The adage that "it is an ill wind that blows nobody good" maintained its
reputation for truth, even in the case of the seemingly unmitigated
disaster of the previous night--that is to say, at least, as far as I
was concerned; inasmuch as the knowledge and experience which I acquired
of my profession during the operation of clearing away the wreck,
recovering the sails, rigging, and undamaged spars, fitting the new
topmasts into their places, and restoring the ship generally to her
former condition, gave me an advantage which I could scarcely have hoped
to secure in less than six months of the ordinary run of active service.
I watched with unflagging interest the progress of every operation as
the work went forward, with the result that I learned by actual
observation, coupled with the best use of my reasoning faculties, and
frequent questions to Mr Sennitt (who, I may say, heard and answered my
inquiries with quite astonishing patience), the position and use of
every rope that I saw fitted, the mode of working the yards, and much
other valuable knowledge.
It is surprising how speedily human curiosity becomes quickened and
aroused, if the individual devotes himself earnestly to the study of an
art or science. The thirst for knowledge increases with its
acquisition--at least, such is my experience--and is not to be satisfied
until every mystery connected with such art or science has been
mastered, and made the inalienable property of the student. It was so
with me in relation to everything connected with my profession. Having
gained a certain amount of knowledge concerning the mysteries of
seamanship, I craved for more; and throwing all my energies into the
discharge of my daily round of duties, made such rapid progress as
astonished everybody, myself included.
The "Scourge," meanwhile, was slowly pursuing her course down channel;
the wind, after the recent blow, having fallen light and baffling; it
was not, therefore, until the morning of the 13th that she reached her
cruising-ground, Scilly bearing at the time about N.E., distant 26
miles.
The day broke clear and cloudless, with a light air of wind from the
southward; the water being smooth, save for the long, rolling swell of
the Atlantic, which at the spot in question made itself very distinctly
felt. The air was mild and springlike, the unclouded sunbeams struck
with a perceptible sensation of warmth, and every one on board,
forgetting the recent misery of cold and wet, greeted the welcome change
with a corresponding flow of exuberant animal spirits.
The hands had just been piped to breakfast, when the lookout aloft
reported, "A sail right ahead!"
Recalling to mind the skipper's request on a previous occasion, I at
once ran down into the cabin for his telescope, which I brought on deck
and handed to him.
"Thank you, Mr Chester," said he. "I have remarked with very great
pleasure your real in the discharge of your duties. Go on as you have
begun, my boy, and you will soon become a valuable and efficient
officer."
Captain Brisac did not, however, himself go aloft this time; Mr
Clewline, the second lieutenant, happened to be on deck at the moment,
and the skipper handed him the glass, with a polite request that he
would "see what he could make of her."
Mr Clewline, I thought, seemed rather to resent the suggestion as an
affront to his dignity; he, however, made no demur, but proceeded aloft
with great deliberation, and, seating himself upon the fore-topsail
yard, took a very leisurely observation of the stranger.
Having devoted about a quarter of an hour to this occupation, he slowly
closed the telescope, and carefully slinging it over his shoulder,
descended to the deck with the same deliberation which had characterised
his ascent. It was not until he had regained the skipper's side that he
condescended to make his report; when, handing back the glass with a
stiff bow, he said, "I make out the stranger to be, sir, a brig,
apparently French, of about our own size; she is standing directly
toward us, upon the starboard tack, under topgallant-sails."
"Thank you, sir," returned the skipper shortly; then turning upon his
heel he went below to his cabin, Patterson having come on deck a minute
or two before, to announce that breakfast was ready.
The news quickly spread through the ship that the sail in sight was
supposed to be a Frenchman; and as the two vessels were approaching each
other, and an action, in the event of Mr Clewline's supposition proving
correct, inevitable, a considerable amount of excitement prevailed. The
men bolted their breakfast in less than half the time usually devoted to
that meal, and returned to the deck the moment they had disposed of
their last morsel; while the officers betrayed at least an equal amount
of eagerness, two or three of them hastily swallowing a cup of scalding
coffee, and munching up a biscuit, without giving themselves time even
to sit down.
