tripped over and kicked aside twice or thrice, so, suddenly hitting out
with my left fist, I knocked down the man who happened to be at the
moment opposed to me, quickly stooped and seized the handspike, dropped
my sword, and, singing out to our own lads to give me room, I swung my
new weapon round my head and brought it down with a crash upon the two
or three Frenchmen nearest me. The force of the blow made my arm tingle
to the elbow, but it swept the Frenchmen down as though it had been a
scythe, and caused those behind to recoil in terror. Another flail-like
sweep proved equally effective, the cutlasses raised to guard the blows
being as useless as so many wands, and when I followed it up with a
third it proved too much for the Frenchmen, who, seeing their comrades
go down before me like ninepins, gave way with a yell of dismay,
retreating aft until they were all jammed and huddled together like
sheep, so closely that they had no room to fight effectively. The
French captain, as I took him to be, finding things going badly in our
direction, forced his way through the crowd, and, perhaps regarding me
as the chief mischief-maker, levelled a pistol at my head and fired. I
felt the ball graze my scalp, but at the same instant my handspike
descended upon the unhappy man's head. I saw the blood spurt out over
his face, and down he went. This proved sufficient. The Frenchmen
nearest me threw down their weapons and cried that they surrendered.
The cry was taken up by the rest, and the brigantine was won.
The first thing now to be done was to see to the wounded. The carnage
had been very great in proportion to the numbers engaged, and our men
had no sooner sheathed their weapons than they went to work among the
ghastly prostrate forms to separate the wounded from the dead. This
task was soon completed, and it was then discovered that our loss had
not been nearly so great as I had feared; the dead amounting to eleven,
and the wounded to nineteen, three of whom were dangerously injured.
Our own dead and wounded were carefully removed to the schooner, and
then,--the unwounded Frenchmen having been driven below and securely
confined in the hold,--the skipper put me in charge of the prize, with a
crew of twenty men, and the two craft made sail in company, in pursuit
of the merchantman, which was now hull-down in the south-western
quarter. The moment that the two craft were clear of each other, and
the sails trimmed, I set my people to work to convey the wounded
Frenchmen below to the cabin, where, the vessel by good luck being
provided with a surgeon, they were quickly attended to. When this was
done it was found that the French loss totalled up to no less than
twenty-seven killed and forty-four wounded, out of a complement of one
hundred men with which she had commenced the engagement. She was a
heavily-manned vessel, for, in addition to the number already given, she
had thirty men on board the prize.
Having seen the wounded carried below, the dead thrown overboard, and
the decks washed down, I had an opportunity to look about me a bit, and
take stock of the noble craft that we had captured. She turned out to
be the _Tigre_ of Nantes, thirty-four days out, during which she had
captured only one prize, namely, the ship of which we were now in
pursuit. She was a brand-new vessel, measuring three hundred and
seventy-six tons, oak-built, coppered, and copper fastened; of immense
beam, and very shallow, drawing only ten feet six inches of water. She
was extraordinarily fast with the wind over her quarter, running away
from the _Dolphin_ easily. But I suspected that in a thrash to
windward, in anything of a breeze, the schooner would prove to be quite
a match for her, with, perhaps, a trifle to spare. She mounted fourteen
twelve-pounders, and her magazine was crammed with ammunition, it having
been the intention of her captain to try his luck, like ourselves, in
the West Indian waters.
It was about six bells in the afternoon watch when we filled away in
pursuit of the ship, and the sun was within half an hour of his setting
when we overtook and brought her to, the _Dolphin_ being at that time
some two miles astern of us. I knew that there were thirty Frenchmen on
board her, but did not anticipate any resistance from them, since it
would be perfectly clear to them that anything of the kind, although it
might temporarily prevent our taking possession, would be utterly
useless in the end, and only result in loss of life. I therefore
lowered a boat, and, taking with me ten men armed to the teeth,
proceeded on board and secured undisputed possession of the ship. My
first act was to release the crew of the prize, after which the disarmed
Frenchmen were transferred to the brigantine, and confined below along
with their comrades, and while this was still in process of performance
the _Dolphin_ joined company, and Captain Winter came on board. He
fully approved of all that had been done, and directed me to remain on
board in charge, shifting himself over into the brigantine and placing
the schooner under the temporary command of Comben. By the time that
all these arrangements had been completed the night had fallen, dinner
was about to be served in the cuddy, and at the earnest invitation of
the captain of the ship, the skipper accepted a seat at the table.
Meanwhile, all three of the craft had been hauled to the wind, on the
larboard tack, and were heading to the eastward, the ship under
everything that her jury-rig would permit to be set, and the schooner
and brigantine under double-reefed topsails.
We now had an opportunity to learn some few particulars relating to our
prize, and the circumstances of her capture by the French privateer, the
latter being somewhat remarkable. The ship, it appeared, was named the
_Manilla_, and was homeward-bound with a rich cargo of spices and other
rare commodities, including several tons of ivory which she had shipped
at the Cape, together with a number of passengers. She had here joined
the homeward-bound convoy, and all had gone well with her until the
springing up of the gale during which we had fallen in with the convoy.
During this gale, however, she had laboured so heavily that she had not
only lost her fore and mizzen-topmasts and her main-topgallant-mast, but
she had also strained so much that she had made a great deal of water,
necessitating frequent and long spells at the pumps. This, and the
clearing away of the wreck of her top-hamper, had, as might have been
expected, greatly exhausted the crew, the result being that, on the
night of her capture, the look-out was not quite so keen as perhaps it
should have been. But after all, as the captain remarked, there really
did not appear to be any necessity for the maintenance of an especially
bright look-out beyond what was required to provide against their
falling foul of any of the other ships belonging to the convoy, and
although he admitted that he had noticed both the brigantine and the
_Dolphin_, which he had immediately set down as privateers, he did not
consider them as enemies, and even if any such suspicion had entered his
mind he would not have deemed himself liable to attack within sight and
reach of eight men-o'-war. Therefore, when night came on, he allowed
his exhausted crew to get what rest they could, keeping only a
sufficient number of men on deck to meet any ordinary emergency. He was
thus profoundly astonished and chagrined at being awakened about one
o'clock in the morning to find his crew overpowered and safely confined
below, and his ship in possession of a crew of thirty Frenchmen. How
they had contrived to get on board, in the height of so heavy a gale,
and with so tremendous a sea running, he had been unable to ascertain,
the Frenchman in charge resolutely refusing to explain.
Such was the extraordinary story told by the captain of the _Manilla_;
and that it was absolutely true there could be no doubt, for we had
ourselves seen enough to assure us of that. I was greatly disappointed,
however, at the captain's inability to explain by what means the
Frenchmen had contrived to board the ship in the face of such formidable
difficulties; for that was precisely the point that had puzzled me all
through, and I resolved to find out, if I could, for such a secret was
quite worth the knowing.
Captain Winter had determined to return home with his prizes; and we
accordingly continued to steer to the eastward all that night. The next
morning at daybreak I turned to the hands and went to work to complete
the jury-rig that the Frenchmen had so well begun; and, as the _Manilla_
happened to be well provided with spare spars, we contrived, after two
days' hard work, to get her back to something like her former
appearance, and to so greatly increase her sailing powers that the
brigantine and the schooner could shake the reefs out of their topsails
without running away from us. Meanwhile the wind had gradually hauled
round until we had got it well over our starboard quarter, and were
booming along at a speed of eight knots, with studding-sails set.
The officer who had been put in charge of the _Manilla_ when she fell
into the hands of the French privateersmen was a very fine young fellow
named Dumaresq; a smart seaman, high-spirited, and as brave as a lion.
We early took a fancy to each other, especially after I had offered him
his parole, and we soon became exceedingly friendly. He possessed a
rich fund of amusing anecdote, together with the art of telling a story
well; he was refined in manner, excellently educated, and an
accomplished pianist; he was, therefore, quite an acquisition to the
cuddy, and now that the ship was no longer in his possession, was
heartily welcomed there by Captain Chesney and his passengers. I
scarcely ever turned in until after midnight, and by and by young
Dumaresq contracted the habit of joining me on the poop and smoking a
cigar with me after the passengers had retired for the night; and upon
one of these occasions our conversation turned upon the clever capture
of the ship by himself and his countrymen. This aroused my curiosity
afresh, and after he had been talking for some time about it, I said:
"But how in the world did you manage to get aboard in such terrific
weather? That is what puzzles me!"
