After the Linzee affair had called the attention of the public to the need of forts in Gloucester, riflemen were sent down from Cambridge to protect the town. Later, with the help of an Ipswich company, the citizens threw up breastworks near the Old Battery. Fortifications were also erected at Stage Fort, Duncan's Point, and on a bank near the Cut. There was, however, no other attack on our town.
Before autumn, our people had begun privateering on a small scale, using fishing boats prepared for that purpose. A privateer is an armed vessel, owned and officered by private persons, which cruises about in time of war with the object of seizing the enemy's ships or annoying his commerce. A privateer acts under a commission from the State, usually called letters of marque. A pirate sails without such legal commission, for the purpose of plundering other vessels on the high seas.
A brig from Canada, bound for Boston with coal and iron, carrying a deck-load of live-stock for the British troops, was brought in and unloaded at Wheeler's Point.
The "Nancy," another prize, not taken by Gloucester sailors, was brought in here on the 28th of November, 1775, by the armed schooner, "Lee." The cargo thus secured was of great assistance to General Washington, for the "Nancy" had been laden at London with a large quantity of small-arms and ammunition. She also brought cannon, and, best of all, a wonderful great brass mortar of the latest model. When the carts arrived at Cambridge camp with all these treasures, they were hailed with jay. The mortar was said to be "the noblest piece of ordnance ever landed in America," and was christened, "The Congress."
As winter came on, Gloucester families could not help feeling anxious. Many of them, in peace times, found it hard to make their summer's earnings carry them through the winter without debt. Now, with the fishing gone, and almost no work to be had for the men who were not fighting or privateering, the poor were very poor indeed. To relieve this distress, the town sent two schooners down to Virginia to get grain. But, before the grain vessels returned, 200 bushels of corn had to be procured elsewhere for the use of the people. Those who could help here contributed as they were able; so did benevolent people from other places. The Society of Friends sent donations from Pennsylvania. It is related of General Washington that he put his hand into his pocket and drew out a five-pound note for the relief of Gloucester's poor.
At the end of the time for which they had enlisted, many soldiers came home. They were so used to the sea that they eagerly shipped on board the privateers which Gloucester, Salem, and Newburyport were then fitting out.
On June 10th, 1776, Sandy Bay people attempted a privateer-ing expedition. But the experience brought them only bitter disappointment and loss. On that day they noticed the awkward movements of a large ship which appeared off the Cape. There seemed to be but few men on board her; of course she could be easily taken. Captain Rowe, of Bunker Hill fame, had some suspicions that the clumsy craft might be a warship in disguise; but his excited fellow-townsmen were crying out, "Here's a chance to make our for-tunes !" and his own Lieutenant Pool was so persuasive that, against his better judgment, the shrewd Captain joined the attacking party. The brig, "Yankee Hero," just out from Newburyport, looking for men and arms to complete her equipment, sailed into sight at what doubtless seemed to our fortune-seekers a very providential moment. The brig officers must have been quite as glad to welcome the twenty Sandy Bay volunteers who scrambled aboard so fearlessly.
Captain Tracy of the "Yankee Hero," steered at once for the unknown ship and let a broadside into her as soon as he came near enough. This was exactly what the disguised British frigate "Mil-ford" had been waiting for, with her thirty-six guns! Open came her two tiers of ports; back crashed a most convincing broadside.
"Let us board her !" cried Pool. "We'll carry her, sword in hand, or die in the attempt !" But it was only as prisoners that our luckless crew were to board the "Milford."
For perhaps an hour the unequal fight was continued. Ammu-nition was scanty, and finally gave out altogether. Scraps of iron and spikes were all that could be found to load the last gun fired from the "Yankee Hero," until, as a finishing touch, Lieutenant Pool thrust in a crowbar, the only missile left on board ! After the hapless brig had struck her colors and surrendered, it must have been grim satisfaction to Lieutenant Pool to see his crowbar stick-ing through the bits of the frigate's windlass. The British sailors gave it the name of the "Yankee belaying-pin."
Only one man was killed on the brig. Captain Tracy was wounded, and two others, one of whom died in Halifax prison, "of the wound and small-pox combined." From Halifax, the frigate came to New York with her prisoners and put them on a prison-ship. Then small-pox attacked them; but it was really a blessing in disguise and brought them freedom in the end. The sick ones, Captain Rowe, Lieutenant Pool, and many others, were sent to a British hospital on Staten Island. When they were well, as they had not been ordered back to the prison-ship, they hired themselves out to a man who sold supplies in the British camp. He employed them aboard a small sloop which he used in his trading business. But surely he ought to have known better than to leave Cape Ann prisoners alone with a sailing vessel, as he did one night ! Of course, they got away, sloop and all, to the camp of the American army on the New Jersey shore.
Some of the unhappy victims of the "Yankee Hero" fight were gone from home seven long years. As one writer remarks, "This event produced much distress to many families."
MARY BROOKS.