The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-06-01
A PRIVATEER OF The WAR OF 1872:
The Skipper Cautious but the Ingenuity Of the First Officer
Resulted in the Capture Of British Slooop Of War
which was Worth Something.
Cautious, but the ]
BY w. A. CURTIS.

name is Whitman. Abel G. Whitman.
You ortcr see our men look dark. AZ
ter hangin' around four months and then
only to ketch an American vessel. They
was mad. so was Ezra John.
Hum" said he. "a very pretty story.
You may have the papers you speak of,
but you may have stolen 'em. amt
sure this amt a Nova Scotia vessel, IN
fact, think it is. On the whole, we
put a prize crew aboard . and the priva-
teersmen all laughed a Jovial sort Of
laugh and looked pleased, but grand
father had come aboard and he took
Ezra John aside
Nov, see here" said he, eve don't
want to make no mistakes. Lets be
right and just. Let's do what the law
considers right. It's agin my principles
to do anything the marine laws sa:s
amt right
Wen land these fellers on the coast
Of Hayti and sell the ship at one Of the
Dutch islands, said Ezra John. If it
should turn out they was Yankees. we
can show how they claimed to be Eng
lish and how we was fooled. but they
amt likely to git home in a hurry ana
in these troublous times, nobody,l pay
much attention to EN-. II they pc 1an-5
KEGS. tin serve 'em right for pretendin
II.
be Yankees, don't care, for then that
would really be Abel G. Whitman, the
man that by underhand work took my
girl away from me.
You see. Ezra John had been engaged
to o Bucksport girl named Mary Stra11or'
and one day Jest before he sailed, ne got
a, note from her sayin' she had got tired
Of him and had become engaged 10 a
man AIMED Abel P. Whitman. from ROCK
land, a man Ezra John had never seeh'
mr. heard CT before. And here he was
We'll. lest as Ezra John stopped talkin,
e-randfather see a strange sail to lEc
north and TOLD Ezra John and he put ms
glass to his eye, but didn't say nothln
to the others, and they didn't notice It.
Ezra John kept a-starin and starin
can English sloop-of-war with probably
twenty-eight guns" said he IN g. low
voice then in a, loud one DO you knew,
NV hearties. believe this here Zodiac Is
an American vessel after all. 1t al
comes back to me now. Abel U. WHIT
man. why, you are gentleman from
D scotland and some acquainted up buchs-
rort way 1a;o
yves, said the skipper of the ZODIAC.
comm forward joyously, ana you
accnainted around Bucksport yousset.
why. of course, salo H'1 Gaeuhi!iikens!
are free, gentlemen. 6ee"ili Ite,I.s,,
WHAT'S that in the of1ing? An L, Ens ss
man-of-war, or I'm a pirate. we 40
to make runnin flgnt. .+.rt.
Al hands was excited. Our men start
al to nile aboard our ship. put Era
John restrained en- ours
..Your vessel sails about as 1ast do 49, ~,
and she's well armed, saio ,.1na,,,o pot
To the Zodiac's skipper. r.
eivtv more men than we neeo' "a. anu ,,,+
you're willin', Cap'n Whitman, - +h;rs
~, aboard with you and with your ~ Ia
-. .,,a,, t1,ere'u be a big enough crew a.,o
- +hs english ship over takes US W.
can give hesya good tussie, 1eS yTe.lI
has got more guns than we. 10. = ,-o,, fool
ehsass for ( chance to rake her. Sne
s erot more guns than both OF US aAi - ,,,a
$50 80 f;ef,t unless we have TO- oue -
do. we'll try to fix her.
yvritman was willin' and glad 70 asle'
1,zra Johns plan. Like all 1iiei ' SAieI.
r,ar in them days, the Ioolac vs. ,,t
armed and carried a large crew. ~
49,. NJ our men aboard OF nee
started off in company. -.+,,
II xsasn't long before we saw ~. ~,
ire stiff wind BLOWN, the DuAo r,'st
Easter than the Zodiac ana tne ,an
MN sailed faster than either o. e,
,,duallv gained and at three c'ciocs
T., +ha afternoon. the Zodiac was mile
,s+ern of the Duke, and the tnghshn'an
Ias four miles astern of the Zodiac, ana
i ms then the wind dropped. Out Went
our sweeps and the small boats began :an
to tow, but the zoulac was so hea'y ioi
tho few men pullin' on her that the Duhe
began to leave her farther ana iarthei
behind. The English ship was in tow
Of otis. it's boats and at six in the evenin'.
the Duke was go far from the Zodiac
and She was so near the Englishman that
our folks felt sure she would be attacked
nv small boats as soon as 1t got cafk,
Gov oil to come aboard the Duke. but to
fasten a cable to the bows before they
left and fetch it along to the Duke. which
they did. as there was plenty of rope in
the Zodiac's cargo. Jest as night was
fallin', we see small boats and about
hundred men startin for the zodiac and
AFTER it cot dark, signals flashed out from
her to the man-of-war.