Captain John Crane, 1800-1815

by Thomas Wallace Knox

The Charlotte hauled into the wind, while the Marguerite eased off and ran to leeward to escape falling into the jaws of the frigate.

The frigate followed the schooner; and in order to encourage her I put out drags at the Marguerite's sides so as to hold her back sufficiently to enable the frigate to gain on us. We were about four miles apart when this performance began, and to all appearances the frigate gained half a mile an hour on the schooner. Thus we ran away to leeward, while the Charlotte was hauling into the wind and getting more and more out of harm's way every minute. Before sunset she was barely a speck on the horizon, and away to windward; the frigate was within about two miles of the Marguerite, too far off to do any damage with her guns.

I took in one of the drags, and thus enabled the schooner to increase her speed; but I didn't do it until feeling sure there was no possible chance of the frigate turning to follow the Charlotte. As the sun went down and night began stealing over the water, the distance was about the same as it had been for an hour; the frigate was gaining a little, but not much. I thought it best to humor the captain, and so kept the other drag in place till night had fallen completely, and neither ship was any longer visible to the other.

Then I took off the last drag and changed our course. We steered by the stars, not keeping any light in the binnacle; and I gave orders that every glim should be dowsed, and not a spark of fire visible on any part of the schooner during the night. When morning came, the frigate was nowhere in sight. I flattered myself that I had tricked her neatly and saved my very valuable prize from recapture. So it proved, as the Charlotte turned up at the place fixed for our meeting; and in due time I reached New York with my prize, and had the pleasure of seeing her safely anchored not far from the Battery, and the Marguerite lying near her.

And what added to my pleasure was the fact that the Hyacinth was at anchor close by; and one of the first men to come on board was my old friend, David Taylor! He had just arrived from a successful cruise, and was in the best of spirits. His prizes were all good ones, though none of them was equal in value to my Indiaman, whose cargo was one of the best ever brought into New York.

I told him of the trick that I played on the frigate, and it amused him very much. Then he told how he had an experience of very much the same kind, and I will give it in his words as nearly as I remember them.

"I had spoken an American merchantman one day," said David, "and a few hours later fell in with an English sloop-of-war. She was on the same course as the American, but had not yet sighted her, and I thought I would do a good turn to my countryman by leading the English ship out of the way. She was not a fast sailer, and I could have shown my heels to her at once, so that she would have given up all thought of chasing me, but I put out drags just as you did and let her overhaul me.

"The old proverb says that a stern chase is a long chase, and so it was in this instance. I led him a lively dance, letting him come up almost within shooting distance before taking off my drags and giving the Hyacinth her head. Then we walked away so fast that he must have been puzzled to make out how we increased our speed without putting on more canvas, which we couldn't do, as we had everything set that was possible to pile on her. We had a good deal of fun on board about the performance; and if I ever meet the captain of that American merchantman I shall tell him he owes me a new hat."

The owners of the Marguerite greeted me as heartily as when I returned from my first cruise, and congratulated me on my success in the latest venture. It was arranged that I should go to sea again as soon as the schooner had been newly provisioned, watered, and made ready for the occupation which seemed to be as congenial for her as for her officers and crew. I retained all my officers and nearly all my men. The Marguerite was adding to her reputation as a lucky craft; and when a ship's luck is in your favor, there's no difficulty in getting all the men you want.

Soon as I could do so, I went to the house where I had left the Grahams. To my disappointment I found that they had left New York and gone to England, Captain Graham having been exchanged and allowed to depart. An English transport had arrived under a flag of truce, bringing a considerable number of American prisoners taken from ships captured by the fleet of Admiral Broke, who was cruising along our coast. On her departure she carried away all the British prisoners who had been exchanged or paroled. Captain Graham refused to go without his family, and, consequently, room was made for them on board the transport. Her destination was Plymouth or Portsmouth, they were uncertain at which point they should land, so Captain Graham said in a letter that he left for me in the hands of the keeper of the boarding-house where they had been staying.