Frigate Commander (39 page)

Had lieutenant Burns made his attack jointly with the other boats, three in number, that were near him I am convinced they would have carried the schooner but hurried on by the impetuosity of his character he passed the other boats with his sail set and attempted to throw himself on board in spite of the boarding netting and the formidable opposition which he might have expected. He was a good seaman and a very daring gallant fellow. One of the
Melampus
’s Bargemen was wounded in the arm by a boarding pike, the schooner had one man killed and two or three wounded.

Two days later they had more luck, capturing an armed brig called the
San Joseph
which was armed with ten 6-pounder guns, and carried fifty men. Although she was carrying a cargo, it was apparently not a very valuable one. Moore put one of the
Melampus
’ lieutenants on board with ten seamen. The two frigates were now considerably burdened with prisoners who were, once again, making considerable inroads into the frigates’ limited provisions. Moore decided to land most of these at Silan, retaining only those officers whose testimonies would be required for the Prize Court back at Port Royal.

Some nights later the
Melampus
gave chase to another schooner near the notorious Baio Nuevo shoal. Moore positioned men on both the fore yard and jib boom end, and with their help they were able to avoid running aground on the shoal, but they had several close shaves;

This bank . . . is I think as dangerous a one as I ever saw and we had a very narrow escape indeed of being lost upon it.

Despite these efforts the chase escaped. Moore was now once again faced with the inevitable shortage of provisions, and had only one month’s supply of water left. To crown it all, and partly as a consequence, scurvy had made its appearance among the crew. Moore too was suffering, for through the incompetence of the frigate’s surgeon’s Mate, the surgery on the whitlow on his hand had become infected and he was now carrying one arm in a sling. Members of the crew had also begun to suffer from accidents. One of the ship’s carpenters whilst using an adze, had managed to cut both an artery and his Achilles tendon. The surgeon

. . . took up the artery and although he was in great fear of a locked jaw, or at least of the poor fellow losing his leg, he is now out of danger.

Also

. . . a remarkable fine young fellow, a Forecastle man, the handsomest man in the ship, fell from the fore yard arm down upon deck, and although no bones were broke nor had he received much external injury, he was so terribly shook that after lying on his back in great pain for ten days he died.

By this time, Moore was leading his small squadron back towards Jamaica, which he expected to see on 2 November. The
Aquila
had to be taken in tow, having sprung both her main mast and the head of her foremast. Fortunately, the squadron reached Jamaica without further mishap or delay. After less than three weeks, Moore was ordered to return to the same station. The
Melampus
sailed in an unhappy condition, for the stay in port had resulted in considerable sickness on board. To make matters worse, the frigate’s marines had been taken off by the Commander-in-Chief to help secure the island of Curacoa, which had surrendered to Captain Watkins in the frigate
Nereide
.
¹⁰⁷
These had been replaced by an officer and ten men from the 20th Light Dragoons, who had all been ill and were considered to be in need of a sea voyage to aid their recovery.

Two days from port, the
Melampus
came upon a schooner which had been totally abandoned, and stripped of rudder, sails and anything which could be removed. The boarding party found that there had been an unsuccessful attempt to scuttle her, but she had obviously remained afloat. As she was of only limited value as a prize, Moore towed her to Grand Cayman where he quietly sold her to a Mr Bodden for £100 sterling. There also the crew of the
Melampus
was able to catch large quantities of fish, especially rock cod, which helped supplement their diet, and they were soon showing a general improvement in their health.

Moore cruised for ten days without seeing anything and then turned south towards Vera Cruz, where he fell in with the frigate
Cleopatra
, commanded by Captain Israel Pellew
¹⁰⁸
. She had escorted a convoy from Halifax to Jamaica and Pellew had taken the chance of a quick cruise to the south in the hope of taking something before sailing back to Halifax. The two frigates parted the following day, but to Moore’s annoyance, the
Cleopatra
kept appearing in the distance. He wished her gone because her presence was causing confusion and, if she ventured too near Vera Cruz, she would raise the alarm and prevent any vessels leaving that port.

Nevertheless, two days later, the
Melampus
sighted and gave chase to a brig. The pursuit continued throughout the night, as there was a bright moon, and Moore was able to watch the brig with his night glass from the frigate’s maintop. Just before dawn, he ordered several shot fired from the bow chasers and the ship brought to and struck. She proved to be a letter-of-marque from Cadiz carrying a very valuable cargo of various merchandise to Vera Cruz. Moore took no chances, and put a prize crew of eighteen men, plus his Third Lieutenant and two midshipmen on board, and took off all of the Spanish crew. While the frigate’s boats were busy shuttling back and forth with prisoners and provisions, another sail was seen to windward. Moore hastily recalled the boats and set off in chase. Before nightfall he had captured another letter-of-marque, this time from Corunna, carrying bar iron, paper and other cargo. She was named the
Falcon
and her crew had hove her guns and anchors overboard in their attempt to escape. Moore put his Second Lieutenant and eighteen men on board.

The
Melampus
now had 100 Spanish prisoners on board, and as usual they were causing Moore some concerns;

We suffer more inconvenience here from Prisoners than we used to on the home station, as I do not like to put them below and it is by no means so safe to keep them upon deck as we do.

With two valuable prizes, Moore decided to escort both ships back to Port Royal:

If these two Prizes arrive safeat Jamaica, I shall be as rich as I ought to be as I think I must share at least £8,000 sterling, which added to what I have in the funds will make at least £19,000.

This was the equivalent to 130 years’ pay – or, at modern-day values, Moore was gleefully looking forward to a cool £573,420 – a very respectable sum indeed. By 15 January 1801, however, the three ships were still struggling back towards Port Royal and were making painfully slow progress. Moore had always had problems navigating in the Caribbean, where he was inexperienced in the effect of the various currents and tides. They were also beset by contrary winds, which made it very difficult to calculate their position, so Moore was delighted, when at 2pm on 22 January the lookouts sighted Grand Cayman, and he discovered that his calculations were only twenty miles out. On the following day they sighted Jamaica, having towed the Corunna ship 350 leagues against continual easterly winds and a strong lee current. That night, Moore celebrated, putting the crew back on their full allowance of food and drink – for they had been reduced to half rations, in spite of which they were in excellent health and spirits; Moore’s only worry was the inevitable orgy of drunkenness at Port Royal.

The
Melampus
anchored at Port Royal on 31 January. The prizes were immediately dispatched to the Prize Agent at Kingston, and Moore collected what must have been a sizeable package of mail. There were letters from home and other news from England. Brother John was being sent with General Abercrombie’s expedition to Egypt. The Russians had seized British ships in Russian ports, and it was widely expected that this would lead to hostilities with the northern powers.
¹⁰⁹
Moore read the circumstances and was resolute:

We must never give up the right of searching Neutral vessels for Enemy’s property, if we do we give up one of the most important advantages of our Naval superiority.

Moore also appears to have received a copy of his friend James Currie’s four-volume edition of the works of Robert Burns.
¹¹⁰
Moore, of course, worshipped Burns’ poetry and was full of praise for Currie’s work:

I have not seen anything this long time to please me like his excellent performance. The accounts of the Scotch peasantry is to me quite an original work and the criticisms on the genius and writings of Burns are as honourable to the taste and judgement of Currie as they are just to the merits of that genuine and sublime Poet of Nature. Among the letters to and from Burns there are many well worth the pains which that friend to Genius and true Philanthropist has bestowed in culling and bring them forth to view. I was particularly pleased with a letter from Tytler to Burns containing a very judicious criticism on Tam O’ Shanter.

At Port Royal, Moore also found his fellow officers disenchanted with their new Commander-In-Chief:

I find that the Admiral has contrived to disgust every one of the Captains more or less by his manner of carrying on the duty; without enquiring into the state of preparation the ships may be in, he suddenly gives out an order which may and often does derange all the detail of arrangement, throws everything into confusion and jades and harasses the officers and Ships Companies so as even to endanger their health by the want of comfort which they experience amidst the inevitable dirt and lumber . . . The fact is that he wishes to be smart but does not seem to put the proper confidence in the Captains, whom it would be much better were he to consult before he ordered their ships to sail instantly.

Moore soon found himself the subject of the Admiral’s hasty orders, but although he found it exceedingly irritating, he kept quiet. Perhaps this response was rewarded, for Seymour issued him with sealed orders to sail back to the Gulf of Mexico and, if he fell in with the frigates
Apollo
,
Acasta
and
Amphion
, to take them under his command and cruise as long as their provisions lasted. Moore sailed again with officers and men of the 20th Light Dragoons instead of his marines, but now his experience had given him a higher opinion of them. His cabin was also providing accommodation to a rather sickly Mr Cooke, a creole, whom Moore, much against his inclination, had been persuaded to take to sea for the benefit of his health. On 27 February, off Grand Cayman once again, the
Melampus
hove to when a boat put off from the island, which proved to be carrying Lieutenant Spence of the 74-gun ship
Thunderer
. The
Thunderer
had captured a slave ship bound for Havana, and had sent her with a prize crew to Jamaica. Unfortunately the prize ship
¹¹¹
ran aground on the Grand Cayman and was wrecked. Spence had managed to get the crew and slaves ashore and now wanted to hire a ship to get them all back to Jamaica. The problem was that the shipowners of Cayman were demanding one third of the slaves in lieu of salvage, having brought them from the shipwreck. At Spence’s request, Moore intervened, pointing out to the merchants at Cayman that the Lieutenant had no authority to make a decision about rights of salvage, and advised them to allow him to carry out his orders. However, he was clearly reluctant to jeopardize his own cruising prospects by doing much more than this to assist. Fortunately, several days later, Moore fell in with the frigate
Lowestofte
, which was making her way back to Jamaica, and her Captain, Robert Plampin, agreed to sail for Cayman to help Spence.

On 4 March, the
Melampus
’ gunner, Alexander Downie, died from a bilious fever. Moore, always affected by the loss of members of his crew, was particularly saddened in this case:

He was a fine old seaman, a native of Dunbar and, most deservedly, a very great favourite of mine. He has left a widow and three children to be provided for, the rest of his family have been long married and off his hands, the two eldest boys are with me in the ship and the Mother has only one boy, the youngest of all, living with her near Plymouth. I think this hardy old seaman was as good a life as any in the ship. He was of a strong and active make, temperate and inured from his infancy to all the hardships of the Coasting trade and the Greenland Whale Fishery. He was about fifty years of age, had been prest on board the
Edgar
last war
¹¹²
when commanded by the present Admiral Elliot. He served as Captain of that ship’s Fore Castle until the Peace when he returned to his wife at Dunbar, and continued in the Greenland trade from that port until his old ship-mate Captain Durham was appointed to the
Hind
frigate. He entered there and served as a Quarter Master until by Durham’s recommendation he was made a Gunner. Durham afterwards recommended him to me. He was then in a sloop of war in Ordinary at Plymouth, on my application to the Admiralty he was appointed Gunner of the
Melampus
in the latter end of the year 1797 and has served ever since with zeal and fidelity, proving himself a brave and honest man and a thorough bred and complete seaman. He is a real loss to the ship.

The following day the frigate was becalmed off the Sisal Bank, and the crew occupied themselves catching groupers with great rapidity. Moore returned again to the subject of old Downie, and in doing so made some interesting observations about the crew generally: