Captain O'Brien

“ The only person who stuck to him was Captain O’Brien.
“If I were a younger man, faith, I’d be after going out as mate,” exclaimed the brave old captain. “Whether the lads are alive or dead, the point will be settled, and I am fain to believe that they are still alive. If I can’t go myself, I’ll prove my faith in the undertaking by subscribing five hundred pounds towards it. The sooner you get the ship fitted out and put to sea, the better it will be for my friend Norah—of that I’m very sure.” ”

“ All that I want you to do is to land me in Sperrispazuka within five days, and if you will accomplish the feat, I will raise your wages and promote you to the rank of admiral.’
“‘And who the blazes are you to come here without being invited and give an order like that to myself?’ ses the Captain.
“‘Who the devil do you think I could be, or want to be, you impudent varmint, but Henry the Eighth?’ ses he. ‘By all the people I have made miserable, I’ll have you lashed to the mouth of a cannon, and blown to smithereens if you don’t do what you are told. ”

“ The deeds of Captain O’Brien, followed by others of a like nature performed by men who were stirred by his example, so exasperated Admiral Graves, the British commander-in-chief on the coast, that he sent a squadron of four vessels under Captain Mowat to take revenge in such a manner as would fill, as he supposed, the hearts of the people of the whole coast with terror. ”

“ I am, Sir, your most humble servant,
(Signed) ⁠“John Barrow.” “The senior officer of H.M. ships, East Indies.”
Previous to the receipt of the above. Commodore George Sayer had written to the Admiralty informing the Secretary for their Lordships’ information, that it was his intention to try Captain O’Brien by a Court-Martial, for “pursuing a course of conduct subversive of the first principles of the Service, grounded on pretensions as futile as irreconcileable with the Discipline of the Navy.” To this communication he received the following reply:
“Admiralty Office, 20th August, 1816. ”

“ Just then Captain O’Brien came down.
“By my faith, I believe our friend is going to carry us off to sea!” he exclaimed; “I suspected there was something in the wind, and, going aloft, I discovered a large ship in the offing; so did the Frenchmen, and they immediately commenced hauling on their spring and letting fall the canvas ready to make sail in a moment. They don’t like going without their men and the promised provisions; but they will have to do it if the boats don’t return quickly, for I’m much mistaken if the vessel I saw isn’t the Champion, which we have so long been looking for.” ”

“ I hardly knew whether I had done right or wrong; at all events, thought I to myself, I did for the best; so I put it on the capstan, and walked to my own side of the deck. The captain and first lieutenant then went below, and O’Brien came aft.
I told him what had occurred, and how the master was angry with me. O’Brien laughed very heartily, and told me never to mind, but to keep in the lee-scuppers and watch him. “A glass of grog is a bait that he’ll play round till he gorges. ”

“ O’Brien appears to have owed his preservation to the humanity and intrepidity of Lieutenant Tatham and a boat’s crew belonging to the Lion hired armed cutter, by whom he was rescued, together with the few men under him, only three minutes before his stone-ship went to the bottom.
Mr. O’Brien next joined the Amphion 32,and served in that frigate; under Captains Richard Henry A. Bennett [2] , Alexander Frazer, and Thomas Masterman Hardy, until the renewal of hostilities with France, in 1803. He was then removed to the Hussar 38, Captain Philip Wilkinson (now Vice-Admiral Stephens) ”

“ Captain O'Brien in the preceding year had been the hero of a desperate fight with a large force of Indians under the wily Chief Man-afraid-of-his horses, and with the loss of fourteen men saved the lives of four stage passengers, one of whom was a woman. ”

“ Captain O'Brien's bravery did not pass unrewarded. His appearance in Watertown with his prizes created a great commotion there, and he was appointed captain in the marine of the colony and sent to sea to capture some more vessels. His work in the Revolutionary War was just begun, and those who went with him from Machias stayed by him to the end. Zeke Lewis and Zeb Short were promoted to gunners, because it was necessary that they should have better educated men for first and second officers ”

