The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1846-01-24
Vol. 9. No. 81. Whole No. 443.-
"Have you struck;n


A faint "Aye, aye" now came over tho
waters, and boat was at once lowered to
take possession of the prize. As the cutter
touched the wave. the lookout man cried
'Sail o! close aboard"
The smoke having blown away, another
vessel was seen nearing the Wasp. The cut-
ter was run up to the davits, and the crew
sent again to the guns.
The Wasp was soon in readiness to receive
the second antagonist; but two more sail heav-
ing in sight astern, the conquoror was forced
to leave his prize.
The helm of the Wasp was therefore put
up and the ship ran offtree, in order to repair
her rigging and to draw the nearest vessel of
the enemy away from its cOnsorts.
The second stranger continued her chase
of the Wasp until he got quite near, when he
shot across her stern, gave her "A parting broad
side, and beat up towards his cousort, whose
signai-gIns ofdistress now echoed in melan-
choly murmurs along the midnight deep.
The Wasp left her prize in such haste, "a
to be ignorant ofhis name and force. When
the sea gives up its dead, and the crew of tho
Avon aud the little band of Blakely, shall mus
ter together at the final Judgment, then and
then only, shall the conqueror know his van
pushed foe.
The Wasp was soon lost amid the darkness
of the night, while the Costilian, the vessel
his consorts, lowered around the wreck of'ths
prize, and endeavored 10 save the crew.
As the morning watch was called, the Avon
gave sudden roll to leeward, then settling
swiftly by the stern, she sank with gurglinS
sound, while her dead men floatec i'm ghastly
and bloody forms upon the summer sea-
With heavy hearts the English cruisers low
cred their ensigns at half mast, and LETT the o.
+ ccan tomb oftlIeir sister, firing minute guns
III memory Oftheir brave.
Having repaired her damages which were
principally in spars and rigging, tie Wasp
continued her cruise to the westward and on
tic 18th OF September. fell in with and took
the Three Brothers. After scuttling her. she
overhauled and took the brig Bacchus. This
vessel was soon sent to final resting place in
cold water. As she ncared the Western
Islands an armed brig hove in sight. Crowd.
ing on all sail, the gallant Blakely fred SHOT
across her bows, and received her descerdrF
flag as a token Of submission. This vessel
proved TO be the Atallnta, of eight guns ard
nineteen minute men. NTidshpman Daniel
Gaisengcr, now post-captain in the service,
was put on hoard other as prize plaster, end
rs the prize slowly darted from the COnCueror
at the dim hour of evening, the Prize-master
and his crew were the last americans who be.
held the Wasp and her gallant bard. and liy-
ed TO tell the tale.
On the 9th of October following, the Swedish
brig Adonis, from Rio, bound 10 Falmouth,
was boarded by TIE Wasp in latitude Is deg,
35 min. \ orth, longitude so deg. J min. West
and TWO passengers. Lieut. Mcknight, and
masters maie, Lyman, late ofthe gallant Es-
aeN were taken from her. The Swede then
pursued his course, while the American cruis4
er continued TO the Southwark under easy
sail. At 1 P. NJ. her topsails dipped in tho
Southern Ocean: and when the sun set, size
was seen no more.
Ofthe final end of the Wasp, rt,mor has
been busy with her thousand Tongues At
one time she was said to have been lost uCon
the desolate coast Of Africa, while her hardy
seamen hattlcd with the Arabs ofthe desert.
1T another time, she was said TO have heeu
sunk in Il gale off the Spanish shore, after an
action with an English frigate. At one time
she was supposed 10 have been lost in the
wild ocean, alone. At another, blown up by
the accidental ignition her magazines. Hi.
tory being silent upon the subject, the pen Of
Imagination must trace her last moments,
1t was an awful night in the South Atlantic
the waves leapt in mighty masses like spec
tire knights in dusky armor, upon their fire
tipped crests,l like the crimson plumes OF hclra
battalion, played with the clouds and fluttered
in the breeze. Loud rolled the thunder Of
heaven, and around the horizon the lightning.
like tongues ofa thousand adders torked in
air, or wreathed around the magazines of hail,
that reared their pale blue bodies upon the
bosom ofthe storm. The wind swept in ono
unbruken howl, and the din of the dashine
waters completed the dreadful music OF the
elementary war.
The sails of the mariners bark were no
where to he seen. 1t seemed as though man
had left the ocean in its majesty 70 his God,
while the clouds and darkness the whirlwind
and the water spout, the lightning aud deep
mouthed thunder gave terrific evidence oftha
presence ofthe Creator. But, hcrkl A cam
non family echoes! y pale sepulchral lgl,,
family glares upon the deep, And now with
the velocity ola wounded whale, a sloop Of
war with her sails in strips, her spars twisted
splintered and broken, her bulwarl,s partly
carried away, her rudder gone, comes down
before the wind. She falls off from her
course-now she burries her head in foam,
and now her stern seems fast disappearing
in the awful hollow of the deep. Sea after
sea rolls her numbered deck, and the seamen
dashed to her sides seem waiting the hour of
near destruction.
The commander at the wheel with his bra.
zen trumpet, is silent His bright eve flashes
like that of the chained eagle, as he scans the
face ofthe deep. \ few hours more and tho
vessel must founder at sea. Her banner still
floats in ribbons at her peak; n faint LIGHT
CLEANS from her starboard pinnacle and the
signal bell tolls sadly as the vessel is thrown
from broadside to broadside upon the siding
waves.
The storm abates. The fierceness of tho
blast is gone The sea rolls in gentle pillows,
&the heavens shower darkness instead offork
ed fire. A temporary rudder is rigged-n
storm staysail is set-the wreck of spars il
cleared away, and the jibboom are cut adrift
together. The rolling guns are choked with