CHAPTER FOUR
That morning, while wearing our new uniforms and our sea bags over our shoulders, the Instructor marches us on-board the Andy Dor. Once on deck, while I walk towards the stern, the men line up, drop their sea bags and stand at attention. Our new Captain was coming, and we have to look spiffy for him. Being the cabin boy, as Captain Nicholas walks up the boarding ramp, I slowly raise the ensign.
Reaching the top, of the boarding ramp, Captain Nicholas stops, turns to the flag and comes to attention. Then, when I finish raising the flag, he salutes it. After saluting the flag, with no one chosen as the Officer of the Day, he turns to the men, salutes and asks for permission to come on-board. When they return his salute, he slowly walks a mid-ship. With his back to us, the Instructor shouts, “RIGHT FACE”. As we turn, Captain Nicholas, does an about face. While facing us, he waits for his Officers to join him.
Each Officer, as he steps on-board, salutes the flag, requests permission to come on-board, stops in front of the captain, salutes him, then turns to face us. This was the first time the four Officers and crew lay eyes on each other. During this ceremony, I continue standing at the stern of the ship.
After a moment of silence, the Captain commands, “stand at ease. It’s cold out here, so I will make this short. From this point on, any training will be done at sea. Store your gear below and make the ship ready, we are sailing in the morning. It’s my understanding the ship was stocked with provisions before she left dry-dock. Those of you with family in town, after you finish your assignments, you will be allowed and spend the night with them and must be back at first light. Your Instructor is now your Ensign.”
As the Captain leaves, Lieutenant Snibly, who, because of his rank is the second in command, shouts, “ATTENTION”, when we snap to attention, he shouts, “DISMISSED.” As we are leaving the deck, Lieutenant Snibly says to, our new Ensign, “I need you to help me get this ship ready.”
The Ensign asks, “Sir, what about the Daily Usage Inventory?”
The Lieutenant snaps back, “Ensign, you can do that when we’re out at sea. Didn’t you hear the Captain say that the ship was stocked before it left dry-dock? Now here is a list of what I want you to do.”
In the morning we wake up to ice covered riggings. The Captain, rearing if we raised the frozen sails we may damage them, we waited until noon before slowly raising them. It took until sunset, for a favorable wind to slowly inch us out of the harbor. Finally, we’re out of the harbor and those that are not on duty head for the warmth below deck.
The next morning, the Ensign takes the Daily Usage Inventory and is relieved that we have everything on the list. As he’s about to put the book away, it hits him, WAIT A MINUTE, he looks at the numbers again, UH OH, we only have the minimum amount of wood and that’s not enough to cook the food AND heat the cabins. After double-checking, the stockpile of wood, he thinks, should I tell the Captain, or should I tell the Lieutenant and he can tell the Captain. No, it’s my responsibility; I have to tell the Captain. I should have insisted on doing the inventory the day we boarded the ship. But, being a newly promoted Ensign, I didn’t want to have Lieutenant Snibly on my bad side. Well, if I’m still an Ensign tomorrow, that’ll never happen again.
I was in the cabin, with the Captain, when the Ensign came in and informed him of the oversight.
The stunned Captain calmly dismisses the Ensign, pauses for a moment, and then his face turns red as he shouts, “JOE, GO INFORM LIEUTENANT SNIBLY I WANT TO SEE HIM NOW!”
The Lieutenant sheepishly walks into the cabin, jumps to attention and says, “Sir, may I explain, I was told….”
The Captain motions him to be quiet; he needs a moment to calm down. “Lieutenant Snibly, since this is your fault, you WILL make it right. We will not be humiliated by going back to the harbor to plead for firewood. Plot a course to the nearest location where we can get firewood and give the pilot the heading.” As the Lieutenant turns to leave the Captain stops him, points to a cabinet filled with maps, and says, “Lieutenant, don’t you think you’ll need maps to plot your course?”
After the humiliated Lieutenant Snibly leaves, the Captain turns to me and says; “yes, I was hard on him; someday he’ll make a good Captain. I should not have chastised him in front of you. Remember this, what is said in this cabin stays in this cabin, unless I say otherwise, UNDERSTOOD.” When I nod yes, he says, GOOD, now please leave, I need to decide if I should note this in the Daily Log.”
When I walked out on the deck, Tom walks up to me and says, “We all heard the Captain shouting at someone. I hope he wasn’t too hard on you. He’s got to realize we’re all new at this.”
It was hard for me to keep quiet. I wanted to tell Tom and the rest of the crew what really happened. If I told them about the incident, the Captain would never trust me again; he might even replace me with someone else. I didn’t want that, it took me months to memorize what fathoms, knots and leagues are. All day funny one-liners kept going through my head; the depressing part was that I can’t use any of them.
We sailed for a week before we docked in a bay below a fort. The fort was on top of a hill overlooking the bay and the north point of a channel. The fort sits high enough to control the whole area. This place was chosen because while most of the crew will be chopping down trees, the ship will be vulnerable to any enemy ship that passes by. While the crew waited, five sailors and I row the Captain, Lieutenant Snibly, and the Ensign ashore to meet with the fort’s Commander. As we pulled our boat to shore a welcoming party of one Officer and twelve soldiers were waiting for us. The welcoming party advances towards us as the Captain sets foot on shore.
