The smaller of the two craft, having hauled close to the wind, upon the
same tack as ourselves, and about two miles dead to windward of us, now
hoisted French colours, and fired a gun of defiance, the shot from
which, however, fell a long way short of us. We did not attempt to
reply to this challenge, for although our long 24-pounders would
probably have reached the other ship, the skipper considered the
distance too great for our fire to be effective, while the motion of the
frigate was so violent that the chances were against our being able to
make a hit at all, and Captain Vavassour was noted for the strength of
his objection to the wasteful firing away of ammunition. For the
moment, therefore, he contented himself with testing the respective
speed and weatherliness of the two ships.
We very soon discovered that, so far as these two qualities were
concerned, we had caught a Tartar; for although within the first ten
minutes of the test it became apparent that we were head-reaching upon
the craft to windward, our advantage was so slight that we could
scarcely hope to get within effective range of her in less than two
hours at least, while during the whole of that time the bigger of the
two strangers would be proceeding in the opposite direction at such a
rate as would render her ultimate escape a practical certainty.
The skipper looked long and anxiously, first at one craft, then at the
other, and finally at the barometer; then he rejoined the first
lieutenant, who was giving his attention almost exclusively to the chase
to windward.
"This won't do at all, Mr Adair," he said. "That fellow is going
through the water almost as fast as we are, and is holding as good a
luff. At this rate we shall not get to grips with him before dark,
which will probably mean losing the big fellow, if not both of them. I
see that the barometer is inclined to rise; we will, therefore, shake
the reef out of the topsails, and set the fore and main-topgallant
sails. If it becomes a question of `carrying-on,' I think we ought to
have the best of it by a long way."
"Ay, I'm no sayin' ye may no be richt, sir," answered the first
lieutenant; "but it'll be an unco strain upon the spars to set thae
to'gallants'ls; our new rigging has stretched until it's all hangin' in
bights, as ye may see for yoursel' by lookin' at it. Still, it may be
worth the tryin': but will ye no see what we can do under whole topsails
before settin' the to'gallants'ls?"
"I think not," said the skipper. "We have not the time to spare for
tentative measures; and although, as you truly say, the rigging has
badly stretched, I think it has scarcely stretched sufficiently
seriously to imperil the spars. We shall sail all the better for a
little spring and whip in the masts, unless I am greatly mistaken;
therefore have the goodness to make sail at once, sir, if you please."
In the face of so decided an opinion as this there was of course nothing
further to be said, and five minutes later the _Europa_ was leaping and
plunging madly through the short, choppy Channel seas, with her topmasts
and topgallant-masts whipping like fishing rods under the strain of the
increased canvas, while the whole of her fore-deck was deluged with the
spray that came in over the weather cathead, in cataracts that leapt
almost as high as the foreyard. The chase lost not a moment in
following our example, and setting the same canvas as ourselves; but
scarcely ten minutes had elapsed before the correctness of the Captain's
judgment became manifest, for within that brief space of time it was
seen that we were fast head-reaching and weathering upon the Frenchman,
who was evidently overpowered by his too heavy press of canvas.
A quarter-of-an-hour later Captain Vavassour gave the order to tack; and
while the frigate was in stays, plunging bows under, and quivering to
her keel with the furious slatting of her canvas as she swept up into
the wind, we had the satisfaction of seeing the Frenchman's
mizen-topmast go over the side.
"Now we have him!" ejaculated the Captain, in a tone of exultation.
"With his mizen-topsail gone he will no longer be able to maintain so
close a luff as ourselves, and within half-an-hour we shall be able to
do as we please with him."
That the stranger was strong-handed, and that she carried a thoroughly
well-disciplined crew was evident; for by the time that we had paid off
on the other tack and had swung our foreyard, her mizen rigging was full
of men busy upon the task of clearing away the wreck of the topmast,
while others were equally busy in clewing-up and furling the
fore-topgallantsail and hauling down and stowing her flying-jib, to
enable her to maintain as good a luff as possible. But desperate as
were their efforts they could do nothing with us now, at least upon a
wind; therefore when we next tacked--which was the moment that we were
fairly in her wake--she suddenly put up her helm, squared away dead
before the wind, and proceeded to set studdingsails on both sides.
The Captain rubbed his hands and chuckled with delight as he saw this.
"Up helm and after her, Mr Adair," he exclaimed. "It is the very thing
I could have wished for; she must be a veritable witch at sailing, if
she can beat us before the wind. But we will set our port studdingsails
only, to start with, if you please; for if, as I expect, we have the
heels of her, I will haul up a point or two and endeavour to close with
her to point-blank range."
