Part 18

From the preceding extract it will have been seen that my motion produced no effect upon the House. It however produced a _cessation of my legislative functions!_ for immediately afterwards I was ordered to join Lord Collingwood’s fleet in the Mediterranean; it being perhaps anticipated that I should vacate my seat in consequence; but this the electors of Westminster prevented, by giving me unlimited leave of absence from my parliamentary duties.

CHAP. XIV.

CRUISE OF THE _IMPÉRIEUSE_.

CRUISE OF THE IMPÉRIEUSE.—ENGAGEMENT WITH THE KING GEORGE.—OFF TOULON.—FALL IN WITH THIRTEEN MERCHANTMEN.—AM RECALLED BY LORD COLLINGWOOD.—RUSSIAN DECLARATION OF WAR.—CAPTURE A VESSEL FROM CORFU.—RUN INTO VALENCIA.—CLEAR FOR ACTION.—DEATH OF LIEUT. CAULFIELD.—CHASE ROUND CAPE NEGRETTI.—BLOW UP A TOWER AT MINORCA.—CAPTURE OF SPANISH WINE.—FALL IN WITH THE LEONIDAS.—CAPTURE A XEBEC.—CHASE THREE SHIPS.—CAPTURE A XEBEC.—CAPE PALOS.—GALE AT SEA.—JOSEPH PROCLAIMED KING OF SPAIN.—SPAIN DECLARES WAR AGAINST FRANCE.

On the 12th of September, 1807, the _Impérieuse_ sailed from Portsmouth to join Lord Collingwood’s fleet in the Mediterranean, having in charge a convoy of thirty-eight sail of merchantmen destined for Gibraltar and Malta. We reached Malta on the 31st of October, and finding that Lord Collingwood was cruising off Palermo, sailed on the 5th of November to join his fleet.

On the 14th, under the land of Corsica, two strange sail were discovered, and it being calm, the boats were manned and gave chase, the larger of the vessels showing English colours. Finding that this _ruse_ did not check the progress of the boats, she hove to, and when they had advanced within musket shot, hauled in her colours and commenced firing with musketry and long guns; the boats, however, dashed alongside, and in five minutes, after considerable slaughter, were in possession.

She proved to be a Maltese privateer of 10 guns; her crew, however, consisting of Russians, Italians, and Sclavonians, the captain only being a Maltese. In this affair we lost one man killed, and two officers and thirteen men wounded. The loss of the privateer was far more considerable, her treachery being severely punished.

I was much vexed at this affair, for the vessel, though hailing from Malta, was in reality a pirate, and ought to have been treated as such. After despatching her to Malta, I addressed the following letter on the subject to Lord Collingwood:—

“H. M. S. _Impérieuse_, off Corsica, 14th Nov. 1807.

“MY LORD,—I am sorry to inform your Lordship of a circumstance which has already been fatal to two of our best men, and I fear of thirteen others wounded two will not survive. These wounds they received in an engagement with a set of desperate savages collected in a privateer, said to be the _King George_, of Malta, wherein the only subjects of his Britannic Majesty were three Maltese boys, one Gibraltar man, and a naturalised captain; the others being renegadoes from all countries, and great part of them belonging to nations at war with Great Britain.

“This vessel, my Lord, was close to the Corsican shore. On the near approach of our boats a union-jack was hung over her gunwale. One boat of the three, which had no gun, went within hail, and told them that we were English. The boats then approached, but when close alongside, the colours of the stranger were taken in, and a volley of grape and musketry discharged in the most barbarous and savage manner, their muskets and blunderbusses being pointed from beneath the netting close to the people’s breasts.

“The rest of the men and officers then boarded and carried the vessel in the most gallant manner. The bravery shown and exertion used on this occasion were worthy of a better cause.

“I have the honour, &c. “COCHRANE.

“The Right Hon. Lord Collingwood.”

