The Project Gutenberg EBook of Soldiers and Sailors, by George Mogridge This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Soldiers and Sailors or, Anecdotes, Details, and Recollections of Naval and Military Life, as Related to His Nephews, by an Old Officer. Author: George Mogridge Illustrator: John Gilbert Release Date: September 14, 2018 [EBook #57903] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOLDIERS AND SAILORS *** Produced by Richard Tonsing and Brian Coe, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. LONDON: S. & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane. TIPPOO SAIB. SOLDIERS AND SAILORS; OR, ANECDOTES, DETAILS, AND RECOLLECTIONS OF NAVAL AND MILITARY LIFE, AS RELATED TO HIS NEPHEWS, BY AN OLD OFFICER. WITH MORE THAN FIFTY ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, FROM DESIGNS BY JOHN GILBERT. LONDON: JOHN HARRIS, ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD. 1842. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Soldiers and Sailors.—Recruiting sergeant, officer and Jack-tar.—Generals and Admirals.—Which is the braver, the Red-coat or the Blue-jacket?—Cavalry and Infantry.—Engineers, Artillery, and Marines.—Not all sunshine with soldiers and sailors.—The old Soldier.—Different opinions about war.—When are sailors most steady?—A standing rule for a soldier. Page 1 CHAPTER II. A general rule for the conduct of a good soldier.—The beginning of sailors.—The origin of the British army.— The oldest regiment in the service.—Description of the life-guards.—British soldiers and sailors the best in the world.—The Flemish brig and the Deal galley.—The French sloop and the British fisherman.—The black trumpeter and the bold soldier.—A soldier should attend to his own duty. 12 CHAPTER III. British sailors.—A hearty cheer.—Seamen are sad clumsy fellows in some things.—The pretended sailor.—Jack in the wherry.—A squall.—The chain cable.—The sailor’s marriage.—The arrival.—Banns.—Disappointment. —Doctors’ Commons.—Licence.—The church gates.—The robing-room.—The ceremony.—The Prayer Book.—The Bible.—Jack happy. 24 CHAPTER IV. Discipline.—Standing in a proper position.—Young soldiers for the East Indies.—The Articles of War in the army and the navy.—The Sentinel and St. Paul’s Cathedral.—Mutilation among foreign troops.—The reckless Irishman.—His mad freak.—His lighthearted observation.—His sentence.—Discipline on board the Atalanta.—The selfish severity of a sea captain. 37 CHAPTER V. Alexander the Great.—Frederick the Great.—Charles XII.—Peter the Great.—Buonaparte.—Duke of Marlborough.—Hastings.—Bannockburn.—Cressy.—Poictiers.—Agincourt.—Bosworth Field.—Blenheim.— Culloden.—Prague.—Quebec.—Battles of Marathon, Thermopylæ, and the siege of Troy.—Preparation for a battle.—The battle array.—General De Zeithen.—Monument of Peter the Great.—Duke of Marlborough. 51 CHAPTER VI. Uniforms.—Old Admirals in the Naval Gallery at Greenwich.—Admiral Forbes and the Duke of Bedford.— Dress of an admiral of the fleet.—Captains and commanders.—Full dress of the officers of the life-guards.— Dragoon-guards.—Light dragoons.—Lancers.—Hussars.—King George the Fourth and the life-guardsman.— Full dress of the officers of the foot-guards.—Infantry of the line.—Light infantry.—Fusiliers.—Highlanders. —Riflemen.—Sir Samuel Hood and the new-made boatswain. 65 CHAPTER VII. Weapons of war.—Artillery.—Train of artillery.—Chevaux-de-frise.—Bows and arrows.—The old archer.— The musket.—The bayonet.—Captain Von Selmnitz.—Broad-swords.—Highlanders.—Artillery and stores sent to Spain.—James II. of Scotland.—Buonaparte and Colonel Evain.—Wooden cannon.—Brass twenty- four-pounder from the wreck of the Royal George.—The brass sixty-eight-pounder in the Tower, called the ‘Great Harry.’—A beautiful mortar.—The new destructive power. 80 CHAPTER VIII. The passionate soldier.—A blue-jacket paying his debts.—A monkey on board.—A ship.—Keel.—Decks.— Masts.—Sails.—Rigging.—Life-boat.—Cables.—Anchors.—Capstan.—Buoys.-Blocks.—Knotting.—Quadrant. —The Indian and his fine clothes.—His return home.—His relation of his adventures.—The indignation of his tribe.—His tragical end. 95 v vi vii CHAPTER IX. An engineer.—Mining.—Sappers.—Gunners.—The Surveillante.—Loss in the British army.—Furlough.— Muster-roll.—Punishment.—Poor Jack sent aloft.—Captain Hall on naval punishments.—Instance of injustice to a seaman.—The captain proved to be in the wrong.—Tribute to the brave.—Letter of a private soldier.—The Tenth and the Imperial guards. 112 CHAPTER X. Fortification.—Surprise of Bergen-up-Zoom.—Six hundred British troops lay down their arms from a want of knowledge of fortification.—Fortified places in England and abroad.—On the origin of fortification.—The battering-ram.—Parapets.—Embrasures.—Square towers.—Terraces or ramparts.—Bastions.—Horn-works. —Curtains.—Maxims in fortification.—Old plan of fortifying a place.—Modern plan.—Periods of attack.— Investment or blockade described.—Parallels.—Circumvallation and countervallation.—What is necessary to ensure the reduction of a fortress.—Blockade of Pamplona.—A bombardment, siege, and storming party described. 125 CHAPTER XI. The tale-telling captain.—The heroic and kind-hearted officer.—The standard-bearer.—Flags.—The royal standard.—Flag of the lord high-admiral.—Flag of the admiral of the fleet.—Colours in the army.—Day signals.—Night signals.—Fog-signals.—Cipher flags and substitutes.—Telegraphs.—Alphabet for field signals.—Description of a sailor on shore. 138 CHAPTER XII. Pillage.—Military surveying.—Tippoo Saib.