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THE TWO ADMIRALS
continued boldly on, with his larboard tacks aboard, always
hugging the wind, even after the Téméraire was round; and M.
Comptant chose to follow him in la Victoire. The Plantagenet,
by this time, being not a mile distant from the Scipio, coming
on with steady velocity, these intentions and circumstances
created every human probability that she would soon be passing her weather beam, within a quarter of a mile, and, consequently, that a cannonade, far more serious than what had yet
occurred, must follow. The few intervening minutes gave Sir
Gervaise time to throw a glance around him, and to come to
his final decision.
The English fleet was never in better line than at that precise moment. The ships were as close to each other as comported with safety, and every thing stood and drew as in the
trade winds. The leading French vessels were waring and increasing their distance to leeward, and it would require an
hour for them to get up near enough to be at all dangerous
in such weather, while all the rest were following, regardless
of the two that continued their luff. The Chloe had already
got round, and, hugging the wind, was actually coming up to
windward of her own line, though under a press of canvass
that nearly buried her. The Active and Driver were in their
stations, as usual; one on the weather beam, and the other on
the weather bow; while the Druid had got so near as to show
her hull, closing fast, with square yards.
“That is either a very bold, or a very obstinate fellow; he,
who commands the two ships ahead of us,” observed Greenly,
as he stood at the vice-admiral’s side, and just as the latter ter-
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
minated his survey. “What object can he possibly have in braving three times his force in a gale like this?”
“If it were an Englishman, Greenly, we should call him a
hero! By taking a mast out of one of us, he might cause the loss
of the ship, or compel us to engage double our force. Do not
blame him, but help me, rather, to disappoint him. Now, listen,
and see all done immediately.”
Sir Gervaise then explained to the captain what his intentions really were, first ordering, himself, (a very unusual course
for one of his habits,) the first lieutenant, to keep the ship off
as much as practicable, without seeming to wish to do so; but,
as the orders will be explained incidentally, in the course of
the narrative, it is not necessary to give them here. Greenly
then went below, leaving Sir Gervaise, Bunting, and their auxiliaries, in possession of the poop. A private signal had been
bent on some little time, and it was now hoisted. In about five
minutes it was read, understood, and answered by all the ships
of the fleet. Sir Gervaise rubbed his hands like a man who was
delighted, and he beckoned to Bury, who had the trumpet on
the quarter-deck, to join him on the poop.
“Did Captain Greenly let you into our plot, Bury,” asked
the vice-admiral, in high good-humour, as soon as obeyed, “I
saw he spoke to you in going below?”
“He only told me, Sir Gervaise, to edge down upon the
Frenchmen as close as I could, and this we are doing, I think,
as fast as mounsheer” – Bury was an Anglo-Gallican – “will
at all like.”
“Ah! there old Parker sheers bravely to leeward! Trust to
him to be in the right place. The Carnatic went fifty fathoms
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
out of the line at that one twist. The Thunderer and Warspite too! Never was a signal more beautifully obeyed. If the
Frenchmen don’t take the alarm, now, every thing will be to
our minds.”
By this time, Bury began to understand the man[oe]uvre.
Each alternate ship of the English was sheering fast to leeward,
forming a weather and a lee line, with increased intervals between the vessels, while all of them were edging rapidly away,
so as greatly to near the enemy. It was apparent now, indeed,
that the Plantagenet herself must pass within a hundred fathoms of the Scipio, and that in less than two minutes. The delay in issuing the orders for this evolution was in favour of
its success, inasmuch as it did not give the enemy time for deliberation. The Comte de Chélincourt, in fact, did not detect
it; or, at least, did not foresee the consequences; though both
were quite apparent to the more experienced capitaine de fré-
gate astern. It was too late, or the latter would have signalled
his superior to put him on his guard; but, as things were, there
remained no alternative, apparently, but to run the gauntlet,
and trust all to the chances of battle.
In a moment like that we are describing, events occur much
more rapidly than they can be related. The Plantagenet was
now within pistol-shot of le Scipion, and on her weather bow.
At that precise instant, when the bow-guns, on both sides, began to play, the Carnatic, then nearly in a line with the enemy,
made a rank sheer to leeward, and drove on, opening in the very
act with her weather-bow guns. The Thunderer and Warspite
imitated this man[oe]uvre, leaving the Frenchman the cheerless prospect of being attacked on both sides. It is not to be
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
concealed that M. de Chélincourt was considerably disturbed
by this sudden change in his situation. That which, an instant
before, had the prospect of being a chivalrous, but extremely
hazardous, passage in front of a formidable enemy, now began
to assume the appearance of something very like destruction.
