Every Man Will Do His Duty (23 page)

The French admiral’s reference to the “fortune of war” was soon to find another illustration; for at the very time he was speaking there was a fine English man-of-war within a few miles. This was the
La Sybille,
of forty-four guns, and commanded by Captain Cook, one of the best officers in his Majesty’s service, and a son of the great Captain Cook, whose ships the
Resolution
and the
Discovery
I had once seen when a boy.
³
Captain Cook, of
La Sybille,
had made an extraordinary quick passage from Madras in search of this very Frenchman who had taken us, having been informed that
La Forte
was creating the utmost havoc upon our commerce at the head of the Bay. On arriving at the Sand Heads he had cruised about for three days, but failing to sight
La Forte
had almost given up all hope of meeting her, when the flashes of the bow-chasers fired at me were observed by his sailing master, Mr. Douglas, who at once gave it as his opinion that they proceeded from the firing of cannon, although on account of the great distance no reports were heard. Captain Cook was of a different opinion, considering the flashes were caused by sheet or summer lightning on the horizon; but he yielded to his sailing master’s opinion, and stood towards the direction indicated, and soon found that the enemy he was in search of was discovered.

The
La Forte
was a frigate of fifty guns, 24-pounders, and was 170 feet long and 45 feet beam. Her admiral and captain were most distinguished
officers, and their conduct towards us personally was, I must admit, both kind and generous. But they had sent so many men away on board the various prizes they had recently captured (of which there were at least seven or eight) that their crew was very much diminished, and they were left badly manned, having not more than three hundred souls on board, all told.

The English frigate had, on the contrary, more than her full complement of men, there being, in addition to the sailors, a company of the Scotch brigade on board, who had taken the place of marines, the strength of these latter having been much reduced by deaths consequent upon a fever contracted by them when a large force was landed for some time at Calcutta. These soldiers were under the command of Captain Davis, an aide de camp of Lord Mornington, who had volunteered for the service.

In addition to this, the
La Sybille
was commanded by a captain as gallant as any that ever stepped, and, fired by his spirit, the whole crew were determined to wipe away the stain that the many recent naval disasters we had sustained had brought upon the British flag in those seas.

It was a brilliant moonlight night, with light winds and calm sea. Captain Cooke and I, having retired after our interview with the admiral to a corner of the quarter-deck, were sitting talking, and congratulating ourselves upon our promised liberty, when our attention was suddenly drawn to a strange sail making towards us and distinctly visible in the moonlight. She was a large vessel, and there was a curious fact about her, that she did not display a single light, but sailed serenely on with all her canvas spread, and yet without any signs of life on board. The French officers actually mistook her for a merchantman “with the watch asleep,” and about to be delivered into their hands. They had enjoyed such a career of good fortune during the last month that they were ready to accept this new ship as only a further installment of the luck that seemed to be theirs.

Nearer and nearer came the strange sail, as calm and stately as if she had the entire ocean to herself and no other vessel in sight. Such confidence amounted to audacity, for the display of lights from the French frigate marked her as a man-of-war. As the approaching ship continued her course and came within range, the Captain of the
La Forte
began to exhibit some doubts about her and ordered a few shots to be fired at her. But these eliciting no response, he commanded the firing to cease, observing in my hearing, “She will prove another
Bon Prix!”
Still, as a matter of precaution, every man was kept at his quarters, though in a careless way, and the guns were all loaded and pointed at the stranger.

We prisoners were now ordered to retire below and were shown into the officers’ berth-place, the door of which was locked upon us. This did
not, however, altogether prevent us from obtaining a view of what was going on, for there was a small port-hole, through which we peered in turn, and tried to conjecture who or what this vessel might be that came on in such a masterly manner and appeared to anticipate no danger, although she was sailing into the very teeth of one of the strongest frigates afloat, and one which had proved herself to be a terror in those waters.

