O'BRIEN. 149 



her and, as the latter withdrew, was left alone on the enemy's ship. Seven mus- 

 kets were discharged at him, but he was not hit; then they charged at him with 

 bayonets, but he jumped overboard and swam to the Unity uninjured, despite 

 the hail of balls from the British vessels. John was made first lieutenant on the 

 Vigilant after she and the Machias Liberty had been fitted out. In 1780 he and 

 his brother Joseph built the Hannibal, carrying 24 guns, for privateer service. 

 John captured important prizes in her during her first cruise. As captain of 

 various vessels he made numerous captures in the next year or two. Once, chased 

 by a naval frigate into Long Island Sound, he ran up the Thames river (up which 

 the frigate could not go at night because of her draft). He made a sort of raft, 

 put lights upon it, and sent it down the river the same night; the frigate fired 

 at it and sailed away concluding that it had sunk its opponent. After the war 

 he settled in Newburyport and was ship-owner and captain; was a man of public 

 affairs and charitable; he exercised a large hospitality and, by his contemporaries, 

 is said to have had no idea of the meaning of fear. He died in 1826. 



Gideon, born at Scarboro, Maine, January 14, 1746, was on the Unity in her 

 capture of the Margaretta, and was a captain in the Continental army, 1782, being 

 detailed at Machias. In 1822 he was elected representative to the Maine legis- 

 lature. 



William, also one of the Unity crew, always followed the sea and died at Bil- 

 boa, Spain, 1781. He married Lydia Clarkson (Widow Toppan) in 1790 at New- 

 buryport, and had a daughter, Lydia, who was the mother of John Parker Hale. 

 This grandson of William O'Brien (born at Rochester, Straff ord county, New 

 Hampshire, March 31, 1806) was graduated at Bowdoin, 1827 and entered law 

 practice in 1830 and the legislature in 1832. In Congress, 1843-1845, he defended 

 the right of petition and in 1845 he refused to vote for the annexation of Texas, 

 against the direction of his State legislature. In 1846 he was again in the State 

 legislature, was made speaker, and six days later elected to the United States 

 Senate. There he was the first and for two years (1847-1849) the only avowed 

 opponent of slavery. He was eloquent, witty, and full of good humor, which 

 made him liked, despite his views. Always a reformer, between 1850 and 1852 

 he secured laws to abolish flogging and grog rations in the navy. He declined 

 a presidential nomination by the Liberty party in 1847, but accepted that of the 

 Freesoilers in 1852. In 1853 he removed to New York, but in 1855 went again 

 to the Senate from New Hampshire and kept his seat there until 1865, gradually 

 witnessing the success of the views early advocated by him. Sent to the court of 

 Spain, he had some disagreements with the secretary of the legation that caused a 

 scandal. Later mental as well as physical disorders appeared and he died in 1873. 



Brother Dennis O'Brien also was one of the Unity crew, and, finally, Joseph, 

 a lad of 16 years, the youngest, who was forbidden to go, but nevertheless secreted 

 himself on the sloop, was a brave fighter in the attack on the Margaretta. 



The most distinguishing character of this fraternity is great daring and absence 

 of fear. Of Jeremiah an acquaintance said "a man who knew no fear." Again, 

 "Captain Jeremiah O'Brien was as fearless as the king of the forest, not for a mo- 

 ment hesitating to throw himself into the forefront of any cause by him freely 

 espoused or to face any peril, however great, toward which the voice of duty called 

 him in the prosecution of that cause." Similarly, John O'Brien all alone, practi- 

 cally unarmed, leaps on a war vessel full of armed men a rash and reckless act. 

 So, too, the 16-year-old Joseph, though warned of danger, stows himself away to be 



