Admiral Seymour had made himself instantly available to Magnus, assuming that he had a reason for his return, and ready to court-martial him if he had not.
Magnus offered his written report and placed the bag of papers to the side and gave a brief verbal resume.
“Germans, you think, Captain Campbell?”
“I think they spoke in German, sir. I do not have the language, could not recognise any accent. They might have been Austro-Hungarian, sir.”
“Good point. Flag-Lieutenant!”
The lieutenant stirred, looked enthusiastic; the Admiral’s staff were chosen more for their position in society than for any displayed ability.
“These documents to go down to Intelligence. I want a first report from them within the hour, delivered in person.”
The lieutenant ran; he was good at carrying messages, provided they were short and clearly expressed.
“You were right to return immediately with these, Lord Magnus. Good judgement on your part. Are you certain you should have put those guns in the warlord’s hands?”
“No, sir. There were arguments for dumping them over the side in deep water, but I decided that he would be grateful, and that they were only a single battery of light artillery. He could make himself a nuisance with those guns, but I do not think he could be a menace, sir.”
“Well put, and probably right, Lord Magnus.”
“That said, sir, I was much impressed by the commander of his army, a General Li. The gentleman carries himself like a soldier and may well be good, sir.”
“Unusual, but not unheard of, Lord Magnus. I shall ask my people to keep an eye on him. Normally the Chinese government kills off efficient generals, for fear that they may run a military coup. He has done well to survive this long, probably because he has remained distant from Peking. Changing the subject, I presume you will wish to coal up?”
“I shall, sir. Always wise to keep full bunkers.”
“So it is. Damned nuisance, having to keep track of how much coal, how many miles you have to hand. I suppose that is the modern world, but I don’t have to like it.”
There was no answer to that, Magnus suspected. He wondered if he could get away with pointing out that Nelson was dead.
“Still, live with what we’ve got, I suppose, Lord Magnus. The Chinese are definitely intending to rebuild a navy, I am told. Starting with torpedo boat destroyers, as recommended. Only four, but they can use them to train some officers.”
“Will they wish to purchase gunboats, sir? I would have thought they might have wished to police their own rivers.”
“They might want to, but they ain’t bloody well going to, young man. The rivers are our affair, as is the protection of the treaty ports. The last thing we want is a Chinese gunboat on the river at Shanghai!”
“Yes, sir. By the way, sir, have the Russians any gunboats on the rivers? Or the Germans, for that matter?”
“No. The occasional cruiser, occasionally a protected cruiser, but no gunboats as such. Mind you, that’s because the Russkis can’t discover how to build them and the Germans have got no space in their yards for building so many battleships.”
“Are they going to be a problem, sir, for the Navy, that is?”
“Not a chance, my boy! You can build a ship in a couple of years, but you can’t build a navy in less than two or three generations. They lack any tradition of the sea, Lord Magnus. Who is the German Nelson? Having good ships is one thing; doing something with them is another. Still, enough of that. Didn’t get the chance to ask you before, but what’s the griff from home? Any respectable scandals?”
“Other than me, sir? Very little. The golden boys of the arts are doing all of their normal things – mostly to each other.”
The admiral laughed merrily – he had little respect for the literati. “This Oscar Wilde fellow, going up for trial when I came out. Over with now, I suppose?”
“Poor chap. Damned good playwright, you know, sir. They put him in front of a judge who’s got a real down on his sort. Quite deliberate. Gave him two years at hard labour – all set up, so the whisper insisted. Don’t like him, or his habits, but that’s a dirty way of dealing with any man, just to keep a marquess happy and divvying up to the party.”
“Bloody politicians, Lord Magnus – never a set of clean hands between them.”
“They are up to their normal tricks in Westminster, sir and the Irish are making a fuss again, but that never ends. Seeing a bit more of American money in Mayfair, sir. Millionaire heiresses marrying titles, that sort of thing. Elder sons only, unfortunately, sir – non-inheriting second sons aren’t what they are after, more’s the pity.”
