THE TROPICAL REGIONS AT SEA.
There sailed along with us in the Volage, from Spithead, the Princess
Caroline, 74, and the Theban frigate, to aid in protecting a fleet of
East India Company's ships, all for China direct.[2] As these ships
were of the largest class, well manned, well commanded, and were
likewise pretty well armed, and got up to look like men-of war, our
force had not only an imposing appearance, but was capable of baffling
an enemy, even in considerable strength. There is, indeed, one signal
instance on record in which a fleet of East India Company's ships
actually beat off, unassisted, a French squadron of very powerful
vessels. These striking incidents, peeping out from time to time, show
what is called the true blood, and are extremely valuable, proving how
essential it is that an officer in command should "Never say die while
there is a shot in the locker!" a pithy old phrase, which will apply
to many situations in life, civil as well as military. Had the gallant
commander alluded to, Sir Nathaniel Dance, yielded when the French
Admiral Linois, and his squadron, consisting of the Marengo, a
line-of-battle ship of 84 guns, and the Belle Poule and Semillante
frigates, each of 44, bore down on the China fleet, not less than six
millions of English property, and some of the noblest trading ships
that float on the ocean, must have been carried into the Isle of
France.
This memorable affair took place near Pulo Aor, in the China seas, and
by a very interesting, and no doubt useful coincidence, on the 14th of
February, 1804, the seventh anniversary of the glorious action off
Cape St. Vincent. Had the enemy only known the real force of his
opponents, which he most certainly ought to have found out before he
quitted them, the bold front these ships put forward might indeed have
served them nothing. A less resolute man than Captain Dance might have
said this good fortune was hardly to be calculated upon; but it is the
duty of a commander, at all times and under all circumstances, to
afford himself every possible chance, and never to give up while there
is one of these chances left.
A useful chapter in naval history and tactics could be written on the
defence of convoys, by which it might perhaps be made manifest that a
determined bearing, accompanied by a certain degree of force, and a
vigorous resolution to exert that force to the utmost, would, in most
cases, save the greater part of the convoy, even against powerful
odds. In the well-known instance, in which Captain Richard Budd
Vincent sacrificed his ship, in a contest where he was from the first
sure to be overpowered, he gained sufficient time for most of his
flock of merchant-ships to escape.
In February, 1805, this gallant officer, in the Arrow, of 18
twenty-four pounders, ably supported by Captain Arthur Farquhar, in
the Acheron bomb, carrying not half that number, actually engaged two
large French frigates, mounting in all 90 guns and 1300 men, while the
English force was only 26 guns and 90 men. The damage and delay caused
to the enemy by this spirited resistance enabled the convoy to
disperse, and all get off but three, out of thirty-two. The English
ships did not strike till they were so much cut up that one sunk
immediately afterwards, and the other was burned by the captors as
useless.
On the occasion of our voyage in 1812, however, the fortitude and
skill of our East India ships were put to no such proof, as our most
interesting evolutions were confined to the interchange of good
dinners; for your Indiamen know as well how to eat, drink, and be
merry, as to fight, if need be. Their chief business is to trade; but
their trading is a widely different thing from that of the ordinary
merchant service. The East India Company's officers are bred in many
respects like naval men, and they feel in the same manner. Being
sprung from as good a stock as the officers of the Navy, they possess
a kindred gentleman-like spirit, and are in every respect suitable
allies in battle.
In fine weather, during our whole voyage, there scarcely occurred a
day on which, in the course of the morning, if the sea were tolerably
smooth, and the wind not too strong, the dinner invitation signal was
not displayed from the commodore, or from some of his flock. When
there was a breeze, and the ships were making way through the water,
some technical address was necessary to avoid delay. This will easily
be understood, without going into minute details, when it is
remembered, that there must always in a convoy be found certain ships
which sail worse than others, and that, although these tubs, as they
are most deservedly called, crowd all their canvas, the rest are
obliged to shorten sail in order to keep them company; as Lightfoot,
in the fairy tale, was obliged to tie his feet in the race. If it be
the commodore who gives the dinner, he either heaves to, while the
boats of the several captains come on board, or he edges down to the
different ships in succession, passes them at the distance of a
quarter of a cable's length, picks up his guests, and resumes his
station ahead, or to windward, or wherever it may suit him to place
himself so as best to guard his charge. If any of the fast sailers
have occasion to heave to, either before or after dinner, to lower
down or to hoist up the boat which carries the captain backwards and
forwards to the ship in which the entertainment is given, and in
consequence of this detention any way has been lost, that ship has
only to set a little more sail that she may shoot ahead, and regain
her position in the line.
