By Conduct and Courage Part 31

"The _Romulus_."

"Can you lend me a compa.s.s?"

"Yes, sir, I will fetch one in a moment."

"Thank you!" Nelson said when the officer returned with the instrument. "I have lost my bearings in the fog, and I want to get to my tent on sh.o.r.e. I know its exact bearings, however, from this ship."

Twenty minutes' row brought them to the landing-place. Nelson's first thought was for the crew, and, going to the storehouse close at hand, he knocked some of the people up, and saw that they were supplied with plenty of food and drink. Then he went into his tent. Here the table was spread, with various kinds of food standing on it. His servant being called up, a kettle was boiled, and he and Will sat down to a hearty meal.

"Do you know what has been said about us in our absence, Chamfrey?" Nelson asked his servant.

"No, sir; everything has been upset by this fog. They sent down from the batteries to enquire where you and Mr. Gilmore were, and we could only say that we supposed you were on board the ship. They sent from the ships to ask, and we could only say that we didn't know, but supposed that you were somewhere up in the batteries. Some thought, when you did not return this afternoon, that you had lost your way in the fog; but no one seemed to think that anything serious could have happened to you."

Nelson got up and went to where the boat's crew were sitting after having finished their meal.

"c.o.xswain, here are two guineas for yourself and a guinea for each of the men. Now I want every man of you to keep his mouth tightly shut about what has happened. I promise you that if any man blabs he will be turned out of my gig. You understand?"

"Yes, sir," they replied together. "You can trust us to keep our mouths shut. We will never say a word about it."

"That is a good thing," Nelson remarked when he returned to Will. "If what has happened came to be known, I should get abused by Lord Hood for having gone so far away and run so great a risk. Of course, as you and I are aware, there would have been no risk at all if that fog had not set in and we had not forgotten to bring a compa.s.s. But, you know, a naval man is supposed to foresee everything, and I should have been blamed just as much as if I had rowed into the fog on purpose. I should have had all the captains in the fleet remonstrating with me, and they would be saying: 'I knew, Nelson, the way you are always running about, that you would get into some sc.r.a.pe or other one of these days.' A report, indeed, might be sent to England, enormously magnified, of course, with the headings: 'Captain Nelson lost in a fog!' 'Captain Nelson roasted alive by Corsican brigands!' I would not have the news get about for five hundred guineas. I don't suppose my absence was noticed the first day. It was known, of course, that I went off in my gig; but as I sometimes sleep here and sometimes on board my ship, the fact that I was not in either place would not cause surprise. As for to-day, if any questions are asked, I'll simply say that I lost my way in the fog and did not return here until late at night, a tale which will have the advantage of being true."

"You may be sure, sir, that no word shall pa.s.s my lips on the matter."

"I am quite sure of that, Mr. Gilmore. I shall never forget this danger we have shared together, nor how well you bore the terrible trial. I shall always regard you as one of my closest comrades and friends, and when the time comes will do my best to further your interests. I have not much power at present, as one of Lord Hood's captains, but the time may come when I shall be able to do something for you, and I can a.s.sure you that when that opportunity arrives I shall need no reminder of my promise."

By the 11th of April, 1794, the three batteries were completed, and they at once opened fire on the town. The garrison vigorously replied with hot shot, which set fire to a ship that had been converted into a battery.

Still D'Aubant remained inactive. The sailors, fired with indignation, worked even harder than before. Nelson now felt confident of success. He predicted that the place would fall between the 11th and 17th of May, and his prediction was fulfilled almost to the letter, for at four o'clock on the afternoon of the 11th a boat came out from the town to the _Victory_ offering to surrender. That afternoon, General D'Aubant, having received some reinforcements from Gibraltar, arrived from San Fiorenzo only to find that the work he had p.r.o.nounced impracticable had been done without his a.s.sistance.

