by Gai-Jin(Lit)
"Filthy stuff, wherever it comes from. We can't use sail today, not with this wind against us. Engine assists are perfect for this sort of exercise and close inshore maneuvers, or docking. With the best man-of-war afloat, under sails, even a tea clipper--we'd take five times as long to get to Yedo and not have enough sea room for safety.
More's the pity."
Sir William was out of humor after another sleepless night and reacted instantly to the
Admiral's discourtesy and stupidity telling him something that was obvious. "Really?" he said thinly.
"Never mind, soon we'll have a completely stinkpot navy, no sail at all and that will be that."
Tyrer hid a smile as the Admiral flushed for this was a sore point with naval officers and widely discussed in the London newspapers who blithely dubbed future fleets as "Stink pots of various sizes, commanded by stink potters of various sizes, who will be dressed accordingly."
"That won't happen in the foreseeable future and never for long-haul cruising, blockades or battle fleets." The Admiral almost spat the words out. "There's no way we can carry all the coal we need between ports and still have fighting ships. We must have sails to conserve fuel.
Civilians have little understanding of naval matters
..." This reminded him of the present Liberal government's attack on the current Navy estimates and his blood pressure went up another notch. "Meanwhile to secure our sea lanes and keep the Empire inviolate, as a corner stone of government policy the Royal
Navy must maintain the equation of twice as many ships--wooden or ironclads, steam and sail-- as the next two other navies combined, with the biggest and best engines and most modern cannon, shells, and explosives in the world."
"An admirable idea, but now out of date, not practical, and I'm afraid too rich for the
Chancellor of the Exchequer and government to stomach."
"It better not be, by God." The roll of neck flesh went pink. "Mr. Pennypinching
Gladstone better learn right smartly where his priorities lie. I've said it before: the sooner the Liberals are out and the Tories back in power the better! Not because of them, thank God the
Royal Navy still has enough ships and firepower to sink any French, Russian or American fleets in their home waters if need be. But say those three combine against us in the coming conflict?"
Irritably the Admiral turned and bellowed though Marlowe was close by, "Mr. Marlowe!
Signal the Pearl! She's out of station, by God!"
"Aye aye sir!" Marlowe left at once.
Sir William glanced astern, seeing nothing amiss with the following ships, then again concentrated on the Admiral. "Foreign Secretary
Russell's too clever to be drawn into it.
Prussia will war on France, Russia will stay out, the Americans are too involved with their civil war, Spanish Cuba and Philippines, and sniffing around the Hawaiian islands. By the way, I've proposed we annex one or two of those islands before the Americans do, they'd make perfect coaling stations..."
Marlowe was sourly heading for the signalman, his eyes on H.m.s. Pearl, his ship, a
Jason-class three-masted, single-funneled,
21-gun, screw frigate of 2,100 tons burthen, temporarily in the command of his Number
One, Lieutenant Lloyd, wishing he was aboard her and no longer the Admiral's lackey. He gave the signalman the message, watched him use the signal flags and read the reply before the young man reported, "He says sorry, sorr."
"How long have you been a signalman?"
"Three months sir."
"You'd best look up your codes, right smartly. The message said: "Captain
Lloyd of H.m.s. Pearl apologizes." Make another mistake and your balls are in the wringer."
"Yessir, sorry sir," the crestfallen youth said.
Marlowe went back to the Admiral. To his relief the potential row between the two men seemed to have simmered down and now they were discussing alternative plans of action at Yedo and the long term implications of the Tokaid@o attack.
While he waited for a lull in the conversation, he cautiously cocked an eyebrow at Tyrer--who smiled back--wanting to be dismissed so he could ask him about Kanagawa and Angelique. He had had to leave the same day Sir William had arrived, three days ago, and had no first-hand information on what had occurred since then.
"Yes, Mr. Marlowe?" The Admiral listened to the message and at once rasped:
"Send another signal: report aboard my flagship at sunset." He saw Marlowe wince. "And well you might, Mr. Marlowe.
Such an apology is insufficient excuse for slackness in my fleet. Is it?"
"No sir."
"Consider who should take over your ship in his place--not you!" Admiral Ketterer turned back to Sir William. "You were saying? You don't th--" A gust crackled the rigging.
Both officers looked aloft, then at the sky and all around, tasting the wind. No sign of danger yet, though both knew that the weather this month was unpredictable and in these waters storms came suddenly. "You were saying? You don't think the authorities, this Bakufu, will do what we require?"
"No, not without some form of force. At midnight
I got another apology from them and a request for a month's delay so they could "consult higher ups" and more such nonsense--my God, they can prevaricate. I sent the bloody messenger back with a flea in his ear and a curt, rather rude message to give us satisfaction or else."
"Quite right."
