Jason Horner, a skilled seaman of many years, reported that the lookout who spotted the sails, Jason Phelps, disclosed to him that one of them, a brig, looked very much like that Frenchman they had seen off earlier. He had been hesitant to report it to his officer since he was not entirely sure it was in fact the same brig.
Mullins called the lookout aft and questioned him more closely. Upon reflection, he was now sure it was the same brig, accompanied with two ship-rigged vessels, one larger than the other. That fleet had now disappeared over the horizon and it might be a long chase to try to find them again.
A week later, Phaeton and the Indiaman came out, the specie had been loaded and they would now commence their voyage.
Captain Cockburn signaled that he would take the lead, to windward, while Athens would take her position behind the Indiaman, also to windward. The winds were light and variable, often subsiding altogether. During one calm, Mullins took the opportunity to be pulled over to Phaeton where he informed Cockburn of the sighting of the French flotilla.
When Cockburn wondered what the Frenchmen were up to, Mullins theorized, perhaps they were sweeping for potential prizes. Cockburn replied he would not be taking the course that they might be expected to take for a European destination. He added they would proceed on a southerly course until below the Line, then find the westerlies that would take them around the southern tip of Africa.
He added Captain Hardesty of the General Hughes had supplied him with charts used by the East India Company captains, which he had copied. One of the copies would go to Athena.
The ships continued their southerly course, often being delayed by contrary winds. Out of the customary trade routes, they met with little traffic, until one morning, the lookout reported a sail approaching on the port beam.
After reporting the sighting to Phaeton, Mullins jumped into the mizzen shrouds with his glass to get a view himself. The sail was hull-down and difficult to see, but she seemed familiar to him. He called down to have Phelps sent up. Pointing out the sail to the seaman, he asked if he had ever seen it be before. When he appeared noncommittal, Mullins handed him his glass. There was a delay while the seaman familiarized himself with the telescope. Finally catching a glimpse of the stranger though the now-focused glass, he exclaimed, “That’s the brig we met twice before!”
Captain Cockburn signaled Athena to investigate the brig, but the post ship was unable to close with her. Apparently, the chase had a better slant of wind than Athena and soon vanished below the horizon. Later that afternoon, when the wind died completely, the three captains had a meeting aboard Phaeton to discuss the situation.
When Captain Hardesty was asked his views, he offered his idea that the enemy had somehow learned of the specie transfer and were sweeping for the ships. Captain Cockburn wondered why they did not attack when they last met. Mullins suggested they might have wished for better odds. Perhaps they were expecting additional ships to join them.
After the conference, Cockburn decided to alter course farther to the west, hoping to avoid any meeting with a superior French fleet. This course change seemed successful at first, but then another sail came into view, ahead of them this time. She was a French Leda-class frigate, this one with 38 guns. Although intended to be armed with eighteen-pounders, these guns had been replaced with twelves when the ship was routed to the Caribbean. The twelves being much lighter and causing less stress on the hull over long voyages, the French sometimes replaced them with lighter guns on the long missions. The strange frigate was accompanied by a sleek, American-built schooner, which soon sailed off to the west, while the larger ship remained to windward of the convoy.
That night, Cockburn ordered another course change, hoping to lose their shadow in the night, but next morning, there she was, on their windward beam. Phaeton stood out to meet with the French frigate, with a view to bringing her to action. At once the stranger evaded and took up position farther out to sea.
The ships resumed their course, with the big Frenchman holding course on them. That evening, the stranger began signaling. She then stood away to the northwest until she was nearly hull-down. Next morning, she was back, this time with friends. There was their old acquaintance, the brig, they had met several times before, accompanied by a twenty-gun corvette and another frigate of 32 guns.
Phaeton signaled Athena to remain with the Indiaman, then stood out to meet the enemy by herself. The 32-gun frigate as well as the corvette met Phaeton while the bigger frigate came in to sweep Athena out of the way. Phaeton nearly disappeared from view as she sailed between her two antagonists and fired at each with her port and starboard batteries. Mullins did not have a chance to observe this conflict as the big frigate was coming up fast.
Athena might have been the faster ship, but the Indiaman was slow and the post ship must stay with her. As the big frigate came up from behind, the six-pounders in their stern ports were readied. Fired alternatively, they soon became troublesome to the frigate. She had no guns herself that could be fired directly ahead but must veer in order for her forward guns to bear. This, of course, made her lose way and allowed Athena and her charge to remain just ahead.
A dozen of the six-pound balls were fired with little apparent result, but then, one struck the forward portside twelve-pounder gun of the pursuing frigate. With this gun dismounted and disabled, the frigate’s captain became wary. Deciding to change his tactics, he decided to put his ship about and fired a broadside at this pest. Mullins had been watching for this and as soon as he saw the frigate’s sails shiver, put his own ship about like lightning and fired his own broadside into the still turning frigate. Every shot of that broadside struck and enormous confusion resulted aboard the enemy.
