Richard Testrake - (Sea Command 2)
Page 18
Andrews had voiced his misgiving to Lieutenant Wilkins, commanding Ferret. Since Andrews had gained his commission a few months before Wilkins, he was senior, so when Leviathan was lost to sight in the storm, he was able to signal Ferret to go on the port tack.
While this was not the probable course to intercept the third-rate, it would appear believable in the brig’s log. When the visibility returned, Leviathan was no longer in sight.
By the time the brigs reached Gibraltar, Mullins was in fine health. His pain was greatly reduced and he no longer was required to take the laudanum. His only difficulty was learning how to stump around on the crutches the ship’s carpenter had made for him.
His thigh had been bound up with splints and his leg muscles had shrunk. He was beginning to despair of ever walking normally again. Suffering from melancholia, he wrote his feelings in a letter to Mrs. Cooper. This lady, in her capacity as the head housekeeper of the London house, had often given him valuable advice as a child, and in his despair he reached out to her now.
Of course, at sea here in the Mediterranean, the letter could not be posted, but it was put into the mailbag so it would be ready when the ship made port again. With the entry into Gibraltar harbor, Mullins was set ashore, as was the mailbag. The mailbag was immediately placed in the mail packet soon to depart, but Captain Mullins was taken in hand by the garrison surgeon, who wished to see what he could do for Mullin’s melancholia.
Fortunately, Mullin’s leg had mended to the extent that any idea of amputation was ridiculous, but this surgeon did not have the belief that many others did, that required a patient to remain in bed until completely cured. He required his patient to spend increasing amounts of time every day walking about on his crutches. At first, extremely painful, the exercise soon improved his mental status, and as the muscle tone returned, the pain lessened.
Soon he was able to put the crutches down and walk around on his own feet. The day came when HMS Lively came in, on her way to Portsmouth. Calling on her captain, he found that Lively was short an officer, and if Mullins was not too proud to live in the wardroom with the ship’s officers and perhaps stand a watch occasionally, he would be welcome aboard on the voyage to Portsmouth.
The Lively anchored in Spithead and Mullins persuaded the master of a victualler to take him to Portsmouth. There he made his manners with the port admiral by calling on him. The port admiral was not present, but his flag lieutenant produced a letter that had been posted in care of that office.
It was a letter from Mrs. Cooper in reply to his own, written several months before. In it, she mentioned that her cousin Agnes, in service for retired Admiral Davis, had been able to learn from him that Lively was expected to call in Gibraltar soon, bound for Spithead. She was told the possibility existed that Captain Mullins might well take this opportunity to sail to Portsmouth in her. Therefore, she had addressed this letter to that official and hoped to see Captain Mullins shortly.
She would borrow the Whitbread’s coach, a marvelously well-sprung vehicle to carry him home in more comfort that he could expect from the mail coach. She and her companion would stay at the Sign of the Bull and Bear.
Mullins was not pleased to hear this. He felt himself perfectly able to make the trip in the mail coach and besides, Saul Whitbread had been trying to convince him ever since he had gained his first command to take his twelve-year-old grandson on as midshipman.
The vessels Mullins had previously commanded had very limited accommodations for midshipmen and Mullins wished to take only older ones who had gained a modicum of knowledge. By traveling in Whitbread’s coach, Mullins would owe the man a favor, which he would probably have to repay by taking on the useless boy.
The frustrated captain hired a cabriolet to the Bull and Bear on the outskirts of town. Finding from the proprietor that Mrs. Cooper was indeed in the building, Mullins sent up word that he had arrived. Judging he had a long wait, he bought a quart of porter.
He was astonished when Mrs. Cooper came down the stairs with Miss Doris Walker almost immediately. No longer girlish, as she may have appeared in their earlier acquaintance, Doris now seemed to be a lovely young woman in a most fetching gown, showing off a bit more bodice than Mullins might have wished a woman friend to display in public.
Upon boarding the coach, somehow Doris was placed at his side. This promised to be a very short journey.
To be continued:
Additional works available
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War at Sea Series in Kindle e-book format
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Across to America, print version available
Ships of Oak, Men of Iron (print version available)
Thunder on the Sea (print version available)
Sea Command Series in Kindle and print
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On to Berlin Series in Kindle and print
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