Old Jack Part 23

The next morning I was told that the mate was very ill. The doctor of the s.h.i.+p had been attending him, but said that his case was hopeless. I sat by him all day. Sometimes he would be perfectly quiet and do nothing but moan; and then he would start up, and shriek out,--"Luff!-- luff!--or she'll be into us!" and then sink down again, overcome with horror at the recollection of the event. Towards night he grew worse, and, after several fearful shrieks, he sunk back and expired.

Thus twice in less than two years was I mercifully preserved from destruction. There were a number of pa.s.sengers on board, who were very kind to me, and took pleasure in asking me questions about my life at sea, and in listening to the accounts of my adventures. Among them was a young gentleman, who, when he heard the name of the _Rainbow_ brig, and that she sailed out of Dublin, made many inquiries about her. He told me that he knew Dublin well, and had often heard of the former owners of the _Rainbow_. He was, I found, going out to Bridge Town, to take the management of a large mercantile house there.

"You must come and see me when we get there," said he one day. "I am not certain, but I think we have met before."

"Where could that have been? I don't remember you, sir," I said.

"Hadn't you a very tall seaman aboard the brig when you first went to sea in her?" he asked abruptly.

"Yes, of course, sir!" I exclaimed. "Peter Poplar, my best of friends; I owe everything to him."

"So do I, then, I suspect," said he warmly. "Do you remember a little lad sitting crying on the quays at Dublin, to whom he gave a bundle of old clothes? Yours, I believe, they were."

"Yes," said I; "I remember, too, how grateful he seemed for them, and how Peter walked away with me that he might not listen to his thanks."

"He had reason to be thankful," said the gentleman. "That suit of clothes enabled him to obtain a situation, where, by honesty and perseverance, and an earnest wish to promote his kind master's interests, he rose by degrees to hold the most responsible situation in his establishment. Do you remember the boy's name?"

"No, sir," I replied. "I am not quite certain."

"Was it Terence, do you think?" he asked.

"Yes, sir!" I exclaimed. "Terence it was--Terence McSwiney--that was his name. I remember it now, for he repeated it several times."

"That is my name," said the gentleman; "and I, Jack, am the very little lad to whom your kind friend gave your old clothes. I would much like to meet him again, to thank him, as I do you, for your share of the favour conferred on me. Of one thing you may be certain--I have not been idle. When not engaged in my master's business, I was employed in study and in improving my own mind. I never lost an opportunity of gaining knowledge, and never willingly wasted a moment."

Mr McSwiney told me a good deal more about himself, and I felt how very different a life I had led, and how little I had ever done to improve my mind or to gain knowledge. I even then thought that it was too late to begin, and so I went on in my idleness.

The day before we reached Carlisle Bay the captain sent for me, and told me that the pa.s.sengers had been interested in my history, and that, as I had lost all my kit in the brig, they had made a collection to enable me to purchase a new one. This he presented to me in the shape of thirty dollars. I expressed myself, as I felt, very grateful for the kindness I had received.

Although Mr McSwiney had once been in the same rank of life to which I belonged, and in one respect even worse off, because I had a suit of clothes on my back when he had none, I did not, in consequence, address him as an equal. He seemed to appreciate my feeling, and I believe that I thereby secured his esteem. He would have taken me to the lodging he had engaged at Bridge Town, but I said, "No, sir, thank you; I will remain on board the s.h.i.+p till I get a berth in some other craft. I have no fancy for living ash.o.r.e." I went up to see him several times, and we parted, I believe, with mutual feelings of regard. He had more than repaid me for the benefit I had been formerly the means of doing him, and he as well as I soon found that our habits of thought were so different that we could not a.s.sociate on really equal terms, however much we might wish the attempt to succeed.

