"I better brook the loss of brittle life,
Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;
They wound my thoughts, worse than thy sword my flesh."
SHAKESPEARE
Half-way between this inlet and the ship-yard, I found Marble,
standing with his arms folded, gazing after the receding ship. His
countenance was no longer saddened; but it was fierce. He shook his
hand menacingly at the French ensign, which was flying at our old
gaff, and said--
"Ay, d----n you, flutter away; you quiver and shake now like one of
your coxcombs pigeon-winging; but where will you be this day two
months? Miles, no man but a bloody Frenchman would cast away a ship,
there where this Mister Count has left the bones of his vessel; though
_here_, where we came so nigh going, it's a miracle any man could
escape. Hadn't we brought the Crisis through that opening first, he
never would have dared to go out by it."
I confess I saw little about Monsieur Le Compte's management but skill
and good seamanship; but nothing is more painful to most men than to
admit the merit of those who have obtained an advantage over them.
Marble could not forget his own defeat; and the recollection jaundiced
his eyes, and biassed his judgment.
"I see our people are busy, already, sir," I remarked, by way of
drawing the captain's attention to some other subject. "They have
hauled the schooner up to the yard, and seem to be getting along spars
for shores."
"Ay, ay--Talcott has his orders; and I expect you will bestir
yourself. I shall step the masts myself, and you will get all the
rigging ready to be put into its place, the moment it is
possible. That Frenchman calculated, he told me to my face, that we
might get to sea in a fortnight; I will let him see that a set of
Yankees can rig and stow his bloody schooner, in three days, and then
leave themselves time to play."
Marble was not a man of idle vaunts. He soon had everybody at work,
with a system, order, silence, and activity, that proved he was master
of his profession. Nor was the language which might sound so boastful
to foreign ears, altogether without its justification. Forty Americans
were a formidable force; and, well directed, I make no doubt they
would accomplish far more than the ordinary run of French seamen, as
they were governed and managed in the year 1800, and, counting them
man for man, would have accomplished in double the time. Our crew had
now long acted together, and frequently under the most trying
circumstances; and they showed their training, if men ever did, on the
present occasion. Everybody was busy; and we had the shears up, and
both masts stepped, in the course of a few hours. By the time the
main-mast was in, I had the fore-mast rigged, the jib-boom in its
place, the sprit-sail yard crossed--everything carried a spar under
its bowsprit then--and the lower yard up. It is true, the French had
got everything ready for us; and when we turned the hands to, after
dinner, we actually began to strike in cargo, water, provisions, and
such other things, as it was intended to carry away. At dusk, when we
knocked off work, the Emily looked like a sea-going craft, and there
was every prospect of our having her ready for sea, by the following
evening. But, the duty had been carried on, in silence. Napoleon said
there had been more noise made in the little schooner which carried
him from l'Orient to Basque Roads, than was made on board the
line-of-battle ship that conveyed him to St. Helena, during the whole
passage. Since that memorable day, the French have learned to be
silent on board ship, and the fruits remain to be seen.
That night, Marble and myself consulted together on the aspect of
things--or, as he expressed it, "we generalized over our prospects."
Monsieur Le Compte had done one thing which duty required of him. He
did not leave us a kernel of the gunpowder belonging to either ship;
nor could we find a boarding-pike, cutlass, or weapon of any sort,
except the officers' pistols. We had a canister of powder, and a
sufficiency of bullets for the last, which had been left as, out of an
_esprit de corps_, or the feeling of an officer, which told him
we might possibly need these means to keep our own crew in order. Such
was not the fact, however, with the particular people we happened to
have; a more orderly and reasonable set of men never sailing together.
But, Monsieur Le Compte knew it was his duty to put it out of their
power to trouble us, so far as it lay in his; but, at the same time,
while he left us the means of safety, he provided against our doing
any further injury to his own countrymen. In this he had pretty
effectually succeeded, so far as armament was concerned.
