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diff --git a/39341-8.txt b/39341-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5805df8 --- /dev/null +++ b/39341-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15359 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, +Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1 by Frederick Whymper + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1 + +Author: Frederick Whymper + +Release Date: April 1, 2012 [Ebook #39341] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA: ITS STIRRING STORY OF ADVENTURE, PERIL, & HEROISM. VOLUME 1*** + + + + + + [Illustration: BRITISH CROSSES & MEDALS, _see Key_] + + BRITISH CROSSES AND MEDALS.--(_Coloured Frontispiece._) + + + 1. MEDAL OF ELIZABETH. (DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA, 1588.) + + 2. CRIMEA MEDAL AND 5. NAVAL MEDAL OF 3. CHINA MEDAL WITH + NAVAL CLASP FOR COMMONWEALTH TWO NAVAL CLASPS + AZOFF (1854-6). (1650). (1857-58). + + 4. NAVAL WAR MEDAL 6. CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY + RIBBON (1793, 1840). RIBBON (1854, 1874). + + 7. NAVAL MEDAL OF 8. NAVAL MEDAL OF 9. NAVAL MEDAL OF + COMMONWEALTH CHARLES II. COMMONWEALTH + (BLAKE'S VICTORIES (BLAKE'S VICTORIES + OVER THE DUTCH) OVER THE DUTCH) + (1653). (1653). + + 10. COLLAR OF THE ORDER OF THE BATH. + + 11. GOOD CONDUCT AND 12. BALTIC MEDAL (1854). + LONG-SERVICE MEDAL. + + 13. VICTORIA CROSS 15. ALBERT MEDAL (SEA). + WITH NAVAL RIBBON. + + 14. BADGE OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE BATH + (MILITARY AND NAVAL DIVISION). + + + + + + + [Illustration: Illustrated title page] + + + + + + THE SEA + + _Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism._ + + + BY + + F. WHYMPER, + AUTHOR OF "TRAVELS IN ALASKA," ETC. + + +_ILLUSTRATED._ + + +CASSELL PETTER & GALPIN: +_LONDON, PARIS & NEW YORK_. +[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED] + + + + + + CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. +MEN-OF-WAR. PAGE +Our Wooden Walls--The _Victory_--Siege of Toulon--Battle of St. 4 +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_--Experiences 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 +CHAPTER II. +MEN OF PEACE. +Naval Life in Peace Times--A Grand Exploring Voyage--The Cruise of 28 +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 +CHAPTER III. +THE MEN OF THE SEA. +The Great Lexicographer on Sailors--The Dangers of the Sea--How 42 +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--Shakespeare and Herbert on +Sailors and the Sea +CHAPTER IV. +PERILS OF THE SAILOR'S LIFE. +The Loss of the _Captain_--Six Hundred Souls swept into Eternity 54 +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 +CHAPTER V. +PERILS OF THE SAILOR'S LIFE (_continued_). +The Value of Discipline--The Loss of the _Kent_--Fire on Board--The 67 +Ship Waterlogged--Death in Two Forms--A Sail in Sight--Transference +of Six Hundred Passengers to a Small Brig--Splendid Discipline of +the Soldiers--Imperturbable 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--Insubordination and +Selfishness--One Hundred and Fifty Souls abandoned--Drunkenness and +Mutiny on the Raft--Riots and Murders--Reduced to Thirty +Persons--The Stronger Part massacre the Others--Fifteen +Left--Rescued at Last--Another Contrast--Wreck of the +_Alceste_--Admirable Conduct of the Crew--The Ironclad Movement--The +Battle of the Guns +CHAPTER VI. +ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR. +The Mediterranean--White, Blue, Green, and Purple 87 +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 +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 98 +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--Saïd Pacha as a Boy--As a +Viceroy--The Plan settled--Financial Troubles--Construction of the +Canal--The Inauguration Fête--Suez--Passage of the Children of +Israel through the Red Sea +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 117 +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 +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 131 +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 +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 156 +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 Intending +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 Sitka--Grand Volcanoes of the +Aleutian Islands--The Great Yukon River--American Trading Posts +round Bering Sea +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 175 +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 +Ornée--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 Souffrière--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 +CHAPTER XII. +ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (_continued_). +THE AFRICAN STATION. +Its Extent--Ascension--Turtle at a Discount--Sierra Leone--An 202 +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 +CHAPTER XIII. +THE SERVICE.--OFFICERS' LIFE ON BOARD. +Conditions of Life on Ship-board--A Model Ward-room--An Admiral's 214 +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 +_Bellona_ 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 +CHAPTER XIV. +THE REVERSE OF THE PICTURE--MUTINY. +Bligh's Bread-fruit Expedition--Voyage of the 235 +_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--40,000 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--Concessions made, and the First Mutiny quelled--Second +Outbreak--Lord Howe's Tact--The Great Mutiny of the Nore--Richard +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 +CHAPTER XV. +THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS. +The First Attempts to Float--Hollowed Logs and Rafts--The Ark and 258 +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 Cæsar--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--Effingham'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 +CHAPTER XVI. +THE HISTORY OF SHIPS AND SHIPPING INTERESTS (_continued_). +Noble Adventurers--The Earl of Cumberland as a Pirate--Rich 291 +Prizes--Action with the _Madre de Dios_--Capture of the Great +Carrack--A Cargo worth £150,000--Burning of the _Cinco Chagas_--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 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 + + + [Illustration] + + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE +British Crosses & Medals +Examining a "Haul" on Board the _Challenger_ _Frontispiece._ +The _Victory_ at Portsmouth 5 +Rocks near Cape St. Vincent 9 +The _Victory_ at Close Quarters with the 12 +_Redoubtable_ +The Siege of Gibraltar 17 +The Original _Merrimac_ 21 +Engagement between the _Merrimac_ and _Monitor_ 25 +The Peruvian Ironclad _Huascar_ attacked by two +Chilian Ironclads +The Peruvian Ironclad _Huascar_ +Objects of Interest brought Home by the _Challenger_ 32 +The _Challenger_ in Antarctic Ice 33 +The "Accumulator" 35 +The _Challenger_ at Juan Fernandez 36 +The _Challenger_ made fast to St. Paul's Rocks (South +Atlantic) +The Naturalist's Room 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 page_ 63 +The Loss of the _Kent_ 64 +H.M.S. _Vanguard_ at Sea +The _Vanguard_ as she appeared at Low Water 65 +Falmouth Harbour 72 +The Loss of the _Birkenhead_ 73 +The Raft of the _Medusa_ 76 +On the Raft of the _Medusa_--a Sail in sight 81 +Section of a First-class Man-of-war 84 +The _Warrior_ 85 +The Rock 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 100 +against the Turks in 1565 +Catacombs at Citta Vecchia, Malta 101 +M. Lesseps 105 +Bird's-eye View of Suez Canal 109 +Map of the Suez Canal 111 +Opening of the Suez Canal (Procession of Ships) _To face page_ 113 +The Suez Canal: Dredges at Work 113 +Catching Pelicans on Lake Menzaleh 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 153 +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 Rock, Martinique _To face page_ 187 +Bermuda, from Gibbs Hills 188 +The North Rock, 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 +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 Room 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 +Pitcairn Island +The Mutiny at Portsmouth _To face page_ 251 +Admiral Duncan addressing his Crew 253 +Lord St. Vincent 257 +Fleet of Roman Galleys 261 +Approach of the Danish Fleet 265 +Ships of William the Conqueror 268 +Crusaders and Saracens 269 +Duel between French and English Ships 272 +Reverse 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 + + [Illustration] + + + + + + + [Illustration] + + + THE SEA. + + +One 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, carrying 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 boundless 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," and one of the +greatest(1) 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,(2) "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 successfully 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,(3) "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." + +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. Transportation 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.(4) Nor are the ravages of ocean confined to the engulfment 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, hurricanes, 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, phenomena, and poetry of the great deep. The +subject is too vast for superfluous detail: it would require as many +volumes as a grand encyclopædia 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 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_--Experiences 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. + + + [Illustration] + +If 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 Portsmouth--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 +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. 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. + + [Illustration: THE "VICTORY" AT PORTSMOUTH.] + +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 +_Téméraire_"--made still more famous by Turner's great picture--and the +_Dreadnought_, which 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 _Victory_, to treat for the conditional surrender of the +port and shipping. The Government 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 +magazines 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 explosion 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 ships--the _Héros_ and _Thémistocle_--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 the siege of Bastia, +Corsica, which was taken by a naval force numbering 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 Mediterranean, +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 Hyères 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 Hyères must be +inscribed 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 that, sir; if there are +fifty I'll 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(5) 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(6)-- + + "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!" 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, +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 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. + + [Illustration: ROCKS NEAR CAPE ST. VINCENT.] + +Meantime, the _Victory_ had not been idle. In conjunction with two of the +fleet, she had succeeded in silencing the _Salvador del Mundi_, 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, 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;"(7) 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 impracticability 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 _Téméraire_, +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." + +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 _Téméraire_, the +French ship's bowsprit passing over the British ship. Now came one of the +warmest episodes of the fight. The crew of the _Téméraire_ 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 _Téméraire_ 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 +antagonist, the _Redoubtable_ threw hand-grenades from her tops, which, +falling on board herself, set fire to her, ... and the flame communicated +with the foresail of the _Téméraire_, 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."(8) + +Setting aside, for the purpose of clearness, the episode of the taking of +the _Fougueux_, which got foul of the _Téméraire_ 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 _Téméraire_ 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 _Bucentaure_ 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 sa tâche; la mienne n'est pas encore achevée_." + +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 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 be 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. + + [Illustration: THE "VICTORY" AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH THE "REDOUBTABLE."] + + "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 +tonnage, 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 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 communication 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."(9) 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 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.(10) 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 distinguished writer,(11) who was +present throughout the siege, assures us that until the preceding 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.(12) 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 bombardment. Lyons +brought the _Agamemnon_, followed by half a dozen other vessels, to within +700 yards of Fort Constantine, 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 234 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. Several 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, combined 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."(13) "An indistinct clamour, with +lamentable cries and groans, arose from all quarters."(14) + +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 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 batterie la plus effective était 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. + + [Illustration: THE SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR] + +The partial failure of the navy to co-operate successfully with the +land-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(15) saw that +the coming 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 +unseaworthy 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 undeniably 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 considerably 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 displacement 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 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,(16) 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,(17) 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," 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_, _Minnesota_, and +_Roanoake_ were frigates carrying an aggregate of over 150 guns and nearly +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. + + [Illustration: THE ORIGINAL "MERRIMAC."] + +The engagement was fought in the Hampton Roads, which is virtually an +outlet of 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 not 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 engagement," 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 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 +thenceforward with only her pennant flying."(18) 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, +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 flying from the peak_.(19) 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 +_Cumberland'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. 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 Sewall's 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_,(20) +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 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 approaching 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 rebounded at all, but appeared to cut their way clear through iron +and wood into the ship."(21) 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. + + [Illustration: ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE "MERRIMAC" AND "MONITOR."] + +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 calm 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. + + [Illustration: THE PERUVIAN IRONCLAD _HUASCAR_ ATTACKED BY TWO CHILIAN + IRONCLADS.] + +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 _Huascar_ and the British +unarmoured 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 _Huascar_ 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 6½-ton guns. An eyewitness +of the engagement states(22) 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 _Huascar'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 +_Huascar_ 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. + + [Illustration: THE PERUVIAN IRONCLAD _HUASCAR_.] + +The recent story of the saucy Russian merchantman,(23) 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 ironclads, 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 skilfully 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. + + + + + + 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. + + +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 imaginations by descending, in spirit at least, to the depths +of the great sea. The records of the famous voyage of the _Challenger_(24) +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.(25) 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 reached 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 _Tuscarora_, +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 12,000 feet. +The general evenness of the bottom helps to account for the long, sweeping +waves of the Pacific, so distinguishable from the short, 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. + + [Illustration: EXAMINING A "HAUL" ON BOARD THE "CHALLENGER."] + +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 resurveying, 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 connected 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 temperatures, and gallons of methylated spirits +for preserving the specimens obtained, were carried on board. + + [Illustration: THE "ACCUMULATOR."] + +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 and 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,(26) 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 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 opposing pressure of the water 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 1868-9-70, 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,(27) 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 seem 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 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,(28) concerning one of these +gigantic sea-monsters, which should have a strong basis of truth in it, as +it was laid before the French Académie des Sciences by a lieutenant of +their navy and a French consul? + + [Illustration: OBJECTS OF INTEREST BROUGHT HOME BY THE "CHALLENGER." + Fig. 1.--Shell of _Globigerina_ (highly magnified). Fig. 2.--_Ophioglypha + bullata_ (six times the size in nature). Fig. 3.--_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._)] + +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 lbs., 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 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 the +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 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 depths of the ocean. +Otherwise it would have been more active in its movements, or it would +have 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 broad, +with cattle, and herds of wild goats, and capital fishing all round--all +for two hundred a 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 monarch; 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 not above ten foremast-men in a watch capable of doing duty," and +recruited them with fresh meat, vegetables, and wild fruits. + + [Illustration: THE "CHALLENGER" AT JUAN FERNANDEZ.] + +"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 ridge of the mountain, a dark-coloured sea +pelting against the steep cliffs and shores, and 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_, in 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 +of our fellows bought a clever little clay model of two men killing a +sea-elephant, giving for it--he being an extravagant man--one pound and a +bottle 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-discovered_ 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. + + [Illustration: "THE CHALLENGER" IN ANTARCTIC ICE.] + +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_, as the compressed air within 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 algæ, +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 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. + + [Illustration: THE _CHALLENGER_ MADE FAST TO ST. PAUL'S ROCKS (SOUTH + ATLANTIC).] + +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 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 35·2°, 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. + + [Illustration: THE NATURALIST'S ROOM ON BOARD THE "CHALLENGER."] + +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 +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, +"Inaccessible," 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. 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 little-known Tristan +d'Acunha, of which Lord George Campbell(29) 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 long 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. + + [Illustration: 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.] + +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 +of 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 needs. 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 +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, 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. + + [Illustration] + + + + + + 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--Shakespeare 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.(30) "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(31) 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-pots + 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,(32) +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 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!(33) 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, O! + 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, "I want +to 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 "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 both to 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,"(34) 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_?" 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 +of 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 +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 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. + + [Illustration: THE "CHICHESTER" TRAINING-SHIP.] + +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 schoolmaster 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 arab, 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."(35) 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. + +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:(36)--"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 examination 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 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.(37) + +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, _viâ_ 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,"(38) 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 the 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 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-work, and in holystoning the deck. +The holystone is a large piece of porous stone,(39) 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. + + [Illustration: INSTRUCTION ON BOARD A MAN-OF-WAR.] + +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 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. '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. Otherwise, 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 | (representing one stroke); +one o'clock would be || (two strokes sharply struck, one after the other); +half-past one, || |; two o'clock, || ||; half-past two, || || |; three +o'clock, || || ||; half-past three, || || || |; and four o'clock, || || || +||, 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 ship 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."(40) + +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 grogram(41) +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 written on the +theme; let the testimony of Dr. Stables,(42) 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 +is 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 minutiæ 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. + +"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.' + +"'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 even _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 Royal 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." + +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 _Captain_, 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, played 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_ had foundered, with all hands, in the Bay of +Biscay. Six hundred men had been swept into 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 be +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 who were saved belonged to the starboard watch_; 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 Portsea, thirty wives were made +widows by the occurrence.