Stories of Our Naval Heroes Part 14

This brig was named the _Frolic_. It had been sent in charge of a fleet of fourteen merchantmen, but these had been scattered by the gale until only six were left. The _Frolic_ was a good match for the _Wasp_, and seemed to want a fight quite as badly, for it sailed for the American ship as fast as the howling wind would let it. And you may be sure the _Wasp_ did not fly away.

Captain Jones hoisted his country's flag like a man. He was not afraid to show his true colors. But the _Frolic_ came up under the Spanish flag. When they got close together Captain Jones hailed,--

"What ship is that?"

The only answer of the British captain was to pull down the Spanish flag and run up his own standard, stamped with the red cross of St. George.

And as the one flag went down and the other went up, the _Frolic_ fired a broadside at the _Wasp_. But just then the British ship rolled over on the side of a wave, and its b.a.l.l.s went whistling upward through the air.

The Yankee gunners were more wide-awake than that. They waited until their vessel rolled down on the side of a great billow, and then they fired, their solid shot going low, and tearing into the _Frolic's_ sides.

The fighting went that way all through the battle. The British gunners did not know their business and fired wild. The Yankees knew what they were about, and made every shot tell. They had sights on their guns and took aim; the British had no sights and took no aim. That is why the Americans were victors in so many fights.

But I think there was not often a sea-fight like this. The battle took place off Cape Hatteras, which is famous for its storms. The wind whistled and howled; the waves rose into foaming crests and sank into dark hollows; the fighting craft rolled and pitched. As they rolled upward the guns pointed at the clouds. As they rolled downward the muzzles of the guns often dipped into the foam. Great ma.s.ses of spray came flying over the bulwarks, sweeping the decks. The weather and the sailors both had their blood up, and both were fighting for all they were worth. It was a question which would win, the wind or the men.

As fast as the smoke rose the wind swept it away, so that the gunners had a clear view of the ships. The roar of the gale was half drowned by the thunder of the guns, and the whistle of the wind mingled with the scream of the b.a.l.l.s, while the sailors shouted as they ran out their guns and cheered as the iron hail swept across the waves.

In such frantic haste did the British handle their guns, that they fired three shots to the Yankees' two. The latter did not fire till they saw something to fire at. As a result, most of British b.a.l.l.s went whistling overhead, and pitching over the _Wasp_ into the sea, while most of the Yankee b.a.l.l.s swept the decks or bored into the timbers of the _Frolic_.

But you must not think that the shots of the _Frolic_ were all wasted, if they did go high. One of them hit the maintopmast of the _Wasp_ and cut it square off. Another hit the mizzen-topgallantmast and toppled it into the waves. In twenty minutes from the start "every brace and most of the rigging of the _Wasp_ were shot away." The _Wasp_ had done little harm above, but a great deal below.

The _Frolic_ could have run away now if she had wanted to. But her captain was not of the runaway kind. The fire of the _Wasp_ had covered his deck with blood, but he fought boldly on.

As they fought the two ships drifted together and soon their sides met with a crash. Then, as they were swept apart by the waves, two of the _Wasp's_ guns were fired into the bow-ports of the _Frolic_ and swept her gun-deck from end to end. Terrible was the slaughter done by that raking fire.

The next minute the bowsprit of the _Frolic_ caught in the rigging of the _Wasp_, and another torrent of b.a.l.l.s was poured into the British ship. Then the Yankee sailors left their guns and sprang for the enemy's deck. The captain wanted them to keep firing, but he could not hold them back.

First of them all was a brawny Jerseyman named Jack Lang, who took his cutla.s.s between his teeth and clambered like a cat along the bowsprit to the deck. Others followed, and when they reached the deck of the _Frolic_ they found Jack Lang standing alone and looking along the blood-stained deck with staring eyes.

Only four living men were to be seen, and three of these were wounded.

One was the quartermaster at the wheel and the others were officers. Not another man stood on his feet, but the deck was strewn with the dead, whose bodies rolled about at every heave of the waves.

When the men came running aft the three officers flung down their swords to show that they had surrendered, and one of them covered his face with his hands. It hurt him to give up the good ship. Lieutenant Biddle, of the _Wasp_, had to haul down the British flag.

