our own coast, and to the British colonies. I find that he resided for a time in Spain, where he was intrusted with consignments of vessels and merchandise, and where it would appear that, in other respects, he performed the ordinary business of a commission merchant. Again we trace him in the West Indies; and his pa pers show, that he was there engaged in various mercantile transactions. Yet again, we glean from his correspondence the fact, that he made a voyage to Africa, and that the speculation was unfortunate, principally, if not entirely, because of his conscientious objection to invest his outward cargo in slaves. As the fifteen years close, we learn, that, while upon his last foreign enterprise, he was captured by a French pirate, plundered of his property, and detained for several months.

The recollections of surviving friends enable us further to state, that, while his personal expenditures were by no means unfavorable to the accumulation of property, while his activity was ceaseless, and his industry highly praiseworthy, and even remarkable, his fortune in 1798 was scarcely better than in 1783. this, various circumstances had contributed; for, besides the losses arising from his refusal to barter fabrics for men, women, and children, and from captivity, his open-handed liberality,

To

for which he was distinguished through life, was sufficient to absorb no inconsiderable share of his gains and earnings. His poverty was entirely honorable; and they, who remember him when he was between the ages of twentytwo and thirty-seven years, recall to their minds a fine-looking, frank, and generous seaman, of a decided tone and hasty temper.

The troubles with France, towards the close of the last century, brought Preble into public life a second time. Prior to that period, though we possessed a few ships of war, it can hardly be said that we had an organized naval establishment. In the preparations to meet the emergency, five lieutenants were added to the service, of whom he was one. His commission bears date January 17th, 1799; but he was to take rank from the 9th of April, 1798. Three days after the latter date, James McHenry, the Secretary at War, communicated the fact of his appointment as a first lieutenant in the navy of the United States, to serve on board the frigate Constitution, of which Samuel Nicholson was captain and commander. As by the rank of the captain under whom they were ordered to serve, it is presumed that the particular rank of each of these lieutenants was to be determined, and as Barry was Nicholson's only senior, Preble stood, by this

arrangement, second on the list of lieuten

ants.

Though he joined the Constitution, he did not serve in her. After a short leave to attend to his private affairs, he obtained command of the Pickering. This was his first active duty, after entering the national marine. His order to assume charge of that vessel is dated in January, 1799. There were no revenue cutters, properly so called, belonging to the treasury at this period; and the Pickering, and several other of the smaller vessels of the navy, were employed on that service. She was a brig of one hundred and eighty-seven tons, mounted fourteen guns, carried seventy men, and was built under contract at Boston.*

The circumstances of the country required all of its armed vessels for cruising. Advised, when placed in charge of the Pickering, that she would probably be transferred from the treasury to the naval establishment, he was ordered, on the 17th of January, to proceed without delay to the Island of Dominica, in the West Indies, and maintain a position in the vicinity of Prince Rupert's Bay, until joined by Commodore Barry in the frigate United States, when he was to place himself under

* American State Papers, Vol. XIV. pp. 58, 59, 149.

that officer's direction. He was authorized to capture French armed vessels, whether found at sea or elsewhere, to recapture the prizes made by the French, and also to seize upon a class of vessels, that, acting without commission, had preyed upon our commerce in the Caribbean Sea. But he was forbidden to interfere to prevent the capture of American vessels by ships of any other European power, even though the attempt were made in his sight; while he was to suffer all vessels of our flag, prizes to the belligerent nations, to pass without recapture. Such was the tenor of his somewhat singular instructions. Few incidents of Preble's life, while he was attached to Barry's squadron on the West India station, are known. He may have remained in the Pickering a year, and have made two cruises, before his promotion.*

:

He was commissioned a captain June 7th, 1799, to take rank from the 15th of the preceding month. To this place on the list, in the common course of things, he may not have been strictly entitled; and it is not improbable, that it was given as an inducement for him to continue in the service, from which, it is

.

Captain Hillar succeeded him in the Pickering. In August, 1800, he and all on board of that ship perished at sea.

known, he thought of retiring. The Secretary alluded to the circumstance in communicating the appointment, and hoped that he would accept it, and remain in the navy; for said he, "you may justly expect to rank high, and soon to get a good ship.",

This intimation of being placed in a good ship was followed by a corresponding act; for while Rodgers, who was Preble's senior, only obtained a sloop of war, the Maryland, the latter was put in command of the frigate Essex, then new, and fitting for her first cruise, A few months prior to his promotion, the merchants of Boston and Salem, who were building a frigate, had solicited him, through their com mittee, Thomas H. Perkins chairman, to allow them to name him to the department as her commander. In his reply to Colonel Perkins, he declined the honor, and announced that pressing engagements would soon compel him to return to private life. Happily, the intention was abandoned, and he joined the Essex.*

He sailed in company with the frigate Congress, Captain Sever, on a cruise to the East

*This frigate was built at Salem, and Commodore Preble first took charge of her at that place, before her rigging was completed. The cost was paid by a subscription from the merchants, who received government stock for the money they advanced.