i devoted chapter vii to the record of tom souville, a famous ship-prison-breaker, and in this i hope to give quite as interesting and romantic an account of the career of louis vanhille, who was remarkable in his method in that he seemed never to be in a hurry to get out of england, but actually to enjoy the power he possessed of keeping himself uninterfered with for a whole year in a country where the hue and cry after him was ceaseless.
at the outset i must make my acknowledgement to m. pariset of the university of nancy, for permission to use his monograph upon this really remarkable man.
louis vanhille, purser of the pandour privateer, was sent to launceston on parole may 12, 1806. he is described as a small man of thirty-two, of agreeable face and figure, although small-pox marked, fair as befitted his flemish origin, and speaking english almost perfectly. he was socially gifted, he painted and caricatured, could dress hair, and could make mats, and weave bracelets in seventeen patterns. he was well-off to boot, as the pandour had been a successful ship, and he had plenty of prize money.
in launceston he lodged with john tyeth, a pious baptist brewer. tyeth had three married daughters and two unmarried, fanny and a younger, who kept the post office at launceston. although tyeth was a baptist, one of his daughters was married to bunsell, the rector of launceston, so that decorum and preciseness prevailed in the local atmosphere, to which vanhille politically adapted himself so readily as to become a convert to tyeth’s creed. in addition he paid marked attention to miss fanny, who was plain-looking but kept the post office; an action which occasioned watchfulness on the part of tyeth père, who, in common with most englishmen of his day, regarded all frenchmen as atheists and revolutionaries. vanhille’s manner and accomplishments won him friends all round. miss johanna colwell, an old maid, a 279sentimental worker of straw hats, who lived opposite the brewery, pitied him. further on, at mr. pearson’s, lodged vanhille’s great friend, dr. derouge, an army surgeon, who cured vanhille of small-pox. then there was dr. mabyn of camelford, dr. frankland, r.n., john rowe the tailor, dale the ironmonger, who, although tradesmen, were of that well-to-do, highly respectable calibre which in old-time country towns like launceston placed them on a footing of friendliness with the ‘quality’. vanhille seems to have settled himself down to become quite anglicized, and to forget that he was a prisoner on parole, and that any such individual existed as mr. spettigue, the agent. he went over to camelford to dine with dr. mabyn; he rode to tavistock on the tyeth’s pony to visit the pearces, ironmongers of repute, and particularly to see the misses annie and elizabeth penwarden, gay young milliners who spoke french. he was also much in the society of fanny tyeth, made expeditions with her to see ‘aunt tyeth’ at tavistock, and was regarded as her fiancé.
dr. derouge began to weary of captivity, and tried without success to get exchanged. the reason given for his non-success was that he had got a girl with child. launceston was scandalized; only a frenchman could do such a thing. the authorities had to find some one to pay for the child’s subsistence as the mother could not afford to, and so proctor, guardian of the poor, and spettigue, the agent, fastened it on dr. derouge, and he was ordered to pay ￡25. but he could not; so vanhille, who had come into some money upon the death of his mother, paid it. what followed is not quite clear. in a letter dated december 5, 1811, spettigue, in a letter to the admiralty, says that derouge and vanhille tried to escape, but were prevented by information given by one burlangier, ‘garde-magasin des services réunis de l’armée de portugal.’ he reported their absences at camelford, and finally they were ordered to dartmoor on december 12, 1811. the transport office instructed spettigue to keep a watch on tyeth and others. launceston was angry at this; it missed derouge and vanhille, and went so far as to get the member of parliament, giddy, to address the transport office on the matter, and request their reinstatement on parole, but the reply was unsatisfactory.
280at dartmoor, vanhille and derouge were sent to the subalterns’ quarters. very soon the attractive personality of vanhille led him to an influential position among the prisoners, and he was elected their representative in all matters of difference between them and the authorities, although cotgrave, the governor, refused to acknowledge him as such, saying that he preferred a prisoner of longer standing, and one whom he knew better.
vanhille now determined to get out of dartmoor. to reach france direct was difficult, but it was feasible by america, as he had a sister well married in new orleans who could help him.
at the daily market held at the prison gate vanhille became acquainted with mary ellis. piece by piece she brought him from tavistock a disguise—an old broad-brimmed hat, big boots, and brown stockings, and by august 21, 1812, he was ready. on that day he received from his comrades a sort of testimonial or letter of recommendation for use after his escape at any place where there might be frenchmen:
‘le comité représentant les officiers militaires et marchands détenus dans la prison royale de dartmoor certifient que louis vanhille est un digne et loyal fran?ais, et un compagnon d’infortune digne de tous les égards de ses compatriotes . . . pour lui servir et valoir ce que de raison en cas de mutation de prison.’
the next day he put on his disguise, mixed with the market folk, crossed the court of his quarter, and the market place, passed two sentries who took him for a potato merchant, got to the square in the middle of which were the agent’s house and offices, passed another gate, the sentry at which took no notice of him, turned sharp to the right by the stables and the water reservoir, and got on to the main road. he walked rapidly on towards tavistock, and that night slept under the tyeth roof at launceston—a bold policy and only to be adopted by one who knew his ground thoroughly well, and who felt sure that he was safer, known in launceston, than he would be as a stranger in plymouth or other ports.
