THE “WARREN HASTINGS” AND THE “PIÉMONTAISE”
One of the most gallant duels which was ever fought between a merchant
ship and a man-of-war is that which occurred in the year 1805: and
though eventually the former was at last captured, yet the engagement
none the less remains to her credit, since the fight lasted for four
hours and the enemy was compelled to haul off several times during the
action. The incident, in fact, affords an excellent example of the
readiness for hostilities which was so marked a feature of the old East
Indiamen. James has happily preserved to posterity a full account of
this, although in some instances he has not always done full credit to
the gallantry and determination of these merchant ships. And I shall
make no apology for availing myself of his detailed story.
The _Warren Hastings_ was a vessel of 1200 tons, was armed with 44
guns, and her crew consisted of 196 men and boys. She was therefore in
size, in armament and crew a distinctly formidable ship, her commander
being Captain Thomas Larkins. On the 17th of February 1805 she left
Portsmouth bound for China. This was one of the most historic years
in the whole history of the sea, and a few months later the Battle
of Trafalgar brought matters to a crisis. It was obvious that in
consequence of the eventful times no ship, not even an East Indiaman,
could dare to begin a voyage unless special precautions had been taken
to render her as fully equipped against a French frigate as both money
and the ship’s own limitations would permit.
[Illustration: THE “SIBELLA,” EAST INDIAMAN, 721 TONS.
(By courtesy of Messrs. T. H. Parker Brothers)]
In the case of so valuable a ship as the _Warren Hastings_
extraordinary precautions had been taken to make her as powerful as
possible. Her forty-four guns were composed as follows. She carried
on her main or lower deck twenty-six medium 18-pounders, fourteen
carronades (18-pounders) on her upper deck, and four carronades
(12-pounders) on her poop. The medium gun was six feet in length, and
weighed about 26¾ cwt. It will be seen that this was a smaller
weapon than that used in the Royal Navy, for the common 18-pounder
of the latter measured nine feet long, and weighed 42 cwt. The East
Indiaman’s medium 18-pounder when run out did not reach out more than
a foot from the ship’s side. The 18-pounder carronade was five feet
long, and weighed about 15½ cwt. The 12-pounder was 3¼ feet long
and weighed about 8½ cwt. The _Warren Hastings’_ carronades were
mounted, says James, “upon a carriage resembling Gover’s in every
particular but the only essential one, the having of rollers adapted
to a groove in the slide. The consequence of this silly evasion of an
ingenious man’s patent was, that the whole of the ship’s quarter-deck
and poop guns became utterly useless, after only a few rounds had been
fired from them. The first discovery of any imperfection in the new
carriage occurred at exercise: but a plentiful supply of blacklead
upon the upper surface of the slide lessened the friction, and,
with the aid of an additional hand, enabled the gun to be run out. On
account, however, of the rain, and the salt water in washing the deck,
the application of blacklead was obliged to be repeated every time of
exercise.”
The _Warren Hastings_, after leaving Portsmouth on the day mentioned,
made a safe and uneventful passage to China and duly began her return
journey. But this time she was armed not quite so strongly. Four of her
main-deck ports had been caulked up so as to afford additional space
for a storeroom, and the four guns had been put away in the hold. Nor
had she so good a crew, for forty Chinamen had decided to remain at
Canton, and there was the usual impressment from the British navy, a
warship relieving the _Warren Hastings_ of eighteen English seamen: and
you can be sure they were some of the best men in the ship. In addition
to the four guns already mentioned, four of the 18-pounder carronades
were also transferred to the hold. The net result was that when she put
to sea for her homeward voyage she mounted 36 guns only and carried a
crew of 138 men and boys.
It was on the 21st of June at 7.30 in the morning that, while this
ship was foaming along under a smart press of canvas before a strong
breeze, she descried a strange ship under treble-reefed topsails and
courses. This turned out to be the French frigate _Piémontaise_ of 40
guns, commanded by Captain Jacques Epron. This ship was armed rather
differently from the rest of French frigates which were so famous
at this period, and as we are about to watch the contest between
her and the Indiaman it will be well to notice these details. The
_Piémontaise_ had the usual twenty-eight long 18-pounders on her
main-deck. On her quarter-deck and forecastle she mounted ten iron and
two brass 36-pounder carronades, two long French 8-pounders, and four
long English 9-pounders, these having belonged to the British frigate
_Jason_, which had been compelled to throw them overboard when she
grounded off Pointe de la Trenche at the capture of the Seine in 1798.
