The Loss of the Royal George

The Loss of the Royal George
by W.H.G. Kingston
CHAPTER ONE.
My father, Richard Truscott, was boatswain of the Royal George, one
of the finest ships in the navy. I lived with mother and several brothers
and sisters at Gosport.
Father one day said to me, "Ben, you shall come with me, and we'll
make a sailor of you. Maybe you'll some day walk the quarter-deck as
an officer."
I did not want to go to sea, and I did not care about being an officer;
indeed I had never thought about the matter, but I had no choice in it. I
was but a very little chap, and liked playing at marbles, or "chuck
penny," in our backyard, better than anything else.
"He is too small yet to be a sailor," said mother.
"He is big enough to be a powder-monkey," observed my father; and as
he was not a man who chose to be contradicted, he the next day took
me aboard his ship, then fitting out in Portsmouth harbour, to carry the
flag of Admiral Sir Edward Hawke. She was indeed a proud ship, with
the tautest masts and the squarest yards of any ship in the British navy.
She carried one hundred and four guns, all of brass--forty-two pounders
on the lower-deck; thirty-two on the middle deck; and twenty-four
pounders on the quarter-deck, forecastle, poop, and main-deck. She had
huge lanterns at her poop, into which four or five of us boys could stow
ourselves away; and from the time she was first launched, in 1756, the
flag of some great admiral always floated from the masthead. When my
father left me, to attend to his duty, I thought I should have been lost in
the big ship, with deck above deck, and guns all alike one another on
either side; and hundreds of men bawling and shouting, and rushing

about here and there and everywhere. Sitting down on a chest, outside
his cabin,--my legs were not long enough to reach the deck,--I had a
good cry; and a number of boys, some of them not much bigger than
myself, came and had a look at me, but they did not jeer, or play me
any tricks, for they had found out that I was the bo'sun's son, and that
they had better not. I soon, however, recovered, and learned to find my
way, not only from one deck to another, but up aloft; and before many
days were over, had been up to the main-truck; though when my father
heard of it, for he was below at the time, he told me not to go again till
I was bigger. As I was continually, from ignorance, getting into scrapes,
and he could not keep an eye on me himself, he gave me in charge to
Jerry Dix, the one-legged fiddler and cook's mate. Jerry could take very
good care of me, but was less able to take care of himself when he had
got his grog aboard, and more than once when this happened I had to
watch over him. This made us firm friends, and I am very sure that he
had a sincere affection for me.
England was now engaged in what was known as the Seven Years' War,
which began in 1756, and had been going on for three years, the ships
of England fighting those of France whenever they could find them,
and generally giving them a drubbing. Our ship, which carried, as I
have said, the flag of Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, had, with several
other line-of-battle ships, been for some time watching the French fleet,
under Admiral Conflans, shut up in Brest harbour, when, a heavy gale
coming on, we were obliged to put into Torbay for shelter. We
remained there for some time, while it blew great guns and small arms,
which Jerry told me would keep the French ships shut up in harbour as
securely as would our cannon. At length the weather moderated, and
our admiral made the signal for the fleet to sail. It was a fine sight to
see twenty-four line-of-battle ships, beside the Royal George, mostly
seventy-four's, some larger and some smaller, getting under way
together, and standing over to the enemy's coast. We were a few hours
later than we should have been, however, for on our arrival we heard
that Admiral Conflans had just before slipped out of Brest harbour, and
sailed away for Quiberon Bay, hoping to cut off a small English
squadron under Commodore Duff at anchor there.

We made all sail in chase, but a strong south-easterly wind blew in
their teeth, and it was four days before we arrived off Belle Isle, when
we were joined by Commodore Duff, with four fifty-gun ships and six
frigates. Early in the