 | CHAPTER X.
THE POWDER-SHIP. Neal Nelson |  |
10. CHAPTER X.
THE POWDER-SHIP.
The attempt about to be made for cutting
off the powder-ship from the protection
of the frigate, was one of singular
boldness and temerity. But our hero
was well fitted for an enterprize like this.
Brave and skilful, and as cool as he was
courageous, he knew no difficulties where
he resolved to succeed. Captain Derby
was scarcely less daring in spirit and action
than himself; and his crew were full
of animation and zeal. The most perfect
silence, consistent with the working
of the vessel, prevailed on board; and
all were in eager expectation. Groups of
men crowded the fore-castle intently
watching the two vessels ahead, for not
only the store-ship was in sight, but also
the dark cloud like outline of the frigate
in the distance beyond her. The schooner's
sheets were drawn aft nearly sharp,
though the wind was several points free,
in order to present as narrow a surface as
possible to the eyes of those on the deck
of the enemy; while their broad yards
presented a large object to the vision of
their pursuers.
`How does she go?' asked Captain
Derby, as Neal laid down the thirty second
glass after ordering the reel to be
held.
`Five and a half!'
`That is fair! We plainly gain upon
them!'
`Yes. After we get a cable's length
nigher they will of course discover us;
run boldly up along side and hail; for if
they see us lagging behind they will take
the alarm and perhaps fire a gun to attract
the attention of the frigate!'
`You are right, Mr. Nelson! Steady,
as you are, helmsman!'
`Steady, sir!' answered the man in
the low, gruff tone, peculiar to men
when at the helm.
`She booms up bravely! There is a
light moving on board!' said Captain
Derby! `Stand up at your guns, men,
for we must be ready for any emergency.'
`Let every man have his boarding pike
and cutlass ready to his grasp,' said Neal a
few moments afterwards. `Be silent in
treading about the decks. Be ready to
board when you shall see me spring into
the hammock netting's and call boarders
away! But let there be no pistols
fired or taken; for this ship must be carried
with as little noise as possible! We
must get possession of her before she can
have time to fire a gun or give any alarm.'
The schooner stood on about five minutes
longer, when Neal, for Captain Derby
had given the whole conduct of the
enterprise to him as its originator, gave
an order to ease off the fore and main
sheets and keep away a couple of points!
The long booms moved out broadly
over the bulwarks and the little vessel
freed from her temporary restraint went
dashing forward boldly in a direction
and at a rate that in ten minutes brought
her within hail under the lee-counter of
the ship. She was already discovered
by the sound of commotion which the
wind bore to their ears; but Neal without
giving them time to speculate upon
his character or to hail him first, seized
his trumpet, and waiting until the schooner
came so near that his voice could not
be heard by the frigate, he hailed in true
man-of-war style,
`What ship is that?'
`The George III store-ship bound to
Boston? What schooner is that?'
`His Brittania majesty's cruiser,'
“Bull Dog.”
`From your course I suppose you are
bound into Halifax, and have heard of
the evacuation of Boston?'
`Yes.'
`What ship is that ahead?'
`His majesty's frigate the Sphynx!'
off! (Helmsman, luff a point! Come
up directly abeam so as to run the end of
the jib-boom into her fore-rigging. Stand
by her in tbe quarter boat with the grapnals
and be ready to cast them into her
mizzen-chains at the word!' These orders
were spoken by Neal in an under
tone.) You are under convoy of the frigate,
I suppose!'
`Yes.'
`Very well, then I will not keep company
with you! Good night and a pleasant
passage!'
`Thank you, sir, good night!'
The two vessels were standing on their
course all the while, the ship under top
gallant sails her courses brailed up, the
schooner under her fore and main sail
and her jib and fore topsail. They were
moving at about the rate of seven to five!
so that the schooner was each instant
overlapping the Ship's quarter with her
bows. The space between the vessels
abeam was about one hundred feet.
`I will pass ahead of you and speak the
frigate,' said Neal. `You seem to be a
light sailer and could make a circle
round me if you chose,' answered the
English Captain.
`Have you any late London papers?'
`Yes; I will throw you one, if you
will luff a little closer.'
Neal heard the captain give an order
to his steward to go into the cabin to
being the newspapers.
`Now stand by, boarders, all! Captain
Derby you may head the party bows
or astern! I do not wish to rob you of
any honor in this affair!'
`I am too fat to do service leading
boarders! I will remain and look after
the schooner, for you may have to retreat
aboard again!'
`Not while I have a life to lose!—
Helmsman now is your time to shoot the
jib-boom in her fore-rigging!'
`Tell your men to keep away a little
sir, you will be afoul of us!' cried the
English captain with quick apprehension.
Before he had done speaking the jib-boom
of the schooner showed itself
between the rattlings of the fore rigging
and the same instant the stern swung towards
the ship's quarter!
