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Voyage in Lower and Upper Egypt, during the Campaigns of General Bonaparte. Vivant Denon | | | | |
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Voyage in Lower and Upper Egypt, During the Campaigns of General Bonaparte, by Vivant Denon. Volume I. (Printed in 1802 in London from the original Paris edition, by Cox, Sons and Baylis, Lincolns-Inn Fields, 1802)
Vol. 1, Chapters 1-3
Introduction: Departure from Paris and Toulon.—Arrival in front of Malta.
All
my life I had wanted to travel to Egypt; but time, which wears out
everything, had also worn out this will. When it came to the question
of the expedition which was to make us masters of this country, the
possibility of carrying out my old project reawakened the desire; a
word from the hero who commanded the expedition decided my departure;
he promised to take me back with him; and I did not doubt my return. As
soon as I had assured the fate of those whose existence depended on
mine, calm about the past, I belonged entirely to the future. Well
convinced that the man who constantly wants one thing acquires from
then on the ability to achieve his goal, I no longer thought about the
obstacles, or at least I felt within me everything that was necessary
to overcome them; my heart palpitated, without it being possible for me
to realize whether this emotion was joy or sadness; I wandered around,
avoiding everyone, moving around aimlessly, without planning or
gathering anything that would be so useful to me in a country so devoid
of all resources. The brave and unfortunate Falga associated my nephew
with me. How grateful I was for this benefit! to take a kind being away
from everything I loved, it was to prevent the chain of my affections
from breaking, it was to preserve for my soul the exercise of its
sensitivity, it was an act which characterized the delicacy of this
brave and learned man.
I
will say little about my journey from Paris to the port designated for
embarkation. We arrived in Lyon without getting out of the car; there
we embarked on the Rhône to Avignon. I thought, seeing the beautiful
banks of the Saône, the picturesque banks of the Rhône, that, without
enjoying what they possess, men go far away to seek food for their
insatiable curiosity. I had seen the Neva, I had seen the Tiber, I was
going to look for the Nile; and yet I had not found more beautiful
antiquities in Italy than in Nîmes, Orange, Beaucaire, S.-Rémi, and
Aix. I mention this last city, because we stayed there for an hour, and
I bathed there in a room and in a bathtub where, since the proconsul
Sextus, nothing had been changed except the tap.
We lost one day
in Marseille: we left on May 14, 1798, for Toulon; and, on the 15th, I
was at sea on the frigate La Junon, intended with two other frigates to
light the route and form the vanguard. The wind was contrary; the exit
was difficult: we approached two other vessels; unfortunate prognosis:
a Roman would have returned; but this Roman would have been wrong,
because chance, which almost always serves us better than we serve
ourselves, by not letting me do anything as I wanted, by leading me
blindly to everything I wanted to do, (p.3) from that moment I put
myself at the forefront of the ship, which I would not leave during the
expedition.
On the 16th, we only remained broadsides to the
port. On the 17th, towards the evening, we discovered four sails; they
maneuvered under our wind in battle order: the hammocks were ordered on
deck; the bralebas! terrible word of which one cannot have any idea,
when one has not been at sea: silence, terror, apparatus of carnage,
apparatus of its consequences, more fatal than the carnage itself,
everything is there before the eyes united on the same point; the
maneuver and the guns are the only objects of concern, and the men are
only accessories. Night came, and not tranquility; we passed it to our
post. By daylight, we had lost none of the advantage of the winds: we
could not judge whether they were ships or frigates; there were four of
them, and three of us; all our vessels were hampered by trains of
artillery: in the afternoon the commander ordered us to follow her in
order of battle, and assured her flag with a cannon shot: the unknown
vessels flew the Spanish flag.
Night came, we were left to
sleep: at three o'clock in the morning we were awakened with the order
to prepare for combat. I was not sorry to begin an expedition with
something brilliant; but I was quite afraid of exchanging the Nile for
the Thames. We were only within cannon range when the commander sent a
boat, which after an hour reported to us that we had also worried four
Spanish frigates, which did not come any more than we sought the enemy.
On
the 20th, at daybreak, the wind shifted to the northwest: the fleet and
the convoy started moving, and at noon the sea was covered with it.
