The next shock of the day came when the sun was over its zenith, an order to Toby Burns to repair aboard HMS Brilliant, Captain John Taberly, there to assume the duties of an Acting Lieutenant, where the order added, he might learn to occupy the rank before it was officially gifted to him. Having become accustomed to the ease of life aboard Tarvit he was far from pleased but the only choice he had was to accept or refuse the appointment, with what consequences in the latter scenario he could not begin to discern.
The reality of his position hit home and hard; if he had got to be a passed midshipman by chicanery he was now about to be faced with carrying out the duties he was supposed to have mastered. Taberly he did not know but other officers aboard Brilliant had been more inclined to seek to educate than to remonstrate and then there was a crew, many of whom must still be present. Hotham was dropping him in the steep tub again! As he gathered his possessions it was with something less than eager anticipation.
Hotham was with the youngster’s new captain, a courtesy he would have extended to anyone being elevated to a rated ship and in the rather stilted conversation he was trying to assess the man and wondering how to broach the subject he wished to raise. Given no opening he was obliged to just speak out.
‘You were in Leghorn about a month past were you not?’
Hotham was glad to see the slight stiffening as he responded. ‘That is true, sir.’
‘And I believe you became involved in a rather unfortunate affair.’ Now the man had gone rigid. ‘I received a written complaint from a Major Lipton, Captain Taberly, who told me he duelled with a Lieutenant John Pearce, a calling out that you witnessed.’
The reply took several seconds to be volunteered. ‘Yes, sir.’
‘You did not see fit to interfere and put a stop to it?’
‘No, sir, and nor could I have done.’
‘Even if it was your duty to do so, duelling being forbidden by Royal Decree.’ Taberly shook his head but held his gaze steady, which impressed the admiral. The man would fight his corner. ‘I am informed that Pearce did not behave as an officer of the King’s Navy should.’
‘He did not, sir, if anything he disgraced the service.’
Hotham nodded slowly, before pinning the real point for which he was aiming. ‘Major Lipton alluded to something that took place after the fight was concluded.’ That caused Taberly to flush deep red as Hotham added. ‘You were, I am told, struck by an inferior officer, which you did not report.’
The Adam’s apple moved, as Taberly gulped, yet there was nothing in the tone of his voice to indicate the anxiety he must now be feeling; if an admiral could give him a ship he could take it away. ‘Since you know the facts sir, there is nothing more for me to say.’
‘It pleased me you do not deny it, but let us move on to other matters. I intend to place aboard your new command a young fellow who has just successfully past the examination for lieutenant. It does, of course, have to be confirmed by the Comptroller of the Navy Board, which will take several weeks.’
‘The name of the young man, sir?’
‘Burns.’ Hotham watched for the reaction, which came as nothing more than a flick of the eyelids; little passed in San Fiorenzo Bay that did not soon become common knowledge, given the endemic ship visiting of a fleet at anchor. A specially arranged examination for one candidate was so unusual as to be remarked upon, so the name of the sitter was known and that must have led to talk of the way Hotham had favoured this particular youngster in the past.
‘He is a young man I fear I have somewhat overindulged. You may hear from others what that consists of. In placing him with you I want you to be sure he is put to his proper duty. As a passed midshipman he may occupy in an acting capacity the lowest of the lieutenant’s tasks aboard Brilliant, which by the way, he served on before.’
‘Indeed?’
‘Suffice to say I want a close eye kept upon him and to be regularly informed of his progress. Also he has been engaged in some questionable correspondence and associations from which I see it as my duty to protect him. In this I will require your assistance.’
‘I will be only too happy to assist, sir.’
‘Good, Captain Taberly.’
When the man left Hotham could guess what he would do; beard anyone he knew aboard the flagship and enquire about Burns, in which he would learn chapter and verse about how he had been favoured. That should tell him to keep a close eye on Burns. As soon as Taberly left Toomey entered to be told how the interview had progressed.
