Richard Testrake - (Sea Command 2)

by Richard Testrake

  By raising his voice to what others might believe to impolite levels, Mullins was able to secure the release of all of these men and returned to Valkyrie to supervise its preparation for sailing.

  Throngs of men were coming through the entry port, and being put to work right away. With no time available for careful selection, officers were sent willy-nilly from the the Admiralty and sent off to Valkyrie. Extra men were sent, in case circumstances might arise where they would be needed. As for seamen, every ship in port not immediately ready to sail, was stripped of some of its hands and these were sent to Valkyrie. It was a ship crewed by strangers that slipped her mooring and made her way out to sea.

  Thanks to the reports of Mister Adolphus and Master’s mate Gainer, Mullins knew his quarry was on her way to Stockholm. Perhaps they could catch her on her way, otherwise, they must hope to find her on her return. Mullins had no great expectations concerning this latter course. With as much trouble as this rogue captain already had on his hands, it might be expected that he give his ship to the Swedes or the Russians and seek refuge in the North. He wished very much to bring back the madman who had stolen his men.

  On their way up the Dutch coast, the lookouts reported a brigantine under sail, coming toward them, flying British colors over French. Mullins intended to ignore the sighting, judging his mission to have precedence over anything else. The brigantine was headed straight toward them though, flying the signal ‘Request Assistance’ so he decided to see what was needed. He was astonished, examining the vessel through his glass, to see the white head of Mister Ralston on its quarterdeck. He came alongside and questioned his old sailing master by speaking trumpet.

  Ralston reported Felicia had taken this brigantine two days before, as the frigate peered about the coast. Ralston said Captain Peebles, while seemingly starkly mad, sometimes had a bit of lucidity and could appear almost normal. Since Peebles had learned of the escape, instead of hurrying toward the Baltic, as had been expected, he had been hunting prizes along the coast of the Low Countries. This was strange behavior, even for one such as the fugitive captain.

  Ralston reported, immediately after the escape of the hands in the launch, Peebles had been in a murderous rage that suddenly evaporated. After taking this prize, he had given it to Ralston, even though the day before, he had been threatening to have to have the master seized to a grating and flogged to death.

  Mullins had little confidence in his present first officer. This man had not served afloat in a decade, and much of his knowledge of ship handling had been forgotten. He had only been taken aboard because of the emergency. Because of his long service though, he by virtue of his seniority, became first officer. He sent this Lieutenant Wilkins over to the prize to take her in, carrying Mister Ralston’s report. Wilkins was thrilled to have a command, however temporary.

  Captain Mullins wanted to take Ralston on the voyage with him, but he already had a senior sailing master and wished to avoid any unnecessary conflict between the two. To avert trouble, he gave Ralston an acting appointment as lieutenant and made him his first officer.

  Of course, he had two additional commissioned officers on board who could make some noise over their displacement in the chain of command. These were newly commissioned officers, although just a few months ago, they had both been mere midshipmen, who were now acting as second and third lieutenants. As such, they were both of them senior to Acting Lieutenant Ralston. He discussed matters with them, assuring them he would give them good reports when they left the ship after the cruise and it would not be profitable for them to cause any difficulty over their nominal seniority over Ralston.

  With prospects of command of future prizes likely, both officers opted to accept their lot and hope for future plums to fall their way.

  Valkyrie continued northward, coming to the northernmost of the Frisian Islands. Nothing concerning the Felicia had been sighted since her prize was recovered and captain and crew were becoming discouraged. Mullins and Ralston spent the time while searching, training the crew in their own ways of doing things.

  Most of the men on board were skilled seamen but there was always something to learn. Gunnery practice and sail drill were now everyday duties. Ralston said Captain Peebles could not abide gunnery practice. He demanded clean, unscarred decks, which were difficult to maintain under constant use of the guns.

  A week later, a ship’s boat was sighted, loaded with men. As they closed, some of the men were seen to be badly injured, a few with dangerous burns. Taken aboard, the men were discovered to be seamen of this North Frisian coast who had been crewing a brig loaded with a cargo of Baltic tar.