“ Solitude appeared to me dreadful, and I looked upon a “living death” as my final lot; but I found in the dungeon Mr. Worth, midshipman, and a Captain Brine of the merchant service. The latter was one of those who came from Verdun with me. They were on a door, which they had managed to unhinge, and which lay as a platform to keep them out of the excrement and wet, that were more than ankle deep: they had a little straw and a blanket. They informed me, they had been companions of the unfortunate Essel in the late attempt to get over the ramparts. ”

“ This was a most severe check to Mr Phillott, who immediately went below, after hailing the mast-heads, and calling down the midshipmen. As soon as he was gone, we were all on the hammocks again; the shark was hauled forward, hoisted on board, and every frying-pan in the ship was in requisition. We were all much pleased with Captain Kearney’s conduct on this occasion; and, as O’Brien observed to me, “He really is a good fellow and clever officer. What a thousand pities it is that he is such a confounded liar!” ”

“ Those of the Research gave a few loud flaps against the masts, and then hung down again, then swelled slightly to the breeze; but before she had gathered way, the pirate had gained considerably on her.
“We must try to stop her progress,” exclaimed Captain O’Brien. “A gold doubloon to the man who first knocks away a spar; and if I succeed myself, I’ll keep it in my pocket.”
The old captain fired one of the stern guns as he spoke, but the shot did no harm to their pursuer. The first mate and the most experienced gunners among the crew tried their hands with no better success. ”

“ Sir,– I have received and laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, your letter of the 20th March last, representing the conduct of Captain O’Brien acting in the command of H.M.S. Cornwallis, and stating that you had ordered a Court-Martial to assemble and try him for his conduct; and I am commanded by their Lordships to acquaint you that they approve of your ordering the Court-Martial in question. ”

“ Do you think it possible that Monsieur Thurot can escape?”
“The chances are against him, Miss Ellen, but it is hard to say what may happen,” answered Captain O’Brien. “Captain Olding is not the man, as I have observed before, to let an enemy slip through his fingers; in less than half an hour he will get near enough to the Frenchman to send his shot on board, and he’ll stick tightly to him, no fear of that.” ”

“ At about half-past twelve, or noon, we got alongside my good old ship, towed by her launch, which they sent out on noticing from the mast-head our disabled state. We were hoisted on board in a chair, with the utmost care, the captain and officers evincing much anxiety towards us, and vieing with each other in offices of kindness. The other two worthy lieutenants of the Amphion, Messrs. Bennet and Phillott, had been on board of her in my time, and thus was I at home amongst old friends and shipmates. ”

“ On deck the superior officers were in conversation with the captain, who had expressed the same fear that O'Brien had in our berth. The men, who knew what they had to expect—for this sort of intelligence is soon communicated through a ship—were assembled in knots, looking very grave, but at the same time not wanting in confidence. They knew that they could trust to the captain, as far as skill or courage could avail them, and sailors are too sanguine to despair, even at the last moment. ”

“ The happiness they, even at this moment felt, was inexpressible; they considered themselves “literally as regenerated creatures.” Their stock of provisions principally consisted of light biscuit and sausages; their hats were destroyed before day-light in a wood near Varennes [6] , and replaced with caps á la Française. Captain O’Brien thus describes a very serious accident he met with, on the morning of Sept. ”

“ This O'Brien did, upon the captain's putting his foot on the quarter-deck.
"Well," observed the captain to Mr Phillott, "what is it you complain of?"
"Mr O'Brien's language, sir. Am I to be addressed on the quarter-deck in that manner?"
"I really must say, Mr Phillott," replied Captain Kearney, "that I do not perceive anything in what Mr O'Brien said, but what is correct. I command here; and if an officer so nearly equal in rank to yourself has committed himself, you are not to take the law into your own hands. The fact is, Mr Phillott, your language is not quite so correct as I could wish it. ”

“ This time fortune was with O’Brien. He and two of his companions (the third, Captain Batley, fell ill at Rastadt and had to be left behind) crossed South Germany in safety, and reached the Austrian frontier not many miles from Salzburg. The local officials politely acquiesced in a transparent fiction by which the fugitives pretended to be Americans, and allowed them to proceed to Trieste, where they were picked up by a boat of the Amphion, one of O’Brien’s old ships. The third voyage of this much-travelled man had lasted from 15th September to 7th November 1808. ”

