by Brian Cain
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was mid January 1806 before Fial could drag himself to the light of day. The loss of Angelina had gutted his sense of belonging. His son William held him together and he thought of a plan in his head. He had become rich with the share bartering system operated by the British navy, taking a percentage of the captured loot of Spanish and French ships. He walked the wintry morning dockside in Portsmouth with his son who was now walking and talking.
Fial taught him of the different ships in the harbour and that's when Fial first saw her, the Pacific Star. One hundred and thirteen feet long and twenty-one feet wide, a brigantine; she was a trader working with an American owner captain. She was undergoing some maintenance and had been at sea for months leaving her looking a little unloved.
Fial introduced himself to the captain who explained they had come under attack from pirates off the coast of Morocco on the return journey from West Africa. They had left their run too late, nearly being taken by the pirate ship and coming under fire, damaging sections of the ship’s rigging. Once under full sail with the wind the Pacific Star easily outran the attacking French frigate.
Fial inspected the ship with importance. The lower decks were laden with coffee, tobacco and nut oil. The owner captain was selling some of the cargo to pay for the ship’s repair. Fial offered the captain a modest sum for the ship; just over five thousand pounds. The ageing captain agreed after some bargaining that really was influential as he had been injured in the attack on the ship and was in poor health.
The Pacific Star changed hands and Fial became the proud owner of a brigantine. In the deal Fial acquired eleven black slave deckhands, one of whom could speak broken English. All the European crew went their own way. Fial offered the African slaves their freedom but they refused saying they would rather work on the ship and were concerned where they would end up if released and recaptured; there was no law to give a slave his freedom. Fial kept them on teaching them how to run parts of the ship through the broken English of one of them; this was slow and required much patience.
Fial sold the rest of the cargo and put the ship in dry dock, re-rigging the mast and modifying the swing of the rear sail boom to go square to the mast. He also rigged a massive round foresail for downwind forward of the front mast, an idea he thought may work. He designed it on paper and increased the main forward square sail mast with more sail area, and the masts were reinforced to take the modifications. He intended never to carry cargo and cut out four cannon portholes on the lower deck, either side of the ship, and staggered them so when they recoiled they did not interfere with the opposite cannon. Four twelve pounder short carronades were fitted either side with recoil chains connected to steel plates around the gunports. A steel cover was erected over the helm quarterdeck and another on the foredeck big enough to shelter several men from musket and light cannon fire from above. The British navy gladly assisted on the premise that the ship would be a privateer for the British navy.
A keel some six feet deep and nine feet long was bolted to the ship’s lower hull, again worked out on paper to take the extra stress of the rear sail boom swinging to ninety degrees of the ship’s hull. It was calculated the ship would still sit higher in the water with full crew and supplies than if fully laden with cargo.
On a fine day with a brisk breeze in May 1806 the Pacific Star put to sea for a test run from Portsmouth, with only the African crew Fial had spent many hours training. He put the ship through its paces, heading downwind two miles off the coast of the Isle of Wight and launched the foresail that took the breeze and with full sail. The ship left a commanding wake at over nineteen knots; the first ship he had ever known to achieve such speed in the healthy wind of the day. He put the ship into a number of tack manoeuvres into the wind and cross wind with the results he had hoped for.
The rigging ropes and rings allowed the crew to drop or raise the forward square sail rigging in three minutes, a credit to the strength of the African crew, and turn about in a few lengths of the ship. Fial’s mods had worked; he had the fastest ship he had ever seen. Cannon were loaded and test fired, the crew did not question one order given by Fial. In a few days of manoeuvres he had the most disciplined and clockwork crew he had ever worked with. He trained the English speaking crew member, whom he named Bongo, to take the helm and gave the rest of the crew numbers one to ten which they remembered with ease. Work on the ship continued as the crew suggested modifications to make operation easier with such a sparse crew, it worked.
Now to test the ship in action. In July information was received by naval command that a pair of French frigates were attacking individual ships five miles off the coast of the Isle of Wight. Fial put to sea mid morning as soon as the alarm was raised, easily outrunning two second class ships of the line sent to respond from Portsmouth.
Fial spotted the French frigates directly south of the Isle of Wight lying calm to encourage engagement. Fial thought this was probably a trap to attract ships then more ships of the French fleet would attack from beyond the horizon. With the speed of the Pacific Star this did not concern Fial; he laid sail to the east into the wind, tacking so he could approach the ships from the east with the wind under full speed. The French frigates did not respond to Fial’s actions, as they did not regard a single brigantine to be of any significant danger. They had concluded that the ship was tacking to avoid them and watched the horizon to the north.
