Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-07-04
An Incident of the War Of 1912.

of the day, was related to me bya Mr.. Wood
bury, who Was one at the actors ON the occa
sion. He farther told me he WAS with Capt.
Almeda III most of his daring ana perious
adventures Of that eventful period. Wood
bury did not certainly know where Almeda
originates but thought him a native of the
State of Delaware.
Whether AlmeIa was Captain Of the same
Pryutcer in all his cruises | know n"t-
but he rendered himself and Privateer very
Conspicuous, when in command ot "Ihe
Prince of Neutrhutel" This vessel never
WAS taken though often pursued, and solne,
times III desperate circumstances. 10y British
naval ships ot vastly superior force. Capt.
Ameda would contrive some way to elude
their grasp, and forthwith take vengeance Oh
such rs he could handle.
The Prince of Neuichatel had been away
up our northeastern coast-in the neiGhhur-
hood ut Halifax, Nova Scutia--had made
several prizes and brought them into the
ports of New England, when the British
made grand rally upon Us, and hluckaIrd
nearly our whole coast. About this time AL
media Thought To take more southern cruise
towards the West Indies. aud putting in ut
b lIlNcC III ottlt III .lalllt, upk Is
number Of grindstones. for which Lubec is
iamous) to carry To New York, where he was
going tu retit.
Proceeding down the coast, he doubled
Cape Cod, and in the vicinity of Nantucket
fell in with the British Seventy-Four" En-
dymeon, commanded by Captain Hope
Hope made haste 10 seize him, but Almeda
kept out Of his way and succeeded in getting
shelter in Nantucket Shoals" not however
without being near enough for time, Ia
give the Endymeun IL few shots with his
Long Tom," one of which cut down her
small mast Almeda was thus compelled to
defer his cruise for u few days. being closely
watched by Capt. Hope. The Islanders. who
are mostly Quakers, were carrying on quite
IL trade with those Of the prvateer, as well
! as with the very much larger number OF those
of the Endymeun--ior the Islanders were
neutral. After lying there for several days,
| Capt. Almeda saw, on and around the En-
/ dymeon, indications of mischief and soon be-
came satisfied that Capt. Hope was going to
send some barges in the night IA take him.
/ lie ut once prepared for IL most deadly EN-
counter. He took all his largest grind-stones
/ --some of them weighing more than fifteen
hundred -and placed them on each side of his
deck besides the gun-wales, and he and his
men, fully armed for Il -hand-tiglt,
awaited the approach of the barges. The night
WAS 81 dark that the barges could not be seen
so far H. the sound of their muilled oars could
be heard. About eleven o'clock ut night, AL
media and his men heard muffled oars, and
soon three barges were around them--nne
on each side and one at their bows The
Z .. Al h.,
| hauled hard up to come on beard. Almcda
and his men pitched their big grind-stones
| over with such precision as to sink ull three
of the barges in the course OF one or two min
utes But there was still business enough
! for those on the priyateer: many OF the Brl-
tish were alive and climbing up over the
gun wales; most of them paid the forfeiture
of their insolence with their heads. When
! this business was nearly through. Almeda
saw that fourth barge had come under his
stern and made fast. and her entire crew
was on his after-deck. He screamed out:
Clear the stern, my boys" and with the
fury and strength Of n lion sprang upon them.
There was deadly carnage There were six
ty.fve of the British and seventy-nine Of the
! Privateer's crew. Almeda said afterwards.
! that he cut of six "Brit"n's heads at six
successive cuts with his broard sword, and
! Woodbury. thought him correct. Woodbury.
said he cut of three as fast as he could strike,
but fourth proved his match-with eight
or ten clips he could not hit him, when the
Briton cut down the guard of his sword and
cut uff the small finger Of his shorthand. --
| At that instant. IA Britun without head fell
against Woodbury's man. and he tossed his
| head over the gun wales. Woodbury. wus
minus that finger. a. have seen many times
he also showed the broad sword he used on
! that and many other OCCASIONS. The guard
was cut down and it appeared to have been
| III service.
But there was, even in this nocturnal strug-
gle with deadly weapons, a little incident ot
fun aud merriment y Quaker had tarried
on board the Pryateer tor the night, not
knowing the danger of an attack Upon the
first noise of the barges in graphing lie
sprang on deck, and seeing mems heads and
fingers on the gun-wales trying to get "n
board, and Almeda and his men cutting M
heads to stop them. his ''non-reslstance faith
was put To the test lie could not do "a
they did, but he hit it; very industriously he
went to work unlocking their fingers and
letting them down into the water alongside
saving in each instance, Friend, thou hast
no business here" Friend, thou hast No
business here" The Quaker was very use
full, though he did not fight
There were two hundred and forty-hye
picked men in those four barges when they
left the Endymeon The barge under the
stern of the Prisateer returned with thirty
nine and no more. Capt. Almeda had but
one prisoner. He lost three men.
Next day Capt. Hope set sail and was on
and Capt. Ameda resumed his cruise to
New York, minus his big grind stones.
The British Admiralty dlsgraced Capt
Hope for this, by putting him down from
cruising in squadron. Surely tins was un-
Just. Capt. Hope was good officer and a
worthy gentleman. The expedition OF the
burgeS was skiltully planned and promised
certain success, and had it not been for the
terrible Almeia and his big grind-Stones 1t
would have been successful, and Capt. Hope
would have been hnnored. The British had
not an officer in any department OF their ser
vice whose men would not have Jared the
same in Almeda's hands.
Captain Hope was afterwards restored,
when he, with the Endymeon, by the helpoi
the Pomoane and Majestic. took our frlgate
President, commanded by Stephen Decatur
an affair hardly less inglorous than that
with The Prince of Neufchate.
THOMAS CHASE.