"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU", and JACK RENTON
By Louis Becke



"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU", and JACK RENTON

From "The Tapu Of Banderah and Other Stories"

By Louis Becke

C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.

1901




"THE GALLANT, GOOD RIOU"

This is a true story of one of Nelson's captains, he of whom Nelson
wrote as "the gallant and good Riou"--high meed of praise gloriously won
at Copenhagen--but Riou, eleven years before that day, performed a deed,
now almost forgotten, which, for unselfish heroism, ranks among the
brightest in our brilliant naval annals, and in the sea story of
Australia in particular.

In September, 1789, the _Guardian_, a forty-gun ship, under the command
of Riou, then a lieutenant, left England for the one-year-old penal
settlement in New South Wales. The little colony was in sore need of
food--almost starving, in fact--and Riou's orders were to make all haste
to his destination, calling at the Cape on the way to embark live stock
and other supplies. All the ship's guns had been removed to make room
for the stores, which included a "plant cabin"--a temporary compartment
built on deck for the purpose of conveying to Sydney, in pots of earth,
trees and plants selected by Sir Joseph Banks as likely to be useful to
the young colony--making her deck "a complete garden," says a newspaper
of the time. Friends of the officers stationed in New South Wales sent
on board the Guardian great quantities of private goods, and these were
stored in the gun-room, which it was thought would be a safer place than
the hold, but, as the event proved, it was the most insecure.

The ship arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in November, and there filled
her decks with cattle and provisions, then sailed again, her cargo being
equal in value to about Ј70,000. On December 23rd--twelve days after
leaving the Cape--what is described as "an island of ice" was seen. Riou
gave orders to stand towards it in order to renew, by collecting lumps
of ice, the supply of water, the stock of fresh water having run very
low in consequence of the quantity consumed by the cattle.

The Public Advertiser of April 30, 1790, describes what now happened. As
the ship approached the island, the boats were hoisted out and manned,
and several lumps collected. During this time the ship lay to, and on
the ice being brought on board she attempted to stand away. Very little
apprehension was at this time entertained of her safety, although the
enormous bulk of the island occasioned an unfavourable current, and in
some measure gave a partial direction to the wind. On a sudden, the
base of the island, which projected under water considerably beyond the
limits of the visible parts, struck the bow of the ship; she instantly
swung round, and her head cleared, but her stern, coming on the shoal,
struck repeatedly, and the sea being very heavy, her rudder broke
away, and all her works abaft were shivered. The ship in this situation
became, in a degree, embayed under the terrific bulk of ice, for its
height was twice that of the mainmast of a ship of the line, and the
prominent head of the berg was every moment expected to break away and
overwhelm the ship. At length, after every practicable exertion, she was
got off the shoal, and the ice floated past her. It was soon perceived
that the _Guardian_ had six feet of water in her hold, and it was
increasing very fast The hands were set to the pumps, others to find
out the leaks, and they occasionally relieved each other. Thus they
continued labouring unceasingly on the 24th, although on the 23rd not
one of them had had the least rest The ship was at one period so much
relieved that she had only two feet of water in the hold; but at this
time, when their distress wore the best aspect, the water "increased in
a moment to ten feet." Then the ship was discovered to be strained in
all her works, and the sea running high, every endeavour to check the
progress of a particular leak proved ineffectual. To lighten the ship,
the cows, horses, sheep, and all the other live stock for the colony
were, with their fodder, committed to the deep to perish.

John Williams, boatswain of the _Guardian_, wrote to his parents in
London, and told them about the disaster, and although we have no doubt
he was handier with the marline-spike than with his pen, some of his
badly spelled letter reads well:--

