Ramage's Mutiny

by Dudley Pope

  “To me! To me!” he bellowed. “Calypsos, to me!”

  In the darkness he sensed rather than saw the mass of men give a spasm of movement as the Calypsos disengaged themselves from their opponents; then a black wall seemed to move round him. “Calypsos! To me! Let’s drive them forward and trap ‘em. Southwick—get back to the quarterdeck with a dozen men. Now then, the rest of you, follow me!”

  With that he ran towards the Spaniards who, finding the enemy had left them, were hurriedly grouping themselves. He kicked a coil of rope and staggered a few paces as he recovered his balance, but in that instant a dozen screaming Calypsos had passed him and began hacking and slashing at the Spaniards.

  Now only instinct kept a man alive: a cutlass glinted and Ramage managed to deflect the blade sideways and then stab at the frenzied Spaniard wielding it. As the man collapsed Ramage turned to fight off two more Spaniards armed with pikes. There was so little room that they could not wield them properly; they seemed to Ramage like women trying to sweep with brooms. He jabbed at the nearest man and as soon as the point of his cutlass drove home he wrenched it away and swung the blade sideways at the shadowy figure of the other man, who saw it coming but could not parry with his pike nor duck out of the way.

  Ramage was conscious that the Spanish were being driven back; the yelling Calypsos were slowly moving forward, step by step in a deadly saraband where the music was shouts and the crash of steel against steel. As Ramage half turned, looking for his next opponent, a cutlass blade suddenly flashed horizontally out of the darkness and he could not parry in time. It sliced into his stomach and he thought the wound must be fatal. A sharp pain made him gasp but he could still move and he slashed down at the dark figure who staggered off-balance. The man went down and Ramage, registering that he was still alive, fought on: hack, parry, step over a body, jab, parry yet again. No pistols were firing; there was just the clashing of cutlass against cutlass, blade against ash pikestave, the screams of men mortally wounded, the convulsive movements underfoot of wounded bodies.

  Suddenly he found he was close to the breech of a gun and the Spanish were vanishing: the man he was just going to attack leapt on to the barrel, flung away his cutlass and vaulted over the side into the sea with a curious, despairing wail. A dozen more figures on either side followed him, and Ramage realized that the only men now left on the main deck were a wildly dancing group still shouting “Calypso!”

  He shouted: “Stand fast, Calypsos!” but his voice came out as a scream which rasped his throat. “Stand fast!” he repeated but it was still too shrill. He took a deep breath but he was panting too hard to be able to hold it for a moment. He knew he was on the edge of losing consciousness and the pain in his stomach made him pause. His hand came away dry, but the pain seemed to be worsening.

  The immediate fighting was over but the ship had not been secured: not all the Spaniards had leapt over the side—the majority of them feared water more than a cutlass blade. There had been more than a hundred on board—perhaps even double that number. Some were probably hiding down on the lower deck.

  Now Aitken was reporting the fo’c’s’le clear of Spaniards; Southwick was waiting for orders, wiping the blade of his sword on his sleeve. Time was racing past and he tried to guess whether the alarm would have been raised in the town across the water. There had been no shots—an indication of how unprepared the Spanish had been. The ring of steel against steel would not carry far, but a fisherman out there in the darkness sitting in his boat, tending net or line, would have heard and even now might be rowing to raise the alarm.

  A mile to row in the darkness, ten minutes to persuade anyone in authority in Santa Cruz to listen to him, and another ten minutes to rouse out armed men and get them into boats, then a mile to row to the anchorage … there was no direct danger from the town. But a galloping horseman could warn the forts … Yet there was nothing to be gained from rushing; he had to risk an alert fisherman, or a suspicious sentry on the walls of Santa Fé. Wagstaffe could be relied on to wait in position, and all would be quiet in the town; at least, that was what Ramage hoped. The fox had managed to get into the hen run and was now swallowing the fattest bird, but he still had to finish the meal and then get out again. He had to keep calm and work methodically. First, clear the lower decks of Spaniards, and for that lanterns were needed. Then muskets to guard them—there was no time to send prisoners on shore.

