"I really can't tell," said the man, trembling from head to foot; "Mr.
Splinter has sent for the gunner, sir."
"The devil!" said Deadeye, as he hurried on deck. We all followed. A
search was made.
"Some matches have caught in the magazine," said one.
"We shall be up and away like sky-rockets," said another.
Several of the American masters ran out on the jib-boom, coveting the
temporary security of being so far removed from the seat of the
expected explosion, and all was alarm and confusion, until it was
ascertained that two of the boys, little sky-larking vagabonds, had
stolen some pistol cartridges, and had been making lightning, as it is
called, by holding a lighted candle between the fingers, and putting
some loose powder into the palm of the hand, then chucking it up into
the flame. They got a sound flogging, on a very unpoetical part of
their corpuses, and once more the ship subsided into her usual orderly
discipline. The northwester still continued, with a clear blue sky,
without a cloud overhead by day, and a bright cold moon by night. It
blew so hard for the three succeeding days, that we could not carry
more than close-reefed topsails to it, and a reefed foresail. Indeed,
towards six bells in the forenoon watch of the third day, it came
thundering down with such violence, and the sea increased so much, that
we had to hand the foretopsail.
This was by no means an easy job. "Ease her a bit," said the first
lieutenant,--"there--shake the wind out of her sails for a moment,
until the men get the canvas in"----whirl, a poor fellow pitched off
the lee foreyardarm into the sea. "Up with the helm--heave him the
bight of a rope." We kept away, but all was confusion, until an
American midshipman, one of the prisoners on board, hove the bight of a
rope at him. The man got it under his arms, and after hauling him
along for a hundred yards at the least--and one may judge of the
velocity with which he was dragged through the water, by the fact that
it took the united strain of ten powerful men to get him in--he was
brought safely on board, pale and blue, when we found that the running
of the rope had crushed in his broad chest, below his arms, as if it
had been a girl's waist, indenting the very muscles of it and of his
back half an inch deep. He had to be bled before he could breathe, and
it was an hour before the circulation could be restored, by the joint
exertions of the surgeon and gunroom steward, chafing him with spirits
and camphor, after he had been stripped and stowed away between the
blankets in his hammock.
The same afternoon we fell in with a small prize to the squadron in the
_Chesapeake_, a dismantled schooner, manned by a prize crew of a
midshipman and six men. She had a signal of distress, an American
ensign, with the union down, hoisted on the jury-mast, across which
there was rigged a solitary lug-sail. It was blowing so hard that we
had some difficulty in boarding her, when we found she was a Baltimore
pilot-boat-built schooner, of about 70 tons burden, laden with flour,
and bound for Bermuda. But three days before, in a sudden squall, they
had carried away both masts short by the board, and the only spar which
they had been able to rig, was a spare topmast which they had jammed
into one of the pumps--fortunately she was as tight as a bottle--and
stayed it the best way they could. The captain offered to take the
little fellow who had charge of her, and his crew and cargo, on board,
and then scuttle her; but no--all he wanted was a cask of water and
some biscuit; and having had a glass of grog, he trundled over the side
again, and returned to his desolate command. However, he afterwards
brought his prize safe into Bermuda.
The weather still continued very rough, but we saw nothing until the
second evening after this. The forenoon had been even more boisterous
than any of the preceding, and we were all fagged enough with "make
sail," and "shorten sail," and "all hands," the whole day through; and
as the night fell, I found myself, for the fourth time, in the maintop.
The men had just lain in from the maintopsail yard, when we heard the
watch called on deck,--"Starboard watch, ahoy!"--which was a cheery
sound to us of the larboard, who were thus released from duty on deck,
and allowed to go below.
The men were scrambling down the weather shrouds, and I was preparing
to follow them, when I jammed my left foot in the grating of the top,
and capsized on my nose. I had been up nearly the whole of the
previous night, and on deck the whole of the day, and actively employed
too, as during the greater part of it it blew a gale. I stooped down
in some pain, to see what had bolted me to the grating; but I had no
sooner extricated my foot, than, over-worked and over-fatigued as I
was, I fell over in the soundest sleep that ever I have enjoyed before
or since, the back of my neck resting on a coil of rope, so that my
head hung down within it.
The rain all this time was beating on me, and I was drenched to the
skin. I must have slept for four hours or so, when I was awakened by a
rough thump on the side from the stumbling foot of the captain of the
top, the word having been passed to shake a reef out of the topsails,
the wind having rather suddenly gone down. It was done; and now broad
awake, I determined not to be caught napping again, so I descended, and
swung myself in on deck out of the main rigging, just as Mr. Treenail
was mustering the crew at eight bells. When I landed on the
quarterdeck, there he stood abaft the binnacle, with the light shining
on his face, his glazed hat glancing, and the rain-drop sparkling at
the brim of it. He had noticed me the moment I descended.
