HMS Athena: A Charles Mullins novel (Sea Command Book 4) (11 page)

A credible one was right off the beach of their little cove. Much of the island had been denuded of its vegetation by the pigs and goats introduced to this island years ago. A few hardy trees though, marked the underground course of a stream running down from the central peak to this bay. One of the Marines had discovered the tiny rill of water emerging from the rocky soil into the fine sand of the beach.

Mullins, upon coming ashore, was dubious about obtaining any meaningful amount of water from this source, but seamen with shovels began scraping away the soil. A steady if slow trickle was discovered a few feet down in the soil. After a sizeable catchment was dug out, the hole began very slowly filling with water. Brown and muddy, it did not appear promising, but it was decided to leave it until later.

Captain Mullins noticed Lieutenant Sawyer standing near the newly dug hole in the ground. A half dozen of his Marines, resplendent in their uniforms stood guard. Normally Sawyer carried no arms save for his sword, but this time he held one of the long rifles acquired when they took those pirates the year before off the East Coast of the United States.

At the time there had been a half dozen of the rifles for which Mullins had made Sawyer responsible. He had supposed the arms had been turned in when the ship went into the dockyard for repair. Yet, here was one of them, at least. Curious, he asked Sawyer about their disposition. The surprised officer said, “Captain, they have been aboard Athena since we sailed. The armorer has been keeping them clean and in good repair.”

Mullins wondered, “I would have thought to see your men out practicing with them.”

“Sir, in our crew on the earlier commission, I had some good men who could be trained to use the weapons. The men I have now can barely use their muskets.”

Continuing to observe the water seeping into the excavation, Mullins said, “Would you suppose you could train some of our seamen? It might be a fine idea if we had six men on the ship trained to fire the weapons.”

By the next day, the water in the excavation had cleared and the bosun detailed men to fill barrels and float them to the ship. Fresh water, being lighter than salt, would float even when in the barrel, so the casks were fastened to a line and pulled out to the ship in the same manner as the empty casks had been brought ashore.

Mister Lasher had to tell his captain work on filling the casks would need to proceed slowly since the water in the catchment was easily contaminated by the fine mud particles that had settled out over the night.

While waiting for the hands to fill more barrels, Mullins ordered Sawyer to take the chance to drill his men as he wished while he would take a few of the youngsters out for a pig and goat hunt. Mister Howard would remain in command while Mullins was absent. Should any unusual activity become apparent, a gun would be fired to warn the shore party. With the ship in good hands, Mullins ordered his three midshipmen remaining into the boat. The three mids had surprised him with their progress since they had come aboard well over a year ago. All were proficient enough in their duties, but Hardesty seemed to be the natural leader of the group.

The gig’s crew pulled the boat ashore, where Mister Sawyer reported to his captain. His Marines, save for a few he was leaving behind for guard duty, were wearing their red coats. He pointed to the four long rifles leaning against a water cask.

“Sir, I am leaving these rifles for your pig hunt. There should be enough ammunition for the mids to get some practice first.

Mullins took the midshipmen to a grove of trees growing near the underground stream. Goats and pigs had destroyed much of the native vegetation, but these had survived. An hour of target practice gave the youths enough knowledge to load and fire the weapons. Surprisingly, Mister Gregor, a lad Mullins had thought to have few qualities that would make him a naval leader, was the best marksman in the group. Even Mister Hardesty, the lad Mullins thought would excel in this activity, was a poor second. Mister Connor, unable to learn to use his sights properly, was relegated to the task of carrying the ammunition pouches and water bottles.

Gregor carried Connor’s rifle as well as his own. Captain Mullins had little expectation of being successful in their hunt. There was little or no cover where they might find game and the lads, unused to this type of activity, were visibly tiring.

Coming to a pile of large boulders near the foot of the central peak, the party stopped. Mullins was about to tell his charges it was time to return to the beach when a stone, thrown into the rock pile by Mister Connor, elicited a chattering sound, which Connor remarked sounded like his father’s boar when he was angry.

