There was a short burst of Italian, Murray frowning.
"He begs pardon, sir, admitting guilt and pleading for clemency."
Custom of the service demanded a reduction in the sentence in such a circumstance.
"He is aware of the possible penalty for his act, Mr Murray?"
More Italian.
"He has been told that he is sure to hang, sir, having been flogged almost to death first."
The crew had been playing, it seemed; no doubt they had thought it amusing to terrify the man, him being a foreigner. The Tridents would have been certain that he would not have taken an extreme course on a first offence, but that would only have added to the entertainment.
"Inform him that he would definitely hang if I were to send him to court-martial, and that I will do so if he should ever steal again."
Frederick waited for the translation, still undecided. The man was a thief, which meant the knotted cat, every stroke of which would lacerate. Four dozen would be two months, at least, healing, one dozen would let him return to duty inside the week. The problem was that one dozen would be seen as ridiculously lenient, would anger the bulk of the men - he had to satisfy the lower deck sense of justice.
"I would normally order four dozen, well laid on, for this offence, DeLonghi." He waited for Murray, the red baize bags being opened the while, the first cat pulled out.
"In view of the admission and plea for mercy, I shall remit one half of the sentence. Doctor to the deck, if you please."
The doctor had to be present during punishment, must intervene if, for example, the flogged man should bleed too freely or suffer a heart failure or apoplexy under the lash.
Frederick caught Morris' eye as he reluctantly came to the scene during the bustle of stripping DeLonghi to the waist and tying on the leather apron to protect his kidneys and then tricing him up to the grating.
"Six, Doctor," he mouthed.
Murray stood behind Frederick to observe, as all officers must.
"Tell him to collapse in a swoon at six, Mr Murray, so that I am forced to allow the Doctor to halt punishment, much though I wish to see his backbone. Bid him scream as well, sir."
There was a general feeling that the thief had been very lucky, the crew knowing that Frederick would not complete the sentence at a later date; they explained just how lightly he had been treated. Six strokes, however, still left the bleeding marks of fifty-four knotted thongs across his back, a very visible statement to the new crewmen.
"The French are not friendly to the cat, sir, tend not to flog their people."
Frederick had not been aware of that, wondered if perhaps that explained the apparently poor state of discipline often to be observed on their ships.
"Not really, sir - they execute far more frequently. A crime such as was dealt with this morning would certainly have resulted in the man's death, if he was brought up for it. One of the problems is, it would seem, that, because of the consequences, crew members will never peach on each other - almost all crimes are successful as a result."
"Very strange, Mr Murray!"
"Mr Nias, tell me, do you have any experience of the Russians at sea? I have never met one that I can recall."
"I saw one off the coast of Denmark, twenty years ago, sir, when I was a master's mate on the old Royal Sovereign, what was. A small line-of-battle ship, or so we supposed, though she might have been no more than a Fourth Rate and rather large. Two decks and fifty-six on the broadside - long brass guns, all! Very old fashioned in her top hamper, sir, almost like to an old caravel rather than a modern square-rigger, with fore-and-aft sails promiscuous on mizzen and foremast. Very heavy on the crew, sir - I never saw so many men in my life!"
"Well handled?"
"The height of summer, sir, and light winds with sea room, there was no real way to tell. I did not see her tack. She was mighty slow in responding to our politenesses, that I can say, sir, but that might well have been political, at the time. I heard tell that she was on her way to the coasts of Africa, exploring, it was thought, but more I could not say and she wore no admiral's pennants and she did not speak us."
The Russians had the occasional habit of sending out vessels of discovery, though whether in search of knowledge or of trading bases was not known. Despite such explorations they had no colonies in tropical waters but had taken the land of Alaska some years previously.
"So, then, the vessel you saw was not of the ordinary style of an up-to-the-knocker European rated ship?"
