Distant Gunfire

by David O'Neil

  By the time HMS Roister set out once more to return to Gibraltar both Robert and crew had happy memories of the warm and friendly welcome of the people of Palermo.

  It was with some trepidation that Billy Beaumont approached his captain on a delicate subject.

  The visit of HMS Roister to Bone on the return journey to Gibraltar had revealed that the relationship between the Princess and Billy Beaumont had resulted in an important development.

  Despite their best efforts the Princess had become pregnant. This information had not as yet been conveyed to the Bey, were it to become known the Princess would by now have been put to death under the laws of Islam.

  It was necessary to arrange passage for the Princess to a western port, beyond the reach of retribution; the matter was even further complicated by the willingness of Billy Beaumont to marry the Princess, by no means a simple matter in view of his position in society and the religious differences involved.

  Having established that the Princess was quite happy to become Baroness Brimpton, Robert arranged passage on one of the merchantmen in the convoy, and their subsequent marriage in Gibraltar, where the legalities were arranged. At Robert’s insistence Billy wrote a letter to Barbara to break the news to the family, he included the letter with one of his own.

  Elizabeth Merrick, now obviously pregnant with her husband’s child, was extremely helpful in arranging matters. Captain Merrick’s manner had become much more relaxed with the expectation of an heir, and was arranging for his wife to return to England to have her baby at the family home and this gave her the opportunity to take the new Baroness Brimpton with her as company. It was thus arranged.

  The work of a frigate in the Royal Navy was varied and the Roister was no exception to this rule. She was, according to orders, despatched to Odessa in company of the flagship, the 80 gun ship of the line HMS Persephone. At fifteen years old, the flagship had seen better days. Though she was still seaworthy, she could not be considered fast, thus both Roister and Jaipur assigned to accompany the Persephone, spent much of their time tacking to keep company with the ponderous Line of Battle ship.

  The first sign of trouble came with the appearance of the Turkish ships. Though there was no official conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Britain, the tensions between the two fleets had always existed just beneath the surface. On this occasion the Turkish admiral decided he was senior to the British admiral, the salutes therefore became confused and insult was taken and Turkish Admiral was forced to retire with damage to his rigging, though thankfully without casualties.

  This was not a good beginning to the expedition since the passage of the Bosporus would need to be taken once more on the return journey.

  The Diplomatic mission to Odessa had been the result of the actions of the French States General in starting the revolution in France. The Kingdoms of Europe were all nervous that the seeds of revolution would spread so it was purely a move to reassure the Russians that the British were standing firm.

  The whole expedition was a wasted effort as the Grand Duke despatched to Odessa by the Tsar failed to appear as agreed. Officially it was because he had been held back by bandit activity; privately it was because he was enjoying a quiet sojourn with his new mistress in his palace in Kiev, his wife being safe in St Petersburg at the time.

  For whatever reason, the promised meeting did not take place and it was an irritated Admiral who was faced once more with the uncooperative Turks at the Bosporus. The appearance of the customs launch in the path of the flagship causing it to heave-to did nothing to ease the situation.

  The arrival of three ships flying the flag of Naples was fortuitous and possibly prevented an incident of more serious proportions.

  In HMS Roister the atmosphere was generally good-natured, the crew was now at full strength with the addition of the volunteers from the captured galleys, and the officers and men known to each other, and more importantly having served under fire, willing to depend on each other. Robert encouraged initiative and he was pleased to see the way men stood out in the situations they encountered.

  They were at the extreme end of their covering beat when sail was sighted. When several more hove into sight it became apparent that at least part of the French fleet was out.

  Robert signalled to Commander Keith in HMS Jaipur that the enemy were in sight, at least three of the line and possibly three frigates. The flag, in company with the Naples ships, signalled for HMS Roister to shadow and report. Jaipur was detached to assist.

  It was late morning when the sound of the guns was heard. Jaipur reported the guns from the direction of Persephone, Robert immediately ordered the Jaipur to investigate. The French were apparently heading for Egypt. Having paced the deck for a good few minutes he made up his mind and gave the order. “Mr. Beaufort, bring her about and crack on all she’ll carry, course for the flagship!”

  “Aye Aye, Sir, Course for the flag. All hands to the braces, stand by to come about! Helm’s a lee, sir” the master cried.

  The men hauled in the sheets as the ship’s head swung and the bow came round to retrace the course they had been following.

  With the wind now on the quarter the ship flew, more sails appeared as the studding sails unfurled and the skysails bellied out to add their weight to the task, “Twelve knots by the log, sir,” the master called. Robert stood by the port rail, ignoring the spray that soaked the deck around him. The deck trembled with the pressure of the mass of sail aloft, as the ship flew as she had never before, almost planing over the blue water.

  Ahead Jaipur was also flying with all sail set including the spanker bending under the strain.

  Still the cannon crashed ahead of the two ships. Topsails came in sight, three sets all ships of the line, as they watched the lookout called “It’s the Percyphone and two Frenchmen.” Then, “One of the Frenchies has lost her topmast!” The men on deck cheered.

