Henry Raikes

RETURN TO MALTA TO REFIT.—SUDDEN OFFER OF JOINING THE EXPEDITION AGAINST THE IONIAN ISLANDS AS SUDDENLY ACCEPTED.—CAPTURE OF ZANTE, CEPHALONIA, AND CERIGO.—APPROBATION OF LORD COLLINGWOOD.—CRUIZE ON THE COAST OF ITALY.—ACTION OFF NAPLES, VICTORY, AND SEVERE WOUND; CARRIED TO PALERMO AND MALTA.—LETTERS ON THE SUBJECT, AND EXTRACT FROM HIS PERSONAL MEMORANDA.—SAILS FOR ENGLAND.

After the evacuation of these Islands, the Spartan was sent to convey the Sicilian troops to Palermo, and from thence was ordered to Messina. It was at this time that her Captain first heard, in a conversation with the Commander of the Forces, Sir John Stuart, and Captain Spranger, the senior Captain of that Port, of an intended attack upon the Ionian Islands, when Captain Spranger mentioned that the Spartan was to be one of the squadron for that expedition. The ship however having been ordered subsequently to Malta to refit, was sent from thence to Palermo; but having met with bad weather off Pantellaria, and received much injury in the foremast, they were under the necessity of bearing up again for Malta, and the ship was hauled under the shear for the purpose of having the mast taken out. Whilst undergoing this repair in the latter end of September, Captain Brenton was dining with Sir Alexander Ball, the Port Admiral at Sant Antonio, and after dinner Sir Alexander took him aside, and communicated to him a letter which he had just received from Captain Spranger at Messina, informing him that the expedition against the Ionian Islands was on the point of sailing, but no mention was made of the Spartan, as that ship was considered as detached, or on other service. Captain Brenton repeated to Sir Alexander the conversation above alluded to with Captain Spranger respecting the expedition; and requested, as the service upon which he had been recently employed, was not of very great importance, that he might be dispatched to Zante, the first Island to be attacked, where he might yet be in time. Sir Alexander expressed his apprehension that from the state in which the Spartan then was, she could not be ready for some days, and that it would be consequently too late. Captain Brenton urged that he might be permitted to make the trial; and having received the sanction of his kind friend, immediately set off for Valletta. By the time he could get on board the ship at the dock yard it was nearly nine o’clock, and the people were all in their hammocks; but the hands were at once turned up, and no sooner was the cause known, than all was joy and alacrity. The foremast had been got in that evening, but the rigging was on shore. The keys of the dock-yard, with the attendance of the officers was forthwith procured; the spars for making the topsail yards were got upon the quarter-deck, and the carpenters of the ship employed in making them. Before daylight great progress was made in rigging the ship. The artificers of the dock-yard now came on board, and caulking and other repairs went on rapidly. By five o’clock in the evening the ship began to warp down to the entrance of the harbour, and as no powder could be received on board while in the dockyard, the launch was sent to receive it at the magazine; and to wait in Bizzy Bay for the ship. At six o’clock the artificers were put into their boats, leaving much of their work undone, and even the caulking stages hanging over the side. The ship made sail with a fair wind out of the harbour, and picking up the launch, ran clear of the port, when the powder was taken on board, the boats hoisted in, and all sail made for Zante, where they arrived on the morning of the 8th, but no ships were seen there. Captain Brenton immediately proceeded to make his observations as to the batteries and landing, with whatever other remarks which might be useful in making the attack; and having passed the day in this service, the next morning when running round the N.E. end of the Island, he had the pleasure of seeing the Warrior, Belle Poule, Philomel, and transports. He was on board the Warrior at seven, to the great surprize of Captain Spranger, who was much gratified by the information Captain Brenton had brought him, and on which the General (Oswald) and the Commander immediately began to form the plan of attack. The troops landed the following morning under cover of the Spartan and Belle Poule’s guns, and after a very little resistance a flag of truce was hung out from the fortress, and in the course of the evening the Island surrendered.

On the 10th the Commodore proceeded next to attack Cephalonia, the Commandant of which surrendered without resistance, on the squadron entering the bay; and as soon as it was taken possession of, Captain Spranger detached Captain Brenton in the Spartan, with two companies of the 35th regiment to attack Cerigo; permitting him to call on his way off Zante, and to take one of the prizes captured there with the Island, a beautiful brigantine, which he was to man from the Spartan, and with a portion of the 35th to accompany him in attacking Cerigo. The Spartan arrived off Cerigo, and as Captain Spranger’s orders were positive as to running no risk of losing men, in the event of the enemy being found in force, and as a large body of troops were seen in the castle of Capsali, a very strong fortress, and a detachment at the port in the Bay of Capsali; some doubt was entertained by Captain Brenton and Major Clarke commanding the detachment of the 35th, as to the propriety of making the attack. Captain Brenton quoted Lord Nelson’s sentiments upon such a case. “Whenever there is a doubt,” said the hero, “always fight; the public will bear you out, whatever may be the consequences;” and this at once decided the question.—The following letter gives the particulars of the result of this conclusion.

