The Two Admirals

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER XX.

  "Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint; As humorous as winter, and as sudden As flaws congealed in the spring of day. His temper, therefore, must be well observed."

  SHAKESPEARE.

  The reader will remember that the wind had not become fresh when SirGervaise Oakes got into his barge, with the intention of carrying hisfleet to sea. A retrospective glance at the state of the weather, willbecome necessary to the reader, therefore, in carrying his mind back tothat precise period whither it has now become our duty to transport himin imagination.

  The vice-admiral governed a fleet on principles very different fromthose of Bluewater. While the last left so much to the commanders of thedifferent vessels, his friend looked into every thing himself. Thedetails of the service he knew were indispensable to success on a largerscale, and his active mind descended into all these minutiae, to a degreesometimes, that annoyed his captains. On the whole, however, he wassufficiently observant of that formidable barrier to excessivefamiliarity, and that great promoter of heart-burnings in a squadron,naval etiquette, to prevent any thing like serious misunderstandings,and the best feelings prevailed between him and the several magnatesunder his orders. Perhaps the circumstance that he was a _fighting_admiral contributed to this internal tranquillity; for, it has beenoften remarked, that armies and fleets will both tolerate more inleaders that give them plenty to do with the enemy, than in commanderswho leave them inactive and less exposed. The constant encounters withthe foe would seem to let out all the superfluous quarrelsometendencies. Nelson, to a certain extent, was an example of thisinfluence in the English marine, Suffren[1] in that of France, andPreble, to a much greater degree than in either of the other cases, inour own. At all events, while most of his captains sensibly feltthemselves less of commanders, while Sir Gervaise was on board or aroundtheir ships, than when he was in the cabin of the Plantagenet, the peacewas rarely broken between them, and he was generally beloved as well asobeyed. Bluewater was a more invariable favourite, perhaps, thoughscarcely as much respected; and certainly not half as much feared.

  [Footnote 1: Suffren, though one of the best sea-captains France everpossessed, was a man of extreme severity and great roughness of manner.Still he must have been a man of family, as his title of _Bailli_ deSuffren, was derived from his being a Knight of Malta. It is a singularcircumstance connected with the death of this distinguished officer,which occurred not long before the French revolution, that hedisappeared in an extraordinary manner, and is buried no one knowswhere. It is supposed that he was killed by one of his own officers, ina rencontre in the streets of Paris, at night, and that the influence ofthe friends of the victor was sufficiently great to suppress inquiry.The cause of the quarrel is attributed to harsh treatment on service.]

  On the present occasion, the vice-admiral did not pull through thefleet, without discovering the peculiar propensity to which we havealluded. In passing one of the ships, he made a sign to his coxswain tocause the boat's crew to lay on their oars, when he hailed the vessel,and the following dialogue occurred.

  "Carnatic, ahoy!" cried the admiral.

  "Sir," exclaimed the officer of the deck, jumping on a quarter-deck gun,and raising his hat.

  "Is Captain Parker on board, sir?"

  "He is, Sir Gervaise; will you see him, sir?"

  A nod of the head sufficed to bring the said Captain Parker on deck, andto the gangway, where he could converse with his superior, withoutinconvenience to either.

  "How do you do, _Captain_ Parker?"--a certain sign Sir Gervaise meant torap the other over the knuckles, else would it have been _Parker_."--Howdo you do, _Captain_ Parker? I am sorry to see you have got your shiptoo much down by the head, sir. She'll steer off the wind, like a coltwhen he first feels the bridle; now with his head on one side, and nowon the other. You know I like a compact line, and straight wakes, sir."

  "I am well aware of that, Sir Gervaise," returned Parker, a gray-headed,meek old man, who had fought his way up from the forecastle to hispresent honourable station, and, who, though brave as a lion before theenemy, had a particular dread of all his commanders; "but we have beenobliged to use more water aft than we could wish, on account of thetiers. We shall coil away the cables anew, and come at some of theleaguers forward, and bring all right again, in a week, I hope, sir."

  "A week?--the d----l, sir; that will never do, when I expect to see deVervillin _to-morrow_. Fill all your empty casks aft with salt-water,immediately; and if that wont do, shift some of your shot forward. Iknow that craft of yours, well; she is as tender as a fellow with corns,and the shoe musn't pinch anywhere."

