d. A dreadful execution had taken place
on the Englishman's deck, more than a third of her crew being dead and
wounded, while blood was everywhere.

And so we take our leave of Captain Tucker. He was one of the kind of
sailors that everyone likes to read about.

CHAPTER IX

THE LAST NAVAL BATTLE OF THE REVOLUTION

THE HEROIC CAPTAIN BARNEY IN THE "HYDER ALI" CAPTURES THE "GENERAL MONK"

YOU must think by this time that we had many bold and brave sailors in
the Revolution. So we had. You have not been told all their exploits,
but only a few among the most gallant ones. There is one more story that
is worth telling, before we leave the Revolutionary times.

If you are familiar with American history you will remember that Lord
Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington in October, 1781. That is
generally looked on as the end of the war. There was no more fighting on
land. But there was one bold affair on the water in April, 1782, six
months after the work of the armies was done.

This was in Delaware Bay, where Captain Barry had taken a war vessel
with a few rowboats. The hero of this later exploit was Captain Joshua
Barney, and he was as brave a man as John Barry.

Captain Barney had seen service through the whole war. Like John Paul
Jones, an accident had made him a captain of a ship when he was a mere
boy. He was only seventeen, yet he handled his ship with the skill of an
old mariner. War broke out soon afterward and he became an officer on
the _Hornet_, though still only a boy. Soon after he had some lively
service in the _Wasp_, and captured a British privateer with the little
sloop _Sachem_.

Then he had some bad fortune, for he was taken prisoner while bringing
in a prize vessel, and was put on the terrible prison-ship _Jersey_. Few
of the poor fellows on that vessel lived to tell the story of the
frightful way in which they were treated. But young Barney managed to
escape, and went to sea again as captain of a merchant vessel. In this
he was chased by a British war-vessel, the _Rosebud_. Shall I tell you
the way that Captain Barney plucked the petals of the _Rosebud_? He
fired a crowbar at her out of one of his cannon. This new kind of
cannon-ball went whirling through the air and came ripping and tearing
through the sails of the British ship. After making rags of her sails,
it hit her foremast and cut out a big slice. The Americans now sailed
quietly away. They could laugh at John Bull's _Rose