Jean Bart

Chapter I

Infancy of Jean Bart — His Father, Cornille Bart, and Michael Jacobsen, called the Fox OF THE Sea, 5

CHAPTER II. First Experience of Jean Bart at Sea — He

TRANSPORTS ThREE FrENCH LORDS FROM

Calais to the Dutch Fleet, . . • .36 CHAPTER III.

Jean Bart serves under De Ruyter— His First Combat with the English, . . . .60

Chapter IV

Jean Bart and his Sailor, Gaspard Keyser— His Return to Dunkirk — His First Captures as Privateer — The Principal Privateers OF Dunkirk, 83

4 CONTENTS.

Chapter V

Jean Bart in his own Home — His Wife, his Children, his Cousin, the Pastor of Drinkam, 103

Chapter VI

Jean BarI* is Appointed to the Command of a Frigate with the Title of Lieutenant — His Battle on board La Railleuse — The Manner in which he overcame his Son's Fear — Commencement of his Cruises in the North Sea — The Chevalier Forbin — Combat WITH the English — Jean Bart and Forbin are made Prisoners — Their Escape, . 124

CHAPTER Vn.

Jean Bart is appointed Captain of a Frigate,

AND commands A SQUADRON — HiS MOST RE- MARKABLE Exploits — His Visit to the Court — The Means he proposed to prevent the Prince De Conti from being taken Prisoner — Last Cruise of Jean Bart — His Death, 149

JEAN BART.

Chapter I. Infancy Of Jean Bart His Father, Cornille

BART, AND MICHAEL JACOBSEN, CALLED THE FOX OF THE SEA.

On June 27, 1662, the city of Dunkirk celebrated by a joyful festival, its definitive reunion to France in virtue of the newtreaty concluded between Louis XIV. and Charles II., King of England. The royal standard of France had been hoisted upon the principal edifices of the city, and saluted by the artillery from the forts ; the vessels in port were decorated, and their cannons replied to the batteries on shore. The

S bells of all the churches rang merrily, and the celebrated chimes of St. Eloi pealed their most melodious strains. Fireworks illuminated the public squares, and numerous bands of sailors paraded the streets, chanting gay refrains mingled with the cries of, '' Long live the King ! Long live France ! Down with the English ! "

Leaving the populace of Dunkirk to these joyful manifestations, we will visit a small house situated in that part of Church Street nearest the parish then so renowned for its marvellous chimes.

This house, like nearly all of that period, was of irregular form, with high and narrow arched windows ornamented with a trelliswork of lead. The date of its construction was marked in iron figures on the facade. The outer door of the house is open ; let us enter the corridor, cross a small room serving as an ante-chamber, and raising a heavy tapestry portiere, penetrate into the principal apartment, and we shall presently make the acquaintance of the three persons there present.

The walls of the room which had darkcolored, projecting rafters were hung with thick Spanish leather, showing here and there traces of old gilding. At the lower end of this vast apartment stood a large, massive bedstead ; four small walnut columns, black from age, supported the dais and the curtains, composed of a tapestry similar to the portiere, and in designs of variegated red and yellow.

A few large chairs and a fauteuil of the same material, two chests of carved ebony, surmounted by several large Japanese vases completed the furniture of this apartment, which was tiled with china flags of various colors, and dimly lighted by one high window, long and narrow, with small lozengeshaped panes of glass framed in gratings of lead. The sun's declining rays passing through the thick foliage of ivy and hop which shaded the pointed arch of the window, threw a large belt of golden light upon the panes of glass, while the other parts of the apartment remained in obscurity, making a charming picture for admirers of the Rembrandt school.

Three persons, as we have said, occupied this apartment. One was a woman of thirty-eight or forty years, but apparently more aged, for sorrow and solicitude had withered her beauty ; her long mourning garments and the widow's veil thrown over her head, sufficiently explained the sadness which overshadowed her. She was seated in the fauteuil ; against one of the arms leaned a boy of ten or twelve years, with long, light curls, blue eyes, and expressive countenance. He was clothed in a simple vest, woollen breeches, and hose.

