The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford
"We casts our shot for the new gun so many fathoms long, and then, d'ye
see, we cuts off a length at a time, regulatin' the length required
according to the ship we uses it against. For your ship, I reckon we
should cut off about three and a half inches."
The Spanish fleet was afflicted with scurvy; and we used to pull over
to the Spanish ships in the evenings, bringing the officers presents of
chicken, fresh meat and fruit.
Having done with Valparaiso, the Spaniards went to Callao; but there
they had a more difficult job; for Callao was fortified, and the
Spaniards were considerably damaged by the gun-fire from the forts.
During the progress of hostilities between the Chilians and the
Spaniards, the Chilians constructed one of the first submarines. It
was an American invention worked by hand and ballasted with water. The
Chilians intended, or hoped, to sink the Spanish fleet with it. The
submarine started from the beach on this enterprise; but it was never
seen again. It simply plunged into the sea, and in the sea it remains
to this day.
We left Valparaiso about the middle of April, 1866, and proceeded to
Vancouver. On the way, the _Sutlej_ ran into a French barque, taking
her foremast and bowsprit out of her. Captain Coode stood by the rail,
his arms crossed, his hands folded in his sleeves, looking down upon
the wreck with a sardonic grin, while the French captain, gesticulating
below, shouted, "O you goddam Englishman for you it is all-a-right, but
for it it is not so nice!"
But we repaired all damages so that at the latter end he was better off
than when he started.
We arrived at Vancouver early in June, and left a few days later, to
encounter a terrific hurricane. It blew from the 18th June to the 22nd
June; and the track of the ship on the chart during those four days
looks like a diagram of cat's-cradle. The ship was much battered, and
her boats were lost. On this occasion, I heard the pipe go "Save ship"
for the second time in my life.
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We put into San Francisco to refit. Here many of our men deserted. In
those days, it was impossible to prevent desertions on these coasts,
although the sentries on board had their rifles loaded with ball
cartridge. Once the men had landed we could not touch them. I used to
meet the deserters on shore, and they used to chaff me. As we had lost
our boats, the American dockyard supplied us with some. One day the
officer of the watch noticed fourteen men getting into the cutter,
which was lying at the boom. He hailed them from the deck. The men,
returning no answer, promptly pushed off for the shore. The officer of
the watch instantly called away the whaler, the only other boat
available, intending to send a party in pursuit. But the deserters had
foreseen that contingency, and had cut the falls just inside the
lowering cleat, so that the whaler could not be lowered.
While I was at San Francisco, I had my first experience of the American
practical view of a situation. Bound upon a shooting excursion, I had
taken the train to Benicia, and alighted with a small bag, gun and
cartridges. I asked a railway man to carry my bag for me to a hack
(cab). He looked at me, and said,
"Say, is it heavy?"
"No," I said, "it is quite light."
"Waal then," said he, "I guess you can carry it yourself." I had to,
so I did.
Benicia is celebrated as the birthplace of John Heenan, the "Benicia
Boy," the famous American boxer. The great fight between Heenan and
Tom Sayers was fought at Farnborough on the 17th April, 1860. Heenan
was a huge man, six feet and an inch in height; Sayers, Champion of
England, five feet eight inches. The fight was interrupted. Both men
received a silver belt. I remember well the event of the fight, though
I was not present at it. More than three years afterwards, in
December, 1863, Tom King beat Heenan.
From San Francisco we proceeded to Cape Horn, {70} homeward bound. On
these long sailing passages we used to amuse ourselves by spearing
fish. Sitting on the dolphin-striker (the spar below the bowsprit) we
harpooned albacore and bonito and dolphin, which is not the dolphin
proper but the coryphee.
We rounded the Horn, buffeted by the huge seas of that tempestuous
promontory. On that occasion, I actually saw the Horn, which is an
inconspicuous island beaten upon by the great waves, standing amid a
colony of little black islands. And off Buenos Aires we were caught in
a pampero, the hurricane of South American waters. It blew from the
land; and although we were three or four hundred miles out at sea, the
master smelt it coming. Indeed, the whole air was odorous with the
fragrance of new-mown hay; and then, down came the wind.
We were bound for Portsmouth. And when we rounded the Isle of Wight,
and came into view of Spithead, lo! the anchorage was filled with great
ships all stationed in review order. They were assembled for a review
to be held for the Sultan of Turkey.
We took in the signal containing our instructions, and fired a salute;
and then, standing in under all plain sail and starboard studdingsails,
we sailed right through the Fleet, and all the men of the Fleet crowded
rails and yards to look at us, and cheered us down the lines. For the
days of sails were passing even then; we had come home from the ends of
the world; and the splendid apparition of a full-rigged man-of-war
standing into the anchorage moved every sailor's heart; so that many
officers and men have since told me that the _Sutlej_ sailing into
Spithead through the lines of the Fleet was the finest sight it was
ever their fortune to behold.
In the _Tribune_ and in the _Sutlej_ it was my luck to serve under two
of the strictest and best captains in the Service, Captain Lord
Gillford and Captain Trevenen P. Coode. I may be forgiven for
recalling that both these officers added a special commendation to my
certificates; an exceedingly {71} rare action on their part, and in the
case of Captain Coode, I think the first instance on record.
Part of the test for passing for sub-lieutenant was bends and hitches.
