NOVA SCOTIA CHAP-BOOKS. No. 6

Zfte %oq of a Halifax privateer

By Archibald MacMechan

Published for the Author by H. H. MARSHALL
at his Shop over against the PROVINCE
HOUSE in Halifax, N. S., 1920.

mo

^> 0£ <&*

(Purchased pr me Xwh£ 'Pitra fylkdticnL.
at Q loot's University aumt

THE LOG OF A HALIFAX PRIVATEER.

It lies before me as I write, — the old log-book
of a forgotten eighteenth century privateer.
Before Poland disappeared from the map of
Europe, before the Thirteen Colonies became
the United States of America, before Quebec fell,
and with it the power of France in the new
world, this venerable sea document had been
drawn up and laid away. It is curious to look
at; its very appearance suggests the sea. The
half-quire or so, of blank leaves are stitched into
a bit of old sail-cloth, coarse in grain, and of a
very "precious" dusty brown colour. Bits of
red official wax stick here and there; for in the
presence of one of His Majesty George II 's
Justices of the Peace, the keeper of the log
made oath that he had kept a true record; and
the log-book was duly sealed and stored up in
the archives of Halifax.

A century after, a curious generation ap-
pointed a commission which broke these seals;
and now anyone may read therein, — if he be
skilled in paleography, — and patient. The ink
is faded, and the straggling writing and frequent
blots tell their own tale of the good ship labouring
in the heavy seas, as the painful quill of the
sailor scribe slowly traced these pages. As one
deciphers the meagre entries, an obscure and
forgotten chapter in our history is opened to
his view; but though obscure and forgotten, it is
both significant and typical. Up to the present
time, privateering, though a large part of naval
warfare and a legitimate form of mercantile
speculation, has remained unrecorded. Logs and
other sources of information were not given to
the public; it was to the interest of all concerned
to keep them strictly private. These tattered
pages can tell a remote and peaceful generation
what privateering really was. The old log-book
has another interest. It carries the mind back
to the great struggle of the Seven Years War, —
the struggle that gave scope to the genius of
Pitt, of Wolfe, of Carlyle's Frederick, — the
struggle which grew from a skirmish on the
borders of the Anerican wilderness into a conflict

as wide as the world, and drew with it the most
momentous and far-reaching consequences.

My title may perhaps raise hopes that are
doomed to disappointment. The log-book of a
privateer suggests Smol'ett, Marry at and Clark
Russell; but I have no lengthened tale of desper-
ate encounters at long odds, of hairbreadth
escapes and rich prizes. The record consists
of some half-dozen folio pages, comparatively
barren in events, and couched in the plain
phrase of an unromantic Jack tar. But in this
very plainness lies its chief attraction; for the
curt, unpretending jottings deal with fact, and
reveal the privateersman's every day life more
eloquently than the novelist's most labored
narrative. By piecing out the various entries
with information derived from other sources,
it is possible to reconstruct, in part, at least,
the story of this particular cruise.

On November 16th, 1756, six months after
the declaration of war, Robert Saunderson and
Malachy Salter, merchants of Halifax, obtained
a lettei of marque for the hundred ton schooner
Lawrence, which they owned and had fitted out
as a "private vessel of war." A letter of marque
empowered a vessel to make war on her own
5

account for the benefit of her owners; and this
was only granted after Malachy Salter, Robert
Saunderson and Captain Rous had given a
bailbond for fifteen hundred pounds, good English
money, to guarantee the fulfilment of the con-
ditions on which the letter of marque was
granted. The Lawrence was to bring all her
prizes to Halifax to be adjudged in the Vice-
Admiralty court, was to report all information
she might obtain as to the enemy's move-
ments, and to keep an accurate log. On Nov.
16th, the privateer was ready for sea.

