The men were beginning to settle down. The petty officer’s had been given orders to stow their ‘starters’, the knotted lengths of rope used to ‘encourage’ men to work faster. He had had to warn his petty officers against excessive force toward crewmen.
Some of the original members of Badger’s crew just could not understand about the new order. A few decided to take advantage of the situation and began to actively ignore orders from petty officers.
By this time the sloop had met with some weather and the seas were rough. Water was coming into the ship from spray, as well as water entering the hull seams when the ship worked. Often, it was necessary to man the pumps a half hour or more every watch.
Those men running afoul of their petty officers were assigned to that duty, when they were off watch. In other words, a man would finish his own work, then after relief, would descend into the bowels of the ship to labor on a pump handle until the ship was dry again.
It was further decreed by the first lieutenant that no man receiving punishment would be eligible to receive his daily rum ration. This was probably a greater punishment than the extra labor, since the grog issue was the high part of every day to most sailors. When a few men decided to refuse to perform the extra labor, they were put in irons and stretched out on the orlop deck. Upon reaching Portsmouth, these men were sent ashore, their misdeeds documented.
It was a long voyage down the European coast into African waters. Badger was well supplied and Phillips saw no need to stop at Gibraltar. It had previously crossed his mind he might need to visit that port if he needed to offload more unruly crew. Some of the petty officers had spread the word of the horrors that could befoul any man being sent ashore there. Those individuals would be at the mercy of the military authorities. By now, even the worst of the remaining malcontents had become resigned to their duty.
The sailing master on the ship-sloop was a mature master’s mate who was almost ready for a warrant. Mister Tringle had made this voyage to the southern latitudes before and was a mine of information for his captain. Phillips had also learned from his father of some of the dangers likely to be experienced off the African coast. Taking note of these warnings, he stayed well out to sea. For one thing, the sand storms off the desert coast were not nearly as unpleasant out of sight of land. Much of the sand would fall into the sea before reaching that far. One day though, an especially powerful storm from the east brought their full ration of sand. The wind was on their port beam and a band of sand and dust obstructed their vision ahead.
With sand being steadily blown into eyes, the lookout aloft was especially troubled, since he was required to keep his eyes open for danger. Phillips took a leaf out of the desert Bedouin’s book and sent aloft a long length of cloth to bind over the lookout’s face, just leaving a crack open to see through. The ship captain and helmsmen at the wheel each suffered likewise with the sand.
Suddenly, the lookout shouted, “Ship just off the port bow!”
And there she was, coming right toward them, just inshore of them. The wind had died down, dropping its load, and visibility was much improved. At first Phillips doubted the stranger’s crew had seen them, as there was no untoward activity apparent on the now visible ship. She was a ship-rigged vessel of moderate size and as she closed it was clear she was a ship of war. Either a large corvette or a small frigate.
He probably had no business engaging her, since she was either equal to his ship or perhaps slightly larger. Closer to Europe, he would have had no qualms about fighting her, since the Royal Navy prevented most French warships to spend enough time at sea to train their crews. This one though, was coming back from an Eastern visit. She would have had plenty of opportunity to train her officers and crew along the way. Perhaps she was one of those enemy ships preying on British ships in the Indian Ocean, although this one seemed to be a French National ship, rather than a privateer.
The marine drummer was racketing away on his drum and the crew was clearing away all gear in the ship that might get in their way. The lethargic behavior of some of the crew had gone. Here was excitement, adventure and potential profit. Standing beside some hands coiling line at the base of the mizzen, he mentioned to his first officer what he thought the value of a share in her might be worth when they brought her into Table Bay.in southern Africa. The hands would surely pass this information on to their mates.
As the guns were cast loose and the tompions removed, the approaching ship suddenly awakened. Coming closer by the minute, the stranger proved to be a smallish twenty-gunned ship. Neither fish nor fowl, she was the French national corvette Diligente. In the Royal Navy, she would be counted a post ship, to be commanded by a post captain. Not really a frigate, but considered superior to a sloop-war such as HMS Badger.
Her men began to boil up out of the hatches and her quarterdeck was populated, as she awakened to the danger. Apparently, many of her crew had been below sheltering from the flying sand. At first unsure as to her nationality and fearing to fire into a friendly ship, Phillips was satisfied to see her run up her tricolor. Looking up, he saw Badger’s own red ensign and commission pennant were flying.
When they met, Badger was ready, but the enemy was not. The crew of Badger had had many days at gun drill recently, which displeased some of the more surly hands, but at least everyone now knew their place and their duty. This was not quite apparent on the approaching enemy. To get a better view, Phillips had climbed partly up the starboard mizzen shrouds. There seemed to be massive confusion aboard the enemy ship. Some of her guns were manned and run out, on others, untrained crew were trying to decide what to do. Phillips saw a quarterdeck officer dash his speaking horn to the deck in disgust.
Phillips, back on the quarterdeck, usually had a midshipman beside him to relay messages. Mister Santini was told to run down the deck to inform the gunners they were free to fire only when they had good aim. He wanted no shot going off in the blue, or slashing into the sea frightening the fish. Every gunner must have a good shot before him before he should pull his lanyard.