"Not at all, sir - but she may have been made available for a voyage of exploration because she was still sea-worthy but no longer fit for service in the line. I did hear tell, sir, that the Russians had few iron-foundries and was in the habit of buying in their broadside guns."
Interesting, if still true, but told Frederick very little about the squadron that might be loose in the Adriatic.
"Admiral Ushakov had a fleet with several seventy-fours, I believe, and is in some sort of alliance with the Turk, sir. It is very untidy."
Murray had a little more to add, saying that the Russians had built a large fleet in recent years, modern square-riggers copied from both England and France. They had, in fact, bought ships from each country and had probably taken their measurements from them.
"They was used to be officered almost wholly out of Scotland, sir, but far less in recent years. The word I have seen is that the officers come in two sorts. The younger sons of the great aristocracy, who are almost without exception useless but must be employed, normally on shore; and sons and brothers of the lesser, rural lords who have to make a living and are often prepared to work hard and can make outstanding seamen."
"What of the men, Mr Murray?"
"Conscripts, almost without exception, often criminals. Badly fed, worse paid, brutally beaten; sometimes loyal to a good officer, more often slovenly seamen, drunk and unwilling. The men prevent the Russian navy from becoming a major power, as it should be simply by its numbers."
"The serf mentality at sea, I presume. It hardly works on land, from all I am told. I would not wish to be hard-pressed in a storm with men such as that to rely on. Do you have any knowledge of their gunnery?"
"Powder is in short supply, sir, that I do know. The Russians cast their own guns in the arsenals, using craftsmen hired from the Germanies. I believe the guns are good, but I am sure that the men will be unpractised, will be slow and unsure in pointing them."
Frederick was pleased to hear that - Trident's gunnery was good.
"Then hold to four cables distant and pound them with aimed broadsides will be a good way of going about them, Mr Murray. If they cannot aim straight then a distant action will be much to our advantage. Of course, being allies, no action at all will be even better!"
They had no course for the Russians or French, other than 'south' which was a little vague, Frederick felt.
"Rhodes, sir, would be my advice - we could, if all else failed, make a courtesy call on the Turk to inform them that the French invaders had been removed from their soil. We really should do so, and without too much delay, sir, so that the Greeks will not be able to fortify against their return."
Frederick was taken aback - he had thought they wanted to weaken the Turk, said so to Murray.
"Yes, sir, we do, but to our advantage exclusively. A Greek island, independent and piratical, might not serve our purposes at all. It will be as well that the Turks should keep all of their possessions, over-stretched and militarily at their wits' end, so that in time we can roll them up and take what we want and make the rest into a mass of tiny states of no power at all but in a continual uproar, Catholics and Orthodox at each other’s throats, to make the Austrians and Russians upset and at loggerheads."
They set course for Rhodes, Frederick increasingly sure that he had no love for this commission.
Trident made her call at Rhodes, the Ottoman authorities unwelcoming but remaining short of actual hostility. There was no water to be had.
Murray
returned from the shore where he had taken their compliments, carrying a brief note from the Bey.
"Translated, sir, he offers thanks for our action in removing the French but points out that we have no business conducting war on the territory of a neutral state. He would appreciate our early departure. Due to plague in the port he is unable to permit shore leave for our people or allow the purchase of any supplies.
"Is that true, Mr Murray?"
"Not very, sir."
"Afternoon tide?"
"That would be best, sir. By an arranged coincidence I was escorted to the quay by an officer from the sloop tied up there."
Frederick peered at the sloop - a modern ship in style, with Western European lines, but dirty, untidy, poorly cared for. Despite being tied up with no more than a harbour watch aboard, the sails were furled in the bunt - roughly bundled up to the yards as if in response to an emergency in a storm. The yards themselves were all of a mess, no attempt made to square them to give a tidy appearance. At best it smacked of laziness or of a captain who did not know what to do and officers who were equally incapable; most likely it was an inefficient ship, one that would sail and fight badly. It showed as well that the port authorities did not care, which was information worth knowing in itself. A ship should reflect national pride - perhaps this one did.
