"'
J
E H.P1'
OLD BOOK SHOP
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
BRITISH CROSSES & MEDALS.
see Key
BRITISH CROSSES AND MEDALS.— (Coloured Frontispiece.
1. MEDAL OF ELIZABETH. (DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA, 1588.)
2. CRIMEA MEDAL AND NAVAL
CLASP FOR AZOFF (1854-6).
5. NAVAL MEDAL OF
COMMONWEALTH (1650).
3. CHINA MEDAL WITH Two
NAVAL CLASPS (1857-58).
4. NAVAL WAR MEDAL
RIBBON (1793, 1840).
6. CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY
RIBBON (1854, 1874).
7. NAVAL MEDAL OF COMMONWEALTH
(BLAKE'S VICTORIES OVER THE DUTCH)
(1653).
NAVAL MEDAL OF
CHARLES II.
9. NAVAL MEDAL OF COMMONWEALTH
(BLAKE'S VICTORIES OVER THE DUTCH)
(1653).
10. COLLAR OF THE ORDER OF THE BATH.
11. GOOD CONDUCT AND
LONG-SERVICE MEDAL.
12. BALTIC MEDAL
(1854).
13. VICTORIA CROSS WITH NAVAL RIBBON.
15. ALBERT MEDAL (SEA).
14. BADGE OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE BATH
(MILITARY AND NAVAL DIVISION).
CASSELL FETTER GALPIN &C°
LONDON PARIS 8 NEW YORK
THE SEA:
Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism.
BY
R WHYMPER,
AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN ALASKA," KTC.
ILL USTRATED.
CASSELL FETTER & GALPIN:
LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK.
[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
v, i-
"1 4 o fo-/
'I '
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEK I.
MEN-OF-WAR.
r PAGE
Our Wooden Walls— The Victory— Siege of Toulon— Battle of St. Vincent— Nelson's Bridge— Trafalgar's Glorious Day—
The Day for such Battles gone— Iron v. Wood— Lessons of the Crimean War— Moral Effect of the Presence of our
Fleets— Bombardment of Sebastopol— Red-hot Shot and Gibraltar- The Ironclad Movement— The Warrior— Expe-
riences with Ironclads— The Mcrrimac in Hampton Roads— A Speedily-decided Action— The Cumberland sunk
and Congress burned— The First Monitor— Engagement with the Merrimac— Notes on Recent Actions— The Shah
and Huascar— An Ironclad tackled by a Merchantman 1
CHAPTER II.
MEN OF PEACE.
Naval Life in Peace Times— A Grand Exploring Voyage— The Cruise of the Challenger— Its Work— Deep-sea Soundings
—Five Miles down— Apparatus employed— Ocean Treasures— A Gigantic Sea-monster—Tristan d'Acunha— A
Discovery Interesting to the Discovered— The Two Crusoes— The Inaccessible Island— Solitary Life— The Sea-
cart— Swimming Pigs -Rescued at Last— The Real Crusoe Island to Let— Down South— The Land of Desolation—
Kerguelen— The Sealers' Dreary Life— In the Antarctic— Among the Icebergs 28
CHAPTER III.
THE MEN OF THE SEA.
The Great Lexicographer on Sailors— The Dangers of the Sea— How Boys become Sailors— Young Amyas Leigh— The
Genuine Jack Tar— Training-Ships versus the old Guard-Ships—" Sea-goers and Waisters "—The Training Under-
gone—Routine on Board— Never-ending Work— Ship like a Lady's Watch— Watches and "Bells"— Old Grogram
and Grog— The Sailor's Sheet Anchor- Shadows in the Seaman's Life— The Naval Cat— Testimony and Opinion
of a Medical Officer —An Example— Boy Flogging in the Navy— Shakespeare and Herbert on Sailors and the
Sea 42
CHAPTER IV.
PERILS OF THE SAILOR'S LIFE.
The Loss of the Captain— Six Hundred Souls swept into Eternity vrithout a Warning— The Mansion and the Cottage
alike Sufferers— Causes of the Disaster— Horrors of the Scene — Noble Captain Burgoyne— Narratives qf
Survivors— An almost Incredible Feat— Loss of the Royal George— A. Great Disaster caused by a Trifle— Nine
Hundred Lost— A Child saved by a Sheep— The Portholes Upright— An Involuntary Bath of Tar— Rafts of
Corpses— The Vessel Blown up in 1839-40— The Loss of the Vanguard— Half a Million sunk in Fifty Minutes -
Admirable Discipline on Board- All Saved— The Court Martial 54
CHAPTER V.
PERILS OF THE SAILOR'S LIFE (continue^.
The Value of Discipline— The Loss of the Kent— Fire on Board— The Ship Waterlogged— Death in Two Forms-A Sail
in Sight— Transference of Six Hundred Passengers to a Small Brig— Splendid Discipline of the Soldiers— Imper-
turbable Coolness of the Captain- Loss of the Birkenhead— Literally broken in TAVO— Noble Conduct of the
Military— A Contrary Example -Wreck of the Medusa— Run on a Sand-bank— Panic on Board— Raft constructed—
Insubordination and Selfishness— One Hundred and Fifty Souls abandoned- Drunkenness and Mutiny on the
IV CONTENTS.
PAGE
Raft— Riots and Murders— Reduced to Thirty Persons— The Stronger Part massacre the Others— Fifteen Left-
Rescued at Last— Another Contrast— Wreck of the A Iceste— Admirable Conduct of the Crew— The Ironclad
Movement— The Battle of the Guns 67
CHAPTER VI.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR.
The Mediterranean— White, Blue, Green, and Purple Waters— Gibraltar— Its History— Its First Inhabitants the Monkeys
—The Moors— The Great Siege preceded by Thirteen Others— The Voyage of Sigurd to the Holy Land— The Third
Siege— Starvation— The Fourth Siege— Red-hot Balls used before ordinary Cannon-balls— The Great Plague-
Gibraltar finally in Christian Hands— A Naval Action between the Dutch and Spaniards— How England won
the Rock— An Unrewarded Hero— Spain's Attempts to regain it— The Great Siege— The Rock itself and its
Surroundings— The Straits— Ceuta, Gibraltar's Rival— The Saltness of the Mediterranean— " Going aloft"— On to
Malta 87
CHAPTER VII.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued}.
MALTA AND THE SUEZ CANAL.
Calypso's Isle— A Convict Paradise— Malta, the "Flower of the World"— The Knights of St. John— Rise of the
Order— The Crescent and the Cross— The Siege of Rhodes— L'Isle Adam in London— The Great Siege of Malta-
Horrible Episodes— Malta in French and English Hands— St. Paul's Cave— The Catacombs— Modern Inci-
dents—The Shipwreck of St. Paul— Gales in the Mediterranean— Experiences of Nelson and Collingwood—
Squalls in the Bay of San Francisco— A Man Overboard— Special Winds of the Mediterranean— The Suez Canal
and M. de Lesseps— His Diplomatic Career— Said Pacha as a Boy— As a Viceroy— The Plan settled— Financial
Troubles— Construction of the Canal— The Inauguration Fete— Suez— Passage of the Children of Israel through
the Red Sea 98
CHAPTER VIII.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued).
THE INDIA AND CHINA STATIONS.
The Red Sea and its Name— Its Ports— On to the India Station— Bombay : Island, City, Presidency— Calcutta -Ceylon,
a Paradise— The China Station— Hong Kong— Macao— Canton— Capture of Commissioner Yeh— The Sea of Soup-
Shanghai—" Jack " Ashore there— Luxuries in Market— Drawbacks : Earthquakes and Sand Showers— Chinese
Explanations of Earthquakes— The Roving Life of the Sailor— Compensating Advantages -Japan and its People—
The Englishmen of the Pacific— Yokohama— Peculiarities of the Japanese— Off to the North 117
CHAPTER IX.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued).
NORTHWARD AND SOUTHWARD-THE AUSTRALIAN STATION.
The Port of Peter and Paul— Wonderful Colouring of Kamchatka Hills- Grand Volcanoes— The Fight at Petropaulovski
—A Contrast- An International Pic-nic-A Double Wedding-Bering's Voyages-Kamchatka worthy of Further
Exploration— Plover Bay— Tchuktchi Natives— Whaling— A Terrible Gale— A Novel " Smoke-stack "—Southward
again— The Liverpool of the East— Singapore, a Paradise— New Harbour— Wharves and Shipping— Cruelties
of the Coolie Trade— Junks and Prahus-The Kling-gharry Drivers— The Durian and its Devotees— Australia-
Its Discovery-Botany Bay and the Convicts-The First Gold-Port Jackson-Beauty of Sydney-Port Philip
and Melbourne 131
CHAPTER X.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued).
THE PACIFIC STATION.
Across the Pacific— Approach to the Golden Gate— The Bay of San Francisco— The City— First Dinner Ashore— Cheap
Luxury— San Francisco by Night— The Land of Gold, Grain, and Grapes— Incidents of the Early Days— Expensive
Papers— A Lucky Sailor— Chances for English Girls— The Baby at the Play— A capital Port for Seamen— Hospitality
of Californians— Victoria, Vancouver Island— The Naval Station at Esquimau— A Delightful Place— Advice to
Intending Emigrants— British Columbian Indians— Their Fine Canoes— Experiences of the Writer— The Island on
CONTENTS. V
PAGE
Fire— The Chinook Jargon— Indian "Pigeon-English "—North to Alaska— The Purchase of Russian America by the
United States— Results— Life at Sitka— Grand Volcanoes of the Aleutian Islands— The Great Yukon River-
American Trading Posts round Bering Sea . 156
CHAPTER XI.
HOUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued}.
FROM THE HORN TO HALIFAX.
The Dreaded Horn— The Land of Fire— Basil Hall's Phenomenon— A Missing Volcano —The South American Station-
Falkland Islands— A Free Port and Naval Station— Penguins, Peat, and Kelp— Sea Trees— The West India Station —
Trinidad— Columbus's First View of it— Fatal Gold— Charles Kingsley's Enthusiasm— The Port of Spain— A Happy-
go-lucky People— Negro Life— Letters from a Cottage Orn6e— Tropical Vegetation— Animal Life— Jamaica-
Kingston Harbour— Sugar Cultivation— The Queen of the Antilles— Its Paseo— Beauty of the Archipelago— A
Dutch Settlement in the Heart of a Volcano— Among the Islands— The Souffriere— Historical Reminiscences-
Bermuda : Colony, Fortress, and Prison— Home of Ariel and Caliban— The Whitest Place in the World— Bermuda
Convicts— New York Harbour— The City— First Impressions— Its Fine Position— Splendid Harbour— Forest of
Masts— The Ferry-boats, Hotels, and Bars— Offenbach's Impressions— Broadway, Fulton Market, and Central
Park— New York in Winter— Frozen Ships— The Great Brooklyn Bridge— Halifax and its Beauties— Importance of
the Station— Bedford Basin— The Early Settlers— The Blue Noses— Adieu to America 175
CHAPTER XII.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued).
THE AFRICAN STATION.
Its Extent— Ascension— Turtle at a Discount— Sierra Leone— An Unhealthy Station— The Cape of Good Hope— Cape
Town— Visit of the Sailor Prince— Grand Festivities— Enthusiasm of the Natives— Loyal Demonstrations— An
African " Derby "—Grand Dock Inaugurated— Elephant Hunting— The Parting Ball— The Life of a Boer— Circular
Farms— The Diamond Discoveries— A £12,000 Gem— A Sailor First President of the Fields— Precarious Nature of
the Search —Natal— Inducements held out to Settlers— St. Helena and Napoleon— Discourteous Treatment of a
Fallen Foe— The Home of the Caged Lion 20*2
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SERVICE.— OFFICERS' LIFE ON BOARD.
Conditions of Life on Ship-board— A Model Ward-room— An Admiral's Cabin— Captains and Captains— The Sailor and
his Superior Officers— A Contrast— A Commander of the Old School— Jack Larmour— Lord Cochrane's Experiences
—His Chest curtailed -The Stinking Ship— The First Command— Shaving under Difficulties— The Kpeedy and her
Prizes— The Doctor— On Board a Gun-boat— Cabin and Dispensary— Cockroaches and Centipedes— Other Horrors—
The Naval Chaplain— His Duties— Stories of an Amateur— The Engineer— His Increasing Importance— Popularity
of the Navy— Nelson always a Model Commander— The Idol of his Colleagues, Officers, and Men— Taking the
Men into his Confidence— The Action between the Bcllona and Co urageux— Captain Falknor's Speech to the Crew —
An Obsolete Custom— Crossing the Line— Neptune's Visit to the Quarter-deck— The Navy of To-day— Its Back-
bone—Progressive Increase in the Size of Vessels— Naval Volunteers— A Noble Movement— Excellent Results—
The Naval Reserve . 214
CHAPTER XIV.
THE REVERSE OF THE PICTURE— MUTINY.
Bligh's Bread-fruit Expedition— Voyage of the Bounty— Otaheite— The Happy Islanders— First Appearance of a
Mutinous Spirit -The Cutter stolen and recovered— The Bounty sails with 1,000 Trees— The Mutiny— Bligh
overpowered and bound— Abandoned with Eighteen Others— Their Resources— Attacked by Natives— A Boat
Voyage of 3,618 Miles— Violent Gales— Miserable Condition of the Boat's Crew— Bread by the Ounce— Rum by
the Tea-spoonful— Noddies and Boobies— "Who shall have this?"— Off the Barrier Reef— A Haven of Rest-
Oyster and Palm-top Stews— Another Thousand Miles of Ocean— Arrival at Coupang— Hospitality of the
Residents— Ghastly Looks of the Party— Death of Five of the Number— The Pandora dispatched to catch the
Mutineers— Fourteen in Irons— Pandora's Box— The Wreck— Great Loss of Life— Sentences of the Court
Martial— The Last of the Mutineers— Pitcairn Island— A Model Settlement— Another Example : The Greatest
Mutiny of History— 10,000 Disaffected Men at One Point— Causes— Legitimate Action of the Men at, First-
Apathy of Government— Serious Organisation— The Spithead Fleet ordered to Sea— Refusal of the Crews—
VI CONTENTS.
l'A(iK
Concessions made, and the First Mutiny quelled— Second Outbreak— Lord Howe's Tact— The Great Mutiny of
the Nore— Ilichard Parker— A Vile Character but Man of Talent— Wins the Men to his Side — Officers flogged
and ducked— Gallant Duncan's Address— Accessions to the Mutineers — Parker practically Lord High Admiral
— His Extravagant Behaviour— Alarm in London— The Movement dies out by Degrees— Parker's Cause lost—
His Execution— Mutinies at Other Stations— Prompt Action of Lords St. Vincent and Macartney .... 235
CHAPTER XV.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS.
The First Attempts to Float— Hollowed Logs and Rafts— The Ark and its Dimensions— Skin Floats and Basket-
boats— Maritime Commerce of Antiquity— Phoenician Enterprise— Did they round the Cape?— The Ships of
Tyre— Carthage— Hanno's Voyage to the West Coast of Africa— Egyptian Galleys— The Great Ships of the
Ptolemies— Hiero's Floating Palace— The Romans— Their Repugnance to Seafaring Pursuits— Sea Battles with
the Carthaginians— Cicero's Opinions on Commerce— Constantinople and its Commerce— Venice— Britain— The
First Invasion under Julius Cresar— Benefits accruing— The Danish Pirates— The London of the Period— The
Father of the British Navy— Alfred and his Victories— Canute's Fleet— The Norman Invasion— The Crusades-
Richard Cceur de Lion's Fleet— The Cinque Ports and their Privileges— Foundation of a Maritime Code-
Letters of Marque— Opening of the Coal Trade— Chaucer's Description of the Sailors of his Time— A Glorious
Period— The Victories at Harfleur— Henry V.'s Fleet of 1,500 Vessels— The Channel Marauders— The King-
Maker Pirate— Sir Andrew Wood's Victory— Action with Scotch Pirates— The Great Michael and the Great
Harry— Queen Elizabeth's Astuteness— The Nation never so well provided—" The Most Fortunate and Invincible
Armada"— Its Size and Strength— Elizabeth's Appeal to the Country— A Noble Response— Efflngham's Appoint-
ment—The Armada's First Disaster— Refitted, and resails from Corunna— Chased in the Rear— A Series of
Contretemps— English Volunteer Ships in Numbers— The Fire-ships at Calais— The Final Action— Flight of the
Armada— Fate of Shipwrecked Spanish in Ireland— Total Loss to Spain— Rejoicings and Thanksgivings in
England 258
CHAPTER XVI.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued).
Noble Adventurers— The Earl of Cumberland as a Pirate— Rich Prizes— Action with the Madre de Dios— Capture of the
Great Carrack— A Cargo worth £150,000— Burning of the Cinco Chagas—BvA Fifteen saved out of Eleven Hundred
Souls— The Scourge of M a lice— Establishment of the Slave Trade— Sir John Hawkins' Ventures— High-handed
Proceedings— The Spaniards forced to purchase— A Fleet of Slavers— Hawkins sanctioned by " Good Queen Bess"
—Joins in a Negro War— A Disastrous Voyage— Sir Francis Drake— His First Loss— The Treasure at Nombre de
Dios— Drake's First Sight of the Pacific— Tons of Silver captured— John Oxenham's Voyage— The First English-
man on the Pacific -His Disasters and Death— Drake's Voyage Round the World— Blood-letting at the Equator-
Arrival at Port Julian— Trouble with the Natives— Execution of a Mutineer— Passage of the Straits of Magellan-
Vessels separated in a Gale— Loss of the Marigold -Tragic Fate of Eight Men— Drake driven to Cape Horn-
Proceedings at Valparaiso— Prizes taken— Capture of the Great Treasure Ship— Drake's Resolve to change his
Course Home— Vessel refitted at Nicaragua— Stay in the Bay of San Francisco— The Natives worship the English
—Grand Reception at Ternate -Drake's Ship nearly wrecked— Return to England— Honours accorded Drake —
His Character and Influence— Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Disasters and Death— Raleigh's Virginia Settlements . . 291
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Examining a " Haul " on Board the Chal-
lenger ... ... ... ... Frontispiece.
The Victory at Portsmouth... ... ... ... 5
Bocks near Cape St. Vincent ... ... ... 9
The Victory at Close Quarters with the Redoubtable 12
The Siege of Gibraltar 17
The Original Merrimac ... ... ... ... 21
Engagement between the Merrimac and Monitor. . . 25
Objects of Interest brought Home by the Chal-
lenger ... ... ... ... ... ... 32
The Ch a lie nger in Antarctic Ice ... ... ... 33
The " Accumulator " ... ... ... ... 35
The Challenger at Juan Fernandez. . . ... ... 36
The Naturalist's Eoom on Board the Challenger... 37
Dredging Implements used by the Challenger ... 38
The Chichester Training-ship ... ... ... 45
Instruction on Board a Man-of-war ... ... 49
The Captain in the Bay of Biscay... ... ... 56
The Wreck of the Royal George 61
The Loss of the Vanguard ... ... To face pay? 63
The Loss of the Kent 64
The Vanguard as she appeared at Low Water ... 65
Falmouth Harbour ... ... ... ... ... 72
The Loss of the Birkenhead ... ... ... 73
The Eaft of the Medusa 76
On the Eaft of the Medusa — a Sail in sight ... 81
Section of a First-class Man-of-war 84
The Warrior 85
The Eock of Gibraltar from the Mainland
To face page 87
Gibraltar : the Neutral Ground 89
Moorish Tower at Gibraltar 93
Malta ... ... ... ... ... 96
The Defence of Malta by the Knights of St. John
against the Turks in 1565 100
Catacombs at Citta Vecchia, Malta 101
M. Lesseps ... ... ... ... ... ... 105
Bird's-eye View of Suez Canal 109
Map of the Suez Canal Ill
Opening of the Suez Canal (Procession of Ships)
To face page 113
PAGE
The Suez Canal: Dredges at Work 113
Catching Pelicans on Lake Men zaleh ... ... 116
Jiddah, from the Sea ... ... ... ... 117
Cyclone at Calcutta ... .... ... ... ... 120
Macao... ... ... ... ... ... ... 124
Vessels in the Port of Shanghai ... ... ... 125
Yokohama 128
The Fusiyama Mountain ... ... ... ... 129
A Tea Mart in Japan ... ... ... ... 133
Petropaulovski and the Avatcha Mountain ... 137
Whalers at Work 140
Our " Patent Smoke-stack " ... - ... ... 141
View in the Straits of Malacca ... ... ... 145
Junks in a Chinese Harbour ... ... ... 148
Island in the Straits of Malacca ... To face page 149
Chinese Junk at Singapore ... ... ... 149
Singapore, looking Seawards ... ... ... 152
Looking down on Singapore ... ... ... 1 53
A Timber Wharf at San Francisco ... ... 156
The Bay of San Francisco 160
The British Camp : San Juan ... ... ... 165
The Port of Valparaiso 173
Cape Horn 176
The Landing of Columbus at Trinidad ... ... 177
View in Jamaica ... ... ... ... ... 180
Kingston Harbour, Jamaica ... ... ... 181
Havana ... ... ... ... ... ... 184
The Centaur at the Diamond Eock, Martinique
To face page 187
Bermuda, from Gibbs Hills ... ... ... 188
The North Eock, Bermuda 189
The Bermuda Floating Dock 192
Voyage of the Bermuda ... ... ... ... 193
Map of New York Harbour ... ... ... 195
Brooklyn Bridge 196
Ferry Boat, New York Harbour 197
The Island of Ascension ... ... ... ... 200
Tristan D'Acunha 201
Sierra Leone ... ... ... ... ... ... 204
Cape Town 205
The Galatea passing Knysna Heads ... ... 209
Vlll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
St. Helena 213
On Deck a Man-of-war, Eighteenth Century
To face page 214
Between Decks of a Man-of-war, Eighteenth
Century 217
Naval Officers and Seamen, Eighteenth Century . . . 221
Engine Boom of H.M.S. Warrior 225
Fight between the Courageux and the Bellona ... 229
The Great Harry and Great Eastern in contrast... 233
The Crew of H.M.S. Bounty landing at Otaheite... 236
The Mutineers seizing Captain Bligh ... ... 237
Bligh cast adrift 240
Map of the Islands of the Pacific ... . . .• ... 245
H.M.S. Briton at Pitcairn Island 248
The Mutiny at Portsmouth ... To face page 251
Admiral Duncan addressing his Crew ... ... 253
Lord St. Vincent 257
Fleet of Eoman Galleys 261
Approach of the Danish Fleet 265
PAGE
Ships of William the Conqueror ... ... ... 268
Crusaders and Saracens ... ... ... ... 269
Duel between French and English Ships ... ... 272
Beverse of the Seal of Sandwich . . ... ... 274
Sir Andrew Wood's Victory ... ... ... 277
Old Deptford Dockyard 280
The Defeat of Sir A. Barton ... To face page 280
The First Shot against the Armada ... ... 285
The Fire-ships attacking the Armada ... ... 288
Drake's First View of the Pacific ... To face page 289
Queen Elizabeth on her way to St. Paul's 289
The Earl of Cumberland and the Madre de Dios... 293
On the Coast of Cornwall 297
Sir John Hawkins 300
Hawkins at St. Juan de Ulloa ... ... ... 301
Oxenham embarking on the Pacific ... ... 304
Sir F. Drake 309
Drake's Arrival at Ternate... ... ... ... 312
The Death of Sir Humphrey Gilbert 317
THE SEA.
can hardly gaze upon the great ocean
without feelings akin to awe and reverence.
^"Whether viewed from some promontory where
' the eye seeks in vain another resting-place,
or when sailing over the deep, one looks around
on the unbounded expanse of waters, the sea
must always give rise to ideas of infinite space
and indefinable mystery hardly paralleled by anything
of the earth itself. Beneficent in its calmer aspect, when
'^ the silvery moon lights up the ripples and the good ship
scuds along before a favouring breeze ; terrible in its might,
~ when its merciless breakers dash upon some rock-girt coast,
carryirg the gallant bark to destruction, or when, rising
mountains high, the spars quiver and snap before the
tempest's power, it is always grand, sublime, irresistible.
The great highway of commerce and source of boundlec/s
supplies, it is, notwithstanding its terrors, infinitely more
man's friend than his enemy. In how great a variety of
aspects may it not be viewed !
The poets have seen in it a "type of the Infinite,"
2 THE SEA.
and one of the greatest* has taken us back to those early days of earth's history when
God said—
" ' Let there be firmament
Amid the waters, and let it divide
The waters from the waters.' . . .
So He the world
Built on circumfluous waters calm, in wide
Crystalline ocean."
" Water/' said the great Greek lyric poet,f " is the chief of all." The ocean covers
nearly three-fourths of the surface of our globe. Earth is its mere offspring. The continents
and islands have been and still are being elaborated from its depths. All in all, it has not,
however, been treated fairly at the hands of the poets, too many of whom could only see it in
its sterner lights. Young speaks of it as merely a
" Dreadful and tumultuous home
Of dangers, at eternal war with man,
"Wide opening and loud roaring still for more,"
ignoring the blessings and benefits it has bestowed so freely, forgetting that man is daily
becoming more and more its master, and that his own country in particular has most success-
fully conquered the seemingly unconquerable. Byron, again, says : —
" Roll on, thou dark and deep blue ocean — roll !
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin — his control
Stops with the shore ; upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deeds."
And though this is but the exaggerated and not strictly accurate language of poetry,
we may, with Pollok, fairly address the great sea as " strongest of creation's sons." The
first impressions produced on most animals — not excluding altogether man — by the aspect
of the ocean, are of terror in greater or lesser degree. Livingstone tells us that he had
intended to bring to England from Africa a. friendly native, a man courageous as the lion he
had often braved. He had never voyaged upon nor even beheld the sea, and on board the
ship which would have safely borne him to a friendly shore he became delirious and
insane. Though assured of safety and carefully watched, he escaped one day, and blindly
threw himself headlong into the waves. The sea terrified him, and yet held and drew
him, fascinated as under a spell. "Even at ebb-tide," says Michelet,^ "when, placid and weary,
the wave crawls softly on the sand, the horse does not recover his courage. He trembles, and
frequently refuses to pass the languishing ripple. The dog barks and recoils, and, according to
his manner, insults the billows which he fears. . . . We are told by a traveller that the
dogs of Kamtschatka, though accustomed to the spectacle, are not the less terrified and irritated
by it. In numerous troops, they howl through the protracted night against the howling waves,
and endeavour to outvie in fury the Ocean of the North."
* Milton. t Pindar.
J " La Mer." There is much truth in Michelet's charming work, but often, as above, presented in 331 exaggerated
form. Animals, in reality, soon become accustomed to the sea. They show generally, howerer, a considerable amount
of indisposition to go on board a vessel.
ITS HISTORY. 3
The civilised man's fear is founded, it must be admitted, on a reasonable knowledge of the
ocean, so much his friend and yet so often his foe. Man is not independent of his fellow-man
in distant countries, nor is it desirable that he should be. No land produces all the necessaries,
and the luxuries which have begun to be considered necessaries, sufficient for itself. Transpor-
tation by land is often impracticable, or too costly, and the ocean thus becomes the great
highway of nations. Vessel after vessel, fleet after fleet, arrive safely and speedily. But as
there is danger for man lurking everywhere on land, so also is there on the sea. The world's
wreck-chart for one year must, as we shall see hereafter, be something appalling. That for the
British Empire alone in one year has often exceeded 1,000 vessels, great and small ! Averaging
three years, we find that there was an annual loss during that period of 1,095 vessels and 1,952
lives. * Nor are the ravages of ocean confined to the engulf ment of vessels, from rotten
" coffin-ships " to splendid ironclads. The coasts often bear witness of her fury.
The history of the sea virtually comprises the history of adventure, conquest, and
commerce, in all times, and might almost be said to be that of the world itself. We
cannot think of it without remembering the great voyagers and sea-captains, the brave
naval commanders, the pirates, rovers, and buccaneers of bygone days. Great sea-fights
and notable shipwrecks recur to our memory — the progress of naval supremacy, and the
means by which millions of people and countless millions of wealth have been transferred
from one part of the earth to another. We cannot help thinking, too, of "Poor Jack"
and life before the mast, whether on the finest vessel of the Royal Navy, or in the worst
form of trading ship. We recall the famous ships themselves, and their careers. We remember,
too, the "toilers of the sea" — the fishermen, whalers, pearl-divers, and coral-gatherers;
the noble men of the lighthouse, lifeboat, and coastguard services. The horrors of the sea
— its storms, Imrricanes, whirlpools, waterspouts, impetuous and treacherous currents — rise
vividly before our mental vision. Then there are the inhabitants of the sea to be considered
— from the tiniest germ of life to the great leviathan, or even the doubtful sea-serpent.
And even the lowest depths of ocean, with their mountains, valleys, plains, and luxurious
marine vegetation, are full of interest; while at the same time we irresistibly think of the
submerged treasure-ships of days gone by, and the submarine cables of to-day. Such
are among the subjects we propose to lay before our readers. THE SEA, as one great topic,
must comprise descriptions of life on, around, and in the ocean — the perils, mysteries, pheno-
mena, and poetry of the great deep. The subject is too vast for superfluous detail : it would
require as many volumes as a grand encyclopaedia to do it justice; whilst a formal and
chronological history Would weary the reader. At all events, the present writer purposes
to occasionally gossip and digress, and to arrange facts in groups, not always following
the strict sequence of events. The voyage of to-day may recall that of long ago : the
discovery made long ago may be traced, by successive leaps, as it were, to its results in
the present epoch. We can hardly be wrong in believing that this grand subject has an
especial interest for the English reader everywhere ; for the spirit of enterprise, enthusiasm,
and.( daring which has carried our flag to the uttermost parts of the earth, and has made
the proud words "Britannia rules the waves" no idle vaunt, is shared by a very large
* "W. S. Lindsay, " History of Merchant Shipping," &o.
4 THE SEA.
proportion of her sons and daughters, at home and abroad. Britain's part in the exploration
and settlement of the whole world has been so pre-eminent that there can be no wonder
if, among the English-speaking races everywhere, a peculiar fascination attaches to the
sea and all concerning it. Countless thousands of books have been devoted to the land,
not a tithe of the number to the ocean. Yet the subject is one of almost boundless interest,
and has a special importance at the present time, when so much intelligent attention and
humane effort is being put forth to ameliorate the condition of our seafarers.
CHAPTER I.
MEN-OF-WAR.
Our Wooden Walls— The Victory-Siege of Toulon— Battle of St. Vincent— Nelson's Bridge -Trafalgar's glorious Day—
The Day for such Battles gone— Iron v. Wood— Lessons of the Crimean War— Moral Effect of the Presence of our
Fleets— Bombardment of Sebastopol— Red-hot Shot and Gibraltar— The Ironclad Movement— The Warrior— Expe-
riences with Ironclads— The Merrimac in Hampton Roads— A speedily decided Action— The Cumberland sunk and
Congress burned— The first Monitor— Engagement with the Merrimac— Notes on recent Actions— The Shah and
Huascar—An Ironclad tackled by a Merchantman.
the reader should at any time find himself a visitor to the first
naval port of Great Britain — which he need not be told is Ports-
mouth— he will find, lying placidly in the noble harbour, which is
large enough to accommodate a whole fleet, a vessel of modern-
antique appearance, and evidently very carefully preserved. Should
he happen to be there on October 21st, he would find the ship gaily
decorated with wreaths of evergreen and flags, her appearance
attracting to her side an unusual number of visitors in small boats
from the shore. Nor will he be surprised at this when he learns
that it is none other than the famous Victory, that carried
Nelson's flag on the sad but glorious day of Trafalgar, and went
bravely through so many a storm of war and weather. Very little
of the oft-shattered hulk of the original vessel remains, it is true — she has
been so often renewed and patched and painted; yet the lines and form
of the old three-decker remain to show us what the flag-ship of Hood, and
Jervis, and Nelson was in general appearance. She towers grandly out of
the water, making the few sailors and loiterers on deck look like marionettes-
mere miniature men ; and as our wherry approaches the entrance-port, we
admire the really graceful lines of the planks, diminishing in perspective. The
triple battery of formidable guns, peeping from under the stout old ports which
overshadowed them, the enormous cables and spare anchors, and the immensely thick
masts, heavy shrouds and rigging, which she had in old times, must have given an
Impression of solidity in this good old "heart of oak" which is wanting even in
THE "VICTORY." 5
the strongest-built iron vessel. Many a brave tar has lost his life on her, but yet
she is no coffin-ship. On board, one notes the scrupulous order, the absolute perfection
of cleanliness and trimness; the large guns and carriages alternating with the mess-
tables of the crew. And we should not think much of the man who could stand
emotionless and unmoved over the spots — still pointed out on the upper deck and cockpit
below — where Nelson fell and Nelson died, on that memorable 21st, off Trafalgar Bay.
THE "VICTORY" AT PORTSMOUTH.
He had embarked, only five weeks before, from the present resting-place of his brave
old ship, when enthusiastic crowds had pressed forward to bless and take one last
look at England's preserver. " I had their hurrahs before," said the poor shattered
hero; "now I have their hearts!" And when, three months later, his body was brought
home, the sailors divided the leaden coffin into fragments, as relics of "Saint Nelson,"
as his gunner had termed him.
The Victory was one of the largest ships of war of her day and generation. She was
rated for 100 guns, but really carried 102, and was classed first-rate with such ships as the
Royal Sovereign and Britannia, both of 100, carrying only two in excess of the "brave old
T&ntraire " — made still more famous by Turner's great picture — and the Dreadnought, which
6 THE SEA.
but a few years back was such a familiar feature of the reach of the Thames in front of
Greenwich. She was of 2,164 tons burden, and, having been launched in 1765, is now a
good 112 years of age. Her complement was 841 men. From the first she deserved her
name, and seemed destined to be associated with little else than success and triumph. Nelson
frequently complains in his journals of the unseaworthiness of many of his vessels ; but this,
his last flag-ship, was a veritable " heart of oak," and endured all the tests that the warfare of
the elements or of man could bring against her.
The good ship of which we have spoken more particularly is now enjoying a well-earned
repose, after passing nearly unscathed through the very thick of battles inscribed on the most
brilliant page of our national history. Her part was in reality a very prominent one ; and a
glance at a few of the engagements at which she was present may serve to show us what she
and other ships like her were made of, and what they were able to effect in naval warfare.
The Victory had been built nearly thirty years when, in 1793, she first came prominently
to the front, at the occupation and subsequent siege of Toulon, as the flag-ship of Lord
Hood, then in command of a large fleet destined for the Mediterranean.
France was at that moment in a very revolutionary condition, but in Toulon there
was a strong feeling of loyalty for the Bourbons and monarchical institutions. In the
harbour a large French fleet was assembled — some seventeen vessels of the line, besides
many other smaller craft — while several large ships of war were refitting and building;
the whole under the command of the Comte de Trogoff, an ardent Royalist. On the
appearance of the British fleet in the offing, two commissioners came out to the flag-ship,
the Victor//, to treat for the conditional surrender of the port and shipping. The Govern-
ment had not miscalculated the disaffection existing, and the negotiations being completely
successful, 1,700 of our soldiers, sailors, and marines were landed, and shortly afterwards,
when a Spanish fleet appeared, an English governor and a Spanish commandant were
appointed, while Louis XVII. was proclaimed king. But it is needless to say that the
French Republic strongly objected to all this, and soon assembled a force numbering
45,000 men for the recapture of Toulon. The English and their Royalist allies numbered
under 13,000, and it became evident that the city must be evacuated, although not until
it should be half destroyed. The important service of destroying the ships and maga-
zines had been mainly entrusted to Captain Sir Sidney Smith, who performed his
difficult task with wonderful precision and order, and without the loss of one man. Shots
and shells were plunged into the very arsenal, and trains were laid up to the magazines
and storehouses; a fire-ship was towed into the basin, and in a few hours gave out
flames and shot, accompanied by terrible explosions. The Spanish admiral had undertaken
the destruction of the shipping in the basin, and to scuttle two powder-vessels, but his
men, in their flurry, managed to ignite one of them in place of sinking it, and the explo-
sion which occurred can be better imagined than described. The explosion shook the Union
gunboat to pieces, killing the commander and three of the crew; and a second boat was blown
into the air, but her crew were miraculously saved. Having completed the destruction of the
arsenal, Sir Sidney proceeded towards the basin in front of the town, across which a boom had
been laid, where he and his men were received with such volleys of musketry that they
turned their attention in another direction. In the inner road were lying two large 74 -gun
THE SIEGE OF TOULON. 7
ships — the Heros and Themistocle — filled with French prisoners. Although the latter were
greatly superior to the attacking force, they were so terrified that they agreed to be removed
and landed in a place of safety, after which the ships were destroyed by fire. Having done all
that man could do, they were preparing to return, when the second powder- vessel, which should
only have been scuttled by the Spaniards, exploded. Wonderful to relate, although the little
Swallow, Sir Sidney's tender, and three boats were in the midst of the falling timbers, and
nearly swamped by the waves produced, they escaped in safety. Nowadays torpedoes would
settle the business of blowing up vessels of the kind in a much safer and surer manner. The
evacuation was effected without loss, nearly 15,000 Toulonese refugees — men, women, and
children — being taken on board for removal to England. Fifteen French ships of war were
taken off as prizes, while the magazines, storehouses, and shipping were destroyed by fire. The
total number of vessels taken or burned by the British was eighteen of the line, nine frigates,
and eleven corvettes, and would have been much greater but for the blundering or treachery
of the Spaniards, and the pusillanimous flight of the Neapolitans. Thus the Victory was
the silent witness of an almost bloodless success, so far as our forces were concerned, in
spite of the noise and smoke and flame by which it was accompanied. A little later,
she was engaged in £he siege of Bastia, Corsica, which was taken by a naval force num-
bering about one-fourth of their opponents ; and again at Calvi, where Nelson lost an eye
and helped to gain the day. In the spring of 1795 she was again in the Mediter-
ranean, and for once was engaged in what has been described as a "miserable action,"
although the action, or want thereof, was all on the part of a vice-admiral who, as
Nelson said, " took things too coolly." Twenty-three British line-of-battle ships, whilst
engaging, off the Hyeres Isles, only seventeen French, with the certainty of triumphant
results, if not, indeed, of the complete annihilation of the enemy, were signalled by
Admiral Hotham to discontinue the fight. The disgust of the commanders in general
and Nelson in particular can well be understood. The only prize taken, the Alcide, blew
up, with the loss of half her crew, as if in very disgust at having surrendered, and we
can well believe that even the inanimate timbers of the Victory and her consorts groaned
as they were drawn off from the scene of action. The fight off the Hyeres must be in-
scribed in black, but happily the next to be recorded might well be written with letters
of gold in the annals of our country, although its glory was soon afterwards partially
eclipsed by others still greater.
When Sir John Jervis hoisted his flag on board the Victory it marked an epoch not
merely in our career of conquest, but also in the history of the navy as a navy. Jervis, though
then over sixty years of age, was hale and hearty, and if sometimes stern and severe as a
disciplinarian, should long be remembered as one who honestly and constantly strove to raise
the character of the service to its highest condition of efficiency, and he was brave as a lion.
As the Spanish fleet loomed through the morning fog, off Cape St. Vincent, it was found
that Cordova's force consisted of twenty -nine large men-of-war, exclusive of a dozen 34-gun
frigates, seventy transports, and other vessels. Jervis was walking the quarter-deck as the
successive reports were brought to him. "There are eighteen sail of the line, Sir John."
"Very well, sir." "There are twenty sail, Sir John." "Very well, sir." "There are
twenty-seven sail of the line, Sir John ; nearly double our own." " Enough, sir, no more of
g THE SEA.
that, sir; if there are fifty Fll go through them/' "That's right, Sir John/' said Halliwell,
his flag-captain, "and a jolly good licking we'll give them."
The grand fleet of Spain included six ships of 112 guns each, and the flag-ship Santissima
Trinidada, a four-decker, carrying 130. There were, besides, twenty-two vessels of eighty and
seventy-four guns. To this large force Jervis could only oppose fifteen vessels of the line,
only two of which carried 100 guns, three of ninety-eight guns, one of ninety, and the
remainder, with one exception, seventy-four each. Owing to gross mismanagement on the
part of the Spaniards, their vessels were scattered about in all directions, and six * of them were
separated wholly from the main body, neither could they rejoin it. The English vessels
advanced in two lines, compactly and steadily, and as they neared the Spaniards, were signalled
from the Victory to tack in succession. Nelson, on the Captain, was in the rear of the line,
and he perceived that the Spaniards were bearing up before the wind, either with the intention
of trying to join their separated ships, or perhaps to avoid an engagement altogether. By
disobeying the admiral's signal, he managed to run clear athwart the bows of the Spanish
ships, and was soon engaged with the great Santissima Trinidada, four other of the larger
vessels, and two smaller ones. Trowbridge, in the Culloden, immediately came to the support,
and for nearly an hour the unequal contest continued, till the Blenheim passed between them
and the enemy, and gave them a little respite, pouring in her fire upon the Spaniards. One of
the Spanish seventy-fours struck, and Nelson thought that the Salvador, of 112 guns, struck
also. " Collingwood," wrote Nelson, " disdaining the parade of taking possession of beaten
enemies, most gallantly pushed up, with every sail set, to save his old friend and messmate, who
was, to appearance, in a critical situation," for the Captain was being peppered by five vessels
of the enemy's fleet, and shortly afterwards was rendered absolutely incapable — not a sail,
shroud, or rope left, with a topmast and the steering-wheel shot away. As Dr. Bennett
sings f —
"Ringed round by five three-deckers, she had fought through all the fight,
And now, a log upon the waves, she lay — a glorious sight —
All crippled, but still full of fight, for still her broadsides roared,
Still death and wounds, fear and defeat, into the Don she poured."
Two of Nelson's antagonists were now nearly hors de combat, one of them, the San Nicolas,
in trying to escape from Collingwood's fire, having got foul of the San Josef. Nelson
resolved in an instant to board and capture both — an unparalleled feat, which, however,
was accomplished, although
" To get at the San Josef, it seemed beyond a hope ;
Out then our admiral spoke, and well his words our blood could stir —
' In, boarders, to their seventy-four ! We'll make a bridge of her.' "
The " bridge " was soon taken ; but a steady fire of musketry was poured upon them from
the San Josef. Nelson directed his people to fire into the stern, and sending for more
boarders, led the way up the main-chains, exclaiming, " Westminster Abbey or victory ! J
In a few moments the officers and crew surrendered ; and on the quarter-deck of a Spanish
first-rate he received the swords of the vanquished, which he handed to William Fearney,
* Southey, in hia " Life of Nelson," says nine. t " Songs for Sailors."
ST. VINCENT.
9
one of his bargemen, who tucked them, with the greatest sang-froid) in a perfect sheaf
under his arm. The Victory came up at the moment, and saluted the conquerors with
hearty cheers.
It will be hardly necessary here to point out the altered circumstances of naval
warfare at the present day. A wooden vessel of the old type, with large and numerous
portholes, and affording other opportunities for entering or climbing the sides, is a
ROCKS NEAR CAPE ST. VINCENT.
very different affair to the modern smooth-walled iron vessel, on which a fly would
hardly get a foothold, with few openings or weak points, and where the grappling-iron
would be useless. Apart from this, with heavy guns carrying with great accuracy, and
the facilities afforded by steam, we shall seldom hear, in the future, of a fight at close
quarters; skilful manoeuvring, impossible with a sailing vessel, will doubtless be more
in vogue.
Meantime, the Victory had not been idle. In conjunction with two of the fleet, she
had succeeded in silencing the Salvador del Mnndi, a first-rate of 112 guns. When,
after the fight, Nelson went on board the Victory, Sir John Jervis took him to his arms,
and insisted that he should keep the sword taken from the Spanish rear-admiral. When
it was hinted, during some private conversation, that Nelson's move was unauthorised,
10 THE SEA.
Jervis had to admit the fact, but promised to forgive any such breach of orders, accompanied
with the same measure of success.
The battle had now lasted from noon, and at five p.m. four Spanish line-of -battle vessels
had lowered their colours. Even the great Santissima Trinidada might then have become a
prize but for the return of the vessels which had been cut off from the fleet in the morning,
and which alone saved her. Her colours had been shot away, and she had hoisted English
colours in token of submission, when the other ships came up, and Cordova reconsidered
his step. Jervis did not think that his fleet was quite equal to a fresh conflict ; and the
Spaniards showed no desire to renew the fight. They had lost on the four prizes, alone,
261 killed, and 342 wounded, and in all, probably, nearly double the above. The British
loss was seventy- three killed, and 227 wounded.
Of Trafalgar and of Nelson, both day and man so intimately associated with our
good ship, what can yet be said or sung that has gone unsaid, unsung? — how when he
left Portsmouth the crowds pressed forward to obtain one last look at their hero — England's
greatest hero — and "knelt down before him, and blessed him as he passed;"* that beautiful
prayer, indited in his cabin, " May the great God whom I worship grant to my country,
and for the benefit of Europe in general, a great and glorious victory, and may no
misconduct in any one tarnish it, and may humanity after victory be the predominant
feature of the British fleet," or the now historical signal which flew from the mizen top-
gallant mast of that noble old ship, and which has become one of the grand mottoes of
our tongue, are facts as familiar to every reader as household words.
The part directly played by the Victory herself in the battle of Trafalgar was second
to none. From the very first she received a raking " fire from all sides, which must have
been indeed severe, when we find the words extorted from Nelson, " This is too warm
work to last long," addressed to Captain Hardy. At that moment fifty of his men were
lying dead or wounded, while the Victory's mizen-mast and wheel were shot away, and her sails
hanging in ribbons. To the terrible cannonading of the enemy, Nelson had not yet
returned a shot. He had determined to be in the very thick of the fight, and was
reserving his fire. Now it was that Captain Hardy represented to Nelson the imprac-
ticability of passing through the enemy's line without running on board one of their
ships ; he was coolly told to take his choice. The Victory was accordingly turned on
board the Redoubtable, the commander of which, Captain Lucas, in a resolute endeavour to
block the passage, himself ran his bowsprit into the figurehead of the Bucentaure, and
the two vessels became locked together. Not many minutes later, Captain Harvey, of
the Temeraire, seeing the position of the Victory with her two assailants, fell on board
the Redoubtable, on the other side, so that these four ships formed as compact a tier as
though moored together. The Victory fired her middle and lower deck guns into the
Redoubtable, which returned the fire from her main-deck, employing also musketry and
brass pieces of larger size with most destructive effects from the tops.
" Redoubtable they called her — a curse upon her name !
'Twas from her tops the bullet that killed our hero came
* Southey's " Life of Nelson."
TRAFALGAR. 11
Within a few minutes of Lord Nelson's fall, several officers and about forty men
were either killed or wounded from this source. But a few minutes afterwards the
Redoubtable fell on board the Temeraire, the French ship's bowsprit passing over the
British ship. Now came one of the warmest episodes of the fight. The crew of the
Tem&raire lashed their vessel to their assailants' ship, and poured in a raking fire. But
the French captain, having discovered that — owing, perhaps, to the sympathy exhibited
for the dying hero on board the Victory, and her excessive losses in men — her
quarter-deck was quite deserted, now ordered an attempt at boarding the latter. This
cost our flag-ship the lives of Captain Adair and eighteen men, but at the same moment
the Temeraire opened fire on the Redoubtable with such effect that Captain Lucas and
200 men were themselves placed hors de combat.
In the contest we have been relating, the coolness of the Victory's men was signally
evinced. " When the guns on the lower deck were run out, their muzzles came in
contact with the sides of the Redoubtable, and now was seen an astounding spectacle.
Knowing that there was danger of the French ship taking fire, the fireman of each
gun on board the British ship stood ready with a bucketful of water to dash into
the hole made by the shot of his gun — thus beautifully illustrating Nelson's prayer,
'that the British might be distinguished by humanity in victory.' Less considerate
than her antagonise, the Redoubtable threw hand-grenades from her tops, which, falling
on board herself, set fire to her, . . . and the flame communicated with the fore-
sail of the Temeraire^ and caught some ropes and canvas on the booms of the Victory,
risking the destruction of all ; but by immense exertions the fire was subdued in the
British ships, whose crews lent their assistance to extinguish the flames on board the
Redoubtable, by throwing buckets of water upon her chains and forecastle." *
Setting aside, for the purpose of clearness, the episode of the taking of the Fougueux,
which got foul of the Temeraire and speedily surrendered, we find, five minutes later,
the main and mizen masts of the Redoubtable falling — the former in such a way across
the Temeraire that it formed a bridge, over which the boarding-party passed and took
quiet possession. Captain Lucas had so stoutly defended his flag, that, out of a crew of
643, only 123 were in a condition to continue the fight; 522 were lying killed or
wounded. The Bucetitaure soon met her fate, after being defended with nearly equal
bravery. The French admiral, Villeneuve, who was on board, said bitterly, just before
surrendering, " Le Bucentaure a rempli sci, tdcJie ; la mienne nest pas encore achevee."
Let the reader remember that the above are but a few episodes of the most complete
and glorious victory ever obtained in naval warfare. Without the loss of one single
vessel to the conqueror, more than half the ships of the enemy were captured or
destroyed, while the remainder escaped into harbour to rot in utter uselessness. Twenty-
one vessels were lost for ever to France and Spain. It is to be hoped and believed that
no such contest will ever again be needed ; but should it be needed, it will have to be
fought by very different means. The instance of four great ships locked together,
dealing death and destruction to each other, has never been paralleled. Imagine that
* "Annals of the Wars of the Nineteenth Century," by the Hon. Sir Edward Cust, D.C.L., &c.
IRONSIDES AND WOODEN WALLS. 13
seething, fighting, dying mass of humanity, with all the horrible concomitants of
deafening noise and blinding smoke and flashing fire ! It is not likely ever to occur in
modern warfare. The commanders of steam-vessels of all classes will be more likely to
fight at out-manoeuvring and shelling each other than to come to close quarters, which
would generally mean blowing up together. It would interesting to consider how
Nelson would have acted with, and opposed to, steam-frigates and ironclads. He
would, no doubt, have been as courageous and far-seeing and rapid in action as ever,
but hardly as reckless, or even daring.
" And still, though seventy years, boys,
Have gone, who, without pride,
Names his name — tells his fame
Who at Trafalgar died?"
May we always have a Nelson in the hour of national need !
The day for such battles as this is over ; there may be others as gloriously fought, but
never again by the same means. Ships, armaments, and modes of attack and defence
are, and will be, increasingly different. Those who have read Nelson's private letters and
journals will remember how he gloried in the appreciation of his subordinate officers just
before Trafalgar's happy and yet fatal day, when he had explained to them his intention to
attack the enemy with what was practically a wedge-formed fleet. He was determined to
break their line, and, Nelson-like, he did. But that which he facetiously christened the.
" Nelson touch " would itself nowadays be broken up in a few minutes and thrown into utter
confusion by any powerfully-armed vessel hovering about under steam. Or if the wedge of
wooden vessels were allowed to form, as they approached the apex, a couple of ironclads
would take them in hand coolly, one by one, and send them to the bottom, while their guns
might as well shoot peas at the ironclads as the shot of former days.
Taking the Victory as a fair type of the best war-ships of her day (a day when there was
not that painful uncertainty with regard to naval construction and armament existing now, in
spite of our vaunted progress), we still know that in the presence of a powerful steam-frigate
with heavy guns, or an 11,000-ton ironclad, she would be literally nowhere. She was one of the
last specimens, and a very perfect specimen, too, of the wooden age. This is the age of iron
and steam. One of the largest vessels of her day, she is now excelled by hundreds employed in
ordinary commerce. The Royal Navy to-day possesses frigates nearly three times her ton-
nage, while we have ironclads of five times the same. The monster Great Eastern, which
has proved a monstrous mistake, is 22,500 tons.
But size is by no means the only consideration in constructing vessels of war, and,
indeed, there are good reasons to believe that, in the end, vessels of moderate dimensions will
be preferred for most purposes of actual warfare. Of the advantages of steam-power there
can, of course, be only one opinion ; but as regards iron versus oak, there are many points
which may be urged in favour of either, with a preponderance in favour of the former. A
strong iron ship, strange as it may appear, is not more than half the weight of a wooden
vessel of the same size and class. It will, to the unthinking, seem absurd to say that an
iron ship is more buoyant than one of oak, but the fact is that the proportion of actual
weight in iron and wooden vessels of ordinary construction is about six to twenty. The iron
14 THE SEA.
ship, therefore, stands high out of the water, and to sink it to the same line will require a
greater weight on board. From this fact, and the actual thinness of its walls, its carrying
capacity and stowage are so much the greater. This, which is a great point in vessels destined
for commerce, would be equally important in war. But these remarks do not apply to the
modern armoured vessel. We have ironclads with plates eighteen inches and upwards in-
thickness. What is the consequence ? Their actual weight, with that of the necessary engines
and monster guns employed, is so great that a vast deal of room on board has to be
unemployed. Day by day we hear of fresh experiments in gunnery, which keep pace
with the increased strength of the vessels. The invulnerable of to-day is the vulnerable
of to-morrow, and there are many leading authorities who believe in a return to a smaller
and weaker class of vessel — provided, however, with all the appliances for great speed and
offensive warfare at a distance. Nelson's preference for small, easily-worked frigates over
the great ships of the line is well known, and were he alive to-day we can well believe that he
would prefer a medium-sized vessel of strong construction, to steam with great speed, and
carrying heavy, but, perhaps, not the heaviest guns, to one of those modern unwieldy masses
of iron, which have had, so far, a most disastrous history. The former might, so to speak, act
while the latter was making up her mind. Even a Nelson might hesitate to risk a vessel
representing six or seven hundred thousand pounds of the nation's money, in anything short of
an assured success. We have, however, yet to learn the full value and power of our ironclad
fleet. Of its cost there is not a doubt. Some time ago our leading newspaper estimated
the expense of construction and maintenance of our existing ironclads at £18,000,000.
Mr. Reed states that they have cost the country a million sterling per annum since the first
organisation of the fleet. Warfare will soon become a luxury only for the richest nations, and,
regarding it in this light, perhaps the very men who are racking their powers of invention to
discover terrible engines of war are the greatest peacemakers, after all. They may succeed in
making it an impossibility.
" Hereafter, naval powers prepared with the necessary fleet will be able to transport the
base of operations to any point on the enemy's coast, turn the strongest positions, and baffle
the best-arranged combinations. Thanks to steam, the sea has become a means of communica-
tion more certain and more simple than the land ; and fleets will be able to act the part of
movable bases of operations, rendering them very formidable to powers which, possessing
coasts, will not have any navy sufficiently powerful to cause their being respected." * So far
as navy to navy is concerned, this is undoubtedly true ; yet there is another side to the question.
A fort is sometimes able to inflict far greater damage upon its naval assailants than the latter
can inflict upon it. A single shot may send a ship to the bottom, whilst the fire from the ship
during action is more or less inaccurate. At Sebastopol, a whole French fleet, firing at ranges
of 1,600 to 1,800 yards, failed to make any great impression on a fort close to the water's edge;
while a wretched earthen battery, mounting only five guns, inflicted terrible losses and injury
on four powerful English men-of-war, actually disabling two of them, without itself losing one
man or having a gun dismounted; while, as has been often calculated, the cost of a
single sloop of war with its equipment will construct a fine fort which will last almost for
;
* Brialmont, " fitude sur la Defense des Etats et sur la Fortification."
LESSONS OF THE CRIMEA. 15
ever, while that of two or three line-of -battle ships would raise a considerable fortress. Whilst
the monster ironclad with heavy guns would deal out death and destruction when surrounded
by an enemy's fleet of lighter iron vessels or wooden ones as strong as was the Victory, she
would herself run great risk in approaching closely-fortified harbours and coasts, where a
single shot from a gun heavy enough to pierce her armour might sink her. Her safety would
consist in firing at long ranges and in steaming backwards and forwards.
The lessons of the Crimean war, as regards the navy, were few, but of the gravest
importance, and they have led to results of which we cannot yet determine the end. The
war opened by a Russian attack on a Turkish squadron at Sinope, November 20th, 1853.*
That determined the fact that a whole fleet might be annihilated in an hour or so by
the use of large shells. No more necessity for grappling and close quarters; the iron
age was full in view, and wooden walls had outlived their usefulness, and must perish.
But the lesson had to be again impressed, and that upon a large English and French
fleet. Yet, in fairness to our navy, it must be remembered that the Russians had spent
every attention to rendering Sebastopol nearly impregnable on the sea-side, while a dis-
tinguished writer, f who was present throughout the siege, assures us that until the pre-
ceding spring they had been quite indifferent in regard to the strength of the fortifications
on the land-side. And the presence of the allied fleets was the undeniable cause of one
Russian fleet being sunk in the harbour of Sebastopol, while another dared not venture
out, season after season, from behind stone fortresses in the shallow waters of Cronstadt.f
A great naval authority thinks that, while England was, at the time, almost totally
deficient in the class of vessels essential to attacking the fleets and fortifications of
Russia, the fact that the former never dared "to accept the challenge of any British
squadron, however small, is one the record of which we certainly may read without
shame." But of that period it would be more pleasant to write exultingly than
apologetically.
When the Allies had decided to commence the bombardment of Sebastopol, on October
17th, 1854, it was understood that the fleet should co-operate, and that the attack should
be made by the line-of-battle ships in a semicircle. They were ready at one p.m. to commence
* The Turks had at Sinope seven frigates, one sloop, two corvettes, and two transports. The Eussians were
stronger, but this did not determine the battle ; their success was won because they were well supplied with
large shells and shell-guns, while the Turks had nothing more effective than 24-pounders. Their wooden
vessels were speedily on fire, and the Russians won an easy success. Shells were no novelty, yet a great
sea-fight had never before been, as it was then, won by their exclusive agency.
t The Hon. S. J. G. Calthorpe, " Letters from Head-quarters."
t The seven Russian ships sunk at the entrance of the harbour of Sebastopol were of no small size or
value, and they were scuttled in a hurry so great that they had all their guns, ammunition, and stores on
board, and their rigging standing. They comprised five line-of-battle ships, two of them eighty, two eighty-
four, and one 120 guns, and two frigates of forty guns; a total of 528 guns. Afterwards it became a common
report that vessels had been disabled and sunk in the harbour. On the night of the 5th of September, just
before the evacuation of the town, two large Russian men-of-war caught fire and burned fiercely, illumining the
harbour and town, and causing great excitement, as an omen of coming doom. The night of the memorable
8th, when the Russians gave" up all further idea of resistance, and left the town to take care of itself,
witnessed the sinking of the remainder of the Black Sea fleet. So far, therefore, the presence of our fleet had
a pronounced moral effect, without involving further loss of life.
16 THE SEA.
the bombardment. Lyons brought the Agamemnon, followed by half a dozen other vessels,
to within 700 yards of Fort Constantino, the others staying at the safer distances of 1,800
to 2,200 yards. The whole fleet opened with a tremendous roar of artillery, to which
the Russians replied almost as heavily. Fort Constantine was several times silenced, and
greatly damaged ; but, on the other hand, the Russians managed to kill forty-seven and wound
?,34 men in the English fleet, and a slightly smaller number in the French. They had an
unpleasant knack of firing red-hot shot in profusion, and of hitting the vessels even at
the distance at which they lay. Seyeral were set on fire, and two for a time had to retire
from the action. These were practical shots at our wooden walls. This naval attack
has been characterised as " even a greater failure than that by land " — meaning, of course, the
first attack.
Here we may for a moment be allowed to digress and remind the reader of the important
part played by red-hot shot at that greatest of all great sieges — Gibraltar. As each accession
to the enemy 's force arrived, General Elliott calmly built more furnaces and more grates for
heating his most effective means of defence. Just as one of their wooden batteries was on
the point of completion, he gave it what was termed at the time a dose of " cayenne
pepper;" in other words, with red-hot shot and shells he set it on fire. When the
ordnance portable furnaces for heating shot proved insufficient to supply the demands of the
artillery, he ordered large bonfires to be kindled, on which the cannon-balls were thrown ; and
these supplies were termed by the soldiers " hot potatoes " for the enemy. But the great
triumph of red-hot shot was on that memorable 13th of September, 1782, when forty-six
sail of the line, and a countless fleet of gun and mortar boats attacked the fortress.
With all these appliances of warfare, the great confidence of the enemy — or rather, com-
bined enemies — was in their floating batteries, planned by D'Arcon, an eminent French
engineer, and which had cost a good half million sterling. They were supposed to be
impervious to shells or red-hot shot. After persistently firing at the fleet, Elliott started
the admiral's ship and one of the batteries commanded by the Prince of Nassau. This
was but the commencement of the end. The unwieldy leviathans could not be shifted
from their moorings, and they lay helpless and immovable, and yet dangerous to their
neighbours; for they were filled with the instruments of destruction. Early the next
morning eight of these vaunted batteries " indicated the efficacy of the red-hot defence.
The light produced by the flames was nearly equal to noonday, and greatly exposed the
enemy to observation, enabling the artillery to be pointed upon them with the utmost
precision. The rock and neighbouring objects are stated to have been highly illuminated
by the constant flashes of cannon and the flames of the burning ships, forming a mingled
scene of sublimity and terror."* "An indistinct clamour, with lamentable cries and groans,
arose from all quarters." f
When 400 pieces of artillery were playing on the rock at the same moment, Elliott
returned the compliment with a shower of red-hot balls, bombs, and carcases, that filled
the air, with little or no intermission. The Count d'Artois had hastened from Paris to
* Gust, " Annals of the Wars of the Eighteenth Century."
t Drinkwater, " Siege of Gibraltar."
18 THE SEA.
witness a capitulation. He arrived in time to see the total destruction of the floating
batteries and a large part of the combined fleet. Attempting a somewhat feeble joke, he
wrote to France: — "La balterie la plus effective etait ma batterie de cuisine" Elliott's
cooking-apparatus and "roasted balls " beat it all to nothing. Red-hot shot has been
entirely superseded in " civilised " warfare by shells. It was usually handled much in the
same way that ordinary shot and shell is to-day. Each ball was carried by two men,
having between them a strong iron frame, with a ring in the middle to hold it. There
were two heavy wads, one dry and the other slightly damped, between the powder and
ball. At the siege of Gibraltar, however, matters were managed in a much more rough-and-
ready style. The shot was heated at furnaces and wheeled off to the guns in wheelbarrows
lined with sand.
The partial failure of the navy to co-operate successfully with the laud-forces, so far
as bombardment was concerned, during the Crimean war, has had much to do with the
adoption of the costly ironclad floating fortresses, armed with enormously powerful guns,
of the present day. The earliest form, indeed, was adopted during the above war,
but not used to any great extent or advantage. The late Emperor of the French* saw
that the corning necessity or necessary evil would be some form of strongly-armoured
and protected floating battery that could cope with fortresses ashore, and this was the
germ of the ironclad movement. The first batteries of this kind, used successfully at
Kinburn, were otherwise unsea worthy and unmanageable, and were little more than
heavily-plated and more or less covered barges.
The two earliest European ironclads were La Gloire in France and the Warrior in
England — the latter launched in 1860. Neither of these vessels presented any great
departure from the established types of build in large ships of war. The Warrior is an un-
deniably fine, handsome-looking frigate, masted and rigged as usual, but she and her sister-ship,
the Black Prince, are about the only ironclads to which these remarks apply — every form
and variety of construction having been adopted since. As regarded size, she was con-
siderably larger than the largest frigate or ship of the line of our navy, although greatly
exceeded by many ironclads subsequently built. She is 380 feet in length, and her dis-
placement of more than 9,100 tons was 3,000 tons greater than that of the largest of the
wooden men-of-war she was superseding. The Warrior is still among the fastest of the
iron-armoured fleet. Considered as an ironclad, however, she is a weak example. Her armour,
which protects only three-fifths of her sides, is but four and a half inches thick, with eighteen
inches of (wood) backing, and five-eighths of an inch of what is technically called "skin-
plating," for protection inside. The remote possibility of a red-hot shot or shell falling
inside has to be considered. Her bow and stern, rudder-head and steering-gear, would, of
course, be the vulnerable points.
From this small beginning — one armoured vessel — our ironclad fleet has grown with
* Some have even gone so far as to consider Louis Napoleon the inventor of iron-plated and armoured vessels.
This is absurd. The ancients knew the use of plates of iron or brass for covering ships of war and battering-rams.
One of Hiero's greatest galleys was covered that way. That it must come to this sooner or later was the published
idea of many, both in this country and in France. The Emperor's sagacity, however, was always fully alive to
questions of the kind.
THE BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS. i9
the greatest rapidity, till it now numbers over sixty of all denominations of vessels.
The late Emperor of the French gave a great impetus to the movement; and other
foreign nations speedily following in his wake, it clearly behoved England to be able to
cope with them on their own ground, should occasion demand. Then there was the
" scare" of invasion which took some hold of the public mind, and was exaggerated by
certain portions of the press, at one period, till it assumed serious proportions. Leading
journals complained that by the time the Admiralty would have one or two ironclads in
commission, the French would have ten or twelve. Thus urged, the Government of the
day must be excused if they made some doubtful experiments and costly failures.
But apart from the lessons of the Crimea, and the activity and rivalry of foreign
powers, attention was seriously drawn to the ironclad question by the events of the day.
It was easy to guess and theorise concerning this new feature in warfare, but early in
1862 practical proof was afforded of its power. The naval engagement which took place
in Hampton Roads, near the outset of the great American civil war, was the first time
in which an ironclad ship was brought into collision with wooden vessels, and also the
first time in which two distinct varieties of the species were brought into collision with
each other.
The Southerners had, when the strife commenced, seized and partially burned
the Merrimac, a steam-frigate belonging to the United States navy, then lying
at the Norfolk Navy-yard. The hulk was regarded as nearly worthless,* until, looking
about for ways and means to annoy their opponents, they hit on the idea of armouring
her, in the best manner attainable at the moment; and for awhile at least, this
condemned wreck, resuscitated, patched up, and covered with iron plates, f became the
terror of the enemy. She was provided with an iron prow or ram capable of inflicting
a severe blow under water. Her hull, cut down to within three feet of the water-line,
was covered by a bomb-proof, sloping-roofed house, which extended over the screw and
rudder. This was built of oak and pine, covered with iron ; the latter being four and a
half inches thick, and the former aggregating twenty inches in thickness. While the
hull was generally iron-plated, the bow and stern were covered with steel. There were
no masts — nothing seen above but the " smoke-stack " (funnel), pilot-house, and flagstaff.
She carried eight powerful guns, most of them eleven-inch. " As she came ploughing
through the water/7 wrote one eyewitness of her movements, "she looked like a huge
half-submerged crocodile." The Southerners re-christened her the Virginia, but her older
name has clung to her. The smaller vessels with her contributed little to the issue of
the fight, but those opposed to her were of no inconsiderable size. The Congress, Cumberland,
* The report of the Chief Engineer and Naval Constructor of the Confederate Service, in regard to the con-
on of the Merrimac into an armoured vessel, distinctly stated that from the effects of fire she was " useless
for any other purpose, without incurring a very heavy expense for rebuilding."
t The official reports state that she was plated, many popular accounts averring that she was only covered
with "railroad iron." The information presented here is drawn from the following sources: — "The Kebellion
Record," a voluminous work, edited by Frank Moore, of New York, and which contains all the leading official
war-documents, both of the Federals and Confederates ; the statement of Mr. A. B. Smith, pilot of Iho Cumberland,
one of the survivors of the fight ; the Baltimore American, and the Norfolk Day Hook, both newspapers published
near the scene of action. There is great unanimity in the accounts published on both sides.
20 THE SEA.
Minnesota , and Roanoake were frigates carrying an aggregate of over 150 guns and nearl3
2,000 men. They, however, were wooden vessels ; and although, in two cases in particular,
defended with persistent heroism, had no chance against the ironclad, hastily as she had
been prepared. There is little doubt that the officers of the two former vessels, in
particular, knew something of the nature of the " forlorn hope " in which they were about
to engage, when she hove in sight on that memorable 8th of March, 1862. It is said
that the sailors, however, derided her till she was close upon them — so close that their
laughter and remarks were heard on board. "That Southern Bugaboo," " that old Secesh
curiosity," were among the milder titles applied to her.
The engagement was fought in the Hampton Roads, which is virtually an outlet ot
the James River, Virginia. The latter, like the Thames, has considerable breadth
and many shallows near its mouth. The Merrimac left Norfolk Navy-yard (which holds
to the James River somewhat the position that Sheerness does to the Thames) hurriedly
on the morning of the 8th, and steamed steadily towards the enemy's fleet, accompanied
by some smaller vessels of war and a few tug-boats.
*' Meanwhile, the shapeless iron mass
Came moving o'er the wave,
As gloomy as a passing hearse,
As silent as the grave."
The morning was still and calm as that of a Sabbath-day. That the Merrimac was
Hot expected was evidenced by the boats at the booms, and the sailors' clothes still
hanging in the rigging of the enemy's vessels. " Did they see the long, dark hull ? Had
they made it out ? Was it ignorance, apathy, or composure that made them so indifferent ?
or were they provided with torpedoes, which could sink even the Merrimac in a minute ? "
were questions mooted on the Southern side by those watching on board the boats and
from the shore.
As soon, however, as she was plainly discerned, the crews of the Cumberland, Congress,
and other vessels were beat to quarters, and preparations made for the fight. " The engage-
ment," wrote the Confederate Secretary of the Navy, " commenced at half -past three p.m.,
and at four p.m. Captain Buchanan had sunk the Cumberland, captured and burned the
Congress, disabled and driven the Minnesota ashore, and defeated the St. Lawrence and
Roanoake, which sought shelter under the guns of Fortress Monroe. Two of the enemy's
small steamers were blown up, and the two transport steamers were captured." This,
as will be seen, must, as regards time, be taken cum grano salis, but in its main points is
correct.
The Merrimac commenced the action by discharging a broadside at the Congress, one
shell from which killed or disabled a number of men at the guns, and then kept on towards
the Cumberland, which she approached with full steam on, striking her on the port side
near the bow, her stem knocking two of the ports into one, and her ram striking the
vessel under the water-line. Almost instantaneously a large shell was discharged from
her forward gun, which raked the gun-deck of the doomed ship, and killed ten men.
Five minutes later the ship began to sink by the head, a large hole having been made
THE "MERKIMAC." 21
by the point of the ram, through which the water rushed in. As the Merrimac rounded
and rapidly came up again, she once more raked the Cumberland, killing or wounding
sixteen more men. Meantime the latter was endeavouring to defend herself, and poured
broadside after broadside into the Merrimac ; but the balls, as one of the survivors tells
us, bounced " upon her mailed sides like india-rubber, apparently making not the least
impression except to cut off her flagstaff, and thus bring down the Confederate colours.
None of her crew ventured at that time on her outside to replace them, and she fought
THE ORIGINAL " MERRIMAC."
thenceforward with only her pennant flying."* Shortly after this, the Merrimac again
attacked the unfortunate ship, advancing with her greatest speed, her ram making another
hole below the water-line. The Cumberland began to fill rapidly. The scene on board
is hardly to be described in words. It was one of horrible desperation and fruitless
heroism. The decks were slippery with human gore; shreds of human flesh, and portions
of the body, arms, legs, and headless trunks were scattered everywhere. Below, the cockpit
was filled with wounded, whom it would be impossible to succour, for the ship was sinking
fast. Meantime the men stuck to their posts, powder was still served out, and the
firing kept up steadily, several of the crew lingering so long in the after shell-room,
* The pilot of the Cumberland.
22 THE SEA.
in their eagerness to pass up shell, that they were drowned there. The water had now
reached the main gun-deck, and it became evident that the contest was nearly over. Still
the men lingered, anxious for one last shot, when their guns were nearly under water.
" Shall we give them a broadside, my boys, as she goes ?
Shall we send yet another to tell,
In iron-tongued words, to Columbia's foes,
How bravely her sons say ' Farewell ? ' "
The word was passed for each man to save himself. Even then, one man, an active
little fellow, named Matthew Tenney, whose courage had ,been conspicuous during the
action, determined to fire once more, the next gun to his own being then under water,
the vessel going down by the head. He succeeded, but at the cost of his life, for
immediately afterwards, attempting to scramble out of the port-hole, the water suddenly
rushed in with such force that he was washed back and drowned. Scores of poor fellows
were unable to reach the upper deck, and were carried down with the vessel. The Cumberland
sank in water up to the cross-trees, and went down with her flag still fly ing from the peak* The
whole number lost was not less than 120 souls. Her top-masts, with the pennant flying
far above the water, long marked the locality of one of the bravest and most desperate
defences ever made
"By men who knew that all else was wrong
But to die when a sailor ought."
The Cumberland being utterly demolished, the Merrimac turned her attention to the
Congress. The Southerners showed their chivalric instincts at this juncture by not firing
on the boats, or on a small steamer, which were engaged in picking up the survivors of
the Cumber 'land's crew. The officers of the Congress, seeing the fate of the Cumberland,
determined that the Merrimac should not, at least, sink their vessel. They therefore
got all sail on the ship, and attempted to run ashore. The Merrimac was soon close on them,
and delivered a broadside, which was terribly destructive, a shell killing, at one of the guns,
every man engaged except one. Backing, and then returning several times, she delivered
broadside after broadside at less than 100 yards' distance. The Congress replied manfully
and obstinately, but with little effect. One shot is supposed to have entered one of the
ironclad's port-holes, and dismounted a gun, as there was no further firing from that port,
and a few splinters of iron were struck off her sloping mailed roof, but this was all.
The guns of the Merrimac appeared to have been specially trained on the after-magazine
of the Congress, and shot after shot entered that part of the ship. Thus, slowly drifting
down with the current, and again steaming up, the Merrimac continued for an hour to
fire into her opponent. Several times the Congress was on fire, but the flames were kept
under. At length the ship was on fire in so many places, and the flames gathering
with such force, that it was hopeless and suicidal to keep up the defence any longer.
* " Finally, after about three-fourths of an hour of the most severe fighting, our vessel sank, the Stars and
Stripes still waving. That flag was finally submerged ; but after the hull grounded on the sands, fifty-four feet
belo-.v the surface of the water, our pennant was still flying from the top mast above the waves." (The Pilot of the
Cumberland' s Narrative.)
THE "MERRIMAC'S" WORK OF DESTRUCTION. 23
The national flag was sadly and sorrowfully hauled down, and a white flag hoisted at
the peak. The Merrimac did not for a few minutes see this token of surrender, and
continued to fire. At last, however, it was discerned through the clouds of smoke, and
the broadsides ceased. A tug that had followed the Merrimac out of Norfolk then came
alongside the Congress, and ordered the officers on board. This they refused, hoping
that, from the nearness of the shore, they would be able to escape. Some of the men,
to the number, it is believed, of about forty, thought the tug was one of the Northern
(Federal) vessels, and rushed on board, and were, of course, soon carried off as prisoners.
By the time that all the able men were off ashore and elsewhere, it was seven o'clock
in the evening, and the Congress was a bright sheet of flame fore and aft, her
guns, which were loaded and trained, going off as the fire reached them. A shell from
one struck a sloop at some distance, and blew her up. At midnight the fire reached
her magazines, containing five tons of gunpowder, and, with a terrific explosion, her
charred remains blew up. Thus had the Merrimac sunk one and burned a second of the
largest of the vessels of the enemy.
Having settled the fate of these two ships, the Merrimac had, about 5 o'clock in
the afternoon, started to tackle the Minnesota. Here, as was afterwards proved, the
commander of the former had the intention of capturing the latter as a prize, and had
no wish to destroy her. He, therefore, stood off about a mile distant, and with the
Yorktown and Jamestown, threw shot and shell at the frigate, doing it considerable damage,
and killing six men. One shell entered near her waist, passed through the chief engineer's
room, knocking two rooms into one, and wounded several men; a shot passed
through the main-mast. At nightfall the Merrimac, satisfied with her afternoon's work
of death and destruction, steamed in under SewalFs Point. "The day," said the Baltimore
American, " thus closed most dismally for our side, and with the most gloomy apprehensions
of what would occur the next day. The Minnesota was at the mercy of the Merrimac,
and there appeared no reason why the iron monster might not clear the Roads of our
fleet, destroy all the stores and warehouses on the beach, drive our troops into the fortress,
and command Hampton Roads against any number of wooden vessels the Government
might send there. Saturday was a terribly dismal night at Fortress Monroe."
But about nine o'clock that evening Ericsson's battery, the Monitor,'* arrived in
Hampton Roads, and hope revived in the breasts of the despondent Northerners. She
was not a very formidable-looking craft, for, lying low on the water, with a plain structure
amidships, a small pilot-house forward, and a diminutive funnel aft, she might have been
taken for a raft. It was only on board that her real strength might be discovered. She
carried armour about five inches thick over a large part of her, and had practically two
hulls, the lower of which had sides inclining at an angle of 51° from the vertical line.
It was considered that no shot could hurt this lower hull, on account of the angle at
which it must strike it. The revolving turret, an iron cylinder, nine feet high, and twenty
feet in diameter, eight or nine inches thick everywhere, and about the portholes eleven
inches, was moved round by steam-power. When the two heavy Dahlgren guns were
* The original Monitor, from which that class of vessel took its name.
24 THE SEA.
run in for loading, a kind of pendulum port fell over the holes in the turret. The
propeller, rudder, and even anchor, were all hidden.
This was a war of surprises and sudden changes. It is doubtful if the Southerners
knew what to make of the strange-looking battery which steamed towards them next
morning, or whether they despised it. The Merrimac and the Monitor kept on approach-
ing each other, the former waiting until she would choose her distance, and the latter
apparently not knowing what to make of her queer-looking antagonist. The first shot
from the Monitor was fired when about one hundred yards distant from the Merrimac,
and this distance was subsequently reduced to fifty yards ; and at no time during the
furious cannonading that ensued were the vessels more than two hundred yards apart. The
scene was in plain view from Fortress Monroe, and in the main facts all the spectators
agree. At first the fight was very furious, and the guns of the Monitor were fired
rapidly. The latter carried only two guns, to its opponent's eight, and received two or
three shots for every one she gave. Finding that she was much more formidable than
she looked, the Merrimac attempted to run her down ; but her superior speed and
quicker handling enabled her to dodge and turn rapidly. " Once the Merrimac struck
her near midships, but only to prove that the battery could not be run down nor shot
down. She spun round like a top; and as she got her bearing again, sent one of her
formidable missiles into her huge opponent.
" The officers of the Monitor at this time had gained such confidence in the
impregnability of their battery that they no longer fired at random nor hastily. The fight
then assumed its most interesting aspect. The Monitor went round the Merrimac repeatedly,
probing her sides, seeking for weak points, and reserving her fire with coolness, until
she had the right spot and the right range, and made her experiments accordingly. In
this way the Merrimac received three shots Neither of these three shots re-
bounded at all, but appeared to cut their way clear through iron and wood into the
ship."* Soon after receiving the third shot, the Merrimac made off at full speed,
and the contest was not renewed. Thus ended this particular episode of the American
war.
Lieutenant Worden was in the pilot-house of the Monitor when the Merrimac
directed a whole broadside at her, and was, besides being thrown down and stunned by
the concussion, temporarily blinded by the minute fragments of shells and powder driven
through the eye-holes — only an inch each in diameter — made through the iron to enable them
to keep a look-out. He was carried away, but, on recovering consciousness, his first
thoughts reverted to the action. " Have I saved the Minnesota ? " said he, eagerly.
"Yes; and whipped the Merrimac!" was the answer. "Then," replied he, "I don't
care what becomes of me." The concussion in the turret is described as something
terrible ; and several of the men, though not otherwise hurt, were rendered insensible for
the time. Each side claimed that they had seriously damaged the other, but there seems
to have been no foundation for these assertions in facts.
But although this, the original Monitor, was efficient, if not omnipotent, in the cairn
* Account of eyewitnesses furnished to the Baltimore American,
It
26 THE SEA.
waters at the mouth of the James River,, she was, as might be expected with her flat,
barge-like bottom, a bad sea-boat, and was afterwards lost. Her ports had to be closed
and caulked, being only five feet above the water, and she was therefore unable to
work her guns at sea. Her constructor had neglected Sir Walter Raleigh's advice to
Prince Henry touching the model of a ship, "that her ports be so laid, as that she
may carry out her guns all weathers." She plunged heavily — completely submerging her
pilot-house at times, the 'sea washing over and into her turret. The heavy shocks and
jars of the armour, as it came down, upon the waves, made her leaky, and she went to
the bottom in spite of pumps capable of throwing 2,000 gallons a minute, which were
in good order and working incessantly.
Since the conclusion of the American war, the ironclad question has assumed serious
aspects, and many facts could be cited to show that they have not by any means always
confirmed the first impressions of their strength and invulnerability. Two recent cases
will be fresh in the memories of our readers. The first is the recent engagement
off Peru between the Peruvian ironclad turret-ship Ilnascar and the British unarmonred
men-of-war Shah and Amethyst. With the political aspect of the affair we have nothing,
of course, to do, in our present work. It was really a question between the guns
quite as much as between the vessels. The Hnascar is only a moderately-strong armoured
vessel, her plates being the same thickness as those of the earliest English ironclad, the
Warrior, and her armament is two 300-pounders in her turret, and three shell-guns.
On the other hand, the Shah, the principal one of the two British vessels, is only a large
iron vessel sheathed in wood, and not armoured at all ; but she carries, besides smaller
guns, a formidable armament in the shape of two 12-ton and sixteen C^-ton guns. An
eyewitness of the engagement states* that, after three hours' firing, at a distance of
from 400 to 3,000 yards, the only damage inflicted by the opposing vessels was a hole in
the Huascar's side, made by a shell, the bursting of which killed one man. "One 9-in. shot
(from a 12-ton gun) also penetrated three inches into the turret without effecting any material
damage. There were nearly 100 dents of various depths in the plates, but none of sufficient
depth to materially injure them. The upper works — boats, and everything destructible
by shell — were, of course, destroyed. Her colours were also shot down." According to theory,
the Shah's two larger guns should have penetrated the Hnascar' s sides when fired at upwards
of 3,000 yards' distance. The facts are very different, doubtless because the shots struck
the armour obliquely, at any angles but right ones. The Hnascar was admirably handled
and manoeuvred, but her gunnery was so indifferent that none of the shots even struck
the Shah, except to cut away a couple of ropes, and the latter kept up so hot a
fire of shells that the crew of the former were completely demoralised, and the
officers had to train and fire the guns. She eventually escaped to Iquique, under cover of
a pitchy-dark night. The same correspondent admits, however, that the Shah, although
a magnificent vessel, is not fitted for the South American station, since Peru has three
ironclads, Chili two, and Brazil and the River Plate Republics several, against which no
ordinary English man-of-war could cope, were the former properly handled.
* Vide the Times, 17th July, 1877.
THE "HUASCAR" AND "SHAH." 27
The recent story of the saucy Russian merchantman,* which not merely dared
the Turkish ironclad, but fought her for five hours, and inflicted quite as much
damage as she received, will also be remembered, although it may be taken just for what
it is worth. One Captain Baranoff, of the Imperial Russian Navy, . had, in an article
published in the Golos, of St. Petersburg, recommended his Government to abandon iron-
clads, avoid naval battles, and confine operations at sea to the letting loose of a number
of cruisers against the enemy's merchantmen. Where a naval engagement was inevitable,
he " preferred fighting with small craft, making up by agility and speed what they lacked
in cuirass, and if the worst came to the worst, easily replaced by other specimens of the
same type." The article created much notice; and at the beginning of the present war,
the author was given to understand by the Russian Admiralty that he should have an
opportunity of proving his theories by deeds. The Vesta, an ordinary iron steamer of
light build, was selected; she had been employed previously in no more warlike functions
than the conveyance of corn and tallow from Russia to foreign ports. She was equipped
immediately with a few 6-in. mortars, her decks being strengthened to receive them, but
no other changes were made. On the morning of the 23rd of July, cruising in the Black
Sea, Captain Baranoff encountered the Turkish ironclad Assari Tefvik, a formidable vessel
armoured with twelve inches of iron, and carrying 12-ton guns, and nothing daunted by
the disproportion in size and strength, immediately engaged her. Both vessels were skil-
fully manoeuvred, the ironclad moving about with extraordinary alertness and speed. She
was only hit three times with large balls; the second went through her deck, " kindling a
fire which was quickly extinguished ; " the third was believed to have injured the turret.
Meantime, the Vesta was herself badly injured, a grenade hitting her close to the powder-
magazine, which would have soon blown up but for the rapid measures taken by her
commander. Her rudder was struck and partially disabled, but still she was not sunk,
as she should have been, according to all theoretical considerations. She eventually
steamed back again to Sebastopol — after two other vessels had come to the ironclad's
assistance — covered with glory, having for five hours worried, and somewhat injured, a
giant vessel to which, in proportion, she was but a weak and miserable dwarf.
It will be obvious that from neither of the above cases can any positive inferences
be safely drawn. In the former case, the weaker vessel had the stronger guns, and so matters
were partially balanced; in the second example, the ironclad ought to have easily sunk
the merchantman by means of her heavy guns, even from a great distance — but she didn't.
The ironclad question will engage our attention again, as it will, we fear, that of the
nation, for a very long time to come.
* Berlin correspondence of the Times, 31st July, 1877.
28 THE SEA.
CHAPTER II.
MEN OF PEACE.
Naval Life in Perxo Times— A Grand Exploring Voyage-The Cruise of the Challenger— Its Work— Deep-sea Sounding*—
Five Miles Down— Apparatus Employed— Ocean Treasures— A Gigantic Sea-monster—Tristan d'Acunha— A Discovery
Interesting to the Discovered— The Two Crusoes— The Inaccessible Island— Solitary Life— The Sea-cart— Swimming
Pigs — Rescxied at Last— The Real Crusoe Island to Let— Down South— The Land of Desolation— Kerguelen— The
Sealers' Dreary Life— In the Antarctic— Among the Icebergs.
No form of life presents greater contrasts than that of the sailor. Storm and calm alternate ;
to-day in the thick of the fight — battling man or the elements — to-morrow we find him
tranquilly pursuing some peaceful scheme of discovery or exploration, or calmly cruising from
one station to another, protecting by moral influence alone the interests of his country. His
deeds may be none the less heroic because his conquests are peaceful, and because Neptune
rather than Mars is challenged to cede his treasures. Anson, Cook, and Vancouver, Parry,
Franklin, M'Clintock, and M'Clure, among a host of others, stand worthily by the side of
our fighting sailors, because made of the same stuff. Let us also, then, for a time, leave
behind the smoke and din, the glories and horrors of war, and cool our fevered imagi-
nations by descending, in spirit at least, to the depths of the great sea. The records
of the famous voyage of the Challenger* will afford a capital opportunity of contrasting
the deeds of the men of peace with those of men of war.
We may commence by saying that no such voyage has in truth ever been undertaken
before. f Nearly 70,000 miles of the earth's watery surface were traversed, and the Atlantic
and Pacific crossed and recrossed several times. It was a veritable voyage en zigzag. Apart
from ordinary soundings innumerable, 374 deep-sea soundings, when the progress of the
vessel had to be stopped, and which occupied an hour or two apiece, were made, and at least
two-thirds as many successful dredgings and trawlings. The greatest depth of ocean readied
was 4,575 fathoms (27,450 feet), or over five miles. This was in the Pacific, about 1,400 miles
S.E. of Japan. We all know that this ocean derives its name from its generally calmer
weather and less tempestuous seas ; and the researches of the officers of the Challenger,
and of the United States vessel Ttiscarora, show that the bottom slopes to its greatest depths
very evenly and gradually, little broken by submarine mountain ranges, except off volcanic
islands and coasts like those of the Hawaiian (Sandwich) Islands. Off the latter there are
mountains in the sea ranging to as high as ] 2,000 feet. The general evenness of the bottom
helps to account for the long, sweeping waves of the Pacific, so distinguishable from the short,
* The full official account has not yet been issued. The brief narrative presented here is derived principally from
the lively and interesting series of letters from the pen of Lord George Campbell; from "The Cruise of H.M.S.
Challenger," by W. J. J. Spry, E.N., one of the engineers of the vessel; and the Xautical and other scientific and
technical magazines.
t The Austrian frigate Novara made, in 1857-8-9, a voyage round "and about " the world of 51,686 miles. As it
was a sailing vessel, no reliable results could be expected from their deep-sea soundings, and, in fact, on the only two
occasions when they attempted anything very deep, their lines broke.
EXAMINING A "HAUL" ON BOARD THE "CHALLENGER,
THE VOYAGE OP THE « CHALLENGER. :> 29
cut-up, and " choppy " waves of the Atlantic. In the Atlantic, on the voyage of the
Challenger from Teneriffe to St. Thomas, a pretty level bottom off the African coast gradually
deepened till it reached 3,125 fathoms (over three and a half miles), at about one-third of the
way across to the West Indies. If the Alps, Mont Blanc and all, were submerged at this spot,
there would still be more than half a mile of water above them ! Five hundred miles further
west there is a comparatively shallow part — two miles or so deep — which afterwards deepens to
three miles, and continues at the same depth nearly as far as the West Indies.
A few words as to the work laid out for the Challenger) and how she did it. She is
a 2,000-ton corvette, of moderate steam-power, and was put into commission, with a
reduced complement of officers and men, Captain (now Sir) George S. Nares, later the
commander of the Arctic expedition, having complete charge and control. Her work
was to include soundings, thermometric and magnetic observations, dredgings and chemical
examinations of sea-water, the surveying of unsurveyed harbours and coasts, and the re-
surveying, where practicable, of partially surveyed coasts. The (civil) scientific corps, under
the charge of Professor Wyville Thomson, comprised three naturalists, a chemist and
physicist, and a photographer. The naturalists had their special rooms, the chemist his
laboratory, the photographer his " dark-room/'' and the surveyors their chart-room, to
make room for which all the guns were removed except two. On the upper deck was another
analysing-room, " devoted to mud, fish, birds, and vertebrates generally ; " a donkey-engine for
hauling in the sounding, dredging, and other lines, and a broad bridge amidships, from which
the officer for the day gave the necessary orders for the performance of the many duties con-
nected with their scientific labours. Thousands of fathoms of rope of all sizes, for dredging
and sounding ; tons of sounding- weights, from half to a whole hundredweight apiece ; dozens
of thermometers for deep-sea f/cmperatures, and gallons of methylated spirits for preserving
the specimens obtained, were carried on board.
Steam-power is always very essential to deep-sea sounding. No trustworthy results can
be obtained from a ship under sail ; a perpendicular sounding is the one thing required, and, of
course, with steam the vessel can be kept head to the wind, regulating her speed so that she
remains nearly stationary. The sounding apparatus used needs some little description. A
block was fixed to the main-yard, from which depended the " accumulator," consisting of strong
india-rubber bands, each three-fourths of an inch in diameter arid three feet long, which ran
through circular discs of wood at either end. These are capable of stretching seventeen feet,
and their object is to prevent sudden strain on the lead-line from the inevitable jerks and
motion of the vessel. The sounding-rod used for great depths is, with its weights,* so
arranged that on touching bottom a spring releases a wire sling, and the weights slip off and
are left there. These rods were only employed when the depths were considered to be over
1,500 fathoms; for less depths a long, conical lead weight was used, with a "butterfly valve/'
or trap, at its basis for securing specimens from the ocean bed. There are several kinds of
" slip " water-bottles for securing samples of sea- water (and marine objects of small size
floating in it) at great depths. One of the most ingenious is a brass tube, two and a half feet
in length, fitted with easily-working stop-cocks at each end, connected by means of a rod, on
* The " sinkers" wore usually allowed at the rate of 1121b. for each 1,000 fathoms.
SO THE SEA.
which is a movable float. As the bottle descends the stop-cocks must remain open, but as it
is hauled up again the flat float receives^the opposing1 pressure of the vvatev above it, and,
acting by means of the connecting-rod, shuts both cocks simultaneously, thus inclosing a
specimen of the water at that particular depth. Self-registering thermometers were employed,
sometimes attached at intervals of 100 fathoms to the sounding-line, so as to test the
temperatures at various depths. For dredging, bags or nets from three to five feet in depth,
and nine to fifteen inches in width, attached to iron frames, were employed, whilst at the
bottom of the bags a number of "swabs," similar to those used in cleaning decks, were
attached, so as to sweep along the bottom, and bring up small specimens of animal
life — coral, sponges, &c. These swabs were, however, always termed " hempen tangles " — so
much does science dignify every object it touches ! The dredges were afterwards set aside
for the ordinary beam-trawls used in shallow water around our own coasts. Their open
meshes allowed the mud and sand to filter through easily, and their adoption was a source
of satisfaction to some of the officers who looked with horror on the state of their usually
immaculate decks, when the dredges were emptied of their contents.
Not so very long ago, our knowledge of anything beneath the ocean's surface was
extremely indefinite ; for even of the coasts and shallows we knew little, marine zoology and
botany being the last, and not the earliest, branches of natural history investigated by men
of science. It was asserted that the specific gravity of water at great depths would cause the
heaviest weights to remain suspended in mid-sea, and that animal existence was impossible
at the bottom. When, some sixteen years ago, a few star-fish were brought up by a line
from a depth of 1,200 fathoms, it was seriously considered that they had attached themselves
at some midway point, and not at the bottom. In 18G8-9-70, the Royal Society borrowed
from the Admiralty two of Her Majesty's vessels, the Lightning and Porcupine ; and in one
of the latter's trips, considerably to the south and west of Ireland, she sounded to a depth
of 2,400 fathoms,* and was very successful in many dredging operations. As a result,
it was then suggested that a vessel should be specially fitted out for a more important
ocean voyage round the world, to occupy three or more years, and the cruise of the Challenger
was then determined upon.
The story of that cruise is utterly unsensational ; it is one simply of calm and unremitting
scientific work, almost unaccompanied by peril. To some the treasures acquired will seern
valueless. Among the earliest gains, obtained near Cape St. Vincent, with a common trawl,
was a beautiful specimen of the Euplectella, " glass-rope sponge/' or " Venus's flower-basket/'
alive. This object of beauty and interest, sometimes seen in working naturalists' and
conchologists' windows in London, had always previously been obtained from the seas
* Most of the recorded examples of earlier deep-sea soundings have little scientific value. Unless the sounding-
line sinks perpendicularly, and the vessel remains stationary — to do which she may have to steam against wind and
tide or current — it must be evident that the data obtained are not reliable. From a sailing vessel it is impossible to
obtain absolutely reliable soundings except in, say, a tideless lake, unruffled by wind. It is very evident that if the
sounding lino drags after or in any direction from the vessel, the depth indicated may be greatly in excess of the truo
depth ; indeed, it may be double or treble in some cases. There is one recorded example of a dcptl if 7,706 fathoms
having been obtained, which too evidently comes under this category. After several years' soundings on the part of
the Challenger and the United States vessel Tuscarora, it has become probable that no part of the ocean lias a clopth
much greater than 4,500 fathoms. But even this is upwards of five miles!
OCEAN TREASURES. 81
of the Philippine Islands and Japan, to which it was thought to be confined, and
its discovery so much nearer home was hailed with delight. It has a most graceful form,
consisting of a slightly curved conical tube, eight or ten inches in height, contracted beneath
to a blunt point. The walls are of light tracery, resembling opaque spun glass, covered with
a lace-work of delicate pattern. The lower end is surrounded by an upturned fringe of lustrous
fibres, and the wider end is closed by a lid of open network. These beautiful objects of nature
make most charming ornaments for a drawing-room, but have to be kept under a glass case, as
they are somewhat frail. In their native element they lie buried in the mud. They were
afterwards found to be " the most characteristic inhabitants of the great depths all over the
world." Early in the voyage, no lack of living things were brought up — strange-looking fish,
with their eyes blown nearly out of their heads by the expansion of the air in their air-bladders,
whilst entangled among the meshes were many star-fish and delicate zoophytes, shining with a
vivid phosphorescent light. A rare specimen of the clustered sea-polyp, twelve gigantic
polyps, each with eight long fringed arms, terminating in a close cluster on a stalk or stem
three feet high, was obtained. " Two specimens of this fine species were brought from the
coast of Greenland early in the last century ; somehow these were lost, and for a century the
animal was never seen." Two were brought home by one of the Swedish Arctic expeditions,
and these are the only specimens ever obtained. One of the lions of the expedition was not
" a rare sea-fowl," but a transparent lobster, while a new crustacean, perfectly blind, which
feels its way with most beautifully delicate claws, was one of the greatest curiosities obtained.
Of these wonders, and of some geological points determined, more anon. But they did not
even sight the sea-serpent, much less attempt to catch it. Jules Verne's twenty miles of
inexhaustible pearl-meadows were evidently missed, nor did they even catch a glimpse of his
gigantic oyster, with the pearl as big as a cocoa-nut, and worth 10,000,000 francs. They
could not, with Captain Nemo, dive to the bottom and land amid submarine forests, where
tigers and cobras have their counterparts in enormous sharks and vicious cephalopods. Victor
Hugo's " devil-fish " did not attack a single sailor, nor did, indeed, any formidable cuttle-fish
take even a passing peep at the Challenger, much less attempt to stop its progress. Does
the reader remember the story recited both by Figuier and Moquin Tandon,* concerning
one of these gigantic sea-monsters, which should have a strong basis of truth in it, as it
was laid before the French Academic des Sciences by a lieutenant of their navy and a French
consul ?
The steam-corvette Alecton, when between Teneriffe and Madeira, fell in with a
gigantic cuttle-fish, fifty feet long in the body, without counting its eight formidable
arms covered with suckers. The head was of enormous size, out of all proportion to the
body, and had eyes as large as plates. The other extremity terminated in two fleshy
lobes or fins of great size. The estimated weight of the whole creature was 4,000 Ibs.,
and the flesh was soft, glutinous, and of a reddish-brick colour. "The commandant,
wishing, in the interests of science, to secure the monster, actually engaged it in battle.
Numerous shots were aimed at it, but the balls traversed its flaccid and glutinous mass
without causing it any vital injury. But after one of these attacks, the waves were
* In their popular works on the sea, " The Ocean World," and "The World of the Sea."
32
THE SEA.
observed to be covered with foam and blood, and— singular thing — a strong odour of musk
was inhaled by the spectators. . . . The musket-shots not having produced tha
desired results, harpoons were employed, but they took no hold on the soft, impalpable
flesh of the marine monster. When it escaped from the harpoon, it dived under the ship
and came up again at the other side. They succeeded, at last, in getting the harpoon
to bite, and in passing a bowling-hitch round the posterior part of the animal. But
when they attempted to hoist it out of the water, the rope penetrated deeply into the
2 3
4
OBJECTS OF INTEREST BROUGHT HOME BY THE " CHA1LENGER."
Fig. 1.— Shell of Globigerina (highly magnified). Fig. 2. — Ophioglypha biillata (six times the size in nature). Fig. Z.—Euplectella
Suberea (popularly " Venus's Flower-basket "). Fig. 4.— Deidamia leptodactyla (a Blind Lobster).
(From " The Voyage of the Challenger," by permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co.)
flesh, and separated it into two parts, the head, with the arms and tentacles, dropping into
the sea and making off, while the fins and posterior parts were brought on board; they
weighed about forty pounds. The crew were eager to pursue, and would have launched
a boat, but the commander refused, fearing that the animal might capsize it. The object
was not, in his opinion, one in which he could risk the lives of his crew." M. Moquin
Tandon, commenting on M. Berthelot's recital, considers "that this colossal mollusc was
sick and exhausted at the time by some recent struggle with some other monster of the
deep, which would account for its having quitted its native rocks in the deaths of the
ocean, Otherwise it would have been more active in its movements, or it would have
JUAN FERNANDEZ. 33
obscured the waves with the inky liquid which all the cephalopods have at command.
Judging from its size, it would carry at least a barrel of this black liquid."
The Challenger afterwards visited Juan Fernandez, the real Robinson Crusoe island where
Alexander Selkirk passed his enforced residence of four years. Thanks to Defoe, he lived
to find himself so famous, that he could hardly have grudged the time spent in his solitary
sojourn with his dumb companions and man Friday. Alas ! the romance which enveloped
Juan Fernandez has somewhat dimmed. For a brief time it was a Chilian penal colony, and
after sundry vicissitudes, was a few years ago leased to a merchant, who kept cattle to sell
to whalers and passing ships, and also went seal-hunting on a neighbouring islet. He was
"monarch of all he surveyed "—lord of an island over a dozen miles long and five or six
" THE CHALLENGER " IN ANTARCTIC ICE.
broad, with cattle, and herds of wild goats, and capital fishing all round — all for two hundred
year ! Fancy this, ye sportsmen, who pay as much or more for the privileges of a barren
moor ! Yet the merchant was not satisfied with his venture, and, at the time of the
Challenger's visit, was on the point of abandoning it : by this time it is probably to let.
Excepting the cattle dotted about the foot of the hills and a civilised house or two, the
appearance of the island must be precisely the same now as when the piratical buccaneers
of olden time made it their rendezvous and haunt wherefrom to dash out and harry the
Spaniards; the same to-day as when Alexander Selkirk lived in it as its involuntary
lonarch; the same to-day as when Commodore Anson arrived with his scurvy-stricken
crazy ship, a great scarcity of water, and a crew so universally diseased that there were
lot above ten foremast-men in a watch capable of doing duty," and recruited them with
resh meat, vegetables, and wild fruits.
" The scenery," writes Lord George Campbell, " is grand : gloomy and wild enough on
the dull, stormy day on which we arrived, clouds driving past and enveloping the highest
tidge of the mountain, a dark-colotired sea pelting against the steep cliffs and shores, and
34 THE SEA.
clouds of sea-birds swaying- in great flocks to and fro over the water; but cheerful and
beautiful on the bright sunny morning which followed — so beautiful that I thought, ( This
beats Tahiti \" The anchorage of the Challenger was in Cumberland Bay, a deep-water
inlet from which rises a semi-circle of high land, with two bold headlands, " sweeping
brokenly up thence to the highest ridge — a square-shaped, craggy, precipitous mass of
rock, with trees clinging to its sides to near the summit. The spurs of these hills are
covered with coarse grass or moss Down the beds of the small ravines run
burns, overgrown by dock-leaves of enormous size, and the banks are clothed with a rich
vegetation of dark-leaved myrtle, bignonia, and winter-bark, tree-shrubs, with tall grass,
ferns, and flowering plants. And as you lie there, humming-birds come darting and
thrumming within reach of your stick, flitting from flower to flower, which dot blue and
white the foliage of bignonias and myrtles. And on the steep grassy slopes above the sea-
cliffs herds of wild goats are seen quietly browsing — quietly, that is, till they scent you, when
they are off — as wild as chamois." This is indeed a description of a rugged paradise !
Near the ship they found splendid, but laborious, cod-fishing; laborious on account of
sharks playing with the bait, and treating the stoutest lines as though made of single
gut; also on account of the forty-fathom depth these cod-fish lived in. Cray-fish and
conger-eels were hauled up in lobster-pots by dozens, while round the ship's sides flashed
shoals of cavalli, fish that are caught by a hook with a piece of worsted tied roughly on,
swished over the surface, giving splendid play with a rod. " And on shore, too, there
was something to be seen and done. There was Selkirk's 'look-out' to clamber up the
hill-side to — the spot where tradition says he watched day after day for a passing sail, and
from whence he could look down on both sides of his island home, over the wooded
slopes, down to the cliff-fringed shore, on to the deserted ocean's expanse."
The Challenger) m its cruise of over three years, naturally visited many oft-described
ports and settlements with which we shall have nought to do. After a visit to Kerguelen's
Land — " the Land of Desolation," as Captain Cook called it — in the Southern Indian Ocean,
for the purpose of selecting a spot for the erection of an observatory, from whence the
transit of Venus should be later observed, they proceeded to Heard Island, the position of
which required determining with more accuracy. They anchored, in the evening, in a bay of
this most gloomy and utterly desolate place, where they found half-a-dozen wretched sealers
living in two miserable huts near the beach, which were sunk into the ground for warmth
and protection against the fierce winds. Their work is to kill and boil down sea- elephants.
One of the men had been there for two years, and was going to stay another. They are
left on the island every year by the schooners, which go sealing or whaling elsewhere.
Some forty men were on the island, unable to communicate with each other by land, as
the interior is entirely covered with glacier, like Greenland. They have barrels of salt
pork, beef, and a small store of coals, and little else, and are wretchedly paid. "Books,"
says Lord Campbell, "tell us that these sea-elephants grow to the length of twenty-four
feet; but the sealers did not confirm this at all. One of us tried hard to make the Scotch
mate say he had seen one eighteen feet long ; but ' waull, he couldn't say.' Sixteen feet ?
< Waull,' he couldn't say.' Fourteen feet? ' Waull, yes, yes — something more like that;'
but thirteen feet would seem a fair average size One o£ our fellows bought a
AMONG THE ICEBERGS.
35
clever little clay model of two men killing a sea-elephant, giving for it — he being an
extravagant man — one pound and a Lottie of rum. This pound was instantly offered to
the servants outside in exchange for another bottle."
Crossing the Antarctic Circle, they were soon among the icebergs, keeping a sharp
look-out for Termination Land, which has been marked on charts as a
good stretch of coast seen by Wilkes, of the American expedition, thirty
years before. To make a long story short, Captain Nares, after a careful
search, un-discoverecl this discovery, finding no traces of the land. It was
probably a long stretch of ice, or possibly a mirage, which phenomenon
has deceived many a sailor before. John Ross once thought that he
had discovered some grand mountains in the Arctic regions, which he
named after the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Croker. Next
year Parry sailed over the site of the supposed range ; and the " Croker "
Mountains became a standing joke against Ross.
Icebergs of enormous size were encountered ; several of three miles in
length and two hundred feet or more in height were seen one day, all
close together. But bergs of this calibre were exceptional; they were,
however, very often over half a mile in length. " There are few people
now alive," says the author we have recently quoted, " who have seen such
superb Antarctic iceberg scenery as we have. We are steaming towards the
supposed position of land, only some thirty miles distant, over a glass-like
sea, unruffled by a breath of wind; past great masses of ice, grouped so
close together in some cases as to form an unbroken wall of cliff several
miles in length. Then, as we pass within a few hundred yards, the
chain breaks up into two or three separate bergs, and one sees — and
beautifully from the mast-head — the blue sea and distant horizon between
perpendicular walls of glistening alabaster white, against which the long
swell dashes, rearing up in great blue-green heaps, falling back in a
torrent of rainbow-flashing spray, or goes roaring into the azure caverns,
followed immediately by a thundering thud,&s the compressed air within THE«ACCUMULAT011>>«
buffets it back again in a torrent of seething white foam." Neither words
adequately describe the beauty of many of the icebergs seen. One had three high arched
caverns penetrating far to its interior; another had a large tunnel through which they could
see the horizon. The delicate colouring of these bergs is most lovely — sweeps of azure blue
and pale sea-green with dazzling white; glittering, sparkling crystal merging into depths
of indigo blue; stalactite icicles hanging from the walls and roofs of cavernous openings.
The reader will imagine the beauty of the scene at sunrise and sunset, when as many as
eighty or ninety bergs were sometimes in sight. The sea was intensely green from the
presence of minute algae, through belts of which the vessel passed, while the sun, sinking
in a golden blaze, tipped and lighted up the ice and snow, making them sparkle as with
* This is an apparatus consisting of a number of india-rubber bands suspended from the mast-head, during
dredging operations, which indicates, by its expansion and contraction, how the dredge is passing over the
inequalities of the bottom.
DEEP-SEA TEMPERATURES.
37
brightest gems. A large number of tabular icebergs, with quantities of snow on their
level tops, were met. They amused themselves by firing a 9-pounder Armstrong at one,
which brought the ice down with a rattling crash, the face of the berg cracking, splitting,
and splashing down with a roar, making the water below white with foam and powdered
ice. These icebergs were all stratified, at more or less regular distances, with blue lines,
which before they capsized or canted from displacement of their centres of gravity, were
always horizontal. During a gale, the Challenger came into collision with a berg, and lost
her jibboom, "dolphin-striker," and other head-gear. An iceberg in a fog or gale of wind
is not a desirable obstruction to meet at sea.
The observations made for deep-sea temperatures gave some remarkable results. Here,
among the icebergs, a band or stratum of water was found, at a depth of eighty to 200
THE NATURALIST'S ROOM ON BOARD THE " CHALLENGER."
fathoms, colder than the water either above or below it. Take one day as an example : on
the 19th of February the surface temperature of the sea-water was 32° ; at 100 fathoms
it was 29-2° ; while at 300 fathoms it had risen to 33°. In the Atlantic, on the eastern
side about the tropics, the bottom temperature was found to be very uniform at 35-2p, while
it might be broiling hot on the surface. Further south, on the west side of the Atlantic
below the equator, the bottom was found to be very nearly three degrees cooler. It is
believed that the cold current enters the Atlantic from the Antarctic, and does not rise to
within 1,700 fathoms of the surface. These, and many kindred points, belong more properly
to another section of this work, to be hereafter discussed.
The Challenger had crossed, and sounded, and dredged the broad Atlantic from
Madeira to the West Indies — finding their deepest water off the Virgin Islands; thence
to Halifax, Nova Scotia; recrossed it to the Azores, Canary, and Cape de Verde Islands;
recrossed it once more in a great zig-zag from the African coast, through the equatorial
regions to Bahia, Brazil; and thence, if the expression may be used, by a great angular
38
THE SEA.
sweep through the Southern Ocean to Tristan d'Acunha en route to the Cape, where they
made an interesting discovery, one that, unlike their other findings, was most interesting
to the discovered also. It was that of two modern Robinson Crusoes, who had been living
by themselves a couple of years on a desolate rocky island, the name of which, " Inac-
cessible," rightly describes its character and position in mid ocean. Juan Fernandez, the
locale of Defoe's immortal story, is nothing to it now-a-days, and is constantly visited.
Fir,. 2.
DREDGING IMPLEMENTS USED BY THE "CHALLENGER."
Fig 1, Sounding machines. Fig 2, Slip water-bottles. Fig. 3, Deep-sea thermometer. Fig. 4, The dredge. Fig. 5, Cup sounding lead.
On arrival at the island of Tristan d'Acunha, itself a miserable settlement of about a
dozen cottages, the people, mostly from the Cape and St. Helena, some of them mulattoes,
informed the officers of the Challenger that two Germans, brothers, had some time before
settled, for the purpose of catching seals, on a small island about thirty miles off, and that,
not having been over there or seen any signs of them for a long time, they feared that
they had perished. It turned out afterwards that the Tristan d'Acunha people had not
taken any trouble in the matter, looking on them as interlopers on their fishing-grounds.
They had promised to send them some animals — a bull, cow, and heifer — but, although
they had stock and fowls of all kinds, had left them to their fate. But first as to this
THE TWO CRTJSOES. 39
little-known Tristan d'Acunha, of which Lord George Campbell* furnishes the following
account : — " It is a circular-shaped island, some nine miles in diameter, a peak rising in
the centre 8,300 feet high — a fine sight, snow-covered as it is two-thirds of the way
down. In the time of Napoleon a guard of our marines was sent there from the Cape;
but the connection between Nap's being caged at St. Helena and a guard of marines
occupying this island is not very obvious, is it.^ Any way, that was the commencement
of a settlement which has continued with varying numbers to this day, the marines
having long ago been withdrawn, and now eighty-six people — men, women, and children —
live here. ... A precipitous wall of cliff, rising abruptly from the sea, encircles
the island, excepting where the settlement is, and there the cliff recedes and leaves a loag
grass slope of considerable extent, covered with grey boulders. The cottages, in number
about a dozen, look very Scotch from the ship, with their white walls, straw roofs, and
stone dykes around them. Sheep, cattle, pigs, geese, ducks, and fowls they have in
plenty, also potatoes and other vegetables, all of which they sell to whalers, who give
them flour or money in exchange. The appearance of the place makes one shudder;
it looks so thoroughly as though it were always blowing there — which, indeed, it is,
heavy storms continually sweeping over, killing their cattle right and left before they
have time to drive them under shelter. They say that they have lost 100 head of
cattle lately by these storms, which kill the animals, particularly the calves, from sheer
fatigue." The men of the place often go whaling or sealing cruises with the ships that
touch there.
The Challenger steamed slowly over to Inaccessible Island during the night, and anchored
next morning off its northern side, where rose a magnificent wall of black cliff, splashed
green with moss and ferns, rising sheer 1,300 feet above the sea. Between two headlands
a strip of stony beach, with a small hut on it, could be seen. This was the residence
of our two Crusoes.
Their story, told when the first exuberance of joy at the prospect of being taken
off the island had passed away, was as follows : — One of the brothers had been cast
away on Tristan d'Acunha some years before, in consequence of the burning of his ship.
There he and his companions of the crew had been kindly treated by the settlers, and told
that at one of the neighbouring islands 1,700 seals had been captured in one season.
Telling this to a brother when he at last reached home in the Fatherland, the two ol'
them, fired with the ambition of acquiring money quickly, determined to exile themselves
for a while to the islands. By taking passage on an outward-bound steamer from
Southampton, and later transferring themselves to a whaler, they reached their destination
in safety on the 27th of November, 1871. They had purchased an old whale-boat — mast,
sails, and oars complete — and landed with a fair supply of flour, biscuit, coffee, tea, sugar,
salt, and tobacco, sufficient for present neecis. They had blankets and some covers,
which were easily filled with bird's feathers — a German could hardly forget his national
luxury, his feather-bed. They had provided themselves with a wheelbarrow, sundry tools,
pot? and kettles ; a short Enfield rifle, and an old fowling-piece, and a very limited supply
* " Log Letters from the Challenger"
40 THE SEA.
of powder, bullets, and shot. They had also sensibly provided themselves with some
seeds, so that, all in all, they started life on the island under favourable circumstances.
The west side of the island, on which they landed, consisted of a beach some three
miles in length, with a bank of earth, covered with the strong long tussock grass, rising
to the cliff, which it was just possible to scale. The walls of rock by which the island
is bounded afforded few opportunities for reaching the comparatively level plateau at the
top. Without the aid of the grass it was impossible, and in one place, which had to
be climbed constantly, it took them an hour and a half of hard labour, holding on with
hands and feet, and even teeth, to reach the summit. Meantime, they had found on the
north side a suitable place for building their hut, near a waterfall that fell from the side
of the mountain, and close to a wood, from which they could obtain all the firewood
they required. Their humble dwelling was partly constructed of spars from the vessel
that had brought them to the island, and was thatched with grass. About this time
(December) the seals were landing in the coast, it being the pupping season, and they
killed nineteen. In hunting them their whale-boat, which was too heavy for two men
to handle, was seriously damaged in landing through the surf; but yet, with constant
bailing, could be kept afloat. A little later they cut it in halves, and constructed from
the best parts a smaller boat, which was christened the Sea Cart. During the summer
rains their house became so leaky that they pulled it down, and shifted their quarters to
another spot. At the beginning of April the tussock grass, by which they had ascended
the cliff, caught fire, and their means of reaching game, in the shape of wild pigs and
goats, was cut off. Winter (about our summer-time, as in Australia, &c.) was approaching,
and it became imperative to think of laying in provisions. By means of the Sea Cart
they went round to the west side, and succeeded in killing two goats and a pig, the
latter of which furnished a bucket of fat for frying potatoes. The wild boars there were
found to be almost uneatable; but the sows were good eating. The goats' flesh was said
to be very delicate. An English ship passed them far out at sea, and they lighted a
fire to attract attention, but in vain; while the surf was running too high, and their
Cart too shaky to attempt to reach it.
Hitherto they had experienced no greater hardships than they had expected, and were
prepared for. But in June [mid-winter] their boat was, during a storm, washed off the
beach, and broken up. This was to them a terrible disaster; their old supplies were
exhausted, and they were practically cut off from not merely the world in general, but
even the rest of the island. They got weaker and weaker, and by August were little
better than two skeletons.
The sea was too tempestuous, and the distance too great for them to attempt to
swim round (as they afterwards did) to another part of the island. But succour was at
hand; they were saved by the penguins, a very clumsy form of relief. The, female
birds came ashore in August to lay their eggs in the nests already prepared by their
lords and masters, the male birds, who had landed some two or three weeks previously.
Our good Germans had divided their last potato, and were in a very weak and despondent
condition when the pleasant fact stared them in the face that they might now fatten on
eggs ad libitum. Their new diet soon put fresh heart and courage in them, and when,
SAVED AT LAST. 41
early in September, a French bark sent a boat ashore, they determined still to remain
on the island. They arranged with the captain for the sale of their seal-skins, and
bartered a quantity of eggs for some biscuit and a couple of pounds of tobacco. Late
in October a schooner from the Cape of Good Hope called at the island, and on leaving,
promised to return for them, as they had decided to quit the island, not having had any
success in obtaining peltries or anything else that is valuable; but she did not re-appear,
and in November their supplies were again at starvation-point. Selecting a calm day,
the two Crusoes determined to swim round the headland to the eastward, taking with
them their rifles and blankets, and towing after them an empty oil-barrel containing
their clothes, powder, matches, and kettle. This they repeated later on several occasions,
and, climbing the cliffs by the tussock grass, were able to kill or secure on the plateau
a few of the wild pigs. Sometimes one of them only would mount, and after killing a
pig would cut it up and lower the hams to his brother below. They caught three little
sucking-pigs, and towed them alive through the waves, round the point of their landing-
place, where they arrived half drowned. They were put in an enclosure, and fed on green
stuff and penguin's eggs — good feeding for a delicate little porker. Attempting on
another occasion to tow a couple in the same way, the unfortunate pigs met a watery
grave in the endeavour to weather the point, and one of the brothers barely escaped,
with some few injuries, through a terrible surf which was beating on their part of the
coast. Part of their time was passed in a cave during the cold weather. When the
Challenger arrived their only rifle had burst in two places, and was of little use, while
their musket was completely burst in all directions, and was being used as a blow-pipe
to freshen the fire when it got low. Their only knives had been made by themselves
from an old saw. Their library consisted of eight books and an atlas, and these, affording
their only literary recreation for two years, they knew almost literally by heart. When
they first landed they had a dog and two pups, which they, doubtless, hoped would
prove something like companions. The dogs almost immediately left, and made for the
penguin rookeries, where they killed and worried the birds by hundreds. One of them
became mad, and the brothers thought it best to shoot the three of them. Captain Nares
gave the two Crusoes a passage to the Cape, where one of them obtained a good situation ;
the other returned to Germany, doubtless thinking that about a couple of dozen seal-
skins— all they obtained — was hardly enough to reward them for their two years' dreary
sojourn on Inaccessible Island.
42 THE SEA.
CHAPTER III.
THE MEN OF THE SEA.
. The great Lexicographer on Sailors— The Dangers of the Sea— How Boys become Sailors— Young Amyas Leigh— The
Genuine Jack Tar— Training-Ships versus the old Guard-Ships—" Sea-goers and Waisters "—The Training Undergone—
Routine on Board— Never-ending Work— Ship like a Lady's Watch— Watches and "Bells"— Old Grogram and Grog—
The Sailor's Sheet Anchor— Shadows in the Seaman's Life— The Naval Cat— Testimony and Opinion of a Medical
Officer— An Example— Boy Flogging in the Navy— Shakspeare and Herbert on Sailors and the Sea.
DR. JOHNSON, whose personal weight seems to have had something to do with that carried
by his opinion, considered going to sea a species of insanity.* " No man/' said he, " will
be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail : for being in a ship
is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned." The great lexicographer knew
Fleet Street better than he did the fleet, and his opinion, as expressed above, was hardly
even decently patriotic or sensible. Had all men thought as he professed to do — probably
for the pleasure of saying something ponderously brilliant for the moment — we should have
had no naval or commercial superiority to-day — in short, no England.
The dangers of the sea are serious enough, but need not be exaggerated. One writer f
indeed, in serio-comic vein, makes his sailors sing in a gale —
" When you and I, Bill, on the deck
Are comfortably lying,
My eyes ! what tiles and chimney-pota
About their heads are flying ! "
leading us to infer that the dangers of town-life are greater than those of the sea in a
moderate gale. We might remind the reader that Mark Twain has conclusively shown,
from statistics, that more people die in bed comfortably at home than are killed by all
the railroad, steamship, or other accidents in the world, the inference being that going
to bed is a dangerous habit ! But the fact is, that wherever there is danger there will
be brave men found to face it — even when it takes the desperate form just indicated !
So that there is nothing surprising in the fact that in all times there have been men
ready to go to sea.
Of those who have succeeded, the larger proportion have been carried thither by the
spirit of adventure. It would be difficult to say whether it has been more strongly
developed through actual " surroundings," as believed by one of England's most intelligent
and friendly critics^ who says, "The ocean draws them just as a pond attracts young
ducks/' or through the influence of literature bringing the knowledge of wonderful
voyages and discoveries within the reach of all. The former are immensely strong
influences. The boy who lives by, and loves the sea, and notes daily the ships of all
* All readers will remember Peter Simple, and how he tells us that " It has been from time immemorial
the heathenish custom to sacrifice the greatest fool of the family to the prosperity and naval superiority of the
country," and that he personally "was selected by general acclamation!" Marryat knew very well, however, that
it was " younger sons," and not by any means necessarily the greatest fools of the family who went to sea.
t William Pitt, long Master-Attendant at Jamaica Dockyard, who died at Malta, in 1840. The song is often
wrongly attributed to Dibdin, or Tom Hood the elder.
J Alphonse Esquiros, " English Seamen and Divers."
THE EMBRYO SAILOR. 43
nations passing to and fro, or who, maybe, dwells in some naval or commercial port,
and sees constantly great vessels arriving and departing, and hears the tales of sailors
bold, concerning new lands and curious things, is very apt to become imbued with the
spirit of adventure. How charmingly has Charles Kingsley written on the latter point ! *
How young Amyas Leigh, gentle born, and a mere stripling schoolboy, edged his way
under the elbows of the sailor men on Bideford Quay to listen to Captain John Oxenham
tell his stories of heaps — "seventy foot long, ten foot broad, and twelve foot high" —
of silver bars, and Spanish treasure, and far-off lands and peoples, and easy victories
over the coward Dons ! How Oxenham, on a recruiting bent, sang out, with good broad
Devon accent, " Who 'lists ? who 'lists ? who'll make his fortune ?
'"Oh, who will join, jolly mariners all?
And who will join, says he, 0 !
To fill his pockets with the good red goold,
By sailing on the sea, O ! ' "
And how young Leigh, fired with enthusiasm, made answer, boldly, te 1 want tc go to
sea; I want to see the Indies. I want to fight the Spaniards. Though I'm a gentleman's
son, I'd a deal liever be a cabin-boy on board your ship." And how, although he did not
go with swaggering John, he lived to first round the world with great Sir Francis
Drake, and after fight against the " Invincible " Armada. The story had long before,
and has many a time since, been enacted in various forms among all conditions of men.
To some, however, the sea has been a last refuge, and many such have been converted
into brave and hardy men, perforce themselves; while many others, in the good old days
of press-gangs, appeared, as Marryat tells us, " to fight as hard not to be forced into
the service as they did for the honour of the country after they were fairly embarked
in it." It may not generally be known that the law which concerns impressing has
never been abolished, although there is no fear that it will ever again be resorted to in
these days of naval reserves, training-ships, and naval volunteers.
The altered circumstances of the age, arising from the introduction of steam, and
the greatly increased inter-commercial relations of the whole world, have made the
Jack Tar pure and simple comparatively rare in these days; not, we believe, so much
from his disappearance off the scene as by the numbers of differently employed men on
board by whom he is surrounded, and in a sense hidden. A few A.B.'s and ordinary
seamen are required on any steamship; but the whole tribe of mechanicians, from the
important rank of chief engineer downwards, from assistants to stokers and coal-passers,
need not know one rope from another. On the other hand, the rapid increase of
commerce has apparently outrun the natural increase of qualified seamen, and many a
good ship nowadays, we are sorry to say, goes to sea with a very motley crew of
"green" hands, landlubbers, and foreigners of all nationalities, including Lascars, Malays,
and Kanakas, from the Sandwich Islands. A ei confusion of tongues," not very desirable
on board a vessel, reigns supreme, and renders the position of the officers by no means
enviable. To obviate these difficulties, and furnish a supply of good material bofh to
* " Westward Ho ! "
44 . THE SEA.
the Royal Navy and Mercantile Marine, training-ships have been organised, which have
been, so far, highly successful. Let these embryo defenders of their country's interests
have the first place.
Of course, at all periods the boys, and others who entered to serve before the mast,
received some training, and picked up the rest if they were reasonably clever. The
brochure of "an old salt,"* which has recently appeared, gives a fair account of his
own treatment and reception. Running away from London, as many another boy has
done, with a few coppers in his pocket, he tramped to Sheerness, taking by the way a
hearty supper of turnips with a family of sheep in a field. Arrived at his destination,
he found a handsome flag-ship, surrounded by a number of large and small vessels.
Selecting the very smallest — as best adapted to his own size — he went on board, and
asked the first officer he met — one who wore but a single epaulet — whether his ship was
manned with boys?3' He was answered, "No, I want men; and pray what may you
want?" "I want to go to sea, sir, please." "You had better go home to your mother,"
was the answer. With the next officer — " a real captain, wearing grey hair, and as
straight as a line" — he fared better, and was eventually entered as a third-class boy, and
sent on board a guard-ship. Here he was rather fortunate in being taken in charge by a
petty officer, who had, as was often the case then, his wife living on board. The lady
ruled supreme in the mess. She served out the grog, too, and, to prevent intoxication
among the men, used to keep one finger inside the measure ! This enabled her to the
better take care of her husband. She is described as the best "man" in the mess, and
irresistibly reminds us of Mrs. Trotter in "Peter Simple," who had such a horror of
rum that she could not be induced to take it except when the water was bad. The water,
however, always was bad ! But the former lady took good care of the new-comer, while,
as we know, Mrs. Trotter fleeced poor Peter out of three pounds sterling and twelve
pairs ot stockings before he had been an hour on board. Mr. Mindry tells the usual
stories of the practical jokes he had to endure — about being sent to the doctor's mate
for mustard, for which he received a peppering; of the constant thrashings he received —
in one case, with a number of others, receiving two dozen for losing his dinner.
He was cook of the mess for the time, and having mixed his dough, had taken it to
the galley-oven, from the door of which a sudden lurch of the ship had ejected it on
the main deck, " the contents making a very good representation of the White Sea." The
crime for which he and his companions suffered was for endeavouring to scrape it up
again ! But the gradual steps by which he was educated upwards, till he became
a gunner of the first class, prove that, all in all, he had cheerily taken the bull by the
horns, determined to rise as far and fast as he might in an honourable profession. He
was after a year or so transferred to a vessel fitting for the West Indies, and soon got
a taste of active life. This was in 1837. Forty or fifty years before, the guard-ships were
generally little better than floating pandemoniums. They were used partly for breaking in
raw hands, and were also the intermediate stopping-places for men waiting to join other
ships. In a guard-ship of the period described; a most heterogeneous mass of humanity
* Robert Mindry, " Chips from the Log of an Old Salt."
THE GUARD-SHIP OF OLD. 4^
was assembled Human invention could not scheme work for the whole, while skulking,
impracticable in other vessels of the Royal Navy, was deemed highly meritorious there.
A great body of men were thus very often assembled together, who resolved themselves
into hostile classes, separated as any two castes of the Hindoos. A clever writer in
Blackwood's Magazine, more than fifty years ago, describes them first as " sea-goers," —
i.e., sailors separated from their vessels by illness, or temporary causes, or ordered to other
vessels, who looked on the guard-ship as a floating hotel, and, having what they were
TRAIXIXG-SHIP.
pleased to call ships of their own, were the aristocrats of the occasion, who would do no
more work than they were obliged. The second, and by far the most numerous class,
were termed "waisters," and were the simple, the unfortunate, or the utterly abandoned,
a body held on board in the utmost contempt, and most of whom, in regard to clothing,
were wretched in the extreme. The " waister " had to do everything on board that was
menial — swabbing, sweeping, and drudging generally. At night, in defiance of his hard
and unceasing labour, he too often became a bandit, prowling about seeking what he
might devour or appropriate. What a contrast to the clean orderly training-ships of
to-day ! Some little information on this subject, but imperfectly understood by the public,
may perhaps be permitted here.