  "Very well, Sir Gervaise; the ship shall be brought in trim, as soon aspossible."

  "Ay, ay, sir, that is what I expect from every vessel, at _all_ times;and more especially when we are ready to meet an enemy. And, I say,_Parker_,"--making a sign to his boat's crew to stop rowing again--"Isay, _Parker_, I know you love brawn;--I'll send you some that Galleygotells me he has picked up, along-shore here, as soon as I get aboard.The fellow has been robbing all the hen-roosts in Devonshire, by his ownaccount of the matter."

  Sir Gervaise waved his hand, _Parker_ smiled and bowed his thanks, andthe two parted with feelings of perfect kindness, notwithstanding thelittle skirmish with which the interview had commenced.

  "Mr. Williamson," said Captain Parker to his first lieutenant, onquitting the gangway, "you hear what the commander-in-chief says; and hemust be obeyed. I _don't_ think the Carnatic would have sheered out ofthe line, even if she is a little by the head; but have the empty casksfilled, and bring her down six inches more by the stern."

  "That's a good fellow, that old Parker," said Sir Gervaise to hispurser, whom he was carrying off good-naturedly to the ship, lest hemight lose his passage; "and I wonder how he let his ship get her noseunder water, in that fashion. I like to have him for a second astern;for I feel sure he'd follow if I stood into Cherbourg, bows on! Yes; agood fellow is Parker; and, Locker,"--to his own man, who was also inthe boat;--"mind you send him _two_ of the best pieces of thatbrawn--hey!--hey!--hey!--what the d----l has Lord Morganic"--a descendantfrom royalty by the left hand,--"been doing now! That ship is kept likea tailor's jay figure, just to stuff jackets and gim-cracks onher--Achilles, there!"

  A quarter-master ran to the edge of the poop, and then turning, he spoketo his captain, who was walking the deck, and informed him that thecommander-in-chief hailed the ship. The Earl of Morganic, a young man offour-and-twenty, who had succeeded to the title a few years before bythe death of an elder brother,--the usual process by which an _old_ peeris brought into the British navy, the work being too discouraging forthose who have fortune before their eyes from the start,--now advancedto the quarter of the ship, bowed with respectful ease, and spoke with aself-possession that not one of the old commanders of the fleet wouldhave dared to use. In general, this nobleman's intercourse with hissuperiors in naval rank, betrayed the consciousness of his ownsuperiority in civil rank; but Sir Gervaise being of an old family, andquite as rich as he was himself, the vice-admiral commanded more of hishomage than was customary. His ship was full of "nobs," as they term itin the British navy, or the sons and relatives of nobles; and it was byno means an uncommon thing for her messes to have their jokes at theexpense of even flag-officers, who were believed to be a little ignorantof the peculiar sensibilities that are rightly enough imagined tocharacterize social station.

  "Good-morning, Sir Gervaise," called out this noble captain; "I'm gladto see you looking so well, after our long cruise in the Bay; I intendedto have the honour to inquire after your health in person, this morning,but they told me you slept out of your ship. We shall have to hold acourt on you, sir, if you fall much into that habit!"

  All within hearing smiled, even to the rough old tars, who wereastraddle of the yards; and even Sir Gervaise's lip curled a little,though he was not exactly in a joking humour.

  "Come, come, Morganic, do you let my habits al
one, and look out for yourown fore-top-mast. Why, in the name of seamanship, is that spar stayedforward in such a fashion, looking like a xebec's foremast?"

  "Do you dislike it, Sir Gervaise?--Now to our fancies aboard here, itgives the Achilles a knowing look, and we hope to set a fashion. Bycarrying the head-sails well forward, we help the ship round in a sea,you know, sir."

  "Indeed, I know no such thing, my lord. What you gain after being takenaback, you lose in coming to the wind. If I had a pair of scalessuitable to such a purpose, I would have all that hamper you have stayedaway yonder over your bows, on the end of such a long lever, weighed, inorder that you might learn what a beautiful contrivance you've invented,among you, to make a ship pitch in a head sea. Why, d----e, if I thinkyou'd lie-to, at all, with so much stuff aloft to knock you off toleeward. Come up, every thing, forward; come up every thing, my lord,and bring the mast as near perpendicular as possible. It's a hardmatter, I find, to make one of your new-fashioned captains keep thingsin their places."

