THE BASQUE ROADS.
A few days afterwards the lieutenant said, “Now, Stephen, as you have
nothing to do this evening I will go on with my yarn. Lord Cochrane had
not forgotten me, and on the day that he was appointed to the _Pallas_ he
wrote to me saying that he had applied for me as second lieutenant, and
that Lord Melville had promised to appoint me. Two days later I got the
official appointment with orders to join at once. I found Cochrane in a
very bad temper. He said, ‘What do you think, Embleton, that confounded
cruise of mine in the _Arab_ has ruined me in the opinion of the sailors.
Why, if I had been appointed to a hundred-gun ship on the day when we
returned together after the loss of the _Speedy_, I could have got
volunteers enough for her in twenty-four hours. Now the dismal tale told
by the crew of the _Arab_ of our exile in the North Sea, and the fear, no
doubt, that I am going to be sent off to some similar station, has so
frightened them that I have not had half a dozen men apply, and I actually
shall have to impress a crew.’
“‘I expect, sir,’ I said, ‘that when we get hold of a few prime seamen,
and I tell them that they are as sure of prize-money with you as if it was
already divided, they will soon spread the news, and we shall not be long
before we fill up.’
“So it turned out; luckily, among the first haul that Cochrane made, there
were two or three of the _Speedy’s_ old crew. I took them in hand, and
told them that so far from being in disgrace any longer, Lord Cochrane had
a commission to take a month’s cruise off the Azores before joining the
fleet, and that that job alone was likely to fill every man’s pockets. In
a very short time we had the pick of the best men in Plymouth, and sailed
in the middle of January, 1805, for the Azores. Instead of making straight
for the islands, Cochrane ran down the coast of Spain and then worked up
towards the Azores, thereby putting us on the track of any Spanish vessels
bound from the West Indies to Cadiz. A day or two later we captured a
large ship bound from Havana laden with a valuable cargo. Having learned
from the prisoners that the ship was part of a large convoy we proceeded
on our course, and a week later captured another even more valuable prize,
as she contained in addition to the usual cargo some diamonds and ingots
of gold and silver.
“Two days later we took another, the richest of the three, having on board
a large quantity of dollars; and the next day caught a fine privateer with
more dollars on board. These four prizes were sent in to Plymouth. As we
only had a month this brought the work to a close, and we returned to
Plymouth. We had a serious adventure on the way back, for in heavy weather
we fell in with three French line-of-battle ships. They at once made after
us, and with half a gale and a heavy sea they gained on us fast. As we had
taken out the dollars from the prizes and had them on board the _Pallas_,
the thought of losing them was even more vexatious than the idea of seeing
the inside of a French prison. The _Pallas_ was a very crank vessel, and
her lee main-deck guns were under water, and even the quarter-deck
carronades were at times immersed. However, the Frenchmen came up so fast
that it was necessary, at any cost, to crowd on more sail. Cochrane had
all the hawsers brought up, and with these got up preventer stays, and
then every sail was spread.
“This drove her bows-under through the seas. Still they came up to us, but
they were also plunging so heavily that they too were unable to fire a
gun. Presently we had one on each side of us, with less than half a mile
interval between us. The third was a quarter of a mile further away. The
situation was a very unpleasant one, for now that they were up to us, they
would be able to shorten sail a little and occasionally fire at us with
their broadside guns. Cochrane gave orders for the whole crew to be ready
to shorten sail when he gave the word, and that every sail should come
down simultaneously. It was a critical movement, but it was well executed.
Cochrane himself shouted the orders, and in a moment down came every sail.
The helm at the same moment was put a-weather. Had it not been for the
hawsers with which we had stayed the masts, everything must have gone out
of her as we wore round, rolling in the trough of the sea. As soon as she
was round, up went her sails again, and we went off on the opposite tack
to that on which we had before been running.
