That apart, the children were well and progressing in their schooling; thought must be given to their eldest – was he to be sent away to a school?
There were arguments in favour of a boarding education – Iain would find himself in the company of his peers, of the sons of many of the great families of the Land; he would make friendships and acquaintances that could serve him in good stead all of his days. Against it, the schools inculcated a degree of hardness, of a lack of care for others; sentiment was held to be weak; affection for parents was often seen as ‘unmanly’. Which argument should come out best?
Iain was the heir to Abbey; he would not become a soldier or go to sea, still less enter the Church or the Law. To make the acquaintance of others of the ruling classes was less important to him; when he came to London as a young man, in search of a wife and heir to at least ten thousand a year, friends would find him.
Frederick took up his pen, outlined the arguments and concluded that tutors were far better an idea, and for Iain’s brother and sister. The one would become a squire of some prosperity in Hampshire, the other a young lady with a not insignificant portion – they would not lack for company in the polite world.
Letters from home reread, in case he had missed any subtle implications, he turned to Lord Turner’s analysis of the Public World.
He was a little sorry to discover that he might have been wiser not to give powder and ball to the irregulars of Catalonia; against that, he had discovered a respect for those fighting men and might well have supported them even had he known he ought not. Not to worry! What was done, was done.
For the rest – the King was not much longer for the world of liberty, his mind was going again, they feared. That meant that Prinny must gain access to the throne, this time as Regent, with the power that implied, or with some portion of it, at least. The politicians were to use the occasion to confine the Prince to obedience. His ability to rule was to be much curtailed – this gentleman would not have the opportunity to lose another America.
Lord Turner ended with the suggestion that it might be desirable for Frederick to achieve a very solid victory. Government would be pleased to have a cause for celebration and the taking of some French ships of war would be very popular.
Frederick wondered whether the opposite applied – that failure to cause fireworks in the Mediterranean might make him unpopular.
“Sir Iain, you should make yourself familiar with Lord Turner’s letter. You need to know the background in London.”
Sir Iain read and scratched his head, ventured to suggest that if the French chose not to sail then they would be likely to achieve very little.
“We must confer with Mr Otis, I suspect.”
Thinking on the question, it seemed to Frederick that Mr Otis must have been sent for a particular purpose. Lord Turner seemed to have played some part in his selection, and he did nothing except for a reason, and he was a very good friend…
There were fishing boats by the hundred, remarkably similar, and catching sardines by the million. Attempting to identify the five or six little craft from a particular village was not easy – they did not have exclusive fishing grounds and lacked the discipline of the English boats, the bulk of whom carried a name and port on their counter. The Spaniards were anonymous and preferred to stay that way when in contact with the authority of any nation.
Five days and the ships reeking of frying before finally Mr Otis pinned a fisherman into the admission that he was from the village of Maralenas, and that he knew the great bulk of the fifty or so other men who dwelt there. He did not know the few gutter families, of course, the gypsies and such-like who had drifted in during the previous years of unrest, but they were not worthy of being known and could not be of interest to the gentleman.
Mr Otis responded to this information by producing a bag of silver coins; not a very big bag, but the fisherman lived mostly by barter, saw only very little of actual money and that mostly copper. There were two other crewmen and they were sat down upon their deck, leather jacks of rum in hand and wholly uninterested in the conversation of their master. By the end of the three hours of questioning, the crewmen were sound asleep and the owner was admiring a score of silver pieces in his hand and slavering over ten shiny golden louis in Mr Otis’ grip. They came to a quiet agreement and the fisherman cast off from Stour brig while Mr Otis returned to Waldeman to report.
“I had to drink rum with the damned fellow, sir! My head aches! In brief, Sir Frederick, the fishermen is certain that my man still lives in his village and is seen as nothing more than the smith. He is known to be able to read, which is seen as faintly discreditable, of course, their priest having pointed out that no respectable person had a need for such an activity, but other than that there is nothing to be said against him. He is capable at black- and white-smithing both and is respected for his attitude to credit, which is generous in the extreme. He is properly married and has four children, three of them daughters who are expected to have substantial dowries when they come of an age. His son is learning the trade and shows promise, thus assuring the village of the services of a smith in the next generation.”
Frederick could not entirely understand the relevance of this information.
“The village needs him. They will not open their mouths about his clandestine activities for fear of losing his services. They have a boat-builder who relies upon the smith for his iron and brasswork, as an example of his importance. My fisherman has taken a brief note for the smith and will, quite possibly, return with an answer in a day or two. If the smith is still well-disposed towards me, which is probable because he has made some profit from my acquaintance in past years, then I have my conduit for information from Barcelona, sir.”
“Military information, Mr Otis?”
“Naval, certainly, sir. Particularly including the movements of convoys. I believe that the five major ship-owners of Barcelona are well-disposed to the Catalan cause, sir. I would expect them to be unwilling in their cooperation with the French – but unable to refuse them and keep their heads on their shoulders, of course.”
“How very pleasing. The squadron is at your disposal, Mr Otis. Where would you wish us to cruise for the while?”