This pirate, for the capture of which, as was subsequently learned, 500_l._ had been offered, was after much trouble condemned as a _droit of Admiralty!_ it being evidently hoped that by this course such influence might be brought to bear as would eventually procure her restoration: for it was currently reported at Malta that certain persons connected with the Admiralty Court had a share in her! Be this as it may, we never obtained the premium for her capture, but in place thereof were _condemned by the Court of Admiralty to pay five hundred double sequins_! After this, the Maltese court always threw every obstacle in the way of condemning our prizes, and, when this was effected, with such costs as to render the term “prize” almost a misnomer; a subject on which some strange stories will have to be told in another place.

On the 19th we joined Lord Collingwood’s fleet off Toulon, consisting of the _Ocean_, _Malta_, _Montague_, _Tiger_, _Repulse_, _Canopus_, and _Espoir_. The _Impérieuse_ was forthwith ordered to Malta, to land the wounded, after which we were directed by Lord Collingwood to proceed to the Archipelago, his Lordship giving me an order to supersede the officer in command of the blockading squadron there.

On the 26th we again fell in with the fleet off Sardinia, and on the 29th anchored in Valetta, our pirate prize having arrived on the preceding evening. On the 6th of December, the _Impérieuse_ sailed for the Archipelago, and on the 8th passed between Zante and Cephalonia. On the 11th we joined the blockading squadron in the Adriatic, consisting of the _Unité_, _Thames_, _Porcupine_, and _Weasel_, which were then watching some French frigates in Corfu. On the 12th, the _Impérieuse_ overhauled three Russian vessels, one of which threw overboard three bundles of letters. By prompt exertion we were lucky enough to rescue these, and found them to contain important intelligence.

On arriving off Corfu, and pending the necessary arrangements for transferring the command of the blockading squadron to myself, I asked leave of the senior officer still in command to take a run to the north end of the island. This being granted, we sailed forthwith, and to our surprise soon afterwards fell in with thirteen merchantmen, as leisurely proceeding along the blockaded coast as though we had belonged to their own nation! Singling out the three nearest to us, we took possession of them, and to our astonishment found that each had a pass from the officer I was ordered to supersede!

Despite this unlooked-for protection, I sent them to Malta for adjudication, and they were, I believe, condemned. The immediate result to myself, however—as Lord Collingwood long afterwards told me—was _the withdrawal of my appointment to the command of the blockading squadron_! The commanding officer, whose passes I had intercepted, promptly took the initiative, and without apprising me, despatched one of his vessels to Lord Collingwood, with a letter stating generally that, “_from my want of discretion I was unfit to be entrusted with a single ship, much less with the command of a squadron_!” Lord Collingwood acted on the representation without making inquiry into its cause, and the consequence was my recall to receive further orders from his Lordship, this amounting to my deposition from the only command of a squadron that was ever offered to me.

I was, of course, ignorant of Lord Collingwood’s reasons for recalling me, though greatly disappointed at such a result. It was not till some time afterwards, when too late to remedy the injury, that I ventured to ask his Lordship the reason of such a proceeding. He frankly told me, when I as frankly informed him of the intercepted passes, and that my senior officer had traduced me to his Lordship, by way of first blow in a serious scrape. Lord Collingwood was very indignant, but from the lapse of time, and probably from having neglected to investigate the matter at the time, he thought it better not to reopen it, and thus my traducer continued his pass trade with impunity.

I give the above incident as it occurred. Those to whom such a statement may appear incredible, will find, on consulting the pages of Captain Brenton, that it was not an isolated instance.

I shall add, that on my return from the Mediterranean, in 1809, an officer, who shall be nameless, waited on me at Portsmouth, and begged me not to make official or public mention of the preceding circumstance, or it would be his ruin. I made him no promise, but having then the preparation for the Basque Roads attack on my hands, there was no time to attend to the matter, and as the circumstance had not been officially reported by me at the time—as indeed it did not come within my province to report it—I never afterwards troubled myself about it, though this shameless proceeding had deprived me of the only chance I ever had to command more than a single ship![37]

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Footnote 37:

The excuse offered to me was, that the purser had been making use of the captain’s name, for his own purposes! A very improbable story, as in such a case it would not have been difficult to convict the purser and exonerate himself. The disgraceful letter to Lord Collingwood, however, clearly pointed out the delinquent.

