A Ship for The King

by Richard Woodman

  ‘Take this boy, Miss, and scrub him under the pump. Then have a barber shave him . . . No, Mr Rat, leave those clothes here. You may take a pair of breeches and throw those rags you are wearing away before you come back.’

  Kit Faulkner endured twenty minutes of humiliation under the yard-pump, with several servants, men as well as women, looking on as his skinny frame was soused and scrubbed. The chambermaid had no liking for her task, and took her own displeasure out on the boy, though she warmed to her part with the encouraging shouts and advice from her fellows. Kit’s backside was red from rubbing and he clutched his private parts lest her enthusiasm should entirely dispossess him of them. However, when finally released and clad in rough breeches, he privately acknowledged an invigoration as he fled for the stairs leading to Strange’s rooms.

  Mainwaring was still working on his papers, but Strange was enjoying a pipe by the window that overlooked the street below. Turning as the boy knocked and entered the room, Strange gestured to the screen behind which the pisspot stood on a stool and said quietly, ‘You had better dress yourself properly, Mr Rat.’

  Awkward in his new clothes, the hat clasped in his hand and the overlarge boots making of him a figure of fun, he emerged and stood before the two men. Mainwaring looked up, laid down his quill, and sat back in his chair, suppressing a smile. ‘Well, Gideon, where has Mr Rat gone? I think we are looking at the makings of a gentleman.’

  At which, in some imitated reflex, Kit Faulkner shyly advanced one foot, flicked his broad-brimmed hat and made a not inelegant bow.

  ‘Indeed, Harry, I think maybe you are right. Well, sir, you are welcome,’ Strange said kindly. ‘Please take a seat and –’ Strange came forward and, searching among the papers before Mainwaring, drew one and laid it before Faulkner as he sat awkwardly at the table – ‘can you read?’

  ‘A little, sir.’

  ‘Do read that, and when you have digested its contents you may make your mark here . . . It is an indenture, boy, binding you to serve me as your master for four years, during which I undertake at my own expense to teach you the business of a seaman . . .’

  ‘And if you prove resolute and efficient, if you learn your duty quickly, Captain Strange will impart to you the business of navigation, conning and lodemanage,’ Mainwaring added, ‘after which you shall, if you wish, seek advancement.’

  Faulkner stared at the two men and then at the bewildering document before him. It was covered with words, only a few of which he could decipher, though his mouth tried to form those he could not. ‘Read it to him, Gideon, while I finish these accounts.’

  And so Kit Faulkner, a semi-illiterate vagrant orphan aged somewhere between twelve and fourteen years old went to sea, bound apprentice to Captain Gideon Strange, Master under God of the ship Swallow, of two hundred tons burthen and ten guns. In March 1618 the vessel slipped down the Avon and took a strong ebb tide to the westward, passed between the islands of Flatholm and Steepholm and for three days anchored under the lee of Lundy Island, where marauding Barbary pirates had raised ramparts in defiance of the King’s Majesty, before catching a slant of wind from the north-west, whereupon Captain Strange set course for the Mediterranean.

  The same day Henry Mainwaring, having previously waited upon His Majesty King James and presented his sovereign with his Discourse upon Pirates and their Suppression Thereof, was summoned to attend the King at Woking. Here he was knighted and appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, whereupon the first person to offer his congratulations was George Villiers, the Marquess of Buckingham. The court favourite was eagerly seeking new allies among seafaring men, for his intrigues had recently secured the ousting of the Howards from the King’s favour. The Earl of Nottingham, once the victorious admiral who had turned aside the Spanish Armada, wrecked by age and corruption had given way to a younger man of subtle skills – considerable administrative ability but infinitely greater venality. Buckingham’s star was rising, for soon he would be a Duke and not merely the Lord Admiral as Nottingham had been, but Lord High Admiral of England.

  Far to the westward of these grand proceedings the Swallow lay over to the wind, her yards braced sharply, her sails full and the sea a-roiling along her lee tumblehome. Here, the boy Kit Faulkner, damp and unhappy, threw up the contents of his stomach and wished he was scavenging apples on the waterfront of Bristol.

