THE BRITISH FLEET.
The easterly end of Long Island is exceedingly ragged in its contour.
It is made up of straggling promontories, bays, inlets, and the
adjacent waters contain many islands, large and small, with outlying
rocky ledges. The opposite shore, the mainland of New England, is of a
similar character. Between them, the eastern sound and the neck of
water by which it is to be entered, provide a great deal of pretty
circumspect navigation.
It is said, although no one now living was there at the time to collect
testimony, that once the mainland and the island were connected by a
rugged isthmus, now sunken or washed away. If it were ever there,
enough of it is left to require good piloting.
A fleet of war-ships proposing to blockade or supervise the port of
Boston, may at the same time extend its operations so as to cork up the
Sound. This process, if made sufficiently thorough, may include in the
blockade such ports as New London, Providence, New Haven, and their
smaller neighbors. All of these, during the Revolutionary War, were
not only developing rapidly their regular commercial relations but were
nests of privateering enterprises.
The British naval authorities were often unable to detail for this part
of their general blockade of America a sufficient number of ships, and
it was a service much disliked by their captains and crews, especially
in winter.
The area of ocean to be patrolled was wide, and in spite of all
watching the Yankee ships ran in and out. Boston, especially, was
building up again, after its long period of military occupation, siege,
and desolation, much to the disgust of its many enemies.
During some hours after the escape of the _Noank_ from the _Boxer_,
Up-na-tan was down in the hold, and Guert Ten Eyck was with him. The
old Manhattan was no builder of ships, whatever he might be able to do
for a canoe, but he had seen a great many, here and there. He seemed
now to be carrying on a kind of critical investigation of the naval
architecture of the schooner.
"What is it?" asked Guert, as his red friend placed a hand curiously
upon one of the ribs of the vessel and glanced from that to other
timbers.
"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Good stick. Like lobster war-ship. All make
schooner strong. Carry long gun!"
"Captain Avery wishes she could," said Guert. "The mate thinks she
can't."
"No gun anyhow, now," said the chief, shaking his head. "Wait!"
The subject of the Manhattan's inquiry belonged to a controversy then
going forward among the royal naval constructors and sea-captains. The
reason why England's third and fourth rate cruisers carried only light
guns, and many of them, was simply their frail timbering. Too heavy
artillery might rack them dangerously. It would call for precisely the
strength of frame provided by American shipyards for craft which might
bump an ice-floe.
Up-na-tan was still further informing himself concerning the skeleton
of the _Noank_, when a shout from above summoned them both.
"Guert," called down Captain Avery, "you and he come to the cabin. Now
all's clear, you must learn something."
On the deck all things were quiet. Not a sail was in sight that
indicated a craft as large as their own. The schooner was spinning
along, with all sails set and a fair wind in them. Everything about
her, from deck to topmast, wore a clean, orderly, service look, that
spoke volumes for the high character of her crew. She was all ready to
do her best at any moment, and she was sure of being well handled.
Perhaps a seaman would have critically remarked upon the fact that with
such a wind she was not taking a course directly out into the Atlantic.
The captain's cabin, well aft below deck, was a small affair. It
seemed almost crowded when only half a dozen persons were in it.
"Now, Guert," said Captain Avery, "if I don't make the chief
understand, you must explain it to him. Talk Dutch, or any other
lingo. He's the sharpest lookout there is on board, and he's a prime
steersman. He must know what some things mean."
"What things?" asked Guert.
Two rugged old sailors who had entered the cabin with Sam Prentice,
also looked on inquiringly, while the captain went to a locker and took
out of it a leather case.
"Guert," he said, "it's the first duty of the commander of a ship
that's being taken by an enemy to put his private signal-book
overboard. It's kept weighted all the while, so it will sink. Now,
Luke Watts did his duty in that particular. His mate and his crew
looked on and saw him do it. So did I. They saw him drown something
like this."
The case was open, now, and out of it was drawn what appeared to be
several sheets of parchments, wired together, so that they might be
rolled up like a pamphlet.
"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Chief know 'em. Ship talk with lantern. Talk
to other ship with flag. Captain got plenty lantern? Plenty flag?
Tell Up-na-tan how."
