“Their Captain must have a sixth sense” he said in exasperation to Armand and the two of them went to the charts.
“All we can do is stay as close to the wind as possible, try and head a point south of west and pray we get to Gibraltar or meet a British ship before they catch us” Armand concluded after studying the North African coastline closely on the chart. “There isn’t anywhere to hide”
“We better pray the wind doesn’t shift in their favour as well” Marty gloomily replied.
The chase continued. The men didn’t have much to do except trim the sails and watch the two French ships get slowly closer and idle hands tend to get nervous. Marty started weapons practice to give them something to do and, to make it more interesting, matched up men from different watches. It soon turned into a good natured contest and covered blade work, pistol shooting and unarmed combat.
That took them up to lunch time when the men broke off the contests to eat their midday meal. Marty, Armand and Linette ate together in the Captain’s cabin. They were largely silent as they ate as they could see the French Frigates through the transom window and they were an oppressive presence.
Marty felt something in the way the ship was moving. He left the table and went out onto the deck. He checked the pennant and saw that the wind had swung a little more west. He looked to the horizon and saw a bank of dark cloud approaching from the south-southwest.
An hour later and the cloudbank had developed into a heaving mass with lightning playing along the forward edge. The wind was increasing rapidly and Armand and Marty were getting worried about the masts as well as the damaged hull, but the Frigates showed no sign of taking in sail so they had no option but to keep as much on as possible as well. Marty had extra lookouts posted to keep watch for squalls and had the men ready to reduce sail at a moment’s notice.
The weather went from getting bad to very bad rapidly and they had no choice but to take in the mains and reef the tops. Armand looked back at the Frigates.
“Those idiots are still keeping on full sail” he shouted over the now howling wind.
Marty turned and looked just as one of the lookouts yelled
“SQUALL!!”
They saw the wind devil as the squall came across the water, it flattened the tops of the waves and looked as if it was arrowing straight at them from just off the larboard bow.
“Hard to Starboard!” Marty ordered and threw himself on to the wheel to help the helmsmen.
The ship complained as she turned and the wind came more from the beam, but she responded and they hung on as the edge of the squall brushed over their stern. The ship felt as if it was kicked and started to turn back to larboard as the wind pushed on the stern quarter, but it passed and they watched as it rushed down on the Frigates that had caught up to about 3 cables astern of them. It hit the front one on their bow quarter. Their foresails were shredded and the foremast was snapped off about two thirds of the way up. The ship slewed and they could see that the mainsail had also torn loose and was flapping. The other ship took evasive action as the leading Frigate slowed, steering hard to starboard causing her sails to go into confusion as they spilled the wind and she was in irons.
Before anyone on the Alouette could comment or even think, another squall hit them on the beam and the ship healed so far over that they were convinced they would capsize. Everything that wasn’t tied down went over the side including a couple of men. The Alouette struggled to right herself and in the end, she won as she slowly came back onto an almost even keel.
A quick look aloft showed that the masts were bare of sails. They had been shredded by the squall. Armand quickly ordered a storm sail set on the fore and steered to run before the storm. He sent Marty below to check on their jury-rigged repairs. It wasn’t good but it could have been worse. They were leaking but the planks were holding – so far and they could keep ahead of it with the pumps. When Marty got back on deck he couldn’t see the French anywhere.
They pumped the ship every four hours for two days before the storm left them. The crew were exhausted and hungry as they had no rest and nothing but cold rations. Linette had been confined to her cabin as she was so seasick she could barely move.
They turned back to the west and headed to Gibraltar with a sense of relief.
Chapter 17 The Hunt is on
They reached Gibraltar by the end of March only to be told the Fleet was at the Targus. So they stocked up with food and water and set off to find them. They finally got there by the sixth of April, showed their number and dispatches, which got a ‘Captain report aboard” signal in return from the Flagship.
Armand, Marty and Linette all went across and up on to the deck of the Flagship to be greeted by a surprised First Lieutenant. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of Linette who was wearing trousers and a shirt which didn’t hide the fact she was a girl. Armand gave him the letter written by Admiral Hood and asked to see the Admiral. The Lieutenant scoffed at first, then read the letter, looked the three of them over again and went to the Captain. The Captain looked quizzically at the three of them as the lieutenant spoke to him on the Quarterdeck and read the letter himself. His eyebrows shot up and he sent a midshipman to the Admiral with the letter and a message. Five minutes later a flag Lieutenant appeared, introduced himself as Frederick Fitzwilliam and escorted them to the Admirals quarters.
They entered after being announced by the customary bellow of the Marine guard. Admiral St Vincent was sat behind a desk talking to another Admiral who was a small man with one arm and a scar across one of his eyes.
The small man stood and addressed them in a somewhat high pitched nasally voice.
“I am Rear Admiral Nelson. Your letter says that you are working on special duties for Admiral Hood but it doesn’t say who you are or what those duties are. Please introduce yourselves and explain.”
