p448  XXX.

The Commodore Carries On

When John Barry arrived in Philadelphia, in May, 1799, his popularity was high. For some months, the beauti­ful actress, Miss Arnold, had been inspiring audiences at the Walnut Street Theater to thunderous applause with a song about a smart young midshipman. It was part of the lyrics of an opera, "The Rival Soldiers," and the concluding stanza ran:

Frequently during his absence, news­papers had printed letters from his officers descriptive of such incidents as the sinking of L'Amour de la Patrie, and the recapture of the Cicero. The populace, as one friend expressed it, had "seen and read frequent accounts about you in the West Ind.," and knew "you were . . . in the pursuit of honor and happiness to your Self and to your Country." The plaudits of common folk were loud in the Commodore's favor, but not so in the high ranks of the Federalists.

Nothing but spectacular victories, such as Truxtun's capture of L'Insurgente, would satisfy the President, his cabinet, and the cabinet's principal adviser, Alexander Hamilton. Their dissatisfaction with Barry began even before the receipt of the Commodore's first report from the West Indies.

"Barry is old and infirm," Secretary Stoddert had written Hamilton as early as February 6, "and not satisfied that he is not made an Admiral."

Behind this letter lay the beginning of an intrigue to appoint  p449 Captain Silas Talbot to one of the three frigates, and give him seniority rating above Truxtun. It will be recalled Talbot had been commissioned in June, 1794, as third in rank, and assigned to the frigate to be built in New York. With work on his frigate abandoned in 1796, Talbot had been out of employ. When the French war developed, he had been renominated for a commission dated in May, 1798, instead of being reinstated under his earlier commission. This placed him below Truxtun, whom he had outranked in 1794. Neither "honor nor reputation," would permit him to yield his relative rank. That position he maintained while John Adams, strangely infatuated by this able if not spectacular officer, moved Heaven and earth in his behalf. Between justice to Truxtun on one side, and Adams's insistence on the other, Stoddert was hopeful of a compromise whereby Talbot could be given command of the Constitution or the United States, and assigned to waters where he would not come in conflict with Truxtun's seniority. To achieve this, either Barry or Nicholson had to be shelved. Fortunately for the Commodore, Captain Sam was far more vulnerable. Even so, the Secretary's pen continued its flow of unjust criticism.

The desire to be an admiral was a case in point. All senior captains had this laudable ambition. Truxtun even wrote about it, conceding, however, that admirals probably would not be appointed until ships‑of-the‑line were built. And this was no remote possibility, for the Navy Department already had recommended construction of twelve of them, of seventy-four guns each.

After the opening gun against Barry in the February letter to Hamilton, Stoddert's caustic comments were aimed at both the Commodore and Nicholson. Thus, on March 26, to Stephen Higginson, navy agent at Boston, in proposing Talbot take command of the Constitution when she returned, the Secretary had continued:

About a week later, he was advising Adams that "Barry has a considerable force under his Command at Dominica — and I am mortified to find, that so late as the 18th of March, no part  p450 of it had visited Curicoa; a place particularly pointed out to his attention by his Instructions." To Truxtun, ten days later, he was conveying the same complaint against Barry, but had the grace to admit that "perhaps circumstances of which I am ignorant rendered a great dispersion of them [the squadron] impracticable."

Announcing that Barry and Nicholson were on their way home, he informed Adams, in April, that "I fear these Gentlemen will return without an increase of reputation — Barry no doubt is brave, and well qualified to fight a single ship — Poor Nicholson is not allowed to rank so high in the Public estimation." Even to the disgruntled Talbot, Stoddert was airing his views.

Such employment for Nicholson had been proposed to Adams. So Stoddert confided to Hamilton, on May 3, along with the statement that "Barry the brave seems to be, and to think himself too infirm for active service — perhaps employment may be found for him also on shore."

Alas for the Secretary's hopes! No infirm old man announced his arrival with the United States. The northward course had done wonders for the Commodore. Not an asthmatic attack had troubled him since leaving the West Indies. He looked and felt the picture of health. Friends had told him Stoddert believed he would retire. Quit under fire? Under unjust criticisms to make easy the accession of the President's favorite? Not John Barry. He may have thought longingly of the fleshpots of Strawberry Hill, but he was business-like and grim when he informed the Secretary that the frigate, under his command, would be ready to sail shortly upon any duty required.

