HMS Aphrodite (Sea Command Book 1) (7 page)

The remainder of the day was spent in ferrying men between the ships as particular specialists were found to be needed to make repairs on the other ship. Too, it was necessary to mix the crews carefully, in order to prevent problems which might arise if too many men on one ship were merchant seamen who might dislike being pressed into the King’s navy.

With the necessary repairs completed, both ships set sail. The captured corvette, Reynard, had her foremast fished where it had been badly weakened. With her shrouds and stays shot away, the mast had fallen and fractured near the base. Several shots had carved out serious notches in the lower section. Lengths of oaken timber were seized tightly around the damaged portions, and the shortened mast re-stepped. The corvette could never carry much sail on that mast, at least until it had been replaced, but the officers felt she could make it to Gibraltar.

Of course, it was hoped neither ship would meet any serious adversaries, as neither could make a showing in a slugging match. By staying well out to sea, the pair made their way out to Gibraltar. As they closed on the narrow Straits, the lookouts were kept on the alert, since they were in Spanish waters now, and Spain had a very large navy.

Admiral Jervis rescued them though. Unwilling to concede total control of the Med to France and Spain, he had sortied with some of his fleet and these were the tops’ls that appeared at dawn one morning. Unable to effectively flee, the pair had to continue on their way to Gibraltar and pray these were British ships.

Fortunately, John Elder, maintop lookout, was able to identify the HMS Victory approaching. Following the flag’s signal, both Aphrodite and Reynard took station on Victory’s lee and awaited instruction. Sir John was most happy to meet with the Roberts’.

All of Reynard’s boats had been smashed during the recent action, so her commander, Lieutenant Hardin was forced to use Aphrodite’s jolly boat to report to the admiral when summoned. Mullin’s ship had her full collection of boats remaining so used his well-appointed gig to approach Victory.

Captain Calder was waiting for Mullins at the entry port and wished a quick synopsis of his recent actions to relate to Jervis. Before this synopsis was delivered, Harden, in his jolly-boat, was at Victory’s side, and at a word from Mullins, a bosun’s chair was lowered for his benefit, the pegleg was not conducive to climbing the slippery battens.

Mullins had to relate a quick account of Harden’s injury and a quick explanation of the man’s elevation from a delivery person for the Admiralty, to the second in command of a King’s ship. Calder shook his head pessimistically.

“What Sir John will have to say about this, I am sure I do not know!”

As the pair stood in front of Jervis’ desk, like miscreant children before their headmaster, it was impossible to determine what the fleet commander was thinking. Jervis had a grim look on his face, as if he was about to sentence both officers to a thousand lashes.

When he finished with his stern questioning though, a smile broke out on his face, and he said, “If only I had twenty more like you men, I would command this Mediterranean!”

Mullins and Harden were invited to sit at table with the admiral and he listened intently to their thoughts. When they shifted to details of the damages to both ships, Jervis became more matter-of-fact.

“It’s clear that I am going to have to send you back home to refit. With your ships in their present state of repair, they are of no use to me, Gibraltar has almost no ship-building supplies left. Harden, how has your lack of a leg hampered your ability to command your ship?”

Caught off-guard, Harden had to stammer a bit before he got his thoughts in order. “Sir, in the last action, when the firing was constant and the ship pitching, I found my best plan was to anchor my peg in a ring bolt on deck, which kept me secure enough. While in command of Reynard, of course, I was not able to gambol about in the rigging like a fourteen year old midshipman, but I could always send an intelligent hand aloft to report on what he saw.”

Jervis looked pleased with the answer. “Mister Harden, I will purchase Reynard into the fleet and appoint you as her lieutenant in command. I do realize, of course, the Reynard is a Commander’s command. Hopefully, their Lordships back home will keep you in her. Should they do this after her repairs are complete, you would automatically assume that rank.”

“I have had my wrists slapped before by presuming to promote men simply because I thought them to be superior to the general run-of-the mill officer. I will recommend that you follow her into the dockyard and watch over her as she is repaired. Some of those villains in the yard are as dishonest as any one you will meet outside of hell and will no doubt try to hold you up to reward them for doing their job.”

“In recent weeks I have been thinking of the best ways to bring those felons to heel. A solution seems to have come to me. I will provide you both with orders allowing you to impress any dockyard official who attempts such extortion. You will have a dozen Marines to allow you to enforce your demands.”

“In short, you will watch over the repairs of your ship, permitting no shoddy workmanship or defective materials. If malfeasance becomes too general, you will report to my shore office with the difficulty. Should any dockyard supervisor attempt to extort funds from you to perform necessary work, you will arrest that individual and impress him into the service.”

“Most definitely, I will get my wrists slapped over this, but it will certainly be worth it, in order to see that fat superintendent of the rope-walk sweating at the capstan of a first rate.”

Both men stood silent, digesting the order. Finally, Harden spoke, “Sir, I am certain some of these people are bound to have powerful friends, while I, have only a few and they are not very powerful. You, of course are a powerful man, but you are often at sea, far away from the problem.”

Jervis replied. “Gentlemen, you are resourceful officers. It should not be difficult to keep your offenders secure for a few days, incapable of passing a letter ashore. A plan might be to find a ship needing hands that is about to sail for foreign waters. If memory serves me, I believe Hannibal will be sailing for India next month. You could approach her first officer and offer to trade your felons for an equal number of his more worthless hands. Any first officer worth his salt will be very familiar with keeping newly impressed hands incommunicado.”

