Ford of H.M.S. Vigilant: A Tale of the Chusan Archipelago

by T. T. Jeans

  *CHAPTER VIII*

  *The Vigilant Sails Again*

  The Padre Complains--Mr. Hoffman Returns--Under Way Again--Good News--"Good Old Dicky!"--Mr. Rashleigh's Report--A Unfair Report

  _Written by Commander Truscott_

  I had had an extremely busy ten days superintending the fitting out ofthose junks, and getting them and the gunboats away to their cruisinggrounds. I think that I had offended pretty nearly everyone in theship, from the Fleet Surgeon, who disliked parting with so many sick baystores, to the youngest cadet, who thought that he ought to have beengiven a chance.

  The Skipper was positively in a vile temper all the time, and I, myself,and old Bax, the Fleet Paymaster, who came from the same part of thecountry as he did, were the only ones who dared to approach him. Hesimply spat fire whenever anyone spoke to him, and the simplest thingused to bring forth a torrent of oaths, and it was best to beat a hastyretreat.

  Don't think that I minded, or anyone else--really. "How's 'Old Lest'this morning?" they would ask, after I had reported morning "divisions"to him, and I must say that I generally had to say "Worse than ever".They would all chuckle at that.

  For some reason or other everyone, except the Skipper himself, seemed tobe proud of his temper, and the more he roared and swore, the more themen liked him.

  "He's the worst-tempered man in the service, I should imagine," theyoung Padre had remarked one morning, when he and I and Mayhew, theFleet Surgeon, were walking up and down the quarterdeck, and could hearhim storming at "Willum" down below.

  "For worst-tempered read best-tempered," Mayhew had replied fierily."You've only been a 'dog watch' in the service, and when you knowsomething about it, you'll know that you are wrong. Why, man, he's thebest Skipper to serve under in the whole blessed navy. Call him badtempered! Why, great snakes! that's the temper coming out of himinstead of being bottled up. It's only fools and rotters who havetempers that don't come out."

  I fancy that the Padre's knowledge of human nature was of the slightest,and I also must admit that it was probably very difficult to preach agood sermon to the accompaniment of the Skipper's snores, but he hadn'tquite shaken down in his new surroundings.

  When he first joined the ship his sermons were full of "my dearbrothers", or "dear brethren", and it was as good as a play to see theSkipper's face when he happened to be awake and first heard himselfcalled a "dear brother". I thought he would have had a "fit", and afterchurch he stalked down below without saying a word, Blucher at hisheels, and sent for me.

  Then out it came. He had bottled it up for nearly twenty minutes, andhe pretty well excelled himself. "That little--little--whipper--snappercall 'Old Lest' his 'dear brother'! Don't let him come near 'Old Lest'.I'll 'dear brother' him if he does it again!" and he glared at me andshook his huge fists in my face absolutely unable to say anything more.

  "Very good, sir; I will speak to the Chaplain," I had answered, andfled.

  For some reason or other I forgot to do so, but, after lunch thatmorning, the younger people in the mess spread him out on the sofa, verygently, and sat on him. I happened to go into the ward room at themoment, and found eight of them and Old Bax in a heap, with bits of theyoung idiot showing out here and there under them, and heard them singout, "Here's another dear brother," as they bumped him and he gasped forbreath, and implored them to leave off. I slipped back to my cabin,and, as I expected, there was a knock at my door a few minutesafterwards, and in he came, very dishevelled, and complained of theindignity.

  "You surprise me, Padre," I told him. "I can only say that I happenedto go to the mess, and saw you 'scrapping' with your brother officers inthe most unbecoming manner, and endeavouring, as far as I could makeout, to break up the mess furniture. I trust that such conduct will notoccur again."

  He got very red and confused, and was going away, when I called himback: "Of course, Padre, you must remember that if they do dislike anyof your expressions, you often enough complain of some of theirs, and Ishould advise you to humour them. It's often a great effort on theirpart to humour you, and you should be proud that they do try. I willspeak to them, but strongly advise you to drop the 'dear brother' partof the show."

  I'm glad to say that he did, and eventually became quite proud ofrelating the bumping incident as "a stepping-stone in my education for alife so strange, and at one period so apparently uncongenial, ah!"

