Far Foreign (The Duty and Destiny Series, Book 9)

by Andrew Wareham

  The city had been captured, Frederick discovered, from its Spanish masters. There had seemed a possibility that it might have risen against Spain and thus have become the capital of an independent country, but that prospect had been quashed. Much of the Spanish army had been able to retreat, accompanied by large numbers of colonial volunteers, and it was probable that there would now be a protracted war, the familiar American pattern of the British forces controlling the sea but finding difficulties on shore, there being too few of them.

  Frederick reported to Admiral Stirling, to explain who he was and why he was there and, most importantly, why he did not fall under the admiral’s command.

  “Let me get this right, Sir Frederick. You were sent to the Indian Ocean, to take action against pirates menacing the interests of the Honourable East India Company, and then if need arose, to escort the pilgrim convoys. On completion of that task – and both the mission and its success were ill-defined, so how you could define that completion escapes me – then you were to place yourself under the command of the admiral at the Cape.”

  “Yes, sir. On calling at Bombay, sir, His Excellency the Governor informed me that my presence was no longer wholly necessary, and I was not inclined to dispute that statement with him.”

  “Ah! One of those, was he?”

  “One might perhaps describe him as a good friend to those who will be of use to him, sir.”

  “And a bad enemy to those who are not?”

  “Just so, sir. We had recaptured a Bombay Marine gunbrig and had taken some revenge on the savages who had butchered her crew on Madagascar. The Governor regarded that as placing him under obligation to us.”

  “What of the pirates, Sir Frederick?”

  “We found privateers out of the Mauritius, of which we took a pair and a national sloop in their company. I suspect the reality is that the so-called pirates are slavers, and slave trading is to be forbidden in the very immediate future, sir.”

  “That explains much, Sir Frederick. You were sent here, you say, consequent upon information from London?”

  Frederick confirmed that he had been, that it was believed that some force had been called from the Spanish possessions in the Great South Sea.

  “A three-decker and two of their heavy frigates and some sort of flotilla of smaller craft, sir, and native soldiers as well. All to round Cape Horn and then make a northing along the coast. We were ordered to make landfall at Bahia Blanca, sir, the authorities at the Cape discovering from a chart in their possession that there is a harbour there.”

  Admiral Stirling raised an eyebrow; he knew of no such port.

  “Salt flats and bird shit, sir, in equal proportions, and some trace of natives in whatever villages they sport in these climes.”

  “No Spanish fleet?”

  “No evidence at all of such, sir. No traces as we voyaged north to Montevideo. If the squadron exists, and was not turned back by the storms at Cape Horn, which is not unknown, after all, then it is still to the south.”

  That was by way of a relief to Admiral Stirling who had not fancied a Spanish squadron turning up after a powerful escort had been taken away with the treasure convoy.

  “You have two battalions of soldiers aboard, Sir Frederick…”

  “It was thought, sir, that there was a fortified port at Bahia Blanca. The intention was to take that harbour, or another, and convert it to our needs, and then to sally forth at the appropriate moment and fall upon the Spaniards, exhausted from their passage of the fabled storms of Cape Horn.”

  The admiral was impressed; it sounded to be an excellent plan, just the sort of thing to appeal to a landsman a great way distant.

  “A pity there is no harbour there, Sir Frederick. By the way, how were you to determine the ‘appropriate moment’ to venture upon your assault?”

  “We, fortunately perhaps, did not reach that stage of the plan, sir.”

  “God spare us all from governors with no knowledge of the sea!”

  “Amen, sir!”

  They discussed what must be done next, calling Colonel Ponsonby-Willett to their conclave.

  “We expect an amount of fighting here quite soon, Colonel. The addition to our defences of a seasoned brigade from the Cape would be very welcome.”

