With Clive in India; Or, The Beginnings of an Empire

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 3: A Brush With Privateers.

  The night passed quietly. Once or twice lights were seen, as theschooners showed a lantern for a moment to notify their exact positionto each other.

  As soon as dawn broke, every man on board the Lizzie Anderson was athis post. The schooners had drawn up a little, but were still undereasy sail. The moment that the day grew clear enough for it to beperceived that no other sail could be seen above the horizon, freshsail was spread upon the schooners, and they began rapidly to draw up.

  On the previous evening the four heavy guns had been brought aft, andthe Indiaman could have made a long running fight with her opponents,had the captain been disposed. To this, however, he objected strongly,as his vessel was sure to be hulled and knocked about severely, andperhaps some of his masts cut down. He was confident in his power tobeat off the two privateers, and he therefore did not add a stitch ofcanvas to the easy sail under which he had been holding on all night.

  Presently a puff of smoke shot out from the bow of the schooner fromthe weather quarter, followed almost instantaneously by one from herconsort. Two round shot struck up the water, the one under theIndiaman's stern, the other under her forefoot.

  "The rascals are well within range," the captain said quietly. "See,they are taking off canvas again. They intend to keep at thatdistance, and hammer away at us. Just what I thought would be theirtactics."

  Two more shots were fired by the schooners. One flew over the deckbetween the masts, and plunged harmlessly in the sea beyond. The otherstruck the hull with a dull crash.

  "It is lucky the ladies were sent into the hold," the captain said."That shot has gone right through their cabin.

  "Now, my lads, have you got the sights well upon them? Fire!"

  The four thirty-two pounders spoke out almost at the same moment, andall gazed over the bulwarks anxiously to watch the effect, and a cheerarose as it was seen how accurate had been the aim of the gunners. Oneshot struck the schooner to windward in the bow, a foot or two abovethe water level. Another went through her foresail, close to the mast.

  "A foot more, and you would have cut his foremast asunder."

  The vessel to leeward had been struck by only one shot, the otherpassing under her stern. She was struck just above her deck line, theshot passing through the bulwark, and, as they thought on board themerchantman, narrowly missing if not actually striking the mainmast.

  "There is some damage done," Dr. Rae said, keeping his glass fixed onthe vessel. "There is a good deal of running about on deck there."

  It was evident that the display of the heavy metal carried by theIndiaman was an unpleasant surprise to the privateers. Both loweredsail and ceased firing, and there was then a rapid exchange of signalsbetween them.

  "They don't like it," the captain said, laughing. "They see that theycannot play the game they expected, and that they've got to take aswell as to give. Now it depends upon the sort of stuff their captainsare made of, whether they give it up at once, or come straight up toclose quarters.

  "Ah! They mean fighting."

  As he spoke, a cloud of canvas was spread upon the schooners and,sailing more than two feet to the merchantman's one, they ran quicklydown towards her, firing rapidly as they came. Only the merchantman'sheavy guns replied, but these worked steadily and coolly, and didconsiderable damage. The bowsprit of one of their opponents was shotaway. The sails of both vessels were pierced in several places, andseveral ragged holes were knocked in their hulls.

  "If it were not that I do not wish to sacrifice any of the lives onboard, unnecessarily," the captain said, "I would let them comealongside and try boarding. We have a strong crew, and with the sixtysoldiers we should give them such a reception as they do not dream of.However, I will keep them off, if I can.

  "Now, Mr. James," he said to the first officer, "I propose to givethat vessel to leeward a dose. They are keeping about abreast, and bythe course they are making will range alongside at about a cable'slength. When I give the word, pour a broadside with the guns to portupon that weather schooner.

  "At that moment, gentlemen," he said, turning to the passengers, "Ishall rely upon you to pick off the steersman of the other vessel, andto prevent another taking his place. She steers badly now, and themoment her helm is free, she'll run up into the wind. As she does so,I shall bear off, run across her bow, and rake her deck with grape aswe pass.

  "Will you, Mr. Barlow, order your men to be in readiness to open firewith musketry upon her, as we pass?"

  The schooners were now running rapidly down upon the Indiaman. Theywere only able to use the guns in their bows, and the fire of theIndiaman from the heavy guns on her quarter was inflicting more damagethan she received.

  "Let all hands lie down on deck," the captain ordered. "They will openwith their broadside guns, as they come up. When I give the word, letall the guns on the port side be trained at the foot of her mainmast,and fire as you get the line. On the starboard side, lie down till Igive the word."

