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The Log of a Privateersman

Page 25

by Harry Collingwood


  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

  I END MY CAREER AS A PRIVATEERSMAN.

  For fully an hour the galley dallied with the tempting bait that I hadthrown out, now edging down towards us for a few minutes, and anonhauling her wind again, her commander apparently suspecting some ruse onour part. But at length our seemingly single-hearted anxiety to placeas much water as possible between ourselves and him, together with thefact that both vessels were perceptibly increasing their distance fromhim--the galleon fairly rapidly, the schooner much less so,--got thebetter of his prudence; and, suddenly putting up his helm, he camebooming along down to leeward, wing and wing, steering a course that, asI had expected, would soon carry him alongside the _Senora_.

  The moment that it became apparent that he was in earnest I sent myscanty crew to quarters, the long thirty-two was cleared away andloaded, and all hands stood by to haul inboard again the sail that hadhitherto served so efficiently as a drag. But, beyond this preparation,no other change was made, the schooner still adhering to her course, asthough only anxious to escape from so formidable an adversary.

  About half an hour after bearing up, by which time the galley had nearedus to within about a mile and a half, she fired a shotted gun in thedirection of the galleon, and hoisted her colours. Saunders, to whom Ihad communicated my intentions, took no notice whatever of this; nor didwe. The shot fell a long way short, and was of course merely intendedas a hint for the galleon to heave-to. Another quarter of an hourbrought the galley down abreast of us, and about a mile distant, but shetook no notice whatever of us, her object evidently being to recapturethe galleon first, and so secure--as they would suppose--the treasurethat had been embarked aboard her; after which her commander woulddoubtless have a word to say to the schooner which had so audaciouslypresumed to appropriate, even temporarily, the gold of His Most CatholicMajesty the King of Spain. As the galley swept past us I observed, withkeen satisfaction, that she was not going much over eight knots; and Iestimated that, when we should have got rid of our drag, we should befully a knot and a half better than she was. Of course it would be inher power to rig out her sweeps to increase her speed; but I consideredthat, with the breeze that was then blowing, they would be practicallyuseless except when going directly head to wind; and what I had to dowas so to manoeuvre the schooner as to cut off her escape in thatdirection. What I was chiefly afraid of was that the consorts of thegalley--for I was confident that she had consorts somewhere or other--were close enough at hand to hear the sound of firing; and to makecertain upon this point I shinned up to the royal-yard and had a goodlook round, and I was greatly relieved to find that there was nothing insight.

  I allowed her to get about a mile to leeward of us, and then, instead ofhauling our drag inboard, as I had at first intended, we cut it adriftand let it go altogether, at the same time jibbing over our main-boomand giving chase to the galley. For a space of perhaps ten minutes noperceptible notice was taken, by those on board the galley, of ourchange of tactics; but by the end of that time our sudden and--to theSpaniards--unaccountable improvement in speed had become so marked thatit could not fail to attract attention; and presently signs becameobservable that it was occasioning considerable uneasiness. Thegalley's sweeps--forty in number--were suddenly rigged out, and sheassumed the appearance of a gigantic centipede hurrying over the surfaceof the sea, her long oars rising and falling swiftly, with a gun-likeflash of sunlight off their wet blades, as they churned the water intosnow-white foam on each side of her.

  But a very few minutes sufficed to prove the correctness of my judgmentas to their uselessness under the present circumstances, a very distinctconfusion of movement among the shining blades revealing--what I hadforeseen--that her canvas was driving her too fast through the water forher oarsmen to keep pace with her. The confusion rapidly became morepronounced, until every individual oar-blade was rising and fallingindependently of all the others, while frequent pauses of movement,accompanied by a great splashing of water, revealed that the unhappyoarsmen were busily engaged in the unseamanlike operation of "catchingcrabs". As a matter of fact, her sweeps were proving to be a hindrancerather than a help to her, and we began to overhaul her so fast that wewere soon within point-blank range of her. Tom Hardy had assumed chargeof our Long Tom, and he had gradually worked himself up into such anuncontrollable condition of fidgety impatience, running his eye alongthe sights and then glancing round at me, that it seemed cruel to keephim thus any longer on the tenter-hooks of suspense, and I, ratherreluctantly, nodded permission to him to fire. The next instant the gunspoke out, the shock of its discharge jarring the schooner to her keel,and the shot flew high over the mast-heads of the galley and a littlewide of her.

