A Battle Won

by Sean Thomas Russell

  ‘More than I feared,’ Hayden replied in a whisper.

  ‘We did not fare so badly as the Foxhounds, sir. The French fired grape into their boats at very close range.’ He took a long breath. ‘I should not want to know how many were lost and maimed.’

  ‘Yes, what they were doing so close to the Fortunée before we had reached Minerve I do not know.’

  Nineteen

  Hayden was making a second attempt to tie his neckcloth presentably when there came a knock on his cabin door and Mr Hawthorne was announced.

  ‘Mr Hawthorne. Is there some service you require?’

  Hawthorne smiled conspiratorially. He seemed overly pleased with something. ‘None, Captain. I have only come to wish you luck.’

  ‘I was unaware that I should require luck, Mr Hawthorne.’

  Hawthorne’s smile broadened. ‘You might know there has been some friendly wagering in the gunroom about your audience with Lord Hood. Some think the admiral will grant you your post, Captain.’

  ‘I hope I did not hear you say “wagering”, Mr Hawthorne.’

  ‘I used the term only figuratively, sir.’

  Hayden gazed at the results of his efforts in the mirror. Less than perfect, but it would have to do. In truth, he was rather agitated at that moment, and trying not to rush ahead of himself, for the very reason that Hawthorne had just explained.

  ‘I fear it will be nothing so propitious, Mr Hawthorne,’ Hayden replied. ‘The French have retreated to Bastia and I believe we shall sail for that same place. There will be more bloody guns to haul, I expect.’

  ‘If that is the case, and you are not granted your post, I shall figuratively lose five pounds.’

  ‘Well, I should not risk any of my own money on the outcome. I cannot imagine why anyone else would. Even if Lord Hood were to so honour me, I rather doubt the Admiralty would confirm it, in my case.’ Hayden pulled on his best coat, wondering, at that instant, who had bet against him.

  Hayden turned away from the small mirror towards his friend. ‘Presentable, I hope?’

  ‘Perfectly so.’

  ‘Then I shall have to excuse myself, Mr Hawthorne. Lord Hood awaits.’

  Hawthorne opened the cabin door for him and as Hayden passed through said, ‘Luck to you, Captain Hayden.’

  A preoccupied secretary ushered Hayden into the admiral’s day cabin, in which place he found Lord Hood and Captain Winter, the latter clearly rather surprised by his sudden appearance.

  Hood looked up, his long face pasty and serious. ‘Ah, Captain Hayden. Captain Winter and I have just been trying to comprehend what transpired the night the Minerve was taken. Captain Winter lost his lieutenant and suffered many killed and wounded in a failed attempt to capture Fortunée.’

  ‘I am not in the least in doubt of what occurred,’ Winter said indignantly. He waved a hand sharply in Hayden’s direction. ‘This man was supposed to attack the Minerve first, but hung back so that Lieutenant Barker was forced to proceed. Barker was perceived and the French fired numerous rounds of grape into his boats, killing more men than I care to recount.’

  Hood was not caught up in the indignation of Winter, Hayden was relieved to see. The admiral turned to Hayden and asked, ‘Is this your understanding of what occurred, Captain?’

  ‘In truth, sir, I do not know what happened aboard Lieutenant Barker’s boats. It had been agreed that my crew would slip down the bay and come upon the Minerve from her larboard quarter, sir. We did this as quickly as prudence would allow, for it was our hope to manage this without being perceived, to which end we had painted our boats black and blackened our faces.’

  A frustrated sigh escaped Winter, which Hayden pretended not to hear.

  ‘Just before we crossed the stern of Minerve, we heard musket and then gun fire from Fortunée and cries that the English were upon them. Directly we boarded the frigate, and took her in a bloody fight, sir. Our own losses were not insubstantial, I can assure you.’

  ‘You did not hesitate or delay?’ Lord Hood enquired civilly.

  ‘Not for an instant, sir. Lieutenant Barker and I had agreed that he would stand off the mouth of the bay until he heard fighting aboard the Minerve.’ Hayden tried to recall exactly what had gone on that night, but it was all much of a jumble. ‘There was a great deal of musket fire and fighting quite nearby, in the redoubt. I can only surmise that Lieutenant Barker mistook this for firing aboard the Minerve and stood in to the bay too soon.’