The Officer stops in front of Captain Nicholas, salutes and says, “General Arnold sends his apologies for not welcoming you himself; he is overseeing repairs to the fort. The other night we repelled an attack by six warships and about one hundred marines. We sank one ship and badly damaged the others. It is my understanding we hurt them more than they hurt us. He would invite you to join him, but the fort is badly damaged and unsuitable to accept visitors. I am authorized to help you if I can.”
Captain Nicholas replies; “we are in dire need of firewood. We should be done in four days.” The Officer nods in approval. “Good, now, when you go back, ask Commander Arnold, if he can, to join me for dinner tomorrow. Assure him, if he does, he will be pleasantly surprised. I will also be sending out a hunting party so don’t be alarmed if your hear muskets being fired. One more thing I need to borrow a horse, so I can send dispatches to Boston.”
When the horse arrives, the Captain gives the Ensign a pouch and bids him God’s speed. With that accomplished, he tells Lieutenant Snibly, with two men to stay and scout the area for suitable trees. With that accomplished, we row back to the ship. Once on-board, he orders a hunting party to go ashore and search for fresh meat and anything else Ebenezer may need for tomorrow’s supper. I volunteer to join the hunting party. I would rather hunt than chop wood.
After two hours of searching, we’re ready to give-up. The other night’s battle must have scared all the animals away. While taking a break, I decided to climb a tall tree to get a better look of the area. With the sea to my east, I look west to see if I could find an open area where birds might be hiding. Seeing nothing but woods, I turn to climb down. As I started to climb down, I noticed something round bobbing in the water close to the shore. After I climbed down, I told the others about what I saw. Since we had no luck finding wild game, we decided to salvage the item. As we approached the area, we noticed a lot of debris on the shore. It must have been from the British Ships that attacked the fort. We split up; the debris was spread out over a wide area. We decided if someone finds something of value, he would signal the others by firing two shots. As I walked around a bend in the shoreline, I notice four barrels lying on the shore, also one bobbing in the water just off shore. With some effort, I stand one
barrel upright. After reading the writing, scribbled on the barrel, I fire two shots. When the others arrive, I show them what I found; it was four barrels marked Salt Pork Plus. After getting the boat, we load the barrels onto it and row back to the ship. Like gunpowder, you can never have too much food on-board. Once we get the barrels on-board, Skinny-Tom grabs an ax. After several swings, the tops come off. What was inside them was better than any wild animal. Inside the barrels were salted hams, pork chops, ribs, and roasts. The ship, that the fort sank, must have been the British Flagship. Only British Admirals eat this good. If the barrels were for the seamen, they’d have feet, tongues, and knuckles from pigs or cows.
Instead of four days, we stayed ten. It took that long for the Ensign to come back with new orders for us. We were dismayed when the Captain, after reading the new orders, tells us to unload half the wood and give it to the fort. Once out at sea, the Captain calls Company Formation. Company Formation means everyone, sleeping, working, on or off duty comes out on deck and listens to what the Captain has to say.
We understood why we had to take off the extra wood after the Captain says, “we’re going to sail to Providence Island in the Bahamas, and go ashore. Our spies have told us, that in the town of Nassau, the British stored large amounts of gunpowder and muskets.”
After our dismissal, the Officers and crew continue with their duties. Those that had none, quickly go back inside to get warm.
Tom joins me as I walk toward the cabin and says, “I’m glad we’re traveling somewhere warm. I’m no stranger to cold weather, but today is different. Being wet and cold is making my toes feel weird and sore.”
I tell him, “you better see the Doctor; you might have frostbite.”
Tom replies, “You’re probably right; I’ll see him as soon as my shift is over.”
As I watch Tom leave, I think, he’s really taking a chance, if the frostbite is bad enough, he may lose some toes.
It was almost morning, when Tom’s shift ended. Tom decides to wait until after breakfast to see the Doctor. Tom figured, by then, the Doctor would be in a good mood and would not holler at him for waiting so long to see him.
When Tom sees the Doctor, he says, “Sir, there is something I want you to see. I don’t think it’s serious, then again, it might be.”
The Doctor, after inspecting the toes tells Tom, “it’s a mild case of frostbite, here put this ointment on strips of cloth and wrap your feet with them before you put your boots on. Wrap clean strips with fresh ointment on your feet every day until it clears. If you promise to be more careful, I won’t report this negligence to the Captain.”
Tom salutes and says, “Thank you Sir. If you ever need any help keep me in mind.”
“Thanks,” the Doctor says, as he smiles and motions Tom to go away. “I’ll keep you in mind, if I need help.”
As planned, we sail straight for Abaco Island. When we’re thirty leagues off the coast of Virginia, we see two lightly armed British Ships. Since the British Ships are faster, if we aren’t able to disable their masts, they will outrun us. Knowing this Captain Nichols decides to go after them anyway. He wanted us to finally attack the enemy; it didn’t matter if they got away.
Nickolas shouts, “CLEAR FOR ACTION.” That translates to Battle Stations. “Tom, put one across her bow.”