46 THE SEA.
It is not generally known that our supply of seamen for the Royal Navy is nowadays
almost entirely derived from the training-ships — first established about fourteen years
ago. In a late blue-book it was stated that during a period of five years only 107 men
had been entered from other sources, who had not previously served. Training-ships^
accommodating about 3,000, are stationed at Devonport, Falmouth, Portsmouth, and
Portland, where the lads remain for about a year previous to being sent on sea-going
ships. The age of entry has varied at different periods; it is now fifteen to sixteen and
a half years. The recruiting statistics show whence a large proportion come — from the
men of Devon, who contribute, as they did in the days of Drake and Hawkins, Gilbert
and Raleigh, the largest quota of men willing to make their "heritage the sea."
Dr. Peter Comrie, R.N., a gentleman who has made this matter a study, informs
the writer that on board these ships, as regards cleanliness, few gentlemen's sons are
better attended to, while their education is not neglected, as they have a good school-
master on all ships of any size. He says that boys brought up in the service not
merely make the best seamen, but generally like the navy, and stick to it. The order,
cleanliness, and tidy ways obligatory on board a man-of-war, make, in many cases, the
ill-regulated fo'castle of most merchant ships very distasteful to them. Their drilling is
just sufficient to keep them in healthy condition. No one can well imagine the difference
wrought in the appearance of the street arah, or the Irish peasant boy, by a short
residence on board one of these ships. He fills out, becomes plump, loses his gaunt,
haggard, hunted look; is natty in his appearance, and assumes that jaunty, rolling gait
that a person gifted with what is called " sea-legs " is supposed to exhibit. Still, " we/'
writes the doctor, " have known Irish boys, who had very rarely even perhaps seen
animal food, when first put upon the liberal dietary of the service, complain that they
were being starved, their stomachs having been so used to be distended with large
quantities of vegetables, that it took some time before the organ accommodated itself to
a more nutritious but less filling dietary."
You have only got to watch the boy from the training-ship on leave to judge that
the navy has yet some popularity. Neatly dressed, clean and natty, surrounded by his
quondam playmates, he is "the observed of all observers," and is gazed at with admiring
respect by the street arab from a respectful distance. He has, perhaps, learned to "spin
a few yarns," and give the approved hitch to his trousers, and, while giving a favourable
account of his life on board ship, with its forecastle jollity and " four bitter," is the
best recruiting-officer the service can have. The great point to be attended to, in order
to make him a sailor, is that "you must catch him young."* That a good number
have been so caught is proved by the navy estimates, which now provide for over 7,000
boys, 4,000 of the number in sea-going ships.
* The conditions for entering a Government training-ship for the service involve, 1st, the consent of parents
or proper guardians ; 2nd, the candidate must sign to serve ten years commencing from the age of eighteen. A
bounty of £6 is paid to provide outfit, and he receives sixpence a day. At the age of eighteen he receives one
shilling and a penny per day — the same as an ordinary seaman. Each candidate passes a medical examination,
and must be from fifteen to sixteen and a half years of age. The standard height is five feet for sixteen years
old — rather a low average.
TRAINING-SHIPS. 41
Governments, as governments, may be paternal, but are rarely very benevolent, and
the above excellent institutions are only organised for the safety and strength of the navy.
There is another class of training-ships, which owe their existence to benevolence, and deserve
every encouragement — those for rescuing our street waifs from the treadmill and prison. The
larger part of these do not enter the navy, but are passed into the Merchant Marine, their
training being very similar. The Government simply lends the ship. Thus the Chichester,
at Greenhithe, a vessel which had been in 1868 a quarter of a century lying useless — never
having seen service — was turned over to a society, a mere shell or carcase, her masts,
rigging, and other fittings having to be provided by private subscriptions. Her case
irresistibly reminds the writer of a vessel, imaginary only in name, described by James
Hannay : * — " H.M.S. Patagonian was built as a three-decker, at a cost of £120,000,
when it was discovered that she could not sail. She was then cut down into a frigate,
at a cost of £50,000, when it was found out that she would not tack. She was next
built up into a two-decker, at a cost of another £50,000, and then it was discovered
she could be made useful, so the Admiralty kept her unemployed for ten years ! " A
good use was, however, found at last for the Chichester, thanks to benevolent people, the
quality of whose mercy is twice blessed, for they both help the wretched youngsters,
and turn them into good boys for our ships. Some of these street arabs previously
have hardly been under a roof at night for years together. Hear M. Esquiros : — " To
these little ones London is a desert, and, though lost in the drifting sands of the
crowd, they never fail to find their way. The greater part of them contract a singular
taste for this hard and almost savage kind of life. They love the open sky, and at night
all they dread is the eye of the policeman; their young minds become fertile in resources,
and glory in their independence in the ' battle of life ; ' but if no helping hand is
stretched out to arrest them in this fatal and down-hill path, they surely gravitate to the
treadmill and the prison. How could it be otherwise? . . . The question is, what
are these lads good for ? " That problem, M. Esquiros, as you with others predicted,
has been solved satisfactorily. The poor lads form excellent raw material for our ever-
increasing sea-service.
The training of a naval cadet — i.e., an embryo midshipman, or " midshipmite " (as poor
Peter Simple was irreverently called — before, however, the days of naval cadets) — is very similar
in many respects to that of an embryo seaman, but includes many other acquirements. After
obtaining his nomination from the Admiralty, and undergoing a simple preliminary ex-
amination at the Royal Naval College in ordinary branches of knowledge, he is passed to a
training-ship, which to-day is the Britannia at Dartmouth. Here he is taught all the ordinary
acquirements in rigging, seamanship, and gunnery; and, to fit him to be an officer, he is
instructed in taking observations for latitude and longitude, in geometry, trigonometry, and
algebra. He also goes through a course of drawing-lessons and modern languages. He is
occasionally sent off on a brig for a short cruise, and after a year on the training-ship,
during which he undergoes a quarterly examination, he is passed to a sea-going ship. His
position on leaving depends entirely on his certificate — if he obtains one of the First Class, he
* In "(Singleton Fontenoy, 'B..N,''
48 THE SEA.
is immediately rated midshipman ; while if he only obtains a Third Class certificate, he will
have to serve twelve months more on the sea-going ship, and pass another examination before
he can claim that rank.*
The actual experiences of intelligent sailors, or voyagers, written by themselves, have,
of course, a greater practical value than the sea-stories of clever novelists, while the latter,
as a class, confine themselves very much to the quarter-deck. Dana's "Two Years Before
the Mast " is so well known that few of our readers need to be told that it is the story of an
American student, who had undermined his health by over-application, and who took a voyage,
via Cape Horn, to California in order to recover it. But the old brig Pilgrim, bound to the
northern Pacific coast for a cargo of hides, was hardly a fair example, in some respects, of an
ordinary merchant-vessel, to say nothing of a fine clipper or modern steam-ship. Dana's
experiences were of the roughest type, and may be read by boys, anxious to go to sea, with
advantage, if taken in conjunction with those of others ; many of them are common to all grades
of sea service. A little work by a " Sailor-boy,"f published some years ago, gives a very fair
idea of a seaman's lot in the Royal Navy, and the two stories in conjunction present a fair
average view of sea-life and its duties.
Passing over the young sailor-boy's admission to the training-ship— the " Guardho," as
he terms it — we find his first days on board devoted to the mysteries of knots and hitch-
making, in learning to lash hammocks, and in rowing, and in acquiring the arts of
" feathering " and " tossing " an oar. Incidentally he gives us some information on the
etiquette observed in boats passing with an officer on board. " For a lieutenant, the coxswain
only gets up and takes his cap off; for a captain, the boat's crew lay on their oars, and
the coxswain takes his cap off; and for an admiral the oars are tossed (i.e., raised
perpendicularly, not thrown in the air !), and all caps go off." Who would not be an admiral ?
While in this " instruction " he received his sailor's clothes — a pair of blue cloth
trousers, two pairs of white duck ditto, two blue serge and two white frocks, two pairs of white
" jumpers," two caps, two pairs of stockings, a knife, and a marking-type. As soon as he is
" made a sailor " by these means, he was ordered to the mast-head, and tells with glee how
he was able to go up outside by the futtock shrouds, and not through " lubber's hole." The
reader doubtless knows that the lubber's hole is an open space between the head of the lower
mast and the edge of the top ; it is so named from the supposition that a " land-lubber " would
prefer that route. The French call it the trou du chat — the hole through which the cat would
climb. Next he commenced cutlass-drill, followed by rifle-drill, big-gun practice, instruction
in splicing, and all useful knots, and in using the compass and lead-line. He was afterwards-
sent on a brig for a short sea cruise. " Having," says he, " to run aloft without shoes was
a heavy trial to me, and my feet often were so sore and blistered that I have sat down in the
' tops ' and cried with the pain ; yet up I had to go, and furl and loose my sails ; and up I did
go, blisters and all. Sometimes the pain was so bad I could not move smartly, and then th(
unmerited rebuke from a thoughtless officer was as gall and wormwood to me."
Dana, in speaking of the incessant work on board any vessel, says, " A ship is like a lady's
* Vide " The Queen's Regulations and the Admiralty Instructions for the Government of Her Majesty's Nava
Service ;" also G-lascock's " Naval Officer's Manual."
f " A Sailor-Boy's Log-Book from Portsmouth to the Peiho," edited hy Walter White.
ROUTINE ON BOAED. 49
watch — always out of repair." When, for example, in a calm, the sails hanging loosely, the
hot sun pouring down on deck, and no way on the vessel, which lies
" As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean,"
there is always sufficient work for the men, in "setting up" the rigging, which constantly
requires lightening and repairing, in picking oakum for caulking, in brightening up the metal-
INSTKUCTION ON UOAllD A MAN-OF-WAR.
work, and in holystoning the deck. The holystone is a large piece of porous stone,* which is
dragged in alternate ways by two sailors over the deck, sand being used to increase its effect.
It obtains its name from the fact that Sunday morning is a very common time on many
merchant-vessels for cleaning up generally.
The daily routine of our young sailor on the experimental cruises gave him plenty of
employment. In his own words it was as follows : — Commencing at five a.m. — <( Turn hands
up ; holystone or scrub upper deck ; coil down ropes. Half -past six — breakfast, half an
* A naval friend kindly informs me that the Malta holystones are excellent, natural lava being abundant.
7
50 THE SEA.
hour; call the watch, watch below, clean the upper deck; watch on deck, clean wood and
brass- work; put the upper decks to rights. Eight a.m. — hands to quarters; clean guns and
arms ; division for inspection ; prayers ; make sail, reef topsails, furl top-sails, top-gallant sails,
royals ; reef courses, down top-gallant and royal yards. This continued till eight bells, twelve
o'clock, dinner one hour. t All hands again ; cutlass, rifle, and big-gun drill till four o'clock ;
clear up decks, coil up ropes ; ' and then our day's work is done." Then they would make
little trips to sea, many of them to experience the woes of sea-sickness for the first time.
But the boys on the clean and well-kept training-brig were better off in all respects than
poor Dana. When first ordered aloft, he tells us, "I had not got my ' sea-legs' on, was
dreadfully sea-sick, with hardly strength to hold on to anything, and it was ' pitch-dark ' * * *
How I got along I cannot now remember. I ' laid out ' on the yards, and held on with all
my strength. I could not have been of much service ; for I remember having been
sick several times before I left the top-sail yard. Soon all was snug aloft, and we
were again allowed to go below. This I did not consider much of a favour; for the
confusion of everything below, and that inexpressibly sickening smell, caused by the
shaking up of bilge-water in the hold, made the steerage but an indifferent refuge to
the cold, wet decks. I had often read of the nautical experiences of others, but I felt
as though there could be none worse than mine; for, in addition to every other evil, I
could not but remember that this was only the first night of a two years' voyage.
"When we were all on deck, we were not much better off, for we were continually ordered
about by the officer, who said that it was good for us to be in motion. Yet anything
was better than the horrible state of things below. I remember very well going to the
hatchway and putting my head down, when I was oppressed by nausea, and felt like being
relieved immediately. We can fully recommend the example of Dana, who, acting on the
advice of the black cook on board, munched away at a good half-pound of salt beef and hard
biscuit, which, washed down with cold water, soon, he says, made a man of him.
Some little explanation of the mode of dividing time on board ship may be here found
useful. A " watch " is a term both for a division of the crew and of their time : a full
watch is four hours. At the expiration of each four hours, commencing from twelve o'clock
noon, the men below are called in these or similar terms — "All the starboard (or port) watch
ahoy ! Eight bells ! " The watch from four p.m. to eight p.m. is divided, on a well-regulated
ship, into two " dog-watches ; " the object of this is to make an uneven number of periods
• — seven, instead of six, so that the men change the order of their watches daily. Other-
wise, it will be seen that a man, who, on leaving port, stood in a particular watch — from
twelve noon to four p.m. — would stand in the same watch throughout the voyage ; and he
who had two night-watches at first would always have them. The periods of the "dog-
watches " are usually devoted to smoking and recreation for those off duty.
As the terms involved must occur frequently in this work, it is necessary also to explain
for some readers the division of time itself by " bells." The limit is " eight bells," which
are struck at twelve, four, and eight o'clock a.m. or p.m. The ship's bell is sounded each
half -hour. Half -past any of the above hours is " one bell " struck sharply by itself. At the
hour, two strokes are made sharply following each other. Expressing the strokes by signs,
half-past twelve would be I (representing one stroke) ; one o'clock would be II (two strokes
THE SAILOR'S SHEET-ANCHOR. 51
sharply struck, one after tlie other) ; half-past one, II I ; two o'clock, II II; half -past two,
II II I; three o'clock,! I II II; half-past three, II II II I; and four o'clock, II II II II, or
" eight bells." The process is then repeated in the next watch, and the only disturbing
element comes from the elements, which occasionally, when the vessel rolls or pitches greatly,
cause the bell to strike without leave.
Seamen before the mast are divided into three classes — 'able, ordinary, and boys. In the
merchant service a "green hand" of forty may be rated as a boy; a landsman must shi^
for boy's wages on the first voyage. Merchant seamen rate themselves — in other words, they
cause themselves to be entered on the ship's books according to their qualifications and
experience. There are few instances of abuse in this matter, and for good reason. Apart from
the disgrace and reduction of wages and rating which would follow, woe to the man who sets
himself up for an A.B. when he should enter as a boy; for the rest of the crew consider it a
fraud on themselves. The vessel would be short-handed of a man of the class required, and
their work would be proportionately increased. No mercy would be shown to such an. impostor,
and his life on board would be that of a dog, but anything rather than that of a "jolly
sea-dog."*
There are lights in the sailor's chequered life. Seamen are, Shakespeare tells us, " but
men " — and, if we are to believe Dibdin, grog is a decided element in their happier
hours. " Grog " is now a generic term ; but it was not always. One Admiral Vernon —
who persisted in wearing a grogramf tunic so much that he was known among his
subordinates as "Old Grog" — earned immortality of a disagreeable nature by watering
the rum-ration of the navy to its present standard. At 11.30 a.m., on all ships of the
Royal Navy nowadays, half a gill of watered rum — two parts of water to one of the
stronger drink — is served out to each of the crew, unless they have forfeited it by
some act of insubordination. The officers, including the petty officers, draw half a gill
of pure rum ; the former put it into the general mess, and many never taste it. " Six-
water " grog is a mild form of punishment. " Splicing the main-brace " infers extra
grog served out for extraordinary service. Formerly, and, indeed, as late as forty odd
years ago, the daily . ration was a full gill ; but, as sailors traded and bartered their drinks
among themselves, it would happen once in awhile that one would get too much "on
board." It has happened occasionally in consequence that a seaman has tumbled overboard,
or fallen from the yards or rigging, and has met an inglorious death. Boys are not
allowed grog in the Royal Navy, and there is no absolute rule among merchant- vessels.
In the American navy there is a coin allowance in lieu of rum, and every nation has
its own peculiarities in this matter. In the French navy, wine, very ordinaire, and a little
brandy is issued.
There are shadows, too, in the sailor's life — as a rule, he brings them on himself,
but by no means always. If sailors are "but men," officers rank in the same category,
and occasionally act like brutes. So much has been written on the subject of the naval
" cat " — a punishment once dealt out for most trifling offences, and not abolished yet,
that the writer has some diffidence in approaching the subject. A volume might be
* Vide Dana's " Seaman's Manual." f A form of heavy pile silk.
52 THE SEA.
written on the theme; let the testimony of Dr. Stables,* a surgeon of the Royal Navy,
suffice. It shall be told in his own words : —
"One item of duty there is, which occasionally devolves on the medical officer, and
for the most part goes greatly against the feeling- of the young surgeon; I refer to his
compulsory attendance at floggings. It is only fair to state that the majority of captains
and commanders use the cat as seldom as possible, and that, too, only sparingly. In
some ships, however, flogging is nearly as frequent as prayers of a morning. , Again, it
13 more common on foreign stations than at home, and boys of the first or second class,
marines, and ordinary seamen, are for the most part the victims. . . . We were at
anchor in Simon's Bay. All the minutiae of the scene I remember as though it were
but yesterday. The morning was cool and clear, the hills clad in lilac and green, sea-birds
floating high in air, and the waters of the bay reflecting the blue of the sky, and the
lofty mountain-sides forming a picture almost dream-like in its quietude and serenity.
The men were standing about in groups, dressed in their whitest of pantaloons, bluest
of smocks, and neatest of black-silk neckerchiefs. By-and-by the culprit was led in
by a file of marines, and I went below with him to make the preliminary examination,
in order to report whether or not he might be fit for the punishment.
" He was as good a specimen of the British mariner as one could wish to look
upon — hardy, bold, and wiry. His crime had been smuggling spirits on board.
" ' Needn't examine me, doctor/ said he ; ' I aint afeared of their four dozen ; they
can't hurt me, sir — leastways my back, you know — my breast, though ; hum — m ! ' and
he shook his head, rather sadly I thought, as he bent down his eyes.
" ' What/ said I, ' have you anything the matter with your chest ? '
" ' Nay, doctor, nay ; it's my feelings they'll hurt. I've a little girl at home that
loves me, and, bless you, sir, I won't look her in the face again nohow.'
" I felt his pulse. No lack of strength there, no nervousness ; the artery had the
firm beat of health, the tendons felt like rods of iron beneath the finger, and his biceps
stood out hard and round as the mainstay of an old seventy-four. . . . All hands
had already assembled — the men and boys on one side, and the officers, in cocked hats
and swords, on the other. A grating had been lashed against the bulwark, and another
placed on deck beside it. The culprit's shoulders and back were bared, and a strong
belt fastened around the lower part of the loins for protection; he was then firmly tied
by the hands to the upper, and by the feet to the lower grating; a little basin of cold
water was placed at his feet, and all was now prepared. The sentence was read, and
orders given to proceed with the punishment. The cat is a terrible instrument of
torture; I would not use it on a bull unless in self-defence; the shaft is about a foot
and a half long, and covered with green or red baize, according to taste ; the thongs are
nine, about twenty-eight inches in length, of the thickness of a goose-quill, and with
two knots tied on each. Men describe the first blow as like a shower of molten lead.
" Combing out the thongs with his five fingers before each blow, firmly and
determinedly was the first dozen delivered by the bo'swain's mate, and as unflinchingly-
received .
* " Medical Life in the Navy," by W. Stables, M.D., &c.
THE NAVAL CAT. 53
"Then, 'One dozen, sir, please/ he reported, saluting the commander.
" ( Continue the punishment/ was the calm reply.
"A new man, and a new cat. Another dozen reported ; again the same reply.
Three dozen. The flesh, like burning steel, had changed from red to purple, and blue,
and white; and between the third and fourth dozen, the suffering wretch, pale enough
now, and in all probability sick, begged a comrade to give him a mouthful of water.
" There was a tear in the eye of the hardy sailor who obeyed him, whispering as
he did so, ' Keep up, Bill ; it'll soon be over now/
" l Five, six/ the corporal slowly counted ; ' seven, eight/ It is the last dozen, and
how acute must be the torture ! ' Nine, ten/ The blood comes now fast enough, and —
yes, gentle reader, I will spare your feelings. The man was cast loose at last, and put
on the sick-list; he had borne his punishment without a groan, and without moving
a muscle. A large pet monkey sat crunching nuts in the rigging, and grinning all the
time ; I have no doubt he enjoyed the spectacle immensely, for he was only an ape"
Dr. Stables gives his opinion on the use of the cat in honest and outspoken terms.
He considers "corporal punishment, as applied to men, cowardly, cruel, and debasing to
human nature ; and as applied to boys, brutal, and sometimes ev&n. fiendish"
The writer has statistics before him which prove that 456 cases of flogging boys
took place in 1875, and that only seven men were punished during that year. There
is every probability that the use of the naval cat will ere long be abolished, and important
as is good discipline on board ship, there are many leading authorities who believe that
it can be maintained without it. The captain of a vessel is its king, reigning in a little
world of his own, and separated for weeks or months from the possibility of reprimand.
If he is a tyrannical man, he can make his ship a floating hell for all on board. A
system of fines for small offences has been proposed, and the idea has this advantage,
that in case they prove on investigation to have been unjustly imposed, the money
can be returned. The disgrace of a flogging sticks to a boy or man, and, besides, as
.a punishment is infinitely too severe for most of the offences for which it is inflicted.
It would be a cruel punishment were the judge infallible, but with an erring human
being for an irresponsible judge, the matter is far worse. And that good seamen are
deterred from entering the Koyal Navy, knowing that the commission of a peccadillo
or two may bring down the cat on their unlucky shoulders, is a matter of fact.
We shall meet the sailor on the sea many a time and again during the progress
of this work, and see how hardly he earns his scanty reward in the midst of the awful
dangers peculiar to the elements he dares. Shakespeare says that he is —
" A man whom both the waters and the wind,
In that vast tennis-court, hath made the ball
For them to play on" —
that the men of all others who have made England what she is, have not altogether a
bed of roses even on a well-conducted vessel, whilst they may lose their lives at any
moment by shipwreck and sudden death. George Herbert says —
" Praise the sea, but keep on land."
54 THE SEA.
And while the present writer would be sorry to prevent any healthy, capable, adventurous
boy from entering a noble profession, he recommends him to first study the literature
of the sea to the best and fullest of his ability. Our succeeding chapter will exhibit
some of the special perils which surround the sailor's life, whilst it will exemplify to some
extent the qualities specially required and expected from him.
CHAPTER IV.
PERILS OF THE SAILOR'S LIFE.
The Loss of the Captain— Six Hundred Souls swept into Eternity without a Warning— The Mansion and the Cottage alike
Sufferers— Causes of the Disaster— Horrors of the Scene— Noble Captain Burgoyne— Narratives of Survivors— An
almost Incredible Feat— Loss of the Royal George— A. great Disaster caused by a Trifle— Nine Hundred Lost— A
Child saved by a Sheep— The Portholes Upright— An involuntary Bath of Tar— Rafts of Corpses— The Vessel Blown
up in 1839-40— The Loss of the Vanguard— Half a Million sunk in Fifty Minutes— Admirable Discipline on Board
— All Saved— The Court Martial.
ENGLAND, and indeed all Europe, long prior to 1870 had been busily constructing ironclads,
and the daily journals teemed with descriptions of new forms and varieties of ships, armour,
and armament, as well as of new and enormous guns, which, rightly directed, might sink
them to the bottom. Among the more curious of the ironclads of that period, and the
construction of which had led to any quantity of discussion, sometimes of a very angry
kind, was the turret-ship — practically the sea-going "monitor" — Captain, which Captain
Cowper Phipps Coles had at length been permitted to construct. Coles, who was an
enthusiast of great scientific attainments, as well as a practical seaman, which too many
of our experimentalists in this direction have not been, had distinguished himself in
the Crimea, and had later made many improvements in rendering vessels shot-proof. His
revolving turrets are, however, the inventions with which his name are more intimately
connected, although he had much to do with the general construction of the Ccyitaiu,
and other ironclads of the period.
The Captain was a large double-screw armour-plated vessel, of 4,272 tons. Her armour
in the most exposed parts was eight inches in thickness, ranging elsewhere downwards
from seven to as low as three inches. She had two revolving turrets, the strongest and
heaviest yet built, and carried six powerful guns. Among the peculiarities of her
construction were, that she had only nine feet of "free-board" — i.e., that was the height
of her sides out of water. The forecastle and after-part of the vessel were raised above
this, and they were connected with a light hurricane-deck. This, as we shall see, playe
an important part in the sad disaster we have to relate.
On the morning of the 8th of September, 1870, English readers, at their breakfast
tables, in railway carriages, and everywhere, were startled with the news that the Captain hi
foundered, with all hands, in the Bay of Biscay. Six hundred men had been swept int
LOSS OF THE "CAPTAIN." £f,
eternity without a moment's warning. She had been in company with the squadron the
night before, and, indeed, had been visited by the admiral, for purposes of inspection,,
the previous afternoon. The early part of the evening had been fine ; later it had become
what sailors call " dirty weather ; " at midnight the wind rose fast, and soon culminated
in a furious gale. At 2.15 in the morning of the 7th a heavy bank of clouds passed
off, and the stars came out clear and bright, the moon then setting; but no vessel could
be discerned where the Captain had been last observed. At daybreak the squadron was
all in sight, but scattered. '' Only ten ships instead of eleven could lie discerned, the
'Captain' being the missing one." Later, it appeared that seventeen of the men and the
gunner had escaped, and landed at Corbucion, north of Cape Finisterre, on the afternoon
of the 7th. All the men icho were saved belonged to the starboard watch j or, in other words,
none escaped except those on deck duty. Every man below, whether soundly sleeping-
after his day's work, or tossing sleeplessly in his berth, thinking of home and friends and
present peril, or watching the engines, or feeding the furnaces, went down, without the
faintest possibility of escaping his doom.
Think of this catastrophe, and what it involved ! The families and friends of
600 men plunged into mourning, and the scores on scores of wives and children into
poverty ! In one street of Portseay, thirty wives were made widows by the occurrence.*
The shock of the news killed one poor woman, then in weak health. Nor were the sad
effects confined to the cottages of the poor. The noble-hearted captain of the vessel was
a son of Field-Marshal Burgoyne; Captain Coles, her inventor; a son of Mr. Childers,
the then First Lord of the Admiralty; the younger son of Lord Northbrook ; the third
son of Lord Herbert of Lea; and Lord Lewis Gordon, brother of the Marquis of
Huntley, were among the victims of that terrible morning. The intelligence arrived
during the excitement caused by the defeat and capitulation of Sedan, which, involving,
as it did, the deposition of the Emperor and the fate of France, was naturally the great
topic of discussion, but for the time it overshadowed even those great events, for it was
a national calamity.
From the statements of survivors we now know that the watch had been, called a
few minutes past midnight; and as the men were going on deck to muster, the ship
gave a terrible lurch to starboard, soon, however, righting herself on that occasion.
Robert Hirst, a seaman, who afterwards gave some valuable testimony, was on the fore-
castle. There was a very strong wind, and the ship was then only carrying her three
top-sails, double reefs in each, and the foretop-mast stay-sail. The yards were braced
sharp up, and the ship had little way upon her.f As the watch was mustered, he heard
Captain Burgoyne give the order, " Let go the foretop-sail halyards ! " followed by, " Let
go fore and maintop-sail sheets ! " By the time the men got to the top-sail sheets the
ship was heeling over to starboard so much that others were being washed off the deck,
* Portsmouth, Devonport, Plymouth, and some Cornish seaport towns and villages were the chief sufferers.
Plymouth had furnished more than one-third of the crew.
t None of the survivors appeared to know whether the Captain's screw was revolving at the time. Her
steam was partially up. Had she steamed, there is every probability that the catastrophe would not have
occurred.
HORRORS OF THE SHIPWRECK. 57
the ship lying down on her side, as she was gradually turning over and trembling
through her whole frame with every blow which the short, jumping, vicious seas, now
white with the squall, gave her.* The roar of the steam from her boilers was terrific,
" outscreaming the noise of the storm/"' but not drowning the shrieks of the poor engineers
and stokers which were heard by some of the survivors. The horrors of their situation
can be imagined. The sea, breaking down the funnel, would soon, no doubt, extinguish the
furnaces, but not until some of their contents had been dashed into the engine-room,
with oceans of scalding water ; the boilers themselves may, likely enough, have given
way and burst also. Mercifully, it was not for long. Hirst, with two other men, rushed
to the weather-forecastle netting and jumped overboard. It was hardly more than a few
moments before they found themselves washed on to the bilge of the ship's bottom, for in
that brief space of time the ship had turned completely over, and almost immediately
went down. Hirst and his companions went down with the ship, but the next feeling
of consciousness by the former was coming into contact with a floating spar, to which
he tied himself with his black silk handkerchief. He was soon, however, washed from
the spar, but got hold of the stern of the second launch, which was covered with
canvas, and floating as it was stowed on board the ship. Other men were there, on the top
of the canvas covering. Immediately after, they fell in with the steam-lifeboat pinnace,
bottom-up, with Captain Burgoyne and several men clinging to it. Four men, of whom
Mr. May,f the gunner, was one, jumped from off the bottom of the steam-pinnace to
the launch. One account says that Captain Burgoyne incited them, by calling out,
" Jump, men, jump ! " but did not do it himself. The canvas was immediately cut away,
and with the oars free, they attempted to pull up to the steam-pinnace to rescue the
captain and others remaining there. This they found impossible to accomplish. As
soon as they endeavoured to get the boat's head up to the sea to row her to windward to
where the capsized boat was floating, their boat was swamped almost level to her
* One man testified that he had heard Captain Burgoyne' s inquiries as to how much the ship was heeling
over, the answers given being respectively, "18," "23," "25 degrees." The movement was never checked,
and almost the moment after she had reached 25 degrees, she was keel-uppermost, and about to make that
terrific plunge to the bottom.
f Mr. May's statement at the court-martial was in part as follows: — "Shortly after 0.15 a.m. on the
7th inst., being in my cabin, which was on the starboard or lee side of the ship, I was disturbed in my sleep
by the noise of some marines. Feeling the ship uneasy, I dressed myself, and took the lantern to look at the
guns in the turrets It was but a very short time — from fifteen to twenty minutes — past midnight.
I then went to the after-turret. The guns were all right. Immediately I got inside the turret I felt the ship
heel steadily over, deeper and deeper, and a heavy sea struck her on the weather-side. The water flowed into
the turret as I got through the pointing-hole on the top, and I found myself overboard; I struck out, and
succeeded in reaching the steam-pinnace, which was bottom up, on which were Captain Burgoyne and five or
six others. I saw the ship turn bottom-up, and sink stern first, the last I saw of her being her bows. The
whole time of her turning over to sinking was but from five to ten minutes, if so much. Shortly after, I saw
the launch drifting close to us who were on the pinnace ; she was but a few yards from us ; I called out,
' Jump, men — it is your last chance ! ' I jumped, and succeeded, with three others, in reaching her. I do not
know for certain whether Captain Burgoyne jumped or not. I was under the impression he did ; but the others
in the launch do not think so. At any rate, he never reached her. When on the pinnace, a large ship, which
I believe to have been the Inconstant, passed us fifty yards to leeward. We all hailed her ; but, I suppose, the
howling of the wind and sea prevented their hearing us."
8
58 THE SEA.
thwarts, and two of the men were washed clean out of her. The pump was set going,
and the boat bailed out with their caps, &c., as far as possible. They then made a
second attempt to row the boat against the sea, which was as unsuccessful as before.
Meantime, poor Burgoyne was still clinging to the pinnace, in " a storm of broken
waters/' When the launch was swept towards him once, one of the men on board
offered to throw him an oar, which he declined, saying, nobly, " For God's sake, men,
keep your oars : you will want them." This piece of self-abnegation probably cost him
his life, for he went down shortly after, following "the six hundred " of his devoted
crew into "the valley of death/' The launch was beaten hither and thither; and a
quarter of an hour after the Captain had capsized, sighted the lights of one of their
own ships, which was driven by in the gale, its officers knowing nothing of the fate of
these unfortunates, or their still more hapless companions. Mr. May, the gunner, took
charge of the launch, and at daybreak they sighted Cape Finisterre, inside which they
landed after twelve hours' hard work at the oars.
One man, when he found the vessel capsizing, crawled over the weather-netting on
the port side, and performed an almost incredible feat. It is well told in his own
laconic style : — " Felt ship heel over, and felt she would not right. Made for weather-
hammock netting. She was then on her beam-ends. Got along her bottom by degrees,
as she kept turning over, until I was where her keel would have been if she had one.
The seas then washed me off. I saw a piece of wood about twenty yards off, and swam to
it." In other words, he got over her side, and walked up to the bottom ! While in
the water, two poor drowning wretches caught hold of him, and literally tore off the legs
of his trousers. He could not help them, and they sank for the last time.
Many and varied were the explanations given of the causes of this disaster. There
had evidently been some uneasiness in regard to her stability in the water at one time,
but she had sailed so well on previous trips, in the same stormy waters, that confidence
had been restored in her. The belief, afterwards, among many authorities, was that she
ought not to have carried sail at all.* This was the primary cause of the disaster, no
doubt; and then, in all probability, when the force of the wind had heeled her over, a
heavy sea struck her and completely capsized her — the water on and over her depressed
side assisting by weighting her downwards. The side of the hurricane-deck acted, when
the vessel was heeled over, as one vast sail, and, no doubt, had much to do with putting
her on her beam-ends. The general impression of the survivors appeared to be that,
with the ship heeling over, the pressure of a strong wind upon the under part of the
hurricane-deck had a greater effect or leverage upon the hull, than the pressure of the
wind on her top-sails. They were also nearly unanimous in their opinion that when
the Captain's starboard side was well down in the water, with the weight of water on the
turret-deck, and the pressure of the wind blowing from the port hand on the under surface
of the hurricane-deck, and thus pushing the ship right over, she had no chance of
righting herself again.
* The late Admiral Sherard Osborn, in a letter to the Times, said, " The desire of our Admiralty to make
all their fighting-ships cruise under canvas, as well as steam, induced poor Captain Coles to go a step further,
and to make a ship with a low free board a sailing-ship." This was against his judgment, however.
CAUSES OF THE DISASTEE. 59
It is to be remarked that long after the Captain had sunk, the admiral of the
squadron thought that he saw her, although it was very evident afterwards that it must
have been some other vessel. In his despatch to the Admiralty,* which very plainly
indicated that he had some anxiety in regard to her stability in bad weather, he
described her appearance and behaviour up till 1.30 a.m. — more than an hour after her
final exit to the depths below. In the days of superstitious belief, so common among
sailors, a thrilling story of her image haunting the spot would surely have been built
on this foundation.
„ In the old fighting-days of the Royal Navy, when success followed success, and prize
after prize rewarded the daring and enterprise of its commanders, they did not think
;, very much of the loss of a vessel more or less, but took the lesser evils with the greater
goods. The seamanship was wonderful, but it was very often utterly reckless. A captain
trained in the school of Nelson and Cochrane would stop at nothing. The country,
accustomed to great naval battles, enriched by the spoils of the enemy — who furnished
some of the finest vessels in our fleet — was not much affected by the loss of a ship,
and the Admiralty was inclined to deal leniently with a spirited commander who had
met with an accident. But then an accident in those days did not mean the loss of
half a million pounds or so. The cost of a large ironclad of to-day would have built a
small wooden fleet of those days.
The loss of the Captain irresistibly brings to memory another great loss to the Royal
Navy, which occurred nearly ninety years before, and by which 900 lives were in a
moment swept into eternity. It proved too plainly that " wooden walls " might capsize
as readily as the " crankiest " ironclad. The reader will immediately guess that we refer
to the loss of the Royal George, which took place at Spithead, on the 28th of August,
1782, in calm weather, but still under circumstances which, to a very great extent, explain
how the Captain — at the best, a vessel of doubtful stability — capsized in the stormy waters
of Biscay. The Royal George was, at the time, the oldest first-rate in the service, having
been put into commission in 1755. She carried 108 guns, and was considered a staunch
ship, and a good sailer. Anson, Boscawen, Rodney, Howe, and Hawke had all repeatedly
commanded in her.
From what small causes may great and lamentable disasters arise ! " During the
washing of her decks, on the 28th, the carpenter discovered that the pipe which admitted
the water to cleanse and sweeten the ship, and which was about three feet under the
rater, was out of repair — that it was necessary to replace it with a new one, and to heel
ler on one side for that purpose." The guns on the port side of the ship were run out
of the port-holes as far as they would go, and those from the starboard side were drawn
in and secured amidships. This brought her porthole- sills on the lower side nearly even
* Admiral Milne, in his despatch dated from H.M.S. Lord Warden, off Finisterre, September 7th, 1870,
stated that, at a little before 1 a.m., the Captain was astern of his ship, ." apparently closing under steam."
The signal "open order" was made, and at once answered; and at 1.15 a.m. she was on the Lord Wardens
(the flag-ship's) lee quarter, about six points abaft the beam. From that time until about 1.30 a.m. I constantly
itched the ship. . . . She was heeling over a good deal to starboard," &c. "We have seen that she went
awn shortly after the midnight watch had been called.
60 THE SEA.
with the water. " At about 9 o'clock a.m., or rather before," stated one of the survivors.*
"we had just finished our breakfast, and the last lighter, with rum on board, had come
alongside; this vessel was a sloop of about fifty tons, and belonged to three brothers, who
used her to carry things on board the men-of-war. She was lashed to the larboard side
of the Royal George, and we were piped to clear the lighter and get the rum out of her,
and stow it in the hold. ... At first, no danger was apprehended from the ship
being on one side, although the water kept dashing in at the portholes at every wave ; and
there being mice in the lower part of the ship, which were disturbed by the water which
dashed in, they were hunted in the water by the men, and there had been a rare game going
on." Their play was soon to be rudely stopped. The carpenter, perceiving that the ship
was in great danger, went twice on the deck to ask the lieutenant of the watch to order
the ship to be righted; the first time the latter barely answered him, and the second
replied, savagely, " If you can manage the ship better than I can, you had better take
the command." In a very short time, he began himself to see the danger, and ordered
the drummer to beat to right ship. It was too late — the ship was beginning to sink; a
sudden breeze springing upheeled her still more ; the guns, shot, and heavy articles generally,
and a large part of the men on board, fell irresistibly to the lower side; and the water,
forcing itself in at every port, weighed the vessel down still more. She fell on her broad-
side, with her masts nearly flat on the water, and sank to the bottom immediately. " The
officers, in their confusion, made no signal of distress, nor, indeed, could any assistance
have availed if they had, after her lower-deck ports were in the water, which forced itself
in at every port with fearful velocity." In going down, the main-yard of the Royal
George caught the boom of the rum-lighter and sank her, drowning some of those on
board.
At this terrible moment there were nearly 1,200 persons t on board. Deducting the
larger proportion of the watch on deck, about 230, who were mostly saved by running up
the rigging, and afterwards taken off by the boats sent for their rescue, and, perhaps,
seventy others who managed to scramble out of the ports, &c., the whole of the remainder
perished. Admiral Kempenfelt, whose flag-ship it was, and who was then writing in his
cabin, and had just before been shaved by the barber, went down with her. The first-
captain tried to acquaint him that the ship was sinking, but the heeling over of the ship had
so jammed the doors of the cabin that they could not be opened. One young man was
saved, as the vessel filled, by the force of the water rushing upwards, and sweeping him
bodily before it through a hatchway. In a few seconds, he found himself floating on
the surface of the sea, where he was, later, picked up by a boat. A little child was almost
miraculously preserved by a sheep, which swam some time, and with which he had doubt-
less been playing on deck. He held by the fleece till rescued by a gentleman in a
wherry. His father and mother were both drowned, and the poor little fellow did not
* A " Narrative of the Loss of the Royal George" published at Portsea, and written by a gentleman who was
on the island at the time.
t The exact number was never known. There were 250 women on board, a large proportion of whom were
the wives and relatives of the sailors; and there were also a number of children, most of whom belonged to
Portsmouth. Besides these, there were a number of Jew and other traders on board.
LOSS OF THE "EOYAL GEORGE."
61
even know their names; all that he knew was that his own name was Jack. His
preserver provided for him.
One of the survivors,* who got through a porthole, looked back and saw the
opening "as full of heads as it could cram, all trying to get out. I caught/' said he,
THE WRECK OF THE " ROYAL GEORGE."
"hold of the best bower-anchor, which was just above me, to prevent falling back again
into the porthole, and seizing hold of a woman who was trying to get out of the same
porthole, I dragged her out." The same writer says that he saw "all the heads drop
back again in at the porthole, for the ship had got so much on her larboard side that the
starboard portholes were as upright as if the men liad tried to get out of the top of a
* Mr. Ingram, whose narrative, printed in the little work before quoted, hears all the impress of truth.
62 THE SEA.
chimney, with nothing for their legs and feet to act itpon." The sinking- of the vessel
drew him down to the bottom,, but he was enabled afterwards to rise to the surface and
swim to one of the great blocks of the ship which had floated off. At the time the ship
was sinking, an open barrel of tar stood on deck. When he rose, it was floating on the
water like fat, and he got into the middle of it, coming out as black as a negro
minstrel !
When this man had got on the block he observed the admiral's baker in the shrouds
of the mizentop-mast, which were above water not far off; and directly after, the poor
woman whom he had pulled out of the porthole came rolling by. He called out to the
baker to reach out his arm and catch her, which was done. She hung, quite insensible,
for some time by her chin over one of the ratlines of the shrouds, but a surf soon washed
her off again. She was again rescued shortly after, and life was not extinct; she re-
covered her senses when taken on board our old friend the Victory, then lying with other
large ships near the Royal George. The captain of the latter was saved, but the poor
carpenter, who did his best to save the ship, was drowned.
In a few days after the Royal George sank, bodies would come up, thirty or forty
at a time. A corpse would rise "so suddenly as to frighten any one." The watermen,
there is no doubt, made a good thing of it; they took from the bodies of the men their
buckles, money, and watches, and then made fast a rope to their heels and towed them
to land." The writer of the narrative from which this account is mainly derived says
that he "saw them towed into Portsmouth Harbour, in their mutilated condition, in the
same manner as rafts of floating timber, and promiscuously (for particularity was scarcely
possible) put into carts, which conveyed them to their final sleeping-place, in an excava-
tion prepared for them in Kingstown churchyard, the burial-place belonging to the parish
of Portsea." Many bodies were washed ashore on the Isle of Wight.
Futile attempts were made the following year to raise the wreck, but it was not till
1839-40 that Colonel Pasley proposed, and successfully carried out, the operations for its
removal. Wrought-iron cylinders, some of the larger of which contained over a ton each
of gunpowder, were lowered and fired by electricity, and the vessel was, by degrees, blown
up. Many of the guns, the capstans, and other valuable parts of the wreck were re-
covered by the divers, and the timbers formed then, and since, a perfect godsend to some
of the inhabitants of Portsmouth, who manufactured them into various forms of "relics"
of the Royal George. It is said that the sale of these has been so enormous that if they
could be collected and stuck together they would form several vessels of the size of the
fine old first-rate, large as she was ! But something similar has been said of the " wood
of the true cross," and, no doubt, is more than equally libellous.
It is said, by those who descended to the wreck, that its appearance was most
beautiful, when seen from about a fathom above the deck. It was covered with seaweeds,
shells, starfish, and anemones, while from and around its ports and openings the fish,
large and small, swam and played — darting, flashing, and sparkling in the clear green
water.
There is probably no reasonable being in or out of the navy who does not believe
that the ironclad is the war-vessel of the immediate future. But that a woeful amount of
LOSS OF THE "VANGUARD." 63
uncertainty, as thick as the fog in which the Vanguard went down, envelops the subject
in many ways, is most certain. The circumstances connected with that great disaster
are still in the memory of the public, and were simple and distinct enough. During
the last week of August, 1875, the reserve squadron of the Channel Fleet, comprising
the Warrior, Achilles, Hector, Iron Duke, and Vanguard, with Vice -Admiral Sir W.
Tarleton's yacht Hawk, had been stationed at Kingstown. At half-past ten on the
morning of the 1st of September they got into line for the purpose of proceeding to Queens-
town, Cork. Off the Irish lightship, which floats at sea, six miles off Kingstown, the
Achilles hoisted her ensign to say farewell — her destination being Liverpool. The sea was
moderate, but a fog came on and increased in density every moment. Half an hour after noon,
the " look-out " could not distinguish fifty yards ahead, and the officers on the bridge could
not see the bowsprit. The ships had been proceeding at the rate of twelve or fourteen
knots, but their speed had been reduced when the fog came on, and they were running
at not more than half the former speed. The Vanguard watch reported a sail ahead,
and the helm was put hard aport to prevent running it down. The Iron Duke was then
following close in the wake of the Vanguard) and the action of the latter simply brought
them closer, and presented a broadside to the former, which, unaware of any change, had
continued her course. The commander of the Iron Duke, Captain Hickley, who was on
the bridge at the time, saw the spectre form of the Vanguard through the fog, and
ordered his engines to be reversed, but it was too late. The ram of the Iron Duke
struck the Vanguard below the armour-plates, on the port side, abreast of the engine-
room. The rent made was very large — amounting, as the divers afterwards found, to
four feet in width — and the water poured into the hold in torrents. It might be only
a matter of minutes before she should go down.*
The vessel was doomed ; a very brief examination proved that : nothing remained
but to save the lives of those on board. Captain Dawkins gave the necessary orders
with a coolness which did not represent, doubtless, the conflicting feelings within his
breast. The officers ably seconded him, and the crew behaved magnificently. One of the
mechanics went below in the engine-room to let off the steam, and so prevent an ex-
plosion, at the imminent risk of his life. The water rose quickly in the after-part, and
rushed into the engine and boiler rooms, eventually finding its way into the provision-
room flat, through imperfectly fastened (so-called) " water-tight " doors, and gradually over
the whole ship. There was no time to be lost. Captain Dawkins called out to his men
* The sentence of the court-martial blamed Captain Dawkins, his navigating-lieutenant, and the ship's
carpenter, for not endeavouring to stop " the breach from the outside with the means at their command, such
as hammocks and sails;" for not having "ordered Captain Hickley, of H.M.S. Iron Duke, to tow H.M.S.
Vanguard into shallow water," such being available at a short distance; the chief-engineer for not "applying
the means at his command to relieve the ship of water ; the navigating-lieutenant " for neglect of duty in not
pointing out to his captain that there was shoaler water within a short distance;" and the carpenter in "not-
taking immediate steps for sounding the compartments, and reporting from time to time the progress of the
water." A lamentable showing, truly, if all these points were neglected! So far as the commander is con-
cerned, his successful efforts to save the lives of all on board (not knowing when his ship might go down, and
with the remembrance of the sudden loss of the Captain full in view) speak much in his favour, and in ex-
tenuation of much that would otherwise appear culpable neglect.
THE LOSS OF THE "KENT."
SPLENDID DISCIPLINE.
65
'that if they preserved order all would be saved. The men stood as at an inspection —
-not one moved until ordered to do so. The boats of both ships were lowered. While
'the launching was going- on, the swell of the tide caused a lifeboat to surge against
the hull, and one of the crew had his finger crushed. This was absolutely the only
•casualty. In twenty minutes the whole of the men were transferred to the Iron Duke,
.no single breach of discipline occurring beyond the understandable request of a sailor
•once in awhile to be allowed to make one effort to secure some keepsake or article of
^special value to himself. But the order was stern: "Boys, come instantly/' As "four
THE "VANGUARD" AS SHE APPEARED AT LOW WATER.
bells " (2 p.m.) was striking, the last man having been received on the Iron Duke, the
doomed vessel whirled round two or three times, and then sank in deep water.*
It is obvious, then, that the discipline and courage of the service had not deteriorated
from that always expected in the good old days. Captain Dawkins was the last man to
leave his sinking ship, and his officers one and all behaved in the same spirit. They
•endeavoured to quiet and reassure the men — pointing out to them the fatal consequencer
of confusion. Captain Dawkins may or may not have been rightly censured for his sea-
manship; there can be no doubt that he performed his duty nobly in these systematic
efforts to save his crew. However much was lost to the nation, no mother had to mourn
the loss of her sailor-boy; no wife had been made a widow, no child an orphan: five
hundred men had been saved to their country.
* Nineteen fathoms, or 114 feet. Her main-topmast-head was afterwards twenty-four feet out of water,
66 THE SEA.
One of the officers of the Vanguard, in a letter to a friend, graphically described
the scene at and after the collision. After having lunched, he entered the ward-room,
where he encountered the surgeon, Dr. Fisher, who was reading a newspaper. "After
remarking on the thickness of the fog, Fisher went to look out of one of the ports,
and immediately cried out, ' God help us ! here is a ship right into us ! ' We rushed
on deck, and at that moment the Iron Duke struck us with fearful force, spars and
blocks falling about, and causing great danger to us on deck. The Iron Duke then
dropped astern, and was lost sight of in the fog. The water came into the engine-room
in tons, stopping the engines, putting the fires out, and nearly drowning the engineers
and stokers. . . . The ship was now reported sinking fast, although all the water-
tight compartments had been closed. But in consequence of the shock, o'ome of the
water-tight doors leaked fearfully, letting water into the other parts of the ship.
Minute-guns were being fired, and the boats were got out. ... At this moment
the Iron Duke appeared, lowering her boats and sending them as fast as possible. The
sight of her cheered us up, as we had been frightened that she would not find us
in the fog, in spite of the guns. The scene on deck can only be realised by those
who have witnessed a similar calamity. The booming of the minute-guns, the noise
of the immense volume of steam rushing out of the escape-funnel, and the orders of the
captain, were strangely mingled, while a voice from a boat reported how fast she was
sinking."
"When the vessel went down, the deck of the Iron Duke was crowded with men
watching the finale of the catastrophe. When she was about to sink, she heeled gradually
over until the whole of her enormous size to the keel was above water. Then she
gradually sank, righting herself as she went down, stern first, the water being
blown from hawse-holes in huge spouts by the force of the air rushing out of the ship.
She then disappeared from view. The men were much saddened to see their home go
down, carrying everything they possessed. They had been paid that morning, and a
large number of them lost their little accumulated earnings. These were, of course, after-
wards allowed them by the Admiralty.
The Vanguard and the Iron Duke were two of a class of broadside ironclads, built
with a view to general and not special utility in warfare. Their thickest armour was
eight inches, a mere strip, 100 feet long by three high, and much of the visible part
of them was unarmoured altogether, while below it varied from six inches to as low
as three-eighths of an inch. It was only the latter thickness where the point of
the Iron Duke's ram entered. Their advocates boasted that they could pass through
the Suez Canal, and go anywhere.
Every reader will remember the stormy discussion which ensued, in which not merely
the ironclad question, but the court-martial which followed— and the Admiralty decision
which followed that — were severely handled. Nor could there be much wonder at all this,
for a vessel which had cost the nation over a quarter of a million of pounds sterling,
equipment and property on board which had cost as much more,* was lost for ever,
* The total estimated loss was £550,000.
TOSS OF THE "KENT." 67
it was in vain that the then First Lord of the Admiralty* told us, in somewhat flippant
tones, that we ought to be rather satisfied than otherwise with the occurrence. It was not
iiltogether satisfactory to learn from Mr. Reed, the principal designer of both ships, that
ironclads were in more danger in times of peace than in times of war.f In the former
they were residences for several hundred sailors, and many of the water-tight doors could
aiot be kept closed without inconvenience ; in the latter they were fortresses, when the
doors would be closed for safety. The court-martial, constituted of leading naval
Authorities and officers, imputed blame for the high rate of speed sustained in a fog; the
public naturally inquired why a high rate of speed was necessary at all at the time, but
their lordships declined to consider this as in any way contributing to the disaster. The
•Court expressed its opinion pretty strongly upon the conduct of the officers of the Iron
Duke, which did the mischief, and also indirectly blamed the admiral in command of the
squadron, but the Admiralty could find nothing wrong in either case, simply visiting their
wrath on the unfortunate lieutenant on deck at the time. So, to make a long and very
unpleasant story short, the loss of the Vanguard brought about a considerable loss of
faith in some of our legally constituted naval authorities. \
CHAPTER V.
PERILS OF THE SAILOR'S LIFE (continued).
The Value of Discipline— The Loss of the Kent— Fire on Board— The Ship Waterlogged— Death in Two Forms— A Sail
in Sight— Transference of Six Hundred Passengers to a small Brig— Splendid Discipline of the Soldiers— Imper-
turbable Coolness of the Captain— Loss of the Birkenhead— Literally Broken in Two— Noble Conduct of the Military—
A contrary Example— Wreck of the Medusa— Run on a Sand-bank— Panic on Board— Raft constructed— Insubordi-
nation and Selfishness— One Hundred and Fifty Souls Abandoned— Drunkenness and Mutiny on the Raft — Riota
and Murders— Reduced to Thirty Persons— The stronger part Massacre the others— Fifteen Left— Rescued at Last—
Another Contrast— Wreck of the Alccste— Admirable Conduct of the Crew— The Ironclad Movement— The Battle
of the Guns.
IT is impossible to read the account of any great disaster at sea, without being strongly
impressed with the enormous value of maintaining in the hour of peril the same strict
.discipline which, under ordinary circumstances, is the rule of a vessel. Few more striking
* Mr. Ward Hunt said publicly that, " If the Iron Duke had sent an enemy's ship to the bottom, we
•should have called her one of the most formidable ships of war in the world, and all that she has done is
actually what she was intended to do, except, of course, that the ship she struck was unfortunately our own
property, and not that of the enemy."
f Mr. Reed wrote to the Times to the effect that there would, undoubtedly, be a " greater measure of safety
-during a naval engagement than on ordinary occasions," and explained that " the ruling consideration which has
been aimed at in these ships has been so to divide them into compartments, that, when all the water-tight
doors and valves are arranged as they would be on going into action, the breach by a ram of one compart-
ment only should not suffice to sink the ship."
J Sir Henry James, Attorney- General to the previous Government, spoke publicly on the subject in the
plainest terms. He said: — "One would have thought that if there were a court-martial on the vessel which
is lost, the officers of the vessel which caused that loss would not go scot free." The Admiralty was blamed
for not having sent the decision of the Court back to it for reconsideration, instead of which they broke a rule
•of naval etiquette, and seemed anxious to quash inquiry.
68 THE SEA.
examples of this are to be found, than in the story of the loss of the Kent, which we
are now about to relate. The disaster of the Medusa, which we shall record later, in which,
complete anarchy and disregard of discipline, aggravated a hundredfold the horrors o£
the situation, only teaches the same lesson from the opposite point of view. Though the-
most independent people on the earth, all Englishmen worthy of the name appreciate the
value of proper subordination and obedience to those who have rightful authority to com-
mand. This was almost the only gratifying feature connected with the loss of the-
Vanguard, and the safe and rapid transference of the crew to the Iron Duke was.
due to it. But the circumstances of the case were as nought to some that have preceded
it, where the difficulties and risks were infinitely greater and the reward much less certain.
The Kent was a fine troop-ship, of 1,530 tons, bound from England for Bengal and China:.
She had on board 344 soldiers, forty-three women, and sixty-six children. The officers, private
passengers, and crew brought the total number on board to 640. After leaving the Downs,,
on the 19th of February, 1825, she encountered terrible weather, culminating in a gale on
the 1st of March, which obliged them almost to sail under bare poles. The narrative *
by Sir Duncan MacGregor, one of the passengers, created an immense sensation at its
first appearance, and was translated into almost every language of the civilised world. He
states that the rolling of the ship, which was vastly increased by a dead weight of some
hundred tons of shot and shells that formed a part of its lading, became so great about
half -past eleven or twelve o'clock at night, that the main-chains were thrown by every
lurch considerably under water; and the best cleated articles of furniture in the cabin and
the cuddy were dashed about in all directions.
It was a little before this period that one of the officers of the ship, with the well-meant
intention of ascertaining that all was fast below, descended with a lantern. He discovered
one of the spirit-casks adrift, and sent two or three sailors for some billets of wood to secure'
it. While they were absent, he unfortunately dropped the lamp, and letting go his hold
of the cask in his eagerness to recover it, the former suddenly stove, and the spirits
communicating with the light, the whole deck at that part was speedily in a blaze. The •
fire spread rapidly, and all their efforts at extinguishing it were vain, although bucket
after bucket of water, wet sails and hammocks, were immediately applied. The smoke began,
to ascend the hatchway, and although every effort was made to keep the passengers in.,
ignorance, the terrible news soon spread that the ship was on fire. As long as the devouring
element appeared to be confined to the spot where the fire originated, and which they were
assured was surrounded on all sides with water-casks, there was some hope that it might
be subdued; but soon the light-blue vapour that at first arose was succeeded by volumes,-
of thick, dingy smoke, which ascended through all the hatchways and rolled over the ship.
A thorough panic took possession of most on board.
The deck was covered with six hundred men, women, and children, many almost frantic
with excitement — wives seeking their husbands, children their mothers ; strong men appearing
as though their reason was overthrown, weak men maudlin and weeping; many good people
on their knees in earnest prayer. Some of the older and more stout-hearted soldiers and
* "The loss of the Kent, East Indiaman," by Lieut.-General Sir Duncan MacGregor, K.C.B.
A SAIL IN SIGHT. 69
sailors sullenly took their seats directly over the powder-magazine, expecting momentarily
that it would explode and put them out of their misery. A strong pitchy smell suddenly
wafted over the ship. "The flames have reached the cable-tier!" exclaimed one; and it
was found to be too true. The fire had now extended so far, that there was but one course
to pursue : the lower decks must be swamped. Captain Cobb, the commander of the Kent,
was a man of action, and, with an ability and decision that seemed only to increase with
the imminence of the danger, ordered the lower decks to be scuttled, the coverings of the
hatches removed, and the lower ports opened to the free admission of the waves. His
instructions were speedily obeyed, the soldiers aiding the crew. The fury of the flames
was, of course, checked ; but several sick soldiers and children, and one woman, unable to
gain the upper deck, were drowned, and others suffocated. As the risk of explosion somewhat
diminished, a new horror arose. The ship became water-logged, and presented indications
of settling down. Death in two forms stared them in the face.
No sail had been seen for many days, the vessel being somewhat out of the regular
course. But, although it seemed hopeless, a man was sent up to the foretop to scan the
horizon. How many anxious eyes were turned up to him, how many anxious hearts beat
at that moment, can well be understood. The sailor threw his eyes rapidly over the waste
of howling waters, and instantly waved his hat, exclaiming, in a voice hoarse with emotion,
" A sail on the lee bow ! " Flags of distress were soon hoisted, minute-guns fired, and
an attempt made to bear down on the welcome stranger, which for some time did not notice
them. But at last it seemed probable, by her slackening sail and altering her course, that
the Kent had been seen. Hope revived on board; but there were still three painful problems
to be solved. The vessel in the distance was but a small brig : could she take over six
hundred persons on board ? Could they be transferred during a terrible gale and heavy sea,
likely enough to swamp all the boats ? Might not the Kent- either blow up or speedily
founder, before even one soul were saved?
The vessel proved to be the Cambria, a brig bound to Vera Cruz, with a number of
miners on board. For fifteen minutes it had been very doubtful to all on the Kent whether
their signals of distress — and the smoke issuing from the hatchways formed no small
item among them — were seen, or the minute-guns heard. But at length it became
obvious that the brig was making for them, and preparations were made to clear and
lower the boats of the East Indiaman. "Although," says Sir Duncan MacGregor, "it
was impossible, and would have been improper, to repress the rising hopes that were
pretty generally diffused amongst us by the unexpected sight of the Cambria, yet I
confess, that when I reflected on the long period our ship had been already burning — on
the tremendous sea that was running — on the extreme smallness of the brig, and
the immense number of human beings to be saved — I could only venture to hope that
a few might be spared." When the military officers were consulting together, as the
brig was approaching, on the requisite preparations for getting out the boats, and
other necessary courses of action, one of the officers asked Major MacGregor in what
order it was intended the officers should move off, to which he replied, "Of course, in
runeral order," which injunction was instantly confirmed by Colonel Fearon, who said,
''Most undoubtedly — the juniors first; but see that any man is cut down who presumes
70 THE SEA.
to enter the boats before the means of escape are presented to the women and children/'
To prevent any rush of troops or sailors to the boats, the officers were stationed near
them with drawn swords. But, to do the soldiers and seamen justice, it was little needed ;
the former particularly keeping perfect order, and assisting to save the ladies and
children and private passengers generally. Some of the women and children were placed
in the first boat, which was immediately lowered into a sea so tempestuous that there was
great danger that it would be swamped, while the lowering-tackle not being properly
disengaged at the stern, there was a great prospect for a few moments that its living
freight would be upset in the water. A sailor, however, succeeded in cutting the ropes
with an axe, and the first boat got off safely.
The Cambria had been intentionally lain at some distance from the Kent, lest she
should be involved in her explosion, or exposed to the fire from the guns, which, being
all shotted, went off as the flames reached them. The men had a considerable distance
to row, and the success of the first experiment was naturally looked upon as the measure
of their future hopes. The movements of this boat were watched with intense anxiety
by all on board. " The better to balance the boat in the raging sea through which it
had to pass, and to enable the seamen to ply their oars, the women and children were
stowed promiscuously under the seats, and consequently exposed to the risk of being
drowned by the continual dashing of the spray over their heads, which so filled the boat
during the passage that before their arrival at the brig the poor females were sitting
up to their waists in water, and their children kept with the greatest difficulty above
it/' Happily, at the expiration of twenty minutes, the cutter was seen alongside their
ark of refuge. The next difficulty was to get the ladies and children on board the
Cambria, for the sea was running high, and there was danger of the boat being swamped
or stove against the side of the brig. The children were almost thrown on board, while
the women had to spring towards the many friendly arms extended from the vessel, when
the waves lifted the boat momentarily in the right position. However, all were safely
transferred to the brig without serious mishap.
It became impossible for the boats, after the first trip, to come alongside the Kent,
and a plan was adopted for lowering the women and children from the stern by tying
them two and two together. The heaving of the vessel, and the heavy sea raising the
boat one instant and dropping it the next, rendered this somewhat perilous. Many of
the poor women were plunged several times in the water before they succeeded in landing
safely in the boat, and many young children died from the effects — "the same violent
means which only reduced the parents to a state of exhaustion or insensibility/' having
.entirely quenched the vital spark in their feeble frames. One fine fellow, a soldier, who
had neither wife nor child of his own, but who showed great solicitude for the safety of
•others, insisted on having three children lashed to him, with whom he plunged into the
water to reach the boat more quickly. He swam well, but could not get near the boat;
and when he was eventually drawn on board again, two of the children were dead. One
man fell down the hatchway into the flames; another had his back broken, and was
observed, quite doubled, falling overboard ; a third fell between the boat and brig, and
Ms head was literally crushed to pieces; others were lost in their attempts to ascend the
THE "KENT" ABANDONED. 71
sides of the Cambria : and others, again, were drowned in their hurry to get on board
the boats.
One of the sailors, who had, with many others, taken his post over the magazine,
at last cried out, almost in ill-humour, " Well ! if she won't blow up, I'll see if I can't
get away from her." He was saved — and must have felt quite disappointed. One of the
three boats, swamped or stove during the day, had on board a number of men who had
been robbing the cabins during the confusion on board. "It is suspected that one or two
of those who went down, must have sunk beneath the weight of their spoils."
As there was so much doubt as to how soon the vessel would explode or go down,
while the process of transference between the vessels occupied three-quarters of an hour
each trip, and other delays were caused by timid passengers and ladies who were naturally
loath to be separated from their husbands, they determined on a quicker mode of placing
them in the boat. A rope was suspended from the end of the spanker-boom, along the
slippery top of which the passengers had either to walk, crawl, or be carried. The reader
need not be told that this great boom or spar stretches out from the mizen-mast far over
the stern in a vessel the size of the Kent. On ordinary occasions, in quiet weather, it
would be fifteen or twenty feet above the water, but with the vessel pitching and tossing
during the continuous storm, it was raised often as much as forty feet in the air. It
will be seen that, under these circumstances, with the boat at the stern now swept to
some distance in the hollow of a wave, and now raised high on its crest, the lowering of
oneself by the rope, to drop at the right moment, was a perilous operation. It was a
common thing for strong men to reach the boat in a state of utter exhaustion, having
been several times immersed in the waves and half drowned. But there were many
strong and willing hands among the soldiers and sailors ready to help the weak and
fearful ones, and the transference went on with fair rapidity, though with every now and
again some sad casualty to record. The coolness and determination of the officers,
military and marine, the good order and subordination of most of the troops, and the
bravery of many in risking their lives for others, Deems at this time to have restored some
little confidence among the timid and shrinking on board. A little later, and the declining
rays and fiery glow on the waves indicated that the sun was setting. One can well understand
the feeling of many on board as they witnessed its disappearance and the approach of darkness.
Were their lives also to set in outer gloom — the ocean to be that night their grave ?
Late at night Major MacGregor went down to his cabin in search of a blanket to
shelter him from the increasing cold. "The scene of desolation that there presented
itself was melancholy in the extreme. The place which, only u few short hours before, had
been the scene of kindly intercourse and of social gaiety, was now entirely deserted, save
by a few miserable wretches who were either stretched in irrecoverable intoxication on
the floor, or prowling about, like beasts of prey, in search of plunder. The sofas,
drawers, and other articles of furniture, the due arrangement of which had cost so much
thought and pains, were now broken into a thousand pieces, and scattered in confusion
around. . . . Some of the geese and other poultry, escaped from their confinement,
were cackling in the cuddy; while a solitary pig, wandering from its sty in the fore-
castle, was ranging at large in undisturbed possession of the Brussels carpet."
72 THE SEA.
It is highly to the credit of the officers, more especially to those who had deck-
cabins, from which it would be easy to remove many portable articles, and even trunks and
boxes, that they entirely devoted their time and energies to saving life. They left the
•ship simply with the clothes they stood in, and were the last to leave it, except, of
•course, where subordinate officers were detailed to look after portions of the troops. Captain
•Cobb, in his resolution to be the last to leave the ship, tried all he could to urge the few
.remaining persons on board to drop on the ropes and save themselves. But finding all
FALMOUTH HARBOUR.
his entreaties fruitless, and hearing the guns successively explode in the hold, into which
they had fallen, he at length, after doing all in his power to save them, got himself
into the boat by "laying hold of the topping-lift, or rope that connects the driver-boom
with the mizen-top, thereby getting over the heads of the infatuated men who occupied
the boom, unable to go either backward or forward, and ultimately dropping himself into
the water." One of the boats persevered in keeping its station under the Kent's stern, until
the flames were bursting out of the cabin windows. The larger part of the poor wretches
left on board were saved : when the vessel exploded, they sought shelter in the chains, where
they stood till the masts fell overboard, to which they then clung for some hours. Ultimately,
they were rescued by Captain Bibbey, of the Caroline, a vessel bound from Egypt to Liverpool,
74 THE SEA.
who happened to see the explosion at a great distance, and instantly made all sail in the
direction whence it proceeded, afterwards cruising about for some time to pick up any
survivors.
After the arrival of the last boat at the Cambria, " the flames, which had spread along
the upper deck and poop, ascended with the rapidity of lightning to the masts and rigging,,
forming one general conflagration, that illumined the heavens to an immense distance, and
was strongly reflected on several objects on board the brig. The flags of distress, hoisted
in the morning, were seen for a considerable time waving amid the flames, until the masts
to which they were suspended successively fell, like stately steeples, over the ship's side."
At last, about half-past one o'clock in the morning, the devouring element having com-
municated to the magazine, the explosion was seen, and the blazing fragments of the once
magnificent Kent were instantly hurled, like so many rockets, high into the air; leaving,
in the comparative darkness that succeeded, "the deathful scene of that disastrous day
floating before the mind like some feverish dream."
The scene on board the brig beggared description. The captain, who bore the honoured
name of Cook, and his crew of eight, did all that was in their power to alleviate the miseries
of the six hundred persons added to their number; while they carried sail, even to the
extent of danger, in order to make nine or ten knots to the nearest port. The Cornish
miners and Yorkshire smelters on board gave up their beds and clothes and stores to the
passengers; and it was extremely fortunate that the brig was on her outward voyage, for,
had she been returning, she would not, in all probability, have had provisions enough to
feed six hundred persons for a single day. But at the best their condition was miserable.
In the cabin, intended for eight or ten, eighty were packed, many nearly in a nude condition >
and many of the poor women not having space to lie down.
The gale increased ; but still they crowded all sail — even at the risk of carrying away
the masts — and at length the welcome cry of " Land ahead ! " was reported from mouth
to mouth. They were off the Scilly lights, and speedily afterwards reached Falmouth, where
the inhabitants vied with each other in providing clothing and food and money for all
who needed them.
The total loss from the Kent was eighty-one souls; namely, fifty-four soldiers, one
woman, twenty children, one seaman, and five boys of the crew. How much greater might
it not have been but for the imperturbable coolness, the commanding abilities, and the
persevering and prompt action of Captain Cobb, and the admirable discipline and subordination
of the troops !
Another remarkable instance of the sam.e thing is to be found in the case of the Sirken-
heacl, where there were desperate odds against any one surviving. The ship was a war-steamer,
conveying troops from St. Simon's Bay to Algoa Bay, Cape Colony, and had, with crew, a total
complement of 638 souls on board. She struck on a reef, when steaming at the rate of eight
and a half knots, and almost immediately became a total wreck. The rock penetrated her
bottom, just aft of the fore-mast, and the rush of water was so great that most of the men on
the lower troop-deck were drowned in their hammocks. The commanding officer, Major Seton,.
called his subordinate officers about him, and impressed upon them the necessity of preserving
order and perfect discipline among the men, and of assisting the commander of the ship
THE "BIKKENHEAD" PARTS IN TWO. 75
in everything possible. Sixty soldiers were immediately detailed for the pumps, in three
reliefs ; sixty more to hold on the tackles of the paddle-box boats, and the remainder were
brought on the poop, so as to ease the fore-part of the ship, which was rolling heavily.
The commander of the ship ordered the horses to be pitched out of the first-gangway, and the
cutter to be got ready for the women and children, who were safely put on board. Just
.after they were out of the ship, the entire bow broke off at the fore-mast, and the funnel
went over the side, carrying away the starboard paddle-box and boat. The other paddle-box
boat capsized when being lowered, and their largest boat, in the centre of the ship, could
not be got at, so encumbered was it. Five minutes later, the vessel actually " broke in two"
literally realising Falconer's lines : — •
" Ah, Heaven ! Behold, her crashing ribs divide !
She loosens, parts, and spreads in ruin o'er the tide."
" She parted just abaft the engine-room, and the stern part immediately filled and went down.
A few men jumped off just before she did so; but the greater number remained to the
last, and so did every officer belonging to the troops." A number of the soldiers were
•crushed to death when the funnel fell, and few of those at the pumps could reach the deck
before the vessel broke up. The survivors clung, some to the rigging of the main-mast,
part of which was out of water, and others to floating pieces of wood. When the Birkenhead
•divided into two pieces, the commander of the ship called out, "All those who can swim,
jump overboard and make for the boats I" Two of the military officers earnestly besought
their men not to do so, as, in that case, the boats with the women must be swamped ; and,
to the honour of the soldiers, only three made the attempt.
The struggles of a part of them to reach the shore, the weary tramp through a country
covered with thick thorny bushes, before they could reach any farm or settlement; the sufferings
of thirty or more poor fellows who were clinging, in a state of utter exhaustion, cold, and
wretchedness, to the main-topmast and topsail-yard of the submerged vessel, before they were
rescued by a passing schooner, have often been told. The conduct of the troops was perfect ;
.and it is questionable whether there is any other instance of such thorough discipline at a time
•of almost utter hopelessness. The loss of life was enormous, only 192 out of 638 being
saved. Had there been any panic, or mutiny, not even that small remnant would have escaped.
Turn we now to another and a sadder case, where the opposite qualities were most
•unhappily displayed, and the consequences of which were proportionately terrible.
On the 17th of June, 1816, the Medusa, a fine French frigate, sailed from Aix, with
troops and colonists on board, destined for the west coast of Africa. Several settlements
which had previously belonged to France, but which fell into the hands of the English
•during the war, were, on the peace of 1815, restored to their original owners; and it was
to take re-possession that the French Government dispatched the expedition, which consisted
of two vessels, one of which was the Medusa. Besides infantry and artillery, officers and
men, there was a governor, with priests, schoolmasters, notaries, surgeons, apothecaries,
mining and other engineers, naturalists, practical agriculturists, bakers, workmen, and thirty-
eight women, the whole expedition numbering 365 persons, exclusive of the ship's officers
and company. Of these the Medusa took 240, making, with her crew and passengers, a
•total of 400 on board.
7b THE SEA.
After making Cape Blanco, the expedition had been ordered to steer due westward to
sea for some sixty miles, in order to clear a well-known sand-bank, that of Arguin. The
captain, however, seems to have been an ill-advised, foolhardy man, and he took a southward
course. The vessel shortened sail every two hours to sound, and every half-hour the lead
was cast, without slackening sail. For some little time the soundings indicated deep water,
but shortly after the course had been altered to S.S.E., the colour of the water changed,
seaweeds floated round the ship, and fish were caught from its sides; all indications of
shallowing. But the captain heeded not these obvious signs, and the vessel suddenly grounded
on a bank. The weather being moderate, there was no reason for alarm, and she would
THE RAFT OF THE "MEDUSA."
have been got off safely had the captain been even an average sailor. For the time, the
Medusa stuck fast on the sand-bank, and as a large part of those on board were landsmen,
consternation and disorder reigned supreme, and reproaches and curses were liberally bestowed
on the captain. The crew wab sot to work with anchors and cables to endeavour to work
the vessel off. During the day, the topmasts, yards, and booms were unshipped and thrown
overboard, which lightened her, but were not sufficient to make her float. Meantime, a
council was called, and the governor of the colonies exhibited the plan of a raft, which was
considered large enough to carry two hundred persons, with all the necessary stores and
provisions. It was to be towed by the boats, while their crews were to come to it at regular
meal-times for their rations. The whole party was to land in a body on the sandy shore of
the coast — known to be at no great distance — and proceed to the nearest settlements. All
this was, theoretically speaking, most admirable, and had there been any leading spirit ii>
INSUBORDINATION AND SELFISHNESS. 77
command, the plan would have been, as was afterwards proved, quite practicable. The raft
was immediately constructed, principally from the spars removed from the vessel as
before mentioned.
Various efforts were made to get the Medusa off the sandbank, and at one time she
swung entirely, and turned her head to sea. She was, in fact, almost afloat, and a tow-line
applied in the usual way would have taken her into deep water ; but this familiar expedient
was never even proposed. Or, even had she been lightened by throwing overboard a part
of her stores temporarily — which could have been done without serious harm to many article*
— she might have been saved. Half-measures were tried, and even these were not acted
on with perseverance. During the next night there was a strong gale and heavy swell,
and the Medusa heeled over with much violence; the keel broke in two, the rudder was
unshipped, and, still holding to the stern-post by the chains, dashed against the vessel and
beat a hole into the captain's cabin, through which the waves entered. It was at this time
that the first indications of that unruly spirit which afterwards produced so many horrors
appeared among the soldiers, who assembled tumultuously on deck, and could hardly be quieted.
Next morning there were seven feet of water in the hold, and the pumps could not be
worked, so that it was resolved to quit the vessel without delay. Some bags of biscuit
were taken from the bread-room, and some casks of wine got ready to put on the boats
and raft. But there was an utter want of management, and several of the boats only
received twenty-five pounds of biscuit and no wine, while the raft had a quantity of wine
and no biscuit. To avoid confusion, a list had been made the evening before, assigning
to each his place. No one paid the slightest attention to it, and no one of those in
authority tried to enforce obedience to it. It was a case of " Sauve qui pent ! " with a
vengeance : a disorderly and disgraceful scramble for the best places and an utter and
total disregard for the wants of others.
It is, and always has been, a point of honour for the officers to be among the very
last to leave (except, of course, where their presence might be needed in the boats), and
the captain to be the very last. Here, the captain was among the first to scramble over
the side ; and his twelve-oared barge only took off twenty -eight persons, when it would have
easily carried many more. A large barge took the colonial governor and his family, and the
governor's trunks. His boat wanted for nothing, and would have accommodated ten or more
persons than it took. When several of the unfortunate crew swam off and begged to be
taken in, they were kept off with drawn swords. The raft * took the larger part of the
soldiers, and had in all on board one hundred and fifty persons. The captain coolly proposed
to desert some sixty of the people still on board, and leave them to shift for themselves;
but an officer who threatened to shoot him was the means of making him change his mind,
* The raft is described in the original work on the shipwreck of the Medusa substantially as follows : — It was
Composed of topmasts, yards, planks, the boom, &c., lashed strongly together; two topmasts formed the sides, and
four other masts, of the same length as the former, were placed in the centre, planks being nailed on them. Long
timbers were placed across the raft, adding considerably to its strength; these projected about ten feet on each side.
There was a rail along the sides, to keep those on board from falling into the sea. Its height being only about a
foot and a half, it was constantly under water, though this could easily have been remedied, by raising a second
floor a foot or two above it. Two of the ship's yards, joined to the extremities of the sides, at one end met in front-
and formed a bow. Its length was sixty feet, and breadth about twenty.
78 THE SEA.
and over forty were taken off in the long-boat. Seventeen men, many of whom were
helplessly intoxicated, were, however, left to their fate.
On the morning of the 5th of July the signal was given to put to sea, and at first
some of the boats towed the raft, which had no one to command it but a midshipman named
Coudin, who, having a painful wound on his leg, was utterly useless. The other officers
consulted their own personal safety only, and, with a few exceptions, this was the case
with every one else. When the lieutenant of the long-boat, fearing that he could not
keep the sea with eighty-eight men on board, and no oars, entreated three of the other
boats, one after the other, to relieve him of a part of his living cargo, they refused utterly ;
and the officer of the third, in his hurry to run away, loosed from the raft. This was the
signal for a general desertion. The word was passed from one boat to another to leave
them to their fate, and the captain had not the manliness to protest. The purser of the
Medusa, wfth a few others, opposed such a dastardly proceeding, but' in vain ; and the raft,
without means of propulsion, was abandoned. As it proved afterwards, the boats, which
all reached the land safely, sighted the coast the same evening ; and the raft could have
been towed to it in a day or two, or at all events sufficiently near for the purpose. The
people on it could not at first believe in this treacherous desertion, and once and again
buoyed themselves up with the hope that the boats would return or send relief. The
lieutenant on the long-boat seems to have been one of the few officers possessing any spark
of humanity and manliness. He kept his own boat near the raft for a time, in the hope
that the others might be induced to return, but at length had to yield to the clamour of
some eighty men on board with him, who insisted on his proceeding in search of land.
The consternation and despair of those on the raft beggars description. The water
was, even while the sea was calm, up to the knees of the larger part on board, while
the horrors of a slow death from starvation and thirst, and the prospect of being washed
off by the waves, should a storm arise, stared them in the face. Several barrels of flour
had been placed on the raft at first, along with six barrels of wine and two small casks of
water. When only fifty persons had got on it, their weight sunk it so low in the water
that the flour was thrown into the sea, and lost. When the raft quitted the ship, with a
hundred and fifty souls on her, she was a foot to a foot and a half under water, and the
only food on board was a twenty-five-pound bag of biscuit, in a semi-pulpy condition, which
just afforded them one meagre ration.
Some on board, to keep up the courage of the remainder, promulgated the idea that
the boats had merely made sail for the island of Arguin, and that, having landed their
crews, they would return. This for the moment appeased the indignation of the soldiers
and others who had, with frantic gesticulations, been wringing their hands and tearing
their hair. Night came on, and the wind freshened, the waves rolling over them, and
throwing many down with violence. The cries of the people were mingled with the roar
of the waves, whilst heavy seas constantly lifted them off their legs and threatened to wash
them away. Thus, clinging desperately to the ropes, they struggled with death the whole
night through.
About seven the next morning, the sea was again calm, when they found that twelve
or more unfortunate men had, during the night, slipped between the interstices of ths raft
MUTINY AND MUKDER. 79
and perished. The effects of starvation were beginning- to tell upon them :* all their faculties
were strangely impaired. Some fancied that they saw lighted signals in the distance, and
answered them by firing off their pistols, or by setting fire to small heaps of gunpowder;
others thought they saw ships or land, when there was nothing in sight. The next day
strong symptoms of mutiny broke out, the officers being utterly disregarded by the soldiers.
The evening again brought bad weather. " The people were now dashed about by the fury
of the waves; there was no safety but in the centre of the raft/' where they packed
themselves so close that many were nearly suffocated. " The soldiers and sailors, now
considering their destruction inevitable, resolved to drown the sense of their situation by
drinking till they should lose their reason ; " nor could they be persuaded to forego their
mad scheme. They rushed upon a cask of wine which was near the centre, and making
a hole in it, drank so much, that the fumes soon mounted to their heads, in the empty
condition in which they were ; and " they then resolved to rid themselves of their officers,
and afterwards to destroy the raft by cutting the lashings which kept it together." One
of them commenced hacking away at the ropes with a boarding-hatchet. The civil and
military officers rushed on this ringleader, and though he made a desperate resistance, soon
dispatched him. The people on the raft were now divided into two antagonistic parties —
about twenty civil officers and the better class of passengers on one side, and a hundred or
more soldiers and workmen on the other. " The mutineers," says the narrative, " drew their
swords, and were going to make a general attack, when the fall of another of their number
struck such a seasonable terror into them that they retreated; but it was only to make
another attempt at cutting the ropes. One of them, pretending to rest on the side-rail
of the raft, began to work;" when he was discovered, and a few moments afterwards, with
a soldier who attempted to defend him, was sent to his last account. This was followed
by a general fight. An infantry captain was thrown into the sea by the soldiers, but
rescued by his friends. He was then seized a second time, and the revolters attempted to
put out his eyes. A charge was made upon them, and many put to death. The wretches
threw overboard the only woman on the raft, together with her husband. They were,
however, saved, only to die miserably soon afterwards.
A second repulse brought many of the mutineers to their senses, and temporarily awed
the rest, some asking pardon on their knees. But at midnight the revolt again broke out,
the soldiers attacking the party in the centre of the raft with the fury of madmen, even
biting their adversaries. They seized upon one of the lieutenants, mistaking him for one
of the ship's officers who had deserted the raft, and he was rescued and protected afterwards
* Later it took with many of them still stranger forms. One M. Savigny had the most agreeable visions ; he
fancied himself in a rich and highly-cultivated country, surrounded by happy companions. Some desired their
companions not to fear, that they were going to look for succour, and would soon return; they then plunged
into the sea. Others became furious, and rushed on their companions with drawn swords, asking for the wing
of a chicken, or some bread. Some, thinking themselves still aboard the frigate, asked for their hammock, that they
might go below to sleep. Others imagined that they saw ships, or a harbour, behind which was a noble city. M.
Correard believed he was in Italy, enjoying all the delights of that beautiful country. One of the officers said to
him, " I recollect that we have been deserted by the boats, but don't be afraid; I have just written to the governor,
and in a few hours we shall be in safety." These illusions did not last for any length of time, but were constantly
broken by the war of the elements, and the fitful revolts which constantly disgraced the company.
80 THE SEA.
with the greatest difficulty. They threw overboard M. Coudin, an elderly man, who was
covered with wounds received in opposing them, and a young boy of the party, in whom he
took an interest. M. Coudin had the presence of mind both to support the child and to
take hold of the raft ; and his friends kept off the brutal soldiery with drawn swords, until
they were lifted on board again. The combat was so fierce, and the weather at night so
bad, that on the return of day it was found that over sixty had perished off the raft. It
is stated that the mutineers had thrown over the remaining water and two casks of wine.
The indications in the narrative would not point to the latter conclusion, as the soldiers
and workmen were constantly intoxicated, and many, no doubt, were washed off by the
waves in that condition. A powerful temperance tract might be written on the loss of
the Medusa. ' On the morning of the fourth day after their departure from the frigate, the
dead bodies of twelve of the company, who had expired during the night, were lying on
the raft. This day a shoal of flying-fish played round the raft, and a number of them
got on board,* and were entangled in the spaces between the timbers. A small fire, lighted
with flint and steel and gunpowder, was made inside a barrel, and the fish, half-cooked,
was greedily devoured. They did not stop here; the account briefly indicates that they
ate parts of the flesh of their dead companions. Horror followed horror : a massacre
succeeded their savage feast. Some Spaniards, Italians, and negroes among them, who
had hitherto taken no part with the mutineers, now formed a plot to throw their superiors
into the sea. A bag of money, which had been collected as a common fund, and was
hanging from a rude mast hastily extemporised, probably tempted them. The officers'
party threw their ringleader overboard, while another of the conspirators, finding his villainy
discovered, weighted himself with a heavy boarding-axe, and rushing to the fore part of
the raft, plunged headlong into the sea and was drowned. A desperate combat ensued,
and the fatal raft was quickly piled with dead bodies.
On the fifth morning, there were only thirty alive. The remnant suffered severely,
and one-third of the number were unable to stand up or move about. The salt water and
intense heat of the sun blistered their feet and legs, and gave intense pain. In the course
of the seventh day, two soldiers were discovered stealing the wine, and they were immediately
pushed overboard. This day also, Leon, the poor little boy mentioned before, died from
sheer starvation.
The story has been so far nothing but a record of insubordination, murderous brutality,
and utter selfishness. But the worst has yet to come. Let the survivors tell their own
shameful and horrible story. There were now but twenty-seven left, and " of these twelve,
amongst them the woman, were so ill that there was no hope of their surviving, even a
few days ; they were covered with wounds, and had almost entirely lost their reason.
They might have lived long enough to reduce our stock to a very low ebb ; but there
was no hope that they could last more than a few days. To put them on short allowance
was only hastening their death ; while giving them a full ration, was uselessly diminishing
* The writer, during a long voyage (England to Vancouver Island, via Cape Horn), made in 1862, saw flying-
fish, constantly falling on the deck, where they remained quivering and glittering in the sunlight. To accomplish
this, they had to fly over a height of about fifteen or sixteen feet, the top of the bulwarks, or walls of the steamship,
being at least that distance above the water.
A HORRIBLE MASSACRE.
81
a quantity already too low. After an anxious consultation, we came to the resolution of
throwing them into the sea, and thus terminating at once their sufferings. This was a
horrible and unjustifiable expedient, but who amongst us would have the cruelty to put
it into execution? Three sailors and a soldier took it on themselves. We turned away
our eyes from the shocking sight, trusting that, in thus endeavouring to prolong our own
lives, we were shortening theirs but a few hours. This gave us the means of subsistence
ON THE RAFT OF THE " MEDUSA " — A SAIL IN SIGHT.
(After the celebrated Painting by Gericault.)
for six additional days. After this dreadful sacrifice, we cast our swords into the sea,
reserving but one sabre for cutting wood or cordage, as might be necessary." Was there
ever such an example of demoniacal hypocrisy, mingled with pretended humanity !
One can hardly interest himself in the fate of the remaining fifteen, who, if they were
not all human devils, must have carried to their dying days the brand of Cain indelibly
impressed on their memories. A few days passed, and the indications of a close approach
to land became frequent. Meantime, they were suffering from the intense heat, and from
excessive thirst. One more example of petty selfishness was afforded by an officer who
11
82 THE SEA.
had found a lemon, which he resolved to keep entirely for himself, until the ominous threats
of the rest obliged him to share it. The wine, which should have warmed their bodies
and gladdened their hearts, produced on their weakened frames the worst effects of
intoxication. Five of the number resolved, and were barely persuaded not to commit
suicide, so maddened were' they by their potations. Perhaps the sight of the sharks,
which now came boldly up to the edges of the raft, had something to do with sobering
them, for they decided to live.
Three days now passed in intolerable torments. They had become so careless of life,
that they bathed even in sight of the sharks; others were not afraid to place themselves
naked upon the fore part of the raft, which was then entirely under water; and, though
it was exceedingly dangerous, it had the effect of taking away their thirst. They now
attempted to construct a boat of planks and spars. When completed, a sailor went
upon it, when it immediately upset, and the design of reaching land by this means was
abandoned. On the morning of the 17th of July, the sun shone brightly and the sky was
cloudless. Just as they were receiving their ration of wine, one of the infantry officers
discerned the topmasts of a vessel near the horizon. Uniting their efforts, they raised a
man to the top of the mast, who waved constantly a number of handkerchiefs tied together.
After two hours of painful suspense, the vessel, a brig, disappeared, and they once more
resigned themselves to despair. Deciding that they must leave some record of their fate,
they agreed to carve their names, with some account of their disaster, on a plank, in the
hope that it might eventually reach their Government and families. But they were to
be saved : the brig reappeared, and bore down for them. She proved to be a vessel which
had been dispatched by the Governor of Senegal for the purpose of rescuing any survivors ;
though, considering the raft had now been seventeen days afloat, there was little expectation
that any of its hundred and fifty passengers still lived. The wounded and blistered limbs,
sunken eyes, and emaciated frames of the remnant told its own tale on board. And yet,
with due order and discipline, presence of mind, and united helpfulness, the ship, with
every soul who had sailed on her, might have been saved; and a fearful story of cruelty,
murder, and cannibalism spared to us. The modern Medusa has been branded with a name
of infamy worse than that of the famous classical monster after which she was named. The
celebrated picture by Gericault in the Louvre, at Paris, vividly depicts the horrors of the scene.
The wreck of the Medusa has very commonly been compared and contrasted with that
of the Alceste, an English frigate, which was wrecked the same year. Lord Amherst was
returning from China in this vessel, after fulfilling his mission to the Court of Pekin,
instituted at the instance of the East India Company, who had complained to Government
of the impediments thrown in the way of their trade by the Chinese. His secretary and
suite were with him ; and so there was some resemblance to the case of the Medusa, which
had a colonial governor and his staff on board. The commander of the Alceste was Captain
(afterwards Sir) Murray Maxwell, a true gentleman and a bluff, hearty sailor. Having
touched at Manilla, they were passing through the Straits of Gaspar, when the ship suddenly
struck on a reef of sunken rocks, and it became evident that she must inevitably and speedily
break up. The most perfect discipline prevailed ; and the first efforts of the captain were
naturally directed to saving the ambassador and his subordinates. The island of Palo Leat
A BAND OF BRITONS. 83
was a few miles off ; and, although its coast at this part was a salt-marsh, with mangrove-
trees growing out in the water so thick and entangled that it almost prevented them
landing, every soul was got off safely. Good feeling and sensible councils prevailed. At
first there was no fresh water to be obtained. It was
" "Water, water everywhere,
Yet not a drop to drink."
In a short time, however, they dug a deep well, and soon reached plenty. Then the Malays
attacked and surrounded them ; at first a few score, at last six or seven hundred strong.
Things looked black ; but they erected a stockade, made rude pikes by sticking their knives,
dirks, and small swords on the end of poles ; and, although they had landed with just seventy-
five ball-cartridges, their stock soon grew to fifteen hundred. How ? Why, the sailors set
to with a will, and made their own, the balls being represented by their jacket-buttons
and pieces of the glass of broken bottles ! Of loose powder they had, fortunately, a sufficient
quantity. The Malays set the wreck on fire. The men waited till it had burned low,
and then drove them off, and went and secured such of the stores as could be now reached,
or which had floated off. The natives were gathering thick. Murray made his sailors a
speech in true hearty style, and their wild huzzas were taken by the Malays for war-whoops :
the latter soon "weakened," as they say in America. From the highest officer to the
merest boy, all behaved like calm, resolute, and sensible Britons, and every soul was saved.
Lord Amherst, who had gone on to Batavia, sent a vessel for them, on board which Maxwell
was the last to embark. At the time of the wreck their condition was infinitely worse
than that of the Medusa ; but how completely different the sequel ! The story is really
a pleasant one, displaying, as it does, the happy results of both good discipline and mutual
good feeling in the midst of danger. Nil desperandum was evidently the motto of that
crew; and their philosophy was rewarded. The lessons of the past and present, in regard
to our great ships, have taught us that disaster is not confined to ironclads, nor victory to
wooden walls; neither is good discipline dead, nor the race of true-hearted tars extinct.
" Men of iron " will soon be the worthy successors of " hearts of oak."
Having glanced at the causes which led to the ironclad movement, and noted certain
salient points in its history, let us now for a while discuss the ironclad herself. It has been
remarked, as a matter of reproach to the administrators and builders of the British ironclad
navy, that the vessels composing it are not sufficiently uniform in design, power, and speed.
Mr. Reed, however, tells us that la marine moderne cuirassee of France is still more
distinguished by the different types and forms of the vessels ; and that ours by comparison
wears "quite a tiresome appearance of sameness;" while, again, Russia has ironclads even
more diversified than those of France. The objection is, perhaps, hardly a fair one, as the
exigencies of the navy are many and varied. We might have to fight a first-class power,
or several first-class powers, where all our strength would have to be put forth; some
second-class power might require chastising, where vessels of a secondary class might suffice ;
while almost any vessel of the navy would be efficient in the case of wars with native tribes,
as, for example, the Maories of New Zealand, or the Indians of the coasts of North-west
America. In a great naval conflict, provided the vessels of our fleet steamed pretty evenly
as regards speed, there would be an advantage in variety; for it might rather puzzle and
84 THE SEA
worry the enemy, who would not know what next would appear, or what new form turn
up. Mr. Reed puts the matter in a nutshell; although it must be seen that, among
first-class powers with first-class fleets, the argument cuts both ways. " In the old days/'
says he, " when actions had to be fought under sail, and when ships of a class were in
the main alike, the limits within which the arts, the resources, and the audacities of the
navy were restricted were really very narrow ; and yet how brilliant were its achievements !
I cannot but believe that, if the English ironclad fleet were now to be engaged in a general
action with an enemy's fleet, the very variety of our ships — those very improvements
which have occasioned that variety — would be at once the cause of the greatest possible
embarrassment to the enemy, and the means of the most vigorous and diversified attack
upon the hostile fleet. This is peculiarly true of all those varieties which result from
increase in handiness, in bow-fire, in height of port, and so forth ; and unless I have mis-read
SECTION OF A FIIIST-CLASS MAN-OF-WAR.
our naval history, and misappreciate the character of our naval officers of the present day,
the nation will, in the day of trial, obtain the full benefit of these advantages."
It needs no argument to convince the reader that the aim of a naval architect should
be to combine in the best manner available, strength and lightness. The dimensions and
outside form of the ship in great part determine her displacement; and her capacity to
carry weights depends largely on the actual weight of her own hull ; while the room within
partly depends on the thinness or thickness of her walls. Now, we have seen that
in wooden ships the hull weighs more than in iron ships of equal size ; and it will be
apparent that what is gained in the latter case can be applied to carrying so much the
more iron armour. Hence, distinguished authorities do not believe in the wood-built ship
carrying heavy armour, nearly so much as in the ironclad, iron-built ship.* The durability
* Large merchant-vessels have been constructed of steel, which is stronger than iron, weight for weight ; and
consequently, in building vessels of equal strength, a less weight and thickness is required. It is said, that if the
large Atlantic steamers of 3,500 tons and upwards were built of steel, instead of iron, their displacement in the water
would be one-sixth less, and their carrying capacity double. A steel troop-ship, accommodating about 1,000 persons
IEON VERSUS WOOD.
85
and strength are greater. The authority of such a man as Mr. J. Scott Russell, the eminent
shipbuilder, will be conclusive. In a pamphlet;* published in 1862, he noted the following
ten points : 1, That iron steam ships-of-war may be built as strong as wooden ships of
greater weight, and stronger than wooden ships of equal weight. 2, That iron ships of
equal strength can go on less draught of water than wooden ships. 3, That iron ships
can carry much heavier weights than wooden ships [hence they can carry heavier armour].
THE '• WARRIOR."
4, That they are more durable. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, That they are safer against the sea, against
fire, explosive shots, red-hot shots, molten metal; and 10, That they can be made impregnable
even against solid shot.
The last point, alas ! is one which Mr. Scott Russell himself would hardly insist upon
to-day. When he wrote his pamphlet, five or six inches of armour, with a wood backing,
withstood anything that could be fired against it. When the armour of the Warrior, our
and drawing only two feet and a quarter of water, was constructed, in 1861, for use on the Lower Indus. She was
taken out in pieces and put together in India, the total weight of the steel employed being only 270 tons, although
she was 375 feet long, with a beam of 46 feet.
« " The Fleet of the Future : Iron or Wood," by J. Scott Russell, F.R.S., &c.
86 THE SKA.
first real ironclad, had to be tested., a target, twenty feet by ten feet surface, composed of four
and a half inch iron and eighteen inches of teak backing — the exact counterpart of a slice
out of the ship's side — was employed. The shot from 68-pounders — the same as composed
her original armament — fired at 200 yards, only made small dents in the target and
rebounded. 200-pounders had no more effect ; the shot flew off in ragged splinters, the
iron plates became almost red-hot under the tremendous strokes, and rung like a huge
gong ; but that was all. Now we have 6|-ton guns that would pierce her side at 500 yards ;
12-ton guns that would put a hole through her armour at over a mile, and 25-ton guns
that would probably penetrate the armour of any ironclad whatever. Why, some of the
ships themselves are now carrying 30-ton guns ! It is needless to go on and speak of
monster 81 and 100-ton guns after recording these facts. But their consideration explains
why the thickness of armour has kept on increasing, albeit it could not possibly do so
in an equal ratio.
Mr. Reed tells us : " This strange contest between attack and defence, however
wasteful, however melancholy, must still go on."* Sir W. G. Armstrong (inventor of the
famous guns), on the other hand, says, " In my opinion, armour should be wholly abandoned
for the defence of the guns, and, except to a very limited extent, I doubt the expediency
of using it even for the security of the ship. Where armour can be applied for deflecting
projectiles, as at the bow of a ship, it would afford great protection, without requiring to
be very heavy ."f Sir William recommends very swift iron vessels, divided into numerous
compartments, with boilers and machinery below the water-line, and only very partially
protected by armour; considering that victory in the contest as regards strength is entirely
on the side of the artillery. Sir Joseph Whitworth (also an inventor of great guns) offered
practically to make guns to penetrate any thickness of armour. The bewildered Parliamentary
committee says mournfully in its report : " A perfect ship of war is a desideratum which
has never yet been attained, and is now farther than ever removed from our reach ; " % while
Mr. Eeed § again cuts the gordian knot by professing his belief that in the end, " guns
will themselves be superseded as a means of attack, and the ship itself, viewed as a steam
projectile — possessing all the force of the most powerful shot, combined with the power
of striking in various directions — will be deemed the most formidable weapon of attack
that man's ingenuity has devised/' The contest between professed ship and gun makers
would be amusing but for the serious side — the immense expense, and the important
interests involved.
* Letter to the Times, Sept. 6tli, 1875 (after the loss of the Vanguard).
t Parliamentary Paper, 1872. Keports of the Committee on Designs for Ships of War &c.
J Ibid. $ ;'0ur Ironclad Ships."
THE PILLARS OF HERCULES. 87
CHAPTER VI.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR.
The Mediterranean— White, blue, green, purple Waters— Gibraltar— Its History— Its first Inhabitants the Monkeys— The
Moors— The Great Siege preceded by thirteen others— The Voyage of Sigurd to the Holy Land— The Third Siege-
Starvation— The Fourth Siege— Red-hot balls used before ordinary Cannon-balls— The Great Plague— Gibraltar
finally in Christian hands— A Naval Action between the Dutch and Spaniards— How England won the Rock— An
Unrewarded Hero— Spain's attempts to regain It— The Great Siege— The Rock itself and its Surroundings— The
Straits— Ceuta, Gibraltar's Rival — The Saltness of the Mediterranean — "Going aloft"— On to Malta.
In this and following chapters, we will ask the reader to accompany us in imagination
round the world, on board a ship of the Royal Navy, visiting en route the principal
British naval stations and possessions, and a few of those friendly foreign ports which, as
on the Pacific station, stand in lieu of them. We cannot do better than commence with
the Mediterranean, to which the young sailor will, in all probability, be sent for a cruise
after he has been thoroughly " broken in >} to the mysteries of life on board ship, and
where he has an opportunity of visiting many ports of ancient renown and of great
historical interest.
The modern title applied to the sea " between the lands " is not that of the ancients,
nor indeed that of some peoples now. The Greeks had no special name for it. Herodotus
calls it "this sea;" and Strabo the "sea within the columns," that is, within Calpe and
Abyla — the fabled pillars of Hercules — to-day represented by Gibraltar and Ceuta. The
Romans called it variously Mare Internum and Metre Nostrum, while the Arabians termed
it Bahr Rum — the Roman Sea. The modern Greeks call it Aspri Thalassa — the White
Sea; it might as appropriately be called blue, that being its general colour, or green, as
in the Adriatic, or purple, as at its eastern end : but they use it to distinguish it fronn
the " Sea of Storms "—the Black Sea. The Straits—" the Gate of the Narrow Passage,"
as the Arabians poetically describe it, or the Gut, as it is termed by our prosaic sailors
and pilots — is the narrow portal to a great inland sea with an area of 800,000 miles,
whose shores are as varied in character as are the peoples who own them. The Mediterranean
is salter than the ocean, in spite of the great rivers which enter it — the Rhone, Po,
Ebro, and Nile — and the innumerable smaller streams and torrents.* It has other
physical and special characteristics, to be hereafter considered.
The political and social events which have been mingled with its history are
interwoven with those of almost every people on the face of the globe. We shall see
how much our own has been shaped and involved. It was with the memory of the
glorious deeds of British seamen and soldiers that Browning wrote, when sailing through
the Straits : —
"Nobly, nobly, Cape St. Vincent to the north-west died away;
Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay ;
Bluish, 'mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay ;
In the dimmest north-east distance dawned Gibraltar, grand and gray;
* Vide "The Mediterranean," by Rear- Admiral Smyth. This is a standard work on all scientific points con.
uected with the Mediterranean.
88 THE SEA.
'Here, and here, did England help me — how can I help England ?' — sa y
Whoso turns as I, this evening, turns to God to praiae and pray,
While Jove's planet rises yonder, silent over Africa."
And the poet is almost literally correct in his description, for within sight, as we enter
the Straits of Gibraltar, are the localities of innumerable sea and land fights dating from
earliest days. That grand old Rock, what has it not witnessed since the first timid
mariner crept out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic — the Mare Tenebrosum, — the
" sea of darkness " of the ancients ? Romans of old fought Carthaginian galleys in its
bay; the conquering Moors held it uninterruptedly for six hundred years, and in all for
over seven centuries; Spain owned it close on two and a half centuries; and England has
dared the world to take it since 1704 — one hundred and seventy-three years ago. Its
very armorial bearings, which we have adopted from those given by Henry of Castile
and Leon, are suggestive of its position and value : a castle on a rock with a key pendant
— the key to the Mediterranean. The King of Spain still includes Calpe (Gibraltar)
in his dominions ; and natives of the place, Ford tells us, in his " Handbook to Spain,"
are entitled to the rights and privileges of Spanish birth. It has, in days gone by,
given great offence to French writers, who spoke of Vombrageme puissance with displeasure.
"Sometimes," says Ford, " there is too great a luxe de canons in this fortress ornee ; then
the gardens destroy ' wild nature ; ' in short, they abuse the red-jackets, guns, nursery-
maids, and even the monkeys." The present colony of apes are the descendants of the
aboriginal inhabitants of the Rock. They have held it through all vicissitudes.
The Moorish writers were ever enthusiastic over it. With them it was "the Shining
Mountain/' "the Mountain of Victory." "The Mountain of Taric"* (Gibraltar), says
a Granadiau poet, "is like a beacon spreading its rays over the sea, and rising far above
the neighbouring mountains; one might fancy that its face almost reaches the sky, and
that its eyes are watching the stars in the celestial track." An Arabian writer well
describes its position : — " The waters surround Gibraltar on almost every side, so as to
make it look like a watch-tower in the midst of the sea."
The fame of the last great siege, already briefly described in these pages,f has so
completely overshadowed the general history of the Rock that it will surprise many to
learn that it has undergone no less than fourteen sieges. The Moors, after successfully
invading Spain, first fortified it in 711, and held uninterrupted possession until 1309,
when Ferdinand IV. besieged and took it. The Spaniards only held it twenty-five years,
when it reverted to the Moors, who kept it till 1462. " Thus the Moors held it
in all about seven centuries and a quarter, from the making a castle on the Rock
to the last sorrowful departure of the remnants of the nation. It has been said that
Gibraltar was the landing-place of the vigorous Moorish race, and that it was the point
of departure on which their footsteps lingered last. In short, it was the European tete
de pont> of which Ceuta stands as the African fellow. By these means myriads of
Moslems passed into Spain, and with them much for which the Spaniards are wrongfully
unthankful. It is said that when the Moors left their houses in Granada, which they
* One of the earliest of the Moorish conquerors of Spain, who first fortified the Rock,
t Vide page 16.
12
90 THE SEA.
did with, so to speak, everything standing, many families took with them the gr-°at
wooden keys of their mansions, so confident were they of returning home again, when
the keys should open the locks and the houses be joyful anew. It was not to be as
thus longed for ; but many families in Barbary still keep the keys of these long ago
deserted and destroyed mansions." * And now we must mention an incident of its
history, recorded in the " Norwegian Chronicles of the Kings," concerning Sigurd the
Crusader — the Pilgrim. After battling his way from the North, with sixty " long ships,"
King Sigurd proceeded on his voyage to the Holy Land, " and came to Niorfa Sound
(Gibraltar Straits), and in the Sound he was met by a large viking force (squadron of
war-ships), and the King gave them battle ; and this was his fifth engagement with
heathens since the time he came from Norway. So says Halldor Skualldre : —
" ' He moistened your dry swords with blood,
As through Niorfa Sound ye stood;
The screaming raven got a feast,
As ye sailed onwards to the East.'
Hence he went along Sarkland, or Saracen's Land, Mauritania, where he attacked a strong
party, who had their fortress in a cave, with a wall before it, in the face of a precipice:
a place which was difficult to come at, and where the holders, who are said to have been
freebooters, defied and ridiculed the Northmen, spreading their valuables on the top of
the wall in their sight. Sigurd was equal to the occasion in craft as in force, for he had
his ships' boats drawn up the hill, filled them with archers and slingers, and lowered
them before the mouth of the cavern, so that they were able to keep back the defenders
long enough to allow the main body of the Northmen to ascend from the foot of the
cliff and break down the wall. This done, Sigurd caused large trees to be brought to
the mouth of the cave, and roasted the miserable wretches within/' Further fights, and
he at last reached Jerusalem, where he was honourably received by Baldwin, whom he
assisted with his ships at the siege of Sidon. Sigurd also visited Constantinople, where
the Emperor Alexius offered him his choice : either to receive six skif-pound (or about a
ton of gold), or see the great games of the hippodrome. The Northman wisely chose the
latter, the cost of which was said to be equal to the value of the gold offered. Sigurd
presented his ships to the Emperor, and their splendid prows were hung up in the church
of St. Peter, at Constantinople.
In the year 1319, Pedro, Infante of Castile, fought the Moors at Granada. The latter
were the victors, and their spoils were enormous, consisting in part of forty-three hundred-
weights of gold, one hundred and forty hundredweights of silver, with armour, arms, and
horses in abundance. Fifty thousand Castilians were slain, and among the captives were the
wife and children of the Infante. Gibraltar, then in the hands of Spain, with Tarifa and
eighteen castles of the district, were offered, and refused for her ransom. The body of
the Infante himself was stripped of its skin, and stuffed and hung over the gate of Granada.
The third siege occurred in the reign of Mohammed IV., when the Spanish held the
*" History of Gibraltar and its Sieges," by F. Gr. Stephens, with photographic illustrations by J. H. Mann*
The writer is much indebted to this valuable work for information embodied in these pages.
SIEGES OF GIBEALTAR. 91
Bock. The governor at that time, Vaseo Perez de Meira, was an avaricious and dishonest
man, who embezzled the dues and other resources of the place and- neglected his charge.
During the siege, a grain-ship fell on shore,* and its cargo would have enabled him to
hold out a long time. Instead of feeding his soldiers, who were reduced to eating leather,
he gave and sold it to his prisoners, with the expectation of either getting heavy ransoms
for them, or, if he should have to surrender, of making better terms for himself. It
availed him nothing, for he had to capitulate ; and then, not daring to face his sovereign,
Alfonso XI., he had to flee to Africa, where he ended his days.
Alfonso besieged it twice. The first time the Granadians induced him to abandon it,
promising a heavy ransom ; the next time he commenced by reducing the neighbouring town
of Algeciras, which was defended with great energy. When the Spaniards brought forward
their wheeled towers of wood, covered with raw hides, the Moors discharged cannon loaded
with red-hoi balls. This is noteworthy, for cannon was not used by the English till
three years after, at the battle of Crec.y, while it is the first recorded instance of red-hot
shot being used at all.f It is further deserving of notice, that the very means employed
at Algeciras were afterwards so successfully used at the great siege. After taking
Algeciras, Alfonso blockaded Gibraltar, when the plague broke out in his camp; he died
from it, and the Rock remained untaken. This was the epoch of one of those great
pestilences which ravaged Europe. Fifty thousand souls perished in London in 1348 from its
effects ; Florence lost two-thirds of her population ; in Saragossa three hundred died daily.
The sixth attack on the part of the King of Fez was unsuccessful; as was that in 1436,
when it was besieged by a wealthy noble — one of the De Gusmans. His forces were
allowed to land in numbers on a narrow beach below the fortress, where they were soon
exposed to the rising of the tide and the missiles of the besieged. De Gusman was
drowned, and his body, picked up by the Moors, hung out for twenty- six years from the
battlements, as a warning to ambitious nobles.
At the eighth siege, in 1462, Gibraltar passed finally into Christian hands. The
garrison was weak and the Spaniards gained an easy victory. When Henry IV. learned
of its capture, he rejoiced greatly, and took immediate care to proclaim it a fief of the
throne, adding to the royal titles that of Lord of Gibraltar. The armorial distinctions
still borne by Gibraltar were first granted by him. The ninth siege, on the part of a
De Gusman, was successful, and it for a time passed into the hands of a noble who had
vast possessions and fisheries in the neighbourhood. Strange to say, such were the
troubles of Spain at the time, that Henry the before-named, who was known as "the
Weak," two years after confirmed the title to the Rock to the son of the very man who
had been constantly in arms against him. But after the civil wars, and at the advent
of Ferdinand and Isabella, there was a decided change. Isabella, acting doubtless under
* On more than one occasion such wrecks have happened, as, for example, when a Danish vessel, laden with
lemons, fell into the hands of General Elliott's garrison, then suffering fearfully with scurvy, October llth, 1780.
A year before a storm cast a quantity of drift-wood under the walls. " As fuel had long been a scarce article,
this supply was therefore considered as a miraculous interference of Providence in our favour." (Vide Drinkwater's
" Gibraltar.")
t The Romans, however, sometimes employed red-hot bolts, which were ejected from catapults.
THE SEA.
the advice of her astute husband, whose entire policy was opposed to such aggrandisement
on the part of a subject, tried to induce the duke to surrender it, offering in exchange
the City of Utrera. Ayala* tells us that he utterly refused. His great estates were
protected by it, and he made it a kind of central depot for his profitable tunny fisheries.
He died in 1492, and the third duke applied to Isabella for a renewal of his grant and
privileges. She promised all, but insisted that the Rock and fortress must revert to
the Crown. But it was not till nine years afterwards that Isabella succeeded in compelling
or inducing the Duke to surrender it formally. Dying in 1504, the queen testified her
wishes as follows : — " It is my will and desire, insomuch as the city of Gibraltar has
been surrendered to the Royal Crown, and been inserted among its titles, that it shall for
ever so remain." Two years after her death, Juan de Gusman tried to retake it, and
blockaded it for four months, at the end of which time he abandoned the siege, and had
to make reparation to those whose property had been injured. This is the only bloodless
one among the fourteen sieges.
In 1540 a dash was made at the town, and even at a part of the fortress, by
Corsairs. They plundered the neighbourhood, burned a chapel and hermitage, and dictated
terms in the most high-handed way — that all the Turkish prisoners should be released,
and that their galleys should be allowed to take water at the Gibraltar wells. They
were afterwards severely chastised by a Spanish fleet.
In the wars between the Dutch and Spaniards a naval action occurred, in the year
1607, in the port of Gibraltar, which can hardly be omitted in its history. The great
Sully has described it graphically when speaking of the efforts of the Dutch to secure
the alliance of his master, Henry IV. of France, in their wars against Philip of Spain.
He says : " Alvares d'Avila, the Spanish admiral, was ordered to cruise near the Straits of
Gibraltar, to hinder the Dutch from entering the Mediterranean, and to deprive them
of the trade of the Adriatic. The Dutch, to whom this was a most sensible mortification,
gave the command of ten or twelve vessels to one of their ablest seamen, named Heemskerk,
with the title of vice-admiral, and ordered him to go and reconnoitre this fleet, and attack
it. D'Avila, though nearly twice as strong as his enemy, yet provided a reinforcement
of twenty-six great ships, some of which were of a thousand tons burden, and augmented
the number of his troops to three thousand five hundred men. With this accession of
strength he thought himself so secure of victory that he brought a hundred and fifty
gentlemen along with him only to be witnesses of it. However, instead of standing out
to sea, as he ought to have done, he posted himself under the town and castle of Gibraltar,
that he might not be obliged to fight but when he thought proper.
" Heemskerk, who had taken none of these precautions, no sooner perceived that his
enemy seemed to fear him than he advanced to attack him, and immediately began the most
furious battle that was ever fought in the memory of man. It lasted eight whole hours.
The Dutch vice-admiral, at the beginning, attacked the vessel in which the Spanish admiral
was, grappled with, and was ready to board her. A cannon-ball, which wounded him in the
thigh, soon after the fight began, left him only a hour's life, during which, and till within
i! de Ayala, "Historic de Gibraltar''
ROOKE'S CAPTURE OF GIBRALTAR.
93
a moment of his death, he continued to give orders as if he felt no pain. When he found
himself ready to expire, he delivered his sword to his lieutenant, obliging him and all that
were with him to bind themselves by an oath either to conquer or die. The lieutenant
caused the same oath to be taken by the people of all the other vessels, when nothing
was heard but a general cry of f Victory or Death ! ' At length the Dutch were victorious ;
they lost only two vessels, and about two hundred and fifty men; the Spaniards lost
MOORISH TOWER AT GIBRALTAR.
sixteen ships, three were consumed by fire, and the others, among which was the admiral's
ship, ran aground. D'Avila, with thirty-five captains, fifty of his volunteers, and two
thousand eight hundred soldiers, lost their lives in the fight; a memorable action, which was
not only the source of tears and affliction to many widows and private persons, but filled
all Spain with horror."*
England won Gibraltar during the War of the Succession, when she was allied with
Austria and Holland against Spain and France. The war had dragged on with varied results
till 1704, when it was determined to attack Spain at home with the aid of the Portuguese. The
commanders of the allied fleets and troops — i.e., the Landgrave George of Hesse-Darmstadt,
Sir George Rooke, Admiral Byng, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Admiral Leake, and the three
* " Memoirs of Sully," bk. xx.
94 THE SEA.
Dutch admirals — determined to attack Gibraltar, believed to be weak in forces and stores.
On the 21st of July, 1704, the fleet, which consisted of forty-five ships, six frigates, besides
fire and bomb-ships, came to an anchor off the Rock, and landed 5,000 men, so as to at
once cut off the supplies of the garrison. The commanders of the allied forces sent, on
the morning after their arrival, a demand for the surrender of Gibraltar to the Archduke
Charles, whose claims as rightful King of Spain they were supporting. The little garrison*'
answered valiantly; and had their brave governor, the Marquis Diego de Salinas, been
properly backed, the fortress might have been Spain's to-day. The opening of the contest
was signalised by the burning of a French privateer, followed by a furious cannonading :
the new and old moles were speedily silenced, and large numbers of marines landed. The
contest was quite unequal, and the besieged soon offered to capitulate with the honours
of war, the right of retaining their property, and six days' provisions. The garrison
had three days allowed for its departure, and those, as well as the inhabitants of the
Rock, who chose, might remain, with full civil and religious rights. Thus, in three days'
time the famous fortress fell into the hands of the allies, and possession was taken in the
name of Charles III. Sir George Rooke, however, over-rode this, and pulled down the
standard of Charles, setting up in its stead that of England. A garrison of 1,800 English
seamen was landed. The English -were, alone of the parties then present, competent to
hold it; and at the Peace of Utrecht, 1711, it was formally ceded "absolutely, with all
manner of right for ever, without exemption or impediment/'' to Great Britain.
The Spaniards departed from the fortress they had valiantly defended, the majority
remaining at St. Roque. " Like some of the Moors whom they had dispossessed, their
descendants are said to preserve until this day the records and family documents which form
the bases of claims upon property on that Rock, which, for more than a century and a half,
has known other masters."
Rooke went absolutely unrewarded. He was persistently ignored by the Government
of the day, and being a man of moderate fortune, consulted his own dignity, and
retired to his country seat. The same year, 1704, the Spanish again attempted, with the
aid of France, to take Gibraltar. England had only three months to strengthen and repair
the fortifications, and the force brought against the Rock was by no means contemptible,
including as it did a fleet of two-and-twenty French men-of-war. Succour arrived; Sir
John Leake succeeded in driving four of the enemy's ships ashore. An attempt to escalade
the fortress was made, under the guidance of a native goat-herd. He, with a company of
men, succeeded in reaching the signal station, where a hard fight occurred, and our troops
killed or disabled 160 men, and took the remnant prisoners. Two sallies were made from
the Rock with great effect, while an attempt made by the enemy to enter through a narrow
breach resulted in a sacrifice of 200 lives. A French fleet, under Pointe, arrived; the English
admiral captured three and destroyed one of them — that of Pointe himself. To make a
six months' story short, the assailants lost 10,000 men, and then had to raise the siege.
Although on several occasions our rulers have since the Peace of Utrecht proposed to cede
or exchange the fortress, the spirit of the people would not permit it; and there can be
* In a memorial presented to Philip V. after the capture, it was stated that the garrison comprised " fewer
than 300 men ; a few poor and raw peasants." Other accounts range from 150 to 500.
THE LAST SIEGE OP GIBRALTAR. 95
no doubt whatever that our right to Gibraltar is not merely that of possession — nine points
of the law — but cession wrung from a people unable to hold it. And that, in war, is fair.
Twenty years later Spain again attempted to wring it from us. Mr. Stanhope, then
our representative at Madrid, was told by Queen Isabella : " Either relinquish Gibraltar or
your trade with the Indies." We still hold Gibraltar, and our trade with the Indies is
generally regarded as a tolerably good one. In December, 1726, peace or war was made
the alternative regarding the cession ; another bombardment followed. An officer* present
said that it was so severe that " we seemed to live in flames/' Negotiations for peace
followed at no great distance of time, and the Spaniards suddenly drew off from the attack.
Various offers, never consummated, were made for an exchange. Pitt proposed to cede it
in exchange for Minorca, Spain to assist in recovering it from the French. At another time,
Oran, a third-class port on the Mediterranean shores of Africa, was offered in exchange ; and
Mr. Fitzherbert, our diplomatist, was told that the King of Spain was " determined never
to put a period to the present war " if we did not agree to the terms ; and again, that
Oran " ought to be accepted with gratitude." The tone of Spain altered very considerably
a short time afterwards, when the news arrived of the destruction of the floating batteries,
and the failure ©f the grand attack. f This was at the last — the great siege of history.
A few additional details may be permitted before we pass to other subjects.
The actual siege occupied three years and seven months, and for one year and nine
months the bombardment went on without cessation. The actual losses on the part of the
enemy can hardly be estimated; 1,473 were killed, wounded, or missing on the floating
batteries alone. But for brave Curtis, who took a pinnace to the rescue of the poor
wretches on the batteries, then in flames, and the ammunition of which was exploding every
minute, more than 350 fresh victims must have gone to their last account. His boat was
engulfed amid the falling ruins; a large piece of timber fell through its flooring, killing
the coxswain and wounding others. The sailors stuffed their jackets into the leak, and
succeeded in saving the lives of 357 of their late enemies. For many days consecutively
they had been peppering us at the rate of 6,500 shots, and over 2,000 shells each twenty-
four hours. With the destruction of the floating batteries " the siege was virtually concluded.
The contest was at an end, and the united strength of two ambitious and powerful nations
had been humbled by a straitened garrison of 6,000 effective men."! Our losses were
comparatively small, though thrice the troops were on the verge of famine. At the period
of the great siege the Rock mounted only 100 "guns ; now it has 1,000, many of them
of great calibre. In France, victory for the allies was regarded as such a foregone conclu-
sion that "a drama, illustrative of the destruction of Gibraltar by the floating batteries,
was acted nightly to applauding thousands !"§ The siege has, we believe, been a favourite
subject at the minor English theatres many a time since ; but it need not be stated that
the views taken of the result were widely different to those popular at that time in Paris.
Gibraltar has had an eventful history even since the great siege. In 1804 a terrible
epidemic swept the Rock; 5,733 out of a population of 15,000 died in a few weeks. The
climate is warm and pleasant, but it is not considered the most healthy of localities even
* " Journal of an Officer during the Siege." f See ante, page 16.
$ Sayer's "History of Gibraltar," J Barrow's "Life of Lord Howe,"
96
THE SEA.
now. And on the 28th of October, 1805, the Victory, in tow of the Neptune, entered the
bay, with the body of Nelson on board. The fatal shot had done its work; only eleven
days before he had written to General Fox one of his happy, pleasant letters.
The Rock itself is a compact limestone, a form of grey dense marble varied by beds
of red sandstone. It abounds in caves and fissures, and advantage has been taken of
these facts to bore galleries, the most celebrated of which are St. Michael's and Martin's,
the former 1,100 feet above the sea. Tradition makes it a barren rock; but the botanists
tell us differently. There are 456 species of indigenous flowering plants, besides many
which have been introduced. The advantages of its natural position have been everywhere
utilised. It bristles with batteries, many of which can hardly be seen. Captain Sayer
tells us that every spot where a gun could be brought to bear on an enemy has one.
"Wandering/' says he, "through the geranium -edged paths on the hill-side, or
clambering up the rugged cliffs to the eastward, one stumbles unexpectedly upon a gun
of the heaviest metal lodged in a secluded nook, with its ammunition, round shot, canister,
and case piled around it, ready at any instant. . . . The shrubs and flowers that grow
on the cultivated places, and are preserved from injury with so much solicitude, are often
THE STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR. 97
but the masks of guns, which lie crouched beneath the leaves ready for the port-fire/'
Everywhere, all stands ready for defence. War and peace are strangely mingled.
Gibraltar has one of the finest colonial libraries in the world, founded by the celebrated
Colonel Drinkwater, whose account of the great siege is still the standard authority. The
town possesses some advantages; but as 15,000 souls out of a population of about double
that number are crowded into one square mile, it is not altogether a healthy place — albeit
much improved of late years. Rents are exorbitant ; but ordinary living and bad liquors are
cheap. It is by no means the best place in the world for " Jack ashore," for, as Shakespeare
tells us, " sailors " are " but men," and there be " land rats and water rats," who live on
their weaknesses. The town has a very mongrel population, of all shades of colour and
character. Alas ! the monkeys, who were the first inhabitants of the Rock — tailless Barbary
apes — are now becoming scarce. Many a poor Jocko has fallen from the enemy's shot, killed
in battles which he, at least, never provoked.
The scenery of the Straits, which we are now about to enter, is fresh and pleasant,
and as we commenced with an extract from one well-known poet, we may be allowed to
finish with that of another, which, if more hackneyed, is still expressive and beautiful.
Byron's well-known lines will recur to many of our readers : —
" Through Calpe's Straits survey the steepy shore ;
Europe and Afric on each other gaze !
Lands of the dark-eyed maid and dusky Moor
Alike beheld beneath pale Hecate's blaze ;
How softly on the Spanish shore she plays,
Disclosing rock, and slope, and forest brown,
Distinct though darkening with her waning phase."
In the distance gleams Mons Abyla — the Apes' Hill of sailors — a term which could
have been, for a very long time, as appropriately given to Gibraltar. It is the other
sentinel of the Straits ; while Ceuta, the strong fortress built on its flanks, is held by
Spain on Moorish soil, just as we hold the Rock of Rocks on theirs. Its name is probably
a corruption of Sept-em — Seven — from the number of hills on which it is built. It is to-day
a military prison, there usually being here two or three thousand convicts, while both
convicts and fortress are guarded by a strong garrison of 3,500 soldiers. These in their
turn were, only a few years ago, guarded by the jealous Moors, who shot both guards and
prisoners if they dared to emerge in the neighbourhood. There is, besides, a town, as at
Gibraltar, with over 15,000 inhabitants, and at the present day holiday excursions are
commonly made across the Straits in strong little steamers or other craft. The tide runs
into the Straits from the Atlantic at the rate of four or more knots per hour, and yet
all this water, with that of the innumerable streams and rivers which fall into the
Mediterranean, scarcely suffice to raise a perceptible tide ! What becomes of all this
water ? Is there a hole in the earth through which it runs off ? Hardly : evaporation
is probably the true secret of its disappearance : and that this is the reason is proved by
the greater saltness of the Mediterranean as compared with the Atlantic.
In sailor's parlance, "going aloft" has a number of meanings. He climbs the slippery
shrouds to "go aloft;" and when at last, like poor Tom Bowling, he lies a "sheer hulk," and — •
13
98 THE SEA.
" His body's under hatches,
His soul has 'gone aloft.'"
"Going aloft" in the Mediterranean has a very different meaning: it signifies passing
upwards and eastwards from the Straits of Gibraltar. We are now going aloft to Malta,
a British possession hardly second to that of the famed Rock itself.
CHAPTER VII.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued}.
MALTA AND THE SUEZ CANAL.
Calypso's Isle— A Convict Paradise— Malta, the " Flower of the World "—The Knights of St. John— Rise of the Order—
The Crescent and the Cross— The Siege of Rhodes— L'Isle Adam in London— The Great Siege of Malta— Horrible
Episodes— Malta in French and English Hands -St. Paul's Cave— The Catacombs— Modern Incidents— The Shipwreck
of St. Paul— Gales in the Mediterranean— Experiences of Nelson and Collingwood— Squalls in the Bay of San
Francisco— A Man Overboard— Special Winds of the Mediterranean— The Suez Canal and M. de Lesseps— His
Diplomatic Career— Said Pacha as a Boy— As a Viceroy— The Plan Settled— Financial Troubles— Construction of the
Canal— The Inauguration Fete— Suez— Passage of the Children of Israel through the Red Sea.
APPROACHING Malta, we must " not in silence pass Calypso's Isle." Warburton describes
it, in his delightful work on the Eastf — a classic on the Mediterranean — as a little
paradise, with all the beauties of a continent in miniature ; little mountains with craggy
summits, little valleys with cascades and rivers, lawny meadows and dark woods, trim
gardens and tangled vineyards — all within a circuit of five or six miles.
o o »/
One or two uninhabited little islands, " that seem to have strayed from the continent
and lost their way/' dot the sea between the pleasant penal settlement and Gezo, which
is also a claimant for the doubtful honour of Calypso's Isle. Narrow straits separate it
from the rock, the "inhabited quarry," called Malta, of which Valetta is the port. The
capital is a cross between a Spanish and an Eastern town; most of its streets are flights
of steps.
Although the climate is delightful, it is extremely warm, and there is usually a
glare of heat about the place, owing to its rocky nature and limited amount of tree-shade.
"All Malta," writes Tallack,| "seems to be light yellow — light yellow rocks, light yellow
fortifications, light yellow stone walls, light yellow flat-topped houses, light yellow palaces,
light yellow roads and streets." Stones and stone walls are the chief and conspicuous objects
in a Maltese landscape; and for good reasor, ior the very limited soil is propped up and
kept in bounds by them on the hills. With the scanty depth of earth the vegetation
between the said stone walls is wonderful. The green bushy carob and prickly cactus ave
* Vide "Malta Sixty Years Ago," by Admiral Shaw.
t " The Crescent and the Cross."
1 " Malta under the Phoenicians, Knights, and English," by "W. Tallack.