  "I expected as much, Tom," remarked I reprovingly. "You are far toomuch excited. Take it coolly, man; take it coolly. That galley must beeffectually disabled, or she will give us the slip to windward and bringtwo or three more like herself after us, which I have no desire at allto see. And I have no desire to take her, for she would be worse thanuseless to us, she would be a really dangerous possession. Ah! Iexpected as much; down comes her canvas; she is going to try to dodge usand work out to windward in the wind's eye! Never mind the gun justnow; in with the stunsails, for your lives, or she will be too quick forus!"

  What I feared and expected had come to pass. Our heavy shot had fairlyfrightened the people aboard the galley; they realised at last that atrick had been played upon them, and her commander's great anxiety nowevidently was to get as quickly as possible out of the trap that he hadbeen decoyed into. And, with this object, he had suddenly lowered hissails and put his helm hard over, with the object of returning by theway that he had come. But we were to windward of the galley, and, ourstunsails coming in with a run, we were able to haul close upon a windalmost as quickly as the galley, when--the latter now depending upon heroars alone--the schooner proved to be considerably the faster of thetwo, thus effectually cutting off our antagonist's escape in thatdirection.

  "Now, back to your gun, and load as quickly as you like!" exclaimed I;for I knew that a very critical moment was at hand for us; a moment thatwould decide whether it was the galley or ourselves that was to bevictorious. And presently my anticipation became realised; theSpaniard, finding his escape cut off, again putting over his helm untilthe vessel swerved round with her long, keen bows pointing straight atus. Her commander intended to run us aboard--if he could--and, shouldhe succeed, the schooner would either be sent to the bottom by theviolence of the shock, or we should fall into the hands of theSpaniards, to endure, in all probability, a fate even more horrible thanthat from which Hoard had escaped.

  Straight as an arrow for us came the galley, her two masts keepingsteadily in one as her helmsman relentlessly followed the schooner'smovement through the water, while the long oar-blades now rose and fellquickly in perfect time, urging the long, snake-like hull toward us at aspeed of fully seven knots. Tom Hardy mopped the perspiration ofexcitement from his brow with a bright red handkerchief as he mutteredanathemas upon his previous ill-luck, but I saw that he had pulledhimself together, for his hand was as steady as yours is at this momentas he gently waved it in direction of those who were training the gun.

  "Now, Tom," said I, when he had reported all ready, "this shot must gohome, mind; there must be no missing this time! So take it coolly; lether approach us to within a hundred fathoms before you think of firing--I will give you the word--and then let her have it as soon as you arecertain of your aim."

  "Ay, ay, sir," answered Tom. "I'll have her this time or you may callme a sojer. Give the word, sir, whenever you like."

  "There is no hurry, Tom," said I. "Keep her covered for another threeminutes, and then you may do as you like. And you, my man," Icontinued, turning to the helmsman, "steer small for the next fewminutes, and give Tom a chance."

  "Ay, ay, sir; `steer small' it is!" answered the man.

  "They're at work upon that gun of theirs, sir," reported Hardy at thismo
ment. "Shall I fire and stop 'em, sir?"

  "Yes," said I; "she will do now. But don't fire until you areabsolutely certain of her."

  The galley was now within about a hundred and fifty fathoms of us,coming on at a tremendous pace, the water leaping and foaming andglancing about her bows, and her long length still pointed obstinatelyat us. There was a brass gun mounted upon her forecastle, the rays ofthe sun flashing off it as though it had been made of gold; and aboutthis gun some seven or eight figures could be distinctly seen busilymoving; while aft upon her poop were grouped four men in brilliantuniforms and with their swords drawn. And beyond her forecastle,grouped along either rail, could be just made out the heads and theflashing weapons of a strong body of boarders, ready to spring in uponour decks at the instant when the two hulls should come together.Despite the anxiety and suspense of the moment I could not helpremarking to myself that, if they intended to carry us by boarding, thecommander of the galley was conning his craft in a very lubberly,unseamanlike way.

