THE SAILING OF THE “MARY ROSE.”
It is true that Mr. Thomas Bowling was engaged to be married to Mary
Rose, youngest daughter of Admiral Sir Taffrail Stormer, G.C.B. That
may be why he renamed the _Valdivia_ the _Mary Rose_, but, on the
other hand, it may not; for, for nearly four hundred years, _Mary Rose_
has been a good old ship-name in the Royal Navy of England, and it is
a name as historically venerable as _Dragon_ or _Lion_, and more so
than _Royal Sovereign_, _Antelope_, _Unicorn_, _Falcon_, _Phœnix_,
_Triumph_, or _Victory_. A _Mary Rose_, of 600 tons, capsized during
the action with the French at Spithead in 1545, and from fifty years
before that time until the close of the last century, there was nearly
always a _Mary Rose_ in the Navy List. Moreover, when she figured
there, she generally figured there to some effect.
One thing, however, is certain. Sir Taffrail, accompanied by his
daughter, ran down to Newcastle while the ship was preparing for sea,
and lunched with Bowling in his half-fitted cabin; and there being on
the luncheon table an unopened bottle of champagne, Bowling carried it
on to the forecastle, and persuaded Miss Stormer to fling it against
the gilt scroll-work on the cruiser’s bows, and to say: “I re-christen
you _Mary Rose_.” All of which she did very prettily, and with many
smiles and some blushes.
That was on Wednesday, May 6th, the day preceding the night on
which torpedo boat No. 18 made the unsuccessful attempt to get out
of Gibraltar and attack the French Fleet. All that day and all the
following night the Elswick people worked like bees on board; and
next morning Bowling, who had scarcely taken off his clothes, or even
slept, for four days, was able to telegraph to London, “I shall be
ready to sail this evening.” Later in the day he had the satisfaction
of receiving a private dispatch from Sir Humphrey Thornbeigh. In
the meantime, the ship took on board her shell and her ammunition,
including, for all weapons, cordite as well as ordinary powder.
Bowling had succeeded in collecting a much better ship’s company than
he had dared to hope for. Germany and America, and, indeed, nearly all
countries, had issued formal proclamations of neutrality, but these
did not prevent a certain number of excellent German and American
seamen from shipping with him; and some of each nationality had, he
was delighted to find, served in their own navies, and, if not quite
up to his standard of what bluejackets should be, knew what man-of-war
discipline was, and had a certain acquaintance with modern guns and
modern conditions. He obtained most of his engine-room staff with much
less difficulty than he had anticipated. The slower merchant steamers,
harassed by the numerous fast cruisers which the French Government
chartered, armed, and sent to sea immediately after the outbreak of
war, had already begun to lie up, and, although the Admiralty took
over many of their engineers and stokers, Bowling managed, with the
assistance of agents at Hull, Glasgow, and Liverpool, to engage all
he wanted, and even to pick and choose a little. His chief engineer,
a rugged Scot named Macpherson, had volunteered into one of the
Congressional ships during the Civil War of 1891 in Chili, and had
then, on more than one occasion, evinced his complete coolness and
his fulness of resource. He came, surrounded by a legend, which he
professed to laugh at as utterly baseless, that once, when a shell
burst in his engine-room, causing a frightful outburst of steam, he
ordered all his juniors away, went in alone, shut off everything, and
was found so badly burnt as to have his life despaired of: but the
frightful white scars with which his hands and face were nearly covered
lent probability to the story, and helped to inspire a confidence,
which, it may be said at once, was never misplaced.
