HMS Aphrodite (Sea Command Book 1) (16 page)

He attempted to explain to her that he had no knowledge of dancing and would be worse than the most clumsy hussar.

She shook her curls. “Oh shaw, sir. We could at least go out to inspect the garden.” Mullins then quickly agreed to escort her outside when she returned.

The remainder of the evening was a delight for Mullins. Their conversation soon became intimate and he learned her mother had died long ago, while her father had until recently been attached to the court of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. A bout of malaria had taken him a year ago and there had been no way for her to return to England at the time. Recently, she had been able to take ship for Gibraltar, where she boarded a transport for home. Unfortunately, that transport had been taken by a French privateer and she soon found herself back in the Med again.

Helen hoped she would have better luck at reaching home this time. She wondered when Aphrodite would be leaving for England. She would feel much safer travelling on a British warship than an unarmed transport.

The thought had not occurred to Mullins. It was true that his ship-sloop was sadly deficient of seamen, but the decision to sail home was not his to make. He assured her that he would keep her appraised of any possibility of taking her home to England.

Somehow the night seemed to become warmer, as she moved into his arms. Her body pressed against his and her lips were melted against his. Mullins had no idea of what he was supposed to be doing. He had never had any experience with women. He could kill a man without a second thought, but making love to a woman was a new experience to him.

Helen was wearing a gown, the very tiny amount of fabric comprising the top was miniscule and sheer. Some very interesting portions of her body were on display. Mullins knew very well he was not meant to ogle women’s bodies, but thought she probably had no idea of the effect her attire had on him. While he was avoiding glancing at what he was not meant to see, she had maneuvered him toward a stone bench at the edge of the garden.

Then, Helen asked if she could drape his coat over her shoulders since she was becoming cold. Glad to be doing something other than exercising his fevered imagination, he took off the coat and draped it around her, covering the interesting portions of her body.

While they sat there and discussed the beauties of the Kent countryside, she took his hand and placed it under the coat. With a shock, he found he was holding her breast. His fears left him and matters soon became steamy. When he became impatient for more experiences though, she stopped him, saying they must leave something for later. She casually took off the coat and arranged her top, making sure he had a good look before putting herself together.

His mind was swirling with what what had happened to him that night but by the time he followed her inside, he found her in the arms of an artillery major whirling around the dance floor.

This was all too much for Mullins and he collected his hat and sword and dazedly made his way to the quay where his boat lay. A nod to the cox’n caused him to wake the boat’s crew. As they prepared themselves, one of them dropped a flat brown bottle. His boat crew had apparently had their own entertainment for the evening.

Mullins did not see Helen for several days. Goodwin had been ordered to take the prize frigate home the day before and there was little to do to occupy his time. Shore boats delivered the slight amount of provisions Gibraltar could spare. One of the boats brought his sailing orders. Being unable to resupply his needs at Gibraltar, the ship was being sent on to Portsmouth, where he could take on a crew and other necessities. He received notice that he was to provide passage for Helen Davis as well.

With memories of the evening in the garden fresh in his mind, he had a talk with his carpenter. The carpenter agreed to the construction of a partition in his sleeping quarters. The larger partition, with the hanging bed, would be occupied by Miss Davis. The smaller would be his own bedchamber, although he would use a hammock, rather than another bed.

Helen came aboard just after first light the morning they were to sail. She was cool when she came aboard and went straight to the cabin. She was surprised when she saw the work that had been done and wondered what the small space remaining was for.

He explained that he had grown tired of sleeping in the tiny cabin in the wardroom and would swing a hammock in this little space. She nodded and went to work unpacking her clothing.

With a good easterly that would take them out, the ship set sail. They had been unable to take on more crewmen in Gibraltar, so Aphrodite was still shorthanded. Neither of his officers had returned to the ship, so he had appointed two of his older mids as acting lieutenants, informing them not to become accustomed to their new authority. He assured them they would be mids again just as soon as they made port. There were too many commissioned lieutenants begging for a ship to allow more mids to be promoted just now.

Mullins stayed out on deck while the ships made its way out and remained on the quarterdeck until well into the night. Neither of the two acting officers had ever taken a ship to sea before and he felt it necessary he be on hand to handle any emergency. Finally, judging everything to be in order, he made a visit to the quarter gallery and made his way into the hammock. It had been some years since he had last used a hammock and he had to struggle a bit to get settled.

As he lay there, his eyes fell on the door the carpenter had built into the new partition. There was a crack of light around the edges. Helen had a light burning in her sleeping compartment.

