Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXI, No. 5, November 1842Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXI, No. 5, November 1842
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
_Surgeon’s Mates._—Jonathan Cowdery, N. York; Nicholas Harwood, Va.
_Midshipmen._—Bernard Henry, Pa.; James Gibbon, Va.; James Biddle, Pa.;
Richard B. Jones, Pa.; D. T. Patterson, N. Y.; Wm. Cutbush, Pa.; B. F.
Reed, Pa.; Thomas M’Donough, Del.; Wallace Wormley, Va.; Robert Gamble,
Va.; Simon Smith, Pa.; James Renshaw, Pa.
The Philadelphia had a crew a little exceeding three hundred souls on
board, including her officers. One or two changes occurred among the
latter, however, when the ship reached Gibraltar, which will be
mentioned in their proper places.
The vessels of Com. Preble did not sail in squadron, but left home as
each ship got ready. Bainbridge, being equipped, was ordered to sail in
July, and he entered the Straits on the 24th of August, after a passage
down the Delaware and across the Atlantic of some length. Understanding
at Gibraltar that certain cruisers of the enemy were in the neighborhood
of Cape de Gatte, he proceeded off that well-known headland the very
next day; and, in the night of the 26th, it blowing fresh, he fell in
with a ship under nothing but a foresail, with a brig in company, under
very short canvass also. These suspicious circumstances induced him to
run alongside of the ship, and to demand her character. After a good
deal of hailing, and some evasion on the part of the stranger, it was
ascertained that he was a cruiser from Morocco, called the Meshboha 22,
commanded by Ibrahim Lubarez, and having a crew of one hundred and
twenty men. The Philadelphia had concealed her own nation, and a boat
coming from the Meshboha, the fact was extracted from its crew that the
brig in company was an American, bound into Spain, and that they had
boarded but had not detained her. Bainbridge’s suspicions were aroused
by all the circumstances; particularly by the little sail the brig
carried; so unlike an American, who is ever in a hurry. He accordingly
directed Mr. Cox, his first lieutenant, to board the Meshboha, and to
ascertain if any Americans were in her, as prisoners. In attempting to
execute this order, Mr. Cox was resisted, and it was necessary to send
an armed boat. The master and crew of the brig, the Celia of Boston,
were actually found in the Meshboha, which ship had captured them, nine
days before, in the vicinity of Malaga, the port to which they were
bound.
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