What an imposing spectacle! no national pomp can give a greater idea of
the splendor of France, of its strength, of its means; (p.4) and can
we, without the greatest admiration, think of the ease, the promptness
with which this great and memorable expedition was prepared! Thousands
of individuals from all classes of society were seen rushing
enthusiastically to the ports. Almost all of them did not know what
their destination was: they left their wives, children, friends,
fortune, to follow Bonaparte, and only because Bonaparte was to lead
them.
On the 21st, the Orient finally left the port, and we
began to sail by a good wind; each vessel took its positions in
marching order. We moved forward; then came the general with his avisos
[advice boats] and the ships of the line; the convoy followed the coast
between the islands of Hieres and Levant: in the evening, the wind
freshened; the Franklin was dismasted from her mizzen topsail; two
frigates from our division were sent to warn the convoy from Genoa
which was to join us; and, on the 23rd morning, we found ourselves
across Corsica near St. Florent. We headed towards Cape Corsica,
marching to the east, leaving Genoa and the Ligurian shore on our left.
Our military line was a league long, and the semi-circle formed by the
convoy was at least 16 miles long. I counted one hundred and sixty
vessels, without being able to count everything. On the 24th, in the
morning, we had passed Cape Corsica; the convoy moved in good order;
our ships were abeam of Cape Corsica and the Isle of Capraya. I
drew the strait.
The convoy, which had remained in the lee of
the cape, was unable to overtake it all day, and we remained waiting
for it on the cape itself, a league from land. I made a drawing of the
cape. On the 25th, in the morning, the light division found itself
abeam the eastern coast of Corsica, opposite Bastia, whose harbor and
port I could distinguish very well: I made a drawing The town seemed
pretty to me, and the territory had a less wild aspect than the rest of
the island: I made a drawing of it. The Isle of Elba
(p.5) is an iron rock, whose crystallized mines offer all the colors of
the prism. This rock is divided into three sovereignties: the lordship
and the mines belong to the Prince of Piombino; on the left,
Porto-Ferraio belongs to the Grand Duke of Tuscany; on the right,
Porto-Longone belongs to the king of Naples [1].
I also made a
drawing of the south-west part of Capraya, which on this side is
nothing more than a steep, inaccessible rock. This island belongs to
the Genoese, who have a castle there and an anchorage in the eastern
part. At 5 o'clock, we had Pianose Island to the east, which is only a
plateau a league wide; it rises only a few feet above the surface of
the sea; which makes it a very dangerous reef at night for any pilot
who does not know these areas; it is between the Island of Elba and
Monte-Christo, an uncultivated rock, abandoned to wild goats. To the
west of this island, the wind failed us, and our heavy convoy was no
longer moving.
When
calm is established, idleness develops all the passions of inhabitants
of a vessel, gives rise to all the superfluous needs, and the quarrels
to obtain them. The soldiers wanted to eat twice as much, and
complained; the most greedy sold their belongings or held lotteries
with them; others, even more eager to enjoy, gambled, and lost more in
a quarter of an hour than they could pay in their entire lives: after
the money came the watches; I saw six or eight stake these on a roll of
the dice. When the night brought a truce to these violent enjoyments, a
bad violin, a worse singer, charmed a large audience on the bridge: a
little further away, an energetic storyteller attracted the attention
of a group of soldiers, (p.6) always ready to lose their temper against
anyone who would have disturbed the story of the prodigies of valor and
the marvelous adventures of Tranche-Montagne [2]; because the hero was
always a soldier; which made all the adventures as probable as they
were interesting for the listeners. However, our provisions were
diminishing, and we always remained in the same area.
On
the 26th, we were still abeam of Monte Christo, and the eastern shore
of Corsica. I saw the latter. This part of the island seemed to me the
most cheerful and the best cultivated.
On the 27th, at daybreak,
we found ourselves in front of the mouth of the straits of
Bonifacio. Our convoy being assembled, we would have made good progress
if we had not been obliged to stall to wait for the divisions of
Ajaccio and Civita-Vecchia. The Diane and an advice-boat had been
sent to them; we had received orders to cruise forward, to hail and
reconnoitre vessels.
On the morning of the 28th, we had lost
sight of all land. The day of the 29th passed in perfect stagnation.
The calm of a sea cruise is like the sleep that opium provides in the
heat of fever; the evil has been suspended, but nothing has been healed
from the illness.
On the 30th, we were allowed to proceed. The
convoy from Ajaccio had joined us, and we were no longer waiting for
that from Civita-Vecchia; we had lost sight of Corsica, and we found
ourselves opposite the island of Talara. Sardinia is not as high as
Corsica: these two islands, one at the end of the other, appear to be
an extension of the Alps chain which ends in the Gulf of Genoa, as well
as the Apennine chain, that of Vosges, and all the other secondary
chains, which are only divergent directions of the same nucleus. At
noon, we received a written order: we needed new events so much that
this prompted a party (p.7) on board; This order was to march on
Cagîiari, and to return to Porto-Veccbio, if the enemy had anticipated
us in superior force.
On May 31 and June 1, we could not take
advantage of the wind, the fleet having only sailed: in the evening,
the Badine joined us, bringing us the almost certain hope of finding
open sea at the point of Cagîiari . In the evening, I drew this point.
Until
the 5th there was nothing new. Our provisions are running out; our
fetid water could no longer be heated; the useful animals had
disappeared, and those [insects] that fed on us increased a hundredfold.
On
the 6th, we received the order for a new formation; which led us to
think that we were definitely setting out, and that we were going to
cross the channel. The Diana led in front: we passed her signals to the
Aleeste, who transmitted them to the Spartan, from there to the
Aquilon, and finally to the Admiral. Around 8 o'clock we found
ourselves in the order that I have just described. In the event that
the Diana chases an enemy ship, the five ships comprising the light
fleet had to use more sails to join her. We saw small dolphins at our
bow; but, to our great regret, they disappeared while we were preparing
to harpoon them. I observed them very closely; their swimming resembles
the pitching of a ship; They thus emerge from the water, and rush
twenty feet forward; their shape is elegant, and their rapid movements
resemble the gaiety of a joust rather than the voracity of an animal
seeking prey. In the evening, the wind freshened, and, passing from
east to west, gathered the convoy in such a way that I thought I saw
Venice, and all those who knew this city exclaimed, It is Venice which
is marching! At sunset we encountered Martimo, and received orders to
join the convoy, in the midst of which we spent the night as in a
floating city.
On the 7th, we remained in the order of the day
before. I drew the Martimo, a rock (p.8) which seems to be a mole at
the western tip of Sicily: it is one of the reconnaissance points of
the Mediterranean, and it was one of those where we could find the
English . The wind freshened, and we made two leagues an hour; It is in
these cases that we forget the disadvantages of the sea to see only the
advantage of making it the agent of a march of forty thousand men,
without stopping or relaying. At one o'clock, we were across Martimo, a
league from this rock, discovering Favaniane, another rock which is in
front of Trapany, and Mont-Erix, which dominates this town, famous for
a temple of Venus, and for the manner in which sacrifices were offered
to this goddess. I had formerly visited Mont-Erix, and I had sought its
temple there, the town of the same name, renowned for the beauty of the
women who inhabited it: but, despite my youth and the imagination of
that age, I was only able to see a mean village, some fragments of the
temple, and the skeletons of ancient beauties.
I made a
drawing of Favaniane, Mont-Erix, and part of the coast of Sicily. This
pleasant, wintery, abundant country isolated our surroundings from the
harsh aspect of the coasts of Corsica and the rocks which surround
them: they had one more charm for me, that of memories; Sicily was for
my imagination an ancient property: I could see, through the vapors of
the atmosphere, Marsala, ancient Lilibaeum, from where the Greeks and
Romans saw the fleets leaving Carthage that came to attack them.
Further on, I glimpsed the green and cheerful countryside of Mazzarra,
the town of Motala, which the Syracusans attached to the land by a
pier, to go there to fight the Carthaginians; and my imagination,
following the coast, sees again the aspects of Selinunte, its temples,
its standing columns still resembling towers, and further away the
hospitable Agrigento. We were doing three leagues an hour; and my dream
was about to come true when we were told to approach the frigates to
spend the night with them.
I
(p.9) made, sighing with regret, a drawing of what I saw of these happy
coasts: it was a last homage, and, to all appearances, it was an
eternal farewell. The night was beautiful. I had recommended that I
should be awakened if the land was still seen at daybreak: at half-past
three I was on the bridge, and the first rays of day made me see that
the entire fleet and the convoy making making way towards Malta. Sicily
disappeared. I saw to the southwest, or rather I judged the site of
Pantelleria by the stormy clouds in which it is perpetually enveloped,
doubtless ashamed of having always served in the vengeance of
governments: the Romans exiled there their illustrious outlaws; it
still concealed the state prisoners of the King of Naples.
