Part 3 (1/2)

The Americans now gathering up their strength, irritated by their repeated failures on the land, and disheartened, but yet not discouraged by their original weakness on the lakes, were about, in some degree, to be compensated more suitably for their inland losses than by the capture or rather by the negative kind of advantage of destroying at considerable cost and risk, frigates and sloops of war at sea, inferior in every respect, the bravery of the sailors and the skill of the officers excepted, to the huge and properly much esteemed American double-banked frigates and long-gunned brigs. The command of Lake Ontario had devolved on the Americans. New s.h.i.+ps of considerable size, and well armed, under the superintendence of experienced naval officers, were built and launched day after day. Troops were being collected at every point for an attack, by sea and land, upon either York or Kingston. It was now exceedingly necessary that some activity of a similar kind should be displayed by the British. The forests abounded in the very best timber; there were able s.h.i.+pbuilders at Quebec; the Canadian naval commanders had distinguished themselves frequently; there was a secure dockyard at Kingston; and, indeed, there existed no reason whatever, for the absence of that industry on the Canadian side of the rivers and lakes, dividing the two countries, but one, and a more fatal one could not have been listened to. It was simply that the British had been hitherto able to repel the invader wherever he had effected a landing, and would be, under any circ.u.mstances, quite able, as they were willing, to repel him again. And there was an ignorance about Canada, on the part of both the heads of the naval and of the military departments in England, as disgraceful, as it was inexcusable. It was believed that there were neither artisans to be found in the country nor wood. It seemed to be a prevalent opinion that the country was peopled only by French farmers, a few French gentlemen, and some hundreds of discharged soldiers, with a few lawyers and landed proprietors, styled U.E. Loyalists, besides the few naval officers resident at Kingston, and the troops in the different garrisons. In Upper Canada, during the winter, nothing, or almost nothing, was done in the way of building s.h.i.+ps for the lakes. Sir George Prevost, it is true, made a hurried visit to Upper Canada, after having prorogued the Parliament. He was a man admirably adapted for the civil ruler of a country having such an elastic and very acceptable const.i.tution as that which Canada has now had for some years past. He was one of those undecided kind of non-progressive beings, who are always inclined to let well alone. He was well meaning, and he was able too, in some sense. He was cautious to such a degree that caution was a fault. He was not, by any means, deficient in personal courage, but his mind always hovered on worst consequences. If he had hope in him at all, it was the hope that providence, without the aid of Governor Prevost, would order all things for the best. He had a strict sense of duty and a nice sense of honor, but he always considered that it was his duty not to risk much the loss of anything, which he had been charged to keep, and his moral was so much superior to his physical courage, that he never considered it dishonorable to retreat without a struggle, if the resistance promised to be very great. An instance of this occurred while Sir George was on his way to Upper Canada. On the 17th of February, Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, commanding at Prescott, proposed to him an attack upon Ogdensburgh, which was then slightly fortified, and was a rallying point for the enemy. Indeed, an attack had some days previously been made upon Brockville, by General Brown, at the head of some militia from Ogdensburgh, and Colonel Pearson thought that the sooner an enemy was dislodged from a position exactly opposite his own and only separated by a frozen river, three quarters of a mile in width, the more secure he would have felt himself to be, and the less danger would there have been of the communication between the Upper and Lower provinces of Canada, being interrupted. General Prevost would not consent to an attack, but he allowed a demonstration to be made by Colonel McDonnell, the second in command at Prescott, so that the enemy might exhibit his strength, and his attention be so much engaged that no attempt would be made to waylay the Governor General, on the information of two deserters from Prescott, who would, doubtless, have informed the commandant, at Ogdensburgh, of Sir George's arrival and of his chief errand. Colonel McDonell moved rapidly across the river, and on landing, was met by Captain Forsyth and the American forces under him. A movement designed for a feint, was now converted into a real attack. Colonel McDonell, as he perceived the enemy, still more rapidly pushed forward, and, in a few minutes, was hotly engaged. The Americans were driven from the village, leaving behind them twenty killed and a considerable number wounded. On the side of the British, the loss of Colonel McDonell, seven other officers and seven rank and file had to be deplored, while forty-one men were wounded. The attack was most successful however. Eleven cannons, several hundred stands of arms, and a considerable quant.i.ty of stores fell into the hands of the victors, while two small schooners and two gun-boats were destroyed in winter quarters.

