n which he had a command, the enemy was forced to retreat, with more
loss than honor. Barney for his good conduct in this affair, was
appointed to the command of the sloop Sachem, with the commission of
lieutenant before he was seventeen.

Before the cruise, however, Captain Robinson took command of the
Sachem, which soon had an action with a letter-of-marque of superior
force and numbers. It was well contested, and nearly half the crew of
the brig were killed or wounded. In about two hours the
letter-of-marque struck.--The captors secured a valuable prize, in a
cargo of rum, and also a magnificent turtle intended as a present to
Lord North, whose name was marked on the shell. This acceptable West
Indian, Lieutenant Barney presented to a better man than it had been
designed for, for he gave it to the Hon. R. Morris. On the return of
the Sachem, both officers were transferred to a fine brig of fourteen
guns, the Andrew Doria, which forthwith captured the Racehorse, of
twelve guns and a picked crew. This vessel was of the Royal Navy, and
had been detached by the Admiral purposely to take the Doria.

On this voyage a snow was captured, in which the Lieutenant went as
prize master, making up the crew partly of the prisoners. Being hard
by an enemy's ship, he discovered signs of mutiny among his crew, and
shot the ringleader in the shoulder; a proceeding that offered so
little encouragement to his comrades, that they obeyed orders, and
made sail, but it was too late to escape. The purser of the frigate
which captured him, was on a subsequent occasion, so much excited as
to strike Barney, who knocked him down, and went further in his
resentment than fair fighting permits, for he kicked him down the
gangway. The commander obliged the purser to apologize to Barney.
Having been captured in the Virginia frigate, which ran aground at the
Capes, and was deserted by her commander, Barney, with five hundred
other prisoners, was sent round, in the St. Albans frigate, to New
York. As the prisoners were double in number to the crew, Barney,
formed a plan of taking the ship, which was defeated or prevented by
the treachery of a Frenchman.

Barney was a prisoner at New York, for five months, after which he
took the command of a schooner of two guns, and eight men, with a
cargo of tobacco for St. Eustatia, for he was better pleased to do a
little than to do nothing. He was however, taken, after a running
fight, by boarding, by a private