Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-13

auic W OWH IIuS knoWleQge without a II
and a resolve that a Navy SO marvelo,
De IN a second place upon reaching m;
THE policy of naval expansion about
which Congress and the country
are now going to the mat may be well
or Ill: I am not saying. But this ]
say, that the richest UNEMPLOYED stores
or Ver1table adventure now remaining
hidden from the heed of ambitious an
naliSts OF f1ctioniSts are in the Ameri-
can naval records. And next / note
the Shrieking anomaly that you will
ind many school children in the United
States aware of the piratical perform
ances of Drake and Frobisher and few
that ever heard of Truxtun, Barney
Rathbone, Daniel Waters. or Nicholas
Biddle, although these were among the
many that enabled this country to live
and not perish. For this fact there
may be some adequate explanation, but
/ have never heard of it.
For a Sunday mornings entertain
ment n just to indicate how much
the naval men may have on their side,
suppose We take a few specimens of the
hardihood, skill and bulldog tenacity
that in the crucial Revolutionary DAYS
served the American cause and turned
worlds limelight on a handful of
impromptu American war vessels about
the size Of fishing smacks. We will
take them without choosing and with
U prejudice from a list of many
amazing deeds.
X \ X X
ABRAHAM WHIPPLE.
ExCEPT only for the Boston massacre
the first blood that was shed IN
n Revolutionary struggle was shed on
the water, n the first overt act of
resistance was by American seafaring
men.
BY 1772 the exactions and tyrannies
OF the British government had stung
n colonies to so much protest that
england massed troops and vessels Of
wal to overawe the indictments. One
OF the pet practices Of the British
commanders was to hold up any
thing that looked like a colonial ship.
however harmless, and put its skipper
on the inQuisitorial gridiron.
One day in June, 1772, an English
man-of-war attempted to arrest the
smart sloop Hannah, which was run
ming as q packet between Providence
and New York. The skipper of the
Hannah refused to stop at the British
fleets order and held its course. The
admiral sent his swift armed schooner
GaSpe In pursuit. The Hannah's cap
tain. who knew the Sound like the in
side of his hand, led the chase where
his own vessel was safe enough. but
where the Gaspe, drawing two more feet,
went aground in Providence River.
Abraham Whipple was a sea captain
courageous, living in Providence. That
night he summoned the citizens to meet
. IN front Of his house, came out on his
ROOF dressed hke an Indian, and made
q flery harangue, ending with an ap-
peal to all of his order of mind to dis
guise themselves as he was disguised
and follow him. Sixty-four responding,
he put them aboard his vessel and
sailed down to where the Gaspe lay
aground. He had loaded up with a
choice cargo of cobble stones, which
seemed unusual lading, but this Whipple
person knew h he was about.
When he got within hailing distance
of the Gaspe he demanded surrender.
The English replied with a shot, to
which Whipple'S men answered with
their own firearms. and the master of
the Gaspe was shot through the body.
,Whipple ran in close, hoped aboard
with his men, cobblestones in hand.
ana delivered the cargo with neatneSs
and dispatch where it would do the
most good for the purposes intended.
After a brief struggle the British sur
rendered at discretion. When they had
been removed Whipple set the Gaspe on
,fire n stood by at a safe distance
until she blew up.
The news struck the royal governors
oi colonies almost speeches. with
inauguration, out the British government
was not so dumb. 1t offered a reward
OF $4,000, extremely he-.vy for those
Gays, Tor information on which the
doors OF this deed could be prosecuted.
including immunity as well as paw for
1nformers. Everybody in Providence
knew who burned UP the Gaspe. but
neither gold nor immunity, nor both,
could produce information. The King
appointed an extraordinary commission,
consisting OF three governors and a
chief justice, to conduct an unremit-
ting search. Even these eminent men
were foiled, and Whipple Continues to
go in and out of Providence unmolested,
Reasoning persons might have known
then that the attempt to walk on the
necks OF such people would be a CLANCY
adventure, but six years of hard fighting
were required to pound this into the
British head.
When the war began Whipple entered
the slender Navy of the new republic
n served it with energy and success
Inc EngIISn, VINO knew well enough Of
his part in the Gaspe business, desired
above ali things to capture him. Tht
admiral OF the Sound feet sent word tt
him that he would "hang him at thu
yards arm as a common pirate"
At this Whipple applied his righ'
thumb to the end of his nose and hi
left thumb to his right little finger anc
agitated violently the fingers OF boil
hands. Then he wrote back to tn
admiral:
ut is necessary to catch your maj
before you hang him."
He served with distinction in tn
operations around Charleston and else
where, and after the war removed witt
his family to Ohio, where he becam
one of the founders of Marietta.
JEREMIAH O'BRIEN.
A FTER the battles of Lexington an,
a Concord and before Bunker Hill
the British war schooner Margaret
was at Machias, Me, conveying tw
other vessels loaded with lumber 70
Gage, at Boston. The townspeople, VIII
had heard from Lexington a few day
before, had a different idea. The
laid q plot to capture the captain an
officers Of the Margaretta while the