News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-09-02

away, and as my watch came on decI
the mate descended from the pcrcl
aloft, where he had been using tn,
glass, and reported to the Captain tha
the craft were appr, aching us by tn,
use of sweeps. The calm still held, bu
it was clear enough to a sailors ev,
that we should have breeze as soon a
the sun began to climb up. No MAJ
asked himself the errand of those boat
making out for the Huntress At tha
time and locality there could be bu
one answer. TIE Captain present.!
called us aft and said:
"Men, the craft which you see pulling
out for US are pirates. We shall have
breeze within an hour, but they viii bt
here first If we cannot beat them OF
we are dead men. They take no prison
ers. I look to see every man do his duty
We gave him a cheer, and began oul
preparations, The cook was ordered tc
fill his coppers full of water and tart d
rousing fire, and the arms were brought
up and served out. There were three
or four men who had served at a heavy
gun, and these took charge of the can
non, and the piece was loaded with g
s ell While the Captain called fol
ONE one to use the rides, the only man
who answered was an American. He
took them aft, loaded them with his
own hands, and by the time the pirates
were within mile we were as ready as
we could be. The bark was lying with
her head to the east, and the fellows
were approaching us from the north, on
our broadside. The mate kept his
glass going, and announced that both
craft were crowded with men, but that
he could see no cannon. They made
slow progress, and we were impatient
to open the fight. By and by, when
they might have been three-quarters of
a mile away, the Captain passed word
for the gunners to send them a shot.
In few seconds the big gun roared.
and we all saw that the shell flew over
the pirates and burst in the air. 1t was
a good line shot and something to en-
courage, but before the cannon had
another shot the American had a try
with one of the rifles The mate was
watching his shot from the rigging, and
: the report had scarce Y died away be-
fore he shouted:
"Good for the Yankeel He hit at
! least couple of them"
| The second shell from the cannon
burst over one of the boats and took eff
feet on some of the men, as reported by
the mate. The American then fired
again, and again his bullet told We
were doing bravely and were full of en-
thusiasm, but the struggle was yet to
come. The fellows bent their energies
to creeping closer, and pretty soon they
opened on US with musketry, and the
balls began to sing through the rigging
in lively manner. We had our mus
kets ready but the Captain ordered US
to hold our fire and keep sheltered be-
hind the rail One of the piratical
craft was quarter of mile in advance
of the other, and the thild she'll from
the cannon burst aboard of her and
must have killed and wounded dozen
or more men. There was great cOnfu-
sion aboard, and she remained station
ary until the other craft came up. Dur
ing this interval the American got in
two more shots which found victims
We now looked upon the victory as as
ap,red. ard thero was cheering from one
end of the ship to the other. We were
a little ahead of time. The third shot
from our big gun burst it, and although
none of the men was hurt, we were de
prived of great advantage.
A s soon as the Captain knew what
had happened, he called upon all 'Ae
crew to shelter themselves and &c to
FIRE at close quarters One man vas de-
tailed to assist the cook with the hot
water, and powder and bullets were
placed handy for reloading the mus
kets. l was stationed near the gun car
riage, and l noticed several shells lying
about under foot The American kept
firing away with the rifles, knocking
over pirate at every shot, and pretty
soon the two craft were near enough
for us to open fire with the muskets.
presume we wasted good many shots,
for we were green hands and greatly
excited, but | am likewise certain that
we also did great execution. We had
a plunging fire down upon mass of
half-naked fellows, and we must have
weeded out full third of them. There
was no air stirring, and the smoke soon
grew thick about us. By and by the
shouts and yells of the pirates sounded
close at hand, and their craft were laid
alongside. We now flung down the mus
When the revOlyers were empty we used
caDstan bars, dubbed muskets, or what
ever would serve to strike blow. One
dhow lay on our quarter and the other
on the bow, and the fellows tried to
carry us by boarding.
can't describe the fight to you, fur
ther than to say that there was shooting,
clubbing, and stabbing all along our
port rail. We beat them off the rail
again and again, and twice l Drained
pirates who reached the deck over
The blades of pixies. By and by heard
some one sing out that the fellows had
boarded us forward. | did not know
how we could spare a man from the
quarter, for two had gone down and the
rest of us were hard pressed. All of a
sudden 1 thought of the shells lying at
nv feet. There were half dozen burn
ing wads on our decks from the jingals
| of the pirates, and with one of these
! lighted the fuse to three second shell
! and gave the ball toss for the dhow.
! 1t fell right il to the thickest of her
| crew, and it was a settler. Our rail
was clear in half minute, aud then i
! picked up another shell ana a burning
:
had gained the bow and were pushing
/ olrmen back: ! lighted the fuse and
gave the shelf roll along the deck. in
to the crowd, and ! give you my word
| that not one of them was left alive after
| the explosion. One of our men on the
quarter threw third shell, and
brought the fourth one and threw it
from the bow.
The fight was ended. A bit of wind
blew the smoke away, and we looked
down upon terrible sight The boats
seemed full of dead and wounded, the
living having sought shelter under the
half-decks. Why, there were bodies
without heads. heads without bodies.
and arms and legs and pieces of bloody
meat enough to make the bravest turn
pale. As we cut their lashings they
drifted off, and the American with his
big rifles, and two or three of the men
with muskets, kept up a tlre on every
thing that moved. Presently the breeze
came up, and as we made sail and got
the bark where we could handle her we
ran down for the dhows. They were
light built, and it needed only a fail
blow to crush them. The first one we
struck on her starboard quarter, and,
although the bark glanced of, we
: crushed in her timbers. and she filled
and went down inside of five minutes.
/ There were about twenty living men on
the other, and as we bore down for her
! at a good pace they uttered shouts of
terror and made signs of surrender.