COCHRANE’S CAREER.
“You promised, father,” Stephen said one evening, “that you would, some
time or other, tell me more about the days when you served with Lord
Cochrane.”
“Well, lad, I will tell you now. The first time I ever saw him was on the
day when he joined the _Hind_ at Sheerness, in June, 1793. I was a young
midshipman on board her, and I can tell you we were all astonished at his
appearance, for he was between seventeen and eighteen—a tall, gawky
fellow. I believe he had had a commission in the army, but that his taste
lay altogether in the direction of the sea, and that he obtained his
appointment to us by the influence of his uncle, who was a post-captain at
the time. Well, you know we generally entered at the age of fourteen, and
you may imagine our surprise and amusement at a fellow arriving to begin,
who was as old as the senior mid on board. Lord though he was, there was
no nonsense about Cochrane. He was a very pleasant fellow, and I never saw
anyone work so hard to learn his profession as he did. He actually
satisfied even our first lieutenant, who was a rough, hard-working fellow,
who had made his way up after having got his promotion from the main-deck,
or having, as we used to call it, come in at the hawse-holes.
“He was an admirable seaman, heart and soul in his work, and ready to take
off his coat and put on a suit of slops and work himself. He took rather a
dislike at first to Cochrane, first because he was a lord, in the second
place because he considered that he had taken to the profession too old to
learn, and lastly because he brought a chest on board altogether beyond
regulation size. Jack Larmour soon made short work of that. He called up
the carpenters, and bade them saw a portion off the chest, cutting it
through just on one side of the keyhole, so that the lock was now in the
corner. Cochrane only laughed and said nothing, but I have no doubt the
lieutenant expected him to say something hasty and so get himself into
trouble. However, Jack soon changed his opinion of the new mid. The
earnest desire of Cochrane to learn, and his willingness to put on a rough
suit and work, showed that he was of the right stuff, and made him at last
a prime favourite of the first lieutenant’s.
“I was only with him then a couple of months, for I was transferred to
another ship, and did not come across him again until he was appointed by
Lord Keith to the command of the _Speedy_, lying at Port Mahon. He had
done a good deal of knocking about by that time, for the _Hind_ was sent
out to the coast of Norway, where it was suspected that French privateers
used the fiords as hiding-places. On the return of the _Hind_ from Norway,
Cochrane’s uncle was appointed to the _Thetis_, and the _Hind’s_ crew were
transferred to her. The _Thetis_ went out with a squadron for the
protection of the islands of Nova Scotia, and so well was Cochrane thought
of that in January, 1795, he was appointed by the admiral of the station
acting third lieutenant of the _Thetis_, and was soon after transferred,
with the same rank, to the _Africa_; and in July was confirmed in his
rank, though he had been but two years at sea. In the _Africa_ he coasted
up and down, between Canada and Florida, looking out for ships of the
enemy, but in the following January he rejoined the _Thetis_, whose first
lieutenant had just been promoted. He then passed as lieutenant, and was
afterwards appointed to the _Speedy_.
“The difficulty of his not having served the regulation time had been got
over by his uncle in a way which was not uncommon then, and may be still
practised for aught I know. His uncle thought that he might one day wish
to join the navy, and had therefore entered his name in the books of the
various ships he commanded, so that nominally he had formed part of the
ship’s complement in the _Vesuvius_, _Carolina_, _La Sophie_, and _Hind_,
and had therefore belonged to the service for the regulation period. It is
a bad practice, lad, but in the case of Cochrane was the means of
providing the king’s navy with as gallant an officer as ever trod
quarter-deck. I went down with him from Gibraltar to Port Mahon with
another midshipman who, like myself, had just passed, and was to join the
_Speedy_. We were hoping to gain an opportunity for distinguishing
ourselves, and getting a step.
“Our first sight of the craft was a grievous disappointment. She was a
brig of 158 tons, and as she carried eighty-four men and six officers, you
may imagine how we were crowded on board. Her armament consisted of
fourteen four-pounders, ridiculous little weapons that were no more good
than as many blunderbusses. I remember Cochrane putting fourteen balls
into his pockets, and walking up and down the quarter-deck, saying that he
was probably the only commander who had ever carried a whole ship’s
broadsides in his pockets.
