The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1861-05-28
THE PRIVATEER'S STORY.

The following singular night adven-
ture in the harbor of St. George Town,
in the Island of Grenada, and the mar
row escape from capture Of that noted
privateer, the Yankee" of Bristol, r.
L., has never before, to my knowledge,
been recorded. save in the log book OF
that fortunate little cruiser | will there
fore tell the story in the words of her
brave old commander, as | gathered it
from his own lips.
i" 1t was in the last week of Decem-
Der, 1872" said Captain Wilson, "and
while running up the Havana. that we
fell in with a Newport cruiser, who re-
ported that the Island Of Grenada or
rather the port Of st. George Town, was
at that momen, in the occupancy Of the
Americans. That he had sailed from
the place only two days before, and left
in the harbcr one of our frigates and
two sloops of war, while the stars and
stripes were flying from the flag staff of
the old fort. The same day | boarded a
Spanish droger, the skipper of which
had seen the vessels of war sailing into
the British port at the time stated by the
! privateersman."
| What object our fleet could have had
in taking formal possession of this ins zig
niticant place, could not imagine, un-
! less it was for the sake Of obtaining fresh
supplies. AT all events, | was glad TO
hear of it, as | was myself iu need of
provisions. | concluded to make the
harbor. and purchase such supplies as
might require.
1t was night before we made the land i,
but | was acquainted with the entrance
to the harbor of ST. George Town, did
not fire a gun for pilot, but kept bold
ly on into the outer port.
The night was quite dark. and hazy
mist hanging over the water, rendered
the obscurity so great that no object
could be perceived a couple of cable
lengths off. My sharpest sighted young
slers were constantly on the lockout, but
no vessels were to be seen, as we glided
slowly and silently past the shore batter
les, and the fort beyond, into the smooth
waters of the inner bay.
AS we reached this point. the haze
lifting a little, showed us, at little dis
tance, the faint outlines OF large ship,
which | doubted was not The American
frigate and little beyond several 9TH
er smaller vessels could be distinguish :
ed
Scarcely had we made this discovery,
than the people on board this ship were
made aware of our approach, and hailed
us, inquiring who We were.
4" The American priva,eer Yankee 90
| replied. What ship is that?'
/ No answer was returned and suppos-
/ ing my question was not heard. | waited
till we had run further into the harbor
before | repeated it.
We had passed between the fort and
the ship, and were in the act OF Chewing
up. when voice from the other vessel
cried out . Luff Luff, there-the pri
vateer -
Supposing naturally enough, that we
were running into shoal water, shouted
TO the man at the wheel
F.. Hard down your helm"
AYE aye sir -
Scarcely was the order obeyed, than
the schooner, answering to the helm,
snubbed her bows deep into a sand bank,
where she remained immovabe.
This OF course Immediately excited
our suspicion that all was not right; for
the pretended caution to "luif, was
doubtless given to produce exactly the
result il had
I'm afraid, sir" said the first officer,
stepping TO my side. and speaking low,
tha! we are now really in for it That
ship, sir, is an Englishman, or I'm
greatly mistaken"
1--we no doubt of it myself, sir, now.
The treaeherous knave has got us into n
scrape by that rascally signal. But she's
probably prize of the American frig-
ate, and is now lying under her guns"
But it's strange, though, that a pris-
oner should be permitted to mislead a
vessel entering port"
AT this moment boat was seen to
leave the ship. and pulling a good dis
tance round our stern, make directly for
the mole under the fort
Scarcely ten minutes elapsed after the
landing OF the boat, all was commoton
in the fort. The drums beat TO quarters,
and men with lanterns were running in