A Brig of War

by Richard Woodman

  ‘Relax, Nathaniel,’ said Wrinch, his dark eyes fixed on the face of the lieutenant and it occurred to Drinkwater that this strange man was not much older than himself. They fell to discussing the events of the previous weeks that had brought Wrinch so timely to their rescue.

  A day or two after Blankett had sent Daedalus and Fox to follow Hellebore north, a report had reached Wrinch that a mysterious ship had appeared off the coast of the Hejaz. It was soon identified as the frigate commanded by Santhonax who had apparently left off molesting the native craft. On the contrary the captain was now known to have distributed large sums of baksheesh for assistance in piloting his ship through the reefs off Rayikhah and Umm Uruma islands. When Wrinch had passed this information to Blankett the rear-admiral had waved Wrinch’s apprehensions aside, assuring the agent that if the ‘poxed frog’ were dangerous Ball and Stuart would ‘trounce him’. In the meantime his escape from the Red Sea was sealed off by Leopard’s blockade of the Straits of Bab el Mandeb. Blankett did not apparently see the anomaly in this assertion, seeing that Leopard was comfortably anchored off Mocha and His Excellency was ashore seeking to board nothing more belligerent than a small seraglio of willing houris.

  Wrinch, however, did not suffer from the admiral’s lethargy. He had in any event been supine for too long and set out north with a small entourage. After an overland journey of six hundred miles which he passed off with an inconsequential shrug, Wrinch and his mehari camels reached Jeddah. Here he found Yusuf ben Ibrahim, luxuriating after the sale of the prizes taken for him by the Hellebore in the action with La Torride. Wrinch kicked him out of bed and in the sambuk both men sailed north to Al Wejh, where positive news awaited them of a great French ship, lying a few leagues to the northward in a sharm, with her guns ashore. Santhonax was careening his ship, preparing her for the next stage of his campaign.

  ‘But what I don’t comprehend, Strangford, is why a careenage on the Hejaz? Surely the Egyptian coast was more sensible, where he could contact Desaix.’

  ‘Ah, my dear fellow,’ said Wrinch putting an intimate hand briefly upon Drinkwater’s knee, ‘You profess to know the man without quite comprehending the depths of his cunning. Certainly the Egyptian coast would appear the best, but he would be harried continuously by mamelukes. Murad Bey would never suffer him to be left in peace for long enough to cast a timenoguy over a bobstay or whatever he does,’ concluded Wrinch in mock ignorance.

  ‘But Kosseir was held by the French. He could have done it there.’

  ‘Not so. You yourself went a-looking for him there. Certainly he could have defended himself at Kosseir but not left his ship defenceless while he carried out the necessary maintenance. No, Santhonax needed the last place you’d look, so he found an isolated careenage on the Arabian side. The sharms of the Hejaz are ideal for the purpose being the flooded ends of wadis, dry river beds that run into these shallow bays, often well protected by coral and intricate approaches to foil a surprise attack and break up the sea. The usual small village can provide some comforts for his men and the local headmen may be bribed with ease. Santhonax could lie for a month before taking alarm.’ He paused, reaching for a paper beneath his galabiya. ‘Now, this is my intention.’

  Drinkwater bent over the sketch-map. He listened to Wrinch’s words, feeling excitement coiling inside him, remembering the drawn-out council of war that had been held in the gunroom tent of ‘HM sloop Hellebore’, a rocky islet in the middle of the Red Sea. Most he remembered its dramatic termination.

  Griffiths had been there, half conscious and lying in his cot. The worst of the fever was over and he had slept peacefully for some hours. Wrinch had presided with Drinkwater, Rogers, Lestock and Appleby in attendance. Morris had also insinuated his presence.

  Lestock was against the venture from the beginning. He was unable to see the strategic consequences of allowing Santhonax to refit and escape from his careenage. Appleby would embrace almost any expedient that got his precious patients to Mocha, a point that he made at considerable length, urging that the sambuk would more properly by employed in chasing Ball and Stuart and recalling them to attack the French frigate. ‘For,’ concluded the surgeon, ‘it is patently obvious to even a non-combatant like myself that the presence of two frigates is decidedly superior to one.’

  ‘They were of damn-all use at Kosseir, Appleby,’ said Rogers with a trace of recurring impatience.

