The number of Packets stationed at Falmouth was not as large as to enable My Lords, or their Secretary, Mr. Freeling, to contemplate the ravages of the American Privateers without dismay. The mere fact that so many Packets were either in the hands of the enemy or undergoing repairs which must necessarily be lengthy, was enough to create much embarrassment in the present, while the outlook for the immediate future was gloomy and depressing. The difficulties were exasperated by the total loss of the “Hinchinbrooke” in a hurricane in the West Indies, while, as if to show that Fortune had turned her back on the Post-Office, the news of this disaster was quickly followed by the report that the “Lady Emily” had been wrecked on a reef of rocks near Bermuda.
Even these misfortunes did not exhaust the run of ill-luck. A violent outbreak of plague occurred at Malta. Every Packet arriving from the Mediterranean must perform quarantine at Sandgate Creek on the Kentish coast, and the delay and inconvenience thus caused proved a well-nigh intolerable addition to the perplexities of the administrators at Lombard Street.
The West India merchants, moreover, who had held their peace of recent years, as well they might, seeing with what courage and devotion their interests were guarded, were once more complaining of the loss of mails, and demanded that every Packet should have twenty guns and sixty men. My Lords, however, in the gallantry of their officers and men, were fortified with arguments which they had not possessed in former discussions with these critics. Twenty guns, they pointed out, would not have saved the “Duke of Montrose” from Commodore Rogers, and though Captain Cock in the “Townshend” had achieved so much with his scanty armament that it was difficult to say what he might not have done with an increased force, yet My Lords claimed, not unjustly, that such a case was too far removed from ordinary experience to serve as the basis of an argument.
Yet the prayer of the merchants was not altogether set aside; and when in July the brig “Morgiana” was tendered for service as a temporary Packet, Mr. Freeling noted that, being of 260 tons, considerably larger than any other vessel on the station, she ought to carry forty men and sixteen guns, and expressed the hope that this larger armament would restore some confidence in the city. The sequel is now to be related. It is curious to notice how some malignant influence mocked at all these efforts to arm the Packets more heavily, and rendered them all in turn equally vain.
For some unexplained reason the “Morgiana” was not provided on her first voyage with the sixteen guns which Mr. Freeling had declared to be proper to her size; but was armed with eight 9–pounders, which were perhaps all that could be procured in the short space of time available for fitting her out. She received, however, the complement of men which the Secretary had indicated; and thus equipped, she sailed from Falmouth at the end of August, bound for Surinam, under the command of Captain James Cunninghame, who had been Lord St. Vincent’s sailing master in the action of February 14th, 1797. Early in the morning of September 26th, the “Morgiana” being then off the coast of Surinam, a large hermaphrodite brig hove in sight, which, on perceiving the “Morgiana,” at once crowded all sail in chase. The wind was very light, and at seven o’clock it was observed that the stranger vessel had got out her sweeps, and was gaining fast on the Packet.
About 10 A.M. the sea breeze made partially, and the Privateer, receiving it first, was enabled to decrease the distance between the two vessels so materially as to render it shortly obvious that there would be no escape by sailing. At half-past twelve Captain Cunninghame gave orders to pipe to dinner, conceiving that by the time his crew had dined, the enemy would be within range of shot. What followed should be told in his own vivid words:—
“In this interval I cautiously inspected every article of preparation we had made, and confess that I felt a great satisfaction, and no small share of confidence at the arrangements. At 1.30 P.M. the hands were turned up, and, calling them aft, I addressed them to the following effect: ‘That they had witnessed my endeavours to elude engaging an enemy who to all appearance was much superior to ourselves, but that the chances of action, if supported with steadiness and courage, might not only give us an opportunity to beat him off, but also to capture; that they were aware that, besides my holding a commission to command the Packet, I had passed the great proportion of my life as an officer in His Majesty’s Naval Service; that I had been frequently engaged with the enemy, consequently a battle was no new thing to me; and that, independent of our characters as Englishmen, we were bound by our duty to the service now employed on to defend the mails with all possible obstinacy; that it was my own determination not to give the ship away till I was no longer able to defend her, and hinted that should any of them feel unwilling to support me in my resolution, they had my full liberty to go below, and that I would endeavour to fight the ship with the braver part of the crew who would remain to second me.’
“With much pleasure I have to acknowledge that one sentiment of determination pervaded all; all were unanimously anxious to engage, and showed a disposition to cheer, which I checked. At 2 P.M., the enemy being within range of shot, I took in the studding sails, ordered the jolly boat to be cut adrift, and opened a fire on him from our stern guns, which evidently disconcerted him, the first shot having carried away some of his standing rigging. He then yawed, and gave us his whole broadside, which did no other injury than a shot or two through the topgallant sails. We continued to play the stern guns on him, and he to give us an occasional charge from his foremost guns, when he could get them to bear without losing ground; but finding himself exposed to a raking fire, which he stood well, he endeavoured to gain our starboard quarter, and his superior sailing soon placed him in a situation in which our after guns could be used with effect. Anxious to profit by this event, and with the hope that our broadside would deter him from closing with us altogether, we gave him the fire from our starboard guns, then bore up till the stern guns could again act; but after five or six discharges from them I had the mortification to see that the ringbolts had drawn out from both sides the stern, and these guns, which had as yet been our principal defence, rendered of no more use in that point. The disposition of the enemy was now evidently directed to boarding us on the larboard quarter, and he accordingly ranged up with that intent; but our fire was too heavy to be despised. He therefore gave up the idea of boarding, and, manning his guns, returned our broadsides with vigour.
“The action was now something hot, and was supported by both sides with an equal degree of spirit for about an hour and twenty minutes, both vessels running before the wind, within pistol distance of each other, and at times not more than a few fathoms apart.
“The tops of the Privateer were filled with men armed with blunderbusses and muskets who gave us great annoyance, and his fire of grape was sharp and galling, wounding several of our men. In this part of the action I found that a grape-shot had grazed my left leg, and stuck in the opposite side of the ship. It was not, however, of very serious consequence, and, tying it up with a handkerchief, I was enabled to resume my station. A short time after a musket ball struck my left wrist, which made but a slight wound, and at the same instant I saw the sailmaker, who was stationed at the wheel, fall, he having received a mortal wound from a charge of grape.