owing to ravages of yellow fever go to jamaica to obtain more seamen—difficulties and humours of impressment—author attacked by yellow fever—proceed to cape st. nicholas mole—great mortality among the officers.
on the fourth evening after our arrival it was thought necessary to despatch two armed boats to kingston to procure seamen either by entering or impressing them. finding there was no chance of the first, we entered on the unpleasant duty of the last. we boarded several of the vessels in the harbour, but found only the mates and young boys, the seamen having on seeing our boats gone on shore. we had information of three houses notorious for harbouring seamen. to the first of these we repaired, where, after strictly searching the premises, we were unsuccessful. a sailor we had recently impressed, and who the day after entered, informed us that it was the fashion for the men of the west indian and guinea ships, when on shore, to disguise themselves, sometimes as american women, at other times as tradesmen, such as coopers, shoemakers, etc.
on entering the second house, the scene was laughably ridiculous. at a table sat three slovenly-[pg 58]dressed females with old, coarse stockings in their hands, which they appeared to have been mending, and on the table near them were some children’s shirts, with needles, thread and a small basket. not far distant from them was a cradle of a large size, half-covered by a thick mosquito net. the bed in the room had also a net, and in it was lying a person in the last stage of illness. another female, who appeared to be a nurse, was near the head of the bed, persuading the invalid to take the contents of a bottle of some red mixture. at the foot of the bed stood a man dressed in the uniform of the town militia, who acquainted us that the woman in bed was his wife in the last stage of consumption; that in consequence he had sent for all her friends to take leave of her before she died, and to attend her funeral; and that the person dressed in black standing near him was the doctor. this last, with a countenance full of gravity, assured the lieutenant that he did not think his patient could live more than an hour, and begged him to examine the house as quietly as possible, as he had another sick patient in the next room who had arrived from the other side of the island, and from fatigue and distress had been seized with a fever. the lieutenant, who really was a humane man, listened to his mournful story with much attention, and replied he was sorry to disturb a dying person. then turning to the women, he assured them it was with much reluctance he entered on the duty he had to perform, but as he had information of seamen [pg 59]frequenting the house he must be under the necessity of searching it. one of the persons sitting at the table, who was most like a female in appearance, rose and said they had only the room they sat in and the next, which was occupied at present by the other sick female. “but i guess,” said she, “your notion of there being british seamen in the house must be false, as we are not acquainted with any.” during this speech, uttered with as much grace as a yankee lady of the seventh magnitude is capable, the coxswain of one of our cutters, who had been searching the features of one of those dressed as a female sitting at the table mending a shirt, exclaimed, “if i ever saw my old shipmate, jack mitford, that’s he.” another of our men had been cruising round the cradle, and whispered to me that the baby in it was the largest he had ever seen. after the coxswain’s ejaculation, all the party appeared taken aback and began to shift their berths. perceiving this, we immediately locked the door and insisted on knowing who they were; but when they spoke we were convinced that they were all men except the american, who began to scream and abuse us. i approached the bed, and on looking closely at the sick person i discovered a close-shaved chin. the lieutenant, who had followed me to the bed, desired two of our men to move the clothes a little, when we found the dying person to be a fine young seaman about twenty-six years of age, and who, on finding he was detected, sprang out of bed, and joining the doctor and nurse, who [pg 60]had armed themselves with hangers, attempted to resist us. as we were sixteen in number, and well armed, we told them it was useless, and the constable who was with us desired them to be peaceable and put their weapons down. as they saw they were on the wrong tack, they surrendered. the dear little sleeping infant in the cradle proved a fine lad sixteen years old. the over-fatigued female in the next room turned out a young seaman, whom we secured with the pretended sergeant, the nurse, and the doctor, making in the whole eight good seamen. this was a good haul. we got them without accident to the boats. the delicate american female followed us screaming and abusing us the whole way. we could hear her voice for some time after leaving the wharf. the men a few days after being onboard, finding the boatswain’s mates did not carry canes, entered. the nurse, sergeant, doctor and his dying patient were rated quartermaster’s and gunner’s mates, and the remainder topmen. we had been a month refitting when we made another attempt to procure seamen at kingston, but only sent one boat with a lieutenant, myself, and twelve seamen. on landing, we made for the house we had not entered on our last visit, where we knocked at the door, and had to wait some short time before it was opened, when a mulatto man appeared and asked “what massa buckra want? he hab nutting for sell; he no hab any grog.” “why, that copper-skinned rascal,” called out one of our men, “is the fellow who [pg 61]deserted from the thorn sloop of war when i was captain of the mizzen top.” “take hold of him!” said the lieutenant; but before this could be done he slammed the door against us; this was the work of a moment. three of our seamen instantly set their backs against it, and with a “yo-heave-ho,” they forced it in. we