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On the 17th we fell in with a brig bound from Trieste to Lord Collingwood with despatches, announcing that Russia had declared hostilities against England. This intelligence was fortunate, as there were several Russian ships of war in the Gulf, with one of which—a line-of-battle ship—we had fallen in only two days previous.

The professed origin of the declaration of Russia against England was our questionable conduct at Copenhagen. But, notwithstanding the assumption by Russia, that she had endeavoured to serve our cause at Tilsit, there is no doubt but that she was secretly leagued with Napoleon against us. I never knew what was in the letters we rescued, as they were sent to Lord Collingwood; but no doubt they contained important intelligence for the French squadron then in the Archipelago, and, coming from a Russian source, there was little question as to the nature of their contents, which appeared to be conclusive in the estimation of the British authorities.

On the 22nd the _Impérieuse_ stood into the Gulf of Valona under French colours, and saw some vessels close in under the batteries. As soon as it became dark, we manned the boats and brought out a Turkish vessel under the fire of a battery. On the 30th again joined the squadron, and learned that the Russian fleet, consisting of five sail of the line and three frigates, had left Corfu and gone up the Adriatic.

On the 2nd of January, 1808, we joined Lord Collingwood, the fleet then bearing up in the direction of Syracuse. On the 8th gave chase to some vessels off the south point of Cephalonia, sending the boats after them into the bay; but the enemy being on the alert, and the vessels being run on shore, it became necessary to recall the boats. On the 12th, when off Otranto, we captured a vessel from Corfu to that place, laden with clothing and iron.

On the 23rd we again joined Lord Collingwood off Corfu, and were dispatched to Malta with sealed orders, arriving there on the 28th. Having filled up our water and provisions, the _Impérieuse_ was then ordered to Gibraltar, for which port we sailed on the 31st, my expectations of increased command, thanks to the adroit turn given to my seizure of the intercepted passes, being thus at an end.

The instructions now given me by Lord Collingwood were to harass the Spanish and French coast as opportunity served. These instructions, though forming a poor equivalent for the command of a squadron, were nevertheless considered by me complimentary, as acknowledging the good effected by my former cruises in the _Speedy_. Consequently, I determined to make every exertion to merit his lordship’s approbation in the present instance.

On the 9th of February we made the high land of Spain to the eastward of Barcelona, and at daylight on the following morning fell in with two vessels bound from Carthagena to Marseilles, both of which were captured and sent to Malta with the prisoners.

On the 11th looked into Barcelona, where a considerable number of vessels lay at anchor, but knowing the fortifications to be too strong to warrant success in an attempt to cut any of them out, the _Impérieuse_ again made sail. On the 18th we ran in close to Valencia, and having on the previous day perceived some vessels anchored within a mile of the town, the boats were sent off after dark to capture them, but as they unfortunately proved to be American, our labour was abortive.

On the 15th we arrived off Alicant, and at daylight stood close to the town under American colours. Two boats came out, but finding their mistake when within gunshot, they immediately made for the shore, and the batteries opened fire upon us. As there was no purpose to be answered in returning this, we passed by Cape Palos, where four gunboats showing Russian colours were observed at anchor under the protection of one of the numerous batteries with which the Spanish coast was studded.

