"It is not," says Blake, "the business of a seaman to mind state
affairs, but to hinder foreigners from fooling us."--DR JOHNSON'S
_Life of Blake_.
The frigate came to the wind close under our lee, and a boat from her
was alongside in a very few minutes. The officer who came to take
possession, leaped up the side, and was on the deck in a moment. I
received him, told him in few words what the vessel was, introducing
the captain and Green, both of whom I recommended to his particular
notice and attention for the kindness they had shown to me, I then
requested he would walk down into the cabin, leaving a midshipman whom
he brought with him in charge of the deck, and who, in the meanwhile,
he directed to haul the mainsail up, and make the vessel snug. The
prisoners were desired to pack up their things, and be ready to quit
in one hour.
When lights were brought in the cabin, the lieutenant and myself
instantly recognised each other.
"Bless my soul, Frank," said he, "what brought you here?"
"That," said I, "is rather a longer story than could be conveniently
told before to-morrow; but may I ask what ship has taken the Yankee? I
conclude it is the _R_----; and what rank does friend Talbot hold in
her?"
"The frigate," said he, "_is_ the _R_----, as you conjectured. We are
on the Cape station. I am first of her, and sent out here on promotion
for the affair of Basque Roads."
"Hard, indeed," said I, "that you should have waited so long for what
you so nobly earned; but come, we have much to do. Let us look to
the prisoners, and if you will return on board, taking with you the
captain, mate, and a few of the hands, whom I will select, as the most
troublesome, and the most careless, I will do all I can to have the
prize ready for making sail by daylight, when, if Captain T---- will
give me leave, I will wait on him."
This was agreed to. The people whom I pointed out, were put into the
boat, four of whose crew came aboard the brig to assist me. We
soon arranged every thing, so as to be ready for whatever might be
required. A boat returned with a fresh supply of hands, taking back
about twenty more prisoners; and the midshipman, who brought them,
delivered also a civil message from the captain, to say, he was glad
to have the prize in such good hands, and would expect me to breakfast
with him at eight o'clock; in the meantime, he desired, that as soon
as I was ready to make sail, I should signify the same by showing two
lights at the same height in the main rigging, and that we should then
keep on a wind to the northward under a plain sail.
This was completed by four A.M., when we made the signal, and kept on
the weather quarter of the frigate. I took a couple of hours' sleep,
was called at six, dressed myself, and prepared to go on board at half
past seven. I heard her drum and fife beat to quarters, the sweetest
music next to the heavenly voice of Emily, I had ever heard. The tears
rolled down my cheeks with gratitude to God, for once more placing me
under the protection of my beloved flag. The frigate hove-to; soon
after, the gig was lowered down, and came to fetch me; a clean white
cloak was spread in the stern sheets: the men were dressed in white
frocks and trousers, as clean as hands could make them, with neat
straw hats, and canvas shoes. I was seated in the boat without delay,
and my heart beat with rapture when the boatswain's mate at the
gangway piped the side for me.
I was received by the captain and officers with all the kindness and
affection which we lavish on each other on such occasions. The captain
asked me a thousand questions, and the lieutenants and midshipmen all
crowded round me to hear my answers. The ship's company were also
curious to know our history, and I requested the captain would send
the gig back for Thompson, who would assist me in gratifying the
general curiosity. This was done, and the brave, honest fellow came on
board. The first question he asked was, "Who fired the first shot at
the prize?"
"It was Mr Spears, the first lieutenant of marines," said one of the
men.
"Then Mr Spears must have my allowance of grog for the day," said
Thompson; "for I said it last night, and I never go from my word."
"That I am ready to swear to," said Captain Peters, of the privateer:
"I have known men of good resolutions, and you are one of them; and
I have known men of bad resolutions, and he was one of them whom you
sent last night to his long account; and it was fortunate for you
that you did; for as sure as you now stand here, that man would have
compassed your death, either by dagger, by water, or by poison. I
never knew or heard of the man who had struck or injured Peleg Oswald
with impunity. He was a Kentucky man, of the Ohio, where he had
'squatted,' as we say; but he shot two men with his rifle, because
they had declined exchanging some land with him. He had gouged the eye
out of a third, for some trifling difference of opinion. These acts
obliged him to quit the country; for, not only were the officers of
justice in pursuit of him, but the man who had lost one eye kept a
sharp look out with the other, and Peleg would certainly have had a
rifle ball in his ear if he had not fled eastward, and taken again to
the sea, to which he was originally brought up. I did not know all his
history till long after he and I became shipmates. He would have been
tried for his life; but having made some prize money, he contrived to
buy off his prosecutors. I should have unshipped him next cruise, if
it had pleased God I had got safe back."
