“I served two commissions on the old girl, and thought it was sad when they made a transport of her.”
Mullins was impressed and ordered his gig prepared to take him over to inspect. Carter was using the Army troops, both foot and artillery, to man the guns. His major problem was, while he did have a supply of rusty twelve-pounder balls, he had almost no powder.
Mullin’s thought a seemingly fully-armed line-of-battle ship might be a convincing argument to bring to the Dane’s attention at their destination. Learning from Carter of his slim professional manpower resources, he promised to send over a gunner’s mate and a supply of powder. Carter, in turn, agreed to continue exercising the guns.
Since the diplomat who would serve as negotiator was prostrate with sea-sickness in a partitioned off space in the great cabin, Mullins had the time to oversee his accompanying transport. He had gained much confidence in the elderly captain and felt the Royal Navy was the loser by not recognizing his skills years before.
Realizing Carter was handicapped with his small number of seamen, Mullins sent over more hands, who could supplement the soldiers Carter was using. The pair was sailing past the Low Countries, when their preparations were tested. A small convoy was sighted, approaching. As the ships neared, it was seen that a frigate flying the tricolor escorted ahead, to windward, while a brig brought up the rear.
Mullins realized he could be in trouble. The frigate was pierced for thirty-two guns, while the brig probably had a dozen more. he frigate easily outclassed the ship-sloop, even considering her carronades. The pair of escorts could defeat Aurora and then go on to take Odin. Their only chance was to maintain the deception.
The frigate stood away from her convoy to investigate these strangers. Carter raised a spurious commission pennant, then an equally false broad pennant. Then signal flags announcing ‘enemy in sight’ were displayed followed by ‘engage the enemy more closely’.
Mullin could legitimately have been outraged by this lieutenant daring to give him orders, but he understood what Cater was trying to do. If they were to make this frigate captain believe that Odin was really a commissioned third-rate British warship, she would undoubtedly have the senior officer aboard that would be issuing the commands. Of course, the French captain probably did not have the British codes for this month, but there was always the chance they had been obtained, so it made sense to issue appropriate orders.
HMS Odin was a surprisingly fast ship and was closing the frigate probably sooner than that French captain might have wished. The French captain’s decision to turn aside to avoid, gave Aurora a chance to cut inside the frigate’s stern, and give her a broadside from close range. Those raking balls caromed down the length of the enemy ship, tearing and rending everything with which they came in contact.
The frigate had been ignoring the ship sloop up to this point, regarding her as a minor player who could be attended to in due course.
A heavy ball from one of Aurora’s starboard carronades striking her quarter changed that captain’s mind, when it caused major hull damage. Turning into the smaller ship to brush her out of the way, only got her more damage, and now Odin was upon her. With her guns, real and Quaker, bristling from the upper gun ports, Odin fired her twelve-pounders at close range into the frigate. The half-dozen balls impacted her midships and now Aurora was now across the frigate’s stern, pumping broadsides into her, mercilessly.
The frigate, unable at the moment to respond to Aurora, fired her broadside into Odin. Even though the big ship was no longer officially armed, she still had the heavy scantlings of a third-rate line-of-battle ship. The twelve-pound balls fired at her did little damage.
The same was not true of the frigate. A more lightly built ship in any case, she was receiving fire from two sources. Aurora, now on the frigate’s quarter, was steadily pumping fire into her enemy. One of her carronades sent a thirty-two-pound ball into the frigate’s sternpost, disabling her rudder.
Unable to steer, with the supposed third-rate on her beam and the ship-sloop on her quarter, rather than continue to exchange broadsides with the perceived liner, the French frigate Juno hauled down her flag.
There were some repairs necessary after the battle, While the massively built Odin had received little damage, Aurora had been badly knocked about by the frigate’s fire and the Juno was a shambles. Luckily, there was plenty of room aboard Odin for the French prisoners, as well as sufficient Army troops to guard them. Mullins could imagine the Juno’s captain’s chagrin, when he discovered he had struck his flag to a transport.
Mullin’s had first thought he and Carter might receive kudos for taking a modern French frigate, but one of Aurora’s carronades had smashed a huge hole below the Juno’s waterline which was causing major problems. It was only by pumping ship night and day Juno made Anholt Island while still afloat, where the frigate was put on a mudflat. With insufficient resources to make needed repairs, she was left aground for the Baltic weather to finish. Some of her guns were salvaged in order to furnish a battery for the island, if that were needed.
The still incapacitated diplomat had to be physically removed from his bed, but once ashore, he soon recovered his health and began his duty. Only the resident villagers remained on the island and they had no wish to dispute the British. When they found the British would pay hard money for anything purchased, any potential animosity disappeared. It was arranged, to the satisfaction of the diplomat, for the troops be landed for a short stay, and a battery established to defend the light.
Before Odin left, Mullins handed Carter a report to be sent to Admiralty, detailing the action and praising Carter’s seamanship and good judgement, explaining the mission could very possibly have failed without his forethought in arming his ship.
