HMS Aurora: A Charles Mullins Novel (Sea Command Book 3)

by Richard Testrake

  “Perhaps your ship, Captain Mullins, can blockade the island and take any boat leaving. Hopefully, I will be on one of the boats you take.”

  Mullins interjected, “Presumably I would have to free at least a few of these officers so the word can spread. What would be my justification to retain yourself while freeing others?”

  Dooley replied, “When you take the boat I will travel in, your officer will address me by name, and accuse me of being a deserter and traitor. Perhaps your Marines will treat me a bit roughly. I would expect you could think of a reason for treating those French officers taken with me with leniency.”

  HMS Aurora was approaching Christiansø Island as the spring sun rose on an April morning. That sun burned away much of the low-lying fog covering the water, exposing a large launch filled with men, coming toward Christiansø from Bornholm. The topsails gathered just enough of the faint breeze to allow the ship to overtake the frantic oarsmen. A shot, pitched well ahead of the craft brought her to and Aurora came alongside. Her sullen passengers and crew clambered aboard the sloop-of war and the launch itself, secured to tow behind the ship.

  Leaving Mister Hardinger to deal with their new passengers, Mullins went into his cabin to oversee Hudson. His clerk had proved to be a blessing in regards to his ability to get all of the ship’s paperwork in order, but it was necessary to supervise him closely. Sometimes the young man would get creative with some of his reports, enough so that even the most gullible of readers might find it difficult to believe them.

  Mullins was reading over Hudson’s shoulder, making the young man squirm from the unwonted attention, when he heard a commotion on deck. Ignoring it, in due course, the sentry outside coughed before announcing, “Midshipman of the Watch”.

  Midshipman Adolphus entered and reported, “Those new prisoners are going at Mister Dooley, sir. They think he is just posing as a French officer. One of the new prisoners had a knife and threatened to gut Mister Dooley.”

  “I take it you disarmed the prisoner?”

  “Yes sir, and we stripped all the other prisoners and found a pistol on one of them.”

  “Good work, Mister Adolphus. If the excitement is over, perhaps you would ask Mister Hardinger to have the rest of the prisoners in the wardroom brought up on deck and see what happens.”

  Some time later, deciding Hudson was aware of the niceties one must follow in preparing ships’ reports, Mulling went up on deck. All of the prisoners, including Dooley were huddled on the foredeck, with a cluster of Marines with their fixed bayonets keeping order. Approaching closely enough for Dooley to give the alarm if he so wished, Mullins then retreated to the quarterdeck where Hardinger was waiting.

  The first officer was concerned where he was going to put all these people. Most of them were officers, some of them of high rank. The wardroom was full to overflowing, and the ships own officers were sleeping in hammocks.

  “Mister Hardinger”, Mullins wondered. “would you say we must send some of these people ashore?”

  “I was hoping you would suggest that, Captain.”

  “How are they getting along with Lieutenant Dooley, now?”

  “Sir, the others seem to have quieted things down.”

  “Very well, please muster the prisoners on deck, and send the senior French officer aft to me.”

  When their assortment of enemy officers in their colorful array of uniforms were brought up on deck, Mister Hardinger approached a French colonel of artillery who was inspecting one of the forward carronades. Detaching him from his study, the first officer led him aft.

  Mullins had met the colonel briefly before when he had first come aboard but had otherwise had little contact with him. The colonel had been one of those captured recently when their boat was intercepted approaching Christiansø.

  Captain Mullins lifted his hat in a brief salute to the officer and inquired, “Colonel Montcalm, how do you do, today?”

  The colonel assured him matters went well indeed.

  “I see your interest in our carronades. Have you experience with them in the French service?”

  “Mais non, Capitain Mullins. Our navy has a few, but our foundries have great trouble casting them.”

  Mullins commented, “I understand your First Consul has expressed interest in ending this war. If this should occur, perhaps your service should consider sending some people to Scotland to see how they do things there. I must admit their quality is very high, compared to our standard guns. Although, I have heard, they are very sharp businessmen.”

