Next day late, she was back. “Admiral Nelson’s fleet is ahead of us, also following Villeneuve. You are ordered to join his fleet, the admiral wishes you to fall in astern of the flag.”
When Phillips was pulled back to Reindeer, after spending an hour aboard Nelson’s flagship, he spent more time than that explaining the event to Woods, Rodgers, and Henderson.
“The Admiral is desperate to bring this fellow to a fight, but he doubts it will happen. He says Villeneuve is just not the fighting sort.”
Villeneuve, with his 20 liners, did meet Vice Admiral Calder with 15 of his own off Finisterre in July. In a confused action, in bad weather and outnumbered, Calder took two of Villeneuve’s ships. Villeneuve sailed into A Coruna, in the Galicia province of Spain where he received orders from Bonaparte to try for Brest, France. Bonaparte had not yet given up on an invasion of Britain, hoping to catch the British Channel Fleet off guard, and gain control of the Channel long enough for him to get his invasion forces across. Instead, after receiving these orders from Bonaparte, Villeneuve sailed for Cadiz, Spain.
Nelson took up the blockade of Cadiz. Reindeer was tasked with participating in the close-in blockade. Her job was to observe any preliminary efforts of the fleet to sail. All ships of Nelson’s fleet were in desperate need of maintenance and repair; Reindeer was no exception.
Many of the citizenry of Cadiz had become disillusioned with what was becoming obvious as a French attempt as a takeover of the Iberian Peninsula. Nelson had developed an espionage system among some of the disaffected citizens of Cadiz, and had a fair idea of Villeneuve’s plans; which were, it seemed, to ignore Bonaparte, and stay out of the fray. In addition to their blockading duties, Nelson used his frigates and smaller craft to relay messages, news and the like to various destinations. Nelson, early on, had bought their little schooner into the service, and made her a dispatch vessel, still commanded by Mr. Wiley. Later on, Reindeer, needing some long delayed maintenance, was sent up to Portsmouth. It was not a long stay in port, but long enough to catch up with a little mail, and receive a visit from the Admiralty representative involved with espionage.
Mister Haynes knew all about Sarah Phillip’s ordeal in Paris, and was familiar with her activities there. It seemed the French authorities were also knowledgeable of her, her background, and that of her husband. When she was solvent, after receiving a purse full of gold coin from her husband, she had a habit of going on shopping sprees, buying the latest fashions available in the Parisian shops. After one of these sprees, she had complained to a fashionable well-dressed, man about town, about her monetary difficulties; how difficult it was to obtain the necessary funds from Britain in order for her to maintain a position in Parisian society. The Parisian branch of the money smuggling effort had refused to handle money transfers any longer, feeling it was only a matter of time before the authorities would get wind of the business.
Actually, they already had. One of the pleas for more funds had been found, and with some effort, decoded. The Parisian goldsmith shop had to be shut down, and the proprietor and his employees scattered to the wind. The man-about-town, really a government agent, began squiring her to balls and parties. Money seemed no longer to be an object, and there were no longer embarrassing speeches to listen to about her spending habits. Bills from fashion shops were no longer presented to her. She assumed he new friend was taking care of those boring details.
There were a few flies in the ointment, though. While she had a very busy social life, her two children were demanding more of her time than she was prepared to give. When the eldest contracted measles, she had a problem.
Of course, she could not spend the hours with her sick child that other, more plebian mothers did, but where could she get help to watch the children? Her escort Raoul had answers to most problems, so she took the question to him. The answer seemed simple enough; just hire a few women to provide round-the -clock care. Unfortunately, Sarah’s maids had already spread the word that this handsome young man was a government agent. The government had a very poor reputation among potential care givers, so there were no volunteers. Sarah turned down the few female agents that were assigned to her.
Then a light flashed in Susan’s head. “I have a good friend and neighbor, Charlotte Norris back home. She loves the children. Perhaps I could send the children to her.”
