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THE TWO ADMIRALS
tain marine instinct that tells the sailor when any thing serious is in the wind, and when not. The difference in the force
of the two fleets, the heavy gale, and the weatherly position of
the English, all conspired to assure the crew that nothing decisive could yet occur. Here and there an officer or an old seaman might be seen glancing through a port, to ascertain the
force and position of the French; but, on the whole, their fleet
excited little more attention than if lying at anchor in Cherbourg. The breakfast hour was approaching, and that important event monopolized the principal interest of the moment.
The officers’ boys, in particular, began to make their appearance around the galley, provided, as usual, with their pots and
dishes, and, now and then, one cast a careless glance through
the nearest opening to see how the strangers looked; but as to
warfare there was much more the appearance of it between
the protectors of the rights of the different messes, than between the two great belligerent navies themselves.
Nor was the state of things materially different in the gunroom, or cock-pit, or on the orlops. Most of the people of a twodecked ship are berthed on the lower gun deck, and the order
to “clear ship” is more necessary to a vessel of that construction, before going to quarters seriously, than to smaller craft;
though it is usual in all. So long as the bags, mess-chests, and
other similar appliances were left in their ordinary positions,
Jack saw little reason to derange himself; and as reports were
brought below, from time to time, respecting the approach of
the enemy, and more especially of his being well to leeward,
few of those whose duty did not call them on deck troubled
themselves about the matter at all. This habit of considering
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
his fortune as attached to that of his ship, and of regarding
himself as a point on her mass, as we all look on ourselves as
particles of the orb we accompany in its revolutions, is sufficiently general among mariners; but it was particularly so as
respects the sailors of a fleet, who were kept so much at sea,
and who had been so often, with all sorts of results, in the
presence of the enemy. The scene that was passing in the gunroom at the precise moment at which our tale has arrived, was
so characteristic, in particular, as to merit a brief description.
All the idlers by this time were out of their berths and cotts;
the signs of those who “slept in the country,” as it is termed,
or who were obliged, for want of state-rooms, to sling in the
common apartment, having disappeared. Magrath was reading a treatise on medicine, in good Leyden Latin, by a lamp.
The purser was endeavouring to decipher his steward’s hieroglyphics, favoured by the same light, and the captain of marines was examining the lock of an aged musket. The third and
fourth lieutenants were helping each other to untangle one
of their Bay-of-Biscay reckonings, which had set both plane
and spherical trigonometry at defiance, by a lamp of their own;
and the chaplain was hurrying the steward and the boys along
with the breakfast – his usual occupation at that “witching
time” in the morning.
While things were in this state, the first lieutenant, Mr.
Bury, appeared in the gun-room. His arrival caused one or two
of the mess to glance upward at him, though no one spoke but
the junior lieutenant, who, being an honourable, was at his
ease with every one on board, short of the captain.
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
“What’s the news from deck, Bury?” asked this officer, a
youth of twenty, his senior being a man ten years older. “Is Mr.
de Vervillin thinking of running away yet?”
“Not he, sir; there’s too much of the game-cock about him
for that.”
“I’ll warrant you he can crow! But what is the news, Bury?”
“The news is that the old Planter is as wet as a wash-tub, forward, and I must have a dry jacket – do you hear, there, Tom?
Soundings,” turning to the master, who just then came in from
forward, “have you taken a look out of doors this morning?”
“You know I seldom forget that, Mr. Bury. A pretty pickle
the ship would soon be in, if I forgot to look about me!”
“He swallowed the deep-sea, down in the bay,” cried the
honourable, laughing, “and goes every morning at day-light to
look for it out at the bridle-ports.”
“Well, then, Soundings, what do you think of the third ship
in the French line?” continued Bury, disregarding the levity of
the youth: “did you ever see such top-masts, as she carries, before?”
“I scarce ever saw a Frenchman without them, Mr. Bury.
You’d have just such sticks in this fleet, if Sir Jarvy would stand
them.”
“Ay, but Sir Jarvy won’t stand them. The captain who sent
such a stick up in his ship, would have to throw it overboard
before night. I never saw such a pole in the air in my life!”
“What’s the matter with the mast, Mr. Bury?” put in Magrath,
who kept up what he called constant scientific skirmishes with
the eldersea-officers; the junior being too inexperienced in his
view to be worthy of a contest. “I’ll engage the spar is moulded
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
and fashioned agreeably to the most approved pheelosphical
principles; for in that the French certainly excel us.”
“Who ever heard of moulding a spar?” interrupted Soundings, laughing loudly, “we mould a ship’s frame, Doctor, but
we lengthen andshorten, and scrape and fid her masts.”
“I’m answered as usual, gentlemen, and voted down, I suppose by acclamation, as they call it in other learned bodies.
I would advise no creature that has a reason to go to sea; an
instinct being all that is needed to make a Lord High Admiral
of twenty tails.”
