XVII
A DROWNING MESSMATE
It is as one of the most popular sea-novelists of all times that CaptainMarryat is best known to his countrymen--oldsters and youngsters alike.The whole life of this gallant seaman, however, was made up of one longseries of exciting adventures, both on land and sea, many of theseexperiences being made use of in after years to supply material for hissea-romances.
One of Marryat's most characteristic acts of self-devotion was hisspringing overboard into the waters of Malta Harbour in order to savethe life of a middy messmate, Cobbett by name, who had accidentallyfallen overboard. What made this action an especially noble one was thefact that Cobbett was one of the greatest bullies in the midshipmen'sberth, and had specially singled out Marryat for cowardly and brutaltreatment. Again, we must remember that sharks are often seen in MaltaHarbour, and any one rash enough to enter its waters takes his life inhis hands.
Thank God the gunroom of a British man-of-war of the present day ismanaged in an entirely different manner from what it was in Marryat'sday. Says that gallant officer: "There was no species of tyranny,injustice, and persecution to which youngsters were not compelled tosubmit from those who were their superiors in bodily strength."
The entire management and organisation of the Royal Navy at that periodwas rotten to the core, and it speaks volumes for the devotion, skill,and bravery of the gallant officers of the fleet that they somagnificently upheld the glory and honour of the flag in every quarterof the globe in spite of the shortcomings of the Admiralty Board.
As an instance of this general mismanagement of naval affairs, Marryat,who had been sent to join the _Imperieuse_ frigate as a young middy,thus writes in his private log--
"The _Imperieuse_ sailed; the admiral of the port was one who _would_ beobeyed, but _would not_ listen always to reason or common-sense. Thesignal for sailing was enforced by gun after gun; the anchor was hoveup, and, with all her stores on deck, her guns not even mounted, in astate of confusion unparalleled from her being obliged to hoist infaster than it was possible she could stow away, she was driven out ofharbour to encounter a heavy gale. A few hours more would have enabledher to proceed to sea with security, but they were denied; theconsequences were appalling, and might have been fatal.
"In the general confusion, some iron too near the binnacles hadattracted the needle of the compasses; the ship was steered out of hercourse. At midnight, in a heavy gale at the close of the month ofNovember, so dark that you could not distinguish any object, howeverclose, the _Imperieuse_ dashed upon the rocks between Ushant and theMain. The cry of terror which ran through the lower deck; the grating ofthe keel as she was forced in; the violence of the shocks whichconvulsed the frame of the vessel; the hurrying up of the ship's companywithout their clothes; and then the enormous waves which again bore herup and carried her clean over the reef, will never be effaced from mymemory.
"Our escape was miraculous. With the exception of her false keel havingbeen torn off, the ship had suffered little injury; but she had beatover a reef, and was riding by her anchors, surrounded by rocks, some ofthem as high out of water as her lower-yards, and close to her. Hownearly were the lives of a fine ship's company, and of Lord Cochrane andhis officers, sacrificed in this instance to the despotism of an admiralwho _would_ be obeyed!
"The cruises of the _Imperieuse_ were periods of continual excitement,from the hour in which she hove up her anchor till she dropped it againin port; the day that passed without a shot being fired in anger waswith us a blank day; the boats were hardly secured on the booms thanthey were cast loose and out again; the yard and stay tackles were forever hoisting up and lowering down.
"The expedition with which parties were formed for service; the rapidityof the frigate's movements, night and day; the hasty sleep, snatched atall hours; the waking up at the report of the guns, which seemed theonly key-note to the hearts of those on board; the beautiful precisionof our fire, obtained by constant practice; the coolness and courage ofour captain inoculating the whole of the ship's company; the suddennessof our attacks, the gathering after the combat, the killed lamented, thewounded almost envied; the powder so burnt into our faces that yearscould not remove it; the proved character of every man and officer onboard; the implicit trust and the adoration we felt for our commander;the ludicrous situations which would occur even in the extremest dangerand create mirth when death was staring you in the face; the hairbreadthescapes, and the indifference to life shown by all--when memory sweepsalong those years of excitement even now, my pulse beats more quicklywith the reminiscence."
A middy's life was no child's play in those days, was it?
But it is time that I told you the story of how Marryat saved the lifeof his messmate Cobbett, in the Mediterranean.
The _Imperieuse_ was lying at anchor in Malta Harbour at the time theincident happened. It was about the hour of sunset, and the officer onduty had turned the men of the second dog watch up to hoist the boats tothe davits. The men ran away smartly with the falls, and soon had thecutters clear of the water and swung high in the air.
At this moment, Cobbett, who was off duty, went into the main-chainswith some lines and bait in order to fish. In endeavouring to get on oneof the ratlines of the lower-rigging his foot unfortunately slipped, andhe fell headlong overboard into the waters of the Grand Harbour. Severalpersons witnessed the accident, and the prodigious splash the middy'sbody made in striking the water immediately made known to every one elsethat a struggle for life had commenced.
Cobbett could not swim a stroke, and was much hampered by his heavyclothes and boots. At the first plunge he was carried far beneath thesurface, but quickly rose again, puffing and blowing like a grampus, andmaking desperate efforts to keep himself afloat.
