about mid-morning a floating object was sighted on the starboard bow
which, as the _Nonsuch_ drew nearer, proved to be the hull of a small
ship, dismasted, floating low in the water, and rolling horribly in the
trough of the sea. Then, as now, the sight of a ship in distress always
appeals irresistibly to the humanity of the British seaman and no sooner
was the character of the floating object identified than the helm of the
_Nonsuch_ was shifted and she was headed for the wreck. Shortly
afterwards the Spanish ensign was hoisted half-way up the ensign staff
of the stranger, thus declaring not only her nationality but also that
she was in distress, a fact which was sufficiently obvious to all with
eyes to see.
When the _Nonsuch_ had arrived within about a mile of the heavily
labouring craft, George ordered sail to be shortened, and announced to
his officers his intention to stand by the wreck until the sea should
moderate sufficiently to enable boats to be lowered, when he would take
off the crew, and every preparation was made accordingly. The English
ship was so manoeuvred as to enable her to pass athwart the stranger's
stern and heave-to close under the lee of the latter; and presently, as
the space between the two craft rapidly narrowed, George was enabled to
distinguish, painted in large letters, the name _Dona Catalina_.
Springing into the weather main rigging of his own ship, the young
commander waited until but a few fathoms separated the two vessels, and
he was able to clearly distinguish the features of the three men who
were clinging desperately to the shattered poop bulwark rail of the
wreck, and then, with his hand placed trumpet-wise to his mouth as he
stood with his back supported by the rigging, he hailed in Spanish:
"Ho! the _Catalina_, ahoy! Do you wish to be taken off?"
"_Si, Senor, si, si_," answered a short, stout, black-bearded individual
who formed one of the trio on the stranger's poop, "we are full of water
and sinking. Take us off, for the love of God! We have pumped until we
can pump no more, our strength being completely exhausted, and the leak
is gaining on us rapidly."
"Very well," returned George. "I will remain near you until the sea
goes down sufficiently to launch a boat. Until then you must do the
best you can."
"But, Senor," shrieked the black-bearded one, "if you wait until then it
will be too late. It will be hours before the sea goes down enough to
permit of a boat being launched, and meanwhile our ship is filling fast.
Cannot you devise some means of taking us off at once? See how we are
rolling, and how the sea is breaking over us! Every moment I am in fear
that a heavier sea than usual will strike us and roll our vessel
completely over. Holy Mother of God! Do not leave us to drown like
rats in a trap, Senor!"
But by this time the two craft had drifted so far apart that further
speech just then was impossible, and as George descended from the
rigging he gave orders to fill the main topsail and get way on the ship
again. Then he ascended to the poop and joined Dyer, who was already
there.
"Well, Cap'n, what be us goin' to do?" demanded the pilot, whose
knowledge of Spanish was just sufficient to enable him to gather the
drift of what had passed. "Shall us wait a bit longer, and chance the
hooker stayin' right side up till the sea do go down a bit more; or
shall us try to launch a boat? I don't doubt but what, if us watches
carefully and works quickly, we can get a boat afloat and unhooked; but
us couldn't get alongside the wrack to take her people off--they'd have
to jump overside and trust to we to pick mun up. Then how would us all
get out of the boat a'terwards and get mun hoisted up again? But it do
surely look to me as though we must do some'at pretty soon, because I
don't believe as that wrack'll last so very much longer. Look to mun,
how her do roll, and look how the sea do breach her! There must be tons
o' water a-pouring down into her hold every minute, and--Lard be
merciful--there a goeth. She be turnin' over now, as I'm a livin'--No,
no; 'tis all right; her be rightin' again, but Cap'n, her can't live
much longer to that rate."
"No," agreed George, who, like Dyer, had been breathlessly watching the
outrageous antics of the waterlogged craft, and had seen how very nearly
she had come to capsizing as the sea flung her up and hove her over on
her beam ends--"I'm afraid she cannot. As you say, something must be
done if we are to save those poor wretches; but the only thing that I
can think of is to at least make the attempt to launch a boat. We will
get to windward of the wreck, and then, everything having been
previously made ready, we will lower a boat and--if we can get away
without being stove--run down to the wreck in the `smooth' of the
_Nonsuch's_ lee; get under the lee of the wreck; and her people must
jump overboard, two or three at a time, and trust to us to pick them up.