“The French were altogether unprepared for such a manœuvre in such a heavy
gale as was now blowing, and it was a long time before they could shorten
sail and get on the opposite tack, indeed they ran on some miles before
they could do this, while we were rushing along at the rate of thirteen
knots an hour in the opposite direction; so they were a very long distance
away before they were fairly after us. By this time darkness was coming
on, and when morning broke they were altogether out of sight, and we
continued our course to Plymouth. An election was on, and while we were
lying two months in Plymouth Cochrane stood as candidate for Honiton, but
was defeated. He refused to bribe, and his opponent therefore won hands
down, as he paid the usual sum of five pounds for each vote. After the
election was over, Cochrane sent ten guineas to each of the men who had
voted for him, saying that he had sent it as a reward for their having
refused to accept the bribes of his opponent.
“The expenditure was considerable, but, as Cochrane calculated, it ensured
his return at the next election whenever that might take place, as each
voter naturally calculated that if he had paid ten guineas a vote after he
was beaten, there was no saying what he would pay if he were returned. At
the end of May we sailed in charge of a convoy for Quebec, and brought one
back again. It was dull work, and we were heartily glad when on our return
we were ordered to cruise off Boulogne and then to join the squadron of
Admiral Thornborough, which was to operate on the French and Spanish
coast. There we captured a ship at anchor under the guns of a battery, and
also a fast-sailing lugger, and then joined the squadron at Plymouth, and
sailed thence on the 24th of March, 1806. We captured some fishing-boats,
but let them go, and from information gained from the men brought off two
prizes laden with wine, and during the week captured several other ships,
and then rejoined the squadron, which we supplied with wine sufficient to
last them for some considerable time.
“Leaving the fleet again, we heard that some French corvettes were lying
up the Garonne; and after dark we came to an anchor, and the boats, manned
by the whole crew—except about forty men—under the command of the first
lieutenant rowed up the river to capture one of them, which was lying a
few miles up under the protection of two batteries. About four o’clock in
the morning we heard heavy firing. The boats had, after a smart fight,
captured a corvette which mounted fourteen guns. No sooner had they taken
possession than two other corvettes came up. The guns of the prize were
turned upon them and they were beaten off, and the prize was brought
safely down the river. In the meantime our position had not been a
pleasant one. Soon after daylight three strange craft were seen making for
the mouth of the river. They were clearly enemies, and as we had only
forty hands on board, things looked very blue.
“‘We must make them think that we are strong-handed,’ Cochrane said to me;
and he ordered the men aloft to fasten up the furled sails with rope-yarn
and to cast off the gaskets and other ropes. Then he waited until the
enemy approached, while the men remained on the yards knife in hand. When
he gave the word they cut the rope-yarns, and the sails all fell together.
This naturally produced the impression upon the Frenchmen that we had a
very strong crew, and directly the cloud of canvas fell they hauled their
wind and made off along the shore. Every hand on board, officers and men,
hauled at the sheets, and we were soon in chase. We gained rapidly upon
them, divided the crew among the bow-guns, and opened fire. Scarcely had
we fired half a dozen shots when the captain of the foremost vessel ran
his ship ashore.
“The shock brought down her masts, and the crew landed in her boats. We
ran as close as we dared, and fired several broadsides into her to prevent
her floating with the rising tide. The other two corvettes came back to
assist their comrade, but when we sailed boldly towards them, firing our
bow-guns again, the one nearest to us also deliberately ran ashore, and
was, like the first, dismasted. The third boat made for the river, but by
our superior sailing we cut her off, whereupon she also ran herself
ashore, and was abandoned by her crew. I don’t know that I ever saw forty
men laugh so much as did our fellows at seeing three strong corvettes thus
deliberately run ashore and destroy themselves, when, if any one of the
three had attacked us single-handed, we could have made no real
resistance. The prize captured by the boats now came down, and the
_Pallas_ rejoined the squadron. Admiral Thornborough wrote a very warm
despatch as to the gallantry of the affair, but no notice was taken of it
at the admiralty, and the first lieutenant did not receive the promotion
that he deserved. After two or three other affairs we were ordered to sail
into the Basque Roads to reconnoitre a French squadron lying there. This,
after a brush with a French frigate and three brigs, we succeeded in
doing, and discovered that there were five men-of-war, two heavy frigates,
three smaller frigates, and three brigs. A few days later we sailed
inshore, and the boats landed and destroyed two of the French signal
stations and carried the battery and spiked its guns.
