CHAPTER IX.
BOMBARDING CADIZ--A MADCAP EXPEDITION.
Nelson was off Lagos Bay in the middle of March of this year, '97.
"I am here," he wrote to a friend, "looking for the Viceroy of Mexico, with three sail of the line, and hope to meet him. Two first-rates and a 74 are with him; but the bigger the ships the better the mark."
Nelson, however, thought the Spanish ships were the finest in the world; but he added:
"Though they can build ships, thank Heaven the Spaniards cannot build men."
The Spanish ships were undoubtedly splendid and vast, but they were badly fitted, badly found, badly handled, and badly manned.
Nor was it always an easy matter to manœuvre such vast machines of war in a sea way. If battles upon the ocean wave had been fought simply by the antagonists drawing themselves up in two lines and peppering away at each other till one gave in, was blown up, or sunk, the Dons would have had it all their own way--perhaps. But during an engagement of any size the British fleet kept pretty much on the move, delivering terrible broadsides on the foe when least expected.
The Dons didn't like it.
On the 11th of April we find our hero blockading Cadiz, but next day he started for Porto Ferrajo to bring the troops from there. The blockade of Cadiz was therefore entrusted to Sir James Saumarez. This officer had already proved himself to be
A HEART OF OAK.
His story previous to the blockading of Cadiz is briefly as follows: He was born in '57, and joined the service when thirteen years old, and was first employed in the Mediterranean. He soon became a lieutenant, and sailed in the _Bristol_, off America, under Commodore Sir Peter Parker. He took and destroyed many privateersmen here. Under Lord Howe, he commanded at Rhode Island a galley, which he burned to prevent it falling into the hands of the enemy. Returning home in the _Leviathan_, he, after some service in the Channel fleet, sailed in the _Fortitude_, and went with Sir Hyde Parker to the North Sea. Next we find him sailing with a detachment of the Channel fleet, and being the first to sight the squadron of Count de Guicheni, and so well did he behave on this occasion that he was soon after appointed captain of the _Russel_, 74 guns, though then only twenty-four years of age.
In 1793 we find Saumarez boldly fighting the French frigate _Reunion_, off Cherbourg, for which he received the honour of knighthood.
He was next made captain of the _Orion_, and cruised with the Channel fleet.
And in the battle off St. Vincent it was this brave fellow, who with his 74, the _Orion_, captured the 112-gun ship _Salvador del Mundo_, without the loss of a man, having only nine wounded.
I ought here to mention the losses on the British side at the battle off St. Vincent. They were not large for so spirited a fight, being but 73 killed and 297 wounded; but in proof that this engagement was more Nelson's victory than anyone else's, it should be remembered that his ship alone suffered a loss of 24 killed and 56 wounded: the next in point of numbers being the _Blenheim_, 12 killed and 49 wounded; Collingwood's _Excellent_, 11 killed and 12 wounded; and Troubridge's _Culloden_, 10 killed and 47 wounded.
* * * * * *
Nelson returned from his cruise sooner than he expected to do, and was appointed in the Cadiz blockade to in-shore duties.
"The fatigue, anxiety, and personal danger incurred in this service," says Pettigrew, "were very great. To confine the enemy as closely as possible to their port, it was the custom every night to send from each of the ships forming the blockade one or more boats, well manned, armed, and supplied with a good store of ammunition, into the very mouth of the harbour.
"These boats were supported by gunboats, which had been expressly fitted out for this occasion, and these could only be protected by the inner line of ships which Admiral Nelson had posted to render the blockade complete, and the escape of any of the Spanish ships nearly impossible."
After the battle off St. Vincent the whole navy of the Dons, it will be remembered, had taken refuge in Cadiz to refit.
"When the boats were all arranged Nelson was in the habit of rowing through them for inspection. The duty was therefore most active, and as far as possible all danger of surprise from the enemy effectually guarded against.
"But the Dons were also well up in this mode of precaution and warfare. They equipped numerous gunboats and launches to check the too near approach of our boats, and many a skirmish thus took place between the Spaniards and our brave fellows."
