Part 17 (1/2)
Stephen did so. The approach of the boat was apparently un.o.bserved, and the companion-ladder was not lowered. He therefore ordered the men to cease rowing; presently an officer appeared at the side.
”The admiral wishes to know what is the matter, and why you do not obey his signals,” Stephen said sharply, standing up in the stern-sheets.
”The crew are in a state of mutiny,” the officer said, ”and they refuse to get up the anchor.”
Stephen returned with the message. The admiral at once gave orders for the frigate to bear down on the _Chacabuco_, and the crew were mustered at quarters. When she came within a cable's length of the _Chacabuco_ the frigate was thrown up into the wind, and the admiral shouted: ”Unless the anchor is a-peak in five minutes we will blow you out of the water.”
There was no mistaking the earnestness of the tone, and many of the men sprang at once to the capstan bars, and the anchor was soon out of the water. ”Make sail,” Lord Cochrane again ordered, ”and keep along close beside us.”
A few minutes later the fleet were all under sail, and that afternoon entered the port of Coquimbo. As soon as the anchors were let go the admiral's gig was lowered, and he went on board the _Chacabuco_.
”What is all this about?” he asked the captain, who received him at the gangway.
”The men say that they are overworked, your excellency; that they are kept hard at it all day making and taking off sail, and that they want to leave the s.h.i.+p.”
”Muster the crew, sir,” Lord Cochrane said briefly. The crew silently a.s.sembled. The port-holes of the _O'Higgins_ were all opened, and the men could be seen standing at the guns.
”Now, men,” Lord Cochrane said, ”I give you five minutes to pick out the twelve men who have been the ringleaders in this mutiny. You will iron them and bring them on board the flag-s.h.i.+p, where they will be tried and punished for their offence. What! is there a s.h.i.+p's crew of Chilians so regardless of their duty, so careless of the honour of their country, that they are ready to disgrace themselves by turning into a pack of mutineers, merely because they are required to do extra work to fit them for fighting the enemies of their country? I am willing to believe that you have suffered yourselves to be misled, and that you did not understand the magnitude of the crime that you were committing. There, six bells are striking. You have five minutes to put your ringleaders into a boat. See that you do not exceed that time, for as soon as my watch tells me that five minutes have gone, I give the order to fire. One broadside will be sufficient to send the _Chacabuco_ to the bottom. Gentlemen,” he said, turning to the officers, ”at the end of the five minutes, if my orders have not been carried out, you will take to the boats and leave the s.h.i.+p, and as soon as you have done so we shall open fire.”
He then turned on his heel, went down the ladder, and rowed back to his s.h.i.+p. As he left he saw there was a great uproar on board the _Chacabuco_ as the sailors disputed among themselves who had been their leaders in the matter. Two boats were lowered at once, and just before the expiration of the given time twelve men were put on board them ironed, and were then rowed to the flag-s.h.i.+p. A signal was made for the first lieutenant of each of the other s.h.i.+ps of the squadron to come on board, and a court-martial was at once held upon the mutineers. The man who was shown to have been at the bottom of the whole affair, was sentenced to be hung, and the rest to terms of imprisonment. The admiral remitted the death sentence and changed it to ten years in jail, and the culprit and the other prisoners were taken on sh.o.r.e and handed over to the civil authorities. Having thus given a wholesome lesson, Lord Cochrane proceeded northward to Callao Bay, where he intended to attack a considerable naval force gathered there.
They were protected by the batteries of Callao and of San Lorenzo, a little island in the bay, mounting in all one hundred and sixty guns, in addition to those on board the Spanish war-s.h.i.+ps, which consisted of a few frigates, two brigs, and eight gun-boats. To attack such a force lying under the guns of their batteries was too perilous an enterprise for even Cochrane to undertake. He determined, however, to make an attempt to do them at least some damage. He knew that two American men-of-war were expected to arrive in Callao, and he made some slight changes in his flag-s.h.i.+p and the _Lautaro_, hoisted the American flag, and sailed toward the harbour. The Carnival was at the time being carried on, and there was the less chance that a vigilant watch would be kept up by the forts and s.h.i.+ps. Unfortunately a dense fog came on, and for eight days the Chilians were forced to remain inactive. At the end of that time, hearing a heavy firing, and believing that one of his s.h.i.+ps must have gone into the bay and had been attacked by the enemy, Cochrane stood in the direction of the sound. The other s.h.i.+ps did the same, when the fog clearing up in a moment, they discovered each other, and found a small gunboat lying close to them.
This they captured at once, and learned that the firing was a salute in honour of the viceroy, who had been paying a visit to the batteries, and was now returning to the town in a brig-of-war which was crowding all sail. The fog again closed in, and hoping the capture of the gun-boat had not been noticed, Lord Cochrane determined to risk a partial engagement rather than withdraw without firing a shot, as a retreat now would raise the spirits of the Spaniards and depress those of the Chilians.
Accordingly the _O'Higgins_ and the _Lautaro_ stood on, each having a boat ahead sounding. The wind fell very light, and instead of going in and engaging the Spanish s.h.i.+ps as he intended, Lord Cochrane was forced to anchor at some distance from them. The moment that the two Chilian vessels were made out through the fog the s.h.i.+ps and batteries opened fire upon them, showing that the capture of the gun-boat had been observed and the sailors and garrison called to the guns.
