The shout
Of battle now began, and rushing sound
Of onset
...
'Twixt host and host but narrow space was left.
MILTON.
From the deservedly high character borne by the captain of the frigate
which I was ordered to join, he was employed by Lord Collingwood on the
most confidential services; and we were sent to assist the Spaniards in
their defence of the important fortress of Rosas, in Catalonia. It has
already been observed that the French general St. Cyr had entered that
country, and, having taken Figueras and Gerona, was looking with a
wistful eye on the castle of Trinity, on the south-east side, the
capture of which would be a certain prelude to the fall of Rosas.
My captain determined to defend it, although it had just been abandoned
by another British naval officer, as untenable. I volunteered, though a
supernumerary, to be one of the party, and was sent: nor can I but
acknowledge that the officer who had abandoned the place had shown more
than a sound discretion. Every part of the castle was in ruins. Heaps
of crumbling stones and rubbish, broken gun-carriages, and split guns,
presented to my mind a very unfavourable field of battle. The only
advantage we appeared to have over the assailants was that the breach
which they had effected in the walls was steep in the ascent, and the
loose stones either fell down upon them or gave way under their feet,
while we plied them with every kind of missile. This was our only
defence, and all we had to prevent the enemy marching into the works, if
works they could be called.
There was another and very serious disadvantage attending our locality.
The castle was situated very near the summit of a steep hill, the upper
part of which was in possession of the enemy, who were by this means
nearly on a level with the top of the castle, and on that eminence,
three hundred Swiss sharpshooters had effected a lodgement, and thrown
up works within fifty yards of us, keeping up a constant fire at the
castle. If a head was seen above the walls, twenty rifle-bullets
whizzed at it in a moment, and the same unremitted attention was paid to
our boats as they landed.
On another hill, much to the northward, and consequently, further
inland, the French had erected a battery of six 14-pounders. This
agreeable neighbour was only three hundred yards from us, and, allowing
short intervals for the guns to cool, this battery kept up a constant
fire upon us from daylight till dark. I never could have supposed in my
boyish days that the time would arrive when I should envy a cock upon
Shrove Tuesday; yet such was case when in this infernal castle. It was
certainly not giving us fair play; we had no chance against such a
force; but my captain was a knight-errant, and as I had volunteered, I
had no right to complain. Such was the precision of the enemy's fire,
that we could tell the stone that would be hit by the next shot, merely
from seeing where the last had struck, and our men were frequently
wounded by the splinters of granite with which the walls were built, and
others picked off, like partridges, by the Swiss corps on the hill close
to us.
Our force in the castle consisted of a hundred and thirty English seamen
and marines, one company of Spanish, and another of Swiss troops in
Spanish pay. Never were troops worse paid and fed or better fired at.
We all pigged in together, dirty straw and fleas for our beds; our food
on the same scale of luxury; from the captain downwards there was no
distinction. Fighting is sometimes a very agreeable pastime, but excess
"palls on the sense:" and here we had enough of it, without what I
always thought an indispensable accompaniment, namely, a good bellyfull;
nor did I conceive how a man could perform his duty without it; but here
I was forced, with many others, to make the experiment, and when the
boats could not land, which was often the case, we piped to dinner _pro
forma_ as our captain liked regularity, and drank cold water to fill our
stomachs.
I have often heard my poor uncle say that no man knows what he can do
till he tries; and the enemy gave us plenty of opportunities of
displaying our ingenuity, industry, watchfulness, and abstinence. When
poor Penelope wove her web, the poet says:--
"The night unravelled what the day began."
With us it was precisely the reverse: the day destroyed all the labours
of the night. The hours of darkness were employed by us in filling
sand-bags, and laying them in the breach, clearing away rubbish, and
preparing to receive the enemy's fire, which was sure to recommence at
daylight. These avocations, together with a constant and most vigilant
watch against surprise, took up so much of our time that little was left
for repose, and our meals required still less.
