Nelson_ privateer of Plymouth; but eight days after, when the privateer
had put into Falmouth, was pressed by an officer of the _Recruit_, which
soon after sailed for the West Indies. Jeffery was a skulking,
ill-conditioned fellow, who was caught stealing a bottle of rum and was
punished for it, and by his own acknowledgment, on December 10th, went
to the spruce-beer cask and drew off about two quarts. A shipmate saw
and informed against Jeffery, and Captain Lake ordered the sergeant of
marines to "put him in the black list," and he had the word _Thief_
painted on a bit of canvas and affixed to his back.
Edward Spencer, master, told his captain that the fellow was no good
on board, and that the best thing that could be done with him was to
put him on shore.
On the 13th December the _Recruit_ was passing the island of Sombrero,
that lies between the islet of Anyada in the Puerta Virgin Islands and
that of Anguella in the Lesser Antilles group. It was towards evening
between five and six of the afternoon. Captain Lake then ordered Jeffery
to be brought on deck, and saying that he would not keep such a
worthless scoundrel on the ship, gave orders to Lieutenant Mould to have
out the boat and convey Jeffery on shore. Neither the captain nor any of
the crew knew that the island was desert and waterless. They believed
that it was inhabited by a few fishermen, and in the evening light
mistook some rocks on shore for houses. Accordingly, a little before 6
p.m., Jeffery was placed in a boat along with the second lieutenant of
the brig, Richard Cotten Mould, a midshipman, and four sailors, and
landed on Sombrero, without shoes to his feet, or any other clothes than
those on his back, and without even a biscuit for food.
Lieutenant Mould, seeing that the lad's feet were cut and bleeding by
stepping on the sharp-pointed rocks, begged a pair of shoes for him from
one of the seamen, and gave him his knife and a couple of handkerchiefs,
to be made use of as signals, and advised him to keep a sharp look-out
for passing vessels. Then he pulled back to the _Recruit_.
Captain Lake was possibly suffering from what would now be termed a
"swollen head." His father, a gallant officer, but of no great
descent, for his services in the Maharatta war had been created Baron
Lake of Delhi and of Aston Clinton, Bucks, in 1804, and had received
thanks for his services by both Houses of Parliament. His elder
brother had married the sister of Charles, Earl of Whitworth, and his
father had been granted an augmentation of arms, a fish naiant in
fesse, to represent the fish of the Great Mogul, pierced with shafts.
Lake was a hot-headed man, and he had just dined. That he intended to
commit an act of barbarity is far from the truth. Jeffery was a
nuisance of which he desired to free the ship, and the opportunity
offered, and he took advantage of it without stopping to inquire what
was the nature of the island on which he left the young man.
On reaching the Leeward Islands, where Sir Alexander Cochrane was in
command of the squadron, that officer heard of what Lake had done,
promptly reprimanded him, and ordered him to return to Sombrero and
fetch off Jeffery.
On February 11th, 1809, the _Recruit_ anchored off the island, and her
officers landed and searched it over, but neither Jeffery nor his body
could be found. A pair of trousers and a tomahawk handle were the only
vestiges of humanity discoverable. The island, however, abounded in
turtle and wild birds and their eggs, but the water was brackish.
For eight days, in fact, Jeffery had wandered over the hump of rock
and sand that constituted the islet of Sombrero, and lived on limpets
and eggs, and drunk the water collected in fissures of the rock. He
does not seem to have been given flint and steel, and the means of
making a fire, so that he could not feast on turtle and puffins; but,
indeed, there were no trees, consequently hardly any fuel available
for cooking a dinner.
He saw several vessels pass, and indeed Sombrero was in the track of
merchant vessels, but he failed to make them observe his signals. At
length, on the morning of the ninth day, the schooner _Adams_, of
Marblehead, Massachusetts, John Dennis master, came to the island and
took the fellow off, and landed him at Marblehead, where he worked at
a forge. Little conscious that he was like to be made political
capital of and to become of consequence, he did not even trouble to
write home to Polperro to announce his safety and his whereabouts.
Sir A. Cochrane was satisfied that the man could not have died on
Sombrero, as his body was not discovered, nor was he likely to die on
an island abounding in turtles and eggs; he concluded that he had been
carried away by one of the many ships that passed. He convinced
himself that Captain Lake had been guilty of an illegal act, but had
not desired to do one that was cruel, and he hoped that the matter
would be forgotten after he had administered a reprimand.
