Little did the British Government imagine that any commander of an American vessel would have the audacity to approach even within sight of her shores. It was the main design of Captain Jones to punish England for the atrocities she was so cruelly perpetrating upon us—and to punish her in kind. On the 10th of August he launched forth, from the magnificent harbor of Brest, and directed his course almost due north, for Land’s End, the extreme southern cape of the island of Great Britain. The distance across, at this point, is about one hundred and fifty miles. About thirty miles off the southern coast of England, in a southwest direction, there is a group of islands called the Scilly Islands. Captain Jones ran his vessel between them and Cape Clear, within full view of the shores of England, and where the flash of his guns could be seen and the thunders of his cannon distinctly heard on those shores. Opposing winds and a rough sea so impeded his progress that he did not gain sight of England’s coast until the 14th. Then he descried a merchant-brig. He bore down upon her and captured her. The brig was freighted with flax, and was bound from Ireland to Ostend, in Belgium. As the freight was of no value, and Captain Jones did not wish to encumber himself with prisoners, the crew were sent ashore in the boats and the brig was scuttled and sunk. These tidings must have created a strange sensation, as they spread like wildfire throughout England. It must have roused the whole British navy, to wreak vengeance upon the intrepid voyager. He then entered St. George’s Channel, which separates Southern England from Ireland. When almost within sight of the spires of Dublin he encountered, on the 17th of August, a large London ship. He captured her. Her cargo consisted of a variety of valuable merchandise. The crew were sent ashore. The prize he manned and sent back to Brest. Thus far dense clouds had darkened their way, and rough winds had ploughed the seas, but now the weather changed. The skies became fair and the wind favorable. He sailed rapidly along into the Irish Sea, and passed by the Isle of Man, intending to make a descent at Whitehaven, with whose harbor and surroundings he from childhood had been familiar. About ten o’clock in the evening of the 17th, he was off the harbor, with a boat’s crew of picked men ready to enter and set fire to the shipping. But the wind, which had been blowing strong during the afternoon, by eleven o’clock increased to a gale, blowing directly on shore, and raising such a heavy sea that the boats could not leave the ships. During the night the storm so increased, threatening to drive the vessel upon the rocks, that it became necessary to crowd all sail, and put out to sea so as to clear the land.