"Ships are but boards, sailors but men;
There be land rats, and water rats, water thieves,
And land thieves; I mean pirates."
SHAKESPEARE.
Most prophetical was the remark made by Newton Forster to Isabel, previous
to the action: to wit, that it would make or mar him. The death of Captain
Oughton, and the spirited defence of the _Windsor Castle_, were the
_making_ of Newton Forster. As a subordinate officer, he might have been
obliged to toil many years before he could have ascended to the summit of
the ladder of promotion; and during the time which he remained in that
situation, what chance had he of making an independence, and proposing for
the hand of Isabel Revel? But now that, by a chain of circumstances
peculiarly fortuitous, he was in command of an East Indiaman, returning
home after having beat off a vessel of equal if not superior force, and
preserved a cargo of immense value, he felt confident that he not only
would be confirmed to the rank which he was now called upon to assume, but
that he had every prospect of being employed. As a captain of an Indiaman,
he was aware that reception into society, wealth, and consideration awaited
him; and what made his heart to swell with gratitude and exultation, was
the feeling that soon he would be enabled to aspire to the hand of one to
whom he had so long been ardently attached.
As the _Windsor Castle_ plunged through the roaring and complaining seas,
with all the impetus of weight in motion, Newton's eyes were radiant with
hope, although his demeanour towards Isabel was, from the peculiar
circumstances attending their situation, more delicately reserved than
before.
When the _Windsor Castle_ touched at St Helena, Newton had the good fortune
to obtain a supply of able seamen, more than sufficient for the re-manning
of his ship. They had been sent there in an empty brig by a French
privateer, who had captured many vessels, and had been embarrassed with the
number of her prisoners. Having obtained the stores which were required,
Newton lost no time in prosecuting his voyage to England.
It was about a fortnight after they had quitted St Helena that a strange
sail was reported on the starboard bow; and as they neared her, it was
evident that her foremast was gone, and that she was otherwise in a
disabled state. When the Indiaman was within a mile, the stranger threw out
neutral colours, and hoisted a whiff, half-mast down, as a signal that she
was in distress. Newton ordered the ship to be kept away, and when
alongside of the vessel, lowered down a boat, and sent the third mate to
ascertain what assistance could be afforded. With sailors, thank God!
distress is sufficient to obtain assistance, and the nation or country are
at once merged in that feeling of sympathy for those misfortunes which may
perhaps but the next hour befall ourselves. The boat returned; and the
officer informed Newton that the vessel was from the Island of Bourbon,
bound to Hamburg; that she had been dismasted and severely injured in a
gale off the Cape of Good Hope; and that when her mast went over the side,
one-half of her crew, who were up at the time on the fore-yard, had been
cast overboard and drowned; that from the want of men and material, they
had been unable to rig an effective jury-mast, and had in consequence been
so long on their passage that their provisions and water were nearly
expended. The officer concluded by stating that there were a French lady
and two gentlemen, with their attendants, who had taken their passage home
in the vessel. Newton immediately went down the side, and pulled on board
of the vessel to ascertain what assistance could be afforded. When he
arrived on board, he was met by the Flemish captain, who commenced a
statement of his misfortunes and his difficulties, when the French lady,
who, unobserved by Newton, had come up the companion-ladder, screamed out
as she ran into his arms--
"Ah! mon Dieu!--c'est Monsieur Nu-tong!"
Newton looked at the lady, who had burst into tears, as her face lay upon
his shoulder, and immediately recognised his former kind and affectionate
friend, Madame de Fontanges: close to him, with his hand extended, was her
generous husband. The meeting was joyful, and Newton was delighted that
circumstances had enabled him to render assistance to those who had been so
kind to him in his former distress.
"Oh! Monsieur Nu-tong, nous avons tant soufferts! Ah! mon Dieu!--point de
l'eau--rien à manger," cried Madame de Fontanges: then smiling through her
tears, "mais ce rencontre est charmant;--n'est ce pas, mon ami?" continued
the lady, appealing to her husband.
