When the British fleet bore down on Algiers on the morning of the 27th
of August 1816, there was barely sufficient wind to carry it within
sight of the town. While lying becalmed in the _Queen Charlotte_, Lord
Exmouth sent in a boat and a flag of truce with the terms dictated by
England, and a demand for the immediate release of the consul and the
officers and men belonging to the _Prometheus_.
About the same time a small boat was observed by those on board the
fleet to put off from the shore to the northward, which, pulling right
across the town, made straight for the flag-ship. It was manned by a
solitary rower, who, as he drew near, was recognised by his costume to
be an Arab.
A four-oared boat shot out from the mole-head as if to intercept this
solitary rower, and a short but inspiriting chase ensued. It was seen
that at first the Arab paid no attention whatever to the boat in
pursuit, but kept up the slow regular stroke of one who felt quite
unconcerned and at his ease. The boat in chase overhauled it fast, and
when within shout a gunshot the Turk in the stern stood up and hailed
the Arab in stern, angry tones, but no reply was vouchsafed.
Exasperated beyond measure, the Turk levelled a pistol at the Arab and
fired, but missed his aim, and was driven almost frantic with rage on
observing that the insolent Arab dropped his oar for an instant, and
kissed his hand to the ball as it skipped past.
Immediately after the Turk was heard to shout an order to his men, who
thereupon redoubled their efforts to overtake the chase. At the same
instant the Arab was observed to bend well forward, and almost double
the length of his stroke, so that the little craft, which had hitherto
skimmed over the calm sea, now began to leap, as it were, in successive
bounds.
"I say, Bill, _don't_ he pull well?" exclaimed one of the tars on board
the _Queen Charlotte_.
"Splendiferous!" replied Bill, in great admiration; "an' I do believe
that he's creepin' away from the Turk."
This was true; the Arab was steadily increasing the distance between
himself and his pursuers, until at last the latter gave up the chase, a
consummation which was greeted by some of the excitable spirits in the
_Queen Charlotte_ with an irresistible though subdued cheer.
In a short time the Arab rowed alongside the flag-ship.
"Och! Ally ma boo hookum foldimaronky bang," said the Arab, looking up.
"Well, now," exclaimed a surprised Irish tar on board to those near him,
"it's often. I've heard that the Arabs had the brogue of Owld Ireland,
though the lingo don't square exactly."
"Ah then, brother, that's 'cause ye don't onderstand it. Sure ye might
heave us a rope," replied the Arab with a grin.
A roar of laughter greeted this speech, and in another minute Ted
Flaggan stood bowing modestly on the quarter-deck of the flag-ship.
While the Admiral was closeted with this unexpected visitor--whose name
and deeds, owing to some strange oversight, have been omitted from
history,--a light breeze sprang up, which enabled the fleet to stand
into the bay and lay-to about a mile from the town.
Meanwhile, Ted Flaggan, having given the Admiral all the information he
possessed as to the condition of the city and its defences, was sent
forward to take part in the expected fight, or go below out of harm's
way, as suited him best. He immediately attached himself, as a
supernumerary, to one of the upper-deck guns, and, while giving his
amused comrades graphic accounts of life in the pirate city, obtained
from them in return a full account of the fleet, and the intentions of
the Admiral, as far as these were known. He found his comrades very
intelligent, and full of enthusiasm about their leader, whom one of the
tars styled "one of the wery best Admirals that England ever owned arter
Lord Nelson!"
Their admiration was well deserved.
We have already said that the Admiral had commissioned his fleet and got
it into excellent working condition in what was deemed a miraculously
short space of time. This, however, was accomplished by no miraculous
means, but by the simple force of indomitable energy, rightly and
perseveringly applied.
Knowing that the time was short, and that a fleet newly manned could not
work well without a great deal of training, he made up for the shortness
of time by not allowing a single moment of it to be lost, frittered
away, or misapplied. Besides giving the men the usual and proper
training while in port preparing to sail, he made several arrangements
whereby he continued the training most effectively on the voyage out.
