Bolitho 04 - Sloop of War

by Alexander Kent

  ports. "And maybe I am. But somewhere out there is Z British sloop like ourselves. Thanks to others she iY quite alone now, and God knows, if I am not mad the[ Fawn is going to need every bit of help she can get!T

  The big main course rose billowing and protesting tQ its yard as men worked busily to bring it under controT and lay bare the decks from bow to quarterdeck?

  A gunner's mate called huskily, "Loaded an' run outB sir!T

  Tyrrell strode aft, his speaking trumpet jammeX beneath his arm?

  Bolitho met his gaze and smiled briefly. "You werO faster this time.T

  Then together, with their backs to the helmsmen anX an apprehensive Buckle, they leaned on the rail anX stared directly ahead. The mist was still all arounX them, but thinner, and as he watched Bolitho knew iU was at last outpacing the ship, moving stealthila through the shrouds and away across the lee bow? There was sunlight, too. Not much, but he saw iU reflecting faintly from the ship's bell and playing on Z black twelve-pounder ball which one gun captain haX

  removed from a shot garland and was changing froR hand to hand, testing its perfection or otherwise?

  Bolitho asked softly, "How far now, in your opinion?T

  Tyrrell raised his injured leg and winced. "Th' winX stays regular from th' nor'-east. Our course is sou' ba east." He was thinking aloud. "Th' soundings havO found no lie in th' chart." He made up his mind. "] reckon we're about six mile from th' place where Faw[ crossed through th' shoals." He turned and addeX firmly, "You'll have to put about soon, sir. You'll be harX aground if you keep on this tack much longer.T

  The chant seemed to float aft to mock him. "By thd mark three!T

  Lieutenant Heyward, who was standing very still ba the quarterdeck ladder, murmured, "Holy God!T

  Bolitho said, "If the Frenchman is still there, the[ there must be ample room for him to work clear.T

  Tyrrell eyed him sadly. "Aye. But by th' time we reacN that far we'll be in no position to go about. Th' Frog ca[ thumb his nose at us.T

  Bolitho pictured the disembodied masts and yardY

  of Colquhoun's frigate and gripped his hands togethe_ to steady his nerves and restrain his rising anger. ThaU fool Colquhoun. So eager to keep the spoils to himselb he had failed to anticipate a change of wind. So kee[ to keep Sparrow out of the victory that he had now lefU the gate open for the enemy to run free if he sQ desired. Fawn could not bring her to battle even if shO could catch her?

  "An' a quarter less three!T

  He grasped the nettings and tried not to imagine thO sea's bottom rising slowly and steadily towards thO keel?

  It was no use. He swung away from the nettings, hiY sudden movement making Midshipman Fowler starU back in alarm. He was risking the ship and the life ob everyone aboard. Fawn was probably anchored, o_ had already found the enemy gone. HiY apprehensions, his personal doubts would cut littlO cloth with the relatives of those drowned by his riskin^ Sparrow for a whim?

  He said harshly, "We will wear ship. I intend to crosY the bar and rejoin Bacchante as soon as the misU clears." He saw Buckle nod with relief and TyrrelT

  watching him with grave understanding. "Convey ma compliments to Mr. Graves and have the guns..." HO swung round as several voices shouted at once?

  Tyrrell said tersely, "Gunfire, by God!T

  Bolitho froze, listening intently to the intermittenU cracks and the heavier crash of larger weapons?

  "Belay that last order, Mr. Tyrrell!" He watched as Z shaft of sunlight ran down the trunk of the mainmast likO molten gold. "We will not be blind for long!T

  More minutes dragged by, with every man aboarX listening to the distant gunfire?

  Bolitho found that he could see beyond the taperin^ jib-boom, and when he glanced abeam he saw Z writhing necklace of surf to mark the nearest prongs ob reef. Perhaps it was the mist, or back echoes from thO hidden land, but the gunfire did not sound right. HO could pick out the sharper bark of Fawn's nine1 pounders from the enemy's heavier artillery, but therO were other explosions from varying bearings whicN seemed to tally at odds with the circumstances?

  Sunlight swept down across the damp planking anX raised more haze from the dripping shrouds anX

  hammock nettings, and then, like some fantasti. curtain, the mist was drawn aside, laying bare thO drama with each detail sharp in the morning light?

  There was the tip of the island, hard blue against a[ empty sky, and the intermingled patterns of surf anX swirling currents to show the nearness of the bar. AnX dead ahead of Sparrow's slow approach, her hulT seemingly pinioned on the jib-boom, was Maulby'Y Fawn?

