USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 60
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In a few days the squadron of the enemy was augmented to a con- siderable fleet, consisting of two ships of the line, two frigates, and a number of smaller vessels. The aged inhabitants who remembered the arrival of Arnold's fleet, on the morning of September 6th, 1781, shuddered with apprehension lest the tragic realities of that day should be acted over again. It was generally expected that the ene- my would enter the river, and attack the American squadron. The neighboring militia were summoned to the coast, the specie of the banks was conveyed to Norwich, and the city emptied of women, children, and the more valuable portable goods. The character of Sir Thomas Hardy was relied on as a guarantee that no wanton de- struction of life or property would be allowed, but in case of a bom- bardment of the ships, the burning of the town would almost neces- sarily follow. Major Simeon Smith, of New London, with a com- pany of volunteers, repaired to the old fort in Groton, where hasty but vigorous preparations were made to cannonade the enemy.2 The
1 June 9th, a party landed at Black Hall, and amused themselves awhile on the shore; then visited Mrs. Griswold, asked for some refreshments, behaved with civility, and soon retired. While the fleet lay upon the coast, it was ascertained that a young American, named John Carpenter, was an impressed seaman, on board the Ramillies, where he had served five years. He belonged to Norwich, and contrived to let his friends know of his situation. His father went off to the vessel with a flag, and the proper testimonials, in order to obtain, if possible, his release. An affecting scene took place, when the father and son met on the deck of the ship. Commodore Hardy ex- pressed his sympathy, and the proper formalities having passed, he discharged the man.
2 The inhabitants of Groton village were all in confusion, removing their effects, when a messenger from the fort was sent among them to collect flannel to be used as
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
town was kept for several days in a state of anxiety and confusion, but the hostile ships, after several times displaying themselves in for- midable array, as if bearing toward the harbor, chose their anchorage ground about five miles from the city. It was soon ascertained that the Valiant, seventy-four, and the Acasta, frigate, had relieved the Ramillies and the Orphcus. Commodore Oliver was in command of the station, and he executed his office with unsparing energy.
Alarms were now frequent. An increase of force, or change of position in the blockading squadron, would cause immediate appre- hension ; a signal gun from the fort was sufficient to sct every living being in motion. It was rumored that spies were often in town un- der various disguises, and that suspicious persons appearcd and dis- appeared strangely. The American ships had in the mean time re- treated up the river, and being lightened, passed the bar at Gale's Ferry. Commodore Decatur threw up a light intrenchment on Al- lyn's Mountain, where he had a fine view of the Sound and harbor. His people called the place Dragon Hill.
In the latter part of June, Commodore Hardy, in the Ramillies, again took command of the station, having the Acasta and Maidstone frigates with him. A descent upon the coast, preparatory to an attack upon the ships, was seriously apprehended, and various prep- arations for defense were made.
About this time an affair took place which exasperated the officers of the blockading squadron, and embittered their subsequent inter- course with the people on the coast, although the latter had no agen- cy in the offensive act. A schooner, called the Eagle, owned in New York, was prepared as a kind of torpedo vessel, and sent into the Sound to make an experiment upon the enemy. She had a show of naval stores on board, and was captured by the British, west of New London harbor, ncar Millstone Point. The crew took to their boats, and reached the shore in safety. The British officer, after taking possession of the schooner, attempted to tow her up to the Ramillies, but finding that she fell to leeward, he anchored at the distance of three-fourths of a mile from that vessel. Suddenly, in less than three
wadding for the guns. Most of the portable goods having been sent off, he was un- successful in his search, until he encountered Mrs. Anna Bailey, a warm-hearted, prompt and impulsive woman, who instantly divested herself of her flannel petticoat, and heartily devoted it to the cause. It was carried to the fortress, displayed at the end of a pike, and the story told to the garrison, who cheered the banner with great enthusiasm. " The Martial Petticoat" and its partisan donor have ever since been renowned in our local annals. Mrs. Anna Bailey died January 10th, 1851, aged nine- ty-two years.
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hours after the desertion of her crew, and her seizure by the British, the Eagle exploded with prodigious force, and was scattered into fragments. A shower of pitch and tar fell upon the Ramillies ; tim- ber and stones were hurled aloft, and the waters around thrown into great commotion. A second lieutenant and ten men, who were on board the schooner, were killed, and several men in boats were badly wounded.