(43) 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 forecastle. 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.(44) 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, 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.(45) 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,(46) 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 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. + + [Illustration: THE "CAPTAIN" IN THE BAY OF BISCAY.] + +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.(47) 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. + +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,(48) 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 water, was out of repair--that it was +necessary to replace it with a new one, and to heel her 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 with the water. "At about 9 o'clock a.m., or rather +before," stated one of the survivors,(49) "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 broadside, 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(50) 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 doubtless 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 even know their names; +all that he knew was that his own name was Jack. His preserver provided +for him. + + [Illustration: THE WRECK OF THE "ROYAL GEORGE."] + +One of the survivors,(51) 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, "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 had tried to get out of +the top of a __chimney, with nothing for their legs and feet to act +upon_." 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 +recovered 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 excavation 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 recovered 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. + + [Illustration: H.M.S. _VANGUARD_ AT SEA.] + +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 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 Queenstown, +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.(52) + + [Illustration: THE LOSS OF THE "VANGUARD."] + +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 explosion, 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 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 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.(53) + +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 consequences of confusion. Captain +Dawkins may or may not have been rightly censured for his seamanship; +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. + +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, some 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, afterwards allowed them by the Admiralty. + + [Illustration: THE "VANGUARD" AS SHE APPEARED AT LOW WATER.] + +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, with equipment and +property on board which had cost as much more,(54) was lost for ever. It +was in vain that the then First Lord of the Admiralty(55) told us, in +somewhat flippant tones, that we ought to be rather satisfied than +otherwise with the occurrence. It was not altogether 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.(56) In the former +they were residences for several hundred sailors, and many of the +water-tight doors could not 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.(57) + + [Illustration: THE LOSS OF THE "KENT."] + + + + + + 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--Imperturbable 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--Insubordination and + Selfishness--One Hundred and Fifty Souls Abandoned--Drunkenness and + Mutiny on the Raft--Riots and Murders--Reduced to Thirty Persons--The + stronger part Massacre the others--Fifteen Left--Rescued at + Last--Another Contrast--Wreck of the _Alceste_--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 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 of 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 +command. 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(58) 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 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 funeral 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 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 his head was literally crushed to +pieces; others were lost in their attempts to ascend the 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, seems 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 a 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 forecastle, +was ranging at large in undisturbed possession of the Brussels carpet." + +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 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, 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 communicated 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. + + [Illustration: FALMOUTH HARBOUR.] + +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! + + [Illustration: THE LOSS OF THE "BIRKENHEAD."] + +Another remarkable instance of the same thing is to be found in the case +of the _Birkenhead_, 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 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!" 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. + + [Illustration: THE RAFT OF THE "MEDUSA."] + +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 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 was set 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 in 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 +articles--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 peut!_" 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(59) 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, 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_, with 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 the raft and perished. The effects of starvation were +beginning to tell upon them:(60) 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 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,(61) 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 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 +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! + + [Illustration: ON THE RAFT OF THE "MEDUSA"--A SAIL IN SIGHT. + (_After the celebrated Painting by Géricault._)] + +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 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 Géricault 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 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 cuirassée_ 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 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 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." + + [Illustration: SECTION OF A FIRST-CLASS MAN-OF-WAR.] + +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.(62) The durability +and strength are greater. The authority of such a man as Mr. J. Scott +Russell, the eminent shipbuilder, will be conclusive. In a pamphlet,(63) +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]. 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. + + [Illustration: THE "WARRIOR."] + +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 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 6½-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."(64) 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."(65) 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;"(66) while Mr. Reed(67) 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. + + [Illustration: THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR: FROM THE MAINLAND.] + + + + + + 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 _Mare Nostrum_, while the Arabians termed it +_Bahr Rüm_--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 from 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.(68) 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; + 'Here, and here, did England help me--how can I help England?'--say + Whoso turns as I, this evening, turns to God to praise 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 _l'ombrageuse puissance_ with displeasure. +"Sometimes," says Ford, "there is too great a _luxe de canons_ in this +fortress _ornée_; 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"(69) +(Gibraltar), says a Granadian 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,(70) 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 _tête 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 did with, so to speak, everything standing, +many families took with them the great 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."(71) 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 Niörfa 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 Niörfa 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. + + [Illustration: GIBRALTAR: THE NEUTRAL GROUND.] + +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 hundredweights 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 Rock. The governor at that time, Vasco 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,(72) 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-hot_ +balls. This is noteworthy, for cannon was not used by the English till +three years after, at the battle of Creçy, while it is the first recorded +instance of _red-hot_ shot being used at all.(73) 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 +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(74) tells us +that he utterly refused. His great estates were protected by it, and he +made it a kind of central depôt 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 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 'Victory or Death!' At length the +Dutch were victorious; they lost only two vessels, and about two hundred +and fifty men; the Spaniards lost 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."(75) + + [Illustration: MOORISH TOWER AT GIBRALTAR.] + +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 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(76) 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 Pointé, arrived; the English admiral captured three +and destroyed one of them--that of Pointé 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 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(77) 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 of the grand +attack.(78) 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."(79) 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 conclusion that "a drama, +illustrative of the destruction of Gibraltar by the floating batteries, +was acted nightly to applauding thousands!"(80) 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 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 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 _Septem_--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-- + + "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.(81) +We are now going aloft to Malta, a British possession hardly second to +that of the famed Rock itself. + + [Illustration: MALTA.] + + + + + + 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--Saïd Pacha as a Boy--As a + Viceroy--The Plan Settled--Financial Troubles--Construction of the + Canal--The Inauguration Fête--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 East(82)--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. + +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 Gozo, 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,(83) "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 reason, for 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 are 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 +façades 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 promenadable roofs in the city. +Tallack says that the island generally is the abode of industry and +contentment. 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. + +In the middle of the eleventh century, some merchants of the then +flourishing commercial city of Amalfi obtained permission to erect three +hostelries or hospitals in 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. Its 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, 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.(84) 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 1480, a +handful of the former resisted 70,000 of the latter. The bombardment was +so terrific that it is stated to have been heard a hundred miles off, and +for this extraordinary defence, Peter d'Aubusson, Grand Master, was made a +cardinal by the Pope. At the second siege, L'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, +L'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. + +[Illustration: THE DEFENCE OF MALTA BY THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN AGAINST THE + TURKS IN 1565.] + +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 a 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 Valette, 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 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.(85) + +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.(86) 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. + + [Illustration: CATACOMBS AT CITTA VECCHIA, MALTA.] + +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, _Hagiar Chem_ (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 +_Cabiri_ (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 until 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 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 sentry 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," before 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 +uncommon 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 sudden storm, which carried away all the _Vanguard's_ topmasts, washed +one man overboard, killed an unfortunate middy and a seaman on board, and +wounded others. This 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, 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 flowers 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 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 fléaux 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. + + [Illustration: M. LESSEPS.] + +This gigantic work, so successfully completed by M. Lesseps, for ever +solved the _possibility_ 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 +Français_," 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(87) 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, Cæsar, 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. + +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,(88) 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 Saïd +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 Saïd Pacha in his tent on a plain between Alexandria +and Lake Mareotis, 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 Saïd Pacha a few 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 for his generals, and made them sit down, repeating the +previous conversation, 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. + + [Illustration: BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF SUEZ CANAL.] + +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 Saïd 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. Ismaïlia, 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 _viâ_ 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. Lepère 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 of _the_ greatest practical engineers in +the world, M. de Negrelli; Italy, M. Paléocapa; Germany, the distinguished +Privy Councillor Lentzé; 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?" + + [Illustration: MAP OF THE SUEZ CANAL.] + +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 l'Ile de Suède'" (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 knowledge, +clubbed together for shares. The matter was not settled by even 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 30,000 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 _métier_ +requires the absence of all clothing."(89) + +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 excavation were accomplished in a month. M. de +Lesseps tells us that "were it placed in the Place Vendôme, it would fill +the whole square, and rise five times higher than the surrounding houses." +It would cover the entire length and breadth of the Champs Elysées, and +reach to the top of the trees on either side. + + [Illustration: THE SUEZ CANAL: DREDGES AT WORK.] + +Port Saïd, 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 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 long 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 breakwaters, 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_ consumption of coal cost the +Company £40,000. + +The distance from Port Saïd 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 Saïd +(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 Ismaïlia, +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 +_châlet_. 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 Attákah--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 _fête_, 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 unconquerable 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 surmountable. "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. + + [Illustration: OPENING OF THE SUEZ CANAL--PROCESSION OF SHIPS.] + +The great day arrived. On the 16th of November, 1868, there were 160 +vessels 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 Ismaïlia 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--according 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 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."(90) 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, 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 and 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." + + [Illustration: CATCHING PELICANS ON LAKE MENZALEH.] + + + + + + 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. + + +The Red Sea separates Arabia from Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia. Its name is +either derived from the animalculæ which sometimes cover parts of its +surface, or, more probably, from the red and purple coral which abound in +its waters. The Hebrew name 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 fine 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 11th of February, 1857. Its +fortifications possess guns of sufficient calibre and power to command the +Straits. + + [Illustration: JIDDAH, FROM THE SEA.] + +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. 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 soundings 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 Buon 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 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. + + [Illustration: CYCLONE AT CALCUTTA.] + +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,(91) which is by +interpretation "Scented Stream." Properly, the designation belongs to a +small stream on the southern side of the island, where ships' boats have +long been in the habit of obtaining fine pure 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 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 depôt, 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 Government to select it for a British settlement; it has one +of the noblest roadsteads in 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 acknowledged 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. + + [Illustration: MACAO.] + +Leaving Macao for Canton, the ship passes the celebrated "Bogue Forts," +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," &c., indicate a +near approach to an important place. The name Canton is a European +corruption of Kwang-tung, the "Broad East." Among the Chinese it is +sometimes described poetically as "the city of the genii," "the city of +grain," and the "city of rams." 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 Rams" 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," says Dr. Milne, "an _aquarium_ of +human occupants." 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, 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 _yamun_, an official residence, and in a few +seconds Commissioner Yeh was in the hands of the English. An ambitious +_aide-de-camp_ of Yeh'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 fine 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 in 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 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 wall +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, _à 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." + +Its 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 +_hoo_, 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 sometimes 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-complexioned 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." 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 ming!" ("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 _muh-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 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 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. + + [Illustration: VESSELS IN THE PORT OF SHANGHAI.] + +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 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!(92) 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 3½ by 2½ 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 "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;(93) 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 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 _I say_ sent me to buy a fowl;" +or "Did you see a tall _I 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 circuit 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 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 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 Portuguese who was shipwrecked there in 1549. Seven years later +the famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, introduced 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 vows of allegiance. +The reigning Tycoon(94) 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. + + [Illustration: YOKOHAMA.] + +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 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.(95) + + [Illustration: THE FUSIYAMA MOUNTAIN.] + +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. + + [Illustration: A TEA MART IN JAPAN.] + + + + + + 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 disclosed 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 _mélange_ 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. 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 exclusively 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_, +_l'Eurydice_, and _l'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 _Dwina_, 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, 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.(96) + +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, +Englishmen, 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 elsewhere. 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, 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 the 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 +_Variag_, 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 +distinguishable, 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. Müller, 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, Spanberg and Tschirikoff. They left St. +Petersburg on February 5th, 1725, proceeding to the Ochotsk Sea, _viâ_ +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, Müller 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 has never yet received. It is a partially settled country. The +Kamchatdales are a 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 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. + + [Illustration: PETROPAULOVSKI AND THE AVATCHA MOUNTAIN.] + +And now, before leaving the Asiatic coast, let us, as many English naval +vessels have done, 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 any part of it, though +hundreds of miles from land.(97) 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 sometimes 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 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. + + [Illustration: WHALERS AT WORK.] + +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 Tawns_, 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 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.