The World of Waters - Mrs. David Osborne
[Footnote 3: More properly written "diwaun."]
[Footnote 4: Thus named from Helle, who, according to poetical
tradition, perished in these waters, and from Pontus, the Greek word
for sea.]
MR. WILTON. "Before we sail out of the Mediterranean, I wish to
mention the singular loss of the 'Mentor,' a vessel belonging to
Lord Elgin, the collector of the Athenian marbles, now called by his
name, and to be seen in the British Museum. The vessel was cast away
off Cerigo, with no other cargo on board but the sculptures: they
were, however, too valuable to be given up for lost, because they
had gone to the bottom of the sea. A plan was adopted for recovering
them, and it occupied a number of divers three years, before the
operations were completed, for the Mentor was sunk in ten fathoms
water, and the cases of marble were so heavy as to require amazing
skill and good management to be ultimately successful. The cases
were all finally recovered, and none of the contents in the least
damaged, when they were forwarded to England. The whole cost of
these marbles, all expenses included, in the collecting, weighing
up, and conveying, is estimated at the enormous sum of 36,000_l_."
CHARLES. "When was this valuable collection made, sir?"
MR. WILTON. "It was many years in hand. I believe about the year
1799 investigations commenced; but the 'Mentor' was lost in 1802,
and the marbles did not all arrive in England until the end of the
year 1812; since then an immense number of valuable medals have been
added to the collection."
DORA. "May we now sail through the straits of Gibraltar into the
Atlantic?"
MR. WILTON. "We must necessarily pass through the straits of
Gibraltar to get out of the Mediterranean; but as we proposed to
examine into the different situations of the lesser divisions of
water, _first_, we will merely sail through a _portion_ of the
Atlantic, and have a little information concerning the Bay of
Biscay."
DORA. "The Bay of Biscay washes the shores of France and Spain; but
the sea is so very rough there, that I think, were our voyage _real_
instead of _imaginary_, we should all be anxious to leave this Bay
as quickly as possible: and the next name on the list is the British
Channel."
EMMA. "I have that. The British Channel is the southern boundary of
Great Britain, and extends to the coast of France. The islands in
this channel are the Isle of Wight--capital Newport,--Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney and Sark."
MRS. WILTON. "The Isle of Wight has, from time immemorial, been
eulogized for its beautiful scenery. It is about twenty-three miles
from east to west, and twelve from north to south. You have all
heard of the Needles, which obtained their name from a lofty pointed
rock on the western coast, bearing a resemblance to that little
implement; and which, with other pieces of rock, had been disjointed
from the mainland by the force of the waves. This rock was 120 feet
high. About seventy years ago, it fell, and totally disappeared in
the sea. The height of the cliffs now standing, is in some places
600 feet, and, when viewed from a distance, they are magnificent in
the extreme. In this island her majesty Queen Victoria has a
delightful residence.
"Guernsey is the most westerly of the Channel Islands: it is eight
miles one way, and six miles the other, very fertile, with a mild
and healthy climate. A striking object presents itself on
approaching Guernsey, called Castle Cornet, situated on a rock
somewhat less than half a mile from the shore, entirely surrounded
by water, supposed to have been built by the Romans, and formerly
the residence of the governors."
MR. BARRAUD. "I have read a curious description of a most remarkable
thunder storm, which visited this place in December, 1672. It is as
follows:--
"On Sunday night, about 12 o'clock, the magazine of the castle was
blown up with the powder in it by the lightning. The night was very
stormy and tempestuous, and the wind blew hard. In an instant of
time, not only the whole magazine containing the powder was blown up
in the air, but also the houses and lodgings of the castle,
particularly some fair and beautiful buildings, that had just before
been erected at great expense, under the care and direction of Lord
Viscount Hatton (then governor.) who was at the same time within the
buildings of the castle, all which buildings were with many others,
reduced to a confused heap of stones, and several persons buried in
the ruins. In the upper part of the castle, at a place called the
New Buildings, was killed by the accident the dowager Lady Hatton,
by the fall of the ceiling of her chamber, which fell in four
pieces, one of them upon her breast, and killed her on the spot. The
Lady Hatton, wife to the governor, was likewise destroyed in the
following manner:--Her ladyship, being greatly terrified at the
thunder and lightning, insisted (before the magazine blew up,) upon
being removed from the chamber she was in to the nursery; where,
having caused her woman to come also to be with her, in order to
have joined in prayer, in a few minutes after, that noble lady and
her woman fell a sacrifice, by one corner of the nursery-room
falling in upon them, and were the next morning both found dead. In
the same room was also killed a nurse, who was found dead, having my
lord's second daughter fast in her arms, holding a small silver cup
in her hands, which she usually played with, and which was all
rimpled and bruised. Yet the young lady did not receive the least
hurt. The nurse had likewise one of her hands fixed upon the cradle,
in which lay my lord's youngest daughter, and the cradle was almost
filled with rubbish: yet the child received no sort of prejudice. A
considerable number of other persons were all destroyed by the same
accident."[5]
[Footnote 5: Vide History of Guernsey, by Dicey.]