After Tom’s cannon spits out its cannonball, we watch as it hits the water, between both ships. Before Tom can reload, both ships lowered their colors. Unable to hold back their enthusiasm, the crew shouts with joy. I couldn’t, I was too stunned by the ship’s actions. While the shouting continued, I think, how can that be, one shot across their bow and they gave up I say aloud,
When a smiling Captain Nicholas, comes along side, I turn to him and say, “Sir, why didn’t they try to defend themselves? I would not have given up so easily; at least not without firing one volley.”
The Captain looks at me and says, “Joe, some Captains don’t want to fight. They will gladly surrender. Not all will command as I do. Now tell Lieutenant Snibly to gather the crew.” With everyone together, the Captain says, “MEN, normally these captured ships would be escorted to the nearest port. But, because of our orders, we cannot do that. We are going to take the ships with us and sell the cargo after we capture Nassau.”
When Captain Nickolas saw the British crew, after putting the British Officers in the brig, he gave the crew a choice, sail with us under a small guard, or join your officers.
Their spokesman, in broken English, said, “Sir before we agree, we have two requests. 1) That you don’t send us back to England. 2) That you don’t send us to a prison ship.”
Captain Nickolas, in a gesture of friendship, offers his hand as he says, “I agree.” After a hearty handshake, Nickolas turns to Snibly and says, “Lieutenant, launch two rowboats and confiscate all of the pistols, muskets, and sabers from the captured ships. While returning, with the weapons, also bring a British rowboat.” Two hours later, after the British Officers are lowered into the rowboat, Captain Nickolas tells them; “if you travel west, you should reach land before your supplies run out.”
Once we’re on our way, I ask the Captain, “Sir, we don’t have any of those prison ships, do we?”
The Captain replies, “Joe, not to my knowledge, why they believe we do is beyond me?”
It takes us another two weeks to reach our destination. Once at Abaco Island we wait for the rest of the fleet. This gave us time to prepare the ship for the impending battle. Muskets and pistols needed refitting with new flints and powder horns needed filling.
Along with the preparations, there were drills, drills, and more drills. With a green crew, the Captain feared that, when the battle begins, we might forget our assignments. He wants us to react without thinking about what we’re doing.
Three times a day the whole crew did hand-to-hand combat training. The men formed into two groups. When the signal is given, with empty pistols and sticks simulating cutlasses, one group would attack the other. During the mock assaults the Officers who had experienced hand-to-hand combat, taught the men. The Captain knew you had to have taken part in a battle to understand the madness that happens. The main job of the Instructors was to assess the mock assaults and to report any or no progress to the Captain. Based on those reports, the Captain will, if needed, reassign personnel and change the training. Captain Nickolas needed well-trained combatants, and he needed them fast.
During one mock battle, our Doctor was standing at the stern of the ship, watching. As he turns, to walk away, out of the corner of his eye, he notices someone’s pistol sailing towards him. For some reason he just stands there, watching the pistol as it gets closer. When it’s within inches of the Doctor’s head, a hand grabs the pistol. Tom caught it before it hit the Doctor. Tom’s action prevented the hammer from impaling itself into the Doctor’s head.
Tom whispers, as he hands the pistol to the Doctor, “I guess this makes us even? Don’t worry; I’ll save your life again if I need to.”
The startled Doctor just stands there holding the pistol as a sailor approaches him and asks, “Sir, may I have my pistol back?”
The Doctor hands the pistol to the sailor and heads towards his cabin. Never again, did, the Doctor, venture out of his room during hand-to-hand combat practice.
Though, I engaged in the exercises, when the battle starts, my assignment is to load muskets for the sharpshooters on the center mast’s firing top. To be effective a sharpshooter does not need to waste time loading his weapon. Being a fast musket loader, I’m assigned to load Ebenezer’s muskets. When it comes to accuracy, Ebenezer is the envy of the crew.
Finally, over the next two weeks, the other ships stagger in. While waiting for the Admiral’s ship to arrive, our training is expanded to practicing boarding techniques. Each day we latch our ship to one of the others and b
oth crews would practice boarding and repelling. The winner is the one who captures other’s Naval Jack; which is a small flag on the bow of the ship.
To make it more interesting we would wager the other crew that we’d capture their Naval Jack before they captured ours. Because we were becoming the undefeated champions, each boarding turned into a grudge match. Captain Nickolas stopped the wagering after one group got a little too aggressive. They broke our winning streak, but not before three of their men almost drowned trying to attack us from behind. When the men, defending our Naval Jack, saw a rowboat approaching, they waited until the rowboat came alongside before dropping a cannonball into the boat. The weight of the cannonball caused a gaping hole in the rowboat. In their haste to abandon the boat, they tangle themselves up in some ropes. The rowboat sank so fast they almost didn’t get free in time. The Captain of the Seabreese was not happy about losing the rowboat. To quell, the Seabreese Captain’s anger, Captain Dor has us retrieved and repaired the rowboat.
When the last ship arrives, the Captains and the Admiral meet to devise a plan of attack. Nassau Harbor has two forts guarding it, Fort Nassau and Fort Montague. The Admiral wants to attack Fort Nassau first. It’s the oldest, with fixed cannon mounts that can only move fifteen degrees to the left or right, this made it the most vulnerable. The Admiral plans to capture Fort Nassau by an assault from land and sea. It took another week of training and refitting our captured ships before we’re ready. The next few days, the Officers revised the plan several times.