(98) 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 all the crew but two men +and a boy were killed by the natives. In the latter case, 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," _viâ_ +Bering Straits, 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 the Atlantic. But the Pacific is by no means +always so, as the writer very 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 +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 "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 commander, 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 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 gale 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. + + [Illustration: OUR "PATENT SMOKE-STACK."] + +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 brought 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 Flattery, 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 entrepôt for the whole trade of the Malayan Archipelago, the +Eastern Archipelago, Cochin China, 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,(99) "and some theologians, determined to give the +first scene in the Mosaic narrative a local habitation, have fixed the +paradise of unfallen 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(100) 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 and well-kept approaches +to the European dwellings never fail to win the praise of 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 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, 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 elsewhere. 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. + + [Illustration: VIEW IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA.] + +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 the 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 dogs, 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 +contain 20,000 tons of coal. Including some premises in Singapore itself, +some £70,000 or £80,000 have been expended on 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 interspersed 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 water. 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 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." + + [Illustration: JUNKS IN A CHINESE HARBOUR.] + +The chief trade of not a few has been, and still is, the traffic of human +freight; and it is, unfortunately, only too lucrative. 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 interior. 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 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." + + [Illustration: ISLANDS IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA.] + +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 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 a 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 has 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. + + [Illustration: CHINESE JUNK AT SINGAPORE.] + +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 +Rangoon, 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. + + [Illustration: SINGAPORE, LOOKING SEAWARDS.] + +And Jack ashore will find many other novelties in eating. Roast 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. + + [Illustration: LOOKING DOWN ON SINGAPORE.] + +This is a most important colony of Great Britain, although by no means its +most 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.(101) + +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 of its +shores. Rounding the western side, he 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 overlooked 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 meanest convict; and +when on state occasions he was obliged to invite the officers 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. Hargreaves (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. + +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.'"(102) 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 preeminence 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. + +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-fielder" 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. + + [Illustration: A TIMBER WHARF AT SAN FRANCISCO.] + + + + + + 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 + Esquimalt--A Delightful Place--Advice to Intending 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 Sitka--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 _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 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,(103) "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 more on her corn, and wool, and hides, 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 (4s. 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.(104) 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 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. + + [Illustration: 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: "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 caravanserai, +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 other missiles, and hooting 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 reaching 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 California, 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 buildings, +for some time afterwards, showed the effects in cracked walls and +plastering, dislocated 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 rugged +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 very 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 ordinary 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 Island, where there is much to interest +them.(105) 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 37½ cents only (1s. 7½d.). The +Hudson's Bay Company, which has trading-posts throughout British Columbia, +took 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! + + [Illustration: THE BRITISH CAMP: SAN JUAN.] + +Outside Victoria there are 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' homesteads have a semi-civilised +appearance, half of the houses being of squared logs, but 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 camping-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 ofttimes 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 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(106) 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 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 employés 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?"). "Naaaawitka, 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 side, 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 cumtux, + 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 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-wharfs, made up the town. + +Soon was experienced the warmth of a Russian welcome, and for a week +afterwards 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-bier_ 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 _entrepôt_ 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 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 _à l'Américaine_--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;(107) 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 _entrepôt_ 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,(108) +"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 Rhône are but brooks. + +The Kalosh Indians of Sitka live in semi-civilised wooden barns or houses, +with 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 Government 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, _viâ_ St. Thomas's, or by +way of New York, thence crossing to Liverpool. The 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 nearing 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 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. + + [Illustration: THE PORT OF VALPARAISO.] + +Captain Basil Hall, R.N., gave some interesting accounts of life in Chili +in his published Journal,(109) 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 almost Scriptural mills of two stones each. +From the coarse flour obtained, the poor people make a drink called +_ulpa_. 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 + Ornée--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 Souffrière--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 in 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 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." +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 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. + + [Illustration: CAPE HORN.] + +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, 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 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 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. + + [Illustration: THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS AT TRINIDAD.] + +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 Columbus'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 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,(110) "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; and 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 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; 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, sweetmeats, 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. + + [Illustration: VIEW IN JAMAICA.] + +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 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 +Ornée," 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 ornée_, 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 _Erythrinas 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 æsthetic 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! wah!' 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 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. + + [Illustration: KINGSTON HARBOUR, JAMAICA.] + +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"--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 knocked to pieces in a few minutes by any nation +which was ready with the requisite amount of gunpowder. + + [Illustration: HAVANA.] + +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, Alamèda--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 or 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 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."(111) + +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 custard-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-à-Pitre alone. The Souffrière 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 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,(112) 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. + + [Illustration: THE _CENTAUR_ AT THE DIAMOND ROCK, MARTINIQUE.] + +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.(113) 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 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, +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. + + [Illustration: BERMUDA, FROM GIBBS HILL.] + +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 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. + + [Illustration: 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 necessary 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 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 flecked 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!' The Bermudian, extolling the living hero, bankrupts +applause when he says, '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 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 kind 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 over 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 +apparatus. 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.; there were also on board an assistant naval +surgeon, an Admiralty commissioner, and the writer of the book from which +these particulars are taken. The first rendezvous of the _Bermuda_ was to +be at the Nore. + + [Illustration: THE BERMUDA FLOATING DOCK.] + +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_, which took her in +tow as far as Knob Channel, the _Terrible_ bringing up astern. The +_Agincourt_ 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 from 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 speed of four knots an hour. Everything +went well until the 25th, when she lost sight of land off the Start Point +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 wind, she +showed her first tendency to roll, an accomplishment in which she was +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. + + [Illustration: VOYAGE OF THE "BERMUDA."] + +To return, however, to the voyage. Her next rendezvous 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_, _Black Prince_, and _Lapwing_ (gunboat), the _Helicon_ leaving +them for Lisbon. Towards nightfall 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 away one of the chains of 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 morning 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 +lighthouse 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 harbour. 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, without the loss of a single life, or, indeed, a +solitary accident that can be called serious. The 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 directions; 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. + + [Illustration: MAP OF NEW YORK HARBOUR.] + +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 +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 grandeur in its +entirety, and the ground on which it is built is nowhere elevated. +Therefore 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 concussion. "I may here add," +notes an intelligent writer,(114) "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 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. + +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. + + [Illustration: BROOKLYN BRIDGE.] + +But our leave is over, and although it 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. + + [Illustration: FERRY-BOAT, NEW YORK HARBOUR.] + +Halifax is the northernmost depôt of the whole West India and North +American Station, and is often a great rendezvous of the Royal Navy. It is +situated on a peninsula 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 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 handsome +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(115) 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, and to have observed the country and the people with much +attention; pray, what is your opinion of the present state and future +prospects of Halifax?' 'If you will tell me,' said he, '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 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 _Tree_mont 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. + + [Illustration: THE ISLAND OF ASCENSION.] + + [Illustration: TRISTAN D'ACUNHA.] + + + + + + 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. + + +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 latitude 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 +Falkland Islands--to serve as a depôt 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! + + [Illustration: SIERRA LEONE.] + +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 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. + +A recent writer, Mr. Boyle,(116) 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, 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 lbs. were shipped at the eastern port out of the whole +37,000,000 lbs. produced in the colony. The gas-lamps, put up by a sort of +_coup d'état_ 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." + +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 Milner, 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 easy rifle distance, and might have been shot from the +ship."(117) Fish and meat are so plentiful in the colony that living is +excessively cheap. + + [Illustration: CAPE TOWN.] + +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 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. + Nos patriam fugimus! now we are here, + Vivamus! let us live by selling beer. + On donne à boire et à 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 Queen' 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(118) 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 _levées_, 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 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 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. + + [Illustration: THE "GALATEA" PASSING KNYSNA HEADS.] + +On his return from the elephant hunt, the Prince gave a parting ball. A +capital ballroom, 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 _couleur 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:-- + +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 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 _fricadel_--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 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 6,000 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,(119) 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 £9, in three years gain their full plumages, and yield in +feathers £4 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 excitement, of course. In 1869, a Hottentot +shepherd, named Swartzboy, brought to a country store a gem of 83½ 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 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 refreshment for vessels sailing to the northward. Vessels +coming southward rarely do so; sailing ships can hardly make the island. +It lies some 1,200 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 largest 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 grounds 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 afterwards 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 disturber 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 impracticable, surrendered himself to Captain Maitland, commander +of the English man-of-war _Bellerophon_, 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 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 Longwood, the +seat selected for his residence, and when returning noted a small villa +with a pavilion attached to it, about two miles from the town, the +residence of Mr. Balcombe, an inhabitant of the island. The spot attracted +the emperor's notice, and the admiral, who had accompanied him, thought it +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! + + [Illustration: ST. HELENA.] + +In December the emperor removed to Longwood, riding thither on a small +Cape horse, and in his uniform of a chasseur of the guards. The road was +lined with spectators, 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 _Bellona_ 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, and excellent appointments at table. In the ward-room of a +Russian corvette visited by 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 admiral's cabin, while in port +at least, a perfect little bijou of a drawing-room, with harmonium and +piano, vases of flowers, portfolios 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 substituted. 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 Marryat's 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 Tunbridge-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 nowadays. Still, there are +gentlemen--and there are gentlemen. The perfect example is a _rara avis_ +everywhere. + + [Illustration: ON DECK OF A MAN-OF-WAR, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.] + +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 anything +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.(120) "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 questionable 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 '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 equipments. 'This Lord +Cochrane's chest? Does Lord Cochrane think he is going to bring a cabin +aboard? Get it up on the main-deck!' + + [Illustration: BETWEEN DECKS OF A MAN-OF-WAR, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.] + +"This order being promptly obeyed, amidst a running fire 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 got at,' viz., at the end +of a chest instead of the middle!" Lord Cochrane took it easily, and +acknowledges warmly the service Jack Larmour rendered him in teaching him +his profession. + +Later, Lord Cochrane, when promoted to a lieutenancy, was dining with +Admiral Vandepat, and being seated near him, was asked what dish was +before him. "Mentioning its nature," says he, "I asked whether he would +permit me to help him. The uncourteous reply was--that whenever he wished +for anything he was in the habit of asking for it. Not knowing what to +make of a rebuff of this nature, it was met with an inquiry if he would +allow me the honour of taking wine with him. 'I never take wine with any +man, my lord,' was the unexpected reply, from which it struck me that my +lot was cast among Goths, if no worse." Subsequently he found that this +apparently gruff old admiral assumed some of this roughness purposely, and +that he was one of the kindest commanders living. + +In 1798, when with the Mediterranean fleet, ludicrous examples, both of +the not very occasional corruption of the period, and the rigid etiquette +required by one's superior officer, occurred to Lord Cochrane, and got him +into trouble. The first officer, Lieutenant Beaver, was one who carried +the latter almost to the verge of despotism. He looked after all that was +visible to the eye of the admiral, but permitted "an honest penny to be +turned elsewhere." At Tetuan they had purchased and killed bullocks _on +board the flagship_, for the use of the whole squadron. The reason for +this was that the hides, being valuable, could be stowed away in her hold +or empty beef-casks, as especial perquisites to certain persons on board. +The fleshy fragments on the hides soon decomposed, and rendered the hold +of the vessel so intolerable that she acquired the name of the "Stinking +Scotch ship." Lord Cochrane, as junior lieutenant, had much to do with +these arrangements, and his unfavourable remarks on these raw-hide +speculations did not render those interested very friendly towards him. +One day, when at Tetuan, he was allowed to go wild-fowl shooting ashore, +and became covered with mud. On arriving rather late at the ship, he +thought it more respectful to don a clean uniform before reporting himself +on the quarter-deck. He had scarcely made the change, when the first +lieutenant came into the ward-room, and harshly demanded of Lord Cochrane +the reason for not having reported himself. His reply was, that as the +lieutenant had seen him come up by the side he must be aware that he was +not in a fit condition to appear on the quarter-deck. The lieutenant +replied so offensively before the ward-room officers, that he was +respectfully reminded by Cochrane of a rule he had himself laid down, that +"Matters connected with the service were not there to be spoken of." +Another retort was followed by the sensible enough reply, "Lieutenant +Beaver, we will, if you please, talk of this in another place." Cochrane +was immediately reported to the captain by Beaver, as having challenged +him: the lieutenant actually demanded a court-martial! And the +court-martial was held, the decision being that Cochrane should be +admonished to be "more careful in future." + +Lord Cochrane was soon after given a command. The vessel to which he was +appointed was, even eighty years ago, a mere burlesque of a ship-of-war. +She was about the size of an average coasting brig, her burden being 158 +tons. She was crowded rather than manned, with a crew of eighty-four men +and six officers. Her armament consisted of fourteen _4-pounders_! a +species of gun little larger than a blunderbuss, and formerly known in the +service as "minion," an appellation quite appropriate. The cabin had not +so much as room for a chair, the floor being entirely occupied by a small +table surrounded with lockers, answering the double purpose of +store-chests and seats. The difficulty was to get seated, the ceiling +being only five feet high, so that the object could only be accomplished +by rolling on the lockers: a movement sometimes attended with unpleasant +failure. Cochrane's only practicable way of shaving consisted in removing +the skylight, and putting his head through to make a toilet-table of the +quarter-deck! + +On this little vessel--the _Speedy_--Cochrane took a number of prizes, and +having on one occasion manned a couple of them with half his crew and sent +them away, was forced to tackle the _Gamo_, a Spanish frigate of +thirty-two heavy guns and 319 men. The exploit has hardly been excelled in +the history of heroic deeds. The commander's orders were not to fire a +single gun till they were close to the frigate, and he ran the _Speedy_ +under her lee, so that her yards were locked among the latter's rigging. +The shots from the Spanish guns passed over the little vessel, only +injuring the rigging, while the _Speedy's_ mere pop-guns could be +elevated, and helped to blow up the main-deck of the enemy's ship. The +Spaniards speedily found out the disadvantage under which they were +fighting, and gave the orders to board the little English vessel; but it +was avoided twice by sheering off sufficiently, then giving them a volley +of musketry and a broadside before they could recover themselves. After +the lapse of an hour, the loss to the _Speedy_ was only four men killed +and two wounded, but her rigging was so cut up and the sails so riddled +that Cochrane told his men they must either take the frigate or be taken +themselves, in which case the Spaniards would give no quarter. The doctor, +Mr. Guthrie, bravely volunteered to take the helm, and leaving him for the +time both commander and crew of the ship, Cochrane and his men were soon +on the enemy's deck, the _Speedy_ being put close alongside with admirable +skill. A portion of the crew had been ordered to blacken their faces and +board by the _Gamo's_ head. The greater portion of the Spanish crew were +prepared to repel boarders in that direction, but stood for a few moments +as it were transfixed to the deck by the apparition of so many +diabolical-looking figures emerging from the white smoke of the bow guns, +while the other men rushed on them from behind before they could recover +from their surprise at the unexpected phenomenon. Observing the Spanish +colours still flying, Lord Cochrane ordered one of his men to haul them +down, and the crew, without pausing to consider by whose orders they had +been struck, and naturally believing it to be the act of their own +officers, gave in. The total English loss was three men killed, and one +officer and seventeen men wounded. The _Gamo's_ loss was the captain, +boatswain, and thirteen seamen killed, with forty-one wounded. It became a +puzzle what to do with 263 unhurt prisoners, the _Speedy_ having only +forty-two sound men left. Promptness was necessary; so, driving the +prisoners into the hold, with their own guns pointed down the hatchway, +and leaving thirty men on the prize, Cochrane shaped the vessel's course +to Port Mahon, which was reached safely. Some Barcelona gun-boats, +spectators of the action, did not venture to rescue the frigate. + +The doctor on board a man-of-war has, perhaps, on the whole, better +opportunities and, in times of peace, more leisure than the other officers +for noting any circumstances of interest that may occur. Dr. Stables, in +his interesting little work,(121) describes his cabin on board a small +gun-boat as a miserable little box, such as at home he would have kept +rabbits or guinea-pigs in, but certainly not pigeons. He says that it +might do for a commodore--Commodore Nutt. It was ventilated by a small +scuttle, seven inches in diameter, which could only be raised in harbour, +and beneath which, when he first went to sea, he was obliged to put a +leather hat-box to catch the water; unfortunately, the bottom rotted out, +and he was at the mercy of the waves. This cabin was alive with scorpions, +cockroaches, and other "crawling ferlies," + + "That e'en to name would be unlawfu'." + +His dispensary was off the steerage, and sister-cabin to the pantry. To it +he gained access by a species of crab-walking, squeezing himself past a +large brass pump, edging in sideways. The sick would come one by one to +the dispensary, and there he saw and treated each case as it arrived, +dressing wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores. There was no sick berth +attendant, but the lieutenant told off "a little cabin-boy" for his use. +He was not a model cabin-boy, like the youngster you see in the theatres. +He certainly managed at times to wash out the dispensary, in the intervals +of catching cockroaches and making poultices, but in doing the first he +broke half the bottles, and making the latter either let them burn or put +salt into them. Finally, he smashed so much of the doctor's apparatus that +he was kicked out. In both dispensary and what Dr. Stables calls his +"burrow," it was difficult to prevent anything from going to utter +destruction. The best portions of his uniform got eaten by cockroaches or +moulded by damp, while his instruments required cleaning every morning, +and even this did not keep the rust at bay. + +And then, those terrible cockroaches! To find, when you awake, a couple, +each two inches in length, meandering over your face, or even in bed with +you!