“But these were precarious times for neutrals, when the two great belligerents (England and France) agreed in nothing else than plundering them.... On the presumption, however, that such neutral commerce as did not, even in a remote degree, prejudice the interests of the belligerents would be unmolested, I felt that I had little else than sea-risk to guard against, and was therefore free from anxiety on the subject of insurance.”
Near the equator Captain Chever was overhauled by a British frigate, and later by a sloop of war, the commanders of both of which vessels satisfied themselves of the legality of his voyage and very civilly permitted him to go on his way. Convinced that he was in no danger from this quarter, Captain Cleveland expected a safe arrival in Havana. Near Martinique he hove in sight of a British fleet, of which Admiral Cochrane was in command on board the Ramillies seventy-four. The American shipmaster was summoned on board the flagship, his papers carefully examined by the captain, and no cause found for his detention. He was sent aboard his ship, and made sail on his course with a happy heart. Scarcely was he under way when Admiral Cochrane signalled him to heave to again, and without deigning to question him or look at his papers ordered the ship seized and taken to the Island of Tortola for condemnation proceedings. These formalities were a farce, the Telemaco was confiscated with her cargo and after fruitless efforts to obtain a fair hearing, Captain Cleveland wrote:
“I am now on the point of embarking for home, after being completely stripped of the fruits of many years hard toil.... To have practised the self-denial incident to leaving my family for so long a time; to have succeeded in reaching Rio Janeiro after being dismasted and suffering all the toils and anxieties of a voyage of forty-three days in that crippled condition; to have surmounted the numerous obstacles and risks attendant on the peculiarity of the transactions in port; to have accomplished the business of lading and despatching the vessels in defiance of great obstacles, and to perceive the fortune almost within my grasp which would secure me ease and independence for the remainder of my life, and then, by the irresistible means of brute force, to see the whole swept off, and myself and family thereby reduced in a moment from affluence to poverty, must be admitted as a calamity of no ordinary magnitude.... After the villainy I have seen practised, at Tortola, by men whose power and riches not only give them a currency among the most respectable, but make their society even courted, I blush for the baseness of mankind and almost lament that I am one of the same species.”
In the list of Salem privateers of 1812, one finds that few of them were in the same class with the splendid and formidable America. Indeed, some were as audaciously equipped, manned and sailed as the little craft which put to sea in the Revolution. For example, among the forty-odd private armed craft hailing from Salem during the latter war, there were such absurd cock-sparrows as:
| The Active | 20 | tons | 2 guns (4 lbs.) | 25 | men |
| Black Vomit (boat) | 5 | ” | muskets | 16 | ” |
| Castigator (launch) | 10 | ” | 16 lb. carronade | 20 | ” |
| Fame | 30 | ” | 26 lb. ” | 30 | ” |
| Orion (boat) | 5 | ” | muskets | 20 | ” |
| Phœnix | 20 | ” | 16 lb. ” | 25 | ” |
| Terrible (boat) | 5 | ” | muskets | 16 | ” |
The schooner Helen was a merchant vessel loaned by her owners to a crew of volunteers for the special purpose of capturing the Liverpool Packet, a venturesome English privateer which for several months had made herself the terror of all vessels entering Massachusetts Bay. She clung to her cruising ground off Cape Cod and evaded the privateers sent in search of her. At last the seamen of Salem determined to clip her wings, and the notion was most enthusiastically received. The Helen was fitted out and seventy volunteers put on board in the remarkably brief time of four hours. Captains Upton and Tibbetts, the leaders of the expedition, organized a parade through the Salem streets, led by a flag bearer, a fifer and drummer, and had not made the circuit of the town before the full crew was enlisted. Four six-pounders were borrowed from the privateer John, and before nightfall of the same day the Helen was heading for sea. Some of her crew leaped aboard as she was leaving the wharf and signed articles while the schooner was working down the harbor. They failed to overhaul the Liverpool Packet which had sailed for Halifax to refit, but their spirit was most praiseworthy. The English privateer was captured later by another Yankee vessel.
The Grand Turk was one of the finest privateers of the war, an East India ship of 310 tons, fitted out with eighteen guns and one hundred and fifty men. Her commanders were Holten J. Breed and Nathan Green who made brilliantly successful cruises. After one cruise of one hundred and three days she returned to Salem with only forty-four of her crew on board, the remainder having been put into prizes of which she had captured eight, one of them with a cargo invoiced at a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Her log describes several astonishing escapes from British cruisers in which she showed a nimble pair of heels that won her the name of being one of the fastest armed ships afloat. During her last cruise, Captain Nathan Green made the following entries:
“Friday, March 10 (1815), at daylight the man at the masthead descried a sail in the eastern quarter. Called all hands immediately and made sail in chase. Soon after saw another sail on the weather bow. Still in pursuit of the chase and approaching her fast. At 6:30 passed very near the second sail, which was a Portuguese schooner standing W.S.W. At 7:00 saw third sail three points on our lee bow, the chase a ship. At 8:00 discovered the third to be a large ship by the wind to the north and westward. At 10:00 being ¾ of a mile to windward discovered the chase to be a frigate, endeavoring to decoy us. Tacked ship and she immediately tacked and made all sail in pursuit of us. Soon perceived we had the superiority of sailing, displayed the American flag and fired a shot in defiance. At 11:00 the wind hauled suddenly to the westward. The frigate received a favorable breeze which caused her to lay across and nearing us fast. At 11:30, the frigate within gunshot, got out our sweeps and made considerable progress, although calm and a short head sea. Frigate commenced firing, got out her boats and attempted to tack four different times but did not succeed. Hoisted our colors and gave her a number of shot. A ship to leeward, a frigate also. At noon swept our brig round with her head to the northward, and having the wind more favorable, left the chaser considerably. The day ends with extreme sultry weather and both ships in pursuit of us.
Capt. Holten J. Breed, commander of the privateer Grand Turk