In as few words as possible I reported to the first lieutenant the
extent of my discoveries, and, in return, received his tersely-expressed
commendation of my efforts; after which he briefly addressed his
followers, explaining to them the importance of making the attack as
complete a surprise as possible, and pointing out the necessity for
availing ourselves to the utmost possible extent of the cover afforded
us by the gorse bushes while approaching the battery. Then, having told
off six of the men for the especial duty of spiking the guns--one man to
each gun--he directed me to lead the way, stationing himself alongside
me.
Three minutes later the entire party were on top of the cliffs, where we
paused for a moment to reconnoitre the ground afresh, and get our breath
after the exertion of climbing; then we moved slowly and cautiously
forward again, allowing plenty of time for each man to creep across the
open spaces from one patch of cover to the next, until in the course of
some twenty-five minutes all hands of us were lying down behind a large
clump of bushes, some twenty yards from the battery, which I had
previously fixed upon as a convenient point from which to start our
final rush. Here another brief pause was made, which Mr Adair,
kneeling behind a bush, utilised to count heads and make sure that all
hands had come up; when, having satisfied himself upon this point, he
drew his sword, flourished it over his head as a signal, and, springing
to his feet, led us all at top speed in a charge upon the unprotected
rear of the battery.
The wild cheer of our lads as they broke cover and rushed across the
narrow open space which still separated them from the battery was
evidently the first intimation to the garrison that anything was wrong,
for our sudden appearance seemed to take them absolutely by surprise,
with the result that something very like a panic ensued among them. A
few, after staring at us agape and motionless for a second or two, as
though unable to comprehend what we were after, came to life and took to
their heels, attempting to bolt out of the battery before we could reach
it. But our lads quickly stopped them by spreading out in front of them
and driving them back at the point of the cutlass; others, seeing the
impossibility of retreat in that direction, dashed into one of the
chambers beneath the gun platform, slamming the door behind them,
regardless of the fact that they were shutting out many of their
comrades, and barricading themselves against attack, as we could hear by
the sounds proceeding from the inside; while, as for the two sentries on
the platform, they simply fired their muskets in the air, flung them
down, and vaulted over the parapet on to the glacis, thus making good
their escape. The six men charged with the duty of spiking the guns
dashed straightway up the steps leading to the gun platform, and at once
proceeded to the execution of their task, leaving their comrades below
to deal with the garrison; and in less than five minutes the battery was
in our possession, and the six guns effectually spiked. True, a few of
the artillerymen who had retreated to the interior of the structure
thrust muskets through the windows of the chamber and snapped them off
at us; but they speedily gave that up and surrendered at discretion upon
my approaching a broken window and shouting through it, by Mr Adair's
orders, the information that we were about to explode the magazine, and
that they had better come out if they did not wish to perish amid the
ruins.
When all hands upon both sides were mustered it was found that we had
gained possession of the battery without the least injury to either
side. The French officer was then directed to march his men--who were
of course disarmed--to the village which I had seen earlier in the
morning, and which we now learned was called Erquy; and as soon as they
were fairly out of the battery the magazine was broken open, the powder
barrels rolled together in the middle of the room, the heads knocked
out, and a train laid from barrel to barrel, while another party of our
men was busily engaged in bringing the six spiked guns together in a
cluster immediately over the magazine. A quarter-of-an-hour sufficed to
complete these preparations, when one end of a long fuse was buried in
one of the barrels of powder, the remainder of the fuse being carried as
far as it would go across the paved yard. The men then fell in and,
under my command, marched out of the yard and took the way along the
cliffs toward the boats, while Mr Adair and the gunner remained behind
to fire the fuse and ensure the destruction of the battery. We had been
gone about ten minutes, and had almost reached the spot where we were to
make our descent to the beach, when the earth shook and jarred violently
beneath our feet, a dull, heavy _boom_ burst upon the morning silence, a
fierce gust of wind suddenly swept over us, and, looking back, we saw an
enormous dim-coloured cloud, heavily charged with hurtling debris,
dismounted cannon, and masses of shattered brick-work, hovering over the
spot where the battery had been. Two minutes later the first luff and
the gunner, breathless and panting, came running up to us, and we all
plunged down the cliff-face together. The boat-keepers, seeing us
coming, headed the boats in toward the beach; and within another five
minutes we were once more afloat and pulling quietly alongshore toward
the mouth of the bay, intently watching, meanwhile, for some indication
of the whereabouts of the other division. We had not long to wait, for
we had scarcely pulled a quarter of a mile when the battery on the other
headland blew up; and presently the yawl and second cutter came into
view from behind the point, pulling hard for the mouth of the bay.
