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CHAPTER VII

DETACHED SQUADRON - MONTE VIDEO - THE CAPE

Not long after my arrival in England - as related in the last chapter - I received a letter from Lord Clanwilliam, telling me that he had been designated to take command of a detached squadron of five cruisers, which were to go for a two years' cruise round the world; that the Bacchante, with the two young royal midshipmen on board, was to be one of the five; that the Inconstant was to be the flagship; and he invited me to be his Flag-Captain, in command of the Inconstant.

Here, indeed, was a piece of unexpected luck; for in the usual course of events I should have enjoyed (or otherwise) two or three years of half-pay, kicking my heels ashore doing nothing; and now I was to take command of the largest, fastest, and most heavily-armed cruiser in the Navy, and take part in what promised to be a cruise of exceptional interest. So it is needless to say that I accepted the offer.

As the Inconstant was out of commission and would not be ready for her crew for another month, I thought this a good opportunity to get engaged to be married, on the principle that I and my fiancée would not be in a position to get tired of each other for at least two years.

In August I commissioned the Inconstant at Portsmouth. The Admiral had, of course, the selection of his own staff, and appointed George Love as his

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Secretary, and A. L. Winsloe, an expert signaller, as his Flag-Lieutenant. With regard to who was to be the commander of the Inconstant, the Admiral was kind enough to consult me upon the subject; and I ought here, perhaps, to explain, for the enlightenment of those who are not quite au fait in naval matters, that the commander of a man-of-war does not necessarily command her. In a small ship like the Rapid he does command her, and is then always called the " Captain "; and even a Lieutenant in command of a gunboat is the " Captain "; but the commander of a big ship like the Inconstant is the second in command and executive officer. It sounds a little puzzling, but it works very well.

Before the Inconstant was commissioned Lord Clanwilliam wrote to me and suggested that I should send him the names of three commanders, and he would send me three names, and then we could make a selection between us. This was done, and the name of Commander A. A. C. Parr was common to both lists, so he was applied for by the Admiral and duly appointed.

Parr was a man who had greatly distinguished himself as a Lieutenant in the Alert during Sir George Nares's Arctic expedition. He was one of the Northern party, under the immediate command of the present Admiral Sir A. H. Markham. They had to drag their sledges over extraordinarily rough ice, in their efforts to reach the north pole. They did not reach the pole as all the world knows - but they made the highest north latitude up to date. Then on the return journey the party was smitten with scurvy. One by one they dropped, until at last half of them were on the sledges, with the other half, nearly as bad, dragging them over the rough ice. They were still a good many miles from

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the ship, and at the rate they were travelling it was impossible that any of them could reach the ship alive, unless they either received succour or deserted their disabled shipmates. As the latter was, of course, out of the question, Parr started off alone, and walked for fourteen hours, until he reached the ship in an exhausted condition. A relief party, including a doctor, started immediately, and the majority of the Northern party were saved. I think one or two died, but of this I am not quite sure.

It was a wonderful performance, showing the greatest pluck and determination, by a man already weakened by the exposure, the hardships, and the monotonous food, which had made such inroads on the health and strength of all the Northern party.

Parr undoubtedly saved the lives of his shipmates; but the extraordinary and gallant exertion which enabled him to do so laid in him the seeds of the heart troubles from which he subsequently suffered, and which finally carried him off, though not until he had reached the rank of Vice-Admiral.

I trust I may be forgiven this little digression, in memory of my old shipmate - in two ships - best man at my wedding, and one of the most loyal and most modest men it has ever been my good fortune to meet.

The present Admiral of the Fleet, Sir William May, was the First-Lieutenant of the Inconstant. Admiral Sir Percy Scott was the Gunnery Lieutenant, and Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg, late First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, was another of our Lieutenants. So we were well off for embryo talent, though we soon lost May, on his promotion to the rank of commander.

I commissioned the Inconstant at Portsmouth on the 24th of August, 1880; and as soon as the ship was

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ready we went out to Spithead. The Admiral joined and hoisted his flag, and we started on our long cruise round the world; only we did not go round the world. Our programme was altered half a dozen times, for various reasons, and the squadron finally broke up at Hongkong. But I must not anticipate. It was a motley and ill-assorted squadron. The Admiralty appear to have chucked into it any ships that they had handy, just to make up the number. There were only two ships in it of the same class, the Carysfort and Cleopatra. The others were all of different classes. The Tourmaline was the oldest and smallest and slowest under sail, generally, though she sometimes shared this honour with the Bacchante. The Inconstant was more than twice the size of the Tourmaline, and the Bacchante came about halfway between the Inconstant and the two ships of the " C " class. It was a scratch pack, and it was very difficult to keep them together, especially in bad weather.

Our first port of call was Vigo, in the north of Spain, a place that I used to know very well when I served for five years in the Channel Squadron, and where we got snipe-shooting in the winter and trout-fishing in the summer; but all such frivolities were now out of the question for me. Whoever else might have time to go shooting or fishing, it would not be the Flag-Captain. I had made up my mind to this from the first day I accepted the appointment. I had had my fun in the Rapid, and plenty of it, and now it was to be hard work and plenty of it.

Lord Clanwilliam was a fine seaman, one of the best that I ever sailed with; so it is not surprising that he made up his mind to make all passages under sail, so far as possible. All the ships of the squadron were

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steamers, as well as being full-rigged ships; but it was ever with a groan and a shrug of the shoulders that our Admiral gave orders for the signal to get up steam.

I have already, in my former volume, said so much about the continued cultivation of old-fashioned seamanship in the Navy, the retention of masts and sails in ships from which they ought to have been abolished, and the strange parsimony about burning coal, which still held the field at the Admiralty in 1880, that I will not trouble the reader with any more of it - at least, no more of it than I can help, to explain the current events of our cruise.

It was somewhat unfortunate that the views concerning the general objects of the cruise of the detached squadron held by all the Captains - including the Flag Captain - were not precisely the same as those held by our Admiral.

It may, no doubt, be said that we had no right to have any views at all upon the subject. That it was simply our duty to obey orders and express no opinion, one way or the other. True, in theory; but unfortunately it is impossible to help having opinions, and it is quite certain that opinions will be exchanged - privately of course - between those holding them. Further, it is equally certain that if all the Captains in a fleet or squadron hold views which differ considerably from those held by their Admiral, it will not be possible to apply to that squadron the happy and oft quoted phrase of Nelson, " We were a band of brothers."

I do not for one moment mean to suggest that there was at any time, or under any circumstances, anything approaching - even remotely - to discord in the squadron. On the contrary, all the Captains obeyed promptly, loyally, and without a moment's hesitation, every

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order given by our respected chief. But situated as I was, I could not help knowing the private opinion of the Captains with regard to the principal aims and objects with which the squadron had been sent upon its cruise, and it grieved me much to know that their opinions differed from those of the Admiral; for I felt that under these circumstances, and without anyone being in fault, there could never be that perfect harmony which we all earnestly desired.

To make a long story short, the Captains thought that the squadron was mainly intended to be an escort to the two. young Princes; that we were to sail when we had a fair wind or a leading wind, to steam in a calm or moderate foul wind, to keep to the dates of our programme if it was possible to do so, to spend a good deal of our time in harbour and enjoy the hospitalities which we felt sure would be offered to us, and not to keep box-hauling about at sea for the purpose of teaching the officers and crews all the intricacies of a branch of seamanship which was already moribund, and which would be quite useless in future naval warfare.

On the other hand, the Admiral's leading idea of the object of the cruise may be expressed in fewer words. It was, " To make sailors of them."

This divergence of views placed me in a somewhat delicate position, as it was, of course, my duty to support my chief loyally, through thick and thin; but I also felt that I ought to let him know, as gently as possible, what the Captains thought about the objects of the cruise. At the same time I felt that the Captains - including myself - were working, or rather thinking, very much in the dark, for we were quite ignorant as to what orders, either public or private, the Admiral had received from the Admiralty. To add to which,

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it was generally believed that Queen Victoria had herself given some special instructions as to the conduct of the squadron and the status of her two grandsons.

Ever since 1868, when I first made the acquaintance of Lord Clanwilliam and came under his orders as First Lieutenant of the Hercules, I had had the highest admiration for him, not only as a fine seaman, but for his singularly frank, generous, and chivalrous character, which showed itself in everything he said or did; but he had a somewhat bluff manner, savouring of the salt sea; and like many other sailors he was not always as tactful as he might have been. In fact, I think he sometimes mixed up in his mind the word "tact" with the word "finesse," which he hated like poison. He was of an unsuspicious nature, and found it difficult to believe that anybody - and least of all a brother officer - was playing tricks with him, trying to get to windward of him, blarneying him, or in any way taking advantage of his own transparently honest methods of doing business. He said what he meant, and he meant what he said, without reserve; and he thought that it was the business of lawyers, but not of sailors, to use their ingenuity in proving that black is white and white black, and he probably shared with his brother sailors that traditional cat-and-dog antipathy between sailors and lawyers founded at least as far back as the days of the old French war, when the chicanery of the lawyers not uncommonly robbed the sailors of from half to two-thirds of their hard-earned prize-money. So the disinterested reader who is neither sailor nor lawyer will perhaps admit that there is some foundation for our prejudice, and he will not be surprised to hear that the expression, " Oh, So-and-so is a sea-lawyer," is used in the Navy as a term of contempt and reproach.

