by David O'Neil
He at least was only one of the people who sighed with relief when the Rock hove into view.
For Martin the arrival at Gibraltar was an occasion in his young life, it being his first visit to anywhere out of England. The warm climate and the exotic fruits in the market were a delight and a source of wonder. Though he had seen a monkey before, the sight of the Rock apes running free was odd and he very quickly learned that they were not tame.
The ship had acquired a new third Lieutenant, as Alan Powers was elevated to second with the arrival of newly promoted Lieutenant Michael Walker, who now commanded the gunroom with his own particular set of rules. The addition of two more Midshipmen reduced Martin once again to junior in the gunroom. Though both seemed reasonable, only time would tell. Sufficient that on this day the young men were able to enjoy the freedom of the Rock for twelve hours. The ship was under orders to sail in company with a convoy to Naples the following day in the afternoon. In view of the labors of the voyage to Gibraltar the Captain had given them the chance to stretch their legs ashore.
They sailed in company with the frigate HMS Jupiter, 38 guns, to join the convoy passing through the straits under the protection of the fleet of Lord Hood. The Flagship, HMS Victory 100 guns, paused in the roads outside the harbor. The Captains of the frigates, Arun and Jupiter, were ordered to repair on board.
Jupiter had been waiting in Gibraltar when the Arun arrived. Both had been sent to Gibraltar for assignment. Now in the great cabin of the Victory the two Captains were told that they would be part of the fleet bound for Toulon. The so-called Naples convoy was actually a provision convoy for the force involved in the blockade of the French port. The addition of the two frigates to the fleet was welcomed by Lord Hood who like most British admirals of the time complained that he was always short of frigates, essentially the eyes of the fleet.
They arrived off Toulon in July and waited to be joined by the Spanish fleet of seventeen ships, when they arrived. Martin was most impressed until the now recovered Mr. Carrington informed him that the crews were poorly led. He pointed out the uneven brails on the furled sails and, through the telescope, the rattails in the rigging.
“The problem is, young Forest, leadership is not gained through the whip. Captain Bowers has shown that the best results are obtained by fair treatment. This ship has not seen the cat used for the entire voyage up to now. I hope you have observed the way the men respond? Being of the nobility does not automatically mean that you are fitted to lead men into battle. Happily, in that regard, though the field is still slanted in that direction, skill and training have an important place in the selection of naval officers. In fact, Prince William, the Duke of Clarence, has just passed for Lieutenant, having, like you, served as a midshipman, on HMS Barfleur. He learned his trade just as you do now.”
Martin was impressed by the information and even more so by the fact that the already famous Captain Nelson was serving with the fleet in the blockade, in command of the Agamemnon 64 guns. A ship he could see with his naked eye across the bay from the Arun.
For the first two weeks, the bustle and activity of the ships, and the back and forth boat traffic, kept Martin entertained and very busy. But as the time passed and nothing seemed likely to happen, matters began to become routine.
From the masthead he was able to study the ships of the French fleet anchored in Toulon. All twenty of the ships of the line, that is ships that stood in the line of battle, including only ships of sixty guns or more, were manned, though none showed any sign of coming out to give battle to the combined British/Spanish fleet.
Chapter three
Toulon and points East
1793 December
The town of Toulon favored the Royal cause, but, though the French Admiral was also Royalist, a large proportion of his men including his second in command were Republicans.
Lord Hood had landed two regiments of troops he had brought from England in August, after the authorities in Toulon surrendered the town and the ships to the blockading fleet. Though the troops were not sufficient to defend the town from the Republican army, they were able to hold matters up for sufficient time to enable 14.000 loyalists to be brought aboard the fleet.
During this time parties went ashore for various reasons and Martin was included on several of these excursions because he had a basic knowledge of French. His usage of the language improved with practice. The only other French speakers in the ship were Lieutenant Carrington and Midshipman Troop, one of the new arrivals from Gibraltar. The shore duties were varied and when Martin was chosen he found himself expected to command a battery of naval guns, now in regular action against the growing army of the Republic. They would be used to assist in strengthening the defences, then perhaps to help move some of the more important families from their houses to the harbor, where often private ships were available to take them off elsewhere to safety out of the reach of the clutches of the mob.
The bulk of General Carteau’s Republican forces were still massing and getting organized when Lord Hood decided to abandon Toulon. Whilst the refugees were being loaded onto the fleet ships, arrangements were made to blow up the arsenal and destroy the French ships in the harbor. Parties from several of the smaller ships of the fleet were told to burn the French ships. Martin found himself with a party of six seamen including a gunner boarding a French 28 gun Corvette. This was in effect a frigate and, though not new, was a fine ship. The crew had abandoned her with most of her food and useable stores removed. They had however left the magazine untouched. Under the eyes of several grim looking men on the quayside, Martin and his men boarded the Corvette and set to work. The gunner was disgusted, “I could have left our powder in the ship. The bastards have left her with enough powder and fuse in the magazine to blow up half of Toulon.”
“Let’s put a few of the kegs in the boat, just in case.” Martin said, “We might need it on the other ships.”