The Lawrence was named evidently out of
compliment to the governor of the province,
under whose hand and seal her license to carry
on private war was issued. She was victualled
for six months and carried a crew of about one
hundred men. Her armament consisted of
fourteen little carronades, throwing a four-
pound ball, and twenty swivels. These last were
small pieces of ordnance, in some cases no larger
than a good-sized blunderbuss. Sometimes they
were provided with flare mouths to make
the charge spread, and were mounted on light
carriages which could easily be trundled about
the decks. They were perched on the bulwarks
6

sometimes, and even in the tops. Like the
various machine-guns of the present day, they
were intended for use at close quarters, to repel
boarders, or to cover the rush of their attack.
There were besides "furniture and ammunition
in proportion for a six months cruise." Furni-
ture is a word used in the Elizabethan navy.
It means armourer's and gunner's stores.

The officers of our licensed pirate were
Captain Joseph Rous, Robinson Ford, lieutenant,
and Andrew Gardner, mate. Gardner kept the
log. He was evidently a plain seaman, more
familiar with cutlass hilt and rope's end than
pen and ink and the mysteries of the spelling-
book. Dr. Johnson's celebrated dictionary had
been published only the year before, but it is
quite unlikely that the great lexicographer's two
stout quartos formed part of the little Laurences
"furniture" for her six months cruise. The
honest sailor's grammar is unfettered by pedantic
rules. His spelling is phonetic and never tamely
consistent. His hand of write is none of the
best, even when his vessel is at anchor; but when
she is bucketing about in a gale, his hierogh-
phics require a second Champollion. Of Lieut-
enant Robinson Ford I have no facts to com-

municate. The records are dumb concerning"
him. Rous, the commander belongs apparently
to a breed of sea-dogs, of which our early records
make frequent mention. Captain John Rous,
for example, was a man of mark in his time.
From being the commander of a colonial priva-
teer, he rose to the rank of captain in the Royal
Navy. He was present at the first capture of
Louisbourg in 1745, carried the news of that
brilliant exploit to England, and received speedy
promotion for his services. When Halifax was
founded, he was Cornwallis's right hand. Any
particularly difficult job was given to Rous.
He assisted in the second capture of Louisbourg
in 1 756 and in the more famous capture of Quebec
the next year. It was from his ship that Wolfe
issued his last order. Rous himself died a year
later in Halifax.

The likeness between his career and that of
Joseph Rous seems to point to likeness in blood.
His name also occurs in documents relating to
the founding of Halifax. He was agent for the
Lunenburg settlers, held various commands, and,
in his old age apparently, was made keeper of
the lighthouse at Sambro and Captain of the
Port. It would seem, then, that while his

services were appreciated, his cruises had not
made him a wealthy man. In the entries of
these appointments, he is styled 'gentleman* and
'senior.' A junior Joseph Rous emerges as
captain of the pilot schooner Dolphin, in 1753.
Unless he is the son of Joseph Rous senior, the
distinction would be meaningless. Even a fourth
of the name, one William Rous, crops up as
commander of the Anson schooner, in 1750.
It would seem safe to infer that the Rous family
took naturally to seafaring, and were men of
ability and trust.

So much for the officers: what of the crew?
No record of their names has reached the scribe,
but something is known of them in the lump.
That the new fiat city on the shores of Bate saine
was settled by trade-fallen soldiers and sailors
is known to all; but the war in which they fought
is forgotten. England has fought so many wars.
This was worthy of memory because it was pre-
cipitated by a tale of outrage upon a single
Englishman. It saw for the last time a King of
England in battle, fighting at the head of his
men. It lasted nine years. One incident was
the vain attempt of the handsome, gallant heir
of the Stuarts to regain the English throne, a
9

fruitful source of song and story. As epitaph
for the fallen was composed the most beautiful
requiem ever written for the heroes in an English
war.

How sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest.

