On deck five hundred men did dance,
The stoutest they could find in France.
We with two hundred did advance,
On board of the _Arethusa_.
Our captain hailed the Frenchman "ho!"
The Frenchman then cried out "hallo!"
"Bear down, d'ye see,
To our admiral's lee."
"No, no," says the Frenchman, "that can't be;"
"Then I must lug you along with me,"
Says the saucy _Arethusa_.
SEA SONG.
The information received from McElvina, which induced Captain M--- not
to anchor, was relative to a French frigate of the largest class, that
he had great hopes of falling in with. She was lying in the harbour of
Brest, waiting for a detachment of troops which had been ordered to
embark, when she was to sail for Rochefort, to join a squadron intended
to make a descent upon some of our colonies. Previously to McElvina's
sailing from the port of Havre, the prefect of that arrondissement had
issued directions for certain detachments to march on a stated day to
complete the number of troops ordered on board.
McElvina had sure data from which to calculate as to the exact period of
embarkation, and was also aware that the frigate had orders to sail to
the port of rendezvous the first favourable wind after the embarkation
had taken place. In two days the _Aspasia_, for that was the name of
the frigate commanded by Captain M---, was off Ushant, and the captain,
taking the precaution to keep well off the land during the day-time,
only running in to make the lights after dark, retained his position off
that island until the wind shifted to the northward: he then shaped a
course so as to fall in with the French coast about thirty miles to the
southward of the harbour of Brest. It was still dark, when Captain
M---, having run his distance, shortened sail, and hove-to in the
cruising ground which McElvina had recommended; and so correct was the
calculation, as well as the information of the captain of the smugglers,
that at day-break, as the frigate lay with her head in-shore, with the
wind at Nor'-Nor'-West, a large vessel was descried under the land, a
little on her weather-bow. After severely scrutinising the stranger for
some minutes with his glass, which he now handed to McElvina--
"That's she, indeed, I believe," said Captain M---.
"A large frigate, with studding-sails set, standing across our bows,"
cried out the first-lieutenant, from the mast-head.
"She'll try for the Passage du Raz; we must cut her off; if we can.
Hands, make sail."
The hands were summoned up by the shrill pipe of the boatswain and his
mates; but it was quite unnecessary, as the men had already crowded on
deck upon the first report which had been communicated below, and were
in clusters on the forecastle and gangways.
"Topmen, aloft! loose top-gallant sails and royals--clear away the
flying-jib," were orders that were hardly out of the mouth of the
first-lieutenant, breathless with his rapid descent from aloft, when the
gaskets were off; and the sails hung fluttering from the yards. In
another minute the sheets were home, the sails hoisted and trimmed, and
the _Aspasia_ darted through the yielding waves, as if the eagerness of
pursuit which quickened the pulses of her crew had been communicated
from them like an electric shock to her own frame, and she were
conscious that her country demanded her best exertions.
"Pipe the hammocks up, Mr Hardy," said Captain M--- to the
first-lieutenant; "when they are stowed we will beat to quarters."
"Ay, ay, sir. Shall we order the fire out in the galley?"
"When the cocoa is ready, not before--there will be plenty of time for
the people to get their breakfast. How does the land bear, Mr Pearce?"
"Saint Island about South East by South, eight or nine miles, sir,"
replied the master.
"If so, I think we shall cut him off; and then `fight he must.'"
Both frigates had hoisted their colours in defiance, and as they were
steering for the same point, they neared each other fast; the French
vessel, with his starboard studding-sails, running for the entrance of
the narrow passage, which he hoped to gain, and the _Aspasia_
close-hauled to intercept him, and at the same time to avoid the
dangerous rocks to leeward, far extending from Saint Island, whose name
they bore.
"Have the men had their breakfasts, Mr Hardy?" said the captain.
"The cocoa was in the tub, sir," answered the first-lieutenant, "ready
for serving out; but they started it all in the lee-scuppers. They
wanted the tub to fill it with shot."
Captain M--- smiled at the enthusiasm of his crew; but the smile was
suddenly checked, as he reflected that probably many of the fine fellows
would never breakfast again.
"If not contrary to your regulations, Captain M---," said McElvina, "as
the crew of the _Susanne_ have not yet been incorporated with your
ship's company, may I request that they may be stationed together, and
that I may be permitted to be with them?"
