About a fortnight later, being at the time off Cape Ortegal, cruising
under short canvas, we sighted at daybreak a brig in the offing, to
windward, steering south, under a press of sail. She was, at the moment
of discovery, some eight miles distant, and from her general appearance,
and especially from the cut of her canvas, we judged her to be French,
and a man-o'-war. We accordingly at once made sail, and hoisted the
private signal, of which no notice was taken; we therefore concluded
that our suspicions relative to her nationality were well founded, and
crowded all sail in chase. No sooner was this act of ours perceived by
the stranger than--the weather being fine, and the wind a moderate
breeze from West--she hauled her wind and, bracing sharp up, endeavoured
to make her escape to windward; the weather conditions, however, were
ideal for the frigate, and we overhauled the brig so rapidly that by ten
o'clock in the forenoon we were within gunshot of her; whereupon we
hoisted our colours and fired a shot across her forefoot as a polite
hint to her to heave-to. Her reply to this was to pour in her broadside
of seven 8-pounders, the shot from which flew over and between our
masts, doing us no damage whatever. Upon perceiving which, and noticing
also that we were about to return the compliment by firing our starboard
broadside at her, she hurriedly ran up the French ensign and as
hurriedly hauled it down again, at the same time backing her mainyard in
token of surrender. We thereupon closed with her and took possession,
our prize proving to be the fourteen-gun brig _Gironde_, bound from
Brest to Toulon. We transferred her crew of seventy to the frigate, and
sent her home in charge of Mr Galway, the second lieutenant, and a
prize-crew; but before parting company we learned, from certain papers
on board her, that on the 19th of the previous month (August) a treaty
of alliance, offensive and defensive, between France and Spain, had been
signed at Madrid. We were thus at war with Spain, as well as with the
Dutch and the French--a piece of news which our lads greeted with cheers
of delight when it was communicated to them, for it gave them another
enemy to fight--and to conquer.
We were now at practically the southern extremity of our
cruising-ground, with the land plainly in view to leeward. Captain
Vavassour--who seemed of late to have contracted a marked dislike for
anything resembling a lee-shore--therefore decided to work well off the
land, until the frigate had gained the track of homeward-bound ships;
and there to lie in wait for anything that Dame Fortune might be
disposed to send us; in pursuance of which resolution we made sail, upon
a taut bowline, as soon as the _Gironde_ had parted company, cracking
on, and working out an offing of about a hundred miles by daylight the
next morning.
The day dawned fresh and clear, with an almost cloudless sky, a moderate
breeze from about West by South, and very little sea overrunning the
long, regular Biscay swell; it was, in short, perfect Atlantic weather,
and about as complete a contrast as could well be imagined to the
conditions which had prevailed during our late experience in Audierne
Bay.
The weather being of so fine and settled a character, we had been
carrying our royals all through the night; but shortly after the Captain
made his appearance on deck, at eight bells in the morning watch, the
breeze freshened up perceptibly; whereupon, a good offing having been
secured, the word was given to clew up and furl all three royals; and a
minute or two later the hands were aloft and out on the yards, rolling
up the canvas. It was while they were thus engaged--the ship being at
the time on the starboard tack, and consequently heading to the
southward--that a hail came down simultaneously from the fore and main
royal-yards to the effect that a couple of sail were in sight, broad on
the lee-bow. To an inquiry on the part of the first lieutenant as to
what they looked like, the answer was returned that it was impossible to
say just then, as the strangers were so far away that, even from the
lofty elevation of the observers, the heads of their royals were only
just clear of the horizon.
Mr Howard cast an inquiring eye about him, and his gaze fell upon me.
"Mr Delamere," he said, "you have a good glass. Just jump below and
get it, if you please, and then shin up as far as the main royal-yard
and see what you can make out concerning those strangers."
I did as directed, the hands who had been aloft meeting me in the
maintop on their way down.
"What do the strange craft look like, Simmons?" I asked of the smartest
of the party.
"Well, sir," he replied, "as we told Mr Howard, a few minutes ago, we
can't make much out of 'em as yet; they'm too far off for that. But
I've got pretty good eyes, Mr Delamere, and I think when you brings
that glass o' yours to bear on 'em that you'll find one on 'em's got her
r'yals stowed, while t'other has hers set. Likewise I've a sort of a
notion that if you stays aloft for a matter o' ten minutes or so you'll
find that there's three on 'em, instead o' two; at all events just as I
was layin' 'im off the yard I thought I catched a glimpse of somethin'
showin' now and again that looked like the canvas of another craft just
liftin' over the 'orizon."
