'^K'^ra 
 
LIBRARY OF CONmiESS. 
 
 M 
 
 (JTljap. / tS" 
 
 No, 
 
 gUXITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
SECOND SERIES 
 
 DEEDS OF MVAL DARIIG 
 
 ui* 
 
 OR, 
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE BRITISH MVY. 
 
 By EDWARD GIFFARD, Esq., 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 ' SHORT VISIT TO THE lOXTAN ISLANDS, ATHENS, ANT) THE IMOP.EA.' 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1854, 
 
>'fA-^^ 
 
 LONDON : WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
 [ 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Santa Margaretta with l'Amazone .... 209 
 
 The Pirate Slaver 212 
 
 The Grappler at the Chaussez Isles . . .219 
 
 Capture of the Firme ....... 223 
 
 Presence of Mind ..-,.... 226 
 
 COLPOYS AND THE MUTINY AT SpITHEAD . . . 230 
 ESPOIR WITH LiGURIA 238 
 
 A Douglas dies 242 
 
 The Challenge . 243 
 
 "i have done it, and am alive " .... 246 
 
 The Polar Eegions . 251 
 
 Defiance and Centurion with two French Ships . 254 
 
 The Private Ship of War 257 
 
 Mr. A'Court 262 
 
 Capture of the St. Pedro 263 
 
 Catching a Tartar 271 
 
 Blake 272 
 
 The Young Pretender . . . . . . .280 
 
 Destruction of the Buccaneers ..... 282 
 
 The Tables Turned 286 
 
 Isis and Zele 289 
 
 Admiral Macbride 290 
 
 . Foul- WEATHER Jack 295 
 
 Glatton with Six Ships . . . . . .298 
 
Vi CONTE 
 
 NTS. 
 
 
 
 Page 
 
 Boats of Quebec off Heligoland .... .302 
 
 A Pithy Speech . . . 
 
 
 306 
 
 Running the Gauntlet . . . . 
 
 
 307 
 
 Death of Sir Peter Parker 
 
 
 308 
 
 Com us with Frederichsw^rn 
 
 
 314 
 
 Death of Lieut. Hawkey . . . 
 
 
 323 
 
 Mediator with Five Ships . 
 
 
 
 326 
 
 Flamborough and Bideford 
 l'Omphale . 
 
 WITH MalICTEUSE 
 
 ANL 
 
 330 
 
 The Sailor's Bible 
 
 
 
 334 
 
 Southampton and Utile 
 
 
 
 335 
 
 Capture of Amoy . 
 
 
 
 338 
 
 The bold Ee-capture 
 
 
 
 341 
 
 Defence of the Alexander . 
 
 
 
 344 
 
 The Siege of Louisbourg 
 
 
 
 347 
 
 Defence of the Pulteney 
 
 . 
 
 
 352 
 
 Salted Heads . 
 
 . 
 
 
 354 
 
 First of June, 1666 
 
 
 
 357 
 
 Solebay Fight 
 
 
 
 359 
 
 Poor Jack Spratt . 
 
 
 
 362 
 
 The Duchess of Devonshire' 
 
 s Escape 
 
 
 365 
 
 Terpsichore Bowen 
 
 
 
 367 
 
 Sir John Hawkins 
 
 
 
 371 
 
 The Intrepid Boatswain 
 
 . 
 
 
 375 
 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert . 
 
 
 
 377 
 
 The Honour of the Flag 
 
 
 
 380 
 
 Sir John Berry 
 
 
 
 382 
 
DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 SANTA MARGARETTA AND L'AMAZONE. 
 
 At dawn of day on the 29th of July, 1781, the 
 British frigate Santa Margaretta, commanded by 
 Captain EUiot Salter, made sail in chase of a 
 strange sail on the coast of America. On ap- 
 proaching within one mile and a half, she was 
 discovered to be a French frigate of equal force ; 
 and almost at the same moment eight ships of the 
 line were seen bearing down under a crowd of sail. 
 Not much time was lost in deliberation, and, after 
 a short consultation with his officers. Captain 
 Salter wore ship, and turned his back upon the 
 enemy, having not only an enemy but, that which 
 by a sailor is more dreaded, a lee-shore to en- 
 counter. The frigate which he had at first chased, 
 and which far outsailed the rest of the fleet, now in 
 her turn pursued ; but at three o'clock in the after- 
 noon tacked and stood back to rejoin them. As 
 they had by this time lost sight of the large ships 
 from the mast-head — the weather being very clear, 
 and as his officers and men expressed an eager 
 desire to bring the French frigate to action — Cap- 
 tain Salter determined to tack and stand after her 
 
210 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 for that purpose: this being observed by the 
 Frenchman, he instantly re-tacked, in order to 
 accept the daring challenge. Both frigates were 
 of equal force as to number of guns, but the enemy 
 had more men ; her shot were heavier, and she was 
 encouraged by having a fleet at her back ; whereas 
 the British captain ran a risk which even success 
 could hardly justify ; for should his ship meet with 
 those disasters which generally attend an engage- 
 ment, he was almost sure, even if victorious in the 
 single combat, of not escaping from the enemy's ad- 
 vancing fleet. Prudential reasons, however, had no 
 weight with the commander and his gallant crew, 
 and'at five o'clock the action commenced, the two 
 ships being within a cable's length of each other. 
 The French gave the first broadside, while Captain 
 Salter reserved his until he had an opportunity of 
 raking his enemy while wearing ; having succeeded 
 in this, he closed within pistol-shot, at which dis- 
 tance the contest was maintained for an hour and a 
 quarter, when the French frigate was silenced and 
 compelled to strike her colours, and proved to be 
 L'Amazone, of 36 guns and 301 men. Every 
 exertion was now made to repair the damages 
 they had so recently been anxious to effect, and 
 to remove the prisoners from the prize ; but want 
 of boats, and the very shattered condition of the 
 Amazone (she having lost her main and mizen 
 masts) rendered this impracticable in time, sixty- 
 eight prisoners only having been transferred when 
 the Santa Margaretta, at break of the following 
 
SAXTA MARGARETTA AKD L'AIMAZOXE. 211 
 
 day, discovered the whole hostile fleet close upon 
 her. Hitherto she had had the prize in tow, but 
 now, recalling her own men, Captain Salter reluc- 
 tantly ordered the hawser to be cut, and aban- 
 doned her, having previously destroyed all the rig- 
 ging that remained standing. Time and circum- 
 stances only had prevented him from removing 
 all the prisoners and burning her to prevent her 
 recapture. 
 
 Captain Salter, in his official letter, pays a high 
 tribute to the ^' gallant and officer-like conduct of 
 Visconte de Montguiote in leading his ship into 
 action." This officer was killed early in the fight, 
 when the second in command, the Chevalier de 
 Lepine, " did everything that an experienced 
 officer in his situation could possibly do, and did 
 not surrender until himself and all his officers 
 save one, and about half his ship's company, were 
 either killed or wounded," while his masts were so 
 crippled as to be in danger of going over the side 
 every moment, several guns were dismounted, and 
 he had four feet water in the hold— ^^ a situation 
 sufficiently bad to justify to his king and country 
 the necessity of surrender." 
 
 The damages of the English frigate were trifling, 
 and she easily escaped from her pursuers. Her 
 loss in killed and wounded was one officer and four 
 men killed and seventeen wounded; while the 
 French ship, from the statement of her own 
 officers, lost about seventy killed, and between 
 seventv and eighty wounded. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARmG. 
 
 Captain Salter's action claims a proud pre-emi- 
 nence in our naval annals : I can find no similar 
 contest in any of our wars. Captain Bowen, in 
 the Terpsichore, is the nearest approach to it ; but 
 Captain Bowen only suspected the propinquity of 
 a superior force when he engaged the Mahonesa. 
 Captain Salter had seen his foes, and knew they 
 must come down upon him ; but he still persisted, 
 and although complete success did not crown his 
 intrepidity, fortune yet befriended him sufficiently 
 to enable him to carry off, in the shape of prisoners, 
 a substantial proof of what he had effected. 
 
 THE PIRATE SLAVER, 
 
 Some of my readers may remember that a few 
 years since — that is to say, in the year 1832 — the 
 newspapers were full of an atrocious case of piracy 
 and would-be murder. The vessel attacked on 
 the high seas was an American, called the Mexi- 
 can, and belonged to the town of Salem, in Massa- 
 chusetts. The pirates having boarded and pillaged 
 her of a rich freight of dollars, secured, as they 
 thought, the hatches over the crew, and then, 
 having destroyed all her rigging and her only 
 boat, they arranged matters so as to insure the 
 ship taking fire shortly after they quitted her ; but 
 an overruling Providence defeated their murderous 
 intentions : the pirates had neglected securing the 
 cabin skylight, and the crew, as soon as they per- 
 ceived from the silence reigning on deck that their 
 
THE PIRATE SLAVER. 213 
 
 enemies were gone, crept through on deck only 
 just in time to save their lives, and the vessel from 
 destruction. They then by great exertion put 
 their vessel in some order, and succeeded in reach- 
 ing their destination, whence the news of the out- 
 rage was soon bruited far and wide, with a tole- 
 rably minute description of the schooner by which 
 it had been committed. 
 
 Amongst others to whom this intelligence was 
 communicated was Captain Trotter, then com- 
 manding the English ship Curlew on the coast of 
 Africa, who, on reading the account in an Ame- 
 rican newspaper, felt satisfied that a Spanish 
 vessel, called the Panda, then supposed to be lying 
 in the river Nazareth, was the guilty schooner, and 
 he accordingly immediately proceeded in search of 
 her ; and in the prosecution of his object, viz., the 
 capture of the pirates, gave occasion for the enter- 
 prise which brings this narrative within the cata- 
 logue of deeds of naval daring. 
 
 Arriving off the mouth of the river on the night 
 of the 3rd June, 1833, three boats, manned and 
 armed, left the ship, under the command of Cap- 
 tain Trotter in person, and, after a heavy pull, per- 
 ceived about daylight a vessel lying a mile further up 
 the stream : the current was running very strong, 
 and some time elapsed before they got alongside, 
 during which they saw the crew take to their 
 boats, and escape to the shore. Unsuccessful in 
 an attempt to intercept them, the Curlew's boats 
 returned to the deserted vessel, which they found 
 
214 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 with trains laid to the magazines, and matches 
 lighted ; and had it not been for the promptitude 
 of one of the seamen, who jumped below and threw 
 the lighted matches on deck, the boarding-party 
 would have been blown into the air. As it was^ 
 they succeeded in extinguishing the fire ; and 
 although there were no appearances on board to 
 justify the vessel being seized under slave-trade 
 treaties, yet the fact of her desertion by her crew, 
 and their attempt to destroy her, decided Captain 
 Trotter in seizing her as the pirate vessel. But 
 without the capture of the pirates themselves, of 
 whom the presumed captain was one Pedro Gibert, 
 the work was but half effected. As the king or 
 chief of the town of Nazareth refused to surrender 
 them, after an unsuccessful effort to obtain them 
 by force of arms, in which, owing to the magazine 
 of the Panda (for ii^ that vessel they made the 
 attack) blowing up, by which accident they lost 
 many valuable lives, and most of their firearms, 
 Captain Trotter was obliged to retreat and endea- 
 vour to effect his object by stratagem. Returning 
 to Fernando Po, he secured the co-operation of 
 Captain Fatio, of the Princess Elizabeth, a mer- 
 chant vessel ; and placing Mr. Matson, one of his 
 mates, with a party of seamen on board that 
 vessel, in addition to her crew, he despatched her 
 to Nazareth with the avowed object of trading, 
 hoping that some of the pirates, or even the king 
 and his head men might go on board for that pur- 
 pose, and thus be easily detained prisoners. Art? 
 
THE PIRATE SLAVER. 215 
 
 riving in the river, Mr. Matson found the suspicions 
 of the natives were roused, although the Princess 
 Elizabeth looked as unlike a man of- war as any 
 vessel could be, and while many canoes came out 
 to reconnoitre the strange vessel, none could be 
 induced to approach near. Under these circum- 
 stances the only plan to lull suspicion appeared to 
 be to land and ask for a pilot to take the ship to a 
 proper anchorage ; and Mr. Matson accordingly 
 left the vessel disguised as the mate of a merchant 
 vessel, in a red shirt and Scotch cap, with a boat's 
 crew of two trustworthy seamen and two Kroomen, 
 who were instructed to address him as ''Mister" 
 instead of '' Sir," while he more familiarly hailed 
 them as Bill and Jim. Aware of the risk he ran, 
 Mr. Matson, before he left, addressed the following 
 letter to Captain Trotter, which displays so deter- 
 mined a devotion to his duty that it deserves being 
 given at length. It was as follows : — 
 
 " Sir " Cape Lopez, Sept. 24th, 1833. 
 
 " As I am about to proceed on what may 
 possibly prove a dangerous expedition, I have left 
 a few lines to explain what our movements have 
 been. We arrived at our rendezvous on the 20th 
 I left on the 21st ; I arrived here on the 22nd 
 the natives are evidently very suspicious of us 
 several canoes have reconnoitred us, but none 
 would approach the vessel ; therefore I conceive 
 the only way to lull their suspicions is to go on 
 ' shore and ask if they have any trade to make, and 
 
216 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 gain what information I can respecting Don Pedro ; 
 if I see him I shall offer to exchange cloth, &c., for 
 dollars, to induce him to come on board. I shall 
 of course be guided by circumstances, and act to 
 the best of my judgment. If I am detained I 
 think it would be better to trust to chance for an 
 escape, and not sacrifice any more lives in carrying 
 on what would prove an unequal warfare. I hope 
 you will excuse my attempting to give advice, I 
 only request that no lives may be lost on my 
 account. If they think proper to make me suffer 
 the fate of a spy, write to my friends and say I 
 have done my duty. With kind regards to all 
 shipmates, I remain your sincere friend and well- 
 wisher, 
 
 " H. I. Matson. 
 
 «' To Captain Trotter, H.M. Sloop Curlew." 
 
 When he had landed, Mr. Matson's attention 
 was attracted by the gentlemanly appearance of a 
 person, apparently a Spaniard, who was the first 
 to salute him, bestowing upon him at the same 
 time a most scrutinising glance. This was no 
 other than the object of pursuit, Don Pedro 
 Gibert, captain of the Panda. Unsuspecting the 
 man's identity, and unconscious of being himself 
 suspected, Mr. Matson passed on to the king's 
 residence, and stating the professed object of his 
 visit, viz., trade, requested that a pilot might be 
 sent to conduct his vessel to the proper anchorage, 
 
THE PIRATE SLAVER. 217 
 
 and that the king himself would come on board 
 to receive the customary presents. While the 
 interview was going on, several appearances of 
 suspicion arose, but Mr. Matson lulled them all, 
 and left the royal presence accompanied by the 
 king's youthful son and the required pilot. On 
 his return to the beach the same Spaniard met 
 him in company with several others, and asked 
 him to go into a house in the neighbourhood. 
 Then for the first time a suspicion of their identity 
 flashed across Mr. Matson's mind. He hesitated 
 whether to make a dash for the boat or accept the 
 invitation, but resolved on the latter course, and 
 entered boldly. He was most strictly questioned 
 as to the movements of the men-of-war on the 
 coast, and especially of the Curlew ; and his 
 answers being given unreservedly and accurately, 
 and corresponding with the pirate's previous infor- 
 mation on the subject from other sources, their 
 alarm was quieted, and he was permitted to leave 
 unmolested, in company with the prince and pilot, 
 and return to the Elizabeth, where his lengthened 
 absence had given rise to fears for his safety. 
 
 His hostage now secured, Mr. Matson had not 
 long to wait for the Curlew's arrival ; and the next 
 day both vessels stood in, and a formal demand 
 was made for the surrender of the Spaniards. 
 Evasion and delay were resorted to by his sable 
 majesty : on the one hand he was influenced by the 
 threats and promises of the pirates, on the other 
 by the love he felt for his favourite son. Nature 
 
218 DEEDS OF ^AVAL DARING. 
 
 at last triumphed, and Don Pedro and three others 
 of the Panda's crew were sent off in exchange for 
 Prince Narskim, who was dismissed in a complete 
 suit of naval uniform, and full of gratitude for the 
 kindness shown him during his detention. Having 
 thus narrated Mr. Matson's deed of daring, it only 
 remains for me to add that^ thanks to the perse- 
 verance and zeal of Captain Trotter, the greater 
 part of the Panda's crew were taken, and sent to 
 America for trial; where the captain, Pedro Gi- 
 bert ; mate, De Soto ; and five others, were sen- 
 tenced to death. The mate's life was spared, in con- 
 sideration of his having been previously the means 
 of saving the crew of an American vessel, for which 
 action he had received a medal from the Govern- 
 ment, but the remainder were executed. This 
 whole story is full of interest, and will well repay 
 a reference to the pages of the Nautical Maga- 
 zine for 1851, in which the details of the Curlew's 
 eventful cruise, and the capture and trial of the 
 pirate band, are given at much length. 
 
 While writing the above, the. intelligence of 
 Captain Matson's death from yellow fever, while 
 in command of the Highflyer at Barbadoes, has 
 reached this country. Active, enterprising, and a 
 thorough seaman, his loss must be deeply de- 
 plored ; and though there may be many officers 
 in the lists of our Navy to equal, none, we think, 
 will be found to excel him. 
 
DEFENCE OF THE GRAPPLER. 219 
 
 THE GRAPPLER AT THE CHAUSSEZ ISLES. 
 
 The Chaussez Isles, a scattered group of rocks 
 scarcely inhabited, about nine miles from the port 
 of Granville and twenty from the island of Jersey, 
 was, in the month of December, 1803, the scene of 
 the following action, which called forth the admi- 
 ration of the enemy, and was even noticed by 
 Buonaparte, at that time First Consul : — 
 
 The Grappler, being under the command of 
 Lieutenant Abel Wontner Thomas, had been de- 
 spatched by Admiral Sir James Saumarez from 
 Guernsey to Granville with some French prisoners, 
 two women and two old men, vfhom the Admiral 
 was desirous of setting at liberty. On the evening 
 of the 23rd December, the same day that she had 
 sailed from Guernsey, the Grappler encountered a 
 heavy gale of wind, which made it necessary for 
 Lieutenant Thomas to seek such shelter as could 
 be found amongst the Chaussez rocks, under the 
 largest of which — ^the Maitre isle — a sort of anchor- 
 age existed, available however only to small vessels 
 in the hands of experienced pilots. The Grappler's 
 pilot succeeded in taking her in in safety, and the 
 continuance of the gale compelled her to remain 
 at that anchorage for some days ; a delay rendered 
 very hazardous from their propinquity to the French 
 coast, since they were liable to attack from the 
 superior forces that might at any time be sent from 
 the neighbouring port of Granville. The same 
 
220 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 gale, however, which detained them at Chaussez, 
 also befriended them by preventing the French 
 from leaving the protection of their harbour ; but 
 at length the weather moderating sufficiently to 
 enable the brig to return to Guernsey (although it 
 was still too boisterous to trust her on the lee shore 
 of the French coast). Lieutenant Thomas, on the 
 30th December, prepared to leave his retreat, 
 landing his prisoners on the island by their own 
 choice, and leaving them a boat and six days' pro- 
 visions. Unfortunately, when the brig was getting 
 under weigh, both anchors being up, a hawser 
 made fast to the rocks, by which she was riding, 
 either broke or slipped, and the brig, carried by the 
 tide, drifted for a few hundred yards and then 
 struck upon a half-tide rock. Every effort was 
 made to heave her off, but without effect ; and as 
 the tide fell the Grappler parted in two amidship. 
 Aware that in all probability his misfortune must 
 have been seen by his enemies, who would now 
 hasten to the attack, Mr. Thomas first directed his 
 master to proceed to Jersey in the cutter, with 
 eight men, to seek immediate assistance, whilst he 
 prepared to maintain his position upon the rocks 
 with the remainder of the crew, thirty-four in 
 number. By his activity and perseverance he 
 succeeded in a short time in removing from the 
 wreck three of his guns, which he established in 
 battery, and they had already landed the greater 
 part of the provisions, small arms, and ammuni- 
 tion, when the look-out man who had been stationed 
 
DEFENCE OF THE GRAPPLER. 221 
 
 for the purpose reported that several small vessels 
 were steering for the rocks. Lieutenant Thomas 
 and the pilot observed them narrowly, and made 
 out that they were only fishing-boats ; and as it 
 was most necessary that their situation, which they 
 had hoped was still unknown, should not be com- 
 municated to the authorities at Granville, proceeded 
 in the cutter with fourteen men to secure and 
 detain these boats. Scarcely, however, had he 
 rounded the rocks which formed the anchorage, 
 when he came close upon three chasse-marees full 
 of men, of whose proximity he was quite ignorant, 
 but of whose object and intentions there could be 
 no doubt. Although such a desperate step pre- 
 sented but small chance of success, Lieutenant 
 Thomas, as he perceived they were rather confused 
 at his sudden appearance, determined on being the 
 aggressor, and if he could obtain possession of one, 
 employ her against the other two. Animating his 
 men, he advanced boldly to the attack, when an 
 unexpected fire was opened on the boat by a body of 
 soldiers who had been previously landed from the 
 rocks immediately above their heads, and before they 
 had pulled a dozen strokes, a musket-ball struck the 
 Lieutenant, passing through his lower jaw and 
 tongue, and rendering him incapable of further 
 exertion or giving any orders. The boat's crew 
 now made for the shore, closely followed by their 
 enemy, who soon made prisoner of the wounded 
 officer, and afterwards proceeded to summon the 
 remainder of the crew to surrender. These, left 
 
222 DEEDS OF KAVAL DARING. 
 
 without any commanding officer, after a little firing 
 yielded themselves to the French force, consisting 
 of 160 men, under the orders of M. Epiron, 
 Capitaine de Fregate. The French officer, in his 
 despatch, speaks of the noble and gallant conduct 
 of Captain Thomas ; and the First Consul, in con- 
 sequence, directed that Captain Thomas's sword, 
 which had formerly belonged to Tippoo Saib, should 
 be returned to him, and that it should be con- 
 sidered as a sword of honour, and he should be 
 allowed to wear it while a prisoner at Verdun. 
 Captain Epiron did not confine his attention to his 
 gallant prisoner to words alone, for having been 
 himself taken by the English shortly after this affair 
 and subsequently exchanged, his first step was to 
 place his purse at Mr. Thomas's command, with 
 the simple understanding that he was to be repaid 
 a.t the termination of that officer's captivity. 
 
 As soon as the loss of the Grappler and the 
 capture of her commander and crew was commu- 
 nicated to Admiral Sir J. Saumarez, he sent to 
 demand their liberation, on the plea that they were 
 sailing under a flag of truce, as conveying liberated 
 prisoners. The first impulse of the authorities at 
 Granville seems to have been to acquiesce with 
 this demand, being in all probability in some 
 degree touched by the gallantry and sufferings of 
 their prisoner, for Lieutenant Thomas was in- 
 formed that he would soon be set at liberty. On 
 reference, however, to Paris, the French Minister 
 of Marine decided against the Admiral's demand, 
 
CAPTURE OF THE FIRME. 
 
 on the ground that Mr. Thomas forfeited all the 
 protection which the laws of war afforded to a flag 
 of truce by commencing the attack on the French 
 flotilla, instead of claiming their assistance ; and 
 ten years of weary imprisonment was, therefore, his 
 fate. The Admiralty marked their sense of his 
 gallantry by promoting him to the rank of Com- 
 mander after his honourable acquittal by court 
 martial, and the citizens of London voted him a 
 sword of the value of 200 guineas. Commander 
 Thomas died in July of the present year 1851, 
 after long years of unceasing suffering. 
 
 CAPTURE OF THE FIRME. 
 
 At daylight on Sunday, the 30th May, 1841, a 
 suspicious brigantine was observed from the deck 
 of the Dolphin, then cruizing off Whydah for the 
 suppression of the slave trade. All sail was imme- 
 diately made in cliace, and the Dolphin, having the 
 land-wind strong in her favour, at first gained so 
 much on the stranger as to get sight of her hull ; 
 but as the breeze died away the other again fast 
 increased her distance, and there was every fear 
 that as soon as the sea-breeze sprung up she would 
 get clear away. The Commander of the man-of-war, 
 therefore, at half-past six o'clock, despatched the 
 cutter, a boat of 20 feet, under Mr. Murray, mate, and 
 the gig, of 22 feet, under Mr. Rees, second master, 
 with orders to endeavour to get up with and 
 
224 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 detain her before the setting in of the sea-breeze, 
 which usually springs up between nine and ten 
 o'clock. The night had been rainy^ accompanied 
 with squalls, so that the crew had been kept 
 constantly at work trimming sails ; and when the 
 men thus started without their breakfasts, in two 
 boats sodden with constant use and pulling very 
 heavily, they were consequently already fatigued ; 
 but the sailor's energy seldom flags, and this 
 occasion proved no exception to the general rule. 
 In the cutter were nine persons, including the 
 officer, and in the gig six. The chace had lasted 
 nearly three hours under a burning tropical sun, 
 when the boats having hoisted their colours got 
 tolerably close, the gig being a short distance in 
 advance of the cutter and within range of the brigan- 
 tine. Not a soul was to be seen on board of the latter 
 but the helmsman, when suddenly her bulwarks 
 bristled with muskets, and a rattling volley was 
 fired into the gig, the crew of which w^as ordered to 
 lie on their oars and return the compliment, which 
 they did accompanied with three hearty cheers. 
 They then again got their oars out, and pulled a 
 little further off, to wait until the other boat 
 came up, not out of shot, but to a sufficient dis- 
 tance, to prevent the men being picked olF. The 
 cutter soon closed, and Mr. Murray having spoken 
 a few encouraging words to the boats' crews, they 
 gave way with a will. The first of the sea-breeze 
 was just setting in, and the brigantine made an 
 attempt to run the boats down ; her sweeps were 
 
CAPTURE OF THE FIRi\IE. 225 
 
 rigged out to prevent their getting alongside, and a 
 smart fire was maintained from the npper deck and 
 two cabin windows. The boats advanced together 
 cheering heartily, and as the stern of the ve^el 
 lifted with the swell, they ran in under the two 
 aftermost sweeps, one on each side. At this 
 moment the bowman of the gig, William Allen, 
 was shot through the heart in the act of laying his 
 oar in, and the bowman of the cutter, William Jacobs, 
 met with a similar fate and went overboard. Mr. 
 Murray was on the brigantine's deck almost as 
 soon as his boat touched her side, but Avas knocked 
 back again with his collar-bone broken by the butt- 
 end of a musket ; again he clambered up and 
 received a cutlass cut upon his left arm, which 
 nearly severed the hand at the wrist, while he for- 
 tunately parried a desperate blow aimed at the same 
 time at his head, and struck down his assailant. 
 John Smith, an old and first-rate seaman, had 
 closely supported his officer during the melee^ 
 and although his right arm was disabled and badly 
 fractured by the blow of a cutlass, he continued 
 to defend himself with his sword in his left hand 
 against three men who pressed him hardly. Mean- 
 while Mr. Eees had cleared the bulwarks on the 
 opposite side of the deck, and now advanced most 
 opportunely to Mr. Murray's assistance, wounding 
 one of his assailants and running another through 
 the body, while the third, who fled precipitately, 
 was brought down by a flying shot. The gig's 
 crew having devoted their energies to a portion 
 
 Q 
 
226 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 of the slaver's crew who had been lying in 
 ambush under the port bulwarks, and who fled 
 from the onset of their determined assailants, now 
 united with their comrades from the cutter, made 
 a rush, evidently meaning mischief, upon the 
 slaver's crew, who discharged their remaining 
 loaded muskets, and jumped down the hatchways, 
 leaving the Dolphins (of whom two were killed 
 and four wounded), after a sharp fight of twenty 
 minutes, in possession of the Firme, a beautiful 
 vessel of 179 tons. 
 
 From the passengers, of whom there were ten on 
 board the Firme, Mr. Murray learned that the 
 captain and crew of the slave-vessel had deter- 
 mined never to be taken by a man-of-war's boats, 
 and had paid the greatest attention to their arms 
 during their passage, though, a.s the sequel proved, 
 with but little avail. 
 
 PRESENCE OF MIND. 
 
 The daring of the British seaman in the face 
 of the enemy, and in the fierce struggle of the 
 tempest, has been described, and it now remains to 
 give an instance of his coolness and presence of 
 mind in grappling in the dark hours of night, and 
 when suddenly aroused from his peaceful slumber, 
 with that most appalling and invidious foe — fire. 
 Fire, the very thought of which is sufficient to 
 make the boldest grow pale, even when, as on land, 
 there may be a place of retreat from the devouring 
 
PRESENCE OF MIND. 227 
 
 element, is so much the more to be dreaded on the 
 wide ocean, where the only chance of life lies in 
 successfully combating Avith this treacherous enemy ; 
 and therefore, unless discipline and courage pre- 
 vail, panic and despair increase the danger. In the 
 year 1831, the ship's corporal of H. M. S. Magi- 
 cienne, then many hundred miles from land, at 
 4*30 A.M., in the early morning watch, on going 
 his rounds, smelt, or fancied he smelt, fire in 
 the fore cockpit, and on descending the cockpit 
 ladder ascertained the correctness of his fears, 
 finding the foresail-room to be on fire immediately 
 over the magazine. Discipline liad here a great 
 triumph, for the man made no alarm on the lower 
 deck amongst the sleeping crew, but, in accordance 
 with orders, quietly made his report to the ofiicer 
 of the watch, who, in his turn, communicated it to 
 the commander, Captain (now Admiral) Plum- 
 ridge. Without staying to dress himself, the 
 captain jumped on deck, and coolly gave the orders 
 to sound the fire-roll and beat to quarters, and at 
 the time, probably thinking of Admiral Corn- 
 wallis's ruse^ in the face of the French fieet, 
 he sent a hand aloft to see if he saw a ship to 
 leeward : on his answering in the negative, the 
 captain replied, " You do, sir ; I can see her." 
 Then, turning round to the man at the helm, 
 '^ Do you see that ship, sir ? " The poor fellow, 
 afraid to say no, answered in the affirmative. 
 *'' Then put the helm up and keep towards her." 
 
 * See * Deeds of Naval Daring,' First Series, p. 110. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARESTG. 
 
 By this time the word had passed, " Fire in the fore- 
 sail-room." Every man and officer was at his respec- 
 tive station ; sail-trimmers shortened and trimmed 
 sails ; and sentries were under arms over the boats ; 
 all hands remained steadily at their quarters ; 
 pumps, engines, and buckets were worked with 
 more than mortal energy, and the water rushed 
 down on the devouring element to an extent that 
 must either have extinguished it or swamped 
 the ship. The party whose duty necessitated 
 them to be where the fire was^ notwithstanding 
 their perilous position, immediately over the maga- 
 zine — the light-room, where the fire originated, 
 being already destroyed and the flames within three 
 inches of the powder — cleared the burning sail-room 
 with all that energy and self-possession peculiar to 
 British seamen in such emergencies when com- 
 manded by a rigid and determined disciplinarian. 
 More than ten minutes had not elapsed from the 
 time the drum beat to quarters till all was over, 
 and the gallant "craft,''' under all canvas, again 
 pursuing her course. So quietly was everything 
 managed, that those '^ sail-trimmers " at the after 
 quarter^ never knew that the ship was actually on 
 fire, but merely thought it a sham for exercise. 
 Not a man or sail-trimmer was allowed to look 
 round, or speak, or whisper to his neighbour. The 
 piercing eye of the captain wa-s upon them, who, 
 in his bedgown, walked the deck with his arms 
 folded ; his step as firm and features as composed 
 as if he had been parading the quarter-deck of the 
 
PEESEXCE OF MIXD. 229 
 
 guardship in Portsmouth Harbonr. Xo one, save 
 the captain, first lieutenant, and corporal, knew 
 the ship to be on fire until every man was at his 
 station. How lonof the fire had been burnino- was 
 never ascertained. Suffice it to say, had it not been 
 for the corporal discovering it at the moment he 
 did, the ship would have been blown up, and 
 every soul on board unconsciously hurried into 
 eternity ; and it was equally fortunate that, tvhen 
 discovered, the ship was commanded by a man 
 possessing all the firmness, coolness, and presence 
 of mind requisite to control and direct on such an 
 awful occasion. Had the corporal, instead of act- 
 ing according to the orders on the fire-bill, given 
 the alarm of " Fire in the foresail-room," those in 
 their hammocks would have been so panic-stricken, 
 knowing the proximity of the sail-room to the 
 magazine, that neither threats nor persuasion of 
 any description would have tended to recall their 
 self-possession. To leave the ship would have 
 been impossible ; the quarter-boats might have 
 been lowered, but the large boats in-board were 
 lashed and secured for sea, so that the crew could 
 scarcely have made an attempt to clear them be- 
 fore the fire would have reached the powder in 
 the magazine. There was but one alternative- 
 make a desperate effort to subdue the flames — they 
 did so, and were successful. A splendid ship and a 
 gallant crew were saved by the force of discipline. 
 It may be remarked that the order given to the 
 man at the helm to " steer direct for that ship/^ 
 
230 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARma 
 
 had a considerable effect on the spirits of those who 
 knew the worst of the case ; they, no doubt, imagin- 
 ing all the while that there was a ship to escape 
 to should their efforts to extinguish the fire fail. 
 