Armand introduced himself using his best English accent “Armand Clavell Lieutenant Royal Navy formally Lieutenant of the Royal French Navy at your service” Then he introduced Marty and Linette. “Midshipman Martin Stockley and Linette”. Nelson raised his eyebrows at the omission of her surname but Armand continued. “Midshipman Stockley and Linette have been gathering intelligence in Toulon concerning the build-up of troops and ships in the Mediterranean.”
Nelson looked at the two of them and was about to say something when Admiral St Vincent said
“Horatio, why don’t we just see what they have to report and then you can ask questions”
Nelson nodded and sat down. Armand gestured for Marty to carry on.
“Sir, we have discovered that General Bonaparte has assembled a force of greater than three hundred transports, thirteen ships of the line with fourteen frigates and more than thirty five thousand troops. They are to be ready to sail by the end of April and will be reinforced by more ships from Genoa. We have been unable to discover the destination for this Expeditionary Force as it is called by the French military. Apparently, there are only two or three people who know that. Napoleon being one of them ”
“And how did you discover this?” asked St Vincent.
“Linette and I infiltrated the Military Headquarters in Toulon and read the orders from Bonaparte to his commanders” answered Marty.
Both the Admirals eyebrows shot up in amazement at that and at the level delivery without a hint of boasting.
“Miss Linette” said Nelson “Are we to believe that you and this young midshipman walked into Toulon, infiltrated the headquarters of the French Military and stole secrets that must have been heavily guarded?” his tone spoke of his disbelief.
“Oui Admiral, that is correct. Martin speaks French like a native and we posed as operatives of the Ministries of War and Supply until we could find someone we could persuade that we were really from the Department of Internal Security investigating a suspected spy in the Headquarters staff. He then let us in to the building and we were able to search the office of the Commandant and find the papers.”
“Sounds
like a story from the penny dreadfuls” snorted Nelson.
“Sir” said Armand “Our ship and crew are part of the Special Operations Flotilla set up by Admiral Hood and Mr Wickham and are trained to infiltrate the enemy and gather intelligence.”
“Aah Wickham” said St Vincent “I thought I could smell his hands in this. I heard he and Hood were up to something. Well do you have a written report of your findings?”
“Yes sir” said Marty and handed over a sealed report.
St Vincent opened it and then called for his flag Lieutenant.
“Please take these officers and young lady into my coach cabin and get them some food. I want a report on the state of their ship and any repairs it needs and what happened to their guns” he ordered.
Once they were in the coach cabin Marty said to the Fitzwilliam. “He doesn’t miss much does he”.
“He doesn’t miss anything” Fitzwilliam replied. “Now about your ship, French built Corvette isn’t she?”
“Yes we, aah, borrowed her from the French” replied Marty.
“Cut her out?” Fitzwilliam asked
“In a manner of speaking” Marty laughed “she is very useful as with French flag the average French Captain just accepts her for what she appears to be”.
“The guns?” Fitzwilliam prompted
“Had to dump them overboard” Marty replied “We were being chased by a pair of French Frigates and needed to run for it. They were French nine pounders and a few Carronades”
“Damage?” he asked again.
“Sprung plank below the waterline on the larboard side from a French ball, a bottom that needs cleaning and rigging that could do with tensioning. The storm that saved us from the frigates gave us a beating for two days.”
“Frigates?” Fitzwilliam said and then held up his hand to stop Marty from answering that “I’m sure the details are in the report and the Admiral will tell me if needed. Now eat and I will arrange for your ship to be hauled out and repaired on the careenage. I will also see if we can round up a few nine pounders to replace the ones you lost. I believe we had another ex-French Sloop here that had her mainmast ripped out in a storm. Her guns are ashore as her hull was condemned.”
They ate the food the steward brought them and fine fare it was! Fresh roast beef and chicken with fresh vegetables and bread. They drank diluted lime juice rather than wine and were drinking a cup of tea when they were asked to attend the Admirals again.
This time there were three chairs set in front of the desk and St Vincent indicated they were to sit.
“Your report is extraordinary” he opened “if it is all true,” he held his hand up at the looks of concern on their faces “and I believe it is, you young people have performed a valuable service. Nelson and I have discussed what should be done and we agree that we must send an expedition of our own to Toulon to try and intercept this armada. We in fact received orders from the Admiralty three days ago to prepare for this as Lord Spencer is concerned by information they have already received.”
“Yes” said Nelson “I will lead a force of three Liners and three frigates plus a Sloop.” He gave them a significant look. “Yes you will be coming with us. We will leave at the end of the month so make sure your ship is ready.”
St Vincent added “I will write to Hood and inform him of the successful completion of your mission and that we are borrowing you for a while. Miss Linette if you want to go back to England you can take passage on the packet”
“Thank you Admiral” she replied “I will.”
