It Seemed A Sad Deserted Place, As Far As I Could Judge
At The Distance Of Half A Mile.
In the harbour, however, lay a
Spanish frigate and French war brig.
As we passed the former, some
of the Spaniards on board our steamer became boastful at the
expense of the English. It appeared that, a few weeks before, an
English vessel, suspected to be a contraband trader, was seen by
this frigate hovering about a bay on the Andalusian coast, in
company with an English frigate, the Orestes. The Spaniard dogged
them for some time, till one morning observing that the Orestes had
disappeared, he hoisted English colours, and made a signal to the
trader to bear down; the latter, deceived by the British ensign,
and supposing that the Spaniard was the friendly Orestes, instantly
drew near, was fired at and boarded, and proving in effect to be a
contraband trader, she was carried into port and delivered over to
the Spanish authorities. In a few days the captain of the Orestes
hearing of this, and incensed at the unwarrantable use made of the
British flag, sent a boat on board the frigate demanding that the
vessel should be instantly restored, as, if she was not, he would
retake her by force; adding that he had forty cannons on board.
The captain of the Spanish frigate returned for answer, that the
trader was in the hands of the officers of the customs, and was no
longer at his disposal; that the captain of the Orestes however,
could do what he pleased, and that if he had forty guns, he himself
had forty-four; whereupon the Orestes thought proper to bear away.
Such at least was the Spanish account as related by the journals.
Observing the Spaniards to be in great glee at the idea of one of
their nation having frightened away the Englishman, I exclaimed,
"Gentlemen, all of you who suppose that an English sea captain has
been deterred from attacking a Spaniard, from an apprehension of a
superior force of four guns, remember, if you please, the fate of
the Santissima Trinidad, and be pleased also not to forget that we
are almost within cannon's sound of Trafalgar."
It was neat sunset, I repeat, and we were crossing the bay of
Gibraltar.
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