The Pearl was now in a precarious position. Although anchored in shallow water over a sandy bottom, a plank up forward was hanging to its frame by merely splinters. Her captain proposed to send some of his cargo ashore and sink the ship onto the bottom, hopefully with a good starboard list so that the damaged plank would be above water.
Once the damage had been repaired, the water would be pumped from the ship and the cargo ashore brought back aboard again.
As Mullins saw it, with the ship this close to shore, aground and on her side, any wind out of the west would probably bring disaster. However, he would stand by and do what he could. As his first task, he sent Sawyer in the launch out to Aston to inform Captain Dorset of the problem.
No one expected Dorset to provide any assistance, after all he had a ship and passengers of his own to concern himself with, but a few hours later, he was there in one of the two boats crowded with seamen.
The three captains, speaking together in a hasty conference, decided the best use of the East India Company ship Lord Aston, would be to serve as a refuge for the displaced passengers of Pearl. Most of the seamen sent over by Captain Dorset were put to work on the Pearl, while some began pulling the stranded passengers out to Aston.
Occasionally, small craft continued to make their appearance, sometimes coming quite close to the work, so boat carronades were installed in Hector’s cutter as well as a launch from Pearl. These boats would patrol the waters near the ships to prevent any embarrassing difficulties. In addition, the guns on Pearl’s port beam would be sent ashore to lighten that side of the ship. These were in the process of being emplaced in a pair of batteries to bring fire upon any visitor approaching with evil intentions.
Chapter Twenty
The hands from the three ships spent the next week repairing the damage to the ship’s hull. The work went well on the first days. Although the weather was hot and sultry, a brisk sea breeze kept the air moving. Soon though, that wind calmed and the hands had to work in stifling heat, with the accompaniment of clouds of mosquitos that became the most important handicap to the crew. Sometimes it was most difficult to work in the hordes of biting insects.
Soon though, the Pearl’s hull was watertight and it was time to pump her dry. She lifted from her sandy berth without complaint, then it was time to load her cargo. Some of her passengers, previously sent to Aston returned, but more were happy where they were and remained.
Once the ship was loaded, it was time to leave. The captains wasted no time getting their ships out to sea, since they were vulnerable to the agues and fevers caused by the bad air of the coast, as well as the endemic storms of the area.
Despite the rapid departure though, little better than a week after raising anchor, scattered instances of fever began striking members of the crews of all three ships. A week later, the fever became more widespread. Doctor Burns was kept busy visiting patients in the ships most affected, Hector and Pearl. Pearl’s surgeon was one of the first who became ill. Few crewmen of Aston sickened and Burns reported those that did had all served ashore.
Many of Hector’s crew contracted the fever and still more of Pearls’ fell ill. As men began being tipped over the side every day, lashed in their hammocks with a shot at their feet, Captain Dorset refused to allow his surgeon to visit the other ships for fear of contamination.
Doctor Burns raged at this prohibition, since he was certain that once away from the foul infectious air of the shore, the death rate would fall precipitously. In fact, it did, although the fleet was halfway home before the last fatality went over the side.
At one time, Doctor Burns had as many as half Hector’s crew on the sick list before most began to improve. With Pearl’s large crew to care for as well as his own, Hector’s doctor was a busy individual indeed.
All things come to an end and by the time the little fleet entered the Channel, the fever had run its course. HMS Hector’s crew was now significantly diminished. The additional hands taken on earlier provided the needed manpower to get the ship home safely, but additional hands would be required before the ship could sail again.
Mullins left both Indiamen at Plymouth and took Hector into Portsmouth. There, he was ordered to leave his ship in the charge of his first officer and post to London to deliver the dispatches he had brought from the Cape.
Once this last task had been accomplished, try as they might, the local officialdom could think of no more work for Captain Mullins, so he was told to report home, warned to keep in touch with the Admiralty.
As soon as Hector has picked up her moorings, Mullins had paid a boatman to put his letter to Doris in the post for him. At first light, Mister Flowers sent the midshipman of the watch to his cabin to warn him that Mrs. Mullins was on the shore.
Mullins was intently shaving himself at the time, but when warned, hurriedly wiped off the lather, donned his coat and hat, and went onto the quarterdeck. Surely enough, Doris and Alfred were standing on the quay, waving handkerchiefs.
Calling Mister Flowers over, Mullins told the officer that he would assume the responsibility of the deck watch. Flowers should take the launch, go to the quay and bring Mrs. Mullins and their son to Hector. Captain Mullins was delighted to see his family but did not understand how they had come to be here.
The letter he sent to his wife had been posted to the London house. It seemed impossible that she could have received it and then journeyed here to Portsmouth overnight.
The answer was simple enough. An ex-maid herself, she had few friends in London. Her old friends often avoided her, thinking she had advanced too far above her station. Many of the wives of officers with whom she might have associated, declined to socialize with a former maid.