 This anecdote was given to the public in the 
 columns of the daily press when the destruction of 
 the West India steam-packet Amazon was fresh on 
 the minds of the public, and was brought forward 
 to show the advantage of perfect discipline and 
 obedience to command on such trying emergencies. 
 
 COLPOYS AND THE MUTINY AT SPITHEAD. 
 
 The general mutiny of our seamen, both at the 
 Nore and Spithead, in 1797, exhibited many fine 
 traits of the British naval character, both in officers 
 and men ; the latter displaying great patriotism 
 and moderation in the exaction of what they ima- 
 gined to be their just demands, when it might have 
 been reasonably feared they would have been carried 
 away by the intoxication of lawless success — while 
 the former, though surrounded by mutineers, still 
 endeavoured to maintain their position by an 
 undaunted presence — which, such is the effect 
 of habits of discipline, in some cases proved suc- 
 cessful ; and in very few instances was insult or 
 personal injury offered to those who thus boldly 
 asserted their authority. 
 
 The mutiny at Spithead, and some of its attend- 
 ant circumstances, is that to which I more par- 
 
COLPOYS AXD THE MUTIXY AT SPITHEAD. 231 
 
 ticulaiiy draw attention, since the behaviour of the 
 Admiral, Sir John Colpoys, and the misguided 
 crew of the " London " afford evidence of the cha- 
 racteristic traits to which I have alluded. This 
 mutiny, which preceded by a few days that at the 
 Nore, had been apparently quieted by concessions to 
 the demands of the seamen, and the greater part of 
 ihe fleet had dropped down to St. Helen's, leaving 
 the London at Spithead. While in this position 
 the officers of the London perceived symptoms of 
 an outbreak amongst the ships at St. Helen's, and 
 having communicated the fact to the Vice-Ad- 
 miral, he called his crew together, and addressing 
 them in a few energetic words, persuaded them to 
 take no share in it, and to go below. When there, 
 however, and released from the influence of their 
 commander's presence and words, the bad spirits 
 again prevailed, and the approach of boats from 
 the mutinous ships excited them to endeavour to 
 force their way upon deck : a contest consequently 
 ensued between them and their officers, who, 
 trusting to the fidelity of the marines, resisted 
 their attempts. Shots were exchanged, and several 
 lives were lost, when the marines, with the excep- 
 tion of two foreigners, having laid down their 
 arms, no further resistance was offered to the 
 mutineers, who, forcing the hatchways and as- 
 sembling on the gangways, tumultuously ap- 
 proached the quarter-deck, where the admiral and 
 his officers stood prepared for the worst, yelling out 
 " Blood for blood !" and as a further excitement to 
 
232 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 vengeance, many of the men came on deck smeared 
 with the blood of their comrades who had fallen below. 
 The delegates from the other ships, who were now 
 mingled with them, encouraged them in this cry ; 
 muskets were at the same time pointed at the 
 small knot of officers, and numerous voices were 
 heard calling out to fire, while others were as 
 vehemently raised to avert that catastrophe. 
 
 The conduct of Sir John Colpoys at this awful 
 moment has often been cited as an instance of 
 calmness and self-possession ; and to the fact of his 
 thus meeting his assailants face to face without 
 flinching must be attributed the preservation of 
 himself and his officers. His official letter to the 
 Admiralty, written on the same day, and in ex- 
 pectation of immediate death, gives a concise 
 and interesting account of the whole proceeding, 
 and is as follows : — 
 
 Letter from Vice-Admiral John Colpoys to 
 ^van Nepean^ Esq, 
 
 4C Qjo ** London, Spithead, May 8th, 1797. 
 
 " I request, should this letter be allowed to 
 reach your hands, that you will acquaint the Lords 
 Commissioners of the Admiralty of the following 
 circumstances, which it appears to me should be 
 known to their Lordships and the public, as a 
 justification of my conduct in the unfortunate event 
 which took place on board here yesterday ; and I 
 trust that their Lordships, and the community at 
 
COLPOYS AND THE MUTINY AT SPITHEAD. 283 
 
 large, will do me the justice to believe that my 
 conduct has not proceeded from hasty or tyrannical 
 motives, but that my only guide has been the ful- 
 filling my duty as a servant of my king and coun- 
 try : and this I can now solemnly declare, and 
 mean to do at my last moments, should the poor 
 misguided men who are to be my judges allow me 
 to say so much to them, and which I am inclined 
 to think they will, as they really paid unexpected 
 attention to me, even at a moment when nothing 
 was to be looked for but overboiling rage and fury 
 at seeing several of their wounded and dying ship- 
 mates weltering in their blood ; even then I say, 
 though armed with all manner of missive weapons, 
 they gave me a hearing, which certainly saved 
 Lieut. Bover's life, though the rope was about his 
 neck ; and, indeed, when taken from his, I expected 
 it would have been placed about mine. This 
 irregular preamble will, I trust, meet with their 
 Lordships' indulgence, which I only trouble them 
 with in hopes of relieving my memory from dis- 
 graceful reflections, which a censorious world may 
 be too much disposed to bestow on an officer who 
 has been the unfortunate, but, I trust, the innocent, 
 cause of shedding the blood of his shipmates. 
 About one o'clock p.m. on Sunday, the 7th of 
 May, Captain Griffith came into my cabin, and 
 said, ' Sir, I am very sorry to acquaint you that 
 everything appears as wrong as ever with the fleet 
 lying at St. Helen's, where the boats are assem- 
 bling, and the yard-ropes reeved as formerly/ 
 
231^ DEEDS OF NAYAL DAREs^G. 
 
 I immediately desired he would go on deck, turn 
 all hands up, and let me know when they were 
 there. As soon as they Yfere aft, I went on the 
 quarter-deck, and told them that I supposed they 
 knew what was going forward at St. Helen's. They 
 one and all assured me they did not. ^ Very well, 
 then, let me know if you have any grievances re- 
 maining.' The answer was, ^ No ; none.' ' Have 
 you not had everything granted, nay, more than 
 you expected, by the Admiralty V ' Yes, yes,' was 
 the word. ^This being the case, I now pledge 
 myself, if you will follow my advice, that you shall 
 not get into any disgrace with your brethren 
 in the fleet, as I shall become responsible for 
 your conduct : therefore my first wish is that 
 you hoist all the boats in, then secure the lower 
 deck guns and ports, and afterwards every blue 
 jacket to remain quietly below : that I should get 
 the marines and officers under arms.' All which 
 was done. The officers and marines (who had all 
 given us reason to suppose they meant to stand by 
 us) were dispersed about different parts of the 
 quarter-deck, poop, forecastle, and main deck. 
 When the boats of the fleet approached the Marl- 
 borough, then lying to the westward, our people 
 below began to make a stir, and showed a dis- 
 position for coming up, which the officers at the 
 hatchways prevented ; they then began to unlash 
 the middle-deck guns, point them aft and up the 
 hatchways, and on the officers calling to me, and 
 saying that the men were forcing their way up, and 
 
COLrOYS AND THE MUTINY AT SPITHEAD. 285 
 
 must they prevent them by firing on them? I 
 said, ' Yes certainly ; they must not be allowed to 
 come up til] I order them.' Soon after, the con- 
 fusion increased, and some shots were exchanged 
 from the officers on deck and the men on the 
 hatchways ; the marines began to throw down 
 their arms, and make way for the men to come up^ 
 a:^d numbers having succeeded, in order to prevent 
 any more shedding of blood, Avhich would have 
 been unavailmg against such numbers, I ordered 
 all firing to cease, and desired the officers to retire 
 aft, and the men to come to me. Many of them 
 did so, and the general cry w^as ' for Lieut. Bover,' 
 w^ho was immediately seized and carried forward 
 on the forecastle, and as soon as a yard -rope could 
 be rove they began to place it about his neck :^' at 
 which moment, fortunately, Mr. Smith, our sur- 
 geon, of whom they have justly a very high 
 opinion, got them to allow me to be heard. By 
 this time, also, the men of the other ships (called 
 their delegates) had got on board, and forward on 
 our forecastle, and I was heard. What I had to 
 say was, ^ that if anybody was culpable for what 
 happened on that day, it was myself; for that Mr. 
 Bover only obeyed my orders, and that I only did 
 my duty.' This seemed to irritate them not a 
 little : but at length, when I assured them that I 
 had ever felt it my duty to resist such proceedings, 
 
 * A story obtained some currency that Admiral Colpoys actually 
 placed his head in the noose prepared for the lieutenant : this he cer- 
 tainly did, figuratively, though not in reality. 
 
236 DEEDS OF ^^AYAL DARING. 
 
 but more especially just now, having received very 
 recent instructions and orders from their Lordships 
 for the conduct of officers towards the men : they 
 ■ one and all laughed at the word ' orders/ and de- 
 fied me to produce any such, which I said I could 
 do if they would allow me to go down to the cabin 
 for them, and which, after much hesitation, was 
 gTanted. Some men being allowed to attend me, 
 I went down, and purposely delayed finding my 
 keys, in hopes that a little time might bring them 
 to cool reflection, and God knows it was a most 
 doubtful moment for such a hope, as many of them 
 seemed very much intoxicated, and which had not 
 been the case in any former part of their mutinies. 
 On returning to the forecastle I found they had 
 taken the rope from Mr. Bover's neck, which gave 
 me some hopes for him, but I must own, from 
 their countenances, none for myself However, 
 before I began to read my orders they for the 
 most part agreed to lay down their arms, and put 
 them in safety. Having read them, they said they 
 must have them to consider of, and read over ; that 
 I must retire, be put under confinement, also my 
 captain and Mr. Bover, but all to be separate. I 
 assured them their orders should be strictly obeyed, 
 and that I pledged myself to them that I never meant 
 to be base enough to quit the ship, and leave ofiicers 
 in the lurch who had only done their duty in obey- 
 ing my orders. The answer from them was, ' We 
 shall show, as we have power, that we can use it with 
 discretion.' I only requested of them to be quick in 
 
COLPOYS AND THE MUTINY AT SPITHEAD. 237 
 
 their determinations, and not to let the service of 
 the country suffer for any faults of mine, and begged 
 them to remember once for all that blame belonged 
 only to me. This, sir, I solemnly declare, is the 
 whole that passed, and on which I shall make no 
 comments, only trust their Lordships will feel, as 
 I did, that, to save the life of a most valuable 
 young officer, Lieut. Bover, I am justified in hav- 
 ing given up their orders ; and I do trust, feeling 
 as I do, that a man cannot sacrifice his life in any 
 better cause than that of fulfilling his duty to his 
 country, that their Lordships will not, to save that of 
 an individual like me, suffer themselves to be driven 
 into any improper compliance by a set of poor 
 misguided men. As yet I have no reason to com- 
 plain of my treatment. To-day Captain Owen's 
 brother (one of our mates) is confined in irons, 
 many of the people declaring he has shown 
 himself too bitter against them. Captain Owen, 
 who has been a passenger on board here, and was 
 formerly first lieutenant of this ship, is under con- 
 finement, but allowed to remain with me : the 
 doctor and chaplain are also allowed to come to 
 me, without any witnesses being by ; and from the 
 great confidence the people have so justly in those 
 two gentlemen, I am willing to hope for a happy 
 termination of this disagreeable business, which I 
 trust has not been brought forward by any prema- 
 ture or improper proceedings on my part. 
 
 "' I shall now close this, probably my last, address 
 to their Lordships, in full confidence that they in 
 
238 DEEDS OF IS^AVAL DARIXG. 
 
 their wisdom will make that use of it which has 
 suggested my troubling them with it, in order to 
 justify my conduct to the moderate and well- 
 disposed. — I have the honour to remain. Sir, with 
 much regard, your most obedient and most humble 
 
 ^^'^''^'^^^ '^ John Colpoys, 
 
 '^ I close in a hurry, having a dawn of hope that 
 I may find a proper conveyance for this." 
 
 The finale of the affair is very creditable to the 
 London's crew, for the Admiral and all the officers 
 were landed without injury. When the question 
 was raised as to handing the officers over to the civil 
 power to take their trial for the blood shed, boats 
 v/ere sent from the other ships to forbid their being 
 landed; but the London's men persisted in their 
 resolution, and announced that they were prepared 
 to repel force by force if any attempt should be 
 made to harm their officers. They had decided, 
 after much deliberation, " that the officers in firing 
 '' on them could do no otherwise, having only 
 " obeyed the AdmiraFs orders, and that although 
 " the Admiral, who had formerly been their friend, 
 '' was now become their enemy, his life should be 
 '' spared, as it would be no compensation for the 
 " valuable ones taken away by his orders." 
 
 ESPOIR WITH LIGUEIA. 
 
 The following despatch gives the details of one 
 of the earliest actions in the late war, to which the 
 
ESPOm WITH LIGURIA. 239 
 
 honour of a medal has, after the lapse of more than 
 fifty years, been awarded by her present Majesty ; 
 the letter is addressed to Lord St. Vincent, then 
 Commander-in-Chief off Cadiz, who, in transmit- 
 ting it to the Admiralty, styles it an action '' which 
 reflects such lustre upon his Majesty's arms that 
 too much cannot be said in praise of it." 
 
 " Gibraltar, H. M. Sloop L'Espoir. 
 
 "My Lord, 
 " I have the honour to acquaint your Lordship, 
 having under my charge part of the Oran convoy, 
 I, on the 7th instant, at about 5 p.m., discovered 
 a large ship seemingly steering to cut off the con- 
 voy, or for Malaga, Cape Windmill bearing N.E. 
 by N. four or five leagues. If she proved an enemy, 
 I saw the preservation of the convoy depended 
 upon my opposing her ; I therefore ha^uled out from 
 them and made all sail to meet her. A little before 
 7 P.M., perceiving her to be a man-of-war, and hove- 
 to to receive me, I hoisted our colours, that we 
 mio^ht know each other, beinq; then within musket 
 shot ; she did not think proper to display hers, but 
 when we came upon her weather quarter hailed, 
 which I answered ; then she asked in Italian what 
 brig is that, to which we replied in English, ' What 
 ship is that ? ' He then ordered me in a very im- 
 perious manner, and in good English, to 'go to 
 leeward of him and strike, or he would sink me ;' 
 and without any further ceremony began about it, 
 first firing one shot into us, and instantly after his 
 whole broadside ; which we returned with double 
 
240 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARINa. 
 
 shotted guns, round and grape, and continued a 
 very heavy fire of great guns and small arms on 
 both sides till ahout f past 10 P.M., when we had 
 the satisfaction to hear him call for quarter, ^ beg- 
 ging of us not to fire any more— he was a Genoese.' 
 I told him again we were a British man-of-war, and 
 ordered him to lower all his sails and come on 
 board of me : he said he would. I told him again 
 not to hesitate, but to do it instantly, or I would 
 do my best to sink him ; to which remonstrance he 
 paid no attention, but kept shooting up to gain a 
 situation to rake us : we brought our broadside to 
 bear, and thinking him too big to be trifled with, gave 
 it to him with its full force — double shotted every 
 one — which I believe sickened him, although he 
 returned it, for on our shooting ahead and tacking 
 to give him the other, he again cried out, ^ beg- 
 ging us not to fire again, that he was badly wounded, 
 but would obey my orders immediately,' and on his 
 lowering his sails all firing ceased at about 11 p.m. ; 
 but on his men not hoisting his boat out I again 
 hailed him ; he then said all his boats were shot 
 to pieces. I told him I would send him one, and 
 to make no delay ; which I did, a prize-boat that the 
 master's mate was in (Mr. Trinder), who gallantly, 
 when he saw us engaged, pushed alongside with 
 the people, a reinforcement much wanted, as the 
 Lieutenant was away with a party of men in a 
 Greek corn vessel. When the Captain of her (Don 
 Francis de Orso) came on board, he said he took 
 us for an Algerine — an excuse without a reason, and 
 
ESPOIR AVITH LIGURIA. 241 
 
 shows his nitention was to sink or take us : if the 
 latter, he would have hoisted French colours and 
 carried us in triumph to Malaga. This, my Lord, 
 I am well convinced of, for why hail a Turk in 
 English? why not hoist his colours during the 
 action ? Why should he think proper to blind him- 
 self (for blind he must be), not to see ours ; and 
 wdiat reason could they have the day after they 
 struck to take the advantage of a heavy squall and 
 our reefing to put before the wind, and making all 
 spjl for Malaga, encouraging the people to fight us 
 again, and other manoeuvres, which prove him to 
 be nothing Ijut a pirate ? After encountering many 
 difficulties we brought him safe in, the 10th 
 instant. I have secured him in the mole and his 
 men in the prison ship, waiting your Lordship's 
 orders, and hoping, as far as I have acted, to meet 
 v/ith your Lordship's approbation. The vessel is 
 called the Liguria, a Dutch frigate, sold to the 
 Genoese, and mounting* twelve 18-pounders, four 
 12-pounders, ten 6-pounders, twelve long wall 
 pieces, and 4 swivels, with 120 men on board, of 
 all nations, is now armed en flute, wdth a valuable 
 cargo from Lisbon, bound to Genoa. 
 
 ^' It would give me infinite pleasure if I could 
 close this without having to inform your Lordship 
 that the first hour of the action I lost my master, 
 Mr. Solesby : a loss I felt most severely, for he was 
 brave with the neatest coolness, and knew his 
 
 The Espoir's armament was fourteen six-pounders. 
 
 R 
 
242 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 duty well. I had six men wounded, two badly. The 
 Liguria had seven killed and fourteen wounded. 
 Among them the boatswain was killed and the 
 first captain badly wounded. 
 
 '' No panegyric of mine can be of service to 
 either the warrant officers or men, for the great 
 disparity between the vessels shows that, had not 
 each arm been strung with British nerves, we must 
 have fallen a sacrifice to these pirates, or whatever 
 else they may be. The service is much indebted to 
 the spirited conduct of Captain Brown (28th regi- 
 ment), who happened to be on board, by his ani- 
 mation, inspiring all around, and by his attention 
 to the guns, claiming no small share in gaining the 
 victory. Nor would I do justice if I did not beg leave 
 in the strongest terms to recommend to your Lord- 
 ship's notice Mr. Hemphill (the purser), who, with 
 my leave, came up from below, where he was sta- 
 tioned, and by his assiduity in attending to the guns, 
 saved me much ; as, after the loss of the master, 
 my attention was more particularly required in 
 manoeuvring the helm and sails. I am yours, &c. 
 
 " (Signed) Edward Bland. 
 
 "H.M. Sloop L'Espoir, 18th August, 1798.'' 
 
 A DOUGLAS DIES. 
 
 In the year 1667, when the Dutch destroyed 
 our ships in the Medway, filling the breasts of the 
 inhabitants of London with alarm and dismay, one 
 
THE CHALLEXGE. 243 
 
 gallant heart, true to his heroic name, perished for 
 his country's cause. Captain Douglas, of the Eoyal 
 Oak, having defended his ship with the greatest 
 obstinacy, in pursuance of the orders he had re- 
 ceived, 'Ho maintain his post to the last extremity," 
 at length found his ship in flames from stem to 
 stern, the enemy having succeeded in firing her ; 
 his crew, finding further resistance useless, retreated 
 to the shore, and Captain Douglas was urged to 
 accompany them : he replied that he had no com- 
 mands to retire, and ''that it should never be 
 said a Douglas had quitted his post mthout orders ;" 
 and thus resolutely continued on board and was 
 burnt with the ship, falling a sacrifice to discipline 
 and obedience to command, and setting an example 
 worthy all Greek or Roman fame. 
 
 THE CHALLENGE. 
 
 In the Chronicles of the year 1760 I find an 
 example of those naval challenges which have been 
 more often given than accepted, questions of policy 
 or prudence having generally checked the first im- 
 pulse of brave men to hazard everything in a contest 
 from which there was no retreat ; and in this instance 
 there was no departure from the general rule : in- 
 deed, save in the case of the young Captain Byron, 
 whose action has been alluded to in the notice of his 
 father, the " Foul-weather Jack " of naval history, 
 and in the still more memorable contest of more re- 
 
 R 2 
 
244 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 cent date, viz. that of the Shannon and Chesapeake;, 
 one so well known to the present generation that I 
 have not repeated it, it is difficult to call to mind 
 any case of bona fide challenge given and accepted. 
 In the autumn of 1759, when Monsieur Thurot 
 was preparing for his descent on the coast of Ire- 
 land, he was blockaded in the port of Ostend by 
 the Argo, a frigate of 28 guns, under the command 
 of Captain Fisher, assisted by some smaller vessels. 
 The gallant captain, while thus employed in ob- 
 serving his enemy, sent a message to the governor 
 of the place, '' that as the King his master was not 
 at war with the house of Austria he expected to 
 be supplied with refreshments from Ostend, al- 
 though it was garrisoned with French troops, 
 otherwise he would make prize of every vessel 
 belonging to the place that might venture to come 
 out of the harbour. No notice having been taken 
 of his message he proceeded to put his threat in 
 execution, and detained some fishing-boats. The 
 Governor now, finding that Captain Fisher was in 
 earnest, sent out a flag of truce, with complimen- 
 tary assurances that his request should be com- 
 plied with, and the English frigate thenceforth 
 received daily supplies from the shore. In the 
 course of this correspondence, the French Com- 
 mander, whose frigate of 30 guns, was, as I have 
 said, lying in the harbour, sent notice to Captain 
 Fisher that if he would dismiss his small craft, and 
 give his honour that none of the squadron under 
 Admiral Boys should interfere in the contest^ he 
 
THE CHALLENGE. ' 245 
 
 would next day come out and give him battle. 
 Captain Fislier desired the messenger to tell M. 
 Thurot that he would dismiss the cutters, and not 
 only give his word, but even an officer as hostage 
 for the performance of his guarantee, that he should 
 not be assisted by any of the Commodore's squa- 
 dron, which lay seven or eight leagues to leeward, 
 but that he would engage him singly at a minute's 
 warning. Burning with excitement, the English 
 Captain accordingly made the ship ready for the 
 expected engagement next morning ; when he 
 weighed his anchor, and, hoisting the British en- 
 sign, stood in-shore to the mouth of the harbour, 
 where he brought to, with his courses cleared up 
 and his maintop-sail to the mast. In this position 
 he remained with flying colours, almost close to the 
 fortifications, as long as the tide would permit him, 
 in sight of the numerous spectators assembled to 
 see the engagement ; but, unlike our American 
 foeman in more recent times, Thurot did not think 
 proper to keep the appointment, although it was of 
 his own making, and Captaio Fisher in the Argo 
 was thus deprived of the chance of having been 
 the prototype of Captain Broke in the Shannon. 
 
 Captain Fisher seems to have been an officer 
 who, in common parlance, would stand no nonsense. 
 While comma^nding a squadron in the East Indies 
 he appeared on one occasion with his ships off the 
 fortress of Point-de-Galle, in Ceylon, at that time 
 in the hands of the Dutch. The governor sent an 
 officer to acquaint hirn that no men-of-vv^ar could be 
 
246 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 admitted, his orders being to fire on such as pre- 
 sumed to approach the harbour. Captain Fisher 
 coolly returned for answer, that he would not be 
 the aggressor in any rupture, but that his Ma- 
 jesty's ships should come within pistol-shot of the 
 walls, and if a single shot was fired he would not 
 leave one stone on another in Galle. This spirited 
 answer changed the Dutchman's tone, and the 
 English were treated with the greatest complaisance 
 during their stay. 
 
 "I HAVE DONE IT, AND AM ALIVE." 
 
 The occasion on which the above words were 
 used is so recent that they have scarcely yet be- 
 come the property of history ; I am, however, in- 
 duced to set forth the gallantry of Lieutenant 
 Corbett as a modern example of my theme, and 
 therefore give a short sketch of the naval proceed- 
 ings at Lagos, in December, 1851. 
 
 The chief of Lagos, one of the most notorious 
 slave stations on the west coast of Africa, having 
 rendered himself amenable to punishment by firing 
 on a flag of truce which had been sent to treat 
 with him, the Commander-in-Chief on the station 
 determined to avenge the insult ; and for this pur- 
 pose having collected a considerable force, de- 
 spatched it in the boats of his squadron, accom- 
 panied by two small steam tenders, under the 
 command of Captain L. J. Jones and H. Lyster, to 
 
" I HAVE DONE IT, AND AM ALIVE." 247. 
 
 punish the refractory chief. Leaving their ship 
 on the 24th of December, the expedition crossed 
 the bar of the river on which Lagos is situated, but 
 were unable to accomplish anything that day, 
 which was far advanced by the time they had 
 approached the defences. On the following, 
 Christmas-day, Captain Jones, anxious to obtain 
 a better knowledge of the pilotage, and perhaps 
 influenced in some degree by the remembrance 
 that it was the anniversary of the day when angels 
 announced " Peace on earth and good- will towards 
 men/' decided on employing it in the less active 
 but not less necessary occupation of feeling his 
 way, by sounding the channels and learning some- 
 thing of the pilotage of the river. At dawn of day on 
 the 26th the boats again advanced in four divisions ; 
 two, under Captain Jones, escorted by the Blood- 
 hound steam tender, and two, under Captain Lyster, 
 by the Teazer, a similar vessel. The enemy, imme- 
 diately the English forces came within distant range, 
 opened a fire of great guns and musketry from their 
 whole line of embankment — (the muzzles of their 
 muskets only being visible) — which our men re- 
 turned with their great guns, but without much ap- 
 parent effect on their stockades, formed as they were 
 of green wood. Captain Jones' precaution of the pre- 
 vious day nowproved insufficient, for the Teazer first, 
 and then the Bloodhound, grounded on the sand- 
 banks. The latter was not so badly situated as the 
 former, for, while shewasable to keep up a deliberate 
 fire from her 18-pound gun and howitzer, which soon 
 
248 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 silenced the enemy's great gxins, tlie great part of the 
 shower of musketry which the enemy discharged into 
 them fell short ; one or two balls only, falling on 
 board, slightly wounding her crew^ Comparatively 
 favourable as it w^as, however, the Bloodhound's 
 situation was such as to render it necessary to attempt 
 to land and spike the guns. Lieutenant Saumarez 
 w^as therefore despatched with the boats, which vainly 
 endeavouredto effect a landing by a narrow channel^ 
 which had been closed by a submerged stockade. 
 Everything v/as done that it was possible for men to 
 do ; the carpenter of the Sam^pson, Mr. W. Stivey, 
 neck-deep in water and axe in hand, was seenhewing 
 away at the stakes to make a passage for the boats to 
 land ; but the hurricane of shot that opened on them 
 proving to the commanding officer that their efforts 
 would be unava;iling, he returned to the Blood- 
 hound with the loss of two officers and ten men 
 killed and wounded, and during the remainder of 
 this day was obliged to content himself with keep- 
 ing up a fire of shot and shell against the enemy's 
 works. While the Bloodhound's party were thus 
 circumstanced, those in the Teazer were in a still 
 more perilous situation. Shortly after she grounded, 
 the enemy brought two guns to bear upon her 
 from a stockade, in a position unassailable from 
 the ship. These guns were admirably served, 
 and Captain Lyster felt satisfied that they would 
 destroy the vessel before the tide rose sufficiently 
 to float her off. Two courses were now open to 
 him: either to abandon and destroy the ship, or by 
 
" I HAVE DOXE IT, AXD AM ALIVE." 249 . 
 
 makiasf a noble rush into the midst of the armed 
 hosts on shore, attempt to carry the guns, and 
 thus turn the fortune of the day. He knew the 
 sacrifice of life would be great, but the cheerful 
 acquiescence of his ofScers and men, when he com- 
 municated his determination to attempt the bolder 
 course, left no doubt in his mind as to its success- 
 ful issue. Forming in line abreast, and keeping up a 
 continued fire upon the stockade, the boats advanced 
 steadily under the fire of at least 1500 muskets : 
 the men landed and formed, and then entered the 
 stockade with a rush, Lieutenant John Corbett 
 being the foremost. The enemy did not wait to re- 
 ceive their foe, but retreated into the bush : the guns 
 were quickly spiked and the object of their landing 
 attained; but in the moment of success Captain 
 Lyster was informed that the enemy had got into his 
 rear and succeeded in capturing one of his boats. 
 Instantly all was hurry to the beach, and the crews 
 of the several boats, including that of the one thus 
 captured by the enemy, were re-embarked under a 
 crushing destructive fire poured in upon them at 
 pistol range. When they had shoved off, some- 
 thing was observed wrong with the rocket-boat, 
 which vfas nearest the shore ; upon which Captain 
 Lyster pulled back, and hastening to know what 
 was the matter, was informed that the kroo- 
 men had let go the anchor without orders, and 
 that there were not sufficient hands on board to raise 
 it. He accordingly ordered it to be slipped, but the 
 reply was, '^ it is a chain ca,ble clinched to the bottom^ 
 
250 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 and we cannot unshackle it." On this Captain 
 Lyster jumped on board to lend his assistance, when 
 he observed Lieutenant Corbett stagger up from 
 under the stern, saying, " I have done it and am 
 alive." Yes, in the face of that withering fire, this 
 heroic officer devoted himself to save the boat, and, 
 already severely wounded while on shore, had gone 
 over the side, and by incredible exertions had 
 succeeded in cutting the cable with a cold chisel, 
 receiving five additional wounds in doing it. 
 
 Successful, but with a heavy loss, the victors 
 now returned to their vessel, and the remainder 
 of the afternoon was spent in preparations for 
 heaving her off, which they succeeded in doing 
 about sunset. 
 
 Next morning the Teazer rejoined the Blood- 
 hound, and the 27th was passed in pouring a 
 fire of shot, shell, and rockets into the town, which 
 was shortly in a blaze. The 28th, Sunday, was 
 spent in preparations for the general assault ; but 
 during that day the enemy, to the number of 2000, 
 abandoned the town and works, and on the 29th 
 Lagos and its dependencies was prostrate before the 
 attacking force, who, out of 337 officers and men 
 employed, lost in this blood -bought victory 15 
 killed and 75 wounded. Fifty-two guns were 
 taken or destroyed, but the enemy's loss in killed 
 and wounded it was impossible to ascertain. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add that, in addition 
 to the officers senior in rank, who were promoted 
 by the Admiralty for this gallant service, Lieu- 
 
THE POLAR REGIOXS. 251 
 
 tenant Corbett was specially promoted to be a 
 commander, and Mr. B. F. B. Clarke, a master's 
 assistant, who gallantly seconded him in spiking 
 the guns, was promoted to be midshipman. 
 
 THE POLAR REGIONS. 
 
