CHAPTER TWO.
This is a long description, but applies To scarce five minutes past before the eyes But yet what minutes! Moments like to these Rend men's lives into immortalities. BYRON.
The mutiny at Spithead was soon followed up by that at the Nore; and theringleader, Parker, like a meteor darting through the firmament, sprungfrom nothing, corruscated, dazzled, and disappeared. The Texel fleetjoined, except a few ships, which the courage and conduct of the gallantold Admiral Duncan preserved from the contagion. Let me here digress alittle, to introduce to my readers the speech made by this officer tohis ship's company on the first symptoms of disaffection. It issupposed that sailors are not eloquent. I assert that, with theexception of the North American Indians, who have to perfection the artof saying much in few words, there are few people more eloquent thansailors. The general object looked for, in this world, is to obtain thegreatest possible effect with the smallest power; if so, the more simplethe language, the more matter is condensed, the nearer we approach toperfection. Flourishes and flowers of rhetoric may be compared to extrawheels applied to a carriage, increasing the rattling and complexity ofthe machine, without adding to either the strength of its fabric or therapidity of its course.
It was on the 6th of June that the fleet at the Nore was joined by the_Agamemnon, Leopard, Ardent_, and other ships which had separated fromAdmiral Duncan's fleet. When the Admiral found himself deserted by partof his own fleet, he called his own ship's crew together, and addressedthem in the following speech:--
"My lads! I once more call you together with a sorrowful heart, owingto what I have lately seen, the disaffection of the fleets: I call itdisaffection, for the crews have no grievances. To be deserted by myfleet, in the face of the enemy, is a disgrace which, I believe, neverbefore happened to a British admiral; nor could I have supposed itpossible. My greatest comfort under God is, that I have been supportedby the officers, seamen, and marines of this ship, for which, with aheart overflowing with gratitude, I request you to accept my sincerethanks. I flatter myself much good may result from your example, bybringing those deluded people to a sense of the duty which they owe, notonly to their king and country, but to themselves.
"The British navy has ever been the support of that liberty which hasbeen handed down to us by our ancestors, and which I trust we shallmaintain to the latest posterity--and that can only be done by unanimityand obedience. This ship's company, and others, who have distinguishedthemselves by loyalty and good order, deserve to be, and doubtless willbe, the favourites of a grateful nation. They will also have, fromtheir inward feelings, a comfort which will be lasting, and not like thefloating and false confidence of those who have swerved from their duty.
"It has often been my pride with you to look into the Texel, and see afoe which dreaded coming out to meet us. My pride is now humbledindeed! our cup has overflowed, and made us wanton--the All-wiseProvidence has given us this check as a warning, and I hope we shallimprove by it. On Him, then, let us trust, where our only security isto be found. I find there are many good men among us: for my own part,I have had full confidence of all in this ship; and once more I beg toexpress my approbation of your conduct.
"May God, who has thus far conducted you, continue to do so; and may theBritish navy, the glory and support of our country, be restored to itswonted splendour, and be not only the bulwark of Britain, but the terrorof the world.
"But this can only be effected by a strict adherence to our duty andobedience; and let us pray that the Almighty God may keep us in theright way of thinking.
"God bless you all."
At an address so unassuming, and so calculated, from its simplicity andtruth, to touch the human heart, the whole ship's crew were melted intotears, and declared their resolution to adhere to their admiral in lifeor death. Had all the ships in the fleet been commanded by such men asAdmiral Duncan, the mutiny at Spithead would not have been succeeded bythat at the Nore: but the seamen had no confidence, either in theirofficers, or in those who presided at the Board of Admiralty; anddistrust of their promises, which were considered to be given merely togain time, was the occasion of the second and more alarming rebellion ofthe two.
The irritated mind of Peters was stimulated to join the disaffectedparties. His pride, his superior education, and the acknowledgmentamong his shipmates that he was an injured man, all conspired to placehim in the dangerous situation of ringleader on board of his own ship,the crew of which, although it had not actually joined in the mutiny,now showed open signs of discontent.