It is stated in the official letter respecting the capture of Cerigo, that the Governor of this Island was made a prisoner on the taking of Zante, and that papers containing much useful information had been found upon him. Amongst others, was the copy of a letter from him to the Governor of Corfu, stating that some Mainotes (natives of the Morea) having landed on the Island of Cerigo, he had endeavoured in vain to drive them off again, but not succeeding by his arguments—he added,—“Enfin je me suis avise de leur fair empoisoner les eaux, et par ce moyen quelques uns de ces misÉrables ont pÉri, et les autres s’enfuirent.” Appalling as such an acknowledgment may be, and evidently given to the Governor of Corfu as a happy stratagem, for which the abominable perpetrator took credit, it had quite escaped the recollection of Captain Brenton; and his whole party might have become the victims of this unheard of system of treachery, but for the advice of a Greek Priest, who came to the British officers in the night, whilst on their march to attack the Castle of Capsali, and recommended that they should immediately place sentinels on the stream from which they took their water, and accurately examine it, if possible, to its source. He then repeated the story of poisoning the Mainotes, and explained how it had been done. A vast quantity of arsenic had been put into the body of a dead hog, and placed in the stream, above the spot where these people had encamped, and the water filtering through it became a deadly poison. On taking possession of the castle, Captain Brenton asked the Governor’s housekeeper whether the story was true; her answer was quite in character with the establishment to which she belonged, “E vero,” said she, “ma non cattivo.”

After the capture of the Ionian Islands, the squadron under Captain Spranger with the troops returned to Sicily, and Captain Brenton was left to cruize off the Islands, in order to be in readiness to give any assistance that might be required.

The following are Captain Brenton’s own reflections at this period of his life.

“After the capture of Cerigo all active service ceased for the remainder of the year. I had the gratifying experience of having entirely gained the good opinion and confidence of the Commander in Chief. You will not fail, my darling children, to observe, and I hope with sincere gratitude, the blessings bestowed upon your father by a kind providence, which made the most untoward and unpromising circumstances turn out to his advantage; which preserved his life from the violence of the enemy, and the danger of the seas; and strengthened his health under every trial. ‘O! that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and the wonders that he doth to the children of men.’ This delightful verse ought never to be absent from our minds, when we contemplate the numerous blessings we have received.”

While thus employed, he was naturally anxious to become acquainted with the resources of these Islands, and to learn the dispositions of the inhabitants towards their new allies; for in that light only could the English be considered; as they had, on hauling down the French flag, not hoisted their own, but that of the Septinsular Republic. The following letter to Lord Collingwood, will give in a condensed form, the substance of the information he had obtained.

Captain Brenton soon after received the following gratifying letter from the Commander in chief upon the subject of the attack upon Cerigo.

This letter was followed by another in the month of January, 1810.

Early in December the Spartan was ordered to proceed to Malta and refit, and in the beginning of January she sailed for Messina, and resumed her station under the command of Rear Admiral Martin, by whom Captain Brenton was sent off to Naples, in order to watch the movements of Murat, and his army intended for the invasion of Sicily. During the month of March he remained by the Rear Admiral’s directions in the port of Messina, to direct the movements of the frigates and small vessels under the Rear Admiral’s command, and to render all the assistance in his power to the British army charged with the defence of Sicily. Early in April he sailed for Naples, and continued cruising between that place, and the Island of Sicily, but without any material circumstance occurring until the 25th; when on that morning, being off Terracina with the Success and Espoir in company, several vessels were observed coming along shore, to which the British squadron immediately gave chase. The enemy ran for Terracina, and anchored in a small bay near the town, defended by two batteries, the following is Captain Brenton’s official letter to Rear Admiral Martin.

The little squadron continued cruizing off the bay of Naples until the 30th of April, when the Espoir was detached with the usual report of the enemy’s vessels to the Rear Admiral.

In the midst of this trying, stirring, anxious life, it may be well to introduce an extract from a letter written home at this period, which shews that the energy and firmness of professional character were not incompatible with those softer feelings which form the happiness of domestic life; but that one principle suggested and supplied the elements of each.

