THE FIGHT AT SEA
"Ah! then
Could you have seen our men,
How they sprung
To their work of toil and clamor!
How the boarders, with sponge and rammer,
And their captains, with cord and hammer,
Kept every muzzle ablaze."
Each ship was waiting for the other to make the first move.
Both captains were cautious and anxious for victory.
After several movements, the _Guerriere_ opened fire with her weather
broadside.
The shots fell short.
The British wore around, and let fly her port broadside.
Most of the shot tore through the American's rigging, but two shots
took effect in the hull.
The _Constitution_ yawed a little, and fired three of her bow guns.
Another broadside from the _Guerriere_ answered the shots.
Lieutenant Tempest walked up and down the deck of the _Constitution_
uneasily.
Why such inaction?
He knew Hull to be capable, but his action was not quick enough to suit
the warm blood of the younger man.
Only occasionally was a shot fired from the American.
More care was exercised in dodging the fire from the Britisher than in
answering.
An hour had passed and only the American had been injured, though but
slightly.
The crew of the _Constitution_ were becoming restive.
Captain Hull paced the quarterdeck with short, quick steps.
Although outwardly calm, his whole body was burning with checked
excitement.
Lieutenant Morris, the second in command, bit his lips and moved his
hands about nervously and uneasily.
"What does he mean?" he asked Tempest.
"That I have been wondering," was the answer.
"Shall I give them a broadside?" asked Morris, saluting his chief.
"Not yet," was the reply.
Lieutenant Morris paced the deck, almost angry at his captain.
The _Guerriere_ fired another broadside, and as the shots tore away
some of the rigging, the officer muttered to himself:
"There will be mutiny if we don't take action."
Low as he spoke, Tempest heard him.
"Do you think so?"
"Did you hear? I am sorry I uttered my thoughts aloud. I am afraid; the
gunners are getting very impatient."
Tempest saw the captain pacing the deck, and the vessels were getting
so close together that it looked as if the American intended to board
the Britisher.
Again Morris asked if he should fire a broadside, and again came the
answer:
"Not yet."
The _Guerriere_ was only about half a pistol shot away.
Captain Hull had restrained his excitement as long as he could.
He saw how close the enemy really was.
Then he was ready.
The moment for which he had waited had arrived.
He had drawn the Britisher into a trap by leading him to believe the
American would not fight.
"Now, boys, pour it into them!" he shouted with all the lung power he
possessed.
He stooped almost to the deck and threw his body up again, cheering the
men.
"Pour it into them!" he shouted again. "Hull her, boys! Hull her!" And
the crew, catching up the shout, made the decks ring with the cry of
"Hull her!" as they loaded and let fly again.
Captain Hull gesticulated with such violence that the tight breeches of
his naval uniform split from hip to knee.
The effect of the broadside on the _Guerriere_ was terrific.
The Britisher reeled and trembled as though in the throes of a mighty
earthquake.
With a tremendous crash the mizzen-mast was shot away.
In a few moments Captain Dacres was told that the cockpit was filled
with wounded men.
The conflict was furious.
There was no more delay.
The firing was incessant.
Stripped to the waist, and covered with the stains of powder and of
blood, the gunners pulled fiercely at the gun-tackle, and wielded the
rammers with frantic energy.
Then the match was applied.
The death-dealing bolt crashed into the hull of the enemy only a few
yards distant.
The ships were broadside to broadside, when the mizzen-mast of the
English ship was shot away.
The force of the great spar falling upon the deck made a great breach
in the quarter of the ship.
The Americans cheered lustily when they saw the damage done.
The _Constitution_ poured in several effective broadsides, and luffed
slowly, until she lay right athwart the _Guerriere's_ bow.
The long bowsprit of the Englishman stretched far across the
_Constitution's_ quarterdeck and was soon fouled in the mizzen-rigging
of the latter vessel.
The two ships swung helplessly around.
The bow of the Englishman lay snugly against the port-quarter of the
American.
"We could board her now," said Lieutenant Morris.
"I wish the captain would give the order," responded Tempest, who was
acting as second lieutenant.
"By Washington, but you shall see some fighting!" exclaimed Captain
Hull, as he saw that the Englishman was preparing to board the
_Constitution_.
The bugle blared from the quarterdeck of the _Guerriere_, and the
boarders sprang from their guns and seized their heavy cutlasses and
boarding-caps.
But Hull had ordered the boarding-bugle to sound, and by the side of
his vessel there appeared an equal number of well-armed men.
Captain Dacres saw the kind of reception he would meet with, and so
ordered his men back to their guns.
The vessels were so close together that pistols were freely used.
The topmen fired down at the deck of the opposing ship and picked off
many a brave man.
Captain Dacres was slightly wounded by a pistol shot fired by John
Tempest.
The thunder of the big guns could not down the cries of pain and anger
which arose from the throats of the wounded men.
The air was filled with the ceaseless rattle of musketry, the roar of
cannon, the cracking of pistol shots, and the cries of the injured.
Often the protruding muzzles of the guns touched the side of the
opposing ship. And when the guns were run in for loading the sailors
would rush to the open ports with muskets and pistols, and try to pick
off some of the enemy.
Suddenly there was an alarming cry, which rose above all others and
entirely overpowered them.
"Fire! Fire!"
Every one was horrified.
A sailor is more horrified at that cry than any other which can be
heard at sea.
He would rather be clinging to a mast in the open ocean than stand on
the deck of a stanch ship, if her hold was on fire!
Flames were seen coming from the windows of the cabin, which lay
directly beneath the _Guerriere's_ bow guns.
While the shots were raking the decks, and every moment the crew
anticipated having to fight hand-to-hand, man to man, not one felt any
fear.
But when that cry of fire was raised, and the flames seen, there was
not a sailor or marine but trembled.
The flash of the enemy's guns had caused the fire, so close were the
vessels together.
Captain Hull did not lose his presence of mind.
With splendid discipline he soon had the flames extinguished and the
danger from fire averted.
Tempest had gone to the gun deck.
He pointed to the _Guerriere_ and said:
"It was the flash from that gun which fired our cabin. I will silence
it."
He ordered a gun loaded, and sighted it himself.
The puff of smoke, followed by the roar of the cannon, told of the
passage of the shot, but it was not until the smoke had cleared away
that it was seen that Tempest's shot had disabled the enemy's gun.
But while the men were extinguishing the flames the brave Lieutenant
Morris was attempting, with his own hands, to lash the two ships
together.
He saw that he should fail, and leaping upon the taffrail called on his
men to follow him.
Instantly Lieutenant Bush of the marines and Mr. Alwyn were by his
side, when a volley from the British caused all three to fall back.
Bush was killed instantly and the other two were badly wounded.
The ships drifted asunder.
Lieutenant Tempest went to the long gun and with a hurried request for
permission to fire it, sighted with deliberation.
A ringing cheer told of the result.
The _Guerriere's_ foremast had been shot away and had dragged down the
mainmast with it in its fall.
The proud, trim-built and rigged Britisher was now a shapeless hulk,
tossing on the waters without chance to retrieve its fallen fortunes.