  As a matter of fact, he was always called "dear brother" after that, sonever had the chance to forget it. To come back to my yarn, the absenceof three watch-keepers and so many petty officers and men, to saynothing of the midshipmen, made it difficult enough to carry on theordinary work of the ship. This was a constant source of irritation toLawrence, Whitmore, and myself, and above all, there was the addedoverwhelming anxiety at the fate of Travers, Sally, and her father. Itwas now five weeks since they had disappeared, and I assure you thatthese weeks had only increased our anxiety and the feeling of utterhelplessness at our inability to discover their whereabouts and rescuethem. Somewhere, but whether north, south, east, or west, we had notthe faintest notion, they were waiting for a sign of our coming, andevery evening, as the sun set and the dark clouds and grey twilight shutout the islands all round us and wrapped them in darkness, the feelingof depression used to become still more acute, and we used to imaginethem beginning another dreary night of waiting, and longing, and prayingthat the morning would bring them rescue, which we all knew it wouldn't.These things, and the want of exercise on shore, were excuses sufficientto account for any irritability of temper.

  The Skipper used to tramp the quarterdeck from after "evening quarters"till sunset, but then the sight of the long skeins of ducks, geese, andswans flighting across the harbour to the mud flats round some of thesmaller islands used to drive him down below. He used to growl: "Umph!That's what 'Old Lest' came down here to do, to shoot 'em, and he's onlymade a fool of himself so far. Umph!" and he'd send "Willum" round forthree of us to go aft to make up a rubber of whist.

  But at last the long period of inaction came to an end. One morning,just a week after the _Ringdove_ and her two junks had left, I hadturned out with the hands, and was walking up and down till my servanthad made my morning cup of tea, the quarterdeck men scrubbing andholystoning round me in the dismal light.

  I noticed a little native sailing boat beating up to Tinghai, and Iremember that I thought it strange for so small a boat to have been outat night time. As it came towards the harbour, I watched it idlythrough my telescope, and presently saw that there were three men init--a Chinaman steering and two people pulling lee oars, one a Chinamanand--I looked again to make sure--the other a tall gaunt fellow with ashaggy black beard. "That's a rum go," I thought, and was still moresurprised when I saw them lower the sail--they were directly to leewardof us--and begin to pull straight towards the _Vigilant_.

  "What on earth's going to happen now?" I thought, as the boat creptalongside, the men pulling very feebly. The gaunt European half crawledup the ladder and advanced towards me, and for a moment I did notrecognize him.

  "Hoffman!" he said.

  Good heavens! I recognized him then, even with that black beard, andwith his face sunken and starved looking. "We thought you'd been burnt,"I said, holding out my hand, as he tottered on to the quarterdeck.

  "Give me some drink and food, and those men too," he gasped; and I ledhim down below to my cabin--I thought he would have fallen down thehatchway, he was so weak. Fortunately my servant had just brought my teaand some bread and butter, and he drank and ate as if he had not touchedfood for a week.

  I sent for another plate of bread and butter, and when he had finishedthat, and drunk all my tea and two tumblers full of water, he didn'twait for me to ask him any questions, but, clutching at the chair, andwith a wild look in his eyes, began, "For God's sake, Commander, get theCaptain to start at once! I know where Hobbs and his daughter are, orwere, six days ago, and if
you are quick you may rescue them before theycan be hurried off somewhere else."

  "Good heavens, man! and Travers, do you know where he is too?" Ishouted, jumping up.

  "Yes, I do; but he's not with them," he answered.

  "Is she safe?" I asked eagerly; and he nodded, "Yes; up to the present."

  "How the dickens did you escape being burnt? We've actually read thefuneral service over the ruins of the Mission."

  "Wait," he half moaned. "Go and tell your Captain I am here, and giveme a cigarette--I haven't tasted one for a month."

  I woke the Skipper. "That German, Hoffman, has come aboard, sir. Sayshe knows where Sally is and Travers."

  "What?" roared the Skipper, opening his eyes.

  "That German chap Hoffman has come aboard, sir."

  "Well, don't wake me," he grunted, not hearing me properly.

  "He's that man we thought had been burnt in the Mission House. He knowswhere Hobbs and Sally and Travers are," I repeated in a louder voice;and he jumped out of his bunk, swearing angrily, "Why didn't you tell mebefore?" and roared for "Willum" to help him dress. "Bring him aft infive minutes' time," he growled.

  "For goodness sake, don't suggest anything to him! Don't attempt to givehim any advice," I implored Hoffman. "Ten to one, if you do, he'll putobstacles in the way. Just tell him what you know, and nothing more."

  "I'll remember," he said wearily, as I took him aft. He had to steadyhimself with one hand on my shoulder, he was so weak; his clothes simplyhung in loose folds.