"Thanks, Simmons," said I, "I'll keep a lookout for number three. If
she really exists, she ought to declare herself unmistakably within the
next few minutes. By the bye, I suppose they are heading this way?"
"To the best o' my knowledge and belief they be, sir," the man answered.
"We wasn't on the yard long enough to make exactly sure, but it seemed
to me that, even durin' the minute or two that elapsed after we first
catched sight of 'em, they lifted a bit."
"Thanks," I said again. "We shall soon see." And I sprang into the
topmast rigging and proceeded on my way aloft, while Simmons swung
himself down over the rim of the top.
I soon reached my destination and seated myself comfortably on the
royal-yard, with my back resting against the mast under my lee. From
this elevation the strangers were distinctly visible to the naked eye,
for the atmosphere was as clear as crystal; and, even before I had
established myself to my liking, my unaided sight had assured me that
Simmons' supposition was correct, and that there were three sail,
instead of two, to the southward; for the object that the topman had
only believed he saw elusively appearing and vanishing on the verge of
the distant horizon now stood out clear and sharp as a tiny patch of
canvas, showing milk-white in the morning sun, well clear of the other
two. I soon brought my telescope--an exceptionally powerful
instrument--to bear upon the three patches of canvas that gleamed like
tiny shreds of fleecy, summer cloud upon the sharply-ruled edge of the
dark-blue sea, and at once discovered that Simmons had been so far right
that one of the craft had indeed her royals stowed, and not only that
but her topgallantsails also, while the other two appeared to be showing
every cloth they could possibly spread, including--as I soon made out--
topgallant studdingsails.
Presently, when I had been working away with my telescope for a minute
or two, a hail came floating up to me from the deck below of--
"Royal-yard, there! what have you been able to make out respecting the
two strange sail to leeward?"
Looking down past my left shoulder, I saw the skipper and the first
lieutenant both gazing upward at me. It was the latter who had hailed.
"There are three of them, instead of two, sir," I answered. "And while
two of them are carrying royals and topgallant-studding sails, the third
has her royals and topgallantsails stowed; from which I infer that two
of them are merchantmen, while the third is a man-o'-war--probably a
frigate."
A short confab between the Captain and Mr Howard ensued upon the
communication of this bit of information; then the skipper hailed:
"How do they bear, now, Mr Delamere? Do they seem to be drawing out
athwart our hawse at all?"
"They bear about two and a half points on our lee-bow, at this moment,
sir," I replied. "And I think that, if we hold all on as we are going
now, we shall weather the leading ship--the one that I take to be a
frigate--by about half a mile. They are rising fast, sir--the heads of
the leader's topsails are just beginning to show; and if the breeze
continues as fresh as it is now we ought to be abreast of them in
about,"--I made a rapid calculation--"an hour and a half from this."
Another brief interchange of remarks between the Captain and the first
luff followed this communication, then the latter hailed again--
"Thank you, Mr Delamere. That will do for the present. You had better
come down and get your breakfast."
My estimate as to the time at which we should close with the strangers
was not far out; for when, having snatched a hasty breakfast, I again
went on deck, the heads of the leading stranger's topsails were visible
above the horizon, she having made sail about a quarter-of-an-hour
earlier and hauled to the wind a trifle, as though to intercept us; and
as I emerged from the hatchway the drummers began to beat to quarters,
Mr Percival, the third lieutenant, having gone into the fore-topmast
crosstrees to reconnoitre, and from that lofty outlook having not only
confirmed my conjecture as to the leading ship being undoubtedly a
frigate, but also expressed his conviction that she was a foreigner.
By the time that we were all ready to engage, if need were, the strange
frigate was hull-up; and as she had hauled her wind still farther, and
threatened to weather us if we did not mind what we were about, we
tacked ship, when it soon became apparent that the _Europa_ was much the
faster vessel of the two; we, therefore, stood on until we were sure of
our ability to pass across the other vessel's bows upon the next tack,
when we went about again, and at the same time hoisted our colours. To
this challenge the stranger promptly replied by hoisting Dutch colours,
thus declaring herself to be an enemy, which declaration our lads
greeted with three mighty cheers.
