Frigate Commander (14 page)

On 29 August, the
Bonetta
set sail for St John’s, learning on the way that the frigates
Fox
and
Boston
were already there. On arrival, Moore learned that the
Boston
had engaged the French frigate
L’Embuscade
on 1 August,

... and began a close action at 5 in the morning; after they had fought for an hour the gallant Courtenay and the Officer of marines fell dead by the same shot and the two Lieutenants were carried off the deck wounded, the 1st Lieutenant came upon deck soon after and continued the action for about 20 minutes longer, but having lost the main top mast, cross jack yard, Gaff and not being able to carry any after sail to manage the ship, he thought it prudent to make off as well as he could.
L’Embuscade
stood after her for half an hour and then brought to to repair her damage. It appears that the brave Captn Courtenay engaged this ship under every disadvantage, when he attacked her he had only 190 men and boys on board, one of his Lieutenants and a number of his people being away in a prize; the men that he had were very indifferent, slight hands, and very few of them seamen.
L’Embuscade
had 450 men on board in the action, the shot from her main deck guns weighed 15lbs and she mounted 4 guns more than the
Boston
. In my opinion, and it is that of most people with whom I have conversed on the subject, the action was decided by the death of Courtenay, the men looked up to him very much, he was cheering them up with his voice, and singing Rule Britannia at the moment of his death; the fellows crowded round his body and could not be kept to their quarters until the Lieutenant ordered the body to be thrown overboard. It appears that the design of the French was to board, trusting to their numbers, but they could not effect it. The Marines behaved with great valour and their Officer shewed them a noble example until the moment he fell on the body of Courtenay. I knew this valiant and most amiable Courtenay, he was of the right sort, no man could fall more honourably, I am convinced that he was determined to fight ‘till he died, and that he never would have struck or run from this frigate.

Moore’s retelling of the account of this action is fascinating, because it must have been recorded before the news reached England. The
Boston
, under the acting command of Lieutenant Edwards, had attempted to make the Delaware to carry out repairs after the action. However, on entering that river, Edwards learned that two French frigates were waiting there and he had no option but to press on to St John’s, which is where Moore found him.
L’Embuscade
was certainly the heavier of the two frigates and although her complement was not as great as Moore was told, she certainly carried a much larger crew.
³⁹
What Moore could also probably not know was that there was simmering discontent about Lieutenant Edwards’ treatment of Courtenay’s severely mutilated body. This later emerged as a blatant accusation by the naval historian Edward Brenton, who seemed to imply that Edwards threw Courtenay overboard before he was dead in order to assume command and break off the action. This seems extremely unlikely as Courtenay was killed at 6.20am, and Edwards did not break off the action until 7.07am. Whatever the truth, Edwards had suffered a head wound and had to be sent home to recover
⁴⁰
. When the news of the engagement broke in England, the King granted Courtenay’s widow a pension of £500 per annum, with £50 per annum for each of her two children. Such were the varied rewards for gallantry in action.

At the beginning of September, Moore took the
Bonetta
out to cruise on the Grand Banks once again – where he was also hoping to be the first to meet the Admiral and submit his claim to the command of the
Boston
. Whilst at sea, Moore took the opportunity of putting his gun crews through their paces;

We had a general exercise yesterday with the great guns, we fired a six pounder which I took on board at St John’s and mounted on the Fore Castle, three times within the minute, with great ease. We now mount 19 guns, the Fore Castle gun being a shifting one.

Three rounds in sixty seconds was a very efficient rate, though the speed would be expected to be slower for guns of a larger calibre. Nevertheless, there is evidence that Moore was reasonably diligent in keeping up his ship’s gun practice. Although this is only the first time that Moore mentions it in his journal, his ships’ logs suggest that Moore practised live firing, i.e. with fully loaded guns, at least every five or six weeks. Whilst this was nowhere near as frequent as some of the really crack frigate commanders, it was much more respectable than many officers managed.

