A Continuing War_At Home and at Sea, 1803-1804 Page 2

  All too soon, they arrived at the quay and Giles made sure that Daphne was safely transferred from the boat to the jetty and then joined her on the walk up to where the carriage awaited. Somehow, he maneuvered them behind the carriage, where he took her in his arms for a final embrace before handing her into the carriage. Daphne noted that he then spent some time talking to their coachman while Carstairs appeared to be taking a passionate farewell from Elsie. But soon, Elsie joined Daphne in the coach, the coachman started the horses, and they were off.

  To divert herself from the despondent thoughts that arose from the parting with Giles, with no knowledge of when she would next see him, Daphne decided to tease Elsie.

  “You seem to have made a real admirer of Carstairs, Elsie,” she remarked.

  “I suppose so,” was the response. “My Lady, he has asked me to marry him.”

  “You don’t say. And what did you tell him?”

  “I accepted him. Of course, we can’t get married until he has settled how and where we would live. I told him that you wouldn’t want a married lady’s maid, so we would have to first have a place.”

  “I don’t see that, Elsie. You could certainly be with him when he and Captain Giles are not at sea, though I can see why you would want a home of your own.”

  This observation totally flummoxed Elsie, who was expecting strong objections from Daphne about how taking up with Carstairs would be most disruptive for Daphne. Finding that her mistress was quite amenable to the suggestion that Elsie could get married and still work for her until Carstairs was settled ashore, she shared all her excitement and dreams. Before long the two women were planning and speculating on when the marriage could occur and how the couple could combine their positions with their desires until Carstairs was ready to leave the sea. Daphne insisted that Elsie should be married from Dipton Hall and at Captain Giles’s and Daphne’s expense, and that they would happily provide the wedding breakfast. The plan to buy the Dipton Arms met with Daphne’s full approval and she was sure that Carstairs would have no trouble acquiring the inn since the Dipton Arms was owned by Captain Giles and was only leased to Tom.

  Their excited talk took them all the way to the inn where they were to spend the night, Daphne discovering that Captain Giles had worked out the best way for her to return to Dipton and had provided a purse to the coachman to purchase what was needed. Daphne was embarrassed to realize that she had not thought how her return to Dipton would be effected or how she would pay for it. That was not at all like her! She prided herself in always being in control of the practical matters of everyday life and, even if her husband were making the arrangements, she would want to know what they were. But she rejoiced in realizing that she had a husband who looked out for her needs, even when he must have matters on hand that most would think more pressing.

  Chapter II

  Giles watched the coach pull away and only turned to go back to his ship when it had disappeared around a corner. He immediately saw a familiar figure coming towards him.

  “Mr. Hughes!” Giles greeted the man, “Well met. Have you heard that I lost Patroclus?”

  “Oh, aye. And there are some who blame it on me for her having the too heavy bow chasers which I recommended.”

  “I don’t think that is fair, Mr. Hughes. We were hard aground at the time and in a duel with a French third-rate. It is true that Patroclus split apart at the bow so we had to abandon her, but we did a great deal of damage to the French ship and to her crew. That helped when we had to board her.”

  “I heard about that capture, Captain Giles – and about your other exploits. In fact, that is why I am in Portsmouth. The Ordnance Board wanted me to assess the armament of recently captured French vessels and recommend how it might be improved and of some recaptured British frigates, where the issue was whether they had been adequately armed. I was surprised and pleased to learn that you had been responsible for us acquiring almost all of them, and not just the Quatorze de Juillet. There are, in fact, one or two things arising from my assignment about which I would like to consult you.”

  “Oh? There is not much time, Mr. Hughes. We have to sail at the turn of the tide.”

  “One of the ships that I should have examined is Impetuous, but I couldn’t get to her before she had been moved to Spithead. I would like to see her. My next assignment is at Chatham, where I hear you are bound. Do you suppose I could trouble you to take me with you?”