This woman was Catherine Jaussen, widow of Master Cornille Bart, who, when living, was one of the most noted privateers or corsair captains of Dunkirk. The child was their son, Jean Bart.

The third person in this scene was a grayhaired, seafaring man, thin visaged, sunburned, and of medium stature ; he wore a doublet of Aumale blue serge fastened with pewter buttons upon which was an anchor in relief ; heavy Flemish hose completed his costume. This man was Jacques Seyrac, a native of Bayonne, and surnamed Hareng-Saiiret, Red-Herring, after his emigration to the nortli. He obtained this sobriquet from his old condition of herring-fisherman which he at first pursued at Dunkirk, but which he abandoned to attach himself to the fortunes of Cornille Bart, and to accompany him in his cruises against the English and the Dutch. Hareng-Saiiret, or simply Sauret, as he was called, was a brave and honest sailor, and somewhat learned, for, an extraordinary thing at that period, he could read fluently, write tolerably, and keep accounts. He was proud of his knowledge, which gave him a certain superiority over his comrades ; and he took advantage of it sometimes to carry his point and impose on them, his opinion ; he was of scrupulous integrity, of tried intrepidity, and of unbounded devotion to his captain, Cornille Bart. After the death of Cornille, he transferred to his widow and her son, the devoted attachment which he had felt for his old master ; on their side, Dame Bart and the little Jean 'had the most entire confidence in him, and regarded him as one of their family. By degrees, he had become the factotum of the house, the counsellor of the lO JEAN BART.

mother, and the preceptor of the child ; for although he attended the classes of the Minim Fathers, Master Sauret pretended that he alone had taught him to read and write. The fact is the pupil was much more pleased with his method than with that of the good Fathers, and if he often yawned over their instructions, he listened to those of Master Sauret with the strictest attention ; because the latter interspersed his teaching with marvellous accounts of seafaring men, narratives of voyages, and of combats on the ocean which excited to the highest degree the boy's interest. He early taught him to know every part of a ship, as well as the complicated nomenclature of the ropes, sails, and rigging, and all terms used in the maritime vocabulary. This was in his opinion, the most essential part of the education of his " young gentleman," as he habitually called his pupil.

It was not however in accordance with the mother's judgment: not that she desired for her son any other condition than that of a sailor ; for he was in a manner destined

JEAN BART. II

from his birth to the sea ; but she desired that he should devote more time to his classical studies, instead of passing nearly every day on the wharf or in the rigging of the vessels.

This was her only cause of dissatisfaction with Master Sauret, whom she reproached with being too indulgent and too disposed to excuse his pupil's caprices. One of these little family altercations had just taken place at the moment which we have selected to introduce the reader to the foregoing personages. The occasion was a rather perilous trip that Jean had chosen to take in the morning with two small ship-boys belonging to a Dutch boat, venturing on the open sea in a frail craft which had been nearly wrecked in returning.

"Yes, mistress," Sauret answered in reply to the mother's reproaches, " when our young gentleman left with his comrades the sea was calm, and there was not the least danger in taking a row in the harbor, especially, as he is already as skilful in handling and guiding a skiff as any sailor in the port. But suddenly a furious wind arose, the sea became heavy and threatening. I hastened with Louis Perthus and Pierre Bonchet to the pier ; we were about to embark in a canoe to meet our young gentleman, when we noticed him bravely manoeuvring his boat, which seemed to fly over the top of the waves, and which soon darted into the channel like an arrow and then quietly rested alongside the Dutch vessel to which she belonged. More than a hundred sailors and a number of citizens saw and applauded the manoeuvre, and, recognizing our young gentleman, pronounced him to be the worthy son of Captain Cornille Bart, and said that he would not degenerate from his brave father ! Notice, mistress, what honor our young gentleman has reflected on you at Dunkirk ; I assure you, it is talked of from Furness to Effarinchoque."