This was absolutely forbidden aboard any ship that Mullins commanded. At night, the light would be plainly visible through the stern windows, and in the mid-watch, with few people around, a fire could start with little warning.

He got out of the hammock and went to the door, rapping gently. He had expected her to be asleep, but she answered right away.

“Come in.”, she said.

Mullins explained through the closed door that it was necessary that she blow out the light.

“Oh rubbish, come on in for a minute.”

“I can’t, I’m not dressed.”

“Well, neither am I. Come in anyway.”

Mullins struggled into an old robe he kept there for going out on deck at night in colder weather, and opened the door.  The view he was presented with almost floored him. Helen was lying in the bed reading by the light of an oil lamp. Her head propped up on a rolled up blanket. She was covered by another blanket up to her waist.  Above that she was completely bare. By now, Mullins knew Helen was not the least bit shy about exposing her body, so he looked his fill.

Smiling at him, she said, “Well, what are you waiting for. Come to bed.”

After blowing out the light, he did so.

Upon reaching port, he delivered the copies of Admiral Nelson’s dispatches he had brought from Gibraltar, but found he was not the first to bring the news. Mister Goodwin had beat him home and the press was already praising the ‘Victory of the Nile’. A mail packet had also arrived a day before with copies of the dispatches. There seemed little for Captain Mullins to do in the immediate future.

Helen had sent messages ashore, with little response. She had not invited him to her bed since that first episode and he had no idea what was on her mind. Eventually, he just asked her.

“My father has a brother in Kent whom I was always told I should contact if I found myself in trouble. I have sent him several letters by post which he has not answered. I do not know what I should do.”

Mullins immediately offered to escort her to her relative’s home, but Helen shook her head.

“I fear that could invite questions about why I am traveling alone with a man. I think if I could take a coach, I would be fine. My problem there is I have lost all of my funds and have no money.”

This was an easy enough problem to solve. Mullins pulled out his purse, still well filled with some of the old guineas that had recently been withdrawn from circulation.

He handed her the purse, and told her to take out what she needed for travelling expenses. She was at first reluctant to accept.

“I have no idea of what the expenses might be, Charles.”

Mullins was awaiting word from shore and wished to be on-board when it arrived. He took her to the entry port of the ship and called over his cox’n.

He told her Woods would take her ashore and hire a vehicle to take her to the next coaching inn. She could inquire there about the possibility of taking coach to her destination in Kent. He told her Woods would accompany her and insure there were no difficulties.

Opening his purse, he handed Woods a handful of silver and told him that was for the hire of the vehicle. “You may happen upon something to drink, as well, only after you have taken care of Miss Davis. You will insure that all of your boat crew arrive back at the ship at least partly sober.”

To Helen, he handed a pair of guineas, which he thought would be sufficient to maintain her for the length of her journey. Then, he gave her the full purse.

“You may take what you need from the purse for your coaching fees. Please pay at the inn and return the purse to Woods when he returns.’

The visitor Mullins expected from shore never arrived. Instead an officer from the port admiral’s shore office came to the ship’s side and handed up a sealed packet. Mullins shouted down for the lieutenant to come up for a drink, but the officer pulled aside his boat cloak and revealed his missing leg.

“Too hard for me to get up the side of your ship, sir. I’d better just go on back.”

Embarrassed, Mullins opened the packet handed up to him. In it, he learned there were no seamen available for his sloop-of war at the moment. It was being put into the dockyard for needed maintenance, and then into ordinary if hands could not be found. In the meantime, he should make himself available to dockyard officials who would inventory all of the ships equipment and supplies. His crew would be taken off and sent to the receiving ship, and his officers released on half-pay. He himself would also be placed upon half-pay and referred to the Admiralty in London should he have any questions concerning his status.

Mullins regretted not having ordered the admiral’s emissary aboard so that he could have explained he did not really need seamen to take Aphrodite to sea. If necessary, if he could be furnished some healthy landsmen, his present officers and crew could soon bring the new hands up to standard.

The opportunity had been lost however. Should he appear before the port admiral with his hat in hand, begging for a few landsmen, he well knew his career would be at an end.

Soon, the delegation of clerks from shore appeared at the ship’s side to begin their scrutiny of all the records. Fortunately, his clerk was well versed on these matters and was able to deal with most of the questions. While pacing his quarterdeck that evening, his eye was drawn to a boat slowly approaching.

