Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1882-07-22

An old sailor of the war Of 1912, tells tn.
ioiioHing incidents in rel .sion 10 the Rapid.
which sailed IS Pr1va;ecr from Savannah.
On she second day out we had bloodlcs
engagement with british man of-war, a
douDie-secker. She was sighted abou
sunrise, and Captain Saunders ordered up
from below all the muskets, sabres, pistols
any BOAR ling pixies, TO be paced upon the
quarterback. We got near Enough to the
stranger IN thirty minutes to discover that
IL would oe the height nf folly to at,emp,
to cope with 80 formidable foe. Bout
shiL', CRED the Captain. Just then the
"ind ceased to fill the sails, and the stud
cling sails were ordered up and Sc, by the
cr.". The same performance, it was
discovered. was II vogue on board the
frlsate (about five miles distanD as,ern.
There was no y dead calm upon the ocean.
and IN a few moments more the Captain
observed through his eyeglass that the
frlgate had her sweeps (oars) out fore and
aft from her lower deck, and at once or
dered the boatswain TO ..out swecps.n In
couple of minutes there were thirty
sweeps out, and each worked bv two men.
fifteen on each side Of the schooner. which
caused her to move through the placid
water al speed OF about three miles an
hour. The chaser and the chased kent a
distance between them of about five miles
throughout the whole or that calm day.
AS for myself, l was about the busiest Of
the busy-my post was all over the vessel.
fore and aft. The men had had no bi eak-
fast, and l had TO cut up whole smoked
hams into bits about an inch square, and
sea biscuits, or hard tack, INTO ordinary
mouthfuis, deposited in basket hanging
On my left arm, and with my right hand
feeding the hungry sweepers, who could
net leave their oars for moment. | thcn
went the rounds with water, and paye
leach man cupful. This duty Continued
throughout the whole Of that day. and
must have trotted around several miles IN
feeding the hungry. Toward the setting
OF the sun the frigate fired nine shots at , A
from her bow-chasers. The balls from
these fell near US, but did not reach the
mark aimed at. | now believe that the
firing OF these guns caused breeze to
spring up as the sun sank in the western
hoizon. The sails were 4dlled immed:.
ately-thc sweeps were lard-by, and we
soon after lost sight of the frigate in the
darkness. Strict orders were gwen that
none OF the men should even smoke ther
pipes, or any light be made to appear
other than the very obscurcd biunacle hight
to show the course of the schooner, when
tie Captain told the man at the helm 10
''head her east" in the morning not a
sail was in sight from the deck or mast
head. Thus ended the ''bloodiess en-.
gagement" Of chase or race between q
couple of belligerents. The next day
after this we learned from q neutral
vessels officer (Which had been boarded
by Lieutenant Rhan), that the aforesaid
frlgate's officials had boasted OF having al
most made a prize Of ''tnat schooner th,.t
had been such terror to the mercantile
marine Of John Bull" l need not men
ton the everyday life ON board the Rapid.
or the numerous neutral vessels overhau,ed
to examine their papers, while was being
treated like pet by the officers and men.
1t was about the Attn, 5, b or 9th Of January.
1915, when our three months cruise was
nearly completed, and the Rapid .'lay-to''
off the harbor, near Tybee light hou e,
when large ship made its appearance
oANNtiy Co"oAo AS Will
colors and her yardarms filled with men.
She came on boldly, but Captain Saundels
again thought 1t was the better part Of
valor to be chased into port as he had been
chased out OF Il, and the saucy intruder
actually drove us up to our anchorage, Eve
miles below the city. ''She must have a
| pilot on board" said Captain Ewing, .'oI
she never could come up the river" On
she came, and absolutely came to anchor
a stone-throw only from where the kapld
lay. Captain Saunders ordered the boa
manned with couple Of men. and ht
went on board the audaclous ship to exam
me her papers lie very soon returncc
with the astonishing news that the shiI
was "a cartel loaded with American pris
oners to exchange for English prisoner
lying in Savannah and other iails-,ha
peace has been declared at Ghent A.
soon as the schooner reached the city, al
nour later (the long-tom in the meantim,
belching forth lis thunder tones OF Joy j
The Exchange bell was set to ringing, anl
the cry OF peace: peace! peace was
shouted throughout the city. and / fcl
about IS proud as any Of them, and NOR,
So as, our little Rapid was the first L
bring the news.