HMS Cumberland

“ The "Brooklyn" being an American boat could not legally carry cargo between two Canadian ports, such as Point Aux Pins and the Landing, so Col. Cumberland gave Captain Davis a letter [1] to Mr. Joseph Wilson, the Collector of Customs at the Canadian Sault, authorizing him to permit the American vessel to trade between Canadian ports. As Mr. Cumberland was member of Parliament for the district, the local authorities gave immediate attention, especially as everyone on the Canadian side was ready to run all risks and do everything in their power to help the expedition along. ”

“ As soon as the great ram appeared out of the harbor she turned and steamed steadily toward the Congress and the Cumberland, the black smoke rising from her funnels, and the great ripples running from each side of her iron prow as she drove steadily through the still waters. On board of the Congress and Cumberland there was eager anticipation, but not a particle of fear. The officers in command, Captain Smith and Lieutenant Morris, were two of the most gallant men in a service where gallantry has always been too common to need special comment. ”

“ A ship a mile distant is a point-blank target for modern guns and gunners, and everything protected by less than eight inches of steel suffered. The Argyll had lost her military mast and most of her secondary guns. The flag-ship Cumberland, raked and riddled by nine- and eleven-inch shells, surrounded herself with steam from punctured boilers shortly after the signal to turn, and swung drunkenly out of line, her boilers roaring, her heavy guns barking. ”

“ The iron prow of the Merrimac crashed through the wooden walls of the Cumberland as if they were cardboard, and, while her crew were still heroically working their guns, the Cumberland went down, with the red flag, meaning "no surrender," flying from her peak. Lieutenant Morris succeeded in saving himself, but 121 were lost out of the crew of 376. ”

“ Human hearts were beating and bleeding there. Human lives were being sacrificed. Pain, death, wounds, glory—that was the sum of it.
On the doomed ship Cumberland the battle raged with equal fury. The sanded deck was red and slippery with blood. Delirium seized the crew. They stripped to their trousers, kicked off their shoes, tied handkerchiefs about their heads, and fought and cheered as their ship sank beneath their feet. Then the order came, "All save who can." There was a scramble for the spar-deck and a rush overboard. The ship listed. ”

“ The Southerners showed their chivalric instincts at this juncture by not firing on the boats, or on a small steamer, which were engaged in picking up the survivors of the Cumberland’s crew. The officers of the Congress, seeing the fate of the Cumberland, determined that the Merrimac should not, at least, sink their vessel. They therefore got all sail on the ship, and attempted to run ashore. The Merrimac was soon close on them, and delivered a broadside, which was terribly destructive, a shell killing, at one of the guns, every man engaged except one. ”

“ CUMBERLAND, RICHARD FRANCIS G. (1792–1870) , captain, grandson of Richard Cumberland (1731–1811) [q. v.] , was son of Richard Cumberland, once an officer in the 3rd foot guards, who died in the island of Tobago when awaiting a civil appointment there, and his wife, Lady Albinia Hobart, daughter of the third earl of Buckinghamshire, who died in 1853. He was born in 1792. Through his mother, who was one of the ladies of Queen Charlotte's suite, he became a page of honour, and on 27 Jan. 1809 was appointed to an ensigncy in the 3rd foot guards, in which he became lieutenant and captain in 1814. ”

“ The sixth expedition, which Cumberland sent to sea in 1593, consisted of nine ships, of which he took command himself, having his trusted friend Monson again with him, and returned to his former cruising ground among the Azores. He was shortly afterwards seized with a violent sickness, and Monson, fearing for his life, determined to carry him back to England, sending on the other ships to the West Indies. ”

“ One cannot go a single mile over it without becoming deeply impressed with the evidence of the age and the individuality of the old Cumberland Road. There is nothing like it in the United States. Leaping the Ohio at Wheeling, the Cumberland Road throws itself across Ohio and Indiana, straight as an arrow, like an ancient elevated pathway of the gods, chopping hills in twain at a blow, traversing the lowlands on high grades like a railroad bed, vaulting river and stream on massive bridges of unparalleled size. ”

