by Brian Cain
CHAPTER FOUR
Monday the 24th of March 1800. Fial had found it a lot easier settling into barrack quarters at Portsmouth with a British naval uniform on. Admiral Nelson had requested to see Fial when given the information of his conduct by Mansfield and Hilditch. Hilditch was a long time friend of Admiral Nelson.
Nelson had an office in the Portsmouth round tower. Fial awaited his call from inside the bland fortification. His meeting was brief, with Nelson decorating Fial for his bravery in the rescue of Hilditch. Nelson signed the paperwork for Fial's appointment to HMS Dryad as boatswain with a few training runs on a smaller craft before the Dryad left for Cork in mid April. Nelson directed that he be given a tour of the dry dock, the oldest in the world where a ship was currently being worked on. Fial said nothing except, “Sir,” saluted and left.
Fial was taken to the dry dock; he was captivated by the spectacle of the Victory, flagship of the Royal Navy as she lay in dry dock for refit. A 104 gun first rate ship of the line; three thousand five hundred tonnes, one hundred and eighty-six feet long, Fial had never seen such a work of art. He walked the upper deck and inspected the view from the quarterdeck. He handled a grappling iron hanging from racks along the ships balustrade, knowing it was used to snare opponents and build a nation. Below the middle deck was rank with cannon some twenty-eight twenty-four pounders; he could smell the black powder burn etched into the oak framework. He could feel the power within the structure that had fought and built an empire; the experience became part of him. As he walked away from the most powerful ship afloat, he pondered the difficulties of running such a vessel, a sailing sword held by many to deliver a slashing blow to an adversary. He had read of Sir Francis Drake and the Golden Hind, a smaller ship that could break loose of the battle line so entrenched in British naval warfare, and with speed strike a fleeting blow then withdraw to strike again. As a mighty sword the Victory was imperial, a warning as well as a grand slashing sword born of many. The British naval aristocracy had ignored Drakes advice on battle tactics used in the line of ships approach, but Fial had not, a fleeting hidden dagger could be a menace, especially if they believed they held the mightiest sword.
Fial commenced two weeks of manoeuvres aboard HMS Boudacia, a ship of similar construction to the Dryad and commanded by Captain Richard Keats. During manoeuvres off the coast of the Isle of Wight with other ships of the Portsmouth fleet Fial gained valuable knowledge of group ship warfare, wind and sail placement, cannon load and range ability. He noticed a ship pass their midst with great speed and manoeuvrability; this ship also had a different sail arrangement than a normal frigate. He was informed it was a brigantine, lighter with more sail area, the rear mast sail being on a parallel beam that could be swung from side to side with the foremast square rigged for downwind. Triangular foresails could also be raised in front of the front mast giving greater speed downwind and in tack.
Fial watched the ship whisper past at what looked to Fial to be a speed of at least fifteen knots, the fastest ship he had ever seen. He was informed the Royal Navy did not use these as the hull was generally too slim to carry sufficient guns, another reason for her speed and manoeuvrability, plus the placement of soldiers and sufficient crew was also considered. An advantage of the brigantine was she required far less crew and a brigantine the size of the Boudacia would require less than half the crew members to sail her, in fact with skilled seaman a skeleton crew could man a brigantine. Fial saw a slim target requiring more accuracy to hit with cannon shot that could strike at the waterline of a larger vessel and be gone before a larger, better armed vessel could respond, if targeting the right spot the little ship could strike and be gone without coming under the muzzle of main cannon.
In Portsmouth Harbour Fial found himself a well kept example of a brigantine, she was dressed in pure white, one hundred and twenty feet long, twenty-one feet wide, weighing only one hundred and twenty tons. He introduced himself to the captain, an American from Norfolk, Virginia trading in animal furs and was shown around the ship. Fial paid careful attention to the procedures used to swing the rear gaff and boom sail and noticed its ease of use and wide swing of some one hundred and eighty degrees on this particular ship. The American explained his ship was not armed and was rigged to outmanoeuvre and outrun any ship that put her under attack. Fial figured this must work as the ship was returning to Norfolk with a load of precious stones traded for his furs in Ras al-Khainah in the Persian Gulf and had avoided several attempts by pirates to attack him, he listened with great interest to the opinion of an experienced man on the handling of a fully laden brigantine.
Fial also saw something on the brigantine that he had not seen before, a man with black skin. The American captain introduced Fial to three members of his crew who were African slaves he had purchased in Ras al-Khainah. Fial listened with interest as the captain explained the slave trade from the African countries, something that Fial was shocked to hear of. They were sold and transported in massive numbers and used on sugar, coffee, cotton and tobacco plantations from Brazil to America.
Fial could not communicate with the blacks who were from the Congo and could not speak English; he noted they looked sad and blank with hardly any grip when they shook hands; something they were obviously not used to. The American captain stated they were incredibly strong but poorly educated, good for manual deck work with incredible stamina. Fial was impressed with the ship and saddened by his encounter with the blacks. He thanked the captain and went on his way.
Fial had always been taught even horses and dogs were part of the family. Seeing people treated like a commodity with less regard than animals played on his mind. All are created equal in the eyes of God he thought; why would these people be subject to so much persecution and suffering, were they also enemies of the realm? He would seek more information on this.
Fial had become interested in The Daily Universal Register, a newspaper available on the streets of Portsmouth every day; with his navy wage he was getting used to buying things. The very day after his encounter with the black slaves he read a letter to the editor by a British citizen in The Daily Universal Register, a gentleman called William Wilberforce. The letter was about the unruly behavior he had witnessed whilst watching a House of Commons debate with a friend William Pitt from the gallery of the Houses of Parliament in London. Wilberforce stated the need for independent views to be expressed and the need to discuss the abolition of the trading of persons in slavery. Wilberforce further mentioned he was considering running for a parliamentary seat himself as an independent for the area of Kingston upon Hull. He further stated the need for laws to deal with the protection of animals, stating a country can be judged by how it treats its animals. Fial related to these things immediately and thought deeply about them as he went about his duties on HMS Dryad operating from the port of Cork over the next months.