A Certain Threat (The Merriman Chronicles Book 1)

by Roger Burnage

  “It is obvious that you are expecting trouble then Sir,” remarked Merriman.

  “I always do Captain, Ireland is a hotbed of sedition and my people must perforce enter places of doubtful character.”

  Grahame was put ashore on a deserted beach in Ireland and as soon as the boat was hoisted inboard again Merriman set a course out into Liverpool Bay. He had nearly two days before meeting Grahame and as there was now no reason to try and hide Aphrodite’s presence he determined to do what Admiral Edwards had instructed him to do, that is to stop and search any vessels he thought to be suspicious.

  The Irish sea was full of seaborne traffic, small fishing boats, small coasting traders, large trading ships from the Baltic, France, Ireland, the Americas, the West Indies and faraway places in India and the far east. Not to mention the regular ferry boats plying between the various ports on the surrounding coasts.

  The busiest port was Liverpool which was overtaking Chester and Parkgate as the premier trading centre. Much of the traffic from Liverpool and some from Chester, was involved in the infamous Triangle Trade, in which vessels left England with cargoes of cotton goods, cheap metalware and pottery destined for areas of west Africa. Once there, many were loaded with live cargo, captive negroes.

  The ships would then head west on the so-called middle passage to the West Indies and America, where the cargo of human misery, those that survived the hellish voyage, would be sold into slavery. The ships then returned to their home port laden with Molasses, rum, sugar and tobacco, making their owners rich men.

  It was not long before Aphrodite came across a dirty looking, bluff bowed, deeply laden brig heading north towards the Isle of Man.

  “Have the gunner send a shot across her bows if you please Mr. Andrews.”

  “Aye-aye Sir” replied the young lieutenant who was officer of the watch.

  The ball splashed down only half a cable ahead of the brig whereupon the ship’s master could be seen shaking his fist at the Aphrodite but making no effort to heave to or shorten sail in the face of the universally known signal.

  “Bring her within hailing distance Mr. Andrews.”

  Using a speaking trumpet Merriman shouted across “Heave to Captain or my next shot may do some damage.” The threat brought instant compliance although the master continued to shake his fist at the King’s ship.

  “Mr. Andrews, take a small armed party and go aboard. Look at his bill of lading and check it as far as you can against the contents of the hold. And Mr. Andrews, call the captain into his cabin and apologize, tell him some story that there have been one or two cases of piracy and a brig was involved. Tell him he has nothing to fear if he is an honest trader. Take Mr. Shrigley with you.”

  “Aye-aye Sir, but am I looking for anything in particular Sir?”

  “Nothing specific, a shifty expression, a reluctance to allow you to look around, contraband goods, I don’t know what. If there are any passengers find out who they are and where they are from.”

  Andrews returned to report that he found nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary and the brig was allowed to proceed. The Aphrodite stopped two more ships but nothing was found except the odd few bottles of rum and brandy which could not have been called contraband cargo as there were so few of them.

  The fourth ship stopped provided the crew of Aphrodite with the first amusement of the day. When the boat returned poor Shrigley climbed aboard to reveal his clothing, hands and face covered in fish scales and smelling to high heaven. Merriman struggled to keep the smile off his face while the officers and crew whose duties kept them on the upper deck stood around grinning and laughing at the boy’s discomfiture.

  “All right Mr.Andrews, tell me what happened.”

  Nothing to report about the ship Sir, but when they opened the hold which was full of fish Mr.Shrigley fell in.”

  “No Sir I didn’t. Somebody pushed me when I leaned over the hatchway,” complained the little midshipman.

  “Well we’d better have you cleaned up Mr.Shrigley. Mr.Laing, have a pump rigged and give him a good sluicing down before he goes below for fresh clothes.”

  Shrigley gasped and capered under the jet of ice cold seawater applied willingly by two grinning seamen before escaping to the warmth of the gunroom.

  Merriman suddenly realized that he was still dressed in the grubby trousers and ill-fitting coat he had borrowed for his nocturnal run ashore so he decided that it was about time he appeared on deck properly dressed. In his cabin he changed into his new uniform which was quite a good fit, surprisingly so, considering the haste with which the tailor in London had measured him whilst Grahame had fidgeted and complained about the delay. Peters had managed to remove most of the creases and hovered round trying to do his best to help his Captain get dressed.

  “Stop fussing man” said Merriman irritably, “I can manage.”

  Feeling a little self-conscious in the new coat he picked up his new cocked hat and went back on deck.

  After the fifth ship had been examined, Mr. Andrews climbed wearily back on board to again report that there was nothing to report. “Although I must admit that I’ve learned a lot Sir. I thought that the crew of a Royal Navy ship knew how to swear but they are amateurs alongside some of the captains aboard these trading ships. This one never stopped or repeated himself all the time I was aboard.”

  “Well done Mr. Andrews. I think we’ll move nearer to the Welsh coast to see what we can find there.”

  “Yes Sir, and Sir if I may presume, I don’t think I’ve congratulated you on your promotion. It was seeing your uniform that reminded me.”

  “Thank you, I’d almost forgotten it myself.”

  Later that day, after dark, Merriman closed as near as he dared to the Welsh coast to the west of the Great Orme. It was a pitch dark night with only stars to be seen and the Aphrodite was ghosting along under topsails and jibs only. Merriman had a man in the chains with a leadline and his calls were repeated by a chain of men back to the quarter-deck. Merriman and Mr. Cuthbert had spent some time studying the chart which showed that the coast had many sand banks to trap the unwary mariner.

  It was Merriman’s hope that they would encounter any vessel unloading a cargo, either ashore or into smaller boats. He had called the ship’s company to action stations shortly before although the guns were not run out. “Merely a precaution” he told himself, not being able to rid his mind of what had happened to the Revenue cutter along this stretch of coast. “Anyway, it is all good practice for the men.”

  “Mr. Jeavons, it’s a cold night, have a tot of rum issued to each man and I’ll allow half the men to sleep with their weapons handy.”

  But although the Aphrodite cruised along the coast all night, nothing was seen.

  The next morning found the ship becalmed only a few miles off the coast As dawn broke all hands were at action stations as was required by naval regulations but there were no other ships in sight apart from a few small coasting vessels also becalmed some distance away.

  The First Lieutenant approached him. “Sir, I wonder if we can tell the men something of our purpose here and what we are looking for. There is a lot of talk about smugglers, but nobody really knows anything.”

  “Right Mr. Jeavons, call the men aft and I’ll tell them.”

  Merriman climbed up onto a pinrail and looked down at the sea of eager faces in front of him. “You’re all wondering what we are doing here and why we are stopping harmless traders. First of all we’re looking for any sign of smuggling but more importantly we need to find out who it was that seized a Revenue cutter near here whilst it was at anchor. They crept alongside and murdered every man of the crew in the middle of the night.”

  There were growls, muttering and the shuffling of feet as the men listened and an unknown voice called out “We’ll do for them buggers Cap’n, just you lead us to ‘em.” More growls of approval.

  “We believe that the cutter is still in these waters and it’s our duty to find her and when
we do you can be sure that there will be the chance to avenge those poor seamen.”

  He jumped down as the same voice called out “Hurrah for the Cap’n lads” and the crew erupted in loud cheers to the dismay of the scandalised petty officers who tried to silence them.

  “Sorry about that Sir” said Jeavons “I’ll try and find the ringleader and-----”.

  “Belay that John, it’s harmless. We can feel thankful that we are not looking for the ringleader of something worse. Now then, we had no luck yesterday so as soon as the wind returns I want to cruise where we might intercept one or more of the packet boats sailing between Parkgate and Dublin. Have a word with the Master and decide where the best area will be. I shall be below.”

  Two packet boats were stopped to the indignation of the captains and the consternation of the passengers, but Lieutenant Andrews was by now a past master at smoothing ruffled feelings and neither boat produced passenger names which meant anything to Merriman, except for one, a Sir William Forrester.

