A Middy of the King Part 5

"That is as narrow a squeak as I have ever beheld, sir," he exclaimed, as he joined the skipper. "If it had not been for that half-board that we involuntarily made, we should never have done it."

"No," agreed the skipper; "I believe that not even the undertow would have saved us. However, 'all's well that ends well,' so we will first take the mainsail off her, Mr Howard, and then you may splice the main-brace and call the watch. Let her go along clean full, quartermaster; there is nothing to leeward now that we need be afraid of. How's her head?"

"Nor'-nor'-west, sir," answered the quartermaster.

The clewing-up and stowing of the mainsail, without allowing it to thresh itself to ribbons, was a task of no little difficulty, considering the violence with which the gale was still blowing; but our first luff was seaman enough to accomplish it without mishap. No sooner was it off the ship than she once more resumed her former buoyancy of motion, lifting easily over the seas, with only an occasional sprinkling of spray upon the forecastle, instead of ploughing furiously through them and drowning the whole of the fore-deck, as she had been doing during her endeavour to work out to windward of Point du Raz; so great, indeed, was the improvement in our condition generally that, although it was still blowing very heavily, we all felt as though we had suddenly pa.s.sed into fine weather after our recent buffeting.

Some three-quarters of an hour later we pa.s.sed Les Stevenets. I believe we might have weathered them had we really made a serious effort to do so, but there was no need. In this case, unlike that of Point du Raz, we had the option of going to leeward if we chose, and the skipper _did_ choose. He had evidently had enough of close shaves for one day, and the moment he recognised that we should have another if he made the attempt to weather that group of rocks, he ordered the helm to be put up, and we pa.s.sed to leeward of them, giving them a good wide berth. We had no stomach for again viewing surf-washed rocks at such close quarters as we had been fated to do that day.

By the time that we were well clear of Les Stevenets night had fallen; but for the previous hour the sky had been gradually clearing, so that by the end of the second dog-watch it was a fine, clear, star-lit night.

The wind, too, was distinctly moderating; while the sea, although still very high, was longer, more regular, and not quite so steep as it had been; in a word, the gale had broken, and by midnight we were once more under courses and single-reefed topsails. By the end of the middle watch we were able to shake out the reefs in our topsails and set the topgallantsails, after which we hove about and headed south once more, pa.s.sing well to windward of the Isle de Seins and its outlying reefs about noon next day.

CHAPTER SIX.

WE CAPTURE A DUTCH FRIGATE.

About a fortnight later, being at the time off Cape Ortegal, cruising under short canvas, we sighted at daybreak a brig in the offing, to windward, steering south, under a press of sail. She was, at the moment of discovery, some eight miles distant, and from her general appearance, and especially from the cut of her canvas, we judged her to be French, and a man-o'-war. We accordingly at once made sail, and hoisted the private signal, of which no notice was taken; we therefore concluded that our suspicions relative to her nationality were well founded, and crowded all sail in chase. No sooner was this act of ours perceived by the stranger than--the weather being fine, and the wind a moderate breeze from West--she hauled her wind and, bracing sharp up, endeavoured to make her escape to windward; the weather conditions, however, were ideal for the frigate, and we overhauled the brig so rapidly that by ten o'clock in the forenoon we were within gunshot of her; whereupon we hoisted our colours and fired a shot across her forefoot as a polite hint to her to heave-to. Her reply to this was to pour in her broadside of seven 8-pounders, the shot from which flew over and between our masts, doing us no damage whatever. Upon perceiving which, and noticing also that we were about to return the compliment by firing our starboard broadside at her, she hurriedly ran up the French ensign and as hurriedly hauled it down again, at the same time backing her mainyard in token of surrender. We thereupon closed with her and took possession, our prize proving to be the fourteen-gun brig _Gironde_, bound from Brest to Toulon. We transferred her crew of seventy to the frigate, and sent her home in charge of Mr Galway, the second lieutenant, and a prize-crew; but before parting company we learned, from certain papers on board her, that on the 19th of the previous month (August) a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between France and Spain, had been signed at Madrid. We were thus at war with Spain, as well as with the Dutch and the French--a piece of news which our lads greeted with cheers of delight when it was communicated to them, for it gave them another enemy to fight--and to conquer.