MRS. WILTON. "What a very remarkable preservation of those little
children. Who could deny the finger of God, with such wonderful
instances of his Omnipotence before their eyes? Surely such events
must shake the tottering foundations of infidelity, and cause the
most disbelieving to confess 'The Lord He is God.' Jersey is the
next island for consideration; but I know so little of it, that I
must refer you to some person better acquainted with the subject."
CHARLES. "I have been to Jersey, madam, and shall be happy to afford
you the trifling information I have gained respecting its
peculiarities. Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, is
situated in a deep bay of the French coast, from which it is distant
twenty miles. Its extreme length from east to west is twelve miles,
its breadth six. The island is fertile and beautiful, it enjoys a
mild and salubrious climate; the coast is studded with granite
rocks, and indented by small bays, which add greatly to the beauty
of the scenery. The chief town is St. Helier's,--its principal trade
is with Newfoundland: ship-building is carried on extensively. The
natives are kind, but thrifty and parsimonious."
MRS. WILTON. "Thank you, Charles; your description is short, and
very much to the purpose. The Channel Islands, I believe, were
attached to England, as the private property of William the
Conqueror: the French have made several unsuccessful attempts to
gain possession of them. The natives are Norman, and the language
Norman-French. These islands enjoy a political constitution of their
own; exemption from all duties, and various privileges granted them
by Royal Charter; they are much attached to the English government,
but entirely averse to the French. We will now pass over the other
islands, and, 'putting our ship about,' we will stop to view the
Eddystone lighthouse."
MR. WILTON. "Before we quit the shores of France, I wish to read you
an extract from Leigh Ritchie's Travelling Sketches. You remember in
our conversations on the Rivers last winter, that we mentioned the
stain that would ever remain on Havre from the prominent part taken
by the inhabitants in the dreadful traffic in slaves. The extract I
am about to read is from the journal of a youth named Romaine, on
board the 'Rodeur,' a vessel of 200 tons, which cleared out of Havre
for Guadaloupe, on the 15th January, 1819. The boy writes to his
mother, while the vessel lay at Bony in the river Calabar, on the
coast of Africa:--'Since we have been at this place, I have become
more accustomed to the howling of these negroes. At first it alarmed
me, and I could not sleep. The captain says if they behave well they
will be much better off at Guadaloupe; and I am sure I wish the
ignorant creatures would come quietly, and have it over. To-day, one
of the blacks, whom they were forcing into the hold, suddenly
knocked down a sailor, and attempted to leap overboard. He was
caught, however, by the leg, by another of the crew; and the sailor,
rising in a passion, hamstrung him with his cutlass. The captain,
seeing this, knocked the butcher flat upon the deck with a
handspike. "I will teach you to keep your temper," said he; "he was
the best slave of the lot!"' The boy then runs to the chains, and
sees the slave who was found to be 'useless,' dropped into the sea,
where he continued to swim after he had sunk under the water, making
a red track, which broke, widened, faded, and was seen no more. At
last they got fairly to sea. The captain is described as being in
the best temper in the world; walking the deck, rubbing his hands,
humming a tune, and rejoicing that he had six dozen slaves on board;
men, women, and children; and all in 'prime marketable condition.'
