Nothing could possibly have been better, from our point of view, than
the foolhardy gallantry of the pirates in thus persistently pressing
home their attack upon the islet, for the advantage was all on our side,
and must remain so until the enemy had landed and come to hand-grips
with us; and it was imperative that, in order to ensure our own success,
as many as possible of our foes should be put _hors de combat_ before
the fight became a hand-to-hand melee. It certainly seemed, at the
first blush, to be rather cowardly to pelt the poor beggars with grape
while they were unable to strike a blow in return; but the feeling was,
after all, one of very weak, false sentimentality. Every man of them
was an outlaw and, even if not yet an actual murderer at least a
potential one, and a consorter with cruel, cowardly brutes in human
shape who would destroy without mercy if they were not themselves
destroyed--who were, in fact, worse than wild beasts; for whereas the
latter take life merely to satisfy the cravings of nature, the average
pirate slew for the sheer love of slaying, and in order that he might
gratify the unnatural lust that caused him to revel in the sight of
human suffering. Therefore, after the first qualm of reluctance, I felt
no compunction in ordering the gunners to ply their weapons upon the
advancing enemy with all the skill at their command. And right
willingly did the men obey my order, sponging, loading, priming,
pointing, and firing with the fell determination of men who knew that
they must slay or themselves be slain; aiming so carefully that every
shot was made to tell with disastrous effect; so that the advancing
boats gradually fell into confusion as shot after shot whistled through
them, sinking a boat here, shattering another there, and killing or
maiming so many of her crew that she could neither advance farther nor
retire, but lay upon the water a mere drifting, blood-bespattered wreck.
Had the distance between the beach and the islet been half as far again
as it actually was, there can be no doubt that the entire expedition
would have been swept out of existence; as it was, nine out of the
twenty boats which left the settlement survived to reach the islet, and
were grounded upon the beach just below the battery. As the keels
grated in upon the shingle their crews sprang out, dragged the boats
well up, so that they would not go adrift, and then, sinking upon one
knee, emptied their muskets at us, to cover the landing of their
comrades; we, on our part, holding our fire in readiness to meet the
rush upon the battery that was now imminent.
Here Fernandez, still unwounded, exhibited the only bit of sound
generalship that had distinguished the attack; for instead of allowing
his men to charge up the slope promiscuously as they landed, to be cut
down or bowled over by our pistols, in detail, he ordered them to form
up, in single file and open order, until the last boat had arrived,
probably guessing that we were without muskets, and knowing that he and
his men were for the moment beyond pistol-shot. Then, after allowing
them time to recharge their muskets, and a minute or two additional in
which to recover their breath and prepare for the desperate up-hill rush
at the battery, he gave the word to advance, himself leading the way,
while we, with naked cutlass in one hand and pistol in the other,
crouched behind our low breastwork, watching the toiling figures
scrambling and struggling up the steep, almost precipitous slope.
They had advanced about half-way, and Fernandez, still leading, was just
about within pistol range, when I rose to my feet, sprang up on the low
earth parapet which we had constructed, raised my sword above my head,
and, in as loud and authoritative a voice as I could command, shouted,
in Spanish:
"Halt!"
