CHAPTER VIII.
"Thou art the same, eternal sea! The earth hath many shapes and forms Of hill and valley, flower and tree; Fields that the fervid noontide warms, Or Winter's rugged grasp deforms, Or bright with Autumn's golden store; Thou coverest up thy face with storms, Or smilest serene--but still thy roar And dashing foam go up to vex the sea-beat shore." LUNT.
I had a free conversation with my guardian, shortly after we reachedtown, on the subject of my going to sea again. The whole country wasalive with the armament of the new marine; and cocked-hats, blue coatsand white lapels, began to appear in the streets, with a parade thatalways marks the new officer and the new service. Now, one meetsdistinguished naval men at every turn, and sees nothing about theirpersons to denote the profession, unless in actual employment afloat,even the cockade being laid aside; whereas in 1799 the harness was puton as soon as the parchment was received, and only laid aside to turnin. Ships were building or equipping in all parts of the country; and itis matter of surprise to me that I escaped the fever, and did not applyto be made a midshipman. Had I seen another captain who interested meas much as Captain Dale, I make no doubt my career would have beenquite different: but, as things were, I had imbibed the prejudice thatSouthey, in his very interesting, but, in a professional sense, veryworthless, life of Nelson, has attributed to that hero--"aft, the morehonour; forward, the better man." Thus far, I had not got into thecabin-windows, and, like all youngsters who fairly begin on theforecastle, felt proud of my own manhood and disdain of hazards andtoil. I determined, therefore, to pursue the course I had originallypointed out to myself, and follow in the footsteps of my father.
Privateers were out of the question in a war with a country that hadno commerce. Nor do I think I would have gone in a privateer under anycircumstances. The business of carrying on a warfare merely for gain,has ever struck me as discreditable; though it must be admittedthe American system of private-armed cruisers has always been morerespectable and better conducted than that of most other nations. Thishas been owing to the circumstance that men of a higher class thanis usual in Europe, have embarked in the enterprises. To aletter-of-marque, however, there could be no objection; her regularbusiness is commerce; she arms only in self-defence, or, if she captureanything, it is merely such enemies as cross her path, and who wouldcapture her if they could. I announced to Mr. Hardinge, therefore, mydetermination not to return to Clawbonny, but to look for a berth insome letter-of-marque, while then in town.
Neb had received private instructions, and my sea dunnage, as well ashis own, was on board the Wallingford--low enough the wreck had reducedboth to be--and money obtained from Mr. Hardinge was used to purchasemore. I now began to look about me for a ship, determined to please myeye as to the vessel, and my judgment as to the voyage. Neb had ordersto follow the wharves on the same errand. I would sooner trust Nebthan Rupert on such a duty. The latter had no taste for ships; felt nointerest in them; and I have often wondered why he took a fancy to goto sea at all. With Neb it was very different. He was already an expertseaman; could hand, reef and steer, knot and splice, and was as usefulas nine men in ten on board a vessel. It is true, he did not know whenit became necessary to take in the last reef--had no notion of stowinga cargo so as to favour the vessel, or help her sailing; but he wouldbreak out a cask sooner than most men I ever met with. There was toomuch "nigger" in him for head-work of that sort, though he was ingeniousand ready enough in his way. A sterling fellow was Neb, and I got intime to love him very much as I can conceive one would love a brother.
One day, after I had seen all the sights, and had begun to thinkseriously of finding a ship, I was strolling along the wharves on thelatter errand, when I heard a voice I knew cry put, "There, CaptainWilliams, there's just your chap; he'll make as good a third-mate as canbe found in all America." I had a sort of presentiment this appliedto me, though I could not, on the instant, recall the speaker'sname. Turning to look in the direction of the sounds, I saw thehard countenance of Marble, alongside the weather-beaten face of amiddle-aged shipmaster, both of whom were examining me over the nettingsof a very promising-looking armed merchantman. I bowed to Mr. Marble,who beckoned me to come on board, where I was regularly introduced tothe master.