"This axident happened on the 23rd of December, and on the 25th the
boats left us with moast of the officers and a great part of the seamen.
The master-gunner, purser, one master's mate, one midshipman, and a
parson, with nine seamen, was got into the longboat and cleared the
ship. The doctor and four or five men got into a cutter and was upset
close to the ship, and all of them was drowned. As for the rest of the
boats, I believe they must be lost and all in them perished, for wee was
about six hundred leagues from any land. There was about fifty-six men
missing; a number drowned jumping into the boats; the sea ran so
high that the boats could scarce live. The commander had a strong
resulution, for he said he would sooner go down in the ship than he
wold quid her. All the officers left in the ship was the commander, the
carpenter, one midshipman, and myself. After the boats left us we had
two chances--either to jump or sink. We cold just get into the sailroom
and got up a new forecourse and stuck it full of oakum and rags, and put
itt under the ship's bottom; this is called fothering the ship. We found
some benefit by itt for pumping and bailing we gained on hur; that gave
us a little hope of saving our lives. We was in this terable situation
for nine weeks before we got to the Cape of Good Hope. Sometimes our
upper-deck scuppers was under water outside, and the ship leying like
a log on the water, and the sea breaking over her as if she was a rock.
Sixteen foot of water was the common run for the nine weeks in the hold.
I am not certain what we are to doo with the ship as yet. We have got
moast of our cargo out; it is all dammaged but the beef and pork, which
is in good order. I have lost a great dele of my cloaths, and I am
thinking of drawing of about six pound, wich I think I can make shift
with. If this axident had not hapned I shold not have had aney call for
aney. As for my stores, there is a great part of them thrown overboard;
likewise all the officers stores in the ship is gone the same way, for
evry thing that came to hand was thrown ovarboard to lighten the ship.
I think that we must wait till ordars comes from England to know what we
are to do with the ship."

The chronicles of the time also relate how at daylight on Christmas
morning, when the water was reported as being up to the orlop deck
and gaining two feet an hour, many of the people desponded and gave
themselves up for lost. A part of those who had any strength left,
seeing that their utmost efforts to save the ship were likely to be in
vain, applied to the officers for the boats, which were promised to be
in readiness for them, and the boatswain was directly ordered to put the
masts, sails, and compasses in each. The cooper was also set to work to
fill a few quarter-casks of water out of some of the butts on deck, and
provisions and other necessaries were got up from the hold.

Many hours previous to this, Lieutenant Riou had privately declared to
his officers that he saw the final loss of the ship was inevitable, and
he could not help regretting the loss of so many brave fellows. "As
for me," said he, "I have determined to remain in the ship, and shall
endeavour to make my presence useful as long as there is any occasion
for it." He was entreated, and even supplicated, to give up this fatal
resolution, and try for safety in the boats. It was even hinted to him
how highly criminal it was to persevere in such a determination; but
he was not to be moved by any entreaties. He was, notwithstanding, as
active in providing for the safety of the boats as if he intended to
take the opportunity of securing his own escape. He was throughout as
calm and collected as in the happier moments of his life.

At seven o'clock the _Guardian_ had settled considerably abaft, and the
water was coming in at the rudder-case in great quantities. At half-past
seven the water in the hold obliged the people below to come upon deck;
the ship appeared to be in a sinking state, and settling bodily down; it
was, therefore, almost immediately agreed to have recourse to the boats.
While engaged in consultation on this melancholy business, Riou wrote a
letter to the Admiralty, which he delivered to Mr. Clements, the master.
It was as follows:--

     "H.M.S. Guardian, Dec. 25, 1789.

     "If any part of the officers or crew of the _Guardian_
     should ever survive to get home, I have only to say their
     conduct, after the fatal stroke against an island of ice,
     was admirable and wonderful in everything that relates to
     their duty, considered either as private men, or in His
     Majesty's service. As there seems to be no possibility of my
     remaining many hours in this world, I beg leave to recommend
     to the considйration of the Admiralty a sister, who, if my
     conduct or service should be found deserving any memory,
     their favour might be shown to, together with a widowed
     mother.

     "I am, &c,

     "Phil. Stephens, Esq."

     "E. RIOU.

With the utmost difficulty the boats were launched. After they were got
afloat and had cleared the ship, with the exception of the launch they
were never afterwards heard of; the launch with nine survivors was
picked up by a passing vessel ten days after she left the wreck, her
people reduced to the last extremity for want of food and water.

