Authors: James Fenimore Cooper
The chief-mate then told me to go below and turn up all hands, making
as little rumpus about it as possible. This I did; and when I returned
to the deck, I found the fingers of Marble going again, with Captain
Williams for his auditor, just as they had gone to me, a few minutes
earlier. Being an officer, I made no scruples about joining the
party. Marble was giving his account of the manner in which he had
momentarily seen the enemy, the canvass he was under, the course he
was steering, and the air of security that prevailed about him. So
much, he insisted he had noted, though he saw the ship for about
twenty seconds only. All this, however, might be true, for a seaman's
eye is quick, and he has modes of his own for seeing a great deal in a
brief space of time. Marble now proposed that we should go to
quarters, run alongside of the Frenchman, pour in a broadside, and
board him in the smoke. Our success would be certain, could we close
with him without being seen; and it would be almost as certain, could
we engage him with our guns by surprise. The chief-mate was of opinion
we had dosed him in the other affair, in a way to sicken him; this
time we should bring him to with a round turn!
The "old man" was pleased with the notion, I saw at a glance; and I
confess it took my fancy also. We all felt very sore at the result of
the other attempt, and here it seemed as if fortune gave us a good
occasion for repairing the evil.
"There can be no harm in getting ready, Mr. Marble," the captain
observed; "and when we are ready ourselves we shall know better what
to think of the matter."
This was no sooner said, than away we went to clear ship. Our task
was soon done; the tompions were got out, the guns cast loose,
ammunition was brought up, and a stand of grape was put in over the
shot in every piece in both batteries. As the men were told the
motive, they worked like dray-horses; and I do not think we were ten
minutes before the ship was ready to go into action, at a moment's
notice.
All this time, Captain Williams refused to keep the ship away. I
believe he wanted to get a look at our neighbour himself, for he could
not but foresee what might be the consequences, should he run down in
the fog, and engage a heavier vessel than his own, without the
ceremony of a hail. The sea was covered with Englishmen, and one of
their cruisers might not very easily pardon such a mistake, however
honestly made. But preparation seems to infer a necessity for
performance. When everything was ready, all eyes were turned aft in a
way that human nature could hardly endure, and the captain was obliged
to yield. As Marble, of all on board, had alone seen the other vessel,
he was directed to conn the Crisis in the delicate operation she was
about to undertake.
As before, my station was on the forecastle. I had been directed to
keep a bright look-out, as the enemy would doubtless be first seen
from forward. The order was unnecessary, however, for never did human
beings gaze into a fog more anxiously, than did all on board our ship
on this occasion. Calculating by the distance, and the courses
steered, we supposed ten or fifteen minutes would bring us square
alongside of Mr. Marble's ship; though some among us doubted his
having seen any vessel at all. There was about a five-knot breeze, and
we had all our square sails set, knowing it was necessary to go a
little faster than our adversary, to catch up with him. The intense
expectation, not to say anxiety, of such a scene, is not easily
described. The surrounding fog, at times, seemed filled with ships;
but all vanished into
thick
air, one after another, leaving
nothing but vapour. Severe orders had been given for no one to call
out, but, the moment the ship was seen, for the discoverer to go aft
and report. At least a dozen men left their quarters on this errand,
all returning in the next instant, satisfied they had been
deceived. Each moment, too, increased the expectation; for each moment
must we be getting nearer and nearer to her, if any vessel were really
there. Quite twenty minutes, however, passed in this manner, and no
ship was seen. Marble continued cool and confident, but the captain
and second-mate smiled, while the people began to shake their heads,
and roll the tobacco into their cheeks. As we advanced, our own ship
luffed by degrees, until we had got fairly on our old course again, or
were sailing close upon the wind. This change was made easily, the
braces not having been touched; a precaution that was taken expressly
to give us this advantage. When we found ourselves once more close
upon the wind, we gave the matter up forward, supposing the mate had
been deceived. I saw by the expression of the captain's face that he
was about to give the order to secure the guns, when, casting my eyes
forward, there was a ship, sure enough, within a hundred yards of us!
