HMS Aphrodite (Sea Command Book 1) (17 page)

Rather than travel in a mail coach, Mullins hired a closed four horse landau and driver for the trip to London. He thought he would be able to make the trip at least as fast, with more comfort. His driver would be able to change horses at every posting station.

They started out in the early afternoon, with an expected arrival in London in early morning. Will sat on the box beside the driver with Mullin’s blunderbuss in a rack by his side. Edward rode inside for half the journey with his cutlass and a big Sea Service pistol he had ‘found’.

No highwaymen intruded upon them and there were no breakdowns. The trip was faster than what was scheduled for the public coaches. The carriage rushed up to a stable, the horses were changed and they were off in minutes, if there were no demands to use the privy or to purchase food. Early on, the coach rolled up at an inn that was about to serve lunch.

For a handsome fee, Mullins was able to purchase a joint of roast beef to carry with them, several loaves of fresh bread and two pails of beer.

The carriage rolled into London soon after daybreak the next morning. Mullins had intended to report to the Admiralty upon arriving in London, but he was exhausted from the long drive. He decided to get a few hours rest in the family town house. He could visit the Admiralty this afternoon.

Evan Nepean saw him later that day. Mullins had spent two hours cooling his heels in the waiting room, but eventually the warder collected him and escorted him in to the Secretary of the Admiralty.

Nepean looked tired and worn this late in the day, but was affable and attentive to this junior naval officer.

“Commander Mullins, I have been hoping our paths would cross.  I am afraid it is my fault you were sent up here. I have communicated with Admiral Hornsby in Portsmouth several times recently concerning your career.”

“Your name first came to mind when your father and some of his friends pressured certain Admiralty officials to have you commissioned lieutenant without the formality of appearing before a board of captains to examine your qualifications. I will tell you plainly I was flatly opposed to this and blocked the first attempt.”

“However, they bided their time and tried again and succeeded when I was in the country. I was determined to rectify this injustice and began to watch your career closely. When one of the minor admiralty officials posted you to Havoc, on the orders of your father, I did nothing to stop it, intending to let you hang yourself with your own rope. I was astonished when you began acting like a seasoned captain and when Admiral Hornsby put you in command of Aphrodite, I did not object.”

“In your commission aboard her, I believe you have acquitted yourself in a professional manner, and my objections to your commissioning have dissipated. Now, my political friends tell me, another party is determined to bring you down. This party is at odds with your father and hopes to strike at him through yourself.”

“This is the reason you find yourself released from your ship and placed on half pay. Please note that I have not changed my mind about the means your parent used to have you commissioned. I do not believe though that you had a part in it. It may interest you to know that the person attempting to control you is not the all-powerful being he believes himself to be. I intend to come up alongside him and fire a broadside across his bow, just to convince him it is not wise to make attacks upon myself or my plans.”

“It is on record that you have reported to Admiralty Headquarters where you have been told to return to your home and await future orders. Hopefully, the person attempting to bring you down, will see this as vindication of his plans and will believe you have been set aside permanently.”

My advice and order for you is to return home and involve yourself in local affairs. Perhaps persuade your father into allowing you to assist him in his Parliamentary affairs. When all is ready and it is time for me to fire the shot, I intend to have you placed aboard another ship as commander. On the news of your last victory, I had intended to have you posted as captain, but your former first officer came sailing into port in a captured frigate you had taken.”

“Somehow, the press received the impression he had managed the capture on his own and there was a hue and cry about promoting him. To prevent your enemy from attempting to have him made post, I myself promoted him to commander and gave him an elderly brig-sloop, which will take forever and a day to remove from ordinary.”

“This promotion we gave him however, in effect prevents us from promoting you, since as a rule now, only one major promotion can come from a successful ship to ship action.”

“Are we clear on this?”

“Mullins said, “Aye aye, sir.” He added while he was his father’s second son and would not likely inherit, he had learned his older brother, for reasons of his own, did not want the title and was prepared to allow his younger brother handle the barony himself. Perhaps he could make an early start in these plans.”

“Whatever you wish Commander Mullins. I hope you will not leave the Royal Navy prematurely, as I feel you have a great deal you can do for your country. As it happens, I may already have an idea of why your brother does not wish to assume the responsibility of the barony. But we need not go into that. Give my clerk outside an address where we may locate you. You may expect to be notified within a few months.”

As Mullins stepped outside he considered he might well need some intelligent allies to assist him as these strange difficulties materialized. Both Will and Edward were strong armed young men who most adversaries would dislike to attack. But, they were certainly not the most intelligent of men. Midshipman Raynor came to mind. He was still just a boy, one who would not likely be suspected to be involved in any high-level political maneuvering. He was though, an unusually intelligent lad who had once navigated a prize to a British port over a distance of a thousand miles.

The question was, how was he to locate the boy? He had not seen the lad since sailing off in a prize long before.

Mullins had an idea the lad might find his way to the Admiralty to look into the possibility of obtaining a berth on another ship. Therefore, he found the warder who had shown him in to see Mister Nepean. Mullins explained that he needed to locate a certain midshipman and offered to pay him well if he could locate Mister Raynor for him. He told the warder he thought the boy might well come to the Admiralty.

Offering him a ‘sweetener’ of one of the new paper bills, he assured the employee there would be an additional note if the boy was found. H was assured the boy would be notified if he did come to the Admiralty. With that settled, he gave the clerk at the desk the address of the family town house and went home to get some sleep.

