BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN
His time at home was short, for again there were signs of war, and
the fleet was once more to be called upon to strike a blow for our
national honour.
At this time Great Britain claimed the right of searching the vessels
of other countries who were not at war with either England or France,
and if any goods were found on board which were being carried to the
French, they were seized. This had more than once led to quarrels
with Denmark, and there had already been some fighting between
British and Danish ships, though there was no actual declaration of
war.
Paul I., Czar of Russia, was very angry at the British for not
allowing him to take Malta, and in revenge he seized three hundred of
our merchant ships, which were lying in Russian ports, and made their
crews prisoners. Not content with this, he revived an old treaty of
1780, and Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia formed themselves into
an alliance known as the "Armed Neutrality," the object of which was
to prevent the British searching their ships, by force if it were
necessary.
Napoleon naturally did his best to help and encourage the northern
powers. His own fleet and that of Spain had been crushed, or were
unable to do any harm owing to the strict watch the British kept on
them, which prevented them coming out of harbour. The northern
powers had, however, a fine fleet of some fifty battleships, and he
hoped to be able to use these as a weapon against his unyielding foe,
Great Britain, who was once again left without an ally in Europe.
Great Britain at first meant to try and reason with Denmark, and in
order to show the Danes that she was in earnest, and at the same time
prevent the Russian ships from joining their allies, a fleet under
Sir Hyde Parker, with Nelson as second-in-command, set sail on the
12th of March from Yarmouth.
"I hate your pen and ink men. A fleet of British ships of war are
the best negotiators in Europe," Nelson had said, and the Government
also seemed to think so.
Meanwhile the Danes were toiling manfully at the defence of their
capital. Workmen, country peasants, city merchants, students, young
and old alike of all classes, enrolled themselves as volunteers, and
prepared to make their beloved Copenhagen secure against assault, or
lay down their lives in its defence.
Rather less than three weeks from the time they had left England the
fleet arrived, and passing the island of Elsinore, dropped anchor
about five miles from Copenhagen.
Sir Hyde Parker, who all through acted with an extreme caution, which
was very unlike Nelson's methods, was for a long time uncertain
whether to take his ships by the narrower Sound or by the more open
Great Belt.
At length he decided to risk going by the Sound, and sent word to
tell Nelson of his intention.
"I don't care by which passage we go," said the latter, "so that we
fight them."
He had been in a great state of anxiety lest his chief might think
the fortifications, floating batteries, and ships of the Danes too
strong to assault. Now that the attack was to take place, he again
felt happy, and was able to give his whole mind to the best means of
making victory certain.
In front of Copenhagen there is a large shoal between the two
channels through which big ships can sail. Along the land side of
the inner channel the Danes were posted in greatest strength.
Here they waited for the British attack, sure that the fleet would
enter by the inner channel, and confident in their power to defeat it.
They did not know the great seaman. His plan was quite different to
what they thought, and was to go in by the outer channel, and
flinging himself on their rear, fight his way up the inner channel.
To make matters still more difficult for our ships, all the buoys had
been taken away, so that it was impossible to guess where the channel
lay, and easy to run aground on the many shoals and sandbanks.
This was a serious drawback, but Nelson overcame it, though at great
risk to himself.
Under cover of darkness and fog, he spent two nights in an open boat,
rowing with muffled oars, and silently taking soundings and finding
out the depth.
On April 1 the fleet sailed up still closer to the doomed city, and
was now only two miles away. After anchoring, Captain Hardy set off
in a small rowing boat, and in the most fearless way slipped under
the Danish batteries.
Hidden by the darkness, he rounded the Danish flagship. Not daring
to heave the lead in the ordinary way, for fear the noise of the
splash would betray him, he carefully sounded with a pole.
The slightest whisper would have ruined all, but with bated breath
the British seamen continued to take the depth under the batteries
and round the ships, and Fortune favoured them. The Danish sentinels
never heard them, and they returned to their ship in safety, with a
full knowledge of where their vessels could swing, and what parts of
the channel they must avoid.
