This was always the anxiety which an East Indiaman’s skipper had to think of. Was he justified in remaining to fight: or was his chief duty to run away? His command was not primarily a fighting ship, but a means of trade. And even if he got his ship safe in port would he incur the displeasure of the Honourable East India Company’s directors? His job was too valuable to be thrown away by an error of judgment. It would be a fine feather in his cap if he could follow the example of Commodore Dance, and he was sure to be well rewarded by his Company. To deal a smashing blow at the nation’s enemy would ensure fame for this captain to the end of his days and after. But—if he should forget that his first duty was to get the valuable cargo home he might find himself a broken man and not a hero.
Such, then, was the position of Captain Meriton in the incident we are discussing. He had to take in the situation at a glance and form a quick but not hasty judgment, and then act accordingly, flinging out his signals and disposing his squadron. At four o’clock the Minerve went ahead and then bore down as if intending to get alongside the Windham. Now this was a mode of attack which the Indiamen in the present instance had reason to fear least of all, for they chanced to have plenty of soldiery on board. The Windham therefore made sail so as to strike the French frigate on the port side at the quarter, whilst the Ceylon and Astell closed on their consort so as to assist in this manœuvre. However, the Windham had been greatly damaged in regard to her sails and rigging, so did not possess enough way to act as she had hoped. The result was that the Minerve was able to cross her bows only a few yards away. All this time the three Indiamen had kept up an incessant and well-aimed musketry fire from their troops on board.
Just as the Minerve got out of gun-shot—that is to say, about a mile away—the Astell passed astern of the Windham and became the headmost and weathermost ship. The Windham was now the sternmost and leewardmost vessel of the three, and the Minerve, true to the best tradition of tactics employed by Nelson and other great admirals, endeavoured to cut the Windham off from the other two: but the best laid schemes of clever tacticians sometimes do not fructify: for the Minerve now lost her main and mizen topmasts, and there came a lull in the contest, though not for long. It was now six in the evening, and the Bellone, followed by the Victor, began a most destructive fire on the Windham. Taking up her position presently a little farther on, the Bellone began to attack the commodore’s ship, whilst with her foremost guns she attacked the Astell. The Victor was some distance away, and so her fire at the Windham was not so effective. Captain Meriton now endeavoured to close with the French frigate in order that he might be able to give full opportunity to the troops’ musketry, but had the misfortune to receive a severe wound in the neck from grape-shot. The command therefore fell to the chief mate, Mr T. W. Oldham. But the latter, being himself wounded not many seconds later, was obliged to yield the command to the second mate, Mr T. Fenning. By seven o’clock the poor Ceylon, which had endured much, was in a sorry plight. Her two principal officers had been wounded, her masts, rigging and sails were all damaged badly, all the guns on her upper deck had been disabled and five on the lower deck. Her hull, too, had been so badly holed that she was leaking to such an extent that she made three feet an hour. In addition, many of her people had been killed and wounded.
She therefore came out of the firing-line and passed astern of the Bellone, which was engaging the Windham all the time. And then there appears to have been some misunderstanding. The Windham hailed the Astell time after time, asking her to join in making an attempt to board the Bellone: but the Astell put out her lights, crowded on sail, and went off, receiving a heavy parting fire from the frigate. As for the Ceylon, there was nothing left for her to do but to haul down her colours, and she then had the humiliation of being taken possession of by a prize crew sent off in a boat from the Minerve. As the Ceylon passed the Windham, the former hailed the latter that she had struck. The Windham was therefore now left alone: and since she, too, was considerably damaged as to her masts and rigging, so that it was impossible to set sail, she doggedly continued the action, so that the Astell might be able to make good her escape. Nine of the Windham’s guns had been put out of action, many of her crew had been killed or wounded, so finally she too had to haul down her colours, and was taken possession of by the Bellone. Meanwhile the Victor had gone in pursuit of the Astell, but the latter was able to get right away owing to the extreme darkness of the night and the length of time which had been taken in securing the two prizes.
The result of this fight, which had lasted almost from dawn till after dark, was melancholy: but the Indiamen had fought very gallantly, and it is not always that success comes to those who seem assuredly most to deserve it. Each of these merchant ships was of 800 tons, and their armament was quite unequal to that of the French frigates, which had no cargo to carry and could mount more numerous guns. There were about two hundred and fifty troops on board each of these Indiamen, in addition to a hundred lascars, but there were only about twelve or a score of British seamen. So in respect of numbers the merchant ships were quite inferior to the trained men-of-war’s-men of the French. The Ceylon lost four seamen, one lascar and two soldiers killed. Her captain, chief mate, seven of her seamen, one lascar, one lieutenant-colonel and ten soldiers had been wounded—a pretty heavy toll to pay. The Windham had a seaman, three soldiers and two lascars killed: and seven soldiers, two lascars and three of her officers and half-a-dozen others wounded. The Astell had four seamen and the same number of soldiers killed: whilst her captain, her fifth mate, nine seamen, a lascar, five cadets and twenty soldiers were all wounded.
Everyone in these Indiamen had fought splendidly against heavy odds. The commodore had fulfilled his part as well as the difficulty of the situation allowed him. Soldier and sailor alike had done their level best. How did the East India Company eventually consider this forlorn fight? It may be said at once that, in spite of the result, the directors showed their appreciation of their servants by presenting each of these three captains with the sum of £500, whilst the rest of the officers and men were also handsomely rewarded. The captain of the Astell received a pension of £460 a year from the East India Company, whilst the officers and crew were presented with the sum of £2000 between them. It is said that one of the Astell’s seamen, a man named Andrew Peters, nailed the pennant to the maintopmast-head and was killed as he was on his way down: and the Astell’s colours were shot away no fewer than three times.
To show their appreciation of the Astell’s fine defence the Admiralty granted the ship’s company protection from impressment for three years. But even all this exhibition of approbation must have been unable to wipe out from officers and men the miserable recollection of having been compelled to yield to the nation’s deadly enemy.