I will take command of the boat, and as soon as you see us safely under
the lee of the wreck you must fill and keep away, pass to leeward of the
wreck, and heave-to as close to her as you can, when we will come round
under your lee and get the people aboard one at a time by means of a
`whip' from the lee mainyard-arm, trusting to luck for the chance to get
the boat aboard again without smashing her to staves. Now try her
about, Dyer; I think we ought to be able to fetch well to windward of
her now. And I believe the starboard quarter boat will be the easiest
to lower and unhook."
CHAPTER SEVEN.
HOW THEY CAME TO SAN JUAN DE ULUA.
Having explained to Dyer his proposed scheme of operations, George left
to the pilot the task of attending to the necessary manoeuvring of the
ship, and, going forward, called for four volunteers to go with him in
the boat to handle her and assist, if it might be, in saving the
unfortunate crew of the Spanish ship. As he had anticipated, he met
with no difficulty in obtaining a sufficient number of men for his
purpose, four of his old _Bonaventure's_ at once stepping forward at his
call. Directing these men to follow him, he then returned aft to where
the boat he intended to use hung swinging from the davits and, pointing
to her, instructed his volunteers to enter her, remove the plug from her
bottom to allow all the water to run out of her, and, while this was
doing, pass out the masts, sails, and all other gear not absolutely
required in the execution of the task which the intrepid quintette were
about to undertake. Then, these things being done, the plug was
returned to its place and driven well home, the oars were unlashed, the
thole pins shipped, the tackle falls well-greased, the coils cast off
the belaying pins, and every preparation made for the delicate operation
of launching. While these matters were being attended to the young
captain stood looking on, directing the men's movements, and pondering
upon the difficulty which he foresaw in connection with the quick
release of the boat from her tackles as soon as she should become water-
borne. It was absolutely necessary that this should be infallibly
accomplished at precisely the right instant, otherwise there was the
risk on the one hand of the boat being smashed to staves by being
violently dashed against the side of the heavily rolling ship; or, upon
the other, of her being released at one end only, in which case the
unreleased end of the boat would be lifted high out of the water again
by the counter roll of the ship and her crew all flung into the water.
Suddenly he saw his way clear; the solution of the difficulty had come
to him, and he issued his orders rapidly, for time was pressing, the
_Nonsuch_ had been hove about, and was now bearing down to take up a
position just to windward of the wreck. First of all, the boat was
temporarily slung by stout ropes from the davit ends; then the tackles
were let go and unhooked. Next, two stout rope strops were passed
through the ringbolts by which the boat was suspended from the tackles
and one bight passed through the other and secured in place by a well-
greased toggle, or piece of wood capable of being easily and quickly
withdrawn; and finally the bights thus formed were passed over the hooks
of the blocks, the tackles, were boused taut and made fast again, and
the temporary supports were cast off, thus leaving the boat once more
suspended by the tackles. George explained the device to the men, and
when he was satisfied that they perfectly understood the working of it,
ordered them into the boat, himself following them and stationing
himself at the craft's tiller, when a short wait occurred during which
the _Nonsuch_ was working her way toward the position necessary for the
success of the experiment which was about to be made.
At length the critical moment arrived; the _Nonsuch_ rolled and plunged,
with creaking timbers and groaning yards, up to windward of and some
fifty fathoms distant from the wallowing Spaniard, and, the mainyard
having been backed with perfect judgment by Dyer, came to a standstill
exactly abreast the dismasted hulk, thus affording a lee and
comparatively smooth water in which her boat might make a dash for the
wreck; then, taking advantage of a heavy lee roll, the boat was very
smartly lowered away upon an even keel, and struck the water with a
resounding splash.
"Let go!" yelled George, as he felt the boat take the water, and prompt
at the word the two men who were stationed at the tackles drew the well-
greased toggles, releasing the boat, oars were thrown out, and away
dashed the boat right down to leeward, heading to pass under the stern
of the wreck and come up in the comparatively sheltered water under her
lee. The passage was but a short one, and some three minutes later the
small craft, tossed buoyantly aloft upon the great foaming surges, had
safely passed under the stern of the _Dona Catalina_ and rounded-to
under her lee. Then the _Nonsuch_, which had by this time driven down
perilously near to the wreck, filled away again and just managed to
handsomely draw clear.
