/ t r r 4 &*" ■ z H& &$ i'jf DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The Glenn Negley Collection of Utopian Literature V Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Duke University Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/captainofmaryrosOOclow THE CAPTAIN OF THE "MAEY EOSE " THE CAPTAIN OF THE "MARY ROSE' 3 &ale of &o*morroto W. LAIRD CLOWES UNITED STATES NAVAL INSTITUTE ILLUSTRATED BY THE CHEVALIER EDOUARDO DE MARTI NO AND FRED T. JANE SEVENTH EDITION London: W. THACKER & CO., 2 Creed Lane, E.C. Calcutta : THACKER, SPINK & CO. 1898 [All Eights Reserved] tSo REAR-ADMIRAL JOHN ARBUTHNOT FISHER, C.B. ONE OF THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY AND CONTROLLER OF THE NAVY THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED IN REMEMBRANCE OF TWO PORTSMOUTH LUNCHEON PARTIES (AUGUST 19TH AND 25TH, 1891) EACH OF WHICH WAS ENLIVENED BY A KIND HOST'S WIT CONTENTS, A Bolt from the Blue The Battle off Toulon Some Staggering Blows A Letter of Marque CHAPTER I. CHAPTER II. CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. The Attack on the Rock CHAPTER VI. The Sailing of the " Mary Rose " CHAPTER VII. The Forcing of the Straits CHAPTER VIII. The Chase to Malta CHAPTER IX. A "Glorious First of June" . CHAPTER X. " Home and Beauty " FADE 1 25 65 105 135 164 192 227 258 300 ILL.USTBATIONS. From Drawings by the CHEVALIER EDOUABDO BE MABTINO and FEED T. JANE. fitted to in com of the " They were all a mass of lights " (see page 35) " Even some obsolete gunboats " . "Masthead electric lights of novel design are being some of the larger battleships " " Was only a steam yacht "... " Certain craft were ordered to use their search-lights bination " . " A number of French ships were coming out " . " Suddenly a ship near the centre of the French line began to use her search-lights " . ""The effect of the light when it shines in the eyes spectator is confusing " . " It is impossible to guess how far off the projector is ■" A torpedo hit us on the port bow " " By the enemy's terrible fire " "Remember what they will say at home " " The Alexandra has also arrived " " The Channel Fleet has been ordered home " " Ships were taking in powder and shell " -" A couple of first-class torpedo boats were sent out " 41 Every vessel opened in the direction of the foe " " They rendered all the other craft of the enemy invisible " " It was fearful work ; the very silence of the grey boats made the scene the more impressive " " The blowing up of the Minotaur " " The attack on the Hercules " . 41 May I never live to have another so awful experience " PAGE Frontispiece 9 13 19 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 67 71 75 79 83 87 91 95 99 Xll List of Illustrations. " A torpedo exploded under her own port quarter " " The Bellona ashore "..... " Whose steam launch narrowly escaped being run down " " The Fleet at Spithead " . .... The letter of marque Valdivia (afterwards Mary Rose) . Deck plan of the Valdivia .... " Off the Rock " ...... " They opened a furious fire " . " All night long the bombardment continued " No. 70 " I have done it ! " . The Mary Rose escorted out of the Tyne . " The foretop over which peeped the covered muzzle of a gun" " Give her the bow 9 "4-in. gun" .... The Mary Rose and prizes entering Plymouth Sound Coaling off the Wadi Gloug .... " Steaming with his coal " . "Ordered the starboard 9"4-in. gun to be fired" . " It was impossible to distinguish the order in which the French Fleet was steaming " Mary Rose torpedoing an ironclad " Suspicious-looking objects were creeping up " It was short, quick, terrible work " " Their white bow waves betrayed them " . " Suddenly a rocket shot up " " The Troude was warily coming up " " On board the Cecille a perfectly awful state of affairs was found The Oristoforo Colombo " In the days of sailing ships " An Atlantic greyhound "Gib" The Royal Sovereign u I had the misfortune to lose the Dreadnought" A " glorious first of June " PAG 8 103 107 111 115 121 129 139 143 147 153 159 171 177 185 189 197 201 207 217 223 241 245 249 253 259 263 275 279 283 287 291 295 301 PREFACE. every Briton, the question: "What will the sea- fighting of to-morrow be like ? " is of supreme interest and importance. Ours is a sea empire. The confines of our dominions lie, not upon our own coasts, but upon the coasts of our neighbours ; and unless in the future we can, as we have done in the past, hold our dominions, be they shore or be they ocean, against all comers, our national glory will be eclipsed, our wealth will vanish, and our greatness will be annihilated. It is primarily in order to put forward a tentative answer to this question that I have written the story of the Mary Rose. I have seen no real fighting at sea. There are very few who have. But I have seen an immense amount of sham-fighting — more, it is possible, than anyone else ; for, besides witnessing manoeuvres abroad, I have for eight successive years gone afloat to follow the opera- tions consequent upon the annual mobilisation in our own home waters. The sham thing, I am quite aware, must be very different from the terrible reality. It affords, nevertheless, a key to the reality ; and, armed with that key, I have been so bold as to endeavour to open the xiv Preface. future. Similar endeavours have been made before. In conjunction with my friend, Commander Charles Napier Robinson, R.N., I myself made the endeavour in 1886, when Messrs. Hatchards re-published for us, from the pages of the St. James's Gazette, "The Great Naval War of 1887." Not long afterwards another friend, Mr. H. O. Arnold-Forster, now M.P. for West Belfast, contributed to a monthly maga- zine his excellent forecast called "In a Conning Tower; or, How I took H.M.S. Majestic into Action," and last year he re-published it. Last year, also, appeared "The Last Great Naval War: An Historical Retrospect," by "A. Nelson Seaforth," whom, I shrewdly suspect, I have the pleasure of knowing under a name which, in the Navy, is closely identified with lamps, signals, speeches at the Royal United Service Institution, and letters to The Times. Other en- deavours I need not particularly allude to. The present one is intended to differ from its predecessors in being less technical, and in paying attention to some aspects of naval warfare that have been neglected by all the rest. These aspects, I venture to hope, will especially recommend them- selves to British boys. If they will take an intelligent interest in modern naval developments, we shall not, twenty or thirty years hence, have to lament that upon naval questions the tax-paying public is ignorant or apathetic ; for not only the boy is the father of the man, but also the study of matters naval is so seductive that, I believe, no Englishman who has once taken it up has ever willingly relinquished it. My first aim, then, has been to give a readable tentative Preface. xv answer to the question : " What will the sea-fighting of to- morrow be like ? " My second has been to call attention to our position in the Mediterranean. We maintain there a large Fleet of fine ships, and it is our duty to do so ; because we are a Medi- terranean Power of the first rank; because, while we are paramount in the Mediterranean, we are, to a far greater extent than is commonly realised, the peace-keepers of Europe; and because our paramount position in the waters of the Mediterranean is essential to the preservation of most valuable material interests, which, if we once lost them, we might never be able to regain. And so we maintain a large Mediterranean Fleet. But " large " is, after all, only a comparative term. France has at her immediate disposal a far larger one in the same sea, and unless we keep our naval strength in the Mediterranean, as elsewhere, superior to that of France, our only dangerous naval rival, we im- peril our position. The ships which are mentioned in the story are all existing ships. The Mediterranean ships men- tioned are practically the existing Mediterranean Fleets. ■ In writing as I have written, I have been animated by no unfriendly and by no unfair feeling towards France. I have represented French officers as being fully as scientific and brave as their British " opposite numbers," and I have never represented a Frenchman as doing a thing which, if done by an Englishman, would shame him. In the past, when we have been enemies, we have, I trust, been honest and cordial ones. I am sure that, in the future, if fate should unhappily make us opponents, we shall not be less xvi Preface. loyal foes than we were ninety years ago, and that after- wards we shall not diminish our respect one for the other. I am most fortunate in having had, in this work, the co-operation of my friend, that most distinguished of marine painters, the Chevalier Edouardo de Martino. He volun- teered to illustrate what I should write ; and to receive such an offer from so admirable an artist was, of course, to gladly accept it. When, as he and I believed, we had completed our labour, be was called to South America. The editor of The Engineer was then so good as to think that