  HMS Persephone was laying shrouded in the smoke of her guns, the broadside from her starboard battery roared out, followed by the crash of the impact of the cannonballs on the French seventy four lying on her beam.

  The reply came but the French guns were not all fired together and they lacked something of the timbre of the British guns. Her topmast was hanging across the stays of the main which was swaying as Robert watched. “She is going to fall,” the voice of the master rang out as the mainmast of the French Man-o-war toppled slowly, carrying a raffle of sail and spars along with it. The portside guns of Persephone were still busy with the second French ship that was creeping closer, coming alongside the British ship. Obviously the French captain was attempting to board.

  The guns of both Roister and Jaipur were already run out and as they neared the creeping French ship they roared out in reply to the French bow guns. The broadside from the Roister caused the bulwarks of the French ship to splinter, shattering into a lethal swathe of wood shards, slashing into the men crowding the fore deck of the ship. Reloading with canister, the next shots caused mayhem among the assembled boarders.

  The two battleships came together and grappling irons flew from the Frenchman to the embattled British ship.

  “Stand by to board!” Roberts cry caused the assembled men on the deck of Roister to rush to the deck lockers where the bo’sun issued cutlasses and pikes. The men were ready and as the French boarding party crowded onto the deck of Persephone; the grapples went over from Roister and led by their captain, they went into action. The Jaipur men joined the conflict from the stern of the French ship, her men clambering over the stern rails to tackle the quarterdeck party and taking over the wheel.

  The action was bloody and Robert found himself hacking with his hanger at a small man with a big pike who was attempting to spear him. The slashing blade cut through the pike shaft causing the point to drop to the deck. His opponent stabbed at him with the broken end only to drop suddenly to the deck with blood pouring from a head wound delivered by the cutlass of Dawson.

  Slipping and sliding on the blood-sp
lattered deck, the combined force of Persephones and Roisters between them left the French boarders nowhere to go and the boarding stalled and then became a desperate rearguard action as they tried to get back on board their own ship. The fight ended in surrender by the survivors. Back on the French ship, the Jaipur party were just managing to hold the quarterdeck, but were hard pressed. The attack by Robert’s men returning to the Frenchman took the pressure off and the hand to hand struggle was swiftly concluded with the surrender of the surviving French.

  The other French Man-o-war was a sorry sight, the guns of the flagship had silenced those of the Frenchman and her flag had been lowered in defeat. As the smoke cleared it was possible to see the damage caused by the disciplined broadsides of her British opponent, the shattered holes in her side, the masts lying still cluttering the deck and hampering her guns, and the red streams of blood running down from her scuppers.

  In the aftermath of the skirmish, as the admiral who had regained his good humour insisted on calling it, it had taken three days to clear up and had resulted in the flagship and the two prizes La Provence 74 guns, and the Oberon 80 guns, in company with HMS Jaipur, returning to Gibraltar for repair whilst HMS Roister continued in her search for the other French ships. The Admiral had explained that the Naples ships had parted company off Limnos, and as they disappeared behind the island, the French ships had appeared from the direction of Ayios Eviratios, almost as if they had been waiting in ambush. One of the lookouts swore he had seen the Turkish customs launch returning to the Dardanelles as they cleared IMros Island, but they could not be certain.

  The hammering by the carpenter could still be heard two days later as he worked to complete the repairs from the damage that occurred during the short action.

  The breeze was fresh and windsails rigged, diverting the cooling air throughout the frigate. Robert studied the charts puzzling over the whereabouts of the missing French ships. On their last observed course they appeared to be making for Egypt.

  They did not locate the missing French ships, eventually guessing they had turned around and returned westward back to Toulon or even slipped by night through the Strait of Gibraltar out into the Atlantic.

  Chapter Ten

  HMS Roister herself was turned to the west, and following the North African coastline made her way to Bone, where she called for a visit and fresh water, before cruising onward to Gibraltar to make her report. At a meeting with the Bey, Robert was able to reassure him that his sister was properly wed to her English nobleman, and was currently with child back in England in her husband’s palace. The result of this news was the gift of a jewelled and gold-hilted sword of Damascus steel to be presented as a gift to the young Prince when he was born. The Bey had no problem deciding that the baby would be a boy thus would require a suitable sword.

  The voyage was interesting since it gave opportunity to give the men practice at musketry.

  When fitting out in Plymouth the purser had slipped and fallen breaking his leg. Since they could not manage without a purser another was appointed.

  Mr. Abel Jackson was an American-born loyalist whose family had moved up to Canada after the revolution. He had lost his family to Indians, and without ties came to England seeking a new life. Now in his thirties, he had worked in the dockyards on the supply side for three years where discreet investments had built up his finances to the point where he could bid for a purser’s position. The chance of the post on Roister arose at just the right time.

  Jackson had provisioned the ship with an eye to detail that caused dismay among the victuallers of the shipyard. The water casks were the newest to be found, and every cask of beef came from recent stores. The victuallers bewailed the fact that the American not only knew the system, he used it against them, ensuring that the provisions loaded were in reasonable condition, with no ancient casks containing meat that had turned to wood, charged at full price of course. Jackson’s philosophy worked on the principle of fair profit for fair quality.

