1812: A tale of Cape Cod

Under the guidance of Lieutenant Fotheringay the prisoners were taken through the frigate. They expressed their admiration in unstinted language. Fotheringay told them that Raggett was a strict disciplinarian who insisted that his crew should always be in first-class condition for work. He was unforgiving when any of his men wilfully neglected duty; but when work was over and playtime arrived, he never interfered with the manner in which the seamen enjoyed themselves. He had closed his eyes to their frolics in Provincetown, where they sometimes made merry with great vigor, and now that shore leave was suspended he demanded implicit obedience to his order requiring special permission from himself for any of his crew to visit the town.

To the prisoners all this emphasized the change of front on the British side. Raggett evidently meant what he said when he told them he was going to obey orders. Already the “Nymph” and the “Bulwark”, of the squadron blockading Cape Cod bay, were watching the coast between Barnstable and Boston. The “Spencer” with her tenders would have charge of the towns on the lower Cape, Dennis, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown. So much they gathered from the lieutenant’s conversation, but beyond this they got no inkling of the enemy’s plans.

A summons from the captain brought them once more into the presence of that doughty warrior. His manner to his captives was very agreeable, indeed, one might say cordial. He told them many anecdotes of the great Nelson, whom he spoke of with enthusiasm. He gave a sailor’s description of the battle of Trafalgar where the admiral died a hero’s death, and he held the close attention of his hearers as he pictured the maneuvers of the opposing fleets on that memorable day.

Though much interested in the captain’s yarns, Hoppy and Win could not help feeling anxious about his delay in broaching the subject of their ransom, but, of course, they could not very well hurry him to the point. They had an idea that Raggett was purposely avoiding the issue, and they knew they could best serve their own cause by patiently waiting until he thought the time was ripe for a declaration of his views on the matter.

At length that time arrived. Captain Raggett produced a chart of Cape Cod bay and laid it on the table.

“Now, men,” he said, “I daresay you want to learn my terms? You will know very soon and I have great hopes that we can come to an agreement. In my opinion, you will get out of your predicament without much trouble, but that will depend altogether on yourselves. However, before we discuss the question of ransom I should like to ask you a few questions about this chart. You may answer or not, just as you please.”

The prisoners were somewhat surprised at this move. Then Captain Knowles replied:

“I don’t know that there is any great harm in answering any questions about the chart, Captain Raggett. I suppose there’s nothing secret about it. Every shipmaster can get a chart of Cape Cod bay easily enough.”

“That’s so,” said Raggett, “and I’m glad you take such a sensible view of it. However, this chart is not clear in some particulars and I would like to have your opinion. So far as the deepwater section of the bay is concerned there is no difficulty in following it, but, as you very well know, almost every year there is a variation in the depth of water in the neighborhood of the bars and in the channels close inshore. Therefore, a chart five years old may require correction for those places.”

“Why, yes, Captain Raggett,” cried Hoppy, “sometimes after a November gale whole chunks of the mainland disappear and what were cornfields become tidewater flats! If you’re relying on a chart five years old you’ll have to go easy inshore.”

“That is my point exactly. Now, let’s take the shore waters of your own town of Eastham. The flats are dry at low water for nearly a mile to seaward. Have there been any great changes in that locality in recent years?”

“Well, Captain Raggett,” replied Hoppy, “there certainly have been changes. They dig clams now in some places where they harvested salt hay five years ago. Don’t know that there’s much difference on the outer edge of the flats, but there’s no knowing, and wary skippers don’t venture very far inshore. A fifty-ton lumber schooner got badly strained there three years ago.”

“Then it would not be safe for a large vessel?”

Hoppy laughed. “Excuse me for laughing, Captain Raggett, but if you are thinking of sailing the ‘Spencer’ in those waters, you run a fine chance of losing your ship!”

“How near could the ‘Spencer’ approach?” asked Raggett.

“Not within a mile of the outer bar,” answered Hoppy promptly.

Raggett’s disappointment was apparent. “But the chart gives from two to ten fathoms?”

“Well, Captain Raggett, that may be, and I don’t deny that it is so in spots, but there’s a lot of shoal places, though they may be known only to the local pilots. It’s no place for a big ship like yours; though, of course, you are the best judge of that. However, you can easily settle the matter to your own satisfaction by surveying the place.”

“I may have to do that,” said Raggett as he gave Hoppy a significant look.

“Now,” continued Raggett, “there’s Orleans lying to the west of Eastham, and Brewster still further west. Do the same conditions exist in the flats and sandbars off those townships?”

“Yes, captain, those places are just as dangerous for large craft.”

“Thank you. The information which I have received from others practically coincides with what you have said, though you seem to exaggerate the dangers of the localities. However, I shall have to verify the soundings, and I think I have the proper man for the work.” Again he gave Hoppy a meaning look.