Finding a brig, the _Jane and Mary_, short of hands, sailing for the port of Hull, I s.h.i.+pped on board her. I was not much better off in her though, than I had been in the _Rainbow_ with Captain Grindall. The captain and mates did not proceed to such extremities as he and Mr Crosby did, but they were rough, ignorant, ill-tempered men, and treated the crew as brutes, looking upon them as mere machines, out of whom they were to get as much work as their strength would allow. When we reached Hull I was glad to leave the _Jane and Mary_; and without even going on sh.o.r.e for a day's spree--as most of the other hands did, and accordingly fell in with press-gangs--I transferred myself to a barque trading to Archangel, on the north coast of Russia.

By the time I got back, I had had enough of a northern voyage, so for the first time went on sh.o.r.e at Hull. Sailors' lodging-houses are generally dirty, foul traps, kept by wretches whose great aim is to fleece the guests of everything they may possess at least cost to themselves. I got into one of this cla.s.s, for, of course, I did not know where to go. A s.h.i.+pmate had invited me to accompany him, saying he had been very well-treated--though I found afterwards he had been supplied with as much food and liquor as he wanted, and indulged in every vice, and then, when he hadn't a farthing in his pocket, put on board a trader half drunk, and sent to sea. I found myself undergoing very shortly the same sort of treatment he had received; and when I refused to drink more, or yield to other temptations, such fierce, angry scowls were cast on me, that I was anxious to get away. They began, indeed, to quarrel with me; but seeing that had not much effect, they became very civil and polite. In a short time the man of the house--a st.u.r.dy ruffian, with a Jewish cast of countenance--went to the cupboard, and I saw him pouring out several tumblers of grog. I pretended not to be watching him, but went on talking to my companions as before.

Directly afterwards his wife got up and placed a tumbler by the side of each of us, taking one--

"There are your Sat.u.r.day's night-caps, my lads," said she, sitting down opposite to us. "Let us drink to sweethearts and wives, and lovers and friends; a b.l.o.o.d.y war, and plenty of prize-money!" And with a leer out of her evil eye, she gulped down half the contents of the tumbler between her thick lips.

Now I had seen old Growler fumbling with several bottles at the dresser, and as I pa.s.sed my nose over the tumbler which his wife placed near me, a certain rank odour arose from it which I did not like. How to avoid drinking it I was puzzled, as I did not wish to show the suspicion I felt that it was drugged. Luckily the tumbler stood on a little round table by itself; so I jumped up on a sudden, as if something had stung me, and upset the table with the tumbler and its contents! Old Growler pretended to be very sorry for the accident, and insisted on mixing another. "No, thank you, master," I answered; "I've been very clumsy, and must pay the penalty by the loss of the grog." The couple looked at each other and then at me with such an evil glance, that I believe had it not been for my companions they would at that moment have turned me out into the street.

There were six seamen in the room, lately discharged from different merchantmen. The house was at the end of a dirty, narrow court, all the inhabitants of which were of the lowest description. As we were sitting smoking, a tap was heard at the door. Old Growler went to it. Several questions were asked by a person outside. He came back in a hurry, and beckoned to his wife to come and answer them. "There are some man-of-war's men outside," said he. "They say that they are come to look for a deserter. They'll soon make my missus open the door, so you've no time to lose, my lads. Be quick, then; through the door, and stowaway in the coal-shed." The house had a back-door, or it would not have been fit for old Growler's purposes; and the door opened into what they called a garden, but it was a bit of dirty barren ground, strewn with broken bricks and crockery, and bits of rotten wood, with some tumble-down sheds on either side of it. In one of these he proposed we should hide. As we opened the door, however, to rush out, we found ourselves confronted by a dozen stout seamen; and before we could make the slightest resistance, we were all of us bound hand and foot. The front-door being opened, an officer and several men entered through it, and a large party of us a.s.sembled in Mrs Growler's kitchen. The lieutenant and mids.h.i.+pman who commanded the press-gang took very coolly the abuse which our worthy host and hostess so liberally bestowed on them. We were allowed to go, two and two at a time, under escort, to collect our traps, and then marched down to a couple of boats waiting for us at the quay. In a short time we were put on board a cutter, with a number of other men who had been picked up in a similar way. There was a good deal of grumbling, and some of the men seemed to have been very hardly dealt with; but I cannot say that my change of lot made me particularly unhappy.

