The _Susannah_ was a fine brig, of about three hundred tons burden. She
had a raised poop, but no topgallant forecastle; so the crew were
berthed in the fore-peak, in the very nose, as it were, of the vessel.
I had engaged to serve as a boy before the mast. Indeed, perfectly
unknown as I was, with slight pretensions to a knowledge of seamanship,
I could not hope to obtain any other berth.
The crew were composed of about equal numbers of Americans--that is,
subjects of the United States--and of Englishmen, with two blacks and a
mulatto, a Spaniard, and a Portuguese. The first officer, Mr Dobree,
was a great dandy, and evidently considered himself much too good for
his post; while the second mate, Mr Jones, was a rough-and-ready
seaman, thoroughly up to his work.
I was welcomed by my new shipmates in the fore-peak with many rough but
no unkind jokes; and as I had many stories to tell of my adventures in
the backwoods, before we turned in for the night I had made myself quite
at home with them.
At daybreak on the next morning all hands were roused out to weigh
anchor. The second mate's rough voice had scarcely done sounding in my
ear before I was on deck, and with the rest was running round between
the capstan-bars. "Loose the topsails," next sung out the captain. I
sprung aloft to aid in executing the order. Though a young seaman may
not have knowledge, he may at all events exhibit activity in obeying
orders, and thus gain his superior's approbation. The anchor was
quickly run up to the bows, the topsails were sheeted home, and, with a
light breeze from the northward, we stood towards the mouth of the
Mississippi.
As we passed close to the spot where, on the previous day, the _Foam_
lay at anchor, I looked for her. She was nowhere to be seen. She must
have got under weigh and put to sea at night. "She's gone, Peter, you
observe," remarked Captain Searle, as some piece of duty called me near
him. "I'm glad you are not on board her; and I hope neither you nor I
may ever fall in with her again."
From New Orleans to Belize, at the mouth of the Mississippi, is about
one hundred miles; and this distance, with the aid of the current and a
favourable breeze, we accomplished by dusk, when we prepared once more
to breast old ocean's waves. These last hundred miles of the father of
rivers were very uninteresting, the banks being low, swampy, and dismal
in the extreme, pregnant with ague and fevers. Although I rejoiced to
be on the free ocean, I yet could scarcely help feeling regret at
leaving, probably for ever, the noble stream on whose bosom I had so
long floated; on whose swelling and forest-shaded banks I had travelled
so far; whom I had seen in its infancy--if an infant it may ever be
considered--in its proud manhood, and now at the termination of its
mighty course.
These thoughts quickly vanished, however, as I felt the lively vessel
lift to the swelling wave, and smelt the salt pure breeze from off the
sea. Though the sea-breeze was very reviving after the hot pestilential
air of New Orleans, yet as it came directly in our teeth, our captain
wished it from some other quarter. We were enabled, however, to work
off the shore; and as during the night the land-breeze came pretty
strong, by day-break the next morning we were fairly at sea.
Before the sun had got up, the wind had gone down, and it soon became
what seamen call a flat calm. The sea, as the hot rays of the sun shone
on it, was, as it were, like molten lead; the sails flapped lazily
against the mast; the brig's sides, as she every now and then gave an
unwilling roll, threw off with a loud splash the bright drops of water
which they lapped up from the imperceptibly heaving bosom of the deep.
The hot sun struck down on our heads with terrific force, while the
pitch bubbled up out of the seams of the deck; and Bill Tasker, the wit
of the crew, declared he could hear it squeak into the bargain. An
awning was spread over the deck in some way to shelter us, or we should
have been roasted alive. Bill, to prove the excess of the heat, fried a
slice of salt junk on a piece of tin, and, peppering it well, declared
it was delicious. The only person who seemed not only not to suffer
from the heat, but to enjoy it, was the black cook; and he, while not
employed in his culinary operations, spent the best part of the day
basking on the bowsprit-end.