  Lord Hood nodded. ‘Very well, Captain. Please, take a seat.’ He turned to Winter. ‘I am satisfied that Captain Hayden performed his duty in an exemplary fashion, Captain.’

  ‘Exemplary fashion!’ Winter exploded. ‘I have near to fifty men dead because of this man shirking. This is not my understanding of “exemplary”.’

  Hood did not speak for a moment, but fixed his gaze upon Winter in a manner that could not be misunderstood. ‘I comprehend, Captain, that losing so many men is distressing but I do caution you. Captain Hayden has an unblemished record for coolness under fire. I do not for a moment believe he shied away from a fight.’

  ‘Some have given him quite a different character,’ Winter said, though quietly and without show of emotion.

  Hood, who had the reputation of a man with a hot temper, remained remarkably calm. ‘May I ask, Captain Winter, were your ship’s boats painted black?’

  Winter drew himself up a little, not hiding his resentment well. ‘No, sir, nor have they ever been.’

  ‘The moon had only just passed full.’

  ‘I am aware of it. If Captain Hayden had attacked first, the attention of the French would have been drawn away and Lieutenant Barker would not have been perceived. I am sure of it.’

  ‘It is regrettable that he mistook musket fire ashore for fighting aboard Minerve. But I must point out that Captain Hayden’s boats travelled the length of Fornali Bay without being observed by the French. Indeed, they had crossed the French ship’s stern without the French becoming aware of them. Under conditions of bright moonlight, painting the boats appears to have been rather enterprising.’

  Winter did not answer.

  ‘Have you anything more to say, Captain?’ Hood asked of Winter.

  ‘No… I have not, sir.’

  ‘Then I will not keep you longer from your duties.’

  Winter rose, made a leg to the admiral, and then strode towards the door without acknowledging Hayden in any way, though Hayden had risen at the same instant.

  Hood turned to Hayden. ‘If you will remain but a few moments, Captain. I have a matter I must discuss with you.’

  At a motion from the admiral, Hayden took his seat just as the door closed behind Winter. For a moment the admiral said nothing.

  ‘You met Barker, of course,’ the admiral observed at last.

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘A thirty-year-old lieutenant… I fear I shall not be able to spare him in my report, though I mislike tarnishing a man’s record after he has departed this life.’

  ‘I am sure he mistook fighting in the redoubt for gunfire aboard Minerve, sir,’ Hayden replied, not quite sure why he was defending Barker. ‘Very easily done under the circumstances.’

  ‘One mistake of many in the man’s career, though this one cost half a hundred lives. Winter must be aware of it. He cannot be so obtuse.’

  Hayden had not thought that, but was not about to disagree with the admiral on this particular point.

  ‘It seems the Minerve will float again. My compliments, Mr Hayden.’

  ‘Thank you, sir.’

  Hood looked up and met Hayden’s eye. ‘You informed Captain Winter that you would paint your boats black?’

  Hayden hesitated. ‘I did, sir.’

  ‘I assumed you had. You would not have wanted Winter’s boats to be discovered while yours went undetected. Winter still does not understand that this was in all likelihood the reason Barker and so many of his crew were killed. That and Barker’s incompetence.’ Hood thought a mome
nt. ‘I understand Mr Ransome received a wound?’

  ‘Yes, sir, but Dr Griffiths reports that it has shown no inclination to turn septic, so I believe he will recover.’

  Hood appeared somewhat pleased by this report. ‘Prize money is not fired out of cannon, is it, Hayden?’

  ‘No, sir, it is not.’

  ‘Good that Ransome learns this now. Greed is no substitute for sound judgement.’

  Hood reached across his table and rustled through a pile of papers. Finding what he sought, he raised a page and shook it gently.

  ‘There is one other matter before us.’

  Hayden actually held his breath.

  ‘You have been recalled… to England.’

  Hayden was utterly surprised and unable to hide it. ‘To England… When, sir?’

  ‘Immediately.’

  ‘I see…’ But Hayden did not see at all. ‘Aboard what ship?’

