by David O'Neil
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“Send up the studding sails.” He called and they felt the ship respond as every piece of canvas she could carry took her crashing through the Atlantic swell. The broadening wash spreading a great white smear on the steel blue waters tracing her progress.
The deck party hung on to the nearest handhold and the ship raced through the water toward whatever was happening between the ships on the horizon.
The lead ship was hull up now and it was clear she was involved in a running battle with the other two sails visible.
***
Santo António e São José was a sixty-four gun ship of the Portuguese Navy. She had been entrusted with the output of the gold and silver mines from the South American colonies. The two French frigates had attacked without warning, and it was only the quick thinking of the Captain Antonio Ramos which had allowed then to elude the French for so long. Now the battle had been opened, they were doing all they could to keep the dogs at bay.
The appearance of the frigate ahead had made the Admiral Campos seek his cabin where he thought he might pray for guidance. Captain Ramos smiled cynically. Rather he was there than on deck spreading panic among the men.
The guns all around the stern of his ship were firing at regular intervals, with little effect it seemed.
From forward there came a shout, “The frigate approaching is British.”
Antonio Ramos was not an aristocrat. He was captain because he was good at what he did. He commanded the ship because there was no other in Rio capable. The former captain had visited the bordello once too often. He was found in the gutter stripped and robbed of everything, with his throat cut, and patterns drawn with a blade on his chest and stomach. Locals said he must have taken an native girl against her will.”
Now Antonio Ramos commanded the ship. But they could not allow it to sail thus, so they appointed an aristocrat Admiral to sail with him to command the expedition.
He looked at the two Frenchmen still hanging back, nibbling at his stern, he wondered why they had not attempted to out sail him. Their ships were better sailors.
With his mind made up he decided. “Both broadsides load and prepare to run out on my order.”
The men ran to do his bidding.
The querulous voice of the Admiral sounded in his ear, “What is this? I gave no order.”
Ramos turned on the man. From his height five foot ten he looked up at Admiral Campos who loomed over him from his six foot, going-to-fat bulk.
“As captain I command this ship. And I fight it.”
The Admiral looked spiteful. “Then I relieve you of command, Captain.”
One of the French ships fired a random shot and it passed close to the two men on the deck.
The Admiral dropped to the deck. “Surrender!” He screamed. “Captain, surrender now!”
Ramos turned to his first Lieutenant. “Throw the coward into his cabin and lock the door.”
Turning forward once more, he called, “Guns ready? Standby.”
He turned to the sailing master. “Stop her as she lies.”
The master called to the bo’sun. “Back the mainsail and cross the spanker boom.”
The ship slowed swiftly and the two French frigates overtook her rapidly.
“All guns run out.”
On both sided the gun-ports opened and the guns were run out. Both frigates were abreast of the Santo António.
“As you bear. Fire!” Ramos’s voice was drowned in the roar of the broadsides. The ship shuddered with the shock of sixty nineteen pounder guns being fired at the same time. The effect on the two French ships was catastrophic, both ships had fired their own broadsides, but their lighter shot and their intent to intimidate the Portuguese ship and capture her went sadly awry. On both frigates, masts toppled. The Boniface to port lost her mainmast and also her mizzen, and suffered serious damage to her starboards guns. The men crowding the decks were strewn in a bloody mess beneath the raffle of sail and rope that fell with the masts. She stopped and dropped astern. The Caprice to starboard fared almost as badly. Her foremast teetered cut half through by a shot from the Santo Antonio. Like her compatriot her decks were a bloody mess, and she also lost way with several of her port broadside guns dismounted.
Santo António sailed on, having suffered damage from the French frigates without losing her rigging. The guns had survived but there several new gaps in the bulwarks, and she also had many casualties.
Captain Ramos had survived, as had the others in the small group around the wheel.