 The day of battle and the hour of storm and 
 shipwreck have already afforded many illustrations 
 of my theme : an incident, therefore, taken from 
 those startling narratives of British enterprise, the 
 several accounts of our countrymen's attempts to 
 force the icy barrier, which has hitherto closed the 
 North- West Passage, attempts in which so many 
 have failed and on which the lives of hundreds of 
 our best and bravest are now emperilled, may 
 fairly claim a place in these pages. When Captain 
 Sir E. Parry, then Commander of the Hecla, left 
 this country in the year 1826 to explore the 
 Northern Seas, with a stout ship under him and 
 stout hands and hearts to support him, he did no 
 more than many had done before and are prepared 
 to do again ; but the peculiarity of Parry's attempt 
 consisted in his resolution of leaving the protecting 
 shelter of his ship when he should have reached the 
 furthest point to which he could force her, and 
 trusting to open boats, endeavour to penetrate 
 w^here the ship could not go. Arrived at the ship's 
 furthest point, his gallant band, provided mth a 
 store of provisions calculated to last seventy days, 
 
252 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 started on the 21st of June on their perilous enter- 
 prise, and receiving three cheers from those ihej 
 left behind, they paddled away in two boats, hopeful 
 of success, and scarce bestowing one thought on the 
 enormous risks they incurred. It is difficult for 
 the imagination to picture anything more a^ppa- 
 rently hopeless than the position of these two 
 solitary boats, not on the wide waste of waters, 
 but in that region of eternal ice, at a season when 
 the cold warmth of the Arctic summer had broken 
 up the vast fields of ice into huge disjointed frag- 
 ments, each of which threatened destruction to the 
 adventurous voyagers. The daily journal of the 
 proceedings is full of interest, and well repays a 
 perusal. At one time we read of their progress 
 being stayed by dense and dismal fogs ; at another 
 we see them floundering on through deep snow 
 and water, compelled by the rugged nature of the 
 ice-fields over which they are travelling first to 
 convey their stores ^on sledges and then to return 
 for their lightened boats ; thus traversing the same 
 ground five times, and accomplishing a distance of 
 ten miles advance at the expense of a long and 
 weary day's labour . at another a tortuous course 
 through a lane of open water between the ice-floes, 
 enabled them after a day passed in incessant rowing 
 to record the fact that they had advanced five 
 miles in their course to the northward. But all 
 this was the sunny side of the future. Fog and 
 frost, snow and ice, were nothing to these bold men 
 so long as they felt that they were making some 
 
THE POLAR REGIONS. 253 
 
 progress towards the accomplishment of their 
 object. One of their most distressing and toilsome 
 modes of advance was when their course lay over a 
 mass of floating islands of ice: on such occasions 
 they had sometimes to use their boats as bridges 
 between the floating fragments ; at others, when 
 the fissures were too v^^ide, they had to launch them 
 into the narrow channels, only to be drawm up 
 immediately after with excessive labour, and again 
 launched after a short traject over the field ice, 
 repeating the operation many times in the day. 
 At length more than half the time for which their 
 provisions v^ere calculated to last had passed, and 
 these gallant hearts still held on, even though their 
 advance to the north had been on some days almost 
 nothing, — since while they struggled on, advancing 
 over the ice, that ice itself was drifting with the 
 current in the opposite direction ; thus realizing in 
 their persons the fabled punishment of Sysiphus, 
 or that of the cruel daughters of Danaus. The per- 
 severing energy of the gallant Commander, to 
 whom alone this disheartening fact was known, 
 was, however, compelled to yield to circumstances 
 wdiich he could not control, for when, at the ex- 
 piration of their last three days of labour, the 
 result of their observations showed that they vvere 
 three miles to the soutliivard of their pre^dous 
 position, he reluctantly gave the orders to retreat ; 
 having at least the satisfaction of knowing that he 
 had carried the British flag further north than it 
 had ever flown before. 
 
254 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARINa. 
 
 In this expedition they advanced 172 miles from 
 their entry into the ice ; and their calculation was 
 that they had actually traversed 668 miles in 
 doing it. 
 
 DEFIANCE AND CENTURION, WITH TWO FRENCH 
 SHIPS. 
 
 The following private letter from Mr. Sidney 
 Cole, one of the lieutenants of the Defiance, in the 
 action, which he narrates, is the only account which 
 I have been able to find of a contest which certainly 
 is deserving of being rescued from entire oblivion. 
 In ' Charnock's Biography ' the facts and the year 
 are wrongly given under the name of Captain John 
 Evans, of the Defiance ; and poor Captain Nicholls, 
 of the Centurion, is still worse treated, for not only 
 is his name transformed into Mighels, but the Cen- 
 turion's share in the business is totally ignored. 
 Luckily Mr. Cole has enabled me to do tardy 
 justice to these two brave men ; and his spirited 
 letter, which is given without curtailment, will 
 enable my readers to judge how far these enco- 
 miums are merited : — 
 
 " Gibraltar, 30th Not. 1709. 
 
 " The disappointments often, that either my 
 letters to you have miscarried or did not deserve 
 an answer, have discouraged me for some time past 
 from writing ; but having been lately in an action 
 which, perhaps, may make some noise at home as 
 
DEFIANCE AND CENTURION. 255 • 
 
 well as in these parts, I beg leave to trouble you 
 with the following particulars : — 
 
 " The Defiance and Centurion having cleared at 
 Port Mahon, the former mounted with 61 guns, 
 370 hands on board, the latter with 48 guns and 
 292 hands, sailed thence the 31st last month, in 
 order to cruize off Malaga for two months. But 
 on the 8th of this instant, by break of day, we spied 
 two strange sail to windward, giving us chase ; we 
 therefore immediately brought to and prepared to 
 receive them, Modeil being north 4 leagues, the 
 wind E. b. N. and a fine gale but popling sea. Half- 
 past nine they came within pistol-shot alongside of 
 us and hoisted their French colours, and then began 
 the engagement, which lasted till a quarter after 
 twelve at noon, in which time we had 17 killed 
 upon the spot and 69 dangerously wounded ; of the 
 former our master and gunner, of the latter our 
 lieutenant of marines. In the number of the 
 wounded I include only those who were disabled 
 from acting, for our captain and a great many 
 more were slightly wounded. Notwithstanding 
 the great odds on the enemy's side, all our men 
 during the whole of the fight were hearty, brisk, 
 and resolute ; but the bravery of our wounded men 
 is hardly to be equalled, who instead of lamenting 
 some their loss of limbs and others their certainly 
 approaching fate, spent their dying breaths in 
 calling to and encouraging their fellows to stand 
 heartily to it. We had some who after they had 
 been t^vice wounded returned a third time to their 
 
256 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 quarters. The action was very sharp for two 
 hours, but after that our antagonist did not dare to 
 lie alongside, but kept at a distance pelting our 
 quarter, and grew tired of that too in a hour and 
 half more. We then had leisure to look about us 
 for our comrade, who was vastly overmatched, for 
 he had a 64 -gun ship to deal with, whereas the 
 Centurion could fight but five of her lower tier of 
 p-uns ; and at that moment the Frenchman, was 
 going to board her, but could not conveniently do 
 it without coming under our stern and receiving 
 all our small arms, but in return he raked us and 
 did us great damage ; but we wore upon him and 
 fired our 30 guns into him, and were so very near 
 him that 'tis impossible but every shot did execu- 
 tion, and he had no sooner got clear of us but the 
 Centurion gave him her broadside too, and all her 
 small arms, that his men fell off his shrouds and 
 bowsprit as thick as leaves from a tree ; so that 
 beino- quite scared, he let fall his foresail and hoisted 
 his topsails and put away for it right afore the 
 wind, and being but little damaged either in his 
 sails or rigging, he set his small sails, and weathering, 
 stood for his consort, who made signals for him. 
 We stood after them, but night and the fixuding we 
 could not come up with them (for w^e could not 
 make half our sail) prevented us, for we had hardly 
 a rope in the ship either running or standing but 
 \vhat was shot through, so that the Queen (Anne) 
 will have the charge of a whole suit of sails, rigging, 
 and masts. The next morning we were chased 
 
THE PRR'ATE SHIP OF WAR. 257 
 
 again by two sail, and believing them to be those 
 we had engaged the day before, we, to save them 
 trouble, stood towards them and prepared for a 
 second rencontre, but found them to be Algerines, 
 and so left them and anchored here the 10th. 
 Here are since arrived a Dane, a Genoese, and a 
 Spanish vessel from Malaga, whose masters report 
 that on the 9th two French men-of-war, one of 
 76 guns and 600 men, the other 6J^ guns and 500 
 men, anchored there and reported they had fought 
 two English men-of-war of 90 and 70 guns, and 
 that they would have taken us but that they had 
 an account we had a regiment of soldiers on board 
 to reinforce the garrison of this place, and that they 
 had lost but 16 men each; but we are since 
 informed that one of them was towed in by the 
 other, the greater by the less, and that they had 
 556 men killed and wounded. The Centurion had 
 22 men killed and between 30 and 40 wounded, 
 and, as gibove stated, the Defiance had 17 killed 
 and 69 wounded, or every fourth man killed or 
 w^ounded ; a loss scarce exceeded in the severest 
 strife on record, showing the obstinacy with which 
 the action was maintained.'' 
 
 THE PRIVATE SHIP OF WAR. 
 
 The actions of private ships of war have not 
 often had the good fortune of being immortahzed 
 in the ^ Gazette,' and therefore the very fact of that 
 
 s 
 
258 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 honour having been conferred marks the engage- 
 ment as having been thought worthy of the highest 
 distinction ; and in the few cases that have been 
 recorded none can be found affording an example 
 of greater resolution and bravery than that displayed 
 by the captain and crew of the Chance privateer^ 
 in her action with the Spanish ship Amiable Maria, 
 on the 29th August, 1801. The Chance, of 16 small 
 guns, principally 12 and 6 pounder carronades, and 
 with a complement of 94 men, was cruizing off 
 Callao at the above date, when towards nightfall 
 she fell in with a large ship, which was supposed to 
 be a Spanish trader. Spanish colours were accord- 
 ingly hoisted in the Chance, to throw the stranger 
 off her guard, and every exertion used to cut her 
 off from the friendly port of Lima, then only a few 
 miles distant. In this object the captain of the 
 Chance, a Mr. White, was successful, and at about 
 ten o'clock p.m. he got within pistol-shot and hailed 
 to ask what ship she was. Rendered unsuspicious 
 of the nationality and hostile object of their inquirer, 
 both by her diminutive size and their own prepon- 
 derating force, the Spaniards answered, the Amiable 
 Maria, from Conception, bound to Lima; upon 
 which Captain White, still looking upon his op- 
 ponent as an un warlike trader, announced to them 
 his real character, and at the same time com- 
 menced a smart fire. The enemy not returning 
 a shot, the second-lieutenant of the Chance, with 
 a small party, was ordered away to board ; but 
 before the boat was alongside, the Spaniards 
 
THE PRIVATE SHIP OF WAR. 259 
 
 had recovered from their first surprise, and opened 
 a brisk fire from his heavy battery of 18 and 
 24 pounder brass guns. The Chance thus far 
 had escaped with impunity, owing to the want of 
 preparation for battle on board the Maria, whose 
 decks were lumbered with her cables, all ready for 
 use, as (when thus suddenly attacked) she was not 
 more than seven miles from her anchoring-ground ; 
 but the heavy nature of the enemy's guns quickly 
 undeceived Mr. White. The Chance being but a 
 boat compared with the Maria, he became instantly 
 aware that his only hope of success lay in boarding, 
 while the Spaniards were still in confusion. For 
 this purpose he tried to get his vessel's bowsprit 
 over the enemy's stern, but the wind was so light 
 that his ship fell off in the attempt and exposed 
 her own stern to a crushing broadside, which dis- 
 mounted some of the guns and killed one of the 
 officers. The British, however, soon extricated 
 themselves from their perilous position, and were 
 more fortunate in. their second attempt, for running 
 their bowsprit over the enemy's quarter, they suc- 
 ceeded in lashing it to the mizen-mast. The 
 Spaniards met their foe hand to hand with the 
 greatest bravery, and for some minutes the strife 
 was maintained with great severity on the Chance's 
 bowsprit, where the English commander, leading 
 his men, was kept at bay during a long struggle by 
 a gallant Spaniard, whose life, when afterwards at 
 his mercy, ho spared in consequence of his bravery ; 
 but at length he succeeded in gaining the poop, 
 
 s 2 
 
260 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 where the fight was prolonged, every mch of deck 
 being disputed sword in hand. The men were falling 
 on both sides, the enemy's superiority in numbers 
 only making their assail?mts more resolute to do or 
 die, Y/hen in a desperate sally the English suc- 
 ceeded in forcing their foes from the poop to the 
 main deck, which they also cleared after a further 
 resistance of three-quarters of an hour. In this 
 struggle the Spanish captain was driven from the 
 forecastle while in the act of pointing his bow guns, 
 loaded with grape and canister, at his antagonists 
 on the poop : another minute and he would in all 
 probability have saved his ship. As it was he was 
 disabled and forced below, his crew following him 
 and maintaining the lower deck and cabins Avith 
 long pikes in a most determined manner, until their 
 numbers were reduced to 86 out of 220 men. 
 Then and not till then they yielded and struck. 
 No men ever fought with greater bravery. The 
 decks were so covered with dead bodies that it was 
 impossible to move without treading on them ; but 
 amidst all this scene of horror the screams of a 
 Spanish lady, a passenger in a state of phrensy, 
 whose infant had been cut in two in her arms by a 
 shot during the engagement, she herself being 
 uninjured, are described as being such as to touch 
 the most callous hearts with pity. An instance of 
 ferocity such as hasbeen rarely equalled also occurred 
 during the contest : a Chilian, one of the Spanish 
 crew, whose arm was dreadfully shattered, was seen 
 deliberately to cut the limb entirely off, and load 
 
THE PRIVATE SHIP OF WAR. 261 
 
 his gun with it ; but a second shot killed the savage 
 before he had power to fire. 
 
 At the close of the action the two vessels were 
 within four miles of the hostile port, the prize 
 having almost all her shrouds, braces, and running 
 rigging cut up ; but a smart breeze springing up, 
 they were soon able to get a good offing. The 
 loss of the Chance in this obstinate conflict was 
 comparatively small, having had only one officer 
 killed and three officers and two seamen badly 
 wounded by pikes. The Spanish authorities on the 
 coast were indignant at the success of the British 
 ship, and the Viceroy of Lima a few days after sent 
 a man-of-war out expressly to take the Chance, 
 offering sixty pounds for every man brought in, 
 dead or alive ; but the gallant Chances did not avoid 
 their foe. They soon met. and after receiving three 
 ineffective distant broadsides, Captain White or- 
 dered his steward to give each man a glass of grog, 
 and when they were now within pistol-shot he said 
 to his crew, " Come, my lads, run your colours up 
 and let them see to what country you belong.'' 
 The ships now being yard-arm and yard-arm, they 
 commenced firing with great effect ; and after a 
 severe action of two hours and three-quarters the 
 Spanish tug-of-war Limeiio, mounting 18 long nines 
 and 12 brass four-pounders, manned with 180 men, 
 struck her flag to the little Chance, which at the 
 commencement of the action mounted 16 twelve 
 and six pounders, with a complement of 50 men. 
 
 The Spaniards had fourteen killed and seven 
 wounded ; the Chance two killed and one wounded. 
 
262 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 Thus strikingly was the honour of the British 
 flag maintained by a private ship of war in two 
 actions which will bear comparison with any in the 
 well -filled pages of naval history. 
 
 MR. A'COURT. 
 
 The present Admiral Repington, then Mr. 
 A'Court, is the hero of a gallant boat affair, which, 
 although most unaccountably left untold in official 
 records, has been preserved in the pages of the 
 naval historian James, and is as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Edward Henry A'Court, with a marine and 
 seven seamen, was despatched from the Blanche in 
 the red cutter to collect sand for the use of the 
 ship, and although it had been ordered that young- 
 sters sent upon services of this kind, lest their 
 pugnacious spirit should lead them into danger, 
 were not to be allowed arms, the men in the boat, 
 before they pushed off from the frigate, contrived to 
 smuggle five or six muskets through the ports. It 
 so happened that in the dusk of evening the boat 
 fell in with a schooner, nearly becalmed. The 
 midshipman and his party of sanders unhesitatingly 
 pulled towards her, and as she had the appearance 
 of a privateer, and might open a cannonade upon 
 them, Mr. A' Court judiciously kept in her wake. 
 Just as the boat had approached the stern of the 
 schooner, a fire of musketry from the latter mortally 
 wounded one man and badly wounded another of 
 the boat party. Mr. A'Court nevertheless pulled 
 
CAPTURE OF THE ST. PEDRO. 263 
 
 straight up alongside, and with the assistance of his 
 five remaining hands boarded and carried a French 
 schooner, bound to Cape Francois, having among 
 her passengers a detachment of between 30 and 
 40 soldiers, commanded by a Colonel who had 
 fought, bled, and distinguished himself at the battle 
 of Arcole. When asked how he could have sur- 
 rendered to so insignificant a force, the French 
 Colonel, with a shrug, replied, that it was all owing 
 to ^^ le mal-de-mer," and that had he been on 
 shore the case would have been otherwise. Let 
 that have been as it may, the conduct of young 
 A'Court evinced unparalleled gallantry, a con- 
 siderable degree of judgment, and certainly both 
 the officer and men deserved to have their names 
 recorded for the bravery they had displayed. 
 
 CAPTURE OF l^HE ST. PEDRO BY THE BOATS OF 
 THE COMUS, IN MAY, 1807. 
 
 From the Reminiscences of a Naval Officer. 
 
 In March, 1807, the boats of the Comus, of 24 
 guns, commanded by Captain Conway Shipley, 
 were, when cruising off the Canary Islands, de- 
 spatched under the orders of the Senior Lieu- 
 tenant, George Edward Watts, to attempt the 
 capture of six square-rigged vessels anchored in 
 the harbour of Grand Canaria, under the protec- 
 tion of powerful batteries. This service he accom- 
 
264 LEEDS OF NAYAL DARING. 
 
 plished, with no casualjby beyond Lieutenant 
 Campbell of the marines wounded. Having 
 escorted her prizes to Gibraltar, the Comus re- 
 turned to her former cruising-ground, where two 
 or three coasting-vessels being taken. Lieutenant 
 Watts was sent on shore at TenerifFe to negotiate 
 their ransom. He was courteously received by the 
 Spanish governor, a grandee of the most dignified 
 demeanour, who readily gave his assent to the 
 proposal, and entered, together with his staff (some 
 of whom spoke the purest English), into an open 
 and friendly conversation upon the enterprising 
 spirit of the British navy. Having discovered 
 that the capture of the vessels in the adjoining 
 port, six weeks previously, had been effected bj^ 
 the boats of the Comus, they gave Lieutenant 
 Watts to understand that such success was quite 
 attributable to the want of zeal and ability on the 
 part of those who commanded the batteries ; that 
 they had in consequence been tried and disgraced, 
 and their places supplied by others, who, if w^e 
 ever renewed the attempt, would give us a very 
 different reception. Lieutenant Watts expressing 
 his conviction, that in Spaniards he would ever 
 meet brave and determined foes, ventured at the 
 same time to hope that, should no such attempt 
 be renewed, it would not by them be imputed to 
 fear of the consequences ; to v/hich a prompt and 
 full disclaimer being given, he inquired if any 
 Spanish vessels had lately visited the islands ? 
 ^' Only one," was the reply ; and she, having made 
 
CAPTURE OF THE ST. PEDRO. 265 
 
 good some defects, had again sailed with despatches 
 for South America. 
 
 The hesitating way in which this statement was 
 made, coupled with the somewhat blustering 
 threat above named, begat a suspicion in the mind 
 of Lieutenant Watts, that if such a vessel had 
 really arrived she was still in the port. This im- 
 pression he made known to Caponin Shipley on his 
 return, and at the sam^e time requested to have 
 the boats confided to his charge in order to decide 
 the point. The wind being favourable, the en- 
 trance to the harbour was reached at eleven 
 o'clock P.M., when the boats pushed in. The 
 detour of the harbour was so closelj^ made that the 
 oars touched the beach, and the sentries were 
 heard pacing the ramparts, without any floating 
 object being seen. Lieutenant Watts, together 
 with his colleagues, consequently arrived at the 
 conclusion that the bird had flown, and returned 
 to his ship, then five miles in the offing. On 
 mounting the gang^Yay he was -met by Captain 
 Shipley, who observed, he feared the boats were 
 too late to make the attack before daylight (which 
 he had directed him not to attempt after). '^ Oh no, 
 Sir," was the reply, " we were in abundant time, 
 have fully examined the harbour, and found it 
 empty." ^'Look there," he rejoined, pointing to 
 the port, where no less than five or six vessels 
 were lying close under the batteries, the outer and 
 largest bearing the colours of the King of Spain, 
 being in fact the very vessel he had been in quest 
 
266 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 of. To describe the look of dismay and the ago- 
 nised feelings of the young Lieutenant, who, with 
 the world before him, was panting for opportunity 
 to earn promotion, would be indeed difficult. He, 
 together with the Second Lieutenant, explained 
 how the darkness had so identified the hulls of the 
 vessels with the batteries and adjacent buildings 
 (they being within a small inlet), that although 
 the oars must have all but touched the large vessel, 
 not one of the party even suspected her proximity ; 
 that such being the case, he hoped his Captain 
 would mercifully allow him to repair the mistake 
 by intrusting the boats to his management in a 
 further attempt. The answer was a decided nega- 
 tive, grounded upon the plea, that the enemy, now 
 so fully admonished of his danger, would make the 
 enterprise far too hazardous for the very small 
 force to be employed. In a word, that although 
 success might attend it, there was no proportion 
 between the risk to be incurred and the benefit to 
 be derived — arguments which derived additional 
 strength from the imposing attitude of the enemy, 
 who, by flashing and burning blue lights every ten 
 minutes throughout the night, proved that he was 
 continually on the alert. For two successive days 
 did Lieutenant Watts beseech for a relaxation 
 without success ; but on the third day Captain 
 Shipley, observing his deep dejection, and moved 
 by the assurance that he felt his honour lost, and his 
 character for ever blighted, if he did not yield his 
 assent, supported moreover by Mr. Hood Knight, 
 
CAPTURE OF THE ST. PEDRO. 267 
 
 the Second Lieutenant, he at length, with many 
 misgivings, gave way, upon condition that the 
 attack should be confined exclusively to the large 
 vessel bearing the national flag. 
 
 The boats, three in number, with forty officers 
 and men, entered the harbour half an hour before 
 midnight. On nearing the batteries some suspi- 
 cious vessels resembling gun-boats appearing, the 
 small cutter was sent to reconnoitre, while the 
 launch, with a small carronade, was directed to 
 occupy the attention of an enfilading battery, 
 should its fire be opened upon them, the large 
 cutter, commanded in person by Lieutenant Watts, 
 lying in the mean time on her oars. The boats had 
 hardly separated when the moon, emerging from a 
 dark cloud in full splendour, discovered the enemy's 
 vessel about fifty yards distant, crowded with both 
 seamen and soldiers, and bristling from stem to 
 stern with a phalanx of bayonets glistening in the 
 moonbeams. To one who by his own efforts had 
 entailed upon himself the terrible alternative of 
 death or victory, it was indeed a thrilling and 
 awful sight. Aware, however, of the advantage 
 in such cases of instant action, before the agitated 
 spirits of the adversary have time to rall)^ he 
 hailed for his boats to return ; but, without waiting 
 for their junction, he dashed forward in the midst 
 of an enormous fire of musketry and cannon, which 
 killed one man and wounded another mortally by 
 his side. Calling upon his men to follow him, he 
 sprang on the vessel's side, was met by a bayonet 
 
268 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 in the face, and forced overboard ; being, however, 
 an excellent swimmer, he grappled the bends, and 
 by dint of strength and activity wrought his way 
 without a second wound into the midst of the for- 
 midable group. And now ensued a scene of the 
 most extraordinary and formidable character. The 
 enemy in the van and rear, seeing the centre in 
 action, rushed to its support, enclosing Lieutenant 
 Watts on every point. By his plunge overboard 
 he lost his cutlass, and his pistols being useless, he 
 was restricted to the use of a small dagger, Avhich, 
 however, in such a conjuncture proved the dead- 
 liest of weapons, and enabled him to deal destruc- 
 tion around. But in the midst of seventy men, 
 forty of whom were grenadiers, his fighting to des- 
 peration, unsupported as he was, could protract 
 only for a few moments inevitable death. He had 
 already been laid prostrate seven times by the 
 but-ends of the soldiers' muskets, whose bayonets, 
 when pointed at his breast, he had contrived 
 to unscrew, and was bleeding from five sabre 
 and seven bayonet wounds, when a grenadier, 
 whose weapon entered behind his right shoulder 
 and out at his left (making a groove in his back 
 like a plough in a furrow), pinned him to the main- 
 mast. The blow he thought mortal ; but at the 
 moment a great and sudden movement took place, 
 the whole body of the enemy seeming impelled, 
 as it were, by an overwhelming wave from one side 
 of the vessel to the other. The soldier, withdraw- 
 ing his bayonet, Lieutenant Watts had still strength 
 
CAPTUEE OF THE ST. PEDRO. 269 
 
 enough left to close and lay him dead at his feet, 
 and then, looking to discover the cause of the move- 
 ment alluded to, found to his infinite delight that 
 it was caused by an attack in their rear by his own 
 boat's crew, who, at first driven off by the heavy 
 fire, were afterwards, by the vessel being left unde- 
 fended, enabled to board, and come to the rescue. 
 Lieutenant Watts, who was bareheaded and de- 
 luged with blood, was first sighted by Patrick 
 Lorry, an Irishman, who, with characteristic 
 energy, exclaimed, '^ By J — s, my boys, here's our 
 officer all alive yet ! Have at 'em ! " " Have at 
 them, my brave boys ! " shouted their Lieutenant, 
 whose ebbing spirits and failing strength becoming 
 instantly resuscitated, enabled him to lead an ener- 
 getic assault, which in ten minutes ended by the 
 whole body of the enemy, except seven, being 
 killed, wounded, or driven overboard, the captain 
 being one of the slain. The prisoners were just 
 secured, when the other boats arriving, the cables 
 were cut, and the prize taken in tow, when, to the 
 dismay of the captors, she was discovered to be 
 Hearing the batteries against the strain of the tow- 
 ropes. Lieutenant Watts instantly ordered the 
 boats to cast off, and seek for the hawser under water 
 by which a large force on shore were dragging her 
 under the very muzzles of the guns. In a few 
 seconds William Mountford, the bowman of the 
 cutter, shouted that he had hold of it. " Nick it^, 
 my brave lad, nick it ! " responded his officer ; and 
 with the aid of a tomahawk away it went with a 
 
270 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 surge that probably laid the party engaged in the 
 . work upon their backs ; for in an instant the 
 battery opened fire^ which was immediately sup- 
 ported by the blaze of thirty-two pieces of heavy 
 artillery throughout the circuit of the harbour. But 
 the boats gallantly performed their work by bearing 
 off triumphantly the hard-won prize without any 
 additional loss. 
 
 Lieutenant Watts had his left arm broken, in 
 addition to thirteen wounds, besides being covered 
 with contusions. He was awarded a sword of 
 fifty guineas value, and a pecuniary reward of 
 100/. by the Patriotic Fund. But neither thanks 
 nor promotion was given by the Admiralty for a 
 service which, in point of exertion and peril, had 
 rarely been equalled, and perhaps never surpassed, 
 comprising in itself the concentration of a dozen 
 actions ; and it serves to prove the inadeauacy of 
 T/he best rules for rewarding service, when the fact 
 is recorded, that Lieutenant Watts does not bear 
 even a clasp for it with his war medal. 
 
 The boat which singly performed this service 
 contained but eighteen men, only sixteen of whom 
 boarded ; one was killed and five wounded, in- 
 cluding Lieutenant Watts, whose wounds were 
 barely cicatrized, when he had the good fortune to 
 win his promotion by the following exploit: — 
 Capture of the Danish frigate Fredericks woern. 
 The Comus, having escorted her Spanish prize to 
 Gibraltar, sailed for Spithead. 
 
CATCHING A TARTAR. 271 
 
 CATCHING A TARTAR. 
 
 edt 
 
 When our naval heroes were reaping their laurels 
 in the flowery land of Pekoe and Souchong, the 
 arrogant pretensions of their awkward foemen pro- 
 voked them to many deeds which they would not 
 have adventured against more active and less con- 
 ceited antagonists. On one occasion, Commander 
 Fitzjames, whose sense and enjoyment of the ludi- 
 crous fullj^ equalled his daring, had landed from 
 the Cornwallis, in the river Yang-tse-kiang, and, 
 leaving his boat's crew to amuse themselves on the 
 beach below, accompanied by the coxswain of the 
 boat only, clambered up an almost precipitous cliff 
 overhanging the river for the purpose of making a 
 sketch of the surrounding scenery. While thus 
 employed, and unsuspicious of danger, he once or 
 twice thought he heard a movement in the dense 
 mass of shrubs that clothed the hill side in his 
 rear and above liis head ; but, seeing nothing, he 
 proceeded with his amusing task. At length the 
 sounds became less equivocal, and turning sharply 
 round he caught a glimpse of some Tartars, who, 
 however, instantly concealed themselves. Feigning 
 that he had not noticed their presence, Fitzjames 
 took occasion to call to his coxswain, and desired 
 him to go down and get the boat's crew in readi- 
 ness for an instantaneous start, when he himself 
 should come down. Left entirely alone he awaited 
 the attack of his treacherous foes, who stealthily 
 advanced, trusting to take their barbarian visitor 
 
272 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEII^ra. 
 
 by surprise. But Fitzjames, who knew that their 
 object would be to take him alive, was fully pre- 
 pared ; and, no sooner had the boldest, a mandarin 
 of some rank, approached within arm's-reach, than 
 he suddenly grappled with him, and, throwing 
 himself ^nd the astonished celestial on the ground, 
 commenced rolling over down the declivity with 
 his prisoner, and amidst the cheers of his own men, 
 and to the blank dismay of his numerous oppo- 
 nents, who crowned the summit, trundled the 
 captured mandarin on board, minus sometliing 
 more than his silken garments, which fluttered on 
 the rocky side of the hill. The captive was well re- 
 ceived on board the Cornwallis, and kindly treated ; 
 but the ignominy of his mode of capture must have 
 rankled in his breast, and he took the first oppor- 
 tunity of jumping overboard and drowning himself. 
 The doom of Fitzjames, had he been taken, 
 would no doubt have been one of the wooden cages 
 in which all prisoners, however taken, were paraded 
 about the country, and exhibited as objects of 
 Chinese prowess. But from this he v/as spared, to 
 form one of the bold band of heroes who now for 
 seven long years have been confined, with Franklin, 
 within their wooden walls in the icy regions of the 
 North Pole. 
 
 BLAKE. 
 
 The life of Robert Blake, General of the Land 
 Forces and Admiral of the Fleets of England, 
 
BLAKE. 273 
 
 during the rule of Cromwell, affords some fine 
 examples illustrative of the daring and decision of 
 the English character when called out by the 
 exigencies of the naval service. Possessed with a 
 most exalted opinion of the prowess and preten- 
 sions of Englishmen he seems to have considered 
 no odds of numbers or disadvantages of position 
 worthy of consideration where his country's honour 
 was concerned, and he supported the Lord Protector 
 most efficiently in his avowed resolution of " mak- 
 ing the name of Englishman as great as ever that 
 of Eoman had been."* At the mature age of fifty 
 years this extraordinary man, after having proved 
 himself a good soldier, during the unhappy strife 
 of the Civil Wars, by his successful defence of the 
 town of Taunton against the Royal forces under 
 Lord Goring, first took the command of our fleets, 
 
 * Bishop Burnet relates a story which exemplifies this resolution 
 of making the name of Englishman as much respected as ever that of 
 Roman had been. When Blake was at Malaga, during a time of peace 
 between this country and Spain, some of his sailors went on shore, and 
 meeting the procession of the Host, not only neglected to pay it any 
 respect, but jeered at those who did. The populace, instigated by 
 their priest, resented this insult, and falling apon the offenders beat 
 them severely. Upon the news of their ill-treatment coming to Blake's 
 ears, he sent to demand the priest who had incited the mob. The 
 Viceroy answered, that, having no authority over the priests, he re- 
 gretted that he was unable to send him ; to which Blake shortly replied, 
 that he did not inquire into the extent of the Viceroy's authority, but 
 that if the priest was not sent in three hours he would burn the town. 
 The priest was consequently sent, and in his defence pleaded the pro- 
 vocation given by the seamen : to which Blake answered, that if a 
 complaint had been addressed to him, the seamen should have been 
 punished ; but that he w^as angry that the Spaniards should have 
 assumed that power, as he would have all the world to know that an 
 Englishman was only to be punished by Englishmen. Blake, satisfied 
 with having thus asserted his power, dismissed the priest, whom he 
 had treated with great civility. 
 