"When we anchor off Yedo, can we fire as many salutes as possible, create an entrance?"
"We'll make it 21 guns, a royal salute. I suppose this mission could be construed as a formal visit to their Royalty." Without turning, the Admiral rasped: "Mr. Marlowe, give the order, for the whole fleet and ask the
French Admiral if he would do likewise."
"Yessir." Again Marlowe saluted and rushed off.
"The plan for Yedo is still as we agreed?"
Sir William nodded. "Yes. I and my party will go ashore to the Legation--a hundred soldiers as an honor guard should be enough, the
Highlanders, their uniforms and bagpipes will be the most impressive. The rest of the plan remains the same."
"Good." Uneasily the Admiral stared ahead. "We'll be able to see Yedo when we get around that headland." His face hardened. "It's one thing to rattle a few sabres and fire off a few blank cannonades but I don't agree to bombard and burn that city--without a legal state of war."
Sir William said carefully, "Let's hope I don't have to ask Lord Palmerston to declare one, or for me to legalize one forced on us. A full report's on the way to him.
Meanwhile his reply is four months away so we have to do the best we can, as usual. These murders must stop, the Bakufu must be brought to heel, one way or another. Now is the perfect time."
"Admiralty instructions are to be prudent."
"By the same post I sent an urgent message to the Governor of Hong Kong also advising him what I planned to do and asking what reinforcements in ships and men could be available if necessary, and about Mr. Struan's condition."
"Oh? When was that, Sir William?"
"Yesterday. Struan's had a clipper available, Mr. McFay agreed the matter merited the most immediate haste."
Ketterer said caustically, "This whole incident seems to be a Struan cause c@el@ebre, the fellow who was killed hardly gets a mention, it's nothing but Struan, Struan,
Struan."
"The Governor's a personal friend of the family, and the family is, er, very well connected, very important to Her Majesty's trading interests in Asia and China. V."
"They've always sounded like a bunch of pirates to me, gunrunning, opium running, anything for a profit."
"Both are legal enterprises, my dear
Admiral. Struan's are highly respectable,
Admiral, with very important connections in
Parliament."
The Admiral was unimpressed. "A lot of ne'er-do-wells there too, by God, if you don't mind my saying. Bloody id
iots most of the time, trying to cut Navy funds and our fleets-- stupid when England depends on sea power."
"I agree we need the best Navy with the most competent officers to carry out Imperial policy," Sir William said. Marlowe, near the Admiral, heard the thinly veiled barb. A quick glance at the back of his superior's neck confirmed the barb had registered. He braced for the inevitable.
"Imperial policy? Seems to me," the
Admiral said sharply, "the Navy spends most of its time pulling civilian and trader fingers out of their smelly holes when their greed or double-dealing takes them into messes they should never have been in in the first place. As for those bastards there," his stubby finger pointed at Yokohama on the port side, "they're the worst bunch of scallywags I've ever seen."
"Some are, most not, Admiral." Sir
William's chin came out. "Without traders and trade there'd be no money, no Empire and no
Navy."
The red neck became purple. "Without the
Navy there would be no trade and England would not have become the greatest nation in the world, the richest, with the greatest Empire the world has ever seen, by God."
Balls, Sir William wanted to shout, but he knew that if he did, here on the quarterdeck of the flagship, the Admiral would have apoplexy,
Marlowe and every sailor within hearing distance would faint. The thought amused him and removed most of the venom that sleepless nights worrying over the
Tokaid@o affair had caused, and permitted him to be diplomatic. "The Navy is the senior service, Admiral. And many share your opinion. I trust we'll be on time?"
"Yes, yes we will." The Admiral eased his shoulders, somewhat mollified, his head aching from the bottle of port he had consumed after dinner, on top of the claret. The ship was making about seven knots, into wind, which pleased him. He checked the lie of the fleet. Now H.m.s. Pearl was very carefully astern, with two 10-gun paddle sloops to port. The French flagship, a three-masted, 20-gun ironclad paddle frigate was carelessly to starboard. "Her helmsman should be put in irons! She could do with a new coat of paint, new rigging, fumigating to get rid of the garlic, and a bloody good holy-stoning and their crew keelhauled. Don't you agree, Mr. Marlowe?"
"Yes sir."
When he was satisfied all was correct, the
Admiral then turned back to Sir William.
"This, this Struan family and their so-called Noble
House, is it really so important?"
"Yes. Their trade is enormous, their influence in Asia, notably in China without compare, except for Brock and Sons."
"I've seen their clippers of course.
Beauties, and very well armed." The Admiral added bluntly, "I hope to Christ they don't try to peddle opium, or guns here."
"Personally I agree though it's not against present law."
"It is, according to Chinese law. Or
Japan's."