First Lieutenant Marco Santos had a splinter in his arm, but he ignored it as her came to report to his captain. “Sir, the Admiral stood in the path of a round shot, while on his way to his cabin. His body fell overboard with several others, and a large section of the starboard bulwarks.”
“Get that wound seen to, Mr. Santos.” Antonio Ramos shrugged over the fate of the Admiral but was more concerned with his men. “Also, Mr. Santos. Well done!”
The crew were still clearing the decks when HMS Vixen arrived. Martin ordered the doctor and the bo’sun’s mate, plus a dozen men, to take the jollyboat and assist the damaged Portuguese ship. Then continued to the two French frigates. Both were afloat, the damage had been entirely to their gun-decks masts and rigging.
Martin ordered a gun across the bows of Boniface. The French colours were still flying on the stump of the mizzen mast. Her captain fired one gun then the flag dropped to the deck as she surrendered. The Portuguese ship had come about and took station keeping the Frenchman under her guns, while Vixen set off after the Caprice limping off toward the distant east. As Vixen caught her she swung round to defend herself, showing her un-smashed port side to the British frigate.
“Standby guns, port side broadside. Run out!” Brooks called. With her greater manoeuvrability, Vixen spun and crossed the stern of the French frigate.
Without her foremast the Frenchman was slow and she suffered the onslaught of the entire broadside from the British ship, the guns fired in turn as they crossed the stern of the Caprice. The ornate giltwork still surviving from her past role under the King of France was shattered and the windows smashed as the cannon shot ploughed their way the length of the ship.
The Tricolour was hauled down as the Vixen came about to repeat her attack with the other broadside.
The two ships made their way back to the other prize and the Santo António.
Martin was piped aboard the Portuguese ship as the two prizes were secured and prize crews allocated between the ships.
The losses for the French had been huge.
The two ships had both prepared to board their quarry, convinced that the plans they had agreed with the Admiral guaranteed the surrender of the Santo António. They had not anticipated the arrival of the British ship, but when they saw her they hoped to secured their prize before the Vixen closed the range.
The captain of the Boniface was bitter at the betrayal of the Portuguese Admiral. The silver was the real prize. He was quite open about the plan. The Admiral had requested that on capture of the silver ship they were to dispose of the crew, and destroy the ship. He had stressed the complete destruction of the Santo António and her crew, leaving no embarrassing witnesses. The Caprice was under the command of her First Lieutenant, the Captain having died in the engagement with the Vixen. Out of seven hundred men in the two French ships over two hundred had perished, and over one hundred injured, between the broadsides of the Portuguese and the second fight with the Vixen, Caprice alone had lost one hundred and sixty men, including her Captain.
The four ships made their way to Oporto. In his cabin on their arrival in the port, Martin read his instructions again. ‘You are directed to escort the Santo António and the silver to the central treasury in Lisbon. Under no circumstances should this silver be allowed to fall into the hands of the French.’
The Captain, Antonio Ramos, was on his way over to the Vixen to confer with Martin, so he put the orders away in his des
k and reluctantly donned his dress coat to greet his guest. They were seated in Martin’s cabin when there was scurry of feet on the deck above. Then the alarm sounded from the Forte de São João Baptista da Foz, the fort guarding the harbour entrance.
Mr. Brooks knocked and reported that a French man-of-war had appeared off the harbour. It was making no effort to enter. The Fort at the north side of the harbour entrance had signalled that they had brought their guns to readiness.
Martin said, “What ship?”
“She is Redoutable, 70guns. I believe she was one of the ships that came from the America’s with the two French frigates.”
“Thank you, Mr. Brooks. Perhaps you should join us. Have a watch kept on the Frenchman. I have the feeling he will try to keep us here, waiting for reinforcements.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” Brooks was gone for a few moments then returned and took a place in the cabin with the other officers.
Captain Ramos raised an eyebrow. “This could be awkward!” He declared. “In effect, it shuts the door on us. How do we transport the cargo to Lisbon?”