Bowling saw no necessity for cutting loose from all the traditions
in which he had been brought up. He therefore assumed for himself
the title of captain, and gave his executive officers the title of
lieutenant. The _Mary Rose’s_ staff, when completed, and set down as it
would have been had the cruiser been one of Her Majesty’s ships in the
Navy List, was:--Captain, Thomas Bowling (late R.N.); lieutenant, John
K. Maintruck, R.N. (retired); lieutenant (N), Benjamin Binnacle, R.N.
(retired); lieutenant (G), Henry B. Tompion, R.N. (retired); lieutenant
(T), James Water Tripper (late R.N.); lieutenant, Frederick Day;
lieutenant, William Salthorse, R.N. (retired); surgeon, Arthur Rhubarb,
M.D.; paymaster, Noah Nipcheese, R.N. (retired); chief engineer,
Alexander Macpherson; sub-lieutenant, Henry Echo (late R.N.A.V.);
gunner, George Prism Brown (late R.N.); boatswain, Benedict Tiller
(late R.N.); carpenter, Michael Plane.
There were also, of course, subordinate engineer officers, and there
were three young gentlemen, Messrs. Williams, Roberts, and Harris, who
had been senior cadets in the _Worcester_ or the _Conway_, and who, at
the urgent request of their parents, who were retired naval officers
without interest, were permitted to join the _Mary Rose_ as midshipmen.
Each of these had had a little experience at sea in a merchant ship.
Mr. Maintruck was an admirable all round officer, whose only service
fault was that he had no influential friends. He had seen service
in all parts of the world, and after having been twenty-two years a
lieutenant, had been obliged, on the score of age, to retire. Like
several of his fellow lieutenants, he insisted upon sinking his
seniority in favour of Bowling. He was a somewhat old-fashioned man in
his notions, and, in common with Mr. Salthorse, who was very little
his junior, he affected greatly to regret the days of masts and sails,
and to think that modern naval officers were very indifferent seamen.
With these supposed opinions of the two old lieutenants Mr. Binnacle
agreed. They were really his opinions, though not really theirs. He
fervently believed that seamanship and navigation, save in so far as
they were preserved in his own person, were nearly lost arts. They
merely grumbled as a matter of principle, and in their hearts--although
they would never admit it--were staunch admirers of what is called
“new navy.” Mr. Tompion and Mr. Tripper were thorough-going scientific
officers of the modern school. Tompion had fallen in love, and retired
in order to marry; but, having retired, had almost immediately lost
his inamorata, who had faithlessly married a subaltern in the Buffs.
This blow, while it had soured Tompion so far as the whole fair sex
was concerned, had rendered him more than ever devoted to his lost
profession; and he had therefore seized with avidity the opportunity
of going afloat again. Tripper had, in a moment of disgust, retired in
order to become manager to a firm which promised, in its prospectus, to
provide the world with a torpedo of a new and subtle dirigible type;
but the company having collapsed before its torpedo had been adopted
by any government, Tripper had found himself thrown without occupation
upon his own resources. The Admiralty, annoyed at losing him, had
insisted upon his returning his commission, and had thus surrendered
all claim upon his services. Otherwise, no doubt, their Lordships would
have been glad enough to get back so good a torpedo officer.
Mr. Day, barrister-at-law, has already been introduced to the reader as
a determined amateur yachtsman. Salthorse declared that he would not
join the _Mary Rose_ at all unless he was allowed to join as junior
lieutenant; for he urged that he had not been to sea for many years,
and, in the quasi-retirement of a coast-guard billet, had grown very
rusty. Thus it was that he ranked junior even to Day; although in his
time he had been first lieutenant of an ironclad in the Channel, and of
a guardship in one of the Scottish ports, and had commanded a gunboat
on the West Coast. His modesty met its reward in the respect with which
he was regarded by everyone on board.
Dr. Rhubarb was a civilian, young and enthusiastic, and a clever
surgeon as well as a learned physician. He threw up a rapidly-growing
London practice in order to accompany Bowling; and, as he was a
bachelor, no one had a right to prevent him. Mr. Nipcheese, the oldest
officer in the ship, was a gentleman who sincerely believed that the
bone and marrow of the Royal Navy was represented by the accountant
branch of the service, and this being his opinion, he was, of course,
although retired, a very superior person in his own estimation, and
invariably behaved himself as such, except, on occasions, after
dinner, when, if he had been able to lay hands on any Madeira, he
would sleep in the ward-room with his feet on the stove, and by turns
snore and mumble incoherencies, some of which sounded suspiciously
like blasphemies, aimed, however, at nobody and nothing in particular.