—His armour and mantle.—Tippoo’s treachery.—Seringapatam attacked by British and native troops, commanded by Major-General Baird.—Colonels Dunlop and Sherbrooke.—A shot breaks the chain of the draw-bridge.—Terrible carnage.—Tippoo Saib killed.— Seringapatam taken.—The storming of Ghuznee.—The forlorn hope.—The gate of the fortress blown in.— Colonel Dennie leads on the stormers.—The mistake.—A retreat sounded.—Brigadier Sale advances.— Desperate struggle.—The place taken. 155 CHAPTER XIII. Tactics and stratagems of war.—Captain Bentley and Captain Baines.—The defiance.—Scaling the rock.—The stratagem of the boat.—Battle of Actium.—Duke of Saxe Weimar.—Breaking the line.—The Prussian General.—Ibrahim Pasha.—The old Dervise.—War terms.—Actions.—Attacks.—Attempts.—Battles.— Blockades.—Bombardments.—Descents.—Defeats.—Engagements.—Expeditions.—Invasions.—Sea-fights. —Storms.—Sieges.—Surprises.—Skirmishes.—Repulses.—Explosions.—Three-fingered Jack. 168 CHAPTER XIV. Motto for a soldier.—Glory.—Reply to a challenge.—The caricature.—Discharges.—A picquet, sentinel, vedette, advanced guard, and flag of truce.—Crossing rivers.—Presentations.—Camps of instruction.— Comfort of a cigar.—Tribute to the brave. 181 CHAPTER XV. Algiers.—Admiral Keppel and the Dey.—The expedition of Lord Exmouth against Algiers.—The Christian slaves are set free, and such slavery abolished for ever.—The French at Algiers.—The taking of Jean D’Acre by Sir Robert Stopford.—The explosion of the powder magazine.—The mistake made by the garrison.—The operations of a siege.—The daring young soldier.—The siege of Antwerp, by Marshal Gerard.—Desperate defence of General Chassé.—The surrender. 197 CHAPTER XVI. The Duke of Wellington.—Remarks.—The Waterloo banquet at Apsley House.—Salter’s celebrated painting.— The names of the generals and officers at the banquet.—Anecdote of Apsley House.—George the Second and the old soldier.—The old apple-woman and the lord-chancellor.—The legacy.—The Duke of Wellington’s generosity.—Major-general Macdonnel’s noble conduct.—Sergeant-major Frazer. 212 viii ix CHAPTER XVII. Buonaparte.—His principal plaything.—Napoleon’s grotto.—Buonaparte’s gratitude to his mother.—He goes to the Military School at Paris.—Made a lieutenant.—His first military service.—His address to the men under his command.—His conduct to poor tradesmen.—Reproof to his generals.—The Jaffa massacre.—Murder of the Duke d’Enghein.—Legion of honour.—Buonaparte threatens to invade England.—French invincibles.— An instance of generosity.—Napoleon’s bravery.—Battle of the Pyramids.—The battle of Lodi.—Napoleon’s return from Elba.—Campaign in Russia.—Allusion to Waterloo.—Buonaparte dies at St. Helena.—The 18th of October a remarkable day. 225 CHAPTER XVIII. Captain-general of the army.—Commander-in-chief.—Lord high-admiral of the navy.—Field-marshal.— General.—Lieutenant-general.—Major-general.—Brigadier-general.—Colonel.—Lieutenant-colonel.—Major. —Adjutant.—Sergeant-Major.—Captain.—Lieutenant.—Ensign and cornet.—Sergeant and corporal.—A round-robbin.—Quarter-master.—Military saying.—Officer’s daughter.—Officers of the navy.—Marines.— Catamaran.—Crew of a first-rate.—Royal George. 240 CHAPTER XIX. Regimental bands.—Drum.—Trumpet.—Bugle.—Kettle-drum of the life-guards.—Kettle-drum of the royal artillery.—Qualities in British soldiers.—The Rhine! The Rhine!—Love of country.—Cowardice.—Death of Admiral Byng.—Native cavalry in India.—Daring intrepidity of a seaman.—Preparations for an engagement. —Battle of the Nile.—Superstitious seamen.—Saragossa.—Missolonghi. 254 CHAPTER XX. Admiral Nelson.—The loss of his eye and his arm.—Struggle between Nelson’s barge and the armed launch.— Sykes the coxswain.—Nelson’s thanksgiving for his recovery.—His coolness in danger.—Battle of Copenhagen.—Hewson the seaman.—Battle of the Nile.—Nelson’s prayer before the battle of Trafalgar.— His signals on board the Victory.—His wound.—His death. 267 CHAPTER XXI. De Ruyter.—Van Tromp.—Columbus.—Vasquez da Gama.—Villeneuve.—Tom of Ten Thousand.—Hawkins, Drake, Blake, Hawke.—Rodney.—A female soldier.—Vincent, on the 14th of February.—Duncan, off Camperdown.—Admiral Howe, and the glorious First of June.—Maitland’s generosity.—Viscount Exmouth, his courage and humanity.—Codrington and the battle of Navarino.—The flag of old England. 278 CHAPTER XXII. French generals.—Desaix.—Ney.—Lasnes.—Soult.—Suchet.—Augereau.—Berthier.—Rapp.—Macdonald.— Beauharnois.—Maret.—Jourdan.—Grouchey.—Vandamme.—Bertrand.—Gourgaud.—Junot.—Massena.— Davoust.—Moreau.—Lefebre.—Marmont.—Mortier.—Dupont.—Victor.—Oudinot.—Bernadotte.—Murat.— Soldiers of the army of Italy.—Battle of Marengo.—The Napoleon Pillar. 293 CHAPTER XXIII. Personal courage.—Heroism.—A life-guardsman.—A corporal.—Private in Bland’s dragoons.—Lewis de Crillon.—Wolfe.—Abercrombie.—Colonel Gardiner.—Major André.—General Picton.—Sir John Moore.— Marquess of Anglesey.—Sir John Elley.—Colonel Colborne.—Colonel Ponsonby.—General Baird.—Sir Thomas Picton.—Sir James Macdonnel.—Lord Edward Somerset.—Sir Henry Hardinge.—Sir Colin Campbell.—General Evans.—Lord Hill.—The regimental surgeon and Sir William Carr Beresford. 305 CHAPTER XXIV. Sailors must strike their colours, and soldiers surrender when they have death for an enemy.—A court- martial.—Shooting a soldier.—Naval execution.—Soldier’s burial.—Funeral at sea.—Battle of Waterloo.— First attack.—Second attack.—Third attack.—Defeat of Buonaparte.—Consequences of the battle of Waterloo.—Chelsea College.—Greenwich Hospital.—Old England for ever!—Conclusion. 