This was wholly a private undertaking ; the government had notli- ing to do with it. The owners had fitted the Eagle as a fire-ship, with a secret piece of mechanism concealed within, which, when set in motion, would cause an explosion after a certain interval. Her hold, under the appearance of ballast, contained 400 pounds of pow- der, and various other combustibles, with ponderous stones and de- structive implements, sufficient to inflict a terrible blow upon any ship of war, along side of which she might be brought, a blow which the Ramillies barely escaped.
The next morning Commodore Hardy sent a flag of truce up to the town, with the following communication :
" To Jirah Isham, Brig .- Gen. commanding at New London. I am under the necessity of requesting you to make it publicly known that I can not per- mit vessels or boats of any description, (flags of truce of course excepted,) to approach or pass the British squadron, in consequence of an American vessel having exploded yesterday, three hours after she was in our possession."
Toward the end of June, Major-General Henry Burbeck arrived in town from Newport, and assumed the military command of the district, which had been transferred from the state to the general government. The troops on duty, amounting to about 1,000, belonged to the militia of the state, and were under no orders but of the gov- ernor. A change was now to be made, and on the 12th of July, agreeably to an order from the secretary of war, General Burbeck dismissed the whole force. The town was thus left suddenly without a soldier on duty. Forts Trumbull and Griswold were completely evacuated ; the latter had not even a man on watch from noon till ten P. M. This, of itself, was sufficient to cause a panic among the in- habitants, but simultaneously it was discovered that the British squad- ron had been augmented, and that no less than seven ships of the line and frigates lay near the entrance of the Sound, inside of Block Isl- and. The same day also, it happened that the Ramillies and her consort, at the mouth of the harbor, took occasion to exercise their guns, and kept up for a time an incessant and spirited discharge of cannon. Never were the citizens more completely frantic with fear,
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nor ever perhaps more exasperated. The misconception was even worse than the tumult, for the inhabitants thought themselves be- trayed by the government, and purposely left to be destroyed. In order to calm the public excitement, General Burbeck, on his own responsibility, applied to the governor for a temporary force, who authorized Brigadier-General Williams to call out as large a body of militia as exigencies should demand.
The blockade was henceforth of the most rigorous character. The enemy resolved to leave nothing afloat. The Sound was alive with petty warfare. Every creek, bay and river were searched, and noth- ing in the form of boat, sloop or smack suffered to live. Yankee en- terprise prolonged the task of the invaders, and obliged them to de- stroy by inches, and to multiply and repeat the blows, before they could ruin all traffic, and clear the coast of sails and oars. Some- times a sloop or schooner would be chased ashore by the enemy, and the inhabitants would collect to defend it. This was always the oc- casion of great, and apparently hilarious excitement in the neighbor- hood. In Mystic harbor, a spirited affair of this nature occurred on the 12th of June. One sloop had been destroyed, and another, the Victory, was attacked, but the enemy were driven off after a warm action of fifteen minutes, by a party of about twenty Mystic men, un- der the command of Jeremiah Haley. Another shore skirmish took place November 28th, west of the light-house, New London. The sloop Roxana was chased aground by three British barges, and in half an hour a throng of people assembled to the rescue. The enemy set fire to the sloop and retreated, but the Americans determined to extinguish the flames, and were only kept from accomplishing their purpose by a heavy cannonade from the ships. The Rogers farm was ploughed by their balls, but though many upon the shore were much exposed, no damage was done to life or limb.
During the whole war not a man was killed by the enemy in Con- necticut, and only one1 in its waters upon the coast. The fact is a striking one, considering the long period that the blockading squad- ron lay in the Sound, and the numerous encounters between the parties.
Commodore Decatur had strong hopes that during the winter some opportunity would occur of getting his ships to sea. He determined to be ready to take advantage of the enemy's unguarded hour, if such
1 That one was Mr. Dolph, of Saybrook, who was killed in January, 1815, while en- gaged with others in recovering two prizes taken by the British, off Saybrook.
