Indiana Palladium, Volume 4, Number 49, Lawrenceburg, Dearborn County, 13 December 1828 — Page 4

9

MISCELLANY.

From the Liverpool Literary Museum. A TALE OF THE SEA-founded on facts. The mate of the Dolphin, the moment he discovered that treachery was on root5 steered the schooner close along fide the brig, to which she was instantly grappled. Her crew were armed with cutlasses and boarding pikes; and three of them, in boarding, fell overboard, with mortal wounds. The rest, headed by the sturdy Frenchman, gained the side of their commander, on the quarter aecKoi me ong,and a conflict, unequalled in the annals of nuatical warfare, continued for upwards of half an hour. We were but sixteen in number; the enemy, several of whom had been below at the commencement of the attack, were more than double our number on deck, and others of them fired upon us from between decks, in a cowardly manner, through the grated hatches. In a short time, the decks became slippery with blood, and were strewed with the dead and the dying. There was scarcely a countenance without a frightful gash, and few could boast of sound limbs. During a breathless moment, I looked overboard upon the deck of the schooner. The young surgeon was binding a tourniquet round the thigh of the black boy, who had received a severe wound, and as I turned rapidly to resume the struggle, my eye caught a marine taking a deadly aim at the youth with his carabine. IIi9 purpose I could not but consider murderous, seeing that his victim was engaged io an act of humanity, and urged by an uncontrolable impulse, I clove him with my cutlass to the deck, where he lay, the blood swelling from a fearful wound in his shoulder. The retribution was, however, too late. The trigger was drawn as my weapon descended, and the poor surgeon, falling upon his patient both of them vitally wounded, were soon motionless in death. Oar party, overpowered by numbers, and many of them stabbed from behind, at length thought of effecting a retreat to the schooner. They made a desperate effort to gain the gangway, which was hemmed round by the Spaniards, who strove to cut off all retreat. We made a bold rush against our unequal foes, but though many of them were slain, we were foiled in our first attempt ; and in the closeness and heat of our struggle, the stilettos of the Spaniards gleamed on high. The cutlasses of several of our men had snapped, from the badness of the metal but they armed themselves with the swords aud pikes dragged from the stiffening clench of their dying foemen. One of the Englishmen was severely wounded on the shins, and was unable to keep his legs. He fought upon his knees, until he received a death blow on the head from a sabre. The remembrance of the conclusion of the struggle is to me but a dream. The brave French mate was run thrjugh the back by a pike. He made a dying effort to be avenged, and not in vain; for streacbing out his sword as he fell, his weight sent it into the breast of his antagonist, and they rolled together lifeless on the deck. A last fearful effort and we gained thegangway,ver the bodies of the dead, and leaped on board of the schooner. We let go the hawsers that bound us to the brig, and slowly drifted from her to the leeward. It was ou.y now that a sense of the danger 1 had passed rushed upon my mind. I felt my arms and legs as though to convince myself I was still corporeal. I gazed upon those of my comrades who had escaped. Good God! they were but ybwrin number! namely, the captain Patrick O'Flinn, severely wounded, and his eyes flashing with indignation at the treachery of the foe, and the faithful African ,the captain's servant? We stared a moment upon each other, as if we had unexpectedly met in some unknown country, after we had passed the portals of death. The captain came up and shook hands with us, saying, with placidity, "my brave, my fortunate associates! It is but small consolation to think, that though we have lost nearly all our gallant men in this conflict, we have' sent double the number to furnish a feast for the sharks; but let us not despair! there are stilt four of us left, with fearless hearts, who will yet dare to cope with the out-numbering enemy, and strive, at least, to avenge the treacherous death of our gallant comrades!" I could see the blood oozing from the captain' vest, as he spoke. "You are wounded," aaid I. "Nothing nothing," he replied, interrupung me, "out a scratch;" fcheopen ed hie shirt, and thurst his handkerchief down his breast, to staunch the wound. wnicn, in ouier circumstances, would have excited more caution and alarm. But we had all received a number of flesb wounds, which we bound up in the beat manner we could, and taking each a glass of Catatonia wine, to dispel our lainmess, we Kept our eye upon the enemy, and again began to prepare the guns for action. The Columbian sailor was, while assisting us, nearly cut in two dj a cannon snot.