With Odin gone, Aurora had to remain. This was boring duty, with few people with whom he could interact. A pair of additional transports eventually arrived, with specialists aboard, as well as a cargo of firewood for the light and provisions for the villagers. The mailbags brought were doubly valued.
Mullins received a stack of letters, mostly from Doris. Selecting one at random, he learned about Doris’s pregnancy difficulties and how happy she was that her Charles was the father. Mullins was dumbfounded. Of course, he was well aware of how babies were made and he was well aware his own actions had perhaps caused this difficulty but somehow he thought the woman could somehow prevent pregnancy. He had received no information on subject such as this as a young man.
Opening each of her letters, he tried to put them in order by date. He soon found she had usually neglected to date her letters, sometimes just using the day of the week. Occasionally however, she had inserted the month in the letter and he could make some semblance of order with this information as well as the subjects of which she was writing.
In the earlier letters, there was no mention of a coming birth. In later ones, she related she was ill on many mornings. Only in the later ones did she mention that Mrs. Cooper was sure a baby was in the offing. Now, the subjects of her letters were speculations on the sex of the coming infant as well as the various names they might consider. This was too much for Mullins to absorb at one sitting. Fatherhood was a subject that he had never spent much time considering. Of course, it could be expected that most healthy men could plan to gain such status sometime, but Mullins had not considered himself to be at that point yet.
Major Gibbons, the military commander of the island, proved valuable to Mullins. A father many times over, he was always ready to dispense advice. He did come to the point when Mullins first brought up the subject.
“You are sure you are the father of this infant, are you not?”
“Major, I am sure I must be. Doris is a very shy, retiring kind of woman who would never do that kind of thing with a man.”
Gibbon’s reply was, “Well, she did it with you, did she not?”
Failing to bring Mullins around to any other conclusion, Gibbons went on another course.
“Very we
ll, since you are convinced this is your child, what are you going to do about it?”
There was the rub. Mullins reminded Gibbons he was frequently at sea, perhaps on the other side of the world. He forecast himself to be a horrid kind of father.
Gibbons reminded Mullins of the facts facing a fatherless boy of that day. For one thing, the boy could never aspire to be an officer in the army or navy. He would go through life identified as ‘Bastard’. Even if the mother could locate a man to accept the child as his own, would he relish another man raising his child?
Reluctantly, Mullins agreed. Over a bottle of wine in Gibbon’s quarters, he agreed, “Probably the best solution would be to marry Doris.”
That evening, back in his cabin he sat down and drafted a letter to Doris, explaining he had just received her letters concerning her pregnancy, and would marry her as soon as he returned.
He explained he would not be able to leave his present station until winter set in. Then, he expected to be ordered back home. He assured her he would write to her, keeping her appraised of his expected wanderings. With the letter, he sent her a note of hand, the sum should support her for a year.
Life on the island was bleak and dismal for most of the inhabitants. The major industry was fishing, and fish made up much of the local’s diet. A delegation of Danish military officers came to the island under a flag of truce ordering the British troops to leave immediately. The negotiations were left to the diplomat brought out from London, but as he had no instructions, little was done and the Danes departed, with no success.
A few days later, a brig from Admiral Parker’s Baltic command stopped at Anholt, on her way to Britain. From her, it was learned that the British fleet was undertaking to detach Denmark, either by diplomacy or by force, from the League of Armed Neutrality, which Tsar Paul of Russia had arranged among the other nations neighboring the Baltic. The members of that league had hoped to force Britain to acknowledge their right to have unrestricted trade with France.
The lieutenant commanding the brig handed Mullins a sealed packet containing orders which required the captain of any British ship of war to proceed without delay to the waters off Copenhagen, there to report to Admiral Parker, aboard the flagship, HMS London. Mullins hastily scrawled a letter to Major Gibbons explaining his departure and gave it to his cox’n to deliver ashore. As soon as the boat returned, they were off.
Chapter Fifteen
HMS Aurora banged out her salute to Admiral Parker’s flag. When a flag hoist ordered Aurora to send a boat, Mullins looked around his quarterdeck to see who was available. Mister Adolphus had just finished his watch, but was still on the quarterdeck, at the rail, looking at the vast fleet, probably bigger than any he had seen before.
Calling the youth over, Mullins directed him to take his boat to the flag and report to the duty officer there. Undoubtedly, the flag had something they wished to hand off to Aurora. In due course, Adolpus returned to his ship with a packet of orders to give to his captain.
Mullins retreated to his cabin, where he opened the tarred covering with a penknife. He found he was directed to seek out the second in command of the fleet and report to Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, aboard HMS St. George. The big 98-gun three-deck warship was engaged in a reconnaissance together with other members of the fleet.
Searching out the big liner and firing the salute to Nelson’s flag, Aurora was ordered to fall in trail behind the flagship and conform to her movements.
Closing nearer to the Danish defenses than Mullins thought wise, they continued past, then went back out to sea. That evening, under easy sail, St. George signaled Aurora’s captain to come aboard.
Mullins had been expecting that order and his boat was ready, with the boat crews freshly shaved and wearing clean shirts. For himself, his servant had spent the afternoon sponging and pressing his coat, shining his buckles and seeing that his sword was spotless.
