Part 12 (1/2)
In 1708, Commodore Wager, with a small squadron, attacked a fleet of galleons on their way from Porto Bello to Carthagena. The Spanish admiral's s.h.i.+p, the _San Josef_, of 64 guns and 600 men, blew up with a cargo on board of 7,000,000 pounds in gold and silver, only seventeen men being saved. The vice-admiral escaped, but the rear-admiral, of 44 guns, was captured. She had, however, only thirteen chests of eight and fourteen sows of silver. The rest of the galleons were for the most part loaded with cocoa. Two of Commodore Wager's captains, who had disobeyed his orders, were tried by a court-martial, and dismissed from the command of their s.h.i.+ps.
About the same time Captain Purvis, while chasing a French s.h.i.+p, got his vessel on a ledge of rocks, where she was bilged. He, and some of his men, however, reached a small Key within shot of the French s.h.i.+p, which mounted 14 guns and had on board 60 men. She kept up a brisk fire upon the Key until Captain Purvis with his own boats and a canoe had boarded her, when her commander called for quarter and surrendered on condition that he and his crew should be set on sh.o.r.e. Captain Purvis got the French s.h.i.+p off and returned in her to Jamaica.
Another gallant exploit was performed by Captain Colby, commanding a privateer. Being on a cruise on the Spanish main, he fell in with fourteen sail of brigantines and sloops, laden with valuable goods taken out of the galleons at Porto Bello. They were bound to Panama, under convoy of a guard sloop, which he bravely fought and took, with six of her convoy.
An Act of Parliament was pa.s.sed this year, by which the forfeited and unclaimed shares of prize-money were to be paid into Greenwich Hospital.
The Prince George of Denmark dying, the Earl of Pembroke was appointed Lord High Admiral of Great Britain in his stead.
England was, as before, determined to a.s.sert her supposed sovereignty of the narrow seas, and to compel other nations to acknowledge her claims.
While cruising in the chops of the channel the _Winchester_, Captain Hughes, chased a strange sail, on coming up with which he discovered her to be a large Dutch privateer. The commander, on being required to pay the usual compliment to the British flag, not only refused, but discharged a broadside into the _Winchester_. An obstinate fight ensued, in which the Dutch commander and forty of his men were killed.
The Dutch and English were at this time, it will be remembered, at peace; but we hear of no complaint being made of the proceeding.
On the retirement of the Earl of Pembroke, the queen, in November, 1709, issued a warrant for the executing of the office of Lord High Admiral by commission. The next year an Act was pa.s.sed for the purchase of lands in order to fortify and better secure the royal docks at Portsmouth, Chatham, Harwich, Plymouth, and Milford Haven.
By another Act, any seaman in the merchant-service, who had been disabled in defending or taking enemy's s.h.i.+ps was deemed qualified to be admitted into Greenwich Hospital.
A fleet, under Sir Hovenden Walker, whose flag-s.h.i.+p was the _Edgar_, was sent out to attack Quebec, and to recover from the French Placentia, in the island of Newfoundland. Having arrived too late in the season he was compelled to return. While he and most of the officers were on sh.o.r.e, on the 15th of October, the _Edgar_ blew up at Spithead, when every soul perished.
There lay at that time in the Downs two privateers, the _Duke_, of 30 guns and 170 men, commanded by Captain Wood Rogers, and the _d.u.c.h.ess_, of 26 guns and 150 men, commanded by Captain Stephen Courtnay, having been fitted out by some Bristol merchants to cruise against the Spaniards in the South Seas. They had just returned from thence, having captured a Spanish s.h.i.+p with two millions of pieces of eight on board.
On their voyage they had touched at the island of Juan Fernandez, which they reached on the 31st of January, 1708-9. Two of the officers with six armed men had gone on sh.o.r.e, but not quickly returning, the pinnace was sent well manned to bring them off. Towards evening they both came back bringing with them a man clothed in goat-skins, who appeared wilder than the goats themselves. He seemed very much rejoiced at getting on board, but at first could not speak plainly, only dropping a few words of English by times, and without much connection. However, in two or three days he began to talk, when he stated that, having been four years and as many months upon the island without any human creature with whom to converse, he had forgotten the use of his tongue. He had been so long inured to water and such insipid food as he could pick up, that it was some time before he could reconcile himself to the s.h.i.+p's victuals, or to the taking of a dram. He stated that he was a native of Largo, in Fifes.h.i.+re, that his name was Alexander Selkirk, and that he had belonged to a s.h.i.+p called the _Cinque Ports_, commanded by one Stradling, who, upon some difference, set him on sh.o.r.e here, leaving him a firelock with some powder and ball, a knife, a hatchet, a kettle, some mathematical instruments, a Bible, and two or three other useful books, with a small quant.i.ty of tobacco, a bed, bedding, etcetera. At first his loneliness weighed heavily on his spirits, but in time he became inured to it, and got the better of his melancholy. He had erected two huts, one of which served him for a kitchen, the other for a dining-room and bed-chamber.
They were made of pimento wood, which supplied him also with fire and candle, burning very clear, and yielding a most refres.h.i.+ng fragrant smell. The roof of his hut was of long gra.s.s, and it was lined with the skins of goats, nearly five hundred of which he had killed during his residence on the island, besides having caught above five hundred more, which he marked on the ears, and then set at liberty. When his ammunition was exhausted he caught them by running, and so active was he, that the swiftest goat upon the island was scarcely a match for him.
