She was utterly ashamed of herself for inciting that duel. In her ignorance, she had not realized how far the matter would proceed. She had threatened a duel with her brother thinking that might get his attention and prompt him to at least talk to her. She knew such a duel would never occur. Her brother was not the fighting type. She had not realized that her brother’s aide would become involved and challenge Phillips himself.
She said she had begged and pleaded with her brother to stop the fight but she was told it was too late for the match to be stopped. She wanted to know if there was any way for her to make amends and induce him to forget her previous behavior.
Nonplussed, Phillips had not the slightest idea of how to answer the woman. Another problem was her attire, he could hardly take his eyes from her. His eyes had not seen such a sight in a very long time.
Unable to think of anything suitable to say, he called for his servant and asked him to bring drinks. Wiser than Phillips, Baker asked the lady what she would like to drink and she thought sherry would be acceptable. He did not need to ask his master, knowing Scot’s whiskey was always welcome.
When each had a drink to sip, words began to be exchanged. Phillips admitted he had no wish to punish the woman and was perfectly willing to let bygones be bygones. He did emphasize that as a young naval officer, marriage was just not in the cards for him, and he would greatly appreciate it if she would not make any such implications. He told her he expected to be in London for a month, but after that, expected the Royal Navy would have their turn with him, perhaps involving years away from home.
Dorothy immediately asked him if he liked the theatre. Admitting that he had never attended a performance, she enthusiastically assured him he must take her to a production of Hamlet in the new Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. She assured him that Robert Ellison would be playing the title role.
Phillips was able to get box tickets through the auspices of Lord Forsythe’s club and the duo enjoyed the performance. There was beginning to be gossip about the pair being seen often in public without a chaperone. He asked her one day if he needed to concern himself with another male family member calling him out, but Dorothy assured him her brother was her only living male relative and he was not the fighting type. Besides, he had learned his lesson well.
Eventually, Phillips hit upon a solution to keep the public silenced. He had learned his housemaid’s mother was having to struggle to support herself, so Phillips asked the housemaid to talk to her about employment. Mrs. Akers was a tiny woman, nearly fifty but looking older. He told her his problem.
He was squiring a young lady about but there was no suitable woman to accompany the lass. He wondered if Akers was willing to chaperone the pair as they went about to plays and dances. Mrs. Akers protested. She had no clothing suitable for such a task and could not afford to acquire any.
Phillips nipped that protest in the bud. Calling in the maid, he handed her a purse, and told her to take her mother shopping and procure clothing of the proper sort to attend the functions they would be visiting. He offered Mrs. Akers payment in the same amount he was paying her daughter. This was suitable for all, and soon Phillips and Hamilton were seen attending all the functions around London accompanied by the severe-looking Mrs. Akers.
By the time he received notice that Active was ready to sail again, he and Dorothy had become a couple. There had been a few times when Aker’s had been feeling poorly and were unable to accompany them. On one such occasion, Phillips had his pair of blooded chestnuts hitched to the phaeton and took Dorothy for a drive in the country. When the sky began to darken, they pulled into a village inn before the clouds burst and engaged a room as husband and wife.
Dorothy was perfectly willing to continue the more intimate relationship, but Phillips reminded her he must soon return to sea and it would be impractical for them to marry this early in their relationship. Only on carefully planned occasions was she able to persuade him to spend an evening with her in the limited time they had remaining.
She was tranquil when he boarded the mail coach for Portsmouth. There was no crying or demonstrations. She merely held her face up for him to kiss her and promised to write frequently and hoped he would do the same. He had to remind her the ship might often be away from postal facilities for months at a time, and mail did go astray. But, he assured her, he would write.
She followed the coach with her eyes as it clattered down the cobble-stoned street. There was now the problem of where she would live while her lover was away. Phillips had not been told, but her father had given her an edict to stay away from the young Royal Navy captain after the fiasco with the duel, the scandal being too much for the father to bear. With her latest encounters with young Phillips discovered, her parent had given her a substantial purse and orders to make her own way. Dorothy was now on her own.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
HMS Active shined like a jewel in the sun with her fresh paintwork. He had left funds with the dockyard superintendent to beautify the ship. The official had obliged, and the fresh paint and gold leaf made her the best looking ship in the harbor. Of course, a few months at sea would erase all that splendor. She had been removed from the dockyard and lay in the harbor, her yards up and rigging in perfect order. Evidently she had a crew aboard, and perhaps one with some competence. Not knowing the state of the crew, he did not signal for a ship’s boat but hired a shore boat to pull him out.
Mister McCain was waiting at the entry port to welcome him aboard. After the ceremony was finished, they adjourned to the captain’s day cabin to become up-to-date. There had been changes with the officers. Mister Wilcox had been transferred to a 3rd rate line-of-battleship, HMS Raleigh, 64, where he would be second officer.
Lieutenants McCain and Clifford were the only officers left to Phillips now. Unless another more senior reported before sailing, Mister Clifford would be first officer. Should they not receive another officer, he could again make Mister Simmons an acting lieutenant and have him serve as first officer.