“South for a day, sir, leaving an insignificant part of the squadron off the coast here. If I might suggest, sir, two or three of the small craft in distant sight of each other so that if one is taken the others can at least inform us of the disaster. I have to say that while I think it possible to make contact with my man safely, I might be wrong and the French might send a sloop or frigate to make the rendezvous.”
“That could be annoying, Mr Otis, but we must, as you say, make the attempt to talk to your people. I shall leave the schooner, Pipsqueak, to make the meeting. She is within reason speedy and might be able to run on discovering the rendezvous to be compromised. The brigs must hover within sight. The gunboats would be less visible, but they are very much inshore vessels and should not be seen to venture more than a gunshot from land; their very presence might, in fact, cause an alert Frenchman to ask questions. What have you in mind for the longer term, sir?”
“Nothing, Sir Frederick. Until I am up to date with what is happening in Barcelona, I cannot plan. I would hope to cut the French off from the sea, forcing them to send their people and supplies by road, vulnerable to the irregulars. Every musket and pouch of powder and ball they lose will put another Catalan into the field, reinforcing the uprising. Add to that, there is the moral effect on the local population. A ship lost at sea is inevitably a distant affair, but a French column destroyed on land is local, has an immediate effect. If I can obtain the information, Sir Frederick, then I hope to put you in the way of emptying the harbours.”
Frederick understood that this must be a policy created originally in London, that he was to be the instrument which could carry out the plans of the great strategists who hid in the back rooms there. These were powerful men, he knew, with the ability to massively reward a favo
urite, or to casually break the career of an unfortunate who failed them. He much suspected the hand of Mr Critchel to be in the background, expecting him to achieve success, confident that he would, and very ready to reward him if he possibly could. He knew that Critchel had an affection for him, as much as that strange man had a liking for any person, and was increasingly sure that this was to be his opportunity to stake his claim to greatness in the land. He must make his willingness to cooperate plain to Mr Otis.
“Let us trust that your source is still good, Mr Otis. I shall be very willing to be advised, sir, and I can assure you that if I fall – and that is never impossible at sea – then Sir Iain will know to listen to you.”
“My master told me that I could expect such a reaction, Sir Frederick. He assured me that you would offer your full trust to me, provided, he said, that I seemed to deserve it. I am glad to discover that you can have faith in me, sir!”
Frederick laughed, said that he must have information if he was not to simply wander up and down the coast of Spain, hoping against hope to stumble over a Frenchman.
“I have little choice but to rely on my intelligencers, Mr Otis – but I will say that you seem very nearly as competent as Lord Turner, and he is the most remarkable of men!”
Mr Otis agreed – there were few indeed of Lord Turner’s calibre.
The squadron exercised. It had occurred to Frederick that if they simply cruised, hovering about a particular point, then their presence might seem singular to any passing observer. Engaged in exercises, however, they could remain in any location for two or three days at a time with no appearance of singularity. It would also do no harm for the guns to be run in and out a few times – the people would become slack otherwise, Frederick feared.
While they were at it, there would be no harm in practising the less common drills. He started proceedings by heaving a bucket over the side and yelling ‘Man overboard!’
It was quite entertaining to see Sir Iain reduced to spitting rage as a boat from Norge reached the floating bucket before theirs. Frederick retired to his cabin to allow Sir Iain full rein for his outrage. He heard the midshipmen boat-keepers howl under Mr Cheek’s rattan before being banished to the mastheads on grounds of incompetence, idleness and congenital idiocy. Following that the whole crew was mustered to hear Sir Iain’s opinion of their seamanship and of their prospects of remaining alive when the ships next met the French.
He nodded in agreement on being informed that the sole and whole function of a line-of-battle-ship was to defeat the French; he was less certain of his agreement to the proposition that they might expect to lie between a pair of hundred-gun ships and batter them to early submission so that they could assist Norge with her two. That smacked, he thought, of enthusiasm. The crew as well was surprisingly silent at the prospect.
Sir Iain sat hungrily to his dinner that evening, having spent hours chasing the men.
“That will teach them, Sir Frederick! The thought that we were off to bash a squadron of French three-deckers gave them pause for thought, I believe.”
“It made me ponder as well, Sir Iain.”
“Very desirable though, Sir Frederick. We really must take ourselves a prize or two, you know, sir. All very well to achieve successes on land, but we need to take, burn or destroy more than our own weight of Frogs to make any great impression on our masters.”
“Then let us hope that Mr Otis comes up trumps, Sir Iain.”
It was on the fourth day, the men becoming resentful of the unbroken run of exercises, that Pipsqueak appeared in company with the brigs and flying the despatches pendant again.
“The fisherman appeared this morning, sir, and gave me these letters. I handed over the gold coins, sir, all ten of them, and he sailed off and cast his nets, so as to seem legitimate, sir. We sailed immediately, sir.”
“Well done, Mr Dyke. Were you observed, do you believe?”
“No vessels at sea, sir, but there is no telling if there was a coast watcher ashore.”
