Before taking command of Centaur again, Mullins thought it might be wise to visit the port admiral to learn what he could of his ship. He sent his new people out to the liner in a shore boat, informing them to ask for the first officer. Taking another shore boat out to the flagship, Mullins learned that he and Admiral Montague had crossed paths. Montague had coached up to London at the same time Mullins was on the road to Portsmouth. With Admiral Montague unavailable, the flag captain gave him the story.
Captain Whitley had taken command as the ship was coming out of the dockyard. Her only crew at the time being Mister Greenwich and the standing warrants. Captain Whitley had some favorites that he wished to place on Centaur, so he dismissed Lieutenant Greenwich and the other officers still on leave, replacing them with his cronies. The original seamen had been sent to the receiving ship, but had since been parceled out to other captains needing good seamen. To replace them, a large draft of undesirables that no one else wanted were sent aboard, followed by a draft of hands freed from gaol on condition they join the navy.
These hands refused to follow orders from Captain Whitley or his new officers. When Whitley resigned, his officers followed him off the ship, leaving no one in command but a master’s mate, and a few midshipmen. The flag captain stated the admiral had said they would wait for Centaur’s new captain before taking any decisive action. It was hoped the press would not learn of the situation just yet.
Mullins was incensed over being placed in such a position. “Have I any Marines to help me clean up my ship?’, he asked.
The flag captain replied, “Captain Hollister of the Royal Marines, is in the wardroom, at this moment. I know that he is free, and I can ask if he will accept a posting to Centaur.”
Captain Hollister was indeed available, and over cigars and brandy the men discussed taking the ship back into the Royal Navy again. It was agreed that the Marine officer would have sixty privates, four corporals and a sergeant at the quay come first light next morning.
Now, what to do about officers? Of course, officers needing employment were always to be found in the Admiralty waiting room, but some of these did not have the qualities Mullins needed. Mullins soon learned that a ship had recently returned from the Med to be hulked.
The old third-rate could no longer withstand the Atlantic storms. Much of her crew had already been snatched by greedy captains, but a few hands remained and her officers. were all available. There were four of these. Mullins spent precious minutes interviewing each, finally accepting all for his wardroom.
The most senior was Mister Hoover, who was older than Mullins. Connors would be second officer while Jones and Wilkins would be the respective third and fourth officers.
The flag captain offered him some men garnered from the fleet to assist him in taking command of Centaur. The loan of these men was temporary only. For a permanent crew, he must find his own people. Of course, Captain Hollister and his Royal Marines should be of great help.
Boats were borrowed from the shipyard and the prospective officers were interviewed. A conference and planning session was held in an old public house near the boat landing. They met after midnight, and the meeting lasted until nearly dawn. Every possible variation of the plan was gone over until Mullins was satisfied.
Before daylight, the hands comprising the boarding party would be told off and assigned their stations. The Marines would set out for the ship first, which would hopefully be under their control before the seamen came aboard. A few petty officers had been sent with the seamen and these were assigned positions ahead of their men. Upon boarding, they would attempt to maintain control over the men. Mullins and the other officers would board with the Marines.
By first light, the boarding party was ready. Mullins had already taken his place in the stern-sheets of a large yard boat that would deliver its party aboard Centaur when the time came.
With the men loaded and their duties carefully explained, the boats set out. Mullins, in the lead boat, expected to be one of the first to board. Unfortunately, some of the Marines manning the oars in his boat were not skilled oarsmen, and two boats filled with seamen overtook them. Unfortunately, the seamen, although previously ordered to remain silent, took the occasion to shout and jeer at the lagging Marines.
Centaur, previously asleep, began to wake upon hearing the noise. A line hanging carelessly over the ship’s side, provided an easy entrance into the ship and the men swarmed up like so many monkeys. Close behind, the yard boat bearing the captain and his Marines, hooked on and followed. On deck, there was no fighting. Those wakened by the commotion, stood by in wonder as men by the dozen surged onto the deck. As Marines formed up on the quarterdeck, some took posts at sensitive parts of the ship, including the helm, men at the foot of every mast, the hawse and a strong presence on the quarterdeck.
With the ship secure, officers shouted down every hatch, ordering the hands below to come up immediately or be fired upon. Some did, to be swiftly bundled forward under heavy guard. When no more men came up, Mullins ordered a lantern lowered on a line into the dark mess deck. By its dim light, they could make out the forms of a dozen men huddled together up forward. Slowly going down the ladder to the deck below, he was followed by a party of Marines. Minutes later these hands were all on deck, while officers and Marines searched throughout the entire ship, searching for hiding men.
Days were spent, interviewing the men and writing down what they had to say. Finally, it was determined who the guilty men were, and these were placed in irons and sent to the receiving ship to await their court martial. It was not possible for Centaur to remain idle in Portsmouth Harbor while the war continued, so a master’s mate and a pair of midshipmen were left behind to relate their experiences before the court.
The ship herself sailed with a sullen crew. Marines perpetually patrolled the ship, while two frigates accompanied closely. Mullins believed a crew kept busy had less opportunity to engage in mischief, so these hands were kept constantly on the run.