But the story got about. It reached England. A busybody, Charles M.
Thomas, who had been purser on board H.M. sloop _Demarara_, but had
been imprisoned on suspicion that he had defrauded the Government,
wrote home to Mr. C. Bathurst, brother of the M.P. for Bristol, to
this effect: "I deem it a duty I owe to humanity, to inform you that
Captain Lake, when commander of the _Recruit_, set a man belonging to
that vessel on shore at Sombrero, an uninhabited island in the
Atlantic Archipelago, where he died through hunger, or otherwise, for
more was never heard of him. This was known to Sir A. Cochrane, who
suffered this _titled murderer_ to escape, and he is now in command of
the _Ulysses_." The letter was dated March 24th, 1809, more than a
year after Jeffery had been left on Sombrero. Its purport was obvious
enough. Thomas wanted to be revenged on Cochrane for looking into the
matter of his alleged frauds.
The fat was now in the fire. Sir Francis Burdett took the matter up,
the Radicals throughout the country made immense capital out of the
starving to death of a poor seaman by a member of a noble family. The
case was kept perseveringly before the public, so that the Government
was constrained to issue orders for a strict inquiry to be made as to
whether Jeffery was still alive or dead.
Presently an account was received, purporting to be by Jeffery, giving
information relative to his rescue and his condition in America; but
as to this was appended a cross for his signature, whereas Jeffery was
known to have been able to write, the public were led to suspect that
this was a fabrication contrived by Lake's relatives and friends.
To settle the matter finally, a ship was despatched to bring Jeffery
home, and he arrived at Portsmouth in October, 1810, three years after
his adventure in Sombrero, and to find himself the hero of a party. On
October 22nd he attended at the Admiralty, where he received his
discharge, and had the "R" taken off his name, by which he became
entitled to all arrears of pay. The family of Captain Lake made him
liberal compensation for the very slight hardships he had undergone,
but which in Jeffery's own account and in that of his partisans were
magnified enormously.
On the 5th and 6th of February, 1810, a court-martial assembled on
board the _Gladiator_ at Portsmouth to try Captain Lake for having
abandoned a seaman on a desert and uninhabited island. Captain Lake
complained that the witnesses whom he might have summoned to speak for
him were away in various ships in different parts of the world. He
produced a letter signed by all the officers of the _Ulysses_, the
vessel he then commanded, protesting that he was humane and incapable
of doing an act of wanton cruelty.
At this time it was not known whether Jeffery was alive or dead.
Captain Lake made a manly defence. "You will be pleased to recollect
the evidence of Mr. Spencer, the chief witness on the part of the
prosecution, on this point. He himself advised me to get the man out
of the ship, and I declare that, by landing him, I thought he would be
made more sensible of his want of conduct, and reform in future. I was
persuaded at the time that the island was inhabited; in addition to
which, I cannot but suppose it within your knowledge that the island
is not out of reach of human assistance. I need not state that it is
within the track of vessels on particular destinations, and which
frequently pass within hail of the island. Jeffery found this to be
the case, and there is no reason to doubt but that he was taken off
the island; for on a search being made for him there afterwards, one
of the witnesses states expressly that not a trace of him was to be
found, which I cannot conceive could have been the case if he had
perished there, as is most unwarrantably asserted by Thomas.
Gentlemen, I have no doubt he was conveyed to America in perfect
safety. I myself verily believe he is in England at this moment,
consigned (as it were) to the merchants who, perhaps, are keeping him
concealed till the edict of the court-martial is known, and then he
may be let loose upon me, to seek a compensation in damages by an
action at law. The place of his concealment, however, has hitherto
eluded the diligence of my agents."
He appealed to the official report made to the Admiralty at the time
by Sir A. Cochrane: "Be pleased to consider attentively the statement
made by this official communication; contrast it with the letter of
Thomas, and then decide whether he was warranted in asserting that
Robert Jeffery had perished through the inhumanity of one whom he has
thought proper to describe as a 'titled murderer.'"
