Michael Penguyne; Or, Fisher Life on the Cornish Coast

by William Henry Giles Kingston

“There used to be some desperate work going on along this coast in my younger days.

“At last the captain, taking his boy with him, went away in his lugger, the ‘Lively Nancy,’ over to France. She was a fine craft, carrying eight guns, and a crew of thirty men or more. The king’s cruisers had long been on the watch for her. As you know, smugglers always choose a dark and stormy night for running their cargoes. There was a cutter at the time off the coast commanded by an officer who had made up his mind to take the ‘Lively Nancy,’ let her fight ever so desperately. Her captain laughed at his threats, and declared that he would send her to the bottom first.

“I lived at that time with my husband and Nelly’s mother, our only child, at Landewednach. It was blowing hard from the south-west with a cloudy sky, when just before daybreak a sound of firing at sea was heard. There were few people in the village who did not turn out to try and discover what was going on. The morning was dark, but we saw the flashes of guns to the westward, and my husband and others made out that there were two vessels engaged standing away towards Mount’s Bay. We all guessed truly that one was the ‘Lively Nancy,’ and the other the king’s cutter.

“Gradually the sounds of the guns grew less and the flashes seemed further off. After some time, however, they again drew near. It was evident that the cutter had attacked the lugger, which was probably endeavouring to get away out to sea or to round the Lizard, when, with a flowing sheet before the wind, she would have a better chance of escape.

“Just then daylight broke, and we could distinguish both the vessels close-hauled, the lugger to leeward trying to weather on the cutter, which was close to her on her quarter, both carrying as much sail as they could stagger under. They kept firing as fast as the guns could be loaded, each trying to knock away her opponent’s spars, so that more damage was done to the rigging than to the crews of the vessels.

“The chief object of the smugglers was to escape, and this they hoped to do if they could bring down the cutter’s mainsail. The king’s officer knew that he should have the smugglers safe enough if he could but make them strike; this, however, knowing that they all fought with ropes round their necks, they had no thoughts of doing.

“Though the lugger stood on bravely, we could see that she was being jammed down gradually towards the shore. My good man cried out, ‘that her fore-tack was shot away and it would now go hard with her.’

“The smugglers, however, in spite of the fire to which they were exposed, got it hauled down. The cutter was thereby enabled to range up alongside.

“By this time the two vessels got almost abreast of the point, but there were the Stags to be weathered. If the lugger could do that she might then keep away. There seemed a good chance that she would do it, and many hoped she would, for their hearts were with her rather than with the king’s cruiser.

“She was not a quarter of a mile from the Stags when down came her mainmast. It must have knocked over the man at the helm and injured others standing aft, for her head fell off and she ran on directly for the rocks. Still her crew did their best to save her. The wreck was cleared away, and once more she stood up as close as she could now be kept to the wind. One of her guns only was fired, for the crew had somewhat else to do just then. The cutter no longer kept as close to her as before; well did her commander know the danger of standing too near those terrible rocks, over which the sea was breaking in masses of foam.