IN SIGHT OF THE FOE--THE ENEMY GET CLEAR--RETURN TO ENGLAND--I LOSE MY
LETTER TOO LATE--WE AGAIN SAIL--ACTION WITH THE CLEOPATRA--TOUGH WORK
WITH BRITISH TARS--A LAST EFFORT--DEATH OF THE FRENCH CAPTAIN--ON BOARD
THE PRIZE--STEER A COURSE FOR THE ISLE OF WIGHT--OUR RECEPTION--MY HOPES
AND FEARS--LEAVE OR NO LEAVE?--WE RUN INTO PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR.
We continued our course under all sail to the eastward, and next evening
caught sight of two sail, which we took to be French, standing up
Channel.
We made chase, but lost sight of them in the night. Next morning,
however, there they were, hull down, right ahead. We continued the
pursuit along the French coast, but had the disappointment of seeing
them at last take refuge in Cherbourg harbour. Knowing that they were
not likely to come out again, we stood across channel, the _Venus_
running into Plymouth to land her wounded men and repair damages, while
we stood on for Falmouth.
Again I was disappointed in not being able to despatch my letter, for
after we knew where the _Venus_ was bound for, no communication was held
with her.
I had got the letter written and addressed, but had not closed it, as I
wished to add a few more words at latest. For safety's sake, I kept it
in my bag, as it might have got wetted and soiled in my pocket. Until
we were off Falmouth, I did not know that we were to stand in. I was
then too much engaged in shortening sail to get out my letter. When I
was at last able to go below, I hurried to my bag, intending to add a
postscript, but what was my dismay to be unable to find it.
I felt again and again, and then turned out all my things, but could
nowhere discover the missing epistle. I hastened to try and obtain
another sheet of paper from the purser's steward, but he was just then
too much engaged to attend to me, and directly after I got it my watch
was called and I had to return on deck.
The moment my watch was over, I went below and, as well as I could,
began writing. It was no easy matter in the dim light and hubbub going
on around me. I finished it, however, telling my dear wife all that had
occurred, how miserable I was at being separated from her, and my hopes,
while I remained in the Channel cruiser, of being allowed to get on
shore some day, even though we might be together but for a few short
hours. The letter was closed and wafered; I rushed on deck with it, but
only to find that the last boat from the shore had shoved off, and the
next instant the hands were turned up to make sail.
I felt more inclined than I had ever done since my childhood to burst
into tears. I think I should have done so from very vexation and
disappointment, had I not been obliged to hurry to my station, putting
my letter in my pocket as I did so.
It was trying, every one will allow, for all this time my dear wife
could not tell what had become of me. My other friends might think me
dead, but I knew that she would never believe that to be the case until
she had strong evidence of the fact. Even if she had, I felt sure
nothing would ever induce her to marry again.
The wind was fair up Channel. Arriving nearly abreast of the Start
Point, we ran out to the southward, the captain hoping to fall in with
one of the two French frigates which a short time before we and the
_Venus_ had chased into Cherbourg. One of the two was, as I before
said, the _Semillante_, the other was the _Cleopatra_.
On the morning of the 18th of June, just as day broke, the Start bearing
east by north, distant five or six leagues, we discovered a sail in the
south-east quarter, and immediately afterwards bore up in chase,
carrying all the canvas we could set. As we approached the stranger, we
felt nearly sure that she was the very French frigate we were in search
of. She was under all sail, some of us thought, for the purpose of
getting away.
"We shall have another long chase, and if that there craft has a fast
pair of heels, she'll get into Cherbourg and make us look foolish," said
Dick Hagger as we watched her.
We stood on, and soon had the satisfaction of discovering that we were
sailing faster than the stranger. The captain and several of the other
officers were examining her through their glasses.
In a short time they formed the opinion that she was no other than the
_Cleopatra_ which had before got away from us, and such we afterwards
found to be the case.
A shout rose from our deck when we observed her haul up her foresail and
lower her topgallant sails, showing that she had made up her mind to
fight us.
In about two hours and a half, we got so near that we heard some one
from her quarter-deck hail us.
Captain Pellew, on this, not making out distinctly what was said,
shouted, "Ahoy! ahoy!" when our crew gave three cheers, and right hearty
ones they were, and shouted, "Long live King George."
As yet, not a shot had been fired, and it might have been supposed that
we were two friendly ships meeting. On hearing our cheer, the French
captain--his name we afterwards heard was Mullon--came on to the
gangway, and waving his hat, exclaimed, "_Vive la Nation_!" on which his
crew tried to give three cheers, as we had done; but it was a very poor
imitation, I can vouch for it.
