Across to America: A Tim Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 9) (13 page)

Once out at sea, Phillips went below to see to his passenger. Doctor Baynes told him Lord Forsythe had suffered a bad case of fever, but surprisingly seemed to be recovering.

Baynes allowed him to visit the patient for a few minutes only. Forsythe was able to inform him of a few of his escapades after the revolution failed and his efforts to engage passage on a small fishing vessel, only to fall ill on the way back. He said he had paid to be taken to the nearest British port, but had instead had been dropped off at Vieques and left in the care of a poor fisherman and his wife.

Forsythe reported they had brought him back from certain death by the use of some strange bark they continued to make him consume. The envoy was certain he would be in trouble with the foreign Office since all of his papers and reports had disappeared on the fishing vessel that had abandoned him.

The weakened man had news of the pirate frigate he had been warned about back in English Harbor. He did not know its present location but his caregivers had warned him of its presence on the island and warned him to stay well away from it.

“Were you able to understand his lingo, Milord?”

“We did manage to get along in his tongue. I already was familiar with Spanish, and we learned to communicate together in his patois. I heard him attempting to warn you of the pirate frigate but you did not understand.”

“Could you tell me what you know about the ship, Lord Forsythe?”

“First let me tell you that Pedro, the only name the fellow had, is one of the finer people I know. He put his very life at terrible risk to help me, a perfect stranger. He is an intelligent person, wise in the ways of his environment. But, he does not know anything of our ways and has a limited vocabulary,”

“He was able to describe the ship and the men. He described them as ‘devils’, which may tell us something. He knew the term for ‘guns’ and said the ship had many. It is my thinking that we may not wish to encounter this ship unless we have to.”

Forsythe had no first hand intelligence of the pirate and they left him to his rest. Before leaving his side, Phillips assured him he would make the strongest efforts to inform his superiors of the extraordinary exertions Forsythe had put forward to succeed in the mission. The envoy assured Phillips he could not really care. His main mission now was to return home to his wife and son. He had no intention of leaving the home shores again.

Phillips regarded his duty to get Lord Forsythe back north to a healthier climate, so was reluctant to sail back to Antigua. Far out to sea now, he spotted a small convoy bound for the islands, and was able to drop off a letter aboard one of the escorts advising Governor Eliot of the completion of the mission.

Captain Randolph, of the eighteen gun ship sloop Venus, reported seeing a forty gun French frigate yesterday. Her consort, a sixteen gunned brig, came up like a champion, and the two acting in concert seemed to have convinced the frigate to go elsewhere.

“It was my understanding”, said Randolph, “that all of the French forces and ships had been accounted for in these parts.”

Phillips related what he knew of the matter and asked he relay the intelligence to others. Randolph did say that when the frigate ran out her guns, all the ports did not open. He said he thought she might not be fully armed.

It was plain sailing up the eastern seaboard of America. At this stage of the war, a firm blockade was in place and there was little chance to encounter an enemy warship, although he had been warned there were still a few fast schooners about. Some of these would fill their holds with such produce as was plentiful in that area, obtain a few guns and a letter of marque, and attempt to sail to a port where they could sell their cargo at a fat profit. Should they encounter a British merchant ship, that of course was all to the good.

Actually, Phillips had learned, that did not usually work out well. Even if the schooner could evade the blockading ship, chances were their prizes could not, so the British ships often ended back up in friendly hands.

The Roebuck lookouts spotted sails of a few schooners who Phillips thought were probably enemy privateers, but he had no intention of pursuing them. Although Roebuck was a fast ship, she could not compete with one of the Yankee built schooners. Sailing up the seaboard, he sometimes wished he had the old Andromeda back, with her drab sides and the appearance of a fat trader. Roebuck looked like what she was, or had been, a French-built corvette. He doubted any Yankee privateer could be fooled by any disguise he could apply to her.

He had been told, however, some of these former corvettes had been purchased at prize auctions by commercial interests who intended to load the hulls with high value cargo and sail without fear of being taken by privateers.

Following the shipping lanes up the Gulf Stream, Roebuck was off the coast of Virginia, when a sleek schooner came out of the morning haze and approached them. Phillips had no interest in the vessel at all. He well knew it could outrun him, and he had Lord Forsythe aboard, whose safety he considered to be of overriding importance.

The schooner began making threatening runs on Roebuck, always sheering off before coming into long gunshot range. Again and again this happened. Phillips refused to be lured into attempting to attack or evade. Roebuck just continued on-course under easy sail. Her gun ports closed, she looked to perhaps really be an in-offensive former warship now put to civilian tasks.

Phillips had the thought in his mind this privateer could not actually endanger his ship, and while he could not catch her, neither could she do harm to him. He intended to continue on course and let the schooner act the fool if she so wished.

Just to keep everybody honest, he had ordered Mister Hornady to have the ship prepared for action, but the gunports should remain closed, and the match in the linstocks should not be lit. The smoke from such could be an indicator to an enemy that she might be armed and dangerous.

Finally, on one of the schooners rushes, she did not veer away before coming into gun range. Phillips did not respond. He had Lord Forsythe’s safety to consider, and saw no reason to endanger it. He let his mind drift, wondering how he should respond to Forsythe’s repeated invitations to visit his home and meet his wife and child again.

He was suddenly surprised when the schooner appeared close in, then turned on her heel and raced to the rear.

Mister Hornady came up. “Sir, I think that fellow may be getting his nerve up to attack us.”

“I do believe you are right, Mister Hornady. How are the guns loaded?”

“Ball in the twelve pounder long guns, grape in the twenty-four pounder carronades, and canister in the twelve pounder carronades.”

“I see. That could really spoil his day. Let us see if he makes another rush like that last. If he does, I’ll want to see if we can get some damaging hits with the long guns. If we do, I’ll try to close him to see what we can do with the carronades. I want to be careful not to let him get too close. He’s probably filled with boarders.”

The schooner had come about astern of Roebuck and was making another approach. This time she appeared to be shaving matters a little close. She came up from astern just off to port with her guns run out. Mister Hornady sent his midshipmen messenger to the guns telling the gunners they would be firing this time.

As the sleek predator closed in on Roebuck’s port quarter her forward starboard gun fired. It was only a four pounder, but at that close range, punched a hole through Roebucks port beam. Curses sounded as somebody was peppered with splinters. As previously arranged, Mister Layton had taken the ship so Captain Phillips would be free to fight her.

Seeing his opportunity, Layton had the ship turned to port a few points which brought some guns to bear. One of them was the forward twelve pounder carronade loaded with canister. Being such a short weapon, its crew could slew it around farther than one of the long guns. Of course, there was the danger of upset, also.

Dozens of men were standing by the schooner’s starboard rail, waiting for their chance to board. The blast of small shot from that gun cut a bloody swath through that throng. As the ship came around further, more of the guns bore. The long guns delivered the twelve pound balls through the thinly constructed sides of the schooner, then the big carronades sent their loads of grapeshot into the privateer.

The private schooner spun around and tried to claw her way free, but then one of the long twelves, firing at close range put a ball into her foremast. Her starboard shrouds had mostly been parted from the grapeshot, and the load on the mast was too great. The mast at the impact site, already severely stressed at the impact site, began to crack. Finally the load on the mast caused it to snap under the pressure. The mast, with its canvas and rigging fell to port overboard, and the drag in the sea brought the schooner right around. As she turned, she was able to fire off a few of her guns. By now, most of the fired guns on Roebuck had been reloaded, and they slammed their loads of grape into the now wrecked schooner. Roebuck came across the privateer’s bow and lay there with her guns trained down the length of her hull.

The schooner’s master wisely took the opportunity to haul down his flag. Again, Phillips had to deal with a large number of prisoners. The schooner had a pair of launches towing behind, which were undamaged. An armed boarding party went aboard and began sorting out the people. Any obvious seamen and the officers were sent on board Roebuck. Most of the privateer’s crew were dedicated boarders, men who were probably not trained followers of the sea.

Laborers, farmers, anyone needing money could sign onto one of these privateers. They would not be paid, but would get a share of any money from the sale of any captured ship and cargo. In this case, the men would get nothing and those wounded or killed would have suffered in vain.

Phillips loaded as many of the privateer’s landsmen into the launches as possible. These men he felt would not much of a danger to British commerce. It was the trained seamen he wished to keep away from the sea and resuming their career in attacking that commerce. He put two seamen in each boat to help insure it reached shore, but the rest of the skilled men were left aboard either the schooner or put onto Roebuck.

After the boats set sail for the mainland, Roebuck and her prize set out on the voyage home, the schooner under tow. As they proceeded north, Chips and his crew worked aboard the prize, making necessary repairs. One of the last projects was the erection of a jury foremast. Roebuck had an extra spar which could be made to do the task.

Extra skilled hands were needed for the task. A dozen Americans below, when offered a promise they would not be forced to fight against their countrymen, voluntarily agreed to assist with erecting the spar. It was shorter than the former foremast, but would have to do. The butt of the broken original was trimmed off six feet above the deck, with the base of the spar abutted up against it. A heavy line running through a block on the summit of the main was rigged to the spar and to the windlass. One party of men on the windlass cranked the spar upright, while others manned preventer lines attached to the new mast to keep it from swinging.

As the mast rose, more men began lashing the base of the new mast to the butt of the old. Lines previously fastened to the top would serve as temporary stays, to keep it erect. With the mast erect, the stays and shrouds, made up in advance, were installed and tightened. Finally, the old fore topmast was rigged as a lateen yard and the sailmaker and his crew set to work fabricating a new sail.

When finished, the schooner was not the handsome craft it had been before its adventure, but it could keep up with Roebuck, which was all that Phillips required. The Americans who had helped rig the schooner faced some hostility from their countrymen, so they were transferred over to Roebuck with the promise they would be freed and set ashore in Halifax. Phillips assured the men he himself would not press any of them, but he could not guarantee other British captains in the port would honor that pledge themselves. He told them they would be well advised to seek work ashore there until they had opportunity to return to the States.

Roebuck entered harbor and fired off the salute to Vice-Admiral Herbert Sawyer. He was promptly ordered aboard the hulked two decker Sawyer was using as his temporary flag. Still in delicate health, Lord Forsythe had been judged able to be pulled over to the flag as long as he was well wrapped against the cold.

Aboard the flag, the flag lieutenant took the documents carried by Phillips and ushered the pair into the great cabin. Sawyer sat at his desk with his stocking feet propped upon a blanket-wrapped porcelain jug of hot water. Suffering from a cold, the admiral sniffed and sneezed while they were present.

Sawyer mentioned he was impressed by the seamanlike manner Phillips had pulled off the rescue and wondered how he liked the Roebuck. When Phillips praised the ship, the flag lieutenant mentioned he had used it to nab yet one more Yankee privateer on the way north. “A fine looking schooner”, he reported. “Re-armed, it would make a fine command for some officer.”