  I slipped away and turned out Hutton, our Engineer Commander, tellinghim what I knew, and that the Skipper would be sending for him in aminute or two. In fact, he hardly pulled his trousers over his pyjamasbefore he was sent for. "How long will it take to get up steam?" Iasked him, as I helped him on with his monkey jacket. "An hour; we'restill under banked fires--have been all the time," and then I wentround, turning everyone out. It was such a godsend to have at last somenews to tell.

  "D'they know where Mr. Travers and the pretty little lady be, sir?" thecaptain of the quarterdeck asked me; and I heard him tell his men, andthey left off scrubbing to discuss the situation. "Little lady or nolittle lady," he sang out, "just you go on with your 'olystoning."

  In less than half an hour we had steam on the capstan, and wereshortening in the cable, and in another hour were under way. It wasglorious to feel the engines moving round again and the beastly steamsteering gear rattling under my cabin once more, and to know that atlast our long six weeks of inaction were at an end.

  There wasn't a long face or a sour face in the ship that day.

  The Skipper had filled his pockets with his beloved Havanas, and pulledone out for me on the fore bridge too--a sure sign that he was in thebest of tempers.

  "That chap Hoffman couldn't lift a hundredweight now," he chuckled."I'll take him 'on' when he's had a bit of sleep--the only chance I'llget," and he gurgled and croaked with laughter. "He don't exactly givehimself away, does he, Truscott? Couldn't get him to suggest a singlething."

  "I told him not to, sir," I said, smiling.

  "Umph! Think 'Old Lest' an obstinate old fool, do you? Think you know'Old Lest' better'n he knows himself, do you? That's the worst ofhaving a commander who's been shipmates for seven years. Umph!" And heglared at me, and was in a grand humour.

  As a matter of fact, there were several reasons which made itinconvenient to leave so hurriedly. For one thing, we were, as youknow, very shorthanded, and for another, we expected the gunboats toreturn at any moment with their tenders, and it would, at the best, be atedious business to call them all in. Fortunately we met the old _HuanMin_ pounding back to Tinghai for more coal; judging by the smoke shemade she seemed to grind it into dust and then blow it up her funnel.We stopped her, and the Skipper sent on board to tell her Captain wherethe _Vigilant_ was going, and to ask him to communicate with the othergunboats, and with the _Omaha_, which had gone off by herself.

  Ching evidently wrote the letter which came back, promising to do this,and he sent a private one to his chum Lawrence to say that they were allimmensely pleased to hear that there was a chance of rescuing thecaptives, and that the _Huan Min_ would come along after us as soon aspossible.

  "He says that his shoulder is practically all right again now, sir.He's made a jolly sight less fuss about it than I should have done."Lawrence smiled when he'd finished reading this letter. "I wonder howmuch he cares whether we ever see Hobbs or Travers again? He doesn'thurry the old _Huan Min_ round these islands to find them, I bet youanything you like, sir. He's hunting for Sally. He's simply head overheels in love with her."

  "More power to his elbow," I said. "We all are, more or less."

  We had left orders for the gunboats to follow us--left them withMacpherson the missionary, so felt sure that they would fetch up, sooneror later, even if the _Huan Min_ missed them.

  The island for which we were now steering was right away in the SE.corner of the archipelago, one of a group marked on the chart as theHector Group (it was so named after a transport which was wrecked therein 1851).

  It was there that Hobbs and his daughter were reported to be by Hoffman,and it took the Skipper but a very few minutes to determine that hewould go there first and leave Travers till later.

  As it happened, by great good fortune, there was no necessity to regrethis decision, because just after dark we sighted the lights of asteamer, flashed the "demand" from our masthead lamp, and it turned outto be the _Ringdove_ on the way back to Tinghai. I wasn't on the bridgeat the time, and had only just reached the deck after she was reportedto me, when I heard men cheering, and a midshipman rushed up, "Mr.Travers is on board, sir, and well, sir! Isn't that grand?"

  It's extraordinary how good--and bad--news comes in lumps together, andthis seemed suddenly to make me feel ten years younger. I was up thatbridge in a "brace of shakes". We had stopped our engines, and the_Ringdove_ was flashing across a long signal, and everyone bent eagerlyforward to try and take it in, whilst the signalman wrote it down, andclicked the shutter of his hand lamp to show the _Ringdove_ that he hadtaken it in correctly.

  Most of us were so much out of practice that we only got a word or anumber here or there, but enough to know that she and her junks had losta lot of men. At last the _Ringdove_ had finished, and the signalmanbrought his signal pad to the Captain.

