Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-01-11

crew we'll trained ON the previous
cruise in the art Of destroying ships
with neatness and dispatch. We had a
dozen sharp augurs with which TO per
forate the hull before firing, and q
couple OF buckets OF turpentine 10 make
sure OF a conaagration.
On the poop deck Of the prize we had
seen a couple Of ladies as we came up.
As climbed up the side OF the vessel the
captain and the ladies stood ready to
receive me. The former signi6ed his
surrender by handing me a paper Of
copper pump tacks, and the ladies, as in
duty bound, approached the hysterical
state, and begged very earnestly that We
would not kill them. do not recollect
TO have occupied a more embarrassing
position before or since. was pre-
pared to play the gallant in the most ap-
proved style, and here ! was taken for
cut.throat. / think / blushed and STAN
mered worse than the victims. How.
ever, business is business, on the high
seas as well as elsewhere, so l soon set
tied matters. My first care was to re-
lieve the captain Of all further RESPONSE
bilities and send him to pack up his
effects and those Of the ladies lone OF
whom was his wife and the other her
sister, to put them in bags, and be quick
about it that we might transfer them 10
the steamer before dark. In the mean
time the Bos' n had gone forward and set
the augurs in motion, and was smashing
up light material to kindle with. All
the good lines and gear that could be
- tea ofa rnI
things we're very scarce at home. Al
though the fellow was from coffee port,
he had on board less than hundred
weight of the precious berries, and but
little else in the way Of commissary
stores worth having.
mong the men who accompanied me
was the Master-at-Arms, Michael Bow by
name, who was an artist in the matter OF
plundering. The crew of the prize we're
all Norwegians, and could speak but lit
tie English, but Bow "discoursed' them
in language they seemed to under
stand, for he came forth from the fore
castle with fair per centsge of all the
clothing owned by the prisoners, amongst
other things six "sou-wester" hats, stuck
inside one another, like tubs in nest |
demonstrated with my man upon the i'm
propriety of his conduct; "our mission"
| said, "was to burn ships and cripple
the commerce of nation, not to rob
individuals" | admired my speech, but
Bow was disguised; said he: That's
well enough for the loikes of you, sir, but
it. hard to let Dutchman carry goods
to Nj Yark, where there's a plinty al
ready" Bow was pet of mine land
philosopher, too) so overlooked the
offense and got one of the hats-every
man has his price, you know. AS a
matter of course, the cabin was surren-
dered to the ladies to make preparations
for their departure. In very short
time they came forth very much
more composed than when | first met
them, and arrayed in their best clothes;
the ruling passion still strong an i'm
preston must be made upon the pirates.
Their effects were all packed, and had
them off to the Olustee. The breeze was
freshening with the going down OF the
sun, so | hurried up as fast as possible
the work OF destruction. A little after
sunset we applied the matches, and soon
everything was ablaze. We used the
torch forward and aft, and instantly the
the red demon was doing his work. The |
flames caught the tarred standing rig |
ging, ands ran aloft like ready-made |
sailors, seizing upon the sails and wiping |
them from the yards In an instant. The |
well seasoned spars took FIRE and showed |
out against the darkening sky lurid and |
terrible. This is war. Unless be per-
mitted to play Commissary or Quarter
master | desire no more of it. We pulled |
back to the steamer from the burning
wreck, run the boats up to the davits
and started towards the north. was
pretty cold and pretty tired and some
what hungry, and as it was our supper
hour tumbled down into the ward room,
totally forgetting that ! was to meet
ladies. Twas soon warned, however, for
there sat my two friends at the table,
not only composed but quite cheerful,
and they greeted me at once quite
cheerily as the one who had burned their
ship. Our two young lieutenants-Ben-
ton, now an Episcopal minister in New
York. and Gardiner, editor of paper
in Virginis-had vacated their room
and put the ladies in possession; an
eight-inch shot heated in the furnaces
under the boilers supplied the place of
a stove, and even a nurse for the boy
had been found, who was growing and
laughing as though no ships had ever
been burned. The crew were placed
under the charge of sentinel, but the
Captain and his mate were regarded as
passengers. The ladies were Balti-
moreans, and pretty good seeesh,
whilst the Captain was a shrewd Down
Easter, who, knowing that he would be
ashore in o few days, endeavored to find
out as much as possible in a quiet, de-
cent sort of way. Before parting with
our prisoners we became quite good
friends, and they promised to send mes
sages to our friends North. In the
night the wind freshened, and by morn
ing we were jumping into brisk nor
wester, with the white caps heavlng
high. Daring the day it was 700
rough to chase the single sail we
saw; so another valuable day was
lost-not lost, either, for we were all
the time going to the hunting
ground. On Wednesday we we're again
out of luck. Fell in with a British
schooner with a broken rudder, and
chased British brig bound of from our
course. This latter had q good breeze,
and persisted in keeping on his course,
he must have seen us after him
for couple Of hours. However, we
caught up after awhile, but got nothing
for our work. The rascal was quite
surly. At noon we were sixty miles
southeast from Cape Honlopen. Our
ground vas between New York and
Philadelphia, and We are getting near It.
After dark We sight lighthouse on the
New Jersey shore, and lay BY to wait
for business on the morrow. We see
steamer daring the night, but a steamer
may also be q man-ofwar, so We let her
mass. At daylight We have calm weather,