  He would be made a brigadier, given the actual title; in common with commodores, brigadiers were appointed to a task, not promoted to a position. Becoming a brigadier could do wonders for a military gentleman’s career as all promotions after colonel came by seniority, so that there were many major-generals, the bulk of them unemployed. Colonel Ponsonby-Willett was much impressed at the prospect of taking his men ashore.

  Frederick was also in favour.

  “It would be wise to leave Lion in harbour here, sir. She is effectively en flute now, sir, her broadside landed so that she could carry a whole battalion, more for a relatively short voyage. She would be no more than a liability to the squadron. I intend, sir, to voyage south again, if necessary to the edge of the storm waters; I cannot give a position, for obvious reasons, but shall retrace our course when the need arises. My ships are old, sir, and must not be unnecessarily exposed to extremes of wind and wave.”

  Admiral Stirling was aware of the state of many of the vessels kept at sea by the demands of war, and had a suspicion that the condition of the Navy could only worsen over the following years.

  “Can you fire a whole, simultaneous broadside, Sir Frederick?”

  “Both seventy-fours could do, sir; Winchester the more easily since her upper-deck was converted wholly to carronades. Endymion may well go the same way after this commission, sir; I am no longer certain that she should bear the burden of long guns and their greater powder charges on her upper deck. Both of my frigates are old as well; fast enough, perhaps, but they would be better with a rolling broadside, I suspect.”

  “How would either stand in a single-ship action with one of the Spanish frigates?”

  “Forty-four of twenty-four pound long guns? And I have been informed of newer vessels armed as heavily as a fourth rate, sir; slower than one might wish of a frigate and commonly unhandy in the stays, but very powerful. Neither of my frigates would last ten minutes unless handled remarkably well and able to cross bows and stern more than once. Mr Vereker might achieve that in his twelve-pound Fair Isle – he is more of a seaman than many.”

  “You do not mention your Mercure, Sir Frederick. What is the name of her captain again?”

  Admiral Stirling knew very well just what the gentleman was called; he wished to discover, hopefully, that the name was merest coincidence.

  “Windsor, sir, and a glance at his face tells one all that needs be known. Young, promoted fast, but given only a jackass frigate as post-captain. One might have expected a plum, a thirty-six gun eighteen-pounder sent into prize-taking waters, but he has only an ancient nine-pounder that makes great demands of master and captain alike if she is to be of any use at all.”

  “One trusts the master might be skilled in his trade, Sir Frederick.”

  “No worse than the general run of his kind, sir – and that means he is a sound seaman, for sure – but not possessed of outstanding powers of persuasion, I fear, and thus unable to lead his owner.”

  Unsaid, because one never knew just what ears might be listening, was the implication from all this that a royal father might not be too distressed at the taking off of an inconvenient bastard. Children were all very well - in their infancy they could indeed be charming; as adults they were no more than a potential embarrassment to the princely purse. A royal bastard standing in line at the poor house door for his dole would attract unfavourable attention, and the father was obliged to keep the young gentleman in a profession where he might feed himself; then would follow the problems arising when he went to take a wife. An honourable death at sea had much to recommend it, except to his commanding officer at the time.

  “Best he should not be exposed to unnecessary perils, Sir Frederick. Was I you, sir, and in thi
s instance I am glad I am not, then I would take care to keep him in company of your Fair Isle at minimum.”

  “That was in my mind, sir. Never to be sent off on his own, I think, sir. I shall be much inclined to keep the squadron together except for very specific tasks and well in contact with each other still. While on squadron business, I find that I need to discharge a few of my seamen, sir. An infestation of worm resulted in permanent harm to the health of these unfortunate few, and they are unfit to go to sea again.”

  Frederick explained the problem and the measures his surgeon had been forced to take and the Admiral agreed, suspiciously willingly, to take the men ashore. They could be found something to do while they waited to be formally invalided out. Frederick braced himself for the favour that must be suggested in return.

  Admiral Stirling called for wine, it was necessary to show hospitality, using the relaxation of formality to shift the emphasis from the Commander-in-Chief of a station greeting a junior from a different posting to a friendly meeting of near-equals.

