by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XI.
ACRE.
At last all was satisfactorily arranged. By the terms of the convention,Sir Sidney Smith was appointed to the command, not only of the Turkishfleet, but of the Turkish army in Syria, a most important point, as thePorte had no confidence whatever in Djezzar, who, like many others ofthe pashas of the outlying possessions of Turkey, almost openly defiedthe authority of the sovereign. Djezzar was already at Acre, and someTurkish gun-boats, under Hassan Bey, had also been despatched thithertowards the end of February. The welcome order was issued for the_Tigre_ to sail on the 1st of March. Her destination was Alexandria,which, as forming part of the Sultan's possessions, came under the termsof the convention; under the terms of which it had been agreed that twoBritish men-of-war and three frigates should be stationed in Easternwaters to give such aid as was possible to Djezzar, both in activeoperations, and by capturing store-ships destined for the use of theFrench army.
The _Theseus_, of 84 guns, commanded by Captain Miller, was already atAcre; and her captain and Colonel Phelypeaux were giving greatassistance to the pasha in putting the place into a better state ofdefence, while his presence there animated the pasha and his troops todetermine upon a stout defence.
It was with deep satisfaction that the officers and men of the _Tigre_received the orders to prepare for sailing at once. They had now beennearly two months in Constantinople; the novelty of the scene had wornoff, and all were impatient for active service. Things had been going onpleasantly among the midshipmen. Condor had shown by his behaviour thateither he sincerely regretted the conduct that had made him sounpopular, or that the lesson that he had received had been so severethat he would not risk any repetition of it. At any rate there was peaceand comfort in the cockpit.
Just at first, two or three of the younger middies were disposed to takeadvantage of the altered state of things, but Wilkinson, Edgar, and theother two seniors supported Condor, and told them that if the latter didnot keep them in order, they would do so themselves, after which threatmatters went on quietly. The change from salt provisions to fresh meat,with an abundance of fruit and vegetables, had been very pleasant, andadded to the good temper and harmony that prevailed. Edgar had not felttime hang heavily on his hands, for he was constantly on shore with SirSidney Smith, who found his services as interpreter of great value. Hadit been an ordinary case, the other midshipmen of older standing wouldhave felt somewhat jealous, but they knew that he went as interpreterrather than as midshipman, and as some of them had leave to go ashoreevery day, they could amuse themselves according to their liking, whilehe was kept hard at work translating documents, examining the state ofstores, or attending prolonged meetings between his commander and theTurkish naval officials. They had therefore no reason for envying himhis post.
He himself was glad of an occasional holiday at the rare intervals whenSir Sidney had no business on land, and made excursions to his brotherup the Bosphorus, or to towns on the Sea of Marmora, when Edgar was ableto join parties who, hiring horses at the landing-place, took long ridesover the country, starting sometimes from Pera, and sometimes fromScutari on the other side of the water. He was certainly not less gladthan his comrades when the order came to prepare for sailing. The windwas favourable, the voyage was a speedy one, and the _Tigre_ arrived offAlexandria on the 7th of March. Here they remained for some days. Newshad already been received by sea from Jaffa of the capture of El-A'rich,and of the approach of the French army to Jaffa.
This had caused no uneasiness, as the town, having a garrison of 8000men, was believed to be able to resist any assault. When, however, onthe fifth day after the arrival of the _Tigre_ off Alexandria, a smallTurkish vessel brought the news that Jaffa had been captured, and some3000 of the garrison killed in cold blood, besides a large number of theinhabitants, Sir Sidney decided to start instantly, in order to aid inthe defence of the important stronghold of Acre, which would certainlybe the next object of assault by the French. Committing to the captainof the _Lion_ the charge of continuing the blockade with the gun-boatsunder his command, sail was at once hoisted, and the _Tigre_ started forAcre.
On her way she picked up the _Theseus_, which was out cruising, and thetwo men-of-war arrived off Acre on the 15th of March, and, to thesatisfaction of all, found that Napoleon had not yet appeared before thetown; Sir Sidney Smith, owing to the terms of the convention, at onceassumed the command of the operations. The arrival of the men-of-warexcited great enthusiasm among the garrison and inhabitants, who, now,for the first time, believed in the possibility of beating off theFrench, and of being spared the horrors that had befallen Jaffa.
