Trafalgar and Beyond: A John Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 3)

by Richard Testrake

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Action in Java

  The convoy dropped anchor in Table Bay near the southern extremity of Africa in mid-July, 1806. Cape Town had been back in British hands only a short while, and matters were still confused. British forces had taken possession of the region early on in the war, but had given it back to the Dutch after the Peace of Amiens. Two years later however, British forces were back, and again assumed control. News was a much appreciated commodity. It was learned then that Admiral Linois of the French Navy had left the Indian Ocean and gone out into the Atlantic. Rear Admiral Pellew now had his base in Madras, India where he patrolled vigorously for any Dutch naval forces that might prey on British trade. It seemed the Dutch naval forces were operating out of Batavia on the island of Java.

  Vesta took aboard sheep and some cattle purchased from the local Khoi tribesmen for enroute consumption, as well as water, salt meat and vegetables. After all ships were replenished, the convoy set sail for India. As far as Phillips was concerned, this was a most dangerous part of their voyage. There could still be a few French warships or privateers in the Indian Ocean, and the Dutch had some frigates and line of battle ships operating out of Java.

  Another situation to be aware of was the weather. During the summer, the monsoon brought winds and ocean currents from the southeast, propelling them on their way. However, later in the year, winter high pressure over Asia would force a reversal of winds and ocean currents. At the moment, time was not a serious factor, but Phillips was aware there must be no delay.

  Vesta, like most ships in the Royal Navy habitually sent its lookouts aloft at first light. Since leaving Cape Town however, Mister Henderson had taken to send them up a half hour before false dawn. If there was danger ahead, it would be valuable to know of it early on.

  Halfway across the Indian Ocean, Vesta was sailing on a following wind. The midshipman of the watch had just deployed the log line, and reported they were making five knots and a fraction. Both watches were on deck, as usual, and were busy bringing the ship to quarters, just in case an enemy might be waiting for them. Phillips was standing by the taffrail enjoying the cooler dawn air when he heard the main lookout shout, ‘light ahead’.

  Henderson was there immediately, and ordered the watch midshipman up to the masthead with a night telescope. He was back down just as the sky to the east was starting to lighten. Doffing his hat to Phillips and Henderson, he reported, “Sirs, there is a light up close ahead. Maybe a binnacle light, or some such.”

  Mister Olsen, the master with his clothing all askew, had joined the others on the quarterdeck, and was standing by the helm. Phillips went over to him and advised, “Better keep our distance from that light, until we know what we have here.”

  Vesta altered course a few degrees to starboard a bit, but none of the convoy did. With their limited crews, nobody had noticed the change of course, and just proceeded straight on toward the dim light. By now, the sky to the east was becoming noticeably lighter, and Phillips ordered the signal mid to hoist the ensign and Vesta’s number, as well as the private signal.

  Suddenly, a gun fired up ahead. The flash was close by, and the report was loud. With the dawn approaching rapidly, everyone was straining their eyes, trying to see what was ahead.

  The lookout hailed again, “On deck there, sail off the port bow; no, make that two sails. Close ahead.”

  Then, Phillips could also see them. Two ship rigged vessels; small, probably either corvettes or British ship-sloops. As the light increased, it was evident the two had been in a scrape. One was surely a foreign built corvette, but the other was as British as hardtack. She looked familiar to Captain Phillips, and when she hoisted her number and private signal, he learned why. She was HMS Jove, the sloop his former first lieutenant, Michael Woods had been promoted into.

  As the crew was putting the ship back together after securing from action stations, Phillips collared his servant and ordered him to set two extra places for breakfast this morning. “I intend to ask the captains of those two ships to come aboard. Put out the good wine we got in Cape Town, as well as some eggs, if any of them are still fresh.”

  Phillips and the grinning Captain Woods, met at the entry port, to the stamp of the troops and the sound of the pipes. Woods introduced him to his own first lieutenant, Mister Davis, who was now commanding the prize corvette they had taken a few days before. From the account, it had been quite a battle, the Dutch vessel being armed with 24 pound carronades, while Jove carried nine pound long guns. Jove was much battered before she was able to get out of range of the Dutch corvette, and begin to pound her at will with her long guns. The Dutchman proved to be a stubborn opponent, and it was necessary to seriously deplete Jove’s supply of nine pound balls, before she lowered her flag.