  Part One

  The King’s Whelp

  Whelp

  The young of the dog. Now little used, superseded by puppy.

  An ill-conditioned or low fellow; later, in milder use, and especially of a boy or young man. A saucy or impertinent young fellow; an ‘unlicked cub’, a ‘puppy’.

  (Nautical) One of the longitudinal projections on the barrel of a capstan or windlass [by which the nipper or anchor cable was more readily drawn round].

  (Nautical) One of a fleet of auxiliary war vessels established in Charles I’s reign, so-called because designed to attend on HMS Lion.

  Oxford English Dictionary

  One

  Awaiting El Dorado

  Summer 1620 – Spring 1623

  It was to be many, many months before Kit Faulkner next encountered Sir Henry Mainwaring, four years during which he served Captain Strange, who in turn taught him the business of seamanship in accordance with the indenture Kit had marked with a curiously assured monogram. Although Strange had discovered this was almost the limit of the boy’s literacy, it was quickly apparent that Mainwaring’s instinct had proved correct: Faulkner was exceedingly quick on the uptake, a bright, intelligent adolescent who swiftly turned into a tough, sinewy youth for whom the crude victuals of the Swallow seemed like manna from heaven.

  The equinoctial outward passage of the Swallow had been rough and for three days the wretched Faulkner had repeatedly spewed-up his guts. Strange left him to his misery and the cuffings he received from the boatswain on the occasions when he failed to make the rail before voiding himself. Happily the decks were sluiced incessantly by green seas so that Faulkner was relieved of the humiliation of cleaning up his own vomit, but much of the time Strange observed his charge lying shivering in the lee scuppers, indifferent to the cold seawater that swirled about him, a bight of rope cast about him by the same boatswain who admonished him for fouling the decks. From time-to-time a pannikin of hot burgoo was offered to him by another of the able seamen and for most of the three days this act of solicitude was rejected by the lad. But on the fourth day out, after a veering of the wind produced a ray or two of sunshine which, with the southing they were making, combined to throw a patch of comparative warmth upon the Swallow sufficient to dry her damp decks, Strange observed Faulkner take the pannikin and spoon its contents into his mouth. Almost as he watched, Faulkner seemed to lose his greenish pallor and assume something of the countenance of normality, and by the time they raised Cape Ortegal Kit Faulkner had not only turned-to to wash decks with the morning watch, but had made his first ascent of the rigging at sea. That evening he assisted at the whip-staff and began to learn to box the compass in quarter-points. From that moment he forsook boyhood and aspired to do everything that was undertaken by the able seamen, and it was Faulkner who first spotted the approaching pirate as they closed the Straits. The action was brief and spirited; the Swallow, aided by a fresh and fair wind which allowed her to play her guns to advantage, deterred the sea-rovers from Sallee from making a close approach. Discouraged, they made off after easier prey.

  Having once fallen into the hands of the Barbary corsairs, Captain Strange made more than adequate provision for such an encounter, employing, besides competent seamen, a gunner of skill. Moreover, he had laid in a quantity of powder and shot, especially bar-shot, which would give his ship the edge against all but a most determined attack. It was not in the interest of the mixture of Moors, Arabs, and renegade Christians who made up the crews of the corsairs, whether they emerged from Sallee, Algiers, Tunis or Tripoli, to press their attack if there was much danger of losing their lives. They wer
e usually after easy pickings, but the experience made its mark on young Faulkner and he gradually learned the story of his commander from the seamen who increasingly regarded him as a useful addition to their complement.

  Nor was Gideon Strange unique in his history, for every year hundreds of seamen were captured and enslaved by the so-called Moors. Many turned apostate, renouncing their Christianity, submitting to circumcision, and finding liberty of a kind in the service of the pirates. They were generally treated well, unless, like Strange, they refused to recant and tried to escape. Captain Strange had spent several years chained to the oar of a galley until ransomed by Mainwaring during one of his periodic spells in Algiers. Mainwaring had got wind of Strange’s predicament on account of his being a commander in the service of the Levant Company. A condition of release was that Strange served under Mainwaring until the latter obtained his pardon from King James, whereupon Mainwaring retained Strange’s services, setting him up in a Bristol ship as a partner, an offer Strange could not refuse. A single man whose father had died in his youth and whose mother had succumbed to grief at the capture of her son and expired at the onset of an epidemic of the plague, Strange rapidly recovered lost ground and was, within a short time, a comparatively wealthy man. Apart from serving as master and part-owner of the Swallow, he was also a partner with Mainwaring in the ownership of several other vessels, assisting his liberator and colleague in turning his ill-gotten gains into legitimate assets, stock and money.

