Privateers and Privateering Part 6

Making every allowance for Betagh's animosity, it is impossible to believe that Shelvocke was a favourable specimen of a privateer commander; his own admissions are in several instances against him, and there can be little doubt that he and his crew degenerated into unscrupulous pirates. Clipperton, though very rough and eventually a drunkard, was a better type of man; and, had Shelvocke been loyal, and stuck to him from the first, the story of the cruise might have been a very different one.

SOME ODD YARNS

CHAPTER VII

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS OF THE "ALEXANDER"

In the year 1744 a British 20-gun ship, the _Solebay_, was captured, together with two others, by a French squadron under Admiral de Rochambeau.

Less than two years later the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty called before them a certain Captain Phillips, master mariner, commanding the _Alexander_ privateer; and the following is the "minute"

of the interview, officially recorded:

"29 April, 1746. Captain Phillips, of the _Alexander_ privateer, attending, was called in, and told the Lords that he chased the _Solebay_ and a small ship, laden with naval stores, that she had under her convoy, into St. Martin's Road[8] on the 10th instant; that he came up with the _Solebay_ just at the entrance of the Road, where he believed there were 100 sail of ships at anchor, and boarded her athwart the bowsprit, sword in hand, and cut her out about three o'clock p.m.

Said the wind was at S.S.W., which was fair for his running in and coming out. The Lords asked him how many men she had on board. He answered she had 230, and he had but 140; that they kept a very bad look-out, but as soon as he boarded her they were forced to fly from their quarters; that they killed 15 of her men, and he had lost but three; that she is still called the _Solebay_, and that the French have made no other alteration in her than lengthening her quarter-deck. The Lords asked him what he thought the two Martinico ships he had taken were worth; he answered about 8,000 or 9,000. He told the Lords that at the Isle of Rhe there were two ships of 64 guns each, and four East India ships outward bound; said he was to be heard of at Lloyd's Coffee House, and then withdrew."

Thus an English man-of-war was restored to the Royal Navy by the boldness and enterprise of this privateer captain, who was another specimen of a good man lost to the Service. He would willingly have entered the Navy, but, like George Walker, he was deterred by the stringent regulations, which compelled him at first to take a subordinate post as lieutenant. He was presented, however, with five hundred guineas and a gold medal, in recognition of his excellent services; and his name will not be overlooked in the roll of honour by naval historians.

THE CASE OF THE "ANTIGALLICAN"

In the year 1755 there appears to have existed a certain body which had adopted the t.i.tle of "The Society of Antigallicans," having for its object the promotion of British manufactures, the extension of the commerce of England, the discouragement of French _modes_, and of the importation of French commodities.

War being regarded as inevitable, and the king having already issued a proclamation licensing the granting of commissions to privateers, the Antigallicans, always busy "concerting some good for the sake of the public," discussed the propriety of fitting out a vessel of this nature--an undertaking which, if successful, might obviously bring them a rich reward for their public spirit.

The scheme, proposed by one William Smith, Esq., was relished by the whole company, and the motion carried by acclamation. When the applause had subsided there rose Mr. Torrington, who informed the company present that he happened to possess at that moment a ship most admirably adapted for the purpose: being the _Flamborough_, formerly a man-of-war, but then in the Jamaica trade, and known as the _Flying Flamborough_ on account of her great speed; Mr. Torrington, in his naturally enthusiastic eulogy of the ship he wished to sell, declaring that, with a fair wind and crowded canvas, she had frequently run fourteen knots--which was certainly very unusual with the short, bluff-bowed vessels of that period.

It was immediately agreed to purchase her, and she was appropriately renamed the _Antigallican_. She was a formidable vessel, of 440 tons, mounting 28 guns and 16 swivels, with a crew of 208 men, commanded by William Foster--a man apparently of humble birth, for he is said to have been a "c.o.c.kswain" on board H.M.S. _Defiance_, and to have attracted notice by his brave conduct during the action between Anson and De la Jonquiere on May 3rd, 1747.[9]

On July 17th, 1756, the _Antigallican_ was ready for sea, and the owners brought down their wives and daughters and numerous friends, who were handsomely entertained on board; she had on board, we are told, "six months' provision, all of the product of Middles.e.x and Kent, generally supplied from the estates of the proprietors. There was not the least thing in or about her but what was entirely English"--which, of course, was only right and consistent with the principles of the Society.

