were violently reprobated by the seamen belonging to the two divisions
of the fleet lying at Portsmouth and at Plymouth. Each of them addressed
an admonition to their fellow-seamen at the Nore, warmly condemning
their proceedings as a scandal to the name of British seamen, and
exhorting them to be content with the indulgence already granted by
government, and to return to their duty without insisting on more
concessions than had been demanded by the rest of the navy.
But these warnings proved ineffectual. The reinforcement of the four
ships lately arrived, and the expectation of being joined by others,
induced them to persist in their demands. The committee of delegates on
board the _Sandwich_ came to a determination to commission Lord
Northesk, whom they had kept in confinement in the _Montague_, of which
he was commander, to repair to the king in the name of the fleet, and
to acquaint him with the conditions on which they were willing to
deliver up the ships. The petition which he was charged to lay before
the king was highly respectful and loyal to him, but very severe on his
ministers, and they required an entire compliance with every one of
their demands, threatening on the refusal of any to put immediately to
sea. Lord Northesk readily undertook to be the bearer of their petition,
but told them that from the unreasonableness of their demands he could
not flatter them with the hope of success. Confiding in him, they said,
as the seamen's friend, they had entrusted him with this mission on
pledging his honour to return with a clear and positive answer within
fifty-four hours.
Lord Northesk departed accordingly for London, and was introduced by
Lord Spencer to the king. But no answer being returned to the message,
and information being brought to the fleet that the nation at large
highly disapproved of their proceedings, great divisions took place
among the delegates, and several of the ships deserted the others--not,
however, without much contest and bloodshed. The mutineers, despairing
now of accomplishing their designs, struck the red flag, which they had
hoisted as the signals of mutiny, and restored a free passage to the
trade of the metropolis. Every ship was now left at its own command, and
they all gradually returned to obedience, though on board of some
violent struggles happened between the mutineers and the loyal parties.
The principal conductor of the mutiny, Richard Parker, was seized and
imprisoned, and after a solemn trial that lasted three days on board of
the _Neptune_, was sentenced to death. He suffered with great coolness
and intrepidity, acknowledging the justice of his sentence, and
expressing his hope that mercy might be extended to his associates. But
it was judged necessary to make public examples of the principal and
most guilty, who were accordingly tried, and after full proof of their
criminality, condemned and executed. Others remained under sentence of
death till after the great victory obtained over the Dutch fleet at
Camperdown by Admiral Duncan, when His Majesty issued a general pardon.
THE BATTLE OF CAMPERDOWN.
The mutiny at Spithead found the British ministry intent upon blocking
up the Dutch fleet in the Texel and Admiral Duncan appointed to the
duty. The pacific suppression of that formidable rising left the
government free to pursue their policy and Admiral Duncan to carry out
his instructions. Early in June, however, the admiral found himself
deserted by the _Agamemnon_, the _Leopard_, the _Ardent_, and the _Isis_
men-of-war and the _Ranger_ sloop, which left him and joined in the
mutiny of the Nore on the 6th.
When the admiral found himself deserted by so important a section of his
fleet, he called his own ship's crew together and addressed them in the
following speech:--
"MY LADS,--I once more call you together with a sorrowful heart from
what I have lately seen, the disaffection of the fleet. I call it
disaffection, for the crews have no grievances. To be deserted by my
fleet in the face of an enemy is a disgrace which, I believe, never
before happened to a British admiral; nor could I have supposed it
possible. My greatest comfort under God is that I have been supported by
the officers, seamen, and marines of this ship; for which, with a heart
overflowing with gratitude, I request you to accept my sincere thanks. I
flatter myself much good may result from your example, by bringing those
deluded people to a sense of their duty, which they owe, not only to
their king and country, but to themselves.
"The British navy has ever been the support of that liberty which has
been handed down to us by our ancestors, and which I trust we shall
maintain to the latest posterity; and that can only be done by
unanimity and obedience. This ship's company and others, who have
distinguished themselves by their loyalty and good order, deserve to be,
and doubtless will be, the favourites of a grateful country. They will
also have from their inward feelings a comfort which will be lasting,
and not like the floating and false confidence of those who have swerved
from their duty.
"It has often been my pride with you to look into the Texel and see a
foe which dreaded coming out to meet us; my pride is now humbled indeed;
my feelings are not easily to be expressed! our cup has overflowed and
made us wanton. The all-wise Providence has given us this check as a
warning, and I hope we shall improve by it. On Him then let us trust,
where our only security can be found. I find there are many good men
among us; for my own part, I have had full confidence of all in this
ship; and once more beg to express my approbation of your conduct.
"May God, who has thus far conducted you, continue to do so; and may the
British navy, the glory and support of our country, be restored to its
wonted splendour, and be not only the bulwark of Britain, but the terror
of the world.
"But this can only be effected by a strict adherence to our duty and
obedience; and let us pray that the almighty God may keep us in the
right way of thinking.
"God bless you all."
At an address so unassuming, modest and pious, and so well calculated,
from its simplicity and truth, to touch the human heart, the whole
ship's crew were dissolved in tears. They declared, by every expression
they could devise, their resolution to abide by the admiral in life or
death. Their example was followed by all the other ships, besides those
already mentioned. And the admiral, notwithstanding the defection of so
considerable a part of his squadron, repaired to his station off the
coast of Holland to watch the motions of the Dutch fleet, and resolved
still to do battle if opportunity served.
While he lay off the Texel the Dutch fleet did not venture out; but on
his being driven from his station by a gale of wind they took advantage
of his absence and put to sea; they had scarcely cleared the land,
however, when they were descried by the British fleet, which had
returned from Yarmouth as soon as possible. It was at nine o'clock on
the morning of October 12th, 1797, that the two fleets came in sight of
each other. Admiral Duncan, having judiciously placed his squadron in
such a position that the enemy could not regain the Texel unless they
fought their way thither, immediately bore up and made the signal for a
general chase. The Dutch at the time were forming in a line on the
larboard tack to receive the British, the wind being at north-west.
As soon as the British squadron came near, Admiral Duncan made the
signal to shorten sail in order to connect the ships of his squadron:
soon after this the land was seen between Camperdown and Egmont, on the
coast of Holland. This convinced him that no time was to be lost in
making the attack, as otherwise he might get entangled with the shore;
he accordingly made the signal to bear up, break the enemy's line and
engage them to leeward, each ship her opponent. By this manner he got
between them and the land, whither they were fast approaching.
Vice-admiral Onslow, in obedience to the signal, bore down on the rear
of the Dutch fleet in the most gallant manner, his division following
the example; and the action commenced about forty minutes after twelve
o'clock. Admiral Duncan, in the _Venerable_, soon got through the line
of the enemy, and began a close action with his division against their
van. The engagement lasted nearly two hours and a half, when the masts
of the Dutch admiral's ship were observed to go by the board: even for
some time after this, however, she was defended in the most gallant
manner; but at last, being overpowered by numbers, her colours were
struck, and the Dutch admiral, De Winter, was brought on board the
_Venerable_.
About the same time Vice-admiral Onslow had obliged the ship which
carried the Dutch vice-admiral's flag to strike her colours. Many others
had also surrendered. During the action the two fleets had approached
so near the coast of Holland, being within five miles of it, that they
had only nine fathoms of water. The first thing, therefore, to which
Admiral Duncan directed his attention was to get the heads of the
disabled ships off shore. This was indeed difficult and dangerous; for
the wind continued for some time to blow strong from west-south-west to
west-north-west, and consequently directly on the coast of Holland; as
soon as it shifted to the north the admiral made the signal to wear, and
stood to the westward. On October 14th he succeeded in reaching Orford
Ness, the _Venerable_ being so leaky that, with all her pumps going, she
could be scarcely kept free of water.
