CHAPTER XII

BUILDING A NEW NAVY

WHEN ENGLAND, IN HER EFFORTS TO WREST COMMERCE FROM THE AMERICANS, INCITED THE PIRATES OF AFRICA TO ACTIVITY, SHE COMPELLED THE BUILDING OF THE FLEET THAT WAS, IN THE END, TO BRING HER HUMILITY OF WHICH SHE HAD NEVER DREAMED--DEEDS OF THE BARBARY CORSAIRS--AMERICAN NAVAL POLICY AS LAID DOWN BY JOSHUA HUMPHREYS--THE WONDERFUL NEW FRIGATES--TROUBLES WITH THE FRENCH CRUISERS ON THE AMERICAN COASTS--TRICK OF A YANKEE CAPTAIN TO SAVE A SHIP--A MIDSHIPMAN WHO DIED AT HIS POST--CAPTURE OF THE _INSURGENT_--A LONG WATCH OVER THE FRENCH PRISONERS--ESCAPE OF A TWICE-BEATEN SHIP--THE VALIANT SENEZ--STORY OF ISAAC HULL AND THE LUCKY _ENTERPRISE_.

It is with feelings of distress and shame, not unmingled with indignation, that the patriotic American of these days reads such parts of the history of his country as have a bearing upon the navy during the years that followed the Revolutionary war.

No sooner was the war over than all the men that remained in the naval service were paid off and turned adrift on the beach, while every ship that remained--even the _Alliance_, that had well demonstrated her efficiency--was sold. The people of the new nation were so fearful of a monarchial form of government, and of everything that in the old world pertained to it, that they went to the remarkable length of sacrificing the one weapon that could defend them from old-world encroachment--the navy--lest scheming politicians use it to enslave their own people.

But while the politicians wrangled over the chaotic conglomeration that, at the time, was called the general government, the business men made haste to retrieve the losses brought upon them by the war, and as there had been but two sources of income worth mention before the war--the commerce of the seas and agriculture--it was to them that the energies of the people were applied. It was an along-shore nation. The salt air fanned its most populous cities. So familiar were the people with the ocean, that every one spoke of the time when he should be rich as “when my ship comes home.” So to the sea went hosts of people seeking fortune. The merchant with his capital, the land-owner with his timber, and the mechanic with his skill and muscle, united to build and man ships for the ocean-carrying trade, and so well did they work together that ships the equal of any other, in some cases the superior of any in the world, were sent down the ways. Men who had learned to be aggressive while afloat with the flag in war-time were placed in command of these ships, and the contest for supremacy in trade, which had had so great a part in bringing on the Revolutionary war, was renewed with an energy and an independence of action of which the people as colonists had not dreamed. Even so small a craft as an Albany sloop was sailed away from New York for Canton, China. She had only a page-map from a school geography for a chart of the world, but she made her port and made home again, and she was the first sail to make the direct passage from New York to China waters.

The British merchants with dismay saw their own ships passed by and the Yankees chosen by shippers of cargoes--chosen because both safer and swifter. And when the British merchant complained, he found (as he has always found) his government ready to listen and to act in his behalf.

What that government was willing to do to aid the British merchants was so discreditable that the story of it well-nigh staggers belief, although the proofs are, in fact, beyond doubt.

On the Mediterranean coast of Africa were found a number of small Mohammedan states ruled by vassals of the Turk. For time out of mind these petty rulers had levied a blackmail tribute from every seafaring nation that traded in the Mediterranean Sea, and even sailed in their cruisers out upon the Atlantic to capture ships that were not intending to enter the enclosed waters. When one recalls how much superior the power of England was to that of all these pirates combined, it seems astounding that even she should have contributed to the blackmail, but the reason for her doing so may be found in the debates of Parliament of that day. Said Lord Sheffield in 1784:

[Illustration: A Mediterranean Corsair Anchoring.

_From a picture drawn and engraved by Baugean._]

“It is not probable that the American States will have a very free trade in the Mediterranean. It will not be to the interest of any of the great maritime powers to protect _them_ from the Barbary States. If they know their interests, they will not encourage the Americans to be carriers. _That the Barbary States are advantageous to maritime powers is certain._”

In short, England deliberately encouraged these infamous pirates because they harassed the ships of other nations, and on the payment of a small tribute, which was kept small because of her great navy, they left hers wholly unmolested.