Not surprising, therefore, to read Stoddert's letter of May 15 to Silas Talbot: "I believe Captn Barry will go out in the United States — Nicholson I believe will remain on shore." Nor  p451 to find him disparaging his senior captain anew that same day to John Adams: "Barry speaks favorably of Nicholsons conduct in the West Indies, But as he speaks favorably of none of the other Captains who have been under his command; I cannot place much confidence in his opinion of Nicholson."

The Commodore's truthful report that Captain Sam's behavior had been beyond criticism, quite in contrast to that of McNeill and some of the others, was not at all what Stoddert wanted to hear. If the Secretary attended the opera, he probably provided a study in emotions when applause from gallery and pit broke in upon Miss Arnold's rendition of that stirring line; "When gallant Barry comes on board."

* * *

By the time Barry had reached Philadelphia, the United States was on her way up the river to drop anchor a little below Fort Mifflin. There David Ross carried out his repeated threat to serve no longer on the frigate, while Lieutenant Barron and Midshipmen Banning and Somers departed on furloughs to their respective homes in Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey. That they had moved up from New Castle was fortunate for the whole crew. Several days later, the Montezuma, Herald and Scammel came in from the West Indies, and rumor had it the former was infected with yellow fever. Health authorities promptly forbade the three vessels from ascending higher, quarantining them for ten days at the Lazaretto, off New Castle. The same fate befell Decatur, who arrived shortly afterwards in the Delaware.

Pay off all hands whose time would expire in May or June, Stoddert advised Barry, on May 13, adding the sage comment; "The sooner they are discharged, and have an opportunity of spending their money, the sooner they will enter for another year." The Secretary asked for immediate indents of stores needed, as he wanted the frigate "in order for service." In rushing the indents to him, the Commodore neglected to sign them. Stoddert promptly took occasion to remark, that "The Public have no other check, but the attention & knowledge of the Captain." He acted upon the re­quisitions, nevertheless, asking the navy agent at New York to send •200 pounds of beef around by  p452 water, some for the Montezuma, and the balance for the United States. From Boston, he ordered "Two Anchors of 51 Cwt each," for the frigate, to arrive not later than June 5.

Before the crew could be discharged, Stoddert had recruiting directions in Barry's hands. A rendezvous was to be opened in Philadelphia, and every effort made to secure a total of 300 men, of which 175 were to be able seamen. "No Negroes or Mulattoes are to be admitted," ran the instruction, "and as far as you can judge, you will exclude all of a Suspicious Character." As it was "our best policy to create Seamen," as large a proportion of boys as can be found useful were to be signed up. No marines should be recruited, as sea soldiers would be supplied from the Marine Corps.

Money to conduct the rendezvous and to discharge the crew was entrusted to Purser Wadsworth, who had come up from the frigate in the pinnace. That gentleman, with $20,000 in his care, "the day far spent and the Crew mostly drunk," sped down river on May 20. He had failed to await a note from Barry to Lieutenant Mullowny, and was roundly censured until the true circumstances of his precipitate departure were learned. Discharge of the crew was tinged with humor. John Harrold, the ship's clerk, reported that, in the middle of the operation, the supply of blank discharges gave out. Nothing daunted, Wadsworth continued paying the hands, and hit upon the happy expedient of having them call for their discharge at the rendezvous a few days hence. By then, they would be broke and ripe for re‑enlisting. On May 24, the purser was happy to inform Barry, "that all the men whose times are actually out or would have expired in all June . . . have received their pay." Wadsworth's expedient would have worked better if merchant skippers had not been offering thirty-five dollars per month for able seamen, as against the navy's seventeen dollars. At that, by June 6, two weeks after all had been discharged, "the number of men and boys on board is about one hundred & sixty exclusive of the marines." A Philadelphia news­paper added confirmation, on June 10: "The period for which the seamen employed on board the frigate United States being expired, they have been regularly paid off and discharged . . . but we understand they have generally re‑entered the service."

