The Log of a Privateersman Read online

  CHAPTER TEN.

  THE AFFAIR OF THE TIGRE AND THE MANILLA.

  The brigantine was at this time under all plain sail, to her royal andmain-topmast-staysail, standing toward us, close-hauled, on the porttack; but we had no sooner shortened sail and hoisted our colours thanshe did the same, displaying a very large tricolour at her peak.

  "Very good," commented the skipper approvingly; "that settles thequestion of her nationality, at all events, and shows that she isprepared to fight for the prize yonder, that she has somehow managed tosecure. Well, I'm glad of it, George, for she is a wonderfully handsomecraft, powerful, fast, and half as big again as we are; she will bequite worth the trouble of taking, I believe. A man ought to be able todo good work with such a fine vessel as that under his feet. There shecomes round. Very pretty! very pretty indeed! Why, she works like atop! And look at the beam of her, and the height and spread of herspars! Upon my word it seems a pity to knock about such a beauty asthat with shot! I suppose it will be impossible to avoid doing her somedamage, but we must knock her about as little as possible. I tell youwhat, George, I believe our best plan will be to make short work of her.If we play the game of `hammer and tongs' we shall maul each otherfearfully before we compel her to haul down her colours; so let the menclap a charge of grape and canister in on top of their round shot. Wewill run her aboard at once, firing as we touch; board in the smoke, anddrive her people below, out of hand."

  This was quite in accordance with my own fancy, for, as the skipper hadsaid, the brigantine was half as big again as the _Dolphin_; she mountedfourteen guns to our eleven, and the chances were that, in a fair stand-up fight, she might disable us to such an extent as to render her ownescape and that of her prize an easy matter. So I went round the decksand personally saw to the execution of the skipper's orders, explainingto the men his intentions, warning them not to fire until they got theword, and cautioning all hands to be ready to follow the skipper andmyself on to the brigantine's decks the instant that the two vesselswere properly secured to each other.

  The brigantine had gone about while the skipper was speaking to me, andwas now on our port bow, standing toward us on the starboard tack, and,with the exception of our own gun of defiance, neither vessel had as yetfired. It looked almost as if she were waiting for us to begin, inorder that she might ascertain our weight of metal; but when the twocraft were within about a quarter of a mile of each other our antagonistsuddenly yawed and gave us her whole starboard broadside of seventwelve-pound shot. The guns were excellently aimed, the seven shotflying close over our heads and passing through our sails. But theseven perforations in our canvas represented the full extent of thedamage, not one of our spars being hit, or so much as a rope-yarn cut.I could see that our lads' fingers were itching to return the fire, thecaptains of the guns squinting along the sights of their pieces andaudibly remarking that the elevation was just right if the skipper wouldbut luff and give them a chance to show what they could do; but Isteadied them by passing along from gun to gun telling them that, ifthey would but have patience, their chance would come in a few minutes,in answer to which many of them clapped their hands to their cutlassesto make sure that they were loose in their sheaths, while others drewtheir pistols and carefully examined the priming.

  The brigantine luffed again immediately that she had fired, and we werenow so close that I could see her people busily reloading. The twovessels were rapidly nearing each other, and I was in hopes that weshould close before it would be possible for them to fire again. Butthere was a man on board, who, by his gestures, seemed to be urging themto expedite their work, and when we were only some twenty fathomsdistant, while the brigantine was crossing our bows, I saw the gunsagain run out.

  "Look out, sir," I shouted to the skipper; "they are about to fireagain! Luff, or they will rake us!"

  The skipper signed with his hand, and the helmsman gave the wheel apowerful whirl to starboard. The schooner swerved round, and almost atthe same instant crash came another broadside, slap into us this time.There was a perceptible concussion as the shot struck, followed by acrashing and splintering of wood, two or three piercing shrieks ofagony, and five men fell to the deck, with the blood welling out of thedreadful wounds inflicted by the shot and flying splinters. Then, as webore down upon the brigantine, the skipper raised a warning cry. I drewmy sword and rushed forward to head the boarders from that part of theship. The skipper gave the word to fire, and, as our broadside rangout, the two vessels crashed together. There was an indescribabletumult of thudding shot, rending wood, groans, shrieks, and execrationson board the Frenchman, and, with a shout of "Hurrah, lads; follow me,and make short work of it!" I leaped on to the brigantine's rail anddown on deck.

