The Wake of the Lorelei Lee

by L. A. Meyer

  Oh yes, we shall, Sir . . .

  Chapter 23

  James Fletcher, Convict

  Onboard Cerberus

  Dockside, London

  Dearest Jacky,

  I met some of your friends today, those of the Celtic persuasion, and I must say that I found most of them less than congenial.

  Still struggling and protesting vigorously, they are thrown into the cell. Their feet are secured to the central chain and their necks to the bulkhead collars, just as I have been tethered. They eventually calm down.

  “Wot’s this, then?” demands a touseled-haired brute of his brethren, but with his gaze fixed upon me. He is tethered about three men down from me. “It looks like a bleedin’ British officer, it does. And it fair turns me stomach to look on him, it does.”

  All eyes now turn to me.

  “Go stuff yourself, mick, and sod off,” I say, my eyes not leaving his. I know this will be an important confrontation, and I intend to play it to the hilt.

  “Can ye reach him, Sean O’Farrell, and give him a few good ones for me and for Ireland?”

  The man tethered next to me says he intends to do just that and twists on the bench to get me in range. But I lift my own manacles and spit out, “Fine, bogtrotter, come at me, and you’ll crawl back to your filthy burrow with a few less teeth!”

  With that, I gather all my strength and slam my wrist cuffs into his face.

  The man, O’Farrell, grunts and sits back. I may not have loosened any of his teeth, but I certainly got his attention.

  “How d’ye like the taste of that, potato boy?” I snarl. “Suck it up, Paddy, for I bet it tastes just like your mother’s dirty teat.”

  “Wait a minute,” says another voice, one with more reason in it than has mine. “By God, it’s Mr. Fletcher.”

  I recognize the voice as that of Ian McConnaughey, whom I had met on several occasions in the past year at your London Home for Little Wanderers, and found a rather decent fellow—for an Irishman.

  “Hello, Ian,” I say, pushing off from the now bleeding O’Farrell and leaning my shoulders back against the bulkhead. “Good to see you again.”

  “Mr. Fletcher, is it, Ian?” spits out this Arthur McBride. “Just who the hell is Mr. fockin’ Fletcher?”

  “He’s Lieutenant James Fletcher, Jacky’s intended husband . . . or he was.”

  “Jacky? Our Puss-in-Boots?” McBride peers at me in the gloom and growls, “Well, cut off me balls and call me an Englishman, if you ain’t right, Ian. It’s him all right. And he’s the sod what sunk our precious Emerald, ain’t ye, Sir? Can’t expect us to love ye for that, Sir, no, ye can’t”

  “Shove it up your ass, shit-for-brains,” I growl. “I’d sink any ship afloat if I knew your sorry carcass was on it.”

  McBride chuckles but does not relent. “Because of you, I spent a year on the stinkin’ Temeraire with the evilest Bo’sun’s Mate what ever lived—swingin’ his knobby at me, day and night. And you’re to blame, too, for my good friend Kelly from County Kildare getting killed at Trafalgar, a fight that warn’t even ours.”

  “I had many friends killed at that battle, as well. Do you hear me, whining bog man? Do you? Ah, but that’s what the drunken Irish are best at, isn’t it? Complaining about their lot and crying in their beer.”

  “Get him, lads!” shouts McBride, no longer chuckling.

  Chains rattle and I get ready for the attack. “Come on, you low-life sonsabitches,” I call out. “I’ve killed better men than you with one hand behind my back, and I’ll make short work of you, too! Come on!”

  “Wait! Leave off!” cries Ian McConnaughey. “He’s all right! I know him! Let him be! Talk to him!”

  The mob subsides, growling.

  “How came you all here?” I ask in the ensuing surly silence.

  “I came over to Waterford with Mairead, my wife, as you know,” says Ian. “To gather the crew for Jacky’s passenger ship the Lorelei Lee. She especially desired that I find as many of her old Emerald crew as possible to staff her new ship. These”—and I am sure he gestures to the occupants of the cell, even though I cannot see it in the gloom—“are the greater part of that crew.”

