A WILD IRISHMAN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1239, 25 November 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

A WILD IRISHMAN.

THE HERO OF THE'ALEXANDRIAN BOMBARD*' 1 LORD- CHARLES BERESFOKD AND ' hisadnentures. ' l ' ;: iA Neiif York Mna r ®P ol ' er 1 few evenm 8 3 • ■ ago fell in with an Irish'waiter at a'restaurant," - who had served with Lord Charles Beresford, " - add was'M of interesting reimiriiscenes of' his career. He said Well, sir, I give.you ; - my'wOrd that young fellow Was the wildest, most reckless boy I ever saw in my life, 1 He in the way ofmoney any one could want, and he would risk his life twenty - times where I wouldn't rlslt fninfc once, who wita slaving for a living. 'There was nothing he wouldn't do,' ■ And with all that he wis a splendid sailor, Hecould'show older offioers than he was all over ' the ship, 1 Wild, as he was, too, he was'always''up straight to the mark ■ when' oil: deck, but between deckswell, thete was nothing too hot for him/ 'lf there was ever a dangerous place to get into ; Beresford was therelfirst. I remember during the Fenian troubles, in 1867, we were off Galway in a bad storni, We had been warned not to" go 'out, but there were rumours of cruisers coming from' America, and we had to go, The topsail had to be furled, and it was really dangerous to go aloft, for she was.washing her yards under, » Well,sir,' if a: British'. ; i'soilor gets' his orders to go aloft, he will go, 1 ' biltthe Oaptain was not willing to : send tlie pien aloft without an officer.l mean he . : wtmld not risk men's lives where he would not 1 risk an officct's, He tuined to the officers and asked for one to lead.the men, I give you my word, sir, Beresford was out on the end of that yard before, another officer could look aloft. ;««He is a' slight-built man, unless has fallen into flesh since, but at this time he , ; would not weigh more than 140 pounds, but he fought the ship's Corporal, who was a big man and a boxer too, and made him give 111. . Of course, it was kept very quiet, as it was a , breach of discipline, but 1 knew about it, We were in harbor at Holyhead, and the Corporal went to call him in the morning,' He said,he wouldn't get up. ' The Corporal made, him, or said he would, or something, but anyway Beresford jumped out and says to the Corporal: 'Look here, Corporal, you're a, pretty big fellow and a good boxer, and you think vou're the cock of the ship. Notf you say nothing about it and I ■ won't, and well settle this thing at once,'. So he dressed and went forward. There was no one about at tliat hour-about four in the morning, and we • being in harbor-except the sentry, and there they set to,. Well, sir, you_tiever.saw so battered and bruised up a pair in your life- as those two men; They were both good boxers, but the Corporal, big as he was, had tojive in' At the same place Beresford went ashore ohe nleht with another officer, and they came to a public house called the Eagle, There was a big eagle, all gold and paint, and great big wings, over the door. ■ Beresford climbed upon the other man's shoulder and pulled it . . down. Just as he was getting it down the man inside woke up with tlle n018 ®» aiid opening the window, began to veil for the police like mad. The two started for the beach with the eagle, and the police hot . foot after them; as .soon as one would get exhausted carrying the eagle he d drop IUnJ the' other would pick it up and go on, luey got to the beach, and Beresford jumps into the boat and says to the boatman, « Now get to that shio if you want to save your life. At tliat time 1 was after being made second wardroom steward, and when! came into the room , hi the morning .to set the breakfast what should I see but this big wooden eagle sot out oh the table, with a stick-up collar on and a little pair of white pantalets. I knew it was some of Beresford's work as soon as I saw it. ; "One trick of his I know of, because I saw the picture, but where it occurred I can t remember, because it was before I knew him. . Anyhow young Beresford and another boy like himself went ashore, and there was a flag, pole carrying the flag at the American Consul's residence, It was at night, and for pure devilment the boys climbed the pole and carried off the flag, took iuboard ship, and hoisted it at the mainmast ill a basket, .well, Sir YOU may believe there was a lime when the Captain came on deck in the morning, He was in an awful stew, and, of course, the Consul, or whoever was in charge, was tearing niad, There was a great row, the two boys were brought up, and the end ot it was they were sentenced to climb the pole and pu the : flag back. Then Beresford said he wouldn t ... db it. Of course he would have been dismissed from the navy for insubordination, but some one who knew the family well sent word to his motherj and she telegraphed to him that he must do it for hev sake.. Jheiems nothing lie wouldn't do for his mother. . .When she came to visit him on the ship he used to have grand ceremonies of reception—not on board, of course, because discipline would not allow anything to be done there, but on shore, He thought the world of her, and when she telegraphed to him he said he would put the flag back because of his mothers request. Then thev put it back in grand style, i here was a public ceremony, he bad a photographer on the ground, and there he was taken climbing the pole, he and the other boy, with tlio American flag trailing over his shoulder. He had the picture enlarged, and kept it m a scrap-book with all the newspaper , notices ot the affair cut out and pasted under it. The Research, when I was with him, was paid olt in 1808. I next heard of him as Flag-Lieuten-ant on board the Galatea,, and .since then he has been out of the way until I saw about his commanding the Condor at Alexandria, I used to think he would only remain in the navy long enough to be able to retire with the title of Captain Beresford, but he seems to stick to ; it, so I suppose he has some higher ambition." .