by Dean King
The day before we left port an alarm was given of fire forward. I called for the drummer to beat to quarters—a foolish thing to do in those days, as it wasted time, while a word passed would have sufficed—and told the captain. It transpired that some matches had ignited somehow, but the fire was soon got under. The contents of the match-room, however, had been damaged by water, and although the damage was thought to have been rectified, it proved ere long to have been otherwise, as will shortly be seen, when occasion for their use arose.
While cruising off Guadeloupe on the afternoon of the 13th December 1809, during my watch we sighted four vessels. At first we supposed them to be Spaniards, and when the captain came on deck, he ordered me to fire and bring them to. I did so, and they obeyed the summons, and we cleared for action. We found that our enemies consisted of the two frigates Renommée and Clorinde, each with 40 guns, and the two armées-en-flute2 Loire and Seine, each carrying 20 guns. From this moment until the termination of the ensuing engagement I was ignorant of what took place on deck, being on duty on the main-deck; but just as we were about to pass under the stern of the leading ship, the Renommée, they changed their colours and let fire a broadside. I was looking out of the port at the time. Our helm must have been put down, and as we came up into the wind the second frigate, the Clorinde, drew alongside of us, her bowsprit abreast of our main-mast. She manifestly did not like her position, and hauled off. The Renommée meantime had placed herself on our weather bow, and the Clorinde then resumed her old position to an inch. About this time the purser hurried up to me and said that there were no matches, and as he spoke a shot came into us and struck away an iron stanchion which stood directly between us. Once during the action I received a fearful blow across my body, caused by a poor fellow being blown into smithereens—by my side. Passing aft to my quarters I stepped over a prostrate seaman who was literally disembowelled, whom I afterwards found to be my own servant. Towards the last part of the fight, the armée-en-flute Loire, on board of which were some 200 French soldiers, came up as close as possible and poured volley after volley of musketry along the deck, and the Renommée, still on our weather bow, ran up and put her bowsprit between our main- and mizzen-mast. It was now dark. Then came a midshipman named Auchinlick, who told me that the captain was dangerously wounded, and took me to the foot of the quarter-deck ladder where he lay—not a soul near him. I approached close, and he said, “Jackson, take me down,” and we carried him below directly. At the bottom of the ladder he exclaimed, “Thank you, Jackson, thank you; now encourage the men to fight bravely.”
I returned to my post and saw the gunroom steward coming towards me. He said that we had struck. To satisfy myself as to the fact, I went to the quarter-deck ladder, where I was met by a salute of bayonets and the exclamation, “En bas …” On this I repaired as fast as I could to the captain’s cabin. Poor fellow, he was lying there disabled by four severe wounds; and as Ï entered he turned his head and remarked with a smile, “Damn ’em, Jackson, they’ve spoilt my dancing3.”
The French commodore then came on board and went to the captain. Whitehurst, one of the midshipmen and an old messmate of mine in the Inflexible, acted as interpreter, of whom more by-and-by. The Frenchman behaved with the utmost courtesy, requesting to know whom the captain would like with him, and offering him every attention. The captain chose myself, Auchinlick, and another midshipman named John Thompson. The latter was a brave young fellow, and I could not help being forcibly struck with his courage when, previous to the ship being taken, he was ordered to find the signal-book, which the captain had left aft. He passed amidst the shower of musket-balls to execute his commission, displaying the most consummate coolness and indifference to the risk he ran, luckily escaping without a wound. The book was ultimately found by the Frenchmen on the binnacle. Auchinlick also deserved his meed of praise for his assiduous and affectionate consideration for his captain. The scene on board during the night was a trying and miserable one. The doctor’s abilities were enlisted for the dead and dying on all sides.