Nelson had only asked for ten ships of the line of light draught,
with which to make the attack. Admiral Parker, however, gave him two
more vessels than he had asked for, as he feared there was a great
chance of some of the ships sticking fast and falling out of the
line. Parker himself drew off, ready to help if he could do so, but
more for the purpose of preventing the Russian and Swedish ships,
should they come up, from joining their Danish allies.
In the morning the wind, which had hitherto been adverse, changed,
and blew fair for the British attack. But now a hitch occurred in
the plans, which might have proved fatal.
By eight o'clock not a pilot could be found willing to guide the
British fleet.
"I experienced in the Sound the misery of having the honour of our
country entrusted to pilots who have no other thought than to keep
the ship clear of danger, and their silly heads clear of shot,"
Nelson used afterwards bitterly to relate.
In justice to the men he so severely blames, we must remember that
they were the masters and mates of merchant ships engaged in the
Baltic trade. These vessels were small and of shallow draught, and
guiding a mighty battleship during the thick of a fight was a
different affair to piloting their little craft through the channels
they had learned to know in time of peace.
While in this difficulty, Captain Murray, in the _Edgar_, volunteered
to lead the line, his master, Mr. Brierly, taking upon him the hard
task of pilot.
At about ten in the morning all was ready, and the signal to weigh in
succession was given.
The _Edgar_, as arranged, advanced, showing the way, and right well
did she play her part. Not so fortunate was Nelson's old flagship,
the _Agamemnon_, which, failing to round the middle ground, went
ashore, where she stuck, in spite of all the exertions of her crew to
get her off.
Nor did the British misfortunes end here, for the next two ships, the
_Bellona_ and _Russel_, following close in her wake, shared the same
fate, and thus a quarter of the attacking force was already out of
action.
Nelson, who came next, in the _Elephant_, was like to come to grief
in the same manner. Had he followed his own orders to the fleet,
"that each ship should pass her leader on the starboard aide," he
must have run aground.
In an instant he saw the danger, and, ordering his helm to be put
hard a-starboard, passed the _Russel_ on the larboard beam. The
whole line followed him, and entering the true channel the battle was
saved.
The rest of the ships all made the dangerous passage in safety, and
on reaching their stations anchored by the stern and began to pour
both broadsides on the Danes.
Captain Rioux, with the light division of frigates, was now ordered
to take the place of the three stranded battleships, and attack the
batteries. Gallantly did the light division play its part, firing
with deadly effect on the Danish works, and heedless of their own
loss.
"Again, again, again,
And the havoc did not slack."
"Here was no manœuvring: it was downright fighting."
"It is warm work, and this day may be the last to any of us at a
moment," said Nelson, amid a shower of splinters; "but mark you," he
added, his eye kindling with the light of battle, "I would not be
elsewhere for thousands."
The pounding at short range was deadly and unceasing; scarcely two
hundred yards separated the combatants.
The Danish flagship, fighting to the end with desperate courage, took
fire; still, amid the flames, the gunners continued to fire a deadly
storm of shot and shell. Only when the fire got the mastery, and
with a mighty roar the gallant ship blew up, did she cease to trouble
her foes.
Meanwhile, out in the Sound the thunder of the fight was borne to the
anxious ears of Sir Hyde Parker. The admiral knew the sore straits
from the loss of three ships Nelson was bound to be in, and the odds
against which he was fighting. A stormy wind was blowing dead
against him, and he could not hope to beat up against it in time to
bring aid.
Nelson, he knew, would never give in while he lived: he was not the
man to turn back from a fight. At length the admiral could stand the
suspense no longer, and the famous signal, No. 39, the order to cease
action, was hoisted.
What follows is known to every schoolboy wherever the English tongue
is spoken.
