an early breakfast, set out for Mr Radlett's shipyard at Millbay. He
found the old man busily engaged upon certain papers in the little room
which he dignified with the name of "office"; but upon George's
appearance the old fellow hastily swept the documents pell-mell into a
drawer, which he locked. Then, pocketing the key, he led the way to the
back door of the house, which gave upon the shipyard, upon passing
through which young Saint Leger immediately found himself in the midst
of surroundings that were as familiar to him as the walls of his own
home. But he had no time just then to gaze about him reminiscently, for
immediately upon entering the shipyard his gaze became riveted upon the
hull of a tall ship, apparently quite ready for launching, and from that
moment he had eyes for nothing else. As he came abruptly to a halt,
staring at the great bows that towered high above him, resplendent in
all the glory of fresh paint and surmounted by a finely carved figure of
an unknown animal with the head of a lion, the horns of a bull, the body
of a fish, four legs shaped like those of an eagle, and the wings of a
dragon, old Radlett nudged him in the ribs and, beaming happily upon
him, remarked: "There a be, Garge; that's the _Nonsuch_. What do 'e
think of her?"
"Upon my word I hardly know," answered George. "Let me look her over a
bit, Mr Radlett, before you ask my opinion of her. Is she finished?"
"Finished?" reiterated the old man. "Iss, sure; quite finished, and all
ready for launching. Why? Do 'e miss anything?"
"Why, yes," said George; "I see neither fore nor after castles. How is
that?"
"Swept 'em both away, lad," was the answer. "What good be they? I
allow that they be only so much useless top hamper, makin' a ship crank
and leewardly. 'Tis the fashion to build 'em, I know; but I've thought
the matter out, and I say that they do more harm than they be worth.
Therefore I've left 'em out in the _Nonsuch_, and you'll see she'll be
all the better for it. But although she have neither fore nor after
castles, she've a poop, and a raised deck for'ard where guns can be
mounted and where, sheltered behind good stout bulwarks, the crew'll be
so safe as in any castle. Do 'e see any other differences in her?"
"Yes, I do," answered George, as he walked round the hull and viewed it
from different standpoints; "indeed I see nothing but differences. The
under-water shape of her is different, her topsides have scarcely any
tumble-home, and she has not nearly so much sheer as usual. Also I see
that you have given her a very much deeper keel than usual. That ought
to be of service in helping her to hang to windward."
"So 'twill, boy; so 'twill," agreed Radlett. "You'll find that 'twill
make a most amazin' lot o' difference when it comes to havin' to claw
off a lee shore, all the difference, perhaps, between losin' the ship
and savin' of her. Then, about the tumble-home, I don't see the use o'
it. True, it do help to keep the sea from comin' over side in heavy
weather, and keeps the decks dry. But then it do make the deck space
terrible cramped up, so that wi' guns, and boats, and spare spars and
what not, the crew haven't got room to move. But you'll see presently,
when you goes aboard, that this here _Nonsuch_ have got decks so roomy
as a ship o' double her size. And I do hold that they almost vertical
sides o' hern'll make mun ever so much finer a sea boat. And I've a-
worked out the lines o' mun upon a new principle that, unless I be
greatly mistaken, will make this here _Nonsuch_ such a fast sailor that
nothin' afloat'll be able to escape from mun--or catch mun, if so be
that her have got to run away from a very superior force. And I be
havin' the sails cut differently, too. I've thought it all out, and
I've made up my mind that the way sails be cut up to now, they be very
much too baggy, so that a ship can't go to windward. But I be havin'
all the _Nonsuch's_ sails cut to set so flat as ever they can be made,
and--well, I do expect 'twill make a lot of difference. And now, Garge,
havin' looked at her from outside, perhaps you'd like to go aboard and
see what she do look like on deck and below."
George having agreed that this was the case, the old man led his visitor
up a ladder reaching from the ground to the entry port. After the
spacious deck had been duly admired and commented upon the pair entered
the cabins in the poop and below, where again everything proved so
admirable that young Saint Leger found himself quite at a loss for words
in which to adequately express his approval, to the great delight of the
proud designer of the ship.