Never had there been more terrible slaughter. Of the 110 men on the _Frolic_ there were not twenty alive and unhurt, while on the _Wasp_ only five were dead and five wounded. The hull of the _Frolic_ was full of holes and its masts were so cut away that in a few minutes they both fell.

Thus ended one of the most famous of American sea-fights. It was another lesson that helped to stop the English from singing

"Britannia rules the waves."

But the little _Wasp_ and her gallant crew did not get the good of their famous victory. While they were busy repairing damages a sail appeared above the far horizon. It came on, growing larger and larger, and soon it was seen to be a big man-of-war.

The game was up with the _Wasp_ and her prize, for the new ship was the _Poictiers_, a great seventy-four ship-of-the-line. She snapped up the _Wasp_ and the _Frolic_ and carried them off to the British isle of Bermuda, where the victors found themselves prisoners.

A few words will finish the story of the _Wasp_. She was taken into the British navy; but she did not have to fight for her foes, for she went down at sea without doing anything. So she was saved from the disgrace of fighting against her country.

Captain Jones and his men were soon exchanged, and Congress voted them a reward of $25,000 for their gallant fight, while the brave captain was given the command of the frigate _Macedonian_, which had been captured from the British. It was Captain Stephen Decatur, the hero of Tripoli, that captured her, in the good ship _United States_.

Would you like to hear about the other _Wasps_? There were two more of them, you know. They were good ships, but ill luck came to them all. The first _Wasp_ did her work in the Revolution, and had to be burned at Philadelphia to keep her from the British when they took that city. The second one, as I have just told you, was lost at sea, and so was the third. You may see that bad luck came to them all.

The third _Wasp_ was, like the second, a sloop-of-war, but she was a large and heavy one. And though in the end she was lost at sea and followed the other _Wasp_ to the bottom, she did not do so without sending some British messengers there in advance.

I will tell you the story of this _Wasp_, and how she used her sting, but it must be done in few words.

She was built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and sailed on May 1, 1814, her captain being Johnston Blakeley; her crew a set of young countrymen who were so unused to the sea that most of them were seasick for a week.

Their average age was only twenty-three years, so they were little more than boys. Yet the most of them could hit a deer with a rifle, and they soon showed they could hit a _Reindeer_ with a cannon. For near the end of June they came across a British brig named the _Reindeer_, and in less than twenty minutes had battered her in so lively a fashion that her flag came down and she was a prize.

The crew of the _Reindeer_ were trained seamen, but they did not know how to shoot. The Americans were Yankee farmer-lads, yet they shot like veteran gunners. I am sure you will think so when I tell you that the British could hardly hit the _Wasp_ at all, though she was less than sixty yards away. But the Yankees. .h.i.t the _Reindeer_ so often that she was cut to pieces and her masts ready to fall. In fact, after she was captured, she could not be taken into port, but had to be set on fire and blown to pieces.

But I must say a good word for the gallant captain of the _Reindeer_.

First, a musket ball hit him and went through the calves of both legs, but he kept on his feet. Then a grape-shot--an iron ball two inches thick--went through both his thighs. The brave seaman fell, but he rose to his feet again, drew his sword, and called his men to board the _Wasp_. He was trying to climb on board when a musket ball went through his head. "O G.o.d!" he cried, and fell dead.

This fight was in the English Channel, where Blakeley was doing what John Paul Jones had done years before. Two months after the sinking of the _Reindeer_ the _Wasp_ had another fight. This time there were three British vessels, the _Avon_, the _Castilian_, and the _Tartarus_, all of them brig-sloops like the _Reindeer_. These vessels were scattered, chasing a privateer, and about nine o'clock at night the _Wasp_ came up with the _Avon_ alone. They hailed each other as ships do when they meet at sea. Then, when sure they were enemies, they began firing, as ships do also in time of war. For forty minutes the fight kept up, and then the _Avon_ had enough. She was riddled as the _Reindeer_ had been. But the _Wasp_ did not take possession; for before a boat could be sent on board, the two comrades of the _Avon_ came in sight.