" You understand, my dear mother," said Jean, embracing her tenderly, "that I ran no danger ; besides, must I not make an apprenticeship of my trade of sailor? In this I only follow my father's will, who, when I was but six or seven years of age, taught me to swim in the sea, and often said to me : * I wish to accustom you early to the ocean, that under all circumstances you may preserve your presence of mind, and never let fear overcome you ; it is the most certain means to save you from great perils.' I have experienced this to-day, for if I tell you that I was not in danger, it was because I kept my presence of mind ; had I been as terrified as my two companions, it would have been impossible for me to govern our bark, and we probably would have been lost."

'' It does not become me, my son," answered the widow, ^' I, the daughter, sister, and wife of sailors, to blame you for following your father's counsel, or to prevent you from early pursuing the noble trade to which you are destined ; like him, I would tell you that on all dangerous occasions, you must cast aside fear, which would deprive you of the use of your faculties, and I would add that to succeed, it is necessary above all to implore the assistance of God, and to place yourself under the protection of His holy Mother, Star of the Sea, the powerful patroness of mariners. But I blame you for exposing yourself to danger unnecessarily, as you have done to-day; that is to tempt God and to disobey your mother."

Jean did not reply ; he hung his head in confusion, thus silently acknowledging that he was wrong.

"Oh! good mistress," said Sauret, 'Mo not reprove too strongly ; I should take my share of the reproaches which you address to the young gentleman. Do not change the joy of this beautiful day into sadness. Do you not hear the merry chimes, the salutes of artillery, the joyous acclamations of the populace, jubilant at being delivered from the domination of our masters beyond the sea ?"

" Alas ! my poor Sauret," the widow replied with tearful voice, " my days of happiness and joy have passed. Undoubtedly, I did not hear with indifference the news which rejoiced the city ; but immediately my memory turned to four years ago, and I thought, since this was to occur, why was it not done at that time ? It would have been a great consolation for my poor husband to die, as he wished, on French soil. I believe that his death was hastened by the grief of hearing that the French, after conquering the city, had ceded it to the English."

" What you say is but too true, mistress," Sauret returned, much moved; "he often said to me in his last illness : ' My friend, if I recover, I will return to Dieppe, my native place, where I have many relatives on the paternal side. I no longer wish to live in Dunkirk, now that it belongs to England. That is worse than being under Spanish rule : I did not love those haughty dons, but they were loyal to their sovereign, whilst the English beheaded their king."

"Then my father," said Jean, "hardly loved the English?"

''Certainly not. He .owes to them the greatest misfortunes of his life, the death of his father, and the loss of a large fortune."

" Oh ! tell me, my good Sauret, about the death of my grandfather and of his friend, the Pox of tJie Sea : you witnessed the combat, and I know that your attachment to my father dates from that time and that l6 JEAN BART.

you were ever afterwards faithful to him. I have heard portions of this history related, but none of the details.

''With our mistress' permission, I will gladly gratify you."

" Certainly I grant it : the examples of courage and devotedness given by his father and grandfather cannot fail to be useful lessons for my son ; I will listen with deep interest to your account which will recall," she added with a sigh, " one of the most brilliant feats of arms in which my poor husband was engaged."

" Then I begin," replied Sauret : '' There was at Dunkirk some years previous, a celebrated rover called Michael Jacobsen, surnamed the Fox of the Sea, because no one was so skilful in evading or escaping an enemy, or in enticing and alluring his prey. This Jacobsen was the brother-in-arms, the sailor of your grandfather, Antoine Bart ; they had sworn and proved for each other an unbounded friendship, one of those strong friendships of the olden times, not in words, but active as you will soon see. You have, perhaps, noticed the portrait of

Jacobsen, at the house of the alderman, Mulwert, painted by the famous artist of Cologne, Rubens, who remained a long time as ambassador from the Catholic King near Charles L, King of England."^ Well ! this artist, who had the retinue of a great lord, regarded it as the highest honor to paint old Fox of the Sea, on account of his adventurous intrepidity, and for this purpose, Rubens went every day to Jacobsen, who lodged in a small and modest retreat near the old Risban. When he had finished the portrait, he would not receive any remuneration from the alderman, not

* Philip IV., King of Spain, wishing to end the differences which had arisen between the crowns of England and of Spain, and aware of the intimacy existing between Rubens and the Duke of Buckingham, favorite of Charles I., induced Rubens to visit Madrid, in 1627. Philip IV. received him with much distinction, and conceived a high opinion of him. When he had passed eighteen months at the court of Spain, the King sent him with instructions and credentials to the King of England. Rubens was graciously welcomed by Charles I., who was painted by him ; during these sittings, Rubens explained the different clauses of his mission, and, at the expiration of two months of conferences, the basis of the treaty was arranged to the satisfaction of both parties. 2 even a fine chain of the gold of Ophir; he delicately refused saying : ' I am sufficiently recompensed, since it can he said that Rubens painted the portrait of Jacobsen.' "

'^Oh!" cried Jean, '' I remember the portrait,, that of a dark man with high features, black hair and mustache, armed with a steel corslet, crossed by a red scarf ; in his right hand he holds his baton of command, the other rests on a handsome, bright helmet. In the distance are ships, a battle, and a storm."

'* That is correct ; you have attentively examined the portrait ; but, to return to the original and to your grandfather: the following event occurred the first year that I engaged as a simple sailor on board the Sea Swallow, a pretty brigantine of which your grandfather was captain and proprietor.

" It was during the war with the English, who blockaded the port ; fortunately we had returned three days previously with your grandfather and father ; our brigantine was anchored in the harbor ready for cruising, the crew on board, and everything prepared for sailing. It was a winter evening, the wind blew furiously from the northwest ; your grandfather, his friend, Master Wandervelde, the privateer captain, your father and myself were in this room comfortably seated near a good fire, smoking Rotterdam tobacco, and drinking English ale.

" We were talking by the fireside of war and sea perils, when the door suddenly opened, and Fox of the Sea entered, enveloped in a large cloak, dripping with water, for the rain poured in torrents. Under his mantle Jacobsen was fully armed.

" ' Antoine,' he said to your grandfather, looking him full in the face. ' I need you, your son, your crew, and your brig.'

"'When?' inquired Antoine Bart.

" * This very hour and to go to sea,' replied the Fox.

" Your grandfather excused himself to his guest, Wandervelde, sent a valet with him, and said to Jacobsen :

" ' Smoke a pipe, drink a pot of beer, and dry yourself whilst we are arming.'

" Such, Monsieur Jean, was the friendship of sailors in those days ; the Fox of the

Sea would have done for your grandfather what your grandfather did for him without demanding a reason.

''Jacobsen threw his mantle over an andiron and stretched to the fire his huge fisherman's boots, which reached to his belt.

" I well remember hJs appearance. He wore an old buff jacket, and a rusty corselet of steel. He lighted his pipe, and we left to make our preparations. When we had armed and descended we found the Fox very pensive, looking steadily at the fire and so absorbed in his reflections that his pipe was extinguished and he did not notice our entrance.

*' ' Well, Michael,' cheerfully said your grandfather, touching the Fox on his shoulder, * Well, shall we not at once depart for the sea ? *

" Jacobsen shuddered and replied, ' Yes, yes, let us depart.' But stopping suddenly, he added gravely, addressing your grandfather :

" * Tell me, Antoine, how is it with your soul? Could you, without dread appear before God at this moment?'

"Your grandfather saw at once that he designed for us a dangerous and probably a rash enterprise. He replied to Jacobsen :

'* ' Since it is thus, Michael, as the door of the parish chapel remains open, we will pray there before we embark, asking pardon of God for our sins, and begging His mercy, which He will surely grant us.'

**We went out well protected, for the northwest wind was terrible and the rain cut our faces as sharply as hail ; we all made our devotions in the parish chapel. Whilst we were in prayer suddenly there entered the sanctuary a priest who had just taken holy viaticum to a dying person. It was the venerable Abbe Joos, of Bergues, who for a long time had been chaplain of the Navy and was well known to Master Jacobsen and your grandfather.

'' ' This is providential,' said Master Antoine Bart to his friend, ^ we can confess.'

" ' I fear,' answered the Fox, ' that we have not time ; we must profit by the high sea and get under way. You know the tide waits for no man."

'' ' We will go speak to him,' rejoined

Master Antoine ; ' he will at least give us his benediction, and perhaps absolution under condition.'

'' They immediately went to the Sacristy to await the priest when he left the altar. In a few words they explained everything to him. The worthy ecclesiastic reflected a moment, then, as a man who had suddenly resolved, he gently said,

*' ' In truth, my dear friends, from this until the flow of the tide I shall not have time to confess all four ; but I can do better than give you the absolution which you demand : I will accompany you on board, where I can hear, not only your confession, but those of the crew, who, ia so critical a moment would like to reconcile themselves to God ; then at an early hour to-morrow morning I will celebrate mass and give Holy Communion to such as desire it.'

'' ' It is a good and happy thought. Father,' said Master Antoine ; ' but I have known you long and from you the proposition does not astonish me.'

" ' But you do not know to what you engage this venerable priest,' quickly interru-pted Jacobsen ; ' and I decidedly oppose it, because we shall certainly have a severe combat to sustain, and as it will be impossible to land him before the engagement, I cannot conscientiously lead him into a danger of which we cannot foresee the consequences.'

" ' Oh ! let your conscience be perfectly tranquil on this account,' Abbe Joos smilingly answered. " My resolution has not been lightly formed, I assure you, and if anything could strengthen it, it is precisely what you now mention. Even if I had the opportunity to return before the battle, I would refuse to avail myself of it ; may there not be wounded to console, or perhaps the dying to encourage in their last agony ? You understand, my friends, that duty calls me to be with you, and the greater the danger the more necessary my presence. This is decided ; let us go, do not lose a moment. I will procure from the Sacristy the necessary articles, will follow you immediately, and I shall arrive at the quay as soon as you.'

''They did not insist, as you may suppose. We left at once and at eleven o'clock were at the port. We found all on board from the pilot to the cabin-boy, as was always your grandfather's order upon the Sea-Swallow, and the order was wisely given and rigidly enforced.

''As soon as we touched the deck, the boatswain's mate raised anchor: during this manoeuvre the Abbe Joos arrived with a small package under his arm and descended to the cabin. Jacobsen had an order from the high constable of the admiralty to open the chain which closes the entrance of the port : at midnight we were in the canal and shortly at sea. The wind was north-northwest, blowing by squalls ; Jacobsen, under whose command your grandfather had placed the brig, ordered the pilot to ply to the windward, and to extinguish the fires. The night continued rainy and very dark ; occasionally between two heavy waves could be seen in the distance the watchlights of the cruising vessels dotted here and there like small stars, for they dared not approach the coast. Our skilful pilot, who was from Flessingue, seemed to pierce through the darkness, and commanded the helmsman by means of whistles which they exchanged. Jacobsen ordered the cutlasses, battle-axes and the spontoons to be brought on deck and directed the men to arm, in order to be ready at daybreak for whatever might occur ; at the same time he advised those who desired to confess and receive absolution to go below where a priest was in waiting. Nearly all accepted the invitation, but in a certain order, so as to leave a sufficient number to manoeuvre the vessel.

*^ I went in my turn with your grandfather and Master Antoine, and I noticed that your grandfather prayed long and fervently ; after rising and blessing himself, he gave his benediction to his son as if he had been on his death-bed. Then addressing me, he said in a grave tone, calling me by my right name, which rarely happened ;

" ' Jacques Seyrac, promise me before God to remain always the faithful sailor of Cornille Bart, my son, and to defend him on all occasions even at the peril of your life?'

'* 'Yes, master,' I answered, ' I promise before God, Who hears me.'

" ' And you, Cornille Bart,' he continued, addressing his son, ' do you promise before God, to be always the faithful sailor of Jacques Seyrac, here present, and to defend him with all your power, even at the peril of your life ? '

" 'Yes, father,' replied Cornille, ' I promise it before God."

"'Now, my children,* pursued the old captain, 'join hands, and may God bless your association as I myself bless it ; in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'

" ' Amen,' we simultaneously replied.

" During this scene, which did not last as long as I have taken in telling it, your grandfather was much affected, and your father and myself were equally so. Master Antoine was the first to recover, and in a moment said in his ordinary voice, and even cheerfully :

" ' Come, children, it is time to go above and watch the wind.'

" We returned to the deck and we observed that the brig was still beating about."

" But where were you going, Master Sauret ? " demanded Jean Bart, impatient to hear the end of the nocturnal excursion.

*' Where were we going ? God and Jacobsen alone knew at that moment ; as he had said nothing to your grandfather, your grandfather could not, and would not ask : " Where are you taking us, Michael ? *

"We continued in this manner all night under three small sails, on account of the squalls ; by constantly tacking we had made but little headway at day-dawn. Jacobsen remained at the stern, moved impatiently, stamping on the deck with his heavy fisherman's boots, and twirling a boarding-pike in his hand as if it had been a switch ; your grandfather was near him, awaiting his orders.

*' When it became light, which was late because of the rain. Fox of the Sea ordered our flag to be hoisted at the stern, and directed the ordnance officer to fire a culverin without balls from the prow. Neither Master Anfcoine, your father nor myself understood this manoeuvre, which might attract to us the attention of all the cruisers ; but we noticed it without remarking upon it to each other.

'' A half hour had passed when a sailor on the lookout at the maintop cried :

'' ' I see two large ramberges and a smaller one coming towards us.'

" Would you believe, Monsieur Jean, that news which should have daunted Fox of the Sea, made his courage rise, and casting his boarding-pike on the deck, he exclaimed : ' At last they come ! Here they are ! ' as joyously as if he held one of the richest galleons of the King of Spain, which had surrendered at the first broadside! It was only then he informed your grandfather that he had received the governor's orders to attract the cruisers as far out as possible from the environs of the port, in order to enable a large convoy from the North to enter unmolested, intelligence of its approach having been signaled the previous evening. The Fox of the Sea called for our brig as his own was undergoing repairs.

** ' Antoine,' said the Fox to your grandfather, * we must combat our English enemy without truce or mercy, and to turn their attention from the convoy, we must fight to the death.'

" Your grandfather having answered for himself, your father, and for me that we were ready to give our lives for the service of God and the king, Fox of the Sea addressed the crew in his own manner. The brave Jacobsen inspired such blind confidence that every sailor swore to be faithful unto death.

" Abbe Joos celebrated mass, your grandfather, father, myself, and the greater part of the crew received Holy Communion. After the ceremony, Jacobsen ordered a cask of brandy to be brought on deck ; every man drank to the king's health, and the artillery-men besmeared their faces with powder steeped in the liquor which gave them a frightfully ferocious appearance.

" The ramberges bore upon us with all sails set. The Fox directed our pilot to hoist sail and change our course towards the nearest of the enemies : it was a sloop not quite as strong as our brig. We poured two broadsides into her keel and she sank. The two large frigates which followed her opened so formidable a fire on the Sea- Swallow, that our poor Swallozv was dismasted and half the crew killed or wounded. But, Master Jean, what glory! what a defence ! Alone against three vessels, alone, we had destroyed one and the other two hardly dared approach us, we fought with such determined fury to the cries of ' Long live the king.' We were as if intoxicated ; brandishing our battle-axes, we shouted to the English : ' Board us, board at once ! ' "

Master Sauret repeated these last words with the same exultation which doubtless animated him during this terrible event. Jean was as much excited as the old mariner; his cheeks were inflamed, his nostrils inflated, and his eyes sparkling like stars.

" Go on," he cried ; '^ did the English reply to your provocation ? "