struck, she proved to be the Lord Howe, from Cork, bound to the Downs; was, when taken, in the king's service, and commanded by a lieutenant of the navy. She was about six hundred tons burthen, had mounted upon carriages twenty-four long six-pound cannon, besides several short carronades, cowhorns, swivels, &c. Her officers and men (mostly old men-of-war's-men), at the commencement of the battle, according to the report made to me by the lieutenant, consisted of eighty-seven. Besides these, she had at the time, one hundred and ten officers and soldiers, belonging to one of the English regiments, which had been stationed in Ireland. The enemy lost in the action one major, one lieutenant (of the land forces), and twenty-one soldiers; one master's mate, one boatswain, seventeen seamen, and three boys killed; and thirty-eight officers, seamen, and soldiers wounded. On board of the privateer, we had killed, one quartermaster, one gunner's mate, one boatswain's mate, ten seamen, five marines, and two boys, besides twenty-two officers and others, wounded. The whole number of our crew, including officers, at the time of the commencement of this battle, on board of our privateer, did not exceed seventy-two. The prize was not very valuable, being only in a set of ballast, which consisted of beef, pork, and butter. We had but just got all the prisoners transported on board of the privateer, and confined in our hold (the greater part of whom we put in irons for our safety), when the weather, which had been dark and cloudy, cleared off; and behold! an English frigate of thirty-two guns was close aboard of us. We were therefore obliged to abandon our prize, and endeavour to give her leg bail. But as a trophy of our victory, we brought off the colours of our antagonist; and wrote, with chalk upon her quarterdeck, some of the particulars of the battle. We did not leave any person on board of the prize; and before we quit her part of her guns were thrown overboard, and the rest spiked up. The frigate was now so

near us that she fired several shot at us and over us, this being the case, no time was to be lost, on our part. We therefore spread all the sail that we could upon the privateer; having previous to this got a new top-mast on end. In one hour after, we saw the frigate pass close aboard of the ship, which we had captured, but she made no stop, but continued her pursuit after us before the wind; and after about three hours' fruitless chase, finding that we outdistanced her, she took in her light sails and trimmed by the wind.

I now concluded to return to Dunkirk, and accordingly shaped my course for that port. I had several reasons, as I thought, which would justify my adopting this measure. Among which were these: I had a great number of wounded men on board; and the most of them were obliged to be crowded together among the English, in the hold, where they could not well be taken care of. I had on board a great many prisoners, among whom were many which were wounded; and we ran a great risque of our own lives, by the great possibility there was of their rising and overpowering us. We were not in a situation to give battle to an enemy of equal force, on account of our being so crowded with prisoners of war. We could muster but about thirty well men in all, including officers, belonging to my privateer, at this time. I was wounded myself, and now confined to my cabin; my leg was very sore and pained me very much, the bones having been a good deal shattered, and I could not bear any weight upon it. And we were also at this time in great want of provisions. These reasons I minuted down in my journal as they occurred to me, to be shown to my owners, if circumstances required it. I arrived at Dunkirk, two days after the battle which I had with the English twenty-four gun ship, which I was obliged to abandon, and as soon as we were in port, and made fast to the quay, the people flocked down from all parts of the town, to see our shattered privateer. The commandant of the place was one of the

