A fortnight later we fell in with and were ordered to join the squadron
of Vice-admiral Parker.
This arrangement was, to the _Hermione's_ officers at least, a source of
intense gratification. For whereas, whilst we were cruising alone, our
opportunities for social intercourse were limited to an occasional
invitation to dine with the captain--and that, Heaven knows, was poor
entertainment enough!--we now had frequent invitations to dine with the
officers of the other ships, or entertained them in return in our own
ward-room. But, though matters were thus made more pleasant for the
officers of the _Hermione_, I cannot say that the change wrought any
improvement in the condition of the ship's company--quite the reverse,
indeed. For, so anxious was Captain Pigot that his ship should be the
smartest in the fleet, that when reefing topsails at night, if any other
ship happened to finish before us, the last man of the yard of the
dilatory topsail was infallibly booked for a flogging next day. And so
with all other evolutions. The result of which was, that while our crew
became noted for their smartness, they daily grew more sullen, sulky,
and discontented in their dispositions, shirking their work whenever
there was a possibility of doing so undetected, and performing their
duties with an ill-will which they took little pains to conceal. This,
of course, only tended to make matters still worse. The skipper could
not fail to notice his increasing unpopularity, and this wounded his
self-love; added to which he soon got the idea into his head--and
certainly not altogether without reason--that the men were combining
together to thwart and annoy him. And this only made him still more
irritable and severe. It seemed at length as though matters were
steadily approaching the point when it would become an open and
recognised struggle between the captain and the crew for supremacy in
respect of dogged obstinacy and determination. What made it all the
worse was that the officers, in the maintenance of proper order and
discipline in the ship, were compelled--very much against their will--to
support and countenance the skipper in his arbitrary mode of dealing
with the crew; thus dividing the inmates of the frigate into two well-
defined parties--namely, those on the quarter-deck and those on the
forecastle. We were _all_ unpopular in varying degrees, from the
captain down to the midshipmen. I have good reason to believe that the
first lieutenant on more than one occasion remonstrated with Captain
Pigot upon his excessive harshness to the men, and strongly urged him to
try the effect of more lenient measures with them; but, if such was the
case, the remonstrances proved wholly unavailing. Added to all this
there was, especially after we joined the squadron, incessant sail, gun,
musketry, and cutlass drill, in addition to the daily combined
evolutions of the ships; all of which made our poor lads pray for a
change of some sort--they cared not what--it could scarcely be for the
worse, and might very reasonably be hoped to be somewhat for the better.
Under such circumstances the joy of the men may be imagined when, one
morning at daylight, the signal was made by the admiral to chase to the
eastward. Nevertheless, our unfortunate lookout aloft was promptly
booked for two dozen at the gangway that day because he had failed to be
the first to discover the stranger.
We were cruising at this time in the Windward Channel, the squadron
being at the moment of the discovery about midway between Points Malano
and Perle. We were working to windward under double-reefed topsails on
the starboard tack, the trade-wind blowing fresh at about east-nor'-
east.
The strange sail was about ten miles dead to windward of us; and that
she had sharp eyes on board her was manifest from the fact that, before
we had time to acknowledge the admiral's signal, she had shaken the
reefs out of her topsails and had set topgallant-sails. Every ship in
the squadron of course at once did the same, and forthwith a most
animated chase commenced. The _Hermione_ happened to be the weathermost
British ship, and, consequently, nearest the chase; and most anxiously
did Captain Pigot struggle to maintain this enviable position; albeit we
were closely pressed by the frigates _Mermaid_ and _Quebec_, which were
thrashing along, the one on our lee bow and the other on our lee beam, a
distance of a bare cable's length separating the three ships from each
other. It was an interesting and exhilarating spectacle to watch these
two graceful craft leaping and plunging over the swift-rushing foam-
capped emerald surges, spurning them aside with their swelling bows and
shivering them into cloud-like showers of snowy spray which they dashed
as high as their fore-yards; now rolling heavily to windward as they
slid down into a liquid valley, and anon careering to leeward under the
influence of wind and wave, as they mounted to the succeeding crest,
until their wet gleaming sides and glistening copper flashed in the sun
almost down to their garboard strakes. Nor did our own ship present a
less gallant spectacle as she careered madly forward through the hissing
brine, now burying her bows deep in a fringe of yeasty foam, and next
moment soaring aloft as though she meant to forsake the ocean
altogether; her steeply-inclined deck knee-deep with the rushing
cataracts of water which poured over her to windward, her canvas tugging
at the stout spars until they bent and sprang like fishing-rods, and the
wind singing through her tautly-strained rigging as through the strings
of a gigantic Aeolian harp. The bearings of the chase were promptly
taken by Mr Southcott, the master; and a single hour sufficed to show
that we were not only fore-reaching, but also weathering upon her. By
that time we had brought her a couple of points abaft our weather-beam,
and the _Hermione_ was then hove about, this manoeuvre temporarily
bringing the chase fair in line with our jib-boom end; whilst the
_Mermaid_ lay broad away on our lee quarter fully a mile distant, with
the _Quebec_ half a mile astern of her. With the rising of the sun the
breeze freshened still more; and it soon became evident, from the first
lieutenant's manner, that he was beginning to feel anxious about his
spars. Captain Pigot, however, who was on deck, would not allow the
canvas to be reduced by so much as a single thread; so Mr Reid was at
length compelled (at considerable risk to the men who executed the duty)
to get up preventer back-stays fore and aft; and to this precaution was
doubtless due the ultimate success which crowned our efforts. Another
hour brought us fairly astern of the chase; and, the moment that her
three masts were in line, we again tacked and stood after her, being now
directly in her wake and about nine miles astern. Meanwhile the rest of
the squadron had also tacked, and were now to be seen tailing out in a
long straggling line on our lee quarter--the _Mermaid_ leading, the
_Quebec_ next, and the rest--nowhere, as the racing men say.
Breakfast was now served, and by the time that I again went on deck we
had so far gained upon the chase that the foot of her courses could be
now and then seen as we rose upon the crest of a sea. She was evidently
a very smart as well as a very fine ship; yet we were overhauling her,
hand over hand, as our ships pretty generally did those of the French.
It was freely admitted on all hands that the French were better
shipbuilders than ourselves, yet our ships generally proved the faster
in a chase like the present; and I had often wondered how it was. _Now_
I saw and could understand the reason. It was because the British ships
were better sailed and better _steered_ than those of our enemies. Even
at our then distance it was painfully apparent that the yards of the
chase were trimmed in the most slovenly manner, and in the matter of
steering she was sheering and yawing all over the place; whilst for
ourselves, our canvas was trimmed with the utmost nicety; and we had a
man at the wheel who never for a single instant removed his glance from
the weather-leach of our main-topgallant--sail, which was kept the
merest trifle a-lift--just sufficiently so, and no more, to show that
the frigate was looking up as high as it was possible for her to go,
whilst the remainder of her canvas was clean full and dragging her along
at race-horse speed. The result was that, though our ship was possibly
the slower of the two, her wake was as straight as though it had been
_ruled_ upon the heaving water; whilst that of the chase was so crooked
that she must have travelled over nearly half as much ground again as
ourselves, thus losing through faulty steering more than she gained
through superiority in speed.
At 10 a.m., by which time we had neared the chase to within a distance
of six miles, the stranger hove about for the first time and stood to
the southward and eastward, close-hauled on the larboard tack. At 10:30
we followed suit, and half an hour later the high land behind Jean
Rabel, Saint Domingo, was sighted from aloft Captain Pigot now came to
the conclusion that the stranger was aiming to take refuge in Port au
Paix; and, should she succeed in effecting her design, it might prove
difficult if not impossible to capture her. His anxiety to speedily get
alongside her and force her to action accordingly grew almost
momentarily more intense, as also did his acerbity of temper, until at
length he became so nearly unbearable that, had he just then happened to
have been washed overboard, I believe not a single man in the ship--
apart from the officers, that is, of course--would have raised a hand or
joined in any effort to save him.
At noon, however, matters grew a little more tolerable; for it had by
that time become apparent that, unless favoured by some unforeseen
accident, the chase could not possibly escape us. At Jean Rabel the
land begins to trend to the southward and westward, extending in that
direction a distance of some four or five miles, when it bends somewhat
more to the westward, thus forming a shallow bay. It was towards the
bottom of this bay that the chase was now heading; and it speedily
became apparent that, if she would avoid going ashore, there would soon
be only two alternatives open to her; one of which was to go round upon
the starboard tack and make a stretch off the land sufficient to allow
of her fetching Port au Paix on her next board--in which event she would
have to pass us within gun-shot; and the other was to bear up and run to
the southward and westward, when she would have to run the gauntlet of
the whole remaining portion of the squadron; in which case her fate
could only be certain capture. We hoped and believed she would choose
the first of these two alternatives.
We were both nearing the land very rapidly--the chase now only some
three miles ahead of us--and at length Captain Pigot, feeling certain
that the stranger must now very soon heave in stays, ordered our own
people to their stations, resolved to tack simultaneously with the
chase, and thus, by remaining some three miles further in the offing,
retain the advantage of a stronger and truer breeze. Minute after
minute lagged slowly by, however, and still the French ship kept
steadily on, with her bows pointing straight toward the land. Suddenly,
without warning or premonition, her three masts, with all their spread
of canvas, were seen to sway violently over to leeward; and, before any
of us fully realised what was happening, they lay prone in the water
alongside, snapped short off by the deck. The next moment the ship
swung round, broadside on to the land, and the sea began to break over
her. Her captain had actually run her on shore to escape us.
Sail was at once shortened on board the _Hermione_, and the ship hove
to, with her head off-shore. Captain Pigot then sent for his telescope,
and, with its aid, made a thorough inspection of the stranded frigate;
most of the officers following his example. Yes, there could be no
possible mistake about it, she was hard and fast on shore, bumping
heavily to all appearance, and with the sea breaking over her from stem
to stern. Not satisfied, however, with this distant inspection, the
skipper caused his gig to be lowered, and in her proceeded as near to
the scene of the wreck as prudence would allow. He was absent two full
hours, and on his return we learnt that the French ship was hopelessly
lost; that the crew were with the utmost difficulty effecting a landing
on the beach; and that the craft herself was already breaking up. He
was highly exasperated, as indeed were we all, at this noble prize thus
slipping through our fingers, at a moment, too, when escape seemed
absolutely impossible; and in the heat of temper he denounced the French
captain as a dastardly poltroon, a disgrace to his uniform; and swore
that, could he but have got hold of him, he would have seized him to a
grating and given him five dozen at the gangway. And I firmly believe
he fully meant what he said. As for me, though I--youngster that I
was--felt, perhaps, as keenly disappointed as the skipper himself, I yet
thought that the French captain had more thoroughly performed his duty
to his country than he would have done had he remained afloat and fought
us. For, with the vastly superior force of an entire squadron on our
side, escape would then have been for him impossible; his ship must
inevitably have been captured; with the sequence that, in the hands of a
British crew, she would have become a formidable foe to the country
which had recently owned her. Whereas, now, though that country had
lost her, her guns could at least never be turned against it.
Captain Pigot's inspection over, and the gig hoisted in, the
_Hermione's_ main-topsail was filled and we made sail for the offing,
where the remainder of the squadron was now hove to awaiting the
progress of events.
