e qualifications necessary to make the service appear
alluring, especially to the young. He was a jovial, good-natured
fellow, of ready wit and much broad humor. When he espied any large
boys among the idle crowd around him, he would attract their attention
by singing in a comical manner the following doggerel,--

'All you that have bad masters,
And cannot get your due,
Come, come, my brave boys,
And join our ship's crew.'

[Illustration: Commodore Barry.]

"A shout and a huzza would follow, and some would join in the ranks.
My excitable feelings were aroused. I repaired to the rendezvous,
signed the ship's papers, mounted a cockade, and was, in my own
estimation, already more than half a sailor. Appeals continued to be
made to the patriotism of every young man, to lend his aid, by his
exertions on sea or land, to free his country from the common enemy.
About the last of February the ship was ready to receive her crew, and
was hauled off into the channel, that the sailors might have no
opportunity to run away after they were got on board. Upward of three
hundred and thirty men were carried, dragged, and driven on board,
of all kinds, ages, and descriptions, in all the various stages of
intoxication, from that of sober tipsiness to beastly drunkenness,
with an uproar and clamor that may be more easily imagined than
described."

But, whatever the methods adopted to secure recruits for the navy, the
men thus obtained did admirable service; and in no year did they win
more glory than in 1778.

As usual the year's operations were opened by an exploit of one of the
smaller cruisers. This was the United States sloop-of-war
"Providence," a trig little vessel, mounting only twelve
four-pounders, and carrying a crew of but fifty men. But she was in
command of a daring seaman Capt. Rathburne, and she opened the year's
hostilities with an exploit worthy of Paul Jones.

Off the south-eastern coast of Florida, in that archipelago or
collection of groups of islands known collectively as the West Indies,
lies the small island of New Providence. Here in 1778 was a small
British colony. The well-protected harbor, and the convenient location
of the island, made it a favorite place for the rendezvous of British
naval vessels. Indeed, it bid fair to become, what Nassau is to-day,
the chief British naval station on the American coast. In 1778 the
little seaport had a population of