The Cursed Fortress

by Chris Durbin

  The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

  The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,

  The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,

  And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

  Thomas Gray had captured the very essence of his mood in iambic pentameter.

  ‘Excuse me, sir,’ said Souter, breaking in on Carlisle’s reverie, ‘what’s the name of this place that we’re heading for?’

  ‘Williamsburg,’ replied Carlisle sharply, ‘the capital of the Virginia colony.’ Didn’t these men listen at all?

  Souter lapsed into silence, aware that he’d been admonished.

  ‘I believe Souter was referring to the name of the landing place, sir,’ said Carlton, smiling to break the tense mood.

  ‘Oh, of course. Princess Anne’s Port, although some are calling it College Landing now.’

  Carlisle felt a fool, churlish even, and elaborated to cover his embarrassment.

  ‘It’s the southerly landing place for Williamsburg. There’s another that you can reach from the York River to the north.’

  ‘Who’s this Princess Anne?’ asked Davies, the stroke oar, not caring much for the captain’s privacy nor for his mood. He was enjoying the feeling of the ship’s discipline falling away as they threaded their way into this unknown, silent land.

  ‘Anne of Denmark, I imagine,’ the doctor hurriedly interjected to save the captain having to reply. ‘She became our Queen Anne at her coronation.’

  There was silence as Davies digested this information.

  ‘Then she wasn’t English at all,’ he said in a challenging tone, keeping his stroke.

  ‘She certainly was,’ replied Carlton, falling into the trap. ‘Her husband was Danish, but her father was King James the second, and she was sister to Queen Mary. You don’t get much more English than that.’

  Another pause while Davies thought and the whole boat waited.

  ‘Then she was a Catholic, ‘cos her father was. How come she was Queen of England?’

  Carlton was beginning to learn what the boat’s crew already knew, that explaining anything to Davies was an open-ended contract.

  ‘Yes, James was a Catholic,’ replied Carlton patiently, ‘but Anne was brought up a protestant…’

  ‘Over the hills and far away…’

  The bow oar, knowing Davies of old, burst into song to put an end to the history lesson. It was an old marching ballad that British armies had adapted to the circumstances and belted out in campaigns for at least a hundred years. Davies, pleased with what he saw as a win over the doctor, took up the tune in a firmer voice.

  ‘Queen Anne commands and we’ll obey,

  Over the hills and far away.’

  Then the whole crew took up the song in lusty bass voices, grinning with pleasure, while Enrico joined in the refrain and a few words of the verses whenever he could guess what was coming next.

  ‘Over the hills and over the main,

  To Flanders, Portugal and Spain,

  Queen Anne commands and we’ll obey,

  Over the hills and far away.’

  Davies knew a surprising number of verses, some martial, some sentimental, speaking of battles and love, regiment and family. The longboat raised a strong bow wave that lapped against the mud banks and marsh plants, and the sounds of the crew’s lusty singing could be heard far into the countryside on this most silent, watchful of all evenings.

  ‘Over the hills and far away…’

  ***

  With the last of the light, Souter brought the boat gently alongside the jetty, under the looming warehouses and factories that lined the shore. They had not been challenged at any time on their journey. That was a testament to the British navy’s mastery of the sea. The possibility of a French raid just didn’t occur to the people of Virginia. Would the inhabitants of Brittany or Bordeaux, the river towns of the Loire or the Gironde feel so secure? Carlisle doubted it.

  ‘You’ll have to pay your dues in the morning,’ called a surly watchman from the shadows.

  ‘Sod off!’ replied Souter.

  ‘We’re for the city,’ said Carlisle picking up his bag. He suddenly realised that he hadn’t given a thought to the longboat’s crew’s comfort and he turned guiltily to his coxswain.

  Souter knew very well why his captain was distracted, and he was determined that a small matter such as the well-being of his boat’s crew shouldn’t add to his cares.

