Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-01-21
From Gleason's Pictorial.
THE ENGLIsHMAN,s EXPLOIT, And
howlmuch he made by IL. -

IY sYLyANus com, N.


A Sen. Sketch. -. ! ~
q by sYLyANus coBD, N. 80
Many years ago, when we were mere
boy, we used to sit upon low Stool al
the feet of Commodore Samuel tucker,
and hear that old veteran relate the incl
dents that had come under his own OBJ
seryation during our last struggle with
Great Britain, Among the thousand and
one stories that we have heard fall from
the lips of that ocean warrior the follow
ing has remained fresh, in our memo
| On the. western shore Of PenobscOt
Bay, between Belfast and Camden, there
was a small club Of fshermen's cots, in
habited by hardy set of men, who had
from infancy been brought up amid the
music of the breaking waves, and who
knew no fear beneath the power OF NOR
tai man. Foremost among these hardy
children of the sea, and occupying the
station of a sort of ruler among them,
was middle aged man, named Enoch
Nightingale, or as he was generally call
ed, Captain Nightingale; and never was
a man better fitted by nature for the post
he held by general consent than he was.
Powerful and athletic in his physical
mould, bold and fearless as the forest, and
frank and generous in his social relations,
he was beloved and respected by all who
knew him. He was Jolly fellow, too,
and often, as his small gray eyes twinkled
in their merry mood, a close observer
might have seen a keen love of practical
Joking lurking in their cleaning depths.
At the time of which we write tho fish
ermen dared not venture far out at sea,
for close blockade was kept up along
the coast, and so they were forced to
forego the advantages of their best fish
ing grounds but new idea had taken
possession of their brains, and they had
thought of fitting out a privateer against
the English. For two weeks had this
matter been talked over, and all the arms
necessary to personal warfare had been
procured, but no vessel suitable for the
enterprise could be obtained, nor could
they raise guns heavy enough for sea use
even had they possessed the vessel. OF
pistols and cutlasses they had enough,
and that was all, unless we add one old
iron six FOUNDER, which served as kind
of signal gun in case of heavy fogs and
stormy nights.
1t was Just nightfall that Obed Night
ingale's shallop (Obed was the old man S
son, came up the bay, and as the young
man came on shore, he reported that there
was an English topsail schooner, clean
clipper-built craft, lying off and on be-
tween Manhegan and the Lodges. She
was heavily armed, and seemed to play
about in the water as though her heels
were made for running.
Now Captain Enoch Nightingale had
said but very little about the various pro-
jects that had been set on foot with re-
gard to tho privateering expedition, but
he had thought great deal, and as soon
as his son communicated the above itelli-
gence, his thoughts came to a focus. A
plan of operation was clearly marked out
in his mind, and he at once set about the
work of putting it into effect. The man
who stood second to Capt. Nightingale,
and who was, in fact, Nightingale's first
mate, was Jabe Haskins, and upon him
the old man first called:
'Jabe,' said the Captain, did you
know there was British clipper just out
side p
Yes
We'll, suppose we go out and take
her.
DO what9'
Take that Englishman.'
'W-h-e-w-n
But I'm in earnest
Jabe looked at Nightingale in utter as
constituent.
L can go out in my little Rhody an
take her before she knows where she is.
Now, will you help me 2
'I'll foller yor, cap'n, eff yeou go T.
thunder, was Jabe's hearty response, as
he saw the old man was in earnest.
Capt. Nightingale took his mate BY the
arm and walked off. The night was dark
but still there was busy scene on board
the schooner Rhody, which was the hea-
West fishing vessel in that place. Torch
es were cleaning to and fro allnight long;
hammers and saws were sending forth
their music, and when the morning dawn
ed the Rhody was ready for sea. The old
iron signal gun had been hoisted on board
and placed upon rude sort of carriage
amid ships, and codline buckets and bait
boxes had been cleared away, and take
her in all, she bore some faint resem-
blance to an embryo pirate or priva-
teer.
She was manned by twelve men, of
whom Jabe Haskins took the command.
The people wondered where Capt. Night
ingale was, but Jabe set their hearts at
rest by telling them that he would get
outside as soon as the schooner did.
In an hour after daylight the Rhody
hove up her anchor and made sail, and in
less than five hours she poked her blunt
nose into the waters of the blue Atlantic.
Shortly after the schooner had passed
White Head Light, the Englishman was
made out about two miles distant to the
south'rd and west'rd, just off the Lodges,
and hauling his sheets fiat aft, Jabe
| hrOunbt biC yassa1 ~ 70 +bo ,,,;,J -.L;.l