AT MALTA. 99
to be seen; but in the immediate neighbourhood of Malta few trees, only an occasional
and solitary palm. Over all, the bright blue sky; around, the deep blue sea. You must
not say anything to a Maltese against it ; with him it is " Flor del Mondo " — the " Flower
of the World."
The poorest natives live in capital stone houses, many of them with facades and fronts
which would be considered ornamental in an English town. The terraced roofs make up to
its cooped inhabitants the space lost by building. There are five or six hundred promeiiadablu
voofs in the city. Tallack says that the island generally is the abode of industry and content-
ment. Expenses are high, except as regards the purchase of fruits, including the famed
" blood," " Mandolin " (sometimes called quite as correctly " Mandarin "} oranges, and Japan
medlars, and Marsala wine from Sicily. The natives live simply, as a rule, but the
officers and foreign residents commonly do not ; and it is true here, as Ford says of the
military gentlemen at Gibraltar, that their faces often look somewhat redder than their
jackets in consequence. As in India, many unwisely adopt the high living of their class,
in a climate where a cool and temperate diet is indispensable.
The four great characteristics of Malta are soldiers, priests, goats, and bells — the latter
not being confined to the necks of the goats, but jangling at all hours from the many church
towers. The goats pervade everywhere ; there is scarcely any cow's milk to be obtained in
Malta. They may often be seen with sheep, as in the patriarchal days of yore, following their
owners, in accordance with the pastoral allusions of the Bible.
What nature commenced in Valetta, art has finished. It has a land-locked harbour —
'really several, running into each other — surrounded by high fortified walls, above which rise
houses, and other fortifications above them. There are galleries in the rock following the
Gibraltar precedent, and batteries bristling with guns ; barracks, magazines, large docks,
foundry, lathe-rooms, and a bakery for the use of the " United " Service.
To every visitor the gorgeous church of San Giovanni, with its vaulted roof of gilded
arabesque, its crimson hangings, and carved pulpits, is a great object of interest. Its floor
resembles one grand escutcheon — a mosaic of knightly tombs, recalling days when Malta was
a harbour of saintly refuge and princely hospitality for crusaders and pilgrims of the cross.
An inner chapel is guarded by massive silver rails, saved from the French by the cunning
of a priest, who, on their approach, painted them wood-colour, and their real nature was
never suspected. But amid all the splendour of the venerable pile, its proudest possession
to-day is a bunch of old rusty keys — the keys of Rhodes, the keys of the Knights of St. John.
What history is not locked up with those keys ! There is hardly a country in Europe,
Asia, or Northern Africa, the history of which has not been more or less entangled with
that of these Knights of the Cross, who, driven by the conquering Crescent from Jerusalem,
took refuge successively in Cyprus, Rhodes, Candia, Messina, and finally, Malta.
The island had an important place in history and commerce long ere that period. The
Phoenicians held it 700 years; the Greeks a century and a half. The Romans retained
it for as long a period as the Phoenicians ; and after being ravaged by Goths and Vandals,
it was for three and a half centuries an appanage of the crown of Byzantium. Next came
the Arabs, who were succeeded by the Normans, and soon after it had become a German
possession, Charles V. presented it to the homeless knights.
THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN.
101
In the middle of the eleventh century, some merchants of the then flourishing
commercial city of Amain obtained permission to erect three hostelries or hospitals m
the Holy City, for the relief of poor and invalided pilgrims. On the taking of Jerusalem
by the Crusaders, the position and prospects of the hospitals of St. John became greatly
improved. The organisation became a recognised religious order, vowing poverty, obedience,
and chastity. It members were distinguished by a white cross of four double points worn
on a black robe, of the form commonly to be met in the Maltese filigree jewellery of to-day,
CATACOMBS AT CITTA VECCHIA. MALTA.
often to be noted in our West End and other shops. Branch hospitals spread all over Europe
with the same admirable objects, and the order received constant acquisitions of property.
Under the guidance of Raymond du Puy, military service was added to the other vows,
and the monks became the White Cross Knights.* Henceforth each seat of the order
became a military garrison in addition to a hospice, and each knight held himself in
readiness to aid with his arms his distressed brethren against the infidel.
Slowly but surely the Crescent overshadowed the Cross: the Holy City had to be
evacuated. The pious knights, after wandering first to Cyprus, settled quietly in Rhodes,
where for two centuries they maintained a sturdy resistance against the Turks. At the
first siege, in 1 180, a handful of the former resisted 70,000 of the latter. The bombardment
* In contradistinction to the Ked Cross Knights, or Templars, who, though Crusaders, formed a puicly
military order.
108 THE SEA.
was so terrific that it is stated to have been heard a hundred miles off, and for this extra-
ordinary defence. Peter d'Aubusson, Grand Master, was made a cardinal by the Pope.
At the second siege, I/Isle Adam, with 600 Knights of St. John, and 4,500 troops,
resisted and long repelled a force of 200,000 infidels. But the odds were too great against
him, and after a brave but hopeless defence, which won admiration even from the enemy,
I/Isle Adam capitulated. After personal visits to the Pope, and to the Courts of Madrid,
Paris, and London, the then almost valueless Rock of Malta was bestowed on the knights
in 1530. Its noble harbours, and deep and sheltered inlets were then as now, but there
was only one little town, called Burgo — Valetta as yet was not.
In London, L'Isle Adam lodged at the provincial hostelry of the order, St. John's
Clerkenwell, still a house of entertainment, though of a very different kind. Henry VIII.
received him with apparent cordiality, and shortly afterwards confiscated all the English
possessions of the knights ! This was but a trifle among their troubles, for in 1565 they
were again besieged in Malta. Their military knowledge, and especially that of their
leader, the great La Valette, had enabled them to already strongly fortify the place. La
Valette had 500 knights and 9,000 soldiers, while the Turks had 30,000 fighting men,
conveyed thither in 200 galleys, and were afterwards reinforced by the Algerine corsair,
Drugot, and his men. A desperate resistance was made : 2,000 Turks were killed in u
single day. The latter took the fortress of St. Elmo, with the loss of Drugot — just before
the terror of the Mediterranean — who was killed by a splinter of rock, knocked off by a
cannon-ball in its flight. The garrison was at length reduced to sixty men, who attended
their devotions in the chapel for the last time. Many of these were fearfully wounded,
but even then the old spirit asserted itself, and they desired to be carried to the ramparts
in chairs to lay down their lives in obedience to the vows of their order. Next day few of
that devoted sixty were alive, a very small number escaping by swimming. The attempts
on the other forts, St. Michael and St. Angelo, were foiled. Into the Eastern Harbour
(now the Grand), Mustapha ordered the dead bodies of the Christian knights and soldiers to
be cast. They were spread out on boards in the form of a cross, and floated by the tide
across to the besieged with La Yalette, where they were sorrowfully taken up and interred.
In exasperated retaliation, La Valette fired the heads of the Turkish slain back at their
former companions — a horrible episode of a fearful struggle. St. Elmo alone cost the lives
of 8,000 Turks, 150 Knights of St. John, and 1,300 of their men. After many false
promises of assistance, and months of terrible suspense and suffering, an auxiliary force
arrived from Sicily, and the Turks retired. Out of the 9,500 soldiers and knights who
were originally with La Valette, only 500 were alive at the termination of the great
siege.
This memorable defence was the last of the special exploits of the White Cross
Knights, and they rested on their laurels, the order becoming wealthy, luxurious, and not
a little demoralised. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, the confiscation of
their property in France naturally followed; for they had been helping Louis XVI. with
their revenues just previously. Nine years later, Napoleon managed, by skilful intrigues,
to obtain quiet possession of Malta. But he could not keep it, for after two years of
blockade it was won by Great Britain, and she has held it ever since. At the Congress of
MODERN EVENTS AT MALTA. 108
Vienna in 1814, our possession was formally ratified. We hold it on as good a title as
we do Gibraltar, by rights acknowledged at the signing of the Peace Treaty.*
The supposed scene of St. Paul's shipwreck is constantly visited, and although some
have doubted whether the Melita of St. Luke is not the island of the same name in the
Adriatic, tradition and probability point to Malta. | At St. Paul's Bay, there is a small
chapel over the cave, with a statue of the apostle in marble, with the viper in his hand.
Colonel Shaw tells us that the priest who shows the cave recommended him to take a
piece of the stone as a specific against shipwreck, saying, " Take away as much as you
please, you will not diminish the cave." Some of the priests aver that there is a miraculous
renovation, and that it cannot diminish ! and when they tell you that under one of the
Maltese churches the great apostle did penance in a cell for three months, it looks still
more as though they are drawing on their imagination.
The great catacombs at Citta Vecchia, Malta, were constructed by the natives as
places of refuge from the Turks. They consist of whole streets, with houses and sleeping-
places. They were later used for tombs. There are other remains on the island of much
greater antiquity, Ilagiar C/iem (the stones of veneration) date from Phoenician days.
These include a temple resembling Stonehenge, on a smaller scale, where there are seven
statuettes with a grotesque rotundity of outline, the seven Phoenician Caliri (deities ;
" great and powerful ones'"). There are also seven divisions to the temple, which is
mentioned by Herodotus and other ancient writers.
To come back to our own time. In 1808, the following remarkable event occurred
at Malta. One Froberg had raised a levy of Greeks for the British Government,
by telling the individual members that they should all be corporals, generals, or what
not. It was to be all officers, like some other regiments of which we have heard.
The men soon found out the deceit, but drilled admirably uctil the brutality of
the adjutant caused them to mutiny. Malta was at the time thinly garrisoned, and
their particular fort had only one small detachment of troops and thirty artillerymen. The
mutineers made the officer of artillery point his guns on the town. He, however, managed
that the shots should fall harmlessly. Another officer escaped up a chimney, and the Greeks
coming into the same house, nearly suffocated him by lighting a large fire below. Troops
arrived; the mutineers were secured, and a court-martial condemned thirty, half of whom
were to be hanged, and the rest shot. Only five could be hanged at a time : the first
five were therefore suspended by the five who came next, and so on. Of the men who
* The Order of the Knights of St. John exists now as a religious and benevolent body — a shadow of its
former self. There was a period when the revenues of the Order were over £3,000,000 sterling. It still exists,
however, the head-quarters being at Ferrara in Italy. Recent organisations, countenanced and supported by
distinguished noblemen and gentlemen for the relief of sufferers by war, and convalescents in hospital in many parts
of England, are in some sense under its banner ; H.R.H. the Prince of Wales is President of one of them —
the National Society for the Sick and Wounded in War. It had been recommended by one writer, that
gentlemen of the present day should become members, and wear at evening entertainments a special dress and
decoration, and that there should also be dames chevalieres, with decorations also. He believes, of course,
that this would greatly aid the funds for those benevolent purposes.
t For an elaborate, exhaustive disquisition on this subject, vide " The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul,"
by James Smith.
104 THE SEA.
were to be shot one ran away, and got over a parapet, where he was afterwards shot:
another is thought to have escaped.
Colonel Shaw tells the story of a soldier of the Sicilian regiment who had frequently
deserted. He was condemned to be shot. A priest who visited him in prison left behind
him — purposely, there can be little doubt — his iron crucifix. The soldier used it to scrape
away the mortar, and moved stone after stone, until he got into an adjoining cell, where
he found himself no better off, as it was locked. The same process was repeated, until
he at last reached a cell of which the door was open, entered the passage and climbed a
wall, beneath which a seniry was posted. Fortunately for the prisoner, a regular Maltese
shower was pouring down, and the guard remained in his box. The fugitive next reached
a high gate, where it seemed he must be foiled. Not at all ! He went back, got his
blanket, cut it into strips, made a rope, and by its means climbed the gate, dropped into
a fosse, from which he reached and swam across the harbour. He lived concealed for some
time among the natives, but venturing one day into the town, was recognised and captured.
The governor considered that after all this he deserved his life, and changed his sentence to
transportation.
Before leaving Malta, which, with its docks, navy-yard, and splendid harbours,
fortifications, batteries, and magazines, is such an important naval and military station,
we may briefly mention the revenue derived, and expenditure incurred by the Government
in connection with it, as both are considerable. The revenue derived from imposts
of the usual nature, harbour dues, &c., is about £175,000. The military expenditure is
about £366,000, which includes the expenses connected with the detachments of artillery,
and the Royal Maltese Fencibles, a native regiment of 600 to 700 men. The expenses
of the Royal Navy would, of course, be incurred somewhere, if not in Malta, and have
therefore nothing to do with the matter.
Our next points of destination are Alexandria and Suez, both intimately identified
with British interests. On our way we shall be passing through or near the same waters
as did St. Paul when in the custody of the centurion Julius, " one of Augustus' band."
It was in " a ship of Alexandria " that he was a passenger on that disastrous voyage.
At Fair Havens, Crete (or Candia), we know that the Apostle admonished them to stay,
for " sailing was now dangerous," but his advice was disregarded, and " when the south
wind blew softly " the master and owner of the vessel feared nothing, but
" The flattering wind that late with promis'd aid,
From Candia' s Bay th' unwilling ship betray 'd,
No longer fawns beneath the fair disguise,"
and "not long after, there arose against it a tempestuous wind called Euroclydon," beforo
which the ship drave under bare poles. We know that she had to be undergirded; cables
being passed under her hull to keep her from parting; and lightened, by throwing the
freight overboard. For fourteen days the ship was driven hither and thither, till at
length she was wrecked off Melita. Sudden gales, whirlwinds, and typhoons are not
uiicr mmon in the Mediterranean ; albeit soft winds and calm seas alternate with them.
On the 22nd May, 1798, Nelson, while in the Gulf of Genoa, was assailed by a
STORMS' IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.
105
sudden storm, which carried away all the Vanguard's topmasts, washed one man over-
board, killed an unfortunate middy and a seaman on board, and wounded others. This
M. LESSEPS.
ship, which acted her name at the Nile only two months afterwards, rolled and laboured
so dreadfully, and was in such distress, that Nelson himself declared, " The meanest frigate
out of France would have been an unwelcome guest ! " An officer relates that in the
middle of the Gulf of Lyons, Lord Collingwood's vessel, the Ocean, a roomy 98-gun
ship, was struck by a sea in the middle of a gale, that threw her on her beam-ends,
14
106 THE SEA.
so much so that the men on the Royal Sovereign called out, "The admiral's gone down!"
She righted again, however, but was terribly disabled. Lord Collingwood said afterwards
that the heavy guns were suspended almost vertically, and that " he thought the topsides
were actually parting from the lower frame of the ship." Admiral Smyth, in his
important physical, hydrographical, and nautical work on the Mediterranean, relates that in
1812, when on the Rodney, a new 74-gun ship, she was so torn by the united violence
of wind and wave, that the admiral had to send her to England, although sadly in need
of ships. He adds, however, that noble as was her appearance on the waters, " she was
one of that hastily-built batch of men-of-war sarcastically termed the Forty Thieves /"
Many are the varieties of winds accompanied by special characteristics met in the
Mediterranean, and, indeed, sudden squalls are common enough in all usually calm waters.
The writer well remembers such an incident in the beautiful Bay of San Francisco,
California. He had, with friends, started in the morning from the gay city of " Frisco "
on a deep-sea fishing excursion. The vessel was what is technically known as a " plunger,"
a strongly-built two-masted boat, with deck and cabins, used in the bay and coast trade
of the North Pacific, or for fishing purposes. When the party, consisting of five ladies, four
gentlemen, the master and two men, started in the morning, there was scarcely a breath
of wind or a ripple on the water, and oars as large as those used on a barge were employed
to propel the vessel.
" The sea was bright, and the bark rode well,"
and at length the desired haven, a sheltered nook, with fine cliffs, seaweed-covered rocks,
and deep, clear water, was reached, and a dozen strong lines, with heavy sinkers, put out.
The sea was bountiful : in a couple of hours enough fish were caught to furnish a
capital lunch for all. A camp was formed on the beach, a large fire of driftwood
lighted, and sundry hampers unpacked, from which the necks of bottles had protruded
suspiciously. It was an al fresco picnic by the seaside. The sky was blue, the weather
was delightful, "and all went merry as a marriage bell." Later, while some wandered to
a distance and bathed and swam, others clambered over the hills, among the iiowers
and waving wild oats for which the country is celebrated. Then, as evening drew on,
preparations were made for a return to the city, and "All aboard" was the signal, for the
wind was freshening. All remained on deck, for there was an abundance of overcoats and
rugs, and shortly the passing schooners and yachts could hear the strains of minstrelsy from
a not altogether incompetent choir, several of the ladies on board being musically inclined.
The sea gives rise to thoughts of the sea. The reader may be sure that "The Bay of
Biscay," "The Larboard Watch," "The Minute Gun," and "What are the Wild Waves
saying?" came among a score of others. Meantime, the wind kept freshening, but all of
the number being well accustomed to the sea, heeded it not. Suddenly, in the midst of
one of the gayest songs, a squall struck the vessel, and as she was carrying all sail, put
her nearly on her beam-ends. So violent was the shock, that most things movable on
deck, including the passengers, were thrown or slid to the lower side, many boxes and
baskets going overboard. These would have been trifles, but alas, there is something
sadder to relate. As one of the men was helping to take in sail, a great sea dashed over
the vessel and threw him overboard, and for a few seconds only, his stalwart form was
THE SUEZ CANAL. 107
seen struggling in the waves. Ropes were thrown to, or rather towards him, an empty
barrel and a coop pitched overboard, but it was hopeless —
' ' That cry is ' Help ! ' where no help can come,
For the White Squall rides on the surging wave,"
and he disappeared in an " ocean grave/' amid the mingled foam and driving spray. No more
songs then ; all gaiety was quenched, and many a tear-drop clouded eyes so bright before.
The vessel, under one small sail only (the jib), drove on, and in half an hour broke
out of obscurity and mist, and was off the wharfs and lights of San Francisco in calm
water. The same distance had occupied over four hours in the morning.
In the Mediterranean every wind has its special name. There is the searching north
wind, the Grippe or Mistral, said to be one of the scourges of gay Provence —
" La Cour de Parlement, le Mistral et la Durance,
Sont les trois fleaux de la Provence."
The north blast, a sudden wind, is called Boras, and hundreds of sailors have practically
prayed, with the song,
"Cease, rude Boreas."
The north-east biting wind is the Gregale, while the south-east, often a violent wind, is
the dreaded Sirocco, bad either on sea or shore. The last which need be mentioned here,
is the stifling south-west wind, the Siffante. But now we have reached the Suez Canal.
This gigantic work, so successfully completed by M. Lesseps, for ever solved impossibility
of a work which up to that time had been so emphatically declared to be an impossibility.
In effect, he is a conqueror. " Impossible," said the first Napoleon, " n'est pas Franqais,"
and the motto is a good one for any man or any nation, although the author of the
sentence found many things impossible, including that of which we speak. M. de
Lesseps has done more for peace than ever the Disturber of Europe did with war.
When M. de Lesseps* commenced with, not the Canal, but the grand conception thereof,
he had pursued twenty-nine years of first-class diplomatic service : it would have been an
honourable career for most people. He gave it up from punctilios of honour ; lost, at least
possibly, the opportunity of great political power. He was required to endorse that which
he could not possibly endorse. Lesseps had lost his chance, said many. Let us see. The
man who has conquered the usually unconquerable English prejudice would certainly
surmount most troubles ! He has only carried out the ideas of Sesostris, Alexander, Caesar,
Amrou, the Arabian conqueror, Napoleon the Great, and Mehemet Ali. These are
simply matters of history. But history, in this case, has only repeated itself in the
failures, not in the successes. Lesseps has made the success ; they were the failures ! Let
us review history, amid which you may possibly find many truths. The truth alone, as
far as it may be reached, appears in this work. The Peace Society ought to endorse
Lesseps. As it stands, the Peace party — well-intentioned people — ought to raise a statue
to the man who has made it almost impossible for England to be involved in war,
so far as the great East is concerned, for many a century to come.
* The Suez Canal, and all appertaining thereto, is well described in the following works : — '• The Suez Canal,"
by F. M. de Lesseps; "The History of the Suez Canal," by F. M. de Lesseps, translated by Sir H. D. Wolff;
"My Trip to the Suez Canal," &c.
108 THE SEA.
After all, who is the conqueror — he who kills, or he who saves, thousands ?
To prove our points, it will not be necessary to recite the full history of the grandest
engineering work of this century — a century replete with proud engineering works. Here
it can only be given in the barest outline.
Every intelligent child on looking at the map would ask why the natural route to
India was not by the Isthmus of Suez, and why a canal was not made. His schoolmaster
answered, in days gone by, that there was a difference in the levels of the Mediterranean
and the Red Sea. That question has been answered successfully, and the difference has
not ruined the Canal. Others said that it was impossible to dig a canal through the
desert. It has been done ! Lord Palmerston, the most serious opponent in England that
Lesseps had,* thought that France, our best ally to-day, would have too much influence
in Egypt. Events, thanks to Lord Beaconsfield's astute policy, by purchasing the Khedive's
interest, have given England the largest share among the shareholders of all nations.
It would not be interesting to follow all the troubles that Lesseps successfully
combated. The idea had more than once occurred to him, when in 1852 he applied to
Constantinople. The answer was that it in no way concerned the Porte. Lesseps returned
to his farm at Berry, and not unlikely constructed miniature Suez Canals for irrigation,
thought of camels while he improved the breed of cattle, and built houses, but not on the sand
of the desert. Indeed, it was while on the roof of one of his houses, then in course of
construction, that the news came to him of the then Pacha of Egypt's death (Mehemet
Ali). They had once been on familiar terms. Mehemet Ali was a terribly severe man,
and seeing that his son Said Pacha, a son he loved, was growing fat, he had sent him
to climb the masts of ships for two hours a day, to row, and walk round the walls of the
city. Poor little fat boy ! he used to steal round to Lesseps' rooms, and surreptitiously
obtain meals from the servants. Those surreptitious dinners did not greatly hurt the
interests of the Canal, as we shall see.
Mehemet Ali had been a moderate tyrant — to speak advisedly. His son-in-law,
Defderdar, known popularly as the " Scourge of God," was his acting vicegerent. The
brute once had his groom shod like a horse for having badly shod his charger. A woman
of the country one day came before him, complaining of a soldier who had bought milk
of her, and had refused to pay for it. "Art thou sure of it?" asked the tyrant. "Take
care! they shall tear open thy stomach if no milk is found in that of the soldier." They
opened the stomach of the soldier. Milk was found in it. The poor woman was saved.
But, although his successor was not everything that could be wished, he had a good
heart, and was not " the terrible Turk."
In 1854, Lesseps met Said Pacha in his tent on a plain between Alexandria and Lake
Marcotis, a swamp in the desert. His Highness was in good humour, and understood
Lesseps perfectly. A fine Arabian horse had been presented to him by Said Pacha a few
* M. de Lesseps acknowledges frankly that the English people were always with him, and cites example
after example— as in the case of the then Mayor of Liverpool, who would not allow him to pay the ordinary
expenses of a meeting. He says: "While finding sympathy in the commercial and lettered classes, I found
heads of wood among the politicians." There were, however, many who supported him in all his ideas,
prominently among whom the present writer must place Richard Cobden,
110 THE SEA.
days previously. After examining the plans and investigating the subject, the ruler of
Egypt said, " I accept your plan. We will talk about the means of its execution during
the rest of the journey. Consider the matter settled. You may rely on me." He sent
immediately fqr his generals, and made them sit down, repeating the previous conver-
sation, and inviting them to give their opinion of the proposals of his friend. The
impromptu counsellors were better able to pronounce on equestrian evolutions than on a
vast enterprise. But Lesseps, a good horseman, had just before cleared a wall with his
charger, and they, seeing how he stood with the Viceroy, gave their assent by raising
their hands to their foreheads. The dinner-tray then appeared, and with one accord all
plunged their spoons into the same bowl, which contained some first-class soup. Lesseps
considered it, very naturally, as the most important negotiation he had ever made.
Results speak for themselves. In 1854, there was not a fly in that hideous desert^
Water, sheep, fowls, and provisions of all kinds had to be carried by the explorers. When
at night they opened the coops of fowls, and let the sheep run loose, they did it with
confidence. They were sure that next morning, in that desolate place, the animals dare not
desert the party. " When/' says Lesseps, " we struck our camp of a morning, if at the
moment of departure a hen had lurked behind, pecking at the foot of a tamarisk shrub,
quickly she would jump up on the back of a camel, to regain her cage." That desert is
now peopled. There are three important towns. Port Said had not existed before : there
is now what would be called a " city," in America, on a much smaller basis of truth : it
has 12,000 people. Suez, with 15,000 people, was not much more than a village previously.
Ismailia, half-way on the route, has 5,000 or 6,000 of population. There are other towns
or villages.
A canal actually effecting a junction between the two seas via the Nile was made in
the period of the Egyptian dynasties. It doubtless fulfilled its purpose for the passage
of galleys and smaller vessels ; history hardly tells us when it was rendered useless.
Napoleon the First knew the importance of the undertaking, and appointed a commission
of engineers to report on it. M. Lepere presented him a report on its feasibility, and
Napoleon observed on it, " It is a grand work ; and though I cannot execute it now, the
day may come when the Turkish Government will glory in accomplishing it." Other
schemes, including those of eminent Turkish engineers, had been proposed. It remained
to be accomplished in this century. The advantages gained by its construction can hardly
be enumerated here. Suffice it to say that a vessel going by the Cape of Good Hope
from London to Bombay travels nearly 6,000 miles over the ocean; by the Suez Canal
the distance is 3,100, barely more than half the distance.
To tell the history of the financial troubles which obstructed the scheme would be
tedious to the reader. At last there was an International Commission appointed, which
cost the Viceroy of Egypt £12,000, and yet no single member took a farthing for his
services.. The names are sufficient to prove with what care it had been selected. On the
part of England, Messrs. Rendel and MacClean, both eminent engineers, with, for a
sufficiently good reason, Commander Hewet of the East India Company's service, who
for twenty-seven years had been making surveys in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
France gave two of her greatest engineers, Messrs. Renaud and Liessou : Austria, one
FINANCIAL OPERATIONS.
Ill
of the greatest practical engineers in
the world, M. de Negrelli; Italy,
M. Paleocapa; Germany, the distin-
guished Privy Councillor Lentze;
Holland, the Chevalier Conrad ; Spain,
M. de Montesino. They reported
entirely in favour of the route. A
second International Congress followed.
The Viceroy behaved so magnificently
to the scientific gentlemen of all nations
who composed the commission, that
M. de Lesseps thanked him publicly
for having received them almost as
crowned heads. The Viceroy answered
gracefully, " Are they not the crowned
heads of science?"
At last the financial and political
difficulties were overcome. In 1858,
an office was opened in Paris, into
which money flowed freely. Lesseps
tells good-naturedly some little episodes
which occurred. An old bald-headed
priest entered, doubtless a man who had
been formerly a soldier. " Oh ! those
English/' said he, "I am glad to be
able to be revenged on them by taking
shares in the Suez Canal." Another
said, " I wish to subscribe for ' Le
Chemin de Fer de File de Suede'"
(The Island of Sweden Railway !) It
was remarked to him that the scheme
did not include a railway, and that
Sweden is not an island. " That's all
the same to me," he replied, " provided
it be against the English, I subscribe."
Lord Palmerston, whose shade must
feel uneasy in the neighbourhood of
the Canal, could not have been more
prejudiced. At Grenoble, a whole
regiment of engineers — naturally men
of intelligence and technical know-
ledge, clubbed together for shares.
The matter was not settled by even
112 THE SEA.
the free inflow of money. The Viceroy had been so much annoyed by the opposition
shown to the scheme, that it took a good deal of tact on the part of its promoter to
make things run smoothly. For the first four years, Lesseps, in making the necessary
international and financial arrangements, travelled 80,000 miles per annum.
At length the scheme emerged from fog to fact. The Viceroy had promised 20,000
Egyptian labourers, but in 1861 he begged to be let out of his engagement. He had to
pay handsomely for the privilege. Although the men were paid higher than they had ever
been before, their labour was cheap : it cost double or treble the amount to employ foreigners.
The Canal, in its course of a shade over 100 miles, passes through several salt
marshes, "Les Petits Bassins des Lacs Amers/' in one of which a deposit of salt was
found, seven miles long by five miles wide. It also passes through an extensive piece of
water, Lake Menzaleh.
At Lake Menzaleh the banks are very slightly above the level of the Canal, and
from the deck of a big steamer there is an unbounded view over a wide expanse of lake
and morass studded with islets, and at times gay and brilliant with innumerable flocks
of rosy pelicans, scarlet flamingoes, and snow-white spoonbills, geese, ducks, and other birds.
The pelicans may be caught bodily from a boat, so clumsy are they in the water, without the
expenditure of powder and shot. Indeed, the sportsman might do worse than visit the Canal,
where, it is almost needless to state, the shooting is open to all. A traveller, who has recently
passed through the Canal en route to India, writes that there are alligators also to be seen.
The whole of the channel through Lake Menzaleh was almost entirely excavated with dredges.
When it was necessary to remove some surface soil before there was water enough for the
dredges to float, it was done by the natives of Lake Menzaleh, a hardy and peculiar race,
quite at home in digging canals or building embankments. The following account shows
their mode of proceeding : — " They place themselves in files across the channel. The men in
the middle of the file have their feet and the lower part of their legs in the water. These
men lean forward and take in their arms large clods of earth, which they have previously
dug up below the water with a species of pickaxe called a fass, somewhat resembling a
short, big hoe. The clods are passed from man to man to the bank, where other men
stand with their backs turned, and their arms crossed behind them, so as to make a sort
of primitive hod. As soon as each of these has had enough clods piled on his back, he
walks off, bent almost double, to the further side of the bank, and there opening his arms,
lets his load fall through to the ground. It is unnecessary to add that this original metier
requires the absence of all clothing." *
Into the channel thus dug the dredges were floated. One of the machines employed
deserves special mention. The long couloir (duct) was an iron spout 230 feet long, five
and a half wide, and two deep, by means of which a dredger working in the centre
of the channel could discharge its contents beyond the bank, assisted by the water which
was pumped into it. The work done by these long-spouted dredges has amounted to as
much as 120,000 cubic yards a-piece of soil in a month. By all kinds of ingenious
appliances invented for the special needs of the occasion, as much as 2,763,000 cubic yards of
* O. Ritt, " Histoire de 1'Isthme de Suez."
THE WORK ACCOMPLISHED.
118
excavation were accomplished in a month. M. de Lesseps tells us that "were it placed
in the Place Vendome, it would fill the whole square, and rise five times higher than the
THE SUEZ CANAL I DREDGES AT WORK.
surrounding houses." It would cover the entire length and breadth of the Champs
Elysees, and reach to the top of the trees on either side.
Port Said, which owes its very existence to the Canal, is to-day a port of considerable
importance, where some of the finest steamships in the world stop. All the through
15
114 THE SEA.
steamers between Europe and the East — our own grand "P. & O." (Peninsular and
Oriental) line, the splendid French " Messageries/' the Austrian Lloyd's, and dozens of
excellent lines, all make a stay here of eight or ten hours. This is long1 enough for most
travellers, as, sooth to say, the very land on which it is built had to be " made," in other
words, it was a tract of swampy desert. It has respectable streets and squares, docks,
quays, churches, mosques, and hotels. The outer port is formed by two enormous break-
waters, one of which runs straight out to sea for a distance of 2,726 yards. They
have lighthouses upon them, using electricity as a means of illumination. Messrs. Borel
and Lavalley were the principal contractors for the work. The ingenious machinery used
cost nearly two and a half million pounds (actually £2,400,000), and the monthly con-
sumption of coal cost the Company £40,000.
The distance from Port Said to Suez is 100 miles. The width of the Canal, where
the banks are low, is about 328 feet, and in deep cuttings 190 feet. The deep channel
is marked with buoys. The mole at the Port Sa'id (Mediterranean) end of the Canal
stretches out into the sea for over half a mile, near the Damietta branch of the
Nile. This helps to form an artificial harbour, and checks the mud deposits which might
otherwise choke the entrance. It cost as much as half a million. In the Canal there are
recesses — shall we call them sidings, as on a railway ? — where vessels can enter and allow
others to pass.
The scenery, we must confess, is generally monotonous. At Ismailia, however, a town
has arisen where there are charming gardens. We are told that "it seems only necessary
to pour the waters of the Nile on the desert to produce a soil which will grow anything
to perfection." Here the Viceroy built a temporary palace, and M. de Lesseps himself
has a chdlet. At Suez itself the scenery is charming. From the height, on which is
placed another of the Khedive's residences, there is a magnificent panorama in view. In
the foreground is the town, harbour, roadstead, and mouth of the Canal. To the right
are the mountain heights — Gebel Attakah — which hem in the Red Sea. To the left are the
rosy peaks of Mount Sinai, so familiar to all Biblical students as the spot where the
great Jewish Law was given by God to Moses; and between the two, the deep, deep
blue of the Gulf. Near Suez are the so-called " Wells of Moses," natural springs of rather
brackish water, surrounded by tamarisks and date-palms, which help to form an oasis —
a pic-nic ground — in the desert. Dean Stanley has termed the spot " the Richmond of Suez."
Before leaving the Canal on our outward voyage, it will not be out of place to note
the inauguration fete, which must have been to M. de Lesseps the proudest day of a useful
life. Two weeks before that event, the engineers were for the moment baffled by a
temporary obstruction — a mass of solid rock in the channel. "Go," said the unconquer-
able projector, " and get powder at Cairo — powder in quantities ; and then, if we can't
blow up the rock, we'll blow up ourselves." That rock was very soon in fragments ! The
spirit and bonhomie of Lesseps made everything easy, and the greatest difficulties surmount-
able. " From the beginning of the work/' says he, " there was not a tent-keeper who did
not consider himself an agent of civilisation." This, no doubt, was the great secret of his
grand success.
The great day arrived. On the 16th of November, 1868, there were 160 vessels
THE INAUGURAL FETE. 115
ready to pass the Canal. At the last moment that evening it was announced that an
Egyptian frigate had run on one of the banks of the Canal, and was hopelessly stuck
there, obstructing the passage. She could not be towed off, and the united efforts of
several hundred men on the bank could not at first move her. The Viceroy even proposed
to blow her up. It was only five minutes before arriving at the site of the accident
that an Egyptian admiral signalled to Lesseps from a little steam-launch that the Canal
was free. A procession of 130 vessels was formed, the steam yacht L'Aigle, en avant,
carrying on board the Empress of the French, the Emperor of Austria, and the Viceroy.
This noble-hearted Empress, who has been so long exiled in a country she has learned to love,
told Lesseps at Ismailia that during the whole journey she had felt "as though a circle
of fire were round her head," fearing that some disaster might mar the day's proceedings.
Her pent-up feelings gave way at last ; and when success was assured, she retired to
her cabin, where sobs were heard by her devoted friends — sobs which did great honour to
her true and patriotic heart.
The Viceroy on that occasion entertained 6,000 foreigners, a large proportion of
whom were of. the most distinguished kind. Men of all nationalities came to honour an
enlightened ruler, and witness the opening of a grand engineering work, which had been
carried through so many opposing difficulties ; to applaud the man of cool head and active
brain, who had a few years before been by many jeered at, snubbed, and thwarted. To
suitably entertain the vast assemblage, the Viceroy had engaged 500 cooks and 1,000
servants, bringing many of them from Marseilles, Trieste, Genoa, and Leghorn.
Although the waters of the Canal are usually placid — almost sleepily calm — they are
occasionally lashed up into waves by sudden storms. One such, which did some damage,
occurred on December 9th, 1877.
And now, before leaving the subject, it will be right to mention a few facts of
importance. The tonnage of vessels passing the Canal quadrupled in five years. As many
as thirty-three vessels have been passing in one day at the same time, although this was
exceptional. In 1874, the relative proportions, as regards the nationalities of tonnage,
if the expression may be permitted, were as follows : —
English ... 222,000 tons.
French ... 103,000 „
Dutch ... 84,000 „
Austrian ... 63,000 „
Italian ... 50,000 „
Spanish ... 39,000 „
German ... 28,000 „
Various ... 65,000 „
The present tonnage passing the Canal is much greater. All the world knows how and
why England acquired her present interest in the Canal, but all the world does not
appreciate its value to the full extent.
Suez has special claims to the attention of the Biblical student, for near it— accord-
ing to some, eighteen miles south of it— the children of Israel passed through the Red
Sea; 2,000,000 men, women, and children, with flocks of cattle went dryshod through the
116
THE SEA.
dividing walls of water. Holy Writ informs us that " the Lord caused the sea to go back by
a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided."*
The effect of wind, in both raising large masses of water and in driving them back, is
well known, while there are narrow parts of the Red Sea which have been forded. In
the morning "the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea,
CATCHING PELICANS ON LAKE MENZALEH.
even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen." We know the sequel. The
waters returned, and covered the Egyptian hosts ; " there ' remained not so much as one
of them." "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and
spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse
and his rider hath he thrown in the sea. * * *
"Pharaoh's chariots arid his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also
are drowned in the Red Sea.
" The depths have covered them : they sank into the bottom as a stone."
* Exodns xiv. 21, cf scq.
THE RED SEA.
117
CHAPTER VIII.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continue ff).
THE INDIA AND CHINA STATIONS.
The Red Sea and its Name— Its Ports— On to the India Station— Bombay: Island, City, Presidency— Calcutta— Ceylon,
a Paradise— The China Station— Hong Kong— Macao— Canton— Capture of Commissioner Yeh— The Sea of Soup-
Shanghai— "Jack" Ashore there— Luxuries in Market— Drawbacks, Earthquakes, and Sand Showers— Chinese
Explanations of Earthquakes— The Roving Life of the Sailor— Compensating Advantages— Japan and its People -
The Englishmen of the Pacific— Yokohama— Peculiarities of the Japanese -Off to the North.
THE Red Sea separates Arabia from Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia. Its name is
either derived from the animalcules which sometimes cover parts of its surface, or, more
probably, from the red and purple coral which abound in its waters. The Hebrew name
JIDDAH. FKOM THE SEA.
signifies " the Weedy Sea," because the corals have often plant-like forms. There are reefs
of coral in the Red Sea which utterly prevent approach to certain parts of the coasts. Many
of the islands which border it are of volcanic origin. On the Zeigar Islands there was an
alarming eruption in 1846. England owns one of the most important of the islands,
that of Perim, in the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. It is a barren, black rock, but possesses
a line harbour, and commands one entrance of the Red Sea. It was occupied by Great
Britain in 1799, abandoned in 1801, and re-occupied on the llth of February, 1857. Its
fortifications possess guns of sufficient calibre and power to command the Straits.
The entire circuit of the Red Sea is walled by grand mountain ranges. Some of its
ports and harbours are most important places. There is Mocha, so dear to the coffee-
drinker ; Jiddah, the port for the holy city of Mecca, whither innumerable pilgrims
repair; Hodeida, and Locheia. It was in Jiddah that, in 1858, the Moslem population
rose against the Christians, and killed forty-five, including the English and French consuls.
118 THE SEA.
On the African side, besides Suez, there are the ports of Cosseir, Suakim, and Massuah.
The Red Sea is deep for a partially inland sea ; there is a recorded instance of sounding's
to 1,000 fathoms — considerably over a mile — and no bottom found.
After leaving- the Red Sea, where shall we proceed ? We have the choice of the
India, China, or Australia Stations. Actually, to do the voyage systematically, Bombay
would be the next point.
Bombay, in general terms, is three things : a city of three-quarters of a million
souls ; a presidency of 12,000,000 inhabitants ; or an island — the island of Mambai,
according to the natives, or Buou Bahia, the " good haven," if we take the Portuguese
version. The city is built on the island, which is not less than eight miles long by three
broad, but the presidency extends to the mainland.
In 1509, the Portuguese visited it, and in 1530 it became theirs. In 1661, it was
blindly ceded to our Charles II., as simply a part of the dowry of his bride, the Infanta
Catherine. Seven years after Charles the Dissolute had obtained what is now the most
valuable colonial possession of Great Britain, he ceded it to the Honourable East India
Company — though, of course, for a handsome consideration.
Bombay has many advantages for the sailor. It is always accessible during the
terrible south-west monsoons, and possesses an anchoring ground of fifty miles,
sheltered by islands and a magnificent series of breakwaters, at the south end of
which is a grand lighthouse. Its docks and dockyards cover fifty acres ; ship-building is
carried on extensively; and there is an immense trade in cotton, coffee, opium, spices,
gums, ivory, and shawls. Of its 700,000 inhabitants, 50,000 are Parsees — Persians —
descendants of the original Fire- worshippers. A large proportion of them are merchants.
It may not be generally known to our readers that the late Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy —
who left wealth untold, although all his days he had been a humane and charitable
man, and who established in Bombay alone two fine hospitals — was a Parsee.
Calcutta, in 1700, was but a collection of petty villages, surrounding the factories
or posts of the East India Company, and which were presented to that corporation
by the Emperor of Delhi. They were fortified, and received the name of Fort William,
in honour of the reigning king. It subsequently received the title of Calcutta, that
being the name of one of the aforesaid villages. Seven years after that date, Calcutta
was attacked suddenly by Surajah Dowlah, Nawab of Bengal. Abandoned by many who
should have defended it, 146 English fell into the enemy's hands, who put them into that
confined and loathsome cell of which we have all read, the " Black Hole of Calcutta/'
Next morning but twenty-three of the number were found alive. Lord Clive, eight months
later, succeeded in recapturing Calcutta, and after the subsequently famous battle of Plassey,
the possessions of the East India Company greatly extended. To-day Calcutta has a " Strand "
longer than that of London, and the batteries of Fort William, which, with their outworks,
cover an area half a mile in diameter, and have cost £2,000,000, form the strongest fortress
in India.
Across the continent by railway, and we land easily in Calcutta. It has, with its
suburbs, a larger population than Bombay, but can never rival it as a port, because it is
a hundred miles up the Hooghly River, and navigation is risky, although ships of 2,000
CEYLON. 119
•
tons can reach it. It derives its name from Kali Ghatta, the ghaut or landing-place of
the goddess Kali. Terrible cyclones have often devastated it; that in 1867 destroyed
30,000 native houses, and a very large amount of human life.
The sailor's route would, however, take him, if bound to China or Australia, round
the island of Ceylon, in which there are two harbours, Point de Galle, used as a stopping-
place, a kind of "junction" for the great steamship lines, of which the splendid Peninsular
and Oriental (the " P. & O "} Company, is the principal. Point de Galle is the most
convenient point, but it does not possess a first-class harbour. At Trincomalee, however,
there is a magnificent harbour.
Ceylon is one of the most interesting islands in the world. It is the Serendib of the
"Arabian Nights/'' rich in glorious scenery, equable climate, tropical vegetation, unknown
quantities of gems and pearls, and many minerals. The sapphire, ruby, topaz, garnet,
and amethyst abound. A sapphire was found in 1853 worth £4,000. Its coffee
plantations are a source of great wealth. Palms, flowering shrubs, tree ferns, rhododendrons,
as big as timber trees, clothe the island in perennial verdure. The elephant, wild boar,
leopard, bear, buffalo, humped ox, deer, palm-cat and civet are common, but there are few
dangerous or venomous animals. The Singhalese population, really Hindoo colonists,
are effeminate and cowardly. The Kandyans, Ceylonese Highlanders, who dwell in the
mountains, are a more creditable race, sturdy and manly. Then there are the Malabars,
early Portuguese and Dutch settlers, with a sprinkling of all nationalities.
There, too, are the outcast Veddahs, the real wild men of the woods. With them
there is no God — no worship. The Rock Veddahs live in the jungle, follow the chase,
sleep in caves or in the woods, eat lizards, and consider roast monkey a prime dish. The
Village Veddahs are a shade more civilised.
One reads constantly in the daily journals of the India, China, or Australian Stations, and
the reader may think that they are very intelligible titles. He may be surprised to learn that
the East India Station not merely includes the ports of India and Ceylon, but the whole
Indian Ocean, as far south as Madagascar, and the east coast of Africa, including Zanzibar
and Mozambique, where there are dockyards. The China Station includes Japan, Borneo,
Sumatra, the Philippine Islands, and the coast of Kamchatka and Eastern Siberia to
Bering Sea. The Australian Station includes New Zealand and New Guinea. The leading
stations in China are Hong Kong, Canton, and Shanghai. Vessels bound to the
port of Canton have to enter the delta of the Pearl River, the area of which is largely
occupied with isles and sandbanks. There are some thirty forts on the banks. When
the ship has passed the mouth of this embouchure, which forms, in general terms, a kind
of triangle, the sides of which are 100 miles each in length, you can proceed either to
the island of Hong Kong, an English colony, or to the old Portuguese settlement of
Macao.
The name Hong Kong is a corruption of Hiang Kiang,* which is by interpretation
" Scented Stream.'''' Properly, the designation belongs to a small stream on the southern
siue of the island, where ships' boats have long been in the habit of obtaining- fine pure
* "Life in China," by William C. Milne, M.A.
120
THE SEA.
water; but now the name is given by foreigners to the whole island. The island is
about nine miles in length, and has a very rugged and barren surface, consisting of rocky
ranges of hills and mountains, intersected by ravines, through which streams of the purest
water flow unceasingly. Victoria, Hong Kong, is the capital of the colony, and the seat
CYCLONE AT CALCUTTA.
of government. It extends for more than three miles east and west, part of the central
grounds being occupied by military barracks and hospitals, commissariat buildings, colonial
churches, post-office, and harbour-master's depot, all of which are overlooked by the
Government-house itself, high up on the hill. Close to the sea-beach are the commercial
houses, clubs, exchange, and market-places.
It was the shelter, security, and convenience offered by the harbour that induced our
THE CHINA STATION. 121
Government to select it for a British settlement; it has one of the noblest roadsteads iu
the world. Before the cession to England in 1841, the native population on the island
did not exceed 2,000; now there are 70,000 or 80,000.
Macao (pronounced Macow) is forty miles to the westward of Hong Kong, and an
agreeable place as regards its scenery and surroundings, but deficient as regards its harbour
accommodation. Dr. Milne, himself a missionary resident for fourteen years in China,
says, writing in 1859 : "To some of the present generation of English residents in China,
there can be anything but associations of a comfortable kind connected with Macao,
recollecting as they must the unfriendly policy which the Portuguese on the spot pursued
some sixteen or seventeen years since, and the bitterly hostile bearing which the Chinese
of the settlement were encouraged to assume towards the ' red-haired English/ "
Macao is a peninsula, eight miles in circuit, stretching out from a large island.
The connecting piece of land is a narrow isthmus, which in native topography is called
"the stalk of a water-lily." In 1840 a low wall stretched across this isthmus, the
foundation stones of which had been laid about three hundred years ago, with the acknow-
ledged object of limiting the movements of foreigners. This was the notorious "barrier,"
which, during the Chinese war of 1840-1, was used to annoy the English. As large
numbers of the peasantry had to pass the " barrier gates " with provisions for the mixed
population at Macao, it was a frequent manoeuvre with the Chinese authorities to stop the
market supplies by closing the gate, and setting over it a guard of half-starved and
ravenous soldiery.
Leaving Macao for Canton, the ship passes the celebrated "Bogue Forts/7 threads
her course through a network of islets and mud-banks, and at last drops anchor twelve
miles from the city off the island of Whampoa, where the numerous and grotesque junks,
"egg boats," "sampans/7 &c., indicate a near approach to an important place. The name
Canton is a European corruption of Kwang-tung, the " Broad East.7' Among the Chinese
it is sometimes described poetically as "the city of the genii/7 "the city of grain/7 and
the " city of rams.77 The origin of these terms is thus shown in a native legend. After
the foundation of the city, which dates back 2,000 years, five genii, clothed in garments
of five different colours, and riding on five rams of different colours, met on the site of
Canton. Each of the rams bore in its mouth a stalk of grain having five ears, and
presented them to the tenants of the soil, to whom they spake in these words : —
" May famine and death never visit you ! "
Upon this the rams were immediately petrified into stone images. There is a
''' Temple of the Five Rams77 close to one of the gates of Canton.
The river scene at Canton is most interesting. It is a floating town of huts built
on rafts and on piles, with boats of every conceivable size, shape and use, lashed together,
" It is/7 says Dr. Milne, " an aquarium of human occupants.77 Canton has probably a
population of over a million. The entire circuit of city and suburbs cannot be far
from ten miles.
Canton was bombarded in 1857-8 by an allied English and French force. Ten days
were given to the stubborn Chinese minister, Yeh, to accede to the terms dictated by the Allies,
16
12jJ . THE SEA.
and every means was taken to inform the native population of the real casus belli, and
to advise them to remove from the scene of danger. Consul Parkes and Captain Hall
were engaged among other colporteurs in the rather dangerous labour of distributing tracts
and bills. In one of their rapid descents, Captain Hall caught a mandarin in his chair,
not far from the city gate, and pasted him up in it with bills, then starting off the
bearers to carry this new advertising van into the city ! The Chinese crowd, always alive
to a practical joke, roared with laughter. When the truce expired, more than 400 guns and
mortars opened fire upon the city, great pains being taken only to injure the city walls, official
Chinese residences, and hill forts. Then a force of 3,000 men was landed, and the city
was between two fires. The hill-forts were soon taken, and an expedition planned
and executed, chiefly to capture the native officials of high rank. Mr. Consul Parkes,
with a party, burst into a yamnn} an official residence, and in a few seconds Commissioner
Yeh was in the hands of the English. An ambitious aide-de-camp of Yen's staff protested
strongly that the captive was the wrong man, loudly stammering out, " Me Yeh ! Me Yeh ! "
But this attempted deceit was of no avail ; the prize was safely bagged, and shortly
afterwards the terms of peace were arranged. The -loss of life in the assault was not
over 140 British and 30 French.
Shanghai is a port which has grown up almost entirely since 1844, the date of its
first occupation by foreigners for purposes of commerce. Then there were only forty-four
foreign merchant ships, twenty-three foreign residents and families, one consular flag, and
two Protestant missionaries. Twelve years later, there were, for six months' returns, 249
British ships, fifty-seven American, eleven Hamburg, eleven Dutch, nine Swedish, seven
Danish, six Spanish, and seven Portuguese, besides those of other nationalities. The
returns for the whole year embraced 434 ships of all countries; tea exports, 76,711,659
pounds ; silk, 55,537 bales.
Shanghai (" the Upper Sea ") has been written variously Canhay, Changhay, Xanghay,
Zonghae, Shanhae, Shanghay, and so forth. Its proper pronunciation is as if the final
syllable were " high," not " hay."
" Sailing towards the north of China,'' says Milne, " keeping perhaps fifty or sixty
miles off the coast, as the ship enters the thirtieth parallel, a stranger is startled some
iine morning by coming on what looks like a shoal — perhaps a sand-bank, a reef — he
knows not what. It is an expanse of coloured water, stretching out as far as the eye
can reach, east, north, and west, and entirely distinct from the deep-blue sea which
hitherto the vessel had been ploughing. Of course, he finds that it is the ' Yellow Sea;'
a sea so yellow, turbid, and thick, certainly, that you might think all the pease-soup iu
creation, and a great deal more, had been emptied into one monster cistern." The name
is therefore appropriate, as are the designations of several others :
" The Yellow Sea, the Sea that's Red,
The White, the Black, the one that's Dead."
Between the thirtieth degree of north latitude, where the group of the Choosan
Islands commences, and the thirty-seventh degree, this sea of soup, this reservoir of
tawny liquid, ranges, fed by three great rivers, the Tseen-Tang, the Yangtsze-Kiang, and
the Hwang-Ho, the greatest of which is the second, and which contributes the larger part
SHANGHAI. 123
of the muddy solution held in its waters. Forty-five miles from the embouchure of the
Yangtsze-Kiang, you reach the Woosung anchorage, and a few miles further the city of
Shanghai, where the tributary you have been following divides into the Woosung and
Whampoa branches, at the fork of which the land ceded to the British is situated.
Here there is a splendid British consulate, churches, mansions, and foreign mercantile
houses.
The old city was built over three centuries ago, and is encircled, as indeed are nearly
all large Chinese cities and towns, by a wrll twenty-four feet high and fifteen broad ; it
is nearly four miles in circumference. Shanghai was at one time greatly exposed to the
depredations of freebooters and pirates, and partly in consequence of this the wall is
plentifully provided with loop-holes, arrow-towers, and military observatories. The six
great gates of the city of Shanghai have grandiloquent titles, d la Chinoise. The
north gate is the "calm-sea gate;" the great east gate is that for "paying obeisance to
the honourable ones;" the little east one is "the precious girdle gate;" the great
south is the gate for "riding the dragon," while another is termed "the pattern
Phoenix."
It oldest name is Hoo. In early days the following curious mode of catching fish was
adopted. Rows of bamboo stakes, joined by cords, were driven into the mud of the stream,
among which, at ebb tide, the fish became entangled, and were easily caught. This mode of
fishing was called koo, and as at one time Shanghai was famous for its fishing stakes, it
gained the name of the " Hoo city." The tides rise very rapidly in the river, and some-
times give rise to alarming inundations. Lady Wortley's description of the waters of the
Mississippi apply to the river- water of Shanghai ; " it looks marvellously like an enormous
running stream of apothecary's stuff, a very strong decoction of mahogany-coloured bark,
with a slight dash of port wine to deepen its hue; it is a mulatto- compjexioned river,
there is no doubt of that, and wears the deep-tanned livery of the burnished sun/'
Within and without the walls, the city is cut up by ditches and moats, which, some
years ago, instead of being sources of benefit and health to the inhabitants, as they were
originally intended to be, were really open sewers, breathing out effluvia and pestilence.
In some respects, however, Shanghai is now better ordered as regards municipal
arrangements.
The fruits of the earth are abundant at Shanghai, and " Jack ashore " may revel in
delicious peaches, figs, persimmons, cherries, plums, oranges, citrons, and pomegranates,
while there is a plentiful supply of fish, flesh, and fowl. Grains of all kinds, rice, and
cotton are cultivated extensively ; the latter gives employment at the loom for thousands.
On the other hand there are drawbacks in the shape of clouds of musquitoes, flying-
beetles, heavy rains, monsoons, and earthquakes. The prognostics of the latter are a
highly electric state of the atmosphere, long drought, excessive heat, and what can only
be described as a stagnation of all nature. Dr. Milne, reciting his experiences, says :
"At the critical moment of the commotion, the earth began to rock, the beams and walls
cracked like the timbers of a ship under sail, and a nausea came over one, a sea-sickness
really horrible. At times, for a second or two previous to the vibration, there was heard
a subterraneous growl, a noise as of a mighty rushing wind whirling about under ground."
124
THE SEA.
The natives were terror-struck, more especially if the quake happened at night, and there
would burst a mass of confused sounds, ' Kew ming ! Kew miug ! ' (' Save your lives !
save your lives ! '} Dogs added their yells to the medley, amid the striking of gongs and
tomtoms. Next day there would be exhaustless gossip concerning upheaval and sinking
of land, flames issuing from the hill-sides, and ashes cast about the country. The Chinese
ideas on the subject are various. Some thought the earth had become too hot, and that it had
to relieve itself by a shake, or that it was changing its place for another part of the universe.
Others said that the Supreme One, to bring transgressors to their senses, thought to
alarm them by a quivering of the earth. The notion most common among the lower
classes is, that there are six huge sea-monsters, great fish, which support the earth, and
that if any one of these move, the earth must be agitated. Superstition is rife in
ascribing these earth-shakings chiefly to the remissness of the priesthood. In almost every
temple there is a muTi-yu — an image of a scaly wooden fish, suspended near the altar, and
among the duties of the priests, it is rigidly prescribed that they keep up an everlasting
tapping on it. If they become lax in their duties, the fish wriggle and shake the earth
to bring the drowsy priests to a sense of their duty.
A FALL OF DUST AT SEA.
125
A singular meteorological phenomenon often occurs at Shanghai — a fall of dust,
fine, light and impalpable, sometimes black, ordinarily yellow. The sun or moon will
scarcely be visible through this sand shower. The deposit of this exquisite powder is
sometimes to the extent of a quarter of an inch, after a fall of a day or two; it will
penetrate the closest Venetian blinds ; it overspreads every article of furniture in the house ;
finds its way into the innermost chambers and recesses. In walking about, one's clothes
VESSELS IN THE TOUT OF SHANGHAI.
are covered with dust — the face gets grimy, the mouth and throat parched ; the teeth
grate; the eyes, ears, and nostrils become itchy and irritable. The fall sometimes extends
as far as Ningpo in the interior — also some 200 miles out at sea. Some think that it is
blown all the way from the steppes of Mongolia, after having been wafted by typhoons
into the upper regions of the air : others think that it comes across the seas from the
Japanese volcanoes, which are constantly subject to eruptions.
The population of Shanghai, rapidly increasing, is probably about 400,000 to 450,000
souls. It swarms with professional beggars. Among the many creditable things cited by
Milne regarding the Chinese, is the number of native charitable institutions in Canton,
Ningpo, and Shanghai, including Foundling Hospitals, the (Shanghai) " Asylum for Outcast
126 THE SEA.
Children, retreats for poor and destitute widows, shelters for the maimed and blind, medical
dispensaries, leper hospitals, vaccine establishments, almshouses, free burial societies," and so
forth. So much for the heartless Chinese.
The sailor certainly has this compensation for his hard life, that he sees the world,
and visits strange countries and peoples by the dozen, privileges for which many a man
tied at home by the inevitable force of circumstances would give up a great deal. What
an oracle is he on his return, amid his own family circle or friends ! How the youngsters
in particular hang on his every word, look up at his bronzed and honest face, and
wish that they could be sailors, —
" Strange countries for to see."
How many curiosities has he not to show — from the inevitable parrot, chattering in a
foreign tongue, or swearing roundly in English vernacular, to the little ugly idol brought
from India, but possibly manufactured in Birmingham ! * If from China, he will probably
have brought home some curious caddy, fearfully and wonderfully inlaid with dragons and
impossible landscapes ; an ivory pagoda, or, perhaps, one of those wonderfully-carved
balls, with twenty or so more inside it, all separate and distinct, each succeeding
one getting smaller and smaller. He may have with him a native oil-painting ; if a
portrait, stolid and hard; but if of a ship, true to the last rope, and exact in every
particular. In San Francisco, where there are 14,000 or more Chinese, may be seen
native paintings of vessels which could hardly be excelled by a European artist, and the
cost of which for large sizes, say 3^ by 2£ feet, was only about fifteen dollars (£3).
"What with fans, handkerchiefs, Chinese ladies' shoes for feet about three inches in length,
lanterns, chopsticks, pipes, rice-paper drawings, books, neat and quaint little porcelain
articles for presents at home, it will be odd if Jack, who has been mindful of the " old
folks at home," and the young folks too, and the "girl he left behind him," does not
become a very popular man.
And then his yarns of Chinese life ! How on his first landing at a port, the
natives in proffering their services hastened to assure him in c ' pigeon English " (" pigeon "
is a native corruption of "business," as a mixed jargon had and has to be used in trading
with the lower classes) that " Me all same Englische man ; me belly good man ; " or " You
wantee washy? me washy you?" which is simply an offer to do your laundry work;f
or " You wantee glub (grub) ; me sabee (know) one shop all same Englische belly good."
Or, perhaps, he has met a Chinaman accompanying a coffin home, and yet looking quite
happy and jovial. Not knowing that it is a common custom to present coffins to relatives
during lifetime, he inquires, "Who's dead, John?" "No man hab die," replies the
Celestial, "no man hab die. Me makee my olo fader cumsha. Him likee too muchee,
countoo my number one popa, s'pose he die, can catchee," which freely translated is — "No
* The reader may have heard of mummies manufactured in Cairo for the English market. The idol trade
of Birmingham has often been stated as a fact.
f Eeaders who have seen Mr. Edouin's impersonations of a Chinaman may be assured that they are true to
nature, and not burlesques. That gentleman carefully studied the Chinese while engaged professionally in San
Francisco.
"JACK," AND "JOHN CHINAMAN." 127
one is dead. It is a present from me to my aged father, with which he will be much
pleased. I esteem my father greatly, and it will be at his service when he dies." How
one of the common names for a foreigner, especially an Englishman, is "I say/' which
derived its use simply from the Chinese hearing our sailors and soldiers frequently ejaculate
the words when conversing, as for example, " I say, Bill, there's a queer-looking pigtail ! "
The Chinese took it for a generic name, and would use it among themselves in the most
curious way, as for example, " A red-coated / say sent me to buy a fowl ; " or " Did you
see a tall / say here a while ago ? " The application is, however, not more curious
than the title of " John " bestowed on the Chinaman by most foreigners as a generic
distinction. Less flattering epithets used to be freely bestowed on us, especially in the
interior, such as " foreign devil," ' ' red-haired devil/' &c. The phrase Hungmaou, " red-
haired," is applied to foreigners of all classes, and arose when the Dutch first opened up
trade with China. A Chinese work, alluding to their arrival, says, "Their raiment was
red, and their hair too. They had bluish eyes, deeply sunken in their head, and our
people were quite frightened by their strange aspect."
Jack will have to tell how many strange anomalies met his gaze. For example, in
launching their junks and vessels, they are sent into the water sideways. The horseman
mounts on the right side. The scholar, reciting his lesson, turns his back on his master.
And if Jack, or, at all events one of his superior officers, goes to a party, he should not
wear light pumps, but as thick solid shoes as he can get; white lead is used for
blacking. On visits of ceremony, you should keep your hat on; and when you advance
to your host, you should close your fists and shake hands with yourself. Dinners commence
with sweets and fruits, and end with fish and soup. White is the funereal colour. You
may see adults gravely flying kites, while the youngsters look on; shuttlecocks are
battledored by the heel. Books begin at the end; the paging is at the bottom, and
in reading, you proceed from right to left. The surname precedes the Christian name.
The fond mother holds her babe to her nose to smell it — as she would a rose — instead
of kissing it.
What yarns he will have to tell of pigtails ! How the Chinese sailor lashes it
round his cap at sea; how the crusty pedagogue, with no other rod of correction, will,
on the spur of the moment, lash the refractory scholar with it; and how, for fun, a wag
will tie two or three of his companions' tails together, and start them off in different
directions ! But he will also know from his own or others' experiences that the foreigner
must not attempt practical jokes upon John Chinaman's tail. " Noli me tangere" says
Dr. Milne, " is the order of the tail, as well as of the thistle."
Now that most of the restrictions surrounding foreigners in Japan have been
removed, and that enlightened people — the Englishmen of the Pacific in enterprise and
progress — have taken their proper place among the nations of the earth, visits to Japan
are commonly made by even ordinary tourists making the cfrcuit of the globe, and we
shall have to touch there again in another " voyage round the world " shortly to follow.
The English sailors of the Royal Navy often have an opportunity of visiting the charming
islands which constitute Japan. Its English name is a corruption of Tih-punquo—
Chinese for " Kingdom of the Source of the Sun." Marco Polo was the first to bring
o
M
O
FUSI-YAMA.
129
to Europe intelligence of the bright isles, whose Japanese name, Nipon or Niphon,
means literally "Sun-source."
On the way to Yokohama, the great port of Japan, the voyager will encounter
the monsoons, the north-east version of which brings deliciously cool air from October
to March, while the south-west monsoon brings hot and weary weather. On the way
Nagasaki, on the island of Kiusiu, will almost certainly be visited, which has a harbour with
a very narrow entrance, with hills running down to the water's edge, beautifully covered
with luxuriant grass and low trees. The Japanese have planted batteries on either side,
which would probably prevent any vessel short of a strong ironclad from getting in or
THE FUSIYAMA MOUNTAIN.
out of the harbour. The city has a population at least of 150,000. There are a number of
Chinese restricted to one quarter, surrounded by a high wall, in which is a heavy gate,
that is securely locked every night. Their dwellings are usually mean and filthy, and compare
very unfavourably with the neat, clean, matted dwellings of the Japanese. The latter
despise the former; indeed, you can scarcely insult a native more than to compare him
with his brother of Nankin. The Japanese term them the Nankin Sans.
The island of Niphon, on which Yokohama is situated, is about one hundred and
seventy miles long by seventy broad, while Yesso is somewhat longer and narrower. Japan
really became known to Europe through Fernando Mendez Pinto, a Portugese who was
shipwrecked there in 1549. Seven years later the famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier,
inti-oduced the Catholic faith, which for a long time made great progress. But a fatal
mistake was made in 1580, when an embassy was sent to the Pope with presents and
17
130 THE SEA.
vows of allegiance. The reigning Tycoon* had his eyes opened by this act, and
saw that to profess obedience to any spiritual lord was to weaken his own power
immeasurably. The priests of the old religions, too, complained bitterly of the loss of their
flocks, and the Tycoon determined to crush out the Christian faith. Thousands upon
thousands of converts were put to death, and the very last of them are said to have
been hurled from the rock of Papenberg, at Nagasaki, into the sea. In 1600, William
Adams, an English sailor on a Dutch ship, arrived in the harbour of Bungo, and speedily
became a favourite with the Tycoon, who, through him, gave the English permission to
establish a trading " factory " on the island of Firando. This was later on abandoned, but
the Dutch East India Company continued the trade on the same island, under very severe
restrictions. The fire-arms and powder on their ships were taken from them immediately
on arrival, and only returned when the ships were ready for sea again.
Yokohama, the principal port, stands on a flat piece of ground, at the wide end of a
valley, which runs narrowing up for several miles in the country. The site was reclaimed
from a mere swamp by the energy of the Government; and there is now a fine sea-wall
facing the sea, with two piers running out into it, on each of which there is a custom-
house. The average Japanese in the streets is clothed in a long thin cotton robe, open
in front and gathered at the waist by a cloth girdle. This constitutes the whole of his
dress, save a scanty cloth tied tightly round the loins, cotton socks and wooden clogs.
The elder women look hideous, but some of their ugliness is self-inflicted, as it is the
fashion, when a woman becomes a wife, to draw out the hair of her eyebrows and varnish
her teeth black ! Their teeth are white, and they still have their eyebrows, but are too
much prone to the use of chalk and vermilion on their cheeks. Every one is familiar
with the Japanese stature — under the general average — for there are now a large number
of the natives resident in London.
Jack will soon find out that the Japanese cuisine is most varied. Tea and sacki, or
rice beer, are the only liquors used, except, of course, by travelled, Europeanised, or
Americanised Japanese. They sit on the floor, squatting on their heels in a manner which
tires Europeans very rapidly, although they look as comfortable as possible. The floor
serves them for chair, table, bed, and writing-desk. At meals there is a small stand, about
nine inches high, by seven inches square, placed before each individual, and on this is deposited
a small bowl, and a variety of little dishes. Chopsticks are used to convey the food to their
mouths. Their most common dishes are fish boiled with onions, and a kind of small bean,
dressed with oil; fowls stewed and cooked in all ways; boiled rice. Oil, mushrooms,
carrots, and various bulbous roots, are greatly used in making up their dishes. In the way
of a bed in summer, they merely lie down on the mats, and put a wooden pillow under
their heads ; but in winter indulge in warm quilts, and have brass pans of charcoal
at the feet. They are very cleanly, baths being used constantly, and the public bath-
houses being open to the street. Strangely enough, however, although so particular in
bodily cleanliness, they never wash their clothes, but wear them till they almost drop to
* The Tycoon is nominated out of the members of three families having hereditary rights. The princes
or Daimios number three or four hundred, many having enormous incomes and armies of retafners. The Prince
of Kanga, for example, has £760,000 a year ; the Prince of Satsuma £487,000 ; and the Prince of Owari £402,900.
THE POET OF PETER AND PAUL. 131
pieces. A gentleman who arrived there in 1859, had to send his clothes to Shanghai to
be washed — a journey of 1,600 miles ! Since the great influx of foreigners, however,
plenty of Niphons have turned laundrymen.
Their tea-gardens, like those of the Chinese, are often large and extremely ornamental,
and at them one obtains a cup of genuine tea made before your eyes for one-third of
a halfpenny.*
The great attraction, in a landscape point of view, outside Yokohama, is the grand
Fusiyama Mountain, an extinct volcano, the great object of reverence and pride in the
Japanese heart, and which in native drawings and carvings is incessantly represented.
A giant, 14,000 feet high, it towers grandly to the clouds, snow-capped and streaked.
It is deemed a holy and worthy deed to climb to its summit, and to pray in the
numerous temples that adorn its sides. Thousands of pilgrims visit it annually. And
now let us make a northward voyage.
CHAPTER IX.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued}.
NORTHWARD AND SOUTHWARD — THE AUSTRALIAN STATION.
The Port of Peter and Paul— Wonderful Colouring of Kamchatka Hills— Grand Volcanoes— The Fight at Petropaulovski
—A Contrast— An International Pic-nic— A Double Wedding— Bering's Voyages— Kamchatka worthy of Further
Exploration— Plover Bay— Tchuktchi Natives— Whaling — A Terrible Gale — A Novel " Smoke-stack "—Southward
again— The Liverpool of the East— Singapore, a Paradise— New Harbour— Wharves and Shipping— Cruelties of the
Coolie Trade— Junks and Prahus— The Kling-gharry Drivers— The Durian and its Devotees— Australia— Its Discovery
—Botany Bay and the Convicts— The First Gold— Port Jackson -Beauty of Sydney— Port Philip and Melbourne.
MANY English men-of-war have visited the interesting peninsula of Kamchatka, all included
in the China station. How well the writer remembers the first time he visited Petropaulovski,
the port of Peter and Paul ! Entering first one of the noblest bays in the whole world —
glorious Avatcha Bay — and steaming a short distance, the entrance to a capital harbour dis-
closed itself. In half an hour the vessel was inside a landlocked harbour, with a sand-spit
protecting it from all fear of gales or sudden squalls. Behind was a highly-coloured little
town, red roofs, yellow walls, and a church with burnished turrets. The hills around were
autumnly frost-coloured ; but not all the ideas the expression will convey to an artist could
conjure up the reality. Indian yellow merging through tints of gamboge, yellow, and
brown ochre to sombre brown ; madder lake, brown madder, Indian red to Roman sepia ;
greys, bright and dull greens indefinable, and utterly indescribable, formed a melange of
colour which defied description whether by brush or pen. It was delightful; but it was
puzzling. King Frost had completed at night that which autumn had done by day.
Then behind rose the grand mountain of Koriatski, one of a series of great volcanoes.
* For further details concerning this most interesting people, vide Dr. Robert Brown's "Races of Mankind."
132 THE SEA.
It seemed a few miles off; it was, although the wonderful clearness of the atmosphere
belied the fact, some thirty miles distant. An impregnable fortress of rock, streaked and
capped with snow, it defies time and man. Its smoke was constantly observed; its
pure snows only hid the boiling, bubbling lava beneath.
With the exception of a few decent houses, the residences of the civil governor,
captain of the port, and other officials, and a few foreign merchants, the town makes
no great show. The poorer dwellings are very rough, and, indeed, are almost exclu-
sively log cabins. A very picturesque and noticeable building is the old Greek church,
which has painted red and green roofs, and a belfry full of bells, large and small,
detached from the building, and only a foot or two raised above the ground. It is to
be noted that the town, as it existed in Captain Clerke's time, was built on the sand-
spit. It was once a military post, but the Cossack soldiers have been removed to
the Amoor.
There are two monuments of interest in Petropaulovski ; one in honour of Bering,
the second to the memory of La Perouse. The former is a plain cast-iron column,
railed in, while the latter is a most nondescript construction of sheet iron, and is of
octagonal form. Neither of these navigators is buried in the town. Poor Bering's
remains lie on the island where he miserably perished, and which now bears his name;
while of the fate of La Perouse, and his unfortunate companions, little is known.
In 1855, Petropaulovski was visited by the allied fleets, during the period of our war with
Russia. They found an empty town, for the Russian Government had given up all idea
of defending it. The combined fleet captured one miserable whaler, razed the batteries,
and destroyed some of the government buildings. There were good and sufficient reasons
why they should have done nothing. The poor little town of Saints Peter and Paul was
beneath notice, as victory there could never be glorious. But a stronger reason existed
in the fact, recorded in a dozen voyages, that from the days of Cook and Clerke to our
own, it had always been famous for the unlimited hospitality and assistance shown to
explorers and voyagers, without regard to nationality. All is not fair in war. Possibly,
however, reason might be found for the havoc done, in the events of the previous year.
In August, 1854, the inhabitants of Petropaulovski had covered themselves with glory,
much to their own surprise. On the 28th of the month, six English and French vessels —
the President, Virago, Pique, La Fort, VEiirydice, and I'Obligado — entered Avatcha Bay.
Admiral Price reconnoitred the harbour and town, and placed the Virago in position at
2,000 yards. The Russians had two vessels, the Aurora and Divina, to defend the harbour,
and a strong chain was placed across its narrow entrance. The town was defended by
seven batteries and earthworks, mounting fifty guns.
It was not difficult to silence the batteries, and they were accordingly silenced. The
townspeople, with their limited knowledge of the English — those English they had always
so hospitably received, and who were now doing their best to kill them — thought their
hour was come, and that, if not immediately executed, they would have to languish exiles
in a foreign land, far from their beautiful Kamchatka. The town was, and is, defended
almost as much by nature as by art. High hills shut it in so completely, and the harbour
entrance can be so easily defended, that there is really only one vulnerable point, in its rear,
134 THE SEA.
'
where a small valley opens out into a plot of land bordering the bay. Here it was thought
desirable to land a body of men.
Accordingly, 700 marines and sailors were put ashore. The men looked forward to
an easy victory, and hurriedly, in detached and straggling style, pressed forward to
secure it. Alas ! they had reckoned without their host — they were rushing heedlessly
into the jaws of death. A number of bushes and small trees existed, and still exist,
on the hill-sides surrounding this spot, and behind them were posted Cossack sharp-shooters,
who fired into our men, and, either from skill or accident, picked off nearly every officer^
The men, not seeing their enemy, and having lost their leaders, became panic-struck,
and fell back in disorder. A retreat was sounded, but the men struggling in the bushes
and underbrush (and, in truth, most of them being sailors, were out of their element on
land) became much scattered, and it was generally believed that many were killed by the
random shots of their companions. A number fled up a hill at the rear of the town ; their
foes pursued and pressed upon them, and many were killed by falling over the steep cliff
in which the hill terminates.
The inhabitants, astonished at their own prowess, and knowing that they could not
hold the town against a more vigorous attack, were preparing to vacate it, when the fleet
weighed anchor and set sail, and no more was seen of them that year ! The sudden death
of our admiral is always attributed to the events of that attack, as he was known not to
have been killed by a ball from the enemy. *
The writer has walked over the main battle-field, and saw cannon-balls unearthed
when some men were digging gravel, which had laid there since the events of 1854.
The last time he passed over it, in 1866, was when proceeding with some Russian and
American friends to what might be termed an " international " pic-nic, for there were
present European and Asiatic Russians, full and half-breed natives, Americans, including
genuine " Yankee " New Englanders, New Yorkers, Southerners, and Californians, English-
men, Frenchmen, Germans, and one Italian. Chatting in a babel of tongues, the party
climbed a path on the hill-side, leading to a beautiful grassy opening, overlooking the
glorious bay below, which extended in all directions a dozen or fifteen miles, and on one
side farther than the eye could reach. Several grand snow-covered volcanoes towered above,
thirty to fifty miles off; one, of most beautiful outline, that of Vilutchinski, was on
the opposite shore of Avatcha Bay.
The sky was bright and blue, and the water without a ripple ; wild flowers were abundant,,
the air was fragrant with them, and, but for the mosquitoes (which are not confined
to hot countries, but flourish in the short summer of semi- Arctic climes), it might
have been considered an earthly edition of paradise ! But even these pests could not
worry the company much, for not merely were nearly all the men smokers, but most
of the ladies also ! Here the writer may remark, parenthetically, that many of the
Russian ladies smoke cigarettes, and none object to gentlemen smoking at table or else-
where. At the many dinners and suppers offered by the hospitable residents, it was
customary to draw a few whiffs between the courses ; and when the cloth was removed,.
* Tide "Nautical Magazine," October, 1855.
THE COAST OF KAMCHATKA. 135
the ladies, instead of retiring to another room, sat in company with the gentlemen, the
larger proportion joining in the social weed. After the enjoyment of a liberal al fresco
dinner, songs were in order, and it would be easier to say what were not sung than to
give the list of those, in all languages, which were. Then after tKe songs came some
games, one of them a .Russian version of "hunt the slipper," and another very like
"kiss in the ring." The writer particularly remembers the latter, for he had on that
occasion the honour of kissing the Pope's wife ! This needs explanation, although the
Pope was his friend. In the Greek Church the priest is "allowed to marry," and his
title, in the Russian language, is " Pope."
And the recollection of that particular "Pope" recalls a well-remembered ceremony
— that of a double wedding in the old church. During the ceremony it is customary to
crown the bride and bridegroom. In this case two considerate male friends held the
crowns for three-quarters of an hour over the brides' heads, so as not to spoil the artistic
arrangement of their hair and head-gear. It seems also to be the custom, when, as in the
present case, the couples were in the humbler walks of life, to ask some wealthy individual
to act as master of the ceremonies, who, if he accepts, has to stand all the expenses.
In this case M. Phillipeus, a merchant who has many times crossed the frozen steppes
of Siberia in search of valuable furs, was the victim, and he accepted the responsibility
of entertaining all Petropaulovski, the officers of the splendid Russian corvette, the Variety,
and those of the Telegraph Expedition, with cheerfulness and alacrity.
The coast-line of Kamchatka is extremely grand, and far behind it are magnificent
volcanic peaks. The promontory which terminates in the two capes, Kamchatka and
Stolbevoy, has the appearance of two islands detached from the mainland, the intervening
country being low. This, a circumstance to be constantly observed on all coasts, was,
perhaps, specially noticeable on this. The island of St. Lawrence, in Bering Sea,
was a very prominent example. It is undeniable that the apparent gradual rise of a
coast, seen from the sea as you approach it, affords a far better proof of the rotundity
of the earth than the illustrations usually employed, that of a ship, which you are
supposed to see by instalments, from the main-royal sail (if not from the ' sky-scraper '
or ' moon-raker ') to the hull. The fact is, that the royal and top-gallant sails of
a vessel on the utmost verge of the horizon may be, in certain lights, barely dis-
tinguishable, while the dark outline of an irregular and rock-bound coast can be seen by
any one. First, maybe, appears a mountain peak towering in solitary grandeur above
the coast-line, and often far behind it, then the high lands and hills, then the cliffs
and low lands, and, lastly, the flats and beaches.
It was from the Kamchatka River, which enters Bering Sea near the cape of the
same name, that Vitus Bering sailed on his first voyage. That navigator was a persevering
and plucky Dane, who had been drawn into the service of Russia through the fame of
Peter the Great, and his first expedition was directly planned by that sagacious monarch,
although he did not live to carry it out. Miiller, the historian of Bering's career, says :
"The Empress Catherine, as she endeavoured in all points to execute most precisely the
plans of her deceased husband, in a manner began her reign with an order for the
expedition to Kamchatka." Bering had associated with him two active subordinates,
136 THE SEA.
Spanberg and Tschirikoff. They left St. Petersburg- on February 5th, 1725, proceeding-
to the Ochotsk Sea, via Siberia. It is a tolerable proof of the difficulties of travel in
those days, that it took them two years to transport their outfit thither. They crossed
to Kamchatka, where, on the 4th of April, 1728, Miiller tells us, "a boat was put upon
the stocks, like the packet-boats used in the Baltic, and on the 10th of July was launched,
and named the boat Gabriel." A few days later, and she was creeping along the coast of
Kamchatka and Eastern Siberia. Bering on this first voyage discovered St. Lawrence
Island, and reached as far north as 67° 18', where, finding the land trend to the westward,
he came to the conclusion that he had reached the eastern extremity of Asia, and that
Asia and America were distinct continents. On the first point he was not, as a matter
of detail, quite correct ; but the second, the important object of his mission, settled for
ever the vexed question.
A second voyage was rather unsuccessful. His third expedition left Petropaulovski on
the 4th of July, 1741. His little fleet became dispersed in a storm, and Bering pursued
his discoveries alone. These were not unimportant, for he reached the grand chain of
the rock-girt Aleutian Islands, and others nearer the mainland of America. At length
the scurvy broke out in virulent form among his crew, and he attempted to return to
Kamchatka. The sickness increased so much that the "two sailors who used to be at the
rudder were obliged to be led in by two others who could hardly walk, and when one
could sit and steer no longer, one in little better condition supplied his place. Many
sails they durst not hoist, because there was nobody to lower them in case of need." At
length land appeared, and they cast anchor. A storm arose, and the ship was driven on
the rocks; they cast their second anchor, and the cable snapped before it took ground.
A great sea pitched the vessel bodily over the rocks, behind which they happily found
quieter water. The island was barren, devoid of trees, and with little driftwood. They
had to roof over gulches or ravines, to form places of refuge. On the " 8th of November
a beginning was made to land the sick; but some died as soon as they were brought
from between decks in the open air, others during the time they were on the deck, some
in the boat, and many more as soon as they were brought on shore." On the following
day the commander, Bering, himself prostrated with disease, was brought ashore, and
moved about on a hand-barrow. He died a month after, in one of the little ravines, or
ditches, which had been covered with a roof, and when he expired was almost covered
with the sand which fell from its sides, and which he desired his men not to remove, as
it gave him some little warmth. Before his remains could be finally interred they had
literally to be disinterred.
The vessel, unguarded, was utterly wrecked, and their provisions lost. They subsisted
mainly that fearful winter on the carcases of dead whales, which were driven ashore,
In the spring the pitiful remnant of a once hardy crew managed to construct a small
vessel from the wreck of their old ship, and at length succeeded in reaching Kamchatka.
They then learned that Tschirikoff, Bering's associate, had preceded them, but with the
loss of thirty-one of his crew from the same fell disease which had so reduced their
numbers. Bering's name has ever since been attached to the island where he died.
There is no doubt that Kamchatka would repay a detailed exploration, which it
THE APEX OF THE CHINA STATION.
137
has never yet received. It is a partially settled country. The Kamchatdales are \
good-humoured, harmless, and semi- civilised race, and the Russian officials and settlers
at the few little towns would gladly welcome the traveller. The dogs used for sledging
in winter are noble animals, infinitely stronger than those of Alaska or even Greenland.
The attractions for the Alpine climber cannot be overstated. The peninsula contains a
chain of volcanic peaks, attaining, it is stated, in the Klutchevskoi Mountain a height
PETROPAULOVSKI AND THE AVATCIIA MOUNTAIN^
of 16,000 feet. In the country immediately behind Petropaulovski are the three
peaks, Koriatski, Avatcha, and Koseldskai; the first is about 12,000 feet in height,
and is a conspicuous landmark for the port. A comparatively level country, covered
with rank grass and underbrush, and intersected by streams, stretches very nearly to
their base.
And now, before leaving the Asiatic coast, let us, as many English naval vessels
have clone, pay a flying visit to a still more northern harbour, that of Plover Bay,
which forms the very apex of the China Station. Sailing, or steaming, through Bering
Sea, it is satisfactory to know that so shallow is it that a vessel can anchor in almost
18
138 THE SEA.
any part of it, though hundreds of miles from land.* Plover Bay does not derive its-
name from the whaling- which is often pursued in its waters, although an ingenious
Dutchman, of the service in which the writer was engaged at the periods of his visits,
persisted in calling it "Blubber" Bay; its name is due to the visit of H.M.S. Plover
in 1848-9, when engaged in the search for Sir John Franklin. The bay is a most secure
haven, sheltered at the ocean end by a long spit, and walled in on three sides by rugged
mountains and bare cliffs, the former composed of an infinite number of fragments of
rock, split up by the action of frost. Besides many coloured lichens and mosses, there
is hardly a sign of vegetation, except at one patch of country near a small inner harbour,
where domesticated reindeer graze. On the spit before mentioned is a village of Tchuktchi
natives; their tents are composed of hide, walrus, seal, or reindeer, with here and there
a piece of old sail-cloth, obtained from the whalers, the whole patchwork covering a
framework formed of the large bones of whales and walrus. The remains of underground
houses are seen, but the people who used them have passed away. The present race makes
no use of such houses. Their canoes are of skin, covering sometimes a wooden and
sometimes a bone frame. On either side of one of these craft, which is identical with
the Greenland "oomiak," or women's boat, it is usual to have a sealskin blown out tight,
and the ends fastened to the gunwale; these serve as floats to steady the canoe. They
often carry sail, and proceed safely far out to sea, even crossing Bering Straits to the
American side. The natives are a hardy race; the writer has seen one of them carry
the awkward burden of a carpenter's chest, weighing two hundred pounds, without
apparent exertion. One of their principal men was of considerable service to the
expedition and to a party of telegraph constructors, who were left there in a wooden
house made in San Francisco, and erected in a few days in this barren spot. This native,
by name Naukum, was taken down into the engine-room of the telegraph steamer —
G. S. Wright. He looked round carefully and thoughtfully, and then, shaking his head,
said, solemnly, " Too muchee wheel ; makee man too muchee think ! " His curiosity
on board was unappeasable. " What's that fellow ? " was his query with regard to
anything, from the donkey-engine to the hencoops. Colonel Bulkley gave him a suit of
mock uniform, gorgeous with buttons. One of the men remarked to him, " Why,.
Naukum, you'll be a king soon ! " But this magnificent prospect did not seem, judging
from the way he received it, to be much to his taste. This man had been some-
times entrusted with as much as five barrels of villainous whisky for trading purposes, and
he had always accounted satisfactorily to the trader for its use. The whisky sold to the
natives is of the most horrible kind, scarcely superior to "coal oil" or paraffine. They
appeared to understand the telegraph scheme in a general way. One explaining it, said,
" S'pose lope fixy, well ; one Melican man Plower Bay, make talky all same San Flancisco
Melican." Perhaps quite as lucid an explanation as you could get from an agricultural
labourer or a street arab at home.
Colonel Bulkley, at his second visit to Plover Bay, caused a small house of planks
* Captain Scammon, detailed from the United States Revenue Service, to take the post of Chief of Marine
in the telegraph expedition on which the writer served, made a series of soundings. For nearly two degrees (between
latitudes 64° and 66° N.) the average depth is under 19^ fathoms.
THE WHALERS OF BERING SEA. 139
'to be constructed for Naukum, and made him many presents. A draughtsman attached
to the party made a sketch, " A Dream of the Future," which was a lively representation
of the future prospects of Naukum and his family. The room was picturesque with
paddles, skins, brand-new Henry rifles, preserved meat tins, &c. ; and civilisation was
triumphant.
Although Plover Bay is almost in sight of the Arctic Ocean, very little snow remained
on the barren country round it, except on the distant mountains, or in deep ravines, where
it has lain for ages. "That there snow," said one of the sailors, pointing to such a spot,
"is three hundred years old if it's a day. Why, don't you see the wrinkles all over the
face of it ? " Wrinkles and ridges are common enough in snow ; but the idea of associating
age with them was original.
The whalers are often very successful in and outside Plover Bay in securing
their prey. Each boat is known by its own private mark — a cross, red stripes, or what
not — on its sail, so that at a distance they can be distinguished from their respective
vessels. When the whale is harpooned, often a long and dangerous job, and is floating
dead in the water, a small flag is planted in it. After the monster is towed alongside
the vessel, it is cut up into large rectangular chunks, and it is a curious and not
altogether pleasant sight to witness the deck of a whaling ship covered with blubber.
This can be either barreled, or the oil "tryed out" on the spot. If the latter, the
blubber is cut into " mincemeat," and chopping knives, and even mincing machines, are
employed. The oil is boiled out on board, and the vessel when seen at a distance
looks as if on fire. On these occasions the sailors have a feast of dough-nuts, which
;are cooked in boiling whale-oil, fritters of whale brain, and other dishes. The writer
has tasted whale in various shapes, but although it is eatable, it is by no means luxurious
food.
It was in these waters of Bering Sea and the Arctic that the Shenandoah played such
.havoc during the American war. In 1865 she burned thirty American whalers, taking
off the officers and crews, and sending them down to San Francisco. The captain of an
English whaler, the Robert Taw us, of Sydney, had warned and saved some American
vessels, and was in consequence threatened by the pirate captain. The writer was an
eye-witness of the results of this wanton destruction of private property. The coasts
were strewed with the remains of the burned vessels, while the natives had boats, spars, &c.,
in numbers.
But Plover Bay has an interest attaching to it of far more importance than anything
to be said about whaling or Arctic expeditions. It is more than probable that from or
near that bay the wandering Tunguse, or Tchuktchi, crossed Bering Straits, and peopled
America. The latter, in canoes holding fifteen or twenty persons, do it now ; why not
in the "long ago?" The writer has, in common with many who have visited Alaska
(formerly Russian- America, before the country was purchased by the United States),
remarked the almost Chinese or Japanese cast of features possessed by the coast natives
•of that country. Their Asiatic origin could not be doubted, and, on the other hand,
Aleuts — natives of the Aleutian Islands, which stretch out in a grand chain from Alaska — •
who had shipped as sailors on the Russo-American Telegraph Expedition, and a Tchuktchi
140
THE SEA.
boy brought down to be educated, were constantly taken for Japanese or Chinamen in
San Francisco, where there are 40,000 of the former people. Junks have on two occasions
been driven across the Pacific Ocean, and have landed their crews.* These facts
occurred in 1832-3 ; the first on the coast near Cape Flattery, North-west America, and
the second in the harbour of Oahu, Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. In the former case
nil the crew but two men and a boy were killed by the natives. In the latter case,
WHA.LERS AT WORK.
however, the Sandwich Islanders treated the nine Japanese, forming the crew of the junk,
with kindness, and, when they saw the strangers so much resembling them in many
respects, said, " It is plain, now, we come from Asia." How easily, then, could we account
for the peopling of any island or coast in the Pacific. Whether, therefore, stress of weather
obliged some unfortunate Chinamen or Japanese to people America, or whether they, or,
at all events, some Northern Asiatics, took the " short sea route," rid Bering Straits,
* Vide Washington Irving's "Astoria;" also, Sir Edward Belcher's "Voyage of the Sulphur"
AN UN-PACIFIC OCEAN.
141
there is a very strong probability in favour of the New World having been peopled from
not merely the Old World, but the Oldest World — Asia.
The Pacific Ocean generally bears itself in a manner which justifies its title. The
long sweeps of its waves are far more pleasant to the sailor than the " choppy" waves of
OUR " PATENT SMOKE-STACK."
the Atlantic. But the Pacific is by no means always so, as the writer \ery well knows.
He will not soon forget November, 1865, nor will those of his companions who still
survive.
Leaving Petropaulovski on November 1st, a fortnight of what sailors term " dirty weather "
culminated in a gale from the south-east. It was no " capful of wind," but a veritable tempest,
which broke over the devoted ship. At its outset, the wind was so powerful that it blew
the main-boom from the ropes which held it, and it swung round with great violence
THE SEA.
against the " smoke-stack " (funnel) of the steamer, knocking it overboard. The guys,
or chains by which it had been held upright, were snapped, and it went to the bottom.
Here was a dilemma ; the engines were rendered nearly useless, and a few hours later
were made absolutely powerless, for the rudder became disabled, and the steering-wheel
was utterly unavailable. During this period a very curious circumstance happened ; the
sea driving faster than the vessel — itself a log lying in the trough of the waves, which
rose in mountains on all sides — acted on the screw in such a manner that in its turn it
worked the engines at a greater rate than they had ever attained by steam ! After much
trouble the couplings were disconnected, but for several hours the jarring of the machinery
revolving at lightning speed threatened to make a breach in the stern.
No one on board will soon forget the night of that great gale. The vessel, scarcely
larger than a " penny " steamer, and having tf guards/' or bulwarks, little higher than
the rail of those boats, was engulfed in the tempestuous waters. It seemed literally
to be driving under the water. Waves broke over it every few minutes ; a rope had
to be stretched along the deck for the sailors to hold on by, while the brave com-
mander, Captain Marston, was literally tied to the aft bulwark, where, half frozen and
half drowned, he remained at his post during an entire night. The steamer had the
"house on deck/' so common in American vessels. It was divided into state-rooms,
very comfortably fitted, but had doors and windows of the lightest character. At the
commencement of the gale, these were literally battered to pieces by the waves dashing
over the vessel; it was a matter of doubt whether the whole house might not be carried
off bodily. The officers of the expedition took refuge in the small cabin aft, which had
been previously the general ward-room of the vessel, where the meals were served. A
great sea broke over its skylight, smashing the glass to atoms, putting out the lamps and
stove, and filling momentarily the cabin with about three feet of water. A landsman
would have thought his last hour had come. But the hull of the vessel was sound ; the
pumps were in good order, and worked steadily by a " donkey " engine in the engine-room,
and the water soon disappeared. The men coiled themselves up that night amid a pile of
ropes and sails, boxes, and miscellaneous matters lying on the " counter " of the vessel, i.e.,
that part of the stern lying immediately over the rudder. Next morning, in place of
the capital breakfasts all had been enjoying — fish and game from Kamchatka, tinned fruits
and meats from California, hot rolls and cakes — the steward and cook could only, with
great difficulty, provide some rather shaky coffee and the regular " hard bread " (biscuit)
of the ship.
The storm increased in violence ; it was unsafe to venture on deck. The writer's
room-mate. M. Laborne, a genial and cultivated man of the world, who spoke seven
languages fluently, sat down, and wrote a last letter to his mother, enclosing it
afterwards in a bottle. "It will never reach her," said poor Laborne, with tears dimming
his eyes ; " but it is all I can do." Each tried to comfort the other, and prepare
for the worst. "If we are to die, let us die like men," said Adjutant Wright. "Come
down in the engine-room," another said, "and if we've got to die, let's die
decently." The chief engineer lighted a fire on the iron floor below the boilers, and
it was the only part of the vessel which was at all comfortable. Noble-hearted
A NOVEL "SMOKE-STACK." 143
Colonel Bulkley spent his time in cheering- the men, and reminding them that
the sea has been proved to be an infinitely safer place than the land. No single one
on board really expected to survive. Meantime, the gale was expending its rage
by tearing- every sail to ribbons. Rags and streamers fluttered from the yards ; there
was not a single piece of canvas intact. The cabins held a wreck of trunks, furniture,
and crockery.
In one of the cabins several boxes of soap, in bars, had been stored. When the g-ale
commenced to abate, some one ventured into the house on deck, when it was discovered
that it was full of soapsuds, which swashed backwards and forwards through the series
of rooms. The water had washed and rewashed the bars of soap till they were not thicker
than sticks of sealing-wax.
At last, after a week of this horrible weather, morning broke with a sight of the sun,
and moderate wind. There were spare sails on board, and the rudder could be repaired;
but what could be done about the funnel ? The engineer's ingenuity came out conspicuously.
He had one of the usual water-tanks broug-ht on deck, and the two ends knocked out.
Then, setting it up over the boiler, he with pieces of sheet-iron raised this square erection,
till it was about nine feet high, and it gave a sufficient draught to the furnaces.
"Covert's Patent Smoke-Stack" created a sensation on the safe arrival of the vessel in
San Francisco, and was inspected by hundreds of visitors. The little steamer had ploughed
through 10,000 miles of water that season. She was immediately taken to one of the
wharfs, and entirely remodelled. The sides were slightly raised, and a ward-room and aft-
cabin, handsomely fitted in yacht-fashion, took the place of the house on deck. It was
roofed or decked at top in such a manner that the heaviest seas could wash over the
vessel without doing the slightest injury, and she afterwards made two voyages, going
over a distance of 20,000 miles. Poor old Wright ! She went to the bottom at last, with
all her crew and passengers, some years later, off Cape Mattery, at the entrance of the
Straits of Fuca, and scarcely a vestige of her was ever found.
And now, retracing our steps en route for the Australian station, let us call at one
of the most important of England's settlements, which has been termed the Liverpool of
the East. Singapore consists of an island twenty-five miles long and fifteen or so broad,
lying off the south extremity of Malacca, and having a city of the same name on its
southern side. The surface is very level, the highest elevation being only 520 feet. In
1818, Sir Stamford Raffles found it an island covered with virgin forests and dense jungles,
with a miserable population on its creeks and rivers of fishermen and pirates. It has
now a population of about 100,000, of which Chinese number more than half. In 1819
the British flag was hoisted over the new settlement ; but it took five years on the part
of Mr. Crawford, the diplomatic representative of Great Britain, to negotiate terms with
its then owner, the Sultan of Johore, whereby for a heavy yearly payment it was, with
all the islands within ten miles of the coast, given up with absolute possession to the
Honourable East India Company. Since that period, its history has been one of unexampled
prosperity. It is a free port, the revenue being raised entirely from imports on opium
and spirits. Its prosperity as a commercial port is due to the fact that it is an entrepot
for the whole trade of the Malayan Archipelago, the Eastern Archipelago, Cochin China,
144 THE SEA.
Siam, and Java. Twelve years ago it exported over sixty-six million rupees' worth of
gambier, tin, pepper, nutmegs, coffee, tortoise-shell, rare woods, sago, tapioca, camphor,
gutta-percha, and rattans. It is vastly greater now. Exclusive of innumerable native
craft, 1,697 square-rigged vessels entered the port in 1864-5. It has two splendid
harbours, one a sheltered roadstead near the town, with safe anchorage; the other, a
land-locked harbour, three miles from the town, capable of admitting vessels of the
largest draught. Splendid wharfs have been erected by the many steam-ship companies
and merchants, and there are fortifications which command the harbour and roads.
" A great deal has been written about the natural beauties of Ceylon and Java," says
Mr. Cameron,* "and some theologians, determined to give the first scene in the Mosaic
narrative a local habitation, have fixed the paradise of un fallen man on one or other of
those noble islands. Nor has their enthusiasm carried them to any ridiculous extreme ;
for the beauty of some parts of Java and Ceylon might well accord with the description
given us, or rather which we are accustomed to infer, of that land from which man was
driven on his first great sin.
" I have seen both Ceylon and Java, and admired in no grudging measure their many
charms; but for calm placid loveliness, I should place Singapore high above them both.
It is a loveliness, too, that at once strikes the eye, from whatever point we view the
island, which combines all the advantages of an always beautiful and often imposing
coast-line, with an endless succession of hill and dale stretching inland. The entire
circumference of the island is one panorama, where the magnificent tropical forest, with
its undergrowth of jungle, runs down at one place to the very water's edge, dipping its
large leaves in the glassy sea, and at another is abruptly broken by a brown rocky cliff,
or a late landslip, over which the jungle has not yet had time to extend itself. Here
and there, too, are scattered little green islands, set like gems on the bosom of the
hushed waters, between which the excursionist, the trader, or the pirate, is wont to steer
his course. ' Eternal summer gilds these shores ; ' no sooner has the blossom of one tree
passed away, than that of another takes its place and sheds perfume all around. As for
the foliage, that never seems to die. Perfumed isles are in many people's minds merely
fabled dreams, but they are easy of realisation here. There is scarcely a part of the
island, except those few places where the original forest and jungle have been cleared away,
from which at night-time, on the first breathings of the land winds, may not be felt
those lovely forest perfumes, even at the distance of more than a mile from shore. These
land winds — or, more properly, land airs, for they can scarcely be said to blow, but only
to breathe — usually commence at ten o'clock at night, and continue within an hour or
two of sunrise. They are welcomed by all — by the sailor because they speed him on either
course, and by the wearied resident because of their delicious coolness."
Another writer f speaks with the same enthusiasm of the well-kept country roads, and
approaches to the houses of residents, where one may travel for miles through unbroken
avenues of fruit-trees, or beneath an over-arching canopy of evergreen palms. The long
well-kept approaches to the European dwellings never fail to win the praise of
* " Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India," by John Cameron, Esq.
•5- J. Thomson, " The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China."
SCENERY OF SINGAPORE.
145
strangers. "In them may be discovered the same lavish profusion of overhanging foliage
which we see around us on every side ; besides that, there are often hedges of wild
heliotrope, cropped as square as if built up of stone, and forming compact barriers of
green leaves, which yet blossom with gold and purple flowers/' Behind these, broad
bananas nod their bending leaves, while a choice flower-garden, a close-shaven lawn, and
VIEW IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA.
a croquet-ground, are not uncommonly the surroundings of the residence. If it is early
morning, there is an unspeakable charm about the spot. The air is cool, even bracing;
and beneath the shade of forest trees, the rich blossom of orchids are seen depending
from the boughs, while songless birds twitter among the foliage, or beneath shrubs which
the convolvulus has decked with a hundred variegated flowers. Here and there the slender
stem of the aloe, rising from an armoury of spiked leaves, lifts its cone of white bells
on high, or the deep orange pine-apple peeps out from a green belt of fleshy foliage, and
breathes its bright fragrance around. The house will invariably have a spacious verandah,
19
146 THE SEA.
underneath which flowers in China vases, and easy chairs of all kinds, are placed. If
perfect peace can steal through the senses into the soul — if it can be distilled like some
subtle ether from all that is beautiful in nature — surely in such an island as this we
shall find that supreme happiness which we all know to be unattainable else where ."
Alas ! even in this bright spot, unalloyed bliss cannot be expected. The temperature is
very high, showing an average in the shade, all the year round, of between 85° and
95° Fahr. Prickly heat, and many other disorders, are caused by it on the European
constitution.
The old Strait of Singhapura, that lies between the island of Singapore and the
mainland of Johore, is a narrow tortuous passage, for many centuries the only thoroughfare
for ships passing to the eastward of Malacca. Not many years ago, where charming
bungalows, the residences of the merchants, are built among- the ever verdant foliage, it
was but the home of hordes of piratical marauders, who carried on their depredations with
a high hand, sometimes adventuring on distant voyages in fleets of forty or fifty prahus.
Indeed, it is stated, in tho old Malay annals, that for nearly two hundred years the entire
population of Singapore and the surrounding islands and coasts of Johore subsisted on fishing
and pirating ; the former only being resorted to when the prevailing monsoon was too strong
to admit of the successful prosecution of the latter. Single cases of piracy sometimes,
occur now; but it has been nearly stopped. Of the numberless vessels and boats which
give life to the waters of the old strait, nearly all have honest work to do — fishing,
timber carrying, or otherwise trading. "A very extraordinary flotilla," says Mr. Cameron,
" of a rather nondescript character may be often seen in this part of the strait at certain
seasons of the year. These are huge rafts of unsawn, newly-cut timber; they are generally
500 or 600 feet long, and sixty or seventy broad, the logs being skilfully laid together,
and carefully bound by strong rattan -rope, each raft often containing 2,000 logs. They
have always one or two attap-houses built upon them, and carry crews of twenty or
twenty-five men, the married men taking their wives and children with them. The timber
composing them is generally cut many miles away, in some creek or river on the
mainland/' They sometimes have sails. They will irresistibly remind the traveller of
those picturesque rafts on the Rhine, on which there are cabins, with the smoke curling
from their stove-pipes, and women, children, and clogs, the men with long sweeps keeping
the valuable floating freight in the current. Many a German, now in England or
America, made his first trip through the Fatherland to its coast on a Rhine raft.
The sailor generally makes his first acquaintance with the island of Singapore by
entering through New Harbour, and the scenery is said to be almost unsurpassed by
anything in the world. The steamer enters between the large island and a cluster of
islets, standing high out of the water with rocky banks, and covered to their summits by
rich green jungle, with here and there a few forest trees towering above it high in the
air. Under the vessel's keel, too, as she passes slowly over the shoaler patches of the
entrance, may be seen beautiful beds of coral, which, in their variegated colours and
fantastic shapes, vie with the scenery above. The Peninsular and Oriental Steamers' wharfs
are situated at the head of a small bay, with the island of Pulo Brani in front. They
have a frontage of 1,200 feet, and coal sheds built of brick, and tile-roofed; they often
JUNKS AND SAMPANS. 147
contain 20,000 tons of coal. Including some premises in Singapore itself, some £70,000
or £80,000 have been expended 011 their station — a tolerable proof of the commercial
importance of the place. Two other companies have extensive wharfs also. The passengers
land here, and drive up to the city, a distance of some three miles. Those who remain on
board, and " Jack " is likely to be of the number, for the first few days after arrival, find
entertainment in the feats of swarms of small Malay boys, who immediately surround
the vessel in toy boats just big enough to float them, and induce the passengers to throw
small coins into the water, for which they dive to the bottom, and generally succeed in
recovering. Almost all the ships visiting Singapore have their bottoms examined, and
some have had as many as twenty or thirty sheets of copper put on by Malay divers.
One man will put on as many as two sheets in an hour, going down a dozen or more
times. There are now extensive docks at and around New Harbour.
On rounding the eastern exit of New Harbour, the shipping and harbour of Singapore
at once burst on the view, with the white walls of the houses, and the dark verdure of
the shrubbery of the town nearly hidden by the network of spars and rigging that
intervenes. The splendid boats of the French Messageries, and our own Peninsular and
Oriental lines, the opium steamers of the great firm of Messrs. Jardine, of China, and
Messrs. Cama, of Bombay ; and the beautifully-modelled American or English clippers,
which have taken the place of the box-shaped, heavy-rigged East Indiamen of days of
yore, with men-of-war of all nations, help to make a noble sight. This is only part
of the scene, for interspered are huge Chinese junks of all sizes, ranging up to 600 or
700 tons measurement. The sampans, or two-oared Chinese boats, used to convey passengers
ashore, are identical in shape. All have alike the square bow and the broad flat stern,
and from the largest to the smallest, on what in a British vessel would be called her
"head-boards/' all have two eyes embossed and painted, glaring out over the waten.
John Chinaman's explanation of this custom is, that if " no got eyes, no can see." During
the south-west monsoon they are in Singapore by scores, and of all colours, red, green,
black, or yellow ; these are said to be the badge of the particular province to which they
belong. Ornamental painting and carving is confined principally to the high stern, which
generally bears some fantastic figuring, conspicuous in which can invariably be traced
the outlines of a spread eagle, not unlike that on an American dollar. Did "spread-
eagleism" as well as population first reach America from China?
" It is difficult," says Mr. Cameron, " while looking at these junks, to imagine how
they can manage in a seaway; and yet at times they must encounter the heaviest weather
along the Chinese coast in the northern latitudes. It is true that when they encounter
a gale they generally run before it; but yet in a typhoon this would be of little avail to
ease a ship. There is no doubt they must possess some good qualities, and, probably,
speed, with a fair wind in a smooth sea, is one of them. Not many years ago a boat-
builder in Singapore bought one of the common sampans used by the coolie boatmen,
which are exactly the same shape as the junks, and rigged her like an English cutter,
giving her a false keel, and shifting weather-board, and, strange to say, won with her
every race that he tried."
Passing the junks at night, a strange spectacle may be observed. Amid the beating
148
THE SEA
of gongs, jangling of bells, and discordant shouts, the nightly religious ceremonies of
the sailors are performed. Lanterns are swinging, torches flaring, and gilt paper burning,
while quantities of food are scattered in
the sea as an offering of their worship.
Many of those junks, could they but
speak, might reveal a story, gentle
reader —
"A tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul."
The chief trade of not a few has been,
and still is, the traffic of human freight;
and it is, unfortunately, only too lucra-
tive. Large numbers of junks leave
China for the islands annually packed
with men, picked up, impressed, or
lured on board, and kept there till the
gambier and pepper planters purchase
them, and hurry them off to the in-
terior. It is not so much that they
usually have to complain of cruelty,
or even an unreasonably long term of
servitude ; their real danger is in the
overcrowding of the vessels that bring
them. The men cost nothing, except
a meagre allowance of rice, and the
more the shipper can crowd into his
vessel the greater must be his profit.
" It would," says the writer just
quoted, "be a better speculation for
the trader whose junk could only carry
properly 300 men, to take on board
600 men, and lose 250 on the way
down, than it would be for him to
start with his legitimate number, and
land them all safely ; for in the first
case, he would bring 350 men to
market, and in the other only 300.
That this process of reasoning is
actually put in practice by the Chinese, there was not long ago ample and very
mournful evidence to prove. Two of these junks had arrived in the harbour of
Singapore, and had remained unnoticed for about a week, during which the owners had
bargained for the engagement of most of their cargo. At this time two dead bodies
JUNKS IX A CHINESE HARBOUR.
MALAY PEAHUS.
149
were found floating in the harbour; an inquest was held, and it then transpired that
one of these two junks on the way down from China had lost 250 men out of 600, and
the other 200 out of 400."
The Malay prahus are the craft of the inhabitants of the straits, and are something
like the Chinese junks, though never so large as the largest of the latter, rarely exceeding
fifty or sixty tons burden. They have one mast, a tripod made of three bamboos, two
CHINESE JtXK AT SINGAl'ORE.
or three feet apart at the deck, and tapering up to a point at the top. Across two
of the bamboos smaller pieces of the same wood are lashed, making the mast thus act as
o, shroud or ladder also. They carry a large lug-sail of coarse grass-cloth, having a yard
both at top and bottom. The curious part of them is the top hamper about the stem.
With the deck three feet out of the water forward, the top of the housing is fifteen or
more feet high. They are steered with two rudders, one on either quarter. In addition
to the ships and native craft, are hundreds of small boats of all descriptions constantly
moving about with fruits, provisions, birds, monkeys, shells, and corals for sale. The sailor
150 . THE SEA.
lias a splendid chance of securing, on merely nominal terms, the inevitable parrot, a funny
little Jocko, or some lovely corals, of all hues, green, purple, pink, mauve, blue, and in
shape often resembling flowers and shrubbery. A whole boat-load of the latter may be
obtained for a dollar and a half or a couple of dollars.
Singapore has a frontage of three miles, and has fine Government buildings, court-
house, town-hall, clubs, institutes, masonic lodge, theatre, and the grandest English
cathedral in Asia — that of St. Andrew's. In Commercial Square, the business centre of
Singapore, all nationalities seem to be represented. Here, too, are the Kling gharry-
drivers, having active little ponies and neat conveyances. Jack ashore will be pestered
with their applications. " These Klings/' says Mr. Thomson, " seldom, if ever, resort to
blows; but their language leaves nothing for the most vindictive spirit to desire. Once,
at one of the landing-places, I observed a British tar come ashore for a holiday. He was
forthwith beset by a group of Kling gharry-drivers, and, finding that the strongest of British
words were as nothing when pitted against the Kling vocabulary, and that no half-dozen
of them would stand up like men against his huge iron fists, he seized the nearest man,
and hurled him into the sea. It was the most harmless way of disposing of his enemy,
who swam to a boat, and it left Jack in undisturbed and immediate possession of the
field." The naval officer will find excellent deer-hunting and wild-hog shooting to be had near
the city, and tiger-hunting at a distance. Tigers, indeed, were formerly terribly destructive
of native life on the island; it was said that a man per diem was sacrificed. Now, cases
are more rare. For good living, Singapore can hardly be beaten ; fruit in particular is
abundant and cheap. Pine-apples, cocoa-nuts, bananas of thirty varieties, mangoes, custard-
apples, and oranges, with many commoner fruits, abound. Then there is the mangosteen,
the delicious "apple of the East," thought by many to surpass any fruit in the world,
and the durian, a fruit as big as a boy's head, with seeds as big as walnuts enclosed in
a pulpy, fruity custard. The taste for this fruit is an acquired one, and is impossible to
describe, while the smell is most disgusting. So great is the longing for it, when once the
taste is acquired, that the highest prices are freely offered for it, particularly by some of
the rich natives. A former King of Ava spent enormous sums over it, and could hardly
then satisfy his rapacious appetite. A succeeding monarch kept a special steamer at
Tlangoon, and when the supplies came into the city it was loaded up, and dispatched at
once to the capital — 500 miles up a river. The smell of the durian is so unpleasant that
the fruit is never seen on the tables of the merchants or planters ; it is eaten slily in
corners, and out of doors.
And Jack ashore will find many other novelties in eating. B,oast monkey is obtainable,
although not eaten as much as formerly by the Malays. In the streets of Singapore a
meal of three or four courses can be obtained for three halfpence from travelling restaurateurs,
always Chinamen, who carry their little charcoal stoves and soup-pots with them. The
authority principally quoted says that, contrary to received opinion, they are very clean
and particular in their culinary arrangements. One must not, however, too closely examine
the nature of the viands. And now let us proceed to the Australian Station, which includes
New Guinea, Australia proper, and New Zealand.
This is a most important colony of Great Britain, although by no means its most
THE AUSTRALIAN STATION. 151
important possession, a country as English as England itself, tempered only by a slight
colonial flavour. Here Jack will find himself at home, whether in the fine streets of
Melbourne, or the older and more pleasant city of Sydney, with its beautiful surroundings.
When the seventeenth century was in its early youth, that vast ocean which stretches
from Asia to the Antarctic was scarcely known by navigators. The coasts of Eastern
Africa, of India, and the archipelago of islands to the eastward, were partially explored;
but while there was a very strong belief that a land existed in the southern hemisphere,
it was an inspiration only based on probabilities. The pilots and map-makers put down,
as well as they were able, the discoveries already made ; must there not be some great
island or continent to balance all that waste of water which they were forced to place
on the southern hemisphere ? Terra Australis, " the Southern Land," was therefore in a
sense discovered before its discovery, just as the late Sir Roderick Murchison predicted
gold there before Hargreaves found it.*
In the year 1606, Pedro Fernando de Quiros started from Peru on a voyage of
discovery to the westward. He found some important islands, to which he gave the
name " Australia del Espiritu Santo," and which are now believed to have been part of
the New Hebrides group. The vessel of his second in command became separated in
consequence of a storm, and by this Luis vas Torres in consequence reached New Guinea
and Australia proper, besides what is now known as Torres Straits, which channel separates
them. The same year a Dutch vessel coasted about the Gulf of Carpentaria, and it is
to the persistent efforts of the navigators of Holland that the Australian coasts became
well explored. From 1616, at intervals, till 1644, they instigated many voyages, the
leading ones of which were the two made by Tasman, in the second of which he
circumnavigated Australia. " New Holland " was the title long applied to the western
part of Australia — sometimes, indeed, to the whole country.
The voyages of the Dutch had not that glamour of romance which so often attaches
to those of the Spanish and English. They did not meet natives laden with evidences
of the natural wealth of their country, and adorned by barbaric ornaments. On the
contrary, the coasts of Australia did not appear prepossessing, while the natives were
wretched and squalid. Could they have known of its after-destiny, England might not
hold it to-day. When Dampier, sent out by William III. more than fifty years afterwards,
re-discovered the west coast of Australia, he had little to record more than the number
of sharks on the coast, his astonishment at the kangaroos jumping about on shore, and
his disgust for the few natives he met, whom he described as "the most unpleasant-
looking and worst-featured of any people " he had ever encountered.
Nearly seventy years elapsed before any other noteworthy discovery was made in regard
to Australia. In Captain Cook's first voyage, in 1768, he explored and partially surveyed
the eastern part of its coasts, and discovered the inlet, to which a considerable notoriety
afterwards clung, which he termed Botany Bay, on account of the luxuriant vegetation
* It is stated that an old man, named Macgregor, had long before been in the habit of bringing once a
year to Sydney small pieces of gold, which he always sold to a jeweller there, and also that a convict ha'l
been whipped for having lumps of gold in his possession prior to the above. Hargreaves' claim rests both on
the actual amount discovered, and on his publishing the fact at once.
THE SEA.
SINGAPORE, LOOKING SEAWARDS.
of its shores. Rounding the western side, lie proceeded northwards to Torres Straits, near
which, on a small island off the mainland, he took possession of the whole country,
in the name of his sovereign, George III., christening it New South Wales. It is still
called Possession Island. Captain Cook gave so favourable an account of Botany Bay on
his return, that it was determined at once to form a colony, in which convict labour
should be systematically employed. Accordingly, a fleet of eleven vessels, under Captain
Phillip, left Portsmouth on the 13th of May, 1787, and after a tedious voyage, reached
Botany Bay the following January.
Captain Phillip found the bay was not a safe anchorage, and in other respects was
unsuitable. A few miles to the northward he discovered an inlet, now named Port
Jackson — from the name of the seaman who discovered it — and which had been over-
looked by Cook. The fleet was immediately removed thither, the convicts landed,
and the British flag raised on the banks of Sydney Cove. Of the thousand individuals
who formed this first nucleus of a grand colony, more than three-fourths were convicted
offenders. For some time they were partially dependent on England for supplies. It had
been arranged that they should not, at first, be left without sufficient provisions. The
first ship sent out after the colonists had been landed for this purpose was struck by
an iceberg in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, and might not have been
saved at all, but for the seamanship of the "gallant, good Riou," who afterwards lost
his life at the battle of Copenhagen. He managed to keep her afloat, and she was at
length towed into Table Bay, and a portion of her stores saved. Meantime, the colonists
were living "in the constant belief that they should one day perish of hunger/'
Governor Phillip set a noble example by putting himself on the same rations as the
THE EARLY CONVICT DAYS.
153
meanest convict; and when on state occasions he was obliged to invite the officei's of
the colony to dine with him at the Government House, he used to intimate to the
guests that " they must bring their bread along with them." At last, in June, 1790,
some stores arrived; and in the following year a second fleet of vessels came out from
England, one ship of the Royal Navy and ten transports; 1,763 convicts had left
England on board the latter, of whom nearly 200 died on the voyage, and many more
on arrival. The number of free settlers was then, and long afterwards, naturally very
small; they did not like to be so intimately and inevitably associated with convicted
criminals. In 1810 the total population of Australia was about 10,000. In 1836 it had
risen to 77,000, two-fifths of whom were convicts in actual bondage, while of the
remainder, a large proportion had at one time been in the same condition. Governor
King, one of the earlier officials of the colony, complained that "he could not make
farmers out of pickpockets ; " and Governor Macquarie later said that " there were only
two classes of individuals in New South Wales — those who had been convicted, and those
who ought to have been." Under these discouraging circumstances, coupled with all kinds
of other difficulties, the colony made slow headway. Droughts and inundations, famine or
scarcity, and hostility on the part of the natives, helped seriously to retard its progress.
About the period of Sir Thomas Brisbane's administration, there was an influx of a better
class of colonists, owing to the inauguration of free emigration. In 1841, transportation
to New South Wales ceased. Ten years later the discovery of gold by Mr. E. H. Har-
greaves (on the 12th of February, 1851) caused the first great "rush" to the colony,
which influx has since continued, partly for better reasons than gold-finding — the grand
chances offered for stock-raising, agricultural, horticultural, and vinicultural pursuits.
LOOKING DOWN ON SINGAPORE.
20
154 THE SEA.
To the north and south of Sydney, the coast is a nearly unbroken range of iron-
bound cliffs. But as a vessel approaches the shore, a narrow entrance, between the two
" Heads " of Port Jackson, as they are called, discloses itself. It is nowhere greater
than a mile in width, and really does not appear so much, on account of the height of
the cliffs. On entering the harbour a fine sea-lake appears in view, usually blue and calm,
and in one of its charming inlets is situated the city of Sydney. " There is not," writes
Professor Hughes, "a more thoroughly English town on the face of the globe — not even
in England itself — than this southern emporium of the commerce of nations. Sydney is
entirely wanting in the novel and exotic aspect which belongs to foreign capitals. The
emigrant lands there, and hears his own mother tongue spoken on every side ; he looks around
upon the busy life of its crowded streets, and he gazes on scenes exactly similar to those
daily observable in the highways of London, Liverpool, Birmingham, or Manchester . . .
( Were it not/ says Colonel Mundy, ' for an occasional orange-tree in full bloom, or fruit
in the background of some of the older cottages, or a flock of little green parrots whistling
as they alight for a moment on a house-top, one might fancy himself in Brighton or
Plymouth/ " * Gay equipages crowd its streets, which are lined with handsome shops;
the city abounds in fine public buildings. In the outskirts of the city are flour-mills of
all kinds, worked by horse, water, wind, and steam; great distilleries and breweries, soap
and candle works, tanneries, and woollen-mills, at the latter of which they turn out an
excellent tweed cloth. Ship-building is carried on extensively around Port Jackson.
Although now overshadowed by the commercial superiority of Melbourne, it has the pre-
eminence as a port. In fact, Melbourne is not a sea-port at all, as we shall see. Vessels
of large burdens can lie alongside the wharves of Sydney, and " Jack," in the Royal Navy
at least, is more likely to stop there for awhile, than ever to see Melbourne. He will find it a
cheap place in most respects, for everywhere in New South Wales meat is excessively low-
priced; they used formerly to throw it away, after taking off the hides and boiling out the
fat, but are wiser now, and send it in tins all over the world. Such fruits as the peach,
nectarine, apricot, plum, fig, grape, cherry, and orange are as plentiful as blackberries.
The orangeries and orchards of New South Wales are among its sights; and in the
neighbourhood of Sydney and round Port Jackson there are beautiful groves of orange-
trees, which extend in some places down to the water's edge. Individual settlers have
groves which yield as many as thirty thousand dozen oranges per annum. One may there
literally " sit under his own vine and fig-tree." If a peach-stone is thrown down in almost
any part of Australia where there is a little moisture, a tree will spring up, which in a
few years will yield handsomely. A well-known botanist used formerly to carry with
him, during extensive travels, a small bag of peach-stones to plant in suitable places, and
many a wandering settler has blessed him since. Pigs were formerly often fed on peaches,
as was done in California, a country much resembling Southern Australia ; it is only of
late years they have been utilised in both places by drying or otherwise preserving. A
basket-load may be obtained in the Sydney markets during the season for a few pence.
The summer heat of Sydney is about that of Naples, while its winter corresponds with
that of Sicily.
* "The Australian Colonies: their Origin and Present Condition."
SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE. 155
But are there no drawbacks to all this happy state of things ? Well, yes ; about the
worst is a hot blast which sometimes blows from the interior, known popularly in Sydney
as a " brick-fieider " or " southerly buster." It is much like that already described,
and neither the most closely-fastened doors nor windows will keep out the fearful dust-
storm. " Its effect/' says Professor Hughes, " is particularly destructive of every sense of
comfort; the dried and dust-besprinkled skin acquiring for the time some resemblance to
parchment, and the hair feeling more like hay than any softer material."
Should Jack or his superior officers land during the heat of autumn, he may have
the opportunity of passing a novel Christmas — very completely un-English. The gayest
and brightest flowers will be in bloom, and the musquitoes out in full force. " Sitting/'
says a writer, " in a thorough draught, clad in a holland blouse, you may see men and
boys dragging from the neighbouring bush piles of green stuff (oak -branches in full leaf
and acorn, and a handsome shrub with a pink flower and pale green leaf — the " Christmas"
of Australia, for the decoration of churches and dwellings, and stopping every fifty yards
to wipe their perspiring brows."
Before leaving Sydney, the grand park, called "The Domain," which stretches down to
the blue water in the picturesque indentations around Port Jackson, must be mentioned.
It contains several hundred acres, tastefully laid out in drives, and with public walks cut
through the indigenous or planted shrubberies, and amidst the richest woodland scenery,
or winding at the edge of the rocky bluffs or by the margin of the glittering waters.
Adjoining this lovely spot is one of the finest botanic gardens in the world, considered
by all Sydney to be a veritable Eden.
Port Phillip, like Port Jackson, is entered by a narrow passage, and immediately inside
is a magnificent basin, thirty miles across in almost any direction. It is so securely
sheltered that it affords an admirable anchorage for shipping. Otherwise, Melbourne,
now a grand city with a population of about 300,000, would have had little chance of
attaining its great commercial superiority over any city of Australia. Melbourne is
situated about eight miles up the Yarra-Yarra (" flowing-flowing ") river, which flows into
the head of Port Phillip. That poetically-named, but really lazy, muddy stream is only
navigable for vessels of very small draught. But Melbourne has a fine country to back
it. Many of the old and rich mining-districts were round Port Phillip, or on and about
streams flowing into it. Wheat, maize, potatoes, vegetables and fruits in general, are
greatly cultivated; and the colony of Victoria is pre-eminent for sheep-farming and cattle-
runs, and the industries connected with wool, hides, tallow, and, of late, meat, which they
bring forth. Melbourne itself lies rather low, and its original site, now entirely filled in,
was swampy. Hence came occasional epidemics — dysentery, influenza, and so forth.
156
THE SEA.
A TI.MHER WHARF AT SAN FRANCISCO.
CHAPTER X.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continue T) >
THE PACIFIC STATION.
Across the Pacific— Approach to the Golden Gate— The Bay of San Francisco— The City— First Dinner Ashore— Cheap
Luxury— San Francisco by Night— The Land of Gold, Grain, and Grapes— Incidents of the Early Days— Expensive
Papers -A Lucky Sailor— Chances for English Girls— The Baby at the Play— A capital Port for Seamen— Hospitality
of Californians— Victoria, Vancouver Island— The Naval Station at Esquimalt— A Delightful Place— Advice to In-
tending Emigrants— British Columbian Indians— Their fine Canoes— Experiences of the Writer— The Island on Fire
—The Chinook Jargon -Indian " Pigeon-English "—North to Alaska— The Purchase of Russian America by the
United States— Results— Life at Si tka— Grand Volcanoes of the Aleutian Islands— The Great Yukon River-
American Trading Posts round Bering Sea.
A COMMON course for a vessel crossing the Pacific would be from Australia or New-
Zealand to San Francisco,, California. The mail -steamers follow this route, touching at
the Fiji and Hawaiian groups of islands; and the sailor in the Royal Navy is as likely
to find this route the orders of his commander as any other. If the writer, in describing the
country he knows better than any other, be found somewhat enthusiastic and gushing, he
will at least give reasons for his warmth. On this subject, above all others, he writes
THE GOLDEN GATE AND STATE. 157
con amore. He spent over twelve years on the Pacific coasts of America, and out of that
time about seven in the Golden State, California.
It has been said, " See Naples, and die ! " The reader is recommended to see the
glorious Bay of San Francisco before he makes up his mind that there is nought else
worthy of note, because he has sailed on the blue waters of the most beautiful of the
Mediterranean bays. How well does the writer remember his first sight of the Golden
Gate, as the entrance to San Francisco Bay is poetically named ! The good steamer on which
he had spent some seventy-five days — which had passed over nearly the entire Atlantic,
weathered the Horn, and then, with the favouring " trade -winds/'' had sailed and steamed
up the Pacific with one grand sweep to California, out of sight of land the whole
time — was sadly in want of coals when she arrived off that coast, which a dense fog entirely
hid from view. The engines were kept going slowly by means of any stray wood
on board; valuable spars were sacrificed, and it was even proposed to strip the woodwork
out of the steerage, which contained about two hundred men, women, and children. Guns
and rockets were fired, but at first with no result, and the prospect was not cheering.
But at last the welcome little pilot-boat loomed through the fog, and was soon alongside,
and a healthy, jovial-looking pilot came aboard. " You can all have a good dinner to-night
ashore," said that excellent seaman to the passengers, " and the sea shan't rob you of it."
The fog lifted as the vessel slowly steamed onwards.
On approaching the entrance to the bay, on the right cliffs and rocks are seen, with
a splendid beach, where carriages and buggies are constantly passing and repassing. On
the top of a rocky bluff, the Seal Rock or " Cliff " House, a popular hotel ; below it, in
the sea, a couple or so of rocky islets covered with sea-lions, which are protected by a
law of the State. To the left, outside some miles, the Farralone Islands, with a capital
lighthouse perched on the top of one of them. Entering the Golden Gate, and looking
to the right again, the Fort Point Barracks and the outskirts of the city ; to the left the
many-coloured headlands and cliffs, on whose summits the wild oats are pale and golden
in the bright sunlight. Before one, several islands — Alcatraz, bristling with guns, and
covered with fortifications ; Goat Island, presumably so called because on it there are no goats.
Beyond, fifty miles of green water, and a forest of shipping; and a city, the history of
which has no parallel on earth. Hills behind, with streets as steep as those of Malta ; high
land, with spires, and towers, and fine edifices innumerable; and great wharves, and slips,
and docks in front of all ; with steamships and steam ferry-boats constantly arriving and
departing. And now the vessel anchors in the stream, and if not caring to haggle over
the half-dollar — a large sum in English ears — which the boatman demands from each
passenger who wishes to go ashore, the traveller finds himself in a strange land, and
amid a people of whom he will learn to form the very highest estimate.
