The Log of a Privateersman Page 4

  CHAPTER FOUR.

  ANOTHER FIGHT, AND ANOTHER PRIZE.

  The weather had been clearing all day, and when, about six bells thatafternoon, we made the high land of Portland, the sky was without acloud, the atmosphere clear and bright, and the sun was shining asbrilliantly as though it had been midsummer, quite taking the keen edgeoff the frosty air. There was not a vessel in sight in any direction,which was rather a relief to us; for, situated as we were then, it wouldhave been difficult to say whether the sight of a friend or of an enemywould have excited the most uneasiness in our breasts. A friend wouldalmost certainly have been a man-o'-war; and although our papers werenominally a protection of our crew against impressment, we were fullyaware that, as a matter of fact, they were nothing of the sort, thecaptains of our men-o'-war impressing almost as freely from a privateeras from an ordinary merchantman. Now, our men were, so far as we hadhad an opportunity of proving them, first-rate fellows, with scarcely asingle exception, we were therefore most anxious not to lose any ofthem; and were consequently the reverse of desirous to meet with one ofour own ships of war. On the other hand, we were by this time so closein with the English coast that, if we happened to encounter an enemy, itwould certainly be a prowling privateer--like ourselves--heavily enougharmed and manned to admit of their venturing, without much risk, over toour side of the Channel, on the look-out for homeward-bound Britishships. To encounter such a customer as this would mean plenty of hardknocks, without very much profit, and with just the chance of losing oneor the other of our prizes. We were, therefore, heartily thankful tofind a clear horizon all round us when the fog cleared away. We weredestined, however, to have another bout with a Frenchman before long, aswill presently appear.

  We had made the high land of Portland about half an hour when the soundsof distant firing were faintly borne to our ears; and shortly afterwardstwo craft, a cutter and a brig--the latter evidently in chase of theformer--hove into view, broad on our weather-bow. The firing was notvery heavy, it is true, but it was briskly maintained; and as they camesweeping rapidly down toward us it became apparent that the two craftwere exchanging shots from their bow and stern-chasers respectively.The cutter was flying the British ensign, while the brig sported thetricolour; and, the two vessels being dead before the wind, the brigcarrying studding-sails on both sides, the Frenchman seemed to begetting rather the best of it, overhauling the cutter slowly but surely.As soon as this was seen, the _Dolphin_ hove-to and put ten more men onboard the _Belle Jeannette_, with orders to me to close with theIndiaman, and to clear for action, both which orders I obeyed withoutloss of time. And, while doing so, the _Dolphin_ and ourselves hoistedBritish colours, as a hint to the brig that if she dared to meddle withus we were quite ready for her. The cutter and the brig happened to besteering a course that would bring them close aboard of our littlesquadron, and when the Frenchman saw the colour of our bunting he beganat once to shorten sail by taking in his studding-sails, preparatory, aswe supposed, to hauling his wind out of so perilous a neighbourhood.

  But in supposing thus we were mistaken; the fellow evidently at once hitoff our respective characters to a T; he saw that the lugger--underjury-masts and bearing other unmistakable signs of having been veryrecently in action--was a prize; no doubt judged the Indiaman to be arecapture; and--perhaps believing that, with these two prizes, theschooner would be very short-handed--quickly made up his mind thateither of the three would be more valuable than the cutter to him. Atall events he shortened sail in a most determined and workmanlikemanner, threw open all his ports, and, slightly shifting his helm, madeas though he would slip in between the _Dolphin_ and the Indiaman.Captain Winter, however, would not have it so; as the Frenchman luffed,the _Dolphin_ edged away, until both vessels were heading well in forthe West Bay, athwart the Indiaman's hawse, and running upon lines sorapidly converging that, within ten minutes of the declaration of theFrenchman's intentions, the brig and the schooner were within biscuit-toss of each other. The brig mounted six guns of a side against the_Dolphin's_ five; but this disparity was altogether too trifling amatter for our skipper to take any notice of, and accordingly, when thetwo vessels had neared each other to within about twenty fathoms, theFrenchmen showing signs of an intention to run the schooner on board,Captain Winter poured in his starboard broadside, and at the same timeedged away just sufficiently to keep a few fathoms of water betweenhimself and the brig. The broadside was promptly returned, and inanother minute the two vessels were at it, hammer and tongs, yard-arm toyard-arm, and running almost dead away before the wind.

