HMS Vigilant: A Charles Mullins Novel (Sea Command Book 5)

by Richard Testrake

  A few Italian crew members of the tartane volunteered to serve in the Royal Navy but the crew of the French national brig refused. Its crew was held under guard, divided between the three vessels. With the loss of many of Vigilant’s crew to man the prizes, the flotilla made for Malta to make arrangements for the captured vessels.

  Vigilant lay moored in Valetta harbor for days awaiting disposition of the prizes. Unfortunately, there would be a long delay before the prizes could be adjudicated and Mullins decided to send both to Gibraltar. He had not done this previously since he did not wish to deplete Vigilant’s crew by sending away men in the prizes that he might never see again.

  There was in harbor though, an old fourth-rate sent in by Commander, Mediterranean Fleet. Her keel warped and frames strained, she had been sent in for emergency repairs, but with little suitable timber available, it was decided to land her men and use her as a store ship. Mullins was offered some of her hands and took aboard Vigilant four seasoned midshipmen and twenty-five seamen. He was relieved to turn over his prisoners to the military authorities.

  Quarters would be cramped aboard Vigilant with all of these extra men but he intended to use them to man prizes taken while in the eastern Med. As soon as his present prizes were provisioned, he intended to use some of these men to sail the captured tartane and brig to Gibraltar. A few of Vigilant’s crew had occasion to go aboard the prizes and brought back positive reports to their mates on Vigilant.

  The tartane was heavily laden with brimstone, a necessary component of gunpowder. A most valuable prize. The brig, a French national ship of war, had not been heavily damaged during the course of her capture and it was thought she would be bought into service with the Royal Navy at a good price.

  When news of the windfall coming to the crew of Vigilant reached the waterfront, an embarrassing number of Maltese seamen lined up on shore asking to sail on Vigilant. Mullins put two senior midshipmen in command of the prizes and selected a pair of bosuns’ mates to second them. He gave each a crew of three British seamen, with a few of the Maltese recruits to assist. When the frigate led the prizes to sea, Vigilant was still blessed with a full complement of hands, while the prizes were, at least, adequately manned to reach Gibraltar.

  After separating from her prizes, Vigilant made her way northeasterly into the Ionean Sea, following the Ottoman Greek coastline up into the Adriatic. The mainland here was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, but some of the offshore islands, formerly part of Republic of Venice territory, had been absorbed into the French Empire after the conquest of Venice. For a time, the Russians occupied these islands during their war with France, but after they reconciled with Bonaparte, the territory was ceded back to France.

  Now, according to the report from Admiralty headquarters, French forces were now re-occupying the islands. It would be Captain Mullin’s duty to determine what islands were being occupied and decide the force. While sailing past the Dalmatian coast, a pair of craft were overtaken. The larger one was ship-rigged, and was identified as a former Venetian frigate by an Italian crewmember. Now flying the tricolor, it was accompanied by another of the ubiquitous French brigs that were used mainly for escort purposes. The frigate seemed to have some of her guns removed and was now being used as a troop transport. Her decks swarmed with hundreds of men in their blue uniforms, brandishing their muskets.

  The wind being westerly, the ships were on a lee shore. HMS Vigilant came up to windward, crowding the ships in closer to the coast. An Ottoman battery on a promontory fired off a warning salvo. The shot fell short of the target by several cable lengths. Since a nation’s sea boundaries were judged to be within the area dominated by its batteries, Mullins judged he was still in international waters and within his rights to fire on the enemy.

  Gunner Jones, accompanied by the surgeon, took this opportunity to come before the captain, asking to resume his duties as gunner. A questioning look from Mullins to the doctor got the report that the gunner was now in a condition to return to his duties. A nod from the captain sent Jones scrambling to his post in the magazine.

  A quiet word to the helmsmen sent the ship edging toward the enemy ships. The enemy transport frigate remained silent, but the brig fired off her broadside. Two of the eight-pound balls struck home, one making a harmless notch in the main mast, the other narrowly missing the forward starboard carronade but neatly removing the lower leg of a gun-crew member.

