New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-11-03

Than q minnie or two to clear the spar deck the
conflict below was more hot and contested, Out III
less than ten minutes Mr Reca1nr e ws ty Of dhi nr
| her remained to be performed, and the comnus-
tibfes having been passed on board, the dlHerent
nartes charged with ii at once proceeded to Their
ddes;rnated stations. The firing of the ship was
nroiSsneded with as systematically and coelly as
he attack had been rapid and spirited In less than
half al, hour the frigate had been carried and was
in flames. The ship was very dry, and the COM
bustibles had been prepared and applied so jill
diciously that the flames extended themselves with
a celerify which almost endangered Mr.. Morris and
liz PARTY, who fired the lower portions Of the ship
they in fact, were nearly suffocated by the fires
above them, while seeking an escape to the upper
deck.
When this last party gained the deck, most of
their companions were already in the Intrepid,
where they Immediately joined them when the
order was given to cast OF from the frigate. BY
this time the flames began to thrust their forked
tongues through the ports. and the ketch herself
was exposed to most Imminent danger from con-
lagration; her head-fast had been cast off, and she
consequently dropped astern, falling foul OF the
frigate, with her sail Tapping against the quarter
gallery. At this moment the fire burst out OF n
window, and the ammunition, which lay directly
underneath in the ketch, covered with tarpaulin,
was exposed to ignition. The sterl-last, TOO; was
jammed and had to be cut with swords. AT no
moment Of the expedition had the Intrepid been IN
greater danger than that when she lay fastened to
the burning ship, surrounded BY numerous ioes
who might at any moment become assal!ahas' ene
was, however, extricated from her perliols posi-
ton. and swung clear of the frigate, just as the
| flames reached the rigging up which they went
dancing and kissing with mad fury.
The Intrepid once clear, the sweeps were manned
ana the little bark was soon under command. Two
or three vigorous strokes sent her away from the
burning frigate, and the people ceased rowing IL
stnctiyey to give sailorlke, three cheers for the
victory. This animated the Turks to action. Here
tofore they had seemed to have been deprived of
material motion, but the ringing cheers of the tri-
umphant assaiIants acted like an electric spark in
rousing them to sudden activity, for hardly had
their vibration died away upon the air when the
corsairs, the batteries and the galley opened fire
upon the retreating Intrepid, which under the i'm
pulse of sixteen in the hands Of her hardy and
exulting crew, was rapidly making way out of the
haFbor.
As the Intrepid swept from the scene of her bold
and successful exploit, the panorama which open
ed to view was grand and magnificent beyond con-
ception. The harbor, battery, vessels and town
were lighted up with respondent brilliancy; the
booming guns of the distracted Turks sent their
shot from castle and corsairs in hot and fruitless
haste after the fugitive keteh, while the frigate
herself, mass of fire below, sent fiery lines up
the rigging and masts, crcling the tops with their
luminous brightness. Soon, too, the heated guns
of the frigate began to discharge themselves,
throwing their shot in the direction of the town, as
if in triumph that the nidel had not been permit.
ted to lord it on ner deckthat the sons of her own
flag had rescued her from the humiliating crescent
4 Of the Mahomedan Turk
The Intrepid was soon clear of the harbor, and
having Joined the Siren, which had been standing
Of and on to cover her retreat, both vessels sailed
for Syracuse where they arrived on the 18th, alter
/ an absence of sixteen days.