  The two men’s affairs were thus intimately linked and they had consequently become firm friends. Such was the confidence between the two that shortly before the Swallow had sailed, Strange had received a letter from Mainwaring outlining the state of his affairs at court. My Friend, Mainwaring had written,

  I find matters here of so complicated a nature as to offer me a considerable future. The King in his wisdom has appointed me one of a Commission to enquire into the state of the Navy Royal and to make such commendations as best serve the State in these difficult times. I had some notion of this when leaving the boy F. in your charge but I do urge you to bring him on with all haste if, as I suspect and hope, he proves able. At least he knows nothing else and is thus devoid of distractions. Should there be other young men come among the crew who show ability, treat them in like wise but do not deprive yourself of able seamen on this account. Two or three is all that I seek for the King’s service which is woefully in want of proper men bred to the sea and able to give him good return. As for myself, I am in a fair way to receiving a greater commission but upon this it is premature to speculate. I wish thee God-speed to Smyrna and a good voyage withal.

  Your affectionate Friend,

  Hy. Mainwaring

  The Swallow had indeed had a good voyage, making first for Leghorn and then the island of Zante, before loading her final homeward cargo of silk, oil and raisins at Smyrna. This had been followed by several more equally successful voyages in which several subsequent encounters with pirates had met with similar receptions to that initial brief exchange of fire. Only one of these had turned out to be serious and it occurred when the Swallow lay becalmed off the north coast of Malta. One morning, pulling down the glittering path of the rising sun, an Algerine galley had come upon them, surprising the morning watch.

  Had the captain of the galley held his fire for a moment longer, his surprise would have been complete, but his first shot, fired from the heavy cannon mounted over the galley’s long beak-head, not only startled the Swallow’s mate with its detonation as he directed the trimming of the sails to a cat’s paw of wind, but it ricocheted over the ship’s waist, tearing through a foremast backstay before falling into the sea.

  ‘On deck! On deck! All hands to arms!’ the terrified mate roared as the seamen on watch ran to the guns, casting off the lashings. Thanks to Strange’s precautions these were kept loaded when there was any danger of attack, the charges being drawn and changed every morning. As the galley drew close, its crew assembling on its forecastle in anticipation of boarding, two guns loaded with langridge barked from the Swallow’s waist and cut a swathe through the men, robbing them of their ardour.

  Both Strange and Faulkner had been below but they, like the others off watch, were soon on deck and bearing arms. Nevertheless, the galley came on and ran alongside, her starboard oars trailing, as stink-pots of Greek fire were hurled aboard the Swallow. These inextinguishable devices meant the enemy were intent on the capture of men, rather than cargo, though they would take both if they overcame resistance rapidly. Seeing the missiles, Strange shouted for them to be thrown overboard before their contents had a chance to spread.

  One had hit the bunt of the mainsail but failed to ignite it and fell to the deck, where several others lay, their burning contents running out over the wooden deck. Fortunately this was still wet from the swabbing the watch had been giving it, but the persistent nature of the Greek fire meant that they had only a second or two to deal with the threat.

  Darting out from among the seamen, Kit Faulkner picked up a burning stink-pot, hurled it back whence it came, over the heads of the men straining to get another round off from the guns.