  As the thought passed through my brain there was a bright flash, astunning report, and a jarring of the whole frame of the schooner as ourlong gun again spoke out; and, so instantly following the report that itseemed to be almost a part of it, I distinctly heard a crash,immediately followed by a dreadful outcry of screams and yells andgroans of mortal anguish, seeming all to start at the same instant outof a hundred throats. Our shot had evidently gone home, and it had asevidently told severely; but exactly how much damage it had done couldnot be guessed at for the moment until our smoke had blown away toleeward of the galley. And ere it had done this there came a flash anda report from her, and the next instant I was aware of a shot that camehumming so closely past my head that the wind of it actually blew my capoff and all but overboard. I stooped, picked it up, and replaced it onmy head.

  As I again turned my gaze to leeward, there was the galley, with aclean, neat shot-hole in her starboard bow, so close to the water-linethat the furrow ploughed up by her rush through the water was flashingand leaping right over it; and--what was of at least equal importance tous just then--both banks of oars were trailing limp and motionless, asif suddenly paralysed, in the water alongside of her. And paralysedthey certainly were, for the moment at least, because our thirty-two-pound shot had evidently raked the oarsmen's benches from end to end ofthe ship. Her way immediately began to slacken; and although I saw anofficer dash aft and with his own hands jam the helm hard over to lay usaboard, her movements became so sluggish that we had no difficulty inavoiding her, she being fully ten fathoms distant when she went driftingslowly across our stern. As she did so, a heavy, confused volley ofmusketry was poured into us from the boarders that lined her gunwale,but although the bullets flew past us like hail, not one of us wastouched; and immediately afterwards a loud outcry arose aboard thegalley, upon which every man at once threw down his arms and jumpedbelow.

  "Ready about!" shouted I. "And you, Tom, load again, and stand by togive her another shot as we cross her bows. We must not leave her nowuntil we have rendered it impossible for her to get up to windward againand tell of our whereabouts, and that of the galleon. If you couldcontrive to smash a good number of her oars with a raking shot it wouldbe better even than hulling her; for, after all, it would be a terriblething to destroy so much life. She must have at least two hundred andfifty people aboard her."

  "Ay; all that--or more, sir. It'll take at least four men to handle oneof them long, heavy sweeps, the way that they was handled just now.But, as to smashing of 'em, I don't know as I can do it; a man wouldhave to be a very tidy shot to hit more'n one or two of 'em. But I'lldo my best, sir; and no man can't do no more."

  The schooner's helm was put down, and she was hove round upon theopposite tack, and at once kept away for the galley, which had by thistime fallen broadside-on to the sea, her oars still remainingmotionless. We steered a little to leeward of her, with the intentionof luffing into the wind athwart her stern and throwing our topsailaback, so giving Hardy time to level and point his thirty-two-pounder;and we had gained our position and were in the act of backing ourtopsail, when the officer of whom I have already spoken reappeared uponthe poop and, hastily hauling down the galley's colours, hailed in veryfair English:

  "We surrender, senor; we surrender! In the name of the Blessed Virgin Ipray you not to fire again! The galley is in a sinking condition; andunless we can quickly stop the leak she will go down and drown us all.What is it you will that we shall do in the matter?"

  "Where is the leak situated?" demanded I.

  "In the bow, senor; so close to the water-line that the sea is pouringinto the vessel like a river," was the answer.

  "Then," said I, "you had better cut both your sails adrift and fotherthem over the leak; after which your only chance of safety will be tomake for the nearest port--which I take to be Porto Bello. I will standby you until you have choked the leak; but I can do no more for you, asmy carpenter is aboard the galleon; and moreover he does not understandSpanish, and therefore could not direct your people."

  "A thousand thanks, senor," answered the Spaniard, bowing low to me. "Iwill follow your instructions, and am in hopes that, by adopting theplan you have suggested, we may be able to reach the land."

