Frigate Commander (46 page)

. . . directs me to proceed off Cadiz and the mouth of the Straits, with all possible dispatch, and in conjunction with any ships I might find there to use my best endeavours to intercept two Spanish frigates with treasure from South America and to detain them until further Order. This is secret I do not know whether or not I may thank the Commander in Chief for giving me a preference or if he had no choice. The
Indefatigable
being, perhaps, the only disposable ship. In the meantime, however, I am in charity with the old gentleman and willing to believe he has selected me for this service.

In a state of great excitement he set off across the Bay of Biscay, and by the evening of the 25th he was running down the coast of Portugal. He already knew that there was a very strong prospect of imminent war with Spain and the
Indefatigable
was going to be in the best possible position to take advantage of the outbreak of hostilities.

The next day, a confident Moore began patrolling between the Rock of Lisbon and Cape St Vincent;
‘For action, I think we are pretty strong and the ship’s company, on the whole, of good composition.’
By the 28th, Moore had seen a number of Spanish vessels and it seemed that they had no idea that there was the possibility of a war with England but he was also becoming anxious about finding any other British cruisers for, without some support, he might not be able to take on a couple of Spanish frigates. His concern increased when he looked into Cadiz harbour and saw a number of French and Spanish men-of-war preparing for sea. He was therefore very happy when, on 30 September, the frigate
Medusa
arrived, commanded by Captain John Gore, from the Mediterranean Squadron. When the two officers met, Moore immediately had to make a tactical decision. Gore reported that the 74-gun
Triumph
, commanded by Robert Barlow, was about to sail from the Mediterranean for Cadiz, to provide an escort for any English merchantmen needing a convoy. Without warning, she could sail straight into a trap if the Franco-Spanish fleet left Cadiz. It was agreed that Gore should sail southwards where it was thought the frigate
Amphion
was cruising in the Straits of Gibraltar. He would have the
Amphion
go in search of the
Triumph
, and then rejoin him immediately. Moore could only hope and wait – but he was also worried. In responding to the threat to the
Triumph
, he had had to share the content of his secret orders;

I have acted for the best in revealing my orders for the information of Sir Robert Barlow, but I do it at some risk and am not quite at my ease on the occasion. Curse mystery and secrecy! I never like to have any thing to do with either.

On 2 October the frigate
Lively
arrived, commanded by Captain Graham Hammond,
¹²⁹
who had been ordered to follow Moore’s instructions. Moore had hoped that by this time he would have received news of war with Spain, for they had seen enough Spanish ships sail past to have made their fortunes from prize money. The following day, the frigate
Medusa
returned with the
Amphion
. Moore was now in command of a reasonably powerful frigate squadron and he set sail for Cape St Mary, this being the usual landfall ships made for before turning for Cadiz. Moore now had to give some thought about how he would deal with the Spanish frigates if, indeed, they did turn up:

If we fall in with these frigates it will be proper to go through the ceremony of speaking
[to]
them, but the business must finally be decided by fighting as it is impossible to believe that frigates will suffer themselves to be examined or detained without resistance, I would not like to begin by firing into them, but it must end with firing on both sides, end as it may. Well I wish to God we may meet them and soon. I am not well.

This rather limp comment reflected the fact that, at this crucial moment, Moore had developed an ailment that was preventing him from walking properly. Even when forced to stand around on deck on lookout or during a chase

... it is exceedingly distressing to me. If I cannot get better after taking advice in London I must go on shore and give up the ship, otherwise I must give up all comfort for the rest of my life.