That first dinner, after the eternal bean-coffee, boiled tea, tinned meats, dried vegetables,
and "salt horse" of one's ship, in a neat restaurant, where it seems everything on earth
can be obtained, will surprise most visitors. An irreproachable potage : broiled salmon (the
fish is a drug, almost, on the Pacific coasts) ; turtle steaks, oyster plant, artichokes, and
green corn ; a California quail " on toast ; " grand muscatel grapes, green figs, and a
cooling slice of melon ; Roquefort cheese, or a very good imitation of it ; black coffee, and
158 THE SEA.
cigars; native wine on the table; California cognac on demand; service excellent — napkins,
hot plates, flowers on the table; price moderate for the luxuries obtained, and no waiter's
fees. The visitor will mentally forgive the boatman of the morning. Has he arrived in
the Promised Land, in the Paradise of bon vivants ? It seems so. In the evening, he may
take a stroll up Montgomery Street, and a good seat at a creditably performed opera may be
obtained. Nobody knows better than the sailor and the traveller the splendid luxury of
such moments, after a two or three months' monotonous voyage. And, in good sooth,
he generally abandons himself to it. He has earned it, and who shall say him nay?
The same evening may be, he will go to a 300-roomed hotel — they have now one of
750 rooms — where, for three dollars (12s. 6d.), he can sup, sleep, breakfast, and dine
sumptuously. He will be answered twenty questions for nothing by a civil clerk in the
office of the hotel, read the papers for nothing in the reading-room, have a bath — for
nothing — and find that it is not the thing to give fees to the waiters. It is a new
revelation to many who have stopped before in dozens of first-class English and Continental
houses.
" Seen," says Mr. W. F. Rae,* " as I saw it for the first time, the appearance of
San Francisco is enchanting. Built on a hill -slope, up which many streets run to
the top, and illumined as many of these streets were with innumerable gas-lamps, the
effect was that of a huge dome ablaze with lamps arranged in lines and circles. Those
who have stood in Princes Street at night, and gazed upon the Old Town and Castle of
Edinburgh, can form a very correct notion of the fairy-like spectacle. Expecting to find
San Francisco a city of wonders, I was not disappointed when it seemed to my eyes a
city of magic — such a city as Aladdin might have ordered the genii to create in order to
astonish and dazzle the spectator. I was warned by those whom personal experience of
the city had taught to distinguish glitter from substance, not to expect that the reality
of the morrow would fulfil the promise of the evening. Some of the parts which now
appeared the most fascinating were said to be the least attractive when viewed by day.
Still, the panorama was deprived of none of its glories by these whispers of well-meant
warning." The present writer has crossed the Bay in the ferry and other boats a hundred
times, and on a fine night — and they have about nine months of fine nights in California
— he never missed the opportunity of going forward towards the bows of the boat when
it approached San Francisco. As Mr. Rae writes, " The full-orbed stars twinkling overhead
are almost rivalled by the myriads of gas-lights illuminating the land/' Less than thirty
years ago this city of 300,000 souls was but a mission -village, and the few inhabitants
of California were mostly demoralised Mexicans, lazy half-breeds, and wretched Indians,
who could almost live without work, and, as a rule, did so. Wild cattle roamed at will,
and meat was to be had for the asking. The only ships which arrived were like the brig
Pilgrim, described by Dana in " Two Years before the Mast," bound to California for hides
and tallow. Now, the tonnage of the shipping of all nations which enters the port of
San Francisco is enormous. The discovery made by Marshall, in 1847, first brought
about the revolution. "Such is the power of gold." Now, California depends far
* In his work " Westward by Rail," which contains a most reliable account of Calif ornia, its history and progress.
THE EAKLY DAYS OF CALIFORNIA. 159
more on her corn, and wool, and tides, her wine, her grapes, oranges, and other fruits,
and on innumerable industries. Reader, you have eaten bread made from California wheat —
it fetches a high price in Liverpool on account of its fine quality ; you may have been clothed
in California wool, and your boots made of her leather; more than likely you have drunk
California wine, of which large quantities are shipped to Hamburgh, where they are watered
and doctored for the rest of Europe, and exported under French and German names; your
head may have been shampooed with California borax ; and your watch-chain was probably,
and some of your coin assuredly, made from the gold of the Golden State.
This is not a book on "The Land," but two or three stories of Californian life in
the early days may, however, be forgiven. The first is of a man who had just landed
from a ship, and who offered a somewhat seedy-looking customer, lounging on the wharf,
a dollar to carry his portmanteau. He got the reply, " I'll give you an ounce of
gold to see you carry it yourself." The new arrival thought he had come to a splendid
country, and shouldered his burden like a man, when the other, a successful gold-finder,
not merely gave him his ounce — little less than £4 sterling — but treated him to a
bottle of champagne, which cost another ounce. The writer can well believe the story, for
he paid two and a half dollars — nearly half a guinea — for an Illustrated London News,
and two dollars for a copy of Punch, in the Cariboo mines, in 1863 ; while a friend —
now retired on a competency in England — started a little weekly newspaper, the size of a
sheet of foolscap, selling it for one dollar (is. 2d.) per copy. He was fortunately not merely
a competent writer, but a practical printer. He composed his articles on paper first, and
then in type ; worked the press, delivered them to his subscribers, collected advertisements and
payments, and no doubt would have made his own paper — if rags had not been too
costly !
A sailor purchased, about the year 1849, in an auction-room, while out on a "spree,"
the lots of land on which the Plaza, one of the most important business squares of San
Francisco, now stands. He went off again, and after several years cruising about the world,
returned to find himself a millionaire. The City Hall stands on that property; it is
surrounded by offices, shops, and hotels, and very prettily planted with shrubs, grass-plots,
and flowers.
There was a period when females were so scarce in California that the miners and farm-
hands, ay, and farmers and proprietors too — a large number of these were old sailors — would
travel any distance merely to see one.* At this present time any decent English housemaid
receives twenty dollars (£4) per month, and is " found," while a superior servant, a first-class
cook, or competent housekeeper, gets anything from thirty dollars upwards.
Theatres at San Francisco were once rude buildings of boards and canvas, and the
stalls were benches. A story is told that at a performance at such a house quite a
commotion was caused by the piercing squall of a healthy baby — brought in by a mother
who, perhaps, had not had any amusement for a year or two, and most assuredly had no
servant with whom to leave it at home — which was heard above the music. " Here, you
* At the Cariboo mines, British Columbia, in 1863, there were 7,000 men on the various creeka, There were
not over a dozen women there !
160
THE SEA.
fiddlers," roared out a stalwart man in a red shirt and "gum" boots, just down from the
mines, " stop that tune ; I haven't heard a baby cry for several years ; it does me good to hear
it." The " one touch of nature " made that rough audience akin, and all rose to their feet,
cheering the baby, and insisting that the orchestra must stop, and stop it did until the child
was quieted. Then a collection was made — not of coppers and small silver, but of ounces
and dollars — to present the child with something handsome as a souvenir of its success.
THE BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
San Francisco, as the most important commercial emporium and port of the whole
Pacific, has a particular interest to the " man of the sea." It has societies, " homes," and
bethels for his benefit, and a fine marine hospital. At the Merchants' Exchange he will
find the latest shipping-news and quotations, while many public institutions are open to
him, as to all others. Above all, he will find one of the most conscientious and kind, as
well as influential, of British Consuls there — and how often the sailor abroad may need his
interference, only the sailor and merchant knows — who is also one of the oldest in
H.B.M. consular service. No matter his sect, it is represented; San Francisco is full of
churches and chapels. If he needs instruction and literary entertainment, he will get it at the
splendid Mercantile Library, or admirably-conducted Mechanics' Institute. There is a capital
"Art Association," with hundreds of members. He will find journalism of a new type:
JOHN CHINAMAN IN SAN FRANCISCO. 161
" live/' vigorous, generous, and semi-occasionally vicious. The papers of San Francisco will,
however, compare favourably with those of any other American city, short of New York
and Boston. The sailor will find the city as advanced in all matters pertaining- to modern
civilisation, whether good or bad, as any he has ever visited. The naval officer will
find admirable clubs, and if of the Royal Navy will most assuredly be put on the books
of one or more of them for the period of his stay. He will find, too, that San Francisco
hospitality is unbounded, that balls and parties are nowhere better carried out, and that the
rising generation of California girls are extremely good-looking, and that the men are
stalwart, fine-looking fellows, very unlike the typical bony Yankee, who, by-the-by, is
getting very scarce even in his own part of the country, the New England States.
If Jack has been to China, he will recognise the truth of the fact that parts of San
Francisco are Chinese as Hong Kong itself. There are Joss-houses, with a big, stolid-
looking idol sitting in state, the temple gay with tinsel and china, metal-work and paint,
smelling faintly of incense, and strongly of burnt paper. There are Chinese restaurants
by the dozen, from the high-class dining-rooms, with balconies, flowers, small banners
and inscriptions, down to the itinerant restaurateur with his charcoal-stove and soup-pot.
Then there are Chinese theatres, smelling strongly of opium and tobacco, where the
orchestra sits at the back of the stage, which is curtainless and devoid of scenery. The
dresses of the performers are gorgeous in the extreme. When any new arrangement of
properties, &c., is required on the stage, the changes are made before your eyes ; as, for
example, placing a table to represent a raised balcony, or piling up some boxes to form a
castle, and so forth. Their dramas are often almost interminable, for they take the reign
of an emperor, for example, and play it through, night after night, from his birth to his
death. In details they are very literal, and hold " the mirror up to nature " fully. If
the said emperor had special vices, they are displayed on the stage. The music is, to
European ears, fearful and wonderful — a mixture of discordant sounds, resembling those
of ungreased cart-wheels and railway-whistles, mingled with the rolling of drums
and striking of gongs. Some of the streets are lined with Chinese shops, ranging from
those of the merchants in tea, silks, porcelain, and lacquered ware — a dignified and polite
class of men, who are often highly educated, and speak English extremely well — to those
of the cigar-makers, barbers, shoemakers, and laundry-men. Half the laundry-work in
San Francisco is performed by John Chinaman. There is one Chinese hotel or caravan-
serai, which looks as though it might at a stretch accommodate two hundred people, in
which 1,200 men are packed.
The historian of the future will watch with interest the advancing or receding waves
of population as they move over the surface of the globe, now surging in great waves of
resistless force, now peacefully subsiding, leaving hardly a trace behind. The Pacific Mail
Steamship Company's steamers have brought from China to San Francisco as many as
.1,200 Chinamen — and, very occasionally, of course, more than that number — on a single trip.
The lowest estimate of the number of Chinese in California is 70,000, while they are
spread all over the Pacific states and territories, and, indeed, in lesser numbers, all over
the American continent. One finds them in New England factories, New York laundries,
and Southern plantations. Their reception in San Francisco used to be with brickbats and
21
162 THE SEA.
other missiles, and hooting1 and jeering-, on the part of the lower classes of the community.
This is not the place to enter into a discussion on the political side of the question. Suffice
it to say that they were and still are a necessity in California, where the expense of reach-
ing the country has kept out " white" labour to an extent so considerable, that it still
rules higher than in almost any part of the world. The respectable middle classes would
hardly afford servants at all were it not for the Chinese. All the better classes support
their claims to full legal and social rights. The Chinamen who come to San Francisco
are not coolies, and a large number of them pay their own passages over. When brought
over by merchants, or one of the six great Chinese companies, their passage-money is
advanced, and they, of course, pay interest for the accommodation. On arrival in Cali-
fornia, if they do not immediately go to work, they proceed to the " Company-house " of
their particular province, where, in a kind of caravanserai, rough accommodations for
sleeping and cooking are afforded. Hardly a better system of organisation could be
adopted than that of the companies, who know exactly where each man in their debt is
to be found, if he is hundreds of miles from San Francisco. Were it possible to adopt
the same system in regard to emigrants from this country, thousands would be glad to
avail themselves of the opportunity of proceeding to the Golden State.
One little anecdote, and the Chinese must be left to their fate. It happened in
1869. Two Chinese merchants had been invited by one of the heads of a leading
steamship company to visit the theatre, where they had taken a box. The merchants,
men of high standing among their countrymen, accepted. Their appearance in front
of it was the signal for an outburst of ruffianism on the part of the gallery ; it was
the "gods" versus the celestials, and for a time the former had it all their own way.
In vain Lawrence Barrett, the actor, came forward on the stage to try and appease
them. He is supposed to have said that any well-conducted person had a right to his seat
in the house. An excited gentleman in the dress-circle reiterated the same ideas, and was
rewarded by a torrent of hisses and caterwauling. The Chinamen, alarmed that it might
result in violence to them, would have retired, but a dozen gentlemen from the dress-
circle and orchestra seats requested them to stay, promising them protection, and the
merchants remained. They could see that all the better and more respectable part of the
house wished them to remain. After twenty or more minutes of interruption, the gallery
was nearly cleared by the police, and the performance allowed to proceed. And yet the
very class who are so opposed to the Caucasian complain that he does not spend his money
in the country where he makes it, but hoards it up for China. The story explains the
actual position of the Chinaman in America to-day. The upper and middle classes, ay,
and the honest mechanics who require their assistance, support their claims; the lowest
scum of the population persecute, injure, and not unfrequently murder them. Many a
poor John Chinaman has, as they say in America, been " found missing."
The sailor ashore in San Francisco may likely enough have an opportunity of feeling
the tremor of an earthquake. As a rule, they have been exceedingly slight, but that of
the 21st October, 1868, was a serious affair. Towers and steeples swayed to and fro : tall
houses trembled, badly-built wooden houses became disjointed; walls fell. Many build-
ings, for some time afterwards, showed the effects in cracked walls and plastering, dislocated
NAVAL STATION OF ESQUIMALT. 168
doors and window-frames. A writer in the Overland Monthly, soon after the event, put
the matter forcibly when recalling the great earthquake of Lisbon. He said, " Over the
parts of the city where ships anchored twenty years ago, they may anchor again/'' for
the worst effects were confined to the "made" ground — i.e., land reclaimed from the
Bay. Dwellings on the rocky hills were scarcely injured at all, reminding us of the
relative fates of the man " who built his house upon a rock" and of him who placed
it on the sand. Four persons only were killed on that occasion, all of them from the
fall of badly-constructed walls, loose parapets, &c. The alarm in the city was great;
excited people rushing wildly through the streets, and frightened horses running through
the crowds.
California possesses other ports of importance, but as regards English naval interests
in the Pacific, Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, B.C., which has a fine land-locked harbour of
deep- water, dock, and naval hospital, deserves the notice of the reader. It is often the
rendezvous for seven or eight of H.M/s vessels, from the admiral's flag-ship to the tiniest
steam gun-boat. Victoria, the capital, is three miles off, and has a pretty little harbour
itself, not, however, adapted for large vessels. Formerly the colonies of Vancouver Island
and British Columbia, the mainland, were separate and distinct colonies ; they are now
identified under the latter name. Their value never warranted the full paraphernalia of a
double colonial government — two governors, colonial secretaries, treasurers, attorney-generals,
&c., &c. ; for these countries, charming and interesting to the tourist and artist, will only
attract population slowly. The resources of British Columbia in gold, timber, coal, fisheries,
&c., are considerable; but the long winters on the mainland, and the small quantity of
open land, are great drawbacks. Approaching Vancouver Island from the sea, the " inside
channel " is entered through the grand opening to the Straits of Fuca, which Cook missed
and Vancouver discovered. To the eastward are the rocks and light of Cape Flattery,
while the rather low termination of Vancouver Island, thick with timber, is seen to the
westward. The scene in the Straits is often lively with steamers and shipping, great men-
of-war, sometimes of foreign nationalities; coast packet-boats proceeding not merely to
Vancouver Island, but to the ports of Washington Territory, on the American side ; timber
(called " lumber " always on that side of the world) vessels ; colliers proceeding to Nanaimo
or Bellingham Bay to the coal-mines ; coasting and trading schooners ; and Indian canoes,
some of them big enough to accommodate sixty or more persons, and carrying a good
amount of sail. The Straits have many beauties; and as, approaching the entrance of
Esquimalt Harbour, the Olympian range of mountains, snow-covered and rugged, loom
in the distance, the scene is grandly beautiful; while in the channel, rocky islets and
islands, covered with pine and arbutus, abound. Outside the Straits two lighthouses are
placed, to warn the unwary voyager by night. Often those lighthouses may be noted
apparently upside down ! Mirage is common enough in the Straits of Fuca.
Victoria, in 1862, had at least 12,000 or 15,000 people, mostly drawn thither by
the fame of the Cariboo mines, on the mainland of British Columbia. Not twenty per
cent, ever reached those mines. When ships arrived in the autumn, it was utterly
useless to attempt the long journey of about 600 miles, partly by steamer, but two-
thirds of which must be accomplished on foot or horseback, or often mule-back, over
164 THE SEA.
nigged mountain-paths, through swamps and forests. Consequently, a large number had
to spend the winter in idleness; and in the spring, in many cases, their resources were
exhausted. Many became tired of the colony ; " roughing it " was not always the
pleasant kind of thing they had imagined, and so they went down to California, or left
for home. Others were stuck fast in the colony, and many suffered severe privations;
although, so long as they could manage to live on salmon alone, they could obtain
plenty from the Indians, who hawked it about the streets for a shilling or two shillings
apiece — the latter for a very large fish. The son of a baronet at one time might be
seen breaking stones for a living in Victoria ; and unless men had a very distinct
calling, profession, or trade, they had to live on their means or have a veiy rough
time of it.
These remarks are not made to deter adventurous spirits from going abroad; but we
would advise them to " look well before they leap." But how utterly unfitted for mining-
work were the larger part of the young men who had travelled so far, only to be disappointed.
There was no doubt of the gold being there: two hundred ounces of the precious metal
have been " washed out" in an eight hours' " shift" (a " shift" is the same as a " watch"
on board ship) ; and this was kept up for many days in succession, the miners working day and
night. But that mine had been three years in process of development, and only one of the
original proprietors was among the lucky number of shareholders. A day or so before the
first gold had been found — "struck" is the technical expression — his credit was exhausted,
and he had begged vainly for flour, &c., to enable him to live and work. The ordinary
price of a very ordinaiy meal was two dollars; and it will be seen that, unless employed,
or simply travelling for pleasure, it was a ruinous place to stop in. Fancy, then, the
condition of perhaps as many as 4,000 unemployed men, out of a total of 7,000 men, on
the various creeks, a good half of whom were of the middle and upper classes at home.
But for one happy fact, that beef — which, as the miners said, packed itself into the mines
(in other words, the cattle were driven in from a distance of hundreds of miles) — was
reasonably cheap, hundreds of them must have starved. Everything — from flour, tea,
sugar, bacon, and beans, to metal implements and machinery — had to be packed there on
the backs of mules, and cost from fifty cents and upwards per pound for the mere cost of
transportation, Tea was ten shillings a pound, flour and sugar a dollar a pound, and so on.
Those who fancy that gold-mining, and especially deep gravel-mining, as in Cariboo, is
play-work, may be told that it is perhaps the hardest, as it is certainly the most risky
and uncertain, work in the world; and that it requires machinery, expensive tools, &c.,
which, in places like Cariboo, cost enormous sums to supply. If labour was to be employed
— good practical miners, carpenters, &c. (much of the machinery was of wood) — received,
at that period, ten to sixteen dollars per day. This digression may be pardoned, as the
sea is so intimately bound up with questions of emigration. Apart from this, from
personal observation, the writer knows that quite a proportion of miners have been sailors,
and, in many cases, deserted their ships. In the " early days" of Australia, California,
and British Columbia, this was eminently the case.
A large proportion of the sailors in the Royal Navy have, or will at some period,
pass some time on the Pacific station, in which case, they will inevitably go to Vancouver
VICTORIA, VANCOUVER ISLAND.
165
Island, where there is much to interest them.* They will find Victoria a very pretty little
town, with Government house, cathedral, churches and chapels, a mechanics' institute, a
theatre, good hotels and restaurants — the latter generally in French hands. He will find
a curious mixture of English and American manners and customs, and a very curious
mixture of coinage — shillings being the same as quarter-dollars, while crowns are only
the value of dollars (5s., against 4s. 2d.). Some years ago the island system was
different from that of the mainland ; on the latter, florins were equal to half-dollars
(which they are, nearly), while on the island they were 37| cents only (Is. 7|d.). The
Hudson's Bay Company, which has trading -posts throughout British Columbia, took
THE BRITISH CAMP : SAN JUAN.
advantage of the fact to give change for American money, on their steamers, in English
florins, obtaining them on the island. They thus made nearly twenty-five per cent, in their
transaction, besides getting paid the passenger's fare. Yet the traveller, strange to say,
did not lose by this, for, on landing at New Westminster, he found that what was rated
at a little over eighteenpence on Vancouver Island, had suddenly, after travelling only
seventy miles or so, increased in value to upwards of two shillings !
Outside Victoria there ars many pleasant drives and walks : to " The Arm," where,
amid a charming landscape, interspersed with pines and natural fir woods, wild flowers, and
mossy rocks, there is a pretty little rapid, or fall ; to Saanich, where the settlers' home-
steads have a semi-civilised appearance, half of the houses being of squared logs, but
* Excepting at San Francisco, the only docks worthy of the lame on the whole Pacific coasts of America
are those of England's naval station at Esquimalt.
166 THE SEA.
comfortable withal inside, and where a rude plenty reigns ; or to Beacon Hill, where there
is an excellent race-course and drive, which commands fine views up and down the
Straits. In sight is San Juan Island, over which England and America once squabbled,
while the two garrisons which occupied it fraternised cordially, and outvied with each
other in hospitality. The island— rocky, and covered with forest and underbrush, with a
farm or two, made by clearing away the big trees, with not a little difficulty, and burning
and partially uprooting the stumps — does not look a worthy subject for international
differences. But the fact is, that it commands the Straits to some extent. However, all
that is over now, and it is England's property by diplomatic arrangement. There are
other islands, nearly as large, in the archipelago which stretches northward up the Gulf
of Georgia, which have not a single human inhabitant, and have never been visited, except
by some stray Indians, miners, or traders who have gone ashore to cook a meal or camp
for the night.
Any one who has travelled by small canoes on the sea must remember those happy
eamping-times, when, often wet, and always hungry and tired, the little party cautiously
selected some sheltered nook or specially good beach, and then paddled with a will ashore.
No lack of drift-wood or small trees on that coast, and no lord of the manor to interfere
with one taking it. A glorious fire is soon raised, and the cooking preparations commenced.
Sometimes it is only the stereotyped tea — frying-pan bread (something like the Australian
"damper," only baked before the fire), or "slapjacks" (i.e., flour-and- water pancakes), fried
bacon, and boiled Chili beans ; but of ttimes it can be varied by excellent fish, game, bear-
meat, venison, or moose-meat, purchased from some passing Indians, or killed by themselves.
It is absurd to suppose that " roughing it " need mean hardship and semi-starvation all the
time. Not a bit of it ! On the northern coasts now being described, one may often live
magnificently, and most travellers learn instinctively to cook, and make the most of things.
Nothing is finer in camp than a roast fish — say a salmon — split and gutted, and stuck on a
stick before the fire, not over it. A few dozen turns, and you have a dish worthy of a prince.
Or a composition stew — say of deer and bear-meat and beaver's tail, well seasoned, and
with such vegetables as you may obtain there ; potatoes from some seaside farm — and there
are such on that coast, where the settler is as brown as his Indian wife — or compressed
vegetables, often taken on exploring expeditions. Or, again, venison dipped in a thick
batter and thrown into a pan of boiling-hot fat, making a kind of meat fritter, with not a
drop of its juices wasted. Some of these explorers and miners are veritable chefs. They
can make good light bread in the woods from plain flour, water, and salt, and ask no
oven but a frying-pan. They will make beans, of a kind only given to horses at home,
into a delicious dish, by boiling them soft — a long job, generally done at the night camp
— and then frying them with bread-crumbs and pieces of bacon in the morning, till they
are brown and crisp.
It was at one of these camps, on an island in the Gulf of Georgia, that a camp fire
spread to some grass and underbrush, mounted with lightning rapidity a steep slope, and
in a few minutes the forest at the top was ablaze. The whole island was soon in flames !
For hours afterwards the flames and smoke could be seen. No harm was done; for it is
extremely unlikely that island will be inhabited for the next five hundred years. But
RIVER AND SEA CANOEIXGK 167
forest fires in partially inhabited districts are more serious, or when near trails or roads.
In the long summer of Vancouver Island, where rain, as in California, is almost unknown,
these fires, once started, may burn for weeks — ay, months.
The Indians of this part of the coast, of dozens of petty tribes, all speaking different
languages, or, at all events, varied dialects, are not usually prepossessing in appearance, but
the male half-breeds are often fine-looking fellows, and the girls pretty. The sailor will
be interested in their cedar canoes, which on Vancouver Island are beautifully modelled. A
first-class clipper has not more graceful lines. They are always cut from one log, and are
finely and smoothly finished, being usually painted black outside, and finished with
red ornamental work within. They are very light and buoyant, and will carry great
weights ; but one must be careful to avoid rocks on the coast, or " snags " in the
rivers, for any sudden concussion will split them all to pieces. When on the
Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition, a party of men found themselves suddenly
deposited in a swift -running stream, from the canoe having almost parted in half,
after touching on a sunken rock or log. All got to shore safely, and it took
about half a day of patching and caulking to make her sufficiently river-worthy
(why not say " river- worthy " as well as " sea-worthy ? ") to enable them to reach
camp. The writer, in 1864, came down from the extreme end of Bute Inlet — an
arm of the sea on the mainland of British Columbia — across the Gulf of Georgia (twenty
miles of open sea), coasting southwards to Victoria, V.I., the total voyage being 180
miles, in an open cedar canoe, only large enough for four or five people. The trip occupied
five days. But while there is some risk in such an undertaking, there is little in a
voyage in the great Haidah canoes of Queen Charlotte's Island (north of Vancouver Island).
These canoes are often eighty feet long, but are still always made from a single log, the
splendid pines of that coast* affording ample opportunity. They have masts, and carry
as much sail as a schooner, while they can be propelled by, say, forty or fifty paddles,
half on either side, wielded by as many pairs of brawny arms. The savage Haidahs are
a powerful race, of whom not much is known. They, however, often come to Victoria, or
the American ports on Puget Sound, for purposes of trading.
" How/' it might be asked, " does the trade communicate with so many varieties of
natives, all speaking different tongues ? " The answer is that there is a jargon, a kind of
" pigeon-English/' which is acquired, more or less, by almost all residents on the coast for
purposes of intercourse with their Indian servants or others. This is the Chinook jargon, a
mixture of Indian, English, and French — the latter coming from the French Canadian
voyageurs, often to be found in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, as they were
formerly in the defunct North- West Company. Some of the words used have curious
origins. Thus, an Englishman is a " King-George-man/' because the first explorers, Cook,
Vancouver, and others, arrived there during the Georgian era. An American is a
" Boston-man/' because the first ships from the United States which visited that coast
* Douglas pines Lave been measured in British Columbia which were forty-eight feet ill circumference at their
base, and therefore about sixteen feet through. These magnificent trees are only second in size to the "Big
Trees" of California.
168 THE SEA.
hailed from Boston. This lingo has no grammar, and a very few hundred words satisfies
all its requirements. Young ladies, daughters of Hudson's Bay Company's employes
in Victoria, rattle it off as though it were their mother-tongue. " Ikte mika tikkee ? "
(" What do you want ? ") is probably the first query to an Indian who arrives, and has
something to sell. " Nika tikkee tabac et la biscuit " (" I want some tobacco and biscuit "} .
" Cleush ; mika potlatch salmon ? " (" Good ; will you give me a salmon ? ") . " Na-
witka, Se-am " (" Yes, sir ") ; and for a small piece of black cake-tobacco and two or three
biscuits (sailors' " hard bread " or " hard tack ") he will exchange a thirty-pound or so
salmon.
The Chinook jargon, in skilful hands, is susceptible of much. But it is not adapted
for sentiment or poetry, although a naval officer, once stationed on the Pacific eide, did
evolve an effusion, which the sailor is almost sure to hear there. It needed, however, a fair
amount of English to make it read pleasantly. Old residents and visitors will recognise
some of its stanzas : —
"Oh! be not quass of nika;
Thy seahoose turn on me;
For thou must but hyas cunitux,
That I hyas tikkee thee!
Nika potlatch hyu ictas ;
Nika makook sappalell
Of persicees and la biscuit,
I will give thee all thy fill ! "
which, addressed to a " sweet Klootchman/' a " forest maiden/' means, that loving her so
much, all that he had was hers. Much greater absurdities have been put in plain English.
A bishop of British Columbia was, however, hardly so successful; not being himself
a student of Chinook, the entire vocabulary of which would have taken him rather less time
to learn than the barest elements of Latin, he engaged an interpreter, through whom to
address the Indians. The latter was perfectly competent to say all that can be said in
Chinook, but was rather nonplussed when his lordship commenced his address by " Children
of the forest ! " He scratched his head and looked at the bishop, who, however, was
determined, and commenced once more, " Children of the forest ! " The interpreter knew
that it must make nonsense, but he was cornered, and had to do it. And this is what he
said : " Tenass man copa stick ! " — literally, " Little men among the stumps " (or trunks
of trees). The writer will not comment upon the subject here, more than to say that
Chinook is not adapted for the translation of Milton or Shakespeare; while the simplest
story or parable of the Scriptures must be unintelligible, or worse, when attempted in that
jargon.
The only other settlement on Vancouver Island which has any direct interest to the
Royal Navy, is Nanaimo, the coal-mines of which yield a large amount of the fuel used
by the steamships when in that neighbourhood and about all that is used on the island ; a
quantity is also shipped to San Francisco. The mines are worked by English companies,
and are so near the coast that, by means of a few tramways and locomotives, the coal
is conveyed to the wharves, where it can be at once put on board. It is a pleasant
THE CAPITAL OF ALASKA. 169
little place, and many an English miner would be glad to be as well off as the men
settled there, who earn more money than at home, own their cottages and plots of
land, obtain most of their supplies cheaper than in England, and have a beautiful gulf
before them, in summer, at least, as calm as a lake, on which boating and canoeing is all
the rage in the evenings or on holidays.
The Pacific Station is an extensive one, for it commences at the most northernmost
parts of Bering Sea, and extends below Cape Horn. It embraces the Alaskan coast.
Many English men-of-war have visited these latitudes, principally, however, in the cause
of science and discovery.
In the old days, when the colony of Russian America was little better than are many
parts of Siberia — convict settlements — the few Government officials and officers of the
Russian Fur Company were, it may well be believed, only too ready to welcome any change
in the monotony of their existence, and a new arrival, in the shape of a ship from some
foreign port, was a day to be remembered, and of which to make much. The true
Russians are naturally hospitably and sociably inclined, and such times were the occasion
for balls, dinners, and parties to any extent. The writer well remembers his first visit to
Sitka, which, although the capital of Alaska, is situated on an island off the mainland.
On approaching the small and partially land-locked harbour, a mountain of no inconsiderable
height, wooded to the top, appeared in view, and below it a little town of highly-coloured
roofs, in the middle of which rose a picturesque rock, surmounted by a semi-fortified
castle, which, in the distance at least, looked most imposing. Near this, but separated by
a stockade, was the village of the Kalosh Indians, a powerful tribe, who had at times, as
the members of the expedition learned, given a considerable amount of trouble to the
Russians — in 1804 they murdered nearly the whole of the Russian garrison — while beyond
on every side were rocky shores and wooded heights. An old hulk or two, lying on the
beach below the old castle, itself principally built of wood, the residence of the Governor of
Russian America, then Prince Maksutoff, which had been roofed in and were used for
magazines of stores, and some rather shaky pile-whai*fs, made up the town.
Soon was experienced the warmth of a Russian welcome, and for a week after-
wards a succession of gaieties followed, which were so very gay that they would
have killed most men, unless they had been fortified with a long sea-trip just before.
Every Russian seemed to wish the party to consider all that he had at their service ; the
samovar boiled up everywhere as they approached ; the little lunch-table of anchovies, and
pickles, rye-bread, butter, cheese, and so forth, with the everlasting vodka, was everywhere
ready, and except duty called, no one was obliged to go off at night to the three vessels
comprising the expedition to which the writer was attached, for the best bed in the house
was always at his service. There was only one bar-room in the whole town, and there only
a kind of lager -Her and vodka were to be obtained. When the country was, for a
consideration of 7,250,000 dollars, transferred to the United States, there was a "rush"
from Victoria and San Francisco. Keen Hebrew traders, knowing that furs up country
bore a merely nominal price, and that Sitka was the great entrepot for their collection —
a million dollars' worth being frequently gathered there at a time — thought they would be
able to buy them for next to nothing still. Parcels of land in the town, which had not at
22
170 THE SEA.
the utmost a greater value than a few hundred dollars, now ran up to fabulous prices;
10,000 dollars was asked for a log house! Hotels, "saloons" — i.e., bar-rooms a VAmericaine
— German lager-bier cellars, and barbers' shops sprang up like mushrooms ; a newspaper-
office was opened, and everything reminded one of the sudden growth of mining -towns
in the early days of California. Alas ! everything else went up in proportion, excepting
salmon, which must be a drug on that coast for many centuries to come ; * provisions
greatly rose in price, and the competition for furs was so great that they became nearly
as dear as in San Francisco. The consequence may be imagined; there was an exodus,
and the following January the whole city could have been bought for a song. The
Russian officials, of course, left it shortly after the transfer, and most of the others as
speedily as they could. The "capital" has never recovered from the shock; for, although
organised fur-companies are scattered over the country, in one instance the United States
Government leasing the sole right — that of fur-sealing, on the Aleutian Islands — to a firm
which has a Russian prince as a partner, Sitka is not the entrepot it was ; everything in
furs is brought to San Francisco before being consigned to all quarters of the globe. The
value of Alaska to the United States is at present very small, but so little is known
about it that one can hardly form an estimate concerning its future. It possesses minerals,
but these will always be worked with difficulty, on account of the climate. Its grand
salmon-fisheries are, however, a tangible property; the cod in Bering Sea is as plentiful
as it ever was on the Newfoundland banks ; and there are innumerable forests of trees,
easily accessible, reaching down to the coast — of pines, firs, and cedars, of size sufficient
for the tallest masts and largest spars, so that Alaska has a direct interest for the
ship-builder.
By its acquisition, the United States not merely extended its seaboard for, say, 1,500
miles north, but it obtained Mount St. Elias, by far the largest peak of the North
American continent, and one of the loftiest mountains of the globe. "Upon Mont
Blanc," says an American writer, f " pile the loftiest summit in the British Islands, and
they would not reach the altitude of Mount St. Elias. If a man could reach its summit,
he would be two miles nearer the stars than any other American could be, east of the
Mississippi As a single peak it ranks among the half-dozen loftiest on the
globe. Some of the Himalaya summits reach, indeed, a couple of miles nearer Orion
and the Pleiades, but they rise from an elevated plateau sloping gradually upwards for
hundreds of miles. As an isolated peak, St. Elias may look down upon Mont Blanc and
Teneriffe, and claim brotherhood with Chimborazo and Cotopaxi." It acquired also one of
the four great rivers of the globe, of which the writer had the pleasure of being one of the
earliest explorers. The Yukon, which renders the waters of Bering Sea fresh or semi-fresh
for a dozen miles beyond its many mouths, is a sister-river to the Amazon, Mississippi,
and, perhaps, the Plata ; it has affluents to which the Rhine or Rhone are but brooks.
The Kalosh Indians of Sitka live in semi-civilised wooden barns or houses, with
* On many parts of the North-west Pacific coasts of America, from Oregon northwards to Bering Straits,
the salmon, in their season, swarm so that a boat can hardly make a way through their "schools."
f Harper s Magazine (New York), April, 1869.
THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 171
invariably a round hole for a door, through which one creeps. They are particularly
ingenious in carving; and Jack has many an opportunity of obtaining grotesque
figures, cut from, wood or slate-stone, for a cast-off garment or a half-dollar. One brought
home represents the Russian soldier of the period, prior to the American annexation, and
is scarcely a burlesque of his stolid face, gigantic moustache, close fitting coat with very
tight sleeves, and loose, baggy trousers. Masks may be seen cut from some white stone,
which would not do dishonour to a European sculptor. But now, leaving Sitka, let us
make a rapid trip to the extreme northern end of the Pacific Station.
Men-of-war proceeding north of Sitka — which, except for purposes of science or war,
is not likely to be the case, although the Pacific Station extends to the northernmost parts
of Alaska — would voyage into Bering Sea through Ounimak Pass, one of the best passages
between the rocky and rugged Aleutian Islands. In the pass the scenery is superb, grand
volcanic peaks rising in all directions. While there, many years ago, the writer well
remembers going on deck one morning, when mists and low clouds hung over the then
placid waters, and seeing what appeared to be a magnificent mountain peak, snowy and
scarped, right overhead the vessel, and having a wreath of white cloud surrounding it,
while a lower and greyer bank of mist hid its base. It seemed baseless, and as though
rising from nothing ; while the bright sunlight above all, and which did not reach the
vessel, lit up the eternal snows in brilliant contrasts of light and shadow. This was the
grand peak of Sheshaldinski, which rises nearly 9,000 feet above the sea level.
The Aleutian Islands are thinly inhabited, and the Aleuts — a harmless, strong,
half-Esquimaux kind of people — often leave them. They make very good sailors. The few
Russian settlements, among the principal of which was Kodiak, were simply trading posts
and fur-sealing establishments. Since the purchase of Alaska, the United States Govern-
ment has leased them to a large mercantile firm, which makes profits from the sealing.
North of the islands, after steaming over a considerable waste of waters, the only settlements
on the coast of the whole country are Michaelovski and Unalachleet, both trading posts;
while south of the former are the many mouths of one of the grandest rivers in the
world, the Yukon, almost a rival to the Amazon and Mississippi. That section of the
country lying round the great river is tolerably rich in fur-bearing animals, including
sable, mink, black and silver-grey fox, beaver, and bear. The moose and deer abound;
while fish, more especially salmon, is very abundant. Salmon, thirty or more pounds in
weight, caught in the Yukon, has often been purchased for a half-ounce of tobacco or four
or five common sewing-needles. The coasts of Northern Alaska are rugged and uninviting,
and not remarkable for the grand scenery common in the southern division.
Leaving the north, and passing the leading station already described on Vancouver
Island, the sailor has the whole Pacific coasts of both Americas, clear to Cape Horn, before
him as part of the Pacific Station. There is Mexico, with its port of Acapulco ; New
Granada, with the important sea-port town of Panama; Callao, Peru; and Valparaiso, in
Chili : at any of which H.B.M. vessels are commonly to be found. Panama is, indeed,
a very important central point, as officers of the Royal Navy, ordered to join vessels
elsewhere, usually leave their own at Panama, cross the isthmus, and take steamer to
England, via St. Thomas's, or by way of New York, thence crossing to Liverpool. The
172 THE SEA.
railroad — which, during its construction, is said to have cost the life of a Chinaman for
every sleeper laid down, so fatal was the fever of the isthmus — has the dearest fares of
any in the world. The distance from Panama across to Aspinwall (Colon) is about
forty miles, and the fare is £5 ! An immense amount of travel crosses the isthmus ; and
it is only matter of time for a canal to be cut through some portion of it, or the isthmus
of Darien adjoining. Steamers of the largest kind are arriving daily at Panama from
San Francisco, Mexico, and all parts of South America; while, on the Atlantic side,
they come from Southampton, Liverpool, New York and other American ports.
Southward, with favouring breezes and usually calm seas, one soon arrives at Callao —
a place which may yet become a great city, but which, like everything else in Peru, has
been retarded by interminable dissensions in regard to government and politics, and by the
ignorance and bigotry of the masses. Peru had an advantage over Chili in wealth and
importance at one time ; but, while the latter country is to-day one of the most satisfactory
and stable republics in the world, one never knows what is going to happen next in Peru.
Hence distrust in commerce; and hence the sailor will not find a tithe of the shipping in
Callao Roads that he will at the wharfs of Valparaiso. Lima, the capital, is situated
behind Callao, at a distance of about six miles. When seen from the deck of a vessel in
the roadstead, the city has a most imposing appearance, with its innumerable domes and
spires rising from so elevated a situation, and wearing a strange and rather Moorish air.
On Hearing the city, everything speaks eloquently of past splendour and present wretchedness ;
public walks and elegant ornamental stone seats choked with rank weeds, and all in ruins.
You enter Lima through a triumphal arch, tawdry and tumbling to pieces; you find that
the churches, which looked so imposing in the. distance, are principally stucco and tinsel.
Lima has a novelty in one of its theatres. It is built in a long oval, the stage occupying
nearly the whole of one long side, all the boxes being thus comparatively near it. The pit
audience is men, and the galleries, women; and all help to fill the house, between the
acts, with tobacco smoke from their cigarettes.
The sailor, who has been much among Spanish people or those of Spanish origin, will
find the Chilians the finest race in South America. Valparaiso Harbour is always full of
shipping, its wharfs piled with goods; while the railroad and old road to the capital,
Santiago, bears evidence of the material prosperity of the country. The country roads are
crowded with convoys of pack-mules, while the ships are loading up with wheat, wines, and
minerals, the produce of the country. Travelling is free everywhere. Libraries, schools,
literary, scientific, and artistic societies abound; the best newspapers published in South
America are issued there. Santiago, the city of marble palaces — where even horses are
kept in marble stalls — is one of the most delightful places in the world. The lofty
Andes tower to the skies in the distance, forming a grand background, and a fruitful,
cultivated, and peaceful country surrounds it.
Valparaiso — the "Vale of Paradise" — was probably named by the early Spanish
adventurers in this glowing style because any coast whatever is delightful to the mariner
who has been long at sea. Otherwise, the title would seem to be of an exaggerated nature.
The bay is of a semi-circular form, surrounded by steep hills, rising to the height of near
2,000 feet, sparingly covered with stunted shrubs and thinly-strewed grass. The town is
174 THE SEA.
built along- a narrow strip of land, between the cliffs and the sea; and, as this space is
limited in extent, the buildings have straggled up the sides and bottoms of the numerous
ravines which intersect the hills. A suburb — the Almendral, or Almond Grove — much
larger than the town proper, spreads over a low sandy plain, about half a mile broad, bordering
the bay. In the summer months — i.e., November to March — the anchorage is safe and.
pleasant; but in the wintry months, notably June and July, gales are prevalent from the
north, in which direction it is open to the sea.
Captain Basil Hall, R.N., gave some interesting accounts of life in Chili in his
published Journal,* and they are substantially true at the present day. He reached
Valparaiso at Christmas, which corresponds in climate to our midsummer. Crowds thronged
the streets to enjoy the cool air in the moonlight ; groups of merry dancers were seen at
every turn; singers were bawling out old Spanish romances to the tinkle of the guitar;
wild-looking horsemen pranced about in all directions, stopping to talk with their friends,
but never dismounting ; and harmless bull-fights, in which the bulls were only teased,
not killed, served to make the people laugh. The whole town was en, carnival. "In the
course of the first evening of these festivities," says Captain Hall, "while I was rambling
about the streets with one of the officers of the ship, our attention was attracted, by the
sound of music, to a crowded pulperia, or drinking-house. We accordingly entered, and
the people immediately made way and gave us seats at the upper end of the apartment.
We had not sat long before we were startled by the loud clatter of horses' feet, and in the
next instant, a mounted peasant dashed into the company, followed by another horseman,
who, as soon as he reached the centre of the room, adroitly wheeled his horse round, and
the two strangers remained side by side, with their horses' heads in opposite directions.
Neither the people of the house, nor the guests, nor the musicians, appeared in the least
surprised by this visit; the lady who was playing the harp merely stopped for a moment
to remove the end of the instrument a few inches further from the horses' feet, and the
music and conversation went on as before. The visitors called for a glass of spirits, and
having chatted with their friends around them for two minutes, stooped their heads to avoid
the cross-piece of the doorway, and putting spurs to their horses' sides, shot into the streets
as rapidly as they had entered; the whole being done without discomposing the company
in the smallest degree." The same writer speaks of the common people as generally very
temperate, while their frankness and hospitality charmed him. Brick-makers, day-labourers,
and washerwomen invited him and friends into their homes, and their first anxiety was that
the sailors might " feel themselves in their own house ; " then some offering of milk, bread, or
spirits. However wretched the cottage or poor the fare, the deficiency was never made more
apparent by apologies ; with untaught politeness, the best they had was placed before them,
graced with a hearty welcome. Their houses are of adobes, i.e., sun-dried bricks, thatched in
with broad palm-leaves, the ends of which, by overhanging the walls, afford shade from the
scorching sun and shelter from the rain. Their mud floors have a portion raised seven or
eight inches above the level of the rest, and covered with matting, which forms the couch
for the invariable siesta. In the cottages Hall saw young women grinding baked corn in
* "Extracts from a Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, &c."
BOUND CAPE HORN. 175
almost Scriptural mills of two stones each. From the coarse flour obtained, the poor people
make a drink called nlpa. In the better class of houses he was offered Paraguay tea, or
mattee, an infusion of a South American herb. The natives drink it almost boiling hot.
It is drawn up into the mouth through a silver pipe : however numerous the company, all
use the same tube, and to decline on this account is thought the height of rudeness. The
people of Chili, generally, are polite to a degree; and Jack ashore will have no cause to
complain, provided he is as polished as are they. He generally contrives, however, to make
himself popular, while his little escapades of wildness are looked upon in the light of long
pent-up nature bursting forth.
CHAPTER XI.
ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN -OF -WAR (continued}.
FROM THE HORN TO HALIFAX.
The dreaded Horn— The Land of Fire— Basil Hall's Phenomenon— A Missing Volcano— The South American Station-
Falkland Islands— A Free Port and Naval Station— Penguins, Peat, and Kelp— Sea Trees— The West India Station-
Trinidad — Columbus's First View of it— Fatal Gold— Charles Kingsley's Enthusiasm — The Port of Spain— A Happy-
go-lucky People— Negro Life— Letters from a Cottage Ornee— Tropical Vegetation— Animal Life— Jamaica— Kingston
Harbour— Sugar Cultivation— The Queen of the Antilles— Its Paseo— Beauty of the Archipelago— A Dutch Settlement
in the Heart of a Volcano— Among the Islands— The Souffriere— Historical Reminiscences — Bermuda Colony, Fortress,
and Prison— Home of Ariel and Caliban— The Whitest Place in the World— Bermuda Convicts— New York Harbour
— The City — First Impressions— Its fine Position— Splendid Harbour— Forest of Masts— The Ferry-boats, Hotels, and
Bars— Offenbach's Impressions— Broadway, Fulton Market, and Central Park— New York in Winter— Frozen Ships
— The great Brooklyn Bridge— Halifax and its Beauties— Importance of the Station— Bedford Basin— The Early
Settlers — The Blue Noses— Adieu to America.
AND now the exigencies of the service require us to tear ourselves away from gay and
pleasant Valparaiso, and voyage in spirit round the Horn to the South-East American
Station, which includes the whole coast, from Terra del Fuego to Brazil and Guiana.
Friendly ports, Rio and Montevideo, are open to the Royal Navy as stations for
necessary repairs or supplies; but the only strictly British port on the whole station is
that at the dreary Falkland Islands, to be shortly described.
Every schoolboy knows that Cape Horn is even more dreaded than the other "Cape
of Storms/' otherwise known as " The Cape/' par excellence. In these days, the introduction
of steam has reduced much of the danger and horrors of the passage round, though on
occasions they are sufficiently serious. In fact, now that there is a regular tug-boat service
m the Straits of Magellan, there is really no occasion to go round it at all. In 1862 the
writer rounded it, in a steamer of good power, when the water was as still as a mill-pond,
and the Horn itself — a barren, black, craggy, precipitous rock, towering above the utter
desolation and bleakest solitudes of that forsaken spot — was plainly in sight.
Captain Basil Hall, and his officers and crew, in 1820, when rounding Cape Horn
observed a remarkable phenomenon, which may account for the title of the " Land of Fire "
bestowed upon it by Magellan. A brilliant light suddenly appeared in the north- western
176 THE SEA.
quarter. " At first of a bright red, it became fainter and fainter, till it disappeared altogether.
After the lapse of four or five minutes, its brilliancy was suddenly restored, and it seemed
as if a column of burning materials had been projected into the air. This bright appearance
lasted from ten to twenty seconds, fading by degrees as the column became lower, till at
length only a dull red mass was distinguishable for about a minute, after which it again
vanished.1" The sailors thought it a revolving light, others that it must be a forest on fire.
All who examined it carefully through a telescope agreed in considering it a volcano, like
Stromboli, emitting alternately jets of flame and red-hot stones. The light was visible
CAl'E liOKN.
till morning; and although during the night it appeared to be not more than eight or
ten miles off, no land was to be seen. The present writer would suggest the probability
of its having been an electrical phenomenon.
The naval station at the Falklands is at Port Stanley, on the eastern island, where
there is a splendid land-locked harbour, with a narrow entrance. The little port is, and
has been, a haven of refuge for many a storm-beaten mariner: not merely from the fury
of the elements, but also because supplies of fresh meat can be obtained there, and, indeed,
everything else. Wild cattle, of old Spanish stock, roam at will over many parts of the
two islands. When the writer was there, in 1862, beef was retailed at fourpence per
pound, and Port Stanley being a free port, everything was very cheap. How many boxes
of cigars, pounds of tobacco, cases of hollands, and demijohns of rum were, in consequence,
THE NAVAL STATION AT PORT STANLEY.
177
taken on board by his 300 fellow-passengers would be a serious calculation. The little
town has not much to recommend it: It has, of course, a Government House and a church,
and barracks for the marines stationed there. It is, moreover, the head-quarters of the
Falkland Islands Company, a corporation much like the Hudson's Bay Company, trading
in furs and hides, and stores for ships and native trade. The three great characteristics
of Port Stanley are the penguins, which abound, and are to be seen waddling in troops
THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS AT TIUNIDAD.
in its immediate vicinity, and stumbling over the stones if pursued ; the kelp, which is so
thick and strong in the water at the edge of the bay in places, that a strong boat's crew
can hardly get " way " enough on to reach the shore ; and the peat-bogs, which would remind
an Irishman of his beloved Erin. Peat is the principal fuel of the place ; and what glorious
fires it makes ! At least, so thought a good many of the passengers who took the opportunity
of living on shore during the fortnight of the vessel's stay. For about three shillings and
sixpence a day one could obtain a good bed, meals of beef-steaks and joints and fresh
vegetables — very welcome after the everlasting salt junk and preserved vegetables of the
ship — with the addition of hot rum and water, nearly ad libitum. Then the privilege of
stretching one's legs is something, after five or six weeks' confinement. There is duck and
33
178 THE SEA.
loon-shooting- to be had, or an excursion to the lighthouse, a few miles from the town,
where the writer found children, of several years of age, who had never even beheld the
glories of Port Stanley, and yet were happy ; and near which he saw on the beach sea-trees
— for " sea-weed " would be a misnomer, the trunks being several feet in circumference —
slippery, glutinous, marine vegetation, uprooted from the depths of ocean. Some of them
would create a sensation in an aquarium.
The harbour of Port Stanley is usually safe enough, but, in the extraordinary gales
which often rage outside, does not always afford safe anchorage. The steamship on which
the writer was a passenger lay far out in the bay, but the force of a sudden gale made
her drag- her anchors, and but for the steam, which was immediately got up, she would
have gone ashore. A sailing-vessel must have been wrecked in the same position. Of course,
the power of the engines was set against the wind, and she was saved, Passengers ashore
could not get off for two days, and those on board could not go ashore. No boat could
have lived, even in the bay, during a large part of the time.
The West Indian Station demands our attention next. Unfortunately, it must not
take the space it deserves, for it would occupy that required for ten books of the size of this
— ay, twenty — to do it the barest justice. Why ? Read Charles Kingsley's admirable
work, " At Last " — one, alas ! of the last tasks of a well-spent life — and -one will see
England's interest in those islands, and must think also of those earlier days, when
Columbus, Drake, and Raleigh sailed among the waters which divide them — days of
geographical discovery worth speaking of, of grand triumphs over foes worth fighting, and
of gain amounting to something.
On the 31st July, 1499, Columbus, on his third voyage, sighted the three hills which
make the south-eastern end of Trinidad. He had determined to name the first land he
should sight after the Holy Trinity, and so he did. The triple peaks probably
reminded him.
Washington Irving tells us, in his " Life of Columbus/' that he was astonished at the
verdure and fertility of the country, having expected that it would be parched, dry, and
sterile as he approached the equator; whereas, he beheld beautiful groves of palm-trees,
and luxuriant forests sweeping down to the sea-side, with gurgling brooks and clear, deep
streams beneath the shade. The softness and purity of the climate, and the beauty of the
country, seemed, after his long sea voyage, to rival the beautiful province of Valencia itself.
Columbus found the people a race of Indians fairer than any he had seen before, " of good
stature, and of very graceful bearing." They carried square bucklers, and had bows and
arrows, with which they made feeble attempts to drive off the Spaniards who landed at
Punta Arenal, near Icacque, and who, finding no streams, sank holes in the sand, and so
filled their casks with fresh water — as is done by sailors now-a-days in many parts of the
world. "And there/' says Kingsley, "that source of endless misery to these harmless
creatures, a certain Cacique — so goes the tale — took off Columbia's cap of crimson velvet,
and replaced it with a circle of gold which he wore."
Alas for them ! that fatal present of gold brought down on them enemies far more
ruthless than the Caribs of the northern islands, who had a habit of coming down in their
canoes and carrying off the gentle Arrawaks, to eat them at their leisure — after the fashion
HAPPY TKINIDAD. 179
which Defoe, always accurate, has immortalised in " Robinson Crusoe." Crusoe's island has
been thought by many to be meant for Tobago; Man Friday having been stolen in
Trinidad.
No scenery can be more picturesque than that afforded by the entrance to Port of
Spain, the chief town in the colony of Trinidad, itself an island lying outside the delta of
the great Orinoco River. " On the mainland," wrote Anthony Trollope,* " that is, the
land of the main island, the coast is precipitous, but clothed to the very top with the
thickest and most magnificent foliage. With an opera-glass, one can distinctly see the
trees coming forth from the sides of the rocks, as though no soil were necessary for them,
and not even a shelf of stone needed for their support. And these are not shrubs, but
forest trees, with grand spreading branches, huge trunks, and brilliant-coloured foliage.
The small island on the other side is almost equally wooded, but is less precipitous." There,
and on the main island itself, are nooks and open glades where one would not be badly off
with straw hats and muslin, pigeon-pies and champagne. One narrow shady valley, into
which a creek of the sea ran, made Trollope think that it must have been intended for
" the less noisy joys of some Paul of Trinidad with his Creole Virginia." The same writer,
after describing the Savannah, which includes a park and race-course, speaks of the Government
House, then under repairs. The governor was living in a cottage, hard by. " Were I
that great man," said he, " I should be tempted to wish that my great house might always
be under repair, for I never saw a more perfect specimen of a pretty spacious cottage,
opening, as a cottage should do, on all sides and in every direction. . . . And then
the necessary freedom from boredom, etiquette, and governors' grandeur, so hated by
governors themselves, which must necessarily be brought about by such a residence ! I
could almost wish to be a governor myself, if I might be allowed to live in such a cottage."
The buildings of Port of Spain are almost invariably surrounded by handsome flowering
trees. A later writer tells us that the governors since have stuck to the cottage, and the
gardens of the older building have been given to the city as a public pleasure-ground.
Kingsley speaks of it as a paradise.
Jack ashore, who, after a long and perhaps stormy voyage, would look upon any land
as a haven of delight, will certainly think that he has at last reached the "happy land."
It is not merely the climate, the beauty, or the productions of the country; nor the West
Indian politeness and hospitality — both proverbial ; but the fact that nobody seems to do,
or wants to do, anything, and yet lives ten times as well as the poorer classes of England.
There are 8,000 or more human beings in Port of Spain alone, who "toil not, neither do
they spin," and have no other visible means of subsistence except eating something or
other — mostly fruit — all the live-long day, who are happy, very happy. The truth is, that
though they will, and frequently do, eat more than a European, they can almost do without
food, and can live, like the Lazzaroni, on warmth and light. "The best substitute for a
dinner is a sleep under a south wall in the blazing sun ; ar.d there are plenty of south
walls in Port of Spain." Has not a poor man, under these circumstances, the same right
to be idle as a rich one ? Every one there looks strong, healthy, and well-fed. The author
* "The West Indies and the Spanish Main."
180
THE SEA.
of " Westward Ho ! " was not likely to be deceived, and says : " One meets few or none
of those figures and faces — small, scrofulous, squinny, and haggard — which disgrace the
civilisation of a British city. Nowhere in Port of Spain will you see such human beings
as in certain streets of London, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Every one plainly can live and
thrive if they choose; and very pleasant it is to know that." And wonderfully well does
that mixed and happy-go-lucky population assimilate. Trinidad belongs to Great Britain;
VIEW IN JAMAICA.
but there are more negroes, half-breeds, Hindoos, and Chinese there than Britons by ten
times ten; and the language of the island is mainly French, not English or Spanish. Under
cool porticoes and through tall doorways are seen dark shops, built on Spanish models, and
filled with everything under the sun. On the doorsteps sit negresses, in flashy Manchester
" prints " and stiff turbans, " all aiding in the general work of doing nothing/' or offering
for sale fruits, sweatmeats, or chunks of sugar-cane. These women, as well as the men,
invariably carry everything on their heads, whether it be a half-barrow load of yams, a
few ounces of sugar, or a beer-bottle.
One of the regrets of an enthusiastic writer must ever be that he cannot visit all the
lovely and interesting spots which he may so easily describe. The present one, enamoured
182 THE SEA.
with San Francisco, which he has visited, and Singapore and Sydney, which as yet he
hasn't, would, if such writers as Charles Kingsley and Anthony Trollope are to be credited,
add Trinidad to the list. Read the former's " Letter from a West Indian Cottage Ornee/'
or the latter's description of a ride through the cool woods and sea-shore roads, to be
convinced that Trinidad is one of the most charming islands in the whole world. Bamboos
keep the cottage gravel path up, and as tubes, carry the trickling, cool water to the cottage
bath ; you hear a rattling as of boards or stiff paper outside your window : it is the clashing
together of a fan-palm, with leaf-stalks ten feet long and fans more feet wide. The orange,
the pine-apple, and the " flower fence " (Poinziana) ; the cocoa-palm, the tall Guinea grass,
and the " groo-groos " (a kind of palm: Acrocomia sclerocarpa) ; the silk-cotton tree, the
tamarind, and the Rosa del monte bushes — twenty feet high, and covered with crimson roses ;
tea shrubs, myrtles, and clove-trees intermingle with vegetation common elsewhere. Thus
much for a mere chance view.
The seaman ashore will note many of these beauties ; but his superior officers will see
more. The cottage ornee, to which they will be invited, with its lawn and flowering shrubs,
tiny specimens of which we admire in hot-houses at home ; the grass as green as that of
England, and winding away in the cool shade of strange evergreens ; the yellow cocoa-nut
palms on the nearest spur of hill throwing back the tender blue of the distant mountains ;
groups of palms, with perhaps Erytkrinas umbrosa (Bois immortelles, they call them in
Trinidad), with vermilion flowers — trees of red coral, sixty feet high — interspersed; a glimpse
beyond of the bright and sleeping sea, and the islands of the Bocas " floating in the shining
waters," and behind a luxuriously furnished cottage, where hospitality is not a mere name,
but a very sound fact; what on earth can man want more?
Kingsley, in presence of the rich and luscious beauty, the vastness and repose, to be
found in Trinidad } sees an understandable excuse for the tendency to somewhat grandiose
language which tempts perpetually those who try to describe the tropics, and know well
that they can only fail. He says : " In presence of such forms and such colouring as this,
one becomes painfully sensible of the poverty of words, and the futility, therefore, of all
word-painting; of the inability, too, of the senses to discern and define objects of such
vast variety ; of our aesthetic barbarism, in fact, which has no choice of epithets, save such
as 'great/ and 'vast/ and 'gigantic;' between such as 'beautiful,' and 'lovely/ and
' exquisite/ and so forth : which are, after all, intellectually only one stage higher than the
half-brute 'Wah! wan!' with which the savage grunts his astonishment— call it not
admiration ; epithets which are not, perhaps, intellectually as high as the ' God is great ! '
of the Mussulman, who is wise enough not to attempt any analysis, either of Nature or
of his feelings about her, and wise enough, also ... in presence of the unknown,
to take refuge in God/'
Monkeys of many kinds, jaguars, toucans, wild cats; wonderful ant-eaters, racoons,
and lizards; and strange birds, butterflies, wasps, and spiders abound, but none of those
animals which resent the presence of man. Happy land !
But the gun has fired. H.M.S. Sea is getting all steam up. The privilege of leave
cannot last for ever: it is "All aboard!" Whither bound? In the archipelago of the
West Indies there are so many points of interest, and so many ports which the sailor of
KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 18)3
the Royal Navy is sure to visit. There are important docks at Antigua, Jamaica, and
Bermuda ; while the whole station — known professionally as the " North American and
West Indian " — reaches from the north of South America to beyond Newfoundland, Kingston,
and Jamaica, where England maintains a flag-ship and a commodore, a dockyard, and a
naval hospital.
Kingston Harbour is a grand lagoon, nearly shut in by a long sand-spit, or rather
bank, called "The Palisades/' at the point of which is Port Royal, which, about ninety
years ago, was nearly destroyed by an earthquake. Mr. Trollope says that it is on record
that hardy " subs " and hardier " mids " have ridden along the Palisades, and have not
died from sunstroke in the effort. But the chances were much against them. The ordinary
ingress and egress, as to all parts of the island's coasts, is by water. Our naval establishment
is at Port Royal.
Jamaica has picked up a good deal in these later days, but is not the thriving country
it was before the abolition of slavery. Kingston is described as a formal city, with streets
at right angles, and with generally ugly buildings. The fact is, that hardly any Europeans
or even well-to-do Creoles live in the town, and, in consequence, there are long streets, which
might almost belong to a city of the dead, where hardly a soul is to be seen : at all events,
in the evenings. All the wealthier people — and there are a large number — have country
seats — "pens/' as they call them, though often so charmingly situated, and so beautifully
surrounded, that the term does not seem very appropriate. The sailor's pocket-money will
go a long way in Kingston, if he confines himself to native productions; but woe unto
him if he will insist on imported articles ! All through the island the white people are
very English in their longings, and affect to despise the native luxuries. Thus, they will
give you ox-tail soup when real turtle would be infinitely cheaper. " When yams, avocado
pears, the mountain cabbage, plantains, and twenty other delicious vegetables may be had
for the gathering, people will insist on eating bad English potatoes; and the desire for
English pickles is quite a passion." All the servants are negroes or mulattoes, who are
greatly averse to ridicule or patronage; while, if one orders them as is usual in England,
they leave you to wait on yourself. Mr. Trollope discovered this. He ordered a lad in
one of the hotels to fill his bath, calling him "old fellow." "Who you call fellor?" asked
the youth; "you speak to a gen'lman gen'lmanly, and den he fill de bath."
The sugar-cane — and by consequence, sugar and rum — coffee, and of late tobacco, are
the staple productions of Jamaica. There is one district where the traveller may see
an unbroken plain of 4,000 acres under canes. The road over Mount Diabolo is very fine,
and the view back to Kingston very grand. Jack ashore will find that the people all
ride, but that the horses always walk. There are respectable mountains to be ascended in
Jamaica : Blue Mountain Peak towers to the height of 8,000 feet. The highest inhabited
house on the island, the property of a coffee-planter, is a kind of half-way house of
entertainment ; and although Mr. Trollope — who provided himself with a white companion,
who, in his turn, provided five negroes, beef, bread, water, brandy, and what seemed to
him about ten gallons of rum — gives a doleful description of the clouds and mists and fogs
which surrounded the Peak, others may be more fortunate.
The most important of the West Indian Islands, Cuba — " Queen of the Antilles " — •>
184 THE SEA.
does not, as we all know, belong to England, but is the most splendid appanage of
the Spanish crown. Havana, the capital, has a grand harbour, large, commodious,
and safe, with a fine quay, at which the vessels of all nations lie. The sailor will note
one peculiarity : instead of laying alongside, the ships are fastened " end on " — usually the
bow being at the quay. The harbour is very picturesque, and the entrance to it is defended
by two forts, which were taken once by England — in Albemarle's time — and now could be
HAVANA.
knocked to pieces in a few minutes by any nation which was ready with the requisite
amount of gunpowder.
Havana is a very gay city, and has some special attractions for the sailor — among
others being its good cigars and cheap Spanish wine and fruits. Its greatest glory
is the Paseo — its Hyde Park, Bois de Boulogne, Corso, Cascine, Alameda — where the
Cuban belles and beaux delight to promenade and ride. There will you see them, in bright-
coloured, picturesque attire — sadly Europeanised and Americanised of late, though — seated
in the volante, a kind of hanging cabriolet, between two large wheels, drawn by one 01
two horses, on one of which the negro servant, with enormous leggings, white breeches, red
jacket, and gold lace, and broad-brimmed straw hat, rides. The volante is itself bright with
SETTLEMENT ON A VOLCANO. 185
polished metal, and the whole turn-out has an air of barbaric splendour. These carriages
are never kept in a coach-house, but are usually placed in the halls, and often even in the
dining-room, as a child's perambulator might with us. Havana has an ugly cathedral
and a magnificent opera-house.
Slave labour is common, and many of the sugar and tobacco planters are very wealthy.
Properties of many hundred acres under cultivation are common. Mr. Trollope found the
negroes well-fed, sleek, and fat as brewers' horses, while no sign of ill-usage came before
him. In crop times they sometimes work sixteen hours a day, and Sunday is not then a
day of rest for them. There are many Chinese coolies, also, on the island.
Kingsley, speaking of the islands in general, says that he "was altogether unprepared
for their beauty and grandeur/' Day after day, the steamer took him past a shifting
diorama of scenery, which he likened to Vesuvius and Naples, repeated again and again,
with every possible variation of the same type of delicate loveliness. Under a cloudless
sky, and over the blue waters, banks of light cloud turned to violet and then to green, and
then disclosed grand mountains, with the surf beating white around the base of tall cliffs
and isolated rocks, and the pretty country houses of settlers embowered in foliage, and
gay little villages, and busy towns. " It was easy," says that charming writer, " in presence
of such scenery, to conceive the exultation which possessed the souls of the first discoverers
of the West Indies. What wonder if they seemed to themselves to have burst into fairy-
land— to be at the gates of the earthly Paradise ? With such a climate, such a soil, such
vegetation, such fruits, what luxury must not have seemed possible to the dwellers along
those shores? What riches, too, of gold and jewels, might not be hidden among those
forest- shrouded glens and peaks ? And beyond, and beyond again, ever new islands, new
continents, perhaps, and inexhaustible wealth of yet undiscovered worlds." *
The resemblance to Mediterranean, or, more especially, Neapolitan, scenery is very
marked. ' ' Like causes have produced like effects ; and each island is little but the peak
of a volcano, down whose shoulders lava and ash have slidden toward the sea." Many
carry several cones. One of them, a little island named Saba, has a most remarkable
settlement half-way up a volcano. Saba rises sheer out of the sea 1,500 or more feet, and,
from a little landing-place, a stair runs up 800 feet into the very bosom of the mountain,
where in a hollow live some 1,200 honest Dutchmen and 800 negroes. The latter were,
till of late years, nominally the slaves of the former ; but it is said that, in reality, it was
just the other way. The blacks went off when and whither they pleased, earned money
on other islands, and expected their masters to keep them when they were out of work.
The good Dutch live peaceably aloft in their volcano, grow garden crops, and sell them
to vessels or to surrounding islands. They build the best boats in the West Indies up
in their crater, and lower them down the cliff to the sea ! They are excellent sailors and
good Christians. Long may their volcano remain quiescent !
When the steamer stops at some little port, or even single settlement, the negro
boats come alongside with luscious fruit and vegetables — bananas and green oranges ; the
sweet sop, a fruit which looks like a strawberry, and is as big as an orange ; the custarcl-
* "At Last : A Christmas in the West Indies."
24
186 THE SEA.
apples — the pulp of which, those who have read "Tom Cringle's Log" will remember,
is fancied to have an unpleasant resemblance to brains ; the avocado, or alligator-pears,
otherwise called " midshipman's butter," which are eaten with pepper and salt ; scarlet
capsicums, green and orange cocoa-nuts, roots of yam, and cush-cush, help to make up
baskets as varied in colour as the gaudy gowns and turbans of the women. Neither must
the junks of sugar-cane be omitted, which the " coloured " gentlemen and ladies delight
to gnaw, walking, sitting, and standing ; increasing thereby the size of their lips, and
breaking out, often enough, their upper front teeth. Rude health is in their faces ; their
cheeks literally shine with fatness.
But in this happy archipelago there are drawbacks : in the Guadaloupe earthquake of
1843, 5,000 persons lost their lives in the one town of Point-a-Pitre alone. The Souffriere
volcano, 5,000 feet high, rears many a peak to the skies, and shows an ugly and uncertain
humour, smoking and flaming. The writer so often quoted gives a wonderfully beautiful
description of this mountain and its surroundings. "As the sun rose, level lights of
golden green streamed round the peak, right and left, over the downs; but only for a
while. As the sky-clouds vanished in his blazing rays, earth-clouds rolled up from the
valleys behind, wreathed and weltered about the great black teeth of the crater, and then
sinking among them and below them, shrouded the whole cone in purple darkness for
the day; while in the foreground blazed in the sunshine broad slopes of cane-field; below
them again the town (the port of Basse Terre), with handsome houses, and old-fashioned
churches and convents, dating possibly from the seventeenth century, embowered in mangoes,
tamarinds, and palmistes ; and along the beach, a market beneath a row of trees, with
canoes drawn up to be unladen, and gay dresses of every hue. The surf whispered softly
on the beach. The cheerful murmur of voices came off the shore, and above it, the tinkling
of some little bell, calling good folks to early mass. A cheery, brilliant picture as man
could wish to see, but marred by two ugly elements. A mile away on the low northern
cliff, marked with many a cross, was the lonely cholera cemetery, a remembrance of the
fearful pestilence which, a few years since, swept away thousands of the people : and above
frowned that black giant, now asleep : but for how long ? "
The richness of the verdure which clothes these islands to their highest peaks seems a
mere coat of green fur, and yet is often gigantic forest trees. The eye wanders over the
green abysses, and strains over the wealth of depths and heights, compared with which
fine English parks are mere shrubberies. There is every conceivable green, or rather of
hues, ranging from pale yellow through all greens into cobalt; and "as the wind stirs
the leaves, and sweeps the lights and shadows over hill and glen, all is ever-changing,
iridescent, like a peacock's tail; till the whole island, from peak to shore, seems some
glorious jewel — an emerald, with tints of sapphire and topaz, hanging between blue sea
and white surf below, and blue sky and white cloud above." And yet, over all this beauty,
dark shadows hang — the shadow of war and the shadow of slavery. These seas have been
oft reddened with the blood of gallant sailors, and every other gully holds the skeleton of
an Englishman.
Here it was that Rodney broke De Grasse's line, took and destroyed seven French
ships of war, and scattered the rest: saving Jamaica, and, in sooth, the whole West
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A COLONY, FOKTKE8S, AND PEISON. 187
Indies, and bringing about the honourable peace of 1783. Yon lovely roadstead of Dominica:
there Rodney caught up with the French just before, and would have beaten them so much
the earlier but for his vessels being becalmed. In that deep bay at Martinique, now lined
with gay houses, was for many years the Cul-de-sac Royal, the rendezvous and stronghold
of the French fleet. That isolated rock hard by, much the shape and double the size of
the great Pyramids, is Sir Samuel Hood's famous Diamond Rock,* to which that brave
old navigator literally tied with a hawser or two his ship, the Centaur, and turned the
rock into a fortress from whence to sweep the seas. The rock was for several months
rated on the books of the Admiralty as " His Majesty's Ship, Diamond Rock." She had
at last to surrender, for want of powder, to an overwhelming force — two seventy-fours
and fourteen smaller ships of war — but did not give in till seventy poor Frenchmen were
lying killed or wounded, and three of their gun-boats destroyed, her own loss being- only two
men killed and one wounded. Brave old sloop of war ! And, once more, those glens
and forests of St. Lucia remind us of Sir John Moore and Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who
fought, not merely the French, but the " Brigands " — negroes liberated by the Revolution
of 1792.
But the good ship must proceed; and as British naval interests are under consideration,
let her bows be turned to Bermuda — a colony, a fortress and a prison, and where England
owns an extensive floating dock, dock-yards, and workshops, f Trollope says that its
geological formation is mysterious. "It seems to be made of soft white stone, composed
mostly of little shells — so soft, indeed, that you might cut Bermuda up with a hand-saw.
And people are cutting up Bermuda with hand-saws. One little island, that on which
the convicts are established, has been altogether so cut up already. When I visited it,
two fat convicts were working away slowly at the last fragment/' Bermuda is the crater
of an extinct volcano, and is surrounded by little islets, of which there is one for every
day of the year in a space of twenty by three miles. These are surrounded again by
reefs and rocks, and navigation is risky.
Were the Bermudas the scene of Ariel's tricks ? They were first discovered, in 1522,
by Bermudez, a Spaniard; and Shakespeare seems to have heard of them, for he
speaks of the
" Still vexed Bermoothes."
Trollope says that there is more of the breed of Caliban in the islands than of Ariel.
Though Caliban did not relish working for his master more than the Bermudian of
to-day, there was an amount of energy about him entirely wanting in the existing
islanders.
There are two towns, St. George and Hamilton, on different islands. The former is
the head-quarters of the military, and the second that of the governor. It is the
summer head-quarters of the admiral of the station. The islands are, in general,
wonderfully fertile, and will, with any ordinary cultivation, give two crops of many
*" Naval Chronicles," vol. xii.
t Other islands of the West Indies, as St. Thomas's, which is a kind of leading "junction" for mail
steamers, and St. Domingo — so intimately connected with the voyages of Columbus — will be mentioned hereafter.
J88 THE SEA.
vegetables in the year. It has the advantages of the tropics, plus those of more temperate
climes. For tomatoes, onions, beet-root, sweet potatoes, early potatoes, as well as all kinds
of fruits, from oranges, lemons, and bananas to small berries, it is not surpassed by any
place in the world; while arrowroot is one of its specialities. It is the early market-garden
for New York. Ship-building is carried on, as the islands abound in a stunted cedar,
BERMUDA, FROM GIUBS HILL.
good for the purpose, when it can be found large enough. The working population are
almost all negroes, and are lazy to a degree. But the whites are not much better; and
the climate is found to produce great lassitude.
It is the sea round the Bermudas, more than the islands themselves, perhaps, that
give its beauty. Everywhere the water is wonderfully clear and transparent, while the
land is broken up into narrow inlets and headlands, and bays and promontories, nooks
and corners, running here and there in capricious and ever-varying forms. The oleander,
with their bright blossoms, are so abundant, almost to the water's edge, that the Bermudas
might be called the "Oleander Isles."
The Bermuda convict, in Trollope's time, seemed to be rather better off than most
MARK TWAIN ON THE BERMUDAS 189
English labourers. He had a pound of meat — good meat, too- while the Bermudians
were tugging at their teeth with tough morsels ; he had a pound and three-quarters of
bread — more than he wanted; a pound of vegetables; tea and sugar; a glass of grog
per diem; tobacco-money allowed, and eight hours' labour. He was infinitely better off
than most sailors of the merchant service.
THE NORTH ROCK, BERMUDA.
St. George, the military station of the colony, commands the only entrance among
the islands suitable for the passage of large vessels, the narrow and intricate channel
which leads to its land-locked haven being defended by strong batteries. The lagoons,
and passages, and sea canals between the little islands make communication by water
as necessaiy as in Venice. Every one keeps a boat or cedar canoe. He will often
do his ' business on one island and have his residence on a second. Mark Twain has
a wonderful facility for description; and his latest articles, "Random Notes of an Idle
Excursion," contain a picturesque account of the Bermudas, and more particularly of
Hamilton, the leading port. He says that he found it a wonderfully white town, white
as marble — snow — flour. " It was/' says he, " a town compacted together upon the sides
190 THE SEA.
and tops of a cluster of small hills. Its outlying borders fringed off and thinned away
among the cedar forests, and there was no woody distance of curving coast or leafy islet
sleeping on the dimpled, painted sea but was necked with shining white points— half-
concealed houses peeping out of the foliage. * * * There was an ample pier of heavy
masonry ; upon this, under shelter, were some thousands of barrels, containing that product
which has carried the fame of Bermuda to many lands — the potato. With here and there
an onion. That last sentence is facetious, for they grow at least two onions in Bermuda
to one potato. The onion is the pride and the joy of Bermuda. It is her jewel, her gem
of gems. In her conversation, her pulpit, her literature, it is her most frequent and
eloquent figure. In Bermudian metaphor it stands for perfection — perfection absolute.
"The Bermudian, weeping over the departed, exhausts praise when he says, ( He was
an onion P The Bermudian, extolling the living hero, bankrupts applause when he says,
1 He is an onion ! ' The Bermudian, setting his son upon the stage of life to dare and
do for himself, climaxes all counsel, supplication, admonition, comprehends all ambition,
when he says, ' Be an onion ! ' • When the steamer arrives at the pier, the first question
asked is not concerning great war or political news, but concerns only the price of
onions. All the writers agree that for tomatoes, onions, and vegetables generally, the
Bermudas are unequalled ; they have been called, as noted before, the market-gardens of New
York.
Jack who is fortunate enough to be on the West India and North American Stations
must be congratulated. " The country roads," says the clever writer above quoted, " curve
and wind hither and thither in the delightfulest way, unfolding pretty surprises at every
turn ; billowy masses of oleander that seem to float out from behind distant projections,
like the pink cloud-banks of sunset; sudden plunges among cottages and gardens, life
and activity, followed by as sudden plunges into the sombre twilight and stillness of the
woods; glittering visions of white fortresses and beacon towers pictured against the sky
on remote hill-tops; glimpses of shining green sea caught for a moment through opening
headlands, then lost again ; more woods and solitude ; and by-and-by another turn lays
bare, without warning, the full sweep of the inland ocean, enriched with its bars of soft
colour, and graced with its wandering sails.
"Take any road you please, you may depend upon it you will not stay in it half a
mile. Your road is everything that a road ought to be; it is bordered with trees, and
with strange plants and flowers; it is shady and pleasant, or sunny and still pleasant; it
carries you by the prettiest and peacefulest and most home-like of homes, and through
stretches of forest that lie in a deep hush sometimes, and sometimes are alive with the
music of birds; it curves always, which is a continual promise, whereas straight roads
reveal everything at a glance and kill interest. * * * There is enough of variety.
Sometimes you are in the level open, with marshes, thick grown with flag-lances that are
ten feet high, on the one hand, and potato and onion orchards on the other ; next you are
on a hill-top, with the ocean and the islands spread around you ; presently the road winds
through a deep cut, shut in by perpendicular walls thirty or forty feet high, marked with
the oddest and abruptest stratum lines, suggestive of sudden and eccentric old upheavals,
and garnished with, here and there, a clinging adventurous flower, and here and there
THE GREAT BERMUDA DOCK. ] 91
a dangling vine ; and by-and-by, your way is along the sea edge, and you may look down
a fathom or two through the transparent water and watch the diamond-like flash and
play of the light upon the rocks and sands on the bottom until you are tired of it — if
you are so constituted as to be able to get tired of it."
But as there are spots in the sun, and the brightest lights throw the deepest shadows
everywhere ; so on the Bermuda coasts there are, in its rare storms, dangers of no small kinc(
among its numerous reefs and rocks. The North Rock, in particular, is the monument which
marks the grave of many a poor sailor in by-gone days. At the present time, however,
tug-boats, and the use of steam generally, have reduced the perils of navigation among the
hundreds of islands which constitute the Bermuda group to a minimum.
The recent successful trip of Cleopatra's Needle in a vessel of unique construction will
recall that of the Bermuda floating-dock, which it will be remembered was towed across
the Atlantic and placed in its present position.
Bermuda being, from a naval point of view, the most important port on the North
American and West Indian Stations, it had long been felt to be an absolute necessity that
a dock capable of holding the largest vessels of war should be built in some part of the
island. After many futile attempts to accomplish this object, owing to the porous nature
of the rock of which the island is formed, it was determined that Messrs. Campbell,
Johnstone & Co., of North Woolwich, should construct a floating-dock according to their
patented inventions : those built by them for Carthagena, Saigon, and Callao having been
completely successful. The dimensions of the dock for Bermuda, which was afterwards
named after that island, are as follows : —
Length ever all - - - 381 feet.
Length between caissons - - 330 „
Breadth over all - - 124 ,,
Breadth between sides 84 „
Depth inside - - .53 „ 5 in.
She is divided into eight longitudinal water-tight compartments, and these again into
sets of compartments, called respectively load on and balance chambers. Several small
compartments were also made for the reception of the pumps, the machinery for moving
capstans, and cranes, all of which were worked by steam. She is powerful and large
enough to lift an ironclad having a displacement of 10,400 tons, and could almost dock
the Great Eastern.
The building of the Bermuda was begun in August, 1866 ; she was launched in
September, 1868, and finally completed in May, 1869. For the purposes of navigation
two light wooden bridges were thrown across her, on the foremost of which stood her
compass, and on the after the steering appai*atus. She was also supplied with three
lighthouses and several semaphores for signalling to the men-of-war which had her in
tow, either by night or day. In shape she is something like a round-bottomed canal boat
with the ends cut off. From an interesting account of her voyage from Sheerness to
Bermuda by " One of those on Board," we gather the following information respecting
her trip. Her crew numbered eighty -two hands, under a Staff-Commander, R.N. ; thwe
were also on board an assistant naval surgeon, an Admiralty commissioner, and the writer
192
THE SEA.
of the book from which these particulars are taken. The first rendezvous ot the Bermuda
was to be at the Nore.
On the afternoon of the 23rd of June, 1869, the Bermuda was towed to the Nore
by four ordinary Thames tugs, accompanied by H.M.SS. Terrible, Medusa, Buzzard, and
Wildfire. On arriving at the Nore off the lightship she found the Northumberland
waiting for her. The tugs cast off, and a hawser was passed to the Northumberland,
THE BERMUDA FLOATING DOCK.
which took her in tow as far as Knob Channel, the Terrible bringing up astern. The
Agincorirt was now picked up, and passing a hawser on board the Northumberland, took
the lead in the maritime tandem. A hawser was now passed to the Terrible from the
stern of the Bermuda, !so that by towing that vessel she might be kept from swaying
frorn side to side. The ^'Medusa steamed on the quarter 'of • the Northumberland, and the
Buzzard acted as a kind of floating outrider to clear the way; The North Foreland was passed
the same evening, at a •spee&'ef-four knots an hour. Everything went well until the 25th,
wh en •- she lost' sight of land-'-' d&'- the! • Start -Eoint late in the afternoon of - that day. On the
28th she -was 'half- way" -across the Bay of -'-Biscay, when, encountering a slight sea and a
freshening witldi she' sb&wed her1- .first tendency to '!#&l]j -an accomplishment in which she was
A DOCK AT SEA.
193
afterwards beaten by all her companions, although the prognostications about her talents in
this direction had been of the most lugubrious description. It must be understood that the
bottom of her hold, so to speak, was only some ten feet under the surface of the water, and
that her hollow sides towered some sixty feet above it. On the top of each gunwale were
wooden houses for the officers, with gardens in front and behind, in which mignonette,
sweet peas, and other English garden flowers, grew and flourished, until they encountered
the parching heat of the tropics. The crew was quartered in the sides of the vessel;
and the top of the gunwales, or quarter-decks, as they might be called, communicated with
the lower decks by means of a ladder fifty-three feet long.
VOYAGE OF THE " BERMUDA."
To return, however, to the voyage. Her next lendezvous was at Porto Santo, a small
island on the east coast of the island of Madeira. On July 4th, about six o'clock
in the morning, land was signalled. This proved to be the island of Porto Santo; and
she brought up about two miles off the principal town early in the afternoon, having
made the voyage from Sheerness in exactly eleven days. Here the squadron was joined
by the Warrior, Slack Prince, and Lapwing (gunboat), the Helicon leaving them for
Lisbon. Towards nightfail they started once more in the following order, passing to the
south of Bermuda. The Black Prince and Warrior led the team, towing the Bermuda,
the Terrible being towed by her in turn, to prevent yawing, and the Lapwing following
close on the heels of the Terrible, All went well until the 8th, when the breeze freshened,
the dock rolling as much as ten degrees. Towards eight o'clock in the evening a mighty
crash was heard, and the whole squadron was brought up by signal from the lighthouses.
On examination it was found that the Bermuda had carried a\vay one of the chains of
25
194 THE SEA.
her immense rudder, which was swaying to and fro in a most dangerous manner. The
officers and men, however, went to work with a will, and by one o'clock the next morning1
all was made snug again, and the squadron proceeded on its voyage. During this portion
of the trip, a line of communication was established between the Bermuda and the Warrior,
and almost daily presents of fresh meat and vegetables were sent by the officers of the
ironclad to their unknown comrades on board the dock. On the 9th, the day following
the disaster to the rudder, they fell in with the north-east trade winds, which formed the
subject of great rejoicing. Signals were made to make all sail, and reduce the quantity
of coal burned in the boilers of the four steam vessels. The next day, the Lapwing,
being shorter of coal than the others, she was ordered to take the place of the Terrible, the
latter ship now taking the lead by towing the Black Prince. The Lapwing, however,
proved not to be sufficiently powerful for this service. A heavy sea springing up,
the dock began to yaw and behave so friskily that the squadron once more brought to,
and the old order of things was resumed.
On the 25th the Lapwing was sent on ahead to Bermuda to inform the authorities of
the close advent of the dock. It was now arranged that as the Terrible drew less water
than any of the other ships, she should have the honour of piloting the dock through the
Narrows — a narrow, tortuous, and shallow channel, forming the only practicable entrance
for large ships to the harbour of Bermuda. On the morning of the 28th, Bermuda light-
house was sighted, and the Spitfire was shortly afterwards picked up, having been sent
by the Bermudan authorities to pilot the squadron as far as the entrance of the Narrows.
She also brought the intelligence that it had been arranged that the Viper and the
Vixen had been ordered to pilot the dock into harboiir. As they neared Bermuda, the
squadron were met by the naval officer in charge of the station, who, after having had
interviews with the captains of the squadron and of the Bermuda, rescinded the order
respecting the Vixen and the Viper, and the Terrible was once more deputed to tow the
Bermuda through the Narrows. Just off the mouth of this dangerous inlet, the Bermuda
being in tow of the Terrible only, the dock became uncontrollable, and would have done
her best to carry Her Majesty 's ship to Halifax had not the Warrior come to her aid,
after the Spitfire and Lapwing had tried ineffectually to be of assistance.
By this time, however, the water in the Narrows had become too low for the
Warrior; the Bermuda had, therefore, to wait until high water next morning in order to
complete the last, and, as it proved, the most perilous part of her journey. After the
Warrior and the Terrible had towed the dock through the entrance of the inlet, the first-
named ship cast off. The dock once more became unmanageable through a sudden gust
of wind striking her on the quarter. Had the gust lasted for only a few seconds longer,
the dock would have stranded — perhaps for ever. She righted, however, and the Terrible
steaming hard ahead, she passed the most dangerous point of the inlet, and at last rode
securely in smooth water, within a few cables' length of her future berth, after a singularly
successful voyage of thirty-six days.
It says much for the naval and engineering skill of all concerned in the transport of
this unwieldy mass of iron, weighing 8,000 tons, over nearly 4,000 miles of ocean, with-
out the loss of a single life, or, indeed, a solitary accident that can be called serious. The
NEW YORK.
195
E 8 8 E X/.
conception, execution, and success of the project are wholly unparalleled in the history of
naval engineering.
Leaving Bermuda, whither away ? To the real capital of America, New York. It
is true that English men-of-war, and, for the matter of that, vessels of the American navy,
comparatively seldom visit that port, which otherwise is crowded by the shipping of all
nations. There are reasons " for this. New York has not to-day a dock worthy of the
name; magnificent steamships and palatial ferry-boats all lie alongside wharfs, or enter
" slips," which are semi-enclosed wharfs. Brooklyn and Jersey City have, however, docks.
Who that has visited New York will ever forget his first impressions ? The grand
Hudson, or the great East River, itself a strait : the glorious bay, or the crowded island,
alike call for and deserve enthusiastic admiration. If
one arrives on a sunny day, maybe not a zephyr agitates
the surface of the noble Hudson, or even the bay itself :
the latter landlocked, save where lost in the broad
Atlantic ; the former skirted by the great Babylon of
America and the wooded banks of Hoboken. Round
the lofty western hills, a fleet of small craft — with rakish
hulls and snowy sails — steal quietly and softly, while
steamboats, that look like floating islands, almost pass
them with lightning speed. Around is the shipping of
every clime ; enormous ferry-boats radiating in all direc-
tions; forests of masts along the wharfs bearing the
flags of all nations. And where so much is strange,
there is one consoling fact : you feel yourself at home.
You are among brothers, speaking the same language,
obeying the same laws, professing the same religion.
New York city and port of entry, New York county, State of New York, lies at the
head of New York Bay, so that there is a good deal of New York about it. It is the
commercial emporium of the United States, and if it ever has a rival, it will be on the
other side of the continent, somewhere not far from San Francisco. Its area is, practically,
the bulk of Manhattan or New York Island, say thirteen miles long by two wide. Its
separation from the mainland is caused by the Harlem River, which connects the Hudson
and East Rivers, and is itself spanned by a bridge and the Croton aqueduct. New York
really possesses every advantage required to build a grand emporium. It extends between
two rivers, each navigable for the largest vessels, while its harbour would contain the
united or disunited navies, as the case may be, of all nations. The Hudson River, in
particular, is for some distance up a mile or more in width, while the East River averages
over two-fifths of a mile. The population of New York, with its suburban appendages,
including the cities of Brooklyn and Jersey City, is not less than that of Paris.
The harbour is surrounded with small settlements, connected by charmingly-situated
villas and country residences. It is toward its northern end that the masts, commencing
with a few stragglers, gradually thicken to a forest. In it are three fortified islands.
By the strait called the " Narrows," seven miles from the lower part of the city, and
A \>wn^» T>£«»«/Long Branch
, V ..Freehold ./Deal
MAP OF NEW YORK HARBOUR.
196
THE SEA.
which is, for the space of a mile, about one mile wide, it communicates with the outer
harbour, or bay proper, which extends thence to Sandy Hook Light, forty miles from
the city, and opens directly into the ocean, forming one of the best roadsteads on the
whole Atlantic coasts of America. The approach to the city, as above indicated, is very
fine, the shores of the bay being- wooded down to the water's edge, and thickly studded
with villages, farms, and country seats. The view of the city itself is not so prepossessing ;
like all large cities, it is almost impossible to find a point from which to grasp the
BROOKLYN BRIDGE.
grandeur in its entirety, and the ground on which it is built is nowhere elevated. There-
fore there is very little to strike the eye specially. Many a petty town makes a greater
show in this respect.
Those ferry-boats ! The idea in the minds of most Englishmen is associated with
boats that may pass over from one or two to a dozen or so people, possibly a single horse,
or a donkey-cart. There you find steamers a couple of hundred or more feet long, with,
on either side of the engines, twenty or more feet space. On the true deck there is
accommodation for carriages, carts, and horses by the score; above, a spacious saloon for
passengers. They have powerful engines, and will easily beat the average steamship. On
arrival at the dock, they run into a kind of slip, or basin, with piles around stuck in the
soft bottom, which yield should she strike them, and entirely do away with any fear of
NEW
FERRY-BOATS.
197
concussion. "I may here add/' notes an intelligent writer,* "that during my whole
travels in the States, I found nothing more perfect in construction and arrangement than
the ferries and their boats, the charges for which are most moderate, varying according to
distances, and ranging from one halfpenny upwards."
The sailor ashore in New York — and how many, many thousands visit it every year ! —
will find much to note. The public buildings of the great city are not remarkable ; but
the one great street, Broadway, which is about eight miles long, and almost straight, is
FEUKY-liOAT, NEW YORK. HAKBOUlt.
a very special feature. Unceasing throngs of busy men and women, loungers and idlers,
vehicles of all kinds, street cars, omnibuses, and carriages — there are no cabs hardly in
New York — pass and re-pass from early morn to dewy eve, while the shops, always
called " stores/' rival those of the Boulevards or Regent Street. Some of the older streets
were, no doubt, as Washington Irving tells us, laid out after the old cow-paths, as they
are as narrow and tortuous as those of any European city. The crowded state of Broadway
at certain points rivals Cheapside. The writer saw in 1867 a light bridge, which spanned
the street, and was intended for the use of ladies and timid pedestrians. When, in 1869,
he re-passed through the city it had disappeared, and on inquiry he learnt the reason.
Unprincipled roughs had stationed themselves at either end, and levied black-mail toll on
old ladies and unsophisticated country-people.
* ' ' Lauds of the Slave and the Free," by the Hon. Henry A. Murray.
198 THE SEA.
So extreme is the difference between the intense heat of summer and the equally
intense cold of winter in New York, that the residents regularly get thin in the
former and stout in the latter. And what a sight are the two rivers at that time ! Huge
masses of ice, crashing among themselves, and making navigation perilous and sometimes
impossible, descending the stream at a rapid rate; docks and slips frozen in; the riggings
and shrouds of great ships covered with icicles, and the decks ready for immediate use as
skating-rinks. The writer crossed in the ferry-boat from Jersey City to New York, in
January, 1875, and acquired a sincere respect for the pilot, who wriggled and zig-zagged
his vessel through masses of ice, against which a sharp collision would not have been a
joke. When, on the following morning, he left for Liverpool, the steamship herself was
a good model for a twelfth-night cake ornament, and had quite enough to do to get
out from the wharf. Five days after, in mid- Atlantic, he was sitting on deck in the
open air, reading a book, so much milder at such times is it on the open ocean.
But our leave is over, and although ib would be pleasant to travel in imaginative
company up the beautiful Hudson, and visit one of the wonders of the world — Niagara,
to-day a mere holiday excursion from New York — we must away, merely briefly noting
before we go another of the wonders of the world, a triumph of engineering skill : the
great Brooklyn bridge, which connects that city with New York. Its span is about three-
quarters of a mile; large ships can pass under it, while vehicles and pedestrians cross in
mid-air over their mast tops, between two great cities, making them one. Brooklyn is a
great place for the residences of well-to-do New Yorkers, and the view from its " Heights "
— an elevation covered with villas and mansions — is grand and extensive. Apart from this,
Brooklyn is a considerable city, with numerous churches and chapels, public buildings, and
places of amusement.
Halifax is the northernmost depot of the whole West India and North American
Station, and is often a great rendezvous of the Royal Navy. It is situated on a penin-
sula on the south-east coast of Nova Scotia, of which it is the capital. Its situation is
very picturesque. The town stands on the declivity of a hill about 250 feet high, rising
from one of the finest harbours in the world. The city front is lined with handsome
wharfs, while merchants' houses, dwellings, and public edifices arrange themselves on
tiers, stretching along and up the sides of the hill. It has fine wide streets; the
principal one, which runs round the edge of the harbour, is capitally paved. The harbour
opposite the town, where ships usually anchor, is rather more than a mile wide, and after
narrowing to a quarter of a mile above the upper end of the town, expands into Bedford Basin,
a completely land-locked sheet of water. This grand sea-lake has an area of ten square
miles, and is capable of containing any number of navies. Halifax possesses another
advantage not common to every harbour of North America : it is accessible at all seasons,
and navigation is rarely impeded by ice. There are two fine lighthouses at Halifax ; that
on an island off Sambro Head is 210 feet high. The port possesses many large ships of
its own, generally employed in the South Sea whale and seal fishery. It is a very prosperous
fishing town in other respects.
The town of Halifax was founded in 1749. The settlers, to the number of 3,500,
largely composed of naval and military men, whose expenses out had been paid by the
AMONG THE "BLUE NOSES." 199
British Government to assist in the formation of the station, soon cleared the ground from
stumps, &c., and having- erected a wooden government house and suitable warehouses for
stores and provisions, the town was laid out so as to form a number of straight and hand-
some streets. Planks, doors, window-frames, and other portions of houses, were imported
from the New England settlements, and the more laborious portion of the work, which
the settlers executed themselves, was performed with great dispatch. At the approach of
winter they found themselves comfortably settled, having completed a number of houses
and huts, and covered others in a manner which served to protect them from the rigour
of the weather, there very severe. There were now assembled at Halifax about 5,000
people, whose labours were suddenly suspended by the intensity of the frost, and there
was in consequence considerable enforced idleness. Haliburton* mentions the difficulty
that the governor had to employ the settlers by sending them out on various expeditions,
in palisading the town, and in other public works.
In addition to £40,000 granted by the British Government for the embarkation and
other expenses of the first settlers, Parliament continued to make annual grants for the
same purpose, which, in 1755, amounted to the considerable sum of £416,000.
The town of Halifax was no sooner built than the French colonists began to be
alarmed, and although they did not think proper to make an open avowal of their jealousy
and disgust, they employed their emissaries clandestinely in exciting the Indians to harass
the inhabitants with hostilities, in such a manner as should effectually hinder them from
extending their plantations, or perhaps, indeed, induce them to abandon the settlement.
The Indian chiefs, however, for some time took a different view of the matter, waited
upon the governor, and acknowledged themselves subjects of the crown of England. The
French court thereupon renewed its intrigues with the Indians, and so far succeeded that
for several years the town was frequently attacked in the night, and the English could
not stir into the adjoining woods without the danger of being shot, scalped, or taken
prisoners.
Among the early laws of Nova Scotia was one by which it was enacted that no debts
contracted in England, or in any of the colonies prior to the settlement of Halifax, or to
the arrival of the debtor, should be recoverable by law in any court in the province. As
an asylum for insolvent debtors, it is natural to suppose that Halifax attracted thither
the guilty as well as the unfortunate ; and we may form some idea of the state of public
morals at that period from an order of Governor Cornwallis, which, after reciting that the
dead were usually attended to the grave by neither relatives or friends, twelve citizens
should in future be summoned to attend the funeral of each deceased person.
The Nova Scotians are popularly known by Canadians and Americans as " Blue Noses,"
doubtless from the colour of their nasal appendages in bitter cold weather. It has been
already mentioned that Halifax is now a thriving city ; but there must have been a period
when the people were not particularly enterprising, or else that most veracious individual,
" Sam Slick," greatly belied them. Judge Haliburton, in his immortal " Clockmaker/''
introduces the following conversation with Mr. Slick : —
" ' You appear/ said I to Mr. Slick, ' to have travelled over the whole of this province,
* "Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia," by Judge Haliburton.
aoo
THE SEA.
and to have observed the country and 'he people with much attention; pray, what is your
opinion of the present state and future prospects of Halifax?-1 'If you will tell me/
said he, c when the folks there will wake up, then I can answer you ; but they are fast
asleep. As to the province, it's a splendid province, and calculated to go ahead; it will
grow as fast as a Virginny gall — and they grow so amazing fast, if you put one of your
arms round one of their necks to kiss them, by the time you've done they've growed up
into women. It's a pretty province, I tell you, good above and better below : surface
THE ISLAND OF ASCENSION.
covered with pastures, meadows, woods, and a nation sight of water privileges; and under
the ground full of mines. It puts me in mind of the soup at Treemoni house — good enough
at top, but dip down and you have the riches — 'the coal, the iron ore, the gypsum, and
what not. As for Halifax, it's well enough in itself, though no great shakes neither ; a
few sizeable houses, with a proper sight of small ones, like half-a-dozen old hens with
their broods of young chickens : but the people, the strange critters, they are all asleep.
They walk in their sleep, and talk in their sleep, and what they say one day they forget
the next; they say they were dreaming.'' This was first published in England in 1838;
all accounts now speak of Halifax as a well-built, paved, and cleanly city, and of its
inhabitants as enterprising.
202 THE SEA.
CHAPTER XII.
BOUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (continued}.
THE AFRICAN STATION.
Its Extent— Ascension— Turtle at a Discount— Sierra Leone— An Unhealthy Station— The Cape of Good Hope-Cape Town-
Visit of the Sailor Prince— Grand Festivities— Enthusiasm of the Natives— Loyal Demonstrations— An African
" Derby "—Grand Dock Inaugurated— Elephant Hunting— The Parting Ball— The Life of a Boer— Circular Farms— The
Diamond Discoveries— A £12,000 Gem— A Sailor First President of the Fields— Precarious Nature of the Search -
Natal— Inducements held out to Settlers— St. Helena and Napoleon— Discourteous Treatment of a Fallen Foe— The
Home of the Caged Lion.
AND now we are off to the last of the British naval stations under consideration — that
of the African coast. It is called, in naval phraseology, " The West Coast of Africa
and Cape of Good Hope Station," and embraces not merely all that the words imply, but
a part of the east coast, including the important colony of Natal. Commencing at lati-
tude 20° N. above the Cape Verd Islands, it includes the islands of Ascension, St. Helena,
Tristan d'Acunha, and others already described.
Ascension, which is a British station, with dockyard, and fort garrisoned by artillery
and marines, is a barren island, about eight miles long by six broad. Its fort is in lat.
70° 26' N. : long., 140° 24' W. It is of volcanic formation, and one of its hills rises to
the considerable elevation of 2,870 feet. Until the imprisonment of Napoleon at St.
Helena, it was utterly uninhabited. At that period it was garrisoned with a small British
force ; and so good use was made of their time that it has been partly cultivated and
very greatly improved. Irrigation was found, as elsewhere, to work wonders, and as
there are magnificent springs, this was rendered easy. Vast numbers of turtle are taken
on its shores ; and, in consequence, the soldiers prefer the soup of pea, and affect to despise
turtle steaks worth half a guinea apiece in London, and fit to rejoice the heart of an
alderman ! The writer saw the same thing in Vancouver Island, where at the boarding-
house of a very large steam saw-mill, the hands struck against the salmon, so abundant
on those coasts. They insisted upon not having it more than twice a week for dinner,
and that it should be replaced by salt pork. The climate of Ascension is remarkably
healthy. The object in occupying it is very similar to the reason for holding the Falk-
land Islands — to serve as a depot for stores, coal, and for watering ships cruising in the
South Atlantic.
Sierra Leone is, perhaps, of all places in the world, the last to which the sailor would
wish to go, albeit its unhealthiness has been, as is the case with Panama, grossly
exaggerated. Thus we were told that when a clergyman with some little influence was
pestering the Prime Minister for the time being for promotion, the latter would appoint
him to the Bishopric of Sierra Leone, knowing well that in a year or so the said bishopric
would be vacant and ready for another gentleman !
Sierra Leone is a British colony, and the capital is Free Town, situated on a peninsula
lying between the broad estuary of the Sherboro and the Sierra Leone rivers, connected
with the mainland by an isthmus not more than one mile and a half broad. The colony
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 808
also includes a number of islands, among- which are many good harbours. Its history
has one interesting- point. When, in 1787, it became a British colony, a company was
formed, which included a scheme for making it a home for free negroes, and to prove
that colonial produce could be raised profitably without resorting to slave labour. Its
prosperity was seriously affected during the French Revolution by the depredations of
French cruisers, and in 1808 the company ceded all its rights to the Crown. Its population
includes negroes from 200 different African tribes, many of them liberated from slavery
and slave-ships, a subject which will be treated hereafter in this work.
One of the great industries of Sierra Leone is the manufacture of cocoa-nut oil. The
factories are extensive affairs. It is a very beautiful country, on the whole, and when
acclimatised, Europeans find that they can live splendidly on the products of the country.
The fisheries, both sea and river, are wonderfully productive, and employ about 1,500
natives. Boat-building is carried on to some extent, the splendid forests yielding timber
so large that canoes capable of holding a hundred men have been made from a single
log, like those already mentioned in connection with the north-west coast of America.
Many of the West Indian products have been introduced; sugar, coffee, indigo, ginger,
cotton, and rice thrive well, as do Indian corn, the yam, plantain, pumpkins, banana,
cocoa, baobab, pine-apple, orange, lime, guava, papaw, pomegranate, orange, and lime.
Poultry is particularly abundant. It therefore might claim attention as a fruitful and
productive country but for the malaria of its swampy rivers and low lands.
And now, leaving Sierra Leone, our good ship makes for the Cape of Good Hope,
passing, mostly far out at sea, down that coast along which the Portuguese mariners crept
so cautiously yet so surely till Diaz and Da Gama reached South Africa, while the latter
showed them the way to the fabled Cathaia, the Orient — India, China, and the Spice
Islands.
In the year 1486 " The Cape " of capes par excellence, which rarely nowadays bears
its full title, was discovered by Bartholomew de Diaz, a commander in the service of
John II. of Portugal. He did not proceed to the eastward of it, and it was reserved for
the great Vasco da Gama — afterwards the first Viceroy of India — an incident in whose
career forms, by-the-by, the plot of L'Africaine, Meyerbeer's grand opera, to double it.
It was called at first Cabo Tormentoso — " the Cape of Storms " — but by royal desire
was changed to that of " Buon Esperanza " — " Good Hope " — the title it still bears.
Cape Colony was acquired by Great Britain in 1620, although for a long time it was
practically in the hands of the Dutch, a colony having been planted by their East India
Company. The Dutch held it in this way till 1795, when the territory was once more
taken by our country. It was returned to the Dutch at the Peace of Amiens, only to be
snatched from them again in 1806, and finally confirmed to Britain at the general peace
of 1815.
The population, including the Boers, or farmers of Dutch descent, Hottentots, Kaffirs,
and Malays, is not probably over 600,000, while the original territory is about 700 miles
long by 400 wide, having an area of not far from 200,000 square miles. The capital
of the colony is Cape Town, lying at the foot, as every schoolboy knows, of the celebrated
Table Mountain,
204
THE SEA.
A recent writer, Mr. Boyle,* speaks cautiously of Cape Town and its people. There
are respectable, but not very noticeable, public buildings. " Some old Dutch houses there
are, distinguishable chiefly by a superlative flatness and an extra allowance of windows.
The population is about 30,000 souls, white, black, and mixed. I should incline to
think more than half fall into the third category. They seem to be hospitable and good-
natured in all classes. . . . There is complaint of slowness, indecision, and general
' want of go ' about the place. Dutch blood is said to be still too apparent in business,
SIEH.RA LEONE.
in local government, and in society. I suppose there is sound basis for these accusations,
since trade is migrating so rapidly towards the rival mart of Port Elizabeth. . . . But
ten years ago the entire export of wool passed through Cape Town. Last year, as I find
in the official returns, 28,000,000 Ibs. were shipped at the eastern port out of the whole
37,000,000 Ibs. produced in the colony. The gas-lamps, put up by a sort of coup d'etat
in the municipality, were not lighted until last year, owing to the opposition of the Dutch
town councillors. They urged that decent people didn't want to be out at night, and the
ill-disposed didn't deserve illumination. Such facts seem to show that the city is not
quite up to the mark in all respects."
* "To the Cape for Diamonds." By Frederick Boyle.
OUR SAILOR PRINCE AT THE CAPE.
205
Simon's Bay, near Table Bay, where Cape Town is situated, is a great rendezvous
for the navy; there are docks and soldiers there, and a small town. The bay abounds
in fish. The Rev. John Miluer, chaplain of the Galatea, says that during the visit of
Prince Alfred, " large shoals of fish (a sort of coarse mackerel) were seen all over the
bay; numbers came alongside, and several of them were harpooned with grains by some
of the youngsters from the accommodation-ladder. Later in the day a seal rose, and
continued fishing and rising in the most leisurely manner. At one time it was within
CAPE TOWN.
easy rifle distance, and might have been shot from the ship."* Fish and meat are so
plentiful in the colony that living is excessively cheap.
The visit of his Royal Highness the Sailor Prince, in 1867, will long be remembered in
the colony. That, and the recent diamond discoveries, prove that the people cannot be accused
of sloth and want of enterprise. On arrival at Simon's Bay, the first vessels made out
were the Racoon, on which Prince Alfred had served his time as lieutenant, the Petrel,
just returned from landing poor Livingstone at the Zambesi, and the receiving-ship
Seringapatam. Soon followed official visits, dinner, ball, and fireworks from the ships.
When the Prince was to proceed to Cape Town, all the ships fired a royal salute, and
* " The Cruise of H.M. Ship Galatea." By the Rev. John Milner, B.A., Chaplain, and Oswald W. Brierly,
206 THE SEA.
the fort also, as he landed at the jetty, where he was received by a guard of honour of
the 99th Regiment. A short distance from the landing-place, at the entrance to the
main street, was a pretty arch, decorated with flowering shrubs, and the leaves of the
silver-tree. On his way to this his Royal Highness was met by a deputation from
the inhabitants of Simon's Town and of the Malay population. " This was a very
interesting sight; the chief men, dressed in Oriental costumes, with bright-coloured robes
and turbans, stood in front, and two of them held short wands decorated with paper flowers
of various colours. The Duke shook hands with them, and then they touched him with
their wands. They seemed very much pleased, and looked at him in an earnest and
affectionate manner. Several of the Malays stood round with drawn swords, apparently
acting as a guard of honour. The crowd round formed a very motley group of people
of all colours — negroes, brown Asiatics, Hottentots, and men, women, and children of
every hue. The policemen had enough to do to keep them back as they pressed up close
round the Duke." After loyal addresses had been received, and responded to, the Prince
and suite drove off for Cape Town, the ride to which is graphically described by the
chaplain and artist of the expedition. " The morning was very lovely. Looking to
seaward was the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Hanglip, and the high, broken shores of
Hottentot Holland, seen over the clear blue water of the bay. The horses, carriages,
escort with their drawn swords, all dashing at a rattling pace along the sands in the
bright sunshine, and the long lines of small breakers on the beach, was one of the most
exhilarating sights imaginable. In places the cavalcade emerged from the sands up on
to where the road skirts a rocky shore, and where at this season of the year beautiful
arum lilies and other bright flowers were growing in the greatest profusion. About four
miles from Simon's Bay, we passed a small cove, called Fish-hook Bay, where a few
families of Malay fishermen reside. A whale they had killed in the bay the evening
before lay anchored ready for ' cutting in/ A small flag, called by whalers a ( whiff/
was sticking up in it. We could see from the road that it was one of the usual southern
' right ' whales which occasionally come into Simon's Bay, and are captured there. After
crossing the last of the sands, we reached Kalk Bay, a collection of small houses where
the people from Cape Town come to stay in the summer. As we proceeded, fresh carriages
of private individuals and horsemen continued to join on behind, and it was necessary
to keep a bright look-out to prevent them rushing in between the two carriages containing
the Duke and Governor, with their suites. Various small unpretending arches (every
poor man having put up one on his own account), with flags and flowers, spanned the
road in different places between Simon's Town and Farmer Peck's, a small inn about
nine miles from the anchorage, which used formerly to have the following eccentric
sign-board : —
'THE GENTLE SHEPHERD OF SALISBURY PLAIN.
' FARMER PECKS.
' Multum in Parvo ! Pro bono publico !
Entertainment for man or beast, all of a row,
Lekher kost, as much as you please ;
Excellent beds, without any fleas.
A SOUTH AFEICAN RECEPTION. 3Q7
Nos patriam fugimus ! now we are here,
Vivamus ! let us live by selling beer.
On donne a boire et a manger ici ;
Come in and try it, whoever you be.'
This house was decorated with evergreens, and over the door was a stuffed South
African leopard springing on an antelope. A little further on, after discussing lunch
at a half-way house, a goodly number of volunteer cavalry, in blue-and-white uniforms,
appeared to escort the Sailor Prince into Cape Town. The road passes through pleasant
country ; but the thick red dust which rose as the cavalcade proceeded was overwhelming.
It was a South African version of the ' Derby ' on a hot summer's day. At various
places parties of school-children, arrayed along the road-side, sung the National Anthem
in little piping voices, the singing being generally conducted by mild-looking men in
black gloves and spectacles. At one place stood an old Malay, playing 'God Save the
Ciueen ' on a cracked clarionet, who, quite absorbed as he was in his music, and apparently
unconscious of all around him, looked exceedingly comic. There was everywhere a great
scrambling crowd of Malays and black boys, running and tumbling over each other,
shouting and laughing; women with children tied on their backs, old men, and girls
dressed in every conceivable kind of ragged rig and picturesque colour, with head-gear
of a wonderful nature, huge Malay hats, almost parasols in size, and resembling the
thatch of an English corn-rick; crowns of old black hats; turbans of all proportions and
colours, swelled the procession as it swept along. When the cavalry-trumpet sounded
' trot/ the cloud of dust increased tenfold. Everybody, apparently, who could muster a
horse was mounted, so that ahead and on every side the carriage in which we were following
the Duke was hemmed in and surrounded, and everything became mixed up in one thick
cloud of red dust, in which helmets, swords, hats, puggeries, turbans, and horses almost
disappeared. The crowd hurraed louder than ever, pigs squealed, dogs howled, riders
tumbled off ; the excitement was irresistible. ' Oh ! this is fun ; stand up — never mind
dignity. Whoo-whoop ! ' and we were rushed into the cloud of dust, to escape being
utterly swamped and left astern of the Duke, standing up in the carriage, and holding
on in front, to catch what glimpses we could of what was going on. . . . Some of
the arches were very beautiful; they were all decorated with flowering shrubs, flowers
(particularly the arum lily) and leaves of the silver-tree. In one the words WELCOME
BACK* were formed with oranges. One of the most curious had on its top a large
steamship, with Galatea inscribed upon it, and a funnel out of which real smoke was
made to issue as the Duke passed under. Six little boys dressed as sailors formed the
crew, and stood up singing ' Rule Britannia/ " And so they arrived in Cape Town,
to have levees, receptions, entertainments, and balls by the dozen.
While at the Cape the Duke of Edinburgh laid the foundation of a grand graving-
dock, an adjunct to the Table Bay Harbour Works, a most valuable and important addition
to the resources of the Royal Navy, enabling the largest ironclad to be repaired at that
distant point. The dock is four hundred feet long, and ninety feet wide. For more
than forty years previously frequent but unsuccessful efforts had been made to provide
* Alluding to the previous visit of Prince Alfred when a midshipman.
208 THE SEA.
a harbour of refuge in Table Bay; now, in addition to this splendid dock, it has a
fine breakwater.
Officers of the Royal Navy may occasionally get the opportunity afforded the Prince,
of attending an elephant hunt. From the neighbourhood of the Cape itself the biggest
of beasts has long retired ; but three hundred miles up the coast, at Featherbed Bay,
where there is a settlement, it is still possible to enjoy some sport.
To leave the port or town of Knysna — where, by-the-by, "the Duke was entertained
at a great feed of South African oysters — was found to be difficult and perilous. The
entrance to the harbour is very fine ; a high cliff comes down sheer to the sea on one side,
while on the other there is an angular bluff, with a cave through it. As the Petrel
steamed out, a large group of the ladies of the district waved their handkerchiefs, and
the elephant-hunters cheered. It was now evident, from the appearance of the bar, that
the Petrel had not come out a moment too soon. A heavy sea of rollers extended nearly
the whole way across the mouth of the harbour, and broke into a long thundering crest
•* o o
of foam, leaving only one small space on the western side clear of actual surf. For this
opening the Petrel steered ; but even there the swell was so great that the vessel reared and
pitched fearfully, and touched the bottom as she dipped astern into the deep trough of the sea.
The slightest accident to the rudder, and nothing short of a miracle could have saved them
from going on to the rocks, where a tremendous surf was breaking. Providentially, she got
out safely, and soon the party was transferred to the Racoon, which returned to Simon's Bay.
On his return from the elephant hunt, the Prince gave a parting ball. A capital ball-
room, 135 feet long by 44 wide, was improvised out of an open boat-house by a party
of blue- jackets, who, by means of ships' lanterns, flags, arms arranged as ornaments, and
beautiful ferns and flowers, effected a transformation as wonderful as anything recorded in
the "Arabian Nights/' the crowning feature of the decorations being the head of one
of the elephants from the Knysna, surmounting an arch of evergreens. Most of the
visitors had to come all the way from Cape Town, and during the afternoon were to be
seen flocking along the sands in vehicles of every description, many being conveyed to
Simon's Town a part of the distance in a navy steam-tender or the Galatea's steam-launch.
The ball was, of course, a grand success.
This not being a history of Cape Colony, but rather of what the sailor will find at or
near its ports and harbours, the writer is relieved from any necessity of treating on past
or present troubles with the Boers or the natives. Of course, everything was tinted
coulenr de rose at the Prince's visit, albeit at that very time the colony was in a bad way, with
over speculation among the commercial classes, a cattle plague, disease among sheep, and
a grape-disease. Mr. Frederick Boyle, whose recent work on the Diamond-fields has been
already quoted, and who had to leave a steamer short of coal at Saldanha Bay, seventy or
eighty miles from Cape Town, and proceed by a rather expensive route, presents a picture
far from gratifying of some of the districts through which he passed. At Saldanha Bay
agriculture gave such poor returns that it did not even pay to export produce to the
Cape. The settlers exist, but can hardly be said to live. They have plenty of cattle and
sheep, sufficient maize and corn, but little money. Mr. Boyle describes the homestead of
a Boer substantially as follows : —
THE LIFE OF A BOKK. 209
Reaching the home of a farmer named Vasson, he found himself in the midst of a
scene quite patriarchal. All the plain before the house was white with sheep and lambs,
drinking- at the " dam " or in long troughs. The dam is an indispensable institution in a
country where springs are scarce, and where a river is a prodigy. It is the new settler's
first work, even before erecting his house, to find a hollow space, and dam it up, so as to
make a reservoir. He then proceeds to make the best sun-dried bricks he can, and to erect
his cottage, usually of two, and rarely more than three, rooms. Not unfrequently, there
THE "GALATEA" PASSING KNYSNA HEADS.
is a garden, hardly worthy of the name, where a few potatoes and onions are raised. The
farmers, more especially the Dutch, are " the heaviest and largest in the world." At an
early age their drowsy habits and copious feeding run them into flesh. " Three times a
day the family gorges itself upon lumps of mutton, fried in the tallowy fat of the sheep's
tail, or else — their only change of diet — upon the tasteless frlcadel — kneaded balls of
meat and onions, likewise swimming in grease. Very few vegetables they have, and those
are rarely used. Brown bread they make, but scarcely touch it. Fancy existing from
birth to death upon mutton scraps, half boiled, half fried, in tallow ! So doth the Boer.
It is not eating, but devouring, with him. And fancy the existence ! always alone with
one's father, mother, brothers, and sisters ; of whom not one can do more than write his
name, scarce one can read, not one has heard of any event in history, nor dreamed of such
27
210 THE SEA.
existing things as art or science, or poetry, or aught that pertains to civilisation." An
unpleasant picture, truly, and one to which there are many exceptions. It was doubtful
whether Mr. Vasson could read. His farm was several thousand acres. The ancient law
of Cape Colony gave the settler 3,000 morgen — something more than 0,000 acres. He was
not obliged to take so much, but, whatever the size of his farm might be, it must be
circular in shape ; and as the circumference of a property could only touch the adjoining
grants it follows that there were immense corners or tracts of land left waste between.
Clever and ambitious farmers, in these later days, have been silently absorbing said corners
into their estates, greatly increasing their size.
The Cape cannot be recommended to the notice of poor emigrants, but to capitalists
it offers splendid inducements. Mr. Irons, in his work on the Cape and Natal settlements,*
cites several actual cases, showing the profits on capital invested in sheep-farming. In one
case £1,250 realised, in about three years, £2,860, which includes the sale of the wool.
A second statement gives the profits on an outlay of £2,225, after seven years. It amounts
to over £8,000. Rents in the towns are low; beef and mutton do not exceed fourpence
per pound, while bread, made largely from imported flour, is a shilling and upwards per
four-pound loaf.
So many sailors have made for the Diamond-fields, since their discovery, from the Cape,
Port Elizabeth, or Natal, and so many more will do the same, as any new deposit is found,
that it will not be out of place here to give the facts concerning them. In 1871, when
Mr. Boyle visited them, the ride up cost from £12 to £16, with additional expenses for
meals, &c. Of course, a majority of the 50,000 men who have been congregated at times
at the various fields could not and did not afford this; but it is a tramp of 750 miles
from Cape Town, or 450 from Port Elizabeth or Natal. From the Cape, a railway, for about
sixty miles, eases some of the distance. On the journey up, which reads very like Western
experiences in America, two of three mules were twenty-six hours and a half in harness,
and covered 110 miles ! South Africa requires a society for the prevention of cruelty to
animals, one would think. Mr. Boyle also saw another way by which the colonist may
become rapidly wealthy — in ostrich-farming. Broods, purchased for £5 to £U, in three years
gain their full plumages, and yield in feathers £1- to £6 per annum. They become quite
tame, are not delicate to rear, and are easily managed. And they also met the down coaches
from the fields, on one of which a young fellow — almost a boy — had no less than 235 carats
with him. At last they reached Pniel ("a camp"), a place which once held 5,000 workers
and delvers, and in November, 1872, was reduced to a few hundred, like the deserted
diggings in California and Australia. It had, however, yielded largely for a time.
The words, "Here be diamonds," are to be found inscribed on an old mission- map of
a part of the Colony, of the date of 1750, or thereabouts. In 1867, a trader up country,
near Hope Town, saw the children of a Boer playing with some pebbles, picked up along
the banks of the Orange River. An ostrich-hunter named O'Reilly was present, and the
pair of them were struck with the appearance of one of the stones, and they tried it on
glass, scratching the sash all over. A bargain was soon struck : O'Reilly was to take it
to Cape Town; and there Sir P. E. Wodehouse soon gave him £500 for it. Then came an
<* " The Settler's Guide to the Cape of Good Hope," &c., by Mr. Irons.
THE DIAMOND FIELDS. £11
excitement, of course. In 1869, a Hottentot shepherd, named Swartzboy, brought to a
country store a gem of 83£ carats. The shopman, in his master's absence, did not like to
risk the £200 worth of goods demanded. Swartzboy passed on to the farm of one Niekirk,
where he asked, and eventually got, £400. Niekirk sold it for £12,000 the same day!
Now, of course, the excitement became a fevered frenzy.
Supreme among the camps around Pniel reigned Mr. President Parker, a sailor who,
leaving the sea, had turned trader. Mr. Parker, with his counsellors, were absolute in
power, and, all in all, administered justice very fairly. Ducking in the river was the
mildest punishment; the naval "cat" came next; while dragging through the river was
the third grade ; last of all came the " spread eagle," in which the culprit was extended
flat, hands and feet staked down, and so exposed to the angry sun.
In a short time, the yield from the various fields was not under £300,000 per month,
and claims were sold at hundreds and thousands of pounds apiece. Then came a time of
depression, when the dealers would not buy, or only at terribly low prices. Meantime,
although meat was always cheap, everything else was very high. A cabbage, for example,
often fetched 10s., a water-melon 15s., and onions and green figs a shilling apiece. Forage
for horses was half-a-crown a bundle of four pounds. To-day they are little higher on the
Fields than in other parts of the Colony.
That a number of diggers have made snug little piles, ranging from two or three to eight,
ten, or more thousand pounds, is undeniable, but they were very exceptional cases, after
all. The dealers in diamonds, though, often turned over immense sums very rapidly.
And now, before taking our leave of the African station, let us pay a flying visit
to Natal, which colony has been steadily rising of late years, and which offers many
advantages to the visitor and settler. The climate, in spite of the hot sirocco which
sometimes blows over it, and the severe thunderstorms, is, all in all, superior to most of
the African climates, inasmuch as the rainfall is as nearly as possible that of London, and
it falls at the period when most wanted — at the time of greatest warmth and most
active vegetation. The productions of Natal are even more varied than those of the Cape,
while arrowroot, sugar, cotton, and Indian corn are staple articles. The great industries
are cattle and sheep-rearing, and, as in all parts of South Africa, meat is excessively
cheap, retailing at threepence or fourpence a pound.
Natal was discovered by Vasco da Gama, and received from him the name of Terra
Natalis — "Land of the Nativity" — because of his arriving on Christmas Day. Until 1823
it was little known or visited. A settlement was then formed by a party of Englishmen,
who were joined by a number of dissatisfied Dutchmen from the Cape. In 1838 the
British Government took possession. There was a squabble, the colonists being somewhat
defiant for a while, and some little fighting ensued. It was proposed by the settlers to
proclaim the Republic of Natalia, but on the appearance of a strong British force, they
subsided quietly, and Natal was placed under the control of the Governor of the Cape.
In 1856, it was erected into a separate colony.
To moderate capitalists it offers many advantages. Land is granted on the easiest
terms, usually four shillings per acre ; and free grants are given, in proportion to a settler's
capital : £500 capital receives a land order for 200 acres. An arrowroot plantation and
213 THE SEA.
factory can be started for £500 or £600, and a coffee plantation for something- over £1,000.
Sugar-planting, &c., is much more expensive, and would require for plant, &c., £5,000,
or more.
And now, on the way home from the African station, the good ship will pass close
to, if indeed it does not touch at, the Island of St. Helena, a common place of refresh-
ment for vessels sailing to the northward. Vessels coming southward rarely do so; sailing
«hips can hardly make the island. It lies some ],200 miles from the African coasts, in
mid-ocean. St. Helena has much the appearance, seen from a distance, of the summit of
some great submarine mountain, its rugged and perpendicular cliffs rising from the shore
to altitudes from 300 to 1,500 feet. In a few scattered places there are deep, precipitous
ravines, opening to the sea, whose embouchures form difficult but still possible landing-
places for the fishermen. In one of the lai-gest of these, towards the north-west, the
capital and port of the island, James Town, is situated. It is the residence of the
authorities. The anchorage is good and sufficiently deep, and the port is well protected
from the winds. The town is entered by an arched gateway, within which is a spacious
parade, lined with official residences, and faced by a handsome church. The town is
in no way remarkable, but has well-supplied shops. The leading inhabitants prefer to live
outside it on the higher and cooler plateaux of the island, where many of them have very
fine country houses, foremost of which is a villa named Plantation House, belonging to
the governor, surrounded by pleasant grounds, handsome trees and shrubs. In the garden
gi'ounds tropical and ordinary fruits and vegetables flourish ; the mango, banana, tamarind,
and sugar-cane; the orange, citron, grape, fig, and olive, equally with the common fruits
of England. The yam and all the European vegetables abound; three crops of potatoes
have been often raised from the same ground in one year. The hills are covered with
the cabbage tree, and the log-wood and gum-wood trees. Cattle and sheep are scarce,
but goats browse in immense herds on the hills. No beasts of prey are to be met, but
there are plenty of unpleasant and poisonous insects. Game and fish are abundant, and
turtles are often found. All in all, it is not a bad place for Jack after a long voyage,
although not considered healthy. It has a military governor, and there are barracks.
The interior is a plateau, divided by low mountains, the former averaging 1,500
feet above the sea. The island is undoubtedly of volcanic origin. It was discovered on
the 22nd May (St. Helena's Day), by Juan de Nova, a Portuguese. The Dutch first
held it, and it was wrested from them first by England in 1673, Charles II. soon after-
wards granting it to the East India Company, who, with the exception of the period of
Napoleon's imprisonment, held the proprietorship to 1834, when it became an appanage
of the Crown.
The fame of the little island rests on its having been the prison of the great dis-
turber of Europe. Every reader knows the circumstances which preceded that event.
He had gone to Rochefort with the object of embarking for America, but finding the
whole coast so blockaded as to render that scheme imprac' icable, surrendered himself to
Captain Maitland, commander of the English man-of-war BrUeroplion, who immediately
set sail for Torbay. No notice whatever was taken of his letter — an uncourteous proceeding,
to say the least of it, towards a fallen foe— and on the 7th of August he was removed
NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA.
2J3
to the Northumberland, the flag-ship of Sir George Cockburn, which immediately set sail for
St. Helena.