 T 
 
274 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 leading them to victory, and winning fresh laurels 
 upon their own element from his world-known oppo- 
 nents, Tromp, de Ruyter, and de Witt. Here his 
 want of experience seems, although it may sound 
 paradoxical, to have been of great service to him : 
 he followed the light of his own genius only, and was 
 soon seen to have all the courage, the conduct, and 
 the precipitancy of a good sea officer. Clarendon 
 says of him, '^ that he was the first man that 
 declined the old track, and made it apparent that 
 the sciences might be attained in less time than 
 was imagined. He was the first man that brought 
 ships to contemn castles on shore, which had ever 
 been thought very formidable, but were discovered 
 by him to make a noise only, and to fright those 
 who could rarely be hurt by them. He was the 
 first that infused that proportion of courage into 
 seamen by making them see by experience what 
 mighty things they could do* if they were resolved, 
 and taught them to fight in fire as well as upon 
 water ; and though he has been very well imitated 
 and followed, was the first that gave the example 
 of that kind of naval courage and bold and resolute 
 achievement/' 
 
 Such is the royalist historian's evidence of this 
 great man, whose impetuous courage, verging on 
 temerity in many instances, only escapes that judg- 
 ment by the extraordinary success that attended 
 his movements. One of such instances occurred 
 in his first encounter with Tromp. The states of 
 Holland having arrived during our civil troubles 
 
BLAKE. 275 
 
 at tlie height of naval power without opposition, 
 and without competition, seem to have sought for 
 and provoked the war of 1652, solely for the pur- 
 pose of combating the long-maintained supremacy 
 of the English flag in the narrow seas, a supre- 
 macy enforced against all foreigners almost down 
 to our times, by compelling them to strike their 
 colours on meeting our flag.* Hostilities had not yet 
 been declared when Tromp, with a fleet of forty-five 
 men-of-war, appeared in the Downs, where Blake 
 was lying. The latter, who had but twenty ships 
 under his orders, upon the approach of the Dutch 
 Admiral fired three single shots across his bows 
 to require that he should, by striking his colours, 
 show that respect to the flag which had been always 
 customary in what were considered the seas under 
 British dominion. Tromp answered with a broad- 
 side, at the same time hanging out the red flag 
 under the Dutch colours, as the signal for a general 
 engagement. Blake, in a vehement passion, and 
 curling his v/hiskers, as the old writers say he used 
 to do when angry, commanded his men to answer 
 the Dutch in their kind, and for some time stood 
 alone in his flag-ship against the whole force of the 
 enemy, when the rest of the squadron coming up 
 
 * In 1755, Captain How, of the Dunkirk, then forming part of Lord 
 Eoscawen's fleet, falling in with the French fleet on the coast of New- 
 foundland, hailed them, and ordered them to pay the usual compliments 
 to the British flag, and, upon their refusing, fired a broadside into the 
 Alcide ; upon which followed an engagement which lasted five hours, 
 ending in the surrender of the Alcide, and which was fought at such 
 close quarters that a man killed on the Alcide's yard fell into the Dun- 
 kirk, which lost ninety men in the engagement. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEIJs^G. 
 
 the fight was continued from four in the afternoon 
 until nine at night, the Dutch then retreating and 
 leaving two of their ships in his hands. Blake, in 
 his public letter reporting the action, concludes 
 by recapitulating his losses, and states — "We have 
 six men of ours slain and nine or ten desperately 
 wounded, and twenty-four more not without 
 danger. We have received about seventy great 
 shot in our hull and masts — incur sails and rigging 
 without number — being engaged with the whole 
 body of the fleet for the space of four hours — being 
 the mark at which they aimed." Such was the 
 first of those sea fights in which Robert Blake 
 nobly upheld the honour of the flag against the 
 most renowned Admirals of Holland. This action 
 was quickly followed up by others, not only with 
 the Dutch, but with the Barbary States and 
 Spaniards, in which success seems invariably to have 
 attended all his movements ; but his last and crown- 
 ing victory occurred on the 20th of April, 1657, a 
 few months before his death ; and as this was the 
 scene of our hero Nelson's defeat 150 years after- 
 wards, I will give some detail of it. Blake 
 had received intelligence that the Spanish fleet 
 lay at anchor in the bay of Santa Cruz, in the 
 island of Teneriffe, where they were protected by 
 the castle and seven other forts, close under which 
 they were able to move owing to the great 
 depth of water. Nothing daunted by their 
 apparently impregnable position, he determined 
 to attack them, and with this object ordered his 
 
BLAKE. 277 
 
 second in command, with the largest ships, to 
 occupy the attention of the land batteries, while 
 he himself attacked the Spanish galleons ; these, 
 after a gallant resistance, were at length abandoned 
 by their crews, though the least of them was bigger 
 than the biggest of Blake's ships, and the forts 
 and smaller vessels having been meantime silenced, 
 the whole fleet was set on fire, the Spaniards sustain- 
 ing a great loss in ships, money, men and merchan- 
 dise, while the English gained nothing but glory. 
 
 The historian Clarendon, whom we have already 
 quoted, says, ^Hhe whole action was so miraculous 
 that all men who knew the place wondered that 
 any sober man, with what courage soever endowed, 
 would ever have undertaken it, and they could 
 hardly persuade themselves to believe what they 
 had done, whilst the Spaniards comforted them- 
 selves with the belief that they were devils and not 
 men who had destroyed them in such a manner. 
 So much a strong resolution of bold and courageous 
 men can bring to pass, that no resistance and ad- 
 vantage of ground can disappoint them ; a,nd it can 
 hardly be imagined how small a loss the English 
 sustained in this unparalleled action, not one ship 
 being left behind, and the killed and wounded not 
 exceeding 200 men, when the slaughter on board 
 the Spanish ships and on shore was incredible.'' 
 
 Cromwell, on the receipt of the intelligence of 
 this victory, communicated it to the Parliament 
 then sitting, by whom a public thanksgiving was 
 ordered ; a diamond ring of the value of 500Z. was 
 
278 DEEDS OF NAYAL DARIN^G. 
 
 directed to be sent to Blake, and 100/. was pre- 
 sented to the captain who brought the news ; 
 and, in addition, the thanks of the House to all the 
 officers and seamen engaged. 
 
 This was almost his last exploit, and Blake 
 only just survived to receive the honours and re- 
 wards voted to him by Parliament. His anxiety, 
 like that of our modern hero CoUingwood, seems 
 to have been once more to look upon his native 
 land, but this was denied him also. Mr. Dixon, in 
 his lately published life, has painted the noble 
 sailor's dying hour in touching language, which I 
 will here quote : — ^^ Leaving Cadiz and hoisting 
 his pennon on his old flag-ship, the St. George, 
 Blake saw for the last time the spires and cupolas, 
 the masts and towers before which he had kept his 
 long and victorious vigils. While he put for fresh 
 waters into Cascaes road he was very weak. I 
 beseech God to strengthen him ! was the fervent 
 prayer of the English resident at Lisbon as he 
 departed on the homeward voyage. While the 
 ships rolled through the tempestuous waters of 
 the Bay of Biscay he grew every day worse and 
 worse. Some gleams of the old spirit broke forth 
 as they approached the latitude of England. He 
 inquired often and anxiously if the white cliffs 
 were yet in sight. He longed to behold the 
 swelling Downs, the free cities, the goodly churches 
 of his native land, but he was now dying beyond 
 all doubt. Many of his favourite officers silently 
 and mournfully crowded round his bed anxious to 
 
BLAKE. 279 
 
 catch the last tones of a voice which had so often 
 called them to glory and victory. Others stood at 
 the poop and forecastle ea^gerly examining every 
 speck and line on the horizon, in hope of being 
 first to catch the welcome glimpse of land. Though 
 they were coming home crowned with laurels, 
 gloom and pain were on every face. At last the 
 Lizard was announced ; shortly afterwards the bold 
 cliffs and bare hills of Cornwall loomed out grandly 
 in the distance, but it was now too late for the 
 dying hero. He had sent for the captain and 
 other great officers of his fleet to bid them fare- 
 well, and while they were yet in his cabin the 
 undulating hills of Devonshire, glowing in the full 
 tints of early autumn, came full in view. As the 
 ships rounded Ranee Head, the spires and masts of 
 Plymouth, the woody height of Mount Edge- 
 cumbe, the low island of St. Nicholas, the rocky 
 steepes of the Hoe, Mount Batten, the citadel, the 
 many picturesque and familiar features of the mag- 
 nificent harbour, rose one by one to sight. But the 
 eyes which had so yearned to behold this scene once 
 more were at that very instant closing in death. 
 Foremost of the victorious squadron the St. George 
 rode with its precious burden into the Sound ; and 
 just as it came in full view of the eager thousands 
 crowding the beach, the pier heads, the walls of 
 the citadel, or darting countless boats over the 
 smooth waters between St. Nicholas and the docks, 
 ready to catch the first glimpse of the hero of Santa 
 Cruz, and salute him with a true English welcome ; 
 
280 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARIN^G. 
 
 he, in his silent cabin, in the midst of his lion- 
 hearted comrades, now sobbing like little children, 
 yielded up his soul to God." 
 
 Such was his death. A public funeral was all 
 that remained for a grateful country to bestow. 
 His body was brought up to London with all public 
 pomp,— the Lord Protector being anxious to " en- 
 courage other officers to venture their lives that 
 they might be pompously buried," — and was in- 
 terred in King Henry the Seventh's chapel, sur- 
 rounded by the monuments of our Kings. 
 
 THE YOUNG PRETENDER. 
 
 The following narrative derives additional in- 
 terest from its having been intimately connected 
 with the fortunes of the Young Pretender ; and 
 when we bear in mind that the bravery and daring 
 manifested by the Captain of the Lion, unwittingly 
 on his part, exercised a powerful influence on the 
 eventual failure of the Stuarts, by depriving his 
 partizans of the munitions of war which they were 
 expecting, it may fairly be said that Captain Percy 
 Brett was a main instrument of Providence towards 
 insuring the stability of the House of Hanover, 
 whose tenure of the crown of these realms might 
 have been seriously shaken had the Elizabeth been 
 permitted to pursue her course unmolested. 
 
 Charles Edward had embarked in July, 1745, 
 upon his ill-starred expedition in a small frigate, 
 
THE YOUNG PRETENDER. 281 
 
 escorted by the French ship of the line Elizabeth, 
 of 64 guns, on board which latter ship 400,000/. in 
 money had been embarked, and arms for several 
 thousand men. The Prince himself had taken a pas- 
 sage in the frigate, the better to escape the vigilance 
 of the numerous cruizers which were at sea ready to 
 intercept him. On the 9th of July, Captain Percy 
 Brett, in the Lion of 58 guns, cruizing off the 
 Lizard, descried this armament at three in the 
 afternoon ; and having the wind in his favour, the 
 enemy being to leeward, without any consideration 
 of the disparity of force, he bore down on them, 
 when they hoisted French colours, but still con- 
 tinued on their course. At five o'clock the Lion 
 had ranged up within pistol-shot of the Elizabeth, 
 and the action commenced with great fury, the 
 Frenchman striving to disable his adversary in his 
 sails and rigging, so as to secure the safety of the 
 frigate under his convoy. In this he perfectly 
 succeeded, for by nine o'clock the Lion's masts 
 were shot through and through, and her standing 
 and running rigging totally destroyed, and, to use 
 Captain Brett's own words, " he lay muzzled and 
 could do nothing." The enemy did not receive 
 much damage in his masts and yards, but his hull 
 was dreadfully shattered, and at ten o'clock he 
 sheered off, taking a farewell from two of the 
 Lion's 24 pounders, and in an hour was out of 
 sight. The small ship, in the beginning of the 
 engagement, had made two attempts to rake the 
 Lion, but her stern chase guns soon beat her off, 
 
282 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 and after that she lay at a respectful distance. 
 During the four hours which it lasted this action 
 was fought within pistol-shot, and the slaughter was 
 consequently very great— the Lion losing 52 killed 
 and 100 wounded ; and it was subsequently ascer- 
 tained that the Elizabeth reached Brest in a very 
 disabled state, with 64 men killed and 136 wounded, 
 many dangerously. Captain Brett, in his official 
 letter, states that his greatest dependence during 
 the action lay in his officers in the several stations, 
 and that they behaved extremely well, except the 
 Captain of Marines, whom he put under arrest for 
 skulking behind some bags upon the poop, setting 
 so bad an example to his men, that when they 
 w^ere summoned below to supply the places of the 
 men killed at the guns it was with great difficulty 
 that they were driven down. 
 
 The Captain, all his Lieutenants, and the Master, 
 were wounded early in the action, but, notwith- 
 standing, they continued to encourage the men at 
 their guns to the last, and the First Lieutenant was 
 only carried off when no longer able to stand. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE BUCCANEERS. 
 
 At the commencement of the last century, the 
 commerce of this country with the coast of Africa 
 and the West India Islands was completely para- 
 lyzed by the depredations of a band of pirates, 
 more commonly called buccaneers, who held an 
 
DESTRUCTION OF THE BUCCANEERS. 283 
 
 almost unchecked dominion on the high seas for 
 some years. These freebooters, under the command 
 of a man of the name of Roberts, had established 
 themselves in some force on the coast of Africa, 
 whence their piratical fleet, consisting of three 
 stout ships, one, the Royal Fortune, of 40 guns 
 and 150 men ; another, the Ranger, of 32 guns and 
 132 men ; and the third, the Little Ranger, of 24? 
 guns and 90 men, sallied forth in uncurbed in- 
 solence, levjdng their contributions not only upon 
 the unfortunate mariners with whom they might 
 fall in, but also frequently stretching across 
 the Atlantic, and landing and ravaging the 
 coasts of our West Indian colonies. Their auda- 
 city and power had at length attained to such 
 a pitch that the government of the day issued a 
 proclamation offering a free pardon to all who 
 might surrender themselves within a certain tim^e, 
 while they also adopted the more sensible course 
 of sending out two ships, the Swallow and Wey- 
 mouth, under the command of an active and 
 gallant officer, Captain Sir Challoner Ogle (the 
 second of that name who has distinguished himself 
 in the naval service), to compel that submission 
 which they did not anticipate from the more 
 lenient measures. For many months the exertions 
 of the commanders of the royal ships were inef- 
 fectual ; Roberts's spies were too numerous, and 
 kept him too well informed of his pursuers^ move- 
 ments, even to give them a chance of coming up 
 with them ; and Sir Challoner Ogle was at length 
 
284 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 compelled to seek some harbour where he might 
 careen and refit his ships. While he was in this posi- 
 tion, Eoberts and his lieutenants pursued their avo- 
 cations with redoubled vigour, and even ventured 
 to show themselves within sight of the place where 
 Ogle was refitting. When ready to proceed to sea 
 again, Captain Ogle despatched the Weymouth to 
 protect the trade in one direction, whilst he himself 
 proceeded in another in pursuit of his enemy, 
 whom at length he had the satisfaction of tracing 
 to a bay in the vicinity of Cape Lopez. Single- 
 handed the Swallow was hardly a match for the 
 three desperadoes, and Captain Ogle decided on 
 resorting to a stratagem to effect their destruction 
 in detail. Disguising the Swallow as a French 
 merchant ship, he passed under easy sail across the 
 entrance of the bay, thus exciting the cupidity of 
 the pirates with hopes of a valuable prize. Roberts 
 himself was high up in the bay, but he made the 
 signal to his second in command, one Skyon, who, 
 in the Ranger, was lying in the most favourable 
 position for chasing, to proceed and capture the 
 supposed merchantman. The Swallow now made 
 sail as if to escape, but only to decoy the pirate 
 to such a distance that the report of the firing 
 might not be heard by her consorts ; when, sud- 
 denly tacking upon her surprised antagonist, and 
 hoisting the English ensign, she brought her to 
 close action. Skyon was wounded at the first 
 broadside ; but such was the desperation with which 
 his people fought, knowing the ignominious death 
 
DESTRUCTION OF THE BUCCANEERS. 285 
 
 that awaited them if captured, that they did not 
 surrender until after a sharp contest of an hour 
 and halfs duration, when the bloody flag was 
 hauled down and the Eanger taken possession of. 
 Having thus secured one of his foes, Captain Ogle 
 had next to consider how he could best capture 
 the other two. Hoisting the piratical colours, the 
 Death's head and crossed bones, over the French, 
 he returned to the bay where he had left the 
 Royal Fortune and the Little Ranger, which ships 
 meanwhile had been prepared for sea, and were 
 coining out to the support of their consort. Roberts, 
 deceived by Captaiu Ogle's ruse, bore down Avith- 
 out suspicion to congratulate his lieutenant on his 
 supposed success, and was only made aware of his 
 mistake by the rough welcome of a shotted broad- 
 side : but the pirate was not a man to surrender 
 without a struggle ; the fight was maintained with 
 warmth for more than two hours, nor was his ship 
 yielded until he was himself killed and all further 
 resistance was hopeless. 
 
 Captain Ogle carried his three prizes and the 
 surviving prisoners, 160 in number (more than 
 200 having fallen in the conflict), to Caj)e Coast 
 Castle, where they were directly put on their trial ; 
 74 were convicted, and of that number 52 were 
 executed, having been hanged in chains at short 
 distances from each other along the coast. For 
 this important service the honour of knighthood 
 was bestowed on the gallant Captain on his return 
 to England, and the crew of the Swallow were 
 allowed to divide the spoils taken from the pirates. 
 
286 • DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 THE TABLES TURNED, 
 
 In the life of Captain John Myers, a seaman of 
 the old war, who commenced his career in the navy, 
 but passed his riper years as officer and commander 
 of private ships of war, there is a strange story 
 recorded which well deserves a place in these 
 pages, exhibiting as it does an instance of one ot 
 the boldest stratagems that fortune ever crowned 
 with success. 
 
 While Mr. Myers was acting as first lieutenant 
 of the Tamar privateer, in September, 1806, 
 cruizing near the island of Madagascar, they cap- 
 tured a ship belonging to the Isle of France, 
 called the Bon Fortune, into which he was put 
 with fourteen men under his orders to navigate 
 her to a friendly port. The day following, 
 having lost sight of the Tamar, the small crew of 
 the Bon Fortune perceived a strange sail bearing 
 down on their starboard beam, which, from her 
 mode of sailing and general appearance, they had 
 little doubt was Le Brave, a French privateer of 
 16 guns and ISO men — a very fast sailer, and one 
 which had long been the terror of those seas. 
 Escape from her by flight was as hopeless as any 
 resistance, and the prize-crew packed up their traps 
 in readiness for their transfer to the ship of their 
 anticipated captors ; but the breeze was very light, 
 and the privateer in consequence a long time in 
 closing, aud the respite thus afforded gave Mr. 
 Myers time to arrange a plan for the capture of 
 the enemy, which he informed his small crew 
 
THE TABLES TUENED. 287 
 
 would certainly succeed if they would render him 
 the necessary assistance, and all hands instantly 
 agreed to act according to his wishes. 
 
 Mr. Myers' stratagem, and the hopes of success 
 he built upon it, was derived from the well-known 
 habit of Le Brave's crew of carrying all vessels that 
 offered resistance by boarding with the whole 
 of their force. He therefore brought his lar- 
 board guns to the starboard side, being that 
 on which the privateer was approaching, thus 
 showing a vessel capable of defence ; and 
 having loaded them, he ordered the remainder of 
 the ammunition on board to be thrown into the sea. 
 He then caused his only boat to be lowered from 
 the stern, put some fire-arms into it ready primed 
 and loaded, and secured it alongside close to the 
 larboard port of the cabin. Having thus made all 
 his arrangements, and carefully seen that all his 
 orders were executed, Mr. Myers told his men, in 
 the event of the privateer's crew boarding, as he 
 expected they would, to follow him to the cabin, 
 and thence through the port into the boat. Even- 
 ing had closed round them, when the privateer ran 
 down within pistol-shot, and received the fire from 
 the four guns of the Bon Fortune, which she as 
 quickly returned by a full broadside, and then 
 running her bowsprit into the ship's rigging, with 
 three cheers, " Vive I'Empereur !'' the privateer's 
 crew rushed on board. Finding his expectations 
 so far realized, Mr. Myers retreated to the cabin, 
 followed by his crew, some of the French running 
 
288 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 after them, and placing sentries at the cabin-door 
 to prevent a sally. 
 
 By this time the two vessels had separated about 
 a cable's length, when the supposed captives 
 jumped into their boat, cut the painter, and, quietly 
 pulling round under the stern, boarded the enemy. 
 Only four men had been left in her, and these ran 
 to oppose them at the gangway, but two fell mor- 
 tally wounded, and the other two were secured and 
 placed in irons, and the Brave's sails trimmed and 
 course steered to take her clear of the prize. Mr. 
 Myers, however, was not yet satisfied with his 
 triumph, and bringing his guns to bear, he ran under 
 his late ship's stern and hailed her. After much 
 confusion, the French captain appeared on deck, 
 when Mr. Myers informed him that he was quite 
 satisfied with the exchange, and that he knew the 
 Frenchman's position much better than he himself 
 did, that he had no powder on board, nor a boat 
 to follow him, and that Le Brave had every advan- 
 tage in sailing. He added that the cargo on board 
 was of no value, and that he would as soon sink the 
 ship as not, but that if the Frenchman would steer 
 the course he directed they should be treated as 
 prisoners of war. To this they assented, and both 
 vessels proceeded on their course until they fell 
 in with the Tamar three days after. That ship's 
 company was in every way prepared for action, 
 and, notwithstanding Mr. Myers made every pri- 
 vate signal, he could not convince them of the 
 actual state of affairs. Failing in all his endeavours, 
 
ISIS AND ZELE. 289 
 
 he ordered his men below, and immediately receiv- 
 ing the Tamar's broadside, he lowered his topsails 
 and made every mark of submission, when Captain 
 Wilson of the Tamar came on board, and was most 
 agreeably surprised to find his shipmates in posses- 
 sion of the much-dreaded privateer. Mr. Myers 
 continued in command of the Brave for a few 
 months, when he was taken by the French frigate 
 Tamise, and carried into Port Louis. Some of the 
 Frenchmen, who were still on board, told the cap- 
 tain of the frigate of the way in which they had 
 been taken. He could not refrain from most im- 
 moderate fits of laughter, and, shaking hands with 
 Mr. Myers, informed him that all his property was 
 sacred, and that anything on board the frigate was 
 at his command. He was sincere in his professions, 
 and during his subsequent captivity his attention 
 and civility were very great ; and on the evening 
 previous to Mr. Myers' departure from Port Louis, 
 Captain Villeneuve gave a splendid ball, to which 
 he invited all the inhabitants, as a token of his 
 esteem for his prisoner. 
 
 ISIS AND ZELE. 
 
 The year 1782 presents to our notice an action 
 which demonstrates the wonders that may be per- 
 formed by a well-commanded and well-disciplined 
 British ship of war. "When the British and French 
 fleets, at that time opposed to each other on the 
 
 u 
 
290 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 coast of America, had been scattered by a tempest, 
 it chanced that the British ship Isis, of 50 guns 
 and 350 men, fell in with the French 74, Z4]4 
 with 800 men. The French ship carried a rear- 
 admiral's flag, and bore confidently down upon her 
 smaller foe, and, as she was a far better sailer, soon 
 brought her to action Undismayed by the odds, 
 Captain Raynor, of the Isis, supported, in his reso- 
 lution of defending his ship to the last, by the bravery 
 of his officers and men, employed all the resources 
 of skilful and judicious seamanship so to manoeuvre 
 his vessel that he completely confounded his ad- 
 ' versary. The unhesitating obedience to his orders, 
 both of officers and men, trained to a degree of 
 perfection in the management of the sails as well 
 as the exercise of the guns, conspired more per- 
 haps than their undaunted courage to defeat their 
 enemy ; who, after an action of an hour and a 
 half, was actually beaten off, having suffered ap- 
 parently most severely, and only inflicting a loss of 
 one killed and fifteen wounded on the English 
 ship. 
 
 ADMIRAL MACBRIDE. 
 
 Single actions between ships of the line have 
 been of very rare occurrence in naval warfare, and 
 whenever they have taken place they have of 
 course so much the more attracted observation and 
 remark. It would seem to be almost a matter of 
 course that when such mighty foes as ships of the 
 line are pitted against each other, such actions 
 
ADMIRAL MACBRIDE. 291 
 
 must be attended with great destruction of human 
 life ; but even in well-fought engagements this has 
 not always been the case, and in that between the 
 English Bienfaisant and French Comte d' Artois, each 
 of 64 guns^ while the loss of the English was so small 
 as to appear scarcely credible, that of the French 
 was by no means what might have been expected 
 by the unprofessional reader, who would look for 
 a complete annihilation of the occupants of the two 
 wooden boxes thus pouring the iron shower of shot 
 into each other at close quarters. Both the above- 
 named ships may be said to have been commanded 
 by Irishmen, for Captain Macbride of the Bienfaisant 
 claimed the Emerald Isle for his birthplace, and 
 Monsieur Clonard of the Comte d'Artois, although 
 born in France, was of Irish parents. In conse- 
 quence of her captain's connection with that coun- 
 try, the Comte d'Artois had been stationed to 
 harass our trade on the coast of Ireland, and the 
 mischief she had done had induced the Admiralty 
 of the day to send several vessels to look out for 
 her. It was, however, the good fortune of the 
 Bienfaisant to meet her ; and that ship surprised 
 her at daylight one morning off the Old Head of 
 Kinsale, in the middle of a convoy of our merchant 
 ships. Desirous of emulating the exploits of Du- 
 guay Trouin, whose chief successes were due to 
 boarding, it seems that M. Clonard had trained his 
 people to that style of warfare, and he therefore 
 hoisted English colours in order to lure the Captain 
 of the Bienfaisant to approach within grappling 
 
 u 2 
 
292 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 distance. Captain Macbride, a thorough sailor and 
 skilful manoeuvrer, had a very shrewd guess at the 
 stranger's real character, and, while he ranged up 
 alongside and entered into conversation with his 
 enemy, was endeavouring to place his ship in the 
 most effective position. This farce of pretended 
 ignorance on both sides soon resolved itself into 
 tragedy ; but, strange to say, when the action did 
 commence it was with musketry only, for neither 
 ship could bring a gun to bear upon the other. 
 This state of affairs did not, however, last many 
 minutes, for Captain Macbride soon placed the 
 Bienfaisant in the desired position on his enemy's 
 bow, which her superior sailing enabled him to do, 
 and opened a raking fire fore and aft upon the 
 Comte d'Artois, with such effect, that her crew 
 were unable to stand to their guns or work their 
 ship, and she was shortly compelled to surrender 
 with loss of 21 killed and 35 wounded ; while the 
 Bienfaisant had only 8 killed and 22 wounded, 
 and had suffered so little in other respects that no 
 person could have told that she had been in action. 
 Captain Macbride's judicious management induced 
 detractors to endeavour to lessen the merit of a 
 victory obtained with so little loss ; as they, forsooth, 
 could not understand why he did not range up, 
 and " fight it out broadside to broadside in a manly 
 style." 
 
 Previous to this action Captain Macbride had 
 distinguished himself for his humanity, as well as 
 his courage, in engaging and capturing the Phoenix, 
 
ADMIRAL MACBRIDE 293 
 
 bearing the flag of the Spanish Admiral, Don Juan 
 de Langara. Having compelled that ship to strike, 
 and sent a lieutenant and party of men to take pos- 
 session of her, his humanity made him shrink from 
 bringing any of his prisoners on board his own 
 ship, in which malignant small-pox was raging, 
 and thereby subjecting them to all the dangers of 
 infection. He therefore drew up and submitted 
 the following agreement to the Spanish Admiral, 
 which in its fulfilment is a pleasing record of 
 Spanish honour and English humanity, both ships 
 subsequently arriving safely in Gibraltar Bay : — 
 
 " Bienfaisant at Sea, January 18, 1780. 
 
 " The small-pox being on board H.M.S. Bien- 
 faisant of a malignant kind, the feelings of a 
 British officer cannot allow him to introduce an 
 infection even among his enemies. From this 
 consideration, and the very gallant defence made 
 by Admiral Langara and his officers. Captain 
 Macbride consents that neither officers nor men 
 shall be removed from the Phoenix, taken by 
 H.B.M. ships Defence and Bienfaisant, Admiral 
 Langara being responsible for the conduct of his 
 officers and men ; and in case that we fall in 
 with any Spanish or French ships of war, he will 
 not suffer Lieut. Thomas Louis, his officer, to be 
 interrupted in conducting and defending the ship 
 to the last extremity, agreeable to his orders ; and 
 if, meeting with superior force, the ship should be 
 retaken, and the Bienfaisant fight her way clear. 
 Admiral Don Juan de Langara, his officers and 
 
294 DEEDS OF NAYAL DAEING. 
 
 men, are to hold themselves prisoners of war to 
 Captain Macbride upon their parole of honour 
 (which he is confident with Spanish officers is ever 
 sacred). Likewise if the Bienfaisant should be 
 taken, and the Phoenix escape, the Admiral Don 
 Juan de Langara, his officers, &c., will no longer 
 be prisoners, but freed immediately. In short, 
 they are to follow the fate of the Bienfaisant. 
 
 (Signed) " John Macbkide. 
 
 " JlTAN Ig. de LANGAEA." 
 
 Another instance of the strange disproportion in 
 loss of life, which so frequently occurred in encoun- 
 ters between our ships and those of the enemy, 
 occurs in the naval career of Admiral Macbride. 
 Various explanations have been offered to account 
 for these disproportionate losses, which have been 
 put down by many as absurd exaggerations ; but 
 there is no reasonable ground to doubt the correct- 
 ness of such returns, as our own are always pre- 
 pared with rigorous fidelity, and are in fact looked 
 upon as legal documents, while those of the enemy 
 are always taken from their own depositions and a 
 careful reference to the ship's papers. In the 
 actio a to which I now refer. Captain Macbride 
 commanded the Artois, a frigate of 44 guns, when 
 he was chased by two ships of 24 guns and 150 
 men each. He says : — " About two o'clock in the 
 morning I brought them both to action, but paid 
 attention only to the one on our quarter till we 
 had effectually winged her : then pushed forward 
 and closed with the other which was engaged on 
 
FOUL-WEATHER JACK. 295 
 
 our bow. In about thirty minutes sbe struck, we 
 sent a boat on board to take possession, and wore 
 round after the other, who was making off, but 
 who also struck on our coming up. They proved 
 to be the Hercules and Mars, commanded by two 
 Hogenboomes, father and son, inhabitants of 
 Flushing. The father was well known last war by 
 the nickname of John Hardapple : he had a privateer 
 schooner with a French commission, and did much 
 mischief to our trade. He was sent for on purpose 
 to command these privateers." 
 
 In this action the Hercules had 13 killed and 20 
 wounded ; the Mars 9 killed and 15 wounded ; while 
 the Artois had only 1 man killed and 6 wounded. 
 
 FOUL-WEATHER JACK. 
 
 " Reversed (forme) our grandsire's fate of yore; 
 He had no rest at sea, nor I on shore." 
 
 Such are the terms in which his noble grandson 
 the poet, speaks of his ancestor the Honourable 
 John Byron, whose misfortunes in his naval career 
 have become quite proverbial, and of whom it is 
 said that he never made a voyage without en- 
 countering a tempest ; a fact which gained for him 
 in the Navy the soubriquet of Foul- weather Jack. 
 
