The Threat in the East (The Merriman Chronicles Book 3)

by Roger Burnage

Back aboard Lord Stevenage Merriman immediately ordered Lieutenant Weston to gather the men needed and proceed with the inspection of Goldberg’s ships. He watched the boat pulling strongly for the frigate Bombay where they proceeded to take off Captain Egerton and another officer then headed for the suspect ships. Merriman watched this scene unfold before going to his cabin out of the sun.

  In the great cabin he found Grahame and Gupta in close conversation. Grahame looked up and said “Ah James, you are off with the convoy tomorrow I believe but I shall not be sailing with you. As you know, I have spent a lot of time these last few days questioning our prisoner Dumont and I have now collected much useful information. Our friend Gupta also has told me much of interest. Dumont has told me a lot about the pirates and indicated where he thinks Tipu’s main shipyards are. I have made a list of them for you to investigate. We have to discover as much as we can about the fleet Tipu is building.”

  “Now James there is another part of our problems, Dumont has confirmed that Den Bosch the pirate leader has spies here in Bombay, within the Company ranks. That has to be my part in this matter but I am used to that sort of thing as you well know, so that is why I shall not be sailing with you. Gupta here has come up with a cunning plan to find out more with which I am in full agreement.”

  “This is excellent news Sir, when I have assisted the Company Marine with the convoy, I’ll come back as soon as possible to investigate those places on this list. What is this new plan that you have devised?”

  “A bit of spying of our own James, Is there an officer amongst your crew or the other ships who is of a dark hair and skin and could pass as a native?”

  “I’m sure we could find one Sir, but what would he have to do?”

  Grahame smiled, “A little play acting would be called for you see. The officer would have to go dressed like a beggar or a servant and our friend Gupta will go with him to translate and keep him safe in his role. Dark hair and dark eyes and dark coloured skin should see him through.”

  “My God Sir, it’s an awful risk. If he is discovered it will be almost certain death for the two of them. What about you Gupta, are you sure that you want to do this?”

  “Yes Sahib, I am sure. Tipu and French are enemies of us all and I want to help best I can. See, Merriman Sahib, I have brought used and dirty Indian clothes for officer.” He sniffed at them and said with a grimace “Smell like beggar too.”

  “Don’t worry James, we must speak to the suitable men before we pick one and explain what he will have to do, but, he must be a volunteer, not just ordered to do it. I am used to travelling in disguise, and I know that with care he would be able to look like a native. I’m certain Gupta will look after him. Could one of the Company sloops be used to take them well down the coast with a small native boat and two or three trustworthy and reliable Indian crewmen from the Company’s ships to sail it? They could get to one or two of the shipyards Dumont has told us about. It would be the quickest way, better than walking all that way or using a bullock cart. If a suitable man can be found they must go as soon as possible, in the dark of course. Normally I would go but I feel that I would be more use back here in Bombay.”

  In the event no suitable officer could be found in the Company vessels but Lord Stevenage’s new lieutenant, Henry Merryweather was selected. He had volunteered as soon as he knew what was expected of him and indeed his very dark skin and hair and brown eyes made him ideal for the task.

  “Well Lieutenant, I wish you the best of good fortune. If you are going to find where these ships are being built I will need to know as much as possible about any land defenses they may have, But I insist that you make arrangements with the sloop‘s captain as to where you can be left and importantly where you can be picked up again.”

  Soon afterwards, Lieutenant Weston and his party returned to report his findings. “Of the three ships we inspected Sir, we found one to be utterly un-seaworthy and rotten and likely to break up in anything of a storm. Captain Egerton ordered it to be abandoned. The other two will need plenty of work to ropes and rigging which is being done now Sir but they should be ready tomorrow. Captain Egerton demanded more rope, canvas and spare spars from Mr. Goldberg’s stores of which there were plenty in spite of what he said, and he had all the crew of the abandoned ship divided up between the other two which did not have enough men to handle them safely and work the guns as well. Oh, and full supplies of stores and water are being supplied even now Sir.”