He would sometimes, when awake, unbend sufficiently to listen to a
good story, and even to smile at it in a superior kind of way; but
he was never known to tell one. Mr. Echo, by profession a barrister,
was a keen officer of a type which was by no means uncommon in the
unfortunate Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers. He was an enthusiastic
all-round yachtsman, and had, moreover, devoted full attention to
gunnery work. Ever since the disbandment of his corps he had continued
to keep himself _au courant_ with naval matters, in hope that some
day the R.N.A.V. would be re-established. He was fully equal to a
lieutenant’s duties, he was smart and tireless, he volunteered to do
any work for which a volunteer was required, and his good nature and
ingenuous character rendered him a general favourite. Of Mr. Brown
and Mr. Tiller it need only be said that they were pensioned warrant
officers, barely over fifty, and as good as the Navy has ever produced.
As for Mr. Plane, he had been carpenter in a crack Cunarder, and
belonged to the Royal Naval Reserve.
Thursday, May 7th, when the _Mary Rose_ sailed, was a great day on the
Tyne. Sir Taffrail Stormer and his daughter lunched on board again, and
remained by the ship until she had dropped down to the Narrows, below
North Shields, where they were put on board one of the several tugs and
steamers that had come out to bid the cruiser good-bye. As they went
over the side, Tompion, who was on the bridge, heaved a sigh of relief.
[Illustration: THE “MARY ROSE” ESCORTED OUT OF THE TYNE.]
“I beg your pardon, sir?” said Echo.
“Oh! I didn’t say anything,” answered the gunnery lieutenant; “I was
only pleased to see the last of that little petticoat. I was half
afraid that the skipper wouldn’t be able to cast off from it. Thank
heaven! That’s gone! A ship is never a ship while there’s a petticoat
on board.”
Bowling was shaking hands with the Admiral at the starboard gangway.
“And look here, Bowling,” said Sir Taffrail, “if, with a ship like this
under you, you don’t come back a bigger man than you sail, I shall
think that the Admiralty dealt with you as you deserved. And remember,
she shan’t marry a man who’s not in the service. My father was in the
service and my grandfather. I’m in the service, and my son-in-law is to
be in the service, and I’ll have my grandsons in the service if I live
to have a word to say to their mother. God bless you, my boy.” And the
Admiral, very red in the face, went over the side after his daughter,
sat down in the sternsheets of the boat which was to carry him to the
tug, took the tiller-lines, swore at the crew, just as if Miss Stormer
had been a hundred miles away, and, when he thought he was unobserved,
brushed a tear from his eye, and muttered, “God bless him!” in so loud
and angry a tone that the men at the oars thought that the objurgations
had begun anew, and pulled as if his Satanic Majesty himself was
coxing them. Mary Rose, who had stood up to wave her handkerchief to
Bowling, was capsized by the suddenly-increased impetus of the boat,
and fell upon her father’s knees, whereupon the Admiral picked her up
very tenderly, placed her at his side, and frowned around him as if to
say: “Who dares to tell me that the daughter of Sir Taffrail Stormer,
G.C.B., can’t stand up in a boat and wave a handkerchief? If there be
any such person, let me get at him.”
It is therefore fortunate that he did not hear Tompion’s ungallant
exclamation to Echo: “There, didn’t I tell you so? Serves her right,
poor little beggar, for not having stayed on shore.”
Bowling ran up to the bridge as soon as his friends were fairly away.
In the pleasure of having so fine a ship as the _Mary Rose_ under his
command, he forgot alike the disappointment of his removal from the
Navy, the personal sacrifices which he had made, the terribly hard
work of the past week, and the pain of parting with the girl he loved.