Both ships were now close-hauled, on opposite tacks, the Dutchman
heading to the northward upon the port tack, while the _Europa_, on the
starboard tack, was heading up high enough to render it certain that we
should be able to cross his bows at about the distance of a cable's
length. It was Captain Vavassour's intention to do this, if he could,
pouring in a raking broadside at the proper moment; but the Dutchman
soon let us know that he was not to be caught so easily, for when he
arrived at about four points on our lee-bow he suddenly went in stays,
giving us his starboard broadside as he did so, and the next moment a
storm of 32-pound shot came hurtling about our ears, crashing through
our bulwarks, killing two men and wounding five poor fellows, besides
cutting up our rigging a good deal. We immediately luffed and returned
the compliment, giving him the whole of our port broadside, main-deck
and upper-deck guns; and when the smoke blew away we had the
satisfaction of seeing that we had shot away his jib-booms, thus
depriving him of a considerable amount of head-sail at a most critical
moment. Moreover, the loss of his jibs caused him to miss stays and
hang in the wind so long that, taking advantage of the opportunity,
Captain Vavassour bore up, and, passing close athwart his stern, raked
him most effectively with our starboard broadside, receiving only four
shot from the Dutchman's stern-chasers in return.
Meanwhile, the Dutch crew went to work with most praiseworthy courage
and activity to clear away the wreck, and so to reduce the amount of
their after-sail as to get their ship once more under command; but
before they could succeed in doing this we had kept away far enough to
give ourselves room to tack, had gone about again, and once more crossed
our antagonist's stern, raking him a second time most destructively, at
close quarters, with our port broadside, double-shotted. This discharge
must have played havoc with his crew, for when at length he had paid off
sufficiently to bring his starboard broadside to bear, he was only able
to fire a little more than half his guns, while they were so
indifferently aimed that only three or four of the shot struck us.
We now had a very great advantage over our antagonist, from the fact
that all our spars were intact, while he was greatly hampered by the
loss of so much head-sail; but the advantage did not remain with us very
long, for at the next exchange of broadsides down came our fore-topmast,
at the same instant that the Dutchman's mizenmast went over the side.
This put us both upon nearly equal terms, the advantage being rather on
the side of our antagonist, if anything; and now we went at it, hammer
and tongs, making a running fight of it, broadside to broadside, as fast
as the men could load and fire. Now, too, it began to dawn upon us that
we had caught a Tartar, for the Dutchman mounted forty guns--32-pound
and 28-pound carronades--against our 24-pounders and 8-pounders, while
the close range at which we were fighting--about a pistol-shot
distance--enabled her heavier metal to punish us severely. But our lads
cared very little about this, it appeared, one of them remarking to
another in my hearing that an 8-pounder could kill quite as effectively
as a 32 at short range, and for his part he would as soon be killed by
one as the other. This appeared to be the spirit animating all hands,
for they toiled away at their guns, loading and firing with the utmost
rapidity, and cheering at every broadside, whether of their own or the
enemy. But the work was too hot to last very long. When we had been
engaged about half-an-hour we noticed that our antagonist's fire was
perceptibly slackening, and when at length we contrived again to pass
across her stern, and deliver another raking double-shotted broadside,
she hauled down her colours and hailed that she surrendered. The word
was at once passed to cease firing, and the battle ended, for which I,
at any rate, was not at all sorry; for there had been moments when it
appeared to me as though we were both bent upon emulating the famous
Kilkenny cats, who fought until nothing but their tails remained!
Now came the task of taking possession of the prize. Investigation
revealed the fact that, out of all our boats, only two were in a fit
state for immediate service, namely, the second cutter and the Captain's
gig, the others having been all more or less damaged by the enemy's
shot; the skipper therefore ordered the former to be lowered, directing
Mr Percival, the third lieutenant, to go away in her, taking with him
as many men as she would carry.
"Mr Delamere," continued Captain Vavassour, "you had better accompany
Mr Percival, bringing back the boat with a couple of hands as soon as
you have obtained all the essential information. Be as quick as you
can, if you please, because I want to be off after those other two
craft."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered I, as I turned away to go below and fetch my
dirk; and a couple of minutes later we were clear of the _Europa_ and
pulling away toward the Dutchman, the skipper's injunction to me to
hurry being emphasised by the fact that as I passed through the gangway
I caught sight of the carpenter and his mates busily engaged upon the
task of routing out a new topmast from among the assortment of spare
spars that we carried. Meanwhile the other two craft of which the
skipper had spoken, and which had all the appearance of being Dutch
Indiamen under the convoy of the frigate, had hauled their wind as soon
as the action began, and were now some four miles dead to windward,
heading about North-West, and cracking on with the evident intention of
getting out of sight, if possible, before we could repair damages
sufficiently to proceed in pursuit.