next day he went to camelford, and called on dr. mabyn, who said: ‘monsieur vanhille, comme ami je suis heureux de vous voir, mais à présent je ne puis vous donner asile sous 281mon toit,’ thence he went to padstow, but no boatman would take him to bristol or cork, so he returned to launceston and remained there two days. here he bought a map, changed his disguise, and became mr. williams, a pedlar of odds and ends. thence he went on to bideford, appledore, and by boat to newport, thence to abergavenny, a parole town, where he met palierne, an old launceston comrade; thence back to launceston, where he rested a couple of days. then, always on foot, he went to exeter, okehampton, and tawton, took wagon to london, where he only stayed a night, then on to chatham—a dangerous neighbourhood on account of the hulks, and back to abergavenny via guildford, petersfield, alresford, winchester, salisbury, warminster, bath, and bristol, arriving at abergavenny on september 21, 1812.[12]
from abergavenny vanhille went by usk to bristol, but could find no suitable ship to take him to america, so he took coach back to launceston, and spent two weeks there with the tyeths, which would seem to show that spettigue was either purposely blind or very stupid. vanhille then crossed cornwall rapidly to falmouth—always, be it remembered, as a pedlar. falmouth was a dangerous place, being the chief port for the cartel service with morlaix, and a strict look-out was kept there for passengers intending to cross the channel. vanhille went to the blue anchor inn, and here he met the famous escape agent, thomas feast moore, alias captain harman, &c., who at once recognized what he was, and proffered his services, stating that he had carried many french officers over safely. this was true, but what he omitted to state was that he was at present in the government service, having been pardoned for his misdeeds as an escape agent on condition that he made use of his experience by giving the government information about intending escapers.[13]
282vanhille wanted no aid to escape, but he cleared out from falmouth at once, was that evening at wadebridge, the next day at saltash, then, avoiding launceston, went by okehampton, moreton-hampstead, and exeter to cullompton, and thence by coach to bristol, where he arrived on october 15, 1812.
after his escape from dartmoor, this extraordinary man had been fifty-five days travelling on foot, in carriage, and by boat, and had covered 1,238 miles, by far the greater number of which he tramped, and this with the hue and cry after him and offers of reward for his arrest posted up everywhere.
he now dropped the pedlar pretence and became an ordinary briton. at bristol he learned that the jane, captain robert andrews, would leave for jamaica next month. he corresponded with his launceston friends, who throughout had been true to him, and, in replying, the tyeths had to be most careful, assuming signatures and disguising handwriting, and miss fanny at the post office would with her own hands obliterate the post-mark. old tyeth sent him kind and pious messages. on november 10 the jane left bristol, but was detained at cork a month, waiting for a convoy, and did not reach montego bay, jamaica, until january 2, 1813. from jamaica there were frequent opportunities of getting to america, and vanhille had every reason to congratulate himself at last on being a free man.
unfortunately the customs people in jamaica were particularly on the alert for spies and runaways, especially as we were at war with the united states. vanhille was suspected of being what he was, and the examination of his papers not being satisfactory, he was arrested and sent home, and on may 20, 1813, found himself a prisoner at forton. he was sent up to london and examined by jones, of knight and jones, solicitors to the admiralty, with a view of extracting from him information concerning his accomplices in launceston, a town notorious for its french proclivities.
jones writes under date of june 14, 1813, to bicknell, solicitor to the transport office, that he has examined vanhille, who peremptorily refuses to make any disclosures which may implicate the persons concerned in harbouring him after he had 283escaped from dartmoor, and who ultimately got him out of the kingdom. he hopes, however, to reach them by other means.
harsh treatment was now tried upon him, he was half starved, and as he was now penniless could not remedy matters by purchase. in three weeks he was sent on board the crown prince hulk at chatham, and later to the glory. correspondence between him and dr. derouge at launceston was discovered, and derouge was sent to a plymouth hulk. dale, the launceston ironmonger, who had been one of the little friendly circle in that town, had fallen into evil ways, and was now starving in plymouth. jones, the admiralty lawyer, received a communication from him saying that for a consideration he would denounce all vanhille’s friends. he was brought up to london, and he told all their names, with the result that they were summoned. but nothing could be got out of them. mrs. wilkins at the inn, who for some reason disliked vanhille, would have given information, but she had none to give.
dale was sent back to plymouth, saying that if he could see dr. derouge, who would not suspect him, he would get the wanted information. so the two men met in a special cabin, and rum was brought. derouge, unsuspecting, tells all the story of the escape from dartmoor, and brings in the name of mary ellis, who had provided vanhille with his disguise. then he begins to suspect dale’s object, and will not utter another word.
dale is sent to launceston to get more information, but fails; resolves to find out mary ellis at tavistock, but five weeks elapse, and no more is heard of him, except that he arrived there half dead with wet and fatigue.
the peace of 1814 brought release to vanhille, and on april 19 he reached calais.
m. pariset concludes his story with the following remark: ‘vanhille avait senti battre le c?ur anglais qui est, comme chacun sait, bienveillant et fidèle, après qu’il s’est donné.’
i should here say that m. pariset’s story does not go further than the capture of vanhille in jamaica. the sequel i have taken from the correspondence at the record office. i have been told that the name of vanhille is by no means forgotten in launceston.