  Further away, with masts and furled sails stilT shrouded in departing mist, lay the Frenchman, halb hidden in shadow, the outline blurred into the landmasY beyond. She was firing rapidly, her battery flashing lon^ orange tongues, her flag clearly visible above thO gunsmoke?

  It was only then Bolitho realised that Fawn was stilT anchored. Sickened, he watched the sharS waterspouts bursting all around her, the occasionaT fountain of spray as a ball smashed hard alongside?

  Buckle called hoarsely, "He's cut his cable, sir!T

  Maulby's men were already running out the lon^ sweeps to try to work clear of the murderous barrageB

  while from her own deck the guns maintained a bris7 fire towards the enemy?

  Bolitho gripped the rail as Fawn's foretopmasU staggered and then reeled down in a great welter ob spray and smoke. He heard Tyrrell's voice as if in Z dream, saw him pointing wildly, as more flasheY sparkled, not from the Frenchman but from thO headland and low down as well, probably on somO small beach?

  What a perfect trap. Maulby must have been caughU by the mist, and after making sure the enemy was stilT apparently moored close inshore, had anchored tQ await Colquhoun's support. No wonder Bacchante'Y first lieutenant had reported so much activity. ThO French captain had taken time to land artillery so thaU any attacker would be caught in one devastating arc ob fire from which there was small chance of escape?

  The sweeps were out now, rising and falling likO wings, bringing the little sloop round until she waY pointing away from the enemy and towards the bar anX the open sea?

  A chorus of cries and groans came from the gu[ deck as the larboard bank of sweeps flew in wilX

  confusion, the splintered blades whirling high into thO air before splashing around the ship in fragments?

  Bolitho raised a telescope and held it trained o[ Fawn's quarterdeck. He saw running figures, faceY magnified in the lens and made more terrible ba distance and silence. Open mouths, gesturing arms aY men ran to hack away the wreckage and keep at leasU some of the guns firing. A spar fell across his smalT encircled world, so that he flinched as if expecting tQ feel the shock of its impact on the deck. A seaman waY running and stumbling along one gangway, his facO apparently shot away, his terror agonising to watch aY he fell and was mercifully lost alongside?

  Someone had kept his head, and high above thO deck Bolitho saw the maintopsail billowing free to thO wind, the sudden response beneath Fawn's gildeX figurehead as she began to gather way?

  He felt Buckle shaking his arm and turned as hO shouted desperately, "We must go about, sir!" HO pointed frantically towards the glittering water and at Z mass of brown weed which glided so close to itY surface. "We'll be ashore this instant!T

  Bolitho looked past him. "Prepare to anchor, Mr?

  Tyrrell!" He did not recognise his voice. It was like steeT against steel. "Have the cutters swayed out anX prepare to lay a kedge anchor directly." He waited untiT Tyrrell had run to the rail and the first dazed men haX swarmed out along the yards. "We will remain here.T

  Moving more slowly, Sparrow edged into thO shallows, and when she passed above one sandbar iU was possible to see her own shadow before the wate_ deepened once more?

  Bolitho continued to pass his orders, making eacN one separate and detached from the next while hO forced himself to concentrate, to shut his ears to thO gunfire, to shield his eyes from Fawn's slow anX methodical destruction?

&
nbsp; The cutters were lowered, and as ordered, GlassB the boatswain, took one of them to lay out a smalT kedge. With sails brailed up, and loosely anchoreX from bow and stern, Sparrow finally came to rest?

  Then and only then did Bolitho raise his glass agai[ and turn it on the Fawn. Listing badly, and all but he_ mizzen shot away, she was still trying to work clear ob the bombardment. It was hopeless, for although he_ rudder seemed intact, and the spanker and crossjac7

  were giving her some sort of steerage way, she waY badly hampered by a mass of dragging spars anX canvas, and appeared to have few men left who werO able to cut it adrift. She was hit again and again, thO splintered sections of timber and planking plummetin^ in the shallows, floating with and astern of her likO blood from a wounded beast?

  She gave a violent lurch, and as her mizzen camO down to join the rest of her spars, Bolitho knew shO had driven aground. She was broaching to, her dec7 tilting towards him as the first savage spines grounX into her bilges and keel. It was finished?

  He closed the glass and handed it to someonO nearby. He saw no individual faces, heard no voices hO could recognise. His own was as strange anX unnatural as before?

