One of our tars, being mortally wounded, cried to his messmate: kI am a dying man; revenge my blood, my boys, and carry me alongside my gun, that I may die there.' We were so preserved by a gracious Providence that in all our galleys we had but two men killed and fourteen wounded, two of which are thought dangerous." An (wen more exciting experience was reserved for the kk Phoenix," kk Rose," and their tenders. Two fire vessels, constructed by Washington's orders, approached them at their anchorage on the night of the 10th of August. The resulting transactions have been picturesquely described by numerous writers, but with many variations as to details. The precise location of this affair of the fire-ships is impossible of determination, so conflicting are the statements on that point. The thrilling scene is variously located off Tarrytown, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, and Vonkers. According to a very circumstantial account by a principal participant on the American side -- Captain Joseph Bass, apparently the navigator of one of the fire-ships, -- it occurred not in Hie jurisdiction of Westchester County but in that of Rockland County, the British vessels, he says, having taken stations on the west side of the river, because of the greater depth of the water there, upon receiving an intimation from some quarter that The narrative of Captain Bass (originally mischief was impending.

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published in the Worcester Magazine in 1826) is so explicit and in essential respects so intelligent that it seems to us his statement that the event transpired on the west side of the river mast be accepted without question. Yet Dawson, after examining numerous original authorities, all carefully cited in his footnotes, gives no suggestion of this; although he does not specifically say that the engagement occurred on the east bank.