The American captain was concerned the American government would not take kindly to his commercial activities, since they could be construed as aiding the enemy. So, his manifest indicated he was taking the cargo to South Carolina, while he was actually sailing to Lisbon.
Phillips decided this situation matched the issues raised by Vice-Admiral Sawyer previously. Namely that he should assist any American shipping endeavoring to deliver supplies to Wellington and his Army. Accordingly, he told the merchant captain he considered it his duty to escort the pair to the continent. He warned them if they should attempt to make for a French controlled port, they would immediately be taken as prizes.
More American ships were seen in succeeding days, but they all sailed well clear of Andromeda and her little convoy. Phillips suspected at least some of them were on similar missions as his own little flock, but he could not approach them without abandoning these two ships, so he allowed them to go un-molested. Off the mouth of the Tagus River, he left his charges to their own devices and spoke HMS Pelorus, brig-sloop of 18 guns, commanded by Captain Rowley, on her way to the Med.
Explaining his intelligence for the enemy privateers believed to be in the vicinity, he was assured the message would be relayed at Gibraltar. Continuing alone on her way toward the Channel, Andromeda met with a broken-winged brigantine sailing out to sea. She had evidently been in an action. Patched shot scars showed in her hull and her mainsail gaff had been shot away. An inadequate looking temporary spar had been hastily rigged, but Phillips did not expect her to carry her main very long in any kind of weather.
Andromeda ran her down, and she proved to be a British vessel taken two days before. Her American prize crew were now searching for a French port she could take refuge in. Re-captured without a struggle, her British crew was still aboard. They gave their information to their rescuers and it was learned a single American schooner had nabbed them. Releasing the brigantine to resume her voyage, Andromeda continued the hunt.
After entering the Channel, Cherbourg was off to starboard. It had been a rainy night and visibility was still poor the next morning. About three bells into the forenoon watch, muted gunfire was heard. There was disagreement on the quarterdeck as to just where the sound was coming from. With differing opinions expressed, Phillips turned to one of the helmsmen at his post.
Joshua Atkins had the reputation of having the best hearing on the ship, Phillips asked him if he had an idea of the bearing of the gunfire. Atkins was astonished at being asked, but confidently assured his captain the fire was coming from a few points to port. With no better advice, the captain told the helmsmen to steer on that bearing.
The gunfire had long been stopped when they discovered their quarry. The schooners they were looking for had taken on an unlikely opponent. The British flagged General Cornwallis, a former collier, had been armed with some twenty four pounder carronades and a pair of long sixes and went to sea with a letter of marque.
Mistaking her for an unarmed merchant ship in the haze, the schooners attacked. Normally, the target would have preferred to evade without action, to avoid expensive damage. However, the tubby former collier was unable to escape the lean schooners, so she put her topsails to the mast and prepared herself for action.
As soon as the predators felt the blows of those twenty four pound balls smashing into their thin scantlings, they knew they had a tiger by the tail. Had there only been one opponent, the British ship would have pounded that one to matchwood with her powerful guns, but there were two. One managed to get on Cornwallis’ quarter and hammer her while the former collier was meting out punishment to the other schooner.
In the end, it was gunnery training that mattered. The American privateers, in their lengthy voyage, had managed to work up their crews to be more proficient than their opponent. All three vessels were to all intents and purposes destroyed in the melee, but it was the Cornwallis that pulled down her flag.
When Andromeda closed them, privateer crewmen were climbing around in the wreckage, attempting to find material that could be used to make one ship seaworthy. The post ship just ghosted up to the wreckage and fired a gun. The privateer’s men, seeing an intact warship abeam with her guns run out, decided wisely to give it up. Now, it was Andromeda’s men who began scrambling over the wrecks. Some of the first ones boarding a sinking schooner heard cries coming from her interior.
A slight pale figure emerged when freed. At first it appeared to be a young lad, but it soon was apparent the person, clad in overly large men’s work clothing was female. Brought aboard Andromeda and introduced to Captain Phillips she was, it seemed, the woman taken captive weeks ago from the convoy off Bermuda. This was Anne Humphries, a rather plain young woman of maybe twenty years of age. To Phillips eye however, in her masculine garb she more resembled a fourteen year old lad.
He took the time to briefly question her before turning to the myriad tasks waiting his attention. Her paleness was explained by her account of being locked in the schooner’s cramped lazarette for days at a time. Phillips was agreeably surprised by her fortitude. It must have been a harrowing ordeal being a prisoner of what were in effect a band of pirates, while dealing with the violent death of her father. However the woman displayed perfect calmness, asking only if she could be furnished a pan of fresh water and a bit of soap to wash up.
He ordered his servant to take her into his cabin and make her as comfortable as he could. In the meantime, he had a hundred enemy privateersmen to take in hand. That same number had gone over the side, and many more were suffering serious wounds, but he still had to find some means to secure these more-or-less able bodied men.
