Frigate Commander (33 page)

. . . we had one of the most violent storms that I have ever seen in this country, we drove on board of the
Cambrian
in the afternoon, but fortunately neither of the ships sustained any damage of consequence.
Days later he recorded:
The ship is now ready for sea. We received six months pay this day and are at this moment in a complete state of drunkenness. The
Phoenix
came in this morning with a very fine privateer of 20 guns, which she has taken. I wish we were out . . .

A week later, he was still waiting as the frigates
Cambrian
and
Fisgard
sailed on a cruise. Grumbling inwardly, Moore tried to distract himself with reading books and papers. News spread quickly through the port of a very extensive promotion of Post Captains to flag rank, including Sir John Borlase Warren. Moore had a naturally professional interest, for

. . . by this measure a considerable number of good officers are put on the shelf by getting their flags, for certainly not one half of them can be employed. However I am glad to see that very few are passed over, indeed I do not think any man that goes through the service fairly and honourably ever should be passed over.

At last, on the 22nd, the
Melampus
received orders to return to Cork, and the Irish Station. Moore set sail on the 25th, passing the battered
Cambrian
and
Fisgard
, who had been forced to return from their cruise prematurely because of bad weather. Moore headed in a wide sweep to the south towards Ushant in the hope of meeting something worth taking. The following morning, in mid-Channel, a stranger hove into sight and he immediately gave chase. The two ships were in sight of Ushant when

. . . we were very sorry to see two English frigates standing out from the land which proved to be the
Nymphe
and the
Melpomene
, they had the pleasure of seeing us fire a few rounds at the Enemy’s ship and force her to strike
⁸⁰
. She proved to be
Le Mercure
of St Malo pierced for 20 guns mounting 16 and 103 men; she had been out near a month and had taken 3 or 4 prizes, one of them, the schooner, was in sight when we gave chase to the ship. She struck at 5 o’clock in the afternoon we had prisoners exchanged in about two hours, and having spoken to the
Melpomene
and
Nymphe
we are now steering over for Cape Clear with the Prize . . .,
a
. . . very pretty little ship and certainly sails well, but she is not coppered.

Moore put one of his lieutenants and thirty men on board her and the two ships headed northwards for Cork. Unable to weather the Scillies, they proceeded cautiously in thick fog. Moore found himself happier with the
Melampus
’ sailing qualities than he had been before. Whilst at Plymouth he had persuaded the Navy Board to let him change twenty-four of his main deck guns for a lighter type of 18-pounder,

. . . which has made a difference of near five tons on our deck, and the new light guns appear to me to carry the shot as far as the old heavy ones.

On 1 March, the
Melampus
arrived at Cork to find three frigates and a West Indies convoy waiting there. Moore hoped to be ordered to accompany the convoy for some distance, because it would cross good cruising ground. Besides which, he had a number of new hands on board and the crew were generally in need of shaking down;

. . . the ship is by no means in good kilter yet. The remains of the drunkenness and debauchery of Plymouth still continues its baleful effects.

At dinner one night in Cork, Moore found himself in the company of an older officer who was now employed by the Transport Board. The man urged him to continue in active service at sea as long as he could, while he was still young, because in that way

. . . we are continually adding to our professional skill by experience, whereas by remaining on shore, by degrees we lost much of what we had already acquired and besides gradually became more and more unwilling to return to the business. This is all very true, but I do not intend, when our Country’s service does not call upon us, to spend the remainder of my best days at sea, where I die by inches with ennui and want of society. I cannot think of sacrificing the comfort and happiness of my life to the idea of keeping up my nautical skill. As long as we are called for – here I am – but in Peace, when it requires considerable interest to get a ship and when so many young men are eager to be employed, I shall stay at home and cultivate cabbages. I go to sea now merely from a sense of duty and with the hope of adding to my wealth and reputation. My heart is in England.

It was obvious why Moore’s heart lay elsewhere, but the group around the table also had more sombre matters to discuss, as he noted afterwards in the journal:

There is a most melancholy account of the loss of the
Proserpine
frigate in the ice in the mouth of the Elbe, which, I hope in God, will prove to be false. Mr Grenville
⁸¹
was embarked on board of her, it is supposed on a mission to the Emperor. Every soul on board is supposed to have perished. There are but too strong reasons to fear that this dismal tale is well founded.
⁸²

Moore’s wishes regarding the convoy were soon granted. He noted rather cynically that this was probably because Admiral Kingsmill was hungry for more money, and therefore wanted his cruisers out taking prizes
⁸³
. His orders were to escort the convoy to Madeira, from whence it would continue under the escort of the 22-gun
Volage
(which Moore had taken as a prize the previous January), and then cruise for a fortnight. For most of the voyage the
Melampus
would be accompanied by the frigates
Glenmore
and
Galatea
. As the convoy of some seventy ships left Cork on 7 March, Moore was in a buoyant mood. The
Volage
led the way with the other two frigates on the wings, and the
Melampus
in the rear. Moore noted happily in his journal:
‘I like this job very well, we have a very good chance of meeting something either going or coming.’
The crew too seemed in good morale;
‘We are all in high spirits this cruise, we have strong hopes of success ...’
and capturing a Spanish West Indiaman
‘. . . would nearly do my business’.
Indeed the beneficial effects of the return to sea-routine was evident everywhere on board;

We begin to get into rather better order now that we have got to sea again. We are best at sea in every respect; the idleness, dirt and debauchery of the harbour ruins both officers and seamen. Things now begin to find their places again.

