A Journal of The Experiment at Jamaica (The Neville Burton 'Worlds Apart' Series Book 2)

by Georges Carrack

  He set the book on a table and paced the room as if it were a quarterdeck for ten minutes until he cooled. When he picked the book up again, his mood changed entirely. He read that the Fuller estate was sold to Vincent Verley, who lived there with his wife Ann. He was again cheered by the thought of his friends continuing to live a cheerful life in the place he loved.

  One dreary day in mid-September, an envelope arrived from the Navy Office. Neville knew it to be his orders, and after drying the canvas envelope he went ahead to open it.

  By the Commissioners for executing the Office of the Navy and

  First Lord of the Admiralty,

  First September, 1800

  Lieutenant Neville Burton,

  By virtue of the Power and Authority given us, We do hereby ordere you to proceed to join with the company of HMS Elephant and go aboard before she sails from Plymouth (Cawsand Bay) on or about 1st October, 1800 and to execute what orders are given you from your Captain or any other of your superior officers. Hereof none of you shall fail as you may answer to your country at your peril.

  ….signatures &c….

  In addition to his orders, the envelope contained a draught on the Clerk of the Cheque for twenty-eight pounds, six shillings and fourpence, his share of the captured Liberté in 1690. Not much, but about three months’ pay that should cover what few expenses he expected to have.

  Wearing a newly sewn lieutenant’s uniform, shined sword and a highly polished pair of new shoes with proper brass buckles, Neville took the London coach on 24th September. The day was cheerful but chilly, and the roads not yet converted to mud by autumn rains. He reminisced about his first trip south with Daniel as the coach jangled and jumped along the rural roads.

  There was no requirement to stop at Sir William Mulholland’s office in Whitehall on his way to Plymouth, but Neville had asked a favor and wanted the answer. He gained entrance in the usual fashion, dealing with the omnipresent saturnine clark, and counted his lucky stars that Sir William had a few minutes for him.

  “I received a share from the capture of Liberté in 1690, Sir. I thank you greatly. It is not a huge sum, but it should see to my expenses on this cruise. Do you remember my query, Sir William?”

  “About Vincent Verley, yes. It seemed important to you, so I looked at several sources. There isn’t much from that time, however. What I found seemed unusual, but it was something. Sometimes one finds nothing at all. Yes, here it is: ‘Sailed for Jamaica aboard the frigate Experiment in 1690. Made prize commander of a French prize by Captain Burton.” At that, Mulholland paused to peer over his reading glasses at Neville, and then continued, “The ship, one Comtesse du Provence, was assumed abandoned by the British navy when Commodore Wright sailed for England leaving no orders, and was confiscated by Governor Sir Wm. Beeston in 1693 for defense of the island. After that, Lt. Verley seems to disappear.”

  Finally, thought Neville, a tiny ray of God’s grace. Another bit of evidence that dear Vincent and Mary went on together without the horrors of navy life, settled and had at least the son Clive that I met.

  The report produced a big smile on Neville.

  “It’s good to see you smile. You have seemed quite disheartened since you’ve been home.”

  “Losing a fiancé with child shortly before your wedding will do that to some,” Neville responded.

  “Oh, so there’s even more to it?” queried Mulholland, “If what you say is true, then you have nothing to go back to, even if you could. Don’t concern yourself over rank, either. Lieutenant is your proper rank, despite your luck in experiencing captaincy. You have much to learn before advancing, which I am sure will come, and you already have experience many will never have. Truthfully, I can do little about it anyway. So, Neville, here are the papers for your pedigree in the Burton name.”

  “Thank you very much, Sir.” Neville turned to go, but then paused and turned back. “I am not a happy man at the moment, Sir, but I know that time heals much, and I want you to know that I will do my duty.”