But the mere avowal of this policy in the hall of Parliament was by no means all that she did. For some time previous to 1793 Portugal had maintained her rights upon the sea as against these pirates by keeping a strong fleet at the Strait of Gibraltar--a fleet that pounced upon every Barbary corsair that appeared. It was not for the protection of her own commerce only that this was done. By an understanding with the United States the American flag was protected and American merchantmen furnished with convoys when needed.

Under the protection thus afforded, the American merchantmen swarmed into the profitable trade on the east side of the Atlantic. English merchants viewed the increasing numbers of American ships there with dismay, and English diplomacy, as said, at once intervened.

Taking advantage of a general agreement among the so-called Christian powers, under which England was to be allowed to act for all in certain minor matters when negotiating with the Barbary powers, the British government instructed the British agent at Algiers to bargain secretly for a truce between the Dey and the government of Portugal. The truce was to last a year, and in consideration of allowing the Portuguese ships to trade free of blackmail, the Portuguese blockade was to be removed from the Strait of Gibraltar, and it was further provided that “the Portuguese Government _should not afford protection to any nation against Algerian cruisers_.”

The only nation that had been protected by Portuguese men-of-war was the American. This truce, which was arranged by the British consul-general at Algiers, Mr. Charles Logie, was deliberately planned to turn the pirates against American ships. Worse yet, it was done without even consulting Portugal, and in secret so that the pirates could get away before the Americans could possibly be warned. And once it was made, British influence at the Portuguese court prevented its abrogation.

As early as July 25, 1785, the Boston schooner _Maria_, Capt. Isaac Stevens, had been captured by Algerian pirates near Gibraltar, and on the 30th of the same month the ship _Dauphin_, Capt. Richard O’Brien, was also taken. Thus twenty-one American citizens were made slaves to the Arabs. Because of the Portuguese blockade of the strait no other American ship had been captured, but the moment British diplomacy had freed the pirates from that restraint, the Dey sent his corsairs seeking the American flag. There is no doubt in reasonable minds that a special search was made, at the request of the British agent, for the Stars and Stripes. In one cruise of the pirate squadron eleven vessels were captured and 112 American seamen were reduced to slavery.

Did the American nation declare war at once? It did not. It could not. There was not a warship afloat bearing the American flag.

Having no ships of war, Congress was forced to buy the freedom of these enslaved Americans. The men captured in 1785 were ransomed for $59,496 (coin). For the 112 captured at the instigation of the British agent, a far greater ransom was paid. The Congress had refused to build a navy for the protection of Americans when abroad, but now they were compelled to buy the release of enslaved Americans by building the _Crescent_, “one of the finest specimens of elegant naval architecture which was ever borne on the Piscataqua’s waters.” They had to arm and fit her for sea. They had to freight her with “twenty-six barrels of silver dollars and many valuable presents for the Dey,” and then send her to Algiers, where ship and cargo were given in exchange for the enslaved Americans.

“It is worthy of remark, that, as appears by documents published at the time, the peace obtained from the Dey of Algiers cost the Government of the United States near a million of dollars ($992,463.25), a sum quite sufficient to have kept the barbarian’s port hermetically sealed until he should have humbly sued” for peace, had it been expended in building suitable warships. And so would have been saved the noble lives and the property afterwards lost on the African coast.

But out of the national humiliation sprang a new navy. The people who had called every legislator that spoke for the honor of the flag a blatant demagogue; the people who had feared naval tyrants, who had feared taxation, and who had argued that a small navy was worse than none--the peace-at-any-price men had been in a great majority. Now the publication of these facts opened the eyes of enough to make a majority the other way. Nevertheless, so little regard had the members of Congress for the honor of the nation that “the resolution of the House of Representatives, that a naval force adequate to the protection of the commerce of the United States ought to be provided, passed by a majority of two votes only.”

However, pass it did, and was approved on March 27, 1794.