  It was a pretty sight as the schooners, throwing the water high upfrom their sharp cut-waters, came running along, heeling over underthe breeze. As they ranged alongside, their topsails came down, and abroadside from both was poured into the Indiaman. The great ship shookas the shot crashed into her, and several sharp cries told of theeffect which had been produced.

  Then the captain gave the word, and a moment afterwards an irregularbroadside, as the captain of each gun brought his piece to bear, waspoured into the schooner from the guns on the port side. As theprivateer heeled over, her deck could be plainly seen, and the shot ofthe Indiaman, all directed at one point, tore up a hole around thefoot of the mainmast. In an instant the spar tottered and, with acrash, fell alongside. At the same moment, three of the passengerstook a steady aim over the bulwark at the helmsman of the otherprivateer and, simultaneously with the reports of their pieces, theman was seen to fall. Another sprang forward to take his place, butagain the rifles spoke out, and he fell beside his comrade.

  Freed from the strain which had counteracted the pressure of hermainsail, the schooner flew up into the wind. The Indiaman held on hercourse for another length, and then her helm was put up, and she sweptdown across the bows of the privateer. Then the men leaped to theirfeet, the soldiers lined the bulwarks, and as she passed along a fewyards only distant from her foe, each gun poured a storm of grapealong her crowded deck, while the troops and passengers kept up acontinuous fire of musketry.

  "That will do," the captain said, quietly. "Now we may keep her on hercourse. They have had more than enough of it."

  There was no doubt of that, for the effect of the iron storm had beenterrible, and the decks of the schooner were strewn with dead anddying. For a time after the merchantman had borne upon her course, thesails of the schooner flapped wildly in the wind, and then theforemast went suddenly over the side.

  "I should think you could take them both, Captain Thompson," one ofthe passengers said.

  "They are as good as taken," the captain answered, "and would beforced to haul down their flags, if I were to wear round and continuethe fight. But they would be worse than useless to me. I should notknow what to do with their crews, and should have to cripple myself byputting very strong prize crews upon them, and so run the risk oflosing my own ship and cargo.

  "No, my business is to trade and not to fight. If any one meddle withme, I am ready to take my own part; but the Company would not thankme, if I were to risk the safety of this ship and her valuable cargofor the sake of sending home a couple of prizes, which might berecaptured as they crossed the bay, and would not fetch any great sumif they got safely in port."

  An examination showed that the casualties on board the Lizzie Andersonamounted to three killed and eight wounded. The former were sewn inhammocks, with a round shot at their feet, and dropped overboard; theclergyman reading the burial service. The wounded were carried below,and attended to by the ship's surgeon and Doctor Rae. The ship's deckswere washed, and all traces of the conf
lict removed. The guns wereagain lashed in their places, carpenters were lowered over the side torepair damages; and when the ladies came on deck an hour after theconflict was over, two or three ragged holes in the bulwarks, and ahalf dozen in the sails, were the sole signs that the ship had been inaction; save that some miles astern could be seen the two crippledprivateers, with all sails lowered, at work to repair damages.

  Two or three days afterwards, Charlie Marryat and his friend Peterswere sitting beside Doctor Rae, when the latter said:

  "I hope that we sha'n't find the French in Madras, when we get there."

  "The French in Madras!" Charlie exclaimed in surprise. "Why, sir,there's no chance of that, is there?"

  "A very great chance," the doctor said. "Don't you know that theycaptured the place three years ago?"

  "No, sir; I'm ashamed to say that I know nothing at all about India,except that the Company have trading stations at Bombay, Madras, andCalcutta."

  "I will tell you about it," the doctor said. "It is as well that youshould understand the position of affairs, at the place to which youare going. You must know that the Company hold the town of Madras, anda few square miles of land around it, as tenants of the Nawab of theCarnatic, which is the name of that part of India. The French have astation at Pondicherry, eighty-six miles to the sou'west of Madras.This is a larger and more important town than Madras, and of coursethe greatest rivalry prevails between the English and French.

  "The French are much more powerful than the English, and exercise apredominating influence throughout the Carnatic. The French governor,Monsieur Dupleix, is a man of very great ability, and far-seeingviews. He has a considerable force of French soldiers at his command,and by the aid which he has given to the nawab, upon variousoccasions, he has obtained a predominating influence in his councils.

  "When war was declared between England and France, in the year '44,the English squadron under Commodore Barnet was upon the coast, andthe Company sent out orders to Mr. Morse, the governor of Madras, touse every effort to destroy the French settlement, of whose risingpower they felt the greatest jealousy. Dupleix, seeing the force thatcould be brought against him, and having no French ships on thestation, although he was aware that a fleet under Admiral LaBourdonnais was fitting out and would arrive shortly, dreaded thecontest, and proposed to Mr. Morse that the Indian colonies of the twonations should remain neutral, and take no part in the struggle inwhich their respective countries were engaged. Mr. Morse, however, inview of the orders he had received from the Company, was unable toagree to this.