This vessel was called the Crisis, a very capital name for a craft in acountry where crisises of one sort or another occur regularly as oftenas once in six months. She was a tight little ship of about four hundredtons, had hoop-pole bulwarks, as I afterwards learned, with nettingsfor hammocks and old junk, principally the latter; and showed tennine-pounders, carriage-guns, in her batteries. I saw she was loaded,and was soon given to understand that her shipping-articles were thenopen, and the serious question was of procuring a third-mate. Officerswere scarce, so many young men were pressing into the navy; and Mr.Marble ventured to recommend me, from near a twelvemonth's knowledge ofmy character. I had not anticipated a berth aft quite so soon, and yet Ihad a humble confidence in my own ability to discharge the duty. CaptainWilliams questioned me for fifteen or twenty minutes, had a shortconversation with Mr. Marble alone, and then frankly offered me theberth. The voyage was to be round the world, and it took my fancy at thevery sound. The ship was to take a cargo of flour to England; there, shewas to receive a small assorted cargo for the North-West Coast, and someof the sandal-wood islands; after disposing of her toys and manufacturesin barter, she was to sail for Canton, exchange her furs, wood and otherarticles for teas, &c., and return home. To engage in this voyage, Iwas offered the berth I have mentioned, and thirty dollars a-month. Thewages were of little moment to me, but the promotion and the voyagewere of great account. The ship, too, carried out letters-of-marque andreprisal with her, and there were the chances of meeting some Frenchmanin the European waters, at least.
I examined the vessel, the berth I was to occupy, made a great manyshy glances at the captain, to ascertain his character by that profoundexpedient, analyzing his looks, and finally determined to ship, oncondition Neb should be taken as an ordinary seaman. As soon as Marbleheard this last proposal, he explained the relation in which the blackstood to me, and earnestly advised his being received as a seaman. Thearrangement was made accordingly, and I went at once to the notary andsigned the articles. Neb was also found, and he was shipped too; thistime regularly, Mr. Hardinge attending and giving his sanction to whatwas done. The worthy divine was in excellent spirits, for that very dayhe had made an arrangement with a friend at the bar to place Rupert inhis office, Mrs. Bradfort insisting on keeping her young kinsman in herhouse, as a regular inmate. This left on the father no more charge thanto furnish Rupert with clothes, and a few dollars of pocket-money. But Iknew Rupert too well to suppose he would, or could, be content with thelittle he might expect from the savings of Mr. Hardinge. I was not inwant of money. My guardian had supplied me so amply, that not only hadI paid my debt to the owners of the John, and fully equipped myself forthe voyage, but I actually possessed dollars enough to supply all myprobable wants during the expected absence. Many of the officers and menof the Crisis left behind them orders with their wives and families toreceive their wages, in part, during their absence, as letters fromtime to time apprised the owners that these people were on board, andin discharge of their several duties. I determined on giving Rupert thebenefit of such an arrangement. First presenting him with twenty dollarsfrom my own little store, I took him with me to the counting-house,and succeeded, though not without some difficulty, in obtaining for myfriend a credit of twenty dollars a-month, promising faithfully to repayany balance that might arise against me in consequence of the loss ofthe ship, or of any accident to myself. This I was enabled to do on thestrength of my credit as the owner of Clawbonny; for, as is usual inthese cases, I passed for being much richer than I really was, thoughfar from being poor.
I will acknowledge that, while I felt no reluctance at making thisarrangement in favour of Rupert, I felt mortified he should accept it.There are certain acts we may all wish to perform, and, yet, whichbrin
g regrets when successfully performed. I was sorry that _my_ friend,Lucy's brother, Grace's admirer--for I was quick enough in perceivingthat Rupert began to entertain fancies of that sort--had not prideenough to cause him to decline receiving money which must be earned bythe sweat of my brow, and this, moreover, in a mode of life he hadnot himself sufficient resolution to encounter a second time. But heaccepted the offer, and there was an end of it.