Then, as the advancing pirates wavered and hesitated, in astonishment at
my unexpected action, I continued:
"Fernandez, and you others, I call upon you to throw down your arms and
surrender, in order to prevent the further sacrifice of life. You can
do no good by persevering further in this futile attack, for we are the
masters of the situation, and we can shoot down every man of you before
it will be possible for you to reach the spot where I stand. To push on
will simply mean--"
_Crack_! One of the pirates, crouching behind another, had coolly
levelled his musket and taken a pot shot at me, the bullet passing
through my hat and searing my skull like a white-hot wire, so that I
toppled over with the shock and fell back into the arms of one of my
men. The yell of savage joy raised by the pirates at the sight of my
fall was echoed by my own men as they sprang to their feet, intending to
leap over the low parapet and charge down upon the advancing foe to
avenge me. But I was not really hurt, and, shaking off the grip of the
man who held me, I cried out in time to stay them, adjuring them, by all
that they held dear, to stand fast where they were, and finish the fight
in the battery itself. And splendidly they obeyed me, although they
might well have been excused had they ignored my command; for the firing
of that musket-shot served as the signal for a general fusillade on both
sides, in the course of which four of our men fell. But ours was the
commanding position, and by the time that the pirates had emptied their
muskets and pistols at us we had brought them to a standstill, with more
than half their number down. After that there was no possibility of
further restraining our lads, nor, indeed, was there any need. We,
therefore, poured out over the low earthwork and down the few yards of
slope that still intervened between us and the enemy, and the next
moment were engaged in a hand-to-hand, life-and-death conflict, neither
side expecting or giving quarter. For the few seconds that it lasted it
was warm work, the pirates fighting desperately--since they knew that,
if taken alive, the halter awaited them--and then, in the space of a
minute it was all over. The last of our foes was down--as well as a few
more men on our own side--and we who remained unhurt stood gasping for
breath, and mopping our perspiring brows as we glared hungrily about us
for more foes to conquer. But there were none; and presently pulling
ourselves together, we gathered up our own wounded and carried them to
such shade as could be found, where the surgeon's mate, who formed one
of our company, at once got to work upon them, attending to their hurts.
Meanwhile the ensign was hoisted as a signal to the felucca to return
to the harbour; and then such of us as could be spared went out to
disarm the wounded pirates and afterwards afford them such relief as lay
in our power, while others again gleaned the weapons and ammunition of
the fallen, recognising that they might possibly be useful in our fight
with the crew of the _Tiburon_ later on.
Then, having made all arrangements for the conduct of the work on the
islet during the next few hours, I took the two largest boats that had
survived the passage across the waters of the Cove, and with a dozen
men, armed to the teeth, under the leadership of myself and the
boatswain, pulled away to the settlement, to see how matters stood in
that direction. As I had anticipated, there was not a man left in the
place--not even a boy above fourteen years of age; every male above that
age had been detailed to take part in the attempt to capture the islet,
which Fernandez had fully recognised to be the key of the entire
position. And now, of the hundred and fifty who had taken part in the
disastrous attempt, every one was either slain, or lay wounded in our
hands.
While I was taking stock generally of the situation, so to speak, and
making my further plans, the boatswain, assisted by the seamen whom we
had brought ashore with us, made a careful and systematic search of
every building in the place, removing every weapon, everything that
could be used as such, and all ammunition, and transferring them to the
two boats prior to our return to the islet. There were not many
weapons, and not a very great quantity of ammunition; but there was more
than we could conveniently stow in the boats. We, therefore, took a
portion of it out to about the middle of the bay and there threw it
overboard, returning for the remainder and conveying it to the islet.
The most important result of our visit to the shore, however, consisted
in the information, freely given me by one of the women, that, so far as
she had been able to gather from the conversation of the men, the
_Tiburon_ and her crew might be expected to arrive in the Cove at any
moment.
By the time that I and my party got back to the islet the day was well
advanced, the felucca had returned to the Cove and was now anchored
inside the islet, close to its southern shore, and the surgeon, although
still busy among the wounded pirates, had doctored up the whole of our
own wounded and made them comfortable. As might have been expected from
the peculiar character of the engagement and the enormous advantage of
position which we enjoyed, our casualties were singularly light,
consisting only of five killed and nine wounded. But in the case of the
pirates there was a very different story to tell. I had ascertained,
while ashore, that they left the settlement one hundred and fifty
strong; and now all that remained of them amounted to just thirty-seven
wounded, of whom at least one quarter would probably succumb to their
hurts. Those thirty-seven I caused to be put into the boats, as soon as
they had, been attended to, and conveyed to the settlement, where I
turned them over to the care of the women folk, who, I thought, would
probably be able to give them more attention and better nursing than we
could hope to afford. The next day, at the urgent request of several of
the women, I also caused our own wounded to be taken ashore, where,
under the supervision of the surgeon, they were taken in hand and most
tenderly cared for. The dead--both our own and as many as we could find
belonging to the pirates--were hastily sewn up in canvas, weighted, and
launched overboard from the felucca, which was taken well out to sea for
the purpose.
