The Autobiography of a Man-o'-War's Bell. A tale of the sea ... With illustrations

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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A MAN-O'-WAR'S BELL. I stepped forward, eagerly seized a paper, when, oh, horror! there appeared be Lore my eyes, as I hastily opened the slip, the single word — Death !" THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A MAN-O'-WAR'S BELL % Stale of the $r& BY LIEUT. C. R. LOW (late) I.N. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON AND NEW YORK GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS 1875 [All rights reserved.] London : Printed by Simmons _ Botten, Shoe Lane, E.C. THE gtfitobiojgraphg of a JPan-o'-tto's gdl

Chapter I

The autobiography of most bells, of those, indeed, with which the generality of the kind folk, who will favour me by perusing the following pages, are familiar, would deal with subjects far dissimilar from those of which I am about to treat. In this category of bells, I do not allude to such humble productions of human ingenuity as the household implements which lie in rows in the basement floors of all modern houses ; though, doubtless, were the tongues of many such to give utterance to their feelings, they could tell some unpleasant truths of the opinions of " their betters," freely ventilated by the servant-kind, who "live and move and have their being" in the kitchen, and the regions that "thereunto adjacent lie." Dear me ! what tales of cross-grained mis tresses and dyspeptic masters, could not these bells, os a Man-o'- War's Bell. 2 well-nigh dinned to death by continuous and violent tintinnabulations, unfold to mortal ears.

No, I pass by the domestic bell as unworthy my muse ; I tune my lyre to a more pretentious lay than the retailing of the adventures of such very small fry. Neither am I about to sing of the experiences of the solemn and highly respectable class that are to be heard, but not seen, in contradistinction to the golden rule laid down for the guidance of all little boys and girls, ancl of which we have a lively remembrance from our earliest infancy, high up in the ivy-grown church tower. These bells speak of time and eternity, of births, marriages, and of deaths ; and their voices recall to mind the saddest and most solemn, as well as the happiest moments of our life. But upon this theme I will not dwell. It is of the bell of a man-of-war, the great bell of a majestic ship of the line, that I now propose to write; and, after just premising the circumstances under which I heard the narrative I am about to relate, I will stand on one side, and allow the time-honoured tongue (I cannot degrade it by applying to it the homely title of clapper) to wag in its cavernous old jaws and speak for itself, as it has so often and so effectually done midst the battle and the breeze in days long, long gone by.

One hot summer day— it was just such another Man-o'- War's Bell. 3 grilling afternoon as Charles Dickens describes with marvellous graphic power in " Little Dorrit " — I was strolling about the museum of the Royal United Service Institution, and inspecting the interesting and curious collection of odds and ends in the naval department of the museum. I say inspecting, advisedly, for had it been the winter-time of year, or had the thermometer marked a range some twenty degrees lower, one would have been inclined to wonder at and admire the models, and particularly the Nelson and Franklin relics, but with the mercury at eighty and something or another degrees — I forget the odd number, it was too hot to count — how could any mortal be expected to do aught that militated against the adoption of the nil admirari principle of viewing things.

No, the one thing a man could do with success, under conditions that would have melted the stoutest frame, was to, in short, take a nap ; so I thought at the time, and as there was no one in that portion of the museum, and I felt overcome with sleep, I thought I would just indulge in forty winks ! Vast heaving ! paul,* there. When I said just now, there was no one, I should have excepted the worthy porter, an old petty officer * The " pauls " are stops in the capstan, which prevent it from going back when heaving round. Alan-o'-War's Bell. 4 of the navy, for whom I entertained a regard, having had many a chat with him about matters and models, nautical ; but still he was of no account on this occa sion, as I know from testimony, auricular as well as optical, that he was sleeping the sleep of the weary, for he was snoring in the most uncompromising manner.