Sailing on September 17th, she fell in, about a month later, with an armed French vessel, about 300 miles west of Lisbon. This ship fell an easy prey, surrendering after delivering one broadside and receiving a raking fire from the Englishman. She had on board, we are told, four English prisoners, "part of the crew taken on board the _Warwick_ man-of-war." This ship had been captured by a French squadron on March 11th preceding. Why these four men were on board this armed merchantman does not appear, but the French captain, who was a cheerful soul, not readily cast down by adversity, had always treated them well, and, when the _Antigallican_ hove in sight, served out a complete outfit of clothes to them. They remained on deck at work until the first shot was fired, when they were put under hatches, and the captain himself was the first to inform them of their release. Smiling upon them through the open hatchway, he said: "Come out, gentlemen; _it be vel wit you, but ill wit me!_"

This vessel was the _Maria Theresa_, 14 guns and 30 men. She was valued, with her cargo, at 23,000: so the _Antigallican_ made a promising commencement of her cruise. The prize was sent to Portsmouth. Another, valued at 15,000, was taken into Madeira, in company with the privateer.

This was all very pleasant, and the Antigallican Society could congratulate itself upon the success of its scheme for the good of the public--and, incidentally, for the pockets of its members; and one day in December 1756 a Dutch vessel gave news of a very rich prize, the _Duc de Penthievre_, a French Indiaman. "The news was communicated to the crew, who heard it joyfully and behaved with a true Antigallican spirit."

The privateer was off Corunna on the morning of December 26th, and at 6 a.m. a sail was observed standing insh.o.r.e. It being almost calm, the sweeps were got out, and by noon the _Antigallican_ was within gunshot, under Spanish colours. Upon receiving a shot she ran up English colours, and the French ship then delivered a broadside; the English captain, however, reserved his fire until he was close aboard. They fought for nearly three hours; then the Frenchman struck, and the vessel proved to be the one they were in search of, her value being placed at something like 300,000! Here was a fine haul. They made haste to get into port with her, aiming at Lisbon; but they had some characteristically rough winter weather on that coast, and, after bucketing about for over a fortnight, they ran for Cadiz, where they arrived on January 23rd, 1757.

That gale proved very disastrous for the Antigallicans, for the Spaniards, green with envy over such gains, immediately set to work to show that the _Duc de Penthievre_ was captured in Spanish waters, _i.e._ within three miles of the coast.

The French officers, in the first instance, deposed quite ingenuously, before the consular authorities, upon their oath, that their ship was captured two or three leagues--six or eight miles--off the coast; that they did not see any fort, nor hear any guns fired; in fact, they accepted the position that they were fairly made prisoners, and their vessel, with all her rich cargo, was now English property. The depositions of the English and French officers were sent to the Admiralty Court at Gibraltar, and the ship was condemned as "good prize"

without hesitation.

Meanwhile, the Spanish naval authorities had politely given permission for the English privateer to be taken over to the Government yard for refitting, and all her movable gear, of every description, was landed and placed in the warehouse, in order that the ship might be "careened,"

or "hove down," to examine and clean her bottom.

On February 19th came the first attack from the Spaniards. The Governor of Cadiz sent for the English Consul, Mr. Goldsworthy, and told him that he was obliged to send troops on board the prize, having received orders to detain her. In spite of the Consul's vigorous protest, the threat was confirmed with every warlike accompaniment--guns manned in the fort, artillerymen standing by with lighted matches, and so on. Both vessels were seized, but before dark the Governor, having apparently some misgivings as to the legality of the business, ordered the troops to be withdrawn, "after having broken open several chests, and carried away everything they could find of the officers and crew, and the very beef that was dressing for dinner."

On February 26th the Governor informed the Consul that he had orders to deliver the prize to the French Consul. Captain Foster offered to place the ship in the Governor's hands until the case should be decided, which was a very proper and businesslike proposal; but it was refused, and the captain declaring that the English colours flying on the prize should never come down with his consent, matters came to a climax, and, in spite of the unwillingness of the Spanish Admiral, who probably realised the injustice of the proceedings, the Governor insisted that two men-of-war should be sent to enforce his orders; a 60-gun ship and a 36-gun frigate took up their positions quite close to the prize, and upon Foster refusing to lower his colours, they opened fire, killing six men and wounding two. The flag halyards were shot away almost immediately; but, in spite of the colours coming down, they would not desist. The prize made no attempt at resistance, and on the following day--March 3rd--the captain and crew were imprisoned.

On the 5th came an order from Madrid to stop all proceedings against the prize and consult with the English captain alone; to allow the prize to remain in our possession, but not to leave the port until further orders.

The Spanish Governor, however, having evidently some very amenable perjurers up his sleeve, disregarded the injunction, refusing to return the ship to the English Consul; and on the following day there arrived from Gibraltar the formal decision of the Admiralty Court, condemning the _Duc de Penthievre_ as "good prize," on the evidence of the French officers, delivered two days before she was forcibly seized.

However, the French Amba.s.sador at Madrid, inspired and instructed by the Consul at Cadiz, was very urgent in the matter, and the Spaniards succeeded in finding some unscrupulous persons who swore that the action took place within gunshot, while other independent witnesses were very certain that it did not; and the King of Spain, being somewhat uneasy in his mind, intimated to our Amba.s.sador at Madrid that the prize was only to be detained until strict inquiry could be made into the merits of the case.

