‘Your orders?’ the man snapped, holding out his hand.
These were passed over to be examined in a manner that implied they might be forgeries, which told Pearce just how successfully he had got under Pettigrew’s skin, then followed the list of stores Pearce required and that got a lift of the eyebrows.
‘Where are you off to with all this?’
‘I am not obliged to respond to that, sir.’
‘I do think my superiors will want to know.’
‘Then, sir,’ Pearce said, ‘I will decline to tell them.’ The face changed yet again to a ‘you would not dare’ look. ‘Now please be so good as to advise me at what point I can berth alongside the storerooms and load.’
It could only have been malice that brought the reply, as well as the sneer that accompanied it. ‘I do not think an armed cutter warrants a berth at an overworked dockside where vessels are queuing to load. No, you anchor at a buoy and we will send out hoys from which you can take your stores.’ Spinning round he pointed to one of the farthest from the actual shore in any direction. ‘There, number forty-seven seems a likely spot.’
That angered Pearce for it would make the task for his crew ten times as hard – loading when afloat was much harder – and for those doing the supplying it would be even worse. They would not be pleased to have to get a flat-bottomed hoy loaded with supplies out so far into the anchorage. There were none so spiteful for anything that engendered effort as dockside labourers, and Pearce had heard too many tales of their ways of taking revenge on sailors to just let this pass. There was a very strong chance he would get meat long in the cask and closer to rotting than fresh, and that would be before he was supplied with short cables and poor canvas.
‘Please wait there a moment.’
‘Whatever for?’
That got him a held-up hand as Pearce disappeared into his cabin, a finger to his lips to induce silence and, despite his words to Dorling about secrecy, he took from a casement locker the red and gold Admiralty pennant. Back on deck he showed it to Pettigrew unfolded.
‘You will find me a dockside berth, sir, for if you do not your intransigence will be reported to the very Board itself and, if I have my way, to the King. In short, consider your career, sir, and if your superiors ask why you have been so kind as to advance my place in any queue you may tell them that you were overwhelmed by my charm. What you will not do, on pain of censure, is mention this pennant.’
There was a moment, in fact several, while Pettigrew calculated the loss of self-respect in acceding but his career won out and he nodded, though he spoke through pursed lips. ‘Word will be sent to you as soon as I have cleared a space.’
‘Thank you, Lieutenant,’ Pearce replied, lifting his hat as the man spun and went over the side.
The loading, when it took place, was done with the ship tied head and stern using shore derricks and a long gangplank, that traversed by a veritable stream of willing hands and every item checked aboard by Dorling. Pearce, having sent a couple of hands in a wherry over to HMS York, made his way to the Port Admiral’s offices to extract from Pay Office the wages due to his crew, which had not been forthcoming for months even on home service. He demanded their money as well as his own, all listed, submitted and signed for – though not without a series of laments from the Revenue Officer doling out the coin regarding the lack of available specie – to make what he insisted upon, a cash transfer. Pearce had declined to accept chits that local traders would take as a discount.
‘Have you any idea, sir, what it takes to get gold and silver enough sent down to pay the fleet?’
‘I do, sir; it is the need to find enough folk to transport it without they charge a fortune for the task.’
‘That sir, would be a fine contract to possess, one and one half of a per cent of the value of the specie carried.’
Pearce could not resist it; he leant forward and whispered, ‘Would you, sir, like a guaranteed way to be able to secure such a contract?’
‘I most certainly would.’
‘It’s easy,’ Pearce responded in a louder voice, ‘just grease well the palm of a man called Henry Dundas and it will be yours, for that is how those who presently make a killing get their payments.’ With that, his muster books and a bag of money, Pearce walked out, calling over his shoulder, ‘You’ll find the grasping wretch in Whitehall.’
