It is by the process of comparison that concrete objects are shown to be large or small. The artist, in drawing a picture of a building, will insert in his sketch forms of men, horses, wagons or some object the size of which is familiar to the public, so that by comparison the beholder gains some idea of the height of the structure.
In the same way achievements in the abstract are shown to be great or little. A journey undertaken two centuries ago was adjudged long or short by comparison with other contemporary travels, and diplomatic triumphs of past days were rated according to other feats in the same line at that time. It is by measuring the great accomplishments of the present day with those of the past that we arrive at a true estimation of the tremendous strides that have been taken in the march of progress in the last few decades.
For these reasons the globe-circling cruise of the United States frigate Potomac, 1831-1834, becomes especially interesting when compared with the recent voyage of our great battleship fleet. It is here that the lines of historical perspective are brought out so that even the layman can see at a glance what astounding advances have been made, not only in the science of naval warfare, but in the development of our country and in the marvelous expansion of civilization the world over.
In many important features the cruise of the Potomac was identical with that of the great steel fleet. In each we find the highest development of nautical skill as then represented, the latest and most approved specimen of naval architecture and the finest equipment. In each we find our men prepared for "frolic or fight" and while American capacity for the latter, fortunately, had no occasion to display itself in the battleship voyage, it was brought out in the Potomac's cruise in a manner that reflected credit on our naval prowess.
The courses taken in these two great voyages were almost identical (in the reverse), the frigate taking the easterly and the fleet the westerly route around the world. Nearly every important port visited by the Potomac being entered, three-quarters of a century later, by the battleships. And in a comparison between the receptions given to our two representatives of American naval power in these different ports, we find much that is comparable; while in just those points in which they differ are shown the revolutionary changes that have taken place in the map of the world and in the relative standing of nations.
As our battleship fleet represented the highest development in naval architecture in 1908, so the frigate Potomac was regarded as the finest specimen of fighting craft in 1831. That her main battery of long 32-pounders was regarded as " enormous " weight for a frigate in her day, may be inferred from a remark made by Captain Carden of the British frigate Macedonian, to Captain Decatur of the American frigate United States shortly before those ships engaged in battle. Before hostilities broke out between our country and England in 1812, Decatur and Carden exchanged visits aboard their several commands. On a certain occasion, while Carden was dining with Decatur, the former "particularly pointed out the inefficiency of the 24-pounders on the main deck of the United States and said that they could not be handled with ease and rapidity in battle, and that long 18-pounders would do as much execution and were as heavy as experience had proved that a frigate ought to carry."
Such was the opinion of an experienced British commander in 1812 and his opinion undoubtedly reflected the collected wisdom of the Admiralty on that point. The result of the action between the United States and Macedonian demonstrated incontrovertibly that this opinion was erroneous.
But if 24-pounders on the main deck were believed to have been too heavy in 1812, what must 32-pounders have been thought of a decade or so later? Yet we find British naval experts declaring our " new " fleet of 1815-1831 to be the most formidable (taken ship for ship) in the world; and, what is more remarkable, we find the Admiralty following our lead by building frigates on the "exact lines" of American 44-gun craft. In 1820 the British
Government sent an Qfficer to inspect our navy, who reported that "the organization of the American Naval Department, either for administrative duties or for practical work, is the best system extant. Their ships are the best built and their timber is unsurpassed. Their frigates are competent to cope with ships of the line and their ships of the line with three-deckers; and the whole administration of the navy is conducted with comparatively little expense." In 1826 another British naval expert recorded "it is but justice in regard to America to mention that England has benefited by her (America's) example and that the larger classes of frigates now employed in the British service are modeled after those of the United States."
But the most astonishing feature of this " enormous " increase in the weight of armament in our 1815-1831 fleet was that it had been introduced without materially enlarging the ships. Naturally, when we find that the weight of guns is raised from 18 to 32-pounders in the main battery, we expect some increase in the size of the ships themselves. But the ships were, practically, of the same dimensions as when the Constitution, President and United States were launched at the close of the 18th century, namely: length 175 feet, beam 43.6, hold 14.3 for Old Ironsides and her sisters; and for the Potomac and most vessels in her class 175 feet length, beam 45, hold 14.4.
That the Potomac was the highest type of the ship-builder's art in her day is seen in the report of her commander in her first cruise in the Pacific, when he said, "I have never seen so fine a sea-boat or one so easy on her spars and rigging; works quick and sure."
In such high esteem were the sea-going qualities of the Potomac held by her officers that we readily can detect and pardon their excuses for being beaten by the speedy Decatur in the third cruise of the frigate when they reported, "Was beaten by the Decatur under a variety of circumstances, having the advantage only when the wind was very fresh abeam."
In view of the foregoing facts, it seems assured that the Potomac, in her world-girdling cruise in 1831-1834, represented the then highest type of naval architecture and the science of sea fighting—just as our steel fleet did seventy-five years later—so that a comparison between the two voyages is singularly inviting. In the case of the latter, the great achievement is of such recent date and so much has been laid before the profession and public that merest reference to most important details will be sufficient; but in the case of the Potomac the interesting incidents of that momentous cruise seem to have become a shadowy memory.
Fortunately there is in the possession of the writer the original private diary of a petty officer (or seaman of good education and refinement) of the Potomac who made this 1831-1834 trip around the world, which throws much light on its leading incidents besides giving a graphic description of that midnight attack on Qualla Battoo on the north coast of Sumatra. The diary contains 104 closely-written pages, bound in sheep-skin and parchment, the size of the volume being 8 x 9 inches. Owing to the fact that several front and back leaves have been torn out' and lost, there is nothing to indicate the name of the writer. Aside from the loss of these few pages and the mutilation of the covers the diary is in an excellent state of preservation.
