The Story of Two Heroic Black Privateers-- Part 2: Even Dying, They Were Brave

Nathaniel Shaler had this to say about two of his sailors in that battle:

"The name of one of my poor fellows who was killed ought to be registered in the book of fame, and remembered with reverence as long as bravery is considered a virtue.

"He was a black man, by the name of John Johnson.  A twenty-four pound shot struck him in the hip, and took away all the lower part of his body.  In this state, the poor fellow lay on the deck, and several times exclaimed to his shipmates, 'Fire away, my boy: no haul a color down.'

"The other was also a black man, by the name of John Davis,  and was struck in much the same way.  he fell near me, and several times requested to be thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way of others.

"When America has such tars [sailors were often referred to as Tars back then], she has little to fear from the tyrants of the ocean."

--Brock-Perry