The brignow got ahead of u, on the starboard tack, f We set sail, and stood directiv in her wake. They had still,

we conjectured, eighteen or twenty men left; yet we resolved to seek revenge even against so fearful an odds. We observed with the telescope that, while they dashed along, they were busy committing their dead to the deep. As we neared them, we heard their loud cheer, followed by peals of laughter, as they plunged a body from the side, and we could not divine the cause. In few minutes, all was explained. The bodies of several of our comrades, who had perished on the deck of the brig came floating under our hawser, tied to pieces of planks, that we might see them ; and the exulting shouts of the brig's crew expressed their brutal triumph, though they assuredly had little to boast of, over the mangled bodies of their en emies. We were stung to me soui at this unmanly and gratuitous insult, and each of us longod to have a gripe of r .i ,T 1 U i one Ot tne ruilians uy uju uiroai. O'Flinn instinctively blew his match, and looked round impatiently upon the great gun, while his enormerous quid shifted from cheek to cheek, in an unu- . . ii ... . sual and porieniious mamiei ; imu ue, at intervals, mattered snatches of oath? in the genuine Irish vernacular. The captain sat a few moments on the trunk of the cabin, with his eyes pensively fixed on the blood clotted deck, & then, calmly rising, said to his black servant, "Antonio! wash the decks; and then make a strong tire in the cambouse; heave on all the fire wood you can find, and break up the hatches and washboards for fuel, if you have not enough, rig the wind sails to blow it; and fling into it a dozen of the twelve pound shot. We must warm these miscreants jackets

u iter.

111 . 1 L wm II II V.4 J A 1 I -a II K. I I colours, and hoisted the black flag at the main. She fired upon us her two stern chasers, which wounded our maintop-mast, just above the cap, at;d be fore we could take in our gaff-top-sail,

them." captain, lashing the helm a little a These orders were instantly obeyed -Jweather, so that the vessel kept pretty and as we gradually neared the brig,!steadllJ on her course, sat down cloe to which was under, easy sail, O'Flinn lthe 1)1 'ch of the great gun, where poor spunged out the geat gun, and loaded 0'Fhnn, lay, with his head resting upon it, remarking, "we might as well trutz carriage. He shook hands with his him to a cold shot or two, to stay hisying comrade, whose eye lighted up stomach till the cook can sarve him with !as he sav him and who was affected to a hot one!" tears to observe him so dreadfully By this time we were close upon the wounded. There was a dead silence brig, which again showed the Spanish!0 few moments, when the captain, O 7 O ' . - I . . I ill

which was very large, the pressure ofi0"1 native land, remit this trifle to

a passing squall carried away the spar. O'Flinn soon cleared it from the cor dage; and observing the Columbian co-

lors, still uninjured, nailed upon it, we!r(;ivcs tna are known to me; no one'ish in so unprofitable a cause.

erected it as a flag staff abaft, Patrick exclaiminr, as we secured it, "be handy my boys! or the gentleman may be after thinking that we have struck; but,

by the powers! we must undesave him,ire to write to her, tell her, in a manner

and do our best to give him what Paddy gave the drum. : In a few minutes we were close tin-

der his lee quarter. O'Flinn, who had ycur own. Should you be enabled to before, upon that deck', had all gone to considerably elevated the great gunjsecure it from the enemy, you will please1 their eternal rest. The vessel was so stood by with the match, and watching!t() remit it to the widows, orphars, or re-j crippled as to be scarcely manageable, his moment, it went off with a report IUives of my crew, who have this day) Tne sight even of the enemy would have that started the blood from one of my perished, and whose names and resi-jbeen a welcome companionship. But

my ears. A Crash was heard from on board the brig, and when the smoke cleared away, we could see that the shot had brought down his main yard by the run. "Hav'nt I done it neatly!" said Patrick. "By the powers, we have spoiled his after sail!" He was right. The two carronades, fired by the captain, had also told upon his main rigging, and one of the shots had carried away his trysail boom. He was unable longer to hold his wind. As he fell off, he poured into us a broadside of grape and round shot. We were so close that I know not how any of us escaped destruction. Ourmainmast went by the board, and poor Antonio was killed by the fall. I looked to the great gun, and saw the Irishman streatched beside it. A ball had entered his breast, and the finger of death was upon him. He beckoned me to him; and while I endeavored to staunch the blood that flowed copiously from the wound, he said, "Norman, my boy, it is all over with Patrick O'Flinn. But thanks be to God! we have not died without favoring the Don with a bit of comfortable news to carry home with him to Porto Rico. By my sowl! he caught a tartar, when he fell foul of the little Dolphir: and if Tommy Moore would but w rite a bit of a song about us, for the honor of Ireland and Columbia, and all lands where God's creatures are trampled upon, it would plase me ould father better than all the howls that are sure to be set up in the parish of Ballybrook, when they hear of the death of Patrick OTiinn. Masthe Norman! though jou be a Scotchman, by my faith, you're an Irishman in your heart; and if you reach the land before you're kilt, you'll find a few dollars in my chest below; you'll send them borne to my father, and Judith my poor wife, wixn mis letter; and you can write the poor creatures a word of comfort, and tell them that Patrick died at his gun, I received his letter, and endeavored to console hi with the hopesr which