  "Read it out, Truscott; your eyes are younger than mine."

  Someone held up a lantern, and I read: "Have rescued Lieutenant Traversuninjured from island of Chung-li Tao Group. No news of whereabouts ofHobbs or daughter. Tender _Sally_ sunk by gun fire; tender _Ferret_wrecked and abandoned, guns saved. Losses--_Ringdove_, one man wounded,since dead, two wounded; _Sally_, four[#] men killed, Mid Morton, twomen wounded; _Ferret_, two men killed, five wounded."

  [#] Cooke, A.B., had died as a result of his injuries.

  "Phew!" whistled the Skipper. "They've had a hot time! Read it again."

  I did so.

  "Do they mean young Morton's killed or wounded?"

  "Ask them."

  Click, click went the shutter of the signalman's lamp.

  You could not hear a sound whilst the _Ringdove_ light twinkled thereply, and we all gave a gasp of relief when weread--W-O-U-N-D--O-F--S-C-A-L-P--O-U-T--O-F--D-A-N-G-E-R.

  "Get 'em all aboard," the Skipper told me; "best send both cutters," andhe sent a midshipman running aft. "Tell the Doctor--ten wounded comingfrom _Ringdove_."

  We signalled across for her to "close", and that we were sending for thewounded and for the rest of the crews of the two junks.

  This was a jolly ticklish job, because a rather heavy sea was running;but we ran our searchlights, and I sent Lawrence and Whitmore away incharge of the boats, and we managed to transfer them all withoutanything happening worse than breaking one or two oars.

  We gave Travers a cheer when he came across, and all crowded round andcongratulated him; and we cheered Trevelyan, young Rawlings and theirmen, and Ford
and his. They had come over in the first boat, andRashleigh had come as well--to report personally.

  Whilst he was down below I got a list of the names of those killed andwounded from Trevelyan, and had it stuck on the lower deck notice board.Scroggs was a serious loss to me--the captain of the fore top, and afine reliable man--and the others were all good men; they wouldn't havebeen sent there, of course, if they hadn't been.

  Ford and his six men had lost everything except what they stood up in,but every one of them was in the best of spirits. The second cuttercame along-side with the wounded, and young Morton was the first to becarried up the ladder, managed a smile from under his bandages, and wegave him a cheer.

  The mids who'd been left behind sang out, "Good old Dicky". I knewperfectly well that he had been called "Dear Little Dicky", and that theinoffensive, harmless little chap hated it, and was glad to hear themdrop it for once. I knew a good many more of the "ins and outs" of whatwent on in the gunroom than the Mids used to give me credit for.

  The rest of the wounded were carried up, or hobbled up the ladder, andthey all went for'ard to the sick bay.

  Then Rashleigh went back, simply bubbling over with importance andexcitement, the Skipper actually coming up to see him over the side. Hedidn't often pay anyone under the rank of post captain that compliment.

  "I thought that chap a blooming blockhead--told you so often--but he'sdone a jolly sight better than I gave him credit for; that he has,Truscott, that he has. And he's found a place where they're as thick asthieves--big guns mounted, and all that. I've sent him back to keep hiseye on it. Jolly smart chap! Things are just coming along now, eh?They'll find 'Old Lest' ain't such a fool as they think, eh?"

  "We've made a good start, sir, although we've lost rather heavily."

  "Put up a subscription list, Truscott; some of those men have leftfamilies. Stick me down for twenty-five 'thick 'uns'. It's more than'Old Lest' can afford, but stick 'em down. If the Admiralty don't payfor those junks, and the others get knocked about or lost as well, 'OldLest' 'll find himself in the Bankruptcy Court, umph!"

  "Make a signal: Captain Lester to Captain, officers, and men of the_Ringdove_.

  "The Captain, officers, and men of the _Vigilant_ congratulate you onthe plucky rescue of Lieutenant Travers and the two junks' crews."

  He sent for'ard to tell the Fleet Surgeon to let him know directly hecould come down to see the wounded, and then stalked along the upperdeck to the bridge, swinging his great shoulders and striding down anadmiring lane of men, who made a gangway and stood to attention as hepassed. You could see, even by the little light there was, how theyworshipped him.

  We hoisted in our boats and steamed off towards our island, the little_Ringdove_ turning back to hers and signalling, "Captain, officers, andmen," to ditto. "Thank you very much. We are very proud to have thehonour of serving under your orders."

