Reference:
History of the American Privateers and Letters Of Marque By
George Coggeshall
Third Edition, Revised, Corrected And Enlarged. Printed 1861.
Since the first edition of this work appeared,
I have received a more particular account of the desperate battle
fought between Captain John Ordronaux, of the privateer the
Prince of Neufchâtel, of New York, with five British
barges belonging to the English frigate Endymion, off Nantucket,
on the 11th of October, 1814; by which it will be seen under all
circumstances, it was the hardest fought naval engagement and
the most conspicuous victory achieved during the war.
It was a contest waged against a force more than
three times superior numerically; advancing in separate divisions
under the cover of night, and assisted by the presence of a heavy
frigate, while at the same time, and as a most serious obstacle
of a successful defense, Captain Ordronaux was encumbered with
thirty-seven British prisoners, who were refractory and all ready
for revolt.
He was therefore obliged to handcuff his prisoners,
and confine them in the hold just before the action.
He had recently manned so many prizes that he
had left only thirty-three men, including officers and marines
at quarters, when simultaneously attacked by five British barges,
manned with one hundred and eleven men, beside the before-mentioned
thirty-seven prisoners confined below, who were striving to get
loose from their manacles, and unite themselves to their fellow
countrymen.
Fearing that the British frigate would attack
the privateer with her boats, Captain Ordronaux made the following
preparation for the contest, beside the usual number of muskets,
pistols, boarding-pikes and sabres, belonging to his vessel. He
had made a large augmentation of fire-arms taken from sundry British
prizes during the cruise, so that his gun-room was literally filled
with these implements of death and destruction.
He accordingly took the precaution before night
to have some two or three hundred muskets and pistols loaded and
placed in a position to grasp at a moment's warning.
The loaded pistols were put into baskets and
placed behind the bulwarks, so that when the strife should commence,
it would not be necessary to reload these weapons. He had also
his shot-lockers all filled with heavy shot, to throw into the
enemy's boats, and stave in their bottoms, if brought to close
quarters, when he could not use his carriage-guns.
Being thus prepared, the brave Captain waited
with the most intense anxiety for the approach of the enemy: it
was about nine o'clock, the night being dark, they heard the sound
of oars at a distance, silently approaching. In the obscurity
they could not see the boats of the enemy; a few shot were fired
from the Neufchâtel in the direction of the sound,
to draw a shot from his adversary, with a view to ascertain his
position, and how he meant to attack, but the ruse did not succeed.
Captain Ordronaux had no intention of running
away from the fight, nor did he mean that the enemy should, when
once engaged in the deadly strife, it being well understood by
all on board that rather than surrender to the enemy the privateer
should be blown up. Such was the condition of things at the commencement
of the action.
The Neufchâtel lying at anchor,
was now fully prepared to receive the enemy, who approached with
five barges in the following order, namely, one on each side,
one on each bow, and the other under the stern. A warm action
then took place with muskets, pistols, sabres and boarding-pikes.
The enemy were promptly met and repulsed, and in about twenty
minutes many in the boats cried out for quarters, which were granted
to those amidships.
The men in the two barges under the bows of the
privateer, however, succeeded in gaining the forecastle, when
Captain Ordronaux, with two or three of his faithful followers,
discharged one of his main-deck guns, loaded with canister shot
and bags of musket balls. This gun was trained upon the forecastle,
which had the effect of killing and wounding great numbers of
the enemy, and of driving the remainder overboard. In this discharge
he unfortunately wounded several of his own men.
The five barges which attacked the privateer
contained at the commencement of the action one hundred and eleven
men, including officers and marines. One barge was sunk with forty-three
men, of whom two only were saved. Three boats drifted off from
alongside, apparently with no living soul on board; one was taken
possession of. She contained thirty-six men at the beginning of
the action, of whom eight were killed and twenty wounded, and
eight uninjured.
The Second Lieutenant of the frigate, (F. Ormond,
who was not injured,) three midshipmen, two of whom were severely
wounded, with one master’s mate also wounded, were permitted
to come on board. The remainder of the prisoners, (fifteen seamen
and marines) were kept astern all night in the launch after taking
out the arms, oars, etc., the commander being afraid to trust
them on board, having only eight men fit for duty.
After the battle was over, it was found that
six of the privateer’s crew were killed, and nineteen wounded,
beside Mr. Charles Hilburn, a Nantucket pilot who was stationed
at the helm during the action; it is stated that he was several
times wounded, and finally killed by the enemy.
