The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VII Part 17

Thus circ.u.mstanced, I found myself in a very unpleasant situation, without any way of extricating myself, but by agreeing to a sort of middle proposal; viz. to order the Captain to land us on one of the Western Islands, and then leave the ship to shift for herself. This would have satisfied M. Gerard, and we should have been as good friends as ever. I thought it my duty, however, to form my decision carefully, and honestly, and abide by it firmly. It was that we should proceed to Martinique. Some of the reasons for it are set forth in the report of the council of officers. The whole together were briefly these.

1st. That the officers of the ship, including the carpenter, who were to be presumed to be better judges than M. Gerard or myself, were of opinion, that we ought not to attempt to go to Europe, and had this reason stood single and unexplained, I should not readily have ventured to reject it, especially as it appeared to me against the interest of the officers to come to the West Indies, and I have heard them constantly and uniformly regret the necessity of it; but I also thought they decided on good grounds; for

2dly. The rudder daily gave us infinite trouble, almost everyday a pennant breaking, and on every such occasion the ship for some time left to the direction of the wind and waves, a circ.u.mstance which might be fatal in hard weather, and near land; the quant.i.ty of cordage consumed in this way of steering; the doubt of our having sufficient for the purpose without stripping the guns, which would thereby be rendered useless; the rudder irons daily becoming more and more loose, and, by the nails drawing out, opening a pa.s.sage for the water into the stem of the ship. By this circ.u.mstance our bread had been damaged; the danger of our being obliged to get rid of the rudder entirely, and steering only by the cable, which in northern seas, and winter season, is very inadequate. This event would have arrived in case either of the eye bolts in the rudder had given way, as the first mentioned one had done, or the upper irons become entirely loose; and for this event it was thought necessary to prepare, by removing the obstacles to unhanging the rudder. Indeed the upper irons in the course of our pa.s.sage here, with fair winds and no storms, became so loose as to render it necessary to lash the head of the rudder with ropes to a bolt fixed for the purpose in the cabin floor.

3dly. The sails we had left were bad, having been originally made, as Mr Vaughan the second Lieutenant told me, of damaged canva.s.s; they frequently split; we had none to replace them, nor a sufficient stock of twine to mend them, eight pounds only being left of the twenty odd we brought from Philadelphia; nor were we much better supplied with cordage, for which there was a daily demand and some of which was very bad.

4thly. Our jury masts were not calculated for hard weather, the foremast being sprung a few feet below the top, and not able to endure a hard storm.

For these reasons the rough weather common in northern lat.i.tudes was by all means to be avoided, and smooth seas sought.

As to the conveniences to be derived from the Islands laying between us and Cadiz, I took some pains to examine into that matter. We had maps and descriptions of them all, and our master had been at many of them. I found there was not a single harbor in any one of them in which a ship could ride at anchor in every wind; on the contrary neither of them has anything more than open roads, out of which it is necessary for ships to make the best of their way, and put to sea whenever certain winds blow, a task which our ship was very far from being in condition to perform.

From this and other circ.u.mstances it was evident we could not refit in either of those Islands, not even so much as get a new rudder; for admitting materials for the latter could be had, yet such was the difficulty, if not impossibility, of hanging it in an open road, from whence the ship was every moment exposed to the necessity of going to sea by an unfavorable wind, that we could expect to derive no advantage from these Islands, except the prospect of obtaining some refreshments, which we could do without, and the value of which would not have compensated for the risk of approaching them in our condition.

As to the idea of our steering that course with a view of being landed on one of those Islands, and from thence going to Europe in another vessel, leaving our own to her fate, no earthly consideration could ever have reconciled me to it. The reasoning which was insisted on, that our being seasonably in Europe was of more importance to the United States than a frigate, and that in time of war, and for the public good, lives were to be risked by sea as well as by land, was a species of reasoning which applied to this case led to conclusions, which never have been, and I pray G.o.d never may be, among my principles of action. Had this plan of being landed on one of the Azores or Canaries been adopted, we should have either landed the crew with us or not; if the first, the frigate would have been given to destruction. This appeared to me inconsistent with the public good, because, if we reached Martinique, I had no doubt of a pa.s.sage, and my arrival in France eight weeks sooner or later did not appear to me of equal importance to the United States with the frigate. Had the crew been left on board, it must have been with a view of saving the ship, either by her reaching Europe or the West Indies. The probability of her effecting either became then a most important question, as the lives of between two and three hundred Americans depended on the event. Against it were opposed the dangers of the seas, and the want of provisions; the former would have increased with the approach of winter, and therefore the longer the ship was detained to the northward, the more she had to suffer, and to fear. The frigate after having landed us on either of the Islands, must either have gone on towards Europe, or endeavored to get to the West Indies.