“ Off the Oars’ light, he discovered a lugger to windward, under easy sail, which he suspected to be an enemy. Captain Pell directly altered his course, and bore up for the land, as if, to avoid capture, he intended to run his ship on shore. He yawed and steered wildly, and by these, and other symptoms of fear and confusion, the enemy was completely deceived. The lugger soon came up with the chase, and made an awful display of boarders; her decks being crowded with armed men. She at last hailed Captain Pell to strike his colours, or she would sink him. ”

“ The sooner we are off the better; the tide is sweeping out of the harbour, and we shall have a hard pull of it, at all events.”
He hurried below, and conveyed the satisfactory intelligence to his friends. By the time that they were on deck the dinghy was alongside, the courses were hauled up, and the men ahead ordered to cease pulling. Captain O’Brien stepped into the boat ”

“ In the meantime, O'Brien had been made a captain, and had sailed for the East Indies. I was to have accompanied him, but my uncle, who had now succeeded to the title, had sufficient influence at the Admiralty to prevent this, and I was appointed first lieutenant to a ship whose captain, an illegitimate son of Lord Privilege, was determined to ruin me. Captain Hawkins was a cowardly, mean, tyrannical man, and, although I kept my temper under all his petty persecutions, he managed at last to string together a number of accusations and, on our return, send me to a court-martial. ”

“ O'BRIEN, JAMES, third Marquis of Thomond (1769–1855) , admiral, born in 1769, was second son of Edward O'Brien, captain in the army, who died in March 1801. His mother was Mary Carrick, and his uncle, Murrough O'Brien, was first Marquis of Thomond. As a captain's servant, he entered the navy on 17 April 1783 on board the Hebe, stationed in the Channel. From 1786 to 1789 he was a midshipman in the Pegasus and Andromeda frigates, both commanded by the Duke of Clarence, under whom he also served with the Channel fleet in the Valiant in 1790. ”

“ O’Brien and Mahoney received a letter from Captain (now Sir Jahleel) Brenton, senior British officer at Verdun, stating that General Wirvion, commander-in-chief over the prisoners of war, had, after many applications, sent an order for them to be conducted to the officers’ dépôt; at which they arrived on the 23rd of the same month, after revisiting Fiumez and Rocroy, and passing through Mezieres, Sedan, and Stenay. ”

“ Again it seemed that we would hear Llewellyn to no conclusion. He got on his feet, and shook out his pipe.
“A gentleman has no place in the Paumotus,” he said, bitterly. “Mr. O’Brien, you must not judge South Sea traders by McHenry or Pincher.”
“Judge and be bloomin’ well damned!” interrupted Lying Bill. “I’ll go an’ see where McHenry is. Maybe the bottle’ll ’ave a drink in it, an’ you can stay an’ spin your yarn your own way. I know the bleedin’ truth.”
Captain Pincher retreated, muttering, in the darkness toward the sound of the surf on the reef. ”

“ Then another label washed off, and then another and another, and fish after fish, in varying states of distraction, followed after and disappeared, until all you could see were two, whereof the one was labeled Manners and the other O'Brien (these continued to fight for the hook) , and all you could hear was Neptune, from down, down, down in the sea, saying coquettishly to Cleopatra, "I'm Red Renard—so called from my hair." And then all of a sudden valiant Captain Kissed-by-Margaret went by on a log writing mottos for the wives of famous men. ”

“ Her mother was O Take Oho, of the valley of Hapaa, whose father was eaten by the men of Tai-o-hae in the war with that white captain, Otopotee.
“Ue! Those big ships that hunt the whale come no more. The paaoa spouts with none to strike him. Standireili makes the lanterns burn in Menike land, and they send it here in tipoti, the big cans. The old days are gone.
“The father of Anna saw her first when she was one year old and could barely swim. He came in his ship from Newbeddifordimass, and he said that it was for the last time, for the whaling was done. ”