--to find one in a state of decay in the mustard-pot!--to have to remove +their droppings and eggs from the edge of your plate previous to eating +your soup! and so on, _ad nauseam_. But on small vessels stationed in the +tropics--as described by the doctor--there were, and doubtless sometimes are +now, other unpleasantnesses. For instance, you are looking for a book, and +put your hand on a full-grown scaly scorpion. Nice sensation! the animal +twining round your finger, or running up your sleeve! _Dénoûment_: +cracking him under foot--joy at escaping a sting! + + [Illustration: NAVAL OFFICERS AND SEAMEN, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.] + +"You are enjoying your dinner, but have been for some time sensible of a +strange, titillating feeling about the region of your ankle; you look down +at last, to find a centipede on your sock, with his fifty hind legs--you +thank God not his fore-fifty!--abutting on your shin. _Tableaux_: +green-to-red light from the eyes of the many-legged--horror of yourself as +you wait till he thinks proper to 'move on.' + +"To awake in the morning, and find a large, healthy-looking tarantula +squatting on your pillow, within ten inches of your nose, with his +basilisk eyes fixed on yours, and apparently saying: 'You're awake, are +you? I've been sitting here all the morning, watching you.' + +"You think, if you move, he'll bite you somewhere--and if he _does_ bite +you, you'll go mad, and dance _ad libitum_--so you twist your mouth in the +opposite direction, and ejaculate--'Steward!' But the steward does not +come; in fact, he is forward, seeing after breakfast. Meanwhile, the +gentleman on the pillow is moving his horizontal mandibles in a most +threatening manner; and just as he moves for your nose, you tumble out of +your bed with a shriek, and, if a very nervous person, probably run on +deck in your shirt!" + +The doctor's last description of an accumulation of these horrors is +fearful to even think about. The bulkheads all around your berth are black +with cock and hen-roaches, a few of which are nipping your toe, and +running off with little bits of the skin of your leg; while a troop of +ants are carrying a dead one over your pillow; musquitoes and flies +attacking you everywhere; rats running in and rats running out; your lamp +just flickering and dying away into darkness, with the delicious certainty +that an indefinite number of earwigs and scorpions, besides two centipedes +and a tarantula, are hiding themselves somewhere in your cabin! All this +is possible; still Dr. Stables describes life on other vessels under more +favourable auspices. + +The important addition of a chaplain to the establishment on board our +ships of war seems, from the following letter of George, Duke of +Buckingham, to have been first adopted in the year 1626:-- + + + + + + + "THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. + +"After my hearty commendations. His Majesty having given order for +preachers to goe in every of his ships to sea, choyce hath been made of +one Mr. Daniel Ambrose, Master of Arts and Fellow of your College, to be +one. Accordingly, upon signification to me to come hither, I thought good +to intimate unto you, that His Majesty is so careful of such scholars as +are willing to put themselves forward in so good actions, as that he will +expect--and I doubt not but that you will accordingly take order--that the +said Mr. Ambrose shall suffer noe detriment in his place with you, by this +his employment; but that you will rather take care that he shall have all +immunities and emoluments with advantage, which have been formerly, or may +be, granted to any upon the like service. Wherein, not doubting of your +affectionate care, I rest, + + "Your very loving friend, + "G. BUCKINGHAM. +_"York House, July 29th, 1626."_ + + + + + + +Sailors, in spite of their outbursts of recklessness, have frequently, +from the very nature of their perilous calling, an amount of seriousness +underlying their character, which makes them particularly amenable to +religious influences. The chaplain on a large modern ironclad or frigate +has as many men in his charge, as regards spiritual matters, as the vicar +of a country town or large village, whilst he has many more opportunities +of reaching them directly. Many of our naval chaplains are noble fellows; +and to them come the sailors in any distress of mind, for the soothing +advice so readily given. He may not dare to interfere with the powers that +be when they are in danger of punishment, except in very rare cases; but +he can point them out their path of duty, and how to walk in it, making +them better sailors and happier men. He can lend them an occasional book, +or write for them an occasional letter home; induce them to refrain from +dissipation when on liberty; cheer them in the hour of greatest peril, +while on the watery deep, and give them an occasional reproof, but in +kindness, not in anger. To his brother officers he has even better +opportunities of doing good than to the men. On the smaller classes of +vessels--gun-boats and the like--the captain has to perform chaplain's +duties, by reading prayers on the Sabbath. This is the case also on +well-regulated steamships or passenger sailing-vessels of the merchant +service. The fine steamers of such lines as the Cunard, or White Star, of +the Royal Mail Company, or of the P. and O., have, of course, frequently, +some clergyman, minister, or missionary on board, who is willing to +celebrate divine service. + +A Committee of the Lower House of Convocation has recently collected an +immense amount of statistics regarding the provision made by private +ship-owners for the spiritual welfare of their men, and the result as +regards England is not at all satisfactory. In point of fact, it is rarely +made at all. The committee seeks to encourage the growth of religion among +sailors by providing suitable and comfortable church accommodation at all +ports, and urges owners to instruct their captains as to conducting divine +service on Sundays, and to furnish Bibles, prayer-books, and instructive +works of secular literature. Too much must not, however, be expected from +Jack. The hardships and perils through which he passes excuse much of his +exuberance ashore. It is his holiday-time; and, so long as he is only gay, +and not abandoned, the most rigid must admit that he has earned the right +to recreation. A distinguished French naval officer used to say that the +sailor fortunately had no memory. "Happy for him," said he, "that he is +thus oblivious. Did he remember all the gales and tempests, the cold, the +drenching rain, the misery, the privations, the peril to life and limb +which he has endured, he would never, when he sets foot on shore, go to +sea again. But he has no memory. The clouds roll away, the sea is calm, +the sun shines, the boat bears him to land; the wine flows; the music +strikes up; pretty girls smile: he forgets all the past, and lives only in +the present." + +While the chaplain may, and no doubt generally does, earn the respect and +esteem of the men, woe to any example of the "Chadband" order who shall be +found on board. This is, in the Royal Navy, almost impossible; but it +sometimes happens that, on passenger ships, some sanctimonious and +fanatical individual or other has had a very rough time of it. He is +regarded as a kind of Jonah. In a recent number of that best of American +magazines, the _Atlantic Monthly_, the woes and trials of one poor Joseph +Primrose, a well-meaning minister who went out to America in 1742, are +amusingly recounted. There were, aboard the _Polly_, the vessel in which +he took passage, several of the crew who viewed their religious exercises +askance. "These men," says he, "had been foremost in a general indignation +uprising that had ensued upon the stoppage of their daily allowance of +rum; which step had been taken on my earnest recommendation. For this +injurious drink we had substituted a harmless and refreshing beverage +concocted of molasses, vinegar, and water, from a choice receipt I had +come upon in a medical book aboard the vessel. The sailors, to a man, +refused to touch it, egged on by these contumacious fellows, and more +especially by one Springer, a daring villain, who reviled me with bitter +execrations. In fine, the captain was obliged, for our own safety, to +restore the cherished dram; and I had the mortification to find myself, +from that time forth, an object of dislike and suspicion to these men, who +were kept within decent bounds only by respect for their master. I became +convinced, on reflection, that I had gone the wrong way about this +unfortunate piece of business; having, in fact, made a very serious error +in the beginning, gentle argument and good example being more apt to bring +about the desired end than compulsory measures, these dulling the +understanding by rousing the temper, especially among persons of the +meaner sort. All my efforts--and they were not few--to place myself on a +friendly footing with these men were of no avail: they had conceived the +notion that I was their enemy, and met all my advances with obstinate +coldness. As Captain Hewlett exacted the daily attendance at prayers of +every soul on board, these knaves were compelled to be on hand with their +fellows; but they rarely failed to conduct themselves with such indecent +levity as made me rue their presence, playing covertly at cat's-cradle, +jack-straws, and what not; besides grinning familiarly in my face, +whenever they could contrive to catch my eye." This unseemly behaviour was +as nothing to what followed ashore. While addressing a large assemblage, +he noted the advent of a number of unmannerly fellows, who, with a great +deal of clatter, elbowed their way to the front. "The moment I clapped +eyes upon them," says poor Primrose, "I knew them for the sailors who had +so persecuted me aboard the _Polly_, and my heart sank at the bare sight +of them." They sung, or rather bawled, ribald words to the music of the +hymns; and one of them, when rebuked by some gentleman present, whipped +out his cutlass, and a general row ensued, which broke up the assembly. A +little later, Primrose induced a tavern-keeper to allow him to preach on +his premises. "A West Indian vessel coming into port about the middle of +April, and a horde of roystering sailors gathering in the common room of +the 'Sailor's Rest' to drink, I announced a discourse on the subject of +'gin-guzzling,' choosing one that I had delivered aboard the _Polly_, and +which seemed to fit the occasion to a nicety. No sooner had the landlord +seen the notice to this effect that I had attached to his door-cheek, than +he sends for me to repair to the tavern without loss of time; and on my +appearance, in great haste, comes blustering up to me in a most offensive +manner, demanding whether I purposed the ruin of his trade, by putting +forth of such a mischievous paper; adding, with astounding audacity, that +he should certainly lose all the custom I had been the means of fetching +to his house, did I persist in my intent. Mark the cunning of the knave! +He had encouraged my labours for none other purpose than the bringing of +fresh grist to his mill; and here was I, blindly leading precious souls to +destruction, the poor dupe of a specious villain--a wretch without bowels! +My agony of mind on being thus suddenly enlightened was of such a +desperate sort, that, gnashing my teeth, I leapt upon the miscreant, and, +bearing him to the ground with an awful crash, beat him about the head and +shoulders with the stout cane I carried; and with such good will, that I +presently found myself lying in the town gaol, covered with the blood of +my enemy, and every bone in my body aching from the unaccustomed +exercise.... Truly was I as forlorn and friendless a creature as the world +ever saw. My clothing had been rent beyond repair in the shameful +struggle, and, yet worse, one of my shoes was gone--how and where I knew +not; and although I promised the gaoler's little lad a penny in the event +of his finding it, nothing was ever heard of it from that day to this. One +thought alone cheered me in the dark abyss into which I was fallen. I had +administered wholesome and righteous correction in proper season: hip and +thigh had I hewed my enemy; and, to reflect upon that, was as a healing +balm to my sore bones." Mr. Primrose was at length released, and returned +to England. + +Another officer of the Royal Navy--the engineer--deserves particular notice, +for his position is becoming daily of more and more importance. It is not +merely the care and working of the engines which propel the vessel in +which he is concerned; the chief and his subordinates have charge of +various hydraulic arrangements often used now-a-days on large vessels, in +connection with the steering apparatus; of electrical and gas-producing +apparatus; the mechanical arrangements of turrets and gun-carriages; +pumping machinery; the management of steam-launches and torpedoes. Take +the great ironclad _Thunderer_ (that on which the terrible boiler +explosion occurred) as an example: she has _twenty-six_ engines for +various purposes, apart from the engines used to propel the vessel, which +have an actual power of 6,000 horses. The _Téméraire_ has _thirty-four_ +engines distinct from those required for propulsion. A competent authority +says that, "with the exception of the paymaster's and surgeon's stores, he +is responsible for everything in and outside the ship (meaning the hull, +apart from the navigator's duties), to say nothing of his duties while +under weigh." And yet engineers of the navy do not yet either derive the +status or emoluments fairly due to them, considering the great and +increasing responsibilities thrown upon them of late years. Sir Walter +Scott makes Rob Roy express "his contempt of weavers and spinners, and +sic-like mechanical persons, and their pursuits;" and in the naval service +some such feeling still lingers. + + [Illustration: ENGINE-ROOM OF H.M.S. "WARRIOR."] + +The first serious introduction of steam-vessels into the Royal Navy +occurred about the year 1829, the Navy List of that year showing seven, of +which three only were commissioned, and these for home ports. No mention +is made of engineers; they were simply taken over from the contractor with +the vessel, and held no rank whatever. In 1837 an Admiralty Circular +conferred warrants on engineers, _who were to rank immediately below +__carpenters_; they were to be assisted by boys, trained by themselves. +Three years later, the standard was raised, and they were divided into +three classes; in 1842 a slight increase of pay was given, and they were +advanced to the magnificent rank of "after captains' clerks," and were +given a uniform, with buttons having a steam-engine embossed upon them. In +1847 the Government found that the increasing demands of the merchant and +passenger service took all the best men (the engineers' pay, to-day, is +better on first-class steamship lines than in the Navy), and they were +forced to do something. The higher grades were formed into chief +engineers, and they were raised to the rank of commissioned officers, +taking their place after masters. The first great revolution in regard to +the use of steam in the Royal Navy took place in 1849, by means of the +screw-propeller. In that year Dupuy Delorme constructed the _Napoleon_, a +screw-vessel carrying 100 guns, and with engines of 600 horse-power, and +England had to follow. Then came the Russian War, the construction of +ironclad batteries, and finally, the ironclad movement, which commenced in +England in 1858, by the construction of the _Warrior_ and similar vessels. + +It becomes a particularly serious question, at the present time, whether +the system, as regards the rank and pay of engineers, does not deter the +most competent men from entering the Royal Navy. Many very serious +explosions and accidents have occurred on board ironclads, which would +seem to indicate that our great commercial steamship lines are far better +engineered. The Admiralty has organised a system for training students at +the dockyard factories, followed up by a course of study at the Naval +College, Greenwich; and it is to be hoped that these efforts will lead to +greater efficiency in the service. A naval engineer of the present day +needs to be a man of liberal education, and of considerable scientific +knowledge, both theoretical and practical, and he should then receive on +board that recognition which his talents would command ashore. At present, +a chief engineer, R.N., ranks with a commander, and other engineers with +lieutenants. It is probable that, at some date in the not very distant +future, higher ranks will be thrown open to the engineer, as his +importance on board is steadily increasing. + +The seamen of all nations, it has, in effect, been said, resemble each the +other more than do the nations to which they belong. "As," says a +well-known writer, "the sea receives and amalgamates the waters of all the +rivers which pour into it, so it tends to amalgamate the men who make its +waves their home.... The seaman from the United States is said to carry to +the forecastle a large stock of 'equality and the rights of man,' and to +be unpleasantly distinguished by the inbred disrespect for authority which +cleaves, perhaps inseparably, to a democrat who believes that he has +whipped mankind, and that it is his mission, at due intervals, to whip +them again. But, on board, he, too, tones down to the colour of blue +water, and is more a seaman than anything else." The French sailor is +painted, by Landelle, as the embodiment of the same frolicsome +lightheartedness, carelessness of the future, abandonment to impulse, and +devotion to his captain, comrades, and ship, with which we are familiar in +the English sailor, on the stage. But although depicted as much more +polished than, it is to be feared, the average sailor could be in truth, +he finishes by saying: "Il est toujours prêt à céder le haut du pavé _à +tout autre qu'à un soldat_." It would seem, then, that the French sailor +revenges the treatment of society on the soldiers of his country. Is there +not a similar feeling existing, perhaps to a more limited extent, between +the sailors and soldiers of our own country? It hardly, however, extends +to the officers of the "United Service." + +Another trait of the British sailor's character: Jack will forgive much to +the officer who is ever ready, brave, and daring, who is a true seaman in +times of peace, and a sailor _militant_ in times of war. Lord Nelson, the +most heroic seaman the world ever saw, it is pleasant to remember, was +equally the idol of his colleagues, of his subordinate officers, _and of +his men_ for these very reasons. After he had explained to his captains +his proposed plan of attack, just prior to the commencement of the battle +of Trafalgar, he took the men of the _Victory_ into his confidence. He +walked over all the decks, speaking kindly to the different classes of +seamen, and encouraging them, with his usual affability, praising the +manner in which they had barricaded certain parts of the ship. "All was +perfect, death-like silence, till just before the action began. Three +cheers were given his lordship as he ascended the quarter-deck ladder. He +had been particular in recommending cool, steady firing, in preference to +a hurrying fire, without aim or precision; and the event justified his +lordship's advice, as the masts of his opponents came tumbling down on +their decks and over their sides."(122) After the fatal bullet had done +its work, and Nelson was conveyed below, the surgeon came and probed the +wound. The ball was extracted; but the dying hero told the medical man how +sure he was that his wound was fatal, and begged, when he had dressed it, +that he would attend to the other poor fellows, equal sufferers with +himself. A boatswain's mate on board the _Brilliant_ frigate, shortly +afterwards, when first acquainted of the death of Nelson, paid a tribute +of affection and honest feeling, which shows how clearly he had gained the +hearts of all. The boatswain's mate, then doing duty as boatswain, was +ordered to pipe all hands to quarters; he did not respond, and the +lieutenant on duty went to inquire the cause. The man had been celebrated +for his promptness, as well as bravery, but he was found utterly unnerved, +and sobbing like a child. "I can't do it," said he--"poor dear fellow, that +I have been in many a hard day with!