The boy says, their cries were so terrible, that he dare not go and
look into the hold; that at first he could not close his eyes, the
sound so froze his blood; and that one night he jumped up, and in
horror ran to the captain's room; he was sleeping profoundly with
the lamp shining upon his face, calm as marble. The boy did not like
to disturb him. The next day, two of the slaves were found dead in
the hold, suffocated by the foulness of the atmosphere. The captain
is informed of this, and orders them in gangs to the forecastle to
take the fresh air. The boy runs up on deck to see them; he did not
find them so very unwell, but adds, 'that blacks are so much alike
that one can hardly tell.' On reaching the ship's side, first one,
then another, then a third, of the slaves leaped into the sea,
before the eyes of the astonished sailors. Others made the attempt,
but were knocked flat on the deck, and the crew kept watch over them
with handspikes and cutlasses, until they should receive orders from
the captain. The negroes who had escaped, kept gambolling upon the
waves, yelling what appeared like a song of triumph, in the burden
of which some on deck joined. The ship soon left the 'ignorant
creatures' behind, and their voices were heard more and more faint;
the black head of one, and then another, disappearing, until the
sea was without a spot and the air without a sound. The captain,
having finished his breakfast, came on deck, and was informed of the
revolt. He grew pale with rage, and, in dread of losing all his
cargo, determined to make an example. He selects six from those who
had joined in the chorus, has three hanged, and three shot before
their companions. That night the boy could not sleep. The negroes,
in consequence of the revolt, are kept closer than ever. As a
consequence, ophthalmia makes its appearance among them. The captain
is compelled to have them between decks, and the surgeon attends
them 'just as if they were white men.' All the slaves, then the
crew, save one, the captain, surgeon, and mate, the boy, and at last
the solitary one of the crew, are stone blind. 'Mother,' says the
boy, 'your son was blind for ten days.'
"Some of the crew were swearing from morning till night, some
singing abominable songs, some kissing the crucifix and making vows
to the saints. The ship in the meanwhile helmless, but with sails
set, driving on like the phantom vessel, is assailed by a storm, and
the canvass bursts with loud reports, the masts strain and crack,
she carrying on her course down the abyss of billows, and being cast
forth like a log on the heights of the waters. The storm dies away,
when the crew are startled with a sound which proves to be a hail
from another vessel. They ask for hands, and are answered with a
demand for like assistance. The one crew is too few to spare them,
and the other is too blind to go. 'At the commencement of this
horrible coincidence,' continues the boy, 'there was a silence among
us for some moments, like that of death. It was broken by a fit of
_laughter_ in which I joined myself; and before our awful merriment
was over, we could hear, by the sound of the curses which the
Spaniard shouted against us, that the St. Leo had drifted away.'
"The captain, crew, and some of the slaves gradually recover; some
partially, with the loss of an eye, others entirely. The conclusion
of the journal must be told in the boy's own words:--
"'This morning the captain called all hands on deck, negroes and
all. The shores of Guadaloupe were in sight. I thought he was going
to return God thanks publicly for our miraculous escape. "Are you
quite certain," said the mate, "that the cargo is insured?" "I am,"
replied the captain: "every slave that is lost must be made good by
the underwriters. Besides, would you have _me_ turn my ship into a
hospital for the support of blind negroes? They have cost us enough
already; do your duty." The mate picked out the thirty-nine negroes
who were completely blind, and, with the assistance of the rest of
the crew, tied a piece of ballast to the legs of each. The miserable
wretches were then thrown into the sea!'"
Tears glistened in the eyes of the children during the perusal of
this melancholy account, and Emma, covering her face with her hands,
wept aloud.
"Poor, poor people!" exclaimed George; "oh! how glad I am that the
English have no slaves; those wicked captains and sailors deserve
to be hanged for treating them so cruelly."
GRANDY. "'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.' These wicked men will
one day be called to an awful account for the cruelties exercised on
their hapless brethren; and not _they_ alone, but also the
purchasers of these wretched slaves, who, when possessed of them,
still caused them to groan in bondage and misery; without once
considering that negroes also are the work of God's hands, and are
made immortal equally with themselves, notwithstanding their
different complexion; for 'God is no respecter of persons,' and He
takes as much interest in the soul of a poor negro as in that of the
greatest white potentate on the earth."
