THE AFFAIR OF THE "BONAPARTE"
In the year 1804 there was a very formidable French privateer cruising
in the West Indies, by name the _Bonaparte_, carrying 18 guns and a crew
of over 200. This vessel encountered, in the month of August, the
British ship of war _Hippomenes_--a capture from the Dutch at the
surrender of Demerara in the previous year--of 18 guns, commanded by
Captain Kenneth McKenzie, who had in some measure disguised his ship in
order to entrap privateers. The Frenchman was so far deceived as to
invite a conflict, believing the _Hippomenes_ to be a "Guineaman," or
African slave-trader, which were almost always armed, but which the
_Bonaparte_ would have no cause to fear.
Having caught a tartar, the French captain did not on that account
endeavour to avoid battle, and a sharp action ensued. After some time,
the French ship fell aboard the _Hippomenes_, upon which Captain
McKenzie instantly had the two ships lashed together, and, calling upon
his men to follow him, sprang on board the _Bonaparte_. He appears,
however, to have been very unfortunate in his crew, many of whom, it is
said, were foreigners, and only eight men had the stomach to follow
him. This little band, however, under their captain's gallant
leadership, actually drove the Frenchmen from their quarters for a time,
no doubt under the impression that this was merely the vanguard of a
formidable force of boarders. Finding themselves opposed by such
insignificant numbers, however, they rallied, and the plucky Englishmen
were terribly cut up, McKenzie receiving no less than fourteen wounds,
while the first lieutenant and purser were killed and the master
wounded. There was nothing for it but to scramble back on board their
own ship, which they barely succeeded in doing when the lashings gave
way, and the vessels swung apart, Captain McKenzie almost missing his
leap, and falling senseless into the "chains" of his own ship. The
Frenchman had had enough, so the action ended indecisively, and the
_Bonaparte_ was free to continue her depredations. Had the whole of the
English crew been of the same kidney as the gallant eight her career in
the French service would certainly have been ended then and there.
A month or two later the _Bonaparte_ fell in with three British armed
merchantmen, to wit the _Thetis_, _Ceres_, and _Penelope_, which had
sailed in company from Cork in October, John Charnley, captain of the
Thetis, being commodore of the little squadron.
The _Bonaparte_ was sighted at 7 a.m. on November 8th, to windward of
Barbadoes, and the three English ships at once hauled their wind and
prepared for action. What ensued shall be told in the language of the
three captains, as illustrating the curious diversity of views which
may result from distorted vision in the heat of action--for that one or
other of these captains had his vision so distorted there can be no
doubt. All three letters are dated November 10th, 1804, from Bridge
Town, Barbadoes, and are addressed to the owners--though whether all
three ships were owned by one firm does not appear.
The captain of the _Ceres_ writes:
"I am happy to inform you of my safe arrival here, in company with the
_Penelope_ and _Thetis_. The day we came in we fell in with the
_Bonaparte_, French privateer, of twenty guns, which bore down upon us,
and commenced a very heavy fire, which we returned as warm as possible.
She attempted to board the _Thetis_, and, in the act, lost her bowsprit,
and soon after her foremast went over the side--a fortunate
circumstance, as I understand she was the terror of the West Indies. She
sent a challenge here by an American, the day before we arrived, to any
of our sloops of war to fight her. We understand she had beaten off one
of them. The action was very smart for about two hours; we began firing
at nine o'clock in the morning, and did not leave off till half after
twelve. My ship was on fire three times by neglect of the people with
their cartridges. She once got on fire in the cabin; but, by the
exertions of the crew, it was soon extinguished. They behaved with the
greatest spirit; and, I believe, would have fought to the last, though
half of them were foreigners. I had several shots in the hull and my
rigging and sails were very much cut. The small shot and grape came on
board us like hail, though they did not hit one man. I had two men blown
up by the cartridges taking fire, who are very much burnt."
