With much of the day before him yet, Timothy repaired to a tailor he had heard recommended. The man specialized in military and naval uniforms and was reputed to be able to produce one rapidly. If necessary, he supposed he could go to the house and borrow one of his father’s old coats, merely needing to remove the epaulette from the right shoulder.
However, he knew his father’s coats would be a loose fit on his body. As it happened, the tailor had a coat he had started to make for another officer who had left London before taking delivery. The tailor was glad to turn a potential loss into profit and Phillips was clad in his new coat when he went to the party.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Hilda was a vision in her gown and young officers were in line to dance with her. Never having mastered that art, Phillips remained on the sidelines watching. As he began thinking of an excuse to leave, a familiar touch startled him. Susanne Wilder was standing by his side, looking ravishing as usual.
Bored and restless, he got into conversation with her. After a few moments, he wondered if he had misjudged her. She was intelligent, charming and witty, not at all the dominating young woman he had thought.
Soon, she had her hand on his arm listening raptly as he explained the tactics of his last battle. She was very impressed with his promotion, wondering if he could be the youngest man to be promoted to commander.
The pair was intently engaged in conversation, hardly aware of anything around them. The current dance ended and Hilda’s partner left her on the floor by the couple to get something to drink. Hilda, only a few feet away from Timothy, started to approach him, but saw he was busily engaged in conversation with Susanne.
Giving a little sniff, she turned to the next man to approach her and as the musicians started to play, she danced off with her new partner.
When it was time to post down to Portsmouth, he left a message at the door of Viscount Eckersley’s home for Hilda. He expressed his regret at not being able to spend time with her. He had called multiple times while in London, but it always seemed she was ‘indisposed’.
He assured her he would write and asked that she reply. With Susanne, there were no difficulties. She had been available any time he came around to her rooms and assured him she would answer all his letters.
Getting back into the naval atmosphere in Portsmouth was a relief. He found it had been a strain attempting futilely to maintain good relations with one woman while failing to keep another woman at arm’s length. It was better to be back in an atmosphere he was familiar with.
Before he went near HMS Aurora, he stopped by Alert. Wainright was there and he had Phillips piped aboard. There were still some familiar faces among the crew, but many had been drafted to other ships and replaced with the dregs of the press.
After spending an hour reminiscing about times past, Phillips took his departure. He had engaged the crew of the shore boat for the full day and they were waiting for him when he left Alert.
The cox’n knew just where Aurora lay and took him directly there. He was prepared to love her despite her faults, but the ship did give him pause. The ship had fine lines as he had been told, but she was drab. Not a ha’penny had been expended on paint, her standing rigging was a horror and her deck was covered with trash left over from her fitting out. Her standing officers had through some oversight not been appointed yet and the only soul on board was an ancient watchman.
Not wasting a moment, Phillips had the boat take him to the dockyard where he located the superintendent’s office. He walked right in, disturbing three men drinking rum in the middle of the day. When one protested, he offered to visit Admiral Curtis and invite him to inspect Aurora which was reputed to be nearly ready to sail.
Seeing the official beginning to dig in his heels, Phillips changed course. He told them he realized that it was expensive these days to get things done and sometimes the government did not allow sufficient funds.
He assured him that he was prepared to write out a note of hand for a significant sum if he could expect to have the ship looking as it should within a week’s time. After some negotiation an amount was agreed upon and Phillips handed over a portion of the money. He assured the official he would have more funds to hand over when he saw the results from this money.
The standing officers began coming in ones and twos. With them came the materials each was responsible for. When the first few men came aboard, the purser was able to supply slop clothing to those who needed it and the cook had his salt pork, beef, biscuit and peas to feed them. When the new first officer reported aboard, Phillips asked Lieutenant MacDonald to draw the few crewmembers up before the quarterdeck and read the orders giving him the command of the ship.
This act officially confirmed his command and he began earning his pay of 20 pounds per lunar month from that moment. As men began coming aboard, the ship became crowded, with the dockyard workers underfoot. The ship was coming together. A dozen seamen came aboard from a fishing boat one night. They had heard of the prize money this captain had earned for his previous crews and wanted some of that themselves.
In order to escape the press, the men had not dared to come through the dockyard so had persuaded the captain of a drifter to bring them near the sloop.
As volunteers, Phillips decided he could use them for recruiting duty. He hired a wagon and team to pull the seamen around outlying towns where the petty officer in charge would pay for drinks for prospective recruits and the seamen would talk about their seagoing experiences. They gathered no seamen in these country towns, but did garner a number of itinerant farm laborers who wished a steadier income.
By the time the draft of men from the Impress Service came aboard, Aurora’s captain thought he was as prepared as most captains were at the beginning of their voyage.
Phillips had received no sailing order yet and had no idea of where the sloop might be destined. A welcome surprise came one winter day. A chaise pulled up on the quay opposite their mooring. A man and woman got out and began waving at the ship. Mister Atkins commanding the anchor watch thought this warranted calling the captain. Phillips came out on deck and leveled his glass. The two were Hans Kofoed and his sister Hilda.
The trio had a most pleasant afternoon. For a day in the middle of winter, the sky was clear and it was possible, at least for a glass or so, to sit on the quarterdeck in deck chairs.
When Phillips saw Hilda shivering though, he took them into his cabin. After some conversation, Hans discreetly withdrew, saying he wished to see the difference between this ship and Alert.
Hilda abruptly apologized for ignoring him at the dance while Phillips insisted he was at fault for spending so much time with Susanne. It was decided the two would correspond while he was at sea on the forthcoming voyage.
When Hans came back, he remarked how much colder it had become in the last hour. He thought they should get the horses back to the barn. Phillips apologized to Hilda once more as she went through the entry port to climb down into the boat. Their boat had no sooner reached shore when the flagship flew a signal for Aurora to send an officer.
When the boat returned, Mister MacDonald took it to the flag. When he returned he handed a sailcloth wrapped packet to his captain. Captain Phillips took it into his cabin and opened it. Inside were the expected sailing orders and another wrapped packet. The sailing orders merely ordered the sloop to put to sea and to proceed to a position which Phillips knew to be off Land’s End, where he was required to open the second packet.
Phillips went out on deck and called Mister MacDonald away from his task of inspecting the stowage of the hold. Actually, this was a task for their master’s mate, but this young man had only recently been elevated to that height and Phillips wanted to be sure the tiers of beef below did not suddenly shift in bad weather.
When MacDonald reported to the quarterdeck, Phillips handed him the orders without a word. After reading them through, the first officer looked at him questioningly. Not knowing himself what the mystery was about himself,
Phillips speculated. “Perhaps their lordships wish us to do something they would rather not let others know about. In any event, we will know soon enough.”
His Magesty's Brig Alert: A Tim Phillips Novel Page 13
