It seemed to Septimus that even relatively small forts on the borders would be a hindrance to American invasion or raiding parties if that was the case.
He discussed the possibilities with Captain Kidlington.
“We are not to seek conquest of the United States, you suggest, sir?”
“No. In Lower Canada we have borders that are within reason established and convenient. A few miles one way or the other, a town or two added or lost will make little difference, but there are to be no great swathes of territory taken. In Upper Canada, mind you, around the Great Lakes, the border is far less fixed and could be pushed a few hundred miles north or south with some ease. There is talk as well of carving out a kingdom of the Indians in the western parts, to be free of both English and Americans, and that might well be a desirable aim. The French of Quebec are thought to be loyal to England, but it is not impossible that the Americans might seek to gain independence for them, isolated inland in a new country that must look to America for its trade and protection.”
“Very rational, sir, but none of our concern. We must simply call our volunteers to arms, sir, and train them while holding our borders for a year. Having put together a strong brigade, sir, then we might consider advancing into the State of Maine and perhaps taking its border towns for use in bargaining at the Peace Conference. Was we considering more than that, sir, then we could perhaps take the bulk of the state back into British hands. Have you ever met Banastre Tarleton, sir?”
“I have indeed, Captain Kidlington. New Ireland, is it not?”
“I spoke to him in London last month, Sir Septimus, after it was known that I was to join your staff. Very urgent, he was, sir, concerning the great advantages to Old England of the possession of Maine, or even of the establishment of an independent barrier state between Canada and America.”
“King Banastre, First of That Name?”
“Founder of the Staircase Dynasty, no doubt, sir!”
They thought that very witty.
“Did Tarleton perhaps mention to you the existence of Loyalists who had emigrated from the States at the end of the last war, and who would be very pleased to offer themselves as militia officers?”
“He did, sir. I would be much inclined to refuse them, sir, bearing in mind the conduct of Tarleton’s troops during the American War.”
Septimus knew very little of the campaigns, almost nothing of Tarleton’s part in them, beyond a vague understanding that he had played the dashing hero and had invented some piece of military equipment. Kidlington enlightened him.
“Casual butchery of prisoners alleged against him, and very likely true, sir. Certainly the sack of several small towns and villages and reason to believe that he indulged in some of the incidental rapes; that by his own admission while in a drunken state, sir. Some evidence that his troops were much to the front when the numbers were in their favour, and well to the rear when the figures did not seem so attractive. One accepts of course that the wise general seeks the advantage, but that can cross the boundary of prudence, sir, and enter the land of pusillanimity…”
Septimus showed his understanding, and his distaste for such doings.
“We will be unable to refuse them all, or even identify them for certain, Captain Kidlington, but where there is the feeling that they are his people then none ever to be employed as more than captain, and ideally as lieutenants only. If possible, the units in which they serve are to be posted to garrison rather than allowed out in the field. There must be a peace after this war – there will be no conquest, no destruction of either country – and we must not store up a generation of bitterness as a result of atrocities committed by our troops. Have you heard of all that is happening in Spain, sir?”
“Letters from friends in the Peninsula to their parents have been vivid in their descriptions, Sir Septimus, and I must imagine they will have censored the very worst.”
“I hope so. I saw some of what had been done, by the French initially and then by the Spanish guerrilleros in retaliation, and was sickened to my stomach, sir. It is the material of nightmares. We do not want its like in America or Canada.”
“I would hope that British troops might be trusted not to behave in such a fashion, sir. Tarleton’s people, after all, were merest colonials.”
“I do not believe you have seen too much action in your campaigns, Captain Kidlington?”
The unfortunate gentleman was forced to admit that he had been unlucky in that aspect of soldiering.
“Marching and counter-marching, sir, by the hundreds of miles – thousands it felt like. Arriving at the scenes of skirmishes that have petered out immediately before we got there… besieging one fortress when the decision was made to assault another just a few miles away… waiting hopefully while the generals negotiated and then decided that a battle was unnecessary. All of that, sir, but actually standing in the line and smelling powder – no, sir.”
“I suspect that your experience is far more typical than mine, Captain Kidlington. I have been present at one major battle and one lesser; at a number of sieges and intakings; and involved in more or less bloody skirmishes on perhaps a score of occasion. I have been busier than most, but even so I have not smelt powder on fifty days all told. I was told that Lord Nelson fought on more than one hundred and forty days, by the way – an almost unbelievable figure! The point I would make, however, is that I have seen British troops in action and in the aftermath of a fight, and I can assure you that they will murder, rape and loot with as much enthusiasm as any colonial can display! The most rigorous discipline must be exercised by their officers if they are to be prevented from wallowing in atrocity; thus we do not want Tarleton’s heroes to exercise any sort of independent command.”
“That is very shocking, sir, but I must agree that if it is so, then you are right. May I enquire whether the South Lincolnshires have recent experience in the field? Do we know anything, in strictest confidence, about Major Holden and his discipline?”
“Not a damned thing, Captain Kidlington! It is very difficult to discover anything of him aboard ship. We must wait until we are established in Halifax when we will be able to dine him and talk at length over a glass or two. You will be present, at all of my dinners, as goes without saying; you are my senior and I shall depend on your advice and especially on your ears and eyes. While I am making conversation, as I must as host, you will be observing.”
Captain Kidlington was flattered that such trust should be reposed in him.
“Major Taft went to some lengths to select my three senior men, Captain Kidlington. The boys are no more than hewers of wood and drawers of water, but the three of you are men who have displayed some discretion in his opinion. I am sure that you will spend convivial evenings in the company of Major Holden’s officers – your evaluation of their abilities will be very useful.”
“I say, sir, this smacks of intelligence gathering! I had not imagined that a staff officer’s work might entail such fun!”
“It might not in other settings, Captain Kidlington, but I suspect the war here will be of a different nature to that which we are both used to in Europe. Particularly, the nature of the bulk of our troops… I am not at all sure of how reliable the militia and fencibles and yeomanry may show themselves. The traditional answer is training and discipline, but we are likely to have no more than one winter to work with the men. Easily sufficient to bring recruits to the Colours into line, of course, but there one is dealing with at most one new man for every ten of old sweats – they learn as much by the example of the men they are quartered with as they do from their sergeants and officers. When we have whole units of new men, then training will be less simple. Every officer must be on top of his work, Captain Kidlington, and to achieve that, we must be on top of every officer!”
Kidlington became tentative of a sudden, as if he had just experienced an unpleasant thought.
“What, sir, if I come to the conclusion that a Regular officer is incompetent? Am I to recommend t
hat a man whose family might be known to mine should be disgraced, sent home in ignominy?”
“Yes. The answer must be that short and simple, sir. You will not be in any way involved, of course, will be as amazed as any that your old acquaintance, Mr Soandso, has fallen foul of Sir Septimus, ‘such an ogre as that man is! Stroppy Seppy, the men call him for being willing to show his teeth to any officer of either army’. We will not be able to carry incompetents, Mr Kidlington, and will not wish to pander to the idle, the drunk or the vicious. I have made my way in the Army and can afford another enemy, or two; you have a distance to go yet and must tread more carefully. A verbal report to me – nothing that can be attributed to you, so no written depositions under your name – and I shall deal with the matter, and have the gentleman aboard ship and half-way across the Atlantic before he realises what has happened!”
“That gives me a degree of power, sir. If others become aware of it, then I may be accused of abuse of my position.”
“Best they should know nothing, Mr Kidlington. Not a word to any of your friends or drinking partners or, shall we say, ladies of the night. In the same way, I shall not mention any details of our work to Lady Pearce – she must remain wholly ignorant of any plans we may make to remove the undesirable from our midst. Among other reasons, of course, it will guarantee her innocence on occasion when information does slip out inconveniently.”
They proceeded to discuss the plan for the next year or two, inevitably in the vaguest terms.
“What of the boys, Sir Septimus? Gallopers, obviously, but are they to be anything more?”
“At any given moment, Mr Kidlington, one will assist you in your duties – observing all you do at minimum. They can take that in turn, week about. The other two will run at my heel, initially to carry messages around Headquarters but later to perform some of the clerical work and perhaps to be entrusted with more complicated tasks involving judgement and discretion – eventually. In the field, I shall keep them all by me – one never knows when a message must be sent.”
“And they may benefit by your example, sir. All three are yours to form, after all.”
That was a point that Septimus had not considered; he had taken the boys into his military family, more from personal and social reasons than for any virtue they had displayed. It was up to him now to make something of them, or guide them into another occupation if it became clear that the military life was not for them. They were his responsibility.
“They are, of course. How very annoying!”
An additional frigate, coming from the west, joined the convoy when they were no more than three days out of Halifax. The ship’s officers, most of them familiar with naval signalling turned their glasses on the flag hoists and passed the word.
“War! The Americans declared on the Eighteenth of June. Privateers and small ships have sailed from American ports. That will wake the navy up!”
Convoy discipline, relaxed to an extent when out of European waters, was immediately reinstated and the merchantmen were ordered, and then chased, back into their rigorous stations. The convoy of more than a hundred ships and brigs and barquentines was pushed back into a chequer-board, each vessel separated by a cable – two hundred yards – from the next ahead and astern and to either beam. It was difficult to achieve in daylight, and almost impossible to hold when tacking or wearing; at night it was a source of terror. Even at the slow convoy speed of six knots it took only one minute to travel two hundred yards, and a careless watch-keeper could very easily slip out of position and collide with the next in line before he had noticed that anything was wrong. A mate on a merchantman, half-asleep in the small hours, might see nothing in the blackness until seconds before his ship was run down.
The atmosphere of slow, easy-going peace-time sailing was shattered; irritability reigned in its place. Passengers who had been welcome for a source of quiet conversation were now chased out of the way of the working sailors and the children, previously under the eye of every man on watch, were confined in the cabin belowdecks unless under direct supervision of a servant.
“Not so far from Boston, sir. And the ports of Maine are full of small ships and seamen with empty purses. There might be a hundred privateers out already, not to speak of a frigate or two and half a dozen of naval sloops and brigs, all of them hungry for prize-money. Even a two-hundred-ton merchantman will have a cargo worth twenty thousand pounds, sir, quite possibly more. A privateer with a crew of fifty or sixty men will be set up for the year with just one capture. Work it out, sir. A thousand shares, half to the ship, the rest to the crew ranging from one share for a landsman up to five for a petty officer, much more for the warrants and officers; one capture means as much as a landsman could earn in four months ashore and a vast deal more for the captain. Those privateers will be willing to take risks, sir, for the chance of living easy ever after.”
Septimus was impressed by just how earnest the master was.
“Surely, sir, a ship the size of yours has nothing to fear from small privateers. You have cannon, do you not?”
“Four cannonades, sir. Short-barrel eighteen-pounders, quick to load and fire, very short in the range. Grapeshot at fifty yards is their ideal. Four cannon, and just two old naval men who have ever worked a great gun. They are to set their crews to practise this afternoon, sir. Not firing, of course, not inside a convoy! You see, sir, a ship as large as ours will attract the attention – and the greed – of the privateers. We might be assailed by three or four, both sides.”
“Peter, and you, Atkins! No noise about it, but open up the bags and find and load all of our pistols. Show Alfred how it is done. My belt and hanger to hand by the door to my cabin. Yourselves to run to the cabin at the very first alarm, and to stay there, protecting Lady Pearce and the children. Do not leave the cabin for any reason other than fire or my personal order. There is a chance of a privateer, it seems.”
Septimus found Captain Kidlington in company with the two staff-lieutenants and his three ensigns, all enjoying a quiet glass in the comfort of the mess-cabin.
“The master informs me that he is worried there might be an attack on the convoy by privateers. If there should be, then he says that the bigger ships offer the greatest rewards in terms of larger and richer cargoes, and, of course, passengers to plunder. So, load your pistols, gentlemen, and ensure that one of you is on watch all night – that falls to the ensigns, I believe – four hours apiece will be no overwhelming hardship, gentlemen. If you have sporting guns, and I know that most of you have a fowling piece with you, then put them to the hands of your batmen.”
They had four servants between them, one man looking after the three ensigns, sufficient for their sparse needs.
“If the alarm is called I shall go on deck, leaving my people to guard my cabin. Send your four to my cabin, to hold the passageway outside. We shall bring them up if it seems within reason safe for them and if the scatter guns will be handy. Remember that they are servants, essentially; we must not risk their necks without great need.”
“Indeed yes, sir. Our necks belong to the King, but theirs are our responsibility.”
Captain Kidlington had a very good idea of the words Septimus would be pleased to hear.
“I have to say that I much doubt we shall be called upon, or shall do other than sleep undisturbed. But, if the occasion arises, then we shall be ready, gentlemen.”
Ensign Rowlands seemed a little uncomfortable at the sudden prospect of action, licking his lips and showing the least of twitch.
“What of the other passengers, Sir Septimus?”
“Lady Pearce will speak to Mrs Colonel Younghusband and instruct her and the children to join her in our cabin if need arises. The officers, of course, will perform their duty. I believe the ship’s master will speak to them at dinner.”
There was no disturbance to their sleep that night but later in the day Septimus saw the First Mate training his telescope on the distant rigging of a sloop of the escort, well to thei
r port, on the south of the convoy, reading out a flag hoist.
“Sail in sight. Distant. Unknown small ship. Topgallants. Two others further off.”
The First Mate sent a boy to call the captain on deck, caught Septimus’ eye, shaking his head ruefully.
“Topgallants, sir. The third layer of sails on a square-rigged ship, needing a larger crew than most merchantmen possess to set and handle. Very commonly a sign of the ship-of-war, sir. A ship, sir, meaning three-masted and square-rigged, probably a naval sloop or a large privateer. Most privateers will be fast but small brigantines with two masts and a spread of fore-and-aft sail in addition to a square course.”
“A brigantine is not the same as a barquentine, I gather. Or a barque?”
The mate explained very patiently; he had spoken with soldiers before.
“Brigantines, sir, have two masts, but barquentines have three.” He held up the correct number of fingers so that Septimus could see the difference. “Barques, sir, are square-sailed, or so one might say, disregarding the mizzen and its driver, but they may have as many as four masts, sir, on occasion, and I have been told of Russians seen with six masts, in the grain trade, but them generally poles rather than made masts, sir, and never to carry more than a topsail.”
“I see. I have only sailed upon East Indiamen or their like before, sir.”
“Ah, yes, Sir Septimus! Very naval, they try to be. Not like us, sir. The Commodore is signalling, sir, if you will excuse me.”
The ship’s master appeared, blowsy-eyed; he had been sleeping, it seemed, for being wishful to be awake all night.
“Three small vessels, sir. One with t’gallants. Commodore hoisting a signal, sir.”
“Where are we, exactly, that is?”
“Eighty miles off the coast, sir. One tack to Halifax, perhaps. Fourteen hours, sir, and then allowing for holding offshore until dawn, say twenty hours at most, sir. The wind seems good, sir, set in the south-west for the rest of the day, probably.”
Spanish Tricks (Man of Conflict Series, Book 5) Page 25