The court-martial pronounced sentence: "Pursuant to an order from the
Right Honourable Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated 3rd
February instant, and directed to the President, setting forth that a
letter had been addressed to their Lordships by the Right Hon. Charles
Bathurst, enclosing a letter to him from Mr. Charles Morgan Thomas,
dated 24th March, 1809 ... and having heard evidence produced in
support of the charge, and by the said Hon. Warwick Lake in his
Defence ... the Court is of opinion, That the charge has been proved
against the said Hon. Warwick Lake, and doth adjudge him to be
dismissed from His Majesty's service; and the said Hon. Warwick Lake
is hereby dismissed from His Majesty's service."
In 1836 the Hon. Warwick Lake succeeded to the viscounty, and died in
1848, leaving behind him only two daughters, one unmarried, the other
married to a Gloag. He was certainly very hardly treated, and as
certainly an utterly worthless scoundrel was exalted into a hero.
Jeffery returned to Polperro, where he was received with curiosity.
There his antecedents were well known, and the value of his statements
of terrible privation taken for what they were worth. Elsewhere he
received an enthusiastic ovation. He hired himself out to be "run" by
speculators at some of the minor theatres in London as "Jeffery the
Sailor." After a few months he returned to Polperro with money enough
in his pocket to enable him to purchase a small schooner for the
coasting trade.
The speculation did not answer his expectations. He fell into
consumption, and died in 1820, leaving a wife and daughter in great
penury. He was a mean, not to say a despicable creature, who was used
for political purposes, and when he had served these was allowed to
drop into his proper insignificance.
Authorities are a _Life of Robert Jeffery_, published by B. Crosby,
1811. An _Account of R. Jeffery_, published by J. Pitt, 1811.
_A Narrative of the Life of Robert Jeffery_, with portrait, 1810.
Couch, J.: _History of Polperro_, edited by J. Q. Couch, 1870.
James's _Naval History_, 1876, Vol. IV.
Cobbett's _Political Register_, 1810, pp. 396-415, 459-464.
Cobbett gives a report of the courts-martial.
The story was also given in Chambers's _Edinburgh Journal_, 1848, pp.
147-51.
ADMIRAL RICHARD DARTON
THOMAS
Richard Darton Thomas was born at Saltash on 2nd June, 1777, son of
Charles and Mary Thomas of that place. Drinking in the sea air, living
in the midst of sailors and fisher-folk, he early took a fancy for the
sea, and entered as an able-bodied seaman in the Royal Navy, in 1790,
at the age of thirteen. His intelligence, his pleasant manners, won
the regard of his officers and he was raised to be midshipman in 1792,
and became master's mate in the ensuing year. He was in the _Boyne_
under Sir John Jervis when Martinique was captured, and on the return
of the _Boyne_ to England, he was on board when that vessel was burnt
at Spithead, 1st May, 1795. The marines had been exercising and firing
on the windward side, and it is supposed that some ignited paper of
the cartridges flew through the quarter-galley into the admiral's
cabin and communicated with the papers lying about on the table. It
was at 11 a.m. that the fire broke out, the flames bursting through
the poop before the fire was discovered, and it spread so rapidly that
in less than half an hour this fine ship, in spite of every exertion
of the officers and crew, was in a blaze fore and aft. As soon as the
fire was discovered by the fleet, all the boats of the ships proceeded
to the assistance of the _Boyne_, and the whole of the numerous crew,
except eleven, were saved.
The _Boyne's_ guns being loaded went off as they became heated,
discharging their shot among the shipping, whereby two men were killed
and one wounded on board the _Queen Charlotte_. At about half-past one
the _Boyne_ burnt from her cables and drifted to the east with a
streamer of fire and smoke pouring from her; she then grounded and
continued to burn till six o'clock, when the fire reached her magazine
and she blew up. This, as Captain Brenton wrote, "offered one of the
most magnificent sights that can be conceived. The afternoon was
perfectly calm and the sky clear; the flames which darted from her in
a perpendicular column of great height were terminated by an opaque
white cloud like a round cap, while the air was filled with fragments
of wreck in every direction, and the stump of the foremast was seen
above the smoke descending to the water."
