The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-05-13
broke up the calm, when she made sail
and effected her escape.

! by the enemVs Crulscfs, Wuo Wetc III
Testing the waters Of the Caribbean sea,
and he had to seek safety In the harbor Of
VI. Martins under the protection Of a
neutral flag. While doing this he had
again resOrIed TO the strategy employed
when driven back into Hampien Roads,
on .he occasion OF his first attempt 20 get
to sea. His gallant little ship during this
last adventure was, at one period OF the
chase, so holly pursued and fired upon by
the enemy that her second officer was
rash enough To suggest surrender. This
Lewis swOre he would never do, but
would rather run the ship ashore and Jet
/ the crew take their chances OF escape to
the land At last the fleet 90, safely into
the harbOr. Captain Lewis sold his car
goes Of tobacco as directed, had dis
charged his freight, and, with the pro-
ceeds, had purchased the necessary sup
plies Meantime his vessel had lay at
anchor, In fsncied security, under neu'
trail flag. He was just preparing to
receive his return cargOes, when, to the
surprise OF himself and the Dutch au-
thoIilies, a British force Of several large
ships entered the harbOr Their purpose
could not be misunderstood Lewis now
showed his colors and appealed TO the com
mander Of the forts for protection. The
appeal was in vain. The Dutch deienses
were small and inefficient, and the au-
ihOriiies were Oyerawed by the Eng ish
commander, who threatened destruction
of the town if they should dare 10 inter
fere Feeling sure of his prey, several
I 4 81 Iat N "a N If.
er made any hostile demonstrations. In
the meantime Captain Lewis had re.
ceiyed such intima,iOns of what would
! follow that he secretly and under cover
OF night landed his entire crew. This
had scarcely been done when sixty
four gun ship suddenly slipped her cable
and came alongside the RenOwn. Under
prctcXt Of an assumed right 20 search
American vessels for desertcrs and for
eigners her officers proceeded to execute
orders to this effect, bat TO their sur
prise and chagrin they found no ole on
board the kenOwn or her cOnsorts. They
at once caused the Nirginians' flag to be
lowered, and having taken possession Of
the deienseless We sells, carried oil the en-
tire fleet from under neutral flag. This
loss was seriously felt by the Naval
Board The brig Scorpion had been one
of this Inflated expedition, had escaped
in the night on the occasion referred to
above and had never heard Of the
fate Of her unfortunate cOnsorts.
Her captain, whose name is not given,
had meantime gone into some neutral
port, DISPOSED Of his cargo of tobacco,
and was now on lis return TO Virginia
suddenly one morning, upon the lifting
Of the fog, he found himself in dangerous
proximity to a large English man-Jf-war.
No time was to be lost Cr0wdiug on all
sail, he managed TO leDgthen the distance
between himself and the enemy, who had
already noticed him and had begun the
pursuit. The Scorpion had the advan'
tage Of light wind, and behaved so well
under her canvas that her captain had
hopes of holding his own until nighiiali'
Unfortunately, however, later in The day
the wind frcshened up, and her pursuer
began to gain slowly on her. The chase
lasted the entire day, and ii was not until
that same sun that had discovered her to
the enemy was dipping his red disc be-
hind the watery horizon that she was
overtaken and captured. Here was an.
other loss added 10 that just recorded,
and f.om all We can find it is supposed
that only two Of this expedition returned
in safety to the waters C Virginia.
Early in 1919 the commissioners of The
navy ordered that the 1helis, Tempest,
Dragon, and Jefferson should be fitted
out for the defense of Chesapeake bay
and Hampton Roads the enemy having
increased his force of small vessels much
to the annoyance OF the people, and in
reference with The commercial Interests
Of the State We have 10 accounts Of
what was done by this fleet, but suspect
their operations were paraly1cd by the
sudden appearance Of Admiral Sir George
Collier with a large force OF trigales and
transports early In this year This ex-
petition had been dispatched 10 Virginia
TO destroy the commerce maintained by
her cruisers, by which traffic, in the Ian
guage Of Irving, the historian, the
armies were supplied and the credit OF
the Government sustained. Some further
estimate may be made Of the services
rendered by the Virginia navy when, ac-
cOrding 10 the same authOrily,we find the
land forces Of this expedition taking pos
session of Norfolk, Suffolk, Gosport,
Kemp's Landing, and other neighboring
places, where were quantities of provis.
ions, naval and military stores, and
merchandise of all sorts, with numerous
vessels. some on the stocks, Others richly
laden
We have seen how the armed vessels
of the State succeeded from time TO time
in bringing from abroad naval and mil
itary stores, and it will be shown here
after how the provisions supplied by the
back country were transported and de
livered at stated points along the shores
OF the Chesapeake.
Upon the approach Of this addition to
the cnemy'S naval power in Hampton
Roads, our fleet of small vessels were
forced to retire to the head waters OF the
rivers. Some of them were hastily dis
and sunk. Such, according to
Barron, was the case with
the Liberty and the Nicholson, both of
which vessels were subsequently raised
from their watery hiding places and re-
stored to the service. The Nicholson was
afterwards captured at sea by British
man of-war flying French colors. II is
stated that in Sir George Golfers invasion
one hundred and thirty vessels of all sorts
were destroyed or carried off, including
4 al. Il oil