By the by, I hope this revelation, given in strict confidence, may not fall under the observation of any of the authorities at the Royal United Service Institution, so that it may in any way prejudice the interests of the old petty officer in question. Feeling overcome with the heat, I looked about for a seat, and, at length, " brought myself to an anchor" near a great bell, an inscription over which informed me that it was the bell of the French line of-battle ship, "Ville de Paris," the flag-ship of Admiral Count de Grasse, in his memorable action with Lord Rodney, on the 12th of April, in the year 1782. I gazed long and curiously at this interesting relic of that famous fight, and of the brave men who immortalized themselves on that day, s'o long, indeed, that I found myself musing over the stirring events that were enacted beneath its shadow on the high forecastle, and the tales it could tell were its iron tongue gifted with language.

From first musing, 1 found myself nodding — bad examples, we know, are os a Alan-o'-War's Bell. 5 contagious; and just then I was startled by a loud snort from my friend the porter, followed by a renewal of the gentle snoring, indicative of profound repose, so nothing loth, I resigned myself to the blandishments of the " sleepy god," and fell into a deep slumber. "What, you would like to hear something of my early life," said a deep muffled voice at my side. Now, though this question proceeded from the bell that I had been so attentively regarding, the pheno menon of an inanimate object, like a ship's bell, entering into conversation, did not strike me as in the least singular ; indeed, in our dreams, though we deal almost exclusively with phenomena, and discard common sense views of everything, nothing strikes us as extraordinary.

" Yes," I replied ; " I should like nothing better than to hear the story of vour life." "Listen, then," said the bell; and straightway, without more ado, it unfolded in deep sepulchral tones, the following veracious narrative, being the Autobiography of a Man-of- War's Bell : — I was cast in the year 1757 at a foundry in the south of England, and I remember debating with a lot of my brothers and sisters who first saw the light, as you would say, at the same time as myself, as to what might be the fate of each of us. I wonder how many of them are in the land of the living now. Though most of the number were destined for peace ful purposes, and not to ring forth war's alarms, and calls to "fire quarters," yet, I doubt not, many came to grief, and gave evidence of a flaw, or " cracked their cheeks," diseases to which we are, from our composi tion, peculiarly susceptible, long years ere this.

However that may be, I must not be indulging in sentiment, as if you have only patience to listen, I have a great deal to tell you. I was taken down with a wagon-load of others to Portsmouth, and speedily found myself on board one of the frigates of His late Majesty King George the Second. The " Melpomene " was fitting out for service in the year 1757, and I was proud enough, I assure you, to be selected for duty on board such a handsome ship, one of the crack frigates of the ser vice. I saw some queer sights during the time she was being fitted out. Those were the days of press gangs, and in seaport towns it was a dangerous thing for a man who could not give a satisfactory account of himself, to be seen wandering about. Often such fellows were brought on board, quite insensible with drink, the man-o'-war perhaps sailed The A&tobiography of a As an-o' -War's Bell. 7 the following morning, and the deluded wretches did not regain their consciousness until the ship was far out on the blue waters, and all chance of return to their friends was at an end.

Several such instances came under my personal cognizance, and on numerous occasions during the many years after this, my first induction to a seafaring life, I have been shipmates with gentlemen of good birth, who were thus entrapped into the navy ; such cases occurred during the commission of the "Melpomene," and the romantic history attaching to these men, of which I propose now to speak, will, I trust, interest the readers of my autobiography, as much as they interested me during its development. In 1757, there was a great want of foremast hands for the navy, and, in consequence, the press gangs were particularly busy at their detestable trade, now happily abolished. No less than seventy-eight of the hands out of the frigate's crew of four hundred and seventy men, all told, had been impressed into the navy at different seaports, and sent down to Portsmouth to be drafted on board the ships of war in which there might be a paucity of seamen.