While Peters was giving this little history of his departed mate, the
captain's breakfast was announced, and the two American captains
were invited to partake of it. As we went down the ladder under
the half-deck, Peters and Green could not help casting an eye of
admiration at the clean and clear deck, the style of the guns, and
perfect union of the useful and ornamental, so inimitably blended as
they are sometimes found in our ships of war. There was nothing in
the captain's repast beyond cleanliness, plenty, hearty welcome, and
cheerfulness.
The conversation turned on the nature, quality, and number of men in
the privateer. "They are all seamen," said Peters, "except the ten
black fellows."
"Some of them, I suspect, are English," said I.
"It is not for me to peach," said the wary American. "It is difficult
always to know whether a man who has been much in both countries is
a native of Boston in Lincolnshire, or Boston in Massachusetts; and
perhaps they don't always know themselves. We never ask questions when
a seaman ships for us."
"You have an abundance of our seamen, both in your marine and merchant
service," said our captain.
"Yes," said Green; "and we are never likely to want them, while you
impress for us."
"_We_ impress for you?" said Captain T----, "how do you prove that?"
"Your impressment," said the American, "fills our ships. Your seamen
will not stand it; and for every two men you take by force, rely on
it, we get one of them as a volunteer."
Peters dissented violently from this proposition, and appeared angry
with Green for making the assertion.
"I see no reason to doubt it," said Green; "I know how our fighting
ships, as well as our traders, are manned. I will take my oath that
more than two-thirds have run from the British navy, because they were
impressed. You yourself have said so in my hearing, Peters--look at
your crew."
Peters could stand conviction no longer; he burst into the most
violent rage with Green; said that what ought never to have been owned
to a British officer, he had let out; that it was true that America
looked upon our system of impressment as the sheet-anchor of her navy;
but he was sorry the important secret should ever have escaped from an
American.
"For my part," resumed Green, "I feel so deeply indebted to this
gallant young Englishman for his kindness to me, that I am for ever
the friend of himself and his country, and have sworn never to carry
arms against Great Britain, unless to repel an invasion of my own
country."
Breakfast ended, we all went on deck; the ship and her prize were
lying to; the hands were turned up; all the boats hoisted out; the
prisoners and their luggage taken out of the prize, and, as the
crew of the privateer came on board, they were all drawn up on the
quarter-deck, and many of them known and proved to be Englishmen.
When taxed and reproached for their infamous conduct, they said it
was owing to them that the privateer had been taken, for that they had
left the lower studding-sail purposely hanging over the night-head,
and towing in the water, by which the way of the vessel had been
impeded.
Captain Peters, who heard this confession, was astonished; and the
captain of the frigate observed to him, that such conduct was exactly
that which might be expected from any traitor to his country. Then,
turning to the prisoners, he said, "the infamy of your first crime
could scarcely have been increased; but your treachery to the new
government, under which you had placed yourselves, renders you
unworthy of the name of men; nor have you even the miserable merit you
claim of having contributed to the capture, since we never lost sight
of the chase from the first moment we saw her, and from the instant
she hauled her wind, we knew she was ours."
The men hung down their heads, and when dismissed to go below, none of
the crew of the frigate would receive them into their messes; but the
real Americans were kindly treated.
We shaped our course for Simon's Bay, where we arrived in one week
after the capture.
The admiral on the station refused to try the prisoners by a
court-martial; he said it was rather a state question, and should send
them all to England, where the lords of the admiralty might dispose of
them as they thought proper.
The _True-blooded Yankee_ was libelled in the vice admiralty court
at Cape Town, condemned as a lawful prize, and purchased into the
service; and, being a very fine vessel of her class, the admiral was
pleased to say, that as I had been so singularly unfortunate, he would
give me the command of her as a lieutenant, and send me to England
with some despatches, which had been waiting an opportunity.