Of course it was carried on daily. On Tuesdays and Fridays the ships
were cleared for action, and six broadsides were fired, but this was
only what may be styled parade practice. Feeling that actual work could
only be done well by men of actual experience, he had a twelve-pounder
gun placed on the after part of the _Queen Charlotte's_ quarter-deck,
and hung a small target, with a very small bull's-eye, at the end of the
fore-topmast studding-sail boom, at which all the captains of guns
practised every day, so that they acquired not only the habit of laying
and working their guns according to rule, but also the art of laying
them to good purpose, and many of them became crack shots before they
came within sight of the enemy.
The crews were thus kept active and elated; in good health, and filled
with respect for the wisdom and knowledge of those in command, as well
as with confidence in their own capacity to obey orders with
promptitude, unity of action, and vigorous effect.
Half the battles of life, moral as well as physical, are gained by such
confidence, founded on experience,--the other half are lost for want of
it!
The fleet comprised five line-of-battle ships, two of which were
three-deckers; three heavy and two smaller frigates, besides small
craft. At Gibraltar they fell in with a Dutch squadron, consisting of
five small frigates and a corvette, under Vice-Admiral the Baron Van de
Capellen, who asked and obtained leave to co-operate.
There were the _Queen Charlotte_--110 guns--the flag-ship of Admiral
Lord Exmouth, G.C.B., under Captain James Brisbane, C.B.; _Impregnable_,
98--under Rear-Admiral Milne, who was second in command, and Captain
Edward Brace, C.B.; _Superb_, 74--Captain Charles Elkins; _Minden_, 74--
Captain William Paterson; _Albion_, 74--Captain John Coode. Of
frigates, there were the _Leander_, 50 guns; _Severn_, 40; _Glasgow_,
40; _Granicus_, 36; and _Hebrus_, 36. These, with five gun-brigs and
four bomb-vessels, named respectively, and not inappropriately,
_Beelzebub_, _Fury_, _Hecla_, and _Infernal_, constituted the British
fleet.
The Dutch Admiral hoisted his flag in the _Melampus_ frigate of 44 guns.
The _Frederica_, of same size, was commanded by Captain Van der
Straten. The other four vessels were smaller. There were, besides, a
flotilla of fifty-five small craft, including mortar and gun-boats,
rocket flats, yawls, etcetera.
Opposed to this, which the reader will bear in remembrance was deemed a
small fleet, there were on the walls and batteries of Algiers about 500
guns of all sizes and sorts, behind which were inexhaustible supplies of
ammunition, and many thousands of as thorough-going rascals as ever
defied the strength and tried the patience of the civilised world!
Being thoroughly acquainted with the position and strength of the
batteries of the city, Lord Exmouth had arranged the plan of attack, and
assigned to each ship and boat its particular station some days before
arriving. The addition of the Dutch fleet modified but did not
materially alter that plan. Each individual, therefore, from Lord
Exmouth to the smallest powder-monkey, was as well primed for action as
were the guns of the fleet when the flag of truce returned.
It had been met outside the mole about eleven AM by the captain of the
port, and an answer was promised in two hours.
But these pirates had never been celebrated for keeping their word. One
o'clock passed, but no answer was forthcoming. Patient and
long-suffering as usual--and as he always is--the British Lion delayed a
full hour.
"Ah, boys, if we wait till we git a peaceful answer from them villains,
we'll wait till doomsday, so we will," said Ted Flaggan to the men of
the gun to which he had attached himself.
Ted had thrown off his burnous and washed himself by this time, and now,
clad in a borrowed pair of ducks and striped shirt, he stood by the gun
commenting pleasantly on his experiences of Algerine life, and pointing
out the various buildings and objects of interest in the city to his
mates.
"That big white house there," said he, "right fornint ye, with the round
top an' the staple all to wan side--that's wan o' the chief mosques.
It's somewhere about two hunderd year ould, more or less, an' was built
by a slave--a poor feller of a Genoese--an', would you belave it, they
kilt him for the shape he gave it! Ah, they're a bad lot intirely!