On the following morning the French were seen marching along between thelower slopes of Mount Carmel and the sea, and the men-of-war boats,running in close to the shore, opened fire upon them, and compelled themhastily to change their course and to ascend the hill until beyond therange of the guns.
As no attempt had been made to return the fire by the artillery, SirSidney Smith was convinced the French must be unprovided with a siegetrain. Having learned from people who had escaped by boat from Jaffa,that only field-pieces had there been employed to batter the wall, heordered a constant watch to be kept for any ships seen approaching, asBonaparte would hardly have hoped to take so strong a place as Acrewithout heavy guns, and had doubtless arranged for a battering-train tobe sent from Alexandria by sea. This would probably be ordered to makeeither for Jaffa, or for Caiffa, a small port a few miles south of Acre.The _Theseus_ was at once sent down to Jaffa, to prevent any landing ofguns or stores being effected there, while the _Tigre's_ boats wereplaced at intervals between Caiffa and Acre.
The next day a corvette and nine gun-boats were seen rounding thepromontory of Mount Carmel. The signal was made for the recall of theboats, and the _Tigre_ at once got under sail and started in pursuit,picking up her boats as they came alongside. Bonaparte had been ignorantthat there were any British vessels on the coast, or he would hardlyhave sent the boats from Alexandria without a stronger escort, and thecorvette and gun-boats no sooner caught sight of the _Tigre_ than theymade out to sea. The chase lasted for some hours, and one by one sevenof the gun-boats were picked up, surrendering in each case as soon asthe _Tigre's_ guns opened upon them. The corvette and the other twogun-boats succeeded in making their escape, but their commander,believing it hopeless to attempt to carry out his mission in the face ofa British man-of-war, sailed direct to France.
The capture was a most valuable one, for the possession of the gun-boatsenabled a blockade of the coast to be carried on much more effectuallythan could otherwise have been done, and on board were found, asexpected, the guns and battering-train intended for the siege of Acre.The _Tigre_ returned with her prizes to the port, and the crew were atonce employed in transporting the captured guns and ammunition on shore,when they were conveyed by the Turkish troops to the batteries, whichwere before very deficient in guns, and the capture added, therefore,much to the strength of the defences.
Edgar's services as an interpreter were again called into requisition.Mr. Canes was sent on shore with a party of sailors to assist the Turksin moving the guns to their new positions, and half an hour beforelanding he sent for Edgar and told him that he had arranged with SirSidney Smith that he was to accompany him.
"A good deal of the hard work will have to be done by the Turks, and itwill save much trouble if you are with me to translate my orders tothem, or rather to their officers. Sir Sidney is of opinion that therewill be a great deal more for you to do on shore than on board. He will,of course, be much on shore himself, and I am carrying a note to thepasha, requesting him to assign a suitable house for him to take up hisabode there and which he will make his headquarters. Lieutenant Beattywill be posted there with twenty marines, furnishing a guard, and forother purposes. A room is to be assigned to you. You will then be handywhenever the captain is on shore, and at other times will assist me orother officers with working parties. Of course two or three natives willbe engaged as servants.
One of them will be a cook, and LieutenantBeatty and you will establish a small mess together. You will, ofcourse, have shore allowances. I think that you may consider yourselffortunate, for you will have an opportunity for seeing all that goes on,while the others will of course only come ashore by turns."
"Thank you, sir," Edgar said, much pleased. "I shall like it very much."
The Turkish soldiers worked well, tugging at ropes, while the sailorsused levers to get the guns up steep places. Edgar was kept busytranslating the first lieutenant's orders to the Turkish officers, andfor the first three days had hardly time to snatch a meal until thesailors returned at nightfall to the ship. He got on very well with thelieutenant of the marines, who was a pleasant young fellow. On the dayafter they landed they heard heavy firing, and going up to the highestpoint of the rocky promontory on which Acre stood, could make out that anumber of gun-boats were cannonading Caiffa. The place appeared to makeno reply to the fire, and at last two gun-boats, believing that therecould be but few French troops there, sailed up the harbour.
Lambert, the French officer in command, had, however, a howitzer and asmall gun, and eighty French troops, but he gave orders that theseshould not reply to the fire of the gun-boats, and that not a musketshould be discharged until he gave the word. The two small gun-boatscame on confidently, until, when at a distance of only a hundred yardsfrom the shore, where they intended to land and set fire to the Frenchstorehouses and to do as much damage as possible, a heavy fire wassuddenly poured in. The two guns, loaded to the muzzle with grape, swepttheir decks, and the heavy volley of musketry did much damage.Lieutenant Beatty, who had brought a telescope on shore with him,exclaimed:
"By Jove! those two little gun-boats have caught it hot. See, there isone of them putting about, but the other seems to be drifting towardsthe shore."
This was indeed the fact; she was slightly in advance of the other, andwas the principal target of the fire. The midshipman who commanded her,and most of her crew, were killed, and before the few survivors couldrecover themselves from the surprise into which they had been thrown bythe unexpected attack, the vessel had grounded. The heavy fire ofmusketry continued, the guns again poured in their fire, and as escapewas impossible, the few men who remained alive at once hauled down theirflag and surrendered. The capture was a valuable one to the French. Thegun-boat carried a 32-pounder, and as Napoleon's heaviest guns were but10-pounders, the cannon was invaluable.
As soon as its capture was known, some artillery horses were sent to theport and transported it to the batteries, at which the French werealready hard at work. For the first day or two it was almost useless,for, with the exception of a few shot taken with it, they had none thatwould fit it; but as soon as the besieged began to fire they obtained anample supply of cannon balls, which were eagerly collected by thesoldiers, a small reward being paid for every shot that was brought in.In a short time, however, the French were in a better position forcarrying on the siege with vigour, for as it became necessary to retainthe _Tigre_ and _Theseus_ to assist in the defence of the town, Frenchvessels were able to land artillery at Jaffa and other points, and theyhad ere long an ample supply for their batteries.
"There is no doubt," Lieutenant Beatty said, "that that gun-boat hasbeen captured, and from her not attempting to go round and sail out asher companion did, I am afraid that the crew must have been almostannihilated by the enemy's fire. It was a very risky thing to send thosetwo small craft in alone, even though the place had not replied to theirfire, for even if the French had no guns, they might have had manyhundreds of men in the town, against whom the crew of those two boatscould have done nothing whatever. However, the loss is not seriousexcept in the matter of the crew. I don't suppose she carried more thanone gun."
"But even that is important," Edgar said, "for I know they have prettyheavy guns on board those boats, and in the hands of the French it wouldgive us some trouble."
"We shall have hot work of it presently, Blagrove. The walls areabsolutely rotten, and it would be absurd to call them fortifications;and if the French open fire at close quarters, they will make a breachin no time. If Phelypeaux's plans had been carried out, the place wouldhave been in a position to make a serious defence; but I hear that heand Captain Miller of the _Theseus_ have been trying in vain to get theTurks to carry out their plans.
"Djezzar was always saying that what they wanted should be done, but itwent no further than that; and what little has been accomplished hasbeen done by the men of the _Theseus_; and I believe that the draggingof the guns we captured to their places was the first job on which theTurkish soldiers really worked; but, of course, Sir Sidney had a gooddeal more influence than Miller had, as he is commander-in-chief of theTurkish army, and if Djezzar did not give him the help he asked for, hewould have the power to take the matter altogether out of his hands. Histroops have no love for him, for, as his nickname shows, he is as cruelas he is ambitious.
"There can be no doubt that he intended to throw off the authority ofthe Sultan altogether. The position of the guns show that. I hear thatwhen the _Theseus_ arrived there was not a single gun mounted on theface of the town on the land side, every one being planted on the wallsto seaward. However, I believe he is personally plucky, but as thisplace is nothing like so strong as Jaffa was, he must see that, as agarrison of 8000 there could not resist the enemy, the 3000 men underhim would not have a shadow of a chance were it not for our help. Evenwe could do nothing if it were not that the position of the town enablesus to cover the land approaches."