On the morning of 5 October, when the squadron was some nine leagues south-west of Cape St Mary, the
Medusa
signalled to indicate four sail bearing west by south. Moore immediately ordered a general chase and the squadron instantly made all sail. It was soon apparent that they were bearing down on four large Spanish frigates;

They formed in Line of Battle ahead as we drew near, the Van ship bearing a Commodore’s broad pendant, the next, being the largest and a beautiful frigate, carried a Rear Admiral’s flag. They carried a press of sail on the wind steering in for Cadiz. The
Medusa,
being the headmost of our ships, as she drew near took in her studding sails and hauled up close on the leading ship’s weather beam. The
Indefatigable
took a similar position close to the Rear Admiral, the
Amphion
and
Lively
each, as they came up, formed opposite to a Spanish ship. I had previously made the signal to prepare for battle. I now hailed the Spanish Admiral. From whence came you? South America. Where are you bound to? Cadiz. I then desired them to bring to, as I wished to send a boat on board, but they either did not or would not understand me but continued to carry a Press of sail. I then fired a shot across the Admiral’s hawse on which he shortened sail and I sent Lieut. Ascot on board with a verbal message that I had orders to detain the Spanish Squadron and carry them to England, that I earnestly wished to shed no blood in the execution of them, but that his determination must be made instantly. The Admiral called the Of ficers together, wished to gain time &c. After waiting some time and seeing they were all ready and pointing their guns at us, I made the signal for the boat to return and fired a shot ahead of the Admiral. As soon as Ascot returned and informed me they had treasure on board, I bore close down on his weather bow and fired another shot ahead of him. At this moment I observed the Admiral’s second astern fire into the
Amphion
, the Admiral fired a shot at us, I made the signal for close action and in an instant we were engaged from van to Rear. Captain Sutton of the
Amphion
had just before this placed himself close to the leeward of his opponent, which I was very glad to see. In less than 10 minutes his opponent blew up with a horrible explosion and in less than half an hour the Admiral hauled down his colours as did the rear ship opposed to the
Lively.
The Commodore was still engaged with the
Medusa
but was carrying a great deal of sail and seemed to outsail the
Medusa
, on which I made the signal for the
Lively
to chase and, as she passed, hailed Captain Hammond and desired him to make all sail to the assistance of the
Medusa.
She accordingly passed on and as soon as I had sent a Division with 2 Lieutenants to take possession of the admiral’s ship I made sail towards the floating remains of the unfortunate Spanish ship that had blown up, in hopes of saving some, but nothing remained on the surface but a few dead bodies, floating pieces of the wreck and quantities of ashes! The
Amphion
had saved 40 men one of whom was the second captain, all the rest perished. While we were securing the two ships that were taken, a running fight continued between the Spanish Commodore and the
Medusa
which, as it appeared to us, would have probably ended in the Spaniard’s escape had not the
Lively
come up to windward and forced him to surrender, late in the afternoon, and when we could only discern them from the mast head. I do not know how the
Medusa
allowed herself to be thrown out in that way unless it was that they were so fond of playing on their antagonist’s quarter (which I think very silly, with a ship of equal force) that the other by steering a steady course got to windward of her and ahead withal. We shall know hereafter for I have seen nothing of them since. This squadron consisted of the
Medee
, the admiral’s ship of 42 guns, 28 eighteen pounders on the Main deck, on the quarter deck and fore castle long 9 pounders and 24 pounder carronades; the three others were 36 gun frigates carrying 12 pounders on the Main deck.
La Medee
had about 300 men, the three others viz
La Fama, La Clara
and
La Mercedez
, which last ship blew up, had each from 280 to 300 men. I have not yet been able to determine the amount of the Specie on board this squadron but the most modest account gives it at about 3 million and a half of Dollars on board the three captured ships and about eight hundred thousand on board
La Mercedez
which blew up.

The
Clara
and the
Fama
had sailed from Lima, while the other ships had come from Montevideo. The Spanish Admiral informed Moore that
La Medee
had suffered two men killed and ten wounded during the engagement,

. . . owing to my giving orders to fire particularly at the rigging, for the purpose of preventing their escape, Cadiz being so near. She was accordingly a good deal cut up in the masts and rigging. The
Indefatigable
with her usual good fortune in that respect, did not lose a man, she suffered a little in the sails and rigging.