"You do not remember Monsieur le Marquis?" said M. de Fontanges to Newton.
Newton turned his head, and recognised the governor of Guadaloupe, who had
expressed such sympathy at his shipwreck, and had sent him away in the
cartel instead of detaining him as a prisoner.
The vessel was indeed in a deplorable condition; and had she not received
the timely assistance now afforded, would in all probability have soon been
a scene of horror and of suffering. They had not more than three days'
water remaining on board, and provisions barely sufficing for ten days.
Newton hastened to send back the boat with orders for an immediate and
ample supply of these necessaries, in case of bad weather coming on and
preventing further communication. Satisfied that their immediate wants were
relieved, Newton took leave of his friends for the present, and returned on
board his own ship, despatching his carpenters and part of his crew to the
immediate refit of the vessel; and then selecting a part of everything that
the _Windsor Castle_ contained in her store-rooms or on her decks, which he
thought would administer to the comfort or the luxury of the passengers on
board of the neutral.
In two hours they who were in a state bordering upon famine found
themselves revelling in plenty. Before night the English seamen had a
jury-mast up, and the sails set. The Hollanders on board would have given
their assistance, but they were told to remain on deck and make up for lost
time, which they acquiesced in very readily, eating and drinking as if they
were determined to lay in a stock for the remainder of the voyage. Newton,
who had returned on board of the neutral to superintend the repairs and
enjoy the society of his old friends, received from them a long account of
what had occurred since their separation. At nightfall he took his leave,
promising to continue under easy sail and remain with them for a day or
two, until they were satisfied that all was right, and that they no longer
required his assistance.
The narrative obtained by Newton may be thus condensed for the information
of the reader. The Marquis de Fontanges had been appointed from the
government of Guadaloupe to that of the Island of Bourbon, which was
considered of more importance. Monsieur and Madame de Fontanges accompanied
him to his new command; and they had remained there for two years, when the
ruling powers, without any ground, except that the marquis had received his
appointment from the former government, thought proper to supersede him.
Frigates were not so plentiful as to spare one for the return of an
ex-governor; and the marquis, being permitted to find his way home how he
could, had taken advantage of the sailing of the Hamburger, to return to
Europe or to France, or as he might find it advisable.
For two days, during which the weather was so fine that Madame de Fontanges
and the gentlemen went on board of the Windsor Castle, and were introduced
to the ladies, Newton continued under easy sail, each day despatching to
the neutral everything which his gratitude could suggest; but as Newton was
most anxious to proceed on his voyage, it was agreed that the next morning
they should part company. At the close of the evening a strange sail was
observed on the weather-beam; but, as she carried no foretop-gallant sail,
and appeared to be steering the same course as the Windsor Castle, she
excited but a momentary observation, supposing that she was some
homeward-bound neutral, or a merchant vessel which had separated from her
convoy. During the night, which was dark, the moon being in her first
quarter, the officer of the middle watch lost sight of their _protegee;_
but this was to be expected, as she did not carry a light. Before morning
the wind fell, and when the sun rose it was a perfect calm. The officer of
the watch, as the day dawned, went on the poop, surveying the horizon for
their companion, and discovered her six or seven miles astern, lying
alongside of the strange vessel which they had seen the day before. Both
vessels, as well as the _Windsor Castle,_ were becalmed. He immediately
went down to Newton, acquainting him with the circumstance, which bore a
very suspicious appearance. Newton hastened on deck; with his glass he
could plainly distinguish that the stranger was a vessel of a low, raking
description, evidently no merchantman, but built for sailing fast, and in
all probability a privateer. The man at the mast-head reported that boats
were constantly passing between the two vessels. Newton, who felt very
anxious for the safety of his friends, accepted the offer of the second
mate to take the gig, and ascertain what was going on. In little more than
an hour the gig was seen from the mast-head to arrive within half a mile of
the vessels, and shortly afterwards the smoke from a gun, followed by a
distant report. The gig then winded and pulled back towards the _Windsor
Castle._ It was in a state of great excitement that Newton waited for her
return, when the second mate informed him that on his approach he
discovered that she was a flush vessel, pierced for fourteen guns, painted
black, and apparently well manned; that she evidently, to use a nautical
term, was "gutting" the neutral; and that, as they had witnessed, on their
boat coming within range, the vessel had fired a round of grape, which
fortunately fell short of them. She had shown no colours; and from her
appearance and behaviour (as all privateers respect neutrals), he had no
doubt that she was the pirate vessel stated, when they were at St Helena,
to be cruising in these latitudes. Newton was of the same opinion; and it
was with a heavy heart that he returned to the cabin, to communicate the
unpleasant intelligence to Mrs Enderby and Isabel.