  I had recognized McBride and others of your Irish crew, Jacky, from their brief time on the Wolverine, after sinking the Emerald, and their subsequent capture and impressment into the Royal British Navy. They chafed mightily under the British yoke, and Captain Trumbull wisely, I thought, decided to break them up and send them to other ships. He felt that they might prove more loyal to you than to him, if it came down to it, even though you were at the time confined below in the Wolverine’s brig . . . or so we thought.

  “And what happened?” I ask.

  “The night before we were to sail on the packet for London, there was a meeting of the Free Irish Brotherhood at Finnegan’s on Water Street. We all went, thinking nothing of it, just a few pints and some patriotic songs is all, but the Brits stormed in and arrested us all for bein’ rebels and traitors.”

  “And we weren’t doin’ nothin’ like that at all!” says a young voice from the dark. “Just a few pints!”

  “Right, Connolly, we warn’t doin’ nothin’, but here we are, anyway, so put a sock in it,” says McBride. “So, Mr. Fletcher, how come they got you here in this cell with us Irish scum, and not up in the Captain’s cabin kissin’ his hairy ass?”

  “Because, Paddy, it is quite apparent that this is a special cell for convicts they consider especially dangerous.”

  “Then, why’ve they got a pantywaist like you in here with us real men?” Some snickers all around.

  “Maybe they figure I revel in the stink of Irish feet,” I say. “Or perhaps it’s that they know I am a former Royal Navy officer, one who could captain this ship if it came to it.”

  “We could sail it, too,” says another voice from the group.

  “Aye, you can put up a sail and take it down, and you can steer a straight course, but can you navigate? Could you control a surly crew? Could you inspire them to follow your orders in foul and dangerous weather, or in a fight, or would you watch helplessly as things descend into anarchy and chaos?”

  Mumbles and grumbles. “Aw right, for all it matters, we just elected you Captain o’ the Cell, Fletcher. What is your first order, Sir?” mocks McBride, bringing up his manacled hands to knuckle his brow in false obeisance.

  “Very well, men,” I answer, ignoring McBride, and taking my election as some sort of small victory. “First we shall introduce ourselves. I am James Emerson Fletcher, late Lieutenant of the Royal Navy. You are . . .”

  They hesitate, and then they call off . . .

  “Ian McConnaughey, County Wexford.”

  “Daniel Connolly, County Clare.”

  “Padraic Delaney, Wexford.”

  Good Lord, Liam’s kid!

  “Sean Duggan, Waterford.”

  “Seamus Lynch . . .”

  “Charlie Parnell . . .”

  And finally . . .

  “Arthur McBride, by the grace of God, County Wexford, Ireland. Damn your eyes.”

  “Very good, men,” I say, intentionally being insufferably British. “Listen to me . . .” I lean into the circle of faces watching me and point to my ear and then to the gate and then hold that finger up to my lips . . . They might be listening, lads, so we must be careful!

  Whispering now, I say, “If you ever again wish to see your Emerald Isle, you will do the following. Let no one know that you are all able-bodied seamen. Understood? Good. In the line for the head, and in the food line, talk to the others and find out which of them might be seamen—steady seamen, now, ones you could trust when it comes down to it. There’s no head in here so they’ll have to take us out for that and the chow line, too, if we’re allowed to get in it. We’ll have to see about that.”

  “What good is all this?”

  “It might just be our way out of here, McBride,” I snarl, wishing my hands were wrapped about his goddamned throat. “A
nd another thing, we must act docile, such that they might let down their guard. Then maybe, in time, they might let us out into the general bunch of convicts. You don’t need to act servile, no. Just be quiet and pretend that you are resigned to your lot. Got it?”

  Some heads nod, but I sense that Arthur McBride’s does not. “Fine, Captain. Let’s just see where this leads.”

  “Where is Jacky, then?” asks Padraic Delaney.

