TH E LOG OF A HAL I FA " P R I "ATE E R .

I t lies before me as I write ,

—
the old log book
-

of a forgotten eighteen t h century priva teer “

.

Before P oland dis appeared from the m ap of

E urope , before the Thirteen C olon ie s b eca me
the Unit ed S ta tes of America before , "
ueb ec fell ,

and with i t the power of Fr ance in the new

.

world this
, venerable sea d ocu m en t had been
d rawn up and laid away -

. I t is curious to l ook
at "i ts very appearance sug ests the sea g
. The
half q uire or so of blank leaves are stit ched in to
-
.

a bit of old sail cloth coarse in gra in

-
, , an d of .
a
very precious dusty brown colour . Bi ts of
red o fficial wax stick h ere and there "for in the
presen ce of one of H is M ajesty Geo rge l l s
’

J ustices of the P eace , the keepe r of the log

m ade oath that he had ke pt a true record "and
the log book was duly sealed and s tore d up i n
-

the archives o f Halifax .

 A century after a cur i ous generation
, ap

pointed commiss i on which broke these seals "

a

and now anyone m ay read therein if he be ,

—

skilled in paleography ,
—
and patient . Th e ink
is faded and the straggling writing and freq uent
,

blots tell their own tale of the good ship labouring

in the heavy seas as the painful q uill of the
,

sailor scribe slowly traced these pages . As one

deciphers the meagre entries , an obscure and
forgotten chapter in our h i story is o pened to
his view "but though obscure and forgotten it is ,
'

both s i gnificant and typical U p to the present .

time privateer ing though a large part of naval

, ,

warfare and a legit i mate form of mercantile

speculat i on has rema i ned unrecorded
, . Logs and
other sources of information were not given to
the public "it was to the i nterest o f all concerned
to keep them strictly private These tattere d .

pages can tell a remote and peaceful generation

what privateering really was . The old log book -

has another interest . I t carries the mind back

to the grea t s truggle of the Seven "ears Wa r,

the struggl e that gave scope to the genius of

o f Wolfe
'

P i tt , , o f C arlyle s Freder ick ,

—
the
struggle wh i ch grew f rom a skirmish on the
borders of the An er ic an w i lderness into a con fl ic t
as wide as the world and drew with it th e m ost ,
'

momen tous and far -

reaching conseq uences .

"
l ly
’
title may perhaps raise hopes that are
'

d oomed to d i sappointment . The log book of a

-

privateer suggests M a r ryat and C lark

S mol lett ,

Russe ll "but I have no lengthened tale of despe r

ate enco un ters at l ong odd s of hairbreadth ,

escapes and rich prizes The record consists .

of some h alf dozen folio pages comparatively

~
,

barren in event s and co uched in the plain,

phrase of an u n romantic Jack tar But in this .

very plainness lies its chief attraction "for the

curt unpretending j ottings deal w ith fact an d
, ,

reveal the p r ivatee r s m an s every day life more

'
=

eloq uently than the novelist s most labored

narrative By piecing out the various entries
.

with in formation derived from other sources ,

it is possible to reconstruct in part at least , , ,

the story of this particular cruise . .

On N ovember l 6 th l 7 5 6 s ix months after , ,

the declarat i on of war Robert S aunderson and ,

M alachy Sal ter m er c h an ts of H alifax o b tained

,
.
,

a lette r of marq ue for the hundred ton schooner

L awr en ce which they owned and had fitte d out
,

“
as a private vessel of war A letter of marq ue .

empowered a vessel to make war on her own

5
account for the benefit of her owners "and this
was only granted after M alachy S alter Robert ,

S aunderson and Captain Rous had given a

ba i lbond for fi fteen hundred pounds good English ,

money to guarantee the fulfilment of the

, con

d ition s on which the letter of marq ue was

granted . Th e L awr ence was to bring all her
pr i zes to H alifax to be adjudged in the "ice
Adm i ralty court was to report all inform ation
,
'

she m i ght obta i n as to the enemy s move

'

ments and to keep an accurate log

, . On N ov .

l 6 th , the privateer was ready for sea .