Martin smiled. “Captain, at present we have a ship of the line outside the harbour. If we transferred the cargo to a frigate under the guns of the fort, she could wait her time and slip out of the harbour and outrun the Frenchman. However, I cannot escape the feeling that there will be a reception waiting in ambush at the mouth of the Tagus, ships that sailed to Lisbon direct. I fear we may need to carry the cargo overland.”
“But that will require wagons and troops to escort them.” Ramos suggested.
“True, but, though we may not find sufficient troops here, we could reinforce them with our own men.” He turned to Lieutenant Andrew Charles who commanded the Marine detachment on Vixen. “Well, Andrew. Can it be done?”
The Marine scratched his chin, thinking. “Yes, of course, sir. But it would take most of our men. I was informed that the French General Junot has already sent an advance party of skirmishers into Spain, in support of the ultimatum to bar British ships from Portuguese ports. I think we risk losing Vixen if the reports can be trusted.”
Martin listened to this news with some concern. Then to Captain Ramos, “Antonio, we must decide now if the silver is to go into the treasury in Lisbon, to be possibly lost to a French invasion force. Or if we should try to get it out of the area to await the time the people of Portugal can make use of it.”
“Captain Forest-Bowers…Martin. I am only a Captain. My superior, the Admiral, was a traitor. This sort of decision should be for a senior member of Government. Sadly, I cannot even trust the Governor here. He was a friend of the Admiral. For all I know there are troops gathering at this time to steal the silver from my ship. This is why I am anchored out here in the open harbour, rather than alongside.”
“Right, in that case we will get the Caprice repaired. We can replace any damaged guns from Boniface.. Can you find extra seamen to add to the prize crew to fight the ship?”
Brooks broke in at this point. “Sir, there are British seamen here in Oporto. There was a shipwreck just to the north, of the sloop HMS Raven Most of the crew made it to the shore. They were waiting passage back to England, perhaps……”
Martin interrupted him. “Right, Mr. Brooks. I want the prisoners transferred to the Boniface and the British seamen shipped on the Caprice and put to work getting her ready for sea. Off you go!”
“Yes, Sir!” Brooks left the cabin in a rush. He could be heard calling for the bo’sun as he clattered up the stair to the main deck.
***
The foremast of the Caprice was being replaced under the supervision of the carpenter, French prisoners straining on the ropes controlling the mast as it was raised and then lowered gradually controlled by large strops wrapped around the lower half of the spar.
The two French ships were anchored side by side to allow the transfer of equipment from one to the other with minimum effort. Three guns had been replaced and ammunition and powder transferred. It was three days after the meeting in the cabin. The Santo António was also busy, her crew repairing damage from her encounter with the frigates; the numbers increased by recruits from ashore. This had caused trouble with the Provincial Governor.
He was demanding that the silver cargo be placed in the hands of the authorities in Oporto. So far Ramos had fended him off. But the Governor of the fort, who was an ally, was worried that he might be replaced by a collaborator friend of the dead Admiral Campos. Also he was not too sure of the loyalty of his troops, who were all from the local area.
The morning of the seventh day in port there was still only the Redoutable offshore and as she beat upwind against the northerly wind, at a range of two miles, Vixen, Caprice and Santo António passed the fort at the harbour entrance. The French ship went about to cover the way south towards Lisbon.
The three ships turned north-west to take as much northing as they could.
The Frenchman went about once more to correct his error of judgement. His manoeuvering had lost him ground and against the frigates he would have had no chance of catching them. The Santo António however was an old ship. Not really built for speed, she was a compromise between a carrier and a warrior. Unfortunately, she was not that good at either function, and she struggled to keep up with the frigates.
As evening fell the Frenchman was getting close and Martin realised that it was time to do something about it.
He had placed Brooks in command of the prize. He signalled Caprice to close on the Vixen and, as the ships ran parallel, he called across to Brooks. “Go to port. Cross the bow of Redoutable and give her your broadside. Try to smash her bowsprit. I will cross the other way and try also. Load with chain. If you miss the bow, aim at her rigging and masts.”
