The whole of the troops being on board, the fleet got under way, from
Spithead, with a fine breeze from the E.N.E. and stood down channel
for the westward.
The transports fitted up for our reception, were small vessels of such
old and crazy materials, that in this wintry season, we did not expect
they would long remain sea-worthy. However as we were now commencing
the uphill work of a soldier's life, our minds were fully made up to
rough it in every sense of the word; and, although appearances were
not flattering, our feelings were in unison with the motto on our
breast-plate, (quo fata vócant) and we were buoyed up with the hopes
of a prosperous issue to our undertaking.
Captain Bentley's company, (to which I belonged) was stowed in the
brig Alexander; she was an old tub, battered and knocked about by many
a gale, and in her look and trim was by no means inviting.
The skipper, Captain Young, a tall, hard-featured seaman, with a
countenance well bronzed by exposure to the N.W. wind, was positive
and irritable to an extreme degree, and if a landsman presumed to
offer any remark, as to the affairs of his beautiful ship, Old
_Young_, was quite indignant.
We were fortunate in getting Bentley for a shipmate, as he was a kind
good tempered man, and a lively companion.
The paymaster, John Montgomery, with his wife and family, were also
of our party; so that on the whole, we in the Alexander were as well
off with respect to society, as any of our neighbours. Montgomery was
a plain, good-natured Irishman, fond of social life, and being a man
of experience, having spent most of his days in the regiment, he was
an acquisition, which ultimately proved valuable to us. His eldest
daughter, an animated sensible girl, contributed with two younger
sisters to our happiness; and, making due allowance for the state of
things around, we had as large a share of enjoyment, (if such a word
can be used with reference to being in a ship), as under the
circumstances could reasonably be expected.
The fleet was soon clear of the channel, bearing on a S.W. course,
under a heavy press of canvass, before a fair wind.--The appearance of
the clouds and atmosphere was unfavourable, and the huge unwieldy
porpoises, rolling about their shapeless forms, together with the
screaming of mother Cary's chickens, were to the experienced mariners
certain indications of a coming storm. Their evil prognostics were
soon realized; for, on approaching the Bay of Biscay, we were driven
and tossed about, by one of the most violent tempests that had occurred
for many years.--It began on Christmas day. Resolving to enjoy, though
in a humble way, the good cheer of the festive season, we had
previously provided for the occasion a fat goose, and other savoury
things; but, alas, our promised joys proved deceptive; they all
vanished, and were replaced by sorrow and disappointment, for the
relentless gale denied all possibility of comfort! Poor blacky, in
his caboose, was rendered inconsolable, he being unable to dress the
aforesaid goose, as the spray, beating in, had quenched the last spark
of his culinary fire. The ship reeled and pitched with such tremendous
force, that it was not without some trouble we could discuss the
merits of a cold bone of junk with hard biscuit, while we lay
sprawling and floundering on the wretched cabin floor. The dead-lights
having been previously fixed to the stern windows, there remained but
the flickering and moody glare of a yellow dirty looking luminary,
y'clept a lamp, which, as it swung from the sky-light grating,
afforded a glimmering just sufficient to make darkness visible, and
disclose to our visual organs a scene emphatically dismal.
Such was the commencement of our calamitous voyage, and in this way
did we get on, from bad to worse, each day more woeful than the
preceding; until at length, after beating about this Bay of Misery,
against a strong head sea, and with a hurricane in our teeth, it was
thought advisable to fight no longer with the elements; the signal was
therefore made from the Commodore, to tack about, and make sail for
England.--Obeying this welcome signal with alacrity, we found
ourselves going homewards before the wind, at the rate of from ten to
twelve knots an hour, after having been exposed to its dreadful
violence for the space of ten days, in the most terrific sea that any
unfortunate bark had ever ploughed.
At this time, as we looked across the foaming waste, the view was wild
and dreary; amidst the atmosphere of darkness, clouds and mist, the
scattered vessels might be occasionally discerned, as the fog
dispersed, tossed about at the merciless fury of the waves; some
dismantled, others on their beam ends. The wrecks of those that
unhappily had foundered were floating here and there, while the loud
and fearful moaning of the tempest increased the horrors of the scene.
After five days of rapid sailing, the Alexander, with a few more
ships, arrived at Plymouth. The remainder of the convoy took refuge in
various harbours, along the coast, and by the 5th of January they were
all safe at anchor, in the several ports which with so much difficulty
they made. On the 15th we sailed for Falmouth, when permission was
granted for the men to land in detachments, in order that they might
stretch their limbs after their long confinement[3].
[3] Before our departure from Falmouth our society was
unfortunately deprived of Captain Bentley, who remained to
effect an exchange. He was, for a considerable time, staff
Captain at Chatham, and was promoted to the rank of Major,
when he was appointed to the 16th foot, stationed at Ceylon.
