Ben Burton: Born and Bred at Sea

  CHAPTER EIGHT.

  The Little Lady grew apace, and flourished under the careful nursing ofmy mother and the Misses Schank. They gave her the name of Emily, incompliment to an elder sister whom I have not before mentioned--a greatinvalid, who never left her room. I had, indeed, not seen her, for shewas so nervous that it was feared I might agitate her. The Little Ladywas, however, once taken in to her, and she was so pleased that sheinsisted on seeing her every day. She was, I afterwards learned, notonly an invalid, but occasionally affected in her mind, from some greatgrief which had occurred to her in her youth.

  Time rolled on. I was somewhat spoiled, I think, by the kind ladies,who treated me completely as if I had been in their own position inlife, and took great pains to teach me all I was then capable oflearning.

  At length my father came back to Whithyford. He could not remain long,for he had been appointed to another ship. He told my mother that hehad been so unhappy without her that he had got leave to take her and mewith him, as I was now big enough to go to sea. My mother was toosensible a woman not to know that she must some day of necessity partfrom the Little Lady, and though it was like wrenching her veryheartstrings, she, without hesitation, agreed to accompany her husbandand take me with her. Our kind friends were, I know, very sorry to partwith us. The old lady folded her arms round me, and kissed me on bothcheeks, and on my forehead, and blessed me, and told me she hoped Ishould be as brave and good a man as her son, and also as my father.The frigate was fitting out at Portsmouth for the Mediterranean station.She was the "Grecian," of thirty-eight guns, commanded by Captain HarryOliver, who, three years before, had been a Master's mate in the"Boreas". He having since then served two years as Lieutenant, and oneas Commander, had just been posted to her. Some men in Mr Schank'sposition would have declined serving as First-Lieutenant under anofficer who had before served under him, but Mr Schank had no pride ofthe sort, and when Captain Oliver applied for him he readily consentedto accept the offer.

  There was every probability of our having a happy ship. I havementioned a young midshipman--Leonard Bramston--he was our juniorLieutenant, having lately got his promotion; but the person above allothers I was delighted to see was Mrs King, whose husband had joinedthe frigate. Bill King proposed also himself applying for a warrant asgunner. However, for the present, he had come to sea with his oldrating as quarter-master. While the ship was fitting out, my mother andMrs King lived on shore. One Sunday we went to the Marine Barracks,where we heard that Sergeant Killock and Tom Sawyer were stationed.They were greatly pleased to see me. The Sergeant tried to persuade mymother to let me remain on shore and turn into a drummer boy, at which Iwas very indignant, holding a blue-jacket to be a being of far superiorgrade, and a blue-jacket I hoped shortly to become. I was rather smalljust then, but not smaller than some of the midshipmen who had joinedour frigate for the first time. Mere mites of boys were frequently thensent to sea, who looked more fit to wear pinafores, and be attended bynurses, as far as size was concerned; and yet, though now and then theygot into mischief and did not do very wise things, yet occasionally theyperformed very gallant actions, such as men twice their age might havebeen proud of, requiring judgment and discretion as well as courage. Atlength we went out to Spithead and took our powder on board. Blue Peterwas flying, the remainder of the stores for the officers came on board,the ship was cleared, the band struck up, the seamen tramped round withthe capstan bars to a merry tune, the topsails were sheeted home, andwith a blue sky above us and bright water below, we stood down theSolent towards the Needle passage. It was a gay and beautiful sight. Ihad been so long on shore that I had almost forgotten all about a ship.The men looked so smart and active, for Mr Schank had taken care to geta picked crew, which some officers in those days could get and somecould not; the Captain and Lieutenants and midshipmen in their newuniforms looked so spruce, and the marines so trim and well set up, thatI could not help rejoicing that I was once more afloat, though I did notforget my kind friends at Whithyford, nor the dear Little Lady. Wepassed out at the Needle passage, with Hurst Castle on one side and thetall pointed white rocks off the west end of the island on the other,not ill-called Needles, sighting Weymouth, where the good old KingGeorge the Third was accustomed to reside. Bless his memory, say I,for, though he might have had his faults, he was a right-honesttrue-hearted man--brave as the bravest of his subjects, and firm too;though those who opposed him called his firmness obstinacy. However, Iam talking of things of which I knew at that period of my career nothingat all.

