The Two Admirals

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"With all my heart, Admiral Bluewater, though I'll just drink the First
Lord's health before we quit this excellent liquor. That youngster has
stuff in him, in spite of his nobility, and by fetching him up, with
round turns, occasionally, I hope to make a man of him, yet."

"If he do not grow into that character, physically and morally, within
the next few years, sir, he will be the first person of his family who
has ever failed of it."

As Bluewater said this, he and the captain left his cabin, and ascended
to the quarter-deck. Here Stowel stopped to hold a consultation with his
first lieutenant, while the admiral went up the poop-ladder, and joined
Cornet. The last had nothing new to communicate, and as he was permitted
to go below, he was desired to send Wycherly up to the poop, where the
young man would be expected by the rear-admiral.

Some little time elapsed before the Virginian could be found; no sooner
was this effected, however, than he joined Bluewater. They had a private
conversation of fully half an hour, pacing the poop the whole time, and
then Cornet was summoned back, again, to his usual station. The latter
immediately received an order to acquaint Captain Stowel the
rear-admiral desired that the Caesar might be hove-to, and to make a
signal for the Druid 36, to come under the flag-ship's lee, and back her
main-top-sail. No sooner did this order reach the quarter-deck than the
watch was sent to the braces, and the main-yard was rounded in, until
the portion of sail that was still set lay against the mast. This
deadened the way of the huge body, which rose and fell heavily in the
seas, as they washed under her, scarcely large enough to lift the
burthen it imposed upon them. Just at this instant, the signal was made.

The sudden check to the movement of the Caesar brought the Dublin booming
up in the darkness, when putting her helm up, that ship surged slowly
past to leeward, resembling a black mountain moving by in the gloom. She
was hailed and directed to heave-to, also, as soon as far enough ahead.
The Elizabeth followed, clearing the flag-ship by merely twenty fathoms,
and receiving a similar order. The Druid had been on the admiral's
weather-quarter, but she now came gliding down, with the wind abeam,
taking room to back her top-sail under the Caesar's lee-bow. By this time
a cutter was in the water, rising six or eight feet up the black side of
the ship, and sinking as low apparently beneath her bottom. Next,
Wycherly reported himself ready to proceed.

"You will not forget, sir," said Bluewater, "any part of my commission;
but inform the commander-in-chief of the _whole_. It may be important
that we understand each other fully. You will also hand him this letter
which I have hastily written while the boat was getting ready."

"I think I understand your wishes, sir;--at least, I _hope_ so;--and I
will endeavour to execute them."

"God bless you, Sir Wycherly Wychecombe," added Bluewater, with emotion.
"We may never meet again; we sailors carry uncertain lives; and we may
be said to carry them in our hands."

Wycherly took his leave of the admiral, and he ran down the poop-ladder
to descend into the boat. Twice he paused on the quarter-deck, however,
in the manner of one who felt disposed to return and ask some
explanation; but each time he moved on, decided to proceed.

It needed all the agility of our young sailor to get safely into the
boat. This done, the oars fell and the cutter was driven swiftly away to
leeward. In a few minutes, it shot beneath the lee of the frigate, and
discharged its freight. Wycherly could not have been three minutes on
the deck of the Druid, ere her yards were braced up, and her top-sail
filled with a heavy flap. This caused her to draw slowly ahead. Five
minutes later, however, a white cloud was seen dimly fluttering over her
hull, and the reefed main-sail was distended to the wind. The effect was
so instantaneous that the frigate seemed to glide away from the
flag-ship, and in a quarter of an hour, under her three top-sails
double-reefed, and her courses, she was a mile distant on her
weather-bow. Those who watched her movements without understanding them,
observed that she lowered her light, and appeared to detach herself from
the rest of the division.

It was some time before the Caesar's boat was enabled to pull up against
the tide, wind, and sea. When this hard task was successfully
accomplished, the ship filled, passed the Dublin and Elizabeth, and
resumed her place in the line.

Bluewater paced the poop an hour longer, having dismissed his
signal-officer and the quarter-masters to their hammocks. Even Stowel
had turned in, nor did Mr. Bluff deem it necessary to remain on deck any
longer. At the end of the hour, the rear-admiral bethought him of
retiring too. Before he quitted the poop, however, he stood at the
weather-ladder, holding on to the mizzen-rigging, and gazing at the
scene.