At length, after a thoroughly exhaustive inspection of the ship, both
inside and out, during which Radlett drew attention to and expatiated
upon the various new ideas embodied in the design, the curiously
contrasted pair retired to the little room which the shipwright called
his office, and there sat down for a chat.
"Well, Garge," exclaimed the old man, as he seated himself comfortably
in a great arm-chair, "now that you've had a good look at the _Nonsuch_,
what do 'e think of her?"
"She is a splendid craft, and a perfect wonder, well worthy of her
name," pronounced George with enthusiasm. "I should not be surprised to
learn that she inaugurates an entirely new system of shipbuilding. She
would be the very ship, of all others, for such an adventure as mine;
but I suppose you have built her with an especial view to some
particular kind of service. Even if you have not, I very much doubt
whether I could raise the money in a reasonable time to buy her. What
price are you asking for her?"
"She is not for sale, boy," answered the old man with an inscrutable
smile. "I built her in order to put to the test certain theories o' my
own, and now, before ever she touches the water, I be sure, from the
look of her, that my theories be right. So I be going to keep her and
use her for my own purposes. And one o' they purposes be to make money
so fast as ever I can. I've got neither chick nor child to think about
and take care of, so my only pleasure in life be to build good ships and
make good money with 'em.
"Now, Garge, when I sat listenin' to you talkin' last night, I says to
myself--`There's money, and lots of it, in that there adventure o'
Garge's, if 'tis only worked right. But it'll want a good leader, and a
good ship; and young as Garge Saint Leger be, I do believe he've a-got
the brains and the courage for it, while I've got the ship. If I'd a
built the _Nonsuch_ expressly for such an adventure she couldn't ha'
been better suited for it.' So I comed home and thought the thing over
until I'd made up my mind about it. Now, Garge, I'm willin' to do this
for 'e. I'll launch the _Nonsuch_ just as sune as we can get the cradle
builded. Then, directly that she be afloat, I'll put on a strong gang
o' riggers to get her masts in and rigged and her spars across--the
sails be makin' now, and'll be finished by the time that she's ready vor
'em; and when she's all complete I'll fit her out in ordnance,
ammunition, and weapons of all sorts, and provision her for a year's
cruise, all at my own expense. You shall have her for your adventure
upon condition that you provide a sufficient crew for her, to my
satisfaction, and that, for the use of the ship and her equipment, I be
to have one half of all the treasure you brings home; the other half to
be disposed of as you thinks fit. Now, what do 'e say? Will that
arrangement suit 'e?"
"It will suit me admirably, Mr Radlett, and I agree to your proposal
with a thousand thanks and the greatest pleasure," said George.
"Indeed," he added, "it was precisely such an agreement as I desired to
enter into with Mr Marshall, or some other merchant, but none of them
would listen to me. And very lucky it is for me that they would not,
for with none of them should I have got such a ship as the _Nonsuch_.
What is her tonnage?"
"Just three tons bigger than the _Bonaventure_, accordin' to her
measurements," answered Radlett, "but she'll have twice so much
accommodation for a crew as Marshall's ship have got; because the
_Bonaventure_ be built for cargo carryin' while the _Nonsuch_ be built
more for fightin' and sailin'. _Now_ do 'e see?" And the old fellow
accompanied his explanation with a dig in the ribs that was intended to
convey to George several things that it was best not to discuss too
openly.
Of course George fully understood his companion's meaning, understood--
that is to say--that the _Nonsuch_ had been specially designed and built
with a view to her employment as a freebooter, free-trader--as it was
then euphemistically termed--or a pirate! But let not the reader be too
greatly shocked at this frank admission. For in the days of George
Saint Leger piracy was regarded as a perfectly legitimate and honourable
trade--always provided that the acts of piracy were perpetrated only
against the enemies of one's country. A pirate, indeed, in those days,
was synonymous with the individual who was termed a privateersman at the
time of the Napoleonic wars. George Saint Leger, although a perfectly
honest and even God-fearing young man, received old Radlett's hint, with
all that it implied, without turning a hair, for it implied nothing
worse than he had contemplated from the moment when he first heard of
his brother's capture. It was generally agreed, at that time, that it
was not only quite lawful but actually meritorious to make war upon and
spoil the enemy of one's country, and Spain was England's enemy just
then, secretly at all events. Many people maintained that she was God's
enemy as well, therefore it was deemed doubly meritorious to make war
upon her; so George Saint Leger had not the ghost of a scruple with
regard to his projected raid upon the ports of the Spanish Main.