`Cast your grapnels!' cried Neal.—
`Now, boarders, away! Captain!' he
cried to the English commander, `I will
come on board in person and take your
papers!'
The next instant he was upon the deck
of the ship with thirty men at his back.
The struggle was short. Taken by surprise,
the English Captain made but little
resistance, and fled to his cabin. Two
British Colonels and three or four young
military officers, who were passengers
going over to join Howe's army, made a
courageous defence and were finally only
secured after they had killed three of the
boarders and wounded Neal in the sword-arm.
As they had not anticipated a surprise
there was fortunately no pistols on
deck, and none were discharged in the
melee. The crew of the ship, driven to
the forecastle, made no resistance but
surrendered at discretion. In four minutes
after Neal had boarded, the ship was
in his possession, and the captain and
eighteen seamen besides the military officers,
prisoners.
So complete had been the surprise,
and so successful the capture, that the
vessel still continued on her course, Neal
having the first thing sent a man to take
the helm which the English sailor had
deserted. The ship proved to be armed
with four twelve pounders; but they were
unloaded; and although a circlet of
boarding pikes surrounded the main-mast,
not one of them had been removed from
the beckets.
`I regret, my dear sir, I should have
to take you into Boston after all,' said
Neal to the discomfited British captain;
`but as that is the port for which you
sailed, it will not be any infringement
upon your ship's papers!'
`I would like to know if you are a
Yankee cruiser?' asked the Captain,
whom Neal had invited on deck.
`Yes. This is the American schooner
Rebel, Captain Derby, along side; and
we left Boston not many hours since on
purpose to capture you or the “William
and Mary.” But as she has been manned
and is making the best of her way to Halifax,
I must be content with George
IIId. How much powder have you on
board?'
`You will find out before you get into
port. I will blow you sky-high if, I can
get a match.'
`You are very kind to inform me of
irons. A guard is already placed over
the magazine's hold! So don't think of
doing anything so rash, dear captain. It
is very natural that you should fume and
swear a little, for it must be provoking
to be captured right under the stern of a
frigate!'
`None but a madman would have attempted
it! The frigate is not three
quarters of a mile off! I wish I had a
pistol or musket for a moment to fire and
let 'em know what a fix we are in. You
keep standing on; do you mean to take
the frigate too?'
`Not quite; I stand on to lull any suspicions
that any noise, if heard, might
have roused. If they heard our boarding
you, and seeing the ship still sailing steadily
in her wake, she will not stop to inquire
what was the matter; but if I had
instantly put about, as I mean to do in a
few moments, she would be putting back
to look after us.'
You are confoundedly shrewd. So I
suppose if the frigate dont happen to look
back, I shall have to go into Boston.'
`Yes. The Americans are in great
want of gun-powder, and this supply you
have brought over is very seasonable.—
No doubt the city of Boston will present
you with a vote of thanks.'
`You are a very merry young gentleman.'
`Captain Derby,' said Neal, looking
over the side, `now you have cast off the
schooner, perhaps you had best drop
astern, and lay your course to windward.
As the frigate may see you when you
quit the ship's side, you had best stand
away in such a line that the prize will
cover you till you get out of sight. I
shall gradually shorten sail and fall astern
till I lose sight of the frigate, and then
follow you.'
Captain Derby followed successfully
the suggestions of his young officer, and
dropping astern, leaving thirty of the
cruiser's crew in the prize with Neal, he
was in ten minutes invisible in the gloom
of the midnight sea.
The frigate was now about a mile ahead
standing on her course totally unsuspicious
of the events that had transpired on
board the powder-ship in convoy. Neal
had thought he could safely drop astern,
and gave orders to furl the main and mizzin
top-gallant sails. Soon afterwards he
brailed up the mizzen and main topsail,
leaving the head sails standing as they
were so as to deceive the frigate and give
the appearance of being under full sail.
`Is there no way in which we can give
the frigate intimation of our situation?'
asked one of the British colonels of the
captain in an under tone.
`None unless by discharging fire arms!
The report of a pistol would attract her
attention and bring her to! But we are
so closely guarded by the Yankee, there
is no access to such a weapon! We must
take it philosophically, trusting that the
frigate will miss us and put back after us;
for you see we are falling astern fast under
our short sail, and in ten minutes we
shall have lost sight of her!'
`This capture is characteristic of all
that I have heard of those rebellious yankees.
They are bold, daring devils and
attempt to achieve enterprizes no other
people would think of! Who would have
thought of or dared to board a ship within
less than a mile of a frigate, when the
firing of a single pistol would have betrayed
them and brought the frigate down
upon them.'
`Not exactly down upon them, Colonel,'
responded the Captain; `for the frigate is
ahead of us and of course to leeward.—
She would have to beat up to us, and it
would have been a long chase. This the
yankee knows and calculated upon. The
fact is, we are fairly outwitted and must
content ourselves with going into Boston
prisoners. See, the frigate is scarcely
visible. You can scarcely make her out.
