en, a cat and Woodes Rogers both have nine lives."

And even the sober Quaker fathers laughed at this sally.

"You have done well," they said. "We will reward you with money and a
good berth. How would you care to be Governor of the Bahamas?"

"Fine!" said Woodes Rogers, chuckling.

And that is the way the old sea-barnacle spent his declining years,
dying at the tropic isle on July 16th, 1732. Hail to this Prince of
Privateers!

TWILIGHT AT SEA

The twilight hours like birds flew by,
As lightly and as free;
Ten thousand stars were in the sky,
Ten thousand on the sea;
For every wave with dimpled face,
That leaped up in the air,
Had caught a star in its embrace,
And held it trembling there.

FORTUNATUS WRIGHT

THE MOST HATED PRIVATEERSMAN OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

(1715-1765)

"It was a high counsel which I once heard given to a
young person: 'Always do what you are afraid to
do.'"--EMERSON.

FORTUNATUS WRIGHT

THE MOST HATED PRIVATEERSMAN OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

(1715-1765)

"'_Be sure you're right, then go ahead!_' was coined by Andrew Jackson,
Who was a fighter, tough as nails, and loved to lay the whacks on,
He followed out this sage advice, in spite of opposition,
While everybody winked and said,--'_A Fellow with a Mission!_'
In other days, in other climes, there lived a seaman daring,
Who loved a fight, as well as he,--was just as good at swearing;
His name was Wright, and thus in spite of all his foemen said,
Old _Fortune_ Wright, was surely right, whene'er he went ahead!"

--_Chants of the Eastern Clipper Ships._--1846.

In the year 1744 war was declared between England and France. French
privateers harried the coast of her rival, caught her merchantmen
whenever they ventured away from stout men-o'-warsmen, and chased them
in the blue, shimmering waters of the Mediterranean. It seemed as if
there were never gun-boats enough to protect the British shipping, and
thus many of the English merchants grew choleric and angry.

Englishmen carried on quite a trade with Italy, Greece, and the
countries of Asia Minor, and at Leghorn--upon the Italian coast--they
had numerous trading shops and docks for their own vessels. They began
to suffer, not only great annoyance, but also great loss, from the
depredations of the French privateers which swarmed about the harbor
mouth and scurried