At the first Sunday Divisions, Mullins carefully explained to the hands just why they must work so hard. As far as the Navy was concerned, some of them were mutineers. He knew many had been petty criminals in their former life ashore who saw no need to change their habits merely because they were afloat. Mutiny was a contagious disease. If he could stop this from spreading, he might grow a good crew. If he could not, there would be trouble.
By keeping them busy, without much chance to bewail their misfortune, some would learn that good things might occur in this ship. For one thing, most were being fed better than they had been before. Granted, the quality of the food was not of the best, but neither had that which they had lived on before. The purser might attempt to cheat the men as far as the quantity was concerned, but that was his job, keeping such people honest.
In the beginning, there was little trouble with sickness, until they met a storm two days out in the Channel. Then suddenly, most of his crew was prostrate. Mullins watched one man, lying helpless on deck, too sick to move, swept away by a great wave. One minute the man was here, the next, he was gone.
Had it not been for the strong Marine force he carried, the ship would have been in a bad way. Although few Marines would have been termed ‘seamen’, most had served years afloat and knew their way around. The ship battled the storm for days, and gradually some of the sick men recovered enough to do simple tasks such as pumping ship.
No thought was given to gunnery drill just then, keeping the ship on top of the waves was the highest of Mullins ambitions.
Centaur was woefully short of rated petty officers. His officers and warrants had to do much of the tasks normally done by these professionals. However, he did have a few seamen aboard, and some of them knew their trade. Gradually, a few men proved their worth and were rated accordingly.
His old gunner, Mister Nelson had gone ashore early in the last commission, and had never been formally replaced. His successor, a rated gunner’s mate, had never received his warrant an
d had been swept away when Centaur was in the dockyard.
Now, with the heavy weather subsiding, Mullins was giving some thought to training his people to use the great guns. One of his mids reported a man in his division claimed to have been a gunner’s mate in a former ship. Ben Bowyer was closely questioned by Mullin and Mister Hoover, the first officer. Once his superiors were satisfied with his answers, they went to the magazine, where Bowyer had to demonstrate he was familiar with the various security restrictions that must be followed.
Then, he had to fill some cartridges, and now the party proceeded to the quarterdeck, where a party of midshipmen cleared away one of the nine-pounders. After an empty keg was thrown overboard, Bowyer took charge of the nine-pounder and the mids helped him lay it on the target. The first shot was a close miss, as was the second, but the third dissolved the bobbing target into its constituent staves.
This was enough for Mullins and he appointed Bowyer as his temporary gunner. If he was successful, he would be rated first as gunner’s mate, perhaps later Bowyer might have a chance for a warrant.
HMS Centaur was bound for the French port of Brest, where he would join the blockade. As the ship neared her destination, the men began receiving more training in all aspects of seamanship, including gunnery. Some of the younger men sent aboard by the courts were proving useful in the tops, as they became accustomed to the ship. Mullins dreaded the day when his ship would be required to compete with others in sail handling, but he reasoned his people could only get better.
Chapter Nine
Admiral Lord Gambier was present commander of the Channel Fleet, but none of the big ships off Brest was flying his broad pennant. Captain Mullins saluted the flag of a rear admiral who was in temporary command.
Mullins was immediately called to report to the flag, so he dropped down into the launch and was pulled over to the third-rate, delighted when he saw his own Centaur was in better condition than this old war-horse. Of course, the old ship of the line had spent years on difficult stations, preventing Bonaparte’s ships from coming out.
Rear Admiral Robinson was a trim gentleman, a good two decades older than Mullins. Taking the newcomer into his great cabin, he immediately began giving him the news of what had been happening recently. Lord Gambier had gone to London to seek advice on one important difficulty.
In recent months, British agents had induced another Arab strong-man across the Med in North Africa to enter into a trading partnership with Britain.
This had been useful recently, as sheep and cattle by the hundred had come across the Med to feed Wellington’s troops in Spain and Portugal. The gush of gold and silver into the impoverished port attracted the attention of another Arab chief who though he had as much right to the new wealth as this upstart.
His raiders came out of the desert one night and smashed the defenses of the former ruler. Now Abdul ben Mohammed was the ruler and the old treaty was void in his eyes. Until Britain signed a new treaty allotting him a great quantity of gold, he would stop all trade with Britain. To show he was serious, his seagoing raiders took an East India Company transport that had been leased by the government. The big transport was carrying troops bound for Sicily as well as seamen meant for the Mediterranean Fleet.
The Indiaman, well-armed and with the presence of trained soldiers and seamen on board should have been safe enough, but when the war-galleys approached, the senior advisor on board, fearful of escalating tensions through bloodshed, thought the master of the transport should submit, to maintain good relations with the new ruler. This was done, and the surprised raiders took the transport into the sole port that ben Mohammed controlled.
The stakes were now higher than they had been before. A single slave, an Englishman captured years before, was released with a note to King George III, advising the ransom for the new prisoners was triple what the original subsidy demand had been. If this was not paid within a month, all prisoners would be sold as slaves.
