The herald., 1896-06-21
SOME DARING DEEDS OF PRIVATEERS

trary'
The Englishman. meantime. was head
ing for the privateer, with the inten-
ton of lying alongside. Boarders had
been called away and sheafs and pixies
and the glitter of drawn cutlasses show
ed where the boarders were crouched,
ready to make a spring for the decks of
the Hyder Ally as soon as their vessel
should range alongside.
Hard aport your helm there! Do
you want him to run aboard of us?"
shouted Lieutenant Barney to the helms
man, as the ships drew near to each
other. The command was uttered in
voice loud enough to be heard on the
Englishman. as was intended. Deceiv-
ed by the order Captain Rodgers shifted
helm and bummed sail, but, acting under
the secret instructions of Lieutenant
Barney. the helmsman of the Hyder Ally
had put the helm of that vessel hard a
starboard and few minutes later the
jibboom Of the Englishman was forking
through the fore rigging of the privateer.
A dozen American seamen sprang for
ward to make 1t fast, and while they
were lashing the spar to prevent the
sloop from swinging clear. the guns of
the privateer began to blaze.
Exposed to the raking fire, the docks
of the General Monk were soon convert
ed into shambles, and. being head on to
the enemy and lashed in that position,
not an answering gun could be brought
to bear. Four times the privateer sent
her broadsides Though the quivering
length of her antagonist, and, finding
further resistance uSelssA Captain
Rodgers hauled down his flag
Among the numerous encounters
which deserve mention was that Of the
siXteen-gun sloop Pickering, fitted out
by citizens of Massachusetts and COM
manded by j. Harraden. The crew
numbered 100 men. The Pickering's first
battle took place on May 9th, when she
had an indecisive contest lasting one
hour and twenty-five minutes with a
cutter mounting twenty guns. About
three weeks later she captured the
schooner Golden Eagle, of twenty-five
guns. The prize was retaken by the Ach-
lilies immediately afterward, whereupon
the Pickering renewed the engagement
and, after several hours of hard fighting.
beat off the Achilles and retook the prize.
What seems like a heroic endeavor
worthy of longer account is summed
up in this brief note of the Pickering's
subsequent career: Off Sandy Hook, in
October" the record says, the Picker
ing engaged and at the same time re-
captured after one hour and thirty min
utes, the enemy's ship Hope, reported to
have been armed with fourteen guns:
the brig Pomone, of twelve guns, and
the cutter Royal George, armed with
seventeen guns"
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Edward S. Maclay, in his excellent
history of the navy, estimates that about
500 vessels of all kinds were captured
from the English by American cruisers
and privateers during the war of inde
pendence. To this the historian adds
the comment that "one of the note
worthy fpa tIlraS Of the StrllCp1a WAS tbh
prominent part private enterprise took
in the operations on the sea. While not
a single continental cruiser was taken by
British privateers, sixteen English cruis-
ers, mounting in all 226 guns, were taken
by American privateers or by private en-
terpriSe.
1t may surprise many to know that not
less than 1867 public and private armed
vessels were sent against the enemy
during the revolutionary war. These
were of all kinds, and ranged in class
from whaleboat to ship. Regularly COM
missioned vessels of war are not included
in the computation. 1t is interesting to
note that Massachusetts led, with 405;
Pennsylvania came second, with 422;
Maryland with 1855; Connecticut. IT'S;
New Hampshire, 81; Virginia "A; Rhode
Island. 20: New York. Il; South Carolina,
10; North Carolina, 9; New Jersey, 5;
and five others classified under the head
of unknown" went to sea.
Conditions of naval warfare have un-
dergone a vast change since the priva-
teer of the convoy and carronade era
was eXtant. If he ever goes to sea again,
he will go in steam craft and will cry
halt to passing steamers in the language
Of the high-poWer and rapid-fire gun.
Divested of its semibuccaneer romance.
and stripped of its picturesque features,
the privateering of the future. if there
should ever be such calling, may still
be a fruitful source of adventure. with
a romance all its own. One can easily
imagine a steamship under the guise of
peaceful trader and neutral flag sud-
denly changing her colorS and of de-
manding of the casual ocean wayfarer,
by means of a rifled piece of ordinance,
an exposition of her manifest: and if,
perchance, the other should have the
same curiosity, and the battery back of
it, but concealed, as in the days of old,
one can look for repetition of the occur
rences that made history in elder days,
and perhaps the same result. though the
process of arriving at it may be, and
doubtless will be, different.
NAVAL MILITIA
During very recent days the naval
reserve man has had a large share of
public attention along with the privateer
of the past and the potential one of the
future. Between the two there is
wide dissimilarity. They will have a
common OBJECT. Their points of depart
ure must be widely separated.
The naval militia, as it was organized,
is well understood. Measures are now
on foot to establish an auxiliary force
to that, which will be naval reserve
in it's proper sense. A bill which has
been drawn declares that such q reserve
shall be established. Commander j. w.
Miller of the local naval militia has eX-
planned that large enrollments from the
merchant marine cannot be expected, as
the country is not now possessed of a
large merchant navy I'VE can, how
ever" says Commander Miller in a re-
cent interview, Induce fishermen, yacht
sailors and longShoremen to serve a
month or more during the winter by pay
ing them 1t will therefore be no more
difficult for men to enlist in the United
States naval reserve than for other
men to join the naval militia or national
guard New York now has over 1900
uniformed national guard and only
about 400 in its naval militia
The object of the proposed naval re-
serve is, of course, to man subsidized
merchant steamships, and to augment
the regular naval forces in time of war.
American steamships carrying mails are
available for government use in time of
hostilities, and the reserves would douht
less be called upon to man them. Prom
inent iA the list of subsidized vessels are
the four American liners, Paris. New
York, St. Louis and st. Paul.
The privateer, on the other hand.
would go to sea in craft over which the