In August, 1831, the Potomac was riding at anchor in New York harbor, waiting to take aboard Martin Van Buren (afterward President of the United States) as a passenger. Mr. Van
Buren had been appointed by President Jackson minister to the court of St. James and the frigate was to carry her distinguished passenger to England; after which she was to proceed to the Pacific as the flagship of John Downes, who was to command our naval forces on that station. The Potomac had been built in Washington, 1821, at a cost of $350,000. Her tonnage was 1726 and her complement 480. She was in the same class as the Brandywine, Columbia, Savannah, Santee, Sabine, Raritan, St. Lawrence, Congress and Cumberland—the last three figuring prominently in the attack made by the Confederate ironclad Merrimac on the National vessels in Hampton Roads, March 8 and 9, 1862.
We can readily imagine that the prospect of having such a great man as Mr. Van Buren for a passenger on the trip across the Atlantic, put the officers and men of the Potomac on their mettle; while the ship herself, undoubtedly, was set in the best possible order. The hotels of New York were not filled with wives and relatives bidding a sad adieu to loved ones—as were the hotels around the waters of Hampton Roads when the battleship fleet was about to sail—but the deck officer of the Potomac witnessed many heart-rending partings.
It was in the midst of these scenes of leisurely preparation for sailing that orders from Washington reached the frigate, changing her itinerary so as to eliminate the voyage to England and to make all haste for Quallo Battoo, on the north coast of Sumatra, where on February 7, 1831, the natives had made a murderous attack on the American trading-ship Friendship, of Salem, Mass., commanded by Mr. Endicott. Captain Downes was directed to visit summary vengeance so as to inspire respect for the American flag in that distant quarter of the globe, so the Potomac's people knew from the start that they had " fight " as well as " frolic" in store for them.
It does not appear from this diary on what day the Potomac sailed from New York, but from other records it is known to have been on the 27th of August. The first connected entry in the diary reads as follows:
The light-house gradually receded from our sight and left us to ponder upon future events and to seek out new objects of interest in far-distant climes, to experience the good and ill that attends the life of a mariner and to gain honor or dishonor as the fates might decide. The frank, generous and open heart of a true son of Neptune knows or recks not of the dangers that attend his perilous adventures. He is happy in leaving his country for the reason that he looks forward to the hour when he may return with the fruits of his dear but laborious occupation; to scatter it with an open hand among his friends, and again launch forth upon the treacherous ocean to search out new manners and customs, and learn in foreign lands the good which always attends magnanimity and the evil which inevitably results from acts of tyranny and oppression.
Taking the usual course pursued in those days for the Indian Ocean, the frigate, on the 21st of September, sighted the Cape de Verde Islands and then shaped her course for the coast of Brazil. Three days later the monotony of the passage was relieved by a chase after a supposed pirate, which is picturesquely described in the diary as follows:
On the morning of the 24th of September we discovered a sail on our weather bow; bore up for and spoke her. She proved to be the whale-ship Mercury of New Bedford, 36 days from home and bound for the Pacific Ocean. At 3 p. m. another sail was reported on the weather bow, the Mercury astern of us. The stranger was down until within about two leagues of us when she suddenly put about and made all sail in an opposite direction. We, for a short time, stood on our course, but the keen eye of our commander discovering the attempt at flight, which every moment became more apparent from the quantity of sail which she spread at intervals and which excited strong suspicion that she was not what she should be, immediately stood for her; and her royal and topgallant sails were, in half an hour, perceptible in the distance.
A brief conversation passed between the commodore and the first lieutenant, and a midshipman was seen wending his way to the forecastle, apparently in search of some important personage. In an instant after, the shrill pipe was heard blowing with the hoarse voices of the boatswain and his mates in the remotest parts of the ship, and quicker than the untameable lightning (all hands having been called to make sail), every rag of our muslin was floating in the breeze and the next instant extended above the taper yards. The loud notes of the drum and fife called all hands to quarters, and our crew (with the activity of men who knew their duty) sprung to their stations and with impatience waited to execute each command of their superiors.
Orders from the quarter deck were now given to run in and secure the guns and close the ports, fore and aft, which was immediately perfected, thus disguising our vessel to resemble the India Company ships of England, which we thought would bring/ the stranger down to us, but she was too intent upon her own safety to hazard a second view of our batteries. The retreat was beaten and all hands rushed to the spar deck to watch the movements of the supposed pirate.
At 5 p. m. the chase appeared like a speck on the vast sheet of the ocean, but the lofty and giant strides of our noble ship were fast approaching her, and as the last ray of Sol had sunk to rest, her hull and canvas were in sight.
As darkness closed around us and the wild and stormy swell of the sea (which, since the sun had set, gave strong indications .of squally weather) began to gain a greater magnitude, and necessity compelled us to haul in our sails, the stranger took his leave and left us to run out and secure our guns without the pleasure of such an adventure as we had anticipated. At daylight, the morning following, a sail was discovered immediately in our track which, we thought and hoped, was the one of which we were in pursuit. We came up with her at meridian, and, our colors being hoisted, were immediately answered with the English, and in boarding her she was found to be the brig Brothers (of Lynnhaven, England), 39 days from Liverpool, bound to Pernambuco.
At this period both America and England maintained a regular naval force off the coast of Africa in a concerted effort to suppress the slave trade. The craft that so anxiously eluded the Potomac may have been engaged in this illicit traffic.