  Then, with another bow to me, which I duly returned, he disappeared; anda moment later I heard him shouting some orders to his people, sometwenty or thirty of whom at once sprang on deck and began to cut thelateen sails away from the long, tapering yards. Meanwhile, I could nowsee that the galley was gradually filling, as she was perceptibly deeperin the water than when we had first encountered her; and thinking itpossible that I might be of use, I ordered our people to launch thedinghy, in which, with one hand, I went under the bows of the galley.The shot-hole which was the cause of all the mischief was now completelyunder water more than half the time, showing only when the bows of thevessel lifted over a swell. I saw that they had plugged it with canvasfrom the inside, and the officer informed me that two men were engagedin holding the canvas in place against the pressure of the water, whilethe rest of the crew were, as I could see, engaged in baling. I thoughtI could see my way to improve matters a little; so I directed theofficer to launch his gun overboard, to lift the bows a little, and toshift all his movable weight as far aft as possible. I then returned tothe schooner, and procured a thin sheet of lead, a dozen nails, and ahammer, and with these I contrived, with some difficulty, to pretty wellstop the leak, although I was careful not to stop it too effectually,lest the officer should decide to take the risk of making his way towindward instead of to the nearest land. But I do not think I had anyreal ground for apprehension, for I could see that the poor fellow wasthoroughly frightened; and when I had patched up the hole, and had toldhim that there would be no need to use the sails, save to help him toreach Porto Bello as quickly as possible, he was overpoweringly profusein his expressions of gratitude for my help and what he was pleased toterm my "generosity."

  It was drawing well on toward noon when at length the galley was oncemore in a condition to get under weigh, which she did forthwith, headingto the southward under oars and sails; and inexpressibly thankful was Ito see the last of her, and still more so to think that I had contrivedto get rid of her without sending her and all her company to the bottom.Before parting I contrived to elicit from her commander that two of hisconsorts had proceeded to search for us in the Gulf of Darien, whilethree more had made the best of their way to Point Gallinas, tointercept us there in the event of our trying to make our way to theeastward.

  Having thus successfully shaken off our formidable foe, I crowded sailupon the schooner in pursuit of the galleon--which all this while had,in pursuance of my orders, been running off the wind to leeward,--andwhen at length we overtook her, the galley had long vanished in thesouth-eastern board. We consequently hauled up to the northward oncemore, and shaped a course for Jamaica, where,--not to make the story toolong,--we arrived without further adventure on the fourth morning afterour encount
er with the galley.

  As may be supposed, I lost no time in waiting upon my very good friend,the Admiral; whom I found up to the eyes in business in his office atPort Royal. Nevertheless, busy though he was, he gave orders for me tobe admitted, and shook hands with me heartily as I presented myself.

  "Good morning, Mr Bowen," said he. "I won't ask you to sit down, for Iam so busy this morning that I positively don't know which job to tacklefirst. I merely consented to see you in order that I might congratulateyou--for I hear that you have brought in a prize of some sort, and a biglump of a craft she is, too," casting his eyes toward her as she layfull in view of his office window. "Not the galleon, though, I suppose?No such luck--What? is it really so? Upon my honour, I very heartilycongratulate you, my dear sir, I do indeed. And my ears are tingling tohear your story, which I am certain will be well worth listening to; butI haven't the time for it just now. Come up to the Pen to dinner to-night, and tell it me then, will you? That's right; sharp seven, mind!And now, good-bye until this evening, you lucky young dog!"

  Upon leaving the Admiral, I proceeded up the harbour to Kingston in aboat manned by negroes. A large fleet of ships of all sizes occupiedthe anchorage abreast of the town; and as we drew nearer two vesselsseemed to stand out from among the rest and challenge my recognition. Ilooked at them more intently. Surely I could not be mistaken!

  "Cuffee, what are the names of those two vessels--the brigantine and theschooner--that are moored close together there?" demanded I of thecaptain of the boat.

  "My name not Cuffee, sah; my name am Julius Caesar Mark Anthony Brown,sah! And dem two vessels am called respectably de _Dolphin_ and de_Tiger_; bofe of dem privateers, sah," was the boatman's answer, givenwith great dignity and the utmost gravity.

  "Thank you, Julius Caesar Mark Anthony Brown," retorted I, with equalgravity. "Have the goodness to shove me alongside the _Dolphin_, willyou?"