The wind had increased, as had the sea, but it was not yet a gale. The
York had long before hauled up in her station, a cable's length ahead of
the Caesar, and was standing on, under the same canvass as the flag-ship,
looking stately and black. The Dover was just shooting into her berth,
under the standing sailing-orders, at the same distance ahead of the
York; visible, but much less distinct and imposing. The sloop and the
cutter were running along, under the lee of the heavy snips, a quarter
of a mile distant, each vessel keeping her relative position, by close
attention to her canvass. Further than this, nothing was in sight. The
sea had that wild mixture of brightness and gloom, which belongs to the
element when much agitated in a dark night, while the heavens were murky
and threatening.

Within the ship, all was still. Here and there a lantern threw its
wavering light around, but the shadows of the masts and guns, and other
objects, rendered this relief to the night trifling. The lieutenant of
the watch paced the weather side of the quarter-deck, silent but
attentive. Occasionally he hailed the look-outs, and admonished them to
be vigilant, also, and at each turn he glanced upward to see how the
top-sail stood. Four or five old and thoughtful seamen walked the waist
and forecastle, but most of the watch were stowed between the guns, or
in the best places they could find, under the lee of the bulwarks,
catching cat's naps. This was an indulgence denied the young gentlemen,
of whom one was on the forecastle, leaning against the mast, dreaming of
home, one in the waist, supporting the nettings, and one walking the
lee-side of the quarter-deck, his eyes shut, his thoughts confused, and
his footing uncertain. As Bluewater stepped on the quarter-deck-ladder,
to descend to his own cabin, the youngster hit his foot against an
eye-bolt, and fetched way plump up against his superior. Bluewater
caught the lad in his arms, and saved him from a fall, setting him
fairly on his feet before he let him go.

"'Tis seven bells, Geoffrey," said the admiral, in an under tone. "Hold
on for half an hour longer, and then go dream of your dear mother."

Before the boy could recover himself to thank his superior, the latter
had disappeared.

CHAPTER XX.

"Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint;
As humorous as winter, and as sudden
As flaws congealed in the spring of day.
His temper, therefore, must be well observed."

SHAKESPEARE.

The reader will remember that the wind had not become fresh when Sir
Gervaise Oakes got into his barge, with the intention of carrying his
fleet to sea. A retrospective glance at the state of the weather, will
become necessary to the reader, therefore, in carrying his mind back to
that precise period whither it has now become our duty to transport him
in imagination.

The vice-admiral governed a fleet on principles very different from
those of Bluewater. While the last left so much to the commanders of the
different vessels, his friend looked into every thing himself. The
details of the service he knew were indispensable to success on a larger
scale, and his active mind descended into all these minutiae, to a degree
sometimes, that annoyed his captains. On the whole, however, he was
sufficiently observant of that formidable barrier to excessive
familiarity, and that great promoter of heart-burnings in a squadron,
naval etiquette, to prevent any thing like serious misunderstandings,
and the best feelings prevailed between him and the several magnates
under his orders. Perhaps the circumstance that he was a _fighting_
admiral contributed to this internal tranquillity; for, it has been
often remarked, that armies and fleets will both tolerate more in
leaders that give them plenty to do with the enemy, than in commanders
who leave them inactive and less exposed. The constant encounters with
the foe would seem to let out all the superfluous quarrelsome
tendencies. Nelson, to a certain extent, was an example of this
influence in the English marine, Suffren[1] in that of France, and
Preble, to a much greater degree than in either of the other cases, in
our own. At all events, while most of his captains sensibly felt
themselves less of commanders, while Sir Gervaise was on board or around
their ships, than when he was in the cabin of the Plantagenet, the peace
was rarely broken between them, and he was generally beloved as well as
obeyed. Bluewater was a more invariable favourite, perhaps, though
scarcely as much respected; and certainly not half as much feared.

[Footnote 1: Suffren, though one of the best sea-captains France ever
possessed, was a man of extreme severity and great roughness of manner.
Still he must have been a man of family, as his title of _Bailli_ de
Suffren, was derived from his being a Knight of Malta. It is a singular
circumstance connected with the death of this distinguished officer,
which occurred not long before the French revolution, that he
disappeared in an extraordinary manner, and is buried no one knows
where. It is supposed that he was killed by one of his own officers, in
a rencontre in the streets of Paris, at night, and that the influence of
the friends of the victor was sufficiently great to suppress inquiry.
The cause of the quarrel is attributed to harsh treatment on service.]

