HMS Falcon: A Charles Mullins novel, Sea Command 7

by Richard Testrake

  The ship seemed quiet, when the recruiting parties left. There were few enough hands on the ship before, and many of those left with the officers. Mullins was concerned about that. Marines often accompanied recruiting parties to prevent seamen and recruits from running before the party returned to the ship. The Marine contingent had not yet reported on the ship, and very possibly more light-infantry troops would replace Marines on this commission. He hoped the recruiting parties would at least return with the same number of men that started out.

  That evening, while he was agonizing over this matter on the quarterdeck, he noticed a large brig ghosting into the port under the light winds. Although this vessel would have been scoured before sailing, the remaining rank scent told everyone this was a slaver, engaged in the ‘triangle trade’.

  She had come in with the convoy from the Leeward Islands with a cargo of sugar and rum. This would be sold here and a cargo of cheap trade goods taken on board, then she would sail for the Slave Coast on the African mainland. There, the trade goods would be exchanged for human slaves, many of whom had marched for weeks or months through the African jungles to the slave barracoon on the coast that was to be their destination.

  Packed so tightly in the hold there would be scant chance to move, and then forced to spend weeks or months in unendurable conditions during the voyage, those slaves still alive would be delivered to the slave auctions in the Islands. After the brig had been unloaded, other slaves would scour her and she would be loaded with a cargo to deliver to England, where the trade would continue.

  Both of his commissioned officers were absent and Master’s Mate Carver had the deck. Calling him to his side, he pointed to the brig. “That brig, Mister Carver, is a slaver, that will soon be taking on a cargo to deliver to the Slave Coast. She arrived moments ago, and I expect she will grant liberty to her hands for a run ashore. I want you to man the launch and cutter with what men we have available and proceed to the quay, where I think their liberty boat will land. You will take no firearms but you may ask the carpenter to supply you with some stout staves to use as clubs. When the liberty party from the slaver has landed, I would like your men to surround them and take as many as you can without undue commotion. If some are slightly damaged, that is of little concern to me.”

  Uneasy now, Mullins had to concern himself about the watch coming upon his men as they were assaulting the slaver’s crew. If this were to happen, he could well find himself in prison. convicted and removed from the Navy rolls.

  Falcon’s boats left without delay and make their way leisurely to shore. Watching the proceedings through his night glass, he saw his men casually standing in small groups as if they were gossiping.

  As he stood observing his people ashore through the night glass, a beautifully appointed boat approached the ship. Coming up to the portside entry port, no ceremonial welcome was required, but Mullins was curious.

  He recognized the boat as the admiral’s barge from the flagship. Mullins also recognized its passenger. Mister Dooley, whom he had not seen since returning from the Brittany shore was here again on his ship.

  Still waiting the results of the raid on shore, Mullins had little time for a lengthy explanation. The short one, which Dooley quickly offered, had him being returning to France to deliver vital information to fellow conspirators there. Before going below to his familiar berth in the wardroom, he handed Mullins a packet of orders which would explain his own mission.

  An hour after his men landed on the beach, the liberty party from the brig left their vessel. These were men gleefully anticipating their evening’s recreation. Shouts and howls echoed around the shore. Once onshore, the hands from the brig split into several smaller groups, each man apparently having his own idea of where he was to entertain himself.

  With no sound that Mullins could distinguish, his own men split off and began to follow their victims. Soon, a few shouts and cries echoed from the shore, but these types of sounds were normal enough here and were not noticed.

  Soon, activity could be seen about the boats, but at first Mullins could not make out exactly what was going on. Soon though, it was apparent that men were depositing heavy loads into both boats. When the boats cast off, he could see that most or all his men were aboard. Once the boats came alongside, piles of men could be seen laid out in their bottoms.

  A few of the victims had regained consciousness and could climb aboard under a certain amount of ‘persuasion’, but most had to be brought aboard by Jacob’s chair,

  The ship’s surgeon came up to examine the injured men and he protested loudly over some of their injuries. To quiet him, Mullins took him into his cabin, gave him a drink and explained carefully what each of these men had been doing with their human cargo on their slave ship.

  As each victim awoke, he appeared before Captain Mullins, who explained to him that he was on the HMS Falcon and had been pressed into service for the Crown. He assured each that he would receive a generous bonus if he signed on as a volunteer. Should he decline, he would still be signed on but would not receive the bonus. In the end, most did sign, which relieved Mullins from any chance of prosecution since, to collect the bounty, each man had to agree he had signed on willingly.

  Those capable were given a ration of grog and allowed to go below and doss down in a hammock. The others were covered with sailcloth and left on deck to be tended by the surgeon.

  When the confusion was sorted out and some semblance of calm had returned to the ship, Mullins asked his cox’n if any difficulties had occurred during the raid.

  “Well sir,” replied the petty officer. “My party had just coshed a couple of men and were bundling them into the cutter when the watch came by. I told them we were pressing these seamen for the old Elephant out in the harbor. He wanted to see our papers but I just had the men get into the boat and we came back to the ship.”

