A Continuing War_At Home and at Sea, 1803-1804 Read online

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Have a look at these and tell me what they are.”

  “The engraved certificate is a letter of marque for le navire – I guess that is ship, sir – Généreux out of Calais. And the book is the log of the Généreux, Captain Couchetard. There is also a list of British-sounding ship names with some figures beside them. And what looks like a list of names of people. Sir, I was about to tell you that we found a name board in a locker on the after deck in the name Généreux and a port-name board saying Calais.”

  “Well, well, well. No wonder Captain Hoxley did not want to see us. Now that we know what he has been doing, I am sure that he will hang, and if the French had him and knew about this they would guillotine him. Pity that he can suffer only one of those fates.”

  The cabin also contained a small, locked metal box. It was so heavy that Giles suspected that it must contain gold in some form or at least gold and silver coins. It would be better not to unlock it until it was turned over to the authorities so there would be no question about how large had been its content.

  “What did you discover in exploring the ship, Mr. Kirkpatrick?”

  “Sir, we found no other crew members or secret compartments below decks. The hold is empty, and appears to have no access to the rest of the ship except for the two hatches. There is what looks to be a shot-hole about twelve feet to the rear of the bow, just at the water line. Mr. Evans thinks he can plug it, but the sail they have fothered over the whole is limiting the intake of water so that the pumps can handle it easily.”

  “Very good. Mr. Kirkpatrick. We’ll take this brig to Admiral Gardiner rather than to a port as is usual with prizes. I’ll sail as soon as possible. I feel nervous drifting here near those guns.”

  “May I ask why you are not sending the brig into harbor, sir?”

  “Yes. That ship is likely to be known in all the likely ports. The papers have evidence that there were prominent investors in them, and that she was engaged in spying. It may be advantageous not to have her capture become general knowledge any sooner than necessary.”

  On deck, Giles quickly ordered Mr. Macauley to herd the brig’s crew into the hold and to leave a squad of marines to help guard them. He checked with Mr. Evans that he could probably plug the shot hole while underway and ordered him to stay with Bountiful with one of his mates to effect the repair.

  “Mr. Osmond,” Giles addressed the sailmaker, whom he had asked to come over to Bountiful. “I want you to start recutting the brig’s sails, starting with the topsails, jibs and staysails. Just to make her sails look different. “Use her spare sails to start with. I don’t want her to be recognizable just from seeing her sails.”

  He then turned to Mr. Kirkpatrick. “Mr. Kirkpatrick. You will take station on Impetuous’s windward quarter. At night, I’ll have a lantern on the taffrail, and you should have one on your bow. We expect to find Admiral Gardiner off the Goodwin Sands or news of where he is from a ship stationed there. I will have Mr. Brooks send over one of his mates with charts and courses in case we get separated. He can stand watches to relieve you. Be vigilant about the prisoners. Remember that they are very familiar with this ship and may have ways out of the hold that we were not able to discover. I am taking the precaution of removing their weapons to Impetuous.”

  By the start of the first dog watch, both ships were ready to proceed. The wind had lightened still farther, but had also veered, so that they could hope to reach the rendezvous on one long tack. Mr. Evans was still working to repair the shot-hole, but reported that it should be easy to finish the job by nightfall. Mr. Osmond had the main and fore topsails recut already and was starting to work on the jib. To a sailor, they would look quite different from the sails they were replacing. He was now working on the fore topsail. “No one will recognize Bountiful from the cut of her jib,” he boasted. “And these sails should make her faster.”

  Lieutenant Kirkpatrick again had the morning watch, though now on a different vessel. His thoughts were much more cheerful than they had been on the previous day. Impetuous had already taken a prize, and while the prize carried no valuable cargo, their capture was a valuable ship. And he didn’t forget the heavy metal box. With any luck, it would contain coins, maybe even gold. And his share of that – he reckoned it would be one twenty-fourth – should be a tidy sum. He even felt better about Captain Giles who had not seemed to hold the fiasco with the gun carriages against him and who had answered his question about why Bountiful was to accompany Impetuous rather than be taken into harbor directly patiently, not taking umbrage on his questioning the reason for a decision. Captain Tomlinson, his previous captain, would have done so, vitriolically.

