deliver the water. I ran upon deck in my shirt, but the danger was over, and one good spell at the chain pumps cleared her of what had gone down the hatchways.
By next morning, the weather had moderated and Moore removed two of the deadlights which had been fitted to protect his cabin windows. He soon regretted it as a
... green sea stove in the cabin windows and filled my cabin, bed and every thing full of water.
Such were the perils of a following sea.
On 17 November, the battered Bonetta finally sailed past Spithead.
6
Commander at War (November 1792 – February 1794)
While the Bonetta was docked for repairs, Moore went to London. He was back at Portsmouth on 30 November, when he received urgent orders to make the Bonetta ready for sea with the utmost dispatch. Already the Assistance and the Rattlesnake , commanded by his friend Joseph Sidney Yorke, had been issued with secret sealed orders and had put to sea. Portsmouth was alive with rumours;
The reason of this bustle is an utter secret, but the general opinion is that we are about to support the Dutch in preventing the opening of the Schelde. Something serious is certainly going forward ...
In London, the militia had been called out and Parliament had been recalled. At Portsmouth, there was frantic activity fitting ships for service, and guardships were waiting for suitable winds to get out of harbour.
By the 4 December, the Bonetta had slipped out of harbour and moored at Spithead. Moore now received orders to sail for the Downs and, if there were no orders awaiting him there, to carry on round to the Nore, the naval anchorage off Sheerness. Within hours the Bonetta was off of Deal and in the worst gale that Moore had ever experienced, with the serious threat of the Goodwin Sands very close at hand;
Our situation was very dangerous, neither the Master being well acquainted nor myself, with this part of the Channel, the narrowest of any part of the English Channel, with a long winter night and dreadful shoals to leeward of us. I did not go to bed until four yesterday morning, when I took two or three hours rest, but not a wink of sleep. The sea ran very high, and not a man had a dry hammock to turn into, which together with the great exertions our people had made [to fit the ship in 3 days] , so completely knocked them up that yesterday at noon we had twenty working men in the sick list.
When the weather moderated they were able to pick up a pilot to see them to the Nore, though they nearly became entrapped by shoals in the Queen’s Channel. The weather had turned bitterly cold and Moore anxiously watched his crew who were ‘jaded off their legs’ . Angrily, he partly blamed this on the poor craftsmanship of the dockyard artificers, as the decks of the Bonetta leaked worse than she had before refitting. He felt like complaining but realized that this might further delay their being sent on any profitable active service. Nevertheless ‘... it is a shameful business, and would prove fatal to many of our people if they were not all of them young fellows.’ Equally badly, much of their stores had been left behind with, critically, the surgeon’s medical chest. Around them there were other ships in difficulty and Moore greatly admired the seamen from Margate who ventured out in rough seas carrying anchors and cables to those in need. He thought the Deal men the bravest, as they often put to sea in the worst weather and hardly ever lost a man:
They are accused of being very exorbitant in their demands for services performed [i.e. fees], but they run such risks and do so much good that they deserve to be well paid. I never saw men manage their boats so well.
For the remainder of December, the Bonetta was employed ferrying newly raised or impressed seamen from Sheerness to the Downs. Heavy weather set in and the crowded sloop was made additionally uncomfortable. Moore too was suffering:
My cabin is so cold and so constantly damp that I cannot sit in it to read or
By next morning, the weather had moderated and Moore removed two of the deadlights which had been fitted to protect his cabin windows. He soon regretted it as a
... green sea stove in the cabin windows and filled my cabin, bed and every thing full of water.
Such were the perils of a following sea.
On 17 November, the battered Bonetta finally sailed past Spithead.
6
Commander at War (November 1792 – February 1794)
While the Bonetta was docked for repairs, Moore went to London. He was back at Portsmouth on 30 November, when he received urgent orders to make the Bonetta ready for sea with the utmost dispatch. Already the Assistance and the Rattlesnake , commanded by his friend Joseph Sidney Yorke, had been issued with secret sealed orders and had put to sea. Portsmouth was alive with rumours;
The reason of this bustle is an utter secret, but the general opinion is that we are about to support the Dutch in preventing the opening of the Schelde. Something serious is certainly going forward ...
In London, the militia had been called out and Parliament had been recalled. At Portsmouth, there was frantic activity fitting ships for service, and guardships were waiting for suitable winds to get out of harbour.
By the 4 December, the Bonetta had slipped out of harbour and moored at Spithead. Moore now received orders to sail for the Downs and, if there were no orders awaiting him there, to carry on round to the Nore, the naval anchorage off Sheerness. Within hours the Bonetta was off of Deal and in the worst gale that Moore had ever experienced, with the serious threat of the Goodwin Sands very close at hand;
Our situation was very dangerous, neither the Master being well acquainted nor myself, with this part of the Channel, the narrowest of any part of the English Channel, with a long winter night and dreadful shoals to leeward of us. I did not go to bed until four yesterday morning, when I took two or three hours rest, but not a wink of sleep. The sea ran very high, and not a man had a dry hammock to turn into, which together with the great exertions our people had made [to fit the ship in 3 days] , so completely knocked them up that yesterday at noon we had twenty working men in the sick list.
When the weather moderated they were able to pick up a pilot to see them to the Nore, though they nearly became entrapped by shoals in the Queen’s Channel. The weather had turned bitterly cold and Moore anxiously watched his crew who were ‘jaded off their legs’ . Angrily, he partly blamed this on the poor craftsmanship of the dockyard artificers, as the decks of the Bonetta leaked worse than she had before refitting. He felt like complaining but realized that this might further delay their being sent on any profitable active service. Nevertheless ‘... it is a shameful business, and would prove fatal to many of our people if they were not all of them young fellows.’ Equally badly, much of their stores had been left behind with, critically, the surgeon’s medical chest. Around them there were other ships in difficulty and Moore greatly admired the seamen from Margate who ventured out in rough seas carrying anchors and cables to those in need. He thought the Deal men the bravest, as they often put to sea in the worst weather and hardly ever lost a man:
They are accused of being very exorbitant in their demands for services performed [i.e. fees], but they run such risks and do so much good that they deserve to be well paid. I never saw men manage their boats so well.
For the remainder of December, the Bonetta was employed ferrying newly raised or impressed seamen from Sheerness to the Downs. Heavy weather set in and the crowded sloop was made additionally uncomfortable. Moore too was suffering:
My cabin is so cold and so constantly damp that I cannot sit in it to read or
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