But who remembers how "Old Grog" made
good his boast of taking Porto Bello with six
ships of the line? Who remembers how Anson
repeated the exploits of Drake and Cavendish
in the South Pacific; sailing round the world,
and bringing home Spanish treasure, which
thirty-two waggons could hardly carry from
Plymouth to London? Yet among the many
"mariners" who filled the famous thirteen
transports were men who had sailed in H. M. S.
Hampton Court which led the line into the
narrow entrance of Porto Bello, and H. M. S.
Burjord, the fourth, which carried Vernon's
flag right up to the guns of the Spanish forts.
There were men who had sailed in the Centurion.
In the list are the proud old names which date
from Elizabeth's navy — Dreadnought, Revenge,
Rainbow, Tiger, Vanguard — and which were des-
tined to win new glory under Nelson and Jellicoe.
10

It was men from these ships who first settled
Halifax, and manned the little Lawrence. The
governor complained that there were no laboring
men in the town; they had all gone privateering.
Accustomed to the unspeakably rough, hard,
roving life of the old navy, these mariners could
not settle down into peaceful husbandmen or
fishers. The "King s hard bargains" most of
them undoubtedly were; life ashore did not suit
them; the breath of war blew in their ears, and
they took to the sea again.

Thus victualled, armed, officered and man-
ned, the Lawrence sailed out of Halifax harbor
some time in November, 1 756 to do battle with
the enemies of King George the Second on the
high seas. What she did between that time and
the following spring, whether she was lucky
in the way of prizes or not, I cannot tell. But on
March 22nd, 1757, she was at anchor in the
port of George's, Bermuda. On that day,
Andrew Gardner, mate, wrote the heading of a
new log, the old one probably having been
deposited with the authorities of that port.
The blank pages were ruled like a modern log-
book, with columns at the side for the hours and
11

knots, and a wider space for the remarks. The
heading that Andrew wrote was this:

"A Log and Journal of Our Intened Cruze
by the Permison of God in (end of leaf gone).
Against His Majest Enemis the Freeh in the
Lawranes Schoones Prived Vessel of Ware
Joseph Rous Commander from Bermuda, March
22, 1757 Cap Cept by me Andrew Gardner."

The next day at noon the Lawrence weighed
anchor and got under sail in a very leisurely
fashion. The little four-pounders banged away
in a nine-gun salute to the town and were an-
swered by a single gun from the shore. A
certain captain "Hale" and "severile gentlemen"
were on board, no doubt discussing the chances of
prize-money, and drinking success to the run.
When the schooner crossed the bar, she hove to,
sent the gentlemen ashore, and paid them the
compliment of a five-gun salute. We were
ceremonious in those old days. Then she bore
away for Halifax, and at six o'clock in the
evening the eastern end of the island was four
leagues astern. The clear weather which
permitted Andrew Gardner to make the good
observation he noted with satisfaction, continued
next day, and the Lawrence bowled along with a
12

following wind. On Friday, the "modred and
clear weather" continuing, the privateer sighted
at one o'clock a strange sail, apparently a full-
rigged ship, a Frenchman for he carried a tier
of round ports. The little wasp of a Lawrence
manoeuvred to windward of the stranger, and
then, with the British ensign flying, bore down
on her expected prize. Still he showed no colors,
as a peaceable and friendly trader should have
done. The failure to respond to signals was
suspicious;

"So our Capt. Desird the peple to get Redey
for we were almost alongside he gave orders to
fire 2 Guns."

The range was short, and the Lawrence s
gunners, doubtless old men-o'-war's men, were
skilful or lucky, for both shots got home.

"One went threw his foremast and the
other carid 2 of his fore srouds."

Seeing that the little schooner was very
much in earnest, the stranger then "hell ope his
Colors," which apparently were English, or
Dutch. A parley ensued.

The two vessels remained alongside, till the
stranger captain told Rous that he hailed from
Charleston, South Carolina, which was still one
13

of our American plantations. This was not suffi-
cient for the privateersman. The stranger was
ordered to heave to, and send his captain and
his papers on board.

4 'Then Capt. Rous examined them and
found he cleared out as he said."

