Paddy Finn

The news of peace was received perhaps with more satisfaction by the men who had no promotion to look for, and who now expected to visit their families, or enjoy themselves in s...

Occasionally, as the French ships were manoeuvring, alternately passing either ahead or astern of us, there was a cessation of firing, but it was only for a short time. Again th...

At length, at daylight on the 8th of April, when I, acting as signal midshipman, was on the look-out, I saw a frigate standing towards us and making signals. I immediately commu...

Laughing at Larry's fears, I, having just finished winding up my line and disconnecting my rod, bade him take up the fish, while I walked towards the clump of trees where he had...

We were just then setting royals, which we did not carry at night. We watched the stranger. "She has borne up in chase," cried La Touche, who had gone aloft.

In spite of all the exertions being made on board, with the assistance of the men from the other ships who had now arrived alongside, the smoke increased in denseness, and prese...

"Hadn't you better, sir, see what they contain?" observed Mr Saunders. "It's just possible, too, that the commander of the brig knows their contents, and will communicate it ver...

At last Jacques Chacot, looking round the room, gave notice that his bear would at once commence his performance. In a short time a door opened, and he appeared, leading out wha...

We were thus employed when the carpenter came to the captain with consternation in his countenance, and told him that the pumps would no longer work, for, the shot-lockers being...

After supper we rose to go on deck. I observed as we did so, that La Touche replaced the bottle in the locker. I felt more inclined to go to sleep than to pace the deck, but I r...

We had proceeded some distance when the voice of a sentry hailing a passer-by struck my ear. The challenge was in French, as was the answer. It appeared to be some way off, and...

I have not attempted to describe Port Royal Harbour. It is large enough to hold 1000 sail. The entrance is on the left side. A strip of sand, known as the Palisades, runs east a...

"She's a ship, sir, but appears to me to be a small one," he observed as he came down. The chances are that it's all we shall know about her. If she gets a breeze before us she'...

"I had a man on board who had been with me ever since I went to sea," I answered. "We had been through dangers of all sorts together, and he would have given his life to save mi...

"Come along, my boys," she answered, her eyes twinkling at the thought of being able to fleece us, as she led us into a small room at the back of the shop.

In spite of my uncle's skill as a swordsman, and the pistols, on which I had placed so much reliance, we were overpowered before we could strike a blow in our own defence, and w...

"It was not the loss of my breakfast, for I don't care if I never have another with him, but it was the indignity with which I was treated," he exclaimed. At this most of our me...

The ocean continued so calm, that Larry was quite cock-a-hoop, thinking that he had become a perfect seaman. "I have heard tell, Maisther Terence, that the say runs mountains hi...

The frigate was not yet ready for sea, and I had therefore time to pick up some scraps of nautical knowledge, to learn the ways of the ship, and to get a tolerable notion of my...

This would certainly have been the case, for we heard the blacks shouting and shrieking at no great distance off, though beyond the range of our muskets. They had evidently halted.

When morning broke, a scene of fearful havoc was exhibited. Numbers of men were seen in the midst of the flames imploring relief, others floating on pieces of timber; and even t...

As the supper was at a comparatively early hour, we retired to the drawing-room, where the young lady played and sang, with much spirit, several lively airs, which her brother s...

While we lay in harbour, three ships of Sir Edward Hughes' squadron from the East Indies came home and were paid off, the crew not only receiving their pay, but large sums for p...

The Spanish crew understood his gestures more than his words, and with might and main pulled back to the flag-ship. As we went on, the shot fell like hail around us, but provide...

I was standing in front of the castle of Ballinahone--the seat of the O'Finnahans, my ancestors--on the banks of the beautiful Shannon, enjoying the fresh air of the early morning.

I sat up with Larry for the greater part of the night, after the surgeon had left him. He groaned sometimes as if in pain, and talked at one time of the scrimmage with the O'Sul...

It was on a fine spring morning, the birds carolling sweetly in the trees, that I set forth, accompanied by my uncle and Larry Harrigan, to commence my career on the stormy ocea...

I was in much better spirits when I rejoined my uncle than when I had been led below by Mr Saunders. I found him standing with the captain on the main-deck, they having just com...

The morning came. My chest and my other strat things had been carried down in a cart to the river, where they were shipped on board a shore-boat. As we walked along following it...