With a good ship under his command,
Captain Worley now enlarged his sphere of action; on both shores of
Delaware Bay, and along the coast of New Jersey, he captured everything
which came in his way, and for about three weeks he made the waters in
those regions very hot for every kind of peaceable commercial craft. If
Worley had been in trade, his motto would have been "Quick sales and
small profits," for by day and by night, the _New York's Revenge_, which
was the name he gave to his new vessel, cruised east and west and north
and south, losing no opportunity of levying contributions of money,
merchandise, food, and drink upon any vessel, no matter how
insignificant it might be.
The Philadelphians now began to tremble in their shoes; for if a boat
had so quickly grown into a sloop, the sloop might grow into a fleet,
and they had all heard of Porto Bello, and the deeds of the bloody
buccaneers. The Governor of Pennsylvania, recognizing the impending
danger and the necessity of prompt action, sent to Sandy Hook, where
there was a British man-of-war, the _Phoenix_, and urged that this
vessel should come down into Delaware Bay and put an end to the pirate
ship which was ravaging those waters. Considering that Worley had not
been engaged in piracy for much more than four weeks, he had created a
reputation for enterprise and industry, which gave him a very important
position as a commerce destroyer, and a large man-of-war did not think
that he was too small game for her to hunt down, and so she set forth to
capture or destroy the audacious Worley.
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