The _Wasp_, after her battle with the _Avon_, could not fight two more, so she sailed away and left them to attend to their consort. They could not save her. The _Wasp_ had stung too deeply for that. The water poured in faster than the men of all three ships could pump it out, and at one o'clock in the morning down plunged the _Avon's_ bow in the water, up went her stern in the air, and with a mighty surge she sank to rise no more. But the gallant _Wasp_ had ended her work. She took some more prizes, but the sea, to whose depths she had sent the _Reindeer_ and _Avon_, took her also. She was seen in October, and that was the last that human eyes ever saw of her.

CHAPTER XV

CAPTAIN LAWRENCE DIES FOR THE FLAG

HIS WORDS, "DO NOT GIVE UP THE SHIP," BECOME THE FAMOUS MOTTO OF THE AMERICAN NAVY

THE United States navy had its _Hornet_ as well as its _Wasps_. And they were well named, for they were all able to sting. The captain of the _Hornet_ was a n.o.ble seaman named James Lawrence, who had been a midshipman in the war with Tripoli. In the War of 1812 he was captain in succession of the _Vixen_, the _Wasp_, the _Argus_, and the _Hornet_.

The _Hornet_ was a sloop-of-war. I have told you what that means. She had three masts, and carried square sails like a ship, but she was called a sloop on account of her size. She had eighteen short guns and two long ones. The short guns threw thirty-two pound and the long ones twelve pound b.a.l.l.s.

Of course you have not forgotten the fight of the _Const.i.tution_ with the _Java_. When the _Const.i.tution_ went south to Brazil at that time the _Hornet_ went with her, but they soon parted.

In one of the harbors of Brazil Captain Lawrence saw a British ship as big as the _Hornet_. He waited outside for her, but she would not come out. He had found a coward of a captain, and he locked him up in that harbor for two months.

Then he got tired and left. Soon after he came across the _Peac.o.c.k_, a British man-of-war brig. The _Peac.o.c.k_ was as large as the _Hornet_ and its captain was as full of fight as Captain Lawrence. He was the kind of man that our bold Lawrence was hunting for. When two men feel that way, a fight is usually not far off. That was the way now. Soon the guns were booming and the b.a.l.l.s were flying.

But the fight was over before the men had time to warm up. The first guns were fired at 5.25 in the afternoon, and at 5.39 the British flag came down; so the battle lasted just fourteen minutes. Not many victories have been won so quickly as that.

But the _Hornet_ acted in a very lively fashion while it lasted. Do you know how a hornet behaves when a mischievous boy throws a stone at its nest? Well, that is the way our _Hornet_ did. Only one ball from the _Peac.o.c.k_ struck her, and hardly any of her men were hurt. But the _Peac.o.c.k_ was bored as full of holes as a pepper-box, and the water poured in faster than all hands could pump it out. In a very short time the unlucky _Peac.o.c.k_ filled and sank. So Captain Lawrence had only the honor of his victory; old ocean had swallowed up his prize.

But if Captain Lawrence got no prize money, he won great fame. He was looked on as another Hull or Decatur, and Congress made him captain of the frigate _Chesapeake_. That was in one way a bad thing for the gallant Lawrence, for it cost him his life. In another way it was a good thing, for it made him one of the most famous of American seamen.

I have told you the story of several victories of American ships. I must now tell you the story of one defeat. But I think you will say it was a defeat as glorious as a victory. For eight months the little navy of the young Republic had sailed on seas where British ships were nearly as thick as apples in an orchard. In that time it had not lost a ship, and had won more victories than England had done in twenty years. Now it was to meet with its first defeat.

When Captain Lawrence took command of the _Chesapeake_, that ship lay in the harbor of Boston. Outside this harbor was the British frigate _Shannon_, blockading the port.

Now you must know that the American people had grown very proud of their success on the sea. They had got to think that any little vessel could whip an English man-of-war. So the Bostonians grew eager for the _Chesapeake_ to meet the _Shannon_. They were sure it would be brought in as a prize, and they wanted to hurrah over it.

Poor Lawrence was as eager as the people. He was just the man they wanted. The _Chesapeake_ had no crew, but he set himself to work, and in two weeks he filled her up with such men as he could find.