the story of the Mary Rose might be welcome to the readers of his paper. He wished, however, to have ad- ditional illustrations, and these were in due time supplied by Mr. F. T. Jane, a young artist who has already made his mark in this particular branch of black and white drawing. While the story was being published in The Engineer, Mr. Jane offered to prepare a number of further illustrations, and these, now printed for the first time, will, I think, be found among the most effective of his contributions. To the proprietors of The Engineer, for their permission to use Mr. Jane's first series of illustrations, and for the facilities which they have placed in my way, I tender my grateful thanks. New Travellers' Club, Piccadilly, November, 1892. THE CAPTAIN OF THE "MARY ROSE." CHAPTER I. A BOLT FROM THE BLUE. N the morning of Tuesday, April 28th 189 — , the publication in London of the following Reuter's telegram created no small amount of uneasiness and excite- ment in commercial as well as in political circles. The telegram was dated, " Toulon, Monday Evening," and it was thus worded : — " This afternoon a bluejacket, belonging to the British Mediterranean Fleet, which arrived here yesterday, got into an altercation in a cafe with a French seaman. Other sailors, British and French, who were present, took sides; the argument assumed the dimensions of a quarrel ; blows were freely exchanged ; and the British bluejackets were at last driven into the street, and thence to their boats. In the course of the disturbance some revolver and rifle shots 2 The Captain of the "Mary Rose." were fired, it is believed by the Frenchmen, and, un- fortunately, there seems to have been bloodshed, and pos- sibly loss of life. Owing, however, to the excited attitude of the local population, to the extreme reticence of the police, and to the fact that a military cordon has been drawn round the scene of the outbreak, it is as yet impossible to obtain any trustworthy particulars. The Maritime Prefect at once went on board the British flagship Victoria. It is sup- posed that his object was to offer or to ask for explana- tions ; but, upon his return to the shore, no public an- nouncement was made, and nothing definite is therefore known. The situation, without being serious, may at any moment become so. The local authorities are in brisk telegraphic communication with Paris." This telegram was, in itself, alarming ; but the gravity of its import was increased a thousandfold by an announce- ment which followed it in the columns of the Times. " The above news," said that journal, " is, so far as we can learn, the latest that has been received from France. It reached the Times office shortly after eight o'clock last evening. We at once took steps to obtain further par- ticulars. We were, however, informed that between half- past seven and half-past eight telegraphic communication with France had been totally interrupted, and that all the Channel cables, as well as the Irish cable from Havre to Waterville, had ceased to work. There is reason, therefore, to fear that the Toulon affair is of graver importance than A Bolt from the Blue. Reuters agent seems to have suspected when he sent off his dispatch. Up to the hour of going to press, no further intelligence bearing upon the matter has reached us. We hope, however, to receive further news in the course of the night by way of Belgium or Holland, communication with those countries being still open. A copy of Reuter's tele- gram was, immediately after the arrival of the message, posted up in all the clubs, and exhibited in the windows of several newspaper offices in Fleet Street. The news caused much speculation and excitement, and, for the remainder of the evening, formed everywhere the sole topic of conversa- tion. It is a subject for congratulation that Parliament is sitting, and that all the Ministers are in town. In the Commons, as will be seen on reference to our Parliamentary report, the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs rose at nine o'clock, and, apologising for interrupting the senior member for Northampton, who at the moment was speaking in sup- port of the motion for the appointment of a Roj'al Com- mission on International Arbitration, read the telegram to the House, which listened in hushed silence. In reply to several questions, the right honourable gentleman stated that he had no further information, and that he trusted that, until further news should be forthcoming, the House and the country would, in deference to the susceptibilities of a friendly Power, refrain from demonstrations of any kind. He hoped that the affair would have no serious results ; and he had every confidence, he said, that the French 4 The Captain of the " Mary Rose." Government would act in the matter with absolute fairness. In answer to a question as to the alleged interruption of telegraphic communication, he replied that he had no in- formation. At a late hour all the Ministers met in informal conclave in the Prime Minister's room in the House of Lords. They had not separated when we went to press, and no- thing, therefore, is known of the upshot of their delibera- tions. But in the lobbies, and among private members, the fact of the interruption of communications was definitely substantiated soon after ten o'clock, and it naturally excited much alarm. There is very little doubt that the cables have been deliberately cut ; though a few sanguine people assert that the non-receipt of further news is due entirely to the effects of the storm which raged during the evening, and which, pitiless as it was, Jailed to disperse the crowds that thronged the neighbourhood of St. Stephen's in anxious expectation of hearing that some additional Ministerial an- nouncement had been made. The behaviour of the people was strikingly quiet and orderly. Strong feeling was, of course, general, but, for the most part, its exhibition was suppressed. That there were very few noisy demonstrations or patriotic harangues in the streets, may, however, be partially attributed to the effect of the rain, which fell in torrents. " Upon inquiring at midnight at the French Embassy at Albert Gate, we were assured that no information as to the Toulon affair had been officially received. A Bolt from the Blue. " For the satisfaction of those who may be ignorant on the subject, we give below the strength of that portion of the Mediterranean Fleet which anchored off Toulon on Sunday afternoon. Battleship, 1st class — Gamperdown ,, ,, • Sanspareil... Collingwood . -Colossus^.... Dreadnought Edinburgh... Nile Inflexible Benbow Trafalgar Victoria Australia.... Undaunted. . Polyphemus. Fearless Scout , Surprise , 2nd class- lst class — 2nd class — 1st class — Belted cruiser — Torpedo ram — Cruiser, 3rd class — Dispatch vessel — Tons. H.P. Guns. 10,600 11,500 10 10,470 14,000 15 9,500 9,570 10 9,420 7,500 9 10,820 8,210 4 9,420 7,500 9 1 11,940 12,000 10 ! 11,880 8,010 12 j 10,600 11,860 12 1 11,940 12,000 10 1 10,470 14,000 15 5,600 8.500 12 5,600 8,500 12 2,640 5,520 — 1,580 3,300 4 1,580 3,200 4 1,650 3,030 4 Men. 526 o87 459 325 440 445 500 460 500 500 500 460 460 132 140 140 93 " The rest of the Mediterranean Fleet consists exclusively of unarmoured cruisers and light vessels, and is composed of H.M. ships Amphion, Dolphin, Cockatrice, Gannet, Hecla, Imogme, Landrail, Melita, Phaeton, and Sandfly, with one or two stationary vessels. Several are in the Levant or the Red Sea, and none are nearer to Toulon than Malta or Gibraltar. Of the French ships at Toulon we have at present no particular information. We know, however, that there The Captain of the " Mary Rose." are at least twelve ironclads ready for, or actually in, com- mission, several powerful cruisers, and a considerable num- ber of torpedo boats, both large and small." In a leading article on the Toulon affair, the Times advised its readers to suspend the formation of opinion until further news should be received ; to abstain from any demonstrations which might make worse a state of things that was already sufficiently grave; and loyally to support the Government in whatever measures it might deem itself called upon to adopt. Much the same advice was given by all the other London morning papers, not one of which, it should be added, contained any more detailed news than appeared in the Times. And, upon the whole, the advice was faithfully acted upon throughout that Tuesday of anxiety and agitation. A few roughs raised insulting shouts outside the French Embassy, and some truculent individuals broke a window there with stones ; but in each case the police promptly interfered, and took the offenders into custody. No more news reached London until shortly before midday ; but the early editions of all the evening papers contained the following telegram, which had been received by way of Brussels and the Middelkerke- Ramsgate cable : — "Advices from Toulon report that, shortly after nine o'clock last night, the British Mediterranean Fleet, consisting of eleven battleships, two belted cruisers, and four other vessels, quitted its anchorage off that port. A French squa- A Bolt from the Blue. dron hastily put to sea at about the same time. The object of these movements is unknown, and in consequence, the most alarming rumours are current. Toulon is in a state of great excitement, and bodies of men patrol the streets singing patriotic songs. Several British bluejackets were killed in yesterday's affray. The authorities • refuse to give any in- formation ; but it is known here that last evening at a late hour all the submarine cables connecting the British Islands with France were cut by order of the French Government. All messages that cross the Franco-Belgian frontier are now jealously scrutinised, and several have been stopped." During the day, with very brief intervals between them, many still more alarming telegrams poured in. The more important of them are quoted below : — " Ostend, Tuesday, 12.15 p.m.