The Northern Pacific farmer., 1883-09-20
AN HISTORIC SEA BATTLE,

The Encounter between tho Enter.
prise and Boxer on the Maine Coast.
The Lincoln County (Me.) News pub.
lishes this account of the famous fight,
given by an old resident of Pamaquid:
"All along the. coast the people were
scared about the British vessels COM
ing and landing their men to burn the
houses, and some of 'em really took to
the woods and hid. There were two
British vessels cruising off the coast. the
Tenedos and Boxer. Well do remem-
Der seeing their boats filed with men
pulling past Pamaquid Point, and some
one; / don't know who it was, fred three
guns at 'em. / was running about the
hill here playing. I heard the report
and saw the flash, and the smoke DRIFT
ing away before the wind. he boa ts
fred canister into the bushes, and an
awful rattling j: made. Many time have
l heard old Sam Mcintyre swear, when
he was in liquor, that he fred nineteen
shots at the boats, although some said
he was 50 scared on hearing the firing
that be ran off and hid under q BRIDE:
driven the cows home, saw the Boxer
coming into johns Bay and another just
back o. the island, between it and Penn
aQuid Point; and the folks were pretty
we'll scared about it, and some OF 'em
was nigh going to the woods. But faith
er, who had seen the last of the Revolu-
ton and was Freewitl Baptist besides,
was not mite uneasy about the British
er. On Sunday morning she laid there
to an anchor, her black hull shining in
the sun. One of her boats with an officer
had pulled over to Monhegan. Our folks
were so unsettled on account OF the ves-
sci that none of 'em went to meeting. It
was nigh onto o'clock, and boy-like; |
was mighty hungry and thinking about
my dinner, when all OF sudden I saS
they appeared to be in a great hurry
aboard the Boxer getting her Under
weigh, and presently she was standing
out under all eail.
"'Climb upon the. smoke-house and
tell us what you see,' said my father.
Our house was built on rising ground,
| and the smoke-house was about fifteen
feet high and built of poles. From tho
| top OF it ] could see all around. Away
| to the w'st'd l saw vessel coming down
under all sail, with the stars and stripes
| flying. commenced to fee! pretty safe
then. It was not long before they neared
each other, and almost at the same
time a sheet of fame and smoke burst
from their sides, and | could see the
water torn up in spray by the shot.
| The American vessel was good deal the
best sailer, and she out manoervred the
Boxer. The firing was So rapid that they
were soon hid in smoke. Once in
while, through rift in the cloud, |
sails and rigging. They drifted out to-
ward Monhegan, looking like cloud of
thick vapor. from which burst incessant
spouts of fame. I guess the folks all
'orgot dinner and everything else when
the deep boom of the guns woke the
echoes among the rock, and the win
dows ratified in their frames. Watching
| the fight it seemed to be an age, al
though it lasted only forty-fve minutes.
tell you, sir, I have never forgotten
that sight, though sixty years have
passed." and the old II ans withered
cheek flushed and his eyes kindled as
"By and by the firing slackened and
the smoke rolled away to leeward; one
of 'em had lost its malnmast head, and
sails of both hung in ribbons from the
yards. almost strained my ey es out o"
my head to get glimpse of the colors,
but they were too far off TO make them
| OuGs Dy cCCuJS CAA AiAtG away w IhO
es'td the folks thought the Enterprise
was beat. The suspense among US was
awful, even the women folk catching
their breath with a sob, and many
prayed aloud. Presently l saw them set
their courses, tack, and stand to the
west'd; then we felt the Brltisher was
whipped. l tell, you was tired boy
when / came of that smokehouse just
| as if I mad worked hard
all day chopping klndling-wood: re-
member Henry T'bbets and his brother
pulled out in a dorv from Christmas
Cove to see how the fight had gone, but
they could get no satisfaction in answer
to their hail. 1t was said that when The
Boxer was boarded her decks were slip
perry with blood. and numbered up with
| splinters, coils of rigging, and bodies of
tie dying and dead, many of whom had
been tossed overheard, jnst before lier
colors were hauled down, to conceal
their losses.
II heard that her boats crew watched
the fight from Monhegan, and when her
maintop-mast wasshot away one of them
exclaimed, There 1t goes! and four of
our best men with it, mind, that's only
what folks told around, but what saw
know, and I've tried to tell you about
the fight just as saw It,"