‘That, we can be sure, is one ship John Pearce will not be visiting.’
‘I would suggest, Sir William,’ Toomey insisted, ‘that apart from the orders you will give him in writing, it would be a good idea to talk to Lieutenant Digby in private, as you have done with Taberly.’
‘Verbal instructions?’
‘Which can be recalled in the manner in which you wish.’
‘I am minded to ask Holloway to undertake the duties of captain of the fleet, which will shift a burden from both our shoulders.’
‘Until Sir Hyde returns?’
‘I have a feeling, Toomey that Sir Hyde Parker will not wish to serve in close proximity to me. He is too much Hood’s man.’
There was a bit of a gleam in Toomey’s eye as he responded, an appreciation that his employer was, for once, thinking clearly. ‘Which means the written orders come from Holloway?’
Hotham nodded. ‘Best send for Digby.’
To be called to the flagship was the last thing that particular officer wanted; he had far too much to do in sorting out his new command but it was an instruction that brooked no delay and it was with a quick decision that he appointed an experienced seaman called Tilley, as his coxswain, his job to take charge of an equally hastily assembled boat crew who soon got their rhythm and cut down on the spume coming in over the thwarts. There was joy too when Tilley yelled out Flirt to tell the officer of the watch who was coming aboard, that somewhat dampened by the ribald comments that came out of the lower deck gun ports in association with the name.
A master and commander merited little in the way of ceremony and soon Digby found himself outside the admiral’s cabin awaiting instructions to enter, his nerves on edge for the very good reason that folk below the rank of post captain were rarely called to see the admiral. Besides the whole thing was new to him. It relaxed him not at all to enter and observe that Hotham, seated at his table, had upon it not only charts and papers, but also a bottle of wine and two glasses.
‘Mr Digby, I welcome you. And can I say that it gives me great pleasure to promote deserving officers. It is one of the chief joys of command, of which I have to tell you there are precious few.’
Digby was tempted to ask him why the hell he had promoted a sod like Taberly, but it was not one that lasted long. ‘I hope I can justify the trust you have put in me, sir.’
‘Did I not do so before, when I sent you to Biscay? That was a mission well fulfilled, was it not?’
That made Digby swallow hard; he suspected, as did John Pearce, that he had been given the task to get him out of the way. What came to mind then was that letter he had got from a lawyer called Lucknor and the question it posed. Who had been aboard HMS Brilliant the night Pearce had been pressed and who had been out hunting with the press gang?
He had thought about not answering but finally decided to do so; after all he had been left aboard the frigate. But he declined to say who had gone out with Captain Barclay, pleading lack of recollection, for to do so would drop the then Midshipman Farmiloe in the potential soup. Realising Hotham was still waiting for an answer; he gave one in the affirmative.
‘Hard to go from that and back into a ship of the line, what?’
Harder than you think was what he reckoned, what he said was, ‘I go where my duty takes me sir.’
‘Please, Mr Digby, sit down,’ Hotham said, pouring two glasses of wine as he complied. ‘Italian, I’m afraid, supplies of claret being hard to secure.’
‘I drank nothing else in Leghorn, sir, and found it very palatable.’
‘Ah yes, Leghorn. Mr Digby, I have to tell you that I received a complaint from a certain Major Lipton. The name is, I think, familiar to you?’
‘With regret, sir, it is.’
‘It pleases me that you do not equivocate, which seems to be the manner of too many young officers. Perhaps you would like to explain the connection.’
Digby took a sip of wine before complying and when he spoke he did so hoping the tremor in his voice was not noticeable, about how Pearce had asked him to act as his second, he agreeing on the grounds there was no one else. That no amount of offered apologies seemed acceptable to Lipton though many had been made.
‘He is a man of high passions, is he not?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Then it would be hard to hold against an officer the need to aid another. Please know that I asked only for clarification because a certain incident followed on from that encounter and I wonder if you know of it?’
