Foster's Letter Of Marque Part 3

A cheer broke from the whaler's crew.

"Very well, Captain Portveldt," called out Foster; "lower a boat, and come on board with half your crew. But don't try on any boarding tricks, or you will be the worse for it."

The meeting between the two skippers, notwithstanding the cause, was good-humoured enough, for Portveldt, apart from his boastfulness, was not a bad fellow.

"Veil, Captain Voster," he said as he stepped on board the _Policy's_ deck, followed by his big boatswain (who was wounded in the face by a splinter) and half his crew, "you haf broved der besd mans; und now I suppose you vill lead me like a liddle dog mit a sdring, und dake me to Sydney und make vun mit der young lady about me."

"No, no," answered Foster, "I am not so bad as all that Come below and have a gla.s.s of grog."

At daylight one morning some weeks later two ships appeared in sight off Sydney Heads. Those who were on the look-out were alarmed, for it was seen that both vessels were armed, and it was conjectured that the ships must be part of an enemy's squadron which had determined to make an attack upon the settlement of Port Jackson.

In a very short time an excited crowd gathered together along the line of cliffs of the outer South Head, each one asking his fellow what was to be done. Hors.e.m.e.n carried the news into Sydney, and every moment fresh numbers arrived to swell the crowd of spectators on the cliffs.

A strange sight they must have presented, comprising, as they did, all sorts and conditions of men--settlers, naval and military officers, soldiers of the New South Wales Regiment, and a number of the better cla.s.s of convicts.

Of course the Deputy Acting a.s.sistant Commissary-General was among the officers anxiously watching the ships from the heights that overlooked the harbour, and with him were Dolly and her mother.

Presently Dolly, catching sight of her father's anxious face, began to cry, and turned to her mother. "Ah!" she said "it has all come true, and he has come to destroy the settlement!"

"What has come true, and who is going to destroy the settlement?"

said her father sharply. And then Dolly, feeling very frightened and miserable, told him of Portveldt's letter, the receipt of which she had concealed from every one but Foster. The D.A.A.C.G. laughed at first, but then added, "but all the same, though 'twas but empty bl.u.s.ter, I had better tell his Excellency about it; it is just possible that the Dutch have planned an expedition against us."

At half-past ten, in response to a signal made from the look-out at South Head by the officer in charge there, his Excellency Governor King sent Lieutenant Houston, of his Majesty's ship _Investigator,_ then anch.o.r.ed in Sydney Cove, to the naval officer in command at South Head.

The _Investigator_ was Flinders' ship, the gallant old tub of 334 tons which surveyed a great part of the northern coast, and was at the time of which we write lying rotting in Sydney, condemned after completing her second voyage of discovery in June, 1803.

Then the Governor was told of Dolly's letter, but he was not the man to take fright at the approach of the enemy, although he had no defence force as it is now understood in New South Wales, nor had he a gold-laced staff of officers with elaborate "defence schemes" against possible raids of j.a.panese or Russians by way of Exmouth Gulf or Port Darwin.

In that year Governer King's force did not take long to be marshalled.

The drums beat to arms, and the New South Wales Corps and the Loyal a.s.sociation immediately formed into line on the sh.o.r.es of the Cove.

At eleven o'clock a trooper arrived at Government House with intelligence that one of the vessels appeared under British colours, and the other was flying a Union Jack triumphant over a Dutch Jack.

Following this message there soon came another, bringing the certain intelligence that one of the ships was an English whaler bringing into port her Batavian prize. So on receipt of this news, and just as the word to march was about to be given, the officer in command ordered his force to return to barracks.

At two in the afternoon, with the whole of the settlement agog with excitement, the two vessels sailed slowly up the harbour before a light northeast breeze, and came to anchor in Sydney Cove, close to the _Investigator,_ on board of which ship the Governor and a number of naval officers awaited their arrival. For once discipline was relaxed, and Captain King had good-naturedly permitted the townspeople to throng on board to learn all the news about the _Policy's_ prize. As Captain Foster made his way to the quarter-deck, he saw that behind the Governor and his staff were Dolly and her parents and several ladies.

In a very few minutes he made his report, and the Governor again shook his hand warmly; but the look in Dolly's eyes and the pressure of her hand were the young seaman's sweetest reward, for it told him that she had surrendered.

Then, returning to his own ship, he was warmly greeted by Sergeant Burt, and for a few moments the two remained talking in the whaler's cabin.

Then, just as Foster was ready to go ash.o.r.e, Mr. Scarsbrook, who had been inspecting the captured privateer, came on board, bringing Dolly with him.

Whilst they were all chatting merrily together Captain Portveldt made his appearance, and with the most perfect _sang-froid_ saluted Dolly and her father.

"Veil, Mees Dorotee, you see I have gome back, at der bressing invidadion of mein goot friendt, Captain Voster here, und I do vish him mit you blendy of habbiness."

And Dolly, who at first meant to meet him with a sarcastic little speech, felt her eyes fill with tears at the manly way in which he bore his misfortune, and could only falter out some few words of consolation.

Then there was a Prize Court, and--

"Mr. Charles Sparrow Foster, commander of the whaler and letter of marque called the _Policy_, presented to the Court a memorial stating his capture of the _Swift_ on the 12th day of September, off the island of Flores, she being under Dutch colours... and the property of subjects of a Power at war with his Britannic Majesty, and praying also that the Court would be pleased to grant an award of condemnation in his favour in order that the said prize should be for the advantage of himself, his owners, and his ship's company."

and the Court having heard confirmatory evidence from Richard Portveldt, a subject of the Batavian Republic, to the effect--

"That he commanded the _Swift_; that everything on board of her was Dutch property, and she belonged to Messrs. Winy and Talman, of Batavia, and himself, all of whom were residents of Batavia, who purchased her for the sum of 18,000 dols.: that she was taken up by the Dutch East India Company at Batavia; and was on her way thither when she was captured by the _Policy_, &c."--

accordingly condemned the prize, which was advertised in the _Sydney Gazette_ for sale by auction, Mr. Lord, the auctioneer, setting forth that he would sell--

"At his warehouse, Sydney, at noon precisely, the 3rd of November, the good ship _Swift_, prize to _Policy_, Charles Foster, commander. French built in the year 1800. Was condemned a prize to his Majesty's ship _La Minerva_, and sold in 1801 to the Americans, as appears by the bill of sale, and by them sold to the Dutch at Batavia, where she was examined, copper-bolted, and new coppered in August, 1802. It is unnecessary to say anything respecting the properties of the _Swift_ further than that she was the companion of _La Brave_ and _La Mouche_, which so very much hara.s.sed the British in Europe, and set all our cruisers at defiance until her capture, prior to which she was justly celebrated as the fastest sailing-vessel the French Republic had."

The prize was knocked down for 3,000, and Captain Foster's share was spent in a handsome wedding present for Dolly, which, at her particular request, took the form of a pa.s.sage to Batavia and a hundred guineas delivered to Captain Portveldt immediately after the marriage ceremony.