On the 1st of May, the Spartan and Success having been a little to the northward of Ischia, Captain Brenton on re-entering the bay of Naples in the afternoon of that day, was not a little surprised to find the enemy’s squadron so far out in the bay, as to give him a very reasonable prospect of bringing them to action, before they could regain the mole; and every sail was instantly set, and every effort made by both ships for this purpose; but the unsteadiness of the wind favoured them, and they were under shelter of the guns of Naples, before the two frigates could get within gun shot. This was felt by every one as a severe disappointment, and particularly by Captain Brenton, to whom this appeared as a golden opportunity snatched from him. The two frigates remained in the bay all the following day, the weather being squally, and the wind all round the compass. Captain Brenton having given up all hopes that the enemy would venture out, as long as the Success was in company, made the signal for her Captain, and gave him orders to proceed ten leagues S.W. of the Island of Capri, thinking it probable that if only one frigate were in sight of the signal posts in the morning, the enemy would not hesitate with their superior force, consisting of a frigate of forty guns, a corvette of twenty-eight, a cutter of ten, and eight heavy gun boats, to attack her; especially should she be near their own batteries, under which they might retreat in case of being crippled.

In this he was not disappointed, for at six o’clock in the morning the whole squadron was seen coming out of the mole, and steering directly for the Spartan. The following is the official account of this, the last action in which Captain Brenton was engaged; as the wound received upon this occasion prevented his serving afloat for any length of time.

In addition to these, it was afterwards known that Murat had in the morning embarked four hundred Swiss troops in the different vessels, in order to make sure of carrying the Spartan by boarding. They were dressed in red like English marines, and extended the whole length of the vessels in which they were embarked, with their muskets; a dreadful carnage must have been made amongst them.

Captain Brenton was wounded whilst standing on the capstan, the only place from whence he could see his numerous opponents. It was by a grape shot striking him on the left hip bone. As he did not at first feel the blow to be very severe, he concluded it to have been given by some of the ropes, which were falling in great numbers from aloft, as cut away by the shot. He jumped from the capstan, and came down on his right leg, but the left could not support him, and he fell; and then blood was seen to issue from his back. He instantly thought of Lord Nelson’s wound in the spine, and concluded from the little pain experienced, that his must have been the same. He was carried below, and on cutting out the shot, the surgeon discovered that the wound was not mortal.

When the action was over, the brig that had been captured was taken in tow, and proved to be Murat’s royal yacht, sent out for the purpose of strengthening the squadron. On the sea breeze setting in, Mr. Willes, the first Lieutenant, who had also been wounded, paraded the prize before the mole of Naples, and then made sail out of the bay. On the following morning the Success and Espoir joined, and their surgeons were found most welcome assistants to the surgeon of the Spartan, who had none of his own. His conduct indeed was most meritorious, and for the first week he was continually, night and day, passing from the sick bay to the Captain’s cabin, hardly known to take either rest or food.

The Spartan proceeded to Palermo, on her way to Malta; and the prize under Lieutenant Baumgardt was sent to Messina, in order to take Captain Hoste to head quarters, and from thence to proceed to Malta.

On the arrival of the Spartan at Palermo, an extraordinary order had been given that all vessels, from whatever place, should be put under quarantine, until liberated by order of the prime minister. This was the first instance since the Spartan had been upon the station. No sooner was the Admiral informed of the circumstance, than he sent off an express to the court, then at some distance in the country.

In the mean time Lord Amherst, the British Ambassador, embarked with the Admiral in his barge, and came off to the Spartan; and as they were prevented by the quarantine laws from coming on board, they both mounted the stern ladders as high as the cabin windows, where Captain Brenton having ordered his cot to be hung near them, had an opportunity of conversing with his kind friends. Such an instance as an Ambassador and an Admiral suspended on two rope ladders, hanging over the stern of a ship, was probably never seen before, nor is it likely to recur. It is only mentioned here, to shew their kind solicitude to afford comfort to their suffering countrymen, for this was their object; and as soon as they knew what means were the most likely to supply this, they returned on shore, and boats were sent off, not only with fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables, but with every delicacy from the Ambassador’s splendid table, for the use of the wounded. No pratique having been obtained that evening, Captain Brenton directed the first Lieutenant to weigh before day-light the following morning, and on the 10th they reached Malta, and were received in the most enthusiastic manner by all classes of persons, who seemed to vie with each other in testifying every possible act of kindness.

Captain Brenton was immediately taken on shore, to the house of his kind friend, Dr. Allen, the surgeon of the naval hospital, from whom, and his amiable family, he received the most unwearied attention. But as the situation of Dr. Allen’s house had not the advantage of air and space which the Admiralty house possessed, the Commander in chief of the forces, Sir Hildebrand Oakes, in whose charge the house then was, requested Captain Brenton might be carried thither, and here he remained whilst his ship was refitting, with every possible advantage that the island or climate could offer. The wounded of the ship having of course been sent to the naval hospital; Mr. Williamson, the surgeon of the Spartan, most kindly and most affectionately devoted himself to his Captain, whom he seldom quitted but to procure accounts from his wounded shipmates, or to obtain for him some luxury which he thought might be acceptable. Of these there was no want, for the General, and indeed almost all the principal families were continually sending whatever they thought might afford nutriment in the feeble state of the patient.

