380 The Story of the New England Whalers 



quietly as possible and followed her, but she had 

 in the meantime drawn some distance ahead, 

 and an exciting chase now ensued. We were 

 both close-hauled on the starboard tack, and the 

 stranger, seeing that he was pursued, put every 

 rag of sail on his ship that he could spread. I 

 could but admire her with her square yards and 

 white canvas, every sheet home and every leach 

 taut. After a chase of about four hours, day 

 broke, when we hoisted the English ensign. This 

 was a polite invitation to the chase to show her 

 colors, but she declined to do so. We now felt 

 sure that she was an enemy, . . . and fired a 

 blank cartridge. Still she was obstinate. She 

 was steering for Flores and probably, like the 

 Starlight, had her eye on the marine league. 

 Having approached, in another half hour, within 

 good round-shot range, I threw a 32-pounder near 

 enough to her stern to give her captain a shower 

 bath. In a moment more we could see the stars 

 and stripes ascending to the stranger's peak, the 

 mainyard was swung aback, and the prize had 

 surrendered herself a prisoner. She proved to 

 be the Alert, of and from New London, and 



