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

by Richard Testrake

  “We have lost many good people in this action. It would be hard to think of another loss as difficult as one’s sea-daddy. I do understand your loss and will inform your father of your important service about this ship.”

  “But sir, I do not do anything worthwhile about the ship. Not like the older mids.”

  “Mister Broadhurst, you told me yourself you were carrying cartridges for the guns while the other youngsters were below with Mister Cooper. It has just occurred to me that I have another need for your services. Many of our people are over on the prize. At this moment, I am the only officer aboard Vigilant. I need someone to deliver messages and to be my eyes and ears about ship. To tell the truth, in view of the lack of a proper officer of the watch, it would seem that you will be filling that function, at least until we can get more people back from the prize.”

  Matters looked brighter when the dawn finally arrived. Although a serious number of British seamen had fallen or were badly injured, still they were in much better condition than the French crewmen. Those last broadsides fired at the Frenchman had proved devastating.

  Together with Lieutenant Baker, Mullins made his call upon the wounded French officers. The former captain was in a foul mood. In the last moments of the action, he had lost a right leg. Fainting from excessive blood loss, when he woke after surgery, the battle was over and he was a prisoner. Refusing to speak with his British captors, his old second officer was left to handle these details. This officer was also badly wounded and was hardly competent to take part in any long discussions. In the end, a French warrant officer came forward and assumed some responsibility for the other captives.

  While the Marine officer was the default interpreter, Mister Broadhurst was able to lend his assistance. He had apparently had a French tutor for much of his young life. While Mister Baker had made a visit to the head, the captain, with Mister Broadhurst at his side, was visiting the wounded French officers. The French captain, delirious now, began shouting at his captors. Broadhurst was able to translate and informed Captain Mullins that a French two-decker was thought to be in the vicinity and would surely avenge this disaster.

  Lookouts were already aloft in both ships and no such sightings were made, but Mullins intended to get his little fleet before the wind as soon as possible.

  Discussions with the French warrant officer produced his offer to deliver some of the French crewmen to safe harbor in a French port. The French prisoners had been a worry to Captain Mullins. With many of his own men injured, and the remainder working night and day on repairs to both ships, there were few men left to guard the captives. The French spokesman, Monsieur Cambon, offered to put his healthier men into the remaining boats of the French frigate and attempt to sail to the nearest port. His intent being to avoid entering into the dismal conditions of the British hulk fleet, where the prisoners of war were commonly warehoused. The British would benefit by the fewer number of healthy enemy men they must watch.

  As Mullins saw it, the main drawback was the loss of those boats, which might well be needed later, in case one of the ships should founder in heavy seas.

  He tentatively agreed to the officer’s idea, with the proviso it might be delayed a bit until another ship might be taken or at least until arriving closer to their destination. By the second day after the end of the action, the jury repairs had been finished and both ships could make sail.

  Both frigates set out bravely to the west, while the masthead lookouts kept their eyes on the horizon, hoping to spot another vessel large enough to hold their French passengers. There was much tension aboard Conquérant, where many of the healthy hands were being used to handle the ship. Mister Weatherby was in command, with Vigilant’s entire Marine detachment aboard, save for Mister Baker. Still, there were constant threats of violence from men who thought it likely they would soon be in the confines of a prison hulk moored beside some river bank. There were however, some people on the ship that did not display an undue amount of belligerence.

  A portion of the crew of Conquérant was composed of Italian sailors. Many of these hands had gone aboard willingly to avoid being conscripted into one of Bonaparte’s legions, but even most of these would rather not serve the French at all. Vigilant had a few Italian members of her crew who were sent among the Italians of Conquérant. The offer was made to enter service with the Royal Navy and avoid the possibility of prison hulks or conscription into the French army. Not surprisingly, many of the Italians gladly accepted the offer.

  It was not thought wise to have large amounts of these men remain on Conquérant, just in case they might decide to change their minds later. But, there was certainly room for them on Vigilant, while Britons they replaced there could be sent to the other ship.

  In the midst of these changes, Conquérant’s maintop lookout reported sails off her port bow. Both ships altered course toward what appeared a small convoy, guarded by a small privateer brig. Actually, Mullins thought the brig could have a good chance of overcoming both if she would accept action, since the two frigates were in such a sad state. However, there was no offer of a contest, the brig immediately abandoning her charges.

  There were five coasters in the convoy, and Vigilant and Conquérant set out after what appeared to be the slowest one. This too was a brig, low in the water and slow. When she was overhauled, she proved to be loaded with wine in barrels and a deck cargo of mast sections.

  There had to be some discussion about the disposition of the cargo. The wine seemed to be of a decent quality and would bring a good price. It also would be important to keep the mast sections out of French hands. These would be very useful to the war effort in Gibraltar. In order to provide space for the wine, much of the French provisions aboard Conquérant were summarily dropped overboard. Some of Vigilants’ supplies were sent over to feed her people until their arrival at Gibraltar. The mast sections were loaded aboard both frigates, taking up valuable space on their decks. This would seriously degrade both ships fighting abilities, but the lack of people had already made it unlikely either ship could survive long in an engagement.