  Felicia had run down the brig and boarded her. Apparently deciding not to send her in, Captain Peebles fired the brig with her crew still on board. Unwilling to be a party to murder though, the boarding party on the prize had braved Peebles’ ire and left them a boat, saving most of the crew.

  This had happened only a day before, so Valkyrie was closing in on the pirate. After explaining their mission to the rescued seamen, Mullins asked if any would like to volunteer for service in the Royal Navy, rather than go to the hulks as prisoners. All of the uninjured seamen volunteered, saying they would be happy to help to send this pirate captain to the gallows.

  Acting Lieutenant Ralston and Sailing Master Granger had their differences, both being seamen of great experience each with his own ways. Both however, agreed navigating these islands was delicate business and one must keep an eye on the charts as well as the lead.

  The ship was sailing slowly up the chain of islands in patches of fog and sometimes rain. Since early morning, guns were heard in the distance ahead. At first, it was thought they might be from several ships firing guns in the fog to let each other know of their position.

  Then, several broadsides were heard, followed by single shots at intervals. It sounded as though someone was in trouble.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was late in the day when Valkyrie sighted the combatants. Felicia had run aground on a sandy shoal and a thirty-two-gun French frigate was pounding the very snot out of her. Felicia’s masts were down but she still had a few guns keeping up their fire against the Frenchman. Her enemy was not unscathed. Through his glass, Mullins could see the shattered holes in her sides. She had lost the tops of both fore and main, and many of her gun ports were empty.

  Ordinarily, Mullins would probably not have engaged this nominally superior frigate. In this case though, Felicia had punished her enough that he felt he had an excellent chance. As soon as the enemy frigate spotted Valkyrie, she stood away from her victim and came for the new foe.

  Mullins ordered his people to clear for action, and the ship became a perfect beehive as the ship was cleared from stem to stern. As the ship closed the enemy, Mullins took time to walk among the men, explaining his plans to them. He assured the men he had taken many enemy ships before and this would not be the last.

  As the ships closed, the Frenchman had no sooner turned to present his broadside, then Valkyrie did the same. Both ships opened at the same moment. The gun crews on the enemy ship certainly had enough practice beating on the Felicia and her guns were larger, twelve pounders, as against nines on Valkyrie. However, Felicia had put a number of those guns out of action so she now had only eleven guns operable on the broadside presented toward Valkyrie.The remainder of her guns were either disabled or without crews.

  Valkyrie also had eleven smaller guns facing the enemy, but she had more men. The enemy had been losing men all day in a running battle with Felicia, her tiring men were crewing many guns at half strength.

  Both ships lost a few men with the opening discharges, but no important equipment was lost on either ship. With her extra people, Valkyrie was able to keep seamen aloft to tend to rigging and ease the ship ahead of her enemy, while still maintaining a vigorous fire. It soon became evident that the British sloop was able to maintain a steady fire of three rounds for every two fired by the enemy. This, in effect, gave her the ad
vantage of several more guns, an advantage that increased as the French ship lost more guns to her enemy’s fire.

  Of equal importance was the state of Valkyrie’s rigging. Being in perfect condition, with adequate men aloft to maintain its status, the ship was able to out-maneuver her crippled opponent.

  The wind had been pushing Valkyrie down upon the enemy, and the Frenchman could not evade this since that ship was close on the shallows that had trapped Felicia. With her undamaged sails and rigging, the ship-sloop was able to range ahead of the enemy and now began to cut across her bow. Close in like this, the enemy frigate’s after guns could no longer bear, while all of Valkyrie’s could continue punishing her opponent.

  Damage increased on the enemy, especially in her bow, As Valkyrie cut across that bow, the enemy suffered a raking that effectively won the battle for her opponent. The foremast came down and the main was leaning over the side, held only by a few shrouds.

