A Busy Season (The Duty and Destiny Series, Book 8)

by Andrew Wareham

  They closed the Coast, a mile offshore, to be safe from the miasmas, peering through telescopes and seeing nothing of value. Barber and Fitzpatrick did their best to be helpful.

  “Do you see the small island there, sir? The one lined with palm trees? Behind the point there is a passage which leads into the fort and the trading post, a mile or so upriver, out of sight.”

  Next morning they pointed to a long line of mangroves, olive-green and impenetrable it seemed.

  “You see the mudbanks just there, sir. There is a passage between them that the slavers know. Tight, but with deep water. You might just float Euripides, sir, provided the rivers were running high. Behind the mangroves there is a lagoon, of sorts, and the fort.”

  “Invisible from the sea, I imagine.”

  “Yes, sir. That’s one of the reasons they built it there, I should reckon, sir. So long as you had a pilot and good men in your boats, sir, you could take it in a night action – so long as they didn’t have sentries out to give an alarm. You looks careful at the mud, sir, you can see them tree trunks lying out there. Do you spot them, sir?”

  Frederick turned his telescope on the baulks of timber, saw that some had branches, were indisputably wood. Others seemed more animal in nature.

  “Crocodiles?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I saw one in the Papuan Gulf a few years back, Barber. Twice the length of those – but they are big enough to eat a man, I believe.”

  “They are, sir. I saw an American, year before last, who found fever among slaves he had brought aboard earlier in the week, sir. He threw the sick over the side rather than take them out to sea and risk the whole cargo. It weren’t pretty, sir.”

  “I cannot imagine that it was, Barber.”

  Three weeks took them from one end of the Coast to the other; in that time they spoke no ship and saw no French or Spaniards in the distance.

  “Turn her head for Gibraltar, Mr Calver. This is an exercise in futility, sir!”

  The winds were kind and they made Gibraltar just inside their two months. There were two seventy-fours at anchor, both with the look of hard use about them.

  “Mediterranean Fleet, Sir Frederick. From Toulon to Port Royal and back again, all hands damned near every watch, chasing the Frogs and Dons, knowing them to be just over the horizon. Lord Nelson fretting, the word going out that the Frogs were trying to shake them off in order to have a week in the Channel without interference so that Bonaparte’s invasion might become real. I doubt there is a man in the whole damned fleet who has slept more than two hours unbroken in the last three months!”

  “But they are here now, sir.”

  Admiral Clerke allowed himself a smile.

  “They are indeed, Sir Frederick. The whole of the Combined Fleet dived into Cadiz like a rabbit going down its hole. There is a blockading squadron sat outside and the word is, according to Captain Murray, that Bonaparte is having conniptions but that the Spaniards won’t move until they are refitted, while his Admiral Villeneuve is sat in his cabin having a fit of the mother. Lord Nelson is to England to take a break and consult with the Admiralty and the Fleet is coming in to wood and water two by two.”

  “Good. If they do not sail now then they can forget about invasion, sir. The Frogs would never resupply an army in winter, irrespective of the Navy. They might get one hundred thousand men ashore, though I doubt it, but they could not send a thousand tons a week through the storms of autumn and winter to feed them. It is now August; one month from now and they will go nowhere this year.”

  Admiral Clerke almost bounced with delight.

  “Bonaparte is moving east already, Sir Frederick. The troops are leaving the Channel Coast even now!”

  “He will take Austria, I would imagine, sir, and then chastise Russia. He will not come back to harass us for some years, not until he has the power of Russia behind him. Ten years from now, if the Russians will ally themselves to him, he will be back with a million Slavic peasants in arms. By then, I would trust, the chain of towers and forts will be complete along the South and East coasts of England and there will be a fleet of sloops and gunbrigs sufficient to defend the shallow waters where line-of-battleships cannot penetrate. It is only this year that England is at risk, sir.”

  “I had forgotten that you were in the Channel last year, Sir Frederick, and must be privy to such plans. All is now well, you would suggest.”

  “Barring accident, yes, sir.”