  ‘Davies, you pick up the doctor’s bag and Mister Angelini’s, I’ll bring along the captain’s,’ said Souter firmly. ‘The rest of you, wait here until I get back, I won’t be much more than an hour. Keep a guard on the boat and don’t stray. If that damned watchman offers to interfere,’ he continued in a rising voice, ‘you may press him. He’ll make a fine captain of the heads.’

  The sound of running feet receded into the blackness behind the warehouses.

  ***

  They walked briskly into the city, past the church, brightly lit for evensong and along Duke of Gloucester Street. The printer’s shop came into view. Dexter was burning a small fortune in candles, Carlisle saw, as his storefront stood out from the others with its bright lights spilling onto the road.

  ‘You can leave us here, Souter,’ said Carlisle. ‘Here’s something for the men’s comfort,’ he said, handing over some coins. ‘The ale-house that we passed will give you a room and no doubt they have a keg or two, in case the King’s navy should pass by.’

  Davies saw the coins before Souter could hide them, a surprising number of coins. He smacked his lips; there’d be no wasting them on a room, not if he had anything to do with it.

  ‘Thank you, sir, thank you,’ replied Souter. ‘We’ll await your word tomorrow then. And good luck, sir.’

  Carlisle approached the door to the printer’s shop. He was strangely nervous. The baby wasn’t expected for another week or two, but Carlton had warned him that it could very easily and without any danger have warmed the bell, or it could be late. He found the whole subject frustrating in its uncertainties. He raised the brass knocker, but before he could drop it, the door opened softly inwards.

  ‘Edward!’ exclaimed Barbara in surprise. ‘I was expecting the apothecary. Oh, my word, my word. Chiara said you’d be here, how did she know? How did you know …?’

  ‘What’s the news?’ interrupted Carlisle, almost afraid to ask.

  ‘News?’ asked Barbara looking confused. ‘Oh, you don’t know …’

  ‘My ship arrived at Hampton this morning. I know nothing. What news?’ he repeated with a pleading look.

  At last, Barbara smiled. It was all clear now, the fates had conspired to bring Carlisle back to Williamsburg at the perfect moment. ‘It’s a boy!’ she exclaimed, ‘born but an hour ago and they’re both doing well.’ She embraced her cousin as a soft wailing sound reached them from the rooms beyond.

  ***

  The Seven Years War in Late 1758

  The fall of Louisbourg sounded the death-knell for New France. Although Pitt, the Prime Minister, was disappointed that the fortress fell too late in the season for an ascent of the St. Lawrence, he knew that it was only a matter of waiting for the following spring. Quebec could only be supplied by running the gauntlet between Newfoundland and Île Royale or by the long and dangerous passage of the Strait of Belle-Isle.

  On land, the left flank of the attack had made little progress, being beaten back from Fort Duquesne on the Ohio in July while the centre had similarly been turned back at Fort Carillon on Lake Champlain.

  Nevertheless, 1758 was a success for Pitt and for Anson, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and it laid the foundations for decisive action in 1759.

  The French lost a quarter of their navy trying to hold Louisbourg, and they didn’t recover their strength for the rest of the war. In contrast, by the autumn of the year the warships that had been ordered in Britain in 1755 were coming into service, and the British navy was poised to reach its peak. The French naval commander, de
s Gouttes, who had fallen out so badly with the governor of Île Royale, was vilified in France; so much so that his patent as Marquis was publicly burned by the Paris hangman.

  Pitt knew that of all the things he needed to win this war, political support was both the most important and the most difficult to acquire. When the House of Commons resolution to thank Boscawen and Amherst was proposed by a Tory, normally in bitter opposition to Pitt’s Whigs, it led to a surge in political support for the prime minister. Pitt’s reputation and political power went from strength to strength and with it his ability to wage war.

  ***

  Where Fact Meets Fiction

  The Siege of Louisbourg happened much as I have described it. The ships and people are real except for Medina and her crew and some of the characters in the ports along the way.

