Killigrew and the Sea Devil

by Jonathan Lunn

  ‘So it looks as though Bauer’s given his designs to the Russians?’ asked Wood.

  ‘Indeed,’ said Palmerston, glowering at Killigrew. ‘Of course, by the time Russell and Bauer fell out, we were already at war with Russia. Customs and Excise were ordered to confiscate the drawings and the model of the Sea Devil if Bauer tried to leave the country. Couldn’t have him sellin’ his invention to the Russkis, what?’

  ‘Then how the devil did they get hold of the drawings?’ demanded Wood. ‘I think we should have this fellow Bauer in for questioning.’

  ‘Couldn’t agree more,’ said Palmerston. ‘As soon as I found out that the Russians already had the plans, I sent a couple of Treasury agents to his lodgings in Greenwich to bring him in. Unfortunately, it seems someone had already tipped him the wink: the blighter’s disappeared.’

  ‘Skipped the country?’

  ‘We don’t know; but it seems reasonable to assume the worst. He couldn’t have left the country without help, that much I do know.’

  Killigrew snapped his fingers. ‘Niklaus Hergerscheimer!’

  ‘Gesundheit!’ said Palmerston.

  ‘Who’s Niklaus Hergerscheimer?’ demanded Napier.

  ‘He’s no one, sir,’ Killigrew explained. ‘He doesn’t exist. Earlier this year, while I was making my own inquiries into the death of the Honourable Miss Maltravers at the hands of Russian spies, I ran into a forger who’d been asked to make a Prussian passport in the name of Niklaus Hergerscheimer by Colonel Nekrasoff, an officer of the Third Section. The police stopped the transaction by arresting the forger before I could get my hands on Nekrasoff. The passport must have been meant for Bauer.’

  ‘I’m not sure I’m following this,’ said Wood. ‘What is this Third Section?’

  ‘The Third Section of His Imperial Highness’ Chancery, tae gi’e it its full title,’ explained Napier. ‘The Tsarist secret police. The Russians call it the “White Terror”. It’s a vast organisation: nearly every town and village in the Russian Empire has at least one Third Section informer. Their agents are empowered tae look into anythin’ considered tae be a threat tae the safety of the Russian state, from treason, subversion and espionage tae moral perversion and petty crime.’

  ‘Do you mean to tell me there are Russian spies operating in England?’

  ‘Without a doubt,’ said Palmerston, who had been Home Secretary prior to his elevation to Number Ten. ‘They maintain a ring of spies and informers in London – and indeed all the major capitals of Europe – to keep an eye on political dissidents like Herzen and Marx. We keep tabs on the spies we know about, but otherwise leave ’em alone as long as they don’t break the law. If we deported ’em, the Russians might very well send over other spies we don’t know about—’

  Now Killigrew understood how Nekrasoff had been able to get to his rooms in Paddington so quickly. Clearly, he had already been in London to arrange Bauer’s defection; a chance to get his revenge on Killigrew had been a bonus.

  ‘And if they do break the law, my lord?’ he cut in bitterly. ‘I suppose you let British naval officers take the blame?’

  Palmerston coloured. ‘Yes, yes, a mistake was made. Lack of communication between government departments, what? But entirely understandable, given the political situation at the time. You have my unreserved apologies for any inconvenience you may have suffered, Mr Killigrew.’

  ‘Inconvenience!’

  ‘This is all very well,’ Napier said impatiently. ‘Except that Mr Killigrew brought his copy o’ the drawings fra’ Finland last January… months before Bauer disappeared. And the Russians must have got hold o’ their copy weeks – if no’ months – before that.’

  Brunel indicated the image projected on to the bed sheet. ‘To me this looks like the design Bauer first showed to Prince Albert when he started to seek a patron in London. It gives a notion of the feasibility of the vessel, without giving away any of its secrets. A sort of “taster”, if you will, to whet the appetite of a potential patron.’

  ‘So the question is, did the Russians receive a complete set of plans, or just this taster?’ asked Wood.

  ‘Just the taster, would be my guess,’ said Killigrew. ‘If they had the complete plans, why bother to take Bauer at all?’

