The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-04-18

preservation of all on board. Mr.. Pills
bury was some eight or nine feet from
the mast, which lay in nearly hOri-
zontal position. He sprang this dis
lance, between the gunwale and the
mast, lighted upon the mast, at the
same time striking the axe into it, let
ting it 60, and clinching the mast, when
the splinter started, and the mast broke
off some fifteen feet above the deck,
and the schooner Immediately righted.
At eight o'clock the next morning
she was running back to the port under
jury-masts, at the rate of nine knots
an hour, and in two or three days she
arrived at Salem, where she was partly
owned. A new foremost was put in,
the proportions Of the maStS were re-
duced, and the schooner, still a priva-
teer, sailed on new cruise, under the
command of Captain Pilsbury.
She was bound for a cruise off the
West Indies. Owing to the head winds,
and calms in what are known as the
''horse latitudeS," she had long pas
sage to reach the cruising ground, which
lay off the Windward Islands. In re-
fitting, the bottom, which was without
copper, had not been cleaned. When
in sight of Sombrero she chased Bal
lahoo schooner, and lost sight of her at
night, but made her again about eight
o'clock i'll the morning. The two YES
sells crossed each other, bearing to wind
ward. Supposing her to be within
reach, Captain Pilsbury fired into her.
The sailing Of his schooner, however,
was much impeded from the cause we
i have stated, barnacleS having grown
fln ho+ tho OF,
quently escaped; but, Immediately after
she got clear, sail was made to the
east. She proved to be an English man
windward, the schooner had to run be-
fore the wind The only hope Captain
Pilsbury had was to escape in the night
He had lighted the vessel in every pos
sible way, and used the sweeps through
out the day The brig, however, press
ed the chase, and about nine in the
evening came up to the schooner
When close aboard, and without hay
ing hoisted any colors the captain took
in all sail as a sign Of surrender. The
commander of the brig demanded
''What schooner's that" to which Cap
tain Pilsbury answered, ''Ihe privateer
\ ankee.' On the instant a broadside
was fired of everything the brig had on
board, including small arms from the
tops, musketry, and everything else.
All the fore part OF the schooner, rig
ging and everything, were cut away by
the heavy grape and canister which
fell on the foreward part. Most of the
people had gone below Immediately
after the surrender to prepare for the
transhipment. Probably only some ten
out of the seventy, including the cap
tain, remained on deck, but for which
circumstance there must have been
great slaughter.
All hands were removed on board the
brig. The captain found her command
er a gentlemanly, clever man. In eX-
PLANTATION of the broadside, he said that
he had fired because, being night, he
thought the schooner might get away.
He disavowed any intentional cruelty
and expressed qualification that no
life had been taken. They were carried
into English Harbor in Antigua, and
thence to Barbados, where the captain
and his officers were put, with others,
on parole on shore.
The regular allowance furnished
throughout the British possessions to
all parole prisoners on shore was two
dollars per week. Those who were
prisoners at Barbados before the cap
taln's arrival made application to the
Governor, Sir George BeckWith, for adj
ditional allowance. He granted them
two dollars a week extra out of his own
pocket until such time as he could hear
from his own government. This allow
ance was continued during all the time
the captain remained there.
A short time after this capture, the
privateer brig Decatur" Captain Mich
OILS, of Newburyport was captured and
brought into Barbados. He was par
ticularly odious to the British govern
ment because he had made many pris-
oners, and had, previous to the war,
coast, recaptured his own vessel which
ade, and had put the prize crew in a
boat off the coast Captain Pilsbury
bears his testimony that more ami
able and kind hearted man did not live;
but his character for ferocity had been
increased by the circumstances attend
ing the capture of the last vessel which
he took before he was himself made
prisoner The vessel was British let
ter-of- marque. He ran alongside of her
in the night-yard- arm and yard-arm-
hailed her, and poured whole broad
side into her, precisely as had been
done in the case of the Yankee"
Though every person coming in contact
with him spoke of him with kindness,
unusual even among friends, still those
unacquainted with him viewed him as
little less than monster. Officers of
the British government, particularly,
took this view of his character, and
sent him home to England, on certain
charges of crime, IN A CAGE! 1t is
needless to say that he had done
nothing that was not justified as well by
national rights as by the principles Of
international law. He was, therefore,
cleared. His case is pointed to as an
evidence of the facility with which
mankind will condemn an action,
which, had it been done under any of
those conventional regulations which
are considered as the legitimate rules
for human conduct, would have been
regarded as an ordinary and proper
transaction.
In short time after Captain Pills
bury's arrival at Barbados, he was
taken sick, and required to 60 to the
hospital. OF all the things in the world,
he had always entertained the greatest
dread of hospital-as great he says,
as he had ever entertained of jail.
He put off going for two or three days,
and became very sick. The person in
attendance finally refused tO wait 1nOn