One of Athena’s spare topmasts replaced the spar shot away on the prize, and the pair was soon on their way to Jamaica to spread the word of the new warships in the area. Captain Mullins considered Mister Archer had performed acceptably while prize-master of the tartane earlier, so he was given command of this latter prize.
Captain Mullins reported to Rear Admiral Dacres immediately upon arriving at Jamaica Station where he had to explain his presence. Dacres had recently assumed command from Admiral Duckworth and was surprised with the orders given Mullins off Ferrol but was appreciative of the intelligence he brought.
“Captain Mullins, you should know Admiral Cochrane has assumed command of the Leeward Islands squadron. I am pleased to learn the location of the newly arrived Spanish line-of-battleships from Spain. One of Admiral Cochrane’s dispatch cutters has recently come into port. I will send word to the admiral of your recent escapades and the news you have brought us. At this moment, I do not know whether you will be assigned to the Leeward Island squadron or sent back to European waters. In the meantime, I have use for your ship.”
“It is important that we keep abreast of the location of our missing Spaniards, now that you have found them for us. Therefore, as soon as you have your ship in order, I will send you back to keep watch over San Juan Harbor. I will endeavor to send additional vessels as they become available. Of course, you will not be able to prevent the enemy ships sailing, but you may be able to follow them and send us word as to their destination. Of course, if Admiral Cochrane should give you contrary orders, you will obey his instructions.”
HMS Athena lay at anchor for a week, while stores were loaded and repairs completed. Mullins had expected to have his prize crew that was still aboard their prize returned, but this did not happen. From his quarterdeck, he could see men swarming over the prize. A new spar, floated over from the dockyard, was soon set up in lieu of the jury rig installed after her capture.
Curious, he took his gig over to her to see for himself what was occurring. As his boat approached the lugger, another boat approached from the direction of the flagship. Captain Wilton, Admiral Dacre’s flag captain, was sitting in the stern sheets. Knowing his place, Mullins ordered his cox’n to allow the superior officer to board first.
After the portly captain had climbed aboard and was greeted with what courtesies Midshipman Archer on the prize had to offer, Mullins pulled himself aboard by the manropes. One of the seamen was tootling on a bosun’s pipe as he came aboard.
Captain Wilton came over and welcomed him, explaining that he had been saved a trip to Athena, “Because Admiral Dacres desires you to have a tender to relay messages when you have gained further intelligence of your quarry, he has decided to purchase the lugger into the Navy. Her commissioning ceremony shall be this afternoon. It is my task to select a proper commander for her. Do you consider her present prize-master capable of handling the lugger, or should I look about for a more experienced officer?”
Mullins answered quickly. “This is Midshipman Archer’s second command. He commanded a tartane we took off the Spanish coast and took her into Lisbon. I trust the lad to handle the lugger competently.”
“Very well, we will leave him in place. It must be understood he will not go haring after prizes or entering into ill-judged combat with enemy vessels. His purpose is to transmit any intelligence discovered by you to Jamaica Station.”
HMS Athena and the lugger, now re-named HMS Havoc, set out for Puerto Rico to find if the Spanish warships were still in San Juan harbor. The defenses, alerted by Athena’s previous visit, fired upon the intruders whenever they approached within range. Unable to learn anything at first hand, Mullins opted to remain offshore where he might intercept ships leaving that port.
Nothing was learned for several weeks but one evening, a brig was seen coming from the direction of the port. Havoc cooperated with Athena to bring the vessel to heel. It proved to be a French trading vessel bound for Guadeloupe, laden with casks of salt pork.
The brig was given a master’s mate and a few seamen. Before she left for Jamaica, her original crew was brought aboard Athena and interviewed. All declined to answer any questions save for their cook. A former slave of mixed ancestry, Pierre Dupret had been freed early on in the French Revolution, but now it was reported that Napoleon had reversed the former decision to free all slaves. With the possibility of slavery returning to the French islands, Dupret was terrified that he might be enslaved again.
He thought there could be no escape. Even if he could find his way to a British island, he thought he might just escape bondage to a French master to become a slave to an English one. Lieutenant Howard explained the law to him. If he were to volunteer to serve in the Royal Navy, he would automatically be free of any question of servitude to a former master. Of course, it might be said he had merely exchanged the possibility of servitude to a French owner to the certainty of servitude in the Royal Navy.
With the first officer’s assurance of freedom from the Navy at the end of the war, Dupret immediately began to volunteer what information he had. A native of Saint Dominique, he spoke French, Spanish and Creole interchangeably. His ship had stopped in San Juan on passage to Guadeloupe. Having spent a few hours onshore, he had heard the locals gossiping about the newly arrived ships.
There were serious problems with both. The larger one was seriously infected with rot in her timbers below decks. With no facilities locally to make repairs and unfit for service at sea, it had been decided to keep her in position for harbor defense. The smaller third-rate, San Francisco de Asturia, also had her own difficulties. An old ship, her timbers were strained. She was suffering from what the British would call ‘hogging’. Her frame was sagging from the weight of her armament and it was believed she could no longer serve as a ship of war.
