Volume I Part 30 (1/2)

She had not far to go in order to meet an enemy well worthy of her metal. Three days after parting with the ”Hornet,” two sail were made, well in sh.o.r.e. One of the vessels so sighted seemed to make for the land, as though anxious to avoid meeting the American s.h.i.+p; while the other came about, and made her course boldly toward the ”Const.i.tution.”

It was about nine o'clock on a bright December morning that the ”Const.i.tution” encountered the strange vessel, which bore down upon her. A light breeze, of sufficient force to enable the vessels to manoeuvre, was blowing; but the surface of the ocean was as placid as a lake in summer. The build of the stranger left no doubt of her warlike character, and the bold manner in which she sought a meeting with the American s.h.i.+p convinced Bainbridge that he had fallen in with an enemy. The ”Const.i.tution” did not for a time meet the enemy's advances in kind. Back of the advancing frigate could be seen the low, dark coast-line of Brazil, into whose neutral waters the Englishman could retreat, and thus gain protection, if the conflict seemed to go against him. Bainbridge determined that the coming battle should be fought beyond the possibility of escape for the vanquished, and therefore drew away gradually as the stranger came on. By noon the two s.h.i.+ps were near enough together for flags to be visible, when Bainbridge set his colors, and displayed private signals. The enemy did the same; and, though his signals were unintelligible, the flag that fluttered at the masthead was clearly the flag of Great Britain.

Bainbridge continued his retreat for an hour longer, then, being far enough from land, took in his main-sail and royals, and tacked toward the Englishman.

By this time the strange sail which had been sighted in company with the English s.h.i.+p had disappeared. The low-lying coast of Brazil had sunk below the horizon. From the deck of the ”Const.i.tution,” nothing could be seen but the vast circle of placid ocean, and the English frigate about a mile to the windward, bearing down to open the fight.

The drums beat, and the crew went quietly and in perfect order to their quarters. They were no longer the raw, untrained crew that had joined the s.h.i.+p some months before. They were veterans, with the glorious victory over the ”Guerriere” fresh in their remembrance, and now animated with a desire to add to their trophies the strange vessel then in sight.

As the enemy, which proved to be the ”Java,” thirty-eight, Capt.

Lambert, came nearer, she hauled down her colors, leaving only a jack flying. A jack is a small flag hoisted at the bowsprit cap. The Union jack of the United States navy is a blue flag dotted with stars, but without the stripes of the national flag; the jack of Great Britain has the scarlet cross of St. George on a blue field. The Englishman's action in hauling down his ensigns puzzled Bainbridge, who sent a shot as an order that they be raised again. The response to this reminder came in the form of a heavy broadside, and the action opened.

In the light wind that was blowing, the enemy proved the better sailer, and soon forged ahead. His object was to cross the bows of the American s.h.i.+p, and get in a raking broadside,--the end and aim of most of the naval manoeuvring in those days of wooden s.h.i.+ps and heavy batteries. By skilful seamans.h.i.+p, Bainbridge warded off the danger; and the fight continued broadside to broadside. The firing on both sides was rapid and well directed. After half an hour of fighting, the ”Const.i.tution” was seriously crippled by a round shot, which carried away her wheel, and wounded Bainbridge by driving a small copper bolt deep into his thigh. For a moment it seemed as though the American s.h.i.+p was lost. Having no control over the rudder, her head fell off, her sails flapped idly against the spars, and the enemy was fast coming into an advantageous position. But, though wounded, the indomitable Yankee captain was equal to the occasion. Tackle was rigged upon the rudder-post between decks, and a crew of jackies detailed to work the improvised helm. The helmsmen were far out of earshot of the quarter-deck: so a line of mids.h.i.+pmen was formed from the quarter-deck to the spot where the sailors tugged at the steering-lines.

”Hard-a-port!” Bainbridge would shout from his station on the quarter-deck.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Marines Picking Off The Enemy.]