"Old Sennitt"--as he was irreverently termed in the midshipmen's berth--
was one of the earliest to put in an appearance after breakfast, and his
first act was to go straight aloft with his glass. He devoted more time
even than Mr Clewline to the examination of the stranger, and it was
not until Captain Brisac had returned to the deck and hailed him that he
made a move.
As he came aft and joined his superior upon the quarter-deck, exultation
was visible in his face, and in every movement of his body.
"It is all right, sir," he exclaimed; "she is French beyond all
possibility of doubt. The cut of her canvas is alone sufficient
evidence of her nationality; but in order that there may be no room for
question of it, she has furled her royals, and has run up the tricolour
to her main-royal-mast-head. She is a brig, as far as I can make out
her rig, coming end-on to us as she is, and seems about our size, or
perhaps a trifle larger. I suppose we may as well clear for action at
once?"
"If you please, Mr Sennitt; and, not to be behindhand with them, let
them see the colour of our bunting before you do anything else."
The order to clear for action was received with enthusiasm; and the
little round ball which immediately soared aloft, breaking abroad and
displaying the naval ensign as it touched the main truck, was greeted
with a rousing cheer. The "green" hands were by this time not quite so
verdant as they had been a few days before, Mr Sennitt having drilled
them most remorselessly at every available opportunity--and as they had
been very judiciously intermingled with the experienced "salts," in
appointing them to their various stations, the work went on with, as
Captain Brisac remarked, "very creditable celerity." In little more
than half an hour, the yards had been slung, bulkheads knocked down, the
magazine opened, guns cast loose, loaded, and run out, and every other
preparation completed.
Meanwhile the two brigs had been slowly drawing together, and by 10 a.m.
were within a couple of miles of each other. There had been a little
manoeuvring on each side to secure the weather-gage; but our skipper,
perceiving that the action was likely to be thereby delayed, speedily
yielded the point, and allowed the Frenchman to take the coveted
position.
"It will make very little difference, five minutes after we are
engaged," he remarked to the first lieutenant, who, after having gone
the rounds and personally seen that everything was ready, had rejoined
him aft, just as the order had been given to the helmsman of the
"Scourge" to "keep away."
"There is one thing which we have not yet done," he continued, "it seems
quite unnecessary, but we may as well avoid all possibility of mistake
by showing the private signal."
The private signal was accordingly shown but evoked, as was expected, no
response. It was consequently hauled down again, and now everybody made
himself finally ready for the impending conflict. My readers will
naturally feel curious to know whether on this, the first occasion of my
"smelling gunpowder," I experienced any sensation of fear. I am old
enough now, and have seen enough of service, to have no misapprehension
of being misunderstood, or rather misjudged; I will therefore confess
the truth, and candidly acknowledge that, for a few minutes after the
completion of our preparations, I felt most horribly frightened. I knew
that I was about to be involved in a scene of death and destruction, of
sickening slaughter, and of even more sickening physical suffering; I
anticipated seeing my fellow-men struck down right and left, their limbs
torn away, and, quite possibly, their bodies cut in two by the cruel
chain-shot; I looked round upon the order and cleanliness which
everywhere prevailed on board our ship, and contrasted the existent
condition of things with the picture which my imagination conjured up of
impending blood and carnage; and I admit that for a few minutes my heart
almost failed me. That state of feeling, however, soon passed away, and
was succeeded by a condition of painful excitement and impatience, which
lasted until the first shot was fired, when it abruptly subsided,
leaving me as cool and collected as I am at the present moment.
I was not too frightened, however, to notice and admire the perfect
_sang-froid_ with which Captain Brisac and Mr Sennitt contemplated the
approach of our antagonist. They stood side by side, just abaft the
main-rigging, scrutinising every movement on board the French ship, and
exchanging critical remarks upon the smartness of her crew in shortening
sail and executing the various manoeuvres usual on board a ship going
into action; and I gathered, with no very comfortable feelings, that,
from what they observed, they quite anticipated a hard fight.
