of whiskey, which was liberally dealt out to all candidates for the honor of sea-martyrdom, made the desperate resolution of seeking it on board of the gallant Grumbler, they, too, grumbled, not so much at the quantity, as at the villainous bad flavor of the whiskey.

The whiskey was not all potent in this case, for men were scarce, and vessels were plenty-so after essaying to get a crew in our own port, we sailed away to Boston, hoping to complete one there. But it would not do, men were shy, and we gathered but a few, and we set out to return to our own port again, and on the way, we got upon a rock. The high tide floated us off again without a hole in our bottom, and with no injury, save a little copper knocked off, and this was soon placed.

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We now opened a rendezvous again, and at last, by the aid of the whiskey, and the free use of that description of rhetoric which the Irish call blarney, together with a few dollars advance to each, as bounty money, we gathered together about forty men and boys, and set sail on our cruise, on a bright and beautiful summer's day.

Our crew was altogether as whimsical as our schooner. They reminded me in all but numbers, of the description a downeast skipper gave of the crew of his lumber coaster, viz.: “An old man, a little boy, a 'tarnal fool, and a Frenchman." Such a hatless, shoeless, shirtless, graceless, unwashed, but not unwhipped set of ragamuffins, I believe never before indulged the gregariousness of their natures by congregating together. I had heard much of the picked crews of American privateers, and when I stood on the deck of the schooner, and surveyed the motley group around me, I could not but think, that we, too, had a picked crew, and that if the old gentleman, who has the charge of the fires in the nether regions had had the selection, he, too, would have picked just such another.

On board this shapeless vessel, behold me, a simple and beardless youth, installed as captain's clerk; and because the clerk's duties were likely to be, "like angels' visits, few and far between," I was also purser to this motley crew; and because these two were not of occupation sufficient," our worthy captain had the goodness to

assign me, in the quarter bill, the post of sergeant of marines.

I have said, that our schooner was at first called the Grumbler, but when our owners went to take out her papers for the cruise, being probably tired of the grumbling that she had occasioned, they registered her as “ The Frolic."

Our harbor, then, astern, we bounded merrily over the blue waters, skimning like a sea-mew the light curling waves, and wending our way to the eastward toward the British fishing grounds, to fish for a few straggling and quiet merchant vessels, which might chance to be bound on their way to Halifax or Pictou, and which had committed the, to us, unpardonable sin of being manned by an English crew, of sailing under English colors, and of being owned by British subjects.

We were bounding, then, I say, over the calm waters; night had thrown its dusky curtain around us, when we made the right pleasant discovery, which many on shore had predicted while we were fitting out, that our little schooner, however she might dance blithely over a light sea, with light winds, lacked bearings, and had no power to keep up amid harsh waves and howling storms.

We were going before the wind, with no square-sail set, save only our foretopsail, and that reefed, when the wind suddenly shifted a-head, and our poor, non-descript, wedge-like vessel, was settling down fast by the stern. I had retired to my sleeping bunk, my senses wrapt in forgetfulness, when I was awakened by a tumultuous noise on deck. My first thoughts were, that we had got aground; my second was, to spring on my feet; but whatever was the occasion of the racket, instinct prompted me to rush upon deck. I made a rapid transition from our wardroom through the hatchway, in almost a state of primeval nudity, and alighting on the lee-side of the deck, I found myself immersed to my waist in water. Our crew were all teetotal coldwater men, then, despite the whiskey.

Our deck was in a wild confusionevery thing buoyant was afloat, sailing about in most admired disorder. Officers were shouting; men running hither and thither, some cursing, and others trembling, but each one endeavoring to

