Santa Fe is situated on the east bank of the river. It is a place of
some size. Built partly at the foot and partly on the side of a lofty
hill, surrounded by _corrales_ where thousands of cattle are
slaughtered, their hides and their tallow being shipped from the port,
while vast flocks of vultures, carrion crows, and other birds of prey
hover over them to consume the refuse beef, which there are not human
mouths sufficient to eat. As may be supposed, it is far from an
agreeable place. The greater part of the English and French men-of-war
were lying at Baxadar de Santa Fe, which was the appointed rendezvous of
the merchantmen. Here the larger number, having effected their object,
collected towards the middle of May. The difficulty was now to get the
convoy safely back past the batteries of San Lorenzo. Sir Charles
Hotham had got up to settle some diplomatic affairs with the Government
of Corrientes, and on the 16th of May he returned in the _Alecto_.
A plan had occurred to Lieutenant Mackinnon of that ship, by which the
passage of the convoy might be facilitated; and, having proposed it to
Sir Charles Hotham, he, after a short consideration of its possibility,
expressed his willingness to have it carried out, should everything be
as supposed.
Lieutenant Mackinnon stated that opposite to the heavy part of the
batteries of San Lorenzo he had observed an island covered with long
reeds, grass, and small trees, but completely commanded by the guns of
the battery. He proposed, the night before the convoy was to fight
their way down, to take on shore a certain number of congreve rockets,
to land them at the back of the island, and to place them in readiness
for use when the time of action should arrive; this could be effected in
a few minutes,--then to dig by the side of each rocket a hole large
enough to contain the men working them, and to throw the earth up as a
kind of barricade before it; at the signal given by the
commander-in-chief, when all the enemy's batteries were fully manned,
waiting for the convoy, to commence a tremendous fire of rockets, which,
being totally unexpected by the enemy, would be proportionally effective
and destructive. The chances were that they would return this fire,
which the prepared holes would render harmless; and if the rocket-stands
or tubes were hit,--very difficult objects,--poles and instruments would
be at hand to repair them immediately. Besides, when the vessels were
passing, the chances were that, from the height of the cliffs, the
rockets would strike the enemy over the mast-heads of the ships, thus
causing a double-banked fire of great force.
Sir Charles Hotham having consulted Captain Hope and Captain Trehouart,
who highly approved of the plan, provided the ground when reconnoitred
was found as suitable as expected, the execution of it was entrusted to
Lieutenant Mackinnon, of the _Alecto_, with Lieutenant Barnard, of the
_Firebrand_, as his second. For several days the preparations were
going on; and on the 25th of May, all being ready, the convoy and
men-of-war dropped down the river, and anchored about five miles above
the batteries of San Lorenzo, while the _Alecto_, continuing her course,
brought up still nearer to them.
At length, on the night of the 1st of June, Sir Charles Hotham and the
French captain, with some other officers, reconnoitred the locality.
Besides the island we have spoken of, there were several others of
nearly the same size, and at the same distance from the western shore;
to the eastward of them, again, was an immense archipelago of low swampy
islands, covered with brushwood, extending in that direction six or
eight miles between them and the main shore of Entre Rios.
There was just sufficient light for the reconnoitring party to see their
way as they steered through the intricate passages to the east of the
large islands. With muffled oars and in dead silence they pulled on
till they reached the island they wished to examine; and as they shoved
the boat's bow into the mud, a loud rustling was heard in the brushwood,
and a wild beast of some sort, which they took for a tiger, rushed
towards them. They dared not fire, of course, and without allowing a
moment's hesitation to interfere with the service they were upon,
proceeded to land according to seniority. As the first officers leaped
on shore, sword in hand, the supposed tiger, with a loud snort, jumped
into the river, proving to be a harmless capybara, or water-hog,
peculiar to the large rivers of South America.