"The lieutenant is only a junior officer, but his father's brother is of some importance and so he is well in with the people here. The Bey wishes to fight the French invaders but is under strictest orders not to take any losses that might undermine a possible defence of Rhodes. He has taken most of the gunners from the sloop and the smaller galleys in harbour and put them to the big guns around the harbour. Old guns, brass pieces that can fire only seven or eight times in a day for fear of melting the barrels, but they throw a stone ball of as much as two hundred pounds, and fire very straight and there are, he says, twenty of them in batteries of two or four."
"Firing together, each battery in turn, they could probably keep a fleet at bay, especially in the light winds we have experienced of late. Did your man say anything about the Russians?"
"They have been seen to the south, three frigates, he said, 'though of different sizes', I quote."
"A mix of frigates and sloops - they would not stand up to one of the big French ships, I suspect, but they might do some damage in a fight."
"He says as well that there is a fear that the Russians are scouting the way for their whole Mediterranean fleet to descend upon some one of the Islands - Rhodes or Crete, even Cyprus - and turn it into a Russian colony. If, the lieutenant said, the Russians were to agree a neutrality with Austria and then to negotiate a passage across their lands for an army, then they could set a garrison onto a captured island that would be impossible to remove."
"Is that at all likely, Mr Murray?"
"It was not two months ago, when last I was up to date with the winds of European politics. But who knows what may happen as the Powers position themselves to end this war in the best possible posture for the next. The fear must be, sir, that Russia and Austria could agree to carve up the Ottoman Empire between them, throwing Egypt and the Levant to the French as a sop to their ambition, and to annoy the English. An alternative is for either to make treaties with the Ottomans, taking them as allies; but they can never be trusted - even less so than the French or the English or each other."
"And so your advice, Mr Murray?"
"Is to set sail, sir, and see what may be found over the southern horizon, and if there are no witnesses, then sink it!"
Water was the problem. Trident had sufficient left for a month at full ration, provided none of the casks were spoiled, and they must allow not less than two weeks to reach Malta in case of adverse winds. They could not perform a thorough search of the local seas for the Russians or the French, they lacked the time.
"Two days to the south, Mr Nias, long legs to each tack, and then we must rejoin Mr Backham and withdraw to Malta, leaving the Frogs and the Russkis to their little games, whatever they may be."
An hour after noon, two bells just sounded, and the look-outs called a sail to the south-east, a ship carrying topgallants.
"A national ship, not a merchantman, Mr Nias."
The wind was light and southerly and the unknown had the weather gage. Assuming that she was at least as fast through the water as Trident and was competently sailed then she would keep that advantage.
"Furled t'gallants, sir!"
The other ship was choosing to hold aloof, would not close them, and Trident could not headreach on her.
"Up with the telescope, Mr Fox."
It would give the boy a taste of responsibility, and he was sufficiently reliable to perform the task.
"Hull down, sir, except sometimes when she is on the rise... Single deck, sir. Big frigate, sir... at least twenty ports, sir. Hoisting colours... French, sir. Mainsail patched, sir, and two, might be three, stretches of bulwarks without paint, sir, new timbers. Men on a stage over the side, I think, sir, just starting to work where they've pulled a cover off."
"Able to get men over the side now that they've lost speed, sir," Nias commented.
The Frenchman had been in action, had taken some damage but was obviously not crippled. She had no consort in company.
"Sloop sunk or bringing in a prize, Mr Nias? What say you, Mr Merritt?"
"Knowing that the Levant convoy is in these waters and that a squadron at least of the Mediterranean fleet will be out, irrespective of any other Russians - assuming that's who they met - then I would keep sloop and prize both under my wing, sir. If the sloop is not scouting out on the far horizon, just within signalling range, then I suggest she is gone, sir."
Nias nodded - he would have said the same, though in fewer words.
