The night passed quietly. Once or twice lights were seen, as the
schooners showed a lantern for a moment to notify their exact position
to each other.
As soon as dawn broke, every man on board the Lizzie Anderson was at
his post. The schooners had drawn up a little, but were still under
easy sail. The moment that the day grew clear enough for it to be
perceived that no other sail could be seen above the horizon, fresh
sail was spread upon the schooners, and they began rapidly to draw up.
On the previous evening the four heavy guns had been brought aft, and
the Indiaman could have made a long running fight with her opponents,
had the captain been disposed. To this, however, he objected strongly,
as his vessel was sure to be hulled and knocked about severely, and
perhaps some of his masts cut down. He was confident in his power to
beat off the two privateers, and he therefore did not add a stitch of
canvas to the easy sail under which he had been holding on all night.
Presently a puff of smoke shot out from the bow of the schooner from
the weather quarter, followed almost instantaneously by one from her
consort. Two round shot struck up the water, the one under the
Indiaman's stern, the other under her forefoot.
"The rascals are well within range," the captain said quietly. "See,
they are taking off canvas again. They intend to keep at that
distance, and hammer away at us. Just what I thought would be their
tactics."
Two more shots were fired by the schooners. One flew over the deck
between the masts, and plunged harmlessly in the sea beyond. The other
struck the hull with a dull crash.
"It is lucky the ladies were sent into the hold," the captain said.
"That shot has gone right through their cabin.
"Now, my lads, have you got the sights well upon them? Fire!"
The four thirty-two pounders spoke out almost at the same moment, and
all gazed over the bulwarks anxiously to watch the effect, and a cheer
arose as it was seen how accurate had been the aim of the gunners. One
shot struck the schooner to windward in the bow, a foot or two above
the water level. Another went through her foresail, close to the mast.
"A foot more, and you would have cut his foremast asunder."
The vessel to leeward had been struck by only one shot, the other
passing under her stern. She was struck just above her deck line, the
shot passing through the bulwark, and, as they thought on board the
merchantman, narrowly missing if not actually striking the mainmast.
"There is some damage done," Dr. Rae said, keeping his glass fixed on
the vessel. "There is a good deal of running about on deck there."
It was evident that the display of the heavy metal carried by the
Indiaman was an unpleasant surprise to the privateers. Both lowered
sail and ceased firing, and there was then a rapid exchange of signals
between them.
"They don't like it," the captain said, laughing. "They see that they
cannot play the game they expected, and that they've got to take as
well as to give. Now it depends upon the sort of stuff their captains
are made of, whether they give it up at once, or come straight up to
close quarters.
"Ah! They mean fighting."
As he spoke, a cloud of canvas was spread upon the schooners and,
sailing more than two feet to the merchantman's one, they ran quickly
down towards her, firing rapidly as they came. Only the merchantman's
heavy guns replied, but these worked steadily and coolly, and did
considerable damage. The bowsprit of one of their opponents was shot
away. The sails of both vessels were pierced in several places, and
several ragged holes were knocked in their hulls.
"If it were not that I do not wish to sacrifice any of the lives on
board, unnecessarily," the captain said, "I would let them come
alongside and try boarding. We have a strong crew, and with the sixty
soldiers we should give them such a reception as they do not dream of.
However, I will keep them off, if I can.
"Now, Mr. James," he said to the first officer, "I propose to give
that vessel to leeward a dose. They are keeping about abreast, and by
the course they are making will range alongside at about a cable's
length. When I give the word, pour a broadside with the guns to port
upon that weather schooner.
"At that moment, gentlemen," he said, turning to the passengers, "I
shall rely upon you to pick off the steersman of the other vessel, and
to prevent another taking his place. She steers badly now, and the
moment her helm is free, she'll run up into the wind. As she does so,
I shall bear off, run across her bow, and rake her deck with grape as
we pass.
"Will you, Mr. Barlow, order your men to be in readiness to open fire
with musketry upon her, as we pass?"
The schooners were now running rapidly down upon the Indiaman. They
were only able to use the guns in their bows, and the fire of the
Indiaman from the heavy guns on her quarter was inflicting more damage
than she received.
"Let all hands lie down on deck," the captain ordered. "They will open
with their broadside guns, as they come up. When I give the word, let
all the guns on the port side be trained at the foot of her mainmast,
and fire as you get the line. On the starboard side, lie down till I
give the word."
It was a pretty sight as the schooners, throwing the water high up
from their sharp cut-waters, came running along, heeling over under
the breeze. As they ranged alongside, their topsails came down, and a
broadside from both was poured into the Indiaman. The great ship shook
as the shot crashed into her, and several sharp cries told of the
effect which had been produced.
Then the captain gave the word, and a moment afterwards an irregular
broadside, as the captain of each gun brought his piece to bear, was
poured into the schooner from the guns on the port side. As the
privateer heeled over, her deck could be plainly seen, and the shot of
the Indiaman, all directed at one point, tore up a hole around the
foot of the mainmast. In an instant the spar tottered and, with a
crash, fell alongside. At the same moment, three of the passengers
took a steady aim over the bulwark at the helmsman of the other
privateer and, simultaneously with the reports of their pieces, the
man was seen to fall. Another sprang forward to take his place, but
again the rifles spoke out, and he fell beside his comrade.
Freed from the strain which had counteracted the pressure of her
mainsail, the schooner flew up into the wind. The Indiaman held on her
course for another length, and then her helm was put up, and she swept
down across the bows of the privateer. Then the men leaped to their
feet, the soldiers lined the bulwarks, and as she passed along a few
yards only distant from her foe, each gun poured a storm of grape
along her crowded deck, while the troops and passengers kept up a
continuous fire of musketry.
"That will do," the captain said, quietly. "Now we may keep her on her
course. They have had more than enough of it."
There was no doubt of that, for the effect of the iron storm had been
terrible, and the decks of the schooner were strewn with dead and
dying. For a time after the merchantman had borne upon her course, the
sails of the schooner flapped wildly in the wind, and then the
foremast went suddenly over the side.
"I should think you could take them both, Captain Thompson," one of
the passengers said.
"They are as good as taken," the captain answered, "and would be
forced to haul down their flags, if I were to wear round and continue
the fight. But they would be worse than useless to me. I should not
know what to do with their crews, and should have to cripple myself by
putting very strong prize crews upon them, and so run the risk of
losing my own ship and cargo.
"No, my business is to trade and not to fight. If any one meddle with
me, I am ready to take my own part; but the Company would not thank
me, if I were to risk the safety of this ship and her valuable cargo
for the sake of sending home a couple of prizes, which might be
recaptured as they crossed the bay, and would not fetch any great sum
if they got safely in port."
An examination showed that the casualties on board the Lizzie Anderson
amounted to three killed and eight wounded. The former were sewn in
hammocks, with a round shot at their feet, and dropped overboard; the
clergyman reading the burial service. The wounded were carried below,
and attended to by the ship's surgeon and Doctor Rae. The ship's decks
were washed, and all traces of the conflict removed. The guns were
again lashed in their places, carpenters were lowered over the side to
repair damages; and when the ladies came on deck an hour after the
conflict was over, two or three ragged holes in the bulwarks, and a
half dozen in the sails, were the sole signs that the ship had been in
action; save that some miles astern could be seen the two crippled
privateers, with all sails lowered, at work to repair damages.
Two or three days afterwards, Charlie Marryat and his friend Peters
were sitting beside Doctor Rae, when the latter said:
"I hope that we sha'n't find the French in Madras, when we get there."
"The French in Madras!" Charlie exclaimed in surprise. "Why, sir,
there's no chance of that, is there?"
"A very great chance," the doctor said. "Don't you know that they
captured the place three years ago?"
"No, sir; I'm ashamed to say that I know nothing at all about India,
except that the Company have trading stations at Bombay, Madras, and
Calcutta."
"I will tell you about it," the doctor said. "It is as well that you
should understand the position of affairs, at the place to which you
are going. You must know that the Company hold the town of Madras, and
a few square miles of land around it, as tenants of the Nawab of the
Carnatic, which is the name of that part of India. The French have a
station at Pondicherry, eighty-six miles to the sou'west of Madras.
This is a larger and more important town than Madras, and of course
the greatest rivalry prevails between the English and French.
"The French are much more powerful than the English, and exercise a
predominating influence throughout the Carnatic. The French governor,
Monsieur Dupleix, is a man of very great ability, and far-seeing
views. He has a considerable force of French soldiers at his command,
and by the aid which he has given to the nawab, upon various
occasions, he has obtained a predominating influence in his councils.
"When war was declared between England and France, in the year '44,
the English squadron under Commodore Barnet was upon the coast, and
the Company sent out orders to Mr. Morse, the governor of Madras, to
use every effort to destroy the French settlement, of whose rising
power they felt the greatest jealousy. Dupleix, seeing the force that
could be brought against him, and having no French ships on the
station, although he was aware that a fleet under Admiral La
Bourdonnais was fitting out and would arrive shortly, dreaded the
contest, and proposed to Mr. Morse that the Indian colonies of the two
nations should remain neutral, and take no part in the struggle in
which their respective countries were engaged. Mr. Morse, however, in
view of the orders he had received from the Company, was unable to
agree to this.
"Dupleix then applied to the nawab who, at his request, forbade his
European tenants to make war on land with each other, an order which
they were obliged to obey.
"In July, 1746, La Bourdonnais arrived with his fleet, and chased the
small English squadron from the Indian seas. Dupleix now changed his
tactics, and regardless of the injunction which he himself had
obtained from the nawab, he determined to crush the English at Madras.
He supplied the fleet with men and money, and ordered the admiral to
sail for Madras. The fleet arrived before the town on the 14th of
September; landed a portion of its troops, six hundred in number, with
two guns, a short distance along the coast; and on the following day
disembarked the rest, consisting of a thousand French troops, four
hundred Sepoys, and three hundred African troops, and summoned Madras
to surrender.
"Madras was in no position to offer any effectual resistance. The fort
was weak and indefensible. The English inhabitants consisted only of a
hundred civilians, and two hundred soldiers. Governor Morse
endeavoured to obtain, from the nawab, the protection which he had
before granted to Dupleix, a demand which the nawab at once refused.
"I was there at the time, and quite agreed with the governor that it
was useless to attempt resistance to the force brought against us. The
governor, therefore, surrendered on the 21st. The garrison, and all
the civilians in the place not in the service of the Company, were to
become prisoners of war; while those in the regular service of the
Company were free to depart, engaging only not to carry arms against
the French until exchanged. These were the official conditions; but La
Bourdonnais, influenced by jealousy of Dupleix, and by the promise of
a bribe of forty thousand pounds, made a secret condition with Mr.
Morse, by which he bound himself to restore Madras in the future, upon
the payment of a large sum of money. This agreement Dupleix, whose
heart was set upon the total expulsion of the English, refused to
ratify.
"A good many of us considered that, by this breach of the agreement,
we were released from our parole not to carry arms against the French;
and a dozen or so of us, in various disguises, escaped from Madras and
made our way to Fort Saint David, a small English settlement twelve
miles south of Pondicherry. I made the journey with a young fellow
named Clive, who had come out as a writer about two years before. He
was a fine young fellow; as unfitted as you are, I should think,
Marryat, for the dull life of a writer, but full of energy and
courage.
"At Fort Saint David we found two hundred English soldiers, and a
hundred Sepoys, and a number of us, having nothing to do at our own
work, volunteered to aid in the defence.
"After Dupleix had conquered Madras, the nawab awoke to the fact of
the danger of allowing the French to become all-powerful, by the
destruction of the English, and ordered Dupleix to restore the place.
Dupleix refused, and the nawab sent his son Maphuz Khan to invest the
town. Dupleix at once despatched a detachment of two hundred and
thirty French, and seven hundred Sepoys, commanded by an engineer
officer named Paradis, to raise the siege.
"On the 2nd of November, the garrison of Madras sallied out and drove
away the cavalry of Maphuz Khan; and on the 4th, Paradis attacked his
army, and totally defeated it.
"This, lads, was a memorable battle. It is the first time that
European and Indian soldiers have come into contest, and it shows how
immense is the superiority of Europeans. What Paradis did then opens
all sorts of possibilities for the future; and it may be that either
we or the French are destined to rise, from mere trading companies, to
be rulers of Indian states.
"Such, I know, is the opinion of young Clive, who is a very
long-headed and ambitious young fellow. I remember his saying to me
one night, when we were, with difficulty, holding our own in the
trenches, that if we had but a man of energy and intelligence at the
head of our affairs in Southern India, we might, ere many years
passed, be masters of the Carnatic. I own that it appears to me more
likely that the French will be in that position, and that we shall not
have a single establishment left there; but time will show.
"Having defeated Maphuz Khan, Dupleix resolved to make a great effort
to expel us from Fort Saint David, our sole footing left in Southern
India; and he despatched an army of nine hundred Frenchmen, six
hundred Sepoys, and a hundred Africans, with six guns and mortars,
against us. They were four to one against us, and we had hot work, I
can tell you. Four times they tried to storm the place, and each time
we drove them back; till at last they gave it up in disgust, at the
end of June, having besieged us for six months.
"Soon after this Admiral Boscawen, with a great fleet and an army,
arrived from England; and on 19th of August besieged Pondicherry. The
besieging army was six thousand strong; of whom three thousand, seven
hundred and twenty were English. But Pondicherry resisted bravely, and
after two months the besiegers were forced to retire, having lost, in
attacks or by fever, one thousand and sixty-five men.
"At the end of the siege, in which I had served as a medical officer,
I returned to England. A few months after I left, peace was made
between England and France, and by its terms Dupleix had to restore
Madras to the English. I hear that fighting has been going on ever
since, the English and French engaging as auxiliaries to rival native
princes; and especially that there was some hot fighting round
Devikota. However, we shall hear about that when we get there."
"And what do you think will be the result of it all, Doctor Rae?"
"I think that undoubtedly, sooner or later, either the French or
ourselves will be driven out. Which it will be remains to be seen. If
we are expelled, the effect of our defeat is likely to operate
disastrously at Calcutta, if not at Bombay. The French will be
regarded as a powerful people, whom it is necessary to conciliate,
while we shall be treated as a nation of whom they need have no fear,
and whom they can oppress accordingly.
"If we are successful, and absolutely obtain possession of the
Carnatic, our trade will vastly increase, fresh posts and commands of
all sorts will be established, and there will be a fine career open to
you young fellows, in the service of the Company."
After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the ship encountered a series of
very heavy gales, which drove her far out of her course up the eastern
coast of Africa. In the last gale her foremast was carried away, and
she put in to a small island to refit. She had also sprung a leak, and
a number of stores were landed, to enable her to be taken up into
shallow water and heeled over, in order that the leak might be got at.
The captain hurried on the work with all speed.
"Had it not been for this," Charlie heard him say to Mr. Ashmead, "I
would have rigged a jury-mast and proceeded; but I can't stop the leak
from the inside, without shifting a great portion of the cargo, and
our hold is so full that this would be difficult in the extreme. But I
own that I do not like delaying a day longer than necessary, here. The
natives have a very bad reputation, besides which it is suspected that
one, if not more, pirates have their rendezvous in these seas. Several
of our merchantmen have mysteriously disappeared, without any gale
having taken place which would account for their loss.
"The captain of a ship which reached England, two or three days before
we sailed, brought news that when she was within a fortnight's sail of
the Cape, the sound of guns was heard one night, and that afterwards a
ship was seen on fire, low down on the horizon. He reached the spot
soon after daybreak, and found charred spars and other wreckage; but
though he cruised about all day, he could find no signs of any boats.
Complaints have been made to government, and I hear that there is an
intention of sending two or three sloops out here to hunt the pirates
up. But that will be of no use to us."
Upon the day of their arrival at the island, a native sailing boat was
seen to pass across the mouth of the bay. When half across, she
suddenly tacked round and sailed back in the direction from which she
had come.
Before proceeding to lighten the ship, the captain had taken steps to
put himself in a position of defence. For some distance along the
centre of the bay the ground rose abruptly, at a distance of some
thirty yards from the shore, forming a sort of natural terrace. Behind
this a steep hill rose. The terrace, which was forty feet above the
water level, extended for about a hundred yards, when the ground on
either side of the plateau dropped away, as steeply as in front.
The guns were the first things taken out of the ship, and, regardless
of the remonstrances of the passengers at what they considered to be a
waste of time, Captain Thompson had the whole of them taken up on the
terrace. A small battery was thrown up by the sailors, at the two
corners, and in each of these two of the thirty-two pounders were
placed. The broadside guns were ranged in line along the centre of the
terrace.
"Now," the captain said when, at the end of the second day, the
preparations were completed by the transport of a quantity of
ammunition from the ship's magazine to the terrace, "I feel
comfortable. We can defend ourselves here against all the pirates of
the South Seas. If they don't come, we shall only have lost our two
days' work, and shall have easy minds for the remainder of our stay
here; which we should not have had, if we had been at the mercy of the
first of those scoundrels who happened to hear of our being laid up."
The next morning the work of unloading the ship began, the bales and
packages being lowered from the ship, as they were brought up from the
hold, into boats alongside; and then taken to the shore, and piled
there at the foot of the slope. This occupied three days, and at the
end of that time the greater portion of the cargo had been removed.
The ship, now several feet lighter in the water than before, was
brought broadside to shore until her keel touched the ground. Then the
remaining cargo was shifted, and by the additional aid of tackle and
purchases on shore fastened to her masts, she was heeled over until
her keel nearly reached the level of the water.
It was late one evening when this work was finished, and the following
morning the crew were to begin to scrape her bottom, and the
carpenters were to repair the leak, and the whole of the seams
underwater were to be corked and repitched. Hitherto all had remained
on board; but previous to the ship being heeled over, tents
constructed of the sails were erected on the terrace, beds and other
articles of necessity landed, and the passengers, troops, and crew
took up their temporary abode there.