Our worthy “first” remained silent for a good ten minutes after I had concluded my remarks, intently examining through his telescope the face of the rock meanwhile. At last he said,—
“I should like to give that rock a bit of an overhaul, Chester. Are you a good hand at climbing?”
“Pretty fair, sir, I believe,” was my modest reply.
“Well, then, as soon as I have transacted my business, we will both go and see what it looks like,” said he.
Accordingly, as soon as he was at liberty, we made our way to the base of the rock. I call it a rock, and so it certainly was; but there was a considerable depth of soil in many places about its sides, which soil was thickly covered with short close herbage, upon which a few goats were browsing here and there, and it sent a thrill through us both to see these active animals leaping from one projection to another, or clinging like flies to the almost perpendicular faces of the thinly-scattered grassy slopes. Looking up at them through our telescopes, it frequently seemed that they had got themselves into such a position, that it would be equally impossible for them to attempt either to go forward or to return without precipitating themselves headlong to the bottom of the precipice.
It was not an encouraging spectacle to two persons who entertained serious thoughts of scaling such a cliff, especially as stones detached by the feet of the scrambling goats above occasionally came plunging down about our ears; but sailors are not easily, daunted when it comes to a question of climbing, and accordingly after a careful examination, with the view of selecting the most practicable path, we went resolutely at it.
It was not quite so bad as it looked for about two-thirds of the way up; but when we neared the top, the rocky face became so nearly perpendicular—indeed, it actually overhung in places—that we had serious thoughts of abandoning the enterprise altogether. However, we did not like to be beaten after having achieved so much, so we persevered, and at last, after a most perilous and laborious climb, actually succeeded in reaching the summit.
The view from our exalted situation was superb. We were standing upon the highest eminence for many miles round, and the air was so clear and transparent that distant objects were as distinctly seen as though viewed through a telescope. On our left the blue expanse of the Mediterranean stretched far away to the northward and westward, dotted here and there with the sails of a few tiny coasting or fishing craft. Below us, and apparently near enough for us to have thrown a stone on board any of them, lay the fleet of men-o’-war and transports, with their sails loose to dry from a heavy shower of the previous night, and the men about their decks reduced to mere moving specks. In front of, and still below us, and so near that we could distinguish the accoutrements of the men forming its garrison, was the redoubt, with its twenty-one guns projecting their muzzles threateningly over the sod parapet, and symmetrical little pyramidal piles of shot heaped up alongside each gun. Beyond it lay San Fiorenzo, with its narrow streets, red-tiled, white-washed houses, terraced gardens, insignificant-looking churches, and the harbour beyond, with the cliffs stretching away beyond it again as far as Cape Corso, and away out at sea the small island of Capriaja. Upon our right a continuous chain of hills reared themselves, thickly wooded to their very summits; while in our rear Calvi, although something like thirty miles distant, was clearly distinguishable.
But the redoubt was with us the chief point of interest. We examined it with the utmost minuteness, and Mr Annesley, who possessed some skill with the pencil, made an accurate sketch of it, indicating clearly what seemed to us its weakest points. This done, we made a very careful examination on all sides of the face of the rock upon which we stood, finally coming to the conclusion that, though a difficult feat, it was possible to raise a few 18-pounders to the summit.
That same evening Mr Annesley, accompanied by the skipper, proceeded on board the “Victory,” and reported to the admiral the fact of our having scaled the rock, exhibited his sketch of the redoubt, and explained his ideas as to the practicability of establishing a battery upon the summit. The result was that, on the following morning, Lord Hood, Commodore Linzee, Sir Hyde Parker, Captain (afterwards Lord) Nelson, the skipper, and Mr Annesley took a passage ashore with me in the “Mouette,” and all hands of us shinned aloft—the first luff and I to show the way, the rest to reconnoitre.