On
the 8th, the sky was clear; but a weak wind made us only go a short
way; and a chase that we made on an unknown vessel separated us from
the fleet, which we could not rejoin. A fish about 80 feet long was
seen. The night was calm, and daybreak on the 9th found us in the same
position where the setting sun had left us. We saw Etna silhouetted
against the horizon to the northeast; I recognized its outlines in all
their developments; the smoke escaped through its eastern flank, and
erupted through an accidental mouth; it was 50 leagues from us, and
appeared even larger than the mountains of the southern coast, which
were only 12 leagues away. The sun had barely reached a few degrees of
elevation when it disappeared. with the shadow that marks its outline.
We saw Gozo at six o'clock; In the evening we could clearly see it
blushing on the horizon 7 leagues away: we set out to spend the night
and wait for the convoy. At daybreak, I saw Etna again, whose smoke
stretched across the sky (p.10) more than 20 leagues away like a long veil of vapor. We were then 53 leagues from the island.
All
the armed vessels passed astern of the general. We had not yet
approached the Orient since our departure: this development had
something so august and so imposing that, despite the pleasure we had
of seeing each other again, we did not add a sentence to the "good day"
that we said to each other in a low voice as we passed.
On the
9th we turned to the northern part of Gozo; it is a high plateau, cut
steeply, and without anchorage: we then skirted the eastern part within
half cannon range. This side, which at first appears as arid as the
other, is nevertheless cultivated with cotton; all the little valleys
are so many gardens.
Towards the middle of the island, there is
a large village, under which is a battery, and on the highest summit a
casemate castle, very well built. At eight o'clock, sails were
reported; we could distinguish thirty of them: was it the enemy fleet?
we sent to reconnoiter; finally it was the division of General Desaix,
the convoy of Civita-Vecchia, which had followed the coast of Italy,
passed the Strait of Messina, and had preceded us by a few days before
Malta.
Just as the avalanche, which grew in size by rolling
snow, threatens in its fall accelerated by its mass to drag down
forests and towns, so our fleet, having become immense, undoubtedly
carried the fear on all the places who came to discover it. Informed
Corsica had felt no other emotion than that inspired by such a great
spectacle; Sicily was terrified; Malta appeared to us in astonishment.
But let's not anticipate events.
Chapter 2: Capture of Malta (p.11)
At
five o'clock we passed the Cumino and the Cuminotto, which are two
islets which separate Gozo from Malta, and with the latter two comprise
all the sovereignty of the Grand Master. There are several small
castles to guard the BarbaTesque islets, and prevent them from settling
there when the galleys from Malta have finished their cruise. One of
our boats was going to land there; he was refused to go ashore: his
boat went around and surveyed the anchorages. At six o'clock we saw
Malta, the appearance of which impressed me with no less admiration
than the first time I saw it: only two nasty boats came to offer us
tobacco to smoke. Night came; no light appeared in the town: our
frigate was abeam the entrance to the port less than cannon range from
Fort S.-Elme; All boats were ordered to be put to sea.
Fig.2: Island of Malta (map: ca. 1800).
At nine
o'clock we were signaled to take position; the wind was almost zero.
The army made night signals relating to these movements, and those of
the convoy; rockets were fired, then the cannon; which caused every
last light in the port to go out. Our captain had gone on board the
general; but he kept the orders he had received secret. On the 22nd, at
four o'clock in the morning, carried by the currents, we were under the
lee of the island, the eastern part of which we could see; there was no
wind yet. I took a view of the whole island, of Gose, and of the two
islets, to get an idea of the general shape of this group and its
surface along the entire horizontal line of the sea. A little breeze
arose; we took advantage of this to form a semicircular line, one end
of which ended at Pointe Ste.-Catherine, and the other a league to the
left of the town, and blocked the port; we (p.12) mimed the center
abeam the forts S.-Elme and S.-Ange.
The convoy had gone to
anchor between the islands of Cumino and Gozo. A moment later we heard
a cannon shot coming from Fort Ste.-Catherine, and which was aimed at
the boats approaching the coast, and the landing commanded by Desaix:
immediately another shot was heard from the castle which dominates the
town; on the same castle the standard of religion was displayed; at the
same time, at the other end of the circumvallation of our vessels,
boats put soldiers and cannons ashore: barely formed on the shore, they
marched on two posts, the garrison of which withdrew after a moment of
resistance . Then the batteries of all the forts began to fire on the
landings and on our vessels. I drew it. The forts continued to fire
until evening with a reckless haste which revealed the disorder and
confusion. At ten o'clock, we saw our troops climb the first mound, and
march to the rear of Cité-Valetle, to oppose a sally that the besieged
had made: they were pushed back into the walls and under the batteries;
the shooting did not stop until nightfall. This attempt on the part of
the knights united with a few people from the countryside had a
disastrous outcome: there had been movement in the city, and the
populace massacred several knights on their return.
The wind
was falling: we took advantage of the rest of the breeze to get closer
to the ships, in fear of finding ourselves in dead calm at the disposal
of two Maltese galleys, which had come to anchor at the entrance to the
port. I was still on the bridge, and, with telescope in hand, I could
have made a diary of what was happening in the city, and noted, so to
speak, the degree of activity of the passions which took place there.
directed the movements. The first day everything was in arms: the
knights in full dress, a perpetual communication from the city to the
forts, where (p.13) All kinds of provisions and ammunition were brought
in; everything announced war: the second day, the movement was nothing
more than agitation; there were only some of the knights in uniform;
they argued and took no further action.
On the 12th, at
daybreak, I found everything in the same state in which I had left it:
we continued a slow and insignificant fire. Bonaparte had returned on
board; General Reynier, who had seized Gose, had sent him prisoners;
after having had them named, he said to them in an indignant tone:
Since you were able to take up arms against your homeland, you had to
know how to die; I do not want you as prisoners; you can return to
Malta while it does not yet belong to me. A boat left the port; we sent
a boat to hail her and take her to the general. When I saw this little
boat carrying the standard of religion on its stern, walking humbly
under these ramparts which had victoriously resisted for two years all
the forces of the east commanded by the terrible Dragus; when I
pictured this mass of glory, acquired and preserved for centuries,
coming to shatter against the fortune of Bonaparte, it seemed to me
that I heard the spirits of Lisle-Adam and Lavalette quiver, and I
thought I saw time doing to philosophyWe were the first to leave
Toulon, we were the last to enter Malta; we could not go ashore until
the morning of the 14th. I know this surprising city; I was no less
struck, the second time, by the imposing appearance which characterizes
the most illustrious sacrifice of the most august of all illusions.
At
eleven o'clock, a second boat appeared with the parliamentary flag:
they were knights leaving Malta; they did not want to be counted among
those who had tried to resist. We could judge from their speeches that
the means of the Maltese were reduced to little. At four o'clock, the
Juno was half a range away; I observed all the forts, and I saw fewer
men than cannons. The gates of the forts were closed; they no longer
had communication with the city; which showed the distrust and
misunderstanding that existed between the inhabitants and the knights.
The aide-de-camp Junot was sent (p.14) with the general's ultimatum. A
few moments later a deputation of twelve Maltese commissioners went to
the Orient. We found ourselves perfectly opposite the town, pierced
from north to south, and of which we had a view along the entire length
of the streets; they were also lit although they were dark the night of
our arrival.
On the morning of the 13th, we learned that the
general's aide-de-camp had been received with acclamation by the
inhabitants. With my telescope I distinguished that the gate which
closed Fort S.-Elme appeared to be assaulted by a multitude of common
people: those who were inside were seated on the parapets of the
batteries without uttering a word, in the attitude of people waiting
with worry. At half-past eleven, we saw the parliamentary boat which
had remained there the night leave from the East, and at the same time,
we received the order to fly the great flag; a moment later, we were
informed that we were masters of Malta. This island became a ladder
between our country and the one we were going to conquer; she completed
the conquest of the Mediterranean, and France had never reached such a
high degree of power. At five o'clock our troops entered the forts, and
were saluted by the fleet with five hundred cannon shots.
We
were the first to leave Toulon, we were the last to enter Malta; we
could not go ashore until the morning of the 14th. I know this
surprising city; I was no less struck, the second time, by the imposing
appearance which characterizes it.