  ‘The Themis, Captain. The Admiralty, it seems, has need of her.’ Lord Hood almost smiled. ‘You look rather surprised.’

  ‘I was sent to deliver the Themis to you, Lord Hood. And now the Admiralty wants her returned?’

  ‘That is my understanding.’ Hood seemed amused by Hayden’s confusion. ‘You will carry the mail, of course, and proceed to England without delay. It is not a cruise, Captain.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Are you not pleased to be going home, Hayden?’

  ‘I am, sir. Most pleased.’ Hayden was uncertain of his own reaction, for though he did feel great excitement he also felt somewhat distressed. ‘But I had hoped to see the French driven from Corsica.’ Hayden realized that he had wanted to do this for the old general, Paoli. To help this principled and honourable man fulfil his single ambition – before it was too late.

  ‘It is commendable of you. I am sorry to see you leave, as your particular talents will be required. There are batteries to be erected outside of Bastia, if I can ever convince Dundas to mount an attack.’ Hood looked up at Hayden and tried to cover his frustration with a smile, somewhat bitter. ‘Nelson will manage it, of course. If not for officers like Moore I should rate the army more of a hindrance than an aid. That a man like Moore is not a general and Dundas not his writer tells you everything about the king’s army. Our own service might be less than perfect in our manner of choosing officers, but we do not let idle boys purchase commissions because their families have the means!’

  Hayden knew many an officer in the Royal Navy who, despite exemplary service of long standing, had not advanced nearly so far nor so rapidly as less capable officers with better connexions. The Navy was far from perfect in this particular matter.

  The admiral stood, and smiled. ‘I wish you the very best, Hayden.’

  ‘Thank you, sir.’

  ‘You will not forget to remember me to Mrs Hayden – I suppose that is no longer her name?’

  ‘Adams, sir. And I shall not forget.’

  ‘I believe you have a very promising career ahead of you, Hayden.’ The admiral met his eye, a little wash of emotion crossing his face. ‘I know it is often said as mere matter of form, but I say, with all sincerity, that I believe your father would be very proud of you. I am quite certain of it.’

  ‘Thank you, sir.’ Hayden himself felt a flood emotion that he struggled to control. ‘That means a great deal to me.’

  ‘Safe return,’ the admiral said, glancing down and shifting some papers on his desk.

  ‘Thank you, sir. Good luck in your endeavours.’

  Hood gave a small nod, and Hayden was out and then upon the ladder. A moment later he was in his boat, Childers beaming at him foolishly.

  ‘Shall I return you to your ship, Captain?’ the coxswain asked.

  ‘No. Set me ashore. I wish to take my leave of a friend.’

  ‘Aye, sir.’ Perceiving the seriousness of Hayden’s manner, Childers stowed his foolish grin, and ordered the boat away. All the distance to shore he looked somewhat confused and kept glancing Hayden’s way as if trying to read his captain’s face.

  As Hayden had secretly feared, even if he had hoped otherwise, Hood had not granted him his post. Hayden’s disappointment was very great and he berated himself for getting his hopes up. He, of all people, should know better. But the admiral had treated him with such favour! Had even said what a great future Hayden would have. And yet he would not, despite his friendship with Hayden’s father and obvious admiration for his mother, grant him his post, though it was entirely within his power to do so.

  Hayden wondered, given the admiral’s tirade against the purchasing of commissions in the army, if he suddenly had felt some reticence over granting rank to the son of a long-dead friend. It seemed a terribly inconvenient time to be growing a conscience over this particular matter!

  But Hood had offered something else, and though it was rather expected and somewhat maudlin, Hayden was certain of the admiral’s sincerity. The idea that Hayden’s father would be proud of him affected him more than he would have guessed. In truth, he was rather moved. And saddened, in the same instant. For the entire journey to shore, Hayden struggled to master his emotions lest he embarrass himself terribly.

  Asking after Moore, upon the beach, he was directed to the nearby tower, where he found the colonel upon the ramparts. The bay spread out before them, incomparably azure, the distant hills softened by a faint haze. Billowing up above the worn hills, foam white clouds, expanding as they rose into the Mediterranean sky.

  ‘Captain Hayden,’ Moore said, obviously pleased to see him. ‘We are off to Bastia, I understand.’