The crew were engaged in their usual occupations of knotting yarns,
making sinnet, etcetera, while the aforesaid Bill Tasker was instructing
me--for whom he had taken an especial fancy--in the mysteries of
knotting and splicing; but we all of us, in spite of ourselves, went
about our work in a listless, careless way, nor had the officers even
sufficient energy to make us more lively. Certainly it was hot. There
had been no sail in sight that I know of all the day, when, as I by
chance happened to cast my eyes over the bulwarks, they fell on the
topsails of a schooner, just rising above the line of the horizon.
"A sail on the starboard bow!" I sung out to the man who was nominally
keeping a look-out forward. He reported the same to the first mate.
"Where away is she?" I heard the captain inquire, as he came directly
afterwards on deck.
"To the southward, sir; she seems to be creeping up towards us with a
breeze of some sort or other," answered Mr Dobree. "Here, lad," he
continued, beckoning to me, "go aloft, and see what you can make of her.
Your eyes are as sharp as any on board, if I mistake not, and a little
running will do you no harm."
I was soon at the mast-head, and in two minutes returned, and reported
her to be a large topsail schooner, heading north-north-east with the
wind about south-east.
"I can't help thinking, sir, from her look, that this is the same craft
that was lying off New Orleans two days ago," I added, touching my hat
to the captain. I don't remember exactly what made me suppose this, but
such I know was my idea at the time.
"What, your friend Captain Hawk's craft, the _Foam_, you mean, I
suppose?" he observed. "But how can that be? She was bound to the
Havanah, and this vessel is standing away from it."
"I can't say positively, sir; but if you would take the glass and have a
look at her, I don't think you would say she is very unlike her, at all
events," I replied.
"It's very extraordinary if such is the case," said the captain, looking
rather more as if he thought I might be right than before.
"Give me the glass, and I'll judge for myself, though it's impossible to
say for a certainty what she may be at this distance." Saying this he
took the telescope, and in spite of the heat went aloft.
When he came down again, I observed that he looked graver than usual.
He instantly gave orders to furl the awning, and to be ready to make
sail as soon as the breeze should reach us. "The youngster is right,
Mr Dobree," he said, turning to the mate, and probably not aware that I
overheard him.
"It's that piccarooning craft the _Foam_; and Mr Hawk, as he calls
himself, is after some of his old tricks. I had my suspicions of him
when I saw him off New Orleans; but I did not think he would venture to
attack us."
"He's bold enough to attack any one, sir," said the mate; "but we
flatter ourselves that we shall be able to give a very good account of
him, if he begins to play off any of his tricks on us."
"We'll do our best, Mr Dobree," said the captain; "for if we do not, we
shall have but a Flemish account to render of our cargo, let alone our
lives."
I do not know if I before stated that the _Susannah_ carried four guns--
two long and two carronades; and as we had a supply of small arms and
cutlasses, we were tolerably able to defend ourselves.
The captain walked the deck for some time in silence, during which
period the stranger had perceptibly approached to us. He then again
went aloft, and scrutinised her attentively. On coming down he stopped
at the break of the poop, and, waving his hand, let us know that he
wished to address us. "My lads," he began, "I don't altogether like the
look of that fellow out yonder, who has been taking so much pains to get
up to us. He may be honest, but I tell you I don't think so; and if he
attempts to molest us, I'm sure you'll one and all do your duty in
defending the brig and the property on board her entrusted to you. I
need not tell you that pirates generally trust to the saying, that dead
men tell no tales; and that, if that fellow is one, and gets the better
of us, our lives won't be worth much to any of us."
"Don't fear for us, sir; we're ready for him whatever he may be," sung
out the whole crew with one voice.
The stranger brought along the breeze with him, but as yet our sails had
not felt a particle of its influence. At length, when he was little
more than a mile off, a few cat's-paws were seen playing on the water;
they came, and vanished again as rapidly, and the sea was as smooth as
before. In time they came oftener and with more power; and at length
our topsails and topgallant-sails were seen slowly to bulge out as the
steadier breeze filled them.
