CAPTURE OF A GUN-BRIG BY TWO FRENCH PRIVATEERS. 135 of metal is far from counterpoised by a fifth of infe- 1797. riority in number of men. The relative proportion of Dec. loss proves, however, that, had more been required of, more could have been performed by, captain Barlow, his officers and ship's company. Captain Canon, on the other hand, as soon as an action became unavoidable, made a creditable defence. The Néréide was purchased for the british navy, and under the same name registered as a 12-pounder 36. Captain Barlow, in his official letter, speaks thus of his first lieutenant: "From my first lieutenant, (Michael) Halliday, I experienced all the support which I with confidence expected from so gallant and skilful an officer, which, amidst the difficulties to be contended with in a night action, was an incalculable advantage." In July of the following year lieutenant Halliday was promoted to the rank of commander. On the 20th of December, in the middle of a dark night, close off Dungeness, the british gun-brig Growler, of ten 18-pounder carronades and two long guns, and 50 men and boys, commanded by lieutenant John Hollingsworth, escorting, in company with some other ships of war, a coasting convoy, was surprised, boarded, and, after the loss of her commander, second officer, (both mortally wounded,) and several of her crew, carried, by the two french lugger-privateers Espiègle, of ten french 4-pounders and at least 80 men, commanded by captain Duchesne, and Rusé, of eight 4-pounders and at least 70 men, captain Denis Fourmentin; and both of whom mistook the Growler, in the first instance, for a merchant vessel. Having, at a very trifling loss, possessed themselves of the british gun-brig, the two privateers succeeded, the next morning, in reaching Boulogne with their prize; and, as might naturally be expected, captains Duchesne and Fourmentin experienced from the inhabitants the most joyous reception. This was not all. The french minister of marine wrote the two captains a very flattering 136 COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS.-NORTH AMERICA.. 1797. letter; which, indeed, was no less than they deDec. served. Bad as the case was, it is not, now that, for the first time, the facts are made known to the english public, by any means so discreditable an affair as Steel, in his "Naval Chronologist," by the following incautiously admitted entry, has made it appear: "Growler, gun-vessel, taken off Dungeness by two french rowboats." Nor, singularly enough, have we ever been able to discover, until a french account met our eye, a contradiction to so humiliating a statement. On the night of the 29th of December, off the coast of France, the british 44-gun frigate Anson, captain Philip Charles Darham, having a few hours before parted in chase from the 38-gun frigate Phaëton, captain the honourable Robert Stopford, fell in with, and after the exchange of a few shot captured, the french ship-corvette Daphne, late the british 20-gun ship of the same name; or, as captain Darham, imitating the French, describes a ship of only 429 tons, "late his majesty's frigate Daphne, mounting 30 guns." Out of a crew, as represented, of 276, including 30 passengers of various descriptions, the Daphne, before she could be induced to surrender, lost five men killed and several wounded. The Anson had no one hurt. Two of the french passengers were the civil commissioners Jacquelin and Lacaize, charged with despatches (thrown overboard) for Guadeloupe; whither the Daphne was bound. COLONIAL EXPEDITIONS.-NORTH AMERICA. The melancholy loss on this station of the british 12-pounder 36-gun frigate Tribune, captain Scory Barker, is of too interesting a nature to be passed summarily over. The ship had quitted England in September, with a convoy for Quebec and Newfoundland; from which convoy, early in November, * See vol. i. p. 338, bad weather had compelled her to part company. 1797. On the 16th, at about 8 A. M., the harbour of Halifax, Nov. Nova-Scotia, was discovered; and as, owing to a strong wind from east-south-east, the ship fast approached the land, captain Barker proposed to the master, Mr James Clubb, to lie to until a pilot came on board. The master has been represented to have replied, that he had beat a 44-gun ship into the harbour, and had frequently been there; and that there was no necessity for a pilot, as the wind was favourable. Confiding in these assurances, captain Barker went below, and busied himself in arranging some papers that he wished to take on shore. The master, in the mean time, had undertaken the pilotage of the ship, placing great confidence in the judgment of a negro-man on board, who had formerly belonged to Halifax. At about noon the ship had approached so near to the Thrum-cap shoals, that Mr. Clubb became alarmed, and sent for Mr. Galvin, one of the master's mates, who was sick below. Just as the latter stepped upon the deck, the man in the chains, with the lead, sang