Long before, Barry had learned his destination. Stoddert  p453 proposed that United States should cruise on the coast, with the hope she "will be at Sea by the 12th of June." Whereupon, the Commodore urged promotion for those previously recommended, and got results.

Mullowny bade farewell to his fellow officers and went down to New Castle, on May 28, with instructions to get the Montezuma off for St. Christopher with dispatch. Stoddert had learned, to his dismay, that the Constellation was reported at Norfolk, leaving the naval force in the West Indies woefully weak. With five war‑vessels in the river, the Secretary was "so much enged," that he could scarcely find time to report to Adams. When he did, it was to find fault with Truxtun as well as cast another barb at Barry.

As the report about the Constellation was true, the Secretary  p454 redoubled his urgings to get the United States to sea. With Charles Stewart as the one remaining lieutenant on the frigate, Barry recalled Barron from Virginia, as "the President wrote to Mr. Stoddert and urged him to send us as soon as possible to protect our defenceless coast." The Commodore added that, with Mullowny gone, and Banning's stay in Maryland protracted by his father's death, "I leave it to yourself how much I stand in need of you."

By June 5, the beef had arrived from New York, and Wadsworth was complaining of its quality. Stoddert wrote the navy agent to have the shippers make good. As the anchors had not been received from Boston, the Secretary turned to New York as a possible source for them. Calkers were hard at work, and Stewart reported, on June 8, that they would be through "about the middle of next week." He gave a formidable picture of progress:

"The water is all filled and we are waiting for wood to stow the hold, I received the iron ballast and areº now stowing it away about the midship — all the riggin has been overhauled and put in order except the lower riggin which you sent word we might let stand and not take it off the mast heads but we will overhaul it." A new bowsprit was needed, too, but that was being prepared at Norfolk.

More concerned about guns than rigging or bowsprit, the Commodore was pressing Stoddert to substitute 32‑pound carronades for the 12‑pounders, and to replace a number of defective 24‑pounders. Suitable carronades had been imported into New York, and he wanted them. His insistence was rewarded. Barron got back from Virginia, on June 10, and was dispatched to look them over. If he approved, they were to be purchased on lower terms than quoted by the owners, and shipped around to the United States, "which Vessel is nearly ready to sail and must not be kept long waiting for them."

A week later, the Secretary was imploring Barry to hasten his departure, as "the French privateers have renewed their depredations on our Commerce, and the Public mind has become very uneasy, that the Frigate United States is not now in a position to afford it protection." If anything was necessary, added Stoddert, "inform me, and it shall instantly be done." Replace the five 24‑pounders he was sending up from the frigate,  p455 accelerate the carronades from New York, and get the remaining indents filled, was the Commodore's reply. An order to the navy storekeeper took care of the 24‑pounders, but supplies did not get off from Philadelphia until June 22, when a sloop dropped down river loaded with a variety of articles from quarter-gallery lights to 24‑pound shot. A letter to New York to hasten the carronades brought assurances they would soon be shipped.

"Dispatch them, no matter at what expense," Stoddert implored. "He [Barry] has remained already a great deal too long in Port . . . I wish I had not consented to his having them."

The carronades arrived on June 27. While the frigate's crew was repla­cing the 12‑pounders with the newer weapons, the Secretary was asking the War Department for the loan of 600 32‑pound shot, as "Capt Barry is now ready for sea, waiting for nothing but a small quantity." An artillery company, taking passage on the United States for Charlestown, South Carolina, was invaluable in helping mount the carronades.

Before then, commissions for Somers, Decatur and Meade had arrived, and the three had assumed their lieutenancies in that order. Barron's status was not fixed until later, when he was ordered to continue on board with his captain's commission, "as second in Command." Also, a full-fledged surgeon had come aboard, Dr. Edward Cutbush.

As early as June 19, Stoddert had been firing orders at Barry. First were instructions upon returns to be made by each officer in charge of public stores; next, regulations covering discipline, handling of prizes and prisoners, and an injunction to inculcate among officers and men "a Love of Country — respect for its Constituted authorities — a high sense of national character, & veneration for the honor of the American Flag." To the latter was added a postscript: "I must entreat that you be ready to sail on Sunday next. I shall have your instructions ready by that day."