— The British Ambassador to the French Republic has suddenly arrived here. Late last night he was roused from his bed and ordered to quit Paris at two hours' notice ; and he was subsequently conducted by an armed escort to the Belgian frontier. He leaves at once by special steamer for England. The French Toulon Fleet, it is rumoured, put to sea yesterday evening, with orders to prevent the British Fleet from leaving until full satisfaction should be given for the alleged murders by British sailors during yesterday's riots. It is also rumoured that, in defiance of the Maritime Prefect's order to the contrary, the British Admiral has quitted his anchorage. The situation is regarded as most serious ; and the dismissal of the Ambassador clearly 8 The Captain of the " Mary Rose." points to a rupture. French troops are being rapidly concen- trated at Cherbourg, Brest, Lorient, Dunquerque, and other coast towns ; and it is whispered that, as a precautionary measure, a Belgian army corps is to be mobilised and is to occupy the frontier. Numerous British refugees from France have already reached this place." " Dover, Tuesday, 12.38 p.m. — The passenger steamer Vic- toria started this morning as usual for Calais. When she was at a distance of about two miles from the French coast, a French gunboat hailed her and informed her captain that communication between England and France is forbidden, pending the issue of further directions from Paris. The Victoria had, therefore, no alternative but to return. Two other passenger steamers have been similarly treated. The excitement here is intense." " Brussels, Tuesday, 1.50 p.m. — The French Government last night sent to the Admiral at Toulon orders which, if they be acted upon, can only bring about immediate war between France and Great Britain. The orders were to prevent, at all hazards, the British Fleet from putting to sea so long as the serious questions which were raised by yesterday's riot should remain unsettled. The exact nature of these questions lies in some obscurity. The prospect of war is said to have already provoked unbounded enthusiasm in Paris." "Flushing, Tuesday, 3.20 p.m. — It is reported that the formal declaration by France of war with Great Britain is only a question of hours ; and it is believed that this pre- A Bolt from the Blue. i i cipitancy is due to the conviction which is entertained in French Government circles that England is just now very ill- prepared, particularly in the Mediterranean ; and that France, by striking a sudden and unexpected blow, may produce re- sults such as she could scarcely hope to attain, if ample time were allowed her adversary for the making of complete pre- parations. In the meantime the French army is mobilising." " Portsmouth, Tuesday, 3.30 p.m. — Orders have just been received here for the immediate commissioning of every ship in harbour that can, by any exertion on the part of the dock- yard officials, be made ready for the pennant, and for the hurried preparation of all the rest, not excluding several old vessels that have recently been advertised as ' For Sale,' or even some obsolete gunboats. Similar orders have been tele- graphed to each of the naval ports. The dockyard, where, until to-day, work was slacker than it has been since the departure of the ships for last year's Naval Manoeuvres, is already the scene of feverish activity. The coastguard iron- clads have been directed to assemble with all haste at Spit- head, and not to wait for their full complements, but to leave their respective ports as soon as they can get up steam. Some of them are expected to-morrow. The Naval Commander-in- Chief is now concerting with the General in command of the Southern District elaborate measures for the defence, by means of mines, booms, and picket-boats, of the port and of the anchorage at Spithead, and to-night the carrying out of their plans will be begun. Masthead electric lights of novel 12 The Captain of the "Mary Rose." design are being fitted to some of the larger battleships. These are so arranged as to shed a zone of illumination all around the vessel, but to leave the craft herself in comparative darkness, and it is confidently expected that they will be of great value should our squadrons be obliged to anchor at night within raiding distance of the enemy's torpedo boats. Some experienced officers, however, are of opinion that a ship which desires to remain exempt from attack should on no account exhibit a light of this kind, since it must of necessity be visible from a considerable distance to the foe ; and they do not hesitate to say that, even if they be supplied with it, they will not use it. The advantage of the light lies in the fact that no ship, so long as she employs it, can possibly be closely approached by any enemy that does not to a very dangerous extent expose himself. On the other hand, it is pointed out that the apparatus is large, and offers so fine a mark for machine-gun fire, that it could doubtless be easily extin- guished by moderately good gunners at 3000 yards, or even more. Experts here are loud in their regrets that this device, which is quite new, has not, together with other electric lighting devices which are much older, been properly experi- mented with in peace time, and that, in consequence, no cer- tainty exists as to either its practical utility or its vulnerability. Unfortunately there are symptoms of the existence of a certain degree of friction between the naval and military authorities; nor can this be wondered at when it is remembered by how vague and arbitrary a line their respective functions are A Bolt from the Blue. 15 divided. The feeling here is strongly to the effect that all the defences on the sea-front should be unreservedly entrusted to the Navy and Royal Marines. On the other hand, there is an undoubted lack of both officers and men even for the man- ning of the vessels which are to be commissioned. So great, indeed, is the scarcity of stokers, seamen-gunners, and signal- men, that only by calling out all the reserves can even the immediate necessities of the situation be supplied. It is not certain, however, that the reserves will be of much use, seeing that the engines of modern men-of-war greatly differ, as a rule, from those of merchant vessels ; that few men of the Royal Naval Reserve have any practical familiarity with heavy breech-loading guns ; and that hardly any men, outside the service proper, are qualified as signalmen. There is also a scarcity of lieutenants, and a good many small craft will, if commissioned at all, apparently have to be commanded by gunners, carpenters, and boatswains. As for the local per- manent defences, they are very imperfect. Many of the works on the land side have no guns at all, and the re-arming of Southsea Castle and the Spithead forts has not yet been com- pleted. War is here regarded as as good as declared. No one, and least of all naval men, can look forward to it with anything like light-heartedness, and many Portsmouth people regard the prospect with distinct apprehension, and propose to* leave the town as soon as they can conveniently do so; yet the naval and military population here shows an admirable spirit, and numbers of retired officers of both 16 The Captain of the "Mary Rose." services are offering their assistance to the Govern- ment." " Brussels, Tuesday, 5.8 p.m. — There are grave reports from the South. It is said that a conflict of some nature has actually taken place between the British and French Fleets off Toulon, but no details of any kind are given. There is also serious news from Paris. A declaration of war is undoubtedly by this time on its way to London. It was to have been dispatched at noon. The French capital is violently excited, and extremely enthusiastic. Very little news reaches this city, and that little slips through the fingers of very jealous French censors, dozens of whom must be employed along the frontier." "Barcelona, Tuesday, 5.20 p.m. — The Italian steamer Monte Pulciano, which arrived here this - afternoon, reports that very late last night, when off Toulon, she heard the sound of heavy firing, and saw in the sky the reflections of what seemed to be explosions on a very large scale. She did not, however, call at