“Mr Pitt entered the House at a very early age, Iain, probably younger than was lawful even then. We would be better advised to keep to the letter of the law, but there is certainly much to be said for a landowner to represent our interests in the House. A word with Lord Alton is the first step, of course – what he does not know about Westminster, is not worth knowing. He will be very pleased to maintain the Harris dynasty, I do not doubt. Besides which, it is always handy to have an Earl in the family and we should be useful to him.”
“I am not to attend at a University, sir. Should I perhaps make some attempt to become known to Society instead, when I reach an appropriate age?”
“You have been thinking hard, have you not, Iain!”
“Well, not entirely, sir, but I did discuss much with Martha while we were in Yorkshire. A very sensible girl, I thought, sir.”
“So did I, Iain. I was deeply impressed by her practicality, in fact. A very bright little girl, young Miss Kearton.”
“I thought so as well, sir. I am glad you like her too.”
Frederick was pleased to discover that his son was still naïve in some ways. Elizabeth was right, the lad was old beyond his years, perhaps for having, in his own mind, to be the man of the house during his father’s prolonged absences.
“How are we to return to Abbey, Papa? I have been looking at my road book and trying to find a sensible route from Liverpool to the South Coast, and I do not think there is one.”
“You’re right, my son! Liverpool is one of our greatest ports – but our roads are so poor that it is a very difficult place to get to by land. South to Birmingham, two days, if it doesn’t rain. Thence to London, which will be another two days. After that, we can really make haste if the roads are dry and reach Abbey in three days, but four will be more comfortable. But we will remain a few days in London. I must visit my tailor, and I think you must come with me – it is time that you began to dress for company. We must as well see some of the sights – the little ones should visit the Tower and St Pauls, at least. There are bookshops of course, and your mother will wish to dip into the world of music.”
“And, Papa, you may wish to show your face to the First Lord?”
“Why, so I might, Iain. I have been nearly nine months ashore now, and that is beginning to feel like an age. I am within reason strong now, and must bring myself to my superior’s attention, I believe.”
“Must you go back to sea, sir?”
“I have not yet attained all I require of the sea, Iain. We are well off for money, can never be poor now, but if I am to convert this baronetcy into a peerage, then I must sail again, or be employed visibly on land. A year or two as a functionary on shore, and then heigh-ho and off we go! If all proceeds as it should, then I am a Rear-Admiral, and quite possibly trotting off with a powerful squadron to perform wonders in the Mediterranean, or even the freezing Baltic, or perhaps, horribly, off the fever-shores of Africa. Not one might hope further afield, but all things are possible. Then, it is to be ‘my lord’, and all things are possible!”
“Many a naval baron is made in the peerage of Ireland, is that not so, sir?”
“It is, and that would be less than ideal – for Irish peers may not sit in the House of Lords, and have far less influence. We shall see, Iain, for we may be counting our chicken, you know! It might be that there is nothing for me.”
The First Lord rapidly dispelled that fear at their first meeting.
“What do you know of Heligoland, Sir Frederick?”
“A lump of rock, sir, in the German Ocean, not so many leagues west of the Danish coast. I have never seen it, but have some slight familiarity with the chart, of course. There is a harbour, and a tiny town. It has a light, I believe.”
“It has indeed, Sir Frederick! We pinched the island during the expedition to Denmark and it has since become a most valuable port for the breaking of the Continental System – Bonaparte’s answer to the blockade, you will recall. British merchantmen, quite literally by the hundred, run goods into Heligoland, and then they are transhipped into smaller bottoms that work the whole of the northern coastlines. Holland, the German States and Denmark all offer havens to the small vessels – which are commonly their own - with their twenty and thirty tons of cotton and woollen piece-goods and cast-iron wares and who knows what else. Vital to our trade – many a manufactury in the North Country stays in business for being able to sell into Bonaparte’s Europe. We maintain a presence there, of frigates and sloops and the odd 64, in order to keep the Frogs out and to provide additional escort to the great Baltic convoys and to protect the smugglers themselves. A tricky task, too, to command a squadron of small ships and talk to merchant captains and supercargoes, and to exchange courtesies with the rogues who run the little smugglers. “
“It sounds an interesting task, my Lord.”