On arrival the imperial captive was at first lodged in a sort of inn. The following
day the ex-emperor and suite rode out to visit Long wood, the seat selected for his resi-
dence, and when returning noted a small villa with a pavilion attached to it, about two
miles from the town, the residence of Mr. Bal combe, an inhabitant of the island. The spot
attracted the emperor's notice, and the admiral, who had accompanied him, thought it
ST. HELENA.
would be better for him to remain there than to go back to the town, where the sentinels
at the doors and the gaping crowds in a manner confined him to his chamber. The place
pleased the emperor, for the position was quiet, and commanded a fine view. The
pavilion was a kind of summer-house on a pointed eminence, about fifty paces from the
house, where the family were accustomed to resort in fine weather, and this was the
retreat hired for the temporary abode of the emperor. It contained only one room on
the ground-floor, without curtains or shutters, and scarcely possessed a seat; and when
Napoleon retired to rest, one of the windows had to be barricaded, so draughty was it, in
order to exclude the night air, to which he had become particularly sensitive. What a
contrast to the gay palaces of France !
In December the emperor removed to Longwood, riding thither on a small Cape
214 THE SEA.
horse, and in his uniform of a chasseur of the guards. The road was lined with spec-
tators, and he was received at the entrance to Longwood by a guard under arms, who
rendered the prescribed honour to their illustrious captive. The place, which had been a
farm of the East India Company, is situated on one of the highest parts of the island, and
the difference between its temperature and that of the valley below is very great. It is
surrounded by a level height of some extent, and is near the eastern coast. It is stated
that continual and frequently violent winds blow regularly from the same quarter. The
sun was rarely seen, and there were heavy rainfalls. The water, conveyed to Longwood
in pipes, was found to be so unwholesome as to require boiling before it was fit for use.
The surroundings were barren rocks, gloomy deep valleys, and desolate gullies, the only
redeeming feature being a glimpse of the ocean on one hand. All this after La Belle
France !
Longwood as a residence had not much to boast of. The building was rambling and
inconveniently arranged; it had been built up by degrees, as the wants of its former
inmates had increased. One or two of the suite slept in lofts, reached by ladders and
trap-doors. The windows and beds were curtainless, and the furniture mean and scanty.
Inhospitable and in bad taste, ye in power at the time ! In front of the place, and
separated by a tolerably deep ravine, the 53rd Regiment was encamped in detached bodies
on the neighbouring heights. Here the caged lion spent the last five weary years of his
life till called away by the God of Battles.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SERVICE. — OFFICERS' LIFE ON BOARD.
Conditions of Life on Ship-board— A Model Ward-room— An Admiral's Cabin -Captains and Captains— The Sailor and his
Superior Officers— A Contrast— A Commander of the Old School— Jack Larmour— Lord Cochrane's Experiences- His
Chest Curtailed— The Stinking Ship— The First Command— Shaving under Difficulties— The Speedy and her Prizes—
The Doctor— On Board a Gun-boat -Cabin and Dispensary-Cockroaches and Centipedes— Other horrors— The
Naval Chaplain— His Duties— Stories of an Amateur— The Engineer— His Increasing Importance— Popularity of the
Navy— Nelson always a Model Commander— The Idol of his Colleagues, Officers, and Men— Taking the Men into
his Confidence— The Action between the Bcllona and Courageux- Captain Falknor's Speech to the Crew— An Obsolete
Custom— Crossing the Line— Neptune's Visit to the Quarter-deck— The Navy of To-day — Its Backbone— Progressive
Increase in the Size of Vessels— Naval Volunteers— A Noble Movement— Excellent Results— The Naval Reserve.
IN the previous pages we have given some account of the various stations visited by the Royal
Navy of Great Britain. Let us next take a glance at the ships themselves — the quarter-deck,
the captain's cabin, and the ward-room. In a word, let us see how the officers of a ship
live, move, and have their being on board.
Their condition depends very much on their ship, their captain, and themselves.
The first point may be dismissed briefly, as the general improvement in all descriptions
of vessels, including their interior arrangements, is too marked to need mentioning. The
ward-room of a modern man-of-war is often as well furnished as any other dining-room —
handsomely carpeted, the sides adorned with pictures, with comfortable chairs and lounges,
ON DECK OF A MAN-OF-WAR, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
TYPES OF CAPTAINS. 215
and excellent appointments at table. In the ward-room of a Russian corvette visited b^
the writer, he found a saloon large enough for a ball, with piano, and gorgeous side-board,
set out as in the houses of most of the northern nations of Europe, with sundry bottles
and incitives to emptying them, in the shape of salt anchovies and salmon, caviare and
cheese. In a British flag-ship he found the adrniraFs cabin, while in port at least, a
perfect little bijou of a drawing-room, with harmonium and piano, vases of flowers, port-
folios of drawings, an elaborate stove, and all else that could conduce to comfort and
luxury. Outside of this was a more plainly-furnished cabin, used as a dining-room. Of
course much of this disappears at sea. The china and glass are securely packed, and all
of the smaller loose articles stowed away ; the piano covered up in canvas and securely
"tied up" to the side; likely enough the carpet removed, and a rough canvas substi-
tuted. Still, all is ship-shape and neat as a new pin. The few "old tubs" of vessels
still in the service are rarely employed beyond trifling harbour duties, or are kept for
emergencies on foreign stations. They will soon disappear, to be replaced by smart and
handy little gun-boats or other craft, where, if the accommodations are limited, at least
the very most is made of the room at command. How different all this is to many of
the vessels of the last century and commencement of this, described by our nautical
novelists as little better than colliers, pest ships, and tubs, smelling of pitch, paint,
bilge-water, tar, and rum ! Readers will remember Marryafs captain, who, with his wife,
was so inordinately fond of pork that he turned his ship into a floating pig-sty. At his
dinner there appeared mock-turtle soup (of pig's head) ; boiled pork and pease pudding;
roast spare rib ; sausages and pettitoes ; and, last of all, sucking-pig. He will doubtless
remember how he was eventually frightened off the ship, then about to proceed to the
West Indies, by the doctor telling him that with his habit of living he would not give
much for his life on that station. But although Marryat's characters were true to the
life of his time, you would go far to find a similar example to-day. Captains still have
their idiosyncrasies, but not of such a marked nature. There may be indolent captains,
like he who was nicknamed "The Sloth;" or, less likely, prying captains, like he in
"Peter Simple," who made himself so unpopular that he lost all the good sailors on
board, and had to put up with a "scratch crew;" or (a comparatively harmless variety)
captains who amuse their officers with the most outrageous yarns, but who are in all
else the souls of honour. Who can help laughing over that Captain Kearney, who tells
the tale of the Atta of Roses ship ? He relates how she had a puncheon of the precious
essence on board ; it could be smelt three miles off at sea, and the odour was so strong
on board that the men fainted when they ventured near the hold. The timbers of the
ship became so impregnated with the smell that they could never make any use of her
afterwards, till they broke her up and sold her to the shopkeepers of Brighton and Tun-
bridge-wells, who turned her into scented boxes and fancy articles, and then into money.
The absolutely vulgar captain is a thing of the past, for the possibilities of entering "by
the hawse-hole," the technical expression applied to the man who was occasionally in the
old times promoted from the fo'castle to the quarter-deck, are very rare indeed nowa-
days. Still, there are gentlemen — and there are gentlemen. The perfect example is a
rar a avis everywhere.
218 THE SEA.
The true reason why a captain may make his officers and men constitute an agreeable
happy family, or a perfect pandemonium of discontent and misery, consists in the abuse
of his absolute power. That power is necessarily bestowed on him ; there must be a
head; without good discipline, no vessel can be properly handled, or the emergencies of
seamanship and warfare met. But as he can in minor matters have it all his own way,
and even in many more important ones can determine absolutely, without the fear of any-
thing or anybody short of a court-martial, he may, and often does, become a martinet, if
not a very tyrant.
The subordinate officer's life may be rendered a burden by a cantankerous and exacting
captain. Every trifling omission may be magnified into a grave offence. Some captains
seem to go on the principle of the Irishman who asked, " Who'll tread on my coat tails?"
or of the other, "Did you blow your nose at me, sir?" And again, that which in the
captain is no offence is a very serious one on the part of the officer or seaman. He may
exhaust the vocabulary of abuse and bad language, but not a retort may be made. In the
Royal Navy of to-day, though by no means in the merchant service, this is, however,
nearly obsolete. However tyrannically disposed, the language of commanders and officers is
nearly sure to be free from disgraceful epithets, blasphemies, and scurrilous abuse, cursing
and swearing. Officers should be, and generally are, gentlemen.
A commanding lieutenant of the old school — a type of officer not to be found in the
Royal Navy nowadays — is well described by Admiral Cochrane.'* " My kind uncle," writes
he, " the Hon. John Cochrane, accompanied me on board the Iliad for the purpose of
introducing me to my future superior officer, Lieutenant Larmour, or, as he was more
familiarly known in the service, Jack Larmour — a specimen of the old British seaman, little
calculated to inspire exalted ideas of the gentility of the naval profession, though presenting
at a glance a personification of its efficiency. Jack was, in fact, one of a not very numerous
class, whom, for their superior seamanship, the Admiralty was glad to promote from the
forecastle to the quarter-deck, in order that they might mould into ship-shape the question-
able materials supplied by parliamentary influence, even then paramount in the navy to
a degree which might otherwise have led to disaster. Lucky was the commander who
could secure such an officer for his quarter-deck.
"On my introduction, Jack was dressed in the garb of a seaman, with marlinspike
slung round his neck, and a lump of grease in his hand, and was busily employed in
setting up the rigging. His reception of me was anything but gracious. Indeed, a tall
fellow, over six feet high, the nephew of his captain, and a lord to boot, were not very
promising recommendations for a midshipman. It is not impossible he might have learned
from my uncle something about a military commission of several years' standing; and
this, coupled with my age and stature, might easily have impressed him with the idea
that he had caught a scapegrace with whom the family did not know what to do, and
that he was hence to be saddled with a ' hard bargain.'
"After a little constrained civility on the .part of the first lieutenant, who was
evidently not very well pleased with the interruption to his avocation, he ordered me to
*"Thc Autobiography of a Seaman." By Thomas, tenth Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B., Admiral of the
lied, &c. &c.
218 THE SEA
'get my traps below/ Scarcely was the order complied with, and myself introduced to
the midshipman's berth, than I overheard -Jack grumbling at the magnitude of my equip-
ments. ' This Lord Cochrane's chest ? Does Lord Cochrane think he is going to bring
a cabin aboard ? Get it up on the main-deck ! '
"This order being promptly obeyed, amidst a running lire of similar objurgations,
the key of the chest was sent for, and shortly afterwards the sound of sawing became
audible. It was now high time to follow my property, which, to my astonishment, had
been turned out on the deck — Jack superintending the sawing off one end of the chest
just beyond the keyhole, and accompanying the operation by sundry uncomplimentary
observations on midshipmen in general, and on myself in particular.
" The metamorphosis being completed to the lieutenant's satisfaction — though not at all
to mine, for my neat chest had become an unshapely piece of lumber — he pointed out the
' lubberliness of shore-going people in not making keyholes where they could most easily
be '"'""-n '• '
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MAP OF THE ISLANDS OF THE 1'ACIFIC.
published of the Pandora's visit, " weeping over their tender offspring, was too moving
a scene for any feeling heart. Their wives brought them ample supplies of every delicacy
that the country afforded while we lay there, and behaved with the greatest fidelity and
affection to them."* Stewart, the midshipman, had espoused the daughter of an old chief,
and they had lived together in the greatest harmony ; a beautiful little girl had been
the fruit of the union. When Stewart was confined in irons, Peggy, for so her husband
had named her, flew with her infant in a canoe to the arms of her husband. The interview
was so painful that Stewart begged she might not be admitted on board again. Forbidden
to see him, she sank into the greatest dejection, and seemed to have lost all relish for
food and existence ; she pined away and died two months afterwards, f
All the mutineers that were left on the island having been secured, the ship proceeded
to other islands in search of those who had gone away in the Bounty. It must be
mentioned, however, that two of the men had perished by violent deaths. They had
* "Voyage Round the World," by G. Hamilton. f "A Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific"
THE SEA.
made friends with a chief , and one of them, Churchill, was his tayo, or sworn friend.
The chief died suddenly without issue, and Churchill, according to the custom of the
country, succeeded to his property and dignity. The other, Thomson, murdered Churchill,
probably to acquire his possessions, and was in his turn stoned to death by the natives.
Captain Edwards learned that after Bligh had been set adrift, Christian had thrown
overboard the greater part of the bread-fruit plants, and divided the property of those
they had abandoned. They at first went to an island named Toobouai, where they
intended to form a settlement, but the opposition of the natives, and their own quarrels,
determined them to revisit Otahcite. There the leading natives were very curious to
know what had become of Bligh and the rest, and the mutineers invented a story to the
effect that they had unexpectedly fallen in with Captain Cook at an island he had just
discovered, and that Lieutenant Bligh was stopping with him, and had appointed Mr.
Christian commander of the Bounty; and, further, he was now come for additional
supplies for them. This story imposed upon the simple-minded natives, and in the
course of a very few days the Bounty received on board thirty-eight goats, 312 hogs, eight
dozen fowls, a bull and a cow, and large quantities of fruit. They also took with them a
number of natives, male and female, intending to form a settlement at Toobouai. Skirmishes
with the natives, generally brought on by their own violent conduct or robberies, and
eternal bickerings among themselves, delayed the progress of their fort, and it was
subsequently abandoned, sixteen of the men electing to stop at Otaheite, and the remaining
nine leaving finally in the Bounty, Christian having been heard frequently to say that
his object was to find some uninhabited island, in which there was no harbour, that he
would run the ship ashore, and make use of her materials to form a settlement. This
was all that Captain Edwards could learn, and after a fruitless search of three months he
abandoned further inquiry, and proceeded on his homeward voyage.
Off the east coast of New Holland, the Pandora ran on a reef, and was speedily a
wreck. In an hour and a half after she struck, there were eight and a half feet of water
in her hold, and in spite of continuous pumping and baling, it became evident that she
was a doomed vessel. With all the efforts made to save the crew, thirty-one of the ship's
company and four mutineers were lost with the vessel. Very little notice, indeed, seems
to have been taken of the latter by the captain, who was afterwai-ds accused of considerable
inhumanity. " Before the final catastrophe/' says the surgeon of the vessel, " three of
the Bounty's people, Coleman, Norman, and M'Intosh, were now let out of irons, and
sent to work at the pumps. The others offered their assistance, and begged to be allowed
a chance of saving their lives; instead of which, two additional sentinels were placed
over them, with orders to shoot any who should attempt to get rid of their fetters.
Seeing no prospect of escape, they betook themselves to prayer, and prepared to meet
their fate, every one expecting that the ship would soon go to pieces, her rudder and part
of the stern-post being already beaten away." When the ship was actually sinking, it is
stated that no notice was taken of the prisoners, although Captain Edwards was entreated
by young Heywood, the midshipman, to have mercy on them, when he passed over theii
prison to make his own escape, the ship then lying on her broadside with the larboard
bow completely under water. Fortunately, the master-at-arms, either by accident, of
THE LAST OF THE SURVIVORS. 247
probably design, when slipping- from the roof of " Pandora's Box" into the sea, let the
keys unlocking1 the hand-cuffs and irons fall through the scuttle, and thus enabled them
to commence their own liberation, in which they were assisted by one brave seaman,
William Moulter, who said he would set them free or go to the bottom with them. He
wrenched away, with great difficulty, the bars of the prison. Immediately after the ship
went down, leaving nothing visible but the top-mast cross-trees.
More than half an hour elapsed before the survivors were all picked up by the
boats. Amongst the drowned were Mr. Stewart, the midshipman, and three others of the
Bounty's people, the whole of whom perished with the manacles on their hands. Thirty-
one of the ship's company were lost. The four boat-loads which escaped had scarcely
any provis'ons on board, the allowance being two wine-glasses of water to each man,
and a very small quantity of bread, calculated for sixteen days. Their voyage of 1,000
miles on the open ocean, and the sufferings endured, were similar to those experienced
by Bligh's party, but not so severe. After staying at Coupang for about three weeks,
they left on a Dutch East Indiaman, which conveyed them to Samarang, and subsequently
Batavia, whence they proceeded to Europe.
After an exhaustive court-martial had been held on the ten prisoners brought home by
Captain Edwards, three of the seamen were condemned and executed; Mr. Hey wood,
the midshipman, the boatswain's-mate, and the steward were sentenced to death, but
afterwards pardoned; four others were tried and acquitted. It will be remembered that
four others were drowned at the wreck.
Twenty years had rolled away, and the mutiny of the Bounty was almost forgotten,
when Captain Folger, of the American ship Topaz, reported to Sir Sydney Smith, at
Valparaiso, that he had discovered the last of the survivors on Pitcairn Island. This fact
was transmitted to the Admiralty, and received on May 14th, 1809, but the troublous
times prevented any immediate investigation. In 1814, H.M.S. Briton, commanded by
Sir Thomas Staines, and the Tiigus, Captain Pipon, were cruising in the Pacific, when
they fell in with the little known island of Pitcairn. He discovered not merely that it
was inhabited, but afterwards, to his great astonishment, that every individual on the
island spoke very good English. The little village was composed of neat huts, embowered
in luxuriant plantations. " Presently they observed a few natives coming down a steep
descent with their canoes on their shoulders, and in a few minutes perceived one of these
little vessels dashing through a heavy surf, and paddling off towards the ships; but their
astonishment was extreme when, on coming alongside, they were hailed in the English
language with ' Won't you heave us a rope now ? '
"The first young man that sprang with extraordinary alacrity up the side and stood
before them on the deck, said, in reply to the question, 'Who are you?' that his name
was Thursday October Christian, son of the late Fletcher Christian, by an Otaheitan
mother; that he was the first born on the island, and that he was so called because he was
brought into the world on a Thursday in October. Singularly strange as all this was to
Sir Thomas Staines and Captain Pipon, this youth soon satisfied them that he was none
other than the person he represented himself to be, and that he was fully acquainted with
the whole history of the Bounty; and, in short, the island before them was the retreat
248
THE SEA.
of the mutineers of that ship. Young Christian was, at this time, about twenty-four
years of age, a fine tall youth, full six feet high, with dark, almost black hair, and a
countenance open and extremely interesting. As he wore no clothes, except a piece of
cloth round his loins, and a straw hat, ornamented with black cock's feathers, his fine
figure, and well-shaped muscular limbs, were displayed to great advantage, and attracted
general admiration. * * * He told them that he was married to a woman much
H.M.S. " BRITON," AT FITCAIRN ISLAND.
older- than himself, one of those that had accompanied his father from Otaheite. His
companion was a fine, handsome youth of seventeen or eighteen years of age, of the name
of George Young, the son of Young, the midshipman/'' In the cabin, when invited to
refreshments, one of them astonished the captains by asking the blessing with much
appearance of devotion, " For what we are going to receive, the Lord make us truly
thankful." The only surviving Englishman of the crew was John Adams, and when the
captains landed through the surf, with no worse result than a good wetting, the old man
came down to meet them. Both he and his aged wife were at first considerably alarmed
at seeing the king's uniform, but was reassured when he was told that they had no
intention of disturbing him. Adams said that he had no great share in the mutiny, that
he was sick at the time, and was afterwards compelled to take a musket. He even
48
PITCAIRN ISLAND.
THE MUTINY OF THE NORE. 249
expressed his willingness to go io England, but this was strongly opposed by his
daughter. " All the women burst into tears, and the young men stood motionless and
absorbed in grief; but on their being assured that he should on no account be
molested, it is impossible/' says Pipon, "to describe the universal joy that these poor
people manifested."
When Christian had arrived at the island, he found no good anchorage, so he ran the
Bounty into a small creek against the cliff, in order to get out of her such articles as
might be of use. Having stripped her, he set fire to the hull, so that afterwards she
should not be seen by passing vessels, and his retreat discovered. It is pretty clear that
the misguided young man was never happy after the rash and mutinous step he had
taken, and he became sullen, morose, and tyrannical to his companions. He was at length
shot by an Otaheitan, and in a short time only two of the mutineers were left alive.
The colony at this time comprised forty-six persons, mostly grown-up young people,
all of prepossessing appearance. John Adams had made up for any share he may have
had in the revolt, by instructing them in religious and moral principles. The girls were
modest and bashful, with bright eyes, beautifully white teeth, and every indication of
health. They carried baskets of fruit over such roads and down such precipices as were
scarcely passable by any creatures except goats, and over which we could scarcely scramble
with the help of our hands. When Captain Beechey, in his well-known voyage of discovery
on the Blossom, called there in 1825, he found Adams, then in his sixty-fifth year, dressed
in a sailor's shirt and trousers, and with all a sailor's manners, doffing his hat and smoothing
down his bald forehead whenever he was addressed by the officers of the Blossom. Many
circumstances connected with the subsequent history of the happy little colony cannot
be detailed here. Suffice it to say that it still thrives, and is one of the most model
settlements of the whole world, although descended from a stock so bad. Of the nine
who landed on Pitcairn's Island only two died a natural death. Of the original officers
and crew of the Bounty more than half perished in various untimely ways, the whole burden
of guilt resting on Christian and his fellow-conspirators.
The mutiny just described sinks into insignificance before that which is about to be
recounted, the greatest mutiny of English history — that of the Nore. At that one point
no less than 40,000 men were concerned, while the disaffection spread to many other
stations, some of them far abroad. There can be little doubt that prior to 17U7, the year
of the event, our sailors had laboured under many grievances, while the navy was full of
" pressed " men, a portion of whom were sure to retain a thorough dislike to the service,
although so many fought and died bravely for their country. Some of the grievances
which the navy suffered were probably the result of careless and negligent legislation, rather
than of deliberate injustice, but they were none the less galling on that account. The pay
of the sailor had remained unchanged from the reign of Charles II., although the prices of
the necessaries and common luxuries of life had greatly risen. His pension had also
remained at a stationary rate ; that of the soldier had been augmented. On the score of
provisions he was worse off than an ordinary pauper. He was in the hands of the purser,
whose usual title at that time indicates his unpopularity : he was termed " Nipcheese."
The provisions served were of the worst quality ; fourteen instead of sixteen ounces went
32
250 THE SEA.
to the navy pound. The purser of those days was taken from an inferior class of men, and
often obtained his position by influence, rather than merit. • He generally retired on a
competency after a life of deliberate dishonesty towards the defenders of his country, who,
had they received everything to which they were entitled, would not have been too well
treated, and, as it was, were cheated and robbed, without scruple and without limit. The
reader will recall the many naval novels, in which poor Jack's daily allowance of grog was
curtailed by the purveyor's thumb being put in the pannikin : this was the least of the
evils he suffered. In those war times the discipline of the service was specially rigid and
severe, and most of this was doubtless necessary. Men were not readily obtained in sufficient
numbers ; consequently, when in harbour, leave ashore was very constantly refused, for fear
of desertions. These and a variety of other grievances, real or fancied, nearly upset the
equilibrium of our entire navy. It is not too much to say that not merely England's
naval supremacy was for a time in the greatest jeopardy through the disaffection of the men,
but that our national existence, almost — and most certainly our existence as a first-class power
— was alarmingly threatened, the cause being nothing more nor less than a very general
spirit of mutiny. To do the sailors justice, they sought at first to obtain fair play by all
legitimate means in their power. It must be noted, also, that a large number of our best
officers knew that there was very general discontent. Furthermore, it was well known on
shore that numerous secret societies opposed to monarchy, and incited by the example of the
French Revolution, had been established. Here, again, the Government had made a fatal
mistake. Members of these societies had been convicted in numbers, and sent to sea as a
punishment. These men almost naturally became ringleaders and paTtakers in the mutiny,
which would, however, have occurred sooner or later, under any circumstances. In the case
of the mutiny at Spithead, about to be recounted, the sailors exhibited an organisation and
an amount of information which might have been expected from " sea-lawyers " rather
than ordinary Jack Tars ; while in the more serious rebellion of the Nore, the co-operation
of other agents was established beyond doubt.
The first step taken by the men was perfectly legitimate, and had it been met in a
proper spirit by the authorities, this history need never have been penned. At the end of
February, 1797, the crews of four line-of-battle ships at Spithead addressed separate petitions
to Lord Howe, Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet, asking his kind interposition with
the Admiralty, to obtain from them a relief of their grievances, so that they might at
length be put on a similar footing to the army and militia, in respect both of their pay and
of the provision they might be enabled to make for their wives and families. Lord Howe,
being then in bad health, communicated the subject of their petitions to Lord Bridport and
Sir Peter Parker, the port admiral, who, with a want of foresight and disregard of their
country's interest which cannot be excused, returned answer that "the petitions were the
work of some evil-disposed person or persons," and took no trouble to investigate the
allegations contained in them. Lord Howe, therefore, did nothing ; and the seamen,
finding their applications for redress not only disregarded, but treated with contempt,
determined to compel the authorities to give them that relief which they had before
submissively asked.
In about six weeks they organised their plans with such secrecy that it was not til)
THE MUTINY AT PORTSMOUTH.
OUTBREAK OF THE MUTINY. 251
everything1 was arranged on a working basis that the first admiral, Lord Bridport, gained any
knowledge of the conspiracy going on around him. He communicated his suspicions to the
Lords of the Admiralty ; and they, thinking a little active service would prove the best cure
for what they simply regarded as a momentary agitation, sent down orders for the Channel
Fleet to put to sea. The orders arrived at Portsmouth on April 15th, and in obedience to
them Lord Bridport signalled to the fleet to make the necessary preparations. As might almost
have been expected, it was the signal, likewise, for the outbreak of the mutiny. Not a
sailor bestirred himself; not a rope was bent; but, as if by common consent, the crews of
every vessel in the squadron manned the yards and rigging, and gave three cheers. They
then proceeded to take the command of each ship from the officers, and appointed delegates
from each vessel to conduct negotiations with the authorities of the Admiralty. No violence
nor force was used. The first-lieutenant of the London, ordered by Admiral Colpoys, one of
the best-hated officers of the service, shot one of the mutineers, but his death was not
avenged. They again forwarded their petition to the Admiralty, and its closing sentences
showed their temperance, and argued strongly in favour of their cause. They desired "to
convince the nation at large that they knew where to cease to ask, as well as where to
begin ; and that they asked nothing but what was moderate, and might be granted without
detriment to the nation or injury to the service." The Admiralty authorities, seeing that
with the great power in their hands they had acted peaceably, only abstaining from work,
yielded all the concessions asked ; and a full pardon was granted in the king's name to the
fleet in general, and to the ringleaders in particular. In a word, the mutiny ended for the
time being.
It was resumed on May 7th. As Parliament had delayed in passing the appropriations
for the increase of pay and pensions, the crews rose en masse and disarmed all their officers,
although still abstaining from actual violence. Lord Howe, always a popular officer with
the men, and their especial idol after his great victory of June 1st, 1794, was sent down by
the Cabinet with full power to ratify all the concessions which had been made, and to do
his best to convince the men that the Government had no desire of evading them. He
completely mollified the men, and even succeeded in exacting an expression of regret and
contrition for their outbreak. He assured them that their every grievance should be
considered, and a free pardon, as before, given to all concerned. The men again returned to
duty. The fleet at Plymouth, which had followed that of Portsmouth into the mutiny, did
the same ; and thus, in a month from the first outbreak, as far as these two great fleets were
concerned, all disaffection, dissatisfaction, and discontent had passed away, through the tact
and judicious behaviour of Lord Howe. There can be no doubt that the tyranny of many of
the officers had a vast deal to do with the outbreak. In the list of officers whom the men
considered obnoxious, and that Lord Howe agreed should be removed, there were over one
hundred in one fleet of sixteen ships.
Strange to say, the very same week in which the men of the Portsmouth fleet returned
to their duty, acknowledging all their grievances to be removed, the fleet at the Nore
arose in a violent state of mutiny, displaying very different attributes to those shown by
the former. Forty thousand men, who had fought many a battle for king and country,
and in steadfast reliance upon whose bravery the people rested every night in tranquillity,
252 THE SEA.
confident in their patriotism and loyalty, became irritated by ungrateful neglect ou the
one part, and by seditious advisers on the other, and turned the guns which they had so
often fired in defence of the English flag against their own countrymen and their own homes.
Richard Parker, the chief ringleader at the Nore, was a thoroughly bad man in
every respect, and one utterly unworthy the title of a British sailor, of which, indeed, he
had been more than once formally deprived. He was the son of an Exeter tradesman in
a fair way of business, had received a good education, and was possessed of decided
abilities. He was a remarkably bold and resolute man, or he would never have acquired
the hold he had for a time over so many brave sailors. He was unmistakably
" The leader of the band he had undone,
Who, born for better things, had madly set
His life upon a east,"
and until overtaken by justice, he ruled with absolute sway.
Parker had, eleven years previously, entered the navy as a midshipman on board
the Culloden, from which vessel he had been discharged for gross misconduct. A little
later, he obtained, however, a similar appointment on the Leancler frigate, and was again
dismissed. We next find him passing through several ships in rotation, from which he
was invariably dismissed, no captain allowing him to remain when his true character
disclosed itself. It did not usually take long. At length he became mate of the Resistance,
on which vessel, shortly after joining, he was brought to a court-martial and " broke "
— i.e.} his commission taken away — and declared incapable of serving again as an officer.
After serving a short time as a common sailor on board the Hebe, he was either invalided
or discharged, for we find him residing in Scotland; and as he could no more keep out
of trouble ashore than he could afloat, he was soon in Edinburgh gaol for debt. But
men were wanted for the navy, and he was eventually sent up to the fleet as one of the
quota of men required from Perth district. He received the parochial bounty of £30
allowed to each man. He joined the Sandwich, the flag-ship of Admiral Buckner,
Commander-in-Chief at the Nore. The best authorities believe him to have been employed
as an emissary of the revolutionists, as, although he had only just been discharged from
gaol, he had abundance of money. His good address and general abilities, combined with
the liberality and conviviality he displayed, speedily obtained him an influence amoi •»•
his messmates, which he used to the worst purpose. He had scarcely joined the fleet
when, aided by disaffected parties ashore, he began his machinations, and speedily seduced
the majority of the seamen from their duty. In some respects the men followed the
example of those at Portsmouth, selecting delegates and forwarding petitions, but in
other respects their conduct was disgracefully different. When mastery of the officers
had been effected, Parker became, in effect, Lord High Admiral, and committed any
number of excesses, even firing on those ships which had not followed the movement.
Officers were flogged, and on board the flag-ship, the vessel on which Parker remained,
many were half-drowned, as the following account, derived from an unimpeachable source,*
* The Annual Register, 1789. The account above presented is derived from that source, and from the
standard works of Yonge and James.
ADMIRAL DUNCAN ADDRESSING HIS CREW.
254 THE SEA.
will show. Their hammocks were fastened to their backs, with an 18-pounder bar-shot
as a weight; their hands were tied together, likewise their feet. They were then made fast
to a tackle suspended from a yard-arm, and hauled up almost to the block; at the word
of command they were dropped suddenly in the sea, where they were allowed to remain a
minute. They were again hoisted up, and the process repeated, until about every sign of
life had fled. The unfortunate victims were then hoisted up by the heels ; this was
considerately done to get rid of the water from their stomachs. They were then put
to bed in their wet hammocks.
On June 6th the mutinous fleet was joined by the Agamemnon, Leopard, Ardent,.
and Iris men-of-war, and the Ranger sloop, which vessels basely deserted from a squadron
under Admiral Duncan, sent to blockade the Texel. Shortly after, a number of vessels
of the line arrived at the mouth of the Thames, and still further augmented the ranks of
the mutineers. By this means eleven vessels were added to the list. Duncan, gallant old
salt as he was, when he found himself deserted by the greater part of his fleet, called his
own ship's crew (the Venerable, 74) together, and addressed them in the following speech :—
" My lads, — I once more call you together with a sorrowful heart, from what I have
lately seen of the dissatisfaction of the fleets : I call it dissatisfaction, for the crews have no
grievances. To be deserted by my fleet, in the face of an enemy, is a disgrace which, I
believe, never before happened to a British admiral, nor could I have supposed it possible.
My greatest comfort under God is, that I have been supported by the officers, ?eamen, and
marines of this ship ; for which, with a heart overflowing with gratitude, I request you
to accept my sincere thanks. I flatter myself much good may result from your example,
by bringing these deluded people to a sense of their duty, which they owe, not only to
their king and country, but to themselves.
" The British Navy has ever been the support of that liberty which has been handed
down to us by our ancestors, and which I think we shall maintain to the latest posterity ;
and that can only be done by unanimity and obedience. This ship's company, and others
who have distinguished themselves by their loyalty and good order, deserve to be, and
doubtless will be, the favourites of a grateful country. They will also have, from their
inward feelings, a comfort which will be lasting, and not like the bloating and false
confidence of those who have swerved from their duty.
"It has often been my pride with you to look into the Texel, and see a foe which
dreaded coming out to meet us ; my pride is now humbled indeed ! my feelings are not
easily expressed ! Our cup has overflowed and made us wanton. The all-wise Providence
has given us this check as a warning, and I hope we shall improve by it. On Him then
let us trust, where our only security may be found. I find there are many good men
amongst us; for my own part, I have had full confidence of all in this ship, and once
more beg to express my approbation of your conduct.
" May God, who has thus far conducted you, continue so to do ; and may the British
Navy, the glory and support of our country, be restored to its wonted splendour, and be
not only the bulwark of Britain, but the terror of the world.
"But this can only be effected by a strict adherence to our duty and obedience; and
let us pray that the Almighty God may keep us in the right way of thinking.
PARKER AND HIS CAUSE LOST. 255
" God bless you all ! "
At an address so unassuming- and patriotic, the whole ship's crew were dissolved
in tears, and one and all declared, with every expression of warmth they could use, their
determination to stay by the admiral in life or death. Their example was followed by
all the other ships left in the squadron, and the brave and excellent old admiral, notwith-
standing- the defection of so many of his ships, repaired to his station, off the coast of
Holland, to watch the movements of the Dutch fleet. Here he employed a device to
hide the sparseness of his fleet by employing one of his frigates, comparatively close in
shore, to make signals constantly to himself and to the other vessels in the offing,
many of them imaginary, and give the enemy the impression that a large squadron was
outside. He had resolved, however, not to refuse battle, if the Dutch fleet should have
the courage to come out and offer it.
But to return to the mutineers. The accession of the new vessels so elated Parker
that he gave way to the wildest fits of extravagance. He talked of taking the whole
fleet to sea, and selling1 it to our enemies. He tried to stop the navigation of the Thames,
declaring that he would force his way up to London, and bombard the city if the Government
did not accede to his terms. The alarm at these proceedings became general in the
metropolis, and the funds fell lower than ever known before or since in the financial
history of our country. An order was given to take up the buoys marking the channel
of the Thames, while the forts were heavily armed and garrisoned, so that should Parker
attempt his vainglorious threat, the fleet might be destroyed. The Government now
acted with more promptness and decision than they had previously displayed. Lord
Spencer, Lord Arden, and Admiral Young hastened to Sheerness, and held a board, at
which Parker and the other delegates attended, but the conduct of the mutineers was so
audacious that these Lords of the Admiralty returned to town without the slightest success.
The principal article of conflict on the part of the seamen's delegates was the unequal
distribution of prize-money, for the omission of which matter in the recent demands, they
greatly upbraided their fellow-seamen at Portsmouth. Bills were immediately passed in
Parliament inflicting the heaviest penalties on those who aided or encouraged the
mutineers in any way, or even held intercourse with them, which speedily had the effect
of damping their ardour, and by the end of the first week in June the fire which Parker
had fanned into a serious conflagration, began to die out. The fleets at Portsmouth and
Plymouth disowned all fellowship with them, and the example of one or two ships, such
as the Clyde, which from the first had resisted Parker's influence, commenced to be of
effect. The ringleader himself, seeing that his influence was waning, and knowing the
perilous position in which he had placed himself, tried to re-open negotiations with the
Admiralty, but his demands were too ridiculous to be considered; whereupon he hung
Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas in effigy at the yard-arm of the Sandwich. It is a curious fact,
showing that the crews were simply egged on by the ringleaders, and that there was
plenty of loyalty at bottom, that on June 4th, the king's birthday, the whole fleet
insisted on firing a royal salute, displaying the colours as usual, and hauling down the
red flag during the ceremony. Mr. Parker, however, insisted that it should fly on the
flag-ship.
256 THE SEA.
On June 10th two of the ships, the Leopard and Repulse, hauled down the flag of
mutiny, and sailed into the Thames; their example was soon followed by others. Parker
and his cause were lost.
On the evening of June 14-th this miserable affair was at an end. The crew of the
Sandwich, Parker's own ship, brought that vessel under the guns of the fort at Sheerness,
and handed him as a prisoner to the authorities. Sixteen days afterwards he was hanged.
His wife presented a petition to the queen in favour of her wretched husband, and is
stated to have offered a thousand guineas if his life could be spared. But he, of all men
who were ever hanged, deserved his fate, for he had placed the very kingdom itself in
peril. Other executions took place, but very few, considering the heinousness of the
crime committed. Still, the Government knew that the men had been in the larger
proportion of cases more sinned against than sinning; and when later, Duncan's victory
over the Dutch fleet provided an occasion, an amnesty was published, and many who had
been confined in prison, some of them under sentence of death, were released. En passant,
it may be remarked that three marines were shot at Plymouth on July Cth of the same
year, for endeavouring to excite a mutiny in the corps, while another was sentenced to
receive a thousand lashes.
The mutinous spirit evinced at Portsmouth, Plymouth, and the Nore spread even to
foreign stations. Had it not been for Duncan's manly and sensible appeal to his crew,
where there were some disaffected spirits, our naval supremacy might have been seriously
compromised as regards the Dutch. On board the Mediterranean Fleet, then lying off
the coast of Portugal, the mutineers had for a time their own way. The admiral
commanding, Lord St. Vincent, was, however, hardly the man to be daunted by any
number of evil-disposed fellows. He had only just before added to his laurels by another
victory over the enemies of his country. The ringleaders on board the flagship St. George
were immediately seized, brought to trial, and hanged the next day, although it was
Sunday, a most unusual time for an execution. Still further to increase the force of the
example, he departed from the usual custom of drawing men from different ships to assist
at the execution, and ordered that none but the crew of the Si. George itself should
touch a rope. The brave old admiral, by his energy and promptitude, soon quieted every
symptom of disaffection.
The last of the mutinies broke out at the Cape of Good Hope, on October 9th of the
same year, when a band of mutineers seized the flagship of Admiral Pringle, and appointed
delegates in the same way as their shipmates at home, showing plainly how extended
was the discontent in the service, and how complete was the organisation of the insurgents.
Lord Macartney, who commanded at the Cape, was, however, master of the occasion. Of
the admiral the less said the better, as he showed the white feather, and was completely
non-plussed. Macartney manned the batteries with all the troops available, and ordered
red-hot shot to be prepared. He then informed the fleet that if the red flag was not at
once withdrawn, and a white one hoisted, he would open fire and blow up every ship
the crew of which held out. The admiral at the same time informed the delegates that
all the concessions they required had already been granted to the fleets at home, and of
course to thorn. In a quarter of an hour the red flag was hauled down, and a free pardon
TERMINATION OP THE MUTINY.
extended to the bulk of the offenders. The ringleaders were, however, hanged, and a few
others flogged. The mutinous spirit never re-asserted itself.
Since that time, thank God ! no British fleet has mutinied ; and as at the present day
the sailors of the Royal Navy are better fed, paid, and cared for than they ever were
before, there is no fear of any recurrence of disaffection. One need only look at the
LOHD ST. VIXCENT.
lack Tar of the service, and compare him with the appearance of almost any sailor of any
merchant marine, to be convinced that his grievances to-day are of the lightest order.
The wrongs experienced by sailors in a part of the merchant service have been recently
remedied in part ; but it is satisfactory to be able to add that there is every probability of
their condition being greatly improved in the future. On this point, however, we shall have
more to say in a later chapter.
33
258 THE SEA.
CHAPTER XV.
THE HISTORY or SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS.
The First Attempts to Float— Hollowed Logs and Rafts— The Ark and its Dimensions— Skin Floats and Basket-boats—
Maritime Commerce of Antiquity— Phoenician Enterprise— Did they Round the Cape?— The Ships of Tyre— Carthage
— Hanno's Voyage to the West Coast of Africa— Egyptian Galleys— The Great Ships of the Ptolemies— Hiero's
Floating Palace— The Romans— Their Repugnance to Seafaring Pursuits— Sea Battles with the Carthaginians-
Cicero's Opinions on Commerce— Constantinople and its Commerce— Venice— Britain— The First Invasion under
Julius Csesar— Benefits Accruing— The Danish Pirates— The London of the Period— The Father of the British Navy
—Alfred and his Victories— Canute's Fleet— The Norman Invasion— The Crusades— Richard Coeur de Lion's Fleet—
The Cinque Ports and their Privileges — Foundation of a Maritime Code— Letters of Marque— Opening of the Coal
Trade— Chaucer's Description of the Sailors of his Time— A Glorious Period— The Victories at Harfleur— Henry V.'s
Fleet of 1,500 Vessels— The Channel Marauders— The King-Maker Pirate— Sir Andrew Wood's Victory— Action with
Scotch Pirates— The Great Michael and the Great Harry— Queen Elizabeth's Astuteness— The Nation never so well
Provided— "The Most Fortunate and Invincible Armada"— Its Size and Strength— Elizabeth's Appeal to the Country—
A Noble Response— EfHngham's Appointment— The Armada's First Disaster— Refitted, and Resails from Corunna—
Chased in the Rear— A Series of Contretemps— English Volunteer Ships in Numbers— The Fire-ships at Calais— The
Final Action— Flight of the Armada— Fate of Shipwrecked Spanish in Ireland— Total Loss to Spain— Rejoicings
and Thanksgivings in England.
IT will not now be out of place to take a rapid survey of the progress of naval architecture,
from log and coracle to wooden walls and ironclads, noting rapidly the progressive steps
which led to the present epoch.
It is only from the Scriptures, and from fragmentary allusions in the writings of
profane historians and poets, that we can derive any knowledge of the vessels employed by
the ancients. Doubtless our first parents noticed branches of trees or fragments of wood
floating upon the surface of that " river " which " went out of Eden to water the garden ; "
and from this to the use of logs singly, or combined in rafts, or hollowed into canoes,
would be an easy transition. The first boat was probably a mere toy model; and, likely
enough, great was the surprise when it was discovered that its sides, though thin, would
support a considerable weight in the water. The first specimen of naval architecture of
which we have any description is unquestionably the ark, built by Noah. If the cubit
be taken as eighteen inches, she was 450 feet long, 75 in breadth, and 45 in depth,
whilst her tonnage, according to the present system of admeasurement, would be about
15,000 tons. It is more than probable that this huge vessel was, after all, little more
than a raft, or barge, with a stupenduous house reared over it, for it was constructed
merely for the purpose of floating, and needed no means of propulsion. She may have
been, comparatively speaking, slightly built in her lofty upper works, her carrying capacity
being thereby largely increased. Soon after the Flood, if not, indeed, before it, other
means of flotation must have suggested themselves, such as the inflated skins of animals ;
these may be seen on the ancient monuments of Assyria, discovered by Layard, where
there are many representations of people crossing rivers by this means. Next came wdcker-
work baskets of rushes or reeds, smeared with mud or pitch, similar to the ark in which
Moses was found. Mr. Layard found such boats in use on the Tigris ; they were constructed
of twisted reeds made water-tight by bitumen, and were often large enough for four or five
persons. Pliny says, in his time, "Even now in British waters, vessels of vine-twigs sewn
round with leather are used." The words in italics might be used were Pliny writing to-day.
Basket-work coracles, covered with leather or prepared flannel, are still found in a few parts
PHOENICIAN ENTERPRISE.
of Wales, where they are used for fording- streams, or for fishing. Wooden canoes or boats,
whether hollowed from one log- or constructed of many parts, came next. The paintings
and sculptures of Upper and Lower Egypt show regularly formed boats, made of sawn planks
of timber, carrying a number of rowers,' and having sails. The Egyptians were averse to
seafaring pursuits, having extensive overland commerce with their neighbours.
The Pho3nicians were, past all cavil, the most distinguished navigators of the ancient
world, their capital, Tyre, being for centuries the centre of commerce, the " mart of nations."
Strange to say, this country, whose inhabitants were the rulers of the sea in those times, was
a mere strip of land, whose average breadth never exceeded twelve miles, while its length was
only 225 miles from Aradus in the north to Joppa in the south. Forced by the unpro-
ductiveness of the territory, and blessed with one or two excellent harbours, and an abundant
supply of wood from the mountains of Lebanon, the Phrenicians soon possessed a numerous
fleet, which not only monopolised the trade of the Mediterranean, but navigated Solomon's
fleets to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, establishing colonies wherever they went.
Herodotus states that a Phrenician fleet, which was fitted out by Necho, King of Egypt, even
circumnavigated Africa, and gives details which seem to place it within the category of the
very greatest voyages. Starting from the Red Sea, they are stated to have passed Ophir,
generally supposed to mean part of the east coast of Africa, to have rounded the continent,
and, entering the Mediterranean by the Pillars of Hercules, our old friends the Rocks of
Gibraltar and Ceuta, to have reached Egypt in the third year of their voyage. Solomon, too,
dispatched a fleet of ships from the Red Sea to fetch gold from Ophir. Diodorus gives at
great length an account of the fleet said to be built by this people for the great Queen
Semiramis, with which she invaded India. Semiramis was long believed by many to be a
mythical personage ; but Sir Henry Rawlinson's interpretations of the Assyrian inscriptions
have placed the existence of this queen beyond all doubt. In the Assyrian hall of the British
Museum are two statues of the god Nebo, each of which bears a cuneiform inscription saying
that they were made for Queen Semiramis by a sculptor of Nineveh. The commerce of
Phoenicia must have been at its height when Nebuchadnezzar made his attack on Tyre.
Ezekiel gives a description of her power about the year B.C. 588, when ruin was hovering
around her. " Tyre," says the prophet, " was a merchant of the people for many isles."
He states that her ship-boards were made of fir-trees of Senir; her masts of cedars from
Lebanon ; her oars of the oaks of Bashan ; and the benches of her galleys of ivory, brought
out of the isles of Chittim.
To the Tyrians also is due the colonisation of other countries, which, following the
example of the mother-country, soon rivalled her in wealth and enterprise. The
principal of these was Carthage, which in its turn founded colonies of her own, one
of the first of which was Gades (Cadiz). From that port Hanno made his celebrated
voyage to the west coast of Africa, starting with sixty ships or galleys, of fifty oars
each. He is said to have founded six trading-posts or colonies. About the same
time Hamilco went on a voyage of discovery to the north-western shores of Europe,
where, according to a poem of Festus Avienus,* he formed settlements in Britain and
* The curious in such mutters will find this poem translated by Heeren in his work entitled " Asiatic
Nations."
200 THE SEA.
Ireland, and found tin and lead, and people who used boats of skin or leather. Aristotle
tells us that the Carthaginians were the first to increase the size of their galleys from
three to four banks of oars.
Under the dynasty of the Ptolemies the • maritime commerce of Egypt rapidly
improved. The first of these kings caused the erection of the celebrated Pharos or
lighthouse at Alexandria, in the upper storey of which were windows looking seaward,
and inside which fires were lighted by night to guide mariners to the harbour. Upon
its front was inscribed, "King Ptolemy to God the Saviour, for the benefit of
sailors." His successor, Ptolemy Philadelphus, attempted to cut a canal a hundred
cubits in width between Arsinoe, on the Red Sea, not far from Suez, to the eastern
branch of the Nile. Enormous vessels were constructed at this time and during the
succeeding reigns. Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, is said to have owned five hundred
galleys and two thousand smaller vessels. Lucian speaks of a vessel that he saw in
Egypt that was one hundred and twenty cubits long. Another, constructed by
Ptolemy Philopator, is described by Calixenus, an Alexandrian historian, as two hundred
and eighty cubits, say 420 feet, in length. She is said to have had four rudders,
two heads, and two sterns, and to have been manned by 4,000 sailors (meaning
principally oarsmen) and 3,000 fighting-men. Calixenus also describes another built
during the dynasty of the Ptolemies, called the Thalawegits, or " carrier of the bed-
chamber." This leviathan was 300 feet in length, and fitted up with every conceivable
kind of luxury and magnificence — with colonnades, marble staircases, and gardens ; from
all which it is easy to infer that she was not intended for sea-going purposes, but
was probably an immense barge, forming a kind of summer palace, moored on the
Nile. Plutarch in speaking of her says that she was a mere matter of curiosity, for
she differed very little from an immovable building, and was calculated mainly for show,
as she could not be put in motion without great difficulty and danger.
But the most prodigious vessel on the records of the ancients was built by order of
Hiero, the second Tyrant of Syracuse, under the superintendence of Archimedes, about 230
years before Christ, the description of which would fill a small volume. Athena?us has
left a desci'iption of this vast floating fabric. There was, he states, as much timber
employed in her as would have served for the construction of fifty galleys. It had all
the varieties of apartments and conveniences necessary to a palace — such as banqueting-
rooms, baths, a library, a temple of Venus, gardens, fish-ponds, mills, and a spacious
gymnasium. The inlaying of the floors of the middle apartment represented in various
colours the stories of Homer's " Iliad '," there were everywhere the most beautiful paintings,
and every embellishment and ornament that art could furnish were bestowed on the
ceilings, windows, and every part. The inside of the temple was inlaid with cypress-wood,
the statues were of ivory, and the floor was studded with precious stones. This vessel
had twenty benches of oars, and was encompassed by an iron rampart or battery; it
had also eight towers with walls and bulwarks, which were furnished with machines of
war, one of which was capable of throwing a stone of 300 pounds weight, or a dart of
twelve cubits long, to the distance of half a mile. To launch her, Archimedes invented
a screw of great power. She had four wooden and eight iron anchors; her mainmast,
IIIERO'S GREAT SHIP.
261
composed of a single tree, was procured after much trouble from distant inland mountains.
Hiero finding that he had no hai'bours in Sicily capable of containing her, and learning
that there was famine in Egypt, sent her loaded with corn to Alexandria. She bore an
inscription of which the following is part :— p of Salisbury, and .the Lord Chief Justice of England) across the Channel, and
u :;:::;>ml and still larger fleet at Dartmouth, composed of numbers of vessels from
A [t.iliiine, Brittany, Normandy, and Poitou, for the conveyance of the great bulk o£
t!u Crusaders, to join Richard at Marseilles, whither he had gone overland with the
F. j-.K-li king and his other allies. The Dartmouth fleet, under the command of Richard
LI 3 Camville and Robert de Sabloil, set sail about the end of April, 1190. It had a
disastrous voyage, but at length reached Lisbon, where the Crusaders behaved so badly,
and committed so many outrages, that 700 were locked up. After some delay, they
sailed up the Mediterranean, reaching Marseilles, where they had to stop some time
to repair their unseaworthy ships, and then followed the king to the Straits of
26S
THE SEA.
Messina, where the fleets combined. It was not till seven months later that the fleet
got under weigh for the Holy Land. It numbered 100 ships of larger kind, and
fourteen smaller vessels called "busses/' Each of the former carried, besides her crew
of fifteen sailors, forty soldiers, forty horses, and provisions for a twelvemonth. Vinisauf,
who makes the fleet much larger, mentions that it proceeded in the following order :
—three large ships formed the van; the second line consisted of thirteen vessels, the
lines expanding to the seventh, which consisted of sixty vessels, and immediately
preceded the king and his ships. On their way they fell in with a very large ship
belonging to the Saracens, manned by 1,500 men, and after a desperate engagement
took her. Richard ordered that all but 200 of those not killed in the action should
be thrown overboard, and thus 1,300 infidels were sacrificed at one blow. Off Etna,
Sicily, they experienced a terrific gale, and the crew got " sea-sick and frightened ; "
SHIPS OP WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. (From the Bayeux Tapestry.)
and off the island of Cyprus they were assailed by another storm, in which three
ships were lost, and the Vice-Chancellor of England was drowned, his body being
washed ashore with the Great Seal of England hanging round his neck. Richard did
not return to England till after the capture of Acre, and the truce with Saladin; he
landed at Sandwich; as nearly as may be, four years from the date of his start. As
this is neither a history of England, nor of the Crusades, excepting only as either are
connected with the sea, we must pass on to a subject of some importance, which was
the direct result of experience gained at this period.
The foundation of a maritime code, by an ordinance of Richard Coeur de Lion, a
most important step in the history of merchant shipping, was due to the knowledge
acquired by English pilgrims, traders, and seamen at the time of the Crusades. The
first code was founded on a similar set of rules then existing in France, known as the
Holes d'Oleron, and some of the articles show how loose had been the conditions of the
sailor's life previously. The first article gave a master power to pledge the tackle of a
ship, if in want of provisions for the crow, but forbad the sale of the hull without the
owner's permission. The captain's position, as lord paramount on board, was defined; no
one, not even part-owners or super-cargoes, must interfere; he was expected to understand
thoroughly the art of navigation. The second article declared that if a vessel was held
in port through failure of wind or stress of weather, "the ship's company should be guided
CRUSADERS AND SARACENS.
270 THE SEA.
as to the best course to adopt by the opinion of the majority. Two succeeding articles
related to wrecks and salvage. The fifth article provided that no sailor in port should
leave the vessel without the master's consent; if he did so, and any harm resulted to the
ship or cargo, he should be punished with a year's imprisonment, on bread and water.
He might also be flogged. If he deserted altogether and was retaken, he might be
branded on the face with a red-hot iron, although allowance was made for such as ran
away from their ships through ill-usage. Sailors could also be compensated for unjust
discharge without cause. Succeeding clauses refer to the moral conduct of the sailor,
forbidding drunkenness, fighting, &c. Article 1£ provided thai if any mariner should
give the lie to another at a table where there was wine and bread, he should be fined
four deniers j and the master himself offending in the same way should be liable to a
double fine. If any sailor should impudently contradict the mate, he might be fined
eight deniers ; and if the master struck him with his fist or open hand he was required
to bear the stroke, but if struck more than once he was entitled to defend himself. If
the sailor committed the first assault he was to be fined 100 sous, or else his hand was
to be chopped off. The master was required by another rule not to give his crew cause
for mutiny, nor call them names, nor wrong them, nor "keep anything from them that
is theirs, but to use them, well, and pay them honestly what is their due." Another
clause provided that the sailor might always have the option of going on shares or wages,
and the master was to put the matter fairly before them. The 17th clause related to
food. The hardy sailors of Brittany were to have only one meal a day from the kitchen,
while the lucky ones of Normandy were to have two. When the ship arrived at a
wine country the master was bound to provide the crew with wine. Sailors were else-
where forbidden to take "royal" fish, such as the sturgeon, salmon, turbot, and sea-barbel,
or to take on their own account fish which yield oil. These are a part only of the clauses ;
many others referring to matters connected with rigging, masts, anchorages, pilotage, and
other technical points. In bad pilotage the navigator who brought mishap on the ship
was liable to lose his head. The general tenor of the first code is excellent, and the rules
were laid down with an evident spirit of fairness alike to the owner and sailor.
The subject of " Letters of Marque" might occupy an entire volume, and will recur
again in these pages. They were in reality nothing more than privileges granted for
purposes of retaliation — legalised piracy. They were first issued by Edward I., and the
very first related to an outrage committed by Portuguese on an English subject. A
merchant of Bayonne, at the time a port belonging to England, in Gascony, had shipped
a cargo of fruit from Malaga, which, on its voyage along the coast of Portugal, was
seized and carried into Lisbon by an armed cruiser belonging to that country, then at
peace with England. The King of Portugal, who had received one-tenth part of the
cargo, declined to restore the ship or lading, whereupon the owner and his heirs received a
licence, to remain in force five years, to seize the property of the Portuguese, and especially
that of the inhabitants of Lisbon, to the extent of the loss sustained, the expenses of recovery
being allowed. How far the merchant of Bayonne recouped himself, history sayeth not.
A little later a most important mercantile trade came into existence — that in coal.
From archaeological remains and discoveries it is certain that the Romans excavated coal
A DUEL OF NATIONS. 271
during their reign on this island; but it was not till the reign of Edward III. that the
first opening of the great Newcastle coal-fields took place, although as early as 1253
there was a lane at the back of Newgate called " Sea-coal Lane." As in many other
instances, even in our own days, the value of the discovery seems to have been more
appreciated by foreigners than by the people of this country, and for a considerable time
after it had been found, the combustion of coal was considered to be so unhealthy that a royal
edict forbad its use in the city of London, while the queen resided there, in case it might
prove " pernicious to her health." At the same time, while England laid her veto on the
use of that very article which has since made her, or helped to make her, the most
famous commercial nation of the world, France sent her ships laden with corn to
Newcastle, carrying back coal in return, her merchants being the first to supply this
new great article of commerce to foreign countries. In the reign of Henry V. the trade
had become of such importance that a special Act was passed providing for the ad-
measurement of ships and barges employed in the coal trade.
King John stoutly claimed for England the sovereignty of the sea — he was not
always so firm and decided — and decreed that all foreign ships, the masters of which
should refuse to strike their colours to the British flag, should be seized and deemed
good and lawful prizes. This monarch is stated to have fitted out no less than 500
ships, under the Earl of Salisbury, in the year 1213, against a fleet of ships three
times that number, organised by Philip of France, for the invasion of England. After
a stubborn battle, the English were successful, taking 300 sail, and driving more than
100 ashore, Philip being under the necessity of destroying the remainder to prevent
them falling into the hands of their enemies. Some notion may be gained of th'e
kinds of ships of which these fleets were composed, by the account that is narrated of
an action fought in the following reign with the French, who, with eighty "stout ships/'
threatened the coast of Kent. This fleet being discovered by Hubert de Burgh, governor
of Dover Castle, he put to sea with half the number of English vessels, and having got
to the windward of the enemy, and run down many of the smaller ships, he closed with
the rest, and threw on board them a quantity of quick-lime — a novel expedient in warfare
— which so blinded the crews that their vessels were either captured or sunk. The dominion
of the sea was bravely maintained by our Edwards and Henrys in many glorious sea-
fights. The temper of the times is strongly exemplified by the following circumstance.
In the reign of Edward I. an English sailor was killed in a Norrnan port, in consequence
of which war was declared by England against France, and the two nations agreed to
decide the dispute on a certain day, with the whole of their respective naval forces. The
spot of battle was to be the middle of the Channel, marked out by anchoring there an
empty ship. This strange duel of nations actually took place, for the two fleets mat on
April 14th, 1293, when the English obtained the victory, and carried off in triumph 250
vessels from the enemy. In an action off the harbour of Sluys with the French fleet,
Edward III. is said to have slain 30,000 of the enemy, and to have taken 200 large ships,
" in one of which only, there were 400 dead bodies." The same monarch, at the siege of
Calais, is stated to have blockaded that port with 730 sail, having on board 14,956
mariners. The size of the vessels employed must have been rapidly enlarging.
272
THE SEA.
DUEL BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH SHIPS.
Chaucer gives us a graphic description of the British sailor of the fourteenth century
in his Prologue to the " Canterbury Tales/' It runs as follows : —
" A schipman was ther, wonyng fer by Weste :
For ought I woot, he was of Dertemouthe,
He rood upon a rouncy, as he couthe,
In a goun of faldying to the kne.
A dagger hangjmg on a laas hadde he
Aboute his nekke under his arm adoun.
The hoote somer had maad his hew al broun;
And certainly he was a good felawe.
Ful many a draught of wyn had he drawe
From Burdeux-ward, whil that the chapman sleep.
Of nyce conscience took he no keep.
If that he foughte, and hadde the heigher hand,
By water he sent hem hoom to every land.
But of his craft to rikne wcl the tydes,
His stremes and his dangers him bisides,
His herbergh and his mane his lode menage,
Ther was non such from Hulle to Cartage.
Hardy he was, and wys to undertake;
With many a tempest hadde his herd ben schakfe.
A GLORIOUS PERIOD. 273
He knew well alle the havens, as thei were,
From Scotland to the Cape of Fynestere,
And every cryk in Bretayne and in Spayne,
His barge y-cleped was the Magdelayw"."
In the reign of Henry V., the most glorious period up to that time of the
British Navy, the French lost nearly all their navy to us at various times; among
other victories, Henry Page, Admiral of the Cinque Ports, captured 120 merchantmen
forming the Rochelle fleet, and all richly laden. Towards the close of this reign, about
the year 1416, England formally claimed the dominion of the sea, and a Parliamentary
document recorded the fact. "It was never absolute," says Sir Walter Raleigh, "until
the time of Henry VIII ." That great voyager and statesman adds that, " Whoever
commands the sea, commands the trade of the world; whosoever commands the trade,
commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself."
A curious poem is included in the first volume of Hakluyt's famous collection of
voyages, bearing reference to the navy of Henry. It is entitled, " The English Policie,
exhorting all England to keep the Sea,," &c. It was written apparently about the year
14)35. It is a long poem, and the following is an extract merely : —
"And if I should conclude all by the King,
Henrie the Fift, what was his purposing,
Whan at Hampton he made the great dromons,
Which passed other great ships of the Commons;
The Trinitie, the Grace de Dim, the Holy Ghost,
And other moe, which as nowe be lost.
What hope ye was the king's great intente
Of thoo shippes, and what in mind be meant :
It is not ellis, but that he cast to bee
Lord round about environ of the see.
And if he had to this time lived here,
He had been Prince named withouten pere :
His great ships should have been put in preefes,
Unto the ende that he uient of in chiefes.
For doubt it not but that he would have bee
Lord and Master about the rand see :
And kept it sure, to stoppe our ennemies hence,
And wonne us good, and wisely brought it thence,
That our passage should be without danger,
And his license on see to move and sterre."
When the king had determined, in 1415, to land an army in France, he hired ships
from Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland, his own naval means not being sufficient £,*• the
transport ; among his other preparations, " requisite for so high an enterprise," boats
covered with leather, for the passage of rivers, are mentioned. His fleet consisted of
1,000 sail, and it left Southampton on Sunday, the llth of August, of the above-mentioned
year. When the ships had passed the Isle of Wight, es swans were seen swimming in
the midst of the fleet, which was hailed as a happy auspice." Henry anchored on the
following Tuesday at the mouth of the Seine, about three miles from Harfleur. A council
35
274
THE SEA.
of the captains was summoned, and an order issued that no one, under pain of death,
should land before the king, but that all should be in readiness to go ashore the next
morning. This was done, and the bulk of the army, stated to have comprised 24,000
archers, and 6,000 men of arms, was landed in small vessels, boats, and skiffs, taking
up a position on the hill nearest to Harfleur. The moment Henry landed he fell on his
knees and implored the Divine aid and protection to lead him on to victory, then conferring
knighthood on many of his followers. At the entrance of the port a chain had been
stretched between two large, well-armed towers, while it was farther protected by stakes
and trunks of trees to prevent the vessels from approaching. During the siege, which
lasted thirty-six days, the fleet blockaded the port, and at its conclusion Henry, flushed
with a victory, which is said to have cost the English only 1,600 and the enemy 10,000
lives, determined to march his army through France to Calais. It was on this march
that he won the glorious battle of Agincourt. On the 16th of November he embarked
for Dover, reaching that port the same day. Here a magnificent ovation awaited him.
The burgesses rushed into the sea and bore him ashore on their shoulders; the whole
population was intoxicated with delight. One chronicler states that
the passage across had been extremely boisterous, and that the
French noblemen suffered so much from sea-sickness that they
considered the trip worse than the very battles themselves in
which they had been taken prisoners ! When Henry arrived near
London, a great concourse of people met him at Blackheath, and
he, " as one remembering from whom all victories are sent/' would
not allow his helmet to be carried before him, whereon the people
might have seen the blows and dents that he had received ; " neither
would he suffer any ditties to be made and sung by minstrels
of his glorious victory, for that he would have the praise and
thanks altogether given to God/'
Next year the French attempted to retake Harfleur. Henry sent a fleet of 400 sail
to the rescue, under his brother John, Duke of Bedford, the upshot being that almost
the whole French fleet, to the number of 500 ships, hulks, carracks, and small vessels
were taken or sunk. The English vessels remained becalmed in the roadstead for three
weeks afterwards. Southey, who has collated all the best authorities in his admirable
naval work,* says : — " The bodies which had been thrown overboard in the action, or
sunk in the enemies' ships, rose and floated about them in great numbers; and the
English may have deemed it a relief from the contemplation of that ghastly sight, to be
kept upon the alert by some galleys, which taking advantage of the calm, ventured as
near them as they dare by day and night, and endeavoured to burn the ships with
wildfire." He adds that the first mention of wildfire he had found is by Hardyng, one of
the earliest of our poets, in the following passage referring to this event : —
" With oars many about us did they wind,
With wildfire oft assayled us day and night,
To brenne our ships in that they could or might."
* " The British Admirals : with an Introductory View of the Naval History of England."
KEVERSE OF THE SEAL OP
SANDWICH.
THE CHANNEL PIRATES. 275
Next year we read of Henry preparing to again attack France. The enemy had
ir. creased their naval force by hiring a number of Genoese and other Italian vessels. The
king sent a preliminary force against them under his kinsman, the Earl of Huntingdon,
who, near the mouth of the Seine, succeeded in sinking three and capturing three of the
great Genoese carracks, taking the Admiral Jacques, the Bastard of Bourbon, " and as much
money as would have been half a year's pay for the whole fleet." These prizes were
brought to Southampton, "from whence the king shortly set forth with a fleet of 1,500
ships, the sails of his own vessel being of purple silk, richly embroidered with gold." The
remainder of Henry's brief reign — for he died the same year — is but the history of a
series of successes over his enemies.
It must never be forgotten that the navies of our early history were not perma-
nently organised, but drawn from all sources. A noble, a city or port, voluntarily or
otherwise, contributed according to the exigencies of the occasion. As we shall see, it
is to Henry VIII. that we owe the establishment of a Royal Navy as a permanent
institution. In 1546 King Henry's vessels are classified according to their " quality,"
thus: "ships/' "galleases/' "pynaces," "roe-barges." A list bearing date in 1612
exhibits the classes as follows : — " Shipps royal," measuring downwards from 1,200 to 800
tons; "middling shipps," from 800 to 600 tons; "small shipps," 350 tons; and pinnaces,
from 200 to 80 tons. According to the old definition, a ship was defined to be a "large
hollow building, made to pass over the seas with sails/' without reference to size or quality.
Before the days of the Great Harry, few, if any, English ships had more than one mast or
one sail ; that ship had three masts, and the Henri Grace cle Dien, which supplanted her,
four. The galleas was probably a long, low, and sharp-built vessel, propelled by oars as well
as by sails; the latter probably not fixed to the mast or any standing yard, but hoisted
from the deck when required to be used, as in the lugger or felucca of modern days.
The pinnace was a smaller description of galleas, while the row-barge is sufficiently
explained by its title.
The history of the period following the reign of Henry V. has much to do with
shipping interests of all kinds. The constant wars and turbulent times gave great
opportunity for piracy in the Channel and on the high seas. Thus we read of
Hannequin Leeuw, an outlaw from Ghent, who had so prospered in piratical enterprises
that he got together a squadron of eight or ten vessels, well armed and stored. He not
only infested the coast of Flanders, and Holland, and the English Channel, but scoured the
coasts of Spain as far as Gibraltar, making impartial war on any or all nations, and styling
himself the " Friend of God, and the enemy of all mankind." This pirate escaped the
vengeance of man, but at length was punished by the elements : the greater part of
his people perished in a storm, and Hannequin Leeuw disappeared from the scene. Shortly
afterwards we find the Hollanders and Zeelanders uniting their forces against the Easterling
pirates, then infesting the seas, and taking twenty of their ships. "This action," says
Southey, "was more important in its consequences than in itself; it made the two provinces
sensible, for the first time, of their maritime strength, and gave a new impulse to that
spirit of maritime adventure which they had recently begun to manifest." Previously a
voyage to Spain had been regarded as so perilous, that " whoever undertook it settled his
276 THE SEA.
worldly and his spiritual affairs as if preparing for death, before he set forth," while now
they opened up a brisk trade with that country and Portugal. Till now they had been
compelled to bear the insults and injuries of the Easterlings without combined attempt
at defence; now they retaliated, captured one of their admirals on the coast of Norway,
and hoisted a besom at the mast-head in token that they had swept the seas clean from
their pirate enemies.
And now, in turn, some of them became pirates themselves, more particularly Hendrick
van Borselen, Lord of Veere, who assembled all the outlaws he could gather, and committed
such depredations, that he was enabled to add greatly to his possessions in Walcheren, by
the purchase of confiscated estates. He received others as grants from his own duke, who
feared him, and thought it prudent at any cost to retain, at least in nominal obedience,
one who might render himself so obnoxious an enemy. "This did not prevent the
admiral — for he held that rank under the duke — from infesting the coast of Flanders,
carrying off cattle from Cadsant, and selling them publicly in Zeeland. His excuse was
that the terrible character of his men compelled him to act as he did; and the duke
admitted the exculpation, being fain to overlook outrages which he could neither prevent
nor punish." A statute of the reign of Henry VI. sets forth the robberies committed
upon the poor merchants of this realm, not merely on the sea, but even in the rivers and
ports of Britain, and how not merely they lost their goods, but their persons also were
taken and imprisoned. Nor was this all, for "the king's poor subjects dwelling nigh the
sea-coasts were taken out of their own houses, with their chattels and children, and
carried by the enemies where it pleased them." In consequence, the Commons begged
that an armament might be provided and maintained on the sea, which was conceded, and
for a time piracy on English subjects was partially quashed.
Meantime, we had pirates of our own. Warwick, the king-maker, was unscrupulous
in all points, and cared nothing for the lawfulness of the captures which he could make
on the high seas. For example, when he left England for the purpose of securing Calais
(then belonging to England) and the fleet for the House of York, he having fourteen
well-appointed vessels, fell in .vith a fleet of Spaniards and Genoese. "There was a very
sore and long continued battle fought betwixt them," lasting almost two days. The
English lost a hundred men; one account speaks of the Spanish and Genoese loss at
1,000 men killed, and another of six-and-twenty vessels sunk or put to flight. It is certain
that three of the largest vessels were taken into Calais, laden with wine, oil, iron, wax, cloth
of gold, and other riches, in all amounting in value to no less than £10,000. The earl was
a favourite with the sailors, probably for the license he gave them ; when the Duke of
Somerset was appointed by the king's party to the command of Calais, from which he was
effectually shut out by Warwick, they carried off some of his ships and deserted with
them to the latter. Not long after, when reinforcements were lying at Sandwich waiting
to cross the Channel to Somerset's aid, March and Warwick borrowed £18,000 from
merchants, and dispatched John Dynham on a piratical expedition. He landed at Sand-
wich, surprised the town, took Lord Rivers and his son in their beds, robbed houses, took
the principal ships of the king's navy, and carried them off, well furnished as they were
with ordnance and artillery. For a time Warwick carried all before him, but not a few
ENACTMENTS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE NAVY.
277
of his actions were most unmitigated specimens of piracy, on nations little concerned with
the Houses of York and Lancaster, their quarrels or wars.
But as this is not intended to be even a sketch of the history of England, let us pass
to the commencement of the reign of Henry VII., when the " great minishment and decay
of the navy, and the idleness of the mariners," were represented to his first Parliament, and
led to certain enactments in regard to the use of foreign bottoms. The wines of Southern
France were forbidden to be imported hither in any but English, Irish, or Welsh ships,
SIR ANDREW WOOD S VICTORY.
manned by English, Irish, or Welsh sailors. This Act was repeated in the fourth year of
Henry's reT'gn, and m?.3e to include other articles, while it was then forbidden to freight
an alien ship from or to England with "any manner of merchandise/' if sufficient freight
were to be had in English vessels, on pain of forfeiture, one-half to the king, the other
to the seizers. " Henry/' says Lord Bacon, " being a king that loved wealth, and treasure,
he could not endurs to have trade sick, nor any obstruction to continue in the gate-vein
which disperseth that blood." How well he loved riches is proved by the fact that when
a speedy and not altogether creditable peace was established between England and France,
and the indemnity had been paid by the latter, the money went into the king's private
coffers ; those who had impoverished themselves in his service, or had contributed to the
general outfit by the forced " benevolence/' were Mt out -in- the cold. From Calais Henry
278 THE SEA.
wrote letters to the Lord Mayor and aldermen ("which was a courtesy/' says Lord Bacon,
"that he sometimes used), half bragging what great sums he had obtained for the peace,
as knowing well that it was ever good news in London that the king's coffers were full;
better news it would have been if their benevolence had been but a loan."
Scotch historians tell us that Sir Andrew Wood, of Largo, Scotland, had with his two
vessels, the Flower and Yellow Carvel, captured five chosen vessels of the royal navy, which
had infested the Firth of Forth, and had taken many prizes from the Scotch previously,
during this reign. Henry VII. was greatly mortified by this defeat, and offered to put
any means at the disposal of the officer who would undertake this service, and great
rewards if Wood were brought to him alive or dead. All hesitated, such was the renown
of Wood, and his strength in men and artillery, and maritime and military skill. At
length, Sir Stephen Bull, a man of distinguished prowess, offered himself, and three ships
were placed under his command, with "which he sailed for the Forth, and anchored behind
the Isle of May, waiting Wood's return from a foreign voyage. Some fishermen were
captured and detained, in order that they should point out Sir Andrew's ships when they
arrived. " It was early in the morning when the action began ; the Scots, by their
skilful manoeuvring, obtained the weather-gage, and the battle continued in sight of in-
numerable spectators who thronged the coast, till darkness suspended it. It was renewed
at day -break ; the ships grappled ; and both parties were so intent upon the struggle, that
the tide carried them into the mouth of the Tay, into such shoal water that the English,
seeing no means of extricating themselves, surrendered. Sir Andrew brought his prizes to
Dundee; the wounded were carefully attended there; and James, with royal magnanimity
is said to have sent both prisoners and ships to Henry, praising the courage which they
had displayed, and saying that the contest was for honour, not for booty."
Few naval incidents occurred under the reign of Henry VII., but it belongs, neverthe-
less, to the most important age of maritime discovery. Henry had really assented to the
propositions of Columbus after Portugal had refused them; had not the latter's brother,
Bartholomew, been captured by pirates on his way to England, and detained as a slave at
the oar, the Spaniards would not have had the honour of discovering the New World.
This, and the grand discoveries of Cabot (directly encouraged by Henry), who reached
Newfoundland and Florida; the various expeditions down the African coast instituted by
Dom John ; the discovery of the Cape and new route to India by Diaz and Vasco de
Gama ; the discovery of the Pacific "by Balboa, and Cape Horn and the Straits by
Magellan, will be detailed in another section of this work. They belong to this and
immediately succeeding reigns, and mark the grandest epoch in the history of geographical
discovery.
"The use of fire-arms," says Southey, "without which the conquests of the Spaniards
in the New World must have been impossible, changed the character of naval war sooner
than it did the system of naval tactics, though they were employed earlier by land than
by sea." It is doubtful when cannon was first employed at sea; one authority* says
that it was by the Venetians against the Genoese, before 1330. Their use necessitated
* Charnock : " History of Marine Architecture."
ACTION WITH SCOTCH PIEATES. 279
very material alterations in the structure of war-ships. The first port-holes are believed
to have been contrived by a ship-builder at Brest, named Descharges, and their introduction
took place in 1499. They were "circular holes, cut through the sides of the vessel, and
so small as scarcely to admit of the guns being traversed in the smallest degree, or fired
otherwise than straightforward/'' Hitherto there had been no distinctions between the vessels
used in commerce and in the king's service ; the former being constantly employed for the
latter ; but now we find the addition of another tier, and a general enlargement of the
war-vessels. Still, when any emergency required, merchant vessels, not merely English,
but Genoese, Venetian, and from the Hanse Towns, were constantly hired for warfare. So
during peace the king's ships were sometimes employed in trade, or freighted to merchants.
Henry was very desirous of increasing and maintaining commercial relations with other
countries. In the commission to one of his ambassadors, he says, " The earth being the
common mother of all mankind, what can be more pleasant or more humane than to
communicate a portion of all her productions to all her children by commerce?" Many
special commercial treaties were made by him, and one concluded with the Archduke
Philip after a dispute with him, which had put a stop to the trade with the Low Countries,
was called the great commercial treaty (intercursus may mis] . " It was framed with the
greatest care to render the intercourse between the two countries permanent, and profitable
to both."
The first incident in the naval history of the next reign, that of Henry VIII., grew
out of an event which had occurred long before. A Portuguese squadron had, in the
year 1476, seized a Scottish ship, laden with a rich cargo, and commanded by John
Barton. Letters of marque were granted him, which he had not, apparently, used to any
great advantage, for they were renewed to his three sons thirty years afterwards. The
Bartons were not content with repaying themselves for their loss, but found the Portuguese
captures so profitable that they became confirmed pirates, "and when they felt their own
strength, they seem, with little scruple, to have considered ships of any nation as their
fair prize." Complaints were lodged before Henry, but were almost ignored, " till the
Earl of Surrey, then Treasurer and Marshal of England, declared at the council board,
that while he had an estate that could furnish out a ship, or a son that was capable of
commanding one, the narrow seas should not be so infested." Two ships, commanded by
his two sons, Sir Thomas and Sir Edward Howard, were made ready, with the king's
knowledge and consent. The two brothers put to sea, but were separated by stress of
weather; the same happened to the two pirate ships — the Lion, under Sir Andrew
Barton's own command, and the Jenny Perwin, or Bark of Scotland. The strength of one
of them is thus described in an old ballad, by a merchant, one of Sir Andrew's victims,
who is supposed to relate his tale to Sir Thomas Howard: —
" He is brass within, and steel without,
With beams on his top-castle strong;
And thirty pieces of ordnance
He carries on each side along;
And he hath a pinnace dearly dight,
St. Andrew's Cross it is his guide ;
280
THE SEA.
His pinnace beareth nine score men,
And fifteen cannons on each side.
* * * *
Were ye twenty ships, and he but one,
I swear by Kirk, and bower and hall,
He would overcome them every one
If once his beams they do down fall."
OLD DEPTFOJUJ DOCKYAKD.
But it was not so to be. Sir Thomas Howard, as he lay in the Downs, descried the
former making for Scotland, and immediately gave chase, "and there was a sore battle.
The Englishmen were fierce, and the Scots defended themselves manfully, and ever
Andrew blew his whistle to encourage his men. Yet, for all that, Lord Howard and his
men, by clean force, entered the main deck. There the English entered on all sides, and
the Scots fought sore on the hatches; but, in conclusion, Andrew was taken, being so
sore wounded that he died there, and then the remnant, of the Scots were taken, with
their ship." Meantime Sir Edward Howard had encountered the other piratical ship,
and though the Scots defended themselves like " hardy and well-stomached men," succeeded
in boarding it. The prizes were taken to Black wall, and the prisoners, 150 in number,
being all left alive, "so bloody had the action been," were tried at Whitehall, before the
10
THE DEFEAT OF SIR ANDREW BARTON.
THK "GREAT MICHAEL."- 281
Bishop of Winchester and a council. The bishop reminded them that " though there
was peace between England and Scotland, they, contrary to that, as thieves and pirates,
had robbed the king's subjects within his streams, wherefore they had deserved to die by
the law, and to be hanged at the low-water mark. Then, said the Scots, ( We acknowledge
our offence, and ask mercy, and not the law/ and a priest, who was also a prisoner,
said, ' My lord, we appeal from the king's justice to his mercy/ Then the bishop asked
if he were authorised by them to say thus, and they all cried, 'Yea, yea!' 'Well, then/
said the bishop, ' you shall find the king's mercy above his justice ; for, where you were
dead by the law, yet by his mercy he will revive you. You shall depart out of this realm
within twenty days, on pain of death if ye be found after the twentieth day ; and pray for
the king/* James subsequently required restitution from Henry, who answered "with
brotherly salutation " that " it became not a prince to charge his confederate with breach
of peace for doing justice upon a pirate and thief." But there is no doubt that it was
regarded as a national affair in Scotland; and helped to precipitate the war which speedily
ensued.
Some of the edicts of the period seem strange enough to modern ears. The Scotch
Parliament had passed an Act forbidding any ship freighted with staple goods to put to
sea during the three winter months, under a penalty of five pounds. In 1493, a generation
after the Act was passed, another provided that all burghs and towns should provide
ships and busses, the least to be of twenty tons, fitted according to the means of the said
places, provided with mariners, nets, and all necessary gear for taking "great fish and
small." The officers in every burgh were to make all the "stark idle men" within their
bounds go on board these vessels, and serve them there for their wages, or, in case of
refusal, banish them from their burgh. This was done with the idea of training a maritime
force, but seems to have produced little effect. James IV. built a ship, however, which
was, according to Scottish writers, larger and more powerfully armed than any then
built in England or France. She was called the Great Michael, and "was of so great
stature that she wasted all the oak forests of Fife, Falkland only excepted." Southey
reminds us that the Scots, like the Irish of the time, were constantly in feud with each
other, and consequently destroyed their forests, to prevent the danger of ambuscades, and
also to cut off the means of escape. Timber for this ship was brought from Norway,
and though all the shipwrights in Scotland and many others from foreign countries were
busily employed upon her, she took a year and a day to complete. The vessel is described,
as twelve score feet in length, and thirty-six in breadth of beam, within the walls, which
were ten feet each thick, so that no cannon-ball could go through them. She had
300 mariners on board, six score gunners, and 1,000 men-of-war, including officers,
" captains, skippers, and quarter-masters." Sir Andrew Wood and Robert Barton were
two of the chief officers. " This great ship cumbered Scotland to get her to sea. From
the time that she was afloat, and her masts and sails complete, with anchors offering
thereto, she was counted to the king to be thirty thousand pounds expense, by her artillery,
which was very costly." The Great Michael never did enough to have a single exploit
recorded, nor was she unfortunate enough to meet a tragic ending.
In 1511 war was declared against France, and Henry caused many new ships to be
36
282 THE SEA.
made, repairing and rigging the old. After an action on the coast of Brittany, where
both claimed the advantage, and where two of the largest vessels — the Cordelier, with 900
Frenchmen, and the Regent, with 700 Englishmen, were burned — nearly all on board
perishing, Henry advised "a great ship to be made, such as was never before seen in
England, and which was named the Henri Grace de Dieu, or popularly the Great Harry*
There are many ancient representations of this vessel, which is said to have cost £11,000,
and to have taken 400 men four whole days to work from Erith, where she was built, to
Barking Creek. "The masts," says a well-known authority, "were five in number/'
but he goes on clearly to show that the fifth was simply the bowsprit; they were in one
piece, as had been the usual mode in all previous times, although soon to be altered by
the introduction of several joints or top-masts, which could be lowered in time of need.
The rigging was simple to the last degree, but there was a. considerable amount of
ornamentation on the hull, and small flags were disposed almost at random on different
parts of the deck and gunwale, and one at the head of each mast. The standard of
England was hoisted on the principal mast; enormous pendants, or streamers, were added,
though ornaments which must have been often inconvenient. The Great Harry was of
1,000 tons, and in — so far as the writer can discover — the only skirmish she was concerned
in the Channel, for it could not be dignified by the name of an engagement, carried 700
men. She was burned at Woolwich, at the opening of Mary's reign, through the carelessness
of the sailors.
In the reign of Henry VIII. a navy office was first formed, and regular arsenals were
established at Portsmouth, Woolwich, and Deptford. The change in maritime warfare
consequent on the use of gunpowder rendered ships of a new construction necessary, and
more was done for the improvement of the navy in this reign than in any former one.
Italian shipwrights, then the most expert, were engaged, and at the conclusion of Henry's
reign the Eoyal Navy consisted of seventy-one vessels, thirty of which were ships of
respectable burden, aggregating 10,550 tons. Five years later, it had dwindled to less
than one-half. Six years after Henry's death, England lost Calais, a fort and town which
had cost Edward III., in the height of his power, an obstinate siege of eleven months.
But on Elizabeth's accession to the throne, the star of England was once more in the
ascendant.
Elizabeth commenced her reign by providing in all points for war, that she " might
the more quietly enjoy peace." Arms and weapons were imported from Germany, at
considerable cost, but in such quantities that the land had never before been so amply
stored with "all kinds of convenient armour and weapons." And she, also, was the first
to cause the manufacture of gunpowder in England, that she " might not both pray and
pay for it too to her neighbours." She allowed the free exportation of herrings and all
other sea-fish in English bottoms, and a partial exemption from impressment was granted
to all fishermen; while to encourage their work, Wednesday and Saturday were made
"fish-days;" this, it was stated, "was meant politicly, not for any superstition to be
maintained in the choice of meats." The navy became her great care, so much that
* It has been clearly shown that a large vessel which had been built by Henry VII. bore the same name,
The above was a successor, probably built after the first had become u-afit for service,
THE SPANISH AKMADA. 283
"foreigners named her the restorer of the glory of shipping, and the Queen of the North
Sea." She raised the pay of sailors. " The wealthier inhabitants of the sea-coast," says
Camden, "in imitation of their princess, built ships of war, striving who should exceed,
insomuch that the Queen's Navy, joined with her subjects'' shipping, was, in short time,
so puissant that it was able to bring forth 20,000 fighting men for sea service."
The greatest and most glorious event of her reign was, without cavil, the defeat of
the Spanish Armada, at one time deemed and called " The Invincible." With the political
complications which preceded the invasion, we have nought to do : it was largely a
religious war, inasmuch as Popish machinations were at the bottom of all. When the
contest became inevitable, the Spanish Government threw off dissimulation, and showed
"a disdainful disregard of secrecy as to its intentions, or rather a proud manifestation of
them, which," says Southey, "if they had been successful, might have been called
magnanimous." Philip had determined on putting forth his might, and accounts which
were ostentatiously published in advance termed it "The most fortunate and invincible
Armada." The fleet consisted of 130 ships and twenty caravels, having on board nearly
20,000 soldiers, 8,450 marines, 2,088 galley-slaves, with 2,630 great pieces of brass
artillery. The names of all the saints appeared in the nomenclature of the ships, "while,"
says Southey, "holier appellations, which ought never to be thus applied, were strangely
associated with the Great Griffin and the Sea Dog, the Cat and the White Falcon." Every
noble house in Spain was represented, and there were 180 friars and Jesuits, .with Cardinal
Allen at their head, a prelate who had not long before published at Antwerp a gross libel
on Elizabeth, calling her " heretic, rebel, and usurper, an incestuous bastard, the bane of
Christendom, and firebrand of all mischief." These priests were to bring England back
to the true Church the moment they landed. The galleons being above sixty in number
were, " exceeding great, fair, and strong, and built high above the water, like castles,
easy to be fought withal, but not so easy to board as the English and the Netherland ships ;
their upper decks were musket-proof, and beneath they were four or five feet thick, so
that no bullet could pass them. Their masts were bound about with oakum, or pieces
of fazeled ropes, and armed against all shot. The galleases were goodly great vessels,
furnished with chambers, chapels, towers, pulpits, and such-like; they rowed like galleys,
with exceeding great oars, each having 300 slaves, and were able to do much harm with
their great ordnance." Most severe discipline was to be preserved; blasphemy and oaths
were to be punished rigidly ; gaming, as provocative of these, and quarrelling, were forbidden ;
no one might wear a dagger; religious exercises, including the use of a special litany,
in which all archangels, angels, and saints, were invoked to assist with their prayers
against the English heretics and enemies of the faith, were enjoined. " No man," says
Southey, "ever set forth upon a bad cause with better will, nor under a stronger delusion
of perverted faith." The gunners were instructed to have half butts filled with water
and vinegar, wet clothes, old sails, &c., ready to extinguish fire, and what seems strange
now-a-days, in addition to the regular artillery, every ship was to carry two boatsMoads
of large stones, to throw on the enemy's decks, forecastles, &c., during an encounter.
Meantime Elizabeth and her ministers were fully aware of the danger, and the
appeals made to the Lords, and through the lord-lieutenants of counties were answered
284 THE SEA.
nobly. The first to present himself before the queen was a Roman Catholic peer, the
Viscount Montague, who brought 200 horsemen led by his own sons, and professed the
resolution that "though he was very sickly, and in age, to live and die in defence of
the queen and of his country, against all invaders, whether it were Pope, king, or potentate
whatsoever." The city of London, when 5,000 men and fifteen ships were required,
prayed the queen to accept twice the number. "In a very short time all her whole
realm, and every corner, were furnished with armed men, on horseback and on foot; and
those continually trained, exercised, and put into bands in warlike manner, as in no age
ever was before in this realm. There was no sparing of money to provide horse, armour,
weapons, powder, and all necessaries." Thousands volunteered their services personally
without wages; others money for armour and weapons, and wages for soldiers. The
country was never in better condition for defence.
Some urged the queen to place no reliance on maritime defence, but to receive the
enemy only on shore. Elizabeth thought otherwise, and determined that the enemy should
reap no more advantage on the sea than on land. She gave the command of the whole
fleet to Charles Lord Howard of Effmgham; Drake being vice-admiral, and Hawkins
and Frobisher — all grand names in naval history — being in the western division. Lord
Henry Seymour was to lie off the coast of Flanders with forty ships, Dutch and English,
and prevent the Prince of Parma from forming a junction with the Armada. The whole
number of ships collected for the defence of the country was 191, and the number of
seamen 17,472. There was one ship in the fleet (the Triumph} of 1,100 tons, one of 1,000,
one of 900, and two of 800 tons each, but the larger part of the vessels were very small,
and the aggregate tonnage amounted to only about half that of the Armada. For the land
defence over 100,000 men were called out, regimented, and armed, but only half of them
were trained. This was exclusive of the Border and Yorkshire forces.
The Armada left the Tagus in the latter end of May, 1588, for Corunna, there to
embark the remainder of the forces and stores. On the 30th of the same month, the
Lord Admiral and Sir Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth. A serious storm was
encountered, which dismasted some and dispersed others of the enemy's fleet, and occasioned
the loss of four Portuguese galleys. One David Gwynne, a Welshman, who had been a
galley-slave for eleven years, took the opportunity this storm afforded, and regained his
liberty. He made himself master of one galley, captured a second, and was joined by a third,
in which the wretched slaves were encouraged to rise by his example, and successfully
carried the three into a French port. After this disastrous commencement, the Armada
put back to Corunna, and was pursued thither by Effingham; but as he approached the
coast of Spain, the wind changed, and as he was afraid the enemy might effect the
passage to the Channel unperceived, he returned to its entrance, whence the ships
were withdrawn, some to the coast of Ireland, and the larger part to Plymouth, where the
men were allowed to come ashore, and the officers made merry with revels, dancing, and
bowling. The enemy was so long in making an appearance, that even Elizabeth was
persuaded the invasion would not occur that year; and with this idea, Secretary Walsing-
ham wrote to the admiral to send back four of his largest ships. " Happily for England,
and most honourably for himself, the Lord Effingham, though he had relaxed his vigilance,
SAILING OF THE ARMADA.
285
saw how perilous it was to act as if all were safe. He humbly entreated that nothing
might be lightly credited in so weighty a matter, and that he might retain these ships,
though it should be at his own cost. This was no empty show of disinterested zeal; for if
the services of those ships had not been called for, there can be little doubt, that in the
THE FIRST SHOT AGAIXST THE ARMADA.
rigid parsimony of Elizabeth's government, he would have been called upon to pay the
costs."
The Armada, now completely refitted, sailed from Corunna on July 12th, and when off
the Lizard were sighted by a pirate, one Thomas Fleming, who hastened to Plymouth with
the news, and not merely obtained pardon for his offences, but was awarded a pension for
life. At that time the wind "blew stiffly into the harbour," but all hands were got on
board, and the ships were warped out, the Lord Admiral encouraging the men, and hauling
286 THE SEA.
at the ropes himself. By the following day thirty of the smaller vessels were out, and next
day the Armada was descried "with lofty turrets like castles, in front like a half -moon;
the wings thereof speading out about the length of seven miles, sailing very slowly though
with full sails; the wind," says Camden, "being as it were weary with wafting them,
and the ocean groaning under their weight." The Spaniards gave up the idea of attacking
Plymouth, and the English let them pass, that they might chase them in the rear. Next
day the Lord Admiral sent the Defiance pinnace forward, and opened the attack by dis-
charging her ordnance, and later his own ship, the Ark Royal, "thundered thick and
furiously" into the Spanish vice-admiral's ship, and soon after, Drake, Hawkins, and
Frobisher, gave the Admiral Recalde a very thorough peppering. That officer's ship was
rendered nearly unserviceable, and he was obliged to crowd on sail to catch up with the
others, who showed little disposition for fighting. After a smart action in which he had
injured the enemy much, and suffered little hurt himself, Effingham gave over, because
forty of his ships had not yet come up from Plymouth. During the night the Spaniards
lost one of their ships, which was set on fire, it was believed, by a Flemish gunner, whose
wife and self had been ill-treated by the officer of the troops on board. The fire was
quenched, after all her upper works had been consumed; but when the Spaniards left the
hulk, they abandoned fifty of their countrymen, "miserably hurt." This night was
remarkable for a series of disasters and contretemps. A galleon, under the command of
one Valdez, ran foul of another ship, broke her foremast, and was left behind. Effingham,
supposing that the men had been taken out, without tarrying to take possession of the
prize, passed on with two other vessels, that he might not lose sight of the enemy. "He
thought that he was following Drake's ship, which ought to have carried the lanthorn that
night; it proved to be a Spanish light, and in the morning he found himself in the midst
of the enemy's fleet; " but he managed to get away unobserved, or at all events unpursued.
Drake, meantime, was mistakably following in the dark and stormy night a phantom
enemy, in the shape of five Easterling vessels. Meantime, the English fleet not seeing
the expected light on Drake's ship, lay- to during the night. Drake, next morning,
had the good fortune to fall in with Valdez, who, after a brief parley, surrendered, and
the prize was sent into Plymouth. Drake and his men divided 55,000 golden ducats
among them, as part of the spoil on board. The hulk of the galleon was taken to
Weymouth, and although burned almost to the water's edge, the gunpowder in the hold
remained intact and had not taken fire. The next day there was considerable nianreuvring
and skirmishing, but with no very memorable loss on either side. A great Venetian ship and
some smaller ones were taken from the enemy, while on our side Captain Cook died with
honour in the midst of the Spanish ships, in a little vessel of his own. Both sides were
wary ; Effingham did not think good to grapple with them, because they had an army in
the fleet, while he had none ; our army awaited their landing. The Spaniards meant as
much as possible to avoid fighting, and hold on till they could effect a junction with the
Prince of Parma. Next morning there was little wind, and only the four great galleases
were engaged, these having the advantage on account of their oars, while the English were
becalmed ; the latter, however, did considerable execution with chain-shot, cutting asunder
their tacklings and cordage. But they were now constrained to send ashore for gunpowder,
THE ENGLISH FIRE-SHIPS. 287
with which they were either badty supplied, or had expended too freely. Off the Isle of
Wight, the English battered the Spanish admiral with their great ordnance, and shot away
his mainmast; but other ships came to his assistance, beat them off, and set upon the
English admiral, who only escaped by favour of a breeze which sprung up at the right
moment. Camden relates how the English shot away the lantern from one of the
Spanish ships, and the beak-head from a second, and that Frobisher escaped by the
skin of his teeth from a situation of great danger. Still this was little more than
skirmishing. "The Spaniards say that from that time they gave over what they call the
pursuit of their enemy ; and they dispatched a fresh messenger to the Prince of Parma,
urging him to effect his junction with them as soon as possible, and withal to send
them some great shot, for they had expended theirs with more prodigality than effect."
On the other hand the English determined to wait till they could attack the enemy in
the Straits of Dover, where they expected to be joined by the squadrons under Lord
Seymour and Sir William Winter. Meantime Effingham's forces were being considerably
increased by volunteers ; " For the gentlemen of England hired ships from all parts at
their own charge, and with one accord came Hocking thither as to a set field." Among the
volunteers were Sir Walter Raleigh, the Earls of Oxford, Northumberland, and Cumberland.
On the evening of the 27th the Spaniards came to anchor off Calais, and the English
ships, now 140 in number, "all of them ships fit for fight, good sailors, nimble and tight
for tacking about which way they would, anchored within cannon-shot." A squadron of
about thirty ships belonging to the States, acting in conjunction with the Admiral of
Zeeland and his squadron, effectually blockaded Dunkirk, and the poor Prince of
Parma, with his pressed men constantly deserting, his flat-bottomed boats leaky, and his
provisions not ready, could do nothing.
The Spanish ships were almost invulnerable to the shot and ordnance of the day,
and " their height was such that our bravest seamen were against any attempt at
boarding them." These facts were well understood by Elizabeth's ministers, and the Lord
Admiral was instructed to convert eight of his worst vessels into fire-ships. The orders
arrived so « propos of the occasion, and were so swiftly executed, that within thirty hours
after the enemy had cast anchor off Calais, the ships were unloaded and dismantled, filled
with combustibles and all their ordnance charged, and their1 sides being smeared with
pitch, rosin, and wildfire, were sent, in the dead of the night, with wind and tide*
against the Spanish fleet. When the Spaniards saw the whole sea glittering and shining
with the reflection of the flames, the guns exploding as the fire reached them, and a heavy
canopy of dense smoke overhead obscuring the heavens, they remembered those terrible
fire-ships which had been used so effectively in the Scheldt, and the cry resounded through
the fleet, " The fire of Antwerp ! " Some of the Spanish captains let their hawsers slip,
some cut their cables, and in terror and confusion put to sea ; " happiest they who could
first be gone, though few or none could tell which course to take." In the midst of all
this fearful excitement one of the largest of the galleases, commanded by D. Hugo de
Moncada, ran foul of another ship, lost her rudder, floated about at the mercy of the tide,
and at length ran upon Calais sands. Here she was assailed by the English small craft,
who battered her with their guns, but dared not attempt boarding till the admiral sent
THE SEA.
a hundred men in his boats, under Sir Amias Preston. The Spaniards fought bravely,
but at length Moncada was shot through the head, and the galleas was carried by boarding.
Most of the Spanish soldiers, 400 in number, jumped overboard and were drowned; the
300 galley-slaves were freed from their fetters. The vessel had 50,000 ducats on board,
"a booty/' says Speed, "well fitting the English soldiers' affections." The English
THE FI11E-8HIPS ATTAC'KIXG TUB AKMAPA.
were about to set the galleas on fire, but the governor of Calais prevented this by firing
upon the captors, and the ship became his prize.
The Duke of Medina Sidonia, admiral of the Spanish Armada, had ordered the whole
fleet to weigh anchor and stand out to sea when he perceived the approaching fire-ships;
his vessels were to return to their former stations when the danger should be over. When
he fired a signal for the others to follow his example, few of them heard it, " because
they were scattered all about, and driven by fear, some of them in the wide sea, and
driven among the shoals of Flanders." When they had once more congregated, they
ranged themselves in order off Gravelines, where the final action was fought. Drake and
Fenner were the first to assail them, followed by many brave captains, and lastly the
THE FINAL ACTION.
289
admiral came up with Lord Thomas Howard and Lord Sheffield. There were scarcely
two or three and twenty among their ships which matched ninety of the Spanish vessels
in size, but the smaller vessels were more easily handled and manoeuvred. "Wherefore/'
says Hakluyt, "using their prerogative of nimble steerage, whereby they could turn and
wield themselves with the wind which way they listed, they came oftentimes very near
upon the Spaniards, and charged them so sore, that now and then they were but a pike's
length asunder; and so continually giving them one broadside after another, they
QtEEX ELIZAHETU OX HEK WAY TO ST. PAUL'S.
discharged all their shot, both great and small, upon them, spending a whole day, from
morning till night, in that violent kind of conflict/' During this action many of the
Spanish vessels were pierced through and through between wind and water; one was
sunk, and it was learnt that one of her officers, having proposed to strike, was put to
death by another; the brother of the slain man instantly avenged his death, and then
tli3 ship went down. Others are believed to have sunk, and many were terribly shattered.
One, which leaked so fast that fifty men were employed at the pumps, tried to run
aground on the Flemish coast, where her captain had to strike to a Dutch commander.
Our ships at last desisted from the contest, from sheer want of ammunition; and the
Armada made an effort to reach the Straits. Here a great engagement was expected,
but the fighting was over, and that which the hand of man barely commenced the
37
290 THE SEA.
hand of God completed. The Spaniards " were now experimentally convinced that the
English excelled them in naval strength. Several of their largest ships had been lost,
others were greatly damaged; there was no port to which they could repair; and to
force their way through the victorious English fleet, then in sight, and amounting to 140
sail, was plainly and confessedly impossible." They resolved upon returning to Spain by
a northern route, and "having gotten more sea room for their huge-bodied bulks, spread
their mainsails, and made away as fast as wind and water would give them leave." Effingham,
leaving Seymour to blockade the Prince of Parma's force, followed what our chroniclers
now termed the Vincible Armada, and pursued them to Scotland, where they did not
attempt to land, but made for Norway, " where the English," says Drake, " thought it best
to leave them to those boisterous and uncouth northern seas."
Meantime, it was still expected ashore that the Prince of Parma might effect a
landing, and it was at this time that Elizabeth, who declared her intention to be present
wherever the battle might be fought, rode through the soldiers' ranks at Tilbury, and
made her now historical speech. " Incredible it is," says Camden, "how much she
encouraged the hearts of her captains and soldiers by her presence and her words." When
a false report was brought that the prince had landed, the news was immediately published
throughout the camp, " and assuredly," says Southey, " if the enemy had set foot upon
our shores they would have sped no better than they had done at sea, such was the spirit
of the nation." Some time elapsed before the fate of the Armada was known. It was
affirmed on the Continent that the greater part of the English fleet had been taken, and
a large proportion sunk, the poor remainder having been driven into the Thames "all
rent and torn." It was believed at Rome that Elizabeth was taken and England conquered !
Meantime, the wretched Armada was being blown hither and thither by contending
winds. The mules and horses had to be thrown overboard lest the water should fail.
When they had reached a northern latitude, some 200 miles from the Scottish isles, the
duke ordered them each to take the best course they could for Spain, and he himself with
some flve-and-twenty of his best provided ships reached it in safety. The others made
for Cape Clear, hoping to water there, but a terrible storm arose, in which it is believed
more than thirty of the vessels perished off the coast of Ireland. About 200 of the poor
Spaniards were driven from their hiding-places and beheaded, through the inhumanity of
Sir William Fitzwilliam. " Terrified at this, the other Spaniards, sick and starved as
they were, committed themselves to the sea in their shattered vessels, and very many of
them were swallowed up by the waves." Two of their ships were wrecked on the coasts
C'f Norway. Some few got into the English seas ; two were taken by cruisers off Rochelle.
About 700 me?i were cast ashore in Scotland, were humanely treated, and subsequently
sent, by request of the Prince of Parma, to the Netherlands. Of the whole Armada only
fifty-three vessels returned to Spain; eighty-one were lost. The enormous number of
14,000 men, of whom only 2,000 were prisoners, were missing. By far the larger
proportion were lost by shipwreck.
" Philip's behaviour/' says Southey, " when the whole of this great calamity was known,
should always be recorded to his honour. He received it as a dispensation of Providence,
and gave, and commanded to be given, throughout Spain, thanks to God and the saints
NOBLE ADVENTURERS. 291
that it was no greater." In England, a solemn thanksgiving was celebrated at St. Paul's,
where the Spanish ensigns which had been taken were displayed, and the , same flags were
shown on London Bridge the following day, it being Southwark Fair. Many of the arms
and instruments of torture taken are still to be seen in the Tower. Another great
thanksgiving-day was celebrated on the anniversary of the queen's accession, and one
of great solemnity, two days later, throughout the realm. On the Sunday following, the
queen went "as in public, but Christian triumph/' to St. Paul's, in a chariot "made in
the form of a throne with four pillars," and drawn by four white horses ; alighting from
which at the west door, she knelt and " audibly praised God, acknowledging Him her only
Defender, who had thus delivered the land from the rage of the enemy." Her Privy
Council, the nobility, the French ambassador, the -judges, and the heralds, accompanied
her. The streets were hung with blue cloth and flags, "the several companies, in their
liveries, being drawn up both sides of the way, with their banners in becoming and gallant
order." Thus ended this most serious attempt at the invasion of England.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTEUESTS [continued] .
Noble Adventurers— The Earl of Cumberland as a Pirate— Rich Prizes— Action with the Madrede Dios— Capture of the Great
Carrack— A Cargo worth £150,000— Burning of the Cinco C/tagros— But Fifteen saved out of Eleven Hundred Souls— The
Scourge of Malice— Establishment of the Slave Trade— Sir John Hawkins' Ventures— High-handed Proceedings— The
Spaniards forced to Purchase— A Fleet of Slavers— Hawkins sanctioned by " Good Queen Bess "—Joins in a Negro War
—A Disastrous Voyage— Sir Francis Drake— His First Loss— The Treasure at Nombre de Dios— Drake's First Sight of
the Pacific— Tons of Silver Captured— John Oxenham's Voyage— The First Englishman on the Pacific— His Disasters
and Death— Drake's Voyage Round the World— Blood-letting at the Equator— Arrival at Port Julian— Trouble with the
Natives— Execution of a Mutineer— Passage of the Straits of Magellan— Vessels separated in a Gale-Loss of the
Marigold— Tragic Fate of Eight Men— Drake Driven to Cape Horn— Proceedings at Valparaiso— Prizes taken- Capture
of the great Treasure Ship— Drake's Resolve to change his Course Home— Vessel refitted at Nicaragua— Stay in the
Bay-of San Francisco— The Natives worship the English— Grand Reception at Tcrnate— Drake's Ship nearly wrecked
—Return to England Honours accorded Drake— His Character and Influence— Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Disasters and
Death— Raleigh's Virginia Settlements.
THE spirit of adventure, fostered by the grand discoveries which were constantly being
made, the rich returns derived from trading expeditions, and from the pillage of our
enemies, was at its zenith in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Nor was it confined to mere
soldiers of fortune, for we find distinguished noblemen of ample fortunes taking to the
seas as though their daily bread depended thereupon. Among these naval adventurers
" there was no one," says Southey, " who took to the seas so much in the spirit of a
northern sea king as the Earl of Cumberland." He had borne his part in the defeat of
the Armada, while still a young man, and the queen was so well satisfied with him, that
she gave him a commission to go the same year to the Spanish coast as general, lending
him the Golden Lion, one of the ships royal, he victualling and furnishing it at his own
expense. After some fighting he took a prize, but soon after had to cut away his
mainmast in a storm, and return to England. "His spirit remaining-, nevertheless, higher
than the winds, and more resolutely by storms compact and united in itself," we find him
292 THE SEA.
shortly afterwards again on the high seas with the Ticfory, one of the queen's ships, and
three smaller vessels. Tne earl was not very scrupulous as regards prize-taking, and
captured two French ships, which belonged to the party of the League. A little later he
fell in with eleven ships from Hamburg and the Baltic, and fired on them till the captains
came on board and showed their passports; these were respected, but not so the property
of a Lisbon Jew, which they confessed to have on their ships, and which was valued
at £4,500. Off the Azores, he hoisted Spanish colours, and succeeded in robbing some
Spanish vessels. The homeward-bound Portuguese fleet from the East Indies narrowly
escaped him ; when near Tercera some English prisoners stole out in a small boat, having
no other yard for their mainsail than two pipe-staves, and informed him that the
Portuguese ships had left the island a week before. This induced him to return to Fayal,
and the terror inspired by the English name in those days is indicated by the fact that the
town of about 500 houses was found to be completely empty; the inhabitants had
abandoned it. He set a guard over the churches and monasteries, and then calmly waited
till a ransom of 2,000 ducats was brought him. He helped himself to fifty-eight pieces
of iron ordnance, and the Governor of Graciosa, to keep on good terms with the earl, sent
him sixty butts of wine. While there a Weymouth privateer came in with a Spanish prize
worth £16,000. Next we find the earl at St. Mary's, where he captured a Brazilian sugar
ship. In bringing out their prize they were detained on the harbour bar, exposed to the
enemy. Eighty of Cumberland's men were killed, and he himself was wounded; ahis
head also was broken with stones, so that the blood covered his face/' and both his face
and legs were burnt with fire-balls. The prize, however, was secured and forwarded to
England.
Cumberland himself held on his course to Spain, and soon fell in with a ship of 400
tons, from Mexico, laden with hides, cochineal, sugar, and silver, " and the captain had with
Aim a venture to the amount of 25,000 ducats," which was taken. They now resolved to
return home, but " sea fortunes are variable, having two inconstant parents, air and water,"
and as one of the adventurers* concisely put it, " these summer services and ships of
sugar proved not so sweet and pleasant as the winter was afterwards sharp and painful."
Lister, the earl's captain, was sent in the Mexican prize for England, and was wrecked off
Cornwall, everything being lost in her, and all the crew, save five or six men. On the
earl's ship, contrary winds and gales delayed them so greatly that their water failed ; they
were reduced to three spoonfuls of vinegar apiece at each meal; this state of affairs lasting
fourteen days, except what water they could collect from rain and hail-storms. " Yet was
that rain so intermingled with the spray of the foaming sea, in that extreme storm, that
it could not be healthful : yea, some in their extremity of thirst drank themselves to death
with their cans of salt water in their hands." Some ten or twelve perished on each of
as many consecutive nights, and the storm was at one time so violent that the ship was
almost torn to pieces ; " his lordship's cabin, the dining-room, and the half deck became all
one," and he was obliged to seek a lodging in the hold. The earl, however, constantly
encouraged the men, and the small stock of provisions was distributed with the greatest
* Sir "William Monson : Churchill's " Collertion of Voyages."
CAPTURE OF A GRAND PRIZE.
293
equality ; so at last they reached a haven on the west coast of Ireland, where their
sufferings ended. On this voyage they had taken thirteen prizes. The Mexican prize
which had been wrecked would have added £100,000 to the profits of the venture, but
even with this great deduction, the earl had been doubly repaid for his outlay.
The earl's thii'd expedition was a failure, but the fourth resulted in the capture of the
Madre de Dios, one of the largest carracks belonging to the Portuguese crown. In this,
however, some of Raleigh's and Hawkins' ships had a share. Captain Thomson, who
came up with her first, "again and again delivered his peals as fast as he could fire
and fall astern to load again, thus hindering her way, though somewhat to his own cost,
till the others could come up " Several others worried the carrack, until the earl's ships
came up about eleven at night. Captain Norton had no intention of boarding the enemy
THE EARL OF CUMBERLAND AND THE " MADRE DE DIOS."
till daylight, if there had not been a cry from one of the ships royal, then in danger,
" An you be men, save the queen's ship ! " Upon this the carrack was boarded on both
sides. A desperate struggle ensued, and it took an hour and a half before the attacking
parties succeeded in getting possession of the high forecastle, "so brave a booty making
the men fight like dragons." The ship won, the boarders turned to pillage, and while
searching about with candles, managed to set fire to a cabin containing some hundreds of
cartridges, very nearly blowing up the ship. The hotness of the action was evidenced by
the number of dead and dying who strewed the carrack's decks, "especially," says the
chronicler, " about the helm ; for the greatness of the steerage requiring the labour of
twelve or fourteen men at once, and some of our ships beating her in at the stern with
their ordnance, oftentimes with one shot slew four or five labouring on either side of the
helm ; whose room being still furnished with fresh supplies, and our artillery still playing
upon them with continual volleys, it could not be but thit much blood should be shed in
that place." For the times, the prisoners were treated with great humanity, and surgeons
were sent on board to dress their wounds. The captain, Don Fernando de Mendoza, was
294 THE SEA.
"a gentleman of noble birth, well stricken in year?, well spoken, of comely personage, of
good stature, but of hard fortune. Twice he had been taken prisoner by the Moors and
ransomed by the king ; and he had been wrecked on the coast of Sof ala, in a carrack
which he commanded, and having escaped the sea danger, fell into the hands of infidels
ashore, who kept him under long and grievous servitude/' The prisoners were allowed to
carry off their own valuables, put on board one of Cumberland's ships, and sent to their
own country. Unfortunately for them, they again fell in with other English cruisers, who
robbed them without mercy, taking from them 900 diamonds and other valuable things.
Aboiit 800 negroes on board were landed on the island of Corvo. Her cargo consisted
of jewels, spices, drugs, silks, calicoes, carpets, canopies, ivory, porcelain, and innumerable
curiosities; it was estimated to amount to £150,000 in value, and there was considerable
haggling over its division, and no little embezzlement; the queen had a large share of it,
and Cumberland netted £36,000. The carrack created great astonishment at Dartmouth
by her dimensions, which for those days were enormous. She was of about 1,600 tons
burden, and 165 feet long; she was of "seven several stories, one main orlop, three close;
decks, one forecastle (of great height) and a spar deck of two floors apiece." Her main-
mast was 125 feet in height, and her main-yard 105 feet long. " Being so huge and
unwieldly a ship/' says Purchas, " she was never removed from Dartmouth, but there laid
up her bones."
In 1594 the earl set forth on his eighth voyage, with three ships, a caravel, and a
pinnace, furnished at his own expense, with the help of some adventurers. Early in the
voyage they descried a great Indian ship, whose burden they estimated at 2,000 tons.
Her name was the Cinco Chagas (the Five Wounds), and her fate was as tragical as her
name. She had on board a number of persons who had been shipwrecked in three vessels,
which, like herself, had been returning from the Indies. When she left Mozambique for
Europe, she had on board 1,400 persons, an enormous number for those days; on the
voyage she had encountered terrible gales, and after putting in at Loanda for water and
supplies, and shipping many slaves, a fatal pestilence known by the name of the "mal Ce
Loanda/' carried off about half the crew. The captain wished to avoid the Azores, but a
mutiny had arisen among the soldiers on board, and he was forced to stand by them, and
by this means came into contact with the Earl of Cumberland's squadron off Fayal. The
Portuguese had pledged themselves to the ship at all hazards, and to perish with her in the
sea, or in the flames, rather than yield so rich a prize to the heretics. Cumberland's ships,
after harassing the carrack on all sides, ranged up against her; twice was she boarded,
and twice were the assailants driven out. A third time the privateers boarded her, one of
them bearing a white flag; he was the first of the party killed, and when a second hoisted
another flag at the poop it was immediately thrown overboard. The English suffered con-
siderably, more especially among the officers. Cumberland's vice-admiral, Antony, was killed ;
Down ton, the rear-admiral, crippled for life; and Cave, who commanded the earl's ship,
mortally wounded. The privateers seem, in the heat of action, almost to have forgotten
the valuable cargo on board, and to have aimed only at destroying her. "After many
bickerings," says the chronicler, " fireworks flew about interchangeably ; at last the vice-
admiral, with a culverin shot at hand, fired the carrack in her stern, and the rear-admiral
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SLAVE TKADE. 295
her forecastle, *•**•* then flying and maintaining their fires so well with their
small shot that many which came to quench them were slain." The fire made rapid
headway, and P. Frey Antonio, a Franciscan, was seen with a crucifix in his hand,
encouraging the poor sailors to commit themselves to the waves and to God's mercy,
rather than perish in the flames. A large number threw themselves overboard, clinging to
such things as were cast into the sea. It is said that the English boats, with one
honourable exception, made no efforts to save any of them; it is even stated that they
butchered many in the water. According to the English account there were more than
1,100 on board the carrack, when she left Loanda, of whom only fifteen were saved !
Two ladies of high rank, mother and daughter — the latter of whom was going home to
Spain to take possession of some entailed property — when they saw there was no help to
be expected from the privateers, fastened themselves together with a cord, and committed
themselves to the waves; their bodies were afterwards cast ashore on Fayal, still united,
though in the bonds of death.
The earl afterwards built the Scourge of Malice, a ship of 800 tons, and the largest
yet constructed by an English subject, and in 1597 obtained letters patent authorising
him to levy sea and land forces. Without royal assistance, he gathered eighteen sail.
This expedition, although it worried and impoverished the Spaniards, was not particularly
profitable to the earl. He took Puerto Rico, and then abandoned it, and did not, as he
expected, intercept either the outward-bound East Indiamen, who, indeed, were too frightened
to venture out of the Tagus that year, or the homeward-bound Mexican fleet. This was
Cumberland's last expedition, and no other subject ever undertook so many at his own cost.
The Elizabethan age was otherwise so glorious that it is painful to have to record
the establishment of the slave-trade — a serious blot on the reign — one which no Englishman
of to-day would defend, but which was then looked upon as perfectly legitimate. John
Hawkins (afterwards Sir John) was born at Plymouth, and his father had long bean
a well-esteemed sea-captain, the first Englishman, it is believed, who ever traded to the
Brazils. The young man had gained much renown by trips to Spain, Portugal, and
the Canaries, and having "grown in love and favour" with the Canarians, by good and
upright dealing, began to think of more extended enterprises. Learning that "negroes
were very good merchandise in Hispaniola, and that store of them might easily be had
upon the coast of Guinea/' he communicated with several London ship-owners, who
liked his schemes, and provided him in large part with the necessary outfit. Three small
vessels were provided — the Solomon, of 120 tons, the Swallow, of 100, and the Jonas, of
forty. Hawkins left England in October, 1562, and proceeding to Sierra Leone, "got
into his possession, partly by the sword and partly by other means, to the number of 300
negroes at the least, besides other merchandise which that country yieldeth." At the
port of Isabella, Puerto de Plata, and Monte Christo, he made sale of the slaves to the
Spaniards, trusting them "no farther than by his own strength he was able to master
them." He received in exchange, pearls, ginger, sugar, and hides enough, not merely to
freight his own vessels, but two other hulks, and thus " with prosperous success, and
much gain to himself and the aforesaid adventurers, he came home, :iud arrived in
September, 1503."
296 THE SEA.
The second expedition was on a larger scale, and included a queen's ship of 700 tons.
Hawkins arriving off the Rio Grande, could not enter it for want of a pilot, but he
proceeded to Sambula, one of the islands near its mouth, where he "went every day on
shore to take the inhabitants, with burning and spoiling their towns," and got a number
of slaves. Flushed with easy success, Hawkins was persuaded by some Portuguese to
attack a negro town called Bymeba, where he was informed there was much gold. Forty
of his men were landed, and they dispersing, to secure what booty they could for
themselves, became an easy prey to the negroes, who killed seven, including one of the
captains, and wounded twenty-seven. After a visit to Sierra Leone, which he left quickly
on account of the illness and death of some of his men, he proceeded to the West Indies,
where he carried matters with a high hand at the small Spanish settlements, at which
very generally the poor inhabitants had been forbidden to trade with him by the viceroy,
then stationed at St. Domingo. To this he replied at Borburata, that he was in need of
refreshment and money also, " without which he could not depart. Their princes were
in amity one with another; the English had free traffic in Spain and Flanders; and he
knew no reason why they should not have the like in the King of Spain's dominions.
Upon this the Spaniards said they would send to their governor, who was three-score
leagues off; ten days must elapse before his determination could arrive; meantime he
might bring his ships into the harbour, and they would supply him with any victuals he
might require." The ships sailed in and were supplied, but Hawkins, "advising himself
that to remain there ten days idle, spending victuals and men's wages, and perhaps, in
the end, receive no good answer from the governor, it were mere folly," requested licence
to sell certain lean and sick negroes, for whom he had little or no food, but who would
recover with proper treatment ashore. This request, he said, he was forced to make, as
he had not otherwise wherewith to pay for necessaries supplied to him. He received a
licence to sell thirty slaves, but now few showed a disposition to buy, and where they
did, came to haggle and cheapen. Hawkins made a feint to go, when the Spaniards
bought some of his poorer negroes, " but when the purchasers paid the duty and required
the customary receipt, the officer refused to give it, and instead of carrying the money
to the king's account, distributed it to the poor ' for the love of God.' 'j The purchasers
feared that they might have to pay the duty a second time, and the trade was suspended
till the governor arrived, on the fourteenth day. To him Hawkins told a long-winded
story, concluding by saying that, "it would be taken well at the governor's hand if he
granted a licence in this case, seeing that there was a great amity between their princes,
and that the thing pertained to our queen's highness." The petition was taken under
consideration in council, and at last granted. The licence of thirty ducats demanded for
each slave sold did not, however, meet Hawkins' views, and he therefore landed 100 men
well armed, and marched toward the town. The poor townspeople sent out messengers
to know his demands, and he requested that the duty should be 1\ per cent., and mildly
threatened that if they would not accede to this " he would displease them." Everything
was conceded, and Hawkins obtained the prices he wanted. Fancy a modern merchant
standing with an armed guard, pistol in hand, over his customers, insisting that he would
sell what he liked and at his own price !
HIGH-HANDED TKADING.
297
But all this is nothing to what happened at Rio de la Hacha. There he spoke of
his quiet ti-affic (!) at Borburata, and requested permission to trade there in the same
manner. He was told that the viceroy had forbidden it, whereupon he threatened them
that he must either have the licence or they "stand to their own defence/'' The licence
was granted, but they offered half the prices which he had obtained at Borburata,
whereupon he told them, insultingly, that "seeing they had sent him this to his supper,
he would in the morning bring them as good a breakfast.""* Accordingly, early next
day he fired off a culveriii, and prepared to land with 100 men, "having light ordnance
in his great boat, and in the other boats double bases in their noses/' The townsmen
OX THE COAST OF CORNWALL.
marched out in battle array, but when the guns were fired fell flat on their faces, and
soon dispersed. Still, about thirty horsemen made a show of resistance, their white leather
targets in one hand and their javelins in the other, but as soon as Hawkins marched
towards them they sent a flag of truce, and the treasurer, "in a cautious interview with
this ugly merchant," granted all he asked, and the trade proceeded. They parted with
a show of friendship, and saluted each other with their guns, the townspeople "glad to
be sped of such traders."
On the return voyage, contrary winds prevailed, "till victuals scanted, so that
they were in despair of ever reaching home, had not God provided for them better than
their deserving." They arrived at Padstow, in Cornwall, "with the loss," says the
narrative printed in Hakluyt's collection, "of twenty persons in all the voyage, and with
great profit to the venturers, as also to the whole realm, in bringing home both gold,
* Hakluyt.
38
298 THE SEA.
silver, pearls, and other jewels in great store. His name, therefore, be praised for
evermore. Amen ! " They did not consider that they had been engaged in a most
iniquitous traffic, nor was it, indeed, the opinion of the times. " Hawkins/' says
Southey, "then, is not individually to be condemned, if he looked upon dealing in negroes
to be as lawful as any other trade, and thought that force or artifice might be employed
for taking them with as little compunction as in hunting, fishing, or fowling." He had
a coat of arms and crest bestowed upon him and his posterity. Among other devices it
bore " a demi-Moor, in his proper colour, bound and captive, with annulets on his
arms," &c.
On his next expedition for slaving purposes he had six vessels. Herrera * says that
two Portuguese had offered to conduct this fleet to a place where they might load their
vessels with gold and other riches, and that the queen had been so taken with the idea
that she had supplied Hawkins with two ships, he and his brother fitting out four others
and a pinnace. The force on board amounted to 1,500 soldiers and sailors, who were to
receive a third of the profits. When the expedition was ready, the Portuguese deserted
from Plymouth, and went to France, but as the cost of the outfit had been incurred, it
was thought proper to proceed. Hawkins obtained, after a great deal of trouble, less
than 150 slaves between the Rio Grande and Sierra Leone. At this juncture a negro
king, just going to war with a neighbouring tribe, sent to the commander asking his aid,
promising him all the prisoners who should be taken. This was a tempting bait, and
120 men were sent to assist the coloured warrior. They assaulted a town containing
8,000 inhabitants, strongly paled and well defended, and the English losing six men,
and having a fourth of their number wounded, sent for more help ; " whereupon," says
Hawkins, "considering that the good success of this enterprise might highly further the
commodity of our voyage, I went myself; and with the help of the king of our side,
assaulted the town both by land and sea, and very hardly, with fire (their houses being
covered with dry palm-leaves), obtained the town, and put the inhabitants to flight, where
we took 250 persons, men, women, and children. And by our friend, the king of our side,
there were taken 600 prisoners, whereof we hoped to have had our choice; but the negro
(in which nation is seldom or never found truth) meant nothing less, for that night ho
removed his camp and prisoners, so that we were fain to content us with those few that
we had gotten ourselves." They had obtained between 400 and 500, a part of which
were speedily sold as soon as he reached the West Indies. At Rio de la Hacha, "from
whence came all the pearls," the treasurer would by no means allow them to trade, or
even to water the ships, and had fortified the town with additional bulwarks, well manned
by harquebusiers. Hawkins again enforced trade, by landing 200 men, who stormed their
fortifications, at which the Spaniards fled. "Thus having the town," says Hawkins,
"with some circumstance, as partly by the Spaniards' desire of negroes, and partly by
friendship of the treasurer, w'e obtained a secret trade, whereupon the Spaniards resorted
to us by night, and bought of us to the number of 200 negroes."
This voyage ended most disastrously. Passing by the west end of Cuba, they
* " Historia General."
SPANISH TREACHERY. 299
encountered a terrific storm, which lasted four days, and they had to cut down all the
"higher buildings" of the Jesus, their largest ship; her rudder, too, was nearly disabled,
and she leaked badly. They made for the coast of Florida, but could find no suitable
haven. "Thus, being in great despair, and taken with a new storm, which continued
other three days," Hawkins made for St. Juan de Ulloa, a port of the city of Mexico.
They took on their way three ships, having on board 100 passengers, and soon reached
the harbour. The Spaniards mistook them for a fleet from Spain, which was expected
about that time, and the chief officers came aboard to receive the despatches. " Being
deceived of their expectation," they were somewhat alarmed, but finding that Hawkins
wanted nothing but provisions, "were recomforted." " I found in the same port," says
Hawkins, "twelve ships, which had in them, by report, £200,000 in gold and silver; all
of which being in my possession, with the king's island, as also the passengers before in
my way thitherward stayed, I set at liberty, without the taking from them the weight
of a groat." This savours rather of impudent presumption, for he was certainly not in
good condition to fight at that period. Next day the Spanish fleet arrived outside, when
Hawkins again rode the high horse, by giving notice to the general that he would not
suffer them to enter the port until conditions had been made for their safe-being, and for
the maintenance of peace. The fleet had on board a new viceroy, who answered amicably,
and desired him to propose his conditions. Hawkins required not merely victuals and trade,
and hostages to be given on both sides, but that the island should be in his possession
during his stay, with such ordnance as was planted there, and that no Spaniard might
land on the island with any kind of weapon. These terms the viceroy "somewhat disliked"
at first, nor is it very surprising that he did ; but at length he pretended to consent, and
the Spanish ships entered the port. In a few days it became evident that treachery was
intended, as men and weapons in quantities were being transferred from and to the
Spanish ships, and new ordnance landed on the island. Hawkins sent to inquire what
was meant, and was answered with fair words ; still unsatisfied, he sent the master of the
Jesus, who spoke Spanish, to the viceroy, and "required to be satisfied if any such thing
were or not." The viceroy, now seeing that the treason must be discovered, retained the
master, blew his trumpet, and it became evident that a general attack was intended. A
number of the English crews ashore were immediately massacred. They attempted to
board the Minion and Jesus, but were kept out, with great loss on both sides. "Now,"
says Hawkins, " when the Jesus and the Minion were gotten about two ships' lengths from
the Spanish fleet, the fight began so hot on all sides, that, within one hour, the admiral
of the Spaniards was supposed to be sunk, their vice-admiral burnt, and one other of their
principal ships supposed to be sunk. The Spaniards used their shore artillery to such
effect that it cut all the masts and yards of the Jesus, and sunk Hawkins' smaller ships,
the Judith only excepted." It had been determined, as there was little hope to get the
Jesus away, that she should be placed as a target or defence for the Minion till night,
when they would remove such of the stores and valuables as was possible, and then abandon
her. "As we were thus determining," says Hawkins, "and had placed the Minion from
the shot of the land, suddenly the Spaniards fired two great ships which were coming
directly with us; and having no means to avoid the fire, it bred among the men a
300 THE SEA.
marvellous fear, so that some said, 'Let us depart with the Minion;' otners said, 'Let
us see whether the wind will cany the fire from us.' But, to be short, the Minion's
men, which had always their sails in readiness, thought to make sure work, and so, without
either consent of the captain or master, cut their sail." Hawkins was "very hardly"
SIR JOHN HAWKINS.
received on board, and many of the men of the Jesus were left to their fate and the mercy
of the Spaniards, "which/'' he says, "I doubt was very little." Only the Minion and
the Judith escaped, and the latter deserted that same night. Beaten about in unknown
seas for the next fourteen days, hunger at last enforced them to seek the land; "for
hides were thought very good meat; rats, cats, mice, and dogs, none escaped that might
be gotten ; parrots and monkeys, that were had in great price, were thought then very
profitable if they served the turn of one dinner." So starved and worn out were they,,
302 THE SEA.
that about a hundred of his people desired to be loft on the coast of Tabasco, and Hawkins
determined to water there., and then, " with his little remain of victuals/' to attempt the
voyage home. During- this time, while on shore with fifty of his men, a gale arose,
which prevented them regaining the ship ; indeed, they expected to sep it wrecked before
their eyes. At last the storm abated, and they sailed for England, the men dying off
daily from sheer exhaustion, the pitiful remainder being scarcely able to work the ship.