  Drinkwater agreed. ‘Besides,’ he added cogently, ‘virtually any delay will almost inevitably result in our losing this elusive Frenchman. And I for one, have not come all this way to lose the game to Edouard Santhonax.’

  ‘Bravo, Nathaniel,’ said Wrinch. ‘I think we may accommodate the dissenters,’ he said urbanely. ‘If, gentlemen, after say seven days we have not made our reappearance you could send Mr Lestock off in the boat you were preparing on my arrival. I will leave you a man capable of seeing you into Mocha.’

  Rogers accepted the idea of an attack on Santhonax with enthusiasm, while Lestock shook his head and mumbled his misgivings to Appleby. Morris remained silent, fitter than hitherto, but still with that predatory look of a man biding his time. Then, as they fell into groups and discussed the matter Griffiths sat up, fully conscious for the first time in days. He looked haggard and old beyond his years, the flesh hanging loosely about his face. But his eyes were bright with intelligence, like those of a child, instantly awake after a refreshing nap.

  ‘Wrinch? Good God man, is it you? What . . . where the devil are we? Nathaniel? Where the deuce . . .’ Drinkwater detached himself and came over to the commander while Appleby called for water. He knelt down beside Griffiths and patiently began the long explanation. The questions Griffiths shot at him from time to time made it plain that the old man’s senses had returned to him and at the end of Nathaniel’s speech he threw off his sheets and rose unsteadily to his feet. ‘Gentlemen, this is no longer a matter for debate. Make preparations at once. I shall command you myself, Nathaniel, pick forty able men, Mr Rogers prepare small arms . . . Mr Lestock, you may take charge in our absence. Mr Appleby will second you.’ He swayed a trifle but, by an effort held himself upright.

  ‘Perhaps I might remind you, Commander Griffiths, that I am now fit enough to take command in your absence.’ Morris spoke for the first time. Drinkwater opened his mouth to protest but Morris quickly added, ‘After yourself I’m the senior officer.’ His eyes met those of Drinkwater and the latter read the satisfaction of a small scoring over his enemy.

  ‘Oh, very well, Mr Morris, you may command the invalids and cripples. The rest of us will prepare ourselves to catch Reynard in his den.’

  Drinkwater did not let his mind dwell on the possible consequences of leaving Morris in charge of the island. He already had the amusing company of Dalziell, now perhaps he would exert his influence upon the scared rabbit Bruilhac or worse, the convalescing Quilhampton. There were also the ship’s boys and, for added diversion, Catherine Best. Through her he might gain an advantage over Appleby, also a party to his former disgrace. Foreboding clouded Drinkwater’s mind as he fought to concentrate on Wrinch’s words. There had been a strange quiescence in Dalziell since Mr Morris came aboard. Drinkwater watched Wrinch’s face, aware that he shared some of Morris’s tastes, though to a less perverse degree. But what he found offensive in one, Nathaniel scarcely thought of in the other, associating Wrinch’s peccadillo with his way of life.

  ‘So you see, Nathaniel, we shall observe the three basic principles of warfare. First simplicity of purpose, second detail in preparations, hence the galabiya with which I perceive you are not yet familiar, and thirdly the advantage of surprise in execution.’

  They reached Al Wejh after nightfall and anchored. A small boat was hauled over the side and Wrinch and Yusuf slipped ashore. Yusuf’s men sat in a huddle and smoked hashish while Drinkwater briefed the Hellebores, explaining in detail what was to happen. Among the forty men selected for the enterprise were Tregembo and Kellett, together with most of the t
opmen, Mr Trussel and a party of the best gun captains. Mr Rogers was also there. Quilhampton had begged to come but Drinkwater had forbidden it. Instead he had entrusted a bundle of letters to the midshipman, ‘in case of contingencies not, at this moment, envisaged.’

  He went below and found Griffiths sleeping quietly in a hammock. At the moment of the final attack he hoped Griffiths would remain aboard the sambuk for he would be little use for anything else, weakened by the fever as he was. In the interim Drinkwater was glad to see him sleeping so peacefully. He returned to the deck and lay down. But he was restless and sat up, leaning against the bulwarks while the stars wheeled slowly overhead, aware that the smells of Al Wejh were unrelievedly noxious. He thought of Elizabeth and her child, curiously he could not think of it as his until he had seen it. He wondered if it were a boy or a girl and what Elizabeth had called it. In the darkness he whispered her name, very low, but loud enough to give it substance, to convince himself that somewhere a lady of this murmured name actually lived, and that reality was not Nathaniel Drinkwater sitting on the deck of a dhow dressed like an Arab horsethief, but a brown-haired woman with a child at her breast. Thinking thus he dozed.

