I found Mr Trimble in his cabin, in the very act of laying off the
ship's position on the chart, after working up his reckoning. I
delivered my message, and by way of reply the master rolled up his
chart, tucked it under his arm, seized pencil, dividers, and parallel
ruler, and started for the deck, with me close in his wake--for I shared
the skipper's anxiety to know whereabout we were.
"Ah! here you are, Mr Trimble," exclaimed the Captain, as the master's
head and shoulders rose above the combings of the hatchway. "Have you
made up your reckoning?"
"Yes, sir," answered the master, "and pricked her off. We are just
about here, by dead reckoning." And he made an effort to spread open
the chart on the capstan-head. But the paper was stiff from being
almost continuously rolled up; moreover, the wind was troublesome--the
two circumstances combining to render it almost impossible for the good
man to do as he wished unaided. I saw his difficulty, and, stepping
forward, seized the two top corners of the chart and held them down,
while the skipper gripped the third corner, and Trimble the fourth.
"There we are, sir--or thereabout," explained the master, pointing with
his pencil to a dot surrounded by a small circle, on the paper, with the
date written alongside it.
"I see," remarked the skipper thoughtfully, as he intently studied the
open chart. "I suppose," he said presently, "you have made ample
allowance for leeway, and for our drift while hove-to?"
"Yes, sir," answered the master. "I have allowed a point and a half for
leeway, and three knots drift, both of which I reckon are above rather
than below the mark."
"Y-e-es," agreed the skipper reflectively; "yes, she will not have made
more than that, I should think. And you have, of course, also allowed
for tide and current."
"For both, sir," assented the master; "but, of course, you clearly
understand, Captain Vavassour, that the currents hereabout are very
irregular. I therefore wish you to accept the position of the ship, as
there laid down, as merely approximate."
"Yes, I quite understand," answered the skipper. "Now, assuming that
position to be correct, Mr Trimble--and we can do nothing else, I
think--how far are we from the Penmarks, and how do they bear?"
The master took his dividers, measured the distance, applied the
instrument to the margin of the chart, and announced the
distance--"Seventy-six miles."
"Good!" ejaculated the skipper. "And their bearing?"
The master laid his parallel ruler down on the chart, with its edge
passing through the dot representing the ship's position, and also
through the Penmarks; then he carefully slid the ruler along the surface
of the chart until that same edge passed through the centre of the
compass diagram, and read off the bearing--"No'th-east, half east."
The skipper turned sharply round to the quartermaster.
"How's her head, quartermaster?" he demanded.
The quartermaster glanced into the compass-bowl and answered,
"No'-no'th-east, sir!"
"Excellent!" exclaimed the skipper. "Why, at that rate, Mr Trimble, we
shall pass outside Ushant, if we keep on as we are going now."
"No doubt, sir," answered the master. "But in my opinion," he
continued, "that's where the fellow we sighted a while ago is bound to,"
and he laid his forefinger on that part of the chart where the word
Brest was legibly printed.
"Ah!" ejaculated the skipper, "you are likely enough to be right. But
he shall never get there, even if I have to drive the frigate under
water to stop him. Hang it! I wish the weather would clear, if only
for a moment, and allow us to get a sight of him. Thank you, Mr
Trimble; that will do." And he released his hold upon the chart,
allowing the corner he had been holding to spring back and curl up. I
did the same, and, as the ship took a somewhat heavier roll than usual,
glanced out over the bulwarks at the racing, foam-capped surges that
reared themselves alongside; and at that moment, as if in direct
response to the skipper's forcibly expressed wish, the haze thinned away
somewhat to starboard, revealing, square abeam, and apparently about a
mile away, a dim, misty, grey shape faintly showing up through the
thickness to starboard.
"Sail ho!" I cried excitedly, pointing her out; "there she is, sir."
And even as the words passed my lips there came a shout from the lookout
on the forecastle of "Sail ho! A large ship, broad on our starboard
beam."
"Ay, ay, I see her--the glass, quick, Mr Delamere," answered the
skipper. I jumped for the telescope, drew the tube, and handed it over
to the impatient hand outstretched to receive it. By a piece of good
fortune the atmosphere inshore of us just then thinned away still more
for a few minutes, enabling us to get a tolerably distinct view of the
stranger. Captain Vavassour, glass in hand, sprang up the poop-ladder,
and, with feet planted wide apart to give himself a good grip of the
heaving deck, applied the telescope to his eye. I followed him, that I
might be at hand if required. For a long two minutes he stood intently
studying the stranger, and speaking to himself the while. "A 50-gun
ship," I heard him mutter, "and a Frenchman at that--steering a parallel
course to ourselves; yes, very likely making for Brest. Rather a stiff
customer to tackle, perhaps, but I'll not let that stop me."
