Part 21
“On the blowing up of L’Orient a part of the wreck fell on board of, and set fire to the jib and fore-top-mast-stay-sail of, the Alexander, but the great exertion of her officers and people soon got it under, with the loss of some men. Captain Westcott was killed by a musket-ball early in the action, but his loss was not felt, as the first lieutenant, Cuthbert, fought the Majestic most gallantly during the remainder of the action. The Bellerophon and that ship have suffered much. In the morning, the Theseus, Goliath, Audacious and Zealous were ordered into the rear, having sustained but little damage; but as I was going down, the Admiral made my signal to chase the Diane frigate, which was under sail and attempting to escape. She, however, returned and closed with the ships of the enemy that had not submitted, and I was called in and ordered to go to the assistance of the Bellerophon, who lay at anchor on the other side of the bay; but in going to her, I perceived the Guillaume Tell, of 80 guns, and the Généreux, of 74, the Diane and Justice, of 40, pressing to make their escape, being the only ships not disabled, and immediately directed the Zealous to be kept close upon the wind, in the hope I should be able to bring them to action and disable them, so as to allow assistance to come to me, or so far cripple them as to prevent their working out of the bay. I weathered them within musket-shot and obliged them to keep away to avoid being raked; and although I did them a great deal of damage, they were so well prepared as to cut away every brace and bowline, with topmast and standing rigging. I meant to have boarded the rear frigate, but could not get the ship round for a short space of time, and whilst I was trying to do it, I was called in by signal, seeing I should get disabled, without having it in my power to stop so superior a force. The Admiral was very handsome in his acknowledgments for my zealous attempt” (we suppose the gallant Sir Samuel intended no pun here, but he made a very good one), “as well as for my gallant conduct. I told him I only did my duty, and although the ship was very much cut in her sails and rigging, having forty cannon-shot through her main-sail, I had lost but one man killed and none materially wounded.
“The Audacious was sent to the Bellerophon in my room, and I am now quite to rights. Ben Hallowell has written to your Lordship, so has our brave Admiral, who, I am sorry to say, is again wounded, but is doing well; the wound is in his head, not dangerous, but very troublesome. Some of our ships have suffered much. Your Lordship, as well as the whole world, will believe and think this the most glorious victory that ever was gained, and it will certainly prove the ruin of the French army.
“A courier has been taken, charged with despatches from Bonaparte and the other Generals, for France. * *
“Amongst the French letters * * is one from young Beauharnais, B’s step-son, who is with him, to his mother; in which he says Bonaparte is very much distressed, owing to some disputes with Tallien and others, and particularly with Berthier, which he did not expect. These are favorable events, and will make our victory the more important.”
To give an idea of the important events we have been speaking of from the point of view of the losing side, we give an account of the action written by the Adjutant of the French fleet, while a prisoner on board the Alexander.
Beginning with the advance of the English fleet, he says, “The Alert then began to put the Admiral’s orders into execution, namely, to stand towards the enemy until nearly within gunshot, and then to manœuvre and endeavor to draw them towards the outer shoal, lying off the island; but the English Admiral no doubt had experienced pilots on board, as he did not pay any attention to the brig’s track, but allowed her to go away, hauling well round all danger.
“At five o’clock the enemy came to the wind in succession; the manœuvre convinced us that they intended attacking us that evening. The Admiral got the top-gallant yards across, but soon after made the signal that he intended engaging the enemy at anchor; convinced, no doubt, that he had not seamen enough to engage under sail. * * * *
“After this signal each ship ought to have sent a stream cable to the ship astern of her, and to have made a hawser fast to the cable, about twenty fathoms in the water, and passed to the bow on the opposite side to that expected to be engaged, as a spring. This was not generally executed. Orders were then given to let go another bower anchor, and the broadsides of the ships were brought to bear upon the enemy, having the ships’ heads S. east from the Island Bequir, forming a line about 1300 fathoms, northwest and southeast, each with an anchor out S. S. east. * * * *
“All the (French) van were attacked on both sides by the enemy, who ranged close along our line; they had each an anchor out astern, which facilitated their motions and enabled them to place themselves in a most advantageous position. * * * *
“At nine o’clock the ships in the van slackened their fire, and soon after it totally ceased, and with infinite sorrow we supposed they had surrendered. They were dismasted soon after the action began, and so damaged, it is to be presumed, they could not hold out against an enemy so superior by an advantageous position, in placing several ships against one. * * * *
“At ten o’clock the main and mizzen masts of the ship (on board of which the officer who writes the account was--the flag-ship of Admiral Blanquet) were lost, and all the guns on the main deck were dismounted. At half-past ten this ship had to cut her cables to avoid the fire of her consort, L’Orient. The English ship that was on L’Orient’s port quarter, as soon as she had done firing upon her, brought her broadside to bear upon the Tonnant’s bow, and kept up a very heavy raking fire.