  I had grown by this time into a stout, hardy-looking lad, tall andproportionably broad, so that I looked much older than I was, and thus Iwas already rated as a boy on board the ship, though I was the youngeston board, and likely to remain so for a considerable time. When peoplesaw my mother, who looked remarkably young, and pretty as ever, theycould scarcely believe that I was her son. Few people retain theirhealth and good looks as she did. Running across the Bay of Biscay wesighted Cape Finisterre, rounding which we stood in for the coast, inhopes of picking up some of the Spanish Guarda Costas or any of theenemy's merchantmen. However, when standing in for Finisterre Bay thewind dropped and we lay perfectly becalmed, rolling gently to the swellwhich nearly at all times sets in on that coast.

  Evening was approaching. Our young Captain walked the deck withimpatient strides. Though so gentle and quiet in his manners there wasa spirit in him that ever desired activity. Several times his glass wasturned towards the distant shore. He then summoned the master andexamined the chart. We had fallen in, the day before, with a PortugueseRasca, from the master of which a good deal of information had beenobtained, and as an honest man and a patriot it was supposed that itcould be relied on. Captain Oliver and Mr Schank were in consultationfor some time. We guessed there was something to be done. Now, Ithought to myself, I should like to see some fun. They are planningsomething, that is certain. I wonder what it can be. In a short timethe cutter and barge were ordered away, it being understood that MrSchank would take the command of the former and would be accompanied byLieutenant Spry of the Marines, while the Third-Lieutenant, MrBramston, took charge of the barge. Including marines and blue-jacketsthe party mustered rather more than forty in all. They waited till duskto leave the ship. This just suited my plan of operation. As the arms,provisions, and other articles were being lowered into the boat, Imanaged to slip down and to stow myself away in the barge forward undera sail. I required but little space for hiding away. Just at dusk thetwo boats shoved off, and away we went towards the shore; I heard themen say that the object of the expedition was to cut out several luggerslying in a small harbour with a town at the further end of it. We had along pull, for we were at such, a distance from the coast that thefrigate could not have been seen from it. At all events the inhabitantsof the town would not have suspected that any boats would come from avessel whose topgallant sails could only just have been visible. Atlength, after pulling for some hours, the lights on shore were seen, andin a short time the boats came off the mouth of the harbour; but then itwas found that the luggers were some little way up it, and that a strongfort guarded the town and entrance. Mr Schank and the Lieutenant ofMarines agreed that the first thing to be done was to take the fort. Wecould not land close to it on account of the rocks, and therefore had topull some distance to the south before the party could get on shore.

  When they all left the boats I had no fancy to remain behind, andtherefore scrambled out after the rest, although one of the boat-keepersattempted to stop me by catching hold of my leg. I escaped him,however, and ran on among the men.

  "Hillo, little chap! Where did you come from?" exclaimed several ofthem as they first discovered me.

  I replied that I wanted to go and help them fight the enemy. I waspassed to Mr Schank. "Why, Ben," he said, "what business have you tobe here? What can you do?"

  "Please, sir, I can carry your flask if you will let me, or if anybodyis hit I can stay by them and he
lp them."

  "I have a great mind to send you back, Master Ben."

  I entreated that I might be allowed to go on. Perhaps he thought theremight be as much risk for me if I remained in the boat as there would beshould I accompany them. He therefore, greatly to my delight, allowedme to go on with the party. On we pushed. Mr Schank, it appeared, hadbeen on shore before at the place and knew the position of the fort. Wehad a heavy tramp, however, especially for him with his wooden leg,which sank into the soft sand every step he took, and he sometimes hadto rest his arm on a man's shoulder to help him get along, but hiscourage and determination were at all times equal to any emergency. Onwe went till we could see the dim outline of the fort across the sand;it was a great thing to approach without being discovered, for, althoughwe had determined to get in at all hazard, if we could take theSpaniards by surprise, the work would be far more easy. There was nocover, but we could only hope that the enemy would not be on thelook-out for us, or that if they were, their eyes would be turnedtowards the harbour, the entrance-gate being on the land side. I own,at last, I felt my legs aching with walking over the soft sand. I beganto wish that I had remained on board. The men must have suspected howit was with me, and at last one of them took me up and carried me on hisshoulders, and then another and another, for even my additional weightwas likely to tire the stoutest had they carried me long. At last thefort rose before us. Mr Schank in a low whisper ordered the men tomove forward crouching down to the ground, to step softly, and not toutter a word. On we went, so close together, that had anybody watchedus, we might have looked like some huge animal moving on, or the shadowof a cloud passing over the ground. Our leaders hurried on. Thedrawbridge was down. The marines were ordered to level their bayonetsand the blue-jackets their pikes, and charge on. It was the work of aninstant. The Spaniards were totally unprepared for our coming at thatmoment, although, as it turned out, they had been informed of our beingin the neighbourhood, and a gun was found pointed for the purpose ofsweeping the passage should the fort be attacked. Before, however, itcould be fired, the gunners had taken to flight. In a few seconds wewere in possession of the fort.