  "Well, now, Sir Gervaise, I think the Achilles makes as good anappearance as most of the other ships; and as to travelling or working,I do not know that she is either dull or clumsy!"

  "She's pretty well, Morganic, considering how many Bond-street ideas youhave got among you; but she'll never do in a head sea, with thatfore-top-mast threatening your knight-heads. So get the mastup-and-down, again, as soon as convenient, and come and dine with me,without further invitation, the first fine day we have at sea. I'm goingto send Parker some brawn; but, I'll feed _you_ on some of Galleygo'sturtle-soup, made out of pig's heads."

  "Thank'ee, Sir Gervaise; we'll endeavour to straighten the slick, sinceyou _will_ have it so; though, I confess I get tired of seeing everything to-day, just as we had it yesterday."

  "Yes--yes--that's the way with most of these St. James cruisers,"continued the vice-admiral, as he rowed away. "They want a fashionabletailor to rig a man-of-war, as they are rigged themselves. There's myold friend and neighbour, Lord Scupperton--he's taken a fancy toyachting, lately, and when his new brig was put into the water, LadyScupperton made him send for an upholsterer from town to fit out thecabin; and when the blackguard had surveyed the unfortunate craft, as ifit were a country box, what does he do but give an opinion, that 'thishere edifice, my lord, in my judgment, should be furnished in cottagestyle,'--the vagabond!"

  This story, which was not particularly original, for Sir Gervaisehimself had told it at least a dozen times before, put the admiral in agood humour, and he found no more fault with his captains, until hereached the Plantagenet.

  "Daly," said the Earl of Morganic to his first lieutenant, anexperienced old Irishman of fifty, who still sung a good song and told agood story, and what was a little extraordinary for either of theseaccomplishments, knew how to take good care of a ship;--"Daly, I supposewe must humour the old gentleman, or he'll be quarantining me, and thatI shouldn't particularly like on the eve of a general action; so we'llease off forward, and set up the strings aft, again. Hang me if I thinkhe could find it out if we didn't, so long as we kept dead in his wake!"

  "That wouldn't be a very safe desait for Sir Jarvy, my lord, for he's awonderful eye for a rope! Were it Admiral Blue, now, I'd engage tocruise in his company for a week, with my mizzen-mast stowed in thehold, and there should be no bother about the novelty, at all; quitelikely he'd be hailing us, and ask 'what brig's that?' But none of thesetricks will answer with t'other, who misses the whipping off the end ofa gasket, as soon as any first luff of us all. And so I'll just go aboutthe business in earnest; get the carpenter up with his plumb-bob, andset every thing as straight up-and-down as the back of a grenadier."

  Lord Morganic laughed, as was usual with him when his lieutenant saw fitto be humorous; and then his caprice in changing the staying of hismasts, as well as the order which countermanded it, was forgotten.

  The arrival of Sir Gervaise on board his own ship was always an event inthe fleet, even though his absence had lasted no longer than twenty-fourhours. The effect was like that which is produced on a team ofhigh-mettled cattle, when they feel that the reins are in the hands ofan experienced and spirited coachman.

  "Good-morning, Greenly, good-morning to you all, gentlemen," said thevice-admiral, bowing to the quarter-deck in gross, in return for the'present-arms,' and rattling of drums, and lowering of hats that greetedhis arrival; "a fine day, and it is likely we shall have a fresh breeze.Captain Greenly, your sprit-sail-yard wants squaring by the lifts; and,Bunting, make the Thunderer's signal to get her fore-yard in its place,as soon as possible. She's had it down long enough to make a new one,instead of merely fishing it. Are your boats all aboard, Greenly?"

  "All but your own barge, Sir Gervaise, and that is hooked on."

  "In with it, sir; then trip, and we'll be off. Monsieur de Vervillin hasgot some mischief in his head, gentlemen, and we must go and take it outof him."

