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

Phaeton signaled Athena to remain with the Indiaman, then stood out to meet the enemy by herself. The 32-gun frigate as well as the corvette met Phaeton while the bigger frigate came in to sweep Athena out of the way. Phaeton nearly disappeared from view as she sailed between her two antagonists and fired at each with her port and starboard batteries. Mullins did not have a chance to observe this conflict as the big frigate was coming up fast.

Athena might have been the faster ship, but the Indiaman was slow and the post ship must stay with her. As the big frigate came up from behind, the six-pounders in their stern ports were readied. Fired alternatively, they soon became troublesome to the frigate. She had no guns herself that could be fired directly ahead but must veer in order for her forward guns to bear. This, of course, made her lose way and allowed Athena and her charge to remain just ahead.

A dozen of the six-pound balls were fired with little apparent result, but then, one struck the forward portside twelve-pounder gun of the pursuing frigate. With this gun dismounted and disabled, the frigate’s captain became wary. Deciding to change his tactics, he decided to put his ship about and fired a broadside at this pest. Mullins had been watching for this and as soon as he saw the frigate’s sails shiver, put his own ship about like lightning and fired his own broadside into the still turning frigate. Every shot of that broadside struck and enormous confusion resulted aboard the enemy.

From this closer range, it was easily seen that the enemy’s decks were not clear as one might expect of a warship cleared for action. Instead, she had a deck load of barrels on deck, almost as though she was a merchantman. Also, although this was not visible to an observer, many of her crew had deserted while in the French sugar islands, and had been replaced by what natives could be enticed aboard.

This ship was in no condition to enter combat with a well worked-up warship. Mullins ordered his ship to again follow the Indiaman, since their old friend, the brig, was now off her starboard forward quarter.

In the meantime, the frigate they had just savaged, pulled away, no longer poised to be a menace. Unfortunately, for the brig, it had chosen this moment to move against the Indiaman, supposing the frigate was still in the game. Athena was able to counter this move and came around the Indiaman’s stern to attack the brig.

Captain Hardesty, on the Indiaman, not being one to delay matters, fired his broadside guns into the brig. There were few guns, but they were close to their target and well-pointed.

Before they could lay alongside the big merchant and deploy their boarders, the brig’s foremast fell. Wallowing in the Indiaman’s wake, the brig was an easy target for Athena as she came along. The post ship fired a raking broadside directly into the wreck’s stern. An early shot brought down the remaining mast, succeeding balls caused tremendous damage to the lightly built hull.

Sweeping past the disabled brig, Mullins stepped up into the mizzen shrouds to see how Phaeton was coming along. He saw she was yardarm-to-yardarm with the 38-gun frigate, each ship pounding each other furiously. In addition, the schooner, seemingly untouched, was under Phaeton’s counter discharging her little four-pounders into her stern.

Immediately coming to her consort’s assistance, Athena began firing when barely within range, in order to dissuade the enemy and perhaps save some British lives. Both antagonists broke away, leaving Phaeton wounded and hurt, but still functioning.

Each sided tended to their own hurts, separated by several miles, repairing and replacing as convenient. Neither side was willing to resume the conflict. Soon the surviving enemy ships squared away to the wind and left in their own direction, although Mullins noted the big frigate seemed to be lagging behind, as if not quite ready to abandon her mission.

Captain Cockburn invited Mullins over and together they thought over their options. Athena had little damage from her encounter and appeared to be the most seaworthy ship. Phaeton had been much battered and had extensive damage in her tops. Most of this could be repaired but several spars were injured and had to be ‘fished’ with splints of timber and wrappings of line.

Phaeton’s captain decided he would remain as close escort to the Indiaman, while Athena should remain at a distance, ready to intercept any threat. Back in his own ship, Mullins dropped back to see if he could determine what their antagonists might be planning. He was surprised to see the big frigate, her wounds mended, setting her courses and coming up fast. Hoping to draw the pursuer away from her target, Mullins veered away to the north-west but the enemy was not fooled. Continuing on course, she was headed right for the Indiaman.

Interposing herself between, Mullins opened fire with his stern chasers. This ship seemed a bit faster than his own and Mullins had some anxious moments until a shot from one of the six-pounder stern chasers brought down her fore topsail. By now, Phaeton and General Hughes were in sight. They were still out of signaling distance but Mullins knew the sound of the guns would be apparent to Phaeton and he could expect some help.

The enemy frigate had veered around to employ some of his forward broadside guns, and one of these brought down Athena’s main topmast. This slowed her right down and the pursuer came closer, dropping twelve-pounder shot on her as she came.

