Harry Man's Description of the Attack on the Highland Chief

The following is extracted from the, "Government Gazette" (of India) of Thursday, March 25th, 1802

A description of the Engagement between LA SUBTILE & THE HIGHLAND CHIEF, taken by Mr. Harry Stowe Man, fourth Officer.

In Latitude 2.9 South & Longitude 93.30 East, at I0 a.m. Tuesday, February ?, 1802. A vessel was discovered steering to windward, steering S.W. & right down upon us. We being then close-hauled & steering N.E. She (the enemy) being hull down, we could not ascertain her [Е..] but having two masts, we supposed her to be a brig; the arm mast, which was in the after hold, was got up, & every preparation taken for action.

At 11 a.m. we could discover her to be a small brig with studding [ЕЕ] & colours flying, but she was at so great a distance, that we could not discover whether she was friend or foe. However Captain Greenway had his suspicions; she being very low in the water, & all sail she could carry towards us.

At half past 11. a.m. We hoisted our pendant & colours loaded our [Е..] guns, took in our royals & stay sails.

At noon. We hauled up our main sail & we could by this time discern she had American colours flying, & we were by this circumstance off our guard, & all hands were going from their quarters; but Captain Greenway perceiving a number of men upon her decks, gave him [Е..] for again to suspect that she was a French Corvette.

At half past 1p.m. She came within hail, & we accosted her thus: У[Е.] Ahoy?Ф Answer, Halloo. --- Again. УFrom whence came you?Ф УFrom Ceylon, bound to some port in America.Ф We then ordered her come under our stern, & send her boat on board. When she immediately gave us a complete broadside, which compliment we returned, and so it went warmly. Most of our people being foreigners they went [Е.] and we then had nineteen Europeans on deck, besides the First Officer Mr. Thompson, Second Officer Mr. Lee, Third Officer Mr. Greenway, Fourth Officer Mr. Harry Stowe [sic] Man, which as soon as they perceived [Е..] they ran their brig alongside, & after a little skirmish, boarded. We, being so few, were obliged to surrender. Our colours were then down. When the officer of the boarding party [Еiving] our Captain, went up & shot him dead.

At two p.m. Monsieur Penaud had possession of the Highland Chief, after a conflict of 15 minutes, our second officer & three seamen were killed.

The French had 14 killed & 7 wounded, three of the latter died shortly afterwards. La Subtile had been ЕЕ not a sail. Before the coЕЕ.she had 190 men on board The Highland Chief had been 47 days from the Cape of Good Hope having sailed thence on Е..cember."

The following is a further extract, from, Government Gazette (of India), of Thursday, March 25, 1802.

REMARKS by a Gentleman on board the American Brig Roebuck.

February 10. in Latitude 2.15 S. Longitude 93. 37. E.

"At 6 a.m. steering about W.N.W. wind northerly, two sail were seen right ahead of us, at 8 we discovered the ship Highland Chief & a brig with her jib-boom gone; knowing the Highland Chief was bound to Madras & having a passenger on board for that place, we hesitated not to close with them, when we were within pistol-shot of them & our broadside to them (our colours at the mizen peck (sic)) the Highland Chief opened her fire upon us under French colours, she continued firing for the space of 5 minutes, both round grape & small arms, the people were ordered to lay close to the deck, & luckily no man was hurt, they cut away our main-stay, & did us a good deal of damage in our sails & rigging.

An officer & a boats crew armed then boarded us, sent the Captain officers on board the Highland Chief: they then began to plunder us, they broke open drawers, chests, bales etc, etc & took away everything at pleased their fancy, even the table & tea spoons they could find put of one bale they stole 17 pieces of muslin, also a necklace & earrings from a black girl, passenger, in short they committed every outrage & insult.

They made us hoist out our boats: our long boat they employed shifting the guns from the Highland Chief into the brig & vice versa, which business & shifting their men took up twenty eight hours of our time, they sent 46 of the Highland Chief's passengers, officers & crew on board of us, against our consent, with only sixty gallons of water, four bags & one barrel of biscuit. -At 2 p.m. the captain & officers obtained leave to go on board the brig, but could not obtain our logbook & some of our papers.

