“Faith, yer honor, I’m glad to see ye. I’ve been standin’ off an’ on here for two weeks now lookin’ for the likes of ye. I’m Jeremiah O’Brien, Capt’n of the brig Blackfriar, from Cork for Boston, with vittles for the British army. But I’ve got me pay safe in me pocket, sir, an’ not a snap cares I if me whole cargo falls into your hands. Nor is that jest the truth, yer honor. I do care. I’d rather ye Yankees, as ye are called, would ate the vittles while every mother’s son of those red-coated spalpeens in Boston go hungry. So, if ye please to tell me where ye wish me to sail, me men and I’ll become a prize crew an’ take the brig into port. Or if ye’re ’fraid to trust me, pint ye own craft for the harbor, an’ we’ll follow in yer wake. What’s the course, sir?” and with another low bow he waited for Captain Tucker to speak.
“This is most extraordinary, sir,” our skipper said coldly. “Pray may I ask what you expect for this betrayal of your trust?”
“There’s no betrayal of trust, yer honor,” he returned somewhat hotly. “I told me ship-owners I wouldn’t sail the brig over to the colonies for them without my pay straight down for the entire voyage, an’ that I was no coward an’ shouldn’t run away from any armed vessel that gave me chase, however big it was, but that they must run the risk of my capture. I’m a man of my word, sir. Ye began to chase me, an’ not a bit did I run from ye. Here I am standing boldly on your deck, though at the risk of losin’ me brig. What’s the odds, sir? If I don’t give ye the vessel, ye’ll take her, so she’s yours under either circumstance. An’ do ye ask what I expect? It’s the privilege of enlistin’ in yer navy soon as I’m in port, sir, where I can do my best to feed yer Yankee soljers by capturin’ just such craft as that,” and he waved his hand towards the Blackfriar, while our men broke into a cheer.
The outcome of this singular interview was that Captain O’Brien and his crew actually sailed the brig into Lynn, following in the wake of the Franklin; and soon after she arrived there her commander entered our navy as a lieutenant and did loyal service for the colonies.
The frigate sailed again within a few days, but we did not go with her. By “we” I mean Captain Tucker and myself. Two or three days after his arrival in port the Captain was notified that he was to be transferred to the Hancock. He was kind enough to request that I also be transferred, a request that was promptly granted.
This transfer was for both of us a promotion, at least we so regarded it; a promotion for Captain Tucker, for the Hancock, though schooner rigged, was larger than the Franklin, and carried eight more guns and fifty more men; a promotion for myself, for though I still held only a midshipman’s commission, I was the senior officer in my rank, and on the new vessel was assigned to the duties of a third lieutenant, and received a third lieutenant’s pay. Our first officer was Lieutenant Richard Stiles, and our second Lieutenant Nicholas Ogilby.
We left port May 9th (1776), and ran up the coast for our first cruise. For a time the good fortune that had attended us when on the frigate seemed to desert us. Instead of running in with a prize immediately we sailed north as far as Cape Race without even catching sight of one. In fact it was not until we had turned our bow homeward that we discovered anything to chase. Then we ran in with the ship Peggy which eventually became ours, and proved to be the most valuable vessel and cargo we had taken. I say eventually became ours, for there were circumstances connected with her capture as singular as interesting.
We sighted her in the latitude of Halifax—just after she had left port as it afterward proved—and sailed down towards her. Soon we were near enough to see she carried eight guns, and had a score or more of men on her deck. While we watched a flag was run up to her peak, and under the glass we made out that it was similar to the one flying at our masthead—at least there was a pine tree upon it.
“She must be an American privateer,” remarked Lieutenant Stiles when Captain Tucker announced this fact.
“Then why does she set so low in the water?” the Captain queried. “There must be a heavy cargo between her decks for her to settle down like that.”