Doris, now reconciled with Sarah Flowers, was invited to spend a few weeks with that lonely woman in Portsmouth. Not even knowing that a letter had been posted from this very port, Doris was walking along the quay with Sarah and her baby. Alfred, skipping along ahead of the women, began pointing at a ship and shouting, “Daddy, Daddy”!
Mister Flowers bounced from the boat as soon as it touched the beach and went to his wife. When she had recovered from his embrace, she introduced her husband to their baby, before reminding him of his duty to Mrs. Mullins.
The women were handed into the boat and the boat crew bent to their oars, delivering the passengers to Hector in record time.
Mister Persons discretely took over the necessary duties aboard ship while the captain and his second officer were attending to their families. With accommodations severely cramped aboard ship, Mullins sent Mister Flowers to his home onshore. Although the port admiral had released him to visit his home in London, Mullins suspected it would not be long before he would be asked to take the ship back to sea and he did not wish to waste time posting to London and back again to Portsmouth.
Therefore, he had the carpenter build a larger hanging bed for Doris and himself in his quarters. Alfred had already become a pet of the seamen and went forward to live with them, delighting in the hammock in which he was to sleep.
One problem bothered the captain. After a long cruise, it was the custom to put the ship ‘out of discipline’ for a brief period. Women from the port would be allowed aboard the ship, under the guise of being ‘wives’. With his wife and son on the ship, he could not allow the sort of debauch this would entail.
On the second day after his wife came aboard, Doris came to him, telling him she wished to go into town and purchase some comforts for the cabin. Readily agreeing, he put his servant at her disposal and handed over his purse, with the admonition to hire a vehicle to carry the purchases. As soon as his wife and son were in the boat, on their way ashore, Mullins asked the duty master’s mate to call the hands aft.
The hands all knew they were about to hear news, whether good or bad was not clear. Captain Mullins began by telling the men he would not be putting the ship ‘out of discipline’.
There was a muffled groan at this news. Although some had been expecting this,
it was a severe blow to men deprived of feminine company for the past year or more. Sensing his men could quickly go out of control, he hurriedly added that it was his intention to allow trusted hands some liberty ashore for one day. A small advance would be given each man going ashore from the pay that had previously been withheld.
Mullins continued, “Now I realize there are those who wonder if they can just wander away from Portsmouth and return to their homes. I hope that none of you are considering this. We still have a determined foe to defeat and every one of you are needed for this important task. If the needs of your country are not important to you, consider this. Each and every one of you men is due a large sum, from accrued back pay, as well as prize money. You can all be certain this money will be useful when this war is over and it is time for you to resume your lives ashore. Any of you who choose to desert this ship will lose all of these earnings that have been held back. Further, you all know of the penalties all deserters face when recaptured, sooner or later.”
“The starboard watch will be the first to go ashore, tomorrow at the beginning of the forenoon watch. These men will be expected to return by the end of the first dog watch. The port watch will have their liberty the next day. I will warn you now, that any significant number of men who fail to return will give me cause to cancel any further liberty.”
Mullins had himself pulled over to the flag after delivering his talk and discussed his plans with the flag captain. Captain Reynolds was aghast at his effrontery. “What the admiral will say about this, I have no idea. If, as I expect, you lose half of your crew, you may be sure your naval career will be over.”
Despite his disagreement, the flag captain did assure Mullins the paymaster would visit the ship to deliver a small percentage of the funds owed to the men. He also informed Mullins no seamen would be allowed to leave Portsmouth without good reason. The Press would be out in full force.
Mullin’s wife was back early from her shopping expedition, excited about the purchases she had made. She commented upon the men’s exuberance when she returned aboard. Mullins merely told her they were excited about the liberty he had granted them.
The next day, Mullins was beside himself with doubt. He could easily see half of his crew disappearing and his own career in ruins. A few hours after the first men went ashore, Marines began to bring back seamen; some were comatose and others in a fighting mood. Most had returned by the deadline, but individual seamen still came straggling back all through the evening watch.
On deck, at the start of the morning watch, Mullings was informed that six hands had not returned. This was not unexpected and he was actually relieved. Having six men adrift was not at all unusual. The question was, how many of the port watch would return from their liberty?
Mullins was pondering what he should tell the men of the port watch who would soon be coming aft to hear what he had to say. As he was trying to decide what to say, one of the guard boats that were perpetually patrolling the harbor hooked onto the portside main chains and its cox’n called for a bosun’s chair. An inert figure on the boat’s stretchers was strapped into it and hoisted aboard. Two others followed, the cox’n reporting these men had been discovered unconscious on the quay. Apparently beaten and robbed, the bloodied men were taken down to the surgeon.
While these men were being treated, another boat came alongside. This one a gleaming boat from the flag, commanded by a dapper midshipman, a packet was handed up to the duty master’s mate standing harbor watch.
When the message was passed on to Captain Mullins, he learned that three men had been apprehended by the watch attempting to leave Portsmouth posing as farm workers returning home. One of them had miscalculated, being caught wearing his hat with HMS Hector embroidered on its ribbon.