  He woke at the sound of a boat bumping alongside. Wrinch had returned and they weighed anchor. In the calm of the night four sweeps propelled the dhow closer inshore and soon they secured alongside a stone pier. Striking the hold open they swung the great lateen yards round and laboured to gingerly lift each of the three six-pounders out of the hold and onto the waiting carts. It was dawn before the last gun had gone, followed by Mr Trussel and his gunners who departed with their powder and shot on a fourth cart.

  Wrinch came to say his farewells. He addressed Griffiths who was still in his huge nightshirt. ‘It is all arranged Madoc. I had sufficient gold. Your artillery was a powerful persuader. Nathaniel is fully aware of the precise nature of my intentions. As for yourself, Madoc, I entreat you not to be quixotic. That you have come is sufficient. Let Nathaniel here lead the attack.’

  ‘I am a naval officer, not a mawkish schoolgirl to be cozened,’ growled Griffiths. In a milder tone he added, ‘be off with you. Give us your blue light when y’re ready and you’ll not find us wanting.’ He held out his hand.

  ‘Let us hope that we may toast our success in this Santhonax’s cabin stores before long.’ Wrinch extended his hand to Drinkwater.

  ‘Good luck, Strangford. I hope Allah wills our little enterprise.’

  Wrinch had hardly disappeared before the Hellebores were bundled below and Yusuf ben Ibraham called his drugged crew to order. With no apparent ill effects the sambuk slipped seawards and two hours after sunrise was beating northwards through sparkling seas. Aware that for the moment he was a passenger Drinkwater slept like a child.

  By mid-morning they had left Rayikhah Island well astern and turned north-east to raise Ras Murabit. They began to fish as they closed the shore again and by the afternoon were in company with two other native craft similarly employed. At about four o’clock with the mountains of the Hejaz well defined against a sky of perfect blue and the low, paler dun-coloured coastal plain still shimmering in the heat, they made out the frigate, tiny at first, but growing larger as they sailed closer, in company with the other boats returning after their day’s fishing to the sharm Al Mukhra. As they approached they could see the vessel was upright and lying head to wind with her yards crossed. They must have completed their maintenance work, for the ship had all the appearance of being ready for sea.

  As the wind died towards evening their pace slackened. Once again the Hellebores were sent below, only the officers with Arab dress being permitted to keep the deck. Looking pale and drawn Commander Griffiths remained, his eyes fixed upon the enemy frigate.

  The French ship lay in a sharm which formed a spoon-shaped indentation in the coastline. A few scrubby mangroves were visible on the foreshore and the square shapes of low, mud-brick houses squatted among palms. At the head of the sharm the dried up water-course wound inland, the wadi that Wrinch would use to cover his own approach.

  Boldly, and with the setting sun silhouetting them, the sambuk of Yusuf ben Ibrahim accompanied the boats from Al Mukhra, his crew exchanging shouted comments about the paucity of fish off Rayikhah and blaming it upon the anger of Allah that the infidel had overrun Egypt. The men from Al Mukhra were clearly of the same opinion. They pointed to the French frigate and made obscene gestures. Their women, they said, were being contaminated by the heathen French who had been anchored too long and were hornier than goats with their drunkenness and their lusting. Indeed Allah must have turned his face from the faithful of Al Mukhra who were among the most wretched of men. All this was perfectly comprehensible to Drinkwater, accompanied as it was by universally accepted gestures. It was clear that though Santhonax might have bought the local headmen with gifts and gold, the humbler people who dwelt here had no love for the French.

  Drinkwater tried to concentrate on the approach to the sharm, storing up knowledge for later use but it seemed to be well chosen, for the approach was wide and deep and clearly Santhonax relied upon the fear of reefs more than their actual presence. Drinkwater found himself thinking more of Santhonax himself and knew intuitively that that was what preoccupied Griffiths. The tall, handsome Frenchman with the livid scar, whom they had chased the length and breadth of the English Channel and pursued along the sandy coast of Holland, seemed drawn towards them by a curious fate. Drinkwater thought of the extraordinary circumstances that had led them to the grey afternoon off Camperdown when, in a Dutch yacht, they had taken him prisoner. And there had been his mistress too, the beautiful auburn-haired Hortense, who had fooled the British authorities for months, living as an émigrée in England. He wondered what had become of her, whether Santhonax knew that he, Drinkwater, had released her, turned her loose on a French beach like an unwanted bitch.

