The Pirates Own Book eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 477 pages of information about The Pirates Own Book.

The Pirates Own Book eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 477 pages of information about The Pirates Own Book.
papers of the British expedition, had seized the consul, Mr. Macdonnell, and put him in chains; and, hearing of the escape of his wife, immediately ordered the detention of two boats of the Prometheus, which happened to be on shore, and made slaves of the crews, amounting to eighteen men.  This new outrage was reported to Lord Exmouth soon after leaving Gibraltar, and of course added not a little to his eagerness to reach Algiers.  He arrived off Algiers on the morning of the 27th of August, and sent in his interpreter, Mr. Salame, with Lieutenant Burgess, under a flag of truce, bearing a letter for the Dey, demanding reparation.

Meantime, a light breeze sprung up, and the fleet advanced into the bay, and lay to, at about a mile off Algiers “It was now,” says Mr. Salame, in his entertaining narrative, “half-past two, and no answer coming out, notwithstanding we had staid half an hour longer than our instructions, and the fleet being almost opposite the town, with a fine breeze, we thought proper, after having done our duty, to lose no more time, but to go on board, and inform his lordship of what had happened.

“Mr. Burgess, the flag-lieutenant, having agreed with me, we hoisted the signal, that no answer had been given, and began to row away towards the Queen Charlotte.  After I had given our report to the admiral, of our meeting the captain of the port, and our waiting there, &c., I was quite surprised to see how his lordship was altered from what I left him in the morning; for I knew his manner was in general very mild, and now he seemed to me all-fightful, as a fierce lion, which had been chained in its cage, and was set at liberty.  With all that, his lordship’s answer to me was, ‘Never mind, we shall see now;’ and at the same time he turned towards the officers, saying, ‘Be ready,’ whereupon I saw every one with the match or the string of the lock in his hand, most anxiously expecting the word ‘Fire’!

“No sooner had Salame returned, than his lordship made the signal to know whether all the ships were ready, which being answered in the affirmative, he directly turned the head of the Queen Charlotte towards shore, and, to the utter amazement of the Algerines, ran across all the batteries without firing or receiving a single shot, until he brought up within eighty yards of the south end of the mole, where he lashed her to the mainmast of an Algerine brig, which he had taken as his direction, and had then the pleasure of seeing all the rest of the fleet, including the Dutch frigates, taking up their assigned stations with the same precision and regularity.  The position in which the Queen Charlotte was laid was so admirable that she was only exposed to the fire of three or four flanking guns, while her broadside swept the whole batteries, and completely commanded the mole and marine, every part of which could be seen distinctly from her quarter-deck.  Up to this moment not a shot had been fired, and the

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Pirates Own Book from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.