Then, a shape suddenly came from behind a rock and began speeding across the flat ground. Startled, Mullins brought up the rifle he had been carrying and pulled back the cock. The long, heavy barrel seemed to hang on the speeding target and he squeezed off the shot. Mullins was as surprised as any of the others when the young pig piled up in a somersault.

Before there was a chance to examine the prize though, another animal burst out of the rocks. This was an angry, fully-grown boar and he was headed right for the group. His rifle empty, Mullins could only stand and observe. Hardesty was the first to fire. His ball struck the animal’s shoulder but that only served to further enrage the oncoming animal.

Gregor was next. His ball struck the animal’s forehead but the projectile merely glanced off the heavy bone without slowing the beast. Somehow, the youth snatched up Connor’s rifle that he had leaned against a rock and fired again at the boar, at little more than arms-length distance. This ball entered the animals open mouth and into its brain, killing him instantly, although not before smashing into Gregor, giving the youth a vicious slash on his torso with his imposing tusks.

With the lad bleeding badly, shirts were bundled and bound to his wounds. The biggest man present, Mullins got the boy on his back and carried him back to the beach, while leaving the midshipmen to dress out their game.

During the final leg of the trip back to the beach, Mullins now tiring rapidly, thought it might be a waste having the lads dress out that boar. It would likely be almost too tough to be edible. However, all things come to an end. His men on the beach saw him staggering across the flat ground with his burden and suddenly he had all the help he could need.

Back on the ship, Mister Gregor, conscious now and in the care of the surgeon, was reported to be probably out of danger. Mullins had always had the greatest respect for Mister Burns and addressed him as ‘Doctor”, even though he was only a surgeon and not entitled to the honorific.

When asked what he could do for the lad, Burns assured him a generous portion of roast fresh pork from the young sow Mullins had shot would help the boy replenish his blood supply, as would a plentiful supply of port wine.

Everyone on the ship knew that both the gunroom and wardroom were completely out of port. The only supply on the ship was in the captain’s stores. For the next week, until the surgeon reported Gregor out of danger, the young midshipman was continually tipsy from all of Captain Mullin’s wine that he was ordered to drink.

Mister Sawyer, armed with his own long rifle downed a few wild goats for the ship, and although there was not enough meat to fill their empty casks, everyone on the ship at least had a few bites of fresh meat, with all of the fresh water one could drink.

With the ship’s needs taken care of, now it was time to renew the search for the enemy. With a full supply of fresh water and a run ashore for members of the crew, Athena set sail again, following the island chain. In waters off the island of St. Croix, a merchant brig was sighted near dusk one evening. Just one among dozens of small sailing vessels abounding in these waters, no notice would have been taken had she not acted in a suspicious manner.

She appeared to be a British-built ship, but flew no flag, nor would she acknowledge any signals. This could be innocent enough, many trading craft did not have signal flags on board. But, why did she change course in the dead of night unless it was to avoid being questioned by the British warship?

Although the night was moonless, enough starlight was present that a sharp eyed lookout on deck watch was able to keep her tops in sight. The winds increased toward dawn and the chase set all of her canvas that would draw, attempting to pull away from her pursuer.

At dawn, a rainsquall appeared off the coast of St. Croix and the chase made for it, perhaps hoping to lose her shadow. Mister Cartwright was at Mullin’s shoulder, warning of shallows.

“The chase is standing into danger, Captain. She will tear her bottom out if she doesn’t come about soon.”

As the words came out of the sailing master’s mouth, the chase put about, running out a battery of guns as she turned. Captain Mullins ordered the ship cleared for action and there was furious activity as men ran to their stations, while others pitched un-needed equipment below. In minutes, Captain Mullin’s quarters had been knocked down and the temporary partitions sent below, leaving a clear stretch of the deck devoted to the ship’s guns.

The chase’s attempted escape in the rainsquall, now left behind, had allowed Athena to gain on her. Both ships were now in an uncomfortable position, sailing close to a freshening wind on a lee shore, with not all that much water under their keels.

With Athena on her heels, the chase attempted to recover from her awkward position by tacking. Unfortunately, her crew was probably not well trained and there would have been scant time to warn the hands of what was to happen. When the ship tried to turn into the wind to come about on the other tack, she did not quite have the momentum she needed, and hung up in irons, her sails backed into her masts, unable to cross the wind on the other tack.

