“May we speak to you in private after dinner regarding this man, Colonel Fuller?” asked Neville.
They were admitted to the governor’s outer chamber forty-five minutes after the receptionist announced their arrival, finding him in a state of questionable health and considerable agitation. “The news is terrible, just terrible,” he began. “I am most apologetic. I forget my manners. Good Morning, Captain Burton. Who is this and why is he come?” The governor was obviously anxious for news.
“If we may proceed, I will come to the ‘why’ of it,” said Neville. “This is Experiment’s First Lieutenant Verley.”
“I have news for you… but first tell me about your success. It appears you have three prize ships in the harbor. What of our three missing?”
Neville gave a very brief version of the events of the last few weeks and assured the governor that Wasp and Beagle would soon return, but Laurel would not.
“I am most distressed to hear of Laurel’s fate in the hurricane. The storm did much damage here in Port Royal as well. This news makes my decision quite straightforward, however. I shall give Sprightly to Laurel’s owner. By your description she is quite a similar vessel?”
“Aye, Sir, quite similar.”
“And there is no question about Ferret, either. She will simply be returned to her owner. He will be most thankful of you, to be sure. We have already collected all those dirty pirates from your fleet and they will be dealt with severely after we question them. I am sure some of Ferret’s company will claim they were forced to stay on the ship and serve, and they may be telling the truth. And the French from that frigate?”
“There are only eighteen French, including officers, aboard the Comtesse. You will find a few more of them among the pirates from Sprightly, although they will be of poor health, and the rest have either died or escaped on the other pirate ships we found at the Isle of Pines. They should be brought ashore soon, Sir. The heat in the holds will become unbearable as we sit here in the harbor. We could chain them on the deck for a time. I am sure Lt. M. Wischard would give parole, Sir.”
“Only eighteen?” he responded in an absent-minded tone, more to himself than to Neville. “I had hoped to have a full ship’s company to exchange for English captives in Hispaniola… Even if we could exchange evenly, how could we man this vessel?”
Not being sure if this was actually a question he should answer, he offered only, “I don’t know, Sir. Perhaps something will show itself. But I do have a proposal for the ship, if I may, Sir.”
Lord Inchiquin, now looking out the window, appeared to be deep in thought for a moment. After an awkward quiet moment, he seemed to shake himself back to life. “Yes?” he asked.
“Lt. Verley here could serve as her captain. He could begin to solve her problems, much as I have done with Experiment, and then Jamaica would have two frigates, Sir, as well as the Swan. I vouch for his abilities and I would give him aid.”
Lt. Verley, immediately much more awake, bit his tongue to prevent showing himself the fool.
Inchiquin gave them a weary look, paused to gather his thoughts, they supposed, and invited them into his inner chamber after a great sigh. “Come sit, gentlemen. Let me bring you up to date. The packets have brought a great deal of news lately.”
They moved through the big wooden door to the governor’s private office and sat in a group of large comfortable wooden chairs.
“I am tired, and probably ill,” remarked the governor, “but will try to give you a summary before I must lie down. Closest to home, word has come that de Graaf has attacked the weather side of our island, this time with his 42-gun Spanish flagship galleon, the Neptune. He has touched at Montego Bay with two hundred men and created quite a stir and he has threatened to return and plunder the whole north side of us. The people have become so frightened that they have sent their wives and children here and the council has agreed to arm even more vessels to go in pursuit of these French animals. This is the fault of my predecessors, who were so ready to protect pirates and privateers here and send them out against the French. Their policies are revisited upon us,” he editorialized grumpily.
“To the east of us, Governor Codrington of Antigua is anxious to get on with an expedition to attack Guadeloupe, and from thence Martinique. He makes a compelling case to the King that if the French Windward Islands are destroyed and all their men are removed and sent to leeward it will not be worth the French King's while to send a fleet to look after them or for their ships to bring them back. It is unlikely that additional forces could be spared from France. Mastery of these seas and therefore the sugar-trade would fall to us English.