On the 17th entered a bay about eight miles to the westward of Carthagena to intercept some vessels observed running along shore. After a long chase with the boats, we succeeded in capturing two. As I had made up my mind to get possession of the gunboats seen two days previously, we stood off out of sight of land in order to lull suspicion, and at sunset on the 19th again steered for the bay in which they were at anchor. At 9 P.M. we distinctly saw them quit their anchorage, on which we cleared for action, remaining undiscovered till they had passed the point which forms one extremity of the bay. They now attempted to return, but too late. Running in amongst them, we opened both our broadsides with effect, and dashing at them with the boats, took one, armed with a 32-pounder, a brass howitzer, and two smaller guns. Another sank with all hands, just as the boats were alongside, and a third sank shortly afterwards. A fourth escaped by running for Carthagena, where we did not think it politic to follow her, lest we might bring upon us the Spanish fleet at anchor there. A brig with a valuable cargo also fell into our hands.

Having received information from the prisoners taken in the gunboats that a large French ship, laden with lead and other munitions of war, was at anchor in the Bay of Almeria, I determined on cutting her out, and the night being dark, it became necessary to bring to. At daylight on the 21st, we found ourselves within a few miles of the town, and having hoisted American colours, had the satisfaction to perceive that no alarm was excited on shore.

The boats having been previously got in readiness, were forthwith hoisted out, and the large pinnace, under the command of Lieutenant Caulfield, dashed at the French ship, which, as the pinnace approached, commenced a heavy fire, in the midst of which the ship was gallantly boarded, but with the loss of poor Caulfield, who was shot on entering the vessel. The other pinnace coming up almost at the same moment completed the capture, and the cable being cut, sail was made on the prize.

Some smaller vessels were also secured, but before we could get clear the wind died away; and the _Impérieuse_ and her prizes were becalmed,—the batteries of the town and citadel opening upon us a heavy fire, which lasted till 11 A.M., when a light breeze carried us out of gun-shot.

Of these batteries our most formidable opponent was a four-gun tower, situated on an eminence above us; but by exercising great care in laying our guns, we contrived to keep this battery from doing mischief, except that now and then they managed to hull the prize, which had been placed between the battery and the frigate. By mid-day, however, we were clear of the batteries, with the prize safe. It was fortunate for us that a breeze sprang up, for had it continued calm, we could not have brought a vessel out in the face of such batteries, not more than half a mile distant.

Neither, perhaps, should we ourselves have so easily escaped, on another account,—for about four o’clock in the afternoon a Spanish ship of the line suddenly appeared in the offing, no doubt with the intention of ascertaining the cause of the firing. We, however, kept close to the wind, and got clear off with the French ship, mounting 10 guns, and two brigs laden with cordage. The scene must have been an interesting one to the people of Almeria, great numbers of the inhabitants lining the shore, though at some risk, as from our position many shots from the _Impérieuse_ must have passed over them.

On the 23rd the frigate arrived at Gibraltar, with the prizes in company, and on the following day we attended the remains of Lieutenant Caulfield to the grave.

On the 2nd of March, we received orders again to proceed up the Mediterranean together with the _Hydra_, with which vessel we sailed in company on the 4th. Heavy weather setting in, prevented our return to Almeria, as had been intended; but on the 12th we stood close in to the entrance of Carthagena, where only the guardship and a sloop of war were at anchor under strong fortifications. As nothing could be done here, we anchored about two miles to the eastward of the port, in the hope of catching vessels running along shore. At daylight the next morning we gave chase to a ship rounding Cape Negretti, but she escaped into a bay in the vicinity, under the protection of a powerful battery and several gunboats. As we knew nothing of the anchorage we did not attempt to molest them.

On the 13th the _Impérieuse_ steered in the direction of Majorca, near which, on the 19th, we captured a vessel bound to Port Mahon. At daylight on the 21st went in close to the entrance of Mahon, where we found the Spanish fleet at anchor, and captured a brig within three miles of the shore, sending her on the following day to Gibraltar, with some prisoners taken out of another brig on the previous evening by the _Hydra_.

On the 23rd fell in with the _Renommé_, to which we reported that the Spanish fleet was in Mahon harbour. After supplying us with water, she parted company for Gibraltar. On the 26th we again made Port Mahon, where six sail of the Spanish fleet appeared to be in readiness for sea. Seeing a sloop to leeward, we made sail in chase, and captured her in the evening; she was bound from Port Mahon to Sardinia.

On the 28th at daylight, having observed some vessels in Alcudia Bay, we sent in the boats; these soon afterwards returning with a tartan laden with wine, which we sent to Gibraltar; soon afterwards we captured another partly laden with wine, which we took out and set her adrift. On the 29th gave chase to two vessels rounding an island; one succeeded in getting in safe, the other, under Moorish colours, we took, notwithstanding the fire of the forts, and sent her to Malta; she had several male and female passengers on board, who were highly delighted when, two days afterwards, we put them on shore.

On the 2nd of April the _Impérieuse_ was again close to Minorca, when reconnoitring a small bay we observed a strong tower, apparently just built. Landed, and blew it up without molestation from the inhabitants. Though ready for an armament, none had been placed upon it.

On the 5th at daylight, passed close to Cittadella in chase of a vessel which escaped; made sail after a brig coming from the direction of Majorca; at 3 P.M. she ran in shore, and anchored under a small fort, which opened a smart fire upon us, but was soon silenced. The crew then abandoned the brig, which was brought off and sent to Gibraltar.

On the 6th, again reconnoitred Port Mahon, and saw three sail of the line at the entrance of the harbour, ready for sea. On the 8th captured a French brig, laden with 163 pipes of wine for the use of the Spanish fleet at Port Mahon; sent her to Gibraltar, and put the prisoners on shore.

On the 11th, off Cittadella, we captured another vessel, sailing under Moorish colours, but laden with Spanish wine; took out the wine, and as she belonged to the unfortunate Moors who manned her, to their great gratification we gave them back the vessel.

On the 13th it blew so hard, that we were compelled to anchor within range of a pile of barracks placed upon a high cliff—a position certainly not taken by choice. The troops commenced firing, which we returned, and by 4 P.M. had pretty well demolished the barracks. I then dispatched an officer in the gig with a barrel of powder to complete the work, but just as they had got up, a large reinforcement of troops came upon them and compelled them to make a retreat, leaving the powder behind them. After this we got under weigh.

On the 18th fell in with the _Leonidas_, which on the previous day had left Lord Collingwood with 16 sail of the fine. Parted company in quest of the fleet, but did not fall in with it.

On the 22nd we re-entered Alcudia Bay, and sent the pinnace ashore, when she captured some sheep. On the following day another boat’s crew managed to procure some bullocks and pigs, which were very acceptable, but all their efforts to obtain water failed.

A few days previous to this, when close to Majorca, we had been fired upon from the small battery of Jacemal, and having subsequently reconnoitred it more closely, it appeared practicable to destroy it by a night attack. Accordingly, we again ran in, and soon reaching the tower, blew it up, dismounting three guns. A guard-house near the battery was set on fire, after which we returned to the frigate without loss. At daylight on the following morning we had the gratification to perceive that our work had been effectual, the whole being in ruins. As the place stood on an eminence very difficult of access, and commanding two bays, its demolition was desirable.

On the 26th fell in with the _Leonidas_, which had been in quest of, but had not succeeded in falling in with, Lord Collingwood’s fleet. From her we learnt that the French fleet was at anchor in Corfu. On ascertaining this, I determined on paying another visit to the Spanish coast, and accordingly parted company with the _Leonidas_.

At daylight on the 27th, observing a brig and a smaller vessel in shore, made sail in chase. The brig got safe into Palamos Bay, where there were several other vessels deeply laden, but well protected by forts and gunboats. The smaller vessel was boarded by Mr. Harrison in the gig, before she had time to get under the forts, but perceiving a large galley full of men in pursuit of him, he was obliged to relinquish the prize, and make for the frigate; the galley pressed him hard, but on perceiving the _Impérieuse_ bringing to for her reception, she gave up the chase, and the gig returned in safety.