A FIGHTING ADMIRAL.

Northland Age, Volume VIII, Issue 25, 9 February 1912, Page 2

A FIGHTING ADMIRAL.

! It was in October, 1707, that the i Admiral made the Channel with a ' fleet of fifteen warships, four fireships, a sloop, and a yacht. His 1 flag was aboard the Association, and 1 on the morning of the 22nd they came into soundings, making ninety ; fathoms. The weather was very ' thick and hazy, despite the strong south-westerly gale, and the fleet was in the grip of the perilous northerly 1 current, of which little was then 1 known. In the afternoon Shovel brought the fleet to, and lay by in very heavy weather, but at six that evening he made sail again, and stood away under courses east by north. Lt is to be supposed that he thought he had the Channel open before him and saw the light of St. Agnes, one of the Scilly Islands. But this is only assumption, for the dead are not to be questioned. We know that a very little while later he awoke to his peril, for Sir George Byng, half a mile to windward of the flagship, saw him make the signal, of danger. His outlook men- hail seen, all too late the white cruel surf above the hellish tangle of rocks that are called the Bishop and his Clerks. A few minutes later, with a crash that was heard above the gale, the Association was tossed upon these rocks. And then—eight men looked death full in the face with perhaps half a minute of life before them. We may be proud to know well that there is no need for us to question how that half-minute was employed. Those eight hundred men were disciplined iud British. There would be Tio mad, cruel jostle to the boats, no useless, imploring, shrieking rush upon the officers. The crew would be at quarters, clinging to what they i could, their eyes upon the veteran stately Admiral and his officers, very calm to see by the flicker of such few unbroken lanterns as lit the streaming decks.. In thirty sgspnda the Association would M'fllmble beneath their feet ; already the mas.ts had reeled <lil!!Pwn, and the ravening waves were tearing mouthfuls from the bulwarks ; there waited for those men the pitiless rocks, and the livid, leaping foam. Boats were useless ; there was not one little chance in a hundred for the most powerful swimmer. But British naal discipline has ended with triumph, as the world well knows, sharper, longer trials ; it would prove stronger, that night than the giant timbers of the Association that the waves were snapping as a child snaps matches. Let it be re- 1 peated, there is no need to question whether or not those eight hundred men passed with honour to Nalhalla. Sir George Byng reported that in | less than two minutes there was not anything at all of the flagship to be 1 seen. The white-fanged rocks were ] almost under his own main chains, j hut his craft was saved by his cool ! c j seamanship from certain and immin- J ent destruction. Other vessels of the ( fleet were not so fortunate. The i Eagle perished, like the Association, i | with all her crew, and the Phoenix | also was lost, although her men were £ rescued. The Romney and the Fire- * brand fire-ship struck on the same 1 rock, and only the two captains, oddly enough, and five and twenty men ( were saved. One story says that the t St. George struck on the same ridge of rocks as the Association, and the same wave which beat out the flagship's lights and brought her masts by the board set the St. George afloat and safe once more. Sir Cloudesley Shovel was flung ashore iu Porthellick Cove, with the s breath, by some mira le, still in his r body. He was only fifty-seven, hale 1 and hearty still, capable of more 1 good work for Britain if he had but <1 fallen into merciful hands. But a I woman wrecker, prowling along the 1 shore, came upon his half-unconscious I lodv. Perhaps,, as she bent covetous- s ly above him, the moon gleamed out 1 for a moment behind the scurrying clouds, waking to flashing, tempting 1life a certain emerald ring of price t upon the admiral’s finger. At the r least she saw it ; and one fancies the t cruel, wolfish gleam that leapt to her a eyes at the sight. But the gentleman a lived, as she saw well. Perhaps she b hesitated for a moment. . . The n moon shone out once more, but now a the admiral lay very still, and from 7 his finger the rin hud vanished. d Thirty years later that woman con- I fessed her crime upon her death-bed, C protesting that she could not die in ci peace with the tale untold. She hnl P never parted with the ring. Day by 6 day through those thirty years she c had gloated over it in secret. It 8l was restored to Shovel’s old friend, 8 the Farl of Berkeley.—From "Fight- 01 iug Admirals.” a . —_ 0 IV Hoax—Sillicus was engaged to an tl heiress. I wonder why he broke it F Off. -g, Joax—He had an attack of indiges- le tiou, and the doctor told him to w avoid all rich things. $j