On the present occasion, the vice-admiral did not pull through the
fleet, without discovering the peculiar propensity to which we have
alluded. In passing one of the ships, he made a sign to his coxswain to
cause the boat's crew to lay on their oars, when he hailed the vessel,
and the following dialogue occurred.

"Carnatic, ahoy!" cried the admiral.

"Sir," exclaimed the officer of the deck, jumping on a quarter-deck gun,
and raising his hat.

"Is Captain Parker on board, sir?"

"He is, Sir Gervaise; will you see him, sir?"

A nod of the head sufficed to bring the said Captain Parker on deck, and
to the gangway, where he could converse with his superior, without
inconvenience to either.

"How do you do, _Captain_ Parker?"--a certain sign Sir Gervaise meant to
rap the other over the knuckles, else would it have been _Parker_."--How
do you do, _Captain_ Parker? I am sorry to see you have got your ship
too much down by the head, sir. She'll steer off the wind, like a colt
when he first feels the bridle; now with his head on one side, and now
on the other. You know I like a compact line, and straight wakes, sir."

"I am well aware of that, Sir Gervaise," returned Parker, a gray-headed,
meek old man, who had fought his way up from the forecastle to his
present honourable station, and, who, though brave as a lion before the
enemy, had a particular dread of all his commanders; "but we have been
obliged to use more water aft than we could wish, on account of the
tiers. We shall coil away the cables anew, and come at some of the
leaguers forward, and bring all right again, in a week, I hope, sir."

"A week?--the d----l, sir; that will never do, when I expect to see de
Vervillin _to-morrow_. Fill all your empty casks aft with salt-water,
immediately; and if that wont do, shift some of your shot forward. I
know that craft of yours, well; she is as tender as a fellow with corns,
and the shoe musn't pinch anywhere."

"Very well, Sir Gervaise; the ship shall be brought in trim, as soon as
possible."

"Ay, ay, sir, that is what I expect from every vessel, at _all_ times;
and more especially when we are ready to meet an enemy. And, I say,
_Parker_,"--making a sign to his boat's crew to stop rowing again--"I
say, _Parker_, I know you love brawn;--I'll send you some that Galleygo
tells me he has picked up, along-shore here, as soon as I get aboard.
The fellow has been robbing all the hen-roosts in Devonshire, by his own
account of the matter."

Sir Gervaise waved his hand, _Parker_ smiled and bowed his thanks, and
the two parted with feelings of perfect kindness, notwithstanding the
little skirmish with which the interview had commenced.

"Mr. Williamson," said Captain Parker to his first lieutenant, on
quitting the gangway, "you hear what the commander-in-chief says; and he
must be obeyed. I _don't_ think the Carnatic would have sheered out of
the line, even if she is a little by the head; but have the empty casks
filled, and bring her down six inches more by the stern."

"That's a good fellow, that old Parker," said Sir Gervaise to his
purser, whom he was carrying off good-naturedly to the ship, lest he
might lose his passage; "and I wonder how he let his ship get her nose
under water, in that fashion. I like to have him for a second astern;
for I feel sure he'd follow if I stood into Cherbourg, bows on! Yes; a
good fellow is Parker; and, Locker,"--to his own man, who was also in
the boat;--"mind you send him _two_ of the best pieces of that
brawn--hey!--hey!--hey!--what the d----l has Lord Morganic"--a descendant
from royalty by the left hand,--"been doing now! That ship is kept like
a tailor's jay figure, just to stuff jackets and gim-cracks on
her--Achilles, there!"

A quarter-master ran to the edge of the poop, and then turning, he spoke
to his captain, who was walking the deck, and informed him that the
commander-in-chief hailed the ship. The Earl of Morganic, a young man of
four-and-twenty, who had succeeded to the title a few years before by
the death of an elder brother,--the usual process by which an _old_ peer
is brought into the British navy, the work being too discouraging for
those who have fortune before their eyes from the start,--now advanced
to the quarter of the ship, bowed with respectful ease, and spoke with a
self-possession that not one of the old commanders of the fleet would
have dared to use. In general, this nobleman's intercourse with his
superiors in naval rank, betrayed the consciousness of his own
superiority in civil rank; but Sir Gervaise being of an old family, and
quite as rich as he was himself, the vice-admiral commanded more of his
homage than was customary. His ship was full of "nobs," as they term it
in the British navy, or the sons and relatives of nobles; and it was by
no means an uncommon thing for her messes to have their jokes at the
expense of even flag-officers, who were believed to be a little ignorant
of the peculiar sensibilities that are rightly enough imagined to
characterize social station.

