Part 24 (2/2)
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
ANOTHER SET-TO BETWEEN THE CAPTAIN AND FIRST LIEUTENANT--CUTTING-OUT EXPEDITION--MR. CHUCKS MISTAKEN--HE DIES LIKE A GENTLEMAN--SWINBURNE BEGINS HIS ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF ST. VINCENT.
We had not been more than a week under the Danish island of St. Thomas, when we discovered a brig close in-sh.o.r.e. We made all sail in chase, and soon came within a mile and a half of the sh.o.r.e, when she anch.o.r.ed under a battery, which opened its fire upon us. Their elevation was too great, and several shots pa.s.sed over us and between our masts.
”I once met with a very remarkable circ.u.mstance,” observed Captain Kearney. ”Three guns were fired at a frigate I was on board of, from a battery, all at the same time. The three shots cut away the three topsail ties, and down came all our topsail-yards upon the cap at the same time. That the Frenchmen might not suppose that they had taken such good aim, we turned up our hands to reef topsails; and by the time that the men were off the yards, the ties were spliced, and the topsails run up again.”
Mr Phillott could not stand this most enormous fib, and he replied, ”Very odd, indeed, Captain Kearney: but I have known a stranger circ.u.mstance.We had put in the powder to the four guns on the main deck, when we were fighting the Danish gun-boats, in a frigate I was in; and as the men withdrew the rammer, a shot from the enemy entered the muzzle and completed the loading of each gun. We fired their own shot back upon them, and this occurred three times running.”
”Upon my word,” replied Captain Kearney, who had his gla.s.s upon the battery, ”I think you must have dreamt that circ.u.mstance, Mr Phillott.”
”Not more than you did about the topsail ties, Captain Kearney.”
Captain Kearney at that time had the long gla.s.s in his hand, holding it up over his shoulder. A shot from the battery whizzed over his head, and took the gla.s.s out of his hand, s.h.i.+vering it to pieces. ”That's once,” said Captain Kearney, very coolly; ”but will you pretend that that could ever happen three times running? They might take my head off, or my arm, next time, but not another gla.s.s; whereas the topsail ties might be cut by three different shot. But give me another gla.s.s, Mr Simple, I am certain that this vessel is a privateer. What think you, Mr O'Brien?”
”I am every bit of your opinion, Captain Kearney,” replied O'Brien; ”and I think it would be a very pretty bit of practice to the s.h.i.+p's company to take her out from under that footy battery.”
”Starboard the helm, Mr Phillott; keep away four points, and then we will think of it to-night.”
The frigate was now kept away, and ran out of the fire of the battery.
It was then about an hour before sunset, and in the West Indies the sun does not set as it does in the northern lat.i.tudes. There is no twilight: he descends in glory, surrounded with clouds of gold and rubies in their gorgeous tints; and once below the horizon, all is dark.
As soon as it was dark, we hauled our wind off sh.o.r.e; and a consultation being held between the captain, Mr Phillott, and O'Brien, the captain at last decided that the attempt should be made. Indeed, although cutting out is a very serious affair, as you combat under every disadvantage, still the mischief done to our trade by the fast-sailing privateers was so great in the West Indies, that almost every sacrifice was warrantable for the interests of the country. Still Captain Kearney, although a brave and prudent officer--one who calculated chances, and who would not risk his men without he deemed that necessity imperiously demanded that such should be done--was averse to this attack, from his knowledge of the hay in which the brig was anch.o.r.ed; and although Mr Phillott and O'Brien both were of opinion that it should be a night attack, Captain Kearney decided otherwise. He considered that although the risk might be greater, yet the force employed would be more consolidated, and that those who would hold back in the night dare not do so during the day. Moreover, that the people on sh.o.r.e in the battery, as well as those in the privateer, would be on the alert all night, and not expecting an attack during the day, would be taken off their guard. It was therefore directed that everything should be in preparation during the night, and that the boats should shove off before daylight, and row in-sh.o.r.e, concealing themselves behind some rocks under the cliffs which formed the cape upon one side of the harbour; and, if not discovered, remain there till noon, at which time it was probable that the privateer's men would be on sh.o.r.e, and the vessel might be captured without difficulty.
It is always a scene of much interest on board a man-of-war when preparations are made for an expedition of this description; and as the reader may not have been witness to them, it may perhaps be interesting to describe them. The boats of men-of-war have generally two crews; the common boats' crew, which are selected so as not to take away the most useful men from the s.h.i.+p; and the service, or fighting boats' crew, which are selected from the very best men on board. The c.o.xswains of the boats are the most trustworthy men in the s.h.i.+p, and, on this occasion, have to see that their boats are properly equipped.
The launch, yawl, first and second cutters, were the boats appointed for the expedition. They all carried guns mounted upon slides, which ran fore and aft between the men. After the boats were hoisted out, the guns were lowered down into them and s.h.i.+pped in the bows of the boats.
