CHAPTER V
_ON BOARD THE KING'S SHIP_
The license of these pressgangs was so well known, and had been madefamiliar to me by so many tales, that I had little hope from the firstof escaping their clutches. It is true they were only authorised toimpress seamen and fishermen, and that after proving their commissionbefore justices of the peace. But if report did not belie them, theylooked not too closely into a man's seamanship; but, if they found alikely fellow, regarded all as fish which came into their net.
There was a lieutenant set above the fellows into whose hands I hadfallen, a tall, lantern-jawed, middle-aged man, with a most abominablesquint, and to him I addressed myself:
"Sir, I am not in a condition to be pressed by you, I am not a marinerby calling; and, moreover, I am but just risen from a bed ofsickness."
He glanced over my dress before he answered, with something of asmile. And, indeed, for a landsman, my costume was something out ofthe way, for during the time since I had signed articles to CaptainSims I had done my best to equip myself in true sea-dog fashion.
"You surprise me, young sir," the lieutenant said presently, when hehad surveyed me. "Your dress tallies but ill with your professions. Ifyou wore but a cutlass, and had a pistol to your belt, I could havesworn you to be a smuggler at the least."
I hung my head at this, for it was my own vanity that had led me intothe mess. I could only fall back on my second excuse.
"Nevertheless, you are mistaken, sir," I said. "But however that maybe, be pleased to believe me when I tell you that I am scarce yetrecovered from several severe wounds."
"Indeed! I thought I had seen you coming out of yonder tavern at amarvellous nimble gait. But my eyes are indifferent bad. Here, MasterVeale, what say you, does this young man look too sick for ourpurpose? He says he is not recovered of his wounds."
The man he applied to, who was master of the ship's cutter, answeredhim in the same jesting manner.
"I see nothing the matter with un, your honour. But perhaps we hadbest carry un aboard and let the ship's doctor feel his pulse."
"I protest against this treatment," I said angrily. "In the name ofhis Majesty, I say, unhandle me."
"Nay," quoth the lieutenant, "my hearing is as indifferent as myeyesight, and I follow you not. Master Veale, if this youngster usesany blasphemy or indecency let him be gagged till we come aboardagain."
This threat was enough to silence me, if I had not been otherwiseafraid to make a stir. For though I might have got some of thepassers-by to succour me, it being broad daylight, and theseimpressments most unpopular among seafaring men, yet I foresaw that itwould quickly come to a question of who I was, and if my name oncebecame bruited abroad there were friends of my father's in the townwho would have made short work of sending me back to him. And soonerthan face the disgrace of this, as I considered it, I was willing totry my luck with King George.
I therefore walked along with the pressgang, by the side of MasterVeale, who used me civilly enough when he found I had given up thethoughts of resisting.
I was not a little amazed and delighted when we came out upon theshore, and I caught sight of the _Talisman_, as she was called, ridingat her anchor. For she was a great line-of-battle ship, such as I hadnever yet seen, carrying seventy-four guns upon her three decks, whichrose above the water like a huge wall, with the muzzles of the cannonplainly visible through the opening of her portholes. This majesticmass lay like a floating fortress upon the waves, and overhead herthree masts towered up into the very clouds, with their yards set inorder, and the ropes crossing from one to the other as intricate as aspider's web. Last of all, from a flagstaff on the stern, brandishedthe ensign of Great Britain, in defiance of her enemies. And my heartswelled as I gazed upon it, and remembered how that banner had struckterror into the Frenchmen, and Dutch, and Spaniards, in so many greatand memorable fights. Perhaps in that moment I had a foretaste ofthose glorious triumphs of the British arms in which I was hereafterto take a part.
As soon as we were brought on board this fine vessel--and by this timewe had pressed two or three others of the Yarmouth men--we werepresented to the captain for his inspection.