“A day or two afterwards we had a sharp fight in the Basque Roads. A
frigate and three brigs came out to meet us. We disabled one of the brigs,
drove the frigate on to a shoal, and were on the point of capturing it
when two other frigates came out to her assistance, and as we had lost
several spars when we ran aboard the first frigate we were obliged to make
off. After this we returned to England. Another election was coming on.
Cochrane stood again for Honiton, and was returned to parliament without
spending a penny. On the 23rd of August he was appointed to the command of
the _Impérieuse_, and the crew of the _Pallas_ were turned over to her,
and on the 29th of November we joined the fleet again. We took several
prizes, and returned to Plymouth in February. While we were there another
election came on. As Honiton was sick of Lord Cochrane and Cochrane was
sick of Honiton, he stood this time for Westminster, and was returned. He
presently brought forward in the House of Commons a motion with reference
to the abuses in the navy, the only result of which was that he was at
once ordered to join the _Impérieuse_.
“In September we sailed to join Lord Collingwood’s fleet in the
Mediterranean. I need not go through all the events of that cruise. We
took a great many prizes, and had a good many actions with batteries.
Spain joined France, and we had a brisk time of it and gained an immense
amount of credit, and should have gained a very large amount of
prize-money had it not been for the rascality of the prize-court at Malta,
which had, I believe, been instigated by some one in London to adopt as
hostile an attitude as possible towards Lord Cochrane. The most important
and exciting affair that we had was our defence of Fort Trinidad, close to
the town of Rosas. Lord Cochrane’s orders had been to assist the Spaniards
against the French, and he had done a great deal that way by landing
strong parties, who blew up roads, blocked communications, and rendered
the passage of bodies of French troops difficult if not impossible. When
we arrived off Rosas the French had already invested the town. The marines
of the _Excellent_ had been holding Fort Trinidad; but had suffered
severely from a battery erected by the French upon a hill commanding it.
They were withdrawn on the arrival of the _Impérieuse_, and their place
taken by our marines.
“It was a rum place that fort. The side towards the sea sloped gradually
but steeply, and two forts were placed one above another, like big steps.
Above these stood a tall tower, very strongly built. The forts had no
guns; but had they had them they could not have used them against the
enemy’s battery on the high cliff, for the tower stood in their way and so
protected them from the French fire. We defended the place for a long
time, even after the town of Rosas had itself fallen. Several attempts at
assault were made, but all were repulsed. The last was the most serious.
The enemy had made a breach at the foot of the tower, but to reach it they
would have to scale the cliff on which it stood, by means of ladders.
Cochrane prepared for the assault in a very curious way. Just below the
breach was a sort of vault, some forty feet deep, under the tower.
Cochrane knocked away a portion of the arched roof of this vault, so that
on reaching the top of the breach the French would see a great gulf in
front of them. With timbers and planks he erected a sort of slide from the
breach down into this vault, and covered it with grease, so that those
trying to descend would shoot down to the bottom and remain there
prisoners until released.
“When he had completed this he laid trains to blow up the magazines in
case it was necessary to evacuate the fort. Being thus prepared, he waited
for the assault. Commanded as the tower was by the batteries on the cliff,
nothing could be done to prevent their making this breach, and for the
same reason there were no means of preventing the scaling parties placing
their ladders and climbing up. Interior barricades were, however, formed,
and when they made an attack before daybreak we repulsed them with ease.
Forty of the enemy who got on to the top of the breach were destroyed by
our musketry fire as soon as they reached it; shells were dropped down
upon those waiting below, hand-grenades thrown, and after suffering severe
loss they drew off. The French erected fresh batteries, and at last the
place became absolutely untenable; so we took to the boats, blew up the
castle, and got safely on board the _Impérieuse_. After capturing some
more prizes and doing other service the _Impérieuse_ returned to Plymouth,
and Cochrane was appointed to go out and take the command of some
fire-ships, and to attack the French fleet in the Basque Roads.