It was about three bells in the forenoon watch, on the fifth day after
the attack upon the islet, that two sail were sighted by the lookout,
standing in toward the Cove; and half-an-hour later I was able to
identify one of them as the infamous _Tiburon_, while the other was a
large craft, apparently British, judging by her build and the cut of her
canvas; doubtless a capture.
We had long ago made every possible preparation to give the pirate
schooner a warm reception upon her arrival, going even to the length of
surrounding our battery with a parapet and masking the latter by
covering it with sods of growing grass. We had now, therefore, nothing
to do but patiently to await the arrival of the enemy, confident that he
would sail right into the Cove, unsuspectingly, and never get so much as
a hint of our presence until we should open fire upon him.
As we had planned so matters turned out; the two vessels entered the
Cove together and simultaneously came to an anchor, the big craft--upon
the stern of which we descried the words Berwick Castle: Bristol--
anchoring about a cable's length east of the schooner and, very
fortunately for those chiefly concerned, well out of our line of fire.
We waited until we saw the anchors of both vessels splash into the
placid waters of the Cove, and heard the rumble of their cables as they
smoked out through the hawse-pipes; then, while the gunners brought the
four 68-pounders, loaded with round shot and grape, to bear upon the
crowded deck of the pirate schooner, another party raised a rough
flagstaff, to which a British ensign had been nailed, and dropped its
heel into a socket already prepared for it. Even then it was nearly a
minute before our presence was discovered by the pirates, who were at
that moment busily clewing-up and hauling down their canvas preparatory
to stowing it. But the boatswain, the gunner, and I all had our
telescopes focussed upon the schooner, keenly watching every movement on
board her, and it was not long before I recognised upon her
quarter-deck, issuing orders and generally carrying himself with an air
of authority, the handsome rascal who, during the fight between the
_Tiburon_ and the _Wasp_, had hailed us asking whether we had struck.
Almost on the instant of recognising him I saw a man run up to him,
excitedly say something to him, and point toward the islet. The
handsome rascal--who was without doubt the pirate captain, Manuel Garcia
himself--stood, stared amazed for a few seconds at the islet, and then
made a dash for the companion, from which he withdrew a telescope, which
he levelled in our direction. For perhaps a quarter of a minute he kept
the tube steadily pointed toward us; then with a gesture of mad ferocity
he dashed the instrument to the deck, and, seizing his speaking-trumpet,
placed it to his lips. The effect was an instant stoppage of the
operation of clewing-up and hauling down aboard the _Tiburon_, while
every eye in her was, as by one impulse, directed toward the islet. But
the pause endured only for a space of a few seconds, just long enough to
enable the gazers to identify the flag flying on the islet as the
British ensign, thereupon everybody seemed to be galvanised into
instant, breathless activity again. Now, however, the former processes
were reversed; the men who were already half-way aloft, intent upon
furling the canvas, started to return to the deck, others sprang to the
sheets and halliards and began to sheet home and hoist away as if for
their lives, and, in short, it was evident that the pirates contemplated
getting under way again and attempting to escape out to sea.
It was at this moment that the boatswain, who still had his glass
focussed on the schooner, cried out:
"They're goin' to cut her cable, Mr Delamere! Look, sir, and you'll
see a chap hurrying for'ard with an axe in his hand."
"Is that so?" I exclaimed. "Then bring Number 1 gun to bear on the
schooner's forecastle and sweep it clear. Quick, before they can cut
her adrift! It will never do to have her drifting all over the Cove."
