An onlooker--one Robert Cowan--is reported to have said that the _General Pickering_ looked like a longboat in comparison with the _Achilles_, and that "Haraden fought with a determination that seemed superhuman; and, although in the most exposed positions, where the shot flew around him, he was all the while as calm and steady as amid a shower of snowflakes." Another of Captain Haraden's exploits was the capture of "a homeward-bound king's packet from one of the West India islands," under very dramatic circumstances, the American captain, his watch in one hand and a lighted match in the other, with only a single round of ammunition remaining, giving the battered Britisher five minutes in which to surrender. But surely some less vague relation is due before such a story can be accepted--the name of the packet, her force, the date, latitude and longitude, and so forth. However, Captain Haraden was, no doubt, a fair specimen of a very fine class--the Salem skippers--and Americans have every cause for being proud of him. CHAPTER XX CAPTAIN THOMAS BOYLE Upon the declaration of war with England in 1812 Americans naturally inaugurated at once a vigorous privateering campaign. War was declared on June 18th, and by the end of the month two privateers had put out from Salem, and a dozen more were almost ready for sea; while New York had sent out, by the middle of October, twenty-six vessels, mounting some three hundred guns, and manned by more than two thousand men. On July 10th occurred a curious episode, quite impossible in these days, when the earth is tied up in every direction with telegraph cables. The British man-of-war schooner _Whiting_ was lying in Hampton Roads; her commander, Lieutenant Maxey, ignorant of the declaration of war, was in his boat, going on shore, when the American privateer _Dash_, Captain Carroway, arrived upon the scene. Carroway, better informed, seized the English commander and his boat, and, running alongside the _Whiting_, called upon the officer in charge to surrender--which he did. The American Government, however, in view of the English captain's ignorance of the commencement of hostilities, ordered the _Whiting_ to be returned. A similar incident is said to have occurred in the case of the _Bloodhound_, an English sloop of 12 guns, captured by the 8-gun privateer schooner _Cora_. Neither of these events is chronicled by British naval historians. One of the most daring and skilful privateer captains during this war was Thomas Boyle. His first command was the _Comet_, a staunch, fast-sailing schooner, and he lost no time in getting to work, starting upon his first cruise in July 1812, within a month of the declaration of war. Returning in November, after capturing several vessels, he refitted his craft and prepared to set forth again. There was more difficulty, however, in getting out upon this occasion, as the English had a strong squadron blockading Chesapeake Bay.