About half-past eleven, on the night of October 6, the Potomac crossed the line so that the ceremony of shaving was omitted "very much to the satisfaction of the uninitiated and to the great disappointment of pour old tars," and after sighting Cape Frio on the afternoon of the 15th the frigate put into the beautiful harbor of Rio de Janeiro on the following day.
There was no suspension of business when this American "naval force" entered Rio in 1831. In fact, the arrival of the Potomac occasioned little or no special interest so far as can be detected in this diary. As compared with the great battleship fleet, Downes' ship was insignificant indeed. Formidable as her broadside of 32-pounders undoubtedly was at that time, it becomes insignificant as compared with the enormously greater capacity for offense and defense of the sixteen massive battleships which visited the same port three-quarters of a century later. One 6-inch modern rifle would have been more than a match for this " formidable " wooden ship. The only "booming of guns" noted in the diary is under the date of November 1, when "the United States sloop-of-war Warren, commanded by Captain Cooper, hove in sight off the harbor and at 6 p. m. came to anchor astern of us. As she brought to, the thunders of her cannon rolled along the smooth waters of the bay and as the last sound died away" in the distance the frigate returned the salute.
A missing leaf in the diary conceals the date of the Potomac's departure from Rio, but it must have been on November 3 or 4 that she began her stretch for the Cape of Good Hope. Apparently the stay at the Brazilian port had not been very interesting, for aside from describing some public buildings the writer of the diary had little to record aside from the scenes in the prison. He wrote:
The City Prison, where criminals of every age, from the beardless boy just entering the summer of life, to the gray head of old age sinking under a burden of afflictions and shame, crowded together in this receptacle of vice and wretchedness, is abhorrent. An evil equally abhorrent presents itself in a walk through the city, and more particularly in the "public square" (which is the great thoroughfare of the place) where may be seen daily hundreds of unfortunate blacks, half naked, straining every nerve under the burdens which they are compelled to carry and marking the causeway at every step with the blood from their manacled and lacerated ankles. Slavery is carried to the extreme point of perfection in this country, and the unfortunate objects of a trade, which in civilized countries should not be known, are treated with a cruelty that should put most inhuman monsters to the blush.
Not long after the Potomac sailed from New York "Company of Dramatists" was organized by some members of her crew, and as they afterward had the honor of acting before the king and queen of the Sandwich Island, some note of their "first appearance" is necessary. This seems to have occurred on the evening of November 22, when the frigate was well started on her lonely run from Rio to Cape Town. On this evening the diary records:
Our company of dramatists displayed their prowess in the scenic art. The laughable farce in two acts, called "St. Patrick's Day," was performed, previous to which a prologue, written by one of the company, was spoken.
The whole concluded with an olio consisting of songs, duets and recitations. The play with several of the songs excited much mirth, and the entertainments of the evening received the praises they merited.
A description of the life aboard this frigate on her " world-girdling " cruise is given in the diary: On Sunday
None but the most necessary duty is required of the crew. If the weather is fair, divine service is performed and the crew mustered. The first Sunday of each month is allotted to a reading of the Articles of War which contain all the necessary commands and orders that are requisite to the conduct of officers and crew in time of peace and war. At 8 a. m. on muster days the word is passed, "All hands stand for muster, ahoy ! " and at 10 the pipe of the boatswain, accompanied with the cry, "All hands to muster, ahoy!" summons every person to the church, where the chaplain, with the capstan for a pulpit, reads the prayers of the church, and concludes the service with a sermon short but impressive. While thus engaged, not a whisper is heard, but all listen with an attention that would
do justice to the characters of those who have a more exalted opinion of their moral life; and contemn the idea that sailors can listen to and feel the effects of such addresses.
The dress of the crew in warm weather consists of frocks or shirts (the collars and wristbands of which are lined with blue nankin and set off with fanciful tape work) with trousers of the same material, white as the unsullied snow, neat morocco pumps and shining tarpaulins. In cold weather blue cloth jackets and trousers, white frocks and neat shoes, hats and black silk kerchiefs constitute the uniform. Great pains are taken to keep their clothes clean and in good order, and that ho excuse may be had for uncleanliness, two mornings in each week are allowed them to wash, and the afternoon of each Saturday to mend, their clothes. After muster the boatswain, by order of the officer of the deck, technically speaking, "pipes down," or in other words, "men, go do as you please." Those who have the watch remain on deck until 12 o'clock, at which hour the crew are piped to dinner and the watch relieved; the drum is then rolled, calling all those who love the inspiriting nectar to the gun deck where many a smiling face may be seen in the vicinity of the tub which contains their greatest favorite but most inveterate foe. One hour is allowed the men at each meal, at the expiration of which time all hands are called, and the decks cleared and swept down. After dinner the crew are at liberty for the remainder of the day.
In a walk around the decks you may see groups of these fearnaughts lying here and there between the guns, some reading, others playing at draughts, some smoking and pleating sennit for hats, others stretched out under the half deck enjoying the sweet sensation arising from a touch of the wand of Morpheus; each having his own particular manner of killing time, until 4 o'clock, when the pipe and drum again calls them to their meals and grog. At half-past five p. m. the crew are inspected at quarters, and at six the hammocks of the watch that has eight hours below are piped down, after having swung which they return to their duty until 8 o'clock when the relief is called, and the relieved retire to their hammocks and to sleep until midnight when they are called to duty again until 4 a. m. and relieved as before. Thus passeth the Sabbath, and, with very little deviation, each day of the week. On Thursdays the crew are ordered to dress in their second best, and at 9 a. m. muster at quarters and go through the exercise of the great guns and small arms as though in actual combat. The sailors call this "Rope-yarn Sunday."
