Unfortunately, the forces’ own problems were just beginning. Soon after they found they were not able to escape the worsening weather by retreating to their base on Christiansø, the force commander decided his only option was to continue toward the island refuge of the Britons.
During a fierce storm that night, one of their three launches was lost, not to be seen again. Many of the conscripted local fishermen that were pulling on the oars of the remaining boats were suffering badly from the cold, and could no longer work efficiently. The commander put soldiers on the oars, but these troops were even more incapable than the exhausted fishermen.
This was the moment when Arvid was sighted. She was recognized as a schooner that frequently brought supplies to Christiansø Island, but as soon as she closed, the English language of the rescuers informed them they were now prisoners, likely not to be returned to their garrison soon.
Some of the French boatmen were suffering badly from frostbite, and those were brought aboard Arvid to recover, until an ill-advised artilleryman attempted to take over the schooner. With the few members of the prize crew aboard, it was a close thing, but Stuart had a fine set of pistols which he put to use, pistoling two of the healthier Frenchmen on his ship. With the other members of the French party badly injured and incapable from frostbite, Stuart’s men prevailed. Those Frenchmen capable of movement on Arvid were bound up and put below. Those still in the boats were tossed a line and told to prepare to be towed. By the time Hector came in sight, several of these crewmen had expired from the harsh conditions.
The survivors were taken aboard Hector and given space on the orlop deck. It was cold and wet there, but most of them would survive because of the ministrations of the ship’s surgeon.
As spring approached, the ice began to retreat and one morning, they saw the first shipping of the season. This was a Swedish brig bound for Copenhagen on the eastern coast of Zealand. Mullins had no idea of the present relationship between Sweden and Britain/ The countries could very well be at war, but the master of the brig swore that was not true. He informed Mullins that Admiral de Saumarez was expected to be seen leading his fleet through the Øresund at any time.
Knowing he would be severely chastised if Sweden was still neutral and he attacked one of her ships, Mullins apologized for the delay and invited the Swedish master aboard the frigate for dinner. He had no wine left but the Swede did not object to rum and was well-nigh incapacitated when he returned to his ship.
The guns of the Danish batteries along the Øresund heralded the coming of the British fleet. HMS Victory led the way, her starboard batteries saluting those Danish guns that were attempting to impede her progress. The smaller warships followed the big first-rate that was absorbing many of the shot fired that morning. Another line-of-battle ship followed close behind the others, her mission to tow to safety any ship disabled by enemy fire. With Victory taking the brunt of the firestorm from the Danish side, the force reached the Baltic without undue damage.
Hector met the fleet as it entered the Baltic, at which time Mullins was called into the flagship to report on his adventures of the previous winter. After Admiral de Saumarez had been fully briefed, he ordered his flag-captain to locate a few more seamen for Arvid and tasked her young commander to take the schooner to Britain. He was to take mail and dispatches with him. Saumarez told Mullins he recommended in one of the dispatches that Arvid be immediately taken into the Royal Navy as soon as she could be adjudicated and sent back to the Baltic.
After Arvid had been manned and provisioned for the voyage to Britain, she left with a following wind into the dark strait, while the rest of the fleet sailed for Stockholm. It was months later that Mullin learned the schooner had made her perilous passage safely and moored in Portsmouth, where she delivered her dispatches.
Hector became an integral component of the Baltic Fleet and followed the orders he was given. Mullins was frequently tasked with cruising for enemy shipping, either by himself or with one of the other ships. This could be a perilous business, considering the number of small countries whose shipping might be encountered. In this area all such countries were terrified of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was busily attempting to bring in all of the neutrals to his side. Even Sweden was being bullied to renounce her trade treaties with Britain and enter the war allied with the French Empire.
Some of the smaller countries seemed not to know just what their own policy might be. It could prove disastrous for a British warship to offer any insult to a merchant ship flying the flag of a wavering country. Even though he was certain several ships he met were, in fact, trading with the enemy, without overwhelming evidence, Captain Mullins thought the better course was to set the ship free.
He did have an excellent opportunity to cement relations with the Swedish court, while sailing with the gun brig, Plunger. With the pair patrolling the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, a small convoy was sighted. As they closed, it was seen that many smaller vessels were flying the flags of a number of countries, some of whose allegiance was in doubt. Mullins would have veered away to scout in another area had it not been for the escort ship of this convoy.
A forty-gun frigate flying the tricolor dropped back to the rear of the merchants as soon as she spied Hector. One thing you could say about the French, they were certainly dependable! One could almost count on their national ships to wade into any British warship thought to be vulnerable.
What this fellow’s motive was, Mullins was not sure, but he immediately stripped to fighting sail and boldly waited for Hector to come up to him. The French commander may have been confused by the British system of rating their warships. The Frenchman was rated as a forty-gun ship and she was indeed armed with forty guns, some of them eighteen-pounders, although most were eights and twelves. Hector, of course, was rated as a thirty-six gun, eighteen-pounder. Most of her long guns were eighteens except for a few nine-pounders on the quarterdeck and some more up forward. Her deadliest weapons though, were the fourteen thirty-two pounder carronades she carried, fore and aft. These big guns would be at their deadliest when brought into play at close range.
