The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1873-06-10

AS tne OaJJie went on, my nerves OF hear
ing seemed torn and distracted by the tre-
mendous roar. i
At intervals fresher breeze would some
what clear the air; then we would see our
grim enemy, with his black and active
muzzles, his torn rigging and spars Here
were shrouds hanging loose; there, yards
shattered and braces cut away. Still the
tri-color, dusky in the battle cloud, waved
at his mizzen; for the Frenchman was no
coward, and he made gallant fight. ar e.
On board the Constella ton, in working
both ship and guns, there was the utmost
regularity. The mariners from the poop
deck kept up ceaseless fire of musketry,
and the long eighteens in the broadside an
unbroken roar. The Frenchman, with all
his courage, being at length SO disabled as
to manoeuvre with difficulty, we took a
position on his weather-bow, raking him
fore and aft. At last he struck his colors
He had fought nobly, but he was only a
Frenohman.
Three cheers went up from the Constel-
lation's deck. Our loss was comparatively
slight and the damage to the ship could be
soon repaired but the Insurgente (for we
had correctly guessed the name of our
antagonist) presented sorrowful spectacle.
Our first lieutenant went on board to
take possession, but was not of his boats
crew. l remember distinctly the appear
ance Of the French officers who came to
us in the returning boat. They were very
few, for most of the brave fellows were
beyond the grasp of cap ptivity.
After time man was sent to us who
had been prisoner to the French, and
whom recognized before he came over
the gangway. He was Captain O'Hara,
once of the brig st. Patrick.
1t is not my purpose to relate surprises,
with all their accompanying CALCULATIONS.
Sun, and storm, and anxiety had written
their story in the face of the Celtic captain.
Captured by the Hirondelle, he had wit
messed the passage at arms between that
vessel and the Panther. We killed, he
said, three of the Frenchmen and wounded
eight.
A short time subsequent to this, the
Hirondelle fell in with British privateer,
called the Cinque Ports. The latter was OF
inferior force, yet, in the battle which en-
sued, the sons of Albion were, as matter
of course, triumphant. The Frenchman
seemed to have a passion for engaging his
enemies in gale of wind, for now, as in
his brush with the Panther, it was blowing
very hard, and the swell was heavy. The
English carried the Hirondelle by boarding,
but Immediately after the battle the latter
shipped sea, which swept almost every
man from her decks, and at the same time
drove her clear from the Englishman,
whose maintopmast in the meantime went
overheard. Some half-dozen of the Eng
lish were lost, but the remainder, being
carried by the sea directly against theil
own vessel, succeeded in getting on board
of her. Captain or 'Hara and young Cathal
the boy whom had protected in London
derry, having at that moment been liber.
ated, were swept by the sea, the former over
board and the latter into the Hirondell'l
rigging.
Scrambling on board the British brig
upon whose decks the sea itself had wei
nigh carried him, the Irish captain saw
himself separated from his family. t,
make matters worse, the wind now blew
with much increased violence that i
was utterly impossible for the English, il
the disabled condition of their vessel, to re
gain possession of their prize. They hac
the modification to see the vertical stripes
of scarlet, white and azure once more Q,
up to the peak of the Hirondelle, as, shat
tered by sea and riddled by shot, yet still
quite manageable, she stood off under he
courses and topsails.
Vainly the captain of the Cinque Port
cursed the loss of his maintOpmast, a.
without it he could keep nowhere near th'
wind, but was obliged to head three o
four points alec of the chase. The feelings
of Capt. 0'EIara, with his wife and childrer
etill in the hands of the enemy, found thei
only relief in the reflection that the latte
hhu tlub lar breaCeu bhem kihuly, ant
would probably continue to do SO, as the
French republicans had always a sympathy
for les IreIGndois however such sympathy
might be unequal to pecuniary temptation
With her spare rigging and spars, the
Cinque Ports was soon repaired. She had
lost no less than four prize captains, ant
her commander, previously acquainted
with Captain O'Hara, whom he had me-
in the West Indies, appointed him master
of the first prize which fell prey TO tht