We were now at practically the southern extremity of our cruising-ground, with the land plainly in view to leeward. Captain Vava.s.sour--who seemed of late to have contracted a marked dislike for anything resembling a lee-sh.o.r.e--therefore decided to work well off the land, until the frigate had gained the track of homeward-bound ships; and there to lie in wait for anything that Dame Fortune might be disposed to send us; in pursuance of which resolution we made sail, upon a taut bowline, as soon as the _Gironde_ had parted company, cracking on, and working out an offing of about a hundred miles by daylight the next morning.

The day dawned fresh and clear, with an almost cloudless sky, a moderate breeze from about West by South, and very little sea overrunning the long, regular Biscay swell; it was, in short, perfect Atlantic weather, and about as complete a contrast as could well be imagined to the conditions which had prevailed during our late experience in Audierne Bay.

The weather being of so fine and settled a character, we had been carrying our royals all through the night; but shortly after the Captain made his appearance on deck, at eight bells in the morning watch, the breeze freshened up perceptibly; whereupon, a good offing having been secured, the word was given to clew up and furl all three royals; and a minute or two later the hands were aloft and out on the yards, rolling up the canvas. It was while they were thus engaged--the ship being at the time on the starboard tack, and consequently heading to the southward--that a hail came down simultaneously from the fore and main royal-yards to the effect that a couple of sail were in sight, broad on the lee-bow. To an inquiry on the part of the first lieutenant as to what they looked like, the answer was returned that it was impossible to say just then, as the strangers were so far away that, even from the lofty elevation of the observers, the heads of their royals were only just clear of the horizon.

Mr Howard cast an inquiring eye about him, and his gaze fell upon me.

"Mr Delamere," he said, "you have a good gla.s.s. Just jump below and get it, if you please, and then shin up as far as the main royal-yard and see what you can make out concerning those strangers."

I did as directed, the hands who had been aloft meeting me in the maintop on their way down.

"What do the strange craft look like, Simmons?" I asked of the smartest of the party.

"Well, sir," he replied, "as we told Mr Howard, a few minutes ago, we can't make much out of 'em as yet; they'm too far off for that. But I've got pretty good eyes, Mr Delamere, and I think when you brings that gla.s.s o' yours to bear on 'em that you'll find one on 'em's got her r'yals stowed, while t'other has hers set. Likewise I've a sort of a notion that if you stays aloft for a matter o' ten minutes or so you'll find that there's three on 'em, instead o' two; at all events just as I was layin' 'im off the yard I thought I catched a glimpse of somethin'

showin' now and again that looked like the canvas of another craft just liftin' over the 'orizon."

"Thanks, Simmons," said I, "I'll keep a lookout for number three. If she really exists, she ought to declare herself unmistakably within the next few minutes. By the bye, I suppose they are heading this way?"

"To the best o' my knowledge and belief they be, sir," the man answered.

"We wasn't on the yard long enough to make exactly sure, but it seemed to me that, even durin' the minute or two that elapsed after we first catched sight of 'em, they lifted a bit."

"Thanks," I said again. "We shall soon see." And I sprang into the topmast rigging and proceeded on my way aloft, while Simmons swung himself down over the rim of the top.

I soon reached my destination and seated myself comfortably on the royal-yard, with my back resting against the mast under my lee. From this elevation the strangers were distinctly visible to the naked eye, for the atmosphere was as clear as crystal; and, even before I had established myself to my liking, my unaided sight had a.s.sured me that Simmons' supposition was correct, and that there were three sail, instead of two, to the southward; for the object that the topman had only believed he saw elusively appearing and vanishing on the verge of the distant horizon now stood out clear and sharp as a tiny patch of canvas, showing milk-white in the morning sun, well clear of the other two. I soon brought my telescope--an exceptionally powerful instrument--to bear upon the three patches of canvas that gleamed like tiny shreds of fleecy, summer cloud upon the sharply-ruled edge of the dark-blue sea, and at once discovered that Simmons had been so far right that one of the craft had indeed her royals stowed, and not only that but her topgallantsails also, while the other two appeared to be showing every cloth they could possibly spread, including--as I soon made out-- topgallant studdingsails.