Recruiting and drilling were being briskly carried on about Quebec and Montreal. Some troops began to arrive, about the beginning of March, from the Lower Provinces. The 104th regiment had arrived overland from Fredericton, in New Brunswick, by the valley of the St. Johns River, through an impenetrable forest, for hundreds of miles, to Lake Temiscouata, and from thence to River-du-Loup, proceeding upwards along the south sh.o.r.e of the St. Lawrence.

A month later and the Americans were ready to resume the offensive in Upper Canada. The American fleet, consisting of 14 vessels, equipped at Sackett's Harbour, situated at the foot of the lake, and not very far from Kingston, in a direct line across, sailed from the harbour under Commodore Chancey, with seventeen hundred men, commanded by Generals Dearborn and Pike, to attack York, (now Toronto.) In two days the fleet was close in sh.o.r.e, a little to the westward of Gibraltar Strait. A landing was soon effected at the French fort of Toronto, about three miles below York, under cover of the guns of the fleet, but the enemy's advance was afterwards stoutly opposed. Six hundred militia men altogether, including the grenadiers of the 8th regiment of the line, could not long withstand seventeen hundred trained troops. They withdrew and the schooners of the fleet approaching close to the fort, commenced a heavy cannonade, while General Pike pushed forward to the main works, which he intended to carry by storm, through a little wood. As General Sheaffe, in command of the British, retired, and as General Pike, in command of the Americans, advanced, a powder magazine exploded which blew two hundred of the Americans into the air, and killed Pike. Of the British, fully one hundred men were killed, and the walls of the fort were thrown down. The Commodore was now in the harbour. And General Sheaffe seeing that not the remotest chance of saving the capital of Upper Canada, now existed, most wisely determined to retreat upon Kingston. He accordingly directed Colonel Chewett, of the militia, to make arrangement for a capitulation, and set off with his four hundred regulars for Kingston. By the capitulation, private property was to be respected, and public property only surrendered. The gain was not great, if the moral effect of victory be not considered. The victors carried off three hundred prisoners, and the British, before retreating, had considered it expedient to burn a large armed s.h.i.+p upon the stocks, and extensive naval stores.

The Clerk of the House of a.s.sembly of Upper Canada, a volunteer, fell during the struggle. In all, the British loss was one hundred and thirty killed and wounded.

It is said that General Sheaffe suffered severely in the public estimation, because he retreated. The public had forgotten that he had killed and destroyed more Americans than had fallen on the side of the British. Nor did it occur to them that had their general not retreated, and capitulated, an armed fleet was in the harbour, which it was impossible to drive out, even had the fort been standing, or had there been great guns, with which earth batteries could have been formed. It had not occurred to the public of Lower Canada that if York had been burned, Sheaffe's retreat to Kingston, would have been no less imperative than it was. He was, however, superseded in the command in chief of Upper Canada by Major General De Rottenburgh.