out, "By the mark five." At the same instant the black man forward called out, "Steady." Mr. Galvin then got upon one of the carronades, to observe the situation of the ship whereupon the master, in much agitation, ran to the man at the wheel, and took it from him, with the intention of wearing the ship; but, before this could be effected, the Tribune struck. Signals of distress were immediately made, and were as promptly answered by the military posts and ships in the harbour. Some military boats, and one from the dock-yard, with Mr. Rackum, the boatswain of the ordinary on board, reached the ship; but none of the other boats were able to pull against the heavy wind and sea. By lightening the ship, the Tribune, at about 8 h. 30 m. A. M., began to heave, and at 9 A. M. Swang off from the shore; but without her rudder, and with seven feet water in the hold. By active exertions at the chain-pumps, the leak appeared to decrease, and the best bower Nov. 1797, anchor was let go; but it failed to bring the ship up. The cable was then cut, and the jib and foretopmast staysail set to steer by. The south-east gale had by this time greatly increased, and was fast driving the ship to the western shore. To prevent that, if possible, the small bower was let go, in 13 fathoms, and the mizenmast cut away. It was now about 10 A. M.; and, as the water continued to gain upon the ship, little hope remained of saving the Tribune or the lives of her unhappy crew. About this time two officers of the Fusileers, who had come from Halifax, quitted the sinking ship: which continued to drive before the storm towards the shore; the tremendous noise of the billows, as they dashed against the precipices that lined it, presenting to those, who might escape perishing with the vessel, nothing but the expectation of a more painful death. After making two dreadful lurches, the Tribune went down, and left, struggling for their existence, upwards of 240 men of her complement, besides other persons from the shore, and, what so augmented the horrors of the scene, several women and children. Mr. Galvin, who, when the ship sank, was below, directing the men at the chain-pumps, was washed up the hatchway and thrown into the waist, and thence into the sea. As he plunged, his feet struck a rock; but, presently ascending, he swam to gain the main shrouds. In his way thither, he was suddenly caught hold of by three poor wretches. To disengage himself from these, he dived into the water, and, on again rising, swam to the shrouds. Upon reaching the main top, he seated himself, along with others, on an arm-chest that was lashed to the mast. The fore top was at this time occupied by about 10 persons; and there were upwards of 100 clinging to the shrouds and other parts of the wreck. Owing to the severity of the storm, however, and the length of a November night, nature became exhausted, and the persons on the shrouds, one by one, dropped and disappeared. The falling of the main mast, soon after midnight, had plunged more than 40 1797. persons into the waves, and only nine, besides Mr. Nov. Galvin, succeeded in regaining the top; which now rested on the main yard, that being fortunately held to the ship by a portion of the rigging. Of the 10 who had regained the main top, four only, including Mr. Galvin, were alive by morning: of the 10 also in the fore top, three, being too much exhausted to help themselves, had been washed away; and three others had died as they lay, leaving, by daylight on the 17th, four men only in the fore top. We will here relate an anecdote, strongly illustrative of that thoughtlessness of danger for which the british tar has been so famed. Among the survivors in the fore top were two seamen, named Robert Dunlap and Daniel Munroe. The latter, in the night, had disappeared; and it was concluded he had been washed away along with several others. However, after a lapse of more than two hours, Munroe, to the surprise of Dunlap, suddenly thrust his head through the lubber's hole, or the vacant space between the head of the lower mast and the edge of the top. His answer to his messmate's inquiry was, that he had been cruising for a better birth; that, after swimming about the wreck for a considerable time, he had returned to the fore shrouds, and crawling in on the catharpings, (small ropes serving to brace in the shrouds of the lower masts behind their respective yards,) had been sleeping there more than an hour. The first exertion that was made from the shore for the relief of the sufferers was, at about 11 A. M. by a boy, 13 years old, from Herring cove, who pushed off, by himself, in a small skiff. With great exertions, and at extreme personal risk, this noble lad reached the wreck; and, backing his little boat close to the fore top, was waiting to take off two of the men, all his skiff could safely carry, when occurred a trait of unparalleled magnanimity. Dunlap and Munroe, who, throughout the night, had, in a |