now entered the house. after passing through two small rooms, which, as an irishman might say, had no room at all, for they were very small, dirty and barely furnished, we came to a door which was fastened. we attempted to open it, when an elderly, dingy white woman made her appearance and informed us the house belonged to herself and sons, who were coopers, and at work in the cooperage. “that door,” said she, “leads to it, but i have the key upstairs; wait, and i will fetch it.” the old woman, on going out, turned the key of the room we were in. i remarked this to the lieutenant, who, apprehending some treachery, ordered the men to force the door we had endeavoured to open. it soon gave way, when we suddenly came on four men dressed as coopers. two of them were knocking a cask to pieces, the other two drawing off a liquid which had the appearance of rum. they did not desist from their occupation, nor were they surprised at our visit, but told us very coolly we had mistaken the house. so should we have thought had we not seen our copper-faced acquaintance who had in such unmannerly fashion shut the door in our faces. “come, my lads,” said the lieutenant, “there’s no [pg 62]mistake here; you must leave off drawing rum for your old mother, who wished to take great care of us by locking us in, and go with us, as we want coopers.” “rum,” said one of the boat’s crew, who had tasted it, “it’s only rum of the fore-hold. a fellow can’t get the worse for wear with such liquor as that, sir. it’s only adam’s ale.”
“oh, oh!” cried out some of our men, “is this the way you work to windward, my knowing ones? come, come, you must be more on a bowline before you can cross our hawse; so pack up your duds, trip your anchors, and make sail with us.”
the old woman again made her appearance, and asked us if we were going to take her sons. “if you dare do it,” said she, “i will prosecute the whole of you for breaking through my premises, and have you all put into gaol.” “hold your tongue, mother,” said one of the men we had taken, “what’s the good of your kicking up such a bobbery about it? you only make it worse. if you don’t see us to-morrow, send our clothes to port royal.” they then quietly submitted. we returned through the rooms entered, and on turning into the passage leading to the street, we encountered master copperskin. two of our men immediately seized him; he struggled violently, and attempted to draw a clasped knife, which on the coxswain perceiving he gave him a stroke on his calabash with his hanger, which quieted him. he was then pinioned with one of the seamen’s neck-handkerchiefs. on getting into our boats a party of about twenty men and women [pg 63]of all colours came down to the wharf in the hope of rescuing the mulatto man, but they were too late. when we put off from the shore we found it no joke, as they fired into our boat and seriously wounded the man who pulled the stroke oar. luckily the awning was canted towards them, or they would have shot several of us, as it had seven shots through it. we were obliged to fire in self-defence, killing one man and wounding several others. i remarked the man we killed jumped a considerable height from the ground and then fell prostrate. finding they had had enough fighting, they marched off with their killed and wounded. the day after we were summoned to kingston to explain our adventure before the magistrates, who, finding we were first attacked, acquitted us of wilful murder as we had been compelled to act in self-defence, but informed us it was necessary to appear before a jury next day for the satisfaction of the townspeople. this was vexatious.
the day following, after rowing about three hours in a hot sun, we were examined by twelve very wise and common-looking bipeds, who, after questioning us in a most stupid and tiresome manner, found a verdict of justifiable homicide. on returning to the boat we were followed by a number of women and boys, who made a most horrible squalling, and some stones were thrown at us on our pushing off. the yellow fever was still making havoc amongst the officers and crew. we had lost five lieutenants, the surgeon’s mate, captain’s clerk, and eight [pg 64]midshipmen, one of whom died singing “dulce domum.” it was at length my turn. i was seized with a dreadful swimming in my head; it appeared so large that it was painful to carry it. i was much distressed by a bitter nausea in my mouth and sudden prostration of strength. the doctor gave me an emetic, and soon after i ejected a quantity of bitter bile. it tried me exceedingly, and when i put my head down i thought i was not far from “kingdom come.” the second morning i knew no one, and was in a high fever. the third was much the same until about noon, when i slept for about two hours. on awaking i found the pain in my head less, and was perfectly sensible. i requested something to drink, when the sentinel gave me some orange-juice and water, which refreshed me. about dusk, one of the mids who had just come on board from port royal, came to me with a cup filled with some sort of herb tea mixed with rum. he requested me to drink it off. this i refused to do. he assured me he had been on shore on purpose to procure it for me, that old dinah, who was a grey-headed washerwoman, had made it, and i must drink it. i was so weak that i could scarcely answer him, when he put it to my mouth and forced more than half of it down my throat. with the exertion i fainted. he told me the following day he thought he had killed me, and had called the doctor, who gave me a draught. on the morning of the fourth day i was considerably better and in a gentle perspiration, and had passed [pg 65]a quiet night. my three messmates, who alone survived out of eleven, came to cheer me. he who had given me the tea and rum told me he was certain they had cured me, and i really believe it caused the pores to open and in a great measure drove the fever from the system. i was removed to the gun-room, and in a few days was able to sit up and eat oranges.