“Admiral Gambier, who was in command of our fleet on that coast, was in
strong opposition to the plan, and had denounced the effort as desperate;
but the ministry were extremely unpopular, and they desired to strike a
blow that would excite enthusiasm. They themselves did not believe in
success, but offered Cochrane the command in order that, should it fail,
the blame could be thrown wholly on his shoulders. He at first declined
altogether to have anything to do with it, and drew up a memorandum
showing the number of batteries that would have to be encountered, and the
extreme improbability of their ever arriving near enough to the French
squadron to do them any harm. His objections were overruled, and he was
ordered to sail for the Basque Roads, where six transports prepared as
fire-ships were to join him. This appointment caused, as was natural, very
great dissatisfaction among the captains commanding the ships in Gambier’s
squadron. They were all senior to Cochrane, and regarded his appointment
on such a service as being a slur, and indeed an insult on themselves
personally, their anger however being excited rather against Lord Gambier
than against Cochrane himself. The fleet, indeed, was in a state of
general disorganization approaching mutiny, at the inactivity in which
they had been kept and at various measures that had been carried out by
the admiral. As he might have had to wait for a long time before the
fire-ships arrived from England, Cochrane obtained from Gambier several
craft which he fitted up as fire-ships. The others, however, arrived from
England, and Cochrane wanted to make the attack on the night they joined,
before the French could gain any knowledge of the nature of the attempt
that was going to be made against them. But Lord Gambier refused to
consent, and the result was that the French did get notice of our
intentions and were prepared.
“In order to avoid the danger, the enemy’s ten men-of-war struck their
topmasts and got all their sails on deck, his four frigates alone
remaining in sailing order. These were placed half a mile in front of the
men-of-war, and lay in shelter of an immense boom, specially designed to
arrest the approach of an enemy at night. In addition to the fire-ships,
Cochrane had prepared two or three vessels as what he called
explosion-ships. These were intended not so much to damage the enemy as to
terrify them, and to prevent their sending boats to divert the course of
the fire-ships. A solid foundation of logs had been first laid on the
keel, so as to form an extremely solid floor and to give the explosion an
upward tendency. On these were placed a large number of empty spirit and
water casks set on end. Into these fifteen hundred barrels of powder were
emptied; the space around them was filled in with timber and sand, so as
to form a solid mass, and over the powder casks were laid several hundred
shells and some three thousand hand-grenades.
“The French deemed their position impregnable. Their men-of-war were
ranged close together in two lines, and the frigates and guard-boats they
considered would be sufficient to divert any fire-ships that might make
their way round the boom. Half a gale was blowing on shore. Cochrane
himself went in the explosion-ship that led the advance.
“The night was dark, and when Cochrane reached what he thought was the
vicinity of the advanced ships of the French he lit the fuse, and with the
officer and four men with him took to the boat and rowed away. They made
but little way against the wind and sea, and the fuse, instead of burning
for fifteen minutes as intended, only burned half that time. This,
however, was really the means of saving the lives of those on board the
boat. She was nearly swamped by the effect of the explosion; but as its
force, as intended, took place upwards, the shells and grenades exploded
far overhead, scattering their contents over a wide area, and the boat
itself lay inside the circle of destruction. We on board the _Impérieuse_,
which was anchored three miles away, felt the shock as if the ship had
struck heavily on a rock. For a moment the sky seemed a sheet of fire.
Then came the crash of the exploding shells and the rattle of the
grenades, and then a roar as the fragments and pieces of wreck fell into
the sea.