But the mine was soon exploded by the behaviour of the captain. Alarmedat the mutinous condition of the other ships which were anchored near tohim, and the symptoms of dissatisfaction in his own, he proceeded to anact of unjustifiable severity, evidently impelled by fear and not byresolution. He ordered several of the petty officers and leading men ofthe ship to be thrown into irons, because they were seen to be earnestlytalking together on the forecastle,--and recollecting that his conducttowards Peters had been such as to warrant disaffection, he added him tothe number. The effect of this injudicious step was immediate. The mencame aft in a body on the quarter-deck, and requested to know thegrounds upon which Peters and the other men had been placed inconfinement; and perceiving alarm in the countenance of the captain,notwithstanding the resolute bearing of the officers, they insisted uponthe immediate release of their shipmates. Thus the first overt act ofmutiny was brought on by the misconduct of the captain.
The officers expostulated and threatened in vain. Three cheers werecalled for by a voice in the crowd, and three cheers were immediatelygiven. The marines, who still remained true to their allegiance, hadbeen ordered under arms; the first lieutenant of the ship--for thecaptain, trembling and confused, stood a mere cipher--gave the order forthe ship's company to go below, threatening to fire upon them if theorder was not instantaneously obeyed. The captain of marines broughthis men to the "make ready," and they were about to present, when thefirst lieutenant waved his hand to stop the decided measure, until hehad first ascertained how far the mutiny was general. He stepped a fewpaces forward, and requested that every "blue jacket" who was inclinedto remain faithful to his king and country, would walk over from thatside of the quarter-deck upon which the ship's company were assembled,to the one which was occupied by the officers and marines.
A pause and silence ensued--when, after some pushing and elbowingthrough the crowd, William Adams, an elderly quartermaster, made hisappearance in the front, and passed over to the side where the officersstood, while the hisses of the rest of the ship's company expressedtheir disapprobation of his conduct. The old man just reached the otherside of the deck, when turning round like a lion at bay, with one footon the _coamings of_ the hatchway, and his arm raised in the air tocommand attention, he addressed them in these few words:--
"My lads, I have fought for my king five-and-thirty years, and have beentoo long in his service to turn a rebel in my old age."
Would it be credited that, after the mutiny had been quelled, norepresentation of this conduct was made to government by his captain?Yet such was the case, and such was the gratitude of Captain A---.
The example shown by Adams was not followed--the ship's crew againcheered, and ran down the hatchways, leaving the officers and marines ondeck. They first disarmed the sentry under the half-deck, and releasedthe prisoners, and then went forward to consult upon further operations.
They were not long in deciding. A boatswain's mate, who was one of theringleaders, piped, "Stand by hammocks!" The men ran on deck, eachseizing a hammock, and jumping with it down below on the main deck. Theobject of this manoeuvre not being comprehended, they were suffered toexecute it without interruption. In a few minutes they sent up themarine, whom they had disarmed when sentry over the prisoners, to statethat they wished to speak to the captain and officers, who, after somediscussion, agreed that they would descend and hear the proposals whichthe ship's company should make. Indeed,
even with the aid of themarines, many of whom were wavering, resistance would now have beenuseless, and could only have cost them their lives; for they weresurrounded by other ships who had hoisted the flag of insubordination,and whose guns were trained ready to pour in a destructive fire on theleast sign of an attempt to purchase their anchor. To the main deckthey consequently repaired.
The scene which here presented itself was as striking as it was novel.The after-part of the main-deck was occupied by the captain andofficers, who had come down with the few marines who still continuedsteadfast to their duty, and one sailor only, Adams, who had so noblystated his determination on the quarter-deck. The foremost part of thedeck was tenanted by a noisy and tumultuous throng of seamen, whoseheads only appeared above a barricade of hammocks, which they had formedacross the deck, and out of which at two embrasures, admirablyconstructed, two long twenty-four pounders, loaded up to the muzzle withgrape and canister shot, were pointed aft in the direction where theofficers and marines were standing--a man at the breech of each gun,with a match in his hand (which he occasionally blew, that the primingpowder might be more rapidly ignited), stood ready for the signal tofire.
The captain, aghast at the sight, would have retreated, but theofficers, formed of sterner materials, persuaded him to stay, althoughhe showed such evident signs of fear and perturbation as seriously toinjure a cause in which resolution and presence of mind alone couldavail. The mutineers, at the suggestion of Peters, had already sent afttheir preliminary proposals, which were, that the officers and marinesshould surrender up their arms, and consider themselves under an arrest,intimating at the same time that the first step in advance made by anyone of their party would be the signal for applying the match to thetouch-holes of the guns.