He felt that untold possibilities were within his grasp; he believed
that, while he might render his country splendid services, he might
also reinstate himself. And it was in the highest spirits that he took
command, ordered full speed ahead, and steamed out against the salt
breeze of the North Sea--the first English privateer to leave a British
port in the service of Sovereign and country for many a long year. But
he was not only in the service of Sovereign and country; he was in the
service also of himself and his fellow-owners of the _Mary Rose_, and
it was his business as much to make prizes from as to do damage to the
foe. He was, moreover, to some extent in the service of Sir Humphrey
Thornbeigh personally; for, but for Sir Humphrey, the ship could not
have been officered as she was. Bowling was beginning to congratulate
himself that, though he was serving so many interests, he was still
mainly his own master--when he recollected that, enclosed with Sir
Humphrey’s dispatch of that day, there was a sealed envelope marked,
“To be opened only after you have left port. Private and confidential.
On Her Majesty’s service.”
He took the dispatch from his pocket, and, pulling out the envelope,
opened it. Within were a letter and another envelope, the latter being
addressed to the Admiral-Superintendent, Malta Dockyard. Bowling read
the letter, which ran:--
“MY DEAR BOWLING,--I haven’t the least idea where you are going to
cruise or what you propose to attempt, and it is not my business
to inquire; but _if you find yourself in the Mediterranean_, and
will deliver this, you may render the country _and yourself_ a
considerable service. Of course I am taking other measures to get the
letter, a copy of which I enclose, delivered at Malta; but the enemy
seems to be holding the Strait pretty closely, and my messengers
may not get through, while you may. I don’t advise you one way or
another. You have duties to yourself and to your owners. But the
Mediterranean used to be a fine privateer’s cruising ground, and may
be so still, and _there’s honour to be gained there_. You have all my
good wishes, and I suspect you will not disappoint them. But, again I
say, remember your duties to your owners and _yourself_, and don’t
be influenced by your sincere friend,--H. T.”
Bowling whistled and gazed up speculatively at the foretop, over which
peeped the covered muzzle of a gun. “He wants me to go to Malta,”
thought he, “and yet he doesn’t want to formally advise me to do so. I
should surely pick up more prizes in the Channel. But Uncle Humphrey
has something in the wind, and, if I don’t take his suggestions, I
feel that I shall be a fool. He’s not the man to throw out these hints
without an object; nor is he the man to mislead me. He has helped me,
so, by Jove, if I can possibly see my way to it, I’ll help him. But how
we shall get into the Mediterranean, heaven only knows!”
He thrust the papers back into his pocket, and looking round and seeing
that the ship had by this time steamed well clear of the river’s mouth,
he ordered the course to be altered eight points to starboard.
It was nearly three bells, and the sun was setting over the land in a
blinding blaze of golden splendour. The sea was perfectly smooth; such
light breeze as there was came from the north-west, and the ship came
round so gently and sped southward so quietly that it was difficult to
believe that she was making even the 10 knots which the captain had
ordered.
“Running at this speed, when shall we be off Dover, Mr. Binnacle?”
asked Bowling of the second lieutenant, who stood by his side.
[Illustration: “THE FORETOP OVER WHICH PEEPED THE COVERED MUZZLE OF A
GUN.”]
Mr. Binnacle went into the chart-house, set to work with his ruler and
dividers, and in half a minute came out again, touching his cap, with
the reply, “At about three o’clock to-morrow afternoon, sir.”
“Thank you; very good. Messenger, run down and ask the chief engineer
to be so good as to speak to me.”
A boy who was in waiting sprang down the ladder, and very speedily Mr.
Macpherson came upon the bridge.
“She runs very easily,” said Bowling. “We will keep her at ten knots
for the present. But I should like steam, if you please, for seventeen
knots at eleven o’clock to-morrow morning, and after that time you must
be prepared, until further orders, to use forced draught, if necessary,
while we are running down the Channel. Is everything going well below?”