"Close the Frog, Mr Merritt, if she will permit us to do so. I do not expect her to, so we can do no more than shut the door to the north, prevent her from joining her consorts, if that is her intent. If she has a rendezvous to keep then we can be a nuisance, possibly persuade her to attack to get us out of the way. In all probabilities she will sit there till nightfall, out of range and able to change course unobserved as soon as it is full dark. Go up and have a look, if you would be so good, Mr Nias, and take the opportunity to make a full sweep, see if the boy has missed anything."
Frederick pored over the charts of the Eastern Mediterranean for an hour; at the end of that time he was no wiser than he had first been. The Frenchman had been somewhere to the south and east and had been heading towards the north and west, might have come from the vicinity of Crete or Cyprus, could be returning to her base - unaware that the English had taken it - or, just as likely, she could be making for a point off one of the other islands where she would expect to rejoin the flotilla. He made an entry in his Log, fuller than was usual because he expected to lose contact during the night, and have explanations to make when he returned to Malta. He did not expect to be called shy, but his competence would be queried and a very nasty report could follow.
'Not a court-martial matter', he mused, 'but I could come out looking like a fool'.
He was a political being, because of his connections, and could make a very useful scapegoat - though not of Admiral Byng proportions for this affair.
Nias came back on deck, eventually. It was a warm, sunny day - very pleasant up high.
"Forty-four gun heavy frigate, sir. At least one broadside piece disabled - two ports battered into one. That must mean splinters flying, so we may assume that she took casualties, sir. No evidence of damage to masts, so an opponent who fired low into the hull, which might mean British, though I do not know what Russian practice is."
None of the lieutenants seemed aware that the Russians practiced at all.
"Well sailed, sir - no great taking in and out of sails and reefs to keep her at the distance her captain wants. He has found his balance very quickly and is keeping to it. He will, I suspect, be able to hold the gage - he does not feel like a man who will make
mistakes, sir."
"A pity - it was simpler at the beginning of this war, Mr Nias, but even Frogs learn, given time. Let there be every appearance of great anxiety to close, sir, setting whatever sail seems most enthusiastic, trying our very hardest. Moon rises nearly two hours after dusk tonight, and we shall hold our course during the period of darkness and then off to rejoin Mr Backham and if all is well with him then we shall proceed in company to Malta. If he is already gone, then we shall salute whatever is present and follow him."
The sun set and night fell, all perfectly normally. Trident changed from day to night routine as was to be expected, men at the guns until the twilight was finally gone.
"With respect, sir, might I make a suggestion?"
Nias was at his most formal, somewhat to Frederick's surprise.
"Of course, Mr Nias. The master may always do so."
"Not strictly in the line of my business, sir. I wish to recommend, sir, that we remain closed up for action and keep lookouts to the mastheads, sir. Two each, in fact, so that a message can be run down to the deck rather than hailed, sir. All night, sir."
Lookouts were posted on deck at night, there being little to see at a distance in the dark hours.
"Half moon tonight, sir. Cloud clearing - it might be possible to pick out sails at a mile, sir."
"You propose that we should try to close the Frog as soon as the moon rises, Mr Nias?"
"No, sir. Well-sailed, and enterprising, she might have it in mind to attempt us, sir, during the period of darkness. A heavy frigate who will have seen us to be single decked but may not have been able to get a count of our guns, being to the west of her, against the sun. She could well be of the opinion that we are no more than an ordinary thirty-two or thirty-six gun ship, carrying twelve- or eighteen-pounders of a probability."
"Make it so, Mr Merritt. Inform the gunner and purser. Men to sleep at the guns. A hot drink and a bite at a convenient hour, if you would be so good."
A few minutes passed and the bulk of the people decided that nothing was about to happen and the gun-captains very quietly split their crews into two watches, one to sleep, the other to remain alert, two hours about.
Fortune And Glory (The Duty and Destiny Series, Book 5) Page 8