The deck was, to a naval eye, a disgrace. Dirty, streaked with grease and tar, and covered in all manner of filth, especially the scuppers with casks and bales lying strewn about. The rigging was all ahoo, with loose ropes and badly clewed-up sails very evident. It would have taken half a day to get the boat properly ready for sea. And amidships on the forecastle, not tied off, lay a pile of brand-new guns. Harry walked over for a closer look, and counted ten 12-pounders and four 24-pounder carronades.
He couldn’t think what they were doing aboard. The twelve-pounders were bad enough. The Dido might just stand them if they were rarely fired, and one at time. But the carronades? The recoil from them would, on their fixed carriages, spring every joint on a ship like this. He looked down into the waist. Slings full of shot for both types of weapons covered the lower deck. And they were surrounded by enough barrels of powder to satisfy the captain of a first rate.
Sutton stood talking to Pender, watched carefully by the rest of the crew. Harry, walking up the larboard gangway, counted about thirty of them. There would be many more, men off the Swiftsure and other ships that had revictualled here. But they wouldn’t show their faces while he was around. He walked over to join Pender, Sutton, and the big German by the mainmast.
‘So,’ said Sutton sharply.
‘He wants to know what’s up, Captain,’ said Pender. ‘I’m not sure I know what to tell him.’
‘Who has charge of these men while Broadbridge is away?’ asked Harry.
Sutton aimed a dismissive thumb at the blond giant. ‘Lubeck here runs the boat, but he’s left me in charge of the hands, especially if’n we go ashore. You could say I’m the captain’s right-hand man.’
Harry noticed that Sutton had turned slightly and spoke softly so that the German couldn’t quite hear. ‘I need to talk to you alone, Sutton, is that possible?’
The other man nodded, and said a few words to Lubeck, who frowned at Harry but went away nevertheless. Once he was out of earshot, Harry spoke again. ‘Is there somewhere we can talk?’
A long silent stare, then Sutton spun on his heel and made for the cabin. To call it such was to elevate it. It was small, dark, low-ceilinged, and extremely cramped. It smelt of tallow, bilge water, and unwashed humanity. The only air and light came through two round holes, one on either side. It was really just a place to sleep, convenient for the deck, whilst affording the owner a modicum of privacy. Sutton, bent double, indicated that Harry should take the only chair, seating himself on the unmade cot.
‘Make sure we’re not overheard, Pender,’ said Harry, as he shut the door behind them. He took the seat just as Sutton indicated.
‘Captain Broadbridge is dead,’ said Harry, without preamble.
Sutton must have guessed at something like this from Pender’s reluctance to speak. Either that, or he was a man so used to others dying that it had no effect on him. He sat silently, waiting for Harry to continue.
‘He was murdered aboard that ship he went to see. We found his body last night.’ Sutton looked past Harry to the door as he continued. ‘Hard to be certain, Sutton, but we think it was the same lot that attacked us the night before.’
He could see Sutton trying to work this out in his mind. If he drew any conclusions he wasn’t going to pass them on without prompting.
‘We thought you might have some ideas.’
‘I’d best tell the lads. They’ll be needing another berth.’
Sutton stood up abruptly and made for the door. He opened it and whispered to Pender. Harry’s servant replied so that both could hear. ‘You can talk to the captain, Carey. I told you to take my word on it.’
Sutton half turned so that his reply was also addressed to both. ‘It’s not for me to take it or leave it, Pious. I’ve got to eat, and so has the rest of them poor buggers. An’ we’ve done precious little of that the last few weeks, since Broadbridge was so set on owning that ship that he practically stopped buying victuals. Man’s dead. Don’t matter how, since it’s not my job to care. Not that he wasn’t a good enough type, in his own way, though he talked a damn sight more than he did. But he was no sailor, an’ I know that even if I’ve only been afloat a few months. Him putting all his money into the syndicate was more like robbery than anything else. And as for buying this tub, he never had a hope in hell of keeping abreast of the likes of Bartholomew, and the bastard knew it when he sold it. It’s my reckoning that they only did it ’cause they had spare mouths to feed an’ it suited them for someone else to pick up the cost.’
