Transcriber’s Note: italic text is denoted by _underscores_. PIKE & CUTLASS [Illustration: THE ESCAPE OF THE “CONSTITUTION” Page 209] PIKE & CUTLASS HERO TALES OF OUR NAVY WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE GIBBS [Illustration] PHILADELPHIA & LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1900 Copyright, 1898 and 1899, by THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY Copyright, 1899, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. TO THE CADETS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE NOTE The writer expresses thanks for their courtesy to the editors of “Lippincott’s Magazine” and the editors of the “Saturday Evening Post,” of Philadelphia, in which periodicals several of these Hero Tales have been printed. He also acknowledges his indebtedness for many valuable historical facts to “Cooper’s Naval History;” “History of the Navy,” by Edgar S. Maclay; “History of Our Navy,” by John R. Spears; “Twelve Naval Captains,” by Molly Elliot Seawell; “American Naval Heroes,” by John Howard Brown; “Naval Actions of the War of 1812,” by James Barnes; and to many valuable works and papers in the archives of the Library of the Navy Department at Washington. Thanks are due the Art Department of the “Saturday Evening Post” and the Art Department of “Collier’s Weekly” for their permission to reprint many of the drawings herein. GEORGE GIBBS. August 15, 1899. CONTENTS PAGE The Effrontery of Paul Jones 7 HIS FIGHT WITH THE “DRAKE” AND DESCENT ON WHITEHAVEN A Struggle to the Death 24 PAUL JONES’S FIGHT WITH THE “SERAPIS” The Terrier and the Mastiff 34 NICHOLAS BIDDLE’S WONDERFUL FIGHT Decatur and the “Philadelphia” 46 The Biggest _Little_ Fight in Naval History 56 DECATUR AND THE TRIPOLITAN GUNBOATS A Double Encounter 73 STEWART AND THE “CYANE” AND “LEVANT” The “Constitution” and the “Guerriere” 90 The “Wasp” and the “Frolic” 106 The “Constitution” and the “Java” 117 The Last of the “Essex” 132 The Captain of the Maintop 148 Cushing and the “Albemarle” 158