“I should like Sir Jarvy to hear that, my man of books,”
cried the fourth, who had satisfied himself that a book was not
his own forte – “I fancy your instinct, doctor, will prevent you
from whispering this in the vice-admiral’s ear!”
Although Magrath had a profound respect for the commander-in-chief, he was averse to giving in, in a gun-room
discussion. His answer, therefore, partook of the feeling of the
moment.
“Sir Gervaise,” (he pronounced this word Jairvis,) “Sir Gervaise Oakes, honourable sir,” he said, with a sneer, “may be a
good seaman, but he’s no linguist. Now, there he was, ashore
among the dead and dying, just as ignorant of the meaning
of filius nullius, which is boy’s Latin, as if he had never seen
a horn-book! Nevertheless, gentlemen, it is science, and not
even the classics, that makes the man; as for a creature’s getting the sciences by instinct, I shall contend it is against the
possibilities, whereas the attainment of what you call seamanship, is among even the lesser probabilities.”
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
“This is the most marine-ish talk I ever heard from your
mouth, doctor,” interrupted Soundings. “How the devil can a
man tell how to ware ship by instinct, as you call it, if one may
ask the question?”
“Simply, Soundings, because the process of ratiocination is
dispensed with. Do you have to think in waring ship, now? –
I’ll put it to your own honour, for the answer.”
“Think! – I should be a poor creature for a master, indeed,
if much thinking were wanting in so simple a matter as tacking or veering. No – no – your real sea-dog has no occasion
for much thinking, when he has his work before him.”
“That’ll just be it, gentlemen! – that’ll be just what I’m telling ye,” cried the doctor, exulting in the success of his artifice.
“Not only will Mr. Soundings not think, when he has his ordinary duties to perform, but he holds the process itself in merited contempt, ye’ll obsairve; and so my theory is established, by
evidence of a pairty concerned; which is more than a postulate
logically requires.”
Here Magrath dropped his book, and laughed with that sort
of hissing sound that seems peculiar to the genus of which he
formed a part. He was still indulging in his triumph, when the
first tap of the drum was heard. All listened; every ear pricking like that of a deer that hears the hound, when there followed – “r-r-r-ap tap – r-r-r-ap tap – r-r-r-ap tapa-tap-tap –
rap-a-tap – a-rap-a-tap a-rap-a-tap – a-tap-tap.”
“Instinct or reason, Sir Jarvy is going to quarters!” exclaimed
the honourable. “I’d no notion we were near enough to the
Monsieurs, forthat!”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Now,” said Magrath, with a grinning sneer, as he rose to
descend to the cock-pit, “there’ll may be arise an occasion for a
little learning, when I’ll promise ye all the science that can be
mustered in my unworthy knowledge. Soundings, I may have
to heave the lead in the depths of your physical formation, in
which case I’ll just endeevour to avoid the breakers of ignorance.”
“Go to the devil, or to the cock-pit, whichever you please,
sir,” answered the master; “I’ve served in six general actions,
already, and have never been obliged to one of your kidney
for so much as a bit of court-plaster or lint. With me, oakum
answers for one, and canvass for the other.”
While this was saying, all hands were in motion. The sea
and marine officers looking for their side-arms, the surgeon
carefully collecting his books, and the chaplain seizing a dish
of cold beef, that was hurriedly set upon a table, carrying it
down with him to his quarters, by way of taking it out of harm’s
way. In a minute, the gun-room was cleared of all who usually dwelt there, and their places were supplied by the seamen
who manned the three or four thirty-two’s that were mounted
in the apartment, together with their opposites. As the seaofficers, in particular, appeared among the men, their faces assumed an air of authority, and their voices were heard calling
out the order to “tumble up,” as they hastened themselves to
their several stations.
All this time, Sir Gervaise Oakes paced the poop. Bunting
and the quarter-master were in readiness to hoist the new
signal, and Greenly merely waited for the reports, to join the
commander-in-chief. In about five minutes after the drum had
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
given its first tap, these were completed, and the captain ascended to the poop.
“By standing on, on our present course, Captain Greenly,”
observed Sir Gervaise, anxious to justify to himself the evolution he contemplated, “the rear of our line and the van of the
French will be brought within fair range of shot from each
other, and, by an accident, we might lose a ship; since any
vessel that was crippled, would necessarily sag directly down
upon the enemy. Now, I propose to keep away in the Plantagenet, and just brush past the leading French ships, at about
the distance the Warspite will have to pass, and so alter the
face of matters a little. What do you think would be the consequence of such a man[oe]uvre?”
“That the van of our line and the van of the French will be
brought as near together, as you have just said must happen to
the rear, Sir Gervaise, in any case.”
“It does not require a mathematician to tell that much, sir.