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an hour should come. He began therefore in October, to drop down the river, and by the last of November was anchored in the harbor, opposite Market wharf. Though no uncommon movement was made and great care was taken not to attract notice, every thing was put in complete readiness for sailing. As far as possible, silence and se- crecy were to be observed. Not even friends were to be trusted, ex- cept from the necessity of the case. The night of the 12th of De- cember was fixed for the attempt. The day came; it was Sunday ; the night proved to be dark, the wind favorable, and when the tide served they were to start. Just at this critical time, some few hours before they expected to weigh anchor and make sail, at different times between eight and ten o'clock, blue lights appeared on the shore, both sides of the river, upon Groton Height, and near the har- bor's mouth. These were supposed to be signals, made by persons on land ; traitors, who had by some means become acquainted with the design of the American squadron, and exhibited these lights to apprise the enemy, and set them on their guard. Commodore Deca- tur, on hearing of these signals, instantly relinquished his plan of sailing, and indignant at being betrayed by his countrymen, made no subsequent attempt to escape.
The whole affair was made public, the design and the cause of its failure ; but the story was not received by all with entire confidence. Many persons gave no credence to what was said of the blue lights, and averred that accidental lights kindled by fishermen, or the gleams from country windows, or reflections from the heavens upon water, had been mistaken for treasonable signals. We had no such traitors on shore ; the American officers felt that the causes of their inaction had been misconstrued by the citizens; they had been reproached for idleness, and accused of timidity in suffering themselves to be so long shut up in a corner, and this tale was either fabricated for the pur- pose, or caught up eagerly, as it dropped from the idle tongue of ru- mor, and circulated in order to sustain their reputation with the pub- lic. This was the explanation made by one party.
On the other side it was stated that the blue lights were distinctly seen and reported, by officers and men stationed on the look-out, or belonging to the row-guard both of the Macedonian and the Hornet, . people who were familiar with signals, and would not have mistaken the common lights of the shore for blue lights.
At this distance of time nothing more can be added; no further light has been thrown upon the subject. No fact has ever been dis- closed which would fix the stigma of treason upon any person in the
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vicinity ; no charge of bribery or of secret intercourse with the enemy has been attached to the name of any individual. Yet it is evident that Commodore Decatur and Captains Jones and Biddle believed that signals were actually made to the British by traitorous persons on shore, in consequence of a report which had crept abroad that the American vessels would make an attempt to get out to sea before morning.
Early the next spring the American squadron again withdrew up the Thames ; the two larger vessels were dismantled and laid up about three and a half miles below Norwich Landing, with only a guard left on board. The Hornet remained at New London, and November 18th, 1814, slipped out of the harbor and reached New York in safety.
It is worthy of note that the packet sloop Juno, Capt. John How- ard, continued to ply back and forth between New London and New York, during the whole war. Had her compass and helm been charmed to guide her safely, she could scarcely have performed her trips with better success. Once indeed she was driven into Say- brook, and her mast shot away, but this was her only serious disaster. Her enterprising commander generally chose a dark night in which to leave the harbor and run through the blockading squadron, and as no shore lights were then allowed, he steered his course by the lantern lights that the enemy kept at the stern of their vessels. Often he went out or came in under cover of falling rain, or driving snow. He had four pieces of cannon on deck, and kept well supplied with shot, but confined himself strictly to a defensive course, pursuing steadily his way, and never firing a gun except in case of an attack. He was narrowly watched by the British, who easily obtained all the newspapers published on the coast, and could ascertain with tolerable accuracy, his periods of departure and return. Several times he was waylaid or pursued by their boats and barges, but a spirited dis- charge of his guns always succeeded in driving them away, and in several critical periods, when he found himself in peril from the larger vessels of the enemy, a favorable wind and a turn of the tide assisted his escape. This very fact, that the Juno continually eluded their grasp, made the British more desirous of putting an end to her career, and rendered her ultimate escape the more remarkable.
When the news of peace arrived in February, 1815, Admiral Ho- tham, of the Superb, commanded the blockading squadron off New London. On the 21st February, the city was illuminated. The pa- role that day on board the Superb, was America; countersign, Amity.
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The British officers now came frequently on shore, and mingled cor- dially with the citizens. Admiral Hotham, when he first landed, was received with great courtesy by the civil authorities, and an assem- blage of citizens. The Pactolus and Narcissus came into the Sound, and joining the Superb, landed Commodore Decatur and Lieut. Shu- brick, who had been captured in the frigate President.