Strong guards were required to escort pressed men, in con sequence of the indignation the system excited in the minds of the populace, who frequently turned out in mobs, and released the unhappy fellows who had been seized or cajoled into " fighting the French," which was the seductive phraseology used by the " crimps," in seeking to induce landsmen to join His Majesty's fleet, though a portion of the navy was serving in distant climes, where the French and prize-money were not to be found. There was another method also of recruiting for the service besides pressing, and that was by the time-honoured mode of cajolery, which, indeed, is out of date now a-days. Soldiers and sailors had to be procured, and they were procured in the same way as the Jew is said to have directed his son to get money — " honestly, Moses, if you can, but get it."

The manner of recruiting, therefore, not being closely scrutinized, the results only being looked to, a school of harpies, or land-sharks, sprang into existence, who lived by inveigling " likely," but unwary, men into the hands of the recruiting parties, getting a portion of the bounty for each fresh hand they shipped. No sooner had I joined the "Melpomene'' than I commenced to adopt the habit I have since practised all my life, and which is now in me a second nature — namely, that of studying the faces of those with whom I may be thrown into contact, and form ing therefrom my own opinion of their characteristics. Alan-o'- War's Bell. 9 I then watch with interest the gradual development of character, as shown by acts, which are the great, and, indeed, the only touchstone of what is in a man, and what a man is.

From long observation I have become such an adept in the art, which like everv other is perfected by practice, that I find I am now rarely at fault in the estimate I first form of those falling under the scope of my personal observation. I was scarcely settled in my place at the back of the top-gallant forecastle, a fine position for observing all that went on around, than I began to take notice of the men and boys whose duty it was to strike the hours upon me. This was done by means of a short line or lanyard that was fastened to the knob at the end of my tongue, and was the work of one of the quartermasters, a friend of mine, who took the greatest interest in keeping me clean and bright as a new pin. The lanyard was a perfect work of art, manufactured of the finest cords, which the quarter master had bought with his own private money, and worked up at some expenditure of time and trouble, and then studded at intervals with fancy knots, that only an experienced seaman could have wrought.

While making this elaborate ornament, and, after it was finished, when cleaning me every morning with bits of rag dipped into a small saucer filled with lamp Alan-o'-War's Bell. 10 oil, cunningly concocted with other ingredients, he would talk to me just as if I was one of his own species and could answer him. However, he used to say I amply repaid him for all the time and trouble expended on my adornment, for he was never tired of reiterating that I was the sweetest-sounding bell he had ever been shipmates with. To be candid, I think he was not very wide of the mark, for " though I say it as shouldn't," I was never tired of hearing the mellifluous sounds ring out, as my tongue sounded loud and clear the hours and the half hours, or " the bells," as they call them on board ship. During the years I was on board the " Melpomene," they echoed through the frigate, day and night without once ceasing, except when in action.

Aha ! I think I hear some one of my readers exclaim, " Though your voice was strong and melli fluous, you had your weak points, and we have not been long in finding out that personal vanity is one of them." To the sharp individual who has probed mv "weak point," as he calls my self-complacency, I can only reply that " it is a fault I have in common with a large majority of mankind, who love to hear them selves talk on all occasions and in all places ; and I suppose, my kind censor, I contracted the bad habit Man-o'-War's Bell. 11 from having been thrown all my life among your fellow-creatures." As Lord Palmerston once said to Mr. Cobdcn, when they had a sharp and acrimonious encounter across the table of the House of Commons, " I always like to give as good as I get." The "Melpomene" was a crack 48-gun frigate; this was her first commission, and the captain was considered exceedingly fortunate in having been appointed to command the latest accession to the navy — a ship in all respects as handsome as any in the service.

He was given almost carte blanche in his requirements while fitting her out for his pennant, and having good interest with my Lords — Parliamentary interest which was everything in those days, and by the same " token " (as the Irish say) is not a bad thing in the present year of grace — he found the dockyard and harbour authorities very amenable, and had no difficulty in securing all the stores he required for a long commission. Captain the Honourable Jasper Gaisford, was a fine, sailor-like officer, and worthy the confidence reposed in him, and the high responsibility of commanding in a time of war one of the representative ships, as it were, of the service, a heavily armed frigate, specially designed and manned beyond her proper com plement, by more than a hundred hands, with the Alan-o'- War's Bell. 12 avowed object of engaging frigates of the enemy in single combat.