--and to lose him now! I wouldn't have +cared so much for my old father, mother, brothers, or sisters; but to +think of parting with poor Nelson!" and he broke down utterly. The +officer, honouring his feelings, let him go below. Who does not remember +how, when the body of Nelson lay in state at Greenwich, a deputation of +the _Victory's_ crew paid their last loving respects, tearful and silent, +and could scarcely be removed from the scene? or how, when the two +Union-Jacks and St. George's ensign were being lowered into the grave at +St. Paul's--the colours shattered as was the body of the dead hero--the +brave fellows who had borne them each tore off a part of the largest flag, +to remind them ever after of England's greatest victory and England's +greatest loss? Many an otherwise noble and brave officer has utterly +failed in endearing himself to his men; and there can be no doubt of the +value of being thoroughly _en rapport_ with them--the more as it in no way +need relax discipline. It is an implied compliment to a crew from their +commander, to be taken, at the proper time, into his confidence. The +following anecdote will show how much an action was decided by this, and +with how little loss of life. + +The _Bellona_, of 74 guns and 558 men, with a most valuable freight on +merchants' account, and commanded by the celebrated Captain R. Faulkner, +and the _Brilliant_, a 36-gun frigate, Captain Loggie, sailed from the +Tagus in August, 1761. When off Vigo, three sail were discovered +approaching the land, and the strangers continued their approach, till +they found out the character of the English vessels, and then crowded on +all sail, in flight. Upon this, the _Bellona_ and _Brilliant_ pursued, +coming up with them next morning, to find that they would have to engage +one ship of 74 guns, the _Courageux_, with 700 men, and two frigates of 36 +guns each, the _Malicieuse_ and _Ermine_. After exchanging a few +broadsides, the French vessels shot ahead; when Captain Loggie, seeing +that he could not expect to take either of the smaller vessels, determined +to manoeuvre, and lead them such a wild-goose chase, that the _Bellona_ +should have to engage the _Courageux_ alone. During the whole engagement, +he withstood the united attacks of both the frigates, each of them with +equal force to his own, and at last obliged them to sheer off, greatly +damaged. Meanwhile, the _Courageux_ and _Bellona_ had approached each +other very fast. The _Courageux_, when within musket-shot, fired her first +broadside, and there was much impatience on the _Bellona_ to return it; +but they were restrained by Faulkner, who called out to them to hold hard, +and not to fire till they saw the whites of the Frenchmen's eyes, adding, +"Take my word for it, they will never stand the singeing of their +whiskers!" His speech to the sailors just before the action is a model of +sailor-like advice. "Gentlemen, I have been bred a seaman from my youth, +and, consequently, am no orator; but I promise to carry you all near +enough, and then you may speak for yourselves. Nevertheless, I think it +necessary to acquaint you with the plan I propose to pursue, in taking +this ship, that you may be the better prepared.... I propose to lead you +close on the enemy's larboard quarter, when we will discharge _two_ +broadsides, and then back astern, and range upon the other quarter, and so +tell your guns as you pass. I recommend you at all times to point chiefly +at the quarters, with your guns slanting fore and aft; this is the +principal part of a ship. If you kill the officers, break the rudder, and +snap the braces, she is yours, of course; but, for this reason, I desire +you may only fire one round of shot and grape above, and two rounds, shot +only, below. Take care and send them home with exactness. This is a rich +ship; they will render you, in return, their weight in gold." This +programme was very nearly carried out; almost every shot took effect. The +French still kept up a very brisk fire, and in a moment the _Bellona's_ +shrouds and rigging were almost all cut to pieces, and in nine minutes her +mizen-mast fell over the stern. Undaunted, Faulkner managed to wear his +ship round; the officers and men flew to their respective opposite guns, +and carried on, from the larboard side, a fire even more terrible than +they had hitherto kept up from the starboard guns. "It was impossible for +mortal beings to withstand a battery so incessantly repeated, and so +fatally directed, and, in about twenty minutes from the first shot, the +French colours were hauled down, and orders were immediately given in the +_Bellona_ to cease firing, the enemy having struck. The men had left their +quarters, and all the officers were on the quarter-deck, congratulating +one another on their victory, when, unexpectedly, a round of shot came +from the lower tier of the _Courageux_. It is impossible to describe the +rage that animated the _Bellona's_ crew on this occasion. Without waiting +for orders, they flew again to their guns, and in a moment poured in what +they familiarly termed two 'comfortable broadsides' upon the enemy, who +now called out loudly for quarter, and firing at length ceased on both +sides." The _Courageux_ was a mere wreck, having nothing but her foremast +and bowsprit standing, several of her ports knocked into one, and her deck +rent in a hundred places. She lost 240 killed, and 110 wounded men were +put ashore at Lisbon. On board the _Bellona_ only _six_ men were killed +outright, and about twenty-eight wounded; the loss of her mizen was her +only serious disaster. + + [Illustration: FIGHT BETWEEN THE "COURAGEUX" AND THE "BELLONA."] + +One more possibility in the officer's existence, although now nearly +obsolete. The ceremonies formerly attendant on "crossing the line"--_i.e._, +passing over the equator--so often described, have, of late years, been +more honoured in the breach than in the observance. On merchant vessels +they had become a nuisance, as the sailors often made them an opportunity +for levying black mail on timid and nervous passengers. In the Royal Navy, +they afforded the one chance for "getting even" with unpopular officers; +and very roughly was it sometimes accomplished. They are for this reason +introduced in this chapter, as the officers had a direct interest in them. +With trifling exceptions, the programme was as follows. The men stripped +to the waist, wearing only "duck" unmentionables, prepared, immediately +after breakfast, for the saturnalia of the day--a day when the ship was _en +carnival_, and discipline relaxed. Early in the day, a man at the +masthead, peering through a telescope, would announce a boat on the +weather-bow, and soon after, a voice from the jibboom was heard hailing +the ship, announcing that Neptune wished to come on board. The ship was +accordingly hove-to, when a sailor, in fashionable coat, knee-breeches, +and powdered hair, came aft, and announced to the commander that he was +_gentleman's gentleman_ to the god of the sea, who desired an interview. +This accorded, the procession of Neptune from the forecastle at once +commenced. The triumphal car was a gun-carriage, drawn by half-a-dozen +half-naked and grotesquely-painted sailors, their heads covered by wigs of +sea-weed. Neptune was always masked, as were many of his satellites, in +order that the officers should not know who enacted the leading _rôles_. +The god wore a crown, and held out a trident, on which a dolphin, supposed +to have been impaled that morning, was stuck. He had a flowing wig and +beard of oakum, and was, in all points, "made-up" for Neptune himself. His +suite included a secretary of state, his head stuck all over with long +quills; a surgeon, with lancet, pill-box, and medicines; his barber, with +a razor cut from an iron hoop, and with an assistant, who carried a tub +for a shaving-box. Mrs. Neptune was represented by the ugliest man on +board, who, with sea-weed hair and a huge night-cap, carried a baby--one of +the boys of the ship--in long clothes; the latter played with a +marline-spike, given it to assist in cutting its teeth. The nurse +followed, with a bucketful of _burgoo_ (thick oatmeal porridge or +pudding), and fed the baby incessantly with the cook's iron ladle. +Sea-nymphs, selected from the clumsiest and fattest of the crew, helped to +swell the retinue. As soon as the procession halted before the captain, +behind whom the steward waited, carrying a tray with a bottle of wine and +glasses, Neptune and Amphitrite paid submission to the former, as +representative of Great Britain, and the god presented him the dolphin. +After the interview, in which Neptune not unfrequently poked fun and +thrust home-truths at the officers, the captain offered the god and +goddess a bumper of wine, and then the rougher part of the ceremony +commenced. Neptune would address his court somewhat as follows: "Hark ye, +my Tritons, you're here to shave and duck and bleed all as needs it; but +you've got to be gentle, or we'll get no more fees. The first of ye as +disobeys me, I'll tie to a ten-ton gun, and sink him ten thousand fathoms +below, where he shall drink nothing but salt-water and feed on seaweed for +the next hundred years." The cow-pen was usually employed for the +ducking-bath; it was lined with double canvas, and boarded up, so as to +hold several butts of water. Marryat, in the first naval novel he wrote, +says: "Many of the officers purchased exemption from shaving and physic by +a bottle of rum; but none could escape the sprinkling of salt water, which +fell about in great profusion; even the captain received his share.... It +was easy to perceive, on this occasion, who were favourites with the +ship's company, by the degree of severity with which they were treated. +The tyro was seated on the side of the cow-pen: he was asked the place of +his nativity, and the moment he opened his mouth the shaving-brush of the +barber--which was a very large paint-brush--was crammed in, with all the +filthy lather, with which they covered his face and chin; this was roughly +scraped off with the great razor. The doctor felt his pulse, and +prescribed a pill, which was forced into his cheek; and the +smelling-bottle, the cork of which was armed with sharp points of pins, +was so forcibly applied to his nose as to bring blood. After this, he was +thrown backward into the bath, and allowed to scramble out the best way he +could." The first-lieutenant, the reader may remember, dodged out of the +way for some time, but at last was surrounded, and plied so effectually +with buckets of salt water, that he fled down a hatchway. The buckets were +pitched after him, "and he fell, like the Roman virgin, covered with the +shields of the soldiers." Very unpopular men or officers were made to +swallow half a pint of salt water. Those good old times! + +Pleasant is it to read of life on board a modern first-class man-of-war. +Where there are, perhaps, thirty officers in the ward-room, it would be +hard indeed if one cannot find a kindred spirit, while on such a vessel +the band will discourse sweet music while you dine, and soothe you over +the walnuts and wine, after the toils of the day, with selections from the +best operas, waltzes, and quadrilles. Then comes the coffee, and the +post-prandial cigar in the smoking-room. At sea, luncheon is dispensed +with, and the regular hour is half-past two; but in port both lunch and +dinner are provided, and the officers on leave ashore can return to +either. Say that you have extended your ramble in the country, you will +have established an appetite by half-past five, the hour when the +officers' boat puts off from shore, wharf, or pier. Perhaps the most +pleasant evening is the guests' night, one of which is arranged for every +week, when the officer can, by notifying the mess caterer, invite a friend +or two. The mess caterer is the officer selected to superintend the +victualling department, as the wine caterer does the liquid refreshments. +It is by no means an enviable position, for it is the Englishman's +conceded right to growl, and sailors are equal to the occasion. Dr. +Stables remarks on the unfairness of this under-the-table stabbing, when +most probably the caterer is doing his best to please. But on a +well-regulated ship, where the officers are harmonious, and either not +extravagant or with private means, the dinner-hour is the most agreeable +time in the day. After the cloth has been removed, and the president, with +a due preliminary tap on the table to attract attention, has given the +only toast of the evening--"The Queen"--the bandmaster, who has been peering +in at the door for some minutes, starts the National Anthem at the right +time, and the rest of the evening is devoted to pleasant intercourse, or +visits ashore to the places of amusement or houses of hospitable +residents. + +Before leaving, for the nonce, the Royal Navy, its officers and men, a few +facts may be permitted, particularly interesting at the present time. The +navy, as now constituted, has for its main backbone fifty-four ironclads. +There are of all classes of vessels no less than 462, but more than a +fourth of these are merely hulks, doing harbour service, &c., while quite +a proportion of the remainder--varying according to the exigencies of the +times--are out of commission. There are seventy-eight steam gun-boats and +five fine Indian troop-ships. These numbers are drawn from the official +Navy List of latest date. + +It is said that since the ironclad movement commenced, not less than +£300,000,000 has been disbursed (in about twenty years) by the different +countries of the world. Even Japan, Peru, Venezuela, Chili, the Argentine +Confederation, possess many of this class of vessel, of more or less +power. The British fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Hornby, in the +Mediterranean, &c., though numerically not counting twenty per cent. of +the fleets in the days of Nelson and Collingwood, when "a hundred sail of +the line" frequently assembled, has cost infinitely more. A cool half +million is not an exceptional cost for an ironclad, while one of the +latest of our turret-ships, the _Inflexible_, has cost the nation +three-quarters of a million sterling at the least. She is to carry four +eighty-ton guns. A recent correspondent of a daily journal states that +next to Great Britain, "the ironclad fleet of the Sultan ranks foremost +among the navies of the world." Be that as it may, there can be little +doubt that if Russia had succeeded in acquiring it, it would, with her own +fleet, have constituted a very powerful rival. + +The progressive augmentation in the size of naval vessels has been rapid +in Great Britain. When Henry VIII. constructed his _Henry Grace de Dieu_, +of 1,000 tons,(123) it was, indeed, a great giant among pigmies, for a +vessel of two or three hundred tons was then considered large. At the +death of Elizabeth she left forty-two ships, of 17,000 tons in all, and +8,346 men; fifteen of her vessels being 600 tons and upwards. From this +period the tonnages of the navy steadily increased. The first really +scientific architect, Mr. Phineas Pett, remodelled the navy to good +purpose in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. Previous to this time the +vessels with their lofty poops and forecastles had greatly resembled +Chinese junks. He launched the _Sovereign of the Seas_, a vessel 232 feet +in length, and of a number of tons exactly corresponding to the date, +1637, when she left the slips. Cromwell found a navy of fourteen +two-deckers, and left one of 150 vessels, of which one-third were +line-of-battle ships. He was the first to lay naval estimates before +Parliament, and obtained £400,000 per annum for the service. James II. +left 108 ships of the line, and sixty-five other vessels of 102,000 tons, +with 42,000 men. William III. brought it to 272 ships, of 159,020 tons. +George II. left, in 1760, 412 ships, of 321,104 tons. Twenty-two years +later the navy had reached 617 vessels, and in 1813 we had the enormous +number of 1,000 vessels, of which 256 were of the line, measuring 900,000 +tons, carrying 146,000 seamen and marines, and costing £18,000,000 per +annum to maintain. But since the peace of 1815, the number of vessels has +greatly diminished, while an entirely new era of naval construction has +been inaugurated. In the seventeenth century a vessel of 1,500 tons was +considered of enormous size. At the end of the eighteenth, 2,500 was the +outside limit, whilst there are now many vessels of 4,000 tons, and the +navy possesses frigates of 6,000 and upwards. Several of our enormous +ironclads have a tonnage of over 11,000 tons, while the _Great Eastern_--of +course a _very_ exceptional case--has a tonnage of 22,500. + + [Illustration: THE "GREAT HARRY" AND "GREAT EASTERN" IN CONTRAST.] + +Whilst we have efficient military volunteers enough to form a grand army, +our naval volunteers do not number more than the contingents for a couple +of large vessels. There are scarcely more than a thousand of the latter, +and only three stations. London, Liverpool, and Brighton divide the honour +between them of possessing corps. The writer believes that he will be +doing a service to many young men--who in their turn may do good service +for their country--in briefly detailing the conditions and expenses of +joining. In a very short period of time the members have become +wonderfully efficient, and the sailor-like appearance of the men is well +illustrated by the fact, that at a recent reception at the Mansion House a +number of them were taken for men-of-war's men, and so described in +several daily journals. Their prowess is illustrated by the prizes +distributed by Lady Ashley, at the inspection of the 1st London Corps, in +the West India Docks, on February 9th last. Badges were won by the gunner +making the best practice with the heavy gun at sea, and by the marksman +making the greatest number of points with the rifle. The "Lord Ashley +challenge prize," for the best gun's crew at sea, was won by fourteen men +of No. 2 battery, who fired forty-two rounds at 1,300 yards in +thirty-seven minutes, scoring 411 points out of a possible 504 points. The +official report says:--"that further comment on the men or their instructor +is superfluous." The list included rifle, battery, and boating prizes. + +The Royal Navy Artillery Volunteers are raised under an Act passed in +1873, and are directly subject to the authority of the Admiralty. They may +be assembled for actual employment, their duties then consisting of coast +or harbour service. They are not required to go aloft, or to attend to the +engine fires, but in regard to berthing and messing must conform to the +arrangements usual with seamen. The force is formed into brigades, each +brigade consisting of four or more batteries, of from sixty to eighty men. +Each brigade has a lieutenant-commander, and each battery a +sub-lieutenant, chief petty officer, first and second-class petty +officers, buglers, &c., while the staff includes a lieutenant-instructor, +first-class petty officer instructor, surgeon, bugle-major, and armourer. +Those desiring to join a corps should communicate with the Secretary of +the Admiralty. The annual subscription to the 1st London Corps is one +guinea, while each member has to provide himself with two white frocks, +one blue serge frock, one pair of blue trousers, one blue cloth cap, &c., +black handkerchief, flannel, knife, lanyard, and monkey-jacket, costing in +the neighbourhood of six pounds. When on a cruise, in gunboat, the +volunteer requires in addition serge trousers and jumpers, flannel shirt, +towels, and brush and comb, canvas bags, &c. The officers' uniforms are +the same as those of the Royal Navy, with the exception of silver, for the +most part, taking the place of gold. It is more expensive to join the +naval than the military volunteers, and the class composing the corps are +generally well-to-do young men, a large number of them employed in +shipping offices, and mercantile pursuits connected with the sea. + +The drills consist of practice with great guns, rifle, pistol, and cutlass +exercises. "Efficient" volunteers are entitled to a badge, while men +returned five times as efficient may wear one star, and those returned ten +times two stars, above said badge. Every volunteer must attend at least +two drills a month, until he has obtained the standard of an "efficient." +When on actual service, the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers will receive +the same pay, allowances, and victuals as those of relative rank in the +navy, and when embarked on any of Her Majesty's ships for more than +forty-eight hours, in practice, will either be victualled or receive a +money compensation. The cruises in gun-boats, &c., usually last ten days, +and the vessel visits many of the Channel ports, &c., more especially off +points where gun practice is practicable. A volunteer wounded, either on +drill or in actual service, is entitled to the same compensation as any +seaman in the navy would be under similar circumstances, and if killed his +widow (if any) to the same gratuities out of the Greenwich Hospital Funds +as would a Royal Navy seaman's widow. Members who are able to take +advantage of the cruise in gun-boats must have attended drill regularly +for three months previously. It must be remembered that each man costs the +Government from £8 to £10 for the first year, in the expenses incurred in +great gun and other practice; and it is therefore made a point of honour +to those joining that they will devote sufficient time to their drills to +make themselves thoroughly efficient. + +The London Naval Artillery Volunteers have a fine vessel, the _President_, +now in the West India Docks, on which to exercise, while to accustom them +to living on board ship, the old _Rainbow_, off Temple Pier, is open to +them, under certain conditions, as a place of residence. A number avail +themselves of this: sleep on board in hammocks, and contribute their quota +of the mess expenses. The writer is the last to decry other manly +exercises, such as cricket, foot-ball, racing, or pedestrianism, but naval +volunteering has the advantage of not merely comprising a series of manly +exercises, but in being directly practical and specially health-giving. + +And to prevent the need of impressment, the Government did well in +establishing the Royal Naval Reserve. The latest estimates provided +£140,000 for the year; the number, which at present is about 20,000 men, +is not to exceed 30,000. The service is divided into two classes: the +first class consisting of seamen of the merchant service, and the second, +fishermen on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. Both divisions are +practical sailors, and the value of their services in a time of war would +be inestimable. They are required to drill twenty-eight days in each year, +for which they receive about £6 per annum, and sundry allowances for +travelling, &c. The former class can be drilled at our stations abroad, so +that a merchant seaman is not necessarily tied to England, or to mere +coasting trade. + + + + + + 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--40,000 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--Concessions Made, and the First Mutiny + Quelled--Second Outbreak--Lord Howe's Tact--The Great Mutiny of the + Nore--Richard 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. + + +The Royal Navy has ever been the glory of our country, but there are spots +even on the bright sun. The service has been presented hitherto almost +entirely under its best aspects. Example after example of heroic bravery, +unmurmuring endurance, and splendid discipline, have been cited. Nor can +we err in painting it _couleur de rose_, for its gallant exploits have won +it undying fame. But in the service at one time--thank God those times are +hardly possible now--mutiny and desertion on a large scale were +eventualities to be considered and dreaded; they were at least remote +possibilities. In a few instances they became terrible facts. In the +merchant service we still hear of painful examples: every reader will +remember the case of the _Lennie_ mutineers, who murdered the captain and +mates in the Bay of Biscay, with the object of selling the ship in Greece, +and were defeated by the brave steward, who steered for the coast of +France, and was eventually successful in communicating with the French +authorities. The example about to be related is a matter of historical +fact, from which the naval service in particular may still draw most +important lessons. + +In the year 1787, being seventeen years after Captain Cook's memorable +first voyage, a number of merchants and planters resident in London +memorialised his Majesty George III., that the introduction of the +bread-fruit tree from the southern Pacific Islands would be of great +benefit to the West Indies, and the king complied with their request. A +small vessel, the _Bounty_, was prepared, the arrangements for disposing +the plants being made by Sir Joseph Banks, long the distinguished +President of the Royal Society, and one of the most eminent men of science +of the day. Banks had been with Cook among these very islands; indeed, it +is stated that in his zeal for acquiring knowledge, he had undergone the +process of tattooing himself. The ship was put under the command of +Lieutenant Bligh, with officers and crew numbering in all forty-four +souls, to whom were added a practical botanist and assistant. + +The _Bounty_ sailed from Spithead on December 23rd, 1787 and soon +encountered very severe weather, which obliged them to refit at Teneriffe. +Terrible gales were experienced near Cape Horn, "storms of wind, with hail +and sleet, which made it necessary to keep a constant fire night and day, +and one of the watch always attended to dry the people's wet clothes. This +stormy weather continued for nine days; the ship required pumping every +hour; the decks became so leaky that the commander was obliged to allot +the great cabin to those who had wet berths to hang their hammocks +in."