He duly piloted the expedition, to the entire satisfaction of the Government, and received his pardon and a pension of £100 a year. He fully deserved both, for he signally distinguished himself in the course of the operations by swimming to the ramparts of a fort, with a rope, by which in some unexplained manner a tremendous and disastrous explosion was effected.
He was further appointed to the command of the revenue cruiser Fox, at the conclusion of the war, and thus set to prey upon his ancient allies; who, in their turn, made things so uncomfortable for the “scurvy rat,” as they were pleased picturesquely to style him, that he rarely dared venture out of port. So it would appear that he did not for any great length of time hold that command.
But the reputation for daring and resourcefulness that he enjoyed did not seem to be clouded by this incident, for he was approached by the powerful friends of Napoleon, exiled at St. Helena, to aid them in a desperate attempt to rescue the fallen Emperor. It was said that they offered him the sum of £40,000 down, and a further very large sum, if the attempt were successful. The patriotic hero of some years earlier seems to have been successfully tempted. “Every man,” says the cynic, “has his price”; and £40,000 and a generous refresher formed his. For personal gain he was prepared to let loose once more the scourge of Europe.
Plans were actively afoot for the construction of a submarine boat (there is nothing new under the sun!) for the purpose of secretly conveying the distinguished exile away, when he inconsiderately died; and thus vanished Johnson’s dreams of wealth.
Some years later Johnson built a submarine boat to the order of the Spanish Government, and ran trials with it in the Thames, between London Bridge and Blackwall. On one occasion it became entangled in a cable of one of the vessels lying in the Pool, and for a time it seemed scarce possible the boat could easily be freed.
“We have but two and a half minutes to live,” said he, consulting his watch calmly, “unless we get clear of that cable.”
“Captain” Johnson, as he was generally styled, lived in quiet for many years, finally dying at the age of sixty-seven, in March 1839, in the unromantic surroundings of the Vauxhall Bridge Road.
Another smuggler of considerable reputation, of whom, however, we know all too little, was Harry Paulet. This person, who appears in some manner to have become a prisoner aboard a French man-o’-war, made his escape and took with him a bag of the enemy’s despatches, which he handed over to the English naval authorities.
A greater deed was that when, sailing with a cargo of smuggled brandy, he came in view of the French fleet (we being then, as usual, at war with France), Paulet immediately went on a new tack and carried the news of the enemy’s whereabouts to Lord Hawke, who promised to hang him if the news were not true.
A somewhat interesting and curious account of the conversion of a youthful smuggler may be found in an old volume of The Bible Christian Magazine. The incident belongs to the Scilly Isles.