THE "PRINCESS ROYAL" PACKET
In the days of sailing-vessels the mails were regularly carried by
fast-sailing brigs, which were known as packets. They were virtually
men-of-war, but were not heavily armed, nor did they carry a numerous
crew. The captain's first duty was to convey the mails with expedition
and safety, and he was not expected to go out of his way to engage an
enemy, but to escape if possible. Some fire-eating commanders of packets
required, indeed, to be admonished as to their duties in this respect.
The brigs were usually very heavily masted, and it was considered a
point of honour to "carry on" their canvas, sometimes to a dangerous
extent. More than one of these craft has unaccountably disappeared,
having no doubt foundered in a storm.
They were very fine little vessels, however, and there was probably a
certain amount of "swagger" attached to belonging to them--a sort of
craft that was not under anybody's orders, and was not to be interfered
with; and when they were attacked, and found escape impossible, their
"swagger" assumed the form, in many instances, of a most heroic defence
--while the mails were always sunk before surrendering.
Here is a very interesting letter, describing an action between the
_Princess Royal_ packet, Captain John Skinner, and a French privateer of
vastly superior force. It is written by one of the passengers, who
"plied the small arms with much effect."
"NEW YORK, _August 25th, 1798_.
"I have at last the pleasure to inform you of my arrival here, the 14th
instant, after a very tedious passage. We left Falmouth on June 12th, in
company with the _Grantham_ packet, bound to Jamaica, which kept with us
five days. Four days after, on the morning of June 21st, we fell in with
a French privateer; at five o'clock she made sail after us. We had light
airs and a smooth sea--all sails set. At midday, we triced up our
boarding-nettings and made clear for action, with our courses up. The
privateer, towards the afternoon, came up with us fast, by the
assistance of her sweeps. At 7 p.m. our men were all at quarters. She
hoisted English colours, firing a shot,[17] which we returned, and she
answered by a gun to leeward. At this time she was within cannon-shot,
but, it growing dark, kept in our wake; and we turned in, not expecting
an attack till next morning. However, before daylight, at half-past
three in the morning, she came within pistol-shot, and fired a broadside
of great guns, swivels, etc., which we immediately returned, and kept
up a general fire with our cannon and small arms. Our force was only two
6-pounders, and four 4-pounders; of which six guns we got five on one
side to bear on them. We mustered thirty men and boys, exclusive of
Captain Skinner and his master, besides thirteen passengers and four
servants: in all forty-nine.
"The privateer was a low brig, apparently mounting twelve or fourteen
guns, and full of men. Our guns were extremely well plied; a lieutenant,
going to join the _St. Albans_ man-of-war, was captain of one of our
6-pounders, and the rest of us passengers plied the small arms with much
effect. The engagement continued, without intermission, for two hours,
when she out with her sweeps, left off firing, and rowed off, for it was
near calm, there not being wind enough to carry us a knot through the
water. As she was rowing off we got our two stern-chasers, the
6-pounders, to bear upon her, and hit her twice in her counter, which
must have gone through and through, for it caused great noise and
confusion on board, and soon after we saw two men at work over her
stern. At six o'clock, being out of cannon-shot, we ceased firing, and
set about repairing our damage. She had some swivels fixed in her tops,
which would have done us considerable mischief, had they not been drove
from them early in the action, which was Captain Skinner's first object
at the beginning of the engagement.
"Thank God, we had no one killed; most of their shot went above us. The
boarding-nettings, directly over our quarter-deck, were shot away, as
their principal force seemed to aim at the passengers, who plied
fourteen muskets to some advantage, and annoyed the privateer much.
"Captain Skinner conducted himself well; it was no new business to him.
His orders were given coolly and everything done with great precision
and regularity. I believe you know that he lost his right arm in an
engagement on board of a frigate last war.
"I cannot omit mentioning that a lady (a sister of Captain Skinner),
who, with her maid, were the only female passengers, were both employed
in the bread-room during the action making up papers for cartridges; for
we had not a single four-pound cartridge remaining when the action
ceased.