MR. BARRAUD. "The glory of one of our celebrated navigators is
tarnished, by not merely a participation in, but by being actually
the originator of, the slave-trade in the English dominions. Sir
John Hawkins was the first Englishman who engaged in the
slave-trade; and he acquired such reputation for his skill and
success on a voyage to Guinea made in 1564, that, on his return
home, Queen Elizabeth granted him by patent, for his crest, a
_demi-moor_, in his proper color, bound with a cord. It was in those
days considered an honorable employment, and was common in most
other civilized countries of the world: it was the vice of the age:
therefore we must not condemn Sir John Hawkins individually, for it
is probable that he merely regarded it as a lucrative branch of
trade, and, like the rest of the world at that period, did no
consider it as in the slightest degree repugnant to justice or
Christianity. I presume our next halting-place will be Portsmouth?"
DORA. "Yes, sir; we are to anchor in Portsmouth harbor, because
Charles has an excellent account of the wreck of the 'Royal George,'
which, being so immediately connected with this naval town, will be
more appropriate here than elsewhere. Will you read it, Charles?"
CHARLES. "Willingly. The narrative is written by one of the
survivors, a Mr. Ingram, who lived many years after, at Wood ford,
near Bristol.
#The Wreck of the Royal George.#
"'The "Royal George" was a ship of one hundred guns. In August,
1782, she came to Spithead in a very complete state, so that there
was no occasion for the pumps to be touched oftener than once in
every three or four days. By the 29th of August she had got six
months' provisions on board and also many tons of shot. The ship had
her top gallant-yards up, the blue flag of Admiral Kempenfeldt was
flying at the mizen, and the ensign was hoisted on the
ensign-staff,--and she was to have sailed in about two days, to join
the grand fleet in the Mediterranean. It was ascertained that the
water-cock must be taken out, and a new one put in. The water-cock
is something like a tap of a barrel; it is in the hold of a ship on
the starboard side, and at that part of the ship called the well.
By turning a handle which is inside the ship, the sea-water is let
into a cistern in the hold, and it is from that pumped up to wash
the decks. In some ships, the water is drawn up the side in buckets,
and there is no water-cock. To get out the old water-cock, it was
necessary to make the ship heel so much on her larboard side as to
raise the outside of this apparatus above water. This was done at
about eight o'clock, on the morning of the 27th August. To do it,
the whole of the guns on the larboard side were run out as far as
they would go, quite to the breasts of the guns, and the starboard
guns drawn in amidships and secured by tackles, two to every gun,
one on each side. This brought the water-nearly on a level with the
port-holes of the larboard side of the lower gun-deck. The men were
working at the water-cock on the outside of the ship for near an
hour, the ship remaining all on one side, as I have stated.
"'At about nine o'clock, A.M., or rather before, we had just
finished our breakfast, and the last lighter, with rum on board, had
come alongside: this vessel was a sloop of about fifty tons, and
belonged to three brothers, who used to carry things on board the
man-of-war. She was lashed to the larboard side of the "Royal
George," and we were piped to clear the lighter, and get the rum out
of her, and stow it in the hold of the "Royal George." I was in the
waist of our ship, on the larboard side, bearing the rum-casks over,
as some of our men were aboard the sloop to sling them.
"'At first no danger was apprehended from the ship being on one
side, although the water kept dashing in at the port-holes at every
wave; and there being mice in the lower part of the ship, which were
disturbed by the water which dashed in, they were hunted in the
water by the men, and there had been a rare game going on. However,
by nine o'clock the additional quantity of rum aboard the ship, and
also the quantity of sea-water which had dashed in through the
port-holes, brought the larboard port-holes of the lower gun-deck
nearly level with the sea.
"As soon as that was the case, the carpenter went on the
quarter-deck to the lieutenant of the watch, to ask him to give
orders to "right ship," as the ship could not bear it. However, the
lieutenant made him a very short answer, and the carpenter then went
below. This officer was the third lieutenant; he had not joined us
long: his name I do not recollect; he was a good-sized man, between
thirty and forty years of age. The men called him "Jib
and-stay-sail-Jack;" for if _he_ had the watch in the night, he
would be always bothering the men to alter the sails, and it was "up
jib" and "down jib," and "up foresail" and "down foresail," every
minute. However, the men considered him more of a troublesome
officer than a good one; and, from a habit he had of moving his
fingers about when walking the quarter-deck, the men said he was an
organ-player from London: but I have no reason to know this was the
case. The captain's name was Waghorn. He was on board, but where he
was I do not know: however, captains, if anything is to be done
when the ship is in harbor, seldom interfere, but leave it all to
the officer of the watch. The Admiral was, either in his cabin, or
in the steerage (I do not know which); and the barber, who had been
to shave him, had just left. The Admiral was a man upwards of
seventy years of age; he was a thin tall man, and stooped a good
deal.
