A ;mut; JACKET'S NAUTICAL TALES.
Tiers work scarcely fulfils the promise of its opening; which displayed a directness of purpose, a variety of incident, a brevity of narration, and a quiet humour, that promised some sea-tales akin to those of MmutrAr, without being copied from him. The ffillingoff arises from no defects on the part of the writer ; who tells his story clearly and succinctly, rarely attempts to eke out his space by fine writing or diluted jokes, and exhibits, on occasion, a native sagacity and sly htnnour. The deficiency is a deficiency of matter, Few men who saw any service during the war, but must have experienced as many " moving accidents" as befel our hero in the
" Saucy Jack ;" and not an " Indianian " leaves port without carrying as ninny characters and as much material Ibr a novel as the ship in which he sailed. The wreck, indeed, is a circifinstance that luckily does not happen to all Indiamen ; but there is nothing so distinctive in the calamity recorded by the Blue Jacket as to separate it from many others. Add to this deficiency in his subjects, a want of imagination in the writer, -and it will readily be conceived that he is too matter-of-fact for .fiction. The interest of the Sauey Jack and the Indiantan is of an unexcitin" kind ; resembling an autobiography of a man of no great mark, without the feeling of certainty which an authentic narrative imparts. Both stories, however, are superior to the general run Of novels; fur they possess an air of reality, and :tlie!charaCters ire; natural though somewhat commonplace.
The form of each tale is a personal narrative, professing to be, as it probably is, an account of what occurred to the author, or fell
under his observation, in two voyages. The the Saucy Jack privateer took place in consequence of his running away front home in dudgeon, and becoming by good luck captain's clerk ; the incidents are the usual ones of service in the West Indies and on the Spanish maim—sis cutting out vessels night attacks on shore, the chace, the pursuit, and the escape ; thee Saucy Jack having an additional enemy in our own men-of-war, who would have pressed her hands. T he " Indiam an," besides the common occurrences of an outward passage, contains a love-story between the captain and one of his passengers ; the lady being pestered by a fashionable rou6, going to India as a last resource, and thinking he might as well repair his fortunes by marriage as by drudging at Calcutta. In the Indian Ocean a storm collies on ; and the vessel is wrecked upon the coast of Madagascar, where father and rival perish. The lovers, however, escape ; and with their safe arrival in England, and of course their marriage, the work inartistically concludes.
The peculiar characteristic we have pointed out does not render either tale well adapted for extracts ; but here is
A CIIACE AND ESCAPE.
The Saucy Jack was in a dangerous predicament : an enemy on each side of
vastly superior strength, so as to render all hope of escape by repelling' fusee by force impossible; and, unffirtunritely, within nine miles was that frightful shoal called the Seranilla. This dangerous reef is in latitude 15 deg. 53 min. N.
longitude ffif deg. W. and extends fourteen opposing altar to our course supposed to be insurmountable. The Saucy jack lost none of her reputation; she increased her distance from the line-of-battle ship every minute ; vet the frigate, from her position to windward, was enabled to get within poini-blank shot, and opened her bow chase-guns on the privateer. The fire was not returned, and affairs were in this situation for about an hour. Our men were at their quarters, and ready to defend the Saucy Jack to the sinking. Courage beamed from every eye, and every eye was turned with estonisht»ent on Captain Herbert, when he gave the order to retreat from quarters, secure the guns, and batten the hatches down : this was immediately done, however strange it appeared. No English sailor likes to be disappointed of a fight after his gun has been cast luose : they knew their Captain too well to suppose thr a moment that he was about to surrender his vessel without firing at shot ; yet what WM about to be dmie ? To weather the frigate, should we tack, was impossible; to run to leeward Was equally so' as the line-of-battle ship would inevitably intercept our course. Hurried atid unxious whispers passed between the men, each endeavouring to assign some cause for this strange proceeding. Not one on batted could imagine the Captain's intention, even when he ordered the crew to their stations for trimming sails. An intense anxiety was pictured on every countenance, as the ship was within a quarter of a mile of the lofty and foaming breakers ; which, should she advance within their fury, would (lash the vessel instantly to pieces against the coral rocks beneath, and then no hope of saving a single life could possiblybe entertained. The frigate kept up her tire ; but, as the sea was rough, the motion of the vessel rendered it difficult to do so with effect; therefore no damage of consequence was sustained. The Saucy Jack still approached the breakers at a rapid rate; they were plainly heard on hoard as they were ffirlottsly lashed against the coral ribs of this frightful shoal. Every stud on board regarded the Captain with fixed attention; not a word was spoken fore or aft, until he called out to clap the helm a-weather. The privateer, obeying the impulse, came before the wind, bringing her sidelong to the dreaded danger. The Frenchman bore up likewise, keeping the Saucy Jack between the frigate and the breakers, then opened his broadside ; and no doubt looked upon our capture or destruction as certain.
In this manner the two vessels ran on for about a mile, when the privateer came to where the water on the shoal was comparatively smooth ; bat for so very narrow a space two ships could scarcely have gone in abreast. Lutfing suddenly up, the Saucy Jack shot through this opening with the swiftness of an arrow, and was immediately out of sight of her pursuers, who did not dare to follow.
Neither officer nor man so board knew of this mode of escape ; and even pewit was impossible to see the result, as the breakers were roaring and foam-11,g as high as the mast-hesd on both sides of the vessel, threatening every MOwent to overwhelm our frail ship and all that were in her. Seizing a speakingtrumpet, Captain Herbert rats aloft the weather fore-yard-arm, and from that position hailed the men at the helm, and directed the progress of the ship. It ss; a frightful sight ; yet the perfect knowledge evinced by the Capttun, his fine voice, told confident deportment, warmed each heart amid exhilirated the spirits of the crew. Having fay entered this narrow channel, the extremity of the danger was perceived ; as a violent current carried the ship along at a rapid rate, and seemed likely to whirl her against the numerous TOCkS, Some ot which were passed within a few tisthonts, the spray from the surf at the same time wetting the sails; yet by is strict and immediate obedience to the orders1,iven from the fore yard-arm, sad a steady management of the head-braces, the crew were enabled to overcome the difficulties which presented themselves ; and after being in this intricate and dangerous channel tor about an hour and a half, we emerged once snore into the open sea, unharmed, leaving our mortified foe to chew thecud of disappointment at being deprived of his prey the moment he thought it within his grasp.
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