For two hours the s.h.i.+ps were exposed to a heavy fire from the batteries and s.h.i.+ps. They replied steadily, their aim being chiefly directed against the northern angle of one of the princ.i.p.al forts, whose fire especially annoyed them. As soon as a little breeze sprang up, anchors were weighed, and the two s.h.i.+ps sailed to and fro in front of the batteries returning their fire, until Captain Guise, who commanded the _Lautaro_, was severely wounded, and his s.h.i.+p at once retired from action. Neither of the other Chilian vessels ventured within range from first to last. The flag-s.h.i.+p being thus left alone exposed to the whole fire of the enemy, Lord Cochrane was ultimately obliged to relinquish the attack. He retired to an island three miles distant from the port, and for five weeks blockaded Callao.
”This is dull work, Mr. Embleton,” the admiral said one day, as he paced up and down the quarter-deck. ”What can one do with four badly-equipped s.h.i.+ps, one of which has lost its commander, who though not friendly to me was at least an officer of courage, the other two commanded by men who are afraid to bring their s.h.i.+ps within range of the enemy's guns, and all badly manned, badly provisioned, and by no means in fighting trim. If the Spaniards would but sail out to engage us, we might do something, but they have dismantled their frigates, and nothing will tempt the gun-boats to move out from the forts. The only consolation is that the spectacle of our blockading the place successfully cannot but rouse the spirit of the Chilians, and induce them, I hope, to make an effort to put a force on the sea capable of completely crippling the Spaniards.”
At the end of five weeks the little fleet proceeded to Huacho, a short distance north of Callao. The bulk of its inhabitants were secretly in sympathy with the Chilians, and the Spanish garrison evacuated the place and fled almost immediately the s.h.i.+ps opened fire. The order was given for boats to be lowered, and Lord Cochrane himself landed to see that there was no scramble for the property of the government. Of this a large quant.i.ty was found in the stores, together with a considerable amount of money, which was of even more importance to the Chilians, whose treasury was empty, and who were crippled in all their operations by want of specie. During April and May Lord Cochrane cruised up and down the Peruvian coast. Several landings were effected, and valuable captures made of money and stores.
The property of the Peruvians was always respected, and the admiral spared no pains to convince the inhabitants that the Chilians were their friends and were hostile only to the Spaniards their oppressors. Several s.h.i.+ps laden with stores for the Spanish troops also fell into their hands.
Towards the end of the cruise a sail was observed at some distance in the offing. As, at the moment, the boats were about to effect a landing to capture a fort from which the Spaniards had been driven by the fire of the s.h.i.+ps, the admiral turned to Stephen and said:
”Mr. Embleton, please to take command of the second cutter. She is a fast sailer, and I have no doubt that you can overhaul that brig in a couple of hours. The boat's crew are already on board and armed, but I don't suppose you will meet with any resistance. When you have boarded her you will take command of her and navigate her to Valparaiso. I shall be returning there in the course of two or three days.”
Stephen touched his hat and ran below. He was delighted at the prospect of his first command, though it was not a very important one. He had brought the best of his chronometers with him, and s.n.a.t.c.hing up this, his quadrant, and a pocket compa.s.s, he at once descended the ladder to the boat, which had been hailed by the admiral and ordered to lie there, the petty officer who commanded being transferred to another boat. The crew consisted of twelve men. As the breeze was off sh.o.r.e Stephen ordered the masts to be stepped at once, and the two lug-sails hoisted. The crew were glad to escape the labour of carrying down stores from the fort and transporting them to the s.h.i.+p, and sat down contentedly in the bottom of the boat, while Stephen himself took the tiller. The brig was hull-down when seen from the boat, and Stephen calculated that she was six or seven miles out. She was steering south and had evidently less wind than that which was taking the cutter fast through the water. He made his course to a point some four miles south of the brig, so as to cut her off, and it was not long before it was evident to him that he should succeed in doing so.
They were within two miles of the s.h.i.+p when he saw the sailors talking earnestly together and looking towards the sh.o.r.e. Glancing round he saw that the tops of the hills were enveloped in clouds, a sign, as experience had already taught him, of the approach of a gale. The brig, which had evidently not noticed the boat, had also observed the threatening aspect of the clouds, and as Stephen again looked ahead, began to shorten sail.
”Had we not better return?” one of the Chilians asked.
”Certainly not,” Stephen said. ”The wind is against us, and the storm will burst before we could get back, so that we should be much better off in that brig than we should be in this open boat. Get out oars, men, and help her along. The wind is freshening already. If it rises much more the brig will run away from us.”
The wind indeed got up rapidly, and the oars had to be laid in while the cutter was still a mile off from the brig. She had evidently been observed, and an attempt was being made to hoist some of the upper sails that had been lowered; but the boat was now flying through the water, and in a quarter of an hour ran up on the leeward side of the brig. The sails were dropped, the bow man caught hold of the chains with his boat-hook, and Stephen and the rest of the crew at once scrambled on board cutla.s.s in hand.
There was, however, no resistance. The crew of the brig were as numerous as the boarders, but the successes of the Chilians had created such an effect that the captain cried out, as they leaped on board, that they surrendered. Stephen's first order was to get the cutter up, and tackles were soon hooked on to her, and she was raised from the water and laid bottom upwards on deck. While this was being done the Peruvian crew were ordered to shorten sail.
It was none too soon, for the brig was heeling far over, and the wind momentarily increasing in strength. The Chilians gave a cheer as soon as the boat was safely on board, and in a very short time the sail was reduced to double-reefed top-sails. Under these and a storm-jib she was laid head to wind. The sky was now entirely obscured, the land was no longer visible, and the sea was beginning to rise.