Part 23

In March, 1800, provisions fell short, and much sickness appeared in the French garrison, and Décrès concluded to embark about twelve hundred men on board the Guillaume Tell, and force the blockade. The English frigate Penelope followed him, but was able to offer no resistance. The next day Décrès fell in with more English ships, and the celebrated engagement which we shall relate further on ensued. Although conquered at last, Décrès received a sword of honor from the First Consul, Bonaparte, for his conduct, and the English “Naval Chronicle” says that this was the warmest resistance ever made by a foreign man-of-war against a superior British force.

Upon his return from captivity in England, Décrès was successively appointed Prefêt Maritime, Commandant of the Western Fleet, and Minister of Marine. He continued to act in this capacity as long as the French Empire lasted; and in it he showed great administrative ability.

During his administration the great works at Cherbourg were materially advanced; as well as those at Nieuwe Dieppe and Flushing, while the docks and construction yards of Antwerp were wholly created. He managed to keep up, and even increase, the strength of the French navy, in spite of their great losses; and he collected the great flotilla of Boulogne, which circumstances rendered useless, however.

Napoleon, who made him, in succession, a Count, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, and finally, a Duke, recalled him to his old position during the Hundred Days; and when the Emperor finally fell, he was retired by the Bourbon government.

Duke Décrès survived many bloody battles, to be at last assassinated by his valet. This man, who had been robbing him for a long time, placed a quantity of powder, with a slow match, under Décrès’ mattress. Stealing into the Duke’s bedroom at night, he blew him up. The valet, in his perturbation at what he had done, threw himself out of the window, and was killed. His master died a few days after, aged 58 years.

And now to return to this celebrated action.

At eleven o’clock at night, on the 30th of March, 1800, the Guillaume Tell, taking advantage of a strong southerly gale, and the darkness that had succeeded the setting of the moon, weighed anchor and put to sea.

About midnight the English frigate Penelope, which was on guard off the harbor, discovered the French ship, under a press of sail, with the wind on the starboard quarter. The Penelope at once made the necessary signals to the other blockading ships, and then tacked, and stood after the Tell. In half an hour she was close up with the chase, and luffed up, and gave the Tell her whole broadside; receiving in return, only the Tell’s chase guns.

The French ship, aware that if she brought to, she would soon have upon her the whole of the English blockading ships, whose lights could be already seen on the horizon, wisely kept her course to the northward.

The Penelope was faster than the Tell, and was commanded by an experienced seaman, and she continued to follow her, and to occasionally luff, and pour in a broadside, so that, just before daybreak, the Guillaume Tell’s main and mizzen-top-masts, and her main-yard came down. She was thus reduced, except her mizzen, to her head-sails; and these were greatly damaged by the Penelope’s shot. She had also lost many men from the English frigate’s raking shots.

The Penelope skillfully avoided exposing herself to a broadside from so powerful a ship, and had the good fortune to escape much damage to her sails and rigging. She had lost her master, killed, and a few wounded.

About five in the morning the Lion, 64, after pressing sail, arrived up. Steering between the Penelope and the crippled Guillaume Tell, and so near to the latter that the yard-arms of the two ships barely passed clear, the Lion ranged up on the port side of her opponent, and poured in a destructive double-shotted broadside. The Lion then luffed up across the bow of the Guillaume Tell, the jib-boom of the latter passing between the main and mizzen shrouds of the former. Of course, with an inferior complement of men, the Lion did not wish to be boarded, and, fortunately for her, the Tell’s jib-boom soon carried away, leaving the Lion inaccessible to boarders, but in an excellent position across the Guillaume Tell’s bows. Here the Lion, aided by the Penelope kept up a heavy fire, for about half an hour, when the Tell had so damaged the Lion that she was forced to drop astern; still firing, however, as did the Penelope, whenever an opportunity offered.

At six o’clock the Foudroyant came up. Lord Nelson was not on board, having been left, sick, at Palermo; and Captain Dixon, of the Lion, was the senior officer to Captain Sir Edward Perry, of the Foudroyant. The latter ship, under a crowd of sail, ranged up so close to the Guillaume Tell that her spare anchor just cleared the Tell’s mizzen-chains, and called to her to strike; accompanying the summons by a treble-shotted broadside. The only answer of the French ship was a similar broadside, which cut away a good deal of the Foudroyant’s rigging. The latter, having so much sail set, necessarily shot ahead, and did not again get alongside the Tell for several minutes. Then the two large ships engaged, and the Guillaume Tell’s second broadside brought down many of the English ship’s spars, and cut her sails to pieces. She then dropped alongside the Tell, still firing occasionally; as did the Lion, on the Tell’s port side, and the Penelope, on her port quarter. Under this unremitting and galling fire the gallant French ship’s main and mizzen masts came down; and the Foudroyant, having cleared away the wreck of her fallen spars, and to some extent refitted her rigging, again closed with the Guillaume Tell, and after a few broadsides, was nearly on board her. At eight o’clock the foremast of the Tell fell, and she was totally dismasted. At a few minutes after eight the gallant Frenchman was rolling, an unmanageable hulk, with the wreck of her masts disabling her port guns, and the violent rolling, in her dismasted state, requiring the lower deck ports, on both sides, to be closed.