The gunner nodded and called for the men to lower some of the barrels already brought on deck down into the longboat that they had used for the trip from the ship.
The corvette was anchored off in the harbor and Martin noticed that the drift of the tide was pulling her towards the moorings where four of the other frigates or corvettes were moored. When the gunner had been round all the guns except the one he was going to use to blow a hole in the bottom to sink the ship. Martin pointed out his observations.
“If we cut the cables we will drift down on the next two ships to be destroyed. From what I can see, if we cut them loose they will collide with the next in line. Is it worth a try, d’ye think?”
The gunner looked. “You devious….” He corrected himself hastily, but couldn’t help grinning as he said, “That would do nicely, sir.” He bellowed out to the big seaman who was chopping open barrels of powder. “Carter, take that axe and cut us loose.”
“Aye, aye, Mr. Gunner, sir.” He grinned as the gunner swore at him and made his way to the eyes of the ship to hack through the strops holding the anchor cable. He then tripped the ratchet. The anchor cable ran out with a roar, the bitter end flying through the hawse hole releasing the ship to drift with the tide.
The gunner turned to Martin. “Perhaps you would like to do the honors with the next two, sir.”
“I’ll take the boat.” Martin called the men to the boat and they left the gunner with one man while they rowed down to the next in line.
Carter climbed on board and did his trick with the anchor cable. Then clambered down into the boat once more to visit next in line.
As he went to climb on board Martin stopped him. “Collect some line and grappling hooks. We may have to persuade these ships to stay together.”
Carter nodded. “I’ll take Andrews with me, sir. He can find the ropes while I cut the cable.”
“Good! Off you go, Andrews.”
Andrews returned with ropes while Carter was still trying to release the anchor cable.
When he eventually returned he said, “There is som
eone aboard the last ship, sir.”
“Well, let’s go and see. Shall we?” Martin checked the pistol he had brought, replaced the sword he had put aside, in the frogs on his belt and called the men to row to the last ship in line.
He boarded first, Carter and his axe behind him. The other men followed. He called out in French for the person to come out and a girl appeared carrying a baby. She came out followed by two more children and a wounded man who could hardly walk. The man wore the uniform of a Royalist soldier.
Martin asked him who he was and why was he here.
It seemed he had been wounded in the fighting and returned home to recover, only to find his home taken by Republicans and his children on the street. His wife was dead, raped and murdered by looters.
“We will take you back to our ship, then. I don’t know what my Captain will say, but you cannot stay here.”
The man shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
Martin turned to the man nearest to him. Recognizing him he said “Peters, take the family down into the boat and keep them company until we finish here. Andrews, let’s hook onto our neighbor.” He indicated the ship drifting down towards them, followed by the others in turn.
He sent the others down to the boat leaving himself Carter and Andrews to arrange the incendiaries. The gentle nudge of the next in line was followed by small collisions of the other ships. Andrews was off leaping from ship to ship with the lines, tying off the ships just to keep them together long enough to get a good fire going. The corvette with the gunner on board was now attached to the next in line and the roar of the last gun signalled that the hole had been punched in the hull to make the corvette sink in place.
Carter had brought several barrels of gunpowder on deck and was trailing fuse to the entry port where the boat was attached. Andrews was on the next ship hauling powder from below, the gunner was on the second last ship now with a flame lit and burning well, in the pile of sails left on the deck by the departed crew. Martin waited for the others to join him. Then when they were all safely in the boat, he lit the fuse and descended hastily into the now crowded boat. They pulled away. As they stood off to watch, the flame from the piled sails suddenly leaped up into the rigging and the brailed sails of the next ship and the next. Then the powder on the last ship blew, showering the other ships with burning debris, and suddenly the entire group was ablaze. The sole anchor hawser on the last ship burned through, and three of the burning ships broke away from the sinking corvette and drifted inexorably down to the three-deck ship of the line anchored at the end of the row of line-of-battle ships.
Horrified Martin saw the collision and the subsequent burst of flame from the mast and sails of the French ship.
A boat appeared round the stern of the now burning ship with a lieutenant in charge.
“What ho? What ship?” He called.
“The frigate, Arun,” he called back. “Midshipman Forest, sir.”
“Much obliged, Mr.. Forest. Lieutenant Graham HMS Victory. I will be happy to buy you supper, if we meet ashore. You have saved me a deal of trouble by setting fire to the Frog.”
Martin remembered the soldier and children. “Sir, perhaps you can assist me here. The boats drew alongside. Heexplained about the children and their father. Graham looked at him, “I see there would be little room on a frigate. We have people already on the Victory. Pass them over into my boat. We should find room for them.”
With a sigh of relief Martin passed the family across to the other boat and called his crew to give way back to their own ship, with a parting wave to the other boat.
The month of December 1793 was busy, with the retrieval of the troops from the town of Toulon, and the collection of the remaining loyalists. For Arun there was movement out into the Mediterranean, escorting cargo ships to Italy. It was on a voyage in January 1794, that Martin discovered just how much he had learned during the past year he had spent at sea.