  "Certainly, sah; wid de utmost pleasure, sah," answered the negro, witha broad grin of delight at the unwonted receipt of his full cognomen.And in a few minutes we ranged up alongside the old familiar schooner,and I recognised many old familiar faces looking curiously down into theboat.

  "By the living jingo if it ain't Mr Bowen come back to life!" I heardone man say; and in a moment there was an eager rush to the gangway tomeet me. The unexpected sight of so many well-known faces, most of themhailing from the same birthplace as myself, and all of them evidentlyglad to see me again, moved me strongly; and almost before I knew whereI was I found myself on deck and heartily shaking hands all round.Then, as soon as the excitement had abated somewhat, I inquired forCaptain Winter.

  "He is ashore, Mr Bowen," answered the mate, who had caught my name andevidently appeared to be familiar with it, although the man was a totalstranger to me. "He went ashore directly after breakfast, and I don'tmuch expect to see him aboard again until pretty late in the afternoon.But I expect you'll find him and Cap'n Comben either at Anderson'sstore, or at Mammy Williamson's hotel. Or, if you don't find 'em,you'll be sure to get news of 'em at one or the other of them twoplaces."

  "Thank you," said I; "I will look them up. But in case I should notfind them, please say that I will call aboard again to-morrow morningabout nine o'clock."

  So saying, I climbed down into Julius Caesar's boat again, and tenminutes later was landed upon the wharf.

  It was by this time drawing well on toward noon, or "second breakfast"time; so I shaped a course for Mammy Williamson's in the first place;and there, sure enough, I came upon my old skipper and Comben, seated attable among a number of other ship-masters and a sprinkling ofcivilians. As I entered I heard my name mentioned by Winter, andthought I also caught the word "galleon."

  "Speak of an angel, Captain Winter, and--you know the rest," said I, asI stepped up to him with outstretched hand.

  In a moment every man had started to his feet, and I was surrounded--hemmed in--by an enthusiastic crowd, who, having somehow got wind of mylucky capture, were eager to congratulate me. Nothing would do but Imust sit down and take breakfast with them and relate my adventure; andit was past two o'clock that day before any of us budged. For not onlyhad I to tell the whole story of my doings from the day when I partedcompany in the _Manilla_, but I also had to hear Captain Winter's storyas well. The latter I shall not relate here, as it would require awhole volume to do justice to it; but for the gratification of thereader's curiosity, I may say that the _Dolphin_ and the _Tiger_, aftera protracted fight, in which both suffered severely, succeeded inbeating off the French frigate. Since then they had both been knockingabout in the Atlantic, with only moderate success, making Barbados theirhead-quarters; hence they had heard nothing of me save in a letterreceived from Mr White, in which he stated that, up to the time ofwriting, no news had been received of the _Manilla_, and that he greatlyfeared she must have been lost or captured.

  Having at length transacted the business that had taken me to Kingston,I returned to the schooner pretty late in the afternoon, Winter andComben accompanying me to have a look at the galleon and the _SwordFish_; and later on I returned with them to Kingston to keep my dinnerappointment with the Admiral.

  I found my host, as usual, with his table full of company, among thembeing the captain of the _Triton_ frigate, and several other navalofficers, all of whom were exceedingly civil to me, especially after Ihad related the particulars of the capture of the galleon. We spent avery pleasant evening; and when at length the guests rose to go, theAdmiral whispered to me to remain as he had something to say to me.Accordingly, when all hands but myself had left, my host conducted me towhat he called his "snuggery", which was a comer of his spaciousverandah inclosed with large glazed partitions, and fitted up as asmoking-room. His negro butler set out the table with glasses,decanters, a big crystal jug of sangaree, and a box of cigars, and leftus.

  As soon as we were alone and had made ourselves comfortable, the oldgentleman turned to me, seemed to look me through and through forseveral seconds, so intently did he rivet his gaze upon me, and then heremarked:

  "I dare say you are wondering what this important matter can be that hascaused me to keep you behind in order that I may have an opportunity totalk it over with you. Well, my dear fellow, I am a poor hand atbeating about the bush; if I have a thing to say, I like to say itoutright; so tell me, now, has it ever occurred to you to wish that youwere a king's officer, instead of being merely a privateersman?"

