Captain John Crane, 1800-1815

by Thomas Wallace Knox

A few rockets had been let off, and the duke seemed well satisfied with their performance. Finally one rocket, at its discharge, took an erratic course, and came directly into the midst of the distinguished party, where it fizzed and sputtered while darting here and there, and then, dashing off to one side, exploded. If the explosion had taken place directly in the group, some of the officers would probably have been killed or wounded; as it was the horses were frightened, and fully one-half the party were thrown to the ground and had to walk home, or wait till their horses were caught and brought to them. From that moment the Duke of Wellington was never favorable to the use of the Congreve rocket.

But I am getting away from my story. As the news spread about Gibraltar of the saving of the Warwick and those whom we found on board of her, the officers and crew of the Washington became the objects of considerable attention. Captain Dawson did not neglect to take the proper steps for obtaining his claim for salvage; he employed a lawyer of Gibraltar to attend to the matter, and it is proper to say that the lawyer did his duty faithfully. The claim was considerably reduced by the court, but nevertheless it was a handsome compensation, and everybody concerned on our side of the affair felt well rewarded for his trouble. A special award was made to Mr. Johnson and the six men who went with him on board the Warwick; this was done, we understood, at the instance of the Governor of Gibraltar, who seemed rather more kindly disposed toward us than was usually the case with English officers toward Americans at that time.

When any of the crew of the Washington obtained liberty to go on shore they were treated kindly, and very often, too, by the British sailors and landsmen. One effect of the hospitality of Gibraltar was that those of our crew who were not abstemious from drink generally returned to the ship much the worse for their excursion.

One afternoon several of us, including Haines and myself, had permission to go ashore. It was very hot that day, and we found it rather fatiguing work to walk about.

About dusk we concluded it was time to go on board again, and went down to the quay for that purpose. There we fell in with some English sailors, most of whom had been drinking heavily, and they began to treat us very uncivilly. Of course we resented, and the result was a row. It was necessary for the police to interfere; but before they could do so there was a general fight in which the chances were about even. I had the misfortune to be knocked down, and so hard was the blow that I was virtually insensible. The last I remember of the struggle I was seized by the collar and arms and dragged roughly away.

On coming to my senses I found myself in a guard-house, along with Haines and two other men from the Washington, with a sentry on duty to prevent our getting away. Haines had been rubbing my limbs and trying in other ways to restore me, and was very much delighted when I was able to speak. He had a swollen face, so that he was able to see out of but one eye, and that not very well.

One of my first questions was as to what they were going to do with us.

"I'm sure I don't know," said Haines; "I've been pumping the sentry, and all I can make out is that we've been disorderly, and can't stir till an officer comes to take charge of us."

We were hungry and thirsty, and asked for water and something to eat. The sentry called another soldier, who brought us some water, but said it would take money to buy anything else. We gave the fellow a shilling, and he went off to return presently with some fruit, which probably cost him a penny or two, as fruit is very cheap in Gibraltar. The rest of the money he pocketed, or perhaps divided with our guard, as we didn't see it again or get anything for it.

It was along in the evening when this happened, and we had to stay in the guard-house until morning, sleeping on the floor, and using our jackets for pillows. The next morning we were taken to what I supposed was the office of the chief of police, or the commandant of the port, I couldn't make out which. A man in uniform looked at us, but asked no questions, and in less than five minutes he ordered us taken on board the receiving-ship in the harbor. This was one of the king's ships that had been pronounced unseaworthy, and was used as a storehouse, prison, or anything else that was required of her; she was especially used to receive sailors till they were drafted off to one of the war-ships that needed men.