  Mullins cringed. Captain Hawkins of HMS Elephant was a crusty old captain of the third-rate, line-of-battle ship, vastly superior in rank and prestige to himself, who would not take kindly to find himself falsely involved in this escapade. On second thought, though, Hawkins would likely take his displeasure out on any officer of the town watch who dared accuse him of any impropriety. Probably Mullins could arrange to take Falcon out to sea before her involvement could be determined.

  The standing officers and petty officers felt it necessary to carry sidearms for the next day. With a dozen angry recruits on board there was some fear of an attempt at taking the ship. Fortunately, the next day, the ship received yet another visitor.

  A young man wearing a familiar green uniform appeared at the entry port and introduced himself to the Master’s Mate of the watch. Lieutenant Harrison of the 95th Regiment of Foot saluted. He had accompanied his augmented company of Riflemen from their barracks and wished to report for duty.

  Since both of his officers were still away on their recruiting missions, Mullins ordered Mister Carver to get the troops aboard and stowed. The purser had to be forcefully convinced to supply hammocks and other shipboard necessities to the soldiers, because he had not yet been compensated for the kit issued to the previous detachment, much of which had been abandoned on the enemy shore.

  No sooner had the wondering troops been brought aboard and shown their strange hammocks when a pair of wagons drew up on shore. Accompanying men removed belongings from the vehicles and were shown to the waiting boats. At the same time, green-clad troops began filing onto the lighter that would transport them to their new home.

  While their embarkation of the troops and the new recruits took place, Mullings discussed shipboard procedures to the Rifleman officer. Mister Harrison was a slight man barely out of his teens and Captain Mullins wondered at the army entrusting so many men to such a youth. Harrison explained the former commanding officer of the unit strongly disagreed to the seagoing mission as had been described to him and asked to stay behind on the Regimental staff. This wish was granted and no other suitable officer came forward to comma
nd the company on this hare-brained expedition, so it was Lieutenant Harrison, the junior officer of the company, who got the nod for the command.

  As he had on the first mission, Mullins called the principle men to his quarters to discuss the planned raid. He wanted Dooley, especially, to meet with the Rifle commander to plan any activities they might jointly undertake on shore.

  Mister Garrison was young, with little experience with the army or indeed, life in general. Mullins introduced him to Dooley, explaining he should take seriously everything the agent had to tell him.

  One of Harrison’s privates had fractured his arm when he fell down a hatch, so the Rifle officer issued Dooley the man’s Baker rifle. Dooley had been practicing with Mullins’ long rifle, but he preferred the Baker as being more suitable for rough service ashore.

  The returning ships’ officers had brought back a few men for the ship, as well. Only a few were seamen but the landsmen they had recruited seemed healthy enough and would soon learn their duties.

  Mullins now realized it was as well that more men had not been recruited. Almost two hundred soldiers had come aboard and it would be a confusing problem to decide where to put them. However, Mullins could harden his heart. That was what first officers were for.

  Wishing to remove his ship from Portsmouth Harbor before HMS Elephant’s captain realized it was Falcon’s crew that had besmirched his name, Mullins had his new second officer signal the flag asking permission to depart. The affirmative signal came moments later and Mister Morison gave the order to-up anchor and get the ship under way.

  Immediately, confused green jackets were pressed into taking their place at the capstan to assist the seamen into hauling the ship up to her anchor.

  Shortly after, the ship was cautiously winding her way through the mass of shipping and making for the Channel.

  Chapter Eight

  Disregarding his orders that called for haste, Mullins spent two weeks at sea working his ship and crew into some semblance of order. It took that long for some of the Riflemen to get over their sickness. Once his people knew a bit about their jobs, he took Falcon to a tiny fishing port on an island off the Normandy coast. A few Norman fishermen were present with their families, but the Britons and Normans mostly ignored each other. Early on, Mullins informed a Norman delegation that if the inhabitants did not inform the mainland officials of their presence, he would purchase their fish at the going market price.

  Falcon remained in the little port for a week, while the troops trained on shore. When everyone was satisfied, the ship left for the Brest blockade. While still snug in her protected berth, a vicious squall had blown the Inshore Squadron of the blockade out to sea so Falcon was by herself off Brest for the time being.

  The local shipping began moving right after the storm, not realizing a British post ship had ridden out the gale in the security of a nearby harbor. Almost immediately after arriving at her station, Falcon snapped up a fat brig bound for Brest laden with naval stores. Fortunately, he now had plenty of men to man her so giving her a crew with a midshipman to command, he sent her into Plymouth.

  Continuing to patrol off Brest, local fishing craft began to be encountered. Some tried to flee, while others attempted to ignore the British ship. Mullins tried to interview as many of the fishing boat crews that he could come up with. Most would have nothing to do with their enemy and declined to talk.

  Lieutenant Reynolds was interviewing an unusually obstreperous elderly boat captain, who was vigorously gesturing and vocally expressing contempt for all things British. Suddenly, one of the fellow’s hands seemed to snatch at Reynold’s pocket. Thinking it to be an inadvertent act, Reynolds paid it no attention until back in the cutter heading for the ship.