There was some originality in one of our modes of defence, and which,
not being _secundum artem_, might have provoked the smile of an
engineer. The captain contrived to make a shoot of smooth deal boards,
which he received from the ship: these he placed in a slanting direction
in the breach, and caused them to be well greased with cook's slush; so
that the enemies who wished to come into our hold, must have jumped down
upon them, and would in an instant be precipitated into the ditch below
a very considerable depth, where they might either have remained till
the doctor came to them, or, if they were able, begin their labours _de
novo_. This was a very good bug-trap; for, at that time, I thought just
as little of killing a Frenchman as I did of destroying the filthy
little nightly depredator just mentioned.
Besides this slippery trick, which we played them with great success, we
served them another. We happened to have on board the frigate a large
quantity of fish-hooks; these we planted, not only on the greasy boards,
but in every part where the intruders were likely to place their hands
or feet. The breach itself was mined, and loaded with shells and
hand-grenades! masked guns, charged up to the muzzle with musket-balls,
enfiladed the spot in every direction. Such were our defence; and,
considering that we had been three weeks in the castle, opposed to such
mighty odds, it is surprising that we only lost twenty men. The crisis
was now approaching.
One morning, very early, I happened to have the look-out. The streak of
fog which during the night hangs between the hills in that country, and
presses down into the valleys, had just begun to rise, and the stars to
grow more dim above our heads, when I was looking over the castle-wall
towards the breach. The captain came out and asked me what I was
looking at. I told him I hardly knew; but there did appear something
unusual in the valley, immediately below the breach. He listened a
moment, looked attentively with his night-glass, and exclaimed, in his
firm voice, but in an undertoned manner, "To arms!--they are coming!"
In three minutes every man was at his post; and though all were quick,
there was no time to spare, for by this time the black column of the
enemy was distinctly visible, curling along the valley like a great
centipede; and, with the daring enterprise so common among the troops of
Napoleon, had begun in silence to mount the breach. It was an awful and
eventful moment; but the coolness and determination of the little
garrison was equal to the occasion.
The word was given to take good aim, and a volley from the masked guns
and musketry was poured into the thick of them. They paused--deep
groans ascended! They retreated a few paces in confusion, then rallied,
and again advanced to the attack; and now the fire on both sides was
kept up without intermission. The great guns from the hill fort, and
the Swiss sharpshooters, still nearer, poured copious volleys upon us,
and with loud shouts cheered on their comrades to the assault. As they
approached and covered our mine, the train was fired, and up they went
in the air, and down they fell buried in the ruins. Groans, screams,
confusion, French yells, British hurras, rent the sky! The hills
resounded with the shouts of victory? We sent them hand-grenades in
abundance, and broke their shins in glorious style. I must say that the
French behaved nobly, though many a tall grenadier and pioneer fell by
the symbol in front of his warlike cap. I cried with rage and
excitement; and we all fought like bull-dogs, for we knew there was no
quarter to be given.
Ten minutes had elapsed since the firing began, and in that time many a
brave fellow had bit the dust. The head of their attacking column had
been destroyed by the explosion of our mine. Still they had re-formed,
and were again half-way up the breach when the day began to dawn; and we
saw a chosen body of one thousand men, led on by their colonel, and
advancing over the dead which had just fallen.
The gallant leader appeared to be as cool and composed as if he were at
breakfast; with his drawn sword he pointed to the breach, and we heard
him exclaim, "_Suivez moi_!" I felt jealous of this brave fellow--
jealous of his being a Frenchman; and I threw a lighted hand-grenade
between his feet--he picked it up, and threw it from him to a
considerable distance.
"Cool chap enough that," said the captain, who stood close to me; "I'll
give him another," which he did, but this the officer kicked away with
equal _sang froid_ and dignity. "Nothing will cure that fellow,"
resumed the captain, "but an ounce of lead on an empty stomach--it's a
pity, too, to kill so fine a fellow--but there is no help for it."
So saying, he took a musket out of my hand, which I had just loaded--
aimed, fired--the colonel staggered, clapped his hand to his breast, and
fell back into the arms of some of his men, who threw down their
muskets, and took him on their shoulders, either unconscious or
perfectly regardless of the death-work which was going on around them.
The firing redoubled from our musketry on this little group, every man
of whom was either killed or wounded. The colonel, again left to
himself, tottered a few paces further, till he reached a small bush, not
ten yards from the spot where he received his mortal wound. Here he
fell; his sword, which he still grasped in his right hand, rested on the
boughs, and pointed upwards to the sky, as if directing the road to the
spirit of its gallant master.