"Good-morning, Sir Gervaise," called out this noble captain; "I'm glad
to see you looking so well, after our long cruise in the Bay; I intended
to have the honour to inquire after your health in person, this morning,
but they told me you slept out of your ship. We shall have to hold a
court on you, sir, if you fall much into that habit!"

All within hearing smiled, even to the rough old tars, who were
astraddle of the yards; and even Sir Gervaise's lip curled a little,
though he was not exactly in a joking humour.

"Come, come, Morganic, do you let my habits alone, and look out for your
own fore-top-mast. Why, in the name of seamanship, is that spar stayed
forward in such a fashion, looking like a xebec's foremast?"

"Do you dislike it, Sir Gervaise?--Now to our fancies aboard here, it
gives the Achilles a knowing look, and we hope to set a fashion. By
carrying the head-sails well forward, we help the ship round in a sea,
you know, sir."

"Indeed, I know no such thing, my lord. What you gain after being taken
aback, you lose in coming to the wind. If I had a pair of scales
suitable to such a purpose, I would have all that hamper you have stayed
away yonder over your bows, on the end of such a long lever, weighed, in
order that you might learn what a beautiful contrivance you've invented,
among you, to make a ship pitch in a head sea. Why, d----e, if I think
you'd lie-to, at all, with so much stuff aloft to knock you off to
leeward. Come up, every thing, forward; come up every thing, my lord,
and bring the mast as near perpendicular as possible. It's a hard
matter, I find, to make one of your new-fashioned captains keep things
in their places."

"Well, now, Sir Gervaise, I think the Achilles makes as good an
appearance as most of the other ships; and as to travelling or working,
I do not know that she is either dull or clumsy!"

"She's pretty well, Morganic, considering how many Bond-street ideas you
have got among you; but she'll never do in a head sea, with that
fore-top-mast threatening your knight-heads. So get the mast
up-and-down, again, as soon as convenient, and come and dine with me,
without further invitation, the first fine day we have at sea. I'm going
to send Parker some brawn; but, I'll feed _you_ on some of Galleygo's
turtle-soup, made out of pig's heads."

"Thank'ee, Sir Gervaise; we'll endeavour to straighten the slick, since
you _will_ have it so; though, I confess I get tired of seeing every
thing to-day, just as we had it yesterday."

"Yes--yes--that's the way with most of these St. James cruisers,"
continued the vice-admiral, as he rowed away. "They want a fashionable
tailor to rig a man-of-war, as they are rigged themselves. There's my
old friend and neighbour, Lord Scupperton--he's taken a fancy to
yachting, lately, and when his new brig was put into the water, Lady
Scupperton made him send for an upholsterer from town to fit out the
cabin; and when the blackguard had surveyed the unfortunate craft, as if
it were a country box, what does he do but give an opinion, that 'this
here edifice, my lord, in my judgment, should be furnished in cottage
style,'--the vagabond!"

This story, which was not particularly original, for Sir Gervaise
himself had told it at least a dozen times before, put the admiral in a
good humour, and he found no more fault with his captains, until he
reached the Plantagenet.

"Daly," said the Earl of Morganic to his first lieutenant, an
experienced old Irishman of fifty, who still sung a good song and told a
good story, and what was a little extraordinary for either of these
accomplishments, knew how to take good care of a ship;--"Daly, I suppose
we must humour the old gentleman, or he'll be quarantining me, and that
I shouldn't particularly like on the eve of a general action; so we'll
ease off forward, and set up the strings aft, again. Hang me if I think
he could find it out if we didn't, so long as we kept dead in his wake!"

"That wouldn't be a very safe desait for Sir Jarvy, my lord, for he's a
wonderful eye for a rope! Were it Admiral Blue, now, I'd engage to
cruise in his company for a week, with my mizzen-mast stowed in the
hold, and there should be no bother about the novelty, at all; quite
likely he'd be hailing us, and ask 'what brig's that?' But none of these
tricks will answer with t'other, who misses the whipping off the end of
a gasket, as soon as any first luff of us all. And so I'll just go about
the business in earnest; get the carpenter up with his plumb-bob, and
set every thing as straight up-and-down as the back of a grenadier."

Lord Morganic laughed, as was usual with him when his lieutenant saw fit
to be humorous; and then his caprice in changing the staying of his
masts, as well as the order which countermanded it, was forgotten.

