YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 06092 7549

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iSweet, S. .,
Sketches of Distinguished Men of ITeAvbury and
Hewburjrport , No. 1. Capt, Moses Erown.
Boston, 1846.

I^ETAl^^

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

1941

Capt. MOSES BROWN,

U. S. NAVY.

SKETCHES

DISTINGUISHED MEN

NEWBURY AND NEWBURTPOKT.

BY S. SWETT.
in

No. I.

CAPT. MOSES BROWN,
OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY.

BOSTON:
PRINTED BY S.N. DICKINSON & CO.
1846.

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1846, by
Samuel Swett,
in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

Ct)a^,?)-is

SKETCHES, ETC

CAPT. MOSES BROWN.

There is no place m the country, we believe, where
the art of ship-building has been carried to a higher
degree of perfection than ia the beautiful town of New-
buryport. During our Revolutionary war, a number of
the principal ships of our navy were built there for the
General Government. In 1787, there was on the stocks
at her principal landing-place the large and elegant ship
Hercules, buUt for a wealthy mercantile house in London ;
and her launching was an object of universal interest and
curiosity. The whole population of the place turned out
on the joyous occasion ; and the inhabitants of the neigh
boring towns flocked in to the interesting fete. We were
present, though merely a child, and witnessed the love
and respect which were felt by all in that assemblage, for
the superintendent of the ship, and her future commander,
Capt. Moses Brown. He was conspicuous for his stout,
manly form, unassuming, — gentlemanly manners, — kind
and conciliatory, but firm and resolute countenance.
Subsequent to this, we observed the urgent solicita
tions of parents and guardians, to persuade Capt. Brown
to receive the youth under their care, as his apprentices ;
that they might acquire the principles of honor, morals

4 CAPT. MOSES BROWN.
and rational religion from a man so exemplary ; and the
principles of their profession, from a navigator so accom-
phshed. A number of years had passed away, our hostihties
with the French Republic had commenced, when we
visited another still more beautiful and finished speci
men of ship-bmlding than even the Hercules, riding at
anchor in the harbor of Newburyport. It was the armed
ship Merrimac, of twenty-eight guns, belonging to the
United States Navy. The prosperous and patriotic mer
chants of Newburyport, fired with indignation at their
own and their country's wrongs, had united together for
the purpose of repeUing the multiphed aggressions and
daring insolence of our former allies, — the French, — and
volunteered to construct this ship and loan her to the
General Government. She lay on the tide, swan-hke,
buoyant, and beautiful ; her tall masts soaring aloft to
meet the lightest zephyr. The master-builders * and con
noisseurs here, had put all their genius and skill in requi
sition, and strained every nerve to make this favorite
ship the model of perfection. Ship-building was then
the Olympic game of our country, and our various sea
ports were contending for the palm. Of all the beautiful
ships produced on this occasion for the navy, the Merri
mac claimed to be the belle, and deserved, it must be
confessed, to wear the crown. As the belle in real life
always betrays some coquetry or device to challenge
admiration, so in the Merrimac might be detected some
little refinement in her apparel, and the standino- of

* V^illiam Hacket, who built the Belle Alliance, was master-btiilder
and superintendent 5 William Cross and Thomas M. Clark, contractors

CAPT. MOSES BROWN. 5
her masts and spars. The inhabitants of the river-towns
and vicinity seemed in danger of falling in love with their
ship, as the sculptor did with his statue. And when we
consider that all her officers were citizens of Newbury
port, and her commander as great a favorite as his ship, —
and add to this, that she was freighted with the sanguine
hope and confident belief of her builders, that she was to
maintain their rights, avenge their wrongs, and vindicate
their honor, — the deep and inexpressible interest this
single ship inspired, can hardly be imagined, and, we
fear, can hardly be believed, in the present day.
On our visit to the Merrimac we found again on her
quarter deck the same naval hero, Capt. Moses Brown,
her commander. He had been designated for the office
by the unanimous wish of his townsmen, and their choice
had been confirmed by that distinguished and discrimin
ating friend of the navy, — of which he may be said to
have been the founder, — John Adams, the President of
the United States.
Having enjoyed Capt. Brown's acquaintance, and one
of our nearest relatives having been one of his appren
tices, in addition to the love and respect borne him by the
public iia general, we felt a personal fondness for him.
When, therefore, during the last year, the elaborate and
meritorious History of Newbury, by Coffin, appeared, we
resorted to it, with impatient cviriosity, to discover the
biography of Brown ; but we turned over its leaves in
vain. In the hope that the author had omitted this, as
he had the l^iographies of many other worthies of his
town, because he had been anticipated by Cushing's ad
mirable sketches of them, in his history of the place, we
resorted to the latter work likewise, but again to no pur-