(124) It was at last determined, after vainly struggling for thirty +days to make headway, to bear away for the Cape of Good Hope. The helm was +accordingly put a-weather, to the great joy and satisfaction of all on +board. + + [Illustration: THE CREW OF H.M.S. "BOUNTY" LANDING AT OTAHEITE.] + +They arrived at the Cape late in May, and stopped there for thirty-eight +days, refitting, replenishing provisions, and refreshing the worn-out +crew. On October 26th they anchored in Matavai Bay, Otaheite, and the +natives immediately came out to the ship in great numbers. Tinah, the +chief of the district, on hearing of the arrival of the _Bounty_, sent a +small pig and a young plantain tree, as a token of friendship, and the +ship was liberally supplied with provisions. Handsome presents were made +to Tinah, and he was told that they had been sent to him, on account of +the kindness of the people to Captain Cook during his visit. "Will you +not, Tinah," said Bligh, "send something to King George in return?" "Yes," +he replied, "I will send him anything I have," and then enumerated the +different articles in his power, among which he mentioned the bread-fruit. +This was exactly what Bligh wished, and he was told that the bread-fruit +trees were what King George would greatly like, and the chief promised +that a large number should be placed on board. + +The importance of the bread-fruit to these people cannot be over-stated. +That old navigator, Dampier, had well described it a hundred years before. +"The bread-fruit, as we call it, grows on a large tree, as big and high as +our largest apple-trees; it hath a spreading head, full of branches and +dark leaves. The fruit grows on the boughs like apples; it is as big as a +penny loaf when wheat is at five shillings the bushel; it is of a round +shape, and hath a thick, tough rind; when the fruit is ripe, it is yellow +and soft, and the taste is sweet and pleasant. The natives of Guam use it +for bread. They gather it, when full grown, while it is green and hard; +then they bake it in an oven, which scorcheth the rind and makes it black, +but they scrape off the outside black crust, and there remains a tender, +thin crust; and the inside is soft, tender, and white." The fruit lasts in +season eight months. During Lord Anson's two months' stay at Tinian, no +ship's bread was consumed, the officers and men all preferring the +bread-fruit. Byron speaks of these South Sea Islands, where labour is the +merest play work, the earth affording nearly spontaneously all that the +natives need, as + + "The happy shores without a law, + * * * * * * * + Where all partake the earth without dispute, + And bread itself is gathered as a fruit; + Where none contest the fields, the woods, the streams, + The gold-less age, where gold disturbs no dreams." + +The Otaheitans of those days were a most harmless, amiable, and +unsophisticated people. One day the gudgeon of the cutter's rudder was +missing, and was believed to have been stolen. "I thought," says Bligh, +"it would have a good effect to punish the boat-keeper in their presence, +and accordingly I ordered him a dozen lashes. All who attended the +punishment interceded very earnestly to get it mitigated; the women showed +great sympathy." The intercourse between the crew and natives was very +pleasant. The Otaheitans showed the most perfect ease of manner, with "a +candour and sincerity about them that is quite refreshing." When they +offered refreshments, for instance, if they were not accepted, they did +not press them; they had not the least idea of that ceremonious kind of +refusal which expects a second invitation. "Having one day," says Bligh, +"exposed myself too much in the sun, I was taken ill, on which all the +powerful people, both men and women, collected round me, offering their +assistance." On an occasion when the _Bounty_ had nearly gone ashore in a +tremendous gale of wind, and on another when she did go aground, after all +was right again, these kind-hearted people came in crowds to congratulate +the captain on her escape; many of them shed tears while the danger seemed +imminent. In the evenings, the whole beach was like a parade, crowded with +several hundred men, women, and children, all good-humoured, and +affectionate to one another; their sports and games were continued till +near dark, when they peaceably returned to their homes. They were +particularly cleanly, bathing every morning, and often twice a day. + +It is sad to turn from this pleasant picture to find the spirit of +desertion and mutiny appearing among the crew. There can be no doubt that +the allurements of the island, its charming climate and abundant +productions, the friendliness of the natives, and ease of living, were the +main causes. Bligh made one fatal mistake in his long stay of over five +months, during which the crew had all opportunities of leave ashore. Every +man of them had his _tayo_, or friend. From the moment he set his foot +ashore he found himself in the midst of ease and indolence, all living in +a state of luxury, without submitting to anything approaching real labour. +Such enticements were too much for a common sailor, for must he not +contrast the islander's happy lot with his own hardships on board? + +One morning the small cutter was missing, with three of the crew. They had +taken with them eight stands of arms and ammunition. The master was +dispatched with one of the chiefs in their pursuit, but before they had +got any great distance, they met the boat with five of the natives, who +were bringing her back to the ship. "For this service they were handsomely +rewarded. The chiefs promised to use every possible means to detect and +bring back the deserters, which, in a few days, some of the islanders had +so far accomplished as to seize and bind them, but let them loose again on +a promise that they would return to their ship, which they did not exactly +fulfil, but gave themselves up soon after, on a search being made for +them." A few days after this it was found that the cable by which the ship +rode had been cut, close to the water's edge, so that it held by only a +strand. Bligh considered this the act of one of his own people, who wished +the ship to go ashore, so that they might remain at Otaheite. It may, +however, have chafed in the natural course of affairs. + + [Illustration: THE MUTINEERS SEIZING CAPTAIN BLIGH.] + +And now the _Bounty_, having taken on board over a thousand of the +bread-fruit plants, besides other shrubs and fruits, set sail, falling in +soon after with many canoes, whose owners and passengers sold them hogs, +fowls, and yams, in quantities. Some of the sailing canoes would carry +ninety persons. Bligh was congratulating himself on his ship being in good +condition, his plants in perfect order, and all his men and officers in +good health. On leaving deck on the evening of April 27th he had given +directions as to the course and watches. Just before sunrise on the 28th, +while he was yet asleep, Mr. Christian, officer of the watch, with three +of the men, came into his cabin, and seizing him, tied his hands behind +his back, threatening him with instant death if he spoke or made the least +noise. "I called, however," says Bligh, "as loud as I could, in hopes of +assistance; but they had already secured the officers who were not of +their party, by placing sentinels at their doors. There were three men at +my cabin-door besides the four within; Christian had only a cutlass in his +hand, the others had muskets and bayonets. I was hauled out of bed, and +forced on deck in my shirt, suffering great pain from the tightness with +which they had tied my hands." The master and master's mate, the gunner, +and the gardener, were confined below, and the forecastle hatch was +guarded by sentinels. The boatswain was ordered to hoist the launch out, +with a threat that he had better do it instantly, and two of the +midshipmen and others were ordered into it. Bligh was simply told, "Hold +your tongue, sir, or you are dead this instant!" when he remonstrated. "I +continued," says he, "my endeavours to turn the tide of affairs, when +Christian changed the cutlass which he had in his hand for a bayonet that +was brought to him, and holding me with a strong grip by the cord that +tied my hands, he threatened, with many oaths, to kill me immediately, if +I would not be quiet; the villains round me had their pieces cocked and +bayonets fixed." The boatswain and seamen who were to be turned adrift +with Bligh were allowed to collect twine, canvas, lines, sails, cordage, +and an eight-and-twenty gallon cask of water; the clerk secured one +hundred and fifty pounds of bread, with a small quantity of rum and wine, +also a quadrant and compass, but he was forbidden to touch the maps, +observations, or any of the surveys or drawings. He did, however, secure +the journals and captain's commission. The mutineers having forced those +of the seamen whom they meant to get rid of into the boat, Christian +directed a dram to be served to each of his own crew. Isaac Martin, one of +the guard over Bligh, had an inclination to serve him, and fed him with +some fruit, his lips being quite parched. This kindness was observed, and +Martin was ordered away. The same man, with three others, desired to go +with the captain, but this was refused. They begged him to remember that +they had no hand in the transaction. "I asked for arms," says Bligh, "but +they laughed at me, and said I was well acquainted with the people among +whom I was going, and therefore did not want them; four cutlasses, +however, were thrown into the boat after we were veered astern. + + [Illustration: BLIGH CAST ADRIFT.] + +"The officers and men being in the boat, they only waited for me, of which +the master-at-arms informed Christian, who then said, 'Come, Captain +Bligh, your officers and men are now in the boat, and you must go with +them; if you attempt to make the least resistance, you will instantly be +put to death;' and without further ceremony, with a tribe of armed +ruffians about me, I was forced over the side, when they untied my hands." +A few pieces of pork were thrown to them, and after undergoing a great +deal of ridicule, and having been kept for some time to make sport for +these unfeeling wretches, they were at length cast adrift in the open sea. +Bligh heard shouts of "Huzza for Otaheite!" among the mutineers for some +considerable time after they had parted from the vessel. + +In the boat, well weighted down to the water's edge, were nineteen +persons, including the commander, master, acting-surgeon, botanist, +gunner, boatswain, carpenter, and two midshipmen. On the ship were +twenty-five persons, mostly able seamen, but three midshipmen were among +the number, two of whom had no choice in the matter, being detained +against their will. + +Lieutenant Bligh, although a good seaman, was a tyrannical man, and had +made himself especially odious on board by reason of his severity, and +especially in regard to the issuing of provisions. He had had many +disputes with Christian in particular, when his language was of the +coarsest order. Still, the desire to remain among the Otaheitans, or, at +all events, among these enticing islands, seems to have been the main +cause of the mutiny. + +It was shown afterwards that Christian had only the night before +determined to make his escape on a kind of small raft; that he had +informed four of his companions, and that they had supplied him with part +of a roast pig, some nails, beads, and other trading articles, and that he +abandoned the idea because, when he came on deck to his watch at four +a.m., he found an opportunity which he had not expected. He saw Mr. +Hayward, the mate of his watch, fall asleep, and the other midshipmen did +not put in an appearance at all. He suddenly conceived the idea of the +plot, which he disclosed to seven of the men, three of whom had "tasted +the cat," and were unfavourable to Bligh. They went to the armourer, and +secured the keys of his chest, under the pretence of wanting a musket to +fire at a shark, then alongside. Christian then proceeded to secure +Lieutenant Bligh, the master, gunner, and botanist. He stated that he had +been much annoyed at the frequent abusive and insulting language of his +commanding officer. Waking out of a short half-hour's disturbed sleep, to +take the command of the deck--finding the mates of the watch asleep--the +opportunity tempting, and the ship completely in his power, with a +momentary impulse he darted down the fore-hatchway, got possession of the +arm-chest, and made the hazardous experiment of arming such of the men as +he deemed he could trust. It is said that he intended to send away his +captain in a small, wretched boat, worm-eaten and decayed, but the +remonstrances of a few of the better-hearted induced him to substitute the +cutter. + +And now to follow the fortunes of Lieutenant Bligh and his companions. +Their first consideration was to examine their resources. There were +sixteen pieces of pork, weighing two pounds each, the bread and water as +before mentioned, six quarts of rum, and six bottles of wine. Being near +the island of Tofoa, they resolved to seek a supply of bread-fruit and +water, so as to preserve their other stock, and they did obtain a small +quantity of the former, but little water. The natives seeing their +defenceless condition meditated their destruction, and speedily crowded +the beach, knocking stones together, the preparatory signal for an attack. +With some difficulty the seamen succeeded in getting their things +together, and got all the men, except John Norton, one of the +quartermasters, into the boat, the surf running high. The poor man was +literally stoned to death within their sight. They pushed out to sea in +all haste, and were followed by volleys of big stones, some of the canoes +pursuing them. Their only expedient left to gain time was to throw +overboard some of their clothing, which, fortunately, induced the natives +to stop and pick them up. Night coming on, the canoes returned to the +shore. + +The nearest place where they could expect relief was Timor, a distance of +full 1,200 leagues, and the men agreed to be put on an allowance, which on +calculation was found not to exceed _one ounce_ of bread per diem, and a +gill of water. Recommending them, therefore, in the most solemn manner, +not to depart from their promises, "we bore away," says Bligh, "across a +sea where the navigation is but little known, in a small boat, +twenty-three feet long from stem to stern, deeply laden with eighteen +men.... It was about eight at night on the 2nd of May when we bore away +under a reefed lug-foresail; and having divided the people into watches, +and got the boat into a little order, we returned thanks to God for our +miraculous preservation, and in full confidence of His gracious support, I +found my mind more at ease than it had been for some time past." Next +morning the sun rose fiery and red, a sure indication of a gale, and by +eight o'clock it blew a violent storm, the waves running so high that +their sail was _becalmed_ when between the seas. They lightened the boat +by throwing overboard all superfluous articles, and removing the tools, +put the bread, on which their very existence depended, in the chest. +Miserably wet and cold as were all, Bligh administered a _tea-spoonful_ of +rum to each at dinner time. The sea still rose, and the fatigue of baling +became very great. Next morning at daylight the men's limbs were benumbed, +and another spoonful of spirit was administered. Whatever might be said of +Bligh's previous conduct, there is no doubt that at this juncture he +exerted himself wonderfully and very judiciously to save the lives of all. +Their dinner this day consisted of five small cocoa-nuts. On the night of +the 4th the gale abated, and they examined the bread, much of which was +found to be damaged and rotten, but it was still preserved for use. On the +6th they hooked a fish, "but," says the commander, "we were miserably +disappointed by its being lost in trying to get it into the boat." They +were terribly cramped for want of room on board, although Bligh did for +the best by putting them watch and watch, so that half of them at a time +could lie at the bottom of the boat. On the 7th they passed close to some +rocky isles, from which two large sailing canoes came out and pursued +hotly, but gave over the chase in the afternoon. This day heavy rain fell, +when everybody set to work to catch some, with such success that they not +merely quenched their thirst, but increased their stock to thirty-five +gallons. As a corresponding disadvantage they got wet through. On the 8th +the allowance issued was an ounce and a half of pork, a tea-spoonful of +rum, half a pint of cocoa-nut milk, and an ounce of bread. Bligh +constructed a pair of scales of two cocoa-nut shells, using pistol-balls +for weights. The next nine days brought bad weather, and much rain, the +sea breaking over the boat so much that two men were kept constantly +baling, and it was necessary to keep the boat before the waves to prevent +her filling. When day broke it showed a miserable set of beings, full of +wants, aches, and pains, and nothing to relieve them. They found some +comfort by wringing their clothes in sea-water, by which means they found +a certain limited amount of warmth. But though all were shivering with +cold and wet, the commander was obliged to tell them that the rum +ration--one tea-spoonful--must for the present be discontinued, as it was +running low. + +"During the whole of the afternoon of the 21st," says Bligh, "we were so +covered with rain and salt water that we could scarcely see. We suffered +extreme cold, and every one dreaded the approach of night. Sleep, though +we longed for it, afforded no comfort; for my own part, I almost lived +without it. * * * The misery we suffered this night exceeded the +preceding. The sea flew over us with great force, and kept us baling with +horror and anxiety. At dawn of day I found every one in a most distressed +condition, and I began to fear that another such night would put an end to +the lives of several, who seemed no longer able to support their +sufferings. I served an allowance of two tea-spoonfuls of rum; after +drinking which, and having wrung our clothes, and taken our breakfast of +bread and water, we became a little refreshed." On the 24th, for the first +time in fifteen days, they experienced the warmth of the sun, and dried +their now threadbare garments. + +On the 25th, at mid-day, some noddies flew so near the boat that one was +caught by hand. This bird, about the size of a small pigeon, was divided +into eighteen portions, and allotted by the method known as _"__Who shall +have this?__"_ in which one person, who turns his back to the caterer, is +asked the question, as each piece is indicated. This system gives every +one the chance of securing the best share. Bligh used to speak of the +amusement it gave the poor half-starved people when the beak and claws +fell to his lot. That and the following day two boobies, which are about +as large as ducks, were also caught. The sun came out so powerfully that +several of the people were seized with faintness. But the capture of two +more boobies revived their spirits, and as from the birds, and other +signs, Mr. Bligh had no doubt they were near land, the feelings of all +became more animated. On the morning of the 28th the "barrier reef" of +what was then known as the eastern coast of New Holland, now Australia, +appeared, with the surf and breakers outside, and smooth water within. The +difficulty was to find a passage; but at last a fine opening was +discovered, and through this the boat passed rapidly with a strong stream, +and came immediately into smooth water. Their past hardships seemed all at +once forgotten. The coast appeared, and in the evening they landed on the +sandy point of an island, where they soon found that the rocks were +covered with oysters, and that plenty of fresh water was attainable. By +help of a small sun-glass a fire was made, and soon a stew of oysters, +pork, and bread was concocted, which gladdened their hearts, each +receiving a full pint. The 29th of May being the anniversary of the +restoration of Charles II., the spot was not inappropriately named +Restoration Island. + +Bligh soon noted the alteration for the better in the looks of his men, +which proved the value of oysters, stewed, as they sometimes were, with +fresh green palm-tops. Strange to say, that the mutinous spirit, which had +been satisfactorily absent before, broke out in one or two of the men, and +Bligh had, in one instance, to seize a cutlass and order the man to defend +himself. The threatened outbreak ended quietly. + +But although the worst of their voyage was over, their troubles in other +ways were serious. While among the islands off the coast of Australia +several of them were seriously affected with weakness, dizziness, and +violent pains in their bowels. Infinitesimal quantities of wine were +administered, to their great benefit. A party was sent out on one of the +islands to catch birds, and they returned with a dozen noddies; these and +a few clams were all they obtained. On the 3rd of June they left Cape +York, and once more launched their little boat on the open ocean. On the +5th a booby was caught by the hand, the blood of which was divided among +three of the men who were weakest, and the bird kept for next day's +dinner. The following day the sea ran high, and kept breaking over the +boat. Mr. Ledward, the surgeon, and Lebogue, an old hardy sailor, appeared +to be breaking up fast, and no other assistance could be given them than a +tea-spoonful or two of wine. On the morning of the 10th there was a +visible alteration for the worse in many of the people. Their countenances +were ghastly and hollow, their limbs swollen, and all extremely +debilitated; some seeming to have lost their reason. But next day Bligh +was able to announce that they had passed the meridian of Timor, and the +following morning land was sighted with expressions of universal joy and +satisfaction. Forty-one days had they been on the ocean in their miserable +boat, and by the log they had run 3,618 nautical miles. On the 14th they +arrived at Coupang Bay, where they were received with all kinds of +hospitality. The party on landing presented the appearance of spectres: +their bodies skin and bones, and covered with sores; their clothing in +rags. But the strain had been too much for several of them. The botanist +died at Coupang, three of the men at Batavia, and one on the passage home. +The doctor was left behind and not afterwards heard of. Bligh arrived in +England on March 14th, and received much sympathy. He was immediately +promoted, and afterwards successfully carried the bread-fruit tree to the +West Indies. Meantime the Government naturally proposed to bring the +mutineers to trial, whatever it might cost. + +The _Pandora_, a frigate of twenty-four guns, and one hundred and sixty +men, was selected for the service, and was placed under the command of +Captain Edward Edwards, with orders to proceed to Otaheite, and if +necessary the other islands. The voyage was destined to end in shipwreck +and disaster, but the captain succeeded in securing a part of the +mutineers, of whom ten were brought to England, and four drowned on the +wreck. + +The _Pandora_ reached Matavia Bay on the 23rd of March, 1791. The armourer +and two of the midshipmen, Mr. Heywood and Mr. Stewart, came off +immediately, and showed their willingness to afford information. Four +others soon after appeared, and from them the captain learned that the +rest of the _Bounty's_ people had built a schooner, and sailed the day +before for another part of the island. They were pursued, and the schooner +secured, but the mutineers had fled to the mountains. A day or two +elapsed, when they ventured down, and when within hearing were ordered to +lay down their arms, which they did, and were put in irons. Captain +Edwards put them into a round-house, built on the after part of the +quarter-deck, in order to isolate them from the crew. According to the +statement of one of the prisoners, the midshipmen were kept ironed by the +legs, separate from the men, in a kind of round-house, aptly termed +"Pandora's Box," which was entered by a scuttle in the roof, about +eighteen inches square. "The prisoners' wives visited the ship daily, and +brought their children, who were permitted to be carried to their unhappy +fathers. To see the poor captives in irons," says the only narrative +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."(125) +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.(126) + + [Illustration: MAP OF THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.] + +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 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 Otaheite. 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 afterwards 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 their 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, or probably design, when slipping from +the roof of "Pandora's Box" into the sea, let the keys unlocking 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 provisions 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. Heywood, 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 _Tagus_, 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 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 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 expressed his willingness to go to 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." + + [Illustration: H.M.S. "BRITON," AT PITCAIRN ISLAND.] + +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. + + [Illustration: PITCAIRN ISLAND.] + +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 1797, 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 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 partakers 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 till everything 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. + + [Illustration: THE MUTINY AT PORTSMOUTH.] + +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, confident in their patriotism and loyalty, became irritated +by ungrateful neglect on 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 _cast_," + +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 _Leander_ 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 among 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,(127) 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. + + [Illustration: ADMIRAL DUNCAN ADDRESSING HIS CREW.] + +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, seamen, 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. + +"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, notwithstanding 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 selling 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. + +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 14th 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 6th 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 _St. George_ itself +should touch a rope. The brave old admiral, by his energy and promptitude, +soon quieted every symptom of disaffection. + + [Illustration: LORD ST. VINCENT.] + +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 them. In a quarter of an hour the +red flag was hauled down, and a free pardon 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 Jack 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. + + + + + + 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 Cæsar--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--Effingham'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 +wicker-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 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 Phoenicians 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 unproductiveness of the territory, and blessed with one or two +excellent harbours, and an abundant supply of wood from the mountains of +Lebanon, the Phoenicians 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 Phoenician 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,(128) he formed +settlements in Britain and 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 _Thalamegus_, 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. Athenæus has left a description 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, composed of a single tree, was procured after +much trouble from distant inland mountains. Hiero finding that he had no +harbours 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:--"Hiero, the son of Hierocles, +the Dorian, who wields the sceptre of Sicily, sends this vessel bearing in +her the fruits of the earth. Do thou, O Neptune, preserve in safety this +ship over the blue waves." + + [Illustration: FLEET OF ROMAN GALLEYS.] + +Among the Grecian states Corinth stood high in naval matters. Her people +were expert ship-builders, and claimed the invention of the trireme, or +galley with three tiers of oars. Athens, with its three ports, also +carried on for a long period a large trade with Egypt, Palestine, and the +countries bordering the Black Sea. The Romans had little inclination at +first for seamanship, but were forced into it by their rivals of Carthage. +It was as late as B.C. 261 before they determined to build a war-fleet, +and had not a Carthaginian galley, grounded on the coast of Italy, been +seized by them, they would not have understood the proper construction of +one. Previously they had nothing much above large boats rudely built of +planks. The noble Romans affected to despise commerce at this period, and +trusted to the Greek and other traders to supply their wants. Quintus +Claudius introduced a law, which passed, that no senator or father of one +should own a vessel of a greater capacity than just sufficient to carry +the produce of their own lands to market. Hear the enlightened Cicero on +the subject of commerce. He observes that, "_Trade is mean if it has only +a small profit for its object_; but it is otherwise if it has large +dealings, bringing many sorts of merchandise from foreign parts, and +distributing them to the public without deceit; and if after a reasonable +profit such merchants are contented with the riches they have acquired, +and purchasing land with them retire into the country, and apply +themselves to agriculture, I cannot perceive wherein is the dishonour of +that function." Mariners were not esteemed by the Romans until after the +great battle of Actium, which threw the monopoly of the lucrative Indian +trade into their hands. Claudius, A.D. 41, deepened the Tiber, and built +the port of Ostia; and about fifty years later Trajan constructed the +ports of Civita Vecchia and Ancona, where commerce flourished. The Roman +fleets were often a source of trouble to them. Carausius, who was really a +Dutch soldier of fortune, about the year 280, seized upon the fleet he +commanded, and crossed from Gessoriacum (Boulogne) to Britain, where he +proclaimed himself emperor. He held the reins of government for seven +years, and was at length murdered by his lieutenant. He was really the +first to create a British manned fleet. In the reign of Diocletian, the +Veneti, on the coast of Gaul, threw off the Roman yoke, and claimed +tribute from all who appeared in their seas. The same emperor founded +Constantinople, erected later, under Constantine, into the seat of +government. This city seemed to be destined by nature as a great +commercial centre; caravans placed it in direct communication with the +East, and it was really the entrepôt of the world till its capture by the +Venetians, in 1204. That independent republic had been then in a +flourishing condition for over two hundred years, and for more than as +many after, its people were the greatest traders of the world. It was at +Venice in 1202 that some of the leading pilgrims assembled to negotiate +for a fleet to be used in the fourth crusade. The crusaders agreed to pay +the Venetians before sailing eighty-four thousand marks of silver, and to +share with them all the booty taken by land or sea. The republic undertook +to supply flat-bottomed vessels enough to convey four thousand five +hundred knights, and twenty thousand soldiers, provisions for nine months, +and a fleet of galleys. + +"Surrounded by the silver streak," our hardy forefathers often crossed to +Ireland and France, prior to the first invasion of Britain by Julius +Cæsar, B.C. 55, when he sailed from Boulogne with eighty vessels and 8,000 +men, and with eighteen transports to carry 800 horses for the cavalry. In +the second invasion he employed a fleet of 600 boats and twenty-five +war-galleys, having with him five legions of infantry and 2,000 cavalry, a +formidable army for the poor islanders to contend against. But their +intercourse with the Romans speedily brought about commercial relations of +importance. The pearl fisheries were then most profitable, while the +"native" oyster was greatly esteemed by the Roman epicures, of whom +Juvenal speaks in his fourth satire. He says they + + "Could at one bite the oyster's taste decide, + And say if at Circean rocks, or in + The Lucrine Lake, or on the coast of Richborough, + In Britain they were bred." + +British oysters were exported to Rome, as American oysters are now-a-days +to England. Martial also mentions another trade in one of his epigrams, +that of basket-making-- + + "Work of barbaric art, a basket, I + From painted Britain came; but the Roman city + Now calls the painted Briton's art their own." + +The smaller description of boats, other than galleys, employed by the +Romans for transporting their troops and supplies, were the _kiulæ_, +called by the Saxons _ceol_ or _ciol_, which name has come down to us in +the form of _keel_, and is still applied to a description of barge used in +the north of England. Thus + + "Weel may the keel row," + +says the song, and on the "coaly Tyne," a small barge carrying twenty-one +tons four hundredweight is said to carry a "keel" of coals. The Romans +must also have possessed large transport vessels, for within seventy or +eighty years after they had gained a secure footing in this country, they +received a reinforcement of 5,000 men in seventeen ships, or about 300 +men, besides stores, to each vessel. + +Bede places the final departure of the Romans from Britain in A.D. 409, or +just before the siege of Rome by Attila. Our ancestors were now rather +worse off than before, for they were left a prey to the Vikings--those +bold, hardy, unscrupulous Scandinavian seamen of the north, who began to +make piratical visits for the sake of plunder to the coasts of Scotland +and England. They found their way to the Mediterranean, and were known and +feared in every port from Iceland to Constantinople. Their galleys were +propelled mainly by means of oars, but they had also small square sails to +get help from a stern wind, and as they often sailed straight across the +stormy northern seas, it is probable that they had made considerable +progress in the rigging and handling of their ships. A plank-built boat +was discovered a few years since in Denmark, which the antiquaries assign +to the fifth century. It is a row-boat, measuring seventy-seven feet from +stem to stern, and proportionately broad in the middle. The construction +shows that there was an abundance of material and skilled labour. It is +alike at bow and stern, and the thirty rowlocks are reversible, so as to +permit the boat to be navigated with either end forward. The vessel is +built of heavy planks overlapping each other from the gunwale to the keel, +and cut thick at the point of juncture, so that they may be mortised into +the cross-beams and gunwale, instead of being merely nailed. Very similar +boats, light, swift, and strong, are still used in the Shetlands and +Norway. + +Little is known of the state of England from the departure of the Romans +to the eighth century. The doubtful and traditionary landing of Hengist +and Horsa with 1,500 men, "in three long ships," is hardly worth +discussing here. The Venerable Bede, who wrote about A.D. 750, speaks of +London as "the mart of many nations, resorting to it by sea and land;" and +he continues that "King Ethelbert built the church of St. Paul in the city +of London, where he and his successors should have their episcopal see." +But the history of this period generally is in a hopeless fog. Still we +know that London was now a thriving port. Cæsar, in his "Commentaries" +distinctly states that his reason for attempting the conquest of England +was on account of the vast supplies which his Gaulish enemies received +from us, in the way of trade. The exports were principally cattle, hides, +corn, dogs, and _slaves_, the latter an important item. Strabo observes +that "our internal parts at that time were on a level with the African +slave coasts." "Britons never shall be slaves" could not therefore have +been said in those days. London, long prior to the invasion of England by +the Romans, was an existing city, and vessels paid dues at Billingsgate +long before the establishment of any custom-house. Pennant tells us, in +his famous work on London, "As early as 979, all the reign of Ethelred, a +small vessel was to pay _ad Bilynggesgate_ one halfpenny as a toll; a +greater, bearing sails, one penny; a keel or hulk (_ceol vel hulcus_), +fourpence; a ship laden with wood, one piece for toll; and a boat with +fish, one halfpenny; or a larger, one penny. We had even now trade with +France for its wines, for mention is made of ships from Rouen, who came +here and landed them, and freed them from toll--_i.e._, paid their duties. +What they amounted to I cannot learn." + +The Danes, having once a foot-hold, were never thoroughly expelled till +the Norman conquest, and as a maritime race excelled all the nations of +the north of Europe. They had two principal classes of vessels, the +_Drakers_ and _Holkers_, the former named from carrying a dragon on the +bows, and bearing the Danish flag of the raven. The holker was at first a +small boat, hollowed out of the trunk of a tree, but the word "hulk," +evidently derived from it, was used afterwards for vessels of larger +dimensions. They had also another vessel called a _Snekkar_ (serpent), +strangely so named, for it was rather a short, stumpy kind of boat, not +unlike the Dutch galliots of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. +Their piratical expeditions soon increased, and Wales and the island of +Anglesey were frequently pillaged by them, while in Ireland they possessed +the ports of Dublin, Waterford, and Cork, a Danish king reigning in the +two first cities. But a king was to arise who would change all this--Alfred +the Great and Good, the "Father of the British Navy." + +On the accession of Alfred the Great to the throne, he found England so +over-run by the Danes, that he had, as every school-boy knows, to conceal +himself with a few faithful followers in the forests. In his retirement he +busied himself in devising schemes for ridding his country of the pirate +marauders; and without much deliberation he saw that he must first have a +maritime force of his own, and meet the enemies of England on the sea, +which they considered their own especial element. He set himself busily to +study the models of the Danish ships, and, aided by his hardy followers, +stirred up a spirit of maritime ambition, which had not existed to any +great extent before. At the end of four years of unremitting labour in the +prosecution of his schemes, he possessed the nucleus of a fleet in six +galleys, which were double the length of any possessed by his adversaries, +and which carried sixty oars, and possessed ample space for the fighting +men on board. With this fleet he put to sea, taking the command in person, +and routed a marauding expedition of the Danes, then about to make a +descent on the coast. The force was larger than his own; but he succeeded +in capturing one and in driving off the rest. In the course of the next +year or two he captured or sunk eighteen of the enemy's galleys, and they +found at last that they could not have it all their own way on the sea. +About this time the cares of government occupied necessarily much of his +time: his astute policy was to win over a number of the more friendly +Danes to his cause, by giving them grants of land, and obliging them in +return to assist in driving off aggressors. He was nearly the first native +of England who made any efforts to extend the study of geography. +According to the Saxon chronicler, Florence of Worcester, A.D. 897, he +consulted Ohther, a learned Norwegian, and other authorities, from whom he +obtained much information respecting the northern seas. Ohther had not +only coasted along the shores of Norway, but had rounded the North Cape--it +was a feat in those days, gentle reader, but now Cook's tourists do it--and +had reached the bay in which Archangel is situated. The ancient geographer +gave Alfred vivid descriptions of the gigantic whales, and of the +innumerable seals he had observed, not forgetting the terrible mäelstrom, +the dangers of which he did not under-rate, and which it was generally +believed in those days was caused by a horribly vicious old sea-dragon, +who sucked the vessels under. He compared the natives to the Scythians of +old, and was rather severe on them, as they brewed no ale, the poor +drinking honey-mead in its stead, and the rich a liquor distilled from +goats' milk. Alfred not merely sent vessels to the north on voyages of +discovery, but opened communication with the Mediterranean, his galleys +penetrating to the extreme east of the Levant, whereby he was enabled to +carry on a direct trade with India. William of Malmesbury mentions the +silks, shawls, incense, spices, and aromatic gums which Alfred received +from the Malabar coast in return for presents sent to the Nestorian +Christians. Alfred constantly and steadily encouraged the science of +navigation, and certainly earned the right of the proud title he has borne +since of "Father of the British Navy." + + [Illustration: APPROACH OF THE DANISH FLEET.] + +Time passes and we come to Canute. On his accession to the throne as the +son of a Danish conqueror, he practically put an end to the incursions and +attacks of the northern pirates. The influence of his name was so great +that he found it unnecessary to maintain more than forty ships at sea, and +the number was subsequently reduced. So far from entertaining any fear of +revolt from the English, or of any raid on his shores, he made frequent +voyages to the Continent as well as to the north. He once proceeded as far +as Rome, where he met the Emperor Conrad. II., from whom he obtained for +all his subjects, whether merchants or pilgrims, complete exemption from +the heavy tolls usually exacted on their former visits to that city. +Canute was a cosmopolitan. By his conquest of Norway, not merely did he +represent the English whom he had subjugated, and who had become attached +to him, but the Danes, their constant and inveterate foes and rivals. He +thus united under one sovereignty the principal maritime nations of the +north. + +And still the writer exerts the privilege conceded to all who wield the +pen, of passing quickly over the pages of history. "The stories," says a +writer(129) who made maritime subjects a peculiar study, "as to the number +of vessels under the order of the Conqueror on his memorable expedition +are very conflicting. Some writers have asserted that the total number +amounted to no less than 3,000, of which six or seven hundred were of a +superior order, the remainder consisting of boats temporarily built, and +of the most fragile description. Others place the whole fleet at not more +than 800 vessels of all sizes, and this number is more likely to be +nearest the truth. There are now no means of ascertaining their size, but +their form may be conjectured from the representation of these vessels on +the rolls of the famous Bayeux tapestry. It is said that when William +meditated his descent on England he ordered 'large ships' to be +constructed for that purpose at his seaports, collecting, wherever these +could be found, smaller vessels or boats, to accompany them. But even the +largest must have been of little value, as the whole fleet were by his +orders burned and destroyed, as soon as he landed with his army, so as to +cut off all retreat, and to save the expense of their maintenance." This +would indicate that the sailors had to fight ashore, and may possibly have +been intended to spur on his army to victory. Freeman states, in his +"History of the Norman Conquest," that he finds the largest number of +ships in the Conqueror's expedition, as compiled from the most reliable +authorities, was 3,000, but some accounts put it as low as 693. Most of +the ships were presents from the prelates or great barons. William +FitzOsborn gave 60, the Count de Mortaine, 120; the Bishop of Bayeux, 100; +and the finest of all, that in which William himself embarked, was +presented to him by his own duchess, Matilda, and named the _Mora_. Norman +writers of the time state that the vessels were not much to boast of, as +they were all collected between the beginning of January and the end of +August, 1066. Lindsay, who thoroughly investigated the subject, says that +"The Norman merchant vessels or transports were in length about three +times their breadth, and were sometimes propelled by oars, but generally +by sails; their galleys appear to have been of two sorts--the larger, +occasionally called galleons, carrying in some instances sixty men, well +armed with iron armour, besides their oars. The smaller galleys, which are +not specially described, doubtless resembled ships' launches in size, but +of a form enabling them to be propelled at a considerable rate of speed." +Boats covered with leather were even employed on the perilous Channel +voyage. + + [Illustration: SHIPS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. (_From the Bayeux + Tapestry._)] + +The Conqueror soon added to the security of the country by the +establishment of the Cinque Ports, which, as their title denotes, were at +first five, but were afterwards increased in number so as to include the +following seaports:--Dover, Sandwich, Hythe, and Romsey, in Kent; and Rye, +Winchelsea, Hastings, and Seaford, in Sussex. On their first establishment +they were to provide fifty-two ships, with twenty-four men on each, for +fifteen days each year, in case of emergency. In return they had many +privileges, a part of which are enjoyed by them to-day. Their freemen were +styled barons; each of the ports returned two members of Parliament. An +officer was appointed over them, who was "Lord Warden of the Cinque +Ports," and also Constable of Dover Castle. + +"For more than a hundred years after the Conquest," says the writer just +quoted, "England's ships had rarely ventured beyond the Bay of Biscay on +the one hand, and the entrance to the Baltic on the other; and there is no +special record of long voyages by English ships until the time of the +Crusades; which, whatever they might have done for the cause of the Cross, +undoubtedly gave the first impetus to the shipping of the country. The +number of rich and powerful princes and nobles who embarked their fortunes +in these extraordinary expeditions offered the chance of lucrative +employment to any nation which could supply the requisite amount of +tonnage, and English shipowners very naturally made great exertions to +reap a share of the gains." One of the first English noblemen who fitted +out an expedition to the Holy Land was the Earl of Essex; and twelve years +afterwards, Richard Coeur de Lion, on ascending the throne, made vast +levies on the people for the same object, joining Philip II. and other +princes for the purpose of raising the Cross above the Crescent. Towards +the close of 1189 two fleets had been collected, one at Dover, to convey +Richard and his followers (among whom were the Archbishop of Canterbury, +the Bishop of Salisbury, and the Lord Chief Justice of England) across the +Channel, and a second and still larger fleet at Dartmouth, composed of +numbers of vessels from Aquitaine, Brittany, Normandy, and Poitou, for the +conveyance of the great bulk of the Crusaders, to join Richard at +Marseilles, whither he had gone overland with the French king and his +other allies. The Dartmouth fleet, under the command of Richard de +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 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;" 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. + + [Illustration: CRUSADERS AND SARACENS.] + +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 _Rôles 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 crew, 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 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 12 provided that if any +mariner should give the lie to another at a table where there was wine and +bread, he should be fined four _deniers_; 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 elsewhere 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 archæological remains and discoveries it is certain that the +Romans excavated coal 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 admeasurement +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 the 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 Norman 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 met 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. + + [Illustration: 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 hangyng 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 wel 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 berd ben schake. + 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 _Magdelayne_." + +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 1435. 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 Dieu_, 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 ment 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 for 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 11th of August, of the above-mentioned year. +When the ships had passed the Isle of Wight, "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 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." + + [Illustration: REVERSE OF THE SEAL OF SANDWICH.] + +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,(130) 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." + +Next year we read of Henry preparing to again attack France. The enemy had +increased 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 +permanently 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 +de Dieu_, 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 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 with 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 Sandwich, 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 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, manned by English, Irish, or Welsh sailors. This Act was +repeated in the fourth year of Henry's reign, and made 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 endure 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 left out in the cold. From Calais Henry 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." + + [Illustration: SIR ANDREW WOOD'S VICTORY.] + +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 innumerable 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, nevertheless, 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(131) says that it was +by the Venetians against the Genoese, before 1330. Their use necessitated +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 magnus_). "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; + 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." + +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 Blackwall, and the prisoners, 150 in number, +being all left alive, "so bloody had the action been," were tried at +Whitehall, before the 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. + + [Illustration: THE DEFEAT OF SIR ANDREW BARTON.] + +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 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_.