From this closer range, it was easily seen that the enemy’s decks were not clear as one might expect of a warship cleared for action. Instead, she had a deck load of barrels on deck, almost as though she was a merchantman. Also, although this was not visible to an observer, many of her crew had deserted while in the French sugar islands, and had been replaced by what natives could be enticed aboard.
This ship was in no condition to enter combat with a well worked-up warship. Mullins ordered his ship to again follow the Indiaman, since their old friend, the brig, was now off her starboard forward quarter.
In the meantime, the frigate they had just savaged, pulled away, no longer poised to be a menace. Unfortunately, for the brig, it had chosen this moment to move against the Indiaman, supposing the frigate was still in the game. Athena was able to counter this move and came around the Indiaman’s stern to attack the brig.
Captain Hardesty, on the Indiaman, not being one to delay matters, fired his broadside guns into the brig. There were few guns, but they were close to their target and well-pointed.
Before they could lay alongside the big merchant and deploy their boarders, the brig’s foremast fell. Wallowing in the Indiaman’s wake, the brig was an easy target for Athena as she came along. The post ship fired a raking broadside directly into the wreck’s stern. An early shot brought down the remaining mast, succeeding balls caused tremendous damage to the lightly built hull.
Sweeping past the disabled brig, Mullins stepped up into the mizzen shrouds to see how Phaeton was coming along. He saw she was yardarm-to-yardarm with the 38-gun frigate, each ship pounding each other furiously. In addition, the schooner, seemingly untouched, was under Phaeton’s counter discharging her little four-pounders into her stern.
Immediately coming to her consort’s assistance, Athena began firing when barely within range, in order to dissuade the enemy and perhaps save some British lives. Both antagonists broke away, leaving Phaeton wounded and hurt, but still functioning.
Each sided tended to their own hurts, separated by several miles, repairing and replacing as convenient. Neither side was willing to resume the conflict. Soon the surviving enemy ships squared away to the wind and left in their own direction, although Mullins noted the big frigate seemed to be lagging behind, as if no
t quite ready to abandon her mission.
Captain Cockburn invited Mullins over and together they thought over their options. Athena had little damage from her encounter and appeared to be the most seaworthy ship. Phaeton had been much battered and had extensive damage in her tops. Most of this could be repaired but several spars were injured and had to be ‘fished’ with splints of timber and wrappings of line.
Phaeton’s captain decided he would remain as close escort to the Indiaman, while Athena should remain at a distance, ready to intercept any threat. Back in his own ship, Mullins dropped back to see if he could determine what their antagonists might be planning. He was surprised to see the big frigate, her wounds mended, setting her courses and coming up fast. Hoping to draw the pursuer away from her target, Mullins veered away to the north-west but the enemy was not fooled. Continuing on course, she was headed right for the Indiaman.
Interposing herself between, Mullins opened fire with his stern chasers. This ship seemed a bit faster than his own and Mullins had some anxious moments until a shot from one of the six-pounder stern chasers brought down her fore topsail. By now, Phaeton and General Hughes were in sight. They were still out of signaling distance but Mullins knew the sound of the guns would be apparent to Phaeton and he could expect some help.
The enemy frigate had veered around to employ some of his forward broadside guns, and one of these brought down Athena’s main topmast. This slowed her right down and the pursuer came closer, dropping twelve-pounder shot on her as she came.
While his topmen worked feverishly to replace the damaged topmast with another spar, Mullins was able to just keep Athena ahead of the frigate. Setting the fore-course gave her a bit more speed through the sea, at the expense of safety. That large foresail was very close to the thundering guns on her deck, and there was now added risk of fire from muzzle blast.
Her stern guns continued to punish the enemy. They may have been only six-pounders, but they were close and nearly every round impacted their target.
Mullins believed his ship was receiving more than its share of attention from her current adversary and wondered why he had received no assistance from Phaeton. The big frigate was remaining close by her charge. It was then he noticed the little midshipman frantically trying to get his attention. Mister Gregor was an assistant to the second officer who was the designated signal officer. Occupied now, overseeing the stern chasers, he had left signals in the hands of Gregor.
“Sir”, Gregor shouted over the din. “Phaeton is signaling, enemy in sight.”
This was strange, Mullins thought. With two enemy ships in plain sight, why was it necessary to signal their presence? Then, his eyes caught Andrew’s pointing finger. Bearing down on the Indiaman from ahead was that noxious little schooner. By herself, she was of no account in the battle involving the larger ships, but she could be a nuisance to the Indiaman. She was probably packed full of men who would swarm aboard, given half a chance. This was the reason why Phaeton had remained close by her charge while Athena battled the larger frigate.
Of course, it made sense for the two to change places, since Athena would be just as effective at seeing off the schooner, and Phaeton, being much the same size as the large enemy frigate, should be able to handle her. There was just not the opportunity to do this now. If Phaeton were to drop back, the schooner would be at the Indiaman’s side in a flash.
