The Sword And The Dagger

by Brian Cain

CHAPTER TWENTY

  Mid-December 1807 the Evelyn broke from the fleet and sailed into Lisbon port. Fial had sailed on ahead of his main fleet and dropped anchor in the mouth of the river Limia at Viana do Castelo a day ahead of the main fleet. He made his way to the bustling harbour, some half a mile, rowing in a longboat and climbing the well worn wooden ladder to the dock deck.

  A British frigate, the Mars, was tied up at the dock and Fial paid no mind to the men in pompous uniforms as they looked down upon him from the quarterdeck. Captain Mallory was in charge of the Mars. He knew the Ghost only too well as Fial had sunk his schooner whilst in the service of the King off the coast of Hull taking William Wilberforce from the sea. King George’s right hand man Lord Dreyfus was aboard the Mars. He had been to Lisbon to try to convince the ruling House of Braganza family to take refuge in England whilst the planned assault by the Duke of Wellington was put into action, but without success. Fial was dressed in black leather long boots, black, satin pants and black, satin shirt, baggy around the waist and arms. This was to help conceal the array of weapons he carried. A white frill around his neck stuck out some six inches. Fial's beard formed the same shape as it ran over it and down his chest. His hair was now long and tied bag in a tail running down his back to just above his heavy leather, black belt. Mallory discussed McMurrin with Dreyfus as he walked below them on the dock.

  "He sails into harbour and walks among us like nothing has happened. If a price was still on his head I would cut him down where he stands," stated Mallory.

  Dreyfus looked sideways at Mallory. "The fleet he has amassed is one day behind him. Without him the fleet will continue into the English Channel causing mayhem. He is the only man who can control these people. Harming him in any way would be the act of a fool."

  "His drab, black ship an eyesore; if you don't mind me saying it’s in range of our guns, I could end this now."

  "If McMurrin put his ship there he had a good reason. No doubt should his fleet arrive and see his ship sunk the war for us will be over. Best console your anger Mallory."

  "This man has killed many of my friends; I will one day avenge them."

  "This man could sink half the French navy, hold your tongue or you may be better suited to a land position where you would become more familiar with political tactics."

  "Look at the state of the man, poor grooming, wearing an outfit more akin to a prison inmate. This is extremely difficult to accept Dreyfus."

  Dreyfus looked at the Ghost anchored nearby. "Continuing and expanding the slave trade may be the biggest blunder the French aspire to. What's totally refreshing is that they don't realise what is about to happen. McMurrin will now avenge the death of his parents among the French." Mallory looked puzzled.

  "The death of his parents?"

  "We have done a lot of prying on why McMurrin would turn on us like he did. His parents and foster parents were murdered in gruesome circumstances by the army in Ireland when he was a young boy. He is a wise and brave man and should not be underestimated. He waited a long time for his revenge but he has a quest, the welfare of others not as fortunate as he, especially the African nations from where his crew is derived. There is far more to this man than being a murdering pirate as stated by the Crown. William Wilberforce speaks highly of him. There is talk of a pardon should he be successful in fighting the French."

  "I was unaware of any of that. The French killed my family and I will go to the end of the earth to avenge them. This part of the man I understand; I can see the point now. I have seen this man in action, God help the French navy."

  "He will take it to the Spanish as well. With Napoleon moving troops through Spain the arrival of this fleet has been condoned by the ruling House of Braganza. He's on his way to see officials to have his fleet restocked I imagine. We sail in the morning to take news of this to Portsmouth."

  Fial was given an audience with Portuguese political officials and members of the navy elite. He informed them the Evelyn had returned to Lisbon and his fleet of twenty-four ships would arrive in the morning, requiring extensive restocking of food and water. Fial planned to sail his fleet into the Bay of Biscay, attacking the Spanish port of San Sebastian near the French border and any other ships to be found on the way. Speed was imperative to Fial as he wished to strike before any information of his presence was known, plus they did not know what he planned to do. He would continue to the French coast attacking Brest then into an English port to restock supplies and conduct repairs. Upon achieving this he would then plan his next move.

  When the fleet arrived the next morning the Mars made its way through the throng of ships, dropping anchor at the mouth of the river Limia. Arrangements had been made to dock ships of the fleet three at a time as facilities could not load the required supplies any faster. Sail makers at the local shipyard were kept busy making flags for each of the fleet ships. The fleet flag was designed by Fial to be flown on the mainmast, clearly identifying a privateer fleet rather than allegiance to any one country. The British signalling system of flags for the royal navy, devised by Sir Home Popham in 1801, Fial found to be of no use his fleet which was diverse in origin, and many of his captains spoke poor English.

  The first meeting of all his fleet’s captains was on the deck of the Corsican Didier Ricard’s ship Invincible. It was large enough to take the gathering, anchored in the mouth of the Limia River. It took two days to map out the tactics of war; section commanders were assigned six ships. The standard flag was black with white crossed daggers below a skull. Each section flag had a different color stripe on the vertical tail edge of the flag taking up around a third of the flag’s area; the colors were bright yellow, red, green and blue.

  Section leaders were the Corsican Ricard brothers, ousted Lord Smithers of the British Admiralty, captain of the Castela and Conquistador Louis Zachariah. Zachariah was wanted by the Spanish for stealing and pirating his ship, which was once the flagship of the Spanish navy, the Conquistador. Fial did not expect the sections to work as set groups but when attacking fleets or fortifications simple signal flags in daylight, or one to four lights shown to a section at night would indicate the attack direction for each section based on wind strength and direction.

  The French navy employed the single file line tactic when engaging enemies; Fial having the only ship to fly a black flag with no stripe would use the Ghost to break the line up in early morning before daybreak, attacking the lead ship and making the following ships break formation. Only when the Ghost hoisted the red flag would sections attack parts of the formations, taking warships first then capturing slavers or merchants and dividing the booty evenly among crews. In the case of anchored fleets on the coast or in harbors the Ghost would attack at night, disabling or sinking any warships before the fleet would attack in daylight; at no time would the entire fleet be committed to battle more than two sections at the most.

  The private navy had to unload all booty currently aboard ships in Viana do Castelo port to make room for larger supplies of food and ammunition and up to date weapons from the British army and navy armoury. Portugal had an abundance of dried fruit as summer came to an end, some of which filled the holds of the now organised-looking fleet. Winter was upon the northern hemisphere and from out of the darkness of the longer nights would come a silent Ghost, manned by men with the eyes of a cat.