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BEN BRACE. — Se . 798
Onr flag of truce was answered, and the
batteries ceased firing: the signal was made
to weigh in succession, and the Monarch,
who first led-us through the Sound, was
now the leading ship out of this channel.
She had to pass close to the Trekroner on
.the artificial island.
“ One puff of wind and every stick would
have gone over the side, for she was riddled.
She struck upon a shoal; but the Ganges,
which was close in her wake, struck her on
. the broadside, as she rounded-to (for the
Monarch had only tailed upon the bank),
and pushed her off again. mo
“Our old ship the Elephant stuck hard
and fast, and so did the Defiance ; dnd there
they remained for many hours. Had the
Danes at that moment refused to treat,
every one of our ships might have become
prizes ; for the approach of the Ramillies
and Defence, from Sir Hyde’s division,
could not have got the ships afloat, which
were aground within point-blank shot of the
Trekroner. This battery, owing to the
want of ships to attack it, was almost unin-
jured, and at the close of the action had
fifteen hundred fresh men to man the guns.
“Tt’s these little lucky events which lead
- to greatness. The Danes continued sending
their Adjutant-general Lindholm to the Lon-
don, which ship was at anchor four miles
from the town; and the time it required to
pull there, and there to consult (for Nelson
left the Elephant and went on board that
ship to conduct the treaty), gave us ample
time to remove from the scene of action.
But the affair which hurt the-gallant hero
the most was the blowing up of the Dan-
brog. She had been drifting about in flames,
and the crew could not extinguish the fire.
In a moment not an atom remained of her ;
and her brave: crew, who had so gallantly
_ fought, perished* when the battle was over ;
nor could we, although you may depend up-
on it we were not backward ‘to snatch a
brave tar from a watery grave,’ succeed in
saving any. -
“The big wigs settled that we were to
have our prizes without further contest;
and every man in the fleet was tired enough
on Good Friday, the day after the action.
We got the Elephant off during the night ;
but Lord* Nelson breakfasted on board of
her (he had slept in the St. George) ; and
at last we got all our prizes out clear of
banks and shoals, batteries and Danes.
‘\ “Then came the weariness which suc-
-ceeds great exertion; then it was that we
forgot our victory in the remembrance of
our heavy loss of shipmates. We all know
the feeling when we go into action; our
‘hearts are alive to the honor and the glory
of our country—hope cheers us on; and
although we feel the cold creep of uncer-
tainty as to the result, yet we are animated
by the prospect of glory, and of the pleasure
of saying, ‘That man was at Copenhagen.’
But when it’s all over, when the rumble of |
the guns has ceased, and when the groans
of the wounded succeed the bustle of an
action, then it is, Jack, that we know we
have hearts, for they worry us sadly.
“We lost in that battle no less than nine
hundred and fifty-three men. The Danes,
counting in their prisoners, mustered six
thousand short of complement. Our prizes
amounted to six line-of-battle ships and six
preams. We only sent one, the Holstein,
a sixty-four, to Englands the rest were
burnt and sunk with all their guns on board ;
and we did not think that was the hest way
of disposing of them, for it gave us no prize-
money. Jack, you know as well as myself,
that prize-money is just as acceptable to us
foremastmen, as pensions and pay to others;
and we grumbled, and so did Lord Nelson,
at sinking ships.which might have been in
Portsmouth harbor in a week’s time.
“ Another thing grieved my heart. You
know that we have no burying-ground on
board a ship; and that most of us prefer a
hammock, with a round-shot or two at the .
feet, to all the humbug of shore-going gen-
tlemen, who hire others to cry for them, and
who get a black box mounted on four wheels,
with feathers and gimeracks, to carry them
to thé grave. With us it is a grating and
a flag—one splash in the water, and the
Lord have mercy on our souls!) But when ~
the Danes buried their dead, they made a
grand affair of it; and of Gourse it was a
consolation to those who were left, to see
that, had they died, they would have been
buried decently. :
“T happened to be on shore with the ad-
miral when the Danes buried their dead. “It
was the third day after the action : the whole
city seemed to have assembled in the nayal
church-yard. Young women dressed in
white threw flowers over the graves ; thou
sands shed tears; and I thought that a na-
tion consulted its own dignity when it thus
paid the last tribute to departed bravery. It
makes a man fee) that he does not die like
a dog: it makes a soldier or a sailor con-
scious that others look on to write his name
down in the log-book of memory. When
he has run through this life in the service .
of his country, with agrateful remen-brance
for all the blessings fe may have re:eived
it is then, when the last shroud is placed:
over his mast-head, when he is hove dowg
keel out, that those who moor him forever
in the narrow harbor of the grave, where
there is no room required for swinging clear,
say, ‘There lies a man who faithfully served .
his king and his country ;’ and they lift their
hands, when the clergyman says, ‘ashes to
ashes, dust to dust,’ and pray that he whe
behaved so well here may find an eternal’
repose there ” :