The wind came, as I have said, from the south-east, which was directly
in our teeth in our proper course to the Havanah. The stranger had thus
the weather-gauge of us; and a glance at the map will show that we were
completely embayed, as, had we stood to the eastward, we should have run
on the Florida coast, while on the other tack we must have run right
down to meet him. We might possibly reach some port; but the
probabilities were that he would overtake us before we could do so, and
the appearance of fear would encourage him to follow us. We had
therefore only the choice of running back to Belize, or fighting our way
onward. Captain Searle decided on the latter alternative; and, bracing
the yards sharply up on the starboard tack, we stood to the eastward,
intending, whatever course the stranger pursued, to go about again at
the proper time.
The schooner, on seeing this, also closely hugged the wind and stood
after us. There could now be no longer any doubt about his intentions.
We, however, showed the stars and stripes of the United States, but he
hoisted no ensign in return. It was soon very evident that he sailed
faster than we did, and he was then rapidly coming within range of our
guns. Our captain ordered us, however, on no account to fire unless we
were struck, as he was unwilling to sacrifice the lives of any one
unnecessarily, even of our enemies.
Every stitch of canvas the brig could carry was cracked on her: all
would not do. The stranger walked up to us hand over hand. Seeing that
there was not the slightest chance of escaping by flight, Captain Searle
ordered the foresail and topgallant-sails to be clewed up, and, under
our topsails and fore-and-aft sails, resolved to wait the coming up of
the enemy, if such the stranger might prove.
On came the schooner, without firing or showing any unfriendly
disposition. As she drew near, I felt more and more convinced that she
must be the _Foam_. She had a peculiarly long cutwater and a very
straight sheer, which, as she came up to the windward of us, and
presented nearly her broadside, was discernible. As she heeled over to
the now freshening breeze, I fancied that I could even discern, through
the glass, Captain Hawk walking the quarter-deck. When she got about a
quarter of a mile to windward of us, she hove to and lowered a boat,
into which several people jumped and pulled towards us. At the same
time up went the Spanish ensign at her peak.
Captain Searle looked puzzled. "I cannot make it out, Dobree," he
observed. "I still doubt if that fellow is honest, and am half inclined
to make sail again, and while he bears down to pick up his boat, we may
get to windward of him."
"If he isn't honest he'll not trouble himself about his boat, but will
try to run alongside us, and let her come up when she can," answered the
mate. "There is no trusting to what such craft as that fellow may do."
"Oh, we'll take care he does not play off any tricks upon us," said the
captain; and we waited the approach of the boat.
As she drew near, she was seen to contain eight men. Four were pulling,
one sat in the bows, and the other three in the stern-sheets. If they
were armed, it could not be discovered. When they got within hail, the
captain asked them what they wanted.
They pointed to their mouths, and one answered in Spanish, "Aqua, aqua,
por amor de Dios."
"They want water, sir, they say," observed the first mate, who prided
himself on his knowledge of Spanish.
"That's the reason, then, that they were in such a hurry to speak to
us," said the captain. "But still, does it not strike you as odd that a
vessel should be in want of water in these seas?"
"Her water-butts might have leaked out; and some of these Spanish
gentry, sir, are very careless about taking enough water to sea,"
replied the mate, who was biassed by the pleasure he anticipated of
being able to sport his Spanish.
"Get a water-cask up on deck, and we'll have it ready to give these
fellows, whatever they may be," said our humane captain. "Have some
pannikins ready to serve it out to them. Thirst is a dreadful thing,
and one would not keep a fellow-creature in that state a moment longer
than one could help."
I do not know what the second mate thought of the strangers, but I
remember several of the crew saying that they did not like their looks;
and I saw him place a cutlass close to the gun nearest the starboard
gangway, while he kept eyeing them in no very affectionate manner.
Notwithstanding the heat of the weather, the men in the stern-sheets
wore cloaks. On observing this, Bill Tasker said he supposed it was to
hide the shabby jackets they wore under them. The other men were
dressed in blue shirts, and their sleeves rolled up to the shoulder,
with the red sash usually worn by Spaniards round their waist, in which
was stuck the deadly _cuchillo_, or cut-and-thrust knife, in a sheath,
carried by most Lusitanian and Iberian seamen and their descendants of
the New World.