Another three minutes saw us both sweeping away to leeward like meteors,
the chase about a mile distant, broad on our port beam, with
studdingsails set on both sides, from her royals down; while we, with
studdingsails set to port only, were edging rapidly in upon her, while
fully holding our own with her in other respects. And, oh, what a
relief it was to feel the long, easy, floating motion and the level keel
of a ship running before wind and sea, in exchange for the short, savage
digging into a head sea, with its accompaniments of drenching showers of
spray, sickening lee lurches, and a whole gale of wind buffeting one in
the face and doing its utmost to drive one's teeth down one's throat.
The Captain's expectations relative to the frigate's behaviour on the
new point of sailing were quickly verified; so quickly, indeed, that
within a quarter of an hour we found ourselves within easy range of the
chase--a fact which was brought home to us by a shot from her passing
within a foot of our hammock rail and whizzing between our fore and
mainmast.
"Now, Mr Adair," said the skipper, "you may see what you can do with
her. Let the captains of the guns try their hands upon her
individually, doing their best to cut up her spars and rigging. We want
to capture, not to sink her; she is far too fine a ship to be sent to
the bottom, therefore spare her hull as much as possible."
The first lieutenant went down on the main-deck and personally repeated
the Captain's instructions; and before he returned to the quarter-deck
the first of our long 24-pounders spoke its message, the shot passing
through the stranger's foresail and narrowly missing the mast. Then our
8-pounders got to work, and very soon we saw loose ropes'-ends streaming
out on board her, showing that our fire had not been wholly in vain,
although, so far, no damage worth speaking of had been done. Nor were
the Frenchmen idle; on the contrary, they fired about four guns to every
one of ours, but after that first shot of theirs they appeared to have
become flurried and excited, and their aim correspondingly wild; at all
events, although some of their shot came near us, while one or two
actually flew over us, not one of them came near enough to do us a
ropeyarn's worth of damage.
With our own men it was very different; the more often they fired the
cooler did they seem to become; and it was amusing to see the eagerness
with which, after firing, they watched the effect of each shot, with the
evident purpose of correcting their aim next time. The result of this
caution on their part soon became apparent, for we had scarcely fired a
dozen shots when we saw the stranger's fore-topmast go swooping over
the bows; and the next minute she broached-to, losing her
main-topgallant-mast and snapping every one of her studdingsail booms in
the process.
"Cease firing!" shouted the skipper. "In studdingsails, Mr Adair; clew
up and furl your royals and topgallantsails; in flying-jib; and then
haul your wind, if you please. The fellow will surely not hold out any
longer."
He did, though, pluckily maintaining a fire upon us with two guns run
out through his stern ports--evidently hoping to disable us, while his
crew worked like demons in their efforts to clear away the wreckage; and
it was not until we ranged up on his weather quarter, within
biscuit-toss, and threatened him with the whole of our starboard
broadside, that he hauled down his colours and surrendered.
The heavy sea that was now running rendered the task of taking
possession of the prize exceedingly difficult; nevertheless, by the
exercise of the utmost skill and care, the first and second cutters,
under the command of Mr Howard, our second lieutenant, and O'Brien, one
of the midshipmen, at length managed to get alongside and put a
prize-crew of thirty-two men on board her. The boats quickly returned
to the ship with the intelligence that the prize was the twenty-six-gun
privateer _Belle Marie_ of Saint Malo, carrying a total crew of two
hundred and thirty men, of whom eighty-seven were at the moment away in
prizes, forty of them being on board the British East Indiaman
_Masulipatam_--the ship which had by this time passed out of sight in
the southern board. The weather conditions being unfavourable for the
transfer of the Frenchmen from the prize to the frigate, without the
loss of a great deal of valuable time, Captain Vavassour hailed Mr
Howard, instructing him to confine the prisoners below, and then, with
the aid of the carpenter's crew which we were about to send him, to
repair damages as well as he could, and make the best of his way to
Portsmouth. It was almost dark by the time that all the necessary
arrangements were completed and the boats once more hoisted in, when we
wore round and shaped a course which we hoped would enable us to
intercept and recapture the Indiaman before she could reach Saint Malo.