“The fire-ships were very badly handled. Many of them were lighted over
four miles from the enemy, some were put on the wrong tack before they
were left by the crews; and although there were upwards of twenty in
number only four reached the enemy’s position, and not one did any damage
whatever. Nevertheless, the desired effect was produced—the
explosion-vessel was alongside the boom when she blew up and completely
shattered it. The enemy were so appalled by the explosion that, believing
the fire-ships were equally formidable, they not only made no attempt to
divert their course, but with one exception all the French ships cut their
cables; and when morning dawned, the whole of their fleet except two ships
were helplessly ashore. The tide had ebbed, and they all lay over on their
side, with their bottoms exposed to fire, and had Lord Gambier sent but
two or three ships in to complete the work of destruction not one of the
powerful French squadron would have escaped.
“The forts had begun to open upon us, therefore we sailed away towards the
fleet that was lying ten miles off, and on getting within signalling
distance, Cochrane signalled that all the enemy’s ships except two were on
shore, and that the frigates alone could destroy them. Beyond
acknowledging the signals no notice was taken, and it was not until eleven
o’clock that the fleet got up anchor, and then, sailing in to within three
miles and a half of the road, anchored again. By this time the tide had
risen, and most of the enemy’s ships were already afloat. Furious at
seeing the result of this attack absolutely thrown away, Cochrane ordered
the anchor to be weighed, and allowed his vessel to drift towards the
enemy. He could not get up sail, as he knew that he should be at once
recalled if he did so, he therefore drifted until but a short distance
from the enemy. Then at half-past one he suddenly made sail and ran
towards them, hoisting at the same time the signal ‘in want of
assistance’, and engaged three line-of-battle ships. On seeing this
several ships were sent to our assistance, but before they came up, one of
the men-of-war hauled down her colours and was taken possession of by us.
The ships that came up engaged and captured the two other French
men-of-war, while another was deserted by her crew and set on fire.
[Illustration: COCHRANE SCATTERS THE FRENCH FLEET IN THE BASQUE ROADS BY
HIS TERRIBLE EXPLOSION-SHIP.]
“The signal for our recall was now hoisted by the admiral, and was obeyed
by most of the other ships, a frigate and four brigs, however, taking upon
themselves to remain with the _Impérieuse_. However, they were prevented
from destroying the vessels that still lay at their mercy by another
peremptory order of recall. That brought the service of the _Impérieuse_
and my service to an end, and the service of Cochrane also. We were
ordered back to England, and Lord Gambier’s despatch as to the affair was
so scandalously untrue that Cochrane denounced it in parliament. Gambier
demanded a court-martial, and as he had the support of an utterly
unscrupulous government, a scandalously partial judge, and false witnesses
backed by forged charts, the result was a certainty. The public
indignation was excited to the highest pitch by the shameless manner in
which the trial was conducted, and although Cochrane’s career in the
service was ruined, he became perhaps the most popular character in the
country.
“He was, as you know, afterwards imprisoned and expelled the house, and
has suffered persecutions of all kinds. Westminster, however, has remained
faithful to him, and has returned him at every election, and he has never
relaxed his strenuous efforts to obtain naval reforms and to vindicate his
own character. On both points I need hardly say that I am heart and soul
with him, and so terrible is the persecution to which he has been in a
variety of ways exposed, that I cannot blame him if his zeal has at times
outrun his discretion. Most other men would, like poor Parker, have sunk
under such treatment as he has received. As I told you, we did not get
anything like a tithe of the prize-money we should have received for our
captures, and his share of it was more than spent in his litigation with
dishonest officials. Fortunately, I laid out a portion of my share of the
prize-money in buying this house, and invested the remainder in the funds,
and it has enabled me to live in comfort, which I certainly could not have
done had I been wholly dependent upon my half-pay. Although it has been
most annoying remaining for so many years unemployed, I do not regret
having served with Cochrane in the _Speedy_, the _Pallas_, and the
_Impérieuse_, for indeed no three ships of their size ever inflicted such
damage upon the enemy’s commerce, captured so many ships, or performed
more gallant exploits. When I am dead I shall leave instructions that the
words, ‘He served with Cochrane in the _Speedy_, the _Pallas_, and the
_Impérieuse_’, shall be placed on my tombstone. They will be by far the
most striking testimony that could be written as to my career as a
sailor.”