A week after coming aboard, he was called to the office of the port admiral. Asked how soon the ship would be ready to depart, Phillips answered they merely needed to load their powder and hopefully to find another draft of seamen. They were about fifty men short at the moment.
Asked about his officers, Phillips had to remind the admiral he was still missing a third lieutenant. “Although”, he said, “I have a good midshipman who has served in an acting position before. If I could have him made, he would be perfectly acceptable.”
The port admiral answered, “Oh no you don’t, Captain Phillips. The Admiralty would have my head if I did that. We are told there are lieutenants falling over themselves in London hoping for a ship. We cannot keep promoting midshipmen when officers with commissions are available. I will telegraph London to send one to us.”
He went on to expound on the advantages of the new system. Before the installation of Murphy’s shutter telegraph apparatus, it had taken a full day to send a message to London. Now, the shutter telegraph designed by Lord Murphy was able to send messages to London, at least in daylight hours, in a matter of a few hours or less. Wooden towers fitted with large shutters were used to relay messages rapidly over long distances. In this case, Admiral Bickerton was able to send the message to the Admiralty in London before the afternoon was over.
The next afternoon, the signal tower on shore requested Active to send a boat. When it returned, it had a new lieutenant on board. Mister Hammer was a young officer in his early twenties. His commission was a year old, nearly the same as Lieutenant McCain, but McCain’s commission was dated a week before Hammer’s, making Hammer the new third officer. Simmons went back to the gunroom and the ship kedged itself out into the harbor, where the powder hoy rendezvoused.
Once the powder was brought aboard, a lighter brought out a levy of new people. Granted, these were Quota people, and of not that much immediate use, However, Phillips recognized that he had a useful crew aboard, largely comprised o
f experienced hands from other ships. There were even a few remnants of the crew from Active’s last voyage.
The captain was called ashore for a last visit with the admiral. There he learned of his mission. He was to escort a convoy of British merchants carrying a cargo of manufactured goods to Brazil, on his return he would carry a cargo of specie from Rio de Janeiro.
He found that an extra compartment had been constructed in the ship while it had been in the dockyard. It was framed with heavy timbers, and sheathed with two inch oak, before covered over with sheet tin. The story given to the dockyard crew purported this to be the ship’s storage space for the crew’s rum supply. To support this story, it was filled with rum kegs whose markings were consistent with standard imports of Barbados’s rum containers. Sadly, the supposed rum barrels were filled with water.
No mention of this spaces real purpose would be made to the crew until the specie came aboard. HMS Active, would then make the best of her way back to Britain. Of course no information would be divulged to anyone else.
Meeting up with the convoy in the Channel. Active joined the escort, consisting of HMS Ardent, a 64 gun third rate, commanded by a senior captain. HMS Blonde, a sixth rate frigate would also serve, assisted by two gun-brigs , Assault and Spiteful, both carrying two twelve pounder long guns forward with ten eighteen pounder carronades as broadside guns. There were eighteen merchants in the convoy, all of whom had been furnished with signal codes that would be used only on this convoy. Captain Leyden of Ardent was senior officer in the escort and would be the convoy commodore.
There was much confusion the first few days, as the individual captains learned the eccentricities of their own ships and their neighbors in the convoy. With Ardent constantly signaling instructions, the merchants were expected to add or reduce sail to maintain position. Some of the more parsimonious owners had supplied very minimal crews, so constant sail tending was difficult or impossible for those merchant captains.
One of the merchant ships was so badly crewed that the commodore ordered Spiteful to take her into Plymouth. Perhaps she would make the next convoy or perhaps the shipping company might remove her cargo and send it on another ship.
It was while the brig was absent that the privateers made their appearance. In the English Channel, as bold as brass. Two American schooners appeared on the convoy flanks and made threatening mock attacks against the shipping. Although Ardent kept the signal for ‘Maintain position’ flying, on each foray several of the merchant captains would panic and shy away from the predators.
The escorts were kept busy brushing these pests away. Phillips knew well so long as the merchants maintained position and the escorts covered their charges, the privateers had little chance to take a prize. Unfortunately, the merchant captains were not so sure of this and thought they had a better chance by turning away from the attacker, even if it meant leaving the confines of the convoy. Unfortunately, doing so would leave the merchant unprotected, at the mercy of the privateers.
The crew of Active witnessed one privateer skillfully charge right into the starboard flank of the convoy, right where the missing escort would have been stationed. Immediately, the merchants in the vicinity tried to scatter. Active turned to starboard, herself penetrating the convoy flank to head off the privateer, assisted by Assault. The raider broke thought the line and headed away to port where it was impractical for the escorts to pursue.