”Hard-a-port! Hard-a-port!” came the quick responses, as the mids.h.i.+pmen pa.s.sed the word along. And so the s.h.i.+p was steered; and, notwithstanding the loss of her wheel, fairly out-manoeuvred her antagonist. The first raking broadside was delivered by the ”Const.i.tution,” and did terrible execution along the gun-deck of the English s.h.i.+p. The two s.h.i.+ps then ran before the wind, exchanging broadsides at a distance of half pistol-shot. At this game the American was clearly winning: so the Englishman determined to close and board, in the das.h.i.+ng, fearless way that had made the tars of Great Britain the terror of all maritime peoples. The frigate bore down on the ”Const.i.tution,” and struck her on the quarter; the long jib-boom tearing its way through the rigging of the American s.h.i.+p.

But, while this movement was being executed, the American gunners had not been idle; and the results of their labors were very evident, in the rigging of the ”Java.” Her jib-boom and bowsprit were so shattered by shot, that they were on the point of giving way; and, as the s.h.i.+ps met, the mizzen-mast fell, cras.h.i.+ng through forecastle and main-deck, crus.h.i.+ng officers and sailors beneath it in the fall, and hurling the topmen into the ocean to drown. The ”Const.i.tution” shot ahead, but soon wore and lay yard-arm to yard-arm with her foe. For some minutes the battle raged with desperation. A dense sulphurous smoke hung about the hulls of the two s.h.i.+ps, making any extended vision impossible.

Once in a while a fresher puff of wind, or a change in the position of the s.h.i.+ps, would give the jackies a glimpse of their enemy, and show fierce faces glaring from the open ports, as the great guns were drawn in for loading. Then the gray pall of smoke fell, and nothing was to be seen but the carnage near at hand. The officers on the quarter-deck could better judge of the progress of the fray; and, the marines stationed there took advantage of every clear moment to pick off some enemy with a shot from one of their muskets. High up in the tops of the ”Const.i.tution” were two small howitzers, with which crews of topmen, under the command of mids.h.i.+pmen, made lively play with grape and canister upon the crowded decks of the enemy. From the cavernous submarine depths of the c.o.c.k-pit and magazine, to the tops of each s.h.i.+p, not an idler was to be found. Chaplains, surgeons, clerks, cooks, and waiters--all were working or fighting for the honor of the flag under which they served.

Again the British determined to board; and the quick, sharp notes of the bugle calling up the boarders gave warning of their intentions.

The men in the tops of the American frigate, looking down from their lofty station, could see the crowd of boarders and marines gathered on the forecastle and in the gang-ways, and could hear the shrill notes of the boatswain's whistle cheering them on. At that moment, however, the American fire raked the enemy with fearful effect, and the volleys of musketry from the marines and topmen made such havoc among the crowded boarders that the attempt was abandoned. The deadly fire of the Americans was not slackened. Capt. Lambert was struck down, mortally wounded; and the command fell upon Lieut. Chads, who, though himself badly wounded, continued the fight with true British courage.

Over the side of the ”Java” hung the wreck of her top-hamper, which every broadside set on fire. Yet the British tars fought on, cheering l.u.s.tily, and not once thinking of surrender, though they saw their foremast gone, their mizzen-mast s.h.i.+vered, even the last flag shot away, and the last gun silenced.

When affairs had reached this stage, the ”Const.i.tution,” seeing no flag flying on the enemy, hauled away, and set about repairing her own damages. While thus engaged, the main-mast of the ”Java” was seen to go by the board, and the s.h.i.+p lay a hopeless wreck upon the water.

After making some slight repairs, Bainbridge returned to take possession of his prize, but, to his surprise, found a jack still floating over the helpless hulk. It was merely a bit of bravado, however; for, as the ”Const.i.tution” ranged up alongside, the jack was hauled down.

[Ill.u.s.tration: In The Cross-trees.]