"Yes, but there are mitigating circumstances,"
Sir William said wearily. He had been through the same explanation dozens of times. "I'm sure you know Chinese will only accept cash, silver or gold, for the tea we must import, nothing else. The only merchandise they'll pay cash for--gold or silver--is opium, nothing else. It's very unfortunate."
"Then it's up to traders and Parliament and diplomats to pull their fingers out. For the last twenty years the Royal Navy has been enforcing illegal laws in Asia, bombarding China ports and cities, doing all sorts of rotten acts of war, in my opinion just to support opium--a blot on our escutcheon!"
Sir William sighed. His orders from the Permanent Under Secretary had been precise: "For Christ's sake, dear
Willie, this is the first time you'll be Minister in charge so be careful, don't make any precipitous decisions, unless they're necessary.
You're astonishingly lucky, the telegraph wire has already reached Bagdad so we can get and send messages there in an incredible seven days, add another six-odd weeks by steamer to Yokohama through the Persian Gulf, Indian
Ocean via Singapore and Hong Kong, our instructions will only take an incredible two months to arrive--not the twelve to fifteen months ten-odd years ago. So if you need guidance, which you will all the time if you're wise, you're about four months off our leash, and that's the only thing that protects your neck and our Empire.
Clear?"'
"Yes sir."
"Rule number one: Handle the service
Brass with velvet gloves and don't overrule them lightly because your life and those of all
Englishmen in your area depend on them. They're inclined to be boneheaded, which is excellent for obviously we need lots of these sort of fellows to go off and get killed defending our, well, Imperial policy. Do not make waves, Japan is unimportant but in our sphere of influence and we've spent considerable time and money finessing the Russians, Americans and
French out. Do not foul up our Japanese nest, we've enough on our Imperial plate with rebellious Indians, Afghans, Arabs,
Africans, Persians, Caribbeans, Chinese to say nothing of the rotten Europeans,
Americans, Russians etc. My dear dear
Willie, be diplomatic and don't fuck up or else!"
Sir William sighed again, bottled his temper, and repeated what he had said a dozen times, the truth: "A lot of what you say is correct, but unfortunately we have to be practical, without tax revenue on tea the whole British economy will collapse.
Let's hope in a few years our Bengal opium fields can be torched. Meanwhile we have to be patient."
"Meanwhile I suggest you embargo all opium here, all modern weapons, all modern warships, and all slavery."
"Of course I agree about slavery, that's been outlawed since '33!" Sir William's voice edged perceptibly. "The Americans have been informed long since. As to the rest, unfortunately that's up to London."
The Admiral's chin jutted even further.
"Well, sir, I have certain powers in these waters. You can take it I am instituting such an embargo now. I've heard disquieting rumors about Struan's ordering rifles and cannon for sale, they've already sold these natives three or four armed steamers and the Jappers learn too fast for my liking. I will write formally by tomorrow's mail to the Admiralty to ask them to insist my orders are made permanent."
The Minister's face mottled, he planted his feet even more firmly into the deck. "An admirable idea," he said icily. "I will write by the same mail. Meanwhile you cannot make such an order without my approval and until we have a directive from the Foreign Office the status quo remains the status quo!"
Both of their aides blanched. The Admiral looked at Sir William, of a height with him.
All officers and most men would have quailed but
Sir William just stared back. "I'll...
I'll consider what you say, Sir William.
Now if you'll excuse me I have things to do."
He turned and stomped off for the bridge. Weakly
Marlowe began to follow. "For Christ's sake,
Marlowe, stop following me like a puppy. If
I want you I'll shout. Stay within shouting distance!"
"Yessir." When the man was well away
Marlowe exhaled.
Sir William had exhaled too and he mopped his brow and muttered, "Awfully glad
I'm not in the Navy."
"Me too," Tyrer said, amazed by the
Minister's courage.
Marlowe's heart was racing, hating to be bellowed at, even by an Admiral, but he did not forget himself. "I, er... excuse me, sir, but the fleet's very safe in his hands, sir, and the expedition, and we all believe he's quite right about selling ships, guns, cannon and opium.
Japanners are already building ships and making small cannon, this year they sailed their first iron steamship, the 300-ton Kanrin maru to San Francisco, crewed and captained entirely by them. They've mastered the deep. That's remarkable in such a short time."
"Yes, yes it is." Sir William wondered briefly how the Japanese Delegation that went with this s
hip had fared in Washington, and what mischief President Lincoln would generate against our glorious Empire. Aren't we dependent on Confederate cotton for our
Lancashire mills that are being ruined? At the same time aren't we increasingly dependent on abundant Union wheat and corn and meat and other trade? He shuddered. God damn that war! And politicians, and Lincoln. Didn't the man's inaugural speech in March include:
