"He is the one who slipped, I remember, the trucks running over his outstretched hand."
"Yes, sir. His left, fortunately. He is a bright young fellow, Matthews by name, and I have it in mind to put him into the Gunner's party, sir. He will be trustworthy on the scales, as an example - his cartridges will not be under- or over-filled."
"Make it so. What, Mr Wickham, are we to do with the Gunner? The man is a liability - torpid, lethargic, Goddamned lazy! How did he come by his warrant?"
"I cannot imagine, sir. He was aboard when I joined the ship, and the despair of the then captain. He has his warrant from his own Board, of course, sir, and it is difficult in the extreme for us to remove him except he commits a court-martial offence."
"And he would never bother to get off his idle backside long enough to commit a crime!"
"Exactly, sir."
"Can we arrange a promotion, perhaps? A post in a dockyard would be ideal, working for the Master Intendant of the Artillery Park... I wonder what might be possible... What of his mates, is there a man who could sit in his place and do a satisfactory job?"
"Ross, sir, is able and often irritated by his senior's sloth."
"Good! I shall look about me at Bombay. The fever sweeps through the white men there with a nasty frequency and there are vacancies more often than not. The Gunner is not married, is he?"
"No, sir. Too much like hard work, sir!"
Frederick grunted a laugh.
"I might have been unwilling to expose a wife to the rigours of Bombay. The man himself can suffer!"
The East Indies Squadron was busy in more distant waters and Bombay contained no more than a post-captain and his staff manning the Dockyard. Frederick reported to him, treading very delicately.
"Of course, Captain Airey, you are much higher than me on the List, sir."
"Yet you hold the post of Commodore, Sir Frederick. I have this horrible suspicion that in certain circumstances we are each of us senior to the other!"
They laughed, which was fortunate; Airey could have decided to be protective of his dignity as the officer in command on station.
"I have a problem to place in your lap, Captain Airey. You see the gunbrig with the sketchy prize crew, under Endymion's lee?"
"Company colours? Retaken, Sir Frederick?"
"In harbour at Sambava in Madagascar, her crew all dead - very badly so - and the three Frenchmen you can see at anchor with her. They had sent the crew to shore prison and had been able to do nothing while they were slowly killed. I believe the French to carry no guilt, by the way, sir. She had been two weeks and more in French hands and must be our legitimate prize, but I cannot imagine that the Company will be happy."
"I must bring you to the Commodore of the Bombay Marine, Sir Frederick. You must make your report to him. He is a clever man, but can be short-tempered with fools. I would add that he finds most people to be foolish."
"She is your prize, Sir Frederick. Indisputably so, sir. I must take the case to the Governor, sir, to make the proper arrangements. Amongst other factors, sir, I will wish to re-man her and send her out to sea at earliest. We are ever short of ships, sir!"
The Commodore read the remainder of Frederick's report, made out in duplicate for his convenience.
"You burned them out, I see, and destroyed their fort. You did well to achieve so much, sir. Yet I seem to recall you having a record of success in these waters previously, sir. What are your orders, Sir Frederick?"
"A sweep against pirates in the Indian Ocean, sir, and to offer protection to the pilgrim ships, to the extent that it is needed."
"The bulk have sailed, Sir Frederick, with my one frigate and all of my sloops and schooners as escort. They will be safe, sir. These orders smack of the makeshift, Sir Frederick. Is there reason for the Admiralty to happen to have a squadron to hand at the Cape?"
Frederick outlined his suspicions of an adventure to South America.
"My advice, sir, would be to refit in Bombay for a month and then make your way down the African coast to the Cape. The Governor will no doubt have his opinion to add. I will take you to him. He is addressed as 'Your Excellency', Sir Frederick, frequently, for he stands very much on his dignity. Are you acquainted with Mornington, the elder Wellesley?"
"No, sir, I have met neither brother."
"Good! Our man is at daggers-drawn with them and has no love for their acquaintance."
"Is he a party man, sir?"