To Moore’s irritation, the
Boston
with her temporary commander, Richard Morice, was also waiting at sea to intercept the Admiral. Within a week though, the equinoctial gales had set in, and Moore decided to put in to Harbour Grace, glad of the opportunity of spending some time in sheltered water after what was turning out to be a fruitless duty;

Lord! What a weary drag these last six months have proved! I have been unlucky indeed, but I have nothing to reproach myself with.

When Moore returned to St John’s, he found Admiral MacBride was already there. His representations to the Admiral met with sympathy, but Morice had been recommended as an officer with excellent credentials (including being the son of a naval officer killed in action) – besides which he had already captured a brig. Moore had been half expecting this and accepted the situation graciously – in any event there was little else he could do. The Admiral, however, sweetened the pill by giving him orders to escort the next convoy back across the Atlantic, thereby releasing him from the Newfoundland station. Towards the end of October, the convoy of thirty-six merchantmen – most of which were bound for Spain or Portugal with fish – was ready to depart. Moore joined them in company with the frigate
Cleopatra
, commanded by Captain Alan Ball. The
Bonetta
was now in a highly efficient condition. Regrettably, Moore’s Second Lieutenant had asked to be superseded but the Admiral had agreed to his replacement by Lieutenant Robert Campbell,
‘... a very fine young man, whom I have long known’.
All in all he was now very happy with his officers, and he still had to turn away willing volunteers;

I find the
Bonetta
has a most excellent name, which I attribute as much to the care and attention of the first Lieutenant Mr Martin, as to the good treatment they have always received from me. When Seamen crowd to a Sloop of war to enter as volunteers in preference to a Frigate, it is a sure proof that the Officers of that sloop are loved by the men.

His only concern consisted of fifteen French prisoners of war the Admiral had insisted he should carry back to England. Moore thought that the number was excessive for the size of the sloop. However, he soon found

The French Prisoners give me less trouble than I expected, they are fine stout fellows and behave quietly. When they came on board first I told the principal man amongst them who is a smart, chattering fellow that I was perfectly disposed to make their situation as comfortable as possible, that they should be perfectly at liberty to walk about during the day, but that at night, I expected they were to be in the place allotted for them to sleep in. I turned all hands up and addressing myself to our seamen and marines I told them that I expected they would show their generosity to these poor fellows in treating them kindly, and that I should feel grieved and ashamed if they had any cause to complain of us. I then took the opportunity to remark to them . . . that we had some chance of meeting an enemy, and that, from my confidence in the ship’s company, I had no doubt but we should play our part, and with such men I would be very happy to go alongside of a much superior force. The lads seemed to relish this last touch, as they instantly gave three cheers and one of the quarter Masters damned the Dog that would not stand by me while there was a shot in the locker. Indeed I ought to be proud of commanding such fellows, the ship is better manned than ever she was, and they are attached to me and to the officers.