You will keep away, as soon as Bunting shows the signal, and
bring the wind abeam. Never mind the braces; let them stand
fast; as soon as we have passed the French admiral, I shall luff,
again. This will cause us to lose a little of our weatherly position, but about that I am very indifferent. Give the order, sir –
Bunting, run up the signal.”
These commands were silently obeyed, and presently the
Plantagenet was running directly in the troughs of the seas,
with quite double her former velocity. The other ships answered promptly, each keeping away as her second ahead came
down to the proper line of sailing, and all complying to the letter with an order that was very easy of execution. The effect,
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
besides giving every prospect of a distant engagement, was to
straighten the line to nearly mathematical precision.
“Is it your wish, Sir Gervaise, that we should endeavour to
open our lee lower ports?” asked Greenly. “Unless we attempt
something of the sort, we shall have nothing heavier than the
eighteens to depend on, should Monsieur de Vervillin see fit
to begin.”
“And will he be any better off? – It would be next to madness to think of fighting the lower-deck guns, in such weather,
and we will keep all fast. Should the French commence the
sport, we shall have the advantage of being to windward; and
the loss of a few weather shrouds might bring down the best
mast in their fleet.”
Greenly made no answer, though he perfectly understood
that the loss of a mast would almost certainly ensure the loss
of the ship, did one of his own heavier spars go. But this was Sir
Gervaise’s greatest weakness as a commander, and he knew it
would be useless to attempt persuading him to suffer a single
ship under his order to pass the enemy nearer than he went
himself in the Plantagenet. This was what he called covering
his ships; though it amounted to no more than putting all of
them in the jeopardy that happened to be unavoidable, as regarded one or two.
The Comte de Vervillin seemed at a loss to understand this
sudden and extraordinary movement in the van of his enemy.
His signals followed, and his crews went to their guns; but it
was not an easy matter for ships that persevered in hugging
the wind to make any material alterations in their relative positions, in such a gale. The rate of sailing of the English, howev-
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
er, now menaced a speedy collision, if collision were intended,
and it was time to be stirring, in order to be ready for it.
On the other hand, all was quiet, and, seemingly, deathlike, in the English ships. Their people were at their quarters,
already, and this is a moment of profound stillness in a vessel
of war. The lower ports being down, the portions of the crews
stationed on those decks were buried, as it might be, in obscurity, while even those above were still partly concealed by the
half-ports. There was virtually nothing for the sail-trimmers
to do, and every thing was apparently left to the evolutions of
the vast machines themselves, in which they floated. Sir Gervaise, Greenly, and the usual attendants still remained on the
poop, their eyes scarcely turning for an instant from the fleet
of the enemy.
By this time the Plantagenct and le Téméraire were little
more than a mile apart, each minute lessening this distance.
The latter ship was struggling along, her bows plunging into
the seas to the hawse-holes, while the former had a swift, easy
motion through the troughs, and along the summits of the
waves, her flattened sails aiding in steadying her in the heavy
lurches that unavoidably accompanied such a movement. Still,
a sea would occasionally break against her weather side, sending its crest upward in a brilliant jet-d’eau, and leaving tons of
water on the decks. Sir Gervaise’s manner had now lost every
glimmering of excitement. When he spoke, it was in a gentle,
pleasant tone, such as a gentleman might use in the society
of women. The truth was, all his energy had concentrated in
the determination to do a daring deed; and, as is not unusual
with the most resolute men, the nearer he approached to the
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
consummation of his purpose, the more he seemed to reject all
the spurious aids of manner.
“The French do not open their lower ports, Greenly,” observed the vice-admiral, dropping the glass after one of his
long looks at the enemy, “although they have the advantage of
being to leeward. I take that to be a sign they intend nothing
very serious.”
“We shall know better five minutes hence, Sir Gervaise.
This ship slides along like a London coach.”
“His line is lubberly, after all, Greenly! Look at those two
ships astern – they are near half a mile to windward of the rest
of the fleet, and at least half a mile astern. Hey! Greenly?”
The captain turned towards the rear of the French, and examined the positions of the two ships mentioned with sufficient deliberation; but Sir Gervaise dropped his head in a musing manner, and began to pace the poop again. Once or twice
he stopped to look at the rear of the French line, then distant
from him quite a league, and as often did he resume his walk.
“Bunting,” said the vice-admiral, mildly, “come this way, a
moment. Our last signal was to keep in the commander-inchief’s wake, and to follow his motions?”
“It was, Sir Gervaise. The old order to follow motions, ‘with
or without signals,’ as one might say.”
“Bend on the signals to close up in line, as near as safe, and
to carry sail by the flag-ship.”
“Ay, ay, Sir Gervaise – we’ll have ‘em both up in five minutes, sir.”
The commander-in-chief now even seemed pleased. His
physical excitement returned a little, and a smile struggled
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