Another night's foray on sh.o.r.e considerably increased our numbers; besides which several volunteers, mostly landsmen, were obtained, and the cutter then sailed to discharge her pa.s.sengers into the s.h.i.+ps most requiring men. I and several others found ourselves going up the side of His Majesty's s.h.i.+p _Glutton_, of 50 guns, commanded by Captain Henry Trollope. As I stood on the deck looking about me, previous to being summoned aft, I saw on the other side the tall figure of a man whose back was turned towards me. My heart beat with surprise and joy, for I felt almost sure he must be Peter Poplar. He shortly turned his head.

I was right. He was no other than my old friend. I sprung over to him, and warmly grasped his hand. He started when he saw me, stared at me with astonishment, and for a minute could not speak.

"Is it really you, Jack?" he at length exclaimed. "Why, lad, I thought you were dead. I was told that you had been lost overboard from the _Juno_."

"So I was," said I; "but I was found by an old friend, who in the end played me a somewhat scurvy trick." And I told him in a few words all that had occurred to me since we had been paid off from the _Syren_.

"Well, I am right glad to see you, lad--that I am," he exclaimed, again wringing my hand.

My yarn was scarcely out when I was summoned to have my name entered on the s.h.i.+p's books, and to hear my rating, which was that of "able seaman." The _Glutton_ had been an Indiaman, measuring 1400 tons, and had been purchased into the service. She was now armed with the then newly-invented carronades, 68-pounders on the lower, and 32-pounders on the upper deck. This was a weight of metal no s.h.i.+p had, I believe, previously carried; and Captain Trollope was very anxious to try its effect on the s.h.i.+ps of the enemy, rightly believing that it would not a little astonish them.

Our first cruise was off the coast of Flanders. We had not long to wait before an enemy was seen. On the 15th of July, when the days were longest and the weather fine, early in the afternoon six s.h.i.+ps were seen from the mast-head running before the wind; and soon afterwards, further to leeward, appeared a brig and a cutter, which they were apparently bearing down to join. I was at the helm when the captain made out what they were.

"Four French frigates and two corvettes. They will just suit us!" said he, shutting up his gla.s.s with a smile of satisfaction.

"A heavy squadron for one s.h.i.+p to attack," observed one of the lieutenants.

"One!--every man on board will be sorry they ever met _us_!" said the captain. He knew that the officer who spoke was not one likely to flinch from the work to be done.

We were standing directly for the enemy, whose s.h.i.+ps were pretty close in with the land. Notwithstanding the apparently overwhelming numbers of the foe, the s.h.i.+p, with the greatest alacrity, was cleared for action.

"Shall we really fight them?" asked a youngster of Peter, who was a great favourite with all the mids.h.i.+pmen.

"Ay--that we shall, sir," he answered. "The captain only wishes that there were twice as many s.h.i.+ps to fight."

"That's all right!" exclaimed the young mids.h.i.+pman. "I was afraid that some trick was intended, and that we should soon have to up stick, and run for it."

"No, no; no fear of that! I don't think our captain is the man to run from anything."

It was now about eight o'clock in the evening, and the French s.h.i.+ps, having formed in line, seemed to have no intention of avoiding us. A feeling of pride and confidence animated the bosoms of all our crew as we stood round the short heavy guns with which our s.h.i.+p was armed, while advancing towards an enemy of a force apparently so overwhelming. One French frigate, the _Brutus_, was a razeed 64-gun s.h.i.+p, and now carried 46 guns. Then there were the _Incorruptible_, of 32 guns; the _Magicienne_, of 36; the _Republicain_, of 28; and the two corvettes, of 22 guns each.

On we stood. Whatever the enemy did, we were not to fire till we got close up to them. There were to be no long shots with us. It had become almost dark before we arrived abreast of the three sternmost s.h.i.+ps. "Take care that not a gun is fired till I give the order," cried the captain. "Steer for that big fellow there." This was the _Brutus_, the second from the van. We were within thirty yards of this s.h.i.+p.