The British in this action acknowledge a lose
of thirty-three killed, thirty-seven wounded, and thirty prisoners.
During the hottest part of the engagement the
prisoners in the hold were loudly cheering their countrymen to
continue the fight, and constantly striving to break loose, while
Captain Ordronaux and his First Lieutenant, Mr. Millen, were obliged
to watch their prisoners, and guard every point to prevent a recapture
from the enemy.
The brave Captain, though wounded, could not
be attended by the surgeon, for this gentleman was also wounded
in the fight, and unable to assist those who were suffering; so
that through this long and dreary night, Captain Ordronaux and
his First Lieutenant, Mr. Millen, were obliged to keep guard at
each hatchway, with pistol in hand, to prevent the prisoners from
breaking loose, while his own poor fellows were lying about the
deck, suffering, from their wounds, with no one to attend them,
or even to give them a drink of cold water.
Thus passed this awful night of painful anxiety.
I will leave the reader to imagine the anxious feelings of Captain
Ordronaux, and his faithful followers, during the long and sleepless
night, surrounded by the dead and wounded, with mingled sounds
of groans and curses of those who were wallowing about the deck,
while the frigate at a distance was seen burning port fires, and
sending up signal rockets for her barges to return.
He also feared that at the break of day the frigate
would bear down upon them, and thus defeat all that he had gained
in this eventful struggle. At last the morning dawned upon these
weary, battle-stained watchers, who had passed the dreary night
without once leaving their posts. The colors of the Neufchâtel
were still flying, though her decks were in an awful condition.
Some thirty or forty men lay dead and wounded
in every condition of mutilation, while the broken arms and implements
of warfare scattered around told how desperate had been the struggle
on that blood-stained deck; and now had arrived the most difficult
part of Captain Ordronaux's duty.
As has been stated, he had but eight men fit
for duty after the termination of the action; all his prisoners
were to be paroled and landed under the eye of a numerous enemy.
He was, therefore, obliged to employ five or six of his men in
a large launch, and at the same time to keep up an appearance
of strength to deceive his adversaries. He was, therefore, obliged
to resort to stratagem to carry out his plan.
Accordingly, he had a sail hung up abaft the
main hatches, to serve as a screen, wherewith to conceal the quarter-deck.
After this was done, he kept two boys there, one beating the drum,
the other blowing the fife, and tramping heavily about the deck,
to make the enemy believe that a large number of men were stationed
there at quarters, to enforce his orders. Thus while the attention
of the enemy was drawn off from his enfeebled state, sixty-seven
of the prisoners were passed over the side into the launch, and
transported to the shore, where they were placed in the possession
of the United States Marshal.
He also landed his own wounded men, that they
might be better attended to, and receive more medical assistance
than could be given them on board of the privateer. And thus after
having landed all his prisoners, except some five or six, who
had been paroled, these being young and active he retained on
board to assist his crew in weighing the anchor, and navigating
his vessel to Boston.
In this adroit management, Captain Ordronaux
displayed a vast deal of cool, deliberate judgment, as well as
uncommon tact in disposing of his numerous prisoners, and hiding
his own weakness in point of numbers. He showed himself a great
tactician, and, like General Jackson, he knew how to avail himself
of every advantage for enabling a small force to compete successfully
with a large one.
A near relative of Captain Ordronaux has furnished
the writer of these pages with the brave Captain’s journal,
the original parole given by the English in their own handwriting,
and many other valuable papers and documents, which clearly establish
the truth of this unparalleled victory.
I shall therefore, make no apology for thus discharging
my duty to the memory of a distinguished fellow citizen, by communicating
these facts in full.
I think it will be conceded on all hands that
Captain Ordronaux evinced as much bravery and tact in disposing
of his prisoners after the battle, as in defending his vessel
against the enemy during the severe conflict. There are many men
who can fight bravely, but few who can manage as well as he did,
to profit by and secure the fruits of a glorious victory.
On his arrival at Boston, a large number of patriotic
merchants and other citizens proposed presenting the brave Captain
with a sword and a vote of thanks for his gallantry, but the unsparing
modesty of the heroic Ordronaux begged through his friends that
it should not be done. For, so far from coveting applause, his
unassuming, retiring disposition, led him to shun publicity of
every kind, and often prevented him from receiving that just share
of public approbation which his merit so richly deserved; so that
the world knows but little of the gallant deeds of this distinguished
nautical hero.
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