James Braithwaite, the Supercargo: The Story of his Adventures Ashore and Afloat

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  CHAPTER THREE.

  "GOOD-BYE" TO THE CONVOY.

  "Hillo! who have we here?" I heard one of the mates exclaim, as I wastaking a last look of our receding antagonist. "Is this a dead man?"

  "No, not entirely, as yet," said a voice which proceeded, I found, froma person lying on the deck.

  I remembered my prisoner, and ran to lift him up. He recognised myvoice. "If it hadn't been for you I should have been dead enough bythis time," he said, getting on his feet.

  "Who are you?" I asked, "a friend or a foe?"

  "A friend; or I wouldn't be here at all," he answered, in a tone whichmade me feel certain that he spoke the truth.

  "Well, come into the cabin, and tell me all about the matter," I said;for though he spoke broad Irish, I saw by his manner that he was abovethe rank of a common seaman. His appearance when he came into the lightjustified me in my opinion.

  "It's just this; I was first mate of a fine brig, the _Kathleen_. Wehad been down in the eastern seas, and away into the Pacific, over toAmerica, trading for some time with the natives, and bringing hides,seal-skins, and sandal-wood to the Chinamen; and at last, having made asuccessful voyage, we were on our homeward passage, when yonderpiratical craft fell in with us. Each man had been promised a share ofthe profits, so that we had something to fight for. Fight our poorfellows did, till there was scarcely one of them left unhurt. We noneof us thought of striking, though; but at last the rascally pirates ranus aboard, and as they swarmed along our decks cut down every man whostill stood on his legs. How I escaped without a hurt I don't know. Isoon had other troubles; for, being uninjured, I was at once carriedaboard our captor, but before the Frenchmen could secure their prize,she blew up, with every soul on board, and there was I left a prisoneralone. I almost envied the fate of our crew. The loss of the prize,which had cost them so many lives and so much trouble, made theFrenchmen very savage, especially their captain, who is about as daringa villain as ever ploughed salt water. This determined him, when hefell in with your convoy, to try and cut one of them out. He fixed onyou because you were of a size which he thought he could tackle easily,and he hoped to take you by surprise. Why he did not kill me outright Ido not know, for he treated me like a brute from the moment he got me inhis power; and when we ran you alongside he made me get into the riggingthat I might be shot at; and I thought to myself, The safest plan is tojump aboard, and if I escape a knock on the head I may stow myself awaybefore any one sees me. Such is the end of my history at present."

  The name of the vessel which had attacked us was the _Mignonne_,privateer, of twenty guns and eighty men, Captain Jules La Roche, of theport of Brest, we learned from the stranger. "And your own name, myfriend?" I asked, not feeling very sure that the truth had been toldus. "Dennis O'Carroll. My name will tell you where I hail from, andyou may look at me as a specimen of one of the most unfortunate men inthe world," he answered. If O'Carroll's account of the size of ourantagonist was correct, we had good reason to be thankful that we hadescaped so easily. Our chief anxiety was now about finding the fleet.We had no business to have separated from them; for though we mighteasily have run out to the East without encountering an enemy, yet,should any accident have happened to us, our insurers might haveconsidered our charter invalidated, and Garrard, Janrin and Companywould have been the sufferers.

  We were much relieved by seeing a blue light suddenly burst forth in thedarkness. It came from the deck of the frigate, which had stood afterus to ascertain the cause of the firing. Our adventure had the effectof keeping the convoy much closer together; for no one could tell whenCaptain La Roche would take it into his head to pounce down upon us andpick up a stray bird, should the frigate be at a distance. He wouldhave had no chance, however, with the Indiamen, whose officers were in avery combative mood. Not long before a very gallant action had beenperformed by a squadron of them in the Eastern seas--indeed, no countryever possessed a body of officers in her mercantile marine equal tothose of the Honourable East India Company.

  I heard all about the action on board the _Cuffnells_. One morning,when I went on deck, I found that there was what might well be called acalm; the sails of the ships hung up and down the masts without moving,except every now and then, as they slowly rolled from side to side togive a loud thundering clap, and once more to subside into sullensilence. The sea, smooth as a mirror, shone like burnished silver, itssurface ever and anon broken by the fin of some monster of the deep, orby a covey of flying fish, which would dart through the air till, theirwings dried by the sun, they fell helpless again into their nativeelement.