“Perhaps your brother might be tempted, Lord Magnus.”
“Eskdale? He would never have that amount of good sense, sir. I have no doubt that he is busily looking around for a bride – he ought to be, at least - but he will examine her pedigree before considering any other factor, other than a reasonable income secured to her, that is. An American would demand far too much of him – such as discovering where the Atlantic Ocean is first. As for acknowledging the existence of Boston or New York or Chicago – impossible, sir.”
“Met him once, Lord Magnus. Not much like you, I would say.”
“He is unique, sir. Fortunately.”
The Admiral’s Secretary entered with a brief note.
“Dockyard, sir. The QF guns came in this morning, sir. Eight of four point sevens and six of six-inch.”
Magnus looked hopeful.
“Send Bustard into the yard, Lord Magnus. Your five inchers can go to the batteries we are putting up here in Hong Kong. Just in case they might be needed one day. You require, what, eight QF in a Nymphe class, do you not?”
“Six four point sevens and a pair of six-inch to the forecastle would be very pleasing, sir. Bustard would benefit from an extra punch, sir.”
“Never take ‘em, Lord Magnus. You would have to ship them on the broadside, forward of the funnel. Too much for the forecastle to bear. Composite hull, your Nymphe class, not as if they were steel.”
Magnus agreed that steel was preferable for any modern vessel.
“Talk to the yard, Lord Magnus. If they agree, and only if they are convinced, you may have a pair of six-inch. Go there now, I’ll send a message that you are to be dealt with. I will wish to discuss this Intelligence business with you tomorrow, probably.”
The dockyard was not amused.
“A six-inch QF together with its mounting weighs just six tons twelve hundredweight, sir, while your five-inch comes in at little more than two tons. There would be a need to reinforce your deck with steel beams. There would also be a question of magazine space, Captain Campbell. The shell is far greater than the five-inch – twice its weight, in fact. It would not be impossible, but it is an unlikely endeavour. It would require at least two months in the yard, sir. I cannot conceivably recommend the venture, sir, and must make that answer to Admiral Seymour.”
“Then so be it, sir. Admiral Seymour has already made it plain to me that your approval is an absolute requirement. A pity, for I would have much liked the extra punch of a pair of six inchers.”
The dockyard master was sympathetic; he knew that Magnus possessed a title, and he was also aware that the aristocracy tended to look after its own, even when they were to an extent black sheep.
“It might not be impossible, sir, to offer a useful alternative. The five-inch BL are to go, sir, four point sevens in their place, each to weigh in a little heavier, for having a more modern mounting and shield, but their shells are a little lighter, balancing the weight out. Thus we have a few hundredweight to play with and it would be possible to mount one of the new howitzers on the centre line. They are a small gun, sir, of thirty-hundredweight, but throwing a heavy shell for their bore, six inches, that is, and very useful against infantry in the field and even more against men in trenches or hidden behind walls. Being a howitzer they fire high and drop down rather like a mortar, sir. Shor
t range, of course, sir, but useful in the bombardment of a shore position.”
Magnus smiled, admitted himself most tempted.
“It seems to me, sir, that we are more likely to take action against soldiers in the field than ship-to-ship. If you could mount them, I would consider myself obliged to you. One day, we may get these little one-pounders they are talking about – they must also be valuable for onshore work.”
The dockyard master shook his head.
“Still on trial, sir. Liable to be so for some little time. Germany has them already, I am told, but ours are slow in development. They call them ‘pom-poms’, for some reason not vouchsafed to me, sir. I think they will be useful against the torpedo boat, sir – one day!”
“When may I bring Bustard to you, sir?”
“Tomorrow, Captain Campbell, and she can be yours again within ten days, provided her company remains available to me.”
There would be no shore leave for the Bustards, Magnus assured him.
Chapter Si
x
The China Station
“You might want to take a look at these, sir.”
“I might, Carter? What are they?”