  Neville Burton’s letter of introduction to Hoare’s went as smoothly as expected. He was presented documents showing the growth of his money at five percent for over one hundred years. The sum was impressive, but since neither he nor his family had an immediate need, he left it there. After a lengthy evaluation of the very old Spanish silver coins he had brought in the little bag from Jamaica, he left that with them as well and departed with a small portion of its value. That amount in modern money, together with the prize money he had received from Liberté, would suffice for his personal stores aboard Elephant.

  He did not dally in London, as many might have done, but took the first available coach for Plymouth. The day was bright as he left London, but the weather deteriorated as he passed through Devon into the town of Plymouth itself. The activity was considerable when he arrived there that morning in late September. The autumn chill was exacerbated by a breeze off the water and a light drizzle. It seemed to have the ability to pass through his new boat cloak, but that might have something to do with spending three years in Jamaica. None of the passers-by seemed to have a thought about it; many did not even bother to button their jackets. Ostlers moved their freight wagons through the crowds along with carriages for high-ranking naval officers and wagons and wheelbarrows of everything that a ship might want to provision for an extended cruise. He found his way to the main wharf from which most of the harbor was visible. There he grabbed hold of an underfed brown-haired youth who attempted to sell him some chestnuts.

  “Elephant,” was all he said.

  “Thar. 74. Blue Peter,” was the response he got, along with the boy’s pointing of a crooked finger with a charcoaled nail.

  “Find me a boat,” said Neville, “There’s sixpence in it for you. I’ll be in that pub just there having a meat pie and a pint.”

  Always the luck of the draw, shore boats were like hacks. Some were clean and stately. Some were not much better than floating dustbins piloted by sullen, uncaring creatures with their empty palms out. Neville arrived on one of the latter at the side of Elephant wet, cold and annoyed.

  There must be no God in Heaven, he ruminated. Only injury or sickness could make me worse. I have a fortune of money in the bank, and I have known love and victory. Yet now my love is lost and my ship is gone. Despite my rank as lieutenant on a 74, which many would be ecstatic to achieve, I am a miserable bastard. It is a rough blow to be struck down from a frigate captain with the freedom to sail almost as I choose, or even commander. I have no life here and I’m being sent back into Hell; back to scratch my way up while remembering every day that I can never have again.

  There were no sideboys, beating drums or boatswain’s pipes as he climbed the boarding ladder – Welcome to HMS Elephant.

  The End

  British Money – pre-decimal (pre-1971)

  Britain used a system of pounds, shillings and pence, with coins representing various quantities of each, as follows:

  1 Pound: not a coin before 1817 (then as the gold ‘sovereign’) – paper notes in values of 1, 5, 10, etc. were used and represented 240 silver pennies (pence): 1 pound (£1)= 20 shillings = 240 pence

  1 guinea (coin, originally made from gold of the Guinea coast of Africa) = 21 shillings (1 pound + 1 shilling)

  1 crown (coin) = 5 shillings = 1/4 pound

  1 half-crown (coin) = 2 shillings and 6 pence (stopped in 1970)

  1 florin (a beautiful medieval English silver coin) = 2 shillings

  1 shilling (coin) = 12 pence (1s)

  1 sixpence (silver coin; later called a 'tanner') = 6 pence

  1 threepence or threp’ny bit = 3 pence (in some places called "thrupence")

  1 penny (a copper coin) = one of the basic units (1d)

  1 half penny (copper coin) = (pronounced "hay-p-ny"; (to 1969)

  1 farthing (lowest value coin, a ‘fourth-thing’) = 1/4 penny (to 1956)

  Sharing the Prize and the Value of Money

  Shares are 1/8 to the
flag officer

  3/8 to the captain (for a private vessel)

  1/8 each to commissioned, warrant and petty officers, and

  ¼ to the crew.

  3/8 of 21,120 pesos is 7920 pesos (or about 330 months, or 27 years – pay for Neville in 1690)

  In a 1691 letter to the crown. Gov. Codrington of Antigua: “Pieces-of-eight, if of full weight (which not one in a hundred is) are worth 4s. 4½d., but generally are worth from 3s. 6d. to 4s. In Barbados, they pass for 5s.; in the Leeward Islands for 6s. The hardship too is the greater, since living here is much more expensive than in England. A piece-of-eight will not purchase what costs 3s. in England, and what costs half-a-crown or less in England costs a piece-of-eight here.” British Archives.