A deep cupboard under the captain's bunk was at once thrown open, and
its contents were interesting. Red, green, blue, yellow, white, large
lanterns and small. Beside them lay a collection of sheafs of rockets,
each of which carried a written parchment tab to tell its nature.
Signal flags were there, also, in tightly tied-up rolls, and Up-na-tan
loudly grunted his approval of them.
"First, now, for the book," said the captain. "Every man on board can
be trusted to know signals. There isn't one traitor in the _Noank_,
nor a fool, either. Sam and I must go on deck. You and the men and
the redskin stay here and study those things. Git 'em all into your
head, if you can. We may have a lot o' sharp dodgin' to do, this
cruise."
Out he went, taking Sam with him, and then it at once appeared that
Guert had become a remarkable kind of schoolmaster, trying to explain
to others what he did not know himself. The two sailors were not
altogether unlettered men, but lack of practice had left them slow at
deciphering handwriting, and Guert seemed to have a knack of it. As
for the Indian, he did not know one letter from another, but he could
handle flags and lanterns as if they were hunting signs or the totems
of clans and tribes. Signal after signal was picked out and its
working practically illustrated in questions or answers.
"'Top!" exclaimed Up-na-tan, at last. "Head full! See more by and
by." So said the sailors, and Guert himself felt as if he had been
going through a hard time at a new school.
"But wasn't that a cute thing of Luke Watts!" he thought, as he came on
deck. "I'd like to try some o' those signals on a British ship. I
don't know how far we've run. The captain says our tightest squeeze
isn't far ahead of us, now."
The schooner, oddly enough, was actually running within sight of Block
Island. Some, at least, of her perils must be behind her. Perhaps
more would have been if a sailing vessel could go straight ahead, in
any direction, like a steamer. That, however, is one of several things
that she cannot do. Many an hour of swift sailing, tacking back and
forth, must often be extended in gaining only a few miles of her true
course.
The crew of the _Noank_ were not at all puzzled by the peculiar manner
in which she was handled, and some of their faces betrayed anxiety.
"Guess ole Avery wish dark come," remarked Coco to his friends as they
stood together at the foremast. "Lobster out yonder, somewhere."
It was only about the middle of the afternoon, and the captain's
telescope was busy every few minutes.
"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "'Tack to Montauk. No go out yet. Captain
head good. Want fog. Want night."
There was a laugh behind them, and Guert swung around to ask of Sam
Prentice:--
"Can you tell me how it is, sir?"
"I guess I can," said the mate. "We know a good deal more'n we did.
While you were all below, we spoke a Providence man. Cod-fisher. My
boy, there's a whole fleet of Britishers out there, somewhere, spread
all along. Merchantmen, troop-ships, cruisers. Some of 'em heavy
fellers. We must keep well in, for a while."
"Ugh!" said the red man. "Mate let ole chief take glass. Want look."
Prentice had with him his marine telescope, an unusually good one, and
he at once handed it to the Manhattan.
"Your eyes are 'most as good as glasses," he said. "Let's see what you
can make out with that. I saw a sail, myself. Pretty well down,
easterly."
There is a great deal of difference in eyes, even in good ones, and the
American red men possess peculiar faculties for sign reading.
"Ugh!" said the Indian, after slowly and carefully sweeping the sea and
the horizon with the glass. "Bad! _Noank_ 'tay in. One war-ship.
One, two, three, four other ship."
"Men-of-war and the convoy!" exclaimed Prentice. "Lyme Avery! Here
they are! Come this way! If the redskin hasn't sighted 'em!"
"Ship o' line," now remarked Up-na-tan. "Frigate. Little gun ship."
"Let me take the glass," said the captain, as he came; "it's a good
deal more'n we had reason to expect. Makes things look kind o' cloudy."
"Well," said Sam, "it's about what the Boston pilot told that
Providence feller. If we'd ha' gone on in too much of a hurry, we'd
ha' run right in among 'em."
"They're north o' their best course for New York," remarked the
captain. "I wonder if any of 'em are from Halifax. It may mean more
army to fight General Washington."
"Mebbe," said Sam. "It's likely some of 'em are the reg'lar coast
cruisers. As for the convoy, they're slow and heavy. It's about the
course I'd expect them to run."