It was too late, however, to remedy the evil, and the young
Comte, as brave a man as existed, determined to face it manfully. He had scarcely time to utter a few cheering sentiments,
in a dramatic manner, to those on the quarter-deck, when the
English flag-ship came sweeping past in a cloud of smoke, and
a blaze of fire. His own broadside was nobly returned, or as
much of it as the weather permitted, but the smoke of both
discharges was still driving between his masts, when the dark
hamper of the Carnatic glided into the drifting canopy, which
was made to whirl back on the devoted Frenchman in another
torrent of flame. Three times was this fearful assault renewed
on the Scipio, at intervals of about a minute, the iron hurricane first coming from to windward, and then seeming to be
driven back from to leeward, as by its own rebound, leaving no
breathing time to meet it. The effect was completely to silence
her own fire; for what between the power of the raging elements, and the destruction of the shot, a species of wild and
blood-fraught confusion took the place of system and order.
Her decks were covered with killed and wounded, among the
latter of whom was the Comte de Chélincourt, while orders
were given and countermanded in a way to render them useless, if not incoherent. From the time when the Plantagenet
fired her first gun, to that when the Warspite fired her last,
was just five minutes by the watch. It seemed an hour to the
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
French, and but a moment to their enemies. One hundred and
eighty-two men and boys were included in the casualties of
those teeming moments on board the Scipio alone; and when
that ship issued slowly from the scene of havoc, more by the
velocity of her assailants in passing than by her own, the foremast was all that stood, the remainder of her spars dragging
under her lee. To cut the last adrift, and to run off nearly before the wind, in order to save the spars forward, and to get
within the cover of her own fleet, was all that could now be
done. It may as well be said here, that these two objects were
effected.
The Plantagenet had received damage from the fire of her
opponent. Some ten or fifteen men were killed and wounded; her main-top-sail was split by a shot, from clew to earing;
one of the quarter-masters was carried from the poop, literally dragged overboard by the sinews that connected head
and body; and several of the spars, with a good deal of rigging, required to be looked to, on account of injuries. But no
one thought of these things, except as they were connected
with present and pressing duties. Sir Gervaise got a sight of
la Victoire, some hundred and twenty fathoms ahead, just as
the roar of the Carnatic’s guns was rushing upon his ears. The
French commander saw and understood the extreme jeopardy
of his consort, and he had already put his helm hard up.
“Starboard – starboard hard, Bury!” shouted Sir Gervaise
from the poop. “Damn him, run him aboard, if he dare hold on
long enough to meet us.”
The lieutenant signed with his hand that the order was
understood, and the helm being put up, the ship went whirl-
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
ing off to leeward on the summit of a hill of foam. A cheer
was heard struggling in the tempest, and glancing over his left
shoulder, Sir Gervaise perceived the Carnatic shooting out of
the smoke, and imitating his own movement, by making another and still ranker sheer to leeward. At the same moment
she set her main-sail close-reefed, as if determined to outstrip
her antagonist, and maintain her station. None but a prime
seaman could have done such a thing so steadily and so well,
in the midst of the wild haste and confusion of such a scene. Sir
Gervaise, now not a hundred yards from the Carnatic, waved
high his hat in exultation and praise; and old Parker, alone on
his own poop, bared his grey hairs in acknowledgment of the
compliment. All this time the two ships drove madly ahead,
while the crash and roar of the battle was heard astern.
The remaining French ship was well and nimbly handled.
As she came round she unavoidably sheered towards her enemies, and Sir Gervaise found it necessary to countermand his
last order, and to come swiftly up to the wind, both to avoid
her raking broadside, and to prevent running into his own
consort. But the Carnatic, having a little more room, first kept
off, and then came to the wind again, as soon as the Frenchman had fired, in a way to compel him to haul up on the other
tack, or to fall fairly aboard. Almost at the same instant, the
Plantagenet closed on his weather quarter and raked. Parker
had got abeam, and pressing nearer, he compelled la Victoire
to haul her bowlines, bringing her completely between two
fires. Spar went after spar, and being left with nothing standing but the lower masts, the Plantagenet and Carnatic could
not prevent themselves from passing their victim, though each
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
shortened sail; the first being already without a top-sail. Their
places, however, were immediately supplied by the Achilles
and the Thunderer, both ships having hauled down their staysails to lessen their way. As the Blenheim and Warspite were
quite near astern, and an eighteen-pound shot had closed the
earthly career of the poor capitaine de frégate, his successor
in command deemed it prudent to lower his ensign; after a
resistance that in its duration was unequal to the promise of
its commencement. Still the ship had suffered materially, and
had fifty of her crew among the casualties. His submission terminated the combat.