6 CAPT. MOSES BKOWN.
pose, and our curiosity was completely bafiled. We
turned next to newspapers and other ephemeral produc
tions, and inquired whether any of his cotemporary ac
quaintances, possessed of any information concerning him,
survived. But nearly half a century had elapsed since
the worthy Captain had gone beyond the stars, which had
guided him over the tempestuous ocean while living, and
lighted him at last to his eternal haven of rest. We
were compelled to abandon all further pursuit of our
object as useless, and experienced the deepest regret and
mortification, that so worthy an example as his, that
deserved to be held forever in remembrance, for the last
ing benefit and improvement of mankind, should have
been suffered, so fatally, to fall into oblivion. It was
then that one of his nephews * discovered at last, among
Capt. Brown's grand-children, in a distant part of Maine,
a slight manuscript journal of a part of his life, by him
self, and a very brief continuation of it by the late Joseph
Brown, his son, who was competent to the task, having
sailed with his father in the merchant service and the
navy, and been a preceptor of one of the public schools
in Newbxiryport. Still, however, the document is too
meagre and imperfect to furnish the materials for a biog
raphy of much interest as a minute and connected narra
tive, — though it may suffice, perhaps, to illustrate the
principal traits of his character.
' A Short Sketch of a Life of Toil, by Moses Brown,'
is his modest heading, or introduction, to his journal
though any other hand than his own would have added
that his toil was borne with a philosophy and resignation

* Samuel Tcnnoy, Esq.

CAPT. MOSES BROWN. 7
unexampled, and that his life was one not of toil only,
but of the highest honor, the purest patriotism, and victo
rious gallantry and skill. But never was there an introduc
tion more descriptive of a life, or more characteristic of one,
than this is, of Capt. Brown's. His biography continually
reminds one of the famous Tamerlane, who, when a fugi
tive from his victorious enemies, threw himself on the
ground in despair, and whilst there observed a beetle
rolling towards its hole its little mountain of food, which,
for hundreds of times, fell back on its unyielding propeller,
who persevered nevertheless till its efibrts were crowned
with victory. Tamerlane hailed the omen, and followed
the example with success. The same course of cour
ageous perseverance was pursued by Capt. Brown likewise,
and with success too ; however, it was less splendid
than that of Timour the Great.
Capt. Brown was born Jan. 23, 1742, at Sahsbury,
directly opposite Newburyport, where the river opens
into the ocean, and very near the landing place of the
ferry between those toiwas, and his first introduction to
the mariner's life was doubtless in the ferry-boat. In
this cradle of the deep he was rocked, and during all the
remainder of his life, his ' home was on the deep,' and
' his march was o'er the mountain wave,' in which, we
may say, he was baptized.
In 1757, when fifteen years old, he was bound an
apprentice, as was the uniform custom in those days, and
was placed with Capt. WiUiam Coffin, — whom we recollect
in his old age, a worthy, active, industrious gentleman, —
and his apprentice undoubtedly derived from him many
of the excellent traits of his character. He sailed with
lum immediately on his first voyage ; and all the remain-

o CAPT. MOSES BROWN.
der of his long life may be said to have been but a single,
continuous, uninterrupted voyage. Fifty-seven of his
voyages are recorded ; and his son observes that dunng
one interval of two years, he performed a number of voy
ages which cannot be specified ; and concerning another
interval about as long, the same remark is repeated.
Most of these yoyages, to be sure, were to the West
Indies only, but there were others, to various parts of
Africa and Europe, much longer, — some of sixteen or
eighteen months, and one of more than two years' durar
tion. So brief were the intervals between his voyages,
that he sailed on one of them, in a week after his mar
riage to Sarah Coffin, of Newbury. And on another
occasion he met his eldest son for the first time during
seven years. We shall confine our attention, however, to
those voyages which are distingviished by any uiteresting
event. His advantages for early education must have be^n
very limited ; his parents were unable to furnish the
means for private instruction, and the public education in'
that day was very insignificant. But he acquired in
after life a fondness for books, especially of poetry.
From his quotations in his journal, from various authors,
he must have made some little advance in literature him
self. In 1758 he went a voyage to Louisburg, which was
besieged at that time by the British and Provincials, and
tarried there several months, until the place was surren
dered. He undoubtedly acquired at that time some little
information concerning gunnery and other branches of the
military art, which proved of use to him in his future
career of naval warfare. In 1760, he was promoted to