They had no one to lead them off, and they uttered shrieks rather than
cheers, which, when we gave them, came out with a hearty ringing sound.
We saw the French captain talking to his crew, and waving a cap of
liberty which he held in his hand. He then gave it to one of the men,
who ran up the rigging and screwed it to the masthead.
"We'll soon bring that precious cap of yours down, my boys," cried Dick.
We were all this time at our guns, stripped to the waist, ready and
eager to begin the game; and if the Frenchmen behaved as they seemed
inclined to do, it would be, we felt sure, pretty sharp work.
The French captain now coming to the gangway, waved his hat. Our
captain did the same, and passed the word along the deck that we were
not to fire until we saw him raise his hat to his head.
Eagerly watching for the signal, we stood on, gradually nearing the
French frigate, both of us running before the wind, until our foremost
larboard guns could be brought to bear on the starboard quarter of the
_Cleopatra_.
The captain raised his hat. Almost before it was on his head, the
foremost gun was fired, the others being rapidly discharged in
succession.
We were not to have the game all on our own side, for the French ship at
once returned the compliment, and her shot came crashing on board of us.
We now, being within rather less than hailing distance of each other,
kept blazing away as fast as we could run our guns in and out. We were
doing considerable damage to the Frenchman, we could sea, but we were
suffering not a little ourselves. Two of our midshipmen had fallen,
killed while steadily going about their duty. Soon afterwards I saw
another poor young fellow knocked over. Then the boatswain, in the act
of raising his whistle to his mouth, had his head shot away; and some of
the men declared that they heard it sounding notwithstanding, as it flew
overboard. I saw three or four of our jollies--as we called the
marines--drop while firing away from the forecastle. A round shot also
striking our mainmast, I every instant expected to see it fall.
Though badly wounded, it was not cut through, however, and the carpenter
and his crew set to work immediately to fish it.
We had been engaged some twenty minutes or so, when we saw the
_Cleopatra_ haul up some eight points from the wind.
We followed her closely, having no intention of allowing her to escape,
if such was the expectation of her commander.
After blazing away some little time longer, down came her mizenmast;
directly afterwards her wheel was shot away. She was thus rendered
unmanageable, though for some time her crew endeavoured to keep her on
her course by trimming sails; but our shot soon cutting away her braces,
she played round off, and came stem on towards us, her jibboom passing
between our fore and main masts, pressing so hard against the already
wounded mainmast that I expected every instant to see it fall,
especially as we had lost the main and spring stays. It was a question
which would first go, our mainmast or the Frenchman's jibboom.
Fortunately for us, the latter was carried away, and our mainmast stood.
The moment our captain saw the stem of the _Cleopatra_ strike us,
supposing that the French were about to board, he shouted out,
"Boarders, repel boarders!" But the Frenchmen hadn't the heart to do
it, and instead of their boarding us, we boarded them.
One party, led by our first lieutenant, rushed on the enemy's
forecastle; while another division, headed by the master, got through
his main-deck ports.
Although the _Cleopatra's_ jibboom had given way, her larboard
main-topmast studding-sail boom-iron had hooked on to the leech rope of
our main-topsail, and was producing so powerful a strain on the mast
that it seemed as if it could not possibly stand a minute longer.
Seeing this, a brave fellow named Burgess, a maintop man, sprang aloft,
and, in spite of the bullets aimed at him by some of the French marines
stationed aft, cut the leech rope from the end of the main-yard.
Our third lieutenant had in the meantime cut away our best bower anchor,
which had hooked on to the enemy's ship.
I was one of those who had got through the main-deck ports. Following
our gallant master, we fought our way aft, the Frenchmen for some time
defending themselves bravely; but they could not resist the impetuosity
of our charge, our cutlasses slashing and hewing, and our pistols going
off within a few inches of their heads. At last many of them began to
cry for quarter.
Although they numbered eighty more men than we did, most of them,
throwing down their weapons, leapt below, tumbling head over heels upon
each other. The rest fled aft, and seeing we had won the day, made no
further resistance. Remarking that the Frenchman's flag was still
flying, I sprang aft to the halyards, and down I hauled it, cheering
lustily as I did so, the cheer being taken up by the remaining crew of
the _Nymph_.
The _Cleopatra_ was ours. Never did I witness a more fearful sight.