This appears to have been hailed, by the Antigallican Society, as equivalent to victory; the narrator of the story expresses his great joy over the rest.i.tution of the prize, and gives a copy of a letter from his Society to Pitt, whose good offices with the Spanish Government had been enlisted, thanking him enthusiastically for his successful intervention.

They were counting their chickens before they were hatched; the Spanish half-concession was merely an elaboration of their favourite word, _manana_--and this "to-morrow," upon which the English were to have the ship which they had fairly captured, never dawned! There was an immense amount of correspondence on the subject, but in 1758, two years later, the matter was not settled--or rather, it was settled against the English; and they never got their 300,000, or their ship. It appears almost incredible, but this appears to be the truth about the _Antigallican_ and her rich prize. We have no more reports of any privateering business by the Antigallican Society; so we must conclude that the members had had enough of such ventures.

The following is a translation of the deposition of the first lieutenant of the _Duc de Penthievre_, made before the British Consul at Cadiz:

"M. Francois de Querangal, first lieutenant of the ship _Duc de Penthievre_, belonging to the French East India Company, commanded by M.

Ettoupan de Villeneuve, since dead of his wounds after the engagement, deposes that the said ship sailed from the Island of St. Mary, on the coast of Madagascar, on the 12th of September, 1756, bound for the port of L'Orient, in France; that the said ship was compelled, by contrary winds and other stress, to run for the harbour of Corunna, on the coast of Spain; that on the 26th December last, being about one league from land, the _Antigallican_, displaying Spanish colours and coming within gunshot, they fired a gun across her bows. The vessel immediately hoisted English colours, and we commenced the action.

"The Iron Tower was then about two and a half or three leagues distant.

Asked whether he had seen any flags or batteries on sh.o.r.e, he declares that he had seen neither.

"That the said ship, _Duc de Penthievre_, was armed with 20 guns at the time of the action, and carried a crew of 150 men; that he had no knowledge of the papers contained in the boxes thrown overboard before the colours were hauled down.

"The said gentleman declares before me, having taken his oath according to the French custom, that the above statement is true."

This is signed by the deponent and duly attested by the Consul, the depositions of the other French officers being in precisely similar terms.

It was on these depositions, together with those of Captain Foster and his a.s.sistants, that the Admiralty Court at Gibraltar condemned the ship as "good prize," and with perfect justice; had any ground existed for protest, it should then have been put forward; so the flagrant injustice and iniquity of the Spanish authorities is very apparent. There had been other complaints previously, and the British Amba.s.sador at Madrid had very strongly protested against the favour shown by the Spaniards to French privateers, and had also induced Pitt, the Prime Minister, to support him in a strong letter. But it was all of no avail: there were wheels within wheels, and, rather than make it an occasion of war, the just claims of the Antigallicans were suffered to go by the board.

[Footnote 8: Inside Isle de Rhe, off the coast of France, close to La Roch.e.l.le.]

[Footnote 9: Perhaps Mr. William Foster is responsible for the story here told by the Antigallican narrator, that Anson "had no hand in the matter. That morning he desired a council of war, but Sir Peter Warren told him, 'There are French colours flying! which is a sufficient council of war'; and so bore down upon them, while his lordship lay at a distance." Anson, however, received his peerage for this very action--he was not "his lordship" when he fought it; Warren was knighted at the same time.]

CHAPTER VIII

CAPTAIN DEATH, OF THE "TERRIBLE"

One of the bloodiest privateer actions on record was that between the _Terrible_, owned in London, and the _Vengeance_, of St. Malo.

The _Terrible_ carried 26 guns, with a crew of 200 men, and was commanded by Captain Death. She was cruising off the mouth of the Channel at the end of the year 1756, and had had some success, capturing an armed French cargo ship, the _Alexandre le Grand_, (the narrator very simply translates this "Grand Alexander"!), which she was escorting into Plymouth, with a prize crew of an officer--the first lieutenant--and fifteen men, when on December 27th, at daylight, two sails were sighted to the southward, about twelve miles distant. Some communication was observed to take place between the two vessels, and then the larger one steered for the _Terrible_ and her prize, which was far astern, so that the _Terrible_ was obliged to back her mizzen-topsail and wait for her.

Meanwhile, every preparation was made for action; but, from the absence of the prize crew and other causes, no more than 116 men out of 200 were able to stand to the guns; indeed, the narrator, who was third lieutenant of the _Terrible_, tells rather a sad story of her crew--"the rest being either dead or sick below with a distemper called the spotted fever, that raged among the ship's company." This may have been malignant typhus, or the plague, terribly infectious; and there would be great reluctance to handle the dead bodies--hence some of these were left below.