When the
Glenmore
and
Galatea
parted company, Moore became the senior officer and he found himself increasingly dissatisfied with the behaviour of the
Volage
. Her commander, Captain the Hon. Philip Wodehouse
⁸⁴
, had a tendency to run too fast at the head of the convoy, instead of setting a pace to suit the slowest merchantmen. As a result the convoy was becoming strung out, and thus would be vulnerable to attack, especially from fast privateers who could slip in and cut one of the ships out with speed. However, even though he was the senior officer, Moore didn’t want to undermine Wodehouse’s authority:

I do not like to interfere with the management of them
[i.e. the convoy]
as he is to take them out and we are merely to escort them a certain distance.

It was always difficult for the escort to keep back. Moore even tried an experiment with the
Melampus
, having every sail on the frigate furled, all the yards braced round, and the topgallant masts struck – and she still trod on the tail of the slowest vessel. While he was doing this, the
Volage
was some seven or eight miles ahead of him. It was no wonder that the Admiralty received so many complaints about the escorts that were provided for convoys.

Meanwhile, Moore dreamed about his hopes for the future and how he would achieve it:

My favourite visionary plan at present depends upon our taking a French frigate, which I intend to carry into Portsmouth, where while the ship is repairing the damages sustained in the action, I have a project for leaving her, to attend to what is far more interesting to me . . . O! that we may meet something to try our stuff with, or at least a rich Spaniard on our return.

On 19 March, Moore parted company with the convoy and headed north for Latitude 49N, which was thought to be the best parallel for meeting enemy cruisers. As they ran northwards however, Moore’s hopes, and no doubt that of his crew, began to sink, for there were no ships to be seen. Four days passed, and there were still no other ships;

If we meet nothing this cruise we shall all feel mortified; this is the favourite service that Admiral Kingsmill’s cruisers are liable to be sent upon and it is by far the most promising cruise that I have had all the war; yet it may very well happen that we may see nothing.

On the morning of the 25th, he sent the crew to their quarters and put his gun crews through their paces, at the same time calling boarders to defend different parts of the ship
⁸⁵
. On this occasion, the exercise enabled him to make an interesting assessment of his crew’s performance, and to compare it with an incident which clearly troubled him;

I am thoroughly persuaded that this ship could not be carried by boarding as the
Ambuscade
was, unless the men were panic struck and ran from their quarters. That unfortunate affair
⁸⁶
is the only action of the kind that has happened this war, and I think is to be attributed in the first place to the extraordinary gallantry of the attempt by the enemy, and in the next place to a panic which I think must have seized the crew of the
Ambuscade.
The circumstance of the
Ambuscade
being upward of fifty men short of Complement will not account for it, as there must have remained more men than were sufficient to have repulsed the boarders, especially from a ship lower than the
Ambuscade.
The death of the Lieutenant and Master and the absence of the Captain who, I understand, was carried below badly wounded, must have thrown the ship into confusion, and I daresay the ship must have been very ill appointed with inferior officers, otherwise I should imagine the Seamen and marines might have been rallied. The
Melampus
is at present much better furnished with officers of all kinds than she has ever before been in my time, and I think no frigate of the enemy could resist us for any length of time, unless some very untoward accident happened.

There was a good reason why Moore should have been troubled about the defeat of the
Ambuscade
, for he was a conscientious commander who often doubted his own abilities. The commander of the
Ambuscade
, Captain Henry Jenkins, had, through serious misjudgement and poor management, caused deep divisions within his crew, with the result that their morale collapsed very quickly in action. The case provided an important lesson for all those frigate captains who chose to notice it.

Two days later, the
Melampus
at last sighted a ship and gave chase, but she proved to be an American brig bound for Madeira. The Master of this ship gleefully reported that the American frigate
Constellation
had captured the French frigate
L’Insurgente
, after a severe action.
⁸⁷
Later that day, they reached their cruising ground. As before, Moore disguised the
Melampus
by altering her sails to make her look more like a merchantman, hoping in doing so to tempt any French cruiser close enough to bring her to action. But, as always at sea, everything depended on the weather. The following day Moore had to abandon the ruse, as a north-westerly gale set in, accompanied by squalls of rain and hail. The sea continued to increase and more and more sail had to be taken off as the gale grew more violent.

In the privacy of his cabin, Moore pondered the progress of the war. He had hopes that the defeat of French ambition in Egypt might undermine enemy morale and result in a negotiated peace. However, the danger in this was that, if peace was declared, English seamen would become restless and demand to be allowed home. Any delay could cause another mutiny, though he also thought that the experience of the Nore mutiny might make them more cautious about repeating the strike;

. . . indeed I verily believe that the great body of them are very averse to a renewal of these fatal disorders, which they see when once begun lead them irresistibly much farther than they had any inclination to go. I think my people are very well disposed; I believe they will not easily be brought over to anything of that kind, but I could not confide at all in their actively resisting others in practices of that nature.

A brief encounter with the frigate
Flora
on 2 April did nothing to lighten Moore’s mood. Her commander, Robert Gambier Middleton (who was junior to Moore) came aboard the
Melampus
and caused offence with his opinion that French cruisers were seldom to be found this far south. In fact, during the course of their conversation it became apparent that Middleton had deliberately strayed some way west of his appointed station. Frigate commanders were often jealous of their own cruising ground, and this explains why, when Middleton finally explained that he was short of stores and begged anything that could be spared, Moore decided he
‘would spare them very little’.