The Pursuit

by Peter Smalley

  Clinton Huff had some difficulty in bringing the pinnace into the side of the frigate in the heaving sea. They had not been hailed from the deck, and went aboard uninvited, jumping up the side ladder as the pinnace nudged and scraped against the wooden wall of the ship.

  James found and reported to the officer of the deck, Lieutenant Grantham, who was severely hampered by a broken leg, to which a crude splint had been bound. He was obviously in great pain, and yet contrived to hobble about the deck with the aid of a crutch, and even up and down ladders. He took James below to the great cabin, where to his surprise James found Hermione’s captain writing up his journal, a square, solid figure in his chair. He turned, revealing a dour face, devoid of any hint of relief or pleasure in being rescued.

  Lieutenant Grantham began to introduce the visitor, but was curtly interrupted:

  ‘Captain Hallam Woodall, RN, His Majesty’s frigate Hermione, thirty-eight. And you are, Lieutenant . . . ?’

  James made his back straight, his hat under his arm. ‘Lieutenant James Hayter, sir, His Majesty’s frigate Expedient.’

  Captain Woodall threw down his quill. ‘We was sent to find you, Mr Hayter, when Expedient disappeared so mysterious from the squadron line. When the storm struck we suffered great damage, lost our rudder, and a sea anchor. Many of my people suffered bones broke, and my surgeon himself lies injured.’

  ‘Captain Rennie has sent me to say – with his compliments, sir – that we will—’

  ‘Be quiet, sir. You will kindly take me to Expedient in your boat, and we will then take Hermione in tow, and return to the squadron without the loss of a moment.’

  ‘Very good, sir. Captain Rennie has asked me – required me – to make a report as to Hermione’s state of repair. With your permission, I—’

  ‘I will make the report myself, Mr Hayter.’ Over him, and getting up on his legs.

  As he conveyed Captain Woodall to Expedient in the pinnace across the short, pitching interval of sea between the two ships, James thought but did not say that there was as much likelihood of Captain Rennie obeying an instruction to tow Hermione back to the squadron as there was of the great god Poseidon appearing at supper to pour their wine and offer his blessings.

  The meeting of the two commanders did not go well.

  Rennie attempted to be amiable, and solicitous, and sympathetic to his fellow captain in his plight. And was cut off.

  ‘Don’t want to hear your blandishments nor your excuses, sir. You are, both directly and indirectly, the cause of my present predicament. Do me the kindness simply to listen, and then to comply with my instructions.’ Flinging his hat down on Rennie’s table.

  ‘Instructions, Captain Woodall?’ Frowning, beginning to be irked.

  ‘Ay, instructions, sir. I am senior to you by ten years on the list. You will send me some of your people to aid with the pumps, and take me in tow. We will then proceed east-sou’east, forthwith, and rejoin the squadron.’

  ‘Take you in tow? Well well, I do not think I am able to do that, you know, even granted your seniority on the list. We have—’

  ‘Evidently you do not apprehend me, Captain Rennie.’ Again over him. ‘This ain’t a question of choice, sir. It is a direct order from Admiral Sir Jendex Lyle himself.’

  ‘Ah. Well well, I fear that both you and the admiral will be disappointed.’ A brisk nod, and a sniffing breath. ‘I cannot do as you ask.’

  ‘What! What did y’say, sir!’

  ‘Are ye deaf, Captain Woodall? I will aid you in repair to the best of my capacity – replacing your rudder and so forth – and then I will make sail to the west.’

  ‘You will defy me and the admiral both?’ Outraged and astonished.

  ‘I may not defy Their Lordships – that I think you will concede take precedence.’

  ‘I concede nothing of the kind, sir. You are under the direct command of the admiral, since we departed Cawsand Bay. And by God you had better obey him, and explain to him why ye’ve absented yourself, or know the consequence!’

  ‘Captain Woodall.’ Very firmly. ‘I am endeavouring to be gentlemanlike, but you try my patience, sir. If you will give me a list of your injured people and what they need, a list of urgent repairs, and the number of hands you require – temporary – to aid you with these, and with your pumps, I will endeavour to assist you, one sea officer aiding another. Beyond that, I cannot and will not go.’

  ‘By God, sir! By God, I have never heard—’

  ‘Let us get to work, if y’please.’ Over him. ‘I cannot lie here indefinite, rolling my masts out on the swell.’

  *

  On the day following, Expedient had resumed her original course into the Atlantic and her pursuit of the Terces. At noon she lay at 43 degrees and 21 minutes north, and eighteen degrees and 55 minutes west, the wind moderate from the south-west, the sky clear, and the glass steady at fair. Hermione was now far astern, left to manage her own business.

  Captain Woodall had been outspoken in his disapproval of Rennie’s intentions, and Rennie in turn had grown vexed and at last wholly impatient, and had sent his visitor back to his own ship. With him went Expedient’s surgeon, and further hands to aid Hermione’s people at the pumps, even as Mr Adgett and his crew stopped the worst of the leaks below, rigged and hung a new rudder, and patched up two of her yards and the spanker boom.

  These Expedients remained in Hermione overnight, working by lantern light, and returned to their ship in the morning watch. Hermione now lay higher in the water, and her pumps were holding. Dr Empson had treated the injured men, and revived Hermione’s ailing surgeon sufficient to get him back on his legs. Rennie had judged Hermione to be self-sustaining, and able to proceed. He saluted her with a gun, made sail, and swung away west.

  Rennie took divisions, inspected his ship, and made some comments to his first lieutenant when the declaration had been made and the hands piped to their dinner.

  ‘I will like you to resume the roster of your own lookouts at the mastheads, as Pursuit Officer. I think you should consult daily with Mr Loftus, also, in all distinctions of the conning of the ship. Charts, tides, wind, headway, leeway. We must crowd on as much canvas as the masts and yards will safely bear. We must know to a certainty that we are gaining.’

  ‘Is that possible, sir?’ Raising an eyebrow.

  ‘Eh? In course it is possible. You and Mr Loftus between you will calculate the speed Terces makes each day, and the exact distance she covers. We achieve no less in our own ship. Why cannot we apply the same calculations to Terces? It is simple mathematics, simple trigonometry.’

  ‘I have never found trigonometry simple, sir, I confess.’ James, with a smile. ‘And so far as Terces is concerned, surely we can only make a rough estimate of her progress?’

  ‘I do not regard this pursuit – any part of this pursuit – as a matter for levity.’

  ‘No, sir, I did not mean—’

  ‘I know what y’meant, thank you. We will crack on, and gain, and you will calculate that gain, glass by glass, watch by watch, and day by day.’

  ‘Very good, sir.’

  ‘There is another motive for it.’ A glance at James.

  ‘Another . . . ?’

  ‘Ay. Admiral Sir Jendex Lyle sent his principal frigate in pursuit of us. When that frigate returns alone to the squadron, I think the admiral will decide that he cannot and will not be thwarted. I think he will send other ships to pursue us, and I wish to be far away, out of his reach.’

  ‘With respect, sir, d’you really think he will be so vindictive? We were never part of his original squadron. We were merely a convenient replacement when one of his ships was obliged to drop out at Plymouth. When Hermione returns—’

  ‘When Hermione returns without us,’ over him, ‘the admiral, I repeat, will see it as direct defiance of his authority. That is his nature.’

  ‘May I venture an opinion, sir?’ Politely.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘I think that it is in Captain
Woodall’s nature not to admit defeat, neither. Therefore I think he will say that he never saw Expedient at all. That he was caught in the storm, suffered great damage, and was obliged to desist or founder. The admiral will then take thought of his own design, his own commission – to go to the Mediterranean – and he will forget all about us.’

  ‘You think that?’ In frowning doubt.

  ‘I am certain of it.’

  ‘Hm. Well.’ A sniff. ‘But that don’t alter our need to crack on. Let us do so, if y’please, without the loss of a moment.’

  ‘Ay-ay, sir.’ As he put on his hat and left the captain’s cabin, James thought but did not say that in all probability Hermione would not make contact with the admiral and the squadron until she reached Gibraltar, since the squadron would not have lain at anchor on the open sea, awaiting Hermione’s return, but would have pressed on south. Nor did he say what he most wished to, that to proceed with the pursuit of Terces deep into the Atlantic was pointless, hopeless folly.

