HMS Swiftsure

“ When the Swiftsure appeared off Civita Vecchia, a French officer of distinction came on board with a flag of truce; hut nothing was then decided upon. At another time, when some Neapolitan vessels, supposing the place was evacuated by the French, were making towards it, the French armed-boats, and gun-vessels of a large size, pushed out to bring them in; but the boats of the Swiftsure were sent to their assistance, and soon made the enemy retire, pursuing them with great spirit till under the guns of their own batteries, and nearly capturing them. ”

“ At 3-30 a.m. on the 23d, attracted by the cries of the people, the Swiftsure again sent her boats, and, from three rafts which the French crew, amidst a dreadful night of wind, rain, and lightning, had constructed from the spars of their sunken ship, saved fifty more of the sufferers. The remaining survivors of the Redoubtable’s late officers and crew, thirteen of the Temeraire’s men, and five of the Swiftsure’s, perished in her. ”

“ Boats were sent scouring after the Swiftsure, but could get no news of the missing earl. The other ships stayed in Plymouth ten days longer for a fair wind, but the Swiftsure came back no more until the expedition was at an end. Drake and Norris wrote nearly every day until they sailed disclaiming any knowledge of Essex or his intention to join the force, and expressing their deep sorrow; but the Queen did not believe them, and from that time had nothing but hard words and sour looks for an adventure that had robbed her of her favourite. ”

“ Others decide that it was due to premature ignition of combustibles arranged by the French to burn the English ships. The truth will never be known now. At any rate, all of the Swiftsure’s guns which would bear were directed to fire upon the seat of combustion. It was soon evident that they were firing with precision—for the French could not approach the spot. The Bellerophon, much damaged by her powerful opponent, and fearing fire for herself, now cut her stern cable, loosed her spirit-sail, and wore clear of the Orient’s guns. ”

“ The Swiftsure, whose distance from l’Orient did not exceed half-pistol shot, saved the lives of the First Lieutenant, Commissary, and 10 men. The situation of the Swiftsure and Alexander was perilous in the extreme. The expected explosion of such a ship as l’Orient was to be dreaded, as involving all around in certain destruction. Captain Hallowell, however, determined not to move from his station, though repeatedly urged to do so. He observed the advantage he possessed of being to windward of the burning ship. ”

“ The Alexander and Swiftsure, having been sent to look into Alexandria, was the cause of their being so late in the action. Poor Trowbridge, in trying to make the shortest way to the enemy, being too far astern, struck upon a reef; his ship is since got off with the loss of her rudder and some damage to her bottom, so that he had no share in the glorious victory. I believe, had not the Culloden struck, the Alexander and Swiftsure, in the dark, would probably have got into her situation, so that the accident may be fortunate, as she was a buoy to them. ”

“ Had not the Swiftsure been sent in chase to the southward, in all probability not one of them would have escaped. The prizes had quicksilver on board, to the amount of 140 tons, which was intended to work the mines of Peru and Mexico. Five days after this event, Captain Hallowell took a Spanish schooner from Malaga bound to Vera Cruz, which had taken shelter under the guns of the Moorish Castle of Larache, but put to sea again as soon as the remainder of the squadron left the African coast on their return to Gibraltar. The Swiftsure subsequently received the flag of Sir Richard Bickerton ”

“ For the next three months the Swiftsure remained on the coast of Italy, where Hallowell was actively employed, under Troubridge, in the reduction of Saint Elmo, Capua, and Civita Vecchia; in acknowledgment of which services he received from the king of Naples the order of St. Ferdinand and Merit, and a snuffbox bearing the royal cipher in diamonds. Towards the end at the year the Swiftsure joined Rear-adminal Duckworth at Minorca, and accompanied him to Lisbon, on which station and off Cadiz she remained. ”

“ All the same, when the Swiftsure's officer came on board to receive his sword, he insisted on being taken on board the Monmouth and surrendering it to the commanding officer of that ship, to Lieutenant Carkett, giving it up, we are told, 'with great politeness.' A story was told afterwards that the French commodore expressed himself in bitter terms, and shed tears next morning when in full daylight, at close quarters, he saw the small size of the Monmouth as compared with his own splendid ship. ”