The American fleet landed the troops at Niagara after this success, and then sailed for Sackett's Harbour for reinforcements. The Commodore, an energetic, clearheaded sailor, sent two of his vessels to cruise off the harbour of Kingston, vigilantly, and then sent vessel after vessel, at his convenience, with troops, up the lake to Michigan. There he concentrated the whole of his s.h.i.+ps, including his Kingston cruisers, for an attack upon Fort George, in combination with the land force under General Dearborn. The British were under the command of General Vincent, who could not muster above nine hundred soldiers. It was early on the morning of the 27th of May, that the enemy began the attack. The fort was briskly cannonaded, and during the fire, Colonel Scott, with a body of eight hundred American riflemen, effected a landing. But they were promptly met by the British and compelled to give way, in disorder. The Americans retreated to the beach and crept under cover of the bank, from whence they kept up a galling fire, the British troops being unable to dislodge them, on account of the heavy broadsides of the American fleet, formed in Crescent shape, to protect their soldiers. Indeed, under cover of this fire from the fleet, another body of the enemy, numbering ten thousand men, effected a landing, and the British were reluctantly compelled to retire. General Vincent blew up the fort and fell back upon Burlington Heights, every inch of ground being stoutly contested. Flushed with success, Dearborn, the American General-in-Chief, now confidently antic.i.p.ated the conquest of the whole of Upper Canada, and pushed forward a body of three thousand infantry, two hundred and fifty horse, and nine guns. But General Vincent having learned of the enemy's advance, sent Colonel Harvey, with eight hundred men, to impede their progress. Harvey, an experienced and brave officer, was not long in discovering that the enemy kept a bad look out. He resolved upon surprising them. Accordingly, he waited for the darkness of night, under cover of which, a sudden attack was made so successfully, that he made prisoners of two generals and a hundred and fifty men, besides capturing four guns. It was now the enemy's turn to retreat, and they did so in admirable confusion. Arrived at Fort George a halt took place, but a fortnight elapsed before General Dearborn had sufficiently recovered from the effect of this surprise to send out an expedition of six hundred men to dislodge a British picquet, posted at Beaver's Dam, near Queenstown. The dislodgement was most indifferently effected, inasmuch as the expedition was waylaid on their pa.s.sage through the woods, by Captain Kerr, with a few Indians, and by Lieutenant Fitzgibbons, at the head of forty-six of the 49th regiment, in all, less than two hundred men, but so judiciously disposed as to make the Americans believe that they were the light troops of a very superior army, the approach of which was expected, and they, to the number of five hundred, surrendered, with two guns and two standards.

It now became the turn of the British to invade, and early in July, Colonel Bishop set out on an expedition to Black Rock, at the head of a party of militia, aided by detachments of the 8th, 41st, and 49th regiments of the line. He was perfectly successful. The enemies' block-houses, stores, barracks, and dockyard were burned, and seven pieces of ordnance, two hundred stand of arms, and a great quant.i.ty of stores were brought away. But it was at great cost. While employed in securing the stores, the British were fired upon, from the woods, by some American militia and Indians, and while Captain Saunders, of the 41st, dropped, severely wounded, Colonel Bishop, who had planned, and so gallantly executed the a.s.sault, was killed.

While these things were happening in the Far-Civilised-West of that day, the British flotilla on Lake Champlain, had captured two American schooners, the Growler and Eagle, of eleven guns each, off Isle-aux-Noix.