  British Navy Watch System (The bells)

  (most commonly used in the Age of Sail)

  The Navy day began at noon: Sights of the sun were taken by the Sailing Master and/ or officers and students (e.g. Midshipmen) using an astrolabe, Davis/English quadrant, octant or sextant as such were invented in order to ascertain the sun’s zenith and latitude. When done (clouds permitting), the one responsible so informed the Officer of the Watch, who then informed the captain. The captain gave the order to “Make it noon and turn the glass.” That order was transmitted to those who performed various parts of the daily ceremony: the hour-glass was turned, the ship’s bell was rung 8 times to indicate the end of the forenoon watch, and the boatswain blew his whistle (pipe) to summon the ship’s company to dinner.

  One bell was rung for each half hour according to the time-keeping device, which was the hour-glass. Two bells were rung on the hour. At one-thirty p.m., for example, it is 3 bells for the afternoon watch. A watch is 8 bells long (the two dog-watches in the afternoon, which allowed all the men to be fed more easily and rotated the watches for the next day, shared the full 8 bells until after the Spithead-Nore mutinies, when they each have only 4 each).

  (See table following)

  The basic schedule, which did change a bit for make-and-mend day (usually Thursday), Sunday for church, and for any other reason the captain might revise it (such as punishment day – often Saturday).

  The Bell System

  Bells

  Time

  8

  noon

  Afternoon watch begins; hands piped to dinner End of Forenoon watch

  2

  1 p.m.

  Dinner is over

  4-8

  hourly

  Log heaved hourly

  8

  4 p.m.

  First Dog Watch (2 hours long); off watch piped to supper

  2, 4

  5, 6 p.m.

  Last Dog Watch begins at 4 bells; lights out & off watch to sleep

  6, 8

  7, 8 p.m.

  Evening Watch begins

  2-8

  8 - midnight

  First Watch begins at midnight; Sentinel’s cry “all’s well” at each bell

  2-8

  Midnight - 4

  Middle Watch begins at 4:00 a.m.

  2-7

  4-7 a.m.

  Hammocks piped up at 7:00 a.m.

  8

  8 a.m.

  Morning Watch; hands piped to breakfast

  2-8

  8 a.m. – noon

  Forenoon Watch

  (Note: one more bell than indicated is rung for the half hour following)

  Glossary

  aft – The rear or stern of a ship. (the square end, as opposed to the pointy end, called the bow)

  abaft – Behind or to the back of, as ‘abaft the mainmast’.

  ague – A disease involving a series of severe fevers and chills (often or quite likely malaria, which was not understood before the building of the Panama Canal in the early 1900’s).

  asafetida (or asafoetida) – A medicine: powder made from dried gum of roots of herbs of India and mountains to the north. It was used as an antiflatulant, digestive aid, or for fighting influenza.

  backstave – A navigational instrument that preceded the sextant (and octant) for determining latitude (not longitude). The determination of longitude requires a precise timepiece.

  beakhead - The small deck in the bow in front of the forecastle where the boom is mounted and where the crew’s lavatories were (from whence followed the term ‘head’ to mean toilet).

  bend – A sailing term meaning to attach the sails. When in place and ready to use they are ‘bent’.

  blocks - Pulleys.

  boatswain – ‘bo’sun’: A highly skilled warrant officer in charge of deck and rigging operations (not sailing) and the supplies for all repairs. He assigns and oversees all deck work. The bo’sun likely had a private cabin and might eat in the gunroom with the commissioned officers. He would only stand watches on a small ship.

  boucan – Strips of dried beef. The word is the base of the term “buccaneer”. Caribbean pirates-in-hiding would sustain themselves in the hills of Caribbean islands between forays by killing stray (or stolen) cattle and drying the meat for preservation.

