From Madeira we soon got into the trade winds, and had delightful sailing, without any extraordinary occurrence, till we got off the island of St. Christopher, when one morning the captain came and roused us all from our beds, saying we were being chased by a pirate. This was startling news, for we had heard that these seas were full of pirates, and that they seldom showed mercy to any one. Our ladies and soldiers’ wives began crying and moaning at once, for they expected nothing less than our utter destruction. Most of us hurried on deck in our night-dresses, and there saw a clipper brig bearing down upon us under all sail, about fifteen miles distant. Our captain still trusted that she might be a man-of-war, but when she fired a gun there was no doubt of her being a pirate. We returned in great excitement to our cabins and dressed with all dispatch. I then, as the next senior officer, went to Colonel P—— to report our situation, and to request his orders as to what we ought to do, and begged him to come up at once. His wife got alarmed, and he merely said he could do nothing; but at last told me, “Just do as you like.” I returned on deck and consulted with the captain, who observed that it was useless to attempt to run away, as the stranger was gaining fast upon us, and had fired another gun to bring us to. Although we had about ten officers on board and about two hundred soldiers, all these were recruits, and we had not one stand of arms belonging to the troops nor to the ship. However, we decided to make some appearance, and ordered the soldiers to dress in their red coats and caps, to remain ready below, but not to move, till ordered on deck. Meantime the captain furled every sail, except his three top-sails, and with these and his colours flying he continued running easily before the wind. We could clearly see with our glasses the well-known pirates’ flag, blue with a white death’s-head, flying from the fore top-mast head and the decks crowded with men. Captain Fraser determined to continue our course till the pirate was all but on board of us, then to bring our ship sharp round to the wind, and our men to run up and show themselves in line under our bulwarks, with the officers flourishing their swords, to show we were all ready for action, expecting by this sudden manœuvre that the pirate would be right aboard or alongside of us before he had time to take in his crowd of sails, and, if so, that we might then have a chance of grappling and boarding him, when our numbers might give us some advantage; but we were no sooner round and brought to the wind than our adversary, as if by magic, had all his extra sails down, and was round to the wind as soon as we were, showing a splendid broadside of nine guns and a crew of no less than eighty men.
We were now within a few hundred yards of each other, and expected every minute a shot amongst us. Nothing was done for about ten minutes; the pirate then lowered his boat, and sent her fully manned to board us. Our captain said she must come to our leeside, and that our only chance was to secure them. This we agreed to do, and at once to dress one of their men in one of our sailor’s clothes and to hang him up at our peak, so as to make the pirate believe that his men had taken possession of our ship. This was a desperate resolution, but as we expected no quarter from them we had no choice but to make the most of our perilous situation. Just as the boat came under our stern a signal of recall was made from the pirate, and the boat at once returned to the brig. We continued to look with additional anxiety, expecting every moment to see the boat come back, but for another ten minutes nothing was done, and our captain then ordered our ship to bear away and continue our course, so as to see what the pirate would do, and whether he would fire and bring us up again. But he thought better of it and allowed us to continue our course in peace, seeing no doubt that we were only troops and that he could not expect much booty from us. During the whole of this time Colonel P—— never left his cabin. His wife was crying and sobbing the whole time, and all his endeavours were to comfort her. Of the officers then present, only General Gallaway and myself are now living, and on that occasion Gallaway proved himself to be a promising young soldier, for he volunteered to lead the first boarders, should we succeed in grappling with the pirate.
We reached Port Royal in Jamaica a week afterwards, and at once reported our adventures to the admiral, Sir Edward Owen, and from the description our captain gave of the pirate our naval officers knew him well, and had often given him chase in vain. Two or three men-of-war were now sent to look for him, but returned in a few days without seeing him. Dozens of pirates, of various classes, were at this time cruising in these seas, and had made many captures, plundering and burning their prizes, and barbarously ill-treating and murdering their victims. We had a large naval force on the Jamaica station at this time, and they captured many of these lawless pirates, who were at once tried, and in every instance found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. I attended some of the trials and saw many of these daring fellows, who were plucky to the last, for they did not deny but actually gloried in their calling. They were men of all nations, but principally Italians and Spaniards. We landed on the following day at Kingston, and our different detachments of officers and men joined their respective regiments, viz., the 33rd, 50th, and 92nd.
The English mail which left England after us arrived at Port Royal some time before we did, and Colonel P—— found a letter waiting for him from the Secretary of War authorizing him to draw £80 as compensation for lost sea-stock during the gale already recorded. He therefore called a meeting of the officers who arrived in the Echo, and on our assembling read the letter, and proposed dividing the money amongst us, claiming three shares for himself—that is, for himself, his wife, and Miss C——. I said, “No, colonel; you only subscribed one share of our additional expenses, and you may remember that when we agreed to purchase extra provisions at Torbay we, the officers, declined to allow Mrs. P—— or Miss C—— to contribute one shilling to that expense.” On this he got very angry and said, “Well, Captain Anderson, I’ll bring you to a court-martial for attempting to obtain money under false pretences.” I answered, “Very well, sir; I believe you signed these letters.” He was thus settled, and most completely put about, and then said, “By G——! I think you are right”; so ended our dispute, and the money was divided share and share alike to each of us.
