SHORT STORY.

Lake County Press, Issue 2159, 7 March 1907, Page 7

SHORT STORY.

—* — THE LOSS OF THE PHILIP HERBERT. It is a truo remark that Englishmen have furg-.itwi as much of their naval history as would make tho reputation of a lesser nation; und tbore is « certain spedthrift grandeur about thifi carelessness which of itself bsars witness eloquently to tho vast riches of our country in past deeds of glory. We can afford to noglect tho crumbs and remaauts, yet it is well occasionally to make aura that wo have not let any deeds slip into oblivion which wero better remembered. A tiny volume printed in Paris in 1693, und now growing rare, contains the story of a sea fight which well deserves tho fame which the caprice of history has denied it. In May, ICOO, a squadron of six French bhips of war, under the command of Duquesne, son of the famous sea captain of that name, was lying at Mobilla, between the nothorn poiut of Madagascar, and tho mainland, when the news came that an English ship was at Ainjouam, a trading station twenty miles away. Duquesne get his ships undor way at ohco; but the winds wero light, and two days were occupied in runniug down to Amjouam. La*e on the second afternoon the land surrounding the anchorage came in sight, and shortly afterwards the roadstead lay open, aud tho French could see a large vessel lying at auchur close to the shore, with the white puff of smoke from two guus which she fired to call her crew on board when she saw the stranger ships approaching. The buu was already sinking low, and Duquesne ordered every stitch of canvas to bo set, in order that he might be able to attack the solitary ship before tho fall of night gave her a chance of escape. The fleet camo in under Dutch colours, a trick which betrayed the English captain into making no effort to got away. The Ecueil outsailed tho other ships of the French squadron, and when she camo within a short distance of tho Uuglishman she lowered her Dutch flag, though without hoisting another in its place. This net aroused suspicion. The English ruptcin hailed, 'What ship is that?' The leplycamoin Dutch, asking him to send u boat on board. Tho boat was lowered, and the captain was about to step into it, when a few of his sailors, who had been reconnoitring the strangers iu another boat, uried out that it was a French ship. Too captain stepped back, tho order to stand to the guns ran quickly round, aud tbo 'Fcueil' eeeiug that her imposture was discovered, cast out an anohor alongside, und with loud thouts of 'Vivo la roi !' ' Vive Franco!' poured her broadside into tho doomed vessel, iollowed by a withering fire of musketry. Tho thouk of this surprise did not startle the Englishman out of their eolf-possession or resourco. There were no such things as 'peaceful' traders in thosa days, at least in Eastern waters; and the English . ship—her uamo was the Philip Herbert, oi London—was as well equipped for fighting as many a modtrn cruisor, proportionately to the fashion of her time. Five guns, which may have been the only ones trained on the enemy, roared out defiance of tho French, and at the same moment the order was given to weigh anchor. The next discharge from the Ecueil, however, shattered the windlass, and Btretched twenty-two men on the deck, whereupon tho Englishmen cut their cable, and hoisting the top-sails got under sail. By this time, the Gaillard, Duquesne's flagship, was within rangG, and the English captain, seeing the four remaining vessels of the' French squadron olosing fast around him, must have perceived that, speaking humanly, he had no chance whatever of escape. The wind was so light that the ship made hardly any way; yet, making the most of what thero was, he executed the manoeuvre of a bold and skilful seaman, and laid the Philip Herbert between the Gaillard and the Ecueil, thus making it difficult for either of them to fire on him without serious danger of injuring her consort, while ho poured his shot into each impartially. Tho Philip Herbert flhoc slightly ahead, and the English caplain ordered his men to restrain their fire, hoping that in the darkness that was falling rapidly they might slip past the enemy and gain the open sea, if not first crippled or dismasted.