While his topmen worked feverishly to replace the damaged topmast with another spar, Mullins was able to just keep Athena ahead of the frigate. Setting the fore-course gave her a bit more speed through the sea, at the expense of safety. That large foresail was very close to the thundering guns on her deck, and there was now added risk of fire from muzzle blast.

Her stern guns continued to punish the enemy. They may have been only six-pounders, but they were close and nearly every round impacted their target.

Mullins believed his ship was receiving more than its share of attention from her current adversary and wondered why he had received no assistance from Phaeton. The big frigate was remaining close by her charge. It was then he noticed the little midshipman frantically trying to get his attention. Mister Gregor was an assistant to the second officer who was the designated signal officer. Occupied now, overseeing the stern chasers, he had left signals in the hands of Gregor.

“Sir”, Gregor shouted over the din. “Phaeton is signaling, enemy in sight.”

This was strange, Mullins thought. With two enemy ships in plain sight, why was it necessary to signal their presence? Then, his eyes caught Andrew’s pointing finger. Bearing down on the Indiaman from ahead was that noxious little schooner. By herself, she was of no account in the battle involving the larger ships, but she could be a nuisance to the Indiaman. She was probably packed full of men who would swarm aboard, given half a chance. This was the reason why Phaeton had remained close by her charge while Athena battled the larger frigate.

Of course, it made sense for the two to change places, since Athena would be just as effective at seeing off the schooner, and Phaeton, being much the same size as the large enemy frigate, should be able to handle her. There was just not the opportunity to do this now. If Phaeton were to drop back, the schooner would be at the Indiaman’s side in a flash.

Athena’s opponent, just the least bit faster than the others, crept slowly forward every half-glass, pummeling her target with those twelve-pound balls. Of course, she too received her share of balls from the stern guns of the post-ship, but Athena was losing the fight. Already, she had sent a dozen men below to the cockpit to wait their turn with the surgeon. Another half dozen was tipped over the side to remove their dead bodies from the crowded deck.

Just as matters were beginning to seem serious to the crew of Athens, a sudden move by the captain of the schooner changed everything. The little vessel had been playing cat-and-mouse with Phaeton and the Indiaman while Athena was warding off the big frigate. Seeing an opening, the schooner’s master brought her alongside the General Hughes, with a view to send a swarm of boarders aboard. Unfortunately, for him, Captain Hardesty had ordered his broadside guns loaded with grape. Granted, there were only a dozen of the big twelve-pounder long guns on that starboard beam, but each had a skilled gun-layer at each piece. In addition, there were a number of swivel guns, loaded with pistol balls for close range defense.

As the schooner closed on the big Indiaman, her deck packed with boarders, the guns on the General Hughes began their deadly work. Every discharge of one of the big guns at that close range, brought down its swathe of boarders. The smaller swivel guns, loaded as they were with double charges of shot also accounted for their share.

With her men being slaughtered, her rigging ruined and dead men at the helm, the schooner fell away from her intended target. Phaeton, coming up alongside, finished the little vessel with a crashing broadside, then went back to assist Athena. Being assaulted by two ships at once was too much for the enemy frigate. She came about, still being pummeled by heavy shot and made off, her sails and rigging a ruined chaos.

Captain Cockburn elected not to pursue and bring his enemy to her end. He had other responsibilities and a long voyage ahead.

Athena was in trouble. Her previous opponent had pounded her unmercifully and the bosun was overseeing repairs to several damaged spars. With no intact replacements available, it was necessary to ‘fish’ the mizzen topsail yard, but there was no way to repair the shattered main yard.

The carpenter and his mates were at work plugging shot holes about the ship, but were having difficulty with a large shot-hole right up in the bows at the waterline. Some treenails, wooden pegs pinning the end of a plank to its frame, had loosened or failed near the point of impact. Any effort to force material into the seams of the sprung plank to quench the inflow of seawater only made the leak worse.

While the crew worked the pumps, the sailmaker and his mates threaded strands of oakum through a spare sail, making a hairy mat of it. This was passed under the bow, covering the opening and served to reduce the intake of water, but it was still necessary to keep the pumps working night and day.

Captain Cockburn, although having serious damage of his own, came over in his gig to inspect. Conscientiously, he went through the entire ship with Captain Mullins, even climbing the mizzen shrouds to inspect the fished yard. At length he decided, “There is no avoiding it. Athena will not be able to make the voyage to India. I will send over my carpenter and his mates to assist your crew to make what repairs they may. Then you must set course for English Harbor in Antigua.”