  The spacious deck of the French ship seemed to be crowded with men, asfar as I could see through the thick pall of powder smoke that wreathedand twisted hither and thither in the eddying draughts of wind, butthere were great gaps among them filled with prostrate figures, heapedupon each other, some lying stark and still, others writhing andscreaming with agony, bearing fearful witness to the havoc wrought byour grape and canister, the discharge of which, at such close quarters,seemed to have stunned and stupefied the Frenchmen, for not a hand wasraised to oppose me as I sprang down off the rail. I darted a quickglance along the deck, noticed that the skipper was leading his party onboard, aft, and then made a cut at the Frenchman nearest me.

  This woke him up. He hurriedly raised his cutlass to guard the blow,and the next moment we were at it, cut, thrust, and parry, as hard as wecould go. Our attack being made upon the two extremities of thebrigantine's deck, we soon had her crew hemmed in between the skipper'sand my own party, and for the next ten minutes there was as pretty afight as one need wish to witness, the Frenchmen rallying gallantly tothe call of their captain. The hubbub was terrific, the clash of steel,the popping of pistols, the shrieks, groans, and outcries of thewounded, the execrations of the Frenchmen, the cheers of our own lads,and the grinding of the ships together, creating a perfectlyindescribable medley of sound. The struggle threatened to be stubbornand protracted, the Frenchmen at our end of the ship obstinatelydisputing every inch of the deck with us. I therefore determined tomake a special effort, and see what the mere physical strength, of whichI possessed a goodly share, would do for us.

  There was a handspike lying upon the deck, under my feet, which I hadtripped over and kicked aside twice or thrice, so, suddenly hitting outwith my left fist, I knocked down the man who happened to be at themoment opposed to me, quickly stooped and seized the handspike, droppedmy sword, and, singing out to our own lads to give me room, I swung mynew weapon round my head and brought it down with a crash upon the twoor three Frenchmen nearest me. The force of the blow made my arm tingleto the elbow, but it swept the Frenchmen down as though it had been ascythe, and caused those behind to recoil in terror. Another flail-likesweep proved equally effective, the cutlasses raised to guard the blowsbeing as useless as so many wands, and when I followed it up with athird it proved too much for the Frenchmen, who, seeing their comradesgo down before me like ninepins, gave way with a yell of dismay,retreating aft until they were all jammed and huddled together likesheep, so closely that they had no room to fight effectively. TheFrench captain, as I took him to be, finding things going badly in ourdirection, forced his way through the crowd, and, perhaps regarding meas the chief mischief-maker, levelled a pistol at my head and fired. Ifelt the ball graze my scalp, but at the same instant my handspikedescended upon the unhappy man's head. I saw the blood spurt out overhis face, and down he went. This proved sufficient. The Frenchmennearest me threw down their weapons and cried that they surrendered.The cry was taken up by the rest, and the brigantine was won.

  The first thing now to be done was to see to the wounded. The carnagehad been very great in proportion to the numbers engaged, and our menhad no sooner sheathed their weapons than they went to work among theghastly prostrate forms to separate the wounded from the
dead. Thistask was soon completed, and it was then discovered that our loss hadnot been nearly so great as I had feared; the dead amounting to eleven,and the wounded to nineteen, three of whom were dangerously injured.Our own dead and wounded were carefully removed to the schooner, andthen,--the unwounded Frenchmen having been driven below and securelyconfined in the hold,--the skipper put me in charge of the prize, with acrew of twenty men, and the two craft made sail in company, in pursuitof the merchantman, which was now hull-down in the south-westernquarter. The moment that the two craft were clear of each other, andthe sails trimmed, I set my people to work to convey the woundedFrenchmen below to the cabin, where, the vessel by good luck beingprovided with a surgeon, they were quickly attended to. When this wasdone it was found that the French loss totalled up to no less thantwenty-seven killed and forty-four wounded, out of a complement of onehundred men with which she had commenced the engagement. She was aheavily-manned vessel, for, in addition to the number already given, shehad thirty men on board the prize.

  Having seen the wounded carried below, the dead thrown overboard, andthe decks washed down, I had an opportunity to look about me a bit, andtake stock of the noble craft that we had captured. She turned out tobe the _Tigre_ of Nantes, thirty-four days out, during which she hadcaptured only one prize, namely, the ship of which we were now inpursuit. She was a brand-new vessel, measuring three hundred andseventy-six tons, oak-built, coppered, and copper fastened; of immensebeam, and very shallow, drawing only ten feet six inches of water. Shewas extraordinarily fast with the wind over her quarter, running awayfrom the _Dolphin_ easily. But I suspected that in a thrash towindward, in anything of a breeze, the schooner would prove to be quitea match for her, with, perhaps, a trifle to spare. She mounted fourteentwelve-pounders, and her magazine was crammed with ammunition, it havingbeen the intention of her captain to try his luck, like ourselves, inthe West Indian waters.