The captain, it was easy to perceive, was a man of great quality,being, as I learned before long, a nephew of Lord Saxmundham, inSuffolk, who at that time sat upon the Board of Admiralty. He had themost elegant hands and feet of any man I ever saw, and was dressedwith great care, having long ruffles of the finest lace to his neckand wrists, and a gold-hilted small-sword by his side. Even my cousinRupert beside him would have looked but a country boor.
He spoke to the lieutenant who had headed our party, drawling out hiswords in a fashion absurd in a London fop, but disgusting in thecommander of a man-o'-war.
"Well, Mr. Griffiths, what sort of scum have you got hold of thistime? Faugh!" he continued, taking out a pocket napkin to wipe hisnose, "I declare the fellows all stink of herrings!"
This last was a downright lie, for I had never so much as stepped intoa fishing smack. And besides, the herring fishery was not yet begun.
"Sir, that is a fault which can soon be amended," returned thelieutenant, biting his lip at the other's insolence. "For the rest,they looked to me to be sturdy rascals enough, and, I doubt, will makegood seamen."
"Yes, looked to you, my good sir; but then, you know, your sight isnone of the best," sneered the captain, between whom and his officerthere appeared to be some jealousy.
Mr. Griffiths, though he had jested at his infirmity in speaking tome, writhed under this allusion to it from another. He gave his answerwith spirit.
"Captain Wilding, I have done what you ordered me in impressing thesemen. If you don't think them serviceable I shall be happy to set themashore again."
The other waved his napkin between them as if he would have brushedaway a fly.
"There, there, my worthy man, that is quite enough! I have seen thetarry scoundrels, and as long as they have not the smallpox, I amcontent. Bestow them as you please."
Thereupon we were led into the fore part of the ship, to be ratedaccording to our several abilities. And it fell out luckily for me,for the lieutenant, when he discovered that I had had some education,and could cast accounts--a business of which he plainly knewnothing--informed me that he believed the purser stood in need of anassistant, and offered to recommend me to him. This kindness on hispart I gladly closed with, not that I liked the duty better than thecommon service of a ship, but because I guessed that I should therebybe delivered from the molestations of the crew, there being no greaterpleasure to the vulgar of every profession than to rough-handle andabuse those who come newly amongst them. And herein, as it turned out,I had judged rightly, and for so long as I remained upon that ship Isuffered no ill-usage, except at the hands of my superiors.
But before this was settled I had a favour to ask of the worthylieutenant.
"One thing I must bargain for, with your leave, Lieutenant Griffiths,"I said to him, speaking boldly, as I discerned him to be favourable tome, "and that is, that if we should come to fighting with the enemy Iam to take part with the rest."
Mr. Griffiths laughed when he heard this demand.
"Why, there now," he cried, slapping his thigh, "if I couldn't havesworn that you were one of the sort we wanted directly I clapped eyeson you! Never fear, lad, you shall have your fill of fighting beforewe go into dock again; for--I will tell you so much--we are underorders to join Admiral Watson's fleet at the Nore, and a man with ahealthier stomach for such work never hoisted pennant on athree-decker."
"I am glad, at all events, that we shall sail under a fightingadmiral," I responded saucily, "for, as for our captain----"
He stopped me at this point in a manner which terrified me, hurling astring of curses at my head sufficient to have sunk me through thedeck.
"Hold your impertinent tongue!" he said in conclusion. "I would haveyou know better than to pass remarks on your officers in my hearing. Ihave had men put in irons for less. Follow me this min
ute to thepurser, and remember you are on board of one of his Majesty's ships,and not a dirty herring smack."
By which I saw that, however this gentleman secretly despised hiscommanding officer, he was too honourable to encourage the tattle ofhis inferiors. In this no doubt he showed his breeding; for it was hisboast that he was sprung from one of the most ancient families inWales, where the gentry, he was wont to say, are of older lineage thanthose of any other country in the world.
The purser proved to be a Scotchman, against which nation I had takena strong prejudice, on account of the wicked and unnatural supportgiven by them to the Chevalier in his bloody invasion of this kingdom,and which prejudice has since been further confirmed in me by the latemean and notorious conduct of Lord Bute. However, I found Mr.Sanders, the purser, to be a respectable, religious man, having aslittle love for Papists and Jacobites as I had myself. He received mewithout much civility, but if he showed me no great favour neither didhe do me any injury, and in his accounts he cheated the crew as littleas any purser I ever heard of.
But not to linger over these matters, the only thing that befell meduring our voyage to the Nore was an extraordinary painful sicknessand retching, the anguish of which I could not have believed possibleto be borne, and which many times made me wish I had never quitted myfather's house. During the continuance of this malady I was renderedquite unable to do my duty, to Mr. Sanders's no small discontent, andwas left to the sole companionship of an Irishman, one MichaelSullivan, who became much attached to me, and soothed my sufferings byevery means in his power. He was a corporal of the Marines, and hadbeen three times promoted to be sergeant for his bravery in action,and three times degraded again for drunkenness. Among his comrades hewas known as Irish Mick: and here I observed a peculiarity which Ihave found amongst others of that nation; for though he wouldcontinually be boasting of his country, and exalting the Irish raceabove every other on the face of the earth, yet no sooner did any ofus remark on it to him that he was an Irishman than he straightwayfell into a violent passion, as if we had laid some insult upon him.
While I lay thus ill, as I have said, I lost all thoughts of the questI had meant to undertake for Marian, and would not have cared if theship had been bound for the infernal regions. But as soon as I wasrecovered sufficiently to come on deck, whither I was very kindlyassisted by the Irishman, I grew exceedingly curious as to ourdestination.
"Does any one know whither we are bound when we have joined theAdmiral's fleet?" I asked of Sullivan.
"Faith, and it's that same question I'm just after putting to theboatswain's mate," he answered, "and the sorrow a soul on board thatknows any better than myself and yourself."
He pronounced his speech with a very rich brogue, which I shall nomore attempt to imitate than Captain Wilding's affectation. For indeedthere seem to be as many ways of pronouncing English as there arepeople that speak it, and even in Norfolk itself I have met withpeople who were not free from something like the Suffolk twang.Seeing, I suppose, that I was disappointed by this answer, he leantover and whispered in my ear--
"But it's my belief that King George is tired of the peace with theFrench, and that he's sending us out to sink a few of their ships andmaybe bombard a town or two, just by way of letting them know thatwe're ready to begin again."
I answered him impatiently, for my sickness had made me fretful.
"I believe you are a fool, Mick! It is well known that we never go towar with the French unless they have first provoked us."
"Well, and sure haven't they provoked us enough by all their doings inAmerica and the Indies, not to mention the battle of Fontenoy, whichmy own cousin Dennis helped them to win, more by token; though he gota bullet in his left arm before the fighting begun, and had to contenthimself with cheering while the others were at it."
"That will do," I said crossly, for I had heard of the battle ofFontenoy and his cousin Dennis before, and it was a sore point betweenus. Nor could I understand how a man who had the privilege of beingborn a British subject, though liable to the proper severities of thepenal code against Papists, could traitorously desert his allegianceand take service with our natural enemies.
However, I learned nothing further of our destination till we reachedthe Nore, which we did about the end of the third day. Here we foundthe rest of the squadron a-waiting us, and, the _Talisman_ being thebiggest ship in company, Admiral Watson immediately hauled down hispennant off the _Victory_, of fifty guns, and came aboard of us.
I was leaning over the chains with Sullivan when the barge camealongside, and could see a gentleman in the stern, sitting beside theAdmiral, in a military uniform, and having a very resolute andcommanding countenance.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"That? Why that's Charlie Watson," he replied, mistaking my meaning."It's myself that ought to know, for I sailed under him against theSpaniards in '44, and a devil of a beating we gave them. Hooray!"
The cheer was taken up by the rest of the crew as they caught sight ofthis gallant seaman, who had been made Rear-Admiral of the Blue in histhirty-fifth year, and that without any influence at his back, butsolely on account of his splendid services in the Spanish wars. Mr.Wilding, who had come up on deck to receive the Admiral, looked roundvery sourly when he heard the cheer, but was ashamed to openly rebukeus.
"Nay, but who is the other beside him," I went on to ask, beingstrongly moved to interest by the sight of this gentleman. He appearedto be by some years junior to Mr. Watson, who was now somewhat overforty, but in spite of that, and of his treating the Admiral with muchceremony, there was that in the air of this officer which made animpression of authority, and which drew all eyes towards him as soonas they were arrived upon the quarterdeck.
Sullivan professed himself as ignorant as to the stranger's identityas I was myself, nor was I near enough to hear what passed whenAdmiral Watson presented him to Mr. Wilding and the other officers.Nevertheless, I could see that they received him with extraordinaryrespect, even the captain seeming to brisk up and to put on a moremanly carriage under this gentleman's eye.
After giving one or two keen glances round the deck, which set us allon the alert, the officer walked quickly forward, and the whole partyfollowing him, they went below, immediately after which the signal forweighing anchor was made to the squadron, and the crew was set to workputting on all sail. In the midst of which business the report ranround the ship, and reached me I know not from what lips, that thepassenger we had received on board was no other than the famous Mr.Robert Clive, who had just been created a lieutenant-colonel by theking, and whom we were carrying out to India to take up his governmentof Fort St. David in the Carnatic.
At this time, though Mr. Clive had not yet reached to that height ofeminence which he afterwards attained, he was already known as one ofthe bravest Englishmen of his time, and I had heard from many quartersof his glorious exploits in the Indies. Although a civilian byprofession, when the settlements of the East India Company in Madraswere threatened with destruction by the French, he had exchanged hispen for a sword, and, with a mere handful of English and Sepoys, hadcaptured and maintained the town of Arcot against a great army of theFrench and their allies, after which he had beaten them in manyengagements, and in the end wrested the entire province of theCarnatic from their hands. Since then he had been in England, where hehad stood for the Parliament, and, as it was thought, had given up allintentions of returning to Indostan. Now the news that we had him onboard with us, and that he was on his way out, no doubt to drive thelast remains of the French power from that quarter of the world, cameon my ears like the summons of a trumpet, and went far to make mecontent with the accident that had thrown me in the way of thepressgang.
Mr. Griffiths, the lieutenant, who had continued to take some noticeof me, for which I was not ungrateful, chanced to come by while I wasfull of these thoughts, and after confirming the news which I hadheard, fell to talking with me about our cruise.
"You see I did you a good turn by bringing yo
u off from that muddyfishing-hole," he was pleased to observe presently. "Now you arelikely to see some service, and, if luck serves, to bring home a goodshare of prize-money."
By this time I had called to mind the sailing of the _Fair Maid_, andthe destination of that passenger of hers, to see whom once more Iwould have given all the prize-money in the world.
"Are we like to make the Hooghley river, do you think, sir, when weget out to the Indies?" I ventured to ask.
"That's as it may be," he answered, friendly enough. "All I can tellyou--for I believe this to be no secret--is that our first port inthose seas is Bombay. And further, since we cannot attack the Frenchtill war breaks out, I may give you to know that our first business isto root out certain pirates that infest that coast, and who have theirheadquarters at the citadel of Gheriah, in the Morattoes' country."
I turned silent at this, remembering how I had heard the name ofGheriah pronounced between my cousin and Mr. Sims in the parlour ofthe "Three-decker", and feeling a dreadful apprehension that I was tomeet with the privateers (as they called themselves) in circumstanceswhich I had little desired.
* * * * *
Eleven months later--for we were beset by contrary winds all round thecontinent of Africa, and put in at divers places on the way--we cameto an anchor in the harbour of Bombay. And there, riding at a mooringunder the very walls of the fort, the first vessel that I saw was the_Fair Maid_ herself, looking as peaceful as if she had never fired agun.