  ‘I think we must assume the worst, gentlemen,’ said Palmerston. ‘Herr Bauer is now working for the Russians, and if they haven’t finished construction of this contraption, they must be well on the way by now.’

  ‘Supposing the Russians have built one of these contraptions,’ said Wood. ‘Just how big a threat to our fleets does it represent?’

  ‘That would depend on how far it could travel concealed under water,’ Napier replied. ‘Mr Brunel?’

  ‘The only thing that would limit it would be the amount of air contained within the vessel.’ Brunel checked his notes. ‘In a sealed chamber containing ten cubic feet of air, a man could breathe for approximately one hour before he’d start to feel any ill effects due to lack of oxygen: laboured breathing, dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and, ultimately, death by asphyxiation.’

  ‘Not unlike the effects of sitting through one of Mr Gladstone’s speeches,’ sniffed Palmerston.

  Brunel ignored the interruption. ‘A submersible vessel of the dimensions we have here could not contain more than a thousand cubic feet of air, and that’s being damned generous: the internal workings of the thing, and the ballast, would take up some of the space, not to mention the bodies of the crewmen themselves. If we’re talking about a crew of about ten men, we’re looking at approximately ten hours maximum, probably less. Of course, a man’s rate of respiration increases when he’s under stress or engaging in strenuous physical activity.’

  ‘I think we can safely say that men sealed in a submersible boat under water will have an increased rate of respiration,’ Killigrew said with a faint smile.

  ‘How many knots can she do?’ wondered Napier.

  ‘She’s powered by a couple of treadmills inside the hull, so her speed would depend on the energy and endurance of the crew,’ said Brunel. ‘I’d be surprised if it could manage more than a couple of knots.’

  ‘So – assuming the crew wishes tae return tae base after completing their mission – she’s got a range of fifteen miles at the most?’ asked Napier.

  ‘Probably much less,’ agreed Brunel. ‘And she’d have to surface every few minutes for the captain to get his bearings: he wouldn’t be able to see more than a few feet through those portholes while submerged. Even if he could, it’s unlikely that what he saw would make much sense compared to the view on the surface. Navigation when submerged would be largely by guesswork, because even a compass corrected in the latest mode according to the Astronomer Royal and Commander Evans would be most unreliable. In inshore waters she would be unlikely to be able to remain submerged for more than fifteen minutes at a time, without having to surface to check her position.’

  Wood nodded. ‘So there’s no danger of this contraption submerging in one port, sailing – for want of a better word – fifteen miles under water to another port along the coast, sinking a ship there, and then returning to its home base, without surfacing once.’

  ‘Nae,’ agreed Napier. ‘But if a fleet were blockading a port – like Sevastopol, for instance – there’d be nae stopping this vessel from emerging fra’ the harbour, sailing up tae the flagship, attaching an explosive charge tae the hull, and then retiring. The first thing anyone on board would know of it would be when a hole was blown in the hull!’

  ‘I’m afraid you have the nub of it, Sir Charles,’ said Brunel. ‘We needn’t fear an army of Russians landing from a fleet of submersible boats floating undetected up the Thames; but it could present a very real threat to any one of our ships that came within striking distance of a port where this vessel was operational.’

  ‘Thank you, Mr Brunel,’ said Palmerston. ‘You’ve been of inestimable service. Unless any of you gentlemen have any further questions for him?’


  The others shook their heads.

  The engineer was about to withdraw when Palmerston called after him. ‘Mr Brunel? I’d be grateful if you said nothing of this to anyone outside this room. Including your associate Mr Russell. We don’t want a national panic on our hands, do we, what?’

  Brunel shook his head and went out.

  ‘But this is catastrophic!’ Wood exclaimed as soon as the engineer had closed the door behind him. ‘Are you telling me we daren’t send one of our ships within striking distance of a Russian port?’

  ‘Jack Tar will be prepared tae take that risk,’ asserted Napier.

  ‘And well he may! He doesn’t have to foot the bill for the ships that are lost. Do you have any notion how much a steam-driven ship of the line costs these days?’

  ‘The cost ain’t the point,’ Palmerston said quietly. ‘All it takes is for one ship – the flagship, perhaps – to be sunk, and the damage to morale within the navy will be incalculable. The Russians know that; they may even be countin’ on it.’