Presently, when I had been working away with my telescope for a minute or two, a hail came floating up to me from the deck below of--

"Royal-yard, there! what have you been able to make out respecting the two strange sail to leeward?"

Looking down past my left shoulder, I saw the skipper and the first lieutenant both gazing upward at me. It was the latter who had hailed.

"There are three of them, instead of two, sir," I answered. "And while two of them are carrying royals and topgallant-studding sails, the third has her royals and topgallantsails stowed; from which I infer that two of them are merchantmen, while the third is a man-o'-war--probably a frigate."

A short confab between the Captain and Mr Howard ensued upon the communication of this bit of information; then the skipper hailed:

"How do they bear, now, Mr Delamere? Do they seem to be drawing out athwart our hawse at all?"

"They bear about two and a half points on our lee-bow, at this moment, sir," I replied. "And I think that, if we hold all on as we are going now, we shall weather the leading ship--the one that I take to be a frigate--by about half a mile. They are rising fast, sir--the heads of the leader's topsails are just beginning to show; and if the breeze continues as fresh as it is now we ought to be abreast of them in about,"--I made a rapid calculation--"an hour and a half from this."

Another brief interchange of remarks between the Captain and the first luff followed this communication, then the latter hailed again--

"Thank you, Mr Delamere. That will do for the present. You had better come down and get your breakfast."

My estimate as to the time at which we should close with the strangers was not far out; for when, having s.n.a.t.c.hed a hasty breakfast, I again went on deck, the heads of the leading stranger's topsails were visible above the horizon, she having made sail about a quarter-of-an-hour earlier and hauled to the wind a trifle, as though to intercept us; and as I emerged from the hatchway the drummers began to beat to quarters, Mr Percival, the third lieutenant, having gone into the fore-topmast crosstrees to reconnoitre, and from that lofty outlook having not only confirmed my conjecture as to the leading ship being undoubtedly a frigate, but also expressed his conviction that she was a foreigner.

By the time that we were all ready to engage, if need were, the strange frigate was hull-up; and as she had hauled her wind still farther, and threatened to weather us if we did not mind what we were about, we tacked ship, when it soon became apparent that the _Europa_ was much the faster vessel of the two; we, therefore, stood on until we were sure of our ability to pa.s.s across the other vessel's bows upon the next tack, when we went about again, and at the same time hoisted our colours. To this challenge the stranger promptly replied by hoisting Dutch colours, thus declaring herself to be an enemy, which declaration our lads greeted with three mighty cheers.

Both ships were now close-hauled, on opposite tacks, the Dutchman heading to the northward upon the port tack, while the _Europa_, on the starboard tack, was heading up high enough to render it certain that we should be able to cross his bows at about the distance of a cable's length. It was Captain Vava.s.sour's intention to do this, if he could, pouring in a raking broadside at the proper moment; but the Dutchman soon let us know that he was not to be caught so easily, for when he arrived at about four points on our lee-bow he suddenly went in stays, giving us his starboard broadside as he did so, and the next moment a storm of 32-pound shot came hurtling about our ears, crashing through our bulwarks, killing two men and wounding five poor fellows, besides cutting up our rigging a good deal. We immediately luffed and returned the compliment, giving him the whole of our port broadside, main-deck and upper-deck guns; and when the smoke blew away we had the satisfaction of seeing that we had shot away his jib-booms, thus depriving him of a considerable amount of head-sail at a most critical moment. Moreover, the loss of his jibs caused him to miss stays and hang in the wind so long that, taking advantage of the opportunity, Captain Vava.s.sour bore up, and, pa.s.sing close athwart his stern, raked him most effectively with our starboard broadside, receiving only four shot from the Dutchman's stern-chasers in return.

