Not very long before we sailed, Newman and I had gone on shore, he
taking a large sketch-book under his arm; and striking up into the
country, we reached a beautiful spot, the outlines of which he wished to
commit to paper. We sat ourselves down under the shade of a
wide-spreading palm, not far from the road. While Newman took the
sketch with his pencil, and in a masterly way threw in the colours, I
read to him from a volume, I think, of the "Spectator." During this
time a gentleman, attended by two servants in handsome liveries rode by.
Seeing two common sailors, as our dresses showed we were, employed in a
way so unusual, he dismounted, and, prompted by curiosity, came to see
what the draughtsman had produced. He had been watching us for more
than a minute before Newman observed him. Newman had a quick, prompt
manner in addressing people, which arose somewhat from pride, I suspect,
lest they should look down upon him; and seeing a stranger, he at once
spoke to him in German, remarking on the beauty of the scenery. The
gentleman stared at being thus addressed, but replied in the same
language, asking leave to look at the sketch he had just finished.
Newman frankly showed him that and several others, which the stranger
admired.
"You are a German, I presume?" said the gentleman.
Newman replied that he was an Englishman.
"You speak Dutch also, perhaps?" asked the stranger.
"Slightly," said Newman; "but I prefer German, though I am more fluent
in French."
"Ah, that is a tongue I am fond of," remarked the gentleman. "But may I
ask where you picked up your knowledge of languages?"
"In the world," replied Newman, carelessly. "'Tis a large book, and its
leaves are never closed."
"I am afraid that you will think me impertinent if I continue to ask
questions," said the stranger; "but I shall be glad to know to what ship
you belong?"
Newman told him.
"Ah, I know your captain--an honest man. I am under great obligations
to him. Are many of his crew able to amuse themselves as you two appear
to be doing?"
"Some have lately taken to drawing and singing, and a few who could not
read when the voyage began are now apt scholars," answered Newman,
carelessly. "We have occasionally a good deal of spare time on board a
whaler, though we often have to work hard enough."
A little further conversation passed. "I must not longer detain you
from your task," said the gentleman. "I hope that we shall meet again."
He bowed to Newman, and nodded good-naturedly to me. He saw that I was
but a common sailor, at the same time that he evidently discerned the
educated gentleman in my friend. When I speak of Newman as a gentleman,
it must be understood that he was not particularly polished or refined
in his manners or habits, though more so far than were those with whom
he associated forward. His manners were too blunt and independent to be
called polished, and he could rough it as well as any of us, eating the
same coarse food and wearing the same rough clothes as we did, without
inconvenience.
When the gentleman had gone, Newman and I discussed who he could be.
"Rather an inquisitive old fellow, I suspect," said Newman. "He is a
Dutchman, I judge, by the way he pronounced both German and French,
though he spoke them well."
"How are you so well able to distinguish the difference in
pronunciation?" I asked.
"I was educated in Germany," he answered. "I learned a good many things
there besides what my tutors intended to teach me. You must not suppose
that I could have picked up the various bits of information I possess in
any English place of education. As it is, we beat most other nations in
whatever we set our hands to; but if English lads had the same style of
instruction given in most of the countries in Europe, modified to suit
our characters, we should beat them all hollow, wherever we encountered
them abroad."
It must be remembered that this conversation took place many years ago,
and that very considerable improvements have since taken place in the
style of education afforded to boys in many of our schools in England.
We thought very little at the time of our encounter with the Dutch
gentleman, though, as it proved, it had a very great influence on
Newman's fate.
When we got on board, we found that the ship was likely to remain some
time longer in the Roads, and that we might have a chance of seeing
something more of the country. As Malays, or natives, are employed in
those hot climates to do the hard work on board ship, as Kroomen are on
the coast of Africa--such as wooding and watering--we had more leisure
time than we should otherwise have enjoyed. That evening a number of
us, among whom was Tom Knowles, were sitting on the forecastle spinning
yarns, when he told us what I did not know before--that he had served
aboard a man-of-war at the taking of Java.