They now advanced cautiously, among the reeds and brushwood, across the
island, when, to their great satisfaction, they found that the river
itself had performed the very work required, by throwing up, when
swelled by the rains, an embankment many feet high along the entire
length of the island, so as completely to screen them from the enemy's
batteries,--a work, indeed, which many hundred men could not so well
have executed in a week. Behind this the land rising, there was
consequently a large natural trench; here the rockets might be placed in
comparative safety. The only difficulty would be to get the men into
the trench and to retire safely after the ammunition was expended, and
also to avoid any suspicion on the enemy's part of the proximity of such
a foe. The party then returned to the ship, and completed the necessary
preparations.
The next night the rocket-party, in the _Alecto's_ paddle-box boat, took
their departure under the command of Lieutenant Mackinnon. He was
accompanied by his second in command, Lieutenant Barnard, of the Marine
Artillery, by Mr Hamm, the boatswain of the _Alecto_, and Mr Baker,
the pilot, with twelve artillerymen and eleven seamen. Silent as the
grave, they pulled behind the islands, and without accident reached the
appointed spot. They first set to work to get the rocket-stands and
rockets up to the embankment; and very fatiguing work it was to the men,
for they had to carry them through a swamp, into which they sank up to
their knees, and then a considerable distance over rough and uneven
ground, among thick reeds and brushwood. A glass of grog, with some
pork and biscuits, set them to rights again; and without delay they
planted the rocket-stands, pointing them so that the rockets might just
clear the top of the batteries. Fortunately, a few yards beyond the
little bay where the boat had been lying all night, a large willow tree
had fallen into the river, of her exact length, and beyond that was a
point of land running out likewise; between these she was hauled in.
Branches of willow were stuck in all round and inside the boat, which
most effectually concealed her,--so much so, that when Lieutenant Baker
arrived the next night at the spot, he was observed standing up in the
stern-sheets of the gig, looking wistfully towards the sandy beach,
without seeing anything of the boat, though the starboard bow-oar of his
gig splashed the water in Lieutenant Mackinnon's face. The latter
officer whistled; upon which Lieutenant Baker pulled in, and began
conversing.
All this time Lieutenant Mackinnon was standing with one leg on the
gunwale of the boat and the other on land, the boat's gunwale being
flush with it; it appeared, therefore, as if he was partly standing on a
tree in the water, and so completely deceived Lieutenant Baker that he
exclaimed, "But where on earth have you put the boat to?" The low laugh
from the men, who were hid under a tarpaulin, revealed where she was.
When they were moving about in daylight, they were obliged to crouch
down like a herd of kangaroos, creeping behind the bushes and among the
long grass, so as not to be seen by the enemy, to whom the whole island
was then exposed to view. Had the Spaniards found out that they were
there, of course they would have sent boats across to attack them, and
would have fired on them from the forts; and though no doubt the
bluejackets would have made a good fight of it with their rockets, the
plan for preserving the fleet must have failed entirely.
The first day all hands were roused from their sleep in the boat and
mustered at two p.m.; their arms being examined, they were ordered to
remain at the boat in readiness for any emergency, while the officers
and two artillerymen relieved the look-out at the battery. Twenty-eight
embrasures, with heavy guns in them, were counted in the enemy's forts;
and so close were the party, that with pocket-telescopes they could
clearly distinguish the faces of the people, and observed General
Moncellia, the brother-in-law of Rosas, drive up in his carriage with
four horses, and, dismounting, inspect the troops and guns. Little did
he suspect the foe he had near him. Having remained some time, the
officers crawled back to the boats to take some rest, but they were far
too anxious to sleep long; and the next night was passed, as before, in
paying constant visits to the rocket-battery. Once they were nearly
discovered, by one of the men incautiously exposing himself. As
Lieutenant Mackinnon was watching the battery, he observed the sentry
suddenly stop, and eye the spot narrowly. "Hold fast," he whispered to
the man; "don't move, as you value your life." The man obeyed, and, to
the lieutenant's infinite relief, he at last saw the sentry move on.