"We'll take in sail and heave to," said the captain. "Our safest
hidin'd be under Martha's Vineyard."
They were not a very long reach from that island now. There were
several fishing smacks in sight, and none of them were taking in sail.
It looked, rather, as if they were all heading homeward. Perhaps they,
too, had been warned of a British fleet, and every man on board of them
was in danger of pitiless impressment, if his boat were to come within
range of the guns of a king's ship.
In came the sails of the _Noank_, and then came a time of watching,
waiting, and anxiety.
"Nine sail in sight," remarked Captain Avery, at last, "and there's
more'n that to come. British flag on every one of 'em. Of course,
they've sighted us, long before this."
"One comin' for us, I guess," said Coco.
"Headin' this way, sure!"
"I guess so," said the captain, quietly. "It's gettin' dusk, though.
Her glasses won't do any good, much longer.--Men! All sail! Jump,
now! Our time's come!"
His manner had undergone a sudden change, and there was a red flush on
his face. The men heard him say to his son:--
"No, Vine, I won't be taken. I'll fight that nighest feller, if I've
got to. He isn't a heavy one."
His orders went out fast, and the schooner was quickly under a cloud of
canvas. She had indeed been noticed by the British commanders, and
arrangements had been made to overhaul her, as a matter of course.
Her flight, or at least her escape, from such a fleet as she was now
facing, was an absurdity not to be thought of. Whatever sort of
American craft she might be, she was soon to have an officer and a
boat's crew on board of her, ascertaining how many of her sailors it
was best to take into the service of the king.
"Father," suggested Vine, "they won't send a boat till they're nearer
than this, a good deal. The sea's getting a bit rough, too, and the
wind's fresh'ning."
"I don't care how many boats they send," replied the captain. "I can
sink 'em as they come. We'll run farther in behind Nantucket, but we
won't go too far. The redskin says he saw a topsail off the channel
that's cut too square to suit us."
"Reg'lar cruiser's tops'l," put in Sam Prentice. "How she came to be
there, I don't know. Are they layin' a trap for us? Lyme, this 'ere's
goin' to be touch and go."
"It'll be go, then," said the captain.
"Maybe we won't touch, either. It's promisin' the darkest kind o'
night. They won't dream o' what our next long tack'll be.--Men! All
hands! Hark a moment, now!"
"Ay, ay, sir!" came back from all sides, and as many as could came
crowding around him.
"There may be more'n twenty sail, of all sorts, yonder, for all we
know," he said. "We make it out it's the British army supply fleet,
with troop-ships full of redcoats and Hessians. Likely, too, there are
reg'lar merchantmen for New York. They've a strong convoy, j'ined,
jest now, by the blockade ships, big and little. I calc'late, the more
of 'em there is, the better for us. I'm goin' to run the _Noank_ right
through 'em. Sam Prentice, take some men and fetch up the lanterns and
rockets. Now, boys, I ain't sure but we'll have a little fun, but
there mustn't be a loud word spoke on board this schooner."
With subdued laughter and chuckles of appreciation, the men scattered
to their duties. There was not a sign of fear among them and hardly an
expression of doubt as to the result.
The schooner herself seemed to go into the daring undertaking before
her, with all her heart as well as with all sails set. She swung
around upon her seaward tack and went with a speed that did her credit.
It was dark, and the darkness was deepening. Far away as yet, and in
all directions, the lights that were hung out by the British ships,
both of war and peace, were glimmering and twinkling as they rose and
fell with the surges that bore them. It was shortly evident that some
of these were signals that were exchanging, in accordance with the
directions of the secret signal code, and Captain Avery began to assort
and arrange his lanterns.
"Sam," he said, "I guess I'll answer that call to close up with the
flag-ship. All the rest of our fleet are answerin' it."
"Lyme," responded Prentice, "I'm in for fun, if there is any. Why
couldn't we mix 'em up?"
"We'll try, anyhow," said the captain.
"Cap'n," put in Up-na-tan, almost respectfully, so strong was getting
to be his warrior admiration for the cunning and courage of his
commander, "s'pose we tell lobster ship, rebel enemy come. Rebel right
here. Make 'em feel good. Fire gun!"
"I guess that's about as sharp a thing as we could do," replied the
captain. "Guert, pick out those white rockets. Hand 'em over."
