The second night after this, we had the middle watch, and I claimed
Swinburne's promise that he would spin his yarn, relative to the battle
of St. Vincent. "Well, Mr Simple, so I will; but I require a little
priming, or I shall never go off."
"Will you have your glass of grog before or after?"
"Before, by all means, if you please, sir. Run down and get it, and
I'll heave the log for you in the meantime, when we shall have a good
hour without interruption, for the sea-breeze will be steady, and we are
under easy sail." I brought up a stiff glass of grog, which Swinburne
tossed off, and as he finished it, sighed deeply as if in sorrow that
there was no more. Having stowed away the tumbler in one of the cap
stern holes for the present, we sat down upon a coil of ropes under the
weather bulwarks, and Swinburne, replacing his quid of tobacco,
commenced as follows:--
"Well, Mr Simple, as I told you before, old Jervis started with all his
fleet for Cape St. Vincent. We lost one of our fleet--and a
three-decker, too--the _St. George_; she took the ground, and was
obliged to go back to Lisbon; but we soon afterwards were joined by five
sail of the line, sent out from England, so that we mustered fifteen
sail in all. We had like to lose another of our mess, for d'ye see, the
old _Culloden_ and _Colossus_ fell foul of each other, and the
_Culloden_ had the worst on it, but Troubridge, who commanded her, was
not a man to shy his work, and ax to go in to refit, when there was a
chance of meeting the enemy--so he patched her up somehow or another,
and reported himself ready for action the very next day. Ready for
action he always was, that's sure enough, but whether his ship was in a
fit state to go into action, is quite another thing. But as the sailors
used to say in joking, he was a _true bridge_, and you might trust to
him; which meant as much as to say, that he knew how to take his ship
into action, and how to fight her when he was fairly in it. I think it
was the next day that Cockburn joined us in the _Minerve_, and he
brought Nelson along with him, with the intelligence that the Dons had
chased him, and that the whole Spanish fleet was out in pursuit of us.
Well, Mr Simple, you may guess we were not a little happy in the
_Captain_, when Nelson joined us, as we knew that if we fell in with the
Spaniards, our ship would cut a figure--and so she did, sure enough.
That was on the morning of the 13th, and old Jervis made the signal to
prepare for action, and keep close order, which means, to have your
flying jib-boom in at the starn windows of the ship ahead of you; and we
did keep close order, for a man might have walked right round from one
ship to the other, either lee or weather line of the fleet. I shan't
forget that night, Mr Simple, as long as I live and breathe. Every now
and then we heard the signal guns of the Spanish fleet booming at a
distance to windward of us, and you may guess how our hearts leaped at
the sound, and how we watched with all our ears for the next gun that
was fired, trying to make out their bearings and distance, as we
assembled in little knots upon the booms and weather gangway. It was my
middle watch, and I was signalman at the time, so of course I had no
time to take a caulk if I was inclined. When my watch was over, I could
not go down to my hammock, so I kept the morning watch too, as did most
of the men on board: as for Nelson, he walked the deck the whole night,
quite in a fever. At daylight it was thick and hazy weather, and we
could not make them out; but about five bells, the old _Culloden_, who,
if she had broke her nose, had not lost the use of her eyes, made the
signal for a part of the Spanish fleet in sight. Old Jervis repeated
the signal to prepare for action, but he might have saved the wear and
tear of the bunting, for we were all ready, bulkheads down, screens up,
guns shotted, tackles rove, yards slung, powder filled, shot on deck,
and fire out--and what's more, Mr Simple, I'll be damned if we wer'n't
all willing too. About six bells in the forenoon, the fog and haze all
cleared away at once, just like the rising of the foresail, that they
lower down at the Portsmouth Theatre, and discovered the whole of the
Spanish fleet. I counted them all. `How many, Swinburne?' cries
Nelson. `Twenty-six sail, sir,' answered I. Nelson walked the
quarterdeck backwards and forwards, rubbing his hands, and laughing to
himself, and then he called for his glass, and went to the gangway with
Captain Miller. `Swinburne, keep a good look upon the admiral,' says
he. `Ay, ay, sir,' says I. Now, you see, Mr Simple, twenty-six sail
against fifteen were great odds upon paper; but we didn't think so,
because we know'd the difference between the two fleets. There was our
fifteen sail of the line all in apple-pie order, packed up as close as
dominoes, and every man on board of them longing to come to the scratch;
while there was their twenty-six, all _somehow nohow_, two lines here,
and _no line_ there, with a great gap of water in the middle of them.