  Rennie sat down to write up his journal, then sighed and thrust the quill irritably aside. Muttering:

  ‘He don’t believe in this pursuit. Nay, he don’t. He will seek to undermine me in this, and yet I cannot afford to remove him again. We are far too short-handed, and I need him. Christ in tears, what a cruise . . .’

  Another sigh, and he rose and paced the canvas squares, glanced out of the stern-gallery window, then went into his sleeping cabin. The cat’s cot had been placed by the gun carriage, and she lay there quiet, her kittens close against her, all asleep. A momentary fear that they were overly still and quiet gripped Rennie by the throat, and he crouched low. One of the kittens stirred blindly, and was licked and soothed by its mother. Rennie’s fear passed.

  ‘Safe.’ Rising. ‘You are quite safe, my dears.’

  He stood watching a moment longer, then returned to the day cabin. Again he paused to look out of the long window. Quietly:

  ‘Is any of us safe, in the vastness of the sea?’

  He thought of Sylvia, at home in Norfolk, of his peaceful garden, and the view across the shallow rise to the copse beyond, under the wide bird-soaring sky. He thought of these things and was both reassured – and saddened.

  ‘Why downcast, William Rennie?’ Whispered.

  The long run of the wake astern, through the angled window, the creaking and easing of timbers, and the ceaseless gliding wash of the sea.

  ‘Look to your duty, man. Find a way to prevail.’

  And he lifted his head, and made his back straight.

  *

  Expedient had developed a slight list to larboard, a difficulty of trim, and the sailing master and the first lieutenant went below into the hold with a crew to shift and secure casks in the tiers. During this work, which occupied nearly the whole of one watch, James Hayter motioned Bernard Loftus to follow him up the ladder into the forrard part of the orlop, where they could not be overheard.

  ‘I am speaking first to you, Bernard, rather than to Mr Tindall or Mr Trembath, because they are younger, less mature men, and we two have served together many years and understand each other.’ All spoken in a quiet tone. He paused to look about, making sure they were entirely alone in the gloom, then continued:

  ‘Will you give me your candid opinion of our condition?’

  ‘D’y’mean . . . as to the trimming of the ship?’ Keeping his own voice low.

  ‘Nay, not that. Nor the state of repair in general. I meant, your view of what we attempt.’

  ‘The continued pursuit of Terces? I had hoped you would not ask me that.’

  ‘But I do ask it, Bernard.’ Earnestly.

  ‘Well . . . the Atlantic is a very broad ocean, and the ship ain’t in an ideal state of repair, but we have survived worse.’

  ‘And . . . ?’

  ‘Well . . . if you wish me to be candid, I think what we attempt . . . ain’t perhaps altogether wise.’ Reluctantly.

  ‘And . . . ?’

  ‘And if you press me further, I think it unlikely that we will find Terces again. Nor do we know to a certainty where she is headed. The captain thinks the United States, but he has admitted that is merely a guess. We do not know.’ A shrug.

  ‘And since we have lost all contact with Terces upon the sea, we do not in effect “pursue” her at all.’

  The sailing master was silent, and James continued:

  ‘In truth, all of the captain’s talk of calculating Terces’ speed, of gaining upon her, and so forth, is flat nonsense, since she is altogether lost to us.’

  ‘I believe she is – yes.’ A troubled sigh.

  ‘Good, very good. Then we are of the same mind.’

  ‘D’y’mean that we are of the same opinion – or something more?’ Looking at him in the dim light, and growing more uncomfortable.

  ‘Something more, I hope.’

  ‘Then you must hope in vain, James.’

  ‘Eh? Surely we have both thought the same thing, since the storm?’

  ‘I will never be party to mutiny.’ Shaking his head.

  ‘And I have not used that word. Would never use it.’

  ‘But that is what you meant, though, ain’t it?’ Bluntly.

  ‘Mutiny is an ugly business, wild, anarchic and foolish. I would never countenance it, no more than would you. But we cannot simply continue in this way, watch by watch, indefinite. Do not you agree?’

  ‘ “Cannot continue in this way.” Which way? D’y’mean on this course, west-sou’west?’

  ‘You know very well what I mean, I think. Not just our present course, but the pursuit entire. That is nothing but a futile, stupid, dangerous pretence.’

  ‘Dangerous?’