The arrival of Sir Gervaise on board his own ship was always an event in
the fleet, even though his absence had lasted no longer than twenty-four
hours. The effect was like that which is produced on a team of
high-mettled cattle, when they feel that the reins are in the hands of
an experienced and spirited coachman.

"Good-morning, Greenly, good-morning to you all, gentlemen," said the
vice-admiral, bowing to the quarter-deck in gross, in return for the
'present-arms,' and rattling of drums, and lowering of hats that greeted
his arrival; "a fine day, and it is likely we shall have a fresh breeze.
Captain Greenly, your sprit-sail-yard wants squaring by the lifts; and,
Bunting, make the Thunderer's signal to get her fore-yard in its place,
as soon as possible. She's had it down long enough to make a new one,
instead of merely fishing it. Are your boats all aboard, Greenly?"

"All but your own barge, Sir Gervaise, and that is hooked on."

"In with it, sir; then trip, and we'll be off. Monsieur de Vervillin has
got some mischief in his head, gentlemen, and we must go and take it out
of him."

These orders were promptly obeyed; but, as the manner in which the
Plantagenet passed out of the fleet, and led the other ships to sea, has
been already related, it is unnecessary to repeat it. There was the
usual bustle, the customary orderly confusion, the winding of calls, the
creaking of blocks, and the swinging of yards, ere the vessels were in
motion. As the breeze freshened, sail was reduced, as already related,
until, by the time the leading ship was ten leagues at sea, all were
under short canvass, and the appearance of a windy, if not a dirty
night, had set in. Of course, all means of communication between the
Plantagenet and the vessels still at anchor, had ceased, except by
sending signals down the line; but, to those Sir Gervaise had no
recourse, since he was satisfied Bluewater understood his plans, and he
then entertained no manner of doubt of his friend's willingness to aid
them.

Little heed was taken of any thing astern, by those on board the
Plantagenet. Every one saw, it is true, that ship followed ship in due
succession, as long as the movements of those inshore could be perceived
at all; but the great interest centred on the horizon to the southward
and eastward. In that quarter of the channel the French were expected to
appear, for the cause of this sudden departure was a secret from no one
in the fleet. A dozen of the best look-outs in the ship were kept aloft
the whole afternoon, and Captain Greenly, himself, sat in the
forward-cross-trees, with a glass, for more than an hour, just as the
sun was setting, in order to sweep the horizon. Two or three sail were
made, it is true, but they all proved to be English coasters; Guernsey
or Jerseymen, standing for ports in the west of England, most probably
laden with prohibited articles from the country of the enemy. Whatever
may be the dislike of an Englishman for a Frenchman, he has no dislike
to the labour of his hands; and there probably has not been a period
since civilization has introduced the art of smuggling among its other
arts, when French brandies, and laces, and silks, were not exchanged
against English tobacco and guineas, and that in a contraband way, let
it be in peace or let it be in war. One of the characteristics of Sir
Gervaise Oakes was to despise all petty means of annoyance; usually he
disdained even to turn aside to chase a smuggler. Fishermen he never
molested at all; and, on the whole, he carried on a marine warfare, a
century since, in a way that some of his successors might have imitated
to advantage in our own times. Like that high-spirited Irishman,
Caldwell,[2] who conducted a blockade in the Chesapeake, at the
commencement of the revolution, with so much liberality, that his
enemies actually sent him an invitation to a public dinner, Sir Gervaise
knew how to distinguish between the combatant and the non-combatant, and
heartily disdained all the money-making parts of his profession, though
large sums had fallen into his hands, in this way, as pure God-sends. No
notice was taken, therefore, of any thing that had not a warlike look;
the noble old ship standing steadily on towards the French coast, as the
mastiff passes the cur, on his way to encounter another animal, of a
mould and courage more worthy of his powers.

[Footnote 2: The writer believes this noble-minded sailor to have been
the late Admiral Sir Benjamin Caldwell. It is scarcely necessary to say
that the invitation could not be accepted, though quite seriously
given.]

"Make nothing of 'em, hey! Greenly," said Sir Gervaise, as the captain
came down from his perch, in consequence of the gathering obscurity of
evening, followed by half-a-dozen lieutenants and midshipmen, who had
been aloft as volunteers. "Well, we know they cannot yet be to the
westward of us, and by standing on shall be certain of heading them off,
before this time six months. How beautifully all the ships behave,
following each other as accurately as if Bluewater himself were aboard
each vessel to conn her!"

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