This course brought the wind about three points abaft the starboard
beam; it was consequently a leading wind, therefore, the business being
pressing, we not only showed all plain sail, to our topgallantsails, but
also set topmast and lower studdingsails to windward, the yards being
braced slightly forward. This was a heavy press of canvas to pile upon
the ship, with the wind where it was, and so heavy a sea running, but
the Captain evidently considered--as, indeed, did we all--that the
circumstances justified a certain measure of recklessness, for we had
all observed that the _Masulipatam_ was, at all events when going free,
almost as fast a ship as the _Belle Marie_; and haste was necessary if
we would overtake her before she reached her port.
By four bells in the first watch the wind had moderated sufficiently to
permit of our setting all three royals, as well as the weather
topgallant studdingsails; and half-an-hour later we sighted the craft of
which we were in pursuit about four points on our starboard-bow. She
was then about twelve miles distant, and only just distinguishable with
the aid of our best night glasses; and the fact that we were still so
far astern of her seemed to render it exceedingly doubtful whether she
would not, after all, make good her escape. The fear that she would do
so was still further strengthened when at midnight we made Cape Frehel
light, with the chase still leading by a full eight miles; the only
chance in our favour being that, as the bearing of the light proved, the
Indiaman was some three miles to windward of her course, and would have
to bear away for it, while we were heading for Saint Malo as straight as
we could go. As the night passed on, however, our hopes rose somewhat,
for the weather cleared, while the wind softened down; and with the
softening of the wind it became apparent that we were gaining more
rapidly.
As the time wore on so did the chase grow increasingly exciting, our
hopes every moment strengthening, until at length, by three bells in the
middle watch, they had merged into a conviction that nothing short of a
miracle could save the Indiaman from recapture. Some such conviction
must also have forced itself upon the mind of the officer in charge of
her, for just after four bells had been struck we saw him suddenly take
in his studdingsails and haul his wind, having apparently decided that
he must inevitably be taken if he persisted in his endeavour to get into
Saint Malo. By the direction in which he was now steering it seemed
probable that he had determined to seek shelter in one of the
indentations to the westward of Frehel, many of which were at that time
defended by earthwork batteries for the protection of the French
coasting craft from our cruisers and privateers.
This move on the part of the Indiaman's prizemaster proved the man to be
possessed of both sagacity and foresight, for it threw us at once some
four miles to leeward of him and compelled us forthwith to take in our
studdingsails and brace sharp up in order to follow him, while he was
now so close to the land that there was every prospect of his being able
to get in and anchor under the shelter of a battery before we could
overtake him. And that, in the end, was precisely what occurred; for
when at length we weathered Cape Frehel we were just in time to see him
entering Pleher Bay, where he presently rounded-to, clewed up his
canvas, and let go his anchor.
Naturally, Captain Vavassour was not the sort of man to see a possible
rich prize riding at anchor in the enemy's waters without making a
determined attempt to secure possession of her; we therefore stood
boldly in after the Indiaman until we arrived within half a mile of the
entrance of the bay--at that point about two miles across--when two
batteries of six guns each, built upon opposite headlands forming the
entrance to the bay, opened fire upon us, and with such effect that
within five minutes we had been hulled seven times, and had lost two men
killed and five wounded. This afforded the skipper all the information
that he just then required, namely, the fact that batteries existed, and
also the exact position and strength of them--it now appearing that they
were armed with 32-pounders. We therefore hove about and got out of
range again as quickly as possible; for, as the Captain said, it was no
good returning the fire of earthwork batteries; we might have plumped
into them every shot we had on board without doing them a
farthing's-worth of damage, while, had we attempted to force a passage
into the bay with the frigate, they might easily have sunk us.
But the fun was not yet over; as a matter of fact it had really not
begun--the affair of the batteries was merely the overture of the little
drama which was taking shape in the skipper's brain. We stretched off
the land until we were about three miles distant from the mouth of the
bay, and then the ship was hove-to and preparation was made for the
dispatch of a cutting-out expedition; that is to say, an attack upon the
Indiaman by the frigate's boats, with the object of overpowering her
prize-crew, cutting her cables, and bringing her out of the harbour.
The launch, yawl, and the two cutters were the boats told off by the
Captain for this service, and as soon as the frigate was hove-to the
fighting crews of these boats--consisting of the very pick of the ship's
crew--were piped away, the boats hoisted out, and the preparation of the
craft for the service which they were about to undertake proceeded with.