After it had become apparent that the Americans had the command of Lake Ontario, and could visit to burn and destroy every village or unfortified town, held by the British, some slight and very inadequate exertion was made to remedy so distressing a state of affairs. In May, Sir James L. Yeo, with several other naval officers and 450 seamen arrived at Quebec, en route for the lakes. Captains Barclay, Pring, and Finnis, had been some time at Kingston, and were doing something in the way of preparing for service the few, vessels at Kingston, by courtesy called a fleet. Sir George Prevost and Sir James L. Yeo lost little time in reaching Kingston together. The American fleet was off Niagara, bombarding Fort George. It occurred to the two commanders that an attack upon their naval station at Sackett's Harbour would not be amiss, and it was resolved upon. About a thousand men were embarked on board of the Wolfe, of 24 guns, the Royal George, of 24 guns, the Earl of Moira, of 18 guns, and four armed schooners, each carrying from ten to twelve guns, with a number of batteaux. The weather was very fine. Everything was got in readiness for an expeditious landing. The soldiers were transferred from the armed vessels to the batteaux, so that no time might be lost in the debarkation. Two gun-boats were placed in readiness, as a landing escort, The boats were under the direction of Captain Mulcaster, of the Royal Navy, and the landing under the immediate supervision of Sir George Prevost and Sir James L. Yeo. It was expected that, in the absence of the American fleet and army, the growing and formidable naval establishment of the enemy would be temporarily rendered worthless. And the expectation was not an unnatural one. It was, indeed, in a trifling degree, realised. There was some injury done to Sackett's Harbor, but not of such a nature as to produce a strong effect upon either Canadian minds or American nerves. A number of boats, containing troops, from Oswego, were dispersed, while doubling Stoney Point, and twelve of them, with 150 men on board, captured. But the loss to the British was the delay caused by such an unlucky acquisition. The landing was deferred by it. General Brown was put on the alert. He had time to make arrangements and to collect troops. He planted 500 militia on the peninsula of Horse Island, which is a sort of protection wall for the harbour. He ordered them to be still and close, keep their powder dry, and reserve their fire. And they did their best, in accordance with these instructions, until the fleet opened a heavy cannonade to cover the landing of the invaders, when General Brown's militiamen quaked exceedingly. When the troops had landed, and the American militia had lost, by death, their immediate commander, Colonel Mills, they fled with the utmost precipitation. But it was the conduct of these very cowards that afterwards alarmed, the ever suspicious Sir George Prevost, and caused, to a very considerable extent, the almost failure of the expedition. The British columns were advancing somewhat rapidly towards Fort Tomkins, when they were met by Colonel Backus, at the head of 400 regulars, and some militia, hastily a.s.sembled from the neighboring towns. A sharp contest ensued. Colonel Backus was mortally wounded. His regulars still maintained their ground, but a serious impression had been made upon his line. On the militia, so strong an impression had been made that before General Brown could bring up, to the a.s.sistance of Backus, 100 of the party dispersed at the landing, these irregulars fled by a road leading south westwardly, through a wood. The regulars stood firm. Captain Gray, commanding the British advanced corps fell, and the suspicious mind of Prevost fancied a snare. He saw the regular soldiery of the enemy standing unmoved; he had learned that a regiment of American regulars, under Colonel Tutle, were marching at double step, to the scene of action; and he fancied that the retreating militia were not at all afraid, but brilliantly executing a circuitous march to gain the rear of the British line, and cut off their retreat. It was true Fort Tomkins was about to fall into British hands. Already the officer in charge of Navy Point, agreeably to orders, and supposing the fort to be lost, had set on fire the naval magazine, containing all the stores captured at York; the hospital and barracks were illuminating the lake by their grand conflagration; and a frigate on the stocks had been set on fire, only to be extinguished, when Sir George Prevost's mind became unsettled, concerning the ulterior designs of the enemy. In the very moment of fully accomplis.h.i.+ng the purpose of the expedition, he ordered a retreat; the troops were re-embarked without annoyance; the fleet returned safely to Kingston, and the Canadian public suspected that Sir George Prevost, as a military commander, had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. They felt, indeed, most acutely, that Major General Isaac Brock was dead, and that he was not replaced by Sir George Prevost.

In the west, the Americans, under Harrison, exerted themselves to recover Michigan. They were blockaded, it is true, and inactive within Fort George, but, on Lake Erie, the war was vigorously prosecuted. General Proctor was kept particularly busy. The Americans were inconveniently near. They showed no disposition to move. They had settled down and were practicing masterly inactivity at Sandusky. Proctor determined upon disturbing them. He moved rapidly upon Lower Sandusky, and invested it with five hundred regulars and militia, and upwards of three thousand Indians. The Indians were commanded by Tec.u.mseh. Having battered the fort well and made a breach Proctor determined upon carrying the place by a.s.sault. The Indians, however, were worthless for the a.s.sault of a fortified place. Concealed in the gra.s.s of the prairie, or hidden in the trees of the forest, they could fire steadily and watch their opportunity to rush upon the foe, but they had a horror of great guns and stone walls. They kept out of range of the American cannon. Nothing could induce them to consent even to follow their British allies up to the breach. The a.s.sault was, nevertheless, determined upon, and Colonel Short led the storming party of regulars and militia. Under cover of the fire of cannon the gallant band reached the summit of the glacis and stood with only the ditch between them and the fort. The heavy fire of the enemy upon men in a position so exposed at first produced some confusion; but the storming party soon rallied and leaped into the ditch. It was then that they were smitten with such a fire of grape and musketry as no men could long withstand. The a.s.sailants retreated, leaving Colonel Short, three officers, and fifty-two men dead in the ditch, and having forty-one of their number wounded.

