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The meeting of the two young captains.
DECATUR AND SOMERS
BY
M. ELLIOT SEAWELL
AUTHOR OF PAUL JONES, LITTLE JARVIS, MIDSHIPMAN PAULDING, CHILDREN OF DESTINY, MAID MARIAN, THROCKMORTON, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
THIRD EDITION
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1896
Copyright, 1894,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
Electrotyped and Printed
at the Appleton Press, U. S. A.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
- FACING PAGE
- The meeting of the two young captains.Frontispiece
- W. Granville Smith
- The new master’s mate.12
- W. Granville Smith
- The sinking of the French privateer.23
- J. O. Davidson
- The Enterprise capturing the Tripolitan pirate.51
- J. O. Davidson
- The expedition to destroy the Philadelphia.108
- George Gibbs
- Exploding the “infernal” at Tripoli.165
- F. Cresson Schell
DECATUR AND SOMERS.
CHAPTER I.
The blue and beautiful Delaware Bay, bathed in afaint haze, looked its loveliest, one evening about sunset,in June, 1798. The sky above was clear, and, althoughthere was no moon, the stars were coming out brilliantlyin the sky, that was of a darker blue than the water.The sun had gone down, but the west was rosy yet. Thegreen, low-lying country around looked ineffably peaceful,and the only sound that broke the charmed silence wasthe rattling of the capstan as a noble frigate, lying in thestream, hove up her anchor.
Although the brief, enchanted twilight was over allthe earth and sea, the graceful outlines of this lovely frigatewere clearly defined against the opaline sky. She wasstoutly sparred, but in such exquisite proportions thatfrom her rail up she had the delicate beauty of a yacht.But one look at her lofty hull, and the menacing armamentshe carried showed that she could take care ofherself in a fight, as well as