  Meanwhile, having sent a hand aloft to take a look round, and havingthus ascertained that there was nothing else in sight to interfere withus, I came to the conclusion that the Indiaman might very well take careof herself for half an hour or so; and, accordingly, we in the lugger atonce bore up to support the schooner. Up to the time of encounteringthe Frenchman we had been sailing about a quarter of a mile to leewardof the Indiaman, while the _Dolphin_ had been jogging along about thesame distance to windward of the big ship; our positions, therefore,were such that we in the lugger had only to put up our helm a couple ofspokes or so to enable us to converge upon the two combatants, which wedid. By the time of our arrival upon the scene the fight was raging sohotly, and both craft were so completely enveloped in smoke that neitherparty was aware of our presence; I therefore steered so as to just shaveclear of the _Dolphin's_ stern; and, having done so, our mendeliberately fired each of the four long sixes in our larboard broadsideslap into the stern of the brig, raking her fore-and-aft. Then, passingout clear of her, we tacked the instant that we had room, and, passingclose under her stern again, gave her in like fashion the contents ofour starboard broadside. This time the Frenchmen were ready for us, andreturned our fire with their two stern-chasers, both shot passingthrough our mainsail without doing any further damage. Again we tacked;and this time I gave orders to put in a charge of grape on top of eachround shot, which we rattled into the stern of the Frenchman at adistance of not more than three or four fathoms. Our shot must havewrought terrible execution; for after each discharge we could hear theshrieks and groans of the wounded even through the crash of the twoother vessels' broadsides. This time they only gave us one gun inexchange for our four, the shot passing in through our port bulwarks andout through the starboard, killing a man on its way. Our shot, however,had killed the brig's helmsman, and almost immediately afterwards thevessel broached-to, her foremast going over the bows as she did so.This was enough for them; they received another broadside from the_Dolphin_, and then, just as we were in stays, preparatory to passingathwart their stern and raking them again, a man ran aft and hauled downtheir flag, at the same time crying out that they surrendered.

  The firing on both sides at once ceased, the smoke drifted away toleeward, and we were able to see around us once more, as well as to notethe condition of the combatants after our brief but spirited engagement.The cutter had seized the opportunity to make good her escape, and wasnow more than two miles to leeward, running before the wind to thewestward on her original course. The brig--which proved to be the_Etoile du Nord_, of Dunkirk--had, as already stated, lost her foremast,her bulwarks were riddled with shot-holes, and her rigging badly cut up.The _Dolphin_ also had suffered severely from the fire of herantagonist, her starboard bulwarks being almost destroyed, her riggingshowing a good many loose ropes'-ends floating in the wind, and hermain-boom so severely wounded that it parted in two when her helm wasput down to bring her to the wind and heave her to. As for us, thedamage that we had received from the brig's fire was so trifling as tobe not worth mentioning.

  I knew, of course, that after so determined a fight the services of oursurgeon would be in urgent request on board both the principalcombatants; so, as he was aboard the lugger, I ran down close under the_Dolphin's_ lee and, having hove-to, lowered a boat and put the medicoon board the schooner, going with him myself to see whether I could beof any service. The deck of the schooner bore elo
quent testimony to thesharpness of the recent conflict, several dead and wounded men lyingabout the guns in little pools of blood, while the torn and splinteredwoodwork that met one's view on every side was grimly suggestive of thepandemonium that had raged there a few minutes previously. CaptainWinter was one of the wounded, a splinter having torn a large piece ofskin from his forehead, laying bare the skull over his right eye; butthe gallant old fellow had replaced the skin as well as he could, lashedup the wound with his silk neckerchief, using his pocket handkerchiefunder it as a pad, and was attending to his duty as coolly as though hehad escaped untouched. He instructed me to go on board the brig withten men, to take possession, leaving the carpenter in charge of thelugger, and at the same time signalled the Indiaman--which had hove-tosome two miles to windward--to close.

