St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-02-05
One Of the Greatest Gunnery
Feats OF the American
Navy.
The Display Of Courage on
Both Sides Most Re-
markable.
Picture Of the Terrible
Slaughter on the Brit
iSh Vessel.

frigate Macedonian is looked upon in
the American navy as one of the great
est gnDnery feats in the history of the
service. The engagement took place
Oct. 25, 1912, and though an affair OF
many years past, the records on the
American side are well preserved at the
navy department. They are, in fact,
much fuller than in the case of most
reports. Decatur taking the pains to
! hand down for future use all the bene-
| fits of the experience he gained that
| day. From the British side of the fight
the records are more or less incomplete,
though much that was valuable has
been learned in later years through the
private letter, written by the British
captain subsequent to the ARRAY.
! Recently the Messrs. Knoedler had
Oh exhibition in their gallery, says the
| New York Times, Davldson's battle
| piece representing the engagement at
the moment just previous to the haul
ing down of the MacedoniaD's flag. 1t
was the climax. of the fight. for it was
then tina. 112 British men-of-war's men
lay dead, dying, or wounded on the
| Macedonian's deck.
The hight between the United States
and the Macedonian occurred at point
some 200 miles to the southwark and
westward of the Azores Islands. The
Macedonian. Capt. John Garden, royal
| navy, commanding, was Oh an outward
i bound cruise to the West Indies. His
| ship was a brand new frigate, fresh
from Portsmouth dock yard. This yard
the Macedonian had left not more than
two weeks previously. The morning of
Oct. 25 the British frigate had about 800
men aboard. Her battery consisted of
thrty-eight carronades, with a pivot
gun on the forecastle and small boat
gun on the quarterback. Because of
| this she earned the title given her in
| America of being forty-gun ship.
The crew of the Macedonia were for
the most part trained men-of-war's men.
There were some twenty impressed
men aboard who had never seen service
| on a war snip, but, aside from this num-
| Der, all hands had done duty three years
and more under the British flag. Capt.
| Garden always had the greatest admir-
| alton for the Macedonian's crew. and it
was this very reliance in the personnel
under him that caused that maneuver
| in the fight which lost him his ship.
| Good men as the bluejackets of the
| Macedonian were, they were still some
what green i'll working together when
| they met the United States. The Mace
| donian had been hurried off from the
| Portsmouth yard, and now, not more
than couple of weeks out without any
| opportunity for target practice and with
only the training which came from the
/ daily exercise at quarters, the Mace
| domains men went into the fight with
| out murmur against the seasoned,
| Well-Shaken-doWn crew commanded by
| Decatur.
The morning of Oct. 25, 1872, was
| logged aboard the Macedonian as open
ing up clear and cool. with a heavy
| swell running. the frigate standing
along under topsails. topgallant sails
and courses. 1t was proposed to give
| the day to the men in the enjoyment Of
whatever sport they chose, and. to make
time fly all the more merrily, Capt.
| Garden instructed the executive officer
to see to little extra allowance of grog
being issued. At S:45 o'clock in the
morning Capt Garden was seated in his
| cabin engaged in reading when he dis
tinctly heard the call of the lookout at
| the foretCpmast head call out: Sail,
| ho." Without waiting to hear the
counter hail of the officer of the deck
| Capt. Garden sprang up his cabin COM
panionway and himself hailed the look
out: Can YOU make her out?'
Cant make ner out, sir" was the re-
| ply.
Capt. Garden took two or three turns
along the deck, and minute later sang
! out:
"Masthead, therew
''Sir!" came the reply.
'Can you make out that sail?"
''She is a square-rigged vessel. SIR"
| 'Here, Mr.. -" said Capt. Garden
to~the officer beside him, "send look
out to each masthead and an officer into
the TOD and keep close eye on that
fellow" and then minute later came
| the cry from the masthead:
1.-The strangers a frigate, sir, and
bearing down this way"
Can you make out his rig?"
'He looks like Yankee, STRIP
This last hail was sufficient. Capt.
Garden was now surrounded by his eX-
eeutive and navigator, and by two or
more of the older officers, while on the
lee side of the deck knot of Junior
officers were assembled, all of them
having tumbled up from below on hear
ing the captains voice.
Turning to his executive, Capt. Garden
said very quietly: CLEAR ship for
action, sir, and get the people to the
guns"
In an instant the boatswain's pipes
were ringing out their calls, and 800
bluejackets were knocking down bulk
heads, reeving off preventer braces,
switching down rigging, securing
boats, rigging boarding MEETINGS, I'M
shipping ladders. piling nammocks
| here and there as breaStworks, and all
the details which enter into preparing
a ship for battle.
The Macedonian's men, though for
the most part strange to one another,
were too old to man-of-war duty not to
work at such time quickly. The Mace
DOMAIN was ready for the fight in three
minutes. Her people then went to the
gus to the long roll of the drums. The
| frigate was now under foresall, fore,
main and miZzen top sails, main clew
garnets hauled up, royal yards in the
rigging, and topgallant sails furled.
Her jib, foretopgallant staysail and
| span ker were set. The strange frigate
was now distant about 1900 yards and
flying American colors. Capt. Garden
but was not sure. Both vessels were
gradually closing. with both wary. On
the Macedonian the captain and eXecu
tive officer had just made tour along
the decks, with pleasant words right and
left to the men. 1t is known that the
British captain felt at this moment the
lack of training in target work which
| his hurried and early departure from
Portsmouth had brought about. but he
nevertheless felt certain reliance in
the training the majority of the men
had had before coming aboard.
At distance of 1,500 yards from the
American the officer in charge of the
pivot gun forward received permission
to open up with a shot or two. The
fire was short, and Capt. Garden Or
dered the firing ceased. The Macedo-
Man now edged in little closer and
opened up with three guns of the port
battery. The fire was short. Again
Garden edged in, the United States also
closing in. When at distance Of 1000
yards the American opened fire from
his gun-deck battery. His fire was di-
rected at the sails, and the sound of his
shots was not unlike the swish rip Of
canvas rending.