The position of Acre, the ancient Ptolemais, was indeed very favourablefor its protection by a fleet. It stood on a projecting promontoryalmost square in shape; three sides were entirely washed by the sea; thenorth-eastern side had no natural protection, but at an angle of thewall a tower, which was the strongest point of the defences, covered itto some extent. Near the tower, and with its garden abutting against thewall, stood the pasha's palace. The masonry of the greater part of thewall was old and crumbling. From the sea to the north of the townvessels anchored there could cover the approaches to the northern sideby their fire, while these could similarly be swept by ships anchored inthe Bay of Acre on the south side of the fortress.
The water here, however, was too shallow for the men-of-war to anchorin. The _Tigre_, therefore, was moored more than a mile from the shore;next to her was the _Alliance_ sloop. Three of the gun-boats capturedfrom the French, and two Turkish gun-boats, lay nearer to the shore, andthe fire of all these vessels swept the ground across which it wasalready evident that the French main attack would be directed. This wasalso covered by the fire of the _Theseus_ and three of the capturedFrench gun-boats. The French had, on their arrival, promptly seized avillage within half a mile of the wall, and pushed forward theirtrenches with vigour, establishing four or five batteries, which at onceopened fire.
Napoleon calculated that he should be master of the town in three daysat the utmost, and this no doubt would have been the case had he onlyTurkish resistance to overcome. As soon as the _Tigre_ returned from hershort cruise, Sir Sidney Smith took up his residence on shore. Hebrought with him Condor and Wilkinson, to act as his aides-de-camp, andfifty sailors were established in an adjoining house in readiness forany emergency. Here the mess was now established, although LieutenantBeatty and Edgar continued to sleep in Sir Sidney Smith's house, the oneto be near his men, the other in readiness to attend upon his commanderat any moment night or day.
As far as possible the midshipmen's mess adhered to regular hours fortheir meals, but Sir Sidney Smith took his at any time when he couldsnatch them. One or other of the midshipmen came ashore each day with aboat's crew, so that at any moment orders could be sent to the _Tigre_or the _Theseus_. Except at the evening meal, when the fire generallyslackened, it was seldom that more than two of the midshipmen's mess satdown together, being constantly employed either in carrying messages ororders, or in keeping a watch at threatened points, in order that SirSidney should at once be made acquai
nted with any movements of theenemy.
Map of Siege of ST. JEAN D'ACRE
by the French Army of Egypt from 19. March to 21. May 1799.]
The French had lost no time, for on the 25th their batteries opened fireagainst this tower, and, after four hours' firing, a breach, consideredby the French to be practicable, had been effected.
The Turkish guns had returned the fire, aided by two mortars worked byBritish sailors, but the Turks believed that their walls were strongenough to stand a prolonged siege, and as the French fire was heavyagainst the tower, those near it had betaken themselves to saferpositions. Sir Sidney Smith was on board the _Tigre_. Djezzar seldomstirred from his palace. He had no capable officer under him, and no onewas in the slightest degree aware of the serious damage the Frenchbattery was inflicting upon the tower, and there was no thought that anattack could be made upon the town for a considerable time. Edgar hadbeen engaged all the morning with Sir Sidney, and when the latter wenton board ship he went into the next house, where he found the others atdinner.
After that was over he proposed a stroll down to the corner againstwhich the French fire was directed. Wilkinson and Beatty agreed toaccompany him, but Condor, who had been all day at work seeing gunsplaced in position, said that he did not care about going out again. Onreaching the wall facing the French position they found that there waslittle doing. A few of the guns were being worked, throwing their shotinto the garden between the French batteries and the town. Along therest of the line the Turks were squatting under the parapet, smoking andtalking.
"What are the French firing at?" Edgar asked a Turkish officer.
"They are firing at the tower. They will do no harm. Some of the shotscame in at the loopholes; so, as the soldiers there could do no good bystaying, they have come out."
"That seems rather a careless way of doing business," Edgar remarked ashe translated what the officer said, to his companions. "Well, at anyrate we may as well go and see what the effect of their fire is. Theirbattery is not a heavy one, but as it is not more than four or fivehundred yards from the tower it may really be doing some damage."
As they neared the tower at the angle of the wall they found that theramparts there had been entirely deserted by the Turks.
"This is a rum way of defending a town," Wilkinson remarked. "If this isthe way the Turks are going to behave, the sooner we are all on boardship the better."
The French fire was brisk, the thuds of the balls, as they struck thetower, occurring five or six times a minute. The three officers enteredthe tower. Two or three holes appeared in the wall of the floor by whichthey entered it.
"The masonry must be very rotten," Beatty said, "or they would not haveknocked holes in it as soon as this."
They descended the stairs into the story below, and uttered asimultaneous exclamation of alarm. A yawning hole some eight feet wideappeared.
"This is serious, Wilkinson. Let us take a look down below."
"Look out!" Wilkinson shouted as a ball passed just over their heads andstruck the wall behind them. "Stand back here a moment."
He ran forward and looked down.
"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "there is a breach down to the bottom of thetower level with the lower storey ground, and a heap of rubbish at thefoot outside. I don't think it is high enough yet for anyone to get upto the opening, but it will soon be practicable if it is not now. Look!look! I can see a large body of French among the trees there. They areabout to advance to storm the breach. Run, Blagrove, and wake up theTurks. We will go back and fetch up the marines and blue-jackets. Theenemy may be in the place in five minutes."
Leaving the tower, Edgar ran along the wall.
"Take your men to the tower at once!" he shouted to the first Turkishofficer he saw. "The French are crossing the ditch."
Instead, however, of obeying him the officer and his men ran to one ofthe steps leading up to the wall, and commenced shouting, "The Frenchare in the town!"
Edgar saw that he had told the news too suddenly, and that it washopeless for him to try to stop the flood, therefore ran along the walluntil he reached the stairs leading down to the open space in front ofDjezzar's palace. As he had been frequently there before, he made hisway straight to the apartments where Djezzar transacted business.
"The French have breached the tower, pasha," he said, "and theirstorming party was about to cross the ditch when I came away. There areno troops there to defend the breach, and those on the wall are flying.Unless you yourself go out and rally the men to the defence the town islost."
Djezzar was thunderstruck at the news. He had showed himself brave inbattle, but with the fate of Jaffa in his mind he now lost heartaltogether.
"It is too late!" he said, and catching up his sword he ran out of thepalace, and directed his flight towards the landing-place.
Edgar ran towards the breach again, and on the way came upon his twocompanions running along, with the marines and blue-jackets after them.Fortune, however, had done more for the town than its defenders. Led byan officer with sixteen sappers, and followed by twenty-five grenadiers,the French party prepared to mount to the assault. Their orders were tomount the breach and hold it, and the moment this was done the main bodyof the storming party were at once to follow. But they met with anunexpected obstacle. Instead of finding, as they had expected, merely ashallow ditch, they found themselves at the edge of a counterscarp, thewall being fifteen feet in depth, with a regular moat filled with waterbetween them and the foot of the breach.
They had brought with them only two or three short ladders, which wereintended to be used, if necessary, to aid them in clambering up the heapof rubbish to the breach. The French had no idea of the existence of thecounterscarp. The ladders that they had brought were too short to enablethem to descend it, and the officer in command hesitated as to whatcourse to adopt. The mysterious silence maintained by the enemy wasdisquieting. That the Turks had all fled and the tower was undefendeddid not occur to the officer in command, and he feared that they musthave placed mines in the breach, and were for the present abstainingfrom showing themselves or firing a shot, in hopes of tempting him tomake an assault. Before he could decide what was best to be done therewas a loud tramp of feet inside the tower, and then the British sailorsand marines showed themselves suddenly at the openings on each floor,and at once opened a heavy fire.
Many of the French fell at once, and seeing that there was nothing to bedone, the officer gave the order for the rest to retreat, which they didhastily. Djezzar was furious when he heard what had happened, andquestioned Edgar; and, on hearing that the tower had been altogetherdeserted, as well as the adjacent portion of the wall, he ordered theinstant execution of six of the officers and a number of the men forthis gross neglect of their duty. He was exasperated that he himselfshould have shared in the panic that had seized them when informed thatthe French were assaulting the breach, and that no resistance had beenoffered by his men; and Edgar congratulated himself that he was not oneof his officers. When the old pasha, however, recovered from the stateof fury into which he had fallen, he complimented the three Britishofficers highly on the quickness that they had shown, which had, as herightly said, saved the town, for, had the French found themselves stillunobserved, they would assuredly have managed to get down thecounterscarp, and to establish themselves in the tower in force beforeany suspicion of what was going on took place.