He died soon after this, justly lamented by all his friends
and comrades.
Bentley was succeeded, in the Alexander, by Captain Richard
Stowe, a weather-beaten veteran, upon whose visage time, and
hard service, had imprinted numerous deep and indelible
marks.
Stowe exchanged into a West India regiment, before we landed
in Portugal, and was taken off by fever in one of the
Leeward Islands.
The weather having at length become settled, the fleet again got under
way, and, with a fine steady breeze from the East, soon cleared the
Lizard. Steering towards our friend old Biscay, of blustrous memory,
we speedily lost sight of the shores of Britain; but in a state of
circumstances far more auspicious than those under which we first
commenced our unfortunate career.
After a prosperous and very delightful voyage of seventeen days,
during which we had favourable and pleasant weather, we came to anchor
in the Bay of Gibraltar, when the troops were disembarked, and
occupied the barracks at Europa point, on the southern extremity of
the fortress.
The transport containing the flank companies and head quarters, under
Colonel Walker, had missed the convoy in the heavy gales of January,
and bore away to the Southward. After being driven about the
Mediterranean for some weeks, it was compelled to put into the harbour
of Messina, where it continued till intelligence was received of our
arrival at the rock. In a little time it joined us, and the regiment
was again re-assembled, and prepared for any service.
During our brief sojourn in this extraordinary place, which is too
well known to need any description here, we found many things to
interest us after the monotony of a voyage. The great number of
strange and curious looking personages, who figured in the streets,
with their varied, many-coloured, and grotesque costumes, made the
town appear as if there was a carnival or masquerade going forward,
and produced a very gay and ludicrous effect. There is, however, a
heavy drawback to the mirth which this motley population is calculated
to excite. The close suffocating atmosphere, the filthy state of the
houses, and other local circumstances, promote the reception of those
unwelcome visitors, plague, cholera, and yellow fever; which are still
further encouraged, if not engendered, by the uncleanly habits, and
abominable customs of the Turks, Jews, and other outlandish residents
of the town.
The Library, containing a numerous and splendid collection of books in
every language, forms a delightful source of amusement, as well as
profitable employment, to the officers, civil and military, who may
be stationed in the garrison.--Over the library is a magnificent
ball-room in which at all times there is a pretty good display of the
young and fair[4] rock-scorpions, together with passing visitors, and
warlike heroes, who have assembled to dispel that ennui which might
otherwise pervade their leisure hours.
[4] A term applied to those who are born on the _Rock_.
The weather was excessively hot, the oppressive closeness of the air,
being increased by the reflection, from the rock, of a burning sun.
Were this not tempered by the occasional breeze, wafted from the
Mediterranean, the climate would be insufferable: tormented by flies,
mosquitos, and other insects, we had but little rest day or night, and
but for the constant occupation of the mind, combined with the
excitement caused by the variety and novelty of all about us, our
situation would have been any thing but agreeable in such a place,
which it would almost require the nature of a salamander to endure; a
nature not to be obtained except by the seasoning of a very long
residence.
Mounting guard one day at the New mole head, I was a witness of an
extraordinary interview which chanced to occur. Lieut. Frederick Baron
Meard, an old subaltern of the 50th, was upon the same duty, and,
being the senior, he turned out the guard to receive the visiting
field officer, then Major Wood, of the 32nd regiment; to his great
surprise the Major recognized Meard as the same individual who, some
years before, when in the West Indies, was the field officer of the
day, to whom the main guard presented arms, when he, (Major Wood),
commanded it, being at that period a Lieutenant in the 32nd.
To what corps Meard then belonged, I do not recollect, but his having
sold out and again commenced his military career, will account for
what may seem one of those strange vicissitudes to which men of the
military profession are liable.--Meard exchanged, while we lay at
Gibraltar, into a regiment in the West Indies, and soon after fell a
victim to the effects of that baneful climate. Major Cholmondly
Overend also returned from the Regiment at this place, having sold his
commission, and returned to England. Overend was a Yorkshireman,
advanced in years, and decidedly of the old school. Erect in stature,
and well made, with a good military expression, he retained still
enough to show that in his younger days, he must have been a handsome
man. Whether he is now in the land of the living I am unable to say.
The 50th, previous to the arrival of Colonel Walker, was under the
command of Major Charles Hill; of whom, as he was our leader
throughout a good part of the Peninsular War, I shall hereafter have
something more to relate.