Moore was immediately anxious to get such valuable prizes away from Cadiz, from whence the Spanish fleet could issue in overwhelming force. The problem was that the rigging of
La Medee
was badly damaged and it took the remainder of the morning to carry out adequate repairs. The
Lively
,
Medusa
and
Fama
had disappeared over the horizon, so Moore began to make his way back to England with his two captives and the
Amphion
. But progress was slow because, for several days, the wind swung round to either the north or the east, blowing directly against them;

I have the Spanish Captain of
La Medee
and about 300 Spaniards on board here. My first Lieutenant John Gore
¹³⁰
with the two Mates and a Midshipman and about 70
Indefatigable
s has charge of
La Medee.
The Spanish admiral, at his own request remains on board
La Medee
, with some of his staff among whom is the Major of the Squadron, whose Wife, a very fine woman, with four Daughters and three sons perished in
La Mercedez.
I have not yet seen any of them as the weather has been rough and I did not think my company could be acceptable so soon after so melancholy an accident. I have no uneasiness for the other ship
La Fama
as there were two of our ships, the
Medusa
and
Lively
, to look after her alone.

The ever-sensitive Moore was clearly not looking forward to his meeting with the Spanish Admiral, and he was dreading the prospect of meeting the Major whose family had been so savagely destroyed in
La Mercedez
. A few days later, he plucked up the courage to visit the Admiral;

He was in bed and very ill. I had a good deal of conversation with him. I endeavoured to console him and to sooth his feelings by telling him that even before his second blew up the force of our squadron was much superior to his, that I was extremely distrest at the dreadful misfortune that had happened and that it was with much regret & very painful to me to be obliged to fire upon the Spaniards in the execution of my orders. He seemed to be a sensible man, said he was satisfied with my conduct but thought it a most extraordinary proceeding on the part of the English Government, wished to know if I considered the Spanish ships as prizes and if I would hoist English colours on board of them when we arrived in England. I told him that my orders went to detaining them, that I had no orders to make Prizes, that his own Flag and Spanish colours should be hoisted when we met the fleet or arrived in England and that the rest would depend on our Government.

Then came the moment that Moore was dreading:

He introduced me to his Major, a most respectable man in appearance, between 50 & 60 years of age, an old captain in the navy, who had been 30 years in South America, employed by the Government in different situations on shore and last in settling the limits between the Spanish and the Portuguese possessions in America. His wife, who was from Paraguay where he had married her, with all his children, five daughters and three sons, who were on board
La Mercedez
, one boy remaining with himself on board
La Medee
, perished before his eyes! The wife was very amiable, the daughters beautiful, the eldest only eighteen. This unfortunate officer seemed to feel his terrible loss with the sensibility of a man and the resignation of a virtuous and pious Christian. I could scarce bear to look in his mild and benevolent countenance. He presented me his only remaining boy 13 years of age. There, he said to me, Sir, is all that remains to me.

By the 13th, the wind had swung in their favour and they were able to make better progress. Running up past the Bay of Biscay, Moore kept a close lookout for the Channel Fleet, hoping that they might escort him to Portsmouth. But no ships were to be seen, so he headed straight for Plymouth, arriving there on 19 October to find the
Lively
and the
Fama
already there. The remaining Spanish frigates were run straight in to Hamoaze, rather than anchoring in the Sound. The
Indefatigable
followed them in, because she was still leaking and repairs could be delayed no longer. However, if her crew were hoping for shore leave, they were to be disappointed. Some of the Spanish sailors were still suffering from fever they had contracted in the West Indies, so everybody was placed in quarantine – everybody, that is, except Moore who managed to get ashore before the Customs Officers came on board. Moore’s ailment, which had become rather serious, resulted in his being given immediate permission to travel to London to seek urgent medical advice. Whilst there, he began to feel the glow of his success: