The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-08-19

Dy jumping INTO the water. some Oh Une
boats fiOated ashore, their oarsmen having
succumbed on the way back or deserted
their grim charges of dead and dying ship
mates.
The General Armstrong received her
share of punishment. The Long Tom had
jumped from her berth and several gun
carriages were broken. The remainder OF
the night was passed ON board in righting
things for a fresh action on the morrow.
The British commander was deaf to the
entreaties of the Portuguese governor to
cease hostilit4es, and swore to have the pri-
vateer if he had to knock down the town
in bombarding her Reid sent his wound
ed ashore and at daylight his ablebodled
men were again at the guns.
The brig Carnation took the lead, as on
the evening before, but with different tac-
tics. She opened with full broadsides at
close range, but hauled off after receiving
a shot from the Long Tom in her hull and
several wounds in her rigging and masts.
Reid saw that defense would be useless if
the enemy persisted, and that the bonn
bardment was endangering the town,
where many British shots took effect.
The schooner was scuttled and aban-
doned by his orders and the enemy soon
boarded and fired her, putting an end to a
vessel thet had left many mark on the
crack memo war of the kings navy.
The General Armstrong had been in
commission from the outbreak of the war,
and every cruise had been noted for daring
encounters with armed Britishers. She
was fighting privateer. Her first ex-
plot was to drive on shore a ship of %
guns. She afterward captured three valu-
able armed vessels and made prize of the
ship Queen, with nearly 600, but lost
her by wreck in storm. 4pW g
The Queen was calamity defended and
her captain, first officer and 8 of the
crew were killed in the action. Soon
afterlosing her rich prize the Armstrong
met the 27-gun warsloop Coquette and
accepted battle. The Long Tom carried
away the colors Of the sloop. and the
men on the prlvateer supposed that the
Britisher had struck her flag and ceased
firing. The lull was followed by sudden
broadside from the Coquette that nearly
swept the Armstrong from the seas. Her
masts and rigging were cut up or shot
away, her hill was pierced at the water
line, men were killed and 16 wounded
/ and the surviving crew despaired of saving
her. aaae3
The captain, G. R. Champlin, was Sc
verely wounded, and while under treat
ment in the surgeons cabin below he
heard the men on deck talking of surren-
der. The powder magazine lay just be-
Meath him, and holding loaded pistol
ready to carry out the awful threat, he
sent word to the crew warning them that
the moment the Armstrong; colors were
struck he would fire into the chests of ex-
plosives and blow up vessel, crew and ALL
The colors remained flying and the dis
abled ship was slowly carried out of gun
shot,
So Captain Reid leaped to deck that
was battle SCARED and battle hungry when
he took the privateer upon her glorious
last cruise. He was the son of a British
officer who had become Americanized dur
ing the Revolution, and at eleven years Of
age began his career as sailor. He fought
the French in 1859, and was prisoner OF
war while in his teens. Before his advent
on the Armstrong; deck-which was in
his thirtieth year-he served with Com
modore Truxton's naval squadron.
For his exploit at Fayal he was toasted
and honore,l and appointed to position in
the regular navy. His whole life was
passed in public service, and he remained
active until his death, in 1861. The present
form of the stars and stripes, with star
for every state and a stripe each for the
original thirteen, was designed by him in
1915
The brilliant fight of the General ARM
strong at alhad deeper results than the
mere display of Yankee pluck, although
that was good thing in itself. An Eng
| lishman among the spectators on shore ex-
| claimed at the close of the action, "God
Saye us from orr enemies if this is the way
| Americans fghtw
| The British were crippled by the loss OF
nearly 800 men. Their killed numbered
| 120. The crew: Of the frigate Rota lost 10
men. Instead of sailing directly for the
West Indies to the rendezvous of Admiral
| Cochrane's feet bound for New Orleans.
the vessels encountered by the privateer
| lay at Fayalsa week burying the dead and
caring for the wounded. Cochrane await
| ed their tardy arrival, and when he reached
the mouth of the Mississippi Jackson's
motley army of defense lay in readiness
behind their mud forts and breastworks
of cotton bales. .s @.sA3
The General Armstrong was only pri-
yateer, and comes off with scarit notice in
the histories of naval deeds, but in Presi-
dent Madison's call to arms, in 1912, the
free and independent tars were appealed to
| to 90 stake, burn, sink and destroy the
enemy anywhere upon the high seas
They were deemed good enough to fight,
but not respectable enough to bear the eu-
logies of history.
It was the luck of the Armstrong to en-
counter British battlsships, and her ca.
| reer was one of brilliant warfare rather
GEORGE L. KuiNgn
CRAZY, r otio,, for Staare ~, Cs,.ass