  The new prize was, as may be supposed, terribly knocked about; out of acrew of eighty-six men and boys she had no less than nineteen killed--the captain among them--and forty-three wounded; while, in addition tothe damage which had been noticeable before going on board her, I foundthat two of her guns had been dismounted, most probably by the lugger'sraking broadsides. Fortunately, her hull was quite uninjured, the wholeof the damage done being to the upper works. Our first task was toclear away the wreck of the foremast, the skipper hailing me soon afterI had boarded to say that he intended the Indiaman to take us in tow.The wreck was soon cut away, and just as it was falling dark we got ourtow-line aboard the Indiaman, and proceeded, the uninjured Frenchmenhaving meanwhile requested permission to attend to their wounded fellow-prisoners and make them comfortable below.

  More or less disabled as we all were, with the exception of theIndiaman, it took us until past midnight to reach Weymouth roadstead,where we anchored for the night, without communicating with the shore;no one in the town, therefore, was aware of our quick return to port,and our brilliant success, until the following morning; and as for MrPeter White, our owner, the first intimation that he had of the affairwas while he was dressing; when his servant knocked at his door to saythat Captain Winter had returned with three prizes, and was waitingbelow to see him. The old gentleman, I was afterwards told, was soexcited at the good news that he would not wait to dress, but descendedto the parlour, where the skipper awaited him, in his dressing-gown.The old boy was almost overwhelmed at the news of his good fortune;insisted that Captain Winter should stay to breakfast with him; andafterwards, despite the cold weather, came off to the roadstead andvisited each of the prizes in turn. It was as well, perhaps, that hedid so, as there was a considerable amount of business to be transactedin connection with the recapture of the _Hoogly_, the captain of whichwas anxious to resume his voyage up channel as soon as possible. Thisimportant matter was arranged by noon; and about two o'clock, the windhaving hauled round from the southward, the Indiaman weighed andproceeded, the passengers on board having meanwhile subscribed a purseof two hundred and thirty guineas for the officers and crew of the_Dolphin_, in recognition of what they were complimentary enough to termour "gallantry" in the recapture of the ship. This nice little sum was,however, only the first instalment of what was to come; there was thesalvage of the ship to follow: and over and above that I may mentionthat the underwriters voted a sum of five hundred guineas to us; whilethe Patriotic Fund Committee awarded the skipper a sword of the value ofone hundred guineas, and to me a sword of half that value, for our fightwith and capture of the two privateers, poor Lovell being left out inthe cold in consequence of his having been prize-master of the _Hoogly_,and having therefore taken no part in either of the engagements. He gothis reward, however, in another way; for the _Etoile du Nord_ turned outto be such a very fine vessel, quite new and wonderfully fast, that MrWhite purchased her on his own account, rechristening her the _NorthStar_, and put Lovell in command. He was fairly successful in her, Iafterwards heard, but not nearly to such an extent as he ought to havebeen with so fine a vessel under him. He declared that luck was alwaysagainst him. As for me, Mr White was so pleased with the report of myconduct which Captain Winter had given him that, as soon as ever thepurchase of the _Etoile du Nord_ had been effected, and Lovell providedfor, he offered me the berth of chief mate of the _Dolphin_, which berthI promptly and thankfully accepted. As for the _Belle Jeannette_, she,too, was sold, fetching a very good price, and before we left port againwe had divided our prize-money, my share of which amounted to the veryrespectable sum of two thousand six hundred and odd pounds.