do something to avert the catastrophe, we were so eminently threatened with. Notwithstanding my fright, I could not help being amused by the exhibition of the ruling passion, strong in dire extremity, displayed by our surgeon. He had been fiddling, for he was a votary of Orpheus as well as of Esculapius, and had been a dancing-master, and he found his way on deck, fiddle in hand, quicker than he ever cut a pigeon-wing in his life. The fiddle had cut adritt from the doctor, and was congregating with oakum wads, handspikes, bott's oars, "et id genus omne," in the lee scuppers. "Put on and batten down the hatches,” shouted the excited voice of the captain. "Give me my fiddle," cried the doctor. "Knock out the ports," roared the sailing-master. "Save my fiddle,” moanedout Mr. Medico. "Look out for the booms," uttered the stentorian voice of the boatswain. Look out for my fiddle," said the shriller voice of the surgeon. At last, the hatches were securel, the bulwarks knocked away, the booms lashed together, and the fiddle restored to the doctor, with no other injury than its being pretty well water-soaken. The squall, luckily, was of short duration-it was what the sailors called a white one; we made out to get the schooner again before the wind, to dislodge the water from the deck, and to pump it out of the hold, and our submarine voyage was postponed for that time. We kept on our way, sorely against the wishes and opinion of all on board, except the captain; he did not wish to appear craven, and he put on a show of confidence and resolution, which, I believe, his heart belied. No one went below again that night, but all were gathered together in groups about the deck. discussing the folly and temerity of the captain; at last we came to the determination, and went aft in a body, and told him we could proceed no further on the cruise. He cause i us all to sign a paper, by which we agreed to pay back to the owners the bounty money we had received; this done, he gave his orders to put about, which were executed with alacrity, and we run the ill-fated schooner into port again the next day, after a hard chase by an English frigate, and cast anchor opposite to the ship-yard, in which she had bear a few weeks before built.

Our fate, in our comical little vessel, having well nigh proved tragical, our owners caused a railway to be constructed, the first ever invented for a like purpose; and had her hauled up again on to the same stocks from which she had been a short time previously launched. Her wedge-like bottom was entirely remodelled, and from her new construction, if she did not so well promise to come up with an enemy, she was far more likely to keep up herself. When she was again launched, a rendezvous was opened for the purpose of shipping a crew, as most of our officers and crew were satisfied with their short cruise, and had scattered again in various directions.

As for myself, my worldly prospects had not improved; my heart was heavy, and my pockets were light: and it mattered but little to me where I went, or how; so with little care, as to the consequences, I enlisted again in the schooner, in my old capacity.

Our new captain was a short, dapper, agile little fellow, smart withal, and capable, a good sailor, brave as a lion, good-natured, generally, and kind and attentive to those under his command.

With this captain, a pretty good set of subordinate officers, and such a crew as we could pick up, numbering, all told, about fifty, we departed from port, and sailed to the eastward, being bound, as before, of the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The first day out of port, we overhauled an American ship bound in, which our captain suspected was sailing under a British licence. He managed the thing very adroitly, passing ourselves off as an English privateer which had made some noise upon the coast; and he deceived the master of the ship, who produced his license. We accordingly put a prize-master on board, and the ship wis condemned as our prize by the Admiralty Court. In a few days, being off Halifax, we captured a small schooner belonging to some port in Nova Scotia, and manned her out as a prize; but she was retaken some days after. She was not, however, of much value. Proceeding eastward, over the Green Bank, or Bank Verd, as it is laid down on the chart, we cruized for some time off the island of St. Peters or Miquelon. This island was inhabited by Frenchmen, who were mostly

fishermen; and, as far as the eye could range on the ocean, might be seen their small vessels employed in fishing. These boats were of an unique appearance, and their sails being tanned to preserve them from the action of the perpetual fog of this coast, added to their singularity. We at first made a great fluttering among these poor fellows, but in the course of a few days, finding that we did not molest them, and that we honestly paid them for all we bought of them, their fear wore off, and they became our very good friends. They appeared to be a simple and unsophisticated race of mortals, but very poor. After cruising about here for some time, without making any captures, we at last fell in with a fleet of vessels, bound from England for Mirimachi and Pictou. They were under a strong convoy; but we dodged about until they became scattered, following them almost out of sight, till their near proximity to the coast had rendered them careless; when we pounced in among them. We sometimes captured two or three a day; but they were not worth manning out, being in ballast, going to obtain cargoes of lumber; so, after taking out their crews, and what articles of value they had, we burned them. In this way, in the course of a few days, we captured and burned some ten or a dozen, I have forgotten exactly how many; and I have lost my journal of this cruise.

We one day ran in between two vessels; the one to the windward was a ship, and that to leeward a brig; we threw a shot at the ship, and she hove to. We were preparing to take possession of her, the boat was alongside, and the prize-master and crew in readiness to go on board. I had but just come up out of the cabin, where I had been writing the instructions to the prizemaster, and was in the act of delivering them to him, when the brig to leeward opened a smart fire upon us. We got in our boat as quickly as possible, and run down to the brig; but she did not like our near approach, and fled. We were near an island, and there was a pretty deep harbor; for which she made. She succeeded in getting in, and they ran her on shore, and the crew deserted her and took to the bushes; the place being uninhabited. There was a bar, over which we did not dare to venture; so our captain

sent in our boat to destroy her. In the hurry of getting the boat in, at the beginning of the chase, she had been injured, so that she leaked badly; but by incessant bailing the crew made out to reach the brig. The crew from the shore kept up an incessant fire of musketry upon our men, but they loaded one of the brig's guns with ball and langrage, and discharged it at them, and were not much annoyed after this. Our men cut a hole in her bottom, and then set fire to her. They had hardly completed this service, when we hastily recalled them, for we saw an armed brig coming round a point of the harbor and we knew that we had got to run for it. We took our men on board, letting the boat shift for itself, and made all sail. It was late in the afternoon, and we were chased all night; but the next morning we had distanced the brig, so that she gave up

the chase.