There is nothing more annoying in this world than the will without the
power. At any time, a vessel becalmed is considered a very sufficing reason
for swearing by those who are on board of her. What then must have been the
feelings of Newton, lying on the water in a state of compelled inaction,
while his friends were being plundered, and perhaps murdered by a gang of
miscreants before his eyes! How eagerly and repeatedly did he scan the
horizon for the coming breeze! How did Hope raise her head at the slightest
cat's-paw that ruffled the surface of the glassy waters! Three successive
gales of wind are bad enough; but three gales blowing hard enough to blow
the devil's horns off are infinitely preferable to one idle, stagnant,
motionless, confounded calm, oppressing you with the blue-devils and
maddening you with the fidgets at one and the same time.
At last, as the sun descended, the breeze sprung up, first playing along
the waters in capricious and tantalising airs, as if uncertain and
indifferent in its infancy to which quarter of the compass it should direct
its course. The ship again answered her helm; her head was put the right
way, and the sails were trimmed to every shift which it made, to woo its
utmost power. In a quarter of an hour it settled, blowing from a quarter
which placed them to windward of, and they carried it down with them to
within two miles of the stranger and the neutral, who still remained
becalmed. But, as the wind freshened, it passed a-head of them, sweeping
along the surface, and darkening the colours of the water, until it reached
the vessels to leeward; one of which,--the one that Newton was so anxious
to get alongside of,--immediately took advantage of it, and, spreading all
her canvas, soon increased her distance. When the _Windsor Castle_ arrived
abreast of the neutral, the stranger was more than two miles to leeward. A
little delay was then necessary to ascertain what had occurred. Newton, who
perceived M. de Fontanges on the deck, shouting to them and wringing his
hands, rounded to, lowered down a boat, and pulled on board of the neutral.
The intelligence communicated was distressing. The strange vessel was a
pirate, who had plundered them of everything, had taken away Madame de
Fontanges, Mimi and Charlotte, her two female attendants. The captain of
the pirates had wounded and severely beaten M. de Fontanges, who had
resisted the "_enlevement_" of his wife; and after having cut away all the
standing rigging, and nearly chopped through the masts with axes, they had
finished their work by boring holes in the counter of the vessel; so that,
had not Newton been able to come up with her, they must all have perished
during the night.
There was no time to be lost; the Marquis de Fontanges, M. De Fontanges,
and the crew, were hurried on board of the _Windsor Castle_ (the pirate had
taken care that they should not be delayed in packing up their baggage),
and Newton, as soon as he returned on board, and hoisted up his boat,
crowded every stitch of canvas in pursuit of the pirate, who was now more
than four miles distant. But, although the wind gradually increased, and
was thus far in their favour, as they first benefited by it, yet, as the
sun went down, so did their hopes descend. At nightfall the pirate had
increased her distance to seven miles. Newton pursued, watching her with a
night-glass, until she could no longer be distinguished. Still, their
anxiety was so great, that no one went to bed on board of the _Windsor
Castle_. When the day broke, the pirate was not to be discovered in any
quarter of the horizon from the mast-head of the _Windsor Castle_.