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| Chapter I. When Porter Swept the Pacific | [1] |
| The Story of the Second Cruise of the Famous Little Frigate Essex—Around Cape Horn and Alone in the Broad South Sea—Capture of a Peruvian Picaroon—Disguising the Essex—The British Whaling Fleet Taken by Surprise—An Armed Whaler Transformed into a Yankee Cruiser—The Sailorman’s Paradise among the Nukahiva Group—When Farragut was a Midshipman—An Incipient Mutiny among the Sailors who Wanted to Remain among the Islands—Farragut as a Captain at Twelve. |
| Chapter II. Porter’s Gallant Action At Valparaiso | [24] |
| A Generous Reception for a Predatory British Frigate—Hillyar’s Lucky Escape—Hillyar’s Explicit Orders—When the Essex had Lost her Top-mast the Phœbe and the Cherub Attacked the Yankee in Neutral Water—It was a Two-to-one Fight and the Enemy had Long Guns to our Short—The British had to Get Beyond the Range of the Essex—Magnificent Bravery of the Yankee Crew when under the Fire of the Long Range British Guns—The Essex on Fire—Fought to the Last Gasp—Porter’s Interrupted Voyage Home—The Men who were Left at Nukahiva in Sorry Straits at Last. |
| Chapter III. Tales of the Yankee Corvettes | [54] |
| A Little Lop-sided Frigate Rebuilt into a Superior Sloop-of-war—Overland (almost) to Escape the Blockade—Her Luck as a Cruiser—A Marvellous Race with a British Frigate over a Course Four Hundred Miles Long—Saved by a Squall—Cornered in the Penobscot—The Gallant Fight of the Yankee Crew against Overwhelming Numbers—Building a New Navy—The Short-lived Portsmouth Corvette Frolic—One Broadside was Enough—Captured by the Enemy—Swift and Deadly Work of the Crew of the Yankee Peacock when they Met the Epervier—Distinctly a Lucky Ship—Fate of the Siren After the Coffin Floated. |
| Chapter IV. Mystery of the Last Wasp | [80] |
| A Typical New England Yankee Crew—Youthful Haymakers and Wood-choppers—Sea-sick for a Week—From Flails to Cutlasses, from Pitchforks to Boarding-pikes, from a Night-watch at a Deer-lick to a Night Battle with the British—After British Commerce in British In-shore Waters—Met by the British Sloop-of-war Reindeer—Magnificent Pluck of the British Captain with a Crew that was “The Pride of Plymouth”—Shot to Pieces in Eighteen Minutes—A Liner that could not Catch her—Wonderful Night Battle with the Avon—Shooting Men from the Enemy’s Tops as Raccoons are Shot from Tree-tops—The Enemy’s Water-line Located by Drifting Foam—Not Captured but Destroyed—The Mystery. |
| Chapter V. On the Upper Lakes in 1814 | [105] |
| An Expedition into Lake Huron—The British had the Best of it in the End—Gallant Action of a British Commander at the Head of the Niagara River—Cautious Captain Chauncey as a Knight of the Whip-saw, Adze, and Maul—His Equally Prudent Opponent—British Torpedoes that Failed—When a Thousand Men Supported by Seven Ships Armed with One Hundred and Twenty-one Cannon “with Great Gallantry” Routed Three Hundred Yankees at Oswego—Supplies the British did not Get—A Naval Flotilla Caught in Big Sandy Creek—Chauncey Afloat on the Lake—Gallant Young American Officers—Line-of-battle Ships that were Never Launched. |
| Chapter VI. To Defend the Northern Gateway | [132] |
| Character of the Red-coated Invaders—“Shamed the Most Ferocious Barbarians of Antiquity”—Work of the Youthful Yankee Lieutenant Macdonough to Stay the Tide on Lake Champlain—Ship-building at Otter Creek—A British Attempt against the New Vessels Repulsed—The British Ship-builders at Isle-Aux-Noix—A Comparison of Forces Before the Battle—Macdonough’s Foresight in Choosing the Battle-ground—Macdonough as a Seaman. |
