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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
morning, early, I had the watch, and an order was given to set
top-gallant studding-sails. Rupert and I had got into the same
watch on board this vessel, and we both went aloft to reeve the
gear. I had taken up the end of the halyards, and had reeved
them, and had overhauled the end down, when, in raising
my head, I saw two small lug-sails on the ocean, broad on our
weather-bow, which I recognised in an instant for those of the
John’s launch. I cannot express the feeling that came over me
at that sight. I yelled, rather than shouted, “Sail ho!” and then,
pushing in, I caught hold of a royal-backstay, and was on deck
in an instant. I believe I made frantic gestures to windward,
for Mr. Marble, who had the watch, had to shake me sharply
before I could let the fact be known.
As soon as Marble comprehended me, and got the bearings of the boat, he hauled down all the studding-sails, braced
sharp up on a wind, set the mainsail, and then sent down a
report to Captain Digges for orders. Our new commander was
a humane man, and having been told our whole story, he did
not hesitate about confirming all that had been done. As the
people in the launch had made out the ship some time before I saw the boat, the latter was running down upon us, and,
in about an hour, the tiny sails were descried from the deck.
In less than an hour after this, our mainyard swung round,
throwing the topsail aback, and the well-known launch of the
John rounded-to close under our lee; a rope was thrown, and
the boat was hauled alongside.
Everybody in the Tigris was shocked when we came to get
a look at the condition of the strangers. One man, a powerful negro, lay dead in the bottom of the boat; the body having
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
been kept for a dreadful alternative, in the event of his companions falling in with no other relief. Three more of the men
were nearly gone, and had to be whipped on board as so many
lifeless bales of goods. Captain Robbins and Kite, both athletic,
active men, resembled spectres, their eyes standing out of their
heads as if thrust from their sockets by some internal foe; and
when we spoke to them, they all seemed unable to answer. It
was not fasting, or want of food, that had reduced them to this
state, so much as want of water. It is true, they had no more
bread left than would keep body and soul together for a few
hours longer; but of water they had tasted not a drop for seventy odd hours! It appeared that, during the gale, they had been
compelled to empty the breakers to lighten the boat, reserving
only one for their immediate wants. By some mistake, the one
reserved was nearly half-empty at the time; and Captain Robbins believed himself then so near Bourbon, as not to go on an
allowance until it was too late. In this condition had they been
searching for the island quite ten days, passing it, but never
hitting it. The winds had not favoured them, and, the last few
days, the weather had been such as to admit of no observation.
Consequently, they had been as much out of their reckoning
in their latitude, as in their longitude.
A gleam of intelligence, and I thought of pleasure, shot
athwart the countenance of Captain Robbins, as I helped
him over the Tigris’s side. He saw I was safe. He tottered as
he walked, and leaned heavily on me for support. I was about
to lead him aft, but his eye caught sight of a scuttlebutt, and
the tin-pot on its head. Thither he went, and stretched out a
trembling hand to the vessel. I gave him the pot as it was, with
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
about a wine-glass of water in it This he swallowed at a gulp,
and then tottered forward for more. By this time Captain Digges joined us, and gave the proper directions how to proceed.
All the sufferers had water in small quantities given them, and
it is wonderful with what expressions of delight they received
the grateful beverage. As soon as they understood the necessity
of keeping it as long as possible in their mouths, and on their
tongues, before swallowing it, a little did them a great deal of
good. After this, we gave them some coffee, the breakfast being ready, and then a little ship’s biscuit soaked in wine. By
such means every man was saved, though it was near a month
before all were themselves again. As for Captain Robbins and
Kite, they were enabled to attend to duty by the end of a week,
though nothing more was exacted of them than they chose to
perform.
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CHAPTER VI
“The yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up.”
Macbeth.
Poor Captain Robbins! No sooner did he regain his bodily
strength, than he began to endure the pain of mind that was
inseparable from the loss of his ship. Marble, who, now that
he had fallen to the humbler condition of a second-mate, was
more than usually disposed to be communicative with me, gave
me to understand that our old superior had at first sounded
Captain Digges on the subject of proceeding to the wreck, in
order to ascertain what could be saved; but the latter had soon
convinced him that a first-rate Philadelphia Indiaman had
something else to do besides turning wrecker. After a pretty
broad hint to this effect, the John, and all that was in her, were
abandoned to their fate. Marble, however, was of opinion that
the gale in which the launch came so near being lost, must
have broken the ship entirely to pieces, giving her fragments
to the ocean. We never heard of her fate, or recovered a single
article that belonged to her.
