and. I allude to Passed
Midshipman Hynson, of Maryland. He was drowned in the brig 'Somers,'
when she capsized in the fall of this year. At the time of her
sinking, Hynson had both of his arms bandaged and in a sling, and was
almost helpless. It was said that when the brig sank he managed to get
hold of a spar with another man, and finding it would not support two
he deliberately let go his hold. It was like him. The way he happened
to have his arm in a sling was this: While the 'Somers' was
maintaining the blockade of Vera Cruz, a vessel managed to slip in--I
think she was a Spanish schooner. The Mexicans moored her to the walls
of the Castle of San Juan for safety; but the officers of the 'Somers'
resolved to cut her out or burn her. Hynson was the leading spirit in
the affair, though Lieutenant James Parker, of Pennsylvania, was the
senior officer. They took a boat one afternoon and pulled in to visit
the officers of an English man-of-war lying under Sacrificios Island.
It was quite usual to do this. After nightfall they left the British
ship and pulled directly for the schooner, which they boarded and
carried. This, be it observed, was directly under the guns of the
castle and the muskets of its garrison. The crew was secured, and
finding the wind would not serve to take the vessel out, it was
resolved to burn her. Her captain made some resistance, and the
sentinel on the walls called out to know what was the matter. Parker,
who spoke Spanish remarkably well, replied that his men were drunk and
he was putting them in irons. The party then set fire to the vessel
and got safely away with their prisoners. It was in setting fire to
the schooner that Hynson got so badly burned."

In regard to the personal heroism shown by Hynson and others when the
"Somers" went down, Lieutenant Raphael Semmes, in his book, "Service
Afloat and Ashore During the Mexican War," said: "Those men who could
not swim were selected to go into the boat. A large man by the name of
Seymour, the ship's cook, having got into her, he was commanded by
Lieutenant Parker to come out, in order that he might make room for
two smaller men, and he _obeyed the order_. He was afterward permitted
to return to her, however, when it was discovered that he could not
swim. Passed Midshipman Hynson, a promising young officer, who had
been partially disabled by a bad burn received in firing the 'Creole'
a few days previously, was particularly implored to go into the