Harry frowned. He put aside the question of all these ‘spare’ hands for the moment and gestured with his arm to indicate the ship. ‘Bartholomew sold him this?’
‘Not Bartholomew as such. The syndicate. Least ways that’s what they call it. But it’s Bartholomew really. The others do pretty much what they’re told.’
Harry wondered if Bartholomew had misled him deliberately. He had certainly given the impression that Broadbridge had bought the Dido himself. ‘Shut the door, Sutton, and sit down.’
There was a moment’s hesitation. Pender turned just enough to deliver a reassuring nod before Sutton obliged.
‘Did he sell him those cannon as well?’
‘No. An’ that’s likely another reason we’ve been on short commons. He had those guns delivered when we came back from that bloody cruise. Said they was going to surprise Bartholomew. God only knows if he’s paid for them yet. There was a bloke here yesterday, a sort of local tipstaff, waving some papers and threatening all sorts, though I couldn’t make out a word he said. Damn me if Broadbridge, who’s been living on credit for weeks, don’t produce a purse full of gold, and fob the bastard off with a part-payment for whatever he was after. Thank God the rest didn’t see it, or there would have been a mutiny.’
Harry now knew where his loan had gone. The money which was supposed to feed his hands had probably gone to buy guns Broadbridge would never have been able to use. He hadn’t taken to Bartholomew much, but the man was right about the late captain of the Dido. He reached into his pocket, taking out some gold coins. ‘If it’s food you need, then I can help. As for a bed, I don’t think anyone is going to claim this tub.’
‘That’s all you know. If Broadbridge is dead, this reverts to the syndicate. That’s the rule, no matter how much you’re worth. And if’n we can’t get ourselves on another boat, we might as well hand ourselves back to King George, for they won’t take us on the other ships.’
Another question mark against Bartholomew. That was probably what he meant when he mentioned terms. Harry felt that Sutton knew a great deal more than he was saying, but to question him now would only court a refusal. In time, the man might come to trust him. That would be the moment for a proper talk. ‘I intend to buy the Principessa. If I do, I need to crew it.’
Sutton looked at him with surprise. ‘You don’t look like the type to crew a ship with navy deserters, which most of the hands here happen to be.’
‘Take this money, Sutton. Purchase some food, and keep everyone aboard the Dido. Can you do that?’
‘Aye, aye, Captain,’ said Sutton, clasping the coins, suddenly respectful.
‘Now tell me about the hands, I want to know who the sailors are.’
Sutton was happy to oblige, though as he talked his inexperience about life afloat became apparent. Yet Harry formed the distinct impression, confirmed by Sutton himself, that he’d been Broadbridge’s right-hand man. Odd to elevate a person like Sutton when what he really needed was someone who could handle a ship. Harry’s mind wandered to that chest full of documents and share certificates, none of them signed. And all these guns he’d bought and, it seemed, hadn’t paid for. Pender had said that Sutton was a good thief. Perhaps Broadbridge required those services more than he needed the help of a proper sailor.
At least Sutton had identified the big German, Lubeck, as the most experienced man aboard, and Harry was pleased to hear that there were a number of proper tars in the crew. ‘Right, Sutton, I need to
talk with these men, alone. But say nothing to anyone else about Broadbridge or my plans.’
He passed over the slip of paper that the victualling agent had pressed into his hand on the Swiftsure. ‘Take a party ashore and go to this address, which is at the far end of the quay. Purchase some victuals, enough for two days, and ask Signor Brown to expect me before noon.’
Sutton nodded. He looked at the door again, as if trying to decide to say something and needing the reassurance of Pender to do so. The look in Harry’s eye made such a consultation impossible.
Sutton shrugged, as if what he said was of no account. ‘Seems to me that you’re taking the same chance as Captain Broadbridge. Which is daft, seein’ as how you’re a lot brighter than him.’
Harry stood up, crouching low to avoid hitting his head on the deck-beams. ‘What chance is that?’