While Hector approached the Frenchman waiting for him, Plunger was signaled to attack the convoy. Had Mullins been in command of the French frigate, he might have considered leading the British frigate astray, so it could not influence any action between the brig and the remainder of the convoy. Unable to understand just why this foe would just lie in wait for Hector to approach, Mullins spent the time briefing his officers on the tactics he might use.
With Plunger gaining on the fleeing merchants, Mullins put his ship to the wind and went for his enemy. The enemy commander seemed now to have been alarmed, since the French frigate manned her braces and put the big ship about, her guns on the port beam ready to deliver their thunder directly at Hector’s bow, a perfect raking shot.
Mullins had used this tactic himself on many an enemy ship and could testify that it was one way to defeat an enemy quickly. The question here was, just how good was this enemy’s gunnery practice? Well within the range of the French frigates’ long guns now, he was still a little too far away for his own carronades. For a target, the Frenchman had only the frontal portion of his frigate to shoot at. Mullins was prepared to bet that most of this first enemy broadside would be wasted, spent into the sea around his ship.
Accordingly, Hector continued straight on toward the enemy as she presented her port beam. When that beam was enveloped by the smoke and flame of the discharge, everyone on Hector was holding his breath waiting for the shot to hit.
Few shots actually struck their target. The sea around the ship was liberally peppered with shot strikes but little damage was done to the ship itself. One round caused more damage than any of the others together. Entering the starboard forequarter, the twelve-pound ball felled three men of a forward carronade’s crew, then went on to carve a notch in the base of the mainmast. Splinters flying about from this impact sent six more men to visit the surgeon.
; Decided he had come close enough, Mullins ordered Hector to veer to starboard, still closing on the enemy, but permitting the portside guns to be slewed around to threaten the opponent. The enemy occupied herself in reloading the guns emptied in the previous salvo, while Hectors’ guns were ready now. The men had been told prior to the battle they were permitted to fire when their guns bore on the target. As the ship steadied on the new course, first one gun up forward fired, then another, with the rest going off almost simultaneously a few seconds later.
The men had witnessed how poor shooting could affect a battle’s outcome and were determined not to allow this to happen to their ship. The men were delighted to see the enemy fore-top first sway, then lean and finally fall into the sea, taking topmen overboard with it.
Mullins was satisfied with the results. Some of those thirty-two pound balls of the carronades had impacted the enemy frigate’s port beam and her pumps were hard at work expelling the inrushing water. In addition to the enemy losing her foretop, shrouds on the mizzen had been shot away and that mast was taking a lean.
Mullins thought idly, if that crew did not put her rigging to rights very soon, she would be in serious trouble. With a start, he reminded himself he must stop this wool-gathering and attend to his business.
Hector was edging closer to the enemy, coming up on her stern, faster now with the damage to the enemy’s rigging slowing her. Coming behind of the big frigate, she was able to pound in another broadside before passing. The harassed French captain, hampered by the damage his ship had received, but especially by the loss of so many members of his crew, just did not have the ability to manage all of the tasks that needed to be done. Only a single eight-pounder gun was able to answer Hector’s broadside.
Seawater was pouring into the enemy hull by the ton and seamen had to be put on the pumps to get it out. Many of the ships’ guns were disabled with dozens of men down. Hector continued past the enemy’s stern, with those guns able to be recharged, firing at close range into her.
Now, the enemy’s mizzen came crashing down. With the enemy a helpless wreck, Mullins held his fire for a short period, but the stubborn enemy would not yield. Losing patience, he ordered his guns to fire their remaining loads in the Frenchman, then to reload with grape.
This finished the enemy frigate. With dozens more of her crew down and the stern of the ship beaten in, she hauled down her flag.
Mister Drummond took a party to the prize but quickly returned and reported to Mullins. “Sir, we’ll never get that ship back home, unless she can go through a dockyard first. We can replace her foretop, but she needs a new mizzen also, which neither of us have. Her hull leaks like a sieve and she is sinking a little more every watch.”
Normally, Mullins would have simply removed her crew and set her afire. This was going to be difficult, however. Most of the prizes’ boats had been shattered in the action, while those still somewhat intact, were in poor condition. He could take the enemy crew to one of the nearby Danish islands and free them, but without instructions from the flagship, he was reluctant to do that. Now that the French crew realized they were not going to immediately die, many of them began rioting aboard their own ship, demanding transfer to another.
Hector’s captain had no intention of taking such people aboard Hector and he soon had to call his prize crew back.
Whatever that was to be done must be done soon, else the French crew would be swimming. A Swedish Island was close at hand, where the French seamen might be landed, but Mister Cummings, their sailing master, reported the island was inhabited by several hundred Swedish fishermen and their families. This gave Mullins pause, since the survivors now on the French frigate would likely outnumber the natives and who knew what difficulties might arise.
With Mullins believing doing something was usually better that doing nothing, he ordered his crew to prepare to tow the Frenchman. He would tow the wreck to the island and perhaps he could hire the inhabitants to take these Frenchmen elsewhere.