Magnus turned to the table in his dining cabin, partly covered in blocks of metal of varying size, all gleaming silver.
“Taels, sir. What the Chinks use instead of money. Some of them, the big ones, catties, they call them. Three taels makes a quarter pound of silver, sir. They were what was in the bag that I brought aboard, sir.”
The taels were not coins as Magnus understood the term; they were more like ingots, rough cast with more or less skill by local smiths. They were of differing shapes as well, most the conventional block of a metal ingot, but some made into ovals or round medallions or truncated columns.
“Weight for weight with opium, sir, taels are worth. About four taels to a sovereign, sir.”
“So… twelve taels makes a pound weight of silver, which is worth about three sovereigns?”
“More or less, sir. It changes a bit, sometimes. Not much though. Canton and Hong Kong taels are worth more than Peking taels, by a little bit. Got a good twenty pounds weight of them, sir.”
Sixty sovereigns, which was not to be sneezed at – more than three months pay. But he could not simply pocket it. Carter must have a fair share – whatever that might be. He was not about to split fifty-fifty with a rating, but he must not be ungenerous. Magnus glanced at the table again, quickly divided the ingots into small and large.
“Big ones to me, small to you, Carter.”
That made Carter’s share the better part of twenty pounds sterling, he estimated, which was not ungenerous.
“Thank’ee, sir. A nice morning’s work. Yours better go into captain’s safe, sir.”
The safe was meant for confidential documents, but had spare space.
“Much appreciated, Carter. Will the ship’s company get to know of them, do you think?”
“Not ‘know’, as such, sir, but they’ll guess. They got their own bits and pieces out of the morning, sir. The landing party threw everything they’d picked up into the pool, you might say, sir. The reason being that a lot of the stokers never get to join a landing party. And it isn’t really fair that they don’t get a chance to pick anything up. Then, sir, it’s all joss – you might go ashore and get your hands on a fortune, or just pick tuppence ha’penny – you never know. So the Boatswain collects it all and splits it equal shares. The only people that don’t get hold of anything is the officers, sir. They can’t be seen filling their boots like ordinary jacks, sir. So they don’t get a thing, nine times out of ten.”
Magnus shrugged, little concerned about the woes of lieutenants – they would become commanders and then post-captains one day, unless they were no damned good, in which case, who cared? He must, he knew, deal with Lieutenant Prosser, which could wait until he had spoken with the admiral in the morning. For the while, it was the dockyard.
“Mr McGurk to the cabin, if you would be so good, Carter.”
“We are to go to the yard within the hour, Mr McGurk, to change our guns. The yard master will also put a thirty-hundredweight howitzer aboard. You will wish to discuss the exact placement with him, and the location of magazines and ready-use. I shall leave the decision to you, because you will have direct charge of the gun. I had wondered whether the new gun should go to the forecastle or aft, or whether it might be better to place it amidships so that the matter of aiming and range could be dealt with by the Gunnery Officer while he was in place to watch his other guns. Make your own mind up on that. What of crews? Now that we are not to use sail, except in the last emergency, we have spare bodies who might be trained up to the gun. Would you agree, or do you want new men in addition?”
“Six man crew, sir. Easily arranged from our existing complement… I would like the services of a gunner’s mate, sir. A trained man would be useful as an assistant, sir. Specially for next year, sir. New rifle coming out, sir. Lee-Enfield magazine rifle. Far better than the Lee-Metford, but needing more training. Twenty rounds a minute, so they say, sir. Early ’97 they are expected out here, sir, so they tell me.”
Magnus was impressed – the rate of fire was more than twice that of the Lee-Metford.
“You want a man who has been through the course at Whale Island, I presume, Mr McGurk.”
Whale Island was the gunnery training establishment in Portsmouth, renowned for rigid discipline – everything at the double – and for the technical ability of the gunners it turned out.
“Two on Centurion, sir, that I know of, and bound to be others out here.”