“ For a few awed minutes every gun was dumb. Then the Franklin, the French ship that had taken fire, began the fight again. But the Defence and Swiftsure brought down her masts, silenced nearly all her guns, and forced her to surrender. By midnight the first seven ships in that gallant French line had all been taken or sunk; every man who could be saved being brought on board the victorious British men-of-war and, of course, well treated there. The eighth Frenchman, the Tonnant, still kept up the fight, hoping to stop the British from getting at the five astern. ”

“ The Frenchman’s principal object having been to dismantle the Swiftsure, her loss in killed and wounded was not so great as might have been expected; only 2 men were killed, and 8, including Lieutenant Davis, wounded, 2 of them mortally; but the ship was so much cut up, that although the whole of the artificers of the French squadron were employed in repairing her damages, it was six days before the Indivisible, by which ship she had been taken in tow, cast her off to make sail. ”

“ In the four days' battle off the North Foreland he commanded as vice-admiral of the white squadron, his flag still flying in the Swiftsure, which, being cut off from the fleet, was surrounded and captured by the Dutch after the admiral and most of her men had been slain, 1 June 1666. ”

“ The other two line-of-battle ships, the Jean Bart and Constitution, of 74 guns each, now tacked in order to fetch into the Swiftsure’s wake, and were ranging up on her quarter within gun-shot, reserving their fire till they closed, when, her masts, yards, and rigging being cut to pieces, the decks lumbered with the wreck, all hopes of escape cut off, and no prospect of succour presenting itself, Captain Hallowell, to avoid further useless effusion of blood, determined to surrender to superior numbers ”

“ The sunshine of mate and captain vanished with the serene sky, as the rigging of the jury-mast was retarded, and the sailors exercised their ancient privilege of grumbling on every thing that “turned up,” or “didn’t turn up,” as the case might be. Five, ten, fifteen disconsolate days above and below, until from the change in the vessel’s course, and a [86] momentary condescension on the captain’s part, it was discovered that the Swiftsure was nearing Rio, to refit and take in fresh provisions. ”

“ The Commissioners complained despondingly that they were unable to progress with the new fleet while the back wages were unpaid, and ‘the continual clamour ... doth much distract and discourage us.’ [981] The Swiftsure at Portsmouth had only 150 instead of 250 men, of whom 50 were raw boys, and all the other ships there were but half manned. Palmer, commanding in the Downs, had never suffered such extremity even in war time, he said, and his men flatly refused to work unless they were fed, a really justifiable form of strike. ”

“ The Swiftsure, after touching at Palermo, Minorca, and Gibraltar, proceeded to Lisbon, at which place she arrived on the 30th Nov. in company with the Leviathan, Powerful, Vanguard, and Bellerophon, the whole under the orders of Rear-Admiral Duckworth. On the 6th Dec. the squadron again put to sea, and cruized for some time, in very stormy weather, on the coast of Spain, during which Captain Hallowell captured two merchant vessels. ”

“ The Bellerophon lost 49 men killed and 148 wounded. The Majestic, 50, killed, including her captain Westcott, and 143 wounded. Between them they suffered a greater loss than all the ships of Jervis’s squadron at the battle of Cape St. Vincent. But now the vessels which had not been near enough to take part in the first attack began to come in. The Swiftsure attacked the Franklin and the Alexander, L’Orient. They were joined by the little Leander which had been delayed by her efforts to drag off the ever unlucky Culloden, which had grounded on the Aboukir shoal. ”

“ Three days after Christmas the Deptford squadron took up their moorings in “Jillingham water.”
[21]
“Powerful vessels ... with little tophamper and very light, which is a great advantage for close quarters and with much artillery, the heavy pieces being close to the water,” reported, in a confidential letter now in the royal archives at Simancas, one of the King of Spain’s agents in England who saw the Dreadnought and Swiftsure not long after they had joined the Medway fleet. So too, indeed, some of King Philip’s sailors were destined to find out for themselves. ”