  These orders were promptly obeyed; but, as the manner in which thePlantagenet passed out of the fleet, and led the other ships to sea, hasbeen already related, it is unnecessary to repeat it. There was theusual bustle, the customary orderly confusion, the winding of calls, thecreaking of blocks, and the swinging of yards, ere the vessels were inmotion. As the breeze freshened, sail was reduced, as already related,until, by the time the leading ship was ten leagues at sea, all wereunder short canvass, and the appearance of a windy, if not a dirtynight, had set in. Of course, all means of communication between thePlantagenet and the vessels still at anchor, had ceased, except bysending signals down the line; but, to those Sir Gervaise had norecourse, since he was satisfied Bluewater understood his plans, and hethen entertained no manner of doubt of his friend's willingness to aidthem.

  Little heed was taken of any thing astern, by those on board thePlantagenet. Every one saw, it is true, that ship followed ship in duesuccession, as long as the movements of those inshore could be perceivedat all; but the great interest centred on the horizon to the southwardand eastward. In that quarter of the channel the French were expected toappear, for the cause of this sudden departure was a secret from no onein the fleet. A dozen of the best look-outs in the ship were kept aloftthe whole afternoon, and Captain Greenly, himself, sat in theforward-cross-trees, with a glass, for more than an hour, just as thesun was setting, in order to sweep the horizon. Two or three sail weremade, it is true, but they all proved to be English coasters; Guernseyor Jerseymen, standing for ports in the west of England, most probablyladen with prohibited articles from the country of the enemy. Whatevermay be the dislike of an Englishman for a Frenchman, he has no disliketo the labour of his hands; and there probably has not been a periodsince civilization has introduced the art of smuggling among its otherarts, when French brandies, and laces, and silks, were not exchangedagainst English tobacco and guineas, and that in a contraband way, letit be in peace or let it be in war. One of the characteristics of SirGervaise Oakes was to despise all petty means of annoyance; usually hedisdained even to turn aside to chase a smuggler. Fishermen he nevermolested at all; and, on the whole, he carried on a marine warfare, acentury since, in a way that some of his successors might have imitatedto advantage in our own times. Like that high-spirited Irishman,Caldwell,[2] who conducted a blockade in the Chesapeake, at thecommencement of the revolution, with so much liberality, that hisenemies actually sent him an invitation to a public dinner, Sir Gervaiseknew how to distinguish between the combatant and the non-combatant, andheartily disdained all the money-making parts of his profession, thoughlarge sums had fallen into his hands, in this way, as pure God-sends. Nonotice was taken, therefore, of any thing that had not a warlike look;the noble old ship standing steadily on towards the French coast, as themastiff passes the cur, on his way to encounter another animal, of amould and courage more worthy of his powers.

  [Footnote 2: The writer believes this noble-minded sailor to have beenthe late Admiral Sir Benjamin Caldwell. It is scarcely necessary to saythat the invitation could not be accepted, though quite seriouslygive
n.]

  "Make nothing of 'em, hey! Greenly," said Sir Gervaise, as the captaincame down from his perch, in consequence of the gathering obscurity ofevening, followed by half-a-dozen lieutenants and midshipmen, who hadbeen aloft as volunteers. "Well, we know they cannot yet be to thewestward of us, and by standing on shall be certain of heading them off,before this time six months. How beautifully all the ships behave,following each other as accurately as if Bluewater himself were aboardeach vessel to conn her!"

  "Yes, sir, they do keep the line uncommonly well, considering that thetides run in streaks in the channel. I _do_ think if we were to drop ahammock overboard, that the Carnatic would pick it up, although she mustbe quite four leagues astern of us."

  "Let old Parker alone for that! I'll warrant you, _he_ is never out ofthe way. Were it Lord Morganic, now, in the Achilles, I should expecthim to be away off here on our weather-quarter, just to show us how hisship can eat us out of the wind when he _tries_: or away down yonder,under our lee, that we might understand how she falls off, when he_don't_ try."

  "My lord is a gallant officer, and no bad seaman, for his years,notwithstanding, Sir Gervaise," observed Greenly, who generally took thepart of the absent, whenever his superior felt disposed to berate them.

  "I deny neither, Greenly, most particularly the first. I know very well,were I to signal Morganic, to run into Brest, he'd do it; but whether hewould go in, ring-tail-boom, or jib-boom first, I couldn't tell till Isaw it. Now you are a youngish man yourself. Greenly--"

  "Every day of eight-and-thirty, Sir Gervaise, and a few months to spare;and I care not if the ladies know it."

