“At 1 o’clock.—She anchored close under a signal tower with four guns on it. Hoisted out the pinnace, and sent her armed under the direction of the second lieutenant to board the vessel.
“Half-past 2.—The pinnace returned with the brig; sent her away to cut out a small vessel, which was then riding about half a mile to the westward of the tower. The brig appears to be French, but no one was found on board her. Sent an officer and five men to take charge of her.
“At 5 o’clock.—The pinnace returned with the other vessel, a Spanish settee, appearing by papers found on board to be the Alicant packet. Her crew had quitted her on seeing our boats approach. Sent an officer and five men on board to take charge of her. Took her in tow and made sail; prizes in company.”
Such days as this were of quite frequent occurrence. Sometimes the prizes were of great value, as on April 11, when the Peterel, in company with the Powerful and the Leviathan, assisted in capturing a vessel which they thought to be a despatch-boat, and therefore of the first importance. She proved to be a fishing-boat, employed in carrying a brigadier-general, a lieutenant-colonel, and a captain of the Walloon Guards over to Ivica from Alicant. She had on board specie to the amount of 9000 dollars. The Peterel’s share of this valuable prize was 1469 dollars, which was paid out in the following proportions:
| To | a captain | 750 | dollars |
| ” | a lieutenant | 62½ | ” |
| ” | a warrant officer | 36¾ | ” |
| ” | a petty officer | 10¼ | ” |
| ” | a foremast man | 2 | ” |
It is to be feared that the prize-money was a doubtful blessing to the foremast hands, especially as the Peterel was then nearing Port Mahon, where they lay at anchor for three days, during which it was no doubt easy to incur the punishments for drunkenness and neglect of duty which we find meted out two days later.
Another capture of political importance is detailed on the 26th April, when a Spanish tartan, the San Antonio de Padua, was brought to, having on board fifty-three soldiers belonging to a company of the 3rd battalion of the Walloon Guards, who were being conveyed from Barcelona to Majorca. These, with sailors and a few recruits also on board, summed up a capture of seventy-nine Spanish prisoners, who were taken on board the Peterel.
The tartan was manned by a midshipman and seven men, and taken in tow. The prisoners were afterwards transferred to the Centaur, and the prize, after everything was taken out of her, was scuttled.
These few instances will serve to show the kind of life of which we get such tantalising hints in “Persuasion.”
The account Captain Wentworth gives to the two Miss Musgroves and to Admiral Croft of his earlier commands is a case in point. The date is not the same, for we remember that Captain Wentworth first got employ in the year six (1806), soon after he had parted in anger from Anne Elliot.