It was the 18th of October. I can have no doubt as to the date because
the fleet sailed out of the bay next day. We rose very early and went
down to the quay, where a boat was waiting to carry us on board.
Imagine if you can my surprise--nay surprise do I say?--my enthusiasm,
my rapture, when I found myself on board the _Santísima Trinidad_, the
largest vessel on the main, that floating fortress of timber which,
seen from a distance, had appeared to my fancy some portentous and
supernatural creature; such a monster as alone was worthy of the
majesty of the seas. Each time our boat passed under the side of a
ship I examined it with a sort of religious astonishment, wondering to
see the hulls so huge that from the ramparts had looked so small; and
in the wild enthusiasm that possessed me I ran the greatest danger of
falling into the water as I gazed in ecstasy at a figure-head--an
object which fascinated me more than anything else.
At last we reached the _Santísima Trinidad_. As we approached, the
colossal mass loomed larger and larger, and when the launch pulled up
alongside, lost in the black transparent void made where its vast
shadow fell upon the water--when I saw the huge hulk lying motionless
on the dark waves which gently plashed against the side--when I looked
up and saw the three tiers of cannon with their threatening muzzles
thrust through the port-holes--my excitement was changed to fear; I
turned pale and sat silent and motionless by my master's side.
But when we went up the side and stood on deck my spirits rose. The
intricate and lofty rigging, the busy scene on the quarter-deck, the
open view of the sky and bay, the perfect order of everything on deck,
from the hammocks lashed in a row to the bulwarks, to the capstans,
shells, windsails and hatchways; the variety of uniforms--everything I
saw, in short, amazed me to such a degree that for some time I stood
blankly gazing at the stupendous structure heedless of all else. You
can form no idea of any of those magnificent vessels, much less of the
_Santísima Trinidad_, from the wretched prints I have seen of them.
Still less, again, from the ships of war of the present day, covered
with ponderous plates of iron, heavy looking, uninteresting and black,
with no visible details on their vast sides, looking to me for all
the world like enormous floating coffins. Invented by a materialistic
age and calculated to suit the naval science of a time when steam has
superseded manual labor, and the issue of a sea-fight is decided by
the force and impetus of the vessels, our ships are now mere
fighting-machines, while those of that day were literally Men-of-War,
wielding all the implements of attack and defence but trusting mainly
to skill and valor.
I, who not only see, but observe, have always been in the habit of
associating--perhaps to an extravagant extent--ideas and images,
things and persons, which in appearance seem most dissimilar or
antagonistic. When, at a later period, I saw the cathedrals--Gothic,
as they call them--of Castile and of Flanders, and noted the
impressive majesty with which those perfect and elaborate structures
stand up among the buildings of more modern style, built only for
utility--such as banks, hospitals, and barracks--I could never help
remembering all the various kinds of vessels that I have seen in the
course of a long life, and comparing the old ones to those Gothic
cathedrals. Their curves, so gracefully prolonged, the predominance of
vertical over horizontal lines, a certain indefinable poetry about
them--not historical only but religious too--underlying the
complication of details and the play of colors brought out by the
caprices of the sunshine, are, no doubt, what led to this far-fetched
association of ideas--the result in my mind of the romantic
impressions of my childhood.
The _Santísima Trinidad_ had four decks; the largest ships in the
World had but three. This giant, constructed at Havana, in 1769, of
the finest woods of Cuba, could reckon thirty-six years of honorable
service. She measured 220 feet from stem to stern, 58 feet in the
waist, that is to say in width, and 28 feet deep from the keel to the
deck, measurements which no other vessel at the time could approach.
Her huge ribs, which were a perfect forest, supported four decks. When
she was first built 116 port-holes gaped in her sides which were thick
walls of timber; after she was enlarged in 1796 she had 130, and when
she was newly fitted in 1805 she was made to carry 140 guns, cannons
and carronades. The interior was a marvel of arrangement; there were
decks for the guns, the forecastle for the crew, holds for stores of
all kinds, state-cabins for the officers, the galley, the cock-pit and
other offices. I was quite bewildered as I ran through the passages
and endless nooks of this floating fortress. The stern cabins on the
main deck were a little palace within, and outside like some fantastic
castle; the galleries, the flag-turrets at the corners of the
poop--exactly like the oriels of a Gothic tower--looked like huge
cages open to the sea, whence the eye could command three quarters of
the horizon.
Nothing could be grander than the rigging--those gigantic masts thrust
up to heaven like a menace to the storm. It was difficult to believe
that the wind could have strength enough to fill those vast sails. The
eye lost its way and became weary in gazing at the maze of the rigging
with the shrouds, stays, braces, halyards, and other ropes used to
haul and reef the various sails.
I was standing lost in the contemplation of all these wonders when I
felt a heavy hand on the nape of my neck; I thought the main-mast had
fallen on the top of me. I turned round in alarm and gave a cry of
horror at seeing a man who was now holding me by the ears as if he
were going to lift me up by them. It was my uncle.
"What are you doing here, Vermin!" he asked, in the amiable tone that
was habitual with him. "Do you want to learn the service? Hark ye
Juan," he added, turning to a sailor of most sinister aspect, "send
this landlubber up to the main-yard to take a walk there."
I excused myself as best I might from the pleasure of taking a walk
on the main-yard, explaining that I was body-servant to Don Alonso
Gutierrez de Cisniega and had come on board with him. Three or four
sailors, my affectionate uncle's particular friends, wanted to torment
me so I decided on quitting their distinguished society and went off
to the cabin in search of my master. An officer's toilet is no less
elaborate on board than on shore, and when I saw the valets busied in
powdering the heads of the heroes they waited on, I could not help
asking myself whether this was not, of all occupations, the least
appropriate in a man-of-war, when every minute was precious and where
everything that was not directly serviceable to the working of the
ship was a hindrance. However, fashion was as tyrannical then as now,
and even at such a moment as this enforced her absurd and inconvenient
rules with inexorable rigor. The private soldiers even had to waste
their valuable time in tying their pigtails, poor men! I saw them
standing in a line, one behind another, each one at work on the
pigtail of the man in front of him; by which ingenious device the
operation was got through in a short space of time. Then they stuck on
their fur hats, a ponderous head-piece the use of which no one was
ever able to explain to me, and went to their posts if they were on
duty or to pace the deck if they were not. The sailors did not wear
this ridiculous queue of hair and I do not see that their very
sensible costume has been altered to any great extent since that time.
In the cabin I found my master eagerly conversing with the captain in
command of the ship, Don Francisco Xavier de Uriarte, and the
commander of the squadron, Don Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros. From what
I overheard I could have no doubt that the French admiral had ordered
the fleets to put out to sea the next morning.
Marcial was highly delighted at this, and he and a knot of veteran
sailors who held council on their own account in the forecastle,
discoursed grandiloquently on the imminent fight. Their society suited
me far better than that of my amiable uncle, for Marcial's companions
indulged in no horse-play at my expense; and this difference was of
itself enough to mark the difference of training in the two classes of
sailors; for the old sea-dogs were of the pure breed originally levied
as voluntary recruits; while the others were pressed men, almost
without exception lazy, refractory, of low habits, and ignorant of the
service.
I made much better friends with the former than with these and was
always present at Marcial's conferences. If I did not fear to weary
the reader, I might report the explanation he gave us that day of the
diplomatical and political causes of the war--a most comical parody of
all he had heard said, a few nights previously, by Malespina at my
master's house. I learnt from him that my young mistress' lover was on
board the _Nepomuceno_.
All these colloquies came round at last to the same point, the
impending battle. The fleet was to sail out of the bay next
morning--what joy! To ride the seas in this immense vessel--the
largest in the world; to witness a fight at sea; to see what a battle
was like, how cannon were fired, how the enemy's ships were
taken--what a splendid triumph! and then to return to Cadiz covered
with glory.--To say afterwards to all who cared to hear: "Yes, I was
there, I was on board, I saw it all...." To tell Rosita too,
describing the glorious scene, winning her attention, her curiosity,
her interest.--To say to her: "Oh yes! I was in the most dangerous
places and I was not afraid;"--and to see her turn pale with alarm, or
faint, as she heard my tale of the horrors of the battle--and then to
look down in contempt on all who would ask me: "Tell us, Gabrielito,
was it so terrible after all?"--All this was more than enough to fire
my imagination, and I may frankly say that I would not, that day, have
changed places with Nelson himself.
The morning of the 19th dawned, the day I hailed so eagerly; indeed it
had not yet dawned when I found myself at the stern of the vessel with
my master, who wanted to look on at the working of the ship. After
clearing the decks the business of starting the ship began. The huge
topsails were hoisted, and the heavy windlass, turning with a shrill
clatter, dragged the anchor up from the bottom of the bay. The sailors
clambered along the yards, while others handled the braces, obedient
to the boatswain's call; and all the ship's voices, hitherto mute,
filled the air with threatening outcries. The whistles, the bell, the
discordant medley of men's voices, mixed with the creaking of the
blocks, the humming of the ropes, the flapping of the sails as they
thrashed the mast before they caught the wind--all these various
sounds filled the air as the huge ship got under way. The bright
ripples seemed to caress her sides, and the majestic monster made her
way out of the bay without the slightest roll or even lurch, with a
slow and solemn advance which was only perceptible to those on board
by watching the apparent motion of the merchantmen lying at anchor
and the landscape beyond.
At this moment I stood looking back at the scene behind us. And what a
scene it was! Thirty-two men-of-war, five frigates, and two
brigantines, Spanish and French together--some in front, some behind,
and some abreast of us--were bursting into sail, as it were, and
riding before the light breeze. I never saw a lovelier morning. The
sun flooded those lovely shores with light; a faint purple tinge
colored the sea to the east, and the chain of hills which bound the
horizon on the side of the town seemed to be on fire in the sunrise;
the sky was perfectly clear excepting where, in the east, a few rose
and golden clouds floated above the horizon. The blue sea was calm,
and over that sea and beneath that sky the forty ships with their
white sails rode forward, one of the noblest fleets that human eyes
ever rested on.
The vessels did not all sail with equal speed. Some got ahead, others
were slow to get under way; some gained upon us, while we passed
others. The solemnity of their advance, the height of their masts,
covered with canvas, and a vague and obscure harmony which my childish
ears fancied they could detect proceeding from those glorious
hulls--a kind of hymn, which was no doubt the effect of my own
imagination--the loveliness of the day, the crispness of the air, the
beauty of the sea, which seemed to be dancing with joy outside the
gulf at the approach of the vessels--all formed the grandest picture
that the mind of man can conceive of.
Cadiz, itself, like a moving panorama, unfolded itself before our
eyes, displaying in turn every aspect of its vast amphitheatre. The
low sun, illuminating the glass in its myriad windows, sprinkled it
with living sparks of gold, and its buildings lay so purely white
above the blue water that it looked as if it might have been that
moment called into being, or raised from the sea like the fanciful
city of San Genaro. I could see the wall extending from the mole as
far as the fort of Santa Catalina; I could distinguish the bastions of
Bonete and Orejon, and recognize the _Caleta_; and my pride rose as I
reflected what I had risen from and where I now was. At the same time
the sound of the bells of the waking city came to my ear like some
mysterious music, calling the inhabitants to early mass, with all the
confused clamor of the bells of a large town. Now they seemed to me to
ring gladly, and send good wishes after us--I listened to them as if
they were human voices bidding us God-speed; then again they tolled
sadly and dolefully--a knell of misfortune; and as we sailed further
and further away their music grew fainter till it was lost in space.
The fleet slowly made its way out of the bay--some of the ships taking
several hours in getting fairly to sea. Marcial meanwhile made his
comments on each, watching their behavior, laughing them to scorn if
they were clumsy, and encouraging them with paternal advice if they
were swift and well-handled.
"What a lump that Don Federico is!" he exclaimed as he looked at the
_Príncipe de Astúrias_ commanded by Gravina. "There goes _Mr.
Corneta_!" he exclaimed as he saw the _Bucentaure_ with Villeneuve on
board. "He was a clever man that called you the _Rayo_!" (Thunderbolt)
he cried ironically, as he watched the ship so named, which was the
least manageable of all the fleet. "Well done _Papá Ignacio_!" he
added, pointing to the _Santa Ana_ commanded by Alava.
"Hoist your topsail properly, senseless oaf!" he went on, addressing
Dumanoir's ship, _Le Formidable_. "That Frenchman keeps a hair-dresser
to crimp the topsail and to clew up the sails with curling tongs!"
Towards evening the sky clouded over, and as night fell we could see
Cadiz, already at a great distance, gradually vanish in the mist till
the last faint outline became one with the darkness. The fleet then
steered to the Southward.
All night I kept close to Marcial, as soon as I had seen my master
comfortably settled in his cabin. The old sailor, eagerly listened to
by a couple of veteran comrades and admirers, was explaining
Villeneuve's plan of battle.
"_Mr. Corneta_," said he, "has divided the fleet into four lines. The
vanguard led by Alava consists of six vessels; the centre, likewise of
six, is commanded by _Mr. Corneta_ in person; the rear, again of six,
is under Dumanoir, and the reserve of twelve ships is led by Don
Federico. This seems to me not badly planned. I imagine that the
French and Spanish ships are mixed, in order that they may not leave
us impaled on the bull's horns as they did at Finisterre.
"From what Don Alfonso tells me the Frenchman says that if the enemy
comes up to leeward we are to form in line of battle and attack at
once.... This is very pretty talk in the state-room; but do you think
the _Señorito_ will be such a booby as to come up to leeward of us? Oh
yes--his lordship has not much brains in his figure-head and is sure
to let himself be caught in that trap! Well! we shall see--if we see,
what the Frenchman expects!--If the enemy gets to windward and attacks
us we are to receive him in line of battle, and as he must divide to
attack if he does not succeed in breaking our line, it will be quite
easy to beat him. Everything is easy to _Mr. Corneta_ (applause). He
says too that he shall give no signals, but expects every captain to
do his best. If we should see what I have always prophesied, ever
since that accursed subsidy treaty, and that is--but I had better hold
my tongue.--Please God...! Well I have always told you that Mr.
Corneta does not understand the weapons he has in his hands; there is
not room in his head for fifty ships. What can you think of an
admiral, who, the day before a battle, sends for his captains and
tells each of them to do what he thinks will win the day.--After that!
(Strong expressions of sympathy). However, we shall see what we shall
see.--But do you just tell me: If we Spanish want to scuttle a few of
those English ships, are we not strong enough and many enough to do
it? Then why in the world need we ally ourselves with the French, who
would not allow us to do anything we had a mind to, but would have us
dancing attendance at the end of their tow-line? Whenever we have had
to work with them they have got us into mischief and we have had the
worst of it. Well--may God and the Holy Virgin _del Cármen_ be on our
side, and rid us of our French friends for ever and ever, Amen."
(Great Applause.)
All his audience agreed heartily; the discussion was continued till a
late hour, rising from the details of naval warfare to the science of
diplomacy. The night was fine and we ran before a fresh breeze--I must
be allowed to say "_We_" in speaking of the fleet. I was so proud of
finding myself on board the _Santísima Trinidad_ that I began to fancy
that I was called to play some important part on this great occasion,
and I could not forbear from swaggering about among the sailors to let
them see that I was not there for nothing.