Th e L awr en ce was named evidently ou t of

l

compl i ment to the go vernor o f the province ,

‘

under whose hand nd seal her license to carry

a

on private war was issued . She was victualled

for six months and carried a crew of abo ut one
hundred men . H er armament consisted of
fourteen little carronades , throwing -
a four
pound b all and twenty swivels
, . These las t we r e
small p i eces of ordnance in some cases no larger ,

than a good sized blunderbuss -

. S ometimes they
were provided with fl are mouths to m ake

the charge spread and were mount ed on ligh t ,

carriages which could easily be trundled abou t

the decks . They were perched oh the bulwark s
6
 someti m es , and even in th e tops . L ike t he

various machine guns of the present day they

-
,

were inten d ed for use at close q uarte rs , to r e p el

boa r d ers or to cover the rush of their attack
. .

furniture an d a
“
The r e were besides
, mmunition
”
in proportion for a six months cruise .

tu r e is a word used in the E lizabethan navy .

' ’
I t means armourer s an d gunne r s stores .

The officers of our licensed pirate were

Rous Robinson For d lieutenant "
C aptain Joseph , ,

and Andrew Gardner mate Gardner kept the , .

log . He was evidently a plain seaman , more

familiar with cutlass hilt and rope s en d than
’

pen and ink an d the mysteries of the spelling

D r Johnson s celebrated dictionary ha d
’

book . .

been published only the year before but it is ,

q uite unlikely that the great lexicographer s two

’

stout q ua r tos formed part of the little L awr ence s

’

" "’
furniture for her six months cruise . The
honest sailor s grammar is unfettered by pedantic
'

ru les . His spell ing is phonetic and never tamely

consistent . H is han d of write is none of the
best even when his vessel is at anchor "but when
,

she is bucketing about in a gale his h ier ogh ,

p h ic s req uire a secon d C hampollion . Of L i eut

enan t Robinson For d I have no facts to com
m un ic ate . The records ar e dumb c oncernin g
him . Rous the commander belongs apparen tly
,

to a breed of sea dog s of which -

, o ur early records
make freq uent mention . C aptain John Rous ,

for example was a man of mark in h i s t ime

, .

From being the commander of a colonial priva

teer he rose to the rank of capta i n
, in the Royal
N avy . He was present at the first c apture . oi

Lo uisbourg in 1 74 5 carried the news of that

’

brilliant exploit to an d r ece ived s peed yEngland ,

promot i on for his serv i ces When H a lif ax was .

founded he was Cornwallis s r i gh t h and An y

'

, .

particularly d iffic ult job was given to Rous .

He ass isted in the second capture of Lou i sbourg

in 1 7 5 6 and in the more f amous cap ture o f "
uebec
the next year .
'

I t w as f rom his ship that Wolfe

issue d his last order . Rous himself died a yea r '

l a ter in H alifax .

The likeness between his career an d that of .

Joseph Rous seems to point to likeness in blood "

His name also occurs in documents relating to
the founding of H alifax . H e was agen t for the
L unenburg settlers held various commands and
, , ,

in his old age apparently was made keeper of ,

“

the lighthouse at S ambro and C aptain o f the

P ort . I t would seem , then , that wh i le his
8
serv i ces we re appreciated his cruises had n ot
'

made him a wealthy man In the en tries of

'

'
these appointments he is styled gentleman an d
‘

senior A j unior Joseph Rous emerges as

‘

captain of th e pilot schooner Dolph in in 1 7 5 3 , .

Unless he is the son of J ose ph Rous senior the ,

distinction woul d be meaningless . Even a fourth

of the name one W illiam Rous c rops , , up as

commander of the Anso

n schooner , in l 750 .

lt would seem safe to infer that the R ous family

took naturally to seafarin g and were , m en of
ab i lity and tru st .