  Before Valkyrie could load and fire again, the tricolor came down and the fight ended. There had been few casualties aboard Mullin’s ship and he was able to send his entire Marine detachment to the captured frigate to hold her while he investigated Felicia.

  During her brief respite, Felicia had managed to load an anchor aboard her launch and carry it out ahead of the ship into deeper water. With every available hand at the capstan, Felicia was slowly being kedged off the sandbar. The crew was pulling the frigate off the sandbar into deeper water solely with their own muscle. Captain Peebles was on the quarterdeck, waving his hat in glee at the defeat of his enemy. Mullins had not wished for an assault upon Felicia, which would pit Briton against Briton, many of whom, on the Felicea, he had sailed with. Seeing Peebles on deck in a good mood, Mullins directed his signal officer to fly a signal inviting Captain Peebles to dinner.

  To his amazement, Peebles accepted and was soon on his way over in his frigate’s jolly boat, the only other surviving the battle, besides the launch still assisting in extricating Felicia from her grounding.

  Mullins met the laughing Peebles at the entry port. There was not the welcoming ceremony usually given to ship captains. The wayward captain was immediately taken into custody and led, protesting loudly, below to the wardroom, where he was shackled and left in the care of a pair of seamen.

  The possibility of getting the two badly damaged frigates to port had to be explored. Felicia seemed to be beyond repair, but Mullins knew he would have to explain her abandonment, if that was what he chose. Even though she would likely go to the breaker’s yard, he knew it was necessary to make a sincere attempt to bring her back.

  The French prize was not quite in such a desperate condition. Her tops were gone, as was her foremast, and her rigging a horror, with great holes smashed in her sides. But, she floated, and barring bad weather, there was a good probability she could be under sail soon.

  Felicia had lost many men killed and wounded in her fight with the Frenchman, but Mullins had extra men and officers on Valkyrie, so all hands were put to work. There seemed to be little point in rigging jury masts on the wreck of Felicia, so it was determined to expend their greatest efforts on the prize. Slowly making their way through the shoal waters, Felicia was towed to the leeward side of an un-named island in the group where repairs began.

  The work on Felicia consisted mainly of making her as water tight as could be managed. The prize, the former French national frigate Junon, was in better condition, and could be put into condition to sail more quickly. Many of the French crewmembers, worked with their former foes getting the ship seaworthy. There was always the danger of a North Sea storm brewing up and endangering both British and French sailors. In these dangerous waters, it behooved the seamen of both countries to ensure the safety of the ship before resuming their conflict.

  In two days, after non-stop work, it was judged the little fleet could set out. Junon was larger so she would tow Felicia. The little fleet set out for home.

  Portsmouth was nearly empty when they arrived. Almost every ship that would swim was now out searching for Felicia. Valkyrie signaled success as soon as she entered harbor and Mullins was ordered to report aboard the flag. After handing over the relevant logs and ledgers and making his verbal report, a launch from the flag came to Valkyrie to take custody of Captain Peebles. Peebles seemed nonchalant as he was taken away, as if the chains on his body were mere ornaments.

  As Mullins suspected, the dockyard authorities despaired of repairing the wreck of Felicia, but the Junon was a different story. Lieutenant Danton, once freed from his tiny prison, had taken much of the responsibility in repairing Junon and Mullins had given him command of the prize.

  The pair of junior officers aboard Valkyrie were sent to Junon to assist Danton, where they both performed admirably. A great deal of work had been done on the voyage home, and she made an impressive sight riding at anchor. It was anticipated she would soon be at sea, the latest member of the Royal Navy.

  Valkyrie needed to have her crew sorted out. Much had occurred in recent months, with many of her old crew injured or killed on the Felicia. Too, many of her present crew had been almost forcefully taken from their parent ships to enable Valkyrie to sail quickly in search of the fugitive ship. Their former captains were now vigorously insisting on the return of their men.