  Looking round I recognised the _Cuffnells_ not far off, and, rememberingmy promise, asked for a boat to go on board. I was received in the mostfriendly manner, and was asked to stop to tiffin and to dinner, if Icould remain as long.

  "Yes, sir, he richly deserved it; every rupee he got--that's myopinion," observed a yellow-faced gentleman in nankeens and whitewaistcoat, sitting at the other end of the table. "I was on board the_Earl Camden_ on my way home, and I know that, including public andprivate investments, the cargoes of our ships could not have been ofless value than eight millions of pounds sterling. We had fifteenIndiamen and a dozen country ships, with a Portuguese craft and a brig,the _Ganges_; Captain Dance, our captain, was commodore. This fleetsailed from Canton on the 31st January, 1804. After sighting Pulo Auro,near the Straits of Malacca, the _Royal George_, one of the Indiamen,made the signal for four strange sail in the south-west. On this thecommodore directed four of the Indiamen to go down and examine them.Lieutenant Fowler, of the navy, who was a passenger on board the _EarlCamden_, offered to go also in the _Ganges_ to inspect the strangersmore nearly. It was a time of no small anxiety, you may be sure. The_Ganges_ was a fast sailer, and before long Lieutenant Fowler came back,with the information that the squadron in sight was French, andconsisted of a line-of-battle ship, three frigates, and a brig. Thequestion was now, Should we fight or not? If we attempted to make ourescape the enemy would pursue us, and very likely pick us off in detail.Our safest plan was to put a bold face on the matter, and show that wewere prepared for fighting. This was our gallant commodore's opinion,and all the other captains agreed with him, especially Captain Timins,of the _Royal George_, who acted as his second in command. The look-outships were now recalled by signal, and the line of battle formed inclose order. As soon as the enemy could fetch in our wake they putabout, and we kept on our course under easy sail. At near sunset theywere close up with our rear, which it seemed as if they were about toattack. On seeing this Captain Dance prepared with other ships tohasten to the assistance of that part of our line. Just as the day wasclosing, however, the French, not liking our looks, and unwilling torisk a night engagement, hauled their wind. Lieutenant Fowler was nowsent in the _Ganges_ to station the country ships on our lee bow, bywhich means we were between them and the enemy. He brought back somevolunteers, whose assistance was acceptable. We lay to all night--ourmen at their quarters. At daybreak of the 15th we saw the enemy alsolying to, and so, hoisting our colours, we offered them battle if theychose to come down. At nine, finding that they would not accept ourchallenge, we formed the order of sailing, and steered our course undereasy sail. The enemy on this filled their sails and edged down towardsus. Now was the time that the mettle of our merchant skippers was to betried. Did they, flinch?--Not a bit of it! The commodore, finding thatthe enemy proposed to attack and cut off our rear, made the signal forthe fleet to tack and bear down on him, and engage in succession--the_Royal George_ being the leading ship, the _Ganges_ next, and then the_Earl Camden_. This manoeuvre was beautifully performed, and we stoodtowards the Frenchmen under a press of sail. The enemy then formed in avery close line and opened fire on the headmost ships, which was notreturned till they got much closer. What do you think of it? Twomerchantmen and a brig engaging a line-of-battle ship, two frigates, andtwo other ships of war--for the rest of the fleet had not yet got up.The _Royal George_ bor
e the brunt of the action, for Captain Timins tookhis ship as close to the enemy as they would let him, and the _Ganges_and _Earl Camden_ opened their fire as soon as their guns could takeeffect. Before, however, any of the other ships could get into actionthe Frenchmen hauled their wind and stood away to the eastward, underall the sail they could set. On this, at about two p.m., the signal wasmade for a general chase, and away went the fleet of merchantmen afterthe men-of-war. We pursued them for two hours, when the commodore,fearing that we might be led too far from the mouth of the straits, madethe signal to tack, and in the evening we anchored ready to pass throughthe straits in the morning. We afterwards found that the squadron wehad engaged was that of Admiral Linois, consisting of the _Marengo_, 84guns, the _Belle Poule_ and _Semillante_, heavy frigates, a corvette of28 guns, and a Batavian brig of 18 guns. That the Frenchmen either tooksome of our big ships for men-of-war, or fancied that some men-of-warwere near at hand and ready to come to our assistance, is very probable,but that does not detract from the gallantry of the action. ThePatriotic Fund voted swords and plate to Captain Dance and otherofficers, and the East India Company presented him with 2,000 guineasand a piece of plate worth 500, and Captain Timins 1,000 guineas and apiece of plate, and all the other captains and officers and men rewardsin plate or money, the whole amounting to not less than 50,000. Butthey deserved it, sir--they deserved it; and I suspect that AdmiralLinois and his officers must have pulled out the best part of their hairwhen they discovered the prize they had lost. Besides the reward I havementioned, Commodore Dance was very properly knighted. In its result,"continued the speaker, "the action was most important."

