Chapter I: Front Matter

(p. 214)]

IN SHIP and PRISON

A Story of Five Years in the Continental
Navy with Captain
Samuel Tucker

By WILLIAM PENDLETON CHIPMAN
Drawings by ARTHUR DE BEBIAN

THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.

NEW YORK AKRON, OHIO CHICAGO

COPYRIGHT, 1908
BY
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.

MADE BY
THE WERNER COMPANY
AKRON, OHIO

CONTENTS

Chapter Page

I I Go In Search of Captain Tucker 9

II In Which I Defy the Captain 22

III Left on the Brig 38

IV A Dastardly Trick 51

V An Unfortunate Remark 67

VI In Which I Have My First Taste of a British Prison 84

VII I Meet a New Friend 99

VIII Our First Prize 113

IX An Astonishing Offer 127

X We Capture a Frigate 146

XI A Distinguished Passenger on Board 166

XII To Halifax Prison 180

XIII On Board a British Frigate 194

XIV I Rejoin the _Boston_ 208

XV In Which We Capture the _Pole_ 223

XVI To the Defense of Charleston 237

XVII Taken Into the British Camp 251

XVIII The Beacon House Light Expedition 266

XIX We Board a Cartel Ship 283

XX Charleston is Taken 299

XXI “The Cruise of the Nine” 313

XXII Captured by the _Hind_ 327

XXIII The Escape 345

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

“Mark you, if you miss the craft, you shall
receive forty blows” _Frontispiece_

“What I want is a second mate” 82

“Master Dunn, you are my prisoner” 158

He soon came upon the shore, where a boat and
four men were evidently awaiting him 270

AUTHOR’S NOTE

“Of those heroic men who were distinguished in the American Revolution on land or sea, the far greater part have been depictured by able pens. Monuments have been erected, biographies have been written, and the elegant historian has adorned their memory with unfading wreaths. * * * But there is one man of no mean rank in the day of struggle--a pioneer of our infant navy--who took more prizes, fought more sea fights, and gained more victories than, with a very few exceptions, any naval hero of the age.”--From Shepard’s _Life of Captain Samuel Tucker_.

“He did his part, and did it nobly, while our navy was in an embryo state, and only consisted of a few armed sloops and schooners, and yet performed such essential service in supplying the destitute army of Washington.”--From _American Almanac_, 1835.

“It is well enough to bring the body of Paul Jones across the ocean and bury it in American soil with appropriate honors. But the nation should not forget that another man--Captain Samuel Tucker--lies in a neglected grave today; yet no man captured more prize ships, or did more to feed and clothe the army of Washington than he.”--From _The Herald_, editorial, 1905.

The incidents of this book are taken largely from the log-book of Captain Tucker, and are intended to picture the stirring times in which he lived, and the thrilling adventures in which he engaged. Midshipman Arthur Dunn, one of Captain Tucker’s officers, is the narrator, and his story covers the five years during which his commander played no small part in naval affairs. It is hoped the narrative will arouse in the heart of every reader an admiration for the brave Captain, and rescue from oblivion the name of another of our Continental heroes--the man who did so much to keep the land forces of our Revolutionary struggle supplied with ammunition and stores at the expense of the enemy.

WILLIAM P. CHIPMAN.

IN SHIP AND PRISON