  The prisoners were transferred over to the brig; command being given to the French warrant officer who had been their spokesman. The original captain of Conquérant, now somewhat recovered from his savage wound, was still a very angry man, determined to command the brig himself.

  Together with Mister Broadhurst, Mullins met with the warrant officer on Vigilant’s quarterdeck before he was sent over to the brig. Mullins informed the warrant that the responsibility was now his own. He felt the wounded frigate captain was in no condition to deliver his ship safely to shore and hoped Monsieur Cambon could maintain command.

  After taking a few minutes to familiarize themselves with the unfamiliar rig, the French crewmen hoisted sail and the brig drew away toward shore, the crazed captain shouting from his litter on the quarterdeck.

  Vigilant and Conquérant set course toward Gibraltar. From now until they arrived, they would avoid any shipping they might encounter.

  The seas proved to be empty though, and no embarrassing problems encountered.

  Upon sailing into Gibraltar harbor, there was much comment over the forty-gun prize frigate at Vigilants’ heels, with both ships’ decks covered with mast sections. Admiral Cunningham was in port and invited Mullins over for dinner, while asking if the frigates needed anything from him.

  Mullins accepted the invitation and replied, “A few carpenter’s mates would not be amiss. Some additional seamen would be good to have if we are to take Conquérant back to Britain.” For some hours that Mullins would have greatly preferred to spend in his bed, he sat with the admiral at table discussing his cruise.

  After Mullins completed his report, the admiral took a tiny sip of his wine and declared, “Captain, I have to say that I am most pleased with your actions. That forty-gun frigate you took will prove to be most welcome in the Service. If your ship was still whole, I would send you back to the Adriatic to see if you could do more of the
same. Since my Master Carpenter tells me that a preliminary examination reveals substantial injuries to the ship that must be seen to by a dockyard, I believe I must send you home as soon as possible. You would oblige me if you will take a pouch home to be sent on to Admiralty.”

  “Your prize, I believe, I will have her adjudicated before sending her back. Perhaps I may send her up to Lisbon for repair. Incorporating her into my Mediterranean fleet would prove useful, and I hope this can be done. In the meantime, you will take your ship home for necessary repair. I will recommend that you be permitted to retain your command and stay on full pay during the course of the repairs. When the time comes, I would be glad to see you under my command in the Med.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  It was a raw blustery day when Vigilant picked up her mooring in Portsmouth’s harbor. The hands found themselves in an awkward position. Normally, at the end of a commission, the ship would be ‘paid off’. While the crew would not receive any actual money, they would instead receive pay warrants for at least a portion of the funds due them. These warrants could then be passed to wives or parents.

  Since the ship was not ‘paying off’though, Vigilant’s people received no pay warrants. Most of the crew would not even remain with the ship. Those hands not needed for repairs would be sent to the receiving ship, where they might be parceled out to other captains needing hands. This was not an ideal situation for captain or crew. Captain Mullin risked losing some critically important crewmen, while individual hands might be taken from the receiving ships and delivered to a strange ship just fitting out for a cruise in far-away waters. Drafted away from familiar shipmates, it could be years before some might hope to see family members again.

  The best that might be hoped for, from Mullin’s view, was that no large ship would be fitting out during the time Vigilant would be in the dockyard. In such a case, the entire crew might well be drafted away, never to be seen again.

  The warrants and officers need not concern themselves unduly about regaining their positions on the ship when she was ready to sail again. As long as they attracted no notice, they had every expectation of going back to sea in Vigilant, when she was whole again. Of course, any senior post captain might well see the need to pilfer one of Vigilant’s officers to fill out his own wardroom. To counter this, Captain Mullins, after obtaining contact information for those key people he needed to keep, sent those people home on leave, where they would be difficult for an outsider to locate.

  His first officer, sailing master and a pair of midshipmen he kept on duty, to oversee the ship’s repairs. The first few days after Vigilant entered the dockyard, Mullins remained close by, taking rooms in a nearby inn. Finally, with little to do, he posted to London to visit his family and tend to some problems his wife Doris had been having.

  Before leaving the ship, a mail bag had been brought aboard. A notice from his banker was included. Mullins had set up an account for his wife to draw on while he was absent. Both Mullins and the banker had thought the amount to be a generous sum, but now Doris was reported to have gone through the entire amount and was now insisting on additional funds. Mullins was not a poor man. He had been fortunate over the years in the prizes his various ships had taken, and much of that money was invested in secure funds.

  Still, he did not wish to encourage his wife to spend frivolously. This money might well have to support her and their child for many years in the future, should something happen to him. This hiatus in his cruise would give him a chance to see what was amiss.

  Doris and his son were both glad to see him. He had not been gone long enough for the boy to forget his father. He was able to take the lad down to the Thames where he engaged a boatman to take them for a tour of the waterway. He would have liked to take the boy to Portsmouth to see Vigilant, but a coach trip of that length was not to be considered for such an active little boy.