Armed with orders from the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, the two captains set sail. Both ships were escorted to Gibraltar by a frigate where they remained for nearly two months. Their passengers left and found their way home by other means. Mullins found himself missing the children, especially the boys Charles and Henri. These children were always full of life and able to bring cheer to most any heart. Michelle too, was a miniature heartbreaker. She had a whole ship’s crew who would gladly commit mayhem upon any man who made her cry.

Finally, a prime mast section was found on a French merchant ship transporting such timber from a port in the Balkans to Toulon. After capture by a British privateer braving the coastline of southern France, the prize was sent into Gibraltar where its cargo was sold at auction. Being of proper size, the section was immediately shaped and stepped into position on Reynard’s keelson.

When the pair sailed for Portsmouth, both were in almost in condition to fight another battle, with the exception of crew. Most of the prime seamen had been stripped away for other ships in the fleet and were replaced by the general run-of-the-mill villains that routinely manned Britain’s men-of-war these days.

Both ships then spent the next few months at anchor in Portsmouth Harbor. There was some confusion at first. The dockyard workers were used to receiving outright bribes from wealthy captains in an effort to get their ships to sea promptly.

After presenting their work orders, both ships were ignored when no extra funds appeared. Few dockyard workers were impressed by the orders such as Harden and Mullen carried. Once the ships loosed their anchors, the Impress Service came aboard both ships and took away most of the crews, leaving only those required to perform limited maintenance. In essence, the captains and remaining officers and warrants were regarded as almost powerless, their ships stripped of all crew save for the few Marines Aphrodite carried.

It was Harden that opened the dance. Accompanied by a file of Marines, Harden made his way to the supervisor who handled such matters as hull maintenance. Reynard had several shot holes that had been crudely patched. He wished to make her hull as tight as the day she was launched. Wanting to see how his former first officer could handle himself in a confrontation, Mullins had followed along.

This supervisor had already been approached several times and was becoming tired of the game. He retreated to his office and told his assistant to deny entrance to any naval officers who did not have the required funds for the bribe. Harden stumped up to the assistant’s desk and read out the order from Admiral Jervis.

He carefully explained to the man he would be pressed into the King’s navy if he obstructed the refurbishing of the Reynard in any manner.

The assistant was contemptuous of the order, saying if the admiral wanted his ships repaired, he must pay for the repairs like all of the others did.

Mullins and Harden looked at each other. Mullins nodded at his Marine sergeant, and the redcoats grabbed the man by his arms. Before he could protest, he was in manacles and chained to his own desk. Before the prisoner thought to raise his voice, Sergeant Morris sent a Marine outside to stand beside the rear window just in case the supervisor decided to make an exit that way.

With the way prepared, the sergeant had two of his men put their shoulders to the door and down it fell. The surprised supervisor was standing by his filing cabinet, as if the sturdy furniture would protect him from what was to come. 

“You can never get away with this you know. King’s officer or not, I will see you hang for this.”

The Marines marched the protesting pair to the quay where the ship’s boat awaited. A curious crowd watched them. The Aphrodite, being farther out in the harbor, was chosen as the prison vessel in which to keep the pressed shipyard officials. Further trips were made to the dockyard, resulting in a few more impressments. Finally, someone saw the light and decided he did not really wish to go to sea as a common sailor. The floodgates were opened and repairs were commenced. With attention focused upon Reynard, Mullins visited a third-rate ship about to sail for India, escorting a flock of John Company ships.

On the ship’s quarterdeck, Mullins asked the first officer if he would be willing to trade his most worthless seamen for the healthy pressed men in his boat. The suspicious first officer wondered what kind of trouble he might get into if he did make the trade. Mullins showed him Jervis’ order and explained the situation.

“So, these are legally impressed men and they cannot come back on me later?”

“Look at it this way, you saw the order from Admiral Jervis. You are about to leave for India and it will be at least a year before you come back. What are the chances any of these men will be allowed to come on shore any time soon?”

Aphrodite’s captain broke into the conversation, wondering, “Just how are these men going to be able to make any trouble for you?”

Mullins took back with him two ruptured men, a troublemaker and a simpleton. The men with the ruptured bellies and the simpleton, he assigned light tasks which they could handle. The troublemaker he called into his cabin and explained his problem.

“Jonas Felter, you have been handed to me so that I can make of you what I can. I have been told you are a troublemaker. Whether you are actually one or not I have no way of knowing at the moment. If you give me your best effort, I think we can forget the label that has been pinned upon you. Should you decide to give me or my officers’ trouble, then you will quickly find out what trouble really is.”

The day finally came when both ships were ready to sail. Toward the end, their crews began coming aboard, in singles, doubles and whole drafts of men. Mister Weyland was healed now, with none of the disastrous consequences the doctors had foreseen earlier.  He had resumed his old position as the first officer.

Some of the shore side officials, outraged to see their favorite money producing schemes cut down to size, put as many obstacles in their path as possible. Most though, foreseeing the problems that could be garnered by feuding with Admiral Jervis, just waited for another day.

Without notice, HMS Hannibal slipped her mooring and sailed to pick up her convoy she was to take to Bombay. Among her crew were some strange hands. The captain initially put these men in the carpenter’s crew, believing they might be well prepared to repair any difficulty about the ship. When one of the former officials demurred, believing he was not meant for such plebian tasks, the first lieutenant set him to work, cleaning the third-rate’s heads every morning. After witnessing the resulting flogging, all of the new hands became model, if inept, seamen.