Sutton looked guilty for a moment. He gazed at the money Harry had given him. ‘Truth is, Captain Ludlow, that I’ve been trying to shift my hammock ever since I came ashore. Nice enough man, as I say, but Broadbridge was no more a ship’s captain than I’m a blue fart, and that were proved on his so-called cruise. That was a right fuck-up and no mistake. I had no mind to sail with him again, not just ’cause he didn’t know what’s what about ships. Worse’n that, he knew bugger all about the navy. And with him at the helm, in this barky, we stood to be pulled up by the first one of the king’s ships we came across. How we got away with it, last time, I’ll never know. It’s one thing to walk back after being ashore, tippin’ the hat and beggin’ your pardon. A floggin’, yes, but not enough to keep you from taking up your duties. To be taken out of a privateer, forced like, is more like a floggin’ round the fleet.’
Harry indicated those outside, with some difficulty since he was still bent over. ‘Did that apply to the rest?’
‘Them that’s got any sense worked it out. I keep my own counsel. But it don’t alter things, do it? That’s why I’m surprised at you. Mind I’m only speakin’ out ’cause you’re vouched for by Pious there. You know that what I’ve been sayin’ is true, and though you might be a better seaman, it applies to you just as much as it did to Broadbridge.’
‘I do know, Sutton, and you impress me by pointing it out.’
‘So we’d be better off handin’ ourselves in.’
‘No. You see, Sutton, I will have Admiralty exemptions to man a ship larger than this.’
If Sutton noticed there was an element of prayer in that, it didn’t show. His jaw dropped, and he looked happy for a moment. Then his face clouded again. ‘Not much good for deserters are they, Captain?’
Harry laughed out loud. ‘Sutton. You’re right about being a novice afloat. There’s hardly a man jack in the navy that hasn’t run at some time, and not a privateer at sea who don’t depend on ex-navy men to crew his ship. Now alert those men and line them up to see me in here.’
Sutton opened the door and Pender turned to face them. They looked as though they were about to speak when Harry stopped them, telling Sutton to carry on and asking Pender to come and shut the door.
‘I think, if I move quickly, I have a crew.’
Pender’s response was correct, but the tone was rather flat, as if the man was reserving judgement. ‘I’m right glad to hear it, your honour.’
‘My brother was less than happy about my remaining here in Genoa,’ said Harry.
‘Makes sense,’ replied Pender.
‘Then you’ll be pleased to know that I’m afire to get out of the place myself,’ snapped Harry. ‘You will take my brother’s chest to the Swiftsure, inform him of my intentions, and accompany him back to the Fleet. Once I’ve transacted my business, I will join you.’
Pender just looked at him, expressionless. Harry could not sustain the angry tone, for his servant’s unenthusiastic response was prompted by a genuine fear for his safety.
‘You’d best be on your way, Pender,’ he said with a smile. ‘Or the Swiftsure will sail without you.’
It was a direct command, for all the gentle delivery. Pender held Harry’s gaze for a second, with a look that some would have felt to be insolent. But it was just Pender’s way of saying that he wasn’t fooled.
‘Aye, aye, Captain,’ he said formally, his fingers brushing his hat. Then he turned and left, leaving his master feeling like a proper scrub.
Harry cursed himself roundly. He stood in the wardroom door of the Principessa looking at the empty table. There was blood there in plenty. But no bodies. He knew he should have anticipated this. Yet as he reflected he was at a loss to know what he could have done to prevent it. Forced by necessity to get James to a surgeon, he would not have contemplated leaving Pender alone on board to look after the ship. He went back on deck to join the others. Their presence aboard and the reasons he’d brought them was a grave breach of the normal rules of business. But time, not to mention events, mitigated against adherence to principle.
Swiftsure was preparing to sail, the rigging full of men. By his reckoning he had a clear forty-eight hours, even with the most favourable winds, before another ship could take its place. No one man, regardless of his experience, could undertake the task of listing the ship’s requirements in the time available. So he sorted out those on the Dido who could do the work with him, and fetched them over to the Principessa, sure that any fuss at this stretching of Toraglia’s permission to view the ship could be overborne by his obvious desire to do business.