  “Excellent Mr. Weston, thank you. We may have to delay sailing in the morning until those ships are ready.”

  One more thing Sir, that man Greely, well, we found his body floating in the harbour this morning. He was naked and his throat had been cut and the fish had been at him. We left him there Sir, his body will float out to sea. I hope I did right Sir.”

  “Yes Lieutenant I think you did. He was marked down as having run so he is no longer my responsibility. We are well rid of him.”

  That night Merryweather and Gupta climbed down into a ship’s boat with three native seamen from the frigate Bombay and with Midshipman Hungerford in command and half a dozen seamen at the oars they were taken to a the sloop Villain where a small fishing dhow had been made ready for them, well provisioned for many weeks. As they left the frigate, Lieutenant Andrews sniffed loudly and said “I think that Mr. Merryweather will be alright Sir, he even smells like a beggar.”

  “That’s right David, I must have all the doors and windows opened to clear that foul air in my cabin.”

  Chapter 16 – The convoy sails

  The convoy set sail the following day, a little later than Merriman had hoped but with a good wind behind it good progress should be made. The biggest difficulty had been to get the ships into the three lines to the accompaniment of much swearing, bellowing and furious arm waving from the escort ships but eventually they were sorted out and the convoy moved on with the two frigates on the leeward and landward side, the two Indiamen which looked like frigates on the starboard side, a brig astern to chivvy up any stragglers and to keep a watch astern for any strange sail. The sloop ranged far ahead to be able to give warning of any impending attack.

  Merriman left the deck to the duty watch and stumbled below, his shirt sticking to him with sweat and his stomach growling for the food Peters had ready for him. He had finished eating and was dressed in dry clean clothes when he heard the marine outside thump his musket on the deck and announce “First Lieutenant Sir.”

  “Come in David, is all well with our charges?” “Generally speaking Sir, yes, but some of these merchant captains seem to have no idea what a straight line is, they keep wandering off station and have to be chased back.”

  Merriman thought about it for a few minutes and said “Nothing unusual about that is there? You will remember the difficulties we had with convoys up and down the east coast of America I’m sure. Independent and bull-headed characters the captains were, wanting to sail at their own speed and rules, spread out all over the sea but they quickly saw sense at the first sight of a privateer or heard the first cannon shot. Then they came running back to the convoy like young chickens to the mother hen. We shall have to see what state the convoy is in in the morning. If you would make sure that all ships are showing stern lights for their fellows to follow I would be obliged, but ensure that I am alerted if there is any trouble.”

  “Aye - Aye Sir, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we have lost one or two by morning.” He left the cabin and Merriman wearily kicked off his shoes, rested his head on his arms on his desk and promptly fell asleep.

  The following morning at the faint first light of dawn Merriman was on deck before his breakfast to see what condition the convoy was in. In the growing light he could see that several ships were out of line and all scattered over a wide area. Astern the brig was endeavouring to make stragglers catch up. He was disgusted to see that many of them had shortened sail in the night against his orders, even though the sea conditions were ideal and with a good steady wind. �
�Damn convoys, if their masters can’t sail better than that I will have no choice but to leave them behind. Blast them all, don’t they want to be safe?” Indeed two of the convoy were so far out of place that they must have passed between the two Indiamen on the starboard side to get to where they were. The leading Indiaman was far ahead of its position that in turn argued that the lookouts and watch keepers were lax on that ship.

  “Mr. Andrews, general signal, all ships to close up immediately.” He looked at the small midshipman of the watch Mr. Green who was bending over the signal book whilst dragging flags out of the locker. “Mr. Green, be careful you fly the correct signal flags, we don’t want any accidents.” “Y-y- Yes Sir, I mean Aye-Aye Sir” said the boy, nervous at the thought of offending his captain. “Aye-aye Sir.”