  It was about six bells in the afternoon watch when we filled away inpursuit of the ship, and the sun was within half an hour of his settingwhen we overtook and brought her to, the _Dolphin_ being at that timesome two miles astern of us. I knew that there were thirty Frenchmen onboard her, but did not anticipate any resistance from them, since itwould be perfectly clear to them that anything of the kind, although itmight temporarily prevent our taking possession, would be utterlyuseless in the end, and only result in loss of life. I thereforelowered a boat, and, taking with me ten men armed to the teeth,proceeded on board and secured undisputed possession of the ship. Myfirst act was to release the crew of the prize, after which the disarmedFrenchmen were transferred to the brigantine, and confined below alongwith their comrades, and while this was still in process of performancethe _Dolphin_ joined company, and Captain Winter came on board. Hefully approved of all that had been done, and directed me to remain onboard in charge, shifting himself over into the brigantine and placingthe schooner under the temporary command of Comben. By the time thatall these arrangements had been completed the night had fallen, dinnerwas about to be served in the cuddy, and at the earnest invitation ofthe captain of the ship, the skipper accepted a seat at the table.Meanwhile, all three of the craft had been hauled to the wind, on thelarboard tack, and were heading to the eastward, the ship undereverything that her jury-rig would permit to be set, and the schoonerand brigantine under double-reefed topsails.

  We now had an opportunity to learn some few particulars relating to ourprize, and the circumstances of her capture by the French privateer, thelatter being somewhat remarkable. The ship, it appeared, was named the_Manilla_, and was homeward-bound with a rich cargo of spices and otherrare commodities, including several tons of ivory which she had shippedat the Cape, together with a number of passengers. She had here joinedthe homeward-bound convoy, and all had gone well with her until thespringing up of the gale during which we had fallen in with the convoy.During this gale, however, she had laboured so heavily that she had notonly lost her fore and mizzen-topmasts and her main-topgallant-mast, butshe had also strained so much that she had made a great deal of water,necessitating frequent and long spells at the pumps. This, and theclearing away of the wreck of her top-hamper, had, as might have beenexpected, greatly exhausted the crew, the result being that, on thenight of her capture, the look-out was not quite so keen as perhaps itshould have been. But after all, as the captain remarked, there reallydid not appear to be any necessity for the maintenance of an especiallybright look-out beyond what was required to provide against theirfalling foul of any of the other ships belonging to the convoy, andalthough he admitted that he had noticed both the brigantine and the_Dolphin_, which he had immediately set down as privateers, he did notconsider them as enemies, and even if any such suspicion had entered hismind he would not have deemed himself liable to attack within sight andreach of eight men-o'-war. Therefore, when night came on, he allowedhis exhausted crew to get what rest they could, keeping only asufficient number of men on deck to meet any ordinary emergency. He wasthus profoundly astonished and chagrined at being awakened about oneo'clock in the morning to find his crew overpowered and safely confinedbelow, and his ship in possession of a crew of thirty Frenchmen. Howthey had contrived to get on board, in the height of so heavy a gale,and with so tremendous a sea running, he had been unable to ascertain,the Frenchman in charge resolutely refusing to explain.

  Such was the extraordinary story told by the captain of the _Manilla_;and that it was absolutely true there could be no doubt, for we hadourselves seen enough to assure us of that. I was greatly disappointed,however, at the captain's inability to explain by what means theFrenchmen had contrived to board the ship in the face of such formidabledifficulties; for that was precisely the point that had puzzled me allthrough, and I resolved to find out, if I could, for such a secret wasquite worth the knowing.

  Captain Winter had determined to return home with his prizes; and weaccordingly continued to steer to the eastward all that night. The nextmorning at daybreak I turned to the hands and went to work to completethe jury-rig that the Frenchmen had so well begun; and, as the _Manilla_happened to be well provided with spare spars, we contrived, after twodays' hard work, to get her back to something like her formerappearance, and to so greatly increase her sailing powers that thebrigantine and the schooner could shake the reefs out of their topsailswithout running away from us. Meanwhile the wind had gradually hauledround until we had got it well over our starboard quarter, and werebooming along at a speed of eight knots, with studding-sails set.