 This officer published an account of the loss of 
 the Wager, one of Admiral Anson's squadron in 
 his voyage round the world ; and in it he gives an 
 amusing anecdote of the terror inspired by the 
 English on the west coast of South America. 
 
296 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 When the shipwrecked party, only three in number, 
 enfeebled by privation and disease, had arrived at 
 Lima, after almost incredible suffering, they were 
 received by the Governor with great kindness, 
 while every commiseration was shown them. They 
 had not, however, been long in the port before the 
 Captain of a large coasting ship, which had recently 
 arrived, waited on the Governor, and told him, with 
 a most melancholy countenance, that he had not 
 slept a wink since he came into the harbour, as the 
 Governor was pleased to allow three English pri- 
 soners to walk about instead of confining them, and 
 that he expected every moment they would board 
 his vessel and carry her away : this he said when 
 he had above thirty hands aboard. The Governor 
 assured him that he would be answerable for the 
 prisoners and that he might sleep in quiet, though 
 at the same time he could not help laughing at the 
 man, as all the people in the town did. These 
 assurances, however, did not satisfy the Captain ; he 
 used the utmost despatch in disposing of his cargo, 
 and put to sea again, not thinking himself safe till 
 he had lost sight of the port. Admiral Byron in 
 the same narrative gives a pleasing trait of Spanish 
 generosity. He and another prisoner had received 
 an invitation to dine with the President to meet 
 the Spanish Admiral Pizarro and all his officers. 
 This was a cruel stroke, as neither of them had 
 any clothes to appear in, and yet dared not refuse 
 the invitation. While in this dilemma, the first- 
 lieutenant of Pizarro's ship, who had some notion 
 of the real state of the case, called on them and 
 
FOUL-WEATHER JACK. 297 
 
 offered his purse, to the extent of 2000 dollars, 
 entirely out of compassion for their situation, and 
 without any idea of being repaid. The astonished 
 Englishmen received his offer with gratitude, and 
 accepted 600 dollars, giving him bills on the English 
 Consul at Lisbon for that sum, and having decently 
 clothed themselves, were able to enjoy the parole 
 which had been accorded them. 
 
 Admiral Byron is not the only naval hero of his 
 family ; his second son, George Anson Byron, the 
 immediate ancestor of the present Peer, like his 
 father, embraced the naval profession, and thanks 
 to the almost unlimited power which Admirals on 
 foreign stations enjoyed less than a century since, 
 he was promoted to post rank before his twenty- 
 first year, and was placed in command of the Pro- 
 serpine, a fine frigate of 28 guns, on the West 
 India station. Captain Byron's personal appear- 
 ance seems to have been even more juvenile than 
 his years, and when his ship was riding at anchor 
 in the neutral port of St. Eustatius, with a French 
 frigate the Sphynx, the rival Commander, on 
 meeting him on shore, expressed some sort of de- 
 rision at his boyish-looking antagonist, and inti- 
 mated a sort of defiance. Captain Byron, notwith- 
 standing his youth, had however all the spirit of 
 his family, and immediately put to sea in company 
 with the Frenchman. A battle ensued, and the 
 British boy proved victorious, and carried the 
 French veteran into St. Kitts, having the additional 
 satisfaction of restoring the Sphynx to the service 
 
298 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 from which she had been taken, she having been a 
 short time previous captured by the French. 
 
 GLATTON, WITH SIX SHIPS. 
 
 Sir Henry TroUope's action in the Glatton against 
 vast numerical odds, may fairly be cited as a fit 
 pendant to Captain Luttrel's action in the Me- 
 diator. It is one of those instances of British 
 courage and resolution that almost reads like 
 romance, and takes firm hold of the youthful imagi- 
 nation, singled out from the many gallant achieve- 
 ments that mark the commencement of the 
 Revolutionary war. The Glatton, an East India 
 trader purchased by the Government, had been 
 armed as an experiment with what was at the time 
 a novel gun, the 68-pounder carronade ; an imple- 
 ment of warfare not generally admired in the 
 naval service, but of which the value was immense 
 in the peculiar circumstances under which the 
 present action was fought. 
 
 The Glatton was cruizing in July, 1796, on the 
 coast of Flanders, when on the afternoon of the 
 15th of that month she observed six sail of ships 
 under the land, and on closing within signal 
 distance, made them out to be an enemy s squadron 
 of four frigates, two corvettes, with a brig and 
 cutter, hastening to join them from the leeward. 
 Nothing daunted at the formidable appearance of 
 the enemy, but rather rejoiced at the opportunity 
 
GLATTON, WITH SIX SHIPS. 299 
 
 of trying the effect of his favourite heavy carronades, 
 Captain TroUope ordered the ship to be cleared for 
 action, and stood on with a light breeze in his 
 favour, while the strangers, confident of success, 
 shortened sail, backing their mizen topsails to keep 
 their respective stations. The shades of a long 
 summer night had fallen, when at 9*45 the Glatton, 
 having hoisted her colours, arrived abreast of the 
 three smaller and rearmost ships, but reserved her 
 fire for the next, which from her superior size 
 appeared to be the Commodore. Banging close 
 alongside, Captain TroUope hailed the ship and 
 desired her Commander to surrender. The only 
 answer v\ras the display of French colours and the 
 broad pendant of a Commodore, accompanied by a 
 general fire from the whole squadron. The Glatton 
 was not slow in returning it, and at the distance of 
 not more than twenty yards poured in such a broad- 
 side as no single- decked ship probably ever before 
 delivered. While thus mutually engaged, the efforts 
 of the Captain of the French van ship seemed to 
 aim, by manoeuvring with the rest of his force, to 
 drive the Glatton upon the Brill shoal close to 
 leeward. With this object he bore down on the 
 Glatton's weather-beam ; but when within hail, 
 received a fire from her larboard guns, the effects 
 " of which were heard above the roar of the artillery 
 in the cries and groans of the wounded, and par- 
 tially seen in the shattered state of the ship's side 
 The discomfited ship passed on, greeted with three 
 British cheers, leaving the Glatton still engaged 
 
300 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 with the French Commodore upon her lee bow 
 and the third frigate upon her lee quarter. Her 
 crew being insufficient to man both sides, they were 
 divided into two gangs, one of which having loaded 
 and run out the guns, left them to be pointed and 
 fired by the picked hands, and then ran across and 
 did the same to the opposite guns. The action had 
 now lasted twenty minutes, when the pilot called 
 out that the ship would be on the shoal if she did 
 not tack in five minutes. Captain TroUope only 
 replied, " When the French Commodore strikes the 
 ground, do you put the helm a-lee." Immediately 
 after the French Commodore tacked to avoid the 
 shoal, the other French ships having previously 
 gone about, when the Glatton, delivering a terrific 
 raking fire into her, prepared to do the same, and 
 succeeded with great difficulty, owing to the 
 damaged state of her sails and rigging. The com- 
 batants were now all on the starboard tack ; and 
 although the three large frigates had fallen to 
 leeward, the three smaller ones kept up a harassing 
 fire at a respectful distance, to which the Glatton, 
 from the nature of her armament, which was 
 only effective at close quarters, was unable to 
 make an effectual return. At this time the wind 
 increasing, rendered it necessary to take in a reef 
 in the Glatton's topsails, which the crew hastened 
 to perform in the face of a smart cannonade, and 
 the nearest French ship, mistaking the cause of the 
 cessation of fire, hastened to advance to reap the 
 fruits of supposed victory ; but again the gallant 
 
GLATTON, WITH SIX SHIPS. 301 
 
 crew were at their guns, and a fatal fire convinced 
 the Frenchmen of their error, and induced the 
 three last ships to follow the example of their more 
 powerful companions and beat a retreat. Thus 
 far victorious over her six opponents, as well as the 
 brig and cutter which had opened their fire at the 
 close of the action, and likewise withdrawn after 
 receiving a few volleys, the Glatton was in such a 
 dismantled state as to render it impossible for her 
 to pursue her advantage ; almost every brace and 
 stay had been shot away, as well as the running and 
 great part of the standing rigging ; all her lower 
 sails were cut to ribbons, v/hile the mainmast and 
 fore and main yards were almost ready to fall. 
 But few shot, however, had struck the hull, and, 
 strange to say, no men were killed and two only 
 wounded. One of these was Captain H. L. Strange- 
 ways, of the Marines, who was badly wounded by a 
 musket-ball, and compelled in consequence to have 
 the tourniquet applied, but insisted on returning to 
 his quarters, and remained on deck until, faint with 
 loss of blood, he was carried below and died shortly 
 afterwards. 
 
 The best information as to the force of the enemy 
 states one of the frigates to have been a 74 cut 
 down to 50 guns, the second 38 guns, the third 36, 
 one of 28 guns, and two ship corvettes of 22 guns, 
 with the brig and cutter ; and the Flushing fisher- 
 men reported that so much damage had been 
 sustained by them, that one had sunk in the harbour, 
 and that they had lost 70 men in killed and 
 
302 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAKING. 
 
 wounded. Captain Trollope was knighted for this 
 engagement, and received a present of plate from 
 the merchants of London. 
 
 The King had expressed a desire to make him a 
 Knight Banneret, but technicalities interposed, and 
 it was decided that that rank could only be con- 
 ferred on the actual field of battle ; so that, unless 
 our monarchs again buckle on their harness and 
 sleep in the tented field, the style and dignity of a 
 Knight Banneret may now be looked upon as a 
 thing of past ages. 
 
 BOATS OF QUEBEC AND OTHERS, WITH GUN-BOATS, 
 OFF HELIGOLAND. 
 
 The island of Heligoland, a sandy dependency 
 of the British crown, situated at the mouth of the 
 Elbe, was, during the time that Napoleon enforced 
 his continental system, and interdicted any com- 
 mercial intercourse with England, the entrepot of 
 British goods, which were thence smuggled to the 
 main land ; and the intermediate waters between 
 the island and the coast of Holland swarmed with 
 gun- boats, which were supported onshore by strong 
 military detachments, to prevent the prohibited 
 trade. The efforts of our men-of-war on this sta- 
 tion were therefore directed to destroy this force ; 
 and on the 3rd of August, 1811, the boats of 
 her Majesty's ship Quebec, with others from the 
 Eaven, Exertion, Redbreast, Princess Augusta, and 
 Alert, under the command of Lieutenant Samuel 
 
BOATS OF QUEBEC OFF HELIGOLAND. 303 
 
 Blyth, of the Quebec, struck an effective blow. 
 This officer, with ten boats, containing 117 officers 
 and men, piloted by the mate of the Princess 
 Augusta, James Muggridge, left the frigate on the 
 1st of August. The day following they fell in with 
 six gun-boats, full of troops, and carrying heavy 
 metal. Burning to attack them, Mr. Blyth was only 
 held back by the utter hopelessness of attacking so 
 vastly superior a force with any chance of success 
 — but while he took no steps to avoid them, re- 
 marking that he would play children's play, and let 
 them alone, if they would him, the hostile force 
 respected his determined aspect, and stood away, 
 without attempting to annoy him. Thus left at 
 liberty to proceed on their projected enterprise, the 
 boats threaded the intricate navigation, until, on 
 the morning of the 3rd, they arrived in sight of the 
 enemy's gun-boats, four in number, and moored in 
 line in sight of their countrymen on shore. Each 
 boat contained twenty seamen, beside soldiers; 
 their guns, a long 12-pounder and two of smaller 
 calibre in each, were loaded with grape and 
 cannister shot, and should the hardy invaders suc- 
 ceed in escaping their salute and get alongside, the 
 crews were fully prepared to receive them. After 
 they arrived in sight, while the men lay on their 
 oars during the pause in which the plan of attack 
 was decided on, no thought of danger seemed 
 to enter their minds, and jokes were passing from 
 mouth to mouth. Lieutenant Blyth replying to a 
 remark, that it was a hot day and they should have 
 
304 DEEDS OF KAYAL DARING. 
 
 warm work— by, "Yes, they seem to be waiting for 
 us, and, as the witch said when she was going to 
 be burnt, there will be no fun until we get there." 
 The day was calm, and the water so still that 
 had the enemy been skilled in gunnery not a boat 
 could have reached them ; as it was, when the 
 word to advance was given the rapid strokes of the 
 hardy crews brought the boats within and through 
 the hostile fire before two volleys had been dis- 
 charged ; these, however, occasioned considerable 
 damage. Lieutenant Blyth reserved his fire until 
 he ran alongside the Commodore's gun-boat. In- 
 stantaneously gaining the deck he killed one man 
 and wounded two others, while Mr. Muggridge, as he 
 boarded, was opposed by two soldiers ; one of these 
 he shot dead, but the other thrust him through 
 the throat with his bayonet, and forced him back 
 into the sea. In very few minutes, however, the 
 crew was mastered and driven below, and the 
 Commander's sword in Mr. Blyth's hands, who in- 
 stantly caused the 12 -pounder to be turned on the 
 other three gun-boats, which were so placed that 
 they could not fire on him without killing their own 
 people. A quantity of cartridges were lying on the 
 deck of the captured gun-boat, covered with a sail, 
 and with these the victors loaded the heavy cannon, 
 but were unable to find a lighted match : in this 
 difficulty the gunner of the Quebec discharged the 
 gun by flashing his pistol over the touchhole, when 
 the fire unfortunately communicating to some loose 
 powder on the deck, and thence to the cartridges, 
 
BOATS OF QUEBEC OFF HELIGOLAND. 305 
 
 caused a terrible explosion, by which nineteen 
 persons were killed or wounded. Mr. Blyth was 
 blown into the sea, and his clothes burnt off one 
 side, and Lieutenant Moore of the Marines was 
 dreadfully scorched ; this fatal disaster on the deck 
 of the Commodore's gun-boat did not check the 
 advance of the other boats, which laid their enemies 
 on board, and in ten minutes from the first shot 
 the whole squadron was in our hands. There was 
 no deficiency of courage on the part of either 
 officers or men of the gun-boats ; their want of skill 
 only befriended the assailants, for when our sea- 
 men gained their decks they appeared confounded 
 rather than frightened, and neither struck their 
 flag nor asked for quarter ; our gallant tars driving 
 them below by the persuasive power of their fists, 
 rather than more deadly weapons. The number 
 of prisoners exceeded the amount of the whole 
 victorious force, the assailants losing in the attack 
 four killed and nine wounded, while of those ivho 
 suffered from the explosion three died the following 
 day. The enemy had two killed and twelve 
 wounded. As a proof of the severity of the fire 
 through which the boats passed in their onset, it 
 maybe stated that fourteen grape shot and twenty- 
 two musket balls passed through the barge of the 
 Quebec. Having completed this brilliant achieve- 
 ment, Lieutenant Blyth returned to Heligoland 
 with the captured gun-boats and prisoners, where 
 he was received with triumphant acclamations, 
 and on the 5th of September following he had the 
 
 X 
 
306 DEEDS OF KAVAL DARES'G. 
 
 satisfaction of receiving from the Admiralty his 
 well-earned promotion to the rank of Commander. 
 
 A PITHY SPEECH, 
 
 At the battle of the Nile, where the hero Nelson 
 executed the unexpected manoeuvre of taking his 
 fleet between the French ships and the shore, along 
 which they lay moored, while the British were 
 advancing silently to the attack, the late Sir 
 John Boscawen Savage, who died an octogenarian 
 General of marines, and who at that time com- 
 manded the marines of the Orion, requested per- 
 mission from the Captain to address a few words 
 to his men. Leave was of course immediately 
 granted, when Savage, pointing out the enemy's 
 array on the one side, and the low shore of Egypt 
 on the other, said — ^^ There, my lads, you see the 
 enemy's ships, and there," pointing on the other 
 side, '^ is the Land of Egypt ; and, by Jove, if you 
 don't fight like devils, and give the Frenchman a 
 (J — (J good licking, to-morrow you will find your- 
 selves in the House of Bondage." The result of 
 that glorious sea fight, in which the Orion took so 
 proud a share, shows that the gallant marine's 
 address, if requisite, was at all events not thrown 
 away. 
 
EUISTS^ING THE GAUNTLET. 307 
 
 RUNNING THE GAUNTLET. 
 
 The Mill of La Cole, situated on a stream which 
 falls into the river St John, between the Isle-aux- 
 Noix and lake Champlain, was, during the American 
 War, the scene of the following courageous act. 
 It was the most advanced post of the British army, 
 and garrisoned by detachments from the line and 
 the marines, forming in all a party of about 300 
 men, and was surrounded by the American army 
 of 5000 men, under General Wilkinson. The 
 ammunition of the British force was nearly ex- 
 pended, and so strictly was the place invested that 
 there was no means of communicating their posi- 
 tion to head-quarters at Isle aux-Noix. In this 
 difficulty private Ambrose Brown of the marines 
 volunteered to carry a despatch to the officer in 
 command at the above-named island. The river at 
 this time was frozen over, and covered with a deep 
 coating of snow, but the ice in the centre of the 
 stream only was sufficiently strong to allow of per- 
 sons traversing it, while both banks were lined mth 
 strong and vigilant detachments of the enemy, and 
 the distance from one bank to the other was not more 
 than a musket shot. The danger of such an enter- 
 prise was fully explained, but did not discourage 
 the undaunted volunteer, who, taking advantage 
 of the darkness of night, started with the despatch, 
 for greater security, rolled up in lead, in his mouth. 
 The shades of night, however, proved no protection 
 
 x2 
 
308 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 against the vigilance of the Americans. Brown 
 ivas observed almost as soon as he left the post, 
 and a heavy fire was opened on him from both 
 banks ; but he persisted in the attempt, and although 
 he received a musket ball in his hip he made good 
 his way with the despatch to Isle-aux-Noix, where 
 the necessary steps were taken to relieve the 
 garrison, and the important post was thus saved 
 from falling into the hands of the enemy. For his 
 gallant conduct Brown was made a corporal, and 
 would have been made a serjeant had he been able 
 to write. He is now an inmate of Greenwich 
 Hospital. 
 
 DEATH OF SIR PETER PARKER. 
 
 During the last American war, and while the 
 forces imder Admiral Sir George Cockburn and 
 General Ross were executing their gallant move- 
 ments into the heart of the country, w^hich ended 
 in the capture of Washington, the capital of the 
 Federal States, Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, 
 the Naval Commander-in-Chief, with the view of 
 causing a diversion, and calling off the attention 
 of the enemy from the main objects of attack, 
 directed two expeditions against other points— one 
 under the orders of Captain Gordon, of the Sea- 
 horse (the present Rear- Admiral Sir J. A. Gordon, 
 one of the heroes of Lissa, and the gallant Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital), which 
 
DEATH OF SIR PETER PARKER. 309 
 
 proceeded up the Potomac, and made a successful 
 attack on the town of Alexandria ; and the other 
 under Sir Peter Parker, of the Menelaus, against 
 Baltimore, with which our present narrative is con- 
 nected. Sir Peter, an officer who had, on many 
 previous occasions, given proofs of gallantry and 
 daring, and whose soul wa-s devoted to his profes- 
 sion and his country, while thus employed and 
 stationed in the Chesapeake, received information 
 from an intelligent black man that a body of militia 
 were encamped behind a wood within sight of the 
 ship, and distant about half a mile from the beach, 
 with the view of surprising any parties that might 
 be landed from the Menelaus, of opening their 
 artillery against the ship, or of endeavouring, 
 under cover of their gun-boats, if they should find 
 the British force off their guard, to cross the 
 bay to the relief of Baltimore itself. The descrip- 
 tion thus obtained of the American position was 
 such as to give the gallant Captain the best hopes 
 of being able to cut them off. Anxiety to defeat 
 their purpose, and, by driving them from a position 
 which threatened the safety of his ship, thus 
 produce an impression which would be favourable 
 to the ulterior operations of the army and fleet, 
 determined him, if possible, by a night attack, to 
 surprise them and storm their camp. As the 
 service was of the most desperate nature, he re- 
 solved to lead it himself; and accordingly, on the 
 night of the 30th August 1814, at eleven o'clock, 
 his preparations being all completed, he landed a 
 
310 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARHSTG. 
 
 body of seamen, who had been previously well 
 trained, in many a similar skirmish under his own 
 eye, to the use of small arms, and a party of 
 marines, altogether not exceeding 140 men, 
 formed into two divisions, headed by two of his 
 Lieutenants, Crease and Pearce, and the whole 
 commanded by himself. Sir Peter seems to have 
 been fully alive to the danger attendant on the 
 expedition he had now undertaken. Before leaving 
 the ship, he addressed these last few lines to Lady 
 Parker :- — 
 
 ** Menelaus, August 30, 1814. 
 
 " I am just going on desperate service, and en- 
 tirely depend upon valour and example for its suc- 
 cessful issue. If anything befals me, I have made 
 a sort of will. My country will be good to you 
 and our adored children. God Almighty bless and 
 protect you all !— Adieu, most beloved Marianne, 
 ^^^^^ ' " Peter Parker." 
 
 The whole party pushed off from their ship, in 
 high spirits ; and having taken the look-out picquet 
 of the enemy, and one or two dragoong, imme- 
 diately on landing, they advanced in close column 
 and in the deepest silence, in the assurance that 
 their motions had not been discovered ; but, on 
 arriving at the ground, they found that the enemy 
 had shifted their position. Following them be- 
 tween four and five miles into the country, they at 
 length found them drawn up in line on a plain 
 surrounded by woods, with their camp in the rear, 
 
DEATH OF SIR PETER PARKER. 311 
 
 comprising a total force of 500 men, a troop of 
 horse, and five pieces of artillery, all perfectly 
 ready to receive their foe. 
 
 Not a moment was now to be lost Undismayed 
 by this apparently overwhelming superiority of 
 force, Sir Peter Parker determined upon an imme- 
 diate attack. By a smart fire, and instant charge, 
 the enemy was driven from his position, completely 
 routed, and compelled to a rapid retreat behind 
 his artillery, where he again made a stand ; one of 
 his guns was captured, but again abandoned. The 
 attack was instantly renewed with the same despe- 
 rate gallantry ; and (as Lieutenant Crease, whose 
 brave and meritorious conduct was equally con- 
 spicuous, states, in his official letter to Sir Alex- 
 ander Cochrane, as published in the London Ga- 
 zette, on the 27th September 1814) it was at this 
 time, ''while animating his men in the most heroic 
 manner, that Sir Peter Parker received his mortal 
 v/ound, which obliged him to quit the field, and 
 he expired in a few minutes." The ball by which 
 he fell entered his right thigh, and cut the main 
 artery. On receiving his mortal wound he smiled, 
 and said, " They have hit me, Pearce, at last ; but 
 it is nothing. Push on, my brave fellows, and 
 follow me 1 " Cheering his men with undaunted 
 heroism of spirit, that even his dying accents may 
 be said to have been strains of triumph. The 
 latter as enthusiastically returned his cheer. He 
 advanced at their head a few paces further, when, 
 staggering under the rapid flow of blood from his 
 
312 DEEDS OF KAVAL DAEING. 
 
 wound, he grew weak, fell into the arms of his 
 Second Lieutenant, Mr. Pearce, and, faintly de- 
 siring him to sound the bugle, to collect the men, 
 and leave him on the field, he finally surrendered, 
 without a sigh or a pang, his brave spirit to the 
 mercy of Heaven. His men collected around his 
 body, and swore never to deliver it up to the 
 enemy but with their lives. At this moment some 
 gallant fellows bled and died around him. The 
 conflict was now, among those intrepid champions 
 of their country's cause, who should bear off from 
 the enemy the cherished remains of their Captain. 
 At the head of these was Lieutenant Pearce, whose 
 bravery during the action had so nobly seconded 
 Sir Peter Parker, who, aware of the distinguished 
 abilities and merit of this excellent and rising 
 young officer, had applied to the Admiralty to have 
 him appointed to the Menelaus prior to her leaving 
 England. On the retreat of the enemy, Lieutenant 
 Pearce placed him on the shoulders of his men, 
 who, relieving each other by turns, thus bore off ;^ 
 to the shore (a distance of five miles) the body of 
 their fallen and beloved commander. One of these, 
 William Porrell, seaman, evinced on this occasion 
 a personal bravery and attachment to his Captain 
 that would have done credit to any mind. This ^s 
 man was near Sir Peter when he received the fatal u 
 wound, and immediately ran to his assistance, and 
 supported him in his arms until further help was 
 procured. The men who bore him off were changed ': 
 occasionally, but Porrell refused to quit the body 
 
DEATH OF SIR PETER PARKER. 313 
 
 a moment, and, unrelieved, sustained his portion 
 of the weight to the shore. "When it was sug- 
 gested by some present that the enemy might 
 rally, and cut off their retreat, he exclaimed, ''No 
 d — d Yankee shall lay a hand on the body of my 
 Captain while I have life or strength to defend it/' 
 The intrepid spirit and unconquerable mind of an- 
 other British sailor, named James Perring, equally 
 merits here the meed of admiration. He was not 
 above twenty-four years of age. Early in the 
 action he had been mortally wounded, under cir- 
 cumstances of peculiar suffering, and, calling out 
 to his companions to draw aside and advance, he 
 swore he would never become the prisoner of a 
 Yankee. He subsequently crawled to a tree, 
 against which, in great agony, he seated himself, 
 with his cutlass in one hand and his pistol in the 
 other. At daylight the Americans, finding the 
 British had retreated, returned to the field of 
 battle for the humane purpose of collecting the 
 wounded. They found Perring in this position, 
 life ebbing fast away. They summoned him to 
 surrender. He answered, no American should ever 
 take him alive. They assured him they only came 
 to carry him off to the hospital. He still perse- 
 vered in refusing to receive succour from them. 
 He was told, if he refused giving up his arms 
 they must fire on him. Collecting his remaining 
 strength, he exclaimed, " Fire away, and be d — d ! 
 No Yankee shall ever take me alive ; you will 
 only shorten an hour's misery." The Americans 
 
314 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 respected the heroism of this brave young man, 
 and left him unmolested to expire on the field. 
 
 COMUS WITH FREDERICHSW^RN. 
 
 The Comus, whose adventm^e at the Canary 
 Islands in 1807 has been narrated in a previous 
 anecdote^ having shortly after refitted at Spithead, 
 was ordered round to Harwich to receive on board 
 Generals Sir David Baird, Grosvenor, and Warde, 
 with their respective suites, and to convoy about 
 100 transports containing troops and ammunition 
 to Copenhagen. In about a week she reached 
 Elsineur Roads, where was presented the magni- 
 ficent sight of 20 sail of the line, besides frigates 
 and sloops, together with upwards of 500 transports, 
 containing about 20,000 men, assembled for an 
 approaching assault upon the Danish capital. That 
 Government, feeling uneasy, began to concentrate 
 their land forces, and ordered the frigate lying in 
 the Roads, for the purpose of enforcing the Sound 
 dues, to put to sea. She accordingly slipped in the 
 night and got clear away unnoticed, till Sir Samuel 
 Wood, in the Centaur, missed her about ten o'clock 
 in the morning, and reported her absence to Ad- 
 miral Gambler, on board his flag- ship. The Defence 
 of 74 guns being ordered to Norway to look after 
 a Danish ship of the line, was directed also to stop 
 the frigate, and the Comus was ordered to accom- 
 pany her. Captain Ekins, in command of the De- 
 
COMUS WITH FREDERICHSW^RN. 315 
 
 fence, finding that the Comus greatly outsailed his 
 ship, ordered her to proceed, and if she fell in with 
 the frigate to stop her. Making all sail she dis- 
 tanced the Defence during the night nearly fifteen 
 miles. At 6 A.M. the gladsome sound was heard from 
 the mast-head of " a sail ho ! '' " Whereabouts ?" 
 was responded by the officer of the watch—'' Right 
 a-head.^' " What does she look like?"—'' A large 
 vessel." The officer instantly slung his telescope 
 over his shoulder, mounted aloft, poised and pointed 
 it on the fore-topsail yard, and in a few minutes 
 descended and reported to the Captain that the 
 strange sail was apparently a frigate standing the 
 same way as the Comus, and by the colour of her 
 canvas a foreisfner. 
 
 The order was promptly given to chace, and in 
 a few seconds the shrill whistle was heard, with 
 the accompaniment^ of, " All hands make sail, a 
 hoy," re-echoed by the boatswain and his mates. 
 On the instant the willing seamen sprung aloft, 
 and almost like magic every available yard of 
 canvas was set, spreading a broad expanse to the 
 steady breeze. Nothing could be more satisfactory 
 than the rate at which the chace was overhauled. 
 At 7 she was seen from the deck, at 8 her lower 
 yards were visible, and at 11 her water line was 
 seen from the forecastle. Shortly after noon the 
 wind subsided entirely, leaving the two ships be- 
 calmed at a distance of six miles. They had thus 
 each ample leisure to survey their opponent, and 
 to compute the probable issue of the approaching 
 
316 DEEDS OF ^AYAL DARING. 
 
 conflict. The Dane's broadside showed 13 guns, 
 besides the bridle port on the main-deck, with 6 on 
 the quarter-deck and forecastle, indicating her to 
 be what is usually denominated a two-and4hirty ; 
 while the British frigate, by the same nomen- 
 clature, was styled a four-and-twenty ; divested 
 however of such technicality, the Dane carried 
 26 long 12-pounders on the main-deck, with 12 on 
 the quarter-deck and forecastle, and 240 men ; while 
 the armament of the Comus was 22 9-pounders 
 on the main deck, and 8 241b.-carronades, and 
 145 men, 15 of whom, were mere boys; a far 
 greater disproportion than the simple statement 
 that one carried 32 and the other 24 guns would 
 lead the reader to suppose. The disparity, great as 
 it was, served but to increase the measure of general 
 satisfaction, which was manifest in the eager look, 
 the joyous glance of every individual on board, 
 showing that degree of confidence which is at once 
 the type and forerunner of success. 
 
 The neutral port of Gottenburg was abreast of 
 the chace, and the entrance to the Wingo about 
 three leagues distant, and the fear that she might 
 show a white feather and run in there for shelter, 
 damped their anticipations ; but when at 8 P.M. the 
 long-looked- for breeze sprung up, and she was seen 
 crowding all sail in order to pass the port, these 
 apprehensions subsided, while hope and confidence 
 filled every British heart. It was a lovely night, 
 the breeze, though brisk, impressed only the gentlest 
 ripple on the surface, and after, the heat of a sultry 
 
COMUS WITH FREDERICHSW^RN. SI 7 
 
 summer's day was most invigorating. It blew off the 
 Swedish shore, bearing on its bosom the incense of 
 many a grateful odour. As it freshened, the gallant 
 little ship, careening under the pressure, moved with 
 the elasticity of a thing instinct with life and motion^ 
 and as if to add a character at once imposing and 
 majestic to these gentler features of the scene, the 
 western sky was iUuminated by a continuous blaze 
 of broad, soft, yet vivid lightning, which, darting in 
 vibratory rays, bore the strongest resemblance to 
 the coruscations of the aurora borealis. 
 
 At 10 o'clock the Captain, who was an invalid, 
 and naturally nervous, went to bed, giving instruc- 
 tions to carry moderate sail, and to be called on 
 closing with the chace, which he expected would 
 not take place before daylight ; but to accelerate 
 and ensure this object, the wind being on the star- 
 board beam, Lieutenant Watts shortly after quietly 
 directed some additional sail to be set, by which 
 the rate of sailing was increased to eight knots, and 
 he had the gratification to find that they so de- 
 cidedly outstripped the chace, that at ITSO P.M. 
 they were within half a mile of her. Seeing the 
 hopelessness of escape she had shortened sail, and 
 was now standing close-hauled, under top-sails^ 
 prepared to receive us. 
 
 Lieutenant Watts now shortened sail and the 
 Captain was called. When told they w^ere so near 
 he started up in amazement, hastily dressed, and 
 ran upon deck. The Comus now ranged up within 
 hail on the enemy's weather quarter, the courses 
 
318 DEEDS OF NAYAL DARING. 
 
 were then hauled up, and every man took his 
 station in readiness for action. 
 