“Couldn’t go better, sir,” said the chief. “I never had better engines.”
“Very good, Mr. Macpherson; I won’t try them more than I can help.
Thank you.”
“We must make shift to get the men smart with the guns, Mr. Maintruck,”
said Bowling. “They must be practised at general quarters as much as
possible, and I shall go to night quarters to-night, though you needn’t
let anyone know it. I don’t want to tire out the crew, and I hope they
will understand that; but we are all rather fresh to our work, and we
have no time to waste. Who knows whether we shan’t have to fight an
action to-morrow? So we must lose no opportunities. Perhaps you will
be so good as to speak to Mr. Tompion on the subject. For the present
I don’t see how we can manage to run any torpedoes; but you may tell
Mr. Tripper that I shall bear him in mind, and give him a chance when I
can.”
Mr. Tompion needed no inciting to duty. Assisted by the gunner, he
had long since made out his quarter bill, and had already exercised
his men at the guns, though, of course, he had not yet been able to
fire, except on the morning of the 5th, when the ship had been out to
test her gun-mountings. In all departments the regular sea-routine
of a man-of-war was observed, and it was astonishing with how little
friction the men fell into their places, and how rapidly things settled
down. From the first the ship was kept partially cleared for action,
and the guns were always loaded; but, as all the guns were on the
upper-deck, where there was but little protection from the weather,
Bowling did not think it necessary to make the men sleep at their
quarters. That night, at half-past eleven, he went up on to the bridge
and ordered the ship to general quarters, and when less than four and a
half minutes later everything was reported ready, he felt that he had
with him the material for an extraordinarily smart ship’s company, and
that it would be very bad policy on his part either to unnecessarily
expose, or to unnecessarily weary, a very willing crew.
There were no further alarms during the night. The sun rose at about
twenty minutes past four, but already Mr. Maintruck was busy on deck;
and all the morning, with but rare intervals, drills of one kind or
another were going on. At ten, Bowling ordered targets to be dropped,
and then exercised his guns’ crews for an hour at firing at a mark.
The practice, especially with the 4·7-in. guns, was much better than
could fairly be expected, but naturally it was not very brilliant.
In all directions, however, there were signs of improvement, and as
officers and men alike were exceedingly keen, the captain was more
than satisfied. Soon after three in the afternoon, the speed having
already for some hours been increased to nearly 17 knots, the ship
was off Dover, and exchanged signals with the shore. Bowling altered
course very little, and headed diagonally across the Strait, making
for the direction of Havre, so that by ten o’clock at night he was off
the mouth of the Seine. Many craft of all kinds were sighted in the
Channel, but very little attention was paid to them. They were chiefly
British and German vessels, and the captain’s immediate idea was to
leave as quickly as possible those waters, in which he could not expect
to encounter something well worth the trouble of capturing. Both Mr.
Echo and the carpenter knew almost every steamer that traversed the
Atlantic. Bowling therefore ordered them to keep watch and watch on the
bridge that night, and having altered course to the westward, reduced
his speed to 10 knots, and began to look out for a homeward-bound
French liner.
The French Government, with marvellous promptitude, had issued as early
as April 30th a code of private signals, copies of which had been given
to all outward-bound vessels leaving French ports on and after that
date. Captains were directed to communicate with all French ships
which they might meet at sea, apprise them of the outbreak of war,
and deliver to them a copy of the signals. They were directed also to
sink or destroy the signal-books in the event of their capture being
probable; and, as the adoption of these measures had been reported in
England several days before the sailing of the _Mary Rose_, Bowling
felt pretty confident that, although hostilities were less than a
fortnight old, he would have to depend, not upon ruse, but upon speed
and force, for any prize which he might be so fortunate to make. While,
therefore, reducing his speed to ten knots, he still kept steam for
seventeen.