Suddenly, having got into a proper position, and as the moment of action arrived, all the tarpaulins which had covered the lanterns and hidden the lights on board of the
La Sybille
were removed as if by magic, and an illuminated large English ship exposed to view. She was now within two cables’ lengths and luffed to the wind on the starboard tack, and the next instant the whole broadside of a well-directed fire was poured into
La Forte.
Then edging down, after the discharge, before the wind, the
La Sybille
came fairly alongside.

And now occurred such a scene on board the French frigate as I can find no words to describe. Her decks had been raked with the small grape-shot that came like hail from the 24-pounders of her opponent, and in a moment all was shouting and noise and confusion. Whistles were piped, orders were cried out, and the crew were hurried up to serve the guns, urged on by their officers. The admiral was killed early in the action, and the captain fell next, as gallant a man as could be desired. He was cut in half by a chain-shot whilst trying to rally his crew, who, having been fairly caught a napping, were all in alarm and confusion. The execution wrought amongst their ranks by the sudden broadside was dreadful, and the whole ship resounded with the shrieks and groans of the wounded, making a noise that was sickening to hear. Still a gallant fight was kept up, despite the demoralizing effects of that deadly fire. The musketry rattled, and between the thunder of the guns, as broadside after broadside was returned, there came the lesser but constant discharges of the brass swivels mounted on the quarter-deck. There was, however, one great disadvantage that the
La Forte
suffered; owing to her enormous height she could not depress her guns sufficiently to fire with proper effect at her opponent, because of the close quarters at which the action was fought, whilst the
La Sybille
’s shot told with disastrous results at each discharge.

After fifty-five minutes’ hot fighting, the Frenchman, finding she was beaten, desired to escape and attempted to make sail. But this the
La Sybille
was determined to prevent, and altering the aim of her guns, the
La Forte
’s shrouds were presently shot away, and soon afterwards her masts went by the board one after another with an awful crash, carrying all the top hamper with them, until the deck became an inextricable mass of tangled rigging, and the frigate lay a helpless cripple upon the water.

Meanwhile we prisoners below had long since resigned our position by the port-hole and sought safer quarters at the further end of the berth-place. When we heard the crash of the falling masts, we thought the
La Forte
was being boarded, although we could not at all understand the situation, being at the time unaware that the ship we were in conflict with was a British man-of-war, but rather believing it to be one of the Company’s vessels. Though not engaged, we were most dangerously as well as uncomfortably confined, and being denied the satisfaction of assisting in the fight, could not have been more cruelly situated. The cabin we were imprisoned in was about thirty feet long, and ten feet above water, and during the engagement at least thirty shots passed through it. One of these went so close to us, as we were sitting on a chest together, that we were induced to shift our position, and scarce had we done so than a cannon-ball struck the chest itself and demolished it altogether. There was only one dim lantern burning in the cabin, and the gloom and obscurity seemed to increase the sensation of danger from which, since we had been locked in, there was no apparent escape.

I had rather be in a dozen actions face to face with belching cannon, and exposed to the full fire of the tops, than experience again such another hour as we passed through. The din and noise were awful; the great ship shook and quivered under every discharge of her guns; a suffocating smell of gunpowder smoke pervaded the whole vessel, we being to leeward; and every second or third minute there came a great crash, most startling in the dark, and we heard a shot go rioting through the prison we were confined in, and did not know whether the next might not carry us all off. From overhead came the trampling of feet, the cries of the wounded, the crashing sounds of falling spars and top hamper, heard between the thundering of the cannon and the lesser roar of the small arms. The excitement of action was wanting, which assists men to face fire, and at times hardly to heed it. And added to all was the terrible sense of uncertainty as to what was happening, with whom we were contending, and whether the
La Forte
was winning the day or losing it.