  He shook his head and drew his glass from under his robe. Careful not to catch the sun upon its lens he levelled it at the French frigate. Half an hour later they anchored off the beach and settled to wait for nightfall.

  The fish-hold of the sambuk presented a bizarre spectacle. Crammed into its odoriferous space the Hellebores, faces blackened with soot, prepared for battle. The two lieutenants checked the men and struggled aft to where Griffiths waited, sitting on a coil of rope. He had hardly spoken since they had left Daedalus Reef.

  ‘We are prepared sir. I am almost certain that she is not fully armed yet, her draft is too light and there is still a large encampment ashore. A boat came off just after we anchored but pulled ashore again. The land breeze is already stirring and we will need only a little sail to cover the two cables ’twixt us and the enemy.’

  ‘Da iawn, Mr Drinkwater, well done. You will want to be leaving soon, is it?’

  ‘Aye, sir, in a moment or two.’

  ‘Did you observe our friend at all?’

  ‘Santhonax? No sir.’

  Griffiths grunted. ‘Very well, good luck. I hope Wrinch told this blackamoor not to move till he saw the signal.’

  ‘Yes sir. I do not think Yusuf will move without a fair chance of victory. He is not the kind to embark on forlorn hopes.’

  ‘Off you go then, bach, and be careful.’

  Drinkwater went on deck. The small dinghy was bobbing alongside and Rogers waited to see him off. Yusuf ben Ibrahim was also on deck, smoking hashish with his wild-eyed crew. The moon was up, a slender crescent, an omen of singular aptness thought Drinkwater pointing it out to the Arab. Yusuf grinned comprehendingly. ‘In’sh Allah’ he breathed fervently, drawing a wickedly curved sabre that gleamed dully in the starlight.

  ‘Good luck, Drinkwater,’ said Rogers offering his hand. ‘ ’Tis a damned desperate measure but if it don’t succeed . . .’ he left the sentence unfinished.

  ‘If it don’t succeed, Samuel, we can all kiss farewell to a prosperous future.’ Nathaniel took the man’s hand, searching for the blackened face in the night. Rogers was much chastened since wrec
king the brig and Drinkwater found himself liking the man for the first time since leaving home. ‘Good luck, Samuel.’

  He descended into the little boat. Drinkwater squatted aft and saw where Kellett and Tregembo each took an oar. The third topman, named Barnes, settled himself in the bow. Drinkwater struggled out of his galabiya as they pulled away from the dhow and made a wide detour round the stern of the frigate as she pointed landwards, head to the offshore breeze. When they had worked round to a position on her starboard bow they began to pull quietly in towards her and, three quarters of an hour after leaving, Barnes caught the boat’s painter round the heavy hemp cable of the frigate. Kellett and Tregembo brought their oars inboard and all four men sat in silence under the stem and figurehead of the ship. They had achieved total surprise. Perfection of the plan now depended upon Wrinch.

  Faint sounds came to them; the myriad creaks of a ship at rest, a whistled snatch of the Ça Ira ended in mid-phrase. A muted burst of laughter and the low tone of conversation indicated where the watch on deck spun yarns and played cards. Once the coarse noise of hawking and a loud expectoration was followed by a plop in the water close to them.

  The minutes dragged by and a man came forward to use the heads. The four men maintained a stoic silence beneath the arc of urine that pattered down beside them accompanied by the quiet humming of a man on his own.

  As the man returned inboard Mr Trussel’s rocket soared into the night and burst over Al Mukhra with a baleful blue light.

  For what seemed an age total silence greeted the appearance of this spectral flare then above their heads the fo’c’s’le of the frigate was crowded with men. They jabbered together and pointed ashore while Drinkwater made a motion of his hand to Barnes. They eased the dinghy further under the round bow of the frigate, slackening the long painter until level with the tack bumpkin. Now they would have to wait for Griffiths and the sambuk to divert the attention of the men above.