The officer of the watch promptly called away the lifeboat's crew, andthese men quickly scrambled into one of the quarter-boats, which by thistime had been run up to the davits. Life-buoys too had been thrownoverboard, but not one of them had fallen near enough to the strugglingboy to enable him to grasp it. Young Marryat happened at the time of theaccident to be standing in the waist of the ship conversing with thecaptain of the main-top of the watch below. Hearing the splash and theexcited cries of "Man overboard!" which rang out fore-and-aft, he rushedto the gangway to see if he could be of any assistance in the emergency.
One can imagine his feelings on beholding his arch-enemy, the bully ofthe midshipmen's berth, struggling desperately for life under thefrigate's counter. Being an admirable swimmer himself, Marryat saw at aglance that his messmate was helpless in the water, and indeed was onthe point of sinking. Without a moment's hesitation, and without waitingto throw off coat or boots, the plucky youngster boldly plungedoverboard, and quickly rising to the surface, struck out for his nowalmost unconscious enemy, and fortunately managed to seize him and keephim afloat, whilst he shouted to those on board to lower the cutter asquickly as possible. The men were only too eager to go to hisassistance, and the instant the lifeboat was safely in the water, hercrew got their oars out, and, pulling vigorously to the spot, soonhauled both midshipmen, wet and dripping, inboard.
Cobbett was unconscious, his face being as pale as death, but it wasonly a matter now of a few seconds to get him aboard the frigate, wherehe soon revived under the care of the surgeons, and was able to returnto duty in the course of a day or two, much humbled in spirit, and verygrateful to the courageous young messmate who had so gallantly saved hislife at the risk of his own.
Writing home to his mother on the subject of this adventure, Marryatconcluded his account by saying: "From that moment I have loved thefellow as I never loved friend before. All my hate is forgotten. I havesaved his life."
A ludicrous adventure in the water once befell Captain Marryat. In thegallant officer's private log occurs this entry: "July 10th.--Anchoredin Carrick Roads, Falmouth. Gig upset with captain."
Florence Marryat in her father's memoirs thus relates the incident:"When this gig was capsized, it contained, bes
ides Captain Marryat, amiddy and an old bumboat woman. The woman could swim like a fish, butthe boy could not, and as Captain Marryat, upon rising to the surface ofthe water and preparing to strike out for the ship, found himself mostneedlessly clutched and borne up by this lady, he shook her offimpatiently, saying: 'Go to the boy! Go to the boy! He can't swim!'
"'_Go to the boy!_' she echoed above the winds and waves. 'What! hold upa midshipman when I can save the life of a captain! Not I indeed!' Andno entreaties could prevail on her to relinquish her impending honours.Who eventually did the 'dirty work' on this occasion is not recorded,but it is certain that no one was drowned."
As is well known, sailors are devoted to animals, and Marryat was noexception to the rule. He has left on record a story of a pet baboon,which was on board the _Tees_ with him--
"I had on board a ship which I commanded a very large Cape baboon, whowas a pet of mine, and also a little boy, who was a son of mine. Whenthe baboon sat down on his hams he was about as tall as the boy when hewalked. The boy, having a tolerable appetite, received about noon aconsiderable slice of bread-and-butter to keep him quiet tilldinner-time. I was on one of the carronades, busy with the sun's lowerlimb, bringing it into contact with the horizon, when the boy's lowerlimbs brought him into contact with the baboon, who, having, as well asthe boy, a strong predilection for bread-and-butter, and a stronger armto take it withal, thought proper to help himself to that to which theboy had already been helped. In short, he snatched the bread-and-butter,and made short work of it, for it was in his pouch in a moment.
"Upon this the boy set up a yell, which attracted my notice to thisviolation of the articles of war, to which the baboon was equallyamenable as any other person in the ship, for it is expressly stated inthe preamble of every article, 'all who are _in_, or _belonging_ to.'Whereupon I jumped off the carronade and, by way of assisting hisdigestion, I served out to the baboon _monkey's allowance_, which ismore kicks than halfpence! The master reported that the heavensintimated that it was twelve o'clock, and, with all the humility of acaptain of a man-of-war, I ordered him to 'make it so'; whereupon it wasmade, and so passed that day.
"I do not remember how many days it was afterwards that I was on thecarronade as usual, about the same time, and all parties were preciselyin the same situations--the master by my side, the baboon under thebooms, and the boy walking out of the cabin with his bread-and-butter.As before, he again passed the baboon, who again snatched thebread-and-butter from the boy, who again set up a squall, which againattracted my attention. I looked round, and the baboon caught my eye,which told him plainly that he'd soon catch what was not at all _myeye_; and he proved that he actually thought so, for he at once put thebread-and-butter back into the boy's hands!
"It was the only instance of which I ever knew or heard of a monkeybeing capable of self-denial where his stomach was concerned, and Irecord it accordingly. This poor fellow, when the ship's company weredying of the cholera, took that disease, went through all itsgradations, and died apparently in great agony."