“He was awfully disgusted, as you may imagine, with his craft, and he
applied for two twelve-pounders, to be used for stern-chasers. When he got
them on board he found that there was not room for them to be worked. He
had them fired off a few times, but the brig was so weakly built that the
timbers would not stand the concussion. He was therefore obliged to send
them on shore again. There was only a height of five feet even in the
captain’s cabin, and I remember that Cochrane used to open the skylight
and put his head up through it in order to shave himself, placing the
soap-dish in front of him on the quarter-deck. However, we were a pleasant
party on board. Cochrane was strict in the performance of duty, but an
excellent fellow to sail with, anxious for the comfort of men and
officers, and without a shadow of nonsense about him. His first lieutenant
had served for a few months in that rank, Rogers and I were
acting-lieutenants, and there was a doctor, and one midshipman, Lord
Cochrane’s brother. Lord Cochrane at that time was twenty-four, or nearly
so, his first lieutenant was a year older, Rogers and I twenty-one.
“We had a busy time on board the _Speedy_. We were continually up and down
the coast, popping into quiet creeks and little ports in search of French
privateers, and overhauling merchantmen, besides bearing what share we
could in the general operations.
“Our first prize was a French privateer of six guns and forty-eight men.
We had been ordered to convoy fourteen merchantmen from Cagliari to
Leghorn, and saw a strange craft take possession of a Danish brig under
our escort. We crowded on every inch of canvas, and set off in pursuit.
The _Speedy_ was not misnamed. Whatever her defects, she was certainly
fast, and Cochrane had managed to add to the canvas she carried when he
first took the command. The main boom was sprung, and he obtained from the
dockyard another spar to replace it. This, however, was a good deal longer
than the original, and the dockyard authorities decided that it must be
taken down considerably. Instead of doing this Cochrane had about an inch
cut off from each end, and had the spar replaced and hoisted. When the
dockyard people came on board they did not notice that its length was
unaltered, and as soon as we got out some more cloths of canvas were added
to the mainsail, and we were thus enabled to carry a considerable spread
of canvas for so small a craft. We soon overtook the prize, which
surrendered at once, and then set off in chase of the privateer, which we
overhauled, the sight of our long row of port-holes and crowded decks no
doubt leading the Frenchmen to suppose we were a great deal stronger than
he was, though in point of fact his six guns carried a much heavier weight
of metal than our fourteen pop-guns together.
“Four days later five armed boats rowed out from Monte Cristo towards the
convoy, which was lying becalmed. The brig got out sweeps to endeavour to
interpose between them and her charges. Two vessels, however, which were
lagging behind the others were boarded and captured. To our delight we
soon afterwards saw a dark line on the water, and, directly it reached us,
set off in pursuit of the captured merchantmen, which were headed towards
Monte Cristo. The breeze soon freshened, and we presently overhauled and
recaptured them, and then set off in pursuit of the armed boats. These,
however, reached the shelter of the shore battery before we could overtake
them; as our duty was to protect the convoy and not to cut out prizes, we
hauled our wind and followed our charges, and a week later arrived with
them all safely in Leghorn roads, and started to join Lord Keith’s
squadron off Genoa, which he was blockading at sea while the Austrians
beleaguered it on the land side. Here we cruised outside the town for a
few days; then Massena surrendered, and the _Speedy_ was ordered to cruise
off the Spanish coast.
“On our way we captured a native craft off Elba, and a Sardinian vessel
laden with oil and wool, which was a prize to a French privateer. We towed
her into Leghorn, and again started, and captured the next day a Spanish
privateer of ten guns and thirty-three men. Five gun-boats came out from
Bastia in chase, but we took the prize in tow, and kept up a running fire
with the gun-boats until, after chasing us for some hours, they gave it
up. We took several other prizes, and sunk a privateer lying under shelter
of a battery. We again took our prizes back into Leghorn, indeed it seemed
that we were never to get away from that place, for, starting again, we
captured a French privateer, and then fell in with the frigates _Mutine_
and _Salamine_, which handed over to us a number of French prisoners that
they had taken, and we had to carry them and our prize back to Leghorn. At
last we got fairly away, and reached Port Mahon, capturing a Neapolitan
vessel with a French prize crew on board.