True to promise, the sailing orders went off from the Navy Department, on Saturday, June 29. After he had discharged the artillery company at Charlestown, where he would remain "just long enough to let the Citizens of that place know that you are in their vicinity," Barry should proceed as far south as St. Mary's river, Florida, and return to Hampton roads by  p456 July 18. There he would receive his new bowsprit, and be joined by Talbot in the Constitution. At Hampton he should prepare for a four months' cruise, and await further orders.

The cat was out of the bag. Talbot had the Constitution, and, within another month, John Adams would confirm his commission as dating from 1794! But it made no difference to John Barry as he boarded the United States off Fort Mifflin. The senior captain of the navy was still in active command, as Secretary Stoddert confirmed, on July 3, to the President: "Capt Barry sailed yesterday."

* * *

But John Barry had not sailed on July 2 as Stoddert thought. On that day, the United States had merely dropped to Billingsport, where Lieutenant Decatur was dispatched up to Philadelphia in the launch for a few necessaries. With him went last-minute letters, and Richard Somers's black servant, Bob, wished off by the latter upon his brother-in‑law, William Jonas Keen. The undesirability of the negro boy was the subject matter of an amusing epistle.

From Billingsport, the frigate descended to New Castle. She lay there until July 6, and got underway contrary to intentions, when the cable parted in a gale. A good pilot kept her clear of shoals as she sped down river, with the wind howling over her stern, and went out between the capes the following night. On board was a complement of 398, of which seventy‑two were commissioned or warrant officers. In this group were fifteen rated and four acting midshipmen — nineteen young gentlemen who would be schooled to the naval service under the Commodore. Some of the newcomers to the midshipmen's mess would add their names to the roll of distinguished officers who secured their earliest sea training with John Barry.

 p457  John Trippe, Jr., who, on August 3, 1804. off the Barbary coast, although wounded eleven times, led ten seamen in the spectacular capture of a Tripolitan gunboat, slaying her captain and fourteen men, and capturing the remaining twenty‑two of her crew.⁠a

Daniel Heath, who distinguished himself on the schooner Enterprize in the war against Tripoli.

Jacob Jones, whose name is among the imperishables of the navy as commander of the sloop-of‑war Wasp when she captured the British sloop-of‑war Frolic, on October 18, 1812.⁠b

William N. Crane, who fought with honor through the War of 1812, and died in 1846 after forty-seven years of active naval service.

No French cruisers nor privateers were in evidence as the United States cruised southward. Barry landed the artillery company at Charlestown, remaining in harbor the time requisite to show the inhabitants that an American frigate was protecting their sea‑trade, and continued toward the mouth of St. Mary's river. Even the carpenter's book indicates the monotony of the days. James Morris found nothing more exciting to command his attention than repla­cing two panes of glass in Commodore's cabin windows, putting a brass lock on Captain Barron's stateroom door, and adding "Rowlers for a screen in the Ward Room." As uninteresting also was the return, which ended with the frigate entering the Virginia capes, and anchoring, about July 22, in Hampton roads.

Inquiry of William Pennock, the navy agent at Norfolk, disclosed no orders from Stoddert. The new bowsprit was ready, however. Its installation, with the consequent rerigging, consumed several weeks. During that time, the Commodore was much on shore, visiting an old friend, Moses Myers, and dining frequently with James Barron and his attractive young wife, domiciled at Norfolk while her husband was at sea. Other naval officers were in port also, notably the elder Barron brother, Samuel, now commanding a frigate about to be launched there, and Alexander Murray, who was outfitting Truxtun's prize, the Insurgent, as an additional unit of the American navy, with her name Anglicized but otherwise unchanged. Letters from Philadelphia, particularly one from John Leamy, the Commodore's prize agent, apprised Barry of Stoddert's plans. Truxtun  p458 was to command on the West India station, Leamy had heard, and "you with the Constitution & others are going to the Coast of Europe."

