For Love of Country: A Story of Land and Sea in the Days of the Revolution

by Cyrus Townsend Brady

  CHAPTER XII

  _An Important Commission_

  Meanwhile, interesting conversations were going on forward, of whichthis is a sample.

  "I 'm blest if I like this orderin' business," said one grizzledseaman; "they said he was h--l on orders, but what I shipped for wasprize money and a chance to get a lick at them bloody Britishers; notfor to clean brass work, an' scrape spars, an' flemish down, an'holy-stone decks, which he won't let us spit terbacker on. I don'tcall this no fighting fur liberty, not by a durn sight."

  "Shut up, Bill," replied another; "you've got to obey orders. Thisyere ain't no old tea wagon, no fishing-boat, you old scowbanker, it'sa wessel-o'-war; and may I never see Nantucket again if the old man,"using a merchantman's expression, "ain't goin' to be captain of the oldhooker while he's in it. And if you call this hard work and growl atthis kind o' dissyplin'--well, all I got ter say, you'd oughter been onthe old Radnor. Curse the British devils!" he cried, grinding his heelin the deck. "I 'd give twenty years of my life to be alongside her ina ship half her size; yes, even in this one, and I tell ye yon 's theman to put her there, if he gets a chance. Ain't that so, mates?"

  "Ay, ay, Jack, 'tis true," came a deep-toned chorus of approval.

  "Besides," went on the forecastle orator, "we all know'd wot kind of aofficer he is. Fightin' and prize money is wot we all want; and here's where we 'll git it, you 'll see, eh, mates?"

  "Ay, ay; Jack's right, Bill."

  "Then blow the dissyplin', say I; I'll take orders from a man wot ain'tafraid o' nothin', wot hates the red rag we knows of, wot won't send mewhere he won't go himself. Fightin' and prize money, he 's our man.Besides, wot's the use o' kickin', we got to do it; we're bound by themarticles of war we signed," continued this deep-sea philosopher. "Now,pass me my can o' grog, Tom, I 'm dry as a cod. Here 's to America,and damn the British, too," continued this sea lawyer, drinking histoast amid shouts of approval from the men.

  Left to himself, Seymour, after the men had received their grog, andother necessary duties had been attended to, turned the deck over toLieutenant Wallingford, whose watch it was with Philip Wilton, and,descending the poop-deck ladder, disappeared through the same doorwhich had received the two officers into the cabin.

  Three weeks had elapsed since the raid upon the Wilton place, and thescene had shifted from Virginia to the sea, or rather to the great baywhich gives entrance to it, from the Delaware River. It was a clearcold day in the early part of December, and the American Continentalship Ranger had just left her moorings off Philadelphia, with orders toproceed to English waters; stopping at Brest to receive the orders ofthe commissioners in Paris, and then, in case no better ship could befound, to ravage the English Channel and coast, as a warning that likeprocesses, on the part of England on our own shores, should not gounpunished.

  John Paul Jones, who had already given evidence, not only of thatdesperate courage and unyielding tenacity which had marked him as amongthe most notable of sea officers the world has seen,--lacking nothingbut opportunity to have equalled, if not surpassed a Nelson--but ofconsummate seamanship and great executive ability as well, had beenappointed to command the ship. Before proceeding on the mission,however, an important undertaking had been allotted to him. Thecommissioners had sent word from France, by a fast-sailing armedpacket, of the near departure of a transport from England, called theMellish, laden with two thousand muskets, twenty field-pieces, powder,and other munitions of war, and ten thousand suits of winter clothes,destined for the army that was assembling at Halifax and Quebec for theinvasion of the colonies, by way of the St. Lawrence River and LakeChamplain.

  Congress had transmitted the letter from France to Captain Jones, withdirections that he endeavor to intercept and capture this transport.The destitution of the American army at this period of the war wasfrightful: devoid of clothes, arms, provisions, powder,--everything, infact, which is apparently vital to the existence of an army;continually beaten, menaced by a confident, well-equipped, anddisciplined enemy in overwhelming force, and before whom they had beenhabitually retreating, they were only held together by the indomitablewill and heroic resolution of one man, George Washington. The fortunesof the colonies were never at a lower ebb than at that moment, andthere was apparently nothing further to look forward to but acontinuation of the disintegration until the end came. The meagreresources of the lax confederacy were already strained to the utmost,and the capture of a ship laden as this one was reported to be, wouldbe of incalculable service. Clothes and shoes to cover the nakednessof the soldiery and protect them from the inclemency of the winter, nowfast approaching, and arms to put in their hands, by means of whichthey could assume the offensive and attack the enemy, or at leastdefend themselves--what more could they desire! The desperate natureof the situation, the dire need of just such additions to the equipmentof the army, had been plainly communicated to Captain Jones, and he wasresolved to effect the capture if it were humanly possible. The matterhad also been reported to General Washington; and such was his opinionof the necessity of a prompt distribution and a speedy forwarding ofthe supplies, if they could be secured, by the blessing of Providence,and so little was his faith in the inefficient commissariat, which,moreover, had to endeavor to keep the balance between differentcolonies and different bodies of troops, more or less loosely coherent,that he had detailed one of his own staff officers to accompany theship, with explicit instructions as to the exact distribution and theprompt forwarding which the needs of the troops rendered necessary,when the captured ship should reach port, which would probably beBoston, though circumstances might render it advisable to take thelonger journey to Philadelphia. The officer to whom this duty had beenallotted was Talbot, of whose capacity and energy General Washingtonalready thought highly; the three weeks of their military associationonly confirming his previous opinion. It was understood that Seymour,who was Jones' first lieutenant, and would shortly be promoted to acaptaincy, would bring back the transport if they were lucky enough tocapture it. In case they were unsuccessful, Talbot was to reporthimself to the commissioners at Paris as military secretary, untilfurther orders; and Seymour was to command the Ranger, when Jonesshould get a better ship in France.