“As far as I can remember nothing particular happened for the next three
months, except that we got damaged in a storm and were six weeks refitting
at Port Mahon. Three days after leaving the port we were off Majorca.
There were several strange craft in sight; we picked out the largest and
started in chase, when a French craft came out, and we altered our course
to meet her. After exchanging fire with us for some time she drew off, but
got too close inshore and drove on the rocks. As it was evident that she
would become a wreck, we left her and captured one of the other ships.
“The activity of the _Speedy_ caused the Spanish authorities to make
special efforts to capture her, and she once nearly fell into the hands of
a Spanish frigate, which had been painted as a merchantman. However, she
opened her ports too soon; and fortunately we were prepared for the
situation. Cochrane had had our craft painted in imitation of a Danish
brig, which was trading on the coast, and whose appearance was familiar to
the Spanish authorities, and a Danish quartermaster had been shipped to
answer inconvenient questions.
“Directly we discovered the real nature of the supposed merchant ship, by
her opening her ports, we ran up Danish colours, and on the ship’s name
being demanded gave that of the Danish brig. The Spaniard, however, was
not quite satisfied, and lowered a boat, whereupon we ran up the
quarantine flag, and the Danish quartermaster, on the boat coming within
hail and then stopping at a prudent distance, informed them that he had
come from the African coast, where the plague was at that time raging. The
boat pulled off to the frigate, which at once made sail and left us in
solitude. It was a narrow escape, though possibly we might have made as
good a fight of it as we did afterwards.
“Cruising about we took a considerable number of prizes. Our luck, indeed,
was extraordinary, and we all anticipated that the prize-money would
amount to a large sum. It was on the 4th of May that our first serious
adventure began. We had captured some prizes off Barcelona, and a swarm of
gunboats came out to try to retake them. However, we kept them at bay
until the prizes had got off, and the following night returned to our
station off the town. We found that there was a strict watch being kept
ashore, for the gun-boats at once came out, but when we sailed towards
them they made for the shore, keeping up a fire at us as they retired.
“Again we drew off and again they came out, and twice during the day they
did the same, always returning when we sailed in to meet them. Their fire
was exceedingly accurate, and after each skirmish with them we had to draw
off and repair damages. It seemed to us that there must be some object in
the gun-boats’ action, and that they were trying to decoy us to go close
inshore, where some larger ship might be ready to come out against us.
Just before daybreak on the 6th we again ran in towards Barcelona. As we
did so we saw a large ship creeping along under the land, as if making for
the port. We at once sailed to cut her off, when, instead of trying to
avoid us, she changed her course and sailed towards us, and we saw that
she was a Spanish frigate. Two or three of our fellows had expressed an
opinion that had we attacked the Spaniard under whose guns we had run
three months before, we might have taken her. Lord Cochrane, as soon as
she was made out to be a frigate, said to them:
“‘You shall now have a fair fight, gentlemen;’ and ordered the boatswain
to pipe all hands for action.
“I tell you, lad, it seemed to me that our chances were slight indeed, for
nearly half our men and two of the officers were away in prizes, and,
including officers and boys, we had but fifty-four men on board, so it was
probable that the enemy had five or six times that number, while he had
thirty-four guns to our fourteen miserable little pieces. I thought it
certain we should be blown out of the water, and I fancy everyone else
thought the same. However, we held on straight towards her. She fired a
gun and hoisted Spanish colours. At that time we were almost abreast of
her, and Cochrane, who had the American colours ready, ordered them to be
run up. This gave us time to get on to the other tack, and hold on till a
little out of her direct line of fire. Then we at once pulled down the
stars and stripes and hoisted the British ensign. The Spaniard fired a
broadside, to which we made no reply. Our guns were trebly shotted, but
Cochrane had given orders that not a shot was to be fired until we were
alongside the Spaniard, as our fire would do no damage whatever to the
ship. As we headed for her they fired another broadside, but, like the
first, this did us no harm, and rounding up under her stern Cochrane ran
us alongside.