During the action one of the enemy's ships caught fire and drove very
near the _Venerable_; but no mischief was done. The British squadron
suffered much in their masts, rigging, etc. The number of killed and
wounded on board of the British ships was very great; but that of the
Dutch much greater, five hundred men being killed and wounded on board
two of their ships only. Besides the Dutch admiral's ship, eight others
of the line and two frigates were captured. The Dutch attributed their
defeat to the circumstance that Vice-admiral Storey fled into the Texel
with the greater part of his division soon after the action began.
It was in connection with this engagement that the incident occurred
which forms the subject of the illustration on the cover of this volume.
The admiral's ship, the _Venerable_, was so hotly pressed that more than
once her colours were shot away. On one of these occasions the flag is
said to have been rescued and replaced by Jack Crawford, one of the
_Venerable's_ men, in some such way as is described in the following
lines:--
We had battled all the morning, 'mid the never-ceasing hail
Of shot and shell and splinter, of cable--shred, and sail;
We had thrice received their onslaught, which we thrice had driven
back,
And were waiting, calm and ready, for the last forlorn attack;
When the stainless flag of England, that has braved a thousand
years,
Was shot clean from the masthead; and they gave three hearty cheers.
'Twas the purpose of a moment, and the bravest of our tars
Plunged headlong in the boiling surf, amid the broken spars;
He snatched the shot-torn colours, and wound them round his arm,
Then climbed upon the deck again, and there stood safe and calm
He paused but for a moment--for it was no time to stay--
Then leaped into the rigging that had yet survived the fray;
Higher yet he climbed and higher, till he gained a dizzy height,
And then turned and paused a moment to look down upon the fight.
Whistled wild the shots around him, as a curling, smoky wreath
Formed a cloudy shroud to hide him from the enemy beneath.
Beat his heart with proud elation as he firmly fixed his stand,
And again the colours floated as he held them in his hand.
Then with pistol deftly wielded, 'mid the battle's ceaseless blast,
Fastened there the colours firmly, as he nailed them to the mast;
Then, as if to yield him glory, the smoke-clouds cleared away--
And we sent him up the loudest cheer that reached his ear that day,
And, with new-born zeal and courage, dashed more boldly to the
fight,
Till the day of battle ended in the triumph of the night.
Jack Crawford was a native of Sunderland, where he died in 1831. In 1890
a statue was erected to his memory in his native town by public
subscription, and was unveiled on April 8th by Lord Camperdown, a
descendant of Admiral Duncan, in whose ship Crawford served.
THE LOSS OF H.M.S. _REPULSE_.
BY G. H. WALKER.
The _Repulse_ was one of the ships belonging to the Channel fleet, under
the command of Sir Allen Gardner, but had been detached for the purpose
of intercepting provision vessels going into Brest. On the night of
March 10th, 1800, she struck upon a sunken rock, supposed to be the
Mace, about twenty-five leagues southeast of Ushant. The crew made good
a landing on one of the Glenan Islands, about two miles from the
continent. Here the captain, and most of the officers, were made
prisoners, and sent to Quimper; but Mr. Rother, the first lieutenant,
Mr. Gordon, the fifth, Mr. Finn, the master, two midshipmen, and eight
seamen, got into the larger cutter; and, on the fourth day after leaving
the ship, during which interval they experienced bad weather, and were,
at times, near perishing, arrived safe at Guernsey.
The following letter from one of the officers who escaped, to his
father, gives a full account of the loss of the _Repulse_, and likewise
of the adventures of the boat's crew, from the time of their quitting
the ship till their arrival at Guernsey:--
"GUERNSEY, _March 13th, 1800_.
"MY DEAR FATHER,--I embrace the opportunity of a packet sailing for
England, to acquaint you with the unfortunate fate of the _Repulse_.