I held up both arms, as I looked aft, and luckily caught the captain's
eye. In an instant, he was on the forecastle.
It was easy enough to see the stranger now. There he was in the fog,
looking mystical and hazy; but there he was, under his main-top-
gallant-sail, close-hauled, and moving ahead in all the confidence of
the solitude of the ocean. We could not see his hull, or so faintly
as only to distinguish its mass; but from his tops up, there was no
mistaking the objects. We had shot away the Frenchman's mizen-royal-mast.
It was a pole, and there the stump stood, just as it was when we had
last seen him on the evening of the day of the combat. This left no
doubt of the character of our neighbour, and it at once determined our
course. As it was, we were greatly outsailing him, but an order was
immediately given to set the light staysails. As Captain Williams
passed aft, he gave his orders to the men in the batteries. In the
mean time, the second-mate, who spoke very good New York French, came
upon the forecastle, in readiness to answer the expected hail. As the
Crisis was kept a little free, in order to close, and as she sailed so
fast, it was apparent we were coming up with the chase, hand over
hand.
The two ships were not more than a hundred feet asunder when the
Frenchmen first saw us. This blindness was owing to several
circumstances. In the first place, ten men look forward in a ship,
where one looks aft. Those who looked aloft, too, were generally on
the quarter-deck, and this prevented them from looking astern. Then
the Frenchman's crew had just gone to their breakfasts, most of them
eating below. She was so strong-handed, moreover, as to give a
forenoon's watch below, and this still left many of the sluggards in
their hammocks. In that day, even a French ship-of-the-line was no
model of discipline or order, and a letter-of-marque was consequently
worse. As it afterwards appeared, we were first seen by the mate of
the watch, who ran to the taffrail, and, instead of giving an order to
call all hands, he hailed us. Mr. Forbank, our second-mate, answered;
mumbling his words so, that, if they were bad French, they did not
sound like good English. He got out the name "Le Hasard, de Bordeaux,"
pretty plainly, however; and this served to mystify the mate for a few
seconds. By the end of that time, our bows were doubling on the
Frenchman's quarter, and we were sheering into him so fast as quite to
distract the Nantes man. The hail had been heard below, however, and
the Frenchmen came tumbling up by the dozen, forward and aft.
Captain Williams was a prime seaman, and one of the coolest men that
ever lived. Everything that day was done at precisely the proper
moment. The Frenchman attempted to keep off, but our wheel was so
touched as to keep us lapping in nearly a parallel line with them, the
whole time; and our forward sails soon becalmed even their mainsail.
Of course we went two feet to their one. Marble came on the
forecastle, just as our cat-head was abreast of "The Lady's"
forward-rigging. Less than a minute was required to take us so far
forward, and that minute was one of great confusion among the
French. As soon as Marble got on the forecastle, he made a signal, the
ensign was run up, and the order was given to fire. We let fly all
five of our nine-pounders, loaded with two round and a stand of grape,
at the same moment. At the next instant, the crash of the ships coming
foul of each other was heard. Marble shouted "Come on, boys!" and away
he, and I, and Neb, and all hands of us, went on board of the
Frenchman like a hurricane. I anticipated a furious hand to hand
conflict; but we found the deck deserted, and had no difficulty
whatever in getting possession. The surprise, the rush, and the effect
of the broadside, gave us an easy victory. The French captain had been
nearly cut in two by a nine-pound shot, moreover, and both of the
mates were severely wounded. These accidents contributed largely to
our success, causing the enemy to abandon the defence as hopeless. We
had not a soul hurt.
The prize proved to be the ship I have mentioned, a letter-of-marque,
from Guadaloupe, bound to Nantes. She was a trifle larger than the
Crisis, mounted twelve French nines, and had eighty-three souls on
board when she sailed. Of these, however, no less than twenty-three
had been killed and wounded in our previous affair with her, and
several were absent in a prize. Of the wounded, nearly all were still
in their hammocks. Among the remainder, some sixteen or eighteen
suffered by our close and destructive broadside on the present
occasion, reducing the efficient part of her crew to about our own
numbers. The vessel was new and valuable, and her cargo was invoiced
at something like sixty thousand dollars, having some cochineal among
it.
As soon as assured of our victory, the Crisis's main-top-sail was
braced aback, as well as it could be, and her helm put down. At the
same time, the Dame was kept away, and the two ships went clear of
each other. Little injury had been done by the collision, or the
grinding; and, in consequence of our guns having been so much shotted,
no damage whatever was done the lower masts of the prize. The shot
had just force enough to pass through the bulwarks, make splinters,
and to lodge. This left both vessels in good condition for going into
port.
At first it was determined to leave me in
la Dame de Nantes,
as
prize-master, with directions to follow the Crisis into Falmouth,
whither she was bound for orders. But, on further examination, it was
discovered that the crew of an American brig was on board the prize as
prisoners;
la Dame de Nantes
having captured the vessel only
two days before we met the former the first time, taken out her
people, manned her, and ordered her for Nantes. These Americans,
including the master and two mates, amounted to thirteen souls in all,
and they enabled us to make a different disposition of the prize. The
result of an hour or two's deliberations was as follows:
Our old second-mate, whose hurt was likely to require better care than
could be had on the North-west Coast, was put on board the French ship
as prize-master, with orders to make the best of his way to New
York. The master and chief-mate of the American brig agreed to act
under him, and to assist in carrying
la Dame
across the
ocean. Three or four of our invalids were sent home also, and the
liberated Americans took service for the passage. All the French
wounded were left in the ship, under the charge of their own surgeon,
who was a man of some little merit, though a good deal of a butcher,
as was too much the fashion of that day.
It was dark before all the arrangements were made, when
la Dame de
Nantes
turned short round on her heel, and made sail for
America. Of course our captain sent in his official report by her, and
I seized a moment to write a short letter to Grace, which was so
worded as to be addressed to the whole family. I knew how much
happiness a line from me would bestow, and I had the pleasure to
inform them, also, that I was promoted to be second-mate—the
second-mate of the American brig having shipped as my successor in the
rank of third-officer.
The parting on the wide ocean, that night, was solemn, and, in some
respects, sad. We knew that several who were in
la Dame de
Nantes
would probably be left behind, as she travelled her long,
solitary path, in the depths of the ocean; and there were the chances
that she, herself, might never arrive. As respects the last, however,
the odds were in her favour, the American coast being effectually
cleared of French privateers by that time; and I subsequently received
eleven hundred and seventy-three dollars for my share in that
exploit. How I was affected by the circumstance, and what I did with
the money, will appear in the sequel.
The Crisis made sail on a bowline, at the same moment her prize filled
away for America; Miles Wallingford a much more important personage
than he had been a few hours before. We put the prisoners below,
keeping a good watch over them, and hauled off to the northward and
westward, in order to avoid any French cruisers that might be hovering
on their own coast. Captain Williams seemed satisfied with the share
of glory he had obtained, and manifested no further disposition to
seek renown in arms. As for Marble, I never knew a man more exalted in
his own esteem, than he was by the results of that day's work. It
certainly did him great credit; but, from that hour, woe to the man
who pretended to dispute with him concerning the character of any sail
that happened to cross our path.
The day after we parted company with our prize, we made a sail to the
westward, and hauled up to take a look at her, the wind having
shifted. She was soon pronounced to be an American; but, though we
showed our colours, the stranger, a brig, manifested no disposition to
speak us. This induced Captain Williams to make sail in chase, more
especially as the brig endeavoured to elude us by passing ahead, and
the run was pretty nearly on our course. At 4, P. M. we got near
enough to throw a nine-pound shot between the fellow's masts, when the
chase hove-to, and permitted us to come up. The brig proved to be the
prize of
la Dame de Nantes
, and we took possession of her
forthwith. As this vessel was loaded with flour, pot and pearl ashes,
&c., and was bound to London, I was put in charge of her, with a young
man of my own age, of the name of Roger Talcott, for my assistant,
having six men for my crew. Of course the Frenchmen, all but one who
acted as cook and steward excepted, were received on board the
Crisis. Neb went with me, through his own and my earnest entreaties,
though spared by Marble with great reluctance.