Soon after his arrival at Malta, Captain Brenton received the following letter from his excellent friend the Rear Admiral.

The Rear Admiral had, indeed, as he observes in his letter, most fully expressed his sentiments, public and private, as far as related to Captain Brenton, in his interview with him at the cabin windows of the Spartan, and they were of the most flattering, the most gratifying, and the most affectionate description. He said upon that occasion, “My dear Brenton, this is a bad climate for wounds, I am anxious you should be at home. If you wish it, I will take the responsibility upon myself, and order the Spartan to England. I am sure the Commander in chief will approve of my doing so. A frigate will be required to take Mr. Arbuthnot, our minister, from Constantinople to England, and I will appoint the Spartan for that purpose. He may be expected at Malta every day.” This Captain Brenton joyfully accepted, as he felt that a long time must elapse before he could again be fit for active service; and his only wish now was to be restored as soon as possible to his family, where he knew happiness awaited him, if any where in this world.

His friend, for well he might call him so, Lord Collingwood, was now no more, having sunk under the disease, against which he had long struggled. For the last year of his life his feeling and his regard for Captain Brenton had become very warm, as may be seen by his official letters; and he undoubtedly left a strong recommendation of him to his successor, as one of the first acts of Sir Charles Cotton was to appoint Captain Brenton to the command of the squadron in the Adriatic, a situation which had long been the object of his wishes. It now however came when he could no longer avail himself of it. It reached him the day after he was wounded.

The last letter he received from Lord Collingwood was one so peculiarly his own, and so comprehensive in a short space, that it may not be amiss to insert it.

Further accounts of the 3rd May from Captain Brenton’s notes to his children.

“In the beginning of the year 1810, I was sent to resume my station on the coast of Italy. Naples was now made the principal point of my observation, in consequence of the enemy having increased their little squadron, by the addition of numerous gun boats, and threatening Sicily with invasion by crossing the straits of Messina. As it was of the utmost importance to keep this squadron blockaded up in Naples, I was ordered on this service, and on the 3rd of May, the action took place in which I was wounded; the details of which you will find in their place in my letter book. There are some however that I could only communicate to those as nearly interested in them, as you are my dear children; and even to you, perhaps, I should not have mentioned them, but to shew you the efficacy and comfort of a humble trust in God. I know you will be deeply interested in everything I write, and as this book is only intended for your perusal, I shall not risk censure for egotism. In going down to the enemy I put up a short but fervent prayer to the Almighty, that he would receive your beloved mother and yourselves under his holy protection, and bless you, and that he would enable me to do my duty to my country. At no one period of my life do I ever remember to have been more serene and tranquil; and when my excellent friend Williamson, the surgeon, as he left the deck to go to his station, said in a low voice, as I shook him by the hand, “Now sir, here is victory or Westminster Abbey for you,” I experienced a feeling of animation which is not usual with me on common occasions.[17] As I have in this book given you many instances in which your beloved mother derived strength and comfort under trials, by her trust and confidence in God; I wish to shew you how much in unison our feelings were, on this, as on all other subjects; and I am most anxious to impress upon your minds, my darling children, a habit of putting your cause into the hands of your Creator, in every event of your lives. He will be a tower of strength to you, and whether you fail in your worldly expectations, or that they are crowned with success, it will equally tend to your ultimate and your eternal happiness.”

With the action of the 3rd of May, Captain Brenton’s service in the Mediterranean concluded. “The day after the action,” he adds, “I received dispatches from Admiral Martin, containing my orders to proceed to the Adriatic, for the purpose of taking the command of the squadron there, but I was no longer in a situation to avail myself of it. On the following day we arrived at Palermo, but were put under quarantine. The Ambassador and the Admiral kindly came off to see me, but could not come on board. The Admiral was anxious to know my wishes, and instantly complied with my request, that the Spartan might be sent to England. It appeared to be the only means of giving me a chance of recovery. I was accordingly ordered to Malta to refit, and to take home Mr. Adair, the British minister, from Constantinople. We had a most favourable passage to Malta, to the great comfort and advantage of the wounded. Should it ever be in your power, my dear children, to shew kindness to the family of my excellent friend, Dr. Allen, do not neglect to do it. To his kindness and hospitality I am greatly indebted, under Providence, for my life. I was for some time so extremely exhausted in consequence of my wound, that my recovery was almost despaired of. I seldom felt any great apprehensions myself, with the exception of one day, when from extreme pain and languor, I had reason to suppose my end approaching. I remember with humble gratitude the tranquil and resigned feeling I experienced, and the comfort I enjoyed from a recollection of the indescribable affection which had united your beloved mother and myself. The dangerous symptoms however soon abated. I was carried to my ship, and sailed on the 10th June with a convoy for England.”