In addition to her forty-six carriage guns, the Frenchmen also carried
swivel guns and musketoons in her tops and along her gunwales. On each
fore and main yard-arm there was fixed a tripod to contain a shell
weighing a quarter of a ton, the idea being that when in combat she
got alongside another ship, the shell was to have its fuse lighted by
a man lying out on the yard. It would then be thrown from the tripod,
fall on the enemy’s deck, pass through to the deck below, and then
exploding would cause wholesale destruction. Meanwhile, the French crew
would rush on board, profiting by this confusion, and the capture of
the Frenchman’s enemy would be an easier matter. The French crew would
also be armed each with a dagger in the buttonholes of his jacket in
addition to the boarding-pike which he would hold in his hand. These
tactics were, even at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a
curious survival of the mediæval methods of fighting. Gunnery was not
the chief reliance, but was looked upon merely as a means for quelling
the enemy so that she might be boarded and a hand-to-hand fight begun.
It seems strange in this twentieth century, when a battleship would
open fire at six miles and be pretty sure to keep a good distance from
its opponent, that the older fashion should have survived so long.
If the French frigates of yesterday were the German light cruisers of
to-day, and the old East Indiamen were the crack ships of the Cunard
Line of the P. & O., the latter could, if desired, be attacked and sunk
without the vessels ever getting within several miles of each other,
let alone any thought of boarding, unless the German was determined
to spare human life, keep within the limits of international law and
take the merchant ship captive. Thus have the conditions changed in the
course of time.
But to return to the incident before us. An hour and a half after
sighting the Frenchman, the _Warren Hastings_ noticed that the frigate
was shaking out her reefs from her topsails and was approaching the
English ship, the latter still keeping on her course. At half-past
nine that morning the frigate was fast gaining on the Indiaman,
and nevertheless set her topgallant-sails as well as her fore and
maintopmast stuns’ls. Her next act was to hoist an English blue ensign
and pennant. However, the skipper of the _Warren Hastings_ was far too
experienced in the ways of the sea to be taken in by this piece of
bluff, and still kept his ship on her way. He replied to the signals by
hoisting his English colours and making the private signal, of which we
have spoken elsewhere in this volume. The Frenchman, however, made no
reply to this private signal, so it was pretty certain that there was
treachery.
On came the frigate, tearing through the water with the smart breeze,
doing good work all the time. Meanwhile, the East Indiaman’s commander
was seeing that everything was in readiness for obvious impending
trouble. At eleven o’clock he shortened sail, hauled up a point and
cleared his ship for action. One hour later the frigate also took
in her “fancy” canvas—her stuns’ls and her staysails, but also her
mainsail too. And having approached to within one mile hauled down her
English colours and sent up her French flag. She had intentionally
chosen the leeward position, because of the high wind, and opened fire
at the Indiaman’s port quarter within musket-shot distance—that is to
say, about four hundred yards away; and so soon as the Indiaman could
bring her guns to bear this fire was returned. This firing went on for
about a quarter of an hour, when the frigate bore away, let her sails
fill, and went on ahead. The only damage that had been done to the
Indiaman was to carry away part of the rigging.
After the frigate had got about a mile and a half ahead the latter
tacked, passed close to leeward of the _Warren Hastings_ again,
and once more a smart fire was exchanged. This time several of the
_Warren Hastings’_ crew were killed and wounded, and in addition
the whole of the port fore shrouds, the foretopsail tie, her chief
running gear, her stays and her ensign were cut away and her foremast
seriously injured. The ensign, however, was quickly rehoisted at the
maintopgallant-masthead. Quickly the Indiaman repaired her damage, but
then the frigate having put about astern of the Indiaman began the
action a third time, though this did little more damage than crippling
the merchant ship’s foremast altogether. Owing to this fact and the
heavy sea and high wind the _Warren Hastings_ could carry sail only on
her main and mizen masts. The result was that the Frenchman could run
round her even more easily than before.
This time she went ahead again, tacked, and was about to make a further
onslaught when the _Warren Hastings_ opened a hot fire. The Frenchman
replied, but it was seen that the Englishman was being injured still
more and more. She was now injured not merely at her foremast, but
at her main too. Her standing and running rigging had also been
considerably damaged, two quarter-deck guns were disabled, five men
had been killed and others were wounded. However, in this crippled
state she had to sustain a fifth attack. For the frigate, coming on the
Indiaman’s port quarter, poured in a heavy and destructive fire which
smashed the driver-boom to splinters, and soon the mizen-mast went. And
as it fell it succeeded in disabling every effective gun on the upper
deck. Troubles seldom come singly, and in addition to these misfortunes
the lower deck was on fire from the shot which had entered the counter,
and as the nail of the tiller rope on the barrel of the steering wheel
had drawn, the rudder became useless.
The surgeon was in the act of amputating and dressing the wounded when
a shot entered and destroyed the whole of his instruments. Altogether
it was a bad business, and the poor, crippled Indiaman, after having
done her best to fight against a superior foe, was reluctantly
compelled to lower her colours just before five o’clock that evening.
