102 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



In 1865 the privateer steamer Shenandoah entered the Pacific Ocean, 

 and on the 26th of June she captured and burned five ships and barks 

 in Behring's Straits.* On the 27th of June the ship Brunswick, of New 

 Bedford, having got jammed in the ice, those of the fleet that were near 

 went to her assistance. The wind dying away, they anchored close to 

 each other. The next morning the Shenandoah appeared upon the 

 scene and captured and destroyed nine of them. Among these was the 

 bark Favorite, of Fairhaven, Capt. Thos. G. Young, a man between 

 sixty and seventy years of age, but full of courage and determination. 

 It was no part of his creed to see his ship (in which he was part owner) 

 given up without a struggle, however great the odds or however hope- 

 less the resistance. Accordingly he loaded all his bomb-guns and fire- 

 arms and took a position on the cabin roof. As the Shenandoah's boat 

 came alongside he ordered her officer to " stand off," an order which, 

 when he saw the look of mischief in the captain's eye, he prudently 

 obeyed, and lost no time in returning to his vessel to report his lack of 

 progress. The commander of the privateer had perceived the action of 

 the boat, and ordered a gnn trained upon the whaler and that his gun- 

 ner should fire low. In the mean time the officers of the Favorite, deem- 

 ing resistance as worse than useless, urged Captain Young to desist, as- 

 suring him that it was only a fruitless sacrifice of his life, to which the 

 captain replied that he would die willingly if he could but shoot Wad- 

 dell, who commanded the Shenandoah. Finding remonstrance useless, 

 the officers secretly removed the caps from the loaded arms, removed 

 the ammunition not already in the guns, and took to the boats, leaving 

 the heroic old captain to defend the castle, in which his entire property 

 was invested, alone. 



The gun from the Shenandoah was not discharged, as the returning 

 boat was in range; and when it had reached the steamer Waddell had 

 changed his mind, and ordered another boat to capture the obdurate 

 skipper. As she came alongside, the officer in charge ordered Captain 

 Young to haul down his colors. In language more forcible than polite 



Englishmen could recover their senses their vessel was a prize. She was taken to 

 New Bedford and discharged, and some years after the war she was added to the 

 whaling fleet. The first ''stone fleet" consisted of the Archer, Courier, Cossack, Fran- 

 ces, Henrietta, Garland, Herald, Kensington, Leonidas, L. C. Richmond, Maria Ther- 

 esa, and South America of New Bedford, Amazon, Harvest, and Rebecca Sims of Fair- 

 haven, Potomac of Nantucket, American of Edgartown, Corea, Fortune, Lewis, 

 Phoenix, and Tenedos of New London, Meteor and Robiu Hood of Mystic, and Timor 

 of Sag Harbor. In the second fleet were the following whalers : America, Edward, 

 India, Valparaiso, and Majestic of New Bedford, Montezuma, New England, and Dove 

 of New London, Mechanic and William Lee of Newport, Emerald and Noble of Sag 

 Harbor, Messenger of Salem, and Newburyport of Gloucester. Many of these had 

 been noted ships in their prime ; some of them European packets, others in the China 

 trade, &c. 



* The Isabella, Gypsey, Catharine, Geueral Williams, and Wm. C. Nye. Those cap- 

 tured on the 27th were the Hillman, Isaac Howland, Nassau, Brunswick, Waver'y, 

 Martha 2d, Congress, Favorite, and Covington. 