CHAPTER XVI
LIFE IN JAMAICA
Appointed deputy judge-advocate—Sir John Keane—An interesting court-martial—Sent with a small detachment to Port Maria—Awful outbreak of yellow fever
MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY CONRAN commanded in Jamaica at this time, and the billet of deputy judge-advocate being vacant by the death of Captain Tonge, the general, knowing that I had formerly held this position, at once appointed me to the office. This gave me additional work, and considerable increase of pay. About a year afterwards Major-General Sir John Keane succeeded General Conran, and he retained me still in the appointment. As he was a most uncertain man, my work was trebled, for he never hesitated to bring officers and men to court-martial, even for the most trifling offences. Here, in justice to myself, I must notice that I often told him so, but all to no purpose, for he was always obstinate, and would have his own way. I may give one instance. Some officers of the 90th had met together one evening in one of the rooms, and two of them got into an altercation, followed by strong and improper language, which induced the senior officers present to place them both under arrest and to report them next morning to their commanding officer, Major Charlton. He ordered a court of inquiry at once before himself in the messroom. Among the witnesses then examined was the paymaster, Captain Micklejohn, a truly noble fellow, who stated all he could remember of what took place on the previous night between the offending officers. He then left the room, but on getting outside and talking to some other officers (who were waiting to be examined) and stating the substance of his evidence to Major Charlton, one of them remarked, “But did you say so-and-so?” “Oh no, I entirely forgot that, but I shall instantly go back and state it.” Micklejohn then begged to be allowed to add to his former evidence, but his commanding officer would not hear him, and desired him to retire. The offending officers, Major W—— and Ensign P——, were brought to general court-martial, and both were found guilty and sentenced to be cashiered. The sentences were approved by his Majesty, but in consideration of former services and the recommendation of the court they were ordered to be severely reprimanded and to return to their duty.
My reason for writing all this is that before the same general court-martial Paymaster Micklejohn was arraigned for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, in withholding, at a court of inquiry by his commanding officer, evidence which he afterwards gave on oath before a general court-martial. I was the judge-advocate on these trials, and I used every endeavour and argument to convince Sir John Keane and Major Charlton of the injustice and cruelty of bringing an officer, and one of known character, to public trial on such charges, especially as he had returned voluntarily to his commanding officer at once, to offer the evidence which he had forgotten at the moment, thus proving that he did not willingly nor with any intention of screening the offenders withhold his evidence in the first instance. I also pressed upon them the difficulty, nay, the impossibility, for them to repeat word for word the conversation during our own interview; but all was to no purpose: they would not listen to reason, and so they determined he must be tried, and exposed to all the disgrace and annoyances of a general court-martial. He was tried, and the inquiry clearly showed that he did give evidence on oath before a general court-martial which he did not give at the court of inquiry. But it was distinctly proved that he did willingly, and at once, return with a free offer of that evidence, which was declined by his commanding officer. The court therefore found him guilty of not giving the full evidence before the court of inquiry which he gave before the general court-martial, but, under the circumstances which were so clearly shown as to the cause of the omission, the court acquitted the prisoner of all blame, though he was to be slightly reprimanded. This was no more than we all expected, and I told Sir John Keane before the trial that this and this only could be the end of it. I could name other instances equally frivolous and provoking; it is sufficient to say that very many others suffered through him in much the same way.
For the first two years of this my second visit to Jamaica I enjoyed very good health, and yet we had a considerable amount of sickness amongst the troops generally, and several of my friends of the good ship Echo died. As far as keeping away from the influence of the sun and living very temperately, of course I took every care of myself. Towards the close of the second year the negroes got very troublesome and insolent to their masters on the north side of the island, and on one or two occasions attempted to commit murder at a station called Port Maria. A company was generally, and for years, stationed at this place, but in consequence of the unusual mortality amongst the troops they were for some months withdrawn, and the barracks were deserted and allowed to fall into decay. During the above troubles the proprietors and inhabitants of Port Maria made repeated applications to the governor, the Duke of Manchester, for a detachment, and his Grace referred their application to Sir John Keane; but the latter resisted on the plea that the station was considered by the chief medical officers so unhealthy as to be totally unfit for European soldiers, and, in proof of this, repeated how constant and great was the mortality on every former occasion when troops were stationed there. The inhabitants then said that the sickness and deaths which had taken place were all owing to the men being allowed to wander about the country and to get drunk at all hours. These statements and appeals were at last listened to by Sir John Keane, and he ordered a captain, two subalterns, and fifty picked, sober men from my regiment to be at once embarked for Port Maria, with a medical officer. This order was instantly carried out, and I was the unfortunate captain named for this duty. The morning for our embarkation I was sent for by Sir John Keane, who gave me the most strict orders about keeping my men constantly employed by drills and marching out in the mornings, and in the barracks during the days as much as possible, and above all I was to keep them away from all chances and temptations of drinking. He impressed upon me that I could have no excuse for intemperance or irregularities, as all my men were picked and sober soldiers from the different companies of the regiment. He desired me further to report to him by every day’s post the state and health of my detachment.