  "Upon my word, Sir Peter, that is a strange question indeed to ask,"said I; "but I do not mind confessing to you that I have over and overagain regretted that circumstances did not permit me to enter HisMajesty's service. Not that I have any real cause to complain, for Isuppose I may now call myself a fairly rich man, with the division ofthe galleon's prize-money in prospect; much richer than I should havebeen by this time had I had an opportunity to enter the navy. At thesame time I have been impressed over and over again with the honour anddistinction attaching to His Most Gracious Majesty's service, and whichare wholly apart from any question of the length of a man's purse; andit is impossible to shut one's eyes to the fact that, if a man happensto be ambitious, there is no service where his ambition has more scopefor gratification than in the British navy."

  "Precisely," agreed the Admiral. "And do you happen to be ambitious?"

  "Yes," I answered frankly. "Every one of my successes, such as theyhave been, has been robbed of a very appreciable amount of its sweetnessby the reflection of the far greater honour and glory that would havebeen mine had I happened to have been a wearer of the King's uniform."

  "Then," said the Admiral, "may I take it that, if an opportunity were tooffer for you to enter the King's service, you would accept it?"

  "Undoubtedly you may, sir," answered I excitedly, as the drift of theconversation suggested itself to me for the first time. Then, in aflash, I qualified my statement by adding: "Of course I mean if I couldenter as a commissioned officer. As a warrant-officer I fear I shouldbe quite out of pla
ce. I have had so much liberty, and have been, so tospeak, my own master for so long--"

  "That you think you would find the discipline irksome?" interrupted theAdmiral. "My dear boy, I have no doubt you would, and nobody but a foolwould ever think of spoiling a fine, dashing, young fellow like yourselfby attempting any such transformation. As you say, you would bewoefully out of place in such a position. You would be wasted. Butupon your own quarter-deck, with a good crew of thoroughly disciplinedmen to back you up, and the authority of the King's commission to giveyou confidence, you would soon make a name and a place for yourself.Now, you did a very important and valuable service to the State when youbrought timely intelligence of the approach of the combined French andSpanish fleets to West Indian waters, and you did a still more importantand valuable service in watching that fleet, and afterwardscommunicating with Lord Nelson. In recognition of those services,therefore, it affords me very great pleasure to offer you a commissionas lieutenant in His Majesty's navy. There it is, my boy," producing alarge official-looking document from his pocket; "and I sincerely hopethat you will not only accept it, but that also, with such friendly helpas I may be able to afford you, you will rapidly distinguish yourselfand do credit to my penetration in selecting you for so unusual anhonour."

  For the moment I was altogether too thoroughly overwhelmed to utter aword, which the old gentleman at once perceived, for he said hastily:

  "There, there! no thanks, no thanks; I know exactly what you arestruggling to say, and I will take it as said. You need not trouble tothank me in words. Let your deeds express your gratitude; and if youbehave as well under the pennant as you have hitherto done under themerchant flag, I shall be more than satisfied. And I intend to give youevery opportunity of distinguishing yourself and doing me credit. Forit happens that the _Triton's_ boats captured a becalmed pirate schoonerlast week, and brought her in. The lieutenant who led the attack losthis life, poor fellow, in boarding, so that he has not to be considered;and I propose, therefore, to purchase the craft into the service andgive you the command of her. She sails like a witch, I am told, and isa wonderfully powerful vessel, just the sort of craft to give a smart,young fellow like yourself every chance to race up the ratlines ofpromotion. So now, all that you have to do is to arrange somehow to berelieved of your present command as soon as possible, and then to stepinto your new berth."

  This I had no difficulty whatever in doing, thanks to the lucky chanceof Captain Winter being in the same port. I slept at the Pen thatnight, my kind friend, the Admiral, insisting upon my so doing; and thenext evening I found myself in a position to inform him that allarrangements had been made to relieve me of the command of the _SwordFish_, and to take the galleon home to England. And within forty-eighthours of the receipt of my commission I had entered upon my new career,and had ceased to be a privateersman.

  THE END.

 



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