"Not to any great extent, Sir Frederick. He is a Tory, but is allied, to my knowledge, with none of the factions."
"My uncle is Lord Alton, sir, who takes an active part in Public Affairs."
"Then tread very delicately indeed, if I might advise you, Sir Frederick!"
His Excellency was in a good mood, for him; he wasted no time on false courtesies.
"Why have you a Marine brig in your company, sir?"
Frederick glanced at the window, spotted the telescope by the sill.
"I took her on the Madagascar coast, Your Excellency, together with a French national sloop and two private men-of-war, in the harbour at Sambava; they are also in my company, you will note. The crew of the gunbrig, officers and men alike, had been sent ashore, put in the hands of the local potentate, Your Excellency. They were all dead."
"Badly?"
"Impaled, crucified, staked out in the sun; emasculated and blinded. Slowly, Your Excellency."
"What action did you take?"
"I burned out the town and its fields and fouled its water supply. There was not less than twenty thousand of soldiers watching just out of range of my guns. I could do no more, I regret!"
"How sure are you of your count?"
"My people saw more than twenty of their regiments and made a fair estimate of each, Your Excellency. I went into the tops myself and am satisfied with my men's accuracy."
"Then you were wise to make no attempt upon them, Sir Frederick. You would have done no more than offer them another triumph. The brig, and its captors, is your prize, that is the law. All must go to the prize-court, with all of the delays the lawyers can achieve while they increase their fees!"
"The alternative would be to treat the gunbrig separately as a case of salvage, Your Excellency. The Insurance Companies can act far more quickly than the courts. The Crown bears its own risks, of course. What is the policy of the Company, Your Excellency?"
The Governor smiled for the first time, showed the faintest signs of an easing of his formal stiffness.
"The same as the Crown, sir. It is impossible to insure a warship. What is the value of the brig, Commodore?"
"It would cost at least thirty thousand rupees to build new and equip a replacement, Your Excellency."
"Satisfactory, Sir Frederick?"
"Eminently so, Your Excellency."
"Good. What are your orders, sir? That is, if you are willing to allow me knowledge of your purely naval business!"
It seemed that the Admiral might have come into conflict with the Governor. It was a normal enough occurrence in any colony, the two jealous of their prerogatives.
"I am to offer such assistance as may be possible, Your Excellency, with the pilgrim ships and in the way of clearing out pirates. I would add that the wording of my orders is vague in the extreme and I am, in effect, to seek out any enemies of the Company in the Indian Ocean."
"Are you, now! Truly? Do you know of the Island of Bourbon, Sir Frederick?"
"A marking on a chart, Your Excellency. I have never called there, or indeed voyaged within sight of its shores. A pirate haven, one presumes, Your Excellency?"
“Not as such, sir, no. The island is a French colony, called Ile Bonaparte currently, though we prefer to use its loyal name. It has a dozen or more of small harbours that offer havens to French privateers, and national ships on occasion. It is a bare day’s sail off the Madagascar coast, and is much the same distance from the Mauritius. It is probably garrisoned quite heavily. Certainly, there are a number of coastal batterie
s. A sweep along its shores could result in a number of private ships of war being sunk, burned or taken, much to the approbation of the Company, sir. Just at the moment the French seem very active in the privateering way and they would benefit from being discouraged.”
“The good opinion of the Company is important to me, Your Excellency. I would be pleased to perform this little service. I must point out, Your Excellency, that my ships are either very old or rather tiny and we are close to the cyclone season.”
“I believe there to be a number of well-sheltered harbours, Sir Frederick. You might find it possible to take one for a few days if the barometer began to show warning.”
That seemed a rather dubious undertaking to Frederick, but he was inclined to fall in with the Governor’s scheme; amongst other considerations it would give him the opportunity to remain longer away from the Cape and its wild adventures. An uncovenanted expedition to South America was all well and good, if it was successful, but failure would demand a scapegoat, who would not be discovered among the politicians involved.
“You persuade me, Your Excellency. I would wish to water and take firewood before sailing, if that is possible.”
“That will be seen to.”
“Also, Your Excellency, I must beg that you might do me a particular service. I have a Gunner, appointed by the Ordnance Board, not by the Navy, and normally only to be dismissed by them. He is useless, Your Excellency, idle beyond belief!”
“And you wish to get rid of him. He can only be removed by his own people, who look after their own, no doubt! What of promotion, Sir Frederick?”
“That was what I was considering, Your Excellency.”
“We have no use for him in the Bombay Marine, as goes without saying. He should certainly not be kept at sea but it might not be impossible to employ him in the Yard. The Ordnance Board may be informed that he volunteered to accept a promotion. I am quite certain that we may persuade him away from his unprofitable habits, Sir Frederick!”
“I wish you may, Your Excellency.”
“Oh, we can be very convincing in our arguments with the recalcitrant, Sir Frederick. A gentleman who did not perform well in the Yard could easily find himself appointed to a garrison in an unfriendly locality. Three months deep in the jungle where the temperature can climb to one hundred degrees while the rain is unceasing can demonstrate to any man the error of his ways. There are forts on the Red Sea as well, Sir Frederick, where the temperature climbs higher in the daylight hours and falls as low as fifty at night and where the availability of water is limited so that they must keep strictly to a ration. Very unpleasant, one is told.”
“Thank you, Your Excellency. I shall inform the gentleman of his great good fortune in being selected for promotion.”
“Mr Wickham, the Gunner to the cabin, if you please. I would wish you to join me, sir.”
The Gunner made his way slowly, resentfully to the Captain’s cabin. He had stood defiant there before and was ready to listen to a homily, to say nothing and be told to do better; he knew that he could not be touched short of a court-martial and he had been careful not to provide evidence that could be presented at a trial. He did not care what any captain had to say to him; there was nothing even a commodore could do to a man clever enough to know the rules and regulations and stick carefully to their letter.
“Mr Haskell, I am glad to inform you that you have been lucky indeed. The Yard has a vacancy for a senior man to work under the Master Intendant of the Artillery, an urgent need in fact for such a one, and I have agreed with the Governor that you may be appointed to the post. You will take up your duties with immediate effect, sir. The pay rate is that of a lieutenant at some five shillings per diem, with various allowances which increase that generous sum quite significantly. You are a very fortunate man, sir. You will report to the Yard as soon as you have packed your bags, sir. I shall offer you an escort of Marines as well.”
“I am appointed by the Board of Ordnance to this ship, sir.”
“So you are. And now you are so fortunate as to be promoted out of her, Mr Haskell. Mr Wickham, arrange for Mr Haskell to be shown the way to his new place of duty, and then send young Ross to me to be informed of his promotion. Good day to you, Mr Haskell!”
Frederick watched as Haskell left the ship, followed by a pair of seamen carrying his sea chest and with a pair of Marines at his side. He turned to his clerk.
“A letter to the Ordnance Board, if you please, Dunnett. Express to them my awareness of the sacrifice Mr Haskell has made in taking a place in the Yard here for the good of the service, pointing out that I have been able to ensure that he has been given a substantial promotion in recompense. That will muddy the water very thoroughly if he should choose to send a remonstration to them!”
Book Nine: The Duty
and Destiny Series
Chapter Four
Water and wood came very quickly from the shore, the Yard anxious to be of assistance, it seemed. The Governor had clearly made his wishes felt and the naval people had knuckled under, to what extent willingly remained to be seen.
“Mr Wickham, arrange for the squadron to make use of the powder hulk, if you would be so good. I believe all of us to have expended quite substantial amounts of powder and ball in action off the Madagascar coast and we must need to make replacement in full. All ships to indent for all of their possible needs, sir. I believe His Excellency to be in an open-handed frame of mind the while and we should not disappoint his generosity with the navy’s stores.”