One poor man, a marine, was completely perforated through the jaws, and each time I passed him he called for water, but not a drop was to be found. At last I procured a bottle of porter and poured him out a glass, which he drank with grateful avidity. He died within a few hours. Whenever the captain wanted anything he sent for me, and the prayers of the wounded men were loud everywhere for water. I was stepping across a figure apparently dead on my passage from the captain’s cabin once, when it suddenly raised itself and caught hold of my arm. “God bless me, Appleby,”4 I exclaimed, “what are you doing here? Go below, man.” He pointed to his wound and remarked, “It matters not where I die, Mr. Jackson; as well here as elsewhere.” I insisted on his going below, and he dragged himself off and took possession of my cabin.
The doctor, Evan Evans by name, was in a most pitiable position. Besmeared up to his shoulders with blood, he was plying his instruments with untiring energy and encouraging the sufferers with kind words, but hardly able to turn for the implorations of those yet unattended to. He had no one to help him in his dreadful work, and the men would crawl about him with the bleeding forms of their messmates; while those who could amongst the wounded would clutch him with their hands and beseech him to turn to them if only to stop the blood gushing from their bodies. At times he would cry out in a way peculiar to him, “N’am of goodness me men, bear with it a bit, bear with it a bit; I’ll serve you in yer turn,” and then call out for his boy. “Where is my boy?” he would shout, but no boy was forthcoming, nor would he ever come again. In going the rounds I went forward in the bow of the ship, and there I soon discovered the reason of his absence from his post of duty. Excepting his legs and his arms nothing remained of him the size of an apple. He must have been bending down with his body in a horizontal position when a shot through the bow struck him straight on end, carrying away the trunk and shivering it into atoms. The last duty I performed on board was to throw the dead bodies into the sea. Our losses amounted to sixty killed and wounded.
I mentioned the captain’s cabin, but he was really lying in the cabin of the first lieutenant. The latter, on being ordered by the French commodore to repair on board the Renommée, had been unable to remove his things, so the next in rank being ordered instead, I was made his substitute to my infinite regret.
Before taking leave of my captain, I helped him into the boat which conveyed him to one of the “armées-en-flute” whither he was carried. I was accompanied by Conn and Thomas, who were likewise ordered to the Renommée. The other survivors were then distributed between the four French ships.
On our way we fell in with an English frigate, when all the prisoners were sent below in the hold and stowed away regardless of rank or fortune. Whilst in this confinement, sitting cramped up in a corner and scarcely capable of moving, two of my men showed a mark of attention to me which pleased me very much. They took off their neckerchiefs and tied one end of each to the battens overhead, tying the other under each arm, which then provided a sort of sling, a tolerable substitute for lying down. One of the men addressed me whilst we were in durance vile with the words, “You struck me on the head to-day, sir, with the guns.” I scarcely remembered the circumstance, but he brought it more prominently forward by some additional remark, and I replied, “Yes, but what were you leaving your quarter for?” “I was going to fetch a match or something to fire the guns off with, and after all could only get some cinders from the galley.” I was sorry to have punished him when I discovered this to be the fact; I had thought he was running away from his duty.
We heard a shot presently, as we thought, between the foremast and the mainmast, and our hopes rose at the thought of an action; but the English frigate, it appeared later, intending to intercept them before they could reach their destination, made a short cut to Guadeloupe. Unluckily for us, she only succeeded with the two armées-en-flutes. The Renommée now met with a mischance, and struck on the Shoals, but we came across an English
West Indiaman which had been captured, and the commodore settled to put us on board of her. So we were had up; and I, as senior officer, signed a declaration that we would steer south at a certain distance from Madeira before we proceeded to England. All had been arranged for us to go on board in the morning early, when, to our grief, an English frigate came in sight and altered the whole proceeding. Instead of sailing home in the West Indiaman, she was burnt without delay, and we continued prisoners without a prospect at present of release. The burning of the ship was a sufficient indication of an enemy’s presence, and the English frigate kept to the windward. They little imagined what an easy prize was within their reach, as the Renommée, being crippled with the loss of so many guns, could have offered but small resistance. She was, however, a fast sailer, and I was amused despite my disappointment to see the ruse they adopted to keep away from the English frigate by not hauling the bowline and sheets aft. We then hastened forward to Brest and passed another English frigate at night, evidently ready for action, as all her main-deck was lighted up. But we kept dark, and it is possible that we were not observed. Twelve hours later we landed in Brest, and, after undergoing quarantine, were landed and sent to the hospital, where Whitehurst joined us. The captive officers, including the captains of merchantmen, amounted to nine in number. The commodore then called upon us and gave Conn and myself £25 apiece, and took our receipt to reimburse when we could. The act was noble and generous, as, indeed, had been all his conduct towards us since our capture. Whitehurst had also found equal comfort with the captain of the Clorinde.
