Privateers

In the summer of 1814, Commodore Decatur, whose vessels had been long blockaded in the Thames, above New London, was transferred to the command of the President, and a little squadron composed of his flag-ship the Pacock, Captain Warrington; the Hornet, Captain Biddle; and the Tom Bowline, store-ship. The destination of the squadron was the East Indies, to spread havoc among the British shipping there. The President left her moorings first, and eluding the blockaders off Sandy Hook, put to sea. She had not proceeded far before she was chased by four British ships-of-war. Heavily laden for a long cruise, she could not sail fast, and after a protracted chase and running fight she was compelled to strike her colors. Decatur delivered his sword to Captain Hayes of the Majestic, the first vessel that came alongside the President after she struck.

Late in January, the remainder of Decatur's squadron put to sea, their commander being ignorant of the fate of the flag-ship. The commodore had designated one of a group of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean as the place of rendezvous, and toward this the squadron sailed. The Peacock and Tom Bowline arrived there early in March, but were driven away by a storm; the Hornet was about to cast anchor there on the 23d of March, when a strange vessel was discerned near. Biddle spread his sails and went seaward to reconnoitre. The stranger was the British sloop Penguin, 18. They fought desperately, and at the end of twenty minutes the Hornet won the victory. This action was regarded as one of the most creditable of the war. Biddle was honored by Congress with a gold medal, and citizens of Philadelphia gave him a service of beautiful silver plate. Afterward the Hornet was closely chased by a heavy line-of-battle-ship; but by consummate seamanship and casting everything overboard to lighten her, she escaped and reached New York in June, 1815, without boat or anchor.

Captain Warrington captured the Nautilus in the Straits of Sunday (between the islands of Sumatra and Java of the East Indian archipelago), on the 30th of June, 1815. Being informed the next day of the ratification of peace, Warrington gave up the Nautilus and returned home, bearing the honor of having fired the last shot in the second war for independence. Every cruiser, public and private, had returned to port when Warrington arrived, and the war was over. He, too, was honored by Congress with thanks and a gold medal. During the war, as we have observed, the American privateersmen did good service for themselves and their country. They swarmed upon the ocean, and were the terror of British commerce. The romantic story of their doings have filled a large volume (Coggasshall's History of American Privateers), and yet the half has not been told. Their exploits were but a repetition of those of the regular service. After the first six months of the war, the bulk of the naval conflicts was carried on upon the ocean, on the part of the Americans, by private armed vessels, which, as we have observed, "took, burned and destroyed sixteen hundred British merchantmen of all classes, in the space of three years."

"The navy," says Cooper, "came out of this struggle with a vast increase of reputation. The brilliant style in which the ships had been carried into action, the steadiness and rapidity with which they had been handled, and the fatal accuracy of their fire on nearly every occasion, produced a new era in naval warfare. Most of the frigate actions had been as soon decided as circumstances would at allow; and in no instance was it found necessary to keep up the fire of a sloop-of-war an hour when singly engaged. Most of the combats of the latter, indeed, were decided in about half that time. The execution done in these short conflicts was often equal to that made by the largest vessels of Europe in general actions, and in some of them the slain and wounded comprised a very large proportion of the crews. It is not easy to say in which nation this unlooked for result created the most surprise. The ablest and wisest captain of the English fleet was ready to admit that a new power was about to appear on the ocean, and that it was not improbable the battle for the mastery of the sea would have to be fought over again."

The triumphs of the American navy gave great satisfaction to our people, and were themes for oratory, coast and song. That satisfaction was manifested in various ways, sometimes by a little harmless boasting as in the following verses of an ode to "The American Tar," which was very popular at the close of the war: