant. The crew were there
scattered. and two were carried in the 60
vernment ship Spey, to Malta, where they
arrived in September.
The pirates transferred to the William a
bout so bales of goods, besides many arti-
cles which the crew appropriated to their
own use. They applied themselves imme-
diately TO altering the marks of the bales.
Not the least doubt was entertained by any
OF them that the Helen had sunk, and that
her crew had met the dreadful fate design
ed for them Captain Delano altered his
course, and instructed the mate TO prepare
false log book, that would place the vii
liam on the day Of the piracy in the bay Of
Gibraltar. He attempted to enter some
port on the Barbary coast /; but not sue
ceeding, stood norhward and eastward, and
entered the port of Palma, in the island of
Sardinia. Here and at St. Peters, he sold a
part OF his piunder. and afterwards divided
part Of the proceeds among the crew. The
crew were not satisfied with the distribution
He afterwards proceeded to the island Of
Malta. and entered the port of La Valletta.
He then made some large sales of the plum
lered goods, representing that they did not
form part Of the cargo shipped by his
owners, but that they had been put on board
bis vessel on the night of his leaving Liver
pool, by friend who was on the eve of