The decks fore and aft were slippery with gore, and covered with the
dead and dying. During the short time we had been engaged, upwards of
sixty had been struck down who, not an hour before, full of health and
spirits, had attempted to reply to our cheer. Among them, on one side
of the quarter-deck, lay the gallant Captain Mullon, surrounded by a
mass of gore, for a round shot had torn open his back and carried away
the greater part of his left hip. In one hand he was holding a paper,
at which, strange as it may seem, he was biting away and endeavouring to
swallow. I, with two other men, went up to him to ascertain what he was
about. In the very act his hand fell, his jaw dropped, and there was
the paper sticking in his mouth. He was dead. It evidently, however,
was not the paper he intended to destroy, but, as it turned out, was his
commission; for in his right pocket was found the list of coast signals
used by the French, which, with his last gasp, he was thus endeavouring
to prevent falling into the hands of the British.
Without loss of time one hundred and fifty prisoners were removed on
board the _Nymph_, and just as the last had stepped on board the ships
separated.
The third lieutenant, who had been sent on board with a prize crew, at
once set to work to repair the damages which the _Cleopatra_ had
received, while all hands in the _Nymph_ were actively employed in the
game way. When we came to look at our watches, we found that we had
dished up the enemy in just fifty minutes from the time the first shot
had been fired at her until her flag was hauled down.
"Pretty quick work," said Dick Hagger to me as we were working together
repairing the rigging. "I told you the captain would be sharp about it;
he always is at all he undertakes."
On making up the butcher's bill, however, as the purser called it, we
found that although the Frenchmen out of three hundred and twenty men
and boys had lost sixty-three, we, out of our two hundred and forty, had
had no less than twenty-three killed and twenty severely wounded, making
fifty in all. Of these, the gentlemen belonging to the midshipmen's
berth had suffered most severely, for four of them had been killed and
two wounded. Of the senior officers, none had been killed; but the
second lieutenant had been wounded, as was the lieutenant of marines,
with six of his men.
As soon as sail could be got on the two frigates, we, to my great joy,
steered a course for the Isle of Wight. I now felt more thankful than
ever that I had escaped, as there seemed every probability that I should
be able to see my dear wife, or at all events communicate with her. As
soon as I went below, though I could with difficulty keep my eyes from
closing, I opened my letter and added a few lines describing the action,
and then placed it in my pocket, ready to send off on the first
opportunity.
In spite of the poor fellows suffering below, and the number of
shipmates we had lost, we felt very happy as with a fair breeze we
sailed in through the Needles, our well-won prize following in our wake.
Never did those high-pointed rocks look more white and glittering or the
downs more green and beautiful, while the blue sea sparkling in the
sunlight seemed to share our joy. The people on the shore, as we passed
the little town of Yarmouth, waved to us, and threw up their hats, and
the flags from many a flagstaff flew out to the breeze.
As soon as we brought up at Spithead, I eagerly looked out for a boat
going to the shore, by which to send my letter, hoping to have it
delivered at once, instead of letting it go through the post office;
but, as it was late in the evening, no shore boats came off, and I had
to wait all the night, thinking how little my dear wife supposed I was
so near her.
I turned out at daybreak, before the hammocks were piped up, that I
might take a look at the spot where I thought she was living. Suddenly
a sickness came over me. What if she should have been taken ill when I
was so rudely torn from her! Perhaps she had never recovered, and was
even now numbered among the dead. I could scarcely refrain from jumping
overboard and trying to swim to Southsea beach. It seemed so near, and
yet I knew that I could not do it. Then I thought I would go boldly up
to the first lieutenant and tell him how treacherously I had been
carried off,--snatched, as it were, from the arms of my young wife,--and
ask him to give me leave for a few hours, promising faithfully to come
back at the time he might name. Then I reflected that the ship was
short-handed, that we had the prisoners to guard, and that until she had
been brought up safe in Portsmouth harbour, every man would be required
for duty.
"It would be useless to ask him," I groaned out. "He'll remember I'm a
pressed man, and would not trust me. It is too common for men to break
their word and desert, indifferent to what others may suffer in
consequence. No," I thought, "I'll try to send my letter first, and
then wait with all the patience I can muster until I can get an answer."
Before long the hands were turned up, and we all set about our usual
duties, washing down decks and giving them a double allowance of
holystoning, to try and get out more of the blood stains before,
visitors should come on board.
Scarcely was this work over than the order was given to get up the
anchor and make sail, as, tide and wind being favourable, we were to run
into harbour.
My heart bounded at the thought, I sprang with eagerness to my station,
the ship gathered way and, followed by our prize, we stood towards the
well-known entrance of Portsmouth harbour.