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The Americans fired first, a blast of musket shot. Lead balls whipped over the heads of the sailors manning the M argaretta's deck and thudded into the schooner's sides. M oore immediately ordered his men to rerurn fire. All along the gunwale British muskets fired back, and the swivels blasted away at point blank range. The two sides continued this "smart engagement" for some time, the flash from their m uzzles bright in the growing darkness. Finally, Moo re had had enough. Eager to break off the fight, he ordered the schooner's cable cut. The M argaretta dropped downriver about half a mile and came to anchor again, not far from an anchored sloop fro m Cape Cod loaded with lumber and commanded by a man named Samuel Tobey. Even after that intense exchange, the Americans still had som e fight left in them . O nce again armed men loaded into their boats and canoes and, with night full on, pulled downriver to where the Margaretta lay. They closed with the schooner, intent on boarding her, but "were beat off from a brisk fire from the Swivels & obliged to quit their Boats, fo ur of which in the Morning were left upon the Flats full of holes .. .." O ne man was injured on board the British vessel. M oore knew the Americans were not done with him, and he likewise realized how inadequate a man-of-war his converted m erchant schooner made. W ith the lumber co nfiscated from Tobey's sloop, the navy bluejacke ts "m ade a Barricadoe fo re & Aft to defend ourselves from Sm all Arms." M argaretta spent the rest of the night rafted alongside Tobey's sloop, her men no do ub t keeping eyes and ears trained intently into the dark.
fhe First Sea Fight of the War At som e point in the night, M idshipman Jam es M oore realized that his mission was over and that he could do no thing fu rther for Icabod Jones, who was still cowering somewhere in the fo rest. At fi rs t ligh t the midshipman ordered sails set, and the M argaretta stood downriver toward the sea. Samuel To bey, "being well acquainted with the River," was taken against his will to serve as pilot. From shore, local patriots peppered the schoo ner with musket fire as she passed .
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lhe British naval schooner Margaretta is captured by the Machias Sons ofLiberty.
The Machias Sons of Liberty, meanwhile, were preparing fo r battle. Forty men under the command of Jeremiah O 'Brien, armed with "guns, swords, axes & pick fo rks" m anned the Unity. At fi rs t light they too got underway, m aneuvering downriver in pursuit of the Margaretta. O 'Brien's m en may not have had fo rmidable weapons, but Benjamin Foster lacked even a ship. TI1e Polly had been stripped of sails and rigging, and there was no tim e to put her back together. There was, however, a sm all schooner called the Falmouth Packet at M achias at the time. Foster, with twen ty men, commandeered the schooner from her reluctant captain and fo llowed in O 'Brien's wake. Like the m en in Margaretta, Foster and O 'Brien's men built "breast works of pine boards, and any thing they co uld fi nd in the Vessels, that wo uld screen them fro m the enemy's fi re." W ith Samuel Tobey as pilot, the Margaretta nego tiated the Machias River and stood fo r open wa ter. The breeze was building and Moore had nearly reached the sea when he accidentally jibed the schoo ner, shattering her mainsail's boom and gaff. Just a few m iles short of escape, the Margaretta was crippled. Moore once again came to anchor as his men cleared away the wreckage. From his position , he could see ano ther vessel at anchor, about three miles distant. Moore sent a party of armed sailors off in the Margaretta's boat to take possession of her. They boarded the vessel and "bro ught her alongside, took her Boom and Gaff & fixed them
in the Schoo ner." The crew of the Margaretta was just finishing their wo rk when they spotted the Unity and the Falmouth Packet charging toward them. Moore "immediately weighed An chor & stood o ut fo r the Sea." Even undamaged, Margaretta was "a very dull sailor," and soon the Ame ri cans were overhauling them. " [T] hey coming up with us very fast," wro te Nathaniel Godfrey, "we began to fi re o ur Stern Swivels, & sm all Arms as soon as within reach ." For nearly an hour the Ame ricans plunged on thro ugh the rain of musket balls. Soon they cam e within hailing distance, and once again they called fo r Moore to strike to the Sons of Liberty, promising the English good treatment if they did and death if they did no t. Moore could not escape, ye t he was not abo ut to strike h is colo rs, so he rurned to fight. He luffed the Margaretta up and poured swivel shot and sm all arms fi re in to the Unity and the Falmouth Packet, bu t the Americans stood on, knowing their advantage lay in numbers and could only be realized with hand-to-hand combat. Unity ran up agains t the Margaretta's starboard quarter, her bowsprit running right th ro ugh the m ain sh ro uds and ripping thro ugh the m ainsail. The Falmouth Packet ran against the Margaretta's larboard bow. Men from the Unity climbed up onto the schooner's quarterdeck, swinging discharged muskets like clubs and d riving the British sailors fo rward. Muskets and pistols banged out on all sides, and sho uting
SEA HISTORY 123, SUMMER 2008