A SAD PARTING--I SET OUT TO REJOIN MY SHIP--HOW OUR FLEET WAS MANNED--
SCENE AT THE POINT, PORTSMOUTH--AN EXPLOSION--A NARROW ESCAPE--I AM
TRANSFERRED WITH DICK HAGGER AND OTHERS TO THE CULLODEN, 74--A BAD
CREW--INTELLIGENCE RECEIVED OF THE SAILING OF THE FRENCH FLEET--WE
SAIL--LOOKING OUT FOR THE ENEMY--A GENERAL CHASE--LORD HOWE'S VICTORY OF
THE FIRST OF JUNE--BEHAVIOUR OF THE CULLODEN--RETURN TO ENGLAND--
DISCONTENT ON BOARD OUR SHIP--THE LORD MAYOR'S MEN--MY SIGNATURE IS
OBTAINED--WHAT CAME OF IT--MUTINY BREAKS OUT--AMONG THE MUTINEERS.
The time for which I had obtained leave came soon, far too soon, to
amend. It seemed as if I had been but a few hours with my dear wife,
and now I must part again from her for an indefinite period, how long I
could not tell. I knew that while I had health and strength, no sum
could obtain my discharge. Men were wanted for the service, and every
effort was made to get them, while strict watch was kept on those who
had been obtained. Pressgangs were sent on shore every day all along
the coast where there was a chance of picking up men. Agents even
visited the mines, and people who had been working under ground all
their lives, were suddenly transferred to the deck of a man-of-war, and
very fine seamen they made too, for they were hardy, intelligent
fellows, and liked the change, and no wonder.
Captain Nelson, and other officers, had thus picked up from the Cornish
mines a number of prime seamen. However, as I was saying, the time came
for me to part from my wife and my kind uncle and aunt. I would not let
Margaret accompany me on board, though she wanted to do so, for the
reason I have before stated. She and Uncle Kelson, however, came with
me down to the Point, where Jerry had promised to be on the look-out to
take me on board. Even there the scene was such as it must have pained
any right-minded woman to witness.
Drunken seamen and marines, and women, and Jews, and crimps, all crowded
together so that it was difficult to get through the surging mass of
human beings, many of them fighting and wrangling and swearing, while
the Jews were trying to sell their trumpery wares to such of the poor
ignorant sailors as had any money left in their pockets, and the more
sober of the men were endeavouring to lift their tipsy shipmates into
the boats.
I led Margaret back up the street; "Go home with uncle, dearest," I
said, "I cannot be happy with you in this fearful crowd. The sooner you
are out of Portsmouth the better."
Uncle Kelson took her arm, and led her along the street, while I hurried
back to the Point, for I had not many minutes to spare, as I would not
have been a moment behind-hand on any account.
I remember seeing an old Irish woman with a pipe in her mouth, seated on
one of several casks placed close together in the middle of the Point.
I fought my way through the crowd, and seeing Jerry's wherry, jumped
into her, begging him at once to shove off as I was late. He and his
boy pulled away; but scarcely had we got half a dozen fathoms from the
Point when there was a dreadful explosion. Flames burst up from the
midst of the crowd, arms and legs and human bodies were lifted into the
air, while others were shot out into the water or on board the boats,
while fearful shrieks and screams rose from the scene of the
catastrophe. Almost immediately afterwards not a single person could be
seen standing on the Point, but many lay there dead, or fearfully
mangled. Boats full of people were pulling away from the spot, and the
rest of the crowd were flying up towards the street.
It turned out that the old Irishwoman I had noticed seated on the cask,
not dreaming that it contained gunpowder, had shaken out the ashes from
her pipe on it. How the casks of powder came to be left there is more
than I can say. All I know is, that great carelessness prevailed in all
departments of the navy in those days, and it's only a wonder that more
accidents did not occur.
Numbers of persons were killed by the explosion, others were dreadfully
mutilated, and scarcely a scrap of the old woman herself could be
discovered. I felt grateful to Heaven that my dear wife and uncle had
escaped. Had they come on with me, we should have been close to the
spot and among the sufferers. I could not go back, though Jerry wanted
to do so, as I had to be on board by noon, and there were but a few
minutes to get alongside the ship.