There was, of course, no possibility of further secrecy in regard to our
movements, for the blowing-up of the two batteries would sufficiently
advertise the presence of an enemy in the neighbourhood, while the fact
of having been chased by the frigate during the preceding night would
give the Indiaman's prize-crew a tolerably accurate idea of where we
came from, and what were our ultimate intentions. We, therefore, made
no pretence of concealing ourselves, but--a nice little westerly breeze
having sprung up with the rising of the sun--boldly laid in our oars,
stepped the boats' masts, and hoisted the sails, by doing which we
reckoned upon getting over the ground at greater speed while conserving
the strength of our contingent for the attack upon the Indiaman. The
master and his party were unable to follow our lead in this respect, for
the wind which was fair for us was dead in their teeth; but, on the
other hand, we had about two miles more than they to cover. It thus
happened that the two divisions of boats arrived at the entrance
practically at the same instant, the port division leading only by just
barely time enough to step their masts and set their canvas for the run
into the bay before we joined them.
The Indiaman was anchored well inshore, about a mile and a half inside
the headlands; and as we reached along toward her under sail, with the
boats in line abreast, and about thirty fathoms apart, we saw that the
prize-crew were busily engaged in preparing to resist our attack, the
guns being all run out, while an attempt was being made to fix up a
boarding netting on the ship's starboard, or seaward, side. I had
brought my telescope along with me in the boat, believing that it might
possibly prove useful, and I now focussed it upon the Indiaman with the
object of getting some definite idea of the extent of the preparations
being made against us. I had no sooner done so than I made the
discovery that there was no netting triced up on the port or shoreward
side of the vessel, the Frenchmen apparently taking it for granted that
we should dash alongside on the side nearest to us. I immediately
reported this discovery to the first lieutenant, at the same time
mentioning my idea as to the explanation of the omission, whereupon,
having first satisfied himself as to the accuracy of my statement, he
hailed the other boats, ordering them all to board the ship on her port
side.
When we had arrived within about three-quarters of a mile of our quarry
she opened fire upon us with round and grape, first firing single guns,
and finally whole broadsides, whereupon we diverged well to port and
starboard, compelling her to train her guns so far fore and aft, that at
length only her two bow guns could be brought effectively to bear, and
although a few shot passed through our sails, while the first cutter's
mast was shot away, the boats themselves were untouched, and finally the
two divisions passed respectively athwart her bows and stern, and shot
up alongside her on her inshore side without a single casualty.
The launch hooked on under her bows, and the first cutter made fast to
her fore chains, while the yawl grappled her by the mizen chains, and
the second cutter by the main. She stood high out of the water, though
not so high but that one way or another we were all able to scramble
into her channels, from whence it was not difficult to make our way
inboard. The French must have felt very foolish when they found us
attacking them upon their unprotected side, yet they defended their
prize with the utmost gallantry, and for nearly ten minutes the fight
raged with great fury. But when once our lads had all contrived to
scale the ship's high bulwarks and establish themselves upon her decks
they would take no refusal; there was a tremendous popping of pistols
and muskets for the first minute or two, and a good deal of smoke
drifting hither and thither; then, with wild hurrahs, the Europas dashed
forward, cutlass in hand, cutting, slashing, and pointing; the air
resounded with cheers, oaths, execrations, and shrill screams of pain;
the decks grew slippery with blood, prostrate bodies tripped us up here
and there, and then, suddenly, the Frenchmen flung away their weapons
and dived below, leaving us the victors of the fight and in undisputed
possession of the ship.
To disarm those prisoners who had not already abandoned their weapons,
and to secure them in the forecastle, was the work of but a few minutes,
after which our boats were veered astern and secured by their painters;
the hands jumped aloft and loosed the canvas, then slid down to the deck
by way of the backstays to sheet home and hoist away; the cable was cut,
and a few minutes later the ship had canted and was standing out to
seaward under topsails, topgallantsails, jib, and spanker, while the
wounded were being separated from the dead and carefully tended by
Burroughs, the assistant surgeon, and a small party told off to help
him.
Then came the question of the "butcher's bill," upon going into which we
found that we had one man killed and five wounded--two of them rather
seriously; while the French casualties amounted to four killed and
eleven wounded--three of the latter so seriously that Burroughs
questioned whether they would outlast the day.