The times in which our tale is laid were stirring times. In the month of May of the previous year, war had been declared against France, and on the 14th March, 1757, was consummated one of the most disgraceful acts in the history of this country. On that day Admiral Byng was shot on the quarter deck of the flagship of the Admiral Commanding in-chief at Portsmouth. The brave but unfortunate officer met his doom with the calm courage of a sailor. Having taken leave of his friends, he came up on deck at noon under a guard of marines, and handing to a friend a paper exculpating himself from all blame in regard of the disgraceful charges laid to his door, sat down on an armchair, bandaged his own eyes, and giving the signal to the siring party, dropped dead pierced bv five bullets, the whole transaction having occupied only three minutes.

Thus was committed a foul judicial murder, for though Byng showed want of enterprise, if not pusillanimity, in not renewing the indecisive en gagement off Minorca, yet it was owing to the neglect of the ministry of the day in sending to the Mediterranean a fleet notoriously ill-fitted for service and undermanned, and this notwithstanding the pro- TnE Death of Admiral Bvng. M-_ OF .All's BELL. Alan-o'- War's Bell. 13 test of the Admiral himself, that success was rendered impossible. After some changes in the ministry, the elder Pitt, better known as Earl of Chatham, returned to office, nominally under the premiership of the Duke of Newcastle, but in reality he wielded all power. William Pitt found the country disgraced and dispirited, and by his splendid talents and wonderful energy raised it to the highest pinnacle of glory it has perhaps ever attained.

It was at this juncture of affairs that Captain Gaisford commissioned the " Melpomene." The dockyards and arsenals of the kingdom resounded with the clang of preparation, and the Parliament voted money without stint to carry on the war against the ancient foe. The captain strove his utmost to fit his ship out before other commanding officers who had got the start of him, and he succeeded ; for one morning when the flagship "made daybreak" with one of her guns, the " blue Peter " was seen fluttering at our fore-royal mast-head, and before noon the gallant ship was under way down the Channel with her complement of hands filled up, and every man and boy on board anxious to have a brush with any Frenchman that might heave in sight, short of a first-rate. Of course much had to be done after getting out into blue water, in the way of drilling at the Man-o'- War's Bell. 14 guns those of the crew who had never served in the navy.

As far as handiness aloft went, the men who had been bred in the merchant service required little teaching beyond learning those habits of smartness and cleanliness that mark at once the old man-o' war's man ; but in handling the great guns and the small arms (under which are enumerated cutlass, pike, and musket), the merchantmen were as much novices as the greenhorns who began to feel, for the first time, the direful effects of sea-sickness. How ever, healthy Englishmen quickly get over this temporary ailment, and my shipmates soon got all right. They formed as sine a body of men as ever I saw together ; and I remember the first morning they mustered at divisions, toeing a line on the quarter deck in double rows on the starboard ancl port sides, being struck with the gallant appearance they presented, all dressed in their spick-and-span new slops served out to them by the purser, who took care to cut their wages for the same to a pretty tune, for pursers in those days were not very particular as to pounds, shillings, and pence — that is, where Jack's balance was concerned, for I never heard complaints of punctuality and accuracy in paying No. i. This was the first occasion on which I had an opportunity of observing the captain, who appeared to great ad- Man-o'-War's Bell. 15 vantage, as he marched down the lines of noble fellows, all bound to obey his every word and look.