"Our sails were shot through, rigging very much cut, our spars and boat
upon deck shot through, several grape and round-shot in our bows and
side, and a very large shot, which must have been a 9-or 12-pounder, in
our counter. The ship proved a little leaky after the action, but she
got pretty tight again before our arrival. Captain Skinner was slightly
wounded, but is now well."
This plain and very credible story was afterwards supplemented by the
independent testimony of an American gentleman, who was a prisoner on
board the privateer during this engagement. She was the _Aventurier_,
and this gentleman states:
"That her force was fourteen long French 4-pounders, and two
12-pounders; that she had eighty-five men on board at the time, of whom
two were killed and four wounded in the action. That all her masts were
shot through, her stays and rigging very much cut; that when she got to
Bordeaux she was obliged to have new masts and a complete set of new
rigging. They supposed, on board the privateer, that there was not a
single shot fired from the packet that did not take effect: which seems
probable, for, though so low in the water, she had nineteen shot in her
bottom under her wale.[18] At the time there were on board thirty
English and American prisoners. She was so peppered that she would
certainly have been made a prize of, could the packet have pursued her;
and was so cut to pieces by the action that she afterwards ran from
everything until she got into Bordeaux to refit; the shots that raked
her as she moved off went quite through, and caused much confusion."
This is a very pretty tale of pluck and skill combined. The reproach
which has been laid against the British Navy in this--1798--and
subsequent years of inexpertness in gunnery, certainly could not have
been levelled against the crew of the _Princess Royal_, who put in their
4-and 6-pounder shot in such businesslike fashion, while the passengers
picked off the dangerous swivel-men in the tops. The two undaunted women
quietly making cartridge-bags in the bread-room rounds off the picture
very agreeably.
TWO COLONIAL PRIVATEERS
Here are two instances in which privateers fitted out by our colonies
have performed very brilliant services; and the first is introduced by
Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, Bart., Commander-in-Chief of His
Majesty's ships and vessels at the Cape of Good Hope, who writes from
Capetown on December 20th, 1801, to Evan Nepean, Esq., Secretary to the
Admiralty, as follows:
"SIR,--The private ship-of-war, the _Chance_, belonging to Mr. Hogan,
of this place, and commanded by Mr. William White, having been a
cruise on the coast of Peru, returned on the 11th instant. The
Commander of the _Chance_ addressed a letter to me containing an
account of his proceedings during his cruise. He appears to have
uniformly acted with great propriety; but his conduct, and that of
his officers and men, was, on two occasions, so highly creditable to
them that I send his account of these occurrences for their
lordships' information.
"I am, etc.,
"ROGER CURTIS."
Extract of a letter from Mr. William White, commander of the _Chance_
private ship of war, fitted out at the Cape of Good Hope, to
Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, Bart:
"At four p.m. on August 19th (1801), the island St. Laurence[19] bearing
N.E. two leagues, saw a large ship bearing down upon us. At nine brought
her to close action, and engaged her within half pistol-shot for an hour
and a half, but finding her metal much heavier than ours, and full of
men, boarded her on the starboard quarter, lashing the _Chance's_
bowsprit to her mizzen-mast, and, after a desperate resistance of
three-quarters of an hour, beat them off the upper deck; but they still
defended from the cabin and lower deck with long pikes in a most gallant
manner, till they had twenty-five men killed and twenty-eight wounded,
of whom the captain was one. Getting final possession, she was so close
to the island that with much difficulty we got her off shore, all her
braces and rigging being cut to pieces by our grape-shot. She proved to
be the new Spanish ship _Amiable Maria_, of about 600 tons, mounting
fourteen guns, 18, 12, and 9-pounders, brass, and carrying 120 men, from
Concepcion bound to Lima, laden with corn, wine, bale goods, etc. On
this occasion, I am much concerned to state, Mr. Bennett, a very
valuable and brave officer, was so dangerously wounded that he died
three days after the action; the second and fourth mates, Marine
officer, and two seamen badly wounded by pikes, but since recovered. On
the 20th, both ships being much disabled, and having more prisoners than
crew, I stood close in and sent eighty-six on shore in the large ship's
launch to Lima. We afterwards learned that seventeen of the wounded had
died.
