Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea - Their rovings, cruises, escapades, and fierce battling - upon the ocean for patriotism and for treasure

Charles Haven Ladd Johnston

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• Publié par: chawyag
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 47
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea, by Charles H. L. Johnston This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea Their rovings, cruises, escapades, and fierce battling upon the ocean for patriotism and for treasure Author: Charles H. L. Johnston Release Date: October 19, 2008 [EBook #26960] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN *** Produced by K Nordquist, Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Famous Privateersmen AND ADVENTURERS OF THE SEA Their rovings, cruises, escapades, and fierce battling upon the ocean for patriotism and for treasure By CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON Author of “Famous Cavalry Leaders,” “Famous Indian Chiefs,” “Famous Scouts,” etc. Illustrated BOSTON THE PAGE COMPANY PUBLISHERS FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES BY CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON Each one volume, large 12mo, illustrated, $1.50 FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS FAMOUS SCOUTS FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN THE PAGE COMPANY 53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. From “The Army and Navy of the United States.” “AGAIN THE CANNON MADE THE SPLINTERS FLY.” (See page 273.) Copyright, 1911, BY L. C. PAGE & C OMPANY (INCORPORATED) All rights reserved First Impression, November, 1911 Second Impression, November, 1914 THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS CO., BOSTON, U. S. A. I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO THE HAPPY MEMORY OF THE MOST STIMULATING AUTHOR OF BOOKS FOR BOYS THAT THE PAST HALF CENTURY HAS PRODUCED, AND A WRITER WHO HAS KEPT ALIVE THE SPIRIT OF MANLY SPORT AND ADVENTURE WHICH HAS MADE THE ANGLO-SAXON PEOPLE A RACE OF WORLD CONQUERORS. MAY THEY NEVER RETROGRADE! Thanks are due the Librarian of Congress, and particularly to Mr. Roberts of the Department of Prints, for numerous courtesies extended to the author during the compilation of this volume. PREFACE MY DEAR B OYS :—The sea stretches away from the land,—a vast sheet of unknown possibilities. Now gray, now blue, now slate colored, whipped into a thousand windrows by the storm, churned into a seething mass of frothing spume and careening bubbles, it pleases, lulls, then terrorizes and dismays. Perpetually intervening as a barrier between peoples and their countries, the wild, sobbing ocean rises, falls and roars in agony. It is a stoppage to progress and contact between races of men and warring nations. [Pg vii] In the breasts of all souls slumbers the fire of adventure. To penetrate the unknown, to there find excitement, battle, treasure, so that one’s future life can be one of ease and indolence—for this men have sacrificed the more stable occupations on land in order to push recklessly across the death-dealing billows. They have battled with the elements; they have suffered dread diseases; they have been tormented with thirst; with a torrid sun and with strange weather; they have sorrowed and they have sinned in order to gain fame, fortune, and renown. On the wide sweep of the ocean, even as on the rolling plateau of the once uninhabited prairie, many a harrowing tragedy has been enacted. These dramas have often had no chronicler,—the battle was fought out in the silence of the watery waste, and there has been no tongue to [Pg viii] tell of the solitary conflict and the unseen strife. Of sea fighters there have been many: the pirate, the fillibusterer, the man-ofwarsman, and the privateer. The first was primarily a ruffian and, secondarily, a brute, although now and again there were pirates who shone by contrast only. The fillibusterer was also engaged in lawless fighting on the sea and to this service were attracted the more daring and adventurous souls who swarmed about the shipping ports in search of employment and pelf. The man-ofwarsman was the legitimate defender of his country’s interests and fought in the open, without fear of death or imprisonment from his own people. The privateersman—a combination of all three—was the harpy of the rolling ocean, a vulture preying upon the merchant marine of the enemy to his country, attacking only those weaker than himself, scudding off at the advent of men-ofwarsmen, and hovering where the guileless merchantman passed by. The privateersman was a gentleman adventurer, a protected pirate, a social highwayman of the waters. He throve, grew lusty, and prospered,—a robber legitimized by the laws of his own people. So these hardy men went out upon the water, sailed forth beneath the white spread of new-made canvas, and, midst the creaking of spars, the slapping of ropes, the scream of the hawser, the groan of the windlass, and the