Captain Gaisford was not what is called a fine man, but he was just of the stature and bulk that make the smartest seamen. Somewhat below the middle height, he was well knit and muscular, and looked every inch a sailor. There was an air of com mand about him that at once stamped him as one ac customed to be obeyed, and the self-confidence with which he gave his orders and carried on the duties of the ship, on such occasions as "general quarters," — for the captain of a vessel of war always leaves the details of the management of the discipline and working of the ship to the first lieutenant — this self confidence was inspiring to the officers and men, as nothing tends so much to a lax state of discipline and general inefficiency among the hands before the mast as the knowledge from personal observation, of the fact that "the skipper doesn't know what he is about."

Captain Gaisford knew well what he was about, and all " malingerers " soon discovered that they had come to the wrong ship for shams, when the captain came down into the "sick bay" with the doctor, and closely questioned them, while his dark, piercing eyes looked through and through'"'them, bringing the blush of shame to the cheeks of the Al an-o' -War's Bell. detected " sham Abraham men." The first-lieutenant was a first-rate seaman, and one of the "old school," for even in those days it was becoming antiquated ; I refer to the school that habitually swore at men, and indulged ina quid of tobacco. This manner of naval officer is popularly known as the " Benbow " school, but it would ill become us were we to sneer at a class that has produced redoubtable warriors like Cloudcsley Shovel, and scores of others.

Now-a days one never meets with an officer who has made his way to the quarter-deck " through the hawse pipes," and yet in holding up to admiration our present practice of excluding forecastle men, wre ought not to forget that the proudest triumphs of our navy were gained in the days when such strict rules of exclusiveness were not enforced. Nelson, no mean authority in naval matters, as I suppose even the staunchest upholder of competition for naval cadetships will allow, had a saying " more honour abaft, more seamanship forward." The other officers scarcely call for any comment here, as they do not form prominentmembers of our dramatis persona? . While the captain, accompanied by the first lieutenant, is inspecting the ranks of " The twice two hundred iron men Who all his will obey,'' Alan-o'-War's Bell. 17 we will take advantage of our privilege and jot down notes of any that may attract our attention.

There is nothing in the appearance of the seamen proper — those I mean that have been in the navy, or merchant service — to call for especial notice ; there is the usual liberal allowance of broad shoulders and muscular limbs, with bronzed cheeks and full whiskers, be tokening the hardy tar who has fought his country's battles, or weathered the breeze in all climes, from the frozen north and the Baltic in midwinter to the tropics and the coast of India, where some of them have met the traditional foe of Britain in the struggle for the mastery of that fair empire, at that time in progress under the auspices of Clive on shore, and Watson at sea; indeed, this year, 1757, was signalized by the most memorable event in Indian history, the victory of Plassey, gained over the "subadar" of Bengal, by the soldiers and sailors under those two great commanders.

But when we come to the ranks of the lands men, those who have been recruited by the press gang, or voluntered for service, there are two or three faces that immediately arrest one's attention, as in fact they attracted the notice of the captain, who staved his step in each instance, and asked his first lieutenant some questions as to the name and pre- Alan-o' -War's Bell. 18 vious occupation of the persons alluded to. As three of these individuals will play important parts in the incidents that passed under my observation, I will not apologize for describing them to my readers, as they appeared to me on this my initiation into naval routine. After passing, without a remark, some half a dozen raw young men, who looked as if they had taken to the sea simply because they did not know what in the world else to do with themselves, Captain Gaisford suddenly brought up opposite an aristocratic and very handsome, though dissipated looking man, the last person you would ever have expected to find voluntarily partaking of the exceed ing hard fare of "weevily " biscuits and "salt horse," and performing the uncongenial work of a seaman onboard one of His Majesty's ships.