At that time the ablest shipbuilder in the United States was Joshua Humphreys, a Quaker, who for thirty years had been laying down keels at Philadelphia. Going to General Knox, the Secretary of War, he made a notable statement. The number of ships which the United States could support, he said, would always be less than the number in any of the large European navies. It was therefore necessary that such ships as we did have should be fast-sailing enough to either fight or run at will, and when they chose to fight they must be equal, ship for ship, to anything afloat. To accomplish this they must be longer and broader than the existing type and yet not so high out of water. On this model they would carry, he said, as many guns on one deck as the others carried on two; could fight them there to better advantage; and, what was more, the improved model would give much more stability--would allow so much more canvas to be spread aloft that, blow high or blow low, the Yankee could show her teeth or her heels, as occasion demanded.

Not only were Humphreys’ theories accepted then; they have prevailed in the American navy to this day. However, this is not to say that the theories of Mr. Humphreys have always been realized in practice.

Six frigates were ordered laid down on this model: the _Constitution_, of forty-four guns; the _President_, of forty-four; the _United States_, of forty-four--all sister ships--and the _Chesapeake_, the _Congress_, and the _Constellation_, all of thirty-six guns each.

The _United States_ was built by Humphreys, at Philadelphia, and he sent her afloat on July 10, 1797. The _Constitution_, the famous “Old Ironsides,” was built by Cloghorne & Hartly, of Boston, and she floated on October 21, 1797--just 100 years ago. And she is still afloat to bear the flag. Capt. Samuel Nicholson had charge of her (Congress had provided for officers and men), and on the day she was to be launched he proposed to hoist the flag with his own hands. But instead of doing so at once on reaching the yard that morning, he gave orders that no one else should do it, and then went away to breakfast. That was an error fatal to his ambition. When he was out of sight one Samuel Bentley, a shipwright, bent the flag to the halliards, and, with the help of another man, hoisted her to the mizzen-truck. Captain Nicholson swore like a pirate, it is said, but the flag was up and he would not haul it down again.

[Illustration: John Barry’s Commission as Commander of the _United States_.

_From the original at the Naval Academy, Annapolis._]

Later a dozen smaller ships were ordered built or purchased, besides galleys, schooners, and brigs. And then came a time when it was absolutely necessary to use them. The Revolution was on in France, and the European powers, with England in the lead, were trying to crush the new republic. In fighting back, the French cruisers had played havoc with American ships carrying legitimate goods to European ports--had captured and condemned many American merchantmen laden with American products not contraband of war, simply because those ships were _en route_ to ports of nations at war with France. So retaliation became absolutely necessary, disagreeable as it might be to fight a former ally.

It should be noted here that the United States government did not actually declare war against France, but on July 7, 1798, all treaties in existence between the governments were declared abrogated, and meantime, on May 28, 1798, the American cruisers were authorized “to capture any French vessel found near the coast preying upon American commerce.” It was under the act of May 28, 1798, as strengthened by that of July 7th of the same year, that the American ships went hunting the Frenchmen. But while there was an actual state of war on the ocean, there was never a time when the American State Department was not striving to negotiate a permanent peace with the discordant elements that, in those days of the French Revolution, ruled at Paris.

When hostilities began the American navy had in all twenty-two ships, mounting 456 guns and carrying 3,484 men, ready for battle; they were made ready before the end of the year.

As originally organized in the war for freedom, the American navy had held but a few puny merchantmen--thin-walled, crank, and slow. But now, though still comparatively few in number, the ships of the nation were “fore and fit,” and, better yet, they were manned by men who had smelled the sulphurous breath of an enemy’s guns. Officers and men from the old cruisers and privateers came forward to volunteer in such numbers that a ship’s complement was filled in some cases in half a day. Meantime some new blood, the sons of the officers and seamen of the other war, and others, too, came, eager to take the chances of war, and some were accepted.

Even before the treaties were abrogated two ships were sent to sea--the _Constellation_, under Capt. Thomas Truxton, who had made fame as a privateer, and the _Delaware_, under Stephen Decatur, Sr., father of the Decatur who made fame later on. The French ship _Croyable_, of fourteen guns, was found off the Delaware. She had taken several American ships, so she was sent into Philadelphia, and not long afterward came out again under the American flag, and bearing the appropriate name _Retaliation_. She was commanded by William Bainbridge, an able officer. But luck was not with her.