The next morning I was up with the appearance of the dawn, and, having
suffered much from the heat the preceding day, I walked to a suitable
spot, threw off my clothes, and plunged into the basin. The water was
transparent almost as air; and I happened to select a place where the
coral grew within a few yards of the surface. As I dove, my eye fell
on a considerable cluster of large oysters that were collected on the
rock, and, reaching them, I succeeded in bringing up half a dozen that
clung to each other. These dives I repeated, during the next quarter
of an hour, until I had all the oysters, sixty or eighty in number,
safe on the shore. That they were the pearl oysters, I knew
immediately; and beckoning to Neb, the fellow soon had them snug in a
basket, and put away in a place of security. The circumstance was
mentioned to Marble, who, finding no more heavy drags to be made,
ordered the Sandwich Islanders to take a boat and pass a few hours in
their regular occupation, on account of the owners--if, indeed, the
last had any further claim on our services. These men met with
tolerable success, though, relatively, nothing equal to mine. What,
just then, was of far more importance, they made a discovery of an
arm-chest lying on the bottom of the basin, at the anchorage of the
Crisis, and which had doubtless been sunk there by the French. We had
all la Pauline's boats but the captain's gig. I went in one of them
with a gang of hands, and, the divers securing a rope to the handles
of the chest, we soon got it in. It turned out to be one of the
arm-chests of the Crisis, which the French had found in their way and
thrown overboard, evidently preferring to use weapons to which they
were accustomed. They had done better by carrying the chest out to
sea, and disposing of it in fifty or a hundred fathom water.
The prize was turned over to the gunner, who reported that it was the
chest in which we kept our cutlasses and pistols, of both of which
there was a sufficient supply to give every man one of each. There
were also several horns of powder, and a bag of bullets; but the first
was ruined by the water. As for the arms, they were rubbed dry, oiled,
and put away again in the chest, after the last had stood a whole day,
in the hot sun, open. Thus, through the agency of men brought for a
very different purpose, we were put in possession of the means of
achieving the exploit, which might now be said to form the great
object of our lives.
That day we got everything on board the schooner that it was thought
desirable to take with us. We left much behind that was valuable, it
is true, especially the copper; but Marble wisely determined that it
was inexpedient to put the vessel deeper than good ballast-trim, lest
it should hurt her sailing. We had got her fairly to her bearings, and
this was believed to be as low as was expedient. It is true, a great
deal remained to be stowed; the deck being littered, and the hold, the
ground-tier excepted, in great confusion. But our bread, water, beef,
pork, and other eatables, were all there, and in abundance; and,
though not to be had for the asking, they were still to be had. The
sails were bent, and the only anchor, la Pauline's stream, with her
two largest kedges, was on our bows. While in this condition, Marble
gave the unexpected order for all hands to come on board, and for the
shore-fasts to be cast off.
Of course, there was no dissenting to so positive a command. We had
signed new shipping-articles for the schooner, extending the
engagements made when we entered on board the Crisis, to this new
vessel, or any other she might capture. The wind was a steady trade,
and, when we showed our main-sail and jib to it, the little craft
glided athwart the basin like a duck. Shooting through the pass,
Marble tacked her twice, as soon as he had an offing; and everybody
was delighted with the quickness with which she was worked. There was
barely light enough to enable us to find our way through the opening
in the reef; and, just thirty-eight hours after the Crisis sailed, we
were on her track. We had only conjecture to guide us as to the ship's
course, with the exception of the main fact of her having sailed for
the west coast of South America; but we had not failed to notice that
she disappeared in the north-east trades on a bow-line. We put the
schooner as near as possible on the same course, making a proper
allowance for the difference in the rig of the two vessels.
The distance run that night, satisfied us all that Mons. Le Compte
was a good draftsman. The schooner ran 106 miles in twelve hours,
against a very respectable sea, which was at least ten or fifteen more
than the Crisis could have done under the same circumstances. It is
true, that what was close-hauled for her, was not close-hauled for us;
and, in this respect, we had the advantage of her. Marble was so well
pleased with our night's work, that when he came on deck next morning,
the first thing he did was to order a bottle of rum to be brought him,
and then all hands to be called. As soon as the people were up, he
went forward, got into the head, and commanded every body to muster on
the forecastle. Marble now made a speech.