Therefore, it was decided to transform her into a transport, for which there was an urgent need. Most of her guns were removed to reinforce the defenses of San Juan while the ship itself was prepared to transport soldiers to Spanish Hispaniola, where a slave revolt was in progress.
Dupret had no knowledge of the actual sailing date but thought it must be soon. The workers assigned to do temporary repairs on her hull had been sent ashore just before his ship left port. A thirty-two-gun Spanish frigate, idle for years, had been hastily refurbished and would serve as escort to the old transport on the short voyage to Hispaniola. The Estrella del Mar was also old and in poor repair, but it was thought she could perform this one last duty.
Electing to send his information in to Admiral Dacres by the prize, Mullins kept Havoc in loose company with him. While Athena waited well off-shore for activity, her tender made periodic sorties into inshore Spanish waters in attempts to gather information.
This strategy proved successful one evening when another guarda costa vessel appeared on the heels of Havoc, who was returning from one of her looks into San Juan harbor, the guard boat peppering her with fire from her forward guns. Presenting her beam to the enemy, Athena loosed her port broadside at the nuisance, causing little or no damage, but the little craft went about, returning to San Juan, satisfied with driving the spy away.
During the night, both Athena and Havoc set sail toward San Juan Harbor, hoping to catch the enemy off-guard. They were rewarded when, at first light, they saw the dis-armed third-rate and her protector, the old thirty-two-gun Spanish frigate. These ships had apparently worked their way out of the harbor the evening before and were now proceeding eastward toward Hispaniola.
Mullins decided to keep Havoc with him for now. It was only a short passage for the enemy to her destination and there would be insufficient time for Havoc to obtain help before the transport landed her troops. Neither of the enemy ships were fast, but the old frigate seemed painfully slow. Moored for years at her berth in San Juan harbor, she had grown an astonishing crop of weed and other growth on her hull. The dis-armed third-rate had to continuously shorten sail to avoid running away from her consort.
Athena’s objective was the transport with its load of soldiers and their equipment, but the frigate interposed itself between the transport and her abuser and began to close with the post ship. Mullins did not wish to become involved in a slugging match with the more powerful frigate, but he soon learned the gunnery practice of the enemy warship was abysmally poor, as was her sail handling. Despite dozens of shot expended, not one came close to the post ship. Mullins suspected her hands had been summarily dragooned aboard the ship from the docks, wharves and posadas of the port, regardless of their seamanship ability. He doubted this crew had any experience with gunnery.
As they neared Hispaniola, the faster transport began to surge ahead of the frigate. Encouraged by the poor marksmanship of the frigate, Athena began to overtake the frigate, also. Separated by a distance of a bit over two cable lengths, both ships exchanged fire. At this distance of a fourth part of a mile, none of the Spanish shot told, while a hit was seen on the main topsail of the frigate. Few splashes were observed in the water around the enemy so Mullins speculated more hits had been made on the enemy hull.
The enemy frigate was to windward of Athena, and her leeway was pushing her down toward Athena. The transport, with her deeper draft, was able to withstand this movement and the distance between the two Spanish ships was increasing.
Athena continued her fire into the closing frigate, meanwhile taking a few of the enemy shot herself. One of these balls struck a nine-pounder long gun on the muzzle, dismounting it and killing or maiming most of the crew. Captain Mullins was beginning to think he had overstayed his welcome when one of his guns scored a hit on the enemy fore topmast, just above the foretop.
The winds had been increasing in strength during the action and the press of sail on that topmast stressed it to the breaking point, bringing it down. The frigate slowed for a few minutes until the Spanish crew could set the reefed fore course. This gave Athena enough of a speed advantage to surge ahead. Now on the enemy’s fore-quarter, Athena was clear of the fire from all but the most forward of the enemy’s starboard battery.
Coming to port a little, she was now able to get her port carronades into play. The continued fire from the thirty-two-pounders was cutting up the enemy frigate dreadfully. Attempting to turn to port herself to bring more of her guns into play, somehow the old frigate came around too far, suddenly pointing too close into the wind. Now, with her canvas all-aback, she was in irons, almost motionless in the water and beginning to gain sternway.
Mullins had Athena on the frigate’s quarter, pumping iron shot into her as fast as his men could load and fire. The transport, a better handled ship than her consort, had evaded all of this action and was now on her way alone toward Hispaniola. A last parting broadside brought down the frigate’s mainmast and Mullins regarded this fight over. The transport, after all, with its load of soldiers, was the important objective. The old frigate, even though it was still flying the Spanish flag, would never sail again. She might not even make port.
Signaling Havoc to remain by the helpless foe, Athena went for the transport. As he closed on the two-decker, he found she was not quite as helpless as he had been told. Hundreds of uniformed soldiers were at the rails, muskets in hand. From her lower gun ports, a few muzzles emerged. Granted, these were not the twenty-six-pounder long guns which she had carried for much of her career. Those had been removed and were now being utilized in defending the fortress of San Filipe del Morro. Lighter guns, perhaps a dozen twelve-pounders, had replaced some of these.