The climb up the side of the second-rate liner was a long one. He was met at the entry port by Captain Hardy and escorted to the great cabin. Rear-Admiral Nelson was awaiting him and pressed him to refresh himself with wine and biscuit. After discussing the health and welfare of friends and family, Nelson got to business.
“Captain Mullins, I have an important mission to place in your hands. I have been concerned about selecting the proper person, when after a discussion with one of the principals, I find the exact person that I need has fallen into my lap.”
“What I would have you do, Captain, is to land some French officers we have acquired onto the shore of Christiansø Island, near the island of Bornholm.”
“We have six officers which we removed from a French prize. These have offered their parole and agree to refrain from bearing arms against Britain or her allies until properly exchanged. We have another officer, ostensibly a French lieutenant of foot, who has been on board St. George for a lengthy period. I will let this man inform you as to the circumstances concerning why he is with us.”
“All seven of these officers are presently living in the wardroom and, I might say, making dreadful nuisances of themselves. It is this seventh officer, who is the reason you are with us today. He informed me privately that he is acquainted with you and wishes you to be the officer who returns him to French control. There is a small detachment of French troops overseeing a Danish battery on the island.”
The vice admiral turned to the door, “Sentry, please admit Lieutenant Dooley.”
Ron Dooley stepped through the door with a big grin on his face. “Lieutenant Ronald Dooley, of the 9th French Light Infantry Regiment, at your service.”
Rear Admiral Nelson responded, “So, I gather you gentlemen are indeed acquainted?”
Dooley answered, “We have met before, Admiral Nelson.”
“Then, I believe my role in this has ended. Captain Mullins, the officer of the watch will have your orders when you are prepared to leave. I suspect you have much to discuss, which my ears may not be meant to hear. Good luck gentlemen!”
For his part, Mullins was absolutely confused, with no idea of what he was being expected to do. Catching Dooley’s eye, he saw a furtive wink.
When the door closed, Dooley walked over to the stern window and threw it open. The cold, spring sea air entered and immediately made Mullins glad he was wearing his heavy woolen uniform coat.
Dooley began, “I believe we can talk here without fear of being overheard. We must do this quickly though, we cannot keep the admiral from his office for long.”
“To begin, I sailed with this expedition from Yarmouth. There has been dissention reported among the various factions of the French army. Napoleon has begun to send out feelers to the British government to negotiate the end of this war. This is not well known except among the very senior members of the French officer corps.”
“Our prime minister, William Pitt, is adamantly against the idea. However, there is some enthusiasm in Parliament for this. Pitt happens to be in disagreement with King George concerning Catholic Emancipation, and no one knows how that will end. Addington may well step into Pitt’s shoes should he leave office for any reason, and Addington is known to be in favor of peace.”
“The greater part of the French officer corps also dislikes the idea of peace. This army has been almost invincible in its conquests thus far, failing only when the power of the Royal Navy can be brought to bear, as in the recent French adventure in Egypt.”
“Napoleon’s plans seem to require a peaceful interlude while the French Navy is brought up to date and national coffers replenished with the proceeds of profitable trade. Many of us expect, after Napoleon’s needs are met, he will begin making demands which will become harder every day to ignore.”
“My purpose here, is to be sent ashore with the other French officers. Although there was initial suspicion when we first met aboard this ship, I think I have resolved any misgivings they may have. To prevent any mischances with Navy justice, my name on the ship’s records list me as one Jules Vernier, a Frenc
h officer. Of course, being in French uniform, I could be arrested and hung for treason. While I do speak fluent French, I could not fool a group of French officers, so I freely admitted my Irish nationality to them as well as my efforts to secure independence for my country.”
‘Once ashore, I intend to deliver a document to the local French commander. This is a legitimate document from sources close to Bonaparte, explaining the goals of the new plan. This document has been more or less ignored by some senior officials who disagree with its provisions, and hope the plan will die a quiet death. This paper was smuggled out of France and placed in my hands.”
“Most junior officers in the French service have not yet heard of it, especially those exiled to such places as the Baltic. My purpose in delivering this will be to sow dissension among the officer corps, as well as lessen the ardor of the troops to die in battle taking some unimportant ground, that will soon be returned to the enemy in the peace treaty.”
“Since this is indeed a genuine official document, authorized by Bonaparte himself, it should pass muster if a thorough investigation is ordered. What may not pass muster are my own credentials. I am posing as an aide to the First Consul. Any one of dozens of officials close to Bonaparte could explode my whole mission. What I need to do is be inserted into a French military unit, under unsuspicious circumstances, where I may explain its provisions to any local officers.”
“Certainly, there will be consternation among any higher ranking officers, a few of whom may already be aware of this document. There may well be temptations among these people to end my life in order to prevent this information from spreading further. Therefore, I hope to escape from the area before any firm plans have been made.”
“It seems obvious that some officers will wish to spread the news of these plans. To do so, they will have to leave the island. I will endeavor to join any such exodus with the excuse that I must return to Paris to rejoin the First Consul.”
HMS Aurora: A Charles Mullins Novel (Sea Command Book 3) Page 11