"Heyday, Master Cringle, you are surely out of your watch. Why, what
are you doing here, eh?"
I stepped up to him, and told him the truth, that, being overfatigued,
I had fallen asleep in the top.
"Well, well, boy," said he, "never mind, go below, and turn in; if you
don't take your rest, you never will be a sailor."
"But what do you see aloft?" glancing his eye upwards, and all the crew
on deck, as I passed them, looked anxiously up also amongst the
rigging, as if wondering what I saw there, for I had been so chilled in
my snoose, that my neck, from resting in the cold on the coil of rope,
had become stiffened and rigid to an intolerable degree; and although,
when I first came on deck, I had, by a strong exertion, brought my
_caput_ to its proper bearings, yet the moment I was dismissed by my
superior officer, I for my own comfort was glad to conform to the
contraction of the muscle, whereby I once more strayed along the deck,
_glowering_ up into the heavens, as if I had seen some wonderful sight
there.
"What do you see aloft?" repeated Mr. Treenail, while the crew, greatly
puzzled, continued to follow my eyes, as they thought, and to stare up
into the rigging.
"Why, sir, I have thereby got a stiff neck--that's all, sir."
"Go and turn in at once, my good boy--make haste, now; tell our steward
to give you a glass of hot grog, and mind your hand that you don't get
sick."
I did as was desired, swallowed the grog, and turned in; but I could
not have been in bed above an hour, when the drum beat to quarters, and
I had once more to bundle out on the cold wet deck, where I found all
excitement. At the time I speak of, we had been beaten by the
Americans in several actions of single ships, and our discipline
improved in proportion as we came to learn, by sad experience, that the
enemy was not to be undervalued. I found that there was a ship in
sight, right ahead of us--apparently carrying all sail. A group of
officers were on the forecastle with night-glasses, the whole crew
being stationed in dark clusters round the guns at quarters. Several
of the American skippers were forward amongst us, and they were of
opinion that the chase was a man-of-war, although our own people seemed
to doubt this. One of the skippers insisted that she was the _Hornet_,
from the unusual shortness of her lower masts, and the immense
squareness of her yards. But the puzzle was, if it were the _Hornet_,
why she did not shorten sail. Still this might be accounted for, by
her either wishing to make out what we were before she engaged us, or
she might be clearing for action. At this moment a whole cloud of
studdingsails were blown from the yards as if the booms had been
carrots; and to prove that the chase was keeping a bright look-out, she
immediately kept away, and finally bore up dead before the wind, under
the impression, no doubt, that she would draw ahead of us, from her
gear being entire, before we could rig out our light sails again.
And so she did for a time, but at length we got within gunshot. The
American masters were now ordered below, the hatches were clapped on,
and the word passed to see all clear. Our shot was by this time flying
over and over her, and it was evident she was not a man-of-war. We
peppered away--she could not even be a privateer; we were close under
her lee quarter, and yet she had never fired a shot; and her large
swaggering Yankee ensign was now run up to the peak, only to be hauled
down the next moment. Hurrah! a large cotton-ship from Charlestown to
Bordeaux--prize to H.M.S. _Torch_!
She was taken possession of, and proved to be the _Natches_, of four
hundred tons burden, fully loaded with cotton.
By the time we got the crew on board, and the second-lieutenant, with a
prize crew of fifteen men, had taken charge, the weather began to lour
again, nevertheless we took the prize in tow, and continued on our
voyage for the next three days, without anything particular happening.
It was the middle watch, and I was sound asleep, when I was startled by
a violent jerking of my hammock, and a cry "that the brig was amongst
the breakers." I ran on deck in my shirt, where I found all hands, and
a scene of confusion such as I never had witnessed before. The gale
had increased, yet the prize had not been cast off, and the consequence
was, that by some mismanagement or carelessness, the swag of the large
ship had suddenly hove the brig in the wind, and taken the sails aback.
We accordingly fetched stern way, and ran foul of the prize, and there
we were, in a heavy sea, with our stern grinding against the
cotton-ship's high quarter.
The mainboom, by the first rasp that took place after I came on deck,
was broken short off, and nearly twelve feet of it hove right in over
the taffrail; the vessels then closed, and the next rub ground off the
ship's mizzen channel as clean as if it had been sawed away. Officers
shouting, men swearing, rigging cracking, the vessels crashing and
thumping together, I thought we were gone, when the first lieutenant
seized his trumpet--"Silence, men; hold your tongues, you cowards, and
mind the word of command!"
