What Captain Perry now did was fine. He hoisted a great blue flag, and when it unrolled in the wind the men saw on it, in white letters, the dying words of Captain Lawrence, "Don"t give up the ship!" Was not that a grand signal to give? It must have put great spirit into the men, and made them feel that they would die like the gallant Lawrence before they would give up their ships. The men on both fleets were eager to fight, but the wind kept very light, and they came together slowly. It was near noon before they got near enough for their long guns to work. Then the British began to send b.a.l.l.s skipping over the water, and soon after the Americans answered back.
Now came the roar of battle, the flash of guns, the cloud of smoke that settled down and half hid everything. The Americans came on in a long line, head on for the British, who awaited their approach. Perry"s flagship, the _Lawrence_, was near the head of the line. It soon plunged into the very thick of the fight, with only two little schooners to help it. The wind may have been too light for the rest of the fleet to come up. We do not know just what kept them back, but at any rate, they didn"t come up, and the _Lawrence_ was left to fight alone.
Never had a vessel been in a worse plight than was the _Lawrence_ for the next two hours. She was half surrounded by the three large British vessels, the _Detroit_, the _Queen Charlotte_, and the brig _Hunter_, all pouring in their fire at once, while she had to fight them all. On the _Lawrence_ and the two schooners there were only seven long guns against thirty-six which were pelting Perry"s flagship from the British fleet.
This was great odds. But overhead there floated the words, "Don"t give up the ship"; so the brave Perry pushed on till he was close to the _Detroit_, and worked away, for life or death, with all his guns, long and short.
Oh, what a dreadful time there was on Perry"s flagship during those sad two hours. The great guns roared, the thick smoke rose, the b.a.l.l.s tore through her sides, sending splinters flying like sharp arrows to right and left. Men fell like leaves blown down by a gale. Blood splashed on the living and flowed over the dead. The surgeon"s mates were kept busy carrying the wounded below, where the surgeon dressed their wounds.
Captain Perry"s little brother, a boy of only thirteen years, was on the ship, and stood beside him as brave as himself. Two bullets went through the boy"s hat; then a splinter cut through his clothes; still he did not flinch. Soon after, he was knocked down and the captain grew pale with fear. But up jumped the boy again. It was only a flying hammock that had struck him. That little fellow was a true sailor boy, and had in him plenty of Yankee grit.
I would not, if I could, tell you all the horrors of those two hours. It is not pleasant reading. The cannon b.a.l.l.s even came through the vessel"s sides among the wounded, and killed some of them where they lay. At the end of the fight the _Lawrence_ was a mere wreck. Her bowsprit and masts were nearly all cut away, and out of more than a hundred men only fourteen were unhurt. There was not a gun left that could be worked.
Most men in such a case would have pulled down their flag. But Oliver Perry had the spirit of Paul Jones, and he did not forget the words on his flag--"Don"t give up the ship."
During those dread two hours the _Niagara_, under Lieutenant Elliott, had kept out of the fight. Now it came sailing up before a freshening breeze.
As soon as Perry saw this fresh ship he made up his mind what to do. He had a boat lowered with four men in it. His little brother leaped in after them. Then he stepped aboard with the flag bearing Lawrence"s motto on his shoulder, and was rowed away to the _Niagara_. As soon as the British saw this little boat on the water, with Perry standing upright, wrapped in the flag he had fought for so bravely, they turned all their guns and fired at it. Cannon and musket b.a.l.l.s tore the water round it. It looked as if nothing would save those devoted men from death.
"Sit down!" cried Perry"s men. "We will stop rowing if you don"t sit down."
So Perry sat down, and when a ball came crashing through the side of the boat he took off his coat and plugged up the hole.
Providence favored him and his men. They reached the _Niagara_ without being hurt. The British had fired in vain. Perry sprang on board and ordered the men to raise the flag.
"How goes the day?" asked Lieutenant Elliott.
"Bad enough," said Perry. "Why are the gunboats so far back?"
"I will bring them up," said Elliott.
"Do so," said Perry.
Elliott jumped into the boat which Perry had just left, and rowed away.
Up to the mast-head went the great blue banner with the motto, "Don"t give up the ship." Signals were given for all the vessels to close in on the enemy, and the _Niagara_ bore down under full sail.
The _Lawrence_ was out of the fight. Rent and torn, with only a handful of her crew on their feet, and not a gun that could be fired, her day was done. Her flag was pulled down by the few men left to save themselves. The British had no time to take possession, for the _Niagara_ was on them, fresh for the fray, like a new horse in the race.
Right through the British fleet this new ship went. Three of their ships were on one side of her and two on the other, and all only a few yards away. As she went her guns spoke out, sweeping their decks and tearing through their timbers.
The _Lawrence_ had already done her share of work on these vessels, and this new pounding was more than they could stand. The other American vessels also were pouring their shot into the foe. Flesh and blood could not bear this. Men were falling like gra.s.s before the scythe. A man sprang up on the rail of the _Detroit_ and waved a white flag to show that they had surrendered. The great fight was over. The British had given up.
Perry announced his victory in words that have become historic: "We have met the enemy and they are ours."
This famous despatch was written with a pencil on the back of an old letter, with his hat for a table. It was sent to General Harrison, who commanded an army nearby. Harrison at once led his cheering soldiers against the enemy, and gave them one of the worst defeats of the war.
