Thus was the spell broken; and we may remark, 1813. that the Chesapeake was not finally subdued by a superiority in that quality which constituted the forte of the Shannon, her gunnery. No, it was by boarding; by captain Broke's quick discernment in catching, and his promptitude and valour in profiting by, the critical moment, when the Chesapeake's men were retreating from their quarters. Gallant, truly gallant, Galwas the behaviour of captain Lawrence. His first lantry lieutenant, Augustus Charles Ludlow, emulated his captain commander; and both deserved a better crew than Lawthe Chesapeake's; a crew that (oh, woful addition!) consisted, within about a twelfth part, of native Americans.

of

rence.

Hali

fax.

Owing to captain Broke's incapacity from his Arrival wound, lieutenant Provo William Parry Wallis, of the second of the Shannon, took charge of her, and lieu ships at tenant Falkiner, third of the Shannon, remained in charge of the Chesapeake. Having repaired the damage done to their respective rigging, and the Shannon having fished her mizenmast, the two frigates made sail for Halifax; and on the 6th, at 3 h. 30 m. P. M., the prize, followed by her captor, passed along the wharfs of the town, amidst the cheers of the inhabit ants, as well as of the crews of the ships of war that were lying in the harbour. Captain Lawrence had died on board the Chesapeake of his wounds two days before; and captain Broke, in a state of severe suffering from his wounds, was removed from the Shannon to the house of the commissioner, captain the honourable Philip Wodehouse.

Shan

Lieutenants Wallis and Falkiner were both de- Promoservedly made commanders. Of the acting master, tion of Henry Gladwell Etough, captain Broke in his non's official letter speaks in high terms; also of lieute- officers. nants of marines James Johns and John Law, and midshipmen William Smith, Hugh Cosnahan, John Samwell, Henry Martin Leake, Douglas Clavering, George Raymond, and David Littlejohn; likewise of Mr. Aldham the purser, and Mr. Dunn the clerk, both of whom were killed at the head of the small

Court

quiry

officers

1813. arm men. Mr. Etough, and messieurs Smith and Cosnahan, were promoted to lieutenants. For his important achievement, and, in respect to its effect on the public mind, a most important achievement it was, captain Broke was created a baronet: he received, also, the formal thanks of the board of admiralty, and the warm congratulations of every wellwisher to England; and his trophy, the Chesapeake, in a name by which, coupled with that of the Shannon, she will long be remembered both in England and America, was added to the british navy. As a matter of course, a court of inquiry was held, of in- to investigate the circumstances under which the oname- Chesapeake had been captured. Commodore Bainrican bridge was the president of the court; and the &c. following is the first article of the very "lengthy" report published on the subject: "The court are unanimously of opinion, that the Chesapeake was gallantly carried into action by her late brave commander; and no doubt rests with the court, from comparison of the injury respectively sustained by the frigates, that the fire of the Chesapeake was much superior to that of the Shannon. The Shannon, being much cut in her spars and rigging, and receiving many shot in and below the water line, was reduced almost to a sinking condition, after only a few minutes cannonading from the Chesapeake; whilst the Chesapeake was comparatively uninjured. And the court have no doubt, if the Chesapeake had not accidentally fallen on board the Shannon, and the Shannon's anchor got foul in the after quarter-port of the Chesapeake, the Shannon must have very soon surrendered or sunk." Some very singular admissions of misconduct in the officers and crew follow; and then the report proceeds as follows: "From this view of the engagement and a careful examination of the evidence, the court are unanimously of opinion, that the capture of the late United States' frigate Chesapeake was occasioned by the following causes the almost unexampled early fall of captain Lawrence, and all the principal officers; the bugleman's desertion of

his quarters, and inability to sound his horn; for the 1813. court are of opinion, if the horn had been sounded when first ordered, the men being then at their quarters, the boarders would have promptly repaired to the spar deck, probably have prevented the enemy from boarding, certainly have repelled them, and might have returned the boarding with success; and the failure of the boarders on both decks, to rally on the spar deck, after the enemy had boarded, which might have been done successfully, it is believed, from the cautious manner in which the enemy came on board."

marks

‚upon it.