CAPT. MOSES BROWN. 9
the office of mate, but notwithstanding this, although it
might seem a hardship in our day, all his earnings,
according to the provisions of apprentices' indentures,
belonged to his master.
In 1761 he received a new lesson in naval warfare, and
a far more severe one than his first. The winter of that
year, he says, he passed very pleasantly at home in
taking care of the schooner Phoebe and preparing her for
sea. But, notwithstanding his fond anticipation of hap
piness from sailing in this craft, she proved to be a most
disastrous vessel to him, affording a striking illustration
of the French proverb, ' Man proposes but God disposes.'
He embarked in the Phoebe with Capt. Robertson, in his
Majesty's service, for Halifax and other ports where their
services might be required. On arriving at Halifax, they
found the fleet had already departed for New York, and
after being watered by some of the king's ships, they
were ordered to follow the fleet to that place. Proceeding
to New York, they found them at the Narrows, on the
point of sailing, and having taken on board a company of
Frazer's Highlanders, they joined the fleet immediately,
and made sail with them for the West Indies. They
were separated, in a gale of wind, from the convoy, dur
ing the passage, when they met with two French priva
teers, both of whom they engaged, and beat them off, but
with the loss of their Lieutenant and seven men, killed,
and the Captain and several others wounded ; Brown
receiving a gun-shot wound in his arm, above the elbow.
In two days after this they arrived at Guadaloupe, where
he was confined by his wound for two months in the hos
pital. He then rejoined his vessel, which took in troops
for the capture of Martinique, but in consequence of

10 CAPT. MOSES BROWN.
springing one of her masts, she was discharged as unfit
for the service. In February, he sailed for home, and
after beating for some time on our coast, was driven hack
to the West Indies, short of provisions. It was not till
after an absence of sixteen months that he arrived home
in safety.
In 1764 he married, and immediately afterwards he put
to sea again. A short time after this, he was seized with the
small pox at sea, and was supposed by the ship's company
to be dead. They had placed him on his board, — the bier
of the sea, — and were about to launch him into his watery
grave, when the Captain, beheving that he exhibited
some little symptom of life, rescued him, and ordered
him to be carried to his berth, where he finally recovered.
In 1767, he took command of the Phoebe, which seemed
to be devoted to a disastrous fate to the last. She sprung
a leak on her passage, and was saved only by throwing
part of her cargo overboard. In a voyage soon after
ward he sprung one of his masts. And in 1767 he was
honored with the highest testimony to his worth, from one
who must have been the most competent to appreciate his
character ; his old master, Capt. Coffin gave him the com
mand of his vessel. He continued in this employ nearly
all the time, tiU 1772, when Capt. Coffin's son,* wishing
to take command of his vessel, he rehnquished her. ' In
September, 1773,' he remarks,'! sailed for Martinico,
Dominico, St. Lucia and St. Eustatia, and on my passacre
from St. Eustatia, in Lat. 35° 20' North, my vessel sprang
a leak, which obhged me to take to my boat. In about

* Partner of S. A. Otis, brother of the distinguished orator and
statesman, Hon. H. G. Otis.

CAPT. MOSES BROWN. 11
half an hour the schooner sunk. In tliis situation I
remained with my crew seven days, and was then taken
up by Capt. May, from Philadelphia, "bound to St. Croix,
where he landed me and my crew safely. I then took
passage for Rhode Island ; arrived at Martha's Vineyard
in December, where I took passage with Capt. Jonathan
Parsons for Newburyport, but being cast away on Sau-
quish Beach, I took my land tacks, and arrived home
January, 1774.' Poor Capt. May, on his next voyage,
met with some fatal disaster, and no one to reheve him
in return. He was never heard from.
In 1774, he sailed on a freighting voyage of more than
two years, to various ports in Europe. On his arrival at
Philadelphia, being impatient to reach home, he procured
a sulky, in which he embarked ; but being probably but
little acquainted with the management of his new craft,
and the roads proving execrable, he was overturned, and
his right shoulder dislocated. His next voyage was pros
perous ; but, on the next but one afterward, he became
sick in, and sick of, the Phoebe, and took his final leave
of her.
In April, 1777, he was captured by the British, and
confined till July on board a prison ship in Rhode Island.
He then took command of the -Ship General Arnold,* but
when she was ready for sea, a conspiracy was discovered
among his crew, to murder their officers and take the ship
to Halifax. The conspirators were committed to prison,
and he then altered his ship to a privateer of eighteen
six pounders. But the first gun fired on board, soon

* This and two other armed ships, — the Intrepid and the Minerva,-
and five brigs, all commanded by hira, belonged to the Tracys.

