CHAPTER SIX.
OUR "DASHING EXPLOIT."
The doctor's advice was well meant, and no doubt good, but I was tooexcited to think so at the moment, so I darted on deck just in time tohear the skipper say,--"Now, lads, he is coming up on our port quarter.Run the starboard guns over to port, and load fore and aft with a roundshot and a charge of grape on top of it. Give the muzzles a goodelevation, and fire at the moment that the two ships touch, then away onboard for your lives, and recollect, the first blow is half the battle,so let it be a good hard one. Steady now, here she comes."
During my visit to the doctor's den, sail had been shortened on boardthe "Scourge," down to the topsails jib, and driver; the stunsails beingstowed and the booms run in; while the courses, topgallant sails, androyals were merely clewed up. The Frenchman evidently had been a greatdeal mystified by this manoeuvre and the cessation of firing on ourpart; and now, while he was ranging up on our port quarter, and so closethat one might almost have hove a biscuit on board, all was confusionwith him; the hands being busy taking in their canvas in a slipshod,lubberly way that would have disgraced a collier; while the babble oftongues must have been deafening, judging from what we heard of it.
Our skipper was standing just abaft the main-rigging, conning the ship,with one hand on the topmast backstay all ready for a spring, while hesignalled the helmsman with the other. Sennitt was forward, also readyfor the rush; while Mr Clewline, who with a dozen hands was to remainon board and take care of the ship, was in the waist. The men stood attheir guns, with their cutlasses drawn, the captains with the trigger-lines in their hands, ready to fire at the instant of collision. Harveywas forward with Mr Sennitt; while little Markham and I stood by tofollow in the skipper's wake.
As the frigate drew up abreast of us, her captain sprang into the mizenrigging and hailed through a speaking-trumpet, "Mais, Monsieur lecapitaine, why you shall not haul down votre drapeau; Vous avez serendre, n'est pas?"
Captain Brisac raised his hand to his mouth as though to reply; wavingit at the same time for the helmsman to sheer us alongside; the men withthe grappling irons being crouched under the bulwarks all ready toheave; and all hands fore and aft straining forward like hounds inleash, waiting breathlessly for the coming shock.
"What ship is that?" hailed the skipper; not that he wanted particularlyto know, just at that moment; he hoped to find out for himself veryshortly; but the question served to fill up time until the moment foraction should arrive.
"`L'Audacieuse;' fregate de --," began the French captain; when anofficer sprang into the rigging beside him, and said something in anexcited manner, pointing at us and gesticulating with frightfulvehemence.
In the meantime our helmsman, touching the wheel as daintily as thoughwe had been sailing a match, brought us alongside so cleverly that thetwo ships touched with a shock which was barely perceptible, just enoughin fact "to swear by," as the gunner remarked.
"Heave!" shouted Sennitt to the men with the grappling irons, "Fire!"roared the skipper; and away went our double broadside crash into theFrenchman, eliciting such a chorus of shrieks and yells as might leadone to suppose that Pandemonium had broken loose. Three or four of thefrigate's guns replied: and there was an ominous crashing among ourspars; but no one paused to ascertain the extent of the damage; and ourmen had sprung like tigers into the frigate's rigging almost before ourown guns had exploded; they were, therefore, so far safe. CaptainBrisac made a dash at the frigate's mizen rigging while giving the wordto fire; with Markham and myself close upon his heels; but before he hadfairly got a hold of the ratlines a sponge was thrust out of one of theupper-deck ports, catching him in the face, and inflicting such a blowthat he fell back upon us unfortunate mids, and would have gone downbetween the two ships had we not caught him unceremoniously by thecollar and steadied him on his feet again.
The sponge was the reverse of clean, and the blow had been deliveredwith such hearty good-will just between the eyes that our veneratedcommander's claret was very effectually tapped; he presented therefore asomewhat alarming spectacle as he flung himself in upon the Frenchman'sdeck; his face black from contact with the foul sponge, the dingy colourbeing pleasantly relieved by bold streaks and dashes of crimson.