Early on the morning of November 20, 1798, while cruising with the _Montezuma_ and the _Norfolk_, two small fleets were seen. The _Retaliation_ went looking at one fleet and the other two at the other. When too near for comfort the _Retaliation_ found she had two French frigates before her, and one, the _Insurgent_, of thirty-six guns, quickly overhauled her when she strove to fly.

Captain Bainbridge, after surrendering, was taken on board the second Frenchman, the _Volontaire_. Her captain refused to accept his sword, and after the proper civilities of the occasion he was allowed to go to the topgallant forecastle with the other officers to watch the _Insurgent_ chasing the _Montezuma_ and _Norfolk_. It was a mighty cheering spectacle to the French, for the _Insurgent_, with her great spread of canvas bellying to the wind, was overhauling the Yankees hand over fist. But just when the _Insurgent_ was expected to open fire Captain St. Laurent of the _Volontaire_ turned to Bainbridge and said:

“Pray, sir, what is the force of those vessels?”

“The ship carries twenty-eight twelve-pounders and the brig twenty nine-pounders,” replied Bainbridge in a matter-of-fact way.

That was double their real weight of metal, and it was a weight that outmatched the _Insurgent_. Greatly alarmed, Captain St. Laurent, who was the senior French officer, ordered the _Insurgent_ recalled.

When she got back within hail her captain shouted:

“Sir, if it had not been for your signal I should have had those vessels in ten minutes more.”

“Citizen Captain, you do not know, sir, what vessels you were chasing. Your ship is not able to contend with a force of twenty-eight twelve-pounders and twenty nine-pounders,” said Captain St. Laurent.

At that the _Insurgent’s_ captain chopped the air violently with his hands and replied:

“Sir, they have nothing heavier than _sixes_, and do you suppose that this ship could have anything to fear from such guns?”

[Illustration: A French Vessel of 118 Guns, a Century Ago.

_From an engraving by Canali._]

“Did you not say, sir,” demanded St. Laurent, turning on Bainbridge, “that the ship carried twenty-eight twelve-pounders and the brig twenty nine-pounders?”

“Yes, sir,” replied Bainbridge, cheerfully, “and if I had thought at that moment that I could have saved the ships, by telling you that they carried twenty-four-pounders, I would have done so.”

Three months later the fighting captain of the _Insurgent_ (his name was Barreaut) had an opportunity to show his metal, and it is fair to say that he took advantage of it nobly.

At noon on February 9, 1799, while the _Constellation_, Captain Truxton, was cruising between Nevis and St. Kitts at the northeast corner of the Caribbean Sea, the lookout discovered a sail to leeward. There was a fresh breeze from the northeast, and squaring away before it, the _Constellation_ spread studding-sails, and with the white foam roaring away from the bow and a swirling wake dragging astern, she went swooping down to reconnoitre. But no sooner had sail been spread than a black squall came down with the wind, and all hands had to turn to, as if for life, to shorten sail.

There were lively lads aloft on the Yankee ships of those days, for the crews, down to the powder monkeys, were inspired by a sense of honor. They stripped the _Constellation_ in time to save her spars, but the other ship lost her main-topmast, and when the squall had passed, it was seen that she had changed her course, hoping to reach port at St. Eustatius.

But the _Constellation_ was soon upon her. She hoisted American colors, but could not answer a private signal, and a little later sent up the French flag and fired a gun in defiance.

Later still (it was at 3.15 o’clock), when the _Constellation_, with her canvas above the topsails furled, came bowling down, the enemy hailed, but no reply was made. Captain Truxton was not yet ready, but when he had arrived within ten yards just off the enemy’s weather quarter and the hail was repeated, Captain Truxton answered with a full broadside.

The fire was instantly returned, and then the enemy shoved his helm hard down, intending to luff up yardarm to yardarm and board the _Constellation_. In that move lay his only hope for victory, for he carried a hundred men more than the _Constellation_. But Captain Truxton was not to be caught. The _Constellation_ being unhurt aloft, was able not only to steer clear of the crippled Frenchman, but to pass across his bows and rake him.