He removed the instrument from his eye, and, seeing me at his elbow,
handed it back to me. "Thank you, Mr Delamere," he said. "I shall not
require you again, so you had better go below, especially as there is a
probability that we may have a busy afternoon." Then he descended to
the quarter-deck, where the second lieutenant and the master were
standing talking together near the capstan, and gave the quartermaster
the order to keep away a point to the eastward, which would have the
effect of causing us to converge gradually upon the Frenchman.
When I went on deck at eight bells it was to find that the atmosphere
had thickened again, to such an extent, indeed, that although it was
estimated that we must now be within half a mile of the French ship,
there was not the faintest trace of her to be seen. The skipper,
however, considered that he was now as close to her as he desired to be;
he therefore ordered the course to be changed back to North-North-East,
and, at the moment when I gained the deck, was giving Mr Howard
instructions to let the men have their dinner, and then to put out the
fires and clear for action.
The keenness of the crew to get to work was evidenced by the fact that
although the men's dinner was now ready, it was with the utmost
difficulty that they could be persuaded to go below and eat it; and when
at length they went, in obedience to the Captain's imperative orders,
they returned to the deck in less than ten minutes, and at once set to
work of their own accord to put the ship into fighting trim.
It was evident to me that the master was greatly disappointed at not
having been able to get a sight of the sun at noon, and I could not help
thinking that, as the time passed on, he was not only disappointed but
was beginning to grow more than a trifle anxious, especially as shortly
after midday the weather became more gloomy and the wind freshened very
considerably. He betook himself to the poop, up and down which he paced
rapidly, with his hands behind his back, and his eyes fixed abstractedly
on the deck, except when he raised them from time to time to gaze long
and piercingly ahead.
At length four bells struck, and almost immediately afterward, with a
further freshening of the wind, the atmosphere cleared sufficiently to
afford us another glimpse of the French ship, which suddenly appeared,
with almost startling distinctness, about three-quarters of a mile
distant, bearing one point before our starboard beam. A dozen eager
voices at the same moment reported her reappearance, and the Captain
sprang up on the poop to get another look at her. He was immediately
joined by the master, who seemed to be making some very earnest
representation to him; but what it was I could not hear, for I was now
down on the quarter-deck and had no valid excuse for approaching any
nearer. However, whatever it may have been, Captain Vavassour was
evidently disinclined to listen to it, for I saw him once or twice shake
his head most determinedly, pointing at the same time at the French
ship, which still remained distinctly in view. Finally the skipper left
the poop and joined Mr Howard on the quarter-deck, conversing very
animatedly with him for about five minutes. It was while he was thus
engaged that the master suddenly called down to him the intelligence
that the stranger had hoisted French colours, upon which he gave the
order for our own colours to be hoisted, and, jumping up on the poop, I
went to the flag-locker, drew out our big ensign, bent it on to the
halliards, and, with the assistance of the master, ran it up to the
mizen peak.
Meanwhile, our men had long been at quarters, and the ship ready for
action. I was, therefore, not surprised to see the first lieutenant
descending to the main-deck, evidently for the purpose of conveying the
skipper's final instructions to the captains of the guns. It was going
to be a running fight, and we were about to open the ball. But the
Frenchmen snatched that honour from us, for as I was descending from the
poop to the quarter-deck after having hoisted the ensign, I saw a jet of
flame and a cloud of smoke burst from the stranger's port side, and
immediately afterwards a heavy shot flew humming high over our
mastheads. Almost immediately afterward three of our starboard
main-deck guns spoke simultaneously, and, as the smoke from them swept
away ahead of us, I heard the captain of the aftermost quarter-deck gun
cry out that all three shots had hulled the French ship, for he had seen
the splinters fly in three distinct places. Then, at brief intervals,
the remaining guns of our starboard main-deck battery were fired; but
seemingly without doing very much damage.
The firing now became brisk on both sides, but the French fired much
quicker than we did, the reason being--as I afterward learned--that our
Captain had given the most imperative orders to the first lieutenant
that the gun-captains were not to fire until they had made sure of their
aim; and the wisdom of this soon became manifest; for while the French
fired upon an average three shots to our one, the damage sustained by us
was very trifling, while it was not long before the French ship's sails
and rigging became a good deal cut up--to such an extent, indeed, that
we were obliged to clew up our topgallantsails, in order to avoid
running too far ahead of our adversary.