When the frigates were directly down wind of Fial some three miles he turned east and laid full sail. All cannon of the Pacific Star were loaded and aimed no more than a few feet above the waterline at point blank range. Fial raised the black flag indicating that the ship was about to engage but would give quarter to the French if they surrendered. He was about to find out if a combination of his and Drake’s ideas would work.
Before the French could lay sail the Star was upon them; he drew the foresail to the deck and dropped the foremast sails. When he got to within a hundred yards of the first frigate heading straight for her he made a turn to port below her stern. The deck crew took cover under the metal shields on the Pacific Star deck as the French crew flurried around attempting to make sail and opening fire with muskets. The Star came under her stern port side within a few yards, narrowly missing the frigate and opening fire with four cannon as she passed the closest point, hitting the French frigate just above the water line with all shots at near point blank range. Two huge holes appeared in the frigate’s waterline and she began taking water at a torrid rate.
Musket shots and cannon fire from the upper deck did nothing to the Star or her crew. The cannon fire was inaccurate and as she made a direct turn south east away from the frigate, the Star was in a blind spot inaccessible to the main gunners on the French ship. The French frigate Paris de Grande went into panic mode as she took on water through the waterline damage and began to list to port. The second French frigate made sail and Fial turned the Star when up wind of her, tacking across the stern of the frigate once more some half mile upwind.
A further problem appeared on the horizon for the French frigates: two second class British navy ships of the line. The French captain on the undamaged frigate looked at the Star through his long glass; Captain Bonnet of the Serpentine noted the black flag atop the main mast of the Star. He shouted at his lieutenant on the quarterdeck of the French warship.
"Le Pacifique joue le rôle principal, c'est le bateau le plus rapide que j’ai jamais vu. Les noirs dans l'équipage. Elle vient à nous!" The Pacific Star is playing the main role, it is the fastest ship I have ever seen. Black men in the crew. She is coming at us!
A cry from the crow's nest of the Serpentine, "Les Britanniques naviguent sur l'horizon de tribord. Deux hommes britannique de guerre!" British sails on the starboard horizon; two British man of war! Captain Bonnet turned his long glass on the approaching ships on his starboard side.
"We have a problem, two what looks to be second class British warships. Make sail for the rest of the fleet for cover. Signal
our intentions to the Paris de Grande." Bonnet’s lieutenant second in command spoke to Bonnet as he studied the approaching British ships with concern.
"The Paris de Grande signals she is sinking captain Bonnet, and the brigantine has gone up wind out of range and is turning back on us. The brigantine has changed her black flag to red." Bonnet swung back over the stern of the Serpentine with his telescope in time to see the Star turn and head directly for them.
"Damn cheek of this man whoever he is. He insults us with a red flag that he will take no prisoners. Continue to get under way and man the quarterdeck light railing cannon. Prepare all deck hands with muskets to engage her before she turns. He looks to be attempting to do what he did to the Paris de Grande."
"As you wish captain," replied the lieutenant.
British captain Henry Fairfield in the leading second class ship of the line the Westminster spoke with dismay to the quarterdeck staff as he observed the Star through his long glass come down on the Serpentine. "Good God, that looks like the Pacific Star attacking the French frigates alone. The thing that McGuire has been messing around with." He watched as the Star passed under the stern of the Serpentine at point blank range under fire from the frigate’s quarterdeck and delivered a precise cannon volley to the waterline of the Serpentine's port stern, then turned directly away into the wind avoiding her main guns. "I don't believe that, the Paris Le Grande is listing. He must have already struck at her and I think it's the Serpentine that has just been damaged by the Star; he turned directly into the wind after the volley and avoided her guns." He lowered his sight glass and looked at the rest of the quarterdeck staff. "Prepare to attack the French as soon as we are in range. We will take the Paris de Grande. Signal the Fallow to engage the Serpentine."
Fial continued south east out to sea for two miles then turned north for the coastline. He turned east when half a mile from the coast and slipped into Portsmouth, gathered his son and personal effects and made sail for Cork Harbour, Ireland heading directly east around the Isle of Wight in full sail with the wind. He left Portsmouth well before the Westminster and the Fallow returned after finishing off the Paris de Grande and the Serpentine. Both French ships had sunk and the British took only the officers prisoner.
Admiral Claremont upon hearing of the exploits of Fial McGuire and the Pacific Star gave orders she be considered a British privateer and be given free range in British waters.