I was interrupted by the crashing report of Number 1, which, with the
others, had already been most carefully trained upon the schooner; and
as the smoke blew away we saw the vessel's port bulwark, all about the
cathead, thickly dotted with white marks where the shot had struck,
while the forecastle, which had been crowded with men a moment before,
was now clear; not so much as a single head showed above the rail.
"Give them the other three guns, as quick as you please; and keep up
your fire, with grape only, until you receive further orders," I cried.
And almost as the words left my lips the other three guns bellowed their
terrible message, in response to which the men on the _Tiburon's_ deck
seemed to shrink and disappear. But although a good many of them went
down, enough were still left to enable them to man their port broadside
of seven 12-pounders, as well as their long 32; and with astounding
rapidity they brought the whole of these guns to bear upon the spot from
which the jets of flame and smoke issued, marking the position of our
guns, while they defiantly ran up the black flag to their main truck.
Now the action raged fast and furious, both sides loading and firing as
rapidly as they could, although I continually exhorted our own gunners
to give themselves plenty of time to take careful aim. The enemy
quickly got our range to a nicety, and their shot came screaming about
our ears and plumping into our earthen rampart in an almost continuous
shower, blinding us with the dust and dirt that they threw up, and
occasionally sending the splinters flying in all directions when the
shot happened to strike a stone. Yet, marvellous to relate, although
several of us were suffering from severe contusions caused by those
flying splinters of rock, not one of us was, thus far, actually
disabled, while, within ten minutes from the beginning of the firing,
that of the schooner slackened perceptibly, showing plainly how severe
was the punishment which we were inflicting upon her. This was further
exemplified by the fact that presently a man was seen to be hailing the
_Berwick Castle_, in response to which two boats were lowered, and,
crowded with men, pulled over to the schooner. Thus reinforced, the
_Tiburon's_ fire breezed up again for a few minutes; then it gradually
slackened again; and finally, when the action had been in progress some
twenty minutes, it died away altogether, the black flag being slowly and
reluctantly hauled down, a minute later, in token of surrender.
"Cease firing, lads," I cried; "the schooner has struck. Now, while the
guns' crews remain here, ready to open fire again, if need be, the rest
of us will go aboard and take possession." And, with a wild cheer, some
thirty of us leaped the ruins of our parapet and dashed headlong down
the steep slope to the little strip of beach where half-a-dozen boats
were drawn partly up out of the water.
To pounce upon those boats, rush them afloat, and then tumble
helter-skelter in over the gunwales was the work of seconds only; then,
throwing out the oars, away we went for the pirate schooner, keeping
well apart, in case of a treacherous resumption of firing on the part of
the pirates. But nothing occurred, everything remained silent--almost
ominously so--on board the schooner, one head only showing above the
torn and splintered bulwarks--that of a man who, apparently wounded,
clung to the main-topmast backstay, seeming to watch our approach. As
we drew nearer that head gradually assumed a recognisable appearance in
my eyes, until at length I felt convinced that it was that of Garcia
himself. Suddenly, as I watched, the fellow disappeared, not as though
he had sunk to the deck exhausted but rather as though he had gone
elsewhere at a run, and with his disappearance a strong suspicion of
some diabolical treachery on his part gripped me. I wrestled with it
for a few seconds--until in fact we were within half-a-dozen fathoms of
the schooner's side; then, influenced by some irresistible impulse, I
sprang to my feet and shouted:
"Hold water all! we will go alongside the ship first, and see what is
the state of things there. The schooner is safe; she cannot escape; but
while we are aboard her who can tell what may be happening aboard the
ship? Round with the boats, men, and pull alongside the Englishman!"