327 x xi SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. CHAPTER I. Soldiers and Sailors.—Recruiting Sergeant, Officer and Jack-tar.—Generals and Admirals.—Which is the braver, the Red Coat or the Blue Jacket?—Cavalry and Infantry.—Engineers, Artillery, and Marines.—Not all sunshine with Soldiers and Sailors.—The old Soldier.—Different opinions about war.—When are Sailors most steady?—A standing rule for a Soldier. “Well, boys, though I am your uncle, so busy has my life been, that I have seen but very little of you. During my present visit we shall become better acquainted with each other. You want to hear about soldiers and sailors. You have seen privates on parade, a recruiting sergeant with stripes on his arm, and an officer with epaulettes on his shoulder. You have seen, too, a jolly Jack-tar just come home from a cruise, rigged out in his holiday clothes, check shirt, blue jacket, and white trousers. You have read, perhaps, a little about engagements and sea-fights, and remember the names of a few famous generals and admirals, and now you want to hear more about soldiers and sailors. You shall know all that I can tell you; but, mind! let us have no confusion. Do not all of you ask me questions at once! Speak one at a time, or, if you like it better, let one of you be spokesman for the rest. You shall have all the information that I can give you.” “Thank you!—thank you, uncle! That will be the very thing; for we know that you can tell us a great deal.” “I am, as you know, neither commander-in-chief of the army, nor lord high admiral of the navy, nor do I see any likelihood at present of my being appointed either the one or the other; but having seen a good deal of the land and sea-service, and noticed the habits and conduct of men, from the raw recruit to the general officer;—from the sailor before the mast to the ‘Red Flag at the Fore,’—I must have been dull indeed to have picked up nothing. It becomes no man to be vain of his knowledge, and, therefore, I will not boast of mine; but ask me what you will, and I will answer to the best of my ability.” “Please to tell us which are the bravest men, soldiers or sailors.” “The bravest! That is a puzzling question, which the seven wise men of Greece, were they here, could not answer. Never yet did a red-coat go where a blue-jacket was afraid to follow, nor a son of Neptune brave a danger that a son of Mars would not, willingly, have faced before him. Weigh one golden sovereign against another in a pair of scales, and they will not give a more even balance than the bravery of a soldier weighed against that of a sailor.” “How many kinds of soldiers are there?—for some are very different to others.” “Why, let me see, in the cavalry there are life-guards, horse-guards, dragoon-guards, heavy dragoons, light dragoons, lancers and hussars; and in the infantry there are foot-guards, infantry of the line, light troops, fusiliers, highlanders, riflemen, and the staff-corps. I have said nothing of the engineers and artillery, nor indeed of the marines, who have more to do with the navy than the army.” “They say that one Englishman can beat ten Frenchmen. Is it true?” “Not a word of truth in it. A brave man is a match for a brave man of the same size all the world over, if he have equal skill. It is skill more than strength that enables one man to overcome another, and tactics more than bravery, (though both are necessary,) that enable an army or a fleet to obtain a victory. I will try to make this clear to you before I have done.” “Now do tell us, uncle, all about soldiers and sailors, from the beginning to the end.” “That would take me a month to do. I mean to give you anecdotes in abundance about military and naval commanders, that you may see the advantage of knowledge and skill; at the same time I will try to mingle with them many details that will be interesting to you, of the navy and the army.” “Yes! That will be a good plan. Now for a little about soldiers.” “If I were giving you my own history, I might be tempted to dwell on my own exploits, but as that is not the case I shall try to keep close to my subject,—Soldiers and Sailors. When a recruit is enlisted and sworn in before a magistrate he is put into the awkward squad for a time, and then he enters the ranks. He has much to learn before he becomes a thorough soldier, from standing at ease to the charge; from the single file to the battle array.” “The sergeant must have something to do with the recruits that come from the plough-tail?” “Indeed he has, but he very soon effects a change in their appearance. The first thing the recruit has to learn is to stand in a proper position. Then come facing, stepping, and marching, filing, wheeling, and with the manual and platoon exercise, forming; and, if in the cavalry, saddling, bridling, mounting, riding, and leaping, with the manœuvres of troops and squadrons, companies, battalions and regiments. What with carbine and pistol exercise, sword exercise and lance exercise, with parade, mounting guard, and keeping accoutrements, and perhaps, a horse in order, a soldier has many duties to perform.” “And have sailors as much to do as soldiers?” “Ay, that they have, and every change of wind brings them a change of duty. For some time I was in the marines, and saw a good deal of the wooden walls of old England. Officers, seamen, ordinary men, servants and boys, were all alive from stem to stern; from keel to sky-scrapers all things were in order. There were no skulkers among the blue-jackets. Everything was attended to; the decks were swabbed, the