Many were the discussions between Captain Robbins and
his two mates, touching the error in reckoning that had led
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
them so far from their course. In that day, navigation was by
no means as simple a thing as it has since become. It is true, lunars were usually attempted in India and China ships; but this
was not an every-day affair, like the present morning and afternoon observations to obtain the time, and, by means of the
chronometer, the longitude. Then we had so recently got clear
of the islands, as to have no great need of any extraordinary
head-work; and the “bloody currents” had acted their pleasure
with us for eight or ten days before the loss of the ship. Marble
was a very good navigator, one of the best I ever sailed with, in
spite of the plainness of his exterior, and his rough deportment;
and, all things considered, he treated his old commander with
great delicacy, promising to do all he could, when he got home,
to clear the matter up. As for Kite, he knew but little, and had
the discretion to say but little. This moderation rendered our
passage all the more agreeable.
The Tigris was a very fast ship, besides being well-found.
She was a little larger than the John, and mounted twelve
guns, nine-pounders. In consequence of the additions made to
her crew, one way and another, she now mustered nearer fifty
than forty souls on board. Captain Digges had certain martial
tastes, and, long before we were up with the Cape, he had us
all quartered and exercised at the guns. He, too, had had an affair with some proas, and he loved to converse of the threshing
he had given the rascals. I thought he envied us our exploit,
though this might have been mere imagination on my part,
for he was liberal enough in his commendations. The private
intelligence he had received of the relations between France
and America, quickened his natural impulses; and, by the time
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
we reached St. Helena, the ship might have been said to be in
good fighting order for a merchantman. We touched at this
last-mentioned island for supplies, but obtained no news of
any interest. Those who supplied the ship could tell us nothing
but the names of the Indiamen who had gone out and home
for the last twelvemonth, and the prices of fresh meat and vegetables. Napoleon civilized them, seventeen years later.
We had a good run from St. Helena to the calm latitudes, but
these last proved calmer than common. We worried through
them after a while, however, and then did very well until we
got in the latitude of the Windward Islands. Marble one day
remarked to me that Captain Digges was standing closer to
the French island of Guadaloupe than was at all necessary or
prudent, if he believed in his own reports of the danger there
existed to American commerce, in this quarter of the ocean.
I have lived long enough, and have seen too much of men
and things, to fancy my country and countrymen right in all
their transactions, merely because newspapers, members of
congress, and fourth of July orators, are pleased to affirm the
doctrine. No one can go much to sea without reading with
great distrust many of the accounts, in the journals of the day,
of the grievous wrongs done the commerce of America by the
authorities of this or that port, the seizure of such a ship, or the
imprisonment of some particular set of officers and men. As a
rule, it is safer to assume that the afflicted parties deserve all
that has happened to them, than to believe them immaculate;
and, quite likely, much more, too. The habit of receiving such
appeals to their sympathies, renders the good people of the
republic peculiarly liable to impositions of this nature; and the
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
mother who encourages those of her children who fetch and
carry, will be certain to have her ears filled with complaints
and tattle. Nevertheless, it is a fact beyond all dispute, that the
commerce of the country was terribly depredated on by nearly
all the European belligerents, between the commencement of
the war of the French revolution and its close. So enormous
were the robberies thus committed on the widely extended
trade of this nation, under one pretence or another, as to give
a colouring of retributive justice, if not of moral right, to the
recent failures of certain States among us to pay their debts.
Providence singularly avenges all wrongs by its unerring
course; and I doubt not, if the facts could be sifted to the bottom, it would be found the devil was not permitted to do his
work, in either case, without using materials supplied by the
sufferers, in some direct or indirect manner, themselves. Of all
the depredations on American trade just mentioned, those of
the great sister republic, at the close of the last century, were
among the most grievous, and were of a character so atrocious
and bold, that I confess it militates somewhat against my theory to admit that France owns very little of the “suspended
debt;” but I account for this last circumstance by the reparation she in part made, by the treaty of 1831. With England it
is different. She drove us into a war by the effects of her orders
in council and paper blockades, and compelled us to expend
a hundred millions to set matters right. I should like to see
the books balanced, not by the devil, who equally instigated
the robberies on the high seas, and the “suspension” or “repudiation” of the State debts; but by the great Accountant who
keeps a record of all our deeds of this nature, whether it be
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
to make money by means of cruising ships, or cruising scrip.
