CAPTAIN CHARLES AUSTEN
Jane’s letters show how gladly the news of “our own particular little brother’s” home-coming was welcomed. In an account of an evening party given at the Henry Austens’, she tells how she heard that Charles was soon to return. “At half-past seven arrived the musicians in two hackney coaches, and by eight the lordly company began to appear. Among the earliest were George and Mary Cooke, and I spent the greatest part of the evening very pleasantly with them. The drawing-room being soon hotter than we liked, we placed ourselves in the connecting passage, which was comparatively cool, and gave us all the advantage of the music at a pleasant distance, as well as that of the first view of every new comer. I was quite surrounded by acquaintances, especially gentlemen; and what with Mr. Hampson, Mr. Seymour, Mr. W. Knatchbull, Mr. Guillemarde, Mr. Cure, a Captain Simpson, brother to the Captain Simpson, besides Mr. Walter, and Mr. Egerton, in addition to the Cookes, and Miss Beckford, and Miss Middleton, I had quite as much upon my hands as I could do. This said Captain Simpson told us, on the authority of some other captain just arrived from Halifax, that Charles was bringing the Cleopatra home, and that she was by this time probably in the Channel; but as Captain S. was certainly in liquor we must not depend on it. It must give one a sort of expectation, however, and will prevent my writing to him any more. I would rather he should not reach England till I am at home, and the Steventon party gone.”
A curious time and place to receive such news, and a still more curious informant according to the ideas of these days, when men do not appear at an evening party “in liquor.”
In November 1811 Charles was appointed to the Namur, as Flag Captain to his old friend, Sir Thomas Williams, who was now Commander-in-Chief at the Nore.
CHAPTER XIV
CHINESE MANDARINS
In April 1809 the St. Albans was again at sea, this time on a voyage to China convoying East Indiamen.
The first place which Captain Austen describes on this voyage is Port Cornwallis, Prince of Wales Island, or Penang. He writes: “This harbour is formed by Prince of Wales Island (better known by the native name of Pulo Penang, signifying in the Malay language ‘Betel-nut Island’) and the opposite coast of the Malay Peninsula, from which at the nearest part it is distant about two miles. The approach to it is from the northward, and is neither difficult nor dangerous.” After further remarks on the best way of sailing in and anchoring, the notes deal with the more generally interesting facts about the island. It must be remembered that at this time the Malays were giving constant trouble to British ships, by small but very ferocious attacks. “Wood is in the greatest abundance, the whole coast of the Malay Peninsula in the vicinity of this harbour being a forest, in which any quantity may be had for the trouble of cutting. Ships of war do not, however, usually procure it in that way, from the danger of introducing sickness amongst their crews by the exposure to the sun, which would be unavoidable. It may be purchased on the island at a reasonable price. Water is plentiful, and it has been generally considered of an excellent quality, and to keep well at sea.
“Buffalo beef may be procured here in any quantity. The meat is generally very coarse, lean, and ill-flavoured. Sheep are rarely to be procured, and never but at a very high price. It should seem to be an animal which the Malays have not got, as all those on the island are imported from Bengal, at a great expense, by individuals for their consumption. Fish is neither plentiful nor particularly good in kind; fruit and vegetables are abundant and excellent. They are of those species usually met with in tropical climates, with some peculiar to the eastern parts of India.
“The fortifications are by no means considerable, consisting in a square fort, situated on the extremity of the point which separates the outer from the inner harbour. It is probably quite sufficient to intimidate the Malays, or repel any attack they could make were they so disposed, but I should think it would be far from difficult for two or three ships of war to destroy it in a short time. The whole of the works are in a very dilapidated state. It is obviously incapable of affording any protection to the greater part of the town, as an enemy might land to the northward and destroy most of the buildings, or lay the inhabitants under contribution, without being exposed to a single gun from the fort. To the shipping in the harbour, indeed, it could give some protection, and that probably was the principal consideration in selecting the spot which it occupies. There was formerly a work called (from its shape, I presume) the Frying-pan Battery, but it is now in a state of ruin, a great part of it having fallen in. The sea appears to be gradually washing away the soil from under its foundations.
“The military force usually kept on the island consists in a battalion of Sepoys about 600 strong, and a company of European artillery. I did not understand that there was any militia or means of increasing the effective force in case of an attack or other emergency. The public wharf is built of wood, is of considerable breadth, and, being roofed over for its whole length, seems well adapted for sheltering goods of all sorts, in landing or shipping off, from the effects of the weather, and especially from the sun, which is generally very powerful there. The sides being open admit a free draught and circulation of air, so that it is perhaps, during the middle of the day, the coolest place in the town, and as such is resorted to by the Europeans, who make it a kind of Mall or lounging-place.