Hoppy knew full well what Raggett meant. He was, then, expected to act as pilot for the British and help them to destroy the lives and property of his kinsmen and neighbors! It required all his selfpossession to keep his outraged feelings in check, but he realized that it would be worse than useless to let Raggett suspect what he thought of the proposition, so he pretended ignorance of the British commander’s purpose.

“It shouldn’t be hard for you to find a good man for the work in your ship’s company, Captain Raggett. Your tenders have been cruising in these waters for quite a long time and I suppose they know their way about.”

Raggett smiled. “I’m afraid,” he said, “that my men have become better acquainted with the hospitalities of Provincetown than with the sandbars and shoals of the bay. As you are doubtless aware, the operations on this station have been more like a picnic than warfare up to the present. I think I told you that such is the opinion of some very important personages in London, and, looking at the matter calmly, I am inclined to agree with their views. To be perfectly frank with you, men, I am going to state the terms of your ransom. You will not find them harsh. For the sum of three hundred dollars I agree to let you have your whaleboat. That’s a good bargain for you, isn’t it?”

“Three hundred dollars!” exclaimed Captain Knowles. “Why, Captain Raggett, where are we to get all that money? We haven’t three hundred cents in our possession!”

“That’s more than the boat and cargo are worth,” put in Hoppy.

“I’m afraid that’s the best I can do for you,” replied Raggett. “It is not much money, considered as prize-money to be distributed among a large number of men.”

“But how are we to raise the money, captain? We have no means of communicating with the shore, and even if we had, we should hesitate about asking our hard-pressed friends in Eastham to pay it. Money is pretty scarce nowadays.” Captain Knowles looked despairingly at his fellow-prisoner as he said this.

“You’re right, Win,” assented Hoppy; “there are few in Eastham now who have three hundred dollars to spare. There has been no steady business doing since this war commenced and it’s been hard work to collect taxes, even.”

“Have you no friends in Boston?” asked Raggett.

“Why, yes, we have some good friends in Boston, I’m glad to say,” responded Win; “but what’s the good of that in our present position? We can’t get close enough to ask them, even if we were sure to get the money.”

“Oh, that’s easily managed. If I arrange for your journey to Boston, Captain Knowles, will you undertake to raise the money from your friends there and return to this ship with it on a prearranged date?”

This was presenting a new view of the situation. Neither of the prisoners was prepared for it, and some moments elapsed before a reply was given. Then a sudden thought flashed across Hoppy’s mind.

“I think you had better go, Win,” he said. “If Captain Raggett had made the offer to me, I might have accepted it. You can get the money from old Abner Snow who keeps the tavern on the waterfront. He knows us well enough to trust us and he’s a Cape Codder himself. I don’t think you will forget the last time we saw Abner’s place. ’Twas there we met that civil fellow who told us the coast was clear for the run home! Must have been a friend of yours, Captain Raggett, by the pleasant way he spoke of you!”

“I’m very glad to know I have even one friend in Boston,” said Raggett smilingly. “Lieutenant Fotheringay told me something about the incident.”

“Why not go yourself, Hoppy?” asked Win.

“If you will permit me,” interposed Raggett, “I may say that I think you stand a better chance of being successful, Captain Knowles. You are a born diplomat”—flatteringly—“and I also understand that you have relatives in Boston who are in prosperous circumstances, so that if the worthy Snow refuses to aid you, there is still a chance for you to borrow the money from your friends. I also confess I enjoy Captain Mayo’s ready wit, and his presence aboard will enliven us during your absence.”

This confirmed Hoppy’s suspicion that Raggett had an ulterior motive in his proposition. They could certainly raise the three hundred dollars in Boston, but he could get it just as easily as Win. Why, then, was Raggett so anxious to keep him and let Win go? He remembered Raggett’s meaning looks during the study of the chart, and his remark about having the “proper man” in mind for pilot. Hoppy Mayo’s alert mind was working hard now. In the matching of wits with his fellows, Hoppy had rarely come off second best, but this case was different. To be pressed into the service of his country’s enemies and to aid them in a campaign of destruction against all he held dear was a position from which his soul revolted. Alone in the hands of determined foes, he would be powerless to resist their demands. Posterity would class him with Benedict Arnold and the disgrace would lie on his family forever. Dartmoor, or even death, were preferable to this.

“What do you say, Hoppy,” asked Win anxiously. He felt uneasy at his companion’s unusual silence.

Captain Mayo looked at the British commander, but the latter met the Cape Codder’s eye unflinchingly. Turning to Win, Hoppy said:

“Yes, Win, I think Captain Raggett’s plan is the best. I shall be all right until your return.”

“Then the matter is settled,” said Raggett. “Captain Knowles, you will kindly stand ready to start for Boston tomorrow morning.”