“Our yards became locked in the Spaniard’s rigging, and we then poured in
our broadside, which at this distance did considerable damage on her main
deck, the first discharge having, as we afterwards learned, killed the
Spanish captain and boatswain. Our guns had been elevated to their full
extent, for of course she towered high above us. While our shot struck up
through her main-deck, the Spanish guns roared overhead, cutting up our
rigging, but doing us no harm whatever below, while our fire continued to
work havoc among them. We heard the order shouted to board, but were
prepared for this, and at once pushed off far enough to prevent them from
leaping on to our deck, while the men caught up the muskets that had been
ranged in readiness against the bulwark, and poured a volley into them as
they appeared at the side in readiness to jump down. Then we gave them
another broadside, and closed up again. Twice again they attempted to
board, but each time failed, and the fight went on.
“Our fellows were thoroughly excited, and ready for anything, but it was
clear that the present state of affairs could not last much longer. Our
rigging and sails were cut to pieces, and the masts might at any moment
go, and the frigate would then only have to cut herself free, draw off a
short distance, and sink us. Cochrane, who was as cool as a cucumber, went
along among the men at their quarters, and told them that they had either
got to take the frigate or be taken themselves, in which case they would
probably get no quarter, as the Spaniards would be maddened at the loss
they had suffered from so insignificant a foe. ‘It needs,’ he said, ‘but a
few minutes’ hard fighting to settle the matter.’ All replied that they
were ready. Cochrane was always up to fun, and he called a portion of the
crew away from the guns, and told them to damp some powder and blacken
their faces. You never saw such figures as they were when they came up.
Cochrane ordered them to board at the enemy’s bow, while the rest of the
crew were to board by the waist.
“Guthrie, the doctor, volunteered to take the helm, and when Cochrane gave
the order the rest of us, men and boys, sprang on to the deck of the
Spaniard. Through the wreaths of smoke they had caught sight of our
preparations, and, believing that we intended to board by the bow, the
greater portion of their crew were gathered there. The appearance of our
fellows’ faces as they emerged from the smoke and leapt upon the deck, and
with loud shouts rushed at them, struck them with astonishment. I was with
this party, and, excited as I was, could scarcely refrain from bursting
out laughing at their dismay. Our men certainly were enough to surprise
anyone. Bathed in sweat, worked up to a pitch of wild excitement, naked to
the waist, with their faces and bodies streaked with the powder, one could
understand that the superstitious Spaniards, already depressed by their
vain efforts to overpower so puny an assailant, thought that they were
attacked by foes straight from the infernal regions. As they stood
hesitating and aghast, we went at them, while Cochrane, with the force
that had boarded at the waist, fell upon them in rear.
“Recovering themselves, the Spaniards made a rush to the waist, defending
themselves stoutly, and for a while it seemed as if their numbers must in
the end prevail. The Spanish colours were still flying at her peak, and
Cochrane, observing them, told one of the sailors to make his way aft and
haul them down. As soon as the Spaniards saw their flag disappear, they
thought that the officers must have surrendered, and at once threw down
their arms. Without giving them time to think, or for their officers to
rally them, they were hurried down into the hold, and cannon were run
round, loaded with grape, and pointed down the hatchways in case they
should make an effort to retake the ship. As for us, we could hardly
believe in our good luck. The fight had lasted an hour and a half, and our
loss had been exceedingly small. Our first lieutenant, Parker, had been
severely wounded in several places, three sailors were killed, and
seventeen wounded. We found that our prize was the _Gamo_ frigate, with a
crew of three hundred and nineteen men, mounting thirty-two guns, firing a
broadside weight of one hundred and ninety pounds, while we had only
fourteen small guns.
