Mr. James, confident in the gunnery of his men, felt no apprehension about the result of this cannonade. What he did fear was a boarding assault, for the numbers of the enemy were far superior to his own. At 11 P.M. he perceived that the French were collecting their boarders. The moment was favourable to them. The vessels were nearing each other. The boarders were gathering in numbers sufficient to sweep the little crew of Cornishmen into the sea; and Mr. James saw with alarm that the situation of the vessels was such that for the moment he could not bring a single gun to bear.
There was not an instant to lose. The Frenchmen were already clambering upon the bulwarks of their ship balancing themselves in the act of springing. In another moment the whole party would have been scrambling over the nettings of the Packet, when Mr. James, seizing the helm, jammed it hard-a-port, and laid the “Duke of Marlborough” right across the enemy’s bows.
By this bold manœuvre the tables were turned. As the Packet forged across the schooner’s track, every gun in her broadside came to bear successively. Each one in turn raked the French ship from stem to stern with grape-shot and canister, and when Mr. James had leisure once more to look about him, he saw that there was confusion among the enemy, who had evidently sustained a heavy loss. The Frenchmen rallied from this blow surprisingly fast, and in a few minutes secured another opportunity of boarding. The favourable moment had gone by however. The Cornishmen were fully prepared, and not one of the boarders managed to gain the deck of the “Duke of Marlborough.” This second failure seemed to take the heart out of the attack, for shortly afterwards the Privateer sheered off and was seen to heave to with the evident intention of repairing damages.
She had not yet done with the Packet, and about midnight made sail once more in chase, coming within range at 8 A.M., when a heavy fire of great guns were opened on both sides, and maintained very warmly for two hours and a half. At the end of this time, finding she had gained no decisive advantage, and having had enough of close quarters on the previous evening, the Privateer again sheered off and left the “Duke of Marlborough” to pursue her voyage unmolested.
In these two actions six Packetsmen were wounded, one mortally. The amount of loss sustained by the Privateer, which was a large vessel of fourteen guns, well known as having captured many English merchantmen, could not be ascertained, but it was the opinion of some of the officers of the “Duke of Marlborough,” that if they had pressed their advantage she could not have escaped. Allowing, however, for very heavy losses, the number of Privateersmen capable of fighting at the close of the action doubtless far exceeded the whole complement of the Packet, and Mr. James, whose first duty was to expose the mails to no unnecessary risk, certainly exercised a wise discretion in refusing to embark in such an adventure.
This, it may be added, was by no means the only case in which the crew of a Packet, flushed with success, were compelled to refrain from pushing their victory to a conclusion, and so to abandon the prize money which was almost in their grasp. It was hard to let a beaten enemy escape, and it is a striking proof of the good feeling existing among the sailors on the Falmouth Packets that they tolerated such an event without a mutinous outbreak.
A few months later there occurred a fight, which, if not more bold and desperate than half a dozen others recorded in this volume, attracted a larger share of public recognition, and won for the officer in command something like that fame which was so often deserved by the Falmouth commanders, but so very seldom bestowed on them. The action of the “Windsor Castle” on October 1st, 1807, is, indeed, one of the three or four fights to which the world outside Falmouth paid some attention. It has found a niche in the naval histories, and is still remembered when almost every other action of the Packets, however glorious, is forgotten.
The “Windsor Castle” was commanded by Captain Sutton, but that officer had remained at home, and the ship was in charge of Mr. William Roger, the master. She sailed from Falmouth at the end of August, 1807, with mails for the Leeward Islands, and after a tedious voyage was nearing Barbados, in those waters which were a veritable cockpit of the Atlantic, when the look-out reported that a strange schooner, which came in sight a few minutes earlier, had altered her course and appeared to be chasing the Packet.
Mr. Rogers at once caused every stitch of canvas to be set; but at the end of an hour there could be no doubt that the enemy had the heels of the “Windsor Castle,” and that an action was inevitable. Perhaps Mr. Rogers and his crew, having obeyed their orders by attempting to escape, were not ill-pleased on finding that they could not do so. To the former, especially, who held only a temporary command, the chance of distinguishing himself was doubtless welcome, and he set about his preparations with a cheerful confidence which had an excellent effect upon his men.
About noon the strange schooner came within range, hoisted French colours, and opened fire. The Cornishmen replied by playing on the enemy with their stern chasers, those long brass guns which in so many other fights had proved serviceable in delaying the advance of an enemy. On this occasion, however, they appear to have done little execution, for the schooner drew on rapidly, and, coming within hail, ordered Mr. Rogers, in what he termed “very opprobrious language,” to strike his colours. On finding that he treated this demand as it deserved, the French opened a very heavy fire, both of cannon and musketry, which they maintained without intermission for more than an hour.