A few minutes after we had cleared the harbour the frigate appeared in
sight from behind Cape Frehel, and half-an-hour later our prize--the
H.E.I. Company's ship, _Masulipatam_, of 1196 tons register, with a full
cargo of Indian produce, homeward-bound from Bombay to London--was
hove-to under her lee quarter, while Mr Adair had gone on board to make
his report. Previous to this, however, I had gone below into the ship's
saloons, at the first luff's order, to see how the passengers fared, we
having gathered, from the crew of the _Belle Marie_, that they had been
left on board. I found them all, to the number of forty-three, men,
women, and children, including some half-dozen native nurses, securely
locked in their several cabins; and glad enough were they to be
released, and to learn that the ship was once more in British hands. It
appeared that they had been captured three days before in the Bay of
Biscay, and had been not too well treated by their captors, having been
robbed by them of all their money, jewellery, and other valuables, to
say nothing of other indignities to which they had been subjected. So
far, however, as their stolen property was concerned, I was able to
reassure them with the statement that Captain Vavassour would
undoubtedly take immediate steps to have it found and restored to them.
Having done which, and excused myself upon the plea of urgent business--
coupled with a suggestion that the ladies should remain below until the
more gruesome evidences of the recent conflict could be effaced--I
hurried away to the other end of the ship and effected the release of
her officers and crew, who at once ascended to the deck and assisted our
own lads to put matters to rights. Fortunately, there were no damages
to make good; within half-an-hour, therefore, of joining the frigate,
Captain Vavassour had made all his dispositions, placing the prize in
charge of Mr Galway, the third lieutenant, with a small prize-crew, in
addition to the vessel's own officers and crew; and we made sail in
company for Portsmouth, the skipper having decided to see our valuable
prize safe into a British port before losing sight of her. This we
happily accomplished, anchoring at Spithead shortly after ten o'clock in
the morning of the following day, without having sighted anything in the
shape of an enemy. We fell in, however, with the _Belle Marie_, off the
Needles, Mr Howard having contrived to get up and rig excellent jury
fore and mizen-topmasts during the passage; thus, by shortening sail
somewhat upon the frigate and the Indiaman, we were enabled to complete
the run to Spithead in company, the _Europa_ making a brave show as she
glided along to the anchorage, escorting her two valuable prizes, both
captured within one short week from the beginning of our cruise.
The moment that the anchors were down Captain Vavassour ordered his gig,
and went ashore to deliver his dispatches and make his report to the
admiral, and I went with him, in charge of the boat, taking with me a
letter which I had found time to write to my father, acquainting him
with the good fortune that had befallen us. I walked up from the
Sallyport to the admiral's office with the skipper, carrying his
dispatch-box for him, and leaving the boat in charge of the coxswain;
for although, under ordinary circumstances, such a proceeding would
probably have resulted in the loss of the whole boat's crew, the amount
of prize-money which we had made within the last two days completely
banished all thought of desertion in the minds of the men.
Of course the fame of our brilliant double exploit soon spread all over
the towns of Portsmouth and Gosport, and although men were at that
moment very hard to get, several of the ships in harbour being so
short-handed as to be unable to go to sea, it was no sooner made known
that we required a few more hands to complete our complement than we had
more offers than we had room for. We remained at Spithead only three
days, during which we replenished our stock of water, provisions, and
ammunition, and then we were once more dispatched by the admiral to our
former cruising-ground.
But during that brief interval one or two interesting changes had
occurred. In the first place the _Belle Marie_, having been surveyed,
was reported to be a practically new ship, perfectly sound, and in every
respect admirably adapted for service in the navy; she was therefore
purchased by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and ordered at
once into harbour to undergo such alterations as were deemed necessary,
and to refit. Next, Captain Vavassour had spoken so highly in his
dispatches of the admirable tact and ability displayed by Mr Adair in
his conduct of the expedition against the French batteries, and
afterward in the cutting-out of the Indiaman, that our first luff had at
once received his promotion and been appointed to the command of the
prize--renamed the _Sparta_. This of course created a vacancy on board
the _Europa_, which was filled by Mr Howard, who became our new first
luff, while Mr Galway also stepped up a ratline and became second. The
vacancy created by the promotion of Mr Galway was not filled, but we
had no doubt that it would ultimately fall to O'Brien, our senior mid,
who was within a month of having served his full time, and to whom an
acting order was given. These several changes were in the highest
degree satisfactory to all hands of us, for it obviated the necessity
for the introduction of strangers among us, while we felt that promotion
had gone to the right persons, namely, those who had actually earned it.
It is true that, short as our acquaintance with him had been, we were
all exceedingly sorry to lose Mr Adair, but our sorrow in this respect
was quite counterbalanced by our pleasure in the knowledge that he
thoroughly deserved his promotion, and that one more ship's company
would be made happy under the rule of a good captain. In this
connection I must not omit to mention that, thanks to the highly
favourable report that Mr Adair had made of my conduct in the matter of
reconnoitring the battery, and afterwards, Captain Vavassour had been
pleased to name me in his dispatches, much to the delight of my father,
as I subsequently learned.