“She was between six and seven hundred tons, and in the fight had lost her
captain, boatswain, and thirteen seamen killed and forty-one wounded, her
casualties thus exceeding the whole number of our officers and crew. Even
in the annals of our navy there is no instance of so successful an action
against such disproportionate odds. We naturally congratulated ourselves
upon our fortunes being as good as made. Cochrane would, of course, at
once receive post-captain’s rank, Parker would receive a step, and I
should get at least a second lieutenantship. Cochrane’s brother was placed
in command of the prize, and we sailed with him to Port Mahon. As I have
already told you, the jealousy of Lord Exmouth and the hot temper of
Cochrane caused the overthrow of our hopes. Cochrane, after three months’
delay, obtained his post rank, of which they could not deprive him, as,
having captured a vessel of superior force, he was entitled to it. They
refused, however, to promote Parker, which was simply scandalous and
altogether in defiance of the usages of the service, and it was some time
before I got a berth again. However, after we had repaired damages,
matters went on for a time as before.
“After taking some prizes we met the _Kangaroo_, whose captain was senior
to Cochrane, and requested him to act with him in an attack upon the fort
of Almanara, which we silenced, and brought off a Spanish privateer. The
two captains then determined to attack Oropesa, where the forts were
supported by a twenty-gun ship and three gun-boats, which had put in there
with ten merchantmen under their convoy. Cochrane had fitted out, at his
own expense, a Spanish privateer of six guns which he had captured, as a
tender to the _Speedy_, and had appointed his brother to command her; and
in broad daylight the _Kangaroo_, _Speedy_, and tender sailed in to the
attack. The _Kangaroo_ engaged the forts, while we and young Cochrane
directed our attention to the war-ship and gun-boats. It was as hot an
action as any in which I ever took part. For some hours the firing was
incessant. At the end of that time the _Kangaroo’s_ fire was evidently
telling on the forts, while the fire of our antagonists was slackening.
“Just as we thought that victory was assured, a twelve-gun felucca and two
more gun-boats arrived from Valencia to assist the fort. This
reinforcement inspired the Spaniards with fresh spirit, and their
cannonade against us again became very heavy. We turned our attention
entirely to the new-comers, with such effect that we drove them off, and
then hammered away again at our old opponents, and had the satisfaction at
last of sinking all four of them, while three of the merchantmen, which
had been in the line of fire, had also gone down. The action had lasted
nine hours, and both we and the _Kangaroo_ had used up nearly all our
ammunition. The felucca and the two gun-boats from Valencia had again come
up, and we had but a few shot left. We were forced to put a bold face on
it; accordingly, the _Kangaroo_ weighed her anchor, stood in close to the
fort, and again anchored as if to pound it at close quarters, while we
headed straight for the felucca and gun-boats. Fortunately they did not
await our coming, but turned tail and returned to Valencia.
“The _Kangaroo’s_ boats and ours were now lowered, and made for the
remaining merchantmen. Four of them cut their cables and ran ashore, where
they were under the protection of a large body of troops on the beach. We
could soon have driven these off had we had any ammunition left, but as it
was, we were obliged to content ourselves with the capture of the other
three ships. On our return to Port Mahon, after this really successful
action, we found to our disgust that instead of the _Gamo_ being purchased
as usual by government, she had been sold for a mere song to the
Algerines, thereby depriving us of the prize-money we had expected to get
for her. Cochrane was especially enraged, for had the _Gamo_ been
purchased, we could have been transferred to her from the _Speedy_, and
would have been in a position to do very much more than in that wretched
little craft. It was, however, but a piece of the treatment that we had
been receiving. The extraordinary number of prizes we had taken excited
the jealousy of the senior officers on the station, for indeed we had
captured more than all the other cruisers together; and the result was
that our prizes were all sold for anything they would fetch, and owing to
the ridiculous sums for which they were given away, and the rascality of
the prize agents, we did not receive a tithe of the prize-money that
should have come to us.