Frederick was sowing the seeds of some considerable dissension for the admiral’s return to Bombay; a post-captain could not stand against the Governor’s wishes for the yard but an admiral had a stronger hand. Frederick, however, had no expectation of returning to Bombay for many years, if ever; any questions asked of him would come from the Admiralty, at second hand, and could be denied or misunderstood, the whole business dragged out until the war ended and the contenders found better things to do.
Wickham shook his head disapprovingly and asked for the barge so that he could be rowed around the whole squadron by a discreet crew, speaking privately to each captain. It seemed wiser to him than making a public flag hoist that could be read by every ship in port and by all of the literate in the Yard. He had to explain in rather explicit terms to some of the younger men in the brigs and sloops who had used almost no powder.
Lieutenant Powell of Growler was particularly dense, but he was little more than juvenile.
“Sir Frederick wishes to ensure that all vessels are fully laden with warlike stores, sir. The magazine to be cram-packed, sir, and possibly the odd storage space as well, provided you have a secure place that can be watched by a Marine sentry.”
“Ah, I see. I think. You mean, Mr Wickham, that we should actually take more than we are really entitled to?”
“Yes, sir, but we do not actually need to publicly state that to be the case. Hence the fact that I am giving the order by word of mouth, sir!”
The increasing desperation in Wickham’s voice evidently penetrated to the young captain; he blushed and apologised as he escorted Wickham into his boat.
“God spare the mark, Kavanagh! I fear I am growing old! I cannot imagine that I was ever so very innocent as that.”
Kavanagh smiled, shook his head in sympathy but felt it wiser not to comment. He brought the barge alongside Fair Isle.
“Mr Vereker, we are to take our turns at the powder hulk, sir. Sir Frederick wishes you to ensure that you take as much as is possible to make up for your expenditure on Madagascar.”
“I took advantage of the facilities at the Cape, Mr Wickham.”
“Sir Frederick is unaware of that, sir.”
“Yes, well I am sure he will be very busy. No need to worry him with insignificant detail, Mr Wickham. I shall take care of the business myself.”
They exchanged not a wink or complicitous glance, but Wickham knew that Captain Vereker would extort every barrel he could from the hulk
, packing it away carefully out of sight of casual inspection.
“I must go across to Mr Dench in his Asp and then I am done with this long morning, sir.”
“Necessary to tell some of the boys the facts of naval life, Mr Wickham?”
“Exactly so, sir!”
“What of Mr Windsor?”
“He understood immediately, sir, although he did find it necessary to nod and wink and even elbow me in the ribs!”
“He does not derive from the most subtle of families, Mr Wickham.”
“Grossly vulgar, one might suggest to be a more appropriate description sir.”
“His father is not the most refined of gentlemen, I will admit, and has not had the benefit of a naval education to improve him.”
“Not Prince William Henry, sir?”
“Kent, I believe.”
“Then let us hope that he comes to no harm in this commission, sir. A most vindictive man, one understands. Was he to be offended that his son had died under Sir Frederick’s command, then he might well cause great harm.”
“We are to sail tomorrow, Your Excellency. The Ile Bourbon to be our first place of call. The Gunner, Haskell, has been put to work in the Yard, Your Excellency. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, Sir Frederick. First report says that he is rather upset but that he has been, ah, ‘told his fortune’ was the way it was expressed to me.”
“And discovered an unpleasant future in his stars, one gathers, Your Excellency!”
“Just so, Sir Frederick! The Commodore tells me that your first lieutenant is an older man than one might expect to find in such an active post.”
The Governor was of a mind, it seemed, to offer a favour in return for the excursion to Ile Bourbon.
“He is, Your Excellency. He is one of those unfortunates who has never had the luck to be seen and to have his merits recognised. He would have been more than capable of performing a post-captain’s duty. Now, he is a hard-working and able forty-year-old who will never be promoted because he is too much aged for the rigours of a small sloop and cannot be made immediately into a seventy-four where he could do a very competent job.”
Far Foreign (The Duty and Destiny Series, Book 9) Page 10