H. M. S. Cockerel (45 page)

“Well, the lifts, Mister Porter. Belay,” Lewrie shouted down to his hands. He walked back from the quarterdeck nettings to the wheel, looking at the malevolence brewing astern like a witch's cauldron, glad to be away in one piece. To where, he had no idea, after getting this temporary command to Gibraltar. Turning his back on their doomed adventure, he faced forrud, leaned over to peer into the compass bowl.

“Quartermaster, steer sou-sou'west. Give nothing to leeward.”

“Sou-sou'west it be, sir. Nothin' t' loo'rd.”

It was dark before their bows, and a cold sea glittered and danced on the faint starlight. Wind-rush across the decks, a gentle keening in the shrouds and running rigging. A weary, deliberate movement beneath his feet as
Radical
conformed to winds and sea. The sluicing of ocean along her sides, under her quarter, a peaceful, soporific sighing.

The way things ought to be, Lewrie thought; for a time at least, it was peaceful. After such a dispiriting defeat.

C H A P T E R 5

R
adical
was weeded worse than they had thought. She could not, for all her elegant length of waterline or finely moulded entry, make a goodly way. Weed, barnacles, algaelike green scum—a peek overside from the quarterdeck, hanging from the larboard mizzen chains, on the windward side, showed that her quick-work, which should have been smooth-joined copper and paint, was erose and irregular with Nature's sea-going pests. Weed waved like discarded rope in clumpy garlands up to three feet long. And all of it, save for the scum which thinned by morning of the 20th and no longer sloughed off as appetising morsels for the myriad of sea birds which swirled and mewed in her wake, was so firmly attached that a seething run with sails “set all to the royals” would not have scrubbed even a portion of it off.

A ship as long as
Radical,
with 100 feet of keel and waterline, should have logged nearly ten knots under plain sail; they were lucky to have averaged six. And the weather had been just boisterous enough to force them to shorten sail—first reefs in fore and main courses, second reefs in fore, main and mizzen tops'ls; forget setting stays'ls 'tween the masts, or freeing the gasketed t'gallants. They were too short-handed.

Plus, there were the unpredictably perverse currents in the Golfe du Lion, then there were fluky wind-shifts which had them at times close-hauled, beating into weather to make their southing, time lost in tacking to keep other ships in sight . . . neither Lewrie nor de Crillart could believe they'd made more than 180 miles to the good since leaving Toulon.

As for determining position, the skies had gloomed up again after dawn of the 19th, making noon sun sights impossible, and had stayed gray and overcast, rendering lunar or stellar sights hopeless, too. They'd fallen back on the old, and inaccurate, Dead Reckoning—by Guess and by God—estimating progress on casts of the knot-log.

The 19th hadn't been so worrisome, since there were many others in company, and if they followed along like lambs tagging after the bellwether, they couldn't go very far wrong. So many captains and sailing masters, all slowly trundling along in the same direction simply
had to
know where they were headed.

By dawn of the 20th, though, they were almost alone. Slow the line-of-battle ships might be, sailing in rigid order, luffing or backing tops'ls to keep their ordained separation in line-ahead. But they were faster, manned well enough to take advantage of wind shifts.

There were two merchantmen astern about two miles off, a brace of hired transports crammed with refugees, wounded or troops, straining to keep up, flying more sail than the weather would really allow. Off to leeward on their starboard bows was another transport, an unarmed hired horse transport, with people in her stalls instead of chargers. Only one more ship was in sight, far ahead, hull down with only tops'ls and a lone t'gallant showing.

Making matters even worse, now
Radical
was upon the open sea, her seams were working worse than they'd feared, requiring a full hour at the chain pumps every six, instead of eight. Their music to celebrate what looked to be a Christmas Day at sea would be the mournful clank and suck of the pumps, and the irregular spurting gurgle of flood-water going overside.

Could be worse, Lewrie reassured himself at least once an hour— worse things happen at sea, right? Count your blessings! Two more days and we'll be in sight of Minorca, the Spanish Balearics. Fall off loo'rd and we're between them and the Spanish coast. Seamarks and charted positions again. Fishing ports to squeeze into, if the flooding gets bad. Maybe not Gibraltar, but . . . Another blessing, it's warmer. Clouds, or heading south . . . and this sou'easter out of Africa. And it isn't raining. Five more days, maybe, to Gibraltar? Money-draught from Coutts's and Mr. Mountjoy . . . letters from Caroline, new clothes and sea chest . . .

