The Boys of 1812 and Other Naval HeroesSoley, James Russell
History
The Boys of 1812 and Other Naval Heroes
Soley, James Russell
United States -- History -- War of 1812 -- Naval operations; United States. Navy -- History
The two ships were now fought by their lieutenants. McCall, the
lieutenant of the "Enterprise," finding that he ranged ahead, sheered
across the "Boxer's" bow, pouring in a raking broadside. Presently the
"Boxer" lost her main-topmast, and McCall, hanging on her bow, kept up
his raking fire. There could now be but one result, and soon the "Boxer"
hailed to say that she had surrendered. The flag which had been nailed
to the mast was now lowered, but Blyth had already breathed his last.
Burrows kept his place on the deck until he had received the sword of
his adversary. Then he exclaimed, "I am satisfied; I die contented," and
with that word breathed his last.
* * * * *
The next of the sloop actions was in the spring of the following year.
The "Peacock," one of the new sloops, named after the British vessel
which the "Hornet" had sunk in the Demerara River, was cruising in April
under the command of Capt. Lewis Warrington, when she met the enemy's
brig-sloop "Epervier" off the coast of Florida. Though the "Peacock" had
the larger crew, the ships were not far from a match in guns. But the
"Epervier's" battery was not in fighting condition, and she had
practised so little with her carronades that her officers did not know
of their defects; or if they did, they had not done anything to remedy
the difficulty. Indeed, the whole service of the "Epervier," both at the
guns and in other ways, was most slovenly, and far behind what one would
expect in a British sloop-of-war. The vessels as they neared opened on
each other, but at the first broadsides the "Epervier's" carronades were
dismounted, the bolts giving way. For three quarters of an hour the
fight continued, the guns of the brig getting worse and worse, until she
could hardly fire a shot. At length the English captain gave the order
to board, but his men showed no zeal or courage, and even refused to
follow him; so he gave up and struck his colors.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN LEWIS WARRINGTON.]
There was hardly any other action in the war in which the enemy did so
poorly as in this. The "Epervier" had twenty-two men killed or wounded
in the battle; the "Peacock" had none killed and only two wounded. The
enemy was almost a wreck. Her hull was riddled, her main-topmast and
boom were shot away, her foremast was nearly cut in two, her sails
tattered, her bowsprit badly wounded, her battery disabled, and there
were four feet of water in her hold; while the "Peacock," except for the
loss of the foreyard, was as fresh as ever, and not a shot had struck
her hull. It was a profitable hour's work for her crew; for a large
amount of specie was found on board the enemy, and the Government bought
the captured sloop for more than fifty thousand dollars. The two vessels
made for Savannah, where, though several times chased by the enemy, they
arrived safely a few days after the battle.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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