  “That name rings a bell,” mused Merriman, “I must have met him at some time.” Merriman continued to ponder on it until the answer hit him. His father had introduced them many years ago at the Merriman house and it was the man who had been with the lawyer in Chester and who had seemed vaguely familiar before being rushed out. Merriman felt a brief moment of disquiet, “Why would a man like that be meeting his lawyer at that time of night Later in the day they sighted another small trading ship, a single masted cutter off the starboard bow and on a course which would take it to the Dee Estuary. The wind had increased and Merriman had changed into his old weathered Lieutenant’s coat to save his new coat from flying spray. Idly he picked up a telescope from the box by the binnacle and trained it on the other vessel. It took him a few moments to catch it in the lens but then unconscious habit kept it in view.

  As he watched it seemed to him that the vessel was gradually, almost imperceptibly altering course to open the bearing between them. Watching for a few minutes more he was sure of it. “Mr. Jeavons, I’ll have the reefs out of the tops’ls, I want to catch that ship and stop her.”

  “Aye-aye Sir” responded the First Lieutenant, turning away to bawl orders which caused hands to boil up from below and climb like monkeys into the rigging. As the reefs were shaken out the ship heeled to the extra pressure and another dollop of spray hissed over the weather rail. Merriman took another look as they crept close enough for him to see the faces of some of the people aboard. His gaze swept over them, then he drew in his breath sharply as one face seemed to stand out from the rest.

  “Mr. Jeavons, I want you to take command on deck. To the people over there it must seem that you are the captain. Mr. Andrews, when you go aboard, take particular note of the people there, their names, reason for travelling, and be ready to give me a description of each of them. I believe that I know a person aboard that ship and I can’t think of any good reason why that person should be travelling on a common trading vessel. I shall remain below out of sight.”

  In his cabin waiting for Andrews to return, Merriman was quite unable to relax. He fidgeted with items on the desk, tried to walk up and down but hampered by the lack of space, flung himself back into the chair his mind in a turmoil. Aboard that other ship was—no, he must be mistaken. What would he be doing on such a craft? One for his creature comforts to look at him, a man unlikely to put up with the primitive conditions found on a small trader.

  Desperate to know what was happening, Merriman wanted to rush on deck but he knew that he must maintain his reputation for impeturbability in front of his subordinates.

  At last he heard the boat bump alongside and Andrews’ feet clattering down the companionway. A knock on the door announced his arrival.

  Merriman strove to appear calm and relaxed but was too eager to hear Andrews’ report to keep up the pretence. “Well now David, sit down and tell me what you have learned.”

  “She appears to be an ordinary trading vessel Sir, but there was something about it that didn’t feel right. I can’t put my finger on it, it’s more an impression I had, that the captain and the passengers had a sort of guilty look about them.”

  “Who are the passengers then?”

  “Three of them Sir. A small man, name of Thomas Jones though he doesn’t sound like a Welshman. His story was that he had been delivering confidential documents to a lawyer in Dublin. Another was tall and thin with a very dark complexion and black hair, gave his name as John Trevor. He is a Welshman, spoke mostly in Welsh so I couldn’t understand what he was saying. The third is a biggish man rather flabby round the middle and has a double chin, his name is John Richards He said he was a merchant, trading in Irish linen. He had been to Dublin to order more stock. None of them had any papers or anything to prove what they said was true and they said that they hadn’t met before boarding the ship. Strange thing is Sir, I caught the fat man glancing at the little man as though for reassurance. That’s all Sir, except to say that there was nothing suspicious in the hold or captain’s cabin. I hope that is what you wanted to know Sir.”

  “It is indeed David, I think that this will be most helpful. Oh, one more thing. Can you describe the smallest man again for me?”

  “Yes Sir, as I said, a small man, quite inoffensive looking I thought. He wore spectacles to read a small book he carried. Funny little man he was with a face all wrinkled like a walnut. A sort of shifty look he had, wouldn’t trust him an inch.”