  Montcalm looked at him in wonder. “Your government would permit a delegation of former enemy military officers to visit one of your gun foundries?”

  “Why not, if our countries were at peace, which they are not, at the moment. Colonel, I must inform you that I am contemplating sending as many of your people ashore as will give their parole to refrain from bearing arms until properly exchanged.”

  The colonel nodded and agreed to instruct his staff to furnish such parole. “I understand some of your previous captives have already furnished such parole. I wonder about Lieutenant Vernier, the officer in the uniform of the 9th Regiment of Light Infantry?”

  “The lieutenant has indeed offered his parole. He has been in our company longer than the others. I understand one of Admiral Parker’s ships took him from a Danish trader on which he was taking passage.”

  The colonel offered, “There has been some discussion about his origins. Some of my people suspect he may not be quite what he says.”

  “There you have me Colonel. I would know nothing about him except what he says. I can assure you he was a passenger on a Danish ship sailing from a Prussian port, and like the other officers he has dwelt with in our wardroom, has already given his parole. Perhaps it would be well if you discussed this matter with some of the other officers who were taken shortly after him. They have lived with him and presumably would know him better than you or I.”

  Barely within gun range of an enemy battery on Christiansø, a shore gun barked its warning. Mullins ordered a white flag shown and the captain’s gig was manned. Colonel Montcalm took his place in the sternsheets with Lieutenant Hardinger, and the boat proceeded to shore to discuss the exchange with the officials on shore.

  When the boat returned, Montcalm reported all of the details of the prisoner return were to be as previously discussed. All prisoners would remain on parole until such time as both sides agreed an exchange had been made.

  For the actual transfer of prisoners into French custody, the gig was hoisted aboard and the launch lowered. Two trips would be necessary to take all of the people ashore. Colonel Montcalm remained on Aurora’s quarterdeck until the last load was ready to cast off. Before descending into the boat, he assured Mullins he would instruct the battery to hold its fire for half an hour, after the boat cast off from the pier.

  After returning from its mission, the launch was placed in tow behind the ship and Mister Hardinger and Midshipman Adolphus, who had also accompanied the returning prisoners to shore were called aft to the quarterdeck. Hardinger had little to say, but Mullins was interested in the mid’s account. Adolphus was perfectly fluent in French, but had not used that language around the prisoners. He had shifted around in the boat, correcting the oarsmen and giving instructions, seemingly ignoring the enemy officers he was taking to shore.

  Now, Mullins wanted to learn what these people had discussed on the way to shore.

  Adolphus reported one of the main items of conversation was the absolute desolation of the island. They wondered how long they would be stranded there. Another topic on the last boat trip to the island was Dooley. He had accompanied the prisoners he had been living with in the wardrooms of St. George and Aurora for so long. The passengers of this second trip were those prisoners who had just been captured a few days before.

  There seemed to be three main theories. A few returnees were sure he was a British plant. He spoke French with a slight British accent, and seemed to know little about
present day-to-day life in France.

  Another group was certain he was exactly what he said he was, an Irish renegade who had deserted the Royal Navy to take service with the French Army. The final group, the smallest, cared little about him. They were just concerned about returning to Metropolitan France.

  For two days, Aurora cruised around the island, sometimes stretching over to Bornholm itself. Her watch officer tried to keep her out of sight from any observers on shore, although there were plenty of fishing boats to report their presence.

  On the third day, while approaching Christiansø in a stiff westerly breeze, the lookout spotted a lugger on a broad reach sailing toward Bornholm. The tall sloop-of-war was able to close the small craft rapidly and she came into Aurora’s lee early in the afternoon watch.

  It was a civilian craft, crewed by Danish fishermen, but carried some passengers, two of whom Mullins knew well. Colonel Montcalm was aboard, as well as Dooley, still wearing the uniform of the 9th Regiment of Light Infantry. Dooley appeared to be a prisoner. While not in any type of restraints, he had an empty sword scabbard, and four Infantry privates surrounded him.