  “She, too, has been sentenced to Transportation,” I reply. “She’s out here with us. Somewhere.”

  “Ah,” says Arthur McBride. “So let’s go find our Jacky, so’s I can have her back in my lap again where she belongs, squirmin’ her little butt around in that way she does so well.”

  “Lay off, Arthur,” warns Ian.

  You are lucky you are out of reach, Arthur Focking McBride . . .

  “Poor Puss,” says Ian. “Poor little Jacky.”

  “You cannot imagine the depth of my anger,” I say, seething.

  “Oh, yes he can, Brit,” replies Arthur McBride. “You see, they took his Mairead, too.”

  Wondering if the world has gone completely mad,

  I remain,

  Yours,

  Jaimy

  Chapter 24

  It’s morning and the Rock hasn’t yet appeared over the horizon. It’s a gloriously warm day, so to kill some time, I take a few of my braver Newgaters—Mary Wade, Molly Reiby, and Esther—up to the bowsprit for a bit of a toss in the spray. It’s just like in the old days with Davy, Willy, Tink, and Jaimy, and yes, later with Mairead, too. And oh, it is so much fun! I bring these girls down because I know there will be those wild and merry dolphins all around. And sure enough, there they are, leaping about and making sport of our slow progress through the water. Slow to them, anyway. Actually, we’re fairly ripping along.

  Fly, Lorelei, fly . . .

  “Look, Molly, there’s one! No, there’s five! Look how they jump! Aren’t they marvelous!”

  The thing of it is, there’s a net spread out under the bowsprit to catch any unfortunate sailor who might slip and fall as he is tending the fore-and-aft sails way up forward, but that is not what it is for us. For us it is a safe and marvelous ride through the swells of the Atlantic as we approach the Rock of Gilbraltar, the gateway to the Mediterranean. When a particularly large swell comes along, the Lorelei Lee goes bow under and we get dunked, only to come up sputtering and squealing with glee. The girls were quite fearful at first, but they got over it quickly, as they are a game bunch.

  We’re clad only in our undershirts and drawers, but considering what sort of ship we are on, it ain’t much of a scandal. We ain’t in much danger in the way of unwanted advances from the crew, since most of them seem now to have paired up with the dolly of their choice and are satisfied with their current condition. Besides, we’re the youngest ones and not as full bosomed as the girls of the other Crews, and being quite buxom does seem to be the preferred shape in the way of a temporary wife. But the three ship’s boys certainly seem interested in our watery antics as they lean down over the rail to peer at the four young girls frolicking about in soaked and clinging drawers.

  “Stand up out of the water, Mary Wade,” cries young Quist. “Let’s see what you got!” His mates Denny Farley and Moe Suggins enthusiastically echo his request.

  “What I got is not for you, boy, so now get on wi’ all o’ ye, and leave us alone,” says the object of their scrutiny.

  Mary Wade is certainly not another Joan Nichols, my Joannie who is back in Boston being made into a fine lady, just like I was. No. Though they both were street kids, Mary seems a lot tougher, inside and out. Joannie had a sweet self hidden beneath all that street gang roughness, but I don’t know about this Mary. Course Joannie had never been condemned to die at age ten and then thrown into Newgate prison to await hanging, like Mary had been, either. That sort of thing tends to work on your mind and on your general outlook of life. We shall see.

  Harry Quist does not leave . . . that is, not until First Mate Ruger appears at the rail. Then he and his mates vanish in a flash. Ruger stands regarding me with steady gaze and crossed arms. I do not acknowledge his presence and instead turn back to crashing through the next swell, and it’s a good deep one . . . Glorious!

  When I resurface, I see that the First Mate has been replaced up there by . . . what? . . . the Shantyman? He is surrounded by a mob of garrulous sailors, one of whom bears a length of rope, so I know what is going to happen next . . .

