Mullins had seen the object when it had been brought aboard but had no idea of what it was used for. Now Maria had the object over the side of her boat and was peering intently into its interior. As the hours passed, the women changed places, with one on the oars while the other peered into her device.
Just after taking noon sights, Mister Weatherby marked his chart and informed Captain Mullins they were coming into soundings. He thought the depth here would be in the area of a dozen fathoms. One of the hands brought the lead and armed the hollow in its weight with tallow. The tallow would pick up a sample of the sediment on the bottom here, perhaps giving the master some idea of their location. This was not important at the moment since they had just taken accurate sights and knew their exact location, but a ship sailing in heavy weather might well find the information useful. Standing in the chains, the seaman heaved the lead, calling out the depth as it sank to the bottom.
“By the mark, fifteen!’ was the call. Fifteen fathoms or ninety feet of water. The depth had increased a bit since the earlier cast. Obviously the bottom was uneven in this area. They were safe enough here, but it might be better if they moved out into deeper waters as soon as the wind picked up.
It was now Rosa’s turn with the mysterious object in the women’s boat. She had barely put it over the side when she gave out a high-pitched cry. Her mother put down her oars and took the object from her daughter. The pair had a short conference in the boat and the younger woman nodded. Maria picked up the oars and maneuvered the boat according to the commands of Rosa.
At length, satisfied, the oars were put down and Maria took up a net bag holding a nine pound shot one of the seamen had made for her. Mister Jones had rebelled at the continued expenditure of balls for his guns, which were being left behind on the bottom. A line attached to this net would enable the shot to be recovered after each use.
Rosa held the ball in her left hand and dropped over the side of the boat, a light line trailing. The men were able to follow her descent for a time after her initial dive, but then a slight puff of wind ruffled the previously smooth water and she was out of sight. after her. The entire crew was anxious over the young woman’s safety. This seemed to be a cruel depth for such a young woman to attempt.
For a time, the crew agonized over her safety. Mullins was furious at himself for allowing this attempt for some seemingly useless purpose. But then, long after any of the men could hold their breath, the woman’s head popped up out of the water. Her mother pulled the boat over to her and waited for her to get some breath before helping her into the boat.
The woman had two lines attached to her belt, one of which pulled up the shot which had taken her to the bottom. The other was seemingly attached to something heavy. Maria attempted to pull it up but she gave up the attempt quickly, handing it over to one of the hands at the rail when she came aboard.
Along with others, Mullins stepped over to see if he could determine what was on the end of that line. The water’s surface was still ruffled by the slight wind and whatever it was appeared to be out of sight anyway. Saul Ankers, the seaman to whom Maria had given the line, took a tentative pull but was surprised by its weight,
Mister Heyward ordered several others to lend a hand and whatever it was slowly brought to the surface. When the cluster of objects was brought aboard, Mullins could not determine exactly what these barnacle-encrusted objects were. Covered with bottom sediment, they were unlike anything he had ever seen before.
It was Jason Cooper who explained what they were. Cooper had been sent aboard on Admiralty orders, his brief being to correct any charts of this part of the Mediterranean that might prove to be inaccurate. Unfortunately, Mister Weatherby had sailed in these waters before and had made his own corrections on his personal charts. Cooper had thus far been a rather useless passenger, dwelling in the midshipmen’s berth and remaining relatively anonymous.
Now though, his face was alight with enthusiasm, identifying the objects as ancient Greek amphora from millennia past. There were three of them, strung by their carrying handles to the line Rosa had carried below with her. They seemed to be in perfect condition except for their coating of barnacles and hardened sediment.
Asked what the ancients did with them, Cooper replied they transported all types of cargo in these big jars. Wine, oil and other materials. Cooper told the others the ancients transported such cargo around the Mediterranean in their ships. These undoubtedly came from one such ship that had gone down in a storm long ago.
