When he notion for a nudder tea-party.
CHAPTER VIII
SAMUEL C. REID OF THE GENERAL ARMSTRONG
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.
In the foremost rank of the most desperate and valorous conflicts recorded in the annals of the sea stands that made by Captain Samuel C. Reid, of the privateer schooner General Armstrong, in the harbor of Fayal, in the Azore islands, beginning early in the evening of September 26, 1814, and lasting, with intervals of peace, all night.
The Armstrong was a New York privateer. She was owned by Renselaer Havens, Thomas Formar, and Thomas Jenkins. In the early part of the war she carried nineteen guns, of which one was a long twelve-pounder and the others long nines. Manned by one hundred and fifty men under Captain Tim Barnard, she took nineteen prizes. Later twelve of the long nines were removed for use in a fort and a forty-two pounder placed amidship for a “long tom.”
In this style, under Captain Samuel C. Reid, she sailed from New York Harbor on September 9, 1814. The letter of instruction from her owners to her captain suggested that he cruise near the Madeiras to intercept the Brazil fleet. To this was added a paragraph worth quoting. It said, “Be particular in strictly prohibiting any plunder or depredations.”
With a fair wind and the Gulf Stream to help him along, Captain Reid arrived at Fayal Roads on September 26th and anchored there for the purpose of getting water and such fresh provisions as the port afforded.
The American consul, Mr. John B. Dabney, informed him that no British cruisers had been among the Azores for several weeks, but at about dusk that afternoon, while the captain, the consul, and some friends were standing on the deck of the Armstrong, the British brig Carnation suddenly came into view under the northeast head of the harbor within range of long guns.
Consul Dabney was quite certain that the British would respect the neutrality of the port, but as soon as a pilot had arrived alongside of the Carnation “she hauled close in and let go her anchor within pistol-shot of us.” And then as her anchor splashed into the water the big British liner Plantagenet and the frigate Rota came in sight.
Thereafter for some time there was a rapid exchange of signals between the Carnation and the big ship. All of the boats of the Carnation were dropped into the water. One boat was sent off from her to the Plantagenet and there was, in short, no end of bustle about her decks.