Like a dacent Christian, he made it in the shape o' a cross, an' whin
the Dey found that out he chopped the poor man's head off--so he did,
worse luck! but it's that they're always doin', or stranglin' ye wid a
bow-string, or makin' calf's-futt jelly o' yer soles.--What! `Ye don't
belave it?' Faix, if ye go ashore ye'll larn to belave it. I've seed
poor owld women git the bastinado--that's what they calls it--for
nothin' at all a'most. Ah, they're awful hard on the women. They kape
'em locked up, they does, as if they was thieves or murderers, and niver
lets 'em out--at least the ladies among 'em--for fear o' their bein'
runned away wid. It's true what I'm sayin'. An' if wan shud be runned
away wid, an' cotched, they ties her in a sack and drowns her.--
Good-lookin', is it? Faix, that's more than I can tell 'ee, for all the
time I've been in the place I've never wance seed a Moorish woman's
face, barrin' the brow an' eyes and top o' the nose, for they cover 'em
up wid white veils, so as to make 'em look like ghosts or walkin'
corpses. But the Jewesses show their purty faces, an' so do the
naigresses.--`are the naigresses purty?' Troth, they may be to their
own kith an' kin, but of all the ugly--Well, well, as you say, it's not
fair to be hard on 'em, poor critters; for arter all they didn't make
theirselves, no more than the monkeys did."
Ted Flaggan was interrupted here by the sudden exclamation of "There she
is!" and the next moment the boat with the flag of truce was seen
returning with the signal flying--"No answer."
Instantly Lord Exmouth signalled to the fleet, "Are you ready?" to which
an affirmative reply was at once returned, and then each ship and boat
bore down on its appointed station.
We have already said that the harbour of Algiers was formed by the
running out of an artificial pier from the mainland to the small island
of Penon, which lies close to the town. On this island stood, (and
still stands), a light-house, at the base of which was a powerful
three-tier battery of fifty guns. The island itself was defended all
round by ramparts and batteries of heavy guns. This was the strong
point of the fortifications, and within the small harbour thus formed
was collected the whole Algerine fleet, consisting of four frigates,
five large corvettes, and thirty-seven gun-boats.
But besides these harbour defences, the sea-wall of the town extended
nearly a mile to the southward and a considerable distance to the
northward of the harbour, being everywhere strengthened by powerful
batteries. The arrangement of the British Admiral was that each battery
should be engaged by a special ship or ships of heavy metal, and that
the smaller vessels should take up position where they could find room,
or cruise about and do as much damage to the enemy as possible. While
the liners and frigates were to batter down the walls, the small craft--
bomb and rocket boats, etcetera--were to pour shells and rockets into
the arsenal. It was terrible work that had to be done, but the curse
which it was intended to do away with was more terrible by far, because
of being an old standing evil, and immeasurably more prolific of death
and misery than is even a hard-fought battle.
The signal to go into action being given, Lord Exmouth led the van in
the _Queen Charlotte_, and the whole fleet bore up in succession, the
Dutch Admiral closing in with the rearmost ship of the English line.
Truly it was a grand as well as a solemn sight to see these majestic
ships of war sail quietly down on the devoted city in the midst of dead
silence, for as yet not a shot had been fired on either side. And the
eyes of many, already wide with eagerness, must have opened wider still
with surprise, for Lord Exmouth pursued a course of action that was bold
even for a British Admiral. He ran the _Queen Charlotte_ before the
wind, close up to the walls, and with the sails still standing let go
three anchors from the stern, so as to keep her exactly in the required
position, just before the opening of the mole, and with her vast
broadside _within pistol-range_ of the walls, flanking all the batteries
from the mole-head to the light-house.
Still no shot was fired. The boldness of the act seemed to have
confounded and paralysed the enemy, insomuch that a second ship of the
line had almost taken her position close to the stern of her predecessor
before the battle began. The effect on the minds of the combatants on
both sides was so great that they seemed to have forgotten for an
instant the dread work they were about to perform. The mole was crowded
with troops, many of whom, with irresistible feelings of curiosity,
leaped on the parapet to see the vessel pass, while Lord Exmouth, with a
strange touch of humanity, waved to them earnestly to get out of the way
of the coming fire!
Having coolly lashed the ship by a hawser to the main-mast of an
Algerine brig which was attached to the shore, and stoppered the cables,
the crew of the flag-ship cheered.
Immediately a gun was fired by the Algerines. At the first flash Lord
Exmouth gave the order to "stand by."