The Potomac arrived at Cape Town on December 6, after a run of 32 days from Rio de Janeiro. Our chronicler, after noting the "usual salute" between the frigate and one of the forts on shore, said that this frigate and the sloop-of-war Vincennes, Captain William Compton Bolton Finch (which touched at this port in 1830), were the only American war vessels that had, down to that time, visited Cape Town. The arrival of the Potomac seems to have aroused wide-spread interest for the diary records:
Our frigate was an object of much interest to the inhabitants of the town and the interior country; some of whom, on learning of our arrival, journeyed many miles to have a view of her Our decks were daily crowded with the young, the gay and the beautiful, and the visit, although brief, was one of pleasure to all.
In these days of steel construction, steam, chemical and electrical machinery, much of the romance of the sea is lost, so that the memory of "those grand old sail-ship days" should be sacredly preserved. For this reason the beautiful description of " scenery " on the Indian Ocean, as given in this diary, is valuable. The Potomac left the hospitable folk of Cape Town December 13, 1831, and the diary records:
After doubling the Cape of Good Hope on the night of December 17, we stretched far into the Indian Ocean; the soft and gentle breezes of summer in this hemisphere expanding our canvas and hastening us onward to our distant port. The sun arose in all his magnificence on the morning of the r8th, tinting the eastern skies with streams of molten gold and spreading his effulgence on all around. The sky presented an unclouded expanse, and the gentle breeze of morning fanned the glittering surface of the sea which, like the undulating tide of some beautiful river, bore our proud vessel gently on its bossom. The weather continued pleasant throughout the day and was succeeded by a beautiful moonlight night. But ere "the iron-tongue of midnight had tolled twelve," all hands were aroused from their slumbers by the shrill pipe of our boatswain and the hoarse voices of his mates which, amid the terrific roaring of the gale and deep-toned thunder rolling along the heaven, the war of elements each contending for a superiority in the tumult which raged above and around us, seemed the dread precedent of some awful calamity.
"Reef topsails, reef! " is now the cry. Each man, at the well-known signal, sprang from his hammock and sought his station on deck or in the tops. The hoarse voices of the junior officers were faintly heard amid the din, but the brazen-tongued trumpet, wielded by our first lieutenant [Irvine Shubrickl, was distinctly heard above the fierce roaring of the wind and waves, and, at the word, the sails were gathered in festoons to the yards, as quick as thought, and the next instant the ears of the expectant tars caught the sound: "Aloft, topmen," when they sprang, like the nimble squirrel, to the yards, and as they stretched themselves out upon the spars, gathered the bellying sail beneath their breasts and waited with impatience the words "Reef away." In less time than I have taken to describe the scene, the work was accomplished, and the seamen descended to the deck to sheet home and hoist away the sails, which was the work of but an instant. We sailed swiftly before the wind under double-reefed topsails and mainsail, our vessel contending proudly with the giant waves that rolled around us with their snow-capped tops.
The next day our decks presented a scene of confusion not to be described.
The sea broke over us in every direction, deluging our main and spar decks, fore and aft, at every roll, in which the guns on our spar deck several times tasted the wave. We did not see anything of the Flying Dutchman during the storm, a circumstance which we did not by any means regret, as we had occasion for every inch of sea-room, and a meeting with that desperate sailer might have proved at the time rather unpleasant. It is said, nevertheless,' that he continues to haunt the seas in the neighborhood of the Cape, always close-hauled to the wind and under a heavy press of sail.
It was not until the morning of the 21st that the storm began to abate.
Sighting the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, a little more than half way from Cape Town to Australia, the Potomac again began to get in the course (in reverse order) taken by the battleship fleet three quarters of a century later. On the night of January 19, 1832, while still in the Indian Ocean, our chronicler gives a graphic description of a meeting with a huge Indiaman, the Cambrian, from Batavia, bound for England. He notes:
As we neared each other, previous to speaking, the silver crest of the Queen of Night was seen glittering in the dark expanse above as, amid the lights and shades, the stranger with her lofty spars towering to the skies and enrobed in white, stood like a phantom on the dark blue wave. Dark objects could be seen moving to and fro upon her decks, and the lights which streamed from her ports gave her the appearance of a lofty battleship.
Five days after this, or on January 24, an incident occurred aboard the Potomac which served as a welcomed relief to the monotony of the voyage. It seems that on this day two of the colored members of the crew got into a fight on the berth deck. The diary records:
The master-at-arms, who is commander-in-chief of this deck, after enjoying the scene for some time with much seeming delight, escorted the blacks to Lieutenant Shubrick who, with his usual good humor, instead of employing a boatswain's mate to operate on the skins of the offenders, gave each a whip which they used upon each other for some time with considerable fierceness and dexterity. Their visages during the conflict underwent various changes, and neither could shame the other in grimaces that would have puzzled the pencil of the most experienced painter to imitate. The largest of the party concerned, who was a tall, gaunt, open countenanced fellow, was compelled to give in after in vain using every exertion to gain the advantage of his opponent. They were dismissed after being admonished by Lieutenant Shubrick that something similar would happen the next time they attempted to disturb the repose of our worthy brethren of the berth deck.
As the Potomac was now nearing the scene of the fight that was to take place, Captain Downes "on the afternoon of January 25 inspected the force destined for the attack on Qualla Battoo. The different divisions were formed and went through their evolutions better than could have been expected from men who detest the very name of soldier or marine and have so great an antipathy to that part of a ship's company that they are ever ready to dub them with the most opprobrious epithets. But at this period such feelings were buried and they joined with the guard with one voice and determination to revenge the death of their countrymen. They knew their duty and were determined at all hazards to perfect the mission on which they had been ordered."
