A youthful man-o'-warsman, from the diary of an English lad who served in the British frigate Macedonian during her memorable action with the American frigate United States; who afterward deserted and (14779008054)

Identifier: youthfulmanowars00macl (find matches)
Title: A youthful man-o'-warsman, from the diary of an English lad ... who served in the British frigate Macedonian during her memorable action with the American frigate United States; who afterward deserted and entered the American Navy ..
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Maclay, Edgar Stanton, 1863-1919
Subjects: Leech, Samuel, 1798-1848 Adventure and adventurers Sailors United States -- History War of 1812 Personal narratives
Publisher: Greenlawn, N.Y., Navy Blue Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation



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the cap-tain shouted again: Masthead, there! Ay, ay, sir. What does she look like ? A large ship, sir, standing toward us.By this time most of the crew were on deck,eagerly straining their eyes to obtain a glimpseof the approaching ship and murmering theiropinions to each other on her probable character.Then came the voice of the captain shouting: Keep silence, fore and aft! Silence beingsecured, he hailed the lookout: What does she look like? to which thelookout replied: A large frigate, bearing down upon us, sir.A whisper ran along the crew that the strangerwas a Yankee frigate. The thought was con-firmed by the command: All hands clear ship for action, ahoy! The drum and fife beat to quarters, bulkheadswere knocked away, the guns were released fromtheir lashings and the whole dread paraphernaliaof battle was produced. And, after the lapse of afew minutes of hurry and confusion, every manand boy was at his post, ready to do his bestservice for his country—except the band of musi-
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x. Y. /: >: .( I In Grim Battle Array. 97 cians who came aft in a body and claimed exemp-tion from the affray l)y virtue of llieir contract.And, with the Captains permission, they safelystowed themselves away in the cable tier. We had only one sick man on the list (theboatswain) and he, at the cry of battle, hurriedfrom his cot, feeble as he was, to take his postof danger. A few of the junior midshipmen werestationed on the berthdeck below with ordersgiven in our hearing to shoot any man whoattempted to run from his quarters. Our men were all in good spirits, though theydid not scruple to express the wish that thecoming foe was a Frenchman rather than aYankee. We had been told by the Americans onboard, that frigates in the American service car-ried more and heavier metal than ours. This,together with our consciousness of superiorityover the French at sea, led us to a preference fora French antagonist. The Americans among our number felt quitedisconcerted by the necessity that compe