For Love of Country: A Story of Land and Sea in the Days of the Revolution
Page 12
BOOK II
KNIGHTS ERRANT OF THE SEA
CHAPTER XI
_Captain John Paul Jones_
"You would better spread a little more canvas, Mr. Seymour. I think weshall do better under the topgallantsails. We have no time to lose."
"Ay, ay, sir," replied the young executive officer; and then liftingthe trumpet to his lips, he called out with a powerful voice, "Layaloft and loose the topgallantsails! Man the topgallant sheets andhalliards!"
The crew, both watches being on deck, were busy with the various dutiesrendered necessary by the departure of a ship upon a long cruise, andwere occupied here and there with the different details of work to bedone when a ship gets under way. Some of them, their tasksaccomplished for the moment, were standing on the forecastle, orpeering through the gun ports, gazing at the city, with the tall spireof Christ Church and the more substantial elevation of the buildingeven then beginning to be known as Independence Hall, rising in thebackground beyond the shipping and over the other buildings which theywere so rapidly leaving. In an instant the quiet deck became a sceneof quick activity, as the men left their tasks and sprang to theirappointed stations. The long coils of rope were thrown upon the deckand seized by the groups of seamen detailed for the purpose; while therigging shook under the quick steps of the alert topmen springing upthe ratlines, swarming over the tops, and laying out on the yards,without a thought of the giddy elevation, in their intense rivalry eachto be first.
"The main royal also, Mr. Seymour," continued the captain. "I thinkshe will bear it; 'tis a new and good stick."
"Ay, ay, sir. Main topgallant yard there."
"Sir?"
"Aloft, one of you, and loose the royal as well."
"Ay, ay, sir."
After a few moments of quick work, the officers of the various mastsindicated their readiness for the next order by saying, in rapidsuccession,--
"All ready the fore, sir."
"All ready the main, sir."
"All ready the mizzen, sir."
"Handsomely now, and all together. I want those Frenchmen there to seehow smartly we can do this," said the captain, in reply, addressingSeymour in a tone perfectly audible over the ship.
"Let fall! Lay in! Sheet home! Hoist away! Tend the braces there!"shouted the first lieutenant.
Amid the creaking of blocks, the straining of cordage, and the lustyheaving of the men, with the shrill pipes of the boatswain and hismates for an accompaniment, the sheets were hauled home on the yards,the yards rose on their respective masts, and the light sails, thebraces being hauled taut, bellied out in the strong breeze, addingmaterially to the speed of the ship.
"Lay down from aloft," cried the lieutenant, when all was over.
"Ay, that will do," remarked the captain. "We go better already. I ammost anxious to get clear of the Capes before nightfall. Call the menaft, and request the officers to come up on the quarterdeck. I wish tospeak to them."
"Ay, ay, sir.--Mr. Wilton," said the young officer, turning to a youngmidshipman, standing on the lee-side of the deck, "step below and askthe officers there, and those forward, to come on deck. Bentley," hecalled to the boatswain, "call all hands aft."
"Ay, ay, sir."
Again the shrill whistling of the pipes was heard, followed by the deeptones of Bentley, which rolled and tumbled along the decks of the shipin the usual long-drawn monotonous cry, which could be heard, above theroar of the wind or the rush of the water or the straining of thetimbers, from the truck to the keelson: "All hands lay aft, to thequarter-deck."
The captain, standing upon the poop-deck, was not, at first glance, aparticularly imposing figure. He was small in stature, scarcely fiveand a half feet high at best, with his natural height diminished, as isoften the case with sailors, by a slight bending of the back andstooping of the shoulders; yet he possessed a well-knit, vigorous, andnot ungraceful figure, whose careless poise, and the ease with which hemaintained his position, with his hands clasped behind his back, inspite of the rather heavy roll and pitch of the ship, in the verystrong breeze, indicated long familiarity with the sea.