The arm-chests were next handed in, which contained the cartridges and ammunition. The shut were put into the bottom of the boats; and so far they were all ready. The oars of the boats were fitted to pull with grummets upon iron thole-pins, that they might make little noise, and might swing fore and aft without falling overboard, when the boats pulled alongside the privateer. A breaker or two (that is, small casks holding about seven gallons each) of water was put into each boat, and also the men's allowance of spirits, in case they should be detained by any unforeseen circ.u.mstances. The men belonging to the boats were fully employed in looking after their arms; some fitting their flints to their pistols, others, and the major part of them, sharpening their cutla.s.ses at the grindstone, or with a file borrowed from the armourer--all were busy and all merry. The very idea of going into action is a source of joy to an English sailor, and more jokes are made, more merriment excited, at that time than any other. Then, as it often happens, that one or two of the service boats' crews may be on the sick-list, urgent solicitations are made by others that they may supply their places. The only parties who appear at all grave are those who are to remain in the frigate, and not share in the expedition. There is no occasion to order the boats to be manned, for the men are generally in long before they are piped away. Indeed, one would think that it was a party of pleasure instead of danger and of death upon which they were about to proceed.
Captain Kearney selected the officers who were to have the charge of the boats. He would not trust any of the mids.h.i.+pmen on so dangerous a service. He said, that he had known so many occasions in which their rashness and foolhardiness had spoilt an expedition; he therefore appointed Mr Phillott, the first lieutenant, to the launch; O'Brien to the yawl; the master to the first, and Mr Chucks, the boatswain, to the second cutter. Mr Chucks was much pleased with the idea of having the command of a boat, and asked me to come with him, to which I consented, although I had intended as usual, to have gone with O'Brien.
About an hour before daylight we ran the frigate to within a mile and a half of the sh.o.r.e, and the boats shoved off; the frigate then wore round, and stood out in the offing, that she might at daylight be at such a distance as not to excite any suspicion that our boats were sent away, while we in the boats pulled quietly in-sh.o.r.e. We were not a quarter of an hour before we arrived at the cape forming one side of the bay, and were well secreted among the cl.u.s.ter of rocks which was underneath. Our oars were laid in; the boats' painters made fast; and orders given for the strictest silence. The rocks were very high, and the boats were not to be seen without any one should come to the edge of the precipice; and even then they would, in all probability, have been supposed to have been rocks. The water was as smooth as gla.s.s, and when it was broad daylight, the men hung listlessly over the sides of the boats, looking at the corals below, and watching the fish as they glided between.
”I can't say, Mr Simple,” said Mr Chucks to me in an undertone ”that I think well of this expedition; and I have an idea that some of us will lose the number of our mess. After a calm comes a storm; and how quiet is everything now! But I'll take off my great coat, for the sun is hot already. c.o.xswain, give me my jacket.”
Mr Chucks, had put on his great coat, but not his jacket underneath, which he had left on one of the guns on the main deck, all ready to change as soon as the heavy dew had gone off. The c.o.xswain handed him the jacket, and Mr Chucks threw off his great coat to put it on; but when it was opened, it proved, that by mistake he had taken away the jacket, surmounted by two small epaulets, belonging to Captain Kearney, which the captain's steward, who had taken it out to brush, had also laid upon the same gun.
”By all the n.o.bility of England!” cried Mr Chucks, ”I have taken away the captain's jacket by mistake. Here's a pretty mess! if I put on my great coat I shall be dead with sweating; if I put on no jacket I shall be roasted brown; but if I put on the captain's jacket I shall be considered disrespectful.”
The men in the boats t.i.ttered; and Mr Phillot, who was in the launch next to us, turned round to see what was the matter, O'Brien was sitting in the stern-sheets of the launch with the first lieutenant, and I leaned over and told them.
”By the powers! I don't see why the captain's jacket will be at all hurt by Mr Chucks putting it on,” replied O'Brien; ”unless, indeed, a bullet were to go through it, and then it won't be any fault of Mr Chucks.”
”No,” replied the first lieutenant; ”and if one did, the captain might keep the jacket, and swear that the bullet went round his body without wounding him. He'll have a good yarn to spin. So put it on, Mr Chucks; you'll make a good mark for the enemy.”
”That I will stand the risk of with pleasure,” observed the boatswain to me, ”for the sake of being considered a gentleman. So here's on with it.”
There was a general laugh when Mr Chucks pulled on the captain's jacket, and sank down in the stern-sheets of the cutter, with great complacency of countenance. One of the men in the boat that we were in thought proper, however, to continue his laugh a little longer than Mr Chucks considered necessary, who, leaning forward, thus addressed him: ”I say, Mr Webber, I beg leave to observe to you, in the most delicate manner in the world--just to hint to you--that it is not the custom to laugh at your superior officer. I mean just to insinuate, that you are a d.a.m.ned impudent son of a sea cook; and if we both live and do well, I will prove to you, that if I am to be laughed at in a boat with the captain's jacket on, that I am not to be laughed at on board the frigate with the boatswain's rattan in my fist; and so look out, my hearty, for squalls, when you come on the forecastle; for I'll be d.a.m.ned if I don't make you see more stars than G.o.d Almighty ever made, and cut more capers than all the dancing masters in France. Mark my words, you burgoo-eating, pea-soup-swilling, trowsers-scrubbing son of a b.i.t.c.h!”
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