"Strike to His Britannic Majesty's s.h.i.+p _Glutton_!" cried the captain, waving to the Frenchman. This order the Frenchmen were not likely to obey. Up went the French colours at the peaks of all the s.h.i.+ps, and immediately they began firing as they could bring their guns to bear.

We glided on a few yards nearer the opponent our captain had singled out. "Now, give it them, my lads!" he shouted; and immediately we poured our whole broadside into the hull of our enemy. The effects were as terrific as unexpected--she seemed literally to reel with the force of the concussion. Meantime, the leading s.h.i.+p stood past us to windward, with the intention of cutting us up with her shot; but she got more than she bargained for, in the shape of our larboard-broadside.

The heavy shot, nearly every one of which told, shattered her hull, tore open her decks, and damaged her spars. Meantime we were standing on the larboard-tack, with the French commodore to leeward of us, with whom we were exchanging a hot fire--rather hotter than he liked, indeed.

The pilot had been anxiously watching the coast--not indeed relis.h.i.+ng, probably, the sort of work going on. He now hurried up to the captain: "We shall be on sh.o.r.e to a certainty, sir, if we stand on in this course."

"Never fear," answered Captain Trollope. "When the Frenchman takes the ground, do you go about."

All this time the enemy's shot were flying about us terribly, cutting up our spars and rigging; but, strange to say, as I looked around, I did not see one wounded! It was light enough all the time to enable us to see all the enemy's s.h.i.+ps, and yet sufficiently dark to allow the flash of the guns to have its full effect, as we and our many opponents rapidly discharged them at each other. Still the French commodore stood on. Perhaps he hoped to drive us on sh.o.r.e. At last he was compelled to tack. Captain Trollope had been waiting the opportunity. The instant he hove in stays, we, who had been reserving our fire, poured in our broadside, raking him fore and aft with murderous effect.

"All hands about-s.h.i.+p!" was now the cry. So cut up was our rigging, however, that we had no little difficulty in getting her about. Our masts also were badly wounded. It was a question whether they would carry our canvas.

"Hands aloft!--reef topsails!" was the next order given. Up we sprung, most unwillingly leaving our gnus, while the French s.h.i.+ps, one after the other, stood away from us, glad to get out of reach of our fire though they did not fail to give us a parting salute.

We were as smart as we could in reefing topsails, but as much of our running-gear was cut up, we were longer than usual; and the Frenchmen, finding that we had ceased firing, took it into their heads. I suppose, that we were going to strike, for they all tacked and once more stood back towards us.

"To your guns, my lads! to your guns!" was the cry, as we swung down off the yards; and then didn't we open fire again upon them in fine style!

In a few minutes they had had enough of it, and hauled off as fast as their legs could carry them. If they hadn't so cruelly wounded our masts and spars we should have caught some of them. We made all the sail we could venture to carry; but they had faster keels than we could boast of, so we had no hope of success.

They stood away for Flus.h.i.+ng, and I afterwards heard that one of them sunk as soon as she got there, and that all had their decks completely ripped up, besides losing a great number of men, and suffering terribly in other ways. Strange as it may seem, we had not a single man killed, but one captain of marines and one marine only were wounded. We had to go into harbour to repair damages; and when the news of the action reached London, the merchants were so pleased with it, that, in commemoration of it, they presented Captain Trollope with a handsome piece of plate. He deserved it, for a braver or more das.h.i.+ng officer did not exist, as I had many opportunities of proving.

Some time after this, occurred those events in the navy which might have proved the destruction of the British Empire. I speak of the mutinies which broke out at the Nore, at Spithead, and elsewhere. The particulars are generally so well-known, that I will not attempt to describe them; but the circ.u.mstance I am about to mention is known, I fancy, to very few. It is an example of what courage and determination may effect.

On board the _Glutton_, as in most large s.h.i.+ps, we had a number of bad characters--runaway apprentices, lawyers' clerks, broken-down tradesmen, footmen dismissed for knavery, play-actors, tinkers, gipsies, pickpockets, thieves of all sorts; indeed, the magistrates on sh.o.r.e seemed to think nothing was too bad to send on board a man-of-war.