HMS Athena put the trade winds on her starboard quarter and set her course for the Caribbean while the other ships struggled to make their southing. The post ship’s crew kept on with their incessant pumping while repairs were continued above decks. The other ships would be steering in the opposite direction, searching for the winds and currents that would take them around the tip of Africa, where they could hope to catch the monsoon to India.

On the third day after the separation, one of Athena’s hands, completing his watch at the pumps, sure that he knew how to stem the constant influx of seawater, attempted to slow the leak up forward by furtively stuffing extra oakum into the crevice about the damaged plank. His plan almost worked, the influx slowing down to a seep. Seeking to stop the flow entirely, a too-vigorous shove pushed the sprung plank out against the fothered sail, causing an almost overwhelming gush of seawater into the forepeak.

The guilty hand immediately left the scene and went back to the pumps, hoping to escape discovery. Fortunately, a carpenters-mate making his rounds, noticed the problem and informed the watch officer. Another sail, previously prepared, was hurriedly roused out and passed under the hull up forward. This reduced the flow of water, but even with the extra fothered sail, the incursion was still more than the pumps could remove.

In succeeding days, Athena sank lower, as the leak steadily added to the load on the ship every day. The mercury in the weatherglass in Captain Mullin’s quarters also sank as the skies darkened with cloud cover. Easterly winds pushed the ship to the west, but it was difficult to determine their position because of their inability to take sights. They could use their chronometer to determine their longitude, but the master was suspicious of the accuracy of their instrument. He knew they were somewhere to the east and south of Cuba, but their exact position he could not guess. Mister Cartwright did assure his captain that the storm, whose effects they were feeling just now, was somewhere to the south, and suggested they themselves might wish to look for a harbor as soon as possible. Summer storms in these latitudes were no joke.

There was land ahead, Spanish, French and British. The difficulty was guessing just which country might claim their landfall. Taking refuge in Spanish or French territory might prove uncomfortable. Lookouts were sent to all three mastheads in order to get an early sighting. The winds were now veering southerly which Cartwright assured Mullins was a sign the storm behind them was also turning north.

At dawn, the next day, when the lookouts went aloft, the shout ‘Land ho!” echoed from the tops. Midshipman Archer scrambled aloft with a glass and reported land in sight off the starboard bow. Cartwright went into the maintop with his glass and remained there for an hour before descending. Reporting to Mullins on the quarterdeck, he reported he thought it to be an island of the Caicos archipelago. Furthermore, he had a chart of this very island, from his days as a young master’s mate. During the American war, his frigate had surveyed some of these islands and he himself had taken bearings and measured the depths. The master reported the small, uninhabited island had several differing names, depending on which nation’s charts one consulted, but there was no name on his own plot.

With the burden of her load of seawater, Athena was sluggish and slow, with an increased draft. Even so, Cartwright was able to guide the ship from the longboat, a leadsman measuring the depths as they went, through a channel he remembered from years before. The ship came to anchor in a shallow bay on the leeward side of the island. The master warned of coral heads under the surface, which could tear open the hull of the ship, but thought the beach they had approached might be safe.

After the boats surveyed the bottom in this shallow bay and determined it to be free of hidden dangers, they pulled Athena closer to shore until she touched the sandy bottom at low tide and the Marines were sent ashore to inspect for any human dangers. With the islet confirmed uninhabited, the emptying of the ship commenced. The first items brought ashore were the guns and ammunition. The lower level of the magazine had flooded and some powder was spoiled, but a small amount of powder in the upper barrels remained dry to respond to an enemy.

Once the guns were ashore, a temporary battery was constructed to defend the ship from a possible seaward attack. In the rear of the battery, sails were spread out in the hot sun and damp powder from some of the spoiled barrels was spread out, in hopes that it might dry enough to be used.

With the ship lightened as much as possible, cables were sent ashore and bent onto sturdy palm trees. Now men were taken from the pumps and set to work at the capstan. As the cables were tightened, the ship, now moored fore and aft in shallow water, began to incline, the damaged planking in the bow rising.to the surface. By stages, the ship was slowly rolled while men at the pumps were able to lighten her more, now that the sea was no longer rushing in.

With the damage now accessible, the carpenter and his mates working from the boats, removed the damaged wood and replaced it with new planking. Another day for the caulkers to seal the repairs and a coat of pitch to be spread over all, and it was time to get the ship ready to sail again.

With the men working at a feverish pitch, the stores began coming aboard, Mister Cartwright insuring every cask was stowed in its proper position and secured so it would not shift in a heavy sea. Despite the amount of work, two lookouts were spared to be posted in the now upright tops. Shouts from these two alerted the quarterdeck that a little gaff-rigged fishing boat had come around the point and was now plainly visible off-shore watching over their actions.