  ‘Certainly. Each further mile we sail puts all of our lives more deeply in peril. As you admit, the ship is in a poor condition of repair. We are desperate short-handed. Terces lies we do not know where, far beyond our reach. What in the name of God is our purpose! Hey?’

  ‘And this is not mutiny?’ A vehement whisper.

  ‘In course it ain’t. It is plain common sense, as you know very well.’

  ‘I do not like this conversation, James. It troubles me sorely, and I will like to forget we ever had it.’

  ‘More pretence, Bernard? Hey? The next storm we encounter – and there will be such a storm, by God – may well sink us. Our one chance of survival, as I see it, is to go about now, before it is too late, and steer a course for home.’

  ‘He will never agree to it.’ Flatly.

  ‘Not if it came from one man, nor even from two. But if all officers, commissioned and warranted, went to him in the great cabin, and earnestly enjoined him—’

  ‘He would call it mutiny.’ Over him, and holding up a hand. ‘I want no part of it.’

  ‘That is your final word?’

  ‘It is.’

  James looked at him, looked away a moment, then:

  ‘May I hold you to your wish?’

  ‘My wish?’

  ‘To forget that this conversation ever took place?’

  ‘I certainly wish it had not.’

  ‘Then you will say nothing?’

  ‘I am sorry you think it necessary to ask.’

  ‘I did not mean to impugn your honour, Bernard. But I must be entirely certain. If you are not with us – you will say nothing?’

  ‘Us? You have already spoke to others of this?’

  ‘Nay, not yet. But I am going to, very soon.’

  ‘I wish you would not. I ask that you will not. It is mutiny.’

  ‘We must agree to differ, as to that. Will you take my hand, Bernard?’ Holding out his hand. ‘And give me your solemn oath that y’will not interfere?’

  Bernard Loftus shook his head, and kept his hand by his side. ‘If I did that, it would be just the same as agreeing to your scheme. I want no part of it.’ And he stepped away to the ladder.

  Captain Rennie pre-empted his first lieutenant. He himself summoned all of his commissioned and warranted officers to the g
reat cabin, a most unusual occurrence. When they were assembled, Rennie surveyed them a long moment, until the silence was nearly oppressive, then:

  ‘I am going to address the people directly, as to our purpose. Many of them, and perhaps some of you, have begun to wonder what we are about, alone in the immensity of the sea, and the ship we pursue far out of sight. I intend to lift the people up, and urge them to their task. I intend to call upon their courage, and fortitude, and strength. I intend to make their hearts swell with pride, and manly emotion, and the determination never to be defeated by a cowardly dog that fired upon us unprovoked, killed and maimed their shipmates, and has schemed and behaved in every way underhand, piratical, and villainous. When I am done, no task will seem too arduous, no duty too irksome, nor wearying, nor harsh, if only it will bring us in sight of our prey! They will feel to a man that they cannot wait to catch him, the damned pox-raddled wretch, and make him rue the day his mother gave him life!’

  He paused, looked at all of them searchingly, then:

  ‘And I will then call on you, Mr Loftus.’ Looking at him.

  ‘Yes, sir?’

  ‘I will ask you, in my behalf, to give all hands a double ration of grog, to gladden them and stiffen them to their duty.’

  ‘Very good, sir.’

  ‘That is the moment you, Mr Tangible,’ looking at the boatswain now, ‘will raise a cheer. “Three cheers for the captain! Huzzay! Huzzay! Huzzay!” You apprehend me?’

  ‘Ay-ay, sir. Three cheers, after the double ration is pronounced.’

  ‘Exact.’ A nod. ‘Very good, thankee, gentlemen. Will ye join me in a glass of wine before we go on deck? – Cutton!’

  Everything went just as Rennie had said it would, and later, as he took his watch, Lieutenant Hayter was obliged to admit to himself that he had been comprehensively outwitted and outgunned, and that his scheme of obliging Rennie to turn back was now quite smashed to pieces.

  *

  A week passed. A week of variable winds, occasional calm and modest headway, while essential repair continued. On the first day Expedient sailed 119 miles, on the second day 112 miles, on the third 123 miles, on the fourth 81 miles and on the fifth a mere 38 miles, in very light airs. The fifth day the ship was becalmed, and on the sixth she made 77 miles. A total for the week of 550 miles.