So the bargain was struck there and then, even to the drafting in
duplicate and signing by both parties of a document setting forth the
several terms and conditions of the agreement. After this George Saint
Leger departed for home with a light step and a still lighter heart, to
tell his mother the good news. And she, poor soul, listened to him with
strangely mingled feelings; for on the one hand her heart was racked and
torn with anxiety and fear for her elder son, a captive in the hands of
men whose cruelties to enemies, and especially to so-called heretics,
were even then sending thrills of horror and dismay through the
Protestant world, while her nights were rendered sleepless by the
visions of awful torments, conjured up by her too vivid imagination,
which that son might even then be enduring. No wonder was it that,
under such circumstances, the one great and paramount desire that
possessed her, to the exclusion of all other things, was the deliverance
of Hubert from the fate which she pictured for him. Yet, when it came
to the point of consenting to the going of her second son to the rescue
of her first, her very soul sickened within her lest George, instead of
effecting his brother's deliverance, should himself fall into the toils.
For she, like those merchants whom the lad had unavailingly approached,
was convinced that the lad was altogether too young, too immature, too
inexperienced to undertake the responsibility of leading such an
expedition, and if he should fail, her last state would be worse than
her first. And what hope of success for him dared she entertain at the
very moment when all England was being profoundly stirred at the news of
Hawkins' and Drake's disastrous failure? If they, seasoned and
experienced mariners as they were, found themselves unable to stand
against the might of Spain, what chance, she constantly asked herself,
would such a mere boy as her George have? Thus she was swayed by first
one form of terror and then the other until her reason threatened to
give way altogether under the strain, and in sheer desperation she
sought, quite unavailingly, to find distraction in preparing George's
wardrobe for the voyage. As for George, he saw the terrible struggle
through which his beloved mother was passing, read her every thought,
realised her every fear, and when he was not engaged at the shipyard
with old Radlett, devoted himself strenuously to the almost superhuman
task of allaying those fears, driving them out, and infusing some
measure of hopefulness in their place. And so energetically did he
strive that at length he actually succeeded in convincing not only Mrs
Saint Leger, but also himself, that the expedition would certainly be
successful and that he would be able to bring home his brother safe and
sound.
Meanwhile, old Si Radlett was nothing if not thorough in his methods,
and, having made up his mind to engage in a speculation that, if
decidedly risky, might yet result in enormous profit to himself, allowed
no grass to grow under his feet. Every man in his yard was at once
detailed for service on and about the _Nonsuch_, the cradle was built,
and on a certain raw but brilliant morning of early March, Mrs Saint
Leger, well wrapped up in furs, was escorted by George to the shipyard
in Millbay, where she had undertaken to preside at the launch of, and
perform the ceremony of christening, the ship which was to bear one of
her sons across the tempestuous Atlantic to the rescue of the other.
The launch of a ship in those days was a much less ceremonious affair
than it is to-day, yet the piety of the time was so real, and so
intimately pervaded the affairs of daily life, that a short religious
service was deemed as necessary at the christening of a ship as at that
of a child; and accordingly a small platform was erected under the bows
of the _Nonsuch_, where, with Mrs Saint Leger beside him, the vicar of
the church in which old Radlett worshipped every Sunday morning, read
certain passages of scripture, preached a short sermon, and then offered
up special prayers beseeching God's blessing upon the ship. After this
the spur-shores were knocked away, and to the blare of trumpets and the
roll of drums, Mrs Saint Leger dashed a bottle of wine against the
great cutwater of the gaily bedizened ship as she began to move down the
ways, exclaiming, as she did so:
"God bless the good ship _Nonsuch_ and all who are to sail in her!" And
she said it not perfunctorily, but from her heart; for the lives and
fortunes of the two who were nearest and dearest to her in the whole
world were irrevocably bound up with the ship.