any French port, and so brings no definite intelligence." " Genoa, Tuesday, 6 p.m. — The news of difficulties having suddenly arisen at Toulon had scarcely reached this place ere rumours began to arrive to the effect that the French Admiral had received orders from Paris to destroy the British Fleet in case it should attempt to quit Toulon Roads. No one credited this report at first, but it must now be admitted that corro- borative evidence of a kind is not lacking. A correspondent A Bolt from the Blue. 17 at Hyeres telegraphs that much heavy firing took place late last night off that town, but, apparently, at a great distance out at sea, and that to-day some French men-of-war, which seemed to be somewhat damaged, re-entered Toulon. All mes- sages from France are subjected to strict censorship, in conse- quence of the strained relations between that country and Great Britain. Too much reliance must not, therefore, be placed upon the trustworthiness of this news." Then came the most unambiguous telegram of the eventful day. " Dover, Tuesday, 6.20 p.m. — A French torpedo boat named the Lance has just entered the harbour under a flag of truce. The lieutenant in command of her brought dispatches which have already been sent on by train to the French Ambassador in London. Their purport is, however, no secret. They con- tain an announcement to the effect that the British Admiral having refused to consider the legitimate demand of the authorities at Toulon for apology and reparation in the matter of yesterday's riot, and having, in defiance of French orders to the contrary, quitted Toulon Roads while the grievances of the French Government remained unredressed, the French Republic recalls its Ambassador and declares war against Great Britain. The French lieutenant, who was of course not allowed to land, departed as soon as he had communicated with the coastguard boat which went out to meet him. The civil population is apprehensive lest the town may be shelled to-night. Steam is being got up to work the turret on the iS The Captain of the "Mary Rose." Admiralty pier ; and the men are to sleep beside their guns both there and in the various batteries on the heights. Strin- gent measures are to be adopted to preclude all possibility of a coup de main ; and no vessels will in future be allowed to enter or leave the port until they have been searched. Very few people here are likely to sleep much to-night. Numbers of nervous folk are going inland without even waiting to pack up their effects. A large French man-of-war is now visible in the Strait, but her name is not known. It is hoped that she may be brought to action by the Audacious from Hull, the Hotspur from Harwich, or the Iron Duke from the Forth ; for all these ships have been ordered to rendezvous at Spithead, and one or more of them is expected to pass Dover to-night. Here there is not so much as a gunboat ; but it is believed that, at the latest, by Friday, some of the coast-defence iron- clads will be assembled in the Downs, where, in case of need, they will be within easy reach of this most important position. No lights are to be shown to-night, and the windows of even private houses are ordered to be darkened. Pickets are to go round to enforce this rule. The town is already, in fact, though not in name, in a state of siege ; and so long as hostili- ties last, it must be a prey to continual and very harassing alarms, if to nothing worse." A later telegram explained that " the large French man-of- war " which had excited Dover was only a steam yacht. These were not the only telegrams that brought the country to a quick realisation of the fearful suddenness with which A Bolt from the Blue. 21 she had fallen into a state of war with her nearest neighbour and most powerful maritime rival. There were many others, but the effect of all was the same. They startled England, not only with the definite news of imminent hostilities, but also with the vague report, which was far more terrible, that some paralysing blow had already been dealt against the Power which, for three centuries at least, had prided herself upon being mistress of the seas. The nature aud result of that mysterious blow were alike unknown ; but lack of know- ledge, fed by apprehension, often produces strange popular impressions ; and the very absence of definite news from the Mediterranean Fleet was, at such a juncture, almost by itself sufficient to create very wild alarm. The excitement in London increased, therefore, as the day wore on. The House met early, but the Ministers were able to say little that was encouraging. They were prepared, in case of necessity, to maintain the honour of the Sovereign and of the Empire ; they had adopted such measures as pru- dence and the counsel of the most experienced officers sug- gested, and as their immediately available resources rendered possible ; and they were, until late in the afternoon, not altogether hopeless that peace might still be preserved ; but they had only the most meagre information to give : they were unable to inspire the public with that confidence which they professed to feel ; and worst of all, they had absolutely no intelligence concerning the Mediterranean Fleet save that it had left Toulon on Monday night. 22 The Captain of the "Mary Rose." In the afternoon crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square and other public places ; and, in spite of the efforts that were made by the police to disperse the people, addresses — treason- able as well as patriotic — were delivered by persons who, whether they were loyal or not, would in the circumstances have more wisely kept their mouths shut. Most of the theatres opened as usual ; and those which opened were thronged, for the temperament of the population at the moment required that men should congregate in any place where the latest news was likely to be obtainable. But no attention seemed anywhere to be paid to the performance. People loitered in the passages and foyers, and talked or listened with tongues and ears devoted to one topic only. As the successive editions of the evening papers came out, copies were brought in and handed round, and struggled for even by the musicians in the orchestra. Twenty-four hours pre- viously, war had seemed the most improbable of catastrophes. It was now practically certain, and what its end might be no one could foretell. At the Lyceum Theatre " Macbeth " was being played. Towards the conclusion of the first act the curtain was suddenly lowered, and the familiar figure of Mr Irving immediately appeared before it. " Ladies and gentlemen," said the great actor, who was much moved, " news of a very grave character has this moment reached the theatre ; and I deem it my duty to interrupt the performance in order to communicate it to you. I regret to have to say that, according to a telegram A Bolt from the Blue. which I hold in my hand, the British Fleet in the Medi- terranean was yesterday attacked by a French Fleet of superior force, and was very severely handled. There are, unfortunately, no details. I trust that the news is not really so grave as it at present sounds ; but even if it be untrue that war has actually broken out, and that our brave blue- jackets have already been surprised by anything in the re- motest degree resembling disaster, I feel that I shall only, in the circumstances, be forestalling your wishes, when I an- nounce that the performance cannot continue. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not for me, standing before you in this dress, to say much ; but this I must say : the opportunity seems to have arisen for us to show that we are still the sons of our fathers. This, you will agree with me, we may do, not merely by volunteering or otherwise directly contributing towards the defence of our country ; but also by lending a steadfast and loyal moral support to her most gracious Majesty's Ministers in this moment of terrible anxiety and public clanger. England, facing her enemies, has always hitherto been as one man. Let us see to it that she be one man now. Let us banish all divisions ; let us think not of ourselves but of our country ; and, believe me, though the path through this difficulty may be dark and terrible, we shall emerge into the light." The earlier part of this brief address was listened to almost in silence. The latter part provoked first low expressions of approval and then cheers. When Mr. Irving had concluded 24 The Captain of the " Mary Rose." the audience, as with one accord, stood up bareheaded ; and, as the orchestra played the first note or two of the National Anthem, there began a scene of indescribably contagious enthusiasm. People leapt upon the seats and waved hats or handkerchiefs ; women burst into tears ; and there was a confused babel of sounds which, in a few moments, blended into the noble and solemn chorus of " God save the Queen." CHAPTER II. THE BATTLE OFF TOULON. HAT, then, had happened off Toulon ? The Times of Wednesday morning was the first newspaper to give anything like a full account of the affair. This it did in the following painful telegram : — "San Remo, Tuesday Night. — I have just been landed here, thanks to the courtesy of the commander of the Italian dis- patch vessel Agostino Barberigo, and, with much grief, I telegraph to inform you of the sudden and terrible disaster which early this morning overtook the Mediterranean Fleet. That Fleet, as your readers will see on referring to any of the service papers of last week, consisted of the battleships Camperdozvn, Nile, Collingwood, Colossus, Dreadnought. Edinburgh, Benbow, Inflexible, Sansparcil, Trafalgar — flag of the Rear- Admiral — and Victoria — flag of the Com- mander-in-Chief. On Sunday afternoon these vessels, together with the belted cruisers Australia and Undaunted, the armoured ram Polyphemus, and the unarmoured craft Fear- less, Scout, and Surprise, anchored off Toulon, and found tin- French Mediterranean Fleet lying there also. This squadron, 2S 26 The Captain of the " Mary Rose." which had come in earlier in the day after a cruise, consisted of the battleships Amiral Baudin, Courbet, Divastation^ Formidable, Duguesdin, Hoche, Marceau, Vanban, Caiman, Bayard, Neptune, and Indomptable, with the cruisers Cosmao, Troude, and Lalande, the torpedo dispatch vessels Vautonr, and Condor, and the torpedo gunboats Dragonne, Dague, Aventurier, Kabyle, Andacieux, Ouragan, and Timer aire. Up the harbour, in addition, lay the battleships Trident, Colbert, Terrible, Redoutable, and five other ironclads, all belonging to the ' Escadre de Reserve,' which has been newly constituted. There were also up harbour several cruisers and torpedo vessels. " We exchanged salutes in the usual way ; the Admirals called on one another ; and yesterday after dinner about four hundred of our bluejackets were allowed to go ashore. I was, at the time, on board the Benbow, and can give, therefore, only a hearsay account of what occurred in the town. " It appears that at about four o'clock in the afternoon some of our men, who were drinking in a wine-shop, got into an altercation over the merits of the two navies with several French seamen belonging to the Colbert. The Frenchmen boasted that their ships were in every way superior to ours ; Jack strongly objected ; from words the disputants went to blows ; and, in less time than it takes to write it, our fellows were retreating down the street, pursued by a mixed crowd of French soldiers, sailors, and civilians. Reports vary as to the The Battle off Toulon. 27 datnao-e done, but it is, unfortunately, certain that at least a dozen of our men lost their lives, and that the French loss was nearl}" as severe. " We, of course, lay too far out to be able to hear or see anything of the hubbub on shore. The first hint of what oc- curred came to us from the ship's chaplain, who, returning on board in a shore boat, reported that a row was going on in the town. I went up into the top, whence through the glass I could see our men crowding into other shore boats and pushing off in great haste. There was much struggling, and I saw occasional puffs of smoke, which, I knew, could not proceed from our fellows, all of whom were, of course, unarmed. Being closely followed by boats full of Frenchmen, our men made for the Surprise, which lay closer in than the rest of the squadron. By this time the pursuers were using firearms freely, and we realised that the business was a very serious one. We were therefore ordered to man and arm boats and to cover the retreat. Our fellows pulled like demons, and, with oars and boat-hooks, fairly sunk one craft which came too close. Those of us who remained on board were all on the bridge or in the top; but just as we were wondering whether we should not have to open fire with our machine guns, we were disappointed by the Commander-in-Chief semaphoring from the flagship that, bearing in mind the evident gravity of the situation, nothing must be done that might complicate matters. This order did not, however, prevent our captain from directing the magazines to be opened, and all preparations 2S The Captain of the "Mary Rose." to be made that could be made without too pronouncedly at- tracting the attention of the French. Meanwhile our boats had gained the Surprise, and the men were scrambling on board as fast as they could. A regular swarm of French boats of all kinds was crowding round the ship, and the people in them were screaming and gesticulating as if they were madmen. The Commander-in-Chief w T ent in his steam launch to the Surprise. Through our glasses we watched his crew shoving the French boats aside, and I doubt whether the shore people would have made room for the launch to get alongside the dispatch vessel if a French officer had not opportunely arrived on the spot in a torpedo boat from up the harbour. When he appeared the French retired to a respectful distance, but continued vociferating so loudly that we could quite plainly hear them. The French officer followed our Admiral on board the Surprise, and there had an interview with him. Not long afterwards they were joined by a stout gold-laced, red-sashed dignitary from the shore ; and the two Frenchmen between them made out, or tried to make out, that our blue- jackets had begun the row, had deliberately murdered some men in the wine-shop, and, in fine, that they only were to blame. Our Admiral, of course, promised to institute the fullest inquiry ; but the French officers took a high-handed attitude from the first. They demanded that all our men who had been ashore should be surrendered. Compliance with this was out of the question. They then said that they had tele- graphed to Paris for instructions. Before the Commander-in- The Battle off Toulon. 31 Chief got back to the flagship, we saw that most of the French ships in harbour were getting up steam. " At a quarter to six all our captains were ordered on board the Admiral. When our captain returned, he looked very serious, and sent first for the commander, and then for the Fleet Engineer and all the lieutenants, most of whom remained with him in his cabin for three quarters of an hour. The French Admiral had promised to dine in the evening on board our flagship, but he sent a somewhat awkward excuse. If I may judge from what I saw in the w T ardroom in the Benbow, where I was a guest, the business spoilt the dinners of every one in both Fleets, for all our people had no end of work to do. We made as many preparations for action as we could without actually going to quarters : we got up steam for full speed ; we kept unusually strict watch, and allowed no boats to approach us ; and most of us unshipped all the pictures and breakables that we had in our cabins. " At seven, the Surprise, by order, shifted her berth, and took up a fresh position outside our lines — we were anchored in two columns. The Scout and Polyphemus, under easy steam, went round the Fleet and swept their search-lights shore- ward continually. To guard against sudden attack by torpedo boats, certain craft were ordered to use their search-lights in combination in such a manner as to form a complete path of brightness round the Fleet. The effect was very striking, but it was also very puzzling, for the illumination not only inten- sified the surrounding darkness, but also rendered it extremely 32 The Captain of the " Mary Rose. difficult for us to again ' pick up' any craft — and there were several about — after it had once crossed the protected zone ; and when half-an-hour's experience had thoroughly demon- strated this, the experiment was ordered to be discontinued. The eyes of many of us had not, however, recovered from the dazzling results of the trial when, some hours later, we needed our best night sight ; and I doubt whether we should not have been wiser had we relied solely throughout upon such natural light as was vouchsafed to us. At a quarter to nine a French steam launch went on board the Commander-in-Chief, and half-an-hour later we all knew what it had come out for. It brought a formal demand for the surrender by nine o'clock this morning of every officer and man who had been ashore during the day, and an imperious order that in the meantime no British vessel was to leave the roadstead. " As soon as the French launch had shoved off again, the Commander-in-Chief signalled the Fleet to weigh. Almost at the same moment the Scout reported that a number of French ships were coming out. They soon began to play their search- lights freely on us, but we went on weighing as before, until one of their flagships, a great ironclad as big as the Trafalgar, but much higher out of the water, was abreast of the Victoria. It seems that the Frenchman hailed the Commander-in-Chief, and with great politeness demanded whether he intended to go to sea. Our lights showed us that all the French ships were cleared for action, and were full of men. I sup- pose that our Admiral said ' Yes,' and we half expected from The Battle off Toulon. 