So much for the offi cer s :

“

w h at of th e c rew ?
No record of their names has reached the scribe .

but someth ing is known of them in th e lum p

'
.

That the new fiat city on the shores of Bai e s ai ne

was settled by trade fallen soldiers and sailors
-

is known to all "but the war in which they fought

is forgotten England has fought so many wars
. .

This w as worthy of memory because i t was pre

c i p itated . by a tale o f outrage upon a single
Engl i shman . It saw for the last time a "in g of
England i n battle fi ghting at the head of his
,

m en .
One incident was
I t lasted nine ye ars .

the vain attempt of the handsome gallan t heir ,

of the S tua rts to regain the English throne , a

9
fruitful source of s ong an d story .
~
As epitaph
for the fallen wa s c om p ose d '

th e most beautiful
req uiem ever written for the heroes in a n E nglish
war .

H ow s leep the brave who sink to rest

By all their c o u n try s wishes blest
’

But who remembers how Old Grog m ade

good his boast of ta king P ort o Bello w rth '

six
ships o f the line ? Wh o re m em b er s h ow Anson
repeated the exploits o f D rake and C avendish
i n the South Pacific "sailing round the world ,

and bringing home S panish treasure " which

thirty two waggons could h ar dly carry from
- ’
fl
,

P lymouth to L ond on ? "t e among the many

"
m ariners who filled the fam ous thirteen
transp orts w ere m en wh o h ad sailed in H M S . . .

H am pton Cour t w hich led the line into the

n arrow entrance of P ort o Belle , and H M "S. .

Burf or d , the fourth , whic h c arried "ernon s ’

fl ag right up to the guns of the Spanish forts .

There we rem en wh o h ad s ailed in the Centur ion .

I n the lis t are the proud old names which date

from E li zab eth s navy Dr eadnought" R ev
’
—
enge .

R ainbow Tiger , , "

a gua d
n r —
and which we r e des
tine d to win new glory under N elson and Jellicoe .

10
I t was men f r om these ships
‘

wh o fi rst -
settled
Halifax and manned the little L awr eii ce
,
'
'
. Th e

governor complained th at therewere no laboring

m en in the town "they had all gone pri vateering .

A ccus tomed to the unspeakably rough ” hard .

r ov ing life of the old navy , th ese r

m ar ine r s
‘

could ‘

not settle down into pea ceful h usb ahd m en or

’

fishers . The
"
"ing s '

hard bargains
”
mo st of
them und oub tedly were "life ashor e did not s uit
them "the breath of war b lew f
in their ears and ,
'

they took to the sea again .

Thus victualled armed , , o ffi c er ed an d m an

of H a
i

n ed , the Lawr ence sailed

i

ou t lifax harbo r "

s ome time in N ovember ” 5 6 to do b attle ,

' ~
w ith
the enemies of "ing George the Second on the .

v — J
f

high seas . What she did between tha t time and -

th e following spring , whether she was lucky

in the way of prizes or not I cannot tell But on , .

March 2 2 n d l 7 5 7 she was at anchor i n the

, ,

p ort of Bermu da On that day

’
f Geor ge s ,
‘

. .

Andrew Gardner ma te wrote the heading

, , of a
ne w log , the old one probably havin g b e en
d eposi te d with the authorities of that ‘

p or t .

The blank pages were ruled like a modern l og ~

book with colu m n s at the side for the hours an d

.

1 1
knots an d a wider S pace for the remarks
, . The
h ead ing that An d re w wrote was this
"
A Log
an d Journal of Our I n tene d C ruz e
by the Per m ison of God in en d of leaf gone ) " .

Against H is M aj es t the Frech

'

En em is in the
Lawr anes Sc h oones Pr ived "essel o f W are
Joseph Rou s Commander from Bermuda M arch ,

22 , W5 ? Cap Cept b y me An d rew Gardner .