It was certainly very "cautious" in captain Broke, Reto lead 20 men on board an enemy's ship, supposed to be manned with a complement of 400; and which, at the very moment, had at least 270 men without a wound about them. The court of inquiry makes, also, a fine story of the firing down the hatchway. Not a word is there of the "magnanimous conquered foe” having fired from below, in the first instance, and killed a british marine. Captain Broke will long have cause to remember the treatment he experienced from this "magnanimous conquered foe.' So far, indeed, from the conduct of the British being "a most unwarrantable abuse of power after success," lieutenant Cox of the Chesapeake, in the hearing of several english gentlemen, subsequently admitted, that he owed his life to the forbearance of one of the Shannon's marines. When the american officers arrived on board the Shannon, and some of them were finding out reasons for being "taken so unaccountably," their first lieutenant, Mr. Ludlow, candidly acknowledged, that the Shannon had beaten them heartily and fairly.

can ac

Although it would not do for an official document, Amerilike that we have just been quoting, to contain an counts. admission, that any portion, any influential portion at least, of the crew of an american ship of war consisted of british seamen, the journalists, pamphleteers,

1813. and historians of the United States did not scruple to attribute to the defection of the latter, the unfortunate issue of the business with the Chesapeake. "There are no better sailors in the world," says an american writer, "than our own; and it seems hard that the war should be carried on for nothing but british sailors' rights, and that those same sailors should desert us in the moment of conflict. Cowardice is a species of treason. If renegado Englishmen are permitted to fight under our flag, it becomes prudent not to mix our own people with them to be destroyed; for, at the critical moment when the boarders were called, the foreigners all ran below, while not a native American shrank from the conflict."' A writer in a Boston paper, after he has insisted, that the "native Americans" on board the Chesapeake "fought like heroes," and that the british part of the crew" behaved treacherously," very naturally asks, "Can any of your correspondents inform us, whether any Americans were on board the Shannon?" We may answer, Yes, there were some, (prisoners,) in her hold; although not so many, by several scores, as were in the hold of the Chesapeake, in a very few seconds after the Shannon's boarders sprang upon her quarterdeck.

Reason that the

ame

tains

repug

nance

board

22

But, had the Chesapeake, instead of 32, mustered 100, british men-of-war's men in her crew, we rican have not a doubt that the same result would have сар- ensued. However expert and courageous these have a renegades may be when sheltered behind a bulwark, they become paralysed with shame, they sink into to the veriest cowards in nature, when opposed face to face to their shipmates of former days, their partners in scenes which they can remember with credit. The american commanders have tact enough to see this: hence arises the preference they give to a cannonade engagement; hence the repugnance they invariably show, unless with a twofold superiority, to grapple with their british antagonists,

ing.

Broke's

ercis

&c,

Previously to our dismissing the action of the Shannon 1813. and Chesapeake, we shall confer a service to the pro- May. fession, by stating as much as we know of the means taken by captain Broke, to endow his men with that proficiency at the guns, the effects of which were so Capt. decisive and astonishing. Every day, for about an hour method. and a half in the forenoon, when not prevented by of chase or the state of the weather, the men were ex- ing his ercised at training the guns, and, for the same time men, in the afternoon, in the use of the broadsword, pike, musket, &c. Twice a week the crew fired at targets, both with great guns and musketry; and captain Broke, as an additional stimulus beyond the emulation excited, gave a pound of tobacco to every man that put a shot through the bull's eye. As the Shannon was always clear for action, and had on deck a sufficient quantity of ammunition for two or three broadsides, it was impossible to take her by surprise; nor could the officers well complain of the want of a few of their cabin conveniences, when the cabin of their chief was so completely stripped of every thing which was not absolutely indispensable, of every thing that could not be removed at a moment's notice.

of capt.

The Chesapeake's late captain was buried at Hali- Burial fax on the 8th, with military honours such as a post- Lawcaptain in the british navy of less than three years' rence. standing would be entitled to; and, unlike poor captain Lambert at St.-Salvador,* captain Lawrence was followed to his grave by all the naval captains in port. Lieutenant Ludlow died of his wounds while at Halifax, and was also buried with military honours. On the 10th of August a cartel arrived from Boston, and applied for and carried away the remains of the late captain of the Chesapeake and his first lieutenant, to be deposited, with suitable ceremony, in their own country.

On the 1st of May, as already stated,† commodore Rodgers, with the President and Congress frigates, † See p. 288.

* See p. 198.