The Republican journal., 1877-04-26
The teud Of the ankee and English Sail
ors. How it Was Settled.

.<x&~@>..~...<eA
The F'eud Of the Yankee and English Sail
ors. How it Was Settled.
The following bit of naval history is ln
exact narrative ol the facts a8 they oc-
cured. contributed to the Hartford Times
by j. r. t;oIdrick At the time of the
events Described, Admiral Trcnclard was
Flag Lieutenant on the PuNhattan. and
when her boat was struck by the Shot
from the Chinese battery he was beside
the coXsWan who WAS killed, Admiral,
then Commander Trcnchard WAS at Bel
fast, in 1860, III command of the Sluop-ol-
war Rhode Island. Al the tea table one
evening, after considerable urging by the
writer ol this preface, (tur the gallant Of
ticcr is not in the habit Of relating his
oMn eAplots) he told the story OF Com
modorc Tatnall's rescue of the sorcy be
set English, very nearly as related in the
following article. EDITOR JOURNAL.
During the Sepoy mutny and the diff
cultIes IN China in ls56-'57, the coast line
OF India and China fairly swarmed with
English cruisers. From the peninsula of
Penang up to the barren shores of the
Pei ITO river, 4 perfect patrol system was
established, and trigateS, sloops-ot-
and gun-boats faithfully guarded the
honor OF Old England. At all the prin-
cipal ports along this coast line, the
meteor flag waved screncly from the
tail masts OF old ships Of the line and
double deckers. now doing guard duty,
but once the wooden walls" that spoke
their thundcrs on the deep.
1t was about this time that the United
States had sent an cApedtionary squad
ron INTO the Japan seas, and had Il ser
Viccable force Of ships in China, 50 that
at that time the United States was Il very
respectable power in those distant waters.
At that time some ill-natureu com
nents on English policy in India appear
cd III the American newspapers, and en-
tracts were copied into the English press
and found their way ont East, and con
scquently, the noble British tar was eX-
cceding irate and did not hesitate to in
Slnuate in very vigorous terms that the
Yankees We're nothing but dough faced
iNhittiN, tllti ---- SkltlkS 10 lUN)l. l his
feeling particularly exhibited itself in ti'e-
quent collisions between the crews of the
American and English vessel on every
possible opportunity Such was the situa-
ton of affairs when the L. 5. trigate Pow
haitian arrived in Hong Kong This ship
carried the flag OF Commodore Tatnall,
the sturdiest heart OF oak in the Ameri-
can navy, and the author Of the memo
rable words: Blood is thicker than wa
ter II is III connection with this saving
that this story is founded, and it would
be but right to mention, just now, that
the gallant old commodore resigned his
commission when his state went out Of
the Union in 1861, and that he died of a
broken heart shortly after the close Of the
war.
The Powhattan arrived in Hong Kong
in the summer Of 1853, and her crew hard
leave of absence for twcntv-tour hours
Before the men went ashore they had
learned that it was best to keep together
~''elboW touching clboW"-and that if
WAS sometimes IL stern necessity to fight
Each man was supplied with a sufficient
amount of the current coin to enable him
to have a good time, and away they went
us full of til" spirit Of fun and lrolc as
little children. Now it happened that
half the crew of the British trigate High
flyer were also ashore on leave Of absence,
and daring the afternoon when the Ameri-
can boys were particularly good, and had
chartered, through the agency Of "hum
boat Sally" all the ''chairs" that could be
hunted and knocked up to form a pro
ccsslon on Queen street, that these bold
BltonS happened along as the sedans
were starting with two Yankee tars in
each. The novelty of the thing took i'm
mensely with John Bull, and after the
chairs started and tailed out nearly a
quarter Of a mile with the Chinese bear
ers grunting their usual dittv, and the
Yankees singing the Star Spangled Ban
ner' and other patriotic songs, the Eng
lIshmcn could not refrain from compli-
menting the dash and originality OF his
cousins across this big pond.
Perhaps on this occasion there would
have been no collision, had not one of the
men in the chairs roared out to a knot of
English sailors:
"Hey! you id lemon squeezers, par
buckle yourselves out of our way, and
trice up the slack OF your lips; dye
hear ~
That foolish sentence acted like a fire
brand, and like magic the sedan chair
was capsized, and its cargo spilled out.
A rush was made by the main body OF
lighfyers, the Cinnamon dropped their
| burdens and fled, and the Yankees rallied
around the unlucky tar whose foolish re-
marks in the cnemys camp had brought
down the Philistlnes. At it they went,
and Il regular knock down and drag out
condition of affairs existed for fifteen
minutes. For a while the Americans
made good show, but half Il dozen
boats crews reinforced the English, and
the Yankees was forced to retire to a tea
garden, where they organized and re-
paired damages. After counting up the
number of black eyes and broken noses,
and splicing the main brace, the Powhat
tan boys again took the streets, and made
war in Il regular orthodox manner on the
Iiightlyer.
Late in the afternoon, Il strong detach-
ment of Yankees drove in the IIightlyer's
pickets and brought on another regular
engagement, and this af1ray got so seri
Gus that the police We're unable to quel
it, and a company of red coats from tht
garrison were ordered out to assist them
The English and Yankees united thei
forces against the common enemy, an(
the soldiers, as Il last resort, loaded witt
ball. The sailors, upon seeing that, a
once turned the corner, and in a distan
part of the town fought it squarely out