Suddenly, the simultaneous discharge of three or four of our main-deck
guns was followed by a cheer of delight from our lads, and, jumping upon
the carriage of one of the quarter-deck guns, I was just in time to see
the French ship's mizenmast fall forward, dragging down the
main-topgallant-mast with it and passing through the main topsail and
mainsail in its fall, splitting them from head to foot. There was at
once great confusion on board the Frenchman, and, being thus deprived in
a moment of all her after-sail, she immediately fell square off before
the wind, or about three points more to the eastward than the course we
were steering.
"Hurrah! we have her now," exclaimed the skipper, delightedly rubbing
his hands. "Up with your helm, quartermaster, and follow her. Weather
braces, Mr Galway; square the yards, and set your topgallantsails
again. The land cannot be far off, and now she must strike or we will
drive her ashore. Jump down on to the main-deck, Mr Delamere, and
request Mr Howard to train his starboard guns as far forward as they
will go, and then to rake her every time we luff." (The change in the
relative positions of the two vessels caused by both of us squaring away
dead before the wind was that the French ship was now almost stern-on to
us, broad on our starboard-bow, and about half a mile distant.)
I sprang down the ladder on to the main-deck, and there found the first
luff superintending the working of our heavy guns. The men had all
stripped to the waist to obtain the utmost possible freedom of movement
while hauling upon the tackles and flourishing their handspikes,
sponges, and rammers, and, generally speaking, had discarded their hats,
knotting bandanna handkerchiefs round their heads in place of them.
They were all eager to get to closer quarters with the enemy, and were
as merry as crickets, bandying jests with each other in the intervals of
toiling at the guns. I delivered my message, and at the same time
seized the opportunity to inquire whether any casualties had occurred on
that deck. Mr Howard informed me that there had been none thus far;
and with this information I returned to the quarter-deck and reported to
the Captain.
Brief as had been my visit below, I found upon my return from it that a
material alteration had occurred in the relative positions of the two
vessels during the interval; we were gaining upon the chase hand over
hand, and had shortened the distance between her and ourselves to a
short quarter of a mile, which was as close as we wished to go, the
skipper having now determined to keep to windward--that is to say,
astern--of the Frenchman, and alternately to luff and bear away, passing
athwart and athwart her stern on opposite tacks, raking her first with
one broadside and then the other, pouring in both round shot and grape.
He was in the act of giving orders to clew up the topgallantsails and to
haul down a couple of reefs in the topsails, so that we might not gain
any farther upon the chase, when I went up to him to make my report, and
as soon as he had finished I delivered it, and was again sent down to
Mr Howard to acquaint him with Captain Vavassour's plan, at which he
expressed the utmost satisfaction, immediately ordering the men in the
port battery, which had not yet been engaged, to stand to their guns.
Upon my return to the quarter-deck, after this second visit below, the
men were laying in off the yards, after having hauled down a couple of
reefs in the topsails, and as soon as they were down on deck the
sail-trimmers were sent to the braces, the helm was gently ported, and
the frigate was gradually brought to the wind on the starboard tack,
exposing her port broadside to the French ship, and as we went surging
athwart the enemy's stern the whole of our port battery, both main and
quarter-deck guns, was discharged into her, raking her fore and aft.
Then our helm was eased up; the frigate paid off, came gradually to the
wind on the port tack, and as we again crossed her stern the French ship
got the full contents of our starboard battery, with destructive effect,
if one might judge by the battered appearance of her stern, her
quarter-gallery being shot to pieces and every one of her stern windows
broken; thus showing that pretty nearly the whole discharge must have
entered her hull and raked her decks from aft forward.
But now that we had adopted the plan of alternately coming to the wind
and bearing away again, we began to realise, for the first time, how
hard it was blowing; for, when hauled to the wind, the ship was so
heavily pressed down by her canvas that at every lee-roll the main-deck
port sills were brought down to within a few inches of the boiling sea,
and the task of working the guns effectively taxed the skill of the
seamen to the utmost; so much so that Mr Howard presently sent up a
message to the skipper to ask whether it would be possible to relieve
the ship to the extent of taking the mainsail off her.
Captain Vavassour immediately issued the necessary orders; the
clew-garnets, buntlines, and leech-lines were manned at the moment that
the ship was running off the wind, the tack and sheet were eased up, and
the great sail, the most powerful in the ship, was handsomely clewed up,
as the men appointed to furl it made their way aloft. The relief to the
frigate was immediately apparent; she at once became more lively and
buoyant, and, if her speed was decreased at all, the decrease was
inappreciable.
This manoeuvre was executed during the time that the frigate's head was
being directed to the southward, for the purpose of giving the French
ship the contents of our port battery for the second time; and the guns
had just been discharged when, as the smoke blew away, we saw that our
antagonist had put her helm down and was trying to come to the wind upon
the port tack, with the object, as we supposed, of returning our fire.
But as her head swept sluggishly round and she began, with apparent
difficulty, to come-to, her mainmast went over the side, and she fell
off again without having fired a single gun. The sight of the falling
mast was greeted by our lads with an enthusiastic cheer, and then our
helm was put up to wear round upon the other tack, when the master--who
all this time had been anxiously pacing the poop--suddenly ran to the
head of the poop-ladder and shouted, "She strikes, sir! she strikes!"
and jumping upon the breech of a gun, I saw the tricolour being slowly
hauled down from the ensign staff upon which it had been hoisted when
her mizenmast fell. The Captain, too, sprang up beside me in time to
see the flag go fluttering in over the taffrail as it was hauled down.
A tremendous volley of cheering greeted the intelligence of our success;
but our joy was short-lived, for the cheering had scarcely died away and
the men turned to secure the guns, when the master came rushing down the
poop-ladder and, addressing the skipper, said:
"It is no wonder that the fellow has hauled down his colours, sir. He
has made the land, and will be ashore in ten minutes! See, sir, if you
will look intently past him you will catch occasional glimpses of
leaping whiteness--there, it clears somewhat--do you see the breakers
inshore of him? Ay, and now you may also see the loom of the land
through the haze!"
The skipper sprang half-way up the poop-ladder, glanced ahead, and
finally ascended to the poop, from whence he could get a clear and
uninterrupted view ahead and to leeward; then, holding on his hat with
one hand while he shaded his eyes with the other, he stared intently to
leeward.
"By Jove! Trimble," he exclaimed to the master, who had followed him,
"you are right; those are breakers, and that is the land yonder without
a doubt. But where in the world are we, man? We must be miles to
leeward of your reckoning."
"Yes, sir," answered the master; "there is no denying that. But you
must remember, if you please, that the wind headed us and broke us off a
couple of points some hours ago, which has made a lot of difference.
Then there is no doubt that this strong breeze, blowing dead on shore,
has created a powerful in-set, sending us bodily to leeward. I have
been exceedingly anxious for the last hour or two, for I know this part
of the French coast well, and am fully aware of its extremely
treacherous character."
"But where are we, man; where are we?" demanded the Captain, with more
than a trace of anxiety and impatience in the tones of his voice.
"Ah, sir, I could tell you better if it would only clear enough to let
us see some of the details of the coast more distinctly," answered the
master, in tones of anxiety equal to the Captain's own. "But," he
continued, "although I cannot say, to within a few miles, precisely
where we are, I have not the slightest doubt that we are somewhere
within the limits of Audierne Bay."
"Audierne Bay! and the wind blowing half a gale from the sou'-west!"
ejaculated the skipper, with a note of something approaching to dismay.
"Yes, sir, Audierne Bay," repeated the master. "It is only there that
we could possibly have come within sight of the land at this hour of the
day. Perhaps you would like me to bring up the chart, Captain
Vavassour."
"Yes; pray do so," answered the skipper.
The master had scarcely disappeared down the hatchway, on his way to his
cabin, when the French ship--which, having made an ineffectual effort to
round-to, had fallen off again and had continued to run dead to
leeward--suddenly broached-to; a terrific sea struck her on her port
quarter, turning her broadside-on to us, and her foremast went over the
side. Instantly a dozen voices shouted excitedly--"The Frenchman is
ashore, sir!"
Yes, there was no doubt about it; for now every sea as it rolled in made
a clean breach over her, and we could see her lift to it, rolling over
at every blow almost to her beam-ends.
"Ay," muttered the skipper--I was close at his elbow, having followed
him that I might be at hand if required--"ay, she is ashore, fast
enough, and she will never come off again, for an hour of such pounding
as she is now getting will make an end of her. We shall be very lucky
indeed if we do not follow. Hillo! Mr Delamere, is that you? Just
find Mr Howard, and say I shall be obliged if he can come to me on the
quarter-deck."
"Ay, ay, sir," I answered, touching my hat as I started down the
poop-ladder. I guessed that I should find the first lieutenant on the
gun deck, and there he was, superintending the securing of the guns--a
task which needed to be done very carefully and thoroughly; for now that
the ship had been brought to the wind she was rolling and pitching most
furiously, and if one of our long 24-pounders should chance to strike
adrift, the consequences might very easily be disastrous. I delivered
the Captain's message, and then followed the first lieutenant on deck,
where he joined the skipper and the master, who were already standing at
the capstan, with the chart spread open before them on its head. I had
no good and sufficient excuse for lingering near them, and therefore
passed over to the lee-side of the deck, as became a well-trained
midshipman; consequently I only caught a word here and there as I
staggered fore and aft in the lee scuppers. I heard the Captain say
something about "Audierne Bay," and then, a little later, the master
said something about "land takes a westerly trend--Penmarks;" and,
finally, the Captain, as though closing a discussion, said, "Very well,
then, we will try her, while there is still room, and the sooner the
better. Get the mainsail on her again at once, Mr Howard."
I surmised, from this last remark on the part of the Captain, that we
were about to make an attempt to tack ship; and indeed it was full time
for something to be done, for the breakers were now distinctly visible
for a space of about two miles on the lee beam, and they seemed to be
rather trending out athwart our bows. It would, therefore, soon be
necessary to get the ship round on the other tack, either by staying or
wearing, so it would be wise to make the attempt while there was still
room to resort to the second expedient, should the first fail.
A few minutes later the mainsail was once more set; and no sooner was
the tack boarded and the sheet dragged aft than we felt the difference,
which was tremendous. For whereas we had before been going along
comfortably enough, despite the heavy rolling and pitching, the moment
that she felt the extra pressure, due to the expansion of this large
area of canvas to the gale, she lay down to it, until at every lee-roll
the muzzles of the quarter-deck guns were buried in the boiling yeast
that foamed and swirled giddily past to leeward, and sometimes surged in
through the ports, filling the lee-scuppers knee-deep with water. And
whereas we had before ridden buoyantly over the head seas, with nothing
worse than an occasional shower of spray flying in over the weather
cathead, the frigate now plunged her bows savagely right into the very
heart of them, quivering to her keel with the violence of the shock,
raising a very hurricane of foam and spray about her figurehead, and
shipping the green seas in tons over her forecastle at every dive, while
the main tack groaned like a giant in torment as it seemed to strive to
tear up the very deck of the ship.
"Keep her clean full, quartermaster, and let her go through it," ordered
the skipper.
"Ay, ay, sir; clean full it is," answered the quartermaster, as he gave
her an extra spoke of the wheel, while the Captain and the first
lieutenant stood together close by the weather bulwarks watching her
behaviour, the latter grasping a speaking-trumpet in his hand.
At length, after some eight or ten minutes of suspense, the skipper
spoke. "Here comes a `smooth,' and now I think you may try her, Mr
Howard."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered the first luff, and, placing the trumpet to his
lips, he shouted, "Hands, 'bout ship!"
_Wee-wee-wee-wheetle-eetle-eetle-we-e-e_, shrilled the boatswains'
pipes, followed by the hoarse bellow of "Hands, 'bout ship!" and up came
the men, hurrying to their several stations. The first lieutenant
paused an instant, flinging a lightning glance fore and aft the deck,
cried "Ready ho!" through his trumpet, then turned to the quartermaster
and said:
"Ease your helm down gently to start with, quartermaster; we will sail
her round as far as we can." Then, keenly watching the behaviour of the
ship as she swept up into the wind, he presently signed with his hand,
"Hard down!" and cried through his trumpet, "Helm's a-lee!" whereupon
the fore and fore staysail sheets were let go and overhauled. Meanwhile
a party of men on the poop had dragged the spankerboom as nearly
amidships as they could get it. Presently the square canvas was all
a-shiver, slatting furiously and causing the ship to tremble to her
keel. "Raise tacks and sheets!" was the next order; and now came the
critical moment and the question--Would she hold her way long enough to
cant in the proper direction? And, as luck would have it, just then
there came hissing and foaming down upon us a particularly heavy sea,
into which the frigate dived until she was all a-smother for'ard. Yet,
notwithstanding this, her head continued to sweep round--slowly, it is
true; still--"Mainsail haul!" bellowed the first luff through his
trumpet, and round swung the after yards, the men bracing them well up
and rounding in on the main-sheet. Now her head was beginning to pay
off, but slowly. The first lieutenant dashes up on the poop and looks
over the side--she has begun to gather stern-way.
"Shift over your helm, quartermaster," he shouts; "over with it!" and
stands breathless, awaiting the result. "Ah! that's better, now she
pays off freely," and presently the main topsail fills with a loud flap.
"Fore tack--head bowlines--of all haul!" yells Mr Howard, and the head
yards sweep round and are braced hard up, the fore and main tacks are
boarded, the weather braces steadied taut, the weather lifts bowsed up,
the bowlines hauled, and away goes the saucy _Europa_ on the other tack,
having stayed triumphantly in a wind and sea that would have compelled
most ships to wear.