[Footnote 21: That is, indemnity from having the crew pressed by any man-of-war which was short of hands. As a regular privateer, she would be exempt from this; but apparently she and her consorts were merchantmen, armed and probably provided with what were loosely termed letters of marque for protection in case of attack.]
[Illustration: CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH PRIVATEER "JEUNE RICHARD"]
One of the most brilliant instances of the defence of a packet is that of the encounter of the _Windsor Castle_ with the French privateer _Jeune Richard_. The packet was outward bound to the West Indies, and fell in with the privateer not far from Barbadoes, about half-past eight on the morning of October 1st, 1807. The privateer immediately gave chase, being probably well aware of the class of vessel she would encounter, and confident in her very great superiority in numbers. The packet, commanded by acting-Captain W. Rogers, cracked on sail, as in duty bound, to escape; but the big privateer schooner of those days was among the fastest craft afloat, and it was speedily apparent that some fighting would have to be done. Rogers had only twenty-eight in his crew, all told, men and boys--sufficient to work the brig fairly well, but not, one would imagine, to fight her against a schooner crowded with men. However, he beat to quarters and made all his arrangements, not forgetting to place some responsible persons in charge of the mails, to shift them about to a place of safety as required, and, in the last resort, to sink them. This, of course, reduced his little fighting force still further.
The privateer was within gunshot at noon, and, hoisting French colours, opened fire, the packet returning it with her stern-chasers. Arriving within hail, the French captain, who appears to have been sadly deficient in that politeness which is characteristic of his countrymen, demanded, in rude and contemptuous terms, the lowering of the British colours. He could very plainly see, by this time, how scanty was the crew of the packet compared with his own, and, upon Rogers declining to surrender, he immediately ran aboard the _Windsor Castle_, intending to finish the affair off at once by sheer weight of numbers--for he mustered no less than ninety-two, against the British modest twenty-eight, minus the mail-tenders.