"Your suggestion is good," replied the captain, "and I am obliged to you
for the offer. They shall assist to work the quarter-deck carronades,
and act as boarders and sail trimmers. Mr Hardy, let the new men be
provided with cutlasses, and fill up any vacancies in the main-deck
quarters, from some of our own men who are at present stationed at the
quarter-deck guns."
The frigates were now within gunshot of each other, and it was
impossible to say which vessel would first attain the desired goal. The
foremost guns of the respective ships which had been trained forward
were reported to bear upon the enemy, and both commanders were aware
that "knocking away a stick"--i.e., the shots striking the masts or
yards of her opponent, so as to occasion them to fall--would decide the
point. At the very time that Captain M--- was giving directions to fire
the main-deck guns as they would bear, the first shot from his
antagonist whizzed over his head, and the action commenced, each party
attempting to cripple his opponent by firing high at his masts and
rigging. The frigates continued to engage, until they had closed-to
within half a mile of each other, when the main-topmast of the Frenchman
fell over the side.
This decided the point as to his escape through the passage, which he
had made his utmost exertions to effect, in pursuance of the peremptory
orders which he had received. He now hauled his wind on the same tack
as the _Aspasia_, pouring in his starboard broadside as he rounded-to.
The manoeuvre was good, as he thereby retained his weather-gage--and the
wreck of his top-mast having fallen over his larboard side, he had his
starboard broadside, which was all clear, and directed towards his
opponent; moreover, he forced the _Aspasia_ to follow him into the bay
formed between the Bec du Raz and the Bec du Chevre, where she would in
all probability receive considerable damage from the batteries which
lined the coast.
Captain M--- was aware of all this; but his only fear was that his enemy
should run on shore, and prevent his carrying him into port. The
_Aspasia_ was soon abreast of her opponent, and their broadsides were
exchanged, when Captain M---, who wished to bring the action to a speedy
conclusion, shot his vessel ahead, which he was enabled to do, from his
superiority of sailing, after the main-topmast of the French frigate had
been shot away. It was his intention not to have tacked until he could
have fetched his antagonist, but the galling fire of the batteries,
which now hulled him every time, induced him to go about, and, as he was
in stays, a raking shot entered the cabin windows, and, in its passage
along the main-deck, added ten men to his list of killed and wounded.
Again the frigates, on opposite tacks, poured in their broadsides--the
fore-yard of the Frenchman was divided in the slings, and fell, hanging
by the topsail sheets and lifts, and tearing the sails, which fell over
the forecastle guns, and caught fire as they were discharged at the same
moment. Nor did the _Aspasia_ suffer less, for her mizen-topmast was
shot through, and her starboard anchor, cut from her bows, fell under
her bottom and tore away the cable (a short range of which Captain
M--- had had the precaution to have on deck, as they fought so close in
shore). This threw the men at the guns into confusion, and brought the
ship up in the wind. The cable was at last separated, and flew out of
the hawse-hole after the anchor, which plunged to the bottom but this
was not effected, until, like an enormous serpent, it had enfolded in
its embraces three or four hapless men, who were carried with dreadful
velocity to the hawse-hole, where their crushed bodies for a time
stopped it from running out, and gave their shipmates an opportunity of
dividing it with their axes.
Order was eventually restored, and the _Aspasia_, who had been raked by
her active opponent during the time that she was thrown up in the wind,
continued her course, and as she passed the stern of the French frigate,
luffed up and returned the compliment. The latter, anxious in his
crippled state for the support of the batteries, which had already
seriously injured his opponent, continued to forge inshore.
"We shall weather her now;--'bout ship, Mr Pearce. Recollect, my
lads," said Captain M---, when the ship was about, "you'll reserve your
fire till we touch her sides; then all hands to board."
The _Aspasia_ ranged up on the weather quarter of her antagonist--
Pearce, the master, conning her by the captain's directions, so that the
fore-chains of the French vessel should be hooked by the spare anchor of
the _Aspasia_. The enemy, who, in his disabled state, was not in a
situation to choose whether he would be boarded or not, poured in a
double-shotted and destructive broadside; and it was well for Captain
M--- that his ship's company had received the reinforcement which they
had from the _Susanne_, for the French frigate was crowded with men, and
being now within pistol-shot, the troops, who were so thick on deck as
to impede the motions of each other, kept up an incessant fire of
musketry, cutting the _Aspasia's_ running rigging, riddling her sails,
and disabling her men.
"Hard a-port now!" cried Pearce, and the vessels came in collision, the
spare anchor in the _Aspasia's_ fore-chains catching and tearing away
the backstays and lanyards of the enemy's fore-rigging, and, with a
violent jerk, bringing down the fore-topmast to windward. At this
moment the reserved broadside of the _Aspasia_ was discharged, and the
two frigates heeled over opposite ways, from the violent concussion of
the air in the confined space between them. While yet enveloped in the
smoke, the men flew up on deck, as they had been previously directed by
Captain M---, who leaped upon the quarter-deck hammocks of his own
frigate, and, holding with one hand by the mizen-topmast backstay, with
his sword in the other, waving to encourage his men, waited a second or
two for the closing of the after-parts of the vessels, before he led on
his boarders.
The smoke rolled away through the masts of the French frigate, and
discovered her captain, with equal disregard to his safety, in nearly a
similar position on the hammock rails of his own vessel. The rival
commanders were not six feet apart, when the main-chains of the two
vessels crashed as they came in collision. The French captain drew a
pistol from his belt and levelled it at Captain M---, whose fate
appeared to be certain; when, at the critical moment, a hat, thrown from
the quarter-deck of the _Aspasia_, right into the face of the Frenchman,
blinded him for a minute, and his pistol went off without taking effect.
"Capital shot, that, Willy!" cried McElvina, as he sprang from the
hammocks with his sword, "giving point" in advance, and, while still
darting through the air with the impetus of his spring, passing it
through the body of the French captain, who fell back on his own
quarter-deck, while McElvina, fortunately for himself, dropped into the
chains, for, had he a hundred lives, they would have fallen a sacrifice
to the exasperated Frenchman: but the smugglers had followed McElvina;
and Captain M---, with the rest of his ship's company, were thronging,
like bees, in the rigging, hammocks, and chains of their opponent. From
the destructive fire of the French troops, many an English seaman fell
dead, or, severely wounded, was reserved for a worse fate--that of
falling overboard between the ships, and, at the heave of the sea, being
crushed between their sides. Many a gallant spirit was separated from
its body by this horrid death as the strife continued.
Possession was at length gained of the quarter-deck; but the carnage was
not to cease. The French troops stationed in the boats on the booms,
formed a sort of pyramid, vomiting incessant fire; and the commandant
had had the sagacity to draw up three lines of his men, with their
bayonets fixed, from one side of the vessel to the other, abreast of the
gangways, forming a barrier, behind which the crew of the French had
retreated, and which was impenetrable to the gallant crew of the
_Aspasia_, who were only provided with short cutlasses.
Captain M---, as he saw his men falling on every side, and every attempt
to force a passage unsuccessful, although accompanied with heavy loss of
lives, found himself, as it were, in a trap. To force his way through
appeared impossible--to retreat was against his nature. McElvina, who
had been fighting by his side, perceived the awkward and dangerous
predicament they were in, and his ready talent suggested a remedy.
Calling out loudly, "Susannes! away there!--follow me!" an order
instantly obeyed by his men, he disappeared with them over the hammocks,
leaping back upon the quarter-deck of the _Aspasia_.
"Curses on the smuggler, he has run for it. At them again, my Britons
never mind," cried the first-lieutenant, leading on the men against the
phalanx of bayonets. But it was not as the first-lieutenant had
supposed; for before the cutlasses of the seamen had time again to
strike fire upon the steel points which opposed their passage, McElvina
reappeared in the fore-rigging of the French vessel, followed by his
smugglers, who attacked the French troops in the rear, with a loud yell,
and an impetuosity that was irresistible. The diversion was announced
by a cheer from Captain M--- and his party abaft, who, rushing upon the
bayonets of the Frenchman, already in confusion from the attack of
McElvina, forced them down on the main-deck, and in a few minutes the
hatches were secured over the remainder of the crew, and the tricoloured
ensign disappeared from the gaff; and announced to the spectators in the
batteries on shore, that "_Britannia ruled the waves_."