"'As I have already stated, the carpenter left the quarter-deck and
went below. In a very short time he came up again, and asked the
lieutenant of the watch to "right ship," and said again that the
ship could not bear it. Myself and a good many more were at the
waist of the ship and at the gangways, and heard what passed, as we
knew the danger, and began to feel aggrieved; for there were some
capital seamen aboard, who knew what they were about quite as well
or better than the officers.
"'In a very short time, in a minute or two, I should think,
Lieutenant (now Admiral Sir P.H.) Durham ordered the drummer to be
called to beat to "right ship." The drummer was called in a moment,
and the ship was then just beginning to sink. I jumped off the
gangway as soon as the drummer was called. There was no time for him
to beat his drum, and I do not know that he had even had time to get
it. I ran down to my station, and, by the time I had got there, the
men were tumbling down the hatchways one over another, to get to
their stations as quick as possible to "right ship." My station was
at the third gun from the head of the ship, on the starboard side of
the lower gun-deck close by where the cable passes. I said to the
second captain of our gun whose name was Carrell, (for every gun has
a first and second captain, though they are only sailors,) "Let us
try to bouse our gun out, without waiting for the drum, as it will
help to 'right ship.'" We pushed the gun, but it ran back upon us,
and we could not start him. The water then rushed in at nearly all
the port-holes of the larboard side of the lower gun-deck, and I
directly said to Carrell, "Ned, lay hold of the ring-bolt, and jump
out of the port-hole; the ship is sinking, and we shall all be
drowned." He laid hold of the ring-bolt, and jumped out at the
port-hole into the sea: I believe he was drowned, for I never saw
him afterwards. I immediately got out at the same port-hole, which
was the third from the head of the ship on the starboard side of the
lower gun-deck, and when I had done so, I saw the port-hole as full
of heads as it could cram, all trying to get out.
"'I caught hold of the best bower-anchor, which was just above me,
to prevent falling back again into the port-hole, and seized hold of
a woman who was trying to get out of the same place. I dragged her
out. The ship was full of Jews, women, and people, selling all sorts
of things. I threw the woman from me, and saw all the heads drop
back again in at the port-hole, for the ship had got so much on her
larboard side, that the starboard port-holes were as much upright as
if the men had tried to get out of the top of a chimney, with
nothing for their legs and feet to act upon. I threw the woman from
me, and just after that moment, the air that was between decks,
drafted out at the port-holes very swiftly. It was quite a huff of
wind, and it blew my hat off. The ship then sunk in a moment. I
tried to swim, but I could not, although I plunged as hard as I
could, both hands and feet. The sinking of the ship drew me down so:
indeed, I think I must have gone down within a yard as low as the
ship did. When the ship touched the bottom, the water boiled up a
great deal, and then I felt that I could swim, and began to rise.
"'When I was about half-way up to the top of the water, I put my
right hand on the head of a man who was nearly exhausted. He wore
long hair, as did many of the men at that time; he tried to grapple
me, and he put his four fingers into my right shoe, alongside the
outer edge of my foot. I succeeded in kicking my shoe off, and,
putting my hand on his shoulder, I shoved him away: I then rose to
the surface of the water.
"'At the time the ship was sinking, there was a barrel of tar on the
starboard side of her deck, and that had rolled to the larboard, and
staved as the ship went down, and when I rose to the top of the
water, the tar was floating like fat on the top of a boiler. I got
the tar about my hair and face: but I struck it away as well as I
could, and when my head came above water, I heard the cannon ashore
firing for distress. I looked about me, and at the distance of eight
or ten yards from me, I saw the main topsail halyard block above
water: the water was about thirteen fathoms deep, and at that time
the tide was coming in. I swam to the main topsail halyard block,
got on it, and sat upon it, and then I rode. The fore, main, and
mizen tops were all above water, as were a part of the bow-sprit,
and part of the ensign-staff, with the ensign upon it.
"'In going down, the mainyard of the "Royal George" caught the boom
of the rum-lighter, and sunk her; and there is no doubt that this
made the "Royal George" more upright in the water, when sunk, than
she otherwise would have been, as she did not lie much more on her
beam-ends than small vessels often do, when left dry on a bank of
mud.