  ‘Do you really think they’d resort to such a sneaky, underhand method of attack?’ asked Wood. ‘Damme, it’s unconscionable!’

  ‘Why not?’ asked Killigrew. ‘We’ve tried to.’

  Wood gave him a dirty look, but Palmerston smiled serenely. ‘The Russians know they cannot beat us by conventional means. But neither can they afford to lose this war. We must assume the worst, gentlemen. But we need to know more. We don’t even know if the damn’ thing works, what? We need to know whether or not the Russians are building one, whether or not it’s operational, where it’s located, and – perhaps most important of all – if it has an Achilles heel we can exploit.’

  ‘Difficult to see how we can learn more,’ said Wood. ‘The Russians are a damnably secretive bunch; even about everyday, unimportant things. If they are building one of these underwater boats, you may rest assured they’ll keep it tightly under wraps.’

  ‘Mm. I don’t suppose you have any more spies in St Petersburg, Sir Charles?’ Palmerston asked Napier.

  ‘There is one man I know that might be prepared to help us. Whether or not he can be trusted is another matter entirely.’

  ‘What we need is someone who can penetrate the Russian Admiralty,’ said Palmerston. ‘Or at least the shipyard where this contraption’s bein’ built. Someone we can rely on.’

  Killigrew had a nasty, cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. He could see where this was leading.

  ‘Too late in the day tae send in another defector like Jurgaitis,’ said Napier. ‘Whoever we sent, he’d be working under cover, wi’ false papers.’

  ‘He’d need nerves of steel,’ said Wood. ‘We’d need someone tough and resourceful; preferably with previous experience at this kind of work. Someone not afraid to be utterly ruthless when the need arose.’

  ‘And someone who speaks Russian,’ put in Napier, looking at Killigrew.

  And suddenly, everyone was staring at the commander.

  ‘Oh, no!’ he said. ‘You can’t possibly think I’m going to go. I absolutely refuse. Find someone else.’

  ‘There is no one else,’ grated Palmerston.

  ‘That’s your problem. I’ve already been to Russia twice since this war began – well, Finland, at any rate – and on both occasions I was fortunate to get out alive.’

  ‘Third time pays for all,’ said Napier.

  ‘Or pushes one’s luck,’ said Killigrew. ‘This isn’t Finland you’re asking me to go to this time: it’s St Petersburg. The heart of the Russian Empire. And the Third Section already has a file on me. I’d have to be insane to go back again.’

  ‘Not even for your country?’ wheedled Wood.

  ‘The devil take my country! If I wanted to commit suicide, there are easier, less painful ways of doing it, albeit none so sure.’

  ‘Confound it, man! Where’s your patriotism?’

  ‘“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”, Sir Charles,’ quoted Killigrew. ‘A scoundrel I may be, but I’ve not yet been driven to the last resort.’

  ‘Dinna tell me you’re afraid o’ the Russians!’ scoffed Napier.

  ‘Afraid of the Russians? Of course I’m afraid of the Russians! You know they still have hanging, drawing and quartering over there? Let me be sure I understand you correctly: you want me to go to Russia alone and unsupported, find Bauer, kill him, destroy the Sea Devil and all copies of the plans, and then somehow get out of the country and safely back to Britain? Although I suppose the last part of that is entirely optional from your point of view.’

  ‘I only wish I was young enough tae go maself,’ said Napier.

  The old lunatic means it, too, thought Killigrew. ‘Any suggestions as to how I should proceed?’ he asked.

  ‘Under the circumstances, it only seems reasonable to allow you a fair degree of latitude in that respect,’ Wood said smoothly.

  ‘Ah. I’ll take that as a “no”, then. Still, Russia’s only got an area of several million square miles. Any suggestions as to where I should start looking?’

  ‘Try the coasts,’ Palmerston said curtly.

  Killigrew grimaced. He could see he was not getting out of this. He tried to look on the bright side. ‘I suppose I do have a score to settle with the Third Section,’ he admitted.

  ‘If you should come across Nekrasoff, I don’t want you running off on some kind of vendetta,’ said Wood. ‘Avenging Miss Maltravers will not bring her back.’

  ‘You didn’t get her killed,’ Killigrew said bitterly.

