Speaker 1: Chapter twenty six of Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts.
Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Jare Foley Beach, South Carolina.
Speaker 1: Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts by Frank R. Stockton,
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty six, The Battle of the sand Bars. When
Speaker 1: that estimable private gentleman, mister William Rhett of Charlestown, had
Speaker 1: received a commission from the Governor to go forth, on
Speaker 1: his own responsibility and meet the dreaded pirate, the news
Speaker 1: of whose depredations had thrown the good citizens into such
Speaker 1: a fever of apprehension, he took possession, in the name
Speaker 1: of the law of two large sloops, the Henry and
Speaker 1: the se Nymph, which were in the harbor, and at
Speaker 1: his own expense, he manned them with well armed crews,
Speaker 1: and put on board each of them eight small cannon.
Speaker 1: When everything was ready, mister Rhett was in command of
Speaker 1: a very formidable force for those waters, And if he
Speaker 1: had been ready to sail a few days sooner, he
Speaker 1: would have had an opportunity of giving his men some
Speaker 1: practice in fighting pirates before they met the particular and
Speaker 1: more important sea robber whom they had set out to encounter.
Speaker 1: Just as his vessel was ready to sail, mister Rhett
Speaker 1: received news that a pirate ship had captured two or
Speaker 1: three merchantmen just outside the harbor, and he put out
Speaker 1: to sea with all possible haste, and cruised up and
Speaker 1: down the coast for some time. But he did not
Speaker 1: find this most recent depredator, who had departed very promptly
Speaker 1: when he heard that armed ships were coming out of
Speaker 1: the harbor. Now, mister Rhett, who was no more of
Speaker 1: a sailor than Steve Bonnet had been when he first
Speaker 1: began his seafaring life, boldly made his way up the
Speaker 1: coast to the mouth of Cape Fear River, where he
Speaker 1: had been and told the pirate vessel was lying. When
Speaker 1: he reached his destination, mister Rhet found that it would
Speaker 1: not be an easy thing to ascend the river, for
Speaker 1: the reason that the pilots he had brought with him
Speaker 1: knew nothing about the waters of that part of the coast.
Speaker 1: And although the two ships made their way very cautiously,
Speaker 1: it was not long after they had entered the river
Speaker 1: before they got out of the channel, and it being
Speaker 1: low tide, both of them ran aground upon sand bars.
Speaker 1: This was a very annoying accident, but it was not
Speaker 1: disastrous for the sailing masters who commanded the sloops knew
Speaker 1: very well that when the tide rose, their vessels would
Speaker 1: float again. But it prevented mister Rhet from going on
Speaker 1: and making an immediate attack upon the pirate vessel, the
Speaker 1: topmasts of which could be plainly seen behind a high
Speaker 1: headland some distance up the river. Of course, Bonnet, or
Speaker 1: Captain Thomas, as he now chose to be called, soon
Speaker 1: became aware of the fact that two good sized vessels
Speaker 1: were lying a ground near the mouth of the river, and,
Speaker 1: having a very natural curiosity to see what sort of
Speaker 1: craft they were, He waited until nightfall and then sent
Speaker 1: three armed boats to make observations. When these boats returned
Speaker 1: to the Royal James and reported that the grounded vessels
Speaker 1: were not well loaded trading craft, but large sloops, full
Speaker 1: of men and armed with cannon, Bonnet, for we prefer
Speaker 1: to call him by his old name, had good reason
Speaker 1: to fold his arms, knit his brows, and strut up
Speaker 1: and down the deck. He was sure that the armed
Speaker 1: vessels came from Charlestown, and there was no reason to
Speaker 1: doubt that if the Governor of South Carolina had sent
Speaker 1: two ships against him, the matter was a very serious one.
Speaker 1: He was penned up in the river. He had only
Speaker 1: one fighting vessel to contend against two, and if he
Speaker 1: could not succeed in getting out to sea before he
Speaker 1: should be attacked by the Charlestown ships, there would be
Speaker 1: but little chance of his continuing in his present line
Speaker 1: of business. If the Royal James had been ready to sail,
Speaker 1: there was no doubt that Bonnet would have taken his
Speaker 1: chance of finding the channel in the dark, and would
Speaker 1: have sailed away that night without regard to the cannonading
Speaker 1: which might have been directed against him from the two
Speaker 1: stranded vessels. But as it was impossible to get ready
Speaker 1: to sail, Bonnet went to work with the greatest energy
Speaker 1: to get ready to fight. He knew that when the
Speaker 1: tide rose there would be two armed sloops afloat, and
Speaker 1: that there would be a regular naval battle on the
Speaker 1: quiet waters of Cape Fear River. All night his men
Speaker 1: worked to clear the decks and get everything in order
Speaker 1: for the coming combat, and all night mister Rhett and
Speaker 1: his crews kept a sharp watch for any unexpected move
Speaker 1: of the enemy while they loaded their guns, their pistols,
Speaker 1: and their cannon and put everything in order for action.
