How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves: Updated to 1900Kingston, William Henry Giles
History
How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves: Updated to 1900
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Great Britain. Royal Navy -- History
which at that time lay unrigged inside the mole, and for which they
wanted some skilful seamen. On the 7th of January, 1622, the ship,
being fitted, was hauled out of the mole. She carried twelve cast guns,
with a crew of sixty-three Algerines, nine Englishmen, one Frenchmen,
and four Hollanders, all freemen; and for gunners, she had two soldiers,
one an English and the other a Dutch renegado. Rawlins, from the first
going on board, resolved to attempt regaining his liberty. For this
purpose he furnished himself with ropes and pieces of iron, and iron
crowbars to secure the scuttles, gratings, and cabins, and when, having
gained over the other Europeans, he hoped, by being masters of the
gun-room, ordnance, and powder, either to blow up their captors or to
kill them as they came out of their cabins. He first made known his
design to the English, and by degrees won over the four Hollanders, who
offered to join them and gain the assistance of the Dutch renegadoes,
while the English undertook to obtain the assistance of the renegado of
their own nation. During this time Rawlins, who was acting as
sailing-master, persuaded the Algerine captain to steer to the
northward, though he knew very well that they had already passed the
straits. On the 16th of February they took an English barque from
Torbay, laden with salt. With the exception of the mate and two men,
the crew were removed from the prize, and ten Algerines, with the Dutch
and one English renegado, who were all in the plot, were sent on board
instead. Before they left the _Exchange_, Rawlins assured them that he
would make his attempt that night or the next, and give them a signal by
which they might know when he was about it, advising them to acquaint
the English in the barque with their design, and to steer towards the
English coast. Next morning the Algerine captain got very much out of
humour in consequence of not seeing the prize; and Rawlins, fearing that
he might return to Algiers, thought it high time to put his plan into
execution. He had already made the master and crew of the Torbay vessel
acquainted with it; he now told the Algerine captain that there was a
great deal of water below, and that it did not come to the pumps because
the ship was too far by the head. For the purpose of remedying this an
order was issued to bring four guns astern; two of them were accordingly
placed with their mouths directly before the binnacle. Rawlins had
already provided himself with sufficient powder, which he obtained from
the gunner, to prime the pieces. He now assured the captain that in
order to right the ship all hands must work at the pumps. While this
was doing, two matches were brought, one between two spoons, and the
other in a can, and immediately one of the guns being discharged, the
binnacle was shattered to pieces. On this signal, all the English
collected together, and having seized such arms as they could lay hold
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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