Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1897-01-28

lOOse, small arms SeTFeu OUT anu TIC
peaceful packet was soon turned into
man-of-war. There was a Provi-
dence in it. When the stranger saw
that he was suspected he threw off all
Disguise. Of a sudden his decks were
alive with men running about, and
later on four boats were lowered and
filed with armed men. They were
coming to attack the Ruby Castle.
They must have known that she was
armed and had a strong crew aboard,
but pirates were men to take long
chances. When the four boats were
ready to leave the briggs side counted
ffty-two men in all, and it seemed as
if as many more were left behind. The
signal of distress was hauled down and
the black flag run up, and there was
no longer question Of the Stranger
identity and object.
You will wonder how we took mat
tiers aboard the packet. OF the thirty
or more male cabin passengers, five or
six showed the white feather, and, OF
course, most of the women were great
ly frightened. Among the emigrants
were about fifty men and half grown
boys. To man of them they volun-
teered to help the crew, and muskets
and pistols were served out to some
and cutlasses and boarding pixies to
others. We were prepared to give
good account of ourselves as the boats
approached, and aside from the few
skulkers we had no doubt of beating
them off. The fellows were a desper-
ate lot, belonging to all races, and
there was no stopping to parley. The
boats divided as they came on, and
when half the distance had been
passed their crews began cheering
Our first shot from one Of the big guns
could not have been bettered. The
solid shot struck one of the boats fair
in the stem and split her open full
length, and of those not killed out
right only two or three were picked
up. The disaster only made the
rascals the more desperate. Raising
a cheer the three boats dashed at us,
and were soon so close that the big
guns were of no further use We met
them with firearms, and we hove cold
shots into the boats as they hooked on,
and no gang of pirates ever got a
harder drubbing. Although we lost
two killed and several wounded, not
man of them got aboard, and only two
boats ard eighteen men returned to the
Celeste. We knew they would not
make another boat attack, and it was
generally believed that when the breeze
came the pirate would sail away. 1t
was four o'clock in the afternoon be-
fore the calm was broken, and to our
surprise and anxiety the Celeste did
not show her heels. On the contrary,
she began working down toward us,
and as sooh as within cannon shot she
opened fire. She had four guns in
broadside, the same as the Ruby Castle,
and for an hour we had a square fight
of it. Her object was to cripple us
aloft-ours to damage her wherever
we could. She sailed much better than
we did, and was more easily handled,
but in spite of all her tricks we gave
her the worst of it, and finally drove
her out of range. You can Judge how
hot it was, when l tell you that in the
running fight, which lasted for about
seventy minutes, We were hit IN hull
and rigging forty-four times. We
had nine men killed and twelve wound
ed among the fighters and four killed
and nine wounded among passengers
and emigrants. What the loss of the
stranger was we could not tell, but we
battered him below and aloft until he
had to draw off. We left him astern
as we headed our course, and no one
supposed that we should set eyes on
him again.
That night all the dead aboard of
us were buried and the ship put to
rights as far as could be, and only the
women and children slept. The
wounded spars were replaced, shot
holes plugged up, and there was no
reason why we should not safely make
the Cape. When daylight came we
congratulated each other over our
victory, and the Captain had just de-
cided to make sort of holiday in
honor of the event, when thunder
storm came racing up behind US, and
in the midst of the black cloud was
the pirate brig. Instead of sailing
away in search of haven or of other
prey, when she had repaired damages
she had picked up our trail and was
Ir,gb Grch