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Captine of the Gaspe, from a painting belonging to the Rhode Island Historical Society. 



log books, and from descendants of noted privateersmen, he has obtained 

 intimate and vivid accounts of the fitting out of the vessels, the incidents 

 of their voyages, and the thrilling adventures of the brave sailors who 

 manned them. Samuel Reid's desperate fight at Fayal is well known, 

 but he was only one of many who shared in adventures not dissimilar and 

 faced overwhelming odds with the splendid courage characteristic of 

 American sailors. Mr. Maclay's romantic tale is accompanied by repro- 

 ductions of contemporary pictures, portraits, and documents, and also by 

 illustrations by Mr. George Gibbs. In his preface Mr. Maclay says : 



"The history of the United States Navy is so intimately connected 

 with that of our privateers that the story of one would be incomplete 

 without a full record of the other. In each of our wars with Great Britain 

 many of the captains in the navy assumed command of privateers in which 

 they frequently rendered services of national importance, while the priva- 

 teersmen furnished the navy with a large number of officers, many of 

 whom became famous, in our struggle for independence more than sixty 

 American privateers were commanded by men who had been, or soon be- 

 came, officers in the regular service, and in more than one instance — 

 notably that of the officers and men of the Ranger, Captain John Paul 

 Jones's famous ship, then commanded by Captain William Simpson — 

 almost the entire ship's company of a Continental cruiser turned to priva- 

 teering. Many of our most distinguished navy officers have pointed with 

 pride to their probationary career in privateers. The mere mention of such 

 names as Truxtun, Porter, Biddle, Decatur, Barney, Talbot, Barry, Perry, 

 Murray, Rodgers, Cassin, Little, Robinson, Smith, and Hopkins will show 

 how closely related were the two arms of our maritime service." 



3 