Tired of the bickering among his Captains, the Admiral says, “Let me make myself clear, NO MORE CHANGES AFTER TODAY. Now, I will give each one ten minutes to present your new ideas.” Before anyone can say anything, the Admiral says, “Captain Nickolas, are your captured ships ready?”
With a voice filled with confidence, Captain Nickolas says, “Admiral, they’re ready. Also, with your permission, the captured crew agrees to cooperate, if afterwards we set them free in a neutral port.”
The Admiral writes something, “GOOD, here’s the order.” He sits down, flips his oversized hourglass, which has ten-minute lines on it and says, “Gentlemen, from left to right, let me hear what you have to say.” After everyone has their say, the Admiral stands up and says, “Gentlemen, thank you for your insight. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll give you my final decision tomorrow.” One Officer tries to say something but the Admiral stops him before he can. “What part of tomorrow do you not understand?” The Admiral turns his back to the Officers and sternly says, “DISMISSED.”
In the morning, rather than having another meeting, the Admiral sends messengers each Captain, with a copy of the battle plan. When Captain Nickolas receives it, he goes into his cabin and, unmindful that I’m cleaning the room, he reads the orders out loud. Make your ship ready; with the full moon waning, we will leave in three days. Before we reach Nassau, two hundred and seventy sailors and Marines will board the captured ships and sail towards the harbor. To avoid alarming Nassau’s garrison, the ships will fly British Flags. Once inside the harbor, they will dock at the north end. The darkness should veil any movement of the ships from the sentries. At first light, the fleet will fire its cannons at Fort Nassau. While our ships are keeping the British occupied, the assault team will go ashore and attack the rear of the fort. After capturing Fort Nassau, we will deal with Fort Montague, which guards the southern approach. Both forts guard the entrance of the harbor, which is between them. Because they’re too far apart to guard each other, by attacking Fort Nassau first, Fort Montague’s cannons are useless against us.
When the Captain finishes, I ask him, “Sir, may I be in one of the captured ships?”
The Captain looks at me, “I don’t know. Oh, why not. You need to get your feet wet someday, why not now.”
As planned, on the third day the two captured ships, with the assault team on-board, sailed for Nassau. The American Ships waited until the assault ships sailed beyond the horizon. Once they couldn’t see the two ships, the armada sets sail.
While sailing towards Nassau, reality sets in and I start getting second thoughts; STUPID, why did you volunteer? Oh well, too late now... I stop feeling sorry for myself when I see the harbor lights and hear six bells. Good, it’s three in the morning. It’s a perfect time to sneak into the harbor, too late for partyers to be up and too early to get up.
As we approached the harbor entrance, I whisper, “Sir, off the port bow; two flashes of light. It looks like a signal; now they’re out of sight.”
Before the lookouts can say anything, we hear the sound of cannon fire coming from the fort. Several cannonballs fall short of the ship’s bows.
Lieutenant Snibly, in command of the ships, shouts, “TURN AROUND, TURN AROUND. WE ARE SITTING DUCKS OUT HERE. IF WE GET ANY CLOSER THEY’LL BLOW US OUT OF THE WATER.”
We turn around and like scared rabbits, hightail it out of harm’s way. Fortunately, we were out of their range when they fired a second volley.
As we were sailing away, I mention, “How did they know that we were coming? We were quiet and with no full moon, they couldn’t see us. If they waited until we were closer, it would have been a massacre; luckily for us, they panicked and fired too soon.”
After making sure no one came after us, we sail towards the rest of the fleet. When we finally met up with the others, it was already daylight. Officer Snibly boards the Flagship and reports to the Admiral. He should have reported to Captain Nicholas first, but I guess he didn’t want to get reprimanded for failing to do something again. In Snibly’s defense, later I found out he was ordered to report to the Admiral if there was a problem.
Lieutenant Snibly stands in front of the Admiral and salutes while saying, “Sir they spotted us; how, I don’t know. As we were about to enter the harbor, cannonballs were flying across our bow. Somehow, they must have spotted us after we left Abaco Bay. To save my ships I had them turn around and sail away.”
The Admiral, after dismissing the Lieutenant, signals the other ships to follow him. Anchoring somewhere safe, the Admiral has the Captains meet with him. Refusing to give up, the Admiral decides to assault Fort Montague. This time, he plans to have the assault team land two miles south of the fort.
When the Marine Lieutenant mentions his concern, the Admiral tells him, “Lieutenant, my order stands. Now, how do you plan on assaulting the fort?”
We wait several days before carrying out the Admiral’s new plan. The Admiral hopes the wait will lull the British into a false sense of security. In addition, the wait will give us time to train for the assault. Each evening the assault team practices wading ashore. Wading ashore is not the problem. Wading ashore without getting their gunpowder wet is.
While watching and listening, to the first practice session, I learn that wading ashore in the dark is different from wading ashore during the day. In daylight, you can see where you’re going, at night you can’t. During the first practice, some of the men walked ashore several, hundreds of yards from the others. One Marine proudly walks ashore and reports to the Officer. It took him a while to live down the fact that he reported to a fledgling palm tree. Another sailor, wet and tired, sits down and starts talking to a sailor next to him. When the other sailor answers him by snorting the sailor jumps up and screams as he runs away. The scream causes the wild boar to run away. When dawn arrives, the group is still on the beach trying to regroup. For the plan to work they needed to be attacking the fort at dawn, not on the beach looking for stragglers. The second morning’s practice was worse; the tide was stronger and it scattered them further apart.