On the following day the hands were mustered to witness punishment, and,
to the unspeakable surprise and indignation of everybody, officers as
well as men, the whole of the poor fellows who had steered the ship
during the unlucky chase of the preceding day were ordered to receive
three dozen apiece, "for culpable negligence in the performance of their
duty," Captain Pigot choosing to assert that, had the ship been properly
steered, we should have overtaken and brought the French frigate to
action. Now the manner in which the _Hermione's_ helm had been
manipulated on the occasion in question had excited the admiration of,
and extorted frequent favourable comments from the officers; there was a
stiff breeze blowing at the time; and the frigate, when heavily pressed
upon a taut bowline, had a most unhandy knack of griping;
notwithstanding which, as I have before stated, her wake had been as
straight as though ruled upon the water. But Captain Pigot was bitterly
chagrined at his want of success--quite unreasonably, for he and
everybody else had done all that was possible to secure it--and he could
not rest until he had vented his ill-humour upon some of the
unfortunates placed in his power. Hence the cruel and unjust order; the
issuing of which very nearly ended in results most disastrous, so far as
I was personally concerned.
For, when the first man of the unfortunate batch had stripped and was
seized up, seeing that the skipper actually intended to carry out his
monstrous resolve--a fact which, until that moment, I had doubted--
forgetting for the time everything but the cruelty and injustice of the
action, I sprang forward and placing myself immediately in front of our
frowning chief, exclaimed:
"No, no; do not do it, sir! I assure you that you are mistaken. The
men do not deserve it, sir; they did their utmost, I am sure; indeed I
heard Mr Reid remark to Mr Douglas that he had _never_ seen the ship
so beautifully steered before. Didn't you, sir?" I continued,
appealing to the first lieutenant.
"Young gentleman, you have placed me in a very awkward position,"
replied poor old David, turning to me, very red in the face; "but I'll
not deny it; I _did_ say so, and I meant it, too."
Captain Pigot turned absolutely livid with fury; he was white even to
the lips; his eyes literally blazed like those of a savage animal about
to spring upon its prey; his hands were tightly clenched; and, for a
moment, I felt that he would strike me. He did not, however; possibly
even at that moment some instinct may have warned him that he was on the
verge of committing a very grave imprudence; and, instead of striking
the blow I had expected, he turned short on his heel and walked into his
cabin. Then, and not until then--when I glanced about me and noted the
universal consternation with which I was regarded--did I fully realise
the enormity of the offence of which I had been guilty.
Captain Pigot was absent from the deck for perhaps ten minutes. When he
returned the low hum of conversation which had set in on his
disappearance abruptly ceased, and every eye was turned upon him in
anticipation of the next act in this little drama.
He had evidently made a successful effort to subdue his excitement, for
he was now, to all outward appearance, perfectly calm; this somewhat
abrupt calmness seeming to me, I must confess, even more portentous than
his recent exhibition of passion had been. Halting before me, he
pointed sternly to the hatchway, and said:
"Go below, sir; and regard yourself as under arrest. I will consider
your case by and by. So grave a dereliction of duty as that of which
you have been guilty is not to be dealt with hurriedly."
I bowed, and turned to go below; and, as I did so, I heard him say to
the first lieutenant:
"Since you, Mr Reid, appear to have taken a different view of these
men's conduct from that which I had entertained, and have, moreover,
seen fit to publicly express that view, I have no alternative but to
give the fellows the benefit of our difference of opinion, and withhold
that punishment which I still think they richly deserve. But I will
take this opportunity of explaining to you, and to every other officer
and man in this ship, that I reserve to myself the exclusive right of
expressing an opinion as to the behaviour, individually and
collectively, of those under my command; and, whatever any of you may
choose to _think_ upon such a matter, I shall expect that you will
henceforward keep your opinion strictly to yourselves. Now, let the
hands be piped down."