On the 13th of May, 1808, the Expedition, under the orders of
Lieutenant General Sir Brent Spencer, sailed from the Bay of
Gibraltar, and on the following day arrived off Cadiz, where the fleet
remained till the 13th of June, from which period to the 27th of the
same month, it was cruizing about between Cape St. Vincent, Ayamonte
and Trafalgar point; this being the second time of its visiting the
coast in that quarter. Being appointed to do duty in Captain
Armstrong's Company, I embarked with that officer, together with
Ensign John Atkinson, and Quarter-Master Benjamin Baxter, on board of
a fine well-built transport, called the Rosina. Our voyage was passed
in a dull and listless manner, solely occupied as we were, for above
six weeks, in sailing along the coasts of Algarve and Andalusia, and
remaining in total ignorance of our final destination.--We were
becalmed for days under a broiling sun, occasionally running short of
water, and fresh provisions; and our state of uncertainty, as well as
hope deferred, was enough to exhaust the patience of the most enduring
mortals. Whenever the wind was favourable, or that we stood in close
to the land, the natives approached the ship, with boats well laden
with various articles, in the welcome shape of fruit, vegetables, or
fish, which they gladly disposed of at a moderate rate. These might
well be called luxuries, and formed an excellent accompaniment to our
salt junk, upon which we had been stall-fed so abundantly that, for
some time past, we had seldom any thing else for either breakfast,
dinner, or supper. Had it not been for Captain Armstrong, I know not
how we should have contrived to support a mode of existence, or rather
of vegetation, which was so thoroughly wearisome. Fortunately he was
an amusing companion, full of drollery and comic humour, and had,
moreover, a fund of good songs, so that he kept us all alive.
Hostilities between England and Spain having ceased, in consequence of
the invasion of the latter country by the French, preparations were
made, in the most vigorous manner, to co-operate with the Spanish and
Portuguese forces; and the British troops were accordingly held in
readiness to disembark on any part of the Peninsula to which they
might be ordered. General Spencer's Expedition, which was now destined
for immediate active service, composed a portion of that army which
first obtained a footing on the shores of Portugal, and which,
eventually, under the illustrious Wellington, performed such glorious
achievements in the field, driving the French Eagles before them, and
bearing the victorious colours of Britain from Lisbon to Toulouse.
Soon after we arrived off the road of Cadiz, the French fleet, lying
at anchor under the town, was summoned to surrender to the Spanish
flag. This request not being complied with, the natural result was a
general attack, made by the artillery on their shipping. The enemy was
resolved to maintain his quarters as long as he could fire a shot, and
therefore returned the salute, with all the heavy metal he could bring
to bear against the works, sending in a broadside, with such
tremendous effect as to rattle the tiled roofs about their ears and
otherwise deface the beauty of their buildings.
Lying so far in the offing, we could see nothing but a thick cloud of
smoke, rising above the calm surface of the bay;[5] the exhibition
going forward behind this curtain, was completely hidden from our
view. The cannonade, however, was audible enough, and its music sadly
tantalized our seamen in the fleet, who burned to lend a hand in an
affair which was so much to their taste. They had, nevertheless, quite
sufficient to employ their time, having to keep a pretty sharp look
out, in order to prevent the smallest craft of the adverse squadron
from slipping through their fingers.
[5] While we lay off the bay, the governor, Solano, being
suspected of adherence to the enemy, was barbarously
murdered.
Throughout the whole of the day, a heavy fire was kept up against the
French vessels by the garrison, whose long continued volleys echoed
from the harbour. Compelled, at length, to strike their colours, the
French surrendered to the Dons, who, sheltered by their solid masonry,
had endured but trifling loss, and were entitled to no particular
praise for any bravery they might have manifested behind their
bulwarks.
On the 4th of July we got under way, and, sailing well up the harbour,
came to anchor a short distance from the Mole head, the ships of war
being moored across the entrance. The men were not permitted to land;
but the Officers had leave to pass a few hours on shore every day, and
within that limited space we were busy enough making a tour of
inspection, prying into every street, lane, and alley, not in search
of the picturesque, but of any thing else, that might lie in our way,
deserving notice from inquisitive travellers.
Cadiz is delightfully situated upon an islet, separated from the main
land by a narrow strait. It appeared a paradise to us, after the long
imprisonment we had suffered, from the time we left Gibraltar. The
citizens were highly gratified on seeing the English Officers, and
used every means in their power to evince their friendship and good
will, inviting us to their houses and entertaining us with liberality
and kindness. In the course of a few days the transports containing
the 50th were anchored near Port St. Mary's, a considerable town on
the opposite shore. Here the regiment was landed, and, after remaining
for one week, was again embarked. The fleet sailed on the 22nd, and we
steered once more towards Cape St. Vincent. Portugal was our
destination.
Before we left St. Mary's, I was removed to Captain Coote's company,
with which I went on board the Britannia, Captain Clarke. The other
officers of the cabin were Major Hill, Lieut. Birchall, Ensign
Atkinson, and Assistant Surgeon Coulson, who formed a pleasant,
convivial party, among whom good fellowship and social harmony
prevailed.