As the tired men come aboard their respective ships, Captain Nicholas watches them out of his cabin’s window and mumbles, “I believe, if we don’t solve this problem the assault will never work.” Then he turns to me, and in desperation asks, “I don’t suppose you have any ideas as to how we c
an solve this problem; do you?”
I stop my cleaning and say, “Sir, back home while hunting in the woods at night, my dad would hang a small lantern on a tree. As long as we could see the light, we knew our way back.”
Nicholas’s eyes light up. “That’s so simple it could work. I knew there was something I liked about you.” He walks up to me and puts his hands on my shoulders. “How would you like to be the one holding the lantern?”
Finally, there is a solution to the dilemma. It was decided to put it to the test the next night. Tom and I wade ashore. Once ashore, Tom stands guard while I light the lantern and secure it to a tree. With the lantern secure, I grab my musket and, with Tom, we stand guard. Seeing the light, the assault team disembarks the ships.
After being told how smooth the landing went the astonished Admiral turns to Captain Nicholas, who was standing alongside him, and says, “WELL, I’ll be a son of a horse whipped mule. I must admit I had some reservations, but this idea of yours actually works.”
The Captain replies, “Sir, as much as I’d like to, I can’t take credit for the idea; it was my cabin boy who told me about it.”
Hearing that, the Admiral says, “I’m envious, a cabin boy who can think. I hope you’re teaching him well, he’s Officer Material.”
March 3, 1776 became the day of the first assault landing by the Continental Navy’s Marines. At the time, making history was the farthest from their minds. They were thinking about surviving the battle; I know I was.
As they slowly wade ashore, with their muskets, powder horns, and boots over their heads, they also dragged two rowboats filled with gunpowder and grenades.
While wading ashore, the Marine Lieutenant thinks, this is a fool’s mission. Unlike Fort Nassau, Fort Montague has an impressive assortment of cannons protecting its rear. All it’ll take is one mistake and we’re done for. Reality sets in when he steps into a rut and almost falls. The rest of the way he’s more cautious of where he steps. Once ashore, the Lieutenant rallies his troops around him. He also gives them time to settle down and rest before ordering us to move out. He doesn’t want his men excited and rushing towards the fort.
Leaving the rowboats behind, while carrying everything on our backs, we silently head inland. Not wanting to take a chance on getting the gunpowder wet, we go around the swampy lowlands. In the dark, it’s easy to fall while walking in swamp water. In addition, you never know what could be swimming towards you or up your leg.
With only a compass to guide us, we walk slowly through the thick underbrush. It takes us two hours to reach the outskirts of Fort Montague.
Before we reach the edge of the thick underbrush, the Lieutenant stops us. While we rest, the Lieutenant crawls forward and looks at our next obstacle; the cleared land between us and the fort. Surprised, by what he sees, he considers his options; I expected a clearing, but not two hundred yards of it. They must have some assault cannons on that wall. With what my men are carrying, crawling the two hundred yards is out of the question. Whether I like it or not, it has to be a running assault.
When he rejoins us, he tells the sergeants of the situation and to pass the word; “prepare yourselves, we attack at dawn.”
Not wanting any surprises, the Lieutenant sends two men to scout the area around the fort. He also posts enough guards to surround the group. With preparations completed, we wait for the signal to attack. Some repeatedly cock and slowly release the hammer of their musket, a few slept and others just stared into space. Yes, a few actually slept. Me, if I could, I’d run away. But I couldn’t, my feet were too scared. In my mind, I kept repeating my role in this. If I didn’t, I probably would run.
While waiting, the Officer checks to make sure that each man is ready. As he crawls around, he tells the nervous ones “don’t forget what is expected of you. Remember, if we do this right; we’ll be celebrating in the town of Nassau by day’s end.”
Just as the sun starts to peak over the horizon, the Marine Officer jumps up and shouts, “ATTACK”. Hearing the order, we get up and run towards the fort. While running the two hundred yards, we’re HOOTING and HOLLERING as loud as we can. The reason for all the noise is to make the British believe that a much larger force is attacking them.
At first, the British Sentries just stare towards the sound. The heavy morning mist prevents them from seeing anything past the walls. Some believe that it is some kind of native ritual taking place. The conversations among the sentries are. “I’ll wager a Shilling that the mates catch whatever they’re chasing before they reach town”. Another mentions, “they don’t sound like locals; they must be our blokes”. A third says, “I hope they catch whatever they’re chasing soon our shift is almost over, and I bet two shillings on the outcome. A fourth says, “Charlie put me down for four, DAMN; I don’t have enough money; Charlie will you spot me two Shillings”? Charlie replies, “Hastings, not in this lifetime, you still owe me from the last bet you lost”. The forward sentry says; “save your money Hastings, we’ll soon find out who they are; it sounds like they’re coming our way”.