  "But it was scarcely so annoying to the enemy as another in which someIndiamen were engaged in 1800," observed a military officer, laying downhis knife and fork, and wiping his moustache. "I was on my passage outon board the _Exeter_, one of the Indiamen of 1,200 tons, commanded byCaptain Meriton. We had in company the _Bombay Castle, Coutts_, and_Neptune_, of the same tonnage, besides other ships under the convoy ofthe _Belligeux_, of 64 guns, Captain Bulteel. A French squadron ofthree large frigates, it appeared, after committing a good deal ofmischief on the coast of Africa, had crossed over to Rio de la Plata torefit, and had just again put to sea, when, early in the morning, theymade out a part, and some of the lighter ships, probably, of our convoy.Hoping to pick up some prizes, the Frenchmen stood towards us, and we,quite ready for the encounter, bore down towards them. No sooner,however, did the Frenchmen see our big China ships, with their two tiersof ports and warlike look, than they bore up under a press of sail, andby signal separated. While the _Belligeux_ steered for the largest ofthe French ships, she signalled to the Indiamen I have mentioned toproceed in chase of the others, we and the _Bombay Castle_ of one ofthem, the _Medee_, and the other two of the _Franchise_. We, at thetime, were nearer the _Medee_ than was the _Bombay Castle_, and we alsosailed better. The chase was a long one, but we kept the enemy insight, and it was near midnight before we came up with her. The _BombayCastle_ was a long way astern, and the frigate might have handled usvery severely, if not knocked us to pieces, before she could have comeup to our assistance. Captain Meriton was not a man to be daunted.With the decks lighted and all our ports up, he ran alongside theFrenchman--`Strike, monsieur, to a superior force, to his BritannicMajesty's ship _Thunderaboo_' he shouted out. `Strike, I say, or--' Wedid not know whether the Frenchman would reply with a broadside, whichwould have greatly staggered us. Instead of that the Frenchman politelyreplied that he yielded to the fortune of war. `Come aboardimmediately,' was the order our bold captain next gave. Not to besurpassed by the Frenchman, we had a guard ready to assist the captainup our high side. With the profoundest of bows he delivered his sword,and he was then asked into the cabin. Immediately we had him safe,keeping the frigate under our guns, we sent armed boats on board, andbrought away part of her people. When the _Bombay Castle_ came up shereceived the remainder, and we then placed a prize crew on board.Meantime the suspicions of the French captain had been aroused. He hadobserved the small size of our guns. The appearance of the Indiaman'scuddy and the gentlemen and lady passengers--not that there were many ofthe latter--must have raised curious doubts in his mind. Suddenly hejumped up and asked to what ship he had struck.

  "`To the Honourable East India Company's ship _Exeter_,' answeredCaptain Meriton, with a bow which beat the Frenchman's.

  "`What, to a merchantman?' exclaimed the Frenchman, with a look ofdismay.

  "`Yes, monsieur, to a merchantman,' said Captain Meriton, with a gentlesmile, which it would have been difficult to repress.

  "`It is not fair; it is vile! it is a cheat!' exclaimed the Frenchman,beginning to stalk up and down the cabin, to grind his teeth, and topull out his hair. `I say it is a cheat; give me back my ship, send onboard my men, and I will fight you bravely. You will soon see if youtake me again.'