The bad sailers of all fleets or convoys are daily and hourly
execrated in every note of the gamut; and it must be owned that the
detention they cause, when a fine fresh breeze is blowing, is
excessively provoking to all the rest, and mortifying to themselves.
Sometimes the progress of one haystack of a vessel is so slow that a
fast-sailing ship is directed to take her in tow, and fairly lug her
along. As this troublesome operation requires for its proper execution
no small degree of nautical knowledge, as well as dexterity, and must
be performed in the face of the whole squadron, it is always exposed
to much sharp criticism. The celerity with which sail is set, or taken
in, by the respective ships, or the skill with which broken spars are
shifted, likewise furnish such abundant scope for technical
table-talk, that there is seldom any want of topic in the convoy.
Sailors, indeed, are about as restless as the element on which they
float; and their hands are generally kept pretty full by the necessity
of studying the fluctuating circumstances of wind and weather,
together with due attention to the navigation.
These occupations served to give a high degree of interest to this
Indian voyage, which, to most of us, was the first; the mere
circumstance of having to pass successively and quickly through a
number of different climates, first in the order of increasing warmth,
and then in the reverse order of increasing cold, was of itself most
striking. The change of latitude being the chief cause of these
phenomena, a succession of astronomical variations were necessarily
attendant upon the progress of the voyage; easily explained by
reasonings, and the actual, practical exhibition, as it may be termed,
of the truths of astronomical science failed not to strike the
unfamiliarised imagination as both wonderful and beautiful.
When we sailed from England the weather was very cold, raw, and
uncomfortable; and although we had a couple of days' fair wind at
starting, we were met in the very chops of the channel by hard-hearted
southerly and south-westerly winds, which tried our patience sorely.
On the evening of the tenth day we caught a glimpse of the north coast
of Spain; and the rugged shore of Galicia was the last which most of
us saw of Europe for many years. It was not till after a fortnight's
hard struggling against these tiresome south-westers that we anchored
in Funchal Roads, having by the way dropped several of our convoy.
These stray sheep came in during the few days we remained to refresh
ourselves at this most charming of resting-places. After nearly a
week's enjoyment, we proceeded on our course to the southward; within
three days we came in sight of Palma, the most northern of the Canary
Island group. It was thirty miles distant in the south-east quarter;
and Teneriffe, the sea "monarch of mountains," lay too far off for us
to perceive even his "diadem of snow," which at that season (April), I
presume, he always wears. Some years after the period in question,
when I paid him a visit, in the month of August, the very tip-top was
bare, and the thermometer at 70°.
Under more favourable circumstances, we might possibly have seen
Teneriffe from the Volage, for our distance was not above a hundred
miles. This, however, it must be owned, is a long way to see the land,
unless it form a continuous ridge of great elevation, like the Andes;
and even then, to be distinguished well, it requires to be interposed
between a bright sky and the ship. At day-break, and for about half an
hour before sunrise, if the weather be clear, even sharp peaks, like
the cone of Teneriffe, may be seen with a degree of distinctness which
is very remarkable, when viewed from the distance of a hundred miles
and upwards, as I have several times experienced when navigating in
the Pacific. But when the full splendour of the sun's light begins to
fill the air, these gigantic forms gradually fade away amongst the
clouds, or melt into the sky, even when no clouds are visible. I have
likewise been told, that, in sailing directly away from Teneriffe (or
other high insulated peaks), and keeping the eye pretty constantly
fixed in the proper direction, it may be retained in sight at much
greater distance than it can be discovered on approaching. I am
disposed to consider this very probable, but have never had a good
opportunity of trying the experiment.
It was late in April, as we were stealing slowly past these distant
Canary Islands, when the first real puff of the Trade-wind caught our
sleeping sails, and made the braces, haulyards, and all the other
ropes connected with the yards, crack again. This breeze served more
effectually to detach our thoughts from European interests than
anything which had occurred since our leaving England. At the very
moment, however, when we were chuckling at this disentanglement of our
feelings from domestic anxieties, and all the varied agitation of home
concerns, we observed a ship crossing our path at some distance.