The next few weeks went by slowly, with no new of any movement in his naval career prospects. One day, a scented letter came by post. It had travelled a long route, having been directed to first HMS Aphrodite, then to the port admiral’s flagship. Next forwarded to the Admiralty, it finally found itself on a silver salver by the front door.

It was from Helen Davis who said she was tortured by the remembrance of their time together. She had been devastated by the necessity of having to leave him but felt she needed to make the effort to locate her uncle. After an exhaustive search, she had been unable to find the relative, and now, with no other ties holding her, she was in a position to show her Charles the depth of her love.

Mullins had learned from his previous experience with the woman and he was not about to allow her to make a fool of him again. He judged she had gone through the money she had taken from him and he was not about to compound his foolishness into giving her more.

After informing the house staff about this woman, he informed them he did not wish to meet with her and she should not be allowed entrance into the house.

Hanigan, their elderly butler, had a very soft heart, especially for a beautiful woman, and he did not trust the man to obey his instructions. Therefore, he sat down with Mrs. Leary, their staff supervisor and over a glass of sherry, to which she was partial, gave her the sordid details. She went into a snit when she learned of the amount of money Mullins had given the woman and assured him that Helen Davis would not enter the house while she was there. It would take a brave woman to brave the ire of Mrs. Leary, a most formidable woman.

That detail taken care of, Mullins felt free of his worries and responsibilities for a few days, until another letter arrived in the post. This had the Admiralty seal and required him to advise them whether he was willing to accept the command of a ship of force in the Royal Navy.

Not wishing to trust this communication to the Royal Mail, Mullins asked what vehicles were presently in the stable. Presently, there was only the light spring wagon Cook used for her shopping expeditions. A pair of elderly mares were kept to draw the affair, and Jason, the stable hand could drive.

This was not exactly the prestigious vehicle a successful ship captain might employ to visit the Admiralty, but it would do for this purpose.

Donning his best uniform jacket and hat, he was ready to go. Jason had been cleaning the stalls when he received the order they were leaving, so he got up on the box with what he had been wearing. The evidence was readily apparent to both eyesight and noses. Mullins asked to be let off a distance before the Admiralty and sent the driver home with the wagon, He decided he would find his own way home.

He had thought he might be called in to see Mister Nepean again, but this did not happen. A lower echelon employee, perhaps a clerk of some sort, called him into his tiny office and explained they had found a ship for him. It was the twenty-two gunned ship-sloop, HMS Aphrodite. Just coming from the dockyard she was now completely outfitted and ready to sail. It seemed her previous commander, a lieutenant that had assumed command before she went into the dockyard, had somehow blotted his copybook and could no longer be considered for promotion.

It had been considered necessary that only an officer of such rank could captain a ship-sloop against the enemy. Mullins was noncommittal, but assured the clerk he wished to accept captaincy of the ship and would expedite his journey to Portsmouth to take command.

He rushed outside to see if Jason had already left. Somehow, a stable hand smelling of horse feces was no longer a matter of importance to him. Jason was indeed gone, but a cabriolet was at this moment dropping off his post captain passenger just a few feet away. Mullins reached it before another officer and commandeered the vehicle.

At the house, he had the staff put to work organizing and packing his clothing for a long spell at sea. Edward, his hat in hand came to the back door and asked to see the captain. Diffidently, he remarked he had heard the captain was going to sea, and wondered if he and William could go too.

Mullins assured him both would be welcome and told them to get their belongings together. While the house was still busy with this turmoil, another caller came to the back door. This one was Mister Raynor. The boy was in rather sad condition. Without funds, he had gone from pillar to post searching for his former captain. Thankfully, the warder at the Admiralty remembered the request to locate the lad and sent him on to the Mullin’s town house. It appeared he had not had much to eat in recent weeks and his clothing was dirty and torn.

Before the boy could get a word out, Mullins told him they were going to sea, and did he wish to go. Upon his assurance he did indeed wish to go, Mullins asked where his kit was. Raynor said some had been pawned and the remainder stolen. Handed money, the boy was ordered to go to a nearby naval outfitter and secure the needed items. Haste was imperative!

With extreme haste by everyone, it was a full two days before the party arrived at the naval yard’s signal station. Aphrodite sat out in the water, newly painted with her new rigging set up. She looked almost abandoned though. Few hands were to be seen on deck, and her mainyard was not parallel with the foreyard. It was evident that something was amiss aboard ship.

As he stood wondering, a familiar figure came to him. The former Mister Goodwin, now Commander Goodwin, was wearing his new uniform coat with authority.

The two shook hands and compared notes. Goodwin bemoaning the amount of work it was taking to get his elderly brig-sloop out of ordinary. He said he had heard Mullins was about to get the Aphrodite back again. The man that had been intended to replace him was not working out. When Mullins asked for details, Goodwin said that would be thirsty work and they must report to the nearby inn to wet their whistles.

With a quart of stout in front of him, Mullins asked for the details.

Goodwin started off, “It seems this Lieutenant Adams had been given temporary command of Aphrodite while she went through the various stages of her repair. Adams had some trouble on a previous ship where he was first officer. As I heard it, the men were about to mutiny before the ship’s captain stepped in and sent Adams ashore. Then, a political family member got him this job working for the dockyard. He was still a lieutenant, on full pay, who would take command of individual ships as they came in and see them through the process.”

“There was controversy over the different ship’s equipment that went missing while he was on this job. Frequently, when a new officer would arrive to take command of a ship the lieutenant had been following through the dockyard, Adams would induce this officer to sign off on a ship, assuring the new captain all of its equipment was present and in good condition.”