by Jens Kuhn
It was, however, Eric who spotted her after all. And not where they would have expected her to be. As he rose from his position on the thwart, finally having overcome the despair that had paralyzed him, he gazed at the British frigate, still aground, but with the damaged rigging now cleared away and boats being prepared to be lowered over the side in order to row out anchors to be used to haul the ship off the ground.
And a little to the right of the ship a white figure stood waist deep in the water. She looked like a ghost, completely unmoving, arms hanging limp down her sides.
“Oh God! There she is!” Eric screamed.
Anna had barely been conscious when her feet touched the rocks. But the very contact with the solid ground kicked her brain into life again, and she did feel the rocks against her feet, she could move her legs and, finding support, scrambling between strands of seaweed, slipping on wet rock, eventually finding an even surface, she stood there, on a submerged skerry, shivering, but alive, and, vital parts of her body no longer in contact with ice cold water, she was quite a bit farther from death indeed.
When the fishing smack closed the skerry, Anna didn’t even react. She just stood there, until Eric jumped into the water himself and carried her back to the boat. He put her into the cabin and covered her with a dirty blanket, while Tapper tried to get the stove going in order to get the temperature up.
“Eh, sorry, sir, but I think you really should get that dress off her,” Tapper said.
Eric blushed. “I know, I just thought...,” then he realized that Tapper and Anna had been in the sauna together. He snorted. “Ah, well, I guess you have seen it all before...eh...”
“The stove is burning now, sir, so I will leave you to it,” Tapper volunteered, grinning.
As soon as he had left, Eric started to undress the shivering woman. He then removed his own clothes, discarded the filthy blanket and lay down next to her, pulling his boat cloak over them. Wrapping his arms and legs tightly around her, he held her against him, his face buried in her hair and felt the warmth slowly return to her body.
Epilogue
“She never had a chance to save the king in the first place,” Kuhlin explained. He was sitting at his dining table, and so were his wife, bosun Tapper and Karin. Tapper looked into his coffee cup, probably trying to see the bottom in order to verify the right amount of vodka having been added. Karin, her face slightly flushed, tried to behave ladylike, but still couldn’t stop herself from peering at the bosun a little too often.
“He never even got close to Norrköping, do you see,” Kuhlin continued. “He was seized in the very palace itself, even before general Adlersparre and his rebel troops reached the capital. Which probably was a good thing.”
“So there will be no civil war now?” Charlotte asked with relief in her voice.
“No, dear, there will not. The king is securely held at Gripsholm castle and Duke Karl has taken his place for the time being.”
“But what about the Russians?”
Kuhlin frowned. “The war, unfortunately isn’t over...”
“But you don’t have to go back to those cursed gunboats, do you?” his wife asked.
“No, I don’t think so. I’m a commander now, so they will have to give me something bigger. At least a galley, or one of those archipelago frigates.” He smiled. “So I will have a real cabin with a bed and a desk at last. And if I’m lucky I will be allowed to choose my own bosun.” He winked at Tapper.
The bosun blushed, hastily taking a gulp of his coffee to disguise it.
“I know, Eric,” Anna said softly, her hand stroking his back as they lay next to each other, once again in blissful solitude at Eric’s estate.
Of course it all had been a stupid idea. She knew that. Perhaps had known it all along. But she really didn’t have a chance, did she? And Eric had saved her life once again. She wondered what would happen to captain Baker. He was such a nice man, and it would be a pity if he would get punished for what was essentially her fault.
“Anna?” Eric asked, then hesitated. “Why did you feel so strongly about helping the king?”
Anna’s body tensed for a moment, then relaxed again. She sighed.
“You don’t need to tell me....” Eric already regretted having asked. He didn’t want to pry into her past or her motives. Not really. But the question had intrigued him nonetheless.
She raised her head and smiled at him. “It’s all right, dear. It’s just...I don’t really know. It might be that when I am getting into something, I commit myself really hard. I just must follow it through...”
“Oh.”
She looked into his eyes. “I always follow my instincts, Eric. I can’t explain why I am acting like I am – not even to myself.”
He lifted his hands to her face and took it between them. Then he kissed her softly.
“I think, perhaps, that is what makes you so attractive.”
“You think?” she said, her voice throaty.
“Yes,” he whispered, resuming his kiss more deeply.
Afterword
This novel is a work of fiction, and it is so to a much higher degree than its prequel, Gunboat Number 14. This needs, perhaps, to be said mostly in defense of poor captain Baker. He did indeed command HMS Tartar in the Baltic at the time, but there is no evidence he ever disregarded his duty or became besotted with a voluptuous Swedish spy. HMS Tartar never became trapped in the ice either.
The Swedish king, Gustavus IV Adolphus, was indeed removed from his throne in March 1809. There were rebel troops on their way and civil war could have been the result if not a group of seven officers, lead by Carl Johan Adlercreutz had acted so swiftly.
Gustavus IV Adolphus was held at Gripsholm castle during the rest of 1809, until he was exiled to Germany. He left Sweden on Christmas Eve, aboard our friend, the frigate Camilla.
Camilla was of course never off Norrköping either, there being no king to rescue or British intervention to prevent. She was, however, one of Sweden’s most famous frigates ever, a very special design much of which later was imitated by other nations.
Other details I have tried to describe as accurately as possible. Beckens inn really was used by conspirators at the time and there were public bathing houses like the one where Karin works. There were girls like her, too.
As for the weather, the winter of 1809 was a cold one with lots of snow and ice, as was the winter of 2010, when this novel was written.
The Finnish war itself did not end until September 17. There were, however, no more major battles at sea, the fighting mostly taking place in the north of Sweden.
Sweden lost the war and the possession of Finland. As a consequence of the peace treaty, Sweden also turned against Britain, closing its ports to British shipping and formally declaring war. The new Swedish line of kings eventually became French, the Bernadottes, who still remain today.
About the prequel
Gunboat Number 14
It’s 1808 and Sweden is at war with Russia. The war is not going well. On land, the Swedish army is retreating continuously and all that stands between the Russians and the Swedish mainland are the gunboats of the inshore fleet. The sea war amongst the islands of the Finnish and Swedish archipelagos is a special kind of war, fought in open boats by badly equipped men without proper training. Fighting the weather as much as the Russians, Lieutenant Johan Kuhlin commands a small squadron of three gunboats on special duty. During the short and wet summer, he learns that an independent command isn’t all glory and that spies can be more dangerous than Russian guns.
Reader’s comments from the blog:
“I loved his book, Gunboat Number 14 - check it out - I dare you not to adore the lovely Anna, and will fight you if you don’t.”
“If you liked Patrick O’Brian’s naval war stories, but wished there was a little more sex sprinkled through them, Gunboat # 14 is the book for you.”
Table of Contents
Miss Anna's Frigate
Jens Kuhn, Miss Anna's Frigate