The gunners on the transport also were more adept than those on the frigate. Several of those guns scored damaging hits on Athena. The enemy transport had another problem though. Actually, there were two problems. The old two-decker was grossly overloaded. In addition to the troops and kit with which they were equipped, she had a rather complete siege train below in her hold. These guns and equipment were intended for the troops ashore, meant to be used in a foray against a rebel stronghold nearby.
Then too, the south-westerly wind was laying her well over, bringing the starboard lower gun ports very close to the sea.
Every time those ports were opened, wave action brought more water aboard. There were many troops aboard who could man the pumps, but these people had not been instructed in their operation. Anyway, most of the troops were on deck with their small arms to bring fire on the ship that was persecuting them. Those that were not, were too sick to be of much use on the pumps.
Athena’s nine-pounder guns that had been so effective against the frigate, were less so against the transport. Built with heavier scantlings to withstand heavy fire in the battle line, the smaller shot from Athena did little damage. The heavy balls from the carronades were much more effective but there were few of them, making it unlikely they might influence the action.
In the end, it was a fluke that decided the issue. A hurricane hundreds of miles distant was now delivering punishing winds and heavier seas. The transport was forced to close her lower gun ports and suspend fire. The now savagely pitching Athena could still get off a shot now and then, but Mullins knew he must soon gain some sea room for safety.
He had just signaled Havoc to leave her watch over the frigate and seek safety when the troop commander on the deck of the transport judged his enemy was close enough for musket shot to score. He had his men poised on the upper deck and gave the order to fire. The spray had dampened much of the men’s powder, and probably not more than one musket in every twenty fired. But, some did and one musket ball struck a helmsman on Athena’s quarterdeck, killing him instantly. The man fell at Mullins’ feet.
Captain Mullins immediately instructed his midshipman messenger to report to Mister Drover, give him the captain’s respects, and ask him to load all guns with canister. This charge used a metal canister filled with musket balls. When fired, upon emergence from the muzzle of the gun, the canister opened up, spreading the shot in a wide killing pattern.
The intent was to cause large numbers of casualties and discourage the enemy from firing muskets. The next broadside caused the desired effect. Blood ran from the transport’s scuppers as the exposed soldiers fell. It was not only the soldiers that fell, much of the quarterdeck staff on the stricken transport went down also, leaving an inexperienced junior officer in command. A sprig of the Spanish nobility, this one had little training and nobody to offer him good advice.
Had he remained on course, Athena could have done little damage to his ship. That broadside was likely to be the last one fired, with the seas beginning to break over her deck. Shaken, the Spanish officer decided he must get closer to land with a view to landing his people should the storm intensify and his ship find itself in serious difficulties. There were several bays and inlets along the coast, perhaps he might be able to seek refuge in one of them.
It would have taken a more experienced seaman than himself to do this successfully. The young trainee had actually studied a chart of this coast recently and was sure he had enough water depth for safety. Unfortunately, he did not understand the ship’s draft, from its additional weight of cargo as well as that of seawater that had come aboard, had increased greatly.
Driven through the sea now with near hurricane force winds, she almost survived. A coral outcrop on the seafloor, rising only inches above the bottom, protruded just inches above the ship’s keel. Running onto this with the full force of the gathering storm tore her bottom out. In a flash, she was on her beam-ends, spilling her crew into the sea. Most of her people died then. A few may have survived for a few minutes longer, but it was the end of the ship.
Chapter Sixteen
Collecting her tender, Athena fought her way out to sea. Mullins was concerned with the young Mister Archer, commanding that little lugger, but the lad understood his command. His craft rode the seas like a duck. As long as neither craft came too close to land or shallow water, it appeared they were safe enough.
The storm passed them and next day the sky was clear. With no other duties on their agenda, the pair
made their way back to Jamaica. The inner harbor was filled with shipping, driven in by the storm, so the pair anchored farther out. Mullins advised Archer that when making port in the Caribbean, it was always wiser to moor as far from shore as possible. It was well known that the miasmas that caused fevers seldom came out this far. Actually, neither did the mosquitoes, making another reason to stay away from land. As soon as they made their numbers, both commanders were ordered to report to the flag.
Both Mullins and Archer were called into the great cabin where Admiral Dacres greeted them. Initially, both stood at attention in front of his desk while making their reports. Only after he learned of the destruction of the two-decker did he invite them to sit for a repast, after which the two commanders were required to give a more detailed verbal account of the action. Dacres was still concerned about the fate of the three decker, but Mullins was able to convince him that she had probably been hulked or put in ordinary. He reminded the admiral of the poor condition of the transport and the escort frigate supposedly protecting her. It was his opinion that neither ship had been in any condition to go to sea.
After emptying several bottles of Bordeaux, as well as thoroughly discussing the actions, Admiral Dacres said, “Captain Mullins, Admiral Cochrane has been heard from. Since your last orders from Admiralty were to report to him, he requires you to do this at once. Take on what stores you need then you may depart for English Harbor. I will place my assessment of your action in the mail pouch you will be taking with you.”
The admiral added, “I must add that I will be retaining Havoc and Mister Archer. If you wish, I may be able to supply you with another midshipman.”
HMS Athena: A Charles Mullins novel (Sea Command Book 4) Page 10