Among the survivors was the parson mentioned by the boatswain. This was
the Rev. Mr. Crowther, who was on his way as a missionary to the penal
settlement. The Rev. John Newton, of Olney (poet Cowper's Newton), had
got Crowther the appointment, at "eight shillings per diem, of assistant
chaplain of the settlement," and Newton, writing to the Rev. R. Johnson,
chaplain of Sydney, tells how he heard of the loss of the Guardian, "and
the very next morning Mr. Crowther knocked at my door himself." Then Mr.
Newton writes a letter which shows that Mr. Crowther had had enough of
the sea. "It is not a service for mere flesh and blood to undertake. A
man without that apostolic spirit and peculiar call which the Lord alone
can give would hardly be able to maintain his ground. Mr. Crowther,
though a sincere, humble, good man, seems not to have had those
qualifications, and therefore he has been partly intimidated by what he
met with abroad, and partly influenced by nearer personal considerations
at home, to stay with us and sleep in a whole skin." But after his
experience it was not to be wondered at that he preferred to stay at
home and sleep in a whole skin.

Meanwhile Riou, in spite of a ship without a rudder, and with the water
in her up to the orlop deck, succeeded, as the boatswain's letter shows,
after a voyage of nine weeks, in bringing his command to the Cape. A
letter from Capetown, written on March 1, 1790, tells us she arrived
there "eight days ago in a situation not to be credited without ocular
proofs. She had, I think, nine feet of water in her when she anchored.
The lower gun-deck served as a second bottom; it was stowed with a very
great weight equally fore and aft. To this, and to the uncommon strength
of it, Captain Riou ascribes his safety. Seeing an English ship with a
signal of distress, four of us went on board, scarcely hoping but with
busy fancy still pointing her out to be the _Guardian_, and, to our
inexpressible joy, we found it was her. We stood in silent admiration
of her heroic commander (whose supposed fate had drawn tears from us
before), shining through the rags of the meanest sailor. The fortitude
of this man is a glorious example for British officers to emulate. Since
that time we have gone on board again to see him. He is affable in
his manners, and of most commanding presence.... Perhaps we, under the
influence of that attraction which great sufferings always produce, may,
in the enthusiasm of our commendation, be too lavish in his praise; were
it not for this fear I would at once pronounce him the most God-like
mortal I ever viewed. They were two months from the time the accident
happened until they reached this place. Every man shared alike in the
labour; and not having at all attended to their persons during the
whole of that dismal period they looked like men of another world--long
beards, dirt, and rags covered them. Mr. Riou got one of his hands
crushed and one of his legs hurt, but all are getting well. None of his
people died during their fatigues. He says his principal attention
was to keep up their spirits and to watch over their health. He never
allowed himself to hope until the day before he got in here, when
he made the land. Destitute of that support, how superior must his
fortitude be! He has this morning, for the first time, come on shore,
having been employed getting stores, &c., out to lighten the ship. He
wavers what to do with her--whether to put Government to the expense
of repairing her here (which would almost equal her first cost, perhaps
exceed it) or burn her. Most likely the last will be resolved on."

The ship was in such a state that she was condemned by the experts at
the Cape, but Riou, bearing in mind the distressed state of the colony
of New South Wales, did not rest until he had sent on in other vessels
all the stores he could collect.

Neither did he forget the behaviour of certain convicts. In a letter
to the Admiralty he wrote: "Permit me, sir, to address you on a subject
which I hope their Lordships will not consider to be unworthy their
notice. It is to recommend as much as is in my power to their Lordships'
favour and interest the case of the twenty convicts which my duty
compelled me to send to Port Jackson. But the recollection of past
sufferings reminds me of that time when I found it necessary to make use
of every possible method to encourage the minds of the people under my
command, and at such time, considering how great the difference might
be between a free man struggling for life and him who perhaps might
consider death as not much superior to a life of ignominy and disgrace
I publicly declared that not one of them, so far as depended on myself,
should ever be convicts. And I may with undeniable truth say that, had
it not been for their assistance and support, the _Guardian_ would never
have arrived to where she is. Their conduct prior to the melancholy
accident that happened on December 23rd last was always such as may be
commended, and from their first entrance into the ship at Spithead they
ever assisted and did their duty in like manner as the crew. I have
taken the liberty to recommend them to the notice of Governor Phillip;
but I humbly hope, sir, their Lordships will consider the service done
by these men as meriting their Lordships' favour and protection, and I
make no doubt that should I have been so fortunate as to represent
this in proper colours, that they will experience the benefit of their
Lordships' interest."