The craft flew no flag but Mullins had to suspect the worst. The hands remaining ashore in the battery were alerted and the guns readied for action. This was the absolute worst moment for an enemy to appear, with men at work both ashore and on the ship. However, after having a good look, the vessel put about and left on the same path that she had arrived.

The crew worked through the night and by dawn, the guns and remaining supplies ashore had been loaded aboard ship, although probably not in quite the order that the sailing master might have wished. As the exhausted crew were preparing to raise the anchor, the fishing boat that had inspected them the previous day came around the point again. This time, accompanied by a little sixteen-gun corvette, flying the tricolor, her guns already run out. Normally, it would seem presumptuous for a smaller vessel like this corvette to challenge a larger enemy. Today though, with Athena in her present condition, the enemy commander probably thought he had a good chance to take this foe.

With no time to gain her anchors, Mullins ordered the anchor cables slipped. The freed cables slid into the sea as the topsails were set and the jib flatted out to turn the ship. Other members of the crew forgot their exhaustion as they cleared the ship for action. Mister Cartwright conned the ship out of the twisting channel by memory. Despite touching bottom once, no damage was incurred and she reached a safe depth before meeting the corvette.

Mullins spoke to the gunner as he was leaving the deck to his post in the magazine. “Mister Flowers, what is the state of our powder?”

“Sir, I can give you a single broadside with good powder. I am afraid any charges we use after that will be suspect. Much of our powder is wet and will not fire. I do have some casks that were only dampened and partially re-dried. That powder may or may not fire. My plan, have I enough time, will be to make up charges of the dampened powder, supplemented with some saluting charges I have that are dry. My hope is the small saluting charge will ignite the dampened main charge.”

Mullins nodded, “I think you are telling me I must defeat this corvette using my first broadside.”

“That would be the best plan, Captain.”

The corvette approached with a bone in her teeth, the fishing boat wisely coming about and leaving the area. As soon as the corvette was within range, she began firing off her forward guns, six–pounders, it appeared.

Mullins warned Mister Farver, “As you know, we must husband our powder. We must only fire when a certain hit may be expected.”

The first officer nodded and repeated the message to Lieutenant Howard, who would actually be commanding the guns.

The enemy, seeing her enemy coming out with her guns silent, came about at close range and fired off her broadside. This was hurried firing and some shot missed, but even so, several balls came aboard, the foremast having a notch taken out near the deck, and two six-pound shot smashing through the bulwarks, sending men below with splinter wounds.

The corvette, her broadside expended and her port-side guns empty, glided alongside Athens. This was when Mullins gave the order to fire. At musket-shot range, every shot took effect, the big carronade shot especially so. The vicious shock of the multiple impacts almost stopped the corvette. The carronades, as usual, were the first to reload. Mullins was anxious to see the results of firing the guns with damp powder charges.

When the first of the carronades fired again, Mullins could see no perceptible changes. This one was loaded with grape, and the smoke of the discharge may have been a bit darker than usual. The effects were perfectly acceptable as far as he was concerned. The corvette’s portside foremast shrouds were shot through, and that mast was seen to slowly lean over to starboard and fall.

There was no time to admire the shot though as the other guns began to fire. There was a discrepancy with only one gun. Number 4 gun fired with a weak report and its ball bounced from the side of the corvette, without penetrating. The other rounds did their duty though and the corvette was visibly shaken.

It was now obvious the small corvette had no business engaging the more powerful Athena. Her captain probably thought the British warship had been damaged and he could take her before she was repaired. He was almost right. Had he encountered Athena a few hours before, he could probably have made her his prize.

The after carronade, also loaded with grape, when fired, took out most of the enemies’ quarterdeck people and soon after that her flag came down.

The ship’s Marines, as well as an armed boarding party, went aboard to secure the prize.  They went with empty weapons, since all of the small-arms powder had been used to prime the big guns.

Mister Flowers went over with the first boarders, sword in hand, and returned with a report the prize’s powder supply was intact and ready to be transport to Athena.

Mullins, with limited facilities aboard Athens, did not wish to take aboard the numerous prisoners, so sent them to the barren shore with sufficient stores to last them a few weeks. By that time, someone, either Briton or French, would doubtless rescue them. The corvette, Mullins judged, had been barely serviceable before the action. She was an elderly ship, in poor repair, having received little maintenance since coming to these islands. Now, with her foremast down and her hull shot through with holes, Mullins believed she was not worth the effort to repair. Her powder was brought aboard Athena, while her dis-armed crew watched from shore, and then she was set afire. When fully alight, Athena set sail.