With the life of the colonel ended the hopes of the French for that day.
The officers, we could perceive, did their duty--cheered, encouraged,
and drove on their men, but all in vain. We saw them pass their swords
through the bodies of the fugitives; but the men did not even mind
that--they would only be killed in their own way--they had had fighting
enough for one breakfast. The first impulse, the fiery onset, had been
checked by the fall of their brave leader, and _sauve qui peut_, whether
coming from the officers or drummers, no matter which, terminated the
affair, and we were left a little time to breathe, and to count the
number of our dead.
The moment the French perceived from their batteries that the attempt
had failed, and that the leader of the enterprise was dead, they poured
in an angry fire upon us. I stuck my hat on the bayonet of my musket,
and just showed it above the wall. A dozen bullets were through it in a
minute: very fortunately my head was not in it.
The fire of the batteries having ceased, which it generally did at
stated periods, we had an opportunity of examining the point of attack.
Scaling-ladders and dead bodies lay in profusion. All the wounded had
been removed, but what magnificent "food for powder" were the bodies
which lay before us!--all, it would seem, picked men; not one less than
six feet, and some more: they were clad in their grey _capots_, to
render their appearance more _sombre_, and less discernible in the
twilight of the morning: and as the weather was cold during the nights,
I secretly determined to have one of those great-coats as a _chere amie_
to keep me warm in night-watches. I also resolved to have the colonel's
sword to present to my captain; and as soon as it was dark I walked down
the breach, brought up one of the scaling-ladders, which I deposited in
the castle; and having done so much for the king, I set out to do
something for myself.
It was pitch dark. I stumbled on: the wind blew a hurricane, and the
dust and mortar almost blinded me; but I knew my way pretty well. Yet,
there was something very jackall-like, in wandering about among dead
bodies in the night-time and I really felt a horror at my situation.
There was a dreadful stillness between the blasts, which the pitch
darkness made peculiarly awful to an unfortified mind. It is for this
reason that I would ever discourage night-attacks, unless you can rely
on your men. They generally fail: because the man of common bravery,
who would acquit himself fairly in broad daylight, will hang back during
the night. Fear and darkness have always been firm allies; and are
inseparably playing into each other's hands. Darkness conceals fear,
and therefore fear loves darkness, because it saves the coward from
shame; and when the fear of shame is the only stimulus to fight,
daylight is essentially necessary.
I crept cautiously along, feeling for the dead bodies. The first I laid
my hand on, made my blood curdle. It was the lacerated thigh of a
grenadier, whose flesh had been torn off by a hand-grenade. "Friend,"
said I, "if I may judge from the nature of your wound, your great-coat
is not worth having." The next subject I handled, had been better
killed. A musket-ball through his head had settled all his tradesmen's
bills; and I hesitated not in becoming residuary legatee, as I was sure
the assets would more than discharge the undertaker's bill; but the body
was cold and stiff, and did not readily yield its garment.
I, however, succeeded in obtaining my object; in which I arrayed myself,
and went on in search of the colonel's sword; but here I had been
anticipated by a Frenchman. The colonel, indeed, lay there, stiff
enough, but his sword was gone. I was preparing to return, when I
encountered, not a dead, but a living enemy.
"_Qui vive_?" said a low voice.
"_Anglais bete_!" answered I, in a low tone: and added, "_mais les
corsairs ne se battent pas_."
"C'est vrai," said he; and growling, "_bon soir_," he was soon out of
sight. I scrambled back to the castle, gave the counter-sign to the
sentinel, and showed my new great-coat with a vast deal of glee and
satisfaction; some of my comrades went on the same sort of expedition,
and were rewarded with more or less success.
In a few days, the dead bodies on the breach were nearly denuded by
nightly visitors; but that of the colonel lay respected and untouched.
The heat of the day had blackened it, and it was now deprived of all its
manly beauty, and nothing remained but a loathsome corpse. The rules of
war, as well as of humanity, demanded the honourable interment of the
remains of this hero; and our captain, who was the very flower of
chivalry, desired me to stick a white handkerchief on a pike, as a flag
of truce, and bury the bodies, if the enemy would permit us.