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I have endeavoured above to sketch frankly the leading characteristics of my beloved and respected chief, as they appeared to me, though I am bound to add that the uncompromising honesty of all his dealings, his plainness of speech, and the firmness ("pigheadedness" when you don't agree) with which he stuck to his opinion, in spite of all argument (which he hated), caused him to be frequently misunderstood by some of those who did not know him as intimately as I did, and who failed to appreciate at its proper value his remarkably single-minded, generous, and chivalrous character.

It is time now to return to our cruise. Vigo, as I have said above, was our first port of call; and after the British Consul had called upon the Admiral, it was arranged that the latter, with his staff and all the Captains, were to call next day upon the Governor, who lived about two miles off, in the country; and the Consul said he would arrange for carriages. But next day, when we landed in state - cocked hats and epaulettes - we found that by some misunderstanding there was only one carriage for eight of us, and no time to order another; so it was obvious that four of the Captains would have to walk, and would feel snubbed. The Admiral took in the situation at a glance. He looked up in the sky, which was as black as ink and evidently going to pour rain.

"Ah," he said, "fine day. We don't want a carriage; we'll all walk." And we did, and got a jolly good ducking; but we all got it together, and nobody's feelings were hurt.

Some people probably thought that it was foolish of the Admiral to walk in the rain when he could have gone dry in a carriage. But it did not strike me that

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there was anything foolish about it, but rather that it showed an unselfishness and delicacy of feeling which were entirely characteristic of the man, and it had the additional advantage that the Consul was punished for his sins, in not ordering enough carriages, for, of course, he had to walk too. There is a strange satisfaction, logically indefensible, in feeling that the other fellow gets the same punishment that you do.

From Vigo we went on to Madeira, and everyone who could get on shore went for the usual ride up the Mount and came down in those wonderful sleighs with wooden runners bumping over cobble-stones.

Madeira used to be a very sad place, as most of the people one met there were in various stages of consumption, some of them very far gone; but there are now so many places recommended by the doctors for consumptives, that it is not nearly such a melancholy place as it used to be.

When I first visited Madeira, many years ago, there was a somewhat gruesome story current about an old lady who kept one of the hotels there, who had from long experience become such an expert in consumptive cases that all her lodgers had to do was to find out, if they could, the date for which their rooms were let to some newcomer, and own they knew exactly how long they had to live; and it was said that the old lady was never more than a few days out.

From Madeira the squadron went on to that cinder-heap St. Vincent, in the Cape de Verde Islands, a most uninteresting place. We filled up with coal here, and then started for Monte Video. It was originally intended that we should call at Bahia; but as it was reported that there was yellow fever there, Bahia was left out, as also was that most beautiful of all harbours,

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Rio Janeiro, where also there was yellow fever, as there nearly always is.

The people of Sydney, New South Wales, claim that their harbour is the most beautiful in the world. It is undoubtedly a magnificent, commodious, and perfectly landlocked harbour; but for real beauty of scenery, Rio takes the palm from all the world's harbours.

When the squadron crossed the line the usual and oft-described ceremonies were duly observed on board all the ships, and the two young Princes did not escape those mystic rites with which Father Neptune has, from time immemorial, initiated all newcomers to the freedom of his dominions.

In due course we arrived at Monte Video, where we found that extensive preparations had been made for offering us lavish hospitalities of all sorts. The only drawback was that the Inconstant and Bacchante had to lie three miles from the shore, on account of the shallowness of the water. The smaller ships were able to get somewhat closer in: but at the best of times Monte Video is an open anchorage, and even a very moderate wind soon raises a short choppy sea which makes boat-work unpleasant. Nevertheless we made the most of our time and refreshed ourselves on shore after our long sea cruise. There were balls, parties, and dinners, for those that liked them; but the most enjoyable of the entertainments was a trip up-country by special train, to see those wonderful horsemen the gauchos lassoing semi-wild horses and cattle. This was a most admirably organized and successful entertainment. A train composed of restaurant and sleeping cars was placed at our disposal. We left Monte Video at seven p.m., had a sumptuous dinner in the train, turned-in to comfortable beds, and when we awoke in

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the morning found ourselves pulled up in a siding, one hundred and thirty miles up the line, with the pampas around us.