Brooks acknowledged and the Caprice put her helm up and ran down on the French ship.
The noise of the guns shattered the evening peace stopping for an instant the cry of the gulls.
The bow of the French ship splattered splinters across the fore deck area of the ship some of the rigging was destroyed though the bowsprit stood.
As Vixen started her run Martin heard the guns of Caprice as she fired on the big Frenchman. Guns on the French ship fired in response, but Martin was too preoccupied to give too much thought to the matter as he had his own battle to attend to. As he crossed the Frenchman’s bows the guns of the port broadside fired as they bore. The bowsprit went in a smother of canvas from the jib-sails, to drop into the water tangling with anchor on the way. The ship slowed and swung, bringing her head round and guns round to bear on Vixen. Luckily, they were slow to react and the first of the reloaded guns of Vixen’s broadside were already in action. The gunner, realising what had happened, had called his gunners to knock out the quoins which elevated the guns to fire into the rigging. The barrels dropped. The chain shot and langrage they had loaded smashed into the open gun-ports of the enemy ship with devastating results, and though several of the enemy guns fired and smashed into the British ship, many passed across the deck without hitting anything. The scrap metal and chain shot, ripped and tore at the hull of the French ship, causing damage injury to ship, but horrific injuries to the crew members it reached.
The frigate drew away from the dangerous zone under the enemy guns and, with guns reloaded, crossed the exposed stern, and despite the action of the chase guns, poured the entire broadside into her. The Caprice added her weight of shot to the task. Martin was not surprised that the effect of the thirty six 12 pounders and the two 24 pound carronades was to cause the ship to lose steering, when the rudder post was destroyed in the bombardment.
***
Martin’s decision to abandon the action was a pragmatic one. Regardless of the steering problems the Redoutable suffered, she was still bristling with guns, and her crew outnumbered the combined crews of both frigates. In other circumstances this would not have stopped him, but there were other French ships about and the Santo António was vulnerable to attack. Despite the martial attitude of Captain Ramo
s, many of the crew were politically pro-Spain. As such they were not trustworthy. The presence of the frigates made the matter of trust academic.
He signalled Caprice to discontinue the action, and the two frigates left the French ship, helpless for the moment at least, to her own devices, while they returned to join their Portuguese compatriot still making progress northward to England and safety.
Chapter Eight
The Mission
They met with the Brest blockade four days later. Some delay had occurred when the spanker boom on the Santo António broke during heavy weather on the way north. Captain Ramos said ruefully, “Sadly, when a ship is as old as this, things happen.” The comment accompanied by a shrug said it all.
Admiral Hardy was surprised and concerned at the news Martin brought from Portugal.
“You say the French are over the border and are marching on Lisbon, under General Junot?”
Martin nodded. “The latest news we had was that the Spanish, with the co-operation of Prince John of Braganza, Regent of Portugal, were entering the country virtually unopposed.
“According to those I spoke to, including Captain Ramos, the people in general are very angry. The suggestion of Spanish rule is not acceptable. In the opinion of the Captain the people will rise against the invaders.”
Hardy sat back in his chair. “I will add your report to mine and ask you to convey it to the Admiralty. You will continue to escort Captain Ramos, and the prize of course, to Portsmouth. There you can leave the prize, and recover your crew members. Though I believe it better you carry on with the silver ship to London. I would be happier to know the overland journey was a short as possible with that much silver.”
Martin called on the Santo António and spoke with Ramos, before returning to Vixen. He explained the Admiral’s feelings in the matter of the silver. Since it was destined to be lodged in the Bank of England, situated in London, the decision made sense.
So the three ships resumed their voyage, sailing onward from Ushant to Portsmouth where they left Caprice. With a full crew once more, HMS Vixen and Santo António completed their journey to the Thames.