  Mister Hakes, catching Captain Mullins eye, ordered the starboard broadside to fire. The crippled seaman was avenged when a dozen balls slammed into the little brig. Her main topmast was injured and the brig’s crew was hard at work getting sail off when it fell, sending many of those seamen into the water.

  Much of its canvas down, the brig lost way rapidly and was in dire danger of another broadside, but Mullins opted to leave the wounded brig behind and concentrate on the frigate. The two ships had passed the Ottoman battery by now and the transport captain decided to try sailing closer to the coast. This was an unfortunate decision for him since that former Venetian frigate ran onto some rocks just slightly below the surface. Her bottom ripped out, the transport was left helpless in the seas.

  With waves breaking over the stranded ship, there was little that could be done for the victims. On board the wreck, men could be seen lowering boats, but there were not nearly enough boats for the men it had on board. The inexperienced, panicking soldiers soon overturned most of the few boats that were launched. Others tried to lower rafts into the water but they too soon broke apart. It was then a troop of Ottoman cavalry was seen riding to the coast by the wreck.

  The first officer, standing beside his captain on the quarterdeck, wondered whether these Ottoman troops were friendly to the French.

  “Mister Heyward, your guess is as good as mine. The Turks are still fighting the Russians while those Russians have made peace with Napoleon. We noted earlier the Turkish battery was firing at the French ships, so that may tell us something. At any rate, there is nothing we can do for those men so we will note the circumstances in the log and be on our way.”

  Continuing up the Adriatic, Vigilant came to the island of Corfu. A heavy French frigate of 38-guns was seen patrolling the waters and a small convoy was seen unloading at a port on the eastern side of the island. Mullins gave some thought to attacking the enemy frigate but the presence of several armed escorts that could assist the enemy frigate caused him to order the ship to continue her northward course.

  The next island Vigilant approached was Lissa. Like Corfu, this was also former Venetian Republic territory, previously conquered by Bonaparte. Its few inhabitants seemed to be mostly fishermen, sailing their lateen-rigged boats to net the sardines prevalent in these seas. Vigilant met some of these fishermen the day she sailed past the island. Approaching a headland, the sound of gun-fire was heard close by. Rounding the headland, a French-flagged corvette was seen cruising under tops’ls, firing deliberately at a group of fishing boats fleeing into shallow waters.

  One of Vigilant’s crewmen, coming aboard from a prize taken earlier in the cruise, had formerly served in the Venetian Navy and Mullins had him come aft to offer advice on the local situation. The seaman, known as Benito, had an imperfect command of English, but Mullins understood the seaman to say some French captains routinely committed atrocities against civilian fishing craft such as these falkusa boats. He doubted if a single firearm was aboard any of the fleeing boats and the only purpose of the bombardment was gunnery practice.

  The corvette was intent on her practice and succeeded in striking one of the open boats with an eight-pound ball. The stern of the falkusa was destroyed and half her crew was either killed or disabled. The crew of the corvette, intent on their practice, failed to see the frigate until Vigilant’s crew was well into their drill of clearing for action. Mister Jones was seen stamping along the deck checking every gun, berating one crew when he found there was no match for that gun’s linstock.

  Chapter Six

  Des
pite her surprise, the corvette fired first, her guns already manned and loaded. The first shots, fired from long range, did little damage, with one ball clipping a few shroud lines and another smacking into the ship’s starboard beam right aft of the fore-chains. The heavy oaken scantlings prevented the ball from penetrating but Quigley, the carpenter, making his report, said a plank would need to be replaced at the first opportunity. The plank had been struck near the frame to which it had been attached. The plank was fractured at the point of impact and the underlying frame was also damaged. For now, he was covering the area with planks and battens.