They pulled up at once alongside, and before any one attempted to stop
them they had hooked on, the man in the bows climbing up on deck,
followed by his companions in cloaks, and two of the seamen. The other
two remained in the boat, pointing at their mouths, as a sign that they
wanted water.
Seamen, from the sufferings and dangers to which they are exposed, are
proverbially kind to those in distress. Our men, therefore, seemed to
vie with each other who should first hold the pannikins of water to the
mouths of the strangers, while a tub, with the fluid, was also lowered
into the boat alongside. They eagerly rushed at the water, and drank up
all that was offered them; but I could not help remarking that they did
not look like men suffering from thirst. However, a most extraordinary
effect was produced on two of them, for they fell down on the deck, and
rolled about as if in intense agony. This drew the attention of all
hands on them; and as we had no surgeon on board, the captain began to
ransack his medical knowledge to find remedies for them.
While he was turning over the pages of his medical guide to find some
similar case of illness and its remedy described, the schooner was
edging down towards us. As she approached, I observed only a few men on
board; and they, as the people in the boat had done, were pointing at
their mouths, as if they were suffering from want of water. The boat
was on the lee side.
I think I said that there were some sails, and two or three cloaks,
apparently thrown by chance at the bottom of the boat. While all hands
were engaged in attending to the strangers, and for some minutes no one
had looked towards the schooner, on a sudden I heard a loud grating
sound--there was the wild triumphant cry of a hundred fierce voices.
The seemingly exhausted men leaped to their feet; the helmsman and our
captain lay prostrate by blows dealt by our treacherous foes; the second
mate and several of the men were knocked down; and before any of us had
time to attempt even any defence of the brig, a set of desperadoes, of
all colours and nations, were swarming down on her decks from the
rigging of the schooner, while others, who had been concealed in the
boat, sprang on board on the lee side. Never was a surprise more
complete, or treachery more vile. In an instant we were helplessly in
the power of as lawless a band of pirates as ever infested those seas.
The captain and mates were first pinioned; the men were sharing the same
treatment. I was at the time forward, when, on looking aft, who should
I see but Captain Hawk himself walking the deck of the brig as if he
were her rightful commander! He took off his hat with mock courtesy to
poor Captain Searle, as he passed him. "Ah, my dear sir, the fortune of
war makes you my prisoner to-day," he said, in a sneering tone.
"Another day, if my people do not insist on your walking the plank, you
may hope, perhaps, to have the satisfaction of beholding me dangling at
a yardarm. By the bye, I owe you this turn, for you shipped on board
your craft a lad who had engaged to sail with me; and I must have him
forthwith back again, with a few other articles of your cargo which I
happen to require." As he said this, his eye fell on me, and he
beckoned me towards him. I saw that there was no use hanging back, so I
boldly advanced. "You are a pretty fellow, to desert your colours," he
continued, laughing. "You deserve to be treated as a deserter.
However, I will have compassion on your youth, if you will swear to be
faithful to me in future."
"I never joined your vessel, so I am not a deserter. I cannot swear to
serve a man of whose character I know nothing, except that he has taken
forcible possession of a peaceable trader." I said this without
hesitation or the least sign of fear. The truth is, I felt too
desperate to allow myself to consider what I said or did.
"You are a brave young bantam," he answered laughingly. "And though all
the rest may hang or walk the plank, we will save you to afford us
sport; so set your mind at rest on that point."
"Thank you for my life, for I have no wish to lose it, I can assure
you," I replied; "but don't suppose I am going to spend it in your
service. I shall do my best to get away from you as soon as possible."
"Then we must tie you by a lanyard to the leg," he answered, without at
all appearing angry. "Here, Mark Anthony,"--he beckoned to a tall,
ill-looking black who had been busy in securing the rest of the
crew,--"take charge of this youngster, and render an account of him to
me by and by, without a hair of his head injured, mind you."
"Yes, sare," said the Roman general, who I afterwards found was a
runaway slave from Kentucky. "I'll not singe his whiskers even. Come
here, massa;" and seizing me by the shoulder, he dragged me forward away
from the rest of the people. "What's your name?" asked my black keeper,
as he made me sit down on the bits of the bowsprit.