| Chapter VII. Macdonough’s Victory on Lake Champlain | [151] |
| Thousands Gathered on the Hill-tops Overlooking the Scene—The British Chose to Make a Long-range Fight—Influence of the First British Broadside on a Sporting Rooster—Macdonough’s First Shot—A Reeling Blow from the Enemy’s Flagship—Fighting against Tremendous Odds—Too Hot for One Yankee Ship—The Saratoga’s Guns Dismounted—The Swarming British Gun-boats—“Winding Ship” when Defeat Impended—The British Failure when Imitating the Movement—The Stubborn Bravery of a British Captain—When the Firing Ceased and the Smoke Drifted down the Gale—A Measure of the Relative Efficiency of the two Forces—Two Yankee Squadron Victories Compared—A Stirring Tale of Macdonough’s Youth—Reward for the Victors—Results of the Victory. |
| Chapter VIII. Samuel C. Reid of the General Armstrong | [186] |
| Story of the Desperate Defence of America’s Most Famous Privateer—She was Lying in Neutral Water when Four Hundred Picked British Seamen in Boats that were Armed with Cannon came to Take her by Night—Although she had but Ninety Men, and there was Time to Fire but One Round from her Guns, the Attack was Repelled with Frightful Slaughter—Scuttled when a British Ship came to Attack her—The Cunning Omissions and Deliberate Misstatements of the British Historians Examined in Detail—The Honorable Career of Captain Reid in After Life—A Picked Crew of British Seamen After the Neufchâtel—A Three-to-one Fight where the Yankees Won—Other Brave Militiamen of the Sea. |
| Chapter IX. A Yankee Frigate Taken by the Enemy | [209] |
| They Completely Mobbed “The Waggon” and so Got her at Last—The First Naval Contest After the Treaty of Peace was Signed—The President, when Running the Blockade at New York, Grounded on the Bar, and, although she Pounded Over, she Fell in with the Squadron—A British Frigate Thoroughly Whipped, but Two more Overtook her—A Point on Naval Architecture—A Treaty that Humiliates the Patriot. |
| Chapter X. The Navy at the Battle of New Orleans | [229] |
| The British Grab at the Valley of the Mississippi—Stopped at Lake Borgne by the Yankee Gun-boats under Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones—The British Came Five to One in Numbers and Almost Four to One in Weight of Metal—Defending the Seahorse with Fourteen Men against One Hundred and Seventy-five—The Full British Force Driven upon Two Gun-boats—A Most Heroic Defence that Lasted, in Spite of Overwhelming Odds, more than One Hour—Indomitable Sailing-master George Ulrich—A Fight, the Memory of which still Helps to Preserve the Peace—Work of the Caroline and the Louisiana. |
| Chapter XI. Once More the Constitution | [241] |
| She was a Long Time Idle in Port—A Touching Tale of Sentiment—Away at Last—Captain Stewart’s Presentiment—Found Two of the Enemy as he had Predicted—A Battle where the Yankee Showed Mastery of the Seaman’s Art—Captain Stewart Settled a Dispute—Caught Napping in Porto Praya—Swift Work Getting to Sea—A Most Remarkable Chase—Three British Frigates in Chase of Two Yankee Chose to Follow the Smaller when the Two Split Tacks—Astounding Exhibit of Bad Marksmanship—A Cause of Suicide—The Poem that Saved Old Ironsides. |
| Chapter XII. In the Wastes of the South Atlantic | [270] |
| The Story of a Battle—The Hornet and the Penguin in the Shadows of Tristan d’Acunha—As Fair a Match as is Known to Naval Annals—It Took the Yankees Ten Minutes to Dismantle the Enemy and Five more to Riddle his Hull—The British Captain’s Forceful Description of the Yankee Fire—A Marvellous Escape from a Liner—The Peacock in the Straits of Sunda—When the Lonely Situation of this Sloop is Considered did Warrington Show a Lack of Humanity?—If he Did, What did the British Captain Bartholomew Show? |