"No doubt, _mon cher_," he answered with a laugh. "And how to manage it
was just what puzzled us for a time also. We knew that our only chance
was to do it during the height of the gale; for if we had waited until
the weather moderated, we should have had some of your men-o'-war
looking after us and instituting unpleasant inquiries which we should
have found it exceedingly difficult to answer. So, after considerable
cogitation, poor Captain Lefevre--whose brains I understand you were
unkind enough to beat out with a handspike--hit upon a plan which he
thought might succeed. We had a few barrels of oil on board, and one of
these he broached for the purpose of testing his idea. He had a canvas
bag made, capable of containing about four gallons of the oil, and this
bag he filled, bent its closed end on to a rope, and threw the affair
overboard, paying out the rope, as the brigantine drifted to leeward,
until we had about a hundred fathoms of line out, with our bag about
that distance to windward.
"We soon found that the oil, exuding through the pores of the canvas,
had a distinctly marked effect upon the sea, which ceased to break as
soon as it reached the film of oil that had oozed from the bag. Still
the effect was by no means as great as he desired, the oil not exuding
in sufficient quantity to render the sea safe for a boat, so we hauled
our bag inboard again, punctured it well with a sailmaker's needle, and
then tried it again. It now proved to be everything that could be
desired; the oil oozed out of the bag in sufficient quantity to make a
smooth patch of water with a diameter fully equal to the length of our
ship; and, after testing the matter through the whole afternoon, we all
came to the conclusion that our boats would live in such a patch, and
that the experiment was quite worth trying. Wherefore three bags were
made, one for each boat, and attached by a becket to a length of line
measuring about twenty fathoms. Then, when night had set in, and the
darkness had become deep enough to conceal our movements, the bags were
filled and dropped overboard, the other end of the line being made fast
to the ringbolt in the stern of the boat for the use of which it had
been destined. A party of thirty men was told off--ten to each boat,
with four additional to take the boat back to the ship in the event of
our venture proving successful,--and the brigantine was then sailed to a
position about a mile ahead and half-a-mile to windward of the
_Manilla_; that being the ship that we had marked down for our prey.
The great difficulty that we now anticipated was that of unhooking the
falls with certainty and promptitude the moment that the boats should
reach the water; but our captain provided for that by slinging the boats
by strops and toggles attached to the ordinary fall-blocks. We were now
all ready to put the matter to the test; but at the last moment the
captain suddenly decided that it was too early, and that it would be
better to defer the attempt until after midnight. This was done; and at
the appointed hour the brigantine was once more sailed into a suitable
position with regard to the _Manilla_; the boats were manned, lowered,
and we managed to get away from the brigantine without much difficulty.
She remained hove-to upon the spot where we had left her, and to make
matters as safe as possible for us, capsized overboard the contents of
two of the oil-barrels. This smoothened the sea to such an extent that,
deeply as we were loaded, and heavily as it was blowing, we did not ship
a drop of water. We allowed the boats to drift down to leeward, with
their oil-bags towing astern, and with only two oars out, to keep them
stern-on to the sea; and so accurately had our distance been calculated
that when the _Manilla_ came up abreast of us we only needed to pull a
stroke or two to get comfortably under her lee. We boarded her by way
of the lee channels, fore, main, and mizzen simultaneously; and that,
let me tell you, was the most difficult part of our work, for the ship
rolled so heavily that it was with the utmost difficulty we avoided
staving or swamping the boats. Each man knew, however, exactly what to
do, and did it without the necessity for a word to be spoken; and thus
our desperate adventure--for desperate indeed it was, let me tell you--
was accomplished without mishap. Ah! there goes eight bells; time for
me to turn in, so I will say good-night, _mon cher_ Bowen, and pleasant
dreams to you!"
