MAY, 1692.
None riding along the Portsmouth road that warm April night could
doubt that a great crisis was at hand. Certainly St. Georges did not
do so as couriers and messengers galloped past him toward London
calling out the news to all who cared to hear it. As he mounted
Kingston Vale two men, hastily jumping on their steeds outside "The
Baldfaced Stag," cried that they must rouse the queen even, though she
be a-bed,[7] for the Frenchman was at sea with an enormous fleet and
had been seen in the morning from the coast of Dorset; and all along
the route it was the same. Wherever he changed his horse he found
couriers setting out for London; whomsoever he passed on the road gave
him the same news. At Ripley they told him the French had landed under
the command of Bellefonds and King James--but these were rustics
drinking in a taproom--at Guildford the news was contradicted, but the
certainty of the landing taking place shortly was much believed in.
Then, at Godalming, where by now the day had come, he passed a
regiment marching as fast as might be toward the coast, and the
officer in command told him that no landing had yet been effected; at
Petersfield he heard the same; at Portsmouth laughter and derision,
scorn and contempt were hurled at all who dared even to suppose that a
French fleet would put a French army ashore. For here, in every inn
and tavern, were men who had fought in a score of naval engagements,
and who were going out now to fight again. And, as he stood upon the
Hard, waiting for a boat to take him off, he observed the vast fleet
of sixty-three ships under Russell's command lying at anchor off the
island, and saw from the maintop-gallant-mast head of the Britannia
(flagship) the admiral's flag flying. Also on the main shrouds he saw
another flag, showing that a council of war was already being held.
There, too, were visible the ensigns of Rooke, Sir Cloudesley Shovell,
Sir John Ashley, Sir Ralph Delaval, and Rear Admiral Carter, and as
the noble spectacle met his view his heart beat fast within him. The
country that had adopted him was about to help him revenge his wrongs
on the country that had sent him forth to stripes and beatings and
ignominy.
[Footnote 7: William was fighting on the Continent, and, as usual,
being defeated.]
The shore boat made its way through countless others--some filled with
officers and their baggage going off to the ships, some with sailors
half drunk, who would, nevertheless, fight to the death when once they
boarded the Frenchmen; some with provisions for the fleet; and some
with other volunteers like himself, and with, in several cases, girls
going off to say farewell to their sweethearts, or with mothers and
wives. From most of these boats there rose the babel of scores of
different songs and ballads, all telling how when French sailors met
English their doom was sealed. Yet at this time, and for about another
month, the French held the supremacy of the sea. After that month was
over the supremacy was gone forever!
From the Britannia there came away, as St. Georges's boat approached
the lines, several barges bearing the admirals and captains who had
attended the council of war, and among them St. Georges saw that of
Admiral Rooke, who, as he saluted him, made signs for the other boat
to follow to his ship.
"Now," said Rooke, after he had greeted St. Georges and complimented
him upon his promptitude in hastening down to the fleet, and also on
his improved appearance--for the two years he had passed in London had
done much to restore his original good looks, and, with the exception
that there rested always upon his face a melancholy expression, none
would have guessed the sufferings he had once endured--"now let me
understand. Therefore, speak definitely and frankly. You have thrown
in your lot forever with England."
"Forever," St. Georges replied.
"Without fear of change, eh?" the admiral said. "Remember--recall
before we sail to-night--all you are doing. If you fight on our side
now, there will be--henceforth--no tie between you and France. That
dukedom of which you told me once is gone forever, no matter how
clearly you may find your title to it. Louis will never forgive the
work we mean to do. If you are English to-day--for the next week, the
next month--you are English for always."
"I have come down here," St. Georges replied, his voice firm, his
words spoken slowly, so that Rooke knew that henceforth his resolution
would never be shaken, "to fight on England's side against France.
There will be no wavering! If I fall, I fall an Englishman; if I
survive, I am an Englishman for the rest of my life. I renounce my
father's people, whomsoever that father may have been, provided he was
a Frenchman: I acknowledge only my mother's. Short of one thing--my
endeavour to regain my child."
"How is that to be accomplished? If you survive this which we are
about to undertake, your life will be forfeited in France."
"It is forfeited already. Remember, sir, I am still, in the eyes of
the law of France, a galley slave. That alone is death, or worse than
death. In the future when I go, as I intend to go if I live, upon
another quest for her I have lost, I shall be in no worse case. Only,
then, it will be the halter and not the galleys. So best!"
"Be it so," the admiral replied. "Henceforth you belong to us. Now,
this is what I can do for you. Listen. I find there is a place for you
here on this very ship. You know something of seamanship from your
bitter experiences; as a soldier, also, you understand discipline. The
master's mate of this ship was drowned a week ago; you can try the
post if you please. And when the campaign is over, it may be that I
can find you a better one."
"I accept, with thanks," St. Georges said. "I adopt from to-day your
calling. Henceforth I am an English sailor."
"Come, then, and see your captain," Rooke replied; "you will find him
a good one, and hating France as much as you can desire."
He followed the admiral to another cabin, where they found the
captain, who was Lord Danby--Rooke's flagship being now the Windsor
Castle--and here they were made acquainted with each other, though
Danby had already heard the history of the man who was coming into his
ship.
"I am very glad to see you, sir," he said quietly. "I know your
story--at least so far as it concerns me. I only trust you will
encounter some of your late friends' galleys and be able to repay them
for some of the kindnesses they once testified toward you."
So St. Georges became a sailor once more--though in a very different
manner from what he had last been--and as master's mate sailed in the
Blue Squadron of Russell's fleet against the French fleet under
Tourville.
The Dutch allies were coming in rapidly ere they left St. Helen's and
Spithead on the 26th of April, and already of the fleet of thirty-six
ships under Van Almonde many had joined. Their first cruise was,
however of no result; they simply picked up their pilots from the
Sally Rose, these men having been got from Jersey, and observed that
all along the peninsula of Cotentin--where James and Marshal
Bellefonds were encamped--great beacons were burning by night. They
knew, therefore, that France expected the English fleet. A little
later, while once more they lay off Spithead and St. Helen's, they
knew that Tourville had put to sea to meet them. Fishermen coming into
harbour, spies sent out in various directions, the Sally Rose
herself--all brought the news that the French admiral was on the
sea--his squadron headed by his own flagship, Le Soleil Royal, and by
Le Triumphant and L'Ambitieux, had been seen from Portland cliffs.
The time had come.
On May 18th that great English fleet, formed into two squadrons--the
Red commanded by Russell, Delaval, and Cloudesley Shovell, and the
Blue by Sir John Ashby, Rooke, and Carter--and followed by the Dutch,
stood away from the English coast, their course south and south by
west. Swiftly, too, when clear of the Isle of Wight, the line of
battle was formed, the Tyger leading the starboard and the Centurion
the larboard tacks. And so they sailed to meet the enemy, and to
frustrate the last attack of any importance ever made by the French to
invade England.
It was not long ere that frustration commenced.
Scouts coming back swiftly on the morning of the 19th reported the
enemy in full force near them, and from the Britannia ran out the
signal--received with cheers from thousands of throats--to "clear the
ships for action!" And St. Georges, busy with his own work, knew that
the time was at hand for which he longed.
To the west there loomed up swiftly the topmasts of the French
flagships; soon the figurehead of Le Soleil Royal was visible--a
figurehead representing Louis standing upon his favourite emblem, a
great sun, and with the inhabitants of other nations lying prostrate
at his feet and bound in chains.
"Behold," said Rooke, as St. Georges passed close to him, "your late
king! Ah, well! that sun shall set ere long, or----"
His words were drowned in more cheers. From all those English seamen
on board the various ships--nearly thirty thousand men exclusive of
the Dutch allies--there rose hurrah after hurrah, as swiftly the
opposing forces advanced to meet one another. Then the Britannia
saluted the Soleil Royal--a sinister politeness--and from the French
flagships there came an answer in the shape of a discharge of small
shot. The battle had begun.
From the English vessels that discharge was answered by broadsides from
their great guns: from the Britannia, the Royal Sovereign--Delaval's
flagship--those broadsides were poured in with merciless precision.
Moreover, the wind favoured the English foe more than it did the French;
their great ships being enabled to form a circle round their foes and to
pour in their fire on either side of them. Already one Frenchman had blown
up, hurling her contents into the air; already, too, the Soleil Royal had
had her maintopsail shot away by the Britannia; in another moment she had
let down her mainsail and was tacking away from her untiring foe. And
following her went L'Admirable and Le Triumphant.
"Heavens!" exclaimed St. Georges, as, black and grimed with powder, he
worked with the men under his direction at the lower-deck tier of guns
in the Windsor Castle, "they run already! Is that the king the world
has feared so long--the king I served?"
The French flagship was not beaten yet, however--it was too soon; and
though she could not force her way through those enemies which
surrounded her, she could still keep them off, prevent them from
boarding her. Twice the Britannia and another had endeavoured to lay
themselves alongside her for that purpose, but the fire she vomited
from her gunports was too hot; like a gaunt dying lioness she made it
death to come too near. Yet her struggles were the struggles of
despair; already twenty of her squadron had deserted her and, pursued
by English vessels, were tearing through the Race of Alderney as fast
as their shot sails would take them, in the hopes of reaching the lee
of Cotentin. Two alone remained with her--remained to share her
fate--the Admirable and Triumphant.
That fate was not yet, however; those three ships had yet a few hours
of existence left to them. Fighting still, still belching forth
flames and destruction, they closed together, and so withstood the
merciless broadsides of the Britannia and Royal Sovereign; then, at
last wounded and shattered--the figure of Louis, his emblem the sun,
and the downtrodden representatives of other nations were long since
shot away and floating, or sunk, in the sea--a favourable wind sprang
up and beneath it they ran, Tourville having already transferred his
flag to L'Ambitieux. Yet, fly as they might, behind them came their
pursuers as fast as they. Delaval in the Royal Sovereign with a small
squadron never halted in the chase. Still pouring volley upon volley
from his bow fire into their sterns, he hung upon them, and, when they
found they could not enter St. Malo, followed them to Cherbourg.
And here their end came. They had struggled into shoal water, forcing
themselves aground in the hope the English men-of-war could not follow
them, and rapidly, in a frenzy of fear, the men were casting
themselves over the sides and gaining the land. The ships were doomed
they knew, their own lives might still be saved. They were none too
soon even for that. The fireships and attenders were soon among those
three. Le Soleil Royal was ablaze first, Le Triumphant next, and then
L'Admirable. As the night came on they lit up the coast for miles
around; as morning dawned they were burnt to the water's edge. Their
own magazines as they took fire assisted in their destruction and
helped by their explosions to finish them.
Meanwhile the remainder of the great French fleet had run for the bay
of La Hogue, and behind them, like sleuthhounds, went Russell,
Shovell, and Rooke with their squadrons.