12 CAPT. MOSES BROWN.
after sailing on her cruise, burst, and killed or wounded
all his officers. He was compelled to return to port and
procure a better armament ; when he sailed on his second
cruise, from which, after capturing a brig, he returned-
He soon after sailed a third time, and concerning this last
cruise he very briefly and modestly observes, 'After
cruising four months, and taking several prizes, and fight
ing some warm battles, I was captured by his Majesty's
ship Experiment, of fifty guns, Sir James Wallace com
mander, in June, and escorted to Madeira, and thence to
Savannah, in Georgia, where I had my second degree on
board a prison ship. Whilst I was there, Sir James was
taken by Count D'Estaing's fleet, and Savannah was
besieged and bravely defended, with great loss on the
side of the French and Americans. In November, I was
discharged and got to Charleston, where I took passage
on board the ship Eustise, for Boston, and after making
Rhode Island light, twice, were blown off to St. Eustatia ;
in which passage we lost fourteen men out of thirty-one,
the number of our crew. ' In St. Eustatia, I left her and
took passage for Newburyport. Put into Cape Ann, and
on my journey home, my horse fell on me and bruised me
very much. I arrived home after an absence of fourteen
months, like the Frenchman at St. Eustatia, without
money or goods, only one poor heart, and that almost
broken with hardships.' This is the second time only we
find him journeying by land ; and in both cases he met
with disasters which nearly cost him his life. He seems
to have been as little at home with a horse, as SmoUet's
Hauser Trunion, who thought that when he was on horse
back, with the wind ahead, it was necessary to make
tacks. And no doubt Capt. Brown arrived at the same

CAPT. MOSES EROWN. 13
conclusion that an honest seaman did, who happened to
be caught on shore at Edinburgh in a gale ; and when
the tiles, from the lofty roofs, were rattling about his
head, he exclaimed with an oath, ' What a fool a man is
to stay on shore in a storm, when he might go to sea and
be safe.'
Among his naval engagements, during his third cruise
in the General Arnold, which he so modestly and
unboastingly alludes to only, as some hard-fought bat
tles, there were two of which we have minute and
accurate descriptions, in a journal kept by the saihng
master of the ship, Thomas Greele, which we transcribe
in his own words. — ' 1779, Feb. 25th, sailed from Cape
Ann. March 11th, found the mainmast sprung — 13th,
foremast do.— March 28th, Sunday, at 6 A. M., St.
Michaels bore S. S. E., distance nine or ten miles. Saw
a sail under St. Michaels, which gave us chase — at ten,
came up with us, and proved to be the British ship Greg-
son, mounting twenty twelve-pounders, — a Liverpool pri
vateer, — and one hundred and eighty men. After an
action of two hours and fifteen minutes, she sheared off,
and made sail, but Ave could not come up with her, as our
Spars, rigging, and sails were much cut up ; her loss
unknown, but, from appearances, it must have been
deplorable indeed.' The son of Capt. Brown observes,
' She lost her first heutenant and seventeen men kiUed,
and a number wounded, as was afterward seen in an
Enghsh newspaper, stating that she had the battle with a
rebel frigate of thirty-two guns, and beat her off ! '
On the 20th of May, another battle was fought by
Capt. Brown in the General Arnold, which is thus de
scribed by Thomas Greele in his journal. ' Cape Finis-
2

14 CAPT. MOSES BROWN.
terre, S. W. eight leagues ; at 6 A. M. saw a sail and
gave chase, came up with her at 8 A. M. She proved
to be the Ship Nanny, of Liverpool, Thomas Beynon,
master, mounting sixteen six-pounders. After an action
of an hour she struck, but having many shot between
wind and water, she soon after sunk, we having our fore-
yard cut away, and mainmast and rigging much damaged.'
Capt. Beynon says, in his letter to his owners, ' On the
20th of May, off Cape Finisterre, saw a ship in chase of
us, and being resolved to know her weight of metal,
before I gave up your property, I' prepared to make the
best defence I could. Between 8 and 9 o'clock he came
along-side with American colors, and three fire-pots, one
on each yard-arm, and one at his jib-boom end. Hailed,
and told me to haul down my colors. I desired him to
begin and blaze away ; for I was determined to know his
force before I gave up to him. The battle began, and
lasted two hours ; our ships being close together, having
only room to keep clear of each other. Our guns told
well on both sides ; we were soon left destitute of rigging
and sails. As I engaged under topsail and jib, and we
were shattered aloft, I got the Nanny before the wind,
and fought an hour that way, one pump going, tiU we
had seven feet of water in the hold. I thought then
almost time to give up the battle, as our ship was a long
time in recovering her salhes, and began to be water
logged. We were so close that I told him I had struck,
and hauled down my colors. By the time we were out of
the Nanny, the water was up to her lower deck, nothing
was saved but the ensign, and that full of holes ; for we
had received sixty dozen cartridges from the marmes
besides from the tops. When Capt. Brown heard the

CAPT. MOSE.? BROWN. 15
number of men I had, he asked me what I meant by
engaging him so long. I told him I was then his pris
oner, and hoped he would not call me to account for what
I had done before the colors were hauled down. He
said, he approved of every thing I had done, and treated
my officers and myself like gentlemen, and my people as
his own.' This noble treatment of his prisoners by Capt.
Brown, even when he believed he had good ground to
accuse them of a wanton waste of human life, by their
desperate resistance after all possibihty of their escape
was over, speaks volumes in praise of his chivalrous gen
erosity ; as his rapidly riddhng and sinking his Antago
nist, whose guns were as large as his own, and, within
two, as numerous likewise, speaks volumes in proof of his
gallantry and skill. And these engagements will immor
talize him among the most distinguished naval com
manders. In 1782, he sailed in the ship Intrepid, of twenty
twelve-pounders, and procured a cargo of half a milhon
dollars value at L' Orient, which he landed in Baltimore,
whence he sailed to the Havana and sold his ship. He
was wrecked on Cape Lookout, on his passage home,
where he arrived after an absence of a year and a half.
His next voyage was to Ireland, where his veajpl was
seized, and escaped only with the loss of part of her
cargo, and four hundred guineas spent in a six months'
litigation, and a loss to the Captain of most of his prop
erty carried out as an adventure. In 1788, he resigned
the Hercules, not hking her destination ; and he observes,
'I returned home, throwing myself once more on the wide
world for employment, to earn bread for myself and family.
After lying a hull for some time, and seeing nothing to

16 CAPT. MOSES BROWN.
advantage, I thought it time to cah ah hands and veer ship,
and make sail in chase of industry ; from which I have
always found a sufficiency to feed and clothe myself and
family.' He then purchased one-eighth of a vessel, m
which he embarked his ah, and his voyage was pros
perous. In 1790, he gave a dinner, on his forty-eighth bh^h day,
to a few of his friends* in the West Indies, and he here
ends his journal as follows : ' May the blesshig of God
attend this voyage, which leads me to join Don Alphonso
in saying, that the wisdom of man strives in vain agamst
the decrees of fate. A man of fortune is like a tree
loaded with fruit, which people crowd about till it is all
off, and then pass it unnoticed to another.
' Wbat is our God, or what his name,
Nor man can leai-n, nor angels teach.
He dwells concealed in radiant flame,
Where neither eye nor thought can reach.'

ON LOSING SOME TEETH.
' How weak the prison where we dwell.
Flesh's but a tottering wall.
The breaches every day foretcU,
The house must shortly fall.'
And happy those who are prepared for the dissolution !
MosBS Brown.'
We find nothmg in his journal or his son's supplement
to it, concerning his command of the Minerva, a Letter
of Marque of twenty-two guns ; though we have in our
* Captains Wills, Wheelwright, and Holland.

CAPT. MOSES BROWN. 17
possession his commission as Commander of that ship,
signed by Samuel Huntington, President of the United
States Congress, dated 24th Feb., 1781. There is in
this commission a singular clause, which exempts the
vessels belonging to the Bermudans from all capture or
molestation, from which it appears that, at this time, their
Islands were made an exception from the war we were
waging against all the rest of Great Britain.*
The commencement of the French Revolutionary war
found him engaged in his mercantile voyages. But
being attacked by a dangerous abscess, produced prob
ably by his continual voyages, and his exposure in pesti
lential climates, he was confined at home, while his son
took command of his vessel, which was captured and
carried to New Providence, where, after a detention of
some months, part of her cargo was condemned. In
December, 1794, he sahed for the West Indies, and
encountered a fierce storm, in which his mate and two of
his men were washed overboard ; but the mate and one
of the men miraculously escaped, by being caught in the
bag of the sail they were reefing, which hung over the
side of the vessel. On his next voyage he was captured,
and his vessel and cargo condemned at Bermuda.
In May, 1798, our quasi war with the French Republic
commenced, and ' from the celebrity Capt. Brown had
acquired as a naval commander, he was a candidate for a
distinguished post in our navy, which was rapidly rising
into respectability, from the annihilation into which it
had fallen, after our peace with England. He received a
Captain's commission in the navy, and was ordered to

? See note A at the end.
2*

18 CAPT. MOSES BROWN.
take command of the Merrimac, which mounted 20 nine,
and 8 six-pounders, and was of four hundred and sixty-
seven tons, and was rated by her builders, through their
partiality, perhaps, for their favorite ship, as a sloop of
war. She was rated as a twenty-four in the Navy
department, where the rates of ships, however, were then
scarcely any indication of their force. The other officers
of the Merrimac were Michael Titcomb, 1st Lieutenant ;
Samuel Chase, 2d Lieutenant ; Jonathan Titcomb, Sailing
Master ; Joseph Brown, Nathan Fletcher, and Benjamin
Whitmore, Midshipmen. In the latter part of 1798, the
sliip sailed on her first cruise to the West Indies and the
Gulf of Mexico, and joined the squadron under Commo
dore Barry. By the law, unfortunately, the seamen of
our navy at this time were enlisted for a year only, and
our ships were compeUed to return, after short cruises, to
renew their enhstments. After an absence of about
fifteen months, Capt. Brown returned to this country,
and, after renewing his crew, repaired to his former cruis
ing ground. He remained abroad until peace, which
took place in February, 1801. Capt. Brown was not so
fortunate as Truxton of the Constellation was, in meeting
the Insurgente and the Vengeance ; or as Little of the
Boston was, in meeting the Berceau ; — ships of sufficient
force to crown their conquerors with laurels. But there
was not an officer in the navy, probably, during our war
Avith France, more distinguished than Capt. Brown, for
activity, judgment, vigilance, and skill ; or for more sub
stantial benefits to his own country, or more substantial
detriment to the foe. He captured the following armed
vessels from the enemy. The large Brig Brilliante, of
sixteen guns ; Magicienne, of fourteen guns and one hun-

CAPT. MOSES BROWN. 19
dred and twenty-eight men ; and Le Bonapart ; and the
Phenix, of fourteen guns and one hundred and twenty-
eight men. Besides this, he recaptured numerous vessels
of our own country, and of Great Britain, which had
been made prizes of by the enemy ; and he commanded,
as Commodore, the naval force which assisted in relieving
Curacoa, and expelling the French from that Island.*
Doctor Nathaniel Bradstreet, for many years an emi
nent physician in Newburyport, respected for his profes
sional talents and skill, and beloved for his amiable man
ners and disposition, commenced his profession as surgeon
on board the Merrimac. He relates that, while in the
Gulf of Mexico, they were visited by one of those tre
mendous storms, which are known only within the tropics,
accompanied with the most terrific thunder and lightning
he ever witnessed. Every man on board was thorough
ly appalled at the instant inevitable destruction which
seemed impending over them, excepting their Commander,
who, in the height of the tempest, was walking his quar
ter deck in total, absolute, unrufiled composure. Doct.
Bradstreet, though a very firm man, observing him, was
tempted by his anxious apprehension to venture beyond
the bounds of formal propriety, and put the question to him,
' Do n't you think we are in danger from the storm, Sir ? '
when Capt. Brown very calmly replied, ' Why, Doctor,
it has not hurt us yet.' And there was no acting there.
In the midst of this war of worlds, his impassive intellect
framed at once his instant, most logical answer to a very
logical man, and even threw in a gleam of his own spor-
See note B at the end.

