Transcriber's Notes: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal signs=. Small uppercase have been replaced with regular uppercase. Blank pages have been eliminated. Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original. [Illustration: MY MOTHER BROKE DOWN AND CRIED. Page 19.] CAPTAIN JOHN CRANE 1800-1815 BY THOMAS W. KNOX AUTHOR OF "A CLOSE SHAVE," "THE TALKING HANDKERCHIEF," "THE LOST ARMY," "DECISIVE BATTLES SINCE WATERLOO," "THE BOY TRAVELLERS" (15 VOLUMES), "THE YOUNG NIMRODS" (3 VOLUMES), ETC., ETC. _ILLUSTRATED_ [Illustration] NEW YORK THE MERRIAM COMPANY 67 FIFTH AVENUE COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY THE MERRIAM COMPANY. TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON, U.S.A. CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. Who and What I am.--My Early Life.--Leaving Home, and Why I left It. 7 CHAPTER II. Walking to Boston.--Suspected to be Runaways.--Find a Ship and Sign Articles. 21 CHAPTER III. Departure from Boston.--Out at Sea.--What happened to Me.--Meeting a Stranger. 35 CHAPTER IV. Overhauled by a British War-Ship.--Search for Deserters.--The Captain plays a Yankee Trick. 48 CHAPTER V. The Flying Dutchman and His History.--Meeting a Ship with a Starving Crew.--Relief and Sailing in Company. 64 CHAPTER VI. In Danger from a Waterspout.--Caught in a Gale.--Separated from Our Consort.--A Ghost on the Washington. 78 CHAPTER VII. The Ghosts and How They were laid.--Admiral Hosier's Ghost.--The Warwick Again.--Encountering an Algerian Pirate. 92 CHAPTER VIII. A Congreve Rocket among Algerine Pirates.--Arrival at Gibraltar.--Arrested and in Prison. 105 CHAPTER IX. Trouble between the United States and Algiers.--The War with France.--What our Navy did.--From Gibraltar to Marseilles. 120 CHAPTER X. Escorted beyond Danger.--Daily Work on Shipboard.--We save a Boatful of Castaways.--How We found Them. 135 CHAPTER XI. How the Evelyn was lost.--I am transferred from Forecastle to Cabin.--Our Passengers.--Arrival at Boston. 150