could not myself sincerely entertain, ofj

his surviving his last wound. He shook his head, and becoming faint, said, "I wish I could but see one of the red-hot shot fired at the Don, before I take my lave of you." The captain was at the helm, and when we lost our main-mast, he kept her before the wind, in a course parallel with that of the brig. We were within pistol shot of her, yet felf, I absolutely know not how, reckless of all danger. There was no one left to load the great gun but myself. I sent home a catridge; and seeing the brig making preparations to board us, I hastened to the cambouse, and was pleased to observe, that several of the balls were at an al most white heat. I hastened to the gun, and, while ramming down two wet wads, the contents of a canister-shot, as I supposed, from the brig, struck the captain on the left shoulder, tore the flesh from the bones, and left his shat tered fore-arm hanging by little more than a piece of skin. He looked calmly at the wounds; yet retained, for some time, his hold of the tiller. I knew little of surgery, but it appeared to me that he could not long survive, although every appliance was at hand. The young surgeon had left some linen on the trunk of the cabin. I bound up the wound on his breast as well as I could, and no tourniquet being at hand, I put a handkerchief round the upper part of the arm,-thrtst a belaying pin under ii, and tightened it by twisting. The blood, however, flowed fast, yet he remained perfectly composed. He became faint. I ran to the cabin to brii'gsome wine fori him and O'Flinn, hut found every bottle in the lockers smashed by the shot that j had entered our hull ! 1 sprang to the deck with a can of wa-j 1 hev both drank eagerlv. and the turning to me, said laintiy, as ne puueu a small miniature portrait from his breast, "Norman! should you survive to reach one of the islands of your countrymen. or should you, more fortunately, soon visDieppe. The address is on the back; a & ' and it will serve as a small token of my undying attachment. I have no living, so dear to as s poor Antoine, the maidl r this but faintly represents;' whose beau'y tins out laintty repre 1 1 . t .! whose worth and tenderness are, alas lost to me forever. If you can find leis-

that will least wound her gentle spirit' bruised upon the blood stained deck, of my death. I know you will do it.! The thirty-four individuals who had There is some property on board lesides!st(otJ, alive and well, about five hours

dences vou will find written in the be-!

ginning ot the log hook. And now,!,:ini menus, ana around me roared the I L 11 ...

young man, ere my strength entirely:

fails, bring us a hot shot from the fur-!"1?

nace, and I will myself endeavor to fire, a last gun at our faithless enemy." 1 took the portrait tnat of a beautiful young female, in a Maria Stewart cap,!

and wrapping it in a piece of linen, putjl St. Andrew, and there had a love adit carefully into my bosom. I was una-j venture. ble to speak. I sobbed aloud. The cap-

tain was moved at mv distress, vet my anxiety to preserve the picture seemed! to give him a melancholv satisfaction.! To rush forward for the ball was a re-j lease from my oppressive feelings. The enemv was close at hand, and we nnVhti

soon expect another broadside. Wejed to make his share of the sport, by butcould hear his contemptuous shouts. I 'ting them over; a kind of fan which he

sent out a shot, red-hot into a nitch ladie, and carried it, glowing j ring llKea lorcn, j 1 I to the gun. I turned home the wet wadding, and, after lowering the gun, s as to hull our adversary, dropped the flaming ball down the muzzle of the piece. O'Flinn lifted his head, and a gleam of satisfaction brightened, for a moment, his pallid countenance. He raised himself up on his hands, as in a last effort, to assist in pointing the gun. I had then hold'of the helm. "Keep her away, a little," said the captain ; "a little morel" "That's it," said OTiinn; "send it into her counter!" The captain raised the match; but it was nearly out. He was unable to blow it. I ran up, brought it to brightness with a few puffs, and returned to the tiller. It was some time before we could gain another opportunity of firing to advantage, owing to the heave of the sea. They , at last, got it to bear. "Now," said O'Flinn, "fire it, my brave boy!" The Captain, who could not rise from his knees, and whose senses seemed to reel from loss of blood, made several ineffectual attempts to place the match to the touch hole. O'Flinn who was equally feeble, tried to assist him; and III had, meantime, presence of mind