The effect was magical.--"Brace round the foreyard--round with it; set
the jib--that's it--fore-top-mast staysail--haul--never mind if the
gale takes it out of the bolt-rope"--a thundering flap, and away it
flew in truth down to leeward, like a puff of white smoke.--"Never
mind, men, the jib stands. Belay all that--down with the helm,
now--don't you see she has stern way yet? Zounds! we shall be smashed
to atoms if you don't mind your hands, you lubbers--main-topsail sheets
let fly--there she pays off, and has headway once more--that's it:
right your helm, now--never mind his spanker-boom, the fore-stay will
stand it: there--up with helm, sir--we have cleared him--hurrah!" And
a near thing it was too, but we soon had everything snug; and although
the gale continued without any intermission for ten days, at length we
ran in and anchored with our prize in Five-Fathom Hole, off the
entrance to St. George's Harbour.
It was lucky for us that we got to anchor at the time we did, for that
same afternoon one of the most tremendous gales of wind from the
westward came on that I ever saw. Fortunately it was steady and did
not veer about, and having good ground-tackle down, we rode it out well
enough. The effect was very uncommon; the wind was howling over our
mast-heads, and amongst the cedar bushes on the cliffs above, while on
deck it was nearly calm, and there was very little swell, being a
weather shore; but half a mile out at sea all was white foam, and the
tumbling waves seemed to meet from north and south, leaving a space of
smooth water under the lee of the island, shaped like the tail of a
comet, tapering away, and gradually roughening and becoming more
stormy, until the roaring billows once more owned allegiance to the
genius of the storm.
There we rode, with three anchors ahead, in safety through the night;
and next day, availing of a temporary lull, we ran up and anchored off
the Tanks. Three days after this, the American frigate _President_ was
brought in by the Endymion and the rest of the squadron.
I went on board, in common with every officer in the fleet, and
certainly I never saw a more superb vessel; her scantling was that of a
seventy-four, and she appeared to have been fitted with great care. I
got a week's leave at this time, and, as I had letters to several
families, I contrived to spend my time pleasantly enough.
Bermuda, as all the world knows, is a cluster of islands in the middle
of the Atlantic. There are Lord knows how many of them, but the beauty
of the little straits and creeks which divide them no man can describe
who has not seen them. The town of St. George's, for instance, looks
as if the houses were cut out of chalk; and one evening the family
where I was on a visit proceeded to the main island, Hamilton, to
attend a ball there. We had to cross three ferries, although the
distance was not above nine miles, if so far. The 'Mudian women are
unquestionably beautiful--so thought Thomas Moore, a tolerable judge,
before me. By the by, touching this 'Mudian ball, it was a very gay
affair--the women pleasant and beautiful; but all the men, when they
speak, or are spoken to, shut one eye and spit;--a lucid and succinct
description of a community.
The second day of my sojourn was fine--the first fine day since our
arrival--and with several young ladies of the family, I was prowling
through the cedar wood above St. George's, when a dark good-looking man
passed us; he was dressed in tight worsted net pantaloons and Hessian
boots, and wore a blue frockcoat and two large epaulets, with rich
French bullion, and a round hat. On passing, he touched his hat with
much grace, and in the evening I met him in society. It was Commodore
Decatur. He was very much a Frenchman in manner, or, I should rather
say, in look, for although very well bred, he, for one ingredient, by
no means possessed a Frenchman's volubility; still, he was an
exceedingly agreeable and very handsome man.
The following day we spent in a pleasure cruise amongst the three
hundred and sixty-five Islands, many of them not above an acre in
extent--fancy an island of an acre in extent!--with a solitary house, a
small garden, a red-skinned family, a piggery, and all around clear
deep pellucid water. None of the islands, or islets, rise to any great
height, but they all shoot precipitously out of the water, as if the
whole group had originally been one huge platform of rock, with
numberless grooves subsequently chiselled out in it by art.
We had to wind our way amongst these manifold small channels for two
hours, before we reached the gentleman's house where we had been
invited to dine; at length, on turning a corner, with both lateen sails
drawing beautifully, we ran bump on a shoal; there was no danger, and
knowing that the 'Mudians were capital sailors, I sat still. Not so
Captain K-----, a round plump little _homo_,--"Shove her off, my boys,
shove her off." She would not move, and thereupon he, in a fever of
gallantry, jumped overboard up to the waist in full fig; and one of the
men following his example, we were soon afloat. The ladies applauded,
and the captain sat in his wet _breeks_ for the rest of the voyage, in
all the consciousness of being considered a hero. Ducks and onions are
the grand staple of Bermuda, but there was a fearful dearth of both at
the time I speak of--a knot of young West India merchants, who, with
heavy purses and large credits on England, had at this time domiciled
themselves in St. George's, to batten on the spoils of poor Jonathan,
having monopolised all the good things of the place. I happened to be
acquainted with one of them, and thereby had less reason to complain;
but many a poor fellow, sent ashore on duty, had to put up with but
Lenten fare at the taverns. At length, having refitted, we sailed in
company with the Rayo frigate, with a convoy of three transports,
freighted with a regiment for New Orleans, and several merchantmen for
the West Indies.