Coming off the Penmarks, in company with the _Agamemnon_, on Saturday,
March 9th, it then blowing a very heavy gale of wind, Captain Alms was
thrown down the companion ladder by the rolling of the ship, by which
accident some of his ribs were broken and he was much bruised. The same
day, we parted company with the _Agamemnon_, in chase of a strange sail
to leeward; and, about six in the evening, we came up with and
re-captured the _Princess Royal_ packet, from the West Indies. Next
morning, Captain Alms, finding himself much worse, resolved to put into
Torbay. We accordingly bore up and shaped a course, which, if our
reckoning had been correct, would have carried us far enough to the
westward of Ushant. But, unfortunately, owing to the thickness of the
weather (not having had an observation for some days), and to the
different set of the tides, which are very strong on this coast, the
ship had got nearly three degrees to the east of her reckoning; and at
twelve o'clock the same night going under an easy sail, that the prize
might be able to keep up, breakers were discovered ahead. It was
extremely foggy, and the ship was going at the rate of about seven
knots, with the wind almost right aft, so that our endeavours to clear
the danger were ineffectual. In a moment the ship struck with great
violence and was instantly so completely surrounded with rocks, that we
could not even see the opening which we had entered. In this dreadful
situation we continued nearly three quarters of an hour, the ship, from
the great surf that ran among the rocks, striking so violently, that we
every moment expected she would go to pieces.
"I shall not attempt to describe the appearance of so many men, with
certain and almost instant death staring them in the face: but I cannot
forbear observing, that those whom I ever considered the greatest
reprobates now became the greatest cowards, and were so overcome by
their awful situation, that they were totally unable to exert themselves
for their own perservation. We had no hopes of deliverance. The prize
was, indeed, in company, and we kept firing guns to inform her of our
danger. It was, however, absolutely impossible for us to receive any
assistance from that quarter; and if our firing enabled her to escape
herself it was as much as we could expect. That nothing on our part
might be left untried, the sails were hove aback, and, with the Divine
assistance, the ship backed astern, clear of the danger.
"Our joy on this occasion was, however, of short duration, for the ship
made so much water, that in half an hour it reached as high as the orlop
deck; and the rudder having lost all command, there appeared to be no
other chance of saving our lives than by running for the coast of
France. Accordingly, having got her head round to the eastward, we made
all the sail we could. We had now sufficient employment for all hands,
some were busy at the pumps, others were engaged in throwing the guns
overboard, and otherwise lightening the ship; while others, again, were
employed in lining a sail with beds, blankets, etc., which being got
over the bows, and bowsed taut up to the ship's bottom, was of very
great service. The water being considerably above the orlop deck, we
were enabled to bale at the hatchway; by which, and the wonderful
exertions of men actuated by the fear of death, we were enabled to keep
her afloat till five o'clock, when, to our inexpressible joy, the echo
of the report of one of our guns announced our being near the land, the
fog being so thick that we could not see the length of the ship. But
judge what must have been our sensations when we found ourselves within
half a ship's length of a lee shore, bounded by a precipice as high as
our mast head, against which the sea broke with excessive violence, and
on which we were running with great rapidity. The only chance of
preservation we now had, was by letting go an anchor, which, however,
did not bring us up. At the moment when we expected to be dashed to
pieces, our jib-boom almost touching the precipice, Providence again
interposed in our behalf, and the eddy wind, reverberating from the
rock, took the sail aback, and most miraculously saved us from
destruction.
"We now cut the cable, and the ship drifted along the shore, till we
cleared a rugged point a quarter of a mile to the leeward of us, when
she filled and ran up under a weather shore, which, being very high,
sheltered us a good deal. Here we grounded; but, from the heavy surf,
the ship continued striking with such violence that we were afraid she
would go to pieces before we could leave her. We therefore made what
haste we could in getting the boat out, and then cut away the masts,
when she lay tolerably easy.
"As I had early in the morning resolved within myself to attempt
escaping in one of the boats, rather than be made prisoner, I mentioned
my design to Mr. Gordon, fifth lieutenant, who readily agreed to
accompany me. The eight-oared cutter being hoisted, I got into her, as
she was the best boat for the purpose, under pretence of seeking a
landing place; and having taken on board as many men as she could
conveniently carry, I landed them to the leeward of the point about a
mile from the ship, and then returned for another cargo. Having
disclosed my plan to the boat's crew, I sent one of them on board the
ship for a compass, boat's mast, sails, etc., but, to my infinite
mortification, he could only get a compass, the boat's sail being down
in the store-room. The pilot now came into my boat to go on shore. I
thought if I could secure him, it would be a great point, and I was glad
to obtain his concurrence.
