HMS Diamond (5 page)

      
Then in a louder tone, "In that you have already had your knighthood granted by King Gustavus, it remains for me but to confirm it on English soil. This I hereby do, and confer upon you the hood of the Grand Cross of your order." The king bent and slipped the hood over Sidney’s head and adjusted it slightly.

      
"Rise, Sir Sidney."

      
Sidney kissed the king’s hand and stood up. "Your Majesty, to receive this knighthood from the King of Sweden was a great honor. But, to have it confirmed by your hand surpasses anything for which I could have possibly hoped. I am, Your Grace, forever in your debt and forever your servant." With that Sidney bowed, took two steps back, turned, and waited for the recessional to form.

      
As the maidens filed past him to line up on either side of the main aisle as an honor guard, Prince William Henry came up, beaming, to shake Sidney’s hand. The recessional formed in the same order, the three esquires, followed by Sir George and his six knights, followed by Sir Sidney and Prince William.

      
Prince William had not seen Susan Whitney for several years. As he drew opposite her in the court maiden line, he stepped out of the recessional, grabbed her by both hands and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. This, of course, scandalized several of the older "maidens," but it also elevated Susan’s social standing by about fourteen notches.

Chapter Two

      
THE banquet celebrating Sir Sidney’s investiture was a lavish affair. Three long tables were arranged in a narrow "U" with the open end facing the entrance. Each was covered with a white damask tablecloth, and a liveried servant stood behind each chair.

      
On the tables, there was an elevated centerpiece for each pair of chairs containing salt and sugar bowls, fresh flowers, and delicacies such as lemons, oranges, and the supreme delicacy, chocolate. Bone white Dresden china was at each setting with an intricately folded napkin on top. Small silver bowls filled with rose-water sat next to the cutlery so the guests could cleanse their fingers before eating. Over the entrance was a balcony where a string quartet produced music—including a few pieces by some German youngster named Beethoven. No one had ever heard of this Beethoven fellow, but the great master Joseph Haydn recommended him, so his music was given an airing. The smell of spices was everywhere. Pepper, licorice, nutmegs, saffron, sugar, ginger, cloves, mace and a few other things Walker could not identify, all combined to give the room an almost oriental feel.

      
The meal’s cuisine was French and consisted of seven courses: scallops and lobster, snails,
foie gras
, lemon sorbet, stuffed quails, cheese and finally a luscious chocolate cake. Crystallized fruits were served with coffee followed by some fine French wines and cognac. If there was going to be peace with France, the banquet planners were clearly going to make the most of it.

      
All together there were about a hundred guests present when Walker arrived, with Sir Sidney seated at the front as the guest of honor. The king and queen put in an appearance, as did several senior members of the Order of the Bath. The latter might not have been crazy about Sidney becoming a knight, but officially he was one now and the appearance of chivalry had to be maintained.

      
Susan sat with Lucas throughout the meal and they had a chance to get caught up. Walker told her about his experiences as a medical student in Scotland and Susan told him about settling into her new estate in Kent. Her mother, Constance, was fine. Initially she didn’t want to move to Thistledown, Susan’s estate, because she felt she would be out of place. "When I left her a week ago she was in a frightful state because of the difficulty of finding what she calls ‘good help,’" Susan laughed. "She’s completely forgotten that a few years ago, she WAS the help."

      
About 11:30, Prince William joined them and around midnight the guest of honor came over to their table. The four friends were reunited and greeted each other as only old friends can.

      
"A toast," Walker said. "I propose a toast to the realm’s newest knight." Glasses were filled. "To Sir Sidney: may you achieve everything you desire, provided you desire nothing amiss."

      
"Sir Sidney," Walker continued after the glasses were drained. "Pray tell us of the feat or feats of inhuman heroism that caused the princes of several realms to honor you thus."

      
Smith broke into his usual cocked smile. "I put on a cape when I was cold and that pretty much did it." The group began a series of hoots and catcalls. "Now, just try to restrain yourselves," Smith continued. "I’ll have you know I can look very noble in a cape."

      
This was going to be the kind of story that Walker could get into. "The details, Sidney. The details!" Everyone drew closer as Sidney related the events.

      
"Well, as you know, after the American War and the Battle of the Saints, there was a change in administration. That fool Pitt took over and immediately set about dismembering the military. ‘Cost efficiency,’ he called it. Utter stupidity, say I.

      
"In my opinion it’s only a matter of time before the French will be back at our throats, and when they do, I want to be prepared. So, I spent some time in France sharpening my language skills, but eventually tired of that. Besides, by then I had spied upon, and drew maps of, just about every military harbor and fort from Normandy to Toulon," he said with a wink.

      
"I needed to get back to sea. I needed to see action again but it couldn’t be in any war in which the British had an interest. So, at first I traveled to Morocco. The Sultan there had been making sounds about attacking his neighbors; but nothing happened. No war. So, again, I did some spying and map making and returned home.

      
"Russia and Sweden had been rattling sabers at each other for years and finally a real war broke out. I traveled to Stockholm, obtained an audience with the King of Sweden, Gustavus III, and he invited me to join him in his campaign. So, I applied for permission from the Admiralty."

      
"Why did you volunteer on the side of the Swedes?" Prince William asked.

      
"Did I ever tell you about this weakness I have for blond women?" Susan threw a roll at him from across the table.