  Both ships were covered with patches, and hands were still knotting and splicing the rigging. Phillips sent over a party to each ship to assist in repairs.

  Woods reported he was patrolling on the orders of Rear Admiral Pellew to gain what intelligence he could. “I suspect Pellew is going to be upset with me. I spotted this corvette, a Dutch East Indiaman named ‘William’, early on, but she led me on a devil of a chase. We went all over the Indian Ocean before we finally met. I am pretty late, and expect I will get my arse reamed properly. I am a week overdue back at Madras, already.”

  “Well, at least you are coming back with a useful prize. Pellew can’t be too upset about that.”

  “The flag captain made the point I was supposed to bring back intelligence, not go chasing after prizes.”

  “Well, Captain Woods, there is the argument that this corvette you captured was undoubtedly hunting our trade. Now she is wearing our flag, and poses no danger to us.”

  “Sir, it was a lot simpler when I was a simple lieutenant. Then, all I needed to do was follow orders. Now I am expected to be able to predict the consequences of my actions.”

  Not a word of criticism was said to Captain Woods when he entered the Madras harbor with Vesta and the convoy. The port captain invited both Phillips and Woods for dinner, along with Edwards of the Ranger, and Potts of HMS Primrose. He allowed that Admiral Pellew would be very happy to hear of the capture of the William when he returned from his own cruise. She had been a thorn in the side of the East India Company for months.

  During the course of the meal, the port captain brought the newcomers up to date on the local situation. The man commanding the Dutch fleet was Admiral Hartsink. Based at Batavia, he had four line of battle ships, a few frigates, and some smaller vessels.

  Captain Barlow said Pellew had few worries about the liners. They were old and slow; in poor repair. The frigates and corvettes were the ones that concerned the British naval forces. They were the predators that were hunting down the merchant ships in the region. While waiting for Pellew to return, Indian workers swarmed over both HMS Jove and the William, returning them to good order. Vesta’s hull was relatively clean, as was Jove’s, but it was necessary for the William to be careened in order to scrape her bottom, and replace some copper.

  Upon Pellew’s return, Vesta and Jove were ordered to go out on an intelligence gathering mission. Pellew had already complimented Woods on his prize, and assured him it would be put to good use, as soon as they could scratch up a crew for her. Not a word was said about Jove’s late return from her last patrol. The orders for the pair required them to reconnoiter the waters around the Spice Islands, taking or destroying what Dutch shipping they could find, and find out what they could about the Dutch squadron based in Batavia.

  Captain Edwards was pulled out of Ranger, and promoted into a small twenty four gun frigate captured from the Dutch East India Company. A lieutenant on Pellews’ staff was sent to Primrose, and given command. Lieutenant Potts took his place on Pellew’s staff. Rumor had it Potts could expect promotion very soon. Most of the naval officers, as well as many of the army officers present attended the ‘wetting down’ party. Some subalterns of the garrison introduced a
new drinking game. Since everyone had brought bottles of wine or spirits, these youngsters located a huge punch bowl, and began pouring all the intoxicants together into it. Phillips grimaced when he saw his two bottles of excellent Bordeaux dumped into the bowl, followed by a demijohn of rough schnapps.

  Before the party became too raucous, he took the opportunity to have a final discussion with the new post captain.

  “How do you find your new ship, Captain Edwards?”

  “Oh, she is as clean and bright as a new penny”, gushed the former commander. She was locally built, and barely used when we captured her.”

  “What about her armament? What guns does she carry?”

  “There we have a problem. She has a mixture of weapons. Some six pounders taken from British prizes, a few elderly Dutch guns of approximately twelve pounder caliber, even a couple of French guns.. The port captain is trying to find more British made guns to install. My biggest problem right now is crew. I have about sixty seamen; mostly from a few merchants that have become disabled. A few more Lascar seamen, natives from the area, who maintain they are seamen. There is a language difficulty there, of course. What I really need are some ‘man of war’ sailors, people who can reef topsails on a stormy night, and run out their gun and fire it accurately at the enemy.”

