Sect. VI.—HIS SERVICE ON THE LAKES OF CANADA.
While he taught Angelo’s sword-exercise on board the Asia, he volunteered his services for the lakes of Canada, in the expedition which was sent to that novel scene of naval enterprise towards the beginning of the year 1814. In the voyage from England to Bermuda[10] he continued to act as a drill-master on board the Asia; and though, as yet, he had obtained no higher rank than that of midshipman, such was the respect in which he was held, and the deference paid to him, that in most respects he was treated as if he had been a lieutenant. He was now a tall and handsome young man, with great breadth of chest and expansion of shoulders, and possessing withal a mild temper and the kindest dispositions. Along with his other duties he drilled the young officers and men on deck, whenever the weather permitted, and when amusement was the order of the day, he was the life and soul of the crew; he was an excellent table companion, he could tell humourous tales, and his conversation was extremely amusing; he painted scenes for the ship’s theatricals, sketched views, drew caricatures, and so he was much beloved and respected by all, to whose amusement he so largely contributed.
The following incident affords a striking proof of the almost invincible hardiness of his constitution, for which he was indebted partly to the bounty of nature, and partly to the privations and habits of his early life. Having bidden adieu to the flag ship, on which he had acted so conspicuous a part, and taken his passage to Halifax, with the view of thence proceeding to the lakes, he was sent along with others to perform some service on the horrid coast of Labrador, and being there cast away while in a long boat, all the individuals who were along with him at the time were so severely frost bitten that some of them died, and the rest were lame for life, while he escaped with only losing the power of the first joint of his left hand thumb, which ever after continued crooked, and on that account used to be called “Hooky,” both by himself and his friends.
He was sent, along with a party of five hundred men, from Halifax to join Sir James Yeo, who, at that time, had the command upon the Lakes. As this journey was performed in winter, when the river St. Lawrence is frozen over, and of course when the water communication is suspended, it was both tedious and toilsome. The men marched on foot, first to Quebec, and then to the lakes, while the baggage was dragged after them in sleighs. Soon after his arrival on the lakes, he and a small party of men were appointed to defend a blockhouse on the coast of Lake Ontario; but he had not been long in this situation when the blockhouse, which had only one small gun for its defence, was attacked by a superior American force, by which it was speedily demolished; and when Clapperton and his men were left no other alternative but to become prisoners of war, or to cross the ice to York, the capital of Upper Canada, a distance of sixty or seventy miles. Frightful as the attempt was, in their destitute and forlorn circumstances, the journey was instantly resolved upon. But the party had not advanced more than ten or twelve miles, when a boy, one of the number, lay down on the ice unable to proceed farther, on account of the cold, and his previous fatigue. The sailors declared, each in his turn, that they were so benumbed with cold, and so exhausted by wading through the newly fallen snow, that it was with difficulty they could support themselves, and so could afford no assistance to the poor unfortunate boy. On this trying occasion the strong benevolence of Clapperton’s character was strikingly manifested. His nature was too generous to suffer him for a moment to endure the idea of leaving a fellow-creature inevitably to perish under such appalling circumstances; for as it was snowing at the time, it was quite evident that the boy would, if left, have been quickly overwhelmed by the drift. Clapperton, therefore, took the boy upon his own back, and carried him about eight or nine miles, when he found that he had relaxed his hold, and on examining the cause, he was perceived to be in a dying state, and very soon after expired. The party then proceeded on their journey, and endured very great sufferings before they could reach York. Their shoes and stockings were completely worn off their feet; and the want of nourishment had dreadfully emaciated their bodies, as they had no provisions during the journey except a bag of meal. According to his uncle’s account, it was, while he was making generous efforts to save the boy, who fell a victim to the cold, that Clapperton lost the first joint of his thumb. His uncle says, “he took the boy upon his back, holding him with his left hand, and supported himself from slipping with a staff in his right;” and adds, “that from the long inaction of his left hand in carrying the boy upon his back, he lost, from the effects of the cold, his thumb joint.”—This is certainly a very probable account of the matter, and assigns a cause sufficiently adequate for effecting a greater bodily injury than the loss of part of a thumb. But, as we have great confidence in the information which we have received on the subject, we are inclined to adhere to the account which we have given above, namely, that Clapperton lost the joint of his thumb on the coast of Labrador, when his companions in distress lost their limbs and their lives. It is evident, moreover, that his uncle’s information on many points was neither very extensive nor very accurate. A glaring instance of inaccuracy is abundantly apparent in his account of this very journey over the ice, from the demolished blockhouse to York, the capital of Upper Canada. He asserts that this journey was performed from the coast of Lake Huron, across Lake Michigan, to the town of York—an exploit which any one, by slightly inspecting a map of North America, will instantly see is impossible to be accomplished.