  The officer who had been put in charge of the _Manilla_ when she fellinto the hands of the French privateersmen was a very fine young fellownamed Dumaresq; a smart seaman, high-spirited, and as brave as a lion.We early took a fancy to each other, especially after I had offered himhis parole, and we soon became exceedingly friendly. He possessed arich fund of amusing anecdote, together with the art of telling a storywell; he was refined in manner, excellently educated, and anaccomplished pianist; he was, therefore, quite an acquisition to thecuddy, and now that the ship was no longer in his possession, washeartily welcomed there by Captain Chesney and his passengers. Iscarcely ever turned in until after midnight, and by and by youngDumaresq contracted the habit of joining me on the poop and smoking acigar with me after the passengers had retired for the night; and uponone of these occasions our conversation turned upon the clever captureof the ship by himself and his countrymen. This aroused my curiosityafresh, and after he had been talking for some time about it, I said:

  "But how in the world did you manage to get aboard in such terrificweather? That is what puzzles me!"

  "No doubt, _mon cher_," he answered with a laugh. "And how to manage itwas just what puzzled us for a time also. We knew that our only chancewas to do it during the height of the gale; for if we had waited untilthe weather moderated, we should have had some of your men-o'-warlooking after us and instituting unpleasant inquiries which we shouldhave found it exceedingly difficult to answer. So, after considerablecogitation,
poor Captain Lefevre--whose brains I understand you wereunkind enough to beat out with a handspike--hit upon a plan which hethought might succeed. We had a few barrels of oil on board, and one ofthese he broached for the purpose of testing his idea. He had a canvasbag made, capable of containing about four gallons of the oil, and thisbag he filled, bent its closed end on to a rope, and threw the affairoverboard, paying out the rope, as the brigantine drifted to leeward,until we had about a hundred fathoms of line out, with our bag aboutthat distance to windward.

  "We soon found that the oil, exuding through the pores of the canvas,had a distinctly marked effect upon the sea, which ceased to break assoon as it reached the film of oil that had oozed from the bag. Stillthe effect was by no means as great as he desired, the oil not exudingin sufficient quantity to render the sea safe for a boat, so we hauledour bag inboard again, punctured it well with a sailmaker's needle, andthen tried it again. It now proved to be everything that could bedesired; the oil oozed out of the bag in sufficient quantity to make asmooth patch of water with a diameter fully equal to the length of ourship; and, after testing the matter through the whole afternoon, we allcame to the conclusion that our boats would live in such a patch, andthat the experiment was quite worth trying. Wherefore three bags weremade, one for each boat, and attached by a becket to a length of linemeasuring about twenty fathoms. Then, when night had set in, and thedarkness had become deep enough to conceal our movements, the bags werefilled and dropped overboard, the other end of the line being made fastto the ringbolt in the stern of the boat for the use of which it hadbeen destined. A party of thirty men was told off--ten to each boat,with four additional to take the boat back to the ship in the event ofour venture proving successful,--and the brigantine was then sailed to aposition about a mile ahead and half-a-mile to windward of the_Manilla_; that being the ship that we had marked down for our prey.The great difficulty that we now anticipated was that of unhooking thefalls with certainty and promptitude the moment that the boats shouldreach the water; but our captain provided for that by slinging the boatsby strops and toggles attached to the ordinary fall-blocks. We were nowall ready to put the matter to the test; but at the last moment thecaptain suddenly decided that it was too early, and that it would bebetter to defer the attempt until after midnight. This was done; and atthe appointed hour the brigantine was once more sailed into a suitableposition with regard to the _Manilla_; the boats were manned, lowered,and we managed to get away from the brigantine without much difficulty.She remained hove-to upon the spot where we had left her, and to makematters as safe as possible for us, capsized overboard the contents oftwo of the oil-barrels. This smoothened the sea to such an extent that,deeply as we were loaded, and heavily as it was blowing, we did not shipa drop of water. We allowed the boats to drift down to leeward, withtheir oil-bags towing astern, and with only two oars out, to keep themstern-on to the sea; and so accurately had our distance been calculatedthat when the _Manilla_ came up abreast of us we only needed to pull astroke or two to get comfortably under her lee. We boarded her by wayof the lee channels, fore, main, and mizzen simultaneously; and that,let me tell you, was the most difficult part of our work, for the shiprolled so heavily that it was with the utmost difficulty we avoidedstaving or swamping the boats. Each man knew, however, exactly what todo, and did it without the necessity for a word to be spoken; and thusour desperate adventure--for desperate indeed it was, let me tell you--was accomplished without mishap. Ah! there goes eight bells; time forme to turn in, so I will say good-night, _mon cher_ Bowen, and pleasantdreams to you!"