This was the useless lumber man. One night, when we were within a short distance of Cape Trafalgar, a sail was seen on our weather bow, apparently II coming towards us. It was reported to the captain, who was almost instantly on deck; we beat to quarters, and, notwithstanding everything preparatory to action was going ahead with the utmost expedition, the captain was nearly frantic with anxiety, supposing the stranger to be an Algerine. The two long guns in the waist, amidships, were usually run in and secured in a fore and aft position. The crews belonoino" to these o-uns were at work like good fellows, clearing away, and getting them round. But it seemed that the impatience of the captain knew no bounds; he seized hold of a long rammer, and being a powerful man, commenced banging away, right auiong them, as though he meant to break every bone in their bodies; and poor Burns, who happened to be one the crew of the larboard gun, got a blow on the loins which disabled him from further duty.
The rammer was applied indiscriminately, and I came near being one the lucky ones, as my station at quarters was at the pumps, and right abreast of this gun; and as it was quite dark, and the captain being so blinded with rage, that he did not know who he hit. But after all the fuss, the strange sail proved to be nothing more than a Portuguese polacca. Notwithstanding the many good qualities which Capt. Rodgers possessed, he was a very passionate man; aud being very powerful, it gave him frequent opportunities of displaying his great strength. One day, a very large Dutchman, whose grog had been stopped for some offence, went att to ask the captain to please to let him have his grog again, stating Ins innocence of the crime for which it was stopped.
The man told his story, when the captain up fist and hit him between the two eyes, and sent him his length flat upon deck. It appeared that the fellow was rather impudent in his address, using improper language. I would further remark, that we never find perfection, either in man or woman, whatever may be the sphere of life in which they move. Neither do we often find perfect uniformity in conduct; the bravest men are sometimes timid; the most discreet and judicious sometimes make the most egregious blunders; and we soldom read an impartial description of any noted character, that does not seem to be almost a paradox. Over against a virtue will be set a prominent weakness, as in the lives of Chief Justice Hale, and Cotton Mather, both of whom assisted in the condemnation and execution of witches.
Sir Isaac Newton was a believer in alchemy, and with his relative, Dr. Newton, set up furnaces, and were some months engaged in searching for the philosopher's stone. And yet no men, perhaps, ever lived, that possessed more brilliant ideas, than those whom I have just named. Observation induces me to make these remarks, and I apply them more particularly to the navy. Capt. Rodgers was, without doubt, a brave man; and, had there been an opportunity of testing his courage, I think he would have acquitted himself with honor to his country. But he was passionate, and in a paroxysm of rage, what might he not do? Even in the circumstance of the gun — here were two or three men rendered unfit for service, and one probably injured for life.
And if the strange sail had been an enemy, would these men have fought at their gun with the same animation, as they would have done had they not been thus beaten? I answer at once, No. That gun would have been useless! But Capt, Rodgers was an amiable man, after all. He was a finished gentleman; courteous and kind to all, from the first lieutenant to the smallest waiting boy; and though now numbered with the dead, I shall always remember him with the highest emotions of esteem and respect; and not merely for his kindness to me, but for his general deportment as an officer of the United States Navy. We passed Gibraltar on the 10th of August, and anchored at Carthagena on the 14th.
Here we found an Algerine brig-of-war, which had been captured by our Squadron, and sent in here for the present. The American Consul came off to us as soon as we had anchored, and as we were quarantined, communicated the following intelligence while seated in his boat: " The fleet were hourly expected in this harbor; Commodore Decatur had concluded a treaty of peace with the government of Algiers, and had gone from thence to ^ Tunis and Tripoli, to settle matters with those governments." He then gave a short detail of the doings of the fleet after entering the Mediterranean. On their way from Gibraltar to Algiers, they fell in with an Algerine frigate, which they captured after a hard resistance on her part, and sent her into Carthagena.