A GREAT NAVAL INCIDENT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 182, 30 July 1878, Page 4

A GREAT NAVAL INCIDENT

The duel of ihe Shaonon and the Chesfipenke is vividly refold hy n lea^r writer of tfc*> Daily Telegraph, apropos of the flpprtrinvc for anoibar wnrl.j of one of England's old salfp. We r-nfurp tn fondpnse this animated bif of MpfenrflldmTipiJon:-— " There died a h>w day.« Bince nn old Greenwick peußiooer, Isnac Cooper by name, and among the small effects which the veternn left hehicl him <to bi* giv^P to his pr . xti o f n > Wflß ft me-Ul won by him for bravery in ih^ BOrviop of his eormtry, and a dirk whirl), whrn he was one of the Shannon's crew, \ w 1 n r] t>.k™ in a fnir fi.?ht from nn officer of !hv> Cbesapecke. Thi» happened just sixty-five years ago, and Cooper v. as thb lnat Eurvivor of that fßcoou* ffnht. .... The Ist of June if 9l 3, f'a^npd clear and bright. The fo,s roller? up from the sparkling eer., orci every feature of the landßCape stool revealed. A hundred pleasure boats flitted to and fro upon the inner harbour wnters, and in President Rofulp, h r roy»! yards across and just ready for 8»b, Iny the gallant. Chesapeake. As her commander looked upon ber denk, lie saw that at the. harbour mouth there stood on guard but one British ship where Boston and thought there bad beeo two ; and, while they were wondering at it there 'came a boat bpartnjr a challenge from Captein Broke, of 'her Britannic Majesty's frigate Shaman,' to come out and fiizht bim fairiy in the Bight of all ihe city. " ' As the Chesapeake appears now r^aiv for een,' wrote Captain Broke, * I r» qijpsr you will do me the favour to meet ihe Shnnnon with her, ship to ship, tr> try the fortune of our respective fljgs. To an officer of your charnctw it requires some apology for proceeding to the further particulars. The Shannon mounts twenty-four guns upon her nrondside and one ligbt beat gun— eighteen-pounders upon her main deck'and thirty-two pound enrronades on her quarter-deck and forecastle — and 13 manned with a complement of 300 men and boys— a large proportion of ths latter. I have sent the Tenedos away beyond the powfr of interfering with up, and will rae-t you whenever it is mc-pf. norpable to you. I will warn you phouli) any of my friends he too nii.'b or »>»ivwh*M-e in si»ht until I can detaffh fhpm out of tlie way; or I would sail with you, under r. flat? of truce, to any p!nce you Ihink safest from our rrniserp, hauling if down when fair to h^oin hostilities. You will fpel it a o^mpHmpnt when I s*y that, the repulr oi 'nr mpptint? may l>e the most grntv f ul p rvinc I run render tn rrv COtinrrv. Fnvmr me with n pp»edv reily. We are Bhort of provisions «n<) wntpr, an* ennnnt sfay long. Choose your ff-nnp, hut let us meet.' The doe). "This chivalrous appeal met wish instanf rppponee from the gnllnnt enrnny, «nd, firing a £uu in d-Gnnee, the Cliesnp^skf shook out lier Fails and movpil out from her slifler to where th* Shannon awm'ted her coming Those Watching from the chore could see every detail of tbe action that, ensued. The Chesapeake, her ensigns all flying, bore down upon the Shannon's starboard quarter, and wiihin half pistol ahot luffed up, conceding to the- British frigate the privilege of firing first. Two shots were discharged from ihe Shannon in bucnepsion before the Chesapeake designed lo reply; but ihe response, when it came, wa«s a shattering broadside. For seven minutes the fearful eornbec of cannon continued, and then the two ships frll alongside each other, and anohor-flukee of tbe Chesapeake grappling the bulwarks of the Shannon. Three minutes more elapsed, end then the Shannon's guns swept the Cbesapeake'f quarter-deck clear. " BoDrd," cried Captain Broke, and, leaping from his ship, he led tbe party. Twenty men followed him close, who, driving the enemy fighting before them to tbe main batch, maintained tbere a desperate fi^'ht, until in the next minute sbey were reinforced by forty more of the Shnnnon's crew. Another dash forward w»s made, and than the men of the ChepHpeake threw down their arms, and tht? B'itish ensign, fifteen minutes altei the fust slot was fired, was run up above the American colours."