“ In the mean time, on the morning of the 11th, the Swiftsure brought into the fleet a captured French corvette of eighteen guns, and seventy men, called La Fortune. On the 12th, Sir James Saumarez, captain of the Orion, was directed to take the Bellerophon, Minotaur, Defence, Audacious, Theseus, and Majestic, under his command; and proceed with the prizes, Le Souverain Peuple, Conquerant, Spartiate, Aquilon, Franklin, and Tonnant, for Gibraltar: where, if he found no orders, he was to join the commander in chief off Cadiz, or go to Lisbon. ”

“ Unhappily, on his passage he fell in with the hostile squadron on the 24th June, 1801. Perceiving the very superior force of the enemy, he endeavoured to escape from them; but the leaky and foul condition of the Swiftsure was ill-matched for the fast sailing Frenchmen. Captain Hallowell, finding there was no prospect of getting away from them by keeping on a wind, determined to bear down and engage the ships to leeward, consisting of two sail of the line and a frigate, in hopes that if he crippled them he might obtain his object ”

“ In January 1626-7 we have a report on the qualities of the new ships added since 1618, and built under Burrell’s superintendence while he was the Commissioners’ principal subordinate. The Constant Reformation is said to be strongly built and seaworthy, but cannot work her lower tier in a moderate sea; the Victory weakly built and crank, as is also the Garland which is a slow sailer as well. The Swiftsure, Bonaventure, and Mary Rose are all condemned as badly built, crank, or slow under sail. The St George, St Andrew, and Triumph are awarded faint praise. ”

“ He subsequently commanded the Arethusa of 38 guns, in Sir John B. Warren’s expedition against Quiberon [3] .
In the summer of 1804, our officer was appointed to the Swiftsure of 74 guns; in which ship, after cruising for some time on the coast of Spain, he accompanied Lord Nelson to the West Indies in pursuit of the combined fleets of France and Spain [4] . He afterwards commanded the Royal Sovereign, a first rate, and the Gibraltar of 80 guns. ”

“ He designed ships for several foreign navies, including those of Turkey, Japan, Germany, Chili, and Brazil, and of these three, the Neptune in 1877, and the sister ships Swiftsure and Triumph in 1903, were bought into the royal navy. ”

“ Barbastro and most of his crew escaped by jumping overboard; but 33 prisoners were secured by only 13 English. ↑ Of 149 officers and men, 15 were killed and 53 including Lieutenant Spilsbury, wounded. The gun-boat sustained so much damage that she sunk when on her return to Gibraltar. ↑ The above officer was made a Commander for his gallantry as first Lieutenant of the Swiftsure 74, at the glorious battle of Trafalgar. He was, we believe, the son of a Master in the royal navy. ↑ Termagant, a post-sloop, Captain Gawen William Hamilton; aud Basilisk gun-brig, Lieutenant George French. ”

“ This officer obtained his first commission on the 21st March, 1812, and was severely wounded, while serving as lieutenant of the Swiftsure 74, Captain Edward Stirling Dickson, at the capture, by boarding, of le Charlemagne French privateer schooner, of 8 guns and 93 men, near Corsica, Nov. ”

“ Mr. Sharp was still unconscious, nor was Mr. Swift able to help. He lay with his eyes closed. Garret Jackson, however, managed to crawl to the engine-room, and soon the clank of machinery told Tom that the pumps were in motion. The lad staggered to the pilot house and threw the levers over. An instant later there was the hissing of water as it rushed from the ballast tanks. The submarine shivered, as though disliking to leave the bottom of the sea, and then slowly rose. As the pumps worked more rapidly, and the sea was sent from the tank in great volumes, the boat fairly shot to the surface. ”

“ It will produce the most wonderful results, I'm sure. Besides, the government prize is no small one. It is fifty thousand dollars for a successful boat."
Mr. Swift told something more about his submarine, but, as I expect to treat of that in another book, I will not dwell on it here, as I know you are anxious to learn what happened on the trip of the Red Cloud.
"Well," remarked Mr. Sharp, somewhat dubiously, "I wonder who we can get to go? We need someone besides you and I, Tom."
"I s'pose I could get Eradicate Sampson, and his mule Boomerang," replied the lad with a smile. ”