  Doris’ financial problems were addressed, although Mullins was not sure how much his admonitions and those of the banker had penetrated. Doris had been a housemaid when they were married. She had never before had any experience or training in handling money. Now, handed a vast sum of money, at least compared to her previous experience, she tended to behave as Mullins had seen many a seaman when paid off after a long voyage. It seemed her intention was to dispose of that money by the most expeditious means possible.

  Despite his domestic difficulties, long before he was ready to go back, a letter from the port admiral in Portsmouth reached him, informing him Vigilant would soon be leaving the dockyard and he must begin to gather his missing officers and warrants.

  His housekeeper wrote a fair, round hand, so he deputed her to write short notes to each of his officers and warrants, informing each to immediately return to the ship. As soon as these were in the post, Mullins took his stable man with him and set out in his personal chaise for Portsmouth. Arrangements were made to have replacement horses available at each posting station. Although expensive, this would enable the trip to be made in the least amount of time.

  The first officer, who had remained with the ship, had already began taking on hands from the receiving ship when his captain arrived. Mister Broadhurst, who had also remained behind, had taken on the responsibility to oversee the refurbishment of his captain’s quarters.

  Mullins was most concerned with his crew, fearing he might be left with only dregs, which he must somehow train up to become a competent ship’s crew. Actually, his fears were mainly put to rest. While another frigate had taken probably fifty of his good men, still a sloop-of-war had come in shortly after the Vigilant. Paying off, her entire crew was taken aboard the receiving ship and Mullins and Mister Weatherby went aboard said ship one afternoon and chaffered for hours with her Impressment Service officer.

  Mullins paid the officer a significant amount to allow him to take first pick of the new men. They were, most of them, a veteran crew who had spent much of their three-year commission cruising off North America under a careful captain. When the new crew had been selected, they had most of the old crew with fifty selected replacements from the sloop.

  The port admiral was in a hurry to get them to sea and across to the French coast, so stores and provisions were already waiting them on the dock when the ship was warped over to her mooring. Every able bodied man on the ship assisted getting stores aboard, never mind his rate. Even the midshipmen did their part in stowing the vast amount of supplies.

  Mullins had already made his goodbye’s to his wife and son before leaving the London home. There were agonies among the crew, many of whom had not seen wife or children in years. There had been barely time enough for letters to have arrived at some of the homes and a scattering of family members had arrived at the pier, hoping to get a last glimpse at their loved ones. The various section heads on the ship were tasked to listen to heart-rending requests for a run ashore before the ship sailed. Of course, every such request must be denied, since few men allowed leave would voluntarily return.

  There was a somber mood among the crew when the ship slowly made her way out of the harbor.

  There was no great secret of their destination this time. With other members of the Mediterranean Fleet exerting control in the region, there was no need for the frigate to return to the Aegean to continue their depredations. They were now to report to the commander of the Inshore Squadron off Brest to do their bit to enforce the blockade.

  As was his custom, Mullins had purchased extra ammunition before leaving port so he could exercise his people in gunnery practice before actually meeting the enemy. Officialdom could become irate should one use the King’s ammunition for practice. HMS Vigilant did not make a fast passage to her designated duty station since she was perpetually cruising slowly down a line of discarded objects, her guns thundering at the targets.

  With orders to proceed directly to Brest, Mullins missed the opportunity to report directly to Lord Gambier, the Channel Fleet commander. Having heard reports of Gambier’s habits of procrastination
when it came to attacking the enemy, Mullins was just as happy. Some commanders were fire-eaters and some were not. Mullins hoped to have as little as possible to do with those in the latter category.

  With orders to relieve a well-worn frigate on the station, Vigilant made her way to the blockading fleet off Brest and reported to the commander. As expected, she was ordered to proceed inshore where she met HMS Antelope and properly relieved her.

  The ships here were brigs and ship-sloops. The mission of these varied vessels was to interdict the various craft, of all sizes, who made their way along the French coast, close inshore. As the largest and most powerful ship in the inshore fleet, it was Vigilant’s mission to back up her minions and provide any needed guidance. There was little for Vigilant to actually do at this stage of the war, but she justified her existence barely a month after their arrival.

  T,e cutter Gnat, flying every piece of canvas she had aboard, brought word of a heavy frigate that was escorting a large French Indiaman toward safety in Brest. Immediately setting course to intercept the target, Mullins ordered Gnat to locate other ships to join in the hunt.

  Next morning, the thundering of heavy guns alerted the crew that the enemy ships were likely in action with other members of the blockade. When the bands of rain that shielded the enemy from their view lifted, it was seen the heavy merchantman was now entering Brest’s harbor, protected by the local batteries.

  HMS Hero, a twenty-gun sloop-of-war, had placed herself before the heavy frigate escort that was also attempting to also enter the harbor, and the two warships were now going at it hammer-and-tongs. The heavy enemy frigate, her armament vastly superior to her opponent had effectively destroyed the British warship, but Hero had done her duty, Dismasted and a wreck, she had delayed the enemy long enough for Vigilant to come up to her.