When the ships had approached each other within a quarter of a mile, we
were able, for the first time, to ascertain the actual armament of our
foe. Mr Sennitt was the first to seize the opportunity of counting her
ports, and he it was who announced, loud enough for everybody to hear,
that she showed six guns of a side, making her entire battery heavier
than our own by four guns. "Which makes her a very fair match for us,"
he contentedly remarked.
"We will engage her at close quarters, Mr Sennitt," said the skipper;
"be good enough, therefore, to have every gun double-shotted. Let no
man fire until I give the word; we will wait until we are fairly abreast
of her, and then give her our whole larboard broadside at once. Luff,
you may!" to the master, who had taken the wheel. "Luff, and shave her
as closely as you can, without actually touching her. Steady--so; that
will do very nicely."
As the French ship came up, she fired every gun along her larboard
broadside, commencing from forward, the moment they could be brought to
bear; and the shot came tearing in through our bulwarks, making the
splinters fly in all directions. In my ignorance I expected to see
about half our crew go down before that first discharge, but to my
unbounded surprise not a man was hurt.
The Frenchman was by this time so close that we could not only see with
the utmost distinctness the crew reloading their guns, but could hear
the confused jabber of excited conversation which appeared to be going
on unchecked on board. What a contrast to our own ship, where every man
stood at his post, steady and silent as a statue!
At last the two ships came up fairly abreast of each other, and were
passing so closely that an active man might have jumped from the one to
the other, when the skipper uttered the word "Fire!"
The four guns of our larboard broadside rang out simultaneously, the
concussion of the air causing the two ships to heel outwards; and
through the noise of the explosion I distinctly heard the crashing of
timbers, and the piercing shrieks of the wounded.
"That's one to us; we draw first blood," chuckled a voice behind me; and
I looked round to observe young Harvey, a fellow-mid, rubbing his hands
with an air of great satisfaction.
"Hard up with your helm," exclaimed the skipper; "shiver your main-
topsail and let her wear short round; stand by your guns there on the
starboard broadside, and fire as you bring each to bear."
The effect of this manoeuvre was to lay our ship almost directly athwart
the stern of the Frenchman, and so smartly was it executed that we had
pretty effectually raked him before he was able to bear up, and give us
another broadside, the whole of which flew over us harmlessly, except
for a hole or two in our sails.
The fight now became a running one, both ships going off before the
wind, and the Frenchman rather evincing a disposition to keep us at a
distance. He did not seem to like the taste he'd had of our quality, as
I heard the Irish captain of the after-gun, on the port side, remark.
But we possessed rather the advantage of him in the matter of speed, and
slowly edged down upon him until we were once more close alongside, when
the ships exchanged broadsides, both firing at the same moment. We
could see the white marks in our antagonist's sides, where our shot had
struck, but either from defective aim, or because he wanted to shoot
away our spars, all his shot again flew high, with no worse result than
the severing of the starboard main-topsail-brace, a casualty which it
took but a minute or two to repair.
Two or three more broadsides were exchanged without visible effect, and
then an unlucky shot wounded our fore-topmast so badly that, after
tottering for a minute or two, it went over the bows, dragging the main-
topgallant-mast down with it.
Captain Brisac proved himself quite equal to the occasion. He could not
prevent the "Scourge" from broaching-to, so, ordering the helm to be put
hard-a-port, he luffed us right athwart the Frenchman's stern, pouring
in the larboard broadside, which had been disengaged since our opening
fire, with such good effect that the French ship's main-yard was shot
away, and the mainmast-head badly wounded.
A strong gang was immediately set to work board on each ship to repair
damages; but as the Frenchman, by reason of the loss of his after-sail,
was unable to bring his ship upon a wind, he had no alternative but to
run dead before it, fully exposed, meanwhile, to the raking effects of
our larboard guns, which were kept playing upon him until he had passed
out of range, not one of his guns during that time being able to reply.
