Ships of Oak, Men of Iron: A Tim Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 10)

by Richard Testrake

  Phillips was startled, when he felt the blow on his torso. Thinking he had missed the command to fire, he instinctively pointed the pistol anew at Ranson and pulled the trigger. The weapon fired at the slight touch and he saw Ranson falling to the ground.

  Major Lomax ran over to him and collected the pistol and asked him if he was all right. He raised the silken shirt he was wearing and the two examined the furrow plowed in his side. He walked over to the coach where the surgeon took him in hand. He was told the shot had struck a pair of ribs but with a little luck, the injury would heal with no ill effects.

  Asked about his opponent, Forsythe, just coming over after looking at matters with the judges, reported Ranson had a smashed leg which might well have to come off. The judges were irate over the young man’s behavior, but with his incapacitating injury it was felt honor had been satisfied, and no further proceedings would be necessary.

  One of the judges was an Army general who was most disgusted with the actions of both Ranson and Hamilton. Should Ranson recover, he would be dismissed from his regiment. As far as Hamilton was concerned, the general felt his services were also no longer required by his regiment.

  The general felt their actions at instigating this unnecessary duel was not in keeping with professional standards.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  No warship was likely to sail westward across the Atlantic without serving as an escort in a convoy, and Amazon was no exception. Once out of the Channel, to the west of Land’s End, they picked up their flock. It was small, as these went, with twenty-five merchants of assorted sizes and rigs; with a cutter, two sloops and Amazon as the shepherds.

  Upon meeting and exchanging signals, Amazon took her position to windward forward of the double column and sent the sloop-of-war she replaced back to the center. The other sloop remained at the rear with the cutter.

  Phillips judged the convoy to be in decent order and thought it might be safe enough. A week out, a lone sail was spotted ahead. It replied to no signals and moved out to windward, avoiding the convoy and its escorts. The stranger was soon identified as a brig, probably an armed enemy privateer, since it matched none of the United States warships Phillips had listed in his book.

  The stranger could have seemed to an observer as almost another escort as she sailed along with the convoy, although out of reach of the escorts. Mister Lawson, his third officer and a bit eager, wondered if a pair of the escorts might go after the brig and perhaps take her.

  “It’s not worth it, Mister Lawson”, Phillips decreed. “We have no idea of her sailing qualities, with all of us just plodding along with this convoy. We would seriously weaken the escort should we detach two escorts, then where would we be if a pair of privateers should discover us?”

  The next morning, the horizon was clear of extraneous sails. The stranger had left. Phillips decided to alter course a few degrees. If the brig had left to recruit help, with the convoy on a different path, the enemy might have a more difficult time finding them. All was well for a few days, with the convoy sailing in an otherwise unpopulated ocean. Then, a notch on the horizon one morning told them they were no longer alone.

  This one was a schooner, a fore and aft rigged vessel, of which the Americans made some fine examples. Later in the day, another schooner joined the first then, just before dusk, their old friend, the privateer brig, made its appearance.

  Like all convoys he had known, the masters of the individual ships of this one liked to distance themselves from their consorts at night. The cutter Terrier, was signaled to patrol the flanks of the convoy, demanding the masters keep closer formation. Phillips knew those schooners were slippery vessels indeed, and if a ship found itself separated from the rest, it would likely find itself snapped up immediately. As Terrier performed her duty, she found herself within speaking range of Amazon.

  Using his speaking trumpet, Phillips warned the little craft to stay well clear of any enemy. Most of these privateers were packed with men, who could swarm aboard a victim in a blink of an eye. The proper course, Phillips decreed, was to stand off at extreme range and pepper the enemy with the guns. Even the little four-pounders of the cutter could damage the lightly built privateers and possibly convince the masters that it was not worth it to incur the expensive damage to these raiders out for profit.

  As he put his speaking horn down, he heard the staccato sound of distant gunfire. One of the enemy schooners had thought she had driven one of the merchant ships far enough from the convoy to take her. She was wrong, and that schooner had to leave behind a dozen men on the deck of a merchantman, leaving with her sails shot through with holes. The sloop-of-war that had successfully repelled the privateer, collected up the enemy prisoners and continued her duties.

  The brig, seeing all attention directed at this scene, made her own play. With one escort gathering up its prisoners, she spotted a gap with no escort covering several merchants. Sailing in, her intended victims scattered as a flock of sheep might flee from wolves. Terrier again was the first on the scene, firing away its miniscule broadside. There was danger Terrier herself might be captured and the other escorts were otherwise occupied, so Amazon took the offensive.

  Like an avenging angel, Amazon, with a full press of sail, charged down upon the duet, swerving aside for no one, narrowly clipping a merchant brig, Amazon, undamaged except for a broken mainyard stuns’l boom, charged on. All of her guns were loaded and run out, and once within range Phillips gave the order to open fire.

  The new crew, with little training thus far in gunnery practice, was woefully poor in its marksmanship, but one long eighteen-pounder gun crew fired a round which, whether from luck or skill, brought down the brig’s fore topmast. With the big frigate charging down on her, and unable to flee because of the tangle of sailcloth and downed rigging on deck, she tried to fight.