The ”Java” proved to be a rich prize. She was one of the best of the English frigates, and had just been especially fitted up for the accommodation of the governor-general of Bombay and his staff, all of whom were then on board. This added to the regular number of officers and crew more than one hundred prisoners, mostly of high rank in British military and social circles.

The boarding officer found the s.h.i.+p so badly cut up that to save her was impossible. Her loss in men, including her captain Henry Lambert, and five mids.h.i.+pmen, was forty-eight, together with one hundred and five wounded, among whom were many officers. The ”Const.i.tution” had suffered much less severely, having but twelve killed and twenty wounded. The s.h.i.+p herself was but little damaged; her chief injury being the loss of her wheel, which was immediately replaced by that of the ”Java.”

Capt. Bainbridge now found himself a great distance from home, with a disabled s.h.i.+p filled with prisoners, many of whom were wounded. Even had the wreck of the ”Java” been less complete, it would have been hazardous to attempt to take her back to the United States through the West India waters that swarmed with British vessels. No course was open save to take the prisoners aboard the ”Const.i.tution,” and set the torch to the disabled hulk.

To do this was a work of no little difficulty. The storm of lead and iron that had swept across the decks of the British frigate had left intact not one of the boats that hung from the davits. The ”Const.i.tution” had fared better; but, even with her, the case was desperate, for the British cannonade had left her but two serviceable boats. To transfer from the sinking s.h.i.+p to the victorious frigate nearly five hundred men, over a hundred of whom were wounded, was a serious task when the means of transfer were thus limited.

Three days the ”Const.i.tution” lay by her defeated enemy, and hour after hour the boats plied between the two s.h.i.+ps. The first to be moved were the wounded. Tackle was rigged over the side of the ”Java;”

and the mangled sufferers, securely lashed in their hammocks, were gently lowered into the waiting boat, and soon found themselves in the sick-bay of the American s.h.i.+p, where they received the gentlest treatment from those who a few hours before sought only to slay them.

The transfer of the wounded once accomplished, the work proceeded with great rapidity: and in the afternoon of the third day the ”Const.i.tution” was filled with prisoners; and the ”Java,” a deserted, shattered hulk, was ready for the last scene in the drama of her career.

The last boat left the desolate wreck, and, reaching the ”Const.i.tution,” was hauled up to the davits. The side of the American frigate next to the abandoned s.h.i.+p was crowded with men, who looked eagerly across the water. Through the open port-holes of the ”Java,” a flickering gleam could be seen, playing fitfully upon the decks and gun-carriages. The light grew brighter, and sharp-tongued flames licked the outside of the hull, and set the tangled cordage in a blaze. With this the whole s.h.i.+p seemed to burst into fire, and lay tossing, a huge ball of flame, on the rising sea. When the fire was raging most fiercely, there came a terrific explosion, and the great hull was lifted bodily from the water, falling back shattered into countless bits. Guns, anchors, and ironwork dragged the greater part of the wreckage to the bottom; and when the ”Const.i.tution,” with all sail set, left the spot, the captive Englishmen, looking sadly back, could see only a patch of charred woodwork and cordage floating upon the ocean to mark the burial-place of the st.u.r.dy frigate ”Java.”

The ”Const.i.tution” made sail for San Salvador, where the prisoners were landed; first giving their paroles not to serve against the ”United States” until regularly exchanged. Bainbridge then took his s.h.i.+p to Boston, where she arrived in February, 1813.

The subst.i.tution of the wheel of the ”Java” for that of the ”Const.i.tution,” shot away in battle, has been alluded to. In his biography of Capt. Bainbridge, Fenimore Cooper relates a story of interest regarding this trophy. It was a year or two after peace was made with England, in 1815, that a British naval officer visited the ”Const.i.tution,” then lying at the Boston navy-yard. The frigate had been newly fitted out for a cruise to the Mediterranean; and an American officer, with some pride, showed the Englishman over the s.h.i.+p, which was then undoubtedly the finest of American naval vessels.

After the tour of the s.h.i.+p had been made, the host said, as they stood chatting on the quarter-deck,--