Unfortunately, confused by the rapidly unfolding situation, one of the merchants did sail right out of the convoy and the other privateer pounced. Running aboard the merchant, her boarders scrambled over in a rush and seconds later the ship was taken. The intent was for the prize crew to sail her right away from the convoy where the escorts would have to abandon her. By continuing right through the convoy, risking a collision with another merchant, Active came out within gun range of the privateer. Turning to port to bring his broadside into play, he ordered his guns to fire. Against all odds, the schooner was hit by two balls from Active’s broadside. One was a twelve-pound ball from one of the long guns, but a thirty-two pound ball from a carronade fired at maximum elevation also connected.
Its momentum was probably mostly expended by the excessive range, but coming down it first struck the schooner’s sternpost then smashed into her lower hull where it did the vessel no good at all. With her wreaked rudder and sprung planks in her sheathing, the schooner was unable to steer and was taking on water. She was at the mercy of the escorts, but they had to remain vigilant to protect their charges from the other privateer. She must be left to sink or swim, as he fates might select.
Assault came charging up and came aboard the captured merchant herself, quickly taking her back. Ardent ordered her to send a prize crew and officer aboard the merchant to assume command. Phillips did not known what officer the brig could send over since she only had one commission officer aboard, the lieutenant in command, and a midshipman acting as his second in command.
Apparently, the commodore came to the same conclusion herself since he then ordered Active to send an officer to the merchant. Mister Hammer got the nod and he was told to take a boat crew with him, which could replace the people from Assault, who really could not spare those men this early in the voyage. Asking for instructions, Phillips told him he would be in effect be in command of the merchant, since she was now in effect a prize after her recapture.
Mister Simmons was again brought out of the gun-room and given the position as acting third lieutenant.
The remaining privateer dogged them for a few hours before giving up and returning to her colleague. The convoy continued on course going ever farther to the south and west. On a calm day, Phillips took the moment to visit the recaptured ship and see how Mister Hammer was coming along. He, himself, was doing well, but the former captain was constantly finding fault with him as were two of the ship’s original crewmen. Not knowing just how much authority he really had, he had borne his trials quietly, but now he would like to know just where he stood.
Phillips visited the former ship’s captain in his cabin and gave him the news. He could now consider himself a passenger aboard his ship. Should he keep his mouth shut, he could remain where he was. If he felt it necessary to harangue anyone, he would be brought on Active, in restraints, if necessary. He would find life on the frigate not nearly as pleasant as it was on the merchant.
In view of the problems with the ship’s crew, they were all to be pressed into the Royal navy and transferred to Active, where they would learn what discipline was all about. An equal number of Active’s crew would transfer over to the merchant. With no overt protest, Phillips left some of his men and returned to the frigate with the merchant’s original crew. Reaching the frigate, he let the first officer give the news to the men they were now members of the Royal Navy.
The convoy had more trouble with the winds as they neared the Line. The sun grew hotter the farther south they travelled and they spent a week in sweltering heat with no wind at all. At last, a fitful breeze came along that took them from this dead area and they crossed the equator, where they had a brief ceremony where King Neptune came aboard and performed the necessary ceremonies with those men who had never sailed across the Line before. King Neptune had to be gentler than he might have preferred, since there were very few old salts aboard ship who had sailed in these seas before. The old salts were sadly outnumbered, and could not begin to terrorize the younger members of the crew as they might have wished.
Another American privateer came upon them as they finally picked up a good wind that would take them on their way. This one, a brig, sailed with them for a day off their flank, but the merchants had learned their lessons in the previous encounter, and remained in formation. Finally the enemy bore off to find easier pickings elsewhere. When the convoy sailed into Rio’s harbor, HMS Active was finished with the escort phase of her duty.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
She sat at anchor for days, while her stores were renewed. Those members of the crew
their officers thought could be trusted were granted liberty for a day at a time in Rio, with the understanding liberty would be cancelled if it were abused. When all needed stores were aboard, a well-appointed shore boat approached with a crew of Portuguese naval personnel. An individual in distinguished civilian dress sat in the stern.
When the boat was challenged, the officer in command answered in good English that Mister Weyland wished to come aboard. The civilian entered through the starboard entry port where he was given an appropriate welcome. Not knowing the rank or status of the individual, he was given the same courtesies as a visiting captain.
Immediately upon greeting the captain, Weyland asked if there was a private place where they could talk. Phillips escorted him to his day cabin and sent the Marine private on sentry duty out onto the deck. Weyland informed him he represented the foreign office, and was looking out for British interests here until an embassy could be established.
The Portuguese king had recently arrived here after fleeing from Lisbon ahead of invading French troops. With the resumption of Portuguese royal authority here with the arrival of their king, the alliance of Britain and Portugal’s colony of Brazil was now firmly established.
Brazil was an exporter of gold and silver specie, and some of this was planned to be used to purchase needed manufactured good from Britain. The funds they were to receive now were to be in payment for the manufactured goods delivered by the convoy. The expected specie in sealed casks would be delivered to the quay that afternoon, escorted by Portuguese troops. A consortium of merchants had purchased the entire cargo of all the ships and paid for it with the metal Active would carry back to England. The specie would come aboard in casks in the form of newly minted gold and silver coin.
Ships of Oak, Men of Iron: A Tim Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 10) Page 15