It was on January 28 that the frigate sighted Hog Island, which lies off the coast of Sumatra just southeast of Qualla Battoo, but, owing to unfavorable winds, anchor was not dropped off Qualla Battoo until February 5. This interim had been employed by the Americans in disguising their ship so as to conceal her identity from the natives. Her guns were run in, the ports closed and the sails were rigged in a slovenly manner so as to give her the appearance of a merchantman.
As this diary contains, probably, the only full and connected account of an eye-witness of the spirited attack that followed, it is given verbatim as a valuable historical record:
Our passage from the Cape of Good Hope to this place employed 55 days. As we neared the coast the Danish flag was hoisted, and on coming to anchor our sails were furled in true merchant style, four men only being allowed to go aloft from each top to perform this duty. Every precaution was taken to avoid a discovery of our real character and (as the sequel will show) we were successful—the natives were deceived, and our attack on them the following morning was a complete surprise.
At half-past two p. m. the whale-boat, containing our first lieutenant, Mr. Shubrick, Lieutenant Edson of marines, and Lieutenants Pinkham, Hoff and Ingersoll with Acting Sailing Master Benjamin I. Totten and Passed Midshipman H. Tooley, left the ship for the shore to reconnoiter the forts at Qualla Battoo preparatory to an attack on that place. The first-named person represented the captain, the second the super-cargo, and the residue were dressed in sailor costume to represent the boat crew of an Indiaman. After the departure of our boat, a small sail was descried standing for the ship; at 4 o'clock she came alongside loaded with fish. The crew consisted of four Malays, natives of Pub o Kio. They were secured immediately on coming alongside and remained on board until the following morning when they received a price for their cargo much beyond their expectations and left the ship much delighted with the munificence shown to them and without a murmur at the durance in which they had been held.
At half-past four our boat returned, not having landed on account of the warlike appearance of the natives collected on the beach. At 8 p. m. our boats were hoisted out and every preparation made to leave the ship at midnight. Those destined for the attack were then at liberty to employ their time as they thought proper until the appointed hour. All sought repose upon the decks with their weapons for a pillow, save those who were to remain to guard the ship. These were divided into watches which relieved each other at intervals of two hours. Soon after we left Rio de Janeiro our crew were mustered and 260 men were chosen to avenge the death of our countrymen. I had the honor to be one of the chosen few. We were regularly drilled every day by divisions, and by the time of our arrival at Sumatra, had acquired the knowledge of our exercise to perfection.
'Twas midnight when all hands were aroused from their slumbers and our decks in a few moments swarmed with the host destined for the attack; all busily employed arming themselves with the implements of death, their bosoms bared to whatever might ensue, the storm, the tempest or the deadly turmoil, and heaving with delight at the martial sounds that broke the stillness of the hour. The bright star of morning had just begun to appear beneath a dense mass of dark clouds resting on the sea when our boats, which had been early prepared, left the ship, bearing many a true and gallant heart who were, ere the sun had attained his meridian splendor, to gain a proud name in the annals of our country. The most perfect silence reigned around, broken only at intervals by the faint dashing of the oars or the whispered commands of our leaders, which were drowned as they reached the habitations of the foe by the roar of the surf rushing impetuously to the sea-beat strand.
The morning star had shone brightly in the heavens for two short hours when our hardy few, led on by a bold and daring spirit with many a proud and aspiring bosom in his train, neared the shore, the immediate vicinity of which was known by the terrific roaring of the wild waves as they dashed in mountain billows before, behind and around us. As the day began to break we landed upon the soil of our enemy and formed in silence and good order, each division according to its number, and a 6-pounder bringing up the rear. The fusileers, a company of fine, stout and daring fellows, distributing themselves on each side of our line.
As we neared the lower fort the second division of musketeers and pikemen, under the command of Lieutenant Hoff and three midshipmen, filed off to the left, and were soon lost amid the thick foliage which grows in wild luxuriance on every part or island. In a few minutes after their departure the din of an hundred firearms was heard and assured us that the work of destruction and death had begun, and we hastened to join battle with the remaining foe.
The marine guard, under the command of Lieutenants Edson and Tenett (with the first division of musketeers and pikemen under Lieutenant Ingersoll) engaged the center fort, and after a short but desperate and bloody conflict in which one of the guard was killed, one dangerously wounded and several slightly wounded, it was taken, and all who had the semblance of a native, slaughtered.
The third division under 'the command of Lieutenant Pinkham (to which was attached), the fusileers under the command of Lieutenant Shubrick, and the Betsy Bakers (so designated from the name of the little gun which they had christened "Betsy Baker"), led on by Acting Sailing Master Totten, were left to charge the third and most formidable fort—our whole force amounting to 85 men. When we came within a few yards of the fort under a brisk fire of musketry and swivels from the enemy's batteries, we poured in a volley of leaden death which made the foe start from their fancied security and shook the high arch of heaven with its thunders. We then charged the enemy in the rear, leaving the 6-pounder and fusileers to keep them employed on the opposite side, until we could make a breach sufficient to carry the fort with our division, making terrible slaughter in the host that had the hardihood to oppose us. At a signal from the commander, the gun [Betsy Baker] proceeded to the bank of a creek, in the rear (under a brisk but impotent fire from the enemy's batteries, their guns being so disposed that to turn them was impossible) where they commenced a quick but steady cannonading upon the large proas or schooners in the creek; sweeping their decks fore and aft and killing great numbers of the renegades and doing considerable injury to their vessels—the largest of which they succeeded in getting under way, and escaped by rounding the point of an island in the creek off which they had anchored.