“So it does, Sir Frederick! It demands a man who can be, shall we say, more flexible than most. You will understand, of course, that it is not unknown for goods to travel in the opposite direction, as it were, and for the odd merchantman from what are strictly enemy shores to make port and drop off a cargo. Naval stores especially tend to come to us that way, and we need those very badly, particularly with things in America leading to an inevitable conflict. We don’t want a war with the Jonathans, and they don’t want to fight us, but neither side can find a way of things drifting from bad to worse, Sir Frederick!”
Frederick was no politician, and was rather glad of the fact. It all seemed very peculiar to him.
“Thus, my Lord, you require a senior officer to reside on Heligoland?”
“Well, in part, yes, Sir Frederick, though more commonly there will be a younger and less senior commander present, being able to turn a blind eye the more easily, you see. There is a need for a very senior captain to show himself along the ports of the Northeast coast of England, and perhaps occasionally to cross the German Ocean as well, so as to discourage the excesses of the trade. It is all very well to sell uniform cloth, for example, but far less desirable to send cargoes of cannon barrels and muskets and gunpowder, all of which are reported to have been seen passing through Heligoland!”
“I can see that might not be an enterprise to encourage, my Lord. What have you in mind?”
“A few cutters and such at sea, Sir Frederick, but far more of an inspection function in the ports themselves. As well, meeting and talking with the officials of those benighted parts and persuading them actually to do their jobs would be useful. I envisage that you would spend no more than a year on this task before returning to a more congenial occupation. At sea, that is.”
“So, my Lord, for the while, you would wish me to locate myself at, where shall we say, the port of Boston or King's Lynn. Or would further north be more desirable, perhaps? If we are concerned that cannon barrels are crossing the seas, then Sunderland or Whitby, or even Newcastle might make sense. What of Edinburgh, my Lord? The Carron Works are within easy reach by canal and they are one of the largest of manufacturers of great guns.”
“You understand the problem, Sir Frederick. It is not so difficult for any foundry to cast nine-pounders, or even twelves. Those barrels are not so vast that they cannot be hidden quite easily as well. The word is, by the way, that the Carron Works knows just what it is doing and who it sells to; their barrels are unlikely to be found overseas. It is lesser manufacturers that we must keep an eye on. You must, I think, spend time along the Northeast coast.”
Frederick showed his gratitude for being offered so interesting and important a command. It occurred to him that he might not be expected to succeed. It was not at all impossible that the government wanted action to be seen to be taken, but much hoped that it would not be effective. Possibly the smugglers had become arrogant and too overt in their actions and needed to be put in their place; it was not impossible that they had become neglectful of their little presents to the proper people and were to be given a shaking and told they were naughty boys.
He retur
ned to Mount Street and sent a message to Lord Turner, wondering whether they might not have a quiet chat.
“Twenty years ago, Lord Turner, it would not have occurred to me to be dubious, but now I am a very little wiser in the ways of the world. Just what is behind this set of orders?”
“Sweden, I suspect, Sir Frederick. The Swedes are havering and wavering, again, and would much like to be protected from Russia by France, and from France by Russia, and would not strongly object if Britain was to stand as referee and ensure a fair fight against all comers. If cannon are crossing the German Ocean – and I see no reason to doubt the First Lord’s word – they are not for use by France. Their Gribeauval and Year Eleven cannon will match anything produced in Britain, or so they are firmly convinced. In fact of course, the use of low sulphur iron and steam lathes in Britain is leading to the output of powerful long cannon, perhaps of greater value to the Navy than on land – but I digress! The point I am making, Sir Frederick, is that the French will not be the buyers.”
“Unlikely to be the Danes, of course, Lord Turner – they still bear little love for us. So, Russians or Swedes it is. I had thought, rather vaguely, that Sweden had a name for its iron?”