  “Then we must do all we can to avoid such accidents, Sir Frederick. The word I have is that Cadiz is short of naval stores. Spain is poor. The government has been unable to buy in the stores that are needed – I am informed that they are none too well off even for gunpowder. The French are to supply an amount of the most necessary material, from Toulon. Convoys creeping along the coast is the word I have. They expect the blockade to be reinstated within weeks. I am to set my frigates and sloops to patrol the narrows here, and a single ship is to beat along the coast with the aim of discovering and destroying any convoys. It is vital that they should not pass to Cadiz, Sir Frederick, and so there must be no prize-taking until the whole of a convoy is utterly overset. Sink and burn must be the watchword, Sir Frederick.”

  “Terribly wasteful, sir. When must I sail? My men would be better for a few days of leave.”

  "You may have a week, Sir Frederick. Captain Murray will consult with you, I doubt not. I shall send your report to the Admiralty, of course. To recapitulate, the main traders out of the Slave Coast are the Portuguese, the Americans and the British, in that order. The Spanish and Danes are hardly to be seen and the French all trade under the American flag, which is, of course, quite typical of their duplicity - one would expect nothing else of them!"

  "Quite, sir. It is as well impossible to catch the traders with one ship, the more so when she is a two-decker. One would recommend a squadron, sir, to clean up the Slave Coast, in the event that the Trade is banned. A seventy-four, perhaps one of the Dutch ships taken after Camperdown or during the Flushing expedition, of shallow draught and able to enter the lagoons and reduce the forts, to carry the flag. A hospital ship - a Fourth Rate stripped of its guns could perform that function. Two of frigates and six at least of sloops and brigs and a pair of cutters to scout ahead. Possibly a pair of shallow gunboats to work their way up the big rivers. A battalion of Marines as well, sir."

  "Two thousand men, at least, in a dozen or more of vessels!"

  "That is correct, sir. Of those, one half at least will take a fever, with perhaps one half of them dying or wholly disabled. Five hundred men lost to the service, at a minimum. If it is a bad year then it may be a thousand gone. It might be the case that it was found wise to leave a garrison - such troops should be recruited from the gaols, sir, or from the hulks where they are awaiting transportation. They will have been exposed to the gaol fevers and will to some extent be salted against the diseases of the Slave Coast. Perhaps survivors of the Flushing expedition could be made officers over them - they were exposed to similar plagues, one understands."

  "I will send the report, Sir Frederick, with all of your recommendations, but I can assure you that the First Lord will be made unhappy by it."

  "My heart bleeds for the First Lord, sir! I will not, however, send a bland and anodyne report that tells him all that he wishes to hear and nothing that will upset him. I have the advantage, as you know, sir, of having been lucky with prize-money - I have no need to bow down to politicians!"

  Admiral Clerke had not had the same good fortune, was inclined to be resentful that Frederick had.

  "Few have had your luck, Sir Frederick! Ordinary mortals must bend their heads to the whims of their masters, sir. We may accept that politicians are strangers to both honour and common sense and, besides, lack any concept of simple honesty - yet even so, they are in command, and if we wish to attain success in our careers then we must smile at their little fancies. We may console ourselves that the alternative is to be ruled directly by kings,
who are without exception either lunatics or moral lepers."

  "In the case of the gentleman to be our next king, sir, we might suggest both to be the case!"

  "We might indeed, Sir Frederick, but not in public, I beg of you!"

  Frederick was aware that his voice might have risen and that the Admiral possessed a Flag-Lieutenant and secretaries; he had been indiscreet, might indeed have ended his naval service with that one remark if it were to be passed on.

  "My apologies, sir. One can become frustrated on occasion. The sole consolation, I must imagine, is that Bonaparte is worse!"

  "So we are told, sir. I have no fears for the behaviour of my own people, however."

  "I will lay you long odds, sir, that Captain Murray will quote my words to me within the day."

  Frederick returned to Euripides, gave the welcome news that leave would be available to alternate watches for the next four days. Blenkinsop informed him that the men's pay tickets were up and that a paymaster was due within the hour.

