Sails Across the Sea: A Tim Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 8)

by Richard Testrake

  Now, seamen obtained from the various ships went to work securing those shrouds and stays. The Lascars from the Indiamen were most valuable in this skilled work. The thought crossed his mind to press a few of the most skilled to fill out the crews of Diligent and Badger, but common sense prevented him. The East Indians were now working with a will. He suspected if he pressed them that will might evaporate.

  Diligent had the remnants of a spare suit of sails below, and after the running rigging of the new mast was installed, the replacement mizzen canvas was hoisted aloft. When the trio of ships sailed from the bay, Diligente was equal to her status before her capture. Phillips would have liked to lay her on her side on a sandy beach and scrape her hull. She was much overgrown from her time spent in warm tropical waters. With the potential danger from natives on the island though, this was not to be considered. Any hull clearing would have to wait until reaching Cape Colony.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Sir John Craddock, Governor of Cape Colony, was elated to see the East India Company ship sail into the harbor, accompanied by a British sloop-of-war and a corvette flying British colors over French. There was a bit of an alarm, when the garrison commander, fearing a French plot alerted the batteries.

  Soon those, the fears were brought to rest when Captain Phillips of HMS Badger and Captain Ryan of the East Indiaman Alexander came ashore. The Alexander had been reported missing by her former convoy members and it had been feared to be lost.

  Craddock invited Phillips into his office and asked him to relate the whole story. When finished, Craddock informed him there was a steady drain of British shipping transiting the Indian Ocean and it was feared French ships, either National warships, or privateers were the culprits. Although the few surviving officers of the corvette declined to speak on the matter, there was hope lower ranking seamen might speak, given the proper incentives.

  Governor Craddock speculated the offer of land grants to any of the enemy seamen that would disclose needed information might be arranged.

  On the subject of the Diligente corvette, Craddock said he had the authority to purchase her for the Crown’s use, and would see her repaired and put to use patrolling the seas near the Cape.

  Phillips wondered what he would do for seamen, since he required his own prize crewmen to be returned to Badger if she was to continue her mission to actively seek out the enemy.

  The governor realized this might be a problem but knew there were more than a few seamen now at the Cape who had become stranded there for one reason or another. He proposed to round them up, willing or not, and put them aboard the corvette. For officers, he had a few East India Company officers whose ship had foundered in a storm. Although not Royal Navy officers, he thought they might do until the next convoy came through. Some convoys had a third-rate line-of-battle ship with the escort and surely such a ship might have a spare lieutenant or two to put aboard the new sloop-of-war.

  Phillips was aware that Sir John’s previous experience had been with the Army and might not be the best judge of the suitability of a naval officer for command. He decided it was not his duty to educate the governor so kept a still tongue in his head.

  Badger spent the next week in harbor while new provisions were acquired. A small herd of the native cattle had been purchased from their Khoikoi native herders. Finding the preferred means of exchange for the native tribesmen to be iron tools, Phillips purchased a store of wrought iron bar stock from a Dutch warehouse and had the ship’s armorer fashion the iron into knives and axe heads. These were accepted avidly by the herders.

  Salt also was available for purchase, although this required hard coin. The empty barrels were scrubbed out and refilled with chunks of newly slaughtered beef and copious amounts of salt. Not wishing to run out of rum on their long voyage, Phillips purchased some casks of locally distilled white spirits, which locals made from their grain. When he sampled a cup, he almost lost his breath it was so potent, but when he tried it out among a few senior crew members, it was pronounced to be equal to the best Barbados rum

  The ship, being in all respects ready for sea, put to sea. The plan was to sail northerly up the eastern coast of Africa, stopping at various likely looking ports, then to slope over into the Indian Ocean itself, examining some of the more out-of-the-way islands that might furnish refuge to seafaring predators. Sailing up the western coast of Madagascar, Badger met her first evidence of pirates. A European brig was found on the verge of sinking a dozen miles off the coast. She had been burned and some charred human remains were found in the wreck. Most of her upper works had been burned away. No evidence remained of what ship this was or who pillaged her. Proceeding up the coast, several small fleets of apparent fishing vessels were seen. Ignoring them, Badger went on her way, but then one such group of apparent fishing vessels raised their lateen sails and pursued the ship.

  On orders from the quarterdeck, the crew began to transform the trim warship into a grubby merchant ship. Kegs and boxes were brought up from below and piled on deck while bosun’s mates were instructed to allow the crew to slack off the rigging. Some of the canvas was taken down and stowed, since a merchant vessel would not have the means to employ such luxury. As the craft in pursuit approached, they were seen to be a half dozen double-hulled proas, some mounting a gun in the bows.

  The proas were also manned by dozens of paddlers. When Badger, as though alarmed, turned away heading out to sea, the proas followed, the paddlers now working hard to catch up with their prey. With such a large crew, it was unlikely the craft were either fishing or trading boats.

  The ship had early on held a big lead, but through judicious sail handling was allowing the proas to slowly catch up, although at the cost of venturing far out to sea. When Captain Phillips felt he had led the war canoes far enough from their base, he turned to and waited. On order, all guns were loaded with ball, but grape and canister loads were ordered to be kept handy.

  The grape shot loads were formed in a little package, where the iron balls making up the load were stacked on a wooden disk slightly smaller than the bore diameter. Another disk formed the top and line was run though grommets to preventing the shot from spilling out. On discharge from a gun, the wooden disks would disintegrate and the iron grape shot would then be free to disperse.

  The canister shot was a covered metal canister filled with small shot. Upon firing, the front and sides of the canister would peel off and fall away, leaving a cloud of the shot spreading toward its target.

  With the ship now almost stationary in the water, the pirates began spreading around the ship, in order to take her under attack from all directions. The crew had been called to action stations long since and all hands were issued weapons from the arms chests on deck. Cutlasses were in plentiful use, as were half pikes and pistols. The Marines were all back on the ship now, and they were armed with their Sea Pattern muskets. These weapons fired an enormous lead ball, as big as the end of one’s thumb. Every Marine had been trained to load and fire three rounds a minute.

  With the permission of the captain, Sergeant Boseley issued some little sailcloth bags to the Marines. These were inventions of his own. Each bag held a half dozen little paper packets each containing three pistol balls. These were to be loaded, on command, into each musket on top of the nearly ¾ inch diameter lead ball of the issue cartridge. The idea was, upon firing, the balls would spread out and perhaps injure an enemy that had been missed by the single ball. Boseley thought they might wound a few extra pirates this way.

  Phillips allowed the Marines to fire at targets thrown into the sea from the quarterdeck. He did not have much faith in the improvisation, but since the load did not seem to damage the weapon or decrease the already limited accuracy of the musket, he allowed the experiment.

  The proas were close now, coming in on all sides. On order, all the gun ports opened and the long nine pounder guns were run out. Shouts of alarm came from the proas as they realized they had potentially caught a tiger by the tail. Most
veered toward Badger’s bow or stern where fewer guns were present, but some did not make it. The guns fired individually, the individual crewmen well knowing if they missed their enemy, that enemy crew might soon be swarming up the side of the ship.

  Of the six proas, three were struck solidly and either smashed or left in a sinking condition. Two remaining proas converged on the bow with another coming toward the stern. One of the forward guns was loaded faster than the others and sent a canister load of nine pounds of pistol caliber shot directly at one of those war canoes heading forward. Those of her crew that were not struck dead were badly wounded.

  Now the ship was faced with upward of forty screaming pirates coming at them from bow and stern. The Marines fired first. Not using the extra pistol balls, they fired from perhaps seventy yards away. This was long range for a musket, but even so, several of the pirates were struck. More of the big slugs of lead smashed holes in the bottoms of their boats. With no one left behind to tend to the boats, the pirates now had to take the ship, otherwise the proas would fill with sea water before they could finish their task.

  One fired its single gun into Badger’s bow. Doing little damage, it was later discovered the ball probably came from a British Army four pounder gun that had been taken from a captured transport.

  Each of the pair of proas made it to the ship and grappled themselves to her. The Marines had reloaded by now, this time with the extra bags of pistol shot driven down the barrels. This volley did fearsome damage to the boarders as they attempted to lift themselves over the side. Even when the large musket ball missed, many pirates were struck by one or more of the pistol balls.

  While not as devastating as the full caliber ball, a pistol shot in the trunk or limb would likely cripple or at least slow a man. Now the crew had their turn to inflict harm on the pirates, and they did so with a will. Cutlasses and half pikes were wielded with abandon. Even Chips, the carpenter, was there, swinging a deadly axe. With the action complete, there was not a pirate left whole on board ship or in their own sinking proas. Badger sailed away from the battle scene. The ubiquitous sharks present in these waters were quick to gather and would do their part in removing both living and dead bodies from the waters.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Casualties were remarkably light. Not a single fatality among Badgers crew and only one serious injury. A gun carriage wheel had run over a crewman’s foot, crushing it badly. The surgeon expressed optimism that it might be saved, if only mortification could be averted. The only other casualties among the ship’s crew were a few cuts and contusions.

  Badger resumed her patrol, finally taking advantage of what was left of the monsoon to sail out into the Indian Ocean. Mister Tringle warned his captain the monsoon winds would soon die, and the trade winds would return, winds that could easily carry them back to Cape Colony. Phillips was not anxious to return there, knowing he would then be tied to the governor’s apron strings so long as he remained in that area.

  The winds had become fitful. It was becoming normal for the watch on deck to remain busy, the hands were kept constantly busy adjusting the trim of the sails to suit the changing wind. The sea was deserted, not a single sail in sight for days. Even the fishing boats coming out from Madagascar were absent.

  One night, Phillips lay swinging in his hanging cop, catching up on his sleep. He woke to hear the midshipman of the watch arguing outside his door with the Marine sentry. Wide awake, and knowing he would never get back to sleep now, he went to the door in his night shirt to see what the controversy was all about.

  Mister Hardesty was at the door, startled to see his captain in his sleeping attire. “Sir”, he reported, “Mister Tringle thinks we hear gunfire to the north east.”