In our second charge at the rear of the fort, one of our men was shot through the brain and immediately expired, and three others were slightly wounded, but we sprang with renewed vigor to the charge of death and revenged our fallen shipmates nobly, heaping the heathen piles upon pile at every discharge and staining the green sward with the blood of the victims of our ungovernable fury. The massive gate which led to the enclosure around the fort was then torn from its base, and the gun planted so as to insure success in the attempt to gain the possession of the fort. But the flaming habitations of the fort which were throwing dark columns of fire to the sky and the almost furnace heat by which the gun crew were surrounded, forced them to evacuate, when the gun was instantly seized by a third of her stout crew and carried to the upper side of the fort where they kept up a steady discharge of canister and grape shot for forty minutes, during which time the foe within the battlements fought most desperately. Our object was to compel the enemy to evacuate their stronghold and every stand of grape and canister had been expended without effecting this purpose.
Recourse was now had to the boats, from which was obtained ten bags containing forty musket balls each; in three successive discharges of which we succeeded in dislodging them, but from the heaviness of each charge our gun was thrice dismounted and the carriage shivered to atoms which rendered her unfit for further.service. But our aim had been accomplished and as the redskins attempted to escape, several of them were shot down by the fusileers with an aim that would have done honor to Morgan's inimitables.
At this instant the center fort blew up with a tremendous explosion and sent the helpless foe within its battlements to notify the shades of the coming of their kindred. The red glow of an hundred habitations shone in the morning sun, and the grand flag of our country was, in the space of two hours, waving in triumph o'er the ramparts of the conquered and the slain.
Thus fell before the brave seamen and marines of the Potomac the strong fortress of these heathen pirates which had, in the knowledge of the oldest inhabitants of the island, withstood the combined efforts of different tribes for an hundred years—presenting a striking example of the power of American arms, the bravery of Columbia's sons and the justice of their cause.
The shrill notes of the soul-stirring bugle, with the roar of the surf, which was every moment gaining greater impetus, warned us that the hour of departure from these scenes of blood and carnage was at hand. Our gallant band was soon collected on the beach and we hastened on our return to the ship when, on our arrival, we were warmly greeted with the cheers of those who had been left to protect her, which, with the grateful smiles of our commander and the friendly interrogations of those who had witnessed our daring at a distance, amply repaid us for our toil in the recent melee and assured us that our actions were commended. The bodies of our deceased shipmates had been conveyed on board ship sometime previous to our departure from the shore, and on our arrival received a sailor's burial. They who, but a few hours before, had rushed in all the strength of manhood in the thickest of the fight, now lay enshrined beneath the dark blue waves and, though no sculptured marble marks the place of their sepulture and no fair flowers bloom upon their graves, yet a monument of their devotion to a just and glorious cause will rest in the hearts of their countrymen.
On the following morning (February 7) we got under way and stood Within a mile of the shore when we anchored, and at meridian commenced and kept up a steady cannonading upon the town and forts until a quarter past one p. m. About 6 o'clock in the evening a boat was discovered leaving the shore at Qualla Battoo, which came alongside of us at 7 p. m., containing three natives bearing a flag of truce. They came on board and were conducted to the presence of Commodore Downes. When they had advanced within a short distance of him, they bowed with the utmost submission.
They bore a message from the principal chiefs begging a cessation of hostilities and representing their situation as truly deplorable. During their stay on board, which was until 8 p. m., the good cheer of our officers was proffered to and accepted of by them, until the potent nectar of which they had tasted profusely began to operate—when they left us, bearing an answer from the Commodore to their chiefs, urging them to visit the ship that a negotiation might be had, and threatening them with vengeance more potent than they had so lately witnessed if they did not restore the spoils taken from the Friendship.
INCIDENTS ATTENDING THE BATTLE.
About an hour after our departure from the ship (on the eventful morning of the 6th) and when within about two miles of the shore, a meteor of the most brilliant and splendid rays shot across the heavens immediately above us, lighting the broad expanse with its beams from west to east.
We hailed it as an ernest of victory and the bright augury of future fame. The Rajah Maley Mohammed was killed at the first fort attacked by our men after fighting for some time like a lion; and after his fall the marks of three musket balls and three bayonet wounds were discovered on his chest.
A female, who from the richness of her dress was supposed to be his wife, (after he had fallen) seized the saber which he had been wielding with so much ferocity, and commenced the work of destruction by wounding one of our seamen in the head and almost severing the thumb from his left hand; after which, from the wound she had previously received, she fell on the hard pavement of the fortress and died.
When our firing had become general the natives could be seen fleeing in every direction from the town and forts; some carrying such articles as they esteemed most valuable, and others making the best use of their neat heels to carry them beyond the reach of our musketry.
Those with whom we were at war were brave, and fought with a fierceness bordering on desperation. They would not yield while a drop of their savage blood warmed their bosoms or they had strength to wield a weapon—fighting with that undaunted firmness which is characteristic of bold and determined spirits and displaying such an utter carelessness of life as would have been honored in a better cause. Instances of the bravery of these people were numerous, so much so that were I to give you a detail of each event, my description would, perhaps, become tiresome and insipid.
Our ship was visited on the morning of the 8th by Po Adam, the rajah of Pub o Kio (the noble and disinterested native, it will be remembered, who saved the lives of Captain Endicott, the second mate, John Barry, and part of the crew of the ship Friendship) who informed the Commodore that the number of the enemy killed (on the 6th) exceeded one hundred, among whom were forty of their best warriors, and the wounded and missing amounted to double that number. Mr. Barry came out with us from the United States as second sailing master of the Potomac. He acted as our guide during the battle and took a very distinguished part in the extirpation of the assassins.
