Three days later, dressed in fashionable attire, Barney stepped into a post-chaise at midnight and drove off for Exeter. He was stopped at the Plymouth gate, and a lantern thrust in to see if he corresponded with the description of himself which had been circulated. Apparently he did not, for he was permitted to proceed, and eventually passed on to Bristol and London, France, and Holland; whence he shipped on board the armed ship South Carolina, which he saved, by prompt measures and good seamanship, from being wrecked on the Dutch coast—her officers being, apparently, timid and incompetent.
Eventually, having transhipped on board the Cicero, another American privateer, Barney reached Beverley, Massachusetts—the writer does not give the date, but it must have been in the autumn of 1781. At Boston, we are told, he met several of his fellow-prisoners who had also escaped from Mill Prison.
[15] There still remains the question of Byron's flagship. She was certainly the Princess Royal when he arrived at New York; but as the Ardent, 64, was one of the vessels of his squadron, it is, of course, possible that he may subsequently have hoisted his flag on her temporarily.
CHAPTER XIX
In April of the following year, 1782, Barney was again afloat in command of a privateer, the Hyder Ali (spelt HydeA lly in Mr. Maclay's book), fitted out, by merchants of Philadelphia, with sixteen 6-pounder guns and a crew of 110.
In this vessel he fought a remarkable and successful action against the General Monk, a British man-of-war, of alleged superior force, though this is not borne out by British accounts. She was formerly the General Washington, was captured by a British squadron in 1780, and renamed upon being added to the British Navy. She was commanded on this occasion by Commander Josias Rogers, an officer of great courage and resource, and was armed with sixteen 9-pounder carronades and two 6-pounders. A 9-pounder carronade was a foolish little piece, very short, and addicted to jumping violently and capsizing when it became at all hot: and it would be quite outranged by a long 6-or 9-pounder.
We are not told, either in the British or American account, the tonnage of the two vessels, but in the latter the General Monk is described as being pierced for twenty guns: and in the former the Hyder Ali is said to have carried eighteen guns, 6-and 9-pounders (proportion of each not stated), while her crew is put down as 130 men.
Dropping down the river Delaware with several merchant vessels under convoy, Barney had reached Cape May Roads, just inside Delaware Bay, where he anchored, and was there discovered by a blockading squadron under Captain Mason, of the Quebec frigate.