The _Penelope_ account comes next:
"I arrived here safe, after a passage of thirty-three days, in company
with the _Ceres_ and _Thetis_, and shall be detained here some time to
refit: having on the 8th inst., in lat. 13.26 N., long. 57.30 W. had an
engagement with the _Bonaparte_ privateer, of 22 guns and 250 men, for
three hours; in which engagement we had ten of our guns dismounted,
which I must repair here, and likewise replenish our powder. I suppose I
shall be ready for sea by the 13th. I am sorry to say Mr. Lindo was
killed in the engagement, and his poor wife is very disconsolate. I wish
her to return home from hence, but she refuses. I send this by the
_Burton_, of Liverpool, who is now under weigh, or otherwise would be
more particular. The action commenced at 9 a.m., and we engaged until
half-past meridian, when we left off chase. The privateer lost her
bowsprit and foremast in attempting to board the _Thetis_, who had two
men killed and five wounded."
Captain Charnley's report is as follows:
"MESSRS. STUART, HEESMAN, & CO."
"GENTLEMEN,
"I arrived here, in company with the _Ceres_ and _Penelope_, last
evening. On the 8th instant, at 7 a.m., seeing a strange sail and a
suspicious one (being commodore), I made a signal for an enemy, and
to haul our wind on the larboard tack to meet her. At nine we met;
she kept English colours flying till after firing two broadsides.
Seeing him attempt to lay us alongside to leeward, thought it better
to have him to windward, so wore ship on the other tack. He was then
on our quarter, and lashed himself to our mizzen chains; the contest
then became desperate for one hour. They set us on fire twice on the
quarter-deck with stink-pots and other combustibles, and made four
very daring attempts to board, with at least eighty men, out of their
rigging, foretop, and bowsprit, but were most boldly repulsed by
every man and boy in the ship. At the conclusion, a double-headed
shot, from our aftermost gun, carried away his foremast by the board;
that took away his bowsprit and maintopgallant-mast. He then thought
it was time to cast us off. No less than fifty men fell with the
wreck. We then hauled our wind as well as we could, to knot, splice,
and repair our rigging for the time, which gave the other ships an
opportunity to play upon the enemy; but, being a little to leeward,
had not so good an effect. A short time afterwards wore ship for him
again, with the other ships, and engaged him for about an hour more;
but, finding it impossible to take him, owing to his number of men,
and no surgeon to dress our wounded, I thought it best to steer our
course for this island. Her name is the _Bonaparte_, of 20 9-pounders
and upwards of 200 men. I had 18 6-pounders and 45 men, 19 never at
sea before, boys and landsmen. As to the behaviour of my whole crew,
to a man they were steady, and determined to defend the ship whilst
there was one left alive. I had two killed and nine wounded. On our
arrival Commodore Hood paid us every attention, sent the surgeon and
mate to dress the wounded, also men to assist the ship to anchor, and
gave me a written protection for my crew.[21] I cannot conclude
without mentioning the gallant and spirited conduct of Mr. Dobbs, a
midshipman (passenger with me), who acted as Captain of Marines, and
during the action fought like a brave fellow, as well as exciting in
the minds of the crew unconquerable zeal. We are much shattered in
our hull, sails, and rigging; it will take us two days before we can
be ready for sea."
"I remain, in haste, gentlemen,
"Your very obedient servant,
"JOHN CHARNLEY."
In another letter to a friend, a day or two later, Charnley says:
"The _Bonaparte_ privateer is the completest ship in these seas. She
made too certain of us. Freers, my first mate, behaved most gallantly,
and fought like a lion; so did Lambert, my second mate. Indeed, I cannot
say enough for every man and boy in the ship. The greatest part of them
stripped and fought naked, and I am sure would have died sooner than
have been carried. There was one hour's hard work, I assure you. I was
near going frequently, as they fired several musket-balls through my
clothes."
This appears to be a straightforward account, and though it differs from
the others, in respect of the parts played by them in the action,
Captain Charnley does not attach any blame to them for lack of zeal or
enterprise.
The Barbadoes _Mercury_ headed the account of the action--"Defeat of
_Bonaparte_! _not_ the Great, but celebrated privateer of Guadaloupe!"