"Peter, at your service, Mr Mark Anthony," said I in as fearless a
voice as I could command; for having once taken a line of conduct which
seemed to answer well, I determined to persevere in it.
"Den, Massa Peter, you sit dere quiet," he said with a grin. "I no
break your skull, because Captain Hawk break mine if I do. I no let
anybody else hurt you for same reason."
From his look and voice I certainly did not flatter myself that he
refrained from throwing me overboard from any love he bore me; but, on
the contrary, that he would have been much more gratefully employed in
making me walk the plank, or in tricing me up to the foreyard.
Meantime the pirates were busily employed in ransacking the vessel, and
in transferring everything of value to them which they could find from
her to their own schooner. The captain and mates were threatened with
instant death if they did not deliver up all the money they had on
board; and even the crew were compelled to hand over to our captors the
small sums they possessed. To make them do this, they were knocked
about and beaten unmercifully. And even those who possessed watches and
rings were deprived of them, as well as of any clothes which appeared
worth taking.
I had often read the history of pirates and of their bold exploits, till
I almost fancied that I should like to become one, or, at all events,
that I should like to encounter them. But I can assure my friends that
the reality was very different to the fiction; and as the hideous black
was standing over me, ready every moment to knock out my brains, and my
companions were suffering all sorts of ill-treatment, I most heartily
wished that such gentry as pirates had not been allowed to exist.
Though I tried to look as indifferent as possible, the black would have
observed me trembling, had he not been watching to see what his friends
were about, no doubt eager to obtain his share of the plunder. The work
the pirates were engaged in went on for some time, till even they had
tolerably satiated their eagerness for booty; and then I fully expected
to see them either heave my shipmates overboard as food for the sharks
alongside, or hang them at the yardarms, and then set the ship on fire,
as Mark Anthony insinuated, for my satisfaction, that they would do.
Instead of this, to my surprise Captain Hawk went up to Captain Searle,
and said, "I sent a message by that youngster there to you to look out
for yourself, and I never threaten in vain. He goes with me. I want a
good navigator; and as your second mate seems a likely sort of person, I
shall take him also. The rest of you may go free; but remember, that if
any of you attempt to betray me, or to appear as witnesses against me,
you will dearly pay for it."
Our poor captain, who was almost ruined and heart-broken by the pillage
of his ship, said nothing, but bowed his head on his breast, looking as
if he would as soon have been killed outright. The unfortunate mate,
Abraham Jones, seemed horrified at hearing what his fate was to be; but
he knew enough about the pirates to be aware that it would have been
worse than useless to attempt to escape accompanying them. He, however,
took the precaution of calling on the crew of the _Susannah_ to bear
witness that he was compelled through bodily fear and by force to join
the pirates; and he made the best show of resistance that under the
circumstances he could venture to do.
From what I saw of him, I do not think that he had so great an objection
to joining them as some men might have had. Indeed, I confess that I
was very wrong in doing so; and I feel that a person ought rather to
sacrifice his life than consent to commit a crime, even though driven to
it with a dagger at his throat. However, both Jones and I fancied that
the only chance of saving our own lives, and those of our shipmates, was
by our going on board the schooner.
"Remember, Captain Searle, if we get into any misfortune through you,
these two will be the first to suffer, and then again I say, look out
for yourself," exclaimed the chief pirate, as he quitted the deck of the
_Susannah_.
His people then hove her guns overboard, and removed the small arms on
board their own craft, to which the mate and I were also transferred.
They also cut the standing and running rigging, which would effectually
prevent her from making sail for a long time to come.
The first mate was next released, and was ordered to stand on the poop,
on pain of being shot down if he attempted to move while the schooner
was near. Her boat was then hoisted in, she was cast off from the brig,
and with a cheer of triumph from her crew, she stood away from the
_Susannah_.
The first mate wisely did as he was ordered; and it was not till we had
got to such a distance that there was little fear of his being hit, that
I saw him jump down to release his companions. It was with a sense of
misery and degradation I have never before experienced, that I watched
till we lost sight of the unfortunate _Susannah_.