Aboard Athena, Mister Drover was at the guns, waiting for the command to pour a broadside into the stricken ship. First though, it was Captain Mullin’s responsibility to get his own ship away from her present danger. Herself sailing close into the wind, he needed to come about before being driven into the shallows.

Mister Hammond thoroughly understood the present position and had his men prepared. Bosun Lasher was prepared to lend his own strength and skill into any situation. On Mullins command, the helm was put over and the ship turned into the wind. Rapidly losing momentum as the oncoming wind slowed her right down, men up forward flatted out headsails to catch the wind, and grudgingly Athena turned away from the threatening shallows and took the wind on the other tack.

Safe now, for the moment, Mullins had time to follow Lasher’s pointing arm with his eyes and saw their chase stumble upon a submerged outcrop. Immediately, the ship was over on her beam, with men spilling into the water.

There was no hope for the crew of the chase. No boat could survive in that surf and the ship was visibly breaking up under the onslaught of the waves. Every wave that surged over the wreck washed more men into the sea.

With Athena making her way out into safer waters, he stood at the weather rail meditating. The other quarterdeck officers huddled at the lee rail conversing among themselves. When Mullins glanced over at them, Mister Hamilton caught his eye and crossed the deck.

Mullins spoke first. “What do you think, Mister Hammond? Was she an enemy or perhaps just a confused British merchantman?”

Hammond replied. “Sir, while you were occupied with the ship, I caught a glimpse of her transom through my glass. She had the name ‘Lady Jane’ painted there, out of Liverpool. Down in our wardroom, there is an old newspaper that reports the ship, Lady Jane, lost at sea late last year. I think she was taken by pirates and armed with what guns could be found for preying on other merchantmen. I doubt we should be shedding any tears for that crew.”

The patrol continued but HMS Athena encountered no more suspicious ships. The ship made her way back to English Harbor.

The anchorage was crowded when Athena returned to Antigua. The fleet was back and as soon as the salute was fired and the ship received her mooring instruction, her captain was directed to repair aboard the flag. Accompanied by Midshipman Gregor, who was deputed to carry the necessary reports and logs, Mullins was pulled over to the flag in his gig. Welcomed aboard with due ceremony, he was escorted to the great cabin by the flag lieutenant.

Kept waiting for only a few moments, Admiral Cochrane came out to greet him. Over wine and fruit, Cochrane drew out of him the verbal report of his recent proceedings, even as he skimmed over the written accounts. Satisfied with what he learned, he came to the-point.

“Captain Mullins, we have a possibility of action before us. Vice Admiral Duckworth has received intelligence that three French ships of the line, presumably under Admiral Leissègues, have been sighted off Hispaniola.  You are directed to proceed to Basseterre on the island of Saint Kitts to determine if any locals there have seen the enemy. While there, you should arrange for the watering of the fleet when it arrives.”

***

Athena came to anchor in the big harbor on the leeward side of the island. Mister Howard was pulled ashore to investigate the possibility of purchasing wardroom stores as well as making necessary arrangements for watering the fleet when it arrived.

When he returned, he brought an officer of the island’s militia with him. Major Haines reported several local boats had sighted large enemy warships offshore. One of those boats had a Black crewman who had a cousin living on a nearby French island. Rumors there were these warships carried large numbers of troops, although there were no good guesses of where they were bound. Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola was a good guess though. A slave revolt was in progress there, which was straining the means of the military garrison to cope.

Abandoning the negotiations with the local merchants to supply necessary stores for the fleet, Mullins ordered the ship back out to sea to alert Admiral Cochrane. A day out of Basseterre, he encountered HMS Harrier, a cutter under the command of a lieutenant, one he could expect to do as he was told.

Ordering the cutter’s commander, Lieutenant Drake on board Athena, he went over the situation as he knew it, explaining the need to locate the enemy warships. It was vitally necessary either Admiral Duckworth or Admiral Cochrane be informed at once. Ordinarily, it would be Mullin’s responsibility to do so, but he decided to assign the task to Mister Drake while he continued the search for the enemy.

