The ship of Bothwell was the Fleur-de-Lys, a galliot carrying twenty demi-culverins, and had been one of the war-ships of James V. The Earl, as Lord High Admiral of Scotland, had all the affairs and stores of the naval force under his control, and thus selected her, with all her cannon and gear, for his own particular service, and manned her with a crew of his vassals, on whose valour and fidelity he could rely to the last of their blood and breath.
Instead of the standard of Scotland, he ordered his own great banner, bearing the ducal arms of Orkney quartered with those of Bothwell, to be again displayed at the gaff-peak; from the mast-heads floated banneroles, bearing the three red pelicans of Ormiston, the cheverons of Bolton, the three red escutcheons of Hay of Tallo, and the pennons of other gentlemen who followed his desperate fortune; while enraged by the insult thus offered, in firing at once upon him, he gave immediate orders to open the gun-ports—shot the culverins—man the poop and topcastles with crossbowmen, and clear all for battle—orders which were obeyed by his people with alacrity. So now we will have to describe a sea-fight of the sixteenth century.
Both vessels were going under easy sail; but as the Earl had resolved to give battle to his heavy antagonist, careless of the result, he gradually shortened his way, making all secure on board as the distance lessened between him and his Danish Majesty's ship. The crossbowmen, with their weapons bent and bolts laid, and the arquebusiers, with muzzles pointed and matches lit, were crouching behind the wooden parapets of the poop and forecastle, which, like those round the tops, were all fashioned in the shape of battlements; the cannoniers stood by their culverins with linstock and rammer; the waist of the ship bristled with steel caps, short pikes, two-handed swords, and jedwood axes; while on the towering poop and forecastle were seen the mail-clad figures of Bothwell and his knights; but, notwithstanding all this display of bravery, as they neared the foe, they saw how fearful were the odds to be encountered.
Each vessel came on under topsails; the courses being hauled up, displayed the steel-bristling decks, and the polished mouths of the brass cannon, that gleamed upon the dark blue water as they were run through the carved and painted sides of the gunwall (gunnel), loaded with bullets of stone and iron, and pebbles lapped in lead. Both vessels were now running in the same direction, but gradually neared each other. They were within three lance-lengths, and not a sound was heard on board of either but the ripple under their bows; and in breathless silence as the still twilight deepened on the ocean, the adverse crews continued gazing on each other.
All at once a line of lights glittered along the deck of the Norwegian.
"Yare, my hearts!" cried Wood, the Earl's skipper, "down, and save yourselves!"
Except Bothwell and his knights, every man threw himself flat on the deck; and while fire flashed from the wide muzzles of eight great carthouns and as many demi-culverins, their shot tore across the Fleur-de-Lys, splintering her bulwarks, rending her rigging and canvass, but doing little other personal injury than slaying a few of the arquebusiers, who occupied the little wooden turrets with which the angles of the poop were furnished.
"A Bothwell! a Bothwell!" cried the Earl brandishing his sword; "cannoniers to your lintstocks—crossbowmen to your duty, and show yourselves men, my rough-footed Scots. Fight bravely! for know ye, that if taken we shall all die the death of caitiffs and felons; for there is not a man among us but will hang from the yards of yonder Norseman, for so hath King Frederick sworn. Shoot aloft, and fire below! St. Bothan and on!"
A volley of cannon, crossbows, and arquebuses was poured upon the great quarter and stern of the Biornen, while her people were slowly and laboriously re-charging their pieces. The bolts whistled from the crossbows, the bullets whizzed from the arquebuses à croc, and the cannon-shot boomed as they flew over the decks, or sank with a heavy crash into the echoing hulls of the adverse ships; while, ascending from the still bosom of that narrow inlet of the ocean, the reports were reverberated like thunder, as the echoes rolled from peak to peak along those high mountains that overlooked it.
From the poops and forecastles the arquebuses maintained an incessant roar, and their bullets, each containing three ounces of lead, did deadly execution, being fired point-blank, beating great pieces of buff and mail into the bodies of those they slew.