anchor weighed, the yards manned, the sails reefed, and the decks cleared for action.” “Sailors seem to work hard and play hard then, for no people enjoy themselves more when they are away from their ship.” “True. They work hard, play hard, and fight hard; but, say what you will, it is not all sunshine with soldiers and sailors. A soldier, on parade or on a review day, looks like a man of leisure, and in time of peace he is not overdone with his duty; but see him in war, marching through miry roads, panting with heat or numbed with cold, up early and late, sleeping on the bare ground in his wet clothes:—hunger 1 2 3 4 5 6 pinches him, fatigue wears him, and the stormy fight with all its dangers awaits him,—yet, on he goes without a murmur. “Neither does honest Jack lead a life of ease, or sleep upon roses. See him in the north, when the rigging of his ship is hung with icicles; in the east and west, when the deck is almost as hot as a baker’s oven; holding his weary midnight watch in the calm, and reefing the fluttering sail in the storm. ‘Jack never despairs—see, his bosom ne’er quivers Though hurricanes cause every timber to start; The tempest may rend a proud vessel to shivers, But nothing can conquer a firm British heart.’ “Waves may dash and lightnings flash, but Jack flinches not from his duty. Aloft, below, at the mast- head or in the cockpit, he endures dangers and pain, and stands by his gun in the roar of the battle!” “A great deal may be said about soldiers and sailors?” “Yes,—and they have generally a great deal to say about themselves: the one fighting his battles over again, and the other spinning his yarns about cruises and privateering, and cutting out ships, and the winds blowing great guns in the Bay of Biscay. Soldiers are soldiers everywhere, and sailors keep up their character for courage, whether on the sea or in harbour, in a storm or a calm, in a battle or a breeze.” “What was it that made you list for a soldier?” “A thoughtless prank, my lads. In my youthful days I was fond of reading of knights armed cap-à-piè, mounted on fiery steeds,—lance in the rest, helmet on the head, vambrace on the arm, cuirass on the breast, cuisses on the thighs, greaves on the legs, and sabatynes on the feet. I loved to read, too, of ancient arms, clubs and slings, bows and arrows, swords, falchions, javelins, maces, battle-axes and battering-rams; and the portable arms when gunpowder came into use,—hand-gun, arquebus, haquebut, wheel-lock, caliver, petronel, dag, dragon and hand-mortar;—and these things led me on to a soldier’s life.” “Ay, ay! Like us, you wanted to know everything.” “Very true. My curiosity was excited, and I wished to hear all I could about modern arms, from the poniard to the pike, from the cutlass to the carbine, from the hand-grenade to the Congreve rocket, from the six-pounder to the big brass cannon at Bejapoor in Hindoostan, and from the horse-pistol in the houlster of a dragoon to the monster mortar used at the siege of Antwerp.” “And we wish to hear all about these things, too.” “There was another circumstance, too, that did much towards leading me into the army. I chanced to form an acquaintance with an old soldier who knew everything about fortification, engineering, and gunnery. He had had his share of sieges and storming-parties, and seemed as familiar with trenches, ditches, fascines and scaling-ladders, as a schoolboy is with his peg-top and his kite. He used to describe to me the whole affair, from first breaking ground to the taking of a garrison, the glacis, scarps, and counter-scarps, ramparts, lunettes, bastions, batteries and citadel.” “No wonder that you should listen to a man like him.” “He was, indeed, wondrously interesting, and we talked together by the hour of Soldiers and Sailors. ‘Forward,’ and ‘Off she goes,’ were our mottoes. We advanced in double quick time with the red-coats, and only halted in a case of necessity. We shared the birth of honest Jack when buffeted on the billows, nor left him till he put into harbour, mingled his prize-money with his pig-tail tobacco, and sang ‘Britannia rules the waves.’” “Did the old soldier describe a battle to you?” “He did, and many of them, too. The plan of an engagement was unknown to me, and I had formed strange notions of one army attacking another. He explained to me the movements of the advanced guard, the main body, the wings, the reserve, and the artillery; and discoursed freely of sentinels, vedettes, patrols, piquets, and the general arrangements of an army in the field.” “He would be quite at home there!” “Such conversation as this led me to read of celebrated military and naval commanders, with the battles they had fought, and the victories they had won. Of Frederick the Great, of Prussia; Charles of Sweden; Peter the Great, of Russia; Buonaparte of France; and Marlborough and Wellington of England; with Hawkins, Drake, Frobisher, Rodney, Howe, Duncan and Nelson. At that time I knew nothing, or next to nothing, of a sea-fight, of the order of battle, of ships taking their stations, of signals, and the several duties of officers and men during the action; and of broadsides, raking, and boarding; but since then I have picked up some information on most of these points.” “That old soldier must have known a great deal!” “He did know a great deal, for he had mingled among sailors as well as soldiers, so that he could talk freely of actions, attacks, and attempts, battles, blockades, and bombardments, descents and defeats, engagements and expeditions, invasions, reductions, sea-fights