35 the threatening attitude of the enemy that fire would be opened at once. But the French Fleet passed on, and went quietly out in single line ahead, the battleships being between us and their own light craft, which, naturally, kept off, and seemed to be in no regular formation. They were all a mass of lights, and we could plainly see the officers in full dress standing on the bridges and poops, and saluting us as they passed, some of them at a distance of less than a couple of cables from us. As far as I could count, there were sixteen battleships, eight or nine cruisers, and over a dozen torpedo boats. 1 When they had got well outside of us, they suddenly extinguished all their lights, as if by preconcerted agree- ment, and ten minutes later another launch from the shore went on board the Commander-in-Chief". One of our lieu- tenants was in the flagship at the time for orders, and he told us on his return that the French had sent to say that any further attempt on our part to get away that night would, with- out hesitation, be prevented by force. Of course we were at once sent to quarters — we had really been at them all the evening, in the Benbow, at least. It was realised that, right or wrong, it was impossible, in the circumstances, to obey the dictation of any foreigner. At ten minutes past ten we got under way, and formed in two columns of divisions line ahead, the Victoria, Camperdown, Edinburgh, Collingivood, Sanspareil, and Inflexible constituting the starboard division in the order 1 For the exact composition of the French Fleet, vide the statement at the end of this chapter. 36 The Captain of the "Mary Rose." named, and the Trafalgar, Nile, Benbozv, Colossus, and Dreadnought the port. The Polyphemus was a mile and a half ahead, the Undaunted an equal distance on the star- board bow, the Australia an equal distance on the port bow, the Scout on the starboard and the Fearless on the port quarter, and the Surprise a mile and a half astern. A rendezvous, which, for obvious reasons, I suppress, was given us, and the course, so soon as we had made an offing, was south-west. Although a guest on board, I, of course, volun- teered to be of what use I could. " It was an intensely dark night, and there was a nasty sea from the south-east, but very little wind ; half a gale, which had been blowing during the afternoon, having dropped at sundown. " It is not my business — and, indeed, I am still far too fagged and knocked up — to tell you much about our indi- vidual feelings and actions. I believe that we were all deter- mined to do our duty, and I venture to think that, in what followed, most of us did it, although, for once, the luck was against us. You at home must remember, ere you judge us, that we were outnumbered, that several of our heaviest guns were very defective even before the action began, that the speeds of our ships were very unequal, and that, upon the whole, the French vessels were better protected at the water- line than ours. I am bound to mention these facts in justice to the hundreds of brave fellows who are gone. It was not their fault that guns broke down, or that the Fleets were un- ") . ^ ' The Battle off Toulon. 39 equally matched. With anything like equal forces, the results of this, the bloodiest naval fight that the world has yet seen, would, I am confident, have been different. Surely the blame lies, not with those who had to use the weapons, but rather with those who forged them too weak and too few for the work required of them. " For three hours we steamed at about ten knots, the slow- ness of the older turret ships preventing our easily doing much more, save under great pressure. We saw nothing of the French, and, as we showed no lights, we had much diffi- culty in keeping station. " At half-past one this morning, the Polyphemus flashed a signal to the effect that she had sighted the French Fleet about two miles ahead of her, apparently lying to. We therefore altered course six points to the eastward, so as to head south- south-east, and, if possible, avoid the enemy ; but I suspect the French must have seen the flashes by which the order was signalled, for half-an-hour later, the Scout reported them a mile on her starboard quarter, steaming fast, and apparently coming up with us. We then put on full steam to the utmost capacity of our slowest ships, and again altered course two points to the eastward, so as to bring our heads due south- east ; but the Fleet, as a whole, could not, it was soon found, do more than 10|- knots against the sea which was running, the Inflexible doing barely that, and lagging behind in the most dangerous way. The Frenchmen, therefore, steadily drew up with us, having altered course soon after we _}o The Captain of the " Mary Rose." did, and being able to steam fully 11 1 knots, and perhaps more. " It must have been inexpressibly galling to our gallant Commander-in-Chief thus to be obliged to show his heels even to an enemy of obviously superior force. But it is clear that he could not have remained at Toulon, where he could have ac- complished nothing against the forts and batteries ; and would, moreover, have been exposed to destruction from mines, submarine boats, and torpedoes worked from the shore, besides having to reckon with the French Fleet. It is clear, too, I think, that in the circumstances it was his duty, if possible, to avoid action ; though on this point, there will probably be great differences of opinion. When once the French were out- side of him, he had to think of Malta and Gibraltar, his im- mediate bases. I must, however, leave these questions for others to discuss. " At this time I was sent for by the captain, who was on the bridge intently watching the Nile, whose huge hull ploughed through the water two cables ahead of us, leaving in her wake a broad strip of foam on the broken waves. The Benbow's bows plunged ever and anon into the seas, which dashed aft against the barbette, well-nigh hid the muzzle of the great gun as they burst, and deluged us with spray. We must have had hundreds of tons of water at a time upon the fore- castle, but the ship rising, shook them off with scarcely an effort, and then plunged again, as the rolling seas lifted her by the stern. The Battle off Toulon. 43 " We had no torpedo boats with us, and, had we had any, they would have been only so many encumbrances in such a sea as was running. Even our biggest boats — the 135 ft. ones — do not steam well in circumstances like those which environed us early this morning ; and, unfortunately, we had nothing between them and the regular torpedo cruisers, Scout and Fearless, vessels of 1580 tons displacement. Very useful indeed to the Commander-in-Chief would have been a few fast gun-vessels of the Grasshopper or Sharpshooter class, not so big as to be easily visible, yet big enough to stand the knock- ing about and still preserve a decent speed of 15 or 1G knots. Alas ! we had nothing of the kind, the Landrail and Sandfly being detached. The French, on the other hand, were well provided in this respect. They had w T ith them several large torpedo boats, or avisos-torpilleurs, of the Bombe class, which served them in particularly good stead as scouts, and which, being craft of over 300 tons displacement, could breast the sea. With these, as we speedily found, they were able to creep up and observe us, without being sighted until they were close upon us. We, therefore, had an uneasy feeling that we were all the time being watched by spies which remained almost invisible. "Finding, at last, that it was hopeless to think of getting rid of the foe by out-steaming him, the Admiral— the French being now reported broad-on the Inflexible 's starboard quarter, at a distance of between two and three miles— decided to attack. He, therefore, in accordance with a previously con- 44 The Captain of the " Mary Rose." certed arrangement, led his division ahead of the other one, so placing himself in the van of a long single column disposed in line ahead ; and having completed this change of formation, ordered the battleships to alter course in succession ten points to starboard, and the cruisers to obey previous instructions, which seem to have run to the effect that they were to be as useful as possible, and to be ready to tow the ironclads, but not to needlessly imperil themselves. " It looked at first as if we were going to engage the enemy in the old-fashioned manner, for the French were steaming in a direction nearly at right angles with our line, and in single column ; but they very speedily altered formation, so as to bring themselves into a line abreast in groups of three. In this formation the two fleets neared one another, the Trafalgar leading, the Nile coming next, and after us in succession coining the Benboiv, Colossus, Dreadnought, Victoria, Agamemnon, Edinburgh, Collingivood, Sanspareil, and Inflexible. "It was about half-past two o'clock. Suddenly a ship near tbe centre of the French line began to use her search-lights on us, and fired a blank charge. Immediately all the other vessels did the same, and we soon followed suit, not, however, tiring. Both sides seemed to feel that to engage in darkness would be doubly dangerous; but, in truth, the electric lights served only to render the situation more puzzling. The effect of the light when it shines into the eyes of the spectator is confusing in the extreme. It is absolutely impossible to decide, or even to guess, how far off the projector, whence the The Battle off Toulon. 