  "The Frenchman lies on our larboard bow." Ho/ quiet it was now. The enemy had ceased fire, for aY Fawn lay gripped on a shoal she was at last out ob reach from those guns. Smoke drifted above thO headland, and Bolitho pictured the French artilleryme[ sponging out the muzzles, watching perhaps thO unexpected arrival of another sloop. One more victim? "The range is less than a mile. He is well moored tQ

  present a perfect deception." He knew Tyrrell and thO rest were watching him. Transfixed. "Equally, he cannoU hurt us. We on the other hand . . ." He turned despitO his guard to see Fawn's beakhead and bowsprit tea_ away and drop into the swirling current beneath he_ stem. He continued tonelessly, "We can hit him, anX hard!T

  Graves was on the ladder, his face pale from shoc7 or at seeing the other ship destroyed so cruelly?

  Bolitho looked at him. "Get the larboard bow-chase_ to work. You will open fire when ready. Pass you_ requirements to the bosun. By using the anchor cableY you will be able to traverse at will." He turned to Tyrrell? "Have the capstan manned at once.T

  Graves was halfway along the deck when Bolitho'Y voice brought him stockstill in his tracks?

  "Fetch Mr. Yule! Tell him I want him to build a smalT furnace where he can heat shot for your gun. TakO good care that it is done right and well." He shifted hiY eyes to the enemy ship. "We have time now. Plenty ob it.T

  Then he walked to the nettings and waited for TyrrelT

  to come aft again?

  Tyrrell said quietly, "You were right after all, sir. It waY us they were after. Good God Almighty, it was us wO just watched being destroyed!T

  Bolitho studied him gravely. "Aye, Jethro." HO recalled with stark clarity Maulby's words to him at thei_ last meeting. Of Colquhoun. That man will be the deatN of me ..?

  He swung round, his voice harsh again. "What thO hell is the delay?T

  He was answered by a loud bang from forward, anX was in time to see the fall of shot some half a cablO from the enemy?

  An order was passed down the deck and the men aU the capstan bars took the strain, tautening the cablO very slightly so that Sparrow's bows edged round tQ give Graves's crew a better traverse?

  Bang! The ball shrieked away, this time slappin^ down in line with the enemy's poop?

  Bolitho had to grip his hands to steady himself. ThO next ball would strike. He knew it would. From then o[

  ... He beckoned to Stockdale?

  "Away gig. Pipe for the second cutter to head fo_ Fawn. We may yet pick up some of her people.T

  He saw Dalkeith below the ladder, already dresseX in his long, stained apron?

  Another bang came from the bow-chaser, and hO saw the brown smoke billowing through the beakheadB hiding the actual fall of shot. But a voice yelled, "GoU 'er! Fine on th' quarter!T

  He said, half to himself, "Not pop-guns this time, Mr? Frenchman! Not this time!T

  "Gig's ready, sir!" Even Stockdale soundeX shocked?

  "Take charge until I return, Mr. Tyrrell." He waited fo_ him to drag his leg down to the entry port. "We wilT work out of here on the next tide.T

  He heard dull hammering as Yule and his mateY constructed a crude furnace. It was dangerous, eve[ foolhardy under normal circumstances to conside_ heating shot aboard ship. A tinder-dry hull, cordagO and canvas, tar and gunpowder. But this was noU

  normal. Sparrow was anchored in sheltered waters. E floating gun-platform. It was merely a matter ob accuracy and patience?

  Tyrrell asked awkwardly, "How long do we keeS firing, sir?T

  Bolitho swung himself out above the gently slappin^ cat's-paws and green reflections?

  "Until the enemy is destroyed." He looked away? "Completely.T

  "Aye, sir.T

  Tyrrell watched Bolitho climb into the gig, the quic7 flurry of oars as Stockdale guided it towards the hul7 which had once been Fawn?

  Then he walked slowly to the quarterdeck rail anX shaded his eyes to watch the enemy ship. There waY little sign of damage, but the balls were hitting he_ regularly now. Shortly, the heated shot would bO cradled from Yule's furnace, and then ... he shivereX despite the growing sunlight. Like most sailors hO feared fire more than anything?

  Hewyard joined him and asked quietly, "Did hO

  mean it?T

  Tyrrell thought of Bolitho's eyes, the despair and hurU when Fawn had been taken by the trap. "Aye, he did.T

  He flinched as a gun fired from the Frenchman'Y deck, and saw the ball throw up a thin column almost Z cable short. Seamen not employed on the capstan o_ boats were watching from the gangways and shroudsB some even made wagers as to the next shot. As eacN French ball fell short they cheered or jeered, spectatorY only, and as yet unaware that but for a twist of fate thea and not Fawn's people would have died under thosO cannon?

