THRICE FAMOUS FEATS ON SEA AND LAND.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 249, 20 November 1914, Page 3 (Supplement)

THRICE FAMOUS FEATS ON SEA AND LAND.

AGAINST FEARFUL ODDS. " As in their i<ride our fathers died, If need be, so di# we; So wield we still, gainsay who will, The Sceptre of the Sea."

The story of the British Navy holds no more glorious chanter than that which tells how the good ship Hermione, alter being lorn, was won bacK for England bv a feat ot daring as colossal as any in the annals of war. 'towards the close of the l*th Century the Hermione, si frigate of '6'J, guns, and one of Nelson s .stoutest snips, was cruising in the West Indies when the brutality of her captain, a man 01 iron discipline and an almost tiendisti Cruelty, roused her crew to mutiny. Iheir long-suppressed anger burs'tiiig at last into fierce flame, they Hung themselves on their oitieers with knives and oaths, resolved to cx'.eis inmate them to a man.

Jhe first lieutenant they flung over-. board, gashed with a dozen wounds. the captain was stabbed and thrown out of ms cab.ui-window; and one after another, the remaining oitieers, from the three lieu ten ants and the purse." to tho boatswain and the captain's clerk, were "hunted like rats" through the slap and done to death. Having thus sated tneir vengeance and their lust ior blood, the mutineers turned tho riermione s head towards La Guayra, tne nearest port, and handed her ovtw to the Spaniards, who were delighted at so «jasy an acquisition of such u line vessel—a* ship ot 71J tons, aimed with thirty-two 1 -pounders.

A MARKED SHIP

The Hermione's new owners lost no time in making her still more formidable. They auded a dozen gune, increased tier complement to 400 men, and thus converted her into the most lormielahle ship carrying the Spanish liag in West Indian waters. But they were quick to learn that, if she was the finest vessel of their fleet, she was also the most perilous to own; for thetfe was no captain of a British man-of-war who had not sworn, if tho opportunity presented itself, to recapture her nt any cost. For two years the Hermione never showed her nose at sea without instantly bringing one or more of Britain's " watchdogs" down on her; ana again and again it was only by showing a swift pair of heels that she escaped re-capture. Such was the situation in September, 1799, when the Hermione was lurking in Puerto Cabello. with the Surprise, a irigate of 28 tons and less than half her complement and weight of metal, waiting outside the harbour ready to pounce on her when she summoned up sufficient courage to fare out to sea Where so many others had failed Captain Hamilton, the Surprise's grim, silent, had determined to succeed. He would capture the British ship that Hew an enemy's flag, or he would perish m the attempt. If the Hermione would not come out to fight, he had told the Admiral that, if he would give him a barge and a score of men, he would carry- her off, though she lay moored in a girdle of "gunboats and under the protection of batteries mounting two hundred guns—a projeet so mad that S,jr Hvde Parker, while ,applauding Hamilton's courage, refused to listen to it.

EXCEEDING ORDERS

But Captain Hamilton, gallant sei. dog as he was, was not the man to lie thus baulked of his prey. For long weeks he had sought to lure th 0 Hermiono from her lair bv keeping out ot Bight of Puerto Cabelto; and when at last his store of provisions and his patience were equally exhausted, he determined to turn a blind eye to /the Admiral, and to take the matter into his own hands. In his tool, shrewd brain he matured bis plan to the smallest detail—he would take a hund'red ot Ins men in half-a-dozen boats, ami. under the. shelter of darkness, would carrv off a ship with 100 men aboard and'protected by a fleet of gunboats and the fire of L'K) cannon! Such was the mad project which tin skipper ot -til© Surprise evolved in. the secrecy of his own mind, breathing no word of it to any one of bis officers until within an hour of carrying it into execution. On file evening of October 21th lie invited all the officers who were not on dutv to dine with him; ami after the I'm I toast had been driuiß and the hist joke and laughter had died out. he explained his purpose in a few grave sentences to which his guests listened, first with a feeling almost ot htiipefaclion. then with keen oars a.id .sparkling eyes; and. when he bad finished with'a chorus of eager shouts: " Bravo! captain, we'll follow you to a mau| " DESPERATE CHANCES. A few moments later a roll of th« drum had summoned the crew, and the captain was addressing his sailors, massed on the quarter-deck, under the flickering light of a couple of lanterns. He explained, in a few words, that supplies were exhausted, and that if they ran into port to replenish them sonie other ship would probably snatch thee prize and the glory from them. " Our onlv chance, bids," he concluded '' is to strike at once. We must cut her out to-night. 1 load you myself, and hero arc, the oroers for the six boats to be employed, with the names of the officers and men. As the last brave words left bis lips the crew burst into round after round of cheers, befor e hurrying away to make the necessary preparations. By half-past seven, when darkness ; bad fallen like a mantle on the sea, the ' boats were manned and lowered, each man understanding clearly the part assigned to him in the thrilling drama that was so soon to be played. To each boat was allotted a specific duty. Thus, one was to board on the star-boaru quarter! after first cutting the stern cable and was to send two men aloft to loose the mizwHi top-sail. Another was to sever the bower-cable and board on the starboard bow; a third to board i on the larboard bow and to loose the, lore topsail, and so on-the six boat? j crews attacking the Mermione at ditter--1 cut points, and also clearing her from her moorings and setting her sails. •'And remember, lads." were Hamilton s last words, "our rendezvous is on the liermione's quarter-deck." Then with a final <ubdued cheer, the bonis "lided away, stem to stern, over the blaek face of the leading pinnace. a "rim. solitary figure, his night-glass Cearcbin"- for the enemy*'- mast-, through Hie darkness ahead. Tor a nolo the duskv line crept sleallmly onward the sdenee broken onlv by the splash ot the njuJiW <*■»«! tiW tttfi Qigllt

j rang out ;i Spanish challenge, followed by the near thunder ot guns trom a couple of Spanish gunboats.

