228 Naval War of 1812 



the vessels together, which the grim veteran suc 

 ceeded in doing, though his right arm was literally 

 hacked off by a blow from a cutlass. All was con 

 fusion and dismay on board the Chesapeake. Lieu 

 tenant Ludlow had been mortally wounded and car 

 ried below; Lawrence himself, while standing on 

 the quarter-deck, fatally conspicuous by his full- 

 dress uniform and commanding stature, was shot 

 down, as the vessels closed, by Lieutenant Law of 

 the British marines. He fell dying, and was car 

 ried below, exclaiming: "Don't give up the ship" 

 a phrase that has since become proverbial among 

 his countrymen. The third lieutenant, Mr. W. S. 

 Cox, came on deck, but utterly demoralized by the 

 aspect of affairs, he basely ran below without stay 

 ing to rally the men 2 and was court-martialed after 

 ward for so doing. At 6.02 Captain Broke stepped 

 from the Shannon's gangway rail on to the muzzle 

 of the Chesapeake' s aftermost carronade, and thence 

 over the bulwark on to her quarter-deck, followed 

 by about 20 men. As they came aboard, the Chesa- 

 peake's foreign mercenaries and the raw natives 

 of the crew deserted their quarters; the Portuguese 

 boatswain's mate removed the gratings of the berth- 

 deck, and he ran below, followed by many of the 

 crew, among them one of the midshipmen named 

 Deforest. On the quarter-deck almost the only man 

 that made any resistance was the chaplain, Mr. 

 Livermore, who advanced, firing his pistol at Broke, 

 and in return nearly had his arm hewed off by a 

 stroke from the latter's broad Toledo blade. On 