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
THE MANILLA IS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
For a full week nothing occurred of sufficient importance to be worthy
of record; our little squadron making good headway before the fair wind
that had come to our assistance; neither the brigantine nor the schooner
ever being more than three or four miles distant from us; while, in
response to daily invitations from Captain Chesney, the skipper of the
Indiaman, Captain Winter frequently came on board to dine and spend the
evening with the cuddy passengers. But on the ninth day after the
recapture of the _Manilla_, the wind dwindled away to a light air, and
then shifted out from the north-east, gradually freshening to a strong
breeze, and breaking us off to an east-south-east course, close-hauled
on the port tack. We stood thus all through the night; and at daybreak
the next morning a large ship was discovered about ten miles to
windward, close-hauled on the starboard tack, dodging along under
topsails, jib, and spanker, with her courses in the brails. A single
glance at her was sufficient to assure us that she was a man-o'-war--a
frigate--on her cruising-ground; and that her people were broad awake
was speedily made manifest, for we had scarcely made her out when she
shifted her helm and bore up for us, letting fall her courses and
setting her topgallant-sails and royals as she did so.
The discovery of this stranger was immediately productive of a very
considerable amount of anxiety among us all, for she was a powerful
vessel, and, if an enemy, likely to prove an exceedingly formidable
antagonist. And there was very little doubt among us that she was an
enemy; the cut of her square canvas being unmistakably French. Such was
also Captain Winter's opinion; for he presently ran down under our stern
and hailed me, stating his suspicions, and directing me to bear up and
make the best of my way to leeward, while he and the _Dolphin_ would
endeavour to cover my retreat and distract the stranger's attention
until I had got clear off. His orders were that I was to run to leeward
until out of sight of the Frenchman, and then to haul my wind on the
starboard tack, when he would do his utmost to rejoin me; but that, in
the event of his failing to do so, I was to make the best of my way home
without wasting time in an endeavour to find him.
I lost no time in obeying his instructions, instantly wearing the
Indiaman round and crowding sail to leeward. The frigate had by this
time neared us to within seven miles; and the moment that we in the
Indiaman bore up, she set studding-sails on both sides in pursuit, while
the brigantine and the _Dolphin_ stretched away to windward to intercept
her. There was scarcely a shadow of doubt now in my mind that the
stranger was a Frenchman; for although her studding-sails were set with
a very commendable promptitude and alacrity, there was wanting in the
operation a certain element of smartness, very difficult to describe,
yet perfectly discernible to the eye of a seaman, which I have observed
to be almost the exclusive attribute of the British man-o'-war. The
difference, indeed, is so marked that, as in the present case, it has
frequently been possible to decide the nationality of a ship merely by
the way in which she is manoeuvred, and long before a sight of her
bunting has been obtained. The conviction that the noble craft to
windward was an enemy caused the greatest consternation on board the
_Manilla_, particularly among the passengers; while even I, with all my
knowledge of Captain Winter's indomitable courage, resource, and skill,
could not but feel exceedingly anxious as to the result of his impending
contest with so greatly superior a force. True, the memory of our
gallant fight with and brilliant capture of the _Musette_ frigate was
still fresh in my memory; but I regarded that affair rather as a piece
of exceptional good luck than as the result of superior gallantry on our
part, and it was quite on the cards that in the present case luck might
go over to the side of the enemy. As in the case of the _Musette_, a
fortunate shot might make all the difference between victory and defeat,
and it was too much to expect that such good fortune as had then
attended us would always be ours. Be it understood, I was in nowise
fearful of personal capture. I felt pretty confident that the skipper
would be quite able to occupy the attention of the frigate long enough
to enable the _Manilla_ to make good her escape; but, that accomplished,
would he be able also to save himself? Moved by so keen a feeling of
anxiety as I have indicated, it will not be wondered at that I had no
sooner got the Indiaman before the wind, with every stitch of canvas
spread that I could pack upon her, than I devoted my whole attention to
the movements of the three craft which were about to take part in the
forthcoming ocean-drama.