We sailed again from Spithead on the fourth day after our arrival, and
nothing of importance occurred for quite a fortnight, during which we
were kicking about in the chops of the Channel, keeping a bright lookout
all the while for anything that might chance to come in our way, whether
in the shape of captured British merchantmen, privateers, French
merchantmen, or otherwise. But luck seemed to be against us, for we
sighted nothing but craft flying the British flag, and most of those
were men-o'-war. At length, however, the skipper grew disgusted, and
determined to see whether better fortune awaited us farther afield.
Accordingly, having sighted Ushant broad on the lee-bow, and some ten
miles distant, at eight o'clock on a certain morning, with the wind out
at about North-West, we stood on until we had brought the island well
over our lee quarter, when the helm was shifted, the ship kept away a
couple of points, a small pull taken upon the weather braces, and away
we went booming into the Bay of Biscay, heading toward Cape Finisterre.
We had experienced fresh breezes, but fine, clear weather, from the
moment when we had left the Isle of Wight astern; but on this particular
day, shortly after noon, the sky became overcast and gloomy, with a
thick, murky appearance to windward that portended a change for the
worse. This, however, did not greatly trouble us, for with Ushant out
of sight astern, the ship heading South-West by compass, and the wind
two points free, we had nothing to fear beyond such discomfort as was
inseparable from the heavy sea that was now fast getting up. As the day
wore on, however, the mercury began to drop rather rapidly; the
thickness to windward increased, and it began to rain; the wind
freshened steadily, a high, steep sea got up, and everything appeared to
threaten a particularly dirty and unpleasant night. By the end of the
first dog-watch the wind had increased to half a gale, the sea had drawn
abeam, and the ship was rolling her lee hammock-rails under. The
Captain, therefore, ordered the topgallantsails to be clewed up and
furled, the flying-jib to be stowed, and a couple of reefs to be taken
in the topsails; for, as he remarked, we were not bound anywhere in
particular, were in no hurry, and might as well snug the ship down for
the night while we had daylight enough left to see what we were doing.
The night closed down upon us early, and so dark that we could not see
as far as the length of the ship, there being no moon, while the light
of the stars was completely obscured by the dense canopy of storm-wrack
that overshadowed us, the only objects visible outside the bulwarks
being the faintly phosphorescent heads of the breaking seas as they
swept down menacingly upon us from to windward; the air was raw and
chill, although it was only the first week in September; the decks were
wet and sloppy with the driving rain and spray; and those of us who were
on watch looked thoroughly miserable as, encased from head to foot in
oilskins and sou'westers, we paced to and fro, availing ourselves to the
utmost of such shelter as was afforded by the bulwarks and the boats
stowed on the booms. By midnight the wind had further increased to such
an extent that sail was still further reduced, the courses being taken
off the ship, the jib stowed, and the mizen brailed in, leaving nothing
set but the three double-reefed topsails and the fore and main-topmast
staysails. Yet, unpleasant as was the weather, we had at least one
consolation: the ship behaved splendidly, sailing fast through the
water, and going along as dry as a bone, save for the spray that was
blown from the crests of the waves and came driving athwart our decks in
blinding and drenching showers.
When at length the day broke, it revealed the ship hove-to under
close-reefed fore and main topsails, and fore-topmast staysail, the
central object in the midst of a grey and desolate picture, the dreary
character of which it would be difficult to surpass. It was now blowing
a whole gale from the South-West, the wind having backed during the
night; the sky was an unbroken expanse of dark, slate-coloured cloud
athwart the face of which tattered shreds of dirty grey vapour rapidly
swept; the sea, of an opaque greyish-green tint, ran high and steep,
crested with great curling heads of pallid froth, flecked here and there
with fragments of seaweed, and our horizon was restricted to a circle of
little more than a mile in diameter by the driving mist and rain. It
was, in short, a thoroughly disagreeable day, and I was by no means
sorry that it was my forenoon watch below.
I had just finished breakfast when a cry of some sort from the deck
reached us in the midshipmen's berth; but the straining of the ship, the
howling of the wind through the rigging, and the constant crash and
gurgle of the water outside rendered it indistinguishable. We heard the
answering call of the officer of the watch--also indistinguishable--and
were beginning to arrive at the conclusion that the matter, whatever it
might be, did not concern us, when the shrilling of the boatswains'
pipes, followed by the hoarse bellow of "Hands, make sail!" caused a
general stampede for the deck, upon reaching which we learned that
during a momentary clearance of the atmosphere a brief glimpse had been
caught of a large ship, about a mile to leeward, steering north, under
topgallantsails, and that from her general appearance, brief though the
sight of her had been, she had been judged to be French. The officer of
the watch had, of course, as in duty bound, reported the matter to the
Captain, who was at the moment in his cabin, taking breakfast; and the
skipper, having heard Mr Galway's story, had promptly given the order
to bear up and make sail in chase.