IIth, At noon the First officer was sent on board the Privateer to endeavour to get our log book & some more provisions & water, but the Captain told him he might think himself well off with what he had got, that if the cask of water had not been in our boat, he would not have en us any: luckily we had nine butts of water on board, which ended us to make out very well. They were told by the Chief Officer the Highland Chief that we were Americans, & that we left the Cape the same day with them that we were not armed they could plainly perceive, therefore to what we are to attribute their inhuman conduct by firing into us we are at a loss we conjecture their wishes & hopes to destroy the Captain & Officers, hoping thereby to be enabled, by making our people to swear what they pleased to make a prize of us: what leads us to this conjecture is, that they drew up a paper, purporting that the Cape of Good Hope, we were under English colours, which they requested Mr. Cooke, Surgeon on the Bengal Establishment to sign, which he declined, they then called the Captain down from the where he had been under a guard three hours, & allowed him & his officers to proceed on board the brig.

The Privateer's name is the SUBTILE, Captain Penaud, the same man who seized & carried the Prince into Mauritius, she is no doubt gone to the Pedler Coast, she is a low black brig with new sails and a white [Е.].

The Capture of the Highland Chief

A letter from Mr Thompson, late 1st Officer of the Highland Chief

Brig ROEBUCK, off Vizagapatam, March 5 1802

SIR, I am sorry to inform you of the capture of the HIGHLAND CHIEF by the French privateer LA SUBTILITE of 5 guns, 116 men, commanded by Captain Pineau, in Lat. 2:12 S. and Long. 93:36 E. on 9 February at 2 P.M. after an action of about half an hour, when they got possession by boarding us with 75 men, the greatest part being intoxicated. The Portuguese and Lascars having run from their quarters, we had only twenty-one English in all for the defence of the ship. They boarded us on the weather side, having everything in readiness for that purpose - the men being in the tops and rigging, and the back of the sails towards us, we were prevented from seeing their intention - I am sorry to add that Captain Greenway was killed on the poop after the action. The greater part of the letters have been lost and Mr Haldane is gone in the HIGHLAND CHIEF to the Isle of France (Mauritius).

When the privateer was first seen she was to windward, with American colours flying, and supposed to be the American brig ROEBUCK, which vessel the HIGHLAND CHIEF sailed in company from the Cape of Good Hope, and had been seen twice during the passage; she continued edging down on the HIGHLAND CHIEF, carefully concealing her guns and her people, (as only three Europeans and a few black faces were seen) until she came within hail, when an answer was given in tolerable English to a question that had been asked - it was then discovered that she had guns, and that they were shifting over to the side next the HIGHLAND CHIEF, which first occasioned suspicion of her being an enemy; and after three or four rounds from the great guns, the contest was terminated by boarding as above stated.

Some of the crew of the HIGHLAND CHIEF were wounded by cutlasses in boarding but no other life was lost than Captain Greenway`s, which probably may be attributed to the general state of intoxication of the crew of the privateer, for he was shot from a blunderbuss, out of one of the tops, after the ship had struck. The loss of the enemy was one officer and seven men killed, and nineteen wounded.

The day after the capture of the HIGHLAND CHIEF, the privateer fell in with the ROEBUCK and fired into her, notwithstanding she had American colours flying, by which some of her stays and other inconsiderable damage was sustained; and Monsieur Pineau made no ceremony afterwards of plundering her of such articles as he wanted; he then ordered the boats of the ROEBUCK to be hoisted out to receive the prisoners aboard; but they were first employed carrying the guns and various articles from the HIGHLAND CHIEF to the privateer, previous to her dispatch to the Mauritius, after which the prisoners were put on board the ROEBUCK with the promise of a sufficient supply of water and provisions, &c. but the quantity of both was very scant, and the want of the former article obliged the ROEBUCK to put into Vizagapatum.

The ROEBUCK arrived with the crew of the HIGHLAND CHIEF at Calcutta on 14 March. The cargo of the prize was worth 40,000 pounds sterling.

I am &c.
- Thompson