Captain Haraden's Big Bluff
Captain Jonathan Haraden was the commander of an American privateer ship called the General Pickering. As a privateer, he commanded a privately owned ship to fight the British during the Revolutionary war. The General Pickering was not a very large ship—it carried only 16 cannon. Captain Haraden, however, made up for this with his own bluff and bluster.
In 1780 he sailed his privateer ship across the Atlantic towards Bilbao, Spain, with a load of sugar. On the way, he and his small crew fought off an attack from a 20-gun British cutter ship. They were so happy with their success they decided to attack a British schooner. Captain Haraden ordered his crew to silently approach the vessel. The schooner had many guns and cannon, but that didn’t frighten away the men on the General Pickering.
Captain Haraden called out in a loud voice, so the schooner captain would be sure to hear. He said he was on an American frigate and the schooner captain must surrender or he would blow them out of the water.
A frigate was a very large ship, and Captain Haraden was certainly not on board one of these. It was dark, however, so the surprised schooner captain believed him and promptly surrendered. He was later ashamed to see the small vessel that had taken his ship without a shot fired.
The crew of the General Pickering was very proud. They took their prize schooner, the Golden Eagle, towards Bilbao. Unfortunately, a very large British privateer ship called the Achilles blocked their way. The Achilles attacked and took the Golden Eagle, Captain Haraden’s prize ship!
Captain Haraden had placed some of his crew on the Golden Eagle, so he was not about to let the British ship have her. The Achilles carried 42 cannon and was a much larger ship, but this didn’t stop Captain Haraden. He fired on the Achilles. It was the first shot of a long battle.
The sea battle started rather close to the Spanish shore, so a large audience grew in the harbor. The crowd watched as the two mismatched ships battled for three hours. Then the Achilles sailed away and left the Golden Eagle behind. The small American ship had won!
The excited Spanish audience gave the brave captain a hardy welcome on shore. Captain Haraden continued to out-fox the British and captured many more ships during the Revolutionary war.