  This did not work well, as the frigate was now close enough that even her half trained gun crews were able to put most of their shots into the brig, and this the lightly constructed brig could not stand. Now dismasted, the brig drifted helplessly as the frigate came about to look for the second schooner. This one, seeing the writing upon the wall, decided to look for easier prey elsewhere. With this one gone, Phillips released the sloop Victor to collect the wounded schooner, while he ordered Terrier to secure the brig as she lay under Amazon’s guns. The sloop Asp began rounding up the straggling merchants before they got too far astray.

  With the important matters addressed, Amazon sailed over to the wrecked brig to investigate. Terrier, with her small crew, might have difficulty controlling the numerous prisoners. Mister Robins, his sailing master, took over a party to see what must be done. In addition to some Royal Marines to keep order, he took a bosun’s mate and some able seamen to make what order they could of the prize. With the enemy crew under control and the boarding party was engaged inspecting for necessary repairs, Amazon left to assist Asp with the convoy.

  After spending nearly an hour aboard the brig. Mister Robins signaled his desire to return to the frigate and he was taken off. Reporting to Phillips in his cabin with a glum look, he announced the prize to be nearly a hopeless case. He felt it would require an inordinate amount of time and effort to just keep the vessel above the waves, let alone get her to a safe port. He doubted it would be worth the effort.

  Phillips took the news with equanimity. Victor had recovered the prize schooner which was only slightly damaged, and was being put to order as they spoke. The crippled brig was neither here nor there. He ordered her people taken off and distributed among the escorts. After a thorough search of the brig for anything of importance, slowmatch should be laid to her magazine and the ship destroyed.

  The brig was already half sunk before the charge exploded and the vessel went down. The blast was not as massive as had been expected and it was decided the magazine was beginning to flood even as the burning ember of the slowmatch reached its target. At any rate, the remains of the brig went down immediately.

  One
of Amazon’s midshipmen, Mister Watkins, was commanding the prize schooner, and doing it well enough that Phillips left him in command until they should reach Halifax. A dozen hands with a good bosun’s mate were sent over and the schooner set to patrolling ahead of the convoy. As they neared the American continent, they began sighting more sails, most of whom avoided the convoy. A ship-rigged vessel approached the prize schooner and attempted to signal. The lad commanding the prize had no knowledge of enemy signals since the previous administration had dropped the relevant book over the side before capture When the ship began approaching with serious intent, Amazon shouldered her way ahead of the weather column and forged out ahead to see if this fellow wished to make their acquaintance. He did not, and the convoy sailed un-molested until nearing Bermuda, when HMS Phoebe, 36 guns, came out to investigate.

  After greeting her fellow 5th-rate, Amazon left her charges in the care of Phoebe and left with her prize to journey up the coast of North America to Canada. Midshipman Watkins was an active young man and kept the schooner ranging far ahead of the frigate, looking for anything interesting. It was remarkable, watching the prize sailing as close to the wind as she did on occasion. Most of the sail they encountered were friendly, ships of the British blockading fleet. However, in the midst of a gale off Sandy Hook, they spotted a ship attempting to bypass the blockade of New York, coming out of New York Harbor. Under reefed topsails they attempted vainly to keep the ship in sight, but the storm lasted until after dark and she was gone the next morning.

  Undaunted, Mister Watkins, set out in pursuit. As the schooner reached the outer limits of signaling range, Phillips ordered her to return, but the signal was not answered or obeyed. Furious, Phillips promised himself the young man would have his ears roasted when next they met, but changed his mind when the schooner was spotted running toward them, flying the signal, ‘Enemy in Sight’.

  At Amazon’s acknowledgement, the schooner turned on her heels and sailed back from whence she had come. HMS Amazon set all the canvas she could carry, and soon after sighting the prize’s tops, heard the far-away stutter of gunfire. This, Phillips did not care for. The prize did not carry enough men to man her guns and sail the craft at the same time. Just one or two good hits on the fragile craft could seriously wound her. As they closed, it was seen the prize had indeed found her quarry, a ship-privateer armed with twenty guns of various sizes and populated by a large crew.

  The prize, armed with eight tiny four-pounders and just enough crew to sail her, could not ordinarily make an attempt on such a target. This one, however, had lost her fore topmast and bowsprit during the storm and was now attempting to make repairs. The little schooner would make a run across the bows of the cripple, firing off a couple of the guns she had loaded and run out ahead of time. She was not doing much damage to the bigger ship, but she was preventing the necessary repairs from being finished.

  As soon as Amazon ranged up on the enemy’s stern with her guns run out, the privateer hauled down her flag and Mister Anderson boarded her. When he returned to Amazon, he reported the new prize was a well set-up ship, having just put to sea and in excellent condition, with the exception of the storm damage she had just received. She appeared to be a valuable prize, but there was the problem of what to do with her numerous crew. She had an especially large crew aboard, whose purpose would have been to man the prizes she hoped to take.

  Phillips did not relish the idea of striking them all below decks and carrying them up to Halifax, because of the danger of them rising and re-taking the ship some dark night. He already had all the prisoners from their previous engagement he felt he could safely handle.