They at last reached the coast of Galicia, where they obtained fresh meat, and putting
into Vigo, were assisted by some English ships lying there. Hawkins concludes his
narrative as follows : — " If all the miseries and troublesome affairs of this sorrowful voyage
should be perfectly and thoroughly written, there should need a painful man with his pen,
and as great a time as he had that wrote the lives and deaths of the martyrs/'
The Judith, which made one of Hawkins's last fleet, was commanded by Francis
Drake, a name that was destined to become one of the most famous of the day, and very
terrible to the Spaniards. In this last venture he lost all that he had accumulated by
earlier voyages, "but a divine, belonging to the fleet, comforted him with the assurance,
that having been so treacherously used by the Spaniards,' he might lawfully recover in
value of the King of Spain, and repair his losses upon him wherever he could." This
comfortable doctrine consoled him. "The case," says Fuller, "was clear in sea divinity."
Two or three minor voyages he made to gain knowledge of the field of operation, and in
the West Indies made some little money "by playing the seaman and the pirate." On
May 24th, 1572, he sailed from Plymouth, in the PascJia, of seventy tons, his brother
accompanying him in the Swan, of only twenty-five tons; they had three pinnaces on
board, taken to pieces and stowed away. The force with which he was to revenge himself
on the Spanish monarch, numbered seventy-three men and boys, all told. In the Indies
he was joined by Captain Rowse, of an Isle of Wight bark, with thirty-eight men on
board. Let us see how they sped.
It was known that there was great treasure at Nombre de Dios, and thither the little
squadron shaped its course. The town was unwalled, and they entered without difficulty,
but the Spaniards received them in the market-place with a volley of shot. Drake returned
the greeting with a flight of arrows, "the best ancient English complement, but in the
attack received a wound in his leg, which he dissembled, "knowing that if the general's
heait stoop, the men's will fall." He arrived at the treasury-house, which was full of
silver bars, and while in the act of ordering his men to break it open, fainted from the loss of
blood, and his men, binding up the wound, forcibly took him to his pinnace. It was time,
for the Spaniards had discovered their weakness, and could have overcome them. Rather
disappointed here, Drake made for Carthagena, and took several vessels on his way. He
learned from some escaped negro slaves, settled on the isthmus of Darien, that the treasure
was brought from Panama to Nombre de Dios upon mules, a party of which he might
intercept. Drake's leg having healed, he was led to an eminence on that isthmus, where,
from a great tree, both the Pacific and Atlantic might be seen. Steps had been cut in
the trunk of this huge tree, and at the top "a convenient arbour had been made, wherein
twelve men might sit." Drake saw from its summit that great Southern Ocean (the
Pacific Ocean) of which he had heard something already, and "being inflamed with
DEAKE AT THE ISTHMUS. 803
ambition of glory and hopes of wealth, was so vehemently transported with desire to
navigate that sea, that falling down there upon his knees, he implored the divine assistance,
that he might at some time or other sail thither, and make a perfect discovery of the
same."* Drake was the first Englishman to gaze on its waters.
On the isthmus, Drake encountered an armed party of Spaniards, but put them to
flight, and destroyed merchandise to the value of 200,000 ducats. Soon after he heard
"the sweet music of the mules coming with a great noise of bells," and when the trains
came up, he found they had no one but the muleteers to protect them. It was easy work
to take as much silver as they would, but more difficult to transport it to the coast.
They, in consequence, buried several tons, but one of his men, who fell into the hands of
the Spaniards, was compelled by torture to reveal the place, and when Drake's people
returned for a second load it was nearly all gone. When they returned to the coast
where the pinnaces should have met them, they were not to be seen, but in place, seven
Spanish pinnaces which had been searching the coast. Drake escaped their notice, and
constructing a raft of the trees which the river brought down, mounted a biscuit sack for
sail, and steered it with an oar made from a sapling, out to sea, where they were constantly
up to their waists in water. At last they caught sight of their own pinnaces, ran the
raft ashore, and travelled by land round to the point off which they were laying. They
then embarked their comrades with the treasure, and rejoined the ship. One of their negro
allies took a great fancy to Drake's sword, and when it was presented, to him, desired the
commander to accept four wedges of gold. " Drake accepted them as courteously as they
were proffered, but threw them into the common stock, saying, it was just that they who
bore part of the charge in setting him to sea, should enjoy their full proportion of the
advantage at his return." Drake made the passage home to the Scilly Isles in the
wonderfully short period of twenty-three days. Arriving at Plymouth on a Sunday, the
news was carried into the church during sermon time, and "there remained few or no people
with the preacher," for Drake was already a great man and a hero in the eyes of all
Devon.
John Oxenham, who had served with Drake in the varied capacities of soldier, sailor,
and cook, was very much in the latter's confidence. Drake had particularly spokea of his
desire to explore the Pacific, and Oxenham in reply, had protested that "he would follow
him by God's grace." The latter, who " had gotten among the seamen the name of captain
for his valour, and had privily scraped together good store of money/' becoming
impatient, determined to attempt the enterprise his late master had projected. He reached
the isthmus to find that the mule trains conveying the silver were now protected by a
convoy of soldiers, and he determined on a bold and novel adventure. " He drew his
ship aground in a retired and woody creek, covered it up with boughs, buried his provisions
and his great guns, and taking with him two small pieces of ordnance, went with all his
men and six Maroon guides about twelve leagues into the interior, to a river which
discharges itself into the South Sea. There he cut wood and built a pinnace, ' which was
five-and-forty feet by the keel;';' embarked in it, and secured for himself the honour of
* Camden. Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific, had expressed the same feelings in almost the same locality.
304
THE SEA.
having been the first Englishman to sail over the waters of the blue Pacific. In
this pinnace he went to the Pearl Islands, and lay in wait for vessels. He was
successful in capturing a small bark, bringing gold from Quito, and scarcely a week later,
another with silver from Lima. He also obtained a few pearls on the islands.
So far, fortune had followed Oxenham, and to his own want of caution is due the
fact that this prosperous state of affairs was soon reversed. He had dismissed his prizes
OXENHAM EMBARKING ON THE PACIFIC.
when near the mouth of the river, and had allowed them to perceive where he was entering.
The alarm was soon given; first, indeed, by some negroes who hastened to Panama.
Juan de Ortega was immediately dispatched with 100 men, besides negro rowers, in four
barks. After entering the river, a four days' search rewarded him by the discovery of the
pinnace with six Englishmen on board, who leaped ashore and ran for dear life ; one only
was killed at this juncture. Ortega discovered in the woods the hut in which Oxenham
had concealed the treasure, and removed it to his barks. Meantime, Oxenham, whose men
had been disputing over the division of spoils, had been to a distance for the purpose of
inducing some of the Maroon negroes to act as carriers, and returning with them, met the
men who had escaped from the pinnace, and those who were fleeing from the hut. "The
loss of their booty at once completed their reconcilement; he promised larger shares if they
DRAKE'S GREAT VOYAGE. 305
should succeed in re-capturing- it; and marched resolutely in quest of the Spaniards, relying
upon the Maroons as well as upon his own people/' But Ortega and his men were
experienced in bush-fighting, and they succeeded in killing eleven Englishmen, and live
negroes, and took seven of Oxeuham's party prisoners. He, with the remnant of his party,
went back to search for his hidden ship; it had been removed by the Spaniards. And
now the latter sent 150 men to hunt the Englishmen out, while those whom they failed
to take were delivered up by the natives. Oxeiiham and two of his officers were taken
to Lima and executed; the remainder suffered death at Panama.
The greatest semi-commercial and piratical voyage of this epoch is undoubtedly that
of Drake, who reached the South Seas* via the Straits of Magellan — the third recorded
attempt, and the first made by an Englishman — and was the first English subject to circum-
navigate the globe. Elizabeth gave it her secret sanction, and when Drake was introduced
to her court by Sir Christopher Hatton, presented him a sword, with this remarkable speech :
" We do account that he which striketh at thee, Drake, striketh at us ! " The expedition,
fitted at his own cost, and that of various adventurers, comprised five vessels ; the largest, his
own ship, the Pelican, being only 100 tons. His whole force consisted of " 164 men, gentle-
men, and sailors ; and was furnished with such plentiful provision of all things necessary
as so long and dangerous a voyage seemed to require." The frames of four pinnaces were
taken, to be put together as occasion might require. " Neither did he omit, it is said, to
make provision for ornament and delight ; carrying to this purpose with him expert musicians,
rich furniture (all the vessels for his table, yea, many belonging to the cook-room, being of
pure silver) with divers shows of all sorts of curious workmanship, whereby the civility and
magnificence of his native country might, among all nations whither he should come, be the
more admired/' f Few of his companions knew at the outset the destination of his voyage ;
it was given out that they were bound merely for Alexandria.
The expedition sailed on November 15th, 1577, from Plymouth, and immediately
encountered a storm so severe that the vessels came near shipwreck, and were obliged
to put back and refit. When they had again started under fairer auspices, Drake gave his
people some little information as to his proposed voyage, and appointed an island off the
coast of Barbary as a rendezvous iu case of separation at sea, and subsequently Cape Blanco,
where he mustered his men ashore and put them through drills and warlike exercises.
Already, early in January, he had taken some minor Spanish prizes, and a little later, off the
island of Santiago, chased a Portuguese ship, bound for Brazil, " with many passengers,
and among other commodities, good store of wine/' Drake captured and set the people
on one of. his smaller pinnaces, giving them their clothes, some provisions, and one butt of
wine, letting them all go except their pilot. The provisions and wine on board the prize
proved invaluable to the expedition. From the Cape de Verde Islands they were nine
weeks out of sight of land, and before they reached the coast of Brazil, when near the
equator, " Drake, being very careful of his men's health, let every one of them blood with
* Whenever the South Seas are mentioned in these early records, they must be understood to mean the South
Pacific, and, indeed, sometimes portions of the North Pacific. The title still clings to the Polynesian Islands,
t Burnoy's "Voyages,"
39
306 THE SEA.
his own hands." On nearing the Brazilian coast, the inhabitants "'made great fires for a
sacrifice to the devils, about which they use conjurations (making heaps of sand and other
ceremonies), that when any ships shall go about to stay upon their coast, not only sands
may be gathered together in shoals in every place, but also that storms and tempests may
arise, to the casting away of ships and men." Near the Plata they slaughtered large
numbers of seals, thinking them " good and acceptable meat both as food for the present,
and as a supply of provisions for the future." Further south, they found stages constructed
on the rocks by the natives for drying the flesh of ostriches ; their thighs were as large
as "reasonable legs of mutton." At a spot which Drake named Seal Bay, they
remained over a fortnight. Here they "made new provisions of seals, whereof they slew
to the number of from 200 to 300 in the space of an hour." Some little traffic ensued
with the natives, all of whom were highly painted, some of them having the whole of
one side, from crown to heel, painted black, and the other white. " They fed on seals
and other flesh, which they ate nearly raw, casting pieces of four or six pounds' weight
into the fire, till it was a little scorched, and then tearing it in pieces with their teeth like
lions." At the sound of Drake's band of trumpeters they showed great delight, dancing
on the beach with the sailors. They were described as of large stature. " One of these
giants," said the chaplain of the expedition, " standing with our men when they were
taking their morning draughts, showed himself so familiar that he also would do as they
did; and taking a glass in his hand (being strong canary wine), it came no sooner to his
lips, than it took him by the nose, and so suddenly entered his head, that he was so drunk,
or at least so overcome, that he fell right down, not able to stand ; yet he held the
glass fast in his hand, without spilling any of the wine ; and when he came to himself,
he tried again, and tasting, by degrees got to the bottom. From which time he took
such a liking to the wine, that having learnt the name, he would every morning come
down from the mountains with a mighty cry of ' Wine ! wine ! wine ! ' continuing the
same until he arrived at the tent."*
After some trouble caused by the separation of the vessels, the whole fleet arrived
safely at the " good harborough called by Magellan Port Julian," where nearly the first
sight they met was a gibbet, on which the Portuguese navigator had executed several
mutinous members of his company, some of the bones of whom yet remained. Drake
himself was to have trouble here. At the outset the natives appeared friendly, and a
trial of skill in shooting arrows resulted in an English gunner exceeding their efforts,
at which they appeared pleased by the skill shown. A little while after another Indian
came, " but of a sourer sort," and one Winter, prepared for another display of archery,
unfortunately broke the bow-string when he drew it to its full length. This dis-
abused the natives, to some extent, of the superior skill of the English, and an attack was
made, apparently incited by the Indian just mentioned. Poor Winter received two wounds,
and the gunner coming to the rescue with his gun missed fire, and was immediately shot
u through the breast and out at back, so that he fell down stark dead." Drake assembled
nis men, ordering them to cover themselves with their targets, and march on the assailants,
* Narrative of Chaplain Fletcher, quoted by Burney.
EXECUTION OF A MUTINEER. 307
instructing them to break the arrows shot at them, noting that the savages had but a
small store. "At the same time he took the piece which had so unhappily missed fire,
aimed at the Indian who had killed the gunner, and who was the man who had begun the
fray, and shot him in the belly. An arrow wound, however severe, the savage would have
borne without betraying any indication of pain ; but his cries, upon being thus wounded,
were so loud and hideous, that his companions were terrified and fled, though many were
then hastening to their assistance. Drake did not pursue them, but hastened to convey
Winter to the ship for speedy help; no help, however, availed, and he died on the second
day. The gunner's body, which had been left on shore, was sent for the next day ;
the savages, meantime, had stripped it, as if for the sake of curiously inspecting it ; the
clothes they had laid under the head, and stuck an English arrow in the right eye for
mockery. Both bodies were buried in a little island in the harbour."* No farther attempt
was made to injure the English, who remained two months in the harbour, but friendly
relations were not established. A more serious event was to follow.
One Master Doughtie was suspected and accused of something worse than ordinary
mutiny or insubordination. It is affirmed in a history of the voyage published under
the name of Drake's nephew, that Doughtie had embarked on the expedition for the
distinct purpose of overthrowing it for his own aggrandisement, to accomplish which he
intended to raise a mutiny, and murder the admiral and his most attached followers.
Further, it is stated, that Drake was informed of this before he left Plymouth ; but that
he would not credit "that a person whom he so dearly loved would conceive such evil
purposes against him." Doughtie had been put in possession of the Portuguese prize,
but had been removed on a charge of peculation, and it is likely that " resentment, whether
for the wrongful charge, or the rightful removal, might be rankling in him ; " at all events,
his later conduct, and mutinous words, left no alternative to Drake but to examine him
before a properly constituted court, and he seems to have most reluctantly gone even to
this length.f He was " found guilty by twelve men after the English manner, and
suffered accordingly." " The most indifferent persons in the fleet," says Southey, " were
of opinion that he had acted seditiously, and that Drake cut him off because of his emulous
designs. The question is, how far those designs extended ? He could not aspire to the
credit of the voyage without devising how to obtain for himself some more conspicuous
station in it than that of a gentleman volunteer ; if he regarded Drake as a rival, he must
have hoped to supplant, or at least to vie with him ; and in no other way could he have
vied with him but by making off with one of the ships, and trying his own fortune"
(which was afterwards actually accomplished by others). Doughtie was condemned to death.
"And he," says a writer, quoted by Hakluyt, "seeing no remedy but patience for himself,
desired before his death to receive the communion; which he did at the hands of Master
Fletcher, our minister, and our general himself accompanied him in that holy action;
* Various authorities cited by Southey.
t The various slanders thrown on Drake's name in connection with this occurrence seem to have had no
foundation in fact. Some of his enemies averred that he sailed from England with instructions from the Earl of
Leicester to get rid of Doughtie at the first opportunity, because the latter had reported that Essex had been
poisoned by the former's means. But Drake appears to have been really attached to him.
308 THE SEA.
which being done, and the place of execution made ready, he, having- embraced our general,
and taken his leave of all the company, with prayer for the queen's majesty and our
realm, in quiet sort laid his head to the block, where he ended his life." One account says
that after partaking of the communion, Drake and Doughtie dined at the same table
together, " as cheerfully, in sobriety, as ever in their lives they had done ; and taking
their leave by drinking to each other, as if some short journey only had been in hand."
A provost marshal had made all things ready, and after drinking this funereal stirrup-cup,
Doughtie went to the block. Drake subsequently addressed the whole company, exhorting
them to unity and subordination, asking them to prepare reverently for a special celebration
of the holy communion on the following Sunday.
And now, having broken up the Portuguese prize on account of its unseaworthiness,
and rechristened his own ship, the Pelican, into the Golden Hinde, Drake entered the
Straits now named after Magellan, though that navigator termed them the Patagonian
Straits, because he had found the natives wearing clumsy shoes or sandals : patagon
signifying in Portuguese a large, ill-shaped foot. The land surrounding the straits is high
and mountainous, and the water generally deep close to the cliffs. " We found the strait/'
says the first narrator, " to have many turnings, and as it were, shuttings up, as if there
were no passage at all." Drake passed through the tortuous strait in seventeen days.
Clift, one of the historians of the expedition, whose narrative is preserved in Hakluyt's
collection of "Voyages," says of the penguins there, three thousand of which were killed
in less than a day, " We victualled ourselves with a kind of fowl which is plentiful on
that isle (St. George's in the Straits), and whose flesh is not unlike a fat goose here
in England. They have no wings, but short pinions, which serve their turn in swimming;
their colour is somewhat black, mixed with white spots under their belly, and about their
necks. They wall: so upright that, afar off, a man would take them to be little children.
If a man approach anything near them, they run into holes in the ground (which be
not very deep) whereof the island is full, so that to take them we had staves with
hooks fast to the end, wherewith some of our men pulled them out, and others being
ready with cudgels did knock them on the head, for they bite so cruelly with their crooked
bills, that none of us were able to handle them alive."
Drake's vessels, separated by a gale, were driven hither and thither. One of them,
the Marigold, must have foundered, as she was never again heard of. The two remaining
ships sought shelter in a dangerous rocky bay, from which the Golden Hinde was driven
to sea, her cable having parted. The other vessel, under Captain Winter's command,
regained the straits, and " anchoring there in an open bay, made great fires on the
shore, that if Drake should put into the strait also, he might discover them." Winter
proceeded later up the straits, and anchored in a sound, which he named the Port of
Health, because his men, who had been " very sick with long watching, wet, cold, and
evil diet," soon recovered on the nourishing shell-fish found there. He, after waiting
some time, and despairing of regaining Drake's company, gave over the voyage, and
set sail for England, " where he arrived with the reproach of having abandoned his
commander."
Drake was now reduced to his own vessel, the Golden Hiiide, which was obliged
TRAGICAL FATE OF A BOAT'S CREW.
309
to seek shelter on the coast of Terra del Fuego. The winds again forced him from his
anchorage, and his shallop, with eight men on board, and provisions for only one day,
was separated from him. The fate of these poor fellows was tragical. They regained
the straits, where they caught and salted a quantity of penguins, and then coasted up
South America to the Plata. Six of them landed, and while searching for food in the
forests, encountered a party of Indians, who wounded all of them with their arrows, and
secured four, pursuing the others to the boat. These latter reached the two men in
charge, but before they could put off, all were wounded by the natives. They, however,
succeeded in reaching an island some distance from the mainland, where two of them
died from the injuries received, and the boat was wrecked and beaten to pieces on the
SIK F. DRAKE.
rocks. The remaining two stopped on the island eight weeks, living on shell-fish and a
fruit resembling an orange, but could find no water. They at length ventured to the
mainland on a largo plank some ten feet in length, which they propelled with paddles ;
the passage occupied three days. " On coming to land," says Carter, the only survivor,
"we found a rivulet of sweet water; when William Pitcher, my only comfort and
companion (although I endeavoured to dissuade him) overdrank himself, and to my
unspeakable grief, died within half an hour." Carter himself fell into the hands of some
Indians, who took pity on him, and conducted him to a Portuguese settlement. Nine years
elapsed before he was able to regain his own country.
Meantime Drake was driven so far to the southward, that at length he " fell in with
the uttermost part of the land towards the South Pole," or in other words, reached Caps
Horn. The storm had lasted with little intermission for over seven weeks. " Drake went
ashore, and, sailor-like, leaning over a promontory, as far as he safely could, came back
310 THE SEA.
and told his people how that he had been farther south than any man living." At last
the wind was favourable, and he coasted northward, along- the American shore, till he
reached the island of Mocha, where the Indians appeared at first to be friendly, and brought
off potatoes, roots., and two fat sheep, for which they received recompense. But on landing
for the purpose of watering the ship, the natives shot at them, wounding every one of
twelve men, and Drake himself under the right eye. In this case no attempt was made
at retaliation. The Indians doubtless took them for Spaniards. Drake, continuing his
voyage, fell in with an Indian fishing from a canoe, who was made to understand
their want of provisions, and was sent ashore with presents. This brought off a
number of natives with supplies of poultry, hogs, and fruits, while Felipe, one of them
who spoke Spanish, informed Drake that they had passed the port of Valparaiso —
then an insignificant settlement of less than a dozen Spanish families — where a large
ship was lying at anchor. Felipe piloted them thither, and they soon discovered the ship,
with a meagre crew of eight Spaniards and four negroes on board. So little was an enemy
expected, that as Drake's vessel approached, it was saluted with beat of drum, and a jar
of Chili wine made ready for an hospitable reception. But Drake and his men wanted
something more than bumpers of wine, and soon boarded the vessel, one of the men
striking down the first Spaniard he met, and exclaiming, " Abaxo perro ! " (Down, dog !)
Another of the crew leaped overboard and swam ashore to give an alarm to the town ; the
rest were soon secured under hatches. The inhabitants of the town fled incontinently, but
the spoils secured there were small. The chapel was rifled of its altar-cloth, silver
chalice, and other articles, which were handed over to Drake's chaplain ; quantities of
wine and other provisions were secured. The crew of the prize, with the exception of the
Greek pilot, were set ashore, and Drake left with his new acquisition, which when examined
at sea was found to contain one thousand seven hundred and seventy jars of wine, sixty
thousand pieces of gold, some pearls, and other articles of value. The Indian who had
guided them to this piece of good fortune, was liberally rewarded.
At a place called Tarapaca, whither they had gone to water the ship, they found a
Spaniard lying asleep, and keeping very bad guard over thirteen bars of silver, worth
four thousand ducats. Drake determined to take care of it for him. At a short distance
off, they encountered another, who, with an Indian, was driving eight llamas, each carrying
a hundredweight of silver. It is needless to say that the llamas were conveyed on board,
plus the silver. At Arica two ships were found at anchor, one of which yielded forty
bars of silver, and the other a considerable quantity of wine. But these were as trifles
to that which followed.
Drake had pursued a leisurely course, but in spite of this fact, no intelligence of
the pirate's approach had reached Lima. The term " pirate " is used advisedly, for whatever
the gain to geographical science afforded by his voyages, their chief aim was spoil, and
it mattered nothing whether England was at war with the victims of his prowess or
not. A few leagues off Callao harbour (the port of Lima), Drake boarded a
Portuguese vessel : the owner agreed to pilot him into Callao, provided his cargo was left
him. They arrived at nightfall, "sailing in between all the ships that lay there, seventeen
in number," most of which had their sails ashore, for the Spaniards had had, as yet, no
CAPTURE OF A GREAT TREASURE SHIP. 311
enemies in those waters. They rifled the ships of their valuables, and these included a
large quantity of silk and linen, and one chest of silver reales. But they heard that which
made their ears tingle, and inflamed their desires for gain ; the Cacafuego, a great treasure
ship, had sailed only a few days before for a neighbouring port. Drake immediately
cut the cables of the ships at Lima, and let them drivo, that they might not pursue him.
" While he was thus employed, a vessel from Panama, laden with Spanish goods, entered
the harbour, and anchored close by the Golden Hinde. A boat came from the shore to
search it ; but because it was night, they deferred the search till the morning, and only
sent a man on board. The boat then came alongside Drake's vessel, and asked what ship it
was. A Spanish prisoner answered, as he was ordered, that it was Miguel Angel's, from
Chili. Satisfied with this, the officer in the boat sent a man to board it ; but he, when
on the point of entering, perceived one of the large guns, and retreated in the boat with
all celerity, because no vessels that frequented that port, and navigated those seas, carried
great shot/' The crew of the Panama ship took alarm when they observed the rapid
flight of the man, and put to sea. The Hinde followed her, and the Spanish crew abandoned
their ship, and escaped ashore in their boat. The alarm had now been given in Lima, and
the viceroy dispatched two vessels in pursuit, each having two hundred men on board,
but no artillery. The Spanish commander, however, showed no desire to tackle Drake,
and he escaped, taking shortly afterwards three tolerable prizes, one of which yielded
forty bars of silver, eighty pounds' weight of gold, and a golden crucifix, "set with goodly
great emeralds." One of the men having secreted two plates of gold from this prize, and
denied the theft, was immediately hanged.
But it was the Cacafuego that Drake wanted, and after crossing the line he promised
to give his own chain of gold to the first man who should descry her. On St. David's
Day, the coveted prize was discovered from the top, by a namesake of the commander, one
John Drake. All sail was set, but an easy capture was before them; for the Spanish
captain, not dreaming of enemies in those latitudes, slackened sail, in order to find out
what ship she was. When they had approached near enough, Drake hailed them to strike,
which being refused, " with a great piece he shot her mast overboard, and having wounded
the master with an arrow, the ship yielded." Having taken possession, the vessels sailed
in company far out to sea, when they stopped and lay by. She proved a prize indeed :
gold and silver in coin and bars, jewels and precious stones amounting to three hundred
and sixty thousand pieces of gold were taken from her. The silver alone amounted to a
value in our money of £2 IE, 000. It is stated that Drake called for the register of the
treasure on board, and wrote a receipt for the amount ! The ship was dismissed, and Drake
gave the captain a letter of safe conduct, in case she should fall in with his consorts.
This, as we know, was impossible.
Drake's plain course now was to make his way home, and he wisely argued that it would
be unsafe to attempt the voyage by the route he had come, as the Spaniards would surely
attack him in full force, the whole coast of Chili and Peru being aroused to action. He
conceived the bold notion of rounding North America : in other words, he proposed to
make that passage which has been the great dream of Arctic explorers, and which has only,
as we shall hereafter see, been once made (and that in a very partial sense) by Franklin and
312
THE SEA.
M'Clure. His company agreed to his views : firstly to refit, water, an! provision the
in borne convenient bay; "thenceforward/' says one of them, "to hasten on our intended
journey for the discovery of the said passage, through which we might with joy return to
our longed homes." They sailed for Nicaragua, near the mainland of which they found
a small island with a suitable bay, where they obtained wood, water, and lish. A small
prize was taken while there, having on board a cargo of sarsaparilla, which they disdained,
aad butter and honey, which they appropriated. Drake now sailed northward, and most
UKAKE S ARRIVAL AT TERXATE.
undoubtedly reached the grand bay of San Francisco. Californian authorities concede this.
The " Drake's Bay " of the charts is an open roadstead, and does not answer the descriptions
given of the great navigator's visit. He had peaceful interviews with the natives, and
took possession, in the fashion of those days, of the country, setting up a monument
of the queen's " right and title to the same, namely, a plate nailed upon a fair great post,
whereupon was engraven her Majesty's name, the day and year of our arrival there, . . .
together with her highness's picture and arms in a piece of sixpence (!) of current English
money under the plate, where under also was written the name of our general.''' History
does not tell us the fate of that sixpence, but the title, New Albion, bestowed on the
country by Drake, remained on the maps half way into this century, or just before the
discovery of gold in California. The natives regarded the English with superstitious awe,
/ THE VOYAGE HOilE. '313
and could not be prevented from offering them sacrifices, " with lamentable weeping-,
scratching1, and tearing the flesh from their faces with their nails, whereof issued abundance
of blood. " But we used/' says the narrator quoted by Hakluyt, " signs to them of
disliking this, and stayed their hands from force, and directed them upwards to
the living God, whom only they ought to worship." After remaining there five weeks,
Drake took his departure, and the natives watched the ships sadly as they sailed, and kept
fires burning on the hill-tops as long as they continued in sight. " Good store of seals
and birds" were taken from the Farralone Islands. Many an egg has the writer eaten,
laid by the descendants of those very birds : they are supplied in quantities to the San
Francisco markets. Drake's attempt at the northern passage was now abandoned.
Sixty-eight days was Drake's ship — containing one of the most valuable freights
ever held in one bottom — in the open sea, during which time no land was sighted ; at
the end of this period the Pelew, Philippine, and Molucca Islands were successively
reached. At Ternate, Drake sent a velvet cloak as a present to the king, requesting
provisions, and that he might be allowed to trade for spices. The king was amiable and
well disposed ; he sent before him " four great and large canoes, in every one whereof
were certain of his greatest states that were about him, attired in white lawn of cloth of
Calicut, having over their heads, from the one end of the canoe to the other, a covering
of thin perfumed mats, borne up with a frame made of reeds for the same use, under which
every one did sit in his order, according to his dignity, to keep him from the heat of the
sun. * * * The rest were soldiers which stood in comely order, round about on both
sides; without whom sat the rowers in certain galleries, which being three on a side all
along the canoes, did lie off from the side thereof three or four yards, one being orderly
builded lower than another, in every of which galleries were fourscore rowers. These
canoes were furnished with warlike munitions, every man, for the most part, having his
sword and target, with his dagger, besides other weapons, as lances, calivers, darts,
bows and arrows ; also every canoe had a small cast-base (or cannon) mounted at the
least one full yard upon a stock set upright." These canoes or galleys were rowed about
the ship, those on board doing homage as they passed. The king soon arrived in
state, and was received " with a salute of great guns, with trumpets sounding, and
such politic display of state and strength as Drake knew it was advisable to exhibit."
Many presents were made to the king, who in return sent off provisions of rice, fowls,
fruits, sugar-cane, and " imperfect and liquid sugar " (presumably molasses) . Next day
there was a grand reception ashore; the king, covered with gold and jewels, under a rich
canopy embossed with gold, professing great friendship. The fact was that his own father
had been assassinated by the Portuguese, and he himself had besieged and taken their
Fort St. Paul's, and compelled them to leave it. He was, doubtless, anxious for some
alliance which might strengthen his hands against the Portuguese. Drake, however,
had no commission, nor desire at that time to engage his country to any such treaty ; his
principal object now was to get home safely with his treasure. He, however, successfully
traded for a quantity of cloves and provisions.
Off Celebes, the Hinde became entangled among the shoals, and while running under
full sail, suddenly struck on a rock, where she stuck fast. Boats were got out to see whether
40
314 THE SEA.
an anchor might not be employed to draw the ship off, but the water all round was very
deep, no bottom being- found. Three tons of cloves, eight guns, and certain stores were
thrown overboard, but to no purpose. Fuller says quaintly, that they " threw overboard
as much wealth as would break the heart of a miser to think on 't ; with much sugar,
and packs of spices, making a caudle of the sea round about. Then they betook them-
selves to their prayers, the best lever at such a dead lift indeed, and it pleased God that the
wind, formerly their mortal enemy, became their friend. "* To the. joy of all, the Hinde
glided off the rocks, and almost uninjured. On the way home they visited Barateva,
Java, the Cape, and Sierra Leone, being singularly fortunate in avoiding the Portuguese
and Spanish ships. The Hinde arrived safely at Plymouth on September 26th, 1580,
having been nearly three years on her eventful voyage. Drake was received with great
honour, and was knighted by the queen. She gave orders that his little ship should be
laid up at Deptford, and there carefully preserved as a monument of the most remarkable
voyage yet made. Elizabeth honoured Drake by banqueting on board, and his fame
spread everywhere through the kingdom. The boys of Westminster School set up some
Latin verses on the mainmast, of which Southey gives the following free translation —
" On Hercules' Pillars, Drake, thou may'st plus ultra write full well,
And say, I will in greatness that great Hercules excel."
And again —
" Sir Drake, whom well the world's end knows, which thou didst compass round,
And whom both poles of heaven once saw which north and south do bound,
The stars above will make thee known if men here silent were ;
The sun himself cannot forget his fellow-traveller."
Drake's series of victories over the Spaniards, and the repulse which occurred just before
his death are details of history which would fill a volume. He received a sailor's funeral
at Puerto Bello, his body being committed to the deep in a leaden coffin, with the
solemn service of the English Church, rendered more impressive by volleys of musketry,
and the booming of guns from all the fleet. A poet of the day says —
" The waves became his winding sheet, the waters were his tomb ;
But for his fame the ocean sea was not sufficient room."
No single name in naval history has ever attained the celebrity acquired by Drake.
The Spaniards, who called him a dragon, believed that he had dealings with the devil ;
" that notion," says Southey, " prevented them from feeling any mortification at his
successes, * * * and it enhanced their exultation over the failure of his last expedition,
which they considered as the triumph of their religion over heresy and magic. " The
common people in England itself, more especially in the western counties, believed any
quantity of fables concerning him, some of them verging on childishness. He had only
to cast a chip in the water when it would become a fine vessel. " It was not by his skill
as an engineer, and the munificent expenditure of the wealth which he had so daringly
obtained, that Drake supplied Plymouth with fresh water ; but by mounting his horse,
* Fuller's " Holy State."
FIRST COLONISATION OF AMERICA. 315
riding- about Dartmoor till he came to a spring sufficiently copious for his design, then
wheeling round, pronouncing some magical words, and galloping back into the town, with
the stream in full flow, and forming its own channel at the horse's heels." One of the
popular stories regarding him is briefly as follows. When Sir Francis left on one of his
long voyages, he told his wife that should he not return within a certain number of years
she might conclude that he was dead, and might, if she so chose, wed again. One
version places the time at seven, and another at ten years. During these long years the
excellent lady remained true to her lord, but at the end of the term accepted an offer.
" One of Drake's ministering spirits, whose charge it was to convey to him any intelligence
in which he was nearly concerned, brought him the tidings. Immediately he loaded
one of his great guns, and fired it right through the globe on one side, and up on the
other, with so true an aim that it made its way into the church, between the two parties
most concerned, just as the marriage service was beginning. ' It comes from Drake ! '
cried the wife to the now unbrided bridegroom ; ' he is alive ! and there must be neither
troth nor ring between thee and me/ ''
Drake is described as of low stature, but well set, and of an admirable presence. His chest
was broad, his hair nut-brown, his beard handsome and full, his head " remarkably round,"
his eyes large and clear, his countenance fresh, cheerful and engaging. " It has been said
of him that he was a willing hearer of every man's opinion, but commonly a follower of
his own," which, as a rule, was really sure to be judicious. He had a quick temper, and
once offended, was " hard to be reconciled," but his friendships were firm ; he was ambitious
to the last degree, and "the vanity which usually accompanies that sin laid him open
to flattery." He was affable with his men, who idolised him as the grand commander
and skilful seaman that he most undoubtedly was.
In spite of the rich prizes so often taken, a competent authority says : " The expeditions
undertaken in Elizabeth's reign against the Spaniards are said to have produced no
advantage to England in any degree commensurate with the cost of money and expense
of life with which they were performed." But we must never forget the wonderful
development of the navy which resulted ; the splendid training acquired by our sailors,
and the grand gains to geographical science.
The opening of colonisation and trade with America — so far as England is concerned —
is due to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and his step-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh. From their
comparatively insignificant attempts at settling parts of that vast northern continent
what grand results have accrued ! The acorn has become a mighty, wide-spreading oak,
sheltering the representatives of every nationality.
When Sir Humphrey Gilbert proposed to Queen Elizabeth the settlement of a colony
in the New World, she immediately assented, and granted him letters patent as com-
prehensive and wide-spreading as ever issued by papal sanction. She accorded free liberty
to him, his heirs and assigns for ever, to discover and take possession of any heathen
and savage lands not being actually possessed by any Christian prince or people; such
countries, and all towns, castles or villages, to be holden by them of the crown, payment
of a fifth of all the gold and silver ore discovered being required by the latter. The
privileges seemed so great that " very many gentlemen of good estimation drew unto Sir
316 THE SEA.
Humphrey to associate with him in so commendable an enterprise." But divisions and
feuds arose, and Gilbert went to sea only to become involved in a " dangerous sea-light,
in which many of his company were slain, and his ships were battered and disabled.-" He
was compelled to put back " with the loss of a tall ship." The records of this encounter
are meagre, but the disaster retarded for the time his attempt at colonisation, besides
impairing his estate.
Sir Humphrey's patent was only for six years, unless he succeeded in his project,
and in 1583 he found means to equip a second expedition, to which Raleigh contributed
a bark of 200 tons, named after him, the little fleet numbering in all five vessels. The
queen had always favoured Gilbert, and before he departed on this voyage, sent him a
golden anchor with a large pearl on it, by the hands of Raleigh. In the letter accompanying
it, Raleigh wrote, " Brother, I have sent you a token from her Majesty — an anchor
guided by a lady, as you see. And, further, her highness willed me to send you word,
that she wished you as great a good hap and safety to your ship, as if she herself were
there in person, desiring you to have care of yourself as of that which she tendereth ;
and, therefore, for her sake you must provide for it accordingly. Further she commandeth
that you leave your picture with me." Elizabeth's direct interest in the rapidly increasing
maritime and commercial interests of the day was very apparent in all her actions.
Bark Raleigh was the largest vessel of the expedition, two of the others being of
forty, and one of twenty tons only. The number of those who embarked was about 260,
and the list included carpenters, shipwrights, masons, and smiths ; also " mineral men
and refiners." It is admitted that among them there were many " who had been taken
as pirates in the narrow seas, instead of being hanged according to their deserts." " For
solace of our people," says one of the captains under Gilbert, "and allurement of the
savages, we were provided of music in good variety, not omitting the least toys, as
morris-dancers, hobby-horse, and May-like conceits to delight the savage people, whom we
intended to win by all fair means possible." The period of starting being somewhat late
in the season, it was determined to sail first for Newfoundland instead of Cape Florida, as
at the former Gilbert knew that he could obtain abundant supplies from the numerous
ships employed in the abundant cod-fisheries. The voyage was to commence in disaster.
They saile.1 on June llth, and two days later the men of the Bark Raleigh hailed their
companions with the information that their captain and many on board were grievously
sick. She left them that night and put back to Plymouth, where, it is stated, she arrived
with a number of the crew prostrated by a contagious disease. Some mystery attaches
to this defection; "the others proceeded on their way, not a little grieved with the loss
of the most puissant ship in their fleet." "Two of the fleet parted company in a fog; one
of them was found in the Bay of Conception, her men in new apparel and particularly well
provided, the secret being that they had boarded an unfortunate Newfoundland ship on the
way, and had pretty well rified it, not even stopping at torture where the wretched sailors
had objected to be stripped of their possessions. The other vessel was found lying off the
harbour of St. John's, where at first the English merchants objected to Gilbert's entry, till
he assured them that he came with a commission from her Majesty, and had no ill-intent.
On the way in, his vessel struck on a rock, whereupon the other captains sent to the rescue,
THE DE^TH QF SIR HUMPHREY GILBEPT,
318 THE SEA.
saved the ship, and fired a salute in his honour. His first act was to tax all the ships for
his own supply ; the Portuguese, iti particular, contributed liberally, so that the crews were
"presented, above their allowances, with wines, marmalades, most fine rusk or biscuit,
sweet oil, and sundry delicacies." Then the merchants and masters were assembled to
hear his commission read, and possession of the harbour and country for 200 leagues every
way was taken in the name of the queen. A wooden pillar was erected on the spot, and
the arms of England, engraved on lead, were affixed. The lands lying by the water side
were granted to certain of the adventurers and merchants, they covenanting to pay rent
and service to Gilbert, his heirs and assigns for ever.
Some of the before- mentioned pirates of the expedition gave Sir Humphrey a con-
siderable amount of trouble while at St. John's, some deserting, and others plotting to
steal away the shipping by night. A number of them stole a ship laden with fish, setting
the crew on shore. When ready to sail, he found that there were not sufficient hands
for all his vessels, and the Swallow was left for the purpose of transporting home a number
of the sick. He selected for himself the smallest of his fleet, the Squirrel, described as a
" frigate " of ten tons, as most suitable for exploring the coasts. But that which made
him of good heart was a sample of silver ore which one of his miners had discovered ;
"he doubted not to borrow £10,000 of the queen, for his next voyage, upon the credit of
this mine/'
For eight days they followed the coast towards Cape Breton, at the end of which time
the wind rose, bringing thick fog and rain, so that they could not see a cable's length
before them. They were driven among shoals and breakers, and their largest ship was
wrecked in a moment. "They in the other vessel/' says Hayes,* "saw her strike, and
her stern presently beaten to pieces ; whereupon the frigate in which was the general,
and the Golden Hinde cast about, even for our lives, into the wind's eye, because that way
carried us to the seaward. Making out from this danger, we sounded one while seven
fathoms, then five, then four, and less ; again deeper, immediately four fathom, then but
three, the sea going mightily and high. At last we recovered (God be thanked !) in some
despair to sea room enough. All that day, and part of the night, we beat up and down
as near unto the wreck as was possible, but all in vain. This was a heavy and grievous
event to lose our chief ship, freighted with great provision; but worse was the loss of our
men, to the number of almost a hundred souls ; amongst whom was drowned a learned
man, an Hungarian, born in the city of Buda, called thereof Budseus, who out of piety
and zeal to good attempts, adventured in this action, minding to record in the Latin
tongue, the gests and things worthy of remembrance happening in this discovery to the
honour of our nation. Here, also, perished our Saxon refiner, and discoverer of inestimable
riches. Maurice Brown, the captain, when advised to shift for his life in the pinnace,
refused to quit the ship, lest it should be thought to have been lost through his default.
With this mind he mounted upon the highest deck, where he attended imminent death
and unavoidable, — how long, I leave it to God, who withdraweth not his comfort from
his servants at such a time." Of the company only ten were saved in a small pinnace
which was piloted to Newfoundland.
* Narrative of Captain Hayes (owner of the Golden Hindu] printed in Hakluyt's " Collection."
SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT'S FATE. 319
Meantime, on board the remaining vessels, there was much suffering1, and Sir
Humphrey was obliged to yield to the general desire, and sail for England, having " compassion
upon his poor men, in whom he saw no lack of good will, but of means fit to perfoi-m
the action they came for." He promised his subordinate officers to set them forth " royally
the next spring/' if God should spare them. But it was not so to be.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert was entreated, when one day he had come on board the Hinde,
to remain there, instead of risking himself "in the frigate, which was overcharged with
nettage, and small artillery/' to which he answered, " I will not forsake my little
company going homewards, with whom I have passed so many storms and perils." A
short time afterwards, while experiencing " foul weather and terrible seas, breaking short and
high, pyramidwise, men which all their life had occupied the sea never saw it more out-
rageous/'' the frigate was nearly engulfed, but recovered. Gilbert, sitting abaft with
a book in his hand, cried out to the crew of the Hinde in the following noble words, so
often since recorded in poetry and prose : " Courage, my lads ! We are as near to heaven by
sea as by land ! " That same night the lights of the little vessel were suddenly missed,
and Gilbert and his gallant men were engulfed in the depths for ever. Of such men we
may appropriately say with the poet Campbell —
" The deck it was their field of fame,
And Ocean was their grave."
The Hinde reached Falmouth in safety, though sadly shattered and torn.
But the spirit of enterprise then prevailing was not to be easily quashed, and only
a few months after the failure of poor Gilbert's enterprise, we find Sir Walter Raleigh
in the field. He obtained letters of patent similar to those before mentioned, and was
aided by several persons of wealth, particularly Sir Richard Greenville and Mr. William
Saunderson. Two barks, under Captains Amadas and Barlow, were sent to a part of
the American continent north of the Gulf of Florida, and after skirting the coast for one
hundred and twenty miles, a suitable haven was found, the land round which was immediately
taken for the queen with the usual formalities. After sundry minor explorations they
returned to England, where they gave a glowing account of the country. It was
" so full of grapes that the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed them." The
vegetation was so rich and abundant that one of the captains thought that "in all the
world the like abundance is not to be found," while the woods were full of deer and smaller
game. The cedars were "the highest and reddest in the world," while among smaller
trees was that bearing "the rind of black cinnamon." The inhabitants were kind and
gentle, and void of treason, " handsome and goodly people in their behaviour, as mannerly
and civil as any of Europe." It is true that " they had a mortal malice against a certain
neighbouring nation ; that their wars were very cruel and bloody, and that by reason
thereof, and of civil dissensions which had happened of late years amongst them, the
people were marvellously wasted, and in some places the country left desolate." These
little discrepancies were passed over, and Elizabeth was so well pleased with the accounts
brought home, that she named the country Virginia ; not merely because it was discovered in
the reign of a virgin queen, but " because it did still seem to retain the virgin purity and plenty
320 THE SEA.
of the first creation, and the people their primitive innocence." These happy natives were
described as living after the manner of the golden age ; as free from toil, spending- their time
in fishing, fowling, and hunting, and gathering the fruits of the earth, which ripened without
their care. They had no boundaries to their lands, nor individual property in cattle, but
shared and shared alike. All this, which was rather too good to be absolutely true, seems
to have been implicitly believed. The letters of patent, however, granted to poor Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, and subsequently to Sir Walter Raleigh, mark a most important epoch in
the world's history, for from those small starting-points date the English efforts at colonising
America — the great New World of the past, the present, and the future. Where then a
few naked savages lurked and lazed, fished and hunted, forty millions of English-speaking
people now dwell, whose interests on and about the sea, rising in importance every day, are
scarcely excelled by those of any nation on the globe, except our own. Some points in
connection with this colonisation, bearing as they do on the history of the sea and maritime
affairs, will be treated in the succeeding volume.
The reader, who while living " at home in ease/' has voyaged in spirit with the writer
over so much of the globe's watery surface, visiting its most distant shores, will not be
one of those who under-rate
" The dangers of the seas."
Nor will current events allow us to forget them. " The many voices " of ocean — as Michelet
puts it — its murmur and its menace, its thunder and its roar, its wail, its sigh, rise from
the watery graves of six hundred brave men, who but a few weeks ago formed the bulk of
two crews, the one of a noble English frigate, the other a splendid German ironclad, both
lost within sight of our own shores. Early in this volume wooden walls were compared
with armoured vessels, and we are painfully reminded by the loss of both the Euryflice
and Grosser Knrfiist how unsettled is the question in its practical bearings. Its discussion
must also be resumed as a part of the history of ships and shipping in the ensuing volume.
Till then, kind reader, adieu !
END OF VOLUME I.
QASSELL. FETTER, -GALPI-N &-Co., BELLB-SAUVAOE WORKS, I.OM oy, E.G.
THE NAVAL FLAGS OF THEWORLD.
AUSTRIA, NAVAL
AUSTRIA MERC. " ARfiEMTlNEMMIDCRATIOH
BRAZIL CHILI NAVAL & MERCANTILE:
OEMTION BELGIUM .BOLIVIA
COSTARICA " DENMARK, NAVAL
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CHINA CANADA COLUMBIA
DENMARK. MERC, ECUADOR FRANCE
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GREECE, NAVAL " GREECE. MERC HOLLAND
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BLUE ENSIGN . WHITE ENSIGN UNION liPIC I Jlf.y'J'. t_rl'£Y*L-r, RED ENS1CN AnMIRAITY
ILHAVAL RESERVE) , (BRITISH ADMIRAL) » UNION JACK BRITAIN STAMDARD ^(BRITISH MERC. MARINE) „ ADMIRALTY
HAYTI HONDURAS ITALY
JAPAN
MATLA ' MAROCCO a. TUNIS r MEXICO, NAVAL. ^MEXICO, MERC. "NEW ZEALAND
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MEXICO. MERC.
NEW SOUTH WALES NICARAGUA NETHERLANDS ' NORWAY, NAVAL. ' NORWAY, MERC. * PRUSSIA, NAVAL
PRUSSIA.MERC. PARAGUAY
PERSIA PERU, NAVAL. PERU, MERC. PORTUGAL
ROUMANIA RUSSIA NAVAL RUSSIA, MERC. " SAN DOMINGO " SAN SALVADOR SANDWICH ISLANDS
MURKY. EGYPT, TRIPOUJ TuMIS NAVAL
MtRC
CASSIU. P!ITtR.G»LPiK S. C? LOUOON.
URUGUAY VICTORIA VENEZUELA UNITED STATES
BEN GEORGE LITn, LONDON
THE SEA:
Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism.
BY
R WHYMPER,
AUTHOR OF ''TRAVELS IN ALASKA," ETC.
ILL USTRATED.
* *
CASSELL FETTER & GALPIN
LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK.
[ALL EIGHTS RESERVED.]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued). PAGE
Extent of the Subject— The First American Colony— Hostilities with the Indians— 117 Settlers Missing— Raleigh's
Search for El Dorado— Little or no Gold discovered— 2,000 Spaniards engage in another Search— Disastrous Results-
Dutch Rivalry with the English— Establishment of two American Trading Companies— Of the East India Company
—Their first Great Ship— Enormous Profits of the Venture— A Digression— Officers of the Company in Modern
Times— Their Grand Perquisites— Another Naval Hero— Monson a Captain at Eighteen— His appreciation of
Stratagem— An Eleven Hours' hand-to-hand Contest— Out of Water at Sea— Monson two years a Galley Slave-
Treachery of the Earl of Cumberland— The Cadiz Expedition— Cutting out a Treasure Ship— Prize worth £200,000
—James I. and his Great Ship— Monson as Guardian of the Narrow Seas— After the British Pirates— One of their
Haunts— A Novel Scheme— Monson as a Pirate himself —Meeting of the sham and real Pirates— Capture of a
Number— Frightened into Penitence — Another caught by a ruse 1
CHAPTER II.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued).
Charles I. and Ship Money— Improvements made by him in the Navy— His great Ship, the Royal Sovereign— The
Navigation Laws of Cromwell— Consequent War with the Dutch— Capture of Grand Spanish Prizes— Charles II.
seizes 130 Dutch Ships— Van Tromp and the Action at Harwich— De Ruyter in the Medway and Thames— Peace-
War with France— La Hogue— Peter the Great and his Naval Studies— Visit to Sardam— Difficulty of remaining
incognito— Cooks his own Food— His Assiduity and Earnestness— A kind-hearted Barbarian— Gives a Grand
Banquet and Fete— Conveyed to England— His stay at Evelyn's Place— Studies at Deptford— Visits Palaces
and Public-houses— His Intemperance— Presents the King with a £10,000 Ruby— Engages numbers of English Me-
chanics—Return to Russia— Rapid increase in his Navy— Determines to Build St. Petersburg— Arrivals of the First
Merchantmen— Splendid Treatment of their Captains— Law's Mississippi Scheme and the South Sea Bubble-
Two Nations gone Mad— The "Bubble" to pay the National Debt— Its one Solitary Ship— Noble and Plebeian
Stockbrokers— Rise and Fall of the Bubble— Directors made to Disgorge 28
CHAPTER III.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued).
A Grand Epoch of Discovery— Anson's Voyage— Difficulties of manning the Fleet— Five Hundred Invalided Pensioners
drafted— The Spanish Squadron under Pizarro— Its Disastrous Voyage— One Vessel run ashore— Rats at Four
Dollars each — A Man-of-war held by eleven Indians— Anson at the Horn— Fearful Outbreak of Scurvy— Ashore
at Robinson Crusoe's Island— Death of two-thirds of the Crews— Beauty of Juan Fernandez— Loss of the Wager
—Drunken and Insubordinate Crew— Attempt to blow up the Captain— A Midshipman shot— Desertion of the
Ship's Company— Prizes taken by Anson— His Humanity to Prisoners— The Gloucester abandoned at Sea-
Delightful Stay at Tinian— The Centurion blown out to Sea— Despair of those on Shore— Its safe Return— Capture
of the Manilla Galleon— A hot Fight— Prize worth a Million and a half Dollars— Return to England . . 45
CHAPTER IV.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued).
Progress of the American Colonies— Great Prevalence of Piracy— Numerous Captures and Executions— A Proclama-
tion of Pardon— John Theach, or " Black Beard "—A Desperate Pirate— Hand-and-glove with the Governor
of North Carolina— Pretends to accept the King's Pardon— A Blind— His Defeat and Death— Unwise Legis-
lation and consequent Irritation— The Stamp Act— The Tea Tax— Enormous Excitement— Tea-chests thrown
into Boston Harbour— Determined Attitude of the American Colonists— The Boston Port Bill— Its Effects—
Sympathy of all America— The final Rupture— England's Wars to the end of the Century— Nelson and the Nile
—Battle of Copenhagen 62
CHAPTER V.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued).
Early Paddle-boats— Worked by Animal Power— Blasro de Garay's Experiment— Solomon de Caus— David Ramsey's
Engines— The Marquis of Worcester— A Horse-boat— Boats worked by Water— By Springs— By Gunpowder-
Patrick Miller's Triple Vessel— Double Vessels worked by Capstans— The First Practical Steam-boat— Symington's
iv CONTENTS.
PAGE
Engines— The Second Steamer— The Charlotte Dundas— American Enterprise— James Rumsey's Oar-boats worked
by Steam— Poor Fitch— Before his Age— Robert Fulton— His Torpedo Experiments— Wonderful Submarine Boat-
Experiments at Brest and Deal— His first Steam-boat — Breaks in Pieces— Trip of the Clermont, the first American
Steamer— Opposition to his Vessels— A Pendulum Boat— The first Steam War-ship—Henry Bell's Comet ... 77
CHAPTER VI.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued).
The Clyde and its Ship-building Interests— From Henry Bell to Modern Ship-builders— The First Royal Naval Steamer
— The First regular Sea-going Steamer— The Revolution in Ship-building — The Iron Age— "Will Iron Float?"
— The Invention of the Screw-propeller— Ericsson, Smith, and Woodcroft— American 'Cuteness— Captain Stockton
and his Boat— The First Steamer to Cross the Atlantic— Voyages of the Sirius and Great Western — The In-
ternational Struggle— The Collins and Cunard Lines— Fate of the Arctic— The Pacific never heard of more-
Why the Cunard Company has been Successful— Splendid Discipline on board their Vessels— The Fleets that
leave the Mersey 97
CHAPTER VII.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued).
A Contrast— Floating Palaces and " Coffin-ships "— Mr. Plimsoll's Appeal— His Philanthropic Efforts— Use of Old
Charts— Badly-constructed Ships— A Doomed Ship— Owner's Gains by her Loss— A Sensible Deserter— Over-
loading—The Widows and Fatherless -Other Risks of the Sailor's Life— Scurvy— Improper Cargoes—" Unclassed
Vessels "— " Lloyd's " and its History . .112
. CHAPTER VIII.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued.)
The Largest Ship in the World— History of the Great Eastern— Why she was Built— Brunei and Scott Russell— Story
of the Launch— Powerful Machinery Employed— Christened by Miss Hope— Failure to move her more than a
few feet— A Sad Accident— Launching by Inches— Afloat at last— Dimensions— Accommodations— The Grand
Saloon— The Paddle-wheel and Screw Engines— First Sea Trip— Speed— In her first Gale— Serious Explosion on
Board off Hastings— Proves a fine Sea-boat— Drowning of her Captain and others — First Transatlantic Voyage
— Defects in Boilers and Machinery — Behaves splendidly in mid-ocean— Grand Reception in New York —
Subsequent Trips — Used as a Troop-ship to Canada— Carried out 2,600 Soldiers— An eventful Passenger Trip-
Caught in a Cyclone Hurricane— Her Paddles almost wrenched away— Rudder Disabled— Boats carried away
—Shifting of Heavy Cargo— The Leviathan a Gigantic Waif on the Ocean— Return to Cork 129
CHAPTER IX.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (continued).
The Ironclad Question— One of the Topics of the Day— What is to be their Value in Warfare?- Story of the Dummy
Ironclad- -Two real Ironclads vanquished by it— Experience on board an American Monitor— Visit of the
Miantonoma to St. John's -Her Tour round the World— Her Turrets and interior Arrangements— Firing off the
Big Guns— Inside the Turret— "Prepare!"— Effects of the Firing— A Boatswain's-mate's Opinion— The Monitor
goes round the World safely— Few of the Original American Ironclads left— English Ironclads— The Warrior
— Various Types— Iron-built— Wood-built— Wood-covered— The Greatest Result yet attained, the Inflexible— Cir-
cular Ironclads— The "Garde Cotes"— Coat of Ironclads— The Torpedo Question— The Marquis of Worcester's
Inventions— Bishop Wilkins' Subaqueous Ark— Fulton's Experiments— A Frightened Audience— A Hulk Blown
Up— Government Aid to Fulton— The Argus and her " Crinoline "—Torpedoes successfully foiled— Their use during
the American War— Brave Lieut. Cushing— The Albcmarle Destroyed -Modern Torpedoes: the "Lay;" the
"Whitehead"— Probable Manner of using in an Engagement— The Ram and its Power 138
CHAPTER X.
THE LIGHTHOUSE AND ITS HISTORY.
The Lighthouse— Our most noted one in Danger— The Eddystone Undermined— The Ancient History of Lighthouses
—The Pharos of Alexandria— Roman Light Towers at Boulogne and Dover— Fire-beacons and Pitch-pots—
The Tower of Cordouan— The First Eddystone Lighthouse— WTinstanley and his Eccentricities— Difficulties of
Building his Wooden Structure -Resembles a Pagoda— The Structure Swept away with its Inventor— Another
Silk Mercer in the Field— Rudyerd's Lighthouse— Built of Wood-Stood for Fifty Years— Creditable Action of
Louis XIV.— Lighthouse Keeper alone with a Corpse— The Horrors of a Month— Rudyerd's Tower destroyed by
Fire— Smeaton's Early History— Employed to Build the present Eddystone— Resolves on a Stone Tower- -
Employment of "Dove-tailing" in Masonry— Difficulties of Landing on the Rock— Peril incurred by the Work-
men—The First Season's Work— Smeaton always in the Post of Danger— Watching the Rock from Plymouth
Hoe— The Last Season— Vibrations of the Tower in a Storm— Has stood for 120 years— Joy of the Mariner when
" The Eddystone s in Sight ! "—Lights in the English Channel 150
CONTENTS. V
CHAPTER XI.
THE LIGHTHOUSE (continued). PAGE
The Bell Rock— The good Abbot of Arberbrothok -Ralph the Rover— Ronnie's grand Lighthouse— Perils of the
Work— Thirty -two Men apparently doomed to Destruction— A New Form of outward Construction— Its suc-
cessful Completion— The Skerryvore Lighthouse and Alan Stevenson— Novel Barracks on the Rock— Swept Away
in a Storm— The unshapely Seal and unfortunate Cod— Half -starved Workmen- Out of Tobacco— Difficulties of
Landing the Stones— Visit of M. de Quatrefages to Hehaux— Description of the Lighthouse Exterior— How it
rocks— Practice versus Theory— The Interior— A Parisian Apartment at Sea 172
CHAPTER XII.
THE LIGHTHOUSE (concluded).
Lighthouses on Sand— Literally screwed down— The Light on Maplin Sands— That of Port Fleetwood— Iron Light-
houses—The Lanterns themselves— Eddystone long illuminated with Tallow Candles— Coal Fires— Revolution
caused by the invention of the Argand Burner— Improvements in Reflectors— The Electric Light at Sea— Flashing
and Revolving Lights— Coloured .Lights— Their Advantages and Disadvantages— Lanterns obscured by Moths,
Bees, and Birds - 182
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BREAKWATER.
Breakwaters, Ancient and Modern— Origin and History of that at Cherbourg— Stones Sunk in Wooden Cones —
Partial Failure of the Plan— Millions of Tons dropped to the Bottom— The Breakwater temporarily abandoned
—Completed by Napoleon III.— A Port Bristling with Guns— Ronnie's Plymouth Breakwater— Ingenious Mode
of Depositing the Stones— Lessons of the Sea— The Waves the best Workmen— Completion of the Work — Grand
Double Breakwater at Portland— The English Cherbourg -A Magnificent Piece of Engineering— Utilisation of
Otherwise worthless Stone— 900 Convicts at Work— The Great Fortifications— The Verne— Gibraltar at Home— A
Gigantic Fosse— Portland almost Impregnable— Breakwaters Elsewhere 188
CHAPTER XIV.
THE GREATEST STORM IN ENGLISH HISTORY.
The Dangers of the Seas- England's Interest in the Matter— The Shipping and Docks of London and Liverpool—
The Goodwin Sands and their History— The "Hovellers"— The Great Gale of 1703— Defoe's Graphic Account—
Thirteen Vessels of the Royal Navy Lost— Accounts of Eye-witnesses— The Storm Universal over England-
Great Damage and Loss of Life at Bristol— Plymouth— Portsmouth — Vessels Driven to Holland— At the Spurn
Light— Inhumanity of Deal Townsmen— A worthy Mayor saves 200 Lives— The Damage in the Thames-
Vessels Drifting in all Directions —800 Boats Lost— Loss of Life on the River— On Shore— Remarkable Escapes
and Casualties— London in a Condition of Wreck— Great Damage to Churches— A Bishop and his Lady Killed
— A Remarkable Water-Spout—Total Losses Fearful .* 197
CHAPTER XV.
"MAN THE LIFE-BOAT!"
The Englishman's direct interest in the Sea- The History of the Life-boat and its WTork— Its Origin— A Coach-builder
the First Inventor— Lionel Lukin's Boat— Royal Encouragement— Wreck of the Adventure— The Poor Crew
Drowned in sight of Thousands— Good out of Evil— The South Shields Committee and their Prize Boat— Would-
have and Greathead— The latter rewarded by Government, &c.— Slow Progress of the Life-boat Movement—
The Old Boat at Redcar— Organisation of the National Life-boat Institution— Sir William Hillary's Brave Deeds
—Terrible Losses at the Isle of Man— Loss of Three Life-boats— Reorganisation of the Society— Immense Com-
petition for a Prize— Beeching's " Self-righting " Boats— Buoyancy and Ballast— Dangers of the Service— A
Year's Wrecks 209
CHAPTER XVI.
"MAN THE LIFE-BOAT!" (continued].
A "Dirty" Night on the Sands— Wreck of the Samaritano— The Vessel boarded by Margate and Whitstable Men —
A Gale in its Fury— The Vessel breaking up— Nineteen Men in the Fore-rigging— Two Margate Life-boats
Wrecked— Fate of a Lugger — The Scene at Ramsgate— " Man the Life-boat !"— The good Steamer Aid— The
Life-boat Towed out— A terrible Trip— A grand Struggle with the Elements— The Flag of Distress made out
—How to reach it— The Life-boat cast off-On through the Breakers— The Wreck reached at last— Difficulties
of Rescuing the Men— The poor little Cabin-boy— The Life-boat crowded— A moment of great Peril— The
Steamer reached at last— Back to Ramsgate— The Reward of Merit— Loss of a Passenger Steamer— The Three
Lost Corpses— The Emigrant Ship on the Sands— A Splendid Night's Work 215
vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
"MAN THE LIFE-BOAT!" (continued}.
PAGE
A Portuguese Brig on the Sands— Futile Attempts to get her off— Sudden Break-up— Great Danger to the Life-boat
—Great Probability of being Crushed— An Old Boatman's Feelings— The Life-boat herself on the Goodwin-
Safe at Last— Gratitude of the Portuguese Crew— A Blaze of Light seen from Deal— Fatal Delay— Twenty-eight
Lives Lost— A dark December Night— The almost-deserted Wreck of the Providentia—A Plucky Captain—
An awful Episode— The Mate beaten to Death— Hardly saved— The poor little Cabin-boy's Rescue— Another
Wreck on the Sands— Many Attempts to rescue the Crew— Determination of the Boatmen— Victory or Death !—
The Aid Steamer nearly wrecked— A novel and successful Experiment— Anchoring on Board— The Crew Saved . 225
CHAPTER XVIII.
"WRECKING" AS A PROFESSION.
Probable Fate of a rich Vessel in the Middle Ages— Maritime Laws of the Period— The King's Privileges— Coeur de
Lion and his Enactments— The Roles d'Oleron— False Pilots and Wicked Lords— Stringent Laws of George II.
—The Homeward-bound Vessel- Plotting Wreckers— Lured Ashore— "Dead Men Tell no Tales"— A Series of
Facts— Brutality to a Captain and his Wife— Fate of a Plunderer— Defence of a Ship against Hundreds of
Wreckers— Another Example— Ship Boarded by Peasantry— Police Attacked by Thousands— Cavalry Charge the
Wreckers — Hundreds of Drunken Plunderers — A Curious Tract of the Last Century — A Professional Wrecker's
Arguments— A Candid Bahama Pilot 235
CHAPTER XIX.
"HOVELLING" v. WRECKING.
The Contrast— The "Hovellers" defended— Their Services — The Case of the Albion— Anchors and Cables wanted by
a disabled Vessel— Lugger wrecked on the Beach— Dangers of the Hoveller's Life— Nearly swamped by the heavy
Seas— Loss of a baling Bowl, and what it means— Saved on an American Ship— The Lost Found— A brilliant
example of Life-saving at Bideford— The Small Rewards of the Hoveller's Life— The case of La Marguerite—
Nearly wrecked in Port— Hovellers v. Wreckers— " Let's all start fair !"— Praying for Wrecks 215
CHAPTER XX.
SHIPS THAT "PASS BY ON THE OTHER SIDE."
Captains and Owners— Reasons for apparent Inhumanity — A Case in Point — The Wreck of the Northflcet— Run down
by the Murillo—A Noble Captain— The Vessel Lost, with a Hundred Ships near her— One within Three Hundred
Yards— Official Inquiry— Loss of the Schiller— Two Hundred Drowned in one heavy Sea— Life-saving Apparatus
of little use— Lessons of the Disaster— Wreck of the Deutschland— Harwich blamed unjustly— The good Tug-
boat Liverpool and her Work— Necessity of proper Communication with Light-houses and Light-ships— The
new Signal Code and old Semaphores 261
CHAPTER XXI.
A CONTRAST— THE SHIP ON FIRE !— SWAMPED AT SEA.
The Loss of the Amazon— A Noble Vessel— Description of her Engine-rooms— Her Boats— Heating of the Machinery—
The Ship on Fire— Communication cut off— The Ominous Fire-bell— The Vessel put before the Wind— A Headlong
Course— Impossibility of Launching the Boats—" Every Man for Himself ! "—The Boats on Fire— Horrible Cases
of Roasting— Boats Stove in and Upset— The Remnant of Survivors—" Passing by on the Other Side "— Loss of a
distinguished Author— A Clergyman's Experiences— A Graphic Description— Without Food, Water, Oars, Helm,
or Compass— Blowing-up of the Amazon— " A Sail ! "—Saved on the Dutch Galliot— Back from the Dead— Review
of the Catastrophe— A Contrast— Loss of the London— Anxiety to get Berths on her— The First Disaster— Terrible
Weather— Swamped by the Seas— The Furnaces Drowned out— Efforts to replace a Hatchway— Fourteen Feet of
Water in the Hold—" Boys, you may say your Prayers ! "—Scene in the Saloon— The Last Prayer Meeting-
Worthy Draper— Incidents— Loss of an Eminent Tragedian— His Last Efforts— The Bottle Washed Ashore—
Nineteen Saved out of Two Hundred and Sixty-three Souls on Board— Noble Captain Martin— The London's
Last Plunge— The Survivors picked up by an Italian Barque 278
CHAPTER XXII.
EARLY STEAMSHIP WRECKS AND THEIR LESSONS.
The Rothsay Castle— An Old Vessel, unfit for Sea Service— A Gay Starting— Drifting to the Fatal Sands— The Steamer
Strikes— A Scene of Panic— Lost within easy reach of Assistance— An Imprudent Pilot— Statements of Survivors—
A Father and Son parted and re-united— Heartrending Episodes -The Other Side: Saved by an Umbrella— Loss
of the Killarncy-Severe Weather— The Engine-fires Swamped— At the Mercy of the Waves— On the Rocks—
The Crisis -Half the Passengers and Crew on an Isolated Rock— Spolasco and his Child— Holding on for Dear
Life— Hundreds Ashore " Wrecking "—No Attempts to Save the Survivors— Several Washed Off— Deaths from
Exhaustion— " To the Rescue ! "—Noble Efforts-Failure of Several Plans— A Novel Expedient adopted— Its
Perils— Another Dreary Night— Good Samaritans— A Noble Lady— Saved at Last-The Inventor's Description
of the Rope Bridge— The Wreck Register for One Year-Grand Work of the Lifeboat Institution . - . .297
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Naval Flags of the World Coloured Frontispiece
Raleigh at Trinidad To face page 5
Sir Walter Raleigh 5
Raleigh on the River
Monson and the Biscayan Ship ... ... ... 12
Monson at Cadiz ... ... ... ... ... 17
Action in Cerimbra Roads .. ... ... 21
Monson at Broad Haven ... ... ... ... 25
De Ruyter on the Medway . . . .. ... ... 32
Peter the Great ... ... ... ... ... 33
The Imperial Workman receiving a Deputation ... 36
Old Dockyard at Deptford ... ... ... ... 37
Saye's Court, Deptford 39
Commodore Anson ... ... ... ... 45
The Centurion off Cape Horn ... ... ... 49
Surrender of the Carmelo ... ... ... ... 56
Anson taking the Spanish Galleon .., ... 61
Cape Cod 64
The Dartmouth in Boston Harbour 65
Destruction of the Tea Cargoes ... ... ... 72
Nelson and the Bear ... ... ... ... ... 73
Nelson at Copenhagen To face page 76
Lord Nelson ... ... ... ... ... ... 76
The Charlotte Dundas 84
Symington ... ... ... ... ... ... 85
Outline of Fitch's First Boat 89
Fitch's Second Boat 89
The Clermont 93
Bell's Comet 96
Four Great Engineers To face page 97
The United Kingdom 99
Arrival of the Great Western at New York ... 100
Section and Plan of the Stern of a Screw Steamer 101
The Robert F . Stockton 103
The First Cunard Steamer 105
Canard Paddle Steam-ship Scotia ... ... ... 109
The Cunard Screw Steam-ship Bothnia ... ... 109
Mr. Plimsoll 112
Mr. Plimsoll Speaking in the House of Commons 116
Exterior of Lloyd's ... .. ... ... ... 124
Interior of Lloyd's ... ... ... ... ... 125
The Great Eastern in a Gale off Cape Clear
To face page 1 29
Mr. I. K. Brunei 129
Mr. Scott Russell 129
The Launch of the Great Eastern ... .. ... 133
Arrival of the Great Eastern at New York ... 136
The Monitor passing the Vicksburg Batteries ... 138
The Miantonoma ... ... ... ... ... 140
Interior of a Turret Ship 141
The Inflexible 145
Section of the A lexandra 147
Lieutenant Cushing's Attack on the Albemarle ... 149
Different Forms of Torpedoes ... ... ... 153
Parayaguan Torpedo blowing up a Brazilian
Ironclad ... ... ... ... ... 154
The Tower of Cordouan 157
Destruction of Rudy erd's Lighthouse. To face page 161
Winstanley's Lighthouse ... ... ... ... 161
Rudy erd's Lighthouse ... ... ... ... 161
The Eddy stone Lighthouse 168
Portrait of Smeaton ... ... ... ... ... 170
Interior of the Light-chamber of the Eddystone ... 171
Lighthouse on the Inchcape Rock 176
The Skerry vore Lighthouse ... ... ... 178
Revolving Light Apparatus ... ... ... 1 84
Breakwater at Venice ... ... ... ... 188
Cherbourg from the Sea ... ... ... ... 192
Portland 193
Holyhead Breakwater ... ... ... ... 196
Great Storm in the Downs ... ... ... ... 200
The Storm in the Thames at Wapping 204
West-Indiamen Driven Ashore at Tilbury Fort ... 205
A Life-boat Going Out ... ... To face page 209
Greathead's Life-boat ... ... 209
Life-boat Saving the Crew of the St. George ... 213
Loss of a Life-boat at the Shipwreck of the Ann 216
A Life-boat and Carriage — Latest Form ... ... 217
Ramsgate — The Aid Going Out 220
A Group of Life-boat Men 229
On the Coast at Deal 232
Rescue of the Danish Vessel ... 236
Vlll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Wreckers Waiting for a Wreck ... ... ... 241
Major Warburton at the Wreck of the Inverness ... 244
Loss of the A Ibion Lugger ... ... ... 248
Map showing Coast of Ramsgate and the Goodwin
Sands 252
Wreck of the Woolpacket on Bideford Bar
To face page 253
The Lugger reaching Ramsgate Harbour ... 253
Ronayne's Bravery 257
T!1n.G Northfleet 260
Wreck of the NortJifleet 265
The Stilly Islands 268
The Bishop Rock Lighthouse 269
PAGE
Wreck of the Deutschland ... ... ... ... 272
Burning of the Amazon To face page 281
The Amazon Steam-ship ... ... ... ... 281
Rescue of the Survivors of the Amazon 284
The London 289
The London Going Down ... ... ... ... 292
Getting out the London's Boats ... ... ... 296
Wreck of the Rothsay Castle ... To fare page 297
The Menai Straits 300
Beaumaris ... ... ... ... ... ... 305
Entrance to Cork Harbour ... ... ... ... 308
The Survivors on the Rock ... ... ... 312
Rescue of the Survivors of the Killarney 316
THE SEA.
CHAPTER I.
THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING
INTERESTS (continued).
Extent of the Subject — The First American Colony — Hostilities
with the Indians — 117 Settlers Missing — Raleigh's Search for
El Dorado — Little or no Gold discovered — 2,000 Spaniards
engage in another Search — Disastrous results — Dutch Rivalry
with the English— Establishment of two American Trading Com-
panies—Of the East India Company — Their first Great Ship —
Enormous Profits of the Venture — A Digression — Officers of the Com-
pany in Modern Times — Their Grand Perquisites — Another Naval
Hero — Monson a Captain at Eighteen — His appreciation of Stratagem
— An Eleven Hours' hand-to-hand Contest — Out of Water at Sea —
Monson two years a Galley Slave — Treachery of the Earl of Cumber-
land— The Cadiz Expedition — Cutting out a Treasure Ship — Prize
worth £200,000 — James I. and his Great Ship — Monson as Guardian
of the Narrow Seas — After the British Pirates — One of their Haunts
— A Novel Scheme — Monson as a Pirate himself — Meeting of the
Sham and Real Pirates — Capture of a Number — Frightened into
Penitence — Another caught by a ruse.
1VTANY and vast are the subjects which naturally inter-
twine themselves with the history of the sea ! Great
voyages have not been organised for the mere discovery of
so much salt water — except as a means to an end — and the
S THE SEA.
good ship has almost always sailed with a definite and positive mission. The history of but
a single vessel involves the history, more or less, of hundreds of people ; it may mean that of
thousands. So the history of the ocean is that also of lands and peoples, far off or near.
Subjects the most diverse are still intimately connected with it. In the space of a few years'
time, war and peace are strangely contrasted ; brilliant discoveries are succeeded by
disastrous failures, and heroic deeds stand side by side with shameless transactions. Take
only a few of the succeeding pages, and we shall find recorded in them the stories of the
early colonisation of America, and of the disastrous voyages in quest of the fabled El Dorado,
followed by the brave and daring deeds of one of our greatest naval heroes ; these again by
the establishment of the great commercial company which once ruled India, succeeded by
stories of pirates on the sea, and " bubble " promoters ashore. Sketches of maritime affairs
must be " in black and white," so great are the contrasts. But let us turn to our first
subject, the early voyages to, and colonisation of, the great New World.
About one hundred men formed the first little colony landed in Virginia from the
expedition of Greenville in 1585. Raleigh, at his own expense, sent a shipload of supplies
for them next year, but before it arrived the settlers, and the very Indians of whom such
flattering accounts had been given, had quarrelled, and so many of the former had fallen
as to imperil the existence of the colony; the survivors thought themselves fortunate
when Drake unexpectedly arrived off the coast, and took them away. When Greenville
reached the settlement, a couple of weeks after, they had left no tidings of themselves,
and, wishing to hold possession of the country, he landed fifteen men, well furnished with all
necessaries for two years' use, on the island of Roanoake. This voyage paid its expenses by
prizes taken from the Spaniards, and by the plunder of the Azores on the way home,
where they spoiled "some of the towns of all such things as were worth carriage/'
Raleigh, next season, fitted out a third expedition of three vessels, with one hundred
and fifty colonists, under the charge of John White, who was to be Governor, with twelve
chosen persons as assistants : their town was to be named after himself. After narrowly
escaping shipwreck, they arrived off Roanoake, and White, taking the pinnace, went in search
of the fifteen men left in the preceding year, but " found none of them, nor any sign
that they had been there, saving only the bones of one of them, whom the savages had
slain long before." Next day they proceeded to the western side of the island, where the}'-
found the houses which had been erected still standing, but the fort had been razed.
They "were overgrown with melons of divers sorts/' and deer were feeding on the
melons. While they were employed repairing these, and erecting others, one George
Howe wandered some two miles away, when a party of half-naked Indians, who were engaged
in catching crabs in the water, espied him. " They shot at him, gave him sixteen wounds
with their arrows, and after they had slain him with their wooden swords, they beat his head in
pieces, and fled over the water to the main." Captain Amadas had taken an Indian
named Manteo to England with him, and this man, now with White, was sent to the
island of Croatoan, where his tribe dwelt, to assure them of the friendship of the English,
and an understanding was established. It was ascertained that the men left the preceding
year had been treacherously attacked by hostile natives, and that two had been killed, and
their storehouse burned; the remainder had succesfully fought through the Indians to
EARLY COLONISATION OF AMERICA. 3
the water's edge, and had escaped in their boat, whither they knew not. Their fate was
never learned. Manteo's friends entreated that a badge should be given them, as some
of them had been attacked and wounded the previous year by mistake. Something
similar occurred shortly afterwards, when the English, burning to avenge Howe's death,
attacked a settlement in the night, shooting one of the men through the body before
they discovered that the natives there were of the friendly tribe. According to Raleigh's
instructions, Manteo was christened, and called lord of Roanoake. About this time,
the wife of Ananias Dare, one of the twelve assistants, was delivered of a daughter, who,
as the first English child born in that country, was very naturally baptised by the name
of Virginia. And now the ships had unladen the planter's stores, and were preparing for
departure. It was deemed advisable that two of the assistants should go back to England
as factors and representatives of the company, but all appeared anxious to stop. At length
the whole party, with one voice urged White to return, " for the better and sooner obtaining
of supplies and other necessaries for them." This he very naturally refused, as it would
look at home as though the Governor had deserted his band, and had led so many into
a country in which he never meant to stay himself. But at last he yielded to them, and
was furnished with a testimonial setting forth the reasons. White arrived in England at
a period when the danger of a Spanish invasion was imminent, a most unfortunate time
for the colonists. When Raleigh was preparing supplies for them, which Greenville was
to have taken out, the order was countermanded,, White represented the urgency of their
wants, and two small pinnaces were despatched with supplies, and fifteen planters on board.
Instead of proceeding to America, they commenced cruising for prizes, till, disabled and
rifled by two men-of-war from Rochelle, they were obliged to retreat to England.
And now Raleigh, who is said to have already expended £40,000 over these attempts at
colonisation, appears to have sickened of them, and to have assigned his patent to
a company of merchant adventurers. White did his utmost for the poor settlers he
represented, and learning that some English ships were about to proceed to the West Indies,
tried his best to arrange that they should take some provisions and stores to Virginia,
the upshot of which was that he only obtained a passage for himself.
The colony had now been left to itself for two years. When the vessels anchored
near the spot, they observed a great smoke on the island of Roanoake, and White, who
had a married daughter among the colonists, hoped that it might proceed from one of
their camps. Two boats put off from the ships, and the gunners were ordered to prepare
three guns, " well loaded, and to shoot them off with reasonable space between each shot,
to the end that their reports might be heard at the place where they hoped to find some
of their people." Their first search was vain, for though they reached the spot from
which the smoke came, there were no signs of life there. The next day a second search
was made, but one of the boats was swamped, and the captain and four others were drowned.
The sailors averred that they would not seek further for the colonists ; they were, however,
over-ruled, and another attempt was made. Again they noted a great fire in the woods,
and when the boat neared it, they let their grapnel fall, and sounded a trumpet, playing
tunes familiar at the time ; but there was no response. They landed at daybreak, and
proceeded to the place where the colony had been left. " All the way/' says White, " we
4 THE SEA.
saw in the sand the print of the savages* feet trodden that night; and as we entered up
the sandy bank, upon a tree at the very brow thereof were curiously carved these fair
Roman letters, CEO, which letters presently we knew to signify the place where I
should find the planters seated, according to a token agreed upon at my departure.*" He
had told them in case of distress to carve over the letters or name a cross; but no such
sign was found. At the spot itself where he expected the settlement, he found the houses
taken down, and the place enclosed with logs or trees. Many heavy articles, bars of iron,
pigs of lead, shot, and so forth, were lying about, almost overgrown with grass and weeds.
Five chests, of which three were his own, were found at last, but they had been evidently
broken into by the savages. " About the place," says White, " many of my things, spoiled
and broken, and my books torn from the covers, the frames of some of my pictures and
maps rotten and spoiled with rain, and my armour almost eaten through with rust." But
on one of the trees or chief posts of the enclosure, the word CROATOAN was carved in
large letters, and he now understood that they were with Manteo's tribe. It was agreed
that they should make for that place ; but again fortune was against them.
One disaster followed another, and when at last they left Virginia, it was with the
intention of wintering in tho West Indies, and returning the following spring ; but even
this was not to be. Stress of weather drove them to the Azores, and once there it was
naturally decided to return to England. No later attempt was made to succour them,
and the fate of ninety-one men, seventeen women, and nine children, and of two infants
born there, the names of which are preserved in Hakluyt, was never known. Raleigh
has been greatly blamed for inhumanity in this connection. His excuse is that it was the
busiest part of his eventful life. He had just borne his part in the defeat of the Armada;
had been one of eleven hundred gentlemen who ventured on the unfortunate Portuguese
expedition ; had been sent, in what was regarded as an honourable banishment, but none
the less an exile, to Ireland; on regaining his place in the queen's favour had taken an active
part in Parliamentary service ; was concerned in a fresh naval expedition from which he
was recalled by the queen, and had his first taste of that cell in the Tower, which later on he
left only for the scaffold.
In 1595, we find Raleigh bent on a discovery which had long been a feverish dream
with him — the conquest of the fabled El Dorado. It was but the result of the discoveries
of the Spaniards in Mexico and Peru; and all over the Spanish main there was a fond
belief extant in something greater and richer than anything yet found. One of the
traditions of the day was that a relative of the last reigning Inca of Peru, escaping from
the wreck of that empire, with a large part of its remaining forces and treasure, had
established himself in a new country, which was found to be itself as rich in mines as
that from which he had migrated. " The Spaniards/' says Southey, " lost more men in
seeking for this imaginary kingdom than in the conquest of Mexico and Peru."
Raleigh was encouraged in this enterprise by such men as Cecil, and the Lord High
Admiral Howard, who contributed to its cost. His idea was to enter the land of gold by
the Orinoco, and prior to his own voyage he despatched a ship, under Captain Whiddon, to
reconnoitre on that part of the coast, and to seek information at the island of Trinidad. When
Raleigh and his squadron had arrived at one of its ports he found a company of Spaniards
12
RALEIGH AT TRINIDAD-
THE FABLED EL DORADO. 5
from whom he cautiously extracted all they knew or believed concerning Guiana. " For these
poor soldiers/' says he, " having been many years without wine, a few draughts made them
merry ; in which mood they vaunted of Guiana, and of the riches thereof, and all what
they knew of the bays and passages, myself seeming to purpose nothing less than the
entrance or discovery thereof, but bred in them an opinion that I was bound only for the
relief of those English whom I had planted in Virginia, whereof the bruit was come among
them, which I had performed in my return if extremity of weather had not forced me
SIK WALTER RALEIGH.
from the said coast. " Raleigh stopped some time here, not merely to extract all the
information possible, but also to be revenged on the Governor, who the year before had
behaved treacherously, entrapping eight of Captain Whiddon's men. This he accomplished
by taking and burning one of their new towns, and detaining the Governor, Berrio, at his
pleasure on board. The same day two more of his ships arrived, and they prepared for
the purposed discovery. " And first/'' says Raleigh, " I called all the captains (i.e., caciques
or native chiefs) of the island together that were enemies to the Spaniards • * * * and
by my Indian interpreter, which I carried out of England, I made them understand that
I was the servant of the queen, who was the great cacique of the north, and a virgin, and
had more caciqui under her than there were trees on that island ; that she was an enemy
to the Castellani (i.e., Spanish from Castille) in respect of their tyranny and oppression,
6 THE SEA.
and that she delivered all such nations about her as were by them oppressed ; and having
freed all the coast of the northern world from their servitude, had sent me to free them
also, and withal to defend the country of Guiana from their invasion and conquest. I
showed them her Majesty's picture, which they so admired and honoured as it had been
easy to have brought them idolatrous thereof." Raleigh used the Governor with courtesy
and hospitality, and sounded him well concerning Guiana; and Berrio conversed with him
readily, having no suspicion of Raleigh's intentions. But when Sir Walter told him that
he had resolved to see that country, the Governor " was stricken into a great melancholy,"
and tried all he could to dissuade him. He described the rivers as full of sandbanks, and
so shallow that no bark or pinnace could ascend them, and scarcely a ship's boat ; that they
could not carry provisions for half the journey, and that the " kings and lords of all the
borders of Guiana had decreed that none of them should trade with any Christians for gold,
because the same would be their own overthrow, and that for the love of gold the Christians
meant to conquer and dispossess them altogether." The golden country was 600 miles
farther from the coast than he had been informed, which piece of news Raleigh carefully
concealed from his company, for he was resolved " to make trial of all, whatsoever happened."
After many explorations, on the part of his captains, of the rivers, the mouths of which
were found to be as shallow as he had been told, he, with 100 men divided in a galley,
four boats and barges, and carrying provisions for a month, resolved to see for himself.
From the spot where the ships lay, they had as much sea to cross as between Dover
and Calais, the waves being high, and the current strong. They at length entered a stream,
which Raleigh called the River of the Red Cross, and where they noted Indians in a canoe
and on the banks. Their interpreters, Ferdinando and his brother, went ashore to fetch
fruit, and drink with the natives, when they were seized by the chief with the intention
of putting them to death, because "they had brought a strange nation into their territory
to spoil and destroy them/' Ferdinando and his brother managed to escape, the former
running into the woods, and the latter reaching the mouth of the creek where the barge
was staying, when he cried out that his brother was slain. On hearing this, "we set
hands," says Raleigh, "on one of them that was next us, a very old man, and brought him
into the barge, assuring him that if we had not our pilot again we would presently cut
off his head." The old man called to his tribe to save Ferdinando, but they hunted him
through the forest, with shouts that made the whole neighbourhood resound. At length
he reached the water, and climbing out on an overhanging tree, dropped down and swam
to the barge, half dead with fear. The old Indian was retained as pilot.
Ascending with the flood, and anchoring during ebb tide, they went on, till on the
third day their galley grounded, and stuck so fast that it was a question whether their
discoveries must not end there ; but at last, by lightening her of all her ballast, and hauling
and tugging, she was once more afloat. Next day they reached a fine river, where there
was no flood tide from the sea, and they had to contend against a strong current ; " and
had then," says Raleigh, " no shift but to persuade the company that it was but two or three
days' work " to reach their destination. " When three days wrere overgone, our companies
oegan to despair, the weather being extreme hot, the river bordered with very high trees that
kept away the air, and the current against us every day stronger than the other ; but we once
ADVENTURES IN THE GOLDEN LAND. 7
more commanded our pilots to promise to end the next day, and used it so long as we
were driven to assure them from four reaches of the river to three, and so to two, and so
to the next reach ; but so long- we laboured that many days were spent, and we driven to
draw ourselves to harder allowance, our bread even at the last and no drink at all ; and
ourselves so wearied and scorched, and doubtful withal whether we should ever perform it
or no, the heat increasing as we drew towards the line, for we were now in five degrees.
The farther we went on (our victuals decreasing and the air breeding great faintness) we
grew weaker and weaker, when we had most need of strength and ability, for hourly
the river ran more violently than other against us; and the barge, wherries, and ship's
boat had spent all their provisions, so as we were brought into despair and discomfort,
had we not persuaded all the company that it was but one day's work more to attain the
land, where we should be relieved of all we wanted ; and if we returned that we should be
sure to starve by the way, and that the world would also laugh us to scorn." The old
Indian now offered to take them to a town at a short distance, where they could get bread,
hams, fish, and wine, but to reach it they must leave the galley, and proceed up a smaller
stream with the barge and wherries. Raleigh, with two of his captains and sixteen
musketeers started, but when, after hard rowing, it grew night, and there were no signs
of the place, they feared treachery. The old native still assured them that it was but a little
further, and they rowed on past reach after reach, and still no town or settlement could be
discovered. At last they decided to hang the pilot, and Raleigh states distinctly that "if
we had well known the way back again by night, he had surely gone, but our own necessities
pleaded sufficiently for his safety, for it was now as dark as pitch, and the river began so
to narrow itself, and the trees to hang from side, so as we were driven with arming swords
to cut a passage through those branches that covered the water." At last, an hour after
midnight, a light was seen, and the welcome noise of the village dogs heard, as they rowed
towards it. There were few natives there at the time, but some quantity of provisions
was obtained, with which they returned to the galley next day. The natives called this
stream the river of alligators, and a negro, who was one of the galley's crew, venturing to
swim in it, was devoured by one of those animals. Raleigh says of the country through
which it passed, " whereas all that we had seen before was nothing but woods, prickly bushes,
and thorns, here we beheld plains of twenty miles in length, the grass short and green,
and in divers parts groves of trees by themselves, as if they had with all the art and
labour in the world been so made of purpose; and still as we rowed, the deer came down
feeding by the water's side, as if they had been used to a keeper's call."
Still proceeding up the great river, their provisions almost exhausted, they observed
four canoes coming down the stream, to which they gave chase. The people in two of
the larger escaped into the woods, and left behind a large stock of bread, which was very
welcome. Searching the woods, Raleigh came across an Indian basket, which proved to
be that of a refiner, as it contained quicksilver, saltpetre, and other things for gathering
and testing metals, and also the dust of such as he had discovered. Raleigh offered £500
to the soldier who should take one of three Spaniards known to have been with this party,
but they escaped. He was more fortunate with the Indians who had accompanied them,
and one of them was taken for pilot, from whom he learned that the richest mines were
8 THE SEA.
" defended with rocks of hard stones, which we call white spar " (presumably quartz). He
states that in the canoes which escaped there was a good quantity of ore and gold.
Still proceeding, on the fifteenth day, to their great joy, the distant mountains of
Guiana came into view, and the same day brought them in sight of the oreat Orinoco
about the branches of which river thousands of tortoise eggs were found, which proved to be
"very wholesome meat, and greatly restoring." The natives, too, were friendly, and to
Raleigh's credit, be it said, he appears in all cases to have treated them fairly and well.
With the cacique he made merry, treating the natives to a small quantity of Spanish wine,
they in return bringing in fruits, bread, fish, and flesh. The chief conducted them to his
own town, " where/' says Ealeigh, " some of our captains caroused of his wine till they
were reasonably pleasant ; for it is very strong with pepper, and the juice of divers herbs
digested and purged; they keep it in great earthen pots of ten or twelve gallons, very
clear and sweet; and are themselves at their meetings and feasts the greatest carousers
and drunkards in the world." The settlement stood on a low hill, " with goodly gardens
a mile compass round about it." And so they proceeded, meeting friendliness everywhere
among the natives, till the rivers commenced fast rising, and they could not row against the
stream. Small parties were then detailed ashore to look for mineral stones. Raleigh describes
the country as lovely ; " the deer crossing in every path ; the birds towards the evening
singing on every tree with a thousand several tunes; cranes and herons, of white, crimson,
and carnation, perching on the river's side ; the air fresh with a gentle easterly wind ; and
every stone that we stooped to take up promised either gold or silver by its complexion. * * *
I hope some of them cannot be bettered under the sun ; and yet we had no means but with
our daggers and fingers to tear them out here and there, the rocks being most hard, of that
mineral spar aforesaid, which is like a flint, and is altogether as hard, or harder; and
besides, the veins lie a fathom or two deep in the rocks. But we wanted all things requisite,
save only our desires and good will, to have performed more, if it had pleased God." Some
of the others brought glistening stones, and among them, apparently pyrites, which very
commonly accompanies gold, but of the precious metal itself Raleigh could hardly boast
a speck in truth. His account of these discoveries is mixed up with the strangest fables,
as for example of the Ewaipanoma, a people of that country whose eyes were in their
shoulders, and their mouths in the middle of their breasts !
The ships were regained, and the expedition sailed for England, where Raleigh,
in spite of the work which he published under the boastful title of " The Discovery of the
Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a Relation of the Great and Golden
City of Manoa (which the Spaniards call El Dorado)," &c., lost both popular and queenly
favour, having brought home no booty. In fact the narrative given to the world rather
did him harm than good, for it is full of excuses, admits that the voyage had been most
unprofitable, and is undoubtedly not veracious in many particulars. His arguments for
immediately attempting the conquest of Guiana were not regarded. Yet still he had
means and friends. Two expeditions to Guiana were afterwards organised, neither of which
resulted in any discovery or profit.
But others besides Raleigh and his followers had been inflamed with the accounts
floating about concerning El Dorado. Berrio, the Spanish Governor before mentioned,
SPANISH EXPEDITION TO EL DORADO.
0
despatched his camp master to Spain to levy men, sending with him some golden carvings and
" images, as well of men as beasts, birds, and fishes," in order to obtain further aid from
the king and his subjects. This agent, Domingo de Vera, was a man of ability, and
thoroughly unscrupulous; he courted notoriety by appearing always in a singular dress,
adorned with golden trinkets and jewels, and being of great stature, and riding always
a great horse, attracted much attention, being known popularly as the Indian El Dorado.
He was successful in raising seventy thousand ducats at Madrid, and a large additional
RALEIGH ON THE RIVER.
sum at Seville : obtained authority for raising a band of adventurers, and five good
ships to carry them out. Men of good birth left their estates, respectable middle-class men
gave up their incomes and employments, sold everything, and embarked with their wives
and children ; even a prebendary, and many priests, gave up sure prospects of
advancement to join the expedition, which at last aggregated two thousand persons.
Berrio had only asked for 300, and when the expedition reached Trinidad, they had to
be apportioned to various other settlements ; the women and children being serious
encumbrances at the time, and enduring great misery. The savage Caribs attacked their
canoes when proceeding to St. Thomas and elsewhere. One detachment of three hundred
were reduced to thirty souls by the crafty Indians, who, after very partially supplying
them with provisions, watched them sink with weakness and disease till they became an
42
]0 THE SEA.
easy prey. In some places they set fire to the grass, and the wretched travellers, unable
to fly before it, were burned to death. Those who reached the Orinoco, not merely found
no gold, but little of that abundance so glowingly described by Raleigh. Vera himself
soon died in Trindad, and Berrio did not long survive him. Of the original two thousand
who left Spain, it is doubtful whether a tithe survived the first year. Had Raleigh been
a favourite with the people, or had his character been above suspicion, it is more than
likety that some similar disaster might have had to be recorded on the pages of English
history.
Sir Walter Raleigh has enlightened us,* as regards the condition of commerce and of
the English mercantile marine shortly before the union of the crown of England and Scotland,
in a remarkable paper, " which contains," says a competent authority, " many remarkable
commercial principles far in advance of the age in which the author lived." He states
that the ships of England were not to be compared with those of the Dutch, and that while
an English ship of one hundred tons required a crew of thirty men, the Dutch would sail such
a vessel with one-third that number. Holland became the depot of numerous articles, " not
one hundredth part of which were consumed by the Dutch/' while she gave y the crew. "On each quarter
and bow she was to be armed with a torpedo fastened to a long spar, the interior end of
which was to be supported and braced by ropes from the yards. . . . By means of
these spars the torpedoes were to be thrust under the bottom of the vessel to be destroyed."
Half the many plans proposed for torpedo warfare may be traced back to Robert Fulton
at the end of the last and beginning of the present century. Among his inventions
was a "cable-cutting machine," a description of which would occupy an undue amount
of space in a popular work. Suffice it to say that by its means he succeeded in cutting,
several feet below the surface of the water, the cable— a 14-inch one — of a vessel lying at
anchor.
One of the most important experiments made at this time was his attempt, under sanction
of Government, to blow up the sloop-of-war Argus, and the case demonstrates very clearly
the ingenuity of the defence, and the means taken to foil the assailing torpedo. We have
heard quite recently of propositions to defend a vessel by means of a kind of <( crinoline,"
as it has been termed, a strong network, &c., surrounding the whole or a part of the vessel at
some distance from it, which should prevent the torpedo from exploding near the hull. Such
was actually the means devised by Commodore Rodgers, of the United States Navy, in the
year 1809, and which proved entirely successful in foiling Fulton's torpedo. Golden says : —
"She had a strong netting suspended from her spritsail-yard, which was anchored at the
bottom ; she was surrounded by spars lashed together, which floated on the surface of the
water, so as to place her completely in a pen; she had grappling-irons and heavy pieces
of the same metal suspended from her yards and rigging, ready to be plunged in any
boat that came beneath them; she had great swords, or scythes, fastened to the ends of
long spars, moving like sweeps, which unquestionably would have mowed off as many
heads as came within their reach."
By these devices the torpedo-boat was unable to get near the Argus, while the netting,
* "Torpedo War, and Submarine Explosions " (New York, 1810). A scarce and valuable brochure . •
TORPEDOES IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. 151
anchored to the bottom of the harbour, prevented any probability of the torpedo being
fired under the vessel. The Government had practically said to Fulton, " Do your best,
and we'll do our best to defeat you." The experiment was not one-sided, as are so
many. Fulton, far from complaining, thus wrote : " I will do justice to the talents of
Commodore Rodgers. The nets, booms, kentledge, and grapnels which he arranged around
the Argus made a formidable appearance against one torpedo-boat and eight bad oarsmen. I
was taken unawares. I had explained to the officers of the navy my means of attack;
they did not inform me of their means of defence. The nets were put down to the
ground, otherwise I should have sent the torpedoes under them. In this situation, the
means with which I was provided being imperfect, insignificant, and inadequate to the
effect to be produced, I might be compared to what the inventor of gunpowder would
have appeared had he lived in the time of Julius Caesar, and presented himself before
the gates of Rome with a four-pounder, and had endeavoured to convince the Roman people
that by means of such machines he could batter down their walls. They would have told
him that a few catapultas casting arrows and stones upon his men would cause them to
retreat ; that a shower of rain would destroy his ill-guarded powder ; and the Roman
centurions, who would have been unable to conceive the various modes in which gunpowder
has since been used to destroy the then art of war, would very naturally conclude that
it was a useless invention ; while the manufacturers of catapultas, bows, arrows, and shields
would be the most vehement against further experiments."
Torpedoes were used extensively during the civil war in America, but almost entirely for
rivers or harbour defence. One of the most prominent examples was the following: — The
ironclad ram Albemarle* had been carrying all before it, till Lieutenant Gushing, a brave
young officer, scarcely twenty-one years of age, took a steam-launch, equipped as a torpedor
boat, on the night of October, 1864, up the Roanoake River. He had with him thirteen
men. The launch was steered directly for the ironclad, which lay at one of the wharfs
of Plymouth, protected by a raft of logs extending thirty feet. The enemy's fire was at
once very severe, but the torpedo-boat went bravely on, and succeeded in pressing in the
logs a few feet. Gushing, in his despatch, says — "The torpedo was exploded at the same
time that the Albemarle's gun was fired. A shot seemed to go crashing through my
boat, and a dense mass of water rushed in from the torpedo, filling and completely
disabling her. The enemy then continued to fire at fifteen feet range, and demanded our
surrender, which I twice refused." Gushing leaped into the water and, with one of his
party, made good his escape. The rest of the little crew were either captured, killed,
or wounded. The object of the attack was, however, successful, and the Albemarle was
found to be a complete wreck. Torpedoes were also employed with great effect by the
Paraguayans in their war against the Brazilians in 1866.
Great are the varieties of torpedoes invented at various times in late years, and a
technical description of them, which would be wearying to the reader, would fill a large
volume. An ingenious kind, known as the " Lay " torpedo, after the name of its inventor,
• * Such a vessel as the Albemarle -would be scorned in England and America now-a-days, if regarded as an
ironclad. But she was, of course, infinitely stronger than the wooden ships with which she had to fight. *
152 THE SEA.
comes from the New World. It is of cylindrical form, with conical ends, the forward cone
calculated to hold a hundred pounds of some explosive substance — dynamite,* probably, being
used. A forward section .of the main cylinder holds a powerful gas, condensed into liquid
form, and used as the motive power, and connected with the machinery by a valve operated
by electricity. The torpedo has a cable coiled as harpoon-ropes are arranged in whaling-
vessels, which may be of any length, the wires connected with the battery following its
course. This instrument of destruction is entirely under the control of the operator, who
may be stationed with his small portable battery on the shore or on a vessel. It is said that
they have been sent out half a mile and brought back to the starting-point at a rate of twelve
miles an hour, and that the rapidity and precision with which the machine obeyed the operator
demonstrated them to be among the most formidable weapons ever invented for naval warfare.
These subaqueous weapons have never been used in an engagement between fleets.
In an interesting essay f on the subject by Commander Noel, B.N., he recommends
or proposes that four torpedo vessels should accompany a fleet, and describes their
probable operations as follows : —
" Let us imagine ourselves, then, on board a rakish little craft, fitted for Harvey
torpedo work ; we can steam sixteen knots ; we tow a torpedo on each quarter ; and
we are so admirably fitted with steel-protecting mantelets that neither officer nor man
is exposed either to view or to rifle fire. Our instructions are that on the approach of
a hostile force we and our three consorts are to hold ourselves in readiness to charge
the enemy's line, passing through at full speed, and doing all the damage that lies in our
power : these orders to be carried into effect in obedience to a preconcerted signal.
The enemy is observed approaching, and apparently moving at about ten knots'
speed. The torpedo vessels are let loose, and, choosing the centre of the enemy's fleet,
rush on, steering for a flag-ship leading a column in line ahead. Heavjr guns are fired
at us as we near, but we are so small and rapid in our movements that no shot takes effect ;
we are reducing our distance at the rate of a mile in two and a half minutes; soon
comes the time of suspense; in a second or two we are passing the flag-ship; the
port torpedo is dipped — will it strike her? Suddenly a tug on the wire towing-rope,
and it parts. Her bow has been protected, and our torpedo is torn away harmless.
However, another mine tows on the opposite quarter, still in working order ; we are in
the midst of the enemy's fleet, rushing past one after another at half-minute intervals ;
our only chance of using our other torpedo is in breaking through the line ; our commander
is eminent for his skill, courage, and confidence. Little choice is given us, but he
* The explosive power of dynimite, or " giant powder," as it is known in America, is something wonderful.
The writer while in California witnessed some experiments with it, which are indelibly written on his hrain. A
mortar was set upright in the field appropriated for the exhibition, and several pounds of ordinary powder having
been rammed down, a large cannon-ball was put in and the charge fired. The ball was raised a foot or so, and then
tumbled to the ground. A few ounces of dynamite and the same ball were placed in the mortar, and the charge
exploded by concussion. The cannon-ball was projected upwards in the air several hundred feet. It will be
imagined that the writer and his friends scattered in all directions, and watched very carefully the downward flight
of the ball.
t "The Gun, Ram, and Torpedo." (Prize Essay written for the Junior Naval Professional Association, 1874.)
By Commander Gerard H. U. Noel, R.N.
T
USE OF TORPEDOES IN AN ENGAGEMENT.
153
observes a rather great interval astern of the fourth ship. ' Starboard ' is the order, and
we break through under her stern; our starboard torpedo is at the same time dipped,
and passes under the fifth ship. Owing to a combination of luck and good manage-
ment, the torpedo takes effect and the enemy is blown up. The other torpedo vessels
have thrown the enemy into considerable disorder, but none have succeeded in using
their torpedoes with effect. One of them has been struck by a heavy shell and totally
disabled, but the whole fleet has passed on without finding it possible to capture or sink
her without losing their position in station and being left behind; the thought foremost
Spar Torpedo.
(Front and side views.)
Lay Torpedo.
DIFFERENT FORMS OF TORPEDOES.
in every captain's mind also being that the enemy's fleet is almost in contact with them,
and that the moment to act has arrived.
" This is an example of an attack with c Harvey ' torpedoes from ahead and across
the bow ... In my opinion, it would invariably be rendered fruitless if the bows
of the ships attacked were protected by an iron framework of the simplest description.
" But let us return to our little craft, in which we have already run the gauntlet of
the hostile fleet. Having cleared the enemy with little or no damage, we look back and
see our fleet of ironclads breaking through their lines, which have been so shaken by our
assault. When through, our fleet re-forms and wheels for the next charge. We must be
at work again ; our torpedoes are replaced, and everything is in working order. This time
we follow our ironclads to the charge. W^e are, if anything, more hopeful of success. The
enemy will not see us till we are at them; our blood is warming to the work, and we
feel that we have gained experience and confidence by the first charge. Pressing on, we
observe the second charge of the fleet, amidst smoke, confusion, and thundering of cannon.
60
154
THE SEA.
The enemy is prepared, and it is a case of ' Greek meeting Greek/ Our vessel is put at
full speed, and, with our consorts (now reduced to two), we go at the enemy. However,
in the charge that is made only one of us succeeds in exploding a torpedo, and that
without much damage to the enemy; one of our consorts is run down and sunk, and
we pass through, only dipping one torpedo, and that too late to take effect. The enemy
are not in the steady line they were in before, and consequently we have not such an
opportunity of creating disorder, and have more difficulty in manoeuvring to use our weapon.
PARAGUAYAN TORPEDO BLOWING UP A BRAZILIAN IRONCLAD.
Passing on, fortune still favours us. We come across an enemy disabled, stern on to us
with her ensign flying. 'At her!' is the order. Another moment and we are close to
her, our torpedo in beautiful position, and the enemy helpless. Down comes her ensign,
just in time; we are able to let go the torpedo so as to clear her — now a lawful prize.
" So it is that I believe a torpedo vessel will be handled in an action. It will be
ticklish work ; and all I can say is that the men who undertake it should be gifted
with coolness and courage above their fellows, as well as with the utmost proficiency in
handling their vessels/'
Perhaps the most formidable ocean-going torpedo vessel yet constructed is the American
despatch-vessel Alarm, designed by Admiral David Porter, of the United States Navy.
It is 172 feet long, including a ram of twent}--seven feet in length. One of her special
qualities is the power of launching torpedoes from almost any point, from cylinders
VARIOUS TYPES OF TOEPEDOES. 155
specially constructed for the purpose, that at the bow being thirty-two feet in length.
A torpedo-boat, built by the Messrs. Yarrow, of Poplar, for the Russian Government during
the late war, appears to have special merits. It is built of light steel, with what is called
a " whale-back " — a semi-circular covering, which resists any ordinary shot and throws off
any sea whatever. The funnel is not in the centre, but towards the side, in order not to
interfere with the steersman's view nor with the torpedo boom. It has a boom which can
be lowered in the water, the torpedo being submerged ten feet before it is started off on its
deadly errand. And, finally, it can be projected from the stern, which gives it a splendid
chance of leaving before the final explosion.
In the late Turko-Russian war torpedoes were often attached to logs of wood or clumps
of brushwood, and floated into the stream of the Danube. These often attracted little
attention ; and when they came into contact with any obstacle the mine exploded by means
of percussion, the blow being delivered by a projecting arm or other contrivance driven back
upon some detonating substance within. The Harvey torpedo, one of the leading types,
consists of a stout wooden casing, strengthened on the outside with iron straps, and containing
a metal shell, which holds the powder charge. The largest size of this weapon measures
4 feet 6 inches in length by 2 feet in depth, and 2 feet 6 inches in width, and carries
100 Ibs. of dynamite. The torpedo is fired by being brought into hugging contact with
an enemy's ship, when one or other of two projecting levers acts upon an exploding bolt
causing the ignition of the charge. The exploding apparatus consists of a tube containing
a chemical agent and a bulb holding another. The nature of these chemicals is such that
when they combine violent combustion ensues, which explodes the charge. These torpedoes
are towed at the end of a long hawser, connected to a spar, so arranged that the torpedo
itself, instead of following immediately in the wake or trail of the vessel towing it, diverges
in the same manner that an otter float does : from which device Captain Harvey took his idea.
Attached to the torpedo are two large buoys, for the purpose of supporting it when the vessel
is not moving through the water, or when the towing-line is slackened. Another variety is
fired by electricity.
The Whitehead, or "fish" torpedo, is a cigar-shaped steel cylinder 14 to 19 feet in
length, and from 14 to 16 inches in diameter. It is sent off, requiring no crew, against
the ship to be destroyed ; and if one torpedo fails to deal the death-blow it can be followed
up by another, or yet a third. It consists of three compartments. The head contains the
explosive — say 360 Ibs. of gun-cotton; the centre holds the machinery; and the tail the
highly-condensed air which works the engine. The engine is about thirty-five pounds weight,
and can be worked to forty horse power ! The explanation of this is simply that the
working pressure of the condensed air is 1,000 Ibs. per square inch. The tail holds
compressed air sufficient to propel the torpedo 200 yards, at a rate of twenty-five miles an
hour, or 1,000 yards at the rate of seventeen miles.
The ' ' battle of the guns " has not yet been fought ; but how about the rams ? They
have been "proved the deadliest weapons of destruction in modern times. The lessons of Lissa
have been already cited in these pages; so have the lessons taught by the loss of the
Vanguard and the Grosser Knrfurst. In the latter cases it was friends that struck the blow.
Some of our greatest authorities consider that nothing can exceed the power of the ram of
156
THE SEA.
a modern ironclad, properly applied. Admiral Touchard, of the French Navy, says : " The
'Leak' (i.e. 'ram') is now the principal weapon in naval combats — the ultima ratio of
maritime war." Captain Colomb, a distinguished English authority, says : " Let us just
recall the fact that the serious part of a future naval attack does not appear to be the guns,
but the rams/'' Yet again another authority, Captain Pellew, says : " Rams are the arm of
naval warfare to which I attach the chief importance. In my opinion, the aim of all
manceuvring and preliminary practice with the guns should be to get a fair opportunity
for ramming."
CHAPTER X.
THE LIGHTHOUSE AND ITS HISTORY.
The Lighthouse— Our most noted one in Danger— The Eddystone Undermined— The Ancient History of Lighthouses— The
Pharos of Alexandria — Roman Light Towers at Boulogne and Dover— Fire-beacons and Pitch-pots— The Tower of
Cordouan— The First Eddystone Lighthouse — Winstanley and his Eccentricities— Difficulties of Building his Wooden
Structure— Resembles a Pagoda— The Structure Swept Away with its Inventor— Another Silk Mercer in the Field—
Rudyerd's Lighthouse— Built of Wood— Stood for Fifty Years— Creditable Action of Louis XIV.— Lighthouse Keeper
alone with a Corpse— The Horrors of a Month— Rudyerd's Tower destroyed by Fire — Smeaton's Early History —
Employed to Build the Present Eddystone— Resolves on a Stone Tower— Employment of " Dove-tailing" in Masonry-
Difficulties of Landing on the Rock— Peril incurred by the Workmen— The First Season's Work— Smeaton always in
the Post of Danger — Watching the Rock from Plymouth Hoe— The Last Season— Vibrations of the Tower in a Storm—
Has Stood for 120 Years— Joy of the Mariner when " The Eddystone's in Sight ! "—Lights in the English Channel.
OUND the history of ships and shipping interests innumerable
subjects intertwine. But for the good ship, we should not
need coast fortifications, grand breakwaters, and artificial
harbours, lighthouses, lifeboats, and coast-guard organisations.
Just as England stands pre-eminent on the sea, so in all
subsidiary points connected therewith she is fully represented.
To the lighthouse and its history attention is now invited.
Not long since many an anxious eye was turned Channel-
wards from Plymouth Hoe towards that group of rocks, on one
of which the famous Eddystone Light stood — and happily, still
stands — for the light that should have illumined the stormy
waters was apparently quenched. Not till morning dawn had
nearly come was a re-assuring glimmer noted in the lantern
of that famed Pharos of our coasts. And there was good
reason for anxiety, although the immediate occasion was a
mere temporary derangement of the lighting apparatus : for the
report had spread that Smeaton's greatest architectural triumph
had collapsed before the power of the sea. One trembles to think what that might have
meant, not merely to its few inhabitants, but to scores of sailors and owners. " Happily,"
said one of our leading journals, "the Eddystone is still safe, despite the terrible effects
THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE UNDEEMINED.
157
of winds and waves, and the
serious weakness of its own
foundations, which was dis-
covered a few years ago.
For the tower which lights
the way of the sailor into
Plymouth Sound is, after all,
not so secure a structure as
could be desired. Built of
solid masonry and with im-
mense skill, by the clever
architect from Hull who
designed and carried out the
work, it had yet to trust for
its foundation to the rock
upon which it stood. Should
that give way the stone-work
of the edifice might be strong
enough, and yet some day
fall into hopeless ruin.
Strange to say, this very
weakness has been self-re-
vealed. The rock upon which
the lighthouse stands, and
which, of the twenty-three
that comprise the group, is
most exposed to the action
of the sea, has been so vio-
lently attacked by what Ovid
calls the ' insane waters ' as
to have become very seriously
undermined. Gradually the
waves have cut away the
foundations of the stone,
rising now and then against
the lighthouse, and pressing
against the structure with
such force as to make the
building itself serve the turn
of a crowbar, and so, little
by little, creating fissures in
the foundations, and gradu-
ally preparing the way to
THE TOWEK OF CORDOVAN.
158 THE SEA.
the end/' Many attempts have been made to obviate these evils by the removal of
rock which it was supposed acted as a lever to the water, and by other means : but in vain.
At length the Board of Trinity House finding their efforts futile, determined to erect another
lighthouse. Meantime, a light-ship has been provided, which, in case of accident to
Smeaton's tower, will be moored in the neighbourhood. A larger building is now in course
of erection on an adjacent rock, which affords a more durable foundation and is less exposed
to the merciless waves. It will be nearly double the height of the older structure, which
was seventy-two feet high, and is being built on a principle of dovetailing, which, it is
hoped and believed, will secure it against the worst fury of the sea. Think what that fury
is sometimes, gentle reader ! At the Skerry vore Rock they have an apparatus for registering
the power of the waves per square foot surface ; once recently it registered three tons to the foot !
The most noted lighthouse in the world was undoubtedly the Pharos of Alexandria,
named from the island on which it stood. The French, Italians, and Spaniards to-day use
the term almost in its original purity: thus, French for lighthouse, phare ; Italian and
Spanish, faro. It was commenced by the first Ptolemy, and finished about 280 B.C., th&
workmanship, according to all accounts, being superb. This tower of white stone was
400 feet high. It is stated by Josephus that the light, which was always kept burning
on its top at night, was visible over forty miles. It is believed to have been destroyed by
an earthquake, though the date of its destruction is unknown.
The Romans were the first to erect anything approaching a Pharos, or lighthouse,
on our coasts. Beacon fires may have been occasionally used before ; the conquerors made
the matter an organised affair. On either side the Channel, at Boulogne and Dover,
structures of no mean altitude were raised for this purpose. That at Boulogne is supposed
to have been erected by Caligula; all vestiges of it have passed away. It was originally
called Turrls Ardens, afterwards corrupted to the Tour d' Orel re. From a description left
by Claude Chatillon, engineer to Henry IV., it appears that it was built about a stone's
throw from the edge of the cliff, above and overlooking the high tower and the castle.
Its form was octagonal, with a base 192 feet in circumference. It was built of grey
stone with thin red bricks between. That at Dover still exists. It occupies the highest
point of the lofty rock on which the famous castle is built. This Pharos was also
octagonal in outward form, being square within. It is 33 feet in diameter, and formerly
about 72 feet high. On the summit three holes on the three exterior sides indicate their
purposes, both for look-out and for exhibiting a light seawards.
Long after, and indeed almost down to our days, fire-beacons were far more common
on exposed parts of our coasts than lighthouses. "The first idea of a lighthouse/' said
Faraday, "is the candle in the cottage window, guiding the husband across the water or
the pathless moor/' Lambarde says of the lights shown along the coast that, "Before
the time of Edward III., they were made of great stacks of wood; but about the eleventh
yeere of his raigne it was ordained that in our shyre (Kent) they should be high standards
with their pitchpots." Such were long used.
Lighthouses in these days differ greatly in material and mode of construction. Stone,
brick, cast and wrought iron, and even wood, are used, according to the necessities of the-
case, or the lacks of ' the special locality where they are placed. In the case of some iron
THE FIRST EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE. 159
lighthouses they are literally screwed into the rock or hard ground. Seventy of this
class of structures now exist in the United States.
One of the most remarkable early lighthouses is the Tower of Cordouan, situated
•on a ledge of rocks at the mouth of the Garonne, which empties into the Bay of Biscay. It
was commenced in 1584, and completed in 1610, by Louis de Foix.
The ledge is about 3,000 feet long and 1,500 feet broad, and is bare at low water. It
is surrounded by detached rocks, upon which the sea breaks with terrific violence. There
is but one place of access, which is a passage 300 feet wide, where there are no rocks, and
which leads to within 600 feet of the tower. The tower was a circular cone, rising from
its rocky base to a height of 162 feet. It is now shorter. The apartments of the tower
are highly ornamented, consisting of four storeys, all of different orders of architecture,
and adorned with busts and statues of Kings of France and heathen gods. The basement,
or lower storey, appears to have been intended as a store-room; the second storey is called
the " King's apartments ; " the third is a chapel ; and the fourth consists of a dome
supported by columns, a kind of lower lantern ; above this was originally a lantern formed
of a stone dome and eight columns. In the upper lantern a fire of oak wood was kept
burning for about a hundred years, when, in 1717, the fire having weakened the stone
supports by calcining them, the upper lantern was taken down, and the light was kept up
in the lower lantern. As it did not show well there, an iron lantern was erected in 1727
above this, in the place of the old stone lantern, and coal was then used for fuel instead
of wood.
The following history of the Eddystone is largely derived from one of Mr. Samuel
Smiles' graphic and learned works.*
In 1696, Mr. Henry Winstanley (a mercer and country gentleman), of Littlebury,
in the county of Essex, obtained the necessary powers to erect a lighthouse on the
Eddystone. That gentleman seems to have possessed a curious mechanical genius,
which first displayed itself in devising sundry practical jokes for the entertainment
of his guests. Smeaton tells us that in one room there lay an old slipper, which, if
a kick was given it, immediately raised a ghost from the floor; in another the visitor
sat down upon a chair, which suddenly threw out two arms and held him a fast
prisoner; whilst, in the garden, if he sought the shelter of an arbour, and sat down
•upon a particular seat, he was straightway set afloat in the middle of the adjoining
canal. These tricks must have rendered the house at Littlebury a somewhat exciting
residence for the uninitiated guest. The amateur inventor exercised the same genius, to
a certain extent, for the entertainment of the inhabitants of the metropolis, and at Hyde
Park Corner he erected a variety of jets d'eau, known by the name of Winstanley 's
Waterworks, which he exhibited at stated times at a shilling a head.
* o
This whimsicality of the man in some measure accounts for the oddity of the wooden
building erected by him on the Eddystone Rock; and it is matter of surprise that it
should have stood the severe weather of the English Channel for several seasons. The
building was begun in the year 1696, and finished in four years. It must necessarily
have been a work attended with great difficulty as well as danger, as operations could
* " The Life of Smeaton," as incorporated in his "Lives of the Engineers."
160 . THE SEA.
only be carried on during fine weather, when the sea was comparatively smooth. The
first summer was wholly spent in making1 twelve holes in the rock, and fastening twelve
irons in them, by which to hold fast the superstructure. " Even in summer/' Winstanley
says, " the weather would at times prove so bad that for ten or fourteen days together
the sea would be so raging about these rocks, caused by out-winds and the running of the
ground seas coming from the main ocean, that although the weather should seem and be
most calm in other places, yet here it would mount and fly more than two hundred feet,
as has been so found since there was lodgment on the place, and therefore all our works
were constantly buried at those times, and exposed to the mercy of the seas."
The second summer was spent in making a solid pillar, twelve feet high and fourteen
feet in diameter, on which to build the lighthouse. In the third year all the upper work
was erected to the vane, which was eighty feet above the foundation. In the midsummer
of that year Winstanley ventured to take up his lodging with the workmen in the light-
house ; but a storm arose, and eleven days passed before any boats could come near them.
During that period the sea washed in upon Winstanley and his companions, wetting all
their clothing and provisions, and carrying off many of their materials. By the time the
boats could land, the party were reduced almost to their last crust; but, happily, the building
stood, apparently firm. Finally, the light was exhibited on the summit of the building,
on the 14-th of November, 1098.
The fourth year was occupied in strengthening the building round the foundations,
making all solid nearly to a height of twenty feet, and also in raising the upper part of
the lighthouse forty feet, to keep it well out of the wash of the sea. This timber erection,
when finished, somewhat resembled a Chinese pagoda, with open galleries and numerous
fantastic projections. The main gallery, under the light, was so wide and open that an
old gentleman who remembered both Winstanley and his lighthouse, afterwards told
Smeaton that it was possible for a six-oared boat to be lifted up on a wave and driven clear
through the open gallery into the sea on the other side. In the perspective print of the
lighthouse, published by the architect after its erection, he complacently represented himself
as fishing out of the kitchen window !
When Winstanley had brought his work to completion, he is said to have expressed
himself so satisfied as to its strength that he only wished he might be there in the fiercest
storm that ever blew. In this wish he was not disappointed, though the result was the
reverse entirely of the builder's anticipations. In November, 1703, Winstanley went off
to the lighthouse to superintend some repairs which had become necessary, and he was still
in the place with the light-keepers, when, on the night of the 26th, a storm of unparalleled
fury burst along the coast. As day broke on the morning of the 27th, people on shore
anxiously looked in the direction of the rock to see if Winstanley's structure had withstood
the fury of the gale, but not a vestige of it remained. The lighthouse and its builder
had been swept completely away.
The building had, in fact, been deficient in every element of stability, and its
form was such as to render it peculiarly liable to damage from the violence both of
wind and water. " Nevertheless," as Smeaton generously observes, "it was no small
degree of heroic merit in Winstanley to undertake a piece of work which had before
17
DESTRUCTION OF RUDYERD'S LIGHTHOUSE.
THE SECOND EDDYSTONE.
161
been deemed impracticable, and, by the success which attended his endeavours, to show
mankind that the erection of such a work was not in itself a thing of that kind/'
He may, indeed, be said to have paved the way for the more successful enterprise of
Smeaton himself; and its failure was not without its influence in inducing that great
mechanic to exercise the care which he did, in devising a structure that should withstand
the most violent sea on the south coast. Shortly after Winstanley's lighthouse had been
swept away, the Winchelsea, a richly laden homeward-bound Virginian, was wrecked on
•\VINSTANLEY S LIGHTHOUSK.
RXJDYERD S LIGHTHOUSE.
the Eddystone Rock, and almost every soul on board perished; so that the erection of
a lighthouse upon the dangerous reef remained as much a necessity as ever.
Mr. Smiles graphically describes the coming architect of the period. He did not, how-
ever, come from the class of architects or builders, or even of mechanics; and as for the
class of engineers, it had not even yet sprung into existence. The projector of the next
lighthouse for the Eddystone was again a London mercer, who kept a silk shop on
Ludgate Hill. John Rudyerd — for such was his name — was, however, a man of unques-
tionable genius, and possessed of much force of character. He was the son of a Cornish
labourer, whom nobody would employ — his character was so bad ; and the rest of the family
were no better, being looked upon in their neighbourhood as "a worthless set of ragged
61
162 THE SEA.
beggars." John seems to have been the one sound chick in the whole brood. He had
a naturally clear head and honest heart, and succeeded in withstanding the bad example-
of his family. When his brothers went out pilfering, he refused to accompany them,
and hence they regarded him as sullen and obstinate. They ill-used him, and he ran
away. Fortunately he succeeded in getting into the service of a gentleman at Plymouth,
who saw something promising in his appearance. The boy conducted himself so well in
the capacity of a servant, that he was allowed to learn reading, writing, and accounts ; and
he proved so quick and intelligent, that his kind master eventually placed him in a situation
where his talents could have better scope for exercise than in his service, and he succeeded
in thus laying the foundation of the young man's success in life.
We are not informed of the steps by which Rudyerd marked his way upward, until we
find him called from his silk-mercer's shop to undertake the rebuilding of the Eddystone
Lighthouse. But it is probable that by this time he had become well known for his mechanical
skill in design, if not in construction, as well as for his thoroughly practical and reliable
character as a man of business; and that for these reasons, amongst others, he was selected
to conduct this difficult and responsible undertaking.
After the lapse of about three years from the destruction of Winstanley's fabric, the
Brothers of the Trinity, in 1706, obtained an Act of Parliament enabling them to rebuild
the lighthouse, with power to grant a lease to the undertaker. It was taken by one Captain
Lovet for a period of ninety-nine years, and he it was that found out and employed Rudyerd.
His design of the new structure was simple but masterly. He selected the form that
offered the least possible resistance to the force of the winds and the waves, avoiding the
open galleries and projections of his predecessor. Instead of a polygon he chose a
cone for the outline of his building, and he carried up the elevation in that form. In the
practical execution of the work he was assisted by two shipwrights from the king's yard at
Woolwich, who worked with him during the whole time he was occupied in the erection.
The main defect of the lighthouse consisted of the faultiness of the material of which it
was built ; for, like Wiustanley's, it was of wood. The means employed to fix the work to its
foundation proved quite efficient; dove-tailed holes were cut out of the rock, into which strong
iron bolts or branches were keyed, and the interstices were afterwards filled with molten
pewter. To these branches were firmly fixed a crown of squared oak balks, across these a set
of shorter balks, and so on till a basement of solid wood was raised, the whole being firmly
fitted and tied together with tre-nails and screw-bolts. At the same time, to increase the
weight and vertical pressure of the building, and thereby present a greater resistance to
any disturbing forces, Rudyerd introduced numerous courses of Cornish moorstone, as well
jointed as possible, and cramped with iron. It is not necessary to follow the details of
the construction further than to state that outside the solid timber and stone courses
strong upright timbers were fixed, and carried up as the work proceeded, binding the
whole firmly together. Within these upright timbers the rooms of the lighthouse were
formed, the floor of the lowest — the store-room — being situated twenty-seven feet above
the highest side of the rock. The upper part of the building comprehended four rooms,
one above another, chiefly formed by the upright outside timbers, scarfed — that is, the
ends overlapping, and firmly fastened together. The whole building was, indeed, an
ALONE WITH A CORPSE. 103
Admirable piece of ship-carpentry, excepting only the moorstone, which was merely intro-
duced, as it were, by way of ballast. The outer timbers were tightly caulked with
oakum, like a ship, and the whole was payed over with pitch. Upon the roof of the
main column Rudyerd fixed his lantern, which was lit by candles, seventy feet above the
highest side of the foundation, which was of a sloping form. From its lowest side to
the summit of the ball fixed on the top of the building was ninety-two feet, the timber
-column resting on a base of twenty-three feet four inches. " The whole building/' says
Srneaton, "consisted of a simple figure, being an elegant frustum of a cone, unbroken by
any projecting ornaments, or anything whereon the violence of the storm could lay hold."