“ It was Cumberland's intention to retain possession of San Juan de Puerto Rico for the Crown of England, and he actually remained there far longer than was wise, if he had considered only his immediate interests. His intention to antedate the establishment of the English in the West Indies by more than half a century was altogether premature. His force, already weakened by sickness and inaction, was not strong enough for the undertaking. After losing nearly four hundred men by fevers, the earl took to his ships and returned to England. ”

“ The Portuguese had pledged themselves to the ship at all hazards, and to perish with her in the sea, or in the flames, rather than yield so rich a prize to the heretics. Cumberland’s ships, after harassing the carrack on all sides, ranged up against her; twice was she boarded, and twice were the assailants driven out. A third time the privateers boarded her, one of them bearing a white flag; he was the first of the party killed, and when a second hoisted another flag at the poop it was immediately thrown overboard. The English suffered considerably, more especially among the officers. ”

“ But at that time it was never necessary to spend much pains in persuading Englishmen to sail to the West Indies. Cumberland's crews entered with "greedy desire and hopeful expectation" into his schemes. He therefore stretched over from Lanzarote, one of the Canaries, to Dominica in the Leeward Isles, where he cast anchor on the 23rd of May. A week was spent in recruiting the health of his men. The English traded with the Caribs, and bathed in the hot springs. They found the Caribs friendly, and the tropical luxuriance of the vegetation filled at least the more educated of them with delight. ”

“ Governor King lost no time in engaging the ship Rolla, Mr. Robert Cumming commander, then lying in Sydney Cove, bound to China, to go to the rescue of the officers and men on Wreck-Reef Bank; and as Captain Flinders agreed with him, that the Cumberland colonial schooner, of 29 tons, was capable of performing the voyage to England by way of Torres’ Strait, he directed the commissary to make that vessel over to him, and to complete her from the stores of the Investigator. ”

“ The people of Norfolk and Portsmouth were wrapped in slumber, little dreaming that in a few hours the ships and public works which were so essential to the prosperity of the community would be a mass of ruins, and hundreds of people would be without employment and without food for their families. The Pawnee had towed the Cumberland out of the reach of the fire, and laid at anchor to receive on board those who were to fire the public property. ”

“ La Pique, in company with the Pelican sloop of war, took possession of le Goelan, a French brig of 18 guns, and an armed cutter, at, the evacuation of Aux Cayes, St. Domingo, in Oct. 1803; the Leyden formed part of Admiral Gambier’s fleet at the capture of the Danish navy in 1807Towards the latter end of the war, we find him regulating the impress service at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight.
Captain Cumberland married, in 1800, a daughter of the late Charles Pym Hurt, Esq., of Albemarle Street, London.
Agent. ”

“ That noble stream has but few impediments to a safe passage for steamboats far above Nashville. The nature of these impediments is now so well understood that there would be but little danger of injudicious application of any means that might be appropriated to their removal. The time has now gone by when the successful navigation of the Cumberland is considered by any portion of our citizens as being exclusively beneficial to Nashville. The history and experience of the last seven years have given ample testimony of the direct benefit resulting to every county west of the Cumberland mountain. ”

“ The coast of Cumberland is at all times of the year rough and inhospitable to the sailor; but at the equinoxes, especially the autumnal one, its dangers are more imminent; and the trading vessels in the Solway Frith and Irish Channel, are exposed to serious risk. Owing to the numerous shoals and sand-banks lying at various points, the navigation is at all times intricate; and even to those best acquainted with its peculiarities, the passage from Ireland is frequently attended with greater hazard than many longer voyages. ”