While the s.h.i.+ps remained, Mr Selkirk often accompanied the men to hunt the goats with the dogs, whom he always distanced, and frequently tired out. At first, for want of salt, he was unable to relish his food, which consisted of goats' flesh and crawfish, but in time he took to seasoning it with pimento fruit, which is not unlike the black pepper of Jamaica. At first the rats plagued him very much, growing so bold as to gnaw his feet and clothes while he slept. However, he managed to tame some cats which had been left on sh.o.r.e, and these soon kept the rats at a distance. He also made pets of a few kids, and used to divert himself by dancing among them, and teaching them a thousand tricks. When his clothes were worn out, he made a fresh suit of goat-skins joined together with thongs which he had cut with his knife, and which he ran through holes made with a nail instead of a needle. He had a piece of linen remaining, of which he made a s.h.i.+rt to wear next his skin. In a month's time he had no shoes left, and his feet having been so long bare were now become quite callous, and it was some time after he had been on board that he could wear a shoe.
Alexander Selkirk subsequently entered the Royal Navy and became a lieutenant. A monument to his memory was erected on the island of Juan Fernandez by the captain and officers of a British s.h.i.+p of war which touched there a few years ago. On Selkirk's adventures Daniel Defoe founded his immortal story of ”Robinson Crusoe.”
For some time before the end of Queen Anne's reign no general action worthy of particular mention was fought, although in several engagements between single s.h.i.+ps or small squadrons the seamen of England maintained the honour of the British flag. At length, in 1713, the peace of Utrecht put an end to the war. During it the French had been deprived of all pretensions to the dominion of the sea. England had gained and retained possession of Gibraltar, Minorca, Hudson's Bay, the whole of Nova Scotia, the island of Saint Christopher, and also the chief part of Newfoundland; her fleets had literally swept the Mediterranean of all foes, scarcely a French s.h.i.+p daring to navigate its waters, and even the Algerines and other piratical states of Barbary, instead of paying court to the French, now yielded to us, and acknowledged the superiority of the British flag.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
GEORGE THE FIRST AND SECOND--FROM A.D. 1714 TO A.D. 1760.
Happily, England being at peace with France when George the First came to the throne, and the Dutch being our firm allies, the history of that period is barren of naval engagements. We possessed, however, numerous skilful commanders, and the navy was in as efficient a state as at any previous period. Sir George Byng, afterwards Viscount Torrington, commanded the fleets of England during the greater part of this reign.
The princ.i.p.al officers who served under him were Sir John Leake, Sir John Jennings, Sir James Wishart, Admiral Baker, the Marquis of Carmarthen, Sir William Jumper, and Admiral Aylmer.
On the meeting of Parliament in 1715, 10,000 seamen, at 4 pounds a man per month, were voted for the navy. It also granted 35,574 pounds for the half-pay of sea-officers; and the piratical States of Barbary again becoming troublesome, Admiral Baker cruised against them, and destroyed most of their vessels.
In 1716 Captain Delgarno, an active officer in command of the _Hind_, 20 guns, came up with one of their best men-of-war, mounting 24 guns; when, after a most obstinate and b.l.o.o.d.y battle, he compelled her to strike, and soon after she sank, all her crew, with the exception of thirty-eight, peris.h.i.+ng.
The West Indies being at this time overrun with a desperate set of pirates, a proclamation was issued offering a pardon to all who would surrender themselves within a twelvemonth. After the expiration of that time a reward was offered to any of his majesty's officers, by sea or land, who should take a pirate, after he had been legally convicted: for a captain, 100 pounds; for any other officer down to a gunner, 40 pounds; an inferior officer, 30 pounds. Any private man delivering up a captain or commodore was ent.i.tled to 200 pounds.
In 1718 the Spaniards sent a fleet and army to attack the possessions of the King of Naples, on the island of Sicily. This giving offence to the English, Sir George Byng was appointed to the command in the Mediterranean, with directions to protect the Neapolitans. Soon after Sir George arrived off Messina he discovered a Spanish fleet amounting to twenty-seven sail, besides fire-s.h.i.+ps, bomb-vessels, and galleys. On seeing the English, the Spaniards stood away, and the admiral chased them, and finally, after a running fight, captured the Spanish admiral, Chacon, with five s.h.i.+ps of the line, one frigate of 44 guns, and one of 36. Captain Walton in the _Canterbury_, with five more s.h.i.+ps, had been sent in pursuit of another part of the Spanish fleet. On the 22nd August Sir George received the following pithy despatch from him:--
”We have taken and destroyed all the Spanish s.h.i.+ps and vessels which were upon the coast, the number as per margin.--I am, yours, etcetera, G. Walton.”
In 1722, the navy being on a peace establishment, 7000 seamen alone were voted at the usual rate of 4 pounds a man per month.
Notwithstanding the proclamation which had been issued for the apprehension of pirates, those daring sea-robbers continued their depredations, and became especially formidable on the coast of Africa, as well as in the West Indies. The most notorious of them was one Roberts, an able seaman, of undaunted courage, and capable of command.