  “You could do me a considerable service, was you to so wish, Sir Frederick. The vessels I have here together with the guns on shore will probably keep the Spanish flotilla at bay should it appear – though I do not much fancy this horde of native soldiers - but I must not I think weaken myself by sending any out to cruise. Was you to take your flotilla northwards for a week or two along the coast, then you might well come across an amount of Spanish trade that should be brought into our care. Prized, that is, of course.”

  “Are the local merchants all to be enemies, sir? I had heard rumour that many of the Spanish colonists sought to follow the example of the Americans, to establish independent republics carved out of the Spanish Empire. Prizing their ships must surely force them back into the pockets of Spain.”

  Admiral Stirling was not, in his opinion, a rich man and was very unwilling to wantonly cast aside thousands in prize money.

  “The politics of the matter are not for mere sailormen to involve themselves in, Sir Frederick. To my knowledge, sir, the Spanish Empire and all of its denizens are to be conquered, irrespective of their radical ambitions. We are not to be offering support to those who would depose their rightful king, I believe.”

  Frederick had no overwhelming objection to another few thousands being thrown into the prize kitty; he was due a share as Commodore as well as his cut of the captains’ two-eighths. Was this commission to be as profitable as it was promising then he might well be in the way of purchasing more land; he might perhaps join Sir Iain in buying up waste in the Purbeck Hills, converting gorse covered hillsides into well-grassed sheepwalks.

  “As you say, sir, a sensible sailorman keeps his nose out of politics. I have difficulties enough as it is, with my uncle Alton being a Public Man; I do not need to involve myself in what must be a very untidy business here.”

  It never did any harm to inform an admiral of a close relative who haunted the places of power in Whitehall; he wondered how he might bring Lord Partington’s name into the conversation.

  “North to the borders of the Portuguese territories, I would imagine, sir. Would you wish me to venture further?”

  “Crossing the Line and venturing towards the Sugar Islands? Not appropriate, I think, well outside the undefined but assumed boundaries of my command. Take all you can, Sir Frederick, including vessels you might normally scorn as too small to be worth bringing in. I suspect, strongly, that small cargoes of powder and ball are creeping down the coast to arm the irregulars who have attached themselves to the Spanish forces. Ten tons of cargo in a tiny ketch will normally be ignored, but if that tonnage is made up of five hundred muskets and a hundred rounds of powder and ball for each, then we must do all we can to take it.”

  “Inshore work, sir. My squadron is ideally composed for such. I would be very happy to assist, sir. My orders from the Cape, liberally interpreted, give ample scope to me. Powder and ball, sir, to the Spanish; replenishments, no doubt, to the new flotilla from the Great South Seas. Their native soldiers will have been taught their musketry aboard ship, one must imagine, and may well have expended much of their original supply of ammunition.”

  Admiral Stirling expressed his admiration for such quick thinking.

  “That, Sir Frederick, is precisely what my report shall say! You will wish to water, of course, and procure additional rations, having told me that you were forced to jettison the whole of your pork, for being infested with the worm. I must inform all of my captains of this rather worrying occurrence, for they all provisioned at the Cape. No doubt they will wish to confer with their surgeons. I am able to supply fresh beef, on the hoof, Sir Frederick, there being many large cattle farms in this land, but I can do nothing by way of salt pork until a rations carrier comes in from England, if ever one does! Fruit and fresh greenstuff can be found in the markets and I can arrange for it to be purchased for you; prices are low and we are rarely well off for funds in this command.”

  Frederick presumed that the local Treasury and its contents had fallen into naval hands – some undisclosed part added to the general Prize Fund, an amount declared and retained for the purpose of good government. It was not entirely lawful, but London was a long way distant and any number of expedients became necessary when overseas.