The decks, which but a few minutes earlier had presented such a dreary,
deserted appearance, now became in a moment a scene of the most animated
bustle and activity. The Captain and first lieutenant--the latter with
a speaking-trumpet in his hand--were both on deck, the skipper on the
poop gazing eagerly into the thickness to leeward under the sharp of his
hand in search of the now invisible stranger; barefooted seamen sprang
nimbly hither and thither, some to the braces, some out on to the
jib-booms, and others into the rigging on their way aloft to loose the
furled canvas; the helm was put up, the fore yard swung, and the after
yards squared as the ship paid off; and in less than a minute the yards
were alive with men casting off gaskets, untying reef-points,
overhauling gear, and generally preparing to clothe the frigate with
canvas. By the time that she had paid square off before the wind all
was ready, the loosened canvas was bellying out as though impatient to
be doing its duty once more, loosened ropes were streaming in the gale,
the men had laid in off the yards, and the three topsails went soaring
away to the mastheads simultaneously; the fore and main tacks were
boarded and the sheets hauled aft; the topgallantsails were in like
manner all sheeted home and hoisted at the same instant, the two jibs
went sliding up their stays, slatting thunderously the while and
threatening to snap the booms, until their sheets were tautened, and
away flew the _Europa_, like a started fawn, leaping and plunging
through and over the mountainous seas, with a bow-wave roaring and
foaming to the height of her hawse-pipes, and with the wind broad over
her larboard quarter.
To any one unaccustomed to the sea the change thus wrought in the course
of a few short minutes would have seemed marvellous, almost miraculous,
indeed; for whereas while we were hove-to, head to wind and sea, the
plunging of the ship had been so furious that it was only with the
utmost difficulty even the most seasoned among us could maintain our
footing; while the howling and shrieking of the wind aloft, and the
savage force with which it struck us when the frigate rolled to
windward, irresistibly suggested the idea that we were in the grip of a
hurricane; now, when we were scudding away almost dead before it, the
gale seemed to have suddenly softened to the strength of no more than a
moderate breeze; there were no repetitions of those sickening lee
lurches as the ship was flung aloft on the steep breast of a
mountainous, swift-running sea, but, in place of it, a gentle,
rhythmical, pendulum-like swinging roll, and a long, easy, gliding rush
forward, with an acre of foam seething and hissing about our bows as
those same steep, mountainous seas caught us under the quarter and
hurled us headlong forward with our bow-wave roaring and boiling ahead
of us, glass-smooth, and clear as crystal.
There were but two drawbacks to our satisfaction, one of which was that
the weather still remained so exasperatingly thick that we had not been
able to get a further glimpse of the strange ship, while the other was
that we only knew our position very approximately, and that by dead
reckoning only. This last would have given us no concern at all had we
been heading to the southward, for in that direction there was plenty of
sea room; but we had now turned round and were rushing back northward--
north-north-east by compass, to be exact; and we knew that somewhere
ahead of us--whether on the port or the starboard-bow we were not at all
certain--were the terrible Penmarks; and, beyond them, the jutting
Pointe du Raz, Douarnenez Bay, Pointe de Saint Mathieu, and the dangers
that lurk between Ushant and the mainland, all bad enough in themselves,
but with an added terror due to the furious currents that swirl round
that part of the coast, and of the direction of which one can never be
quite certain.
That some such thoughts as these were disturbing the skipper's
equanimity soon became apparent, for after pacing the deck thoughtfully
for some time he suddenly looked up, and seeing me standing half-way up
the poop-ladder, straining my eyes into the thickness ahead in a vain
endeavour to get a glimpse of the chase, he called me to him.
"Is it your watch, Mr Delamere?" said he.
"No, sir," answered I, touching my hat, "but I thought I should like to
get a sight of the fellow we're after before going below."
"Thank you," he said; "your zeal is very commendable; but I daresay we
can muster eyes enough to maintain a lookout without keeping you on deck
in your watch below. However, since you are here, perhaps you will
oblige me by finding the master and asking him if he has made up his
reckoning to eight bells. If he has, request him to be good enough to
bring it, with the chart, to me, here, on the quarter-deck. If he has
not, say that I shall be obliged if he will do so at once."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered I, touching my hat again as I turned away to
descend the hatchway.