It was his own gig, in which he had sent Helen ashore. It was coming on slowly, as if the oarsmen were wounded or disabled. Disabled they were, with drink. The crewmen had taken their opportunity to celebrate while the cox’n had been tending to Miss Davis.

Woods himself, was mostly sober when he reported aboard and handed over the empty purse. Mullins was stunned when he saw all of the money was gone. There had been enough currency and coin in that purse to have purchased a coach and four. However, Woods reported Miss Davis had insisted she would need the entire contents of the purse for her journey.

This was an embarrassment, since he was in need of funds to travel to London to find his options with the Admiralty. Fortunately, his prize agent had an office here in Portsmouth from which he was sure he could draw funds.

Next morning, the Impress Service was at the ship to begin taking off hands. While he had some people left, he took his boat ashore to visit his prize agent. He elected to take his men, Will and Edward ashore with him. He knew if they were left aboard ship, they would be nabbed with the remainder of his crew and he would likely never see them again. His father, the baron, would not be pleased.

He left the boat moored to the wharf next to a waterfront tavern, where the crew could entertain themselves. He had had an excellent rapport with his men recently and doubted his men would ordinarily desert. Under the new circumstances however, he was unsure. He knew a transfer to a new ship was very unsettling and that might well cause some of the men to walk away.

He was not greatly concerned if that happened. The ship was no longer his and some other captain would have to wonder how he would replace any missing men. He did take Will and Edward with him. He hoped to return with a large sum of money and the two big men would be a deterrent to any footpads. The pair no longer had their oaken cudgels, but each now carried a navy cutlass which only a very foolish thief would wish to face.

The business with the prize agent went well. Another ship taken months ago had been adjudicated and the funds were available to release to Mullin’s bank. The agent was complimentary on his prowess on taking prizes, telling him he was making more money for the agency than any ten other officers.

The agent did not have the amount in his office that Mullins required, but assured him a note-of-hand at any bank would get him his money. In the meantime, the agent handed over a hundred pounds to cover immediate expenses.

A civilian financial officer came aboard and spent days going over all of the ship’s records, flagging all discrepancies. When he finished, he had a lengthy list of equipment that had been issued to the ship but was now missing. Among the missing equipment were the two cutlasses that Will and Edward had taken ashore.

There was a question about the extra French gunpowder that had been found aboard. Even after Mullin’s explanation, the official was not amused. He would not credit Mullins for the extra inventory nor would he allow him to take personal possession of it.

The extra nine-pounder balls were also discussed. Due to a misunderstanding with his gunner, these had not been expended in practice as Mullins had intended. Instead, the issued ammunition was used for this purpose since the gunner felt it to give better accuracy than the rusted balls Mullins had purchased. Thus, the ship was left with a surplus of old, rusty and pitted balls. The officer insisted these balls had received improper storage and he was being charged for their replacement cost.

At the end of the discussion, Mullins was told he must pay hundreds of pounds for the discrepancies. Mullins knew full well he could appeal that decision and have much of that sum reduced. However, he had the funds to pay the debt and had no desire to enter into a lengthy legal dispute. He wrote a note-of-hand for the amount and accepted a receipt from the official.

Knowing his time in the ship was coming to a close, Mullins took rooms in a nearby inn. Will and Edward would sleep in the stable. He did not want to take them back to the ship for fear of losing them. Back at the wharf where he had left the boat, he found two men were missing. When he asked the men if they would return, all were casually noncommittal. As soon as he returned to the ship, he informed the acting lieutenant who was serving as first officer that the seamen had run and such should be entered into the log.

At that time, he learned an officer had come aboard to take temporary command of the ship. Lieutenant Adams was in his cabin, making free with his Madeira. Adams announced he had taken the liberty of reading himself in and was now the official captain of Aphrodite. Mullins nodded and called for his servant. Telling him to take his possessions to the entry port, he asked Adams if he could have a boat and crew to take him ashore.

Adams refused, saying that it had been his experience that such men often took the opportunity to run. Under the circumstances, he suggested hiring a shore boat or signaling for a boat from the flag.

On deck, Mullins saw Petty Officer Aikens overseeing some men coiling down some lines. He went to him and told him he was leaving the ship and someone else would be his next captain. Aikens said he knew about it and as soon as he received his pay warrant, his gut injury would begin acting up and he would ask the surgeon to arrange for him to be put ashore.

“What with the prizes we took on the last voyage, sir, I have more than enough to buy that pub now. You will always be welcome for a free drink anytime you can come by.