  Over the past week or so on the Lorelei Lee, it has become a tradition, an initiation, like, for each man to be taken down, such that he can place his grubby hands on the chest of my beautiful figurehead and so become full-fledged Lorelei Mates in Good Standing, all rights and privileges therewith appertaining and all that. Most of the more able hands clamber over the under-bowsprit netting to accomplish this task, but some are less nimble and do not. Early on, the squalling young Ship’s Boy Quist was bound about his hips and legs and lowered upside down to do the deed, which he eventually did with much relish.

  It was Captain Laughton’s own turn several days ago, so he allowed himself to be placed into a reasonably comfortable Bo’sun’s Chair and lowered down in range of the quarry, where he did his duty with the Lorelei. He endured it all in good spirits and called it excellent fun—“Har-har! Just wait till we get all of you down to the equator when King Neptune himself comes aboard. Then we shall see, my fine laughing ladies. Then we shall see . . .”

  But now, on this day, it is the Shantyman’s turn. He, unlike Quist, is treated like an officer on the ship. The men would not think of touching him without permission, but it seems he has granted that, since he grins widely as he is bound up and put over. They treat the Shantyman much more kindly than they did Quist and his mates, and, indeed, even more gently than they did the Captain.

  “Can’t be a true member of the crew of the Lorelei Lee, Sir, if ye ain’t touched the chest of the mermaid, now can ye, Sir? Careful there, Mr. Lightner, easy now.”

  Enoch Lightner is lowered within range of the mermaid and all her charms.

  The Shantyman runs his hands over the Lorelei’s lower parts and then, to the delight of the seamen, starts to sing . . .

  ’Twas on the Good Ship Venus,

  By Christ, you should have seen us,

  The figurehead of a whore in bed

  And a mast like an . . .

  . . . and here he stops, for he has run his knowing fingers over the carved face of the wooden figurehead. Then he laughs and says, “Are you down there, Faber?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Ah. I thought I recognized your voice,” he says, leaving his hands on the Lorelei’s face. “And I think I’m seeing something else, too . . .”

  Uh-oh . . .

  And then I am saved, once again . . .

  “On deck there! Land ho! It is the Rock!”

  Later, when we have dried off and have gotten dressed, I climb into the rigging, and yes, it is the mighty Rock of Gibraltar that looms over us as we are warped in and tied up to the Mole, a long earthwork breakwater and pier. My girls below me on the deck are amazed at the massiveness of the thing and gape in wonder.

  “Aye, ladies, it is not called the Pillar of Hercules for nothing,” say I. “Is it not grand?”

  They allow that it is, but then they see that there are at least four other ships—Royal Navy ships at that—tied up to that pier, and many sailors hang in the rigging of those ships and look avidly at us as we come in, all of our Crews festooned on deck and in our rigging. There are at least four hundred men on each of those ships—that’s a lot of potential customers.

  “But Jacky,” says Esther, “all the other Crews will be out there making money, lots of it, and then, when it comes to the bidding for berths, we will have little. So we’ll be tossed out of our berth, and I, for one, like the light and air up above. I sure don’t want to go down into that dark hold.”

  “Steady on, Esther, we’ll see wh
at turns up. I have plans, trust me. The Newgaters shall not go down into the bottom of the hold,” I say. And as for you, Esther, you don’t have to worry about going into any dark hole as long as you have young Major Johnston longin after you.

  The Lorelei Lee is expertly brought into her berth under Captain Laughton’s stern gaze, and as we are being tied up, he turns from his nautical duties on his quarterdeck to address his cargo.

  “Ladies!” he calls. “We are in the port of Gibraltar! There are four Royal Navy ships moored about us here, as well. There is also a garrison of two thousand men quartered up at the fort. You see a long pier here that is called the Mole. You will be confined to that place, and there will be a guard placed at the end of that pier to insure that none of you leave it. The other ships moored here are the Surprise, the Laurentian, the Indomitable, and the Redoubt. I have been apprised by their captains that well-behaved ladies will be allowed aboard their respective ships for the three days we will be in port.”

  There is a general cheer at this, and not all coming from the Lorelei Lee.