Deciding to look for the enemy along the coast of Hispaniola, Mullins altered course for that big island, while Harrier left to warn the fleet. The port of Santo Domingo was the logical place to examine first and there they were. Or some of them, at least, two warships were coming out of the harbor as Athena approached, a thirty-two gun-frigate, accompanied by a twenty-four-gun corvette. Behind this pair, a small brig was seen preparing to sail. Far back, a cluster of line-of-battle ships rode at anchor, one of them appearing to be a first rate.

Realizing this information should be brought to his masters’ attention, Mullins ordered the ship brought about like lightening and Athena sped toward a rendezvous point he had been provided.

His pursuers had other ideas, however. The corvette, about the same size as Athena, seemed to have a clean bottom. Sailing inshore, she slowly began to overtake the post ship on her port beam. Normally, Mullins would have no qualms about engaging this foe. Today though, the frigate was coming up behind, barely out of range of his stern-chasers. Far back, the brig was just emerging from the harbor entrance. Should he engage the corvette, he could expect to have the frigate alongside in moments, with the brig joining the party soon enough. If he declined to lower his flag, he could then expect to see Athena reduced to matchwood.

Anticipating a long cruise, Athena had been packed tightly with stores and she rode low in the water, slowing her down. Relays of hands brought up the bags of peas and biscuit, the kegs of sauerkraut and the casks of salt meat to be dropped over the side. The bungs in some of the big water tuns, were knocked in, the water allowed to flush into the bilges, where it would be pumped out at much effort.

Hesitantly, Mister Howard wondered if they might begin to jettison the guns. Captain Mullins refused to even consider that option. Sooner or later, one of his pursuers would be alongside and he intended to inflict punishment.

Relieved of tons of weight, Athena had probably gained half a knot of speed and the corvette was no longer gaining on her. Now it was the turn of the trailing frigate. With her longer hull, she was just a bit faster and was very slowly drawing closer. She also had eight-pounder long guns in her forward ports which slightly outranged Athena’s brass six-pounder stern chasers.

The initial trial shots the frigate fired did not prove satisfactory. Those forward guns would not bear from directly astern of Athena, so it was necessary to continually veer. This caused the frigate to lose a little distance every time her helm was put over. Then too, the constant pitching in these heavy seas caused great difficulties for the gunners.

The gunners had an easier time on Athena. With the enemy directly behind, all that needed to be done was adjust the elevation quoins to their highest position, point the gun carefully, fire and hope. Captain Mullins allowed the stern gunners to open fire early, since he thought it dispirited the men to be fired upon without returning that fire.

Early on there was little that could be said about their own accuracy. At extreme distance, every shot that could be spotted fell into the sea well short of the enemy. But, many of the shot splashes were seen to fall directly in line with the oncoming ship.

Because of the sea state, the fall of every shot could not be determined, but finally one six-pound shot was seen to fall close aboard of their enemy. When the next two were not observed, Mullins thought it likely they had struck home on the frigate’s hull.

The frigate began signaling, with the corvette answering. The smaller ship began edging closer to Athena, causing her to drop back slightly. The corvette was to windward of Athena, dropping back toward her quarter. Sailing more-or-less parallel to the coast as she was, she was heeled over to an alarming extent, making it difficult to elevate her guns sufficiently.

Athena did not have this trouble. Distracted by the duel with the frigate, her officers had not realized the aftermost guns of the port battery could now bear and were just within range. When the guns began to fire individually, it was not long before a hole appeared in the enemy’s starboard beam.

Mullins thought to himself the carpenter’s crew aboard the corvette was probably having a difficult time making repairs, since that shot hole was often under water. More hits followed as the two ships traded broadsides.

Then, it was the turn of the following frigate to score as one of her forward eight-pounders sent a ball through Athena’s wardroom window. The most severe damage was a notch out of the mizzen base as well as a wrecked wardroom table.