  He sent a dozen seamen across to the Calypso to fetch lanterns; a couple of dozen went over for muskets but were warned that they were to do nothing until all the Spaniards had been captured. As guards they were to fire only as a last resort, because the sound of musket shots would carry across the water and raise the alarm …

  By the time the lanterns arrived Ramage had divided his men into three groups, one under Aitken to get to the lower deck down the fore hatch, another which he would lead himself down the after hatch, and a smaller group under Southwick to cover the main hatch to prevent the Spaniards scrambling up the ladder to the main deck.

  A look over the starboard side revealed a couple of dozen Spaniards swimming close to the ship and shouting for help. Ramage ordered some seamen to throw them ropes and take them to the fo’c’s’le under guard as soon as they were hauled on board. They had leapt overboard to avoid being spitted by British cutlasses; now the same British seamen were saving them from drowning.

  The parties of men were now waiting ready at the three hatches, each with half a dozen lanterns whose light threw strange and conflicting shadows. Those weird angles were the shadow of the cranked pump handle, and that broad band came from the mainmast. Aloft the light caught the underside of the yards and the furled sails, with the shrouds and ratlines looking like nets reaching up to the stars.

  Ramage stared down the after hatch. The lower deck was a dark, silent pit. The lanterns lit the ladder but beyond that he pictured frightened men in the darkness clutching their cutlasses—there had been no time for them to grab muskets or pistols—and staring up at the pools of light in the hatchways. How much fight was there left in the Spaniards? Knowing they were trapped, would they be desperate or resigned? Was there a leader down there to rally them? Or, he thought for a moment, a leader who could speak for them all and negotiate?

  He was far from sure how many of his own men had been killed or badly wounded: there were many bodies lying round the deck. Just then the light of a lantern reflected on his cutlass blade and showed the stain on the metal, and he knew he wanted no more killing if he could avoid it.

  He called to Southwick, who came trotting aft: “Take over here for a moment. Don’t go down the hatch.”

  As he walked to the main hatch Ramage called to Aitken, telling him to stand fast. Like the after hatch, the main hatch was a regular black pit; twelve-pounder shot gleamed round the coamings, sitting in semi-circular depressions cut in the wood, like large black oranges on display.

  Anyone standing at the edge of the hatchway and shouting at the Spaniards below was lit up by the lanterns, a perfect target, towering over them like a figurehead. Well, he had already decided the Spaniards would not have had time to pick up muskets or pistols; in a minute or two he would know if he had been wrong. The possibility of a shot coming upwards out of the hatch reminded him of the dull pain gripping his stomach, but there was still no blood.

  Yet would the Spaniards be crouching round the main hatch? Would they bunch themselves amidships where they could be trapped by parties coming down the fore and after hatches? No, he realized; they would be right forward, waiting for their enemy to come down the fore hatch.

  He walked the few more paces that brought him to the small fore hatch where Aitken waited with his men, obviously uncertain what Ramage intended to do. But Ramage knew that while he was prepared to lead men in a wild dash down the ladder, he had little appetite for perching on the coaming like the target in a shooting contest. It had to be done though, and he found himself standing at the edge and taking a deep breath.

&n
bsp; “Below there!” he called in Spanish. “Your ship is captured. Throw away your weapons and come up on deck unarmed.”

  “Let our Captain speak to us,” someone answered.

  “Your Captain is dead,” Ramage said harshly, for the moment less concerned with the truth than persuading the Spaniards to make up their minds quickly. “And so are your officers. You must surrender!”

  “No! Help will soon arrive! The soldiers are back in Santa Cruz—they will come on board in the morning.”

  “By then you will all be dead,” Ramage said, speaking slowly and evenly. “You have only two choices: to live by surrendering, or to die when we come down there after you.”

  He paused for several moments, letting the Spaniards absorb his words. “If you want to live, you must come up on deck without your arms. If you want to die—well, the moment I give the order, two hundred men will come down there and slaughter you. You saw what happened up here.”

  A dozen voices began talking; more joined in and several men began shouting to make themselves heard. Ramage listened carefully. There seemed to be no quarrelling; although he could not distinguish the words he was sure they were all agreeing with some decision. Suddenly there was a silence broken by the same Spanish voice.

  “You will kill us if we surrender?”

  “Of course not. You will be prisoners.”

  “How can we be sure you will not kill us?”