Rear Admiral Robinson admitted he had just been appraised of the situation by fast packet from London. He felt this was really was the business of the Mediterranean Fleet, rather than the concern of the Channel Fleet, but the orders brought to him were specific. Admiralty’s concern was it would take too much time to alert the fleet off Toulon and longer for it to react. Thus, Robinson was ordered to detach one of his liners with the enclosed Admiralty orders. This ship would proceed directly to the subject port and do whatever was necessary to free the Indiaman and her passengers.
If ben Mohammed could be deposed and a more reasonable man put in his place, that would be best. Robinson handed Mullins the orders and bid him good luck. Mullins was shocked at the whole idea. He knew well the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet would not take this lying down. This endeavor should by rights be under Mediterranean Fleet, and an interloper would be asking for trouble. Mullins knew he could expect no help from that source and he privately did not feel this crew was ready for such an important mission.
Reading over the orders in the presence of Rear Admiral Robertson, he could find no means of escape. HMS Centaur was duly released from duty with the Channel Fleet and reassigned directly to Admiralty Headquarters. Supplementary orders from that body then gave Centaur the mission to proceed to the Mediterranean and free the captives.
Back on his ship, Mullins went over the orders with Mister Hoover. Hoover, a veteran of years of infighting in the Navy, was appalled, but agreed they must do their best. “Although little good will come of this.”, he prophesied.
The ship make a quick port call in Gibraltar to obtain extra water, then set out for her destination. She was sailing for a little village near Bourgiba where the Indiaman was moored. Technically under the dominion of the bey of Tunis, actually, as long as the proper bribes were paid, there was no one to question ben Mohammed.
Only a short sail from Gibraltar, Mullins had little chance to decide upon a ruse to gain access to the prisoners. As they entered into the little bay that served as the port, a flurry of activity erupted on shore. A dozen small boats were filled with men and put out to cover the prize. Risking the safety of his ship, sail was clapped on in the fresh breeze and Centaur managed to reach the Indiaman before the boats. A single gun on shore began to thunder, with little effect. Seven shots were fired, before it fell silent, none of the shot having struck their target.
Gunner Bowyer had been exercising the guns every chance that he had and while not experts, his men had improved greatly since coming aboard. Boat crews for Centaur’s own boats piled into their craft and made their way to the captured Indiaman. It appeared there were few defenders at her rails and the shore boats were trying to deliver reinforcements. When one fired a sort of musketoon at Centaur, this was regarded as sufficient cause for her to fire in return. Centaur’s great guns began firing deliberately at the boats from shore attempting to protect their prize.
These Arab boats seemed to be delicate craft as often a single shot was enough to shatter a boat and spill its occupants into the water. As Centaurs’ boarders began scrambling up the sides of the Indiaman, another commotion erupted on her decks. Somehow, some of her passengers had managed to free themselves and were swarming the few defenders on deck. In minutes, the ship was taken and the prisoners were free.
After the excitement was over, Mullins began interviewing the survivors of the action. One of the rescued redcoat passengers, a Lieutenant Colonel Smythe, seemed to have been the catalyst of the insurrection. Peering through the tiny hole he had made in the covering of his port, he saw Centaur approaching and deploying her boats. Calling for his batman, he ordered the other ranks notified. The redcoats were confined in compartments throughout the big transport, but the men had found ways to obtain or otherwise fabricate tools with which they could escape from their confinement. They had no weapons, but a few of the Arab sentries were disarmed and those weapons taken.
When Centaur’s seamen and Marines came aboard, the ship had already been retaken. With the assistance of
the freed prisoners, the enemy combatants were sorted out. Most were placed in restraints in the bowels of the big merchant, but a few were reported to have treated their British captives decently and these were allowed more liberty.
One middle-aged Arab was identified as the former customs officer of the old ruler. Now, he was a low-ranking administrator of ben Mohammed. Mullins found this man had a rather good knowledge of English so undertook to interrogate the man himself. He wondered how he might go about taking this Mohammed into custody and delivering him to Gibraltar.
After initial questioning, Mullins learned the fellow, labelled Omar by his former prisoners, had at first feared for his life when his own leader had been overthrown. However, ben Mohammed had decided he needed a few literate people under his control who knew a bit more than his mostly illiterate tribesmen. He reported he was on the ship to itemize the plunder taken by the capture so that ben Mohammed could decide how much of that was to be his due.
As they grew more comfortable talking with each other, Omar reported it might be relatively simple to capture ben Mohammed. He stated the redcoats’ weapons and kit were securely locked in a large forward compartment of the ship, and he could open it for them. An investigation by a file of Marines found the equipment as described and hours after gaining their freedom, the soldiers were reunited with their weapons and kit.
Some of these redcoats had been ill-treated and most were suffering from lack of proper nourishment, but their lieutenant colonel felt another day would see most of them ready to engage the enemy.
Nothing was done that night or the next day by the Centaurs. Ben Mohammed had taken refuge in an old stone building in the village, wondering what his future might be. He had a rather limited force of men loyal to him, and many of those were taken or killed in their effort to prevent the seizure of the Indiaman. Other men in his service had only recently joined his service and Mohammedhad little trust in them.
HMS Centaur: A Charles Mullins novel, Sea Command 8 Page 6