As the sun burns the mist away, Charlie is the first one to realize what’s happening and sounds the alarm. With the sentries firing their muskets at us, British Soldiers run out of their barracks. Most of those British Soldiers are still in their nightshirts. The only ones in uniform are the ones that were getting ready to relieve the sentries. They grab their muskets and ammo belts and run towards the wall to fight off our attack. When five unarmed soldiers approach the wall, a Sargent sends them to the armory to get ammunition and to distribute it to the ones on the wall. Three soldiers are so panicked, they run around in a circle, like chickens with their heads cut off. The British Commander rushes out of his quarters, wearing his nightshirt, hat, belt, and sword. In his hands, he has his boots. When he realizes what’s going on, he starts barking out incoherent orders while hopping on one foot and attempting to put a boot on the other.
Before the British could organize and repel our invasion, we surround the fort. We are so close the British cannons were useless against us. Immediately, all the American Sailors, including me, start lighting and lobbing grenades over the walls. The Marine Sharpshooters, who stopped fifty yards short of the fort, are shooting at any British Soldier who is foolish enough to show his face.
The two transport ships position themselves to the south of the fort. When the fog clears enough for Lieutenant Snibly to see the flash from the fort’s guns, he orders his cannon crews to start firing at the fort.
Finally, the British Commander reaches the observation tower; once on top he looks through his eyeglass, the mist prevents him from seeing the ships. He may not see the ships, but can barely see the flash from the cannons of the ships.
The British Commander, believing there is an armada hidden in the fog, says to the Officer standing next to him; “this many invaders couldn’t have come from just two ships; there must be more. Go tell two of the south wall’s cannon crews, to fire at the flash from the ships. Then tell all the other cannons to fire just past the flash. Maybe we’ll get lucky and hit some of those ships hiding in the fog. After you do that, tell the cannon crews on the other walls to stay where they are and keep a lookout for an attack on them. When you’re done, come to me, I’ll be in the center of the courtyard surveying the situation.”
With cannonballs hitting their wall and grenades exploding everywhere, the British fire their cannons wildly into the sea. The befuddled British, who are on the wall’s ramparts, do not see a group of Marines hugging the wall and inching their way towards the main gate.
Every time someone tries to look over the wall, the Marine Sharpshooters shoot at him. The defenders do manage to fire some swivel cannons at us. The British cannot reload the swivel cannons; to reload them, they have to stand up and Marine Sharpshooters will fire at them if they do.
Some brave souls wrapped themselves in gray burlap sacks; this causes them to blend with the gray wall while they reload and fire two swivel cannons. The Marine Sharpshooters didn’t realize what was happening until they saw the flash from the swivel cannons. Unfortunately, for those gray clad soldiers, they did not get a second chance.
All the other British could do is get up, fire, and kneel down to reload. If they took time to aim, they took the chance of a Marine Sharpshooter hitting them.
Those Marines, that were inching their way towards the main gate, finally reach it. After setting kegs of gunpowder against the door, one of them lights the fuse. As they run away, the main doors blow apart. Everyone inside the fort is startled by the blast and momentarily stops fighting.
During the lull, before the smoke clears, the Americans run inside and from two tight circles, one inside the other. With the British still in a daze, half the men, in the outer circle, fire their muskets at the four ramparts and the other half at the British in the courtyard. Then the inner-circle, while the others are reloading, does the same. Then the outer circle fires as the inner-circle reloads. After several more repetitions, the British have enough and surrender. The British Commander, shell shocked by the blast, is still running around barking orders. Finally, when he is surrounded by Marines, he realizes what just happened, falls to his knees and lowers his head.
With the battle won, the Lieutenant has a large lit lantern hoisted up the fort’s flagpole. It’s a signal to the Admiral. Now the Admiral can sail into the harbor without interference from Fort Montague. The Commander, of Fort Montague, shakes his head in disbelief when he realizes he surrendered to a force of two hundred and seventy American Marines and sailors. The Americans could not believe they captured a fort with only a few injuries.
After everyone settles down the Marine Lieutenant says to us, “Joe, you and the sailors will escort the British prisoners down to the waiting ships. The Marines are coming with me to attack Fort Nassau from the rear.”
The Marines quickly gather extra arms and ammunition, from the surrendered British. They will need as much ammunition and extra weapons they can carry for their part in assaulting Fort Nassau. Once regrouped, the Marines march through the thick brush, behind the town and towards the rear of Fort Nassau.
After we attend to our wounded and the wounded British, we all march towards the transport ships. With the wounded and prisoners on-board, the transport ships leave. They have orders to join the fleet after Fort Montague’s capture.
We go back to the fort. After scavenging for more arms and ammunition, we positioned ourselves on the outskirts of town. Our mission is to blockade the only road, between Nassau and Fort Montague. Settling behind the blockade, we wait for any British troops trying to recapture the fort. We also have instructions not to interfere with any unarmed natives fleeing the town.
Entering the harbor, the American Ships fire on Fort Nassau. Fort Nassau retaliates with cannon fire of her own; causing some damage to the ships, but not enough to make them retreat. Once all the American Ships are in the harbor, they have the advantage. Fort Nassau’s cannons can only fire into the ocean, and along the harbor’s perimeter. They can’t fire into the harbor. Only the Captured Fort Montague can. After an hour of shelling, the Admiral orders signal flags, requesting a meeting, hoisted from his main mast. Before going ashore, the Admiral waits for the fort’s Commander to appear.