 It was exactly midnight, and eight bells struck 
 to announce the hour. It broke ominously upon 
 the stillness of night, and might not unaptly be 
 likened as the knell for those whose hours were 
 numbered. Arrived within pistol shot the first 
 Lieutenant hailed to know from whence, and what 
 the stranger was ? From Elsineur, bound to Nor- 
 way, was the reply. She was desired to heave to 
 and wait for our Commodore, who was coming up 
 astern. " I want to have nothing to do with either 
 you or your Commodore," was rejoined. Closing 
 a little nearer, the summons was repeated in a 
 more decided tone. " This is an English frigate, 
 and we desire you will bring to." "^ And this is a 
 Danish frigate," was the spirited and laconic reply. 
 The wind at this moment scanting on us, we bore 
 away to run under his lee-quarter, and fired a 
 musket, to which he instantly replied by a shot 
 from his stern-chase gun. I'he Frederichswaprn 
 was now manoeuvred so as to place her in a position 
 in which she might rake and cripple her foe. Had 
 the intention been to fight it out, this proceeding 
 would have been opposed to every rule of seaman- 
 ship, but as a prelude to ensure escape was not 
 injudicious, and might have effected that object 
 had the guns been well directed. As it was the 
 result was most disastrous to her, for her enemy, 
 penetrating the intention of the evolution, altered 
 his helm just in time to avoid the fire, receiving 
 
COMUS WITH FREDERICHSW^RIS^ 319 
 
 part only on his bow, while most of it passed 
 innocuously a-head. And now the Dane suffered 
 for his error, for the Comus was enabled rapidly to 
 close under his lee-quarter, at the distance of 20 
 yards, and to pour in a broadside from guns double- 
 breeched and treble-shotted, every one of which 
 told with the most deadly and decisive effect. 
 Her wheel and tiller ropes being immediately shot 
 away, and the helmsman killed, she flew to the 
 wind. At this critical moment, laying the main- 
 topsail to the mast, Captain Shipley took an ad- 
 mirable position on her lee-bow, y/hich he main- 
 tained for 15 minutes, pouring in as many broad- 
 sides with comparative impunity ; for to add to the 
 embarrassment of his opponent, the men handing 
 up powder from the magazine were killed, which 
 stopped the supply ; her battle lanterns were nearly- 
 all extinguished ; and when an attempt was made 
 to haul up the courses, neither clew garnet, bunt- 
 line, or slabline, could be found for the purpose, 
 every particle of running rigging being cut to 
 pieces. Thus dreadfully and cruelly hampered she 
 lay in irons for several minutes, but fortune again 
 smiled upon her, for she fell round off athwart her 
 enemy's stern (the latter having forged a-head), 
 and thereby obtained a marked advantage, being 
 placed in a position to rake, which, had it been 
 improved on the instant, might have restored her 
 lost vantage ground. But her fire, which through- 
 out the contest had been ineffectual, and even 
 feeble, compared with her antagonist, was delayed 
 
320 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 till this advantage of position was lost, and it was 
 not again regained. The evolutions which have 
 been described had had the effect of altering the 
 relative position of the two ships, and the Comus 
 now found herself on the Dane's weather-bow. 
 Her men flew from the starboard to the larboard 
 guns, and opened so animated and destructive a 
 fire that nothing could withstand it. The Dane's 
 after guns did not bear on her, and her foremost 
 ones, from the concentrated fire maintained on 
 them, were apparently deserted, for not a shot 
 latterly was returned. The breeze now became 
 so lulled by the cannonade that neither ship had 
 steerage way. Forty-five minutes had elapsed from 
 the commencement of the action when they fell 
 on board of each other, the larboard quarter of 
 the Comus in contact with the Dane's starboard 
 bow. The superiority the Comus 'had hitherto 
 maintained by the precision and rapidity of her 
 fire was now at an end, and the enemy's excess in 
 point of number might yet gain him the ascend- 
 ancy, and be decisive of the battle. This impres- 
 sion, as the ships gradually approached, was con- 
 firmed in the mind of the English officers when 
 they saw the Danish Captain, with a spirit worthy 
 of better fortune, profiting by the occasion, to 
 assemble the whole of his effective force in order to 
 board them, and just when they came in contact, dis- 
 tinctly heard the order given, which was to impel the 
 enemy to the assault. Not an instant was therefore 
 to be lost, Lieutenant Watts gave the order, which 
 
COMUS WITH FREDEEICHSWJ^RX. 821 
 
 rapidly passed fore and aft — ^' Boarders on the lar- 
 board qu.arter," when instantly came dashing on- 
 wards a gallant little band of determined and 
 ardent spirits to repel it. The adversary's cat- 
 head touching their quarter formed a causeway of 
 about ten inches wide, by crossing which either 
 party could assail the other ; when therefore the 
 enemy, rushing forward with great apparent de- 
 termination, was met at this narrow pass by a 
 phalanx of pikes, supported by a fire from the two 
 after guns, he first hesitated and then receded. 
 " Three cheers, my lads, and carry her,'' shouted 
 the first Lieutenant, and instantly burst forth that 
 animated British peal which has so often been the 
 harbin2:er of terror and defeat to the boldest of 
 England's foes. Suiting the action to the word, 
 Lieutenant Watts, leading the way, sprung across 
 the narrow bridge, followed by the first division of 
 boarders, and vaulting on the forecastle, forced the 
 Danes headforemost into the waist, and leaping 
 upon them sword in hand, they were driven im- 
 petuously along the starboard gangway in spite of 
 all the efforts of their officers to rally them, while 
 Lieutenant Hood Knight, at the head of his divi- 
 sion, swept simultaneously the larboard gangway, 
 and both divisions uniting on the quarter-deck, 
 the enemy, pent up and panic-struck, called out 
 they had surrendered, and threw down their arms. 
 Thus fell the Danish frigate Frederichswaern, 
 affording one more instance to the many of the 
 superiority of practice and discipline over size and 
 
 Y 
 
322 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAE^G, 
 
 numbers. In justice to a brave opponent it must 
 not be concealed that the loss of the wheel at the 
 commencement of the action was mainly decisive 
 of the final issue, being a casualty of so serious a 
 nature, as no skill in seamanship or perfection in 
 discipline could compensate for. But while candour 
 compels this avowal, truth equally demands a 
 merited eulogium upon the perfection of our ar- 
 tillery, which was so admirably served and so well 
 directed, as to ensure victory under almost any 
 circumstances. The Danish Captain declared he 
 did not believe in the possibility of so rapid a 
 fire ; and its precision was shown by not a grape 
 shot even being found half-courses high. It was 
 long afterwards related in the Baltic Fleet as an 
 amusing anecdote — the aggrieved air and simple 
 manner with which the Danish Captain related 
 how unfairly he had been treated ; " for the English 
 frigate, by firing five guns for his one, gave him no 
 possible chance of success." The damage sustained 
 by the Comus was trifling, and she had but one 
 man wounded ; while the Dane had 13 killed and 
 20 wounded— most of them mortally— and the 
 hull, spars, boats, masts and rigging, were com- 
 pletely cut up and riddled. Lieutenant Watts con- 
 ducted the prize back in triumph to Copenhagen, 
 which was then in flames from the bombardment 
 commenced by our fleet, and was honoured by a 
 magnificent salutation in passing the batteries of 
 Kronberg Castle. 
 
DEATH OF LIEUTENANT HAWKEY. 323 
 
 DEATH OF LIEUTENANT HAWKEY. 
 
 The years 1808 and 1809, in our list of Medal 
 Actions, appear to bear away the palm in the num- 
 bers at least, if not in the importance of the achieve- 
 ments, for which that distinction has been awarded, 
 over other years during the long continuance of the 
 war ; and the Baltic fleet seems to have been pre- 
 eminently fortunate, as nearly one-third of the 
 actions in those years, thus honoured, were fought 
 by the ships stationed in those seas. Amongst 
 others of perhaps equal note, the capture by the 
 British ships Centaur and Implacable of the Russian 
 ship of the line Sewolod, in the teeth of, and under 
 the fire of a Russian fleet of twelve sail of the line, 
 besides frigates, deserves admiration for the skill as 
 well as the daring displayed ; for although the two 
 Enghsh ships were united to a Swedish squadron, 
 they only received moral support from their allies, — 
 the Swedes, owing to the bad sailing of their ships, 
 not being able to take a share in that action. But 
 the particulars of a subsequent affair, in which the 
 boats of the same Implacable, then as before com- 
 manded by the present A.dmiral of the Fleet, Sir 
 T. B. Martin, in company with those of the Belle- 
 rophon, Melpomene, and Prometheus, captured a 
 Russian flotilla, are more likely to be interesting to 
 the general reader. 
 
 On the 6th July 1809, the Implacable had cap- 
 tured in the Gulf of Narva some merchant vessels, 
 laden with naval stores, under the protection of an 
 
 y2 
 
324^ DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEHsTG. 
 
 armed ship and gun-boats. These last, together 
 with such of the convoy as escaped, retreated on 
 the approach of the British ships, and took up a 
 defiant position of great strength off Percola Point. 
 Such an attitude on the part of their enemy could 
 not be borne by English seamen, and Captain 
 Martin, considering that something was necessary 
 to be done in order to impress these people with 
 that sense of respect and fear which His Majesty's 
 other enemies are accustomed to show to the British 
 flag, determined to send all his boats to a^ttack 
 them, and selected for the command Lieutenant 
 Hawkey, a young officer of great talent and bravery. 
 The boats of the other ships having previously 
 assembled round the Implacable, they all pushed 
 off after nightfall and proceeded with " an irre- 
 sistible zeal and intrepidity towards the enemy (who 
 had the advantage of local knowledge), to attack 
 a position of extraordinary strength, within two 
 rocks, serving as a cover to their wings, whence 
 they could pour a destructive fire of grape on our 
 boats, which notwithstanding advanced with perfect 
 coolness and never fired a gun till actually touching 
 the enemy, whom they boarded sword in hand, and 
 carried all before them." ''I believe" (Captain 
 Martin proceeds to say in his public letter), " a more 
 brilliant achievement does not grace the records of 
 our naval history : of eight gun-boats, each mount- 
 ing a 32 and 24-pounder, and carrying 46 men, 
 six have been brought out, together with the whole 
 of the ships and vessels, twelve in number, under 
 
DEATH OF LIEUTENANT HAWKEY. 325 
 
 their protection — laden with powder and provisions 
 for the Russian army — a large armed ship taken 
 and burnt, and one gun-boat sunk." The gallant 
 leader of the enterprise, young Hay/key, fell in the 
 performance of the service by a grape-shot, which 
 struck him after he had boarded and taken one 
 gun-boat, and when he was in the act of attacking 
 a second. " Huzza, push on, England for ever 1" 
 were the last words that proceeded from his lips ; 
 his country's glory being thus uppermost in his 
 thoughts. Captain Martin speaks with deep feeling 
 of his untimely fate in his official letter: — "No 
 praise from my pen," he says, " can do adequate 
 justice to this lamented young man. As an officer 
 he was a^ctive, correct, and zealous to the highest 
 degTee ; the leader in every kind of enterprise, and 
 regardless of danger, he delighted in whatever 
 could tend to promote the glory of his country." 
 The command of the boats, after his death, devolved 
 upon Lieutenant Allen, of the Bellerophon, who 
 brought the service to its successful conclusion, and 
 received the promotion for which Hawkey had 
 fought and died. Lieutenant Stirling, of the Pro- 
 metheus, was also mortally wounded, and the total 
 British loss amounted to 17 killed and 37 wounded, 
 while the Russians, in addition to the large number 
 who were drowned, lost 63 killed and 127 prisoners, 
 of whom 51 were wounded. 
 
326 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEESTG. 
 
 MEDIATOR, WITH FIVE SHIPS. 
 
 That no odds of numbers daunted our seamen 
 of the old school, is proved by the attack made by 
 Captain Luttrell, in the Mediator, upon five of the 
 enemy's ships on the 12th December 1783. At 
 daybreak he had discovered five strange sail, and 
 having the advantage of the wind, forthwith pro- 
 ceeded to ascertain their character and nationality. 
 In a short time the pennants flying and the display 
 of French and American colours, warned Captain 
 Luttrell that his was an armed foe, and the fact of 
 their shortening sail to await his approach showed 
 that they did not wish to avoid the threatened 
 hostilities of their single antagonist. The squadron 
 he had thus to decide on attacking consisted appa- 
 rently of a French ship of 64 guns and two frigates, 
 in company with an American frigate and brig. 
 Such a force it was the height of rashness to attack ; 
 but fortune favours the bold^ and Captain Luttrell, 
 trusting to the well-tested sailing qualities of the 
 Mediator to get him out of a scrape, determined 
 to try and throw the enemy's squadron into confu- 
 sion, and if the result of a few broadsides gave no 
 promise of eventual success, to take to his heels 
 and escape. Having taken in, therefore, all sail 
 that might be in the way of quick manoeuvres, 
 Captain Luttrell continued to bear down, and at ten 
 o'clock a few shot from the upper deck of the sup- 
 posed 64 afibrded him the gratifying conviction 
 that although her lower -deck ports were complete, 
 
MEDIATOR, WITH FIVE SHIPS. 327 
 
 no guns were mounted in them. Inspirited by this 
 discovery, he now manoeuvred more boldly, and 
 succeeded in cutting off one of the French frigates 
 and the American brig, both of which went off under 
 a press of sail, while his first antagonist and the 
 French and American frigates still kept together 
 for mutual support. He next succeeded in cutting 
 off the American frigate from her consorts, and that 
 vessel, after receiving a single broadside at close 
 quarters, hauled down her colours in token of sur- 
 render, while the two French ships, after continuing 
 their fire for a short time, crowded all sail and went 
 away before the wind. The prize, which proved to 
 be the Alexander of 24 guns, was quickly taken 
 possession of, and 100 prisoners having been trans- 
 ferred to the Mediator, Captain Luttrell proceeded 
 in chace of the two Frenchmen. Five hours of 
 exciting pursuit again brought him Avithin shot of 
 the apparent 64, now unsupported, for the frigate 
 had gone off in another direction. Fearful of a 
 lucky shot from the chace disabling his masts. 
 Captain Luttrell commenced and maintained a 
 distant and ineffective fire, with the object of 
 covering his ship with smoke, and while thus em- 
 ployed a heavy squall caught the Mediator at a 
 moment when three of her lower-deck guns were 
 run out; the water was instantly knee-deep upon 
 the deck, but the ship was put before the wind, and 
 having been cleared by the energy of the crew, very 
 shortly regained her lost distance. It was dark 
 before the action commenced ; a few miles more 
 
328 DEEDS OF NxiVAL DAEING. 
 
 and the French ship would have been safe. Ferroi 
 was under her lee only five miles off; but at nine 
 o'clock the Mediator had ranged up within pistol- 
 shot, on her quarter, prepared to pour in a broadside 
 of round and grape, when the Menagere, a two- 
 decked ship, ^' armee en flute," "^ carrying 30 guns 
 and 212 men, hauled down her colours and hailed 
 that she had surrendered. Orders were instantly 
 given to cease all firing, and 200 prisoners having 
 been removed from the prize, every effort was made 
 to remove both ships from the dangerous propin- 
 quity of the hostile port. During the night they were 
 joined by the Alexander, and at break of day they 
 again descried the frigate and brig that had first 
 escaped, — the former with her main topmast and 
 the latter with only part of her lower mast standing. 
 With only 190 of his original crew left on board 
 (the remainder being in the prizes) to work the ship 
 and guard 340 prisoners,! Captain Luttrell, with 
 some reluctance, resolved to forego any attempt on 
 them, and made sail with his two captured ships for 
 Plymouth. On their voyage a plot, which had been 
 laid by Captain Stephen Gregory, an Irishman by 
 birth, and who had commanded the Alexander, was 
 discovered and defeated by the indefatigable vigi- 
 lance of the officer of Marines. Gregory had 
 arranged for a general rising of the prisoners, the 
 
 * A technical phrase, to express that a ship's guns have been landed, 
 to convert her into a transport or store-ship. 
 
 f She had made several prizes before the commencement of this 
 engagement, from which some of the prisoners must have been taken. 
 
MEDIATOR, WITPI FIVE SHIPS. 329 
 
 signal for which was to have been the discharge of 
 one of the 18-pounders in the gun-room, where he 
 was berthed and messed with the lieutenants, and 
 the conspirators had hoped that in the hurry and 
 confusion arising from the unexpected explosion, 
 they might be able to gain possession of the deck ; 
 
 but the sentries w^ere so well disposed and the 
 
 i. 
 
 hatchways so completely guarded, that when the 
 signal was given not a man was able to g?in the 
 deck. The cries of fire having aroused all hands. 
 Captain Luttrell, who states that he vvas alarmed 
 by the sudden and terrible explosion, proceeded to 
 the gun-room, which he found on fire, with every- 
 thing shattered that had been near the gun. 
 Gregory, with an accomplice, was found dressed, 
 though he had previously pretended to go to bed, 
 and in his cot was found some of the powder which 
 he had provided to prime the gun ; in short, every 
 proof necessary to convict him. Hitherto he had 
 been treated v/ith every consideration ; but now he 
 and all the officers of the Alexander who w^ere sus- 
 pected of having had a share in the plot, were placed 
 in irons, while the French officers, who had no 
 complicity in it, continued at the captain's table 
 on their parole, and the Mediator arrived in a few 
 days with both her prizes at Plymouth. 
 
 In this extraordinary action, in w^hich the Me- 
 diator, a 44-gun ship, was opposed by the enemy's 
 united force of 132 guns and 634 men, she escaped 
 without loss of life or limb to her crew ; the French 
 fire having been entirely directed at her rigging, in 
 
330 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARmG. 
 
 which she suffered a good deal. The enemy's loss 
 gave no token of a spirited resistance ; for four 
 killed and six wounded on board the Menagere, and 
 six and nine on board the Alexander, make up the 
 small total of loss in their squadron. 
 
 FLAMBOROUGH AND BIDEFOKD, WITH MALICIEUSE 
 AND L'OMPHALE. 
 
 In the month of April 1760, two ships of 20 guns 
 each, one the Flamborough, commanded by Captain 
 Archibald Kennedy, and the other the Bideford, 
 by Captain Skinner, wore cruising off the Rock of 
 Lisbon, when they observed four ships, of an appa- 
 rently hostile character, running before the wind, 
 they themselves being well to leeward. Careless 
 of the disparity in numbers, Captain Kennedy im- 
 mediately stood towards them ; and as the strangers 
 did not alter their course, the Flamborough, about 
 four o'clock in the afternoon, got within distant 
 gun-shot range. The British colours were now 
 displayed, and several shot fired to challenge an 
 action which it was in the stranger's power to com- 
 mence ; but she waited until her three consorts 
 had joined her, and then, having by signal directed 
 two of the ships to make their way, she hoisted 
 French colours, and, supported by one of her con- 
 sorts, bore down upon the Flamborough- It was 
 now the turn of the English captain to display 
 some discretion, as he was three miles to windward 
 
FLAMBOROUGH AND BTDEFORD. 331 
 
 of the Bideford, with two heavy frigates bearing 
 down on him ; and he consequently edged away to 
 join her, making signals of the discovery of an enemy, 
 and at six o'clock had effected a junction, when the 
 French ships no longer seemed desirous of action, 
 but hauled their wind, and stood away. The supe- 
 rior force of the French frigates (which subse- 
 quently proved to be la Malicieuse of 36 guns, 
 and rOmphale of 32 guns) was very apparent to 
 the crews of the British ships ; and although the 
 other two hostile ships were still in view when they 
 formed in line to receive their two opponents, en- 
 couraging each other with three hearty cheers, 
 they had firmly waited the attack ; and now that 
 they saw them shrinking from it, their zeal was 
 equally great to become the assailing party. The 
 Flamborough, being the better sailer, first came 
 up with the sternmost ship, and, exchanging a 
 passing broadside, left her to the Bideford, while 
 she passed on in pursuit of the headmost. At half- 
 past six o'clock, in a dusky twilight, she came up 
 with her, and commenced the action as near as it 
 was possible without the two ships being actually 
 on board each other, and continued it until nine. 
 By this time the Flamborough's masts, rigging, 
 and sails were so much shattered that there was 
 not a rope left to govern the sails, whilst her hull 
 had also received several shot betwixt wind and 
 water. The firing now ceased on both sides, and 
 the British crew worked with such energy, that in 
 half an hour the Flamborough's damages were in 
 
332 DEEDS OF NAYAL DARING. 
 
 a measure made good, and she was once more 
 ready for action, which she renev/ed and main- 
 tained until eleven o'clock at night, when the 
 enemy, making all the sail they could carry, suc- 
 ceeded in their efforts to escape, although chased 
 most perseveringiy by Captain Kennedy until 
 noon of the following day. 
 
 While the Flamborough had been thus engaged 
 with the headmost ship, the Bideford had not been 
 idle ; at a quarter before seven o'clock she had 
 succeeded in closing with her antagonist, when the 
 battle commenced with greatfury and determination 
 on both sides. Early in the action Captain Skinner 
 was unfortunately killed by a cannon-shot, but 
 Lieutenant Knollis, upon whom the command de- 
 volved, fought the ship with the greatest presence 
 of mind and steadiness, until eight o'clock, when 
 he also fell, and, receiving a second shot in his 
 body immediately after, was carried below in a 
 dying state. In addition to the loss of two com- 
 manding officers, the Bideford was considerably 
 damaged in her spars and rigging, while several 
 men had been killed and many wounded ; but 
 the people were in good spirits, and the guns well 
 served, although the enemy's fire was found to be 
 excessively hot. Mr. State, the Master, was now 
 senior officer, and under his orders the engagement 
 was continued with great obstinacy, each ship 
 striving hard for the victory. The English were 
 now more cool and steady than at the commence- 
 ment ; a principle of duty had taken the place of 
 
FLAMBOROUGH AND BIDEFORD. 333 
 
 rage, and they fought, if possible, better than 
 before, "one post vying with another, gun with 
 gun and platoon with platoon, who should send 
 the greatest and surest destruction to their foe/*' 
 Such was the spirit that animated all hands, that 
 the wounded men hurried the exertions of the sur- 
 geons, and returned with alacrity to their quarters 
 as soon as their wounds were dressed. About ten 
 o'clock the Frenchman's fire slackened, one gun 
 after another becoming silent, until at length hardly 
 any return was made to the Bidefords fire. Intent 
 upon capture, Mr, State, who thought the enemy 
 was going to strike, still continued his broadsides, 
 to which only four guns were returned in the last 
 quarter of an hour ; but the Frenchman was other- 
 wise employed : unobserved, in the obscurity 
 of night, all his exertions were directed to 
 making good the damages to his rigging, while he 
 patiently received his enemy's fire ; and when at 
 length he was able to make a press of sail, the 
 Bideford, shattered and disabled, was unable to 
 follow, and had only the poor satisfaction of pour- 
 ing a parting broadside into her flying foe, who 
 was almost immediately out of sight. In this 
 glorious double contest against such superior forces, 
 five officers and men were killed on board the 
 Flamborough, and ten wounded ; and on board the 
 Bideford ten were killed and twenty- five wounded ; 
 but owing to it, a valuable outward-bound fleet, 
 convoyed by a single sloop of w^ar, and which was 
 near enough to hear the firing, escaped capture and 
 destruction. 
 
334 DEEDS OF KAVAL DARING. 
 
 THE SAILOR'S BIBLE. 
 
 Amongst the oflficial documents to which refer- 
 ence has been made in compiling this volume, I 
 met with the following transcript from the fly-leaf 
 of a brave officer's Bible, which tells a simple tale 
 of the dangers of a seaman's life, and the source of 
 his confidence in the hour of his greatest trial, 
 whether battling with the elements or his country's 
 foe. It is as follows : — 
 
 ^' This Bible was presented to me by Mr. Raikes, 
 at the town of Hertford, January 1781, as a reward 
 for my punctual attendance at the Sunday School, 
 and good behaviour when there. And after being 
 my companion 53 years, 41 of which I spent in 
 the sea-service, during which time I was in 45 
 engagements, received 13 wounds, was three times 
 shipwrecked, once burned out, twice capsized in a 
 boat, and had fevers of different sorts 15 times, 
 this Bible was my consolation ; and was newly 
 bound for me by James Bishop, of Edinburgh, on 
 the 26th of October 1834, the day I completed 
 the 60th year of my age, as witness my hand. 
 
 " N.B. During the whole time but one leaf is 
 lost : the last of Ezra and beginning of Nehemiah. 
 I gave it to my son on the 1st January 1841, aged 
 five years, after it being in my possession 60 years, 
 and he being enabled by the grace of God to read 
 it at that age. And may the Lord bless it to him, 
 and make him wise unto salvation." 
 
SOUTHAMPTON AND UTILE. 335 
 
 SOUTHAMPTON AND UTILE. 
 
 On the evening of the 9th of July 1796, when 
 the English fleet, under Sir John Jervis, was 
 blockading Toulon, a French cruiser, subsequently 
 ascertained to be FUtile, was discovered creeping 
 along the land under the protection of the shore 
 batteries, and working into Hieres Bay, within the 
 islands that cluster about the entrance. The 
 Admiral immediately singled out the South- 
 ampton, with the dashing character of whose 
 Captain, M'Namara, he was well acquainted, and 
 summoned him on board the Victory. Unwilling 
 to give a written order to Captain M'Namara to 
 undertake so desperate an enterprise, he pointed 
 out the Utile, and the possibility of making a dash 
 at her through the Grand Pass, saying, " Bring 
 out the enemy's ship if you can, but take care of 
 the King's ship under your command." No further 
 instructions were necessary to this officer. As the 
 light failed, the Southampton got under way, and 
 went in, in view of the whole British fleet, who, 
 soon losing sight of her in the shades of night, 
 waited in anxious suspense for the result of an 
 enterprise in which nothing but complete success 
 could justify the boldness of the undertaking. It 
 was, however, executed in a masterly manner, and, 
 as Sir J. Jervis expresses it, with admirable skill 
 and alacrity ; and at daylight, after hearing the 
 roar of the batteries during the night, the officers 
 and men of the fleet had the pleasure of seeing the 
 
336 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 Southampton return with her prize. Captain 
 M'Namara's public letter to the Admiral will give 
 a good idea of the formidable nature of the achieve- 
 ment, and will do more justice to the merits of all 
 engaged than any account of mine : — 
 
 '^ Sir, " Southampton, off Toulon, 10th July 1796. 
 
 " In obedience to the orders I received from 
 you on board the Victory's quarter-deck, last even- 
 ing, I pushed through the Grand Pass, and hauled 
 up under the batteries on the N.E. of Porquerol, 
 with an easy sail, in hopes I should be taken for a 
 French or neutral frigate, which, I have great 
 reason to believe, succeeded, as I got within pistol- 
 shot of the enemy's ship before I was discovered, 
 and cautioned the captain, through a trumpet, not 
 to make a fruitless resistance ; when he imme- 
 diately snapped his pistol at me, and fired his 
 broadside. At this period, being very near the 
 heavy battery of Fort Breganson, I laid him in- 
 stantly on board ; and Lieutenant Lydiard, at the 
 head of the boarders, with an intrepidity no words 
 can describe, entered and carried her in about ten 
 minutes, although he met with a spirited resistance 
 from the captain (who fell) and an hundred men 
 under arms, to receive him. In this short conflict 
 the behaviour of all the officers and ship s company 
 of the Southampton had my full approbation, and 
 I do not mean to take from their merit by stating 
 to you that the conduct of Lieutenant Lydiard was 
 above all praise. After lashing the two ships to- 
 
SOUTHAMPTON AM) UTILE. 337 
 
 gether, I found some difficulty in getting from 
 under the battery, which kept up a very heavy 
 fire, and was not able to return through the Grand 
 Pass before half after one o'clock this morning, 
 with r Utile, corvette of 24 guns, French six- 
 pounders, commanded by Captain Francois Vega, 
 and 130 men, 25 of whom were killed and wounded. 
 
 (Signed) "J. M^Namara." 
 
 The difficulty alluded to above in getting from 
 imder the battery was caused by the Utile being 
 secured to the shore by a hawser, which could not 
 be seen owing to the darkness of the night. Lieu- 
 tenant Lydiard, suspecting the reason, passed along 
 from the bow to the stern, and at length felt the 
 obstruction, and, by repeated blows of his sword, 
 severed the hawser, and liberated the ship from 
 the tie which had been thus contrived. Lieutenant 
 Lydiard was promoted for this service, and soon 
 had other opportunities of displaying similar gal- 
 lantry. He is one of those, at that time in com- 
 mand of the Anson, who received a gold medal for 
 the capture of the Island of Cura^oa, when, in 
 company with the Arethusa, Latona, and Fisgard, 
 on New- Year's Day 1807, by a coup de main, they 
 overcame the amazing strength of the fortifications 
 of that harbour, of which the entrance is only fifty 
 yards wide, and is fortified by a chain of forts and 
 batteries — Fort Amsterdam alone mounting 66 
 pieces of cannon, and Fort Republique, which en- 
 filaded the whole, being considered impregnable. 
 
338 DEEDS OF KAYAL DARING. 
 
 while two frigates and two large schooners of war 
 lay at the entrance. Making their attack at 
 dawn of day, the enemy were panic-stricken, and 
 all was confusion ; the ships of war were almost 
 immediately carried by boarding, and by seven 
 o'clock the forts, citadel, and town were in the 
 possession of the English ; the Dutch losing 200 
 men killed, with a loss of 3 seamen killed and 14 
 wounded. Captain Lydiard did not long survive 
 this noble exploit ; for, on the 27th December fol- 
 lowing, the Anson was wrecked on the coast of 
 Cornwall, and this brave officer, who was resolved 
 to stay by the ship as long as possible, in order to 
 save the lives of his ship's company, remained at 
 the wheel so long, exposed to the violence of the 
 sea, that when at the last he proceeded to make an 
 attempt to leave the ship himself, his strength was 
 completely exhausted, and he was washed away 
 and drowned. 
 
 CAPTURE OF AMOY. 
 
 After an interval of nearly one hundred years, 
 the waters of the Eastern hemisphere again wit- 
 nessed an action of a character similar to Stratton's 
 extraordinary single-handed capture of a fort on 
 the Hooghley (see 1st series, page 36), in the cap- 
 ture of a Chinese fort at Amoy by Lieut, (now 
 Commander) K. B. Crawford. The latter action, 
 however, has the additional glory of having been 
 the premeditated achievement of a daring man, 
 while the former was a freak of fortune wrought at 
 
CAPTURE OF AMOY. 339 
 
 the hands of a drunken sailor. On the 26th of 
 August 1841, as the English fleet was standing into 
 attack the city of Amoy, they were much annoyed 
 by a battery of eleven guns, which^ placed on a 
 commanding eminence, continued to fire upon 
 them as they passed up to the anchorage. When 
 the Phlegethon, one of the steam-vessels of the 
 expeditionary force, and which had the 49th regi- 
 ment on board, was closing with this fort and the 
 shore, Lieut. Crawford, a volunteer on board, 
 thinking that his approach would not be observed 
 by the enemy until he came into collision with 
 them, expressed a wish to Captain M'Cleverty to 
 be allowed to make a dash at the fort and attempt 
 to carry it by surprise. Captain M^Cleverty, not 
 thinking it right to risk his men's lives on so 
 hazardous an undertaking, did not at first accede 
 to this request ; and the young officers of the 49th, 
 who were standing on the bridge between the 
 paddle-boxes, observed " that it was well enough 
 to talk about such an exploit," but thought Lieut. 
 Crawford could have no intention of really attempt- 
 ing it. Captain M^Cleverty, perhaps a little piqued 
 for the honour of his cloth, replied that they were 
 mistaken, adding, ''' Craw^ford means all he says." 
 At the same time he decided on despatching Mr. 
 Ryves, the first lieutenant, in the gig with six 
 picked hands, and permitted Mr. Crawford, as the 
 originator of the plan, to ask for four volunteers for 
 the jolly-boat. These soon came forward, and on 
 the principle that one volunteer is better than two 
 
 z 2 
 
840 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 pressed men, the crew of the jolly-boat, incited by 
 their officer " to give way and beat the gig," soon 
 passed the latter, and in a few minutes were on the 
 beach. Nothing now remained for him but to set 
 an example, and Lieut. Crawford, without waiting 
 to see whether he was supported, scrambled up the 
 hill, a sharp acclivity of about 150 yards, and entered: 
 a postern-gate, which he found open. His first glance 
 showed him a party of forty or fifty Chinese, some 
 lolling about and smoking, whilst others worked 
 their guns. Aseverything depended on instant action 
 and creating a sensation, he discharged his double- 
 barrelled fowling-piece amongst them, and then a 
 brace of pistols right and left, when the Celestials, 
 without waiting to look at their single barbarian as- 
 sailant, scampered off in such hot haste as to jam 
 themselves up in the doorway opposite to that at 
 which he had entered, and which Lieut. Eyves and 
 his party of six were approaching, when the ap- 
 pearance of the Tartar troops rushing down, ap- 
 parently on them, from the fort with matchlocks 
 on their shoulders and pikes trailing, checked their 
 advance. Lieut. Crawford had the pleasure, there- 
 fore, of hoisting the British colours unaided, which 
 were saluted with cheers from the Nemesis, then 
 passing with Sir Hugh Gough on board. In about 
 twenty minutes he was joined by Mr. Ryves in 
 resisting an attempt made by the Chinese to retake 
 the fort, in which skirmish that officer was wounded ; 
 but a party of the 49th coming to their assistance, 
 they were able to maintain their position, and the 
 
THE BOLD RE-CAPTURE. 341 
 
 battery of eleven guns, with the imperial flag of 
 China, remained in the hands of the English. 
 