Then the _Constellation_ dropped down on the starboard side and gave the Frenchman other broadsides, and following up the advantage of superior sailing power, she once more crossed his bows and raked again. Again she passed alongside, firing as she went, and this was so effective that every eighteen-pounder in the main-deck battery of the Frenchman was dismounted, leaving him nothing but twelve-pounders for continuing the fight. Nevertheless, the Frenchman held fast his colors until the _Constellation_ once more drew ahead in a position to rake. The fight was then absolutely hopeless and the Frenchman struck.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE INSURGENT-CONSTELLATION BATTLE.]

It was then learned that she was the _Insurgent_, Captain Barreaut.

The _Constellation_ carried forty-eight guns, throwing 848 pounds of metal at one discharge, while the _Insurgent_ carried forty guns, throwing 791 pounds of metal. The _Constellation’s_ crew numbered 309, and the _Insurgent’s_ just 100 more. The battle lasted one hour and fourteen minutes. The French lost twenty-nine killed and forty-one wounded, the _Constellation_ two killed and three wounded.

[Illustration: A French Vessel of 120 Guns.

_From an engraving by Orio._]

One gets a remarkable picture of the discipline on board the _Constellation_ when reading, in the report of the battle, that one of the two men killed was shot dead by Lieut. Andrew Sterrett for deserting his post at the first fire.

More interesting still is the story of the _Insurgent_ during the three days after the battle. Lieut. John Rodgers and Midshipman David Porter, with eleven men, were sent on board to take charge, and supervise the transfer of prisoners. While yet 173 of the French crew remained in her the two ships were separated by a West India hurricane. These thirteen Americans were left to face the gale and 173 of the enemy. Worse yet, all the hatch gratings, hand-cuffs, and shackles had been thrown overboard after striking colors. But Rodgers and Porter were the men for the occasion. They drove the prisoners below the hatches and placed one resolute, well-armed man at each hatchway with orders to kill any one who strove to get out. With the others they worked the ship for three days and two nights. They did not sleep or rest during that time, but they brought the ship into St. Kitts, where the _Constellation_, with an anxious crew, awaited them.

Still more to the honor of the flag was the fight between the _Constellation_ and the _Vengeance_ on Sunday night, February 2, 1800, for the Frenchman was in every way superior, and Captain Truxton compelled him to fight.

It was after a long chase that the _Constellation_ drew up on the weather quarter of the enemy at a distance of fifty or sixty yards. The ship had already been cleared for action, and now the battle lanterns were lighted, the crew were ordered to preserve perfect silence, and Captain Truxton stepped to the lee rail and hailed. For a reply the enemy opened fire with such guns as he could bring to bear, and some of the shot struck home. But Truxton was not yet in a position to suit him, and the _Constellation_ forged ahead, with her crew standing in perfect silence at their stations, peering out at the red flash of the enemy’s guns in the night, and shrinking back as the shot came in and here and there knocked a man dead or struggling across the deck. The wounded were instantly borne below, while the quarter-masters sanded the blood, but no man spoke a word.

As the time passed, the strain upon them became greater. The Captain noticed that the men were flinching more and more, and sternly ordered them to stand to their posts until they got the word, and then to aim at the hull and fire deliberately, but to load swiftly. And the men obeyed that order.

Reaching the vantage point where every gun would bear, the order to fire was given, and echoing from the crash of the balls in the enemy’s hull came such shrieks and cries as told of the havoc wrought there.

Thereafter until 12.30 o’clock that night the crew of the _Constellation_ loaded as quickly as possible and fired as deliberately as if but practising with the battery at a target. So swift was their work that the guns got heated, and men crawled out the ports and dipped up water with buckets to cool them off. But at midnight the fire of the enemy, that had been slacking away, died out entirely. The victory seemed won--it was, in fact, won over and again, for the French flag had been lowered twice during the fight (some historians say three times), but the _Constellation_ people did not see it because of the smoke, and, under the circumstances, the Frenchmen felt compelled to fight on. But when they could fight no more and victory was assured for the American flag, the captain of the _Constellation_ found that her main standing rigging had been wholly shot away. He called all hands to send up preventers, but before the work could be done the mast fell, carrying Midshipman James Jarvis and several men overboard, all but one of whom were lost. Jarvis might have escaped before the mast went, but chose to remain at his post and face death.