General Proctor, finding his force inadequate to carry the fort by a.s.sault, raised the siege and retired to Amherstburgh.

Although it was all important to have and maintain the command of the lakes, very little was done by the British with that view. It was especially necessary to obtain the command of Lakes Erie, Ontario and Champlain. No great aggressive movement could have been easily effected while the British had the command of the lakes. But on Lake Ontario the British fleet was inferior to that of the American, the American Captain Perry had almost established himself on Lake Erie, and on Lake Champlain the British had not a single vessel larger than a gun-boat, and very few of them. The excuse was that every vessel cost a thousand pounds a ton; that timber, nor iron, nor anything required for s.h.i.+pbuilding was obtainable in a province which was even then compensating for the check in the Baltic timber trade, in a province which abounds in iron, and was then quite capable of building large sea-going craft at Quebec. While it was in truth no more difficult for England to cover the lakes with cannon than it was for the United States to do so, England kept sending out, at great expense, timber, pitch, materials in iron, water casks, and such like to Quebec and Kingston, with some thirty or forty s.h.i.+pwrights, and less than a hundred sailors to man the flotillas of three lakes. Neither the Admiralty nor the Ordnance had time to make enquiries concerning Canada, or even to think of the American war. All eyes were upon Wellington in Spain. The attention of the people of England was not directed towards Canada. A wide sea rolled between the two countries, and, besides, there was an indistinct notion that Canada was wholly inhabited by Frenchmen, who might take care of themselves or not, as they pleased. The two first vessels belonging to the British on Lake Champlain, were built by the Americans. The British were contented with their fort at Isle-aux-Noix, and rejoiced in the luxury of two gun-boats. It was on a lovely morning very early in June, that a sail was seen stretching over a point of land, formed by a bed in the river Chambly, and about six miles distant from the fort. Another sail followed closely, and the shrewd suspicion seized upon Colonel Taylor, of the 100th foot, commanding the garrison, that the visitants were vessels of war. He determined to war with the two strangers, per mare et terram. He converted some of his soldiery into marines, manned his three gun-boats, and placing three artillerymen in each boat, proceeded towards the enemy. But he took the additional precaution of sending down both sh.o.r.es of the river a few detachments from the fort. The sloops of war came up majestically, the star-spangled banner waved gracefully in the gentle morning air, and the American commanders were guessing the effect of their first broadside upon Isle-aux-Noix, when they were met by a heavy and well directed fire of grape from the gun-boats, and by a steady torrent of bullets from the sh.o.r.e. Still they tacked shortly from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e, and every time they were in stays, a shower of bullets swept the decks, while the grape of the gun-boats whistled through the rigging. From half past four in the morning until half past eight, the battle raged, but then it was necessary to run one of the sloops ash.o.r.e, to prevent her from sinking, and both surrendered. The Growler and the Eagle were worth the trouble incurred in capturing them. Each mounted eleven guns. They had long eighteens upon their forecastles, and their broadside guns were composed of twelves and sixes. The crew of each vessel consisted of thirty-five men and between the two vessels there was a company of marines, who embarked on the previous evening at Champlain. Nor was the cost to the captors very great. No one was killed and only three men were severely wounded, while the enemy suffered severely in killed and wounded, and a hundred men were made prisoners.

