e two feet above the
heads of the crew, and enabled me to see any dangerous rocks, and steer
clear of them, it being what seamen call a bright bottom. I had on my
head a large brimmed white Panama hat, of course a good mark to shoot
at. A few days previous to my leaving Corn Island, on my last voyage, it
was currently reported there that the United States man-of-war Schooner
Fire Brand was cruising in these seas. We approached the harbor about
nine o'clock in the evening. As we came near the shore we were hailed by
one of the gang who were there, saying, "What boat is that?" My schooner
always carried canoes instead of boats, which we found much better to
land in the surf, and for that reason I had abandoned the use of the
latter in this trade, for the last three years, and all the inhabitants
of that island knew it. My boat being long, and much resembling what is
called on board of a man-of-war the captain's gig, I answered, "United
States Schooner Fire Brand." They said, "pull in then." At that instant
fourteen men fired into us, the shot whistling past my head so close
that it appeared to deafen me for a moment. As soon as they hailed us, I
told the men in the boat to stop rowing, so that the questions and
answers could be distinctly heard. As soon as they had fired, a favorite
old sailor in the boat, who pulled the after oar, with his back toward
the shore, being between me and those who fired at us, spoke to me in a
very mild tone, saying, "Captain, I am wounded." I then told the crew to
pull away, they all gave way upon their oars except this man, who laid
still in the bottom of the boat; this irritated me so much, thinking
that my favorite old tar should be the first to skulk from danger, not
supposing from the mildness of his expression that he was much wounded,
I jumped from the tiller of the boat in great haste, caught him by the
collar and gave him a shake, saying, "Pull away, you skulking fellow."
You may imagine my astonishment when I found that he was a lifeless
corpse. In the meantime I heard the company on shore ramming down their
cartridges into their guns, preparing for another fire. All the time
keeping a bright look-out alongside of the boat, for fear of running
her on the rocks, I discovered that we had got into two or three feet
water, and were not more than one hundred and fifty feet from those who
were preparing to fire a second time. I ordered my men to stop rowing
and follow me, which they immedi