  "The advantages of a scared government, Mr Blenkinsop. They fear that Bonaparte's forces may cross the Channel any day and they do not wish their troops to be disaffected by lack of pay. For this year the men will never be so much as a month in arrears; when the invasion scare is over then you may wager that the government will find better things to do with its money."

  Blenkinsop was still young and believed that Frederick might well be overly cynical; he was sure that politicians numbered great men among their ranks and would not commit such sins.

  "Is it your intention to go ashore, Mr Blenkinsop?"

  "Well, yes, sir, I had hoped to."

  "I might advise you not to do so, sir. Your activities have not been unnoticed and have occasioned some ribald remarks in my hearing. I would not wish to hear that you had been insulted and had felt yourself forced to offer a challenge in response. If you die then I will need to discover another Premier, and you are effective in the role, would be difficult to replace, sir; if you kill your man then you will stand trial, and there is no certainty how a court will rule these days. It is not so many years since I sat on a court that hanged a lieutenant for his part in a meeting that had some irregularities to it, and the climate of opinion is less favourable to the duello every year."

  "Yes, but, sir..."

  "No, Mr Blenkinsop. You are within risk of destroying your life, sir, by your priapism! I am aware that one is young but once, but there is reason in all things, sir. I must demand self-control of you, sir, for the ship's sake."

  It was on the tip of Blenkinsop's tongue to enquire whether dalliance with admirals' wives qualified as self-control; he felt it wiser for the sake of his career to be silent.

  "Yes, sir. I shall not go ashore, sir."

  "I should point out as well, Mr Blenkinsop, that there is no certain cure for any of the venereal ailments. One has better presents to give one's bride on her honeymoon!"

  "Thank you, sir. I shall remember that injunction!"

  Frederick wondered whether he had been entirely tactful in his conversation with the young man, but a captain did have a duty to all of his people - he must on occasion protect them from themselves.

  "Captain Murray, how do you do, sir?"

  "Much improved in health and in spirits, Sir Frederick! I am told by my doctor that I may be measured for my hook within the week, sir!"

  "That is good news indeed, sir. I am so pleased for you! Will you stay in Gibraltar or are you to return to London, do you know?"

  "It is too soon to say for sure, Sir Frederick, but I expect to be recalled quite soon. Cadiz is no longer of overwhelming importance and there is no reason to expect a try at the Rock itself. There is an office in Malta again and it is staffed by very able men who can pick up all the news of the Mediterranean more easily than I can here on the western periphery. I suspect therefore that I will be brought back to London. I will be pleased enough to go as well. I shall bequeath Deptford to my successor, with some pleasure, I would add - he is a nasty little man."

  "Are not most of your informants of that sort, Captain Murray?"

  Murray shrugged - very few traitors were pleasant people, he had found, and his work was almost exclusively with such types.

  "I shall be happier out of the field, Sir Frederick. I shall read the reports at second-hand and know nothing of the people who make them. Pontius Pilate shall be my exemplar, sir!"

  "A noble example indeed. What of these convoys that are said to be creeping along the Spanish coast, Captain Murray?"

  "A very good question, Sir Frederick. I know almost nothing of them. My sources along the southern coast of France have little to say on the topic. London tells me that naval stores from the Baltic have been sent south by river and canal and are thought to be in Marseille even now. The problem is that the British have been very successful in closing down French coastal trade in the Channel and the Frogs have dug canals that now link the Rhone to the Seine and then to the Meuse and the Rhine and Ruhr and then to northern parts unknown to me for certain. The trade is now mostly by narrow boat and is thus out of our direct sight. I do know that timbers for masts have been passing along the Dalmatic coast and around Italy for some months, convoyed or in neutral waters for the bulk of their run."

  "It is thus probable that naval stores are being sent west, sir?"

  "Highly likely, Sir Frederick."

  "What of the Spanish? One might expect them to send escorts from Cartagena and Barcelona to protect such valuable trade."

  "Ah, one might indeed, Sir Frederick, except one has knowledge of the state of affairs in Spain, sir!"