A public reception, partaking of the nature of a ball and festival, was held at the court-house, in celebration of the peace, to which all the British officers on the coast received a general invitation. Those present were Captains Aylmer of the Pactolus, Garland of the Su- perb, Gordon of the Narcissus, and Jayne of the Arab; the com- manders of the brigs Tenedos and Despatch, and ten or twelve offi- cers of inferior rank. The American commodores Decatur and Shaw assisted in receiving these guests.
On the 11th of March, the Superb got under way, followed by the remainder of the fleet, and exchanging salutes with Fort Trum- bull, passed off toward Montauk and put out to sea. In April, the frigates United States and Macedonian, that had long been lying in reluctant idleness, came down the river, and sailed for New York in charge of Commodore Shaw. The last shadow of war passed away from the town.
Brig .- Gen. Henry Burbeck, the military commander of the New London district, retired from the army at the close of the war, and fixing his residence in the place, passed the evening of his days in happy tranquillity. He had spent thirty-eight years in the service, having been a captain of artillery in the Revolutionary War. He died October 2d, 1848, aged ninety-four. An obelisk has been erect- ed to his memory in the new Cedar Grove Cemetery, near New Lon- don, by the Massachusetts Society of Cincinnati, of which, at the period of his decease, he was the president, and the last survivor but one of the original members of that society.
54
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Early allusions to whaling in Connecticut .- General progress of whaling from the American coast .- Enterprise of Sagharbor .- Various attempts in New London between 1791 and 1808 .- Progress after 1819 .- Fate of some of the earliest ships .- Successful captains and remarkable voyages .- Statistics of whaling .- Adventures to California.
IN tracing the whale fishery, so far as it has been prosecuted by the people of Connecticut, back to its rise, we come to the following resolve of the General Court at Hartford, May 25th, 1647:
, " If Mr. Whiting with any others shall make trial and prosecute a design for the taking of whale, within these liberties, and if upon trial within the term of two years, they shall like to go on, no others shall be suffered to interrupt them for the term of seven years."1
The granting of monopolies and exclusive privileges was the cus- tomary mode of encouraging trade and manufactures in that day. Of Mr. Whiting's project nothing further is known. Whales, in the early years of the colony, were often seen in the Sound ; and if one chanced to be stranded on the shore, or to get embayed in a creek, the news was soon spread, and the fishermen and farmers from the nearest settlements would turn out, armed with such implements as they possessed, guns, pikes, pitchforks, or spears, and rush to the en- counter. Such adventures, however, belong more particularly to the south side of Long Island than to the Connecticut shore.
A whale boat is mentioned in an enumeration of goods before the end of the seventeenth century, and this implies that excursions were sometimes made in pursuit of whales,2 but probably they were not ex-
1 Colonial Records, vol. 1, p. 154.
2 The following memorandum implies that such whaling trips were not unusual. January 13th, 1717-18. " Comfort Davis hath hired my whale boat to go a whaling to Fisher's Island, till the 20th of next month, to pay twenty shillings for her hire, and if he stays longer, thirty shillings. If she be lost, and they get nothing, he is to pay me £3, but if they get a fish, £3, 10s." [Hempstead.]
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tended much beyond Montauk. Even at the present day a whale sometimes makes its appearance in the eastern part of the Sound.1
We have no statistics to show that the whale fishery was carried on except in this small way, from any part of the Connecticut coast, before the Revolutionary War. At Sagharbor, on the opposite coast of the Sound, something more had been done. It is said that as far back as 1760, sloops from that place went to Disco Island in pursuit of whales ; but of these voyages no record has been preserved.
The progress of whaling from the American coast appears to have been pursued in the following order :2
1st. Whales were killed on or near the coast, and in all instances cut up and dried upon land. Boats only used.
2d. Small sloops were fitted out for a cruise of five or six weeks, and went as far as the Great Bank of Newfoundland.
. 3d. Longer voyages of a few months were made to the Western Islands, Cape Verde, West Indies and Gulf of Mexico.
4th. After 1745, voyages were made.to Davis' Straits, Baffin's Bay, and as far south as the coast of Guinea.