  The _Dolphin_ had received so severe a mauling in her fight with theFrench privateer brig that, although the utmost despatch was used inrepairing and refitting her, it was not until the 24th of December thatshe was again ready for sea, by which time news had reached us of thedeclaration of war by Spain against Great Britain. This lastcircumstance, of course, threw all hands of us into a fever ofimpatience to get to sea again, in order that we might have an earlyopportunity of picking up a rich Spanish prize; but when Christmas-evearrived, finding us still in harbour, our owner was generous enough tosay that we might, if we pleased, defer our sailing until the day afterChristmas-day, in order that the crew might have the opportunity tospend Christmas at home, which opportunity we thankfully made the mostof. But all hands were on board by noon of the 26th, when we cast offand stood out of the harbour once more before a fresh south-westerlybreeze, the day being, for a wonder--with the wind in a wet quarter--brilliantly fine, and as mild as a day in early autumn; a circumstancewhich most of our lads were willing to accept as the omen of aprosperous cruise.

  Captain Winter's object was to reach the French coast as soon aspossible, and then to work along it to the westward, right round to theSpanish coast, and thence as far as Gibraltar, and perhaps into theMediterranean, hoping that somewhere on the way we might pick upsomething worth having, or at least obtain information relating to ahomeward or outward-bound convoy; upon clearing Portland, therefore, westood across the Channel, on a taut bowline, on the starboard tack,making Cape de la Hague, well on our lee bow, next morning at daybreak.We then shortened sail to our fore-and-aft canvas only, and, taking inour gaff-topsail, held on as we were going, with the French coast closeaboard, to leeward, until we reached Granville, when, having seennothing worthy of our attention, we tacked to the westward, andeventually found ourselves off Cape Frehel, the easternmost extremity ofSaint Brieuc Bay. This was our third day out; we had seen nothing, andthe men, who appeared to think, from our past experience, that we oughtto take at least one prize every day, were beginning to grumble at ourill-luck. Great, therefore, was their enthusiasm when, on the followingday,--the breeze being fresh at about north-north-west, and the timeabout five bells in the forenoon watch,--a large ship was seen to emergefrom behind Chien Point, then about eight miles distant, a couple ofpoints on our lee bow. She was coming along under larboard studding-sails. It was my watch on deck, and upon the ship being reported to meI took the glass, and at once went up to the fore-cross-trees to get abetter look at her. So far as I could make out she was full-rigged; shefloated very deep in the water; and the exceeding whiteness of her sailscaused me to suspect that she was homeward-bound from a long voyage.She had somewhat the look of a Dutchman, to my eye, and if so she wouldprobably afford very respectable pickings to a crew of hard-workingprivateersmen like ourselves. When first seen she was steering a coursethat would lead her about mid-way between the islands of Jersey andGuernsey; but before I returned to the deck it seemed to me that she hadhauled up a point or two, and had braced her yards correspondinglyfurther forward. Our game, of course, was to get between her and theland, if possible, before declaring ourselves, so that, if she happenedto be what I suspected, she might be prevented from running in andtaking shelter under the guns of one of the numerous batteries which theFrench had thrown up all along the coast, to cut her out from whichmight involve us in a heavy loss of men. I therefore gave no order tomake sail, or to alter our course, but at once went down below to theskipper, who was lying down, his wounded head still troubling him a gooddeal, and reporte
d the stranger to him. He immediately followed me ondeck at the news, and took a good long look at the ship through thetelescope; and while he was doing so she took in her studding-sails andhauled her wind.

  "Ah!" remarked the skipper; "they have made us out, and evidently don'tquite like our looks. I suppose her captain thinks that, having hauledhis wind, we shall now make sail in chase of him if we happen to be anenemy. But I know a trick worth two of that. You did quite right, MrBowen, not to shift your helm. Let him stand on another three miles ashe is going, and then we will show him who and what we are. Just so;there goes his bunting--Dutch, as you thought. He is beginning to feela little anxious. Perhaps it would ease his mind a bit if you were torun the tricolour up to our gaff-end, Mr Bowen."