Raoul was dubious. He was not at all sure the authorities would permit sending two important hostages back to England. But, when approached on the matter, there was no objection. In fact, one of his superiors wondered, “You have this woman firmly under your thumb, ‘n’est-ce pas’? Why not send her back too? If she strays, we have enough on her to bring her back to the fold.”
When Raoul floated this new idea though, Sarah was firmly against it. She was having way too much fun here, and was not about to go back to a boring life and a boring husband.
“But, how would we get the children back to England?” Sarah wondered.
“That should not be a problem”, Raoul assured her. “The two governments are frequently exchanging notes. The British are always begging us to send our guests back home. We may now relent, and send your children back with no suspicions. If you are serious about this, write your letter to this woman friend and tell her your plans. It may be better to avoid telling her you are staying here of your own free will.”
CHAPTER TEN
Trafalgar
The Admiralty already had much of this data in its filing cabinets. When the French government suddenly relented and ordered the release of the children, all concerned knew the matter was coming to a head. Phillip’s ship had left port a day before, and there was no feasible way of getting him back soon.
Reindeer took her place again off the coast of Cadiz, remaining there the rest of the summer. Despite repeated orders from Bonaparte, Villeneuve remained in Cadiz, until he learned Bonaparte had lost patience with him, and was about to replace him with another admiral. Villeneuve was well aware he would be called to Paris to account for his disobedience. Then, there was a flurry of activity, and the combined fleet started to sail on October 18th, 1805.
Because of the poor state of training in the fleet, it took a few days before all of his 34 ships of the line were out of the harbor. On the 21st, Villeneuve discovered what he was up against. Nelson had 27 ships of the line, as well as 7 smaller vessels. Thinking he was at a disadvantage, Villeneuve tried to get back into Cadiz, but Nelson caught up with him at Cape Trafalgar.
Reindeer, of course, could not stand in the battle line with the battle ships, but was tasked to remain on the outskirts repeating signals, rendering aid to damaged combatants and rescuing seamen of the various nationalities taking part in the contest. At the end of the fight, she had a hundred more people aboard than at the beginning.
Nelson had disclosed his plans for the battle beforehand. Normally, a battle fleet would form up in line ahead and sail down the line of the enemy, exchanging broadsides along the way. Nelson ordered a drastic change. He organized his fleet into two columns. HMS Victory, flying Nelson’s flag led the windward column, while Vice Admiral Collingwood in the first rate HMS Royal Sovereign commanded the leeward column. The two columns would sail directly at the Franco-Spanish fleet and attempt to break their line, Nelson trying for the center of the French line, and Collingwood aiming more to the rear. This would of course cause confusion among the enemy as well as hopefully breaking their large fleet into smaller, more manageable bits.
An obvious problem presented itself. As the British ships came within range, all the broadside guns of Villeneuve’s fleet could bear, while only the very foremost guns aboard the British ships could be used. Furthermore, any shot coming aboard Nelson’s ships would be ‘raking’ shots; impacting in or near the bows and ranging down the length of the target ship, destroying men, guns and equipment along the way.
Nelson though, felt there were mitigating factors. Many of Villeneuve’s crewmen were untrained. A heavy swell would make careful aim
difficult for the raw French gunners. Breaking the enemy line might well cause the battle to break up into many single ship to ship actions, where the superior training and marksmanship of Nelson’s sailors might cause them to win the day. He therefore judged it feasible to attempt the new strategy.
The leading ships in the two British columns came under intense fire from the French line. Royal Sovereign broke into the line at noon. She had been absorbing heavy shot during her approach, and now was virtually dismasted. Victory was also under intense fire during her approach. She had many casualties and had her ship’s wheel shot away. When she finally penetrated Villeneuve’s line the 100 gun ship opened fire upon her persecutors and began hammering away at Bucentaure, 80 guns, Villeneuve’s flagship. Before Victory could finish off the big third rate; another French liner came along, the Redoutable, 74.