47 beam comes, is ; and when the glare permits of surrounding objects being seen at all, it seems generally to show them dis- torted or misplaced. Moreover, in certain conditions of atmosphere, dependent, no doubt, upon the amount of moisture in the air, the beam, instead of being translucent, has the effect of a dazzling and semi-opaque white screen. Upon it, in these circumstances, shadows can even be cast, and phenomena resembling the mirage or the 'Brocken spectre' may be produced. I remember hearing Sir Nowell Salmon, years ago, tell how once in his steam launch he actually went in chase of one of these apparitions, and how he only discovered that he was pursuing his own shadow when he had occasion to shake his fist at the artificer in charge for not getting more speed out of the boat. I mention this solely because I am sure that more harm than good is, as a general rule, likely to be done during night actions by the use of the search-light. A moment later the French opened a perfectly awful fire on us, apparently from every gun that would bear. It seemed as if the whole horizon had become a mass of ragged smoke and belching flame. Only a very few of our men happened to be on deck, but nearly all these were killed or wounded. The captain himself, who was still on the bridge, was wounded in the right leg, but he refused to go below. We got him into the conning tower, however, without further injury, and I remained at his side until the end, the enemy's fire continuing, without intermission, from the moment when it first began until the action wa,s over. 48 The Captain of the " Mary Rose." "The wind being so light as to scarcely stir the air, and that little coming now from the north-west, such smoke as did not hang rolled gently down the French line, and shrouded from us the greater part of it. Almost ahead of us was a group of ships, which I took to be the Formidable, Hoche, and Marceau. As the Admiral neared them he swerved to port and went straight for the Formidable, while we swerved to starboard and headed for what I believe was the Marceau. The Nile went for the remaining one. We thus put our- selves to windward of the flagship, and the smoke of her guns, as she opened fire, hid her from us. But I could see our immediate opponent quite plainly, a great towering single- funnelled three-masted ironclad, with a central battery, loft} T sponsons, and a high forecastle. At less than a cable's distance we got one shell from our fore barbette gun fairly into her starboard bow, where it burst, wrecking all the fore part of her. At almost the same instant, however, something struck our conning tower and caused nearly everything in it to fty, so depriving us of our communication with the people at the guns, except by means of the voice tubes which still held, but which were, in the din, nearly useless. There were only the captain, the staff- commander, myself, and two signalmen in the confined little box, from which, of course, no one could be spared, and which, for the moment, was practically cut off from the rest of the ship. The 6-inch guns in our starboard battery fired once ; but in vain did we shout down the voice tubes for them to continue, although we were now almost ^ i 'ifl ■■ The Battle off Toulon. 51 brushing the paint off the Frenchman's side as she just managed to escape our ram, and although we might, had we given her a broadside from our guns well depressed, have blown her bottom out. In the meantime she was treating us terribly; and it was not until we had passed through the enemy and well beyond him that it was possible for us to send a man below to convey orders and to report upon what had happened. " The news that came up soon afterwards was even worse than I had feared to learn. The whole starboard side of the box battery was beaten in, two of the guns in it were dismounted, and every man in the battery had been killed or wounded. Part of the hydraulic loading apparatus of the gun in the fore barbette had broken down, and the gun was useless ; the funnels were so knocked to pieces as to seriously reduce our steaming power, two oh inch projectiles had hit us and pierced us below the water-line, and two of our compart- ments were flooded. There were many other damages, the details of which were not reported, and there was no time, of course, for full inquiry. "The captain, in spite of his injuries, was still able to retain command, and he had, after clearing the French line, brought the ship round sixteen points to port, in order to renew the action with the Marceau ; or, in case we could not discover her, to engage some other ship. But scarcely had we turned ere we were attacked by two of the avisos-torpilleurs, to which I have already alluded, as well as by several torpedo 52 The Captain of the "Mary Rose." boats of a smaller type. Ahead of us the battle was raging, and the night was lurid with flash and explosion ; but abreast and astern of us all was darkness, and out of this darkness our little foes dashed upon us suddenly from all directions. At the first onset, as I have explained, our men had been driven from the quick-firing and machine guns on the upper deck by the enemy's terrible fire. Many of these guns had been dis- mounted or injured, and the torpedo boats came on while those guns which had escaped were being again manned. For a few seconds, in consequence, we had nothing with which to meet the attack, and, in the meantime, the enemy was blazing away at us from his 3-pounders and machine guns. We tried to use our search-lights once more, but we could not get them to work, probably because the cables had been destroyed. We did, however, succeed in opening fire to a limited extent before the enemy got very close, and, I believe, we sunk one of the small boats. But, although the men behaved splendidly, and worked at the guns with admirable steadiness, the game was up. A torpedo hit us on the port bow, just under the for- ward sponson ; and, in an instant, or, rather, as soon as we realised what had happened, we knew that the dear old Benbow was done for. The shock was tremendous, and threw us all down, for the ship's bows rose violently into the air, and trembled as if they had been wrenched and twisted by some angry giant. But, bruised and bloody as we were, we were soon up again. The entrance to the conning tower was half blocked with the debris of boats and booms, yet the captain, The Battle off Toulon. 55 in spite of his wound, managed to struggle out on deck, and I followed. Several boats were by this time almost alongside, and, as we appeared, a French lieutenant in one of them cooly removed his hat, and made a motion as if to ask whether we surrendered. The captain fired his revolver at the gallant fellow, and, even as he did so, fell back, shot through the chest by a bullet from a machine gun. 'Don't haul it down while we float,' he cried, as he lay writhing in his last brief agony : ' remember what they will say at home.' " We did not haul it down. We drove the boats off, and gave them a weak cheer as they went, but the ship was by that time settling rapidly down by the head, with a frightful heel to port. The boats were ordered to be got out. They were, however, all knocked to pieces. We did our best also to steam back into the still battling fleets, feeling that no fate could be much worse than the one which immediately threat- ened us ; but the water had got into the stokeholes, owing, I suspect, to some of the bulkheads having given way under the pressure, and we could not move. Just when everything seemed most hopeless, I saw what looked like a small cruiser rapidly making for us, with all her lights showing. But she came too late for most of us. While she was still a full mile away the Benbouts stern rose high out of the water, so high as to send everything and everybody on deck adrift, and then, with a great gurgle, the ship dived down bows first. "I have no further recollection that helps me to explain how, when the day was beginning to dawn, I found myself 56 The Captain of the " Mary Rose." clinging to a splintered grating, alone upon the sea. I was dizzy and chill, and sore from head to foot, and I was almost naked, but I clung on mechanically. Indeed, my arms were so stiff that it seemed that I could scarcely have unclasped them, even if I had wished to do so. As the sun rose I caught sight of a vessel under steam, less than half a mile from me ; and, although I was able to make no effort to attract attention, I was, in another quarter of an hour, so fortunate as to be picked up by a boat which was sent for me by the com- mander of the Agostino Barberigo, and to be taken on board by the kindly Italians. They tell me that at first I could give no account of myself, and that I could neither speak nor stand, but they treated me so well that by midday I recovered. " My first question was, naturally, about the Fleet. Terrible, even beyond my apprehension, is the fragmentary story which my rescuers told me. The Agostino Barberigo had been almost within gunshot during the action, which had lasted for less than an hour. After the battle, her commander had hailed the French ironclad Amiral Baudin, and had learned that, of our ten battleships, five — namely, the Benboiv, Camperdown, Edinburgh, Inflexible, and Collingzvood — had been either sunk or compelled to strike, and that of the remainder, two at least, although they had temporarily got away, were entirely disabled. One of these was understood to be the Victoria, in which, quite early in the engagement, there had, apparently, been some serious accident. The fate of the Polyphemus was unknown, but she had rammed or torpedoed and sunk the The Battle off Toulon. 