“Sir”, Jason excitedly reported, “while we have thousands of broken shards from these amphorae that have been found on land, there are only a very few that have survived intact over the centuries. We have a veritable treasure here.”
The ancient jars were padded and struck below in the bread room, where it was decided they would be least likely to be damaged. Mullins asked the women to his quarterdeck where he expressed his thanks to them through Benito. He took the opportunity to ask them about the mysterious object through which they had peered so intently. With some difficulty, it was explained. “If the water was sufficiently clear, they could submerge the glass covered end in the sea and have a very good view of the bottom. The women normally used the device to locate sponges to harvest. This time they had been fortunate to locate the wreck of the ancient ship. Of course, all remnants of her wooden hull had long since rotted away, but her cargo, in this case, hundreds of the clay jars, was still there. Many of jars were broken, but some dozens are still intact.”
Chapter Nine
Mullins had been intent on Cooper’s explanation and had missed the call from the masthead lookout. Mister Heyward was more alert and came to Mullins informing his captain the lookout reported a vessel approaching from astern. Mister Howard was dispatched to the maintop with a glass to report on what he saw. When Howard called down to the deck, he reported another xebec was coming up. Initially, she had been coming up under sail, her lateen rig catching what little wind there was. Now though, having lost her wind, she took in her sails and deployed oars and was coming up hand over fist.
This could well be serious business. The frigate had also lost her wind. What remained was fluky, often dropping off altogether. While it was possible the xebec could be innocent, it would be wise to infer that she was a pirate. Normally, it would be a foolish pirate xebec that would approach any well-armed warship, since they were so lightly constructed that it took few shots to destroy one. However, under oars in a flat calm, such a vessel could approach a warship from a point, fore or aft, where she could not effectively return fire. Under such circumstances, the xebec could shoot her adversary to pieces without receiving undue punishment herself.
The approaching xebec was in no hurry. Larger than the pirate craft they had defeated earlier, she had a half-dozen guns on her broadside. A respectable opponent, to be sure, especially if she was able to get across Vigilant’s hawse in these present conditions. Several times she stopped the steady beat of her oars while her captain studied the situation. Deciding on his plan, the enemy pulled wide around the frigate to attack from her bow,
In the dead calm that existed at the moment, there was not a puff of wind that might serve to get some control over the frigate. Mullins considered putting his boats in the water to tow the ship around to meet her attacker but abandoned the idea. The enemy under oars would still be much more maneuverable and he would risk losing his boat crews to the xebec. Looking out over the water, he saw in the distance the surface being ruffled by a very slight breeze, but it was too far away to help them now.
The women, alerted by the activity, had come out on deck again. Surprising many, they did not seem alarmed. Both produced long-bladed knives from under their garments and stood by on the quarterdeck. By now, the ship had been cleared for action. The long guns had been loaded with ball, while the carronades were charged with grape. The xebec turned on her attack course, approaching from dead ahead. Not a gun on vigilant would bear. The xebec had a pair of what appeare
d to be twelve -pounders in her bow and could fire those once she closed a bit more. Of course, since she could not fire directly ahead, she would have to veer a bit until one of the forward guns bore. This might give one of Vigilant’s forward guns the opportunity to reply.
Mister Heyward, standing by Mullins side, suddenly remarked, “Sir, look to port. We have a little wind coming toward us”.
True enough. The slight breeze approaching was making itself seen by stirring the glass-smooth water.
Mullins replied, “Mister Heyward, I’d like it if you took a party up forward and set a headsail to catch that wind when it arrives to bring us around a bit. Just maybe we can teach this fellow a thing or two. The pirate captain had decided he was close enough at that moment and turned to port in an effort to come across Vigilant’s bow. That pirate had not thought his problem through. Although he had closed his enemy unscathed, by turning he must face some of the frigates’ starboard forward guns. Of course, he could hammer Vigilant with his own broadside in a raking attack, but the frigate was a much sturdier ship than the xebec and could withstand some heavy blows before becoming disabled.