  “I would be delighted. I would also like to have your opinion on Impetuous. I have only just taken command of her, and anything that you can suggest that would make her more formidable would be greatly appreciated. Do you have your dunnage? If you do, we can go out to Impetuous now. My barge is just at the quay here.”

  They continued their conversation as they were rowed out to Impetuous. Hughes was particularly interested in the details of Patroclus’s various battles and how the bow chasers had performed. He especially wished to hear about her end.

  “I don’t suppose that you had a chance to examine just where and how she split apart at the bow, Captain Giles.”

  Giles laughed. “No, we were too busy gathering material to burn her and get ourselves away before the next broadside came our way to examine the damage to the bow.”

  They pulled up to the ladder at Impetuous’s entry port and Giles preceded Mr. Humphries aboard. When the whistles of the pipes announcing his boarding had died away, Giles addressed his first lieutenant.

  “Mr. Milton, I apologize for not discussing the state of the ship with you in more detail earlier. We must do it now. But first, let me introduce Mr. Hughes of the Ordnance Board. I have offered him passage to Chatham with us. He has agreed to look over our guns and make any suggestions that might improve their effectiveness. I know that you know your business, but it never hurts to have another opinion. Could you find him a place in the wardroom*? Then I would like to see you in my cabin.”

  Giles had hardly begun to look at all the paperwork that had already accumulated relative to his new command when the marine sentry announced, “The First Lieutenant, sir.”

  Giles looked up to see the stocky figure of James Milton enter the cabin. He was a fairly slight figure, standing possibly five foot nine, and weighing ten stone. His hair was dark and his eyes were a nondescript brown. His face in repose was glum. He appeared to be in his late twenties.

  “Mr. Milton. I am delighted to have you as my first lieutenant. I much appreciated your initiative in requesting permission to go after Aristeia and in taking her.”

  “Thank you, sir. I am still not sure that we should not have turned around to come to your aid.”

  “And disobeyed my orders? The thought does you credit, but you must remember that Perseus had already stopped and was in a position to take off my people from Patroclus, Only my guess as to how much damage we had done the French seventy-four warranted my taking the two crews to board her. No, you made the right decision. Tell me, how do your prospects for prize money from that venture look to be?”

  “Mr. Edwards’s representative in Portsmouth – we are all using Mr. Edwards having learned that he is the prize agent used by Captain Bush and yourself – tells us that we five, the three lieutenants and Captain Bush and yourself will be dividing up the captain’s share of the money for the two French ships. We – the lieutenants – will not be getting anything for the ships we released. Apparently we are treated as having been supernumeries until the vessels were retaken and we took command.”

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be. We didn’t expect to get any prize money. At best, we hoped to get some sort of appointments, and we got more than we could possibly expect and better positions.”

  “Have you prepared the watch* and station bills?”

  “Yes sir. They should be on your table. Sir, I did have the help of Mr. Brooks and Mr. Miller. They were very helpful. I must say, sir, that it is a pleasure to work with a crew who are all experienced and who are volunteers.”

/>   “They weren’t all volunteers originally. Some came via the press* and the prisons. But they were volunteers on Patroclus and some of those from the press are among our best men.”

  “So, Mr. Milton, what have you discovered about Impetuous, so far?”

  “Not very much, to tell the truth, sir. We sailed her here in a very light breeze that could tell us little about her capabilities. She was responsive in the light wind and we had to tack* a few times, and she did not miss stays*. I was helped greatly by the master, Mr. Brooks, I must say. Probably because of her draft, Impetuous is not stiff, sir, not at all stiff. But I cannot really say I know her, not on the basis of that little voyage. I hope to learn a great deal more after we sail.”

  “That reminds me, we need to sail with the turn of the tide. Are we ready?”

  “Yes, sir. But might I suggest that we wait for half an hour beyond that in view of this gale that has been blowing for some time.”

  “Make it so, Mr. Milton.”

  Giles turned away, clearly ending the interview. He was turning so as not to show his First Lieutenant that he had just passed a little test. Giles had expected Milton simply to agree with him at which point he would have had to point out to the First Lieutenant that the turn of the tide according to the usual calculations was in fact not the appropriate time. It took daring on Milton’s part to contradict his captain, even in the most mild and polite way, and Giles was glad to see that Milton both knew his trade and would stand up for what he thought was correct.

  Mr. Brooks, the Master, was on deck when Milton appeared.

  “Did the Captain say when we would be getting under way, Mr. Milton?”

  “He said, that we should weigh the anchor at the turn of the tide. But I suggested that it would be better to wait another half hour.”

  “Did you now? And what did he say.”

  “He agreed. His words were, ‘Make it so.’ Did I do right to suggest the change, Mr. Brooks? Do you think he will hold it against me?”

  Mr. Brooks laughed, “No, Mr. Milton, you did quite right. He would have been disappointed if you had not corrected him. I should tell you that he asked me when the tide turned when he came aboard and indicated to me that we would have to adjust for the storm surge before sailing. He would have been disappointed had you simply agreed with him. And been less willing to rely on your judgment.”

  “So he doesn’t mind having his judgment questioned?”

  “No, unless it is an urgent matter when he will not brook argument. But otherwise, he is open to suggestion. If he doesn’t agree, he will say why and you will find he is usually right. That is one way we all learn from him.”

  “That is not at all like my previous captain, I have to confess.”

  “No doubt. And you won’t have learned as much as you will from Captain Giles, and your ship was probably not handled as well as she could have been. Now, I have work before we can get under way and you must have too.”

  Milton looked about himself with increasing trepidation. Getting the ship under way in a gale, even if it might be described as just a half-gale, in the crowded anchorage of Spithead, with wind against tide when the tide had turned, was an invitation to disaster. He would be commanding a new ship for the first time in any sort of difficult situation, especially when he was only starting to know the strengths and weaknesses of the various crew members. He imagined that Giles would turn the maneuver over to him; certainly his past captain, Captain Tomlinson, would have done so. If anything went wrong, Captain Tomlinson would have tried to shift the blame to his lieutenant.

  Giles appeared on deck a few minutes before they were to raise the anchor. He looked around to see the readiness of the ship and then turned to Mr. Brooks.

  “You have the courses specified to get us out of here, Mr. Brooks?”

  “As near as may be, since we will be beating into the wind.”

  “Quite. Mr. Milton, it appears that all is ready.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.” Now he would be severely tested. While he had often taken Prometheus, his last ship, to sea, it had never been in a situation quite as tricky as this one. Milton could almost see his hope of advancement, indeed even his present berth, going by the board.

  “I hope you won’t mind if I take her out, Mr. Milton. I want to see just how responsive she is and I may need to issue orders in a hurry.”

  “Of course not, sir.” Milton hoped that his relief was not evident.

  “Very good. I’ve got her. Mr. Stewart, you may raise the anchor.”

  Clank by clank the capstan turned, the nippers did their task, and Impetuous was hauled to windward. She showed an alarming tendency to yaw, which Giles met by commanding, “Set the driver.”

  Soon the shout came that the anchor was up and down, followed by the information that it was aweigh.

  “Larboard* your helm,” came next as Impetuous started to gather stern way. Milton realized that Giles was clipping off most orders to get them issued more quickly, knowing he had a crew and petty officers who would know exactly what he wanted. The jib was raised and sheeted* home, the mainsail set, double reefed, together with the foresail, also reefed. The sails filled, and Impetuous checked her sternway to surge ahead.

  “Pinch up to clear that next bowsprit,” Giles ordered the helmsmen. They did indeed clear it but only by twenty yards. Milton realized that the slight resentment he felt, illogically, at Giles’s taking over to get Impetuous under way, was quite unwarranted; while neither Giles nor he knew the capabilities and foibles of the ship, Giles was fully aware of the capabilities of his crew and how quickly they would respond to orders. Milton would not have dared to pinch up as Giles did, and would have been faced with executing far more complicated maneuvers. He realized that Captain Tomlinson, under whom he had served most recently, would not have known what his men were capable of or how to get them to respond as precisely as Giles had. Milton vowed to himself that he would become just as familiar with the crew as his captain was.

  These thoughts were interrupted by Giles saying to Mr. Brooks, “I think we should tack now. It will not be too serious if we miss stays.”

  “I think you are right, sir.”

  As Giles issued the order, “Stand by to come about,” Milton reflected on the oddity of a captain asking a master’s opinion on ship handling. Giles before long tacked again and then once more. On that tack they were able to clear the Foreland on the Isle of Wight comfortably. Milton expected the Captain to relinquish his control at that point as the master told the helmsman the course to steer, but that was not Giles’s way.

  “Mr. Milton, Mr. Brooks and I will be trying different sail combinations to see how she performs. Perhaps you could observe to see if any awkwardness develops in the assignments of the crew.”

  “Ah, Mr. Kirkpatrick,” Giles addressed the second lieutenant who had just appeared on the quarter deck. “We shall be exercising the guns before long. Make sure that all is in readiness for doing so. Tell me when you are ready. We will start by mock practice without powder or shot. Larboard side first.”

  Giles started shouting orders to alter the sails that were set and how much they were reefed. Mr. Brooks beside him seemed to be keeping meticulous notes and frequently logged their speed. After a few minutes, Giles broke off to go to the quarter deck rail and call to Mr. Kirkpatrick, “You can start the drill when you are ready, Mr. Kirkpatrick. Three times each per gun.”

  Giles and Mr. Brooks continued their methodical study of the sails and their effects in various combinations. Milton had never seen or heard of such a procedure, but he realized that the two officers were finding out as quickly as possible the various strengths and weaknesses of their ship. He was still straining to note and remember the effects of each change when some loud voices drifted up from the gun deck. Actually, one loud voice, that of Mr. Kirkpatrick.

  Giles stopped what he was doing. “The ship is yours, Mr. Milton,” he said, as he hurried towards the quarterdeck ladder. On the gun deck he found tha
t Mr. Hughes and Mr. Kirkpatrick were standing just about nose to nose with Kirkpatrick berating the man from the Ordnance Board.

  “What is the trouble, Mr. Kirkpatrick?” Giles asked in a mild tone.

  “This man was trying to interfere with the exercise of this gun.”

  “Yes? Mr. Hughes?”

  “I was suggesting to Mr. Kirkpatrick that he examine the gun carriage before using it, sir. Some of these French gun carriages were made with wet wood and have a tendency to split when in action.”

  “Did you examine the carriages before the drill, Mr. Kirkpatrick?”

  “No sir. I didn’t think it would be necessary.”

  “It appears that it is. Do so now, and ask Mr. Hughes to assist you.”

  Kirkpatrick ran a rather cursory eye over the carriage and pronounced it sound. He was about to order the resumption of the exercise when Giles forestalled him by asking, “Do you agree, Mr. Hughes?”

  “No sir,” was the answer. “If you check, here on the left side you can just see a crack that weakens the structure. There is a corresponding one on the other side. I am not sure what will happen if we fire the gun.”

  “Let’s find out. Mr. Abbott, get down to your magazine and issue a cartridge. In fact, I want to test all the guns with powder and shot, so you can expect more need for powder.”

  Activity had halted for a moment as everyone waited for the cartridge of gun powder to arrive. Giles soon put an end to this idleness. “Mr. Kirkpatrick, carry on with the exercise until we are able to fire this cannon. Be sure to check each cannon and carriage before running them in and out.”

  When the gun was finally loaded and run out, Giles told the gun crew to get out of the way of any mishap and had the gun captain fire the cannon. The gun boomed and jumped back on its carriage until brought to a halt. Giles and Mr. Hughes sprang at the gun to assess any damage. The crack on the left side had widened, and the right side was showing signs of coming apart.