The favor was repaid moments later when a ball from one of the brass stern-chasers struck the gun carriage of the enemy’s starboard gun that had fired the shot. With the gun carriage wrecked and three of the gun crew down, this weapon would be out of action for the remainder of the engagement.

The corvette, now off their port stern quarter, was having heavy going in the now turbulent seas. She had been badly peppered with Athena’s nine-pounder balls as well as a few of the thirty-two-pound carronade balls. In the seas, she was taking in water faster than her pumps could rid her of it and Mullins thought she might be in trouble soon.

Her own captain may have had the same idea, since she took in sail and rapidly fell back. The frigate continued on, but she too had her difficulties when her fore topmast was shot away. In the ensuing confusion, the frigate fell off the wind and lay broadside to the waves.

Seeing an opportunity, Mullins spun his ship around to starboard and went down the beam of the stricken frigate. Not a port was open and most of Athena’s shots told, including two of the carronades.

Mister Drover, commanding the guns, begged Mullins to make another pass down the enemy beam, punishing her again. But, it was too late now. Those port lids were opening and a new fore topmast was seen being sent up.

Damaged though she was, the frigate was still a dangerous foe and Mullins believed his responsibility was to relay his news to his admiral. When night came, all lights aboard Athena were extinguished and she turned to a course where she might intercept the fleet coming out of English harbor.

Next morning though, the frigate was in sight, close in on her port forward quarter. The corvette was nowhere to be seen but the brig was now closely following the frigate. Turning away, Mullins took his ship out in the Atlantic, away from the islands, with the enemy following. The frigate had repaired her fore topmast and seemed to be whole again, as far as sailing qualities went. She did have innumerable patches about her hull and she had streams of water gushing from her scuppers.

Mullins noticed the enemy frigate seemed to match the post-ship’s pace, but the brig was falling astern. Needing to get his ship back to report, he decided to play with the brig a bit. Tacking ship, he set out in the direction from which he had come, beating against the trade wind. The frigate waited for him, firing as he passed. Only half of the guns on that beam fired, suggesting she had some serious problem not apparent to those on Athena. The frigate followed, although wearing ship rather than tacking, losing distance in the process. It soon became obvious that the enemy frigate was not capable of beating into a fresh wind and Athena began walking away from her.

Now the brig was close ahead and the frigate began sending up signals, with the brig answering. Mullins expected the brig to attempt to elude his rush, but she stripped down to fighting sail and awaited his attack. The brig fired first with Athena replying immediately after. The smaller vessel could not hope to withstand Athena’s attack. Probably the purpose for her resistance was to allow the frigate to catch up and savage this little post-ship.

Whatever her purpose, she almost accomplished this task, when she shot away Athena’s main topsail yard. Her speed through the water slashed, the frigate began to regain the distance she had lost.

Too late for the brig though, close aboard her foe’s beam, she could not withstand the storm of shot she received, and in moments, she was a dismasted wreck adrift on the sea.

Bosun Lasher was in the tops immediately with a party, getting in sail and cutting away the damage. Calling for lengths of two-by-fours, Lasher ‘fished’ the mast by tightly binding the timbers to the fractured yard, so they served as splints. Now able to carry a reefed topsail, the ship was able to just remain ahead of her pursuer. With evidence of the enemy frigate’s reduced firepower, Mullin considered bringing her to action. Without the brig to interfere, he thought he had a good chance to defeat this foe. In the end though, he felt it his duty to deliver his intelligence to the British fleet. This wounded frigate was neither here nor there in the balance of forces.

Making his decision, he put the wind on his quarter and was able to walk away from the frigate. Much too late to make for the latest rendezvous point, Mullins thought he would go back to Santo Domingo, since he knew Admiral Duckworth intended to try to bring the enemy fleet suspected to be there to action. Before arriving, when the lookouts went up one morning the pursuing frigate was no longer there and Athena was alone on the ocean.

As Hispaniola rose ahead of her, a sail was sighted. From afar, it was identified first as a lugger, then when she hoisted her number, it was seen to be Havoc, which they had taken from the Spaniards earlier. Her commander, former Midshipman Archer, was now wearing the coat of a lieutenant, and grinning broadly when he came aboard his former ship.