”

The nex t day at noon the Lawr ence weighed

anchor an d got under sail in a very leisurely
fashion . The li t tle four pounders banged away
-

in a nine gun salu te to the town and were

-
an

s wer e d by a single gun from the shore . A

" " "
certain captain Hale and s eve r ile gentlemen
were on board no doubt discu ssing the chances of
,

prize money and drinking succe ss to the run

-
. .

When the schooner crossed the bar she hove , to ,

sent the gentlemen ashore and paid them the ,

compliment of a five gun -

s alu te : W e were
ceremonious in those ol d days . Then she bor e
away for H alifax
’

, and at s ix o cloc k in the

evening the eastern en d of the island was four
leagues astern The clear weather which
'

permitted Andre w Gardner to make the g ood

observati on he noted with s at is fac tion continued ,

next day , an d the Lawr ence bowled along with a

12
following w in d . On Fri d ay , the m od re d a nd
clear weather
"
c b n tin u in g , th e p r i atee r
‘
v sighted
at one o clock a stran ge sail apparently a full
'

r igged ship a Frenchman for lie carried a tier

,

of roun d p orts . The little wasp of aLawr ence

manoeuvred to windward of the stranger , a nd

then with the British ensign flying bore d own

, , .

o n her expected prize . S till he showe d no colors ,

as a peaceable and friendly trader should have

done . The failure to respond to signal s was
suspicious "
"
So our Capt Desir d the .
p ep le to get R edey
for we wer e i alm os t alongsid ehe gave orders to
fire 2
hort and the Law
'

The range was s , r en ces

gunners d oubtless old men o war s men w er e

’ ’
~ -
~
, ,

skilful or lucky for b oth shots got home , .

“
One wen t threw his foremast and the
”
other cari d 2 of his fore sr ou ds .

Seeing that the little schooner was ver y

"
much in earnest the stranger then , h ell ope h i s
"
Colors , wh ich apparently were English , or

The two vessels remaine d alongs ide till the ,

stranger captain told Rous that he haile d fro m

C harleston S outh C arolina
, , which was s till o ne
13
of our American plan t ations . This was not suf fi
cient fo r the privateersman . Th e stranger was
ordered to heave to and send h is c aptain and ,

his papers on board .

"
Then Capt . Rous exam i ned them and
”
found he cleared ou t as he said .

E vidently the merchan tman did n ot much

relish being run down and fired into withou t
word or warning "for honest Andrew rec ords
"
that he was very S ass y and y o uSed Capt .

Rouse with Bad L angwic h , emphas izing the

stranger s curio us incivility with capitals
’ '

'

" "
which , he continues with a delicious flavor of
Rouse ordere
"
B ret H arte , C apt , d the . L if tan d
and l to g o into the Bo ts and Examen the
"
p ep le and S ha t t eh the S h i pe whi ch wee did .

As she lay helpless under the guns of the priva

'

tee r the unlucky trader f rom Charleston

, , 5 . C .

could do nothing but submit . Eviden t

ly there
we r e high words "Rous would not b e altogether
"
mute and the S asc y n es s of the merchant
,
~

captain on ly provoked him into further annoy

ance I n passing i t would b e win ter es tin g to
. ,

know approx i mately how h ad was the deep sea -

L an gwic h , which would excite remark in a

salt of the eighteenth century . Robinson For d
14
 and Gardner found only two E ngl i sh sailors find
two Frenchme n on board the r e s t were D u tch "
These four they brought back to the schoone r s
’

q ua r ter deck -
. where Cap tain Rous q uestione d ,

them to see if their tales agreed with the ship s

’

pa pers "and
"
wee found
”

"
to o ur vis ib le r b g r et)
"
that we cold not make '

a prise of her .