The three Spaniards were still clinging for their lives to the broken
bulwarks, and as George looked up he caught a momentary glimpse of some
seven or eight other heads peering over the rail down in the vessel's
waist; but there was nothing to indicate that anything had been done by
those on board to help those who were risking their own lives to save
theirs. There was no time for argument or discussion, however;
therefore George simply hailed the trio on the poop, tersely explaining
that he dared not attempt to lay the boat alongside, and that
consequently those who were anxious to have a chance for life must
simply jump overboard and trust to those in the boat to pick them up.
And at the same time he directed the two bow oarsmen to lay in their
oars and hold themselves ready to pick up those who cared to jump while
the other two oarsmen paddled the boat up as close to the heaving and
staggering wreck as it was prudent to go.
Then ensued a long and heated debate among the Spaniards themselves, not
one of whom seemed to possess the courage necessary to trust himself
even momentarily to the raging sea, during which the crew of the boat
patiently maintained their position within a fathom or so of the
wallowing hulk; but at length some sort of a decision seemed to have
been arrived at, for the short, stout, black-bearded man suddenly made
his appearance at the gangway, grasping a handspike, and, having first
inquired whether those in the boat were ready, and receiving an
affirmative reply, sprang outward, feet foremost. He struck the water
within less than half a fathom of the boat, vanished beneath the surface
for a moment, and re-appeared, coughing and spitting, still convulsively
clutching the handspike, close enough to enable those in the boat to
instantly seize him by the collar and haul him in over the gunwale, none
the worse for his plunge and dip. He was at once hustled aft into the
stern sheets, out of the way, and his rescue had been effected with such
absolute promptitude and simplicity that there was now no further
hesitation on the part of those left behind, who, one after another,
presented themselves at the gangway, some provided with handspikes, some
with oars, and one or two with short lengths of planking, or a grating,
and leaped, with the courage of desperation, into the swirling foam, to
the number of just a dozen. Then, as no more appeared, George inquired
where the remainder were; upon which the black-bearded man, after
counting heads, informed him that all the living had now left the ship,
the rest of the crew having been either killed or washed overboard when
the ship became dismasted.
And now came the most difficult part of the whole undertaking, namely,
getting the boat and its cargo safe aboard the parent ship. The
_Nonsuch_ was just then about a mile distant from the derelict, hove-to
on the larboard tack, awaiting a signal from George indicating that the
rescue had been effected and that he was now ready to make the great
attempt. That signal was now made by lashing a handkerchief to the end
of a boathook and waving it wildly in the air; upon seeing which, Dyer,
who had been manoeuvring the ship with the most consummate judgment,
filled upon her and brought her close up under the derelict's lee.
Then, and not until then, George gave the word, and the now heavily
loaded boat, floating deep in the water, headed out from under the
sheltering lee of the derelict, made a dash across the short space of
turbulent surges that separated her from the _Nonsuch_, accomplished the
passage safely, slipped round under the stern of the ship, now once more
hove-to on the larboard tack, and rounded-to in the comparative "smooth"
of her lee.
But now that she was there, how were the people to be got out of her?
For it was just as dangerous to attempt to lay her alongside the
_Nonsuch_ as it had been to make the same attempt with the _Dona
Catalina_. But Dyer had seen to this; for while the boat had been
absent on her errand of mercy the pilot had ordered a block to be lashed
to the starboard mainyard-arm, a whip rove through it, a boatswain's
chair made fast to the end of the whip, and a hauling line bent on to
the boatswain's chair; and when the boat ranged up under the _Nonsuch's_
lee, there was the whole apparatus dangling in the air, ready to effect
the transfer. To manoeuvre the boat under it and to lower the chair
into the boat was an easy matter, when all that remained was for a man
to get into the contrivance and be hoisted aloft and hauled into safety.