"We have some good, and some bad luck, this v'y'ge, men," he said;
"and, when we generalize on the subject, it will be found that good
luck has usually followed the bad luck. Now, the savages, with that
blackguard Smudge, knocked poor Captain Williams in the head, and
threw him overboard, and got the ship from us; then came the good luck
of getting her back again. After this, the French did us that
unhandsome thing: now, here comes the good luck of their leaving us a
craft that will overhaul the ship, when I needn't tell _you,_
what will come of it." Here all hands, as in duty bound, gave three
cheers. "Now, I neither sail nor fight in a craft that carries a
French name. Captain Count christened the schooner the--Mr. Wallingford
will tell you her exact name."
"_La Belle Emélie,_" said I, "or the Beautiful Emily."
"None of your belles for me, nor your Beautiful Emilys either," cried
Marble, smashing the bottle over the schooner's nose; "So here goes
three cheers again, for the 'Pretty Poll,' which was the name the
craft was born to, and the name she shall bear, as long as Moses
Marble sails her."
From that moment, the schooner was known by the name of the "Pretty
Poll." I met with portions of our crew years afterwards, and they
always spoke of her by this appellation; sometimes familiarly terming
her the "Poll," or the "Polly."
All the first day out, we were busy in making ourselves comfortable,
and in getting the Polly's trim. We succeeded so well in this last,
that, according to our calculations, we made a knot an hour more than
the Crisis could have done under the same circumstances, fast as the
ship was known to be. As the Crisis had about thirty-eight hours the
start of us, and ran, on an average, about seven knots the hour for
all that time, it would require about ten days to overtake her. Of
course this could only happen, according to our own calculations, when
we were from eighteen hundred to two thousand miles from the
island. For my own part, I sincerely hoped it would not occur at all,
at sea; feeling satisfied our only chances of success depended on
surprise. By following the vessel into some port, it might be
possible to succeed; but, for an unarmed schooner to attack a ship
like the Crisis, with even a large crew on board; it seemed rashness
to think of it. Marble, however, would not listen to my
remonstrances. He insisted we had more than powder enough to load all
our pistols half-a-dozen times each, and, laying the ship plump
aboard, the pistols would do the rest. I was silenced, quite as a
matter of course, if not convinced.
The fifth day out, Neb came to me, saying--"Master Miles, somet'ing
must be done wid 'em 'ere 'ysters! Dey smell, onaccountable; and de
people swear dey will t'row 'em overboard, if I don't eat 'em. I not
hungry enough for _dat_, sir."
These were the pearl oysters, already mentioned, which had been
hastening to dissolution and decomposition, by the heat of the
hold. As the captain was as much concerned in this portion of the
cargo, as I was myself, I communicated the state of things to him, and
he ordered the bags and barrels on deck, forthwith. It was well
something was done, or I doubt not a disease would have been the
consequence. As decomposition was the usual process by which to come
at the treasures of these animals, however, everything was exactly in
the state we wished.
An uninterested observer would have laughed, at seeing the employment
of the quarter-deck, for the next four hours. Marble, and the two
mates, attacked a barrel belonging to the captain, while Neb and I had
my own share to ourselves. It was a trying occupation, the odour far
exceeding in strength that of the Spice Islands. We stood it,
however--for what will not man endure for the sake of riches? Marble
foresaw the difficulties, and had once announced to the mates that
they then would "open on shares." This had a solacing influence, and
amid much mirth and sundry grimaces, the work went on with tolerable
rapidity. I observed, however, that Talcott threw one or two subjects,
that doubtless were tougher than common, overboard, after very
superficial examinations.
The first seven oysters I examined, contained nothing but seed pearl,
and not many of these. Neb opened, and I examined; and the latter
occupation was so little to my taste, that I was just on the point of
ordering the whole lot thrown overboard, when Neb handed me
another. This oyster contained nine beautiful pearls, of very uniform
dimensions, and each about as large as a good-sized pea. I dropped
them into a bowl of fresh water, whence they came out sweet, pearly,
and lustrous. They were of the sort known as the "white water," which
is the kind most prized among Christian nations, doubtless on account
of their harmonizing so well with the skins of their women. No sooner
was my luck known, than it brought all the other "pearl fishermen"
around me; Marble, with his nostrils plugged with oakum, and a quid of
tobacco in his mouth, that was as large as a small potatoe.