On 30 October, the convoy set off in heavy seas. Ball, who was as keen as Moore on taking a good prize, had issued a standing order to chase any strange vessel sighted. In fact he had offered a three-guinea reward to the first of the
Cleopatra’
s crew to spot any prize they subsequently took. However, in the two weeks it took them to reach Portugal, they sighted only one other vessel, and she proved to be nothing of interest. Having delivered their convoy, the
Cleopatra
and
Bonetta
sailed south to Cadiz where they were due to collect a convoy for England. Arriving there on around 20 November, they learned that the convoy would not be ready to sail until 4 December. After a few days waiting idle in port, both commanders were keen to get to sea again, and it was decided they should take a brief cruise to see what they could pick up. The decision almost led to serious trouble. A day out of Cadiz the two ships sighted a squadron of four ships, which included a ship of the line. Uncertain who the strangers were, Moore and Ball cleared their ships for action, and Ball hoisted English colours and signalled by firing a single gun. The strangers responded by hoisting Portuguese colours. Ball signalled to
Bonetta
to tack to eastward towards the Straits of Gibraltar, and then ran alongside to speak to Moore. Shouting across the narrow water between the two ships, Ball explained that he thought the ships were genuinely Portuguese, but given the superior firepower of the squadron, he didn’t want to risk being surprised if they were French, so would keep a safe distance from them. Suspicions were not allayed when the strangers appeared to follow the two English ships, keeping to windward of them, and then there was real alarm when the wind shifted and the ship of the line suddenly bore down towards the
Bonetta
. Ball quickly brought the
Cleopatra
close in support of the smaller ship and the stranger veered away. After dark, the
Cleopatra
and
Bonetta
doused their lights and tacking to westward, had the satisfaction of seeing the lights of the mysterious squadron continue to leeward. As senior officer, Ball was in command during this encounter, and Moore was highly impressed with his behaviour. A day or two later he joined Ball for dinner aboard the
Cleopatra
and was again impressed by all he saw on board her and her commander’s professionalism;

He spares no pains to improve his ship’s company, and to put his ship in the most perfect state for real service, but he has the manly sense to despise the silly refinements which some of our most promising young officers are dazzled with, and with which they are too apt to harass and disgust our seamen. He is blest with a humane and gentle disposition which is not of that nature which is content with doing no harm and mere wishing for the happiness of others, but appears by his unremitting attention to the wants, and his active exertions to improve and meliorate the condition, of that animal to whose peculiar character I am thoroughly persuaded we owe our unrivalled Naval superiority, I mean the British Jack tar.

Four days later, as dawn broke, the two ships sighted a large stranger to leeward. Ball and Moore both watched the ship closely, agreeing that she must be a two-decker, but she showed no colours and failed to respond to the private signal.
Cleopatra
and
Bonetta
reduced sail until only their topsails were set, and warily watched the other ship passing on the opposite tack. But then she began to close, working up towards the two smaller ships. Moore was convinced now that she was at least a 48- or 50-gun ship, and possibly Dutch. They tacked to escape;

Ball asked me, with a half laugh, if I thought her more than a match for us, I answered that I thought her much more than that. We continued to run from her with all our sail. At Sun set she was still in chase, but we wronged her.

The cruise proved fruitless, for all the vessels they stopped turned out to be Portuguese and the only real potential prize they saw was a privateer brig which escaped them after nightfall. On 1 December, they turned back towards Cadiz, only to have the wind turn against them. Fretting continually about the delay they were causing the convoy, they eventually arrived on 10 December to find that the convoy was still not ready to sail. Finally, on Christmas Eve, they sailed for England. Moore fully expected to encounter
‘St. Nicholas’s Clerk’s’
(i.e. French cruisers) before reaching Spithead. The prospect did not dismay him in the slightest; in fact he was rather relishing the idea, commenting

I see no hopes of promotion but by a desperate fight, and I certainly would rather owe it to that than to Bum-kissing.

It was perhaps with this in mind that he had been studying
The Essay On Naval Tactics, Systematical And Historical
, by John Clerk, who, being a fellow Scot, he was naturally drawn to.
⁴¹
Moore appreciated that Clerk was not a naval man, but still considered the work one of the best he had read (which suggests not only that there were more than a few tracts on this subject but also that he had read them):

I most completely agree with him in the folly of attacking an Enemy’s whole line instead of bending your force against his rear; independent of the infinite disadvantage you fight your enemy at by running along his line, it is most certain that, supposing you could even place your ships, without annoy, alongside of the Enemy, ship for ship, and with the weather Gauge (the point which we have always contended for and which we have so little profited by) we should in all probability make but an indecisive battle of it, as it is next to an impossibility that the whole line should be beat at once, and when any ship in the leeward line finds her place too hot for her, she has only to run to leeward of her own line, when she is completely safe, as the ship which attacked her cannot follow her, to be cut off from her own line.