"Mille diables!" ejaculated the astonished French captain, as thisapparition appeared before him--he having jumped down on deck again aswe ranged alongside; and he placed himself on guard in the most approvedfashion. Captain Brisac had no more knowledge of sword-play than he hadof flying, a circumstance which often proved exceedingly embarrassing--to his adversaries, for he had a rough-and-ready way of handling hisweapon which, if not so scientific, was equally as effective as theutmost refinements of the thoroughly accomplished swordsman. Insteadtherefore of engaging, as his antagonist evidently expected, he simplybore down the guard by sheer strength of wrist, and rushing in upon hisastounded adversary, delivered a blow with his left hand straight fromthe shoulder, which laid the unhappy Frenchman senseless upon his owndeck. "Hurrah, lads!" he shouted; "give it them right and left; drivethe rascals below or overboard, and push forward to meet Mr Sennitt."The division which had boarded with us, abaft, replied with a cheer,which was responded to by Sennitt's party forward; and away we went,driving the French along the deck before us until they were all huddledup amidships between the two parties of boarders: and there they made amost determined stand.
And now ensued a fierce and sanguinary hand-to-hand conflict; our menstill pressing impetuously forward; and the French opposing us with aresolution which their previous conduct had given us no reason whateverto expect, obstinately contesting with us every inch of the deck, and,if they yielded for a moment, renewing the defence more actively thanever; cutlasses and pikes were used with savage freedom; and the deadand wounded encumbered the decks until they became almost impassable.
The fight had been raging thus furiously for some three or four minuteswithout our gaining any perceptible advantage; our men were fallingfast; and it became evident that unless something decisive were speedilydone, we should be overpowered by sheer force of numbers. The Frenchwere congregated in a compact group amidships, our party being dividedinto two, one of which had been led on board aft by the skipper, whilethe other had followed Mr Sennitt forward; the French were consequentlybetween us and the lieutenant's party. It occurred to me that if MrClewline could pour a charge or two of grape into the crowd ofFrenchmen, it might have the effect of freshening their way; and I waspushing towards the bulwarks intending to slip down on board the"Scourge" and see what could be done, when I observed for the first timethat she was no longer alongside; and on looking farther I caught aglimpse of her through one of the open ports, lying about a couple ofcables' lengths distant.
I called Markham's attention to this; at the same time mentioning what Ihad thought about the grape.
"A capital notion, young-un!" he replied. "Your infantile intellect isreally developing with marvellous rapidity. Clewline can't becommunicated with, however, where he is; so we must just do the best wecan for ourselves. And look here! here is a six-pounder cast loose andall ready to our hands; watch the roll of the ship, and we can run itright inboard--here you, Peters,"--to one of the seamen, "lend a handhere to run in this gun and slew it round with its muzzle forward. So!that's just right; now then for a charge; do you see a--? Oh, here's acartridge; in with it; ram it well down, Peters; and you, Chester, seeif you can find anything to put in on top of the powder;--marline-spikes; tenpenny nails; empty bottles; blue pills and black draughts;the cook's tormentors; or the skipper's best china teaservice--_anything_ will do that is obnoxious to the interior of thehuman system--"
"Will this do?" I inquired, fishing out from the scuppers a heavyobject of cylindrical shape, over which I had stumbled two or threetimes.
"Bless your dear little innocent heart! yes," answered Markham, "it willdo berry nicey nicey. Why, it's the very thing, greeny; it's_cannister_; in with it; if this does not wake them up, call me aDutchman, t
hat's all. Now we're all ready. You let the skipper knowwhat we're going to do, Chester; and I'll stand by to fire directly hegives the word."
It was no very easy matter to secure the skipper's attention and makehim understand what we proposed to do; but I managed to accomplish it atlast. As soon as he understood me, he hailed in a voice which roseclear and high above the din, "Is Mr Sennitt there?"