Will had spent the whole of his time during the siege on sh.o.r.e. He had laboured incessantly in getting the guns up to their positions, and had been placed in command of one of the batteries. Nelson specially recommended him for his services, and Lord Hood mentioned him in his despatches to the Admiralty at home.

No sooner had Bastia fallen than the admiral determined to besiege Calvi, the one French stronghold left in the island. The news came, however, that a part of the French fleet had broken out of Toulon, and Lord Hood at once started in pursuit, leaving Nelson to conduct the operations.

Taking the troops, which were now commanded by General Stuart, a man of very different stamp from D'Aubant, Nelson landed them on the 19th June without opposition at a narrow inlet three miles and a half from the town.

A body of seamen were also landed under Will. These instantly began, as at Bastia, to get the guns up the hills to form a battery.

The enemy were strongly protected with four outlying forts. There were also in the harbour two French frigates, the _Melpomene_ and the _Mignonne_. The proceedings resembled those at Bastia. The work accomplished was tremendous, and batteries sprang up as if by magic.

At the end of June Lord Hood returned from watching the French, and the work proceeded even more vigorously than before. As at Bastia, Nelson animated his men by his energy and example. He himself was wounded by some stones which were driven up by a shot striking the ground close to him, and lost the sight of his right eye for ever. But although his suffering was very severe he would not interrupt his labours for a single day.

Presently the batteries opened fire, and one by one the outlying forts were stormed, and the town itself attacked. At last, on the 1st of August, the enemy proposed a capitulation. This was granted to them on the terms that if the Toulon fleet did not arrive in seven days they would lay down their arms, and surrender the two frigates. The Toulon fleet was, however, in no position to risk a battle with Lord Hood's powerful squadron, and accordingly on the 10th the garrison surrendered and marched out of the great gate of the town with the honours of war. Nelson was exultant at the thought that the capture of this town, as well as Bastia, was the achievement of his sailors, that the batteries had been constructed by them, the guns dragged up by them, and with the exception only of a single artillery-man all the guns also fought by them.

Will gained very great credit by his work. He had a natural gift for handling heavy weights, and he had thoroughly learnt the lesson that the power and endurance of English sailors could surmount obstacles that appeared insuperable.

CHAPTER XIV

THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE

It was while besieging Calvi that the news came of the great sea-battle fought in the Channel by Lord Howe, and very much interested were the sailors on sh.o.r.e in Corsica at hearing the details of the victory. A vast fleet had a.s.sembled at Spithead under the command of the veteran Lord Howe. It had two objects in view besides the primary one of engaging the enemy. First, the convoying of the East and West India and Newfoundland merchant fleets clear of the Channel; and next, of intercepting a French convoy returning from America laden with the produce of the West India Islands. It consisted of thirty-four line-of-battle ships and fifteen frigates, while the convoy numbered ninety-nine merchantmen.

On 2nd May, 1794, the fleet sailed from Spithead, and on the 5th they arrived off the Lizard. Here Lord Howe ordered the convoys to part company with the fleet, and detached Rear-admiral Montagu with six seventy-fours and two frigates with orders to see the merchantmen to the lat.i.tude of Cape Finisterre, where their protection was to be confided to Captain Rainier with two battle-ships and four frigates.

Lord Howe now proceeded to Ushant, where he discovered, by means of his frigates, that the enemy's fleet were quietly anch.o.r.ed in the harbour of Brest.

He therefore proceeded in search of the American convoy. After cruising in various directions for nearly a fortnight he returned to Ushant on the 18th May, only to find that Brest harbour was empty. News was obtained from an American vessel that the French fleet had sailed from that harbour a few days before. It afterwards turned out that the two fleets had pa.s.sed quite close to each other unseen, owing to a dense fog that prevailed at the time. They were exactly the same strength in numbers, but the French carried much heavier guns, and their crews exceeded ours by three thousand men.