JANUARY 1810 TO 1811
Before we left the hospital at Brest, a Dane, the captain of a merchant vessel which was permitted to carry merchandise of a certain kind between England and France by an international understanding, came to see me on the eve of his starting for Granville, and asked me if I had not some notion of making an escape, and promised that if I could get to Granville he would do his best to carry me over to England. I mentioned Whitehurst, and he exclaimed vehemently “that he wouldn’t have anything to do with him,” and said that I was the only one that had treated him with any civility during our association in hospital. Whitehurst’s behaviour had been quite the reverse, he said, and he’d have none of him.
As it happened, Whitehurst and I had already put our heads together and formed a plan for our escape. The captain of the Clorinde had given him a map of the country and a box of opium pills. And chance had chalked out our first route to Granville, the very place where the Danish captain had advised me to go.
Our short sojourn at the hospital was, considering all things, a pleasant one. Between the nine of us we managed to devise plenty of means for our amusement, and sailors are proverbially fertile in resources. All sorts of games were the order of the day, and the surveillance of our guards, though complete, was not embarrassing. At meal times we were always favoured with the society of the softer sex, who, in the profession of Mary, stood behind our chairs to watch our welfare, ordered all things to our comfort, and finally won our hearts to a man.
Whitehurst was a fine-looking fellow, standing quite 6 ft. 2 in., and apparently (I mean no scandal) an especial favourite with our fair protectresses. Thomas, the midshipman, was a lad exactly suited to carry the citadel of a lady’s heart by storm—a particularly well-favoured specimen of a handsome youth. Conn and myself, disdaining the evanescent qualities of mere superficial beauty, held our proper position in the estimation of all by the force of superior rank. On leaving their charge we severally and collectively received their blessing, and with the benediction ringing in our ears, marched forth under a convoy of as many French soldiers as were men in our little band.
Whitehurst and I had sufficient penetration to observe the character of our military escort. They warmed up without reserve to those who were cheerful and unconstrained, so we kept up a continual flow of mirth along the journey and let nothing interrupt us. At the first halt after supper we proposed some mulled wine, which was produced accordingly, and shared equally with the parties without distinction. And we passed to our beds after a cheerful and perhaps rather noisy entertainment.
On the second night we halted at another inn and were all allotted rooms. We all met together as before, and the cup went round merrily, we enjoying ourselves as much as the soldiers. Whitehurst and I were to sleep together this night, so, quite casually as it were, we selected a bed nearest the window at the end of the room. We had no opportunity of conferring with the others, so counselled as well as we could between ourselves. Towards the time for turning in, Whitehurst, as if on the spur of the moment, suggested one more glass. This I resisted, warmly declaring that we had had quite enough and that it was unreasonable. He insisted and called for the wine, and set to work mixing it, taking an opportunity during the brewing of dropping some of the pills into all the glasses but our own. The soldiers were delighted and drank away unsuspectingly. Soon afterwards we prepared for rest. Half of the party repaired to a different room and left two merchant captains, Whitehurst and myself, together with our sleepy guards, to our glory. Whitehurst, unobserved, slipped into bed with his clothes on. I leisurely commenced to divest myself of mine; and the soldiers, but more actively, for they were drowsy, followed my example. They closed the shutters of the windows and barred them, and hung their knapsacks thereon, leaving their guns against the wall close by. It was not very long before they were completely overcome by their last draught and as heavy as logs.