Sir Gervaise Oakes had now leisure and opportunity to look
about him. Most of the French ships had got round; but, besides being quite as far astern, when they should get up abeam,
supposing himself to remain where he was, they would be at
very long gun-shot dead to leeward. To remain where he was,
however, formed no part of his plan, for he was fully resolved
to maintain all his advantages. The great difficulty was to take
possession of his prize, the sea running so high as to render
it questionable if a boat would live. Lord Morganic, however,
was just of an age and a temperament to bring that question
to a speedy issue. Being on the weather-beam of la Victoire, as
her flag came down, he ordered his own first lieutenant into
the larger cutter, and putting half-a-dozen marines, with the
proper crew, into the boat, it was soon seen dangling in the air
over the cauldron of the ocean; the oars on-end. To lower, let
go, and unhook, were the acts of an instant; the oars fell, and
the boat was swept away to leeward. A commander’s commission depended on his success, and Daly made desperate efforts
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
to obtain it. The prize offered a lee, and the French, with a
national benevolence, courtesy, and magnanimity, that would
scarcely have been imitated had matters been reversed, threw
ropes to their conquerors, to help to rescue them from a very
awkward dilemma. The men did succeed in getting into the
prize; but the boat, in the end, was stove and lost.
The appearance of the red flag of England, the symbol of
his own professional rank, and worn by most under his own
orders, over the white ensign of France, was the sign to Sir Gervaise that the prize-officer was in possession. He immediately
made the signal for the fleet to follow the motions of the commander-in-chief. By this time, his own main-sail, close-reefed,
had taken the place of the torn top-sail, and the Plantagenet
led off to the southward again, as if nothing unusual had occurred. Daly had a quarter of an hour of extreme exertion on
board the prize, before he could get her fairly in motion as he
desired; but, by dint of using the axe freely, he cut the wreck
adrift, and soon had la Victoire liberated from that incumbrance. The fore-sail and fore and mizzen stay-sails were on
the ship, and the main-sail, close-reefed also, was about to be
set, to drag her-from the mêlée of her foes, when her ensign
came down. By getting the tack of the latter aboard, and the
sheet aft, he would have all the canvass set the gale would allow, and to this all-essential point he directed his wits. To ride
down the main-tack of a two-decked ship, in a gale of wind, or
what fell little short of a real gale, was not to be undertaken
with twenty men, the extent of Daly’s command; and he had
recourse to the assistance of his enemies. A good natured, facetious Irishman, himself, with a smattering of French, he soon
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THE TWO ADMIRALS
got forty or fifty of the prisoners in a sufficient humour to lend
their aid, and the sail was set, though not without great risk of
its splitting. From this moment, la Victoire was better off, as
respected the gale and keeping a weatherly position, than any
of the English ships; inasmuch as she could carry all the canvass the wind permitted, while she was relieved from the drift
inseparable from hamper aloft. The effect, indeed, was visible
in the first hour, to Daly’s great delight and exultation. At the
end of that period, he found himself quite a cable’s-length to
windward of the line. But in relating this last particular, events
have been a little anticipated.
Greenly, who had gone below to attend to the batteries,
which were not worked without great difficulty in so heavy a
sea, and to be in readiness to open the lower ports should occasion offer, re-appeared on deck just as the commander-in-chief
showed the signal for the ships to follow his own motions. The
line was soon formed, as mentioned, and ere long it became
apparent that the prize could easily keep in her station. As
most of the day was still before him, Sir Gervaise had little
doubt of being able to secure the latter, ere night should come
to render it indispensable.
The vice-admiral and his captain shook hands cordially on
the poop, and the former pointed out to the latter, with honest
exultation, the result of his own bold man[oe]uvres.
“We’ve clipped the wings of two of them,” added Sir Gervaise, “and have fairly bagged a third, my good friend; and,
God willing, when Bluewater joins, there will not be much difficulty with the remainder. I cannot see that any of our vessels
have suffered much, and I set them all down as sound. There’s
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
been time for a signal of inability, that curse to an admiral’s
evolutions, but no one seems disposed to make it. If we really
escape that nuisance, it will be the first instance in my life!”
“Half-a-dozen yards may be crippled, and no one the worse
for it, in this heavy weather. Were we under a press of canvass,
it would be a different matter; but, now, so long as the main
sticks stand, we shall probably do well enough. I can find no
injury in my own ship that may not be remedied at sea.”
“And she has had the worst of it. ‘Twas a decided thing,
Greenly, to engage such an odds in a gale; but we owe our success, most probably, to the audacity of the attack. Had the enemy believed it possible, it is probable he would have frustrated
it. Well, Master Galleygo, I’m glad to see you unhurt! What is
your pleasure?”
“Why, Sir Jarvy, I’ve two opportunities, as a body might say,
on the poop, just now. One is to shake hands, as we always
does a’ter a brush, you knows, sir, and to look a’ter each other’s
health; and the other is to report a misfortin that will bear
hard on this day’s dinner. You see, Sir Jarvy, I had the dead
poultry slung in a net, over the live stock, to be out of harm’s
way; well, sir, a shot cut the lanyard, and let all the chickens
down by the run, in among the gun-room grunters; and as they
never half feeds them hanimals, there isn’t as much left of the
birds as would make a meal for a sick young gentleman. To my
notion, no one ought to have live stock but the commandersin-chief.”
“To the devil with you and the stock! Give me a shake of
the hand, and back into your top – how came you, sir, to quit
your quarters without leave?”
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