a week had now elapsed since the doctor had reported me convalescent, when i was painfully distressed by seeing my open-hearted, generous messmate brought in his hammock to the gun-room, attacked by the fatal malady. as he was placed near me, i watched him with intense anxiety. on the fourth morning he died. he was a very florid and robust youth of sixteen. he struggled violently, and was quite delirious. when the sail-maker was sewing him up in his hammock he gave a convulsive sigh. i immediately ordered the stitches to be cut, but it availed nothing. he was gone. poor fellow! i felt his loss.
in the fifth week i began to crawl about. the boatswain’s wife was very kind to me and brought me fresh fruit every day. the doctor, who although a little hasty, was a clever and excellent character, paid me great attention. the kindness and care i experienced, and the affectionate letters i received from my mother, informing me of the happy marriage of my only sister and of the appointment of my youngest brother in india, all these possibly contributed to my recovery and cheered my spirits. [pg 66]our acting-captain, who was a good and active officer, was appointed to a frigate. he was superseded by an elderly, farmer-looking man, who, we understood, was what a black man considers a curiosity—a welshman. when in harbour we never saw him, and at sea very seldom. he left everything to the first lieutenant. he appeared to have too much pride to ask an humble mid to dine at his table, so that when he departed this life, which he did four months after he joined us, of yellow fever, he died unregretted. having received a draft of men from the flagship, we were ordered to our old station, cape st. nicholas mole, it being considered more healthy than jamaica, although the yellow fever was carried from thence to the other islands in 1794 by the vessels captured at port-au-prince.
we arrived there three weeks afterwards, having captured on our passage a french brig laden with coffee. we completed our water, and took on board a capuchin friar and two mulatto officers, for what purpose we never could find except to give them a cruise. the friar, who was a quiet, fat, rather good-looking man, messed in the cabin. the wicked mids said to “confess” the captain.
one afternoon we anchored in a bay to the westward of cape fran?ois. the carpenter was directed to go on shore and cut some bamboos for boats’ yards. the pinnace was despatched with himself, a master’s mate and nine men. they landed and had cut about nine poles when they were fired on from the bushes. they, not being armed—for the [pg 67]mulatto officers assured us there was no danger—attempted to reach the boat, but before they could do so the carpenter was killed and two men seriously wounded and taken prisoners. the rest jumped into the boat and came on board. the captain appeared to feel he had done wrong in placing confidence in people who were strangers to him. after cruising on the north side of st. domingo without capturing anything, we returned to the mole. our worthy, hasty-tempered skipper was taken unwell about a month after our arrival, and took apartments on shore, where he in a fortnight afterwards died.
the captain who stepped into his shoes was a dark, tolerably well-built, good-looking man, who had a very good opinion of himself, and by his frequently looking at his legs, imagined there was not such another pair in the west indies. this gallant officer proved the quintessence of gallantry. he loved the ladies, loved a good table, loved the games of crabs and rouge-et-noir, was a judge of hock and champagne. he had seen much of high and low life, had experienced reverses, he said, through the imprudence of others, and had been detained in a large house in london much longer than he wished. he had run through two handsome fortunes, and was willing to run through two more. he had the misfortune, he told us, of being a slave to the pleasures of the world, although he knew it was filled with rogues. whilst i was with him his memory was rather impaired, for he forgot to repay several sums of [pg 68]money he borrowed, although he was frequently written to on the subject. in short, he was a libertine, liked but by no means respected. he brought with him six mids and his clerk. the first were complete scamps, picked up from the scrapings of london; the last was a fine young man. our martinet mastheading first lieutenant, who had outlived all the others save one, was promoted as commander into a sloop of war, in which he died a few months after of apoplexy in consequence of repletion. the only one remaining of those who sailed from england with me was a few months afterwards also promoted as commander into a brig sloop, and he, poor fellow! was drowned on his second cruise. the six lieutenants who came from england were now no longer living, and out of eighteen midshipmen only another and myself were in existence. the lieutenants who had superseded those who died were rather commonplace characters. the discipline of the ship was totally changed. the first lieutenant was a disappointed officer and a complete old woman, and the ship was something of a privateer.