  "Poh!--They like us old fellows, half the time, as well as they do theboys. But you are of an age not to feel time in your bones, and can seethe folly of some of our old-fashioned notions, perhaps; though you arenot quite as likely to understand the fooleries that have come in, inyour own day. Nothing is more absurd than to be experimenting on thesettled principles of ships. They are machines, Greenly, and have theirlaws, just the same as the planets in the heavens. The idea comes from afish,--head, run, and helm; and all we have to do is to study the fishesin order to get the sort of craft we want. If there is occasion forbulk, take the whale, and you get a round bottom, full fore-body, and aclean run. When you want speed, models are plenty--take the dolphin, forinstance,--and there you find an entrance like a wedge, a leanfore-body, and a run as clean as this ship's decks. But some of ouryoung captains would spoil a dolphin's sailing, if they could breatheunder water, so as to get at the poor devils. Look at their fancies! TheFirst Lord shall give one of his cousins a frigate, now, that is mouldedafter nature itself, as one might say; with a bottom that would put atrout to shame. Well, one of the first things the lad does, when he getson board her, is to lengthen his gaff, perhaps, put a cloth or two inhis mizzen, and call it a spanker, settle away the peak till it sticksout over his taffrail like a sign-post, and then away he goes upon awind, with his helm hard-up, bragging what a weatherly craft he has, andhow hard it is to make her even _look_ to leeward."

  "I have known such sailors, I must confess, Sir Gervaise; but time curesthem of that folly."

  "That is to be hoped; for what would a man think of a fish to whichnature had fitted a tail athwart-ships, and which was obliged to carry afin, like a lee-board, under its lee-jaw, to prevent falling off deadbefore the wind!"

  Here Sir Gervaise laughed heartily at the picture of the awkwardcreature to which his own imagination had given birth; Greenly joiningin the merriment, partly from the oddity of the conceit, and partly fromthe docility with which commander-in-chief's jokes are usually received.The feeling of momentary indignation which had aroused Sir Gervaise tosuch an expression of his disgust at modern inventions, was appeased bythis little success; and, inviting his captain to sup with him,--asubstitute for a dinner,--he led the way below in high good-humour,Galleygo having just announced that the table was ready.

  The _convives_ on this occasion were merely the admiral himself,Greenly, and Atwood. The fare was substantial, rather than scientific;but the service was rich; Sir Gervaise uniformly eating off of plate. Inaddition to Galleygo, no less than five domestics attended to the wantsof the party. As a ship of the Plantagenet's size was reasonably steadyat all times, a gale of wind excepted, when the lamps and candles werelighted, and the group was arranged, aided by the admixture of richfurniture with frowning artillery and the other appliances of war, thegreat cabin of the Plantagenet was not without a certain air of rudemagnificence. Sir Gervaise kept no less than three servants in livery,as a part of his personal establishment, tolerating Galleygo, and one ortwo more of the same stamp, as a homage due to Neptune.

  The situation not being novel to either of the party, and the day's workhaving been severe, the first twenty minutes were pretty studiouslydevoted to the duty of "restoration," as it is termed by the greatmasters of the science of the table. By the end of that time, however,the glass began to circulate, though moderately, and with it tongues toloosen.

  "Your health, Captain Greenly--Atwood, I remember you," said thevice-admiral, nodding his head familiarly to his two guests, on the eveof tossing off a glass of sherry. "These Spanish wines go directly tothe heart, and I only wonder why a people who can make them, don't makebetter sailors."

  "In the days of Columbus, the Spaniards had something to boast of inthat way, too, Sir Gervaise," Atwood remarked.

  "Ay, but that was a long time ago, and they have got bravely over it. Iaccount for the deficiencies of both the French and Spanish marinessomething in this way, Greenly. Columbus, and the discovery of America,brought ships and sailors into fashion. But a ship without an officerfit to command her, is like a body without a soul. Fashion, however,brought your young nobles into their services, and men were givenvessels because their fathers were dukes and counts, and not becausethey knew any thing about them."

  "Is our own service entirely free from this sort of favouritism?"quietly demanded the captain.

  "Far from it, Greenly; else would not Morganic have been made a captainat twenty, and old Parker, for instance, one only at fifty. But,somehow, our classes slide into each other, in a way that neutralizes,in a great degree, the effect of birth. Is it not so, Atwood?"

