by Michael Aye
This brought a chuckle from the group. Fickle was a mild way of putting it. Lazy and tight-fisted were better terms.
“Now then,” Lord Anthony had began again, “I have asked Captain Buck to draft up a crew for the ship.”
“Valley,” Anthony called to his clerk, who’d been standing in the wings. “Valley here has a draft of assignments for each of you. Should anyone wish to change or swap a crew member you have but to log it in the ship’s book. Now to specifics…Captain Earl, you are hereby given command of Defiant. Lieutenant Anthony, you are hereby temporarily, pending approval by Lord Howe, promoted to captain and will assume command of Merlin. Lieutenant Markham, I have found no personal fault on your behalf in regards to Swan’s loss. I have said as much in my reports. You are now to assume command of SeaWolf. I have left it up to each of you as whether you take your warrants or not. Make your desires known to Valley and he will draft up orders accordingly.”
Glancing to his side, Lord Anthony could see the look of desire on Hazard’s face. Well, empty sleeve or not he was a good seaman and a fine officer. As soon as available, he’d put him back to sea…on his own quarterdeck.
Since the storm a number of ships had gathered at Saint Augustine. More than at any time since the Royal Navy had established its presence.
“Looks like a sea of masts,” Buck had commented.
Most of the ships were merchant ships from various nations. They had stopped to heal their wounds and make repairs needed after the recent storm. A few Navy ships had also stopped. The one that interested Lord Anthony the most was the mail packet. He longed to hear from his wife and find out how their daughter, Macayla Rose, was getting along. Caleb was quickly inquiring if Dagan had any news.
“No,” Dagan replied then seeing the hurt in Caleb’s face, put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Caleb, there’s nothing to keep you from going to visit.”
After a thoughtful look Caleb said, “I am. I get the feeling we’re not going to be here much longer but I feel I’ll be needed before the squadron has new orders.”
“Those are my feelings as well,” Dagan replied. “It’s a nagging feeling I’ve had for some time. I feel things are coming together that will put us in place to do battle with this Barracuda. It’s then you’ll be needed,” Dagan said.
“Well, regardless if we do or don’t,” Caleb said, “Mr. Jewells and I are going to Virginia. You’re welcome to come along, old friend.”
“It’s a thought,” Dagan said, “even if for just a short visit.”
Mermaid was crowded with all the ships in port. Gabe, Markham and Earl had just said their good-bys to Buck as he had an engagement for the evening.
“Leave it to Buck to find that one lonely lady in need of his time and talents,” Earl joked.
“I hear Dagan has been spending time with the widow woman over with the Colonials,” Markham added. “Is she going to be a widow much longer?”
“I’ve no idea,” Gabe replied. “He’s been closed mouth about their relationship. He did say they are going to be exchanged soon and will be headed back to Virginia.”
More drinks were brought to the table and the subject changed to how fast things were going in regards to the new assignments. Earl had taken all his warrant officers to Defiant and Gabe had done likewise in transferring to Merlin. He’d kept Gunnells as master, Jackson as first lieutenant, Lavery as second lieutenant. The surviving fourth lieutenant from Neptune was now Merlin’s third lieutenant and Mr. Davy now was commissioned and made fourth lieutenant. Midshipmen were scarce.
Governor Tonyn had put forth two boys and Reverend Kennedy had asked Lord Anthony to take two boys. Alejandro had decided to continue so they now had five new midshipmen. Lord Anthony had decided to partial out his three most senior mids so that each ship would have someone to help train the new lads.
Trying to find uniforms for those recently promoted had been difficult. Earl gave Gabe a spare captain’s coat and Hazard had rounded up a lieutenant coat for Davy. Still everyone’s wardrobe needed an overhaul but it’d have to wait.
As the evening wore on the group was finishing their final round when Domingo appeared at the table.
“Señor Gabe, would it be possible to speak to you of a private matter?”
The three just looked at one another sure this had something to do with Domingo’s daughter, Nancy, and Sir Raymond. Earl and Markham downed their drinks and bid a hasty farewell.