When Po Adam ascended the side of our ship, Mr. Barry stood back to see if he would recognize him, which he did immediately, and, running to him, embraced him with the warmth of a brother. He examined the ship in every part, accompanied by Mr. Barry, and appeared particularly delighted with the sight of our great guns whose thunders had shaken the island a few hours previous. We were gratified to learn that the proa which had succeeded in making her escape on the morning of the attack, had been taken the same morning by Adam who, with a small party, was lying in ambush on the margin of the creek watching the success of our arms. When she came opposite his place of concealment he, with the aid of his followers, took her, killed five of the enemy and put the remainder to flight. They escaped to the mountains. It proved to be the same proa which had been wrested from him the day on which the outrage upon the friendship was committed—which happened precisely one year previous to the day on which we visited them with such terrible retribution.
During the day a large number of friendly Malays from Soo Soo and Pub o Kb o visited the ship, bringing off with them fruit, vegetables and poultry in great abundance. The Soo Sooans appeared to be more civilized than any other of the neighboring tribes. Some of them spoke very good English, and almost all had a smattering of the language sufficient to make them understood.
A brig, which we had discovered in the morning standing along the coast, ran up to our anchoring ground at 8 p. in. and came to about zoo yards from us. We were visited again on the morning following (February 9) by two of the petty chiefs from Qualla Battoo, under a flag of truce, bringing with them poultry, eggs, shells, vegetables, etc. They remained on board but a short time and left the ship without having made a sale, the crew reserving their gains for the more friendly natives of Soo Soo and Pub o Kio. The captain of the brig, which arrived the evening previous, boarded us this morning and reported the Olive (Marshall, master) 113 days from Boston, bringing letters and papers for Commodore Downes and others.
The Potomac had been 166 days from home and this was the first news she had received from America since sailing. In the case of the battleship cruise around the world, news from home awaited the fleet at each stopping place, even before the arrival of the ships. The Potomac's people were unable to send answers to these letters until March 13, more than four weeks later, when they met the American ship Philip I, from Batavia, bound for Philadelphia.
By February 15 the Potomac had replenished her stock of wood, fresh provisions and water, and was ready to resume her voyage. On this day many hundreds of the natives who had not yet visited the ship came off from the shore, and from daylight until sundown our decks were crowded with these monuments of treachery and barbarity. At half-past seven o'clock the last straggler gained his skiff and stood across the waves to his own mountain home; and, heartily tired of their presence, each inmate of our gallant ship sought his berth, and sunk into sleep, amid the low murmuring of the sea and the soft wailing of the summer breezes.
Our chronicler gives the following description of these natives as they appeared to him:
The Malays resemble the Indians of North America in some particulars. They are generally of medium size, inevitably erect and slender-built, but remarkably strong and active. Their step is handsome and firm, and their dark rolling eyes speak them of a fierce and savage nature. They have immeasurable mouths, and the great quantity of beetle nut chewed by them, and which colors their mouths to a dark crimson, gives them a disgusting and horrible appearance. Their costume consists of a turban of silk or linen, fancifully embroidered with silver or gold tinsel, a sash thrown in careless folds around their person, partially covers their bodies, and the lower extremities are hidden as far as the knees by an article of apparel which, I believe, is anonymous. The chiefs wear a profusion of gold about them, apparently of much value, and around their waists a belt containing the creese or poisoned dagger and a box, generally of gold or silver roughly wrought, in which they carry the beetle nut; and another box (brass) containing a white paste called cheenam. Sundry heavy rings grace their long fingers, and their wrists and ankles are encircled with massive rings of gold.
Their characters as pirates need no superfluous proof. Instances of their marauding on the sea-coast are numerous, and in proas containing 60 or 70 men they have been known to attack and make prizes of heavily armed ships, murder the crews, and, after despoiling them of every article of value, leave them to the mercy of the wind and waves. A Dutch frigate was, some years ago, attacked by them at Muckie, a pepper port lying a few miles southward of Qualla Battoo, and after a desperate fight, in which numbers on both sides were killed, the natives were compelled to flee to the mountains.
The Potomac sailed from Qualla Battoo early on the morning of February 18, 1832, and from this time on her cruise was largely identical (in the reverse) with that of the steel fleet seventy-five years later. On the fourth day out, February 22, Captain Downes perpetrated one of his little jokes on the crew. It was the hundredth anniversary of the birth of George Washington and word had been passed that an " extra-extra " allowance of grog would be served as a benefiting recognition of the centenary. After the salute of seventeen guns had been fired at noon, Downes mustered the 'crew and after solemnly admonishing the men "not to drink a quantity sufficient to intoxicate," announced that an extra quantity of water would be served with the usual allowance of grog, "which occasioned much grumbling among our 'old salts' and was received with little less disgust by the younger part of the crew—all of whom expected a real substantial tuck out of the pure ardents."
Clearing the Straits of Sunda, the frigate, on the 6th of March, wooded and watered at Bantam and on the 19th anchored off Batavia, where she remained until April 8. During her stay at this port the sick list increased from 12 to 59 and several of the men died, among them being Nathaniel K. G. Oliver, of Boston, private secretary to Commodore Downes.