All the considerations abovementioned opposed the first, and whoever compares the time necessary for a voyage for a ship under jury masts, and almost without a rudder, from the banks of Newfoundland to the Azores or Canaries, and from thence to the West Indies, with our stock of provisions, will find them inadequate to the purpose, and be convinced of the cruelty of subjecting one's fellow citizens to such extremities. For these reasons I positively refused to join in this system.

As to the position in favor of going to Europe, that we should find the seas calmer as we advanced eastward, equally as we went southward, all the officers of the ship testified against it, nor would they admit that we had as much to dread from calms as from hard gales. The supposed difficulty of obtaining a pa.s.sage from Martinique made but little impression on me. I could not suppose the Islands left unprotected by ships of war, or that the commanding officer would refuse to order a frigate on this service, if M. Gerard would represent it to be of importance, which I was sure he would do. How long our ship might be refitting here was not to be ascertained, but I could not prevail upon myself to believe, that the King of France would keep so considerable a fleet in those seas, without providing for the usual accidents they would be exposed to from the sea and the enemy. At the worst the ship would be in a safe port, and among a people bound by treaties and by interest to afford aid and protection, at least until Congress should be informed of her situation, and have an opportunity of providing for her wants. As to ourselves, in case we meet with the imagined difficulties respecting a pa.s.sage, it would be easy by pa.s.sing over to St Eustatia to get very safely in a Dutch ship to Holland.

On these reasons the advice I gave to the captain to come here was founded. I thought them right then, and was daily more and more confirmed in an opinion of their propriety. In the course of our run here, we had all the way fine, fair breezes; and, except in the lat.i.tude of Bermuda, smooth seas and scarce any calms. The night before we made the land, it was thought proper to lay the ship too, after the moon set, which was between twelve and one o'clock, and she continued in that position only four hours and a half. Such, however, was the effect of it upon the rudder, and so much damage did it receive from it, that had the ship continued as much longer in the same state, it was agreed on all sides, that the rudder would have been rendered useless.

M. Gerard, hurt by being disappointed in his expectation of being seasonably in France, and perhaps mortified at my preferring my own sentiments to his, ceased to observe that cordiality and frankness, which had before attended his conduct towards me. Nay, he once went so far as to tell me I had my reasons for coming here. I appeared not to understand him, and continued to endeavor to render the conversation as light and general as possible. This was a tax imposed on my feelings by regard to public good; as a private man, I should have acted differently.

Thus matters continued till about ten or twelve days before our arrival here, when M. Gerard observed to me in the presence of the captain, that it was time to think which side of the island of Martinique it would be most prudent for the ship to go, the north or south side, and proceeded to state the reasons which ought to induce us to prefer the north; particularly, that in the present condition of the ship, she would if she went to the south side be in great danger of running by the island to the leeward; for that as we might expect the wind at northeast, she would not be able to lay sufficiently close to the wind, to reach Port Royal or St Pierre's; besides, that she would be in danger of calms, and being in sight of St Lucia, would be exposed to the enemy's ships of war, without having reason to expect succor from any French ships of war; none of which, he said, cruised off the eastern part of the island, between Martinique and St Lucia. He then showed the advantages of going the other side, by an enumeration of many circ.u.mstances, of which I have notes, but which it would be too tedious to mention. The obvious meaning of all this appeared to me to be, that we should direct the captain to go to the northward of the island; but as I neither thought myself authorised, nor found myself inclined to interfere with the particular navigation of the ship, to which I was not competent, I only observed to M. Gerard, that his reasoning appeared to me to have weight; that it was a subject I did not understand, but that I thought his observations merited attention. On this the captain remarked, and I thought with propriety, that it was impossible to determine on which side of the island it would be best to go, until we were at or near the parting point, for that circ.u.mstances at present unforeseen might render that way rash, which we might now think prudent; for instance, an unexpected change in the wind, or the appearance of an enemy. He therefore thought a decision on the question improper, till we arrived off the eastern part of the island. This appeared to me so perfectly reasonable, that I thought no more about the matter, and I did not suspect that M. Gerard would have felt any further anxiety about it; but it nevertheless so happened, that in the afternoon of the 14th instant, there was a conversation in the cabin relative to a wager, which of the two we should see first, land or a sail. In the course of this conversation, M. Gerard observed, that it would depend on our going on the north or south side of the island, and insensibly leaving the subject of the wager, proceeded minutely to recapitulate his reasons for the one, and his objections to the other. In the progress of this disquisition, he grew warmer and warmer, and at length addressing himself more particularly on the captain, said, he was surprised that those facts and observations should meet with so little attention; that he owed it to his conscience and personal safety to mention and enforce them, and that he should represent the whole matter to his Court, &c. The captain repeated what he had before said relative to the impropriety of deciding on which side of the island we were to go, until we had made the land, observed whether any vessels were on the coast, and knew how the wind would be. He then questioned some matters relative to the navigation round the island, on which M.