The British letter of marque was about to go down, pulled by the weight of her armament. One of the schooners was in similar condition, and Phillips would not have wagered she would stay above the waves another hour. The second schooner however, seemed in a little better condition, and Phillips ordered all hands, both British and American, to concentrate at emergency repairs to that schooner. The only effort expended on the two discarded ships was the work necessary to strip off any material likely to be needed to repair the survivor.
Despite a careful watch kept for friendly shipping in this well-travelled seaway, nothing was seen, and soon the two condemned ships went to the bottom. The third was saved at the last minute when effective patches was finally fitted to the shot holes below the waterline in her hull.
When most of the water was finally pumped out the next day, all of the healthy prisoners were battened in her hold, after anything usable as a weapon was removed. Jury masts and rigging were set up and a well-armed prize crew were put aboard to take her into Plymouth.
Phillips knew she would bring nothing worthwhile for them as a prize. She was good for nothing now except to be broken up for firewood. However, Andromeda’s crew would earn a few hundred pounds head money for the surrendered prisoners. Before the schooner departed, Phillips asked Anne if she would wish to sail into Plymouth in her. She could be in civilized surroundings within two days.
She demurred however. She had no family left, and her captors had stripped her of all the funds she had in the world. She needed to get to Trinidad, where she thought an uncle was stationed in the Forces. Besides, this schooner was the one she had been captive in so long. She wished nothing more to do with it.
Phillips assured her she was welcome to stay on the Andromeda as long as they remained at sea, but sooner or later, he would be compelled to report back to Admiral Sawyer in Halifax. By rights he should report here at Plymouth, but had decided not to. He was still covered by the orders he had received from Sawyer and wished to continue his search for privateers.
Putting Acting Lieutenant Otis in charge of the schooner, he entrusted him with his accumulated reports, especially the details of activities of the newly taken privateers. Bidding Otis goodbye, the two vessels parted.
The schooner set out on its short dash into Plymouth, while Phillips was going back out into the Atlantic to see
what he could discover of more privateer activity.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The weather turned foul, eventually requiring them to run before the wind showing just a scrap of fore staysail and a corner of the fore tops’l. It was necessary to stay ahead of the following seas, to prevent a wave from coming over the stern and causing, perhaps, irreparable damage. With the ship shut up tight, and the proper speed maintained this problem was minimized.
Another difficulty was the strain being placed on the rigging, especially the shrouds and stays that kept the masts upright. Tremendous forces were involved, and the cordage could stretch or otherwise fail.
The bosun and his mates were kept busy in the storm, making sure all was secure, as were indeed the gunner and his mates also. Disaster could ensue should one of the guns break loose and go careening around the deck or through the side of the ship.
Phillips had intended to have the carpenter put up an extra bulkhead in his cabin and construct a bed for his passenger. To his surprise, Anne was not the least bit discommoded by the weather and whenever she could get the officer of the watch to agree, took station on the quarterdeck, as if she were one of the officers. With the carpenter being too busy taking care of incessant ship emergencies to make the planned alterations to the captain’s quarters, Anne begged to be allowed to take over the absent third officer’s tiny cabin in the wardroom.
By the time the storm had ran its course, Anne had become accepted as one of the regulars on the quarterdeck. On the first day conditions allowed the officers to take their noon sights, Mister Darby offered to show her how to use his sextant. She replied with a laugh. “Lord, Mister Darby, I have been using a sextant since I was ten. Many a time I took the deck of my father’s brig when he had taken aboard too much rum the night before.”
Gradually, the young woman took on more of the duties ordinarily given to one of the midshipmen or junior lieutenants. This was welcomed by Phillips, since with the departure of Mister Otis, he did not really have a midshipman to whom he felt he could safely entrust the ship.
While Anne had never experienced any training in purely naval affairs, she was as capable as any of the other officers in the day to day operation of the ship. The only difficulty was, in her previous experience, she had only a few seamen in her charge. Now, with well over a hundred men to control, matters were very different.
With just himself, Gould, Darby and the sailing master capable of handling the ship, there was little rest for any of them. Anne, however, was knowledgeable and was able to convince Phillips of her ability to take the deck when needed. The major problem that presented itself concerned the crew. Some of the seamen could well baulk at an important moment when taking an order from the slightly build young woman.
Thinking about the matter, with his own rest and that of his officers in mind, Phillips realized how much simpler it would be if Anne could take an occasional watch, when other difficulties intruded. An idea came to him as he watched a seaman, Thomas Lane directing a party who were taking down the old fore topsail and hoisting aloft the new.
Lane was an old seaman, perhaps too old for his duties, maybe forty years of age or more. He was a massively built man, and few sane people would offer to take issue with him for any reason. Perfectly comfortable for any duties involved with seamanship itself, Lane was illiterate and barely able to count much past ten. But, when he gave an order, all men addressed took heed.
Anne was standing by the helm when the idea came to him. As soon as Lane’s crew finished their task, Phillips called him aft. Lane, as well as most of the others in the crew, had always been perfectly respectful of the woman. When Lane approached, touching his brow to his captain and Miss Humphries, Phillips said his piece.