Meanwhile, the Dutch crew went to work with most praiseworthy courage and activity to clear away the wreck, and so to reduce the amount of their after-sail as to get their ship once more under command; but before they could succeed in doing this we had kept away far enough to give ourselves room to tack, had gone about again, and once more crossed our antagonist's stern, raking him a second time most destructively, at close quarters, with our port broadside, double-shotted. This discharge must have played havoc with his crew, for when at length he had paid off sufficiently to bring his starboard broadside to bear, he was only able to fire a little more than half his guns, while they were so indifferently aimed that only three or four of the shot struck us.

We now had a very great advantage over our antagonist, from the fact that all our spars were intact, while he was greatly hampered by the loss of so much head-sail; but the advantage did not remain with us very long, for at the next exchange of broadsides down came our fore-topmast, at the same instant that the Dutchman's mizenmast went over the side.

This put us both upon nearly equal terms, the advantage being rather on the side of our antagonist, if anything; and now we went at it, hammer and tongs, making a running fight of it, broadside to broadside, as fast as the men could load and fire. Now, too, it began to dawn upon us that we had caught a Tartar, for the Dutchman mounted forty guns--32-pound and 28-pound carronades--against our 24-pounders and 8-pounders, while the close range at which we were fighting--about a pistol-shot distance--enabled her heavier metal to punish us severely. But our lads cared very little about this, it appeared, one of them remarking to another in my hearing that an 8-pounder could kill quite as effectively as a 32 at short range, and for his part he would as soon be killed by one as the other. This appeared to be the spirit animating all hands, for they toiled away at their guns, loading and firing with the utmost rapidity, and cheering at every broadside, whether of their own or the enemy. But the work was too hot to last very long. When we had been engaged about half-an-hour we noticed that our antagonist's fire was perceptibly slackening, and when at length we contrived again to pa.s.s across her stern, and deliver another raking double-shotted broadside, she hauled down her colours and hailed that she surrendered. The word was at once pa.s.sed to cease firing, and the battle ended, for which I, at any rate, was not at all sorry; for there had been moments when it appeared to me as though we were both bent upon emulating the famous Kilkenny cats, who fought until nothing but their tails remained!

Now came the task of taking possession of the prize. Investigation revealed the fact that, out of all our boats, only two were in a fit state for immediate service, namely, the second cutter and the Captain's gig, the others having been all more or less damaged by the enemy's shot; the skipper therefore ordered the former to be lowered, directing Mr Percival, the third lieutenant, to go away in her, taking with him as many men as she would carry.

"Mr Delamere," continued Captain Vava.s.sour, "you had better accompany Mr Percival, bringing back the boat with a couple of hands as soon as you have obtained all the essential information. Be as quick as you can, if you please, because I want to be off after those other two craft."

"Ay, ay, sir," answered I, as I turned away to go below and fetch my dirk; and a couple of minutes later we were clear of the _Europa_ and pulling away toward the Dutchman, the skipper's injunction to me to hurry being emphasised by the fact that as I pa.s.sed through the gangway I caught sight of the carpenter and his mates busily engaged upon the task of routing out a new topmast from among the a.s.sortment of spare spars that we carried. Meanwhile the other two craft of which the skipper had spoken, and which had all the appearance of being Dutch Indiamen under the convoy of the frigate, had hauled their wind as soon as the action began, and were now some four miles dead to windward, heading about North-West, and cracking on with the evident intention of getting out of sight, if possible, before we could repair damages sufficiently to proceed in pursuit.

Five minutes sufficed us to span the narrow stretch of water that separated us from our late antagonist; and upon climbing the side we were received at the gangway by an officer of some twenty-five years of age, whose head was swathed in a blood-stained bandage, and who handed his sword to Percival with a dignified bow. This officer, who spoke English quite well, informed us that the ship which we had captured was the Dutch frigate _Gelderland_, of forty guns, homeward-bound from the East Indies with the two ships in sight under convoy. He further informed us that his name was Van Halst, and that at the beginning of the action he had been third lieutenant, whereas, in consequence of the heavy loss inflicted by our raking broadsides, he was now the ship's commanding officer.