I had not been idle in the interval but had now, thanks to sundry complicated movements under the sheet, become fully dressed again and ready for work. Whitehurst was naturally inclined to be awkward and moved about more like an elephant than a human being. Emerging from my side of the bed noiselessly, I removed the soldiers’ knapsacks, unbarred the shutters, and got the window open, completing the whole of my task fortunately without a blunder. There was nothing now but to get to the ground outside, for we were in an upper room about twelve feet from the level. I went first and Whitehurst followed, coming, of course, upon his feet like the animal above-mentioned, so that I was horribly frightened lest any of the soldiers should be awakened by the disturbance of his exit; but their slumber was unbroken, I am delighted to say, and away we started as fast as our legs would carry us.
In after days I encountered one of the merchant captains who had been in the same room with us at the time of our escape. He told me that he had seen us leave and that one of the guards got up shortly afterwards, walked over to the window, closed it, and then lay down and went to sleep again. The opium had stupefied him. The merchant captain’s bed-fellow had been awake also, and perceiving our escape wanted to follow, but was prevented by his companion, who knew that detection must inevitably ensue if they attempted to do likewise at that juncture.
We kept to the road until morning dawned, when we came upon what looked like a large common, or piece of waste land, on one side of which ran a ditch of sufficient depth to serve our purpose of concealment; so into it we went, and ignoring the discomfort of such an uncongenial and damp lodging, we remained therein, not venturing to raise our heads above the banks again until nightfall, when we once more took to the highroad. After a few hours’ journey, guided by the map that Whitehurst had preserved, we approached a village, and hunger beginning to assert its supremacy, we debated what should be done. Whitehurst, who spoke French as well, if not better, than his native tongue, settled to go into the town and get some food. He returned with a loaf of brown bread, which was gratefully and greedily devoured; and we pushed on, nor halted again until the night had disappeared, when we made for some fields and looked up another friendly ditch, where we stretched ourselves for the day.
We had taken up our quarters not far from a gate, and to our discomfiture a man began to repair it during the morning. We kept close to the bottom of the ditch, not stirring a muscle all the time he was so unpleasantly near, and we could plainly hear him talking occasionally to himself. But this danger passed away, and right gl
ad we were when the moment for venturing forth on our journey again arrived, Whitehurst repeated the commissariat duty at the next place through which we passed, and then we resolved to get more agreeable shelter if possible for the ensuing day.
On our road we met a man and asked him to direct us. He informed us that we were in the right course, and then asked us if we were deserters. We replied in the affirmative, and he promised to assist us, saying that he thought he could procure us horses, which he did, and we rode off, followed by a boy who beat the horses, over about the worst road I ever travelled on. The mud was over the boy’s ankles: he was barefooted, and ran the whole distance behind us.
Arrived at another village, we entered an inn and asked for beds. They could give us none but had no objection to us sitting round the fire for the rest of the night. We were too glad of such a chance to hesitate a minute and so took our places with alacrity. Two maids were already nodding over the embers with their arms under their aprons; and as we had our pockets to take advantage of, we thrust our hands therein, to be as much in the fashion as practicable, and were soon in dreamland.
Towards daylight some of the customers left, and we were awakened and accommodated with their room. Our experience in the ditches had given us a fresh relish for a genuine bed, and the exertions we had made on the road prepared us for any amount of rest; therefore we gave ourselves up to a luxurious oblivion with a right goodwill, and slept so late into the hours of the ensuing day that our landlady came up to know if we were alive, or what had come to us. We ordered breakfast and despatched it in our room, after which Whitehurst sallied out for a look round.