Horses were provided for all our party by our entertainers, very good horses with Spanish saddles, but also with those terribly severe Spanish bits, which enable the gauchos to pull up their horses and throw them almost on their haunches with the slightest touch of the reins. These bits may be necessary for the work of lassoing cattle, but they are not pleasant for those who are unaccustomed to them, and have been in the habit of riding with a snaffle, and of obeying (sometimes) the injunction to "'old on by 'is 'ed "; for if they attempt this with the Spanish bit, they will very soon find themselves holding on by his tail-if they can get hold of it.

We rode about five miles to a cattle ranch, belonging to an Englishman who had been in the Navy, but never rose above the rank of midshipman. He received us most hospitably, and had made all arrangements for the entertainment. A large herd of semi-wild cattle and some horses that had never been handled by man, but only seen him in the distance, were driven into an enclosure, and then the fun began. One of the gauchos rode into the herd, and selecting one of the biggest of the bulls, threw his lasso round the bull's head and then proceeded to drag him out of the herd.

It was a wonderful sight, for the bull must have been considerably heavier than both horse and man together; yet by sheer, steady determination and strength skilfully applied by the lord of creation, the bull was pulled out of the herd. Then he charged the horseman; but the latter, instead of riding straight away rode across at right angles to the charge, and by bringing a sudden

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strain on the lasso, which was belayed round the high horn of the saddle, the bull was thrown. The horse was perfectly trained, and just before the rope tightened, he leant over to take the jerk and never once was thrown. The bull quickly got up and charged again, and the same thing happened. A wonderful exhibition of skill versus brute strength. Then when the bull was becoming exhausted and demoralized by his own fury, another man, on foot, approached him with the bolases - three brass balls on short traces at the end of a rope. If the bull charged the man on foot, the horseman rode away in the opposite direction and brought him up short, just in time. The two men had the most perfect confidence in each other; and after a few unsuccessful shots with the bolases they finally got entangled round the bull's hindlegs, and he was thrown again. This time he could not get up until he was released, when he showed no malice against anyone, but just slunk off to the herd, apparently half-dazed, with his tail down instead of up.

When three or four bulls had been operated upon in this manner, the gauchos turned their attention to the unbroken horses; and this was quite as interesting as the cattle work.

The horses were quicker and cleverer than the cattle, and in their case it seemed to be more fright than fury. They did not charge, and were easily thrown with the bolases after being lassoed. Some of them were vicious, and others trembled with fear and screamed; but all strongly resented the liberty of a man getting on their back.

As soon as one of these wild young colts was thrown, a man promptly sat on his head, and two or three others proceeded to saddle him as he lay on the ground: he was not bridled and bitted, but a twitch was put round the

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lower jaw, which must have been painful, though no doubt necessary. Then, when all was ready, a man got astride of the horse, whose hindlegs were cleared of the bolases; the man who sat on his head got up, and the frightened animal struggled to his feet; but finding something on his back that he had never known before, he tried with might and main to get rid of it. In this, however, he never succeeded, unless he threw himself down, which one or two of them did.

The behaviour of the colts and fillies varied a good deal. Some were quickly tamed, and gave up all resistance; others, again, gave a fine exhibition of bucking and kicking, until they were finally exhausted and found that it was no use going on any longer. It was a fine display of horsemanship by these hardy gauchos, and a lesson in how to stick on, which a good many people would like to be able to do, even under much more favourable circumstances.

All the cattle and horses on a ranch have to be caught once a year and branded with the owner's mark; and, to the best of my recollection, we were told that the horses were often allowed to run wild until they were four-year-olds, and that they were all the better and lasted longer when this was done.

After we had spent two or three hours watching this most interesting exhibition of horsemanship, we rode off some three or four miles to a gaucho camp, situated amongst some bushes, probably for shelter, as there was no shelter on the open plain where we had come from. At this camp we were entertained at a regular pampa lunch, though, as one of our wags truly remarked, we were not pampered. The lunch consisted of carne con quero and mattie. Carne con quero (spelling doubtful), we were informed, means meat in the skin. A bullock

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had been killed that morning, and before he had time to get cold he was cut up without being skinned and one of his hindquarters had been placed, skin downwards, over the live ashes of a burnt-out wood-fire, and by the time we arrived at the camp it was said to be just cooked.

