Captain John Crane, 1800-1815

by Thomas Wallace Knox

"You'd better go back to your ship at once," said he; "and if you come ashore again try to behave yourselves. If you get into trouble here a second time you may not get off so easily. That's all; you can go now."

We didn't stop to thank him; and, in fact, we could hardly have done so had we thought of it, as he turned on his heel and walked away the instant he pronounced the last word of his little speech that I have quoted. We were only too willing to go back to the ship, and hurried to the landing place as fast as we could go.

We gave a boatman a shilling to take us to the Washington, and you can believe we scrambled up the side in a hurry. We reported to the mate, who was on duty at the time, and he gave us a sharp ratting for over-staying our liberty on shore. I endeavored to explain matters, that our liberty had been mostly passed in jail, at which he smiled and ordered us to go below.

Captain Dawson was ashore at the time we got back, and didn't return for several hours. Soon after he came back he sent for Haines to come aft and tell the story of our experience. None of the rest of us were sent for, and we were somewhat solicitous as to the treatment Haines would receive. The captain heard his story; and when Haines explained that we had been set upon and provoked by the English sailors with whom we got into the fight, and also that we had done our full share of the knocking down before we were arrested, the captain appeared quite satisfied, and did not make any reproof of us for over-staying our liberty. He did say, however, that he thought it would be well for us to heed the advice of the British officer—and not go on shore again. Then he told Haines to "go forward," and we heard nothing more about the matter.

We remained four or five days at Gibraltar, taking in water and fresh provisions, repairing a few damages resulting from the gale I have told about, and also disposing of a part of our cargo to good advantage. There were no docks where we could lie, and our cargo was unloaded into lighters which came alongside. Two or three times we got into wordy altercations with the lighter men; and if order hadn't been maintained by the captains of the lighters and our own officers, I think we might have indulged in some hand-to-hand fighting. The men on the lighters were mostly English, and as we were all Americans you can readily understand that it would have been quite easy to provoke a fight. After all our arrangements had been completed, I supposed we would sail away at once; but to the surprise of all the crew we continued to lie at our anchorage. The captain didn't choose to tell us why we were delaying; and, of course, we couldn't ask him.

We lay there the next day and the next, and then the reason for our delay became apparent. An English cruiser got up sail and proceeded out of the harbor. When she began operations for leaving port, we followed her example, and left our anchorage not many minutes after she had left hers. As she reached the end of the peninsula she turned to the eastward, and we followed her example. It then became plain to all of us that we were sailing in her company, and she would protect us from any further attack by the Algerines.

England was then at peace with Algiers, having made a truce with the Dey, the real object being to concentrate the attacks of the pirates upon the French, and also to break up American commerce in the Mediterranean. The Dey had ordered his people not to plunder any ship bearing the English flag. I've no doubt it caused them many a pang in their hearts to see a large and apparently valuable ship sailing by, and they forbidden by the orders of their ruler to capture it.

We were headed for Marseilles; and for a considerable part of the way the coast of Spain and of southern France was in sight. We saw two or three corsairs from the Barbary coast. Whenever they were sighted the British war-ship slackened her speed, so that we easily closed in upon her, and were literally under her protection. The maritime force of Algiers at that time consisted of four frigates with an aggregate of one hundred twenty-four guns, one polacca with eighteen guns, one brig of twenty, four xebecs with an aggregate of one hundred sixty-eight guns, three galliotas or galiots with four guns each, and sixty gunboats. The vessels were all manned at the rate of twelve men for each gun. Tunis had at the same time twenty-two corsairs, mounting from four to twenty-two guns each. So, you see, those Barbary coast pirates had a large fleet of ships; and, bear in mind, I've not included the fleets of Morocco and Tripoli, which were equal to about half of the combined force of Algiers and Tunis.

I ought to explain, perhaps, that a polacca is a vessel with three short masts, without tops, caps, or cross-trees to the upper yards. A xebec is a small three-masted vessel used in the Mediterranean; and a galliota is a vessel with one mast, and has from sixteen to twenty seats for rowers. This sort of vessel is very useful for piratical purposes, as it can be propelled at a fair speed by means of oars when the weather is calm, which is impossible with a ship of the ordinary build of England or the United States. As the piratical craft always carry plenty of men they can use the oars to great advantage.