Day and Echo relieved Salthorse and the carpenter at midnight. There
was a clear moon, and the sea was still smooth. The dark mass of Cape
La Hogue was visible to the south-west, and behind it Alderney was just
opening out, like a black cloud upon a field of silver.
Day took his station on the bridge; Echo, glass in hand, climbed into
the foretop, and had not been there more than a quarter of an hour when
he hailed Day with the information that he had sighted three sail in
company, at a distance of about eight miles on the port bow, coming up
Channel, one, at least, being evidently a big passenger vessel.
Day went into the chart-house and roused the captain, who was sleeping
there as best he could, coiled up on some bunting and coats in a
corner. Bowling was upon his legs and wide awake in a moment, and, in
half a minute more, was in the top by Echo’s side. He had no difficulty
in perceiving the strangers, though he could not make out what they
were.
“One of them looks uncommonly like the _Normandie_ of the Compagnie
Générale Transatlantique, sir,” ventured Echo.
“And one is a man-of-war, if I’m not mistaken,” added the captain;
“and not one of ours either. Keep your eyes open, Mr. Echo, and report
all their movements.” And Bowling scrambled down again, and mounted
to the top of the chart-house, where he was not too far removed from
the bridge to be able to give his orders. No sooner was he there than
he directed the crew to be sounded off to quarters. Almost at the
same moment two rockets went up from the centre ship of the three,
and glittered for a second against the dark blue of the sky. This was
clearly a private night-signal, for several lights were also shown, and
then suddenly extinguished.
“Full speed, if you please, Mr. Day,” shouted Bowling, keeping his
glass on the strangers, “and keep her a point nearer in.” Day gave the
necessary directions to the engine-room and to the quartermaster at the
wheel, but, by that time, Mr. Maintruck and Mr. Binnacle, both looking
very sleepy, were on the bridge, and he was free to go to his station
at the quick-firing guns aft.
The strangers, who had clearly been making for Havre, altered course
a little when their signal was not answered, and seemed to be about
to attempt to get into Cherbourg; but, as Cherbourg was already broad
on the port beam of the _Mary Rose_, they soon recognised this as
hopeless, and, rounding Alderney, headed southward for St. Malo or
Cancale Bay. The one which looked like the _Normandie_ took station
ahead, and the one which looked like a man-of-war took station astern,
the three vessels thus steaming in column. In ten minutes’ time they
were shut out from view by the land, but already it was plain that the
_Mary Rose_ was rapidly gaining on them.
The three ships were, in fact, the _Normandie_, 6217 tons,
homeward-bound from New York; the _Paraguay_, 3450 tons, homeward-bound
from South America, and owned by the Chargeurs Réunis; and the cruiser
_Duguay-Trouin_, of the French navy. The cruiser, detached from the
Division Legère de l’Atlantique, had been sent to the mouth of the
Channel to look out for homeward-bound ships, and to see them safely
into port, and, having fallen in with the _Normandie_ and _Paraguay_
almost simultaneously off Ushant on the previous afternoon, was
convoying them at the speed of thirteen knots--all that the _Paraguay_
could manage--to Havre, which was their normal destination.
In an hour the privateer rounded the cape, and enjoyed once more a
view of the chase. At half-past two the _Mary Rose_ was off Cap de
Flamanville, and was well within gunshot of the cruiser, which still
kept station at the rear of the column.
“She has a lot of guns, sir,” said Tompion, who, for a few minutes, had
been consulting a book by the light of the binnacle lantern. “There
are five 6·4-in. and five 5·4-in., besides four quick-firers, and
five revolving cannon; and she has a couple of torpedo tubes stowed
somewhere.”
“I’m glad that you know so much about her. Probably she can’t make head
or tail of us. If she be really the _Duguay-Trouin_, as you make out,
I ought to know something about her myself, for I lunched on board
her some years ago at Brest. She’s an iron ship, with no protection
whatever, and we could blow her out of the water. Now, I’m going to
pass her, Mr. Tompion; and if she doesn’t fire at me, I shan’t fire at
her. I want the other ships first.”