enough to keep the schconcr as sieedy as possible in her relative position to the brig. They, at length, succeeded in firing the priming. The gun hung fire, and there was a look of despair on the pallid countenances of the yet dauntless men, who gazed along it. The next moment it went off with a noise that shook every plank in the Dolphin, and the ball, no doubt, entered the counter of the brig. The scene thatfollowed, it is impossible for me to describe, though it cannot be forgotten. The fiery bullet had reached the magazine of the brig, and, in less than a minute, she blew up with a terrible explosion, that made the boards quiver beneath my feet. It seemed as if the frame of our vessel was shaken to pieces by the concussion. The place which the brig had, an instant before, occupied with her black hulk, became a lived mass of intense flame, that reached to the height of a hundred feet; and I could see fragments of her timber and materials, and probably, the dissevered limbs of her crew, blown into the

air in every direction. A small portion of her bows I could just perceive as it -unk, and pieces of the wreck and spars . .... 1 fell unon our decks. A thick and large piece of plank fell upon our quar ter-deck : and then, for the first time, did I learn the name ot the gun-brig. I here was painted upon it, in faint colors, "El St Jago; de Puerto Rico." The smoke in stilling columns, rolled over to us leeward; and, when my sense of hearing recovered from the shock, I could hear the Irishman, in exulting, hut dying ac cents, exclaim, "Hurra, my boys, we've done it for him now, any how! Colombia forever! Erin gobraigh!" I hastened to rny wounded comrades. The captain had gained his legs; hut staggered and appeared ready to fall. I ran towards him; but before I reached him, with one final efljrt, he waved his hat over his head, and exclaimed. "Thus perish the treacherous butchers of my crew! Thus perish the enemies of Colombia, and theenemies of liberty wherever they may raise their heads!"' He had but strength to utter these words, when he fell into my arms and expired without a groan. I laid the body down gently. He had inspired ine with respect for his manhood; with esteem for his generosity. The heartless prejudices instilled into me in my boyish day, by the village gossips, that Frenchmen were the natural foes ol : England, and were unequal to my coun trymen in prowess, had been dispelled three days after I knew him, and now I shed tears, that such a man should perI turned round to inquire how poor O'Flinn felt himself; and found that his !;spirit had peaceably quitted its mortal tenemcnt . I was now left alone, wounded and before me lav the bodies of mv two TalJ oounuiess waste ot waters; while the unless night closed rapidly in. with lowering clouds & fitful squalls, foretel!ing the approach of a tempest. Norman Scott was afterwards shipwrecked in a storm, reached the island Deacon blow had three sons it IS unnecessary to mention his daughters who were, as Deacon's sons are art to be

the deuce only can tell why vervarc I,lii;tt-(J one cent postage: If over roguish. They were in the habit of i 1 00 mileS a,'d without the state, as

poking fun at an old ram, who endeavoroften manifested a disposition to nlriviifn 4 ii .. I. I" 1 . 1 1 Le.ieon, its ne marencu uown! to salt the hoci. tor these were duties! to which he p ud strict attention, as he was exceedingly humane, except when he was made very wroth, on which occasion his anger would burn like a furnace seven times heated. Now the deacon's sheep pasture was upon the Shawsheen river, wJiich is narrow but deep, and the pasture terminated in a precipice, which rose fifteen feet above the water, and shelved over it, as a beetle browed house hangs over a narrow street. The hoys, after they had exhausted all other fun upon the ram, were in the habit now and then of squatting upon the edge of the precipice, and darting a hat at him, upon which he would come with blind fury thereat. The boy who held the hat, could easily leap aside, and the exasperated ram was quickly cooled bv a plunge headlong down the precipice, into the stream. At this trick they were one day caught by the Deacon, their father, who took them into a thicket close by, and anointed their backs thoroughly with the oil of birch an excellent application in such cases made and provided. It is not always effectual however, and in this case the disease was not cured, as the boys were a-few days after waiting round "the plate in order to repeat the joke upon the unsus-