      
"It turns out, I never did get Admiralty permission. I waited around for six weeks—
six weeks
—and got precisely nothing from them, not even tacit approval. Actually, I take that back. I did get a note reprimanding me for my ‘unbecoming conduct’ in inquiring so often. So, I went back to Stockholm on my own. Without Admiralty approval, I could not be an active combatant; but there is nothing that says I couldn’t offer them advice."

      
"So, you went back without Admiralty permission because you were afraid they were going to start the war without you." Walker declared.

      
"Yes, something like that. You have to understand my frustration, Lucas. I knew full well that they had given permission to a dozen or more other officers to serve on the Russian side. But somehow they couldn’t bring themselves to act on
my
petition. Enough was enough, so I went on my own.

      
"Anyway, I got there just in time to participate in a disaster.

      
"In June the Swedes attacked a small Russian coastal fleet that was in the Bay of Wyborg. A smashing success, it was. Or at least it would have been if the Russians had not come up from behind with a second fleet from Cronstadt and a third from Revel. They had us trapped in Wyborg Bay.

      
"It was a stalemate. The Russians had enough ships to keep us penned in but not enough to root us out. We had enough ships to keep them at bay, but not enough to break out. For a whole month, the two fleets sat there looking at each other.

      
"Finally, I had an inspiration. I knew how much the king admired cavalry; I mean, he would go on for hours about his vaunted hussars. So I took a page from the cavalry manual and suggested he use his light squadrons to make a feint to the Russian left side while the main fleet forced the right side of their line. This was something he could understand and he agreed to my plan.

      
"I’ll have to admit that no one on either side thought for a minute the plan would work. We sailed off into battle with King Gustavus drafting the wording of his surrender, and the Russian admiral erecting a tent on the main deck of his flagship so the king could be held captive in appropriate comfort.

      
"I am pleased to report their preparations were in vain," Smith declared. "The Russian right side was anchored by rocks and land; and, as a result, was only lightly defended by two ships of the line and a few frigates. They didn’t think we could get through there. We squeezed past the rocks, over-powered their ships and broke out into the open waters of the Gulf of Finland."

      
"And this won you a knighthood?"

      
"No, that came later."

      
"While we now had sea room, we knew that the conflict was far from over. As you all know, the purpose of a navy is to fight. That’s as true of the Russians and Swedes as it is of our navy, and a final reckoning had yet to be made.

      
"That reckoning took place five days later near an obscure group of islands off the Finnish coast. I won’t cover this fight in great detail; but I will say this. It was the most spectacular battle I had ever witnessed—greater even than the Saints back in ‘82.

      
"We were nestled in a group of four islands not far from the town of Kotka and about 60 miles from Wyborg. The islands were arranged in a horseshoe shape so we established ourselves in a semi-circle on the inside of the horseshoe and placed a number of batteries on a few of the islands. The area between the islands was called Svensksund, which became the name of the battle.

      
"At about 4:00 in the morning the Russians formed up for the attack, and our wings and shore batteries immediately began firing on them. The Russians had 35 frigates and ships of the line to our six, but we outnumbered them in galleys, gunboats and smaller vessels 170 to 98. It was these smaller vessels that were to turn the tide.

      
"By 10:00 the battle was at full bore with the two opposing fleets hammering away at each other for all they were worth. The Russians didn’t have much room to maneuver and could force neither of our flanks nor could they break through the middle. As you might imagine I was in the thick of things, either setting forth in a small yacht the king had loaned me to relay orders, or standing by the king to give tactical advice.

      
"About 2:00 in the afternoon I was over on our left flank and noticed that there was a small passage between the islands of Kuutsalö and Lehmasaari. I consulted my chart and learned two things. First, the passage was navigable; and second, if some ships were to go down it they could swing around Lehmasaari and attack the Russians from the rear.

      
"I raced back to the flagship and advised the king of my plan. He saw its value at once and ordered Admiral Hielmstierna, who was commanding the left wing, to take half his force of galleys and gunboats through the passage. He did, and what happened next not even I could have imagined.

      
"The Russian commander, the Prince Charles of Nassau, saw our ships appear at his rear and ordered a number of his vessels to withdraw and reform to counter the new threat. I expected that. What I did not expect was that many of the Russian ships would misinterpret the order to mean that he was signaling a general retreat. The result was chaos. The Russian center became isolated from her flanks and came under heavy Swedish attack. At the same time the king pushed in both of his wings. By 4:00 there were Russian ships sinking, sunk, burning, captured or run aground all over the gulf. It was a complete, utter and total Swedish victory."

      
"So, where does the cape come in?" Susan asked.

      
"Yes, that was very strange.

      
"Toward the close of the battle I returned to the flagship to report to his majesty the results of a successful operation I had supervised in the center of the line; and also of an effort I had made to organize the Turkish prisoners, released from captivity by the surrender of the Russian galleys.

      
"As I was giving my account, the king noticed that I was cold and shivering slightly. He then turned to a nearby soldier of his guard and said: ‘Give the colonel your cloak.’ The man, with a naiveté only a Swedish peasant can muster, wrapped the cloak round himself and answered: ‘I want it myself, sir.’

      
"The king, who was, needless to say, in great good humor at this point, then said to his page, ‘Bring the captain a cloak.’ The man soon reappeared with a cape and put it over my shoulders. The king, observing the star of the Order of the Seraphim thereon, quickly added, ‘I am giving you this cloak because it’s cold. If I didn’t say that, you would have been regularly invested, by my order, with the Order of the Seraphim, as a nobleman of my court.’