Immediately after the enemy made her turn, her guns began firing, but so did the forward guns of Vigilant’s broadside. Two shots from the frigate struck the beam of the enemy, causing important damage. Four balls from the xebec struck Vigilant, wounding the foremast at its base and smashing the starboard cathead and killing or disabling some of the party Mister Heyward had up forward to handle the headsails.
A second later, the first officer was still reeling from the effects of that shot when he felt a breath of moving air on his face. Shouting at the surviving hands, he tried to pull the sheet of the sail over to catch the wind. Slipping on a mass of gore on the deck, he almost lost his footing, but men on the forward gun came to his assistance and the slight breeze put Vigilant’s head around. With many of her broadside guns now bearing on the enemy, they began their thunder. The lightly built xebec was literally shot to pieces and she came apart, spilling men and equipment into the sea.
Mullins would have gladly left the pirates to their fate but there were many slave oarsmen in that wreck and he felt bound to rescue as many of them as possible. Boats were launched with armed seamen aboard to rescue what slaves they could. In the confusion, no one noticed the woman dropping into their own boat and pulling toward the wreck, knives at the ready. Mullins had not noticed until the midshipman serving as his messenger gasped with horror when Maria drew her knife across the throat of a pirate who was trying to pull himself aboard their boat.
Most of the slaves had been chained to their benches and were lost before they could be freed. In the end, only ten of them were brought safely aboard Vigilant. They were of varied people, most from around the Mediterranean. One however was French while the other was from Exmouth. Taken from captured merchant vessels, both had been slaves for several years.
The recovered slaves were sent below to the mess-deck where Doctor Burns examined them. Rob Davis, the former slave from Exmouth, acted as interpreter. Although the recovered slaves came from different lands, most had learned at least a little crude Arabic during their captivity and used that language to communicate with each other.
Mullins had intended to put these men to use in his crew but the doctor informed him that none of these men were in any condition to perform hard labor. He told his captain it might be weeks or months before some of them recovered.
The captain thought differently, since all were seamen and more used to severe hardships than ordinary men, but he thought he would follow the doctor’s advice, if only to avoid trouble with the Sick and Hurt Board.
The recovered Frenchman was a different matter. Marcel Gillet was invited into the chart room with Davis in order for Mullins to learn more about the Frenchman. It was a lengthy conversation, carried out in English, French and Arabic. Eventually though, Mullins thought he had the true story. Gillet had been a seaman on a French merchantman when it was taken in a flat calm by a pair of pirate vessels.
He related how the older hands on that ship had their throats cut and their bodies thrown overboard. Only the young and vigorous seamen were taken to be used as oarsmen. After two years, all the French seamen save Gillet were dead, thrown overboard when they could no longer pull an oar. Davis had much the same story, although he had been taken from a collier in the Channel.
Davis was told he would be entered on the books as soon as he was recovered. Gillet was asked whether he would consider serving in the Royal navy. Gillet agreed to do any ship’s work assigned to him except he would not fight against his countrymen. Mullins agreed, saying if they encountered a French fishing boat, he would send Gillet to it. Otherwise, if they put into a British port, he must become a prisoner-of-war.
The frigate continued her cruise through the Aegean, touching at some of the larger islands and noting enemy activity. Vigilant met several enemy merchant ship sailing unescorted, and took them with little trouble. These were sent to Malta, which Mullins hoped to visit shortly, in order to pick up his prize crews. While he had had extra hands aboard to man such prizes, the capable prize-masters on board had already been sent away. Mullins had to send Mister Howard with their most recent capture, a well-found schooner laden with oil and wine, taken off Corfu. After this, he decided any future captures must be burned, at least until he could get his prize crews returned.
