Four nights and three days we remained in this way; during which my men
had nothing to do but to exercise at the guns, and of that I took care
they should have a good spell. On the fourth night the wind was a
little fresher, but the water quite smooth. I had turned in about
twelve o'clock, and had been asleep about an hour when Cross came and
called me.
"Well, Cross," said I, "what is it?"
"Here they are, sir."
"What?--the privateers?"
"Yes, sir; the brig and schooner both coming down right before the wind;
they are on our weather quarter, and will pass us within two miles, if
not nearer."
I left my bed-place, and was dressed in a minute. I went on deck with
my glass, and directed it to the vessels, which were quite plain to the
naked eye.
"Put out the binnacle light, Cross," said I; "they might discover us."
The brig, which was the headmost of the two vessels, was now nearly
crossing our stern. The schooner was about a mile astern of her.
"Turn the hands up, Cross; see all ready for action and making sail."
"Not yet, sir, surely!"
"No, not yet; we will let them run two or three miles dead to leeward,
and then follow them till daylight, or till they see us, when, of
course, they will be after us."
"It's very fortunate, sir, that we did furl the sails; for had they come
down, and we under sail, they would have seen us, and we should have
been to leeward of them, which would have given us a poor chance against
such odds; now we shall have the weather-gage, and may choose, if our
heels are as good as theirs, which I expect they are, if not better."
"I shall fight them in some shape or another, Bob, you may depend upon
it."
"Of course you will, Mr Keene, or you'll disappoint us all. The ship's
company have every confidence in you, I can tell you."
"Thanks to your long yarns, Bob, I presume."
"Thanks to my telling the truth, Mr Keene. The schooner is right
astern of us now, so there's the weather-gage gone--thank God!"
We remained as we were till I considered the two vessels sufficiently to
leeward, and the sails were then set upon the Firefly, and first running
to the eastward, so as to get right in the wind's eye of them, I put the
helm up, and followed them. We had continued our course in their wake
for about an hour, when day dawned, and the schooner, who had discovered
us, fired a gun as a signal to her concert.
"So you've found us out at last, have you?" said Bob Cross--"at all
events, we keep a better look-out than you do, old fellow."
Shortly after the gun was fired, both vessels hauled to the wind on the
larboard tack, and we did the same: being about four miles to windward
of the schooner and five or five and a half of the brig, we could now
examine our adversaries. The schooner was, apparently, about the same
tonnage as the Firefly, a very beautiful vessel with her masts raking
over her stern. She was painted black, and we could not ascertain, at
first, how many guns she carried, as her ports were shut; but after a
short time she knocked out her half ports to prepare for action, and
then we discovered that she carried twelve guns, but not a long gun on a
swivel like the one on board of the Firefly. I observed this to Cross,
who replied, "Then, sir, all we have to do now is to try our rate of
sailing with them, and if we are faster than they are we have not much
to fear--unless we lose a spar, indeed; but luck's all, Mr Keene. The
schooner has more sail on her than we have; shall we set exactly the
same?"
"No, Cross, for I think we have fore-reached upon her already, and, if
we can beat her with less sail set, it will do just as well. I think
that the breeze is steady; if anything, we shall have more than less of
it."
For an hour we continued running on the same tack with them, by which
time we found that we had not only brought the schooner one point abaft
our beam, but had weathered her at least half a mile. We therefore were
fully satisfied that we had sailed better than the schooner. With the
brig it was not so. Although we had brought the schooner two points
abaft our beam, the brig was much in her former position, being still
half a point abaft our beam, and moreover had come in much closer to the
schooner, proving that we had neither weathered her, nor fore-reached
upon her. As near as we could judge, our sailing with the brig was much
upon a par. Having ascertained this point more satisfactorily by
allowing another hour of trial, I desired the men to get their
breakfasts, while I and the officers did the same, and as soon as that
was done, I ordered the Firefly to be kept away--edging down till within
good range of our long brass thirty-two-pound gun--that is, about one
mile and a half--when we again hauled our wind and hoisted the English
colours.
The tri-colour was immediately thrown up by the two Frenchmen, and a
shot was fired at us by the schooner: it fell exhausted into the water
about half a cable's length from us.
"Now, Cross," said I, "see if we can't return the compliment with a
little better success."
Cross, who had been training the gun, and had his eye on the sight,
waited for a second or two, and fired: we saw the shot pass through the
first reef of his main-sail, and dash into the water to leeward of him.
"Very good that, Cross; but hull him if you can."
The schooner now returned the fire with the whole broadside, apparently
twelve pounders; but they did not throw so far as our long
thirty-two-pounder, and no shot went over us, although one fell close
under the stern. At the distance, therefore, that we were, we had
everything in our favour and my object was to dismantle the schooner
before any chance enabled the brig to assist her. We continued to fire
at her, taking the greatest pains in our aim, for the next hour, during
which we ascertained that we had hulled her more than once, and had very
much cut up her spars and rigging. She continued to return the fire,
but without effect. One or two shots hit us, but their force was so
much spent by the distance they were propelled, that they did not enter
the sides. At last a shot fired by the gunner did the job; it struck
her foremast, which shortly afterwards went by the board. The Fireflies
gave three cheers at the good fortune.
"She's done for, sir," said Cross. "Now for the brig--we must try what
metal she carries."
"Stop a bit," said I, "Cross; we must give the schooner a little more
before she gets away. They have lowered down the main-sail and I
presume, intend getting up some head-sail, so as to pay off, and run
under the lee of the brig for shelter. Put the helm up, and run down so
as to keep the schooner about two points on our larboard bow. Get the
gun round, and pitch it into her."
As we had supposed, the schooner got a stay up from her bowsprit and to
her mainmast head, and hoisted a fore and aft sail upon it, that she
might pay off, and run down to her consort for support; but as we ran
three feet to her one, and now stood directly for her, we were enabled
to get close to her, and put several shots into her from our long gun as
we advanced. She did not attempt to round to, to give us her broadside,
and our raking shot must have had great effect. When within half a mile
of her we rounded to, and gave her our broadside; for had we followed
her any further we should have been closer to the brig than might be
agreeable. Indeed, we were nearer than we thought, for she had
continued to hug the wind, and was so weatherly, that she was not more
than a mile to leeward of us when we rounded to the wind again; but as
she had fore-reached upon the schooner, she was distant from us about
two miles. As we rounded to the brig tacked, and we immediately did the
same; and we now had a fair trial of sailing with her.
"Cross, let the men go down and get what they can to eat," said I, "and
get up the grog. We shall have plenty of work before the night is over,
I expect."
"We must make a running fight of it, sir, I expect, for she is too heavy
for us."
"I shall try her the same way as the schooner, Cross," replied I. "If I
can only knock away some of her spars without losing my own, I shall
then be able to do something; if, on the contrary, we lose our spars,
and she gets alongside of us, why then we must fight to the last."
"I consider that schooner as our own," replied Bob; "she must haul down
her colours when no longer protected by the brig."
"Yes; I was afraid that she would run away to leeward altogether; but I
see she has rounded to, and is no doubt getting up a jury fore-mast."
I allowed the men to remain an hour at their dinner, and then they were
summoned up. During the hour we found the rate of sailing between us
and the brig so nearly balanced, that it was impossible to say which had
the best of it.
"Now, my lads, we will wear round, and get a little closer to this
fellow, and see what we can do with him."
The men were full of spirits and hope, and were as anxious to decide the
question as I was. In ten minutes we passed the brig within a mile on
opposite tacks, and had given her our long gun three times, and had
received her broadside.
"He has long twelve-pounders, I think, sir," said Cross; "smart guns, at
all events. There's a fore shroud and a back stay gone; but that's no
great matter."
As soon as the brig was three points abaft the beam we tacked, and
recommenced firing. Not a shot was thrown away by my men. I believe
the brig was hulled every time; nor was her fire without effect upon us.
Our rigging was much cut up; several of her shots had gone through our
sails, and we had two men hurt. I was annoyed at this, as we had no
surgeon on board. The assistant surgeon who had belonged to the
schooner was at the hospital, and there was not one to replace him when
we sailed. However, we had one of the men belonging to the hospital--a
sort of dispenser--who knew very well how to manage anything that was
not very serious.
The breeze had gradually died away, and we did not go more than three
miles through the water; and as our sails were much torn, we did not
hold so good a wind. The consequence was that the distance between us
and our antagonist was, by two o'clock, decreased to half a mile, and
the fight became very warm. Our broadside guns were now called into
play, and assisted us very much, as we directed them chiefly at her
sails and rigging, while our long thirty-two-pounder was fired at her
hull, pointed below her water-line. She had the advantage in number of
guns, certainly; but our large shots from the long gun were more
destructive.
About three we knocked away her fore-topmast, which enabled us to shoot
ahead about a quarter of a mile, and increase our distance, which was a
boon to us, for we latterly had suffered very much. We had eight men
wounded and one of my poor middies killed; and we had received several
shots in the hull. Now that we had increased our distance, we had a
better chance, as our long gun was more effective than those of the
brig. At five o'clock it fell dead calm, and both vessels lay with
their heads round the compass; this was also in our favour, as we could
train our long gun on its circular bend in any direction we pleased; but
the brig contrived, by getting sweeps out of her bow ports, to bring her
broadside to bear upon us, and the action continued till night closed
in.