Each of the boats named possessed, as part of her fighting equipment, a
gun mounted in the bows upon fore-and-aft slides, those belonging to the
launch and yawl being 18-pounder carronades, while the first and second
cutters each mounted a 12-pounder. As soon as the boats were in the
water they were taken charge of temporarily by their respective
coxswains--the best four men in the ship--who at once proceeded to
supervise the shipping and mounting of the guns, each coxswain assuring
himself, by personal inspection, that this important piece of work was
properly executed. The amount of shot likely to be required was next
passed down into the boats and carefully stowed upon the bottom-boards,
every precaution being taken to provide against it breaking adrift with
the rolling and pitching of the boats. The chests containing cartridges
for the guns and ammunition for the small-arms were next passed in and
stowed, and finally a couple of beakers of water were placed in each
boat, together with a small quantity of spirits for use, if necessary,
in reviving the wounded. This completed the preparation of the boats
for the projected expedition, and was done by the ordinary crews of the
boats, the fighting crews meanwhile busying themselves in examining the
flints of their pistols, fitting new ones where necessary, loading the
pistols and sharpening their cutlasses.
At length the coxswains reported the boats ready, whereupon the officers
told off to command them went down the side and carefully inspected
them, satisfying themselves that nothing had been forgotten. Then the
members of the expedition were mustered on the quarter-deck and
inspected by the first lieutenant, who examined each man's weapons and
equipment before passing him for service. The officers appointed to
proceed upon the expedition were Mr Adair, the first lieutenant, in
charge of the launch and in supreme command of the entire expedition;
Mr Trimble, the master, in charge of the yawl; Mr Purvis, the gunner,
in the first cutter; and Mr O'Donnel, the boatswain, in the second. In
addition to these there also went Mr Burroughs, the assistant surgeon,
and myself in the launch, and a midshipman in each of the other boats.
As I anticipated the possibility of hot work before all was done, I took
the precaution to discard my dirk and to provide myself, in place
thereof, with a ship's cutlass and a pair of loaded pistols.
The inspection at length satisfactorily ended, the first lieutenant
reported to the Captain that all was ready; the Captain--who had already
arranged his plans with the officers commanding--gave the word to man
boats and shove off, and in another couple of minutes we had started,
and the frigate had filled away and was heading to seaward.
Not so the boats. The Captain and Mr Adair, discussing together the
plan of operations, had come to the conclusion that it would not be of
the slightest use to attempt to bring out the Indiaman in the face of
those two batteries which had already given us so convincing a taste of
their quality; it had therefore been arranged that, upon shoving off,
the boats should be formed into two divisions for the purpose of
attacking the batteries and spiking the guns. This, accordingly, was
now done, the launch and first cutter forming the starboard division,
destined to attack the battery on the western headland, while the yawl
and the second cutter, led by the master, constituted the port division,
the mission of which was to silence effectively the battery on the
eastern headland of the harbour. The first lieutenant and the master
made a few brief final arrangements, and then the divisions separated,
each steering for its own proper headland, the senior officer leading
and the other following close behind, so as to show as inconspicuously
as might be on the dark surface of the water, and thus, if luck favoured
us, take the Frenchmen unawares.
Meanwhile, the night was passing rapidly away; for we had scarcely got
clear of the frigate when seven bells of the middle watch was struck,
and, it being then the middle of August, we might expect daylight very
shortly, when a surprise would at once become an impossibility; the word
was therefore passed for the oarsmen to give way at top speed, and away
we all went, as if for a wager, the two divisions heading respectively
south-west and south-east, in the hope that we might get close enough in
with the land to escape detection, and even possibly to land, before the
coming dawn betrayed us.
Now, although we were travelling at racing pace, our progress was
practically noiseless, the only sounds being the dip of oars in the
water and the lap and gurgle of the water about the boats' bows, Captain
Vavassour having already had the oars of these boats fitted to work in
rope grummets shipping over a single stout pin, instead of in the usual
rowlocks, and since much care had been used to render the grummets
tight-fitting, while the leathers had been well greased, there was none
of the usual rattle of oars in rowlocks,--a sound which in quiet weather
may often be heard at an almost incredible distance,--nor, thanks to the
greasing of the leathers, was there any creaking or grinding of the oars
against the pins; and of course no conversation was permitted beyond an
occasional whispered order to the coxswain.
In this fashion, then, we pulled shoreward, the distance to be traversed
being about three miles; and when at length the dawn broke and there was
light enough to enable us to see where we were, we--the starboard
division--found ourselves about a quarter of a mile distant from the
beach, with both batteries shut out from our view by a slightly
projecting bluff; and, thus far, nothing had occurred to lead us to
suppose that we had been either heard or seen. As for the frigate, she
had disappeared, probably behind Cape Frehel; there was nothing,
therefore, so far as we could see, to put the French on the alert, or to
alarm them in any way. We, therefore, now headed the boats straight in
for the beach, catching a momentary glimpse as we did so of the other
division, apparently doing the same thing.