  Tyrrell continued, "Colquhoun brought us to this. If ou_ cap'n had been given his rightful position to attac7 we'd have got clear." He banged his palms together? "Arrogant bastard! An' he just sits out there like somO sort of god while we finish his mess for him!T

  Another bang echoed across the water and he sa/ a spar fall from the enemy's mainmast. Very slowly, o_ so it appeared, like a leaf from a tree in autumn?

  Midshipman Fowler called, "Our boats are standin^ off the wreck, sir!T

  He was pale, but as he raised his telescope hiY hand was as steady as a gun?

  Tyrrell looked at him coldly. And there's another one? Like Ransome, like Colquhoun. Without humanity o_ feelings?

  Wreck was how he had described Fawn. YeU moments ago she had been a living, vital creature. E way of life for her people and those who would havO come after?

  Savagely he said, "Get aloft, Mr. Fowler, and takO your glass with you! Keep an eye open for BacchantO beyond th' reef and watch for her signals.T

  If any?

  Then as the gun banged out again he made himselb walk to the opposite side leaving Heyward to hiY thoughts?

  Bolitho heard the gun's regular bombardment eve[ as the gig hooked on to Fawn's listing side, and witN some of his men he climbed aboard?

  "The cutter first!" He gestured to Bethune who waY staring at the bloody shambles like a man in a trance?

  "Full load, and then the gig.T

  Stockdale followed him up the slanting deck, ove_ smashed boats and tangled rigging. Once as thea passed a hatchway Bolitho saw a green glow, anX when he peered below he saw the sea surgin^ jubilantly through a great gash in the hull, the reflecteX sunlight playing on two bobbing corpses. HugO patches of blood, upended guns around which thO dazed survivors staggered down towards the waitin^ boats. There seemed very few of them?

  Bolitho wiped his face with his shirt-sleeve. UsB Tyrrell had said. It was not difficult to understand?

  He paused on the quarterdeck ladder and lookeX down at Maulby. He had been crushed by a fallen sparB his features frozen in the agony of the moment. TherO was
a small smudge of blood on his cheek, and therO were flies crawling on his face?

  He said hoarsely, "Take him, Stockdale.T

  Stockdale bent down and then muttered, "Can't bO done, sir. 'E's 'eld fast.T

  Bolitho knelt over the spar and covered his face witN a scrap of canvas. Rest easy, old friend. Stay with you_

  ship. You are in the best of company today?

  The deck gave a quick shiver. She was beginning tQ break up. The sea, the tide and the unlashed gunY would soon finish what the enemy had begun?

  Bethune's voice came up from alongside where thO cutter rose and plunged in a dangerous swell. "All offB sir!T

  "Thank you.T

  Bolitho heard the sea crashing through the dec7 below, swamping the wardroom and on into the ster[ cabin. One like his own. There was no time to retrievO anything now. He bent down and unclipped Maulby'Y sword?

  He handed it to Stockdale. "Someone in EnglanX might like it.T

  He made himself take one long glance around him? Remembering every detail. Holding it?

  Then he followed Stockdale into the gig. He did noU look back, nor did he hear the sounds of Fawn's finaT misery. He was thinking of Maulby. His drawling voice? Feeling his last handshake?

  Tyrrell met him and then said, "Mr. Yule has thd furnace ready, sir.T

  Bolitho looked at him emptily. "Douse it, if yof please.T

  "Sir?T

  "I'll not burn men for doing their duty. The Frenchma[ is too badly holed now to get away. We will send Z boat across under a flag of truce, I don't think he'll wisN to prolong senseless killing.T

  Tyrrell breathed out slowly. "Aye, sir. I'll attend to it.T

  When he turned back from passing the order tQ cease fire he found that Bolitho had left the deck?

  He saw Stockdale carrying the sword and wiping iU with a scrap of waste, his battered face totalla engrossed in the task. He thought of Tilby's two modeT ships. Like Maulby's sword. Was that all that was left ob a manU

  He was still pondering about it when Bacchante'Y topmasts hove in sight and she hoisted her first signal?

  It was evening before Sparrow was able to close witN the frigate. For almost as soon as she had workeX clear of the bar the wind veered and gaineX considerably in strength, so that it was necessary tQ use every effort to beat clear of those treacherouY breakers. In open waters again, with the darkenin^ slab of Grand Bahama some five miles abeamB Sparrow reduced sail and hove-to within a cable ob Colquhoun's ship?