Gerard had insisted.

For my own part, as the subject was so serious, I wished to be informed of some others, which appeared to me to want explanation. The captain had informed me, that the master had been at the taking of Martinique last war, and was well acquainted with its bays, harbors, and coasts. I desired the captain to send for the master, which was immediately done. On this, M. Gerard more animated than usual, said, he pretended to no extraordinary knowledge on the subject, but that he had made inquiries, and was satisfied with the opinion he had given; then repeated what he had before said, about his conscience, personal safety, and Court, and was opening the door to go on deck, when I asked him if he would not stay, and hear what the master had to say.

He said, no, he did not want to hear anything farther about it; he had done his duty in delivering what he had to us, and we might do as we pleased about the matter. I made no reply, but proceeded to examine the master, and one of the lieutenants. On the whole it did not appear to me necessary, but on the contrary invidious to give the captain any positive orders on the subject; nor did I enter into any farther conference respecting it with M. Gerard. I knew that no good would result from altercation, and that the best way of treating unreasonable propositions, cavalierly dictated, was silently to go my own way, uninfluenced by them.

This last business rendered M. Gerard still more dissatisfied with me.

We observed, nevertheless, and still observe great politeness towards each other, but it proceeds more from the head than the heart. On coming ash.o.r.e, I flattered myself we should have left all these controversies behind us; but this city was soon entertained with them.

The opinions of French officers were taken by M. Gerard about the sufficiency of the rudder to have gone to Europe; the question about the northern and southern navigation was stated and agitated. M.

Gerard claims the merit of having saved the ship, by having, as he insinuates, dragged us into the measure of taking the northern pa.s.sage, &c. &c. As we are safe in the harbor, these matters are now of no consequence, and therefore I constantly avoid the subject. How they may be represented at Philadelphia is of some moment, and therefore it appears to me expedient to trouble myself and Congress with this narration.

I cannot conclude this letter without expressing my satisfaction with the attention and politeness observed by the captain and other officers towards the pa.s.sengers, as far at least as my knowledge extends.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

St Pierre's, Martinique, December 25th, 1779.

Sir,

As singular instances of humanity and patriotism always merit, and sometimes meet with public notice, I take the liberty of transmitting to Congress a copy of the Rev. Mr Keith's narrative of the conduct of a Mrs Smith, at New York, to the Americans there, who had been taken at Fort Washington.

Conversing, while at sea, with Mr Keith (our chaplain, who had been one of those prisoners) respecting the cruelties exercised towards them by the enemy, and the manner in which they were treated by the inhabitants of the city, he mentioned the behavior of this Mrs Smith; whose conduct appeared to me so remarkably liberal, disinterested, and christianlike, that I desired him to commit it to paper, with a design to enclose it to your Excellency. I know nothing more of this woman than what Mr Keith told me; but, as from his profession and character I am induced to credit what he says, I transmit this account of her, that if, on further inquiry, it be found to be just, Congress may have an opportunity of saving from poverty and distress a widow, who generously divested herself of a decent maintenance, and applied it to the relief of many citizens and servants of the United States, who were then gloriously enduring the most extreme cruelties, for their faithful attachment to the rights of their country and mankind.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

St Pierre's, Martinique, December 25th, 1779.