  When the flags broke out aloft some of the ships made an effort to close up into their allotted position but others seemed to ignore the signal and took no notice of it. Merriman decided that he would have to show the awkward captains that he meant business. He turned to the Sailing Master who had just appeared on deck. “Mr. Cuthbert, it’s as bad as I expected, we’ll have to wake these captains up. Shorten sail if you please until we drop behind and then cross over to the starboard side of the convoy and close with those two ships outside the escort.”

  The frigate with its greater speed was soon in position close alongside one of the merchant ships. “Get back in line Captain, unless you want to make it easy for a privateer to take you,“ Merriman shouted into a speaking trumpet. The reply when it came was short and to the point. “Bugger off, I’ll not be told what to do by the bloody navy.”

  “If you don’t captain I will be forced to board you and put one of my officers in command.” “Sheer off you poncy navy bastard, I’ll do as I like, you’ll not board me.” shouted the red faced captain. Merriman took a deep breath, “Mr. Cuthbert. I would be obliged if you would gradually close with that ship, slowly, to give time for a boarding party to be gathered on deck.” The men were quickly ready with weapons clearly visible and with Lieutenant Shrigley at the head.

  “Closer and closer if you will Mr. Cuthbert I will try to force him to move over.” As the big frigate moved closer and closer to the other vessel the captain hurled a stream of invective at Merriman, “Keep away you stupid bugger, I‘ll see that the admiralty know about this treatment of an honest trader……………” Merriman ignored the man as his ship approached the other. The boarding party was obviously prepared to board and as the other captain realised the futility of his position he veered away but the frigate followed until the ship was back in its position with its captain swearing and waving his arms like a madman.

  Merriman ignored him. “Mr. Cuthbert, the same again with that other ship if you will, and we’ll see what will happen.” In the event there was no need to do the same. The captain had seen what was happening and hastily changed course to regain the correct place in the convoy. “Very good Mr. Cuthbert, place us close to that leading Indiaman please.”

  The officers on the quarterdeck of the Indiaman also had seen what had happened and reduced sail to allow the convoy to catch up. As the Lord Stevenage drew abreast Merriman shouted across “Please keep station better captain, I don’t want to lose any of the sheep.” The reply was very different, “Aye-aye Captain, our fault, difficult to get used to sailing so slowly don‘t you know.” Merriman waved in answer “Very good captain, and thank you.”

  Whilst all that was happening the rest of the convoy, chivvied by the other escorts, had managed to assemble in something like their right order. Happily the weather continued fair and with a good sailing wind under their coat-tails the ships made good progress all day. As evening approached with its usual rapidity Merriman began to hope that the various captains had learned the lesson and would manage to keep more or less in the right place overnight. The third and fourth days continued without incident. The usual shipboard work and exercises by the gun crews and the marines were continued but Merriman thought their luck was too good to last.

  Chapter 17 – Pirate fleet attacks

  Weeks passed and with good weather and strong winds nothing untoward happened until the convoy was off the Maldive Islands. Merriman and Mr. Cuthbert had ensured, with careful navigation, that no land had been sighted since leaving Bombay. Several small native craft had been seen, fishing boats and small traders which rapidly made off towards the Islands.

  Merriman, standing on the quarterdeck with the officer of the watch Mr. Shrigley, turned to the Master who was trying to teach navigation to the midshipmen. “ Mr. Cuthbert, it would not surprise me if those fishermen told some of the pirates there where we are and what our course is, so I think it would be wise to alter course three degrees to starboard to give them further to go. Mr. Shrigley, I’ll have a signal made to the convoy accordingly.”

  He turned to watch Midshipman Small drag the flags out of the locker but realised that he had been standing for too long in one spot as his shoes stuck to the tarred caulking between the deck boards which was softened by the heat. With an effort he pulled them free, laughing at his own stupidity. Surprisingly the convoy managed to turn onto the new course fairly well with the exception of the ship which had given them trouble before. That one was slow to obey, obviously the captain trying to show his independence. “Blast the man, he just wants to be awkward,” Merriman mused, “Mr. Small, signal that ship to keep better station, he is a damned nuisance. No not that last bit Mr. Small.”