[Illustration: Medal Awarded to Thomas Truxton.]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Having lost her mainmast, the _Constellation_ was so badly crippled that the enemy slipped away in the night to Curaçao. She was the _Vengeance_, Capt. A. M. Pitot. She carried fifty-two guns, throwing 1,115 pounds of shot, while the _Constellation_ at this time carried fifty guns, throwing 826 pounds of shot. The crew of the _Vengeance_ numbered 330 to 310 on the _Constellation_. She lost fifty killed and 110 wounded, while the _Constellation_ lost fourteen killed and twenty-five wounded. Her ability to escape was hard luck for the Yankees, for she was carrying a very valuable cargo, including a lot of specie.

If there is any one feature of this battle better worth remembering than any other it is the escape of the _Vengeance_ after she was twice whipped--her escape through continuing the fight. For it proves, as John Paul Jones proved in the _Bonhomme Richard_, that a ship is never hopelessly defeated until she is sunk or wholly disabled.

Another interesting battle was that between the _Boston_, Capt. John Little, and the _Berceau_, Capt. André Senez, who was, during the American Revolution, a midshipman under Count D’Estaing in the operations that enabled Washington to complete the capture of Cornwallis. The _Boston_ was a larger ship, with more men and more and heavier guns than the enemy, but when she ranged up within ten yards of the _Berceau_ and Captain Little demanded that she surrender, the valiant Senez replied “Never!” This was at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon of October 12, 1800. The _Boston_ opened fire, and with cries of “Vive la Republique!” the Frenchmen replied, and so effective was their fire and so determined was their commander that the battle raged for twenty-two hours, save for the intermissions during which the _Boston_ had to haul off and repair rigging. But at 2 P.M. of the 13th the _Berceau_ was practically shot to pieces and she had to surrender.

The dash of Lieut. Isaac Hull, when he cut the valuable privateer _Sandwich_ out of Puerto Plato, was characteristic of the man who distinguished himself in later years. The privateer was lying in position to rake anything entering port, and she was protected by a good shore battery. But filling the Yankee sloop _Sally_ with seamen and marines from the _Constitution_ (Hull was then her first lieutenant), he entered the harbor at night, sent the marines ashore, where they spiked the fort guns, while he with his sailors boarded and carried the privateer and sailed her out of port and sent her home. But though a brave, it proved to have been an illegal capture, and full restitution was made to the owners.

The adventures of the twelve-gun schooner _Enterprise_, Lieutenant Shaw--notably that when she fought the letter of marque _Seine_ that would not surrender until twenty-four had been killed and disabled out of a crew of fifty-four--were of the most stirring character. In six months she captured eight Frenchmen and recaptured four American ships the French had taken. The _Experiment_, Lieut. William Maley, was handled in like fashion. Both vessels often met and whipped superior forces, but space is lacking to give the story of their deeds.

This high-seas war with France began on May 28, 1798. It came to an end when, on February 3, 1801, a treaty of peace was ratified by the American Senate. Nearly three years had passed away. By it peace was assured for the future, and as for the past, all government vessels captured on either side were to be restored. By this provision the Americans returned the _Berceau_, the _Vengeance_, and a smaller cruiser. The _Insurgent_ was lost at sea. Seventy-six French ships, in addition, such as privateers and armed merchantmen, carrying together 500 guns, had been captured, and these were retained. No American warship was captured by the French except the _Retaliation_, which was originally taken from them.

[Illustration: “The _Sally_ Attacked by a Sea-Serpent off the Shore of Long Island.”

_From a French engraving._]

The patriotic American does not care to dwell on this trouble with a people that had rendered such great aid when the nation was struggling for life against the oppressor. The significant features of such conflicts as took place were found in the efficiency and good discipline of the crews of the American ships and the development of an _esprit de corps_ unknown during the Revolution. The pride and dignity of the new nation were stirring the blood of its naval seamen.

[Illustration: A French Cutter of 16 Guns.

_From an engraving by Merlo._]

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