With one accord the boats swept round and headed for the _Berwick
Castle_, and a couple of minutes later we were alongside and swarming up
her lofty sides. I was in the act of swinging in over her rail, in the
wake of her main rigging, when a terrific concussion shook the vessel
from stem to stern, a loud _boom_, like the explosion of a pent volcano,
rent the air, and, looking in the direction of the sound, we saw a vast
sheet of flame and smoke suddenly burst from the schooner; her masts,
guns, and a vast quantity of debris--among which we recognised some
thirty or forty human bodies--went hurtling high into the air; her sides
opened out, showing her ribs here and there black against the white
flame; and then the torn and dismembered hull sank in the midst of the
seething waters of the Cove, followed by the plunging debris as it came
down again after its flight into the air. My instinct had warned me
aright; the man I had seen was, beyond all doubt, Garcia himself; and he
had fired the vessel's magazine in the hope of blowing us all into the
air with him as we boarded!
"By the Living Jingo, sir, that was a lucky thought of yours to order us
to board this ship first!" gasped the boatswain, with white and
quivering lips, as he clung to the rail. "Where would we all ha' been
if we'd gone on and boarded that schooner, as we at first intended to?"
As soon as our somewhat shaken nerves would permit we proceeded to
search the _Berwick Castle_, in the hope of finding some at least of her
crew, but there was no trace of them beyond the seamen's chests in the
forecastle and the clothing of the master and officers in their
respective cabins, all of which showed signs of having been made free
with by the captors; the crew had vanished, to the last man, having
doubtless been offered, in accordance with the pirates' usual policy,
the alternative of service under the black flag, or--death. And
apparently, to their eternal honour, they had chosen the latter.
My story is done, for there is no need to weary the reader with prosaic
details regarding the arrangements which I made for the removal of the
women from the pirate settlement prior to its destruction, or how the
latter was accomplished. Let it suffice me to say that the destruction
was so thorough and complete that no encouragement was left for other
pirates to adopt the place as a rendezvous; and, so far as I am aware,
no other pirates ever attempted to do so.
We sailed for Port Royal that same afternoon, about two hours before
sunset; and just as the great luminary was about to sink gorgeously
beneath the western horizon the wind failed us and afforded me the
opportunity to do something which I very greatly desired to do, namely,
to call upon my friends Don Luis and Dona Inez, the two warm-hearted
friends who had played the Good Samaritan, and treated me with such
generous hospitality, when I had been brought to their house, more dead
than alive, after the loss of the _Wasp_. Thus far I had had no
opportunity to pay them a visit, but now, by a lucky chance, the wind
happened to fail us when we were within a couple of miles of the shore,
and almost exactly abreast of Bella Vista, which was distinctly visible
from the deck of the _Berwick Castle_, in the strong light of the
setting sun.
I took my glass and carefully examined the shore, found the beach upon
which I had been landed, saw that the water was smooth enough to permit
of my landing, and recognised that here was an opportunity to visit my
friends, and express my gratitude for all that they had done for me,
which might never occur again. Next, I turned my glass upon Bella Vista
itself, and saw that the doors and windows were opened, the latter
draped with curtains, and I fancied I could even make out one or more
persons seated under the shadow of the veranda; it was pretty certain,
therefore, that my friends were at home, and I at once made up my mind
to visit them, as I felt that I might with safety, for the calm would
last about two hours, and then the land-breeze would spring up, and the
_Berwick Castle_ could then work close inshore and heave-to until I
should rejoin her.
My preparations were soon made, and within ten minutes of arriving at my
decision to go ashore, having left the boatswain in charge and given him
all necessary instructions, I was in the boat and heading for the beach.
Of course it was quite dark some time before the boat's keel grated
upon the sand; but that fact did not greatly trouble me, for I knew my
way quite well, and had very little difficulty in finding the path which
led up to the house.
The building was by this time lighted up, and as I approached I heard
voices, among which that of Don Luis was easily distinguishable. Then,
as I ascended the steps which led up to the gallery running round the
house, I heard Dona Inez speak, and the next moment she stepped out
through the drawing-room window, and caught sight of me.