“You two gentlemen and your very French ship are required to attend Admiral Nelson for ‘special duties’” He smiled
Lieutenant Fitzwilliam was as good as his word. They were warped over to the careenage and a team of carpenters from ships around the fleet descended on the Alouette. In a little over seven days the offending planking had been replaced and her bottom cleaned. She was re-floated and her rigging replaced where it was damaged beyond repair and re-tensioned. She was then warped to the dock and had new cannon lifted onboard. They had to offload all their French shot as it wasn’t the same calibre as the British and bring aboard the correct British ammunition. Their powder had been off loaded with all their stores while they were careened and that all had to be reloaded and stored, but with the help of what had to be a double crew of men from other ships it was done in record time.
Nelson sailed his flagship, the Vanguard, a 74 gun third rate to Gibraltar, collected his squadron, The Orion, Alexander, Emerald, Terpsichore and Bonne Citoyenne, and sailed into the Mediterranean on the 9th May. The Alouette followed along like a puppy. It all went wrong in the 11th when they ran straight into the teeth of a massive storm in the Gulf of Lion. The Vanguard was seriously damaged and had to be towed by the Alexander to Sardinia where she carried out repairs.
Once completed they set off for Toulon arriving on the 31st May. Nelson order the Alouette to take a look into the harbour. It was completely empty.
Armand ordered the helmsman to steer for the nearest guard boat and then heave to within hailing distance.
“Where has everyone gone?” he asked
The boat steered over until it was alongside and hooked on to the chains.
“I was ordered to sail here and join a fleet!” he added with a very gallic wave of the arms that took in the entire anchorage.
“You are too late Captain” replied the sergeant of marine in the boat.
“Too late?” cried Armand “Too late? Mon dieu. My orders are to deliver dispatches to Admiral Brueys d’Aigalliers. We were delayed because we had to make repairs after a big storm in the Gulf of Lion.”
“Well they left ten or eleven days ago and the word was that they headed south towards Sicily” the Sergeant told him.
“Thank you, my friend,” Armand told him and tossed him a bottle of brandy. He then bellowed orders to get them underway again.
Four hours later he was in the Admirals cabin on the Vanguard in front of Nelson and his Flag Captain.
“So, we believe from what the guard boat told us that the fleet left around the nineteenth and headed south towards Sicily” he concluded his report.
“And you posed as a French ship so they had no reason to lie?” asked Nelson.
“Yes we gave them no reason to believe we were anything else. We have a full set of uniforms for such an occasion, so I believe the information is accurate” replied Armand.
“Well we can’t leave here until the rest of my fleet arrives” Nelson stated obviously frustrated “and all the time we wait the further ahead they get.”
And wait they did until on the seventh of June, Thomas Troubridge arrived with ten ships of the line and a fourth rate. Nelson ordered the Alouette to stay with them as a messenger. They sailed to Elba and then on to Naples where it was reported by the Ambassador that the French had been seen passing in the direction of Malta.
Onboard the Alouette the Deal boys were beginning to complain at the amount of time they had been away from home without any potential profit. Armand and Marty were treading a fine line, whilst they were Navy officers the majority of their crew were privateers. And that was something they hadn’t dared share with Nelson.
Marty bought them some time by pointing out that if there was a major engagement with the French fleet they would stand to take a share in the prizes if they were in sight of the action. He also promised them that once they were released by Nelson they would take as many prizes as they could on their way home.
The Alouette was acting as an advanced picket, ranging ahead of the fleet when they came upon a Brig sailing from Ragusa on the 22nd June, they told them that the French had sailed from Malta eastwards on the 16th June. Nelson and his Captains deduced that Napoleon was en-route to Alexandria and they changed course to make their way directly there.
They arrived on the 28th June and there was no sign of the French. So after talking with a highly sceptical city commander, Nelson ordered the fleet to sail North to Syracuse whe
re he would re-provision. While they were in port he wrote many letters and dispatches and, much to Armand and Marty’s disappointment, ordered the Alouette to return to England with them.
Chapter 18 Make the most..
So they set sail with no prizes and no big fleet action to line their pockets. Marty and Armand had a problem.
Then Marty had an inspiration.
“The French have taken Malta right?” he asked Armand.
“Mai oui. It is now under their control” Armand replied.
“And the garrison there will need to be supplied and the easiest way for that to be done is to send supplies from Toulon or Marseille?” Marty continued.
“Oui.”
“Then we can probably count on a couple of fat merchantmen running back and forth then.”
“Certainment” grinned Armand.
“Time for some piracy?”
“Absolument!” laughed Armand.
The got out the charts and figured that the French merchantmen would have to pass between the Island of Pantellaria and Sicily to get to Malta. So if they took a course that steered them up the most likely route from Malta through the gap and on to a point south of Sardinia, they would have the best chance of finding a target.
The weather was fine with a steady north westerly breeze and that meant they had to tack back and forth to make headway, which luckily, meant they covered more potential routes of any ships sailing in the opposite direction.
After two days they spotted a sail and changed course to intercept. It was definitely a French Merchantman. She was heading southeast and heavily laden as she was low in the water. It didn’t take them long to catch her up and they approached with a French flag streaming from their stern. As soon as they got within two cables, they showed their true colours and ran out the guns. To their astonishment their prey ran out hers as well and fired off a broadside of four six pounders.
The Special Operations Flotilla Page 16