  “What of shore facilities, as one might describe them, sir? My men have been cooped up aboard ship and would benefit from a run ashore, but not if, for example, the main effect will be to give them the opportunity to pick fights with the Army.”

  “I cannot recommend liberty to your crews, Sir Frederick. The port is not large and the, ah… facilities, as you so elegantly express yourself, are overstretched already. Was I a vulgar sort of person I might suggest the same applies to their denizens, sir!”

  It took a few seconds for the crude allusion to penetrate and then Frederick laughed mightily; it was just the sort of joke to appeal to the naval mind.

  “No leave. I shall explain to the men that the soldiers have infected all of the whores with their poxes and that I dare not send them into such a place of danger. They will not like it, but they will have no choice but accept it, and will know that there is a reason for keeping them on board. Just as long as they do not believe that I am punishing them.”

  “It will be easier if you sail soon, Sir Frederick. The tide will serve you early in the day these next two mornings, high just after dawn and a full day to claw offshore and organise your squadron for the task ahead.”

  Frederick was slightly upset that Admiral Stirling might think he would need all day to set his squadron into formation; if that was his own standard then he was no great hand as a commander!

  “I think, Sir Iain, that we might well split into our two divisions again. Yourself to comb inshore with Fair Isle lying off to repeat signals so that we are in permanent contact. I shall give you Growler brig as well while I have Pincher and Mercure to make an offshore line in search of larger merchantmen who will not be so inclined to hug the coast. The smallest traders tend to call at every village and so do not venture out to sea, and we are to take pains to find them on this occasion. The normal precautions, of course – be careful not to touch Portuguese traders, or other European neutrals, even where they may be carrying contraband; the risk is too great.”

  “What of Americans, sir?”

  “Rummage their holds thoroughly, Sir Iain. If they carry forbidden goods then send them in to Montevideo for full examination. A careful inspection of the crew especially. Deserters must and shall be recovered!”

  “They do not like it when we take men from them, Sir Frederick.”

  “They encourage our sailors to desert and then complain when we take them back. Their hypocrisy is their problem, not ours. Do not attempt to assert our rights over any ship of war, however. Not that we doubt our legal capacity, but any captain worth his salt would fight in such a circumstance and we are not to provoke another war. Use tact, Sir Iain, salute their little flag and smile politely, and keep your broadside
ready, just in case. Do not take men from their whalers – they are the best of seamen but they cannot lose their crew and still do their work; I think it cannot be right to thin a ship about to make a three-year cruise.”

  It was all as was usual practice; the majority of ships used discretion, but some captains were inclined to be too enthusiastic in their treatment of the Americans and tempers were becoming frayed as a result.

  “We should comb the shores quite thoroughly, Sir Iain, and if we come upon Spanish forces then we should do our best to upset them. A broadside or two into their fortresses can well send them into retreat, particularly as they are at least one half comprised of recently joined militiamen. I have little doubt that the men will be brave enough, but the most of them will never have stood under cannon fire and that can be a disconcerting experience to the green and poorly trained and disciplined soldier. We need to assist the forces at Montevideo, I believe, for I do not understand how they expect to hold the city with their existing numbers. More men are due to arrive from England before too long, but you know what government is like – a delay of six months is nothing to Whitehall!”

  “Water tomorrow, sir? Or would today be more desirable?”

  “I am not at all certain we should water here at all, Sir Iain. I have the gravest of doubts about the quality of their supply, you know! I do not know that the water is taken sufficiently distant from the town and I am much inclined to ask you to keep an eye out for a clean-running stream coming off the hillsides along the coast. My people’s digestive systems have been harrowed already this season and I would not wish to take the least extra risk with them.”

  Both captains knew that English naval harbours always took pains to supply clean water, taken from a protected source; they had also heard tales of the quality of supplies to be found in more distant places. In part, they thought, the problem was that of Johnny Foreigner, whose habits must always be distrusted, but there was a grounding of truth, they suspected. Better to be over-cautious.