This was an arrangement far more advantageous to me than I could have
expected; but what rendered it still more agreeable was, that my
friend Talbot, who was the first to shake me by the hand on board the
prize, begged a passage home with me, he having, by the last packet,
received his commander's commission. The admiral, at my request, also
gave Captains Peters and Green permission to go home with me. Mungo,
the black man, and Thompson, the quarter-master, with the midshipman
who had been with me in the boat, were also of the party. My crew was
none of the very best, as might be supposed; but I was not in a state
to make difficulties; and, with half-a-dozen of the new Negroes, taken
out of the trader, I made up such a ship's company as I thought would
enable me to run to Spithead.
We laid in a good stock provisions at the Cape. The Americans begged
to be allowed to pay their part; but this I positively refused,
declaring myself too happy in having them as my guests. I purchased
all Captain Peters's wine and stock, giving him the full value for it.
Mungo was appointed steward, for I had taken a great fancy to him;
and my friend Talbot having brought all his things on board, and the
admiral having given my final orders, I sailed from Simon's Bay for
England.
There is usually but little of incident in a run home of this sort.
I was not directed to stop at St Helena, and had no inclination to
loiter on my way. I carried sail night and day to the very utmost.
Talbot and myself became inseparable friends, and our cabin mess was
one of perfect harmony. We avoided all national reflections, and
abstained as much as possible from politics. I made a confidant of
Talbot in my love affair with Emily. Of poor Eugenia, I had long
before told him a great deal.
One day at dinner we happened to talk of swimming. "I think," said
Talbot, "that my friend Frank is as good a hand at that as any of us.
Do you remember when you swam away from the frigate at Spithead, to
pay a visit to your friend, Mrs Melpomene, at Point?"
"I do," said I, "and also how generously you showered the musket-balls
about my ears for the same."
"Your escape from either drowning or shooting on that occasion, among
many others," said the commander, "makes me augur something more
serious of your future destiny."
"That may be," said I; "but I dispute the legality of your act, in
trying to kill me before you knew who I was, or what I was about. I
might have been mad, for what you knew; or I might have belonged to
some other ship; but, in any event, had you killed me, and had my body
been found, a coroner's inquest would have gone very hard with you,
and a jury still worse."
"I should have laughed at them," said Talbot.
"You might have found it no laughing matter," said I.
"How?" replied Talbot, "what are sentinels placed for, and loaded with
ball?"
"To defend the ship," said I; "to give warning of approaching danger;
to prevent men going out of the ship without leave; but never to take
away the life of a man unless in defence of their own, or when the
safety of the king's ship demands it."
"I deny your conclusion," said Talbot; "the articles of war denounce
death to all deserters."
"True," said I, "they do, and also to many other crimes; but those
crimes must first of all be proved before a court-martial. Now you
cannot prove that I was deserting, and if you could, you had not the
power to inflict death on me unless I was going towards the enemy.
I own I was disobeying your orders, but even that would not have
subjected me to more than a slight punishment, while your arbitrary
act would have deprived the king, as I flatter myself, of a loyal,
and not a useless subject; and if my body had not been found, no good
could have accrued to the service from the severity of example. On the
contrary, many would have supposed I had escaped, and been encouraged
to make the same attempt."
"I am very sorry now," said Talbot, "that I did not lower down a boat
to send after you; however, it has been a comfort to me since to
reflect that the marines missed you."
This ended the subject: we walked the deck a little, talked of
sweethearts, shaped the course for the night to make Fayal, which we
were not far from, and then returned to our beds.
Falling into a sound sleep, it was natural that the conversation of
the evening should have dwelt on my mind, and a strange mixture of
disjointed thoughts, a compound of reason and insanity, haunted me
till the morning. Trinidad and Emily, the Nine-Pin Rock, and the
mysterious Eugenia, with her supposed son; the sinking wreck, and the
broken schooner, all appeared separately or together.
"When nature rests,
Oft, in her absence, mimic fancy wakes."
I thought I saw Emily standing on the pinnacle of the Nine-Pin Rock,
just as Lord Nelson is represented on the monument in Dublin, or
Bonaparte in that of the Place Vendome; but with a grace as far
superior to either, as the Nine-Pin Rock is in majesty and natural
grandeur to those works of human art.