As everything was alive in 1798, the Crisis was ready to sail in threedays after I joined her. We hauled into the North river, as becamethe dignity of our voyage, and got our crew on board. On the whole, wemustered a pretty good body of men, ten of them being green; fellows whohad never seen the ocean, but who were young, healthy and athletic, andwho promised to be useful before a great while. Including those aft, wecounted thirty-eight souls on board. The ship was got ready in hopes ofbeing able to sail of a Thursday, for Captain Williams was a thoughtfulman, and was anxious to get the ship fairly at sea, with the first workdone, previously to the next Sabbath. Some small matters, however, couldnot be got through with in time; and, as for sailing of a Friday, thatwas out of the question. No one did that in 1798, who could help it.This gave us a holiday, and I got leave to pass the afternoon andevening ashore.
Rupert, Grace, Lucy and I took a long walk into the country thatevening; that is, we went into the fields, and along the lanes, forsome distance above the present site of Canal street. Lucy and I walkedtogether, most of the time, and we both felt sad at the idea of so longa separation as was now before us. The voyage might last three years;and I should be legally a man, my own master, and Lucy a young woman ofnear nineteen, by that time. Terrible ages in perspective were these,and which seemed to us pregnant with as many changes as the life of aman.
"Rupert will be admitted to the bar, when I get back," I casuallyremarked, as we talked the matter over.
"He will, indeed," the dear girl answered. "Now you _are_ to go, Miles,I almost regret my brother is not to be in the ship; you have known eachother so long, love each other so much, and have already gone throughsuch frightful trials in company."
"Oh! I shall do well enough--there'll be Neb; and as for Rupert, I thinkhe will be better satisfied ashore than at sea. Rupert is a sort of anatural lawyer."
By this I merely meant he was good at a subterfuge, and could tell hisown story.
"Yes, but Neb is not Rupert, Miles," Lucy answered, quick as thought,and, I fancied, a little reproachfully.
"Very true--no doubt I shall miss your brother, and that, too, verymuch, at times; but all I meant in speaking of Neb was, as you know,that he and I like each other, too, and have been through just the sametrials together, you understand, and have known each other as long as Ican remember."
Lucy was silent, and I felt embarrassed, and a little at a loss what tosay next. But a girl approaching sixteen, and who is with a youth whopossesses her entire confidence, is not apt to be long silent. Somethingshe will say; and how often is that something warm with natural feeling,instinct with truth, and touching from its confiding simplicity!
"You will sometimes think of us, Miles?" was Lucy's next remark, and itwas said in a tone that induced me to look her full in the face, when Idiscovered that her eyes were suffused with tears.
"Of that you may be _very_ certain, and I hope to be rewarded in kind.But, now I think of it, Lucy, I have a debt to pay you, and, at the sametime, a little interest. Here are the half-joes you forced me to takelast year, when we parted at Clawbonny. See, they are exactly the samepieces; for I would as soon have parted with a finger, as with one ofthem."
"I had hoped they might have been of use to you, and had quite forgottenthem. You have destroyed an agreeable illusion."
"Is it not quite as agreeable to know we had no occasion for them? No,here they are; and, now I go with Mr. Hardinge's full approbation, youvery well know I can be in no want of money. So, there is your gold; andhere, Lucy, is some interest for the use of it."
I made an effort to put something into the dear girl's hand as Ispoke, but all the strength I could properly apply was not equal to thepurpose. So tightly did she keep her little fingers compressed, that Icould not succeed without a downright effort at force.
"No--no--Miles," she said hurriedly--almost huskily; "that will neverdo! I am not Rupert--you may prevail with him; never with _me_!"
"Rupert! What can Rupert have to do with such a thing as this locket?Youngsters don't wear lockets."
Lucy's fingers separated as easily as an infant's, and I put my littleoffering into her hand without any more resistance. I was sorry,however, to discover that, by some means unknown to me, she had becomeacquainted with the arrangement I had made as respected the twentydollars a month. I afterwards ascertained that this secret had leakedout through Neb, who had it from one of the clerks of the counting-housewho had visited the ship, and repeated it to Mrs. Bradfort's black maid,in one of his frequent visits to the house. This is a common channel ofinformation, though it seldom proves as true as it did in this instance.
I could see that Lucy was delighted with her locket. It was a verypretty ornament, in the first place, and it had her own hair, that ofGrace, Rupert, and my own, very prettily braided together, so as to forma wreath, made like a rope, or a grummet, encircling a combination ofletters that included all our initials. In this there was nothing thatwas particular, while there was much that was affectionate. Had I notconsulted Grace on the subject, it is possible I should have been lesscautious, though I declare I had no thought of making love. All thistime I fancied I felt for, and trusted Lucy as another sister. I wasshrewd enough to detect Rupert's manner and feeling towards my ownsister, and I felt afraid it was, or soon would be, fully reciprocated;but as to imagining myself in love with Lucy Hardinge, or any one else,the thought never crossed my mind, though the dear girl herself so oftendid!
I saw Lucy's smile, and I could not avoid noticing the manner inwhich, once or twice, unconsciously to herself, I do believe, thissimple-minded, sincere creature, pressed the hand which retained thelocket to her heart; and yet it made no very lively impression on myimagination at the time. The conversation soon changed, and we began toconverse of other things. I have since fancied that Grace had left usalone in order that I might return the half-joes to Lucy, and offerthe locket; for, looking round and seeing the latter in its new owner'shand, while Lucy was bestowing on it one of the hundred glances ofgrateful pleasure it received that afternoon, she waited until we cameup, when she took my arm, remarking, as this was to be our last eveningtogether, she must come in for her share of the conversation. Now, Isolemnly affirm that this was the nearest approach to anything like alove-scene that had ever passed between Lucy Hardinge and myself.
I would gladly pass over the leave-taking, and shall say but littleabout it. Mr. Hardinge called me into his room, when we got back to thehouse. He spoke earnestly and solemnly to me, recalling to my mind manyof his early and most useful precepts. He then kissed me, gave me hisblessing, and promised to remember me in his prayers. As I left him, andI believe he went on his knees as soon as my back was turned, Lucy waswaiting for me in the passage. She was in tears, and paler than common,but her mind seemed made up to sustain a great sacrifice like a woman.She put a small, but exceedingly neat copy of the Bible into my hand,and uttered, as well as emotion would permit--"There, Miles; _that_is _my_ keepsake. I do not ask you to think of _me_ when you read; butthink of _God_." She then snatched a kiss, and flew into her room andlocked the door. Grace was below, and she wept on my neck like a child,kissing me again and again, and calling me "her brother--her dear, her_only_ brother." I was obliged actually to tear myself away from Grace.Rupert went with me to the ship, and passed an hour or two on board.As we crossed the threshold, I heard a window open above my head, and,looking up, I saw Lucy, with streaming eyes, leaning forward to say,"Write, Miles--write as often as you possibly can."
Man must be a stern being by nature, to be able to tear himself fromsuch friends, in order to encounter e
nemies, hardships, dangers andtoil, and all without any visible motive. Such was my case, however,for I wanted not for a competency, or for most of those advantageswhich might tempt one to abandon the voyage. Of such a measure, thepossibility never crossed my mind. I believed that it was just asnecessary for me to remain third-mate of the Crisis, and to stick by theship while she would float, as Mr. Adams thinks it necessary for him topresent abolition petitions to a congress, which will not receive them.We both of us, doubtless, believed ourselves the victims of fate.
We sailed at sun-rise, wind and tide favouring. We had anchored offCourtlandt street, and as the ship swept past the Battery I saw Rupert,who had only gone ashore in the pilot's boat at day-light, with twofemales, watching our movements. The girls did not dare to wave theirhandkerchiefs; but what cared I for that--I knew that their good wishes,kind wishes, tender wishes, went with me; and this little touch ofaffection, which woman knows so well how to manifest, made me both happyand sad for the remainder of the day.
The Crisis was an unusually fast ship, faster even than the Tigris;coppered to the bends, copper-fastened, and with a live-oak frame. Nobetter craft sailed out of the republic. Uncle Sam had tried to purchaseher for one of his new navy; but the owners, having this voyage in view,refused his tempting offers. She was no sooner under her canvass, thanall hands of us perceived we were in a traveller; and glad enough werewe to be certain of the fact, for we had a long road before us. This,too, was with the wind free, and in smooth water; whereas those who knewthe vessel asserted her _forte_ was on a bowline and in a sea-that is tosay, she would sail relatively faster than most other craft, under thelatter circumstances.
There was a strange pleasure to me, notwithstanding all I had sufferedpreviously, all the risks I had run, and all I had left behind me, infinding myself once more on the broad ocean. As for Neb, the fellow wasfairly enraptured. So quickly and intelligently did he obey his orders,that he won a reputation before we crossed the bar. The smell of theocean seemed to imbue him with a species of nautical inspiration, andeven I was astonished with his readiness and activity. As for myself, Iwas every way at home. Very different was this exit from the port, fromthat of the previous year. Then everything was novel, and not a littledisgusting. Now I had little, almost nothing, to learn--literallynothing, I might have said, were it not that every ship-master hascertain _ways_ of his own, that it behooves all his subordinates tolearn as quickly as possible. Then I lived aft, where we not onlyhad plates, and table-cloths, and tumblers, and knives and forks; butcomparatively _clean_ articles of the sort. I say comparatively, the twoother degrees being usually wanting in north-west traders.
The Crisis went to sea with a lively breeze at south-west, the windshifting after she had got into the lower bay. There were a dozen sailof us altogether, and in our little fleet were two of Uncle Sam's men,who felt disposed to try their hands with us. We crossed the bar, allthree of us, within a cable's length of each other, and made sailin company, with the wind a trifle abaft the beam. Just as Navesinkdisappeared, our two men-of-war, merchantmen altered, hauled up onbowlines, and jogged off towards the West Indies, being at thetime about a league astern of us. This success put us all in highgood-humour, and had such an effect on Marble in particular, that hebegan to give it as his opinion that our only superiority over themwould not be found confined to sailing, on an experiment. It is veryconvenient to think favourably of one's self, and it is certainlycomfortable to entertain the same notion as respects one's ship.
I confess to a little awkwardness at first, in acting as an officer.I was young, and commanded men old enough to be my father--regularsea-dogs, who were as critical in all that related to the niceties ofthe calling, as the journalist who is unable to appreciate the higherqualities of a book, is hypercritical on its minor faults. But a fewdays gave me confidence, and I soon found I was obeyed as readily as thefirst-mate. A squall struck the ship in my watch, about a fortnight out,and I succeeded in getting in sail, and saving everything, canvass andspars, in a way that did me infinite service aft. Captain Williamsspoke to me on the subject, commending the orders I had given, andthe coolness with which they had been issued; for, as I afterwardsunderstood, he remained some time in the companion-way, keeping theother two mates back, though all hands had been called, in order to seehow I could get along by myself in such a strait. On this occasion, Inever saw a human being exert himself like Neb. He felt that my honourwas concerned. I do really think the fellow did two men's duty, thewhole time the squall lasted. Until this little incident occurred,Captain Williams was in the habit of coming on deck to examine theheavens, and see how things were getting on, in my night-watches; but,after this, he paid no more visits of this sort to me, than he paid toMr. Marble. I had been gratified by his praises; but this quiet mode ofshowing confidence, gave me more happiness than I can express.
We had a long passage out, the wind hanging to the eastward near threeweeks. At length we got moderate southerly breezes, and began to travelon our course. Twenty-four hours after we had got the fair wind, I hadthe morning watch, and made, as the day dawned, a sail directly abeam ofus, to windward, about three leagues distant, or just hull down. Iwent into the main-top, and examined her with a glass. She was a ship,seemingly of about our own size, and carrying everything that woulddraw. I did not send word below until it was broad daylight, or fornear half an hour; and in all that time her bearings did not vary anyperceptible distance.
Just as the sun rose, the captain and chief-mate made their appearanceon deck. At first they agreed in supposing the stranger a stray EnglishWest-Indiaman, bound home; for, at that time, few merchant vessels weremet at sea that were not English or American. The former usually sailedin convoys, however; and the captain accounted for the circumstance thatthis was not thus protected, by the fact of her sailing so fast.She might be a letter-of-marque, like ourselves, and vessels of thatcharacter did not take convoy. As the two vessels lay exactly abeam ofeach other, with square yards, it was not easy to judge of the sparringof the stranger, except by means of his masts. Marble, judging by theappearance of his topsails, began to think our neighbour might be aFrenchman, he had so much hoist to the sails. After some conversation onthe subject, the captain ordered me to brace forward the yards, as faras our studding-sails would allow, and to luff nearer to the stranger.While the ship was thus changing her course, the day advanced, and ourcrew got their breakfast.
As a matter of course, the strange ship, which kept on the same lineof sailing as before, drew ahead of us a little, while we neared hersensibly. In the course of three hours we were within a league of her,but well on her lee-quarter. Marble now unhesitatingly pronounced herto be a Frenchman, there being no such thing as mistaking the sails. Tosuppose an Englishman would go to sea with such triangles of royals, heheld to be entirely out of the question; and then he referred to me toknow if I did not remember the brig "we had licked in the West Indies,last v'y'ge, which had just such r'yals as the chap up there towindward?" I could see the resemblance, certainly, and had remarked thesame peculiarity in the few French vessels I had seen.
Under all the circumstances, Captain Williams determined to get on theweather-quarter of our neighbour, and take a still nearer look at him.That he was armed, we could see already; and, as near as we could makeout, he carried twelve guns, or just two more than we did ourselves. Allthis was encouraging; sufficiently so, at least, to induce us to make amuch closer examination than we had yet done.
It took two more hours to bring the Crisis, fast as she sailed, onthe weather-quarter of her neighbour, distant about a mile. Here ourobservations were much more to the purpose, and even CaptainWilliams pronounced the stranger to be a Frenchman, "and, no doubt, aletter-of-marque, like ourselves." He had just uttered these words,when we saw the other vessel's studding-sails coming down her royals andtop-gallant-sails clewing up, and all the usual signs of her strippingfor a fight. We had set our ensign early in the day, but, as yet, hadgot no answering symbol of nationality from the chase. A
s soon as shehad taken in all her light canvass, however, she clewed up her courses,fired a gun to windward, and hoisted the French _tri-color_, the mostgraceful flag among the emblems of Christendom, but one that has been asremarkably unsuccessful in the deeds it has witnessed on the high seas,as it has been remarkable for the reverse on land. The French have notbeen wanting in excellent sailors--gallant seamen, too; but the resultsof their exploits afloat have ever borne a singular disproportion to themeans employed--a few occasional exceptions just going to prove that thecauses have been of a character as peculiar, as these results have,in nearly all ages, been uniform. I have heard the want of success inmaritime exploits, among the French, attributed to a want of sympathy,in the nation, with maritime things. Others, again, have supposed thatthe narrow system of preferring birth to merit, which pervaded the wholeeconomy of the French marine, as well as of its army, previously to therevolution, could not fail to destroy the former, inasmuch as a manof family would not consent to undergo the toil and hardships thatare unavoidable to the training of the true seaman. This last reason,however, can scarcely be the true one, as the young English noble hasoften made the most successful naval officer; and the marine of France,in 1798, had surely every opportunity of perfecting itself, by downrightpractice, uninjured by favouritism, as that of America. For myself,though I have now reflected on the subject for years, I can come to noother conclusion than that national character has some very importantagency--or, perhaps, it might be safer to say, _has_ had some veryimportant agency--through some cause or other, in disqualifying Francefrom becoming a great naval power, in the sense of skill; in that ofmere force, so great a nation must always be formidable. Now shesends her princes to sea, however, we may look for different results.Notwithstanding the fact that an Englishman, or an American, rarely wentalongside of a Frenchman, in 1798, without a strong moral assurance ofvictory, he was sometimes disappointed. There was no lack of courage intheir enemies, and it occasionally happened that there was no lack ofskill. Every manifestation that the experience of our captain coulddetect, went to show that we had fallen in with one of these exceptions.As we drew nearer to our enemy, we perceived that he was acting likea seaman. His sails had been furled without haste or confusion; aninfallible evidence of coolness and discipline when done on the eve ofbattle, and signs that the watchful seaman, on such occasions, usuallynotes as unerring indications of the sort of struggle that awaits him.It was consequently understood, among us on the quarter-deck, that wewere likely to have a warm day's work of it. Nevertheless, we had gonetoo far to retreat without an effort, and we began, in our turn, toshorten sail, in readiness for the combat. Marble was a prince of afellow, when it came to anything serious. I never saw him shorten sailas coolly and readily as he did that very day. We had everything readyin ten minutes after we began.
It was rare, indeed, to see two letters-of-marque set-to as coolly,and as scientifically as were the facts with the Crisis and _la Damede Nantes;_ for so, as we afterwards ascertained, was our antagonistcalled. Neither party aimed at any great advantage by manoeuvring; butwe came up alongside of "The Lady," as our men subsequently nick-namedthe Frenchman, the two vessels delivering their broadsides nearly atthe same instant. I was stationed on the forecastle, in charge of thehead-sheets, with orders to attend generally to the braces and therigging, using a musket in moments that were not otherwise employed.Away went both my jib-sheet blocks at the beginning, giving me a verypretty job from the outset. This was but the commencement of trouble;for, during the two hours and a half that we lay battering _la Dame deNantes_, and she lay battering us, I had really so much to attend to inthe way of reeving, knotting, splicing, and turning in afresh, that Ihad scarcely a minute to look about me, in order to ascertain how theday was going. I fired my musket but twice. The glimpses I did manageto take were far from satisfactory, however; several of our people beingkilled or wounded, one gun fairly crippled by a shot, and our riggingin a sad plight. The only thing encourag'ng was Neb's shout, the fellowmaking it a point to roar almost as loud as his gun, at each discharge.
It was evident from the first that the Frenchman had nearly twice asmany men as we carried. This rendered any attempt at boarding imprudent,and, in the way of pounding, our prospects were by no means flattering.At length I heard a rushing sound over my head, and, looking up, I sawthat the main-top-mast, with the yards and sails, had come down onthe fore-braces, and might shortly be expected on deck. At this point,Captain Williams ordered all hands from the guns to clear the wreck. Atthe same instant, our antagonist, with a degree of complaisance thatI could have hugged him for, ceased firing also. Both sides seemed tothink it was very foolish for two merchantmen to lie within a cable'slength of each other, trying which could do the other the most harm; andboth sides set about the, by this time, very necessary duty of repairingdamages. While this was going on, the men at the wheel, by a species ofinstinctive caution, did their whole duty. The Crisis luffed all shewas able, while _la Dame de Nantes_ edged away all she very convenientlycould, placing more than a mile of blue water between the two vessels,before we, who were at work aloft, were aware they were so decidedlyrunning on diverging lines.
It was night before we got our wreck clear; and then we had to lookabout us, to get out spare spars, fit them, rig them, point them,and sway them aloft. The last operation, however, was deferred untilmorning. As it was, the day's work had been hard, and the people reallywanted rest. Rest was granted them at eight o'clock; at which hour,our late antagonist was visible about a league distant, the darknessbeginning to envelope her. In the morning the horizon was clear, owingto the repulsion which existed in so much force between the two vessels.It was not our business to trouble ourselves about the fate of ouradversary, but to take heed of our own. That morning we go' up ourspars, crossed the yards, and made sail again. We had several days'work in repairing all our damages; but, happening to be found for a longvoyage, and well found, too, by the end of a week the Crisis was in asgood order as if we had not fought a battle. As for the combat, it wasone of those in which either side might claim the victory, or not, as itsuited tastes. We had very ingenious excuses for our failure, however;and I make no doubt the French were just as ready, in this way, as wewere ourselves.
Our loss in this engagement amounted to two men killed outright, and toseven wounded, two of whom died within a few days. The remaining woundedall recovered, though the second-mate, who was one of them, I believenever got to be again the man he had been. A canister-shot lodged nearhis hip, and the creature we had on board as a surgeon was not the heroto extract it. In that day, the country was not so very well providedwith medical men on the land, as to spare many good ones to the sea.In the new navy, it was much the fashion to say, "if you want a legamputated, send for the carpenter; he _does_ know how to use a saw,while it is questionable whether the doctor knows how to use anything."Times, however, are greatly altered in this respect; the gentlemenwho now compose this branch of the service being not only worthy ofcommendation for their skill and services, but worthy of the graduatedrank which I see they are just now asking of the justice of theircountry, and which, as that country ordinarily administers justice, I ammuch afraid they will ask in vain.