59 Trident. The Australia had got away, but the Undaunted, towards the end of the action, had made a gallant endeavour to ram the Vauban, and, although she had considerably dam- aged her, had been sunk, firing as she went down. The Surprise had got away, but was on fire when last seen. The Fearless, after colliding with one of our own vessels and having her bows stove in, had been taken. The Scout had rammed and sunk the cruiser Sfax, but had herself gone down, though I am glad to be able to add that most of her officers and crew are safe on board the cruiser Cicille. Finally, in ad- dition to the Trident and Sfax, the French are said to have lost the Vautour cruiser and the Kabyle—torpilleur de haute mer — as well as two small torpedo boats. "But the victory, which is an undoubted one, lies with them. Our Mediterranean Fleet, as such, exists no longer. Half of it has been destroyed or taken ; the other half is disabled, and, in all probability, scattered. Never before, in all her history, has England experienced so complete a disaster upon the sea, and it can be but slight satisfaction to us to know that to purchase this grand success our enemies have spent an old second-class ironclad, a large but not very new cruiser, and three or four small craft, even when we know also that many of their other vessels must be severely damaged. " When I was picked up I was nearly ten miles from the scene of the action ; and, so far as I know, I am the only one of my ship's company that has escaped, though one cannot 6o The Captain of the " Mary Rose." but trust that others were picked up by the cruiser which was approaching us when we went down. The Agostino Barberigo had, however, on board about thirty bluejackets and a wounded sub-lieutenant, whom she saved when the Camperdoivn sank ; and it is certain that in the French Fleet, the greater part of which put back to Toulon, there are many other survivors. " I can add no more. As a British officer who, as a volunteer, has tried to do his duty, I cannot, nevertheless, avoid ex- pressing the opinion that if we had had a proper Mediterranean Fleet — one equal or superior to that of the French, this grievous disaster would not have occurred. We allowed ourselves to be lulled to sleep by the peaceful aspect of affairs here ; and the unforeseen storm has found us unprepared to cope with it. Such Fleet as we had was weak, not only numerically, but also in armour and armament : for enormous guns and partial belts have proved a failure. We have been pinning our faith too much to these partial water-line belts, and to guns of monstrous proportions. The only one of the SanspareiVs big guns that was fired broke down ; the other could not, for some reasons which I have not been able to discover, be fired at all. And I am informed, by a seaman who belongs to the Victoria, but who had been lent as a signalman to the Camperdown, that the accident already alluded to as having occurred in the Victoria was, in fact, the bursting of a 110-ton gun in her turret. If I can, ere I start for home, learn any further details of our unexampled . ): ( (' I ) : J. JL The Battle off Toulon. 63 misfortune, I will lose no time in telegraphing them. I am aware that this account leaves much to be desired The awful circumstances in which it is written must be my excuse. The fact that I have, in a short hour, lost, as I cannot but believe, most of my shipmates and dearest friends, gives me personally such poignant pain that I can barely concentrate my thoughts ; but even more am I overwhelmed by the con- sciousness of the irreparable loss in officers and material that has fallen upon the country. Would that half the gallant fellows who perished to-day were still at the call of England; for sorely will she need them." Thus the bolt fell from a clear sky, and, within a few hours, the two most powerful naval nations of the world found them- selves engaged in deadly struggle. Elsewhere in its issue of that Black Wednesday, the Times gave particulars (see Table, p. G4), derived from other sources, of the victorious French Fleet. It also mentioned, in a leading article, that the telegraphic dispatch above quoted had been sent to it by Lieutenant Thomas Bowling, R.N., an officer on half-pay, who had been present as a guest in the ill-fated Benbow. And in its later editions it contained a great deal of bad news from a spot far less distant than the Mediter- ranean. This news will be found in the next chapter. 6 4 The Captain of the " Mary Rose. Table. French Fleet Engaged in the Action of April 27th-28th. Battleship — Amiral Baudin . Courbet Devastation Formidable Uorhe Marceau Amiral Duperre. Caiman Friedland Indomptable Richelieu Trident Colbert Terrible Redoubtable Vauban Bayard Cruiser — Cosmao Troude Lalande Sfax Jean Bart Cecille Faucon Vautour Condor Wattignies Torpedo gun-vessels- Dragonne Dague Leger Bombe Levrier Tons. H.P. 11,380 8,320 9,652 8,112 9,639 8,154 11,441 9,700 10,650 11,300 10,581 12,000 10,487 8,120 7,200 6,000 8,824 4,428 7,168 6,605 8,767 4,240 8,456 5,083 8,457 4,652 7,713 6,230 8,857 6,071 6,150 4,561 5,986 4,538 1,877 6,000 1,877 6,000 1,877 6,000 4,502 6,522 4,122 8,000 5,766 9,600 1,240 3,233 1,280 3,391 1,210 3,582 1,310 4,000 395 2,000 395 2,000 450 2,200 395 2,000 450 2,200 Guns, i Men. 15 14 14 15 20 21 19 6 16 6 19 16 16 6 14 11 12 4 4 4 16 10 16 3 5 5 5 Q.F. 500 670 685 500 660 660 664 332 676 332 720 730 706 332 700 440 450 150 150 150 473 360 486 134 134 134 140 63 63 63 63 63 And the first-class torpedo boats Ayela, Audacieux, Coureur, Ouragan, Temeraire, Kabyle, Orage, Aventurier, and Eclair. CHAPTER III. SOME STAGGERING BLOWS. N the first edition, already extensively quoted from, of its issue of Wednesday, April 29th, the Times contained the following telegram from its Portsmouth correspondent : — " Portsmouth, Tuesday, 9.30 p.m. — H.M.S. Invincible, guardship at Southamp- ton, arrived here early this afternoon, and is now at Spithead, where H.M.S. Hero, Minotaur, Hercules, Glation, Galatea, Latona, Iris, Bcllona, Seagull, and Rattlesnake, all vessels be- longing to the A Division of the Fleet Reserve of this port, are also at anchor. The ten ships last named represent the only Portsmouth vessels that are immediately available, and several of them are not really quite fit for sea. Moreover, they are all, at present, short-handed. It may be recollected that some time ago, when the five cruisers and two gun- vessels of the Australian Squadron were commissioned, the rule restricting service on the Australian station to men of five years' standing and upwards was suspended in order to provide crews for them, and that, in addition, many men were taken out of the harbour ships. From the depletion which 65 e 66 The Captain of the " Mary Rose." was thus caused, the Royal Dockyards and the various Naval Barracks have never completely recovered ; and in conse- quence there has to-day been the greatest difficulty in finding for the mobilised vessels even sufficient crews to take them to Spithead. Other ships could be sent thither, if only men were forthcoming. The ten warships that have been commis- sioned here would, to man them properly, need 2800 officers and men. Barely 1200 were available, and, although a few men of the Royal Naval Reserve have offered themselves, and have been gladly accepted, I doubt whether the total number of people now on board the ships in question exceeds 1500 all told. All kinds of civilians are volunteering, but none of them are accepted pending the receipt of instructions from the Admiralty. The ships are in the meantime busily engaged in getting in their powder and shell, and work is, while I write, being energetically carried on by the aid of the electric light. All the seaward forts are manned, and many of the buoys and beacons have been to-day removed, nor were the usual lights exhibited this evening ; but unfortunately the conflict between the naval and the military authorities continues, and it is but too evident that the rapid perfecting of our defensive prepara- tions is being dangerously delayed by the fact that the local command is divided. I learn, as I close this dispatch, that the Alexandra, flagship of the Reserve Squadron, from Portland, has also arrived and has anchored at Spithead. The Hotspur from Harwich, the Audacious from Hull, the Shannon from Bantry, and the Neptune from Holyhead, are expected in the