"At 4 a.m. on September 24th, standing in to cut out from the roads of
Puna, in Guaiquil Bay, a ship I had information of, mounting twenty-two
guns, fell in with a large Spanish brig, with a broad pendant at
maintopmast-head. At five she commenced her fire on us, but she being at
a distance to windward, and desirous to bring her to close action, we
received three broadsides before a shot was returned. At half-past five,
being yardarm and yardarm, commenced our fire with great effect, and,
after a very severe action of two hours and three-quarters, during the
latter part of which she made every effort to get away, I had the honour
to see the Spanish flag struck to the _Chance_. She proved to be the
Spanish man-of-war brig _Limeno_, mounting eighteen long 6-pound guns,
commanded by Commodore Don Philip de Martinez, the senior officer of the
Spanish Marine on that coast, and manned with 140 men, sent from
Guaiquil for the express purpose of taking the _Chance_, and then to
proceed to the northward to take three English whalers lying in one of
their ports. She had fourteen men killed and seven wounded; the captain
mortally wounded, who died two days after the action. The _Chance_ had
two men killed and one wounded, and had only fifty men at the
commencement of the action; mounting sixteen guns, 12-and 6-pounders."
Captain White's little argument in favour of boarding the _Amiable_ (?)
_Maria_ reads rather quaintly: "Finding her metal much heavier than
ours, _and full of men_": a good argument for reversing the boarding
operations, one would imagine; but the _Amiable Maria_ was not equal to
the occasion--was not, in fact, if the pun may be pardoned, _taking any
chances_!
The other colonial privateer about which good things are recorded was
the _Rover_, of Liverpool, Nova Scotia. This loyal province, it appears,
fitted out some fifteen privateers in 1794 and the three following
years; and of these seven or eight hailed from the little town of
Liverpool. Captain Godfrey shall be allowed to tell his own simple and
straightforward tale:
"The brig _Rover_, mounting fourteen 4-pounders, was the present year
(1798) built and fitted for war at Liverpool in this province. She
sailed under my command June 4th last on a cruise against the enemies of
Great Britain, being commissioned by His Excellency Sir John Wentworth,
Bart. Our crew consisted of 55 men and boys, including myself and
officers, and was principally composed of fishermen."
"On the 17th of the same month, in the latitude of 23 N. and longitude
54 W.[20] we fell in with six sail of vessels, whom we soon discovered
to be enemies, one being a ship, with four brigs and a schooner. The
schooner showed 16 guns, one of the brigs 16 guns, another 6 guns. These
six vessels drew up close together, apparently with an intention of
engaging us. On consulting with my ship's company, we determined to bear
down and attack them, but so soon as the enemy perceived our intentions,
they by signal from the schooner dispersed, each taking a different
course, before we got within gunshot of them. After a few hours' chase
we took possession of the ship and one of the brigs. The ship proved an
American, bound from the South Seas, laden with oil, and the brig an
American, laden with wine, from Madeira. From them we learned that they
had been captured some short time before by a French privateer, which
was the schooner in company; that she mounted sixteen guns, two of which
were 9-pounders and the rest sixes, and carried 155 men; and that the
other three were American vessels which she had taken, one of which was
from the East Indies. Night coming on, we were prevented from taking any
more of them.