and storms, sieges, surprises, skirmishes, repulses, and explosions.” “We do not wonder at your having entered the army, but a battle must be a terrible thing.” “That is true, sure enough. It is one thing to hear or to read of a battle, and another to fight in the ranks. War is no child’s play, as every one knows who has seen service. There are different opinions about war: one man sees in it nothing but what is honourable and glorious; another maintains that it is in no case to be justified. It is not for me to decide between the two, seeing that I agree with neither, for while on the one hand I hold it wrong to plunge into war on light grounds when it can be avoided, or when it inflicts a greater evil than it undertakes to remove; on the other, I cannot see how war can be always evaded. If to oppress others be wrong, to allow ourselves to be oppressed can hardly be right; and though conquest and national glory will not justify those who draw the sword, yet, as a nation, we must be other than we are before we could give up what is dearer than life without an effort to defend it. 7 8 9 10 However, my object is not to turn your heads with false notions of honour and glory, that you may long to become Wellingtons and Nelsons, but simply to give, according to your desire, what information I can about soldiers and sailors, and to explain to you the way in which they carry on war.” “Ay, those are the very things! We want to know everything about them. We saw a sailor yesterday; and the road seemed hardly broad enough for him, he reeled about so much from one side to the other.” “Jack-tars too often fall into this error; they are too often half-seas-over before they are out of port, and they are usually the most steady when being tossed about on the ocean.” “That sounds comical, however.” “Perhaps it does, but I wish to be pointed in my remarks, that there may be some likelihood of your remembering what I say. The army, from the commander-in-chief to the men in the ranks, should aim at respectability. A general should never be without a good private character, and a private should be generally acknowledged as a man of courage and sobriety. As a standing rule, a soldier under arms should not be above doing his duty: though he wears a red coat he must be a true blue, and peacefully preserve, in every situation, the articles of war.” 11 12 CHAPTER II. A general rule for the conduct of a good Soldier.—The beginning of Sailors.—The origin of the British Army.—The oldest regiment in the service.—Description of the Life Guards.—British Soldiers and Sailors the best in the world.—The Flemish brig and the Deal galley.—The French sloop and the British fisherman.—The Black Trumpeter and the bold Soldier.—A Soldier should attend to his own duty. “Bear in mind, boys, that I shall tell you of many places where I have never been, and of battles that I have never seen. Much have I talked with old soldiers and sailors in my time and much have they told me. It may happen that in speaking of ships I may be, now and then, ‘out of my reckoning,’ and a little ‘disorderly’ at times, in describing things belonging to the army, for we are all of us liable to commit mistakes, and no doubt I make as many as other people.” “The more you tell us of the army and navy the better.” “Well, I will do my best for you. Let me here give you one of my general rules for the conduct of a good soldier. The advanced guard should fall back from every dishonourable action, and every rear-rank man should set a bold front against insubordination.” “Yes, that is a capital rule. Please now to tell us what was the very beginning of soldiers and sailors?” “That would puzzle the horse-guards and the Admiralty to tell you. Sailors I suppose began with ships; and father Noah, who commanded the good ship the Ark, was the first sailor that I ever heard of. As to soldiers, we must confine ourselves to our own country, for we know very little about the soldiers of the earliest nations of the world.” “Please to tell us, then, the beginning of English soldiers?” “We must go back to the time when the Romans invaded England. The British soldier was then rude in discipline and dress, but intrepidity marked his every action, as it does now. As the Roman soldiers descended from their ships the undaunted Britons rushed into the sea to attack them, and the flower of Cæsar’s troops were astonished and fear-struck by their fierce and dauntless bearing.” “Had they red coats and guns, as they have now?” “No! no! their dress was of a very different kind: and the trade of gun-making was unknown among them. Their arms were clubs, short swords, and spears. Their cavalry had chariots, to the axles of which were fastened sharp pieces of iron, resembling scythe-blades; and their infantry went to war in long vehicles much like our waggons, from which they alighted and fought on foot, jumping into them again, and driving off, when it suited their purpose.” “Had we any sailors at that time?” “I fancy not: if we had they must have been very different to what British sailors are now, or they would have met their invaders on the deep, and not have allowed them to set their feet on the shores of old England unmolested. Offa, one of the Saxon kings, had a fleet, and King Alfred invited over from abroad ship-builders, to build vessels, and mariners to man them. The ships were, however, comparatively small. In the time of Henry VIII., and especially in that of Elizabeth, the British navy became formidable.” “And when did soldiers begin to dress as