The Foudroyant was on one quarter, the Lion on the other, and the Penelope close ahead. Under these circumstances the Guillaume Tell struck her colors.

Both the Foudroyant, 80, and the Lion, 64, were in too disabled a state to be able to take possession of the French 80-gun ship. That duty devolved upon the Penelope. The other vessels had enough to do to take care of themselves. Some English brig sloops and a bomb-vessel witnessed this singular engagement, but appear to have taken no part in it.

A more heroic defence than that of the Guillaume Tell is not be found in the record of naval actions; and the defeat in this case was more honorable than half the single ship victories which have been so loudly praised. To the Penelope belongs the special credit, next to the Guillaume Tell herself. Next to the frigate, credit is due to the Lion. It was, of course, the arrival of the Foudroyant which turned the scale. Had that ship, single handed, and so nearly matched, met the Tell, the contest would have been between two of the most powerful ships that had ever so met, and the chances are that the Guillaume Tell, so gallantly manned, and so ably commanded, would have come off the conqueror. This is conceded by all the English accounts.

All of the vessels engaged, except the Penelope, were so damaged that it was with difficulty they reached port; the Penelope towing the prize into Syracuse.

The Guillaume Tell was eventually taken to England, and received into the Royal Navy under the name of Malta, and she long remained one of the finest ships in the English service.

NAVAL OPERATIONS AT ABOUKIR BAY, AND CAPTURE OF ALEXANDRIA. A.D. 1801.

It being determined to effect the expulsion of the French from Egypt, a joint expedition was agreed upon between England and Turkey. On March 2d, 1801, the English part of the expedition anchored in the bay of Aboukir, which had already been the scene of two momentous battles within a very short time. The Turkish part of the expedition did not make its appearance, having been dispersed by bad weather. The English force consisted of seven sail-of-the-line, and several frigates and sloops, under the command of Admiral Lord Keith, in the Foudroyant, 80. These escorted a large number of disarmed men-of-war and transports, which conveyed about 17,000 English troops, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie. The whole day of arrival was taken up in anchoring this numerous fleet, and then a succession of high northerly gales, with a heavy surf, prevented the landing of the troops until the 8th of March. This gave the French time to muster all the force which they could spare to oppose the landing. This is stated in the British account to have been about 3000, while the French put it down at not more than 1200 men. There is every probability, however, that the French left out of their estimate the cavalry and artillery, which were certainly engaged in disputing the English landing. The French troops were under the command of General Friant, who, with great judgment, had stationed a part of his men and several pieces of artillery on an almost inaccessible hill that commanded the whole place of disembarkation, while other parties, with field pieces and mortars, occupied excellent positions afforded by the neighboring ground.

In good season, on the morning of the 8th, the boats of the fleet formed in line abreast, in the same order in which the troops, consisting of the first division of about six thousand men, were to form when landed. They then pulled rapidly towards the beach, which extends between the Castle or Fort of Aboukir and the river Sed. The whole of the landing arrangements were in charge of Captain Cochrane, of the Ajax; and the boats were partially protected, in their landing, by the guns of armed cutters, gun-boats, and launches, as well as by three sloops and two bomb-vessels.

As soon as the boats got near the shore a very sharp and steady fire of grape and musketry was opened upon them from behind the sand hills, while Aboukir fort, on the right, kept up a very galling fire of heavy shot and shell. But the boats pushed on, without check or confusion, the beach was gained, and a footing on dry land obtained. They then formed and advanced, and soon obtained possession of all the points from which the French were annoying them. The boats then returned, without delay, for the second division; and before night the whole army, with sufficient stores for present wants, was safely landed. Few except naval men can appreciate the difficulties to be encountered in such an operation as this, especially when the landing is upon an open coast, and such an undertaking, accomplished quickly and in good order, and without loss, is always considered extremely creditable.

A detachment of 1000 seamen, under Captain Sir Sidney Smith, formed part of the landing force. Their duty was to drag the cannon up the sand hills, a service which they performed in a manner which called forth the applause of the army, and in which they suffered considerably. The French, when driven from the hill, left behind them seven pieces of artillery and a considerable number of horses.

On the 12th the British army moved forward, and came in sight of the French position, which was an advantageous one, along the ridge, their left resting upon the sea and their right upon the canal of Alexandria, better known to us, in late operations there, as the Mahmoudieh canal.

The French had received reinforcements, under General Lanusse, and numbered about 7000. The following day a battle was fought, in which the seamen, under Sir Sidney Smith, and the marines of the fleet, under Colonel Smith, bore a full share. At the termination of the action the English took up a position within three miles of Alexandria. This movement caused the capitulation of Aboukir castle.

On March 21st occurred the decisive battle of the campaign. The French made a desperate attack upon the English lines, about an hour before daylight, but, after a bloody and desperate contest against greatly superior numbers, were forced to retire. The British sustained a very heavy loss, however, and the Commanding General, Sir Ralph Abercrombie, was mortally wounded, living only a few days. In this battle the seamen again participated, and Sir Sidney Smith was among the wounded.

Alexandria was now completely shut in; and no very important event took place until August 16th, when a naval force under Sir Sidney Smith made a demonstration of attack upon the city, and the French set fire to their flotilla, lying in the harbor. A week after this the fortified castle of Marabout, which protects the entrance to the western harbor of Alexandria, surrendered to a combined naval and military attack. This fort is about eight miles west of the city, and is one of those about which we heard so much in the late bombardment by the British iron-clads. On the nearer approach of the combined forces the garrison of Alexandria sank several vessels to block up the channel, and brought their few remaining ships nearer to the town. But these were expiring efforts. On the 27th of August General Menou sent to Lieutenant-General Hutchinson, who had succeeded Abercrombie, to request a three days’ armistice. This was granted, and on September 2d, Alexandria and its garrison capitulated.

Recent events have made these operations once more interesting. General Hutchinson (afterwards Lord Donoughmore) was, like Sir Garnet Wolseley, an Irishman, and their careers are, in many respects, alike.

Hutchinson entered the English army in 1774, as a cornet of dragoons, and in nine years rose to the rank of colonel. A Major-General in 1796, he became second in command in Egypt in 1801, as a Lieutenant-General, and succeeded to the command on Abercrombie’s death. He advanced, like Wolseley, as far as Cairo, when a capitulation took place, and the war ended.

THE CUTTING OUT OF THE CHEVRETTE. JULY, A. D. 1801.

The cutting out of vessels from harbors and from under the protection of shore batteries, belongs exclusively to a past condition of naval warfare. Even under the peculiar conditions of our late civil war and blockade, cutting-out expeditions, when the object was the capture of an armed vessel, were not so numerous as might have been supposed, although most remarkable and gallant actions were performed in this way by both sides.

As an example of a “cutting-out expedition,” we are tempted to give that of the French 20-gun corvette Chevrette. Such actions are decisive, on account of the discouragement and destruction of _morale_ brought upon the defeated side, and by the corresponding confidence and elation of the victors.

In the summer of 1801 the French and Spanish combined fleet was lying in Brest harbor, with Admiral Cornwallis and a British fleet watching them. The more effectually to prevent the Franco-Spanish fleet from getting to sea without his knowledge, the Admiral had detailed a squadron of three frigates, under Captain Brisbane, of the Doris, to lie off Point Mathias, in full view of the combined fleet.

During the month of July these frigates observed the French corvette Chevrette at anchor in Camaret Bay, under some batteries; a position considered by the French almost as secure as Brest harbor, and a capital place for a cruiser to lie and watch the chances of the blockade to get to sea. In spite of her position under the batteries, the British resolved to attempt her capture. Accordingly, on the night of the 20th of July, the boats of the Beaulieu and Doris frigates, manned entirely by volunteers, and all under the orders of a Lieutenant Losack, who had been sent in from the flag-ship, by Admiral Cornwallis, to take the command, proceeded on the enterprise. The boats soon separated, the crews of the faster ones being too zealous and excited to slacken their efforts, so that the heavier boats could not keep up with them. We can readily imagine, too, that a strange officer, sent in by influence, to command such an expedition, would not receive as cheerful support as would one of their own. Some of the boats got lost, and returned to the ships; the rest, after reaching the entrance to the bay, where they expected to be joined by their companions, lay upon their oars until daybreak. They then pulled back to their ships. But the mischief was done; they had been discovered from the corvette and from the shore, and the effect was to put them on their guard, and prevent any good being got from a surprise, in case of a renewed attempt.

On the 21st the Chevrette got under way, and after running about a mile and a half further up the bay, moored again, under some heavy batteries on the shore. Here she took on board a number of soldiers, sufficient to bring up her number on board to about three hundred and forty.

Her guns were loaded with grape, and every preparation made to resist to the last. The shore batteries were also prepared; and temporary redoubts were thrown up at adjacent points, while a gun-boat was moored as a guard-boat at the entrance of the bay. All these precautions taken, the corvette saucily displayed, in defiance, a large French ensign above an English one, which could be plainly seen from the anchorage of the English frigates.

The English now had their pride aroused, and that very night, about ten o’clock, the boats of the three frigates, with the barge and pinnace of the Robust, 74, and numbering fifteen in all, and still commanded by Lieutenant Losack, proceeded to try the French corvette a second time.

Shortly after starting Lieut. Losack, with his own and five other boats, went in pursuit of a lookout boat of the French, which it was important to secure. The rest of the boats were directed to await the return of the commanding officer. After waiting for a considerable time, without his return, the officer next in command, Lieut. Keith Maxwell, of the Beaulieu, considering that the boats had at least six miles to pull, and that the night was already far advanced, resolved to proceed without him.

They did so at once, after he had given orders that, while one party was engaged in disarming the enemy’s crew on deck, the smartest top-men of the Beaulieu should fight their way aloft and cut loose the sails; others were detailed to cut the cables, and others to go to the wheel. Some other arrangements made, the nine boats, under Maxwell, bent to their oars, and steered for the enemy.

At one o’clock in the morning of the 22d, the nine boats came in sight of the Chevrette, and the latter, after hailing, opened a heavy fire of grape and musketry upon her assailants, and this was seconded by a fire of musketry from the shore. But the boats pulled steadily on, and the Beaulieu’s boats, under Maxwell himself, boarded the vessel on the starboard bow and quarter. Those of the Uranie, one of the Robust’s, and one of the Doris’ boarded on the port bow. These latter had been cheered on by the gallant Lieut. Martin Neville, who was conspicuous throughout, and who was wounded. The attempt to board was most obstinately resisted by the French, with fire-arms, sabres, tomahawks and pikes; and they, in their turn, boarded the boats. During this formidable opposition over the side of the vessel the English lost most of their fire-arms; but, by obstinate fighting, at last forced their way on board, mostly armed with their cutlasses alone. Those who had been ordered to go aloft fought their way to the rigging; and, although some were killed, and others wounded, the remainder gained the corvette’s yards. Here they found the foot-ropes strapped up, but they soon managed to loose the sails, and, in the midst of the fight still going on for the possession of the deck, down came the Chevrette’s three top-sails and courses. The cable having, in the meantime, been cut outside the ship, she began, under a light breeze from the land, to drift out of the bay.

No sooner did the Frenchmen (who had up to that time, been fighting most gallantly), see the sails fall, and their ship under way, than they lost heart. Some of them jumped overboard, and made for the shore; while others dropped their arms, and ran below, so that the English got possession of the quarter-deck and forecastle; but the corvette’s crew that had fled below still maintained a hot fire from the main deck, and from up the hatchways, and it took a considerable time before these were overpowered, and compelled to submit.

It is related in the Naval Chronicle that Mr. Brown, Boatswain of the Beaulieu, in boarding, forced his way into the Chevrette’s quarter gallery, but found the door so securely barricaded that he could not force it. Through the crevices in the planks he could see men, armed with pikes and pistols, who frequently shot at him through the panels, as he attempted to burst in. Failing in the quarter gallery, he tried the quarter, and after a great deal of resistance, gained the vessel’s taffrail. The officer in command of the party was at this time fighting his way up on the quarter, but not yet on board. The boatswain stood up for a moment, a mark for the enemy’s fire, seeing in which direction he should attack. Second nature then directed him to make for the forecastle, where he felt most at home; and gathering a few men, and waving his cutlass, with “Make a lane there!” dashed in, and fought his way the whole length of the ship. Then, with the men animated by his example he soon cleared the forecastle, which he held for the rest of the contest, although frequently assailed. Here, after the vessel was carried, he was seen attending to orders from the quarter-deck, and assisting in casting the ship and making sail, with as much coolness as if he had been on board the Beaulieu.

On her way out of the bay, during a short interval of calm, the Chevrette became exposed to a heavy fire from the batteries on shore; but the fair, light breeze soon arose again, and carried her clear of them. Just at this time the six boats under Lieut. Losack joined her, and Lieut. Maxwell, was, of course, superseded in his command, but not until he had accomplished all that there was to be done.

Three two-deckers got under way and came out from Brest Roads with the view of recapturing the Chevrette; but the near approach of the British in-shore squadron compelled them to return to their anchorage, and the captors carried off their prize safely. In this spirited engagement the English had eleven killed, fifty-seven wounded, and one drowned. The latter was in one of the English boats sunk by the French shot.

The Chevrette lost her captain, two lieutenants, three midshipmen, one lieutenant of soldiers, and eighty-five seamen and troops killed; and one lieutenant, four midshipmen, and fifty-seven seamen and troops wounded; total, 92 killed and 62 wounded.

BOAT ATTACK UPON THE FRENCH FLOTILLA, AT BOULOGNE. A. D. 1801.

Another boat attack of the English upon the French, in the same year as the cutting-out of the Chevrette, did not result so favorably for the attacking party, even if their exertions were directed by no less a person than Lord Nelson himself.