The prisoners were pardoned, and the Secretary of the Admiralty wrote to
Riou--

"I have their Lordships' commands to acquaint you that their concern
on the receipt of the melancholy contents of the first-mentioned letter
could only be exceeded by the satisfaction they received from the
account of your miraculous escape, which they attribute to your skilful
and judicious exertions under the favour of Divine Providence....
Their Lordships have communicated to Mr. Secretary Grenville, for his
Majesty's information, your recommendation of the surviving convicts
whose conduct, as it has so deservedly met with your approbation, will,
there is every reason to hope, entitle them to his Majesty's clemency."

[This story of the gallant behaviour of these twenty prisoners does not
stand alone in the convict annals of Australia. There were many other
instances in which convicts behaved with the greatest heroism. Many of
the earlier explorers, such as Sturt, received most valuable aid from
prisoners who were members of their expeditions; and in the first
days of the colony both Phillip and Hunter were quick to recognise
and personally reward or recommend for pardon to the Home Government
convicts who had distinguished themselves by acts of bravery.]

When Riou returned to England he was promoted to post-captain's rank,
and at Copenhagen, in 1801, he commanded the _Amazon_. Perhaps we may
be forgiven for reprinting from Southey's "Nelson" an account of what he
did there. "The signal" (that famous one which Nelson looked at with his
blind eye), "the signal, however, saved Riou's little squadron, but
did not save its heroic leader. The squadron, which was nearest the
commander-in-chief, obeyed and hauled off. It had suffered severely in
its most unequal contest. For a long time the _Amazon_ had been firing
enveloped in smoke, when Riou desired his men to stand fast, and let
the smoke clear off, that they might see what they were about. A fatal
order, for the Danes then got clear sight of her from the batteries,
and pointed their guns with such tremendous effect that nothing but
the signal for retreat saved this frigate from destruction. 'What will
Nelson think of us!' was Riou's mournful exclamation when he unwillingly
drew off. He had been wounded in the head by a splinter, and was sitting
on a gun, encouraging his men, when, just as the _Amazon_ showed her
stern to the Trekroner Battery, his clerk was killed by his side,
and another shot swept away several marines who were hauling in
the main-brace. 'Come, then, my boys!' cried Riou, 'let us die all
together!' The words had scarcely been uttered before a raking shot cut
him in two. Except it had been Nelson himself, the British Navy could
not have suffered a severer loss."





JACK RENTON

Some yarns of an exceedingly tough and Munchausen-like character have
been spun and printed by men of their adventures in Australian waters
or the South Seas, but an examination of such stories by any one with
personal knowledge of the Pacific and Australasia has soon, and very
deservedly so, knocked the bottom out of a considerable number of them.
Yet there are stories of South Sea adventure well authenticated, which
I are not a whit less wonderful than the most marvellous falsehoods that
any man has yet told, and the story of what befell John Renton is one
of these. A file of the _Queenslander_ (the leading Queensland weekly
newspaper) for 1875 will corroborate his story; for that paper gave the
best account of his adventures in one of their November (1875) numbers,
and the story was copied into nearly every paper in Australasia.


Like Harry Bluff, John Renton "when a boy left his friends and his home,
o'er the wild ocean waves all his life for to roam." Renton's home was
in Stromness, in the Orkneys, and he shipped on board a vessel bound to
Sydney, in 1867, as an ordinary seaman, he then being a lad of eighteen.
When in Sydney he got about among the boarding-houses, in sailor-town,
and one morning woke up on the forecastle of the _Reynard_ of Boston,
bound on a cruise for guano among the South Pacific Islands.

Renton had been crimped, and finding himself where he was, bothered no
more about it, but went cheerfully to work, not altogether displeased at
the prospect of new adventures, which would enable him to by and by go
back to the old folks with plenty of dollars, and a stock of startling
yarns to reel off. He was a steady, straightforward lad, though somewhat
thoughtless at times, and resolved to be a steady, straightforward man.
The vessel first called into the Sandwich Islands, and there shipped a
gang of Hawaiian natives to help load the guano, then she sailed away
to the southward for McKean's Island, one of the Phoenix Group, situated
about lat. 3? 35' S. and long. 174? 20'