In her wandering course in the Aegean, HMS Vigilant approached the island of Kalymnos. He had intended to put the women ashore at a small inlet that the women had told Benito of. Unfortunately, the island had been occupied by French forces with a battery of field guns emplaced near the harbor entrance. A pair of gunboats were also present. A tri-color was flying over the battery and Mullins hesitated to take it on. While he was sure he could take out the gunboats and battery, he knew he would lose some men in doing so, and he had few men to spare.
In the end, the women transferred their belongings into their boat and said they would pull around the coast a bit, closing the beach where the shallow water would prevent any deep-water vessel from approaching. They were sure they could find their way to a safe landing and thanked Captain Mullins and the ship’s crew for their kindness.
After leaving their passengers behind, Vigilant set sail again. She encountered several small traders carrying military cargo for the French. These vessels were burned and their crews sent ashore. Not wanting to be troubled with prisoners, Mullins set their crews ashore on a small, uninhabited island.
Again troubled by fitful winds, the frigate’s captain decided to employ Mister Cooper in mapping the bottom around the island of Corfu. Accordingly, the boats were put over the side and Cooper was put in charge of the junior midshipmen, all that was left aboard of the gun room’s inhabitants.
The carpenter had made a glass-bottomed wooden box, similar to the device the women used to locate the ancient jars and Cooper was allowed to use the implement to study the type of bottom. A leadsman in each boat called out the depths, and the mid, in addition to taking bearings of landmarks, also wrote down the data.
Once back in the ship, Mister Cooper, with Mister Weatherby’s assistance, transferred the information to a chart furnished them before sailing. The ship spent a few days at this task but increasing winds forced them to get out to sea. The strong northeast wind would prevent any inshore work while it lasted. The ship was beating into the wind with close-reefed topsails when the lookout pointed south and reported, “Sails coming up on the port quarter”.
It was difficult to see anything because of the spray, but eventually, a top-sail cutter came in sight. The cutter made her number, but she was not close enough to read her signals. The cutter came closer and tried again, but the signal midshipman frowned. “Sir, the number she is flying does not exist. She just said she is Petrel, but that name is not on the list.”
Mister Hakes, second officer, spoke up. “Sir, If I remember correctly, Petrel was one of our cutters taken by the French two y
ears ago off Toulon.” Mullins received that news without comment. This cutter, whatever she was, would pose no threat to Vigilant. He did not bother to have the ship cleared for action, but did order the guns manned. When the cutter closed further, an officer on her quarterdeck tried hailing them with his trumpet. Mullins left Mister Hakes to shout the orders across to come under their lee. After many repetitions, the order was understood and the cutter complied. At that point, one of the helmsmen cleared his throat several times.
Helmsmen on duty were forbidden to talk, but Mullins thought this man was trying to indicate he had something important to say. Addressing the helmsman, he asked, “Well, what is it, Johnson?”
“Sir, that officer on the cutter. I know him. He was a mid on Thunderer. I taught him to tie a Mathew Walker knot.
Satisfied the young lieutenant on the cutter was not a Frenchman, Mullins ordered him aboard. The cutter had a launch towing behind, half filled with seawater. Despite their frantic bailing, the lieutenant and his boat crew were soaked when they hooked onto the frigate’s main chains.
The officer introduced himself as Lieutenant Baker, commanding the cutter Petrel. Mullins wondered then why the cutter was not listed in his most recent list of King’s vessel’s. Baker had an explanation.
“Sir, until two years ago, Petrel was a recognized component of the Royal Navy. Then, a pair of French frigates caught her too far in Toulon’s harbor. Pinned on a lee shore, her captain tried to drive her aground, but the bottom there was mud and the cutter was captured almost undamaged.”
“Last month, I was third officer on HMS Glatton when Petrel was spotted, attempting to leave Toulon. We were coming out to see what might be done to prevent the French from occupying the islands the Russians left them. We had a few smaller vessels with us for inshore work. There was limited visibility with rain and spray, and I doubt Petrel’s French commander had a clear idea of who we were.”
HMS Vigilant: A Charles Mullins Novel (Sea Command Book 5) Page 6