“ The year 1598 witnessed the last and most ambitious of the numerous privateering expeditions of that distinguished maritime adventurer, the Earl of Cumberland. The squadron collected on the occasion comprised no fewer than twenty sail of ships, [239] none of which belonged to the navy, and it formed a force more formidable than had ever been assembled by a subject. It sailed from Plymouth on March 6th, 1598. The first intention of the commander-in-chief appears to have been to proceed to the West Indies ”

“ But another mischance happened, which was effected by this of the Cumberland. The signal for the line of battle a-head, which was kept flying on board the admiral, whilst bearing down for the enemy, was mistaken by the Newcastle and Weymouth to mean that the ships were to go down a-stern of one another, instead of continuing on the left of each other, until they should haul the wind to present their broadsides on the signal for engagement, when this change would place them exactly right in the line of battle a-head. ”

“ She foundered in a few minutes; but her crew fought her to the last, cheering as they ran out the guns, and sending shot after shot against the ram as the latter backed off after delivering the blow. The rush of the water soon swamped the lower decks, but the men on the upper deck continued to serve the guns, and fired them until the deck was awash, and the vessel had not ten seconds of life left. Then, with her flags flying, her men cheering, and her guns firing, the Cumberland sank. ”

“ The Australian press of the day consisted of the Sydney Gazette, then in its first year of existence, and sometimes printed on odd scraps of wrapping paper by reason of the shortness of other material, and this paper, speaking of the Cumberland, says, "She is a very good sea-boat, and in every way capable of carrying enough water and provisions for Captain Flinders and the officers and nine men who are appointed to navigate the first vessel built in the colony to England." ”

“ Mary’s, so called, although its true name is Bar of Amelia, is considered one of the best and least dangerous of the America Septentrional. Vessels of 500 tons can enter. On either side are Islands. The one on the right is called Cumberland, belonging to the Americans; it is sparsely inhabited, exceedingly fertile in timber, as American vessels come to cut it. ”

“ Cumberland coast. In our time, even in these times, when smuggling is a decaying, an almost extinct business, the pallid apparition of such a schooner as La Casandra hovering doubtfully at midnight off any point of the English shore would infallibly in a very short time win the regard and invite the visit of a boat full of brawny coastguards, armed, as our men were about to arm themselves, with pistols and with cutlasses.
"Get the boat launched, my lads," called out Captain Dopping. ”

“ None of them afford a very secure anchorage, the bottom being deep and rocky; and vessels close to the shore are exposed to sudden and violent flaws from the mountains, and the danger of being driven on the rocks by gales from the ocean. In Cumberland Bay, however, there are places where vessels can ride in safety, by choosing a position suitable to the prevailing winds of the season. ”

“ The Prince is an excellent fine cutter, copper-bottomed and sails remarkably well: the Clarence is of a new construction and sails so well that it is supposed she is one of the finest vessels ever built." July 27, 1793, the Cumberland, Commodore Taylor, and the Eclipse, Captain Astley, sailed a match, the wager being a turtle. This match was won by the Cumberland, and thereupon the good commodore invited his captains to a turtle-feast. ”

“ Briefly once more Jack explained.
"The Sylph sunk!" exclaimed Captain Marcus. "And what of my old friend Lord Hastings?"
"Gone down with his ship, sir," replied Jack, Patiently.
"Hastings dead!" cried the commander of the Cumberland. "It is impossible!"
"No, sir," said Frank. "It is true."
For a moment the commander bowed his head in reverence. Then he raised his eyes and looked at the boys.
"He was my very good friend," he said simply, and motioned the boys to follow him below.
Inside the cabin of the commander of the Cumberland, the captain motioned the lads to seats. ”

“ For Cumberland and his army were exceedingly desirous that the young and old (women and infants not excepted) they did not murder might be starved to death, which was the fate of too many, and their endeavours were fully equal to their desires.
Captain MacDonald and his wife and children wandered through hills and mountains till the act of indemnity appeared, and in the time of their skulking from place to place his poor wife fell with child, which proved to be a daughter, and is still alive. He is a very smart, acute man, remarkably well skilled in [fol. 647.] ”