“Miss Humphries, Mister Lane, it seems I have a difficulty with which I would ask your assistance. As you know, with the departure of Mister Otis, we are short of a deck officer. Miss Humphries impresses me as a person who is well skilled in ship handling and navigation. Of course, as a civilian, the Navy would take me to task should I put her in charge of the deck. And, the question I have, is whether all the hands would obey her orders?”
“The thought occurs to me, I could put both of you, Miss Humphries, and you, Mister Lane, together in charge of the deck when needed. Miss Lane would make such decisions as ship handling and whatever navigational problems may arise on your watch. Mister Lane, your assistance here will be as a petty officer, ensuring the ready obedience of orders Miss Humphries gives. Should any crew members object to her orders, it will be your task to convince them to obey.”
A dour Mister Gould found it difficult to agree with all of these changes. As he assured his fellow officers, nothing good would come of this woman aboard ship, especially one ensconced in the previously all-male wardroom. He was convinced the woman should have been sent into Plymouth with the schooner. How in the devil were they to be able to cater to all of her feminine whims and demands?
As the presiding officer of the mess, he was able to hold forth at every meal with his theories, some of them close to mutinous. The younger officers found such talk difficult to listen to, but felt unable to respond.
There turned out to be few problems. At first, there were those men who objected to following the orders of a young woman. Petty Officer Lane very forcefully informed those it would not be politic if they refused. In any event, Anne made it easy for the men to follow her directions. Whenever possible, she attempted to ask the men respectfully if they would set to some task. At first, there were those who tried to confuse her with questions of sometimes arcane topics, but she eventually convinced most of them of her knowledge of seamanship.
In any event, there were few men aboard Andromeda who found it difficult to follow the requests of a charming woman. Phillips was impressed with her ability to have the men follow her orders without raising her voice.
By the time they were approaching the midway point in the crossing, although Mister Gould remained as dour as ever, all else had become used to the new order. Anne was just as effective in her duties as any of the other officers and Phillips found himself regretting the moment when he would need to put her ashore.
At this time, they met up with an old acquaintance. The merchant ship Rebecca Morris they had met on the outward voyage, when she was carrying wheat and spars to the port of Lisbon. Here she was again, still deeply laden, and struggling west with visible damage aloft. The masthead lookout reported her ahead while she was still hull-down and Andromeda caught up with the slow moving merchant just before dark. Coming along side, she was questioned about her difficulty. She replied she had been caught up in a storm, and had some of her canvas carry away.
When Phillips asked if he could be of assistance, her captain declined. Asked her current cargo, she replied she was carrying lemons to Boston. Now, this was a perfectly innocuous cargo, which Phillips was inclined to let pass, in view of her previous service of delivering badly needed wheat to Wellington’s forces on the Peninsula. He did wonder why such a cargo, since citrus was readily available in the Caribbean, much closer to home and with less danger of spoilage.
However, he was prepared to believe this was the only cargo the ship could take aboard that would not meet with the displeasure of British blockaders.
Phillips was tempted to send over a party to rummage the hold to inspect for anything illicit. But, he reasoned it would have been difficult to take such aboard in Lisbon, and with the ill-feeling between the two countries that had brought about this new war, he was reluctant to do anything to inflame the situation any more than necessary.
The two ships parted company and proceeded on their separate ways. During the night another storm brewed up, and Phillips remained on deck all night. A sudden squall almost took the ship aback, but some skilled work by the watch on deck and Mister Darby brought her through. At first light next morning, a calmer sea revealed the Rebecca Morris far behind them, and she appeared to be in a strange state.
Andromeda was p
ut about, since the merchant ship seemed to have lost most of her canvas during the night, with her main topmast as well. She had also acquired a severe list that put her lee rail in the sea and threatened to send her sticks over the side. Working her way back to the merchant, it was late in the forenoon watch before they came up alongside. Little had been done to right the ship, but she looked to Phillips to be in serious straits indeed.
Taking Anne with him in the launch, Phillips was pulled over to examine the situation at first hand. Few men were on deck and the mate of the watch was reluctant to allow them to board. Phillips offered to return to Andromeda and return with an armed boarding party.
With that, lines were lowered and the party boarded. It was soon discovered the ship had been overcome with a huge wave sweeping up over her stern in the blow. Many of her crew on deck, as well as the captain, had been swept overboard and lost. The few men remaining were doing what they could, but it was little enough.
A foremast staysail had been set and this was pulling the ship westward, but the lee rail was perilously close to the water because of her list. Phillips was well aware this was a ship under an enemy flag, and something was wrong. He asked Anne if she would return to Andromeda and bring back an armed party.
On her return, she asked if she could take some men below to inspect the cargo. She assured Phillips she was knowledgeable about its proper stowage, and might be able to determine the problem. She suspected the contents of the hold had shifted during the storm, and hoped she could determine how to correct the problem.
Phillips himself was not familiar with the proper stowage of a hold. In his experience, it had always been the sailing master who handled that task. Anne was below almost an hour while the Andromeda’s men were hoisting some canvas brought over from Andromeda, and seeing to the standing rigging.
Across to America: A Tim Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 9) Page 7