When the news of the victory spread over the country the people were wild with joy. Congress thanked Perry and voted gold medals to him and Elliott, and honors or rewards to all the officers and men. But over the whole country it was thought that Elliott had earned disgrace instead of a gold medal by keeping so long out of the fight. He said he had only obeyed orders, but people thought that was a time to break orders.
Perry was made a full captain by Congress. This was then the highest rank in the navy. But he took no more part in the war. Six years later he was sent with a squadron to South America, and there he took the yellow fever and died. Thus pa.s.sed away one of the most brilliant and most famous officers of the American navy.
CHAPTER XVII
COMMODORE PORTER GAINS GLORY IN THE PACIFIC
THE GALLANT FIGHT OF THE "ESs.e.x" AGAINST GREAT ODDS
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 David Porter and his two gallant sons, all men of fame. And the still more famous Admiral Farragut began his career under the brave old captain of the War of 1812.
I am going now to tell you about David Porter and the little _Ess.e.x_, a ship whose name the British did not like to hear. And I have spoken of Farragut from the fact that he began his naval career under Captain Porter.
Captain Porter was born in 1780, before the Revolution had ended. His father was a sea-captain; and when the boy was sixteen years old, he stood by his father"s side on the schooner _Eliza_ and helped to fight off a British press-gang which wanted to rob it of some of its sailors.
The press-gang was a company of men who seized men wherever they found them, and dragged them into the British navy, where they were compelled to serve as sailors or marines. It was a cruel and unjust way of getting men, and the Americans resisted it wherever they could. In this particular fight several men were killed and wounded, and the press-gang thought it best to let the _Eliza_ alone.
When the lad was seventeen he was twice seized by press-men and taken to serve in the British navy, but both times he escaped. Then he joined the American navy as a midshipman.
Young Porter soon showed what was in him. In the naval war with France he was put on a French prize that was full of prisoners who wanted to seize the ship. For three days Porter helped to watch them, and in all that time he did not take a minute"s sleep.
Afterward, in a pilot-boat, with fifteen men the boy hero attacked a French privateer with forty men and a barge with thirty men. Porter, with his brave fifteen, boarded the privateer and fought like a hero.
After more than half its crew were killed and wounded the privateer surrendered. In this hard fight not one of Porter"s men was hurt.
That was only one of the things which young Porter did. When the war with the pirates of Tripoli began, he was there, and again did some daring deeds. He was on the _Philadelphia_ when that good ship ran aground and was taken by the Moors, and he was held a prisoner till the end of the war. Here you have an outline of the early history of David Porter.
When the War of 1812 broke out, he was made captain of the _Ess.e.x_. The _Ess.e.x_ was a little frigate that had been built in the Revolution. It was not fit to fight with the larger British frigates, but with David Porter on its quarter-deck it was sure to make its mark.
On the _Ess.e.x_ with him was a fine little midshipman, only eleven years old, who had been brought up in the Porter family. His name was David G.
Farragut. I shall have a good story of him to tell you later on, for he grew up to be one of the bravest and greatest men in the American navy.
On July 2, 1812, only two weeks after war was declared, Porter was off to sea in the _Ess.e.x_, on the hunt for prizes and glory. He got some prizes, but it was more than a month before he had a chance for glory.
Then he came in sight of a British man-of-war, a sight that pleased him very much.
Up came the _Ess.e.x_, pretending to be a merchant ship and with the British flag flying. That is one of the tricks which naval officers play. They think it right to cheat an enemy. The stranger came bowling down under full sail and fired a gun as a hint for the supposed merchantman to stop. So the _Ess.e.x_ backed her sails and hove to until the stranger had pa.s.sed her stern.
Porter was now where he had wanted to get. He had the advantage of the wind--what sailors call the "weather-gage." So down came the British flag and up went the Stars and Stripes: and the ports were thrown open, showing the iron mouths of the guns, ready to bark.
When the English sailors saw this they cheered loudly and ran to their guns. They fired in their usual hasty fashion, making much noise but doing no harm. Porter waited till he was ready to do good work, and then fired a broadside that fairly staggered the British ship.
The Englishman had not bargained for such a salute as this, and now tried to run away. But the _Ess.e.x_ had the wind, and in eight minutes was alongside. And in those eight minutes her guns were busy as guns could be. Then down came the British flag. That was the shortest fight in the war.
The prize was found to be the corvette _Alert_. A corvette is a little ship with not many guns. She was not nearly strong enough for the _Ess.e.x_, and gave up when only three of her men were wounded. But she had been shot so full of holes that she already had seven feet of water in her hold and was in danger of sinking. It kept the men of the _Ess.e.x_ busy enough to pump her out and stop up the holes, so that she should not go to the bottom. Captain Porter did not want to lose his prize. He came near losing it, and his ship too, in another way, as I have soon to tell.
You must remember that he had taken other prizes and sent them home with some of his men. So he had a large number of prisoners, some of them soldiers taken from one of his prizes. There were many more British on board than there were Americans, and some of them formed a plot to capture the ship. They might have done it, too, but for the little midshipman, David Farragut.
This little chap was lying in his hammock, when he saw an Englishman come along with a pistol in his hand. This was the leader in the plot who was looking around to see if all was ready for his men to break out on the Americans.