A general free for all started. Victory became entangled with Redoubtable and during the fight, a musket ball fired from her tops struck and fatally wounded Admiral Nelson.
It was about this time that a French frigate, doing much the same work for Villeneuve as Reindeer was doling for Nelson, opened fire at long range and scored a few punishing hits on Reindeer. French and Spanish survivors were hurried below with the wounded, and Reindeer, already cleared for action, went after the Frenchman. At first, the enemy had it his own way, being athwart Reindeer’s bows. She could fire her whole broadside, while Reindeer had no guns that would bear. As with their normal practice however, the enemy frigate fired high deliberately, hoping to bring down important rigging.
Her fire control was as bad as the other ships in the Combined Fleet, and few of her shots did important damage. Most of her fire blasted through Reindeer’s tops, giving minor damage to sails, spars, and rigging. At about three cables distance, Reindeer came around with her port broadside parallel with the other’s starboard one. Lieutenant Woods, the port guns under his overall control, opened fire with a ripple broadside, each gun firing just after its neighbor. This avoided a sudden, jarring impact to the ship’s frame from a simultaneous discharge. The French broadsides were more widely spread out, and little was accomplished by them. The British frigate obtained good hits with probably half its shots. Reindeer was firing three shots to every two of her opponent, in effect giving her a third more weapons. As the battle continued, the French frigate ‘Hortense’, as they learned from her stern board later when she escaped, began slowing her rate of fire as her men tired, and guns were damaged.
Aboard the Reindeer, with all the extra men available, when a gun crewman tired, he could be replaced immediately, so the rate of fire was kept up. With his guns crashing away, Phillips thought it to be a matter of time before Hortense lowered her flag, but at this time, a big French third rate line of battle ship came between the two frigates. By a miracle, no man on either the Reindeer or the 3rd rate pulled a lanyard, and Reindeer escaped without added damage. As the behemoth cleared the field, it was seen the Hortense had put the wind on her quarter, and was making her escape.
While Phillips was debating whether to go after her, the Victory signaled ‘Well done.’ and brought to her attention a cluster of men in the water, clinging to a mast and its attendant rigging. During the remainder of the battle and its aftermath Reindeer continued with the necessary rescue work.
When the storm after the battle brewed up, men of various stages of health were crammed in her like peas in a bag. She was going to the assistance of a dismasted French liner when HMS Agamemnon shouldered her out of the way. She ran up a signal reading, ‘Attend the Flag’. Mister Woods blistered the ears of the signal midshipman who had missed the signal from Victory. The flag signal ordered Reindeer’s captain to report on board Victory.
It was a wet trip in the heavy weather, but Phillips was pulled over to the big first rate and greeted at the entry port by Captain Hardy. He apologized for not inviting him into the great cabin, but with the death of Admiral Nelson, matters were at a stand. This was the first Phillips had heard about the death of his admiral, and he was devastated. Hardy handed Phillips a weighted bag of reports and said it was absolutely necessary these be returned to Britain as soon as possible.
Several important captives would also be sent over. He added that these orders had been seconded by Rear Admiral Collingwood, who now commanded the fleet. Admiral Nelson himself had dictated some of the reports before the battle.
Reindeer was also given many of the fleets badly wounded, and stripped of her surplus crew, and sent on her way back to Britain. She was given an extra surgeon to care for the additional people. Of course, officially, Reindeer did not have a surgeon, only an apothecary listed as surgeon’s mate, since she had left her rated surgeon in an infected fever ship.
On the way back, it became evident that she had one or more sprung planks beneath the waterline. She had had this problem before, but most likely this time the cause was from an enemy ball that had struck the water before plowing on to hit Reindeer’s hull. The ball, losing energy from the water, did not penetrate the hull, but had apparently loosened some fastenings or damaged a plank. These were touchy things to handle, since it was easy to make matters worse. She made Portsmouth pumping all day and night, with a sail fothered under her bottom.