Carne con quero did not look at all inviting, but it turned out to be far better than it looked; in fact, when we had got over the somewhat crude, butcher's-shop look of it we pronounced it to be excellent. Perhaps we were hungry; certainly I was. We sat round the huge joint and helped ourselves by digging into it with our clasp-knives and cutting off a chunk. The visitors were supplied with tin plates, but we were told that this luxury of civilization was not in accordance with the custom of the pampas. The joint having been cooked directly the animal was slain, had not had time to get tough, and was as tender as lamb and very juicy. The gravy could not leak out through the hide, and remained in the meat. There were no vegetables with the repast and no bread. Then came the mattie, which is supposed to take the place of vegetables and fulfil the requirements of the human organism, and keep a man in health.

Mattie is made from the leaves of a shrub which grows wild. A large handful of the dried leaves is put into a gourd; boiling water is then poured in, and the beverage is sucked up hot through a metal tube. It tastes something like strong green tea, is very refreshing, slightly bitter, and powerfully astringent. I drank two matties, and was none the worse for it.

Another of the hospitalities which we received at Monte Video was an alfresco dinner, given to the officers of the squadron by the British residents. (I say

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" British " because they were mostly Scotch.) It took place under trees in a large garden, a mile or two from the town. It was beautifully illuminated with hundreds of Chinese lanterns hung in the trees. Nearly five hundred sat down to it. The champagne, which flowed freely, got into the heads of a good many of the company, and they became so very hilarious that the Admiral and Captains left early.

I do not remember whether the Princes were allowed to attend this banquet. The stern and judicious Dalton, their tutor and governor, was very particular as to what entertainments he allowed them to go to, and as he was remarkably cute in finding out beforehand what the nature of the entertainment was going to be, it is probable that he did not allow his young charges to go to the alfresco dinner-party.

From Monte Video we went on to the Falkland Islands, with the intention of passing through the Straits of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean; but no sooner had we anchored in Stanley Harbour (since become famous through Sturdee's action) than H.M.S. Swallow appeared, post-haste from Monte Video, with a telegram from the Admiralty, ordering us to go to the Cape of Good Hope " with all despatch."

This was the first upset of our programme, but not the last.

The Admiralty telegram did not give us the slightest inkling of the reason for this change in our proposed route, and we were entirely at a loss to understand the meaning of it. Of course, we guessed that there was trouble of some sort in South Africa which required our immediate presence, and the general idea was that the Basutos were on the warpath; but I don't think anyone thought of the Boers. Certainly the Admiral did not.

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At any rate, we expected that we should have to land men to fight somebody; so the order was given to all the ships to make preparations for landing small-arm companies and field-guns, without an hour's delay, on the arrival of the squadron at the Cape. We had plenty of time during the passage to complete our preparations. The small-arm men and field-gun crews were drilled and exercised every day, so far as this could be done on board ship. Seamanship took a back-seat, and by the time we arrived at the Cape our little army of marines, small-arm companies of bluejackets, and field-guns, were ready to the last button of the seamen's brown gaiters.

Then the squadron arrived at the Cape, anchored in Simon's Bay, stayed there for nearly six weeks, and never landed a man

Commodore Frederick Richards, who was then in command of the Cape Station, was round at Durban with his squadron, and we knew that he had landed men to fight the Boers. Still we did not move. Orders from the Admiralty kept us at Simon's Bay. Perhaps our Government was right, for the whole of Cape Colony, was in a very restless and doubtful condition. The Dutch element was seething with suppressed disloyalty, and, of course, the protection of the dockyard at Simon's Bay was of vital importance.

One evening the Admiral had a dinner-party, and in the middle of it a telegram was handed to him reporting the disaster of Majuba Hill. Total defeat of the British. General Colley killed, and also Commander Romilly of the Boadicea, who was in command of the Naval Brigade.

The sequel of this disaster is now ancient history. Mr. Gladstone sent out a small but sufficient army

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under the command of our most able and distinguished General; then he lost heart, changed his mind, and under the specious plea of magnanimity the loquacious and unstable demagogue who then governed the British Empire recalled the army, sold Lord Roberts, struck a staggering blow at British prestige, and sowed the seeds of the great Boer War.

Mr. Gladstone's admirers still speak of him as a " statesman."

After our weary wait in South Africa, the detached squadron sailed for Australia.

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