“The Mercure and Heureux conceived that they ought likewise to cut their cables; and this manœuvre created so much confusion amongst the rear ships that they fired into each other, and did considerable damage; the Tonnant anchored ahead of the Guillaume Tell; the Généreux and Timoléon got ashore, etc. * * * *
“The Adjutant General, Montard, although badly wounded, swam to the ship nearest L’Orient, which proved to be English. Commodore Casa Bianca and his son, only ten years of age, who during the action gave proofs of bravery and intelligence far beyond his age, were not so fortunate. They were in the water, upon the wreck of the Orient’s masts, neither being able to swim, and seeking each other, until the ship blew up and put an end to their hopes and fears.
“The explosion was dreadful, and spread fire to a considerable distance. The decks of the Franklin were covered with red-hot pitch, oakum, rope, and pieces of timber, and she was on fire for the fourth time, but luckily got it under.
“Immediately after the tremendous explosion the action everywhere ceased, and was succeeded by a most profound silence. * * * * It was a quarter of an hour before the ships’ crews recovered from the stupor they were thrown into.
“Towards eleven o’clock the Franklin, anxious to preserve the trust confided to her, re-commenced the action with a few of the lower-deck guns; all the rest were dismounted. Two-thirds of the ship’s company were killed, and those who remained most fatigued. She was surrounded by the enemy’s ships, who mowed down the men at every broadside. At half-past eleven, having only three lower-deck guns which could defend the honor of the flag, it became necessary to put an end to so disproportionate a struggle, and Citizen Martinel, _Capitaine de Frégate_, ordered the colors to be struck.”
* * * * *
Of the French officers in command at the Nile, one Admiral and two Captains were killed, and Rear-Admiral Blanquet and seven Captains were wounded. They were all taken on board the Vanguard, and hospitably entertained by Nelson.
The following anecdote of them is said to be true. While on the passage to Naples, in the Vanguard, they were, as usual, dining with Nelson. One of the French captains had lost his nose, another an eye, and another most of his teeth, by a musket ball. During the dinner, Nelson, half blind from his wound, and not thinking what he was about, offered the latter a case of toothpicks, and, on discovering his error, became excessively confused, and in his confusion handed his snuff-box to the captain on his right, _who had lost his nose_.
LEANDER AND GÉNÉREUX. 16TH AUGUST, A.D. 1798.
In connection with the Battle of the Nile, it may be interesting to give some account of an action between single ships which closely followed it, in which Admiral Nelson’s dispatches describing his victory were captured by one of the two French line-of-battle ships which escaped from Aboukir Bay.
It will be remembered that the Généreux and Guillaume Tell, with two frigates, made sail and escaped, on August 2d.
On the 5th the Leander, 50, Captain Thompson, was despatched, with Captain Berry, of Admiral Nelson’s flag-ship, to convey to Earl St. Vincent the report of the great action.
The Leander, making the best of her way to the westward, was, at daybreak on the 18th of August, within a few miles of the Goza di Candia. As the sun rose a large sail was discovered in the south, evidently a ship-of-the-line, and standing directly for the Leander, which latter ship was becalmed, while the stranger was bringing up a fine breeze from the southward. The Leander being some eighty men short of her complement, and having on board several who were wounded in the late action, Captain Thompson very properly took every means to avoid a contest with a ship so superior in size and force. But the inferiority in sailing of the Leander rendered an action inevitable; and it was only left him to steer such a course as would enable her to receive her powerful antagonist to the best advantage.
The line-of-battle ship soon turned out to be French, and no other than the Généreux. She still had the breeze to herself, and came down within distant shot, when she hoisted Neapolitan colors. These she soon changed for Turkish, but had not at all deceived the English officers as to her nationality. About nine o’clock she ranged up on the Leander’s weather quarter, within half gunshot. The English ship at once hauled up until her broadside would bear, and then opened a vigorous fire, which was returned by the Généreux. The ships contrived to near each other, keeping up a constant and heavy fire, until half-past ten, when it was evident the Généreux intended to lay her opponent on board. The Leander’s sails and rigging were so much cut up, and the wind was so light, that she could not avoid the shock, and the French ship struck her on the port bow, and, dropping alongside, continued there for some time. The French crew were, however, prevented from boarding by the musketry fire of the Leander’s few marines, upon her poop, and the small-arm men on the quarter-deck. They made several attempts, but were each time beaten off, with loss.
Meanwhile the great guns of both ships, that would bear, were firing most actively, and the action was very severe. Presently, an increase of breeze occurring, the Leander took advantage of it to disengage herself, and, being ably handled, was able to pass under her enemy’s stern, at but a few yards distance, while she deliberately raked her with every broadside gun. Soon after this the breeze entirely died away, and the sea became as smooth as glass; but the cannonade between the two ships continued, with unabated fury, until half-past three in the afternoon. A light breeze then sprang up, and the Généreux had passed the Leander’s bows, and stationed herself on the latter’s starboard side. Unfortunately, a great wreck of spars and rigging had fallen on that side of the Leander, and disabled her guns. This checked the English ship’s fire, and the French now hailed to know if she had surrendered. The Leander was now totally unmanageable, having only the shattered remains of her fore and main masts standing, while her hull was cut to pieces, and her decks covered with the killed and wounded. The Généreux, on the other hand, having only lost her mizzen-top-mast, was about to take up a position across her opponent’s stern, where she could finish her work by raking her with deadly effect, without a possibility of reply. In this condition she had no choice but surrender, and the Généreux, took possession of her hard-won prize.
In this six hours’ close and bloody fight the Leander had thirty-five killed, and fifty-seven wounded, a full third of all on board. The loss of the Généreux was severe. She had a crew of seven hundred, and lost about one hundred killed, and one hundred and eighty-eight wounded. This defence of a fifty-gun ship against a seventy-four is almost unparalleled.
Captain Le Joille, the commander of the French ship, was not, if we may believe the English accounts, a very good specimen of a French naval officer, even of those peculiar times, when rudeness was considered the best proof of true republicanism. Captain Thompson and his officers were allowed to be plundered, as soon as they arrived on board the Généreux, of every article they possessed, hardly leaving the clothes which they wore. In vain they expostulated with the French Captain, reminding him of the very different treatment experienced by the French officers taken prisoners at the battle of the Nile. With great _nonchalance_ he answered, “I am sorry, but to tell the truth, our fellows are great hands at pillage.” Captain Berry, the bearer of dispatches, who was a passenger in the Leander, was plundered of a pair of pistols which he valued. The man who had taken them was produced, when the French Captain himself took the pistols, telling Berry that he would give him a pair of French pistols when he was released, which he never did. This incident is related by Sir Edward Berry himself, in a letter. In fact, the French behaved very much like Barbary corsairs, and even took the instruments of the surgeon of the Leander, before he had performed the necessary operations. Captain Thompson’s severe wounds nearly proved fatal, from their preventing the surgeon from attending to them. When the Leander arrived at Corfu, where she was taken, the French there treated the English very badly, and some of them nearly perished of privation. Had Captain Thompson fallen into the hands of Captain Bergeret, or many other French officers who could be named, his obstinate and noble defence would have secured him the respect and esteem of his captors.
Bergeret was of a very different type of French officer. He was, during this war, a prisoner in England, and was given his parole, to go to France, and endeavor to effect an exchange between himself and the celebrated Sir Sidney Smith, then a prisoner in Paris. Failing in his object, he promptly returned to his imprisonment in England. Sir Sidney had, in the meantime, made his escape; and the British government, with a due sense of Bergeret’s conduct, restored his liberty, without any restrictions.
It is a pity that such a man as Le Joille should have been in command of one of the finest 74s in the French navy.
When Captain Thompson’s wounds healed, and he at length reached his native country, he received not only an honorable acquittal from the court held upon the loss of his ship, but also the honor of knighthood, for the defence which he had made against so superior a force.
Another striking incident connected with the battle of the Nile, and we shall have done with that action.
Just a month after the battle, while the squadron under Captain Hood, of the Zealous, which had been left off Alexandria, by Nelson, was cruising close in with that place, a cutter made her appearance, standing towards the land. The Swiftsure and the Emerald frigate fired several shots at her, but the cutter would not bring to, and at length ran aground a little to the westward of the Marabout tower. The English boats were at once despatched to bring her off; but in the meantime the crew of the cutter had made good their landing, and the vessel herself was shortly afterwards beaten to pieces by the high surf. The shore, at this time, presented nothing but barren, uncultivated sands as far as the eye could reach; but soon several Arabs were seen advancing, some on horseback and some on foot. The French, who had quitted the cutter, now perceived their mistake; but, for nearly the whole of them, it was too late. The Arabs were upon them.
The British boats pulled for the shore, in hopes of saving their unfortunate enemies, but the breakers were too heavy to effect a landing in safety. A midshipman of the Emerald, Mr. Francis Fane (who afterwards rose high in the service), with a high sense of humanity, threw himself into the water, and swam through the surf to the shore, pushing before him an empty boat’s breaker, or small cask, to which a line had been made fast. By this means Citizen Gardon, the commanding officer of the French cutter, and four of his men, were saved. The cutter was the Anémone, of four guns and sixty men, six days from Malta, and originally from Toulon, having on board General Carmin and Captain Vallette, aide-de-camp to General Bonaparte; also a courier, with despatches, and a small detachment of soldiers.
The General, perceiving no possibility of escape from the English, had ordered Captain Gardon to run the cutter on shore. The sailor represented to the soldier the danger to his vessel and those on board, from the high surf, and particularly to all who should succeed in landing, from the hordes of wild Arabs who infested that coast.
The General said he would cut his way through them, to Alexandria, which was not much more than ten miles off. No sooner, however, did the French land, than they perceived the Bedouins, who, up to that time, had concealed themselves behind the numerous sand hills in the neighborhood.
Terror and dismay now seized upon the General and the unfortunate victims of his rash resolve; and their enemy, the British, viewed their probable fate with commiseration, for the Arabs never spared any French who fell into their hands. Although the crew of the cutter, by refusing to surrender, and by firing upon the British boats long after all hopes of escape were at an end, had brought the disaster on themselves, still the English could not help mourning their sad fate.
What followed was a melancholy spectacle. The French officers and men were seized and stripped, and many of them murdered at once, in cold blood, as they made no resistance on being pillaged. An Arab, on horseback, unslung a carbine, and presented it at the General, in full sight of the boats. The General and the aide-de-camp appeared to be on their knees, begging for mercy. The Arab drew the trigger but the piece missed fire, and the man renewed the priming, very deliberately, and again fired at the General. He missed him, but shot the aide-de-camp, in his rear, and then he drew a pistol and shot the General, who instantly fell.
The French courier endeavored to escape, but he was pursued and killed, and the Arab who got possession of his despatches at once rode off with them. It was learned, afterwards, that they were restored to the French for a large sum of money.
On the appearance of a troop of French cavalry, from Alexandria, the Arabs retired to the desert, taking with them their surviving prisoners, while the British boats, with their five rescued prisoners, returned to the squadron.
ACTION BETWEEN THE AMBUSCADE AND BAYONNAISE. A.D. 1798.
Single ship actions are often as decisive as those between fleets; and they are, as a rule, even more characteristic and interesting. Of course, we mean by _decisive_ that they have often affected, for good or evil, the _morale_ of nations, thereby encouraging one and depressing the other, and thus in no small degree affecting the progress of a war.
The frigate actions of our last war with Great Britain were very pre-eminently of this nature, and some of them will, in due time, be given.
The action of the Ambuscade and Bayonnaise has always been a fruitful source of discussion, as well as of lively contradiction, between the French and English naval writers, the latter being as much depressed by allusions to it as the French are elated. Where so much discussion and rejoinder have taken place in regard to the collision of a comparatively insignificant force, we may expect to find many contradictory statements.
In what follows we shall give the account of the beaten side, the British, in the main points, premising, of course, that they would make the best of a poor story. The _facts_ of the capture are not disputed, and are given in about the same terms by both sides. It is the manner of telling which differs.
On December 5th, 1798, the British 32-gun frigate Ambuscade, Captain Jenkins, sailed from Portsmouth (to which port she had escorted a prize, and on board the latter had left a few of her men as a prize crew), for a cruise on the French coast. Not long after sailing she made prizes of a brig and a lugger, and received on board from the two vessels some thirty prisoners, while she sent to the prizes her Second Lieutenant and a sufficient number of men to man them. Her Third Lieutenant was at this time ill in his bed, and the Ambuscade was reduced in her complement, by the sending of prize crews, from 212 to 190. Of this one hundred and ninety the English accounts claim that a large number were boys. It is quite likely that she had many landsmen and boys, as most English ships had at that time, but that she had such a proportion of boys as to effect her efficiency is not very likely. She was not a school-ship or a training-ship, but an active 32, engaged in winter cruising on a notoriously rough station, and doing her best to cripple the enemy by taking and sending in prizes.
On the morning of December 14th, while lying to off the mouth of the Garonne, and momentarily expecting to be joined by the 32-gun frigate Stag, a sail was made out, to seaward, standing in. The stranger was directly end-on to the Ambuscade, and all on board the latter ship seem to have taken it for granted it was her consort, the Stag, because the latter was expected at that time. December mornings are not apt to be clear and fine in the Bay of Biscay, and the new comer was some distance off. They could see but little of her hull, from her position, neither could they make out any colors, for the same reason.
This being the state of affairs, on an enemy’s coast, in time of active war, the officers and men of the Ambuscade left her hove to, and went unconcernedly to breakfast, with only a few hands on deck to observe the approach of the strange sail, which came rolling down at her leisure. Before nine o’clock she was within gunshot, and then she suddenly hauled by the wind, and made all sail, apparently to escape. She was now seen to be French, and the Ambuscade’s hands were turned up, and a press of sail at once made in chase of what proved to be the French 24-gun corvette, the Bayonnaise, commanded by Captain Richer, and coming from Cayenne, with some 30 troops and an officer as passengers; these raising the number on board to between 240 and 250 men.