The French, whose operations were hidden by the gardens, at onceproceeded to drive a gallery in order to blow up the counterscarp, uponwhich their guns could not be brought to bear, and on the 29th the minewas sprung. It did some damage, but it had not been driven quite farenough. Led by an officer of the staff named Mailly, the French rushedforward as soon as the mine exploded. They clambered down over thebreach that had been made on the counterscarp, crossed the fosse bythree ladders they had brought with them, and reached the foot of thebreach. There was, however, too great a distance between the pile ofrubbish at the foot of the wall and the great hole ab
ove it for them toenter without fixing their ladders.
As they were in the act of doing this the Turks, who had at their firstappearance again been seized with a panic, but had been brought back bya number of their officers, who adjured them to stand, saying that itwas better to die fighting the infidel than to be shot by Djezzar,opened a heavy fire. Mailly was killed, several of the grenadiers andsappers fell round him, and the rest retired, meeting, as they climbedthe counterscarp, two battalions who had joined them as soon as thebreach was reported practicable; but upon hearing from the grenadiersthat this was not the case they fell back again after losing theircommanding officer and many men from the Turkish fire.
This success greatly encouraged the Turks, who had heard from those whohad escaped from Jaffa that no obstacles were sufficient to daunt theFrench, and from this time Sir Sidney Smith began to entertain hope thatthe town could be held, of which, owing to the supineness of Djezzar andhis troops, he had hitherto been very doubtful. The French at oncerecommenced mining. In eight days they completely blew up thecounterscarp, and on the twelfth carried their gallery under the ditchwith the intention of blowing up the whole tower.
By this time the besieged were aware that the French were at workmining. Colonel Phelypeaux had, during the interval since the lastattempt, worked indefatigably. The breach had been filled up withcombustible materials, a number of shells had been placed on theplatform of the tower, with fuses attached in readiness to hurl downinto the midst of a storming party, heaps of great stones had been piledthere for the same purpose, and the Turkish soldiers, seeing thereadiness and alacrity with which the British worked, had gainedconfidence. The faint sound of mining under the tower brought about aconsultation between Sir Sidney Smith, Captain Wilmot, ColonelPhelypeaux, and the pasha. The engineer officer pointed out to the pashathat it was impossible to say what the result of the firing of the minemight be, as it would depend upon the quantity of powder employed.
"If a large quantity is used," he said, "it may entirely blow down thetower and a considerable quantity of the walls adjoining it, and leaveso large a breach that the French would be able to pour in in such forcethat your troops, who might well be panic-stricken at the explosion,would not be able to make any effective opposition."
"But what can we do to prevent it?" the pasha asked.
"Nothing can be directly done," Sir Sidney said; "but if we make a sallyin force we might drive the French back, discover the mine, and carryout the greater part of the powder, and place a small portion under theditch, and, exploding it, allow the water to run in; or, if the mencarry with them a number of fascines, we might establish a work fiftyyards from the foot of the wall. This would put a stop to their mining.An enemy attacking it would, as he advanced, be swept by the guns of thetwo men-of-war and the gun-boats, and the garrison would further becovered by the fire from the tower and walls. I propose that we shouldsally out in three columns. The central column, which will be composedof the marines and sailors of our ships, will make straight for themouth of the mine and force its way in; the other two columns willattack the enemy's trenches on right and left."
"The plan seems to me to be a good one," the pasha said; "it shall bedone as you propose."
On the night of the 15th of April two columns of men were gathered atmidnight in the street leading to the water-gate, a short distance tothe right of the tower, the third column close to a gate some littledistance to its left. Lieutenant Beatty was, with his party of marines,to join the landing force, but to their disappointment neither Condornor the midshipmen were to take part in the sortie, as the little partyof seamen were to be held in reserve. Sir Sidney Smith himself intendedto take his place on the tower, whence he could watch the operations.Wilkinson and Edgar were to act as his aides-de-camp, the latter tocarry messages to the Turkish officers commanding the two columns,while Wilkinson was to perform the same office to the central column.
"You and Mr. Condor may probably have opportunities of distinguishingyourselves later on," he said; "the other midshipmen may have their turnto-night."