When he returned to HMS Larcher it was to find an impatient Pettigrew harrying his crew and the dockies – he had a ship of the line and an irate post captain waiting for the berth. His ship lay very low in the water, so many stores loaded that some meat barrels had to be lashed to the deck under tarpaulins, and still the last item, water, was being pumped into the ’tween decks where the carpenter, Kempshall, was filling and sealing barrels – given such a small vessel did not run to a dedicated cooper – while others in the crew struggled to move and stack such heavy receptacles.
Going halfway down the companionway Pearce called out, ‘Never mind that sod shouting at you on the dock, lads, take what time you need. I saw a man killed doing what we are about now and I do not want that repeated on this ship.’
Then he went to find the men he had sent on his errand, his heart lifting when they told him the result. Next it was to Dorling to get from him a list of those men it would be safe to let ashore. ‘With the caveat that I cannot afford to lose any to tardiness or an attempt to run.’
‘There are one or two I would not trust, sir, but I would hazard they are such lazy sods as to be no loss.’
‘I still need a boat crew.’
‘There’s enough men serving of a religious nature, your honour, who see Beelzebub as residing in such places as Portsmouth. They would not go ashore if offered, lest it was to a chapel.’
‘Then find me a pair.’
‘Word from my brother, sir, he reckons if we take on much more in the hold we’ll be supping sea water.’
‘Very well, Mr Kempshall, stop the pumps. Mr Dorling, I then want the men assembled for I have their pay.’
‘By the mark, Mr Pearce, that will lift them.’
Pearce pulled a face. ‘Since they are going ashore it is more likely to debauch them than lift them. The elevation will go to the whores of Portsmouth.’
‘Only some of them, sir,’ Dorling replied with a grin. ‘We ain’t owed that much pay.’
‘Then prepare to cast off,’ Pearce responded, before calling, ‘Buoy number, Mr Pettigrew?’
That had the lieutenant making an over-obsessive look full of worry at the board he had in his hand. The number that came back was twenty-four, which Pearce assumed was the closest one he had free to the shore. The lines were taken from the quayside bollards fore and aft, the gangway slipped onto the hard and sweeps used to open a gap before the boats took up the strain on the cable that, lashed to the stern of the cutter, towed the ship out to its buoy. This meant Michael could make an appearance, which he did to many a jibe about the way he had skipped the labours of the rest, by which it was time to pipe the crew to their dinner, food taken by Emily and Pearce in his cabin, with a couple of planks over his sea chest serving as a table.
‘We shall raise sail at first light, Emily, and then you can come on deck. I am sorry your confinement has been so long but I fear with my reputation there might be those come down to the shore to use a long glass to espy the ogre.’
‘It was not all arduous, John. I had Michael for company and he was most informative about you.’
That got her a wry smile. ‘I am not sure that you should be quite so curious as to ply people for facts about me, finding out for oneself is so much to be preferred.’
‘You would not say that if you had heard his paeans to your character.’
‘We are fond of each other and I suspect he over-praised.’
‘John, it is more than that. I do not think you know how much you have gained in respect for your never giving up in your fight for the rights of others and not just your own.’
‘A burden it
would be good one day to put aside.’
‘I think you will never do that, for if you would scarce admit it, you have too much of your father in you.’
‘To hear you say that, were he here, would shock him. We used to argue a great deal about his notions of the way matters could be improved for the poor.’
‘You must tell me all about him.’
‘Not now, my dear, for we will be at sea for weeks and have ample opportunity to talk of such things, for you, likewise, must tell me of your past.’
‘I’m not sure I have one of any interest.’
‘You do, everyone has things that act to form them.’ He leant over and kissed her on the head. ‘But the very fortunate few have a future to look forward to.’
The crew had not lingered at their mess tables over dinner, but set to at dressing for going ashore. It was blue jackets, clean ducks, a striped kerseymere blouse topped off by a gaily coloured bandana and, for those who had one, a black and shiny tarpaulin hat. Pearce, who acted as purser as well as commander, was called upon to sell to his crew lengths of ribbon for their pigtails and new socks to adorn their legs, as well as blacking to get a shine on their shoes. When the last man had been seen to he went to see the cook.