"You must know, mates," he began, taking out his quid and stowing it
away in his waistcoat-pocket, "I belonged to a whaler which was lost out
here, when those of her crew who escaped were picked up by an Indiaman
and carried to Madras. I with others was there pressed on board the
_Caroline_ frigate. I didn't much like it at first; but when I had
shaken myself, and looked about me, and heard that the captain was a
fine sort of a fellow, I thought it was just as well to do my duty like
a man, and to make myself happy. Captain Cole, that was his name,
wasn't a chap to let the grass grow under the ship's bottom. Directly
after I joined, we were ordered off to Amboyna, in company with the
_Piemontaise_, Captain Foote; the 18-gun brig _Barracouta_; and
transport _Mandarin_, with a hundred European soldiers. We heard that
when the captain went to take his leave of the admiral--Drury was his
name--he asked leave just to knock up some of the Dutch settlements on
the way.
"`Well,' says the admiral, `there's no harm just frightening them a
little, and you may be able to surprise a port or two; but don't go and
get into mischief, now, and hurt yourselves. There are several
impregnable places, such as Banda, for instance, which it would be out
of the question for you to attack. Vast heaps of wealth are stored up
there, so the Dutch will take precious good care that you don't get into
the place.'
"`We'll see about that,' thought the captain to himself, winking with
the eye which was turned away from the admiral. `Of course, sir, we'll
do nothing rash,' says he. `It isn't the way of English sailors. We
are always steady, sure sort of fellows.'
"`That's right,' says the admiral; and away went the captain, having
made up his mind to a thing or two.
"We reached Palo-Penang on the 30th May, in the year 1810. There the
captain persuaded the governor to let him have about twenty
artillery-men and a lot of scaling-ladders; and having learned something
more about the chief place in Banda, called Banda-Neira, he kept to the
resolution he had all along in his mind, to try and get possession of
it. In spite of the south-east monsoon, away we sailed, therefore, for
the Java Sea. As it would not have done to let the Dutchmen in other
places guess what we were about to do, he determined to take the ship
through the passage between the big island of Borneo and Malwalli. It
was a touch-and-go matter to get through, for in every direction there
were coral-reefs, which would pretty soon have brought us up if we had
run on them; but we had look-outs at the jib-boom-end and the
topsail-yard-arms, and as the water was clear, and the weather fine, we
escaped all danger.
"Early in the morning, on the 8th of July, we made the Banda Islands,
and by night were up with the place called Banda-Neira. As we stood in,
the guns from the fort opened on us; but seeing they did us no harm,
they soon left off throwing away their powder. That very evening there
was a sudden change in the weather, and it came on to blow and rain very
hard.
"`Too good a chance to be thrown away,' thought the captain. `We shall
never be able to take this place in common ship-shape fashion; but as
the Mynheers won't be expecting us on such a bad night as this, and
what's more, won't hear us coming, I'll just see if we can't get on
shore in the boats and give them a surprise.'
"Now, anyone looking at Banda-Neira would have thought that it would be
quite impossible to take it with the small force we had got with us;
but, as I said, our captain wasn't a man to trouble his head about
impossibilities.
"The place was two miles long and half a mile wide, and protected by no
less than ten sea-batteries and two strong forts--one called Belgica,
and the other Nassau. They commanded each other, as they did the ten
sea-batteries. The first alone mounted fifty-two heavy guns; and
altogether there were no less than one hundred and thirty-eight guns in
the place. Having run in within two cables' length of the shore, we
dropped our anchors, and at 11 p.m. the boats under the command of
Captain Cole shoved off with three hundred and ninety men, including
officers. The place we were to pull for was the east point of Banda.