  “That’s it!” exclaimed Merriman, “You have done well Mr. Andrews. I’m certain I know who those men are. If I’m right it is certain they are up to no good.”

  “I see Sir”, said Andrews, “are we going to take the ship?”

  “No not yet, we’ve no reason to, except suspicion, which as you know is no substitute for evidence. Please be good enough to ask Mr. Jeavons to allow the ship to proceed. We’ll follow at a distance until the daylight has gone. My compliments to Mr. Cuthbert and I’d like to see him in here.”

  When Merriman appeared on deck again the light had almost gone and the small vessel ahead was almost invisible in the gloom. He grinned to himself, “They must be worried men on that ship, wondering why we are following them. Perhaps we have worried them enough for now.” He turned to his officers who were standing silently by.

  “Mr. Jeavons, Mr. Cuthbert has a course for you to take us back to where we left Mr. Grahame. We must be off that coast not later than nine o’clock tonight.”

  But although they remained at anchor there for over six hours with lookouts being changed every hour to keep them fresh, no signal was seen. The night was clear so the signal would not have been missed.

  Chapter 17: Wounded and rescued

  The day was fine and cold with a strong, steady wind out of the south-east. Aphrodite, with all plain sail set and sailing close to the wind on the larboard tack, sliced through the rising seas occasionally crashing into a larger wave and flinging spray high in the air which blew back over the deck, wetting officers and men alike. Merriman stood high on the weather side revelling in the performance of his ship and thinking of ways in which he could increase her speed. Some weight transferred from forr’ard to aft should help her to rise easier to the seas and giving the rudder more bite as well would allow her to come about a little quicker too,

  He called to mind the stowage of stores, water barrels, casks of meat and provisions, powder and shot. Eight or ten tons should make a difference. He motioned to Lieutenant Jeavons and explained what he wanted. It would mean difficult and possibly dangerous work for a Master’s mate, the Purser and a working party of seamen but if it increased the ship’s speed by another knot or two, that extra speed may prove to be valuable in future. “I’ll have the log read every quarter hour Mr. Jeavons. I hope to see a difference over the next hour or two.”

  Once it had become obvious in the early hours of the morning that Mr. Grahame was not going to appear, Merriman had decided to investigate the north and west coasts of the Isle of Anglesey. T
he missing Revenue ship had to be hidden somewhere and there was nowhere along the North Wales coast where it could be concealed without being seen by Mr. Flitwick’s riding officers and coast watchers. If the plan really was to attack the Dorset, then the ship must be concealed near enough for a message to reach it in time to intercept the Dorset.

  The nearest place was Anglesey, with so many small bays and inlets it offered plenty of places for a small ship to lie hidden from seaward. With miles of grazing and farmland and only scattered villages inland, the chances of discovery would be little enough especially if the local folk had been threatened by the thieves and were too frightened to resist. Besides, the local folk would not want to draw the attention of the authorities because probably they were all reaping some benefit from smuggling.

  And so, thrashing south easterly it was Merriman’s intention to round Holy Island down to Cymyran Bay keeping well offshore and then to turn back as close inshore as he dared to inspect every possible place where a ship might hide. He reasoned that it would be useless to look into anywhere which dried out between tides as the gang would want to be able to move the ship at short notice.

  By the taffrail at the very stern of the ship, the Master was instructing the two midshipmen and a master’s mate in the mathematics of navigation but Merriman could see that little Mr. Shrigley was finding it hard to concentrate, his eyes straying repeatedly to where one of the lookouts was precariously perched at the mizzen mast-head .

  “Mr. Shrigley, it may be tempting to look elsewhere but if you don’t pay attention to what Mr. Cuthbert is telling you, you’ll never learn to find your way about at sea. Remember that knowledge is a treasure but practice is the key to it and practice makes perfect. When you have finished with him Mr. Cuthbert, I want to see him aloft with a telescope.” The crestfallen Shrigley bent over his slate, his face crimson with embarrassment.