The structure was completely finished in 1709, though the light was exhibited in the
lantern as early as the 28th of July, 1706.
That the building erected by Rudyerd was, on the whole, well adapted for the purpose
for which it was intended, was proved by the fact that it served as a lighthouse for ships
navigating the English Channel for nearly fifty years. The lighthouse was at first attended
by only two men. It happened, however, that one of the keepers was taken ill and died,
.and only one man remained to do the work. He signalled for assistance, but the weather
prevented any boat from reaching the rock for nearly a month. What, then, was the
surviving man to do with the dead body of his comrade ? The thought struck him that
if he threw it into the sea, he might be charged with murder. He determined, therefore,
to keep the corpse in the lighthouse until a boat should come off from the shore. At last
:a boat came off, but the weather was still so rough that a landing was only effected with
the greatest difficulty. By this time the effluvia from the corpse was overpowering ; it
filled the apartments of the lighthouse, and the men were compelled to dispose of the body
by throwing it into the sea. In future three men were always employed.
The chief defect of Rudyerd's building consisted of the material of which it was
constructed ; the necessary lights and heat proceeding from them made it a very dangerous
structure. "The immediate cause of the accident by which the lighthouse was destroyed
was never ascertained. All that became known was, that about two o'clock in the
morning of the 2nd December, 1755, the light-keeper on duty, going into the lantern to
.snuff the candles, found it full of smoke. The lighthouse was on fire! In a few minutes
the wooden fabric was in a blaze. Water could not be brought up the tower by the men
in sufficient quantities to be thrown with any effect upon the flames raging above their
heads; the molten lead fell down upon the light-keepers, into their very mouths,* and
they fled from room to room, the fire following them down towards the sea. From
Cawsand and Rame Head the unusual glare of light proceeding from the Eddystone was
seen in the early morning, and fishing-boats, with men, went off to the rock, though a
fresh east wind was blowing. By the time they reached it, the light-keepers had not
only been driven from all the rooms, but, to protect themselves from the molten lead
and red-hot bolts and falling timbers, they had been compelled to take shelter under a
ledge of the rock on its eastern side, and after considerable delay the poor fellows were
*It appears that a post-mortem examination of one of the light-keepers who died from injuries received during
the fire took place some thirteen days after its occurrence, and a flat oval piece of lead some seven ounces in weight
was taken out of his stomach, having proved the cause of his death.
1G4 THE SEA.
taken off, more dead than alive. And thus was Rudyerd's lighthouse also completely
destroyed." The Eddystone rocks being- in such an exposed place, right in the way of
so much shipping, it was resolved at once to rebuild the lighthouse.
Previous to the date of the destruction of Rudyerd's timber building, Captain Lovet,
the former lessee of the lighthouse, had died, and his interest in it had been acquired by
Mr. Robert Weston and two others. Westoii immediately applied to the Earl of Macclesfield,
President of the Royal Society, who strongly recommended John Smeaton, then away in
the north. Weston immediately wrote to him, but Smeaton, thinking apparently that it
only referred to some repairs required in the building, declined to come up, unless there
was to be some degree of permanency in his engagement. The answer he received was to
the effect that the building was no more; that it must be rebuilt; and concluded with
the words, " thou art the man to do it."
The life of Smeaton is one of the most interesting to be found among "The Lives of
the Engineers." He was born near Leeds, on the 8th of June, 1724, his father being a
respectable attorney, and he received an excellent education. " Young Smeaton," says Mr.
Smiles, "was not much given to boyish sports, early displaying a thoughtfulness beyond
his years. Most children are naturally fond of building up miniature fabrics, and perhaps
still more so of pulling them down. But the little Smeaton seemed to have a more than
ordinary love of contrivance, and that mainly for its own sake. He was never so happy
as when put in possession of any cutting tool, by which he could make his little imitations
of houses, pumps, and windmills. Even whilst a boy in petticoats, he was continually
drawing circles and squares, and the only playthings in which he seemed to take any real
pleasure were his models of things that would ' work/ When any carpenters or masons
were employed in the neighbourhood of his father's house, the inquisitive boy was sure to
be among them, watching the men, observing how they handled their tools, and frequently
asking them questions. His life-long friend, Mr. Holmes, who knew him in his youth,
has related, that having one day observed some millwrights at work, shortly after, to the
great alarm of his family, he was seen fixing something like a windmill on the top of his
father's barn. On another occasion, when watching some workmen fixing a pump in the
village, he was so lucky as to procure from them a piece of bored pipe, which he succeeded
in fashioning into a working pump that actually raised water. His odd cleverness, however,
does not seem to have been appreciated ; and it is told of him that amongst other boys he
was known as ' Fooly Smeaton/ for though forward enough in putting questions to the
workpeople, amongst boys of his own age he was remarkably shy, and, as they thought,
stupid." He made great progress at the Leeds Grammar School in geometry and arithmetic,
still carrying on his mechanical studies at home. It happened one day that some mechanics
came into the neighbourhood to erect a " fire- engine/" as the steam-engine was then called,
for pumping water from the Garforth coal mines. Smeaton watched their operations, and
thereupon commenced the erection of a miniature engine at home, provided with pumps and
other apparatus, which he succeeded in getting to work before the colliery engine was
ready. He immediately set it to work on one of his father's fish-ponds, which he succeeded
in pumping completely dry, killing all the fish, much to his father's annoyance. By the
time he had arrived at his fifteenth year, he had contrived to make a turning-lathe, on
SMEATON'S LIGHTHOUSE. 165
which he turned wood and ivory, making little presents of boxes and other articles for his
friends. His father had destined young Smeaton for the law, but at last consented to his
son's wish to become a mathematical instrument maker. The son came to London, and
was soon enabled to earn enough for his own maintenance. He did not, however, live a
mere workman's life, but frequented the society of educated men, and was a regular attendant
at the meetings of the Royal Society. We find him at the age of twenty-six reading
papers before that most learned society. He had already attempted improvements in the
mariner's compass ; had invented a machine for measuring the amount of " way " on a ship
at sea; and designed improvements in the air-pump, in ships' tackle, and in water and
wind-mills. He had already acquired an honourable reputation as a scientific engineer when
the question of rebuilding the Eddystone Lighthouse arose.
This afforded Smeaton a grand opening for advancement, and as soon as some
preliminaries were arranged, he came to town, where he studied the subject ia its entirety.
He soon came to the conclusion that stone was the only material to employ in the
construction of a lighthouse, contrary to the opinion of the Brethren of the Trinity House,
who had faith in wood, and that only. He also devised a system of dovetailing, then
scarcely known in masonry, though common enough in carpentry. All these investigations
were made before Smeaton had even paid a visit to the exposed site on which the lighthouse
was to be built. It was not till March, 1756, that he set out from London to Plymouth,
a journey which occupied him six days, on account of the badness of the roads. At
Plymouth he met Josias Jessop, to whom he had been referred for information as to the
previous lighthouse. Jessop was then a foreman of shipwrights in the dockyard, and a
first-class draughtsman, full of ingenuity and mechanical knowledge. Smeaton was very
anxious to go out to the rocks at once ; but the sea was so heavy that no opportunity
occurred till the 2nd of April, when they were able to reach them. The sea was breaking
over the landing-place with such violence that there was no possibility of landing. All that
the enthusiastic engineer could do was to view the cone of bare rock — the mere crest of
the mountain whose base was laid so far in the sea-deeps beneath. Three days later another
voyage was made, and he was enabled to land on the site of his future triumph. He
stayed there more than two hours, when he was compelled by the roughness of the sea
to leave the rock. Several subsequent trials were unsuccessful. On the 22nd of the
same month, after a lapse of seventeen days, Smeaton was able to effect his second
landing at low water. After a further inspection, the party retreated to their sloop, which
lay off until the tide had fallen, when Smeaton again landed, and the night being perfectly
still, he says, " I went on with my business till nine in the evening, having worked an
hour by candlelight." The following day he again landed, and pursued his operations
until interrupted by the ground-swell, which sent the surf and waves high upon the reef,
and the wind rising, the sloop was forced to put for Plymouth. This is, as we shall see,
but a sample of the difficulties attending the actual construction of the tower. Lord
Ellesmere said of him that " bloody battles had been won, and campaigns conducted to a
successful issue, with less of personal exposure to physical danger on the part of the
commander-in-chief, than was constantly encountered by Smeaton during the greater
part of those years in which the lighthouse was in course of erection. In all works of
1C6 THE SEA.
danger he himself led the way — was the first to spring- upon the rock and the last to leave
it; and by his own example he inspired with courage the humble workmen engaged in
carrying out his plans; who, like himself, were unaccustomed to the special terrors of
the scene. "*
On his return to town, after several other visits, when he arranged for the formation
of a better landing-place, he made his report to the proprietors, and was fully authorised
to proceed with the design. He accordingly proceeded to make a careful model of the
lighthouse as he intended it to be built. This having been approved by the proprietors and
by the Lords of the Admiralty, the engineer set out for Plymouth, arranging at Dorchester,
on his way, for a supply of Portland stone, of which it was finally determined that the
lighthouse should be mainly constructed. Artificers and foremen were engaged ; vessels
provided for the transport of men and material, and Mr. Jessop was appointed general
assistant, or as it is now termed, Resident Engineer. Mr. Smeaton fixed the centre, and
laid down the lines on the afternoon of the 3rd of August, 1756, and from that time the
work proceeded, though with many interruptions from bad weather and heavy seas. At
best, six hours' work was all that could be performed at one time, and when it was possible
the men worked by torchlight. One principal object of the first season was to get the
dovetail recesses cut out of the rock for the reception of the foundation-stones. The
Neptune buss was employed as a store-ship, and rode at anchor a convenient distance from
the rock in about twenty fathoms of water. For many days the men could not land from
her, and even had they been able to do so, must have been washed off the rock, unless lashed
to it. At such times the provisions ran short, no boat being able to come off from
Plymouth. Towards the end of October, the yawl riding at the stern of the buss broke
loose by stress of weather and was lost. Smeaton was very anxious to finish the boring
of the foundation -holes during that season, and the men still persevered when the
weather gave the slightest chance, although sometimes only able to labour two hours out of
the twenty-four.
On the completion of the work at the end of November, the party prepared to return te
the yard on shore. The voyage proved most dangerous. Not being able, in consequence
of the gale that was blowing, to make Plymouth Harbour, the Neptune was steered for
Fowey, on the coast of Cornwall. The wind rose higher and higher, until it blew quite
a storm ; and in the night, Mr. Smeaton, hearing a sudden alarm and clamour amongst
the crew overhead, ran upon deck in his shirt to ascertain the cause. It was raining hard,
and quite a hurricane was raging. " It being dark/' he says, " the first thing I saw was
the horrible appearance of breakers almost surrounding us ; John Bowden, one of the
seamen, crying out, ' For God's sake, heave hard at that rope if you mean to save your lives ! '
I immediately laid hold of the rope at which he himself was hauling as well as the other
seamen, though he was also managing the helm. I not only hauled with all my strength,
but called to and encouraged the workmen to do the same thing." Their sails were carried
away or torn to ribbons, while the sea could be heard beating on the rocks, though
nothing of the coast could be seen. Fortunately the vessel obeyed her helm, and
they put to sea again. At daybreak they found themselves out of sight of land, and
* " Essays on Engineering."
SMEATON'S WORK. 167
driving for the Bay of Biscay. Wearing- ship, they stood once more for the coast, and
before night sighted the Land's End. Finally, after having been blown to sea for four
days, they came to anchor in Plymouth Sound, much to their own joy and that of their
friends.
"Winter was very fully occupied in dressing stones at the yards ashore for next season's
work. Mr. Smeaton himself laid all the lines on the workshop floor in chalk, in order to
insure the greatest possible accuracy in fitting. Nearly 450 tons of stone were thus
dressed by the time the weather was sufficiently favourable to continue operations on the
rock. During one of his visits to the quarries, a severe storm of thunder and lightning
occurred, by which the spire of Lostwithiel Church was shattered, and this turned his
attention to the necessity of protecting his lighthouse in some way from the similar danger
to which it would be exposed. Franklin had just before published his mode of protecting
tall buildings by conductors, and Smeaton decided to adopt his plan. The work of building
fairly commenced in the summer of 1757, the first stone, of two and a quarter tons weight,
being in its place on the morning of Sunday, the 12th of June. By the evening of the
following day the first course of four stones was laid, these being all required from the
sloping nature of the Eddystone Rock. The actual diameter of the tower itself kept increasing
until it reached the upper level of the rock. Thus the second course consisted of thirteen
pieces, the third of twenty-five, and so on. The workmen were sometimes interrupted
by ground-swells and heavy seas, which kept them off the rock for days together, but,
at length, on the sixth course being laid, it was found that the building had been raised
above the average wash of the sea, and thenceforward the progress of the work was much
more rapid. The stones, when brought off from the vessels, were all landed in their
proper order, and everything was done to facilitate the rapid progress of the work.
Smeaton superintended the construction of nearly the whole building, and was ever
foremost in the post of danger. Whilst working at the rock on one occasion, an accident
occurred which might well have proved more serious in its results. " The men were about
to lay the centre stone of the seventh course, on the evening of the llth of August, when
Mr. Smeaton was enjoying the limited promenade afforded by the level platform of stone
which had, with so much difficulty, been raised; but, making a false step into one of the
cavities made for the joggles, and being unable to recover his balance, he fell from the brink
of the work clown among the rocks on the west side. The tide being low at the time,
he speedily got upon his feet, and at first supposed himself little hurt, but shortly after
he found that one of his thumbs had been put out of joint. He reflected that he was
fourteen miles from land, far from a surgeon, and that uncertain winds and waves lay
between. He therefore determined to reduce the dislocation at once ; and, laying fast
hold of the thumb with his other hand, and giving it a violent pull, it snapped into its
place again, after which he proceeded to fix the centre stone of the building." The work
now proceeded steadily, occasional damage being done by the heavy seas washing- over the
stones, tools, and materials.
The following winter was very tempestuous, and the floating light-ship, stationed
about two miles from the rock, was driven from its moorings, though it eventually reached
harbour in safety. It was the 12th of May before Smeaton, anxious to see how his tower
THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.
SMEATON'S LTGHTHOUSE COMPLETED. 169
had stood the winter storms,, could land on the rock. He was delighted to find that the
entire work remained intact, as he had left it. At the end of this season, the
twenty-ninth course of stones had been laid, and the apartments of the lighthouse-keepers
commenced. While living- at Plymouth, Smeaton used to come out upon the Hoe* with
his telescope and, from the spot where the Spanish Armada was first descried making for
the English coast, peer out towards the rocks on one of which his lighthouse stood.
"There were still many who persisted in asserting that no building erected of stone could
possibly stand upon the Eddystone; and again and again the engineer, in the dim grey
of the morning, would come out and peer through his telescope at his deep-sea lamp-post.
Sometimes he had to wait long, until he could see a tall white pillar of spray shoot up
into the air. Thank God ! it was still safe. Then, as the light grew, he could discern
his building, temporary house and all, standing firm amidst the waters ; and, thus far
satisfied, he could proceed to his workshops, his mind relieved for the day."
The winter following the third season was spent by Smeaton in London, where he made
the designs for the cast and wrotight iron and copper works of the lantern, the glass, and
rails of the balcony, which were carried out under his own eye. The ensuing season
proved so stormy that it was the 5th of July before a landing could again be made on
the rock, but from this point the work proceeded with such rapidity that in thirteen days
two entire rooms were erected, and by the l7th of August the last pieces of the corona were
set, and the forty-sixth and last course of masonry laid, bringing the tower to its specified
height of seventy feet. "The last mason's work done was the cutting out of the words
' Laus Deo ' upon the last stone set over the door of the lantern. Round the upper store-room
upon the course under the ceiling, had been cut, at an earlier period, ' Except the Lord build
the house, they labour in vain that build it.' The iron-work of the balcony and the lantern
were next erected, and, over all, the gilt ball, the screws of which Smeaton fixed with
his own hands, 'that in case/ he says, 'any of them had not held quite tight and firm,
the circumstance might not have been slipped over without my knowledge/ Moreover, this
piece of work was dangerous as well as delicate, being performed at a height of some
hundred and twenty feet above the sea. Smeaton fixed the screws while standing on four
boards nailed together, resting on -the cupola; his assistant, Roger Cornthwaite, placing
himself on the opposite side, so as to balance his weight whilst he proceeded with the
operation. Smeaton worked with the men in fitting the lantern and interior arrangements.
The light was first exhibited on the night of the 16th of October, 1759. About three years
after its completion, one of the most terrible storms ever known raged for days along
the south-west coast; and though incalculable ruin was inflicted upon harbours and
shipping by the hurricane, all the damage done to the lighthouse was repaired by a little
gallipot of putty."
Whatever may be the truth regarding the foundations of the Eddystone, the old
lighthouse has done good work for considerably over a century. Sometimes when the sea
rolls in with more than usual fury the lighthouse is enveloped in spray, and when struck
by a strong wave, the central portion shoots up the perpendicular shaft and leaps quite over
* The Hoe is an elevated promenade, forming the sea-front of Plymouth, and overlooking the Sound.
170
THE SEA.
the lantern, but soon its brilliant light shines forth again, a warning and a guide to the
mariner. When a wave hurls itself upon the lighthouse, the report of the shock is like
a cannon, and a tremor passes through the building. At first the lighthouse-keepers were
afraid for their lives. The year after the completion of the tower, a terrible storm raged,
the sea dashing over the lighthouse so that those inside dare not open the lantern door,
nor any other, for even an instant. A man who visited the rock after some similar
storm wrote to Mr. Jessop, " The house did shake as if a man had been up in a great tree.
PORTRAIT OF SMEATON.
The old men were almost frightened out of their lives, wishing they had never seen the
place, and cursing those that first persuaded them to go there. The fear seized them
in the back, but rubbing them with oil of turpentine gave them relief/' The men, however,,
soon became used to the life ; and Smeaton mentions the case of one of them who was
even accustomed to give up to his companions his turn for going on shore.
"Many a heart/' says Mr. Smiles, "has leapt with gladness at the cry of 'The Eddystorie
in sight ! ' sung out from the maintop. Homeward-bound ships, from far-off ports, no
longer avoid the dreaded rock, but eagerly run for its light as the harbinger of safety. It-
might even seem as if Providence had placed the reef so far out at sea as the foundation
for a beacon such as this, leaving it to man's skill and labour to finish His work. On
entering the English Channel from the west and the south^ the cautious navigator feels
THE CHANNEL LIGHTS.
17]
his way by early soundings on the great bank which extends from the Channel into the
Atlantic, and these are repeated at fixed intervals until land is in sight. Every fathom
nearer shore increases a ship's risks, especially on dark nights. The men are on the look-
out, peering anxiously into the dark, straining the eye to catch the glimmer of a light, and
INTERIOR OF THE LIGHT-CHAMBER OF THE EDDYSTONE.
when it is known that 'the Eddystone is in sight!' a thrill runs through the ship, which
can only be appreciated by those who have felt or witnessed it after long months of
weary voyaging.
" By means of similar lights, of different arrangements and of various colours, fixed and
revolving, erected upon rocks, islands, and headlands, the British Channel is now lit up
along its whole extent, and is as safe to navigate in the darkest night as in the brightest
172 THE SEA.
sunshine. The chief danger is from fogs which alike hide the lights by night and the land
by day. Some of the homeward-bound ships entering the Channel from North American
ports first make the St. Agnes Light, on the Scilly Isles, revolving once a minute, at a
height of 138 feet above high water. But most Atlantic ships keep further south in
consequence of the nature of the soundings about the Scilly Isles ; and hence they of tener
make the Lizard Lights first, which are visible about twenty miles off.
" From this point the coast retires, and in the bend lie Falmouth (with a revolving
light on St. Anthony's Point), Fowey, the Looes, and Plymouth Sound and Harbour; the
coast line again trending southward until it juts out into the sea, in the bold craggy bluffs
of Bolt Head and Start Point, on the last of which is another house with two lights —
one, revolving, for the Channel, and another, fixed, to direct vessels inshore clear of the
Skerries Shoal. But between the Lizard and Start Point, which form the two extremities
of this bend in the land of Cornwall and Devonshire, there lies the Eddystone Rock and
Lighthouse, standing fourteen miles out from the shore, almost directly in front of Plymouth
Sound and in the line of coasting vessels steaming or beating up Channel.
" On the south are seen the three Croquet Lights on the Jersey side ; and on the north
the two fixed lights on Portland Bill. The west is St. Catherine's, a brilliant fixed light
on the extreme south point of the Isle of Wight. Next are the lights exhibited on the
Nab, and then the single fixed light exhibited on the Ower vessel Beachy Head, on the
same line, exhibits a powerful revolving light 285 feet above high water, its interval of
greatest brilliancy occurring every two minutes. Then comes Dungeness, exhibiting
a fixed red light of great power, situated at the extremity of the low point of Dungeness
beach. Next are seen Folkestone, and then' Dover Harbour Lights, whilst on the south
are the flash light, recently stationed on the Verne Bank ; and further up Channel, on the
French coast, is seen the brilliant revolving light on Cape Grisnez. The Channel is passed
with the two South Foreland Lights, one higher than the other, on the left; and the
Downs are entered with the South Sandhead floating light on the right; and when the
Gull and the North Sandhead floating lights have been passed on the one hand, and North
Foreland on the other, then the Tongue, the Prince's Channel, and the Girdler are passed."
The Nore Light passed, the navigation of the Thames commences.
CHAPTER XL
THE LIGHTHOUSE (continued}.
The Bell Rock— The good Abbot of Arberbrothok— Ralph the Rover— Rennie's grand Lighthouse— Perils of the Work—
Thirty-two Men apparently doomed to Destruction— A New Form of Outward Construction -Its successful Com-
pletion—The Skerryvore Lighthouse and Alan Stevenson— Novel Barracks on the Rock-Swept Away in a Storm— The
Unshapely Seal and Unfortunate Cod— Half -starved Workmen -Out of Tobacco— Difficulties of Landing the Stones-
Visit of M. de Quatrefages to H^haux— Description of the Lighthouse Exterior— How it Rocks— Practice versus Theory
—The Interior— A Parisian Apartment at Sea.
SOME eleven miles eastward from the mainland of Scotland, near the entrances to the
Firths of Forth and Tay, lies an extensive ledge of very dangerous rocks, nearly two
miles in length. This sunken reef was a source of much peril to the unfortunate sailors
THE BELL ROCK. 173
driven too near its nearly hidden dangers, and early in the fourteenth century the Abbot of
Arbroath, or Arberbrothok, caused a bell to be placed upon the principal rock, so that —
' ' When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell,
The mariners heard the warning bell ;
And then they knew the perilous Rock,
And blessed the Abbot of Arberbrothok."
Southey has, in his ballad of "The Inchcape Rock/' immortalised the tradition* that a
notorious pirate cut the bell from the rock —
" Down sank the bell with a gurgling sound,
The bubbles arose and burst around;
Quoth Sir Ralph, ' The next who comes to the Rock,
Won't bless the Abbot of Arberbrothok."
And so the rover sailed away, and grew rich with plundered store, till at length he thought
of Scotland once again, and turned his vessel's head for home. He approached her coasts
in haze and fog, and knew he could not be far from the rocky shore.
' ' They hear no sound, the swell is strong ;
Though the wind hath fallen they drift along,
Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock, —
' Oh, Christ ! it is the Inchcape Rock ! '
" Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair ;
He curst himself in his despair;
The waves rush in on every side,
The ship is sinking beneath the tide."
Nothing was done to replace the bell or set a beacon on the reef until the beginning of the
present century, when, after many plans had been discussed, John Rennie was ordered by the
Board of Commissioners to examine the site and report on the subject generally. He
recommended a substantial stone lighthouse, similar to that on the Eddy stone. Although the
Inchcape Rock was not so long uncovered by the tide as the former, after a few courses had
been laid, there would be no greater delay in completing the building. The Commissioners
obtained from Parliament the requisite powers in 1806; Rennie was appointed engineer,
with Robert Stevenson as assistant engineer.
The whole of the year 1807 was occupied in constructing the necessary vessels for
conveying the stones, and in erecting suitable machinery and building shops at Arbroath,
which was fixed upon as the most convenient point on the coast for carrying on the
land operations. Some progress was made on the rock itself, where a smith's forge was
erected and a temporary beacon raised, while a floating light, fitted up on an old fishing-
boat, was anchored near the reef until the lighthouse could be completed. During the short
* The following is the tradition from an ancient source : — " By the east of the Isle of May, twelve miles
from all land in the German Sea, lyes a great hidden rock, called Inchcape, very dangerous to the navigators,
because it is overflowed every tide. It is reported that, in old times, there was upon the said rock a bell,
fixed upon a tree or timber, which rang continually, being moved by the sea, giving notice to the saylors of
the danger. This bell or clockc was put there by the Abbot of Arberbrothok, and being taken down by a
sea-pirate, a year thereafter he perished upon the same rock, with ship and goodes, by the righteous judgment
of God." (Stoddart's " Remarks on Scotland."}
174- THE SEA.
-period in which the rocks were uncovered or imexposed to the fury of the waves, some
progress was made with the excavations for the foundations. The dangerous nature of
the employment may bo illustrated by the following brief account of an accident which
happened to the workmen on the 2nd of September, before the excavation for the first
course of stones had been completed. An additional number of masons had that morning
come off from Arbroath in the tender named the Smeaton, in honour of the engineer of the
Eddystone, and had landed them safely on the rock. The vessel rode off at some distance.
The wind rising, the men began to be uneasy as to the security of the Smeatou's cables,
and a party went off in a boat to examine whether she was secure, but before they could reach
the vessel's side they found she had already gone adrift, leaving the greater part of the men
upon the reef in the face of a rising tide.
By the time the Sweatou's crew had got her mainsail set, and made a tack towards
their companions, she had drifted about three miles to leeward, with both wind and tide
against her, and it was clear that she could not possibly make the rock until long after it
had been completely covered. There were thirty-two men in all on the rock, provided
with but two boats, capable of carrying only twenty-four persons in fine weather.
Mr. Stevenson seems to have behaved with great coolness and presence of mind ; though
he afterwards confessed that of the two feelings of hope and despair the latter largely
predominated. Fully persuaded of the perils of the situation, he kept his fears to himself,
arid allowed the men to continue their occupations of boring and. excavating.
" After working for about three hours, the water began to rise along the lower parts
of the foundations, and the men were compelled to desist. The forge-fire became ex-
tinguished; the smith ceased from hammering at the anvil, and the masons from hewing
and boring; and when they took up their tools to depart, and looked around, their
vessel was not to be seen, and the third of their boats had gone after the Sweaton,
which was drifting away in the distance ! Not a word was uttered, but the danger
of their position was comprehended by all. They looked towards their master in silence ;
but the anxiety which had been growing in his mind for some time had now become so
intense that he was speechless. When he attempted to speak, he was so parched that his
tongue refused utterance. Turning to one of the pools on the rock, he lapped a little
water, which gave him relief, though it was salt; but what was his happiness when, on
raising his head, some one called out, ' A boat ! a boat ! ' and sure enough a large boat was
seen through the surge making for them. She proved to be the Bell Rock pilot-boat, which
had come off from Arbroath with letters, and her timely arrival doubtless saved the lives
of the greater part of the workmen. They were all taken off and landed in safety, though
completely drenched and exhausted."
Rennie, accompanied by one of his sons, visited the rock on the 5th of October, 1807,
the day before the works were suspended for the winter. They came off from Arbroath,
and stayed on board the lighthouse-yacht all night, where Stevenson met him, and has
recorded the delightful conversations held on general and professional matters. On the
following morning Rennie landed, amidst great eclat and a display of all the available
colours, to inspect the progress made. The whole party, workmen and all, returned to shore
for the season that dav.
THE SKERRY VORE LIGHT. 175
The preparation of the stone blocks occupied next winter, and by the spring:
large numbers were ready and were floated off. In May, 1808, the excavations on the
rock were continued, and on the 10th of July the first stone was laid with considerable
ceremony. By the last week of November three courses of masonry had been laid. By the end
of 1809 the tower had been built to a height of thirty feet, and was almost secure from the
fury of the waves. " In his report to the commissioners he stated that he found that the
form of slope which he had adopted for the base of the tower, as well as the curve of the
building1, fully answered his expectations — that they presented comparatively small obstructions
to the roll of the waves, which played round the column with ease/' The curve of this
tower at the base is much greater than that of the Eddystone. The Bell Rock Lighthouse
was completed by the end of 1810, and the light was regularly exhibited after the 1st of
February, 1811. Counting to the top of the lantern, it is 127 feet high. It may here
be remarked that in many works the credit of designing and building this lighthouse has
been given to Robert Stevenson, the resident engineer. Rennie, however, has the only
rightful claim to be so considered ; he acted throughout as chief engineer, furnished the
design down to the pettiest details, settled the kind of stone and other materials to be used,
down even to the mortar and mode of mixing it.
Another work of great labour and difficulty was the erection of a lighthouse on the
Skerry vore Rocks, which lie twelve miles W.S.W. of the Isle of Tyree in Argyllshire, and
were formerly the scene of numerous wrecks. The operations were commenced in 1838,
the architect being Alan Stevenson, son of the Robert Stevenson who was employed on
the Bell Rock Lighthouse. The engineer gave the world a succinct account* of the
difficulties, dangers, and successful issue of the undertaking.
The actual construction of the lighthouse had no very remarkable points of difference
with the works of Smeaton or Rennie. Stevenson built a rather novel structure on the
rock as a temporary barrack for the workmen. It consisted of a wooden tower perched
upon a triangular framework, under which was an open gallery, the floor of which was
removed at the end of each season, so as to allow free space for the passage of the sea
during the storms of winter, but on which, during summer, they kept the stock of coals,
the tool-chest, the beef and beer casks, and other smaller material, which they could not,
even at that season of the year, leave on the rock itself. Next came the kitchen and
provision-store, a six-sided apartment about twelve feet in diameter, and somewhat more
than seven feet high, in which small space — curtailed as it was by the seven beams which
passed through it — stood a caboose, capable of cooking for forty men, and various cupboards
and lockers lined with tin, for holding biscuits, meal and flour, &c. The next storey held
two apartments : one for Mr. Stevenson, in which he' had his hammock, desk, chair and
table, books and instruments. The top storey was surmounted by a pyramidal roof, and
v/as lined with four tiers of berths, capable of accommodating thirty people. The frame-
work was erected on a part of the rock as far removed as possible from the proposed foundation
of the lighthouse tower ; but in a great gale which occurred on the 3rd of November it was
entirely destroyed and swept from the rock, nothing remaining to point out its site font a
* "Account of the Skcrryvore Lighthouse, with Notes on the Illumination of Lighthouses," by Alan Stevenson.
176
THE SEA.
few broken and twisted iron stanchions, and attached to one of them a piece of a beam, so
shaken and rent by dashing against the rock as literally to resemble a bunch of laths.
Thus did one night obliterate the traces of a season's toil, and blast the hopes which the
workmen fondly cherished of a stable dwelling on the rock, and of refuge from the miseries
of sea-sickness, which the experience of the season had taught many of them to dread more
than death itself. A more successful attempt was subsequently made, and the second
erection braved the storm for several years after the works were finished. " Perched forty
feet above the wave-beaten rock/' says Stevenson, "in this singular abode, the writer of
LIGHTHOUSE OX THE INCHOATE ROCK.
this little volume* has spent many a weary day and night at those times when the sea
prevented any one going down to the rock, anxiously looking for supplies from the shore,
and earnestly longing for a change of weather favourable to the re-commencement of the
works. For miles around nothing could be seen but white foaming breakers, and nothing
heard but howling winds and lashing seas. At such seasons most of our time was spent
in bed ; for there alone we had effectual shelter from the winds and the spray, which
searched every cranny in the walls of the barrack. Our slumbers, too, were at times fearfully
interrupted by the sudden pouring of the sea over the roof, the rocking of the house on
its pillars, and the spirting of water through the seams of the doors and windows : symptoms
which, to one suddenly aroused from sound sleep, recalled the appalling fate of the former
barrack, which had been engulfed in the foam not twenty yards from our dwelling, and
for a moment seemed to summon us to a similar fate. On two occasions, in particular,
" A Rudimentary Treatise on the History, Construction, and Illumination of Lighthouses." (Weale's Series.)
LIFE ON THE SKERRYVORE. 177
those sensations were so vivid as to cause almost every one to spring out of bed; and
some of the men flew from the barrack by a temporary gangway to the more stable but
less comfortable shelter afforded by the bare wall of the lighthouse tower, then unfinished,
where they spent the remainder of the night in the darkness and the cold."
Yet life on the Skerryvore was by no means destitute of its peculiar pleasures. The
grandeur of the ocean's rage, the deep murmur of the waves, the hoarse cry of the sea-
birds, were varied by peaceful hours, when the sea was glassy and the deep blue vault of
heaven was studded with a thousand stars. " Among the many wonders of the e great
deep,'" says Stevenson, "which we witnessed at the Skerryvore, not the least is the agility
and power displayed by the unshapely seal. I have often seen half a dozen of these animals
round the rock, playing on the surface or riding on the crests of curling waves, come so
close as to permit us to see their eyes and head, and lead us to expect that they would be
thrown high and dry at the foot of the tower ; when suddenly they performed a somersault
within a few feet of the rock, and diving into the flaky and wreathing foam, disappeared,
and as suddenly re-appeared a hundred yards off, uttering a strange low cry.
On one occasion the tender could not come off to the poor people on the rock for seven
weeks. The seamen passed a most dreary time. Their provisions and fuel were short;
their clothes were worn to rags ; and, what was to them of more importance still, they ivere out
of tobacco !
One of the great difficulties experienced was landing the stones on the rock from
the lighters, which, towed out by a steamer, were cast off as near the landing-place as
possible and then towed in by boats. The landing service throughout the whole progress
of the works was one of danger and anxiety, and many narrow escapes were made. On
many occasions the men who steered the lighters ran great risks, and it was often found
necessary to lash them to the rails, to prevent them being thrown overboard by the sudden
bounds of the vessels, or being carried away by the weight of water which swept their
decks as they were towed through a heavy sea. Sometimes they were forced, owing to
the heavy seas which threatened to throw the vessels on the top of the rock, to draw out
the lighters from the wharf without landing a single stone, after they had been towed
through a stormy passage of thirteen miles. One day, during the very best part of the
season, so sudden were the jerks of the vessel before the sea, that eight large warps, or cables,
were snapped like threads, and the lighter was carried violently before a crested wave which
rolled unexpectedly upon her. Those who stood on deck were thrown flat on their faces, and
imagined that the vessel had been laid high and dry on the top of the rock. Yet, in spite
of the short season and great difficulties of the work, no less than 120 lighters were
towed out and discharged in the summer and autumn of 1841. During the progress of
building the lighthouse, cranes and other materials were swept away by the waves, and
daily risks were run in blasting the splintery gneiss, or by the falling of heavy bodies
from the tower on the narrow space below, to which so many persons were necessarily
confined. Yet no loss of life or limb occurred ; and " our remarkable preservation was
viewed/' says Stevenson, "as in a peculiar manner the gracious work of Him by whom
' the very hairs of our head are all numbered/ '•
The light was first exhibited on the 1st of February, 1844. It is a revolving apparatus,
63
178
THE SEA.
and the light appears at its brightest state once in every minute. The lantern is no less
than 150 feet above the sea, and its flashes may be seen from the deck of a vessel eighteen
miles off. It is frequently seen from the high land of Barra, distant thirty-eight miles.
The mass of stonework is double that of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, and five times that of
THE SKEHRYVOKE LIGHTHOUSE.
the Eddystone; it measures 58,580 cubic feet. The Skerryvore Light-tower was erected
at a cost of £86,977 17s. 7d.
The eminent French naturalist, M. de Quatrefages, has given us an admirable description*
of a visit paid by him to the lighthouse of Hehaux, on a rock near the Isles of Brehat,
* Vide " The Rambles of a Naturalist on the Coasts of France, Spain, and Sicily."
A FRENCH LIGHTHOUSE. 179
off the coast of Brittany. He says, after some very beautiful remarks on the contemplation
of nature, and its alleviation of the worst heart-sorrows : " Twilight often surprised me
in the midst of my reveries, and often, too, the shades of night fell around me while I lay
stretched beneath the star-bespangled deep azure canopy of heaven. I could then see
another star shining in the far distance, which had been lighted by the hand of man.
From the position I had chosen I could recognise the beacon-towers of Hehaux, of which
the seamen of the islands had spoken to me with the liveliest expressions of enthusiasm,
and which I had frequently watched by day as it stood out like a black line drawn along
the whitish background of the sky. I would not leave Brehat without visiting it. A
few slight services had secured me the good-will of the officers of customs, who willingly
consented to take me to Hehaux. Accordingly, one splendid day in October we left the
harbour of La Corderie in a pinnace, manned by six sturdy seamen. The weather was
splendid; not a cloud obscured the sky, which was reflected on the mirror-like surface of
the ocean, whose depths it seemed to double. Impelled by the combined action of a light
wind, which swelled out two small square sails, and of the rapid current imparted to- the
waters of Kerpont by the force of the tide, our pinnace shot across the waves as a sledge
glides over the snow. Sometimes, indeed, we passed through a whirling eddy, which
shook every part of our frail craft, and betrayed the vicinity of some submarine rock; but
we soon regained the unruffled sea, and without having taken cognisance of the rapid rate
at which we were moving, we saw Brehat sink below the distant horizon behind us, whilst
rock after rock and islet after islet seemed at every moment to emerge from the waves
towards which we were advancing. . . . The nearer we drew to Hehaux the taller
seemed the beacon-tower, which stood forth from the tower, with its lofty granite column
and glass lantern, protected by that magical rod which is able to attract and safely conduct
to earth the destructive force of the thunderbolt. We landed, and at once began our
inspection of this colossal block, which has been upreared by the hand of man on the
Epees ele Treguier, which, once the dread of the seaman, have become his protecting
guides through the storms and darkness of night.
" The Hehaux Lighthouse would be regarded as a most remarkable monument even
in our principal towns, but standing, as it does, alone in the midst of the ocean, it acquires
by its very isolation a character of severe grandeur, which impresses the mind most power-
fully. Figure to yourself a wall of granite, where the current and the storm do not even
permit the hardiest ferns to take root, with here and there a twisted and deeply wave-
worn mass projecting beyond the rest of the rocky ledge. It is here that the architect
has laid the foundation of the tower. The base, which is of a conical form, is surmounted
by a circular gallery. The lower portion curves gracefully outwards, spreading over the
ground like the root of some colossal marine plant springing up from the foundation
stones, which kave been inserted far within the rock. On this -base, which measures
about twenty yards across, rises a column twenty-six feet in diameter, surmounted by a
second gallery, whose supports and stone balustrades call to mind the portcullis and battle-
ments of some feudal donjon. From the summit to the base this part of the edifice is
composed of large blocks of whitish granite, arranged in regular strata, and carefully dove-
tailed into one another. As far as a third of the height of the building1 the rows of stones
180 THE SEA.
are bound toother by granite joggles, which at the same time penetrate into the two
superposed stones. The stones have been cut and arranged with such precision that
there has been hardly any reason for using cement, which has only been employed in
filling up a few imperceptible voids : and hence the lighthouse, from the base to the
summit, seems to form one solid block, which is more homogeneous and probably more
compact than t^e rocks which support it. The platform which crowns this magnificent
column, at an elevation of more than 140 feet above high tide watermark, is surmounted
by a stone cupola, at once solid and graceful, supported by pillars which are separated by
large panes of glass. It is within this frame of glass that the beacon is lighted, which
may be distinctly seen from every direction at a distance of twenty-seven miles.
" At low tide the sea leaves a space of several hundred square yards uncovered round
the base of the edifice; at high tide it entirely surrounds it. It is then that the tower
of Hehaux rises in its solemn isolation from the midst of the waves, as if it were a
standard of defiance upraised by the genius of man against the demon of the tempest.
At times one might almost fancy that the heavens and the sea, conscious of the outrage
offered to them, were leagued together against the enemy, which seems to brave them by
its imperturbability. The north-west wind roars round the tower, darkening its thick glass
windows with torrents of rain and drifts of snow and hail. These impetuous blasts bear
along with them from the far-spread ocean colossal waves, whose crests not unfrequently
reach the first gallery, but these fluid masses slide away from the round and polished
surfaces of the granite, which leave them no points of adhesion, and darting their long
lines of foam above the cupola, they break with thundering roar against the rocks of
Stallio-Bras or the boulders of Sillon. The tower supports these terrific assaults without
injury, although it bends, as if in homage, before the might of its foes. I was assured
by the keepers that during a violent storm the oil in the lamps of the highest rooms
presents a variation of level exceeding an inch, which would lead us to assume that the
summit of the tower describes an arc of about a yard in extent. This very flexibility
seems, however, in itself a proof of durability. At all events, we meet with similar
conditions in several monuments, which for ages have braved the inclemency of recurring
seasons. The spire of Strasburg Cathedral, in particular, bends its long ogives and
slender pinnacles beneath the force of the winds, while the cross on its summit oscillates
at an elevation of more than 450 feet above the ground.
" To construct a monument on these rocks, which seemed the veiy focus of all the
storms which raged on that part of our coasts, was like building an edifice in the open
sea. Such a project must, indeed, have appeared at first sight almost impracticable. After
their third season of labour, the workmen completed the foundations of the tower and
fixed the key-stone of the cupola. In vain did difficulties of every kind combine with
the winds and waves to oppose the work; human industry has come forth victorious from
the struggle, and although a thousand difficulties and dangers beset the labourers, no
serious accident to them or their work troubled the joy of their triumph. Only on one
occasion was science at fault. In order to facilitate the arrival of the stones, which had
to be brought from a distance of several leagues, and cut at Brehat, the skilful engineer
who had furnished all the plans and superintended their execution wished to construct
INTERIOR OF A FRENCH LIGHTHOUSE. 181
a wooden pier for the disembarkation of the stones at the spot where they were required.
Several of the older seamen objected to the plan as impracticable, but M. Reynaud, who
was not familiar with the sea, and who, moreover, was proud of having stemmed the
current of rapid rivers, trusted to the stability of his massive piles, clamped together
with iron and bronze. But he was soon compelled to admit his mistake. The first
storm sufficed to scatter over the waters the whole of these ponderous and solid materials
like so many pieces of straw. So a crane was attached to the summit of a rock, to which
boats could be moored, and the materials for building were then drawn up to a railway
which had been thrown over the precipice that separated this natural landing-place from
the site of the tower.
"Now that we have admired the exterior of the lighthouse, follow me into the
interior by the help of these steps, which have been formed by the insertion of bars
of copper into the stone. Let us pause for a moment to admire the ponderous bronze
doors which hermetically seal the entrance, before we plunge into those vaults which look
as if they had been cut out of the solid rock. We are in the first storey, surrounded
by stores of wood and ropes and workmen's tools. Above, we perceive cases of zinc,
which, we are told, contain oil to feed the lamps and water for the use of the men
employed in the building. In the third storey is the kitchen, with its pantry and larder,
on a level with the first gallery. We need not enter the three apartments appropriated
to the use of the men, for, beyond being very simple and clean, there is nothing to record
concerning them. But we have now reached the seventh storey, and we must rest for a
few moments in the little octagonal saloon, set apart for the engineers, when they come
to inspect the condition of the lighthouse. Here, in the midst of the ocean, more than a
hundred feet above the level of the sea, you will find the comfort and almost the elegance
of a Parisian apartment.
"Let us now return to the spiral staircase which has brought us thus far, and
which will carry us at once to the portion of the edifice which is more particularly
destined to fulfil the special purpose for which the tower is designed. The eighth storey
contains vessels of oil, glasses, revolving lamps, some admirable instruments intended
for meteorological observations, a thermometer, barometer, and chronometer. Here the
spiral staircase terminates in a flattened arch, which supports a slender pillar, cut into
steps, which are the only means of communication with the watch-tower above, in which
the men take it by turns to keep guard every night. You will be surprised on looking
round to perceive that this apartment is coated with different coloured marbles, which
line the walls and vaulted roof, and even cover the floor. But this luxury, which
may appear to you so much out of place, has been introduced from necessity. The
apparatus for lighting the building enters the room through a circular aperture in
the ceiling, and hence the most extreme cleanliness becomes necessary, which could
alone be obtained by the aid of perfectly polished surfaces."
The tenth and last flight of steps brings one beneath the cupola, and to the machinery
by which a light of the first order is maintained.
182 THE SEA.
CHAPTER XII.
THE LIGHTHOUSE (concluded}.
Lighthouses on Sand— Literallj- screwed down— The Light on Maplin Sands— That of Port Fleet wood— Iron Lighthouses
The Lanterns themselves— Eddystone long Illuminated with Tallow Candles— Coal Fires— Revolution caused by the
invention of the Argand Burner— Improvements in Reflectors— The Electric Light at Sea— Flashing and Revoh ing-
Lights -Coloured Lights— Their Advantages and Disadvantages— Lanterns obscured by Moths, Bees, and Birds.
THE difficulties involved in constructing- a lighthouse on solid rock have been shown,,
and it was at one time thought absolutely impossible to erect — with any prospect of per-
manent duration — one upon storm-exposed sands. Nous avons change tout cela. It is no-
longer necessary to place floating lights in places of great danger,, although for other
reasons they are constantly used. One of the greatest modern triumphs of engineering is
Mitchell's screw-mooring apparatus. To describe it fully would necessitate several pages of
technical matter. Suffice it to say that enormous cast-iron screws, having hollow cylin-
drical centres, through which wrought-iron spindles pass, are literally screwed down into-
the sand, or its substratum of other soil. One of the earliest experiments was made
on thevverge of the Maplin Sand, at the mouth of the Thames. Nine of the mooring-screws
were inserted into the sand 21| feet, one in the centre, the rest forming an octagon 42
feet in circumference, having standards or posts which stood 5 feet above the surface of
the sand. A raft of timber was floated over the spot, and a capstan in its centre drove
the screws to the required depth. This raft was afterwards sunk, by covering it with
200 tons of rough stone. Two years were allowed to elapse, at the termination of which
time the whole mass was found firmly embedded, and then a lighthouse, raised on a
strong open framework, was erected over this sub-structure. During these long pre-
parations a very similar structure was commenced and finished at Port Fleetwood, on the
River Wyre, near Lancaster.
The preparatory steps were similar to those already described. The foundation of the
lighthouse was formed of seven screw-piles, six of them occuping the angles of a hexagon
46 feet in diameter, the seventh being in the centre. From each screw proceeds a pile 15
feet in length, having at the upper end another screw for securing a wooden column.
These columns are of Baltic timber, the one in the centre being 56 feet, the others 46 feet
in length, firmly secured with iron hoops and coated with pitch. The platform, upon
which the house stands, is 27 feet in diameter, the house itself being 20 feet in diameter
and 9 feet high. From the summit of the house rises a twelve-sided lantern, 10 feet in
diameter and 8 feet hiVh. Altogether the li
reason why we should not, consisted at one time of about 4,000 acres of low coast land,
fenced from the sea by a wall. One tradition, not usually credited, ascribes their present
state to the erection of the Tenterden Steeple, by which the funds which should have main-
tained the sea-wall were diverted. An old authority, Lambard, says, "Whatsoever old
wives tell of Goodwyne, Earle of Kent, in tyme of Edward the Confessour, and his sandes,,
it appeareth by Hector Boetius, the Brittish chronicler, that theise sandes weare mayne
land, and some tyme of the possession of Earl Goodwyne, and by a great inundation of
the sea, they weare taken therefroe, at which tyme also much harme was done in Scotland
and Flanders, by the same rage of the water/' At the period of the Conquest, these lands
were taken from Earl Goodwin and bestowed on the abbey of St. Augustine, Canterbury,
and some accounts say that the Abbot allowed the sea-wall to become dilapidated, and
that in the year 1100 the waves rushed in and overwhelmed the whole. The inroads of
the sea in many parts of the world would account for anything of the kind.
LOSSES TO THE ROYAL NAVY. 199
In dangerous or foggy weather, bells are constantly sounded from the light-ships. A
•considerable amount of difficulty is experienced in finding proper anchorage for these vessels ;
and all efforts to establish a fixed beacon have been hitherto unsuccessful. In 1846 a light-
house on piles screwed into the sands* was erected, but it was carried away the following
year by the force of the waves. As soon as a vessel is known to have been driven on the
Goodwins, rockets are thrown up from the light-ships, and as soon as recognised on shore
n number of boatmen, known as " hovellers," all over that portion of the coast, immediately
launch their boats, and make for the Sands, whatever may be the weather. The ' ' hovellers "
look upon the wreck itself as in part their property, arid make a good deal of money at
times, leading, as a rule, a thoroughly reckless sailor's life ashore. But how many poor
seamen have had cause to bless their bravery and intrepidity !
The great gale of 1703, one of the most terrible, if not absolutely ike most terrible
which has ever visited our coasts, occasioned the loss of thirteen vessels of the Royal Navy,
four on the Goodwin Sands, one in the Yarmouth Roads, one at the Nore, and the rest at
various points on the coasts of England and Holland. The record, as preserved by the
immortal author of " Robinson Crusoe," is terribly concise in its details. Take a part
only of it. The italics are our own.
"Reserve, fourth-rate; 54 guns; 258 men. John Anderson, com. Lost in Yarmouth
Roads. The captain, purser, master, chyrurgeon, clerk, and 16 men were ashore; the rest
drowned.
"Northumberland, third-rate; 70 guns; 253 men. James Greenway, com. Lost on
Goodwin Sands. All their men, lost.
" Restoration, third-rate ; 70 guns; 386 men. Fleetwood Ernes, com. Lost on Goodwin
Sands. All their men lost.
"Sterling Castle, third-rate; 70 guns; 349 men. John Johnson, com. Lost on Goodwin
Sands. Third lieutenant, chaplain, cook, chyrurgeon's mate, four marine captains, and 62
men saved.
"Mary, fourth-rate; 64 guns; 273 men. Rear- Admiral Beaumont, Edward Hopson,
com. Lost on Goodwin Sands. Only one man saved, by swimming from wreck to wreck,
and getting to the Sterling Castle; the captain ashore, as also the purser." And so the
sad story proceeds, Defoe adding that the loss of small vessels hired into the service, and
tending the fleet, is not included, several such vessels, with soldiers on board, being driven
to sea, and never heard of more.f
A master on board a vessel which was blown " out of the Downs to Norway," describes
the sights he saw on those fatal days, the 25th and 26th of November, in homely but
graphic language. He says : " By four o'clock we miss'd the Mary and the Northumberland,
who rid not far from us, and found they were driven from their anchors; but what became
of them, God knows. And soon after, a large man-of-war came driving down upon us, all
her masts gone, and in a dreadful condition. We were in the utmost despair at this
*As described in the latter chapter on the lighthouse.
t This was the same gale which destroyed Winstanley's Eddystone Lighthouse, the first erected on the rock,
as already described. It is to he noted that Winstanley's house, at Littlebuiy, in Essex, 200 miles from the
lighthouse, fell down and was utterly destroyed in the same storm.
59
STATEMENTS OF SURVIVORS. 201
sight, for we saw no avoiding- her coming- thwart our haiser; she drove at last so near us,
that I was just gowing to order the mate to cut away, when it pleas'd God the ship sheer'd
contrary to our expectation to windward, and the man-of-war, which we found to be the
Sterling Castle, drove clear of us, not two ships' lengths, to leeward.
"It was a sight full of terrihle particulars to see a ship of eighty guns (sic) and
about six hundred men* in that dismal case. She had cut away all her masts; the men
were all in the confusion of death and despair ; she had neither anchor, nor cable, nor boat
to help her, the sea breaking over her in a terrible manner, that sometimes she seem'd
all under water. And they knew, as well as we that saw her, that they drove by the
tempest directly for the Goodwin, where they could expect nothing but destruction. The
cries of the men, and the firing their guns, one by one, every half minute for help, terrified
us in such a manner, that I think we were half dead with the horror of it/' The same
writer describes the collision of two vessels, which he saw sink together, and several great
ships fast aground and beating to pieces. "One," says he, "we saw founder before our
eyes, and all the people perished."
" We have," says Defoe, " an abundance of strange accounts from other parts, and
particularly the following letter from the Downs, and though every circumstance in this letter
is not literally true, as to the number of ships or lives lost, and the style coarse and sailor-
like, yet I have inserted this letter, because it seems to describe the horror and consterna-
tion the poor sailors were in at that time ; and because this is written from one who was
as near an eye-witness as any could possibly be, and be safe.
{i ' SIR, — These lines I hope in God will find you in good health. We are all left
here in a dismal condition, expecting every moment to be all drowned j for here is a
great storm, and is very likely to continue. We have here the Rear- Admiral of the Blue in
the ship called the Mary, a third-rate, the very next ship to ours, sunk, with Admiral
Beaumont, and above 500 men drowned ; the ship called the Northumberland, a third-rate,
about 500 men, all sunk and drowned ; the ship called the Sterling Castle, a third-rate,
all sunk and drowned, above 500 souls ; and the ship called the Restoration, a third-rate,
all sunk and drowned. These ships were all close by us, which I saw. These ships fired
their guns all night and day long, poor souls, for help, but the storm being so fierce and
raging, could have none to save them. The ship called the Shrewsbury, that we are in,
broke two anchors, and did run mighty fierce backwards, within sixty or eighty yards of
the Sands, and as God Almighty would have it, we flung our sheet-anchor down, which
is the biggest, and so stopt ; here we all prayed God to forgive us our sins, and to save
us, or else to receive us into his heavenly Kingdom. If our sheet-anchor had given way,
we had been all drowned ; but I humbly thank God, it was his gracious mercy that saved
us. There's one, Captain Fanel's ship, three hospital ships, all split, some sunk, and most
of the men drowned.
" ' There are above forty merchant ships cast away and sunk ; to see Admiral Beaumont,
that was next us, and all the rest of his men, how they climbed up the main-mast, hundreds
* This narrative differs from the more circumstantial account given by Defoe, doubtless from official authorities.
The vessel had seventy guns, and 349 men ; the latter, likely enough, may not have been her full complement.
66
202 THE SEA.
at a time crying out for help, and thinking- to save their lives, and in the twinkling of an
eye were drowned ; I can give you no account, but of these four men-of-war aforesaid,
which I saw with my own eyes, and those hospital ships, at present, by reason the storm
hath drove us far distant from one another; Captain Crow, of our ship, believes we have
lost several more ships of war, by reason we see so few; we lie here in great danger, and
waiting for a north-easterly wind to bring us to Portsmouth, and it is our prayer to God
for it; for we know not how soon this storm may arise, and cut us all off, for it is a dismal
place to anchor in. I have not had my clothes off, nor a wink of sleep these four nights,
and have got my death with cold almost. — Yours to command,
" ' MILES NORCLIFFE." ' *
The following is also a characteristic letter from Captain Soanes of H.M.S. Dolphin,
then at Milford Haven, showing also how far the storm extended on our coasts : —
" SIR, — Reading the advertisement in the Gazette of your intending to print the many
sad accidents in the late dreadful storm, induced me to let you know what this place felt,
though a very good harbour. Her Majesty's ships the Cumberland, Coventry, Loo, Hastings,
and Hector, being under my command, with the Rye, a cruiser on this station, and under
our convoy, about 130 merchant ships bound about land ; the 26th of November, at one in
the afternoon, the wind came at S. by E. a hard gale, between which and N.W. by W. it
came to a dreadful storm ; at three the next morning was the violentest of the weather,
when the Cumberland broke her sheet-anchor, the ship driving near this, and the Rye both
narrowly escaped carrying away; she drove very near the rocks, having but one anchor left,
but in a little time they slung a gun, with the broken anchor fast to it, which they let go,
and wonderfully preserved the ship from the shore. Guns firing from one ship or other
all the night for help, though 'twas impossible to assist each other, the sea was so high, and
the darkness of the night such, that we could not see where any one was, but by the flashes
of the guns ; when daylight appeared, it was a dismal sight to behold the ships driving up
and down, one foul of another, without masts, some sunk, and others upon the rocks, the
wind blowing so hard, with thunder, lightning, and rain, that on the deck a man could
not stand without holding. Some drove from Dale, where they were sheltered under
the land, and split in pieces, the men all drowned ; two others drove out of a creek,
one on the shore so high up was saved ; the other on the rocks in another creek, and bulged ;
an Irish ship that lay with a rock through her, was lifted by the sea clear away to the other
side of the creek on a safe place ; one ship forced ten miles up the river before she could be
stopped, and several strangely blown into holes, and on banks ; a ketch, of Pembroke, was
drove on the rocks, the two men and a boy in her had no boat to save their lives, but
in this great distress a boat which broke from another ship drove by them, without any in
her, the two men leaped into her and were saved, but the boy was drowned. A prize at
Pembroke was lifted on the bridge, whereon is a mill, which the water blew up, but the
vessel got off again; another vessel carried almost into the gateway which leads to the
* A large part of the information incorporated above is derived from one of the least known of Defoe's works,
entitled, " The Storm : or, a Collection of the most Remarkable Casualties and Disasters which happened in
the Late Dreadful Tempest, both by Sea and Land."
WRECKS ON ALL OUR COASTS. 203
bridge, and is a road, the tide flowing- several feet above the common course. The storm
continued till the 27th, about three in the afternoon; that by computation nigh thirty
merchant ships and vessels without masts are lost, and what men are lost is not known ;
three ships are missing, that we suppose men and all lost. None of her Majesty's ships
came to any harm : but the Cumberland breaking her anchor in a storm which happened
the 18th at night, lost another, which renders her incapable of proceeding with us till
supplied. I saw several trees and houses which are blown down. — Your humble servant,
" Jos. SOANES."
The disasters caused by this terrible gale extended over the English coasts. At Bristol
the tide filled the merchants' cellars, spoiling 1,000 hogsheads of sugar, 1,500 hogshead*
of tobacco, and any quantity of other produce, the damage being estimated at £100,000.
Eighty people were drowned in the marshes and river. Among the shipping casualties,
the Canterbury store-ship went ashore, and twenty-five men were drowned from her. The
Severn overflowed the country, doing great damage at Gloucester; and 15,000 sheep were
drowned on the levels and marshes. Four merchant ships were lost in Plymouth Roads, and
most of the men were drowned. At Portsmouth a number of vessels were blown to sea, and
some of them never heard of more. About a dozen ships were driven from our coasts to
Holland, the crews, for the most part, being saved. At Dunkirk, twenty-three or more
vessels were dashed to pieces against the pier-head.
Mr. Peter Walls, master or chief lighthouse-keeper of the Spurn Light at the mouth
of the Humber, was present on the 26th of November, the fatal night of the storm. He
thought that his lighthouse must have been blown down, and the tempest made the fire in it
burn so fiercely that " it melted down the iron bars, on which it laid, like lead/' so that
they were obliged when the fire was nearly extinguished to put in fresh bars, and re-kindle
the fire, keeping it up till the morning dawn, when they found that some six or seven-and-
twenty sail of ships were driving helplessly about the Spurn Head, some having cut, and
others broken their cables. These were a part of two fleets then lying in the Humber, having-
put in there by stress of weather a day or two before. Three ships were driven on an island
called the Don. The first no sooner touched bottom than she completely capsized, turning
keel up ; strange to say, out of six men on board, only one was drowned, the other five being
rescued by the boat of the second ship. They landed at the Spurn Lighthouse, where
Mr. Walls got them good fires and all the comforts they needed. The second ship, having
nobody on board, was driven to sea and never seen or heard of more. The third broke
up, and next morning some coals that had been in her were all that was to be seen. Of
the whole number of vessels in the Humber, few, if any, were saved.
Defoe estimates that 150 sea-going vessels of all sorts were lost in this terrific gale;
but this is, in all probability, a very low estimate. And it is as nothing to the fearful loss of
life, which amounted to 8,000 souls.
The townspeople of Deal, in particular, were blamed for their inhumanity in leaving-
many to their fate who could have been rescued. Boatmen went off to the sands for booty,
some of whom would not listen to poor wretches who might have been saved. Many
unfortunate shipwrecked persons could be seen, by the aid of glasses, walking on the Goodwin
201
THE SEA.
Sands in despairing- postures, knowing that they would, as Defoe puts it, "be washed into
another world " at the reflux of the tide. The Mayor of Deal, Mr. Thomas Powell, asked the
Custom House officers to take out their boats and endeavour to save the lives of some of
these unfortunates, but they utterly refused. The mayor then offered, from his own pocket,
five shillings a head for all saved, and a number of fishermen and others volunteered, and
succeeded in bringing 200 persons on shore, who would have been lost in half an hour
afterwards. The Queen's agent for sick and wounded seamen would not furnish a penny
for their lodging or food, and the good mayor supplied all of them with what they required.
Several died, and he was compelled to bury them at his own expense ; he furnished a large
THE STORM IN THE THAMES AT CAPPING.
number with money to pay their way to London. He received no thanks from the Govern-
ment of the day, but some long time after was re-imbursed the large sums he had expended.
"Nor/' says Defoe, "can the damage suffered in the river of Thames be forgot. It
was a strange sight to see all the ships in the river blown away, the Pool was so clear, that,
as I remember, not above four ships were left between the upper part of Wapping and
Ratcliffe Cross, for the tide being up at the time when the storm blew with the greatest
violence, no anchors or landfast, no cables or moorings, would hold them, the chains which lay
across the river for the mooring of ships, all gave way.
"The ships breaking loose thus, it must be a strange sight to see the hurry and
confusion of it ; and, as some ships had nobody at all 011 board, and a great many had
none but a man or boy just to look after the vessel, there was nothing to be done but
to let every vessel drive whither and how she would.
"Those who know the reaches of the river, and how they lie, know well enough
that the wind being at south-west-westerly, the vessels would naturally drive into the bite
THE STOKM IN THE THAMES.
205
or bay from Ratcliffe Cross to Limehouse Hole, for that the river winding about again
from thence towards the new dock at Deptford runs almost due south-west, so that the
wind blew down one reach and up another, and the ships must of necessity drive into
the bottom of the angle between both.
"This was the case, and as the place is not large, and the number of ships very
great, the force of the wind had driven them so into one another, and laid them so upon one
another, as it were in heaps, that I think a man may safely defy all the world to do the like.
" The author of this collection had the curiosity the next day to view the place, and
THE WEST-INUIAMEN DRIVEN ASHORE AT TILBURY FORT.
to observe the posture they lay in, which nevertheless it is impossible to describe; there
lay, by the best account he could take, few less than seven hundred sail of ships, some
very great ones, between Shadwell and Limehouse inclusive ; the posture is not to be
imagined but by them that saw it; some vessels lay heeling off with the bow of another
ship over her waist, and the stern of another upon her forecastle ; the boltsprits of some
drove into the cabin-windows of others; some lay with their sterns tossed up so high that
the tide flowed into their forecastles before they could come to rights ; some lay so leaning
upon others that the undermost vessels would sink before the other could float ; the
numbers of masts, boltsprits and yards split and broke, the staving the heads and sterns,
206 THE SEA.
and carved work, the tearing- and destruction of rigging, and the squeezing of boats to*
pieces between the ships, is not to be reckoned ; but there was hardly a vessel to be seen
that had not suffered some damage or other in one or all of these articles.
" There were several vessels sunk in this hurricane, but as they were generally light
ships the damage was chiefly to the vessels; but there were two ships sunk with great
quantity of goods on board : the Russell galley was sunk at Limehouse, being a great
part laden with bale goods for the Straits; and the Sarah galley, laden for Leghorn,,
sunk at an anchor at Blackwall, and though she was afterwards weighed and brought
on shore, yet her back was broken, or so otherwise disabled that she was never fit for
the sea. There were several men drowned in these last two vessels, but we could never
come to have the particular number.
"Near Gravesend several ships drove on shore below Tilbury Fort, and among them
five bound for the West Indies; but as the shore is oozy and soft, the vessels sat upright
and easy/' The loss of small craft in the river was enormous; not less than 300 ships' boats-
and 500 wherries were sunk or dashed to pieces. Barges and lighters were sunk and broke
loose by the score, and twenty- two watermen and others working on the river were drowned.
The effect of this tempest was felt very severely on shore, not less than 123 persons
being killed by falling buildings, &c. It is said that not less than 800 dwellings were
blown down, while barns, stacks of chimneys, pinnacles, steeples, and trees, were strewed all
over the country.
Dozens of remarkable cases might be given of wonderful preservations at sea during-
this storm, and one or two have been cited. A small vessel ran on the rocks in Milford
Haven and was fast breaking up, when an empty boat, which had got loose, drifted past
so near the wreck that two men jumped into it and saved their lives. A poor boy on
board could not jump so far, and was drowned. A poor sailor of Brighthelmston was
taken off a wreck after he had hung by his hands and feet on the top of a mast for
eight-and-forty hours, the sea raging so high that no boat durst approach him. A
waterman in the river Thames, lying asleep in the cabin of a barge near Blackfriars,
was driven below London Bridge, " and the barge went of herself into the Tower Dock,,
and lay safe on shore. The man never waked nor heard the storm till it was day; and,
to his great astonishment, he found himself safe, as above." Two boys, lodging in the
Poultry, and living in a top garret, were, by the fall of chimneys, which broke through
the floors, carried quite to the bottom of the cellar, and received no hurt at all.
It has been shown how universal was the storm on the English coasts, and it
extended to all parts of the interior.* In Norfolk, a small town experienced the horrors
* Although so severe in England and a large part of the Continent, Scotland scarce felt the fury of the^
grle. Defoe, in his poem on the subject, says: —
"They tell us Scotland 'scaped the Hast;
Xo nation else have been without a taste:
All Europe sure have felt the mighty shock,
'T has been a universal stroke.
But heaven has other ways to plague the Scots,
As poverty and plots."
LONDON IN EUINS. 207
•ef fire simultaneously with the gale. The inhabitants were powerless to extingnish it;
and the wind blew the ruins, almost as much as the fire, in all directions. If the people
came to windward they were in danger of being blown into the flames, and to leeward
they dared not approach the fire, which would have scorched them up. Those who
escaped the conflagration ran the imminent risk o£ being knocked on the head by bricks and
tiles, which flew about as though they were tinder. The storm, although most severe
on the Friday before-mentioned, lasted almost continuously for a week.
The city of London was a strange spectacle at this time. "The houses looked like
skeletons," says Defoe, ' e and an universal air of horror seemed to sit on the countenances
of the people. All business seemed to be laid aside for the time, and people were generally
intent upon getting help to repair their habitations." The streets lay covered with tiles and
slates, bricks and chimney-pots. Common tiles rose from 21s. per thousand to £6. Above
2,000 great stacks of chimneys were blown down in and about London, besides gable-ends and
roofs by the score, and .about twenty whole houses in the suburbs. In addition to those killed
by the fall of various parts of buildings, above 200 were reported as wounded and maimed.
And it must be remembered that these were not the days of morning and evening and
special editions, and copious and generally correct reports. Had telegraphs and railways
and steamships brought in the news collected by innumerable correspondents, as they would
to-day, Defoe's book would never have been compiled. And it may be here observed, in
honour of the memory of that immortal author, that he never cites a case, or speaks of it
as a positive fact, without giving his authority or authorities. He says in one place,
" Some of our printed accounts give us larger and plainer accounts of the loss of lives than
I will venture to affirm for truth: as of several houses near Moorfields levelled with the
ground; fourteen people drowned in a wherry going to Gravesend and five in a wherry
from Chelsea. Not that it is not very probable to be true, but, as I resolve not to hand
anything to posterity but what comes very well attested, I omit such relations as I
have not extraordinary assurance as to the fact." This is hardly the way with all
book-makers !
Most of those killed were buried or crushed by the broken fragments and rubbish
of falling stacks of chimneys or walls. The fall of brick walls made a serious item in
the losses. At Greenwich Park several pieces of the wall were down for a hundred rods
at a place; the palace of St. James's was greatly damaged; the roof of the guard-house
at "Whitehall blown off, seriously hurting nine soldiers; the lead stripped off and rolled
up like parchment from scores of churches and public buildings, including Westminster
Abbey and Christ Church Hospital. "It was very remarkable," Defoe notes, "that the
bridge over the Thames [i.e., Old London Bridge] received so little damage, the buildings
standing high and not sheltered by other erections, as they would be in the streets. Above
a hundred elms, some of them said to have been planted by Wolsey, were blown down in
St. James's Park. Very fortunately the storm was succeeded by fine weather: for had
Tain or snow followed, the misery and damage to hundreds and hundreds of tenants would
have been fearfully increased.
At Stowmarket, in Suffolk, one of the largest spires — 100 feet high above the
-steeple — was completely carried away, with all its heavy timbers and an immense quantity
208 THE SEA.
of lead. So in Brenchly and Great Peckham, Kent, the former doing damage to the
church and porch as it fell, and entailing a total loss of £800 to £1,000, which would
represent much more in these days. " The cathedral church of Ely," said one of Defoe's
correspondents, " by the providence of God, did, contrary to all men's expectations, stand
out the shock, but suffered very much in every part of it, especially that which is called
the body of it, the lead being torn and rent up a considerable way together ; about 40
lights of glass blown down and shattered to pieces ; one ornamental pinnacle, belonging
to the north aisle, demolished ; and the lead in divers other parts of it blown up into great
heaps. Five chimneys falling down in a place called the Colledge, the place where the
prebendaries' lodgings are, did no other damage (praised be God !) than beat down some
part of the houses along with them. The loss which the church and college of Ely
sustained being, by computation, near £2,000." Accounts of nearly irretrievable damage
done to valuable painted church windows, for one of which — at Fairford, Gloucester —
£1,500 had been offered, came from many points. In some cases the lead blown from roofs,
amounting to tons in weight, was so tightly rolled up that it took a number of men to
unroll it without cutting or other damage.
The Bishop of Bath and Wells was killed under rather remarkable circumstances.
The palace was the relic of a very old castle, only one corner of it being modernised for
his lordship's use. Had the bishop slept in the new portion his life would have been
spared; but he remained in one of the older apartments. Two chimney-stacks fell and
crushed in the roof, driving it upon the bishop's bed, forcing it quite through the
next floor info the hall, and burying both himself and lady in the rubbish. The former
appears to have risen, perhaps perceiving the approaching danger, and was found, with
his brains dashed out, near a doorway.
One of the most remarkable cases of the power of the wind ashore was the removal of
a stone of four hundredweight, which lay sheltered under a bank, to a distance of seven yards.
On the Kingscote estate, in Gloucester, 600 trees, all about eighty feet in height, were
thrown down within a compass of five acres. The storm was accompanied by thunder
and lightning and waterspouts. A clergyman, writing from Besselsleigh, says : — " On
Friday, the 26th of November, in the afternoon, about four of the clock, a country fellow
came running to me, in a great fright, and very earnestly entreated me to go and see a
pillar, as he called it, in the air in a field hard by. I went with the fellow, and when I
came found it to be a spout marching directly with the wind; and I can think of
nothing I can compare it to better than the trunk of an elephant, which it resembled —
only much bigger. It was extended to a great length, and swept the ground as it
went, leaving a mark behind. It crossed a field, and, which was very strange (and
which I should scarce have been induced to believe had I not myself seen it, besides
several countrymen, who were astonished at it, meeting with an oak that stood towards the
middle of the field, snapped the body of it asunder. Afterwards, crossing a road, it
sucked up the water that was in the cart-ruts. Then, coming to an old barn, it tumbled
it down, and the thatch that was on the top was carried about by the wind, which was
then very high and in great confusion. After this I followed it no farther, and therefore
saw no more of it, but a parishioner of mine, going from hence to Hincksey, in a field
00
THE LIFE-BOAT AND ITS HISTORY.
•209
about a quarter of a mile off of this place, was on the sudden knocked down and lay
upon the place till some people came by and brought him home; and he is not yet quite
recovered/' An earthquake is also said to have followed the great storm.
Enough has now been written to show how universal were the effects of this terrible
gale. The details, as recorded by Defoe and others, would fill several chapters like the
present. The author of " llobiuson Crusoe " puts, as we have seen, the loss of life partly
on laud but principally by sea, at 8,000, but a French authority places it at the enormous
number of 30,000 ! It can well be believed that a large proportion of the casualties were
never reported or recorded.
GREATHEAD S LIFE-BOAT.
CHAPTER XV.
" MAN THE LIFE-BOAT ! "
The Englishman's direct interest in the Sea— The History of the Life-boat and its Work— Its Origin— A Coach-builder the
First Inventor -Lionel Lukin's Boat— Royal Encouragement— Wreck of the Adventure— The Poor Crew Drowned in
Sight of Thousands— Good out of Evil— The South Shields Committee and their Prize Boat— Wouldhave and Greathead
—The latter Rewarded by Government, &c.— Slow Progress of the Life-boat Movement— The Old Boat at Redcar—
Organisation of the National Life-boat Institution— Sir William Hillary's Brave Deeds -Terrible Losses at the Isle of
Man— Loss of Three Life-boats— Reorganisation of the Society— Immense Competition for a Prize— Beeching's "Self-
righting" Boats —Buoyancy and Ballast— Dangers of the Service— A Year's Wrecks.
THE history of the life-boat is one that concerns every Englishman. In this isle of the
sea, our own beloved Britain, our sympathies are constantly excited on behalf of those who
suffer from shipwreck. It would not be too much to say that one-half the population of
the United Kingdom have some direct interest in this matter. Let us not be misunderstood.
Pecuniary interests in shipping are held here more largely than in any other country, but
67
210 THE SEA.
we are not all shipowners or merchants. But how many of us have some brother or friend
a seafarer ! Of the writer's own direct relatives six have travelled and voyaged to very
far distant lands, and the friends of whom the same might be said would aggregate several
score. This is no uncommon case.
The origin of the life-boat, as now understood, is of very modern date. Those who
would study the matter in its entirety cannot do better than consult the work* from which
the larger part of the material incorporated in the present chapter is derived. One of tho
very earliest inventors of a life-boat was Mr. Lionel Lukin, a coach-builder of Long Acre,
who turned his attention to the subject in 1784, from purely benevolent motives. The then
Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.), who knew Lukin personally, not only encouraged
him to test his inventions, but offered to pay the expenses. Lukin purchased a Norway
yawl, to the outer frame of which he added a projecting gunwale of cork, tapering from
nine inches amidships to very little at the bows and stern. Hollow water-tight enclosures
gave it great buoyancy, while ballast sufficient for stability was afforded by a heavy false
keel of iron. On this principle several boats were constructed, and found to be, as the
inventor describes them, " unimmergible." The Rev. Dr. Shairp, of Bamborough, hearing
of the invention, and having charge of a charity for saving life at sea, sent a boat to Lukin
to be made " unimmergible." This was done, and satisfactory accounts were afterwards
received of the altered boat, which was reported to have saved several lives in the first year
of its use. The Admiralty and Trinity House would have nothing to do with it, in spite
of the Prince of Wales' interest in the matter. It has been said that a committee is a body
without a conscience; it was true in those good old days. Lukin retired from business in
1821, and went to live at Hythe in Kent, where, ten years after, he died; the inscription
on his tomb in Hythe churchyard says that he was the first to build a life-boat.
Notwithstanding Lukin's increasing efforts to bring his life-boats into general use,
hardly any progress had been make in their general adoption till 1789, when the Adventure,
of Newcastle, was wrecked at the mouth of the Tyne. While this vessel lay stranded on a
dangerous sand at the entrance of the river, in the midst of tremendous breakers, her crew
" dropped off one by one from the rigging/' only three hundred yards from the shore, and
in the presence of thousands of spectators. This horrible disaster led to good results, for a
committee was immediately appointed at a meeting of the inhabitants of South Shields,
and premiums offered for the best model of a life-boat " calculated to brave the dangers of
the sea, particularly of broken water/' From many plans submitted two were selected,
those of Mr. William Wouldhave and Mr. Henry Greathead. The idea of the first is said
to have been suggested by the following circumstance. Wouldhave had been asked to assist
a woman in putting a " skeel of water on her head, when he noticed that she had a piece of
a broken wooden dish lying in the water, which floated with the points upwards, and turning
it over several times, he found that it always righted itself. Greathead's model had a curved
instead of a straight keel, and he, as the only practical boatbuilder who had competed, was
awarded the premium, some of Wouldhave's ideas in regard to the use of cork being incorpo-
rated. This first boat, thirty feet in length, had a cork lining twelve inches thick, reaching
* "History of the Lifc-l»oat and its Work," by Richard Lewis, of the Inner Temple, Esq., Secretary of the
National Life-boat Institution.
ORE ATHE AD'S LIFE-BOATS. 211.
from the deck to the thwarts, and a cork fender outside sixteen inches deep, four inches
wide, and twenty-one feet long-, nearly 7 cwts. of cork being- fitted to the boat altogether.
Greathead's curved keel was, however, the main point, and he is regarded as the inventor of
the first practicable life-boat. From 1791 to 1797 his first boat was the means of saving the
whole or larger part of the crews of five ships. Notwithstanding all this, no other life-boat
was built till 1798, when the then Duke of Northumberland ordered one to be built at his
•own expense, which in two years saved the crews of three vessels. Others were soon after
•constructed, and before the end of 1803 Greathead built no less than thirty-one, eight of
which were for foreign countries. In the beginning of 1802, when two hundred lives had
"been saved at the entrance of the Tyne alone, Greathead applied to Parliament for a national
reward. Possibly it is more remarkable that he obtained it. £1,200 was voted to him, to
which the Trinity House, Lloyd's, and the Society of Arts added substantial presents. The
Emperor of Russia sent a diamond ring to the inventor.
After this, one might have reasonably thought that life-boats had become a recognised
institution and a national necessity. Not so. For years afterwards there was hardly an
advance made, and there was no organised society to work them. The Government was
.apathetic. In 1810, one of Greathead's life-boats, carried overland to Hartley on the coast
of Northumberland, rescued the crews of several fishing-boats. On returning toward the
shore, the boat got too near a fatal rock-reef, and was split in halves ; thirty-four poor fellows
— a moment before the savers and the saved — were drowned. The authority before cited
says that even now several of Greathead's boats — exclusively rowing boats — are to be found
on the coast; the oldest one is that in the possession of the boatmen at Redcar, it having
been built in 1802. On seeing this fine old life-boat, which had saved some scores of lives,
Account Stratford de Redcliffe composed some years ago the following verses, which were
.set to music : —
" The Life-boat ! Oh, the Life-boat !
We all have known so long,
A refuge for the feeble,
The glory of the strong.
Twice thirty years have vanished,
Since first upon the wave
She housed the drowning mariner,
And snatched him from the grave.
* * * *
The voices of the rescued,
Their numbers may be read,
The tears of speechless feeling
Our wives and children shed ;
The memories of mercy
In man's extremest need,
All for the dear old Life-boat
TJniting seem to plead."
As already stated, the important movement for saving life from shipwreck languished for some
time. To Sir William Hillary and Thomas Wilson, then one of the Members of Parliament
for London, is due the organisation of that most excellent society which has done more in the
«ause of humanity than, perhaps, any other whatever, and has done it on means which even
212 THE SEA.
to-day are too limited. Sir William Hillary was not a talker or subscriber merely, but had
been personally active in saving life. When a Government cutter, the Vigilant, was wrecked
in Douglas Bay, Isle of Man, where he was then residing, he was one of the foremost in
rescuing a part of the crew. Listen to our authority : " Between the years 1821 and 184-0, no
fewer than 144 wrecks had taken place on the island, and 172 lives were lost; while the
destruction of property was estimated at a quarter of a million. In 1825, when the City
of Glasgow steamer was stranded in Douglas Bay, Sir William Hillary assisted in saving the
lives of sixty -two persons ; and in the same year eleven men from the brig Leopard, and nine
from the sloop Fancy, which became a total wreck. In 1827 — 32, Sir William, accompanied
by his son, saved many other lives ; but his greatest success was on the 20th of November,
1830, when he saved in the life-boat twenty-two men, the whole of the crew of the mail
steamer Sf. George, which became a total wreck on St. Mary's Rock. On this occasion he was
washed overboard among the wreck, with other three persons, and was saved with great
difficulty, having had six of his ribs fractured." No wonder that a genuine hero of this
character should have succeeded in obtaining the assistance and encouragement of His Majesty
King George IV., and any number of royal highnesses, archbishops, bishops, noblemen,
and other distinguished people,* when the formation of a " Royal National Institution for the
Preservation of Life from Shipwreck " was mooted. The Society was immediately organised,
and the receipts for the first year of its existence were £9,800 odd. The Committee, in their
first report, were able to state that they had built and stationed twelve life-boats, while,
doubtless, from their good example, thirty-nine life-boats had been stationed on our shores by
benevolent individuals and associations not connected with the Institution. In its early days,
the Society assisted local bodies to place life-boats on the coast, such being independent of its
control. The good work done by the Association in its early days is indicated in the following
statement. In the second annual report the Committee showed that up to that period the
Society had contributed to the saving of 342 lives from shipwreck, either by its own life-saving
apparatus or by other means, for which it had granted rewards. And its total revenue for
the second year was only £3,392 7s. 5d. ! f For fifteen years afterwards the annual receipts
were still smaller.
Between 1841 and 1850 the Institution lost three life-boats, and this was the smallest
part of the loss. In October, 1841, one of the boats at Blyth, Northumberland, while being
pulled against a strong wind, was struck by a heavy sea, causing her to run stern under, and to
half fill with water. A second sea struck her, and she capsized. Ten men were drowned. The
second case occurred at Robin Hood's Bay, on the coast of Yorkshire, in February, 1843. The
life-boat went off to the assistance of a stranded vessel, the Ann, of London, during a fresh
northerly gale. The life-boat had got alongside the wreck, and was taking the crew off, when,
as far as can be understood, several men jumped into her at the moment when a great wave
struck her, and she capsized. Many of the crew got on her bottom, while three remained
underneath her, and in this state she drifted towards the shore on the opposite side of the bay.
On seeing the accident from the shore, five gallant fellows launched a boat and tried to pull off
to the rescue, but had hardly encountered two seas, when she was turned end over end, two of
* Including the grand name of William "Wilberforce.
+ Its revenue is now approximately ten times the above amount.
THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND'S PRIZE BOAT.
213
her crew being drowned. An officer of the Coastguard service and eleven men lost their lives
on this occasion ; a few were saved, coming to shore safely on the bottom of the life-boat, and
even under it, in its reversed condition.
A still worse accident occurred, in December, 18i9, to the South Shields life-boat, which
had gone out with twenty-four experienced pilots to the aid of the Betsy of Littlehampton,
stranded on the Herd Sand. She had reached the wreck, and was lying alongside, though
badly secured. The shipwrecked men were about to descend into the boat, when a heavy
sea, recoiling from the bows of the vessel, lifted her on end, and a second sea completed
the work of destruction by throwing her completely over. She ultimately drifted ashore.
Twenty out of twenty-four on board were drowned. On seeing the accident, two other
life-boats immediately dashed off, and saved four of the pilots and the crew of the Betsy.
LIFE-BOAT SAVING THE CREW OF THE " ST. GEORGE."
The year 1850 marked an epoch in the history of life-boats, for then the Institution
was thoroughly re-organised. It was arranged that the boats should be periodically inspected
by qualified officers, and that a fixed scale of payment, both for actual service or quarterly
exercise, should be made to the coxswains and crews. * His Grace the late Duke of
Northumberland offered a prize of one hundred guineas for the best model of a life-boat,
and a like sum towards constructing a boat on that model. No less than 280 plans and
models were sent in, rot merely from all parts of the United Kingdom, but from France,
Holland, Germany, and the United States. After some six months' detailed examination
on the part of the committee, Mr. James Beeching, of Great Yarmouth, was awarded the
prize. That gentleman constructed several boats shortly afterwards, embodying most or
* For the perilous nature of the employment, the pay is ridiculously small. It must be, however, in fairness
to the Institution, remembered that it is a society depending on the benevolent public for its support, and is not
a Government concern. Each boat has its appointed coxswain at a salary of £8 per annum, and assistants at
£2 per annum. On every occasion of going afloat to save life, the coxswain and his men receive alike, 10s. if
by day, and £1 if by night.
214 THE SEA.
all of the leading improvements,, and was the first to build a " self-righting " life-boat. All
of the Institution's modern boats are on this principle.
" The chief peculiarity of a life-boat," says our authority, " which distinguishes it
from all ordinary boats, is its being rendered unsubmergible, by attaching to it, chiefly
within boards, water-tight air-cases, or fixed water-tight compartments under a deck. . . .
Especially it is essential that the spare space along the sides of a life-boat, within boards,
should be entirely occupied by buoyant cases or compartments ; as when such is the case,
on her shipping a sea, the water, until got rid off, is confined to the midships part of the
boat, where, to a great extent, it serves as ballast, instead of falling over to the lee-side,
and destroying her equilibrium, as is the" case in an ordinary open boat/' The Institution's
self-righting boats are ballasted with heavy iron keels (up to 21 cwts.), and light air-tight
cases, cork, &c. The advantage of employing a ballast of less specific gravity than water
is, that in the event of the boat being stove in, the buoyancy of the material itself then
comes into play.
" Self-righting " is, of course, a most important principle in life-boats, and out of
some 250 boats of the Institution there are scarcely more than twenty which do not possess it.
Up to twenty years or so ago it was derided by many otherwise practical men. Yet as
early as 1792 we find the Hev. James Bremner, of Walls, Orkney, proposing to make all
ordinary boats capable of righting themselves in the water by placing two water-tight casks,
parallel to each other, in the head and stern sheets, and by affixing a heavy iron keel. The
self-righting power of to-day is obtained by the following means. The boat is built with
considerably higher gunwales at the bows and stern than in the centre, while four to six feet of
the space at either end are water-tight air-chambers. A heavy iron keel is attached, and
a nearly equal weight of light air-cases, and cork ballast cases are stowed betwixt the
boat's floor and the deck. " No other measures are necessary to be taken in order to effect
the self-righting power. When the boat is forcibly placed in the water with her keel
upwards, she is floated unsteadily on the two air chambers at bow and stern, while the
heavy iron keel and other ballast then being carried above the centre of gravity, an unstable
equilibrium is at once effected, in which dilemma the boat cannot remain, the raised weight
falls on one side or the other of the centre of gravity, and drags the boat round to her
ordinary position, when the water shipped during the evolution quickly escapes through
the relieving tubes, and she is again ready for any service that may be required of her/'
Nearly all life-boat stations are provided with a transporting carriage, built especially
for the particular boat. The use of this, in many cases, is to convey the boat by land to
the point nearest the wreck. On some coasts the distance may be several miles. In
addition to this, a boat-carriage is of immense service in launching a boat from a beach
without her keel touching the ground ; so much so, indeed, that one can be readily launched
from a carriage through a high surf, when without one she could not be got off the beach.
The carriage is often backed sufficiently far into the water to enable the boat to float when
she is run off.
The foregoing will give a sufficient idea of the boat itself, and now to its work. Courage
and ability are required to put it into action, and the dangers to which the crew of a life-
boat are exposed entitle those who encounter them to the greatest honour. " It is impossible
THE LIFE-BOATMAN'S WORK. 215
to exaggerate the awful circumstances attending a shipwreck. Let us picture the time,
when, after a peaceful sunset and the toils of the day are over, the hero of the life-boat
has retired to rest, and the silence of the night is unbroken except by the murmur of the
winds and the noise of the sea breaking on the shore. With the approach of the storm,
however, the winds and waves rise in fury upon the deep, and with their mingled vengeance
lash the cliffs and the beach. A signal of distress arouses the coxswain and his men;
crowds rush in curiosity to the cliffs, or line the shore, heedless of the driving rain or the
blinding sleet. Barrels of tar are lighted on the coast, and the signal gun and the fierv rocket
make a fresh appeal to the brave. The boat-house is unlocked, and the life-boat with her
crew is dragged hurriedly to the shore. The storm rages wildly, and the mountains of
surf and sea appal the stoutest heart. The gallant men look dubiously at the work before
them, and fathers and mothers and wives and children implore them to desist from a hopeless
enterprise. The voice of the coxswain, however, prevails. The life-boat is launched among
the breakers, cutting bravely through the foaming mass — now buried under the swelling
billows, or rising on their summit — now dashed against the hapless wreck still instinct
with life — now driven from it by a mountain wave — now embarking its living freight,
and carrying them, through storm and danger and darkness, to a blessed shore. Would
that this was the invariable issue of a life-boat service ! The boat that adventures to a
wreck meets with disaster itself occasionally ; and in the war of the elements some of its
gallant crew have sometimes been the first of its victims." And when we consider that
the number of wrecks on the coasts of the United Kingdom alone, averaged 1,446 per annum
for the twenty years between 1852 and 1871, we can form an idea of the importance of
life-boat work on these shores. In the succeeding chapter some special instances of perilous
and successful rescues will be presented.
CHAPTER XVI.
"MAN THE LIFE-BOAT!" (continued).
A "Dirty" Night on the Sands— Wreck of the Samaritano—The Vessel boarded by Margate and Whitstable Men— A
Gale in its Fury— The Vessel breaking up— Nineteen Men in the Fore-rigging— Two Margate Life-boats Wrecked-
Fate of a Lugger— The Scene at Ramsgate— " Man the Lif e-boat ! "— The good Steamer Aid— The Life-boat Towed
out— A Terrible Trip— A Grand Struggle with the Elements— The Flag of Distress made out— How to reach it—
The Life-boat cast off— On through the Breakers— The Wreck reached at last— Difficulties of Rescuing the Men—
The poor little Cabin Boy— The Life-boat Crowded— A Moment of great Peril— The Steamer reached at last— Back
to Ramsgate— The Reward of Merit— Loss of a Passenger Steamer— The Three Lost Corpses— The Emigrant Ship
on the Sands— A Splendid Night's Work.
THE waves are tearing over the fatal Goodwin Sands, but the life-boats of Ramsgate,
Margate, Deal, and Kingsdown are ready for their work. At Ramsgate, in particular,
the life-boat is ready at her moorings in the harbour, while a powerful steam-tug
— the Aid, whose interesting history would form many a chapter — is lying with steam
partially up, prepared to tow out the boat as near the Goodwin Sands as may be with
OUR STORM WARRIORS.
217
safety. The " storm warriors/' as the Rev. Mr. Gilmore calls them with so much
appropriateness, in his fascinating and powerfully-written work,* " are on the watch, hour
after hour, through the stormy night walking the pier, and giving keen glances to
where the Goodwin Sands are white with the churning, seething waves that leap high,
and plunge and foam amid the treacherous shoals and banks. Look ! a Hash is seen ;
listen, in a few seconds, yes, there is the throb and boom of a distant gun, a rocket
cleaves the darkness ; and now the cry — " Man the life-boat ! Man the life-boat ! Seaward
ho ! Seaward ho ! " Storm warriors to the rescue !
A LIFE-BOAT AND CARRIAGE — LATEST FORM.
One Sunday night in the month of February, a few years ago, the weather was
what sailors call " dirty," and accompanied by sudden gusts of wind and snow-squalls.
Before the light broke on Monday morning, the Margate lugger, Eclipse, put out to sea
to cruise round the shoals and sands in the neighbourhood of Margate, on the look-
out for the victims of any disasters that might have occurred during the night, and
4he crew soon discovered that a vessel was ashore on the Margate sands. She proved to be
the Spanish brig Samarifano, bound from Antwerp to Santander, and laden with a valuable
* "Storm Warriors; or, Life-boat Work on the Goodwin Sands," by the Rev. John Gilmore, M.A.
68
218 THE SEA.
cargo; she had a crew of eleven men under the command of the captain, Modesto Crispo..
Hoping- to save the vessel, the lugger, as she was running for the brig, spoke a Whitstable
fishing-smack, and borrowed two of her men and her boat. They boarded the brig as
the tide went down, and hoped to be able to get her off the sands at the next high
water. For this purpose, six Margate boatmen and the two Whitstable men were left on
board.
With the rising tide the gale came on again with renewed fury, and it soon
became a question not of saving the vessel, but of saving their own lives. The sea
dashed furiously over the wreck, lifting her, and then letting her fall with terrific
violence on the sands. Her timbers quivered and shook, and a hole was quickly knocked
in her side. She filled with water, and settled on one side. " The waves began now to
break with great force over the deck; the lugger's boat was speedily knocked to pieces
and swept overboard ; the hatches were forced up ; and some of the cargo which floated on
the deck was at once washed away. The brig began to roll and labour fearfully, as wave
after wave broke against her, with a force that shook her from stem to stern, and
threatened to throw her bodily upon her broadside; the men, fearing this, cut the weather
rigging of the mainmast, and the mast soon broke off short with a great crash, and went
over the side." All hands now had to take to the fore-rigging; nineteen souls with
nothing between them and death but the few shrouds of a shaking mast ! The waves
threw up columns of foam, and the spray froze upon them as it fell. The Margate and
Whitstable men were caught in a trap, for neither lugger nor smack would have lived five
minutes in the sea that surrounded the vessel. Would the life-boat come ?
As soon as the news of the wreck reached Margate, the smaller of the two life-boats
was manned and launched. By an oversight in the hurry of preparation, the valves
of the air-tight boxes had been left open, and she was fast filling. Although she
succeeded in getting within a quarter of a mile of the brig, she had to be speedily
turned towards shore, or she would have been wrecked herself. After battling for four
hours with the sea and gale, she was run ashore in Westgate Bay. There the coast-
guardmen did their best for them. Meantime, when it was learned in Margate that the
first boat was disabled, the larger one was launched. Away they started, the brave
crew doing all they could to battle with the gale, but all in vain; their tiller gave
way, and they had to give up the attempt. They were driven ashore about one mile
from the town. Next, two luggers attempted to get out to the wreck. The fate of the
first was soon settled : a fearful squall of wind struck her before she had got many
hundred yards clear of the pier, and swept her foremast clean out of her. The
second lugger was a little more fortunate ; she beat out to the Sands, but only to find the
surf so heavy, that it was impossible to cross them, or to get near the wreck. " The
Margate people became full of despair; and many a bitter tear was shed for sympathy
and for personal loss as they watched the wreck, and thought of the poor fellows
perishing slowly before their eyes, apparently without any possibility of being saved/-'
And now let us change the scene to Ramsgate.
About nine o'clock the news came to Ramsgate' that there was a brig ashore on the
Woolpack Sands, off Margate, but it was naturally concluded that the life-boats of the
TO THE RESCUE! 219
latter place would go to the rescue, and no one supposed that the services of the Ramsgate
boat would be required. " But shortly after twelve, a coastguard-man from Margate
hastened breathless to the pier and to the harbour-master's office, saying, in answer to
eager inquiries, as he hurried on, that the two Margate life-boats had been wrecked. The
order was, of course, at once given, ' Man the life-boat ! ' and the boatmen rushed for it.
First come, first in ; not a moment's hesitation, not a thought of further clothing : they
will go in as they are, rather than not go at all. The news rapidly spreads ; each boatman
as he heard it, hastily snatched up his bag of waterproof overalls and south-wester cap,
and rushed down to the boat ; and for some time, boatman after boatman was to be seen
racing down the pier, hoping to find a place still vacant ; if the race had been to save
their lives, rather than to, risk them, it would hardly have been more hotly contested.
" Some of those who had won the race and were in the boat were ill-prepared with
clothing for the hardships they would have to endure, for if they had not their water-
proofs at hand, they did not delay to get them, fearing that the crew might be made up
before they got to the boat. But these men were supplied by the generosity of their
disappointed friends, who had come down better prepared, but too late for the enterprise ;
the famous cork jackets were thrown into the boat and at once put on by the men.
" The powerful steam-tug, well-named the Aid, that belongs to the harbour, and has
her steam up night and day ready for any emergency that may arise, speedily got her
: steam to full power, and with her brave and skilful master, Daniel Reading, in command,
took the boat in tow, and together they made their way out of the harbour. James
Hogben, who with Reading has been in many a wild scene of danger, was coxswain, and
steered and commanded the life-boat.
" It was nearly low water at the time, but the force of the gale was such as to send
a good deal of spray dashing over the pier ; the snow fell in blinding squalls, and
drifted and eddied in every protected nook and corner. It was hard work for the excited
crowd of people who had assembled to see the' life-boat start, to battle their way
through the drifts and against the wind, snow, and foam, to the head of the pier; but
there at last they gathered, and many a one felt his heart fail as the steamer and boat
cleared the protection of the pier, and encountered the first rush of the wind and sea
outside. ' She seemed to go out under water/ said one old fellow ; ' I would not have
.gone out in her for the universe.' And those who did not know the heroism and deter-
mination that such scenes call forth in the breasts of the boatmen, could not help
wondering much at the eagerness which had been displayed to get a place in the boat —
;and this although the hardy fellows knew that the two Mai-gate life-boats had been
wrecked in the attempt to get the short distance which separated the wreck from
Margate, while they would have to battle their way through the gale for ten or twelve
miles before they could get even in sight of the vessel/' And so the steamer with its
engines working full power plunged heavily along, the life-boat towed astern with fifty
fathoms (300 feet) of five-inch hawser out, an enormously strong rope about the thick-
ness of a man's wrist. The water flowed into and over the boat, and still, like any other
.good life-boat, she floated, and rose in its buoyancy, almost defying the great waves,
while her crew were knee-deep in water.
220
THE SEA.
They, making their way through the Cud channel, had passed between the black and
white buoys, so well-known to liamsgate visitors, when a fearful sea came heading towards
them. It met and broke over the steamer, buried her in foam and then passed on. The life-
boat rose to it, and for a moment hung with her bows high in air, then plunged bodily almost
under water. The men were nearly washed out of her, for at that moment the tow rope
broke, and the boat fell across the sea, which swept in rapid succession over her. " Oars out !
oars out ! " was the cry, but they could do nothing with them. The steamer was, however,
cleverly brought within a few yards to windward of the boat, and a hauling line, to which was
attached a new hawser, was successfully passed to the boat, and they again proceeded in the
RAMSGATE THE " AID GOING OUT.
teeth of the blinding snow and sleet and spray which swept over the boat, till the men looked,
as one said at the time, " like a body of ice."
Still they struggled on, till they reached the North Foreland, where the sea was running
mountains high, and although early in the afternoon, the air was so darkened by the storm
that the captain of the boat could not see the steamer only a hundred yards ahead, and
still less able were the men on board the steamer to see the life-boat. Now they sighted
Margate, and could plainly see the two disabled life-boats ashore. But where was the
wreck ? A providential break in the drift of snow suddenly gave them a glimpse of it, and
the master of the steamer made out the flag of distress flying in the rigging of the fated vessel.
But she was on the other side of the sand, and to tow the boat round would take a long time in
the face of such a gale ; while for the boat to make across the sand seemed almost impossible.
But although it seemed a forlorn hope, it was resolved to force her through the surf and sea
under sail, and the hawser was cast off. Now a new complication arose. The tide was found
to be running so furiously that they must be towed at least three miles to the eastward
; CURLY" WEATHER
THROUGH THE BREAKERS TO THE WRECK. 221
before they would be sufficiently far to windward to make certain of fetching the wreck. The
tow rope had to be got on board again, and it was a bitter disappointment to all, that an hour
or more of their precious time must be consumed before they could possibly get to the rescue of
their endangered brother seamen. The snow-squalls increased, and they lost sight of the
wreck again and again. " The gale, which had been increasing since the morning, came on
heavier than ever, and roared like thunder overhead, the sea was running so furiously and
meeting the life-boat with such tremendous force that the men had to cling on their hardest
o o
not to be washed out of her, and at last the new tow rope could no longer resist the increasing
strain, and suddenly parted with a tremendous jerk ; there was no thought of picking up the
cable again — they could stand no further delay, and one and all of her crew rejoiced to hear the
captain of the life-boat give orders to set sail."
Straight for the breakers they made in the increasing gloom ; no faltering or hesitation,
brows knit, teeth clenched, hands ready, and hearts firm. The boat, carrying the smallest
amount of sail possible, was driven on by the hurricane force of the wind, till she plunged
through the outer range of the breakers into the battling, seething, boiling sea, that marked
the treacherous shallows. " When they saw some huge breaker heading towards them like
an advancing wall, then the men threw themselves breast down on the thwart, curled their
legs under it, clasped it with all their force with both arms, held their breath hard, and clung
on for very life against the tear and wrestle of the waves, while the rush of water poured
over their backs and heads, and buried them in its flood. Down, down, beneath the weight
of the water, the men and boat sank ; but only for a moment ; the splendid boat rose in her
buoyancy, and freed herself of the seas, which for a moment had overcome her and buried her,
and her crew breathed again ; and a struggling cry of triumph rises from them, * Well done,
old boat ! well done/ "
A sudden break in the storm, and the wreck is revealed to them half a mile to leeward.
Her appearance made even these hardy men shudder. She had settled down by the stern,
her uplifted bow being the only part of the hull that was to be seen, and the sea was making
a clean breach over her. " The mainmast was gone, her foresail and foretopsail were blown
adrift, and great columns of foam were mounting up, flying over her foremast and bow.
They saw a Margate lugger lying at anchor just clear of the Sands, and made close to her.
As they shot by they could just make out, amid the roar of the storm, a loud hail, 'Eight
of our men on board I' and on they flew, and in a few minutes were in a sea that would
instantly have swamped the lugger, noble and powerful boat though she was.
" Approaching the wreck, it was with terrible anxiety they strained their sight, trying
to discover if there were still any men left in the tangled mass of rigging, over which the
sea was breaking so furiously. By degrees they made them out. ' I see a man's head.
Look! one is waving his arm/ — 'I make out two! three! why, the rigging is full of the
poor fellows ; ' and with a cheer of triumph, as being yet in time, the life-boat crew settled to
their work/' Four hours they had been battling the elements, while the shipwrecked crew had
waited eight hours despairingly, within a few miles of shore, shivering in the rigging. The
sails were lowered, and anchor cast overboard. " No cheering ! no shouting in the boat now,
no whisper beyond the necessary orders ; the risk and suspense are too terrible ! Yard by
yard the cable is cautiously paid out, and the great rolling seas are allowed to carry the
222
boat, little by little, nearer to the vessel. The waves break over the boat, for the moment
bury it, and then as the sea rushes on, and breaks upon the wreck, the spray, flying1 up,
hides the men lashed to the rigging- from the boatmen's sight. They hoist up a corner
of the sail to let the boat sheer in; all are ready; a huge wave lifts them. 'Pay out the
cable ! sharp, men ! sharp ! ' the coxswain shouts ; ' belay all ! ' The cable was let go a
few yards by the run, and the boat is alongside the wreck. With a cry, three men jump
into the boat and are saved ! ' All hands to the cable ! haul in hand over hand, for your
lives, men, quick ! ' the coxswain cries ; for he sees a tremendous wave rushing in swiftly
upon them. They haul in the cable, draw the boat a little from the wreck, the wave
passes and breaks over the vessel ; if the life-boat had been alongside she would have
been dashed against the wreck, and perhaps capsized, or washed over, and utterly destroyed.
Again the men watch the waves, and as they see a few smaller ones approaching, let the
cable run again, and get alongside ; this time they are able to remain a little longer by
the vessel ; and, one after another, thirteen of the shipwrecked men unlash themselves
from the rigging and jump into the boat, when again they draw away from the vessel in
all haste, and avoid threatened destruction." At last three Spaniards are left in the
rigging ; they seem nearly dead, and scarcely able to unlash themselves, and crawl down
the shrouds. The boat must be placed dangerously near the vessel, and two of the life-
boatmen must get on to the wreck and lift the men on board. They do it quietly, coolly,
determinedly. The last one left is a poor little cabin-boy; he seems entangled in the
rigging, and yet he holds fast to a canvas bag of trinkets and things he was taking as
presents to the loved ones at home. " God only knows," says Gilmore, " whether the
loved ones at home were thinking of and praying for him, and whether it was in answer
to their prayers and those of many others that the life-boat then rode alongside that wreck,
an ark of safety amid the raging seas.
"They shout, the boy lingers still, his half-dead hands cannot free the bag from the
entangled rigging. A moment and all are lost ; a boatman makes a spring, seizes the lad
with a strong grasp, and tears him down the rigging into the boat — too late, too late;
they cannot get away from the vessel ; a tremendous wave rushes on : hold hard all, hold
anchor ! hold cable ! give but a yard and all are lost. The boat lifts, is washed into
the fore-rigging, the sea passes, and she settles down again upon an even keel. Thank
God ! If one stray rope of all the torn and tangled rigging of the vessel had caught
the boat's rigging, or one of her spars — if the boat's keel or cork fenders had caught
in the shattered gunwale, she would have turned over, and every man in her been shaken
into the sea to speedy and certain death. Thank God ! it is not so, and once more they
are safe." Look at the boat now ; thirteen of its own crew, eight of the Margate and
Whitstable men, the captain, mate, eight seaman, and the boy, thirty-two souls in all.
"Will she be able to bring all this human freight safely to land? Their dangers are not
yet over; in fact, to the poor Spaniards, the terrors of death have not yet passed 'a way;
for they know little of the grand properties of a first-class English life-boat.
Now come the difficulties of clearing the wreck. The anchor holds, and there is no
thought of getting her up in such a gale and sea. The hatchet is passed forward ; there is a
moment's delay, a delay by which indeed all their lives are saved. Already one strand out of
SAVED AT LAST. 223
the three of which the strong- rope is composed is severed, when a fearful gust of wind sweeps
by, the boat heels over almost on her side — a crash is heard, and the mast and sail are blown
clean out of the boat ! she is carried straight for the wreck ; the cable is slack, they haul it in
as fast as they can, but on they are carried swiftly, as it would seem to certain destruction.
" Let them hit the wreck full, and the next wave must throw the boat bodily upon it, and all
her crew will be swept at once into the sea ; let them but touch the wreck, and the risk is
fearful ; on they are carried, the stem of the boat just grazes the bow of the vessel, they must,
be capsized by the bowsprit and entang-led in the wreckage ; some of the crew are ready for a
spring into the bowsprit to prolong- their lives a few minutes, the others are all steadily,
eagerly, quietly, hauling in upon the cable might and main, as the only chance of safety to the
boat and crew ; one moment more and all are gone, one more haul upon the cable, a fathom or
so comes in by the run, and at that moment mercifully taughtens and holds, all may yet be
safe ! another yard or two and the boat would have been dashed to pieces." This danger over,
they have to think of the mast and sail dragging over the side of the boat ; it is with great
difficulty that they get them on board, and rig them up once more. At last they sail away
from the Sands, the breakers and the wreck.
And now for the steamer, which at length they reach, passing on the way the lugger
Eclipse and the Whitstable smack, to the crews of which they were able to impart the good
tidings. When they reached the steamer the sea was raging, and the gale blowing as
much as ever, and it was no easy task to get the poor shipwrecked fellows on board,
as they were too exhausted to spring up her sides as the opportunity occurred ; and one
poor fellow was literally hauled on board with a rope. The return voyage was little less
dangerous than the voyage out, but at last the Ramsgate pier-head light shone out with
its bright welcome, and cheers broke out from the anxious crowd, as it was known that
nineteen men had been saved from a terrible and certain death. The Spanish sailors
were well cared for, and their captain, in speaking of the rescue, was almost overcome by
his feelings of gratitude and wonder, for he had made up his mind for death. He had a
picture made of the rescue to take home with him to show the Spanish authorities.
It is gratifying to know that so much bravery did not go unrewarded. The English
Board of Control presented each of the men with £2 and a medal, while the Spanish
Government gratefully acknowledged the heroic exertions put forth, by granting each a
medal and £3. And all the above is but one example of the work of our " Storm
Warriors/" whose glorious mission is to save.
One stormy night some years ago the Aid and the life-boat started from Ramsgate
in answer to rockets fired from one of the Goodwin light-vessels. They knew well what
it meant, but on reaching the edge of the Sands could not, after cruising about some
distance, find any traces of a vessel in distress. They waited till daylight, and then
were just able to distinguish the lower mast of a steamer standing out of the water.
They made towards it, but found no trace of life, no signs of any floating wreck to
which a human being could cling. They were forced to the conclusion that almost
immediately upon striking, the vessel must have broken up and sunk in the quicksand.
Poor crew ! poor passengers, maybe ! a sharp, sudden death ! Would that the vessel could
have held together a little longer !
224 THE SEA.
They had not proceeded much farther ahead in the hopes of assisting another vessel
ashore not far from Kingsgate, when the captain of the Aid saw a large life-buoy floating
by. " Ease her ! " he cries, and the way of the steamer slackens ; " God knows but what
that life-buoy may be of some use to us." The helmsman steers for it; a sailor
makes a hasty dart at it with a boat-hook, misses it, and starts back appalled from a
vision of staring eyes, and pale and agonised faces, matted hair, and arms outstretched for
help. The life-boat crew steer for the buoy ; the bowman grasps at it, but cannot lift it ;
his cry of horror startles the whole crew. Some of them hasten to help him. To that
buoy three dead bodies were found lashed with ropes round their waists. Slowly and
reverently, one by one, the crew lifted them on board, and laid them out under the sail.
Those three pale corpses were all that were ever found of the crew and passengei's — to what
number is not known precisely to-day — of the steamer Violet, which had left Ostend late
the previous evening. At two o'clock she struck the Sands ; a little after three there
was no one left on board to answer the signals of a steamboat that had come to
their rescue, and show their position; a little later and the Violet was lying a worthless
wreck below the breakers and quicksands.
Happily the efforts of the life-boat and steamer's men are almost invariably crowned
with success, where such is anything like possible. A grand success was scored some
years ago when the passengers and crew of a large emigrant ship, and the crew of
another vessel, one hundred and twenty in all, were rescued and brought into Ramsgate as
the result of one long night's work. The first ship, the Fusilier, was found hard and
fast on the Sands, in a perfect boil of waters, and the life-boat alone dare approach her,
the Aid being obliged to lay off at some distance. The terrified passengers looked down
upon the life-boat from the high ship's deck, which quivered with every thump on the
sands, wondering how many she could possibly save, and despairingly crowding round the
two life-boat's men who had sprung to the man-ropes when the boat had been lifted by a
sea close to the wreck. The lights from the ship's lamps and the faint moonlight
revealed a trembling, pale, and horror-stricken crowd, nine-tenths of whom had known
nothing before of the terrors of the sea, and who still despaired of ever seeing land again.
But every one of them, and the list included more than sixty women and children, were
saved. The women and children were taken off first, helped down by sailors slung in
bowlines over the vessel's side, to the plunging, restless boat, the dangers being greatly
enhanced by the helplessness and frantic terror of the poor creatures. Yet not even a
baby was lost, although many were thrown from the vessel to the outstretched arms of
the life-boat men. About thirty persons were conveyed at a time to the steamer, where
the difficulties of transference were nearly as ffreat as from the wreck, but at last all
v O
were safe on board. Then, as the heavily-freighted steamer turned her head for Ramsgate,
the emigrants mentioned how, during the previous night, they had seen a large ship
drifting fast for the Sands, and how in the darkness they had lost sight of her. A
sharp look-out was therefore kept, and as they proceeded down Prince's Channel, and
neared the lightship, their search was rewarded. They noted the remnants of a wreck well
over on the north-east side of the Girdler Sands, and immediately put back for the life-
boat, which had been left alongside the emigrant ship, where the captain remained in the
WAITING BY THE SHIP. 225
faint hope of saving- her eventually. Both put back to the second wreck, the hull of
which was almost torn to pieces, the timbers started, rent, and twisted — a mere skeleton
of a ship. To the foremast — hardly held in position by a remnant of shattered deck-
el ung- sixteen of an exhausted crew, including- a pilot and a boy of eleven. But a
rope was successfully thrown round the fore-rigging, and slowly, one by one, the poor
fellows dropped from the mast to the boat. Then " oars out/' lest a hole should be
knocked throug-h the boat's bottom by some part of the wreckage, and every rower
strained his utmost to get clear of her. This done, and the sail hoisted, the steamer
was soon reached, and a grand night's work consummated. One can imagine the keen
interest of the emigrants watching from the steamer the rescue of men from dangers
similar to, but even greater than, those through which they had themselves just
passed, and the enthusiasm ashore, at an almost unparalleled example of successful life-
boat work.
CHAPTER XVII.
"MAN THE LIFE-BOAT!" (continued].
A Portuguese Brig on the Sands— Futile Attempts to get her off— Sudden Break-up— Great Danger to the Life-boat—
Great Probability of being Crushed— An Old Boatman's Feelings— The Life-boat herself on the Goodwin-
Safe at Last— Gratitude of the Portuguese Crew— A Blaze of Light seen from Deal— Fatal Delay — Twenty-eight Lives
Lost— A Dark December Night— The almost-deserted Wreck of the Providentia—A. Plucky Captain— An Awful
Episode— The Mate beaten to Death— Hardly saved— The poor little Cabin-boy's Rescue— Another Wreck on the
Sands— Many Attempts to rescue the Crew— Determination of the Boatmen— Victory or Death !— The Aid Steamer
nearly wrecked— A novel and successful Experiment — Anchoring on Board— The Crew Saved.
THE emigrant ship mentioned in the preceding chapter was eventually got off the Sands ;
but although similar efforts are often made, they are by no means usually attended by
similar results. The danger of waiting by the ship is very considerable. Gilmore gives
us a good example of this in his account of a Portuguese brig on the Sands, of which
there were, at first, strong hopes of saving. Her masts and rigging, as at first seen by
the Ramsgate men, were all right, and her clean new copper was intact. " A grand
thing for all hands — for owners, underwriters, crew, and boatmen — the men think, if they
can only get her safely off when the tide rises, and bring her into harbour; a fine
vessel and perhaps valuable cargo saved, and a pretty piece of salvage, which will be well
earned, and nobody should grudge, for the boatmen have to live, as well as to save
life/' The captain had at first refused to employ the services offered by the crews of
two Broadstairs luggers, but at last was glad to avail himself of their assistance, coupled
with that of the life-boat men and the steam-tug Aid. The boatmen got an anchor
out astern as quickly as possible, the vessel being head on to the Sands, and used otber
means to assist the steamer's work. They hoped that the Aid would be able to back
close enough to them, to get a rope on board fastened to the flukes of the brig's
anchor, and to drag the anchor out, and drop it about one hundred fathoms astern of
the vessel. All hands would then have gone to the windlass, keeping a strain upon
69
00(5 THE SEA.
the cable, and, each time the vessel lifted, heaved with a will — the steamer, with a
hundred and twenty fathoms of nine-inch cable out, towing- hard all the time. By these;
means they expected to be able gradually to work the vessel off the Sands. But
they soon lost hope of doing this. The gale freshened about one o'clock in the morning;
the heavy waves rolled in over the sands, and she lifted and fell with shocks that
made the masts tremble and the decks gape open. The life-boat remained alongside,
afloat in the basin that the brig had worked in the sands, and it took all the efforts of
the men on board to prevent her getting under the side of the vessel, and being
crushed. The Portuguese captain still refused to desert his vessel, while the boatmen,
who knew the danger, were almost ready to force the crew to leave the ship.
Suddenly a loud sharp crack, like a crash of thunder, pealed through the ship. One
of her large timbers had snapped like a pipe-stem, and now the Portuguese sailors were
only too anxious to leave. Even then, however, they made a rush to get their things,
and soon eight sea-chests hampered the life-boat. The captain did not like to refuse
the poor fellows, although every moment was of consequence. The surf flew over the
brig, and boiled up all around her; the life-boat, deluged with spray, had all her lights
washed out. The snapping and rending of the brig's timbers was heard over the fury of
the storm ; she was breaking up fast. The boy was handed to the boat, the sailors fol-
lowing, and the brig was abandoned. But the danger was far from over.
The steamer and the luggers, exposed to the full fury of the increasing gale, were
outside, the former head to wind, steaming half-power. The steamer endeavoured to keep in
the neighbourhood of the wreck and of the life-boat. One of the lug-gers had to cut
her cable, without attempting to save her anchor, and make with all speed for Ramsgate ;
the second sprung her mast, which was flshed with great difficulty, and she too made the
best of her way for the harbour. The crew of the steamer could see nothing of the boat —
Was she swamped or stove, and all lost ? They made signals, but to no purpose ; and
the Aid cruised up and down the edge of the dangerous sands as near as might be,
hoping against hope. The night was pitchy dark, and the storm remained at its worst.
Through the thick darkness the bright light of the Goodwin light-vessel shone out like
a star. With a faint hope, the crew of the steamer wrestled their way through the
storm, and spoke the light-ship. Nothing had been seen of the life-boat. They hastened
to their old cruisiug-ground. How they longed for the light ! All hands were still on
watch, and as the faint grey light of dawning came, they sought with straining eyeballs
to penetrate the twilight, and find some sign of their lost comrades. It was almost
broad daylight before they could find the place where the wreck was lying, and when
they discovered it, lost all hope, for the brig was found completely broken up, actually
torn to pieces. They could see great masses of splintered timber and tangled rigging,
but not a sign of life. Sadly they turned from the fatal Goodwin, and made for the
harbour.
To return to the life-boat, afloat within the circle of the bed worked by the brig
in her wild careering. She could not by any possibility leave, though the wreck threatened
to roll over her every moment, for outside were the shallow sands, and she was grounding
every few moments. " Crash ! the brig heaves, and crushes down upon her bilge ; again and
DANGERS TO THE LIFE-BOAT. 227
again/' says the narrator, " she half lifts upon an even keel, and rolls and lurches from
side to side ; each time that she falls to leeward she comes more and more over, and nearer
to the boat.
" This is the danger that may well make the stoutest heart quail. The boat is
aground — helplessly aground ; her crew can see through the darkness of the night the
yards and masts of the brig swaying over their heads, now tossing high in the air as
the brig rights, and now falling nearer and nearer to them, sweeping down over their
heads, swaying and rending in the air, the blocks, and ropes, and torn fragments of
sails flying wildly in all directions. Let but one of the swaying yards hit the boat,
she must be crushed, and all lost. The men crouch down closer and closer, clinging to
the thwarts as the brig falls to them, casting dread glances at the approaching yards ;
all right once more ; another pull at the cable — hard, men, hard ; over again comes the
brig ; stick to it, stick to it, my men ; crushed or drowned, it will be soon over if we
cannot move the boat ; another pull; all together ; again and again they make desperate efforts
to stir the boat, but she will not move one inch; they must wait, and, if needs be, wait
their doom/' And so through hours of fearful suspense, half dead with cold and the
ceaseless rush of surf over them, watching in the shadowy darkness the swaying masts
and flying blocks, expecting- each moment to be their last.
But at length a dawn of hope arrived ; the boat lifted on the swell of the tide that was
beginning to reach her, and though she immediately grounded again, the men knew that all was
not lost. After desperate hauling on the cable they at last were able to ride to their anchor a
few yards clear of the brig. But to get away from the sand in the face of the fierce gale and
tide was impossible, and so there was no alternative, they must beat right across the sands, and
this in the wild fearful gale, and terrible sea, and pitch-dark night. Breaker after breaker
rushed furiously towards and over them ; the men were nearly washed out of the boat ;
and, worse, the anchor began to drag, and every moment they drifted nearer to the
wreck again. There might now be water enough to take them clear; at all events,
they must risk it. The foresail was hoisted and the cable cut, and she leaped forward,
but only for a few yards, when she grounded upon the sands again with a terrible shock,
and again within reach of the brig. Huge breakers came tearing along, and, at last,
after many such experiences, they were once more clear of the wreck. Then another danger
arose. A small life-boat belonging to the Broadstairs men had been in tow all this
time, and when the Ramsgate boat grounded she came crashing along into her. The
Ramsgate men had, in the midst of the boiling sea, to fend her off with their feet,
and at last cut her adrift. The sea-chests of the Portuguese sailors — or at least those
not already washed away — were thrown overboard. Again and again she grounded on
the sand ridges washed up by the surf — ridges giant editions of the little sand-ripples on
the sea-shore so well remembered by all visitors to our coasts, but two and three
feet high, instead of as many inches.
" One old boatman/' says Gilmore, " afterwards thus described his feelings : — ' Well,
sir, perhaps my friends were right when they said I hadn't ought to have gone out —
that I was too old for that sort of work ' (he was then about sixty years of age) , ' but,
you see, when there is life to be saved, it makes one feel young again; and I've
228 THE SEA.
always felt I had a call to save life when I could, and I wasn't going to hang Lack
then. And I stood it better than some of them, after all. I did my work on board
the brig, and when she was so near falling over us, and when the Dreadnought life-boat
seemed knocking our bottom out, I got on as well as any of them; but when we got
to beating and grubbing over the sands, swinging round and round, and grounding every
few yards with a jerk that bruised us sadly, and almost tore our arms out from the
sockets ; no sooner washed off one ridge, and beginning to hope that the boat was clear,
than she thumped upon another harder than ever, and all the time the wash of the
surf nearly carrying us out of the boat — it was truly almost too much for any man
to stand. There was a young fellow holding on next to me; I saw his head begin to
drop, and that he was getting faint, and going to give over ; and when the boat filled with
water, and the waves went over his head, he scarcely cared to struggle free. I tried to
cheer him a bit, and keep his spirits up. He just clung to the thwart like a drowning
man. Poor fellow ! he never did a day's work after that night, and died in a few
months/ And then the old man described how he took his life-belt off, that he might
have it over all the quicker ; how the captain cheered them up by crying out, ' We'll
see Ramsgate yet again, my men, if we steer clear of old wrecks;' and how he was going
off into a kind of stupor when the clouds broke a little, and one bright star shone out, a
star of life and hope to him. For seven whole days after the poor old man reached shore
he lost his speech, and lay like a log on his bed, while all the men were considerably
shaken. 'I cannot describe it/ said he, f and you cannot, neither can any one else;
but when you say you've beat and thumped over those sands, almost yard by yard, in a
fearful storm on a winter's night, and live to tell the tale, why it seems to me about the
next thing to saying that you've been dead, and brought to life again.' '•
But suddenly the swinging and beating of the boat ceased : she was in a heavy sea, but
in deep water, and she answered her helm. The crew soon got more sail on her, and she made
good way before the gale. Even the Portuguese sailors lifted their heads. They had been
clinging together and to the boat, crouching down under the lee of the foresail, utterly
despairing of life ; now their joy knew no bounds. They were noticed earnestly con-
sulting together. They had lost their kits, and only possessed the clothes they stood
in and a few pounds in money (about £17) between them, but the latter they determined
to present to the crew. "I, for one, won't touch any of it," said the coxswain of the
boat. " Nor I ! " " Nor I ! " all added ; " put your money up." And so to the harbour,
where their consul took care of them. When the steamer arrived later on, what was
not the surprise and delight of the captain and all hands to find the life-boat at her old
moorings, and their comrades in so many dangers all safe in port !
For by far the larger proportion if not indeed nearly the whole of these life-savers
work con amore, and a mishap or positive disaster is often to them an agonising disappointment.
One stormy New Year's Eve some rears ago " a ship was seen off Deal beach in almost a blaze
of light, burning tar-barrels and firing rockets, to tell of her distress; an intervening fog
seemed to prevent the look-out on board the light-vessel seeing her, and some boatmen on Deal
beach, who could not possibly get their boats off the sands in the face of the strong gale
blowing straight on shore, put their halfpence together to pay for a telegraph message — the
LOST IN SIGHT OF LAND.
229
messages were dearer then than they are now — and sent their swiftest runner to telegraph
to Ranisgate; and, after all, there was some unfortunate mistake, and fatal delay, and a
telegram at last sent for further particulars, which was answered with a demand for
urgent speed, and away then flew steamer and life-boat, and they neared the wreck,
and rounded to, to send the life-boat in, when some of the boatmen thought they heard an
agonising shriek, and others thought it was only the wail of the storm; but they looked,
and the great green seas swept over the wreck, turned her right over, and she was seen
A GKOVP OF LIFE-BOAT MEN.
no more, and twenty-eight lives went to their account. A piteous New Year's tale it was
that was told next morning. A boat's crew got away from the ship soon after she struck, and,
battling through the broken seas, made way before the wind to Dover, and they told the
story that the lost vessel had picked up a shipwrecked crew, who were thus a second time
wrecked, and at the second time lost; and that more of the crew would have come
away in the boat, and in other boats, but it was a great risk ; and there was a Deal
pilot on board, who pointed out the danger, and said that the Ramsgate life-boat was
sure to be o\\t to their rescue, they might be sure of her ; and so they stayed and
lighted tar-barrel after tar-barrel, and fired rocket after rocket ; and when the sea
washed their signal-fires out and swept the decks, they took to the rigging, and waited
for the life-boat; and as they waited, the poor Deal pilot could watch the light on the
THE SEA.
beach, by the house where slept his wife and eight children, who were to call him
husband — father — no more/' The life-boat men hardly like to speak of such a cruel
disaster — blameless though they be in the matter. In this particular case a Board of
Trade inquiry acquitted them and all else concerned of any blame whatever.
A dark December night, and a large ship reported ashore on the Goodwins. The
harbour-master hurries to Ramsgate pier-head ; he and all with him can see nothing ;
they cross-question the man who asserts that he observed during a lift in the fog a
vessel on the sands. Although there is no signal from the light-vessels, the harbour-
master decides to send out steamer and life-boat. The crews of both soon discover
the vessel looming through the mist, a complete wreck, her bow to the sea, her mizen-
mast down to the deck, and the wild seas running over her. There are no sailors to
be seen lashed in her rigging. Have all on board perished ?
Thank God ! not so. After infinite difficulty, and after nearly getting entangled with
some of the wreckage, the life-boat crew get near the vessel, and find that three men
and a boy are crouching under the shelter of the deck-house; they must be a small
proportion of the original crew, for she is a large ship, and must have had some fifteen
or sixteen hands aboard. The men have been crouching there for hours, and their con-
fidence in the advent of the life-boat had been so strong that they had prepared for
her coming by preparing a life-buoy, with a long line fastened to it, ready to throw
overboard.
As the long hours passed, fervent hope had been dashed by wild despair. Sud-
denly the life-boat appears, coming up to her cable just astern of the vessel ; it is to
them as a reprieve from death, and they wake to life and action. They throw the
life-buoy and line to the life-boat men, and after much trouble the latter get it on board.
All hands lay hold on the rope, and do their utmost to haul the life-boat nearer to
the wreck, but the heavy gale, terrific sea, and strong tide, render it impossible. A
tremendous sea comes rushing over the vessel, and for the moment swamps the boat,
knocking down five or six of the men, hurting some of them severely, but she lifts
again, and no one is lost. But what of the poor crew ? The life-boat men feel that
it is impossible to haul their boat nearer the ship.
" To their great surprise, they see the captain spring up from the lee of the
deck-house, hurriedly take off his oilskin coat, throw it into the water, and then,
jumping on the gunwale, grasp the hawser that holds the boat, and slide down into the
boiling sea. A huge wave breaks over him and washes him away from the rope; he
now tries to swim to the boat, but the life-boat is not directly astern — the sheer she has to
her cable that is fastened to the anchor, which was thrown over some distance to the side
of the vessel, prevents her dropping right astern; and although the captain has but to
swim a few yards out of the direction of the sweep of sea and tide, it is impossible for
him to manage it. He is perfectly overwhelmed by the boil of sea, tossed wildly up
and down, wave after wave beating over him : it is all that he can do to keep his head
above water, and cannot guide his course in the least ; the boatmen try all they can
to make the boat sheer towards him, so as to reach him or throw him a rope, but it
is impossible : they cannot get sufficiently near, and in a few seconds they see him swept
BEATEN TO DEATH IN THE WAVES. 231
rapidly by in the swift tide. Jarman, the coxswain of the boat, seizes a life-buoy, and
throws it with all his force towards him; the wind catches it, and helps the throw;
it falls near him ; he makes a spring forward and reaches it ; the men gladly see that he
has got it; they see him put his two hands upon one side, as if to get upon it; as he
leans forward it falls over his head like a hoop; he gets his arms through it, and
shouting to the boatmen, ' All right ! ' he waves his hand as if to beckon them to follow
him, and goes floating down in the strong tide and among the raging, leaping seas, in
a strange wild dance, that threatens indeed to be a dance of death." With terror
and dismay they watch him in his fearful struggle, till he is lost to their view, quite out
of sight among the waves ; they could not follow him, however much they might have
wished it, for it might be hours before they could get back to the ship, and the two
men and boy still aboard.