These vessels now called the Shannon and the Blake, as forget-me-nots of an action recently fought, but not yet noticed, in Chesapeake Bay, were speedily turned to excellent use. It was conceived expedient to destroy the barracks, hospitals and stores at Plattsburgh, Burlington, Champlain, and Swanton, if possible, and an expedition was accordingly fitted out at Isle-aux-Noix. The two captured sloops of war were repaired and made ready for the lake. Captain Pring, from Lake Ontario, was promoted to the rank of commander and sent to take command, but the sloop of war Wasp, having shortly afterwards arrived at Quebec, Captain Everard, with his whole crew, were sent to Isle-aux-Noix, and as senior officer a.s.sumed the command of the two vessels and the three gun-boats. The squadron sailed on the 29th of July, with about nine hundred men on board, consisting of detachments of the 13th, 100th, and 103rd regiments of the line, under Lieutenants Colonel Taylor and Smelt, some royal artillery under Captain Gordon, and a few militia, as batteaux men, under Colonel Murray. The expedition was altogether successful. At Plattsburgh, the American General, Moore, made no opposition to the landing of the British, but retired with fifteen hundred soldiers, Murray, meanwhile, destroying the a.r.s.enal, public buildings, commissariat stores, and the new barracks, capable of accommodating five thousand men. Neither did the squadron lie idly by. Captains Everard and Pring, in the Growler and Eagle, proceeded to Burlington, and threw the place into the utmost consternation. Gen'l. Hampton, who was encamped there with four thousand men, was unable to prevent the capture and destruction of four vessels. And the two s.h.i.+ps did not linger there either unnecessarily. They went back to Plattsburgh, re-embarked the troops, and proceeded to Swanton, Colonel Murray sending a detachment to Champlain to destroy the barracks and blockhouse. At Swanton the object of the expedition was accomplished, and the expedition returned without casualty.

Public opinion had its effect upon the Admiralty, notwithstanding the stubborn resistance of the old Lords, who still privately persisted in the notion that an old tub, manned by monkeys, if commanded by an officer in the royal navy, was a match for the best American frigate that ever floated. There had for some time back been considerable activity in the English dockyards. Several vessels were commenced on the model of the American frigates, and the commanders of frigates and sloops of war, on the American coast, were cautioned not to expose themselves to certain destruction by attacking large and heavily armed vessels, only nominally of the same rank or cla.s.s as themselves. There was to be a real, not an apparent equality. There was to be an equality in tonnage, an equality in the number of guns, an equality in the weight of metal, an equality in the thickness of a s.h.i.+p's sides, and above all an equality in men, so far as such equality could be ascertained. Equality in sailing power was of great importance, but where it was wanting, the superior sailor, if superior in metal and men had an advantage which nothing but a calm or a lucky hit aloft could destroy. The crews of every s.h.i.+p on the North American Station were to be exercised in gunnery. Wisdom had been luckily forced upon the Admiralty. And the result was good. Sir John Borlase, the naval commander, in North America, blockaded every harbour in the United States. American commerce was ruined. The carrying trade of the Atlantic was no longer in American hands. The public revenue sank from twenty-four millions of dollars annually, to eight millions. Even had the Americans possessed the means of building new frigates, the expenditure would have been useless, while Sir John Borlase had the command of the sea. Congress did authorise the commencement of four new seventy-fours, and of four forty-four gun frigates, with six new sloops for the ocean, and as many vessels of every description, as circ.u.mstances would show the necessity for, on the lakes.

Admiral c.o.c.kburn, at the head of a light squadron, was most annoying to the Americans. Not only did he blockade the Chesapeake and Delaware inlets, but he scoured every creek and river. Every now and then gun-boats were sent on excursions, and marines landed to damage naval stores and a.r.s.enals. He was a kind of legalized pirate, who darted in to a harbour, bay, or port, doing every imaginable kind of mischief and running off.