I had paused just below and under cover of the coamings long enough to
hear this speech to its conclusion; now, as the boatswain's pipe sent
forth its shrill sounds, I scurried off and made the best of my way to
the midshipmen's berth. I felt that I had allowed my sympathy to get
the better of my discretion, and in so doing had plunged myself into a
very awkward predicament, out of which I did not at all clearly see how
I was to extricate myself; but, whatever might be the result to myself
of my imprudence, it had at least been the means of saving several men
from an undeserved flogging, and this reflection served somewhat to
comfort me. I was speedily joined by those of the midshipmen whose
watch below it then happened to be; and with them came a master's mate
named Farmer--a man of some thirty-five years of age, whose obscure
parentage and want of influential friends had kept him back from
promotion, and who in consequence of countless disappointments had grown
chronically morose and discontented. My fellow-mids were very
enthusiastic in their expressions of admiration for what they were
pleased to term "the pluck with which I had tackled the skipper;" and
equally profuse in the expression of their hopes and belief of a
successful issue of the adventure. Farmer, however, speedily put a
stopper upon their tongues by growling impatiently:
"Belay there with that jabbering, you youngsters; you don't know what
you are talking about. The fact is that Lascelles there has made a fool
of himself and an enemy of the skipper; and to do the latter, let me
tell you, is no joke, as he will probably discover to his cost. He has,
however, done a kindly thing; and perhaps, in the long run, he may have
no reason to regret it."
I was suspended from duty for the remainder of that day, until late in
the evening, when a marine made his appearance at the door of the berth,
with an intimation that he had orders to conduct me to the captain's
cabin; and in the custody of this man--who was armed with a drawn
bayonet--I was accordingly marched into the presence of the skipper. On
entering the cabin, I found Captain Pigot sitting over his wine, with
the first lieutenant seated on the opposite side of the table. When I
entered the apartment Mr Reid was leaning across the table, talking to
his superior in a low earnest tone of voice, but upon my entrance the
conversation abruptly ceased. The marine saluted, announced me as "The
prisoner, sir!" and then, facing automatically to the right, took up a
position just outside the cabin door. I approached until within a
respectful distance of the table, and then halted; the first lieutenant
rising as I did so and closing the door.
"Well, young gentleman," said the skipper when old David had resumed his
seat, "have you anything to say by way of excuse for or explanation of
your extraordinary and--and--insubordinate conduct this morning?"
"Nothing, sir," I replied, "except that I felt you were about--under the
influence of a grave misapprehension--to inflict punishment upon men who
had not deserved it; and that if you did so you would certainly regret
the act most deeply. It was from no motive of disrespect that I acted
as I did, I assure you, sir; it was done on the impulse of the moment,
and because I felt that if the evil was to be prevented it must be done
instantly. I acted as I should have wished another to act had I been in
your place, sir."
This I felt was but a lame explanation, and not likely to help me to any
great extent out of my difficulty; but there was really nothing else I
could say without directly charging the skipper with wanton tyranny,
which it was certainly not the place of a reefer on his first cruise to
do; if Mr Reid and the rest of the officers were content with the
position of affairs it was not for me to gainsay them.
"Very well, young gentleman," answered the skipper, after a somewhat
lengthy pause, "I am willing to accept your explanation, and to believe
that you acted upon a good motive the more readily that Mr Reid here
has been most eloquent pleading your cause, and giving you the best of
characters. But, hark ye, Mr Lascelles, never, for the future, presume
to form _any_ opinion--good or bad--upon your captain's conduct; nor,
under any circumstances, attempt to put him right. You are too young
and too inexperienced to be capable of forming a just judgment of the
actions of your superiors; moreover, a midshipman's duty is to _obey_,
not to judge or advise his superior officers. You may return to your
duty, sir; and let the unpleasant incident of to-day be a warning to you
throughout the remainder of your career."
Highly delighted, and, I must confess, equally surprised in so easy an
escape from what threatened at the outset to be an exceedingly awkward
scrape, I stammered out a few confused words of thanks and assurances of
good behaviour for the future, bowed, and executed a somewhat hasty
retreat.