Athena’s opponent, just the least bit faster than the others, crept slowly forward every half-glass, pummeling her target with those twelve-pound balls. Of course, she too received her share of balls from the stern guns of the post-ship, but Athena was losing the fight. Already, she had sent a dozen men below to the cockpit to wait their turn with the surgeon. Another half dozen was tipped over the side to remove their dead bodies from the crowded deck.
Just as matters were beginning to seem serious to the crew of Athens, a sudden move by the captain of the schooner changed everything. The little vessel had been playing cat-and-mouse with Phaeton and the Indiaman while Athena was warding off the big frigate. Seeing an opening, the schooner’s master brought her alongside the General Hughes, with a view to send a swarm of boarders aboard. Unfortunately, for him, Captain Hardesty had ordered his broadside guns loaded with grape. Granted, there were only a dozen of the big twelve-pounder long guns on that starboard beam, but each had a skilled gun-layer at each piece. In addition, there were a number of swivel guns, loaded with pistol balls for close range defense.
As the schooner closed on the big Indiaman, her deck packed with boarders, the guns on the General Hughes began their deadly work. Every discharge of one of the big guns at that close range, brought down its swathe of boarders. The smaller swivel guns, loaded as they were with double charges of shot also accounted for their share.
With her men being slaughtered, her rigging ruined and dead men at the helm, the schooner fell away from her intended target. Phaeton, coming up alongside, finished the little vessel with a crashing broadside, then went back to assist Athena. Being assaulted by two ships at once was too much for the enemy frigate. She came about, still being pummeled by heavy shot and made off, her sails and rigging a ruined chaos.
Captain Cockburn elected not to pursue and bring his enemy to her end. He had other responsibilities and a long voyage ahead.
Chapter Seven
Athena was in trouble. Her previous opponent had pounded her unmercifully and the bosun was overseeing repairs to several damaged spars. With no intact replacements available, it was necessary to ‘fish’ the mizzen topsail yard, but there was no way to repair the shattered main yard.
The carpenter and his mates were at work plugging shot holes about the ship, but were having difficulty with a large shot-hole right up in the bows at the waterline. Some treenails, wooden pegs pinning the end of a plank to its frame, had loosened or failed near the point of impact. Any effort to force material into the seams of the sprung plank to quench the inflow of seawater only made the leak worse.
While the crew worked the pumps, the sailmaker and his mates threaded strands of oakum through a spare sail, making a hairy mat of it. This was passed under the bow, covering the opening and served to reduce the intake of water, but it was still necessary to keep the pumps working night and day.
Captain Cockburn, although having serious damage of his own, came over in his gig to inspect. Conscientiously, he went through the entire ship with Captain Mullins, even climbing the mizzen shrouds to inspect the fished yard. At length he decided, “There is no avoiding it. Athena will not be able to make the voyage to India. I will send over my carpenter and his mates to assist your crew to make what repairs they may. Then you must set course for English Harbor in Antigua.”
HMS Athena put the trade winds on her starboard quarter and set her course for the Caribbean while the other ships struggled to make their southing. The post ship’s crew kept on with their incessant pumping while repairs were continued above decks. The other ships would be steering in the opposite direction, searching for the winds and currents that would take them around the tip of Africa, where they could hope to catch the monsoon to India.
On the third day after the separation, one of Athena’s hands, completing his watch at the pumps, sure that he knew how to stem the constant influx of seawater, attempted to slow the leak up forward by furtively stuffing extra oakum into the crevice about the damaged plank. His plan almost worked, the influx slowing down to a seep. Seeking to stop the flow entirely, a too-vigorous shove pushed the sprung plank out against the fothered sail, causing an almost overwhelming gush of seawater into the forepeak.
The guilty hand immediately left the scene and went back to the pumps, hoping to escape discovery. Fortunately, a carpenters-mate making his rounds, noticed the problem and informed the watch officer. Another sail, previously prepared, was hurriedly roused out and passed under the hull up forward. This reduced the flow of water, but even with the extra fothered sail, the incursion was still more than the pumps could remove.
There was land ahead, Spanish, French and British. The difficulty was guessing just which country might claim their landfall. Taking refuge in Spanish or French territory might prove uncomfortable. Lookouts were sent to all three mastheads in order to get an early sighting. The winds were now veering southerly which Cartwright assured Mullins was a sign the storm behind them was also turning north.
At dawn, the next day, when the lookouts went aloft, the shout ‘Land ho!” echoed from the tops. Midshipman Archer scrambled aloft with a glass and reported land in sight off the starboard bow. Cartwright went into the maintop with his glass and remained there for an hour before descending. Reporting to Mullins on the quarterdeck, he reported he thought it to be an island of the Caicos archipelago. Furthermore, he had a chart of this very island, from his days as a young master’s mate. During the American war, his frigate had surveyed some of these islands and he himself had taken bearings and measured the depths. The master reported the small, uninhabited island had several differing names, depending on which nation’s charts one consulted, but there was no name on his own plot.
HMS Athena: A Charles Mullins novel (Sea Command Book 4) Page 4
