Babcock, having stationed herself in one of the dormer windows of the parsonage, aided their escape, wherever they appeared, by the waving of a white handkerchief." Our salutations to the shade of the gentle, gracious, and (we doubt not) beauteous Mrs. Babcock! During the years 1777 and 1778 a very useful " whaleboat " service was organized and developed in the hamlets of our county along the Sound. The whaleboats, propelled with oars, "would dart across the Sound under cover of the night, and run into the inlets of the Long Island shore, landing near the house of a Tory family, sometimes to plunder and sometimes to take prisoners. Small British vessels cruising in the Sound were occasionally captured. Marketsloops, loaded with provisions for the British army, were favorite prey. Great quantities of forage and other stores belonging to the enemy were destroyed. The whaleboat service was pursued with greatest activity in 1780 and 1781."1 Thomas Kniffen, of Bye, is mentioned by Baird as one who was especially energetic in this daring work. The capture of the British guardship " Schuldham " (1777) at the mouth of Eastchester Creek-- a very brilliant performancewas effected by some whaleboatmen from Darien, Conn., who first seized the market-sloop which plied regularly between Eastchester and New York, and then took her alongside the " Schuldham " on the pretense of desiring to sell some of their truck; whereupon a party of armed men, concealed in the sloop's hold, clambered on board the war-vessel, overpowered the crew, forced them to navigate the prize, and ran her into the port of New London. In this connection a word should be said also about the excellent services of the "water guards" in the various communities on the Hudson. The constant presence of the enemy's ships in the river rendered it peculiarly necessary to keep vigilant watch on the Hudson's banks, and the organization effected for the discharge of the duties thus involved came to be very efficient.