George did not occupy the platform beside his mother. As soon as he had
seen her safely placed, he made his way to a point in the yard from
which he could advantageously view the plunge of the ship into "her
native element," and his heart thrilled with joy and pride as he noted
with a keen, appreciative, and understanding eye the manner in which the
hull took the water, the buoyancy with which, after the first deep
plunge, she rose to her bearings and sat upon a perfectly even keel, and
the cleanness with which she divided the water as she drove out toward
the middle of the bay. Then, too, the craft being farther distant from
him than he had ever before viewed her, he was the better able to
observe the very marked differences in model which Radlett had
introduced into her design, the easier and more flowing lines, the more
graceful shape, the shallower hull, and the absence of those towering
fore and after castles which rendered the ships of those days so
awkward, crank, and uneasy in heavy weather; and he told himself grimly
that with such a ship as that, and with a good strong sturdy crew of
staunch Devonian hearts to back him up, it should not be his fault if he
did not make the word "Englishman" a name of dread from one end to the
other of the Spanish Main.
From the moment of the launch the preparations for the voyage progressed
rapidly, yet not as rapidly as George could have wished, for the time
was one of great difficulty and tension in England; war with France, or
Spain, or both, threatened to break out at any moment; the country was
swarming with spies, and it was therefore of vital importance to the
success of the expedition that the most absolute secrecy concerning it
should be maintained. It was even necessary that the very existence of
the ship and the fact of her being fitted out should be noised abroad as
little as possible, for, as things then were, in the event of a crisis
arising it was quite upon the cards that the authorities might lay
forcible hands upon the craft and annex her for the service of the
country. Such a condition of affairs militated very strongly indeed
against extreme rapidity of progress; yet so well did cunning old
Radlett manage that, in spite of everything, the process of rigging the
_Nonsuch_ and preparing her for sea went forward with surprising speed.
It was of course impossible to keep the fact of her fitting-out an
absolute secret from everybody, so when inquisitive people came prowling
about the wharf, asking all sorts of inconvenient questions, old Radlett
gave them to understand, with many nods and winks of mystery, that he
had it in his mind to see what could be done with her in the way of a
trading voyage to the eastern Indies, where, he understood, pots of
money were to be made by those who were willing to take a little risk.
Every day saw a little further progress made, an additional spar raised
into position and secured, a little more added to the complicated maze
of rigging; and meanwhile George, accompanied by Robert Dyer, who had
been hunted up the moment that his services could be made useful, went
hither and thither all over Plymouth and its neighbourhood, day after
day, hunting up desirable recruits, including many of the
_Bonaventure's_ former crew, until in process of time they contrived,
between them, to get together no less than one hundred men, all of them
of the true Devon breed, ready to go anywhere and do anything. Under
ordinary conditions so large a crew would have found themselves cramped
for room in a ship of the _Nonsuch's_ tonnage. But the _Nonsuch_ was
not designed for cargo carrying. She was essentially a fighting ship,
her cargo-space being only about half the capacity of other ships of her
size, the remainder of the hold being fitted to serve as a spacious
'tween-decks, affording accommodation for an even larger crew than
George and her owner had decided was necessary. And, in addition to the
'tween-decks, there were of course the cabins, plainly but comfortably
fitted up, which included the captain's state cabin in the stern of the
ship, the main cabin, in which the officers would take their meals and
which would be used by them at other times as a council chamber and
general living-room, and cabins for the pilot or sailing master, the
captain of the soldiers, the chaplain, the surgeon, and the purser.