As the two ships approached, port side to port side, the guns began to thunder one or two at a time. There was an almost steady staccato fire as the ships passed each other. When Badger passed by the enemy, Phillips immediately put her about and crossed her stern. As the ship started going into the wind, Badger’s canvas began to shiver as she began to lose her luff. Only a few of the portside guns were loaded but those fired into the enemy’s unprotected stern as they passed. The aftermost gunner on the port side took an especially careful aim before he fired. His ball struck the enemy’s helm and as a dividend went on then into the mizzen.
The single nine pound shot was not enough to bring down the mast. But it was weakened and men rushed into the tops to reduce sail. Phillips suspected the enemy captain was fearful the injured mast might fall. Mister Davison up forward had a crew of sail handlers to haul the jib over to catch the wind to bring her head around. Now she was coming up on the frigate’s starboard quarter,
Hands were at work on the braces to get her yards around .More guns were loaded now, and they pounded their deadly hail into her. A load of grape hit her mizzen shrouds. The enemy crew had not been able to get the canvas down yet from the mast with the damaged shrouds and the pressure on the remaining shrouds was too much. The mizzen came crashing down to port.
Now coming up the enemy’s starboard side, the guns kept up their thunder. Few of the enemy guns on that side were manned. The fast pace of events and the damage to their ship was beginning to overwhelm the enemy crew. Close in as they were, the loads of grapeshot were doing fearsome damage to the enemy. Almost magically, the group of officers on her quarterdeck vanished as a cloud of grapeshot from several guns came aboard. One moment the captain was standing by the stub of his mizzen and the next he was gone.
Badger continued up the length of the ship, thumping her loads into her. Then Mister Santini began shouting, “She strikes, Captain!”
The enemy tricolor was d
escending and her guns, those few still firing, were now silent. It took some effort to convince some of Badger’s gunners to cease fire.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
There was much work to do on the prize. She was much knocked about, but both Captain Phillips and his sailing master, Mister Tringle were confident they could make the repairs to get the ship safely to Simonstown. The mizzen mast was the most daunting repair. The wounded shrouds could be repaired but the mast itself was a different story. The lower section of the mast had received a nine pound ball in the timber. The impact had not fractured the spar, but the fall when the supporting shrouds gave way had fractured it at the point where the ball had struck.
A temporary jury mizzen was rigged from the wreck of the old topmast. These repairs took up most of the next two days. An idea was brought to Phillips by some British crewmen released from their captivity aboard the prize.
It seemed the Frenchman had taken a prize herself a week ago. An East Indiaman on her way to the East had become separated from her convoy when involved with a storm. The frigate took her prize without inflicting any conspicuous damage to her. The Indiaman had a crew of mostly Lascars, native seamen of the East Indian subcontinent who were returning home, and commanded by British officers with some British petty officers.
The French removed the Britons and replaced them with their own prize crew. They kept the original native East Indian crewmen aboard the prize but used their own people to command. The Indiaman was ordered to accompany the corvette back to a French port. The two had become separated during the series of sandstorms that were encountered. The few remaining French officer adamantly refused to divulge any information about the probable whereabouts of the captured Indiaman, but the now freed Britons were not so reticent.
The former Captain of the Indiaman was rather sure of the course both ships had been travelling. Conversant with the French tongue himself, he had not let the corvette’s captain become aware of that. While walking the quarterdeck he was often able to overhear instructions and conversations that he would not have been allowed to hear had his captors known they could be understood.
The Indiaman’s captain relayed his information to Phillips, and the pair got together with Mister Tringle to decide the proper course to take. The crippled prize was not capable of taking a part in the search, since with her jury rig she would be too slow. Accordingly, her remaining officers were brought aboard Badger, and the carpenter, a good bosun’s mate and sufficient crew were put aboard with instructions to make for Table Bay.
Heading north, the sloop began her search for the Indiaman. This would be a very worthwhile plum if she could be recaptured. While not as rich as she would have been had she been taken on her return voyage, it would still be a profitable day’s work to take her back. The Honorable East India Company would be most grateful.
Early the next day, one of the hands discarding some trash over the side, saw something floating in the water. Bringing it to the attention of the first officer, the topsails were backed and a midshipman took the jolly boat out to investigate. He brought back a piece of garbage, in this case a decayed orange. Some ship preceding them had thrown it overboard as useless.
The Indiaman captain informed his rescuers that his ship carried a supply of the fruit aboard as a scurvy preventative. He agreed with Phillips they might well be in trail behind the ship.
Later on, another object was retrieved. This was a water-logged copy of a book. Retrieved, it proved to be a volume of Gibbon’s Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. Enmeshed in some discarded sailcloth and cordage, the heavy book had been buoyed up with discarded timber and had narrowly escaped sinking to the bottom.
Captain Damson, the Indiaman’s captain gingerly opened the cover to the now very delicate flyleaf, and found a blurred and illegible inscription there. He excitedly called over one of the other Indiaman officers freed from captivity. Mister Hanford looked at it and exclaimed, “This is my book. My father gave me the set when I entered service with the East India Company. This was in my cabin when I was forced to leave the ship!”