  "Dupleix then applied to the nawab who, at his request, forbade hisEuropean tenants to make war on land with each other, an order whichthey were obliged to obey.

  "In July, 1746, La Bourdonnais arrived with his fleet, and chased thesmall English squadron from the Indian seas. Dupleix now changed histactics, and regardless of the injunction which he himself hadobtained from the nawab, he determined to crush the English at Madras.He supplied the fleet with men and money, and ordered the admiral tosail for Madras. The fleet arrived before the town on the 14th ofSeptember; landed a portion of its troops, six hundred in number, withtwo guns, a short distance along the coast; and on the following daydisembarked the rest, consisting of a thousand French troops, fourhundred Sepoys, and three hundred African troops, and summoned Madrasto surrender.

  "Madras was in no position to offer any effectual resistance. The fortwas weak and indefensible. The English inhabitants consisted only of ahundred civilians, and two hundred soldiers. Governor Morseendeavoured to obtain, from the nawab, the protection which he hadbefore granted to Dupleix, a demand which the nawab at once refused.

  "I was there at the time, and quite agreed with the governor that itwas useless to attempt resistance to the force brought against us. Thegovernor, therefore, surrendered on the 21st. The garrison, and allthe civilians in the place not in the service of the Company, were tobecome prisoners of war; while those in the regular service of theCompany were free to depart, engaging only not to carry arms againstthe French until exchanged. These were the official conditions; but LaBourdonnais, influenced by jealousy of Dupleix, and by the promise ofa bribe of forty thousand pounds, made a secret condition with Mr.Morse, by which he bound himself to restore Madras in the future, uponthe payment of a large sum of money. This agreement Dupleix, whoseheart was set upon the total expulsion of the English, refused toratify.

  "A good many of us considered that, by this breach of the agreement,we were released from our parole not to carry arms against the French;and a dozen or so of us, in various disguises, escaped from Madras andmade our way to Fort Saint David, a small English settlement twelvemiles south of Pondicherry. I made the journey with a young fellownamed Clive, who had come out as a writer about two years before. Hewas a fine young fellow; as unfitted as you are, I should think,Marryat, for the dull life of a writer, but full of energy andcourage.

  "At Fort Saint David we found two hundred English soldiers, and ahundred Sepoys, and a number of us, having nothing to do at our ownwork, volunteered to aid in the defence.

  "After Dupleix had conquered Madras, the nawab awoke to the fact ofthe danger of allowing the French to become all-powerful, by thedestruction of the English, and ordered Dupleix to restore the place.Dupleix refused, and the nawab sent his son Maphuz Khan to invest thetown. Dupleix at once despatched a detachment of two hundred andthirty French, and seven hundred Sepoys, commanded by an engineerofficer named Paradis, to raise the siege.

  "On the 2nd of November, the garrison of Madras sallied out and droveaway the cavalry of Maphuz Khan; and on the 4th, Paradis attacked hisarmy, and totally defeated it.

  "This, lads, was a memorable battle. It is the first time thatEuropean and Indian soldiers have come into contest, and it shows howimmense is the superiority of Europeans. What Paradis did then opensall sorts of possibilities for the future; and it may be that eitherwe or the French are destined to rise, from mere trading companies, tobe rulers of Indian states.

  "Such, I know, is the opinion of young Clive, who is a verylong-headed and ambitious young fellow. I remember his saying to meone night, when we were, with difficulty, holding our own in thetrenches, that if we had but a man of energy and intelligence at thehead of our affairs in Southern India, we might, ere many yearspassed, be masters of the Carnatic. I own that it appears to me morelikely that the French will be in that position, and that we shall nothave a single establishment left there; but time will show.

  "Having defeated Maphuz Khan, Dupleix resolved to make a great effortto expel us from Fort Saint David, our sole footing left in SouthernIndia; and he despatched an army of nine hundred Frenchmen, sixhundred Sepoys, and a hundred Africans, with six guns and mortars,against us. They were four to one against us, and we had hot work, Ican tell you. Four times they tried to storm the place, and each timewe drove them back; till at last they gave it up in disgust, at theend of June, having besieged us for six months.

  "Soon after this Admiral Boscawen, with a great fleet and an army,arrived from England; and on 19th of August besieged Pondicherry. Thebesieging army was six thousand strong; of whom three thousand, sevenhundred and twenty were English. But Pondicherry resisted bravely, andafter two months the besiegers were forced to retire, having lost, inattacks or by fever, one thousand and sixty-five men.