  Mister Anderson reported however, the new capture was well equipped with boats, presumably as an aid for capturing prizes.

  Accordingly, except for the officers and some of the specialist members of the American crew, that Phillips wished to keep, the remainder of the men were put into the boats to be towed by the prize schooner close to the coastline. Some of the boats were so loaded there was little freeboard, but Mister Robins did not forecast any heavy weather for the next few hours. So the schooner took the boats in tow and pulled them to shore.

  It had been intended to abandon the boats, but as the boats drifted closer to shore, many of the enemy prematurely left the boats and jumped into the surf. Other boats were swamped in the seas but the quick-thinking Mister Watkins, put the schooner about and pulled those boats that had not been overcome back out to sea. Five of the boats were towed back to Amazon where Phillips decided to make use of the craft himself. Two were armed with boat carronades and could be used for possible offensive purposes.

  With the boats taken aboard both ships, the fleet set sail for Halifax. HMS Amazon was now undermanned because of the number of men she had to put aboard the captured ship, but there was the thought that she should bring a good price when put up for sale after the prize court proceedings. Those crew members new to the sea that had been taken aboard in Portsmouth, were pleasantly surprised when their mates began telling them of the wealth they would receive as their own share.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Phillips saluted the flag of Admiral Sir John Warren as they entered Halifax Harbor and approached their mooring.

  Piped aboard the old second-rate serving as flagship, Phillips was ushered into the office of Admiral Warren. Warren was at his most affable, and poured his sherry himself. Waving aside the offered reports, he asked for a verbal account of the voyage. He was most impressed by the activities of the ship and crew, and hoped they would continue to find the same fortune. Then they got down to business.

  Warren wondered just how he planned to deliver the hoped for naval stores to Britain, shipping being very scarce at the moment. Phillips mentioned he already had this prize ship, in good order, which could carry a decent cargo. If he could reach some American traders, he hoped to convince some of them to risk their own ships in the crossing.

  “Ah, there we have a problem, Captain. Just before the war started, some American ships especially designed to carry masts and spars came up from New England to join one of our convoys in order to carry their cargo home, where it was badly needed by our shipyards. Unfortunately, one of our frigate captains waylaid the ships before reaching Halifax and stripped the ships of the best men of their crews. Unwilling to face the crossing with the few men left, those ships returned to New England and never delivered their cargo. I understand there is some bitterness over this affair. You could well have a problem convincing any Yankee captain to risk his ship and cargo in a repeat venture.”

  Phillips wondered, “Sir, are there any Yankee captains in port now that I could speak with?”

  “Strangely, there are, Captain. Even in the middle of a war between Britain and the United States, we find plenty of Americans who wish to trade with us. Mostly, they come up from the northern US ports with goods consigned to other ports in their own country, to satisfy their own government. If they can get past our blockade, they sometimes sail in here since they know they can get the best prices for their goods.”

  “Sir, I am tasked by the First Lord to do all I can to obtain naval stores and timber necessary for ship-building. If I could approach some of these people, could I offer them a license that would protect them from interference by our blockading fleet?”

  “Captain, I have received my own copy of those ideas from Melville. I don’t like them a bit. I can see all kinds of opportunities for corruption and fraud. However, we do have to follow our orders, so yes, I will tell our blockading captains to allow ships with this license past the blockade, providing it is certain they are not sailing to some other destination.”

  With the promise of printed copies of a trading license to be sent out to his ship, Phillips left the flag. Another task he needed to do was visit the gunmaker from whom he had purchased his long-rifle on a previous visit to this port. This weapon used a unique ignition system that greatly improved its reliability. Now however, after long months at sea, Phillips ha
d found that many of the necessary percussion caps had been damaged by the damp and no longer performed well.

  The gunmaker still had his shop and gladly agreed to furnish another thousand of the little caps. After a pleasant afternoon discussing his use of the rifle on a previous voyage, they sampled some applejack from the gunmaker’s own orchard. Phillips became a little overcome from the potent apple brandy, and the apprentice hitched a horse to the cart and drove him back to the signal tower back at the harbor. There, he persuaded the attendant to signal HMS Amazon to send a boat. Waiting outside in the cold air, he was almost sober by the time the boat reached him.

  Over the next few days, Phillips called around at the various shipping facilities, approaching each in civilian clothing to minimize suspicion he was attempting to suppress smuggling. On the third attempt, one agent cautiously advised him it might be possible to arrange shipments of United States derived naval stores to Halifax.

  Phillips then showed him the orders from Melville and admitted that he was a serving officer in the Royal Navy who had no wish to cause trouble among the shipping community. The agent promised to put him in touch with his American counter-part under the proviso that no harm would come to the fellow.

  Days later, a sealed note was passed up from a dinghy to the master’s mate in charge of the anchor watch. Opening it, Phillips found he was asked to appear at the Sign of the Black Bear at sundown this evening. Not wanting to appear at this first meeting by himself, he selected Mister Watkins to accompany him. Now freed of his command of the prize schooner, Watkins seemed to be one of his promising young men, in Phillips’ view. He was also a fit man who the average footpad would hesitate to attack.