There was a pause and dead silence, as if it were a calm, although everypassion was roused and on the alert; every bosom heaved tumultuously,and every pulse was trebled in its action. The same feeling which sopowerfully affects the truant schoolboy--who, aware of his offence, anddreading the punishment in perspective, can scarce enjoy the rapture ofmomentary emancipation--acted upon the mutineers, in an increased ratio,proportioned to the magnitude of their stake. Some hearts beat withremembrance of injuries and hopes of vengeance and retaliation; otherswith ambition, long dormant, bursting from its concealed recess; andmany were actuated by that restlessness which induced them to considerany change to be preferable to the monotony of existence in compulsoryservitude.
Among the officers, some were oppressed with anxious forebodings ofevil--those peculiar sensations which, when death approaches nearly tothe outward senses, alarm the heart; others experienced no feeling butthat of manly fortitude and determination to die, if necessary, likemen; in others, alas;--in which party, small as it was, the captain waspre-eminent--fear and trepidation amounted almost to the loss of reason.
Such was the state of the main-deck of the ship at the moment in whichwe are now describing it to the reader.
And yet, in the very centre of all this tumult, there was one who,although not indifferent to the scene around him, felt interestedwithout being anxious; astonished without being alarmed. Between thecontending and divided parties, stood a little boy, about six years old.He was the perfection of childish beauty; chestnut hair waved in curlson his forehead, health glowed on his rosy cheeks, dimples sported overhis face as he altered the expression of his countenance, and his largedark eyes flashed with intelligence and animation. He was dressed inmimic imitation of a man-of-war's man--loose trousers, tightened at thehips, to preclude the necessity of suspenders--and a white duck frock,with long sleeves and blue collar--while a knife, attached to a lanyard,was suspended round his neck: a light and narrow-brimmed straw hat onhis head completed his attire. At times he looked aft at the officersand marines; at others he turned his eyes forward to the hammocks,behind which the ship's company were assembled. The sight was new tohim, but he was already accustomed to reflect much, and to ask fewquestions. Go to the officers he did not, for the presence of thecaptain restrained him. Go to the ship's company he could not, for thebarricade of hammocks prevented him. There he stood, in wonderment, butnot in fear.
There was something beautiful and affecting in the situation of the boy;calm, when all around him was anxious tumult; thoughtless, when thebrains of others were oppressed with the accumulation of ideas;contented, where all was discontent; peaceful, where each party that hestood between was thirsting for each other's blood:--there he stood, theonly happy, the only innocent one, amongst hundreds swayed by jarringinterests and contending passions.
And yet he was in keeping, although in such strong contrast, with therest of the picture; for where is the instance of the human mind beingso thoroughly depraved as not to have one good feeling left? Nothingexists so base and vile as not to have one redeeming quality. There isno poison without some antidote--no precipice, however barren, withoutsome trace of verdure, no desert, however vast, without some spring torefresh the parched traveller, some oasis, some green spot, which, fromits situation, in comparison with surrounding objects, appears almostheavenly; and thus did the boy look almost angelic, standing as he didbetween the angry exasperated parties on the main-deck of thedisorganised ship.
After some little time he walked forward, and leaned against one of thetwenty-four pounders that was pointed out of the embrasure, the muzzleof which was on a level with, and intercepted by, his little head.
Adams, the quarter-master, observing the dangerous situation of thechild, stepped forward. This was against the stipulations laid down bythe mutineers, and Peters cried out to him--"Heave-to, Adams, or wefire!" Adams waved his hand in expostulation, and continued to advance."Keep back," again cried Peters, "or, by God, we fire!"
"Not upon one old man, Peters, and he unarmed," replied Adams; "I'm notworth so much powder and shot." The man at the gun blew his match."For God's sake, for your own sake, as you value your happiness andpeace of mind, do not fire, Peters!" cried Adams, with energy, "oryou'll never forgive yourself."
"Hold fast the match," said Peters; "we need not fear our man," and ashe said this, Adams had come up to the muzzle of the gun, and seized theboy, whom he snatched up in his arms.
"I only came forward, Peters, to save your own boy, whose head wouldhave been blown to atoms if you had chanced to have fired the gun," saidAdams, turning short round, and walking aft with the boy in his arms.
"God in heaven bless you, Adams!" cried Peters, with a faltering voice,and casting a look of fond affection at the child. The heart of themutineer was at that moment softened by parental feelings, and he blewthe priming off the touch-hole of the gun, lest an accidental sparkshould risk the life of his child, who was now aft with the officers andtheir party.
Reader, this little boy will be the hero of our tale.
The King's Own Page 2