Speaker 1: Very early in the morning, the wide away crews of
Speaker 1: the South Carolina vessels, which were now afloat and at anchor,
Speaker 1: saw that the topmasts of the pirate craft were beginning
Speaker 1: to move above the distant headland, and very soon Bonnet
Speaker 1: ship came out into view under full sail, and as
Speaker 1: he veered around, they saw that she was coming toward them.
Speaker 1: Up went the Anchor, and up went the sails of
Speaker 1: the Henry and the Sea Nymph, and the naval battle
Speaker 1: between the retired army officer who had almost learned to
Speaker 1: be a sailor and the private gentleman from South Carolina,
Speaker 1: who knew nothing whatever about managing ships, was about to begin.
Speaker 1: It was plain to the South Carolinians that the great
Speaker 1: object of the pirate captain was to get out to
Speaker 1: sea just as soon as he could, and that he
Speaker 1: was coming down the river not because he wished to
Speaker 1: make an immediate attack upon them, but because he hoped
Speaker 1: to slip by them and get away. Of course, they
Speaker 1: could follow him upon the ocean and fight him if
Speaker 1: their vessels were fast enough. But once out of the river,
Speaker 1: with plenty of sea room, he would have twenty chances
Speaker 1: of escape where now he had won. But mister Rhet
Speaker 1: did not intend that the pirates should play him this
Speaker 1: little trick. He wanted to fight the dastardly wretches in
Speaker 1: the river where they could not get away, and he
Speaker 1: had no idea of letting them sneak out to sea. Consequently,
Speaker 1: as the Royal James, under full sail, was making her
Speaker 1: way down the river, keeping as far as possible from
Speaker 1: her two enemies, mister Rhett ordered his ships to bear
Speaker 1: down upon her so as to cut off her retreat
Speaker 1: and force her toward the opposite shore of the river.
Speaker 1: This maneuver was performed with great success. The two Charlestown
Speaker 1: sloops sailed so boldly and swiftly toward the Royal James
Speaker 1: that the latter was obliged to hug the shore, and
Speaker 1: the first thing the pirates knew they were stuck fast
Speaker 1: and tight upon a sand bar. Three minutes later, the
Speaker 1: Henry ran upon a sand bar, and there being enough
Speaker 1: of these obstructions in that river to satisfy any ordinary demand.
Speaker 1: This see Nymph very soon grounded herself upon another of them,
Speaker 1: but unfortunately she took up her permanent position at a
Speaker 1: considerable distance from her consort. Here now were the vessels
Speaker 1: which were to conduct the memorable sea fight, all three
Speaker 1: fast in the sand and unable to move, and their
Speaker 1: predicament was made the worse by the fact that it
Speaker 1: would be five hours before the tide would rise high
Speaker 1: enough for any one of them to float. The positions
Speaker 1: of the three vessels were very peculiar and awkward. The
Speaker 1: Henry and the Royal James were lying so near to
Speaker 1: each other that mister Rhett could have shot Major Bonnet
Speaker 1: with a pistol if the latter gentleman had given him
Speaker 1: the chance, and the Sea Nymph was so far away
Speaker 1: that she was entirely out of the fight, and her
Speaker 1: crew could do nothing but stand and watch what was
Speaker 1: going on between the other two vessels. But although they
Speaker 1: could not get any nearer each other nor get away
Speaker 1: from each other, the pirates and mister Rhet's crew had
Speaker 1: no idea of postponing the battle until they should be
Speaker 1: afloat and able to fight in the ordinary fashion of ships.
Speaker 1: They immediately began to fire at each other with pistols,
Speaker 1: muskets and cannon, and the din and roar was something
Speaker 1: that must have astonished the birds and beasts and fishes
Speaker 1: of that quiet region. As the tide continued to run
Speaker 1: out of the river and its waters became more and
Speaker 1: more shallow, the two contending vessels began to careen over
Speaker 1: to one side, and unfortunately for the Henry, they both
Speaker 1: careened in the same direction, and in such a manner
Speaker 1: that the deck of the Royal James was inclined away
Speaker 1: from the Henry, while the deck of the latter leaned
Speaker 1: toward the pirate foe. This gave a great advantage to
Speaker 1: Bonnet and his crew, for they were in a great
Speaker 1: measure protected by the hull of their vessel, whereas the
Speaker 1: whole deck of the Henry was exposed to the fire
Speaker 1: of the pirates. But mister Rhett and his South Carolinians
Speaker 1: were all brave men, and they blazed away with their
Speaker 1: muskets and pistols at the Pirates whenever they could see
Speaker 1: a head above the rail of the Royal James, while
Speaker 1: with their cannon they kept firing at the pirate's hull.
Speaker 1: For five long hours the fight continued, but the cannon
Speaker 1: carried by the two vessels must have been a very
Speaker 1: small caliber, for if they had been firing at such
Speaker 1: short range and for such a length of time with
Speaker 1: modern guns, they must have shattered each other into kindlingwood.
