Category: Children & Young Adult Reading

Stories of Our Naval Heroes Every Child Can Read

DOES it not seem an odd fact that little Rhode Island, the smallest of all our states, should have two capital cities, while all the others, some of which would make more than a thousand Rhode Islands, have only one apiece? It is like the old story of the dwarf beating the gia...

Chapters

40. Chapter 40

IN the ship _Essex_, one of the fleet that was sent to the Mediterranean to deal with the Moorish pirates, there was a brave young officer named Stephen Decatur. He was little m...

52. Chapter 52

AN old friend of ours is David G. Farragut. We met him, you may remember, years ago, on the old _Essex_, under Captain Porter, when he was a boy of only about ten years of age....

34. Chapter 34

YOU have been told how Captain Paul Jones lost his ship. He was given another in June, 1777. This was the _Ranger_, a frigate carrying twenty-six guns, but it was such a slow ol...

42. Chapter 42

"_OLD IRONSIDES_ was a noble old ship, and a noble old ship was she." Come, I know you have not heard enough about this grand old ship, so let us go on with her story. And the f...

41. Chapter 41

WHEN did our country win its greatest fame upon the sea? I think, when you have read the story of the War of 1812, you will say it was in that war. It is true, we did not do ver...

45. Chapter 45

IN the year 1813, when war was going on between England and the United States, the whole northern part of this country was a vast forest. An ocean of trees stretched away from t...

51. Chapter 51

THE story I am now going to tell you takes us forward to the beginning of the great Civil War, that terrible conflict which went on during four long years between the people of...

33. Chapter 33

ONCE upon a time there lived in Scotland a poor gardener named John Paul, who had a little son to whom he gave the same name. The rich man's garden that the father took care of...

46. Chapter 46

ANY of you who have read much of American history must have often met with the names of Porter and Farragut. There are no greater names in our naval history. There was Captain D...

43. Chapter 43

NO doubt most of my readers know very well what a wasp is and how nicely it can take care of itself. When I was a boy I found out more than once how long and sharp a sting it ha...

32. Chapter 32

WAS it not a dreadful pity that Benedict Arnold should disgrace himself forever by becoming a traitor to his country? To think of his making himself the most despised of all Ame...

49. Chapter 49

THERE are victories of peace as well as of war. Of course, you do not need to be told that. Everybody knows it. And it often takes as much courage to win these victories as it d...

36. Chapter 36

THE heroes of our navy were not all Americans born. More than one of them came from British soil, but a footprint on the green fields of America soon turned them into true-blue...

58. Chapter 58

I HAVE told you what Hobson did and what Wainwright did at Santiago. Now it is time to tell all about what the ships did there; the story of the great Spanish dash for liberty a...

56. Chapter 56

GEORGE DEWEY was a Green Mountain boy, a son of the Vermont hills. Many good stories are told of his schoolboy days, and when he grew up to be a man everybody that knew him said...

35. Chapter 35

MANY of us, all our lives, have seen vessels of every size and shape darting to and fro over the water; some with sails spread to the wind, others with puffing pipes and whirlin...

30. Chapter 30

DOES it not seem an odd fact that little Rhode Island, the smallest of all our states, should have two capital cities, while all the others, some of which would make more than a...

54. Chapter 54

NOW I am going to tell you about one of the most gallant deeds done in the navy during the whole Civil War. The man who did it was brave enough to be made admiral of the fleet,...

31. Chapter 31

HOW would any of you like to go back to the days when people had only tallow candles to light their houses, and the moon to light their streets, when they traveled on horseback...

53. Chapter 53

OF course you know what a tremendous task the North had before it in the Civil War. The war between the North and the South was like a battle of giants. And in this vast contest...

44. Chapter 44

THE United States navy had its _Hornet_ as well as its _Wasps_. And they were well named, for they were all able to sting. The captain of the _Hornet_ was a noble seaman named J...

48. Chapter 48

WE have so far been reading the story of legal warfare; now let us turn to that of the wild warfare of the pirate ships. Pirates swarmed during and after the War of 1812, and th...

57. Chapter 57

SOME of us know what a dark night is and some of us don't. Those who live in cities, under the glare of the electric light, hardly ever see real darkness. One must go far into t...

38. Chapter 38

YOU must think by this time that we had many bold and brave sailors in the Revolution. So we had. You have not been told all their exploits, but only a few among the most gallan...

47. Chapter 47

THE United States is a country rich in lakes. They might be named by the thousands. But out of this host of lakes very few are known in history, and of them all much the most fa...

39. Chapter 39

I SUPPOSE all the readers of this book know what a pirate is. For those who may not know, I would say that a pirate is a sea-robber. They are terrible fellows, these pirates, wh...

37. Chapter 37

CAPTAIN SAMUEL TUCKER was a Yankee boy who began his career by running away from home and shipping as a cabin-boy on the British sloop-of-war _Royal George_. It was a good schoo...

50. Chapter 50

NOW I have a story to tell you about how this country looks after its citizens abroad. It is not a long story, but it is a good one, and Americans have been proud of Captain Ing...

55. Chapter 55

IF you look at a map of the country we dwell in, you will see that it has a finger pointing south. That finger is called Florida, and it points to the beautiful island of Cuba,...

15. Chapter 15

9. Chapter 9

19. Chapter 19

7. Chapter 7

11. Chapter 11

12. Chapter 12

21. Chapter 21

24. Chapter 24

26. Chapter 26

16. Chapter 16

14. Chapter 14

17. Chapter 17

25. Chapter 25

1. Chapter 1

6. Chapter 6

28. Chapter 28

2. Chapter 2

8. Chapter 8

10. Chapter 10

18. Chapter 18

23. Chapter 23

27. Chapter 27

5. Chapter 5

13. Chapter 13

20. Chapter 20

22. Chapter 22

29. Chapter 29

3. Chapter 3

4. Chapter 4