  The sound of Impetuous clearing for action wafted across the open sea between the ships. They weren’t using the silent drill this time. Kirkpatrick idly wondered how long it would take them to complete the drill. Yesterday must have been some sort of a fluke. He was glad that he would not be the one who would face the Captain’s disappointment when the time taken was longer than that accomplished on the previous action.

  Chapter V

  The start of the forenoon watch found Impetuous drifting along in thick fog under a very light south-east breeze. Bountiful trailed along on her starboard quarter, like a dog at heel. Mr. Brooks’ dead reckoning put them near the rendezvous with Admiral Gardiner’s fleet. There were ships around them, though they could not see them. Giles had ordered a gun to be fired every five minutes and for a horn to be blown at one minute intervals. They could hear similar cannon firings and horns sounding around them. It was impossible to tell in the fog how far away the other ships were or even exactly what was their bearing. Indeed, Giles could not even be sure whether the number of other ships was eight or nine. The Master had a man in the fore chains and his voice came back to the quarterdeck every minute or so with, “No bottom with this line.”

  Impetuous sailed into an area where the fog was a little less dense.

  “Ship on the starboard beam,” called one of the lookouts. Just after this announcement came a call from the masthead, “Ship to starboard, one hundred yards.”

  The officers on the quarter deck rushed to the starboard side. They could just make out a three-decked line-of-battle ship whose large guns were run out. The muzzles of her thirty-two pounders looked immense from where Giles stood. High above him, he could see officers on the other ship excitedly pointing towards Impetuous.

  “What do you make of her, Mr. Brooks?” questioned Giles.

  “A bloody great second-rate. It must be Penelope, Admiral Gardiner’s flagship. Ninety- eight guns.

  “Mr. Stewart,” Giles called urgently. “The private signal followed by our number. Shake the flags out as soon as they are on the halyard so that they can be read even before they reach the yardarm. We don’t want her to blow us out of the water.”

  The midshipman must have been expecting the order for the flags were attached even before Giles had ceased talking. There was an anxious pause as they waited for a response. It came in moments with the other ship raising the proper acknowledgement for the day, followed by the expected order, “Captain to report on board.”

  Giles decided to take Captain Hoxley with him in case the Admiral wanted to question the pirate-captain immediately. The flag captain met Giles at the entry way with a serious look and the statement, “The Admiral wants to see you in his cabin immediately.” Giles explained that Hoxley should be kept under guard, without specifying the reasons, and was shown by a midshipman to the Admiral’s cabin. Admiral Gardiner sat behind a large table with his back to the windows. In the dim, fog-shrouded light, Giles could only make out his outline against the light. Giles had the fleeting thought that he looked like some pagan idol, shrouded in mystery, who was about to pronounce what the future would hold.

  “Captain Giles,” the Admiral began softly. “That was a good bit of navigation you and your master performed in order to find us in this fog.”

  “Thank you, sir”<
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  “I see that you have a brig on your quarter.” There was more of a rasp to the Admiral’s voice.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And I suppose that the brig is a prize.” The admiral did not seem pleased about the one eighth of the value of the prize that would come his way.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Yes, sir,” the Admiral mimicked in what was now a loud voice. “I’ll have you know, Captain Giles, that I will not have captains pursuing prizes to the detriment of their orders. You were ordered to sail here directly from Portsmouth, were you not?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Then how did you just “happen” to collect a prize on the way.”