They had delivered three ships to Naples and were escorting one ship loaded with provisions for the fleet.
The masthead lookout reported two sails to windward. Both changed course towards the frigate. The lookout was unable to identify the ships for some time, but eventually he reported the pair to be privateers under the new Tricolor flag of France. The ships were armed, each carrying a 15gun broadside. Though the guns were 9 pounders they were still a formidable challenge. The provision ship was armed with ten guns, and under orders from Captain Bowers, her guns, 12 pounders, were loaded and run out. The Arun took the initiative and placed herself between her charge and the enemy. Opening fire, she disabled one of the ships with a lucky shot. The foremast of the brigantine fell, stopping her in the water. She was helpless to fire her guns because of all the flammable canvas strewn about her decks.
The other ship committed to the action, came on and fired her broadside guns as the Arun turned to meet her. Her guns managed to bring down the foretopmast of the Arun which was snapped off just above the platform where the lookout had been stationed. The loss of the top section of the mast caused the ship’s head to fall off line and enabled the Arun to fire her entire broadside into the unfortunate ship. She had literally brought about her own defeat. The weight of shot smashed in her side, the mainmast fell and she took an immediate list that worsened, while the men of the frigate watched.
The crash of the guns from the merchantman shocked them all, unexpected as it was.
It seemed that the privateer had launched boats on its sheltered side and the merchantman suspected that she would be boarded. Her canister shot had wreaked havoc among the boats, but it was the two round-shot from the merchantman that killed the privateer. They had struck the ship as she recovered from the Arun’s broadside, striking the exposed bottom as the ship heeled. As the vessel stabilized, the holes under water allowed the water to flood in and she immediately started to settle in the water. There was little to be done with her, except take off her survivors.
The other ship struck her colors and it was possible to see her crew taking to the boats, even while there were still men working on the deck trying to clear the litter from her decks. The bulk of the crew including the privateer Captain took to the boats, raising masts and sails and making off towards the distant loom of the island of Sardinia.
As far as Captain Bowers was concerned it was good riddance, He sent a prize crew over to the stricken ship under the command of the 3rd Lieutenant Wales with Martin Forest, now 14years old, as second in command. Detailed to collect a prize crew, Martin called on Carter, as senior hand, with Peters.
Martin had written to the Parson in Peter’s home village. The letter had gone with the prize taken before they reached Gibraltar. A reply had come whilst they were stationed in Toulon. It seemed that Peters’ mother was well and was now keeping house for the Parson. Peters had settled down to his work and had earned his place as a top-man in the ship. Now with the other members of the crew of the boat, there were fifteen men in total going across to the damaged privateer, which they now knew was named La Corbeau (The Crow)
Carter was named acting Bosun. He had the remaining crew members, abandoned by their fellows, brought together, where with the help of Martin, he pointed to the worsening weather and the shattered mast. The leading hand still on board shrugged, said something in a local dialect to the others. They all moved forward to return to the work they were doing when the ship first struck her colors. They grappled the mast from the sinking privateer. Peters, from the prize crew, jumped down onto the floating wreckage, slashing the stays at the metal cringle where they attached to the mast. The spar was hauled up using the windlass, with all hands at the bars. Meanwhile Peters hacked off the ropes around the rescued mast as they appeared. Carter guessed they would be able to fish the spar to the stump of the fore/mizzen mast. It was darkening before they cleared the mess on deck. The stern lights of the merchantman and the Arun were fading into the distance as they offered up the new spar, and lashed it to the trimmed-off stump. The sea was rising, so
Lieutenant Wales ordered the rigging to be set before work could be stopped for the night.
With the shattered piece of the ship’s own foremast, floating and still attached, acting as a sea anchor, the prize rode out the night. Martin fell into his berth well after midnight, exhausted.
The following day dawned with angry skies and the waves piling higher and higher.
The work, swaying up the yards for the sails, took most of the morning watch, the fourteen privateers working alongside the British seamen. For the rest of the day the sails were hoisted to the yards and attached. With the rigging back in place the jib sails were re-rigged and the sea anchor released, they now had the chance to make way to re-join the fleet.
It seemed that the privateers from the crew were a mix of Sardinians, fishermen pressed from the fishing fleet from Corsica and the northern parts of Sardinia, and three Irish. Their accent had made Martin’s job of translation much more difficult. Their native language was a patois of Italian, though they spoke and understood French as a matter of survival. The two Corsicans among them were treated with suspicion until it was discovered that both were fugitives from the law and quite happy to serve the ship whatever flag she carried.
What was not good was the weather. The sirocco was blowing from the south. The hot dry wind had brought rough seas, and the short-handed ship was still unbalanced, pitching and rolling in the uneven waters. Wales had life-lines strung along the deck and the entire crew were called out for all sail changes. The sharp twitches in the movement of the ship caused several accidents, that first night. When Martin reported to take the morning watch he found that disaster had struck. Lieutenant Wales had disappeared. He had been last seen at the change of watch at 8 bells (4am.). The movement of the ship had been violent and all the men awake were holding on for their lives.