  Mullins invited the colonel aboard for a glass of wine in his cabin. Montcalm shuddered at the remembrance of the last wine he had been served aboard this ship, horrible fluid. However, curious at what might be happening, he boarded the ship.

  After pouring the wine, Mullins toasted the colonel and said he had to thank him for doing his own job for him.

  His eyebrows lifted, Montcalm awaited an explanation.

  Mullins went on. “During his stay on our ship, a few of our people were suspicious of Vernier, as he called himself. Some thought he had a bit of an Irish accent, and might be a fugitive Irishman. I felt restrained from taking action against him, since he was seemingly a French prisoner of war. Any action taken against the man could be visited against a British prisoner in French hands. This of course, was something I was not prepared to do.”

  “However, on the return of your people to Christiansø Island, one of my midshipmen accompanied both boatloads of returnees to shore. This midshipman speaks French fluently, although he tries not to make it evident.”

  “During both trips to shore, some of your men, knowing they would soon be free, spoke in an unguarded manner. Dooley/Vernier was the subject of several conversations. Some of your officers were certain he was an Irishmen named Dooley, a deserter from the Royal Navy and participant in revolutionary activity onshore in Ireland. Dooley has been tried in absentia and convicted. All British commanders have orders to arrest Dooley and execute his death sentence.”

  Colonel Montcalm was stunned. “You cannot just execute a man on evidence like this. It would be inhuman.”

  Mullins answered, “I can and I will, Colonel. I will not be holding your or your people. I already have your parole and have no extra space on my ship to take your private soldiers. Therefore, as soon as you appear on deck, you and the others, with the exception of Dooley, will go aboard your lugger and proceed on your way. Dooley, of course, will have his appointment with the hangman.”

  It was a concerned looking Irishman who stood next to the line hanging from the mainyard, and listened to the harangue the captain was voicing. The ship’s crew were very interested, a hanging was an unusual entertainment, and the men were just glad it was not to be one of their own.

  Dooley had been prepared in an unusual manner. A sturdy board had been bound to his body and the line passed through a hole bored in the top of the board. There was not a whisper as all the binding were checked. This was to be the most unusual hanging any crew members had ever witnessed.

  Some suspicions were generated when the bosun put a harness on the victim that he had made himself. It appeared this harness would bear the weight of the victim, but what could be the purpose of this charade?

  By now, the lugger bearing the French colonel was at a sufficient distance to prohibit a close view of any activity on the warship’s deck. Deciding to assuage Dooley’s anxiety, Mullins spoke to him in a low voice.

  “Dooley, the line from the yardarm will pass through a hole in the board we have strapped to your back. The harness the bosun just put on you will bear your weight. To the Frenchmen aboard the lugger, it will appear that you are in fact, being hung, as we hoist you up. There will be no noose around your neck to trouble you and you will be as safe as if you were in church. It will preserve appearances if you give a little demonstration as we hoist you up. You may want to kick and struggle when you go off the deck.”

  The seamen on the line walked off with it, and Dooley, kicking and twisting, rose off the deck. As time went by, his struggles lessened then stopped. The seamen aboard Aurora, as well as those passengers and crew in the distant lugger, were fascinated. At length, the now still figure was lowered to the deck. Out of sight now to the spectators in the lugger, Dooley was freed from his bonds and led down a hatch. A roll of old canvas was wrapped in a hammock, weighted with a nine-pounder ball, then dropped overboard, still in sight of their audience.

  Chapter Sixteen

  When the sentry announced his new visitor, Mullins removed his feet from his desktop and shouted, “Come in!”

  Mister Dooley stepped through the door, the customary grin still on his face, “Did we fool them, Captain?”

  “You might be the best judge of that, Mister Dooley. What were they saying when you were in their hands?”