A slight change in
Radical
's
movements, a soughing wallow, with a slower rise of her bows to the next quartering sea. He looked aloft to see the coach whip of her pendant change angle, curl and falter. A change in the wind, not for the good, dammit!

“Pardon, mon capitaine,”
Lieutenant de Crillart said, coming up to him at the windward railings. “Ze wind eez drop, an' back
un point
astern. We . . . shake out . . . meezen tops'l reef? Main course reef? I 'ave you' permission?”

“Yes, Charles. Carry on.” Lewrie smiled. Another blessing, he thought; to have at least one experienced watch officer aboard to share the quarterdeck with him, though they were forced to stand “watch-and-watch” of four hours each. Definitely
not
a blessing, that schedule—trying to eat, nap, scrub up . . . and pay proper attention to Phoebe, all in a mere four hours. Porter and Spendlove, to make a third? Hmm.

Definitely
a blessing, though: a girl willing to accommodate herself to his horrid back-to-back hours, affectionate enough to be supportive in those times when their privacy was interrupted. And wit enough to understand that he had two mistresses, one infinitely demanding, to which she must take a back pew for a time.

Precious few able seamen aloft, topmen laying out to let fall a line of reef-points. Landsmen and civilian volunteers on the gang-ways, tending the braces, in the waist easing clews, hauling on sheets. For a moment he wished he could dare let fall the t'gallants, but . . . should it come a blow, and in the Mediterranean there was little time before squalls struck, little warning. The wind was already trending more easterly. Another fierce Levanter on its way? No, they were doing the best they could, with what little they had left to work with. He'd have to swallow his impatience and tread on the side of caution. Overpowered by a squall, they could lose the upper masts in a twinkling, broach her to, roll her on her beam-ends. Or be driven under as too much canvas cupped too much wind, and
Radical
exceeded her ultimate hull speed.

Damned galling, Alan thought moodily, testy with himself for lack of sleep; here we are, one of the world's handsomest frigates,
crawling
along like a snail, fair game for . . .

He looked around the horizon. Merchantmen were all he saw, tired plodders, wallowing along short-handed, packed with humanity who couldn't even begin to help their thin crews, land-lubbers who'd more than likely never set foot aboard a ship before, heaving their guts up, helpless . . .

It struck him, suddenly, that they were the only warship present, no matter how poorly armed, no matter how short-handed, or so crippled by their own multitude of
émigrés
. One, just one Republican frigate, could gobble up every ship in sight, fall upon them like a fox in the hen coop and have them all in an hour. There were frigates, corvettes, even 74's which hadn't been at Toulon, scattered in ones and twos all over before Toulon's surrender. In French ports west of Marseilles and Toulon, perhaps—now at sea, to see what they could eat, like a pack of wolves on the hunt, falling upon the slowest, weakest, oldest of a deer herd.

“That's us, by God,” he muttered.

“Pardon?”
Lieutenant de Crillart asked, now his task was done, and he reported back to his temporary captain.

“Charles, I've been a fool. I've been remiss,” Lewrie grimaced.

Feelin' too sorry for myself, he scathed himself, too defeated. Too busy bein' a ferryman, worried about leaks and weed to . . .
damme,
I'd more thought for another tumble with Phoebe than I had for being a King's Sea Officer! Countin' seconds 'til I can sleep again!

“Charles, does a Republican ship come across this miserable lot of barges, we're done for. They'd have us, sure as Fate, and take us as easy as a pack of sheep. We should be doing some drilling at the guns, organising volunteers, getting ready for a fight. Putting together at least
some
means of resistance.”

“But, to offer
bataille, mon ami
. . .” de Crillart shrugged. “Ve are so weak. An', vis
beaucoup femmes et enfants
aboard, zey weel die uhm . . . during? . . . ze
bataille,
an' . . .”

“They stand a better chance fighting for their lives than they do surrendering and being taken back to Toulon to the guillotines, Charles,” Alan said firmly. “Men, women
and
children . . . chop! Resist, though, well enough, and we might only lose a tenth. Not
all.
And get away. These other ships . . . easy meat. But us . . . too tough to chew!”