  "Do not tell me, Captain Murray - convoluted, involuted and Byzantine in their complexity?"

  "Well expressed, Sir Frederick! I could not have put it better - indeed, I seem to remember using exactly those terms at some time in the past!"

  "I knew I had heard the words somewhere, sir!"

  "Let me outline the situation, Sir Frederick, as simply as I may - for my own benefit in part, because I still am not entirely certain of all that is going on in the minds of the Spaniards involved. I suspect that may be because they do not understand either. We must always bear in mind that Spanish culture is not entirely European in its nature - much though they deny it, the influence of the Moor is still there. Like the Moors, and wholly unlike the English, religion plays an important part in their life and often determines the policy of those in government. As we all know, poor old King George often tries to follow the ideals of a Christian gentleman and his governments of all persuasions have found him a damned nuisance for it. It is far more convenient when the old fellow is obviously insane rather than a little crazy, you know!"

  Frederick was made most uncomfortable by such talk - he did feel that as a naval officer he must display an uncritical loyalty to his monarch. Captain Murray noticed and shook his head sadly - such a pity!

  "Now then, the Spanish, Sir Frederick. Some of the grandees are inclined towards free-thinking and so support the French in their aims in Europe; others are wholly traditionalist and are opposed to the French, but retain the historical hatred of England as well; a minority are conservative yet prefer England to France; a very few believe that Spain is still a great nation and support only themselves. The leaders of the army and the navy are exclusively drawn from the grandees, and from those foreigners who have been assimilated into their ranks."

  "What foreigners?"

  "Predominantly Irish, such as those military officers we came across in the Caribbean, sir."

  "Ah yes, I remember now. Are there many of them?"

  "A few families originally and their descendants now."

  "They must be expected to be opposed to the English, I would imagine."

  "Mostly, yes, though in South America that is not wholly the case. We, however, are not currently concerned with the Peruvians and their like. The problem of the Monarchy must be added at this point."

  "Habsburgs, I believe."

  "And related to th
e Austrian Emperors, by sentiment as well as kinship."

  "But, and correct me if I am wrong, Captain Murray, the Austrians are allied to England, are they not?"

  "Only sometimes, Sir Frederick. Quite often they come to the conclusion that the English contribute gold to the Alliance while they offer the lives and lands of their people - which is broadly correct in many ways."

  Frederick was by now hopelessly lost; he suspected that should give him a sympathy for the Spanish. He tried to bring the disquisition back to the convoys.

  "The naval stores will go to the Combined Fleet, probably more to the French than to the Spanish. When the French are ready to sail they will coerce the Spanish to follow them. They are already demanding that the Spanish conscript sailors to make up their crews. You will remember Santiago of course, with its huge crew of untrained and hopeless ragamuffins."

  "Thus, Captain Murray, some of the Spanish admirals in Cartagena wish the convoys not to arrive in Cadiz, so that the French may never go to sea."

  "Probably, yes, sir. But others, of course, want the opposite. Some want the convoys to fail but will be happy to see the English done in the eye at the same time. Some want nothing to do with the whole business."

  "Have you no information from your people, Captain Murray?"

  "None that I trust, because my informants also belong to these various camps. I will give you word if I hear from any of the few I currently trust."

  Frederick was left less wise than when he had started. He returned to Admiral Clerke and proposed that he should sail at the end of a week in any case, to cruise the coast hopefully.

  Book Eight: The Duty

  and Destiny Series

  Chapter Four

  The crew enjoyed their week of leave, managing to behave quite disgracefully on occasion; the most outrageous being the half of the starboard watch taking over a bawdy house and barring the doors to all other customers and then drunkenly arguing about payment afterwards. The proprietor of the house made the error of bringing in a dozen of local enforcers to collect her payments and the sailors threw them out of the nearest windows, some of them on the third floor. Frederick had to visit the provosts in person and beg for the return of his men from the cells on the grounds that he would not otherwise be able to sail, and then he would have to send the port watch on leave again. He promised faithfully to stand every manjack at the Captain's Table and have them flogged within an inch of their lives.