“Cowards,” Gabe hissed.
“Dagan is with Bart at a table by the door. I’ll send him over,” a smiling Markham replied to Gabe’s remark. Markham did lean over to speak to Dagan who then made his way over to Gabe.
The two approached the bar where Domingo was turning the counter over to his wife. He beckoned to the two to follow him to a small storage shed behind the tavern. It was a small low roofed affair made of Coquina stone, which was hauled from Anastasia Island. Just inside the building, a smallish dark complexioned man sat at a table where a single candle gave forth a dim light. As the door opened the candle flame flickered creating little shadows that danced on the whitewashed walls inside the shed.
The table was small with only two chairs. A partial loaf of bread and a few crumbs of cheese were next to a half full bottle of Sangria. Fear filled the little man’s eyes as Gabe and Dagan entered first, then relief when Domingo entered closing the door behind him.
“This is Paco,” Domingo said by way of introduction. “He is my wife’s cousin. He is a seaman.” That much was obvious from the man’s dress.
“Until recently he sailed on a ship out of Boston and was in charge of his captain’s boat.”
“A cox’n?” Dagan asked.
“Si, señor, a cox’n and how do you say it…a boatsman.”
“A bosun,” Gabe corrected.
“Aye,” the little man said before Domingo could reply.
However, Domingo continued, “He was offered much to sign on to a privateer but he now thinks his captain is crazy so he…ah deserted his ship. He has come to me with much information and I tell him you are a fair man, Señor Gabe, and you can make a place for him on your ship. He thinks that is good…otherwise he feels his life is in danger.”
“We can certainly discuss signing him on,” Gabe replied. “What ship did he run from?”
“The ship you search for,” the little man said, “the Barracuda. I have much information which I think will be useful to you.”
Damme, Gabe thought, we must have an interview with his lordship.
“In the meantime let’s keep…Paco, is it?”
“Si, Paco.”
“Good. Let’s keep Paco hidden so that Barracuda’s spies don’t find out about our friend being here.”
As the captains settled into their seats in the admiral’s cabin the atmosphere was much different. This was a conference for battle. A battle in which some of those gathered here today might not return. Heads went up as Hazard entered and held the door for the admiral.
“Well, gentlemen,” Anthony said as he took his seat at the head of the table.
No pleasantries today, Gabe thought.
“It appears,” Anthony continued speaking, “that lady luck has once again smiled down on us. We have reliable information that the Barracuda was just in an area some thirteen miles south of Savannah. This is a plantation owned by a fellow named Morel. Apparently there’s a good landing area here and Barracuda’s Captain de Lavago was treated for wounds he received in battle against Sir Raymond and Gabe.”
“Our information is he has a vendetta against the British for the loss of his property. However, our informer tells us he is now a man gone mad by his hatred and worsened by his wounds. He recently flogged one of his officers to death over having to retreat from the recent battle with Gabe and Sir Raymond. He is now, I’m told, gone back to his lair, Cayo Hueso, or as some call it Key West. Because of the tricky currents and treacherous reefs on both sides of the channel this has been the perfect hideout. One we’ve th
ought about but not ventured into. But that’s about to change. Our own Lieutenant Hazard knows these waters having participated in…ah…shall we say salvage operations there before the war.”
This brought a chuckle from the group. It was known that the island had been a haven for wreckers at one point and the salvage for the most part was due to the wreckers luring unsuspecting ships onto the coral reefs.
“Now, we know de Lavago is a capable foe, madman or not. So we have to go about this boldly but with the idea of limiting our loss in case the plan doesn’t work.”
Hazard with the help of Bart had hung a large hand drawn chart of Cayo Hueso on the bulkhead.
“Lieutenant Hazard thinks Merlin and SeaWolf can enter the channel here. With only minimal room to maneuver he feels Barracuda, if she’s there we’ll up anchor and travel down the channel and out into open waters on the Gulf side. At this point he could come about and have a broadside waiting when the would-be chasers arrive. But that’s not going to happen. We, that is Warrior and Defiant, will be waiting on him once he clears the channel. Now are there any questions?”