  Vigilant deliberately closed on the corvette. The French ship had backed her tops’ls while she was exercising her guns, firing at the open fishing boats. Now, she needed to get way on the ship to avoid the oncoming British frigate. By this time, the captain of the corvette was aware his small ship had no business engaging a thirty-two-gun frigate. Vigilant’s guns were coming out now and the enemy frigate was putting about. The first British broadside caught the little corvette smartly in her own starboard quarter, a point where she had few guns that would bear.

  These shots sorely wounded the little ship and several of her ports were beaten in. Now unable to come about, the corvette had to take her punishment as her seamen tried to make repairs. The enemy captain did manage to get several of his guns to bear and fire, but it was to no avail.

  Vigilant was systematically raining ruin on the enemy ship which was unable to cope with the repairs. Soon, men on the enemy deck were seen to begin running below to escape the fusillade and the end was in sight.

  The flight of men was contagious and soon there was no one on the enemy deck that would obey their captain. When that officer decided to pull down his colors, he had to slash the halyard himself.

  The fishermen in the open boats now considered the tables were turned. There were now enemy sailors in the water and while the fishermen had no firearms, they did have knives. Their own people had been barbarously slaughtered by the corvette’s gunfire. Now it was the fishermen’s turn. Each French seaman pulled into a boat faced the knives of their former victims. Some were lucky, dispatched quickly by a slash across the throat. Others found themselves eviscerated and thrown back overboard.

  The British frigate closed on the surrendered corvette, boarders dropping on her decks to prevent the boatmen from enacting their vengeance there. There were some clenched fists and bloodied knives waved as the angry boatmen returned to their island, angry at being deprived of their justice. The living were removed from the corvette then she was set afire. Mullins thought she was not worth sending back considering all of her damage. After Vigilant had pulled away from the wreck, some boats began coming back, possibly with a view toward salvage, but the corvette’s magazine exploded before any of the boats could get close. The corvette disintegrated in a burst of fire and smoke, with parts coming down in a large radius.

  Vigilant continued northward for a day, finding nothing, then returning. A small flotilla of French ships now was anchored near the site of the previous action. Boats were in the water and it was apparent an invasion was in progress. Most of the ships were transports of one kind or another and swarms of soldiers were loading into boats. Another ship appeared to be a horse transport while another was unloading guns on field carriages into boats. A pair of gunboats were present to provide support to the landing force.

  Again, Vigilant appeared on the scene to an unsuspecting enemy. Sailing into the unloading fleet unchallenged, she ran down a boat laden with troops, even as she opened fire on one of the gunboats. These boats were large, open, gaff-rigged craft, with a pair of eight-pounder guns up forward. Unable to maneuver well, the first boat went down almost immediately. Pulled below the surface by the weight of the two heavy guns, its crew spilled out into the sea. One of the troop-carrying landing boats tried to recover the struggling boat crew but another broadside killed that boat, leaving more men struggling in the seas.

  Mister Howard called to his captain. “You may want to train your glass on shore, sir. We have an audience.”

  Taking the advice of his third officer, Mullins focused his glass on shore. There, a mob of people were beside themselves with joy. They were too far away to be heard but they could be seen waving and jumping with excitement. A few days ago, they had been upset to see their enemy rescued from the retribution due them, but today they were seeing vengeance being visited upon the enemy in abundance.

  The second gunboat was being pulled through the waters filled with struggling men. At first, Mullins, thinking the gunboat was intent on rescue, held off firing, but as soon as he saw the first blossom of smoke emerge from its port gun, he ordered his own broadside to fire. The gunboat was dead before it could fire its second shot. These boats were really too light for their intended use. The lightly constructed craft came apart upon being struck by a couple of well-aimed shot.

  The horse-transport and the transport carrying the expedition’s guns cut their anchor cables and attempted to escape together. Leaving the remaining landing craft, Mullins ordered the frigate after the pair of escaping ships. He felt the remaining troops would have a difficult time prevailing against the enraged people onshore.