Speaker 1: But neither vessel seems to have been seriously injured, and
Speaker 1: although there were a good many men killed on both sides,
Speaker 1: the combat was kept up with great determination and fury.
Speaker 1: At one time it seemed almost certain that Bonnet would
Speaker 1: get the better of mister Rhett, and he ordered his
Speaker 1: black flag waved contemptuously in the air, while his men
Speaker 1: shouted to the South Carolinians to come over and call
Speaker 1: upon them. But the South Carolina boys answered these taunts
Speaker 1: with cheers and fired away more furiously than ever. The
Speaker 1: tide was now coming in, and everybody on board the
Speaker 1: two fighting vessels knew very well that the first one
Speaker 1: of them, which should float, would have a great advantage
Speaker 1: over the other, and would probably be the conqueror. In
Speaker 1: came the tide, and still the cannons roared and the
Speaker 1: muskets cracked, while the hearts of the pirates and the south,
Speaker 1: Carolinians almost stood still as they each watched the other
Speaker 1: vessel to see if she showed any signs of floating.
Speaker 1: At last, such signs were seen. The Henry was further
Speaker 1: from the shore than the Royal James, and she first
Speaker 1: felt the influence of the rising waters. Her masts began
Speaker 1: to straighten, and at last her deck was level, and
Speaker 1: she floated clear of the bottom, while her antagonist still
Speaker 1: lay careened over on her side. Now the pirates saw
Speaker 1: there was no chance for them. In a very short time,
Speaker 1: the other Carolina sloop would be afloat, and then the
Speaker 1: two vessels would bear down upon them and utterly destroy
Speaker 1: both them and their consequently upon the Royal James. There
Speaker 1: was a general disposition to surrender and to make the
Speaker 1: best terms they could, for it would be a great
Speaker 1: deal better to submit and run the chance of a
Speaker 1: trial than to keep up the fight against enemies so
Speaker 1: much superior both in numbers and ships, who would soon
Speaker 1: be upon them. But Bonnet would not listen to one
Speaker 1: word of surrender. Rather than give up the fight, he
Speaker 1: declared he would set fire to the powder magazine of
Speaker 1: the Royal James and blow himself, his ship and his
Speaker 1: men high up into the air. Although he had not
Speaker 1: a sailor's skill, he possessed a soldier's soul, and in
Speaker 1: spite of his being a dastardly and cruel pirate, he
Speaker 1: was a brave man. But Bonnet was only one, and
Speaker 1: his crew numbered dozens, and notwithstanding his furiously dissenting voice,
Speaker 1: it was determined to surrender, And when mister Rhett sailed
Speaker 1: up to the Royal James, intending to board her if
Speaker 1: the pirates still showed resistance, he found them ready to
Speaker 1: submit to terms and to yield themselves his prisoners. Thus
Speaker 1: ended the great sea fight between the private gentlemen, and
Speaker 1: thus ended Steed Bonnet's career. He and his men were
Speaker 1: taken to Charlestown, where most of the pirate crew were
Speaker 1: tried and executed. The green hand pirate, who had wrought
Speaker 1: more devastation along the American coast than many a skilled
Speaker 1: sea robber, was held in custody to await his trial.
Speaker 1: And it seems very strange that there should have been
Speaker 1: a public sentiment in Charlestown which induced the officials to
Speaker 1: treat this pirate with a certain degree of respect, simply
Speaker 1: from the fact that his station in life had been
Speaker 1: that of a gentleman. He was a much more black
Speaker 1: hearted scoundrel than any of his men, But they were
Speaker 1: executed as soon as possible, while his trial was postponed,
Speaker 1: and he was allowed privileges which would never have been
Speaker 1: accorded a common pirate. In consequence of this leniency, he
Speaker 1: escaped and had to be retaken by mister Rhett. It
Speaker 1: was so long before he was tried that sympathy for
Speaker 1: his misfortunes arose among some of the tender hearted citizens
Speaker 1: of Charlestown, whose houses he would have pillaged and whose
Speaker 1: families he would have murdered if the exigencies of piracy
Speaker 1: had rendered such action desirable. Finding that other people were
Speaker 1: trying to save his life, Bonnet came down from his
Speaker 1: high horse and tried to save it himself by writing
Speaker 1: piteous letters to the governor begging for mercy. But the
Speaker 1: governor of South Carolina had no notion of sparing a
Speaker 1: pirate who had deliberately put himself under the protection of
Speaker 1: the law in order that he might better pursue his
Speaker 1: lawless and wicked career. And the green hand with the
Speaker 1: black heart was finally hung on the same spot where
Speaker 1: his companions had been executed. End of recording, end of
Speaker 1: chapter twenty six recording by Jare Folly bad Each South
Speaker 1: Carolina Buccaneers and Pirates of our Coasts by Frank R.
Speaker 1: Stockton