responded by rowing to land and throwing the lawyer into a river. With a 25-man crew, Burns left New Bern for Norfolk, Virginia. On October 14, 1812, Snap Dragon and another vessel, Revenge, sailed south. The vessels separated a week later. Snap Dragon encountered success early in the cruise. In one situation, she outran a British frigate and sloop. A few days later, Snap Dragon captured its first prize, a British merchant ship armed with 14 guns. Soon after, Burns and Pasteur led the vessel to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. To fool enemy British ships, they disguised Snap Dragon as a merchant ship by putting up old, ragged sails and moving the guns out of view. Snap Dragon ran into five British men of war. One of the ships, the frigate , fired a warning shot and signaled the other ships to chase down Snap Dragon. For over two hours, Burns led Snap Dragon away from danger, toward Ship Rock passage, which unknowingly, was blocked by two British brigs. immediately launched an attack on Snap Dragon. Burns told his crew to lie down on the deck while the vessel was being fired upon. Fortunately, Burns was able to command the vessel away from the British ships, unscathed. The next morning, Burns and his crew encountered , another British man of war, but again they successfully escaped. The crew of Snap Dragon made their way to St. Croix, where they made "several small captures" of coastal traders. Burns commanded Snap Dragon on her next two cruises, during which he had several encounters with British men-of-war and took numerous prizes. Life after privateering Months before he completed his third cruise in 1814, Burns' wife Joanna and son Owen left him to live with relatives in Jones County. In September, Joanna died, leaving her son in the custody of her family for five years before Burns obtained legal guardianship over Owen. Three months later, Burns married Jane Hall, a 20-year-old from Beaufort, North Carolina. In April 1815, Burns purchased a property in Beaufort, on which he built a house, that would be his family's residence for the next 20 years. Business From the wealth he gained from privateering, Burns became a shipbuilder at Swansboro, North Carolina and made investments in local businesses. In 1818, he built Prometheus at his shipyard in Swansboro near the mouth of the White Oak River (NC