FAMOUS ESCAPES OF HISTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 19

FAMOUS ESCAPES OF HISTORY.

By V. METHLEY

VI TOM SOITVH.ILE. ! THE FAMOUS PRISON-SHIP BREAKER. Tn Calais there Is—or waa until recently —a Kw Tnin Souville, but I think It would h.ive r'l'z'cd most of the inhabitants of the iwn !■.' say after whom the street was naniiMl. Yet Tnm Soiiville, in his day. was a very fiiraous character, renowned as a privateer, :i- n brave and merciful sailor, and, most •if all. for his marvellous escapes from tte British prison liulks. Iα ITS.", at the a?e of nine. Tom was sent to live with a certain Ueverend .Tames Wood, at Dover, whilst the clergyman's tnn smull son went to the Sourlllcs In Calais, in order that both llttlo bojs might Van) a ueiv langunge. T«m acquired a perfect command of En;- I lwb. and also an exceedingly good know- I jpO —f* c*f tlic stores und currents of fchG rii.'inncl. which was to bo very uaeful to "i.mi in later years. For Mr. Wood's sailor 1 rothor took a great fancy to the little French boy, and the pair spent most oi their time cruising from Dover to Plymouth. At the end of eighteen months Tom returned to France, and shortly afterwards entered the French Navy as a midshipman. When war liroke out afresh between France and England, Sonville was at sea. on hoard tlie Formidable, and in 3793 he ■nils taken prisoner in an action oft IsleCroix iiy H.M.s. Queen Charlotte. Taken to Portsmouth, Tom refused to rive, his parole, and was imprisoned on tne Diamond hulk. However, ho was soon exchanged, ouly to be recaptured in 17i>7, when serving on the Actlf. He was now oenr to the Crown hulk, stlU refusing to be put on parole, and openly declaring that he intended to escape. Such attempts had T>een very frequent, and the authorities threatened that, lor every prisoner who escaped, two of those remaining on board should be hanged. Life on the hulks was a weary business, although the French tried to pass the time by arranging lectures and classes, and by organising; amateur theatricals, at which the ladies of Gosport and Portsmouth were delighted to form an audience. Bnt Souvine, couli find no consolations in captivity, and very soon he began to form serious plans for escape. He was helped ononnonsly bj his knowledge of the English language, -which he spoke without a trace of accent, anil whicti enabled him to become very friendly with several of their guarde, especially a sailor named "Will, who knew that Sonville Sao: taken the first step towards freedom by beginning to bore a hole through, the wooden side of the hulk. But before he advanced very far wltn this work, the plan was betrayed, and Tom was sent to the punishment cell, with three other Trench, prisoners, who had shammed madness in order to be released. Sullen and bitter at his failure, Tom had little doubt that Will hni betrayed him. However, one of bis fellow-prisoners told Wm the secret of another hole, which lie himself had bejrun to bore and abandoned, and, when Sotiville had served his term of punishment, he sot to work to finish tills uncompleted task. At midnight, at a time of very high tide, which covered the dangerous mud-flats, Tom slipped through the hole, lowered himself into the water, and swam ashore, three miles in all. Avben he at last reached the land, he sank down, utterly cihausted, and was only aroused by a hand on his shoulder. This proved to be Will, who ha* arranged the whole plan as soon as he discovered that the authorities had discovered the first hole. He took Tom to a fisherman's hnt. provided him with a disKuisc. and showed him a smuggler's path nlons the cliJTs by means of which he reached Dover. Here he was detained two days, until he discovered a ship about to cross the Channel, and concealed himself 0:1 board, under a coil of rope. The British officials searched the ship for escaped prisoners, and one of them actually seated himself upon Tom's hiding place, but the fugitive passed unnoticed, and succeeded in reaching Calais safely. Instead of returning to ttio Navy. Sotiville now decided to become a privateer, and soon made his own name and that or '!is little vessel, the Glaneur, well-known up and down the Channel. It was not until ISOS, after several well-flllod years, that Tom was again taken prisoner by a British squadron off Folkestone, and sent to the hulk Assistance. Here lie made himself troublesome and was transferred to his old prison, the Crown, and mot here a former shipmate, one Captain Ilavas, who was «s much set on escape as Souville himself. The pair proceeded to bore the usual hole through the hulk's side, using, as ■tools, pieces of barrel-hoops and the ends t>r fencing foils. By the beginning of January, they had finished their task, and saved a sufficiency of fat from their ration-s -to grease themselves all over, as ! a protection against the intense cold of \ the sea. They slipped out at midnight, ] but ithc splash •.•hich Torn made in reach-1 ing the water attracted the attention of' fcb" sentries, and the bald pair were recaptured, and sent ito the punishment cells once more, while precautions against escape were redoubled. Six months later both were transferred to the San Antonio hulk, and began to plot their escape again ! The captain of their new prison ship took a fancy to Souville and Havas, and engaged the latter to teach his little daughter the French language. Havas succeeded in becoming very friendly with the captain's pTetty wife, and 6ho took the pair ashore for country walks, providing them with a splendid opportunity for studying the lie of the land. Meanwhile, 'their preparations went on, and they took the precaution to manufacture two pairs of "skates," or snowshoes, to help them to cross the terrible mudbanks, which day between the hulks and the shore, and -where many prisoners had already perished. On a stormy night, ifche two men set our. carrying complete suits of fashionable clothing on their heads. VTitih terrible difficulty they crossed the mudflats, parly by swimming, partly on their ekates, and reached dry land a,t last. Here they hid under a hedge and put on -their smart suits, which entirely transformed them, and so attired, end with the aid of Sou* vine's S ood English, "they made their way successively to Brighton, Hastings and Mere Tom Sonville had ft friend. In the shape of an English smuggler, to whom the Frenchman had done a good turn in his privateering days. . This man hid the fugitives for five oays, and then found a boat which conveyed them safely to Calais. Unce more the indefatigable Tom became a privateer, only to be recaptured end sent buck to the Crown in 1812. The Commandant, Captain Ross, escorted his prisoner to his old quarters, pointing out. ironically, the various new devices for the prevention of escape, bnt Tom pouville was not in the least Intimidated.