5th. After 1770, voyages were made to the Brazil Banks, and be- fore 1775, vessels both from Nantucket and Newport had been to the Falkland Islands. Nantucket alone had at that time 150 vessels, and 2,000 men, employed in the whaling business.3 Some of the vessels were brigs of considerable burden.
The war totally destroyed the whale fishery, and the depression of business after the war prevented it from being immediately resumed. In Nantucket, it revived in 1785, under legislative encouragement. This brings us to the period when the first whaling expedition into south latitude was fitted out from Long Island Sound.
In the year 1784, we find the following notice in the New London Gazette :
" May 20. Sailed from this port, sloop Rising Sun, Squire, on a whaling voyage."
Of this voyage there is no further record ; it was probably of the short description. At Sagharbor,4 a more extended expedition was
1 In June, 1850, a whale, thirty-five feet long, was captured in Peconic Bay, near Greenport.
2 See History of Nantucket, by Obed Macy.
3 Ibid, p. 71.
4 Sagharbor was made a port of entry in 1790; until that period it appears to have been included in the custom-house district of New London. History of Long Island, by N. S. Prime, p. 210.
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undertaken the same year. Nathaniel Gardiner and brother fitted out both a ship and a brig on a whaling adventure. They were both unsuccessful,1 but this is supposed to have been the first expedition after whales from Long Island Sound into south latitudes. In 1785, Messrs. Stephen Howell and Benjamin Hunting, of Sagharbor, pur- chased the brig Lucy, of Elijah Hubbard, of Middletown, Conn.,2 and sent her out on a whaling voyage, George McKay, master. The same season, the brig America, Daniel Havens, master, was fitted out from the same place. Both went to the Brazil Banks.
1785. The Lucy returned May 15th, with 360 barrels.
The America returned June 4th, with 300 barrels.
These arrivals were announced in the New London Gazette, in the marine list kept by Thomas Allen, who thereupon breaks forth :
"Now, my horse jockeys, beat your horses and cattle into spears, lances, harpoons and whaling gear, and let us all strike out : many spouts ahead ! Whales plenty, you have them for catching."
The first vessel sailing from New London on a whaling voyage to a southern latitude, was the ship Commerce, which was owned and fitted out at East Haddam, in Connecticut River, but cleared from New London, Feb. 6th, 1794.3 An attempt was made to form a whal- ing company in New London in 1795, and a meeting called at Mi- ner's tavern for that purpose, but it led to no result. Norwich next came forward, and sent out on a whaling voyage a small new ship built in the Thames River, below Norwich, and called the Miantino- moh. She sailed from New London, Sept. 5th, 1800, (Capt. Swain,) and passing round Cape Horn, was reported at Massafuero, Aug. 9th, 1801. She spent another year on the South American coast, but in April, 1802, was seized at Valparaiso by the Spanish authorities, and condemned-the ship Tryal, Coffin, of Nantucket, sharing the same fate.
In 1802, the ship Despatch, Howard, was fitted out at New Lon- don, to cruise in the south seas, after whales ; but the voyage was not repeated. The year 1805, may therefore be considered as the period when the whaling business actually commenced in the place,
1 Prime, in the History of Long Island, says that the ship sent out was the Hope, Capt. Ripley, and observes, " the ship returned with only thirty barrels of oil, and the brig with still less ;" but Green's Gazette, of June 6th, 1785, has the following-" Arr. at Sagharbor, brig -, Ripley, from the coast of Brazil, with 140 barrels of oil."
2 Letter of Luther D. Cook, of Sagharbor, to T. W. Williams, of New London.
3 The ship Commerce was afterward in the West India trade, and was lost at Cape Henry, Dec. 25th, 1799.
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and the ship Dauphin the pioneer in the trade. This vessel was built by Capt. John Barber, at Pawkatuck Bridge, with express ref- erence to the whale fishery. Her burden was two hundred and forty tuns, and when completed, she was filled with wood and sent to New York for sale. Not meeting with a purchaser, she returned and came into New London Harbor in the autumn of 1804. Here a company was formed, chiefly through the exertions of Dr. S. H. P. Lee, the first mover in the enterprise, who bought the ship and fitted her for whaling.
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