  ‘Good lad!’ hollered the mate, as he drove a boarding pike at one of the pirates trying to clamber aboard. Behind Faulkner, others similarly disposed of the other stink-pots. What followed was a confused violent struggle about which Kit afterwards recalled very little except that his hand was burned – though from the heat of the stink-pot not its infernal contents. The last he saw of the galley was it drifting astern, several of its huge starboard oars broken. A miraculous breeze, of which the earlier cat’s paw had been a precursor, sprang up with the rising sun and the two vessels drew apart. The enemy made one attempt to chase them but the breeze strengthened, and although it seemed for a while that the Algerine would persist, a few cannon shot were fired from the stern-chase guns, one of which – judging from the cries that came faintly downwind – fell among the slaves on their benches, causing havoc and dissuading further aggression.

  Thus by the summer of 1620, when the Swallow lay in Bristol, the tall youth with his brown hair clubbed and wearing breeches, a long waistcoat under a cutaway coat and sporting a broad-brimmed hat, carried himself with the air of an experienced mariner who had learned sufficient of his business to be released from his indenture prematurely, and to be carried upon the ship’s books as second mate. It was in this capacity that, having cleared the Swallow inwards at the Customs House, Captain Strange summoned both his mates to his cabin. Pouring each a glass of wine and pledging them a toast on the conclusion of a successful voyage, he invited them to be seated.

  ‘Well, gentlemen,’ Strange began, taking a letter from his satchel, ‘I have here a letter of some import for us and I thought it best to take you into my confidence before we sign off the crew. I must first ask for your word as to remaining silent upon the detail of the matter contained herein.’ Strange looked up. ‘Mr Quinn?’

  ‘Of course, Cap’n Strange.’

  Strange looked at Faulkner. ‘Aye, sir, my word upon it.’ The lad’s formal response in a voice long broken was in such contrast to Quinn’s rough assertion that it amused Strange. Faulkner had acquired – from God alone knew where – a certain rough polish.

  ‘Very well,’ he said, holding up the letter to the light coming in through the stern glazings. ‘It is from Sir Henry Mainwaring.’

  Reuben Quinn, the mate, threw a quizzical look at Faulkner as Strange began to read that portion of the missive that contained the content that he wished to share.

  ‘In accordance with directions from the Lord High Admiral I am charged to muster a number of armed merchantmen to act in support of a squadron of His Majesty’s ships-of-war, the whole of which is to be placed under the command of Sir Robert Mansell as admiral, having Sir Thomas Button as his vice admiral and Sir Richard Hawkins as his rear admiral. To which purpose and our mutual advantage, I have commended the services of yourself and the Swallow, as both knowing the seas unt
o which the squadron will presently be dispatched and for that you have acquitted yourselves notably in several sea-fights against the pirates of Barbary. To this end you are commanded to recruit a crew suitable for an enterprise to the Mediterranean, to augment your armament by some swivels and murderers besides shipping any extra great-guns as you think desirable and the ship may bear; lay in powder and stores for six months, and such water as will hold sweet for as long as half that time . . .’ Strange paused, passed over the rest of the letter which he set down before him. ‘Well, you see the way the wind blows gentlemen; we are to become a King’s ship.’

  ‘And under favourable charter, I wouldn’t wonder, sir,’ remarked Quinn, rolling his eyes with amusement.

  ‘No doubt,’ responded Strange with a smile. ‘Sir Henry was scarcely to be expected to let such an opportunity escape us. The question is – our crew. They will want paying-off but I have to have the ship ready to sail in . . .’ he consulted the letter, ‘ten days’.

  ‘I am content to stand by, sir, having no other place to go,’ offered Faulkner. Strange nodded. Until released from his indentures the young man had usually been lodged ashore at Strange’s own expense whenever the Swallow lay in her home port. ‘Mr Quinn?’

  ‘Well, Cap’n, it does not seem unreasonable for a man to want to lie in his marriage bed for a night or two, and I imagine the men will feel the same, if only with a whore, but my guess is that if thou puts it to them, they will oblige.’

  ‘We must of necessity conceal our destination, so I purpose that we put it about that we are to embark upon a Guinea voyage . . .’

  ‘That will not be popular, Cap’n,’ said Quinn, ‘what with the stinking fever rife and word of the Gloucester losing half her men before ever she left the Sherbro.’

  ‘True,’ said Strange, ‘but we need an explanation for the additional ordnance . . .’