After exchanging the formal pleasantries the Admiral demands, “Sir, you will surrender your fort or I will fire my cannons on it and the defenseless town. You have six hours to lower your flag from your flagpole”
Without giving the British Commander, a chance to respond the Admiral turns and walks away. The British Commander is stunned; he knows that without the support from Fort Montague further fighting was futile. He did hope to negotiate better terms for his surrender. He wasn’t expecting such brashness from the Admiral. The British Commander turns around and walks towards his cannonball-riddled fort. Before entering, out of the corner of his eye, he notices something unexpected. Holding back a smile, for fear we would notice it, he realizes there’s a way out of this mess. When he enters the fort, he orders his Officers to meet with him.
At the meeting he says, “All the American Ships are in the harbor. They positioned themselves to bombard the town and us. They don’t seem to be concerned about the unarmed ships docked north of the fort. We can’t save the fort, but we can save as much of the gunpowder and men that those ships can hold. We need to hurry; we only have six hours. Unfortunately, the sick and the wounded will have to stay here and man the walls so the Americans will not get suspicious. So which one of you will stay behind, or do I have to pick?”
Because of the distance, the lookouts, on the American ships, didn’t notice that the British were replacing the guards with their sick and wounded. Also, because of the Fort’s massive size, they didn’t see the activity on the smaller ships. Before two hours are up, the smaller ships sail away. Again, because of the fort’s size no one noticed the British Ships escaping.
When the British Ships turn westward an Officer, standing alongside the Admiral, spots them and says, “Sir, look over there. Those ships are sailing away.”
The Admiral, realizing he was snookered, says, “OH! Now that makes me mad. Well, at least we captured Nassau. Maybe we can still salvage something from this mess. They couldn’t have taken everything.”
As the Frigate, Octavia, prepares to lower its sails, the Admiral shouts, “Lieutenant, signal that fool to stop. Doesn’t he realize without the tide, it’s a futile attempt...?”
The Admiral stops talking when a lookout shouts, “LOOK, a white flag is being hoisted on the fort’s flagpole.”
With the town and both forts in the control of the Continental Navy, the residents of Nassau come out of their hiding places and resume doing business as usual. The few ships that were docked in the harbor, after being inspected, were also allowed to continue with whatever business they were doing. The only restriction they had was that they were not allowed to leave until after we left.
The Admiral signals Captain Nickolas to accept the surrender and take charge of the prisoners. When my group finally walks into town, we report to Captain Nicholas. He tells us to help him in transporting the captured soldiers and British Officers into Fort Nassau’s guardhouse. As we approach the entrance to the fort a zealous British Lieutenant, the one who surrendered Fort Nassau, somehow frees himself. As the Lieutenant runs past several of us, he manages to grab a musket. The musket was unattended and propped up against the fort’s wall. Caught, by the surprise of the Lieutenant’s action, everyone just stands there.
Their inaction enables the Lieutenant to run to the edge of the fort where he stops and turns around to face us. I thought that he was going to surrender. After all, where could he go? He’s on an island. That was not to be. He decides to avenge the capture of his fort by shooting Captain Nicholas.
As the Lieutenant aims his musket, he shouts, “ALL TRAITORS TO ENGLAND MUST DIE. ENGLAND WILL NEVER YIELD, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU FIGHT.”
Just as the British Officer pulls the trigger, without hesitation, I run towards the Captain and shove him aside. The musket ball, meant for him, grazes my eye. Feeling a sharp pain in my eye, I fall to the ground. Hitting my head on a rock, I immediately lose consciousness. Being knocked unconscious may have been a blessing. Because of it, I felt no more pain from the musket ball. After putting a bandage on the eye, some men carry me to the local hospital, with the other wounded sailors.
The Marines immediately conduct a search for the British Lieutenant. When they find him, no one wanted to touch him. It seems he tried to avoid capture by hiding inside the outhouse, sometimes called a privy. He didn’t just enter the privy and close the door; he jumped into its business end. The Marines found him ch
est high in the brown colored filth. Earlier, a group did look in the privy, but not down there. If a Marine Officer did not need to seek relief, the Brit might have gotten away. Five Marines go back to the fort and bring back two prisoners.
Looking inside the outhouse one of the Sergeants says, “I’m not sticking my hands in that. Just shoot him and let’s go back.”
The Marine Officer says to him, “you either pull him out or the both of you will spend the rest of the week with him, locked up inside this outhouse. It can get awfully hot and uncomfortable in there.”
After assessing their options, they pull the Lieutenant out; as one Sergeant says to the other, “I don’t care what you do, but I’m not brushing the palm leaves and brown goop off his uniform.”
Hearing what the Sargent said, the Marine Officer says, “Sergeant, I don’t blame you. Now the both of you hold on to him and take him to the ocean.” Reaching the shoreline the Marine Officer points to the water. “Now Sergeants take the lieutenant with you into the water and wash the brown goop off yourselves.”
The Lieutenant attempts to swim away but the Sergeants stop him. The Sergeants feared reprisals from the Marines if they let him escape. Once ashore the Marines shackle the Lieutenant before escorting all of them to the fort. Since the Sergeants were co-operating the Marines left them unshackled.