“This ill-will resulted in bringing our career to an end. On our return to
Port Mahon we were ordered to escort an extremely slow old mail-packet to
Gibraltar. What rendered it more ridiculous was that we were to carry the
mail-bags, and only to hand them over to the old tub on her arrival at
Gibraltar and were then to return without communication with the shore. It
was supposed that while engaged on this duty we should at least be able to
take no further prizes, but we were so much faster than our convoy that
while she crawled along we were able to run in and explore bays and
creeks. In one several merchantmen were lying. As we bore in towards them
they weighed their anchors and ran ashore. As soon as it was dark we sent
our boats in and set fire to them, and as one was laden with oil it made a
blaze that could be seen fifty miles away. Unfortunately three French
line-of-battle ships were within that circle—the _Indomptable_, the
_Dessaix_, and the _Formidable_—and they ran in to ascertain the cause of
the fire. At daybreak we made out three large ships in the distance, and
imagining they were Spanish galleons on their way home from South America,
at once prepared to chase them. As the light broadened out we saw our
mistake, and made them out to be line-of-battle ships. They at once
crowded all sail and bore down towards us.
“’I fear this time, Embleton,’ Cochrane said to me, ‘it is all up with us.
We will do our best to get away, but the chances are small. There is one
good thing, they are flying the French flag, and we may expect vastly
better treatment at their hands than we should get from the Spaniards, who
would as likely as not refuse to acknowledge a surrender, and sink us
without mercy.’ We got every stitch of sail on her, and as the wind was
very light, put out our sweeps. The Frenchmen, however, had more wind than
we had, and gained on us fast. We threw our fourteen pop-guns overboard to
lighten her, for even Cochrane felt that it was useless to think of
fighting now. The three vessels separated so as to ensure that we should
not slip past them, and the _Dessaix_, which was nearest to us, began
firing broadside after broadside each time she tacked, keeping her
bow-chasers going all the time, and cutting up our rigging. For three
hours this continued. We threw over all the ammunition and stores, but
slowly and gradually the _Dessaix_ crept up to us. Just as she was abeam
Cochrane put the helm hard down, and we spun round to make a desperate
attempt to run between the enemy. We were received with a broadside from
the _Formidable_, and the _Dessaix_ immediately tacked in pursuit.
“In less than an hour she came up within musket-shot, and yawing to bring
all her guns to bear, poured in a broadside that I thought would have
annihilated us. Fortunately she had answered her helm so quickly that as
she came round her guns bore ahead of us, and the round shot struck the
water under our bows. The grape, however, cut up the rigging, riddled the
sails, and damaged the masts, and as the next broadside would assuredly
have sunk us, Cochrane ordered the flag to be hauled down. Nothing could
have been kinder than our treatment. The captain declined to accept
Cochrane’s sword, begging him to continue to wear it though a prisoner. In
our thirteen months’ cruise we had taken or retaken upwards of fifty
vessels, one hundred and twenty-two guns, and five hundred and thirty-four
prisoners. After our capture the French line-of-battle ships took us and
our lubberly convoy into Algeciras. It was trying to be lying there almost
within range of the guns of Gibraltar. Two or three days later Sir James
Saumarez sailed in with a powerful squadron. The French at once put out
boats, carried anchors ashore, and warped in until they grounded, so as to
prevent being attacked on both sides. The tide brought the British ships
so fast up the bay that in the hurry of the work the French ships still
lay head to shore, and were therefore helpless to offer any defence to the
expected attack. The greater part of the French sailors were at once sent
ashore to the powerful Spanish batteries there, and a very effective fire
was opened upon the British ships. Nothing, however, could have prevented
the capture of the French vessels had there been any wind.
“There was, however, scarce a breath on the water, and the British, being
unwilling to anchor under the heavy fire of the batteries, were swept past
by the strong current. Their fire, however, severely damaged the ships of
war, and sunk several gun-boats. The _Hannibal_ alone managed to tack and
made inshore, thinking to place herself inside the Frenchmen, not knowing
that they were aground. In so doing she ran ashore, and was there exposed
to the broadsides of the French ships and the fire of the batteries and
gun-boats. Captain Ferris, who commanded her, continued to reply to their
fire until most of his guns were dismounted, and a third of his crew
killed or wounded; then, seeing that the efforts of the rest of the
squadron to come back to his assistance were vain, he was forced to haul
down his flag. The next day a boat with a flag of truce came across from
Gibraltar, with propositions for the release of the crews of the
_Hannibal_ and _Speedy_. There was no regular system of exchange at that
time, but as the French did not know what to do with their prisoners, we
were all released on giving our parole not to serve again until French
prisoners of our own rank were given in exchange for us. This was done a
few days afterwards.