  ***

  Jean d’Olabaratz, whom we met in the prologue, is often confused with his father, Joannis-Galand, and consequently the record of his resupply voyages to Louisbourg is contradictory. What we know is that after the successful voyage to Louisbourg, at some time in 1758, he left Rochefort in L’Aigle bound for Quebec. The British blockade of Louisbourg forced him to take the more difficult northerly route around Newfoundland and through the Strait of Belle-Isle. L’Aigle ran aground near Gros Mécatina, and two months later a pair of rescue vessels sent from Quebec collided and were also wrecked at the same place. However, D’Olabaratz was determined to reach Quebec. He loaded what he could salvage of his cargo into a snow that he requisitioned from French seal fishermen. Sadly, the snow proved rotten, and it foundered off Île Saint-Barnabé on the St. Lawrence. D’Olabaratz and what remained of his crew reached Quebec months late and with no provisions for the garrison.

  ***

  Medina, of course, was not anchored off Anse de la Cormorandière, or Cormorant Cove in English, for the landings on the eighth of June; that was Kennington, a somewhat smaller frigate than Medina. You can find Cormorant Cove easily on a modern map; it’s called Kennington Cove in honour of that fine ship. I hope that Maximillian Jacobs, the captain of Kennington for the siege of Louisbourg, would be happy with the liberties that I’ve taken.

  ***

  There was indeed a French army reinforcement unit whose transport ships failed to reach Louisbourg and had to be landed far away near Port Dauphin. It was a battalion of the Cambis Regiment, but it happened later than I have suggested in my story. I often wonder what would have happened to Wolfe’s assault if a regular battalion such as the Cambis had been in reserve behind Cormorant Cove on the eighth of June.

  ***

  The cutting-out of Prudent and Bienfaisant happened as I have described, except there was no post-captain on the scene. Commanders Balfour and Laforey operated co-operatively without any over-arching command. It was just too good a story to leave Carlisle out. Both commanders were promoted the next day. George Balfour was given Bienfaisant, the ship that he captured at Louisbourg. Some years later, he commanded Conqueror at the Battle of the Saintes. Bienfaisant gave another twenty-five years of active service under the British flag before being paid off to a new life as a prison ship in Plymouth. John Laforey was given Echo, a frigate of twenty-two guns and he went on to hoist his flag as Commander-in-Chief Leeward Islands.

  ***

  Other Carlisle & Holbrooke Naval Adventures

  Book 1: The Colonial Post-Captain

  Captain Carlisle of His Britannic Majesty’s frigate Fury hails from Virginia, a loyal colony of the British Crown. In 1756, as the clouds of war gather in Europe, Fury is ordered to Toulon to investigate a French naval and military build-up.

  While battling the winter weather, Carlisle must also juggle with delicate diplomatic issues in this period of phoney war and contend with an increasingly belligerent French frigate.

  And then there is the beautiful Chiara Angelini, pursued across the Mediterranean by a Tunisian corsair who appears determined to abduct her, yet strangely reluctant to shed blood.

  Carlisle and his young master’s mate, George Holbrooke, are witnesses to the inconclusive sea-battle which leads to the loss of Minorca. They engage in a thrilling and bloody encounter with the French frigate and a final confrontation with the enigmatic corsair.

  ***

  Book 2: The Leeward Islands Squadron

  In late 1756, as the British government collapses in the aftermath of the loss of Minorca and the country and navy are thrown into political chaos, a small force of ships is sent to the West Indies to reinforce the Leeward Islands Squadron.

  Captain Edward Carlisle, a native of Virginia, and his first lieutenant George Holbrooke are fresh from the Mediterranean and their capture of a powerful French man-of-war. Their new frigate Medina has orders to join a squadron commanded by a terminally ill commodore. Their mission: a near-suicidal assault on a strong Caribbean island fortress. Carlisle must confront the challenges of higher command as he leads the squadron back into battle to accomplish the Admiralty’s orders.