Signal being made to chase, we instantly darted off from the convoy to
examine the stranger, which proved to be an English ship from Lisbon.
We hailed, and asked, "What news?"
"Badajoz has fallen," replied the other, "after a terrible siege."
This was received with a general buzz of joyous congratulation along
the decks. In answer to further questions, we were told of some three
or four thousand men killed and wounded in the trenches and breach.
Then, indeed, the glorious intelligence was greeted by three jolly
huzzas from every ship in the convoy!
Nothing so startling as this occurred to us again; but the serenity of
our thoughts was in some degree interrupted, a few days afterwards, by
the north-easterly Trade-wind dying away, and a gentle south-wester
springing up in its place. This occurred in latitude 25-1/2° N.,
where, according to our inexperienced conception of these singular
winds, we ought to have found a regular breeze from the very opposite
quarter! Nor was it till long afterwards that I learned how much the
force and direction of the Trade-winds are liable to modification by
the particular position which the sun occupies in the heavens; or how
far the rotatory motion of the earth, combined with the power which
the sun possesses of heating certain portions of the circumambient
air, are the regulating causes of the Trades, Monsoons, and, indeed,
of all the other winds by which we are driven about. It is by no means
an easy problem in meteorology to show how these causes act in every
case; and perhaps it is one which will never be so fully solved as to
admit of very popular enunciation applicable to all climates. In the
most important and useful class of these aërial currents, called, _par
excellence_, and with so much picturesque truth, "the Trade-winds,"
the explanation is not difficult. But before entering on this curious
and copious theme, I feel anxious to carry our convoy fairly across
the tropical regions; after which an account of the Trades will be
better understood.
I have just mentioned that the changes of temperature, on a voyage to
India, are most remarkable. We set sail, for instance, in the month
of March, when it was bitterly cold in England; then we came off the
coast of Spain, where it was a little more moderate; next to Madeira,
which is always agreeable. Then we passed the Canaries; after which we
sailed over the tropic of Cancer, and got well toasted in the torrid
zone; steered down upon the equinoctial line, passed the tropic of
Capricorn, and again became conscious of the weakened influence of the
sun; till, at length, off the Cape of Good Hope, we were once more
nipped with the cold. Anon, having rounded the south point of Africa,
we put our heads towards the line, and a second time, within a few
weeks, emerged from the depth of winter into the height of summer.
The proximate cause of all these vicissitudes was, of course, our
approach towards and removal from the direct influence of the great
source of light and heat. At one time, the sun, even at noon, was seen
creeping stealthily along, low down in the horizon, at another his
jolly countenance was blazing away right overhead. On the 5th of May,
when our latitude was 17-1/2° N., the sun's declination was 16-1/4°
N., his centre being only one degree from our zenith: shadows we had
none. On that day we saw St. Antonio, the north-westernmost of the
Cape de Verde Islands, the summit of which is about seven thousand
feet above the sea.
On the next day I well remember going on deck with a certain flutter
of spirits, to see, for the first time in my life, the sun to the
northward, and moving through the heavens from right to left, instead
of from left to right. No one doubts that the earth is round; yet
these conspicuous and actual proofs of its rotundity always amuse the
fancy, and frequently interest the judgment, almost as much as if they
were unexpected. The gradual rise, night after night, of new stars and
new constellations, belongs to a still higher order of curiosity; for
it not merely places well-known objects in strange positions, but
brings totally new subjects of contemplation before our eyes, and
leads us to feel, perhaps more strongly than upon any other occasion,
the full gratification which novelty on the grandest scale is capable
of producing. I shall never forget the impatience with which I have
often watched the approach of darkness after a long day's run to the
south, knowing that, in a few moments, I was to discover celestial
phenomena heretofore concealed from my view.
After slanting through the north-east Trade-wind, we reached that
well-known but troublesome stage in the voyage, so difficult to get
over, called the Variables. This region has acquired its title from
the regular Trades not being found there, but in their place unsteady
breezes, long calms, heavy squalls, and sometimes smart winds from the
south and south-westward. These Variables, which sorely perplex all
mariners, even those of most experience, while they drive young ones
almost out of their senses, are not less under the dominion of the
causes which regulate those great perennial breezes the Trades,
blowing to the northward and southward of them. Their laws, however,
are not quite so readily understood, and consequently are not so
easily allowed for in the practice of navigation.