"By George, Miles, that looks like business," the captain exclaimed,
going back to his work, with renovated zeal, "though it is a calling
fit only for hogs and scavengers! Did I embark in it largely, I would
keep as many clerks as a bank. What do you suppose now, these nine
chaps may be worth?"
"Some fifty dollars, or thereabouts--you see, sir, they are quite
large--much larger than it is usual to see our women wear."
The ninth of my oysters produced eleven pearls, and all about the size
and quality of the first. In a few minutes I had seventy-three just
such pearls, besides a quantity of seed pearl. Then followed a
succession of barren shells; a dozen not giving a pearl. The three
that succeeded them gave thirty-one more; and another yielded four
pearls, each of which was as large as a small cherry. After that, I
got one that was almost as large as a common hickory-nut, and six more
of the size of the cherry-sized pearls. In addition to these, I got in
all, one hundred and eighty-seven of the size of peas, besides a large
handful of the seed pearl. I afterwards ascertained, that the pearls I
had thus obtained were worth in the market about eighteen hundred
dollars; as they were far more remarkable for their beauty, than for
their size.
Notwithstanding the oakum plugs, and the tobacco, and the great
quantity of shells his divers had found, for they had brought up
something like two hundred and fifty oysters in the course of the day,
the party of the captain found in all, but thirty-six pearls, the seed
excepted; though they obtained some beautiful specimens among the
shells. From that moment, Marble discontinued the trade, and I never
heard him say anything more on the subject of pursuing it. My own
beauties were put carefully away, in reserve for the time when I might
delight the eyes of certain of my female friends with them. I never
intended to sell one, but they were very precious to me on other
accounts. As for the crew, glad enough were they to be rid of such
uncomfortable shipmates. As I gazed on the spotless and lustrous
pearls, and compared them with the revolting tenements from which they
had just been redeemed, I likened them to the souls of the just
escaping from their tenements of clay, to enjoy hereafter an endless
existence of purity.
In the meantime, the Pretty Poll continued to find her way along miles
and miles of the deserted track across the Pacific. Marble had once
belonged to a Baltimore clipper, and he sailed our craft probably much
better than she would have been sailed by Mons. Le Compte, though that
officer, as I afterwards learned, had distinguished himself in command
of a lugger-privateer, in the British Channel. Our progress was
generally from a hundred and fifty to two hundred and twenty miles in
twenty-four hours; and so it continued to be for the first ten days,
or the period, when, according to our own calculations, we ought to be
near the Crisis, had that vessel steered a course resembling our
own. For my own part, I neither wished nor expected to see the ship,
until we reached the coast of South America, when we might ascertain
her position by communicating with the shore. As for the
_guarda-costas_, I knew we could easily elude them, and there
might be a small chance of regaining the vessel, something like the
way in which we had lost her. But Marble's impatience, and the
keenness with which he felt our disgrace, would not make terms even
with the elements; and I do believe, he would have run alongside of
the Crisis in a gale of wind, could he have come up with her. The
chance of our having sailed so far, however, on a line so nearly
resembling that of the chase as to bring us together, was so very
small, that few of us thought it worth our consideration.
On the morning of the eleventh day, the look-out we had kept on the
fore-top-sail-yard, sang out "Sail-ho!" Marble and myself were soon on
the yard, there being nothing visible from the deck. The upper sails,
top-gallant-sails, and royals of a ship were visible on our
weather-quarter, distant from fifteen to twenty miles. As we were now
in the track of whalers, of which there were a good many in that part
of the Pacific, I thought it was probable this was one; but Marble
laughed at the notion, asking if I had ever heard of a whaler's
carrying royals on her cruising ground. He affirmed it was the
Crisis, heading the same way we were ourselves, and which had only got
to windward of us, by keeping a better luff. We had calculated too
much on the schooner's weatherly qualities, and had allowed her to
fall off more than was necessary, in the night-watches.