Sailing from Batavia on April 8, 1832, the Potomac passed through Gaspar Straits and soon after entering the light blue waters of the China Sea, experienced the first really cordial greeting that in any way resembled the ovations given to our steel fleet three-quarters of a century later. The incident is recorded:
About 11.30 a. m. of the — (date omitted) we spoke an English bark, 35 days from Calcutta, bound to Canton. On coming within speaking distance, her skysail was lowered as a matter of compliment and, as she dropped astern of our frigate, her crew cheered us in handsome style. We were unprepared for such an event, but who better than American seamen know how to reciprocate the most friendly feelings. Our men, by order, immediately sprang to the rigging and gave three hearty rounds in return, which were answered by two from the bark. It was a compliment little expected and wholly unlooked for, but we acknowledged the good feeling of the Briton in our best style. As we braced up on our course, our band struck up "God Save the King," and the red cross of England descended to the deck of the bark as the last note was lost in the mellow murmuring of the sea.
Remaining at Macao, where she arrived June 5, only a day, the Potomac hastened on her voyage across the Pacific, and on July 23 anchored off Honolulu in the Sandwich Islands. It was in this port that the crew of the frigate got their first leave to go ashore since sailing from New York almost a year before. The incident is described in the diary:
Early on the succeeding morning, July 24, both watches were called, the decks put in complete order; the brass work underwent a more than ordinary burnishing; the rigging was stopped into the sides or laid in neat flemish coils upon the snow-white decks, and each of the crew took more time than he was wont to prepare his clean frock and mustering trousers for a " cruise " on shore, as it had been rumored that we were all to have 24 hours' liberty. On the day following, at 2 p. m., we saluted the town with 17 guns, which was returned with 20. After which the American and English consuls visited the ship.
On the morning of the 25th the hopes of the crew were realized. All the first part of the starboard watch were called to muster in the weather gangway and had their names committed to paper. This preliminary over, one and all made a simultaneous rush to the cockpit in such confusion that some were fairly carried to the desired haven on the shoulders of their fellows; from whence they, in a short time, emerged with swelling bosoms and hands grasping small parcels which, in the hurry, had been thrown together in " elegant irregularity." Suffice it to say, they went on shore, disposed of their bundles at half cost, got most gloriously intoxicated, fought, acted the tar, returned on board with most awfully scarred features, got partially sober, and returned to their duty—much the worse for the " cruise " in pocket, appearance and feelings.
There were yet three quarter watches in waiting to experience the many ills attending a "cruise on shore." They also went in time and, taking the conduct of the first class as a precedent, returned little better satisfied as to the pleasure they had seen and with a much greater majority of painted eyes and bruised limbs. Some who had drank too deeply of the inebriating bowl, after its power had died in the system, were seized with (that most horrible of all disorders attendant upon drunkenness) the " mania a potu," and in this state of frenzy lingered for several days. It was at Honolulu that this globe-circling American naval force received its first royal recognition. " On the 5th of August," says the diary, "the ship was visited by the king and queen of the Sandwich Islands and their suites. On their arrival and departure from the ship, a salute of 21 guns was fired At 5 p. m. His Majesty and suite left the ship amid the roar of cannon."
Five days after this the Potomac's dramatists "performed in the king's palace before a large and highly interested audience of American and English ladies and gentlemen and a numerous assembly of natives. The tragedy of 'Douglas,' with the farce of 'Fortune's Frolic' and an olio, consisting of songs, duets and recitations, passed off with great applause. The dramatis personae were allowed 24 hours liberty after the performance and their bacchanalian scenes, some of which were witnessed by the officers, formed a subject of amusement for many days."
The Potomac left Honolulu August 16, 1832, but several pages missing from the diary somewhat obscure her course. The next connected entry is: "We arrived at Valparaiso October 23, after a passage of 34 days from Otaheite and having run, per log, the distance of 37,674 miles since our departure from the United States." It was here that the frigate fired a salute of 21 guns "in honor of the town, which was handsomely returned with an equal number" by the fort. The Potomac also was honored by a visit from the "Governor of Valparaiso, the admiral of the port and the American and English consuls."
Captain Downes was now fairly on the scene of the memorable cruise of the 32-gun frigate Essex in 1813-1814, Downes serving in that ship as first lieutenant. It was at Valparaiso that the Essex made her gallant defense against the British warships Phoebe and Cherub. Downes took advantage of his stay in these waters to visit the various places at which the Essex touched in her romantic cruise two decades before.
Sailing from Valparaiso on December 3, 1832, the Potomac, after a run of thirteen days, anchored in the harbor of Callao, by which time she had fallen in with United States cruisers Dolphin and Falmouth, Captain Gregory, of the Pacific squadron. While at Callao, January 25, 1833, our frigate was visited by "the President of Peru and lady." Leaving Callao on February 28, the Potomac returned to Valparaiso (after recording a total run of
41,043 miles for the cruise so far) on March 15, where she remained until May 22, when she sailed for Coquimbo, reaching that port on the 27th. During the summer Captain Downes paid a visit to the Galipagos Islands, where the Essex and her prizes had concealed themselves from pursuing British warships in 1813-1814.
At this point the diary closes. It is known that the Potomac returned to the United States via Straits of Magellan, probably touching at some of the South American and West Indian ports, and arrived in Boston May 23, 1834, thus making a complete circuit of the world in her cruise of two years and nine months, in which time she had logged more than 60,000 miles. Subsequently she was commanded by Captains J. J. Nicholson, L. Kearney, G. W. Storer, T. M. Newell, J. Gwin and J. H. Aulick, successively. From October 20, 1834, to March 5, 1837, she was flagship for Commodore D. T. Paterson in the Mediterranean and for
Commodores C. G. Ridgely, Charles Morris, D. Conner and M. C. Perry successively on the Brazil and West India stations from 1837 to 1847. In 1858 the frigate was broken up.