Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1898-05-21

for his great cruise in the Essex,
fought in this engagement as a mid
shipman and distinguished himself for
his nerve and cool Judgment. The
lost five killed and
wounded oot of q crew of 300. while
the Frenehman had 40 killed and
wounded out of his crew of 400. Here /
was clearly apparent. as in all other
the superior gunnery of /
the Yankee, as every one of the enemy's |
heavier guns was dismounted by |
the well directed fire of the Constella- |
ton.
Lieutenant Rogers and Midshipman
Porter were put on board the Insurgent
with prize crew of III men to super
intend the removal of the prisoners,
but before this had been effected a
gale came up and separated the ships,
and when daylight came the following
morning those on board the prize
could see no trace of the Constellation.
This left the young officers in an ex
ceedinely dangerous condition, with
badly damaged ship and only IL men
to sail her and guard 173 prisoners yet
left on board. The dead and dying
lay all over the decks which were slip
perry with blood, the hatchway gratings
had been lost, and there were no means
of ironing the prisoners. But the
young Americans, as usual, were equal
to the emergency. Rogers was a man
of great strength and courage, and
with the hearty assistance of Porter
and the eleven seamen they forced the
prisoners below, loaded a gun with
grape and canister and pointed it down
the hatch, over which they hung bag
filed with heavy shot which could be
cut down at a moments notice, and
kept two or three men with loaded pls-
tolls and pixies and bat.le-axes con-
stantly on watch, and after three days
and nights of storm they finally got
into St. Kits with their prize.
In 1899 cambridge. having been re-
leased from Imprisonment in Guade-
loupe, was given command of the 1S-
gun brig Norfolk, one of the vessels
saved by his trick when captured by
the Insurgent the year before, and he
did lively work among the islands.
cleaning out the Picaroons who had
been hiding among the numerous keys
in shallow water in their boats at
lacking merchantmen and small war
vessels. He also captured French
privateer and her prize loaded with
coffee. which latter had just been at
tackled by the sea brigands and her
crew killed when the Frencbman came
up and drove them off. He kept up
the good work there all that winter,
running priyateers into Havana and
blockading them there in spite of the
Spanish governors protests, and was
rewarded with captains commission
early in 1900
Late in 1899 the Congress and the
Essex cruised in West Indian waters
and chased privateers into the shoals
and among the rocks with that energy,
daring and GOODNESS in danger which
has always been the distinguishing
mark of the American sailor-
| In February, 1900, about fifteen
miles west of Basse Terre, oc-
CURED the great fight betwee n
the Constellation and the French 40
gun frigate Vengeance, a typical old
| fashioned sea battle. This action did
not commence until after O'Clock in
the evening and continued until at. er
midnight.
Truxtun ordered the Constellation s
gunners to fire at the enemy's hull
and that only when they were certain
of hitting. The result was that after
the four and one half hours of this kind
of hammering the Frenchman's guns
were put out of action, but as he had
fired higher and cut up the rigging of
tue SOuSlciidtlou
her hull, she was unable TO pursue, and
in the darkness the Vengeance, less
crippled in her rigging, sailed away
with loss of 100 men out of crew
of $50, while the Constellation lost 80
out of 80. Here was another ex-
ample of superior American gum cry.
The Constellation carried 80 guns, fir
ing a broadside of S 26 pounds of shot,
and a crew of 80 men. while the
Vengeance carried 80 guns, firing a
brosdside of lis pounds, with a crew
of $50. The Vengeance was struck in
the hull by 1S6 round shot, causing
the heavy loss in killed and wounded.
Captain Truxtun received a gold medal
and the command of the A gun trigate
President as reward for this victory.
The discipline and drill of the Constel-
lation was well nigh perfect. In the
early stages of the battle. while Trux
tan was endeayoring TO get into fav-
orable position, he forbade his men to |
fire, although many of them were fall |
ing in their places from the shot of the |
enemy but they stood grim and silent |