20 CAPT. MOSES BROWN.
tive humor besides, for the encouragement of those about
him. There is a surpassing interest in all this, and a
lofty subfimity indeed, that would render all further com
ment superfluous. It is superior to aU the poets ever
feigned. No sooner had peace taken place, than our govern
ment was guilty of the most impohtic and penurious dis
regard of our navy, and this too wliile we were disgrace
fully submitting to the tribute extorted from us by the
petty Barbary pirates. But what was more ignominious,
they were guilty of signal ingratitude and inhumanity
toward the gallant and grey-headed veterans, and other
distinguished officers of the navy, who had, at the peril of
their lives, carried us through the war triumphantly.
The twenty-eight captains of the navy were at once
reduced to nine. More than two-thirds of those in com
mission were dismissed from the service and compelled to
seek their fortunes anew. They were trodden under foot
by their own government, which was more than their
armed enemy could ever succeed in accomplishing.
A whimsical theory was adopted by President Jeffer
son and his supporters, in regard to the navy ; which was
unfortunately carried into practical execution. Numer
ous gunboats were substituted in place of the usual ves
sels of war. But the impohcy of this was so gi-oss and
obvious, that it was very soon abandoned.
Capt. Brown, though no warm partisan, was a decided
Federalist, and in direct opposition to the party pohtics of
President Jefferson; and his friends, when he was dis
missed from his office by Jefferson, loudly and indignantly
proclaimed him the victim of political persecution. But
whatever was the motive of the President, the operation

CAPT. MOSES BROWN. 21
of the law and the execution of it, in the case of Capt.
Brown and a few others, must be acknowledged to amount
to gross ingratitude and inhumanity. His fate may justly
be compared to that of the Roman hero Behsarius, who
was driven out, by his ungrateful country, in his old age,
to beg.
Capt. Brown had well maintained and educated his
family, by that industry, of which, to use his own expres
sion, he had been, all his life, in chase. But his property
was inconsiderable, and he was compelled to resort to his
mercantile voyages again for support. But his iron
frame and his unbending sjDirit, which had so long been
proof against the pestilence of the tropics, the thunder of
hostile artillery, and the violence of the ocean, yielded at
last to the assaults of time, and his accomphce — death.
When near home, on one of his voyages, he was seized
with apoplexy, and died suddenly on the 2d of January,
1804, at the age of sixty-two. They had, indeed, already
made the land ; but he was placed a second time on the
bier of the seaman, and never to revive again, tiU the
archangel's trumpet summons him from his quiet repose.
He was buried in the ocean. Deep and natural were the
lamentations of his affectionate family, because his re
mains were not brought on shore, that the obsequies due,
might be performed for hun there. But his funeral rites
were entirely appropriate, and perfectly in keeping with
the whole course and tenor of his hfe. The only appro
priate tomb for him was the deep, where, during the
whole of his protracted hfe, had been his home. The
only proper mausoleum for him was the mountain wave,
which he had made so long subservient to him.
The ocean he sailed on while living,
Will sigh o'er him now he is gone.

22 , CAPT. MOSES BROWN.
Although comparisons are invidious, the most striking
and forcible manner of illustrating his character, that we
can devise, is, by placing hun for a moment, along side
the most renowned naval hero of our revolutionary war,
John Paul Jones, whose victories were incomparably the
most brUhant of the navy during that war ; though
Brown's victories were splendid enough to satisfy the
'ambition of any man. But look at Brown's modest
truthfulness, his yea, yea, and nay, nay; and then at
John Paul's romancing ; at the unsullied purity of
¦ Brown's domestic hfe and moral character ; and then, at
the unquestionable dissoluteness of Jones ; and the com
parative perfection of Brown's character must stand con
fessed. It is to be regretted, that scarcely a single anecdote
can be discovered, to illustrate the more domestic and
personal character of Capt. Brown. His disposition was
exceedingly social and affectionate. He was the dehght
of all his relatives and friends, an exhaustless story-teUer,
and a special favorite with children, of whom he was
always devotedly fond. And he did not gratify them
less, by spinning his long yams, than by his very fre
quently treating them, more congenially, with dehghtful
excursions m his boat, on his loved Merrimac and the
neighboring ocean.
In the Arminian church, where he worshipped, which
in his day was, by the great majority, deemed to be
heretical, and its worshippers doomed to destruction,
preparations had been made, on Sunday, for the baptism
of one of Capt. Brown's grand-children. But, when the
time arrived for the performance of the rite, the child
was not forthcoming. The erect, courteous, and patri-