Reindeer’s crew were now working to land all her gear to enable the shipwrights to get at the damage, when an order was handed to him. He and his first lieutenant were to post to London immediately and answer questions from Admiralty officials.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
New Duty
Woods and Phillips exited the conference room with expressions of relief on their faces. Once outside, each satisfied his wants from one of the clamoring street vendors. Phillips took a mighty pull on his pint of porter, a few more gulps finished it, and he was ready for a refill. Woods satisfied himself with a meat pie, but dug into his pockets and pulled out a flat bottle of rum. Waving the bottle at Phillips, he asked if he was interested. His captain shook his head; the porter would serve his needs for now.
“Sir”, began Woods, “I wonder if you could tell me what that was all about?”
The men had been separated upon entering the building, and taken to separate rooms for a detailed questioning. Phillips was grilled over what he may have discussed with his wife, and what she might be talking to French agents about. It seemed the Admiralty was in possession of a coded letter written by Sarah to him; one he had never received. The letter enlarged upon one he had received from her before the expedition to the Caribbean. In this one, she railed at him for not enthusiastically accepting the French offer of a high rank in the French navy. After all, all he would have to do was answer a few questions from their naval officials.
She could testify the reports of cruel treatment by French officials were a complete lie. They had been nothing but complete gentlemen in their treatment of her. She wanted him to know his previous disregard of her feelings and needs could be set aside. He could see his children again. She had been promised; while he would receive a high rank in the French navy, he would never have to go to sea again. He would have a fine office in Paris, and help plan the coming invasion of Britain.
Phillips gave Woods a much edited account of his problems with Sarah. Woods nodded, and said he had gathered something of the sort from the questioning he faced. Woods asked, “In light of your difficulties with your wife, I wonder how you are going to handle the problem?”
“I don’t know what I can do. She is in Paris, I am here. I guess I will all just do my duty.”
“Captain, what is your take on our positions? Do you think we will go out on Reindeer when she sails next, or will we end up back on the beach again?”
Phillips thought a bit. “I doubt you have anything to worry about. Even the most suspicious examiner could find nothing to connect you to my supposed misdeeds. If I were you, in the absence of orders just return to the ship and tend to your duty. I, on the other hand, have been placed on indefinite leave. I do have to return to the board room after lunch
to learn my fate. I understand I will not face a court martial, but I may well never go to sea again.”
When Phillips entered the building an hour later, he waited only a few minutes before he was called. He was led down a familiar corridor to the Secretary’s office. Nepean was sitting behind his desk, fiddling with his quill pen. “Well Captain, what are we to do with you?”
“Sir, I guess whatever you wish.” replied Phillips.
“It occurs to me Captain, that here we have a chance to lead French intelligence right down the primrose path; by their noses, as it were.”
“Mister Secretary, I have not the slightest idea of what you are talking about.”
“Yes, Captain Phillips, I rather doubted you would. I think we will lead our foe into believing that we now have some suspicion of your activities, and wonder what you and your wife are up to. Now, how much does your first officer, or anyone else, know about your difficulties?”
“I did tell him something of my marital difficulties, but did not touch on any problems with intelligence.”
“How would you rate Lieutenant Woods as an officer?”
“Why, I would think he would be capable of handling any task any other lieutenant might be faced with.”
“Hmm. How about comparing him to a commander? Do you think he could handle a position as captain of a small ship?”
“Yes Sir, he has served in command of a gun brig in the Caribbean for several years.”
“Captain Phillips, Woods has been exposed to information that others feel would be better if he were not around to disseminate. An East India convoy is about to depart for India, as soon as the escort is arranged. The French Navy has been obliging enough to supply us with several of their corvettes. The one I am thinking of was not badly beaten up, and has been released by the dockyard. I am prepared to commission her as a sloop of war. Do you think your Mister Woods would be interested in the command?”
Trafalgar and Beyond: A John Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 3) Page 7