For this gap between their ships we all steered, with all the sail we
could carry, because, d'ye see, Mr Simple, by getting them on both
sides of us, we had the advantage of fighting both broadsides, which is
just as easy as fighting one, and makes shorter work of it. Just as it
struck seven bells, Troubridge opened the ball, _setting_ to
half-a-dozen of the Spaniards, and making them _reel_ `Tom Collins,'
whether or no. Bang-bang-bang, bang! Oh, Mr Simple, it's a beautiful
sight, to see the first guns fired, that are to bring on a general
action. `He's the luckiest dog, that Troubridge,' said Nelson, stamping
with impatience. Our ships were soon hard at it, hammer and tongs, (my
eyes, how they did pelt it in!) and old Sir John, in the _Victory_,
smashed the cabin windows of the Spanish admiral, with such a hell of a
raking broadside, that the fellow bore up as if the devil kicked him.
Lord-a-mercy! you might have drove a Portsmouth waggon into his starn--
the broadside of the _Victory_ had made room enough. However, they were
soon all smothered up in smoke, and we could not make out how things
were going on--but we made a pretty good guess. Well, Mr Simple, as
they say at the play, that was act the first, scene the first; and now
we had to make our appearance, and I'll leave you to judge, after I've
told my tale, whether the old _Captain_ wasn't principal performer, and
_top sawyer_ over them all. But stop a moment, I'll just look at the
binnacle, for that young topman's nodding at the wheel.--I say, Mr
Smith, are you shutting your eyes to keep them warm, and letting the
ship run half a point out of her course? take care I don't send for
another helmsman that's all, and give the reason why. You'll make a wry
face upon six-water grog, to-morrow, at seven bells. Damn your eyes,
keep them open--can't you?"
Swinburne, after this genteel admonition to the man at the wheel,
reseated himself and continued his narrative.
"All this while, Mr Simple, we in the _Captain_ had not fired a gun;
but were ranging up as fast as we could to where the enemy lay in a
heap. There were plenty to pick and choose from; and Nelson looked out
sharp for a big one, as little boys do when they have to choose an
apple: and, by the piper that played before Moses! it was a big one that
he ordered the master to put him alongside of. She was a four-decker,
called the _Santissima Trinidad_. We had to pass some whoppers, which
would have satisfied any reasonable man; for there was the _San Josef_,
and _Salvador del Mondo_, and _San Nicolas_; but nothing would suit
Nelson but this four-decked ship; so we crossed the hawse of about six
of them, and as soon as we were abreast of her, and at the word `Fire!'
every gun went off at once, slap into her, and the old _Captain_ reeled
at the discharge as if she was drunk. I wish you'd only seen how we
pitched it into this _Holy Trinity_; she was _holy_ enough before we had
done with her, riddled like a sieve, several of her ports knocked into
one, and every scupper of her running blood and water. Not but what she
stood to it as bold as brass, and gave us nearly gun for gun, and made a
very pretty general average in our ship's company. Many of the old
captains went to kingdom come in that business, and many more were
obliged to bear up for Greenwich Hospital.
"`Fire away, my lads--steady aim!' cries Nelson. `Jump down there, Mr
Thomas; pass the word to reduce the cartridges, the shot go clean
through her. Double shot the guns there, fore and aft.'
"So we were at it for about half-an-hour, when our guns became so hot
from quick firing, that they bounced up to the beams overhead, tearing
away their ringbolts, and snapping the breechings like rope yarns. By
this time we were almost as much unrigged as if we had been two days
paying off in Portsmouth harbour. The four-decker forged ahead, and
Troubridge, in the jolly old _Culloden_, came between us and two other
Spanish ships, who were playing into us. She was as fresh as a daisy,
and gave them a dose which quite astonished them. They shook their
ears, and fell astern, when the _Blenheim_ laid hold of them, and mauled
them so that they went astern again. But it was out of the frying-pan
into the fire: for the _Orion_, _Prince George_, and one or two others,
were coming up, and knocked the very guts out of them. I'll be damned
if they forgot the 14th of April, and sarve them right, too. Wasn't a
four-decker enough for any two-decker, without any more coming on us?
and couldn't the beggars have matched themselves like gentlemen? Well,
Mr Simple, this gave us a minute or two to fetch our breath, let the
guns cool, and repair damages, and swab the blood from the decks; but we
lost our four-decker, for we could not get near her again."
"What odd names the Spaniards give to their ships, Swinburne!"
