Part 15 (1/2)
The famed _Belle Poule_ straight ahead did lie; The _Arethusa_ seemed to fly-- Not a sheet, or a tack, Or a brace, did she slack, Tho' the Frenchmen laugh'd and thought it stuff; But they knew not the handful of men, how tough On board of the _Arethusa_.
On deck five hundred men did dance, The stoutest they could find in France; We with two hundred did advance On board of the _Arethusa_.
Our captain hailed the Frenchmen, Ho!
The Frenchmen they cried out, Hallo!
”Bear down, d'ye see, To our admiral's lee.”
”No, no,” says the Frenchman, ”that can't be;”
”Then I must lug you along with me,”
Says the saucy _Arethusa_.
The fight was off the Frenchmen's land, We forced them back upon their strand, For we fought till not a stick would stand Of the gallant _Arethusa_.
And now we've driven the foe ash.o.r.e, Never to fight with Britons more.
Let each fill a gla.s.s To his favourite la.s.s; A health to our captain and officers true, And all that belong to the jovial crew Of the gallant _Arethusa_.
On the 23rd of June Admiral Keppel's fleet came in sight of that of the French under the command of the Comte D'Orvilliers. After an engagement of some hours, the French fleet took to flight during the night, and escaped into Brest.
It is impossible to relate the numberless gallant actions which from this period took place for many years between the s.h.i.+ps of Great Britain and her enemies.
In consequence of charges exhibited by Sir Hugh Palliser against Admiral Keppel for his conduct in the engagement just mentioned, a court-martial was held at the governor's house at Portsmouth to try him, when the following sentence was p.r.o.nounced:--”That in their opinion the charge against Admiral Keppel is malicious and ill-founded, it having appeared that the said admiral, so far from having, by misconduct or neglect of duty on the days therein alluded to, lost an opportunity of rendering essential service to the State, and thereby tarnished the honour of the British Navy, behaved as became a judicious, brave, and experienced officer.”
On the following day Admiral Keppel received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament.
Not long after this the ”gallant _Arethusa_” was wrecked upon the rocks near Ushant, in pursuit of an enemy. The crew were saved, and treated by the French with great humanity.
On the 15th of June, 1779, his Royal Highness Prince William Henry embarked on board his majesty's s.h.i.+p _Prince George_, 90 guns, to serve as a mids.h.i.+pman in the navy. The next day a proclamation was issued to commence hostilities against Spain, in consequence of the hostile att.i.tude that country had a.s.sumed. The first Spanish s.h.i.+p captured during the war was taken by the _Pearl_, of 32 guns, commanded by Captain George Montague, during a cruise off the Western Islands. After an action which lasted from half-past nine till half-past eleven, she struck, and proved to be the _Santa Armonica_, a Spanish frigate of 32 guns and 271 men, 38 of whom were killed and 45 wounded. The _Pearl_ had 12 killed and 10 wounded.
Admiral Byron, though a gallant officer, appears always to have been unfortunate. In the last engagement which took place while he commanded the British fleet on the American station, Comte D'Estaing managed to pa.s.s him and escape after severely mauling his s.h.i.+ps, when 103 men were killed and 346 wounded, though the French loss amounted to 1200 men killed and 1500 wounded.
At this time the want of active flag-officers was severely felt.
Promotions were exceedingly slow, so that it was not until officers were nearly superannuated that they attained to that rank. The junior captain promoted in 1779 to the rank of rear-admiral was Sir John Lockhart Rose, who had been twenty-three years on the list of post-captains. Others had been a still longer time.
The French s.h.i.+ps also had a great advantage in being coppered, besides which, though respectively carrying the same number of guns as the British, they were much larger vessels.
Among the actions fought at this time, one deserves especially to be noticed. It ended disastrously to the English flag; although nothing could exceed the gallantry displayed by British officers and seamen on the occasion. Captain Richard Pearson, commanding the 44-gun s.h.i.+p _Serapis_, in company of the armed 22-gun s.h.i.+p _Countess of Scarborough_, Captain Thomas Piercy, was escorting the Baltic Fleet, loaded with naval stores, which were at that time of especial consequence to supply the dockyards, left almost dest.i.tute of them. The _Serapis_ was one of a remarkably bad cla.s.s of s.h.i.+ps, worse even than the two-decked 50-gun s.h.i.+ps. She measured 886 tons, and her armament consisted of 20 long 18-pounders on the lower-deck, 22 long 12-pounders on the main-deck, and 2 long 6-pounders on the forecastle, making in all 44 guns. These guns she carried on two decks, but the lower-deck ports were so close to the water's edge that it was dangerous to open them in a seaway, besides which the s.p.a.ce between decks was so low that it was with difficulty they could be worked, while the upper-deck had only a light breast-high bulwark. From the length of the lower-deck guns they could not be easily run in, while the 12-pounders on the main-deck were so old and their vents so large that much powder exploded through them.
The convoy had already made the coast of England, and was close in with Scarborough, when information was received from the sh.o.r.e that a flying squadron of the enemy's s.h.i.+ps had been seen the day before standing to the southward. Upon receiving this intelligence, Captain Pearson made the signal for the convoy to bear down under his lee, but they still kept stretching out from the land, till the headmost vessel caught sight of the enemy, when they tacked and stood insh.o.r.e, letting fly their topgallant sheets and firing guns. Captain Pearson on this made sail to windward to get between the enemy's s.h.i.+ps and the convoy. At one o'clock the strangers were seen from the mast-head of the _Serapis_, and at four were discovered from the deck to be three large s.h.i.+ps and a brig. His consort, _Countess of Scarborough_, being at this time close insh.o.r.e, Captain Pearson ordered her by signal to join him. The approaching s.h.i.+ps were three fitted out in France, but carrying the American flag, and commanded by Captain Paul Jones. The largest had formerly been an Indiaman, and her name had been changed to that of the _Bon Homme Richard_. She is supposed to have measured about 946 tons, and to have carried on her main-deck about 28 long 12-pounders, on the lower-deck, 6 or 8 18-pounders, and 2 long 6-pounders on the forecastle.
The other s.h.i.+ps were the American 36-gun frigate _Alliance_, the French 32-gun frigate _Pallas_, the _Vengeance_, a French 14-gun brig, and the French _Cerf_ cutter. As yet, however, the strangers' colours were not visible.
At about 7:20 the two-decked s.h.i.+p, soon known to be the _Bon Homme Richard_, brought to on the larboard bow of the _Serapis_, within musket-shot, when Captain Pearson hailed her, and asked, ”What s.h.i.+p's that?”
”The _Princess Royal_,” was the answer. Captain Pearson then asked from whence they came, and on an evasive answer being returned, declared that he would fire if his question was not directly answered. The stranger then fired a gun, on which the _Serapis_ gave her her broadsides.
Several broadsides were now exchanged, when the American s.h.i.+p hove all aback, and dropped on the quarter of the _Serapis_, evidently with the intention of raking her. Filling again, she ran the _Serapis_ aboard on the weather or larboard quarter, and an attempt was now made to board her, but was at once repulsed. Captain Pearson now backed his yards to enable him to get square with his antagonist, but gathering too much stern-way, the _Richard_ was able to fill and stand across his bows.
Her mizen-shrouds, however, catching the jib-boom of the _Serapis_, and the spar giving way, the s.h.i.+ps dropped alongside each other head and stern. Both s.h.i.+ps were kept in this position in consequence of the spare anchor of the _Serapis_ having entered the gallery of the _Richard_, when a furious cannonade was carried on, the muzzles of the guns touching each other. While in this position, the _Alliance_ frigate coming up, sailed round the combatants, pouring in a galling fire on the _Serapis_, to which no return could be made. There could have been little doubt that even thus Captain Pearson would have gained the victory, had not some hand grenades been thrown on his deck, which set the s.h.i.+p on fire several times, one of them igniting a cartridge of powder, the flames of which communicated from cartridge to cartridge all the way off, and blew up the whole of the people and several officers who were quartered abaft the main-mast. By this time all the men on the quarter and main-decks were killed or wounded. Notwithstanding this, so furious had been the fire of the _Serapis_, that at ten the enemy called for quarter; but on Captain Pearson hailing to inquire if they had struck, and no answer being given, he ordered the boarders away. As, however, they reached the deck of the enemy, they found a superior number of men concealed with pikes in their hands ready to receive them.
On this the crew of the _Serapis_ retreated to their own s.h.i.+p, and instantly returned to their guns; but at the same moment the frigate again poured another broadside into her with such effect that the main-mast fell, and Captain Pearson being unable to get a single gun to bear on his antagonist, was compelled to strike his colours. He and his first lieutenant were immediately escorted on board the _Bon Homme Richard_. He found her condition to be even worse than his own; her quarters and counter were entirely driven in; the whole of her lower-deck guns dismounted, and she was also on fire in two places, with six or seven feet of water in the hold.
In the meantime Captain Piercy had been closely engaged with the _Pallas_ and _Vengeance_, but perceiving another frigate bearing down on him, he also was compelled to surrender. The next day the _Bon Homme Richard_ sank, and Paul Jones and the French frigate carried their prizes into the Texel. The two English captains had done their duty, and saved their convoy, which all escaped. Of the numerous crew on board the _Richard_ no less a number than 317 were killed or wounded, while the _Serapis_ lost 49 killed and 68 wounded, many others suffering from burns--while, from the ill-treatment the prisoners received, many of the wounded died.
On the return of Captains Pearson and Piercy, the former was knighted and the latter promoted, and both received testimonials from the London a.s.surance Company, as an acknowledgment of their skill and bravery, which had preserved the valuable fleet from capture. Had s.h.i.+ps of sufficient force been sent out to convoy the fleet, the enemy would, in all probability, have been captured.