Folios 303-305: Sir Richard Bickerton, HMS Ramillies, the Nore. Acknowledges letter...

Folios 303-305: Sir Richard Bickerton, HMS Ramillies, the Nore. Acknowledges letter of 9 May 1796 and reports on proceedings since 26 August 796, when the ship met the Esther armed merchantman. As HMS Ramillies drew near she hoisted English colours and a pennant, but Captain Bickerton judged that she was a French cruiser which was trying to decoy the other ship to approach her. He sent the crew to their quarters, prepared to run out his lower deck guns and primed those on the upper deck, hoping to intimidate the other ship into surrendering, but not wishing for any bloodshed. He felt these precautions were necessary because of the recent experience of HMS Ganges and HMS Montague, which were attacked by the Jacobin, a French man of war, while on passage to the West Indies and were hit by three broadsides before they were able to return fire. The Esther did not behave like a English merchantman, and he took her to be the Hyaena in enemy hands, since her hull resembled that ship. When he hailed her all his questions were answered except that he could not distinguish the name of the other ship. At the same time the Esther hauled down her pennant, which made him think she was about to shift her colours [to French], and the crew he could see on deck were not dressed as he would expect English seamen to be. He ordered the other vessel to heave to or he would sink her. While he was awaiting an answer to his hail, one gun was fired accidentally from near the wheel. Other gunners took this as a signal and five or six other guns were fired. He quickly ordered a turn to bring the other vessel directly astern, where the guns could not hit her, as a way of bringing the firing to a halt. The firing of the first gun must have been an accident because the Captain of the Gun and another man were standing on it when it was fired. Captain Bickerton then sent an officer aboard the Esther with orders to hoist the ensign upside down if anyone had been injured, and when this was done some of his crew aloft began cheering, thinking they had taken a prize. He had ordered Lieutenant Hennah [William Hennah] to ask the Master of the Esther to account for his conduct and in reply the Master asked why HMS Ramillies had disregarded English colours. One of the passengers on the Esther had suggested to the Master that HMS Ramillies was likely to open fire because the crew were dressed like French seamen. He is not trying to justify his conduct, he would be unworthy of holding command if he had ordered his crew to open fire on a vessel so inferior to his own, but did not give any such order and he had cleared the decks solely in order to protect his own crew. The guns fired were two 18-pounders and several 9-pounders. He sent planks aboard to help the Esther repair the damage but she declined the assistance of his Carpenter and within two hours had sailed away. The wounded man was brought aboard HMS Ramillies where he underwent an amputation and has now recovered. Captain Bickerton intends to send him back to his native Lisbon and to give him the captain's share of head money from a small privateer which HMS Ramillies captured and destroyed while on passage from the West Indies to Newfoundland.