  "`I am ready to acknowledge that you would very likely take me, as Ishould certainly deserve to be taken for my folly in agreeing to yourproposal. You will excuse me if I therefore decline it,' was theanswer. Though we pitied the feelings of the poor man, it was verydifficult to keep our countenance as he uttered his expressions ofindignation and anger. He did not recover his spirits till his frigatewas out of sight."

  This anecdote was followed by several others. Those were pleasant hoursI spent on board the old Indiaman. My visits to her were indeed anagreeable change from the sea-life routine of my own ship. I was amusedby the progress in intimacy made among themselves by the younger portionof the passengers since I first went aboard at Spithead. The captainconfided to me the fact that it cost him much more trouble to maintaindiscipline in the cuddy than among his crew. "What with my young ladiesand my chronometers, it is as much as an elderly gentleman can wellaccomplish to keep all things straight," he observed, glancing atseveral young couples who were pacing the deck, the gentlemen beingcadets or writers. "The friends of those girls now--nice youngcreatures they are too,--have sent them out fully expecting that theywould marry nabobs or colonels at least, and in spite of all myprecautions, they have gone and engaged themselves to those youngfellows who have only just got their feet on the ratlines. Small blameto the gentlemen, however, for a more charming consignment I never had,only the more charming the more difficult to manage."

  While the calms lasted, I paid daily visits to my friends, but at lengtha breeze springing up we proceeded on our voyage, as I must with mynarrative, or I may chance not to get to the end of it. We called offthe beautiful island of Madeira, with its picturesque town of Funchal--more attractive on the outside than within; we procured, however, awelcome supply of fresh meat, vegetables, and fruits. On our crossingthe line, Neptune and his Tritons came on board and played their usualpranks. Jack little thinks that on such occasions he is performing avery ancient ceremony, practised by those bold voyagers, theCarthaginians; to them there is little doubt that the secret of themariner's compass was known. On sailing between the Pillars of Herculesinto the wide Atlantic they were visited, not by Hercules himself, butby his representative priests, to whom they were wont to deliver certainvotive offerings that the propitiated divinity might protect them ontheir perilous voyage. The custom of performing ceremonies of a likedescription was continued to later times by the mariners of the Levant,Greece, and Italy, long after the temple of Hercules was in ruins. Whenthey, and those northern seamen who had learned the scientific parts ofnavigation from them, extended their voyages across the line, theycontinued the practices, substituting Neptune for Hercules, and adding afew caricatures to suit their own more barbarous taste.

  Having crossed the line, and there being no longer much risk of ourmeeting the cruisers of the enemy, Captain Hassall, who had long fumedat being kept back by the slow sailing of our companions, determined topart company. We accordingly hoisted our colours, gave a salute of nineguns in acknowledgment of the civilities we had received, and under allsail soon ran the dignified moving convoy out of sigh
t. Light andcontrary winds and calms kept us so long under the sun of the tropicsthat the seams of our decks began to open, and, to get them caulked andother repairs executed, we bore up for Saint Salvador on the coast ofBrazil, belonging to Portugal. We saluted the fort on entering, andpaid every necessary respect to the authorities; but we soon found thatthey either suspected our character, or were not inclined, for someother reason, to treat us in a friendly spirit. A guard was put onboard, and we were told that neither officers nor crew must leave theship.

  We were still ignorant of the cause of this treatment, when the masterof an English whaler came alongside with his men armed to the teeth. Hetold us that he had a letter of marque, and that on the strength of it,having fallen in with a Spanish merchantman some way to the south-west,he had chased and captured her, and found a large number of dollars onboard. Having come into Saint Salvador he found there no less thanseven other Spanish vessels, the masters and crews of which werefavoured by the Portuguese, and he heard that they threatened to followhim out and capture him and his prize. Our arrival had turned thescales in his favour, and he offered to remain if we would accompany himout when we were ready. This Captain Hassall readily promised to do.As the whaler was strongly manned, a good-sized crew had been put onboard the prize, and thus our three vessels were somewhat of a match forthe Spaniards, we hoped. At length the Governor of the place orderedthe officers of the ship to appear before him. Accordingly CaptainHassall, the first mate, and I, accompanied by Dennis O'Carroll, whoseemed to be able to speak every language under the sun except pureEnglish, as interpreter, went on shore under an escort. The Governor, afat, swarthy personage in the full dress uniform of a general, receivedus in a haughty manner, and cross-questioned us in the most minute andtedious manner. Dennis somewhat puzzled him by the style of hisanswers, which were anything but literal translations of what CaptainHassall said. The result, however, was favourable, and we were allowedto go wherever we chose about the city, and to get the necessary repairsof our ships executed, and to obtain all the stores and provisions werequired.

  Much relieved, we made our bows, and then took a turn through the placebefore going on board. I was much struck with the number of churches,of priests and monks, and black slaves, the latter habited in the mostscanty garments, and the former perambulating the streets in parties,dressed up in the richest attire of coloured silks and gold, withbanners and crosses, and statues of saints, or representations of eventsmentioned in the Scriptures, the figures as large as life. A largenumber of friars in black, or brown, or grey gowns of coarse cloth, withropes round their waists, were going about two and two, with smallfigures of saints on money boxes. The figures they literally thrustinto the faces of the passers-by to be kissed. We saw no one refuse todrop a coin into the box.

  "These must be a very religiously disposed people," I observed toDennis.

  "If you knew what I do you wouldn't say that," he answered. "They'refond of sinning, and they are ready to pay for it. The reason that allthese priests and monks flourish is this--they have succeeded inteaching the people that they can buy pardon for all the sins theycommit. The only scrap of real religion the poor people are allowed topossess is the knowledge that sin must be punished if not forgiven.Instead, however, of showing them how forgiveness can alone be obtained,they make them believe that money can buy it through the prayers of thesaints; but when they've got the money in their own pockets, it's verylittle trouble they give the saints about the matter at all."

  "How did you learn all this, Mr O'Carroll?" I asked.

  "Just because I believed it all myself," he answered quickly. "I'lltell you some day how I came to find out that I had been sailing on awrong tack; but you think me now a harum-scarum Irishman, and I'm afraidto talk about the matter."

  On our way we passed through the dockyard, where a fifty-gun ship wasbuilding, and several smaller vessels of war. We were looking at onerepairing alongside the quay, when I saw O'Carroll start, and lookeagerly at the people on board.

  "That's her, I'm certain of it!" he exclaimed. "She has got intotrouble since she parted from you, or you may have done her more harmthan you thought for, and she has put in here with false papers andunder false colours to repair damages."

  "What vessel do you mean?" I asked.

  "Why, the _Mignonne_ to be sure, or by what other name she may go," heanswered. "Probably she is now the _San Domingo_, or some other saintunder Spanish colours, and hailing from some port on the other side ofthe Horn. Our friend, Captain Brown, of the whaler, had better makehaste, or she will be after him and his prize."

  "Why not after us then?" I asked.

  "Because Captain La Roche has had enough of your quality, I suspect," hereplied. "He is a fellow who only fights when he is sure of booty, andthough I daresay that he would like to send you to the bottom, he wouldnot go out of his way either for revenge or glory."

  To satisfy ourselves we examined the stranger as narrowly as we could,and O'Carroll was thoroughly convinced that he was right in hissuspicions. While thus employed a man appeared at the companion watch.

  "Why, there is La Roche himself!" he cried out. Scarcely had he spokenthan a bullet whizzed by his head. "That settles the matter," he said,quite coolly. "Let us be out of this, or he will be following up thiscompliment." We hurried out of the dockyard. I proposed making acomplaint to the authorities.

  "And be detained here several weeks and gain nothing in the end," heanswered, shaking his head. "My advice is, get ready for sea as fast asyou can, and if you wish to serve Captain Brown see him safe out ofsight of land before the _Mignonne_ can follow. We'll keep a watch onhim in the meantime, or he'll play us some trick or other. Above allthings, don't be on shore after dark. La Roche has plenty of friendshere, depend on that, and he will find means to pick us off if he thinksthat we are likely to inconvenience him."

  Following O'Carroll's suggestions I immediately returned on board.Captain Hassall at first scarcely credited the account we gave him--indeed, he did not, I saw, put thorough confidence in O'Carroll.However, he agreed that we ought to warn Captain Brown, and that itwould be well for us also to sail before the supposed privateer wasready for sea.