“Three days later the Spanish admiral at Cadiz arrived with six ships of
the line, several frigates and gun-boats, and the French men-of-war having
been warped off the ground and their damages repaired, the whole sailed
away six days after the action, followed by the British squadron, which
came up to them at dusk. As soon as it became quite dark, Captain Keith in
the _Superb_ dashed in between the two sternmost ships—two Spanish
men-of-war—each mounting a hundred and twelve guns, poured a broadside
into each of them and then shot ahead, and presently engaged a third
Spanish man-of-war, the _San Antonio_. In the darkness, aided by the smoke
of the _Superb’s_ guns, she was not seen at all by either of the two
Spanish ships between which she had passed, and each concluded that the
other was an enemy, and a furious cannonade commenced between them. One of
them lost her foretop-mast, the sails of which, falling over her own guns,
caught fire; the other, still supposing her to be an enemy, poured
broadside after broadside into her, and then approached to board. In the
confusion the yards of the two vessels became entangled together, and the
second ship also caught fire. Both ships burned until they blew up, nearly
all on board perishing, the few survivors being picked up by the boats of
the _Superb_, which was at the time engaged in taking possession of the
third Spanish ship-of-war, which had struck to her. The officers and men
of this ship were released in exchange for those of the _Hannibal_ and
_Speedy_. We were therefore free to serve again, but were all sent back to
England and put on half-pay, and peace having soon after been patched up I
remained without a chance of employment.
“Fortunately my parents at that time were alive, and I got on better than
some of my comrades. Poor Parker was especially badly treated by the
authorities. Cochrane in vain attacked the admiralty, but the hostility to
him extended to his officers. He himself had a serious grievance, for the
long delay before he had obtained his promotion caused several junior
officers to pass over his head, but annoying as this was it affected him
less than the cruel treatment of Parker. Some years passed before that
officer obtained his promotion. Despairing of getting it, he took a little
farm, married, and settled there with his family. Cochrane persevered so
strenuously on his behalf that at last he was made commander, and was
ordered to join the _Rainbow_ sloop in the West Indies. He sold off
everything, even his house and furniture, in order to enable him to obtain
his outfit, and proceeded to take up his command. On arriving at Barbadoes
he reported himself to the admiral, who knew nothing about the _Rainbow_,
but supposed that she might be some newly-purchased craft fitting out at
the Bermudas. Parker went there, but could hear nothing of her, and then
returned to Barbadoes, when it became evident that no such vessel was in
existence.
“He returned to England a ruined man. He had expended his whole capital,
amounting to upwards of a thousand pounds, in settling his family during
his absence, and in providing for his outfit and voyage. The first lord of
the admiralty expressed polite surprise that such a mistake should have
occurred, and promised compensation for his loss and another command on
the first opportunity. Neither promise was kept, and Parker’s spirit and
health gave way under his misfortunes, and he sank into the grave.
Cochrane, finding that he too had small chance of employment, went up to
Edinburgh and worked hard at the university there until war broke out
again in 1803, when he applied for a ship, and obtained, after a threat to
retire altogether from the service, the command of an old brig. That was
one of the many old craft purchased from men of influence in exchange for
their votes.
“She had been used as a collier, and was unable to sail against the wind.
Cochrane was ordered to watch Boulogne, but in a short time he found that
if a wind on-shore sprung up nothing could save the ship. He reported this
to the admiral, and orders were then sent to him to cruise north of the
Orkneys to protect the fisheries. There were no fisheries to protect, and
the order was simply a sentence of exile. He remained here for nearly
fifteen months, and during the whole of that time not so much as a single
ship was ever seen from the masthead. He returned to England on the 1st of
December, 1804, and found that Lord St. Vincent had just been compelled to
retire from the admiralty. Cochrane’s claims were urged by his friends on
Lord Melville, his successor, and with such force that he was transferred
to the _Pallas_, a new thirty-two gun frigate.”