Sir,

I have done, what perhaps I shall be blamed for, but my pride as an American, and my feelings as a man, were not on this occasion to be resisted. The officers of the Confederacy were here without money, or the means of getting any. The idea of our officers being obliged to sneak, as they phrase it, from the company of French officers, for fear of running in debt with them for a bottle of wine, or a bowl of punch, because not able to pay for their share of the reckoning, was too humiliating to be tolerable, and too destructive to that pride and opinion of independent equality, which I wish to see influence all our officers. Besides, some of them wanted necessaries too much to be comfortable, or, in this country, decent. In a word, I have drawn on the fund, pointed out for the payment of part of my salary, for one hundred guineas in their favor, to be divided among them according to their respective ranks. Indeed, it would have given me pleasure to have done something towards covering the nakedness of the crew; but the expense I have been put to by coming here; and the preparations for another voyage, would not admit of it.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

St Pierre's, Martinique, December 26th, 1779.

Sir,

On our arrival here, M. Gerard told me that he was about to write to the Governor and Admiral at Port Royal, and asked me whether I also chose to write, or would leave to him the necessary communication; offering to mention to them whatever I might desire. As I was well satisfied that he should take the lead in the business, I replied, that I was obliged to him, but did not think it necessary for him to communicate anything to those gentlemen from me, except our arrival, and the confidence I had in their readiness to afford us aid.

I thought it would have been improper to apply for a pa.s.sage in one of their ships, till I know in what time our own could be refitted, and on this subject it appeared to me most advisable, that application should be made by our agent here; and that I should reserve all interference, till it should be rendered necessary by obstacles. Mr Bingham accordingly wrote without delay to the Governor, and had immediate and full a.s.surances of his readiness to afford us every aid in his power. Nothing now remained to be ascertained, but the time in which the repairs could be made, and this depended on the state of their naval stores.

Mr Bingham went with us to Port Royal, on a visit to the officers of government, (a compliment paid them by all strangers.) The Governor again a.s.sured him, that everything should be done for the ship that was possible, and some orders were given for the purpose. This pa.s.sed, I believe, without M. Gerard's knowledge. About two hours after our arrival at Port Royal, he took me aside, observed that great difficulties and delays would attend the Confederacy's refitting there; that there were no masts or spars in store, and the expectation of supplies uncertain; that an old mast of a merchant-man had been purchased for one of their ships of war, and that a main yard for another had been made of four pieces for want of a proper spar, and, after some general hints about expenses, provision, &c. proposed, that the frigate should be provided with a new rudder, and proceed to America to refit. I objected, that, contrary to our expectations, the English had an acknowledged superiority in these seas; that three French frigates were at that instant flying from four ships of the line, which were in full chase of them; that a frigate under jury masts would find no safety in flight; that it would be more prudent for Captain Harding to remain here without being refitted, till he could get materials and supplies from America, or receive orders from Congress, than expose his ship to such imminent danger, and, therefore, that I could not possibly come into the measure he proposed.

M. Gerard replied, that she might be convoyed to sea by the French squadron here; but this required no answer. It was not to be supposed, that the French squadron, which, in their present state of inferiority, choose to keep their eyes constantly on Port Royal, would expose themselves to very unequal combat, for no higher object than that of convoying the Confederacy seventy or eighty leagues off the coast, or, that if they did, she would then be out of that degree of danger, to which no ship in her condition ought to be exposed.

Besides, I could not reconcile it to the wisdom of France long to leave their fleet here dest.i.tute of naval stores, or to disgust their allies by a conduct neither just nor politic. We agreed to leave the matter till the next day, when we expected to see the Admiral; but in an hour or two afterwards the Admiral came in; and a very little time elapsed when the Governor, and shortly after M. Gerard told me, the "_whole arrangement_ was completed; that the same attention should be paid to the Confederacy as if she had been a French frigate, and that the Aurora, of thirty odd guns, should carry us to France." The fact is, that the officers of government in general, and the Governor in particular, are strongly attached to everything that is American.

Our agent here is in high estimation. I really believe, from everything I hear, that he has done his duty faithfully, and that he well deserves the notice and approbation of Congress. This leads me to take the liberty of remarking, that it would, probably, be much for the public interest, if Congress were to pay off all private debts due from them to subjects of France, and have none but national engagements with that kingdom. The debts unavoidably contracted here, for the outfit of the Deane, &c. ought certainly to be paid. Our credit and reputation suffer from such delay. We sail tomorrow morning, at six o'clock.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY.

TO ARTHUR LEE.