The beach for which we were heading was composed of firm red sand,
sloping rather steeply down into the water, and the sea was smooth; we,
therefore, rushed them in until they were high and dry for nearly a
quarter of their length, the men leapt out over the bows on to the dry
sand, and then, with two boat-keepers in each boat to look after them,
they were shoved off again, with orders to keep afloat, and, if
threatened, to pull off to a safe distance and await our return.
Our little party, officers included, mustered forty-one men, the second
division consisting of three less; and no sooner were we all landed than
Mr Adair led us right up to the foot of the low cliffs that bordered
the beach, so that it was impossible for any one to detect our presence
unless by standing on the very verge of the cliff and looking directly
down upon us.
The next thing to be done was to reconnoitre the battery that we
intended to attack, and ascertain the easiest way to get inside it.
This duty was confided to me, I being the youngest and, presumably, the
most active of the party, while--as I afterwards learned--the Captain
had assured Mr Adair that both my courage and my discretion might be
relied upon.
"Ye clearly understan', noo, Maister Delamere, precisely what ye hae to
dae?" observed the first luff, when concluding his instructions to me.
"Oor business is tae tak' yon wee bit battery, and to spike the guns.
But we're to dae't wi'oot loss o' life on oor ain part, if possible;
ye'll therefore approach the place cannily and get as close up to it as
maybe wi'oot bein' discovert; and, that done, ye'll be pleased tae keek
roun' and ascertain if there's ony way o' gettin' intil it wi'oot haein'
to stor-r-m it. If we can creep up and tak' the gairrison by surprise,
sae muckle the better. Noo, gang awa' wi' ye, laddie; tak' care o'
yersel! and get back as soon as ye can, no forgettin' that if ye fin'
yoursel' in trouble, ye're to fire a pistol, and we'll come to your
help."
I touched my hat and, turning upon my heel, proceeded forthwith to
scramble up the steep face of the cliff, helping myself up by driving my
drawn cutlass deep into the stiff clay soil of which the cliff was
composed. Reaching the top without much difficulty, I found myself upon
somewhat uneven ground, the surface of which sloped slightly down toward
the land. The soil was clothed with short, thick grass and closely
overgrown with dense clumps of furze bushes, which I at once perceived
would afford excellent cover for the approach of our men. Somewhat to
my discomfiture, however, I saw a flock of sheep grazing at no great
distance inland, while about a mile away to the south-west was a small
village, in the single street of which I could perceive people already
moving about. Clearly, we had no time to lose if we wished to take our
friends the enemy by surprise; availing myself, therefore, to the utmost
extent of the cover of the furze bushes, I set off in the direction of
the battery, which I presently sighted about half a mile away. Stooping
low as I ran from bush to bush, and peering cautiously round each before
venturing to start for the next, I soon found myself within about thirty
yards of the battery, which I saw to be a crescent-shaped affair, facing
eastward and thus in conjunction with the battery on the opposite point,
completely commanding the entrance of the bay. It was in reality a
brick-work structure, consisting of four chambers with arched roofs
supporting a gun platform protected by a parapet pierced with
embrasures, the brick-work in its turn being protected by an earth-bank
thrown up in front of it in the form of a glacis. It mounted six
64-pounders; and the chambers beneath the gun platform I took to be the
magazine, general store-room, and soldiers' quarters. The gun platform
was approached at either end by a good wide flight of steps; and beside
each gun was a goodly pile of shot, while sponges, rammers, handspikes,
and the rest of the paraphernalia for loading and training the guns
reposed in brackets fixed to the inner face of the parapet. Two
sentries were stationed upon the gun platform, pacing to and fro, and
evidently keeping a sharp lookout to seaward, and a number of
artillerymen were performing their morning ablutions, brushing their
clothes, etcetera, in the paved space before the chambers. Strangely
enough, the back of the battery was left perfectly open and unprotected
by either wall or fence; there was therefore absolutely nothing to
prevent its being rushed from the land side. I counted the men in sight
to the number of thirty-three, but concluded that there must be others
somewhere inside the chambers; and then, having acquired all the
information possible under the circumstances, made the best of my way
back to where Mr Adair and the rest of our party impatiently awaited
me.