After Sir Edward Owen was appointed to the command of the British naval force upon the Canadian lakes, he gave Clapperton an acting order as a lieutenant, and appointed him to the command of the Confiance schooner. This was a situation, which, as it implied more responsibility than any he had hitherto held, likewise allowed him a greater degree of liberty than he could have enjoyed, had he been assigned a birth on board of a vessel commanded by a superior officer. When, therefore, he had the command of the Confiance, he was in the habit of making excursions into the forests on the coast, both of lake Huron and lake Erie, for the purpose of shooting game. While engaged in these excursions, he cultivated an acquaintance with several of the Indian tribes. The romantic turn of his mind led him not only to delight to associate with those aboriginal inhabitants of America, but also to adopt their manners and customs, and even to acquire their language. He became a great favourite among them; for he sometimes treated them with feasts, and on these occasions they used to fire a feu de joie in honour of him as their benefactor. At one time, indeed, he entertained serious intentions of uniting himself to the Indians, marrying a princess, and thereby becoming a chief among them; and actually assumed the distinctive badge of the Huron nation. This romantic and foolish design was, however, soon relinquished; but the feasts which he had given to the chiefs led to deficiency in his accounts to the victualling department; and this deficiency was afterwards deducted from his half pay, and was the means of involving him in pecuniary difficulties, from which he was not altogether relieved till after his return from his first expedition from Africa.
But notwithstanding this fact, he was a most active, diligent, and efficient officer, while he served upon the lakes; so that it was the wish of Sir Edward Owen that the acting order which he had given him should be confirmed by the Board of Admiralty; and for this end Clapperton sent it to his uncle in London; but as the Board of Admiralty had just promoted a great number of naval officers, they refused to confirm his commission at that time. It was the feeling of disappointment arising from this refusal which made him form the design of permanently connecting himself with the Indians. When he went on shore to visit his friends among these tribes, he did not always order a boat to be in attendance upon him to bring him on board; but when he regarded it as time to return, he used to plunge into the water with his clothes on, swim along side of the schooner, and hail the people on board to take him up. This rash mode of proceeding, however, nearly cost him his life; for on one occasion he encountered a strong current which bore him away from his own schooner, the Confiance; and it was with difficulty he could make himself be heard, as in distress, and unable to bear up against the stream, by the men on board the schooner commanded by Lieutenant Adam Gordon, who sent a boat to fetch him on board. This adventure put an end to the exploits of swimming to and from the vessel, when he had occasion to be on shore. While he served on the lakes, he was distinguished by another singular practice. In the midst of winter he was in the habit of causing the ice to be broken daily for the purpose of making an opening in which he might bathe. He used to say, he felt a shock when he first plunged into the cold water, but that this was followed by a pleasant glow. The place which was broken in the ice, for the indulgence of this luxury, was with great propriety designated “Clapperton’s bath,” as no one else chose to participate with him in this species of pleasure. Yet amidst all these singularities he never neglected his duty as an officer; he loved to keep the sailors upon the alert; and when he rowed guard, he delighted to surprise the sentinels.
Like most other Scotsmen, when at a distance from their native land, he displayed a strong feeling of amor patriæ, and was particularly attentive to any of his countrymen he happened to meet with abroad, a fact which perhaps laid the foundation of his attachment to Mackenzie. At any rate, when he was on the lakes, there happened to be some species of merry-making among the officers, when he met, for the first time, a gentleman from Edinburgh, belonging to the medical department. As he had a very youthful appearance, Clapperton supposed that he must be inexperienced, and from a sincere desire to be serviceable to him, he took him aside and advised him always to maintain his rights, gave him some sage advice about his dress, and decorated his right thigh with a brilliant, scarlet-coloured watch ribbon. This gentleman took all in good part, assumed the aspect of the greenhorn which Clapperton supposed him to be, and allowed him both to direct and decorate him as he pleased. But when he understood that he was of considerable standing in the service, he came to him and apologized for his mistake—a thing which was of course accepted, and the curious incident proved the commencement of a sincere and firm friendship on both sides.