When we actually encounter, on the spot, and for the first time, a
crowd of new circumstances, of which, previously, we have only known
the names, or have merely heard them described by others, we feel so
much confused and bewildered, that we fly eagerly to the nearest
authority to help us out of the scrape. It generally happens, in these
cases, that the reference does not prove very satisfactory, because
the actual circumstances with which we are engaged are rarely similar
in all their bearings to those with which we compare them; and when
this is not the case, the blindfold method of proceeding in the beaten
path is very apt to mislead.
As an illustration of this kind of deception, it may be stated that
navigators, whose actual experience has not extended to the tropical
regions, are very apt, in poring over the voyages of others, to
acquire, insensibly, a very confident notion that each of the great
Trade-winds blowing on different sides of the Line (the North-east and
the South-east by name), are quite steady in their direction; and
that, in the equatorial interval which lies between them, only calms
and light winds are to be found. Moreover, inexperienced persons
generally believe this interval to be equally divided by the equator,
and that both the breadth and the position of this calm region
continue unchanged throughout the whole year. Now, here are four
important mistakes,--important both in a scientific and in a practical
point of view. For, 1st, Not calms and squalls alone, but occasionally
fresh and steady winds, are found between the Trades; 2ndly, The belt
called the Variables is by no means equally divided by the equator;
neither, 3rdly, is that belt stationary in its position; nor, 4thly,
is it uniform in its breadth. It will thence be easily understood,
even by a person who has never quitted one of the midland counties in
England, and to whom the ocean is an unseen wonder, that a new-comer
to the tropical regions, his head loaded with these false views, will
be very apt to mistake his own ignorance for the caprice of Nature,
and perhaps call out, as I once heard a man do, in all the agony of
impatience caused by a protracted head-wind,--"Now, this is really
scandalous usage of the clerk of the weather-office!" The scandal,
however, lay not so much with the clerk's usage as with his own
limited knowledge; for if, at the very time of his imprecation,
instead of abusing the foul wind, and keeping his yards braced sharp
up, and making his sails stand like a board, the grumbler had known
how to take advantage of it, and had kept away two or three points,
set his fore-topmast studding-sail, and flanked across or through the
breeze which he had in vain tried to beat against, he might not only
have saved his temper, but have made his passage in half the time.
I am not sure that, in the whole range of this extensive subject,
there could be picked out an instance more in point to what has just
been said, than these interesting phenomena of the Trade-winds. To
sailors of every age and rank, and especially to naval officers, an
acquaintance with the laws which regulate these extraordinary aërial
currents must be of great importance. For a commander may be ordered,
at a moment's warning, either to carry his own ship, or to lead a
squadron, or to guard a convoy, from the northern to the southern
hemisphere, or perhaps from the West to the East Indies. If, however,
he have not previously made a tropical voyage or two, or have not
studied the subject in its genuine theoretical spirit, as well as in
the log-books of his predecessors, he may expect to find himself most
wofully embarrassed, both on entering and on leaving the Trades.
Independently of all such public objects concerned in these inquiries,
there appears to exist a very general interest in the Trade-winds,
sufficiently strong to engage the attention even of unprofessional
persons. These vast currents of air, which sweep round and round the
globe, in huge strips of more than twelve hundred miles in width, are
in a manner forced on every one's notice, from contributing to that
boundless interchange of the productions of distant regions by which
modern times are so agreeably distinguished from the old.
The great Monsoons, again, of the Indian and China oceans play almost
as important a part in this grand nautical drama along the coasts of
those remote countries. These great phenomena will be found to obey
precisely the same laws as their less fluctuating brethren the mighty
Trades; and hence springs one of the chief delights of science when
its study is conducted in a proper spirit. If the pursuit of truth be
engaged in with sincerity, phenomena apparently the most opposite in
character, for example, winds in different parts of the earth, but in
the same latitude, blowing in totally different directions at the same
season of the year, will always prove in the end illustrative of one
another, and of their common theory.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] On the renewal of their Charter, in 1833, the East India Company
ceased to be traders, and these noble ships no longer sail under the
Company's flag.