‘Mr Bellam, I want you to go ashore and buy enough food for six.’
The man’s round face fell. ‘I do not want you to do more, since I perceive you wish to visit the fleshpots of Portsmouth. So let it be a cold collation and just leave it by your coppers and I will do the serving.’
‘Six hearty mouths, or six light, your honour?’
‘O’Hagan will be one of the party.’
‘Then I’ll buy for eight, ’cause your Irishman can eat for four on his own.’
The boats plied to and fro to the shore, some hired, for once the local wherrymen spotted a ship allowing shore leave they were like flies around a honey pot. The noise and gaiety were loud, occasionally interrupted by a prayer from the holy types who seemed to want their God to make sure that no pleasure was had by their shipmates and that perdition, which surely awaited them, should be left in abeyance. Once the noise died down, John Pearce and Michael O’Hagan set off for HMS York, with two hands to help row. Once there, and leaving Michael on the main deck, Pearce went to see Moyle in his cabin.
‘I fear your two followers think they are being sent to serve where my whim takes them, Mr Pearce.’
‘You did not tell them of our arrangement?’
Moyle was shocked and his voice in reply was abrasive. ‘I will tell no one, and that especially to a pair of loose-tongued men of the lower deck. I ask that of you too, tell them nothing of our arrangement!’
‘Of course, it is a matter best not talked about, but did not the men who brought them here let on?’
‘I doubt they had knowledge of it. The midshipman who came aboard with them asked only that I sign for their arrival. All I did was stick them in an upper deck cell with barely a how d’ye do. They asked questions, which I ignored.’
‘How fare the men I brought you?’
‘You were right about a pair of them needing to be taught their manners.’
‘I am tempted to give them a hello, just to depress them further.’
Moyle responded so hastily he ended up tripping over his own words.
‘Never fear, they are low enough and I would not want that the sight of your face should raise in them the will for a contest that will rebound on my men.’ Having said that he seemed to recover somewhat his composure. ‘In fact, I would have to forbid such a thing.’
‘So be it.’
‘So one of my men will take you to the right cell.’
John Pearce had in him a strong streak of mischief and now it came to the fore, aided by the fact that the light was fading and it was now getting dark outside; he could see lights twinkling on the shore.
‘Could I ask, then, that you have your men bring them to my boat, and it would be an aid if they were a little rough and aggressive in their handling, as I mean to play a game with them.’
Moyle tried and failed to hide the fact that he was dealing with an odd sort of fellow and nodded. ‘Makes no odds to me, Mr Pearce.’
‘Then I will get in the boat and wrap myself in my boat cloak.’
He was huddled in that, with Michael sat in the bottom of the boat to disguise his height, when they heard the rough voices of Moyle’s guards abusing the men as they brought them out to the top of the gangplank. With lots of pushing and shoving it was rough handling indeed, but truly not harmful if you excepted the spirit, that was until they were, chains struck off, virtually thrown into the boat, which produced cries, if not of pain, then of dented pride.
‘Get sat down the two of you,’ Pearce growled in a manufactured voice.
‘Where we goin’?’ demanded Charlie Taverner, always the more vocal of the two Pelicans.
Pearce replied in the same kind of disguised voice. ‘To a hell ship, that’s where you’re going, for Barclay has seen to you good and proper, with a man in command who loves nothing more than to wield the cat with his own strong hand and nothing done to warrant it.’
‘That’s agin the laws of the navy,’ Rufus said.
Michael, behind them, tried to disguise his voice too, though his brogue was evident. ‘Bugger the laws of the navy, we are a law to ourselves.’
It was one of the other pair, the men brought to help row the boat, who broke the deception. ‘Could you tell me, Mr Pearce, what in the name of our Blessed Saviour it is you’re on about?’
‘Pearce?’ said Charlie, his tone full of mystification.
‘Sure, fellow, he is our commander.’