What a night it was--blowing and raining like fury and dark as pitch!
but that, in many respects, was all the better for us. Captains Cole
and Kenah arrived first at the appointed spot in their gigs, and only by
degrees did some of the other boats get up there--it was so difficult to
find our way. The boat I was in, with several others, grounded on a
coral-reef, not a hundred yards from a sea-battery, which we found
mounted no less than ten long 18-pounders; and as they pointed directly
on the reef, they could very soon have knocked us all to pieces.
Fortunately, the garrison slept so soundly, or the rain and wind made
such a clatter, that they did not discover us. Overboard we all jumped,
and soon had the boats afloat, and pulling on, we reached a snug little
sandy cove, surrounded by trees or jungle. Here the captain mustered
us, and found that he had only got about a hundred and forty seamen and
marines, and forty red jackets, with Captain Kenah, five lieutenants,
and some soldier officers. Among the lieutenants was one called
Lieutenant Edmund Lyons, with whom I afterwards was at the taking of
another place, of which I'll tell you presently. Well, as I was saying,
it was pelting and blowing and as black as pitch; and though we had
little more than half our force on shore, our captain did not like to
give up the enterprise, so says he, `My lads, I should just like to take
possession of some of these forts, but we are a small number to do it, I
own; yet, if I thought all would follow, I'd lead the way.'
"We didn't shout, but we told him that, to a man, we were ready to go
wherever he thought fit to lead us.
"`Then,' said he, `we'll just walk into the Dutchmen's castles before
they've time to rub their eyes.'
"Captain Kenah, with a party of us armed with pikes, on this at once
advanced to the rear of the nearest battery. Not a word was spoken, and
the noise of the storm drowned the sound of our footsteps. We got close
up to the fort--a sentry was marching up and down--a pike was into him
before he could discharge his musket--and in an instant we were over the
ramparts. We could see the Dutchmen, match in hand, at their guns on
the sea side, and very much surprised were they to find us in their
rear, knocking them down right and left, before they had time to fire a
shot. They cried for quarter, and we had sixty of them prisoners in a
few minutes. Leaving a few men to take charge of the battery, Captain
Kenah was pushing on to take possession of the next, when Captain Cole
sent to say he had got hold of a guide, and was going to take Fort
Belgica itself.
"Away we went along a narrow winding path, towards the castle. The
Dutchmen's bugles were sounding in all directions, showing us that they
were awake; but probably they didn't know where their enemies were to be
found. We had got close up to the citadel before we were discovered;
and then, though they began firing away pretty briskly, as they could
not see us, and were, I guess, in a mortal fright, none of us were hit.
Those in front had the scaling-ladders, and, with their help, we managed
to climb up the steep bank on which the castle stood; and in no time, it
seemed, we were in possession of all the lower works. We were not in
though yet; but we soon hauled up the scaling-ladders, and began to
place them against the wall of the citadel, when we found out that they
were too short--more's the shame to the fellows who made them! The
enemy discovering this, began peppering away at us with musketry, and
fired several round-shot into the bargain. Here was a sell! We began
to think that we should have to be about-ship, when what should we see,
but the gates open to let in the governor and some other officers who
had been sleeping outside the walls. The opportunity was not to be
lost. Led by our gallant captain, we made a dash at the gate. The
colonel defended it bravely, but he and several of his men were killed
in a minute, and on we rushed into the very centre of the fort. Never
were fellows in such a mortal fright as were the Dutchmen. Daylight
just then breaking, we saw them scrambling and leaping, like a flock of
sheep, over the walls. However, some of the officers, and forty
artillery-men, gave themselves up as prisoners.
"We now had the British Jack flying away on the flagstaff above our
heads. Still, we were a very small band to hold the forts we had
conquered, and we looked out with no little anxiety for the arrival of
the rest of our force. What had become of the boats we could not tell;
but as the sun rose, we saw the _Caroline_ and the other ships standing
in towards the town.