  The Ranger was a small sloop of war, a corvette of perhaps five hundredtons, with a raised poop and a topgallant forecastle, built atPortsmouth, New Hampshire; a new ship, and one of the first of thosebuilt especially for naval purposes. She was originally intended fortwenty-six guns, but the number, through the wisdom of her captain, whohad fathomed the qualifications of the ship, had been reduced toeighteen, four long twelves, and the rest six pounders, and smaller,with one long eighteen forward. She had been some days in commission,and the effect of Jones' iron discipline was already apparent in theabsence of confusion and in the cleanness and order of the ship. Thevessel had been very popular with the good people of Philadelphia, hercommander and officers likewise, many of the latter, like Seymour,being natives of the town; and a constant stream of visitors hadinspected her, at all permitted hours. The presence of these visitors,of course including many ladies, coupled with an inherent vanity andlove of finery and neatness on the part of the captain,--and, to do himjustice, his appreciation of the necessity for order and neatness,--hadcaused him to maintain his ship in the handsomest possible trim, and hehad not scrupled to employ his private fortune to beautify the vesselin many small ways, the details of which would have escaped any eye butthat of a seaman, though the general results were apparent.

  That general appearance which should always distinguish a trim andwell-ordered vessel of war from the clumsy and disorderly trader, wasdue entirely to his efforts. The crew, as we have seen, had chafedunder the unusual restraints of this stern discipline; but they wereunable, as, indeed, in the last resort they would have been unwilling,to oppose it. Some of the older men, too, and some of those who hadsailed with Jones in his already famous cruises, held out the hope oflarge prize money, and, what was better with many of them,
the chanceof a blow at the enemy, if any of her cruisers of anything like equalforce appeared,--a chance sure to come about in the frequented watersof the English Channel. The crew of an American man-of-war at thatperiod, at least the native portion of it, always in overwhelmingmajority, was of much higher class than the general run of seafaringmen. Among those in the Ranger were several who had been mates ofmerchantmen,--Bentley again among the number,--men of some education,and able to serve their country as officers with credit, had the navybeen increased as it should have been, and whose subordinate positionsonly indicated their intense patriotism. The low and degraded elementwhich sometimes is such a source of mischief and disaster in ships'crews, was conspicuous by its absence. The reputation of Captain Jonesas a disciplinarian was very well known among sailors generally, andonly his reputation as a fighter and a successful prize-taker wouldhave enabled him to assemble the remarkable crew to which he hadspoken, and which was to back him up so gallantly in many desperateundertakings and wonderful sea fights, of this and his succeedingphenomenal cruise.

  Seymour had rapidly recovered from his wounds under Madam Talbot'scareful nursing and ministrations, and when his orders reached him hehad been ready, accompanied by Philip Wilton and Bentley, to join hisship at once.

  He still carried the blood-stained handkerchief, and many and many atime had laid it, with its initials, "K. W.," embroidered by her ownhand, upon his lips. This was not his only treasure, however. In awallet in the breast pocket of his coat he carried and treasured aletter, only the veriest scrap of paper, with these few lines hastilywritten upon it.

  _These by a friendly hand. We are to accompany Lord Dunmore to Englandnext week as prisoners in the ship Radnor. Both well, but veryunhappy. I love you.----Katharine._

  This note had been brought to him, the day before his departure fromFairview Hall, by one of the slaves from the Wilton place, who had inturn received it from a stranger who had handed it to him with theorders that it be given to Lieutenant Seymour if he were within theneighborhood; if not, it was to be destroyed. There was no address onthe outside of the letter, which, indeed, was only a soiled and tornbit of paper, and unsealed. Seymour had hitherto communicated thisnews to no one, and was hesitating whether or no to tell Talbot, whohad that day joined the ship.

  Seymour found Talbot and the captain together, when, after giving hisname to the negro boy, Joe, who waited in attendance, for Captain Joneswas one of the most punctilious of men, he was ushered into thecaptain's cabin.

  "Come in, Seymour," said the captain, genially, laying aside the formaladdress of the quarter-deck. "Joe, a glass of wine for Mr. Seymour.Has the watch been set?"

  "Yes, sir, and Lieutenant Wallingford has the deck."

  "Ah, that's well; he knows the channel like a pilot. Sit down, man."

  "Thank you, captain. How do you like your first experience on aship-of-war, Talbot?"

  "Very much, indeed," answered the young officer; "and if we shall onlysucceed in capturing the transport I shall like it much better."

  "Well, gentlemen," said Captain Jones, "I will give you a toast. Here's to a successful cruise, many prizes, good chances at the enemy, and,of course, first of all, the capture of the transport, though that willdeprive me of the pleasure of your society. I intend to bear away tothe northeast immediately we pass the Capes, and I count upon strikingthe transport somewhere off Halifax. If we should succeed in capturingher, I am of the opinion, if her cargo proves as valuable as reported,that my best course would be to convoy her to one of our ports, or atleast so far upon her way as to insure her safe arrival. The cargowould be too important to be lost or recaptured under anycircumstances," he continued meditatively. "Well, I think I wouldbetter go on deck for the present. You will excuse me, Mr. Talbot, Iam sure. You will both dine with me to-night. Seymour, a word withyou," he continued, opening the door and going out, followed by hisexecutive officer.