"I had made four or five more trips between the ship and the shore, when
Mr. Rothery, the first lieutenant, called me to take him on board, which
I did, and was agreeably surprised to find that Mr. Gordon had
acquainted him with our secret, that he was resolved to go with us, and
had made some provision for the voyage. It consisted of some pieces of
hung beef, which, though raw, was better than nothing, a small quantity
of bread, and half a dozen of brandy, as he imagined, but which
afterwards proved to be wine. When I mentioned our want of sail, he
replied that we must make shift to supply that deficiency with some
table-cloths and sheets he had brought with him.
"We still continued going and returning, till almost all the people were
landed, and on our way had fortunately picked up the jolly-boat's mast
and sails, and the masts and yards belonging to several other boats, so
that the only article we now wanted was water. I recollected the fire
cask in the mizen chains, which we desired a man to push overboard.
Having picked it up and taken it in, with Mr. Gordon, we again
committed ourselves to the mercy of the waves and the care of
Providence.
"But before I leave the ship, it will be proper to mention the number of
lives that were lost. When we first struck upon the rock, five of the
crew, whose apprehensions were too powerful for any other consideration,
got into a boat that was hung over the quarter, and in their hurry to
escape, cut one of the tackles by which the boat was suspended, while
they kept the other fast. The boat, consequently, hung by one end, and
they were all thrown out and drowned.
"I forgot to mention that, while the boats were employed in landing the
people, those on board had thrown the ends of several hawsers on shore,
which the peasantry made fast to the rock, and which being hauled taut
on board, they could go on shore upon them with great ease. Two men,
however, being intoxicated, fell off the hawsers into the water, and
perished. These, together with four marines, who lay upon deck
dead-drunk at the time we came away, and who, I believe, were not
afterwards carried on shore, are, as far as I know, all that suffered on
this occasion.
"Having a fair wind, we set the jolly-boat's sail for a fore sail, then
made a sparing breakfast and thought to recruit our spirits with a dram,
when, to our great disappointment, we found we had nothing but wine.
This was not the greatest of our misfortune, for, upon broaching our
water, we found it so strongly impregnated with the varnish with which
the cask had been so frequently laid over, that it was scarcely
drinkable, and even made some of us sick.
"One of the men having, fortunately, some sail needles in his pocket,
all hands turned to sail-making, some sewing, others unlaying rope, and
making it into twine. A table-cloth and a sheet sewed together made an
excellent main sail; and out of a piece of canvas we happened to have in
the boat we contrived to make a mizen sail, so that in a couple of hours
we had a complete suit.
"About twelve o'clock we were much alarmed by being becalmed among the
Penmark rocks, and they were obliged to pull hard to avoid being dashed
to pieces against them. We soon afterwards had a fine breeze, and about
five found ourselves close in with the land, a few miles to the
southward of Cape Roz. The wind was so scant that we could barely lie
along shore, and were obliged to pass several signal posts, at each of
which the enemy had a gun, so that we every moment expected to be fired
at. I believe by our being so badly rigged, and white sail, they took us
for Frenchmen.
"About dusk, we had another narrow escape among a reef of rocks, which
lay off Cape Roz, and upon which we were set by a very heavy swell and a
strong tide. It was now nearly dark, and, as it had every appearance of
blowing hard, we ran down into a deep bay, a little to the southward of
Brest Harbour, purposing to come to an anchor till the morning; but in
luffing up round a point, under which we intended to take shelter, we
were much surprised by the appearance of something like a fort, and soon
found our fears realised when the sentinel hailed us in French, which he
did twice. We now bore up, and made sail from it as fast as we could,
and I fancy were out of reach before they could get a gun ready, as we
saw a number of lights moving about.