About this time there were cruising off Boston two s.h.i.+ps of equal strength, the Shannon and the Tenedos. Captain Broke, the commander of the Shannon, was the senior officer, and having determined upon a combat, if it were possible to effect it, between the American frigate Chesapeake, then in Boston harbour, where she had pa.s.sed the winter, and his own vessel, he sent the Tenedos to sea, with instructions not to return for three weeks. Captain Broke had laboriously and anxiously drilled his men. He had sighted his guns and used them often. In a word, he had by long continued training brought his crew to the highest state of discipline and subordination. They could fire ball to a nicety. At sea and in harbour he had kept his men at great gun practice. He was in a position to cope with any forty-four gun frigate, belonging to the United States, for, though the Shannon was only pierced for 38 guns, she carried 52. When the Tenedos had put to sea, Captain Broke sent in a challenge to Captain Lawrence, of the Chesapeake, entreating him to try the fortunes of their respective flags in even combat. The Chesapeake had 49 guns. Captain Broke immediately lay close into Boston Light House, and the Chesapeake was quickly under weigh. It is said that Captain Lawrence had not received the challenge of his opponent when he stood out of the harbour, but, however that may be, the Chesapeake was escorted to sea by a flotilla of barges and pleasure boats. Victory, indeed, was considered certain by the Americans. Nay, so very certain were the inhabitants of Boston that the Shannon would either be sunk or towed into port that, counting their chickens before they were hatched, they prepared a public supper to greet the victors on their return to the harbour, with their prisoners. It was otherwise. Captain Broke saw with delight, from the masthead of the Shannon, that his challenge was to be satisfactorily replied to. The Shannon was cleared for action, and waited for the Chesapeake. She had not long to wait. The Chesapeake came bowling along with three flags flying, on which were inscribed-”Sailors, rights and free trade.” The Shannon had her union jack at the foremast, and a somewhat faded blue ensign at the mizen peak. There were two other ensigns rolled into a ball ready to be fastened to the haulyard and hoisted in case of need. But her guns were well loaded, alternately with two round shot and a hundred and fifty musket b.a.l.l.s, and with one round and one double-headed shot in each gun. The enemy hauled up within two hundred yards of the mizen beam and cheered. The Shannon cheered in return, and then the bravest held his breath for a time. A moment more and the Shannon's decks flashed fire. With deliberate aim each gun along her sides was discharged, and the enemy, in pa.s.sing, fired with good effect his whole broadside. The Shannon's shot, however, told upon the rigging of the Chesapeake, and upon her men, and after two or three broad sides, the Chesapeake in attempting to haul her foresail up fell on board the Shannon, whose starboard bower anchor locked with the Shannon's mizen chains. The great guns, with the exception of the Shannon's two aftermost guns ceased firing. The Chesapeake's stern was beaten in, and her decks swept. There was now a sharp fire of musketry from both sides, but Captain Broke perceiving that the Chesapeake's men had left their guns, called up his boarders, at the same time ordering the two s.h.i.+ps to be lashed together. And Mr. Stevens, the Shannon's boatswain, set about the execution of the latter order. His left arm was hacked off by the enemy's marines, and he was mortally wounded by a shot from the Chesapeake's tops. He proceeded, nevertheless, in fastening the two s.h.i.+ps together, and then dropped in death between the vessels. Captain Lawrence was wounded and carried below, when Captain Broke, at the head of his boarders, leapt upon the Chesapeake's quarter-deck. The enemy's crew were soon overpowered and driven below. Forcing his way forward, the Shannon's men shut down the Chesapeake's hatches and kept up a fire on the men in the tops, while the Shannon's men at the same time, under Mr. Smith, forced their way from the foreyard to the Chesapeake's mainyard, and soon cleared the tops. Captain Broke was at this time a.s.sailed furiously by three American sailors, who had previously submitted, and was knocked down by the b.u.t.t end of a musket, but as he rose he had the satisfaction of seeing the American flag hauled down and the proud old British union floating over it in triumph. Fifteen minutes had only elapsed and the Chesapeake was entirely in the hands of the British. There was one lamentable mishap. Lieutenant Watt, who hauled down the enemy's colours was, with two of his men, killed by a discharge of musketry from the Shannon's marines, in the belief that the conflict still continued. The Chesapeake had forty-seven killed and ninety-eight wounded, and the Shannon lost in killed twenty-four, while fifty-nine had been wounded. It was so ascertained that on equal terms England still held the supremacy of the seas, and the exultation in England was so great that every right-minded man went with the government when they made Captain Broke a baronet. The broadside guns of the Shannon were 25, of the Chesapeake 25; the weight of metal in the former was 538 lbs., and of the latter 590 lbs.; while the Shannon had 306 and the Chesapeake 376 men.

The Chesapeake was carried into Halifax, where her gallant, gentlemanly, and ill-starred commander died and was buried, with full military honors, in the presence of all the British officers on the station, who uncovered themselves as they laid into the grave all that was earthly of their n.o.ble foe.