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
Late in August Barney was exchanged, and found himself again in
Baltimore; but there was little now for him to do. After all the
disasters of this disastrous year of 1778, only four frigates were left
on the American coast, and the smaller vessels had mostly been destroyed
or captured. While he was in this plight a merchant offered him the
command of a privateer schooner, carrying two guns and a crew of eight
men; and Barney, being so reduced for want of naval occupation,
consented to take her to St. Eustatius with a cargo of tobacco. He must
have been truly at his wit's end to have undertaken such a voyage in
such a craft; for even if he could have carried out the undertaking, he
would have gained neither glory nor profit from it. But he was not
destined to carry it out; for even before he reached the capes he met a
larger privateer, carrying four guns and sixty men, which speedily
disposed of him after a running fight of a few minutes. The enemy, not
caring to be troubled with prisoners, put him and his little crew
ashore; and his voyage being thus curtailed, he found himself a few days
later again in Baltimore. Here he remained for several weeks.
Strange as it must seem, Barney was now only nineteen years old, yet
there had been crowded into his short boy-life more adventures and
perilous enterprises than most men of three times his years have gone
through. Since the war began, he had been thrice made a prisoner, but
each time he had been fortunate in having humane captors. But the worst
was yet in store for him. After a successful privateering voyage to
Bordeaux, he sailed in 1780 in the "Saratoga," under Captain Young.
Early in October she captured four prizes, one of which was given to
Barney to command. He left the "Saratoga," and it was fortunate he did,
for she was never seen or heard of afterward; but the prize which he
commanded was herself captured only one day later by a British squadron.
Barney was taken to New York, and soon after sent to England in the
"Yarmouth." On board this ship the prisoners were confined in the hold,
in a space three feet high, and without light or air; and the horrors
of the voyage, which lasted seven weeks, remind one of the fearful
stories of the Middle Passage in the old slave-trading days. It was by
comparison a happiness to be transferred even to the Mill Prison, after
those wretched hours on board the "Yarmouth;" and the prisoners when
they came ashore, weak from suffering and disease and want of food, were
a most piteous spectacle.
How Barney, after three month's confinement, made his escape from
prison; how he lived six weeks unrecognized in London, though all the
time a price was set upon his head; how he sailed for Ostend in a
mail-packet, and after various wanderings upon the Continent at last
returned to America,--we have not time to tell. The spring of 1782 found
him once more in Philadelphia, still ready for any service for which his
country might call.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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