“Codrington’s plan is to leave a garrison of three hundred and fifty there at Antigua and attack Guadeloupe with fifteen hundred men. He expects the island will be easily subdued with such numbers. Secondarily, he believes that British forces in the Leeward Islands are not presently strong enough to conquer Martinique, but if he can convince the King to order Barbados to help the Leewards with another twelve hundred men, the joint forces could probably succeed. They would then send the French to leeward - to St. Domingo as they did with the men from St. Christopher - then Barbados and the Leeward Islands would be safe. I am not convinced that this approach would be good for Jamaica, however. All the French they send to leeward must go somewhere, and this is probably Hispaniola.
Inchiquin stood, causing the two officers to do the same. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said. “I was just stretching my leg.” He re-sat himself and persisted with his dissertation, “Despite their need for Commodore Wright’s fleet, the infernal governors of the Lesser Antilles squabble incessantly about their shares in victualing the fleet and about the pillage of St. Christopher. You are quite aware how long ago that was, and yet it has not been divided. Codrington has replied that a division of the plunder cannot be effected in less than two or three months, and the governors use it as an excuse not to help. I believe it a strange perversity in them that they would prefer to inconvenience the public rather than to wait this bit of time for their shares of spoil. ”
“The governor of Nevis gave his excuses last month about an inability to join the expedition to Guadeloupe owing to a great scarcity of provisions. The ‘English regiment’ at Nevis – that of the Duke of Bolton - is in a shambles for want of supplies and men. He writes that he believes that above a third of the soldiers would march without shoes or stockings. The mortality of the regiment has been upwards of two hundred men and much the same numbers are still sickly. The island militia suffers similarly as you would expect. Many regiments that had a hundred men in a company have now but forty, and those who have survived are but miserable wretches. They say they can only trust that the Island's former reputation for strength will deter the French from attacking.”
“Again it is Codrington who complains of great apprehension about the arrival in the Indies of a considerable squadron from France, possibly as soon as January, and then his opportunity to succeed at Guadeloupe would surely be lost. The fleet’s provisions are running low, and Codrington has asked the King for much, but nothing has arrived from England. This lack of succor will compel the fleet to leave at the end of next month unless the governors of the islands will contribute. Codrington wishes to make the most of Captain Wright while he is with them, but they cannot delay the King's service for months while the fleet idly consumes its stores to satisfy the greed of a few squabbling governors who refuse to victual the fleet. If I have understood it correctly, Wright already has orders to return the fleet to England, and will sail for Barbados from Antigua – maybe already has. We shall be in a worse case than ever if our fleet departs and the French fleet arrives. This possibility has much disheartened the people there and much obstructed the prosecution of the war.”
Neville had not thought much about the relation between his own fortunes and that of the fleet, but this synopsis by the governor provoked in his mind a number of conflicting considerations. On the one hand, if the fleet were to lea
ve, the probability that he would be able to remain in Jamaica with Maria for an extended period – years, perhaps – would be increased greatly. Since he was not personally in contact with England, his command would continue to be more responsible to Lord Inchiquin than to the King. That was fine with him, since he felt no particular loyalty to some King and Queen of a hundred years before he was born. On the other hand, if Wright’s fleet were to leave and a fleet from France arrive, his – and Maria’s - personal safety, as well as the safety of all the islands, Jamaica included, would certainly be threatened. Such changes would leave Experiment and the Comtesse du Provence as two of the very few English ships in the Caribbean Sea.
He glanced at Verley, whom he thought returned an understanding look. Furthermore, Neville’s thoughts continued, if Lord Inchiquin is revealing this information, then he has not received orders for Experiment or me. We have been forgotten, and Wright is not coming to the aid of Jamaica.