  I did so, and we kept it flying for the next half-hour, by which timethe Dutchman had been brought well out on our weather beam, about sixmiles distant, and his retreat cut off. We then hauled down the Frenchflag and made sail, still, however, holding on upon the same tack. Bythe time that we had got our topsail, topgallant-sail, flying-jib, andsmall gaff-topsail set the stranger was about two points abaft ourweather beam, and we at once tacked in chase. This was the signal foran immediate display of confusion on board the Dutchman; which shipimmediately set her royals and flying-jib, and, when she found that thatwould not do, bearing away sufficiently to permit of her setting all herlarboard studding-sails again. Of course, as soon as she bore away webore away too, steering such a course as would enable us to graduallyconverge upon her.

  But we had hardly been in chase half an hour when another large shipappeared in sight ahead, steering toward us; and, approaching each otherrapidly, as we were, another quarter of an hour sufficed us to discoverthat she was a frigate, and undoubtedly French. We stood on, however, afew minutes longer, trying to devise some scheme for slipping past herwithout being brought to, but it evidently would not do; her peoplesuspected us, and clearly intended to have a nearer look at us if theycould; so, as she was altogether too big a craft for us to tackle, wewere reluctantly compelled to abandon the chase, and heave about toensure our own escape. And now it became our turn to play the part ofthe pursued; for as we went in stays the frigate fired a gun, toascertain whether we were within range, most probably, hoisted herensign, and made all sail in chase. The shot--a twelve-pounder, wejudged it to be by the sound of the gun--fell short; yet at the sametime it came near enough to satisfy us that we had not turned tail amoment too soon.

  Captain Winter at once jammed the schooner close upon a wind, the vesselheading up about west-north-west for the chops of the Channel, in thehope of both out-weathering and out-sailing the frigate. But the windhad shown a disposition to freshen all day, and was by this time pipingup so spitefully that we had been obliged to furl our topgallant-sailand haul down our flying-jib as soon as we hauled our wind; moreoverthere was a nasty, short jump of a sea on, into which the _Dolphin_plunged to her knight-heads every time. The weather was, therefore, allin the frigate's favour, and very soon, to our extreme annoyance, wediscovered that the Frenchman was slowly but surely gaining upon us; forwhen the frigate had been in chase about half an hour, she fired anothergun, the shot from which reached within twenty fathoms of us, and it wascapitally aimed, too.

  "We must get the topgallant-sail and flying-jib on her again, Mr Bowen,and shift our small gaff-topsail for the big one. This will never do;we shall be within range in another half-hour; and then, if that fellowhappens to wing us, we shall be done for!"

  "The sticks will never bear it, sir," answered I. "Look at our topmastsnow; they are bending like fishing-rods as it is; and unless we rig thepreventers pretty quickly we shall lose them, in my opinion."

  "Then get up your preventers at once, my dear fellow," answered theskipper; "and be as smart as you please about the job. One thing isquite certain, and that is that unless we can drive the schooner alittle faster we shall be nabbed!"

  "Perhaps, sir," said I, "if we were to keep the schooner away about halfa point she would go along more freely. We are looking a good pointhigher than the frigate at present, but we are hugging the wind soclosely that we have no life in us, and are losing as much as we gain."

  The skipper looked at the frigate astern, then up at the weather leechof our own topsail, which was lifting at every plunge of the schooner.

  "Perhaps you are right, George," said he. "At all events yoursuggestion is worth trying. So, my man," to the helmsman, at the sametime peering into the binnacle, "keep her away to west-by-north; nothinghigher."

  "West-and-by-north, and nothin' higher, sir," answered the man, easinghis weather helm a couple of spokes as I turned away to see to thepreventer back-stays being rigged.