Confirmation and contradiction arrived on August 1, in the shape of lengthy instructions from Stoddert, written on July 27. The season was too far advanced for the proposed "Enterprize to Europe," the Secretary explained, so the Constitution was to be sent to Cayenne, the Constellation was to cruise off the coast, and Barry was to perform a similar service. The United States was to be on patrol between St. Mary's river and New York. About September 10, the Commodore should put into the latter port, unless he feared he could not pass the bar at the harbor entrance, in which case he should run into Newport.

Here again was the hand of John Adams. He had wanted to keep Talbot and Truxtun apart, and, as he told the Secretary of the Navy on August 8, he desired that "Barry and Talbot may be separated." His reason was "not from any misunderstanding or dislike between them . . . but it is best that the great frigates should have separate stations." The President was grooming Talbot for individual glory, which that worthy never realized.

Hearing of the early departure of the United States, the citizens of Norfolk sought to honor the Commodore with a public dinner at Lindsay's gardens on the afternoon of August 8. The formal invitation from the mayor received a polite refusal. Barry was sorry, but he could not "except," as "the Comore goes on board on Friday morning and is ingaged on Wednesday and thursday next." He expected to sail by August 13, and urged Murray, who was destined for a roving cruise from Cayenne to Gibraltar and back to the West Indies, to go out with him "to try our trim and difference of sailing."

A farewell party to naval officers and certain select civilians was given on the United States on the evening of August 16, but it turned into a somewhat melancholy affair as the principal subject discussed was the news that Truxtun had resigned from the Constellation. Later, of course, Truxtun reconsidered his action, but the Commodore's guests could not anticipate that, hence, "not a countenance was seen in which sorrow & dejection were not strongly depicted."

 p459  True to expectation, the United States and Insurgent weighed anchor on August 18, and sailed out of Hampton roads. Next day at noon, four miles northeast of Cape Henry, they met the Constitution inbound. "Spoke with and cheerd the United States Commodore Barry," reads Talbot's log.

Just when Barry and Murray separated is not clear, but, meanwhile, back in Norfolk, Moses Myers was discovering that a choice demijohn of peach brandy intended for the Commodore "was by mistake sent to the InSurgent." As Myers wrote Barry, "If our friend Murray got it I shou'd be glad but I fear it went below."

There is a story, upon slender authority, that when the United States reached the southern end of her cruising ground off St. Mary's river, Barry took his crew ashore to attend mass at the Catholic chapel of St. Inigoes. The tale records that the frigate's hands, crowded into the tiny chapel, were rebuked by the parish priest for their noise, and that the Commodore protested the discourtesy of this rebuke in a letter to Bishop Carroll. The account concludes with admission that the correspondence has been lost — a fate that happens so often, oddly enough, to the documentary evidence of such antidotes.

We know, again from the carpenter's book, that the cruise along the coast, from August 13 to September 12, was without incident of note. On the latter date, having decided not to risk the bar off New York, Barry anchored off Newport, Rhode Island, where, almost sixteen years before, he had anchored the Alliance at the conclusion of the Revolution.

* * *

Communications between Rhode Island and Philadelphia had not improved in the intervening years. While the Commodore reported his arrival at Newport, with a request that he be permitted to come overland to the capital, Stoddert's reply, of September 20, did not reach the frigate until almost the end of the month. The Secretary refused him permission, pointing out such a visit would mean six weeks delay at Newport.

"You must therefore, I believe, content yourself without seeing Mrs. Barry for the present," the letter continued, "but I expect to hear from the President in a day or two on the subject of your destination."

 p460  Ten days later, another letter from the Secretary, implying that Barry might be called upon to convey a diplomatic mission to France, dwelt anew upon the necessity of the Commodore remaining at Rhode Island, as "your distinguished station at the head of our Navy attracts the attention of all our officers who observe your proceedings and will in some measure form themselves to your example." Perforce, Barry stayed on board the United States, finding solace in a letter from Sarah. His good wife, much disturbed by non‑receipt of word from him, feared illness had stilled his pen.

"If you are prevented by sickness [from writing]," she implored, "do my sweet life let me know as quick as possible. I am ready to fly [to you] I am on the rake [rack] — Oh so my life relieve me as quick as possible."