  ‘Perhaps you are, Colonel, but I am for England.’

  ‘England! Have you not just arrived in the Mediterranean?’

  ‘Yes, but the decrees of the admiralty are beyond the comprehension of mere mortals.’

  Moore looked genuinely disappointed. ‘It was my hope that we would complete this task together.’

  ‘It was mine as well.’ Hayden shrugged. ‘But I understand Nelson is quite a hand at establishing batteries.’

  ‘No doubt. When not making interest among his superiors he manages to be an excellent officer.’

  Both men were silent a moment, Hayden, at least, uncertain of what to say.

  ‘Is General Paoli nearby?’ Hayden asked.

  ‘He has retired to Oletta, I believe.’

  ‘Ah. Will you take leave of him for me? And repeat my hopes for him and his people.’

  ‘It is a service I would perform with the greatest pleasure.’

  ‘Well, Moore,’ Hayden offered, ‘perhaps what we have accomplished here will never look large in the annals of war, but I am proud of it, none the less. It was a great honour to serve with you.’

  Moore nodded, but did not meet Hayden’s gaze. ‘The honour was mine.’ He paused. ‘I have not been granted prescience, Hayden, and cannot say we shall ever meet again, but I do wish it.’

  ‘Let us agree to introduce our wives, one day, and bore our children with tales of driving the French out of Corsica.’

  Moore tried to smile. ‘Yes, let us wish for that. Take my hand, Hayden. I wish you fair winds and a calm sea.’

  ‘Success in all your endeavours,’ Hayden responded.

  The two shook hands and then Hayden retreated, down to the rocky bones of the island. For a few moments he toiled along the shore towards the beach where he had left Childers and their cutter. Briefly he stopped and turned round to look back at the tower, the hills of Corsica, in cloud and shards of light, rising up behind. The silhouette of John Moore upon the tower wall, a glass to his eye, gazing off towards the fortress of San Fiorenzo or up into the hills, trying to discern the road he would take to Bastia and beyond.

  Twenty

  Gould lingered by the taffrail, gazing at the ship’s wake curling away into darkness. A scrap of moonlight found its way through shreds of milky cloud and diffused over the racing ship and the nearby seas.

  Hayden came to the rail, a yard distant. ‘It appears, Mr Gould,’ he
observed, ‘that you manifest more interest in where we have been than in where we are going.’

  Gould looked up, a little surprised by Hayden’s sudden materialization. ‘I was merely contemplating all that has occurred since first I came aboard. A great deal, sir.’

  ‘And what do you make of it all?’

  ‘I do not know if I can say, Captain.’ Gould fell silent a second and Hayden thought that was probably all the answer he would get – young men not being terribly adroit at explaining such things. ‘I spent much of my childhood puttering about Plymouth Sound, sir, and though it changed every day it was always much the same, if you take my meaning. I set foot aboard the Themis and all at once there were gales and ships exploding, battles and pestilence, war upon land, and great port cities being taken and then falling again. I’ve been in fights for my very life, sir, and taken the lives of others.’ He paused a moment. ‘It is as though I spent all of my life in a curtained room, and then one day was thrust out into bright, blinding sunlight. All those years I spent dreaming of adventure, and now it is my life before that seems like a perfect idyl.’ A moment he considered. ‘Yet, how does one go back into the darkened room?’

  ‘Some do, Mr Gould.’

  ‘I have no doubt of it, sir, but I am not sure I am one of them. I think all of my senses would feel as though they were being starved, Captain Hayden. It is not that I do not long to see England, sir, and my mother and father and brothers and sisters. I do, with all my heart. But now that I have seen this war close to, and comprehend that I am fully able to play my part in it… well, I should feel like a shirker, Captain, if I gave it all up, now. There is duty, after all, and I cannot ask all of you to fight this war for me while I sit peacefully at home in my little room.’

  ‘You comprehend, Mr Gould, that you might be called upon to kill again?’

  Even in the faint light Hayden could see the boy’s face change.

  ‘I do, sir, and I don’t believe I shall ever make my peace with it.’ He shrugged, almost embarrassed. ‘That is the nature of war, and I shall have to do my part, though I detest the killing of others with all of my heart and soul.’