After the tenth or twelfth shot had penetrated the berth-room, Captain Cooke swore he could stand it no longer and that it required more courage than he possessed to sit still and be shot at, like a rat in a hole. He therefore began groping about to find a means of exit and came across an aperture in the bulkhead, made by the starting of the timbers consequent on a shot striking the place. Through this, being exceedingly spare in person, he managed with great difficulty to squeeze his body, and so got further below to a place of comparative safety, from whence he called to us to join him.

The advice was excellent enough in its way, but the thing was to carry it out. Mr. Mackerel attempted the task first, I, at his request, aiding his exertions. But unfortunately he was a very fat man and got fairly wedged when half-way through, so that he called out violently to be hauled back. This was no easy matter, and accomplished with such difficulty that the ludicrous effect of the scene has never passed from my memory, and critical as our situation was, I could not refrain from laughing aloud, when, in my endeavours to pull him back by the legs, his pantaloons first began to peel off, and when I transferred my grip to his feet, one of his boots gave way in my hand and sent me sprawling backwards.

Mr. Mackerel was mightily indignant at my levity and upbraided me for it in solemn and measured language after I had at last managed to extricate him. He then very soberly laid himself down flat on the floor, observing, with a groan, that it was safer than standing; and as this seemed sensible, and I did not like to desert him, I followed his example, jestingly thanking him for the extra protection his ample person afforded me—a joke he was in far too much consternation to relish.

There we lay for half an hour, Mr. Mackerel saying not a word, but breathing very hard, and whenever a crash was heard, turning instantly on his side, so as to present his back to the attack if it should come, and then giving vent to a groan, by way of thanksgiving, when he found himself unhurt.

At last the action began to draw to a close. The discharges of cannon were less frequent, and the
La Forte
’s men being all engaged in trying to set sail, the rattle of musketry on the quarter-deck above our heads almost ceased. Very nearly the last shot fired was one which, in penetrating the berth-place, was so checked, that it came rolling slowly towards us; upon which Mr. Mackerel jumped up and made a clean bound over it with an agility that would have done credit to a goat. As I scuttled out of its way, its size showed me it came from a twenty-four pounder, and I knew it must have been fired by a man-of-war. But before I had time to acquaint my companion of this joyful discovery and bid him take heart, a great number of men (the
La Forte
having now struck) came running down below to secure the valuables plundered from the various prizes and tie them round their persons, and one of these unlocked the door of the berth-place with the object, I conceive, of appropriating some of the dead officers’ property, and this enabled Mr. Mackerel and myself to get out.

I immediately went on deck, where the second captain, who was quite a lad, caught sight of me. The tears were in his eyes, and he was greatly agitated as he asked me to hail the British frigate and say we had struck. Young though he was, the command had devolved upon him through the
death of all the senior officers. Still, if he had been a veteran of a hundred fights, it would not have been in his power to continue the action any longer, nor could he have shown more proper feeling at the unfortunate position in which he was placed.

I ran to the side of the
La Forte
and shouted out that she had hauled down her colours, and then through the thick cloud of smoke that hung over and almost hid the vessels from each other’s view, there came back such a ringing English cheer as few are privileged to hear. I have never in my life, before or since, heard any cry like it. It filled the welkin with a glorious sound that recorded the accomplishment of a great deed, and I felt my heart beat faster and my blood go rushing through my veins in pride. Then the firing ceased, and in a short while a boat containing Mr. Vashon, the second lieutenant, and Mr. Major, the third, was lowered from the
La Sybille
and came to take charge of the
La Forte.

The surrender of the French frigate was soon completed. I then went on board the
La Sybille,
which I found in charge of Lieutenant Hardyman, Captain Cook being dangerously wounded. I at once represented the probability of recapturing the
Endeavour
and the
Mornington,
which were still within sight. It was, however, impracticable to do anything then, since it was necessary to attend to the wounded and temporarily repair the more urgent damages that both ships had sustained. There were many prisoners also to be placed in safety, and these matters occupied the whole night. By morning order was restored on both frigates, and they were brought to anchor off the roads of Ballasore.