For a moment she stopped dead, with a startled look in her eyes; then,
with a little scream of delight she darted forward, seized my hands, and
impulsively kissed me on both cheeks in the Spanish fashion, much to my
embarrassment.
"Luis--Luis," she cried, still holding my hands, "come hither quickly,
_caro mio_, and see the most welcome sight that you have seen for many a
day!"
"Why, yes, of course I will," responded Don Luis. And the next moment
he too stepped out on to the gallery, straight up to me, and, like his
wife, kissed me!
"Welcome! a thousand welcomes, my dear Don Ricardo!" he exclaimed,
snatching my hands from his wife's clasp. "But where on earth have you
sprung from?"
"From yonder," I answered, pointing to seaward where the lantern at the
_Berwick Castle's_ gaff-end shone like a star through the darkness.
"Well, you are just in time for dinner," he exclaimed, "so come in.
There are others here who will rejoice to once more see you whom we
thought dead long ago." And as these two dear, warm-hearted, impulsive
friends dragged me in through the open window I became aware that the
entire Mendouca family were in the drawing-room; and by them, too, I was
very cordially welcomed, though, naturally, with a little more restraint
than that displayed by Don Luis and his wife.
Oh! what a dinner that was, and how genuinely delighted they all were to
see me--not excepting Mama Elisa and Teresita, both of whom insisted
upon seeing me when they learned that I was in the house. Of course I
had to relate to them in detail everything that had happened to me, from
the moment when I went forth to reconnoitre on the memorable day of the
attack on Bella Vista by the blacks, and many and loud were the
ejaculations of amazement as I reached the most telling points of my
story. It appeared that they had waited anxiously for my return, and
had only finally given up hope at nightfall, by which time they had
arrived at the conclusion that the blacks had got me and carried me away
into the mountains to torture me to death. They told me that they had
mourned for me as for a brother, and their delight at finding I still
lived convinced me of the truth of the assertion. Later I learned that
the Mendouca family were still enjoying Don Luis' hospitality, pending
the rebuilding of Montpelier.
It was not until after ten o'clock that night that I succeeded in
dragging myself away from Bella Vista, and only then upon the promise,
which I most willingly gave, to keep in touch with them by letter, and
repeat my visit as often as possible. But so far as the latter part of
my promise was concerned, fate was against me, for I never again was
privileged to meet any of them.
It was six bells of the first watch when I reached the _Berwick Castle_,
by which time the land-breeze was piping up strong; and as soon as the
boat was hoisted to the davits we filled away for Port Royal, where we
arrived in due course, and landed our prisoners, to the number of
twenty-three. Three weeks later they underwent their trial for piracy
on the high seas, and, the evidence against them being overwhelming,
they were all hanged at Gallows Point a fortnight after their
conviction.
As for me and my crew, we obtained full and even generous recognition
for our exploit, the merchants of the various West Indian islands
combining together to present me with an exceedingly handsome service of
plate, and to subscribe to a purse the contents of which was to be
divided _pro rata_ among the other officers and men of the expedition.
The Admiral was good enough to express unbounded satisfaction at what he
was pleased to term "the unusual skill and discretion" with which the
task of exterminating a most formidable nest of pirates had been carried
out; and he took considerable pains to afford me an early opportunity,
not only to undergo the formalities of a court-martial for the loss of
the _Wasp_, but also to pass my examination. Immediately after this
latter event he presented me with my commission to a crack frigate; and
in her I subsequently saw much exciting service, lasting up to the
short-lived peace of Amiens, toward the end of the year 1801, by which
time I had attained to the rank of post-captain. But although many of
my subsequent experiences as an officer of the British Royal Navy were
sufficiently strange and exciting, it was never again my lot to cross
swords with a pirate; for "pirating" became an occupation to be shunned,
so far as the West Indian waters were concerned, for several years after
the memorable example made by the British Government in the inexorable
hunting down and destruction of the notorious Garcia, the pirate of
Hayti, and his formidable band.