(132) 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. + + [Illustration: OLD DEPTFORD DOCKYARD.] + +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 Royal 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 "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 boats'-loads 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 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 +Effingham; 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 Walsingham 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, 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 +rigid parsimony of Elizabeth's government, he would have been called upon +to pay the costs." + + [Illustration: THE FIRST SHOT AGAINST THE ARMADA.] + +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 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 discharging 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 manoeuvring 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, with which they were either badly 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 flocking 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 _à 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 their 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 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 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. + + [Illustration: THE FIRE-SHIPS ATTACKING THE ARMADA.] + +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 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 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 the 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 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 five-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 of Norway. Some few got into +the English seas; two were taken by cruisers off Rochelle. About 700 men +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. + + [Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH ON HER WAY TO ST. PAUL'S.] + +"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 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 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_--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 + 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. + + +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 shortly afterwards again on the high +seas with the _Victory_, one of the queen's ships, and three smaller +vessels. The 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; "his 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 him 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(133) 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 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. + + [Illustration: THE EARL OF CUMBERLAND AND THE "MADRE DE DIOS."] + +The earl's third 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 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 that 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 "a +gentleman of noble birth, well stricken in years, 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 Sofala, 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. About 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 mainmast 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 de 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 +considerably, more especially among the officers. Cumberland's +vice-admiral, Antony, was killed; Downton, 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 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 been 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, and arrived in September, 1563." + + [Illustration: SIR JOHN HAWKINS.] + +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.'" 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 +7½ 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! + +But all this is nothing to what happened at Rio de la Hacha. There he +spoke of his quiet traffic (!) 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."(134) Accordingly, +early next day he fired off a culverin, 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 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." + + [Illustration: ON THE COAST OF CORNWALL.] + +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, 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(135) 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 he 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, +we 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 +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 marvellous +fear, so that some said, 'Let us depart with the _Minion_;' others said, +'Let us see whether the wind will carry 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" 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, that about a hundred of his people desired to be left 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 see 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." + + [Illustration: HAWKINS AT ST. JUAN DE ULLOA.] + +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 _Pascha_, 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 heart 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 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."(136) Drake was the first Englishman to +gaze on its waters. + + [Illustration: DRAKE'S FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC] + +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 spoken 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 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. + + [Illustration: OXENHAM EMBARKING ON THE PACIFIC.] + +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 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 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 five negroes, and took seven of +Oxenham'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. Oxenham 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(137) _viâ_ the +Straits of Magellan--the third recorded attempt, and the first made by an +Englishman--and was the first English subject to circumnavigate 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, +gentlemen, 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."(138) 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 in 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 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."(139) + +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 disabused 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 "through the breast and out at back, so that he fell down +stark dead." Drake assembled his men, ordering them to cover themselves +with their targets, and march on the assailants, 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."(140) 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.(141) 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; +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 Hinde_, which was +obliged 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 +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 large 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. + + [Illustration: SIR F. DRAKE.] + +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 Cape 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 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 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 +drive, 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 £212,000. 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 M'Clure. His company agreed to his views: firstly to +refit, water, and provision the ship in some 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 fish. A small prize was taken while there, having on +board a cargo of sarsaparilla, which they disdained, and butter and honey, +which they appropriated. Drake now sailed northward, and most 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, and could not be prevented from offering them +sacrifices, "with lamentable weeping, scratching, 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. + + [Illustration: DRAKE'S ARRIVAL AT TERNATE.] + +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 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 themselves 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."(142) 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, 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 comprehensive 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 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-fight, 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 sailed on June 11th, 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 rifled 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, 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, in +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 +considerable 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,(143) "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 Budæus, 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. + +Meantime, on board the remaining vessels, there was much suffering, 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 perform 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. + + [Illustration: THE DEATH OF SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT.] + +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 outrageous," 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 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 _Eurydice_ and _Grosser Kurfüst_ 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. + + + + CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & CO., BELLE SAUVAGE WORKS, LONDON, E.C. + + + + + + + FOOTNOTES + + + 1 Milton. + + 2 Pindar. + + 3 "La Mer." There is much truth in Michelet's charming work, but + often, as above, presented in an exaggerated form. Animals, in + reality, soon become accustomed to the sea. They show generally, + however, a considerable amount of indisposition to go on board a + vessel. + + 4 W. S. Lindsay, "History of Merchant Shipping," &c. + + 5 Southey, in his "Life of Nelson," says nine. + + 6 "Songs for Sailors." + + 7 Southey's "Life of Nelson." + + 8 "Annals of the Wars of the Nineteenth Century," by the Hon. Sir + Edward Cust, D.C.L., &c. + + 9 Brialmont, "Étude sur la Défense des Etats et sur la Fortification." + + 10 The Turks had at Sinope seven frigates, one sloop, two corvettes, + and two transports. The Russians 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. + + 11 The Hon. S. J. G. Calthorpe, "Letters from Head-quarters." + + 12 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. + + 13 Cust, "Annals of the Wars of the Eighteenth Century." + + 14 Drinkwater, "Siege of Gibraltar." + + 15 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. + + 16 The report of the Chief Engineer and Naval Constructor of the + Confederate Service, in regard to the conversion 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." + + 17 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 Rebellion 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 the _Cumberland_, one of the survivors + of the fight; the Baltimore _American_, and the Norfolk _Day Book_, + both newspapers published near the scene of action. There is great + unanimity in the accounts published on both sides. + + 18 The pilot of the _Cumberland_. + + 19 "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 below the surface of the water, our pennant + was still flying from the top mast above the waves." (The Pilot of + the _Cumberland's_ Narrative.) + + 20 The original _Monitor_, from which that class of vessel took its + name. + + 21 Account of eyewitnesses furnished to the Baltimore _American_. + +_ 22 Vide_ the _Times_, 17th July, 1877. + + 23 Berlin correspondence of the _Times_, 31st July, 1877. + + 24 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, R.N., + one of the engineers of the vessel; and the Nautical and other + scientific and technical magazines. + + 25 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. + + 26 The "sinkers" were usually allowed at the rate of 112 lb. for each + 1,000 fathoms. + + 27 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 line drags after or in any direction + from the vessel, the depth indicated may be greatly in excess of the + true depth; indeed, it may be double or treble in some cases. There + is one recorded example of a depth of 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 has a depth much greater than 4,500 fathoms. But + even this is upwards of five miles! + + 28 In their popular works on the sea, "The Ocean World," and "The World + of the Sea." + + 29 "Log Letters from the _Challenger_." + + 30 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. + + 31 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. + + 32 Alphonse Esquiros, "English Seamen and Divers." + + 33 "Westward Ho!" + + 34 Robert Mindry, "Chips from the Log of an Old Salt." + + 35 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. + + 36 In "Singleton Fontenoy, R.N." + +_ 37 Vide_ "The Queen's Regulations and the Admiralty Instructions for + the Government of Her Majesty's Naval Service;" also Glascock's + "Naval Officer's Manual." + + 38 "A Sailor-Boy's Log-Book from Portsmouth to the Peiho," edited by + Walter White. + + 39 A naval friend kindly informs me that the Malta holystones are + excellent, natural lava being abundant. + +_ 40 Vide_ Dana's "Seaman's Manual." + + 41 A form of heavy pile silk. + + 42 "Medical Life in the Navy," by W. Stables, M.D., &c. + + 43 Portsmouth, Devonport, Plymouth, and some Cornish seaport towns and + villages were the chief sufferers. Plymouth had furnished more than + one-third of the crew. + + 44 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. + + 45 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. + + 46 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." + + 47 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. + + 48 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 Warden's_ (the flag-ship's) + lee quarter, about six points abaft the beam. From that time until + about 1.30 a.m. I constantly watched the ship.... She was heeling + over a good deal to starboard," &c. We have seen that she went down + shortly after the midnight watch had been called. + + 49 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. + + 50 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. + + 51 Mr. Ingram, whose narrative, printed in the little work before + quoted, bears all the impress of truth. + + 52 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 concerned, + 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 extenuation of much that would otherwise appear culpable + neglect. + + 53 Nineteen fathoms, or 114 feet. Her main-topmast-head was afterwards + twenty-four feet out of water. + + 54 The total estimated loss was £550,000. + + 55 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_." + + 56 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 compartment only should not suffice to + sink the ship." + + 57 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. + + 58 "The loss of the _Kent_, East Indiaman," by Lieut.-General Sir + Duncan MacGregor, K.C.B. + + 59 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. + + 60 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. + + 61 The writer, during a long voyage (England to Vancouver Island, _viâ_ + 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. + + 62 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 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. + + 63 "The Fleet of the Future: Iron or Wood," by J. Scott Russell, + F.R.S., &c. + + 64 Letter to the _Times_, Sept. 6th, 1875 (after the loss of the + _Vanguard_). + + 65 Parliamentary Paper, 1872. Reports of the Committee on Designs for + Ships of War &c. + +_ 66 Ibid._ + + 67 "Our Ironclad Ships." + +_ 68 Vide_ "The Mediterranean," by Rear-Admiral Smyth. This is a + standard work on all scientific points connected with the + Mediterranean. + + 69 One of the earliest of the Moorish conquerors of Spain, who first + fortified the Rock. + +_ 70 Vide_ page 16. + + 71 "History of Gibraltar and its Sieges," by F. G. Stephens, with + photographic illustrations by J. H. Mann. The writer is much + indebted to this valuable work for information embodied in these + pages. + + 72 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 11th, 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.") + + 73 The Romans, however, sometimes employed red-hot bolts, which were + ejected from catapults. + + 74 Lopez de Ayala, "Historia de Gibraltar." + + 75 "Memoirs of Sully," bk. xx. + + 76 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. + + 77 "Journal of an Officer during the Siege." + + 78 See _ante_, page 16. + + 79 Sayer's "History of Gibraltar." + + 80 Barrow's "Life of Lord Howe." + +_ 81 Vide_ "Malta Sixty Years Ago," by Admiral Shaw. + + 82 "The Crescent and the Cross." + + 83 "Malta under the Phoenicians, Knights, and English," by W. Tallack. + + 84 In contradistinction to the Red Cross Knights, or Templars, who, + though Crusaders, formed a purely military order. + + 85 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 chevalières_, + with decorations also. He believes, of course, that this would + greatly aid the funds for those benevolent purposes. + + 86 For an elaborate, exhaustive disquisition on this subject, _vide_ + "The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul," by James Smith. + + 87 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. + + 88 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. + + 89 O. Ritt, "Histoire de l'Isthme de Suez." + + 90 Exodus xiv. 21, _et seq._ + + 91 "Life in China," by William C. Milne, M.A. + + 92 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. + + 93 Readers 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. + + 94 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 retainers. The + Prince of Kangâ, for example, has £760,000 a year; the Prince of + Satsuma £487,000; and the Prince of Owari £402,900. + + 95 For further details concerning this most interesting people, _vide_ + Dr. Robert Brown's "Races of Mankind." + +_ 96 Vide_ "Nautical Magazine," October, 1855. + + 97 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 19½ fathoms. + +_ 98 Vide_ Washington Irving's "Astoria;" also, Sir Edward Belcher's + "Voyage of the _Sulphur_." + + 99 "Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India," by John Cameron, Esq. + + 100 J. Thomson, "The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China." + + 101 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 + had 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. + + 102 "The Australian Colonies: their Origin and Present Condition." + + 103 In his work "Westward by Rail," which contains a most reliable + account of California, its history and progress. + + 104 At the Cariboo mines, British Columbia, in 1863, there were 7,000 + men on the various creeks. There were not over a dozen women there! + + 105 Excepting at San Francisco, the only docks worthy of the name on the + _whole_ Pacific coasts of America are those of England's naval + station at Esquimalt. + + 106 Douglas pines have been measured in British Columbia which were + _forty-eight_ feet in circumference at their base, and therefore + about sixteen feet through. These magnificent trees are only second + in size to the "Big Trees" of California. + + 107 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." + +_ 108 Harper's Magazine_ (New York), April, 1869. + + 109 "Extracts from a Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and + Mexico, &c." + + 110 "The West Indies and the Spanish Main." + + 111 "At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies." + + 112 "Naval Chronicles," vol. xii. + + 113 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. + + 114 "Lands of the Slave and the Free," by the Hon. Henry A. Murray. + + 115 "Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia," by Judge + Haliburton. + + 116 "To the Cape for Diamonds." By Frederick Boyle. + + 117 "The Cruise of H.M. Ship _Galatea_." By the Rev. John Milner, B.A., + Chaplain, and Oswald W. Brierly. + + 118 Alluding to the previous visit of Prince Alfred when a midshipman. + + 119 "The Settler's Guide to the Cape of Good Hope," &c., by Mr. Irons. + + 120 "The Autobiography of a Seaman." By Thomas, tenth Earl of Dundonald, + G.C.B., Admiral of the Red, &c. &c. + + 121 "Medical Life in the Navy." + +_ 122 The Naval Chronicle_, vol. xiii. (1806). + + 123 Her tonnage being no doubt calculated by what is known as O. M. (old + measurement), and which was used up to a late date in England, her + actual capacity must have been considerably greater. + + 124 "The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. + _Bounty_: Its Causes and Consequences." + + 125 "Voyage Round the World," by G. Hamilton. + + 126 "A Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific" + +_ 127 The Annual Register_, 1789. The account above presented is derived + from that source, and from the standard works of Yonge and James. + + 128 The curious in such matters will find this poem translated by Heeren + in his work entitled "Asiatic Nations." + + 129 (The late) W. S. Lindsay, M.P., &c., "The History of Merchant + Shipping." + + 130 "The British Admirals: with an Introductory View of the Naval + History of England." + + 131 Charnock: "History of Marine Architecture." + + 132 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 unfit for service. + + 133 Sir William Monson: Churchill's "Collection of Voyages." + + 134 Hakluyt. + + 135 "Historia General." + + 136 Camden. Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific, had expressed the + same feelings in almost the same locality. + + 137 Whenever the South Seas are mentioned in these early records, they + must he understood to mean the South Pacific, and, indeed, sometimes + portions of the North Pacific. The title still clings to the + Polynesian Islands. + + 138 Burney's "Voyages." + + 139 Narrative of Chaplain Fletcher, quoted by Burney. + + 140 Various authorities cited by Southey. + + 141 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. + + 142 Fuller's "Holy State." + + 143 Narrative of Captain Hayes (owner of the _Golden Hinde_) printed in + Hakluyt's "Collection." + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + +The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs +and are near the text they illustrate. + +Several illustrations which were missing from the List of Illustrations +have been added to it. They can be identified by the missing page numbers +in the list. + +The following changes have been made to the text: + + page 10, period and quote mark added after "came" + page 13, "be" added before "interesting" + page 42, "Shakspeare" changed to "Shakespeare" + page 44, quote mark added before "manned" + page 50, quote mark added after "immediately." + page 59, quote mark removed after "steam." + page 60, period changed to comma after "survivors" + page 63, quote mark added after "water;" + page 101, "It" changed to "Its" + page 117, comma changed to colon after "Drawbacks" + page 119, period added after "O" + page 123, "It" changed to "Its" + page 129, "Portugese" changed to "Portuguese" + page 136, "via" changed to "viâ" + page 146, quote mark removed after "elsewhere." + page 147, "interspered" changed to "interspersed" + page 155, comma changed to closing parenthesis after "Australia" + page 159, comma changed to period after "creeks" + page 175, colon added after "Bermuda" + page 181, "sweatmeats" changed to "sweetmeats" + page 189, comma added after "too" + page 219, period added after "tons" + page 236, "broad" changed to "board" + page 277, quote mark added after "benevolence," + page 282, quote mark added after "England," + page 293, period added after "up" + page 302, quote mark added after "complement," + page 313, quote mark added after "blood." + page 317, quote mark removed before "Two" + +Differences between the table of contents and the chapter summaries have +not been corrected. Neither have variations in hyphenation been +normalized. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA: ITS STIRRING STORY OF ADVENTURE, PERIL, & HEROISM. 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