Fate
In the autumn of 1814 Sir John Sherbrooke was outward bound from Halifax with a cargo of oil and dried fish. She encountered the American privateer Syren, which captured her and put a prize crew aboard her. However, a British squadron came along and chased Sir John Sherbrooke ashore. The American crew managed to get away with all the valuables on board despite the fire of the British frigate's guns. The frigate sent her boats to attempt a rescue, but gunfire from a nearby fort drove them off. Salvage was impracticable, so Sir John Sherbrooke was set on fire and burned to the water's edge.
Ironically, on 16 November 1814, boats from Spencer and Telegraph, herself a former American privateer, ran Syren ashore under Cape May, where her crew destroyed her.
Read more about this topic: Sir John Sherbrooke (Halifax)
Famous quotes containing the word fate:
“It has come to this, that the friends of liberty, the friends of the slave, have shuddered when they have understood that his fate was left to the legal tribunals of the country to be decided. Free men have no faith that justice will be awarded in such a case.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In separation, deadly as poison,
in union, brimming with nectar.
What, did fate make my love
out of both equally?”
—Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)
“Oh, how sweet it is to pity the fate of an enemy who can no longer threaten us!”
—Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)