they do now, and to have guns, and pistols, and cannon?” “These things were brought about by degrees. I have read that the soldiers of the Anglo-Saxons were mostly foot-soldiers, though some of them fought on horseback; but when William the Conqueror came, soldiers were mostly cavalry. Under the feudal system, if a man held land to a certain amount, called a ‘knight’s fee,’ he was obliged to serve the crown a period of forty days every year at his own expense, finding a horse, a helmet, a coat of mail, a shield, and a lance. After that, spear-men, battle-axe men, cross-bow men, and archers made their appearance; but when gunpowder was found out, it made a wonderful difference in the army.” “No doubt it did. Bows and arrows would not do against guns and cannon.” “At first fire-arms were very imperfectly made, and then British bowmen, being strong, brave, and skilful, were very formidable; but the bravest archers that ever drew an arrow to the head would make a poor stand now against British soldiers. The Artillery Company of London had once a company of bowmen attached to them, but they have long since put down the bow, and taken up the musket.” “All boys remember about Robin Hood, and his merry men in Nottingham Forest; and about William Tell, the Swiss archer, shooting the apple off his son’s head.” “No doubt they do. At the battle of Cressy, in France, two thousand British bowmen drew their shafts against as many French bowmen. But now for the beginning of the British army.” “Ay, now for the British army!” “The army began with the guards that attended the king, though their weapons and uniform were very different to those that the household troops now use and wear. Whatever armed attendants monarchs may have had around their persons from the earliest times, there was no regular body of armed men appointed as guards till the reign of Richard the First. Richard instituted a body of twenty- four archers, and called them the ‘sergeants-at-arms.’ Their duty was to keep watch round the tent of the king, clad in complete armour with a bow, arrows, and a sword. Henry VII. established, in 1485, a band of fifty archers, all chosen men, to attend him; they were called ‘Yeomen of the Guard.’ This body still forms part of the royal establishment.” “The yeomen of the guard hardly look like soldiers.” “True: the commencement of the present regular army may be said to be the corps of life-guards established by King Charles II. at the Restoration. To these he added a regiment of horse-guards, with two regiments of foot-guards. A regiment of foot-guards was raised also in Scotland. These corps are what are usually called the British household troops; and the additions of horse and foot soldiers since 13 14 15 16 17 made, constitute the British army as it exists at the present day.” “The guards, then, are the oldest regiment of any soldiers we have?” “They are. In the year 1679 the corps of life-guards were thus described:—‘The guards of horse— which the Spaniards call guardes de á caballo; the French, guardes du corps; the Germans, leibguarde; and we, life-guards, that is the guards of the King’s body—do consist of six hundred horsemen, well armed and equipped; and are, for the most part, reformed officers, and young gentlemen of very considerable families, who are there made fit for military commands. They are divided into three troops, viz. the King’s troops, distinguished by their blue ribbons and carbine belts, their red hooses and houlster caps, embroidered with his Majesty’s cypher and crown. The Queen’s troop, by green ribbons, carbine belts covered with green velvet and gold lace; also green hooses and houlster caps, embroidered with the same cypher and crown. And the duke’s troop, by yellow ribbons and carbine belts, and yellow hooses, embroidered as the others. In each of which troops are two hundred gentlemen, besides officers. There are four gentlemen who command as officers, but have no commissions, viz. sub-corporals or sub- brigadiers.’ The ranks of the life-guards are not at the present time recruited with sons of the higher classes, aspiring to commissions, but with men of good repute, generally sons of persons in a respectable sphere of life.” “The life-guards are fine looking fellows!” “In 1716, when George I. visited Hanover, the Prince of Wales, who was then left guardian of the kingdom, reviewed the brigade of life and horse-grenadier-guards, in Hyde Park, November 21st, when he declared them to be one of the finest bodies of men in person, appearance, and exercise that the world had ever produced. A life-guardsman, as he is seen at the Horse Guards at the present time, is indeed an imposing sight. We must not, however, be led astray by the size of men, nor by their gay regimentals. Many a foot-soldier in his coarse grey great-coat, and his knapsack on his back, has a heart in his bosom as brave as that of a life-guardsman!” “Ay! a little man may be quite as brave as a big man.” “I have somewhere heard the remark that ‘all great men are little men,’ but there is not much truth in it, though many great military commanders have been of small stature: Alexander the Great, and Napoleon Buonaparte among them. The body, after all, let its stature be what it may, is of little value compared to the mind. The one is the leathern scabbard, the other the finely tempered sword. The poet has well expressed himself: ‘Were I so tall to reach the pole, Or grasp the ocean with my span, I must be measured by my soul;— The mind’s the standard of the man!’ “In a military paper that I have seen, the regulation given by King Charles II. runs thus:—‘Each horseman to have for his defensive arms, back, breast, and pot; and for his offensive arms, a sword, and a case of pistolls, the barrels whereof are not to be under foorteen inches in length; and each trooper of our guards to have a carbine, besides the aforesaid arms. And the foote do haue each souldier a sword, and each pikeman a pike of sixteen foote long, and not under; and each musquetteer a musquet, with a collar of bandaliers, the barrels of which musquet to be about foor foote long, and to conteine a bullet, foorteen of which shall weigh a pound weight.’” “How very particularly they are described!” “When the war with Holland broke out in 1672, a regiment of dragoons was raised, when the soldiers therein were ordered to carry halbards, pistolls with holsters, matchlock, musquet, a collar of bandaliers, and one bayonet or ‘great knife.’ The arms of dragoons in 1687, (James II.’s reign,) were, snap-hanse- musquets, strapt with bright barrels of three foote eight inches long, cartouch boxes, bayonets, granado pouches, buckets, and hammer-hatchets.” “They called a bayonet, then, a great knife?” “They did. Since then, regiment has been added to regiment, till the army has arrived at its present state. It is now, perhaps, about a hundred and twenty thousand strong, and is spread over Great Britain, Ireland, and our possessions in other quarters of the Globe—undoubtedly the first soldiers in the world.” “Then we have got the best soldiers and the best sailors?” “Indeed we have! I believe there are neither sailors nor soldiers in any quarter of the world that would be a match for an equal number of British blue-jackets and red-coats. If ever you should go on board a King’s ship you will be surprised at the order and discipline that prevail, from the figure-head to the rudder, from the main-mast head to the hold. Discipline is everything in the army and navy, and I shall give you, by and by, some striking instances that set forth its use and abuse.” “What daring fellows sailors are!” “If British sailors are daring in battle, they are equally so in braving all dangers to save the lives of others. A Flemish brig in a heavy gale struck on a shoal, to windward of Ostend harbour, and the crew clung to the rigging for safety, as the vessel was fast going to pieces. Several Flemish boats attempted to get to the wreck in vain, and the crew seemed doomed to destruction. It happened, however, that a Deal galley was in the harbour, and the little band of daring tars aboard her were somewhat more accustomed to such scenes. They launched their light bark, and though every sea hid them from view, and every breaker covered them with foam, they persevered, undiscouraged by repeated failures, until they reached the wreck, and saved every man that was found in her.” “Noble! noble! It is pleasant to hear of such things! It makes us think better of sailors.” 18 19 20 21 22 “Some time ago a French sloop was stranded near the port of Dover, when some English fishermen, who are half sailors, directly put off for the sloop and rendered effectual service. ‘Your opposite neighbours, the French,’ said a spectator afterwards, ‘are not quite so ready to help you.’ ‘Maybe not,’ replied the fisherman; ‘maybe not; but we do our duty to the unfortunate without troubling ourselves about that matter. An English seaman don’t learn his manners on the deck of a French ship.’” “Well done, fisherman!” “Presence of mind and intrepidity are qualities very common among British soldiers and sailors. I will give you an anecdote that I read the other day, of a soldier. ‘When Buonaparte was preparing his flotillas, and his soldiers, to invade Old England, we expected every day to hear of his being at sea, so we all kept ready at the barracks, to act at a moment’s warning. One night, when we were snugly tucked up in bed, news came suddenly, that the French had landed. One of our trumpeters was a black, a tall strapping fellow, more than six feet high, and he was so frightened that when he took up his trumpet to sound an alarm, he let it fall from his hand and fainted away. A bold fellow, who happened at the time to be at his elbow, snatched up the trumpet from the ground, and blew a blast that made the barracks and the barrack-yard ring again. Up we jumped, hurried on our clothes, ran to the stables, leaped on our horses, and in eight minutes and a half every man of us was drawn up in the barrack-yard ready for action.’” “The poor black must have been half frightened out of his senses.” “He certainly was; and it was all very well that, being unable to do his duty, another was ready to do it for him. On common occasions, however, a soldier should attend to his own duty, and not intermeddle with that of his comrades. A gunner may prove himself a good swordsman, a riding-master may be a capital walker, and a foot-soldier may know how to manage a horse, but let each keep to his own duty. It would be bad indeed for a drummer to be his own trumpeter, and still worse for a fifer to be drummed out of his regiment for bad conduct.” 23 24 CHAPTER III. British Sailors.—A hearty cheer.—Seamen are sad clumsy fellows at some things.—The pretended sailor.—Jack in the wherry.—A squall.—The chain cable.—The sailor’s marriage.—The arrival.—Banns.—Disappointment.— Doctors’ Commons.—License.—The church gates.—The robing-room.—The ceremony.—The Prayer Book.— The Bible.