So, evidently, thought the captain, who, himself of aristocratic con nections, knew a born and bred gentleman when he saw him, notwithstanding the attempt made by this man to disguise himself in order to baffle the curiosity that inspired his superior, and which appeared to be anything but agreeable to him. " What is your name ? " asked Captain Gaisford. "John Mullins, sir," was the reply, accompanied by a graceful bow, which so greatly amused some The Autobiography os a Man-o'- Wat's Bell. 19 weather-beaten, genuine sons of Neptune on the opposite side of the deck, that they could not control themselves, but hiding their honest faces in their hands, grinned hugely and audibly behind those " horny " extremities. His attention being then called to the mistake he had made, John Mullins, quickly raised his hand, and, naval fashion, touched the rim of his hat, with the forefinger ancl thumb of his right hand, while, with the extreme sensibility of a gentle man unaccustomed to ridicule, his face flushed a bright crimson all over.

The captain, and Mr. Higham, his first lieutenant, smiled, and the former asked him why he came to sea, and where he came from ? Answering the latter question only, he said some what curtly, " From London, sir." A pause ensued, while Captain Gaisford waited for a response to his first interrogation. " Well, and why have you come to sea ? Have you no friends on shore who could have helped you to some employ ment ? " This close questioning disconcerted John Mullins, as he called himself. He had clearly not prepared himself for more than the first two interrogatories, or if he had, the piercing glance of his superior confused him in his replies. " Yes, sir," he stammered out, in an unequal Man-o'-War's Bell. 20 attempt to keep up the vulgar accent he had assumed. " I have no friends.'' The officers saw the man was for some object concealing the truth, and as neither of them was in quisitive, they passed on, the commander merely remarking to his first lieutenant, "Oueer sort of fellow; don't know what to make of him.

Is a gentleman though; keep your eye on him, Higham." " Yes, sir," promptly replied that officer. " I'll knock it out of him, or my name isn't Jacob," ancl he turned on one side, and squirted some tobacco juice through one of the open gunports. Had the commander of the " Melpomene " seen the expression that animated the face of the seaman he had just been addressing, as he turned away and continued his inspection, he would have pondered longer on the lineaments of his countenance, and have taxed his memory as to whether he had ever seen that face before. Had he done so, he would have answered the question in the affirmative, though the first meeting took place under widely different auspices from the second. But I must not anticipate. The brave sailor thought nothing more of the circumstance.

I, however, from my vantage around, noted well the entire scene, and was astonished to watch the demoniac expression that, like a dark The Autobiography os a Man-o' -War's Bell. 21 cloud, swept over the handsome but hitherto stolid features of the " landsman," while his eyes fol lowed the retreating figure of his unsuspect ing superior, with a gleam of malignity that betokened, I thought at the time, a condition of insanity. The two officers passed several men who looked like mechanics, or shopmen ; clearly, some at least of them were the fruits of the press-gang, and Captain Gaisford prudently forebore to ask any questions, but stilled the promptings of his con science by a reference to the " exigencies of the service." Crossing over to the port side of the deck, where they were joined by the second lieutenant, who was in charge, the officers began the inspection ot the port division, and beginning from forward, com menced with the boys and inexperienced seamen, 01 " landsmen," as they were rated on the ship's books There were boys of all sorts — country boys and town boys, strong, healthy youngsters who would do well under the hardships and privations of sea life, and a few puny, and delicate-looking lads, who it didn't require prophetic foresight to predict would languish and fade away, or at least do no good in the pro fession they had selected.

Among the number was a tall, slim youth, with a fine, frank, engaging face that at once arrested the notice of the observant captain. He was a boy of that description, judging from his outward appearance, who would do well anywhere where manliness and resolution were required for success in life. On Captain Gaisford questioning him as to his name and object in coming to sea, he replied with the most amusing frankness and in un exceptionable English, that his name was James Duckworth, and that he wanted to see the world, and was sick of the hum-drum routine of school ; but on a second query being put to him as to the name of the school, he laughed, changed colour, and looked disconcerted. The captain, evidently pleased with his naive manner and manly bearing, did not press for a reply, but directed the first lieutenant to station him at quarters with the signal quartermaster, as he appeared intelligent and smart.