“I will speak to Admiral Seymour in the morning, Mr McGurk. If he gives permission, then you get your man. I shall make the case as strongly as I can. Do you happen to know of a young lieutenant, or a sub due to take his promotion, who might be useful to us?”
It had been obvious since Mr Prosser had been sent back to the ship that his days aboard Bustard were numbered, and McGurk had already given some thought to a good man – one who was enthusiastic about his gunnery – as a replacement.
“Young Mr Hawkes would do very well, sir. Made up to sub, as he is due for very soon in any case. Well trained up already and can stand a watch on his own. Got his certificate three months since, sir.”
Having asked, Magnus had no choice but accept McGurk’s recommendation.
“Very good. I shall want a plan for training your new gunners, Mr McGurk. I would add, by the way, that my report to the Admiral on our little action mentioned your remarkable efficiency and my great satisfaction in your early performance on Bustard.”
“Thank you, sir. Not too much of a good thing, if I may beg, sir. I would wish to remain on Bustard for a year or two, sir.”
Promotion to Gunnery Officer on a cruiser or battleship would do great good to Mr McGurk’s eventual pension; remaining on Bustard would mean the chance of seeing action again, far more interesting than the routine of a big ship. There was also the prospect of being entertained on shore, and all for free.
Magnus presented himself to Admiral Seymour in the morning.
“Intelligence will be here in a few minutes, Lord Magnus. Is there anything else for the while?”
“Yes, sir. Two matters, sir. My Gunner would like a mate, sir. Dear me, that sounded like Oscar Wilde for a moment! Not my intention. We are to have one of the new lightweight howitzers, sir, the yard refusing point-blank to allow us six-inch guns but wishing Bustard to have a consolation prize as it were. The gun could be very handy, I believe, a heavy shell that can be thrown over a wall; a bombardment piece. A Whale Island man would be very useful, sir.”
“You do not sound like a small ships man, Lord Magnus. Most of them shy away from the brass and bull of Whale Island.”
“Swings and roundabouts, sir. I do not want bugles and the parade ground; I do want a man who can aim precisely and quickly and put his shells within an inch of the target – and Whale Island training allows just that.”
<
br /> “Well said. Your man will be aboard inside the week, before you leave the yard. What is the second issue?”
“The Third, sir, Mr Prosser. I had to send him aboard from the landing party, for being too tender of fellow white men. When the four Germans, or whatever they were, came into the hands of the Chinese he wanted them rescued, their skins preserved from the lesser race. I had already strongly made the point that there must be no public knowledge of the presence of foreign influences in our part of the world. He believed that it was more important to come to their rescue than to follow official policy. I am of the opinion that he would benefit from a few years in the wardroom of a big ship, and under a rigid discipline, where he could learn just what the job of a naval officer must entail.”
“Point taken, Lord Magnus. Gibraltar, protected cruiser, needs a lieutenant. She will go to the Pacific Station from Hong Kong, which means long cruising, and time to learn what’s what. Captain Keaton is of the old school – he will teach him his manners! His posting letter will reach him before you sail, Lord Magnus.”
“Thank you, sir. Might I beg for a youngster in his place? A good sub-lieutenant just made would be the ideal and my midshipman, Hawkes, has his watch-keeping certificate and is due to make sub; the appointment of a midshipman in his place would be very tidy.”
“Two boys to make in your own image, Lord Magnus? Well and good – but do be careful what you teach them, sir!”
Magnus reddened – his reputation having been made, would never leave him.
The Intelligence Officer entered the office, carrying, inevitably, a sheaf of papers. He was a post-captain, Hong Kong being a senior base, and gave the appearance of being a seaman, though he probably not had a sea-going appointment since his days as a midshipman. It was necessary to put up a proper front, Magnus knew.
“Lord Magnus Campbell? How do you do, my lord? Thank you for your papers, sir – most useful. The majority of sailors are so pleased with themselves for confounding the enemy that they do not consider discovering just what that enemy was doing.”
The China Station (The Earl’s Other Son Series, Book 1) Page 12