For more than a week the two fleets cruised about in the Bay of Biscay, each taking many prizes, but without meeting. At last, early on the morning of the 28th of May, they came in sight of each other. The French were to windward, and, having a strong south west wind with them, they came down rapidly towards us, as if anxious to fight. Presently they shortened sail and formed line of battle. Howe signalled to prepare for battle, and having come on to the same tack as the French, stood towards them, having them on his weather quarter. Soon, however, the French tacked and seemed to retreat. A general chase was ordered, and the English ships went off in pursuit under full sail. Between two and three o'clock the _Russell_, which was the fastest of the seventy-fours, began to exchange shots with the French, and towards evening another seventy-four, the _Bellerophon_, began a close action with the _Revolutionnaire_, one hundred and ten guns. The _Bellerophon_ soon lost her main top-mast, and dropped back; but the fight with the great ship was taken up, first by the _Leviathan_ and afterwards by the _Audacious_, both seventy-fours, which, supported by two others, fought her for three hours. By that time the _Revolutionnaire_ had a mast carried away and great damage done to her yards, and had lost four hundred men. When darkness fell she was a complete wreck, and it was confidently expected that in the morning she would fall into our hands. At break of day, however, the French admiral sent down a ship which took her in tow, for her other mast had fallen during the night, and succeeded in taking her in safety to Rochefort. The _Audacious_ had suffered so severely in the unequal fight that she was obliged to return to Plymouth to repair damages.

During the night the hostile fleets steered under press of canvas on a parallel course, and when daylight broke were still as near together as on the previous day, but the firing was of a desultory character, Lord Howe's efforts to bring on a general engagement being thwarted by some of the ships misunderstanding his signals. The next day was one of intense fog, but on the 31st the weather cleared, and the fleets towards evening were less than five miles apart. A general action might have been brought on, but Lord Howe preferred to wait till daylight, when signals could more easily be made out. Our admiral was surprised that none of the French ships showed any damage from the action of the 29th. It was afterwards found that they had since been joined by four fresh ships, and that the vessels that had suffered most had been sent into Brest.

During the 31st various manuvres had been performed, which ended by giving us the weather-gage; and the next morning, the 1st of June, Lord Howe signalled that he intended to attack the enemy, and that each ship was to steer for the one opposed to her in the line. The ships were arranged so that each vessel should be opposite one of equal size. The _Defence_ led the attack, and came under a heavy fire. The admiral's ship, the _Queen Charlotte_, pressed forward, replying with her quarter-deck guns only to the fire of some of the French ships which a.s.sailed her as she advanced, keeping the fire of her main-deck guns for the French admiral, whom he intended to attack. So close and compact, however, were the French lines that it was no easy matter to pa.s.s through. As the _Queen Charlotte_ came under the stern of the _Montagne_ she poured in a tremendous fire from her starboard guns at such close quarters that the rigging of the two vessels were touching. The _Jacobin_, the next ship to the _Montagne_, shifted her position and took up that which the _Queen Charlotte_ had intended to occupy. Lord Howe then engaged the two vessels, and his fire was so quick that ere long both had to fall out of the fight.

A furious combat followed between the _Queen Charlotte_ and the _Juste_, in which the latter was totally dismasted. The former lost her main-topmast, and as she had previously lost her fore-topmast she became totally unmanageable.

Thus almost single-handed, save for the distant fire of the _Invincible_, Lord Howe fought these three powerful ships. At this time a fourth adversary appeared in the _Republicain_, one hundred and ten guns, carrying the flag of Rear-admiral Bouvet. Just as they were going to engage, however, the _Gibraltar_ poured in a broadside, bringing down the main and mizzen-masts of the Frenchman, who bore up and pa.s.sed under the stern of the _Queen Charlotte_, but so great was the confusion on board her that she neglected to rake the flagship.

The _Montagne_, followed by the _Jacobin_, now crowded on all sail; and Lord Howe, thinking they intended to escape, gave the order for a general chase, but they were joined by nine other ships, and wore round and sailed towards the _Queen_. This craft was almost defenceless, owing to the loss of her mainmast and mizzen-topmast.

