The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1881-10-13

INTO lit ScCACl Ct Tic III DtACuA ann
as 1 point, and high, to cripple her for
us when the fog lifts. How does she
bear, Mr.. Madison p
Northeast three-quarters east, sir"
He glanced at the compass, and in
dictated the position of the vessel by
extending his hand. The guns were
eanted and fred. In all five pieces
were discharged, and to Judge BY the
crashing and spIintering of timber
and several sharp yells the grape and
rOund-shOt had pumped faithfully
home Another brOadside followed
from the Frenchman, and again the
iron sleet tore up the water wide of
the mark. From the heavy, broad
scattering of the missiles it was plain
that they were fighting us with car
ronades, and it seemed by the ex-
blossoms that the metal was of heavy
caibre.
Our men, following the direction
indicated by Shelvocke, fired again,
and once more we heard the grape
rafting and tearing along the invisi-
! bic deck, and the splintering and
crashing of yards and masts aloft.
| If the fog was thick before, there
remains no word to express the
/ opacity of it now that the smoke Of
! the cannon hung around us. Although,
/ as l have said, the enemy lay within
] pistol-shot, the very fiame-spouts of
/ his last brOadside had not glanced the
| least reflection on the solid BODY of
smoke and Vapor. The men stationed
at our guns could scarcely see one
another, and when we fired our third
| brOadside they had nothing but the
recollection Of the spot indicated by
the captain to 90 by.
Five times the Frenchman-fire at
us, and the last time his grape sung
close along the port side of the schOon-
Ell, showing they were aware that
their shot had taken 10 effect and that
they had shifted their aim. A little
more and this brOadside would have
! raked us, for they fired with depress-
ed muzzles AMI their vessel was twice
as high out of water as ours. AS it
was, not a single shat touched as
We had taken their bearings, hut
they had evidently not taken ours,
and il was by omissions of. this kind.
apparently so incOnsiderable but in
reality of the very first importance,
that French naval officers lost most of
the vessels entrusted to them by a
country whose reverses at sea were
only to be equalled by its disasters on
land.
We were in the act of giving sth6ll
a fourth brOadside when they hated
to say they surrendered. ShelvOcke
Immediately ordered the pinnace to
be lowered and manned by u seamen
in charge of Mr.. Tapping, with orders
to take possession. The boats crew
were armed to the teeth, ShelvOcke
being apprehensiVe of treachery ; and
a small compass being sent down and
the vessels bearings given, the pin
mace showed off and Was-immediately
lost in the fog. -
We waited anXiOugly for Tapping's
hail to announce his arrival, the men
being still at quarters, and the guns
dOuble-shotted, ready to bestow their
terrible dose should the boats crew
meet with any resistance. But we had
no fear that the second mate would
OvershoOt his mark, as he had the
bearings of his prize; and it was GER
tain, from the result of our broadside,
that the vessel had not dIifted half
her own length from the spotln which
we had sighted her.
We remained waiting for some
tme-I, for one, expecting every mo-
ment 10 hear pistOl-shots and the
clash of cutlasses, as 1 thought it ex-
tremely probable that the Frenchman
had called for quarters as an excuse
to get his boats out and tow away
from the place in which we had nail
ed him, when, TO our great relief, we
heard shout from Tapping.
"HallO" answered Shalvocke.
"Its all right, sir. She's a SPLEEN
did ship. We've got the Frenchmen
under matches, and liberated the pris-
Oners."
whats the name of the vessel ?"
''The Hanover, bound from London
to Jamaica. She was captured this
morning a 3 o'clock by a French pri-
Vateer, and has a prize of 10 men, who
were taking her to Havre. There
are 40 of her crew and the master on
board"
as she much damaged %
''Her fOretOpmOst is in halves, sir.
and the royal masthead rests on the
fOrecastle. Her lower standing rig
ging is a good deal cut up, but / cart
see anything above her tops. She has
three men killed and one slightly
wounded"
Every well, Mr.. Tapping. While
this fog holds 1 shall fire a musket
from time to time. which you will
please answer. Let the liberated
men turn to and rest as well as they
can"
AS soon as the sun reached the
meridian, the fog began to thin down
in the west. One could see it break
ing up into masses like the clouds
round the brow of a mountain, with
glimpses Of the sky shining amid the
intervals, and the sparkling of the
open waters; while, astern of us, ii
was as thick as cream, and the ship
invisible. We were all anxious to
have a sight of the recapture, and ev-
cry eye was turned aft as the vapOI
thinned down upon the ship, reveal
ing first her hull and then her courses
until presently her main royal-yard
oozed out, and then the whole of heI
lay exposed and a fine great ship
she looked, as her large black shape
was thrown into strong relief by the
solid snOw-white bodies of vapOI
which were slowly rolling and set
Ting away down in the east.
l have been in many an engage
ment, but this was the first, last, and
only time 1 saw a ship captured in a
fog.
A Governor of South Carolina.