Part 26 (1/2)
Thank God the gunrooed in an entirely different allant officer: ”There was no species of tyranny, injustice, and persecution to which youngsters were not compelled to subth”
The entire anisation of the Royal Navy at that period was rotten to the core, and it speaks voluallant officers of the fleet that they soin every quarter of the globe in spite of the shortcoeneral ement of naval affairs, Marryat, who had been sent to join the _I --
”The _Imperieuse_ sailed; the admiral of the port was one ould_ be obeyed, but _would not_ listen always to reason or coun; the anchor was hove up, and, with all her stores on deck, her guns not evenobliged to hoist in faster than it was possible she could stoay, she was driven out of harbour to encounter a heavy gale A few hours more would have enabled her to proceed to sea with security, but they were denied; the consequences were appalling, and eneral confusion, some iron too near the binnacles had attracted the needle of the compasses; the shi+p was steered out of her course At ale at the close of the uish any object, however close, the _Imperieuse_ dashed upon the rocks between Ushant and the Main The cry of terror which ran through the lower deck; the grating of the keel as she was forced in; the violence of the shocks which convulsed the fra up of the shi+p's company without their clothes; and then the enorain bore her up and carried her clean over the reef, will never be effaced from my memory
”Our escape wasbeen torn off, the shi+p had suffered little injury; but she had beat over a reef, and was riding by her anchors, surrounded by rocks, soh out of water as her lower-yards, and close to her How nearly were the lives of a fine shi+p's company, and of Lord Cochrane and his officers, sacrificed in this instance to the despotism of an admiral ould_ be obeyed!
”The cruises of the _Imperieuse_ were periods of continual excitement, from the hour in which she hove up her anchor till she dropped it again in port; the day that passed without a shot being fired in anger ith us a blank day; the boats were hardly secured on the booain; the yard and stay tackles were for ever hoisting up and lowering down
”The expedition hich parties were forht and day; the hasty sleep, snatched at all hours; the waking up at the report of the guns, which seemed the only key-note to the hearts of those on board; the beautiful precision of our fire, obtained by constant practice; the coolness and courage of our captain inoculating the whole of the shi+p's co after the combat, the killed lamented, the wounded almost envied; the powder so burnt into our faces that years could not remove it; the proved character of every man and officer on board; the implicit trust and the adoration we felt for our commander; the ludicrous situations which would occur even in the extre you in the face; the hairbreadth escapes, and the indifference to life shown by all--whenthose years of excitement even now, my pulse beats more quickly with the reminiscence”
A middy's life was no child's play in those days, was it?
But it is time that I told you the story of how Marryat saved the life of his messmate Cobbett, in the Mediterranean
The _I at anchor in Malta Harbour at the time the incident happened It was about the hour of sunset, and the officer on duty had turned thewatch up to hoist the boats to the davits The men ran away smartly with the falls, and soon had the cutters clear of the water and swung high in the air
At this moment, Cobbett, as off duty, went into the main-chains with soet on one of the ratlines of the lower-rigging his foot unfortunately slipped, and he fell headlong overboard into the waters of the Grand Harbour Several persons witnessed the accident, and the prodigious splash thethe water ile for life had commenced
Cobbett could not swim a stroke, and was much hae he was carried far beneath the surface, but quickly rose again, puffing and blowing like a gra desperate efforts to keep himself afloat
The officer of the watch promptly called away the lifeboat's crew, and these men quickly scrambled into one of the quarter-boats, which by this time had been run up to the davits Life-buoys too had been thrown overboard, but not one of the boy to enable hi Marryat happened at the ti in the waist of the shi+p conversing with the captain of thethe splash and the excited cries of ”Man overboard!” which rang out fore-and-aft, he rushed to the gangway to see if he could be of any assistance in the e his arch-ene desperately for life under the frigate's counter Being an adlance that his messmate was helpless in the water, and indeed was on the point of sinking Without ato throw off coat or boots, the plucky youngster boldly plunged overboard, and quickly rising to the surface, struck out for his now aled to seize him and keep him afloat, whilst he shouted to those on board to lower the cutter as quickly as possible The o to his assistance, and the instant the lifeboat was safely in the water, her crew got their oars out, and, pulling vigorously to the spot, soon hauled both , inboard
Cobbett was unconscious, his face being as pale as death, but it was only a ate, where he soon revived under the care of the surgeons, and was able to return to duty in the course of a day or two, eous young allantly saved his life at the risk of his own
Writing home to his mother on the subject of this adventure, Marryat concluded his account by saying: ”From that moment I have loved the fellow as I never loved friend before All otten I have saved his life”
A ludicrous adventure in the water once befell Captain Marryat In the gallant officer's private log occurs this entry: ”July 10th--Anchored in Carrick Roads, Fal upset with captain”
Florence Marryat in her father'swas capsized, it contained, besides Captain Marryat, a middy and an old bumboat woman The woman could swim like a fish, but the boy could not, and as Captain Marryat, upon rising to the surface of the water and preparing to strike out for the shi+p, found himself most needlessly clutched and borne up by this lady, he shook her off i: 'Go to the boy! Go to the boy! He can't swim!'
”'_Go to the boy!_' she echoed above the winds and waves 'What! hold up a midshi+pman when I can save the life of a captain! Not I indeed!' And no entreaties could prevail on her to relinquish her i honours
Who eventually did the 'dirty work' on this occasion is not recorded, but it is certain that no one was drowned”
As is well known, sailors are devoted to animals, and Marryat was no exception to the rule He has left on record a story of a pet baboon, which was on board the _Tees_ with him--
”I had on board a shi+p which I coe Cape baboon, as a pet of mine, and also a little boy, as a son of mine When the baboon sat down on his hams he was about as tall as the boy when he walked The boy, having a tolerable appetite, received about noon a considerable slice of bread-and-butter to keep him quiet till dinner-time I was on one of the carronades, busy with the sun's lower li it into contact with the horizon, when the boy's lower li, as well as the boy, a strong predilection for bread-and-butter, and a stronger arht proper to help himself to that to which the boy had already been helped In short, he snatched the bread-and-butter, and made short work of it, for it was in his pouch in a moment
”Upon this the boy set up a yell, which attracted my notice to this violation of the articles of war, to which the baboon was equally amenable as any other person in the shi+p, for it is expressly stated in the prea_ to'
Whereupon I juestion, I served out to the baboon _monkey's allowance_, which is more kicks than halfpence! The master reported that the heavens intimated that it elve o'clock, and, with all the humility of a captain of a man-of-war, I ordered him to 'make it so'; whereupon it was made, and so passed that day
”I do not remember how many days it was afterwards that I was on the carronade as usual, about the same time, and all parties were precisely in the same situations--the master byout of the cabin with his bread-and-butter