  Captain Phillips was ordered to proceed in company with Jove in the late summer of 1806. During the voyage, the pair encountered some Dutch shipping, much of it small, locally based vessels. Everything except two was burned; Phillips not wanting to weaken his crews by the premature dispatch of prize crews. One ship was a large, heavily laden Dutch East Indiaman which was sent on to Madras. His most senior master’s mate was put in command. This man, Larkin, he anticipated would soon be elevated to his lieutantcy. The other was a locally built schooner with a cargo of copra. The copra was dumped over the side, and the crews previously captured from the other prizes were loaded aboard. She was sent to Batavia crewed by captured Dutchmen who had been offered their parole. A few of the captives offered to serve aboard the British warships, having been disillusioned by the French takeover of Holland.

  Once reaching the waters about Moluca, the warships patrolled for weeks with minor success. One evening, just before the lookouts came down from the mastheads for the night, the main lookout reported four sail entering the Selayar Strait. Being suspicious of the ships, Vesta and Jove followed cautiously, attempting to keep the chases’ lights in sight from a distance. This was not always possible since the master was dubious of his charts. Some were ancient; others were copies of copies of old Dutch charts. The pair slowly made their way through the dark waters by means of the lead line and compass. Next morning, there they were. The chase was identified as a frigate, a corvette, and two merchantmen. Upon sighting them, the Dutch commodore attempted to form a line of battle, but Vesta and her consort ignored that. Vesta sailed right after the Dutch frigate Pallas, which she engaged. After a brisk half hour the Pallas hauled down her flag. During the action, while Vesta and Pallas were savagely pounding each other, Jove passed between Pallas and the merchantman directly behind her, grievously wounding each by raking fire. While Vesta was occupied with Pallas, Jove went on and collected the two merchants, while the corvette escaped.

  Captain Phillips ordered Jove to escort Pallas and the two captured merchantmen back to Madras, while he took Vesta to the Java Sea to discover what he could. Before departing, he met up with Captain Edwards in his new frigate. He had been sent out by Pellew to deliver mail, dispatches and necessary supplies to ships already on station; as well as seizing or burning any enemy commerce found. Also aboard was the new Lieutenant Larkin just returned from Madras. This officer would partially replace the two lieutenants sent away on prizes. From captured shipping, he learned the four Dutch line of battleships had sailed east from Batavia, although one had wrecked itself in the Thousand Islands. It was also learned a Dutch frigate, ‘Phoenix’ was anchored at Onrust Island, close to Batavia, making some repairs. Vesta sailed to look matters over, but was spotted by two enemy brigs who sounded the alarm.

  Phoenix was able to make its way into the main harbor to safety and Vesta sailed into the Batavia roadstead and found another Dutch frigate, as well as many smaller vessels. The Dutch ship, Maria Riggersbergen, engaged Vesta. There was really no contest. Vesta’s crew had drilled with their weapons since leaving Britain, while the Dutch crew had not. Vesta was firing two shots for every one from the Riggersbergen. In addition, most of the Vesta’s shot scored, while the same was not true from the Dutch ship. Its duties previously had mainly consisted of keeping pirates at bay. After only a half hour, the Dutchman hauled down her flag. It was necessary to send men aboard the captured ship, to get her in condition to sail again. By now, crewmen were becoming thin on the deck of the British ship.

  Unable to guard the numerous Dutch prisoners with his reduced crew, Phillip sent them on shore, and took the Riggensbergen back to India. During the action with the Dutch frigate, one of that ship’s guns had scored a hit on Vesta’s main mast, cutting a big notch in the base. At the moment, there was no apparent problem. The shrouds and stays supported the mast as before. As insurance, oaken splints were installed around the mast and wrapped tightly by three inch line. With his crew depleted by men sent away in prizes, and the damage to his ship, Phillips thought it best to return to Madras.

