Originally Published: 1892
Genres: Children's, Historical
Dime Novel Bibliography: https://dimenovels.org/Item/76030/Show
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201420545-the-cruise-of-the-lively-bee-or-a-boy-s-adventures-in-the-war-of-181
Gutenberg link: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46371
Chapters: 35
Warning: This may include outdated and derogatory language and attitudes.
CHAPTER I
DECLARATION OF WAR
There was a large crowd on the Battery in New York City one hot day in June in the year eighteen-hundred-and-twelve.
Everyone was talking and everyone was looking out across the waters of the harbor.
There were pale, anxious faces in that crowd, and side by side with them were the flushed cheeks of men and boys whose hearts were fired with patriotic zeal.
Women were looking at their husbands, and young girls' hearts were throbbing with painful excitement as they saw the enthusiasm of their sweethearts.
"War, did you say?"
"Ay, ay, the President has aroused at last, and old England shall be taught another and a final lesson."
It was true.
President James Madison had signed the Declaration of War against Great Britain.
War!
There were many in that crowd who remembered 1783; there stood the man who, in his boyhood days, had climbed the flagpole and torn down the Union Jack of England, and in its place had hoisted the Star Spangled Banner.
Many whose hair was now turning gray had shouldered the musket and had marched with Washington from victory to victory.
The war had ended when the British evacuated the city, but America was not free and independent.
England held the supremacy of the seas.
English vessels entered American ports, and men were impressed as seamen on the technical ground that they had never abjured allegiance.
American vessels were boarded on the high seas, and some of the best men taken away and forced to serve under the English flag.
There is a limit to forbearance, and the young nation, whose infancy had scarcely been passed, resolved that it would be better to die than endure such insults.
War was declared.
It looked like madness.
It was so if judged by the ordinary rules of national conduct.
Great Britain was the mistress of the seas.
On the roll of her navy were over a thousand ships, and eighty-five of the largest were actually in American ports.
President Madison and his Cabinet did not, however, intend that the war should be waged on the high seas.
The American ships-of-war were to remain in the harbors as so many floating batteries for defensive purposes.
In New York Harbor was a small squadron under the command of Commodore Rodgers.
He heard the rumor that he was not to go out to sea and dispatched Captains Bainbridge and Stewart to Washington to confer with the Secretary of the Navy.
Secretary Paul Hamilton listened attentively to the two captains, and they thought they had won their case; but with great courtesy, he thanked them, and said that the President had, with the consent of his Cabinet, decided to order the ships to remain in the harbors.
Captain Stewart stamped his foot, and with almost anger, exclaimed:
"Sir, you are going to ruin the country; I'll have you impeached!"
Paul Hamilton smiled.
Off went Stewart to the White House and argued his case so well that the President put the unsigned order in his desk, and told the captain he would consider the matter.
War was declared a few days after that consultation.
Commodore Rodgers was ready to sail and only awaited official knowledge of the declaration.
The crowd at the Battery held divergent sentiments.
"It's all very well for Rodgers to take his ships out, but kin he bring 'em back," asked an old sailor whose face was tanned by many a summer sun and winter wind; "kin he bring 'em back? That's what I want to know!"
"You're afraid, Sam Buller, that's what's the matter."
"Durn it! I afraid, younker? I hate John Bull like pizen, and but that's no reason why I should go an' get killed and do no good."
"Take no notice of the old grumbler, men. Our commodore will not only come back but will bring lots of British ships as prizes."
The speaker was a boy—a mere child—for he had only just passed his eleventh birthday; but he was dressed in the full uniform of the United States Navy, and ranked as a midshipman.
"Hark to the baby!"
"Baby! I'd have you know I got my commission two years ago, and if you doubt it, I ask these gallant men to attest it. I'm proud of my ship. I'm proud of her captain, and I'm an officer there. Is it not so?"
The boy appealed to the crew of a boat that had just reached the wooden dock.
"Ay, ay, sir, and as brave an officer as ever carried a sword."
The midshipman stepped into the boat, the men dipped their oars, and the crowd watched the boat glide over the water until the Essex, a thirty-two-gun frigate, was reached.
"What did I tell you?" asked the old salt who was known as Sam Buller, "what did I tell you? Going to war with chits of boys, not old enough to be a cook's slavey, as officers."
"Say what you like, that boy may not be as strong, but he is as brave as any man in the service."
"Perhaps you know him, sir?"
"I do. That boy's name is David Glasgow Farragut, and he has been on the Essex for four years. He is the adopted son of Captain Porter, and whoever says one word against that young midshipman will have to answer to me."
"And who may you be, my hearty?" asked Sam Buller.
"I am Captain Stewart of the United States Navy; who are you?"
Captain Stewart did not wait for a reply but entered the boat which awaited him and was soon rowed across to his ship.
Everyone knew Charles Stewart's character for bravery, for in the year 1800, when in command of the schooner Experiment, he captured the French privateers Deux Amis and the Diana. In 1804 he commanded the Siren and went with the American squadron against Tripoli, and achieved several victories.
"I only wish I could get on board the Essex. I'd be pleased to call Farragut my superior," said a young man, whose build and manner were those of an educated sailor.
"Why don't you?" asked one of the crowd.
"I have tried, but they told me they were full."
"Do you want to fight?"
The inquirer was one whose appearance invited confidence. He was well-dressed and had a good honest face.
"Fight? Yes, sir; if it be the British I fight against."
"Why are you anxious to fight the British?"
"My grandfather, sir, was with Washington, and was killed fighting for his country; my father was wounded, and my elder brother killed. I have been told of those days, and I have a debt to pay."
"But you do not remember that time."
"No, sir. I am only nineteen years old, and the British evacuated New York twelve years before I was born."
"Then it is only as you have been educated? You blush! You need not make me your confidant unless you like—"
"I will tell you, sir, for I know you can feel for me."
The two young men had separated from the crowd and had walked along the water's edge until they came to where the Barge Office now stands.
They were alone, or nearly so, as the crowds were watching the war vessels.
"I had a dear friend who was taken from his home and impressed."
"Ah! never mind the story now. What say you to shipping with me?"
"I—I would like to be on a man-of-war."
"I see, and you think I cannot ship you on a war vessel. But if it is fighting you want, I can promise you as much as you desire. If it is prize money you seek, my boy, don't go on a warship, but ship with me."
"And, sir, what may be your ship's name?"
The elder man led his companion a little farther up the dock and pointed out a schooner.
"See! there is the ship for you, my boy; look at her! Isn't she a model?"
She was certainly a beautiful sight as she hoisted her mainsail and jib and glided off under a breeze so light that the large ships hardly stirred, with all their sails set.
"She has started."
"Ay, ay; but we can catch her at the Narrows. I like you, and I want you to ship with me. Will you do so?"
"I—don't know—I—"
"Come along; you shall have a warm welcome on board the Lively Bee."
"Is that schooner the famed privateer?"
"Yes; I have a lettre de marque from the government. We shall fight, but if we are taken prisoners we shall be hanged. On the one hand, I promise you plenty of fighting and lots of prize money, on the other there is the risk of being hanged."
"I will go with you."
"I knew you would. I came ashore purposely to meet you."
"To meet me? You do not know me."
"Don't I? Then perhaps I have made a mistake. I thought you were John Tempest—"
"That is my name; but how did you know me, and why did you want me?"
"You will ship with me?"
"I will."
"Give me your hand. We shall be comrades in many a fight. I am Captain Harry Vernon of the Lively Bee."
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