Across to America: A Tim Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 9)

by Richard Testrake

  Phillips went over to an arms chest and removed a pistol from inside. He placed another cap on the iron strap reinforcing the cover and struck it with the pistol butt. A loud ‘pop’ sounded as the cap exploded. He showed Stuart how the flash from the cap communicated with the main charge inside the barrel.

  “Well, this is all well and good, but just where would you go about getting these caps?”

  “The only place I know of, Mister Stuart, is the gunmaker in Halifax, where I bought it.”

  “Well, there you go. When you run out of caps, or just lose ‘em, you are out of luck. If I look around, I can find a hunk of flint in most any stream bed and make my own. Now, just when are you gonna be needing them other logs?”

  “Just as soon as you can get to it, Mister Stuart. I see Chips is hewing out the first one you brought, already.”

  “Well, you see, I’m gonna have to let the team rest a bit. I don’t have any grain to feed them. Just grazing, they don’t last long before they tire.”

  “I have no grain, Mister Stuart. I could however give you a hundred pound bag of ship’s biscuit. That might give them some energy to work.”

  The cattle wolfed down some biscuit and the hands followed Stuart back to the forest for the second log. By the time it had been felled and brought back to the ship, dusk was falling. Stuart left and promised to be back in the morning.

  Chips and his crew labored on the project steadily for the next week. The sheathing in the stern had to be removed and some of the damaged frames repaired. Chips did not wish to take the time to completely replace the broken timbers, so he put them in their proper places and re-enforced them with timbers pinned over them with treenails. He was not satisfied with the green timber he needed to use, but made do with what he had. With fresh sheathing on the stern, he was ready to re-hang the rudder.

  A week after they moored in the river, they were ready to begin caulking the repairs. With much of the important work done, it was now a matter of re-stowing the hold and getting everything aboard.

  Stuart came back and offered to take Phillips hunting. With time now available, Phillips took Mister Daniels and his batman along and accompanied Stuart. After trudging through the swampy forest for hlours, Stuart left the pair behind a sumac thicket on a knoll. Ordering them to remain there, he told them he would send some meat their way. Phillips readied his rifle, while Daniels checked his personal fusil. This was a light weight weapon firing a heavy ball. Phillips had tried the weapon from the deck aboard ship and found it had a vicious recoil.

  The pair soon heard Stuart coming though the undergrowth. Ahead of him a pair of whitetail deer stepped daintily to the edge of the clearing, then sensing danger, leaped forward. Caught by surprise, Phillips managed at the last minute to put the front sight of his rifle out in front of one of the deer and pull the trigger. That deer shot into the brush on the other side of the clearing and was gone.

  He dimly remembered Daniel’s fusil crashing but had not seen what happened. Stuart came out of the forest, going right to Daniel’s deer, now folded up where it had fallen, at the edge of the clearing. The heavy ball had dropped it immediately. He went to the thicket and nodded to Phillips. “Here is your deer. She ran a ways after you hit her. These small rifle balls do not always stop them in their tracks. I like to hold on their neck, myself. Seems they go down faster.”

  A party from the ship arrived and dressed out the deer. Stuart was presented half of Phillips’ deer. The remainder would feed him and the gunroom, while Daniels’ meat would go to the wardroom.

  The gig waited just off the beach while Phillips made his farewells. As he seated himself, Stuart wondered, “Say there Genr’al, I hear we’re fighting the British agin. Know anything about that?”

  Surprised, Phillips could only nod.

  “Well, I guess we’ll just have to whup ‘em again just like my Pa did, years ago. You take care now, Genr’al, and watch out for them British!”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Phillips boarded on the port side of the ship, without the usual ceremonial. He saw a party preparing to raise the ensign and called out. “Mister Wilson, I’d be glad for you to postpone that until we are out at sea. If anyone on this coast should see us, I’d prefer they did not know who we are.”