Seeing her danger, Lord Howe signalled to his ships to close round her, and he himself wore round and stood to her a.s.sistance.

He was followed by five other battle-ships, and Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse gave up the attempt and sailed to help his own crippled ships, and, taking five of them in tow, made off.

Six French battle-ships were captured, and the _Vengeur_, which had been engaged in a desperate fight with the _Brunswick_, went down ten minutes after she surrendered.

The British loss in the battle of the 1st of June, and in the preliminary skirmishes of the 28th and 29th of May, was eleven hundred and forty-eight, of whom two hundred and ninety were killed and eight hundred and fifty-eight wounded.

The French placed their loss in killed and mortally wounded at three thousand, so that their total loss could not have been much under seven thousand.

Decisive as the victory was, it was the general opinion in the fleet that more ought to have been done; that the five disabled ships should have been taken, and a hot chase inst.i.tuted after the flying enemy. Indeed, the only explanation of this inactivity was that the admiral, who was now an old man, was so enfeebled and exhausted by the strain through which he had gone as to be incapable of coming to any decision or of giving any order.

One of the most desperate combats in this battle was that which took place between the _Brunswick_, seventy-four guns, under Captain John Harvey, and the _Vengeur_, also a seventy-four. The _Brunswick_ had not been engaged in the battles of the 28th and 29th of May, but she played a brilliant part on the 1st of June. She was exposed to a heavy fire as the fleet bore down to attack, and she suffered some losses before she had fired a shot.

She steered for the interval between the _Achille_ and _Vengeur_. The former vessel at once took up a position closing the gap, and Captain Harvey then ran foul of the _Vengeur_, her anchors hooking in the port fore channels of the Frenchman.

The two ships now swung close alongside of each other, and, paying off before the wind, they ran out of the line, pouring their broadsides into each other furiously.

The upper-deck guns of the _Vengeur_ got the better of those of the _Brunswick_, killing several officers and men, and wounding Captain Harvey so severely as to compel him to go below.

At this moment the _Achille_ bore down on the _Brunswick's_ quarter, but was received by a tremendous broadside, which brought down her remaining mast, a foremast. The wreck prevented the _Achille_ from firing, and she surrendered; but as the _Brunswick_ was too busy to attend to her, she hoisted a sprit-sail-a sail put up under the bowsprit-and endeavoured to make off.

Meantime the _Brunswick_ and _Vengeur_, fast locked, continued their desperate duel. The upper-deck guns of the former were almost silenced, but on the lower decks the advantage was the other way. Alternately depressing and elevating their guns to their utmost extent, the British sailors either fired through their enemy's bottom or ripped up her decks.

Captain Harvey, who had returned to the deck, was again knocked down by a splinter, but continued to direct operations till he was struck in the right arm and so severely injured as to force him to give up the command, which now devolved on Lieutenant Cracroft, who, however, continued to fight the ship as his captain had done.

After being for some three hours entangled, the two ships separated, the _Vengeur_ tearing away the _Brunswick's_ anchor. As they drifted apart, some well-aimed shots from the _Brunswick_ smashed her enemy's rudder-post and knocked a large hole in the counter. At this moment the _Ramillies_, sailing up, opened fire at forty yards' distance at this particular hole.

In a few minutes she reduced the _Vengeur_ to a sinking condition, and then proceeded to chase the _Achille_. The _Vengeur_ now surrendered. The _Brunswick_, however, could render no a.s.sistance, all her boats being damaged, but, hoisting what sail she could, headed northward with the intention of making for port. During the fight the _Brunswick_ lost her mizzen, and had her other masts badly damaged, her rigging and sails cut to pieces, and twenty-three guns dismounted. She lost three officers and forty-one men killed; her captain, second lieutenant, one midshipman, and one hundred and ten men wounded. Captain Harvey only survived his wounds a few months.