"Why, yes, they do; it would almost appear wicked to belabour the _Holy
Trinity_ as we did. But why they should call a four-decked ship the
_Holy Trinity_ I can't tell. Bill Saunders said that the fourth deck
was for the Pope, who was as great a parsonage as the others: but I
can't understand how that can be. Well, Mr Simple, as I was
head-signalman, I was perched on the poop, and didn't serve at a gun. I
had to report all I could see, which was not much, the smoke was so
thick; but now and then I could get a peep, as it were, through the
holes in the blanket. Of course I was obliged to keep my eye as much as
possible upon the admiral, not to make out his signals, for Commodore
Nelson wouldn't thank me for that; I knew he hated a signal when in
action, so I never took no notice of the bunting, but just watched to
see what he was about. So while we are repairing damages, I'll just
tell you what I saw of the rest of the fleet. As soon as old Jervis had
done for the Spanish admiral, he hauled his wind on the larboard tack,
and, followed by four or five other ships, weathered the Spanish line
and joined Collingwood in the _Excellent_. Then they all dashed through
the line; the _Excellent_ was the leading ship, and she first took the
shine out of the _Salvador del Mondo_, and then left her to be picked up
by the other ships, while she attacked a two-decker, who hauled down her
colours--I forget her name just now. As soon as the _Victory_ ran
alongside of the _Salvador del Mondo_, down went her colours, and
_Excellent_ reasons had she for striking her flag. And now, Mr Simple,
the old _Captain_ comes into play again. Having parted company with the
four-decker, we had recommenced action with the _San Nicolas_, a spanish
eighty, and while we were hard at it, old Collingwood comes up in the
_Excellent_. The _San Nicolas_, knowing that the _Excellent's_
broadside would send her to old Nick, put her helm up to avoid being
raked: in so doing, she fell foul of the _San Josef_ a Spanish
three-decker, and we being all cut to pieces, and unmanageable--all of
us indeed reeling about like drunken men--Nelson ordered his helm a
star-board, and in a jiffy there we were, all three hugging each other,
running in one another's guns, smashing our chain-plates, and poking our
yard arms through each other's canvas.
"`All hands to board!' roared Nelson, leaping on the hammocks and waving
his sword.
"`Hurrah! hurrah!' echoed through the decks, and up flew the men, like
as [men] angry bees out of a bee-hive. In a moment pikes, tomahawks,
cutlasses, and pistols were seized (for it was quite unexpected, Mr
Simple), and our men poured into the eighty-gun ship, and in two minutes
the decks were cleared, and all the Dons pitched below. I joined the
boarders and was on the main-deck when Captain Miller came down, and
cried out, `On deck again immediately.' Up we went, and what do you
think it was for, Mr Simple? Why to board a second time; for Nelson
having taken the two-decker, swore that he'd have the three-decker as
well. So away we went again, clambering up her lofty sides how we
could, and dropping down on her decks like hailstones. We all made for
the quarter-deck, beat down every Spanish beggar that showed fight, and
in five minutes more we had hauled down the colours of two of the finest
ships in the Spanish navy. If that wasn't taking the shine out of the
Dons, I should like to know what is. And didn't the old captains cheer
and shake hands, as Commodore Nelson stood on the deck of the _San
Josef_, and received the swords of the Spanish officers! There was
enough of them to go right round the capstern, and plenty to spare.
Now, Mr Simple, what do you think of that for a spree?"
"Why, Swinburne, I can only say that I wish I had been there."
"So did every man in the fleet, Mr Simple, I can tell you."
"But what became of the _Santissima Trinidad_?"
"Upon my word, she behaved one _deck_ better than all the others. She
held out against four of our ships for a long while, and then hauled
down her colours, and no disgrace to her, considering what a precious
hammering she had taken first. But the lee division of the Spanish
weather fleet, if I may so call it, consisting of eleven sail of the
line, came up to her assistance, and surrounded her, so that they got
her off. Our ships were too much cut up to commence a new action, and
the admiral made the signal to secure the prizes. The Spanish fleet
then did what they should have done before--got into line; and we lost
no time in doing the same. But we both had had fighting enough."
"But do you think, Swinburne, that the Spaniards fought well?"
"They'd have fought better, if they'd only have known how. There's no
want of courage in the Dons, Mr Simple, but they did not support each
other. Only observe how Troubridge supported us. By God, Mr Simple,
he was the _real fellow_, and Nelson knew it well. He was Nelson's
right-hand man; but you know there wasn't room for _two_ Nelsons. Their
ships engaged held out well, it must be acknowledged, but why wer'n't
they all in their proper berths? Had they kept close order of sailing,
and had all fought as well as those who were captured, it would not have
been a very easy matter for fifteen ships to gain a victory over
twenty-six. That's long odds, even when backed by British seamen."
"Well, how did you separate?"
"Why, the next morning the Spaniards had the weather-gauge, so they had
the option whether to fight or not. At one time they had half a mind,
for they bore down to us; upon which we hauled our wind, to show them we
were all ready to meet them, and then they thought better of it, and
rounded-to again. So as they wouldn't fight, and we didn't wish it, we
parted company in the night; and two days afterwards we anchored, with
our four prizes, in Lagos Bay. So now you have the whole of it, Mr
Simple, and I've talked till I'm quite hoarse. You havn't by chance
another drop of the stuff left to clear my throat? It would be quite a
charity."
"I think I have, Swinburne; and as you deserve it, I will go and fetch
it."