We next find Thomas serving as lieutenant on board the _Excellent_,
commanded by Captain Collingwood, in the battle off Cape S. Vincent. It
was intended that the Spanish fleet should join that of Brest, if this
latter could get out, then if joined by the Dutch fleet, cover the
transports that would convey an invading army to England. But, as
Touchstone wisely said, there is "much virtue in _If_." Sir John Jervis
fell in with the Spanish fleet of twenty-seven sail of the line, on
February 14th, 1797, as it had just issued from Cadiz. The English had
only fifteen men-of-war; but the greater part of the Spanish crew were
about equally destitute of seamanship and spirit, and Nelson had said
just before the breaking out of the war with Spain, that if her fleet
were no better now than when it acted in alliance with us it would "soon
be done for." By breaking the line, by battering and boarding, four
Spanish ships of the line, including one of 112 guns, were taken; and
all the rest were driven into Cadiz and there blockaded.
During the action the _Excellent_, on which Richard Thomas was
lieutenant, was acknowledged by Nelson to have taken a very
distinguished share, and to have rendered him the most effectual support
in the hottest part of the battle, as will be seen by the following note
which he addressed to her commander, and an extract from his own account
of the transactions in which he himself was personally engaged.
His note ran: "Dear Collingwood,--A friend in need is a friend indeed."
Nelson's account of the assistance he received from the _Excellent_
runs thus:--
"At this time (about 2.15 p.m.) the _Salvador del Mundo_ and _San
Esidero_ dropped astern, and were fired into, in a masterly style, by
the _Excellent_, Captain Collingwood, who compelled the _San Esidero_
to hoist English colours; and I thought the large ship, the _Salvador
del Mundo_, had also struck, but Captain Collingwood, disdaining the
parade of taking possession of a vanquished enemy, most gallantly
pushed up, with every sail set, to save his old friend and messmate,
who was to appearance in a critical state, the _Blenheim_ being ahead,
the _Culloden_ crippled and astern. The _Excellent_ ranged up within
two feet of the _San Nicholas_, giving a most tremendous fire. The
_San Nicholas_ luffing up, the _San Josef_ fell on board her; and the
_Excellent_ passing on for the _Santa Trinidada_, the Captain resumed
her station abreast of these, and close alongside."
The _Excellent_, in fact, succeeded in getting close under the lee of
the _Santissima Trinidada_, mounting 130 guns, and engaged her for
nearly an hour, assisted by the _Orion_, the _Irresistible_, and the
_Blenheim_. The huge vessel was compelled to haul down her colours, but
the approach of thirteen other Spanish ships prevented her opponents
from profiting by the advantage they had gained. The total loss on the
_Excellent_ amounted to eleven men killed and a dozen wounded.
We need not follow Richard D. Thomas through his various changes of
ships. He was mainly with Collingwood, whose flag, as Rear-Admiral of
the White, was flying on board the _Barfleur_, of ninety-eight guns.
With him he remained on Channel service till the suspension of
hostilities in 1802. He was given the rank of commander in 1803, when
in the _Chichester_ off Halifax.
Returning from Nova Scotia, as a passenger on board the packet _Lady
Hobart_, commanded by Captain Fellowes, he experienced shipwreck and
terrible hardships, by the vessel running on an iceberg.
After giving an account of his sailing from Halifax, June 22nd, 1803,
and the capture of a French schooner laden with salt fish on the 26th,
Captain Fellowes says:--
"_Tuesday, 28th June._--Blowing hard from the westward, with a heavy
sea and hazy weather, with intervals of thick fog. About 1 a.m. the
ship, then going by the log at the rate of seven miles an hour, struck
against an island of ice with such violence that several of the crew
were pitched out of their hammocks. Being roused out of my sleep by
the suddenness of the shock, I instantly ran upon the deck. The helm
being put hard aport, the ship struck again about the chest-tree, then
swung round on her keel, her stern-post being stove in, and her rudder
carried away before we could succeed in an attempt to haul her off. At
this time the island of ice appeared to hang quite over the ship,
possessing a high peak, which must have been at least twice the
height of our masthead; and we suppose the length of the island to
have been from a quarter to half a mile.
"The sea was now breaking over the ice in a dreadful manner, the water
rushing in so fast as to fill the hold in a few minutes. Hove the guns
overboard, cut away the anchors from the bows, got two sails under the
ship's bottom, kept both pumps going, and baling with buckets at the
main hatchway, in the hope of preventing her from sinking; but in less
than a quarter of an hour she settled down in her forechains in the
water.
"Our situation was now become most perilous. Aware of the danger of a
moment's delay in hoisting out the boats, I consulted Captain Thomas
of the Navy, and Mr. Bargus, my master, as to the propriety of making
any further attempts to save the ship."