‘Incident, sir?’ Digby asked, looking perplexed and convincingly so.
‘Yes, apparently certain insults were directed to a lady in whose company Pearce was met. It ended with a serious assault on Lipton and his officers.’
‘This is the first I have heard of it, sir.’
‘Did you come across the lady in question?’
That got a furious shake of the head. ‘No sir.’
‘Well, we shall rest the matter there. We both know that duelling is forbidden but I will not make an issue of it. All I will say is you should, if you can, avoid acting as anyone’s second again.’
‘I will most certainly take that advice, sir.’
‘Good. You will shortly receive orders for the Adriatic. There is an important task of some delicacy to be carried out there and I want to add for you certain facts. I wish you to take a message, it will be from me and in writing, to a certain Mehmet Pasha, who holds power on behalf of Constantinople in old Illyria and specifically in the Gulf of Ambracia. You will not know of it.’
‘No, sir.’
‘Damn fine anchorage I am informed, could hold an entire fleet if we ever needed to seal those waters.’ Digby looked at Hotham as if willing him to continue in the same vein, but the subject was switched. ‘Intelligence from various sources, not least the Austrians, tells me he’s a bit of a rogue this Mehmet and I fear he might be playing ducks and drakes with the French. He needs to be sharply reminded that the power in the Mediterranean lies with the combined fleets of ourselves and Spain.’
Hotham spun round the chart on his table and placed a finger on the gulf in question, a circular bight with a tight set of narrows that suggested an extinct volcano. Beside it lay a map of the surrounding land, with towns and rivers marked to which the admiral alluded, pointing out a place called Koronsia where the Turk occupied an old fortress and from where he ran his satrapy, both of which Digby was to take with him on leaving.
‘Greed is at the heart of the matter, of course. He will love money, being a Turk.’
‘Can we match the French?’
‘I’m dammed if I will accede to that. If we proceed in the subsidy line we will get fleeced. No, it must be made plain to him that he is risking everything he possesses and I will give you a letter telling him so. How’s your French?’
‘Poor, sir.’
‘Well in that case we will need to send with you someone who has the facility. You heard about the verdict at Mr Pearce’s court martial?’
‘I was present, sir.’
‘Were you by damn. To support him once more?’
‘No, sir, mere curiosity.’
‘Well his acquittal presented me with a problem for I cannot just reinstate him to another command and nor do I think he would suit a place in a ship of the line. Too independent a character, which would only lead to another court. He has, as you know, excellent French, which is Mehmet Pasha’s second tongue?’
‘You’re proposing he should come along?’
‘Two birds with one stone, Digby. The fleet is short of officers and so are you. Mr Pearce can fulfil a dual role as your premier and the fellow to press home my message to our Turkish Satrap.’
Digby did not dislike John Pearce yet he wanted to object; he was a mite headstrong and then there was a gulf between them on many matters, not least religion and that included Mrs Barclay. But there was no gainsaying Hotham, the admiral would get what he wanted.
‘I wish to request another person to stand watch, sir, perhaps a mid with some sea time.’
‘I fear I cannot indulge you, Mr Digby, every vessel is short.’ That got an unhappy nod; he would be obliged to stand watch himself. ‘I would appreciate some indication of when you will be ready to weigh?’
Digby was not fooled by the avuncular way that was said and there was, for any naval officer, only one response. ‘I will raise anchor as soon as I receive my orders, sir.’
‘Then I will write my message to Mehmet Pasha right away and if you call upon Captain Holloway he will present you with your orders. He is now captain of the fleet.’
There was hard tone at the end of that, one that imparted it was time to go so Digby stood up, thanking Hotham effusively, but he wasn’t finished.
‘One more thing, Mr Digby, I am all for the taking of prizes and for enterprise and gallantry in my officers. If I admonish you on one thing, while I would not want you to ignore opportunity if it arises, do not let a fellow who has just lost a ship, in a somewhat unconventional manner, entice you into doing the same. There is a difference between being brave and being rash.’