  That pleased the Skipper--the last part, I mean--for he was simply ahuge simple-minded baby, and he grunted, and puffed at his cigar.

  "He's tickled to death with that," Lawrence whispered to me. "OldRashleigh knows how to get the soft side of him, doesn't he?"

  Rashleigh had brought over a written report of his proceedings, a copyof which I give you, so that you may draw your own conclusions. He hadnot had time to finish it properly, and I hardly think that he couldhave read it over either, after having written it.

  H.M.S. _Ringdove_, Off the Chung-li Tao Group, Chusan Archipelago, _May_ 7th.

  SIR,--In pursuance of your orders, I have the honour to report that Itowed the two tenders, the _Ferret_, Lieutenant Trevelyan, and the_Sally_, Midshipman Ford, to a position five miles to wind'ard (the windbeing SSW.) of the Chung-li Tao Islands, arriving there at 8 a.m. on the2nd May.

  At 10 a.m. I despatched the _Sally_ to search to the east'ard, and the_Ferret_ to the west'ard, and repaired to a rendezvous to leeward ofthem, giving them instructions which should meet any probableeventualities which might arise.

  I waited at the rendezvous till the morning of the 4th May, and thensighted the _Sally_, and ordered her to come alongside. She reportedthat she had three men killed, Mid Morton and two A.B.'s severelywounded, and that she was much damaged by shot above the water line.She had chased a pirate junk and sunk her, but had then most unwiselyattacked four others, and only escaped with the above losses. Her Maximgun had been destroyed, and she had expended practically all hersix-pounder ammunition.

  Mr. Ford also reported having met the tender _Ferret_ the night before,and that Mr. Trevelyan, contrary to my orders, had at once alteredcourse to the island where the _Sally_ had been attacked. The wind hadveered to NW. by N. during the night, and was now blowing a strongbreeze. As it was therefore impossible for him to beat back to me underthree days, I took the wounded on board my ship, buried two of his menat sea, and steamed towards the island and channel in which Mr. Ford hadengaged the four junks. The _Sally_ followed me at all speed.

  I arrived off the entrance to the channel at noon of next day, and onentering it was fired at by a two-gun battery at close range. One shotcame aboard me and wounded two men--one, Edward Larking, ord. sea. No.867037, has since died. I silenced these guns, and proceeding up thechannel, discovered that Mr. Trevelyan had wrecked his junk at theentrance to a small creek, and was in a desperate position, beingattacked by rifle fire from both sides of the creek.

  I made a hasty exploration of the creek, and found that a quarter of amile inland it opened out, and that anchored there were a number of warjunks, and a very large number of merchant junks.

  I determined to attack, but first deemed it necessary to survey thechannel, which operation was successfully performed, under a heavy fire,by Sub-lieutenant Harrow, who worked with great coolness, and lost oneman wounded.

  By the time the channel was reported as being sufficiently deep to allowthe passage of the _Ringdove_, it was dusk, and I determined to take herin at daybreak of the following day. Meanwhile I transferred the gunsand most of the stores of the _Ferret_ to my ship.

  At daybreak I weighed, and was at once fired upon by a gun, mounted onthe cliffs three hundred feet above my head, to which it was impossibleto reply.

  I immediately recognized that it would, under the circumstances, beimpossible to force the entrance, and stood off, ordering the _Sally_ tofollow me.

  She was, however, struck by a large shot or shell, and commenced tosink, and I had only sufficient time to bring off her crew, and couldnot save any of her stores.

  The cutter which brought off her crew sighted a man on the rocks, whosemaphored that he was Lieutenant Travers, and most pluckily brought himoff under a heavy fire.

  I then altered course for Tinghai with the crews of my tenders on board.

  My officers and crew behaved with gallantry and coolness under tryingcircumstances.

  I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, J. S. T. RASHLEIGH, Lieut. and Commander.

  To Captain CHARLES E. LESTER, R.N., H.M.S. _Vigilant_, Senior Officer, Chusan Archipelago.

  It was no doubt written hurriedly and finished off abruptly aftersighting the _Vigilant_; but from what I learned afterwards, hardly gavea correct, or rather fair account of the doings of his tenders.

  I was rather amused by young Ford coming to my cabin next morning. Hehad a boat's ensign under his arm, looked very sheepish, and wanted toknow if he might keep it. "The signalman of the _Sally_ borrowed it,sir, and hoisted it, without my knowing, whilst we were fighting thosejunks--he didn't know that it was against orders--and I do want to takeit home 'so badly'."

  I told him to run and hide it, and he could not have been more pleased.