  “You cannot be sure,” Ramage said, “but we have just been saving the lives of some of your shipmates by pulling them out of the water. Do you want to talk to them?”

  There was a clatter of cutlass blades. Were they fighting or tossing away their weapons?

  “We surrender,” the voice said, “and I will lead the men up.”

  Ramage turned to Aitken and said quietly: “They’ve surrendered and are coming up in a moment. Have the men with muskets stand by.” With that he walked aft to tell Southwick, and then went up to the quarterdeck to collect his thoughts. Three shadowy figures followed him, and as he paused by the binnacle Ramage, startled for a moment, recognized them as Jackson, Rossi and Stafford, who had obviously appointed themselves his bodyguards. It was a sensible precaution; half a dozen desperate Spaniards could be lurking anywhere in the ship, and by now they would have recognized which of the disreputable-looking men was the leader.

  Gradually his night vision returned. The lanterns on the main deck were throwing a lot of light, but by facing aft he found he could first pick out the great black peak of Santa Fé, then the hills on either side of the entrance channel. Then he saw a grey patch, moving very slowly if it was moving at all. Gradually the patch became an outline, and he recognized the Santa Barbara lying hove-to.

  Wagstaffe was in position, the Jocasta had been captured, and the first half of the plan had succeeded. But it was the easier half; many a schoolboy had found to his cost that it was easier to climb up a tree than down.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN MINUTES later Ramage settled himself comfortably at the desk in the captain’s cabin of the Jocasta and grinned at Aitken and Southwick, who were sitting on the settee sipping cups of coffee.

  “This is poor stuff, sir,” Southwick said, squinting in the lantern light. “These foreigners don’t have the right quality beans to start with.”

  “Aye, there’s no body to it,” Aitken commented. “Still, we shouldn’t be complaining, I suppose.”

  “It’ll make a tale to tell your grandchildren,” Ramage said. “We shan’t be able to tell the Admiral because he would not believe it.”

  “I wouldn’t blame him,” Southwick said after draining his cup and putting it down on the deck beside him. “‘What did you all do after sailing into Santa Cruz with the Calypso and seizing the Jocasta?’ Well, sir, Captain Ramage found the Jocasta’s galley fire was still alight, so he ordered hot soup for the men and coffee for the officers.”

  “‘And pray, Mr Southwick,’” the Master added, giving a good imitation of Admiral Davis’s voice, “‘how did Mr Ramage justify wasting so much time, with two of the King’s ships lying in a heavily defended enemy harbour?’ ‘Well, sir, Mr Ramage said it was much too dark for gentlemen to be blundering around the lagoon in frigates, so he scrapped his plans and sat down sipping his coffee.’ How does it sound, sir?”

  “Well enough,” Ramage admitted. “All we lack is the Marchesa serving us thin slices of cake!”

  “Aye, she’d enjoy all this.”

  “However,” Ramage said, “I trust you’ll tell the rest of the story!”

  “Oh yes, sir,” Southwick said airily, “but sticking too closely to the facts does wreck a good tale, you know. ‘Well,’ I shall tell the Admiral (if he asks me), ‘we’d seized the Jocasta without raising the alarm on shore, so Mr Ramage changed his mind: instead of sailing out with a fanfare of trumpets and bonfires lit along the sides of the channel to show us the way, we’d wait half an hour for the moon so that we could sneak out like guilty lovers.’”

  As Aitken sipped his coffee he watched Ramage. He was unshaven, his seaman’s shirt bloodstained, his trousers torn and grubby, but there was no mistaking that he was the Captain. Put him in a line with a couple of hundred seamen, and you would know he was in command. Quite why it was, Aitken was far from sure. Eyes deep-set, cheekbones high, nose narrow and slightly hooked, mouth firm but quick to twist into a smile. You would pick him out on appearances, even though the stubble on his face and the tangled hair were great levellers and at least temporarily counteracted the hint of aristocratic lineage. Aitken liked the word “lineage” and was proud of his own, even though it contained no titles. Thomas Jackson, seaman, had as much lineage as Nicholas Ramage, heir to the Earldom of Blazey. The reason for the curious relationship between Captain and coxswain was probably that both men knew and acknowledged this without ever giving it any thought.