 THE BOLD RE- CAPTURE. 
 
 In the summer of 1810, Admiral Sir J. Borlase 
 Warren, Commander-in-Chief at Halifax, received a 
 letter from the United States, containing an account 
 of the piratical seizure of a schooner belonging to 
 Halifax, named the Three Sisters, by a man named 
 Jordan, who had taken a passage in her from 
 Canada, and who it appeared, with the connivance 
 of the mate, had murdered all on board, except 
 the master, who, having been chased round the decks 
 by Jordan, had thrown a grating into the sea, and 
 springing overboard clung to it, hoping thereby to 
 save his life. While he was struggling in the 
 water, Jordan fired at and missed him ; but the 
 vessel, in the confusion, running before the wind, 
 the unfortunate man was left on the grating some 
 leagues from land, and without any sail in sight ; 
 his would-be murderers concluding that he must 
 inevitably perish. It was, however, ordered other- 
 wise ; for after floating more than three hours in 
 this perilous situation, he was providentially picked 
 up by an American vessel bound to Portland, U.S., 
 and information of the outrage was as soon as pos- 
 sible communicated to the Admiral, who despatched 
 the Cuttle schooner in search of the Three Sisters. 
 Her Commander, Lieut. Bury, proceeded to St. 
 
342 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 Jolin's, Newfoundland, and wliile there an Irish re- 
 sident informed Mr. (now Captain) Simpson, then 
 mate of the Cuttle, that a nephew of his with several 
 other young men, equally unconscious of the lawless 
 character of her commander, had entered on board 
 the Three Sisters, which was at that very time in 
 a neighbouring bay. Mr. Simpson immediately 
 communicated this intelligence to his commanding 
 officer, and the same evening the Cuttle proceeded 
 to sea in search of the murderers, and at daylight 
 the following morning they observed a schooner 
 some miles to windward, which they were convinced 
 was the object of their pursuit. There was at this 
 time a dead calm, and Lieut. Bury, at Mr. Simp- 
 son's earnest request, despatched him in the jolly- 
 boat with four hands to examine the stranger, but 
 with the strictest injunctions to act with the greatest 
 caution in approaching her. After a fatiguing pull, 
 as the boat closed with the schooner, Mr. Simpson 
 counted eighteen hands on board, but, notwith- 
 standing these numbers, and the certainty that he 
 could receive no assistance from the Cuttle, then 
 at a great distance, he boldly resolved on boarding 
 to ascertain if his suspicions as to the vessel's 
 identity were correct, and if so, when on board, to 
 attempt her capture. Ordering his boat's crew to 
 make her fast and follow him the moment they 
 were alongside, he was quickly in the gangway, 
 well and promptly supported by them. Here he 
 was met by a man who asked him his business 
 there, to which Mr. Simpson replied, by way of 
 
THE BOLD RE-CAPTURE. 343 
 
 removing any suspicions as to the real nature of 
 them, said, " that he belonged to the man-of-war 
 schooner in sight, and that he should overhaul the 
 vessel strictly, as he could not but think from the 
 number of hands on board that she must be a 
 smuggler." The man then said that she was a 
 smuggler, and that he would give her up. Mr. 
 Simpson asked who he was that could give him the 
 vessel ? He replied his name was Jordan ; upon 
 which, without more ado, Mr. Simpson drew his 
 sword and seized him. Jordan levelled a pistol at 
 the officer, who struck it down with his sword, and 
 two of the boat's crew coming up, secured him. 
 A few words addressed to the schooner's crew told 
 them that Jordan was a murderer and pirate, and 
 the assurance that their own lives were safe re- 
 moved any idea of resistance on their part. The 
 young officer's daring and coolness thus obtained a 
 bloodless victory. Jordan, and Kelly, the mate, 
 were secured with ropes, and the breeze springing 
 up the captured crew were speedily transferred to 
 the Cuttle. Jordan was tried and executed for the 
 crime, but Kelly escaped through a flaw in the 
 indictment. It transpired during the trial that it 
 had been Jordan's intention to seize the first valu- 
 able vessel he might meet, and after disposing of 
 her crew in his summary manner, carry her into 
 an American port and dispose of her cargo, alleging 
 some accident as the cause of his putting in. The 
 miraculous preservation of the captain of the Three 
 Sisters, and Mr. Simpson's activity and courage, 
 
344 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 shortened his career of crime, into which he as- 
 serted he had been driven in consequence of the 
 Three Sisters, which had once been his own pro- 
 perty, having been seized for debt, and the desire 
 he entertained to be revenged upon those who had 
 thus ruined him. 
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ALEXANDER. 
 
 The defence of the Alexander by Admiral Bligh 
 is one of that class of actions evidencing obstinate 
 and enduring courage, and which has only been 
 surpassed in naval warfare by Sir Richard Gren- 
 ville's extraordinary single-handed resistance to the 
 whole Spanish fleet, and perhaps by the Earl of 
 Sandwich in Solebay fight. In the latter part of 
 the year 1794, when the above-named ship and the 
 Canada, of the same force, viz. 74 guns, were es- 
 corting a convoy to England, they fell in, on the 
 6th November, off St. Vincent, with a French 
 squadron, consisting of five sail of the line, three 
 frigates, and a brig, under the command of Admiral 
 Neuilly. The hostile squadron was first discovered 
 at three o'clock A.M. About four the Alexander 
 and Canada passed the strange ships, at the dis- 
 tance of about half a mile, and although they were 
 still unable to ascertain their character and nation- 
 ality with any certainty, yet sufficient uneasiness 
 was excited to make the English ofiicers bear up, 
 shake the reefs out of their topsails, and set their 
 
DEFENCE OF THE ALEXANDER. 345 
 
 studding sails. As the morning advanced, the 
 strange ships were observed to be standing after 
 them, and as the best chance of saving one or both 
 vessels from falling into the enemy's hands, the 
 Canada and Alexander, crowding all the sail they 
 could possibly carry, each steered a different course. 
 Upon this two of the enemy's ships of the line and 
 two frigates went in pursuit of the Canada, while 
 three ships of the line and two frigates gave chase 
 to the Alexander. As her pursuers gained upon 
 her, the Alexander commenced firing her stern 
 chace-guns, in the hopes, by a lucky shot, of 
 disabling their masts or rigging ; but they gTadually 
 diminished their distance, and after five hours of 
 a most exciting chace, the three ships came up in 
 compact order and brought the British ship to close 
 action. A spirited resistance had been maintained 
 by her, notwithstanding the vast numerical odds, 
 for upwards of two hours, when the Canada having 
 escaped by superior sailing, her three opponents 
 also bore down upon the devoted Alexander, 
 which by this time had become a complete wreck. 
 For another hour, however, she prolonged the 
 unequal contest against her five foes, till at length 
 Captain Bligh, his resources failing and all hopes 
 of succour having fled, judged it advisable to con- 
 sult his oflficers, who after a careful survey and 
 examination of the state of their ship, were unani- 
 mously of opinion that nothing remained for them 
 but to surrender. "Then, and not till then," 
 writes Captain Bligh, '' painful to relate, I ordered 
 
346 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 the colours to be struck ;" and the British yielded 
 to their republican foes. Their loss in killed and 
 wounded did not exceed 40, a number very dispro- 
 portionate to the length of the engagement and 
 the odds against which it was maintained ; but it 
 may perhaps be accounted for by the desire of the 
 French to avoid seriously injuring what they might 
 have considered a certain prize, and who therefore 
 aimed solely at the sails and rigging to prevent her 
 escape from inevitable capture. The French loss 
 must have been much more severe, for the whole 
 squadron was obliged to quit their cruising ground 
 and return to Brest, from which port they had only 
 recently sailed, for the purpose of refitting. 
 
 The gallantry displayed by their captives does not 
 seem to have won from their victors the consideration 
 usually shown by a chivalrous foe to defeated anta- 
 gonists, and the treatment of their prisoners by the 
 French republican authorities was very disgraceful 
 to a civilized country. After they had been landed, 
 officers and men shared the same lot ; they were 
 denied the commonest rations of provisions, and re- 
 duced to starvation. A wretched dog that had crept 
 into their cells was killed, and his head alone sold for 
 a dollar to satisfy the cravings of hunger. A prisoner, 
 in a state of delirium, threw himself into the well 
 within the prison walls, and his dead body, after 
 lying some time, was taken out ; but no other water 
 allowed to the people to drink. An English ladj^- 
 and her daughters, confined along with the men, 
 had no separate apartment, and all their privacy 
 
THE SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG. 347 
 
 was supplied by the generous commiseration of the 
 sailors, who, standing side by side close together, 
 with their backs towards their fair fellow captives, 
 formed a temporary screen while they changed their 
 garments. French authors have indulged in invec- 
 tives against the treatment of French prisoners in 
 England ; but the worst that has been urged against 
 us as a nation is, that our prisoners were confined 
 in crowded places and under very rigorous disci- 
 pline ; to which the best answer is, that we had no 
 fortified towns or garrisons within which they could 
 be restrained with safety to ourselves and show of 
 liberty to them, and we were consequently com- 
 pelled to confine vast numbers in insufficient places 
 of security. Here again we are able to retort upon 
 our enemy, for they alone objected to our oft- 
 repeated propositions of an exchange of prisoners, 
 whereby our over-loaded prisons would have been 
 relieved, and many a breaking heart restored to 
 home and country, who in consequence of this bar- 
 barous policy dragged out the best years of life 
 within the walls of a prison or the narrow precincts 
 of a hulk. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG, 1758. 
 
 At the siege of Louisbourg, under Admiral 
 Boscawen and General Amherst, occurred the first 
 of those cutting-out expeditions, several of which I 
 have had occasion to narrate, and which, while it was 
 the forerunner of numerous similar attacks which 
 
348 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARINCx. 
 
 ^ — i . _^ 
 
 have been already detailed, and perchance was the 
 exciting cause to other such exploits, has never 
 been surpassed in daring and brilliancy of execution. 
 Afterthe siege had lasted about a month, and when 
 from various accidents the enemy's naval force in the 
 harbour had been reduced to two ships of the line, 
 la Prudente and le Bienfaisant, the Admiral de- 
 termined to take or destroy them by a night attack. 
 For this service, about noon on the 25th July, two 
 boats, a barge and pinnace or cutter, from every 
 ship in the fleet, manned with their proper crews, 
 amounting in all to 600 men, and fully armed, 
 rendezvoused at the Admiral's ship. From thence, 
 in order to avoid exciting the attention of the 
 garrison, they were detached by two or three at a 
 time, the Rear- Admiral's ship lying at the mouth of 
 the harbour, where, when night fell, they were 
 arranged in two divisions under the command of 
 the two senior masters and commanders in the 
 fleet, viz. Captains Laforey and Balfour. In this 
 order they put off about twelve o'clock, and taking 
 advantage of the foggy darkness of the night and 
 observing a strict silence, they paddled into the 
 harbour of Louisbourg unperceived either by the 
 island battery, which they were obliged to approach 
 very near to, or by the two men-of-war that rode at 
 their anchors at no great distance from them. The 
 assailants were under no apprehension of being per- 
 ceived or molested by the garrison itself, not only 
 on account of the great distance, but because 
 measures had been preconcerted for opening a fire 
 
THE SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG. 349 
 
 from all the British batteries, in order to draw off 
 the enemy's attention from the real point of attack. 
 Besides, the besieged themselves left nobody an 
 opportunity of hearing any noise, for having in the 
 daytime observed the scaling ladders and numerous 
 ostentatious preparations for the feigned attack, 
 they were under strong apprehensions of an attempt 
 at an escalade, and consequently kept up a brisk 
 fire of musketry from the ramparts during the 
 whole time, with the design, if possible, of deterring 
 the besiegers from such an attempt, by showing 
 that they were well prepared to meet it and on their 
 guard at all the points open to attack. During the 
 period of seeming security obtained by these pre- 
 cautions, the bold stratagem of the boats for sur- 
 prising their powerful foe was attended with every 
 circumstance favourable to secure success. After 
 pushing far up the harbour, so as to place the 
 objects of attack between themselves and its mouth, 
 and by this means throwing the foe, who would, of 
 course, only expect their assailants from seaward, 
 off their guard, the boats took a sweep towards that 
 part where the commanding officers, who had before 
 well reconnoitred their position, knew the two ships 
 were, and presently came upon them. Each di- 
 vision of boats was no sooner within sight of the 
 allotted object of their respective attack — Captain 
 Laforey's of la Prudente, and Captain Balfour, of 
 le Bienfaisant — than the sentinels on board, havinof 
 hailed them in vain, commenced firing upon them, 
 when each commander ordered his boats to give way 
 
350 DEEDS OF NAVAL DABING. 
 
 alongside the respective ships, and to board them 
 with all the expedition and good order they could 
 observe. The boats' crews, now no longer able to 
 contain themselves after their long-enforced silence, 
 gave loud cheers, and pulling up alongside, followed 
 their brave leaders with the most intrepid activity 
 and boarded the ships in an instant, and simul- 
 taneously on each bow, quarter, and gangway. 
 After very little resistance from the surprised and 
 terrified crews, they found themselves in possession 
 of two fine ships, one of 74 and one of 64 guns, with 
 the loss of very few seamen and but one officer. 
 
 The garrison was by this time sufficiently 
 alarmed on all sides; the noise and huzzas of the 
 seamen in boarding left no room to doubt that it 
 proceeded from the English, added to which the 
 direction of the confused sound of voices and sub- 
 sequent firing soon led them to suspect the real 
 fact : an attempt upon their ships. The successful 
 adventurers were employed in securing their pri- 
 soners in the ships' holds, and concerting plans for 
 removing their prizes out of the enemy's reach, 
 when both ships and boats received a furious dis- 
 charge of cannon, mortars, and musketry from all 
 points whence it could be brought to bear upon 
 them. After endeavouring in vain to tow off la 
 Prudente, they found she was aground with several 
 feet of water in the hold, and nothing therefore 
 remained but to set her on fire, in order to prevent 
 her being recovered by the enemy ; this was there- 
 fore done with all expedition, leaving alongside her 
 
THE SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG. 851 
 
 a large schooner and her own boats, in order that 
 her people might escape to the shore, which was at 
 no great distance. The boats from la Prudente 
 now joined those which had attacked le Bienfaisant, 
 and helped to tow her off in triumph from the 
 midst of the formidable fire opened upon them 
 by the mortified enemy. In this they succeeded 
 without much further loss, aided by a little breeze, 
 which just then sprung up, and when once without 
 range of the enemy's guns, they rested from their 
 arduous labour and secured their prize till daylight, 
 congratulating each other on their success a,nd safety 
 in this hazardous enterprise. 
 
 A contemporary writer sums up the description 
 of this attack in the following words : — 
 
 " The capture of these two ships by our fleet's 
 boats on this memorable occasion, as it must be a 
 lasting indelible honour to the vigilance and activity 
 of those who projected, and to the bravery as well 
 as conduct of those who executed this bold design, 
 will also be a new and perhaps a reasonable con- 
 viction to the whole world that however arduous, 
 however apparently impracticable, any purposed 
 naval attempt may be, the English seamen are not 
 to be deterred from it by any prospect of difficulty 
 or danger, but will exert themselves as far as men 
 can do and at least deserve success, when led on to 
 it by such as are worthy to command them." The 
 action commenced on the evening of the 25th July, 
 and the Post Commissions of Captains Laforey and 
 Balfour bear the date of the 26th. 
 
352 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 DEFENCE OF THE PULTENEY. 
 
 The Straits of Gibraltar, the scene of English 
 prowess and endurance, in the month of January 
 1743 afforded one of those spectacles so gratifying 
 to the British garrison and inhabitants of the Rock, 
 and so humbling to our Spanish foes, which have 
 been repeated more than once in subsequent wars, 
 within sight of its^ castellated heights. The Pul- 
 teney, a large brigantine, with 16 carriage guns, 
 commanded by Captain James Purcell, which had 
 been cruising in and about the Straits' mouth for 
 some time, was seen from the town, standing into 
 the bay from the west, with little or no wind to 
 help her progress. While the spectators amongst 
 the garrison were watching her movements, they 
 soon perceived that she had been also observed by 
 their vigilant foes at Algesiras, on the opposite 
 side of the bay, and two great Spanish zebecs, each 
 carrying 120 men, with 12 carriage guns, crept out 
 from the shore, urged by the strong arms of their 
 numerous oarsmen, and looking upon the brigan- 
 tine, now lying almost becalmed, as their own. 
 Favoured by the current which ran strongly in their 
 favour, and propelled by the sturdy rowers, the zebecs 
 soon came up with their expected prize. Captain 
 Purcell, although he had only 42 men in all on board, 
 and of those, three wounded in an action which had 
 occurred a few days before, finding his officers and 
 men animated with the best spirit, and determined 
 to stand by him in his defence, resolved to main- 
 
BEFEXCE OF THE PULTENEY. 353 
 
 tain the honour of his commission and flag to the 
 last necessity. After discharging a few single guns 
 the Spaniards came sufficiently near to hail the 
 Pulteney by her name, and the Captain by his, 
 (both being well known upon the coast of Spain,) 
 entreating him. to strike, and avoid the unnecessary 
 effusion of blood, or that otherwise they would give 
 no quarter. These threats were answered by the 
 guns, and so the engagement commenced, which, 
 for the time it lasted, was as warm as perhaps ever 
 was fought, where there was so great a disparity of 
 force. The Spaniards made three attempts to 
 board, but Captain Purcell always prudently re- 
 serving half his broadside, the Spaniards never 
 had the courage to go through with it, and by that 
 means exposed themselves so much, and were so 
 disabled, particularly in the last attempt, that they 
 could stand it no longer, but made off with their 
 oars towards Malaga. The gallant Purcell still 
 firing and endeavouring to pursue them, but there 
 being no wind, and the sweeps of his brigantine of 
 little use, the flying enemy was soon out of his 
 reach. 
 
 The engagement lasted an hour and three 
 quarters, the Pulteney having but one man shot 
 through the body, and five more very much 
 wounded ; but what is most remarkable, every 
 man on board was shot through his clothes. The 
 enemy's loss is conjectured to have been very 
 great, or they would not have fled so precipitately 
 from a vessel which they came out with a resolu- 
 
 2 A 
 
354 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 tion to take, and a deserter, who came into the 
 garrison some days after, made a statement* which 
 exceeded all expectation. The Pulteney's sails 
 and rigging were completely destroyed, and some 
 9-pounders went through her hull and masts. 
 
 While the victorious ship lay becalmed after 
 their lengthened struggle, several boats from the 
 garrison went out to her and towed her in in a 
 species of triumph. Many hundreds had witnessed 
 the unequal contest, and so high was the sense 
 entertained by the garrison of the merit of the 
 action that the governor and oflScers subscribed for 
 and presented a handsome piece of plate, with a 
 suitable inscription, to the gallant Captain, and 
 the merchants and other inhabitants did the same, 
 while the ship's company each received from the 
 same parties presents of sums of money. 
 
 SALTED HEADS. 
 
 I find many notices in our earlier annals of 
 extraordinary advantages obtained by English ships 
 over preponderating Turkish forces ; many of them 
 no doubt are apocryphal, but others at all events 
 possess some portion of truth, and perhaps are but 
 little more marvellous than the action in our own 
 times of the Seahorse frigate with the Baddere 
 Jaffere and another ship, in which, after a shaip 
 
 ^ Not given in the report of the action. 
 
SALTED HEADS. 355 
 
 night attack of some hours, the frigate succeeded in 
 capturing her foes, one of far superior force to her- 
 self, with the small loss of 5 killed and 10 wounded, 
 while the predestinarian followers of the Prophet 
 lost the amazing number of 165 killed and 195 
 wounded. The almost incredible narrative which 
 follows is related by the Earl of Castlemain, in his 
 account of the war between the Turks and Ve- 
 netians ; and the hero of it is supposed to have 
 been a son or near relative of Sir Hugh Middleton, 
 whose more peaceful struggles with, not on, the 
 watery element, ended in preserving his name to 
 modern times as one of the greatest benefactors to 
 our metropolis. His relative's less known a.nd less 
 bloodless achievements will fill one of my pages 
 with, I hope, some amusement to my readers. 
 
 " Among the English that fought bravely Captain 
 Thomas Middleton (who had his ship hired in his 
 service) did a most prodigious action. It happened 
 that the Admiral, intending a design against 
 the Dardanelles, put Middleton in so desperate a 
 place that he Avas in danger from land to be sunk 
 at every shot. He advised the commander of it, 
 and withal told him that the peril of himself and 
 ship did not so much trouble him as to be set 
 where it was impossible for him to offend the 
 enemy. Having no answer, or at best a bad one, 
 and seeing it could not prejudice the fleet, he drew 
 off a little the vessel (his only livelihood) from the 
 needless danger it was in. When the danger was 
 over they dismissed him (in a council of war) with 
 
 2 a2 
 
356 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 the title of coward, and all the soldiers being taken 
 away he was left only with some fifty English to 
 return home, or whither else he pleased. He had 
 not parted long from the Armata, but in a stark 
 calm met with twenty-five sail, of which eighteen 
 were the best gallies the great Turk could make 
 in all his fleet. These crying out in derision that 
 they would eat English beef for dinner, fell upon 
 him, wanting no assurance, being assisted with the 
 stillness of the air and their own strength and 
 number. But for all this confidence they missed 
 their aim, for after a long and sharp encounter, the 
 two bassas that commanded were killed, with 1500 
 to accompany them, and besides the many that 
 were wounded ; the whole squadron was so shat- 
 tered that they had hardly any oars to get off, and 
 were all unfit to serve at least for that year. The 
 Captain had neither wind, sails, nor tackle to follow 
 them ; but with much ado he yet afterwards came 
 safe to Candie, and there presented to the General 
 a whole ton of salted heads of those he had killed 
 in their own boarding. His excellency was asto- 
 nished at the thing, and after all the caresses 
 imaginable, he acquainted the senate with it, who, 
 with universal consent, ordered him a chain and 
 medal of gold as a testimony of their high esteem 
 and his own commendable valour. Middleton 
 afterwards died on his journey home, leaving a son 
 who commands a ship here, and is very well 
 esteemed by all the nobility for his resolution and 
 conduct. The sailor's pecuUar fancy for salting 
 
FIRST OF JUNE, 1666. 357 
 
 his victims' heads at first thought appears very 
 unaccountable, but when it is borne in mind that 
 the Turks were looked upon by all dwellers on the 
 shores of the Mediterranean, and not without 
 justice, as little better than brute beasts, upon 
 whose destruction a price was set, the riddle is ex- 
 plained, for, no doubt, Captain Middleton only 
 wished to preserve them from decay until he 
 should reach a port in which he could find a pro- 
 fitable market for his goods." 
 
 FIRST OF JUNE, 1666. 
 
 Many instances of gallantry were displayed dur- 
 ing the stubborn sea-fight between the Eng- 
 lish and Dutch naval forces, the former under 
 Monk, Duke of Albemarle, and the latter com- 
 manded by De Ruyter and Tromp, which lasted, 
 four days from the 1st of June, ] 666, with varying 
 fortune, both parties claiming the victory, and of 
 which the Pensioner De Witt, who was himself a 
 sharer in the engagement, remarked, " If the Eng- 
 lish are beaten, their defeat did them more honour 
 than their former victories, and all the Dutch had 
 discovered was, that Englishmen might be killed, 
 and English ships burnt, but that English courage 
 was invincible." The reader's attention is drawn, 
 however, more particularly to the action of Sir 
 John Harman, who commanded the Henry. His 
 ship being surrounded and assailed from all quar- 
 
358 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARIXG. 
 
 ters by the Zealand squadron, Admiral Evertzen, 
 who commanded it, hailed and offered him quarter, 
 to which this brave oflScer replied, " No, for it is 
 not come to that yet." His next broadside killed 
 the Dutch Admiral, by which means their whole 
 squadron was thrown into confusion, and obliged 
 to quit the Henry. Three fire-ships were now 
 sent to burn her ; one of them, grappled her star- 
 board quarter, but the smoke was too thick to dis- 
 cern where the grappling-irons had hooked until 
 the blaze burst out, when the boatswain of the 
 Henry flinging himself on board the fire-ship 
 amidst smoke and flame, as if incapable of fear, 
 discovered and cut off the match from the com- 
 bustibles in the hold, and returned safe on board, 
 having first disengaged the irons. Scarcely v^^as 
 this effected before another fire-ship boarded her on 
 the larboard side, and the sails and rigging taking 
 fire, destruction seemed inevitable, and several of 
 the crew threw themselves into the sea : upon 
 which Sir John Harman drew his sword, and 
 threatened to kill any who should attempt to quit 
 the ship, a threat which had the effect of making 
 the men return to their duty and assist in quench- 
 ing the flames. 
 
 The exertions at length of the remaining crew 
 extinguished the flames. Sir John Harman, al- 
 though his leg was broken, continued on deck giv- 
 ing directions, and sank another fire-ship which 
 was bearing down upon him. In this crippled 
 state he got into Harvdch and repaired the ship's 
 
SOLEBAY FIGHT. 359 
 
 damage, in time to be at sea and share in the 
 following actions. 
 
 In the same engagement Admiral Sir George 
 Ayscue ran his ship upon the Galloper shoal, where 
 she was surrounded by the Dutch fleet and taken. 
 The capture of an English admiral caused great 
 exultation among the Dutch, and has been vul- 
 garly assigned as the reason why the English do 
 not wear the Red flag at the main. The fact, how- 
 ever, of Sir George Ayscue having only been ad- 
 miral of the White at the time of his capture, as 
 well as that the Union Jack has always been the 
 distinguishing flag of the red squadron, negatives 
 this fable. 
 
 In this same action Vice- Admiral Berkeley, when 
 no longer able to make resistance, was so obstinately 
 bent on maintaining his honour that he would take 
 no quarter, and when the enemy's boarders had 
 carried his ship, having been desperately wounded 
 with a musket-bullet in his throat, he retired into 
 his cabin, where he was discovered by the victors 
 la-id at length on the table, dead, and covered Avith 
 the blood which had flowed from his wounds. 
 
 SOLEBAY FIGHT. 
 
 The battle of Southwold Bay, more generally 
 known as Solebay fight, was marked in naval annals 
 by the death in action of the sea ofiicer highest in 
 rank of any that have fallen in battle : we mean 
 
360 DEEDS OF l^AVAL DARING. 
 
 Edward Montagu Earl of Sandwich and Vice- Ad- 
 miral of England. This officer, who is described 
 by contemporaries as a man of great courage and 
 of that kind of merit which endeared him to the 
 sailors, in May, 1672, had his flag flying in the 
 Eoyal James, a fine ship of 100 guns and about 
 800 men, as second in command to James Duke of 
 York. His Royal Highness's fleet had been col- 
 lected on the breaking out of the third and last Dutch 
 war, and had anchored on the 27th of May in 
 Southwold Bay, for the avowed purpose of taking 
 in water, although it has been alleged rather with 
 the view of celebrating the festivities that would 
 attend the anniversary of King Charles's restoration 
 on the 29th of the same month. While thus lying 
 at anchor, Lord Sandwich it appears was rendered 
 anxious by the thickness of the weather and the 
 ignorance that existed, as to the whereabouts of the 
 Dutch fleet, at that time known to be at sea ; and 
 in a council that was held he urged the danger that 
 there was of their being surprised in the position they 
 were then in, and strongly advised that they should 
 weigh anchor and get out to sea. The Duke of 
 York, whose predilections were for the shore, made 
 an answer, it is said, insinuating that the Earl 
 spoke out of fear, and the latter certainly con- 
 sidered the remark as a reflection on his personal 
 courage. The Duke's opinion, however, prevailed 
 at the council board, and the preparations for fes- 
 tivities were all in progress, when on the morning 
 of the 28th Lord Sandwich's prognostics proved 
 
SOLEBAY FIGHT. 361 
 
 correct, and the Dutch fleet under De Euyter came 
 down upon the British fleet, which were quite un- 
 prepared for the onset. So pressing ^vas the occa- 
 sion that many of the EngUsh captains were obhged 
 to cut their cables, but the blue squadron (that of 
 the Earl of Sandwich) was, however, out first, and 
 in good order, and the Vice- Admiral, knowiug how 
 much depended on checking the enemy's advance 
 so as to allow time for the red and white squadrons 
 to get into order of battle, fell furiously on the 
 advancing Dutch ships under Admiral Van Ghent. 
 He succeeded in his object, but at the expense of 
 his own life, for the Royal James, surrounded by 
 Dutch ships, had to maintain a most unequal con- 
 test. She disabled seven ships of the line, and 
 repelled three fire-ships, by which time most of her 
 men were killed, and her hull so pierced with shot, 
 that it was impossible to carry her off. At this 
 juncture Lord Sandwich might have been relieved 
 by his Vice Admiral, Sir Joseph Jordan, but had tlie 
 mortification of seeing that officer sail bj^ heedless 
 of the condition in which he lay. Upon this he 
 said to those about him, " There is nothing left 
 for us now but to defend the ship to the last man ;" 
 and those who knew him readily understood that 
 by the last man he meant himself. A fourth fire- 
 ship had now grappled him, and the Admiral 
 begged his captain, Sir K. Haddock, and the sur- 
 viving crew to take to the boats and save them- 
 selves, he himself, apprehensive of being captured 
 in the boats and made a spectacle to the Dutch, 
 
362 DEEDS OF IS^AVAL DARING. 
 
 determined to remain and perish with his ship. 
 Many of the sailors y/ould not quit their admiral, 
 and endeavoured at his command to extinguish 
 the flames ; but their efforts were unavailing, and 
 the ship blowing up about noon, the Earl fell a 
 noble sacrifice to injured feelings and a high prin- 
 ciple of honour. His Lordship's body was found 
 floating at sea about a fortnight after the engage- 
 ment, and was recognised by the Order of the 
 Garter, which he v/ore upon his coat. It was con- 
 veyed by the King's commands to London, and 
 honoured with a public funeral of the greatest 
 magnificence in Westminster Abbey, and was in- 
 terred in the Duke of Albemarle's vault. The 
 Earl of Sandvdch, who had been made a Knight 
 of the Garter before his elevation to the peerage, 
 was the last commoner before Sir Kobert Walpole 
 who was honoured with that distinction. Friends 
 and foes united in this hero's praise, and he left 
 behind him the fame of extraordinary feats, courage, 
 fidelity, and affability ~a man equally brave and 
 honourable, and of a most engaging behaviour, and 
 one who had rendered his country the greatest 
 services, not only in the field, but in the cabinet. 
 
 POOE JACK SPRATT. 
 