“Small scale, but very good. Short of charcoal and wholly without coke, to my knowledge. Add to that, the country is impoverished and very backwards – still feudal, in fact.”
Frederick nodded gravely – he could not imagine that feudalism would lend itself to the creation of a class of manufacturers such as he had recently met. In some ways, he was on the side of feudalism, he supposed, but the country must have its manufactures.
“And Russia, Lord Turner?”
“Who knows, Sir Frederick? Even the Russians have little knowledge of what happens in Russia. Industry has recently been restricted in its development by another outbreak of persecution of the Jews, that is a certainty. The Jews tend to be better educated than the Orthodox Christian peasants – the priests preferring an illiterate flock as less likely to ask unpleasant questions – and they have a tradition of enterprise. The Russians have traditions of vodka, stupidity and the lash, of course. The two nations make uneasy bedfellows. Thus, either Russia or Sweden could be purchasing cannon and we cannot be sure which, except at the expense of a deep investigation.”
Frederick presumed that Lord Turner actually meant sending out the spies to discover what was going on, which could be costly in both money and lives. He nodded, begged Lord Turner to continue.
“Gunpowder and muskets are a different matter again. I would not be at all surprised if they were being shipped into Poland by hopeful would-be revolutionaries.”
“Is that necessarily to our disadvantage, Lord Turner?”
“No. It may well be the case that the government wishes to be seen to be the friend of order, and hence a potential ally of either, or both, Sweden and Russia, they having an interest in Polish soil, and is therefore making a show of curtailing the traffic. One might, with some trepidation, suggest that the appointment of a well-known naval officer, a man of distinction at sea, to an essentially land-based post, is a very logical move on the part of those who wish to be seen to act, rather than to take action.”
Frederick was silent while he digested that proposition. Eventually, he spoke.
“So, in effect, Lord Turner, you suggest that I am to make a show of being busy, and am expected to do little more. I must parade up and down the coast and speak loudly and publicly to Mayors and Burgesses and Harbourmasters and Revenue Officers, and let it be known that I wish to see vigilance and determination on their part. I might have to send cutters and sloops out on patrol, but would be better advised to avoid that extreme; nevertheless, I must make much of the government’s most earnest desire to see the Rule of Law maintained at sea. What I must not do is to institute an effective regime that might actually do something.”
“Precisely, Sir Frederick! You must be seen to be seen, and nothing else, or so I interpret the case. If I might venture to advise, Sir Frederick, accept your command and proceed then to Abbey to ready yourself for a move of your household to the East Coast – Whitby springs to mind as a pleasant town for the family, by the way. That will take a few weeks, the newssheets the meanwhile announcing your commission. I shall know for a certainty what is wanted of you within a month – I shall talk to all of the proper people – and will join you in Whitby as a house visitor for a week or two. We can then combine our talents to produce a plan for the coming year, or what remains of it.”
Frederick entered into the spirit of the scheme, realising that it was a game to be played and that he must know which side he was on.
“Winter will be upon us and will reduce the scope of our activities, so all our plans must be aimed to next spring. By the time we have all in hand, I shall have come to the end of a year of the vigorous activity during which nothing will have happened. An excellent design, Lord Turner. I shall inform her ladyship!”
Elizabeth neither wholly understood nor approved. It seemed an underhand business to her.
“Russia will sooner or later become an ally again, my dear Elizabeth. Sweden is a very strange place, when all is considered, particularly in the matter of their Kings – half have been mad, the rest apparently sterile. The Poles have no country, but want one. We must not offend Russia, and see no reason to fight with Sweden, and don’t give a damn about the Poles – neither, of course, does anyone else. So it is necessary to please all on the surface, and keep the Russian Bear out of Europe the meanwhile. The Russians, you see, do not really belong in the company of the civilised nations of the world.”