  Reaching into his pocket for a handkerchief to wipe his flowing nose, he found an unfamiliar object. It was a large cloth button. He remembered that fishing boat captain had been missing just such a button on his serge coat.

  Aboard Falcon, Mullins handed the button to Dooley. His razor-sharp pen knife opened the button and a scrap of tightly folded thin paper fell onto Mullins’ desk. Painfully small writing was on one side of the paper, while a crude drawing was on the other. Neither Mullins or Dooley could decipher the writing, but when Mister Midshipman Forest was called, the otherwise useless mid was able to read a date and time from the paper. The date was only two days away.

  No one could make sense of the drawing that appeared on the reverse side of the paper until Dooley went over to the chart table. Noon sights had been recorded on the local chart just prior to this discussion and his eye was drawn to a section of the coast depicted. Calling the others over, all realized the drawing was a miniature depiction of that area on the chart, which itself showed a small bay, defended by a gun battery.

  This bay was on the western side of the peninsula. A tiny village was marked on the chart at the head of the bay and the battery itself was situated on the headland near the entrance to the harbor. Examining the chart closely with Mister Morison and Evans, the sailing master, all agreed the battery was poorly situated for its purpose.

  Built on a point, the only practical access by land was a narrow road along the coast. Any supply or re-enforcement must travel along this path. At one point, inland from the battery, the road approached the water’s edge where the water’s depth was such that the ship could close the shore.

  Granted, this would not be practical during daylight or even at night with good visibility, but it seemed likely that under certain conditions, the ship might be able to pass the battery unseen and anchor behind the gun positions.

  Mister Dooley was consulted concerning the proposed plan and gave his blessing. The plan required the ship to approach at night during a period of poor visibility and send off the boats with armed seamen and Riflemen. Leadsmen in the boats would measure the depths of the approach as well as determine the type of bottom here. Mullins thought he might need to spend several days here and wished to satisfy himself as to the holding qualities of this anchorage.

  Once the initial landing party was ashore, the boats would return to Falcon and take on the remainder of the landing force. Scouting parties would reconnoiter the target battery and the best manner of attack would be planned. An ambush force would be left on the approach road to interdict any attempt to assist the enemy garrison from their mainland base. Both the launch and cutter would have boat carronades mounted and remain offshore able to assist the ambush party. Falcon could herself furnish any necessary fire support.

  The ship moved well offshore and approached the target from the sea. While out of sight of land, she hove to and awaited the proper conditions. That night, it was clear and Mullins thought sharp-eyes sentries might spot them with the assistance of the quarter moon.

  Reluctantly, the ship turned away and cruised well offshore. The next afternoon, cloud cover moved in and the winds picked up. Mister Evans forecast a blustery night, with a good chance of rain.

  At sunset, HMS Falcon began moving toward the target cove. It was after midnight when they passed the battery and entered the bay. The fires of the shore battery marked their position and the sounds of the enemy garrison were plainly audible. The ship made no sound as she entered the bay under her reefed topsails. All hands had been threatened with the cat if anyone dropped a tool or said a word. The leadsman on the port mainchains had been admonished to call out his depths in a faint whisper. At length, when the leadsman’s reported depths corresponded to those listed on the chart, the ship hove to and her boats trailing astern, were pulled up and the troops began going over the side.

  There was now some evident clatter as weapons and kit made their presence known, but they were distant enough from the enemy fortification to escape notice. Mister Dooley went ashore in the second wave. Once the battery had been secured, a few of the defenders would be allowed to escape, to give the alarm to inhabitants on the mainland. It was hoped, in the confusion, Mister Dooley would be able to join a group fleeing into the interior.<
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  By false dawn, all combatants had been sent ashore and the ambush positions set up. A rocket fired from Lieutenant Harrison’s attack position heralded the assault. There was just light enough for the Riflemen to begin engaging targets, while fifty seamen, waving cutlasses and pistols began their assault on the rear gate. Only a pair of poles and two sentries slowed their access and both sentries fell to accurate rifle fire only moments after the rocket went up. As the seamen entered the position, the Riflemen fixed bayonets and began their own charge. In five minutes, the battle was over. Only twenty defenders were in the battery and half of these were now casualties.

  As the new proprietors of the battery consolidated their position, distant drums began sounding the alarm. Half an hour later, in the early morning light, a column of troops could be seen marching along the coast road.

  Some of Harrisons’ men were relieved of their tasks in the battery and sent into the hills above the road to harass the approaching enemy. HMS Falcon, now anchored fore and aft a long musket shot offshore, her guns made ready.

  The Riflemen in the heights opened the ball, firing accurate long shots into the approaching enemy column. Unable to respond to this fire with their own shorter-range muskets or even able to flee from the persistent fire, the enemy just had to take it, leaving a trail of wounded and dead behind on the road.

  Now it was the turn of the ships’ boats, offshore now, with their boat carronades prepared. Whole swathes of enemy soldats fell as the grape-shot from the boats struck the column. Despite the cruel assault from the Riflemen and the boats, the enemy officers somehow kept many of their men together. The enemy had a better chance to reply to the fire from the boats, since they were not quite out of musket range. Three members of the boats’ crews fell to musketry fire from shore.