  The Captain sat in his chair, not exactly sprawling, but not sitting bolt upright either. Sitting comfortably—confidently was the word. Some captains needed well-pressed uniforms, formality, remoteness, the backing of the Articles of War, to create an atmosphere of authority round them, but most of them, however carefully they cultivated it, could not achieve what Mr Ramage did without realizing it, sitting back grubby and cheerful, a grin on his face as he teased Southwick.

  Aitken heard a faint call, answered from the gangway.

  “The boat’s come back, sir. I’ll make sure that Kenton found Wagstaffe and delivered your orders.”

  Southwick looked at his watch as the First Lieutenant left the cabin. “Another fifteen minutes, sir. I do wish you’d let me land with Rennick and the Marines. There’s no telling—”

  “Not again,” Ramage interrupted. “Rennick is competent and agile. He knows what to do. There’ll be enough work for you on the way out. Anyway, you’re no mountain goat, and you need to be one for the job I’ve given him.”

  “Yes, sir, but—”

  “But you don’t feel comfortable because the escape of two frigates probably depends on one lieutenant of Marines!”

  “Aye, sir,” Southwick said stubbornly. “That’s the long and short of it.”

  Ramage looked up as Aitken came back to report that Kenton had found the Santa Barbara and handed Wagstaffe his orders. He had waited until they had been read and reported that there was no message from Wagstaffe, who had understood everything perfectly.

  Aitken then waited a moment and said: “I wish you’d let me take half the prisoners in the Calypso, sir; I’m afraid they’ll rise on you. You have fewer than a hundred men to work the ship and guard them.”

  Again the First Lieutenant saw the teasing smile. “Don’t disturb those poor Spaniards, my dear Aitken: they’re crowded together under the watchful eye of four boat guns loaded with grape. If one prisoner so much as sneezes he risks having them all wiped out. Now, is everything ready on board the Calypso? Baker and Kenton have their orders?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And you remember y
our own orders?”

  Aitken looked puzzled. “Well, sir, just to follow you out but to pass you and get clear of the entrance if you go aground.”

  “Good. I just wanted to make sure you understood that you don’t take any ships in tow.”

  Aitken grinned cheerfully. “I understand, sir.”

  At that moment the sentry reported that Mr Bowen was waiting to see the Captain, and the Surgeon came into the cabin, bloodstained and weary and holding a folded sheet of paper. Ramage saw him and stiffened, knowing that the Surgeon came to report the casualties.

  Bowen held out the paper but Ramage said as he took it: “Tell me how bad it is.”

  “We were lucky,” Bowen said. “It could have been much worse. Five Calypsos dead and nineteen wounded.”

  That, Ramage thought to himself, is the price of the Jocasta so far. Admiral Davis would regard it as cheap—almost unbelievably cheap. But Admiral Davis would read Bowen’s list in a different way: to him the names of the dead would mean nothing. He would not recall faces and accents, habits and problems. Obviously the captain of a ship knew each man in his crew; obviously admirals were concerned only with totals—but it did not make it any easier to bear the fact that you have just been responsible for the death of five of your men, with others possibly maimed for life. And there was the enemy, too.

  “How did the Spaniards get on?” he asked.

  Bowen shook his head. “You’ll hardly believe it, sir.

  Twenty-three dead and forty-one wounded. I don’t know how many will see the dawn. And if you’ll excuse me, sir, I’ll get below again. The only thing is there are no gunshot or splinter wounds.”

  Ramage nodded as the Surgeon turned away. Sixty-four Spanish dead and wounded—nearly a third of her complement. Ramage had discovered from the Spanish captain that there had been 181 men on board. Another third were missing—they had jumped overboard—and a third, seventy or so men, were prisoners, along with the twenty from the Santa Barbara.

  Tomorrow there would be funerals. Five British and twenty-three Spaniards would “go over the standing part of the main sheet.” Twenty-eight times the bodies of men, sewn up in hammocks and with a round shot at their feet, would be put on a wide plank hinged on the bulwark in way of the main sheet where the standing part was secured to the ship’s side; twenty-eight times Ramage would have to read the appropriate passage from the funeral service, and the plank would be hinged up to allow the body to slide off into the sea. Twenty-eight times—providing the Jocasta managed to get past the forts without being fired on.