  Not bothering to snatch up his coat, Phillips rushed out on deck. It was an overcast night, and black as a coal mine. But he could very faintly hear the rumble of what sounded very like thunder, way off in the distance.

  “What makes you think that noise is not thunder, Mister Tringle?”

  The sailing master responded, “Sir, These clouds we have are not storm or thunder clouds, I’ll stake my reputation on that. If it is not thunder, then it has to be gunfire. Phillips was not convinced but ordered the ship put on a course that would bring them to the source of the commotion sooner or later.

  It was later that night, when the sky began clearing, and moonlight showed through a break in the ceiling. One of the deck lookouts in the bows shouted, “Sail off the starboard bow!”

  A night glass was in the rack by the binnacle and Phillips snatched it up. This had slightly better light gathering powers than one of the standard telescopes, but as a drawback, displayed its image upside down.

  The image it showed, once Phillips deciphered it, was of a European built brig. One of dozens of trading vessels here in the East, many being locally built. It approached Badger slowly in the light fitful wind and closed to a cable’s length before someone on her deck noticed.

  As shouts of alarm came from her, Phillips ordered a gun fired. The brig came to and waited to be boarded.

  Hardesty was midshipman of the watch so he was sent in the launch with a boatload of armed seamen. The sun was coming up now and the deck crew watched the mid climb onto the brig’s deck, speak to a man in a dark coat, then the pair went down into the boat.

  A heavy man in a plain coat climbed the battens and came through Badger’s port side entry port. Phillips met the man who identified himself as Captain Williams of the brig Louise, sailing out of Cape Colony for Bombay with a cargo of tanned hides.

  Phillips invited him into his cabin where he invited Williams to inform him of the latest news.

  Captain Williams related his ship, the Louise had been sailing alone when she met with two Indiamen and an East India Company armed brig escorting them to the subcontinent. Williams accepted their offer to join the fleet for the purpose of mutual protection.

  Two armed ships intercepted the convoy four days out. One was a brig Williams recognized. She was a country ship out of Bombay, taken by pirates the year before. The other was one of those big forty gun frigates the French were building these days. He reported he thought she had been a long way from a re-fit since the ship was all ahoo, her sails more patches than whole sailcloth. Anyway, the warships pursued them that day and into the night.

  It was thought they had been left behind during the night but in the morning there they were, on the convoy’s beam, a few leagues off. The enemy were slow and sluggish, perhaps from weed growth, but the heavily laden Indiamen were slower still. The armed brig gamely stayed with the convoy but Williams, in the Louise, elected to use his superior speed to evade and seek help. He had occasionally heard the guns firing, and had a fair idea of the convoy’s location even though they had been left below the horizon.

  This news presented a problem for Phillips. He really had no business taking his lightly-built sloop-of-war up against a frigate of this size, but his duty was to protect British shipping. Too, an armed brig of the East India Company was escorting the merchantmen and presumably she could be of assistance. The Indiamen themselves, were armed and should be able to put up a good defense, assuming that is, they had enough people on board to man their guns.

  Leaving Louise behind to attempt to garner more help, Badger continued on course toward the suspected location of the beleaguered convoy. Guided by the occasional sound of guns, she steadily gained on the quarry. The masthead lookout had just reported sails ahead when the sound of heavy bombardment erupted. The lookout reported the brig and a big frigate had become engaged.

  Over the next glass, the guns continued their intense thunder. Mister Davison speculated the escort brig was surely getting the stuffing pounded from her. Phillips was more sanguine. “Since Commodore Rowley defeated the French in these parts last year, any surviving National ships have sailed a difficult course. With no port available to re-supply or to garner replacement crew, these warships will have a difficult time attempting to continue their
missions. From Captain William’s report we learn the frigate may have allied herself with a pirate brig. We can speculate she has also taken aboard native crew to replace losses. We may infer the enemy may not be as efficient as she may have been in the past.”

  Now closing on the embattled ships, matters became more clear. The brig had interposed herself between the frigate and the Indiamen but the pirate brig had come up with the trailing Indiamen and the two were going at it hammer and tongs. The frigate was exchanging fire with the escort brig, and as they observed on their approach, the brig’s main mast fell. The drag of the fallen gear brought the brig to, and the frigate lay athwart her bow, pounding fire down the length of the brig unmercifully. Unable to respond, the small brig lay there, absorbing the punishment.

  Phillips ordered the red ensign flown along with the commission pennant. Both had become tattered with use, and he did not normally fly them now except in the presence of other shipping. He had expected the enemy might break off their action when they observed another warship entering the picture, but apparently a small sloop-of-war did not strike much fear in the enemy commanders.

  The pirate brig was now close aboard the trailing Indiaman but the other merchantman came about and began firing at the brig’s dis-engaged side.

  Seeing the pirate brig occupied for now, Phillips set Badger on to the frigate. Now lying on the escort’s bow, the big ship was still pounding the brig’s fragile hull with her heavy guns. The brig had managed to get a gun going in the bow to reply to the frigate’s fire, but this amounted to little more than a pinprick.