  Dooley thought, “Most of them, I think, believed me to be a dedicated Irish revolutionary, hoping to evict British troops from my homeland. A few thought I was a British spy, hoping to learn secrets of the French defensive positions to take back to England. Colonel Montcalm, I believe, was of the first opinion, originally. After I showed him my document signed by the First Consul though, he changed course and behaved as though I was the spy some of his fellow officers thought.”

  “I was being taken back to France to be questioned more closely when you intervened. It is my opinion that Colonel Montcalm was already aware of the document from other sources, and was attempting to prevent its further distribution. From what I have learned, many of the higher-ranking officers in the French service are afraid peace will indeed come and are desperately hoping to prevent that from happening.”

  Mullins wondered, “Did we accomplish anything worthwhile with your adventure?”

  “Sir, I believe we fooled the French. My hanging in their presence should have removed any doubt in their minds that I was anything but what I assured them I was. I think the word of the First Consul’s document has now leaked out to lower echelons of the French military, who are almost unanimous in approving of peace talks. Whether that word will spread, is anyone’s guess. If the commander of this district is wise, he will leave this detachment isolated on Christiansø Island, where its message may be kept from spreading.”

  HMS Aurora left the Bornholm island area and proceeded to Copenhagen where her captain found the vast fleet gone. A single patrolling frigate gave him the news a great battle had been fought and the Danish fleet defeated. Admiral Parker had been called home and Vice-Admiral Nelson was on passage to Reval with the remainder of the fleet.

  It was mid-May when Aurora reached the Russian port of Reval. The ice in the northern Baltic had since melted, and the Russian fleet was freed. However, Czar Paul of Russia had been assassinated and Alexander now ruled. Having differing idea from his father, the League of Armed Neutrality was now dead and the reason for this conflict had died with the former czar.

  Soon after arriving at Reval, Mullins was called aboard the flag with Dooley and learned the remnants of the Baltic Fleet would be soon sailing for home. All except HMS Aurora, that is. Nelson had read through Mullins’ accounts and was appreciative of the results of his mission.

  “From sources within the enemy lines, it would appear the French now firmly believe our Mister Dooley was a fervent French supporter and not a British agent as some of them seemed to formerly believe. Your theatrical scene where you hung him
seems to have fooled them completely. The problem now appears to prevent the true facts from escaping out into the public.”

  “You may return to your ship now Captain, with my thanks. You will soon be told where we will be sending you to slow down any possible release of information. Mister Dooley will remain here on the flag.”

  Mullins addressed his commander, “Admiral Nelson, the senior French officers we dealt with feared peace, believing success there would negate the gains they have made since the beginning of the war. I know many of our own officials also dislike potential peace talks. I do not understand the reasoning there.

  “Captain, our prime minister is the person to ask about this. Mister Pitt is vehemently opposed to peace with Bonaparte. He feels, as do I, that the First Consul cannot be trusted. We believe, before the ink has dried on the peace treaty, out civilian masters will immediately begin to bring our Navy back to a very small peacetime level.”

  “Bonaparte, on the other hand, does not need to listen to civilian voices to determine the size of his own forces. With the advent of peace, I feel it likely France will go on an ambitious building to bring the French Navy to a standard similar to ours. Pitt understands this and will fight any attempt to allow the French this opportunity.”

  Mullins tried again. “I have heard there is danger of Pitt stepping down and Addington taking over as prime minister.

  Admiral Nelson replied. “Pitt has a weak spot. He is determined to solve the Irish problem. He feels Irish emancipation would bring peace to Ireland if all of its people were free to worship in their own manner and have all of the rights of other Englishmen.”

  “Unfortunately, our King George does not agree. He feels his position as head of the Church of England compels him to require all Irish to maintain communion with the Church of England if they wish to have the rights of free Englishmen. This is causing a tremendous amount of pressure in Parliament, and I, for one, have no idea of how it will progress. There is talk of Pitt stepping down if his wishes are not granted, and Addington is indeed a likely choice to step into his place.”