  With the damage that had been inflicted during the action with Constitution, Phillips felt he needed to have the ship surveyed in a good shipyard. It would be easier to sail up the coast to Halifax, but he knew the shipyard there was busy, and thought there might be an inordinate delay. Chips informed him the green wood they had used for repairs was sure to rot, and the sooner it could be replaced, the better.

  Deciding the yard at English Harbor might be a better choice, they went south. The repairs done back on the mainland had been done in a hurry, and there was difficulty with leakage. There was no imminent danger to the ship, but it would be best if the ship not face any heavy weather before more complete repairs could be made.

  It was a long trip, but they sailed into Antigua’s English Harbor, and picked up their mooring after saluting the Admiral’s flag. HMS Tenedos was floating proudly at her mooring, and many of her crew stopped what they were doing when they went by. He was pulled over to the flag expecting to see the admiral, but was told the man was indisposed with dropsy. The flag captain took care of his reports and said the dockyard would be notified of the necessary repairs.

  “Now then”, the flag captain began. “I understand you were in an action with the USS Constitution and supposedly taken or destroyed. Would you give me the news of what happened to you?”

  Phillips had brought along his reports and log which the flag captain glanced through. “You say you obeyed a flag signal from Tenedos to engage the enemy. Could there have been a mistake in reading the signal?”

  Phillips answered. “Sir, there were actually three such signals. One was ‘Enemy in Sight’, another “To engage the Enemy’ and the final was ‘Engage the Enemy More Closely’. We did as we were ordered, but Tenedos was unable to come up to assist and we were much beaten about.”

  Captain Ellis looked puzzled. “Phillips, you do know Captain Danson of Tenedos died of apoplexy two weeks before that action, do you not?”

  Phillips was concerned. Danson was an old friend of the family who had often stayed at the Phillips estate back in his youth. “I did not, Captain Ellis. Who was commanding Tenedos at the time?”

  “That would have been Lieutenant Granger, her first lieutenant.”

  Now Phillips was really puzzled. Granger had no business ordering a ranking officer as to when or how he was to engage the enemy.

  Ellis broke the silence. “Captain, I want you to report back here this afternoon with your signal officer and his log. You should also bring along your first lieutenant and your master with his log.”

  Upon returning as ordered, the wan looking admiral was present but said nothing. Captain Ellis was certainly in charge. A few minutes after the party from Andromeda arrived, that from Tenedos entered. Ellis asked Phillips if he had ever met Lieutenant Granger. Phillips assured him that he had never met the man.

  After the stilted introductions, Ellis began the proceedings. “Gentlemen, this is by no means an official inquiry, although a report will be submitted to Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, Commander of the North America Station. Our purpose is to determine exactly who was responsible for the engagement between HMS Andromeda and the USS Constitution. If everyone will place their logs on the table, I would be obliged.”

  Ellis continued, “Beginning with Lieutenant Granger. Sir, will you tell me what duty you were performing on the day of the action?”

  Granger looked pale and not at all well. “Sir, I was in command of HMS Tenedos, after the death of Captain Danson.”

  “Very well, Lieutenant. Will you tell us of the events of that day, starting of course before the action took place?”

  “Yes sir, shortly after the lookouts were sent up, I heard the call from the maintop, ‘Sail i
n sight off the port bow’. I went up on deck and sent an officer to the maintop with a glass. He reported the sighting to be a large ship. Hull down, her identity could not be determined at that time.”

  “Very good Mister Granger. Exactly when was her identity determined?”

  “Probably a glass later, sir. My sailing master recognized her, having served in the Med when she was there.”

  “Fine, now, just who was she?”

  “Why, the USS Constitution, sir.”

  “And what plans did you make immediately, Mister Granger?”

  “Sir, I thought I had better stay out of her way. She is better armed and more strongly built than Tenedos. I felt I would not have a chance if I engaged her.”

  “What about if you had assistance. What if another King’s ship were present to assist?”