“Mmm, per'aps,
mon ami,
” de Crillart nodded slowly, understanding coming to him.

“Look, we've Major de Mariel and what . . . about sixty soldiers?” Alan enthused. “They could be our Marines and sharpshooters. Gunners, yours and mine. Not enough hands to serve the guns
and
tend sail. But, we've all these civilian men. Work as landsmen at the braces and such. They're already doing that, some of 'em. Heave on the gun tackles, too, like landsmen in naval service. Run 'em out, overhaul. It only takes one gun captain, one experienced rammerman and loader per gun, the rest are strong backs, anyway. Bittfield and his yeomen below in charge of the magazine, plenty of boys aboard, to be powder monkeys and shot-fetchers. We put out a hot-enough fire, a foe might sheer away from us. And between Louis's men, de Mariel's, and the Royal Irish . . . and the rest of the male civilians with guns . . . should it come to a close-aboard fight . . .”

“Ze veapons, z'ough,” Charles countered. “Ozzer zan ze troops, ve 'ave on'y
un peu. Fusils
. . . ze mooskets? I know
beaucoup hommes
'ave
pistolets, fusils de chasse.
For 'unting? An' on'y
les gentilhommes,
ze
bien élevé,
'ave
épées
.”

“God helps those who help themselves, Charles.
Verité?
” Alan chuckled, clapping him on the shoulder. “Most especial, He helps them who got ready beforehand. Just in case He was short on miracles.”

“Oui,”
Charles grinned. “An', eet tak' zeyr min' off 'aving ze
mal de mer. D'accord.
”

“Mister Spendlove! Mister Porter! Cony!” Lewrie bawled suddenly. “Come to the quarterdeck, if you please.”

God, but it was disheartening. They had, beyond the muskets and infantry hangers, light-cavalry sabres and such brought aboard by the soldiers, barely enough cutlasses for the French gunners and his British Jacks. There were no boarding pikes at all. Civilians owned light hangers, hunting swords, aristocratic and elegant smallswords, some older heirlooms among the elderly—rapiers and poignards, or a fencing master's stock of foils and true épées doled out to others.

There were few French .69 caliber St. Etienne muskets, British Tower .75 caliber Brown Besses, a handful of Mod. 1777 Cavalry musketoons which fired a lighter ball. As for pistols, there were as many types and calibers aboard as there were adult males. Most gentlemen, though, had one or two pair, and those were allotted to those without.

Boys to serve as powder monkeys; that was no problem. Teens in plenty volunteered, treating the whole thing like a lark. Men without any personal weapons, commoners and shopkeepers, the poorer class who had never hunted, served in the army, or dared aspire to fencing skill—they went to serve the guns. Mild and fubsy tailors, chefs, cobblers and domestic servants ended up with runout tackles, train-tackles and swabs in their soft hands. Or were taken over by experienced able seamen, “pressed” as landsmen on gangways or in the waist.

There was eight-pounder shot and twelve-pounder shot in plenty for the quarterdeck, foc's'le and fore-and-aft guns. There were several casks of powder below, but few made-up cartridges. There were several bolts of serge for cartridge-making, but “impressed” silk shirts and gowns were commandeered as well. Bittfield and his yeomen were delighted to be in charge of a pack of women to aid them. Milliners, dressmakers, housemaids and seamstresses, with a few elderly, near-sighted males who had tailored for the Quality. Giggling, tittering, chattering as gay as magpies, sewing neat, fine stitches—but taking as long with each cartridge bag as if they were running up a new gown for some very particular lady patron.

For the heaviest armament, though, the massive eighteen-pounders amidships, there was only enough solid shot for about twenty rounds per gun, shooting to one side only, before they were exhausted. Grape-shot was almost nonexistent; they could double-shot the eighteens four times at the most. Musket-shot and pistol ball was short, so they had to satisfy themselves with scrap iron, bent nails (both copper and iron) and the shards of broken bottles and stone crocks, tied up in spare stockings, in the eight-pounders only.
Radical
had no swivel guns, much to Lewrie's great disappointment. As the organisation wore on, he felt like kicking his own arse, time and again, for those things which had slipped his mind when they'd hurriedly outfitted. Or those things which he had thought of by way of armaments, but had consciously decided to forego.