  bow – The front of a boat or ship. (The ‘pointy end’, to which the bowsprit is attached.) The center wooden beam up the very front of it, to which hull planks are attached, is the ‘stem’.

  bower - A ships’ two biggest anchors (‘best-‘ and ‘small-‘), and their cables; carried at the bow.

  bloody flux – A disease: dysentery. It is an intestinal disorder that might be caused by numerous infections, resulting in severe diarrhea with blood and mucus in the feces. The disease is accompanied by with fever and abdominal pain.

  Blue Peter – A nickname for a signal flag, letter P (Square of blue with a white square inside it). It was flown in harbor to summon all ship’s crew aboard for departure.

  braces - Those ropes of the ‘running rigging’ that were used to turn the yards from perpendicular to a ship’s keel to slanted – as needed for sailing closer to the wind. Square sails hang on the yards.

  brail up – To raise the lower corners of a sail to cause it to stop drawing.

  breastwork – (Not a navy thing): a land defense often being not much more than a berm of earth or rocks, possibly with sharpened stakes protruding from it, to give protection to soldiers behind.

  broach - This disastrous event for a ship occurs when it turns sidewise to the waves in a storm, whether by human error or magnitude of weather. The next wave that strikes the ship on the side may capsize or flood it causing extreme damage and/or injury, and likely sinking.

  cable – The anchor line. – OR - A measure of length = 200 yards.

  capstan – A rotating machine with a vertical axle mounted through the deck. Above deck, men insert poles horizontally and walk in a circle to rotate it. Ropes (e.g. anchor cables) attached to it below decks are wound up on it to pull - to raise the anchor or sails to raise spars aloft.

  careen – To set a boat on the beach at high tide. When the tide is out its bottom can be worked on.

  catted / cathead – When something is tied to the cathead (e.g. – an anchor) it is ‘catted’. The catheads are beams that protrude sideways from the sides of the ship at the bow and used for jobs like raising the anchors without them hitting the hull.

  Cat-o-nine-tails – ‘cat’: A whip with many knotted ends used to serve out punishment (ordered by number of lashes). In the navy, it was kept in a red baize bag.

  collops – Bacon fried with eggs.

  complete (verb) - “To complete” a ship is to finish everything necessary before going to sea; provisions, arms, men, etc., as: ‘HMS Swan was completing at Plymouth’.

  commodore – The man in charge of a small group of ships (an admiral would command an entire fleet) He would almost always be a captain, and might be referred to by either word.

  confused seas – A sea state in which wind-driven waves, often from distant storms, approach the ship from different directions simultaneously, usually making the motion very uncomfortable

  cor – An English expression of a
nnoyance or exasperation.

  coxswain – ‘cox’n’: The man in charge of a small boat: its captain. He orders the men who row or sail it; a petty officer who commands the captain's gig or barge.

  crinkum-crankum - Fancy-work.

  cracking on - An expression meaning to raise all possible sail and make haste.

  dead reckoning – A method of navigation in which a careful log of direction, speed and time are kept in order to calculate distance and location. It is made difficult by unknown currents and side-slip of the boat under different wind conditions.

  demi-culverin – An old tern for a size of cannon: 9- pounder.

  farthing – ¼ penny (essentially a ‘fourth-thing’) – see table on English money.

  fathom – A measure normally used for depth, equal to six feet.

  fiddle – A raised strip of wood around a surface (e.g. table or desk) that keeps objects from falling off when the ship heels (tilts). A fancy desk might have custom fiddles for items like inkwells.

  filibusters – A 17th century term for French-biased pirates in the Caribbean.

  forecastle - Usually pronounced ‘foc’s’l’. It is the foreward section of a ship where the crews quarters were. In most larger ships it was a raised area forward, the top of which is the foredeck.

  fother – To cover a hole in the hull below the waterline by tying a sail or other canvas over it.