  “Then sir, I think there would have been a real chance to defeat her.”

  “Good. Now when did you become aware of the presence of Andromeda?”

  “About a glass later. Again, our maintop lookout saw her west of Constitution.”

  “And what were your thoughts when you learned of her presence?”

  Granger was looking paler by the minute. “Sir, we were unable to read her number at first, but thought she was a King’s ship by the cut of her sails. She appeared to be a large ship-sloop or maybe a small frigate. Without knowing who she actually was, I thought she probably had either a commander or post captain commanding. I knew whoever it was would be superior in rank to myself and therefore in command of any joint action. When we could read her number I learned she was Andromeda, a post ship, and that Captain Phillips was in command.”

  “Now, at what time did you signal Captain Phillips that you commanded Tenedos?”

  “Well, sir, I never actually told him that I was in command. I thought he already knew.”

  “Mister Granger, I myself did not know you were in command until afterward. HMS Andromeda was on detached duty. How was he supposed to learn of the death of Captain Danson?”

  Granger stood mute and he was visibly trembling.

  Captain Ellis continued, “Mister Granger. What signals were passed between Tenedos and Andromeda before the action?”

  “No actual signals sir. We both made our numbers to each other.”

  “So you never signaled Andromeda to attack Constitution?”

  “Oh no sir. I could not do that. Captain Phillips was senior to me.”

  Captain Ellis went to the table and picked up a log book. “This appears to be Tenedos signal log. I see no entry for any signals at the time in question. I wonder why that is? Surely, a simple greeting might be exchanged.”

  Granger made no reply.

  “Now here we have the signal log from HMS “Andromeda. This shows several entries. The first two seem to be attempts to answer unreadable signals from Tenedos. The next shows the acknowledgement to a signal from Tenedos to Andromeda to ‘Enemy in Sight’. Then we have another acknowledgement of a signal purportedly from Tenedos, ‘Engage the Enemy’. Finally another acknowledgement from the same source, ‘Engage the Enemy More Closely’. I wonder why the discrepancies?

  Ellis eyed the log books closely then opened a drawer on his desk and withdrew a magnifying glass. “I have a little trouble reading fine writing, so am required at times to use this glass.”

  Peering closely through the glass, he exclaimed. “Gentlemen, I think I see the difficulty. A page has been cut from this log. I can just see the remains of the original page. Would you gentlemen care to examine this?”

  Everyone but Granger took the opportunity to look at the log book. While he was looking at the page with his young eyes, Phillips thought he saw the traces of a sharp blade on the underlying page. He showed that to Captain Ellis, who could not make it out himself, but the admiral’s flag lieutenant could see it quite clearly.

  Captain Ellis reported. “Gentlemen, I see no need to continue this discussion. I intend to recommend to the admiral this matter be brought to the attention of Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane for possible action. You are dismissed. Mister Granger, would you remain behind?”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Back aboard the Andromeda, matters were now advanced. Her crew were busy again loading stores into the ship’s boats to be delivered ashore. A preliminary survey had already been done, with some shaking of heads when rot was discovered in some of the older timbers. Phillips was awaiting a visit from the dockyard superintendent when a well-appointed launch came alongside, with a tall officer wearing a hussar uniform sitting in the sternsheets.

  This man, piped aboard with all due ceremony, carried a summons to appear before the governor. The officer insisted the appointment could not wait, and offered to take him in his own boat. Mister Harding was observing the proceedings on deck and the third officer, Mister Wilson, was on duty. Calling these gentlemen over, he asked them to inform Mister Hornady he had been called away to meet with Governor Eliot.

  Phillips had met Governor Eliot before and his servant ushered him right in. Unusually, Eliot did not begin the conversation with small talk, as he normally did. He got right to the point.