Nelson was pacing his quarter-deck when the signal-lieutenant
interrupted his walk and reported the signal. "Acknowledge it,"
replied the admiral shortly, adding fiercely, "Is mine, No. 16" (for
close action), "still flying?" On being told that it was, "Then mind
you keep it so," he said, turning on his heel and resuming his
restless pacing of the deck.
"Leave off action!" he added; "I'm hanged if I do!"
Clapping his glass to his sightless eye, "You know, Foley," he added,
turning to his captain, "I've a right to be blind sometimes. I
really do not see the signal. _D---n the signal! keep mine for
closer action flying._"
As at Cape St. Vincent, so at Copenhagen, this act of seeming
disobedience won the day.
Unfortunately, the squadron of frigates and small craft under
Rioux--"the gallant good Rioux" of Campbell's poem--took the order
literally. "What will Nelson think of us?" said the brave captain,
as he obediently withdrew. Just as he spoke a chain-shot ploughed
into the deck, killing a party of marines and striking him down, with
the ringing words, "Come, then, my boys, let us all die together," on
his lips.
By two o'clock the Danish fire had slackened; half their line were
wrecks, the floating batteries were either sunk or nearly silenced;
their flagship was ablaze.
Nelson's humane nature could not bear that so many brave men should
be killed, now that their valour was useless and his own victory
complete. Calling for pen and ink, he wrote the following:--
"_To the brothers of Englishmen, the Danes_.
"Lord Nelson has directions to spare Denmark when no longer
resisting; but if the firing is continued on the part of Denmark,
Lord Nelson will be obliged to set on fire all the floating batteries
he has taken, without having the power of saving the brave Danes who
have defended them."
His secretary was about to close the letter in its envelope with the
ordinary wafer then in common use, but Nelson objected to this, and
bade him bring wax and a taper, with which the letter was carefully
sealed.
"Had I made use of the wafer," he explained to those around him, "it
would have been wet when presented to the Crown Prince. He would
have inferred that the letter was sent off in a hurry, and that we
had some very pressing reason for being in a hurry. _The wax told no
tales_."
The Crown Prince wrote back proposing that they should stop fighting
for the time and try to come to terms. Nelson, with great
shrewdness, said he must first ask Sir Hyde Parker. He knew that it
would take some time before he could get an answer from the latter,
and in the meanwhile he would be able to get his battered ships out
of reach of the Danish guns, and into the open channel.
By nightfall a truce was agreed upon, and the British were busy
floating their own ships which had run aground, and securing their
prizes, only one of which could, however, be used again, so fiercely
had fought the two nations, both sprung from a race of sea-kings.
"The French and Spanish fight well; but they could not have stood for
an hour such a fire as the Danes sustained for four hours," Nelson
said.
The British admiral's aim was next to attack the Russian squadron
lying in Revel, but in order to do this the fleet would have to pass
the batteries which commanded the shoal ground above Copenhagen.
Parker naturally did not care to leave Denmark hostile in his rear,
while the Crown Prince was afraid that if he came too quickly to
terms he would offend his powerful ally and neighbour, the Czar.
Matters were in this state, when, on April 4, while Nelson was on
shore trying to arrange for at least a four months' peace, news was
brought that the Czar had been murdered.
With this monarch's death the chief reason for the alliance was taken
away, and Napoleon's dreams of a great fleet with which he might
attack Great Britain had come to nothing.
Five days after, Denmark agreed to take no further part in the Armed
Neutrality, and also promised to take no further steps to prepare her
ships for war.
Nelson had again shown himself "as great in the Cabinet as on the
ocean." His victory had been a glorious one, but his skill and tact
in arranging terms after the battle were equally remarkable. Friend
and foe alike agreed that it was he that had brought about the peace.
"Your Lordship's whole conduct, from your first appointment to this
hour," wrote Lord St. Vincent, "is the subject of our constant
admiration. It does not become me to make comparisons; all agree
there is but one Nelson."