It is true, these rovers encountered very differently-looking
victims, in the first place; but it is a somewhat trite remark,
that the aggregate of human beings is pretty much the same in
all situations. There were widows and orphans as much connected with the condemnation of prizes, as with the prices
of condemned stock; and I do not see that fraud is any worse
when carried on by scriveners and clerks with quills behind
their ears, than when carried on by gentlemen wearing cocked
hats, and carrying swords by their sides. On the whole, I am
far from certain that the account-current of honesty is not
slightly – honesty very slightlyleavens either transaction – in
favour of the non-paying States, as men do sometimes borrow
with good intentions, and fail, from inability, to pay; whereas,
in the whole course of my experience, I never knew a captor of
a ship who intended to give back any of the prize-money, if he
could help it. But, to return to my adventures.
We were exactly in the latitude of Guadaloupe, with the
usual breeze, when, at daylight, a rakish-looking brig was seen
in chase. Captain Digges took a long survey of the stranger
with his best glass, one that was never exhibited but on state
occasions, and then he pronounced him to be a French cruiser;
most probably a privateer. That he was a Frenchman, Marble
affirmed, was apparent by the height of his top-masts, and
the shortness of his yards; the upper spars, in particular, being mere apologies for yards. Everybody who had any right to
an opinion, was satisfied the brig was a French cruiser, either
public or private.
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
The Tigris was a fast ship, and she was under top-mast and
top-gallant studding-sails at the time, going about seven knots.
The brig was on an easy bowline, evidently looking up for our
wake, edging off gradually as we drew ahead. She went about
nine knots, and bade fair to close with us by noon. There was a
good deal of doubt, aft, as to the course we ought to pursue. It
was decided in the end, however, to shorten sail and let the brig
come up, as being less subject to cavils, than to seem to avoid
her. Captain Digges got out his last letters from home, and I
saw him showing them to Captain Robbins, the two conning
them over with great earnestness. I was sent to do some duty
near the hencoops, where they were sitting, and overheard a
part of their conversation. From the discourse, I gathered that
the proceedings of these picaroons were often equivocal, and
that Americans were generally left in doubt, until a favourable
moment occurred for the semi-pirates to effect their purposes.
The party assailed did not know when or how to defend himself, until it was too late.
“These chaps come aboard you, sometimes, before you’re
aware of what they are about,” observed Captain Robbins.
“I’ll not be taken by surprise in that fashion,” returned
Digges, after a moment of reflection. “Here, you Miles, go forward and tell the cook to fill his coppers with water, and to set
it boiling as fast as he can; and tell Mr. Marble I want him aft.
Bear a hand, now, youngster, and give them a lift yourself.”
Of course I obeyed, wondering what the captain wanted
with so much hot water as to let the people eat their dinners off cold grub, rather than dispense with it; for this was
a consequence of his decree. But we had not got the coppers
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
half-filled, before I saw Mr. Marble and Neb lowering a small
ship’s engine from the launch, and placing it near the galley, in readiness to be filled. The mate told Neb to screw on
the pipe, and then half a dozen of the men, as soon as we got
through with the coppers, were told to fill the engine with seawater. Captain Digges now came forward to superintend the
exercise, and Neb jumped on the engine, flourishing the pipe
about with the delight of a “nigger.” The captain was diverted
with the black’s zeal, and he appointed him captain of the firemen on the spot.
“Now, let us see what you can do at that forward dead eye,
darky,” said Captain Digges, laughing. “Take it directly on the
strap. Play away, boys, and let Neb try his hand.”
It happened that Neb hit the dead-eye at the first jet, and
he showed great readiness in turning the stream from point to
point, as ordered. Neb’s conduct on the night of the affair with
the proas had been told to Captain Digges, who was so well
pleased with the fellow’s present dexterity, as to confirm him
in office. He was told to stick by the engine at every hazard.
Soon after, an order was given to clear for action. This had an
ominous sound to my young ears, and, though I have no reason to suppose myself deficient in firmness, I confess I began to
think again of Clawbonny, and Grace, and Lucy; ay, and even
of the mill. This lasted but for a moment, however, and, as soon
as I got at work, the feeling gave me no trouble. We were an
hour getting the ship ready, and, by that time, the brig was
within half a mile, luffing fairly up on our lee-quarter. As we
had shortened sail, the privateer manifested no intention of
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