first who tendered me his services, and helped me to get into his own coach, in which I was carried to his house, where I was waited upon by nearly all the king's officers then in Dunkirk, and where I had every kind attention shewn me by every one of the commandant's family. Three days after I was carried to the Hotel D'Estaing, where I used to lodge, and where I was confined to my room about three weeks, during which time I was visited by not only the first gentlemen in the town, but the ladies, who appeared to be much interested in my recovery. My owners also visited me the most frequent of any others, and appeared to be very anxious for the restoration of my health. (As during my confinement, having caught a cold in my leg, it impaired my health very much.) They told me they had got a new brig built on purpose for me, sheathed with copper, and modeled upon an entire new construction; and it was said by those who were judges, that she would be the fastest sailer ever built in Dunkirk. She was to mount eighteen nine pounders; and they informed me they were daily in expectations of her masts arriving from Norway, to which place they had sent almost on purpose for them, as there were no spars in Dunkirk at the time (except in the king's yard, and they could not be spared) which would be anyway suitable for the brig's masts. One of my owners importuned me to put up at his house, after I had so far recovered as to be able to walk; and where I lodged and made it my home at his house. His daughter, who owned part of the brig,* paid great attention to me, somewhat bordering upon love. Her partiality for me was the first topic of conversation addressed to me in every company where I happened to be. But I was then too much of a warrior to listen to the subject of love. Besides, the lady in question was then about thirty-five years of age, very stiff and

*It is not uncommon, in war time, in France, for young ladies of fortune to own one or more shares in privateers, fitted out from all ports in France.

formal in her manners, very ordinary in both shape and features, and in fact was such a kind of a female as would be called in my country an old maid. But why should I discover her weakness? However, in order to avoid her importunity, while we were waiting for the new brig's masts, I purchased a part of a small cutter, of about forty tons, English built, and set people to work upon her, to get her ready for a cruise. As soon as this circumstance was known to the lady in question, she insisted upon taking a few shares in this cutter; for, by the by, she was very rich. To this the owners of said privateer acquiesced in; and she was ready for a cruise by the 20th of October. I waited upon the judge of the admiralty, to ask him to grant a commission for this small cutter, which we had named the Ranger. He appeared to be somewhat surprised, that I should ask for the grant of a commission for so small a vessel; and asked me what had become of the large cutter which I had commanded. I replied, that she was laid up, and that she had got so old and crazy, that I did not choose to venture myself another cruise in her; especially, as the winter was setting in, and that she leaked so bad, and appeared to work so much in the last gale of wind which I had on the last cruise, that I did not think her a safe vessel, with the guns which she carried. The judge appeared to listen with attention to what I said; and then said, Sir, I have the honour to acquaint you, that his most Christian majesty's minister of the marine department,* hearing of your bravery, in divers instances, in supporting the honour and dignity of the French flag; particularly during your last cruise, has appointed you a lieutenant in the French navy, and attached to this appointment, half pay of such officer during life (your continuing to reside in France during that time, being complied with), otherwise while you do remain in the kingdom. In saying these words, he desired me to sit down, * Monseigneur the Marquis de Castre. (De Castries.)

and then he ordered his servant to step to the bureau de classes,* and get my commission; who soon after returned with a roll of parchment in his hand, which was my commission. The judge, after passing some high encomiums upon my late conduct, presented me with my commission. I told the judge, that I would do myself the honour of accepting it at some other time, but that at present I wished it to remain on file in his office. And after a long conversation upon several subjects, I obtained a commission for the Ranger. I shipped one lieutenant only,† a brave enterprising officer, with whom I had formerly been acquainted (having been a fellow prisoner with him in Forton prison, in England), one boatswain, one gunner and twenty American seamen; whom I advanced ten guineas each, as earnest money for a cruise of fifteen days, which was as long as I intended the cruise to last. The cutter mounted only three four pounders upon carriage, and six swivels, with every warlike implement necessary for boarding an enemy. It was in this way that we contemplated capturing English vessels, and not by the assistance of dependence upon our cannon.

I set sail from Dunkirk in said privateer, with a fair wind, for the English coast, on the evening of the 23d of October, and shaped our course for the Downs. At daylight next morning we found ourselves amidst an English fleet of sixty odd sail of ships and other vessels, not far from Dover, all of which appeared to be bound to the westward; and we had at that time a light breeze of wind from the eastward. The first thing we did in this perilous situation, was to cover our guns with light sails, unship our swivels, and stow them away, (our guns having been housed) and hoist English colours. We steered along the same course which they did, I also ordered all my men below, except the one at the helm and two others, and dis

*The custom house.

†Thomas Greenleaf, since a printer in the city of New York.