By the time that this formidable crew had been collected together the
_Nonsuch_ was practically complete, so far as rigging and equipment were
concerned, and a week later found her with provisions, water, powder,
and stores of every description on board, as well as her crew, and only
waiting for a fair wind to enable her to go to sea. It was April, and
after a long spell of bitter north-easters the weather had changed, a
south-westerly wind had set in, with mild, rainy weather, and although
George declared himself ready to go to sea and attempt to beat down-
channel, old Radlett strenuously opposed the idea, upon the plea that it
would be merely a waste of time and a needless risking of the ship. But
a day or two later a hint was brought to him to the effect that the
attention of the authorities had at last been directed to the _Nonsuch_
and the question of her being taken over by the Government was being
discussed, whereupon the old man withdrew his opposition, and, the
weather falling opportunely calm at the same moment, George took a hasty
farewell of his mother, hurried aboard, gave orders for the lowering and
manning of all boats, and on the afternoon of a certain balmy day of
mid-April, triumphantly towed his ship out to sea until, abreast of the
Mewstone, he fell in with a small southerly air to which he spread his
every sail and so passed out of sight to the westward, while Mrs Saint
Leger, having crossed to Mount Edgcumbe, stood on Rame Head, watching,
until the white sails vanished in the golden haze of evening.
CHAPTER FOUR.
HOW THE "NONSUCH" CAME TO TRINIDAD AND WAS CAREENED THERE.
In these strenuous days of severe competition and universal education,
when there are far more men anxious to obtain responsible positions than
there are responsible positions to be filled, a man often reaches middle
age before he is able to secure a command of the relative importance
conferred upon George Saint Leger when the latter was given the command
of the _Nonsuch_. But in those days competition was nothing like so
keen as it is to-day, especially among seafarers, where men of education
were comparatively rare. Such men were only needed to take command of
the ships which were being built to meet the requirements of England's
rapidly expanding trade with "foreign parts," and no sooner was a man
qualified to command than shipowners were glad enough to snap him up.
Also the sum of seafaring knowledge in those days was infinitely less
than it is now. The art of navigation was, comparatively speaking, in
its infancy, and it was therefore quite possible to produce a finished
seaman in the space of five years, or even less. Consequently there
were many Elizabethan captains who were little more than boys when they
obtained their first command, the immortal Drake, Saint Leger's
illustrious contemporary, being among them. Boys began life earlier
then than they do now, and consequently were often occupying positions
of great responsibility at an age when the public school-boy of the
present day is just beginning to think of abandoning his studies in
order to enter upon a career. Hence it is not surprising that, after
seven years of active sea life, George Saint Leger, young as he was, was
deemed by his old friend Radlett as fully qualified to command what in
those days was considered a very fine ship, and to head an expedition of
very great importance. True, Mr Marshall, the owner of the
_Bonaventure_, had expressed some doubt as to George being old enough
for the responsibility of command, but he did not know the lad so well
as old Si Radlett did, and had not followed his career with the same
interest; and no sooner was the _Nonsuch_ clear of the channel--which
event occurred on the day following that of her departure from
Plymouth--than the young commander began to justify the confidence which
his new owner had reposed in him.
For, undoubtedly, George Saint Leger was a born seaman. Not only did he
ardently love the sea and everything connected with it, but he early
developed a faculty of understanding ships, their tackling, and how to
handle them. Knowledge that some men acquired only slowly and with
difficulty he seemed to grasp intuitively. The mysteries of navigation
soon ceased to be mysterious to him, and seven years of active sea
experience had taught him all that there was to learn in the way of
handling a crew and training it to work together in such a manner that
its efforts might be employed to the best advantage. Therefore, once
fairly at sea, he began to sedulously exercise his crew, first in the
work of reducing and making sail, until he had brought them to a pitch
of unsurpassable perfection in that particular direction. Then he as
sedulously drilled them in tacking, veering, and other manoeuvres.
Finally, he exercised them at the guns, putting them through all the
actions of loading, aiming, firing, and sponging out their weapons--but
without much expenditure of his precious ammunition--until there was
probably no smarter or capable crew afloat than that of the _Nonsuch_.
It must not be supposed that all this was accomplished without
developing a certain amount of friction. The ship had not been it sea a
full week before her young commander discovered that, despite all his
care, he had picked up a few grumblers and shirkers who failed to see
the necessity for so much strenuous training, but it was just here that
his own personal gifts came to the front. By dint of argument,
raillery, and--in one or two particularly bad and obdurate cases--
judicious chastisement he finally succeeded in, what is termed in modern
parlance, "licking them into shape."