I went out accordingly, with a spade and a pick-axe; but the
_tirailleurs_ on the hill began with their rifles, and wounded one of my
men. I looked at the captain, as much as to say, "Am I to proceed?" He
motioned with his hand to go on, and I then began digging a hole by the
side of a dead body, and the enemy, seeing my intention, desisted from
firing. I had buried several, when the captain came out and joined me,
with a view of reconnoitring the position of the enemy. He was seen
from the fort, and recognised; and his intention pretty accurately
guessed at.
We were near the body of the colonel, which we were going to inter; when
the captain, observing a diamond-ring on the finger of the corpse, said
to one of the sailors, "You may just as well take that off; it can be of
no use to him now." The man tried to get it off; but the rigidity of
the muscles after death prevented his moving it. "He won't feel your
knife, poor fellow," said the captain; "and a finger more or less is no
great matter to him now: off with it."
The sailor began to saw the finger-joint with his knife, when down came
a twenty-four pound shot, and with such a good direction that it took
the shoe off the man's foot, and the shovel out of the hand of another
man. "In with him, and cover him up!" said the captain.
We did so; when another shot, not quite so well directed as the first,
threw the dirt in our faces, and ploughed the ground at our feet. The
captain, then ordered his men to run into the castle, which they
instantly obeyed; while he himself walked leisurely along through a
shower of musket-balls from those cursed Swiss dogs, whom I most
fervently wished at the devil, because, as an aide-de-camp, I felt bound
in honour as well as duty to walk by the side of my captain, fully
expecting every moment that a rifle-ball would have hit me where I
should have been ashamed to show the scar. I thought this funeral pace,
after the funeral was over, confounded nonsense; but my fire-eating
captain never had run away from a Frenchman, and did not intend to begin
then.
I was behind him, making these reflections, and as the shot began to fly
very thick, I stepped up alongside of him, and by degrees brought him
between me and the fire. "Sir," said I, "as I am only a midshipman, I
don't care so much about honour as you do; and therefore, if it makes no
difference to you, I'll take the liberty of getting under your lee." He
laughed, and said, "I did not know you were here, for I meant you should
have gone with the others; but, since you are out of your station, Mr
Mildmay, I will make that use of you which you so ingeniously proposed
to make of me. My life may be of some importance here; but yours very
little, and another midshipman can be had from the ship only for asking:
so just drop astern, if you please, and do duty as a breastwork for me!"
"Certainly, sir," said I, "by all means;" and I took my station
accordingly.
"Now," said the captain, "if you are `_doubled up_,' I will take you on
my shoulders!"
I expressed myself exceedingly obliged, not only for the honour he had
conferred on me, but also for that which he intended; but hoped I should
have no occasion to trouble him. Whether the enemy took pity on my
youth and _innocence_, or whether they purposely missed us, I cannot
say: I only know I was very happy when I found myself inside the castle
with a whole skin, and should very readily have reconciled myself to any
measure which would have restored me even to the comforts and
conveniencies of a man-of-war's cockpit. All human enjoyment is
comparative, and nothing ever convinced me of it so much and so forcibly
as what took place at this memorable siege: Fortune, and the well-known
cowardice of the Spaniards, released me from this jeopardy; they
surrendered the citadel, after which the castle was of no use, and we
ran down to our boats as fast as we could; and notwithstanding the very
assiduous fire of the watchful _tirailleurs_ on the hill, we all got on
board without accident.
There was one very singular feature in this affair. The Swiss
mercenaries in the French and Spanish services, opposed to each other,
behaved with the greatest bravery, and did their duty with unexceeded
fidelity; but being posted so near, and coming so often in contact with
each other, they would cry truce for a quarter of an hour, while they
made inquiries after their mutual friends; often recognising each other
as fathers and sons, brothers and near relatives, fighting on opposite
sides. They would laugh and joke with each other, declare the truce at
an end, then load their muskets, and take aim, with the same
indifference, as regarded the object, as if they had been perfect
strangers; but, as I before observed, fighting is a trade.
