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Article THE FIRST CRUISE OF THE " VIXEN." ← Page 23 of 23
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The First Cruise Of The " Vixen."
for the bank where we Avere stationed . " Let them come Avell in , " said Fin , " five-and-txventy yards , not more ; then , ma }* - Heaven have mercy on their souls , for in this xvorld they must expect none . " At about thirty yards they received our volley ; xvhat its effect might have been no one coulcl tellfor xvhen the smoke had
, cleared axvay the galley hacl foundered , and not a mortal soul xvas xisible . The third boat , in AA'hich there remained about five men , pulled for the opposite bank of the river , and landed under a galling fire from our party ; although out of pointblank range of the muskets , our rifles reached them . We hacl preA'iously determined to take no prisoners , for , as Tom justly
obseiwed , Ave might have to account for them . Returning to our boat by the shore , xvhich the ebbiug tide had left clear , we launched her Avith considerable difficulty , and
half an hour afterArards , I xx'as not sorry to find myself once more on board the Vixen . The next morning , Tom having very providently calculated our visit for the day of a spring-tide , we again manned the boat , and pulled up the river . AA ' e discovered the schooner exactly as described by the lieutenant of the Nemesis , and
without much trouble drew her out into the stream . At the ebb-tide she was toxved doxvn the river , and brought over the bar . Her broken spars xvere found xvhere they had been xvashed ashore , and Mr . Boom managed to rig out a jury-mast , and xve supplied her with a spare sail from our vessel . Takingadvantage of a light west windxve succeeded in ilotinthe
, p g Skylark into Funchal . She xvas then fitted xvith nexv spars , and I put five of our men into her , xvith directions to delix'er her at Southampton , and then to join me at Cadiz . We kept company as far as the Straits , xvhere xve parted , and that evening I landed at Cadiz .
" Well , " said I to my companions , as after dinner we seated ourselves in the balcony of our hotel—before us lay my craft , with that impudent exjiression inseparable from a minute vessel in the trim of a man-of-war— " xx'ell , my friends , xx'hat do you think of the first cruise of the Vixen ? "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The First Cruise Of The " Vixen."
for the bank where we Avere stationed . " Let them come Avell in , " said Fin , " five-and-txventy yards , not more ; then , ma }* - Heaven have mercy on their souls , for in this xvorld they must expect none . " At about thirty yards they received our volley ; xvhat its effect might have been no one coulcl tellfor xvhen the smoke had
, cleared axvay the galley hacl foundered , and not a mortal soul xvas xisible . The third boat , in AA'hich there remained about five men , pulled for the opposite bank of the river , and landed under a galling fire from our party ; although out of pointblank range of the muskets , our rifles reached them . We hacl preA'iously determined to take no prisoners , for , as Tom justly
obseiwed , Ave might have to account for them . Returning to our boat by the shore , xvhich the ebbiug tide had left clear , we launched her Avith considerable difficulty , and
half an hour afterArards , I xx'as not sorry to find myself once more on board the Vixen . The next morning , Tom having very providently calculated our visit for the day of a spring-tide , we again manned the boat , and pulled up the river . AA ' e discovered the schooner exactly as described by the lieutenant of the Nemesis , and
without much trouble drew her out into the stream . At the ebb-tide she was toxved doxvn the river , and brought over the bar . Her broken spars xvere found xvhere they had been xvashed ashore , and Mr . Boom managed to rig out a jury-mast , and xve supplied her with a spare sail from our vessel . Takingadvantage of a light west windxve succeeded in ilotinthe
, p g Skylark into Funchal . She xvas then fitted xvith nexv spars , and I put five of our men into her , xvith directions to delix'er her at Southampton , and then to join me at Cadiz . We kept company as far as the Straits , xvhere xve parted , and that evening I landed at Cadiz .
" Well , " said I to my companions , as after dinner we seated ourselves in the balcony of our hotel—before us lay my craft , with that impudent exjiression inseparable from a minute vessel in the trim of a man-of-war— " xx'ell , my friends , xx'hat do you think of the first cruise of the Vixen ? "