His naturally dark complexion was rendered extremely swarthy by thelong exposure to weather, and tropic weather at that, which he hadundergone. The expression of his face was of that abstract andthoughtful, nay, even melancholy, cast which we commonly associate withthe student rather than the man of affairs. He was dressed in theprescribed uniform of a captain of the American navy, in theRevolutionary period: a dark blue cloth coat with red lapels, slashedcuffs, and stand-up collar, flat gold buttons (this last a piece ofunusual extravagance); blue breeches, and a red waistcoat heavilylaced; silk stockings and buckled shoes, with a curved cross-hiltedsword and cocked hat, completed his attire. As the men came crowdingaft to the main mast, the idlers tumbling up through the hatches inresponse to the command, his indifferent look gave way to one of quickattention, and each individual seaman seemed to be especially embracedin the severe scrutiny with which he regarded the mass. In truth, theywere a crew of which any officer might well be proud; somewhat motleyand nondescript as to uniform and appearance, perhaps, and unused tothe strict discipline of men-of-war, but hardy, bold, resolute seamen,with whom, properly led, all things were possible,--men who wouldhesitate at nothing in the way of attack, and who were permeated withsuch an intensity of hate for England and for British men-of-war asmade them the most dangerous foes that country ever encountered on theseas. Several of them, Bentley among the number, had been pressed, atone time or another, on English war vessels; and one or two had evenfelt the lash upon their backs, and bore shocking testimony, indeep-scarred wounds, to the barbaric method of punishment in vogue forthe maintenance of discipline in the British navy, and, indeed, in allthe great navies of the world,--a practice, however, but littleresorted to by the American navy.
The officers, gathered in a little knot on the lee side of thequarter-deck, several midshipmen among them, were worthy of the crewand the commander.
"Men," said the captain, in a clear, firm voice, removing his cockedhat from his thick black hair, tied in a queue and entirely devoid ofpowder, as he looked down at them from the break of the poop with hispiercing black eyes, "we are bound for English waters--"
"Hurrah, hurrah!" cried many voices from the crew, impetuously.
"We will show the new flag for the first time on the high seas," hecontinued, visibly pleased, and pointing proudly to the stars andstripes, which his own hand had first hoisted, fluttering gayly out atthe peak; "and I trust we may strike a blow or two which will cause it,and us, to be long remembered. While you are under my orders I shallexpect from you prompt, unquestioned compliance with my commands, orthose of my officers, and a ready submission to the hard discipline ofa ship-of-war, to which most of you, I suspect, are unfamiliar, unlessyou have learned it in that bitter school, a British ship. You willlearn, however, while principles of equality are very well in civillife, they have no place in the naval service. Subordination is theword here; this is not a trading-vessel, but a ship-of-war, and Iintend to be implicitly obeyed," he continued sternly, looking evenmore fiercely at them. "Nevertheless," he added, somewhat relaxing hisset features, "although we be not a peaceful merchantman, yet I expectand intend to do a little trading with the ships of the enemy, and inany prizes which we may capture, you know you will all have a just,nay, a liberal, share. It must not be lost sight of, however, that thefirst business of this ship, as of every other ship-of-war of ourcountry, is to fight the ships of the enemy of equal, or of not toogreat, force. Should we find such a one, as is most likely, in theEnglish Channel, we must remember that the honor and glory of our flagare above prize money."
"Three cheers for Captain John Paul Jones!" cried one of the seamen,leaping on a gun and waving his hat; they were given with a mighty rushfrom nearly two hundred lusty throats, the ship being heavilyovermanned for future emergencies.
"That will do, men," said the captain, smiling darkly. "Remember
thata willing crew makes a happy cruise--and don't wake the sleepingcat![1] Mr. Seymour, have the boatswain pipe all hands to grog, thenset the watches. Mr. Talbot," he added, turning to the young officerin the familiar buff and blue of the Continental army, who stood by hisside, an interested and attentive spectator to all that had occurred,"will you do me the honor of taking a glass of wine with me in thecabin?--I should be glad if you would join us also, Mr. Seymour, afterthe watch has been called, and you can leave the deck. Let Mr.Wallingford have the watch; he is familiar with the bay. Tell him totake in the royal and the fore and mizzen topgallantsails if it blowsheavily," he continued, after a pause, and then, bowing, he left thedeck.
[1] The cat-o'-nine-tails, used for punishment by flogging.