* * * * * *
On the night of July 3rd began the awful bombardment of Cadiz.
"I wish to make it a warm night at Cadiz," wrote Nelson. "The town and their fleet are prepared, and their gunboats are well advanced. So much the better. If they venture out beyond their walls I shall give Johnnie his full scope for fighting."
Well, Nelson, in an attack by the Spanish gunboats, had probably the narrowest escape of his life he ever had. While in his barge with Captain Freemantle, his coxswain, Sykes, and an ordinary crew of ten men, he was laid aboard by a huge barge from a gunboat rowed by six-and-twenty oars beside officers, all under the command of a brave fellow--Captain Miguel Tyrason. A tougher boat action was never fought by Britons against such fearful odds.
Our men, in fact, fought like lions. It was a hand-to-hand battle with sword, cutlass, and knife. Never before was the personal skill and prowess of this little man Nelson seen to such advantage. Again and again his sword drank blood, and foe after foe fell before him.
Twice too, during the engagement, his life was saved by bold Sykes, who even interposed his own person 'twixt his admiral and the descending sword. The fury of the combat may be best understood from a statement of the results, for not only was the Don's barge beaten, but eighteen were killed, and all the others were wounded and taken prisoners.
If there was a _Heart of Oak_ in humble life on board a ship it was John Sykes, the admiral's coxswain. He was rewarded--after a fashion--by being made a gunner, and consequently a warrant officer, and appointed to the _Andromache_; but the poor fellow was killed on his own deck by the bursting of a gun.
_Sic transit gloria mundi._
The bombardment of Cadiz was a grim and awful affair.
Not only were houses and public buildings laid low, and even churches demolished, but the beautiful city was set on fire in three different places, and, to add to the horror of the situation, the roughs of the populace had it all their own way, and murdered, robbed, or plundered wherever they pleased.
* * * * * *
I have told you, reader, very little about Josiah Nisbet, the step-son of Nelson, for several reasons. Though a very good fellow, he is not my _beau ideal_ of a hero; secondly, he was separated from Tom Bure and Raventree, being made lieutenant of the _Theseus_. But now he comes forward once more--or presently will--in a new light, which shows that he not only had a heart of oak, but had it stowed in the right place.
Nelson, then--though never fond of prize money himself--had for some time been keeping himself awake at night concocting a scheme for the financial ruin of Spain and the aggrandisement of his own beloved country.
HEARTS OF OAK AT SANTA CRUZ.
I am not at all sure, boys--now I come to think of it--that Nelson was not in some way or other distantly related to the Camerons of Lochiel. One of these days I shall "speel" his genealogical tree and have a look round, and if I can see a kilt hung out to dry thereon, or a Highland bonnet and plumes, I shall forthwith claim him as Scotch; then the English bodies may look for a naval hero somewhere else, or whistle their dogs to dance. But if he wasn't a Cameron, he at all events acted on the motto of the Camerons--"Whate'er a man dares he can do."
Mind you, reader, that this is a very excellent motto, for "nothing venture nothing win," and the higher one's aim the higher the mark he hits--if he hits anything.
However, the Cameronian Highlanders' motto does sometimes lead one into difficulty.
It was very shortly, then, after the bombardment of Cadiz that Nelson wrote to Sir John Jervis--or let us now call him the Earl of St. Vincent--proposing his little scheme for the capture of Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz was a place of not the slightest importance, but it was rumoured that a Spanish ship--_El Principe de Asturias_--more richly stored with gold and precious stones than a fairy mine, had arrived at that port from Manilla, and Nelson's idea was to cut her out--in other words, to capture her. This would not only put millions of money into British coffers to carry on the war withal, but tend considerably to the downfall of Spain by helping to impoverish her.
In fact, and in plain English, Nelson intended for a time to masquerade and swagger as a pirate bold or a buccanier. So on the 12th of April we find him writing as follows to his admiral of the fleet:
"My Dear Sir,--Troubridge and I were talking last night about the Viceroy (of Mexico) at Teneriffe. Since I first believed he might have gone there I have endeavoured to make myself master of the situation, and the means of approach by sea and land. I shall speak first of the sea.
"The Spanish ships then generally moor with two cables to the sea, and four cables from their stern to the shore; therefore, though we might not get to be masters of them, should the wind not come off the shore, it does not appear certain we should succeed so completely as we might wish. As to any opposition, except from natural impediments, I should not think it would avail.
"The approach by sea to the anchoring-place is under very high land, therefore the wind is either in from the sea, or squally with calms from the mountains. Sometimes at night a ship may get in with the land wind and moderate weather. So much for the sea attack, which, if you approve, I am ready and willing to risk, or to carry into execution.
"But now comes my plan, which would not fail of success, would immortalize the undertakers,* ruin Spain, and has every prospect of raising our country to a higher pitch of wealth than she has ever yet attained; but here soldiers must be consulted, and I know from experience that, excepting General O'Hara, they have not the same boldness in undertaking a political measure that we (sailors) have. We look to the benefit of our country, and risk our fame every day to serve her. A soldier obeys orders and nothing more.
* By "undertakers" Nelson doesn't refer to the manufacturers of cheap coffins, but those who undertake to carry out his plan of operations.
"By saying soldiers should be consulted, you will guess I mean the army of 3,200 men from Elba, with cannon, mortars, and every implement now embarked. They could do the business in three days, probably much less. I will undertake with a very small squadron to do the naval part.
"The shore, though not very easy of access, is yet so steep that the transports may run in and land the army in one day. The water is conveyed to the town in wooden troughs. This supply cut off would induce a very speedy surrender. Good terms for the town, private property secured to the islanders, and only the delivery of public stores and foreign merchandise demanded, with threats of utter destruction if one gun is fired.
"In fact, sir, the business could not miscarry.
"If," the letter goes on to say, "the six or seven millions sterling thus secured were thrown into circulation in England, what might not be done? It would ensure an honourable peace, with many other blessings."
Such was Admiral Nelson's letter to St. Vincent, or the gist of it at least.
Now had the hero been better supported by soldiers than he was the result might have been a triumph.
The attack, however, was to be a purely naval one. Nelson sailed for Teneriffe on the fifteenth of July, and the passage not being a very long one, got over in under a week. At all events, the fleet which he commanded was discovered on the 21st of July.
This was a bad beginning, and augured nothing but evil fortune to follow.
Probably Nelson had but little idea of the kind of place he had made up his mind to take by storm, for it is fortified by nature. Writing about this unhappy expedition Brenton makes the following remarks:
"Of all the places that ever came under our inspection, none we conceive is more invulnerable to attack or more easily defended than Teneriffe. The island, like most of its neighbours, is a volcanic production, consisting of mountains, ravines, rocks, and precipices. The bay of Santa Cruz affords no shelter for shipping; the shore is nearly a straight line, and the bank so steep that no anchorage can be found beyond the distance of half a mile, and that in forty-five fathoms of water; the beach from north to south is one continued series of broken masses of loose rock and round, smooth stones, smooth either from friction or from the seaweed. On this a perpetual surf breaks, rendering the landing at all times difficult, except at the mole or pier of Santa Cruz. To these obstacles there is another which Nelson experienced in its fullest force. Teneriffe, like all other mountainous countries, is liable to calms, sudden squalls, and violent gusts of wind, which, rushing down the ravines, frequently take a ship's topmasts over the side without a moment's warning.
The fleet, or rather squadron, appointed for the expedition was as follows:
SHIPS. GUNS.
1 Theseus . . . . . 74 2 Culloden . . . . . 74 3 Zealous . . . . . 74 4 Leander . . . . . 50 5 Seahorse . . . . . 38 6 Emerald . . . . . 36 7 Terpsichore . . . 32 8 Fox (cutter) . . . 12
There were many Hearts of Oak among the commanders of these ships as well as daring Nelson, notably Troubridge, Hood, Freemantle, &c. Indeed, to one and all the honour of their country was as dear as life itself.
In the next chapter I have to tell of
A DARK NIGHT'S WORK.