The governor had not stopped talking, however, and Neville’s mind was working hard to recapture his line. “As to the nearby islands,” the governor continued, “Not long ago, Petit-Goâve’s French Governor Pierre-Paul Tarin deCussy took a thousand buccaneers on an expedition into the interior of Hispaniola against the Spanish settlement at Santiago de los Caballeros. They burned the town, and the Spanish, as you would expect, are most angry. Since we are now at war with the French, the Spanish have requested our assistance to remove them.”
“This finally returns us to the problem at hand – Laurens de Graaf,” he was saying. “I pray that I would need not mention this again: Our shipping suffers intolerably at the hands of him and other privateers who operate under French letters of Marque. Governor deCussy has issued a great number of them, supposedly to attack the Spanish on the other end of the island, but these ‘semi-pirates’ have grown so strong that they are not opposed even by the French. They take their refuge in French Petit Goâve or the cul-de-sac with the ‘freebooters’.
“We must therefore make our own plans. If my squabbling counterparts to windward cannot even agree to victual the fleet, I must believe they will also not come to our help. Jamaica may be better off than they anyway, so I must ignore Codrington’s letters asking me to assist him against the French in the Windwards and order you to carry our militia to help the Spanish attack deCussy at Cap Francois.”
The next sentence gave an answer to the question Neville had asked only minutes before. “I will write to Commodore Wright informing him of your capture of the Comtesse du Provence and assuring him that I will give the ship over to the English prize court – but not before we use her to attack Hispaniola.”
Now the governor looked to Lt. Verley, “With Captain Burton’s endorsement, you will command the Comtesse. As we are manning several vessels now, we should be pleased to use a purpose-built vessel for defense. You may choose your officers and men; I am sure Captain Burton will assist you.”
“Your Lordship,” began Neville, “my ship is in need of some repairs to her bottom. The worm is beginning to make an effect…”
“Yes, yes. I am sure of it,” he interrupted with apparent annoyance. “We cannot afford to have her go the way of the Drake. You may have two weeks. It will take at least that long for the militia to appear and for Captain Verley to prepare. I am most weary now. You may go,” he said with finality, and stood. The interview was over.
Captains Verley and Burton, once outside the door, walked several feet away from the sentries and stopped, turning to look each other in the face. A great smile came on Neville’s face and, holding out his hand, he said, “I am truly sorry to be losing you, but I give you my congratulations!”
An equal grin came on Verley. He took Neville’s hand to shake it, and burst out in nervous laughter. “Ho, ho! That was-” he began, “I can’t-. Inconceivable. Captain Verley? Me? Captain in an instant? How can I thank you? And what of the chest? What is in it and why didn’t you mention it to the governor?”
“Stop, my friend and now fellow captain. Don’t thank me yet. We can discuss these things, but not here, and not aboard ship. We can cover some of it on our ride to the Fuller plantation and the remainder of it there.”
“Aye, Sir. As part of our plans, there is a matter I wish to discuss. It concerns the treatment of the men aboard these ships,” Verley said, as they began the rough ride back to Fullers’.
Surprised, Neville jerked his head around to look Verley in the eye, and asked, “Aboard Experiment?”
“Oh, no, Sir. The others. Experiment is an uncommon ship, Sir. Your way of command is much enlightened. I have never served aboard the like. Captain Jennings was a fair man, but firm, yet there were usually at least two floggings a week of six to ten lashes. The men were started at almost every task as a routine way. The food was much worse, too. Your concern for the company’s health is unusual – nay, extraordinary. Far worse treatment is more common in the navy, but these other ships are volunteers, Sir, and will not have it.”
“And they should not have it. You see how well it works to spare the rod and you must take care to learn it. It will be difficult to train all these men to fight the ships, but I think we must share out Experiment’s company amongst the two frigates and then fill in with volunteers and acting warrants from other ships or we will never be able to fight both.”
