Philip Nolan by Chuck Pfarrer

Author:Chuck Pfarrer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781591146650
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 2016-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

THE DEADLIGHTS HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM THE GREAT CABIN’S WINDOWS, evening had fallen, and the wide, curving parabola of glass reflected back the scene within. Pelles sat in duck trousers and a cotton chemise, a small cut on his scalp shaved and stitched, his shoulders hunched, and his empty sleeve pinned to his shirtfront. He leaned over his desk with blotter squared, best paper, inkwell, and a steel pen just at hand. A whale oil lantern burned on the table, and another lolled sullenly on an overhead gimbal.

Enterprise was heaved to a mere half a degree from where the sea fight unfolded. The hands had been piped to supper ten minutes earlier, and the decks had quieted. Pelles was tired, nearly exhausted, but long training and an implacable sense of duty made him sit to write down the facts of the engagement before their details could be forgotten. He threaded his spectacles behind his ears and placed a shade upon his forehead. His eyes burned from powder smoke, but he dipped his pen and wrote neatly:

Officer Commanding,

United States Frigate Enterprise

At sea, 18th May

The Honorable Benjamin Crowninshield

Secretary of the Navy

At the Capitol, Washington City

Sir,

On the 16th instant, being in latitude 31° 24' N, longitude 20° 48' W, the frigate Enterprise under my command encountered an abandoned boat belonging to the American whale ship McKendrie Evans of Point Judith. The whaleboat was found to be damaged by grapeshot and musketry, with no hands aboard.

Taking precautions, Enterprise proceeded north, and in the afternoon of the 17th three of sail were discovered from the masthead bearing east by north. The ships were revealed to be a former Dutch East India ship, Ameland, taken by pirates off Algiers. This vessel, renamed Ar R’ad, had been fitted for cruising and made into a frigate mounting 24 cannon as well as two 42-pound pivot guns. Sailing in consort with Ar R’ad was a prize, the brig sloop Courier, of Marseilles, and a xebec store ship of 320 tons, Yunis.

At 3:50 p.m., Ar R’ad hoisted Algerine colors, viz. a foresail painted in the livery of the Dey of Algiers. Enterprise’s barge and cutter, manned and armed, then parted and began to chase the consorts.

At 4:50, at 1,400 yards, Ar R’ad opened the engagement. At 4:54, at 1,300 yards, Enterprise returned fire and struck Ar R’ad in the stern. The engagement now became general. The ship Ar R’ad was armed with a pair of 42-pound siege guns mounted on swivels. These weapons did terrible execution, and after being struck several times, Enterprise was maneuvered to avoid the arc of their fire. At length, Ar R’ad’s masts went by the board. I directed Mister Francis Gifford Curran, the fourth lieutenant, to lead a boarding party. At 5:45, he gained the deck. It is to Mister Curran’s credit that he was able to locate and free 167 persons, taken as slaves aboard Ar R’ad and confined in the lower hold. In the space of forty minutes, after evacuating the captives, Ar R’ad set down by the bow and foundered.

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