While recovering from my wound, I went in and out of consciousness. I was lucky the musket ball only grazed my eye; the concussion, caused by the fall, was the problem. It caused the whole side of my head to swell, and the Doctor feared I might not recover from it. While I was in the hospital, a young Dutch Nurse was attending to my needs. During My delirium, I would dream that I’m in heaven because only an angel could look that good.
The fleet spent the following two weeks stripping both forts of all its arms and ammunition. During this time, Captain Nicholas finds a local merchant to buy the cargo of the captured transport ships. The crew of the Andy Dor is delighted to receive their share of the prize. Some of the crew, made not so excellent use of their money during their time off. The Captain stored my share in his cabin. As the last of the sold cargo is unloaded, Captain Nicholas receives orders, from the Admiral, to sail to the port of New London. His orders are to take all the arms and ammunition to the Continental Army.
The Admiral, disappointed with the amount of muskets and ammunition left behind by the British, takes the rest of the fleet to search for more. After the armada leaves, while everyone is sleeping, the sailors of the captured transport ships see their chance and hijack those ships. In the cover of darkness, they sail out of the harbor.
When Captain Nickolas hears of this, all he says is, “at least we sold the cargo before they left,”
While supervising the preparations to leave, Captain Nicholas receives information that I was finally conscious and able to talk. Somehow, I survived the concussion. Before the Captain gets there, the Doctor tells me that my eye is gone, he had to remove it. Also, the Andy Dor is shipping out and leaving me behind.
Being left behind disturbed me more than the loss of the eye. Before I could respond, Skinny-Tom walks in. Skinny-Tom walks toward me with soup that Ebenezer made. As he was about to set the soup on my lap, he notices the Captain approaching and snaps to attention. This causes him to spill the soup on me. Fortunately, for me, the soup is lukewarm. The Captain gives off a chuckle while watching the antics of Skinny-Tom, trying to wipe the soup off of me. Finally, Tom gives up and returns to standing at attention.
The Captain, controlling his urge to laugh, smiles as he says, “stand at ease. Now how’s my savior, One Eyed Joe.” Walking closer he continues, “Tom stand aside, I want to shake his hand and thank him for saving my life.”
I reply after shaking the Captain’s hand, “Captain Sir, may I please ask a favor of you? I don’t want to recuperate here; please let me sail with ship.”
The Captain replies, “Joe, you should stay here and rest. I really hate to lose you; tell you what, I’ll ask the Doctor if it’s safe for you to go with us.”
The Captain looks around. Finally, he sees the Doctor and motions him to come over. It just so happens, the ship’s Doctor was at the other end of the infirmary. He was tending to the wounds of the other injured men before they were transported to their ships. When the Doctor approaches, Captain Nicholas poses the question to him.
After a long pause, the Doctor says, “Sir, he would get better care with us. Furthermore, by your own admission, we can’t afford to lose more good men.”
The Captain replies, “then it’s settled; One Eyed Joe you will be on-board today. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish supervising the preparations, so we can get on our way.”
After the Captain leaves, I mention to Skinny-Tom, who starts to clean up the mess he made with the spilled soup. “One Eyed Joe. One Eyed Joe. Will I like someone calling me One Eyed Joe? Uh, I just don’t know?”
Skinny-Tom replies, “Joe, the Captain wasn’t being sarcastic, and it describes you just right.” After he replaces the soup soaked blanket, Tom continues; “now you’ll have to excuse me; I have to get some sleep; I’m on watch later.”
I say, “Before you go, tell me the truth. Was an angel caring for me while I was delirious? I really need to know?” Skinny-Tom just smiled and wondered if my injury was worse than the Doctor anticipated. After a pause, I continue, “Tom, what I’m about to tell you is no joke. When I woke up an angel was caressing my head. I told her I must have died and gone to heaven. All she did was smile, then turn and walk away.”
“That fall must have scrambled those brains of yours,” Tom said. “You were just being delusional, caused by that fall on your head. If you insist on thinking this way, ask her not me; she’s standing behind you. I’ll leave you two alone; you don’t have much time; the stretcher bearers will be here to get you soon.”
I turn around and look at her. I had that look of a boy just caught with his hand in the cookie jar; you know the one, mouth wide open and eyes bulging. Caught off guard I didn’t know what to say. My stare must have made her uncomfortable because she bowed her head and stared at her hands.
Finally gaining her composure, she says, with a smile, “well now Mon a Mie. What is it that you wanted to ask?”
Before I could reply four sailors came, put me on a stretcher, and proceeded to carry me away.
Before they carry me out of the dorm, I say, “Nurse, if you please, give me your address, so I can properly make my intentions clear.”
She answers, “Joe, you can always write to me here.”
I just stare at the clear blue sky as they carry me towards the Andy Dor. Mentally, I compose a letter to the mysterious Dutch Nurse. In my mind, I tell her of my intentions towards her. I convince myself its better this way. Writing a letter, I could take the time to choose the right words, instead of babbling on like a two-year-old.
After I’m on the Andy Dor and settled in my hammock, Ebenezer comes up to me and says; “per the Captain’s orders, if you need anything, just ask me or any of the men.”
I reply, “Yes, I do. I need paper and a pen.”
Tale of a Patriot Part One Page 4