  ‘Neither did you. Don’t make it a personal vendetta, Commander. It’s an assignment like any other…’

  ‘Hardly,’ said Napier.

  Wood ignored the interruption. ‘…And if you can’t treat it as such, coolly and objectively—’

  ‘Fiddlesticks!’ cut in Palmerston. ‘From what I hear of this feller Nekrasoff, he’s forfeited his right to live. Now see here, Killigrew: Sir Charles is right… up to a point. Your job is to find out if the Russians have built the Sea Devil and – if so – to find out whether or not it works, and if it has a weakness we can use to defend our ships against it. But if you should run into Nekrasoff, then by all means execute him. In fact, I’ve a mind to make that a direct order. The world will not mourn his passing.’

  ‘That is not government policy,’ Wood said tightly.

  ‘Fiddle-de-dee!’ Napier snapped back. ‘It teks a damned plucky feller tae undertake a mission like this. Ah’ve trusted in Killigrew’s judgement in the past and ne’er had cause tae question his methods. If ye want him tae dee this, I suggest ye let him get on wi’ it and handle things as he sees fit.’

  ‘As you will,’ Wood said truculently. ‘But I don’t want to know anything about it. And if he gets himself captured, we’ll disown him. You needn’t expect to be exchanged for any Russian prisoners of war, Killigrew. If you’re discovered Her Majesty’s government will deny all knowledge of your activities, and the best you’ll be able to hope for is a swift death in front of a firing squad.’

  ‘That’s usually the way these things are done,’ Killigrew agreed drily. ‘If I’m going to go into Russia, I’ll need to go in disguise.’

  ‘False moustache and spectacles, you mean?’ said Palmerston. ‘That’s a bit melodramatic, ain’t it?’

  Killigrew took a deep breath. ‘I mean, I’ll need to travel under an alias. That means I’ll need papers: false passport, letters of introduction, official passes, et cetera.’

  ‘Surely you don’t expect us to supply you with that sort of thing?’ Palmerston exclaimed indignantly. ‘What, do you think the government has its own bureau of forgers somewhere?’

  ‘I know of at least one forger who’s currently a guest at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Why not offer him a pardon in return for… ah, shall we say, services rendered?’

  * * *

  ‘The vessel is fifty-two feet long, with a beam of twelve and a half feet and a height of eleven feet. She’s driven by a single propeller powered by fou
r treadmills, two at either end of the interior, each with a diameter of seven feet. These are connected to the screw by a shaft through a gear train aft.’ As Brunel spoke, he indicated the various features on the diagram of the Sea Devil on the image projected by the magic lantern.

  It was nearly three weeks since Killigrew had attended the meeting with Palmerston and Sir Charles Wood. Since then he had been discharged from HMS Excellent’s books. While Emmanuel Leventhal had been working to produce a false passport for him, Killigrew had spent the three weeks brushing up his Russian and listening to interminable lectures from Brunel on how the Sea Devil worked.

  ‘The trim is controlled by a weight fixed to a long screw: as the screw is burned, the weight is moved up and down the length of the vessel, shifting the centre of balance forward or aft. Depth is controlled by three cylindrical ballast tanks, ten feet long and four and a half feet in diameter, with a total ballast capacity of about twenty-eight tons. These levers here work pumps to flood the ballast tanks. This smaller cylinder here is a fourth ballast tank, for fine adjustment: by carefully controlling the amount of water taken into it, the vessel can be made to sink to varying depths. To surface once again, it is only necessary to pump the water from the tanks until positive buoyancy is attained once more… are you paying attention, Commander?’

  ‘Hmph?’ Killigrew looked up from the newspaper he had been reading.

  ‘I said, are you paying attention?’ Brunel demanded testily.

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘Then perhaps you can tell me how you make the vessel surface?’

  Killigrew blinked. ‘Pump water from the ballast tanks until positive buoyancy is attained.’

  Brunel scowled, and continued with the lecture. ‘For’ard we see the observation cupola, fitted with glass ports and waterproof gauntlets to allow one of the crew to attach an explosive charge to the hull of an enemy ship using a rubber suction cup. If circumstances should not permit the charge to be fitted from within the vessel, it’s also possible for a crewman to leave the vessel in a diving suit to act independently.’