PIRATE PLANKS
8/28/2007 10:09:31 AM by
Pirates were as big news in 1861 as they are today. Harper’s Weekly featured the triumphant victory on August 1 of the U.S. frigate St. Lawrence over the Privateer Petrel, formerly the revenue cutter Aiken that was seized by Charleston rebels the previous December. The Petrel fired first, according to Harper’s. The publication then went on to describe the ordeal: “The St. Lawrence threw up her port lids, and showed in a moment the tiers of cannon with the gunners at the breech holding lighted matches. Scarcely a second intervened when a shock that shook the sea and made the ship tremble in all her timbers broke from the guns. When the smoke cleared away, the waves where the pirates stood were seen full of driftwood and swimming men.”