Our Sailors | Page 9

of Mr Walpole's, answered
with a cry for help. Mr Dew cheered him up by letting him know that
he was coming to his assistance; and very soon after he got up to him,
and found him clinging to a small boat full of water, and, as he was
encumbered with a heavy pea-coat, holding on with the greatest
difficulty. Mr Dew, who was lightly clad and fresh, enabled him to
guide the swamped boat up to the ship, near which the current was of
itself carrying her. As they passed near the gangway, a coil of rope was
hove to them, which they getting hold of, the boat was hauled alongside,
and Mr Walpole and his gallant preserver Mr Dew were brought safely
upon deck. Mr Walpole then gave an account of the accident which had
befallen him. He had shoved off from the cutter in her dinghy, which
was very soon swamped; and as the tide would not allow him to regain
the vessel, he was being carried rapidly to destruction, and would, he
gratefully asserted, have inevitably perished, had it not been for the
heroic conduct of Mr Dew, who, under Providence, was thus the means
of preserving his life.
CHAPTER FOUR.
CAPTURE OF A VENEZUELAN SQUADRON--FEBRUARY 1841.
Among the numerous states which have arisen from the fragments of
the Spanish empire in South America is that of Venezuela, of which

Carthagena on the northern coast, and on the eastern shore at the
entrance of the Gulf of Darien, is one of the chief towns. Although the
inhabitants have proved themselves on many occasions to be a brave
and gallant people, they too frequently, after they drove out the
Spaniards, quarrelled among themselves, and at the time of which we
write had allowed their navy to fall into a very disorganised condition.
It appears that the British merchant brig Jane and Sarah, in company
with a sloop called Little William, were lying at Sapote, a harbour near
Carthagena, when, on the 6th of February 1841, some Venezuelan
ships-of-war, under the orders of General Carmona, attacked the two
vessels and plundered them of a large amount of goods and specie. A
Colonel Gregg and other passengers, together with their crews, were
taken on shore and imprisoned. We are not aware of what crime
Colonel Gregg and the other persons were accused. They found means,
however, to communicate their condition to the British consul resident
at Carthagena, who immediately interested himself on their behalf, and
applied to the Government for their release.
His intercession was perfectly unsuccessful. As soon, therefore, as he
was able, he sent off a despatch to Lieutenant De Courcy, commanding
HM brig Charybdis, stationed on the coast to protect British interests,
and which was fortunately then in the neighbourhood. Immediately on
receiving the communication, Lieutenant De Courcy came off the port
of Carthagena, and despatched a boat with an officer bearing a letter to
the commodore of the squadron, then at anchor inside, demanding the
release of Colonel Gregg and the other British subjects.
The Venezuelan squadron consisted of a corvette, a brig, and three
schooners of war. When the officer got on board the corvette, he found
the commodore, who treated him with great insolence, observing that,
as the letter was not written in Spanish, he could not understand it, and
therefore could not receive it, treating the threatened interference with
the greatest contempt. The unfortunate Colonel Gregg, it appears, was
shot, immediately after the application for his release had been made;
so that probably the commodore was acting under the orders of the
Government, who were little aware of the punishment they were about
to draw down on the head of the commander of their ships.

As soon as the British officer had returned on board the Charybdis, and
reported these circumstances, Lieutenant de Courcy determined to
compel attention to his communications. The Charybdis was rated as a
six-gun brig, but she carried only one long gun amidships and two
carronades, and her full complement of officers and men was but
fifty-five. Nothing daunted, however, he boldly entered the port, and
was passing up to an anchorage, when, without any provocation, he
was fired into by the corvette,--the commodore's vessel,--and the
forestay of the Charybdis was shot away.
This was an insult not for an instant to be borne, and, in spite of the
small size of his vessel and the apparently overwhelming force opposed
to him, he immediately took up a position, and opened his fire on the
corvette. His officers and crew enthusiastically supported him, and,
working their guns with a will, so rapidly was their fire delivered, and
so well was it directed, that in a short time the corvette hauled down
her colours and surrendered, when, on taking possession of her,