Five minutes sufficed us to span the narrow stretch of water that
separated us from our late antagonist; and upon climbing the side we
were received at the gangway by an officer of some twenty-five years of
age, whose head was swathed in a blood-stained bandage, and who handed
his sword to Percival with a dignified bow. This officer, who spoke
English quite well, informed us that the ship which we had captured was
the Dutch frigate _Gelderland_, of forty guns, homeward-bound from the
East Indies with the two ships in sight under convoy. He further
informed us that his name was Van Halst, and that at the beginning of
the action he had been third lieutenant, whereas, in consequence of the
heavy loss inflicted by our raking broadsides, he was now the ship's
commanding officer.
Indeed, it appeared that our fire had been fearfully destructive, for in
addition to the damage that had been apparent from the _Europa's_ decks,
we now beheld dismounted guns, shattered, blood-splashed bulwarks, cut
rigging hanging everywhere in bights, and shot-scored decks cumbered
with dead and dying men--a veritable shambles. Mynheer Van Halst could
not tell us the precise extent of the ship's losses in killed and
wounded, for there had been no time thus far to ascertain it. The sound
members of the crew were still busily engaged in the terrible task of
separating the wounded from the slain, and conveying the former below to
be attended to by the surgeon; but he told us that she had begun the
action with a complement of three hundred and ten officers and men, and
that he believed, from what he had seen, quite half of them must have
been put _hors de combat_.
Now that the fight was over and his ship taken, poor Van Halst began to
show signs of the stress and strain of the engagement; he gradually
turned ghastly pale; his lips quivered from time to time to such an
extent that, for the few seconds during which the paroxysm lasted, he
was scarcely able to articulate. He staggered as he stood talking to
us, and at length Percival, who could ill afford to waste time in
conversation, gently led him into the handsome cabin under the poop,
deposited him on a sofa, found a decanter of brandy and gave him a good
stiff dose to revive him, and left him there, with a kindly injunction
that he was not to attempt to move until he, Percival, returned.
Having thus disposed, for the time being, of our principal prisoner
without, as we hoped, hurting his feelings, the third lieutenant and I
took rapid stock of the condition of our prize, Percival mentioning such
items of information as he wished to have reported to the skipper, while
I jotted them down in my pocket-book, together with such other notes as
I believed might be found of interest. Thus, we examined the boats and
found three of them absolutely intact, while a fourth could be rendered
serviceable in about half-an-hour by the carpenter--our shot having
taken effect for the most part on the main-deck. Then we quickly
surveyed her stock of spare spars, and came to the conclusion that all
her damages in that direction might be made good, except so far as her
mizenmast was concerned; she would consequently have to go home
brig-rigged, or at best as a barque.
Meanwhile, from the moment when our people first set foot upon her deck
they had fallen to upon the work of clearing away the wreckage, saving
all that was worth saving, and knotting and splicing rigging, leaving
the Dutch crew to look after their wounded comrades and convey them
below to the surgeon. At length, after I had been aboard about
half-an-hour, I was ready to return to our own ship; I therefore ordered
two hands down into the boat alongside, and shoved off for the _Europa_,
noting, with great satisfaction as I did so, that the breeze was fast
dropping, and that the two Indiamen were still hull-up, not having made
very much progress to windward during the time that I had been aboard
the prize.
Upon regaining the _Europa's_ deck I found it a scene of feverish yet
perfectly ordered activity. Everybody was busily engaged in one way or
another upon the task of making good the damage to our spars and rigging
by the enemy's shot; a strong gang upon the forecastle had already
cleared away the wreck of the fore-topmast, having removed from it,
practically uninjured, everything that had been attached to it in the
shape of other spars, rigging, and so on--such, for example, as the
topgallant-masts and royal-masts, with their sails, yards, and rigging,
the topsail-yard and topsail, the cap, crosstrees, and topmast rigging;
and the carpenter and his mates had already got the new spar fitted and
ready for pointing; while practically all our cut gear had been either
knotted or spliced. As for our casualties, I was delighted to learn
that they were very light, taking into consideration the determination
with which our adversary had fought, our loss in killed and wounded
amounting to eight of the former and twenty-two of the latter, of which
only seven cases were regarded by the surgeon as really serious.
Captain Vavassour was up on the poop, talking to the master, when I
passed in through the gangway. I, therefore, at once made my way to him
and, having reported myself in due form as "Come on board, sir,"
proceeded forthwith to make my report, referring from time to time to my
pocket-book in order to assure myself that I was omitting nothing.
"Thank you, Mr Delamere," the skipper said when I had finished; "you
seem to have brought me a very full and complete report--complete
enough, at all events, to give me a pretty clear idea of the state of
affairs aboard the prize. From what you tell me, I judge that Mr
Percival will have his hands full for some hours to come; is not that
so?"