After Drummond went back to the prize and explained matters to the riotous crew’s representative, a light line was passed through one of Hector’s stern ports and taken aboard the prize, whose name was Pluton. A heavier line was bent on to this and used to pull one of Hector’s heavy anchor cables aboard Pluton.
The pair set out in early morning and had almost reached their island destination by late afternoon, when the tops of a fleet were seen in the distance. Soon, a brig heading for them was seen to be their companion, Plunger. While she was approaching, a big first-rate in the approaching fleet was recognized to be HMS Victory.
Mullins had time to exchange only a few words with Plunger’s captain when he had to divert his attention to the approaching flagship. Flag signals from Victory ordered HMS Hector to come to the flagship and for her captain to come on board. Admiral Saumarez wanted to hear about the taking of the French national frigate Pluton.
Mullins described the events in detail while the admiral peered through his glass at the wreck. “What do you think Captain? Can we save her?
Grimacing, Mullins admitted. “I doubt it sir. Unless we have access to a dockyard very soon, I fear we will lose her. She has some large shot holes in her hull which my carpenter is unable to seal. I must tell you the French crew aboard her has become an infernal nuisance. I cannot take them aboard Hector and know of no other place where I may deliver them.
“Well, Captain, I think the fleet can take on your prisoners for now. What were your immediate intentions before this fleet arrived?”
“Sir, our chart shows an island just over the horizon toward the coast. My sailing master tells me there are several hundred Swedish fishermen living there. I was planning to offer to pay the fishermen to deliver these prisoners elsewhere. After disposing of the prize’s crew, I intended to burn her.”
Saumarez decided, “I don’t think we need to go to these extremes, Captain Mullins. It is my wish for you to pass the tow to another of my ships and take on some mail bags the purser on this ship is holding. You will take them to Portsmouth and hand them over to the post.”
“As far as the prize, I may have a plan for her.”
While awaiting the mail bags, Mister Drummond went to Pluton to assure himself that Hector would get full credit for her capture. When he returned, Mullins heard that Pluton was being handed over to the Swedish Navy.
“Apparently”, he said, “the Swedes have a naval dockyard in Stockholm, which should be suitable for making the necessary repairs. As I understand the plan, Admiral Lord Saumarez plans to ask HM Government for permission to buy the prize.”
“Pluton would then be handed over as a gift to Sweden. The motive would be to cement relations between Sweden and Britain.”
Mullins thought over the idea. “This may not be a bad idea. No doubt the French minister will fume over Sweden accepting a frigate from us, but if the Swedes can get him to inspect the ship as she sits right now, he should see that she is a shattered wreck. Of course, since we will pay for the repairs, it could prove to be a bargain for the Swedes. If we can maintain good relations with them, it will also be a bargain for us.”
Chapter Eight
After taking on stores in Stockholm, Hector was ready to leave. She took on a pilot there, a former British master who had lost his own ship as a prize to the Danes. He was a veteran of many voyages to the Baltic and was familiar with the area.
The French minister was still angrily protesting the Swedish acceptance of the former French frigate into her own navy. The Swedes allowed some French naval officers into the port to inspect the ship. Aground as she was, her rigging ruined and hull shattered, these officers agreed Pluton was now a useless wreck and it might not be worthwhile for France to make too much of the situation.
All of this attention proved beneficial to Hector. She sailed at night, while the enemy was still concentrating their attention on Pluton and made her way out into the Baltic. She loitered there until the wind was favorable for a passage through the Øres
und. It was a black night when she went through the narrow strait but lights on both sides helped the pilot with his navigation. By staying as close to the Swedish shore as was possible, Hector made it through the Kattegat and into the Skagerrak without incident. Remaining well clear of all shipping, she emerged into the North Sea without being challenged by any enemy naval force.
After spending the previous winter in the Baltic, both ship and men were well worn when HMS Hector picked up her mooring in Portsmouth that spring.
Mullins had to stand by the ship while she went through a thorough inspection. Aside from some minor defects that must be addressed, she was judged suitable for further service. After it was determined repairs would take an estimated two weeks, the hands were sent to the receiving ship, while warrants, officers and some petty officers were allowed to go home on leave. One of the officers had to be present while repairs were being made and Mullins divided this duty between himself and his first officer. Mister Drummond was staying in Portsmouth with his daughter and Mister Flowers. After a week on shore, he returned and Mullins left the ship.
Seeing that the surgeon was still standing by the ship, Mullins insisted he take some time off before it was time to sail. Mister Burns explained he still had a pair of patients, recovering nicely, that he did not wish to abandon.
Mullins found another ship in the harbor with its surgeon still on board and made arrangements for him to watch over Burns’ patients while he was absent.
With some qualms, Mister Burns agreed to accompany his captain to London. The long and tiring trip was made without incident and they arrived early the next day. With no special destination in mind, Mister Burns agreed to spend a few days in Mullin’s home. By the time they collected their belongings from the coach and arranged for a ride, the sun was well up.
HMS Hector: A Charles Mullins Novel (Sea Command Book 6) Page 5