  "_Some_ of our classes, Sir Gervaise, manage to _slide_ into all thebest places, if the truth must be said."

  "Well, that is pretty bold for a Scotchman!" rejoined the vice-admiral,good-humouredly. "Ever since the accession of the house of Stuart, we'vebuilt a bridge across the Tweed that lets people pass in only onedirection. I make no doubt this Pretender's son will bring down halfScotland at his heels, to fill all the berths they may fancy suitable totheir merits. It's an easy way of paying bounty--promises."

  "This affair in the north, they tell me, seems a little serious," saidGreenly. "I believe this is Mr. Atwood's opinion?"

  "You'll find it serious enough, if Sir Gervaise's notion about thebounty be true," answered the immovable secretary. "Scotia is a smallcountry, but it's well filled with 'braw sperits,' if there's an openingfor them to prove it."

  "Well, well, this war between England and Scotland is out of place,while we have the French and Spaniards on our hands. Most extraordinaryscenes have we had ashore, yonder, Greenly, with an old Devonshirebaronet, who slipped and is off for the other world, while we were inhis house."

  "Magrath has told me something of it, sir; and, he tells me the_fill-us-null-us_--hang me if I can make out his gibberish, five minutesafter it was told to me."

  "_Filius nullius_, you mean; nobody's baby--the son of nobody--have youforgotten your Latin, man?"

  "Faith, Sir Gervaise, I never had any to forget. My father was a captainof a man-of-war before me, and he kept me afloat from the time I wasfive, down to the day of his death; Latin was no part of my spoon-meat."

  "Ay--ay--my good fellow, I knew your father, and was in the third shipfrom him, in the action in which he fell," returned the vice-admiral,kindly. "Bluewater was just ahead of him, and we all loved
him, as wedid an elder brother. You were not promoted, then."

  "No, sir, I was only a midshipman, and didn't happen to be in his ownship that day," answered Greenly, sensibly touched with this tribute tohis parent's merit; "but I was old enough to remember how nobly you allbehaved on the occasion. Well,"--slily brushing his eye with hishand,--"Latin may do a schoolmaster good, but it is of little use onboard ship. I never had but one scholar among all my cronies andintimates."

  "And who was he, Greenly? You shouldn't despise knowledge, because youdon't understand it. I dare say your intimate was none the worse for alittle Latin--enough to go through _nullus, nulla, nullum_, forinstance. Who was this intimate, Greenly?"

  "John Bluewater--handsome Jack, as he was called; the younger brother ofthe admiral. They sent him to sea, to keep him out of harm's way in somelove affair; and you may remember that while he was with the admiral, or_Captain_ Bluewater, as he was then, I was one of the lieutenants.Although poor Jack was a soldier and in the guards, and he was four orfive years my senior, he took a fancy to me, and we became intimate._He_ understood Latin, better than he did his own interests."

  "In what did he fail?--Bluewater was never very communicative to meabout that brother."

  "There was a private marriage, and cross guardians, and the usualdifficulties. In the midst of it all, poor John fell in battle, as youknow, and his widow followed him to the grave, within a month or two.'Twas a sad story all round, and I try to think of it as little aspossible."

  "A private marriage!" repeated Sir Gervaise, slowly. "Are you quite sureof _that_? I don't think Bluewater is aware of that circumstance; atleast, I never heard him allude to it. Could there have been any issue?"

  "No one can know it better than myself, as I helped to get the lady off,and was present at the ceremony. That much I _know_. Of issue, I shouldthink there was none; though the colonel lived a year after themarriage. How far the admiral is familiar with all these circumstances Icannot say, as one would not like to introduce the particulars of aprivate marriage of a deceased brother, to his commanding officer."

  "I am glad there was no issue, Greenly--particular circumstances make meglad of that. But we will change the discourse, as these familydisasters make one melancholy; and a melancholy dinner is likeingratitude to Him who bestows it."

  The conversation now grew general, and in due season, in common with thefeast, it ended. After sitting the usual time, the guests retired. SirGervaise then went on deck, and paced the poop for an hour, lookinganxiously ahead, in quest of the French signal; and, failing ofdiscovering them, he was fain to seek his berth out of sheer fatigue.Before he did this, however, the necessary orders were given; and thatto call him, should any thing out of the common track occur, wasrepeated no less than four times.