Lubeck was walking around, taking a purchase on the shrouds and trying them for tension. He muttered away to himself in a guttural voice, half cursing, half caressing the ship. In the boat coming across, Harry had established that he was an ex-master who had got roaring drunk one night in the pool of London, only to wake up two days later and find himself a volunteer in King George’s navy. Unable to make head nor tail of his name, he’d been entered into the ship’s books in the name of his home town, which he kept repeating to the bemused first lieutenant.
Having spent nearly a year aboard a man-of-war, his English was much improved, though Sutton made a great show of not understanding him. Harry surmised, in the confused ranking system aboard the Dido, that there was a certain rivalry. Sutton might have been Broadbridge’s right-hand man ashore, but he would have been useless in any position of authority afloat. On the way across the harbour Lubeck and Harry had a lively conversation about the limited time the German had available. As soon as he had enough money, he was on his way, by coach or on foot if necessary, back to his native town on the Baltic. And Lubeck raised a great fist to show what he would do to anyone who stood in his way.
The three other men, standing by the wrecked bulkhead, were all men-of-war to their fingertips, with their long, well-greased pigtails sewn with coloured ribbons. The Dido might have been an untidy ship, but they had taken care of themselves. It was a pleasure to see them cut off their misdirected curiosity as soon as he appeared, for it denoted hands well versed in avoiding the attentions of zealous officers. In his experience, men such as these, who could dodge even the most stringent rules, and who were apt to be called work-shy, often made the best petty officers. For they knew all the tricks, and they would tolerate no one doing to them what they had so long practised on their own superiors.
In these four men, all rated able, who could hand, reef, and steer, he had the backbone of the crew for his new ship. He would command the ship, with Lubeck acting as his master, able to stand a watch and keep the ship safe on course. Each one of the others would head a division, captains of the forecastle, tops, and afterguard. Harry was strict in the way he manned his ship, adhering as closely as possible to the methods he’d learned as a youngster. He would brook none of the chaos that he’d seen on the deck of the Dido.
Amongst the others he’d find someone who’d worked long enough with a carpenter to make a fist at doing his job, a man with the natural authority to assume the duties of a boatswain, yet another who had an interest in cannon and would happily take on the responsibilities of a gunner
. Anything he couldn’t find he’d have to whistle for, or train himself.
Harry thanked the luck that had made him avoid mention of the bodies in the wardroom. In truth he would have been sorely shifted to find a way of explaining it, and had put it to the back of his mind as something to deal with once he had them aboard. Indeed he had gone below immediately with the express purpose of lashing the wardroom door shut until he could fathom out what to do. Now they were gone, probably over the side, and while he felt for their families there was nothing he could do about it.
But there was still the bulkhead and the state of the cabin. He wasn’t fool enough to think that these fellows hadn’t picked up some information aboard the Dido. No matter what precautions you took, sailors had a way of finding out things that beggared belief. They seemed to be able to pick up a whisper through a six-inch plank, though nothing in their manner would ever let you know that they’d heard. He gave them a bald outline of the facts, telling them that Broadbridge was dead, and what had happened when they found the body, alluding to an unspecified rivalry in the matter of buying the ship. This served two purposes. It told them that their new commander was a fighter and no fool, and it also warned them that there was danger about, and a man who didn’t keep a sharp eye out could end up dead.
He had his own watch on the ship now but he needed to shift himself to legitimise his presence. He left Lubeck and his mates to sort out a sail plan, tally off the yards that would have to be hoisted to carry the sails, and make their various lists while he had himself rowed ashore. The men in the boat wouldn’t look at him, lest their eyes betray their deep curiosity. Not that they were worried. This man was prepared to feed them, and for the moment that was sufficient to ensure their undying loyalty.
Harry was free to turn his mind to what to do next. He was, by nature, a man who preferred to act quickly, and in this case speed was of the essence. The Swiftsure was now at single anchor, and the boats were out to tow her head round so she’d be away soon. Forty-eight hours before another warship arrived. Not much time to rig a ship, take a short cruise, finalise the details of the purchase, victual her, and get to sea.
Dying Trade Page 22