She gradually fades away in the darkness
and distance, and now she is fairly out of
sight.'
`Ready about!' cried Neal in a quick
exulting tone.
`You see that the young fellow knows
what he is about!' continued the Captain.
`He will have it all his own way now.—
The frigate keeps on as ignorant of our
being in the hands of the enemy as a Port
Admiral parading Portsmouth Pier that
his flashy pocket handkerchief has been
picked out of his pocket.'
The order given by the young seaman
was obeyed by his crew with alacrity.—
They had discovered before Neal had
had a second officer who knew his business;
and his success had now bound
them to him with a devotion nothing could
destroy. He had not merely shown himself
a seaman, but a brave man who could
handle a cutlass as well as a trumpet. He
had conquered for them a ship of inestimable
value, enriching with her wealth,
each man of them all. They sprung to
their ports with a glad cry as they heard
the order to put about, and with a hearty
heave-ho-yeo that even the vicinity of the
frigate could not check they swung the
yards around and brought the ship braced
sharp up on the larboard tack.
`Lay aloft and make sail!' cried Neal
as the ship met her helm and lay snugly
to the wind.
The mizzin and main topmast were
loosed and the top-gallant sails set again,
and the ship began to toss the sea from
under her bows, leaving the frigate rapidly
in the distance.
`Keep a good lookout forward there,
and aloft, for we are not yet safe in port,'
cried Neal to his men. `There is another
frigate and three eighteen gun sloops yet
cruising about us. We are besides twenty
leagues east of our port with a wind dead
in our teeth.'
The prize proved, indeed, a very heavy
sailor. With a breeze that eight knots
could have been freely got out of the
schooner, but five and a half could be
made by the ship. After standing on about
an hour, a sail was discovered ahead.—
Neal had his men called to quarters and
stood on till he was satisfied that it was
the schooner on the opposite tack. They
hailed as they passed, and Captain Derby
saying he would keep in company, fell
astern and followed in her wake under
shortened sail. In less than twenty minutes
afterwards the cry “sail ho,” was
again heard from aloft. Neal sprung
forward and saw that a large ship was
very near, crossing his fore-foot. He
knew that if she was a frigate, he could
not escape her, and so resolved to put
the best face on the matter, luffed to give
her room to pass.
`What ship is that?' came hoarsely
from the deck of the stranger, which he
now saw plainly was a sloop of war.
`The George IIId, store ship, bound
for Boston!' answered Neal.
`Then tack ship and lay your course
for Halifax! The port of Boston has
been deserted by his majesty's fleet and
garrison, and is in Washington's hands.
Lay your course for the port of Halifax.'
`Aye, aye, sir! Many thanks for your
kindness.'
`What schooner is that in company?'
`A New foundland fishing-schooner we
have just spoken.'
The ships parted. The sloop of war
was soon lost in the darkness, and the
prize kept boldly on her way, crowding
all sail to get as far to windward as possible.
The day light dawned upon the prize
ship and cruiser within sight of Cape Cod,
the Sphynx frigate hull down to the East,
her topsails just dipping, and evidently in
pursuit of the store ship. The prize,
however, safely reached port about four
o'clock in the afternoon, and with `The
Rebel' in company, saluted the town
with thirteen guns and anchored of the
end of Long Wharf abreast of the other
prize.
The joy this capture produced throughout
the army, the town, and all New
England, cannot be concieved of at this
period of time! The prize contained
eleven hundred casks of powder, besides
cast shot, lead, muskets, swords, pistols,
and provisions to a large amount. Captain
Derby generously waived all the
credit of the capture, and Neal received
the public congratulations, not only of
Washington and the selectmen of the
town but a vote of thanks from Congress.
The command of the first frigate that
should be ready for sea was conferred
upon him. He silenced completely the
calumnies that had been circulated
againt him; and even his enemies were
constrained to do him reverence. The
joy of Anne can be better imagined than
discribed. Colonel Parks embraced his
young friend with fatherly pride and affection,
and said it would be the happiest
day of his life when he should see him
united to Anne. Frederick cordialy acknowledged
the injustice he had done
him, and the two friends reconciled, were
in a few days more closely bound to each
were united on the fourth of July, ten
weeks after the departure of the English
garrison, at the altar of Christ's Church,
Salem street, Washington giving away
the bride.
Thus we terminate our story; which
we have written mainly to illustrate the
important historical events connected
with the siege and evacuation of Boston;
knowing, that history reflected from the
mirror of romance, sometimes catcheswith
its lusture the youthful eye, which otherwise
would but faintly be impressed by
its sober presence; and in making use of
history, to further our purpose, we have in
no instance deviated from its integrity.
| CHAPTER X.
THE POWDER-SHIP. Neal Nelson | |