Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 2.djvu/172

 326 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS Barbary powers. The United States had borne far too patiently with these inju- ries, though she had the honor of being in advance of the old powers of Europe in resisting them. The Mediterranean became the scene pf many a chivalrous exploit of our early officers, a score of whom, headed by Preble, Bainbridge, De- catur, Somers, and others of that stamp of fiery and indomitable valor, gained im- mortal laurels by their deeds of daring in conflict with the infidel. The young Periy served as midshipman in the frigate Adams, which sailed from Newport, in 1802, to join Commodore Morris' command at Gibraltar. His ship was for some time employed in blockading a Tripolitan at that port ; a tedious but instructive service in manoeuvring, at the close of which Perry, in consequence of his accomplishments, was promoted by his captain to the duties of a lieutenant. The frigate was then employed as a convoy, making the tour of the northern ports. This gave Perry an opportunity to study scenes of the old world, which can never lose their influence in the formation of the man of education and refine- ment. In 1809, Perry got to sea in command of an armed schooner, the Revenge, which was employed on the coast service. While on the southern coast, he had an opportunity to gain distinction, which he did not fail to avail himself of, in cut- ting out a stolen American vessel from under the guns of a British ship in Span- ish waters, off Florida. Conveying his prize off the coast, he was threatened by his Majesty's ship Gore, of double his force, when, having, as Mackenzie says, "no idea of being * Leopardized,'" he put his little schooner in readiness for boarding at a moment's notice a spirited resolution of great bravery, which he would no doubt have carried out, had the British vessel insisted upon overhauling the Revenge. While engaged in cruising off Connecticut and Rhode Island, in the beginning of 181 1, he unfortunately lost his vessel, through an error of the pilot, on the Watch Hill Reef, opposite Fisher's Island, as he was sailing from Newport to New London. Every seamanlike effort was made to save the ves- sel, and when all was unavailing. Perry showed equal skill and resolution in land- ing the crew in a heavy January swell, with a violent wind. He was himself the last to leave the vessel. He was not merely acquitted of neglect, but his con- duct was extolled by a court of inquiry. He was, of course, thrown temporarily out of command by the loss of his vessel ; an interval of repose which he hastened to turn to account by forming a matrimonial alliance with Miss Elizabeth Champlin Mason, of an influential fam- ily at Newport, to whom he had become engaged several years before, on his arrival from the Mediterranean. The wedding took place in May, 181 1, afford- ing him ample opportunity for the honeymoon, previous to the actual outbreak of the war impending with England. This event found him at Newport, with the rank of master commandant, in < harge of the flotilla of gunboats keeping watch in the harbor. It was a service not altogether adapted to satisfy the ambitious spirit of a young officer, but it was important in itself, and became, in Perry's hands, a step to future eminence. His course, at this time, illustrates a valuable truth, that no honorable employment is