I t was : too bad that the lit tle mistake had

occurred and C aptain Rous does
, all in h is power

to make amends : He sent the stranger capta in

an d his four seamen back to their sh i p with .
,
-

Gardner and two carpenter s Bu t the othe r

'

captain turned sulky . Gardner r ecords t hat h ie

”
note will i ng to go on Bord Perhaps he
i f

w as .

. had some notion of getting compensation for the

inj ury and delay . Rous was not to be tri fled Wi th . .

"
But Captain Rous or der ed in the LBo te f
’

h im
'

”
and , went . Till dark the two carpenters
were busy cutting up a S par to fish the wound ed
forem ast .
‘

N ig ht came on before the work was

finished , an d they returned to the Lawr ence “
,

leaving the stranger to mend his mast . .

, and
proceed on his voyage as best he might . It
must have been a t the close of this eventful '

day that An drew Gardner sat down in the cab i n

i

to write out his versi on o f th e a ff air . Th e entry

15
is the longest and most Eviden tly there
" ”
were several scenes , and many s tr an ge o ath s'
.

I f we coul d only fi sh u p from its cor ne r m D avy

‘

'

Jones s locker the corresponding en t ry in the

s tranger s log "
'

The same night the priva teer smen had a gain

hopes of booty . Another sail was sighted "b ut
the Lawr ence was becalmed an d could not make
chase . At te n , a light b r eeze s p r an g
~
up and . ,

at half pas t twelve t h ey sighted the stranger

-
,
“

again . Th e watch below were called from their

hammocks and the decks were cleared for action
, .

By two o clock they had overhauled the chase

’ ‘

an d found no doub t to their in tense d i sgust

. ,

tha t she was a schooner ten days out from

Jamaica The rules of th e war g ame d o
'

.
- '
n ot

permit making prizes o f our own ships so , t he

Lawr en ce had to shorten sail , and proceed ,

p riz eles s , on her course .

By this time the schooner had reached the ,

stormy northern latitudes and was n earin g the

N ova S c o tian coast at the very worst season
k

of the year . From M arch till A pril 5 th 2 7 th .

,

the L awr ence was battling with a succession of

storms a landsman would call them . B ut

Andrew Gardner was not an emotional person "

16
when the gale was upon them again . With a
mere rag of canvas showing , a do
uble reefed -

foresail thie privateer scudded before the storm

, ,

or lay to and hope d for better weat h e r

, .

On Friday , six of her guns an d all her

’
twenty swive s had to be lowe r ed into the hol d
to steady her and to take the weight off her deck .

"
From the fl ocks of gulls about the ship , the
"
executive feared they were too near some coast
to be safe , but the leadsman coul d fin d no
bottom at ninety fathoms . By this time the ,

rigging was beginning to show signs of s train .

There was a succession of more or less se rious

accidents . On S aturday the clue of the mainsail
,

broke o ff short and it took two hours to repair

,

the d amage . For S unday , the entry reads ,

a hard Gale of W ind and Raine and Sq uales

"

of S now and "ery Col d . On this day the

topping lift block on the main boom split and
-
,

the schoone r was hove to until it was replaced .

Fr om all this , the legitimate inference woul d

seem to b that the L awr ence was a staunch
e
craft to su r vive such a bu ffeting and that her ,

crew were as stout as her timbers .

On Tuesday A pril 5 th , , the wind moderates

in the afternoon and land is seen on the weather
,

18
bow . . I t is Cape Heare , an d for the first
time in ten days the Lawr ence was able to shake
out all her reefs and carry all her small sails
'
.
,

By noon next d ay she is abreast of Cape N egro , ,

" "
an d the weather is again mo r ed and clear .