It was all very peculiar, but it would keep him amused while he was ashore, and was far better than half-pay in the months when he was climbing to the very top of the Post Captains’ List. He must reach the point of promotion within a twelvemonth, judging by the age of those above him and the frailty of any number of admirals. A dozen deaths or retirements from service and he would be a Rear-Admiral in the next batch of promotions, hopefully of the Blue Squadron; if, however, he was thought to be too severely wounded to go to sea, then he would be made without squadron, Yellowed, never to serve again. He must show busy and sensible for the necessary months, and he must avoid political disfavour, that being the most certain route to being found surplus to requirements.
Later, sat alone in his little library in Mount Street, he wondered just what he might do if he was made Blue. It was unlikely that he would be considered for a major command, carrying so severe a mutilation. He might be made a Rear-Admiral in the Mediterranean Fleet, and then he would be just two deaths away from the most important command in the Navy, and the Admiralty might well consider him too frail for that post, even as a temporary incumbent. He could expect, if he was made Blue, to be given an independent command, a squadron distant from any fleet, perhaps patrolling the African coast in the suppression of slavery, or working the Baltic Sea to protect the hundreds of British merchant ships to be discovered there. Important jobs, no doubt, but very short of glory. Perhaps to be made without squadron would not be so bad a thing. What possibilities might that lead to?
Try as he might, he could see little of interest to him if he remained ashore. He was still a sailor, in his mind at least. He must be successful in the coming year, but not too much so – he really must avoid catching the smugglers.
The first requirement seemed to be a house in Whitby, to establish the family there for part of the year of servitude. Who could find that for him? He addressed a brief note, sent it off with the footman.
“My dear Sir Frederick! Who better could you possibly come to? Now! Who do I know in Whitby, or its near environs? Let me think just a single moment. I have it! Just the man! My very good friend Justin – retired to ruralise just last year, having outrun the constable, poor fellow! His dear Papa cleared his debts but insisted that he must leave Town for some while. He is keeping house and recovering his financial sobriety, one might say, before venturing back to civilisation. His ances
tral home is not so many miles short of Whitby and he will know all there is to be discovered about the town and its peoples. A house of proper size and dignitas will be well within his provision. An Express will bring a response within days, my dear Sir Frederick! I shall fly to my writing desk!”
Mr Russell made his farewells, sending proper messages to the whole family before scurrying off to his town carriage. He returned just five days later – very nearly on a return of post.
“Eighteen bedchambers and situated upon the cliffs with a near-perfect view of town and sea, Sir Frederick. Gardens as well, and all necessary conveniences of life to hand. And a lease immediately to be arranged – the house having fallen to the inheritance of a minor son, a schoolboy, who will not dwell there for some years. The trustees are concerned more that the house should not become derelict than that it should earn a great rental. Quite ideal!”
Frederick closed immediately – he would never question Mr Russell’s judgement.
“A housekeeper and servants, Sir Frederick, may be discovered with the greatest of ease. It is the desire of the trustees that the house might be at least kept open, the year round.”
“Let it be so, Mr Russell. I shall look to make a first visit in November, I think. Purely to show willing, as they say, but not expecting to be active much before April or May.”
“Very good, Sir Frederick. The German Ocean can be a fearsome sea in winter and with little merchant traffic then. It is not impossible that there might be a tonnage of goods accumulating in warehouses in the various ports, all waiting to be shipped out when the weather became favourable…”
“Thus, a busy man might be inclined to pay a visit to some of those stores, but only if he knew which would be of particular interest. I would very much like to discover cannon barrels, but have less desire to come across muskets and no wish at all to interfere with ordinary commerce.”
“Precisely so, Sir Frederick. I am not without contacts in the mercantile world now, as a junior minister of our government. Lord Turner can still, one does not doubt, talk to members of his old profession. Such a man is never wholly retired from what they, risibly, call ‘the Game’. You are aware, by the bye, that his lady has raised his hopes? Soon after Christmas, one believes.”
Shores of Barbary (The Duty and Destiny Series, Book 12) Page 5