| Chapter XIII. In British Prisons | [288] |
| A Typical Story of the Life of an American Seaman who was Impressed in 1810 and Allowed to Become a Prisoner when War was Declared—Luck in Escaping a Flogging—Letters to his Father Destroyed—British Regard for the Man’s Rights when the American Government Took up the Case—A Narragansett Indian Impressed—To Dartmoor Prison—Mustered Naked Men in the Snows of Winter and Kept them in Rooms where Buckets of Water Froze Solid—Murder of Prisoners Six Weeks After it was Officially Known that the Treaty of Peace had been Ratified—Notable Self-restraint of the Americans—Smoothed Over with a Disavowal. |
| Chapter XIV. Stories of the Duellists | [305] |
| Traditions of Personal Combats that Illustrate, in a Way, a Part of the Life Led by the Old Time Naval Officers—When an Englishman did not Get “a Yankee for Breakfast”—They were Offended by the Names of the Yankee Ships—Somers was Able to Prove that he was not Devoid of Courage—The Fate of Decatur, the Most Famous of the Navy’s Duellists. |
| Chapter XV. Among the West India Pirates | [324] |
| A Breed of Cowardly Cutthroats Legitimately Descended from the Licensed Privateers and Nourished under the Peculiar Conditions of Climate, Geography, and Governmental Anarchy Prevailing Around and in the Caribbean Sea—Commodore Perry Loses his Life Because of them—William Howard Allen Killed—Pirate Caves with the Bones of Dead in them—Porto Rico Treachery—The Unfortunate Foxardo Affair—Making the Coasts of Sumatra and Africa Safe for American Traders. |
| Chapter XVI. Decatur and the Barbary Pirates | [339] |
| Supposing the British would Sweep the American Navy from the Seas during the War of 1812, the Dey of Algiers went Cruising for Yankee Ships, and Got One, while Tunis and Tripoli Gave up to the British the Prizes that a Yankee Privateer had Made—The Algerian was Humbled After he had Lost Two War-ships, and the others Made Peace on the Yankees’ Terms without the Firing of a Gun—Bravery of the Pirate Admiral and his Crew. |
| Chapter XVII. Led a Hard Life and Got Few Thanks | [359] |
| Work that Naval Men have had to Do in Out-of-the-way Parts of the World in Times of Peace—Chasing Slavers on the African Coast when Slave-owners Ruled the Yankee Nation—The American Flag a Shield for an Infamous Traffic—Capture of the Martha and the Chatsworth—Teaching Malayans to Fear the Flag—Stories of Piratical Assaults on Yankee Traders, and the Navy’s Part in the Matter—A Chinese Assault on the American Flag—“Blood is Thicker than Water”—A Medal Well Earned by a Warlike Display in Time of Peace. |
| Chapter XVIII. In the War with Mexico | [387] |
| Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, the Hero of Lake Borgne, Struck the First Blow of the War—Operations along the Pacific Coast that Insured the Acquisition of California—Stockton and “Pathfinder” Frémont Operate Together—Wild Horses as Weapons of Offence—The Somers Overturned while Chasing a Blockade Runner—Josiah Tattnall Before Vera Cruz—When Santa Anna Landed—The Yankee Sailors in a Shore Battery—The Hard Fate of One of the Bravest American Officers. |
| Chapter XIX. Expedition in Aid of Commerce | [434] |
| Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the First American Treaty with Japan—An Exhibition of Power and Dignity that Won the Respect of a Nation that had been Justified in its Contempt for Civilized Greed—Services of Naval Officers that are not Well Known and have never been Fully Appreciated by the Nation. |