From Rosas we proceeded to join the admiral off Toulon; and being
informed that a battery of six brass guns, in the port of Silva, would
be in possession of the French in a few hours, we ran in, and anchored
within pistol-shot of it. We lashed blocks to our lower mast-heads,
rove hawsers through them, sent the ends on shore, made them fast to the
guns, and hove off three of them, one after another, by the capstan; and
had the end of the hawser on shore, ready for the others, when our
marine videttes were surprised by the French, driven in, and retreated
to the beach, with the loss of one man taken prisoner.
Not having sufficient force on shore to resist them, we re-embarked our
party, and the French, taking up a position behind the rocks, commenced
a heavy fire of musketry upon us. We answered it with the same; and now
and then gave them a great gun; but they had the advantage of position,
and wounded ten or eleven of our men from their elevated stations behind
the rocks. At sunset this ceased, when a boat came off from the shore,
pulled by one Spaniard; he brought a letter for the captain, from the
officer commanding the French detachment. It presented the French
captain's compliments to ours; regretted the little interruption he had
given to our occupation; remarked that the weather was cold, and as he
had been ordered off in a hurry, he had not had time to provide himself;
and as there was always a proper feeling among _braves gens_, requested
a few gallons of rum for himself and followers.
This request was answered with a _polite note_, and the spirits
required. The British captain hoped the commandant and his party would
make themselves comfortable, and have a _bon repos_. The captain,
however, intended the Frenchman should pay for the spirits, though not
in money, and sent in the bill about one o'clock in the morning.
All at that hour was as still as death; the French guard had refreshed
themselves, and were enjoying the full extent of our captain's
benefaction, when he observed to us that it was a pity to lose the boat
which was left on shore, as well as the other brass guns, and proposed
making the attempt to bring off both. Five or six of us stripped, and
lowering ourselves into the water very gently, swam ashore, in a
breathless kind of silence that would have done honour to a Pawnee Loup
Indian. The water was very cold, and at first almost took away my
respiration. We landed under the battery, and having first secured our
boat without noise, we crept softly up to where the end of the hawsers
lay by the side of the guns, to which we instantly made them fast.
About a dozen French soldiers were lying near, keeping watch, fast
asleep.
We might easily have killed them all; but as we considered they were
under the influence of our rum, we abhorred such a violation of
hospitality. We helped ourselves, however, to most of the muskets that
were near us, and very quietly getting into the boat, put off and rowed
with two oars to the ship. The noise of the oars woke some of the
soldiers, who, jumping up, fired at us with all the arms they had left;
and I believe soon got a reinforcement, for they fired both quick and
well; and, as it was starlight and we were naked, our bodies were easily
seen, so that the shot came very thick about us.
"Diving," said I, "is not running away;" so over we all went, except
two. I was down like a porpoise, never rising till my head touched the
ship's copper. I swam round the stern, and was taken in on the side
opposite the enemy. My captain, I daresay, would have disdained such a
compromise; but though I was as proud as he was, I always thought, with
Falstaff, that "discretion was the better part of valour," especially in
a midshipman.
The men left in the boat got safe on board with her. The hands were all
ready, and the moment our oars splashed in the water they hove round
cheerfully, and the guns came galloping down the rocks like young
kangaroos. They were soon under water, and long before the Frenchmen
could get a cut at the hawsers. They then fired at them with their
muskets, in hopes of stranding the rope, but they failed in that also.
We secured the guns on board, and, before daylight, got under weigh, and
made sail for the fleet, which we joined shortly afterwards. I here
learned that my own ship had fought a gallant action with an enemy's
frigate, had taken her opponent, but had suffered so much, that she was
ordered home for repairs, and had sailed for England from Gibraltar.
I had letters of introduction to the rear-admiral, who was second in
command; and I thought, under these circumstances the best thing I could
do would be to "clean myself," as the phrase used to be in those days,
and go on board and present them. I went accordingly, and saw the
flag-captain, who took my letters in to the admiral, and brought out a
verbal, and not a very civil message, saying, I might join the ship, if
I pleased, until my own returned to the station. As it happened to suit
my convenience, I did please; and the manner in which the favour was
conferred disburdened my mind of any incumbrance of gratitude. The
reception was not such as I might have expected: had the letters not
been from people of distinction, and friends of the rear-admiral, I
should much have preferred remaining in the frigate, whose captain also
wished it, but that was not allowed.