Markham was the first, “What if Barracuda’s not there?”
Nodding his head, Anthony answered the question that was on everyone’s mind. “The attack is to be a dawn attack. However, Lieutenant Hazard with a crew in a long boat will scout out the area before we proceed. We will lie off the coast until the reconnaissance is complete. If everything goes as planned this should be done by midnight which gives Warrior and Defiant time to sail around the Key and be in position by dawn.”
“If he’s not there?” Earl asked.
“I intend to set a trap not unlike the one he laid for Pigeon. The utmost in secrecy in regards to this plan cannot be expressed enough. Bart has already set out rumors we are going out on patrol, Defiant and Merlin to the north and Warrior and SeaWolf to the south. Let’s hope it is believed.”
“Boat ahoy!”
“Merlin.”
The challenge and reply. Gabe had still not gotten use to the fact he now commanded…temporarily commanded, a frigate. Rated as a thirty-two gun ship her main battery consisted of twenty-six twelve pounders with two eighteen pounders on either side of the bow. Her secondary armament was four six pounders. Merlin was one hundred twenty feet long and thirty-four feet wide with a burden of about six hundred tons. Making his way down to his cabin Gabe found Dagan waiting.
“I’m going over to dine at Colonel Manning’s. They are to be taken to Norfolk tomorrow and exchanged.”
Gabe could tell Dagan was taking their leaving hard. “You’ve become quite close with the family haven’t you, uncle,” Gabe said using the name he’d used all his pre-Navy life.
“Aye,” Dagan replied, the hint of a smile on his face at being addressed so.
“Go then, enjoy the evening…nay the entire night but one question before you go. What’s her name?”
Before Gabe could blink Dagan’s hand shot out and put Gabe in a headlock with one hand and tossed his hair with the other. Then just as quickly he was through the cabin door. Stopping suddenly he turned and said, “Betsy.”
The marine sentry standing at the captain’s cabin door, stood at attention, shocked at what he’d just witnessed. What a story he’d have for the mess that evening.
After a quiet meal Colonel Manning made his excuses about some last minute packing to do before they were ready to start their voyage home on the morrow. The servants set about cleaning and packing the dishes as Dagan and Betsy made their way to the swing on the front porch.
A faint breeze drifted in off the Atlantic and there was a quarter moon. Dagan was pleasantly surprised as Betsy nestled in beside him.
“I will miss you,” Dagan said.
For a moment Betsy didn’t say a word; then taking Dagan’s hand said, “And I will miss you. I was a child bride, married at eighteen to the son of the man who owned the plantation next to the Colonel. He was rich, handsome, dashing and fearless and I thought I loved him. What girl wouldn’t? He was made an officer in the Army of Virginia only to die of pneumonia before a shot was ever fired. But it’s since I’ve been here…been with you that I really know what love is. I liked Thomas but I never loved him and I realize that now. But is it over before it begins?” She dabbed with her handkerchief at the tears starting to well up in her eyes.
Putting his arms around Betsy and drawing her close Dagan kissed at the moisture on her cheeks tasting the salty taste of tears. “No, my love, it’s not over that much I promise you. You may have to wait but I’ll come…I promise I’ll come.”
At that moment Dagan knew his words were true. His lips left her face and found her lips for a long, warm passionate kiss. She eased up onto his lap; their bodies crushed together, each feeling the other’s heartbeat against their chest.
“My God, Dagan, I’m in love. I want you. I want you forever.”
“Aye,” Dagan barely whispered, “I want you and soon…soon mind you, you will be mine forever. You just wait.”
“I will Dagan. I promise with all my heart…I’ll wait.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lord Anthony stood on the quarterdeck of Warrior. Small droplets of sweat dripped from his hair running down his neck to his back. Just out of sight of Saint Augustine they intended to come about and head southward. That is of course if no sails were sighted following them.