  The course change did not work and the following day at dawn a group of dhows was sighted astern. A drowsy Merriman was fully awakened by his servant Peters standing by his cot. “Sorry to wake you Sir, but some dhows have been sighted. Midshipman Green was sent down to wake you Sir.” That brought Merriman out of the cot and he was struggling to get fully dressed with Peters’ help when the thud of the marine sentry’s musket on the deck and his call “First Lieutenant Sir,” brought him out into the great cabin. “Enter,” he called and Andrews appeared. “There is a mixed collection of dhows following us Sir, one of them is bigger than the one we sank before and they are obviously trying to catch us Sir.”

  Once on deck Merriman could see the ships clearly, there were fourteen of them with their sails shining almost golden in the light from the sun low on the eastern horizon. “Mr. Andrews, beat to quarters and clear for action. Make a general signal to all ships, Enemy in sight. Close up and prepare for action. Fire a gun to get their attention, a signal to the escorts. Fall back to positions as agreed.”

  Whilst the hustle and bustle went on around him Merriman tried to watch all ships at once. Incredibly the merchant vessels were doing what they had been told, moving closer together to make less sea area to be defended. Merriman was pleased to see that even the awkward ship was one of the first to obey. The pirate ships, and there was no doubt that they were pirates for the red flags flew above them all, were closing rapidly and spreading out into a line some nine abreast, which was what Egerton told him they would do. The largest of the pirate ships had placed itself in the centre of the line but slightly ahead with other smaller ships on the flanks and the rest following. It took Merriman no more than two or three seconds to decide on his tactics and he called his officers to him.

  “Gentlemen, the biggest of those ships is the first one we must deal with, she appears to have some big guns maybe eighteen pounders which would cause havoc if it got into the convoy. This is what I propose. We will go about and steer towards the biggest ship and pass her to starboard with all starboard guns to fire as they bear. Then a broadside on the one to larboard. All guns loaded with solid shot and fired at the waterline. Then we’ll be in reach of two more of the smallest ships and give them a broadside each before we turn back to the biggest one and pass her stern and give it another full broadside. If all goes well that should finish them as fighting ships and we will go after the rest. Some will get past us but we must rely on the Indiamen and the brig and the other frigate to hold them until we can ge
t back to help. To your stations Gentlemen and I want the ship to go about like lightening when the time comes.”

  On the quarter deck Merriman was accompanied by Lieutenant Andrews and the midshipmen, Hungerford at his station by the signal locker, Small and Green ready to run with messages. Mr. Cuthbert was with four men at the wheel and the marines lined up on either side behind the hammock nettings with their muskets ready. Captain St. James and Lieutenant Goodwin and their sergeants striding up and down behind them.

  “There’s an awful lot of them Sir, can we beat them?” said a white faced and trembling Midshipman Green. Merriman smiled down at him, “We can deal with them Edward, stay by me and remember what your duty is.” Poor Green was so amazed at the Captain calling him by given name that his worries about pirates receded for a while.

  “Stand by to go about” yelled Merriman, “Gun deck be ready ------ right Mr. Cuthbert, hard over.” The men on the big wheel spun it with all their strength while the sail handlers hauled madly at the sheets, braces and bowlines to bring the ship back under control and charging back diagonally at the enemy line.

  It seemed only a moment before the Lord Stevenage was passing across the pirate flotilla and turning between the big dhow and another on its starboard side. Immediately both dhows fired their guns as the frigate passed between them but the guns were badly aimed and some did not fire at all. Nevertheless Merriman felt the thuds as shot hit the side of the Lord Stevenage and wood splinters flew from the bulwarks and on the gun deck one gun was overturned with men trapped beneath it screaming for help. At the same time the frigate’s guns began to fire, Lieutenants Weston and Shrigley running back along the deck to ensure that no gun fired before the target appeared in front of it. “Reload men, reload” yelled Weston, choking and coughing on the powder smoke as it swirled about him.