Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1881-05-14

ments; but, Just as we got around, there
rolled across the water a succession of
heavy reports, accompanied with such a
whizzing and whisiling in the air as l
had never heard till then.
I looked toward the great ship, and
saw that she, too, had swung off from
the wind, so as to show her entire
length. Her broadside was bearing
directly upon us, with its three rows
of guns belching out rapid and regular
fire.
A huge cloud of smoke went rolling
around her, almost hiding hull and
spars and, in the midst of it, the bright
streams of fire would shoot straight out,
like so many flaming lances. 1t was a
grand sight, but terrible one for the
singing of the round and chain shot and
the scattering of grape and canister,
told the work was in real earnest. We
had been chasing a seventy-four
The British commander, upon per-
ceivipg us in chase, had secretly taken
measures to deaden the headway of his
ship, in order that we might come mp
with her, and while apparently exerting
himself to escape, he was, at the same
time, causing his ship to drag chain
cables under her bows
The stratagem had nearly succeeded,
when our officers took the alarm from
having observed about the chase some
thing of which they did not like the ap.
pearance.
At the distance of half mile, the
enemy pointed their guns with no great
accuracy, SO that no important spar or
rope was cut on board the Blockade,
although few holes were made in our
sails, and a number of shots-large and
small-struck the hull.
But the affair was by no means ended
as yet for, no sooner had the crafty
Briton settled himself for the pursuit,
and hove his chain-cables out of his
way, than we found that he sailed pro-
digiously.
Away went the Blockade, with every
shroud and brace tautening under the
strain of her wide canvas and on, like
an avalanche, came the huge ship.of-
the-line, her strong topsails swelling
with the fresh breeze, and the foam tum-
bling from under her high, black bows,
as she rose and fell.
She fired upon us from couple of
guns forward, and we returned the COM
pliment with our pivot twenty-four
FOUNDER, so trained that it ranged past
the mainmast and over the weather side
of the taffrail. We hit her once, plump
on the port-bow while the Briton, for
his part, put shot through our stern
bulwarks that plowed its way along the
deck-planks for the entire length of the
privateer yet, strange to say, without
hurting single man.
Night and thick weather coming on,
we ran away from her; and for myself
I can say that, as she finally vanishedin
the darkness, the weight of Dartmoor
prison seemed all at once lifted from my
heart-for I had thought of it during
the whole time that she was chasing us.
Next morning, in the midst of fog,
we were feeling very safe, when sudden
ly everybody was startled-as it was a
little clearer aloft than close to the wa
ter-to perceive, within musket-shot of
us, the topgallant sails of a ship.
The first thought of all hands painted
her as the seventy-fou and for a mo-
ment we were in despair; but an in
stant's reflection assured Us that this
could not be, as she appeared from di-
rection opposite to that in which the
enemy had last been seen.
Her deck was presently revealed
through the mist, and we saw that she
was heavy merchant ship. The boat
swain's pipe called us to quarters, and as
everything, since the day previous, had
been in complete preparation, each man
of our crew was instantly at his post.
A shot from us caused the stranger to
show English colors, and we lost no
time in commencing the engagement by
a rapid fire of cannon and musketry.
The enemy were surprised and confused,
but they nevertheless opened upon us
with their carriage guns, and for short
time there was spirited fight.
We had the advantage, however, of
the clumsy merchantmen, although she
mounted more cannon than the priva-
teer, and in about ten minutes her cap
tain, after being himself wounded,
struck his colors. The Blockade did
not have a man injured, for the enemy's
shots had mostly gone over us.
Upon taking possession of the prize,
we found her to be the Hon. East India
Company's ship Hoogly, Captain Charles
Maynardine, from Calcutta for London.
So we had taken the Hoogly, after all
the very ship of which the.privateer had
been in quest. We had run past her in
the night, and but for falling in with the
seventy-four, and being thus obliged to
retrace our course, should have missed,
for that time at least, this rich and noble
prize. She proved to be vessel of
twelve hundred tons, with cargo valued
at four hundred thousand dollars; and
we got her safely into port.
We learned afterward that the man-of-
war, which we had alternately chased
and escaped from, was the Druid seven
ty-four, one of the fastest vessels in the
British Navy. She was commanded by
Sir Ashton Cressford, who was afterward
in the habit of relating the whole affair
as an illustration of Yankee audacity
and good luck.
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