  Every day ship’s boats were coming and going, transferring men about, often with some trading happening. Eventually, matters were arranged, although not to everyone’s liking. Mullins lost his old sailing master. Acting Lieutenant Ralston had his commission confirmed and was now Lieutenant Ralston. He would go on the beach until assigned to another ship.

  Mister Reynolds, although very junior, took over as first officer, while Mister Haynes, one of the two junior officers who had been carried on the search, resumed his place as second officer. Mister Granger, who had replaced Mister Ralston, would continue on as sailing master.

  Mister Adolphus, though again offered a berth aboard the flag, requested to stay aboard, and few would deny him.

  The Navy had by now determined Valkyrie was long past due to resume her duties, so with little notice, she was dispatched for duty with the Channel Fleet. She slipped her mooring at first light and was on her way with no fanfare.

  Chapter Seventeen

  HMS Valkyrie was assigned to the Inner Squadron blockading LeHavre. Along with some small fry, consisting of the cutter Glowworm, the brig Terrier and another sloop-of-war, HMS Savage, she was to control any movement of shipping along this coast. It was dangerous work in bad weather, since an on-shore gale could put a ship on the rocks in the blink of an eye.

  No fat prizes would be encountered here. Most of the traffic consisted of small coasters trying their luck escaping the scrutiny of the blockading fleet. Occasionally, larger ships from the French sugar islands might try for port here, but these would likely be intercepted by the ships farther out.

  Still, this was worthwhile duty. It was not profitable for the French to send merchandise to coastal areas by road. It was simply too slow and expensive. Even a small coaster could carry more than a whole train of wagons. The question was, how to evade the blockade? Most masters chose to wait in small, defended harbors for a stormy night, when the predators might have more on their minds than their prey.

  Many of these small craft took days to reach their intended ports, dodging from one cove to another, hoping the defensive batteries would keep the blockading craft at bay. Of course, there were always those daring captains of the blockading ships who sent landing parties in to cut out moored small craft or even attack the batteries.

  Captain Mullins had been waiting for such an opportunity. Glowworm’s captain, Lieutenant Bryant, had recently chased a coaster into a small defended cove. There were three other small craft in that same inlet, awaiting their chance to continue their journey. Mullins’ difficulty arose with the captain of HMS Savage. Commander Fisher was a rather ancient man of fifty or so. He had received his promotion years ago but had promptly been sent to the beac
h. At sea now, after a hiatus of many years, he wished to do nothing that might get him sent ashore again. He wished desperately to be promoted to post, and he must be at sea to do that.

  Since Fisher was the senior captain present, he was in command of these ships. Until recently, a post captain had been in command, but Captain Hardesty had been compelled to take his well-worn frigate to port for needed maintenance. Until he returned, the timid Fisher was the man to convince.

  Mullins had spent a few hours on HMS Savage attempting to do just that. He thought, by emphasizing the chance of promotion to Fisher, the man might stiffen his spine. In the end though, Fisher agonized over the chances for failure and decided against any dangerous actions ashore.

  The small fleet continued their over watch, with Savage remaining well offshore. One night though, a blinding squall sent Savage into shoal waters while an inexperienced officer had the deck. She scraped a submerged rock and sprung a plank, requiring the outraged Captain Fisher to take his sloop to port.

  For the time being, Mullins was the senior officer and he made the most of it. One of the small craft bottled up in the cove had taken a chance and successfully escaped, but three others were still present. Over the previous days, all of the other officers in the inshore fleet had discussed ways and means of taking the coasters. Most of the ideas required cutting-out parties in ship’s boats to come into the anchorage and board the vessels in the face of the battery of four guns that guarded the anchorage.

  Mullins had taken a few coastal batteries before and wished to take this one. The night before the plan was to go into effect, he invited the captains to his ship for a council. He explained to all how he wished the attack to go.

  Estimating perhaps fifty men, at most, that might be manning the battery, he would use his own men to take that. Men from the Terrier and Glowworm would take the three coasters. The crews of the coasters would be allowed to escape ashore in their own boats and the prizes would set sail, escorted out by Terrier.