There was no outward sign of any hesitancy or doubt whatever in the
movements of either vessel. The frigate had borne away into our wake
the moment that we had borne away, and was now foaming along after us in
gallant style, with studding-sails set on both sides, from the royals
down; and was of course coming up with us, hand over hand. There was no
question as to her intentions; she was after us, and meant to catch us
if she could. On the other hand, the brigantine and schooner, under all
plain sail, were stretching away to windward, close-hauled on the
larboard tack, with a space of only a hundred fathoms or so dividing
them, the brigantine leading. It looked as though the two vessels were
about to engage the frigate on the same side, which,--if it was to be a
running fight, as seemed probable,--was sound judgment on Captain
Winter's part, since it would enable the frigate to use only one
broadside, and so virtually reduce her weight of metal by one-half. The
two craft continued to stand on this tack until the frigate was nearly
abreast of them, when they hove about at the same moment, and
simultaneously hoisted their colours. The frigate probably hoisted her
colours in reply to this challenge, but, if so, we could not see what
they were, her own canvas intervening to hide the flag from us; but she
fired her whole broadside a few seconds later, and we saw the shot
spouting up the water as they flew toward the two craft which dared to
dispute the passage of the sea with her. They appeared to fall short;
at all events no perceptible damage was done to either vessel; but a
moment later the schooner fired, and the sound of the report told me
that it was her long eighteen-pounder that was speaking. The shot
struck the water about sixty or seventy fathoms from the frigate,
ricochetted, and appeared to pass over her, for presently we saw the
water spout up again well to starboard of the vessel. This was enough
for the saucy little _Dolphin_; she was beyond the range of the
frigate's guns, but could reach her antagonist with her own Long Tom.
She therefore immediately bore up, set her square-sail and studding-
sails, and, maintaining her distance, steered a parallel course to that
of the frigate, while the brigantine stood on, with the now evident
intention of taking up a raking position athwart the frigate's stern.
The _Dolphin_ now opened a rapid fire upon the frigate with her long
gun, and every shot showed that the latter was well within range. The
frigate replied from time to time with single guns, but Comben was too
wary to approach near enough to be hit, and so the fight went on for
some time, with no apparent damage to either combatant. Meanwhile, the
brigantine had, as I had anticipated, placed herself athwart the
frigate's stern, well within range, and now traversed the Frenchman's
wake, sailing to-and-fro athwart his stern, pouring in a whole raking
broadside every time she crossed it, and receiving but two guns in
reply. All this, of course, was exceedingly pretty and interesting as
an exhibition of Captain Winter's skill and acumen in fighting an enemy
of superior force; but thus far the firing had been comparatively
ineffective, a few holes here and there in the Frenchman's sails being
the only visible result of the expenditure of a considerable quantity of
gunpowder, while he had neared us to within four miles, and was
overhauling us so rapidly that another hour, at most, would see us
within reach of his guns.
Mason, however--the man who had formerly proved himself to be so
excellent a shot with the eighteen-pounder,--was still aboard the
schooner, and I had great hopes of him, especially as I knew that he
would be by this time upon his mettle and animated by a feeling that it
behoved him to speedily do something remarkable if he would save his
reputation. Nor was I deceived in my expectations of him; for, very
shortly afterwards, a shot from the schooner cut the halliard of the
frigate's larboard lower studding-sail, and the sail dropped into the
water, retarding the vessel's progress perceptibly until it was got in.
It occupied the Frenchmen nearly a quarter of an hour to accomplish
this, to splice the halliard, and to reset the sail. Meanwhile the
brigantine had not been idle; and even while the Frenchmen were busy
about their studding-sail, she recrossed the frigate's stern, firing
another broadside at that vessel's spars, with considerable success, it
appeared; for although we could not make out exactly what had happened
it was evident that something had gone seriously wrong, Captain
Chesney--who stood beside me, watching the fight--declaring that he had
noticed an appearance strongly suggestive of the fall of the frigate's
mizzen-mast. I hardly believed that such could be the case, for,
steering as the frigate then was, dead before the wind, had her mizzen-
mast fallen, it would have fallen forward, doing so much damage to the
spars and sails on the mainmast that I think the effect would have been
recognisable even where we were. I considered it far more probable that
the mizzen-topmast or topgallant-mast had been shot away. The next shot
from the schooner, however, was an exceedingly lucky one; it appeared to
strike the frigate's fore-topmast about six feet below the cross-trees,
and the next moment the whole of the wreck was hanging by the topsail-
sheets from the fore-yard down on to the ship's forecastle, with her
jibs and fore-topmast-staysail towing under her bows. This at once
caused her to broach-to, and settled her business, so far as any hope of
capturing us was concerned; but she had her revenge by pouring the whole
of her starboard broadside into the brigantine, the sails and rigging of
which were tremendously cut up by the unexpected salute. And as the
frigate broached-to we saw that my surmise was not very far wide of the
mark, her mizzen-topgallant-mast and mizzen-topsail yard having been
shot away, the latter in the slings.