  “Let me explain, sir,” Giles requested. “With the wind as it was and the currents against us, it seemed best to make one long tack almost to the French coast before coming about to traverse the Dover Straights. We did indeed make the passage on just two tacks. We virtually stumbled on the prize just at dawn, a brig of war, sir,” Giles knew he was prevaricating about how he came upon Bountiful, but not in any way that could be disproved by his or Mr. Brooks’s logs. He just wasn’t mentioning that the primary reason for crossing to France was to see if he could take a prize.

  Admiral Gardiner seemed to be satisfied with the explanation. His next question showed that he had observed the prize carefully and was curious about some anomalies.

  “Why is she just showing our British jack, and not that flag flying over the French one? She is French, I presume.”

  “Not entirely, sir. She might also be regarded as British.”

  “How can that be? You surely didn’t take a British ship.”

  “When we came upon her, sir, at dawn yesterday, she was on a converging course showing British colors. I made the private signal. Her response was to change course, apparently to get under the protection of a shore battery, and to change to French colors. We were able to catch up with her before she got near enough to the battery and I persuaded her to stop.”

  “You persuaded her?”

  “Yes sir. A broadside into her rigging turned out to be very persuasive.”

  The Admiral chuckled at the turn of phrase. “And then?”

  “I went aboard to see what she really was. The Captain upbraided me for firing at him, claiming that the French flag had been simply a ruse de guerre and that he had turned to the battery to avoid losing many of his crew to the press. He was claiming loudly that I had no right to stop him and that he sailed under the sponsorship of powerful English patrons.”

  “Did he mention any of them?”

  “Yes, sir. He named the Earl Earl of Camshire, sir.”

  “Did he! Camshire is your father isn’t he, Captain?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Don’t worry, I think we have all heard the story of how he has treated you. So, what did you do then?”

  “I told the captain that I would examine his letter of marque and his log. I asked him to give me the keys to any locked material in his cabin. He refused, so I proceeded to his cabin and found several documents that were locked up there. I have brought them with me.”

  “Did he have a British letter of marque?”

  “Yes, sir. I found it in a locked box together with a log and a list of names of shareholders in his venture.”

  Giles placed the documents from the first locked box before the Admiral, who scanned them. “I see your father is a shareholder. I am surprised he could raise the price.”

  “He probably didn’t, sir. I would not be surprised if he were given the share as a fee for letting his name be used and possibly suggesting to acquaintances that they invest.”

  “Well, it all seems to be in order. I don’t see why you seized the ship. You have presented me with a very nasty situation to rectify.” The Admiral clearly was unhappy about the situation.

  “Possibly, sir. But there was another letter of marque and log in a different locked box.”

  “What?”

  Giles handed over the contents of the French box.

  “I see. Another letter of marque, and log, and what looks like another list of subscribers. Your captain Hoxley must have captured the Généreux. That would account for his having her license and log and documents.”

  “Yes, sir, I would have to agree. Except, sir, I found a third log for the Bountiful locked in the Captain’s desk. It includes all the captures recorded in the English log, and those listed in the French log and some others as well. When Bountiful was taking French ships, they do not show up in the French log and similarly her capturing English ships is not mentioned in the English log, and of course, neither of those logs mention her other captures.”

  The Admiral compared the three logs as Giles suggested, getting more and more red in the face by the minute.

  “This Captain Hoxley is nothing but a pirate! There is enough material for me to run him up to the yardarm right now. Where is he?”

  “I brought him to the flagship with me, sir.”

  “Good. Mr. Arbuckle” the Admiral ordered. “My compliments to Captain Foster, and he can prepare for a hanging at eight bells of the morning watch.”

  “Sir, if I may,” Giles interrupted, “there were still further documents that we uncovered. You may want to ask Captain Hoxley about their provenance before you tell him you are going to hang him.”

  “And all his officers too,” sputtered the Admiral. “Mr. Arbuckle, belay* that last order. Now what is it, Captain?”

  Giles handed over the final documents. The Admiral started to skim over them, then stopped and seemed to return to the beginning to read them more carefully.