"Ay ay, sir," came back in the well-known tones of the "first."
"We are going to try the effect of a charge of cannister," hailed theskipper; "be good enough therefore to send your party into the forerigging; and you, my lads," to his own division, "stand by to rush aftbehind the gun. Now!"
The first lieutenant's division sprang like cats into the fore rigging,and scuttled away for their lives half-way up to the top; while ourparty at the same instant made a dash aft and formed again in the rearof the gun. The movement was effected with such lightning-like rapiditythat the French could do nothing but stare at us open-mouthed.
Captain Brisac paused a single instant, to make sure that all our ladswere out of the way of the shot; and then he called upon the Frenchmento surrender. Two or three flung down their arms; but the rest,recovering from their momentary astonishment, started on a rush aft;seeing which, the skipper sprang on one side and shouted "Fire!"
The charge took effect in the very thickest of the crowd, literallymowing the French down in heaps. At the same instant both parties ofthe "Scourges" renewed their attack, and this time their rush provedirresistible; there was a momentary attempt at a stand, but our ladswere no longer to be denied; and after another very short but veryfierce tussle the French threw down their weapons and cried for quarter.I, however, did not witness the final _denouement_; for, being hurriedforward by the rest in the final rush, I found myself in the thick ofthe _melee_ before I was quite prepared, and received a crushing blow onthe head which felled me to the deck.
The prisoners were immediately secured; and the bulk of the "Scourge's"crew shifted into the prize, a sufficient number only being left onboard the brig to work her; the wounded also were retained on board thefrigate, where there was of course much better and more roomyaccommodation for them; our worthy medico shifting over, bag andbaggage, to look after us. The damage to spars and rigging, whichturned out to be unimportant in both ships, was soon made good; andabout 3 p.m. we made sail in company, shaping a course for Plymouth,where we arrived without mishap, late on the following evening.
We all received very great credit for what the papers were pleased toterm our "dashing exploit;" Captain Brisac being rewarded with postrank, while Mr Sennitt was made a commander, and Mr Clewline moved astep up the ratlines. We midshipmen also received our reward in theshape of "honourable mention;" nor were the warrant-officers forgotten;so that, what with promotion and prize-money, the "Scourges" were for atime the envy of the entire navy. The war, however, had only justbegun, or rather broken out afresh; and everybody soon consoledthemselves with the reflection that our luck might any day become theirown. The prize proved to be the frigate "L'Audacieuse," of thirty-twoguns and 230 men. She was a bran-new ship, and had come out of Brest onher first cruise only the day before we fell in with her. Her loss inthe engagement amounted to forty-six killed and thirty-one wounded; ourown casualties amounting to fourteen killed and twenty wounded.
My own wound proved to be of a somewhat serious character, the blowhaving been inflicted with some heavy blunt instrument, and producingconcussion of the brain; I was, however, well looked after, and as soonas it was safe to move me, I was transferred to my own home, where I wasnursed, petted, and made much of to my heart's content, until I was inthe greatest danger of being spoiled, through the outrageous pamperingof my self-love and vanity to which I was subjected.
Luckily, my great-uncle, Sir Peregrine condescended to interest himselfin my welfare; the moment, therefore, that I was fairly convalescent heswooped down on the vicarage, like a hawk upon a dove-cot, and carriedme off with him to London, where he treated me to a week's cruise amongthe sights of the place. At the end of that time he drove with me onefine morning to the Admiralty, where I received my appointment to the"Juno" frigate, then fitting-out at Portsmouth for the Mediterranean.
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Note. It may be necessary to explain to the uninitiated reader that theterms "he" and "she" are indifferently used at sea, in reference tocraft, but when the masculine pronoun is applied it is understood torefer more especially to the _commanding officer_ of the vessel; whilethe pronoun "she" refers to the _vessel herself_.--H.C.
Under the Meteor Flag: Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War Page 6