  "At the end of the siege, in which I had served as a medical officer,I returned to England. A few months after I left, peace was madebetween England and France, and by its terms Dupleix had to restoreMadras to the English. I hear that fighting has been going on eversince, the English and French engaging as auxiliaries to rival nativeprinces; and especially that there was some hot fighting roundDevikota. However, we shall hear about that when we get there."

  "And what do you think will be the result of it all, Doctor Rae?"

  "I think that undoubtedly, sooner or later, either the French orourselves will be driven out. Which it will be remains to be seen. Ifwe are expelled, the effect of our defeat is like
ly to operatedisastrously at Calcutta, if not at Bombay. The French will beregarded as a powerful people, whom it is necessary to conciliate,while we shall be treated as a nation of whom they need have no fear,and whom they can oppress accordingly.

  "If we are successful, and absolutely obtain possession of theCarnatic, our trade will vastly increase, fresh posts and commands ofall sorts will be established, and there will be a fine career open toyou young fellows, in the service of the Company."

  After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the ship encountered a series ofvery heavy gales, which drove her far out of her course up the easterncoast of Africa. In the last gale her foremast was carried away, andshe put in to a small island to refit. She had also sprung a leak, anda number of stores were landed, to enable her to be taken up intoshallow water and heeled over, in order that the leak might be got at.

  The captain hurried on the work with all speed.

  "Had it not been for this," Charlie heard him say to Mr. Ashmead, "Iwould have rigged a jury-mast and proceeded; but I can't stop the leakfrom the inside, without shifting a great portion of the cargo, andour hold is so full that this would be difficult in the extreme. But Iown that I do not like delaying a day longer than necessary, here. Thenatives have a very bad reputation, besides which it is suspected thatone, if not more, pirates have their rendezvous in these seas. Severalof our merchantmen have mysteriously disappeared, without any galehaving taken place which would account for their loss.

  "The captain of a ship which reached England, two or three days beforewe sailed, brought news that when she was within a fortnight's sail ofthe Cape, the sound of guns was heard one night, and that afterwards aship was seen on fire, low down on the horizon. He reached the spotsoon after daybreak, and found charred spars and other wreckage; butthough he cruised about all day, he could find no signs of any boats.Complaints have been made to government, and I hear that there is anintention of sending two or three sloops out here to hunt the piratesup. But that will be of no use to us."

  Upon the day of their arrival at the island, a native sailing boat wasseen to pass across the mouth of the bay. When half across, shesuddenly tacked round and sailed back in the direction from which shehad come.

  Before proceeding to lighten the ship, the captain had taken steps toput himself in a position of defence. For some distance along thecentre of the bay the ground rose abruptly, at a distance of somethirty yards from the shore, forming a sort of natural terrace. Behindthis a steep hill rose. The terrace, which was forty feet above thewater level, extended for about a hundred yards, when the ground oneither side of the plateau dropped away, as steeply as in front.

  The guns were the first things taken out of the ship, and, regardlessof the remonstrances of the passengers at what they considered to be awaste of time, Captain Thompson had the whole of them taken up on theterrace. A small battery was thrown up by the sailors, at the twocorners, and in each of these two of the thirty-two pounders wereplaced. The broadside guns were ranged in line along the centre of theterrace.

  "Now," the captain said when, at the end of the second day, thepreparations were completed by the transport of a quantity ofammunition from the ship's magazine to the terrace, "I feelcomfortable. We can defend ourselves here against all the pirates ofthe South Seas. If they don't come, we shall only have lost our twodays' work, and shall have easy minds for the remainder of our stayhere; which we should not have had, if we had been at the mercy of thefirst of those scoundrels who happened to hear of our being laid up."

  The next morning the work of unloading the ship began, the bales andpackages being lowered from the ship, as they were brought up from thehold, into boats alongside; and then taken to the shore, and piledthere at the foot of the slope. This occupied three days, and at theend of that time the greater portion of the cargo had been removed.The ship, now several feet lighter in the water than before, wasbrought broadside to shore until her keel touched the ground. Then theremaining cargo was shifted, and by the additional aid of tackle andpurchases on shore fastened to her masts, she was heeled over untilher keel nearly reached the level of the water.

  It was late one evening when this work was finished, and the followingmorning the crew were to begin to scrape her bottom, and thecarpenters were to repair the leak, and the whole of the seamsunderwater were to be corked and repitched. Hitherto all had remainedon board; but previous to the ship being heeled over, tentsconstructed of the sails were erected on the terrace, beds and otherarticles of necessity landed, and the passengers, troops, and crewtook up their temporary abode there.