An Awkward Commission (27 page)
Read An Awkward Commission Online
Authors: David Donachie
‘Mr Harbin,’ he said, as the midshipman entered.
‘Sir.’
Pearce did not reply at once. Instead he re-read what he had written, particularly about this young man. Finally he looked up at the midshipman standing rigid before him. ‘Mr Harbin, I want you to take command of our prize, and ask Mr Neame to provide you with a decent master’s mate. Choose what crew you need to sail her in safety, though you are to stay in our wake.’
The boy seemed to physically swell. ‘Thank you, sir.’
‘I want you to know that I have said in my report that without your intelligence and your efforts we would all have either died or been taken prisoner.’ Now Harbin blushed and began to protest that it was not true. ‘Please, Mr Harbin, cease your protests, and go and take command of your ship.’
The two sloops sailed in line ahead, up the east coast of Corsica, the flag of the Union flying above the tricolour on
the mainmast of
Mariette
. Abreast of the fortified town of Bastia, in the early afternoon, having surveyed the good landing beaches to the south, Mr Neame had a request to the man walking on the windward side of the quarterdeck, who had just issued orders to hold their course, the anchorage off the town being empty of shipping.
‘I’d like your permission to fire a signal gun, sir.’ Responding to a quizzical look, the master added, pointing to yet another citadel and gun-bristling fortress, ‘We would not want them French buggers in Bastia not to see the arrangement of Mr Harbin’s flags.’
Pearce thought of the crooked-faced gunner, and his miserly husbanding of powder, who had been fussing like a mother hen over the state of his guns after the depredations caused by Neame’s actions, blacking the muzzles and painting the trunnions. The chance to beard him was too good to miss. He looked at the shore, where there seemed little sign of any activity.
‘I think a broadside would be in order, Mr Neame. I am given to understand that people in hot climates sleep at this time of day. Let us make sure that their slumbers are disturbed.’
No balls were fired, just powder, and Harbin responded to the loud bangs by dipping the tricolour and jerking the Union Jack. As the smoke swept aft, Neame said, ‘I wonder what they will make of this in Toulon, Mr Pearce.’
Pearce grinned. ‘That, Mr Neame, makes two of us.’
Like most writers I am often asked where my ideas come from. The truth, in many cases, is that my imagination is the only spur, but that would not suffice if it was not based on some solid foundations.
The actions of HMS
Brilliant
off Toulon are fictitious, though the French ships involved did exist and the actual surrender of the port was as is stated â dramatic license notwithstanding. Added to that the terms which allowed Lord Hood to take over the port were negotiated by an English Naval officer who was taken as a prisoner by Admiral St Julien, only to be released by Baron d'Imbert.
Then there is the final battle in this novel, which takes place in the Golfo de Porto Vecchio. That is taken from a true account of an action involving the Royal Navy. Only the time at which it occurred and the use of my fictional characters depart from that which was real.
D
AVID
D
ONACHIE
was born in Edinburgh in 1944. He has always had an abiding interest in the naval history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as the Roman Republic, and, under the pen-name of Jack Ludlow, has published a number of historical adventure novels. David lives in Deal with his partner, the novelist Sarah Grazebrook.
T
HE
J
OHN
P
EARCE
SERIES
By the Mast Divided
A Shot Rolling Ship
An Awkward Commission
A Flag of Truce
The Admirals’ Game
An Ill Wind
Blown Off Course
Enemies at Every Turn
A Sea of Troubles
Written as Jack Ludlow
T
HE
R
EPUBLIC SERIES
The Pillars of Rome
The Sword of Revenge
The Gods of War
T
HE
C
ONQUEST SERIES
Mercenaries
Warriors
Conquest
T
HE
R
OADS TO
W
AR SERIES
The Burning Sky
A Broken Land
A Bitter Field
T
HE
C
RUSADES SERIES
Son of Blood
Soldier of Crusade
Allison & Busby Limited
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First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2006.
This ebook edition first published in 2013.
Copyright © 2006 by D
AVID
D
ONACHIE
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–1331–8
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