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Updated: June 24, 2025
As soon as you have loaded, rig up the boarding-nettings.’ “In a moment all was bustle. There was no need to run the guns in, for that was already done, the captain insisting upon our always having the ports closed, in order, as he said, that the natives might see that our intentions were perfectly friendly.
The vessel meanwhile was prepared for defence; guns loaded, boarding-nettings ready for running up, and the people at quarters; for we were ignorant of the number, the strength, or even the description of the assailants. I met the Panglima's boat pulling toward the vessel, and returned with her, considering it useless and rash to pursue the foe. The story is soon told.
"If the wind holds good we may laugh at them," he remarked; "but if it should chance to fall calm, the rascals would very soon be up with us." "But could we not fight?" I asked. "We have boarding-nettings, and plenty of hands, and muskets, and two guns; surely we might beat them off." "From what I have seen of the captain, he is not a fighting man," answered Fairburn.
An unknown enemy is always a formidable enemy; and I would rather have fought three guarda-costas at once, than lie where we did, in a bay as smooth as a looking-glass, surrounded by forests as silent as a desert, and in a well-armed ship, that was prepared at all points, to meet her foes, even to her boarding-nettings. Nothing came of it all.
"Well, can you tell me whether there are any boarding-nettings in the ship?" I asked. "Boarding-nettings!" answered the boatswain. "Oh yes, sir; I came across what I took to be a pile of 'em down below in the sail room, yesterday."
Having got all their arms ready, he had ropes passed round and round the vessel above the bulwarks, so as to serve in the place of boarding-nettings, and then, not without great difficulty, they hoisted their own boat on board, and stowed her amidships.
Soon they were up to the gunwales of the American flotilla, and the grappling-irons were fixed; then, with sharp blows of cutlasses, deadly play of the pikes, and a ceaseless rattle of small-arms, they poured upon the decks of the Americans. The boarding-nettings could not long check so furious a foe, and fell before the fierce slash of the cutlasses.
The schooner had her guns run out, her boarding-nettings up, and every other proper precaution was taken to guard against surprise. Directions were left with the chief mate to admit no person on board during our absence, and, in the event of our not appearing in twelve hours, to send the cutter, with a swivel, around the island in search of us.
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