Captain Lord Gillford was highly pleased with a white line which I had
spliced an eye in and grafted myself. Knowing that I was a good
sailmaker, he once made me fetch palm and canvas and sew an exhibition
seam in public.
From the _Sutlej_ I passed into the H.M.S. _Excellent_, in order to
prepare for the examinations in gunnery. In those days, the
_Excellent_ was a gunnery school ship of 2311 tons, moored in the upper
part of Portsmouth Harbour. The _Excellent_ gunnery school is now
Whale Island.
While in the _Excellent_ I had the misfortune, in dismounting a gun, to
break a bone in my foot; and although the injury seemed to heal very
quickly under the application of arnica, I have felt its effects ever
since.
In 1867 I was appointed to the _Research_, which was stationed at
Holyhead, and in which I served for a few months. There was a good
deal of alarm felt with regard to the Fenians, who were active at the
time, and the _Research_ was ordered to look out for them. With my
messmates, Cæsar Hawkins, Lascelles, and Forbes, I hunted a good deal
from Holyhead with Mr. Panton's hounds. I also hunted with the Ward
Union in Ireland. I used to cross from Holyhead at night, hunt during
the day, and return that night.
Among other memories of those old days, I remember that my brother and
myself, being delayed at Limerick Junction, occupied the time in
performing a work of charity upon the porter, whose hair was of an
immoderate luxuriance. He was--so far as we could discover--neither
poet nor musician, and was therefore without excuse. Nevertheless, he
refused the proffered kindness. Perceiving that he was thus blinded to
his own interest, we gently bound him hand and foot and lashed him to a
railway truck. I possessed a knife, but we found it an unsuitable
weapon: my brother searched the station and found a pair of snuffers,
used for trimming the station lamps. With this rude but practicable
{72} instrument we shore the locks of the porter, and his hair blew all
about the empty station like the wool of a sheep at shearing-time.
When it was done we made him suitable compensation.
"Sure," said the porter, "I'll grow my hair again as quick as I can the
way you'll be giving me another tip."
We had an old Irish keeper at home, whose rule in life was to agree
with everything that was said to him. Upon a day when it was blowing a
full gale of wind, I said to myself that I would get to windward of him
to-day anyhow.
"Well, Harney," said I. "It is a fine calm day to-day."
"You may say that, Lord Char-less, but what little wind there is, is
terrible strong," says Harney.
A lady once said to him, "How old are you, Harney?"
"Och, shure, it's very ould and jaded I am, it's not long I'll be for
this worrld," said he.
"Oh," said she, "but I'm old, too. How old do you think I am?"
"Sure, how would I know that? But whatever age ye are, ye don't look
it, Milady."
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CHAPTER VII
THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. _GALATEA_
I. TO THE ANTIPODES
After a brief spell in the royal yacht, I was promoted out of her to
lieutenant, and was appointed to the _Galatea_, Captain H.R.H. Alfred
Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, K.G., K.T.
H.M.S. _Galatea_ had four months previously returned from the long
cruise of seventeen months, 24th January, 1867, to 26th June, 1868,
during which the Duke visited South Africa and Australasia. While he
was in Australia, an attempt had been made to assassinate his Royal
Highness, who had a very narrow escape. The pistol was fired at the
range of a few feet, and the bullet, entering the Duke's back, struck a
rib and ran round the bone, inflicting a superficial wound. A full
account of the voyage is contained in _The Cruise of H.M.S. Galatea_,
by the Rev. John Milner and Oswald W. Brierley (London, 1869; W. H.
Allen). The _Galatea_ frigate was built at Woolwich and launched in
1859. She was of 3227 tons burthen, 800 h.p.; she was pierced for 26
guns; maindeck, 18 guns, 10-inch, 86 cwt., and 4 guns, 10-inch, 6½
tons; on the quarterdeck, 2 guns, rifled, 64-pounders; in the
forecastle, 2 guns, rifled, 64-pounders. The 6½-ton guns threw a shot
of 115 lb., and a large double-shell weighing 156 lb. She stowed 700
tons of coal and 72 tons of water. Previously the _Galatea_, commanded
by Captain Rochfort Maguire, had been employed from 1862 to 1866 in the
Baltic, and on the Mediterranean and West Indian stations. She {74}
took part in the suppression of the insurrection at Jamaica, and, after
the loss of H.M.S. _Bulldog_, destroyed the batteries on Cape Haitien.
Her sister ship was the _Ariadne_, and Admiral Penrose Fitzgerald, who
served in the _Ariadne_, in 1861, writes: "It would not be too much to
say that she and her sister ship, the _Galatea_, were the two finest
wooden frigates ever built in this or any other country" (_Memories of
the Sea_). Personally, I am inclined to consider, that fine sailor as
the _Galatea_ was, the _Sutlej_ was finer still.
The Duke of Edinburgh was an admirable seaman. He had a great natural
ability for handling a fleet, and he would have made a first-class
fighting admiral. The Duke's urbanity and kindness won the affection
of all who knew him. I am indebted to him for many acts of kindness,
and I was quite devoted to him.
The voyage of the _Galatea_ lasted for two years and a half. We
visited Cape Town, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, the Sandwich
Islands, Japan, China, India, and the Falkland Islands. It is not my
purpose to describe that long cruise in detail; but rather to record
those incidents which emerge from the capricious haze of memory. In