In ship and prison

I cannot remember the time when I did not love the sea, nor is that strange. I was born in sight of the ocean. My father, and, as for that matter, his father before him, was a s...

“Here you are safe on board the brig, Master Dunn, and in good season,” Captain Weston said as he grasped my hand. “I’m glad of it, for I’ve changed my mind since I left you, an...

Clenching his fist as he came, he struck at me with all his tremendous strength, and, had he hit me, I am certain I should have been killed, but I was on the alert, and jumped t...

It was neither the time nor the place to question this astounding announcement, so I drew myself back to the deck of the brig as best I could, and the next moment Bill Howard la...

It was perhaps natural that as I followed Midshipman Seymour from the cabin I should try to think of some way by which I might release myself from the unhappy situation in which...

Around the first corner and down to Watling Street I ran, taking the nearest course to the river, though I had no intention of returning to my ship. The startling news I had hea...

I will not attempt to describe my feelings as I stood there in the darkness, with those stout walls shutting me from the liberty I craved--craved that I might give myself to the...

Our arrival in Marblehead created quite a sensation. Tidings of Captain Tucker’s imprisonment and the confiscation of his vessel had already reached there, while his escape was...

Our first voyage had been of three days duration, and we had captured two prizes of considerable value. Standing near Lieutenant Salter, as we left the harbor for our second cru...

My orders had been to remain in port with my crew until the _Franklin_ arrived, as Captain Tucker, at the time I left him, expected to bring in his next prize. He did, but it wa...

I come now to an incident about which I love to write. It was the Christmas present given Captain Tucker the following December (1777). This was the brand new frigate _Boston_....

Ten minutes after her flag was run down I was upon her deck with a prize crew. Midshipman Blinn was with me, and I soon sent him back to the frigate with a report that gave both...

It is impossible to give any adequate picture of the days which immediately followed. The horror of them is still upon me as I write. There are dangers which call out the best i...

I glanced at my comrades and the expression on their faces showed that they had recognized the significance of my exclamation, and like myself had surmised the fate in store for...

During the month that now followed two interesting events took place. The first was the sale of all the prizes which had been sent into French ports, and the distribution of the...

After two weeks in port we sailed again, this time making a cruise to the northward. We reached the neighborhood of Halifax before we found a prize, and then captured a small br...

I stood there, as I have said, watching the disappearance of Lieutenant Haines’s boat, but I was also listening. During my conversation with him I was quite sure that I had hear...

“Oh! ho!” was his quick ejaculation. “I believe there is another frigate on board of which they will be glad to see you. Since you have deserted her twice, you may not find it h...

I had supposed that my guide knew some unguarded spot along the edge of the great forest beside which the camp had been pitched, and would slip out unnoticed there. But instead...

In a short time I became convinced of two things. First, that we would have no difficulty in running through the British fleet unnoticed. The storm was so severe every patrol bo...

I know that Captain Tucker greatly appreciated this act of Captain Jackson and his friends, but he could not have been so elated as were Lieutenant Haines and I over the thanks...

I did not lie long there on the battlefield after the struggle was over. Some of my comrades had seen me when I fell, and as soon as an armistice for the burial of the dead and...

There is an ebb in the current of fortune as well as in the deep. The neap tides often follow the highest flood of prosperity. We set out on another cruise, our tenth, and as I...

I struggled with my captors for a while, not so much because I expected to escape from them, but in hopes that I would thereby aid my companions in their flight. For I could nei...