These three might not be returning to the ship, Instead, a court martial awaited them, with the men facing the very real possibility of being flogged around the fleet. They would lose the year’s pay that had been accumulated as well as any prize money coming to them. When the port watch stood uncertainly on deck awaiting their captain’s speech, some thought their own liberty would surely be cancelled.
Captain Mullins cleared his throat then spoke up, “Men, a few of your shipmates have let you down. All of them were told to be back by the end of the first dog watch last night. While most of them did indeed come back as required, you will note that a few did not. Three of them are now in the hands of the provost marshal on shore at this moment. You men know as well as I the trouble they are now facing.”
“I do believe you men will not let me down. I intend to give you liberty under the same conditions as the men in the starboard watch had. Hopefully, you will watch over your mates. If you see a shipmate about to enter shoal waters, I want you to give him a course to steer, if not a tow. On my part, I will do what I can to ensure that the three men now in custody do not receive the most severe punishment. My task will be much easier if you do not commit any more breaches of discipline.”
Turning the men over to Mister Persons, Mullins approached his cox’n and told him to get his gig ready. He would visit the admiral after these men returned from liberty.
Dusk was falling as the frigate’s captain lowered himself into the boat. An appointment had already been made for him to call. The admiral would soon sit down to dinner with some of his flagship’s other officers, and Mullins was invited to sit beside the admiral where he could discuss his difficulty.
Most of his hands had since returned from their run ashore, some with certain amounts of damage. Most would have sore heads the next day, but the fact they had returned erased any indiscretions they might have committed. A few had not returned, but Captain Mullins believed most, if not all, would slowly trickle in over the course of the evening.
The flag’s officers, during the dinner conversation were curious of how this granting of liberty in Portsmouth harbor was playing out. The ship’s first officer, a grizzled lieutenant twice Mullin’s age assured him he would have expected Hector to lose half her crew.
Mullins was able to address the admiral for a minute, when he asked if it would be possible for him to punish the three deserters before the mast, rather than have them sent to court martial. The admiral gave a long monolog about the necessity to show no mercy to deserters. He felt it was important to the other hands to see the culprits flogged around the fleet, with the victims being pulled around the harbor to each ship, where the deserters would receive their share of lashes in turn.
Mullins knew he was risking his career when he commented this punishment could see each man either dead or crippled for life. He assured the admiral that he thought he could save these three and perhaps also give his other hands something to think about.
The admiral, now in his cups, said, “Captain, I will make a wager with you. If all of your men still on shore return voluntarily, we will do as you ask. On the other hand, if any remain absent, those, as well as the three we already have in irons, will go to court martial.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The dinner and drinking lasted well into the night and it was the beginning of the middle watch when Mullins dropped into his boat and the tired seamen pulled him back to Hector. He was half-seas over when he climbed aboard and asked the duty master’s mate how many men were still ashore.
“None sir!” was the answer. “They are all aboard, although Jason Fletcher was overcome coming onto the ship and fell back into the boat. He broke his right arm. Doctor Burns was pissed when he had to get up and repair the damage.”
Mullins was amazed at the answer. He had expected to find several men still absent and facing the vengeance of the Royal Navy because of his foolish wager with the admiral.
Now feeling able to leave the ship in the hands of Mister Persons, he decided to dedicate his remaining time in port with spending time with his wife and young son.
Alfred remembered the days when his father took him out in the punt in the pond at his father’s estate. Mullins wished to try to re-cre
ate that time here in Portsmouth harbor. The jolly boat was prepared for a day afloat. Doris directed Mullin’s servant to go ashore and purchase food for their day afloat, believing neither the cook nor the servant could produce anything edible save boiled salt meat, pease pudding and ship’s biscuit. Mullins would sail the boat himself but took his cox’n and a few hands aboard in case there was need to use the oars.
The family set out in the jolly boat with pails of food to share among themselves as well as wine and grog for the adults and small beer for the boy. Finding a quiet spot in the shallows, they dropped anchor. Alfred sat up in the bow with the seamen where they demonstrated their own ideas of fishing while husband and wife sat in the stern and discussed the future.
Doris again assured her husband that she was satisfied with her life but would be glad when he came ashore for good. As far as her husband was concerned, he had accomplished what he had set out to do. As a captain in the Royal Navy, he just had to stay alive long enough, at which time after reaching the top of the captain’s list, he would become an admiral himself. He assured his wife as soon as this war ended, he would come ashore and be done with the sea.
They sat there watching their son enjoy himself with the seamen until the sun was high in the sky. Then, Doris began to concern herself about the effects of that sun on her son’s skin and wondered about going back.
Mullins was not in the least worried about his son. The boy’s skin was as brown as a nut but he noticed the lad was sitting up against a seaman, looking very much like he was about to fall asleep. Agreeing with his wife, he ordered the anchor pulled in and they set out for the frigate.
HMS Hector: A Charles Mullins Novel (Sea Command Book 6) Page 15