A youthful man-o'-warsman, from the diary of an English lad ..who served in the British frigate Macedonian during her memorable action with the American frigate United States; who afterward deserted and entered the American Navy .. . is conversation which, as willsoon be seen, was prophetic—though, accordingto another account it took place in Lisbon insteadof at Norfolk. Garden particularly pointed outthe inefficiency of the 24-pounders on the maindeck of the United States and said that theycould not be handled with ease and rapidity inaction and that long i8-pounders would do asmuch execution
A youthful man-o'-warsman, from the diary of an English lad ..who served in the British frigate Macedonian during her memorable action with the American frigate United States; who afterward deserted and entered the American Navy .. . is conversation which, as willsoon be seen, was prophetic—though, accordingto another account it took place in Lisbon insteadof at Norfolk. Garden particularly pointed outthe inefficiency of the 24-pounders on the maindeck of the United States and said that theycould not be handled with ease and rapidity inaction and that long i8-pounders would do asmuch execution and were as heavy as experiencehad proved that a frigate ought to carry. Be-sides, Decatur, said Garden, though your shipsmay be good enough, and you are a clever set offellows, what practice have you had in war?Theres the rub. After a quick run across the Atlantic, theMacedonian arrived at her old quarters in Lisbonwhere, much to the joy of all on board, orderswere found awaiting her to convoy a fleet ofmerchantmen home. It was now over two yearssince Samuel had seen Merry England and hedescribes the departure from Lisbon in the fol-lowing graphic style: One morning a gun wasfired to give notice to our convoy to get under. ^ - ^?^? •/: ?:2 y. Off for Merry England. 79 weigh. Immediately the harhor was ahvc withnoise and activity. The son^^ of the sailors weigh-ing anchor, the creaking of pullies, the flappingof sails, the loud, gruff voices of the officers andthe splashing of the waters created what to us,now that we were homeward bound, was a sweetharmony of sounds. Amid all this animation, our own statelyfrigate spread her bellying sails to a light butfavoring breeze. With colors flying, our bandplaying lively airs and the captain with his speak-ing trumpet urging the lagging merchant ships tomore activity, we passed gaily through the fleetconsigned to our care. In this gallant style wescudded past the straggling ruins of old Lisbon,which still bore marks of the earthqu
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectsailors, bookyear1910