pecting and innocent ram ; hnt on behold ing their father coming at : ditance with his basket of salt, theyiiid it the thicket -which they had so good occasion to remember. Slowly came Deacon Solomon Slow, and after he had scattered his salt, he stood upright and thought within himself, that it would he amusing to see the ram bolt over the precipice into the river. He saw no one nigh' how should he, when the boys were hid in the bushes? and taking oil his broad-brimmed hat, he made demonstrations, which at once attracted the notice of the lord of the flock, who set out as usual in full speed. The Der.con had squatted close to the edge and, as he saw the ram bounding along, he pictured out to his fancy, for deacons havefancy, the ridiculous figure the sillysheep would make, bounding with a splash into the water he began to smile the ram at last came close, on the fierce charge, more enraged as the hat was larger than common the Deacon grinned out right, but in the midst of his delight at the ram's ridiculous appearance, he forgot to jump aside, and the

beast butted him over with a splash iDto (that water where he meant the silly II 1 ill rr . . - J sneep should nave gone. I he hoys ran out clapping their hands and shouting "you've got it, dad you've got it, dad , all m the ecstacy of revenge. Deacon Solomon Slow crawled out from his bath with a visage longer than he had ever worn before. This was his last smile. He was afterwards called Deacon Solemn, by his neighbours, among whom be lived and died at a venerable old age. Boston Galaxy Arrival and Departures of the mails aj the Pest Office at Lazcrenceburgh, Dearborn Count ii, Indiajia. The Mail Arrives From Indianapolis and intermediate offices, Sunday evening, 5 P. M. From Southward and Westward Monday and Wednesday mornings, at bA. M. Fi om Northward, Greenville, via Connersvillefc Brookville, Mondays, 2 P. M. From Brookville via Harrison &c. every Tuesday, at 2 P. M. From Oxford, via Clark's store, every Friday, at 5 P. M. From Burlington Kv. via Petersburg, Tuesday evenings, at 5 P. M. From the Eastward via Cincinnati, every Tuesday and Wednesdays, at 2 P. M. The Mail Departs' To Indianapolis and intermediate offices every Monday Morning, at 7 A. M. To Eastward via Cincinnati Monday and Wednesday morning, at 5 A. M. To Southward and WestwaVdvia Rising Sun, Madison and Louisville &gevery Tuesday, at 2 P. M. To Westward and Southward, via Hartford, Madison, Vincennes, &c. every Thursday, at 2 P. M. To the Northward, via Brookville Greenville &c. every Monday at 2, P. M To Brookville, every Tuesday, at 2 P. M. J To Burlington Ky. via Petersburg, every Tuesday morning at 5, A. M. To Oxford, via Clark's store &c. every Thursday, at 5 A. M. The following are the Rates of Postage on single I titers: 6 rents ifcarried not exceeding 30 miles. iu ao over 30 and not over 80 12 1-2 over SO and not over 150 IS 3-4 over 150& not over 400 it 25 cents for all over 400 miles. Letters composed of two pieces of pnper, double those rates; three pieces, triple those rates; over that, is charged bv the ounce. Newspapers carried not over 100 miles and within the state where thev aforesaid, one and a half cent. Estraj Colt. TAKEX UP, rty Simon Peters, Sprta tornship, Dearborn county, sorrt 1 !"! i i'3 fJ-Ji tjj-i old last spring; large of its igv . wiui a lipnt coiorttl mne m i tail; left hind foot while, and a small star in the" forehead. Appraised at twenty dollars, by Y.. el CtufiVn Mid 1nses Musgruve, the 11th dsv of November, 1823. JONATHAN VAIL, J. P. Sparta, Nov. 17, 1823. 46 INDIANA PALLADIUM, PIIL TED AjXD PUBLISHED ey M. Grcg? & D. V. Cullej, Publishers of the Lairs of the United State?. TSRIV2S, The Pa7.i,aiih7m is printed week!), on sur" royal paptr, at THREE DOLLARS, per ann.n a paid at the end or the year"; which my be 1 uuMrru uy iuc payment ot I wu uutL.Mt n advance, or by paying TWO DOLLARS & i'ltT V CENTS at the expiration of .Six months. Those who receive their papers through the Post-OfTlce, or by the raail carrier, must pay thf carriage, otherwise it will be charged on tht -r subicription. ADVERTISEMENTS C ntainn 12 lines, three insertions orlfFs, rv dollar; twenty-Jive cents for each additirnal .n. sertion larger advertisements in the same proportion. The CASH must accompany advertisrrr.cn!. other they will be published nutil paid tor, at the expense of the adverti-acr.