 The Battle of Trafalgar, the brightest gem in 
 the mural crown of England, was accompanied by 
 many brilliant achievements, forming for it an 
 
POOR JACK SPRATT. 363 
 
 appropriate setting, and from amongst these the 
 action of a junior officer* of the Defia.nce, is well 
 worthy selection for the daring and hardihood 
 which it exhibits. 
 
 After the Defiance and the French TAigle had 
 been for some time hotly engaged, and when the 
 fire of the latter had slackened so much as to make 
 it evident, although her colours were still flying, 
 that her power of further resistance was well nigh 
 gone, Captain Durham, anxious to stop the de- 
 struction of human life, was desirous of communi- 
 cating with the enemy's ship, but as it was a dead 
 calm, and all his boats had been shot through, 
 he found it impossible to accomplish his wishes^ 
 although the two ships were within pistol shot of 
 each other. In this emergency Mr. James Spra;tt, 
 master's mate, came forward, and volunteered to 
 swim on board the Aigle, which Captain Durham 
 at first refused to sanction, as being far too ha- 
 zardous an enterprise, and it was not until Mr. 
 Spratt had strongly pressed it, that he gave his 
 consent: when that oflScer calling out ''Boarders 
 follow me," and placing his cutlass between his 
 teeth, and his battle-axe in his belt, leaped 
 overboard, without waiting to see whether he 
 was accompanied or not, and swam towards the 
 enemy's ship. He was soon seen from the 
 Defiance climbing up the rudder chains of the 
 French 74, and entering her stern port alone, but 
 undaunted. From the gun-room he contrived to 
 
 ^ Now Commander James Spratt. 
 
364 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 fight his way through the decks to the poop, where 
 he was charged by three grenadiers with fixed 
 bayonets ; avoiding their first rush with great 
 dexterity, he placed two of them hors de combat 
 with his weapon, and grappling the third fell 
 with him from the poop to the quarter-deck, the 
 Frenchman broke his neck, but Mr. Spratt escaped 
 uninjured. By this time a slight air had enabled 
 the Defiance to close with her antagonist, and the 
 boarders, at first repulsed, had succeeded in esta- 
 blishing themselves on the French ship's decks ; 
 joining his shipmates in the desperate hand-to- 
 hand conflict raging on the quarter-deck, Mr. 
 Spratt had the happiness of saving a French 
 officer's life from the fury of his assailants. Scarcely 
 had he discharged this act of humanity before 
 another grenadier endeavoured to run him through 
 with his bayonet ; the thrust was parried, and the 
 Frenchman then presented his musket at Mr. 
 Spratt's breast, who succeeded in striking it down 
 with his cutlass, and the contents passed through 
 his right leg, shattering both bones ; he immedi- 
 ately retreated between two of the guns, and con- 
 tinued to defend himself from his assailant and 
 two others, who had joined him, until relieved by 
 the approach of some of his own party. Captain 
 Durham, in a private letter, states that Mr. Spratt 
 hauled down the French colours, and that he 
 afterwards saw him in the quarter galley of the 
 Aigie holding up his shattered leg, and calling out 
 " Poor Jack Spratt is done up at last/' Mr. Spratt 
 
THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE'S ESCAPE. 365 
 
 was not however quite done up, for after seventeen 
 weeks confinement in Gibraltar Hospital he re- 
 turned to England, and was presented by Captain 
 Durham with a lieutenant's commission, which had 
 been placed at his disposal by the Admiralty, in 
 testimony of the sense he entertained of the daring 
 courage he had exhibited in striking the French 
 colours as above described. 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE'S ESCAPE. 
 
 The love of glory, in addition to that of country, 
 is generally an incentive to deeds of high enter- 
 prise in the stern contest of real war. Since the 
 days of chivalry, when knight encountered knight 
 in the tournament, bright eyes have seldom rained 
 their influence, and adjudged the prize to the 
 victor; but in one instance in naval warfare such 
 has been the case, and the eyes that then looked 
 on were among the brightest that graced the British 
 court, and had sufficient influence to obtain the 
 meed of promotion for their defender. Whether 
 the same sparks that the Westminster coalheaver 
 solicited to light his pipe, kindled the matches that 
 fired the British guns, must be decided by poets, 
 while I must descend to plain prose. In the year 
 1799 the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire had 
 taken a passage from the continent, with her sister 
 and other persons of distinction, in a packet con- 
 voyed by the Fly, a sloop of war of 14 guns, com- 
 
366 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 pfianded by Captain Garner. On their passage 
 tliey were cliased by two Frencb cutter sloops of 
 war of 20 guns each. Captain Garner, no doubt 
 sensible of the additional glory of protecting his 
 beautiful charge, directed the master of the packet 
 to make the best of his way to Harwich, while he 
 brought his own ship to and determined to abide 
 the attack of a force so far superior. The two 
 cutters were soon upon him, but his officers and 
 men, seemingly inspired with the same gallantry 
 that actuated their commander, fought like lions ; 
 after repeated attacks the enemy was beaten off 
 with considerable loss, and the little sloop escorted 
 her charge in triumph into Harwich. Naval bio- 
 graphers say nothing of Captain Garner. Charnock 
 does not even name him ; and the action, and the 
 beautiful Duchess's narrow escape, are only briefly 
 noted in the journals of the day. Captain Garner 
 appears, however, from official records, to have 
 been promoted for this service, and to have died 
 in the following year, and we learn from other 
 sources that the Duke of Devonshire presented 
 him with a handsome service of plate. 
 
 CAPTAIN BO WEN, 
 
 More commonly known in the service as '^' Terpsi- 
 chore Bowen," from the circumstance of his having, 
 while in command of that frigate, taken three 
 enemy's frigates of very superior force, and, al- 
 though all are famous actions, perhaps distinguished 
 
TERPSTCHOEE BOWEN. 367 
 
 himself more particularly in his engagement with 
 and capture of the Mahonessa, a Spanish frigate, 
 the first captured after the declaration of war, and at 
 a time his own crew were considerably reduced by 
 sickness, and the vessel with which he risked the 
 action was supposed to be almost within hail of a 
 powerful fleet of her own countrymen. Captain 
 Bowen's confidence, however, in the tried valour of 
 his gallant crew, w^as amply repaid ; and the par- 
 ticulars of the contest, with its splendid result, we 
 think, cannot be better given tha.n in the y/ords of 
 the principal actor, in his official despatch, which 
 is as follows : — 
 
 "On the morning of the ISth October, 1796, 
 at daylight, we discovered- a frigate to windward 
 standing towards us ; about eight I could perceive 
 her making every preparation for battle, and she 
 was then apparently in chase of us ; our situation 
 altogether was such as to prevent my being over- 
 desirous of engaging her : out of our small comple- 
 ment (of 215), we had left 30 at the hospital, and 
 we had more than that number still on board on 
 our sick and convalescent lists, all of whom were 
 either dangerously ill or excessively weak. We 
 were scarcely out of sight of the spot where we 
 knew the Spanish fleet had been cruising only two 
 days before ; and, in fact, we had stood on to look 
 for them, with a view of ascertaining their move- 
 ments ; a small Spanish vessel, which we conjec- 
 tured to be a sort of tender, was passing us, steer- 
 ing towards Carthagena, so that I could hardly 
 
368 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARmG. 
 
 flatter myself with being able to bring the frigate 
 off in the event of a victory, or even of escaping 
 myself if disabled. On the other hand, it appeared 
 that nothing but a flight, and superior sailing, could 
 enable me to avoid an action, and to do that from 
 a frigate apparently not much superior to us, except 
 in bulk, would have been committing the character 
 of one of his Majesty's ships more than I could 
 bring myself to resolve on. I therefore continued 
 standing on without any alteration of course. 
 Having, -with infinite satisfaction and comfort to 
 myself, commanded the Terpsichore's crew for two 
 years and a half, through a pretty considerable 
 variety of services, I well knew the veteran stuff 
 w^hich I had still left in health to depend upon 
 for upholding the character of British seamen, and 
 I felt my mind at ease as to the termination of any 
 action with the frigate in sight only. At half-past 
 nine o'clock she came within hail, and hauled her 
 wind on our weather-beam, and I conceived she 
 only waited to place herself to advantage, and to 
 point her guns with exactness ; and being myself 
 unwilling to lose the position we were then in, I or- 
 dered one gun to be fired as a trier of her inten- 
 tion. It was so instantaneously returned, and 
 followed up by her whole broadside, that I am 
 confident they must have done it at the sight of 
 our flash ; the action of course went on, a.nd we 
 soon discovered that her people would not, or 
 could not, resist our fire. At the end of about an 
 hour and forty minutes, during which time we had 
 
TERPSICHORE bowe:n^ 369 
 
 twice wore, and employed about twenty of the last 
 minutes in chase — she surrendered. At this period 
 she appeared almost entirely disabled, and we had 
 drawn close up alongside, with every gun well 
 charged and well pointed. It was, nevertheless, 
 with considerable difficulty that I prevailed on the 
 Spanish commander to decline the receiving of 
 such a broadside, by submitting ; and from every- 
 thing I have since heard, the personal courage, 
 conduct, and zeal of that officer, whose name is 
 Don Thomas Agalde, was such during the action, 
 notwithstanding the event of it, as reflect on him 
 the greatest honour, and irresistibly impressed on 
 my mind the highest admiration of his character. 
 After (from the effect of our fire) his boom had 
 tumbled down, and rendered his waist- guns un- 
 serviceable, all the standing rigging of his lower 
 masts shot away, and I believe every running rope 
 cut through, and a great number of his people 
 killed and wounded, he still persevered, though he 
 could rally but few of his men to defend his ship 
 almost longer than defence was justifiable. Had 
 there been the smallest motion of the sea every 
 mast must inevitably have gone by the board." 
 
 Captain Bowen then proceeds to detail his own 
 comparatively trifling loss of four wounded and 
 none killed, and his masts, sails, and rigging rather 
 cut Lip ; while the Mahonessa had thirty killed 
 and as many wounded, in addition to the damage 
 detailed above. The complement of the Spanish 
 ship was 275, against the 215 of the Terpsichore, 
 
 2 B 
 
370 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 reduced by the 30 absent in hospital, and the hke 
 number sick on board. The number and weight 
 of guns was also in favour of the Mahonessa. The 
 officers of the British frigate are most highly men- 
 tioned ; and the Admiralty marked their sense of 
 the action by promoting the First Lieutenant, Mr. 
 Devonshire, for this service, immediately on the 
 receipt of the intelligence. Captain Bowen added 
 still further to his laurels in the few succeeding 
 months of his short career, which, like that of his 
 friend and almost prototjrpe, Captain Faulkner,* 
 terminated in the field of battle, for hb fell at the 
 unfortunate attack upon Teneriffe, in July, 1797, 
 under Lord Nelson, his body being discovered on 
 the morning following the assault under those of 
 his First Lieutenant and his whole boat's crew, 
 who had been his faithful companions in many 
 hazardous enterprises, and were now participators 
 in his fate, in this the closing scene of his eventful 
 life. The immortal Nelson, in reporting his fall, 
 added this well-deserved panegyric — " A more en- 
 
 * Captain Bowen, then a lieutenant, had also distinguished himself 
 at Martinique under the following circumstances ; — A French frigate, 
 the Bienvenu, was lying in the carenage, and supposed to have English 
 prisoners on board. Lieutenant Bowen offered to board her, and re- 
 lease his countrymen ; and at noon-day he boldly pushed into the 
 harbour with his boats, and in spite of the batteries and the fire from 
 the frigate he dashed alongside, and took possession of her, making 
 the captain, officers, and greater part of the crew prisoners, and 
 brought them out in his boats; but there were no Englishmen on 
 board. As the frigate's sails were unbent, and it would have been 
 a slow operation to tow her out under the heavy fire that was main- 
 tained by the batteries, the captors were compelled to relinquish their 
 prize, though only for the short time that elapsed before the capitula- 
 tion of the island placed her in their hands. 
 
SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 371 
 
 terprising, able, and gallant oiBcer does not grace 
 his Majesty's naval service." Lord St. Vincent 
 also spoke of him in equally high terms ; he calls 
 him a child of his own, and adds, that ^' he pos- 
 sesses the most inexhaustible spirit of enterprise 
 and skilful seamanship that can be comprised in 
 any human character." 
 
 SIE JOHN HAWKINS. 
 
 The actions of this celebrated Admiral, or, as he 
 was termed in the language of that day, General 
 Sir John Hawkins, more especially in the West 
 Indies, in Mexico, and the Spanish Main, though 
 marked with heroism, and a high spirit of en- 
 terprise, would, I fear, if tried by the rules of 
 modern warfare, be pronounced anything but justi- 
 fiable ; indeed the perpetrator of such deeds as were 
 then of common occurrence would now quickly 
 meet the punishment of a pirate. The cruelty 
 practised by the Spaniards on all who fell into 
 their hands, may perhaps have called for a similar 
 return from those who had seen their shipmates 
 and friends the victims of it ; and these foul 
 passions, once inflamed and indulged in, the evil 
 appetite increased, and tales of horror, which we 
 would fain believe to be fabulous, are linked in 
 the narrative of these early navigators, with acts 
 of courage and daring that merit the highest ad- 
 miration. In one of his West Indian voyages, Sir 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 Jolm, in his own ship, the Jesus, accompanied by 
 the Minion, and a little bark, the Judith, of 50 
 tons, having experienced some very bad weather, 
 was compelled to run into the port of San Juan 
 D'Ulloa, which he entered without molestation, 
 his ships having been indeed mistaken by the 
 authorities of the port for the Spanish fleet, which 
 they were daily expecting, nor were they unde- 
 ceived until they had actually gone on board. No 
 doubt Sir John seized the advantage afforded by 
 this unintentional confidence, for the narrative tells 
 us that he was allowed to take possession of an 
 island in the harbour, and fortify it during his stay, 
 which would scarcely have been donehadthe Spanish 
 officers not felt themselves in his power. On the fol- 
 lowing day, when the expected fleet appeared off the 
 port — thirteen great ships — such was the confident 
 boldness of the English Admiral, and such the opi- 
 nion entertained by Spaniards of their prowess, that 
 Hawkins was only prevented by questions of state 
 policy from resisting the entry of a fleet so superior, 
 and belonging to a friendly power, into one of their 
 ov>rn ports, while the Spaniards, on their parts, 
 consented to give hostages for the security of 
 English ships, as the condition of their being 
 allowed to go in. Complimentary salutes were 
 exchanged, and vast professions of friendship were 
 made, but no real confidence was created. Spanish 
 treachery was too well known, and after a few days 
 certain suspicious movements made Hawkins send 
 his master to the Viceroy to demand an explanation. 
 
SIR JOHN HAWKINS. 373 
 
 This proceeding seems to have brought matters to 
 an issue^ for the master was immediately seized 
 and the alarm trumpets sounded ; the English, on 
 the fortified island, completely taken by surprise 
 by the Spaniards, who, on one excuse or the other, 
 had mixed among them in superior numbers, fled 
 to their ships at the first onset, but were slain with 
 few exceptions. When the trumpet first gave the 
 alarm, a Spaniard^ who was in the cabin of the 
 Jesus with the Admiral, made an attempt to 
 poniard him, but unsuccessfully, and was secured 
 and placed in irons ; and at the same moment 300 
 Spaniards, who had been concealed in one of their 
 ships, which, during the previous show of amity, had 
 been moored close alongside, entered on board the 
 Minion, whereat the General, who was on board 
 the flag-ship, lying on her other side, " with a loud 
 and fierce voice, called unto us, ^ God and St. 
 George ! Upon these traiterous villains, and rescue 
 the Minion;' " and with that the marines and soldiers 
 leaped out of the Jesus into the Minion, and beat 
 out the Spaniards. The cables were now cut and 
 the ships moved to a little distance from the shore, 
 but the swarm of hostile ships impeded their 
 further progress, and the fight which commenced 
 at 10 A.M. lasted until night, the Spaniards los- 
 ing 6 ships and 540 men. During the heat of 
 the action the General courageously cheered up his 
 soldiers and gunners, and called to Samuel his 
 page for a cup of beer, who brought it him in a 
 silver cup, and he, drinking to all men, willed the 
 gunners to stand by their ordnance lustily hke men. 
 
374 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 He had no sooner set the cup out of his hand but 
 a demi-culverin shot struck away the cup and a 
 cooper s plane that stood by the mainmast, and ran 
 out on the other side of the ship, which nothing dis- 
 mayed the General, for he ceased not to encourage, 
 saying, " Fear not, for God, who hath preserved 
 me from this shot, will also deliver us from these 
 traitors and villains." Night at last brought some 
 relief, when Hawkins, finding his flag-ship so 
 crippled by shot that it would be impossible to 
 bring her away, determined to abandon her, and 
 placing all her remaining crew on board the 
 Minion and Judith, take advantage of the wind 
 coming off shore to get out of reach of the enemy's 
 shot and put to sea. But he was not able to effect 
 his whole object, for the Spaniards, repulsed in 
 their several attacks, at length attempted to de- 
 stroy their enemy by fire-ships, which bearing 
 down upon them, the crew of the Minion set sail 
 without waiting for orders, and in such haste, that 
 Hawkins and a few men only from the Jesus suc- 
 ceeded in reaching her. The bark Judith was in 
 this fight commanded by Mr. Francis Drake, 
 afterwards Sir Francis Drake, the hero of the 
 Armada, and the terror of Spain ; it must have 
 been almost his first voyage, and probably he here 
 learned that mistrust and horror of Spain and 
 Spaniards, that influenced his whole after-life, 
 during which he certainly more than repaid his 
 enemies in kind as well on the shores of America 
 as in Europe. 
 
THE INTREPID BOATSWAIN. 375 
 
 THE INTREPID BOATSWAIN. 
 
 The fidelity and determined conduct of Mr. 
 Gastril, boatswain of the Chesterfield, saved that 
 ship when many of his superior officers and the 
 majority of the ship's company, had successfully 
 plotted to obtain possession of her and turn pirates. 
 In October 1748, that ship was lying off Cape- 
 Coast Castle, and her Captain, Dudley, was on 
 shore, v/hen the lieutenant, Mr. Couchman, taking 
 advantage of the Captain's absence, persuaded the 
 crew from their allegiance, and hoisted in all the 
 boats, in order that the Captain might not be able 
 to get on board or communicate with his misguided 
 men. In the words of the narrative, which I am 
 quoting, Couchman coming from his cabin with a 
 drawn sword to the quarter-deck, accompanied by 
 the principal mutineers, said, " Here I am, I will 
 stand by you while I have a drop of blood in my 
 body/' They then gave three huzzas, and threw 
 their hats overboard, damning old hats, for they 
 would soon get new. •Couchman then sent for the 
 boatswain and asked if he would stand by him and 
 go with him. He boldly replied, " No," and im- 
 plored the Lieutenant to be ruled by reason, and 
 consider what he was about Finding soft words 
 of no avail with this honest man, Couchman pro- 
 ceeded to threaten him, but the boatswain did 
 not flinch from his duty, nor would he join 
 him in his piratical designs. He was then or- 
 
376 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 dered into custody, and two sentinels placed over 
 him. Couchman next sent for Gilham, the mate, 
 and being equally unsuccessful with him, placed 
 him in similar custody, as well as five or six others 
 of the crew, who openly refused to join him in 
 mutiny. During the night they remained in irons, 
 and the next day Couchman, undecided whether 
 to land them or take them away prisoners, again 
 tried by threats and promises to induce the boat- 
 swain and mate to sign a paper, and join their 
 conspiracy, but received the same answer from both 
 that they never would, and would sooner suffer 
 death. On leaving the chief cabin the boat- 
 swain went into the gunner's cabin, who was sick 
 and had been unable to leave it during this event- 
 ful crisis. His advice and assistance strengthened 
 the resolution of the few loyal men on board, and 
 when the boatswain told him that Couchman's 
 party had taken possession of all the arms, he said 
 he could furnish them with twenty pistols from a 
 store which had been overlooked. The six loyal 
 men now deliberated as to the best means of re- 
 taking the ship from their mutinous comrades, and 
 decided on making the attempt that very night. 
 At 10 o'clock P.M., while the officers and leading 
 mutineers were drinking in the cabin, and the decks 
 in charge of those of the crew who had joined them, 
 the boatswain proceeded to the forecastle to sound 
 such of the men as he suspected of being lukewarm 
 in the cause in which they had embarked, and, 
 finding about thirty prepared to side with him, he 
 
THE INTEEPID BOATSWAIN". 377 
 
 disclosed to them his scheme, and the necessity for 
 putting it immediately into practice. Accordingly 
 he sent for all the irons to the forecastle, and dis- 
 tributing the twenty pistols to such of the men as 
 he could most depend upon, he stationed three at 
 the magazines, leaving those who were unarmed to 
 secure the prisoners in irons as they might be sent 
 down to them. Having made these dispositions, he 
 divided his small company into two parties, who 
 were to get stealthily on deck, one by the fore, the 
 other by the main hatchway. Their plans were 
 completely successful ; the crew on deck were se- 
 cured and sent to the forecastle without the least 
 noise, and the two parties then joined and went 
 directly to the great cabin, where they secured 
 Couchman and the other officers and ringleaders 
 without difficulty, as they were taken completely 
 by surprise, and unarmed. Thus was this in- 
 famous scheme frustrated by the intrepidity and 
 excellent conduct of one man who set the example 
 of resistance to usurped authority, and the ship 
 retaken after it had been in possession of the in- 
 fatuated insurgents above thirty hours. 
 
 SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. 
 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert, one of the gallant band 
 of naval heroes that adorned the golden age of 
 Elizabeth's reign, and who added learning and 
 
378 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 skill to the more common attributes of a high and 
 daring spirit, and as his stature was beyond the 
 ordinary size, so did he in wisdom and bravery 
 exceed most of his compeers. In his Discourse 
 on the North-West Passage, of which by the bye, 
 he might justly be called the Father, he gives the 
 following opinion, which may fairly be taken by 
 the young soldier or sailor for his text and guidance 
 in the performance of his duty, viz., " He is not 
 worthy to live at all who, for fear or danger of 
 death, shunneth his countrj^'s service or his own 
 honour, since death is inevitable, and the fame of 
 virtue immortal/' To Sir Humphrey we are in- 
 debted for the settlement of Newfoundland, and that 
 valuable branch of commerce, the Cod Fishery, on 
 its coasts ; and it was on his return from the formal 
 occupation of this colony that his death occurred, 
 the manner of which appears to me worthy of nar- 
 ration. He had originally left England with five 
 ships under his command, the largest of 200 tons, 
 and the smallest of 10 tons ; but this last, and the 
 Golden Hind of 40 tons, alone remained to him 
 when he determined to return. In the present 
 day, and even with the additional aids of modern 
 science and art, we can hardly comprehend the 
 hardihood of marines who trusted themselves on 
 voyages of discovery over unknown seas in such 
 cockle-shells as those in which the first navigators 
 crossed the Atlantic ; and the Squirrel, " The little 
 Frigate" of 10 tons, must indeed have been a 
 miserable bark. In her he had made most of his 
 
SIR EUMPHEEY GILBERT. 379 
 
 discoveries on the coavSt, and np the creeks and 
 rivers of Newfoundland, and whether it w^as par- 
 tiality, caused bv these circumstances, or a deske 
 to show that he would not subject others to dangers 
 which he would not himself share, he decided on 
 returning in her in preference to the Golden Hind, 
 which was to accompany him. One reason assigned 
 for his continuing in the bark so utterly unfitted for a 
 long voyage was, that a report had reached his ears 
 that he was afraid ; but it is impossible to conceive 
 that a man of his strength of mind and established 
 courage would have been affected by an idle 
 i^eport. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the higher reason 
 was the true one, for, when pressed and entreated 
 to take his passage in the Golden Hind, he re- 
 plied, '^ I will not forsake my little company going 
 homeward, %vith whom I have passed so many 
 storms and perils/' The two ships reached the 
 latitude of the Azores without adventure, but here 
 a violent storm arose, and '^ The little Frigate " 
 was observed to be nearly overwhelmed by the 
 huge waves. The Hind kept as close to her as she 
 possibly could, and from her the General was seen 
 sitting abaft with a book in his hand, and, Mr. 
 Hayes (Captain of the Hind) says, was heard to 
 call out, '• Courage, my lads, we are as near to 
 heaven by sea as by land." The same night the 
 little Squirrel, and all within her, were swallowed 
 up by the ocean, and nothing more was ever heard 
 of her, or of her unfoitunate Commander — thus 
 
DEEDS OF NAVAL DARINO. 
 
 in his death affording an example of resignation 
 which he had inculcated in the maxim I have 
 already quoted. 
 
 THE HONOUR OF THE FLAG. 
 
 The Syrian campaign of 1840 gave ample evi 
 dence that while our fleets were as efficient, and out 
 officers and men as skilful and animated with the 
 same spirit that had always led the tars of Old 
 England to battle and victory, there was no falling 
 off in the chivalrous feeling that would brook no 
 second place for the flag of their country. The 
 scene acted under the walls of Sidon, when the 
 fair spirit of amicable rivalry spurred on the naval 
 cadets of England and Austria, naturally takes 
 the mind back to a similar scene painted by the 
 mighty Magician of the North in his Talisman, as 
 having occurred in this same holy region, and 
 nearly on the same spot ; and we can almost 
 picture to ourselves the spirit of the lion-hearted 
 Richard, looking down from the grey walls in 
 smiling approval of the small scion of his true 
 English heart, who thus, unconsciously, was fol- 
 lowing in his own steps, and zealously maintaining 
 the supremacy of the British flag. The incident 
 to which I allude took place at the capture of 
 Sidon by Sir Charles Napier, and was by that 
 officer deemed worthy of mention in his official 
 dispatch. The hero was Mr. James Hunt, a mid- 
 shipman of the Stromboli, who was landed with a 
 
THE HONOUR OF THE FLAG. 381 
 
 party from that ship in conjunction with a force 
 from the Austrian frigate Guerriere. The brave 
 boy had been entrusted with a colour, and when 
 both parties were eagerly pressing on to enter the 
 fortress, his shipmates and officers were delighted 
 to see him pushing on until at length there was a 
 complete race under the enemy's fire between him 
 and Don Domenico Chinca, of the Austrian ship, 
 for the honour of being first to place the flags of 
 their respective countries on the walls of the city, 
 in which the English lad, I am proud to add, was 
 successful. 
 
 At the attack on the fortress of Gebail, also on 
 the same coast, and about the same time, another 
 instance occurred of this zealous care for the honour 
 of our country's flag, which shows that not only 
 the ardent spirit of boyhood, but the matured 
 reason of brave men, attaches importance to what 
 philosophical utilitarians would look upon as so 
 many yards of cloth when weighed against the 
 risk of human life. After the attacking party had 
 retreated to their boats, a small boat-flag which had 
 been planted on a garden wall during the attack on 
 the castle, as a signal to the ships, and which had 
 been carelessly left by the pilot of the Cyclops, was 
 seen by Lieutenant (now Captain) Sydney Grenfell, 
 who, accompanied by MacDonald, a seaman of 
 the same ship, volunteered to return under the 
 enemy's heavy fire and remove it, which they 
 succeeded in doing, bringing it off most gallantly 
 amidst the cheers from the ships ; thus risking 
 
382 DEEDS OF NAVAL DARING. 
 
 their lives rather than that the enemy should have 
 possessed themselves even accidentally of that em- 
 blem of their country's power. 
 
 SIR JOHN BERRY. 
 
 Born of a gentle family, in Devonshire, the hero 
 of our anecdote found himself at the age between 
 manhood and boyhood suddenly thrown upon his 
 own resources, and left to struggle against poverty 
 and want. His father, a clergyman, who had ad- 
 hered to the fortunes of Charles I., was deprived 
 by the Puritans of his living, as well as his pro- 
 perty, and died broken-hearted, leaving a widow 
 and nine children, of whom John Berry was the 
 second son. This youth, at the age of 17, bound 
 himself apprentice to a shipmaster at Plymouth, 
 and while in his employment experienced nothing 
 but misfortune ; at length he went to London, 
 about the time of the Restoration, and got the 
 appointment of boatswain on board the King's 
 Ketch Swallow, commanded by Captain Ensome, 
 about to proceed to the West Indies. The 
 ship arrived at Jamaica after several misadven- 
 tures, and there Berry had the good fortune 
 to find in the governor. Sir Thomas Muddiford, a 
 native also of Devon, who took him by the hand 
 and advanced him to the rank of Lieutenant. 
 Several outrageous piracies having occurred, and 
 one almost immediately before the Swallow's 
 
SIR JOHN BERRY. 
 
 arrival, upon a vessel belonging to a Mr. Peach, 
 the Governor, having refitted her and put addi- 
 tional men on board, despatched that ship in pur- 
 suit of the reputed pirate. 
 
 In three weeks after they sailed from Jamaica, 
 the pirate was discovered at anchor, off the island 
 of Hispaniola. He had about sixty men and carried 
 twenty guns. Captaiu Ensome having considered 
 the enemy's strength, and compared it with his own, 
 called up all his men, and addressed them in these 
 words — '' Gentlemen, the blades we are to attack 
 are men-at-arms, old buccaneers, and superior to 
 us in number, and in the force of their ship, and 
 therefore I would have your opmion whether " — 
 " Sir," interrupted Lieutenant Berry, " we are 
 men-at-arms too, and which is more, honest men, 
 and fight under the King's commission, and if you 
 have no stomach for fighting, be pleased to walk 
 down into your cabin." The crew applauded this 
 motion, and declared, one and all, for Lieutenant 
 Berry, who undertook the affair mth great dis- 
 advantage. 
 
 The pirate rode at anchor to the windward, by 
 which the Swallow was obliged to make two trips 
 under her lee, in which she received two broad- 
 sides and two volleys of small shot, without re- 
 turning a gun. Mr. Berry then boarded her on 
 the bow, pouring in his broadside, which killed 
 the pirate and twenty-two men on the spot ; they 
 then boarded her, and fought their way to the 
 mainmast, where they called to the doctor and his 
 
384 DEEDS OF NAVAL DAEING. 
 
 mate to get overboard/^' and hang by the rudder, 
 which they did ; and soon after the pirate was 
 taken, having only seven men left, and those all 
 wounded, though they lived long enough to be 
 hanged afterwards in Jamaica, and what is still 
 more remarkable, there was nobody killed on board 
 the Swallow but the boatswain's mate. 
 
 On their return to Jamaica Captain Ensome 
 brought his Lieutenant to a court - martial for 
 usurping the Captain's office, but upon a full 
 hearing of the matter the court declared he had 
 done his duty, and ordered the Captain to take 
 him on board again and live peaceably with him. 
 
 On a subsequent occasion Mr. Berry, then a 
 Commodore, was going into action with nine ships 
 against a far superior force, when one of his best 
 ships blew up. Seeing that the ardour of his men 
 was rather damped by this accident, he addressed 
 them, saying — ^' Now you have seen an English 
 ship blow up, let us try if we can't blow up a 
 Frenchman. There they are, boys, and if we 
 don't beat them they will beat us." The action 
 ended in Commodore Berry blowing up one of the 
 Frenchmen. The rest of the fleet escaped. 
 
 Prince sums up his account of this Worthy of 
 Devon with the following panegyric : — -'' As for 
 this gentleman's character, so far as it relates to 
 courage and conduct in sea-affairs, we have already 
 
 * The reason for this consideration appears to ha^e been, that these 
 two men were influential in saving the lives of Mr. Peach and his 
 crew when the other pirates were about to murder them. 
 
SIR JOHN BERRY. 385 
 
 had a full and fair description ; but there was 
 something yet more considerable in him, and of 
 truer honour, that he was a good Christian and a 
 devout son of the Church of England by law esta- 
 blished. One who did not think the least part of 
 true valour lay in defying God or blaspheming his 
 name, or his word, but that the truest instance 
 thereof was to subdue those potent enemies of our 
 souls, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Neither 
 did he suffer his zeal to become eccentric, and run 
 a-meddling after every ignis fatuus of a new light 
 that was hung out, but in the orthodox way of our 
 Established Church he chose to worship the God 
 of his fathers." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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