Captain Phillips commented, “Probably the crew was told to discard any useless material, and one of the crew could see no use for this book.”
Badger kept on course for another day, with no more sightings of cast-off debris from their quarry. Unable to spend more time on the hunt, Phillips reluctantly put the ship about and she sailed to join her prize. Toward the evening of a disappointing day, the masthead hailed. His voice was hesitant, and he reported a possible sail on their port beam. Collins, when questioned by the midshipman who climbed up to see for himself, readily admitted he could be mistaken.
The mid, examining the tiny notch in the horizon with the glass he has snatched from the binnacle on his way up, decreed the sighting was indeed a sail, but only that of a small lateen rigged coastal craft.
Disgusted at having expended the energy to climb to the main top, the midshipman did his duty and took one more sweep around.
And there she was, hull down in the gathering darkness, with just her tops’ls above the horizon.
Shouting “Sail in sight, off the port quarter!” he reported to the deck.
The midshipman grabbed the backstay and slid down to the deck, the unwary lad losing skin on his hands as he came down too fast. He had dropped his hat somewhere in his maneuvers, so he touched his knuckles to his forehead as he addressed his captain.
“Sir, Collins did see a sail, but it’s just a little coastal craft close in to land. There is though, something larger to her north. I could just see a bit of her tops’ls before she went out of sight.”
After a quick glance at Midshipman Hardesty’s palms, Phillips sent the lad below to see the surgeon. The ship was put about and another mid was sent up.
Minutes later, Mister Santini hailed the deck, “Deck there, ship in sight just off the port bow, hull down, just her tops’ls showing.” As the moments passed the lad amended his reports. The chase was now lost in the darkness, but he thought he could see the faintest glow of a light on her quarterdeck. The ship was gaining on the chase and by the time the morning watch came on duty, the hand on port side deck watch reported he thought he could make out her hull in the moonlight. When the sun rose, she proved to be ship rigged, and an Indiaman for sure.
The chase kept up the game as long as she could, but finally a ball across her cutwater brought her to the wind. Her dis-spirited French prize crew glumly climbed up Badger’s side and a similar group of elated Britons went up the side of the capture. Her former Captain and his officers boarded her also but Mister Davison would command her, assisted with a small cadre of seamen. Her East Indian crew would continue to man her.
The East India Company Ship ‘Alexander’ was intact, her passengers safe, but with many exceedingly upset. The prize crew had made a start at rummaging the passenger’s valuables while in their custody but not all passengers had been victimized yet. Many of Badger’s Marines had been sent aboard the prize corvette but enough remained to board Alexander and strongly influenced those prize crew members who had pilfered belongings to return their bounty.
Mister Davison reminded the former prize crew members that any man found in possession of stolen property would be tried upon reaching Simonstown in the Cape Colony. He assured them if the colony’s gallows were not sufficient to service the number of customers appearing before them, their carpenter’s crew would be happy to assist the authorities there to construct more.
Eventually, the passenger’s concerns were assuaged, and the pair of ships set out for Southern Africa.
.
The prize corvette Diligente with her wrecked mizzen had made little headway on her journey, and Badger and Alexander soon overhauled her. In the short period since her re-capture, Mister Davison noticed the deck cargo of the Indiaman and signaled Captain Phillips attention to it. She had a number of large spars on deck consigned to the East India Company dockyard in Calcutta.
Upon being questioned, the
East Indiaman’s former Captain Ryan felt the company would not object too strenuously should one of the big spars be requisitioned to use to replace the Diligente’s mizzen. Mister Tringle was able to provide a course to an island off the African coast. The island had a bay on the eastern coast capable of taking the three ships. Tringle had used this bay before and assured them the bottom was good holding ground. He advised the crews should avoid going ashore except for the most compelling reasons.
The island was populated by some most obstreperous natives who had been much victimized in the past by sea captains attempting to trick their younger people aboard with cheap trinkets only to then strike them below, in irons, to be sold later as slaves.
The natives resented this practice exceedingly and any men going ashore to obtain water were likely to find themselves under savage attack. In addition, mosquitos were endemic and disease was to be feared on this coast.
This information was passed on to all ships and the vessels anchored well off-shore. The selected spar was lowered from Alexander’s deck into the water and towed over to Diligente by Badger’s launch. The wedges holding Diligente’s jury mizzen in place were knocked loose, and the former topmast was pulled out by tackle from her own main yard. Chips judged the diameter of the replacement spar and used his plane to remove some shavings from the base. When careful measurements indicated the new mast should fit properly, it was prepared to be hoisted into place.
Shrouds had already been prepared, as well as both back and forestays. These were secured to the spar in preparation for their use to hold it upright.
The line that had removed the old spar was now secured to the replacement, and men tailed onto the fall. Other lines were bent onto the spar in order for parties of seamen to control any swing. On command of the senior bosun’s mate present, the spar was swayed up vertically, while men on the restraining lines positioned it into place. It was dropped into position and wedged into its footing on the keelson.
Sails Across the Sea: A Tim Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 8) Page 8