She had been rendered almost a mere hulk, she had lost her purser and
six men all killed. Thirteen more, including her chief, third and
sixth officers and her surgeon’s mate had been wounded, whereas the
Frenchman out of her enormous crew of 385 men and boys had lost only
seven men killed and five badly wounded. Her hull was practically
undamaged and her rigging and sails were only partially injured. But
this, of course, was natural enough, for the frigate’s weight of
broadside was 533 lb. as against the Indiaman’s 312 lb. The Indiaman
carried only 138 men and boys, as against the Frenchman’s 385.
But it is necessary also to bear in mind that a warship exists solely
for the purpose of being an efficient fighting unit. This frigate had
to think of nothing else. Whenever she cruised about, her intention
was to find some opportunity of inflicting injury on an English ship.
The Indiaman, on the other hand, had to consider primarily how best
she could carry the greatest amount of cargo, how she could get this
to port in the quickest manner: and then only in a secondary sense
had she to contemplate being an able fighter. Necessarily, therefore,
the frigate was always better armed and more ready for war. It so
happened that the _Warren Hastings_ was still further handicapped by
the fact that she could make very little use of her upper deck and poop
batteries after the second or third round of shot. Owing to lack of
men she could man only eight out of her eleven guns on her lower deck,
while the frigate was in no way impeded.
“Under these circumstances,” says James, “the defence made by the
_Warren Hastings_, protracted as it was to four hours and a half,
displayed a highly commendable zeal and perseverance on the part
of Captain Larkins, his officers, and ship’s company, but with all
their gallant efforts, the latter could never have succeeded in
capturing—although, had the ship’s guns been in an effective state,
they might, in beating off—an antagonist so well armed, manned, and
appointed as the _Piémontaise_.”
But we have not yet concluded. The _Warren Hastings_ being dismasted,
and a heavy sea running, the ship was allowed to fall off. And as the
French frigate was lying close to leeward, under three topsails, with
the mizen one aback and the main one on the shake, this warship had to
bear up to avoid collision with the Indiaman. The former filled her
maintopsail, but as there was none left at the helm she luffed up into
the wind and fouled the _Warren Hastings_ on the latter’s port bow.
You can readily imagine that with such a sea running there followed a
series of sickening thuds as these two heavy ships banged against each
other’s sides. But the situation was now suitable for boarding tactics,
and the Frenchmen, led by the first lieutenant, poured aboard the
merchant ship. But they came not as conquerors, but as assassins, with
uplifted daggers and threatening the lives of all.
One of these villains dragged the English captain about the ship,
accusing him of an attempt to run the frigate down in order to cripple
her masts. The first lieutenant also stabbed the captain on the right
side. It was a brutal affray, which cannot be said to redound to
the credit of any naval officer. Captain Larkins, brave man though
he was, soon fainted through loss of blood, and was then ordered on
board the frigate. It should be added that the first lieutenant and
many of his men were highly intoxicated at the time and so cannot be
held fully responsible for their base treatment of their victims.
The second officer, the surgeon and the boatswain’s mate were also
stabbed, and a midshipman was pierced in seven different places by the
first lieutenant. The ship was afterwards pillaged by this drunken
gang, but after such excesses had been allowed to have their way the
French captain did his best to make the survivors comfortable. The
_Piémontaise_ then steered for the Isle of France, taking her fine
prize in tow, one of the handsomest vessels which the Honourable
East India Company ever possessed. Captor and captive arrived at the
Isle of France on the 4th of July, and a strange sight these two
must have made as they proceeded. The reader may have marvelled that
the _Piémontaise_ had been able to overhaul the _Warren Hastings_ so
quickly and to manœuvre so easily when she kept returning to make one
attack after another. But these French frigates were splendid craft and
wonderfully fast, for although the East Indiamen were built on frigate
lines more or less, yet they were modified to allow of a large cargo
being carried, and this of course could be done only by sacrificing
speed possibility. Some idea of the pace which these French frigates
could reach may be gathered from the statement that the _Piémontaise_,
in a moderate breeze, carrying three single-reefed topsails, foresail
and mizen staysail, was able to tow her prize, a deeply laden ship of
bigger tonnage than herself, having very small jury-sail set, at the
rate of seven and a half knots an hour.
This fight and capture show the kind of adventure that was always
imminent during a great portion of the East Indiaman period. It is
almost difficult for us who travel with safety and punctuality in
modern steamship liners to realise the uncertainty, the danger and
anxieties with which the old merchant ships to the East proceeded on
their way. There was not a species of disaster peculiar to maritime
travel that was not ready to bring the career of such fine ships to
a speedy end. Every conceivable kind of enemy seemed to be lying in
wait for these craft: and the wonder really is, not that they were so
often lost, but that they got to port. Knowing, as we do, something of
the characters of the commanders who took these East Indiamen over the
ocean, we need not be altogether surprised that their sagacity, their
determination, leadership, seamanship and ability as navigators and
tacticians when tested did so much for the honour of their service and
for the safety of the ships and cargoes which the Company entrusted to
their care. They were men of whom the Company and the country had every
right to be proud.
FOOTNOTES: