ong wind on the quarter eight knots was her
greatest speed. An opportunity offered of testing her sailing qualities
a few days after I had the honor to constitute her whole crew.

One morning, at daylight, as we were steering to the southward on a
wind, a sail was made on the lee bow. It proved to be a large ship with
two tiers of ports, not more than three or four miles off, steering to
the westward. As soon as we were seen, the ship hauled her wind,
spread every sail, and seemed determined to ascertain our character
and business in those seas. Captain Moncrieff, with perfect propriety,
resolved, if possible, to prevent the gratification of such impertinent
curiosity. The British cruiser sailed remarkably well; and if we had
been under her lee, our voyage would have ended before it was fairly
begun. But we made short tacks to windward, shooting into the wind's eye
every time we went about, and by three o'clock the ship was hull down to
leeward, when she gave up the chase, squared away the yards, and steered
to the westward.

A few days after this incident we fell in with a large, rakish-looking
schooner on our weather bow. The schooner was heavily armed and her
decks were full of men. She crossed our hawse and kept on her course
until some distance under the lee bow, then hauled to the wind on the
starboard tack, and on reaching our wake tacked within long gunshot and
stood directly after us. She now fired a blank cartridge and hoisted the
Patriot flag.

If Captain Moncrieff had kept his wits about him, and had not been
afraid of cannon balls, we might have escaped, by keeping on our course
or making short tacks to windward. This was worth the trial, as it
was not unlikely the schooner, although showing Patriot colors, was a
Spanish privateer or government cruiser; in which case, it would appear
by letters and other documents that we were bound to LaGuayra, which
at that time was in possession of the Patriot forces, and could expect
little forbearance from the Spaniards, who were waging war to the knife
against the patriots. This was forcibly represented to Captain Moncrieff
by Mr. Campbell; and we trimmed every sail carefully, and kept close to
the wind, with a fair prospect of making our escape.

The piratical-looking craft, perceiving we took no notice of her hint to
heave to, yawed off a couple of points and sent a messenger after us in
the shape of a twenty-four pound shot, which struck the water a short
dista