  Admiral Pellew sent for him and offered his heartiest congratulations for the recent successes. Vesta had been surveyed at the dockyard, where it was found much of her copper was wearing thin, while the damage to the mainmast was of some concern. There were no suitable mast sections in the Madras shipyard at the time. It was decided the best solution called for Vesta to sail back home and have her repairs done there. Pellew ordered Vesta to assist in the escort of the next India convoy back to Britain. He was warned about pirates to be expected both among any of the islands of the East Indies, as well as the East African coast.

  Vesta set sail in early 1807 with a convoy of six Indiamen, and several smaller country ships. The escort included two John Company brigs, and a ship-sloop, that would leave the convoy in Cape Town, and the RN’s contribution, Vesta and an ancient 64 gun ship of the line. The liner, while old and decaying, was a fast ship, and Phillips saw no difficulty with her keeping up; with the others. The liner’s captain was senior to Phillips, so he would be in charge.

  After the convoy settle into the normal routine, there was some ship visiting. One evening, on a visit to the 64, HMS Hermes; Phillips commented to Captain Allen, how easy it would be for a pirate to confuse Hermes for an Indiaman.

  “Phillips, I have been thinking the same since we left Madras. My sailing master tells me he forecasts calm weather tomorrow. I plan to do some painting on my ship to make her resemble the real Indiamen. Perhaps we can fool a pirate into attacking us instead of a real member of the convoy.”

  Later, after rounding the southernmost part of the Indian continent, one of the escorting brigs spotted some proas out of sight of land. These were large double hulled, double ended sailing vessels, manned by dozens of warriors who could double as paddlers, or as boarders. There were a half dozen of them that all turned toward the convoy. The ships all clustered closer together for better mutual protection, except for Hermes. Captain Allen, wise in the ways of convoys and those who attacked them, abruptly broke away from the convoy and proceeded independently, as if she was trying to escape the predators. After a few minutes delay, Vesta displayed some signal flags and sailed after her.

  The proas, as one, stopped tracking the convoy, and bore after Hermes. That ship now closely resembled the other Indiamen. She wore the same paint scheme, and her decks were cluttered with casks and crates. Her apparently few crewmen ran around on her decks haphazardly. Phillips thought the Hermes could have handily outrun the proas, but her captain, by cleverly spilling wind from her sails was barely keeping pace with the pirates. Phillips was concerned the pirates might tire from their rapid pace, when suddenly there
was commotion aboard Hermes. Her main topmast came down in a tangle and a mess, her speed cut drastically. To anyone looking, it appeared her topmast had come adrift, and the pirates took full advantage of the chance.

  The proas increased their pace, and they were rapidly approaching the disguised battle ship. When well within range, magically the tangle of sail and rigging aboard Hermes resolved itself, and she suddenly appeared whole again. The pirates kept up their pace, while Hermes backed her topsails and came to a stop in the water, her starboard broadside facing the pirates. Wanting to get out of the line of fire, Vesta veered a few points, aiming for the area under Hermes’s stern, where a few wiser pirates were also heading.

  The Hermes opened her gun port lids, almost as one. No Nelson checker here. Those lids were painted the same color as the ship sides, so when they opened and the guns came out, it was a complete surprise to the pirates. One of the leading proas made the mistake of firing the single gun in its bow. The liner’s lower deck guns fired, in a ripple broadside. The heavy guns, apparently loaded with grape, utterly destroyed the pirate fleet, save for two on her stern. These, undeterred by the bloody fate of their peers, persevered. As they neared the liner’s stern, Vesta began firing single shots at the pair.

  The pirate’s attention had apparently been fixated on the big ship of the line, and the fire from Vesta must have come as a surprise. One of Vesta’s eighteen pound balls barely passed over the low proa. One of the paddlers was decapitated. Another ball hit the other proa amidships, literally breaking it in two. The remaining pirate decided it had had enough excitement for the day, and tried to depart the scene. Firing independently, the guns of Vesta pursued the vessel. Finally, just before the proa was out of range, one ball, skipping along the water, smashed the side of the war canoe on its last bounce and stove in the side.