The Pretty Poll was now jammed up on a wind, in the hope of closing
with the chase in the course of the night. But the wind had been
growing lighter and lighter for some hours, and by noon, though we had
neared the chase so much as to be able to see her from deck, there was
every prospect of its falling calm; after which, in the trades, it
would be surprising if we did not get a blow. To make the most of our
time, Marble determined to tack, when we had just got the chase a
point off our weather-bow. An hour after tacking, an object was seen
adrift on the ocean, and keeping away a little to close with it, it
was ascertained to be a whale-boat, adrift. The boat was American
built, had a breaker of water, the oars, and all the usual fittings in
it; and the painter being loose, it had probably been lost, when
towing in the night, in consequence of having been fastened by
_three_ half-hitches.
The moment Marble ascertained the condition of this boat, he conceived
his plan of operations. The four Sandwich Islanders had been in
whalers, and he ordered them into the boat, put in some rum, and some
food, gave me his orders, got in himself, and pulled ahead, going off
at five knots the hour, leaving the schooner to follow at the rate of
two. This was about an hour before sunset; and by the time it was
dark, the boat had become a mere speck on the water, nearly half-way
between us and the ship, which was now some fifteen miles distant,
heading always in the same direction.
My orders had been very simple. They were, to stand on the same
course, until I saw a light from the boat, and then tack, so as to run
on a parallel line with the ship. The signal was made by Marble about
nine o'clock. It was immediately answered from the schooner. The light
in the boat was concealed from the ship, and our own was shown only
for a few seconds, the disappearance of Mr. Marble's telling us in
that brief space, that our answer was noted. I tacked immediately;
and, taking in the fore-sail, stood on the directed course. We had all
foreseen a change in the weather, and probably a thunder-squall. So
far from its giving Marble any uneasiness, he anticipated the blow
with pleasure, as he intended to lay the Crisis aboard in its
height. He fancied that success would then be the most certain. His
whole concern was at not being able to find the ship in the darkness;
and it was to obviate this difficulty that he undertook to pilot us up
to her in the manner I have just mentioned.
After getting round, a sharp look-out was kept for the light. We
caught another view of it, directly on our weather-beam. From this we
inferred that the ship had more wind than we felt; inasmuch as she had
materially altered her position, while we had not moved a mile since
we tacked. This was on the supposition that Marble would endeavour to
follow the movements of the ship. At ten, the tempest broke upon us
with tropical violence, and with a suddenness that took everybody by
surprise. A squall had been expected; but no one anticipated its
approach for several hours; and we had all looked for the return of
the whale-boat, ere that moment should come. But, come it did, when
least expected; the first puff throwing our little schooner down, in a
way to convince us the elements were in earnest. In fifteen minutes
after the first blast was felt, I had the schooner, under a reefed
foresail, and with that short canvass, there were instants, as she
struggled up to the summit of the waves, that it seemed as if she were
about to fly out of the water. My great concern, however, was for the
boat, of which nothing could now be seen. The orders left by Marble
anticipated no such occurrence as this tempest, and the concert
between us was interrupted. It was naturally inferred among us, in the
schooner, that the boat would endeavour to close, as soon as the
danger was foreseen; and, as this would probably be done, by running
on a converging line, all our efforts were directed to keeping the
schooner astern of the other party, in order that they might first
reach the point of junction. In this manner there _was_ a chance
of Marble's finding the schooner, while there was little of our
finding the boat. It is true, we carried several lights; but as soon
as it began to rain, even a bonfire would not have been seen at a
hundred yards. The water poured down upon us, as if it fell from
spouts, occasionally ceasing, and then returning in streams.
I had then never passed so miserable a night; even that in which
Smudge and his fellows murdered Captain Williams and seized the ship,
being happiness in comparison. I loved Marble. Hardy, loose, in some
respects, and unnurtured as he was in others, the man had been
steadily my friend. He was a capital seaman; a sort of an instinctive
navigator; true as the needle to the flag, and as brave as a
lion. Then, I knew he was in his present strait on account of
mortified feeling, and the rigid notions he entertained of his duty to
his owners. I think I do myself no more than justice, when I say that
I would gladly have exchanged places with him, any time that night.
We held a consultation on the quarter-deck, and it was determined that
our only chance of picking up the boat, was by remaining as nearly as
possible, at the place where her crew must have last seen the
schooner. Marble had a right to expect this; and we did all that lay
in our power to effect the object; waring often, and gaining on our
tacks what we lost in coming round. In this manner we passed a painful
and most uncomfortable night; the winds howling about us a sort of
requiem for the dead, while we hardly knew when we were wallowing in
the seas or not, there being so much water that came down from the
clouds, as nearly to drown us on deck.
At last the light returned, and soon after the tempest broke,
appearing to have expended its fury. An hour after the sun had risen,
we got the trade-wind again, the sea became regular once more, and the
schooner was under all her canvass. Of course, every one of us
officers was aloft, some forward, some aft, to look out for the boat;
but we did not see her again. What was still more extraordinary,
nothing could be seen of the ship! We kept all that day cruising
around the place, expecting to find at least the boat; but without
success.
My situation was now altogether novel to me. I had left home rather
more than a twelvemonth before, the third officer of the Crisis. From
this station, I had risen regularly to be her first officer; and now,
by a dire catastrophe, I found myself in the Pacific, solely charged
with the fortunes of my owners, and those of some forty human beings.
And this, too, before I was quite twenty years old.
Marble's scheme of attacking the ship had always seemed to me to be
wild and impracticable. This was while it was _his_ project, not
my own. I still entertained the same opinion, as regards the assault
at sea; but I had, from the first, regarded an attempt on the coast as
a thing much more likely to succeed. Then Emily, and her father, and
the honour of the flag, and the credit I might personally gain, had
their influence; and, at sunset, all hope of finding the boat being
gone, I ordered sail made on our course.
The loss of the whale-boat occurred when we were about two thousand
miles from the western coast of South America. We had a long road
before us, consequently; and, as I had doubted whether the ship we had
seen was the Crisis, it was necessary to be in motion, if anything was
to be effected with our old enemies. The reader may feel some desire
to know in what manner my succession to the command was received by
the people. No man could have been more implicitly obeyed. I was now
six feet and an inch in height, of a powerful and active frame, a good
seaman, and had the habit of command, through a twelvemonth's
experience. The crew knew me, having seen me tried, from the
weather-earings down; and it is very likely I possessed more of their
confidence than I deserved. At all events, I was as implicitly obeyed
as if I had sailed from New York at their head. Everybody regretted
Marble; more, I think, than we regretted poor Captain Williams, though
it must have been on account of the manner we saw him disappear, as it
might be, from before our eyes; since, of the two, I think the last
was the most estimable man. Nevertheless, Marble had his strong
points, and they were points likely to take with seamen; and they had
particularly taken with us. As for the four Sandwich Islanders, I do
not know that they occupied any of our minds at all. We had been
accustomed to regard them as strange beings, who came from that ocean
to which they had thus suddenly returned.
Fifteen days after the loss of the whale-boat, we made the peaks of
the Andes, a very few degrees to the southward of the equator. From
some casual remarks made by the French, and which I had overheard, I
had been led to believe they intended to run for Guayaquil, or its
vicinity; and I aimed at reaching the coast near the same point. We
had been in, ourselves, at several bays and roadsteads, moreover, on
this part of the shore, on our way north; and I felt at home among
them. We had acquaintances, too, who could not fail to be of use to
us; and everything conspired to render this an advantageous land-fall.
On the evening of the twenty-ninth day after quitting the island, we
took the schooner into an open roadstead, where we had carried on some
extensive traffic in the ship, about eight months before, and where I
fancied we should still be recognised. As was expected, we had
scarcely anchored, before a Don Pedro Something, a fellow with a
surprising string of names, came off to us in a boat, in order to
ascertain who we were, and what we wanted. Perhaps it would be better
to say, what we had that _he_ wanted. I knew the man at a glance,
having delivered to him, myself, three boat-loads of goods, and
received a small bag of doubloons in exchange. A very few words,
half-English, half-Spanish, served to renew our acquaintance; and I
gave our old friend to understand that I was in search of the ship,
from which I had been separated on some extra duty. After beating the
bush to discover all he could, the Don Pedro gave me to understand
that _a_ ship had gone in behind an island that was only ten
miles to the southward of us, that very afternoon; that he had seen
her himself, and had supposed she might be his old friend the Crisis,
until he saw the French ensign at her gaff. This was sufficient, and I
made inquiries for a pilot. A man qualified to carry us to the place
was found in one of the boatmen. As I feared the news of the arrival
of a schooner might be carried to the ship, much as we had got our
intelligence, no time was lost, but we were under-way by ten o'clock.