Emily, I thought, was clad in complete mourning, but looking radiant
in health and loveliness, although with a melancholy countenance. The
dear image of my mistress seemed to say, "I shall never come down from
this pinnacle without your assistance." "Then," thinks I, "you will
never come down at all." Then I thought Eugenia was queen of Trinidad,
and that it was she who had placed Emily out of my reach on the rock;
and I was entreating her to let Emily come down, when Thompson tapped
at my cabin door, and told me that it was daylight, and that they
could see the island of Fayal in the north-east, distant about seven
leagues.
I dressed myself, and went on deck, saw the land, and a strange sail
steering to the westward. The confounded dream still running in my
head--like Adam, I "liked it not," and yet I thought myself a fool
for not dismissing such idle stuff; still it would not go away. The
Americans came on deck soon after; and seeing the ship steering to the
westward, asked if I meant to speak her. I replied in the affirmative.
We had then as much sail as we could carry; and as she had no wish to
avoid us, but kept on her course, we were soon alongside of her. She
proved to be a cartel, bound to New York with American prisoners.
In case of meeting with any vessel bound to the United States, the
admiral had given me permission to send my prisoners home without
carrying them to England. I had not mentioned this either to Peters or
Green, for fear of producing disappointment; but when I found I could
dispose of them so comfortably, I acquainted them with my intention.
Their joy and gratitude were beyond all description; they thanked me a
thousand times, as they did my friend Talbot for our kindness to them.
"Leftenant," said Peters, "I am not much accustomed to the company of
you Englishmen; and if I have always thought you a set of tyrants and
bullies, it arn't my fault. I believed what I was told; but now I
have seen for myself, and I find the devil is never so black as he is
painted." I bowed to the Yankee compliment. "Howsoever," he continued,
"I should like to have a sprinkling of shot between us on fair terms.
Do you bring this here brig to our waters; I hope to get another just
like her, and as I know you are a d----d good fellow, and would as
soon have a dust as sit down to dinner, I should like to try to get
the command of the _True-blooded Yankee_ again."
"If you man your next brig, as you manned the last, with all your best
hands Englishmen," said I, "I fear I should find it no easy matter to
defend myself."
"That's as it may be," said the captain; "no man fights better than he
with a halter round his neck: and remember what neighbour Green has
said, for he has 'let the cat out of the bag:' we should have no
Englishmen in our service, if they had not been pressed into yours."
I could make no return to this salute, because, like the gunner at
Landguard Fort, I had no powder, and, in fact, I felt the rebuke.
Green stood by, but never opened his lips until the captain had
finished; then holding out his hand to me, with his eyes full of
tears, and his voice almost choked, "Farewell, my excellent friend,"
said he; "I shall never forget you; you found me a villain, and, by
the blessing of God, you have made me an honest man. Never, never,
shall I forget the day when, at the risk of your own life, you came
to save one so unworthy of your protection; but God bless you! and if
ever the fortune of war should send you a prisoner to my country, here
is my address--what is mine is yours, and so you shall find."
The man who had mutinied in the boat, and afterwards entered on board
the privateer, who was sent home with me to take his trial, held out
his hand to Captain Green, as he passed him, to wish him good-by, but
he turned away, saying, "A traitor to his country is a traitor to his
God. I forgive you for the injury you intended to do me, and the more
so, as I feel I brought it on myself; but I cannot degrade myself by
offering you the hand of fellowship."
So saying, he followed Captain Peters into the boat. I accompanied
them to the cartel, where, having satisfied myself that they had every
comfort, I left them. Green was so overcome that he could not speak,
and poor Mungo could only say, "Good-by, massa leptenant, me tinkee
you berry good man."
I returned to my own vessel, and made sail for England: once more we
greeted the white cliffs of Albion, so dear to every true English
bosom. No one but he who has been an exile from its beloved shores can
fully appreciate the thrill of joy on such an occasion. We ran through
the Needles, and I anchored at Spithead, after an absence of fourteen
months. I waited on the admiral, showed him my orders, and reported
the prisoners, whom he desired me to discharge into the flag ship;
"and now," said he, "after your extraordinary escape, I will give you
leave to run up to town and see your family, to whom you are no doubt
an object of great interest."
Here a short digression is necessary.