"The still vexed Bermoothes"--I arrived at them in a gale of wind, and
I sailed from them in a gale of wind. What the climate may be in the
summer I don't know; but during the time I was there it was one storm
after another.
We sailed in the evening with the moon at full, and the wind at
west-north-west. So soon as we got from under the lee of the land the
breeze struck us, and it came on to blow like thunder, so that we were
all soon reduced to our storm staysails; and there we were, transports,
merchantmen, and men-of-war, rising on the mountainous billows one
moment, and the next losing sight of everything but the water and sky
in the deep trough of the sea, while the seething foam was blown over
us in showers from the curling manes of the roaring waves. But
overhead, all this while, it was as clear as a lovely winter moon could
make it, and the stars shone brightly in the deep blue sky; there was
not even a thin fleecy shred of cloud racking across the moon's disc.
Oh, the glories of a northwester!
But the devil seize such glory! Glory, indeed! with a fleet of
transports, and a regiment of soldiers on board! Glory! why, I daresay
five hundred rank and file, at the fewest, were all cascading at one
and the same moment,--a thousand poor fellows turned outside in, like
so many pairs of old stockings. Any glory in that? But to proceed.
Next morning the gale still continued, and when the day broke there was
the frigate standing across our bows, rolling and pitching, as she tore
her way through the boiling sea, under a close-reefed main-topsail and
reefed foresail, with top-gallant-yards and royal masts, and everything
that could be struck with safety in war-time, down on deck. There she
lay, with her clear black bends, and bright white streak, and long tier
of cannon on the maindeck, and the carronades on the quarterdeck and
forecastle grinning through the ports in the black bulwarks, while the
white hammocks, carefully covered by the hammock-cloths, crowned the
defences of the gallant frigate fore and aft, as she delved through the
green surge--one minute rolling and rising on the curling white crest
of a mountainous sea, amidst a hissing snowstorm of spray, with her
bright copper glancing from stem to stern, and her scanty white canvas
swelling aloft, and twenty feet of her keel forward occasionally hove
into the air and clean out of the water, as if she had been a sea-bird
rushing to take wing--and the next, sinking entirely out of
sight--hull, masts, and rigging--behind an intervening sea, that rose
in hoarse thunder between us, threatening to overwhelm both us and her.
As for the transports, the largest of the three had lost her
foretopmast, and had bore up under her foresail; another was also
scudding under a close-reefed fore-topsail; but the third or
head-quarter ship was still lying to windward, under her storm
staysails. None of the merchant vessels were to be seen, having been
compelled to bear up in the night, and to run before it under bare
poles.
At length, as the sun rose, we got before the wind, and it soon
moderated so far that we could carry reefed topsails and foresail; and
away we all bowled, with a clear, deep, cold, blue sky, and a bright
sun overhead, and a stormy leaden-coloured ocean with whitish
green-crested billows, below. The sea continued to go down, and the
wind to slacken, until the afternoon, when the commodore made the
signal for the _Torch_ to send a boat's crew, the instant it could be
done with safety, on board the dismasted ship to assist in repairing
damages and in getting up a jury-foretopmast.
The damaged ship was at this time on our weather-quarter; we
accordingly handed the fore-topsail, and presently she was alongside.
We hailed her, that we intended to send a boat on board, and desired
her to heave-to, as we did, and presently she rounded to under our lee.
One of the quarter-boats was manned, with three of the carpenter's
crew, and six good men over and above her complement; but it was no
easy matter to get on board of her, let me tell you, after she had been
lowered, carefully watching the rolls, with four hands in. The moment
she touched the water, the tackles were cleverly unhooked, and the rest
of us tumbled on board, shin leather growing scarce, when we shoved
off. With great difficulty, and not without wet jackets, we, the
supernumeraries, got on board, and the boat returned to the _Torch_.
The evening when we landed in the lobster-box, as Jack loves to
designate a transport, was too far advanced for us to do anything
towards refitting that night; and the confusion and uproar and
numberless abominations of the crowded craft, were irksome to a greater
degree than I expected, after having been accustomed to the strict and
orderly discipline of a man-of-war. The following forenoon the _Torch_
was ordered by signal to chase in the south-east quarter, and, hauling
out from the fleet, she was soon out of sight.