This cruise did not prove profitable in gaining prize-money; but it was a very pleasant one. The weather was, all the time, serene; harmony existed on board, and we were, a great part of the time, either chasing or being chased, so that we were almost continually excited with expectation of gain or fear of capture. At our leisure hours, we were engaged in fishing, and the fish were abundant and of good quality.

We were victualed and provided only for a short cruise, and the time having expired, we put about, and proceeded on our way home, where we arrived without any material incident, and where we found that our trip, for all purposes of profit, might as well have terminated the first day out; as all the prize-money we derived was from the American ship, and she was not of much value.

The season was now too far advanced to try St. Peter's fishing-ground again; and our new destination was to the West Indies. Some of our officers, and many of our crew now left us, and we had to procure new ones. This. with some repairs upon the schooner and taking in stores, detained us in port for several weeks. ceeding in getting as many men as we wanted, (for the inducements given to seamen in the United States service were greater than in private armed vessels, and the character of our schooner

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was not very good withal,) we proceeded to Portsmouth with the vessel, for the purpose of completing our crew.

Here, by dint of persuasions and potations, by words and whiskey, we made out to pick up our remaining complement of men, and to complete pretty much such a picked crew as I have described in the beginning of this chapter. Our complete complement, it may readily be judged, was not a very complcte compliment to the character of American privateers.

We had to scour the neighboring towns to procure some of our men, and one of our lieutenants and myself were despatched into the county of York, in the then District of Maine. Here we procured three Down-Easters, who received our bounty-money, and mounted our blue ribbon in their apologies for hats, but who contrived to elude our vigilance, and made off with the badges, and we never saw the varlets again. The winter of our worthy sub's discontent was not made glorious summer by these sons of York; he was extremely vexed at the circumstance; but for myself, I liked the ride and the frolic, and was in no great hurry to exchange this frolic on the land for our frolic on the water.

During our stay at Portsmouth, the great fire occurred, by which a large portion of that flourishing town was consumed, and a blow inflicted upon its prosperity, from which, I believe, it has not yet recovered. Our schooner was moored in the river, near the town, but the officer in command found it necessary to remove her down to near the navy-yard, on account of the danger from the sparks and burning fragments which were flying in every direction. Several of our officers were on shore at the time, and I happened to be among them, and we all endeavored to render all the assistance in our power to the suffering inhabitants. Our captain was particularly active and efficient, as were also the United States officers and sailors who were there.

There was there a privateer schooner, the Brutus, of Baltimore, on board of which a great many children and females, who had been deprived of their homes by the flames, were conveyed; and it was found necessary, in the course of the night, to remove her down the river; and inany a heart was anxious for the fate of its loved ones, until it was discovered, the next morning, that they were safe on board the Brutus.

Having got together our crew, and made all proper arrangements, we set sail from Portsmouth on Christmasday, A. D. 1813. The experience of the last cruise had proved to us that our vessel had improved in buoyancy, but not in speed. She was not a very crack sailer, however much we might crack on her. Her best play was before the wind, which is not usually the case with clipper-built schooners.

The day was near its close when we got under weigh, and dark clouds hung over the far-off blue hills; but we had a favorable breeze, and, despite the inexperience and drunkenness of many of our men, we got out to sea without any accident.

We had just cleared the point at Great Island, when we perceived a small, dark object in the water, lying directly in our track, and apparently awaiting our approach. On coming up with it, it proved to be a small boat of the kind which is commonly called a dory. It contained a man who had come off alone from the eastern side of the river, and who was a deserter from the United States brig Rattlesnake, which was then in the harbor of Portsmouth. He wished to enlist with us; and, as he was a prime seaman, we were by no means very scrupulous as to the rights of "Uncle Sani" in the case.. He joined with us, and proved to be one of our most efficient men, but, withal, such a reckless, unprincipled rascal, that if he came to a peaceful end, the gallows and the hangman have been defrauded of their due.