J. A. Gardner, Midshipman.
A commander.
I remember no more.
HIND, 28
After being sworn in at the admiralty,[[115]] I left London to join the Hind, 28, Captain Richard Lee, at Sheerness, in January 1795. The Medway and Thames being frozen over, there was no communication with the men of war.[[116]] I proceeded on my journey by coach as far as Sittingbourne, and then walked most of the way through deep snow to the King’s ferry, which was also frozen over. At this time my health was very bad, and coming from a fine climate to one noted for gloomy skies, fog, rain, bitter cold and everything else that was damnable, I had nearly sunk under it, and I have to acknowledge how much I was obliged to Mr. Poulden, an officer in the navy, and brother to Captain Poulden,[[117]] R.N., for his kind attention. He was a fellow traveller going also to join his ship at Sheerness. The snow was several feet deep, and the cold dreadful, and it was with the greatest difficulty and fatigue that we reached the public-house near the ferry without being frost-bitten.
You who are not too young (for it’s difficult now to find an old person), must remember the cruel winter the latter end of 1794 and beginning of 1795.[[118]] To my surprise I met at the public-house an old messmate of mine (a Mr. Simmonds) formerly of the Panther, and going also to join his ship. We were half-starved and waited a considerable time for our host to bring in the dinner, which he did at last. To our horror and amazement, it consisted of a leg of pork of enormous size, without a bit of lean, and coarse white cabbage boiled with it, and as greasy as the devil. I shall never forget the consternation we were in; nothing else could be had, and what made it more vexatious was the praises the great fat fool of a John Bull landlord was passing on it. We were obliged to swallow this greasy morsel from downright hunger, and from its rancid taste in danger of cholera morbus.
The passage being frozen, we had no other resource than to cross the ice on foot, which we did at great hazard, it cracking and bending all the way. I had a small portmanteau, for which I paid a soldier to carry, as he was going the same way; but when we had crossed, his heart failed him and he refused to follow (for we passed over one by one), and it was a long time before we could prevail on him to make the attempt; but by promising him a shilling or two more he took courage until he got half way over, when he imagined the ice was giving way, and there he stood panic-struck. We really felt for the poor fellow, but at last he made a desperate effort and got safe over though dreadfully frightened. After a dismal walk we got to Sheerness, emphatically styled by the late Captain Gunter, R.N., ‘the —— hole of the world.’
I found Captain Lee in lodgings; he seemed much surprised at seeing me as he had no communication with the admiralty for a long time. He seemed astonished at my walking across the ferry, which he considered a very hazardous undertaking. After waiting a few days we forced a passage through the ice and got on board and soon after, followed his worship, old Stamp, the Mayor of Queenborough, as pilot, and well known as a most respectable boroughmonger of large property and powerful interest, and would be a pilot merely because he liked it. We soon got under way, and in a few hours anchored in the Downs, where we found the Leopard, 50 (the flagship), and several men of war. We remained but a short time and then proceeded to Spithead with a convoy.
We were on this service up and down Channel, and to Ireland, for several months without anything material happening, until being off Waterford, after seeing the convoy safe, we saw a suspicious lugger, which we gave chase to and, after a run of forty leagues, had the good fortune to capture—the Speedwell, smuggling lugger, pierced for eighteen guns which she had thrown overboard, as we counted the carriages that were disposed of soon after the guns. Her cargo consisted of spirits, tobacco, tea, nankins, etc., with thirty-nine gigantic smugglers; one we supposed was killed, as her muster roll had forty. We pressed the crew and took the vessel to Belfast, where her cargo was sold. Captain Lee, who was a good calculator, offered the first lieutenant, Hickey, and myself £58 15s. apiece for our prize money, which after some consideration we accepted; but when the prize money was paid, the share of a lieutenant was only £50, so that he lost by the spec. £17 10s., besides losing with the marine officer. We kept the crew as part of our ship’s company, but they contrived to desert at different times with the exception of four.
I well remember while lying in Dublin Bay, and being at breakfast with Captain Lee, in course of conversation he observed that the four remaining smugglers were the best men in the ship and that he was very proud of them. He had hardly made the observation when the officer of the watch reported that the jolly boat was missing; the hands were immediately turned up to muster, when it was found that the four worthies had set off in the boat, when or where nobody could tell. The captain looked at us, and we at him, but no one could keep countenance. It could not be proved in whose watch the boat was taken. We found her at Dunleary, but never heard of the deserters.