‘And I believe,’ Pearce said, emerging from his cloak, ‘your good and loyal friend.’
Michael heaved himself up and stuck his head between them. ‘And, sure, boyos, he’s not alone in that.’
‘Pinch me, Rufus, ’cause I think I’m dreamin’ now.’
‘Not so, Charlie; the Pelicans are reunited.’
Back on board, they ate the cold meal left by Bellam, and Emily renewed her acquaintance with Charlie and Rufus, who were shy in her presence, particularly the youngster, and somewhat at a loss to see that her relationship with John Pearce had progressed to the point of consanguinity and that they would all be sailing together to the Mediterranean. Charlie still had about him a bit of that roughish charm which had sustained him as a sharp working the Strand and Covent Garden and it was he who proposed a toast to her, with which none present could disagree.
‘Ma’am, I hereby propose that you be inducted as an honorary Pelican.’
The glasses were up and drained and Emily was delighted. The last act of the night, with drunken men coming noisily back aboard in ones and twos, was for Emily to write a letter to her husband with Pearce helping, his opinion being, and she took it, that to mention him was to fuel a fire already burning heartily enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY
When HMS Larcher sailed over and plucked out her anchor she was not the only vessel about to put to sea; the Tolland brothers had been true to their word and had gathered a crew in no time at all – rough-looking fellows that men gave a wide berth to when out walking – bringing them up to London to man the Percy, the ship Denby Carruthers had purchased, and they set about getting ready for sea with all the expertise of blue-water men, reefing and roving, bending on sails and taking in the stores needed for a short voyage.
The man himself had gone to consult with his brother-in-law on an unrelated matter and in doing so had put Edward Druce in an uncomfortable position; he had previously supplied to Carruthers men to deal with Cornelius Gherson, having been told the fellow had cuckolded his employer, a couple of Impress Service toughs of much muscle and little conscience when it came to turning a coin. He had no actual idea what they had done for the alderman, only that it was unlikely to be pretty and Druce had ever since regretted putting the risk of family disgrace to the forefront of his reaction when asked for aid, really to spare h
is wife embarrassment, without examining the likely consequences.
In some sense he had been relieved when Gherson unexpectedly turned up in his offices in the company of his client naval officer Captain Barclay; at least it implied that he had been beaten for his sins rather than anything worse, which had been a worry. But here was his wife’s brother once more sitting in an armchair, drinking his wine and seeking more help and this to find the same fellow.
‘I tried to fix him with the Bow Street Runners, Edward, but he managed to wriggle out of that somehow. That matters less than the notion he will turn up to trouble my marriage once more, so I need to find him so that I can keep a watch on his movements.’
‘Find him,’ Druce replied, his hands arched like a church steeple.
He was prevaricating, for he had on his desk a letter from Ralph Barclay saying he was coming to town, bringing his clerk with him, and desired a meeting to discuss the state of his present investment, as well as how to proceed with the expected payments from the 1st June battle. It was a double worry that they both might turn up when Carruthers was still here, for he had lied to his brother-in-law when asked a few months past about Gherson, saying he knew nothing of the fellow, when he knew very well he was serving as the captain’s clerk aboard HMS Semele.
His reasons were complex and tested on them he would never have admitted to the truth, which was that in Gherson he recognised a fellow keen to profit personally from his employer’s ventures and willing, if asked for advice from Barclay, to advance the schemes of Ommanney & Druce. In short, he was a source of profit now and potentially much more in the future and that was the paramount concern of a firm of prize agents who made most of their returns by speculating with their clients’ money.
‘It could be like seeking a needle in a haystack, Denby.’
‘Not quite, Edward, Gherson goes where there is money to be made.’ The nod was inadvertent and quickly stopped. ‘So that narrows matters, and I know he is London born and I suspect this is where he will plough his furrow, probably a felonious one, for the city is the place of opportunity to rogues like him.’
A Sea of Troubles Page 22