Guert was having the fireworks under his especial charge, for he was
found able to read the somewhat roughly written tabs.
"Here they are, sir," he said in half a minute. "There's plenty more
of that kind."
Vine Avery had the lanterns, and he had already made use of them in
mocking replies to more than one swinging, dancing signal.
Now, as the captain lighted the rockets, up into the gloom went fizzing
and flashing the prescribed announcement of danger. Each rocket let
out, as it exploded, a pretty large ball of red flame, as if to
emphasize its message. War-ship after war-ship told her character by
responding with a similar rocket, the merchantmen keeping quiet, and
then from the flag-ship of the fleet came the boom of a heavy gun.
"Heavens!" suddenly exclaimed Captain Avery, as he watched for those
responses. "One o' their cruisers is nigher'n I'd counted on!
Starboard your helm, Sanders! All ready to go about!"
"Ship ahoy!" came out of the gloom beyond them. "_Amphitrite_! What
ship's that? Where are the enemy? What is she?"
"_Kr-g-h-um-n_, of Liverpool," sang out Captain Avery huskily,
indistinctly, through his trumpet.
"They won't make much out of that," Guert was thinking, but the British
officer angrily shouted back:--
"_Kraken_, of Liverpool? You blockhead! What do I care for that?
Where away's the Yankee?"
"Armed schooner, sir! Pirate! Passed close by, westerly. Say 'bout
two p'ints south."
"Where away, now, stupid?"
"On the lee bow, sir," trumpeted the captain. "Runnin' free. We was
nigh 'nough to see her guns."
"Blockhead!" came back. "Why didn't you signal sooner? You deserve a
good rope's ending! Close up with the admiral!"
"Ay, ay, sir! There she goes! They're gettin' hold of her," responded
Captain Avery.
For at that moment another gun from another man-of-war sounded well to
leeward. It was accompanied by more rocket signals that went up to be
read by all the fleet.
"Captain," sang out Guert, as he tried to read them, "green rocket
bursting into red. It means 'Pirate in chase of merchantman.'"
"All right," said the captain, "it's some other feller. We're not in
chase of anybody. Up-na-tan! Vine! swing out that biggest blue
lantern. I'll send up a blue rocket burstin' yeller and green. Then
douse the lanterns."
"What does that mean, father?" inquired Vine, raising the blue lights.
"Mean?" uproariously responded the captain. "Why! it means 'Mutiny on
board ship. Send help to quell mutiny.'"
The British admiral saw that rare and exceedingly annoying signal with
intense indignation.
"That's it!" he stormed, "another 'cursed mutiny! That comes of
crowding the king's ships with the off-scourings of the merchant
service, and jail-birds, and slaves, and picaroons, and 'pressed Yankee
rebels. Not one of 'em's fit to be trusted. The king'll lose ships by
it! They'd better be all hung!"
Meantime, under an almost perilous press of sail for such a wind and so
rough a sea, the stanch, swift _Noank_ was dashing along her course.
Every minute carried her oceanward, but not all her dangers were behind
her.
Rapid signalling went on between the British war-ships and their now
frightened convoy. The unarmed vessels were hurrying toward their
protectors like so many chickens toward a clucking hen. No other
incident or accident of any importance occurred to any of them. As
hour after hour went by in the darkness of the night, and then in the
very chilly morning that followed, an eager, angry, discomforting
process of inquiry went forward from ship to ship. Upon which of them
had been the mutiny? Had it succeeded? Had it been put down? Did the
mutineers take the boats and get away?
"Not on this ship, sir," was the altogether uniform response, and all
the vessels known to be in company had been accounted for.
Not only was it that not one solitary mutineer could be discovered: it
also appeared that no such ship as the _Kraken_, of Liverpool, had at
any time joined herself to that convoy.
"'Pon my soul!" exclaimed the astonished admiral, at last, "this is
great! Ponsonby, my dear fellow, the chap that hailed you in the dark
must have been the Yankee pirate himself. What do you think?"
"I think he got away, sir," calmly replied Captain Ponsonby, of the
_Amphitrite_, forty-four. "The rebel rascal has slipped through our
fingers in the most audacious manner. Showed pluck, too."
"He did!" groaned the admiral.