He reassured her all was well with him; that he had, indeed, written, but letters were long in transit. For the rest, he was busy, with many repairs to be made, a new magazine to be built forward, and stores for a four months' cruise to be laid in from the navy agents. One of his young midshipmen had to be discharged from the service for stealing a pair of silk stockings from a Newport storekeeper, pilfering the rum of his messmates, and being "a Coward and a Liar." Another, George Williamson, nephew of Congressman Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey, was returned to his home on leave, as "too tenderly brought up to follow a sea‑life." There remained on the frigate, however, seventeen ambitious lads — Barry's "boys," as he called them.

October ended and with it came a brief note from Stoddert, dated October 16:

"The President had decided that the United States shall carry our envoys to Europe. You will be pleased to hold yourself in readiness to perform that service by the 1st of November at farthest."

That same President had a birthday on October 30, and Newport did him honor. Four sixteen gun salutes roared at noon, the first from the United States, the second from the General Washington, which was in port outfitting, and the last two from forts Wolcott and Adams.

* * *

 p461  To John Barry was to fall no minor role in helping John Adams cast off the tentacles of his Hamilton-controlled Cabinet — a drama which has made the closing years of the Adams administration one of the most color­ful periods in American history. For six months, against stubborn resistance by Pickering, Wolcott and McHenry, the President had striven to extend again the olive branch to France. As early as February, he had secured appointment of a new mission to negotiate with the French republic — W. Vans Murray, United States Minister at the Hague; Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth, of the Supreme Court, and W. R. Davie, former governor of North Carolina. Their departure was delayed until they heard that Talleyrand would receive them. Adams had gone off to Massachusetts, instructing Pickering to secure such assurance from abroad. Deliberate procrastination followed. The Federalists, as represented by Hamilton and the disloyal Cabinet, wanted war, not peace. Delay followed delay, and not until early October did Adams, still in Massachusetts, learn that France would welcome the mission.

Traveling with secrecy and dispatch, the President reached Trenton (yellow fever was flaring anew in Philadelphia) on October 10. No longer would he be the dupe of his Cabinet. Five nights later, he sat with those who had betrayed him so long, working over instructions to the envoys. The conspirators retired, satisfied they could still postpone the sailing of the mission, but, at dawn, John Adams was writing to Stoddert, his one loyal Cabinet member:

Hamilton, Pickering, Wolcott and McHenry learned of it at breakfast. They frothed, fumed, raged, but to no avail. John Adams had determined to be the master of his own administration — too late to avail him much, but in time to smash Federalist war aspirations.

Orders flowed out of Trenton to the Commodore: On October 18, to lay in sea stores for the envoys and their suites; on October 21, to receive the envoys, land them safely at L'Orient, await their first dispatches, return promptly to an American  p462 port, and refrain, as under a flag of truce, from capturing anything during the voyage; on October 23, to re‑emphasize the respect to be paid his distinguished passengers. In the October 21 order was a significant statement. "I hope," wrote Stoddert, "to salute you an Admiral on your arrival at Philadelphia."

Ellsworth, Davie and their suites — two secretaries and two servants — arrived at Newport, on November 1. They found Barry ready and eager to be off, and reported to the Secretary of State: "We expect to Sail on Sunday [November 3] if the Frigate can go out with Safety." On Sunday, the United States shoved her bow around Graves point, and headed eastward into the Atlantic.

* * *

Rapid and un­event­ful was the voyage. In the main, favorable winds helped them on their course. Nineteen days out, and within two days of the Portuguese coast, they spoke a Philadelphia-bound vessel, which reported them "all well." The original idea of landing at L'Orient had been abandoned. Ellsworth and Davie, because of certain political changes in France, wanted to put into a Dutch port, where they could join Murray, "and be in a better position to govern themselves by circumstances." The Commodore knew the waters from Lands End southward too well to attempt a port in Holland in late November. They compromised by determining to call at Lisbon.