DISCOVERED. "Pull for your lives, men!" touted Hamilton; and with a hoarse " Hurrah!' 1 every man bent to his oar and every boat sprang forward til rough the deluge ot sJiells now mining around them. Larger and larger loomed the Hermione through the darkness, every port, was ablaze with light, a loud clamour of voice* mingling with the roll of drums on her <jeek. fli© ship startled into lite by the sound of guns was making icady to face the un>een danger that threatened her.

As his pinnace dashed up to her bows, Hamilton gave the command to board; and seizing a rope he swung himself upward, Jiis. men following him, agile as cats, over the bulwarks and on to the Hermioiie's forecastle, where they paused ior a moment before the next leap. The sight on which they looked down from tno break ot the lorecastle was such as might well have daunted the bravest men. Below them, on the main deck, was massed the whole of the Hcrniionc's crew —four hundred sailors, soldiers and artillerymen with battle-lan-terns lit. half of them blazing away into the darkness at the unseen enemy, whose heralds, though they knew it not, were already on board—a handful of sixteen men prepared to spring on four hundred. While Hamilton and his fifteen stalwarts rushed to the quarter-deck, which was the place of rendezvous, the doctor, who was in command of the gig, leaped on the larboard bow, followed by his men. At sight of the massed Spaniards ho Hung himself on them with a bloodcurdling Bhout, and was engulfed in an eddy ot blows and thrusts, shouts and oaths; which grew still more tierce when Hamilton's heroes, at his bidding, rushed into the fray, leaving their captain alone to await the arrival of his remaining boats. Here he soon found himself attacked by four Spaniards, and, after a desperate and unequal fight, he was struck down by a heavy blow from the butt of a musket. The next moment would have been his last had not two sailors seen his danger, and, rushing to his rescue, driven off his assailants. Quickly recovering himself, Hamilton, half-blind-ed with the blood which streamed from his broken head, flung himself into the tight which whs now raging furiously on the main-deck, cleaving his way into the very heart of it with sweep and thrust of his cutlass. Seldom in the history of war has such an unequal battle been fought. It was one Briton to a dozen or more Spaniards; but each Briton proved himself a hero that day, as, with his cutlass, he heaped a rampart of dead around him. Meanwhile the lieutenant in charge of the cuttei had made two gallant but unsuccessful attempts to get aboard—the first time by the larboard gangway. when a blow hurled him back, carrying several of his followers with him. His second attempt, at the starboard, was ro stoutlv opposed that again he had to retire! The third effort, however, was crowned with success; and the lieutenant and his marines came pouring over the Hermioiie's sides, and Hung themselves into the battle with a crash oi muskets. fol»owed by the Hash of sixteen swords.

FIFTY AGAINST FOUR HUNDRED

Jt wns now less than fifty men against four hundred—or such as were left of the four hundred. Minute after minute the battle s *ept and eddied over the deck, now red and slippery with blood. I'hen gathering together a nd withdrawing a little, the British sailors, with Hamilton at their head, hurled themselves with such impetuosity at the Spaniards that they scattered and tied like so many sheep before a pack of nolves. Sixty of them took refuge in the cabin, shouting for mercy, where they were disarmed, and left sale under lock and key. Meanwhile their lees eisiven fellows had rallied, and again the lighting burst into a fierce (lame up ana down the decks now littered with the fallen. . . . Meanwhile the three remaining boats had come tip. and while the light was ragiu" on the Hermioues decks her (severed cables had set her free troiu her anchors; nimble tars had run up her rigging and set her .sails loose; and three boats had taken her in tow. Then ,t was that in the lull of the lighting ,he Spaniards heard the signihceut ripple 01 the sea along the ship a sides; 'hev saw the lop-sails bellying to the „reeze. and felt the sway of the vessel JS she got under way. On the quarterdeck the boatswain was at the wheel, turning the Hermioues head seaward, while a couple of gunners kept at ha\ the Spaniards who rushed to attack him. Ju vain the shore butteries, at last roused to action, rained down their delude of -hot which fell harmlessly into the sea, or at most earned away a lew ropes. The Hermione, her sails fi led with the laud breeze, was drawing farther and farther away, carrying with her her burden of swaymg battle b> two o'clock the struggle was ended tie last Spaniard had fallen, or surrendeiedand been disarmed; and once more the British Hag was Hying proudly from tho Heruiione's, peak. NOT A MAN LOST. \o more than eight hours had passed since Captain Hamilton had started and sobered Ins officer-guests by unfold■n his daring plan. In that tune, with •a handful of fifty lighting men-tor 110 more than hair his force was, actually engaged in the battle-he bad captured a ship carrying forty-four guns and four hundred men ; had killed or wounded -M of her crew without losing a single man; and had earned her off from under the very mouths of two hundred cannon. . More than a century has c".ic WIW the Hermione returned to her allegiance under her changed and appropriate name. Retribution: but many a century more will pass before pulses cease to boat faster at the story of that gallant ni«»ht adventure of British sailormer. which proved, as has often Iwen proved before and sine', the might of British pluck against fearful odds.