But the gallant Frenchman had determined to make an effort to save his
charges. Just then the _Duguay-Trouin_ yawed a little, and, at about
two thousand yards, fired as much of her port broadside as would bear
at the _Mary Rose_. No projectile struck, but the spray from more than
one splashed across the privateer’s deck.
[Illustration: “GIVE HER THE BOW 9·4-IN. GUN.”]
“Give her the bow 9·4-in. gun, Mr. Tompion,” said Bowling. “I don’t
want to sink her; but perhaps you can disable her screw or steering
gear. Don’t fire, however, until we are a little closer to her. Let the
men lie down, Mr. Maintruck. And, by the way, Mr. Tompion, please keep
the starboard midship gun trained on her as we come up on her quarter.”
Again the _Duguay-Trouin_ yawed to port, and delivered her broadside.
A storm of projectiles shrieked past the _Mary Rose’s_ bridge; a few
splinters flew from the wood-work of the chart-house; and a shell burst
harmlessly against the base of the sponson of the starboard barbette.
Had the officers remained on the bridge, some of them would doubtless
have been hit, but, at the first sign of the enemy’s yawing, Bowling
had made them take shelter behind the conning tower.
The privateer was now coming up so rapidly that the Frenchman dared
not again yaw to port for fear of being rammed; but he began to circle
round to starboard, so as to bring his starboard broadside to bear;
whereupon Bowling ordered the two big barbette guns, of which he had
already spoken, to be fired. They were discharged almost simultaneously
at the cruiser’s stern; and, when the smoke had cleared away, it was
evident that at least one of them had spoken with effect, for the
enemy’s mizzen topmast was seen to have toppled over her starboard
quarter, and to be hanging with all its hamper in such a position that,
as the cruiser continued to circle, it must infallibly foul her screw.
And this is indeed what happened a minute later.
But the _Duguay-Trouin_, though temporarily disabled, did not cease to
fire as the privateer passed under her stern, and beyond her, in hot
chase of the convoy.
“Leave her alone for the present,” said Bowling; “I intend to pass
the next ship, and stop the leading one. Don’t use the big guns
again without orders. We can tackle these gentlemen with the small
quick-firers and machine guns.”
The _Paraguay_, the centre ship, was easily overhauled and passed;
but the _Normandie_, having increased her speed to 15 knots, was not
so easily come up with, and she was off St. Catherine’s Bay, Jersey,
ere the _Mary Rose_ ran alongside her and hailed her to strike.
She of course had no alternative; and Bowling, having hastily lowered
a couple of boats and put Mr. Williams, an assistant engineer, and
five-and-twenty well-armed men on board of her, returned to look
after the other ships. The _Paraguay_, immediately after having been
passed, had altered her course sixteen points and fled again to the
northward. The _Duguay-Trouin_ had made sail, but the wind being light
she had scarcely moved, and before daybreak the privateer was once more
within shot of her. Bowling fired a gun across her bows, whereupon
she replied with a broadside, which did a little damage and wounded
three men; but a couple of well-aimed rounds, at 750 yards, from the
privateer’s 9·4-in. guns, brought the French captain to his senses;
and at a quarter-past four, being on fire and having thirty men killed
or wounded by the bursting of a shell in his battery, he surrendered.
Lieutenant Tripper and fifty men went on board and took possession;
150 of the cruiser’s crew were for safety’s sake removed into the
_Mary Rose_, and the _Paraguay_ having got into Cherbourg and given
the alarm, Bowling and his two prizes made the best of their way to
Plymouth, where they dropped anchor soon after noon on Saturday, May
9th.
[Illustration: THE “MARY ROSE” AND PRIZES ENTERING PLYMOUTH SOUND.]