  “Captain Phillips, this is in regard to your recent mission where you delivered a British envoy to meet with Señor Bolivar. Lord Forsythe has been obliged to flee along with Bolivar and has sailed on a local boat to an island just east of Spanish Puerto Rico. The Isla de Vieques by name. He has taken refuge with a fisherman’s family on the island and asks that he be removed as soon as possible.”

  “He requests the Spanish authorities not be notified of his situation. It seems they believe he is somehow involved with the revolution on the mainland, and he is concerned about arrest and possible imprisonment. Lord Forsythe has been on this island a month already and there is concern of his health. I wish you to take your ship and proceed immediately to the island to retrieve him.”

  Phillips was disturbed. By now, he regarded Lord Forsythe as a friend, and would go to extremes to remove him from any danger. The problem was his ship. With the additional damage discovered by the dockyard people, there was real danger the ship might not return should she encounter any heavy weather. He indicated as much to the governor then informed him of the stores that had already been landed.

  “Sir, would there be another vessel available that could make the trip?”

  Eliot shook his head. “Not one that is not in worse condition than your own.”

  He thought a few minutes, then said, “Of course, there is Marseilles!”

  “Marseilles, Governor?”

  “Yes, she is a former French corvette you people brought in when you chased the French out of the Caribbean. She is a fairly new ship that has been let go to rack and ruin, and had to be towed back here behind HMS Arethusa. Our dockyard people have made a sort of pet of her and I am told she is now as good as new. However, she was unarmed when we took her from her mooring in Guadeloupe. She is complete but has neither guns nor crew.”

  “Sir, Andromeda has all of her guns and a fine crew.”

  “Yes Captain Phillips, she does indeed. Would you be prepared to take command of the corvette and sail her to the island of Vieques?”

  “Yes sir, I would. Do we know the exact location where we may find Lord Forsythe?”

  “Yes Captain, we do. We do have a hand-drawn sketch which will be in your hands in a moment. I will call my naval aide in to explain all of the details of the ship to you. I do have a busy morning so you would oblige me if you met with Lieutenant Raines just down the hall. My servant will take you.”

  The governor added, “Just one more matter, Captain. The Marseilles was not the only French warship left behind. One of their forty gun frigates had been laid up in a creek mouth before our troops came in and took the island. She had been more or less abandoned for lack of stores and her men had gone onto various privateers. Before retreating the French made a try at firing her, but it had rained all of the previous night and the fire did not take hold.”

&nb
sp; “Our troops had other things on their minds than a dilapidated, abandoned French ship, so they mentioned it in a dispatch and went on to other things. The war passed that region by and the ship was forgotten. Some pirates, some of them perhaps former crewmen, found her and was able to move her to another mooring.”

  “We hear now those pirates have got her back at sea and are using her to take respectable sized commercial vessels. We have no idea as to how she is now armed or the number of her crew. Normally, we would hesitate to ask an officer to bring a forty gun frigate to action with a much lighter post ship, but the expectation is she does not have all of her guns, and it is doubtful if she has a professional commander.”

  “Should you encounter her, perhaps you could see what we have to deal with. Understand your first business must be to recover Lord Forsythe.”

  With that, Governor Eliot shook his bell and a servant led Phillips off. As he went out the door, Eliot pressed a scrap of paper in his hand. A crude map of Lord Forsythe’s location on a tiny island was scratched on it.

  A one armed naval officer was waiting in the anteroom and introduced himself. Phillips asked him about the ship.

  “Well, the French used her as a twenty gun corvette, what we might use as a sloop of war. She was probably armed with French eight pounder guns, but the shipwright over at the dockyard tells us she could carry our twelve pounders. He also thinks we could put a pair of twenty four pounder carronades on the quarterdeck, with maybe a pair of twelve pounder carronades up forward. We do have a few carronades in the dockyard but no long guns available.”

  Phillips nodded, “Andromeda will be going into the dockyard for a complete re-build and will be landing all of her guns. We can use her long twelves to arm the Marseilles.”