  The horse transport was the first to be overtaken. This was an un-weatherly old ship, long past the time it should have been sent to the breakers yard. Her captain gave it up as soon as Vigilant came alongside with her guns run out. Thinking this vessel might require more skill than the average midshipman might have, to make port safely, he sent over Mister Heyward to command the prize. In his years in the navy, the first officer had experienced almost any problem that might arrive. Hopefully this old ship loaded with horses would not offer any new difficulty. Given orders to take the ship to Malta, Heyward doffed his hat in acknowledgement and salute.

  The transport burdened with the artillery for the disrupted invasion was next. Unlike the horse transport, this was a relatively new ship, still in good condition. She was heavily laden though and had few crewmen. Unable to stay ahead of Vigilant in the increasing seas, she too backed her tops’ls and allowed the frigate to come alongside. Mister Howard took a boarding party to the transport and boarded.

  Reporting from the after rail with a speaking trumpet, he announced the ship had a deck cargo of artillery on field carriages. Below decks was a supply of equipment an army might need in the field. Mister Howard was told to follow the horse transport into Malta, then Vigilant came about and set course back to Lissa.

  On the way, the carpenter reported with his list of defects. Few of his repair projects presented any difficulty, save for the damage Vigilant had suffered from the shot to her forward beam. The shot had not penetrated, but several planks had been damaged with their trunnels loosened. Quigley had repaired the damage by nailing planks and battens over the impact site, but admitted the repair was not satisfactory and wished to try to make a better patch. As matters stood, water was leaking through the repair and the ship needed to be pumped out frequently. Ideally, if he could not get the ship into a dockyard, he would like to anchor her in a quiet harbor and replace some planks and make necessary repairs to the ship’s frame that had been cracked by the impact of the shot. Quigley felt it would not be necessary to careen the ship. Merely putting a list on her by shifting stores should bring the damaged area well above the water line.

  Mullins was dubious about the necessity of making the repair. Returning to Malta for professional repairs would mean abandoning the cruise. Attempting to repair the ship themselves might well uncover some difficult problems. He had a plentiful crew and it would give the hands good exercise to pump ship several times a day. Accordingly, he decided to continue on with the cruise.

  The ship had already experienced some bad weather but now the wind shifted and Vigilant was beating her way into some very heavy seas. That night, Mullins was on deck when Quigley came up and reported he had just sounded the well. The inflow of water had increased and he thought the trouble was with the frame t
he damaged planks had been attached to. That frame had been cracked and split, but now Quigley thought the working of the ship had caused the split to spread. He thought they might need to fother a sail over the damaged area.

  Mullins immediately gave the order to make preparations, but after the necessary modifications were made to the sail, the seas were so violent that he feared he might lose men if he continued with that plan.

  Next morning, the sky cleared enough for the lookouts to see ahead and there was Lissa. The ship, now heavy with seawater, sailed into the lee of the island and made for a sheltered cove. Anchored bow and stern, the ship lay quietly while her officers puzzled over her situation.

  She was now in a position where the sail could be passed under her bottom, but was this their best option? Mister Weatherby, their sailing master, felt with only such a temporary repair, they must immediately set sail for Malta, where something more permanent could be attempted.

  When asked his opinion, the carpenter felt he could affect a repair here at anchor that would be as good as any dockyard effort. Mullins was concerned about the ship being helpless should any threat appear when the side of the ship had been opened up, but Lieutenant Baker felt they could make a formidable shore battery from guns taken from the starboard battery. Guns removed from that beam would lighten the ship enough on that side to cause a sufficient list, bringing the area needing repair a comfortable distance above water. The Marine officer assured his captain he could provide protection from any attack generated from land with his Marines as well as some armed seamen.

  The guns on the starboard beam were sent ashore and set up behind some stony outcroppings for protection. After the uppermost beef barrels in the tier up against the starboard bulkhead were removed, Mister Weatherby decided there was a sufficient list to perform the repair. He informed Captain Mullins however, that should the wind pick up, the work must be suspended and the opening on the ship’s beam closed.