The transfer of the twelve rescued Spaniards was safely accomplished in
considerably less than an hour; and now all that remained was to hook on
the boat and hoist her up to the davits. Yes; that was all; but it was
the most difficult and delicate part of the whole undertaking; yet the
seamanship of George and Dyer proved equal to the task, and another
quarter of an hour saw the boat once more safely dangling at the davits,
with scarcely a scratch on her paint to show what a trying ordeal she
had passed through, and the _Nonsuch_ was again speeding away to the
westward, leaving the derelict to her not long delayed fate.
The quarter boat safely hoisted, George at once turned his attention to
his guests. The black-bearded man, it appeared, was the captain of the
ill-fated _Dona Catalina_, and he introduced himself as simply Captain
Robledo Martinez, without the pretentious prefix of "Don" or anything
else. Him, George took under his own wing, ordering a cot to be slung
for him down on the half-deck, with a screen of canvas triced up round
it to insure privacy. The poor fellow, like all the rest of the rescued
Spaniards, had, of course, only the clothes that he stood up in, and
they were dripping wet; but, fortunately, the _Nonsuch_ was well
provided in the matter of slop chests, and Captain Martinez, together
with the other survivors of the _Dona Catalina_, was soon rigged afresh.
It transpired that the Spanish vessel was on her way from Cartagena to
San Juan de Ulua, with despatches to the Viceroy of Mexico, when she
encountered the hurricane that had overwhelmed her, and that, before
being rescued, her crew had been exposed to the full fury of the
elements for twenty-six hours, in momentary expectation that the vessel
would founder under their feet; they were therefore given a warm meal,
and then dispatched below to make up their arrears of rest and recover
from the exhaustion induced by prolonged exposure.
But the conjunction of the names Cartagena and San Juan de Ulua,
casually mentioned by Martinez in his brief conversation with George
before retiring below, set the young Englishman thinking hard. The
conjunction was suggestive, to say the least of it; for Cartagena was
the city from which the plate fleet convoy started upon its annual long
ocean voyage to Spain, accompanied by the Cartagena contingent of plate
ships, with which it proceeded to Nombre de Dios--regarded as "The
Treasure-House of the World"--to take charge of the ships which
proceeded thence annually, loaded with treasure of incalculable value
for the replenishment of the Spanish coffers; while from thence the
combined fleet was wont to proceed to San Juan, there to be joined by
the ships carrying the Mexican contribution of treasure, of scarcely
less value than that shipped from Nombre. George Saint Leger had not
been for so many months intimately associated with Dyer, the pilot of
the expedition, and a survivor of the disaster which had overtaken
Admiral John Hawkins at San Juan de Ulua only a year previously, without
hearing all about the twelve large treasure galleons which the Devonians
had found lying defenceless in the harbour of that city when they
arrived there, torn and shattered by such a hurricane as that which had
reduced the _Dona Catalina_ to a waterlogged and sinking hulk, and he
wondered whether perchance it might be his good fortune to find another
such fleet in the harbour upon his arrival there. If so--well, Admiral
Hawkins had spared the treasure which he found there, for the best of
all reasons, namely, that his own ships were in no condition to engage
in a fight with the shore batteries, which it would be necessary to
silence before he could seize the plate ships, while, on the other hand,
it was imperative that he should enter the harbour to refit, and he
could not do so without the consent of the Spanish authorities;
therefore he had been obliged to sign a convention whereby in
consideration of his receiving permission to refit in peace and without
hindrance, he was to leave the plate ships unmolested. Hawkins had
scrupulously adhered to his part of the agreement, but the Spaniards had
deliberately broken theirs; and George was determined that now they
should dearly pay for their treachery, if Dame Fortune would but favour
him. He talked the matter over, first with Dyer, and then they together
discussed it with Basset, the captain of the soldiers, and Heard, the
purser; with the result that it was unanimously agreed among them that
they would make a determined attempt upon the fleet, if it should happen
to be in harbour upon their arrival.