They are now in N ova Scotian waters , an d , after

their two disappointments and the long siege
of rough weather fickle Fortune smile d for a ,

moment on the pr ivateer s m en . They actually

have a brush with a genuine Frenchm an . On
Wednesday they sighted a strange sail making
towards them under a cloud of canvas carrying ,

" " " "

even his r in g tail y a narrow little kite rigged
outside the spanker and h is dr ive
u

r the sq uare ,
’
,

sail underneath the bowsprit . Th e Lawr en ce

stood on hoisted her six guns ou t of the hold an d
, ,

"
got all ready to in Gadge . As soon as the
Frenchman was near enough to get a good look
’

at the schooner s swarming decks and wicked ,

looking guns he sh eered o ff and change d h is

,

course Th e Bourbon L ilies and St Geo rge s

'

. .

C rossfluttered out in d efiance of each other "the

stranger discharged his larboard broad side d oing ,

apparently no damage an d the priva teer replied ,

with all the starboard guns she could brin g

to hear . Th e French man ran for it "b ut the
19
British ship was not so speedy . In her very
thorough preparation f or a h ard fight , the
L awr ence had f c r o tc h ed her booms to give
'

more elbow room on deck . Th e conseq uent

delay in making sa i l gave the foreigner a great
advantage and enabled h i m to escape Gardner s
’

We
"
note reads , Cold not tell which went best ,

b ut "
it Brest breezed ? ) oup and we seemed to
ga i n upon h i m but nite Coming one and i t b eing
dark we lost site o f him our Cheas was a sloop
of 8 or 10 Gones
"
W ith a touch of i magination
J "
.

he adds , we odged
J og ged ) along our C orse
?

Cape le H ave Bore N

”
along shore at 5 C loaks .

Th e encounter shows the spirit of th eprivateer .

for the sloop was a f ull rigged sloop - -

oi -
war the ,

the size below a fr i gate and yet the , L awr ence

did not hes i tate to tackle her . God f rey of the
R over privateer a f ter consulting h i s crew sa i led
, ,

into a clump of s ix host i le armed vessels nearly ,

fi f ty ye ar s later .

T he next day , the Lawr ence anchored

H ali fax
’

in harbor opposite the Go vernor s

Battery at th efoot of George St an d her cruise
was over . On A pril 23 r d . Andrew Gardner
appe ared before John D uport J P , E sq uire , .

an d s wore that h is log as aforesaid was a j ust ,

20
and true Journal of the C ruize from the time of
the said P rivateer s sailing from the Port of
’

Bermud a to her arrival at the Port of H alifax .

Then this rough record of the L awr ence s

’

voyage was laid away in the provincial arch i ves

for a century and a half . Of the hund re d men
“

who trod her decks , and worked her in fair "

weather and foul and stood to her guns each

, ,

wi th his own history and passions and hopes if ,

only for a fair run and plenty of pr i ze money ,

only this frail memorial remains ,

—
of interest
to none b u t the curious antiq uary .

21
 N OTE .

Th i s p aper appear ed fi r st in A cadiensis

J
,

ul y , 1 9 0 2 . I t h as b een r evi sed and r e -

wr i tten
wi th i m por tant add i ti ons . In p r epar i ng my
m ater i al I r ecei ved i nval uab l e ass i stan ce from
th e l ate C aptai n J oh n Taylor Wood , of Talla
hassee fame .

A . M M . .
 "
N O A S COTI A CH A P B OO S -
"

Th ree S ea S ongs
2 a Scotia
The N ova S col ianess o N ov
-

f
Changing H alif ax
The M emor ial Tower
The Or char ds of Ulti ma Thule
6 The L og of a H al if ax P r ivateer
Clamming
The N ereid s E mbr ace
’

The Two Games

8 The L oss .
of the A talante

9 N ova S c ar city
The P leasance
Fr om M inas to the Wotan L ine

Spr ing in Ultima Thule

The P otato P atch
1 3 The L ack of the Grilse

1 4 Twelve P r ofi tab le S onnets

'

1 5 Twelve Unpr ofi lable S onnets

Al r ead y p ub l i s h ed