And had they thought of so doing the next episode would have obliged them to
desist. A tremendous crash startles them all ; the mainmast has fallen over the port
side of the vessel. The men on board give a loud cry ; the chief mate springs wildly to
the starboard quarter, and, making the end of the mainbrace hanging there fast round
his waist, drops into the sea. He is a powerful swimmer ; but what can he do in a
tide and sea so tremendous that twelve strong men cannot haul the boat one foot against
them ? And so a fearful tragedy is worked out before their very eyes. Now he is buried in
a sea; now he is thrown high in the air on the crest of a wave, but he never nears the
boat, nor can it near him. He strikes out wildly, as if to make a last effort, and cries
aloud in his agony and despair. They try again and again to throw the lead-line over
the rope which holds the poor fellow, but the boat is pitching and tossing so much that
their efforts are all in vain. "'Now he rises on a wave; now try; heave with a will,
well clear of his head. Ah ! missed again ; look out ; hold on all ! ' A wave rushes over
them, boat and all ; another half minute, and they make another attempt. No ! all in
vain, each time it falls short. The struggle cannot last long ; strong and young as the man
is, his strength cannot possibly endure long in such a conflict; his cries grow more
feeble, and soon cease; they see him try and get back to the ship, climbing up the rope,
but his strength fails, and he falls back; his arms and legs are still tossed wildly
about, but it is by the action of the waves ; his head drops and sinks ; yes ! it is all
over ! — all over with him ! " Think of the second mate and cabin-boy on the wreck,
watching in helpless horror the death they could not avert, and which may be theirs in a
few moments !
The deck-house under which they have been crouching is beginning to break up,
and the remaining man, throwing himself on the rope by which the life-boat is made
fast to the ship, attempts to reach the boat. The breakers rush over him as he pain-
fully struggles on, and he is again and again buried in the waves. At last he reaches
the high bow of the life-boat, which is leaping and falling and jerking, tearing the
hawser up and down in the seas, as if trying to throw him from his hold. His hands
convulsively clutch the rope; pale, and with jaw dropping, he seems about to swoon,
and in another moment he will be gone. " The man in the bow of the boat has been
watching his every movement, has shuddered with dismay as he saw the seas wash over
232
THE SEA.
him, expecting him to be carried away in the strong tide. No; he still grasps the rope,
and at last is within reach ! In one spring, and with a cry to his mates, ' Hold me 1
hold me!' the boatman throws himself upon the raised fore-deck of the life-boat, and,
with his body half-stretched over the stern, he grasps the collar of the sailor. The
drowning man throws his arm around the boatman's neck, and clings to him convulsively,
by his weight dragging the man's head down and burying it in the water; but the
brave fellow clings as hard to the half-dead sailor as the sailor does to him ; the seas
wash bodily over them and over the bow of the boat; up and down the boat plunges-
ON THE COAST AT DEAL.
them both, but he still holds on; three or four of the boatmen have hold of his legs,
and are doing their utmost to pull him back into the boat, but they cannot do so;
and so the struggle goes on : it is only as the boat rises on a wave and throws her bow
up in the air that the men can breathe." And now a new horror, for right down upon
them comes the wreck of one of the ship's largest boats, which has just got free of
the wreckage. Thank God ! it just passes clear of them. The boatmen cannot get
the men in over the high bow of the boat, and the two poor fellows are drowning
fast, and so they drag them along the side of the boat, still clinging together, to the
waist of the boat, where the gunwale is very low, and with more assistance succeed in
getting them aboard.
And now for the poor boy, still clinging to the gunwale, and crying out in piteous
MIRACULOUSLY SAVED. 233
tones. Each moment, as the waves dash over the vessel, the boatmen expect to see him
washed overboard like a cork. What can be done ? No one can mount the rope in tha
face of the seas and tide which had really helped the poor fellow now safely on the boat.
There seems no hope of taking- him off by any means whatever, but the coxswain deter-
mines to haul the boat up to the ship sharply, and attempt it. Scarcely are the orders
given, when some of the men give a cry, "' What's that? look out'/ Yes, he is overboard,
washed over by that big sea. e Where is he ? where is he ? There he is ! No ; only his
cap ! there he lifts on that sea — he is coming straight for the boat ! ' From the change
and eddy of the tide, the rush of the sea past the boat is not nearly so rapid as it was,
and the poor boy comes floating slowly from the ship; once or twice he has been rolled
under by the waves, now he is on the surface again, and near the boat. ' Here he
comes! look! on that wave! Lost! No, he floats again! Slacken hawsers! Now he is
within reach! Carefully, quick! Now you have got him! He is making no effort, and
floating with his head under water ! ' A boatman manages to hook his jacket with a long
boat-hook, and pulls him towards the boat; gently the men lift him in, sorrowfully, and
tears are in the eyes of more than one as they look upon the small face. ' Poor little
chap ! Too late ! too late ! he's gone ! ' J Their efforts are now all needed to get clear
of the wreck, cut the cable, and raise the sail, all which being done successfully, they
go off smartly before the wind, and have time to look to the poor boy again. Kind
hands chafe his hands and rub his back and limbs, and put a little rum to his lips, and
after about half an hour they have the joy of seeing him show signs of life, and their
efforts are redoubled. Some of the men take the dryest of their jackets and wrap him up
tenderl}r, lying him under the mizen-sail. He eventually recovers.
But, strangest part of all this eventful story, the captain, who had been two hours in
the seething waters, is picked up alive, although, it may well be believed, in a terrible
state of exhaustion. At first he seems to be dying, but at length, after the men have done
their best in chafing and rubbing, he gets a little better, and is able to tell them that his
vessel, the Providentia, was a full-rigged ship from Finland, and that he himself is a
Russian Fin, which accounts for his miraculous preservation in the water, as the Fins
are the hardiest of sailors. Eleven of his men had left the ship in their best boat, and
were, it was eventually found, blown over to Boulogne.
The waves are rolling along in all their fury, and beat down upon the sands with
tremendous force, and among them, and settled down somewhat, is a large barque. The
life-boat men look at the awful rage of sea, and say to each other, "We have indeed
our work cut out for us." There are no signs of life on board the wreck, but the flag
of distress is still flying, and the steamer tows the boat nearer to her. Then the crew
is discovered crouching in the shelter of the deck-house, while the huge waves make a
complete breach over the vessel, threatening to wash away both house and crew. The
steamer takes the boat to windward and lets her go. The boat's sail is hoisted, and she
makes for the wreck. A minute more and they are in the broken water, the seas falling in
tangled volumes over the boat, and she is tossed in all directions by the wild broken
waves. She fills again and again, and the men have to cling with all their strength to
the thwarts; but still the wind drives the boat on, and they get within about sixty yards
70
THE SEA.
of the wreck, when the anchor is thrown out and the cable paid out swiftly. The men
shout out, to encourage the poor trembling wretches on board, and, just as they expect
to make a first successful rescue of a part of them, are nearly swamped by a fearful wave,
which carries them a hundred yards away. They prepare for another attempt, hoist
the sail, and try to sheer her to the vessel, but all their efforts are in vain. Wave
after wave breaks over them, and the boat is tossed in all directions by the broken
seas. Sometimes the coxswain feels as if he would be thrown bodily forward on the men,
as the waves almost lift the boat end on end. They must give it up for this time ; the
very oars are blown from the row-locks and out of the men's hands. Again and again
they are baulked in their efforts to reach the ill-starred vessel. Yet again and again they
cheer, to keep up the spirits of its half-drowned and frozen crew.
The ship's hull has now been under water for some time, and is breaking up fast. On
board the Aid the mortar apparatus is got ready, in the hope of getting near enough to
the vessel to fire a line into her rigging. " Cautiously the steamer approaches ; the
tide has been for some time rising fast ; the steamer does not draw much water; they
are almost within firing distance; the waves come rushing along and nearly overrun the
steamer; at last a breaker, larger than the rest, catches her, lifts her high upon its crest,
and letting her fall down into its trough as down the side of a well, she strikes the
sands heavily ; the engines are instantly reversed ; she lifts with the next wave, and being
a very quick and handy boat, at once moves astern before she can thump again, and
they are saved from shipwreck; and thus the fifth effort to save the shipwrecked crew
fails." No time is lost; at once the steamer heads for the life-boat, and makes ready to
again tow her into position for a fresh attempt. The masts of the wreck are quivering,
and it is evident that she is breaking up fast.
The life-boat men consult together as to the plan of their next effort. At last
one of the men proposes a mode, most assuredly novel, and which must, indeed, either
prove rescue to the shipwrecked or death to all. " I'll tell you what, my men, if we are
going to save those poor fellows, there is only one way of doing it : it must be a case of
save all or lose all, that is just it ! We must go in upon the vessel straight, hit her
between the masts, and throw our anchor over right upon her decks." This is, almost
naturally, derided by some as a hair-brained trick. Let us see the result.
"Once more the boat heads for the wreck — this time to do or to die; each man
knows it, each man feels it. They are crossing the stern of the vessel. 'Look at that
breaker! Look at that breaker! Hold on! hold on! It will be all over with us if it catches
us ; we shall be thrown high into the masts of the vessel, and shaken out into the sea in
a moment ! Hold on all, hold on ! Now it comes ! No, thank God ! it breaks ahead of
us, and we have escaped. Now, men, be ready, be ready!' Thus shouts the coxswain.
Every man is at his station ; some with the ropes in hand ready to lower the sails, others
by the anchor, prepared to throw it overboard at the right moment ; round, past the
stern of the vessel, the boat flies, round in the blast of the gale and the swell of the
sea ; down helm ; round she comes ; down foresail ; the ship's lee gunwale is under water ;
the boat shoots forward straight for the wreck, and hits the lee rail with a shock that
almost throws all the men from their posts, and then, still forward, she literally leaps on
PKOFESSIOXAL WRECKING.
235
board the wreck. Over ! over with the anchor. It falls on the vessel's deck. All the
crew of the vessel are in the mizen shrouds, but they cannot get to the boat : a fearful
rush of sea is chasing- over the vessel, and between them and it. Again and again the boat
thumps on the wreck as on a rock, with a shock that almost shakes the men from
their hold/' The waves carry her off, but the anchor holds, and they manage to haul
on board another line. Again and again the boat washes away, but comes up to the
vessel again ; and, one by one, ten poor Danes are got on board. One sailor jumps from
the rigging; the boat sinks in the trough of the sea, and he falls between her and the
wreck; a second, and he would be crushed; two boatmen seize him, and are themselves
seized by their companions, or they would go overboard.
The long battle was over; was it not one worth fighting? So thought the King
of Denmark, who sent two hundred rix-dollars to be divided among the men, who
were also rewarded by the Board of Trade. The boatmen are poor men, and such presents
come in very acceptably ; but their greatest satisfaction must ever come from the memory
of their own brave deeds.
CHAPTER XVIII.
" WRECKING" AS A PROFESSION.
Probable Fate of a rich Vessel in the Middle Ages— Maritime Laws of the Period— The King's Privileges— Coeur de Lion
and his Plnactnicnts— The Roles d'Oleron— False Pilots and Wicked Lords— Stringent Laws of George II. — The Home-
ward-bound Vessel— Plotting Wreckers— Lured Ashore—" Dead Men Tell no Tales"— A Series of Facts— Brutality to a
Captain and his Wife— Fate of a Plunderer— Defence of a Ship against Hundreds of Wreckers— Another Example-
Ship Boarded by Peasantry — Police Attacked by Thousands— Cavalry Charge the Wreckers— Hundreds of Drunken
Plunderers— A Curious Tract of the Last Century— A Professional Wrecker's Arguments— A Candid Bahama Pilot.
THE great historian, Hallam, says : ft In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries a rich vessel
was never secure from attack, and neither restitution nor punishment of the criminals was
to be obtained from Government, who sometimes feared the plunderer, and sometimes
connived at the offence/' As we have seen before, some of the greatest names of the
Elizabethan and later days were often not much better than legalised pirates. But the
poor sailors and owners were not merely the prey of these sea wolves ; there were then
and for centuries afterwards, nearly to our own days, " land-rats " ashore, who were to
the pirates what sneak-thieves were to the highwaymen of romance. Those "good old
days/' when " wrecking" was considered a legitimate pursuit !
In preceding chapters the maritime laws and customs of successive ages have been
briefly traced. Piracy was almost openly recognised in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, and a foreign ship with a rich cargo was too often regarded as rightful prey.
There was a constant petty warfare between maritime nations, and frequently even between
towns of the same nation. Thus, in the year 1251 some Winchelsea mariners attacked
a Yarmouth vessel, and killed some of her crew.
SURVIVORS RESCUED FROM THE RIGGING OF A WRECK.
OLD LAWS ON WRECKING. 237
Prior to the reign of Henry I. all wrecked property belonged to the king1. Whether
it was found necessary to make the king the owner of wreckage, in order to lessen the
temptation to wreck vessels and murder the crews — no unfrequent occurrence, even in the last
century — or " however it was/' says Gilmore, " the law existed, and the shipwrecked merchant
might come struggling ashore upon a broken spar, and find the coast strewn with scattered
but still valuable goods so lately his, but now by law his no longer any more than they
belonged to the half-dozen rude fishermen who stood watching the torn wreck and dis-
persed cargo being wave-lifted high upon the beach." Henry I. decreed that neither wreck
nor cargo should become the property of the Crown if any man of the crew escaped with
life to shore. It is to be feared that this well-meant law led to many a heartless
murder. His successor expanded the law to the extent that if even a beast came ashore
alive, the wreck and goods should belong to the original owners. Even the proverbial cat
with nine lives might thus save a vessel.
Richard Coeur de Lion, always truly chivalrous, would have nought to do with plun-
dering the plundered, and he decreed "that all persons escaping alive from a wreck
should retain their goods; that wreck or wreckage should only be considered the property
•of the king when neither an owner nor the heir of a late owner could be found for it."
Some authorities will not couple the name of Richard with the " Roles d'Oleron," but it is
certain that they were first promulgated in or about his time. They afford us some idea
of* the terrible system of wrecking then prevalent ; such laws would not have been pro-
mulgated without good reason. Note their stringency.
"An accursed custom prevailing in some parts; inasmuch as a third or fourth part
of the wrecks that come ashore belong to the lord of the manor where the wrecks take
place, and that pilots, for profit from these lords and from the wrecks, like faithless and
treacherous villains, do purposely run the ships under their care upon the rocks," the law
declares " that all false pilots shall suffer a most rigorous and merciless death, and be hung
on high gibbets ; " while " the wicked lords are to be tied to a post in the middle of
their own houses, which shall be set on fire at all four corners, and burnt, with all that
shall be therein, the goods being first confiscated for the benefit of the persons injured,
and the site of the houses shall be converted into places for the sale of hogs and swine."
And again, " If people, more barbarous, cruel, and inhuman than mad dogs, murdered ship-
wrecked folk, they were to be plunged into the sea until half dead, and then drawn out
and stoned to death." The pilot who negligently caused shipwreck was to make good
the losses or lose his head; but the master and sailors were, as a saving clause (prin-
cipally for the owners !), to be persuaded that he had not the means to make good the losa
before they cut off his head.
And so, without much change, the laws stood till the reign of George II. ; and, alas !
it does not seem that human nature, on our coasts at least, had greatly improved, for
otherwise there would hardly have been necessity for a new Act, bristling with threats.
The preamble states : — " That notwithstanding the good and salutary laws now in being
against plundering and destroying vessels in distress, and against taking away ship-
wrecked, lost, and stranded goods, that still many wicked enormities had been committed,
to the disgrace of the nation ; " and it was therefore enacted that death should be the
238 THE SEA.
punishment for hanging out false lights to lure vessels to their destruction ; death for
those who killed shipwrecked persons ; and death for stealing cargo or wreckage, whether
any one on board remained alive or not.
Every now and again some fearful tragedy, reported in our ever-vigilant press, opens
our eyes to the possibilities of human degradation and depravity ; but, in spite of all, thank
God ! these examples are few and far between. Does this not tend, at least, to show that
the world now-a-days is better and kinder, and, in a word, more Christian-like, than in former
days ? Let the reader think — aye, and ponder, and think again — over the preceding para-
graph. Could men — aye, and women too — assist not merely in robbery and plunder, but in
first causing the wreck, and then, to cover up all, in mui'dering the few poor survivors?
A writer from, whom we have already quoted says : —
" Imagine a homeward-bound vessel, some two hundred and fifty years ago, clumsy in
build, awkward in rig, little fitted for battling with the gales of our stormy coast, but
yet manned with strong, stout-hearted men, who made their sturdy courage compensate
for deficiency of other means ; think of many perils overcome, a long weary voyage nearly
ended, the crew rejoicing in thoughts of home, of home-love and home-rest, the head-
lands of dear Old England — loved by her sons no less then than now — lying a dark line
upon the horizon, the night growing apace, the breeze freshening, ever freshening, adding
each moment a hoarser swell to the deep murmurs of its swift-following blasts, the ship
scudding on, breasting the seas with her bluff bows, rising and pitching with the running
waves, which cover her with foam !
"Look on land! Keen eyes have watched the signs of the coming storm; men,
more greedy than the foulest vulture, f more inhuman than mad dogs/ have cast most cruel
and wistful glances seaward ! Yes, their eyes light up with the very light of hell as they
see in the dim distance the white sail of a struggling ship making towards the land !
li And now try to imagine the scene as the night falls and the storm gathers. Two
or three ill-looking fellows drop in, say, to a low tavern standing in a bye-lane that leads
from the cliff to the beach in some village on our south-western coast. Soon muttered
hints take form, and in low whispers the men talk over the chances of a wreck this wild
night. They remember former gains; they talk over disappointments, when, on similar
nights of darkness, wildness, and storm, vessels discovered their danger too soon for them,
and managed to weather the headlands of the bay.
" The plot takes form ; with many a deep and muttered curse the murderous decision
is taken that if a vessel can be trapped to destruction it shall be.
"There is an old man of the party whose brow is furrowed with dread lines; he
does not say much, but every now and then his eyes glare, and his features work as if
convulsed. His comrades look at him — twice — and, as a terrific squall shakes the house, a
third time. Silently he rises, and leaves the inn. . . . Now in the pitch darkness of
the night, with bowed head, and faltering steps battling against the storm, the old man
leads a white horse along the edge of the cliff. To the top of the horse's tail a lantern
is tied, and the light sways with the movement of the horse, and in its movements seems
not unlike the masthead light of a vessel rocked by the motion of the sea. A whisper
has gone through the village of a chance of something happening during the night, and
ACTUAL EXAMPLES OF WRECKING. 239
most of the men and many of the women are on the alert, lurking in the caves beneath
the cliff, or sheltered behind jutting- pieces of rock.
" The vessel makes in steadily for the land ; the captain grows uneasy, and fears running
into danger ; he will put the vessel round, and try and battle his way out to sea.
" The look-out man reports a dim light ahead. What kind ? and Whither away ? H^
can make out that it is a ship's light, for it is in motion. Yes, she must be a vessel
standing on in the same course as that which they are on. It is all safe, then ; the captain
will stand in a little longer ; when suddenly, in the lull of the storm, a hoarse murmur is
heard — surely the sound of the sea beating upon rocks ! Yes ! look ! a white gleam
upon the water ! Breakers ahead ! breakers ahead ! Oh, a very knell of doom ! The cry
rings through the ship, ' Down, down with helm — round her to ! ' Too late, too late ! A
crash, a shudder from stem to stern of the stout ship, the shriek of many voices in
their agony, green seas sweeping over the vessel, and soon broken timbers, bales of cargo,
and lifeless bodies scattered along the beach, while the shattered remnant of the hull is
torn still further to pieces with each insweep of the mighty seas as they roll it to and
fro among the rocks. Fearful and crafty the smile that darkened the dark face of the
willing murderer who was leading the horse with the false light as he heard the
crash of the vessel and the shrieks of the drowning crew ! Fearful the smile that darkened
the faces of the men and women waiting on the beach as they came out from their
places, ready to struggle and fight among themselves for any spoil that might come
ashore ! A homeward-bound ship from the Indies ! Great good fortune — rich spoil ! Bale
after bale is seized upon by the wreckers, and dragged high upon the beach out of the
way of the surf. But, see ! a sailor clinging to a bit of broken mast ! With his last
conscious effort he gains a footing on the shore, staggers forward, and falls. Is he alive ?
Not now ! Why did that fearful old woman kneel upon his chest and cover his mouth
with her cloak ? Dead men tell no tales — claim no property ! "
Alas ! the above is no imaginary or exaggerated statement of facts.
A few examples, Avhich have occurred for the most part within the last hundred years
or so, are appended. They have been culled from that most rigidly correct chronicler, the
Annual Register : —
Lent Circuit, 1774. — At Shrewsbury Assizes, bills of indictment were preferred by
Captain Chilcot, late of the Charming Jenny, against three opulent inhabitants of the Isle
of Anglesea, one of whom is said to be possessed of a considerable estate, and to have
offered five thousand pounds bail in order to their being tried at the next assizes on a
charge of piracy, when the bills were found. It appeared that on the llth September, 1773?
in very bad weather, in consequence of false lights being discovered, the captain bore for
shore, when his vessel, whose cargo was valued at £19,000, went to pieces, and all the
crew, except the captain and his wife, perished, the latter being brought on shore on a
portion of the wreck. Nearly exhausted, they lay for some time, till the savages of the
adjacent places rushed down upon them. The lady was just able to lift a handkerchief
up to her head when her husband was torn from her side. They cut the buckles
from his shoes, and deprived him of every covering. Happy to escape with his life,
he hasted to the beach in search of his wife, when, horrible to relate, her half-naked
240 THE SEA.
and plundered corpse presented itself to his view. What to do Captain Chilcot was at
a loss. Providence, however, conducted him to the roof of a venerable pair, who
bestowed upon him every assistance. The captain's wife, it seems, at the time the ship
went to pieces, had two bank bills of a considerable value and seventy guineas in her
pocket. At the Summer Assizes at Salop, Roberts and Parry, two of the above-named, were
found guilty of plundering the Charming Jenny, but their counsel pleading an arrest of
judgment, sentence was suspended. Eventually one was executed, and one had his sentence
commuted.
On the 7th September, 1782, one John Webb was executed at Hereford for having
plundered a Venetian vessel drawn on shore on the coast of Glamorganshire by stress
of weather. No mention is made of hurting or molesting the crew, and it is evident
that the laws were, about this time, stringently carried out. "This," said the Annual
Register, " it is hoped, will put a final stop to that inhuman practice of plundering ships
wrecked upon the coast."
Next follows an example in the present century: — " Jany. 8, 1811. — Another daring
attempt (says the Register] was made by a party of country-people at Clonderalaw
Bay to take possession of the American ship Romulus on this day. They assembled
at about ten in the evening, to the amount of about two or three hundred, and com-
menced a firing of musketry, which they kept up at intervals for three hours ; when,
finding a steady resistance from the crew, and guard of yeomanry which had been put on
the vessel on her first going on shore, they retired. The shot they fired appeared to
be cut from square bars of lead, about half an inch in diameter. One of these miscreants
dropped, and was carried away by his companions."
The following is an extract from a letter: — " On Friday, the 27th of October, 1811,
the galliot Anna Hulk Klas Boyr, Meinerty master, from Christian Sound, laden with
deals, for Killalu, was driven on shore at a place called Porturlin, between Killalu and
Broadhaven. The captain and crew providentially saved their lives by jumping on shore
on a small island or rock. At this time the stern and quarter were stove in. The
crew remained two hours on the rock, when' they were taken off by a boat and brought
to the mainland. Shortly after, the captain's trunk, with all the sailors' clothes in general,
came on shore, when the country-people immediately began to plunder, leaving the unfor-
tunate sufferers nothing but what they had on their backs. The plunderers repaired to
the wreck, and cut away everything they could come at of the sails, rigging, &c., while
hundreds were taking away the deals to all parts of the country. Though the captain
spoke good English, and most pitifully inquired to whom he might apply for assistance,
yet he could not hear of any for fourteen hours, when he was told that Major Denis
Bingham was the nearest and only person he could apply to. With much difficulty he
procured a guide, and proceeded to Mr. Bingham's, a distance of twenty miles through
the mountains. In the meantime, after thirty-six hours' concealment of this very melan-
choly circumstance, Captain Morris, of the Townsliencl cruiser, who lay at Broadhaven, a
distance of about ten miles from the wreck, heard of it, and, approaching it, landed with
twenty men, well armed. In coming near the wreck he first fired in the air, in order to
disperse the peasantry, which had no effect; he therefore ordered his men to fire close,
PLUNDEE OF THE "INVERNESS." 241
which had the desired effect, when he immediately pursued them into the interior, from
three to five miles distance, dividing his party in different directions, when, by great
exertion and fatigue, they saved about 1,800 deals and a remnant of the wreck. Captain
Morris had some of the robbers taken, but his party being so scattered, they were rescued
WRECKERS WAITING FOR A WRECK.
by a large mob of the country. The unfortunate captain and crew were taken by Captain
Morris on board his cutter, where they got a change of clothing, and were taken every
possible care of."
The following particulars of the wreck and plunder of the Inverness, in the river
Shannon, loaded at Limerick with a cargo of provisions, under contract for the Victualling
Board, and bound to London, will be found interesting : —
71
242 THE SEA.
" From Captain Miller to Mr. Spaig-ht, Merchant, Limerick.
" Kilrush, Feb. 24, 1817.
" DEAR SPAIGHT, — As I am now in possession of most of the particulars of the wreck
of the Inverness, I shall detail them to you as follows: —
" She went on shore on Wednesday night, the 19th instant, mistaking Rmevaha
for Carrigaholt, and would have got off by the next spring-tide had the peasantry not
boarded her, and rendered her not seaworthy by scuttling her and tearing away all her
rigging; they then robbed the crew of all their clothes, tore their shirts, which they
made bags of to carry away the plunder, and then broached the tierces of pork, and
distributed the contents to people on shore, who assisted to convey them up the country.
The alarm having reached this on Thursday, a sergeant and twelve of the police were sent
down, with the chief constable at their head, and they succeeded in re-taking some of the
provisions and securing them, driving the mob from the wreck. The police kept possession
of 'what they had got during the night ; but very early on Friday morning the people
collected in some thousands, and went down to the beach, where they formed into
three bodies, and cheered each other with hats off, advancing with threats, declaring
that they defied the police, and would possess themselves again of what had been taken
from them, and of the arms of the police. The police formed into one body, and,
showing three fronts, endeavoured to keep them at bay, but in vain ; they assailed them
with stones, sticks, scythes, and axes, and gave some of our men some severe blows,
which exasperated them so much that they were under the necessity of firing in self-
defence, and four of the assailants fell victims, two of whom were buried yesterday.
During their skirmishing, which began about seven o'clock, one of the men, mounted, was
despatched to this town for a reinforcement, when Major Warburton, in half an hour,
with twenty cavalry, and a few infantry mounted behind them, left this, and in one
hour and a half were on board the wreck, and took twelve men in the act of cutting up
the wreck. One of them made a blow of a hatchet at Major Warburton, which he warded
off, and snapped a pistol at him ; the fellow immediately threw himself overboard, when
Troy charged him on horseback, up to the horse's knees in water, and cut him down.
The fellows then flew in every direction, pursued by our men, who took many of them,
and wounded several. Nine tierces of pork had been saved. Her bowsprit, gaff, and spars
are all gone, with every stitch of canvas and all the running rigging. The shrouds are
still left ; two anchors and their cables are gone, and even the ship's pump. A more complete
plunder has seldom been witnessed. Yesterday the revenue wherry went down to Rmevaha,
and returned in the evening with the Major and a small party, with thirty-five prisoners, who
now are all lodged in Bridewell. The women in multitudes assembled to supply the men
with whisky to encourage them. Nothing could exceed the coolness of Balfice and
his party, who certainly made a masterly retreat to the slated store at Carrigaholt, where
I found them. He and Fitzgerald were wounded, but not severely. Fitzgerald had a
miraculous escape, and would have been murdered, but was preserved by a man he knew
from Kerry, who put him under his bed. "J. MILLER."
A late case of plundei'ing on a large scale occurred the 26th September, 1817. The
THE WRECKER'S CONSCIENCE. 24-3
Norwegian brig Bergetta, Captain Peterson, was wrecked on the Cefu-Sidau sands, in
Carmarthen Bay. She was bound from Barcelona for Stettin, with a cargo of wine,
spirits, &c., when the master, losing his reckoning, owing to a thick fog, fell into the
fatal error of taking the coast of Devon for that of France, and acted under that persuasion.
So circumstanced, a violent gale, together with the tide, drove the vessel into the Bristol
Channel, and she struck upon the above sands, and in the space of two or three hours
went to pieces. The master and crew, with great difficulty, got into the boat, and were all
happily saved. Notwithstanding the greatest exertions on the part of the officers of the Customs,
supported by several gentlemen and others, acts of plunder were committed to a considerable
extent. Of 266 pipes and casks of wine, &c., not above 100 were saved. Hundreds of
men and women were reduced to nearly a state of insensibility through intoxication.
A scarce and curious tract, published in 1796, exists in the library of the British Museum,
and a few extracts from it will show the arguments by which the wreckers of the last cen-
tury salved their consciences. It is supposed to be a dialogue between one Richard Sparkes, a
chandler by trade, but a professional wrecker also, and John Trueman, " an honest taylor."
ci ' Good news ! good news, neighbour ! ' said Richard Sparkes, the chandler, as he
entered a shop where John Trueman, an honest taylor, was at work. ' The vessel which
has been these three hours fighting with the surge and winds for the harbour has at
last bulged. It is a trader from Amsterdam, they say, and faith ! two thumping casks
were floating before I left the beach. Rare sport, Master Trueman, rare sport, let me
tell you ! A good blustering wind and a high surf is no bad thing for a seaport/
" Honest Trueman, who had not been long an inhabitant of the place, and was quite
unacquainted with this language — which, to the disgrace of humanity, is too often used
by the unfeeling1 on such occasions in seaport towns — suspended his work, and listened
to this harangue with too much surprise to interrupt it. At length, said he, ' Do you call
this rare sport ? Do you call this good news ? '
" SPAIIKES. ' To be sure I do. I mean to be out all night ; the tide will return in about
three hours, and I warrant it will bring us something worth looking after. But mayhap,
as you are a new-comer, Master Trueman, you do not know the go at these seasons, so
I will tell you. You must know that when a vessel strikes it is catch as catch can
for her lading : one has as good a right as another, and he is the luckiest who can get most.
We call it going a wrecking ; and let me tell you it is no bad business. There is my
neighbour Perkins, the pilot, got the Lord knows what by the smuggling cutter that was
"wrecked about three leagues from hence two months ago. Ay, cask upon cask of the
best French brandy, and tea, and I cannot tell you what he got; but he has held
his head pretty high ever since, for, as good luck would have it, she struck upon a
shoal of rock where the Custom-house officers would not venture, so Perkins and a few
more knowing ones had it all to themselves. As I told you before, Master Trueman, this
.going a wrecking is no bad business, so look about you/ '•
Trueman upbraids the first speaker with dishonesty and want of humanity.
" ' Humanity/ says Sparkes, ' odds my life ! neighbour, there's not a more tender-
hearted fellow alive. Many is the life my boat, when I was in the fishing trade, has saved
from pure good-will; but as to the matter of the wrecking, every man must take care of
244
THE SEA.
his own interest. Charity, you know, Master Trueman, should begin at home."J And he
goes on to say that it was no fault of his that the vessel bulged, or that the master
or cabin-boy were drowned ; that it is all the chance of war, and that one vessel was the
game to him as another, provided it were well laden. He added that he did not pretend to
be better than his grandfather, and that wrecking was in fashion in his days and in those
of his good old father before him.
Mr. D. Mackinnen, who made a tour through the West Indies early in the present
century, particularly mentions the Bahamas as the home of wreckers. He says that the
immense variety of banks, shallows, and unknown passages between the hundreds of islands
MAJOR WARHt'RTON AT THE M'RECK OF THE " INVERNESS.
which form the group render the chances of shipwreck frequent. In order to save the
crews and property so constantly exposed to danger, the Governor of the Bahamas, about
the commencement of this century, licensed a number of daring adventurers to ply up and
down and assist ships in peril, and there could not have been collected a more skilful and
hardy set of men. But, unfortunately, the governor's good intentions were baulked by
the larger part of them becoming wreckers. Mr. Mackinnen asking one of these men
what success he had lately had, was told that there had been about forty sail of pilots
along the Florida coast for four months. He remarked that they must have rendered great
service to the crews wrecked in that dangerous passage. The pilot said, " No ; they generally
went on in the night/' "But could not you light up beacons on shore?" "No, no," said
the man, laughing, " we always put them out for a better chance by night." " But it would
have been more humane " " I did not go there for humanity ; I went racking ! "
HOVELLING.
CHAPTER XIX.
"HOVELLING" v. WRECKING.
The Contrast— The " Hovellers " defended— Their Services— The Case of the Albion— Anchors and Cables wanted by a
disabled Vessel— Lugger wrecked on the Beach— Dangers of the Hoveller's Life— Nearly swamped by the heavy Seas-
Loss of a baling Bowl, and what it means— Saved on an American Ship— The Lost Found— A brilliant example of Life-
saving at Bideford— The Small Rewards of the Hoveller's Life— The case of La Marguerite— Nearly wrecked in Port—
Hovellers v. Wreckers—" Let's all start fair !"— Praying for Wrecks.
THE wrecker was a land-ghoul, a monster in human form, who preyed on human life
and property. The "hovellers," a distinctive term on many parts of the coasts of this
sea-girt isle, is applied to the hardy men who, in all weathers and at all risks, go to
the assistance of ships in distress, and occasionally benefit by a wreck, but they are not
wreckers. The Rev. Mr. Gilmore, who has so well described the dangers, perils, and triumphs
of the life-boat service, very properly includes among the storm warriors the honest men who
perform these practical deeds of naval daring. Visitors to Ramsgate and other seaside resorts
of the southern coast will remember the luggers in which holiday excursions are made;
many of these same boats are, in winter more especially, engaged in very serious work.
" The more threatening and heavy the weather/' says our authority, " the greater the
probability of disaster occurring or having occurred, then the more ready are the crew to
work their way out to the Goodwin Sands, and to cruise round them on the look-out for
vessels in distress ; they dare not take the lugger into the broken water — there a life-boat
alone can live : but still, she is a grand sea-boat, one that will stagger on, with a ship's
heavy anchor and chain on board, through weather bad enough for anything — a boat that
is wejl suited for the hard and dangerous service which employs her during the winter
months." The hovelling lugger has generally a crew of ten men, and these receive no
regular pay. Any salvage or reward the vessel earns is commonly divided into fourteen
shares ; the boat takes three and a half for the owners, half a share goes for the provisions,
and each man of the crew receives one share. Mr. Gilmore says that " complaints are
sometimes made of the amounts charged by these men for services rendered; but the
cases of a good hovel are few and far between ; and often the luggers put out to sea
night after night throughout a stormy winter, hanging about the sands, in wind and
rain, and snow and mists, the men half-frozen with the cold and half-smothered with the
flying surf and spray, and often week after week they thus suffer and endure, and do
not make a penny-piece each man ; then at last, perhaps, comes a chance : a big ship is on
the tail of a sandbank ; they render assistance and get her off ; they have saved thousands
of pounds worth of property; and the captain, and the owners, and the underwriters
all look aghast, and cry out with indignation when they ask perhaps a sum that will
give them ten or fifteen pounds a man."
Not uncommonly the lugger speaks a vessel, and finds that an anchor or anchors,
cables, &c., have been lost, and must be replaced. They must make in all haste for
shore, and obtain what is needed, and put out again to the distressed vessel. "What all
this may mean on occasions to the owners and men of the hovelling vessels is shown in
the following example — the case of the Albion lugger.
246 THE SEA.
The Albion meets a vessel driving before the gale, having lost both her anchors and
cables; receives orders to supply her from shore; and the hardy crew, putting the vessel
round, beat through the heavy seas, and make for Deal. " They have to force the boat against
wind and tide, and much skill is required to prevent her being filled by the rising seas which
sweep around her ; now she rushes upon the beach, the surf breaks over her and half fills
her with water; with a tremendous thump and shake she strikes the shore with her
iron keel.
"As the wave which bore the lugger in upon the beach recedes, a man springs
overboard from the bow with a rope in his hand ; many catch hold of the rope, and
haul their hardest to keep the boat straight, head on to the beach; there is a stem
strap — a chain running through a hole in the front part of the keel ; a boatman watches
his opportunity, and, as a wave sweeps back, rushes down and passes a rope through the
loop of the strap; the other end of this rope is fastened to a powerful capstan, which
is placed high up on the beach. ' Man the capstan ! Heave with a will ! ' and the strong
men strain at the capstan bars until the capstan creaks again. There is no starting the
lugger : she is so full of water from the surf breaking on the beach that she is too heavy
for the men at one capstan to move her; ropes are led down from two other capstans,
and rove through a snatch-block fastened to a boat on the beach ; all put out their
strength, round they tramp, with a ' Ho ! heave ho ! ' and slowly the lugger travels
up the beach, and is safe from the roll of the breakers. The men get the water out of
her, haul her higher up on to a swivel platform, turn her round head to the sea, and the
leading hands hurry away to inquire about an anchor and cable. The agent supplies
them with such as seem suitable for the size of the vessel, and which will perhaps weigh
together about seven tons/' Then follows the labour of getting them on board, but in a
short time all are ready for se&.
" The gale has rapidly increased in force, and a frightful surf is running on the beach ;
the roar of the breakers on the shingle, the howling of the storm, the gleam of white foam
shining out of the mist and gloom, all picture the wildness of the storm ; but the undaunted
boatmen do not hesitate. All is ready; the signal given; the boat rushes down the steep ways,
and is launched into the sea. A breaking wave rolls in swiftly, it meets the bow of the
lugger in its rush, fills her ; for a moment the big boat runs under water, and then is
lifted and twisted like a toy in the grasp of the sea, and is thrown, in the heave of the
wave, broadside on to the beach ; a cry of horror from all on shore, and a rush down to
aid the crew, who are all — there are fifteen of them — struggling in the surf: now the
men are washed up by the wave, and feel the ground and stagger forward ; now they are
caught again by a breaker and rolled over ; it is for each of them a terrible battle with
the fierce seas; here one gets on his feet and stumbles forward, he is caught by the men
on shore and dragged up the beach ; there a man is lying struggling on the shingle, trying
in vain to rise, exhausted and confused, two men seize his collar, and pull him forward a
yard or two, then get him to his feet, and he escapes the next wave, which would have
washed him out to sea again. Now all the men seem to be saved; names are shouted—
do all answer? No; there is one missing! All rush to the water's edge and gaze
into the darkness, eagerly watching each shadow mid the surf. ' There he is ! No !
WltECKED ON THE BEACH. 247
Yes it is ! there — lifting- on the surf ! there, rolling- over ! ' ' Quick ! quick ! form a
line ! ' And the brave boatmen grasp each other's hands with iron strength, and form a
chain, the lowest of the four or five men at the sea end of the chain being in the
water. The waves battle with them, but sturdily they persevere. At last the body is
within reach of the seaward man ; he grasps it ; the men are dragged up the beach, and
the poor insensible man is carried ashore. Alive or dead? They cannot say; and with
a great fear in their hearts they carry him hurriedly up the beach, and soon, to the
great joy of all, he gives signs of life, and gradually recovers.
" In the meanwhile, the poor boatmen on the beach have nothing that they can da
but watch their fine boat, which was worth five hundred pounds, being torn and ham-
mered to pieces in the surf. Plank after plank is wrenched from her. Now, with a
loud crash, she is broken in half ; the two halves part ; the anchor and cable fall through
her. They can see part of the forepeak, with one side torn away, floating in the breakers ;
soon that also is rent to pieces, and nothing but fragments of the boat float in the surf
or are strewn about the beach ; and the boatmen, heavy-hearted, but thankful that they
have escaped with their lives, go slowly to their homes to rest for a few hours and recruit their
strength, and then be ready to form part of the crew of any other boat, and at the first
summons to rush out again to the encounter with the stormiest seas." And that what
the men of Deal are par excellence — hardy, brave, and skilful — the men of our coasts are
very generally.
Sometimes the hovellers are distinctly associated with the life-boat men in their
efforts to save life. Gilmore cites a case where a lugger's boat had succeeded in taking
a number of men off a wreck, when they themselves were caught in a squall, and were
only too glad to make for the life-boat, to which the larger part were transferred. Then
came a chapter of difficulties, for neither, steamer nor lugger could be discovered through
the fog, which obscured everything within a few yards of them. When they at length
reached the Champion lugger, the shipwrecked crew refused to leave the life-boat. They
had been as nearly as possible wrecked a second time in the lugger's boat. What a story
had these poor men to relate !
Their vessel, the Effort, had been beaten about for days in the North Sea previous
to grounding on the fatal Goodwins. They hoisted lamps, and were preparing to set
a tar-barrel on fire, when their ship, which was very light, rolled from side to side,
almost yard-arms under, and then suddenly capsized altogether. "At once," said one of
the narrators, " and with difficulty, we made for the weather rigging, and were glad to
find that not any of the crew were lost as she fell over. We lashed ourselves to the
rigging. We knew, to our great joy, that the tide was falling; had it been rising, we must
have very soon been overrun by it, the vessel broken up, and every man of us lost. We
were in danger enough as it was, for the brig, soon after she capsized, was caught by
the tide, and worked round, with her deck towards the seas; and as the heavy seas
broke over and came rushing up the deck, they fell on us with terrible weight, and beat
us and crushed us against the ship's rail, so that we were forced to unlash ourselves from
the rigging; and what to do we did not know, till one of us said, 'Our only chance is
to lash the end of the ropes round our waists, and let go the rigging as the waves
DANGERS OF THE HOVELLER'S LIFE. 249
come/ And so we did; and terrible work it was. As the waves caine we slackened the
ropes and went away a little with them; and as they passed, half smothered as we were,
hauled ourselves back to the rigging and held on a bit; and then, when the next wave
came, we let go, and were all adrift in the wash again ; our hands were almost torn to
pieces with the strain on the ropes and grasping at the side of the vessel. . . . You
see, too, how our clothes were nearly dragged off us : it was indeed an awful time ! " One
man grew tei'ribly excited as they told the dismal story. His limbs and features worked,
and as the waves dashed over the life-boat he fancied himself being washed off the wreck,
and his reason quite gave way for the time. He shouted out, " Let me drown myself !
Let me drown myself ! I can stand it no longer ! " and was with the greatest difficulty held
back by three men, who would not relinquish their hold till they got safe into harbour.
The hoveller's life is necessarily full of danger, for his services are usually only required
in the very worst weather ; and if he can save anything from a wreck, it will generally be
done under circumstances of great difficulty. Gilmore cites an example where some of these
men were endeavouring to save the rigging of a wrecked vessel, when a squall came on,
with driving snow and hail. The men in the rigging were somewhat interested in their
work, and were at first inclined to risk the weather, but the gale increased so rapidly that
it became evident that they must leave in their boat at once. Away for their lives the
men pull, the little boat seethes through the troubled waters, and they soon near the
edge of the sand, and are making for deep water, when they suddenly hear the noise of
the surf beating on the shallows immediately ahead of them. They pull ahead a little,
and can see the huge waves rolling in out of the deep water, mounting up, curling over,
and breaking, meeting other breakers, foaming up against them — in fact, a sea of raging
waters surrounding the sands in which their little boat would be swamped at once. As
they mount on a wave they can see the lugger riding safely just outside the surf, only
a quarter of a mile off, but that quarter of a mile it is impossible for them to pass, and
equally impossible for the lugger to get any nearer to them. The seas break over them
constantly, and for a while they return to the dangerous shelter of the wreck.
"The Goodwin Sands are about nine miles long; in the middle of them there is, at
low water, a large lake, which is called on the chart ' Trinity Bay,' but which is known
to the boatmen as the ' In- Sand/ The men row in the direction of the lake, and row over
the sandbanks which surround it, as soon as the tide has flowed sufficiently to enable
them to do so. Now they find themselves in completely smooth water, and are safe; but
for how long? a short hour or so, for the hungry waves are following them up fast. Still
higher and higher comes the tide, and a furious surf begins to rage over the banks that
for a time protect the lake." Well do the men know how short must be their period
of rest.
Soon the heavy rollers come in and threaten to swamp them ; the boat is nearly full
of water. At this juncture the steersman, who has been steering and baling the boat for
about four hours, suddenly lets the bowl with which he is baling fly from his hand;
he gives a cry of horror, and the men cannot help repeating it, for may not this appa-
rently small accident be fatal to them ? To keep the boat afloat without baling is impos-
sible ; the surf breaks into her continually, and that bowl is indispensable to their safety,
72
250 THE SEA.
for the men cannot use their sou'westers for the purpose when both hands are so busily
employed in freeing- their oars from the seas and keeping the blades from being- blown up
into the air by the force of the gale. Most happily, the bowl is a wooden one, and it tioats
a few yards from them. The men watch it anxiously as they are tossed up and down
by the quick waves. Back the boat down upon the bowl they cannot, and it is drifting
away faster than they are floating. It would seem a simple matter to pick up a bowl
floating within a distance so small, but the waves long render it impossible. Suddenly the
coxswain cries, ' ' Here is a lull ; round with her sharp ! " The men on the starboard side
give a mighty pull, and the others back their hardest ; then a pull altogether ; the bowl
is within reach ; the coxswain grasps it with a hasty snatch. " Round ! round with her
quick ! " and the boat is got head straight to the seas again before the waves can catch her
broadside and roll her over. All breathe again : they have another chance of life.
They get clear of the Sands, but a fierce gale is still raging. " As they get into the
Gull stream, they see vessel after vessel running with close-reefed topsails before the
gale ; the boatmen hail them, but they get no answer. One little sloop affords them
slight hope, for she is evidently altering her course, but after a moment's apparent hesitation,
away she goes again before the gale, and abandons them to their fate. The captain of the
little vessel related afterwards how, in the height of the storm, he saw some poor fellows
in a small boat, and had a great wish to try and save them, but the sea was running so
high that he felt it was impossible to heave his vessel to, and so had to leave them, and
that they must have been driven on the Sands and lost. This sloop was about a quarter of
a mile from the boat, and the men do not again get as near to any other ship ; and as vessel
after vessel passes, and the night begins to grow dark, the position of the men becomes more
and more hopeless, and they all feel that if no vessel picks them up they must • soon be
blown in again upon the sands, and there perish/' The men work on, but solemnly,
very solemnly.
But one vessel, a large American ship, remains at anchor in the Downs ; vessel after vessel
had slipped their cables and run before the gale. It is their last hope. " As they drop slowly
towards her, they shout time after time, but cannot make themselves heard, and it is getting
too dusk for them to be seen at any distance ; the seas are running alongside the ship almost
gunwale high, and it is impossible to get nearer to her than within fifty yards. Hail
after hail the men give ; still they get no answer. They can see a man on the poop, but he
evidently neither sees nor hears them, and their last chance seems slipping away, for they
are fast drifting past the vessel. 'Get on the thwart, Dick, and shout with all your
might V the coxswain says to the man pulling stroke oar. ' I'll hold you ! ' hauling in his oar
and catching it under the seat. The man springs upon the thwart, and balancing himself
for a second, hails with all his force."
" The man is moving ; he hears us, hurrah ! " is the glad cry in the boat ; and they
can soon see several astonished faces peering over them. The boat drifts by the ship;
they give a pull or two, to get her under the stern of the vessel; a coil of rope with a
life-buoy is thrown to them, and they manage to get it on board. The captain is now on
deck; he orders other ropes to be sent down, and soon another life-buoy, with cord attached,
comes floating by. Still the boat is in great danger ; their safety hitherto has been in floating
THE LOST FOUND. 251
with the waves, yielding to them as they rolled on, but now the little boat has to breast
the waves, and is tossed high in the air, and again plunged far down, running great risk
of being overturned. " The difficulty now is how to get the men out of the boat, for they
dare not haul her up closer to the vessel, as she will not ride with a shorter scope of rope.
They send another rope down to the boat, with a bowline knot made in it, for the men
to sit in, and then shout to the men, ' We will haul you on board one at a time ! ' " A
moment's question as to the order in which the men shall go is quickly decided, for
each feels that at any moment the boat may sink or upset. They leave in the order in
which they sit, and one after another they plunge into the waves, and are hauled on board,
dripping, but saved ! Very soon the boat fills and turns over, and hangs by the ropes till
morning.
The captain will hardly credit their story at first. " Impossible ! impossible ! " says
he. " No boat could live in such a sea, and over the Sands. Impossible ! " But he
becomes convinced at last, and all on board show every attention and kindness. A little
brandy and some dry clothes at once, a beefsteak supper and a glass of "grog later on,
followed by warm beds made up on the captain's cabin floor, and their adventures in an
open boat were but the memory of a horrid dream. The coxswain, however, fell very ill
soon after, and was nigh death's door; he did not recover his strength for a twelvemonth,
so greatly had the anxiety of that night's work told upon him.
Meantime, the lugger, after cruising backwards and forwards, the crew keeping an
anxious and fruitless look-out for their comrades in the boat, is obliged to put in for Dover,
from whence they telegraph the sad news that six of their men are to all appearance lost.
Next morning they make one more effort to find some traces of their lost companions, and
then steer, sad and disheartened, for Ramsgate. There the arrival of the lugger is most
anxiously awaited. Alas ! it is as they feared, and many a household is plunged in grief.
While this is going on, the boatmen leave the American ship and row steadily for Rams-
gate, near which they fall in with another lugger, on which they are taken. The lugger's
flag is hoisted, in token that they are the bearers of good news, and great is the curiosity
of the men about the harbour. A crowd hurries down the pier to watch her arrival, and
as soon as the men missing from the Princess Alice are recognised, the cheers and excite-
ment are wild in the extreme. Men rush off to bear the good news. " One poor
woman, in the midst of her agony and mourning for her husband, and surrounded by her
weeping friends, is surprised by her door being burst violently open, and at seeing a boatman,
almost dropping with breathlessness, gasping and gesticulating and nodding, but trying in
vain to speak ; and it is some seconds before he can stammer out, ' All right ! all right !
Your husband is safe — coming now ! ' '
The danger incurred by the hovellers is well illustrated by the following example,
recorded by our leading journal* some years since. Nine of these men endeavoured to
save a sloop, the Wool-packet, of Dartmouth, stranded on Bideford Bar, and the crew
must have lost their lives but for the noble service performed, under great risks, by
Captain Thomas Jones, master of the steam-tug Ely, of Cardiff. A shipowner of Bideford,
who was an eye-witness of the brave deed, stated that the crew of the vessel had aban-
* The Times, November 5th, 1866.
252
THE SEA.
doned her, and the two boats' crews, consisting of nine men, afterwards boarded the
wreck, with the view of trying to get her off the bar; but when the tide rose the sea
broke heavily over the vessel, and the men hoisted a flag of distress. The steam-tug
Ely now hastened to the rescue, against a strong tide and wind. Before, however, she
could get near the wreck, the nine men were driven to seek refuge in the rigging.
The sea was breaking fearfully in all directions and the vessel rolling from side to
side, but Captain Jones and his crew bravely proceeded through the broken water, at
' '•'- V / S 0 U, T- ri ,
Whitfield *
Sou t ft Stud Httt
Sout* Goodwin
'&'">•*'. tJ"n^ RAMSGATE AND GOODWIN SANDS
AT LOW WATER.
Scale of English Statute Miles
10123446
MAP SHOWING COAST OF R/ MSGATE AND THE GOODWIN SANDS.
the risk of their lives and vessel, and succeeded, at the first attempt, in saving three
of the men. This was all that they could then accomplish, for the sea was now
breaking so furiously over the wreck that the steamer was driven away ; and the same
want of success attended a second and third attempt to approach the wreck. The
captain then backed astern, and, with consummate skill and boldness, actually placed
the steamer alongside the vessel's rigging, with her bow over the deck of the wreck,
thus saving the six men in the rigging ; and within the short space of two minutes
the wreck had actually disappeared, and was not seen afterwards. But for this bold
and successful service, nine widows (for the nine rescued men were all married) and forty
fatherless children would to-day be lamenting the loss of husbands and fathers. The
A "HOVEL."
253
National Life-boat Institution presented a medal, &c., to the captain, and £1 each to
the eight men forming- the crew.
The greatness of the risk to the hoveller, and the comparative smallness of his
reward, are illustrated in the case of La Marguerite, a small French brio-, rescued from
the Goodwin Sands and brought safely into Ramsgate Harbour. She was owned by her
captain, and represented to him the labours of a hardworking life. She was bound
THE LUGGER REACHING RAMSGATE HARBOUR.
from Christiania to Dieppe, with a cargo of deals, and was considerably hampered on
deck, the timber being piled up almost to her gunwale. She lost her cotirse in the
night, and grounded on the Sands. " Where are they ? "Where can they be ? What
horrible mistake have they made?" writes Mr. Gilmore in his forcible manner. "They
think they must have run somewhere on the mainland on the Kent coast; one man
proposes to swim ashore with a rope, but the seas come sweeping over them with a
degree of violence that quite does away with any thought of making such an attempt.
They hurry to the long-boat, to try and get it out, but it and the only other boat
THE SEA.
which is in the brig- are speedily swept overboard by the seas. The vessel is on the
edge of the Sands, and feels all the force of the waves as they roll in and leap and
break upon the bark. With every inrush of the seas she lifts high, and pitches, crushing
her bow down upon the Sands, each time with a thump that makes her timbers groan,
and almost sends the men flying from the deck." For some twenty minutes she keeps
thrashing on the Sands, when they glide off into deep water, and after much delay get
their anchor overboard. The gale continues, and, after much entreaty — for the captain is a
poor man — the crew succeed in inducing him to cut the foremast away, and the brig
rides more easily when this is accomplished. They wait for daylight. They are then
seen from Margate, and two fine luggers have a race to see which can get first to the
vessel. The life-boat also puts off. One of the luggers gets alongside in fine shape,
and the men at once recommend the captain to cut away the remaining mast, but he
will not be persuaded. They raise the anchor, and passing a hawser on board, attempt to
tow the brig from the Sands, but make little progress. To their satisfaction, they see the
Ramsgate steam-boat and life-boat making their way round the North Foreland.
" The coastguard officer at Margate, when he saw that the Margate life-boat could not
reach the brig, and knowing that if any sea got up where the vessel was that the luggers
could be of no use, telegraphed to Ramsgate that the vessel was on the Knock Sands.
The steamer and life-boat get under weigh at once, and proceed as fast as possible to
the rescue. There is a nasty sea running off Ramsgate, but it is not until they get to
the North Foreland that they feel the full force of the gale. Here the sea is tremendous,
and as the steamer pitches to it the waves that break upon her bows fly right over her
funnel — indeed, she buries herself so much in the seas that they have to ease her speed
considerably to prevent her being completely overrun with them." The boatmen at last
get on board the brig; a glance shows that no time must be lost, and as rapidly as
possible the steamer is enabled to take the water-logged vessel in tow. The French crew
are utterly exhausted with fatigue and excitement, and are quite ready to leave their
vessel in English hands. Away the brig goes, plunging and rolling, with the seas washing
over her decks, which are scarcely out of the water, while the two boats are tossing
astern, all being towed by the gallant little steamer. They have nearly reached the
harbour.
In spite of the rough cold night, the interest in life-boat work is too great for all
sympathisers to be driven away from the pier-head ; and there is a crowd there ready to
watch the boats return and to welcome the men with a cheer. The steamer approaches
cautiously, and the brig seems well under command. A couple of minutes more and all
will be safe, when suddenly the rush of tide catches the wreck on the bow; she
overpowers the lugger, which is towing astern ; round her head flies ; she lurches
heavily forward, and strikes the east pier-head. Crash goes her jib-boom first, and the
steamer, towing with all its might, cannot prevent her again and again crushing
against the pier. Her bowsprit and figure-head are broken and torn off, her stern
smashed in. Ropes and buoys are thrown from the pier. "The poor Frenchmen are
almost paratysed by the scene and by excitement — they cannot make it out ; the
harbour-master, Captain Braine, has enough to do : he sees the danger of the men on
PEEIL IN PORT. 255
board the brig-, but he sees more than this — he sees the danger of the crowd at the
pier-head, for the brig's mainmast is swaying backwards and forwards, coming right over
the pier as the vessel rolls, and threatens to break and come down upon the people as
the brig strikes the pier ; and if it does it will certainly kill some, perhaps many."
Women shriek and men shout, and it looks as though the Marguerite would be wrecked in
sight of all. Meantime the crew of the hovelling lugger are in equal, if not greater, danger.
" As soon as the men on board the lugger saw the brig sweep and crash against the
pier, they cast off their tow-rope, but before they could hoist any sail, the way they had
on the boat and the rush of the tide carried the lugger almost between the vessel, as
she swung round, and the pier. The men, however, escaped that danger, and indeed
death, but the boat was swept to the back of the pier, and in the eddy of the tide
was carried into the broken waters ; then she rolls in the trough of the sea ; wave
after wave catches and sweeps her up towards the pier, as if to crush her against it,
but each time the rebound of the water from the pier acts as a fender and saves her
from destruction ; but she is an open boat, and if one big wave leaps on board it will
fill her, and she must sink at once; and the seas a-round her are very wild, the surf
from their crests breaks into her continually. The people on the pier see her extreme
peril; some run to the life-boat men, who are preparing to moor the boat, and shout to
them to hasten out — that the brig is breaking up, and that the lugger will be
swamped ; before, however, the life-boat can get out the brig is towed clear of the pier,
and, the lugger having drifted to the end of the pier, the men are able to get up a
corner of the foresail ; it cants the lugger's head round ; the men get the foresail well
up : it fills ; she draws away from the pier and away from the broken water, and is clear."
But now the brig, the rudder of which had been wrenched out of her on the Sands, has
no boat to help her steer, and lurches about in all directions. A heavy sea strikes her
bow ; the steamer's hawser tightens, strains, and breaks ! Excited people on the pier
crowd round the harbour-master, and beg him to order the life-boat men to take the
crew and the boatmen off the wreck at once. That official knows, however, the boatmen
too well : tliey will not leave her while a stitch holds together.
The captain of the steamer knows their peril, and backs his vessel down to the
wreck, now not over a hundred yards from the Dyke Sand. She is rolling heavily, and
the seas sweep over her; her crew can hardly keep the deck. The steamer gets close to
the brig, and soon another cable is out. Each time the brig sheers heavily to one side
or the other she is brought up with a jerk that makes the steamer tremble from
stem to stern, but that plucky little boat is not to be beaten. Five brave fellows come
off from the pier in a small boat, bringing a line with them : with this they haul a
second hawser to the wreck ; a crowd of people on the pier pull their hardest, and succeed
in moving the wreck. This cable breaks shortly afterwards, but the steamer has by this
tim^ again got hold of the vessel, and tows her safely into the harbour, a miserable
wreck, with masts and rudder gone, her bow and stern crushed, but with everybody safe
on board. The Marguerite was ultimately repaired and sent to sea again, though she
could never be the vessel she once was. And the Margate and Ramsgate men got a few
pounds each for work that required each one to be a hero, and a very practical and sea-
256 THE SEA.
manlike hero too. The old wreckers made ten times the money, with an infinitesimal
proportion of the trouble.
Yes, times have changed for the better. Individuals may, of course, be found capable
of any amount- of brutality for the sake of gain, but the shipwrecked mariner of to-day
is morally certain that his life and remaining property are safe when he reaches the shore
of any part of the United Kingdom, and that for every ruffian there will be twenty kindly
and hospitable people ready to pity and to aid him. The same could not be said of the
early part of this very century. It seems almost incredible, too horrible, to be possible,
that in 1811 the remnant of a poor crew of a frigate wrecked on the Scotch coast
were, after buffeting the breakers and struggling ashore for dear life, absolutely murdered
on the beach for the sake of their wretched clothes, or, at all events, stripped and left to
die. When morning dawned the beach was found strewn with naked corpses. The
inhabitants of many fishing villages and seaside hamlets were open to similar imputations
late in the last, and indeed early in the present, century. Whole communities have in
bygone times — let us trust gone for ever — turned out at the tidings of a vessel in danger,
solely with a view to plunder. A tolerably well-known yarn, in which, probably, implicit
confidence should not be placed, tells us of a wreck which occurred near the village of
St. Anthony, Cornwall, one Sunday morning. This being the case, and the parishioners
assembling at the church, the clerk announced that " Measter would gee them a holladay/'
for purposes on which that excellent clergyman well knew they were intent. This is
only one part of the story, for it is stated that as the members of the congregation were
hurrying pell-mell from the church, they were stopped by the stentorian voice of the parson,
who cried out, " Here ! here ! let's all start fair ! " The fact is that the contents or
material of a wreck scattered around a coast were, and, no doubt, are still in many
places, looked upon as legitimate prey by fishermen and others who would scorn anything
in the form of treachery, in luring the good ship ashore, or in brutal treatment to the survivors
of her crew. " Within the past five-and-twenty years/' said a leader-writer a short time
since, " it is said that a candidate for Parliamentary honours, while canvassing in a district
near the coast, found that his opinion on the subject of wrecking was made a crucial
point. Wrecking, indeed — so far as the appropriation of shipwrecked property is implied in
the word — seems to have held very much the same position in popular ethics as smuggling
has done. ' Such was the feeling of the wreckers/ writes one who was at one time
Commissioner of the Liverpool Police, 'that if a man saw a bale of goods or a barrel
floating in the water, he would run almost any risk of his life to touch that article, as a
sort of warrant for calling it his own. It is considered such fair game, that if he could
touch it he called out to those about him, " That is mine ! " and it would be marked
as his, and the others would consider he had a claim to it, and would render him
assistance/ " We are told that the natives of Sleswig-Holstein considered wrecking so
legitimate that prayers were offered up in their churches at one time that " their coasts
might be blessed." Pastor and flock looked upon wrecks as much of blessings as they did
a good fishing season. The parson, however, it was explained, did not really pray for
wrecks. Certainly not ! What he meant was that if there must be wrecks, those wrecks
might happen on their coasts !
SALVAGE.
257
The question of "salvage" is of a nature too technical for these columns. In
some minor matters it would seem that the authorities do not offer proper encourage-
ment to fishermen and others to be decently honest or humane. At the period of the
wreck of the Schiller, on the Scilly Islands, a correspondent of our leading journal*
tells us " that many floating bodies of drowned passengers and seamen were picked up
by the fishing boats which abound in that part of Cornwall. Upon some of them
money or valuables were found, and these were given up to the Customs when the body
was sent ashore. In such cases the valuables were retained for the friends of the drowned
RONAYNE S BRAVERY.
persons, and a uniform reward of five shillings was paid to the finders. Now, for the
sake of taking ashore such a body as I have described, the fishermen — seven or eight
in number — would have lost their night's fishing, for it would not have been safe, even
if the crew were willing, to have done otherwise. The smallness of the reward given in
return for the services rendered would therefore operate as a strong inducement to the
more selfish among them to prefer their fishing to the dictates of humanity. My informants
even told a story of a fishing boat which picked up a floating body, and, having col-
lected all the papers and valuables from it, restored the body itself to the deep, and went
on its way. The papers and valuables were given up in due course, and no charge of
dishonesty was preferred against the crew ; but the want of humanity caused (and not
unnaturally) a strong feeling of indignation against the perpetrators of this act. The
fishermen, however, argued that if they brought the bodies into port (as they were
* The Times, January 6th, 1876.
73
258 THE SEA.
instructed to do), they would get, at most, a sum of sevenpence per man for their night's
work; and if they brought merely the property to the proper authorities, they were abused
for their inhumanity; and that, therefore, their only alternative was to pass the bodies by,
and attend to their own work. Should the view that I have here stated be found to
a general one, I think that it will be allowed that it is an argument for either paying
more highly for the finding of bodies at sea, or allowing the finders the same salvage upoi
the property found upon the bodies that they would have received had the property been pickt
up in a chest."
Pleasant it is to turn from what we may well believe is only an occasional example of
want of feeling to such a case as the following — one out of thousands that might be cited. It
is slightly abridged from a little publication * which should be in the hands of all readers of
" The Sea " interested in benevolent efforts for the seaman's welfare.
Some twelve miles westward from Tramore — a favourite watering-place and summer resort
for the citizens of Waterford, and nearly half a mile from the coast — a farm is situated which
has been long occupied by John Ronayne, a hardy and typical Irish farmer. The farm-house
has few of the necessaries and none of the luxuries of civilised life, it is a true type of the
poor class of farm-houses in many parts of Ireland, consisting of but two rooms — one the sleep-
ing apartment, where Ronayne's family of twelve children have been born, and the other the
living-room, where it is to be suspected sundry four-footed friends occasionally find their way,
and bask or grunt before the fire. Rather less than half a mile from the farm is the rugg€
shore, approached by a rough "boreen," or narrow lane, emerging on the cliff near the course of
stream, which is a roaring foaming torrent in winter and spring-time. On winter days anc
nights, brown and turbulent, this stream rushes foaming into the ocean over crags and rod
and pebbly shore ; but before it joins its fresh water with the salt sea foam, it plunges into
crevice, narrow and deep and deadly. Every coastman along the rock-bound shore knows this
deep, treacherous hole, and warns the traveller to beware of it — for, once in it, there is no return.
But this source of peril is little enough to that which is beyond.
A hundred yards or so from the cove into which this impetuous torrent pours frown two
massive ridges of rock, offering to any venturesome ships attempting to run between theii
threatening sides destruction on either hand, while only some dozen yards of foaming breakei
separate the one from the other. Skilful must be the steersman, and bold the skipper, whc
would dare the narrow channel, even though the only one by which they might hope to beact
their sinking ship. And yet, on one fearful night in January, 1875, a large vessel, tl
Gwenusa, bound from Falmouth to Glasgow, and new but a few weeks before, successful]]
accomplished the dangerous passage. Not that any skill was shown, for none on the doom*
ship, knew of their proximity to rocks or shore, but, driving blindly on before the full fur
of the gale, by chance were brought safely through. But in another instant the
struck the rocky shore, and in a moment was shattered to pieces, timbers and tackle, car£
and living freight, being thrown, scattered and helpless, into the angry surf. Escaping, as
a miracle, the rocky dangers of Charybdis, the good ship Gwenissa had been hurled upoi
Scylla, and her doom sealed.
* The Shipwrecked Mariner. A Quarterly Maritime Journal. Vol. XXII. 1875. (Organ of the " Shipwrecke
Mariner's Society.") The article is from the pen of Lindon Saunders, Esq.
BRAVE EONAYNE. 259
The family at Killeton Farm little suspected, as they went to their humble beds,
the tragedy which was being- enacted on the shore : and even when some of the boys thought
they heard cries of distress, little wonder — when the wind was blowing in great fitful gusts,
sweeping round the homely cottage, shaking windows and doors, and moaning down the
chimneys — that, after listening a while and hearing nothing further, they thought no more
of the cries, and went to bed. Ronayne had, however, not been long in bed when a loud
knocking awoke him, and he jumped up, and on opening the door was accosted by three
men in sailor's garb.
The first surprise over, the instincts of hospitality asserted themselves, and he heaped
up the turf fire, and, as they warmed themselves, learned that they alone of the crew of
the Gwenissa, nine in number, were certainly saved. But there was a possibility that
one or two might yet survive ; and though the wintry blast roared loud without, Ronayne
lingered not a moment. Hurrying on his clothes, and taking a large sod of flaming
turf by way of lantern, he rushed down the "boreen," and soon reached the cove. Cautiously
he made his way, and approached the edge of the stream, whence he now heard the shouts
of several men. He followed up the cries of distress, and soon came upon a man in a most
dangerous position.
Ronayne blew the turf until it glowed brightly, and, holding it down, saw a man
waist-deep in the water, but so jammed between the crags that it was impossible for him
to move, far less climb the overhanging rocks. He was bruised, stunned, and nearly
insensible. Ronayne saw at a glance that the only way to help him was himself to go
down, extricate his bruised legs from the rocks and wreck that held him like a vice, and
then assist him to climb from his perilous position. This, by means of much pulling
and hauling, he at length accomplished, and ultimately had the satisfaction of leading
the poor fellow to a place of safety, where, for a time, he left him, sorely bruised,
faint, and well-nigh frozen, for the others, who had never ceased calling for assistance
from the moment of his arrival. They were four in number, and, as far as could be
judged through the increasing darkness, lay in the very gorge down which rushed the
swollen stream; and so it proved, for one' was hanging to a spar which had become
fixed in the rocks, while another was grasping a projecting crag, by which he con-
trived to keep afloat. The others, more fortunate, had been thrown on a ledge, which
left them in comparative safety, though they were waist-deep in water. But though
secure upon this ledge, they were quite as helpless as their companions, for the beetling
face of the rocks defied their utmost efforts to scale them unaided. Here Ronayne's
knowledge stood him in good stead, and after much active assistance in the shape of
climbing, swimming, pulling, and scrambling, he succeeded in rescuing one after the other,
each assisting afterwards to make the task easier. Five men stood beside him, cold and
hurt, but saved by his perseverance and bravery from a watery grave.
" But," says the narrator — and here especially he should tell his own tale — " not
without great labour had this been effected, for one of the men had his leg broken,
and all were more or less bruised, and perishing of cold and exposure. Three men
were at his house and five here; but where was the other? for nine men were on
board the luckless vessel, and here were but eight. Leaving the rescued men in the
260
THE SEA.
lane, Ronayne ran again to the cove, and the dim spark expiring in the turf showed
him where he had left it. He scraped off the ash, and, the wind fanning it, again it burned
up brightly — too brightly, for now it burned down to his frozen fingers ; but he only grasped
it the tighter, for did it not light him on his errand of mercy ? and if another life
might be saved at the expense of a few burns, would it not be great gain ? So on sped
he along the shore, searching into every cranny and cleft and crevice lighted by the
turf, and, burning and shouting between his labours, at length was rewarded by a faint cry
THE " NORTHFLEET."
as of a man in distress — more a moan than a cry, and at a distance. Rapidly
carefully he had scanned the beach, and partially searched every gully and cleft, and
and again receiving to his cries a faint response, but always from far away. No doubt the
man was out on the rocks, to which he had been carried by a receding wave after tli€
ship struck, and Ronayne knew that some further help must be procured before he could
reached. So he hastened back to the five men he had left in the lane. They then
proceeded to the farm-house — a melancholy cortege — carrying as best they could the helpless
between them. He then started off, wet and weary as he was, to the coastguard station
at Bonmahon, where he gave information of the wreck, and demanded assistance for
the poor fellow out on the rocks." The coastguard men lost no time in turning out with
the rocket apparatus ; but just as they were fixing it in position, Ronayne, who had been
ALL SAVED!
261
hunting about, came upon the very last and ninth man of the crew, lying, half in the
water and half out, upon the beach among a quantity of wreck. His supposition had
been correct in regard to his position on the rocks, but while assistance was being procured
he had been washed ashore, with shattered limbs — bruised, helpless, unconscious, but alive!
The poor fellow, who remained unconscious, was carried to the farm, where some old whisky-
jars were filled with hot water and placed to his feet. The little whisky in the house was
divided among the benumbed men, and more solid provision set before them.
And now Ronayne's house contained over twenty inmates, most of them standing
round the turf fire wringing the water from their clothes and warming their frozen limbs;
the few beds, too, had their occupants. For Ronayne the work had but barely commenced.
Saddling his young mare, he started to lay information of the wreck before Lloyd's Deputy
Receiver at Tramore, some twelve miles distant, for eight shillings were to be earned, and for
this trifling reward he was prepared to ride some twenty-four miles on a cold winter night.
On his road he passed the doctor's house, and sent him to attend the injured men,
arriving at Tramore a few minutes before the telegram from the coastguard station.
Two of the sailors were afterwards removed to the hospital, and recovered, and they and the
remainder cared for by the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society's agents. Ronayne was indemnified
for any expense he had incurred by the same Society, and the Life-boat Institution shortly
after rewarded him.
CHAPTER XX.
SHIPS THAT " P.VSS BY ON THE OTHER SlDE."
Captains and Owners- Reasons for apparent Inhumanity— A Case in Point— The Wreck of the Northfleet— Run down by
the Murillo—A. Noble Captain— The Vessel Lost, with a Hundred Ships near her— One within Three Hundred Yards
—Official Inquiry— Loss of the Schiller— Two Hundred Drowned in one heavy Sea— Life-saving Apparatus of little
use— Lessons of the Disaster—Wreck of the Dcutschland— Harwich blamed unjustly— The good Tug-boat Liverpool
and her Work— Necessity of proper Communication with Light-houses and Light-ships— The new Signal Code and
old Semaphores.
FROM time to time there appear in the public journals accounts given by sailors who
have been saved from imminent peril from drowning by passing ships. Many and many
an honourable case could be cited ; but there are, alas ! ships that " pass by on the other
side." An article in the journal* issued quarterly by that grand society the National
Life-boat Institution explains some of the reasons for this sad state of affairs. The writer
generally denies that the majority of the masters of ships who would pass another vessel
in distress are brutal or callous, and thinks that were many of them brought face to face
with an isolated case of probable drowning, they would not hesitate to expose their own
lives to preserve the one endangered. There must be some strong causes operating on
the minds of the men who act in the inhuman manner indicated. Among them are the
following : —
" 1st. That the loss of time which the most trifling service of this kind causes would
* The Life-boat : a Journal of the Life-boat Institution. November 2nd, 1874.
262
THE SEA.
possibly represent a very considerable money loss to the owners, by the delay in the arrival
in port of the ship and cargo.
" 2nd. That the cost of maintenance of the persons saved is insufficiently repaid by
the Government.
" 3rd. That in all but the largest kind of ships the amount of food and water habitually
kept on board is rarely sufficient to meet the strain of , say double, or, it may be quadruple, the
number of men they were intended for; and if a ship of the smaller class, towards the
end of her voyage, has to take on board the crew of a vessel greater in number than
her own, she is, from shortness of provisions and water, in nine cases out of ten, compelled
to make for the nearest port, which may be a cause of incalculable loss, unless it chances to be
the one she is bound for.
" 4th. Every captain knows that all owners are more or less inimical to their ships
rendering either salvage service or life-saving service. Not, as we suppose, that any owner
deliberately sets to himself the axiom that no ship of his shall save life, but that they,
not unnaturally, view with suspicion salvage service, because they can receive nothing
from it but loss in time and money ; and cases are not infrequent in which pretence of
saving life is made a source of real loss to the owners.'"
One case among the many which could be presented is here given. It appeared
before the magistrates of Falmouth in 1873, in consequence of the refusal of a crew to proceed
to sea. The ship had come from a Chinese port to a port in Europe : it being uncertain,
from the fluctuating state of the market, which it would be. The vessel fell in with
a distressed ship, from which she took seventeen persons. When in the entrance to the
English Channel, the captain found himself short of provisions and water, and put into
Falmouth, to land the shipwrecked crew and replenish his provisions. His own crew
thereupon claimed their discharge, as having arrived " at, a port in Europe" The Bench
ruled the men's claim to be just, and it took the captain a fortnight to obtain a fresh
crew, to whom higher wages had to be paid. " The actual and immediate loss to the
owners, by this act of humanity of their captain, was stated at £270. The only reimburse-
ment was the usual State grant for feeding so many men so many days, amounting
altogether to £16 and a few shillings." The delay in delivering cargo entailed a heavy loss,
and having put into a port not named, she had, it was said, vitiated her policy. How might
the owners feel towards . that captain in future ? And again, how might he feel next time,
when duty called him one way and interest the other? In an indirect way, this and
foreign Governments recognise humane services of the kind indicated by presents of telescopes
or binocular glasses. Such recognition is undoubtedly valued by the sort of men who
would do their duty under any adverse circumstances, and whether they were to be thanked
or no ; but it is to be feared that captains who were as unfortunate as the one at Falmouth
might think twice before they performed that which their consciences could only approve
as right.
The owner of the relieving vessel should have the right of being recouped to the full
extent of the loss incurred by delay and service — though many would never accept it;
and a ship's insurance should never be vitiated by its calling at a port on a matter of
any such necessity as landing a shipwrecked crew or obtaining provisions. It is certain
THE "NORTHFLEET" AND " MURILLO." 263
that we should do all that is possible to reduce that annual list of ships whose only
record is " Not since heard of."
A successful mail-steamer passage or quick run, the first clipper from China with the
season's tea, make not only a certain stir in a pretty wide circle, but represent a con-
siderable increase of actual wealth.. The despairing cry of those few poor seamen — who,
in their sinking craft, or who, perishing from hunger or thirst, see fading away on
the distant horizon the white royals of some lofty ship which they had watched with
such agonising alternation of hope and despair — is heard by God alone.
The wreck of the Northjleet, and loss of life to over 300 souls, on January 22nd, 1873,
will illustrate some of the above remarks.* The NortJifleet was a fine old ship of 940 tons,
built at Northfleet, near Gravesend, and so named. After various vicissitudes in the service
of Dent's China and other lines, she had become the property of Messrs. John Patton and
Co., of Liverpool and London, and was at the time of which we are about to speak chartered
by the contractors of the Tasmanian Line Railway to convey 350 labourers and a few women
and children to Hobart Town. The vessel left the East India Docks on Friday, the 17th
December, 1872, with a living freight of about 400 persons. The cargo consisted prin-
cipally of railway material. At the very last moment of leaving the docks, her com-
mander for the previous five years, Captain Gates, was subpcenaed by a Treasury
warrant to attend the Tichborne trial, and the command was given to his chief officer,
Mr. Knowles. He was allowed to take on board the lady to whom he had been married
about a month.
After leaving Gravesend the Northfleet encountered very stormy weather, and Captain
Knowles felt it prudent to anchor under the North Foreland, where the vessel remained
until the following Tuesday, when, the weather having moderated, she sailed down Channel,
and was reported at Lloyd's as having passed Deal, " All well " being the signal. On the
Wednesday, at sunset, she came to an anchor off Dungeness, about two miles from shore,
in eleven fathoms of water. She was then almost opposite the coastguard station. About
ten o'clock the ship was taut and comfortable for the night ; almost all the passengers
had turned in, and none but the usual officers and men of the watch were on deck. Just
as the bells were striking the half-hour past ten the watch observed a large steamer, out-
ward-bound, coming directly towards them. She appeared to be going at full speed, and
the shouts of the men on watch who called upon her to alter her course roused Captain
Knowles, who was on the after deck. But in another moment the steamer came on to the.
NortJifleet, striking her broadside almost amidships, making a breach in her timbers beneath
the water-line, and crushing the massive timbers traversing the main deck.
" 'Midst the thick darkness, Death,
The dread, inexorable monarch, stalked ;
And, lo ! his icy breath
Encircled the devoted barque, where talked,
Or laughed, or watched, or slept,
The doomed three hundred of her living freight,
* The following account is based mainly on the reports published in the Times.
THE SEA.
Unconscious that there crept
Through the still air the stealthy steps of Fate.
" Oh God, that fearful crash !
The stout ship reels, her planks disrupted wide ;
Fast through the yawning gash
The green sea pours its dark, resistless tide.
What followed then, 0 heart,
Thou scarce may'st realise ! 'Tis well for thee :
Ne'er would that sight depart
From gentle mind that had been there to see.
" For maddening terror reigned ;
Honour, and manhood, and calm reason fled,
And brutal instincts gained
The mastery ; and even shame was dead.
Each one, to save his life
Would give to death the lives of all beside ;
Nor cared in that fell strife
What awful end his fellows might betide.*
" Yet 'mid that wild despair
Nobility of soul found room to stand,
And lustre bright and rare
Enfolds the memory of Knowles and Brand ;
Who, face to face with death,
Save of dishonour, showed no coward dread,
Brave hearts to the last breath,
They joined the galaxy of Britain's dead."
The shock was described by the survivors as like the concussion of a very powerful
cannon. The reader will here make his own reflections. Immediately after the collision
the steamer cleared the ship, and before many of the terrified people below could reach the
deck she was out of sight. Most of the passengers were awakened by the shock, and a
fearful panic ensued. Captain Knowles acted with singular calmness, prompt itude, and
decision. He caused rockets to be sent up, bells to be rung, and other signals of distress ;
but the gun to be fired would not go off, the touch-hole being clogged. Meantime he
directed the boats to be launched, giving orders that the safety of the women and children
should be first secured. There was a disposition to set these orders at defiance, and, on some
of the crew crowding to the davits, with a view of effecting their own safety, Captain
Knowles drew a revolver, and declared he would shoot the first man who attempted to save
himself in the boats before the women were cared for. Most of the crew seemed to understand
that the captain was not to be trifled with ; but one man, Thomas Biddle, refused to obey the
A part of the crew behaved in a most cowardly manner, and thought only of saving themselves, although
Captain Knowles and Mr. Brand, the chief officer, who stood nobly by their posts, did all in their power to shame
these recreants, and themselves went down with the ship. The lines quoted above were written by a graduate of
Pembroke College, Cambridge, whose promising career was cut short by death at an early age. The poem, described
as "A Fragment," is given in full in The Lifeboat tor February 1st, 1878.
SCENES AT THE WRECK.
265
order, and the captain fired at him in a boat alongside the ship. The bullet entered the
man's leg just above the knee.
Meantime the pumps were set to work, but with little or no effect, the water pouring
in through the opening in the ship's side. The scene on deck was frightful. Many of
the passengers were in their night-dresses; others had only such scanty clothing as they
could secure on quitting their berths. Children were screaming for their parents, and
parents searching in vain for their children ; husbands and wives were hopelessly separated.
WRECK OF THE " NORTHFLEET."
The horror was increased by the darkness of night. The captain's wife was placed with
other women in the long-boat, under the charge of the boatswain; but the tackle being too
suddenly set adrift, the boat was stove in.
By this time the City of London steam-tug, having perceived the signals of distress,
reached the spot, and succeeded in rescuing nearly the whole of the occupants of the boat,
as well as several others of the passengers and crew, to the number of thirty-four. She
remained cruising about the spot till early next morning, picking up such of the passengers
as could get clear of the wreck, and in the last hope, which proved vain, of rendering assistance
to those who might have floated on fragments of the ship after she settled down. The
Kingsdown lugger Mary was likewise attracted by the signals of distress, and succeeded in
rescuing thirty passengers. The London pilot-cutter No. 3, and the Princess, stationed at
74
266 THE SEA.
Dover, also got to the spot, and succeeded in rescuing- twenty-one, ten of them from the
rigging. The total number thus rescued was eighty-five persons.
The ship went down about three-quarters of an hour after she was struck, the captain
remaining at his post till she sank. One of the survivors states that he was standing
close to the captain when she went down. The former managed to lay hold of some floating
plank, and was borne to the surface. The captain, however, was not again seen. The pilot
and ten others had taken to the mizen-mast, from which they were rescued. The whole of the
officers perished.
It must seem remarkable that while the Northfleet showed lights and other signals
of distress within two miles of shore during twenty minutes or half an hour no notice
was taken of them. When a ship is in difficulties in the night, it is usual for her either
to fire guns or to exhibit a flare of light. But here, even the vessels close at hand
thought that the ship was only signalling for a pilot; and at the time there were nearly
a hundred vessels at anchor in the roadstead, with their lights burning brilliantly. Those
on board the three ships nearest the wreck would have instantly sent help had they
imagined there was a vessel in distress, and they could have got to the ship in a few
minutes, for, though the night was dark and squally, it was clear at intervals, and any
boat could live, the sea not being rough. It appears that the Corona, an Australian
clipper, was lying at anchor within 300 yards of the NortJtfleet when the disaster occurred,
but neither the terrible shock of the collision, the subsequent cries for aid, nor the rockets
continuously fired from the deck of the sinking ship, could arouse the man who was the
only watch on deck to call up either his comrades or the officers of his ship. Various
reports were at first current as to the name of the vessel which ran the Northfleet down,
and which passed straight on her way, without taking any heed of the disaster she had
caused, though it must have been clearly known on board of her, if not — it is to be hoped —
to the full extent of the calamity. Suspicion attached to the Murillo, a Spanish steamer,
bound for Lisbon from Antwerp. The Murillo arrived at Cadiz on the evening of Thursday,
the 30th, having stopped at Belem, the entrance to the port of Lisbon, on the day before,
and having then been warned by a telegram to go on to Cadiz without landing her Lisbon
cargo. Upon her arrival at Cadiz an official inquiry was commenced, at the instance of
the British Consul. From the report of Mr. Macpherson, Lloyd's agent at Cadiz, it
appeared that her starboard bow had been newly painted black and red to the water line,
and her port bow showed marks of a slight indentation near the anchor davit. It was
stated, however, on behalf of her owners, that the painting was done in London or Antwerp,
before she started on her present journey, and that the indentation had been made on
entering the port of Havre two years before. An inquiry was instituted in the Spanish
Courts, and the committee appointed for that purpose declared that the Murillo was not
the vessel which ran down the Northfleet. The Murillo was therefore released. But
some time afterwards justice was avenged.
The official report of the inquiry made — at the instigation of the English Government—
by Mr. Daniel Maude, stipendiary magistrate, assisted by Captains Harris and Hight
acting as assessors, stated that there was no doubt that the ship which came into collision
with the Nortk/Uet was the Spanish iron screw-steamer Murillo, trading between London
THE LOSS OF THE "SCHILLEB." 267
and Cadiz, which left London on the 12th of January, proceeded to Antwerp, and, after
leaving- that port, arrived off Dungeness on the night of January 22nd. The Northfleet
was anchored in an apparently most safe position, a mile and a half or more inside the
usual fair course for vessels outward-bound. The Murillo came down inside the Nortlifleet,
and struck her nearly amidships. It would appear, both from observation on board the
Northfleet and also from the evidence given by the chief engineer of the Murillo, that
the latter had slackened her speed some little time before the collision, or probably both
ships would have sunk. There is no doubt the shock was a slight one; but the sharp
stem of the iron steamer having struck the weakest part of the wooden ship will account
for the mischief done. The master of the Murillo, in his log, stated that the reason for
not laying by to inquire as to the injury sustained by the shock was that a boat had
immediately left the ship and examined the damage, and that the boat and crew having
returned again, he concluded nothing of moment had happened. The Court was satisfied
that no such incident had occurred, nor was it mentioned by the witnesses who had
previously been examined by the Court. The survivors of the collision were unanimously
of opinion that if the Murillo had lain by, the whole of the Nortlifleet people could have
been saved. They thoroughly believed that the Murillo steamed away, and left them to
perish, in defiance of their signals, rockets, blue lights, and the shouts and screams of the
whole ship's company, which must have been noticed. On the other hand, it appears that
Captain Knowles did not apprehend immediately the damage his ship had suffered, and
that no rockets were fired for a quarter of an hour after the collision. During this time
the Murillo was steaming away at half-speed, and was probably two miles off. Upon
this evidence the Court felt they ought not to impute to the captain of the Murillo the
full apparent brutality of his offence in not staying by the injured ship. The Court
added a strong expression of opinion that no master of a ship should be allowed to take
his wife to sea with him.
On Friday, the 7th of May, 1875, one of those sad events occurred which show
the imperfection of many of the most carefully-devised schemes for life-saving at sea.
Although it occurred in British waters, neither the ship nor the larger part of the
passengers were British subjects. The Schiller was a fine iron steamship of 3,600
tons, belonging to the Eagle line of Hamburg; she was nearly a new vessel, having
been built at Glasgow in 1873. She left New York on the 27th of April, having on board
at the time 264 passengers, while the officers and crew numbered 120 souls. All went
well till the 7th of May, on which day she was due at Plymouth, when, in the afternoon,
a fog set in; nevertheless, the vessel was kept at full speed until 8.30 p.m., when the
density of the fog having greatly increased, she was put at half-speed, and an hour after
she struck on the Retarrier Rocks, off the Scilly Islands, and within two-thirds of a mile of
the lighthouse on the Bishop's Rock. Although going at slow speed at the time, and although
the engines were immediately reversed, the unyielding rocks had done their work : the
ship was immovable, and immediately filled. All was at once confusion, and a panic
ensued, cries of terror rising from every lip. Orders were given by the captain to lower
1 the boats, and until he was himself washed off the bridge, at about 4 a.m., and drowned,
he did his best to preserve some order, even threatening the frantic crowd with his pistol.
268
THE SEA.
All the boats, however, except two, were swept away by the sea before they could be
lowered, many perishing with them, and one was crushed by the funnel falling- on it. The
ship held together for several hours, and had there been any means of making their hope-
less condition known at St. Mary's, the chief of the Scilly Islands, a steamer, and a first-
class lifeboat* belonging to the National Lifeboat Institution, might have arrived in time
to save a large number of lives. Such, however, was not to be, and when the mornino-
dawned all that remained of the crew and passengers who, a few hours before, had been
looking forward to happy meetings in the Fatherland with fathers, mother, sisters, brothers,
ISLANDS.
and friends at home, were those who had succeeded in mounting the rigging of the fore
and main masts, and a few others in the half-swamped boat, the only one which had
been safely lowered. The women and children who had crowded the deck-houses and
saloon, and the male passengers and those of the crew who were on the upper deck or the
bridge, had perished. Alarm-guns were fired and signal lights thrown up continually,
until the seas breaking over the ship prevented such efforts attracting attention; and some
of the former were heard on the islands, but as steamers from America had been in tht
habit of firing guns to mark their arrival off the islands, they were not supposed to
danger signals. It is said, however, that at St. Agnes, the nearest island to the wreck,
the guns were believed to be from a vessel in distress, but the fog was so thick that boats
were afraid to venture out.
The mainmast fell at about seven o'clock in the morning, and the foremast an houi
* Vide The Life-boat; or, Journal of the National Life-boat Institution. August 2, 1875.
WRECKED ON THE SCILLIES.
269
later, when most of those who remained in their rigging were lost. Just before the fore-
mast had fallen, four boats from the shore arrived, and picked up several persons from the
water, but finding the sea too heavy to allow them to go alongside the ship, one of them
went to St. Mary's, to convey intelligence of the disaster and to procure the aid of the
steam-tug and lifeboat. As soon as possible the latter arrived in tow of the steamer, but
all, alas ! was then over, and they only picked up twenty-three bags of mail matter and
a few bodies. Out of 384 souls only 53 were saved.
THE BISHOP ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.
It was about ten o'clock in the evening when the ship struck. A little festive party had
been given in honour of the birthday of one of the officers, but there is no evidence to show
that the working of the ship was thereby neglected. The majority of the passengers were
on deck, on the look-out for land, which they knew was near. Nearly all the women and
children and a few men were in their berths ; others were sitting about, talking, smoking,
playing cards or dominoes, and thinking little of the fate which was so soon to befall them.
There was not the slightest premonition of the disaster, and the shock appears to have
been so slight that few were at first aware that the ship had struck on a rock. But in
a few minutes the sea which ran over her forced her on her broadside, where she lay constantly
270 THE SEA.
washed over by the breakers. Let the reader imagine, if he can, the sudden change from
the gaiety and hopefulness on board, the anticipations of soon reaching shore and home, to
that scene of wild terror and dismay !
About midnight the funnel fell overboard and smashed two of the starboard boats.
Soon after the fog cleared away, and a gleam of hope arose when the bright clear light
of the Bishop Rock Lighthouse shone out. But it was only momentary, and dense
darkness soon surrounded them. When the deck-house was swept away by a sea so heavy
that it ran up to the top of the mainmast, a heartrending cry, mingled with shrieks and
groans, rent the air. Nearly two hundred perished by this one catastrophe. Then the
captain gathered for safety some people on the bridgeway, the highest place, in the vain hope
of saving them. Every one, including the captain, engineers, and doctor, were swept off.
The riggings of both masts were now crowded with people. With every lurch the steamer
careened over to the starboard side until the yards touched the water, and the cargo began
to float about on all sides. Bales of wool and cotton, feathers, trunks, boxes, and woodwork
of all kinds, strewed the waves.
A survivor — one of seven who left the ship in a boat and was afterwards instrumental
in picking up others — said that they cruised about the greater part of the night near the
vessel, and that the screaming all the time was heartrending, and lasted almost from the
commencement of the disaster to four o'clock in the morning, when it ceased. Alas ! by that
time nearly all had gone to their long account. The last screams he heard, and which he
could never forget, were from a little child. Mingled with all was the cracking of the
ship's timbers as wave after wave broke over her. One by one the lights disappeared, till,
at three o'clock, not one was left but the masthead light.
A proportion of the bodies only were recovered, among them those of several ladies
wearing valuable jewellery; one had £200 in money upon her, which she had endeavoured
to save. That with 1,200 life-belts on board so few should have escaped seems nearly
incredible; but the panic and other circumstances help to account for the sad fact. The
second mate stated that he had much trouble in getting the passengers to understand the
importance of wearing them well under the armpits, and that if the belt got below the
waist it would at once force the head under water. From the position of some of the
corpses recovered, it is evident that many must have perished in this manner. In a number
of cases the lower strings of the life-belts had broken. The larger part of the dead were
buried on the various islands of the Scilly group.*
The main features of this disaster teach some important lessons. "We find," says a
writer in The Lifeboat, "in this instance, a noble ship, under full control of steam and
sail; the captainf an able, experienced, and careful officer, whose devotion to his duty
* The Scilly Islands, thirty miles from the Land's End, are 140 in number, and range in extent from one to
1,600 acres, several of the larger being fully inhabited. They are flanked by the grandest rock scenery, and
surrounded by reefs and rocks innumerable.
t Captain Thomas had, we were told on other authority, navigated the Schiller across the Atlantic and past the
treacherous Scillies eight times. He imagined himself to be far from a point of danger ; and old sea-captains assert
that it is not uncommon for a vessel to be in advance of her commander's calculations — in other words, she may
plough through the water faster than he is aware. In this case the sun had been absent for three days, and the
course had been kept by dead reckoning.
CAUSES OF THE LOSS. 271
and sense of the responsibility thrown on him were shown by the fact of his not having
had his clothes off for five nights previous to the loss of his ship ; and the weather fine,
with the exception of the prevalence of a dense fog.
" If we further inquire whether the owners of the ship had done their duty in providing
their passengers with all available means of safety, we find that she had an ample and com-
petent crew, had eight boats, six of them being life-boats, and that life-belts more than
sufficient for every one on board were provided, and were to a large extent used, since all,
or nearly all, the bodies that were picked up had life-belts on them. The latter may,
however, have been of inferior quality — indeed, are said to have been so. With so many
elements of safety, what then caused them to be of no avail?
" The immediate causes of the loss of the ship were apparently the dense fog and
an insufficient allowance for the set of the well-known current which sets out of the
Bay of Biscay to the northward, across the entrance of the British Channel, which has
sometimes considerable strength.
fC A secondary cause was the old offence, so general in the merchant service, despite
all the warnings of experience — neglect of sounding, the lead not having been used during
the day or night, nor on the two previous days.
" Lastly, the chief cause of so few lives being saved, there can be little doubt, was
the same as that which led to such fearful results in the case of the Nortkfteet, viz., the
custom of making use of night signals of distress for other objects, such as to call for
pilots, to signify arrival, &c., a folly admonished in advance in the old fable of the boy
raising the alarm of ' Wolf, wolf ! ' when there was no wolf, and then receiving no succour
from his neighbours when the wolf came.
" It appears to be customary for the German steamers to make the Scilly Islands
to enable their agents there to telegraph to Plymouth the approach of their steamers, in
order that the necessary preparations should be made for a prompt disembarkation of
their passengers for England on their arrival at that port.
" The saving of time, which, looking to the great daily expense of such vessels, with
their hundreds of mouths to be fed, and their immense consumption of coal, is the saving
of money to the shareholders, and is, of course, the motive for communicating by signal
with Scilly, just as the maintenance of high speed in all weathers, and by night as by
day at all hazards, is so, and which leads to so many disasters.
" All that we would suggest, in the interest of humanity, is that such communication
should be left discretionary with the captain of every ship in the case of fogs, when it
should be optional for him to proceed directly for Plymouth, or to heave to, or to feel his
way at greatly diminished speed by frequent sounding, which would be a certain guide to
him for a distance of many miles round the islands/' The writer suggests that, in view of
the too common neglect of sounding, such neglect, when discovered, should be punishable
by heavy penalties. It was proved in evidence that the Eagle line of steamers were ex-
pressly prohibited from firing guns, or exhibiting other distress signals, to make them-
selves known, but that other German steamers had done so, of which those on board this
unfortunate ship now reaped the evil consequences.
On the morning of the Gth December, 1875, one of those sad disasters occurred which
WRECK OF THE " DEUTSCHLAND." 273
ever and again remind us of the dangerous nature of our shores. But a few months before
the Schiller had been wrecked, with the loss of 331 lives, and now an emigrant steamship,
of the same nationality, was to share the same terrible fate off the Essex coast. Happily,
the loss was not so serious, and led to the establishment of a life-boat station where one
had not existed before.
Few maritime disasters of modern times have excited more general interest than
the wreck of the Deutschland : partly from the fact that it occurred so near the mouth
of the Thames, and partly because a part of the German press, in a strange and reckless
manner, advanced serious charges against the town of Harwich and the boatmen of that
port, accusing them of allowing the unfortunate emigrants to perish before their eyes,
and refusing them succour. The circumstances are as follows : — In the first place, the spot
where the Deutschland was wrecked — on the Kentish Knock — is twenty-four miles from Har-
wich, and, therefore, at too great a distance for the vessel herself, and far less for any signals
of distress or national flag to be seen from that place, even in clear weather. " Accordingly, the
only modes by which intelligence of the disaster could be conveyed to Harwich would have been
by the different light-vessels repeating the signals from one to another, and finally to that
town, or by some vessel or boat proceeding there. Now it so happened that all the hovelling
smacks belonging to that and adjacent places had themselves been driven into port by
the violence of the gale and the heavy sea, and that the only available means of com-
munication was, therefore, by signals from the light-ships. It appeal's from the evidence
of the officers in charge of those vessels at the Board of Trade inquiry, although the
Deutschland had been on shore since five and six o'clock in the morning 011 Monday, the
Cth of December, and had immediately commenced to throw up rockets, and continued to
do so until daylight, none of them were seen even from the nearest light-snip — the Kentish
Knock — no doubt, owing to the thickness of the weather and almost continuous snow-storms,
the master of that vessel first perceiving the unfortunate steamer at 9.30 a.m. He then
fired guns, sounded the fog-horn, and continued to do so at half-hour intervals during the
day, and at 4.30 p.m. commenced to throw up rockets, which were answered by the steamer.
" At 5.20 the mate of the Sunk light-ship first saw two rockets, which he supposed
to be from a vessel on the Long Sand, whereupon he fired guns and sent up rockets
throughout the night, but did not see the wrecked ship until 7.30 on the morning of
Tuesday, the 7th. His first rockets had, however, been seen by the look-out on board
the Cork light-ship, from which vessel rockets were then immediately discharged; and at 7.30
these were replied to from. Harwich, they having given the first intimation to the good
people of that town that anything was amiss at sea; and even then not that a German
emigrant steamer was ashore on the Kentish Knock, but merely that some vessel was in
danger somewhere on one of the numerous sandbanks which lie in all directions off that
port. We have thus accounted for the circumstance of these unfortunate shipwrecked persons
being allowed to remain for fourteen hours in their perilous position without succour from
the shore, from the simple cause that no one knew of their danger ; and we have arrived
at another stage of our inquiry : viz., Were the means then adopted all that could be
reasonably expected from humane people, who would gladly afford succour, if in their
power, to any one in distress, to whatever country they might belong ? "
75
274 THE SEA.
The writer of the critical article from which the above quotations are taken* shows,
firstly, that there was not at that time a life-boat station at Harwich. It had always been
considered that the sands were too distant from that port for the successful employment
of such a boat, and that, in the event of wrecks upon them, the numerous hovelling smacks
would have anticipated its services. There was, however, a small but serviceable steam-tug —
not, be it remembered, Government or town property, but that of a private individual. It
is right that this should be fully understood. The circumstance of this tug, the Liverpool,
not going off instantly on perceiving the rockets thrown up by the Cork light-ship was
much criticised by some ignorant persons at the time. " Fortunately, she was commanded
by an able and experienced seaman, Captain Carrington, who knew what he was about ;
who knew the difficulties of navigating in the intricate passages between the numerous
shoals off the port on a dark night and gale of wind, and he could only do so at great
risk of losing his owner's vessel and the lives of those intrusted to him ; that he might
spend the whole night in vainly searching for the vessel in distress, and, even if he should
find her, that, with the small tug's boats, it would be quite impossible for him to render
any assistance to a vessel surrounded by broken water, in a dark night and heavy sea ; and,
moreover, that if any mishap should disable his own vessel, the only chance of saving the
wrecked persons might be destroyed." He judiciously waited till shortly before daylight,
and then proceeded, first, to the Cork light-ship, where he ascertained that the Sunk light-
ship had been firing all night. He then steamed to the latter, and was misinformed (uninr
tentionally) regarding the locality of the wreck. He, after searching in vain for some little
time, steamed for the Kentish Knock, and when half-way to it saw the Deutschland on
that sandbank. He then went to the Knock light-ship, and hailed her, inquiring whether
those on board knew anything about the wreck, or whether there were any people remaining
on board her, but could get no information. He soon proceeded to the spot, and, finding
there were a large number of persons on board her, anchored his vessel under her lee, at
about sixty fathoms' distance, and sent his boats to her. After taking off three boat-loads,
he weighed his anchor, placed his vessel alongside the ship, and took off the remainder of
the survivors — 173 in all. In spite of the time which had elapsed and the great dangers
to which the vessel had been exposed, the loss of life had not been so serious as might well
have been anticipated. Fifty-seven poor men and women had, however, perished in the
raging waves. The tugf had done her work of saving nobly and well, and had performed it
at a time when the hovelling smacks could have done nothing at all. On the same occasion
the Broadstairs life-boat proceeded as soon as possible to the scene of the wreck, twenty
miles distant, but too late to be of service. In these days of nearly universal telegraph}',
* The Lifeboat, &c., February 1st, 1876.
t Shortly after the wreck of the Deutschland, the same tug-boat, the Liverpool, rescued from certain death the
crew of another foreign ship, this time a Norwegian vessel, wrecked on the Ship-wash sandbank ; and the Ramsgat
life-boat, summoned by telegram from Harwich, was towed by the steam-tug Aid no less than forty-five miles to the
scene of the disaster — only to find on arrival there that the shipwrecked crew had already been saved by the Hanviel
tug— and then another forty-five miles on her return. The fifteen poor fellows on board had then been fourteer
hours sitting in their boat, with the seas and spray breaking over them through the whole of this terrible voyage in
freezing atmosphere. They landed in a benumbed and half -frozen state, from the effects of which some of thcr
were sure to suffer severely afterwards.
SIGNALS OF DISTRESS.
275
it would seem strange that our light -ships on dangerous sands, and our lighthouses on
dangerous rocks, are almost entirely without the means of proper communication with the
nearest shores. From the light-ship, indeed, rockets and guns are constantly fired, as we have
seen in many preceding examples, but fogs and heavy weather often prevent either from
being of service. The expense of connecting all of them with the coasts by means of
submarine cables might be sufficient to frighten any Government ; but some such com-
munication, however costly, should be made with many of those exposed and dangerous
spots where shipwrecks are of constant occurrence.
Excellent authorities on maritime matters have strongly advocated the necessity for
the establishment of a sound system of day and night signals from all outlying lighthouses,
light-ships, and coastguard stations, and the laying of submarine cables to many of the
more prominent stations. A formula of " signals of distress " was included in the new
" Merchant Shipping Act of 1873," which came into operation on the 1st of November
of that year. Prior to that time such signals were too vague and too indiscriminately
used to have much value, and sometimes were calculated to mislead. Thus, in the case of
the Northfleet already cited, 400 of those on board were drowned, "although she was sur-
rounded by other ships, and the rockets which she discharged as signals of distress were
seen by the coastguard and life-boat men ashore, but were unheeded, it being a common
custom for homeward-bound ships to discharge rockets for pilots, or as feux de joie on
their safe return from distant lands." The following signals of distress are now required.
In the daytime the following signals, when used together or separately, shall be deemed
sufficient and proper. 1. A gun fired at intervals of about a minute. 2. The International
Code signal of distress. This is a square flag with chess-board pattern, blue and white,
having beneath it a long triangular white pennant, with a red ball in the centre. 3. The
distant signal, consisting of a square flag, having above or below it a ball or anything
resembling a ball. At night the following signals : — 1. A gun fired at intervals of about
a minute. 2. Flames on the ship, as from a burning tar-barrel or oil-barrel, &c. 3. Rockets
or shells, of any colour or description, fired, one at a time, at short intervals. And " any
master of a vessel who uses or displays, or causes or permits any person under his authority
to use or display, any of the said signals, except in the case of a vessel being in distress,
shall be liable to pay compensation for any labour undertaken, risk incurred, or loss sus-
tained, in consequence of such signal having been supposed to be a signal of distress, and
such compensation may, without prejudice to any other remedy, be recovered in the same
lanner in which salvage is recoverable."
The signals for pilots are also definitely fixed as follows : — By day, the " Jack " or
)ther national colour usually worn by merchant ships, having round it a white border, is
be displayed at the fore ; or the International Code pilotage signal, this consists of
TO square flags, the upper of which is a blue flag with a white square in its centre, and
the lower of which is a striped flag, red, white, and blue, similar to the French flag. At
light, " blue lights," or bright white lights, are to be flashed at frequent intervals, just
ibove the bulwarks. If these signals are used for any purpose other than that for which
they are intended, a penalty, not exceeding twenty pounds, is incurred. Residents at,
id visitors to, seaports and sea-side resorts will, from .the above description, be able to
270 THE SEA.
judge whether a vessel in the offing1 is in dire distress or simply requires the ordinary
services of a pilot.
In the eighteenth century, the requirements of a maritime country constantly at war
obliged the Government to establish a complete system of signals and signal stations all
round our coasts. At the conclusion of our wars with France that system was in full
force, and at that time the movements of nearly every vessel, friend or foe, were telegraphed
from point to point with a facility which contributed in an important degree to the security
of the country. "This Government telegraph system was also available for summoning
such aids as then existed for the preservation of life from shipwreck. Accounts of wrecks
at what may be called the life-boat era all tend to show that the system of coast telegraphy
then in existence played an important part in most notable life-boat and other rescues
from shipwreck. With the long peace the need for information on the part of the Govern-
ment as to the movements of its own or other ships became less urgent, though the
coast system of signals maintained a precarious existence for many years, to assist the
coastguard in protecting the revenue. As smuggling decreased, the coastguard men were
reduced in number, and the chain of signallers became broken into gaps, which widened
year by year. The final blow was given by railways and electricity to the old line of sema-
phores stretching between Portsmouth and the Admiralty, and elsewhere, and from headland to
headland. But while the Government, by the help of modern invention, enormously increased
its facilities of communication with the great dockyards and arsenals, it, conceiving itself
to be in no way concerned (we suppose) with the safety of merchant ships or saving life,
failed to supply a substitute for the old semaphore system along the coast line; and year
by year the evil has increased from the reduction of the coastguard, and the consequent
lengthening of the interval on lines of coasts in which watch has ceased to be kept. The
result is that during the last twenty-five years, and up to the present time, there has been
greater difficulty in communicating along the coast and summoning aid to distressed
vessels at all out-of-the-way parts of the coast than existed at the end of the last century.
" The First Lord of the Admiralty or the President of the Board of Trade can converse
at leisure with Plymouth, Deal, Leith, or Liverpool, but the Eddystone has no means of
letting the authorities at Plymouth know that a ship is slowly foundering before the eyes
of the keepers, though the two points are in sight of each other. The light-keepers at
the Bishop have no means ®f telling the people at St. Mary's that a ship full of passengers
is slowly but surely tearing to pieces on the Retarrier reef; and the hundreds of vessels
that yearly are in deadly peril on the Goodwins, the Kentish Knock, the Norfolk Sands,
and elsewhere, have no means of summoning prompt aid from the land, though they are
only a few miles distant from it."* The writer notes that the number of cases of ship-
wreck, where the vessels might have been saved, which reach the National Life-boat Insti-
tution is considerable. These come largely from obscure and detached parts of the coasts.
A foreign barque was wrecked on the Ship-wash, a sandbank eight miles from land, the
nearest port being Harwich, from which its southern end is distant ten miles. The wreck
was discovered by several smacks soon after seven o'clock on the morning of January 7th,
1876, and the news of the disaster was in the possession of the coastguards at Walton,
* The Lifeboat, &c., Feb. 1st, 1876.
NECESSITY FOR ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION. 277
Harwich, and Aldborough, before ten o'clock that day. Yet the crew were not taken off the
wreck till the following morning-, after they had been more than twenty-four hours exposed
to all the horrors of a pitiless easterly gale, and the momentary expectation of being swept
into eternity. So ill-adapted was the system of sending information along the coast that
the news did not reach Ramsgate till the next morning, and tug-boat and life-boat then
started on a gallant but fruitless expedition, to find that they had only just been fore-
stalled by the Harwich steamer. The Ramsgate men were thus needlessly exposed for
fourteen hours in a storm, with the cold so intense that the salt water froze as it fell on
the boat. " It is also significant/' says a writer in The Lifeboat, " that the Aldborough
life-boat's crew declined to launch their boat (they being fifteen miles from the wreck),
mainly because there were no sure grounds for concluding that the crew were still on board
it — information which could certainly have been conveyed by the Ship-wash lightship had
it had an electric wire communication with the shore; or, failing that, by properly arranged
' distant signals' visible to the eye." The writer shows that had the information been
telegraphed from the point which it actually did reach about 10 a.m., either to the Admiralty
or the Board of Trade, or any other public department, assistance could with ease have
been sent to the wreck, by orders from London, not the day after, but on the forenoon
of the same day. . And what might not have been the sad consequences of delay, had the
vessel been carrying a lot of helpless passengers instead of nine hardy seamen ?
A case occurred shortly after the above occurrence, illustrating the necessity for prompt
and suitable communication with land. The steamer Vesper, of Hartlepool, was lost on
the Kish Bank, four miles south of the Kish light-ship. The crew of this wreck, which
struck the bank at 5 a.m., though only four miles from the light-ship, six of a coast-
guard station on shore, and seven of another point, received no assistance, nor did the
light-ship pass the intelligence till 10 a.m., when a boatman at Kingstown saw masts
sticking out of the water on the Kish Bank, with signals of distress flying from them.
Promptly enough then the life-boat, towed by H.M. steam-tender Amelie, proceeded to
the wreck, only to find, however, that on the steamer sinking the crew had taken to their
own boats, and being unburdened with passengers, had escaped to land. The weather was
moderate; had there been a gale, the story might have been far different. What a re-
proach to our system ! first, that the light-ship had no means of signalling for assistance ;
and, second, that it had no means afterwards of indicating that all hands were happily
saved.
278 THE SEA.
CHAPTER XXI.
A CONTRAST — THE SHIP ON FIRE ! — SWAMPED AT SEA.
The Loss of the Amazon— A. Noble Vessel— Description of her Engine-rooms— Her Boats— Heating of the Machinery— The
Ship on Fire— Communication Cut off— The Ominous Fire-bell— The Vessel put before the Wind— A Headlong Course-
Impossibility of Launching the Boats— "Every Man for Himself !"— The Boats on Fire— Horrible Cases of Roasting—
Boats Stove in and Upset— The Remnant of Survivors—" Passing by on the Other Side "—Loss of a distinguished Author
—A Clergyman's Experiences— A Graphic Description— Without Food, Water, Oars, Helm, or Com pass- -Bio wing-up of
the Amazon— " A Sail!"— Saved on the Dutch Galliot— Back from the Dead— Review of • the Catastrophe— A Contrast
—Loss of the London— Anxiety to get Berths on her— The First Disaster— Terrible Weather— Swamped by the Seas—
The Furnaces Drowned out— Efforts to Replace a Hatchway— Fourteen Feet of Water in the Hold— "Boys, you may
say your Prayers ! "—Scene in the Saloon— The Last Prayer Meeting— Worthy Draper— Incidents— Loss of an Eminent
Tragedian— His Last Efforts— The Bottle Washed Ashore— Nineteen Saved out of Two Hundred and Sixty-three Souls
on Board -Noble Captain Martin— The London's Last Plunge— The Survivors picked up by an Italian Barque.
No greater horror can occur at sea than for the good ship to be on fire. At first sight,
indeed, it might appear that in the midst of an unbounded waste of waters nothing could
be easier than to extinguish a conflagration on board a vessel, but examples already cited
in this work have shown the difficulties in the way. Steam-ships have special facilities
for pumping water into almost any part of their hulls, yet one of the saddest examples of
a ship on fire is afforded in the loss of the Amazon, a steam-ship of the first-class.
The Amazon was one of a fleet of new vessels placed by the Royal Mail Steam-ship
Company on the West India service, and was stated to be, at the time of her launching,
the largest timber-built steam-ship ever constructed in England. She was of 2,256 tons
burden, and fitted with every improvement known at the time; her entire cost was stated
at over £100,000. When, on the 16th of December, 1851, she arrived at Southampton,
she was regarded as the perfect model of a passenger vessel. In due time she was ready
for sea, and having received her crew and engineers aboard, and a little later her passengers
and the Admiralty agent with mails, she left Southampton on Friday, January 2nd,
1852. The officers were all tried men, and her commander, Captain Symons, was one of
those seamen whom large steam-ship companies are only too glad to employ and retain.
He was not merely an officer of thoroughly competent skill, but a man of unbending reso-
lution, a man fitted to be a ruler among men, as should be every commander of a great
vessel. Only a few weeks before he had received the thanks of the American Government,
accompanied by a present of a silver speaking-trumpet, for interposing, at the risk of his
own life, in an affair at Chagres between the Americans and the natives. On this occasion
he not only was the means of saving much valuable property, but by his energetic conduct
arrested a conflict, which, but for his intervention, might probably have been attended
with much bloodshed and slaughter. The Amazon, a pioneer of the service she was to
inaugurate, left Southampton amidst a considerable amount of eclat, and commenced her
voyage.
" And so," says the work* from which much of the following account is compiled,
"the gallant ship sped on. The wind was right ahead, but her engines were powerful,
* " The Loss of the Amazon." By the Rev. C. A. Johns, B.A., F.L.S., &c.
WKECK OF THE "AMAZON." 279
and she passed rapidly through the water. But it is necessary, in order to make clear what
follows, to describe the position of her engines and boats.
" The engine-room was about the middle of the vessel, having sixteen boilers — eight
in the forward and as many in the after part. There were, consequently, two funnels :
one about midships, the other immediately behind the foremast. In those vessels which
have but one set of boilers and one funnel these are placed in the after part of the engine-
room, while the store-room, containing tallow, oil, and other inflammable materials, is
placed forward. But the Amazon having boilers at both ends, it happened that the floor
of the store-room rested directly on the wood casing that surrounded the upper part or
steam-chest of the forward boilers.
" Then, with regard to the boats : most of the older vessels have life-boats resting,
bottom up, on the top of the paddle-boxes, according to a plan much approved in the navy,
and the smaller boats swing suspended over the water, from two curved iron props, or
davits, as they are technically termed, by ropes that, running through a pulley, enable
men seated in the boats to lower themselves from the ship's side to the water, when the
hooks by which the tackle is attached to the boats may at once be cast off. But as it
would be inconvenient that the boats so hung from the davits should be swinging back-
ward and forward with every roll of the ship, ropes are lashed round them and fastened
to the bulwark of the vessel, in order to keep them steady. Now, in order to get quit
of this latter somewhat clumsy contrivance, as well as to ease the strain of the boat upon
the tackling by which it swings, a different mode of fastening was adopted in the Amazon.
There were the davits as usual, and the common contrivance for lowering the boats into
the water ; but instead of the undergirding ropes or guys, two iron props were introduced,
each of which, branching out at the top into two prongs, received in its groove the keel
of the boat, in which she sat as in a cradle, thus taking away all strain from the ordinary
tackling. This change in the mode of securing the boats had, however, this effect : that,
whereas in the former case the boat's crew had but to lower the boat and themselves
into the water, by the new mode it became necessary, before they could do that, to hoist
the boat* up a few feet till it was got clear of the projecting points of the crutch on which
it rested. Of what fatal consequence this necessity was will become too apparent- in the
course of the narrative/'
The machinery was perfectly new, and, as is frequently the case on first trials, became
much heated in the bearings : so much so, indeed, that water had to be pumped over them.
Whether or not the terrible disaster about to be described resulted from that fact will
never be known ; it much more probably occurred from some light being dropped upon
the waste, &c., of the oil-room. No neglect of duty was attributed to the engineers, who
seem to have been exceptionally careful.
About a quarter before one o'clock, Sunday, when the ship was about entering the
Bay of Biscay, Mr. Treweeke, the second officer, a most promising and practical sailor,
being then officer of the watch, was on the bridge. Just before, Duusford, quartermaster, v
had gone the rounds to see that the lights were all out, and had reported that all was
right; Mr. Treweeke then was on the bridge, and Mr. Dunsford was standing under him
to receive orders. Mr. Vincent, one of the midshipmen, was on the quarter-deck ; all was
280 THE SEA.
still as the grave, save the monotonous throbbing of the engines. He happened to look
towards Mr. Treweeke at that moment, and saw him leaning listlessly against the railing
of the bridge. Suddenly Treweeke started up, and looked earnestly at something apparent! v
issuing from the engine-room. That officer had discovered flames issuing thence, and
Dunsford was detailed to call the captain : and although he should have performed his duty
noiselessly, he managed, rather boisterously, to disturb some of the passengers. The
captain immediately ran out of his cabin, half nude, and after finding that the fire was
serious, ran back and put on some clothes, immediately returning to the scene of action.
At the same time, Mr. Stone, the fourth engineer, saw fire on the starboard foremost boiler
from the iron platform on which he was standing, and instantly gave the alarm. He even
attempted to stop the engines, but the smoke was so dense that he was obliged to retreat.
One of the men, who was going to the engine-room to warm himself, observed a glare of
light in the fore stoke-hole, and on examination found between the starboard fore-boiler
and the bulkhead a flame issuing as far as he could see. The firemen's backs were turned
at the time, and he shouted out to them, "Don't you see the fire? Why don't you get
water?" They did not, however, seem to notice it. He rushed aft, where the hose was
kept, and tried to drag it forward, shouting for assistance ; but by the time the hose was
brought the flames of fire were rushing up through the oil, tallow, and waste store-rooms.
The flames were leaping upwards to the deck above. Owing to the smoke, he was obliged
to give up the hose, and rush on deck, it being impossible to remain below any longer.
The chief engineer, Mr. Angus, and one of his assistants, tried to put on the hose, and
kept by it till they could not breathe. Hearing a cry for buckets on deck, Angus ran aft
as fast as he could, and the passengers were then breaking open the saloon door to get on
deck. Several attempts to get water to the flames were unsuccessful or utterly ineffective.
The second engineer, Mr. William Angus, stated that when he was alarmed by the
cry of " Fire ! " he was in the act of " blowing off " * the after-boiler, and on coming
up the lower platform ladder of the engine-room, ran to set the "donkey" engine (which
pumps the ship and keeps the boilers a-going). A blast of smoke stopped him, and when
he recovered more or less from the suffocation he attempted to work her, but failed. All
the lamps were extinguished by the smoke. Mr. Stone, the fourth engineer, came to his
assistance, but was forced to retire. The stokers and others found it equally impossible
to remain. One of the survivors described the progress of the flames in the engine-room
" as that of a great wave of fire, before which no man could stand and live." He stated
that it rushed upon his mind that if the boilers were left in their then state the water
would soon become exhausted, and the boilers themselves explode, so he turned on the
water into them, and attempted to remove the weights from the safety valves, so as to
ease the pressure of the steam. The glass above was cracking with the intensity of the
heat. "It was not three minutes from the time that the fire was discovered till the ship
was in flames."
Above, on deck, all was horror, confusion, and despair, among the passengers and crew.
The flames, having broken out abaft the foremast, rapidly extended across the whole breadth
* In sea-going steam-vessels the salt water employed in the boilers incrusts the sides with a deposit of salt, and
it is necessary to " blow off " every now and again, and discharge the water from them.
30
BURNING OF THE "AMAZON."
THE SHIP ON FIEE!
281
of the ship, forming a wall of fire as high as the paddle-boxes, cutting off all communication.
One or two of the sailors, indeed, managed to get across the paddle-boxes, cautiously creeping
up one side and sliding down the other, but all other means of access were effectually de-
barred. It was the sole chance of safety, for the boats were all in the after part of the
ship. " It would be needless here to tell of the screams and shrieks of the horror-stricken
passengers, mixed with the cries of the animals aboard; of the wild anguish with which
they saw before them only the choice of death almost equally dreadful — the raging flame
AMAZON STEAM-SHIP.
or the raging sea, and of those fearful moments when all self-control, all presence of
mind, appeared to be lost, and no authority was recognised, no command obeyed." Mean-
while the ominous fire-bell was ringing — the knell of many a poor man and woman that night.
When Captain Symons rushed on deck, his first order was to " put up the helm,"
which was instantly obeyed. The helmsman, assisted by Mr. Treweeke, the gallant second
officer, worked at the wheel till the vessel " paid off " and turned so as to go before the
wind. The effects of the wind were, by this device, somewhat moderated, but it had
almost advanced to a gale, and the paddles were revolving rapidly, carrying the doomed
vessel through the water with headlong speed. The flames were driven, however, forward
and away from the passengers and greater number of those on board. To this movement,
in fact, is to be attributed the preservation of the few boats which, as we shall see, suc-
ceeded in leaving the ship. To extinguish the fire was now out of question; while it
was equally impossible to shut off the steam and stop the vessel's way. Yet, without this
being done, no boat could be launched into the water while the vessel was driving on at
76
282 THE SEA.
the rate of thirteen knots an hour. Buckets of water were still thrown on the burning
mass ; trusses of lighted hay and loose spars thrown overboard. " Keep fast the boats
for a while, and try to save the ship ! " cried the captain. But, alas ! ship and crew were
alike doomed. " Don't lower the bouts!'''' repeated Captain Symons again and again; and
the danger — at the rate of the Amazon's speed — of attempting- it was too obvious. Lieut.
Grylls, R.N., a passenger on board, was attempting- to lower the tackle of one of the
boats, when Symons " seized him by the arm, and besought him to desist, as he said every-
body would be drowned. Lieut. Grylls then called out to the person by the foremast fall,
imploring him not to lower, as the ship was going so fast. The person at the foremast
fall, by constant and urgent request of the people in the boat, let the fall go, by which
means the boat turned over, and, as nearly as could be seen, every one was washed out
of her. Seeing- this at the moment, Lieut. Grylls attempted to let go the after fall so as
to save them, but the fall being jammed, and having fouled, and the boat thus not being
clear, her stern hung in the air for a moment, until cut adrift by some one, when she
turned over, and, seeing- the people washed away, Lieutenant Grylls turned away from the
appalling sight in horror. He then met, face to face, Captain Symons, who called out for
some one to help him to clear away the port life-boat, which was stowed on the sponson,
abaft the port paddle-box, and at the same moment leaped into the boat, using every
endeavour to clear her away. Lieut. Grylls followed, and also exerted himself, but the
flames having- reached the boat, and Captain Symons's hair having caught in a blaze,
and one sleeve of his shirt, he was obliged to run off, and Lieut. Grylls was compelled to
follow him, both rushing- through the flames and fire/''
About this time it was discovered that the ship was veering- round, owing to the helm
having been lashed. A fresh order was shrieked out to keep her before the wind, and two
of the officers sprang forward to execute the captain's bidding. The passengers were now
all on deck, with what feelings we can imagine. ' l At last the shout was raised, ' Every man
for himself ! ' but not by the captain. The captain called out, ( Lower the starboard life-boat ! '
to which the answer was, ' She is on fire ! ' ' Lower the larboard (port, or left-hand) life-
boat ! ' ' She is on fire ! ' was still the cry. The captain dropped the bucket which he idly
held in his hand. ' It's all over with us ! ' J But though he knew it so well, he did not
relax an effort ; nor did Mr. Roberts, the chief officer, nor any of the officers, all of whom
went down with the ship. They were last seen collected in a group near the helm ; and to
the close of that appalling scene nobly did their duty. The last words the captain was
heard to say were, " It has got too far." He then turned aft, took the wheel, and that
appears to have been the last that was seen of Captain Symons.
When it was discovered that the two life-boats were on fire, attention could only be given
Jt
to the other boats. All efforts must be made : better to drown than to die in the midst of
flames — suffocated, scorched. " One of the passengers, Mr. Alleyne, of the West Indies, was
observed pacing the deck, with his hands clasped in prayer, patiently waiting that awful fate
from which he knew there was no escape. A gentleman and lady, in their night-dresses only
— both of which were on fire — came on deck, and, with their arms round each other, walked
over to one of the ship's hatches, and fell together into the flames. They had previously
been seen standing right abaft and looking perfectly collected, the gentleman before the
BURNED TO DEATH. 283
lady, apparently to keep the heat from her. A female passenger rushed on deck, having
on only her night-gown, the bottom of which and her legs were much burnt. Three times
she was placed in one of the boats which was saved, but she refused to remain. Several
persons hurriedly said to her that they would soon give her plenty of clothing when she
got away from the ship, but modesty prevailed over the love of life, and she remained
behind to perish.
A horrible story of one standing near the helm is given : his face and side burnt,
and a huge blister formed, which burst in ; the skin was falling away in ribbons. A little
boy was also burnt black, and the skin was falling from him in a similar manner. Still
the vessel was dashing forward in headlong speed, but still efforts were made to launch
the boats; but here, in consequence of the manner in which they were stowed — resting on
iron crutches or brackets, instead of being simply suspended, as usual — unexpected difficulties
presented themselves. It was necessary first to raise them, put them over the bulwarks, and
lower them — a work of time and labour. In the hurry two of the boats were stove in ; and in
the case of others, one end would be lowered properly, the other remaining high in the air, so
that the wretched passengers and sailors who crowded into them were plunged violently into
the water, escaping the fury of one element only to be devoured by another. In one single
case fifteen were thus drowned, while one only escaped. Not to accumulate the details of
horrors, which constantly repeated themselves, it may be here stated that the whole number of
persons on board the Amazon when she left Southampton was 162 ; of these 110 formed the
crew ; there were 50 passengers, and the mail agent and his servant. The first boat which
landed at Plymouth brought in 21 ; the Gertruida, a Dutch galliot, picked up a boat con-
taining 16 on Sunday night, and another containing 8 on the following morning. Another
vessel, also a Dutch galliot, picked up 13 more. The total number lost amounted, therefore,
to 104, and 58 only were saved.
A survivor stated that during the time they were drifting in their boat towards the ship,
which was burning broadside on to the wind, her mainmast went first, the foremast following ;
it was a considerable time before the mizen-mast fell, directly after which he noted a slight
explosion of gunpowder. Previous to this a barque hove in sight, and passed between their boat
and the burning ship. They judged her to be outward-bound from her being under close-
reefed topsails. As she passed at between three and four hundred yards they hailed her
several times with their united voices, strengthened by all the energy of despair. She
answered them, and brailed her spanker, and they naturally thought she was preparing to
bear up for their rescue. " I shall never forget," said the narrator, " the deep sob of hope
with which I noticed these preparations, or the bitterness of feeling with which I saw him
spread his canvas to the wind, and wear round past the stern of the burning vessel, as he left
us to our fate."
Among those who perished on that terrible night was a distinguished author, whose
writings are, or should be, familiar to all readers. Wai-burton* perished either in the flames
or, as some thought, in one of the boats which was swamped. He had been sent out by the
Atlantic and Pacific Junction Company, specially deputed to make a friendly arrangement
with the Indians of the isthmus of Darien. As an old and practised traveller, he had proposed
* Eliot Warburton, the author of " The Crescent and the Cross," &c. , &c.
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to stay on the isthmus for some time, in order to study its topography, scenery, climate, and
resources. The Rev. Acton Warburton, his brother, on receipt of the fearful news, and with
the fact before him that there were boats not yet accounted for which had been seen to
leave the ship, proceeded in a steamer from Plymouth on January 17th, in the hope that,
RESCUE OF THE SURVIVORS OF THE