—Jack happy. “What handy and hearty fellows sailors are, uncle; we have just seen one, and he gave us such a hearty cheer!” “It has been said, that a British sailor can only give free vent to his feelings by a hearty cheer. It is his mode of thanksgiving for a benefit received; with a cheer he honours his friend, defies his enemy, and proclaims a victory. Sailors may be hearty, but how do you make them out to be handy? In many things they are the clumsiest fellows in the world.” “Do you say so! What are they clumsy in doing?” “Oh! in things without number. In the first place, they are bad hands at passing by a messmate in distress without relieving him; then they know nothing about running away from danger; you cannot teach them, any how, to forget an old friend; and they are the awkwardest fellows in the world in striking their colours when alongside an enemy.” “You are right! you are right, uncle. About half an hour ago a sailor came up to us, and said that ‘Poor Jack’ was ‘in shallow water,’ and that, having nothing in his ‘bread-room,’ he would let us have a real India silk handkerchief for little or nothing.” “And did you buy his handkerchief of him?” “No, uncle. But we were so pleased with what he told us of his cruises, and battles, and shipwrecks, that we gave him all the money we had.” “Ay, well, that would answer his purpose quite as well. It is possible that you may have fallen in with a ‘true blue,’ but I am very doubtful. It was but last week that a fellow accosted me with the old story about a ‘King’s ship.’ ‘The winds blowing great guns in the Bay of Biscay, O!’ ‘breakers ahead!’ a ‘lee shore and a wreck!’ but he had stumbled on a Tartar; for a few questions about sea affairs made him look all manner of ways at once, and it was a clear case that he would have willingly given up a part of his ill-gotten prize-money to have secured a retreat. At first I used him tenderly, treating him with only a few points of the compass backwards—north-by-west, north-north-west, north-west-by-north, north- west, north-west-by-west, and west-north-west. This was, as I well knew, all Dutch to him. Seeing him look rather queerish, I opened upon him with my ‘tiller-ropes,’ ‘gun-tackle,’ ‘mizzen-jears,’ ‘jib-halyard,’ ‘fore-braces,’ ‘deep-sea-line-blocks,’ ‘top-sail-sheet-bits,’ ‘main-top bow-lines,’ and ‘ringtail-booms,’ until he looked as frightened as if I had been a wild man of the woods. At last, seeing that he was preparing to scud before the wind, I poured in a broadside of ‘Brail up and haul down the main-top-mast stay-sail!’ ‘Bear a hand, my hearty!’ ‘Man well the lee-brail, and down haul!’ ‘Gather in the slack o’ the weather brail!’ ‘Let go the halyards!’ ‘Ease off the sheet!’ ‘Haul down, and brail up briskly!’ ‘There! let go the tack, and stop the sail to the lee-fore-rigging!’ ‘What! are you off? then up all hammocks!’ ‘Prepare for action!’ ‘Fire to the larboard!’ And away ran the rogue, forgetting how he had been wounded by a nine-pounder, as nimbly as though a press-gang had been at his heels.” “It served him right, uncle! that it did.” “A true-hearted sailor would rather take in a reef of the main-top-sail in a hurricane than skulk about in such a manner under false colours. “Some time since a Jack-tar, seated in a wherry, was rowed up the river Thames, against wind and tide. He had just returned from India; and, sailor-like, was industriously disposed to get rid of his spare cash. He had a pipe in his mouth, and the clouds of smoke poured forth showed that the smoker was in earnest; while with his right hand he flourished a flexible bamboo. Behind him was a large shaggy Newfoundland dog, who appeared as well pleased as Jack himself. Before him sat a musician, with a huge drum and pandean pipes, playing away with all his power. “As Jack passed the vessels in the river, and the wharfs, and the drinking-rooms overlooking the water, he was cheered continually. When he arrived at St. Katherine’s Docks he quitted the wherry, and hopped along on his real leg, for his other was a wooden one, as nimbly as a kangaroo, while the spectators, assembled to witness his landing, greeted him with a cheer. Jack and the Newfoundlander were soon stowed in a coach; the musician occupied the roof, striking up ‘Rule Britannia!’ and the crowd loudly cheered as Jack drove off, waving his hat good-humouredly from the coach window. What became of Jack afterwards is not known; but it is easy to imagine, that at the end of a few days’ cruise he would not have a single shot in his locker.” “Then he would be off to sea again?” “No doubt he would. Whether at sea or on land, seamen seldom keep out of squalls long together.” “What is the real meaning of a squall?” “A squall is a violent gust of wind, that comes on a ship suddenly, and sometimes does a great deal of mischief in a very little time. There are parts of the world where you are more liable to them than in others. The first time that I was in a squall in the Mediterranean it put the surprise upon me. There was a small black cloud to windward in the south, but I should have thought little of it, had not a bluff old tar pointed to it and said, ‘There’s a capful, my hearty.’ What he said was true enough, and we had it in quick time too. The course of the ship was altered, to scud before what was coming, and the hands went aloft to take in sail. By this time the cloud had spread and neared us, and all at once, without warning, the squall came. The sheets and ropes cracked and snapped in the wind, the fore-sail was torn to ribands, the rain fell like a torrent, and away went the ship, running almost gunwale down in the water. But if the 25 26 27 28 29