To the flag-ship, therefore, I came, and why I was brought here, I never
could discover, unless it was for the purpose of completing a menagerie,
for I found between sixty and seventy midshipmen already assembled.
They were mostly youngsters, followers of the rear-admiral, and had seen
very little, if any, service, and I had seen a great deal for the time I
had been afloat. Listening eagerly to my "yarns," the youthful ardour
of these striplings kindled, and they longed to emulate my deeds. The
consequence was, numerous applications from the midshipmen to be allowed
to join the frigates on the station; not one was contented in the
flag-ship; and the captain having discovered that I was the tarantula
which had bitten them, hated me accordingly, and not a jot more than I
hated him.
The captain was a very large, ill-made, broad-shouldered man, with a
lack-lustre eye, a pair of thick lips, and a very unmeaning countenance.
He wore a large pair of epaulettes; he was irritable in his temper; and
when roused, which was frequent, was always violent and overbearing.
His voice was like thunder and when he launched out on the poor
midshipmen, they reminded me of the trembling bird which, when
fascinated by the eye of the snake, loses its powers, and falls at once
into the jaws of the monster. When much excited, he had a custom of
shaking his shoulders up and down; and his epaulettes, on these
occasions, flapped like the huge ears of a trotting elephant. At the
most distant view of his person or sound of his voice, every midshipman,
not obliged to remain, fled, like the land-crabs on a West-India beach.
He was incessantly taunting me, was sure to find some fault or other
with me, and sneeringly called me "one of your frigate midshipmen."
Irritated by this unjust treatment, I one day answered that I _was_ a
frigate midshipman, and hoped I could do my duty as well as any
line-of-battle midshipman, of my own standing, in the service. For this
injudicious and rather impertinent remark, I was ordered aft on the
quarter-deck, and the captain went in to the admiral, and asked
permission to flog me; but the admiral refused, observing, that he did
not admire the system of flogging young gentlemen: and, moreover, in the
present instance he saw no reason for it. So I escaped; but I led a sad
life of it, and often did I pray for the return of my own ship.
Among other exercises of the fleet, we used always to reef topsails at
sunset, and this was usually done by all the ships at the same moment,--
waiting the signal from the admiral to begin; in this exercise there was
much foolish rivalry, and very serious accidents, as well as numerous
punishments, took place, in consequence of one ship trying to excel
another. On these occasions our captain would bellow and foam at the
mouth, like a mad bull, up and down the quarter-deck. One fine evening
the signal was made, the topsails lowered, and the men laying out on the
yards, when a poor fellow from the main-topsail-yard fell, in his trying
to lay out; and, striking his shoulder against the main channels, broke
his arm. I saw he was disabled, and could not swim: and, perceiving him
sinking, I darted overboard, and held him until a boat came and picked
him up; as the water was smooth and there was little wind, and the ship
not going more than two miles an hour, I incurred little risk.
When I came on deck I found the captain fit for Bedlam, because the
accident had delayed the topsails going to the mast-head quite as quick
as the rest of the fleet. He threatened to flog the man for falling
overboard, and ordered me off the quarter-deck. This was a great
injustice to both of us. Of all the characters I ever met with, holding
so high a rank in the service, this man was the most unpleasant.
Shortly after, we were ordered to Minorca to refit; here, to my great
joy, I found my own ship, and I "shook the dust off my feet," and
quitted the flag with a light heart. During the time I had been on
board, the admiral had never said, "How do ye do?" to me--nor did he
say, "Good bye," when I quitted. Indeed, I should have left the ship
without ever having been honoured with his notice, if it had not
happened that a favourite pointer of his was a shipmate of mine. I
recollect hearing of a man who boasted that the king had spoken to him;
and when it was asked what he had said, replied, "He desired me to get
out of his way."
My intercourse with the admiral was about as friendly and flattering.
Pompey and I were on the poop. I presented him with a piece of hide to
gnaw, by way of pastime. The admiral came on the poop, and seeing
Pompey thus employed, asked who gave him that piece of hide? The yeoman
of the signals said it was me. The admiral shook his long spy-glass at
me, and said, "By God, sir, if ever you give Pompey a bit of hide again,
I will flog you."
This is all I have to say of the admiral, and all the admiral ever said
to me.