Captain John Crane, 1800-1815

by Thomas Wallace Knox

While they were in a very lively state of excitement another rocket went on board, and this added to the confusion which was certainly bad enough before. Captain Dawson signaled to Mr. Johnson to stop firing, and no more rockets were thrown.

From a remark that the captain made afterwards I think he was sorry he didn't follow up his advantage and completely destroy the Algerine corsair. He might have done so, possibly, but on the other hand he would have received considerable damage from his adversary. My belief is that he did just right in sailing away and holding his course for Gibraltar, closely followed by the Warwick.

We had no further trouble after meeting this fellow, though we saw two or three of his kindred at a distance before we reached the straits. We learned afterwards that a good many of them were out cruising on the Atlantic in search of prizes, but they were scattered considerably in order to cover as much ground as possible. We went through the straits at a lucky moment it turned out, as there were nearly always two or three of the corsairs hanging about that region, and rarely going more than twenty or thirty miles away from the entrance to the Mediterranean.

We steered into Gibraltar in fine style, and anchored in the harbor which lies in the bay between the town which bears the name of the rock and the Spanish town of Algeciras. The health officer boarded us almost immediately as we dropped anchor, the Washington being first to reach the harbor anchorage. It did not require long for him to ascertain that we were all well on board and entitled to a clean bill of health. Our captain told him about the Warwick, and as soon as he was through with us he went directly on board of what we may call our prize.

He gave a clean bill of health in the Warwick's case as well as in our own, and she was fully entitled to it, as there was no disease on board, the suffering which the crew had undergone having come wholly from a lack of food.

After the health officer had visited us he went ashore, and it was not long before the story of the Warwick, the sufferings of the people on board of her, and her relief by the American ship that came into port with her, became known in Gibraltar. The captain of the port came off to visit both ships, a very unusual thing for him to do, and he made arrangements to take our captain with him to call upon the Governor of Gibraltar the next day. When the call was made the governor was very civil to Captain Dawson, and said he had performed an act of humanity which deserved high recognition when all its circumstances were considered. He said he should report the circumstances to his government, and hoped that Captain Dawson and our second mate would be suitably rewarded. The captain thanked him for his good wishes, and said he trusted entirely to the generosity of a government whose maritime power was the greatest in the world.

Then he told about the affair with the Algerine pirate, to which the governor listened attentively. He laughed heartily over the incident of the rockets, which were, he said, the invention of Sir William Congreve, and this was the first time he had known of their use in actual warfare. He also laughed over Captain Dawson's description of the consternation created among the piratical crew when the rocket was let loose among them, and especially when the captain told about the jumping overboard. He said he should mention this matter in his next report, as it might prove of great importance to the government.

I may add here for the reader's information that these rockets were intended to explode and hurl leaden balls and scraps of iron among the enemy. They were particularly calculated to frighten horses and break up cavalry operations generally, and when tried in actual warfare they were nearly as destructive among infantry. They were first tried successfully in warfare and with fatal effect at the attack on Copenhagen in 1807.

One great advantage of these rockets is that they make no recoil against the stand from which they are fired; the largest rocket can therefore be discharged without danger from the smallest boat, and consequently, in naval attacks on fortresses and cities, a flotilla of rocket boats is generally used. The great disadvantage of this missile is the uncertainty of its course. It was a very lucky circumstance that we were enabled to throw the two rockets that were sent from the Warwick directly on board the Algerine; but we were very near her, and thus had a much better aim than if she had been farther away.

Since I quit the sea and sat down to write this narrative I have read somewhere that the Duke of Wellington was invited to witness a trial of the Congreve rocket soon after it was invented and perfected. The duke was on horseback, surrounded by a large and handsomely uniformed staff; the group was assembled at the top of a small hill which commanded a view of the plain where the experiments were to take place.