Daybreak of the 4th came at length; the wind blew fairly down the
stream, and everyone was on the tiptoe of expectation, listening for the
report of two guns, the preconcerted signal of the fleet being about to
sail. It was a time of the greatest anxiety, for any moment, if
discovered, the twenty-eight pieces of ordnance might have commenced
playing on them, and blown them all to atoms; but fortunately the eyes
of the enemy were turned up the stream, towards the point from whence
the fleet was expected to appear. Slowly the hours seemed to pass, till
at length, at nine a.m., the welcome sound of the two guns came booming
along the water; and immediately the men proceeded from the boat to the
rocket-stands, creeping along like a band of North American Indians on a
war expedition to surprise a sleeping foe.
A long pole, with the British flag made fast to it, had been prepared,
on the elevation of which the first discharge of rockets was to take
place. The squadron of men-of-war and merchantmen now approached, the
_Gorgon, Fulton_, and _Alecto_ leading. Majestically they glided on
till they came within range of the batteries, at which they commenced
firing their shells with admirable precision. The long and anxious
moment at length arrived for the discharge of the rockets. Lieutenant
Mackinnon waved his cap aloft; at this signal Lieutenant Barnard planted
the British flag under the nose of the enemy, and, taking off his cap,
made them a low bow.
Up went a flight of rockets; two of them flew into the very centre of
the most crowded part of the batteries, completely clearing them of
their defenders, two went over their heads, and two stuck in the cliffs
beneath them. The elevation of the four stands which were wrongly
pointed being rectified, they were once more charged; and as soon as the
enemy had returned to their guns, and were looking along the sights to
take aim at the steamers, Lieutenant Mackinnon, jumping up on the
embankment, thoughtless of how he was exposing himself, sang out,
"Pepper, lads! pepper, lads! pepper, pepper, pepper!" and pepper away
the men did with a vengeance. The crash was tremendous.
The enemy, with dismay, deserted their guns; and terrific must have been
the slaughter among them, for in one minute, forty rockets, admirably
directed, were poured in among them. To add to their confusion, a
rocket had penetrated an ammunition cart, which, blowing up with a
prodigious sound, filled the air with smoke. At the same time the dry
grass about the seamen catching fire, they were surrounded by so dense
an atmosphere that it was impossible for some moments to see what was
going forward. The wind, however, soon blowing aside the murky veil,
the fleet of merchantmen were seen passing quickly down, while the
steamers took up their position directly under the batteries.
On this up went another shower of rockets, which continued without
cessation, filling the air with long delicate threads of smoke, under
which the vessels passed in safety, the effect being most beautiful.
These events occupied some time; and as soon as the sternmost ships of
the squadron were well out of range of shot, the _Gorgon_ hoisted the
signal for their return. The enemy's guns, as soon as they had no
floating opponents directly in front, directed their fire at the island,
but, misled by the flagstaff, peppered away at that, to the great
delight of the rocket-party, who were safe behind the bank; however, the
enemy discovered their mistake, and turned their guns in the proper
direction of the rocket-battery. The shot fell harmless, as they either
stuck in the bank or passed over the men's heads like cricket balls.
Now and then a single rocket was sent into some of the enemy's
embrasures, which accelerated a return of shot. When the little
_Dolphin_ came down, leading the convoy, at the order, "Cover the
_Dolphin_," another volley and running fire burst forth, accompanied
with loud cheers for the gallant little vessel, which passed down with
slight damage.
Preparations were made for decamping, and, as a last salute, the
flagstaff was waved in the face of the enemy, which appeared to annoy
them much, as a heavy fire was drawn towards the retreating party; but,
as they spread out wide apart, the shot passed through without touching
a single man or article belonging to them. The boat was soon reached,
the willows cast off, and all hands got on board, when "Out oars!" was
the word, and away they pulled down the stream to join the fleet.
After these events, the British and French squadron relieved Monte Video
from an attack made on it by some of the allies of Rosas, and for some
time their marines and seamen occupied it, and assisted in placing it in
a better position of defence.