At midnight we entered the pass between the main and the island; there
I got into a boat, and pulled ahead, in order to reconnoitre. I found
the ship lying close under a high bluff, which made a capital lee, and
with every sign about her of tranquillity. Still, I knew a vessel
that was always in danger from the _guarda-costas_, and which
relied on the celerity of its movements for its safety, would have a
vigilant look-out. Accordingly, I took a cool and careful examination
of the ship's position, landing and ascending the bluff, in order to
do this at my ease. About two o'clock in the morning, I returned to
the schooner.
When I put my foot on the Polly's deck again, she was quite near the
point, or bluff, having set down towards it during my absence. All
hands were on deck, armed, and in readiness. Expectation had got to be
so keen, that we had a little difficulty in keeping the men from
cheering; but silence was preserved, and I communicated the result of
my observations in as few words as possible. The orders were then
given, and the schooner was brought under short sail, for the
attack. We were so near our side of the bluff, while the ship lay so
near the other, that my principal apprehension was of falling to
leeward, which might give the French time to muster, and recollect
themselves. The canvass, accordingly, was reduced to the fore-sail,
though the jib, main-sail, and top-sail were all loose, in readiness
to be set, if wanted. The plan was to run the ship aboard, on her
starboard-bow, or off-side, as respected the island; and to do this
with as little of a shock as possible.
When everything was ready, I went aft, stood by the man at the helm,
and ordered him to bear up. Neb placed himself just behind me. I knew
it was useless to interfere, and let the fellow do as he pleased. The
pilot had told me the water was deep, up to the rocks of the bluff;
and we hugged the land as close as possible, in rounding the point. At
the next moment the ship was in sight, distant less than a hundred
fathoms. I saw we had good way, and, three minutes later, I ordered
the fore-sail brailed. At the same instant I walked forward. So near
were we, that the flapping of the canvass was heard in the ship, and
we got a hail. A mystified answer followed, and then crash came our
bows along those of the Crisis. "Hurrah! for the old craft!" shouted
our men, and aboard we tumbled in a body. Our charge was like the
plunge of a pack of hounds, as they leap through a hedge.
The scene that followed was one of wild tumult. Some twenty pistols
were fired, and a good many hard blows were struck; but the surprise
secured us the victory. In less than three minutes, Talcott came to
report to me that our lads had complete possession of the deck, and
that the French asked for quarter. At first, the enemy supposed they
had been seized by a _guarda-costa_, for the impression had been
general among them that we intended to quit the island for Canton.
Great was the astonishment among them when the truth came to be
known. I heard a great many "_sacr-r-r-es!" and certain other
maledictions in low French, that it is scarcely worth while to repeat.
Harris, one of the-Philadelphians, and the man who had got us into the
difficulty by falling asleep on his watch, was killed; and no less
than nine of our men, myself among the number, were hurt in this brisk
business. All the wounds, however, were slight; only three of the
injuries taking the parties off duty. As for the poor fellow who fell,
he owed his death to risking too much, in order to recover the ground
he had lost.
The French fared much worse than ourselves. Of those killed outright,
and those who died before morning, there were no less than sixteen;
our fellows having fired a volley into a group that was rushing on
deck, besides using their cutlasses with great severity for the first
minute or two. This was on the principle that the first blow was half
the battle. There were few wounded; most of those who fell being cut
or thrust at by several at the same time--a species of attack that
left little chance for escape. Poor Mons. Le Compte was found
stone-dead at the cabin-doors, having been shot in the forehead, just
as he put his foot on the deck. I heard his voice once in the fray,
and feared it boded no good; but the silence which succeeded was
probably caused by his just then receiving the fatal bullet. He was in
his shirt.