"The Dutchmen did not know our numbers, probably; so the captain,
putting a bold face on the matter, sent a flag of truce to Fort Nassau,
to say that if the troops didn't behave themselves, and cease firing, he
would fire into them with a vengeance, and into the city to boot. Now,
from what we had done, the Dutchmen, having no doubt that he would keep
his word, hauled down their flag; and before many hours were out,
thinking discretion the best part of valour, their whole force, regulars
and militia, to the number of one thousand and five hundred, laid down
their arms on the glacis of Fort Nassau. Thus you see what a few brave
men, when well led, can do.
"Of our one hundred and eighty men, we lost very few. Our less
fortunate shipmates in the boats, after knocking about all night, got
alongside the transport _Mandarin_. Captain Foote was left as governor
of the island with a garrison, while we went on to Amboyna. Our captain
was a fine fellow. The ship's company afterwards presented him with a
sword worth a hundred guineas, to show their love and estimation of his
bravery. Several cups and swords were presented to him by the officers
and soldiers. I can't tell you what loads of prize-money we got from
that place, but I can tell you that it very soon found its way out of
the pockets of most of us.
"Well, as I was saying, I afterwards joined the _Minden_ 74, to which
ship Lieutenant Edmund Lyons belonged. We had been cruising with a
squadron off this place, Batavia. Now there was at the north-eastern
end of Java, not far from the Straits of Madura, a very strong fort or
castle on Pauka Point, lately erected, called Fort Marrack. It was a
considerable annoyance to all ships passing that way, and it was
therefore deemed important to destroy it. However, as only between four
and five hundred men could be spared for the enterprise, it was given
up, as that number was looked upon as insufficient for the undertaking.
However, the _Minden_, having on board a number of Dutch prisoners,
Lieutenant Lyons was directed to land them in the launch and cutter at
Batavia. I was in the launch. After we had put the Mynheers on shore,
we stood along the coast to the eastward, for the lieutenant was in no
hurry to get back to the ship. He had got something in his head, do you
see? He remembered what he had helped to do with Captain Cole; so says
he to himself, `I'll just see if we can't play the Dutchmen just such
another trick with regard to this here Fort Marrack.' When he had got a
thing into his head to do, which he thought could be done, it was no
easy matter for anyone else to knock it out again, till he had tried
whether he was right or wrong.
"Two days after landing the prisoners, we got up to the fort just at
dark. The lieutenant had a look at it, just to arrange his plan; and we
then ran under a point of land, where we lay snug out of sight till the
darkest part of the night. At first the moon was up, and would have
discovered us to the enemy. The fort mounted fifty-four heavy guns, and
had a garrison of one hundred and eighty regulars; but what did we care
for that! We waited eagerly for the moon to go down, and then we both
pulled away with muffled oars for the fort. There was a good deal of
surf on the shore, but we hoped its noise, aided by the darkness, would
prevent our approach being discovered. However, the Dutchmen had
learned to be more awake than when we took Fort Belgica, and as we got
close under the land, the sentinels let off their muskets to give the
alarm. No time was to be lost. Lieutenant Lyons ordered us to run the
boats through the surf right on to the shore, under the very muzzles of
the guns in the lower tier. `On, my lads!--on!' he exclaimed, leading
us, sword in hand, right up over the embankment into the lower battery
before the Dutchmen had time to look round them. We found the gunners
as before, with their matches in their hands, and had to kill three of
them to prevent their firing. Having knocked down every man we found,
we did not stop to look around, but followed our gallant leader into the
upper battery, which, in as little time as I have taken to describe, was
in our possession. It was `Hurrah, my boys!--at them!' and after a
minute's cutting, and slashing, and firing of pistols, and dashing them
at each other's heads, the place was ours. That's the way we used to do
things in the war, when once a plan had been determined on by our
officers!
"But we had still plenty of work to do, for when we went on and reached
the highest part of the fort, we found a large body of Dutch troops
drawn up to receive us. Nothing daunted by this, our gallant
lieutenant, singing in Dutch, and French, and English, and all sorts of
languages, that he had got four hundred men at his back, and would give
no quarter if any opposition was offered, we fired a volley, and at them
again we went, cutlass, and pike, and bayonet in hand. Whether they had
Dutch courage in them or not, I don't know, but certainly they did not
like our appearance; and as we came up with them they turned tail, and
off they went helter-skelter through a gateway in the rear of the fort.