  Our men were pretty well knocked up with their long pull and march overthe sand, and the country might soon be raised, and overwhelming forcessent against us. The order was, therefore, given to spike the guns,which was very speedily done. The fort was found to contain eight brassguns, twenty-four and twelve-pounders, with a considerable garrison.Part of them, as we entered, laid down their arms to save their lives,while the remainder scrambled over the walls, and made their escape tothe town. Our boats had, meantime, made their way into the harbour,which, now that we had possession of the fort, they could do withoutmolestation. As soon as all the damage had been done to the fort whichtime would allow, we once more embarked in the boats, and made a dash atthe luggers, which yielded without striking a blow. Directly we hadtaken them, however, and had begun to move down the harbour, a batteryon the opposite side, which we had not yet seen, opened its fire, andcontinued sending shot after us, which could not however have been verywell aimed, for neither the boat nor the prizes were once struck. It ispossible that the powder was bad, and the shot fell short. As weapproached the mouth of the harbour we saw that the whole neighbourhoodwas roused. Beacon fires were blazing, guns firing, and musketryrattling away in all directions. As we were getting through thepassage, a pretty sharp fire of musketry was opened on us, but thoughthe shot fell thickly, no one was struck, though the boats and vesselswere so frequently. It was my first battle, and a very bloodless one,for I do not believe a Spaniard or Englishman was hurt. Our six prizeswere very acceptable, for they were laden with wine, which waspronounced very good of its sort. It was broad daylight by the time wegot near the mouth of the harbour, and the land-breeze blowing enabledus to carry out our prizes without difficulty, and with them underconvoy we sailed for Lisbon, where a good market could be found fortheir cargoes.

  When I got on board, instead of being received as a hero crowned withvictory, my father seized hold of me, and looked me sternly in the face.

  "Ben," said he, "have you thought of the misery and anxiety you havebeen causing your mother? She has been in a fearful taking about youever since you went away. How could she tell that you had not slippedoverboard? I could not say that you had not, myself; but I have heardof boys doing just as you have done, and so I guessed pretty well thestate of the case. But I tell you, boy, I never saw her suffer so much.I almost thought it would be the death of her."

  "Oh! Flog me, father! Flog me!" I cried out; for I could not bear thethoughts of having made my mother unhappy. "Tell Dick Patch to lay iton thick. The harder he hits the better. I did not think, father, whatI was doing; indeed, I did not."

  "No, Ben, I will not have you flogged," he answered, "your mother'ssufferings have been punishment enough for you. I believe you did itwithout thought, indeed, I know you did; and just do you go and have atalk with her, and see how pale and ill she looks; and I hope that willbe enough to make you never go and do a thing again which will cause heranxiety and grief. The time will come when you will have to run allsorts of risks and dangers, but it is a very different thing to run yourhead into danger from fool-hardiness, and to go into danger because itis your duty." These remarks of my father made a deep impression on me.I hurried below, and there I saw my poor mother looking more ill anddistressed than I had ever seen her:--her eyes red from weeping, and hercheeks pale and sickly; and then when she told me how much she hadsuffered, I burst into tears, and promised never to play her such atrick again.

  We took several other prizes on our way to the South; indeed, CaptainOliver showed, that, young as he was, few officers were likely to provemore active or energetic in their duties. He was well off and did notseem to care for the prize-money. He thought of duty above everythingelse. It was his duty to injure the trade of the enemy as much aspossible, and he did so to the very best of his power.