The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-12

cutter had received orders the day be-
l0re 10 get ready for cruise in search of
the Iacony. She had taken aboard her
powder, and waited for the next day to
take IN her shot and shell so we were in
formed Oy the crew. Our gunner Nick
Pride by name. from Mobile, VINO after
ward escaped rom Fort Warren, found
one 32-pound shot IN the potato locker.
which he carried on deck Our little
Dreele died away, and Read ordered all
hands below to get what rest they could
/ was at the helm, and q small
guard was left over the prisoners
Lieut.. head, on going below,
told me TO call him, if anything turned
up 1t was, as near as l can remember
ABOUT four bells of the forenoon watch
while was looking asteru and whistling
for breeze, thatI saw what looked to
be steamer coming out, and as |
thought heading for US, | called Read
who came on deck, and after looking at
her awhile, said he guessed it was the
Boston steamer bound out. He went be-
low again, telling me to keep my eye upon
her. shortly discovered another
steamer aStern of her. also coming out
and on looking through the glasses at the
first steamer saw a crowd of sol
dlers on the upper deck. / Immediately
called our commander and on his reach
ing the deck, and after one glance at the
steamers, called all hands to clear the
decks for action. The thirty-two FOUNDER
was loaded lit was located amidships)
and the order given to put the helm down,
the gunner and crew in the meantime
training the gun to get a range on the
steamer. The cutter would not mind her
helm. Hard down. shouted Read,
jumping toward the helm. Hard down
il is" / answered. "Oh for a six knot
breeze, and few shot or SHE'LL cried
Read, we would show them some fun "
ii we had had a good working breeze, and
shot or shell sufficient for the
3--pound gun, the yankee steamers would
have never got back to Portland, or any
other port. The steamers wereS directly
in our wake, and when Read saw that
we could not get an effective shot at
them, he said, I'VE will give them a
scare anyhow The gun was trained as
far aft as possible, and the order given to
fire. Nick Pride pulled the lanyard, and
when the smoke cleared away, both
steamers were brOadsIde to, as if turning
back, and we gave yell, and shouted
load her up again" but we had nothing
to load her with We had plenty of pow
der, but nary a shot or shell
Read az once gave orders to set
fire TO the cutter, and abandon
her. The prisoners were brought on
deck, put INTO two boats, given the keys
to their irons, and turned adrift l
jumped down into the ca bin and pro-
ceeded to break up the furniture and col
lect the bedding TO set on fire. The man
who was assisting me came near causing
me To be cremated with the cutter. He
had got hold of can of camphene, and
sprinkled it over the mass of broken fur
niture and bedding, and in going up on
deck, sprinkled it all over the steps of
the companionway. When the order was
given TO set fire / struck a match, and in
an instant the whole cabin was on fire. |
rushed for the companionway, and
when l reached the deck | was
and mustache singed, and face and hands
pretty well blistered. At this time all
hands were in the boats, with the excep-
tion of the gunner and myself. He had
gathered up a lot of scrap iron, nails.
spikes etc, with which he had loaded
the gun for parting shot. Although the
steamers were dead astern, and not within
three or four points of the range of the
gun, they both stopped when the last
shot was fired We pulled away from
the cutter and lay on our oars, knowing
that it would be useless to try to get
away. Read ordered US to throw
our arms overheard, and every
man stood up in the boats.
unbuckled their belts, to which
were attached our revolvers and
cutlasses, and dropped them over the
sides, and suppose they are still laying
at the bottom of Portland Bay Read
then produced shot bag of specie, which
he divided among US. Our next act was
to tie white handkerchief to our boat
hook and await our fate. The first
steamer had been steering directly for US
from the time that we had abandoned
the cutter. The other stopped to pick up
the crew of the cutter. We noticed that
when the first steamer got near US de-
tachment of soldiers, on the
upper deck, had their muskets
aimed directly at us, as if about to fire,
but an officer sprang in front of them,
with a drawn sword, and they at once
came to a shoulder. We were ordered
alongside, a rope was thrown to us and
we were taken on board. | wish to state
how we were taken on board the steamer
One man at a time was allowed to come
over the side He was searched. and then
his arms tied behind his back with a
piece of rafting stuff and placed under
guard before another was taken on board.
There were not less than 300 soldiers and
armed citizens aboard the boat. We were in
hopes that the Archer which was in charge
of Bob Mullins of New Orleans might
escape during the excitement, but no such
good luck for Bob, as he was cruising
along IN SnOfe, working mas way out, he
was startled by a shot across his bow The
says it went between the wheel and the
of the cabin and concluded that
it was best to down helm and heave to-
But before the yanks had time to board
him he put his heel through about dozen
fine chronometers that had been taken
from different vessels which we had de-
strOyed. Neither of the steamers at
tempted to 60 near the burning cutter,
and it was not long before the
fire communicated with her magazine
and she blew up.
We were soon landed at Fort Preble
and, under a strong guard we were
marched up to the fort. The road was
lined with an eager crowd of men, wo-
men and children who had come over
from the city. Some Of them greeted us
with ieers and groans, while some would
ask How does your necks feel Johnny
Rebl" Others said, Hang The pirates"
and made other such remarks. We all
breathed great deal easier when we
were inside the sallyport of the fort
Mai. Andrews. who was in command of
the fort. stopped the mob at the sally
port, saying TO them, "Shame on you,
citizens of Portland. You do not know
how To treat a captured foe. D."
That might mob Of citizens and the
police force Of Portland come over 10 the
fort aud demanded Us from the ma or in
His answer to them was as
follows: Those men are my prisoners;
. /, Of