We hesitate in geography
whether we should attach Malta to Europe or to Africa. The figure of
the Maltese, their moral character, their color, their language, must
decide the question in favor of Africa. French and Maltese, all were
very surprised to find themselves on the same soil; For us it was
enthusiasm, for them it was amazement. All Turkish and Arab slaves were
freed; never was joy (p.15) expressed in a more expressive manner: when
they met the French, gratitude was painted in their eyes in such a
touching way that on several occasions it made me shed tears; It was a
real happiness that I experienced in Malta. To get an idea of their
extreme satisfaction in this circumstance, it is necessary to know that
their government never bought them back or exchanged them, that their
slavery was not softened by any hope: they could not even dream of the
end of their sorrows.
I went to seek out my old knowledge: I saw
it again with pleasure again the beautiful Calabrese fresco paintings
including the vaults of the church of S.-Jean are decorated, and the
magnificent painting by Michelangelo-Caravaggio, in the sacristy of the
same church. I went to the library; and I saw there an Etruscan vase,
found in Gose, of the most beautiful kind both for earth and for
painting. I made the drawing of a glass vase of very large proportion,
that of a lamp found in the same way at the Gose, that of a kind of
votive disk in stone, bearing in bas-relief, on the one of its faces, a
sphynx with its paw on a ram's head: the work is not precious, but
there is too much style to leave us doubting that this piece is
antique; the rest of the curiosities are engraved in the Picturesque
Journey of Italy. A grave had been found a few months ago near the
city, in a place called Earbaçeo.
On the fourth day, the general
gave us a supper to which the members of the newly constituted
authorities were admitted. They saw with as much surprise as admiration
the martial elegance of our generals, this assembly of officers radiant
with health, life, glory, and hope; They were struck by the imposing
physiognomy of the general in chief, whose expression magnified his
stature.
The movement which had reigned in the city upon our
arrival had caused (p.16) the cafes and other public places to close:
the bourgeoisie, still astonished by the events, remained closed in
their houses; our soldiers, their heads heated by the sun and by the
wine, had frightened the inhabitants, who had closed their shops and
hid their women. This beautiful city, where we saw only ourselves,
seemed sad to us; these forts, these castles, these bastions, these
formidable fortifications which seemed to tell the army that nothing
could stop it and that it had only to march to victory, made it return
with pleasure on board . The wind, however, opposed our exit; I took
the opportunity to take three views of the interior of the port.
The
day of the 19th was spent running broadsides in front of the port. On
the morning of the 20th, the general left, leaving four thousand troops
on the island, commanded by General Vaubois, two engineering and
artillery officers, a civil commissioner, and finally all those who,
driven by an anxious curiosity , had embarked without much reflection,
who, as a result of their inconstancy or their inconsistency, had
become disgusted on the road, and who, tired of the inconveniences
inseparable from travel, counted them among the number of injustices,
that, according to them, they were made to experience. I have seen some
who, little affected by the beauties of Malta, the convenience of the
ports, and the advantage of its situation, found it ridiculous that a
rock in the climate of Africa was not as green as the valley of
Montmorency: as if each country had not received particular gifts from
nature! To travel is not to enjoy them? and let us not destroy them by
seeking to compare ?
If the appearance of Malta is arid, can we
see without admiration that the smallest hill which conceals some soil
is still a garden as delicious as it is abundant, where we could
acclimatize all the plants of Asia and of Africa ? This type of first
hothouse could be used to supply another in Toulon, and, by degree,
bring its (p.17) productions to Paris, without having made them
experience the too strong shocks caused by the extreme difference in
climates: perhaps we would naturalize a large part of the exotic plants
that we bring at great expense each year into our greenhouses, which
languish there the second year, and perish there the third. The
experiments already carried out on animals seem to me to support this
graduation system.
Chapter 3: Departure from Malta.
The
entire day of June 20 was spent gathering the army, the light squadron,
and the convoys. Around six o'clock it was signaled to put themselves
in marching order: the movement was general in all directions, and
produced confusion.
Forced to give way to the Admiral, we
noticed a little late that the frigate Léoben was coming towards us:
the officer of the watch claimed that the Léoben was wrong, and stuck
strictly to tactics; the captain, more interested in saving the frigate
against the rule than in giving the Léoben a fault, ordered a maneuver;
the officer ordered another: there was a moment of inertia; it was no
longer time to operate. I conceived our danger from the contraction of
our captain's entire person: We will approach! we will approach ! we
are approaching! were the three words spoken consecutively; and the
time to pronounce them was enough to decide our fate. The buildings
approach, the equipment engages, tears; half a maneuver of the Léoben
makes us present its flank, and the shock is cushioned by artillery
train wheels attached against its planking; they are shattered: the
cries of four hundred (p.18) people, their arms extended towards the
sky, make me believe for a moment that Léobcn is the victim of this
first shock; we wanted to make a movement to avoid or reduce the
second, we found on the starboard side the Artemisia which was coming
at us in the opposite direction, and, in front, the bow of a 74 vessel,
which we did not have time to recognize.
