The little _Argo_ was subsequently put out of commission and returned to her owners; and in 1780 Talbot was given command of another privateer, the _General Washington_. After making one capture, however, he was taken, we are told, by an English squadron off Sandy Hook, and sent on board the _Robuste_, Captain Cosby, where he was courteously treated. Being transferred, however, to a tender--name not stated--for conveyance to New York, the commander--"a Scotch lord," we are told, "put his gallant captive into the hold. The only excuse for this dastardly behaviour is to be found in the craven fears of his lordship. By a remarkable coincidence, the pilot he employed was the same formerly on board the _Pigot_ (the stationary vessel captured by Talbot at Rhode Island), and this man so frightened his superior with the story of his prisoner's reckless daring that he--notwithstanding a written remonstrance which Captain Talbot forwarded to the British admiral--was thus kept confined below until they reached New York; and the arm-chest was removed to the cabin." This is quoted from "The Life of Silas Talbot," by Henry T. Tuckerman, published in 1850. The story is given for what it is worth. Had the name of the tender and of the so readily scared "Scotch lord" been given, it would have been more worthy of consideration. After this Talbot was confined on board the _Jersey_ prison-ship, off Long Island, where it is said that prisoners were treated with gross inhumanity; and being eventually conveyed to England on board the _Yarmouth_, was kept in prison on Dartmoor, where he made four desperate attempts to escape. He was liberated in the summer of 1781, and found his way home to Rhode Island. He died in New York, June 30th, 1813. CHAPTER XVIII CAPTAIN JOSHUA BARNEY Among the earlier privateersmen in the War of Secession was Joshua Barney, a naval officer, who, after having been a prisoner of war for five months, was released by exchange, and, failing naval employment, went as first officer of a privateer under Captain Isaiah Robinson--also a naval officer. Barney had previously made a venture on his own account in a small trading-vessel, which was speedily captured, the English captain landing his prisoners on the Chesapeake. After some difficulty, Robinson secured a brig named _Pomona_; she carried a scratch armament of 12 guns of various sizes and a crew of 35 men. The vessel was laden with tobacco for Bordeaux, and the primary object was to get the cargo through safely: but Robinson and Barney, with their naval training, were by no means averse to a fight, and they had only been out a few days when the opportunity arose, a fast-sailing brig giving chase and quickly overhauling the _Pomona_. At 8 p.m. on a February evening, with a bright moon, the stranger came within hail, ran up her colours, and asked, "What ship is that?" The American ran up his flag, and the Englishman immediately shouted to haul it down.