Four months later Captain Charnley deemed it necessary to publish, in
the _Bristol Journal_ of March 16th, 1805, the following justification
of himself:
"On our arrival in this port, observing a paragraph in the London papers
respecting a late action between the _Bonaparte_, French privateer, and
the ships _Thetis_, _Ceres_, and _Penelope_, off Barbadoes, which makes
it appear to the public that the two latter did wonders, and the
_Thetis_ little or nothing; I now think it incumbent on me, and a duty I
owe to my crew, as commander of the _Thetis_, to state a few facts, and
confute any reports that have been made of the action; which would have
been passed over in silence by me, had they not resorted to the means
they have of obtaining unmerited credit at the expense of others. The
three ships sailed in company from Cork, the _Thetis_ to act as
commodore. Nothing material occurred till November 8th, when at 7 a.m.
the man at our masthead called out, 'A sail!' It soon appearing a
suspicious one, I made a signal for an enemy, and to haul our wind on
the larboard tack to meet her; which was answered by our consorts. At
nine the privateer and the _Thetis_ met; the other ships not sailing so
fast, were at this time about one mile astern in her wake. The privateer
hailed us in English twice, with English colours flying; the latter we
answered with a broadside from our larboard guns. Seeing him determined
to board us, we wore ship and sailed large; in the act of doing which
she raked us twice, ran up alongside under a press of sail, and made
herself fast to our mizzen-chains. By this time the other ships were
nearly up; but, instead of coming into action on the enemy's quarter,
which ought to have been their station, bore up before they reached us,
fired five or six guns (the contents of which we shared with the enemy);
and during the whole time (upwards of one hour) we were lashed together
they were sailing ahead of us at about half a mile distance, although
the crew of the _Penelope_ went aft to their commander and told him it
was a shame to see the _Thetis_ so mauled and render no assistance: this
was their report on board his Majesty's ship _Centaur_. At the
conclusion of the fight a fortunate double-headed shot from our
aftermost gun carried away the enemy's foremast, bowsprit, and
maintopgallant-mast; upon which he cut us adrift, when we hauled our
wind to the northward, with an intention to gain so far to windward as
to get on his weather-side, where all the wreck was lying. On examining
my crew, I found two killed and seven wounded, our sails and rigging so
much cut that the ship was ungovernable; however, by uncommon exertions,
we got her wore on the other tack, but only fetched under the enemy's
lee, when we passed almost shaving her, and gave her two broadsides, at
the same time receiving one from her which wounded two more men and
disabled four guns. Afterwards spoke the _Ceres_, whose commander
inquired into the state of our ship and men; he and his passengers drank
my health, and he expressed himself more than once (through his
trumpet), that he was very sorry it was not in his power to give us any
assistance. I then urged a wish to further annoy the enemy, as she would
be an easy capture. His answer was, "It is impossible; she has too many
men." During this time, for about half an hour, the enemy was lying a
complete log, while our consorts had received no damage. However, at
length all three of us made sail together for her again, and engaged her
at a distance for about an hour. My wounded being in great agony, I
shaped a course for Barbadoes, where we all arrived next evening.
"When we anchored I was visited by Captain Richardson, of his Majesty's
ship _Centaur_, who immediately sent for a surgeon, Mr. Martin, who has
my thanks for his particular attention to the wounded. Commodore Hood
very handsomely gave me a protection for my crew, and took the wounded
into the Royal Hospital.
"So little credit was given to the account of the action given by the
captains of the _Ceres_ and _Penelope_ at Barbadoes, that they resorted
to the means of obtaining the captain of the _Bonaparte's_ signature to
a letter, in direct contradiction of his statement to a naval officer
who captured him, which was in the fullest manner corroborated by the
surgeon who was stopped at Dominica on his way to Guadaloupe.
"The action speaks for itself. Neither of the vessels, the _Ceres_ or
_Penelope_, was in the smallest degree injured, although one of them
reported he expended _six barrels_ of gunpowder. Double that quantity
might have been expended with equal effect, as a large proportion of it
was set fire to in the barrels. The _Penelope_, I understand, lost a
passenger by a chance shot, yet I believe was equally as fortunate as
the _Ceres_ in escaping without damage.