CAPT. MOSES BROWN. 23
archal clergyman. Parson Cary, arose In his pulpit, and
knowing well his man, and that he could depend on his
self-possession, inquired, ' Capt. Brown, do you expect
your grand-child to be brought in for baptism to-day ? '
When the Captain, rising in his pew, in his plain, simple
manner, rephed, ' I did expect it, Sir, but they seem to
have been detained ; ' and the services proceeded ag
usual, as if nothing uncommon had taken place.
Had Capt. Brown hved in our time, he would have
been a decided champion in the temperance cause. In
his day ardent spirit was fatally mistaken for a necessary
of life, and all were at least moderate drinkers. Capt.
Brown was very exemplary in his moderation ; and while
on a voyage, discovering that one of his officers too fre
quently and immoderately resorted to a small cask of
spirit, — a part of the ship's stores, ¦ — he did not hesitate to
make what he must have esteemed a very great sacrifice.
In his conciUatory manner, he made an imperceptible
leak in the cask, by which it was effectually drained.
When next his officer resorted to the cask, and, putting
Ms hand on it, discovered it was empty, so abject a slave
had he become to the enemy that was destroying him,
body and soul, and so appalled was he at the sudden and
instant sense of his deprivation, that his whole strength
failed him ; he sunk under it helpless on the floor.
Capt. Brown meeting with another person of his own
name in a foreign port, to distinguish him from the latter,
was designated as Gentleman Brown.

The Government sold the Merrimac, under the name of the Monticello, for a mer
chantman. As though indignant at the insult, she soon lay a wreck on Gape Cod,
in one common tomb with her commander, as the Scythian warrior and lus war-
horse of old shared one common grave.

NOTES. Note A.
Unable to discover any information concerning: this exemption of Bermudan
property from capture, we applied to Hon. Jud^e Davis, a distinguished historian,
and for twenty-four years the valued and efficient President of the Historical So
ciety. Although he could refer us to no writer on the subject, he favored us with
an interesting reminiscence of his own, A little previous lo his entering college,
in 1777, he attended a trial before Judge Nathan Gushing, in the Admiralty Court
at Plymouth, where, he thinks, the question was, whether the property in dispute
was Bermudan, and therefore exempt from capture. The two most eminent and
eloquent advocates of the day, John Lowell and Francis Dana, were opposed to
each other in the case, and so deep was the impression produced on him by their
eloquence, that he has retEUned the most vivid recollection of it ever since, for
seventy years.
Lowell was a most powerful and persuasive orator, and although he was en
gaged as counsel in a great number of capital cases, he never lost one. He was of
Newburyport, and would come "within the scope of these Sketches, but his biogra-
f)hy would be loo difficult a task. So eminent was he as a man of genius and
earning, as an advocate for the emancipation of slaves, as a statesman and judge,
that he deserves a Plutarch and a biography that "will be immortal.
Dana was afterwards Minister PTenipotenliary to the Court of Russia, and for
many years a most distinguished Chief Justice of our Supreme Court. So thor
oughly was he imbued with eloquence, that even throughout his old age, it retained
its pristine vigor. The elegance and eloquence of a speech of his before a com
mittee of our Legislature, a few months before his death, in 1811, at the age of 64,
elicited the warmest admiration. The much esteemed Rev. Dr. Dana of Newbu
ryport, the fiftieth anniversary of whose ordination was celebrated there sometime
since, is his second cousin. They are supposed to be of French Huguenot ex
traction, and the French spelling of the name is Denis.
Note B.
It was not till we were nearly through the press that we understood from Henry
Lunt, Esq., to whom we are obliged for other information, that Benjamin Whit
more, Esq, was on board the Merrimac, and yet living at Portland. We extract
the very interesting information contained in Mr. Whitmore's letter to us. He
says, after looking into his journal of the lime he was on board the Merrimac, ' At
that period I was a midshipman on board the Merrimac, and I find in addition to
several others, to which you have alluded, that the Brig Brilliante was captured
by our ship. She was one of a banditti which made a descent on the Island of
Curacoa, at a lime when the French and Dutch were at amity. If my recollec
tion serves me, there were twelve or thirteen of this squadron who visited Curacoa
and caused the Government of the place much trouble. They took Outre Banda
or the west side of the river , and plundered the inhabitants of nearly every thing'
Our ship, with the Petapsco, was ordered there, and on our appearance at the
Island, they all cut and run ; and before they could reach Guadaloupe whence
they sailed, we captured the Brilliante. Others of our cruisers captured two or
three more of the picaroons.' Of Capt. Erown he says, ' He was a brave man
a good disciplinarian, but exhibited much good feeling for the crew under his
charge, and was much respected by all his subordinates.' Of all the one hundred
and fifty on board with lum, Mr. Whitmore knows but one besides himself sur
viving. Mr. Lunl's father, Capt. Henry Lunt, Lieut, to John Paul Jone's, was one of the
bravest of the brave, and we regret to see Slidell's critioism on hira in his Life of
.Jones. It has been proved, that subsequent to the affair mentioned by Slidell Jonea
spoke of him in the highest terms, and sought his services. '

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