Once more he set to work on his boring operations, qnlte undaunted by the lact that another prisoner, one Dubreull, prr-ceded him by a. few days, and perished miserably in the mud. The body of the unfortunate man was displayed openly to the other prisoners, in order that it might act as a deterrent, but Souville carried out Lie own p] an of escape thllt Blima nigut, although a certain Tilmont, who was to have been his companion, found his nerve fail him at the last moment. Souville had greased himself thoroughly and he carried In his hat a change of clothing, and an eolskln full of guineas, lie tells us In his memoirs that Dubreuil's mutilated, eyeless face, hovered before him in the darkness, throughout that terrible swim of almost three hours, but he -reached the shore in safety. Nearly a fortnight later, and travelling by unfrequented and devloiis smugglers' ■tracks along the cliffs. Oie reached Folkestone and staggered into the house of his friend, the smuggler, half dead with fatigue, and coveTed from head to foot with mud. Tlie smugger end his family*, whose name Souville loyally suppresses, welcomed the French fugitive most warmly, and soon managed to obtain for him "a safe passage to Calais. This was Tom Souville's final escape and one certainly feels that so brave and persevering n man deserved to keep his liberty. Once more he became n privateer (his ■time with a fine little ship of his own ■and became famous both to French and English for his reckless bravery, and still more tor those deeds of mercy which were not confined to his own compatriots. He saved the lives of many P.ritiKh fisherman, In wrecks, and in one case the wfrole crew of a British man-of-war owed their lives to Tom Souville, .their eworn "enemy." After the peace of 181-J, he still hank- ; ered after a sea life, and his occupation of privateersman gone, he took command of the cross-Ciiann«l packet Iris, and held j the position of captain on this .little vessel until his death In 1840, at the age of 01.