"The steady behaviour of the _Thetis's_ officers and crew in this
action, and their conduct during the voyage, demand my highest esteem,
and will be for ever imprinted on my memory."
The inhabitants of the island of Dominica, in presenting Captain
Charnley with a handsome sum of money and a piece of plate, allude to
his gallant defeat of the _Bonaparte_ as "thereby protecting two
valuable ships under your convoy": which is significant of the version
of the affair which had got abroad, either through Charnley or the
French captain.
However, it was not done with yet, for Daniel Bousfield, captain of the
_Ceres_, arrived in England in April and immediately proceeded to
enlighten the editor of the _Bristol Journal_ as to the "true facts" of
the case, enclosing a copy of the letter which he had received from the
captain of the _Bonaparte_, and which readers are requested "to compare
with the partial and pompous account of the action inserted, on the
authority of Mr. Charnley, in the public papers."
"Sir, I have been astonished at the account given against you of the
engagement we had together; the manner in which you conducted yourself
obliges me, upon my honour, to inform the public of the fact. On my
arrival here, I was surprised to find that the captain of the _Thetis_
took to himself all the merit of having fought with me. It is true that,
during the heat of the action, he was the nearest ship to me, but that
was from necessity, as it was him that I attacked first, and which I did
because I saw that he was the best armed of the three. He commenced the
fire, which was soon followed up by you and the other letter of marque.
The courage you have all three shown cannot be too much admired. Your
manoeuvres convince me that they were the result of reflection and
experience; and the national character which you have manifested
certainly merits the eulogium of the public.
"Your fire was tremendous for me; and I can with truth affirm that it
was you who did me most damage, and who dismasted my vessel, which was
the reason that I was unable to capture the _Thetis_. A single ship,
then, has not all the honour of the fight, but certainly all three. In
short, sir, I thank the accident that has procured me the pleasure of
your acquaintance, and to express the satisfaction that I feel in my
heart in writing this letter. I leave you full liberty to make it
public among your countrymen. In proving my particular esteem for your
person, it will no doubt, at the same time, ensure you the public
approbation, and preserve you from those malicious tongues who shall
dare attack your respectable character.
"I have the honour to be, with consideration and esteem, sir, your
obedient servant,
"PAINPENY."
* * * * *
The Frenchman declares that it was the _Ceres_ which dismasted his ship,
though both the captains state in their letters that she lost her
foremast, etc., in boarding the _Thetis_. Captain Charnley says the two
other ships stood off, and came out of the fight undamaged, whereas they
both report considerable injury, and the captain of the _Penelope_
states that ten of her guns were disabled. The only casualty, however,
appears to have been one passenger killed, while the _Ceres_ had only
two men injured, through their own careless handling of the
ammunition--though "the small-shot and grape came on board like hail."
Now, when we are told that a ship has ten guns disabled in action, and
that the only person touched was a passenger, presumably not stationed
at a gun, the question inevitably presents itself--where were the guns'
crews? Also, when grape and case are coming on board like hail, it seems
odd that nobody is hit. Every one who has any experience or knowledge of
battle is aware, of course, that the saying that "every bullet has its
billet" is rank romance; a vast majority of bullets discharged in hot
action find no other billet than the bottom of the sea--unless, indeed,
they are swallowed by inquisitive fish while sinking--or the nearest
hillside. Still, these two good men do not appear to make out their case
very well; let us hope that they did not deliberately lie to their
owners. The Frenchman was, of course, interested in demonstrating that
he was beaten off by three, rather than by one ship; still, he was
perhaps a very truthful man: and there we must leave it. The only thing
quite clear is that the _Bonaparte_ made rather sure of catching three
good prizes, and was considerably sold.
[Footnote 21: That is, indemnity from having the crew pressed by any
man-of-war which was short of hands. As a regular privateer, she would
be exempt from this; but apparently she and her consorts were
merchantmen, armed and probably provided with what were loosely termed
letters of marque for protection in case of attack.]
[Illustration: CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH PRIVATEER "JEUNE RICHARD"]