Duqucßiio appears to have been sensible that this was not a groundless hope, and resolving, as we must suppose, to shako the nerveß of his plucky adversary he ordered the firing to cease, and hailing himself in English declared that if the captain of the 2?hilip Herbert did not strike his colours, he would hang him to his own yardarm. It is a'Frenchman, and a follower of Duquesno, who records the utterance of this atrocious throat; in which it is charitable to suppose we ought to sea rather an evidonce of the exceptional ferocity with which these battles for the Oriental trade were foaght, than any high degree of barbarity m Duquesne. However this may be, the English captain took the only proper coureo, and deigned no answer savo in round shot, of which his whole broadside crashed into tho flagship beforo Duquesne had well done eptaaing, thereby winning the admiration of the French —so our ■' Garde de la Marine' tells us—for hip hopeless gallantry. Never had a captain and his crew more peed of gallantry. Tho French fligfhip Jay oti. ono quarter, the Ecunil on tho other, At so short a distance that the yardormsof sho three vessels grazed each other, and so poured in the hottest fire thoy could nwin--tain, a fire so heavy, indeed, that the 'Garde .de la. Marine' assures us that the l'hilip Herbert was cripplod by it, and must have lost half her crew. Yet, he adds, with a 'yfc;«led admiration, that for all this loss the did not seem dismayed, nor did he hearfljaingle ory for quarter. On the contrary, alj tho Englishmen wanted was an opportunity .of boarding one or other of their .enemies; but this thoy could not obtain, being, perhaps, already too much damaged •jn tpars and rigging to manoeuvre with jctfcct. So, with undiminished courage, our jw&u fought their two powerful adversaries iot ,» full hour, when the remaining four •ships ,of the French equudron caine within X ange, and, closing round tho l'hilip Her. 2)ert, poured in shot upon her from every which they could briug to bear. Still, 4he English nhowed no sign of flinching, though tho 'Garde de la Marino' testifies that their gunnery at this utage of the fight was getting a liulo wild, as well ic might, in tho confusion of a combat with 6ix enemies at once. It had grown very dark. The jets «t firo coming in quick cucc3Ssion and the •perpoijial hiesing of bs>\U through the night iiir y/erii the only indication of the position of tho ship*. To Avoid confusion, Duquesno ordered *ach bi his captains to show two torches&Tthe poop; bat, these signals were no sooner displayod than the men counted Koveu of them. Tho English captain was a resourceful man, aud had sailed tho seas too long to ho made the victim of so simple a device.

It was about eleven o'cloak. The fight had raged for three hours, and the capture .or ;h<» Philip Herbert seemed no nearer than ntSieni- Sao had made no reply to tho last ■ifw broadsides; and Duquesuo, convinced *hat nothing,more could be done until diyJijtbt. sent a kaat round tho squadron with «irdeM that firing should cease, and that tho jtueu should bo allowed to rest. Hovr sorely rest was needed on tht< Philip Herbert we pliall never know, but wo may imagine that tho Londoners saw death too near them to lu> iucliised to sleep. t* Meantime iho crow of tho Euuoil had banu Ftartleil by thfi fioimd of u voieo from the H»a-' A moi, Francois, a tnoi!' aud rightiy (•urmisin,? that tho try wai that of some fugitive from the English ship, th«y lowered r boat and, px'l'td up tho young French i»ailor, who hail baon a csptivft ou the X'hilip Herbert, and had cast himself overboird in the confusion of the fight, trusting to the Renter cbßflco ot Wing able to gain the

squadron of Ins countrymen. TVom tins fe7- , low the squadron obtained their oulv direct information about, tbo ship which had fought them with such, unexpected aud reckless gallantry. She was, us already statod, from Loudou, pierced for sixty-four guus, arid actually carrying fifty-four, with u crew of two hundred and fifty meu, and about eiybty passengers, among whom was a rich English banker, accompanied by his wife and daujrhiar, a beautiful girl of twenty, and two little eons. W hat interested the French more than these family details was the intelligence that the rich banker had with him no less than forty thousand crowns in silver; and, indeed, everything which they heard from the fugitive about the vessel, which they already looked en as their prize, raised the most golden visions before their eyes. The Philip Herbert, was laden, it appeared, with gold laee and scarlet cloth, with beaver, tobacco, cauary wine, and, above all, a very large sum in coined money, destined for the payment of troop 3 in India, who were said to have received no pay for four yoars. 1 Quand on prend du galon,' says a French proverb which Duquesne's men may have remembered on this eventful night, ' on n'on saurait trop prendre;' and, indeed, there was enough to justify a good deal of exultation on the part of tho French, who not inexcusably counted tho goods as theirs alroady. Plere at the first blow was compensation for the weary voyage, and an earnest of the golden harvest which was to come. But tho simple follows forgot that the very richness of the priza might make the English rosolute not to be taken. In fact, bofore tho night was over they had learned more about the oharaeter of English sailors than they seem to have known when the fight began. So the ships lay inotionloas through hour after hour of darkness, broken only by the flaring torches on tho poops, and more rarely by a spit of fire and a roar of cannon, as tho English gunners, wearying of inactivity, sent a broadside in the direction of their enemies, after which all was silent as before. One may imagine with what fierce restlesscess the English spent the hours of waiting, trapped and doomed as they were beyond all help unlees a wind sprang up. Tho air was absolutely still; there \vas no motion among tho sails or cordage ; and the Philip Herbert lay like a log on the water, waiting for the moment when her enemies ohose to administer tho coup de grace. About two o'olock a little waft of wind was folt, and the Englicjb, spreading sail silently, endeavoured to steal away. But tho French were keeping careful watch, and the English captain, finding that thoy followed and still surrounded him, took the desperate resolution that it was time to make an ond—prompted, as wo need not doubt, by a patriotic determination that so valuable a ship as that which he commanded should not fall into the hands of the French. And apart from the importance of keeping a great advantage out of the bauds of the enemy, was it not better for him and his meu to perish gloriously by their own act than to be liko rats on the following momiug when their ship was sunk, as sho must be on the resumption of the notion, or perhaps even to die by the more disgraceful death which Duquesne had threatened? And so the French,;triumphing in having prevented the last effort of the Philip Herbert to escape, were startled by .a red glare which shot up suddenly across the blackness of the night. A vast column of smoke i! - lumined by tongues of flickering flame towered up from the deck of the Philip Herbert, showing the astonished Frenchmen that the Londoners had preferred tho most terrible ot all cieaths, because by that alone they could maintain their own honour and the prestige of England. Tb.9 flight was an awful one. Ere loug the Philip Herbert was completely enveloped iu fire. The French sailors watched in awe-struck silence their late enemies climbing up the highest peaks of tho rigging to escape the flames as long as possible; but they seem to have made no effort to save any fugitives. It was a long agony. The Philip Herbert burned for three hours before tho flames reached the magazine, when a sudden explosion hurled into the air whatever remnants of humanity remained on that proud and goodly ship. The next morning, when day broke, the French lowered their boats to see if any wreckage of value could bo secured; but they found only charred masses of tobacco, and an infinite number of corks floating over the spot whero so many brave men had passed out of life carrying their honour witu them. Some time after the fira broko out on the Philip Herbert the O'rench deoiaro that a beat put off from her and made its way to land. This is probable onough, for there were women and children on the English ship, and what seems to have been the only boat available would naturally be used to put them in a place of safety. But the French, story is that the boat contained the oaptain who thus saved himself by a base flight from the awful death reserved for his crew and passengers. Now tn common fairness a charge so atrocious ought not to be brought without strong evidence, especially ugaiust a captain whose conduct up to that moment had been all that was most admirable. In this case there is no evidence at all. The night was dark. The boat was not stopped. How oould the French possibly know who were the fugitives ? The countrymen of this brave sailor—whose name has not come dona to us—will decline to believe that his heroism deserted him at the supremo moment; and will not doubt that tho boat contained the rhh banker with Lis wile and children. Such is the story of tho Philip Herbert—one of tho many glo.iovj.*; incidents ox their past history which, iliigiishmen have been content to forget. Yet in the telling of even so old a tale there should lie some stimulus to emulation ; and it will bo well for that natiou whose children interpret their duty towards b«r in bor hour of peril as fuitafully und bravely a3 thosa loog-for-go'tco L.>&<r.or;sn of two hundred yeara ago. —A, H. HoaWxy.