Buck made his way over and knowing his admiral as he did said, “Questions, doubts, always the what ifs. Don’t you worry, my lord, we’ve covered every possible situation we could.”
Nodding, Anthony replied, “You’re right as usual, Rupert. Let me know when we sight the other ships.”
“Aye, my lord.”
As the admiral ducked into the companionway Bart winked at Captain Buck, “’E always worries but don’t yew’s fret. I’s’ll take care o’ ‘em proper like.”
“Aye,” Buck replied, “I’m counting on it.”
Both knowing Lord Anthony’s biggest worry lay in the fact that Gabe’s Merlin would be the first to encounter Barracuda if in fact she lay in her lair as hoped for. Gabe was a seasoned officer and he’d handle himself well, Buck was sure but an extra prayer wouldn’t be amiss.
It was just after midnight with a faint breeze blowing and a quarter moon shining down on the gentle ocean a mile off Cayo Hueso that Merlin picked up Lieutenant Hazard, Lieutenant Davy and the long boat crew. Once the longboat was brought aboard the orders were given to come about so they could rendezvous with the rest of the squadron who was hove to just out of sight of land.
“She’s there,” an excited Hazard had reported. “Not only is she there but from the number of campfires we spotted I’d say half the crew was ashore.”
“We were close enough to hear their drunken laughter,” Lieutenant Davy interjected, “as well as a few giggles from some of the little huts we could see that sat just at the shadows.”
“Aye,” Hazard confirmed, “and I’m betting there will be more than a few buggers hungover and nursing headaches in the morning from all the drinking and womanizing that seems to be going on.”
“Any sign of her captain?” Gabe asked.
“No, we wouldn’t know what he looked like of course but we didn’t see anyone who was an obvious officer.”
Once the rendezvous was made and Hazard’s report relayed to Lord Anthony, final preparations were gone over and Merlin, with SeaWolf following, would enter the channel at first light. Once Barracuda was in range Merlin would start firing and if SeaWolf could bring her guns to bear she would concentrate her fire on the ship as well. If not, she was to fire on the batteries ashore or other targets of opportunity.
If Barracuda ran for it they’d be waiting and if she didn’t an attempt to enter the channel would be made by Defiant. That failing a force would be sent in boats.
“She’ll run,” Paco volunteered. He had been brought forward due to his knowledge of the anchorage. “Capitaine de Lavago is not such a man to risk his ship or
fight a battle without having the odds in his favor. He will run.”
“Well, I damn well hope so,” Buck had growled, ready to bring the rogue to an accounting.
Lord Anthony then asked the question no one else had, nor was it mentioned in the report by either Hazard or Davy, “Are there any other ships at anchor?”
Hazard’s chin dropped and Davy suddenly looked crestfallen. Finally Hazard spoke, “We didn’t see any others but a smaller ship could have been at anchor to the Gulf side of Barracuda. I didn’t see any mast but as dark as it was I couldn’t be certain. I’m sorry, my lord,” a dejected Hazard said. “I saw the obvious and didn’t try to get past the Barracuda to see if another ship lay alongside.”
“No, you did the right thing,” Anthony said wishing he had the information but trying to salve the young lieutenants sense of failure. Damme, why hadn’t he sent Bart or Dagan along. They would have looked then he’d know what lay ahead, not guess but know.
Gabe straddled his legs and waited for the swell that caused Merlin’s bow to rise to glide past, then raised his glass to peer toward the small island or Key as Gunnells was so apt to correct. “Cayo Hueso is the Dago name. For us it’s Key West,” he’d say.
“Not yet light enough to see anything as of yet,” Gabe said. He had come on deck at dawn as was his custom, shirt half buttoned, coat unbuttoned and hair all mussed.
“Good Lawd, sir,” Lum declared. “One look ’et you’d plum scare dem pirates oudda dey skin. Better let Lum get you a comb.”
“Later,” growled Gabe. Sensing Gabe’s mood Lum backed off.
“Good morning Mr. Jackson, Mr. Gunnells.”
“Morning, captain.”