  Because the captain still held fencing sessions on deck whenever the weather permitted, the officers of the ship had all attained a proficiency in fencing well above average. The encouragement for the rest of the crew to develop their skills had resulted in permission for wrestling and some other activities being given.

  It was however with some surprise that Abel Jackson, having established a good reputation within the ship then created a legend of another sort. He had appeared on deck several times to watch the fencing; he had actually taken part on a few occasions, showing a good level of skill in the art; but it was with a gun shooting at targets he really made an impression. He had his own weapon and ammunition and he shot at targets, mainly boxes and kegs thrown over the side. He was a crack shot. Lieutenant Beaufort was on watch on the first of these occasions, noticed and commented to the Captain on Jackson’s skill and accuracy with the weapon. A discussion between Robert and Mr. Jackson resulted in the regular appearance of several crew members and the entire contingent of marines on deck for practice with the ship’s muskets and, on occasion, with the weapon belonging to Mr. Jackson. His piece was a rifle which was capable of extreme accuracy when fired by a person trained to use it.

  Fourteen men chosen by Mr. Jackson were selected for training with the rifle. Mr. Jackson was in turn charged with obtaining suitable extra weapons for the purpose. The guns would be purchased at Robert’s expense when and how he could. Four German hunting rifles had been obtained in Odessa, luckily they were all of the same calibre and the ammunition moulds were available when the guns were purchased. Rifles were not popular in the army due to the time taken to reload and basically the use of firearms was generally in volley firing, where the accuracy of the gun was not so critical. Later in the French conflict it became a weapon of choice for the skirmishers of both armies.

  Because of his experience of survival in the backwoods of America, Jackson had developed a drill for the reloading of his rifle that he taught to his trainees. Requiring at least three shots per minute from them and later four; a further six rifles were obtained from Bone when they called. The Arabs were happy with their own guns and treated the European weapons with disdain.

  Among these new weapons were two Ferguson Rifles, breech loaders, invented by Major Ferguson and used in the American war by his men until his death. His successor had them stored since he personally favoured the muskets in use by the rest of the army. They had only recently been recovered and were now causing interest once more, though newer models had been created and were more favoured. The selected men now armed with rifles were four seamen and ten marines, and the competition between then was fierce, albeit friendly. All were now expected to hit targets up to 500 yards range, and considering the movement of the sea and the firing platform that was no mean feat.

  As a sporting exercise the officers generally regarded the whole business as a diversion, small wagers being made on a favoured marksman. The remaining marines were trained to reload using the same system and all achieved the target of three rounds per minute and several could reach the four rounds standard.

  Their captain however had a much more serious reason for the exercise. In action, the task of the marines in part is to shoot at the officers on the quarterdeck of the opposing ship. Whilst it could be effective using muskets, normally it was more of a matter of luck to hit or to miss.

  With real marksmen in the tops, the odds changed and the consequent confusion caused by the loss of the officers during an action could bring an end to a battle with less collateral damage to men and ships.

  In addition Robert had long felt that owning a gun was for the purpose of killing. Inept use of a gun was a waste of time and money, so by training his group of riflemen to shoot quickly and accurately he justified the ownership of the rifles.

  As for the training of the marine detachment, since he had the expert available why not use him?

  Abel Jackson had demonstrated his worth with the rifle and had passed some of his skill along to his tra
inee’s, earning the respect of Captain Ullyet, who, in command of the marines, had been sceptical at first, accepted that their effectiveness had been enhanced by the training they received. The four marksmen armed with rifles gave the detachment flexibility not normally encountered in the Marine Infantry. *

  *The Marine infantry regularly carried on board ship at this time were not the formally recognised sea soldiers of present day. In many cases their duties on shipboard were menial and although they were expected to snipe at the enemy, their duties were largely protecting the Officers from the possibility of mutiny, and to impose discipline. In some cases they proved their worth when enterprising Captains used them in landing parties and to support the crew in boarding parties. As their worth became recognised their part in the ships company was formalised and the training and operation of the marines resulted in the essential role they now fulfil, and the honours gained reflect that. The flexibility of operation displayed by the modern service has been anticipated here, but why not? It had to begin somewhere?

  Another aspect of the adaptability of their Captain was demonstrated by his acquisition of the field gun. Normally found bouncing along behind a team of horses, the six pounder and a supply of ammunition had been ‘found’ on the Hard at Gibraltar after a battalion of Horse Artillery had been embarked for England.

  During the loading of the Artillery the gun had been mislaid due to the confusion of the assistant detailed to check the guns onto the merchantman. The completion of the loading was not until after dark, and the loadmaster had been flustered, causing him to miscount the number of guns and caissons taken on board. The ball rounds had been found when HMS Roister was rearming after the Bone expedition. The gunner had decided that there was no purpose having a six pounder gun without ammunition, the gun was therefore added to the inventory and ammunition acquired accordingly. When asked why his ship should have such a weapon, Robert would tap his nose and lower his eyelid in a wink, implying secret services, and leave it at that. To his surprise he found the system worked, suitably modified of course, even with senior officers.