Which was as good as way as any for the admiral to say he was certain the court had got it wrong. ‘I will bear that in mind, sir.’
‘The primacy of this task cannot be overstated.’
‘Sir.’
‘That will be all.’ As Digby made for the door, Hotham added with the distracted air of something forgotten that should not be. ‘Oh, and there will be despatches for Naples.’
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
‘Lied to me about Mrs Barclay, of course, which I will not forget. But I think I can safely say that I have given young Digby certain markers he will not miss. I doubt if he sees a Spanish Plate Ship taking in water he will risk HMS Flirt.’
‘They are our allies, sir.’
‘Irony, Toomey,’ Hotham responded wearily. ‘Are you ready for the next stage?’
‘I am,’ replied the Irishman, ‘but I will still wonder if it would be better coming from you.’
‘Don’t agree. Pearce knows I don’t like him and he also would dearly love to see me forced to justify my actions over Barclay. Anything I offer him will be seen as a poisoned chalice and I think even from you he will be guarded.’
‘Hence the despatches for Naples?’
‘Exactly, and if it is Palermo I am sure the sod will contrive some way to get Digby to call there. Then Sir William Hamilton may get his wish and find a powerful British warship in the Tyrrhenian Sea, albeit for a very short time, long enough for Mrs Barclay to be found and returned to her rightful station.’
‘I cannot see even then that Captain Barclay will find the task easy. Any woman who has run so far will not be biddable.’
‘All I can do is gift him an opportunity. After that it is up to him how things work out.’
Though he berthed elsewhere, Toomey ate in the wardroom and that was where he found John Pearce, who looked at him in an expectant way to receive in response a shake of the head.
‘But I can tell you one piece of news that will please you. The men from Larcher have been shifted as a body.’
‘Admiral Hotham agreed to that?’
‘It is not a subject with which he would concern himself. In the absence of a captain of the fleet I undertook to make it so.’
‘Why thank you, Mr Toomey.’
To say that John Pearce was perplexed was an understatement; he had never seen this fellow as a friendly sort, quite the reverse. Al
so it seemed, right of this moment the Irishman was somewhat on edge.
‘Perhaps a turn around the deck, Mr Pearce?’ The clerk tapped his earlobe, which obviated the need to say why.
‘If you wish.’
Out on deck the way the weather had changed was very obvious, the ship hauling against her anchor on what was a lively swell. The long spell of good weather was over; there was a blanket of cloud overhead as well as a telling and far from warm wind.
‘I hope this breeze does not discomfit you.’
Such a comment, clearly some kind of preamble, only served to make a cautious John Pearce even more wary. ‘Not at all. Is it not you who is more likely to have an aversion to the elements, which makes you being here somewhat odd?’
‘I admit to the truth,’ Toomey answered with a smile that was quickly followed by a frown. ‘I have a favour to ask of you.’
‘In return for the Larchers?’
‘You see through my attempts at subterfuge, sir.’
Not much of that in evidence, Pearce thought, but it was not worth saying. ‘What kind of favour?’
‘One that involves your knowledge of French.’
‘I have a sudden sense that Lord Hood is still with us in spirit if not in person.’
‘The reasons are the same and if he were still present he might well ask you for the same favour. There is a mission to undertake in which the facility with the language would be an asset to back up a written message. No, not an asset, a necessity, since it may well lead to some form of negotiation and that requires a degree of discernment.’
That got a wry look from John Pearce; he was unsure if that was a quality he possessed.
‘The task is to call upon a certain Turkish Satrap who controls the Eastern Adriatic to warn him, or perhaps advise him would be a better way of putting it, that the way he is dallying with our enemies is not only unhelpful but for him precarious. The French are making overtures to him and he is we are told, tempted by their blandishments.’
The Devil to Pay (John Pearce series) Page 20