  “My God! This is serious!” The Admiral thought for a few moments. “Do you suppose any other ships realize that you took Bountiful?”

  “I don’t know, sir. We only saw two distant sails before we raised the recut sails.”

  “Recut sails?”

  “Yes, sir, I thought it might be advantageous if it was not generally known that we had taken Bountiful. Of course, the garrison of the French battery witnessed our capturing her.”

  “So there is no time to be lost, if we are to catch whoever provided the assessment of the defenses and the sketch maps. Did you bring this Captain Hoxley with you?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Lieutenant Arbuckle,” the Admiral addressed his flag lieutenant, “bring him here.”

  Captain Hoxley entered, still sputtering with indignation at Giles’s seizing his brig.

  “Be quiet, Captain Hoxley, or should I say ‘Capitaine Couchetard?” Captain Hoxley seemed to shrink with this evidence that clearly his different logs had been found.

  “I should hang you and your officers right now. The evidence is overwhelmingly against you. But I do have some questions about this.” Admiral Gardiner displayed the secret spy document. “If you tell me everything you know about it, now, where you got it, who you were taking it to, what you know about the network behind it, and so on, and will testify in court against any Englishmen involved in this matter, I am prepared to recommend that your sentence be commuted from hanging to transportation to New South Wales. The same offer will be made to your officers.”

  “And my crew? Will you hang them?”

  “Of course not. They appear to be prime seamen. We’ll press them. The Navy is always short of hands.”

  Captain Hoxley accepted the offer. He actually did not have very much useful information. He did know from whom he picked up the documents to be taken to France, a man called Mr. Dorset. Captain Hoxley suspected that that was not his real name He could only describe him as a swarthy, older man with a pronounced French accent, to be found at a certain house in Deal. He knew to whom he delivered the reports in Boulogne and at what location in the town. On his most recent trip, Bountiful had been carried beyond the port in the gale. Impetuous had intercepted him as he was trying to beat back to the port. He had been recruited for treason by one of the more prominent men on his list of shareholders. No, that man had not put
up any cash for the venture. He was indeed impecunious and Captain Hoxley suspected that he was getting additional funds for his treachery. Captain Hoxley said that he got the Earl’s Marquis ’s connection with the venture through a promise to recommend the investment to others as a straight-forward case of financing a privateer in the hope of large gains.

  Captain Hoxley would be subject to much more intense questioning in the days ahead, but for now Admiral Gardiner thought it was important to act as quickly as possible. “Mr. Arbuckle, I believe that Richards, one of the topman in the larboard watch*, is from Deal. Fetch him here please.”

  Giles was amazed that the Admiral knew both the name and the origin of a seaman on his flagship. It was not long before the flag lieutenant returned with the man.

  “Richards, what do you know of the house of Mr. Dorset in Deal?” Admiral Gardiner asked.

  “Sir, I have never heard of Mr. Dorset. He must be someone new in Deal since I left the town.”

  “Possibly. Here is a description of the house. Please read it, Mr. Arbuckle?”

  The flag lieutenant read from his notes the description that Captain Hoxley had given them.

  “Sir,” said Richards, “it sounds like Franker’s Cottage. It’s a bit to the north of the center of the town, about two houses back from the beach.”

  “Could you guide a party there?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Thank you, Richards, You will be going over to Impetuous with Captain Giles. Just for this mission of course.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.”

  “Now, Captain Giles. This is what I want you to do. Take Impetuous round to Deal now. Moor to the north of the center of the town. Before dawn, go ashore with a squad of marines and proceed to this Franker’s Cottage. Richards will go with you to show you how to find the house immediately. Seize whomever you find there who fits the description we have been given and any other people who might be involved. Then take him, or them, or even no one if this part of your mission in Deal fails, to Walmer Castle* together with the documents you discovered on Bountiful. The Warden* of the Cinque Ports should be there, especially as he is no longer prime minister. He will know what to do with the traitor and the information you have.”