  Join Carlisle and Holbrooke as they attack shore fortifications, engage in ship-on-ship duels and deal with mutiny in the West Indies.

  ***

  Book 3: The Jamaica Station

  It is 1757, and the British navy is regrouping from a slow start to the seven years war.

  A Spanish colonial governor and his family are pursued through the Caribbean by a pair of mysterious ships from the Dutch island of St. Eustatius. The British frigate Medina rescues the governor from his hurricane-wrecked ship, leading Captain Edward Carlisle and his first lieutenant George Holbrooke into a web of intrigue and half-truths. Are the Dutchmen operating under a letter of marque or are they pirates, and why are they hunting the Spaniard? Only the diplomatic skills of Carlisle’s aristocratic wife, Lady Chiara, can solve the puzzle.

  When Carlisle is injured, the young Holbrooke must grow up quickly. Under his leadership, Medina takes part in a one-sided battle with the French that will influence a young Horatio Nelson to choose the navy as a career.

  ***

  Book 4: Holbrooke’s Tide

  It is 1758 and the Seven Years War is at its height. The Duke of Cumberland’s Hanoverian army has been pushed back to the river Elbe while the French are using the medieval fortified city of Emden to resupply their army and to anchor its left flank.

  George Holbrooke has recently returned from the Jamaica Station in command of a sloop-of-war. He is under orders to survey and blockade the approaches to Emden in advance of the arrival of a British squadron. The French garrison and their Austrian allies are nervous. With their supply line cut, they are in danger of being isolated when the French army is forced to retreat in the face of the new Prussian-led army that is gathering on the Elbe. Can the French be bluffed out of Emden? Is this Holbrooke’s flood tide that will lead to his next promotion?

  Holbrooke’s Tide is the fourth of the Carlisle & Holbrooke naval adventures. The series follows the exploits of the two men through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American colonies in the 1760s.

  ***

  Bibliography

  The following is a selection of the many books that I consulted in researching the Carlisle and Holbrooke Series:

  Definitive Text

  Sir Julian Corbett wrote the original, definitive text on the Seven Years War.

  Corbett, LLM., Sir Julian Stafford. England in the Seven Years War – Vol. I: A Study in Combined Strategy: Normandy Press. Kindle Edition.

  Strategy and Naval Operations

  Three very accessible modern books cover the strategic context and naval operations of the Seven Years War. Daniel Baugh addresses the whole war on land and sea, while Martin Robson concentrates on maritime activities. Jonathan Dull covers the French perspective.

  Baugh, Daniel. The Global Seven Years War 1754-1763. Pearson Education 2011. Print.

  Robson, Martin. A History of the Royal Navy, The Seven Years War. I.B. Taurus, 2016. Print.

  Dull, Jonathan, R. The
French Navy and the Seven Years’ War, University of Nebraska Press, 2005.

  Print.

  Sea Officers

  For an interesting perspective on the life of sea officers of the mid-eighteenth century, I’d read Augustus Hervey’s Journal, with the cautionary note that Hervey was by no means typical of the breed. For a more balanced view, I’d read British Naval Captains of the Seven Years War.

  Erskine, David (editor). Augustus Hervey’s Journal, The Adventures Afloat and Ashore of a Naval Casanova: Chatham Publishing, 2002. Print.

  McLeod, A.B. British Naval Captains of the Seven Years War, A View for the Quarterdeck. The Boydell Press, 2012. Print.

  Life at Sea in the Seven Years War

  I recommend The Wooden World for an overview of shipboard life and administration in the Georgian navy.

  Rodger, N.A.M. The Wooden World, An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy. Fontana Press, 1986. Print.

  The 1758 Siege of Louisbourg

  Hugh Boscawen, a descendant of the famous admiral, has written a detailed and authoritative account of the siege. Johnston has covered the French perspective.