Evidently the merchantman did not much
relish being run down and fired into without
word or warning; for honest Andrew records
that "he v/as very Sasey and yoused Capt.
Rouse with Bad Langwich," emphasizing the
stranger's curious incivility with capitals,
"which," he continues with a delicious flavor of
Bret Harte, "Capt, Rouse ordered the Liftand
and I to go into the Bote and Examen the
peple and Shartch the Shipe which wee did."
As she lay helpless under the guns of the priva-
teer, the unlucky trader from Charleston, S. C.
could do nothing but submit. Evidently there
were high words; Rous would not be altogether
mute, and the "Sascy"-ness of the merchant
captain only provoked him into further annoy-
ance. In passing, it would be interesting to
know approximately how bad was the deep-sea
"Langwich," which would excite remark in a
salt of the eighteenth century. Robinson Ford
14

and Gardner found only two English sailors and
two Frenchmen on board; the ?est were Dutch.
These four they brought back to the schooner's
quarter-deck, where Captain Rous questioned
them to see if their tales agreed with the ship's
papers; and "wee found" (to our visible regret)
that "we cold not make a prise of her."

It was too bad that the little mistake had
occurred, and Captain Rous does all in his power
to make amends. He sent the stranger captain
and his four seamen back to their ship, with
Gardner and two carpenters. But the other

captain turned sulky. Gardner records that he
"was note willing to go on Bord." Perhaps he
had some notion of getting compensation for the
injury and delay. Rous was not to be trifled with.
"But Captain Rous ordered him in the Bote,"
and, — "wee went." Till dark the two carpenters
were busy cutting up a spar to fish the wounded
foremast. Night came on before the work was
finished, and they returned to the Lawrence,
leaving the stranger to mend his mast, and
proceed on his voyage as best he might. It
must have been at the close of this eventful
day that Andrew Gardner sat down in the cabin
to write out his version of the affair. The entry
15

is the longest and most graphic. Evidently there
were several "scenes," and many strange oaths.
If we could only fish up from its corner in Davy
Jones's locker the corresponding entry in the
stranger's log!

The same night the privateersmen had again
hopes of booty. Another sail was sighted, but
the Lawrence was becalmed and could not make
chase. At ten, a light breeze sprang up, and,
at half-past twelve, they sighted the stranger
again. The watch below were called from their
hammocks, and the decks were cleared for action.
By two o'clock, they had overhauled the chase
and found, no doubt to their intense disgust,
that she was a schooner ten days out from
Jamaica. The rules of the war-game do not
permit making prizes of our own ships, so the
Lawrence had to shorten sail, and proceed,
prizeless, on her course.

By this time, the schooner had reached the
stormy northern latitudes and was rearing the
Nova Scotian coast at the very worst season
of the year. From March 27th till April 5th,
the Lawrence was battling with a succession of
storms a landsman would call them. But
Andrew Cardner was not an emotional person;
16

he never errs on the side of over-statement.
He admits there was a "gale" now and then; he
will go so far as to say the wind was "fresh;"
but from various happenings on board, it is
easy to infer the actual state of affairs. First,
it is found necessary to "house" the guns, that
is, run them inboard, and lash them fast with
their nosei> held immoveably against the inside
of the bulwarks. Then the weather is noted
as being dark and cloudy, with "a very large
Seee from the \V. Bord." We must proceed
cautiously, with two reefs in the foresail and three
in the mainsail; and under such reduced canvas
the little Lawrence climbs the huge seas "from
the W. Bord" in the rolling forties.

On Wednesday, March 30th, just a week
after leaving Bermuda, the entry in the log is
very ill-written and the lines straggle away to
one corner. Plainly it was no easy task to drive
the quill across the paper as the vessel rolled
and jumped about in the rough sea. Then came
two days of rain squalls and variable winds.
Suddenly the wind shifted and then died away.
In the lively pitching which followed, the
Lawrence racked her bowsprit out. Her crew
had barely time to secure it and make repairs
17

when the gale was upon them again. With a
mere rag of canvas showing, a double-reefed
foresail, thie privateer scudded before the storm,
or lay to, and hoped for better weather.

On Friday, six of her guns and all her
twenty swive's had to be lowered into the hold
to steady her and to take the weight off her deck.
From the flocks of gulls about the ship, "the
executive" feared they were too near some coast
to be safe, but the leadsman could find no
bottom at ninety fathoms. By this time, the
rigging was beginning to show signs of strain.
There was a succession of more or less serious
accidents. On Saturday, the clue of the mainsail
broke off short, and it took two hours to repair
the damage. For Sunday, the entry reads,
"a hard Gale of Wind and Raine and Squales
of Snow and Very Cold." On this day the
topping-lift block on the main boom split, and
the schooner was hove to until it was replaced.
From all this, the legitimate inference would
seem to be that the Lawrence was a staunch
craft to survive such a buffeting, and that her
crew were as stout as her timbers.