“Well said. Mr Otis, we have mail for you, sir.”
Mr Otis’ private cabin was well below decks, leaving him with three companionways to mount to reach Frederick’s cabins. He was puffing audibly.
“I must indulge in more exercise, Sir Frederick, and not just of my knife and fork, sir! Let us see, what have we here? Four separate missives, three written in the Catalan and one in the true Spanish. The probability is that the French have no fluency in Catalan, but they may have fluent Spanish speakers, so we shall put our initial faith in the three. Let us read them, sir. Manuel – will you bend your eye to the fourth letter?”
Frederick waited; he gave use of Mr Aggers’ desk for the panting intelligencer to make notes on his letters. Manuel was ready first.
“Sir, the letter says that the Army of Catalonia is in bivouac outside the city, and that its officers are to be seen inside every day. Many have made no secret of their whole-hearted loyalty to Bonaparte, who is to turn Spain upside-down and create a new and enlightened state, a republic free of the Church. Some few seem less committed to the French cause, but the writer does not believe that the soldiers will risk turning their coats. The Count himself, their general, is thought to be dwelling inside the city, in the French headquarters. There is a rumour that he is to journey into France itself, possibly to consult with Bonaparte. Should he do so, then it is likely that he will proceed by ship for some part of the journey, as the roads are generally agreed to be closed to less than a strong brigade and the risk of night-time ambush cannot be discounted.”
“I should like to meet that gentleman, Mr Otis. Had he been true to us, we could have held the castle and been a major thorn in the French flesh. A victory over a French army would have had major effects in the whole of Spain. I consider him a traitor, sir.”
Mr Otis nodded his agreement, reading busily, unwilling to be distracted.
“Is there any mention of the means of sea transport, Manuel? It seems unlikely that they would simply send him by way of any merchant ship prepared to slip along the coast. Is there a date?”
The correspondent knew no more, it would seem.
Considering the letter, the writer actually knew very little – he had reported gossip and hearsay but had offered very little of attested fact. Frederick was disinclined to place a great deal of faith in the Spanish gentleman – it was probable that he would have little contact with the Catalans if he was not at home in their language.
Mr Otis stirred from his concentration.
“Three letters, Sir Frederick, two of which contain certain codewords and references that prejudice me in their favour. The third is from a new correspondent who wishes to introduce himself to the English. The fact that he was able to place this letter in the fisherman’s hands suggests that he is legitimate – but does not, by a long way, prove the fact. He wishes to meet with us and will be able, he says, to put us in contact with other conspirators who will only believe that he is an English agent if he displays an actual Englishman. That demands the presence of an Englishman who speaks Catalan and Spanish, of course. The sole person to meet this specification in this squadron, is, I much suspect, me. I would be willing to go ashore, under proper conditions, but am not quite certain how I may establish a safe rendezvous. Let us deal with the two which I am happy with.”
Frederick agreed this made a sensible agenda.
“The first letter, sir, is from a gentleman in the wine trade, a man who is facing bankruptcy for the death of his trade. Little wine produced this year and no shipping to carry it to Gibraltar where, in theory, the bulk of his product is sent to London. In fact, most goes to Morocco, where the demand for wine is high and considerations of quality are of less significance. However, almost none will go this year. He says, and I must believe him, that the bulk of shipping has been taken into French or government hands, the two much the same. Some ships have been running to Italy but the most go to the south of France, bringing back military supplies in exchange mostly for
Spanish foodstuffs, so contributing to the shortages that already exist. He states that there are three ships of the Spanish navy in Barcelona which are being brought into sailing condition, retaining in part their original crews but with officers brought from France and with their numbers made up by soldiers from different parts of the French Empire and including Poles, various sorts of Germans and a number of impressed prisoners of war, mostly taken from Austria, which has a number of nationalities in its service. These ships are to sail ‘soon’.”
That sounded interesting to Frederick.
“Tell me, Mr Otis, has the gentleman any notion of their rates and size?”
“They are very great, he believes, but are in the naval basin and he has been unable to inspect them and form a certain opinion.”
“Very great could mean the three-deckers for which the Spanish are famed. Manned by a motley crew and with no sea-time, I would be very pleased to meet three of them, sir.”
Mr Otis raised an eyebrow, turned to his second letter.
“A gentleman who was once in the Levant trade, Sir Frederick, but is now reduced to selling olives from the inland groves. Very bitter that he has fallen so far and is no more than a shopkeeper in his own estimation. He states, as a result of seeing with his own eyes, that there are three Spanish ships-of-the-line and that they will be able to sail within a very few weeks. He believes them to be of at least one hundred guns. He says as well, that there are two of French frigates in the naval basin, have been there a year undergoing very slow repair but soon to go to sea again. They are of the larger sort, he says. He thinks, and emphasises that he does not know for certain, that their crews are to be made up by Spanish merchant sailors impressed from the port. They are to escort a convoy, he thinks.”
Deadly Shores (The Duty and Destiny Series, Book 11) Page 12