Twenty‑two days from Newport, the United States dropped anchor off Belém, a hamlet on the north bank of the Tagus river, a few miles west of Lisbon. After the formalities of passing the health inspector, the way was clear for landing, and the envoys went ashore to quarter themselves for awhile with William Smith, American consul. Smith was giving a ball within a few days to British, French and Portuguese families from whom he had received civilities. He was a bit embarrassed with the envoys, particularly as they had scruples about attending public functions. When they finally agreed to be present "as private gentlemen," the urbane consul went ahead with his plans, and extended invitations to the officers of the United States. Barry, Barron, Stewart, Somers and Decatur attended, resplendent in blue and gold. Maybe the Commodore was ill, but, at any rate, he viewed the proceedings with a jaundiced eye.  p463 Smith, from his own accounts, performed prodigies of hospitality — handing the ladies to their seats, finding places for everyone, regulating the card tables, superintending the concert and ball, and urging upon the officers the delights of the minuet with the fair sex. Yet, to Barry, it seemed "Mr Ellsworth & Mr Davie were slightly noticed and his officers quite neglected neither introduced to anybody nor asked to dance."

The Commodore's ill humor was renewed a week later when Smith gave a formal dinner. This time, the envoys, to Barry's great disgust, "were placed below a British officer and the Chevalier de Freire." Though the British officer was General Frazer, commander-in‑chief of the English army in Portugal, and the chevalier was a nobleman of rank, the Commodore's conclusion was that Consul Smith was "the damnedest Englishman he had met with."

Barry, perhaps, found consolation in the Thursday night card and dancing parties given by the Lisbon New Assembly. A cordial invitation to attend their rooms was extended to him by the directors shortly after the frigate arrived in the Tagus. Then, too, during his stay, he had to intercede with the health authorities in behalf of many merchant captains, who were being held under quarantine due to Portuguese belief that every American seaport was raging with "the terrible and Mortiferous Contageon the Yellow fever." He was glad, when, on December 21, the envoys came on board, determined to sail for L'Orient.

A week later, well along on their way, one of those gales for which the Bay of Biscay is noted swept upon them. Mountainous waves engulfed the frigate. She pitched and tossed, while Carpenter Morris's crew, haunted by fear of disaster, worked like Trojans, securing lumber in the hold, lashing gun‑carriages which threatened to tear loose, and battening anew tarpaulins over hatches. Day after day the wind tore at them, and seas broke over the spar-deck. Once the magnificent figurehead was torn away on one side, and only saved by the daring of carpenters who dangled from the head to secure the creaking lady. On January 6, 1800, in a momentary lull, they spoke the schooner Nancy, of Beverly, Massachusetts, floundering amid tangled rigging, and spared her a maintopgallant yard.

By then the seasick envoys had enough. When the storm resumed  p464 its violence, they told Barry "to make any Port in France or Spain." Strained from stem to stern, making water at every joint, pumps working constantly, the United States, on January 16, staggered into Corunna, in the northwestern corner of Spain. Ellsworth and Davie went ashore. Bad as travel might be in that kingdom, they preferred it to the frigate. Overland they wended their way to Burgos. From there, they wrote to Pickering, on February 10. They had sent a courier to Paris for passports, and he had returned with word that Talleyrand would receive them.

From January 16 to February 20, the United States lay at Corunna undergoing repairs. Barry was troubled by the stern damage. Masts and spars were intact, but bulwarks had been smashed, deck beams separated, small boats stove in, and sections of the head carried away. Calkers were employed for days on counter, spar and gun‑deck.

Even when, with the envoys' letter from Burgos, he sailed for home, the Commodore wondered what might happen in another storm. He had a taste of one, between February 23 and 27, but the frigate rode it out safely. Then the weather improved. Laboring now, no longer the grand sailer of previous cruises, the United States ploughed westward. On April 2 they passed through the capes and up the bay. The next night, having left his ship at Chester, Barry rode into Philadelphia. Only the navy agent met him, for the Navy Department, along with all government offices had removed to the new capital; the capital rising in the swamp land along the Potomac, and named after that great man, whose death had occurred during the Commodore's winter voyage across the Atlantic.

Somehow, perhaps in the turmoil of moving, Congress and Secretary had overlooked the little matter the latter had hinted at, of making Barry an admiral.

---

Thayer's Notes:

a See C. A. Storrs et al., A Short History of the United States Navy, pp146‑149.

b See F. F. Beirne, The War of 1812, pp133‑135 and Storrs et al., A Short History of the United States Navy, pp146‑149.

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