11 - “Bury the Money”
Mid-October found an impressive squadron of eleven sail eastbound in the Sea between Jamaica and St. Domingo. They had been rushed out as quickly as the governor could have it all done. Nine armed merchants rolled smoothly before a three-foot quartering sea under the 46 guns of two small British navy frigates. A steady breeze with more west in it than usual blessed the five hundred soldiers and militia enduring the passage on deck and in the holds with an easy wallowing motion. The flotilla had departed Port Royal on the early tide that coincided with sunrise, sailing large to the east all morning and through the supper hour. At noon, they passed beyond the eastern point of Jamaica under less comfortable conditions than they now enjoyed. Once free of the effects of land and riding a steady beam-on wind, they easily pointed east.
This was to be a short voyage. Its primary purpose was to follow the governor’s orders to transport troops for an attack on Hispaniola. For the fleet it was an excellent training voyage.
“Pass word for Lt. Ratshaw, if you would, please,” Neville asked a boy standing by the mainmast bitts. Ratshaw had remained on Experiment while Verley took the gray-haired Acting-Lieutenant Dinman as his first officer. Dinman may not have been a ‘gentleman officer’ but, having come up through the service, had more experience than Ratshaw, and would serve Verley well.
“Lt. Ratshaw,” he began upon the bushy blonde’s arrival, “We will exercise the guns this afternoon. I hope to see Captain Verley doing the same, and that we are close enough to see it. Have you decided if there is a replacement for Midshipman Weller (who has gone aboard the Comtesse with Dinman)?”
“Aye, Sir, Mr. Walshe, foretopman, has stepped forward.”
“Mr. Walshe, eh? I’ll need to know him better. This should be a good voyage for that.”
Experiment and the Comtesse du Provence prayed for no enemy to appear, since there was enough to do in learning to work the ship, let alone to fight her. They expected to encounter no enemy of significance, though. The southern coast of Hispaniola was not of much interest to pirates except as a place to hide. Some practice with the guns was necessary, nevertheless. A privateer or two might be encountered at any time.
Hispaniola was sighted to the north in the morning of the third day. It would have been alarming had it not been there, lifting its purple mountaintops into the morning sun. It was expected to remain there all day before threatening them with Cabo Beata, the southernmost cape, at night on the fourth day.
Neville had been pacing the quarterdeck enjoying the fresh sea breeze and observing the motion of the ship. The purser stepped up the access ladder and asked for a moment of his time. “There is ru
mor,” began Mr. Gooden, “that you found a great treasure on Ferret, and have kept it to yourself.”
Neville suspected he had been elected to broach the subject by those grasping members of the ship’s company who could not contain their desire - more to lay hands on hard gold than to simply know how much they might receive.
“You may pass the word – quietly, please, as if it is a secret not to be shared – that there was indeed a hoard discovered, that it has been determined to be pirated, and that it will be shared amongst the men of Experiment and Savage according to proper naval custom when we return to Port Royal. For more than that they must wait.” He had been able to ascertain that Mr. Crabtree had no fortune of any kind aboard Ferret. The return of Ferret herself had changed his fortunes entirely, however. The man had gone from riches to ruin and, with the return of Ferret, partway back. At least he now had a livelihood again, albeit shipping rather than farming.
Neville had gone to Thomas Fuller because he trusted the man’s judgment and because he felt that, although his orders had come from the government, Fuller was the man whom the governor had put in charge of the mission on which he had sailed and was therefore the de facto Commodore. Fuller’s advice had been simple: “It is not my duty to deal with such things as prizes or plunder, and neither does the Governor. For such purposes, orders from the Governor rather than from the King place you more in the line of privateer. The ship in which the money was found was not a prize – merely a ship being returned to its owner from thieves. Furthermore, that money ‘belonged’ not to the ship’s owner but to the thieves, from whom its true owner would never be determined. Lastly, I have seen that the money is not even English coinage. Therefore, as far as I’m concerned, it’s yours to do with as you wish.
A Journal of The Experiment at Jamaica (The Neville Burton 'Worlds Apart' Series Book 2) Page 18