Indeed, it appeared that our fire had been fearfully destructive, for in addition to the damage that had been apparent from the _Europa's_ decks, we now beheld dismounted guns, shattered, blood-splashed bulwarks, cut rigging hanging everywhere in bights, and shot-scored decks c.u.mbered with dead and dying men--a veritable shambles. Mynheer Van Halst could not tell us the precise extent of the ship's losses in killed and wounded, for there had been no time thus far to ascertain it. The sound members of the crew were still busily engaged in the terrible task of separating the wounded from the slain, and conveying the former below to be attended to by the surgeon; but he told us that she had begun the action with a complement of three hundred and ten officers and men, and that he believed, from what he had seen, quite half of them must have been put _hors de combat_.

Now that the fight was over and his ship taken, poor Van Halst began to show signs of the stress and strain of the engagement; he gradually turned ghastly pale; his lips quivered from time to time to such an extent that, for the few seconds during which the paroxysm lasted, he was scarcely able to articulate. He staggered as he stood talking to us, and at length Percival, who could ill afford to waste time in conversation, gently led him into the handsome cabin under the p.o.o.p, deposited him on a sofa, found a decanter of brandy and gave him a good stiff dose to revive him, and left him there, with a kindly injunction that he was not to attempt to move until he, Percival, returned.

Having thus disposed, for the time being, of our princ.i.p.al prisoner without, as we hoped, hurting his feelings, the third lieutenant and I took rapid stock of the condition of our prize, Percival mentioning such items of information as he wished to have reported to the skipper, while I jotted them down in my pocket-book, together with such other notes as I believed might be found of interest. Thus, we examined the boats and found three of them absolutely intact, while a fourth could be rendered serviceable in about half-an-hour by the carpenter--our shot having taken effect for the most part on the main-deck. Then we quickly surveyed her stock of spare spars, and came to the conclusion that all her damages in that direction might be made good, except so far as her mizenmast was concerned; she would consequently have to go home brig-rigged, or at best as a barque.

Meanwhile, from the moment when our people first set foot upon her deck they had fallen to upon the work of clearing away the wreckage, saving all that was worth saving, and knotting and splicing rigging, leaving the Dutch crew to look after their wounded comrades and convey them below to the surgeon. At length, after I had been aboard about half-an-hour, I was ready to return to our own ship; I therefore ordered two hands down into the boat alongside, and shoved off for the _Europa_, noting, with great satisfaction as I did so, that the breeze was fast dropping, and that the two Indiamen were still hull-up, not having made very much progress to windward during the time that I had been aboard the prize.

Upon regaining the _Europa's_ deck I found it a scene of feverish yet perfectly ordered activity. Everybody was busily engaged in one way or another upon the task of making good the damage to our spars and rigging by the enemy's shot; a strong gang upon the forecastle had already cleared away the wreck of the fore-topmast, having removed from it, practically uninjured, everything that had been attached to it in the shape of other spars, rigging, and so on--such, for example, as the topgallant-masts and royal-masts, with their sails, yards, and rigging, the topsail-yard and topsail, the cap, crosstrees, and topmast rigging; and the carpenter and his mates had already got the new spar fitted and ready for pointing; while practically all our cut gear had been either knotted or spliced. As for our casualties, I was delighted to learn that they were very light, taking into consideration the determination with which our adversary had fought, our loss in killed and wounded amounting to eight of the former and twenty-two of the latter, of which only seven cases were regarded by the surgeon as really serious.

Captain Vava.s.sour was up on the p.o.o.p, talking to the master, when I pa.s.sed in through the gangway. I, therefore, at once made my way to him and, having reported myself in due form as "Come on board, sir,"

proceeded forthwith to make my report, referring from time to time to my pocket-book in order to a.s.sure myself that I was omitting nothing.

"Thank you, Mr Delamere," the skipper said when I had finished; "you seem to have brought me a very full and complete report--complete enough, at all events, to give me a pretty clear idea of the state of affairs aboard the prize. From what you tell me, I judge that Mr Percival will have his hands full for some hours to come; is not that so?"

I answered that that was precisely how the matter appeared to me.