ruck and roar of wave-beaten wood, carved out their destinies. They fought. They bled. They conquered and were defeated. In the hot struggle and the desperate attack they played their parts even as the old Vikings of Norway and the sea [Pg ix] rovers of the Mediterranean. Hark to the stories of those wild sea robbers! Listen to the tales of the adventurous pillagers of the rolling ocean! And—as your blood is red and you, yourself, are fond of adventure—ponder upon these histories with satisfaction, for these stalwart seamen “Fought and sailed and took a prize Even as it was their right, Drank a glass and kissed a maid Between the volleys of a fight. Don’t begrudge their lives of danger, You are better off by far, But, if war again comes,—stranger, Hitch your wagon to their star.” C HARLES H. L. JOHNSTON. The bugle calls to quarters, The roar of guns is clear, Now—ram your charges home, Lads! And cheer, Boys! Cheer! CONTENTS PAGE [Pg xi] PREFACE C ARLO ZENO : H ERO OF THE VENETIAN R EPUBLIC SIR FRANCIS D RAKE: R OVER AND SEA R ANGER SIR WALTER R ALEIGH: PERSECUTOR OF THE S PANIARDS JEAN BART: THE SCOURGE OF THE D UTCH D U GUAY-TROUIN: THE GREAT FRENCH “BLUE” EDWARD ENGLAND: TERROR OF THE SOUTH SEAS WOODES R OGERS: THE BRISTOL MARINER FORTUNATUS WRIGHT: THE MOST H ATED PRIVATEERSMAN OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA GEORGE WALKER: WINNER OF THE GAMEST SEA FIGHT OF THE ENGLISH C HANNEL JOHN PAUL JONES: THE FOUNDER OF THE A MERICAN N AVY C APTAIN SILAS TALBOT: STAUNCH vii 1 23 53 83 113 137 153 173 199 239 PRIVATEERSMAN OF N EW ENGLAND C APTAIN “JOSH” BARNEY: THE IRREPRESSIBLE YANKEE R OBERT SURCOUF: THE “SEA H OUND” FROM S T . MALO LAFITTE: PRIVATEER, PIRATE, AND TERROR OF THE GULF OF MEXICO R APHAEL SEMMES: D ESPOILER OF AMERICAN C OMMERCE EL C APITAN R ETROSPECT 283 299 319 341 373 393 397 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE [Pg xiii] “AGAIN THE CANNON MADE THE SPLINTERS FLY” (See page 273) ZENO ’ S FLEET SIR FRANCIS D RAKE D RAKE’ S GREATEST VICTORY ON THE S PANISH MAIN YOUNG R ALEIGH AND A COMPANION LISTENING TO TALES OF THE Frontispiece 18 28 44 SPANISH MAIN 55 60 86 SIR WALTER R ALEIGH JEAN BART “JEAN BART LED HIS BOARDERS OVER THE SIDE OF THE D UTCH VESSEL” C OMBAT BETWEEN D U GUAYTROUIN AND VAN WASSENAER “‘LEFT US ENGAGED WITH BARBAROUS AND INHUMAN ENEMIES’” 108 135 146 “THE BOARDERS WERE REPULSED WITH GREAT SLAUGHTER” 193 ACTION BETWEEN THE “GLORIOSO ” AND THE “KING GEORGE” AND “PRINCE FREDERICK” UNDER GEORGE WALKER AMERICAN PRIVATEER TAKING 231 POSSESSION OF A PRIZE 239 261 “BEGAN TO HULL THE ‘D RAKE’ BELOW THE WATER-LINE” “THEY SWARMED INTO THE FORECASTLE AMIDST FIERCE CHEERS” 277 “TALBOT, HIMSELF, AT THE HEAD OF HIS ENTIRE CREW, CAME LEAPING ACROSS THE SIDE” 289 AMERICAN PRIVATEER CAPTURING TWO E NGLISH SHIPS “SURCOUF SCANNED HER CAREFULLY THROUGH HIS GLASS” 298 336 376 R APHAEL SEMMES “THE MEN WERE SHOUTING WILDLY, AS EACH PROJECTILE TOOK EFFECT ” 386 CARLO ZENO HERO OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC (1344-1418) “Paradise is under the shadow of swords.”—MAHOMET. [Pg 2] [Pg 3] CARLO ZENO HERO OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC (1344-1418) Zeno, noble Zeno, with your curious canine name, You shall never lack for plaudits in the golden hall of fame, For you fought as well with galleys as you did with burly men, And your deeds of daring seamanship are writ by many a pen. From sodden, gray Chioggia the singing Gondoliers, Repeat in silvery cadence the story of your years, The valor of your comrades and the courage of your foe, When Venice strove with Genoa, full many a year ago. T HE torches fluttered from the walls of a burial vault in ancient Venice. Two shrouded figures leaned over the body of a dead warrior, and, as they gazed upon the wax-like features, their eyes were filled with tears. “See,” said the taller fellow. “He has indeed led the stalwart life. Here are five and thirty wounds upon the body of our most renowned compatriot. He was a true hero.” “You speak correctly, O Knight,” answered the other. “Carlo Zeno was the real warrior without fear and without reproach. He has fared badly at the hands of [Pg 4] the Republic. But then,—is this not life? Those most worthy seem never to receive their just compensation during their living hours. It is only when they are dead that a tardy public gives them some recognition of the great deeds which they have done, the battles which they have fought, and the honor which they have brought to their native land. Alas! poor Zeno! He—the true patriot—has had but scant and petty praise.” So saying the two noble Venetians covered the prostrate form of the dead warrior—for they had lifted the brown robe which enshrouded him—and, with slow faltering steps, they left the gloomy chamber of death. Who was this Venetian soldier, who, covered with the marks of battle, lay in his last sleep? Who—this hero of war’s alarms? This patriotic leader of the roughand-ready rovers of the sea? It was Carlo Zeno,—a man of the best blood of Venice,—who, comm