It took us rather over one hour to clear away the wreck, and get another
topmast on end, fully rig it, and make sail once more. Mr Sennitt, who
personally superintended the work, insisted that it should be thoroughly
well done--as well done in fact as though we had not been in the
presence of an enemy. The French had, in the meantime, been quite as
active as ourselves, and if their work was not so neatly done as our
own, still it _was_ done after a fashion, and they were ready to make
sail a few minutes before us, an advantage of which they availed
themselves with such alacrity that it became evident their chief anxiety
was to place, in the shortest possible time, the greatest possible
distance between us and themselves.
This project, however, by no means met the views of us "Scourges," and
the instant that it was possible, every available stitch of canvas was
packed upon our ship, with the view of closing with the enemy again as
promptly as possible.
Then began that most wearisome of all wearisome businesses, a stern
chase in a light breeze, during which the whole crew, from the skipper
downwards, whistled most devoutly for a wind.
Slowly--_very_ slowly we gained upon the chase, the master, who had
resigned the wheel at the cessation of the action, standing upon the
forecastle with his sextant, measuring, about once every five minutes,
the angle between the mast-head and the water-line of the chase, to
ascertain which ship gained upon the other. At last "I think we are
within range now, sir; shall we try a shot from our bow-chasers?" said
Mr Sennitt.
"We can scarcely reach him yet, I am afraid," said the skipper; "but
there will be no harm in trying."
The order was given, and old Tompion, the gunner, undertook in person
the task of levelling the gun. He went about the work with much
deliberation and a great display of science, and at length, watching a
favourable opportunity, fired. In another moment a white sear started
into view near the Frenchman's rudder and close to the water's edge.
"Hulled him! by all that's clever," exclaimed the first luff, while the
gratified Tompion looked slowly round upon his messmates, with modest
pride beaming from every feature.
"Returned, with thanks," murmured young Harvey, who was stationed close
beside me, as a puff of smoke veiled for an instant the stern of our
antagonist; and then the shot was seen bounding toward us, its path
marked by the jets of water which flew up wherever the ball struck. At
last it was seen to scurry along the surface for a short distance;
finally disappearing within about fifty fathoms of our bows.
"Try another shot there, forward," said the skipper, "and aim for his
spars. A guinea to the first man who knocks away a spar big or little."
Every man in the ship was of course anxious to try his hand, and Mr
Sennitt was obliged to interfere, with the view of allowing the best
shots to have the first chance.
Some curiously indifferent shooting now ensued, the very eagerness of
the men seeming to render them unsteady. I had strolled forward to
watch the game, and, after several most exasperating misses, exclaimed,
"I should like very much to try; I believe I could do better than that."
"Then try you shall, youngster," said Mr Sennitt; "the first shot a man
ever fires is often a very lucky one, and perhaps yours may be so. You
shall fire the next shot."
While the gun was being loaded, Tompion availed himself of the
opportunity to deliver a short lesson on gunnery, for my especial
benefit, of which all that I remember was that he attached great
importance to the "trajectory," and was eloquent on the subject of the
"parabolic curve."
I had watched with much impatience the very scrupulous nicety with which
most of the men pretended to lay the gun, and I was strongly impressed
with the conviction that over-carefulness had much to do with their
repeated failures; I took very little trouble, therefore, beyond seeing
that the muzzle of the gun had a good elevation, after which I simply
waited, squinting along the sights, until I saw that the weapon was just
about to come in line with the Frenchman's masts, when I pulled the
trigger-line smartly, and was dragged forcibly backwards by the collar,
just in time to avoid a serious blow from the recoiling gun.
I turned angrily round to ascertain what reckless individual it was who
had thus dared to lay unholy hands upon me, when my thoughts were
diverted by a ringing cheer from all hands. My shot had lodged in the
Frenchman's mainmast-head, just above the cap; and, while we still
looked, away went the main-topmast dragging the fore-topgallant-mast
down with it. I received a vast amount of praise for my exploit, but of
course it was merely a lucky shot, with which skill had nothing whatever
to do.