On Tuesday, April 5th, the wind moderates
in the afternoon, and land is seen on the weather
18

bow. It is Cape "Heare," and for the first
time in ten days the Lawrence was able to shake
out all her reefs, and carry all her small sails.
By noon next day, she is abreast of Cape Negro,
and the weather is again "mored and clear."
They are now in Nova Scotian waters, and, after
their two disappointments and the long siege
of rough weather, fickle Fortune smiled for a
moment on the privateersmen. They actually
have a brush with a genuine Frenchman. On
Wednesday they sighted a strange sail making
towards them under a cloud of canvas, carrying
even his "ringtail," a narrow little "kite" rigged
outside the spanker, and his driver," the square
sail underneath the bowsprit. The Lawrence
stood on, hoisted her six guns out of the hold, and
"got all ready to in Gadge." As soon as the
Frenchman was near enough to get a good look
at the schooner's swarming decks, and wicked
looking guns, he sheered off and changed his
course. The Bourbon Lilies and St. George's
Cross fluttered out in defiance of each other; the
stranger discharged his larboard broadside, doing
apparently no damage, and the privateer replied
with all the starboard guns she could bring
to bear. The Frenchman ran for it; but the
19

British ship was not so speedy. In her very
thorough preparation for a hard fight, the
Lawrence had "crotched her booms," to give
more elbow room on deck. The consequent
delay in making sail gave the foreigner a great
advantage and enabled him to escape. Gardner's
note reads, "We Cold not tell which went best,
but it Brest (breezed?) oup and we seemed to
gain upon him but nite Coming one and it being
dark we lost site of him our Cheas was a sloop
of 8 or 10 Gones." With a touch of imagination
he adds," we Jodged (Jogged?) along our Corse
along shore at 6 Cloake Cape le Have Bore N."
The encounter shows the spirit of the privateer,
for the sloop was a full-rigged sloop-of-war, the
the size below a frigate, and yet the Lawrence
did not hesitate to tackle her. Godfrey of the
Rover privateer, after consulting his crew, sailed
into a clump of six hostile armed vessels, nearly
fifty years later.

The next day, the Lawrence anchored
in Halifax harbor opposite the Governor's
Battery at the foot of George St., and her cruise
was over. On April 23rd. Andrew Gardner
appeared before John Duport, Esquire, J. P.,
and swore that his log as aforesaid, was "a just
20

and true Journal of the Cruize from the time of
the said Privateer's sailing from the Port of
Bermuda to her arrival at the Port of Halifax."
Then this rough record of the Lawrence s
voyage was laid away in the provincial archives
for a century and a half. Of the hundred men
who trod her decks, and worked her in fair
weather and foul, and stood to her guns, each
with his own history and passions and hopes, if
only for a fair run and plenty of prize money,
only this frail memorial remains, — of interest
to none but the curious antiquary.

21

NOTE.

This paper appeared first in Acadiensis,
July, IQ02. It has been revised and re- written
with important additions. In preparing my
material I received invaluable assistance from
the late Captain John Taylor Wood, of Talla-
hassee fame.

A. M. M.

NOVA SCOTIA CHAP-BOOKS

* 1

Three Sea Songs

2

The Nova-Scolianess of Nova Scotia *

3

Changing Halifax

4

The Memorial Tower

* 5

The Orchards of Ultima Thule

* 6

The Log of a Halifax Privateer

7

f Clamming

The Nereid's Embrace,
{ The Two Games

8

The Loss of the Atalante

9

" Nova Scarcity "

10

f The Pleasance

\From Minas to the Wotan Line

11

f The Sky-Line
{Old King's

12

f Spring in Ultima Thule
I The Potato Patch

13

The Luck of the Grilse

*14

Twelve Profitable Sonnets

15

Twelve Unprofitable Sonnets

16

Afoot in Ultima Thule

* Already published