"On September 10th, being cruising near to Cape Blanco, on the Spanish
Main, we chased a Spanish schooner on shore and destroyed her. Being
close in with the land and becalmed, we discovered a schooner and three
gunboats under Spanish colours making for us. A light breeze springing
up, we were enabled to get clear of the land, when it fell calm, which
enabled the schooner and gunboats, by the help of a number of oars, to
gain fast upon us, keeping up at the same time a constant fire from
their bow-guns, which we returned with two guns pointed from our stern;
one of the gunboats did not advance to attack us. As the enemy drew near
we engaged them with muskets and pistols, keeping with oars the stern of
the _Rover_ towards them, and having all our guns well loaded with great
and small shot, ready against we should come to close quarters. When we
heard the commander of the schooner give orders to the two gunboats to
board us, I waited to see how they meant to attack us, and, finding the
schooner intended to board us on our starboard quarter, one of the
gunboats on our larboard bow, and the other on our larboard waist, I
suffered them to advance in that position until they came within about
fifteen yards, still firing on them with small-arms and the stern-guns.
I then manned the oars on the larboard side, and pulled the _Rover_
round so as to bring her starboard broadside to bear athwart the
schooner's bow, and poured into her a whole broadside of great and small
shot, which raked her deck fore and aft, while it was full of men ready
for boarding. I instantly shifted over on the other side [_i.e._ sent
the men over] and raked both gunboats in the same manner, which must
have killed and wounded a great number of those on board of them, and
done great damage to their boats. I then commenced a close action with
the schooner, which lasted three glasses [an hour and a half], and,
having disabled her sails and rigging much, and finding her fire grew
slack, I took advantage of a light air of wind to back my headsails,
which brought my stern on board of the schooner, by which we were
enabled to board and carry her, at which time the gunboats sheered off,
apparently in a very shattered condition. We found her to be the _Santa
Rita_, mounting ten 6-pounders and two 12-pounder carronades, with 125
men. She was fitted out the day before by the Governor of Porto Cavallo,
with the gunboats, for the express purpose of taking us. Every officer
on board of her was killed except the officers who commanded a party of
25 soldiers; there were 14 dead men on her deck when we boarded her, and
17 wounded; the prisoners, including the wounded, amounted to 71.
"My ship's company, including officers and boys, was only 45 in number,
and behaved with that courage and spirit which British seamen always
show when fighting the enemies of their country. It is with infinite
pleasure I add that I had not a man hurt; from the best account I could
obtain, the enemy lost 54 men. The prisoners being too numerous to be
kept on board, on the 14th ult. I landed them all except eight, taking
an obligation from them not to serve against his Majesty until regularly
exchanged. I arrived with my ship's company in safety this day (October
17th) at Liverpool, having taken during my cruise the before-mentioned
vessels, together with a sloop under American colours bound to Curacao,
a Spanish schooner bound to Port Caballo, which have all arrived in this
province; besides which I destroyed some Spanish launches on the coast."
A very successful four month's cruise. Godfrey's crew of Nova Scotian
fishermen would be very difficult to beat: they were stalwart,
hard-bitten fellows, well used to hardship in their calling, and not
afraid of anything; much the same type, in fact, as those Salem men who
gave us so much trouble in the war of 1812.
To the initiated, Captain Godfrey's handling of his craft on the
approach of the three Spanish vessels will commend itself. It was an
exceedingly pretty bit of seamanship, only possible at such a moment to
a captain of consummate coolness, with his crew well in hand.
The Spaniards appear on this, as on so many other occasions, to have
made the wildest practice with their firearms; Godfrey had not a man
touched, after an action of one hour and a half, with a hand-to-hand
fight at the end of it!
[Footnote 17: An illegal and piratical act; she was bound to show her
own colours before firing.]
[Footnote 18: Wale, or wales, sometimes termed "bends"; the thickest
outside planking of the ship, at and above the water-line.]
[Footnote 19: There does not appear to be an island under this name on
the west coast of South America, in any modern atlas. It must have been
close to Callao, the sea-port of Lima, as he sent his prisoners on shore
there next day.]
[Footnote 20: That is, to the north-westward of the northernmost of the
Windward Islands, in the West Indies.]