After them we went, and sent the last man out with a hearty good kick,
and shut the gate after him!
"No sooner had we got the fort to ourselves than the enemy began
peppering away at us from a fort in the rear, and from a couple of
gun-boats; and considering that we hadn't the four hundred men the
lieutenant talked of, but only just the two boats' crews, we had enough
to do to spike the guns, and to keep up a brisk fire in return. You may
be sure, mates, we were as busy as ants doing all the mischief we could
in a short time. We had a young midshipman with us, Mr Franks, not
fifteen years old; and while the fire was at the hottest, in the middle
of it he hoisted the British ensign on the flagstaff on the top of the
fort.
"While we were busy spiking the gnus, and firing away right and left, we
made out, through the darkness, what we took to be a large body of Dutch
troops. There were plenty of light carriage guns in the fort; and when
information was brought him, Lieutenant Lyons ordered us to slue round
two of them, and bring them close up to the gate. When we had done so,
he and Mr Langton loaded them up to the muzzles with grape and musket
balls. On came the enemy. He let them get close up to the gate, and
then he and the midshipman fired slap in among them. It was much more
than they expected, and lest they should get another dose, they put
about in a great hurry, and off they went as fast as they could pelt, we
hallooing and hurrahing after them. You may be sure we didn't follow
them, or they would soon have found out the trick we had played them.
All the time no one had been killed, and only Mr Langton and three men
slightly wounded; but from the number of troops brought against him, Mr
Lyons saw that we could not hope to hold the fort; so while the Dutch
troops were scampering off in one direction, we bolted over the ramparts
in the other. When we got down to the beach, we were not a little taken
aback by finding that the surf had driven the barge right up on the
shore and bilged her; but, fortunately, the cutter was still afloat. So
we all got into her as silently as mice, and shoved off, leaving the
fort to take care of itself. We were much amused by seeing the Dutchmen
outside firing away into it as hard as ever. When they discovered their
mistake, I don't know; but whenever they did, they must have found all
the guns spiked, and the British ensign flying triumphantly over their
heads, to show them who had done all the mischief.
"We got safely back to the _Minden_ next day, none of us much the worse
for the exploit. Soon after that, the whole of Java and its
dependencies capitulated to Sir Robert Stopford and General Wetherall.
This was the only service I saw in the navy--for within a year of that
time I got my discharge, and once more joined a whaler."
Old Tom's account of these two gallant exploits was received by all
hands with great applause, for that is just the sort of work in which
seamen delight, and I know that all of us wished we had been with him.
I need scarcely say that the Lieutenant Edmund Lyons of those days was
afterwards the well-known Admiral Lord Lyons, who, from that
commencement, won his way up to his well-deserved honours.
Two days after our encounter with the Dutch gentleman on shore, the
captain sent for Newman into his cabin. He was some time away; and when
he came forward, I saw that his countenance wore an unusually pleased
expression.
"What has happened?" I asked.
"Why, the captain tells me that the stranger we met the other day is a
Mr Von Kniper, some great man or other, with whom he has long been
acquainted; and that he has sent to request the captain to bring me to
dine with him. The captain is very good-natured about it, and says that
he shall be very happy to take me. But it will be difficult to find a
dress to go in. It will never do to appear in a round jacket. So,
taking all things into consideration, I think that I shall decline the
honour."
"That would be a pity," said I. "You don't know to what the visit may
lead."
"To be stared at and patronised as the common sailor who can draw and
talk German; and then to have the cold shoulder turned towards me the
next day, or to be passed unrecognised!" he answered, with no little
bitterness. "I am more independent, and safer from annoyance, in the
position I have chosen to occupy. I'll not go out of it."