she foundered in some furious gale, or what befell her none ever
knew. All that is certain is that she perished, and that all on
board her met death in some one of the myriad forms in which it
must always be faced by those who go down to the sea in ships;
and when she sank there sank one of the most gallant ships of the
American navy, with. as brave a captain and crew as ever sailed
from any port of the New World.



THE "GENERAL ARMSTRONG" PRIVATEER

We have fought such a fight for a day and a night
As may never be fought again!
We have won great glory, my men!
And a day less or more
At sea or ashore,
We die--does it matter when?
--Tennyson.


THE "GENERAL ARMSTRONG" PRIVATEER

In the revolution, and again in the war of 1812, the seas were
covered by swift-sailing American privateers, which preyed on the
British trade. The hardy seamen of the New England coast, and of
New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, turned readily from their
adventurous careers in the whalers that followed the giants of
the ocean in every sea and every clime, and from trading voyages
to the uttermost parts of the earth, to go into the business of