Both declared that nothing effectual could be done to the vessel
herself, and that, as every moment was precious, the boats should be
got out and manned. Of these there were two, the cutter and the
jolly-boat, and the ladies were placed in the former.
Captain Fellowes expressed himself afterwards warmly of the ability
and readiness with which Captain Thomas aided him. In bringing the
ladies into the cutter, one of them, Miss Cottenham, was so terrified
that she sprang from the wreck and pitched in the bottom of the boat
with considerable violence. This accident might have been serious, but
happily she was not injured.
"The few provisions which had been saved from the men's berths were
then put into the boats. By this time the main deck forward was under
water, and nothing but the quarter-deck appeared; I then ordered my
men into the boats.
"The ship was sinking fast, and I called to the men to haul up and
receive me, intending to drop into the cutter from the end of the
trysail boom.
"The sea was running so high at the time we hoisted out the boats that
I scarcely flattered myself we should get them out safely; and,
indeed, nothing but the steady and orderly conduct of the crew could
have enabled us to effect so difficult and hazardous an undertaking;
it is a justice to them to observe that not a man in the ship
attempted to make use of the liquor, which every one had in his power.
"We had scarce quitted the ship when she suddenly gave a heavy lurch
to port, and then went down foremost. I cannot attempt to describe my
own feelings, or the sensations of my people, exposed as we were, in
two small open boats, upon the great Atlantic Ocean, bereft of all
assistance but that which our own exertions, under Providence, could
afford us, we narrowly escaped being swallowed up in the vortex.
"We rigged the foremast, and prepared to shape our course in the best
manner that circumstances would admit of, the wind blowing from the
precise point on which it was necessary to sail to reach the nearest
land. An hour had scarcely elapsed from the time the ship struck till
she foundered. The distribution of the crew had already been made in
the following order, which we afterwards preserved:--
"In the cutter were embarked three ladies and myself, Captain Richard
Thomas; the French commander of the schooner; the master's mate,
gunner, steward, carpenter, and eight seamen; in all eighteen people,
whose weight, together with the provisions, brought the boat's gunwale
down to within six or seven inches of the water. From this confined
space some idea may be formed of our crowded state; but it is
scarcely possible for the imagination to conceive the extent of our
sufferings in consequence.
"In the jolly-boat were embarked Mr. Samuel Bargus, master;
Lieut.-Colonel George Cocks, of the 1st Regiment of Guards;[16] the
boatswain, sailmaker, and seven seamen--in all eleven persons.
"The only provisions, etc., we were enabled to save consisted of
between forty and fifty pounds of biscuits, one vessel containing five
gallons of water, a small jug of the same, and part of a small barrel
of spruce beer; one demi-john of rum, a few bottles of port wine, with
two compasses, a quadrant, a spy-glass, a small tin mug, and a
wine-glass. The deck lantern, which had a few spare candles in it, had
been likewise thrown into the boat; and the cook having had the
precaution to secure the tinder-box and some matches that were kept in
a bladder, we were afterwards enabled to steer by night.
"The wind was now blowing strong from the westward, with a heavy sea,
and the day just dawned. Estimating ourselves to be at the distance of
350 miles from S. John's, Newfoundland, with a prospect of a
continuance of westerly winds, it became necessary to use the
strictest economy. I represented to my companions in distress that our
resolution, once made, ought on no account to be changed, and that we
must begin by suffering privations, which I foresaw would be greater
than I ventured to explain. To each person, therefore, were served out
half a biscuit and a glass of wine, which was the only allowance for
the ensuing twenty-four hours, all agreeing to leave the water
untouched as long as possible."
On the following day even this small allowance had to be contracted,
in consequence of the biscuit being much damaged by salt water during
the night. "Soon after daylight we made sail, with the jolly-boat in
tow, and stood close-hauled to the northward and westward, in the hope
of reaching the coast of Newfoundland or of being picked up by some
vessel. Passed two islands of ice. We now said prayers, and returned
thanks to God for our deliverance."
It was now the 4th July. The sufferings of those in the boats became
excessive. The commander of the French schooner that had been captured
went mad, and threw himself overboard. One of the French prisoners
became so outrageous that it was found necessary to lash him to the
bottom of the boat.