A GREAT NAVAL INCIDENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 75, 20 May 1881, Page 3

A GREAT NAVAL INCIDENT.

+-. — . The duel ot the Shannon and tlie Chesapeake is vividly retold by a leader-writer of the Daily Telegraph, apropos of the depaiture for another world of one of England's old

tttlla. Ut; VtMiuuv lv Cw.iUi'iiSi.' tin. animated bit of historic tl descriptftnrr ! ->-" There died a few d/tys siuce.au | old Greenwich pensioner, Isaac Cooper by name, and among, the spall effects which the veteran left behind him 1 to be given to Ins next of kin-,-' was a medal, won by him for bravery in the service of his country,, and.uijirk, which, when he was one of tii« shannon's crew, lie hsul taken in a fair fight from »v oilicei- cf the Chesapeake. This happened just sixty five years ago, and Cooper was' the last survivor of that famous fight - . Thefirst of June (1813) dawnedclear and bright. The fog rolled up from off ihe sparkling sea, and every feature of the landscape stood revealed. A hundred pleasure-boats flitted to and tro upon the inner waters, and in President Roads, her royal yards across, and just resdy for aea, lay the gallant Chesapeake. As her commander looked froth her deck, he saw that at the harbor mouth there stood on guard but cue British ship where Boston had thought there- had been two ;*aud, while they were wondering at it, there came towards them a boat, bearing a challenge from Captain Broke, of ' Her Brittannio Majesty's frigate Shannon,' to come out and fight him fairly in the sight of all the city: 'As the . Chesapeake appears now ready for sea*' wrote Captain Broke, ' I request you will do mo the favour to meet ihe. Shannon with her, ship to ship, to 'try the fortune of our respective flags. %> an officer of your character it requires some apology for proceeding to further particulars. The Shannon mounts twen-ty-four guns upon a broadside and oue light boat guu — eighteen pounders upon her main deck and thirty-two pound carronades on her quarter-deck and forecastlo— and is manned with a complement of 400 men and boys — a large proportion, of the latter. I have sent the Tenedos away beyond the power of interfering with us, and will meet you whenever it is most agreeable to you. I will warn you should any of my friends be too nigh or anywhere in sight until I can detach them out of the way; or I would sail with you under a flag of truce to any place you think safest from our cruisers, hauling it down when fair to begin hostilities. You will fjel it a compliment when I say that the result of our meeiing tnny be the most grateful service I can tender to my country. Favor me with a speedy reply. We are short of provisions and water, and cannot stay long. Choose your terms, but let us meet.' This chivalrous appeal met with instant response from the gallant enemy, and, firing a gun in defiance, the Chesapeake shook out her sails and moved out from her sheltei to where the Shannon awaited her coming. Those watching from the shore could see every detail of the action that ensued. The Chesapeake, ncr ensigns all gaily flying, bore down upon the Shannon's starboard quarter, and within half pistolshot luffed up, conceding to the British frigate the privilege of firing first. Two shots were discharged from the Shannon in succession before the Chesapeake deigned to reply ; but the response when it came , was a shattering broadside. For 1 seven minutes the fearful combat of cannon continued, and then the two ships fell alongside each other, the anchor-flukes of the Ohesapeake grappling the bulwarks of the Shannon. Three minutes more elapsed, and then the Shannon's guns had swept the Chesapeake's quarter-deck gear. ' Board !' cried Captain Broke, and springing from his ship, he led the party. Forty men followed him close, who, driving the enemy fighting before them to the main hatch, maintained there a desperate fight, until in the next minute they were reinforced by forty more of the Shannon's crew- Another dash for* ward was made, and then the men of the Chesapeake threw down their arms, and the British ensign, fifteen minutes after the first shot was fired, was run up above the American colors."