But, in order to insure the success of their daring project, it was
necessary that they should be possessed of the fullest information
possible; therefore when Martinez came on deck that evening, after
several hours of refreshing sleep, George informed the unfortunate man,
in a perfectly friendly way, that he and the survivors of his crew were
prisoners; and demanded to know what had become of the despatches with
which he had been entrusted. Martinez, who proved to be quite a simple
straightforward sailor, at once replied that he had them in his pocket;
and upon Saint Leger demanding them he handed them over with merely a
formal protest; whereupon George found himself possessed of a small
packet carefully enveloped in several folds of oiled silk in which the
honest skipper had wrapped them prior to jumping overboard, when
escaping from his wrecked ship.
Of course George opened the despatches forthwith, to find that they
consisted, for the most part, of documents which possessed no interest
at all for him; but there was one letter which furnished him with
precisely the information that it was most important for him to possess.
It was from the Governor of the city of Cartagena, and was addressed to
"His Excellency Don Martin Enriquez, Viceroy of his Most Catholic
Majesty's Province of Mexico, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera," and was to
the effect that, news having reached the writer from Lima that an
epidemic of sickness had broken out among a large body of soldiers due
to return home with that year's plate fleet, the sailing of the Lima
contingent had been postponed, to allow time for the epidemic to exhaust
itself; and that therefore the departure of the convoy from Cartagena
had likewise been postponed. The object of this letter, the writer went
on to say, was to acquaint His Excellency with the fact of, and reason
for, the delay, that he might not be rendered unduly anxious, through
the non-arrival of the convoy; and to request that on no account should
the plate ships be allowed to proceed to sea until the arrival of the
convoy under the protection of which they were to make the homeward
voyage. Which meant, as George pointed out to his officers when he
translated the document to them, that upon their arrival at San Juan de
Ulua, they would assuredly find a certain number of plate ships in the
harbour, laden with treasure, and quite defenceless, save for such
protection as the shore batteries might be able to afford. It was the
chance of a lifetime, _if_ they could but render those shore batteries
innocuous; and an informal council of war was at once held in the great
state cabin of the _Nonsuch_ to decide how this most desirable end might
be achieved.
To start with, Dyer, who was the only man among them who had ever been
in the harbour of San Juan de Ulua, was furnished with pencil and paper,
and commanded to draw a chart of the place, to scale, as nearly as he
could, from memory; and after half an hour's arduous labour--for chart
drawing was not one of Dyer's strong points--he produced a sketch that,
rough as it was, promised to be of the utmost value to the adventurers.
For it showed how, owing to the conformation of the land, Hawkins, with
his small squadron, had, a year ago, been able to keep the whole of the
Spanish fleet from entering the harbour until he had concluded an
agreement with the treacherous Viceroy to permit them to do so; and how
a small, well-found fleet outside might, if not driven off by bad
weather, effectually blockade the port and prevent the escape of all
shipping from it. Further than that, it disclosed to the more acute
perceptions of George and Basset, the fact, which Dyer's denser
intellect had failed to grasp, that the much dreaded batteries had been
mainly constructed, not so much to defend the place from an attack by
sea, but to render a land attack by Indians practically impossible. For
if the chart were correctly drawn--and Dyer was very straitly questioned
upon this particular point--it showed that there was a certain spot in
the harbour where, if a ship were moored, she would be sheltered from
the fire of both batteries while at the same time the entire town,
which, after all, was but a very small place, would be fully exposed to
the artillery fire of the ship. Once completely satisfied upon this
point, Saint Leger and Basset believed they saw their way to the capture
and subjugation of the town, and laid their plans accordingly.
Three days later, shortly after noon, they made the land and, as soon as
Dyer had verified his bearings, hove-to for the night, some ten miles
off-shore and well out of sight of the town, the day being by then too
far advanced to permit of decisive action. But with the first
appearance of dawn on the following day, sail was made, and the
_Nonsuch_ stood boldly into San Juan de Ulua harbour and came to an
anchor in the spot previously determined upon, where, as Dyer's chart
had indicated, she was safe from the fire of the two batteries which had
been constructed to defend the northern and southern extremities of the
town, which were its most vulnerable points, from a land attack. Twelve
large plate ships were riding at anchor in the harbour, of which ten
appeared to be fully loaded, while cargo was being actively transferred
from the shore to the other two when the English ship ran in and
anchored between them and the shore.