The terror was at its
height; we had become a point where all the dangers were concentrated
at once. The second movement of the Léoben presented us with the front
part; her main yard entered our deck. This indident, which could be
fatal to many people, turned to our advantage; the sailors, and in
particular the Turks who had arrived, threw themselves on this yard,
and made such efforts to push it back, that the blow, which was not
supported by the wind, was softened; and this time we escaped with a
hole made in the upper part of our planking by the anchor of the
Léoben. The Artémise had slipped past our stern; the ship had moved
forward; the efforts to free it from the yard of the Léoben saw it
pushed out to sea, and all these dangers, which had piled up on us like
clouds during a storm, dissipated even more quickly. All we had left
was the fury of our officer on watch, who would have liked us all to
have perished, to prove to his comrade that it was he who should be
accused. We owed our salvation to the weakness of the wind, and to the
artillery trains which weakened the first shock. Two merchant ships
colliding may cause some harm, but not destroy each other: it is not
the same with two warships; it is very rare that one or the other does
not perish, and often both. On the 21st, we had dead calm all day, and
all the heat of the late June sun at thirty-fifth degree.
During
the night, a breeze set us on our way. The order of the march was
changed. (p.19) On the 22nd, we put the convoy forward, the army
behind, and us on the left flank. On the 23rd, 24th, and 25th, we had
good weather, with a tailwind, which would have taken us to Candia
[Crete], if we had not had our convoy which we had to wait for at all
times.
The north and northeast winds are the Mediterranean trade
winds during the three months of June, July and August; which makes
navigation this season delightful for going south and west, but which
at the same time makes all returns depend on chance, because they must
be made in bad seasons.
From the 25th to the 26th we traveled
forty-eight leagues in a breeze that was almost windy. We were signaled
at eleven o'clock to hunt for land; we discovered the western part of
Candia at four o'clock. I saw Mount Ida from twenty leagues; I drew it
at fifteen. I only saw the top and the base, the rest of the island
lost in the mist; but I feared that it would escape me in the night,
and that I would not have taken the outline of the mountain where
Jupiter was born, and which was the home of almost all the gods.
I
would have had the greatest desire to see the kingdom of Minos, to look
for some vestiges of the labyrinth; but what I had expected happened,
the excellent wind we had kept us away from the island. On the 27th, at
five o'clock, I found that we had traveled in the direction of the east
coast without approaching it; the wind had been so strong during the
night that the whole convoy was scattered: we spent the whole morning
gathering it together, and lowering our sails to wait for it. It was
during this maneuver that, through a thick fog, chance hid us from the
English fleet, which, six leagues away, steering to the west, was going
to look for us on the northern coast.
(p.20) On the evening of
the 28th, we were signaled to go by stern from the Orient. It would be
as difficult to give as to take an exact idea of the feeling we
experienced as we approached this sanctuary of power, dictating its
decrees, in the middle of three hundred sails, in the mystery and
silence of the night: the moon only illuminated this picture as much as
was necessary to make people enjoy it. There were five hundred of us on
deck, you would have heard a pin drop; even breathing was suspended.
Our captain was ordered to go on board the commander. What was my joy
on his return, when he told us that we were hastened forward to fetch
our consul from Alexandria, and to find out if they were informed of
our march, and what were the dispositions of this city towards us; that
it was reserved for us to approach Africa first to collect our
compatriots there, and to protect them from the first movement of the
inhabitants as the fleet approached. From that moment we unfurled all
the sails to cover as quickly as possible the sixty leagues which
remained for us to cover; but the wind failed us all night from the
28th to the 29th: we had a few hours of breeze, and the rest of the
time we only made progress by the movement given to the sea, and the
currents which carried to the point we were to reach.
Footnotes:
1. According to the last peace treaty with Naples, possession of the island is assured to France.
2. A tale similar to that of Jack the Giant-Killer.
[Continue to part 2]
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