Richard Testrake - (Sea Command 2) (17 page)

The remaining guns in the wreck, deeper than the others, were difficult to access. One of the hands had better lung capacity than the others and could remain submerged a bit longer. The main difficulty consisted in removing the gun’s breeching cables. The men found the carpenter’s saw could sever the cables under water more efficiently than other blades. When the last gun was hoisted from the Achilles and lowered into Shrike’s hold, it was time to complete the destruction of the wreck.

Five powder kegs were removed from the magazine and placed on deck, inspecting each for flaws in the wooden containers. Each was opened and two twelve pound shot placed in the keg with the powder, before it was closed up again.

A bucket of pitch was brought on deck and placed on a piece of canvas., while a loggerhead was taken below to be heated in the galley. Brought up on deck, the hot iron ball at the end of the tool was plunged into the pitch, which began melting immediately. It took a second heat to get the pitch to the proper temperature.

Another length of old sailcloth was placed on the deck next to the hot pitch and a powder keg rolled over on it. Hot pitch was painted all over the outside surface of the keg, making sure all seams were sealed. Now, the sailmaker took over. Canvas was cut to wrap the entire barrel, and sewed with small stitches. When covered, it received another coat of hot pitch. Upon completion, that keg was set aside and a guard placed over it, to prevent anyone from interfering with it. The other kegs were treated in similar fashion with the exception of the last. This was left until the next day, to insure the maximum amount of daylight to do the necessary work.

At first light, the last cask was treated the same as the others, except the cask’s bung was not covered or sealed. When ready, the kegs already sealed were lowered individually via tackle from the Shrike’s yardarm, to the open hatch in the wreck. Each keg was lowered to the bottom of the wreck’s hold, the line was cut and another keg was lowered until all were down except the last.

Now, it was the time for the last keg. The water depth to the lowered casks was measured and a pipe, made from musket barrels brazed together, was selected that would extend from the previously lowered kegs to a few feet above the surface. A length of quick match was threaded through the pipe, with a foot of match extending from each end.

The keg and separate ignition pipe was placed in Shrike’s launch, while a bucket of pitch with a brazier and loggerhead were carried in Ferret’s boat. The brazier would be necessary to heat the pitch but the fire must not come near the charged powder cask.

The two boats moored themselves over the wreck, with the open hatch of the wreck with its deadly contents directly below. The quick match extending out of the base of the pipe was buried in the gunpowder inside the cask. Then, the ignition tube was placed upright in the bung and wedges were tamped in to secure it. Hot pitch was again spread liberally around the join and the canvas sewn together. More pitch was spread over the canvas and now it was time to lower the keg. Supported in a net bag, it was lowered onto the pile of powder kegs in the wrecks hold. A previously made raft was brought alongside of the vertical pipe protruding from the sea and secured to three boat anchors, before being fastened to the ignition pipe. As a final act, a short length of slow match was connected to the quick match protruding from the pipe, and lit. This would slowly burn toward its meeting with the quick match, then it would flash down the ignition tube almost instantly. Assuming the charges had not been spoiled by water, an explosion could be expected.

The boats retreated back to the gun brigs, which slipped their mooring and sailed away from the site.

At this time, bin Mohammed was heard from again. Musket men on shore began firing at the brigs. At their distance of several hundred yards, there was little chance for anyone to be injured, but the possibility was always there.

As the brigs made their way out into the harbor, both gave the snipers broadsides of grape. Leviathan was too distant for grape to be effective, but she again opened fire with her upper deck battery, intent on knocking down shore-side buildings with round shot from her guns.

All three ships were busily punishing their shore-side foe, when the charges in the wreck exploded. There was an enormous gout of water and mud from the bottom, with sections of the wreck hurled into the air. Moments later, quantities of fish, dead and injured came to the surface.

The bombardment and explosion had halted the firing from shore so both brigs returned to the site. Deciding he needed to visually examine the effects of the explosion himself, Mullins went into the launch and was pulled over the site. At first, the sea was clouded with mud and nothing was visible, but soon the murk began to dissipate and he was able to see some of the detail below.

The bow and stern of the Achilles were still more or less intact, but her entire midsection was gone. He was unable to see any remaining artifacts that might be valuable to the Moors. A conference with Shrike’s gunner’s mate revealed that all of the powder kegs may not have exploded. One or more may have been spoiled by the incursion of seawater. Mullins decided though, the wreck was sufficiently destroyed to make any future salvage impossible.

With Mullins judging the task complete, both brigs set sail and began carefully to make their way through the shallows out to sea. While doing so, a leg of the channel they were following took them closer to shore and the musketry began again. A dozen balls struck Shrike without injuring anyone, so he ordered everyone not actually at the guns or handling the ship to lie on the deck until passing this danger. Both brigs and Leviathan were thundering away at the enemy and Mullins, pacing back and forth on Shrike’s quarterdeck, was beginning to wonder how many men the bey could have left, when a tremendous blow on his leg knocked him off his feet.

He lay there, feeling foolish that his right leg would not work properly, when the pain came. The surgeon’s mate came up from below and a party of men gently got him on a carrying board and strapped him down. While being carried below, he lost consciousness from the loss of blood from a large wound in his upper thigh.

It was early in the morning watch when he awoke, still strapped on the carrying board, in his cabin. A loblolly boy was standing watch over him and, seeing him awake picked up a glass partially filled with an amber liquid and handed it to him. “Doctor’s orders sir. Down the hatch, please, Sawbones says you must drink this.”

Mullins tried a sip of the liquid. He could tell it was mostly brandy, but there was a strange, bitter taste he was not familiar with. His leg was hurting him intensely, and he did not wish to hear more of the loblolly boy’s nagging, so he gritted his teeth and swallowed the substance.

Strangely, the pain soon had nearly left him and he felt relaxed and at peace. When the medical assistant returned later with more of the substance, he swallowed it without protest. Mister Draper came in later to examine him. The surgeon’s mate was no doctor, but he had read a little medicine and worked under a noted surgeon for a short period, gaining enough knowledge to satisfy the ‘Sick and Hurt Board’. This was his first position on a ship of war and hoped one day to become a medical doctor.

Draper satisfied Mullin’s curiosity concerning his medicament, tell him it was called tincture of opium or laudanum. Mullins was extremely weak because of the loss of blood. Mister Draper had a remedy for that, Assuring Captain Mullins that large quantities of port wine were a specific for rebuilding excessive blood loss, he was plied with quantities of that. When the supply on board was becoming low, boats were sent to Leviathan and Ferret to seek out additional supplies.

Once out to sea, Leviathan’s surgeon came over to inspect the wound. There was some inflammation around the wound in his upper thigh and Doctor Hazlet recommended the leg come off to forestall gangrene. Since the wound was so near the hip, there would be unusual danger in removing it and he offered to do the procedure himself, since he had much more experience than Mister Draper.

Hazlet advised saying nothing to the patient, merely giving him a large dose of laudanum and performing the surgery when the patient fell unconscious. As Mullin’s surgeon, Draper did not quite dare to remove his commodore’s leg without further consultation. He reported to Shrike’s captain, Lieutenant Andrews and told him of the advice from Leviathan’s surgeon.

Andrew’s was horrified. “I was just talking to Captain Mullins earlier today. He seemed alert and in no great distress. Why would you want to cut off his leg?”

“Sir, I do not really wish to do that, but it is Doctor Hazlet’s opinion the patient is in danger of developing gangrene if we do not remove the leg.”

Andrews asked, “Is there not danger in removing the leg?”

Draper replied, “Yes sir, significant danger, especially since the wound is so high. I myself would hesitate to perform the surgery, so Doctor Hazlet says he will do it himself.”

Andrews considered, “Tell me Draper, are you not Captain Mullin’s surgeon and as such responsible for his treatment?”

“Yes sir, I am.”

“Well, then, as your captain, I am ordering you to follow your own judgement about the captain’s treatment. Let us avoid any plans of amputation until it becomes obviously necessary.

Nothing was said to Captain Mullins and he continued to improve without the surgery. Whenever weather cooperated, Doctor Hazlet, with the blessing of Captain Hennings of Leviathan, came over to Shrike to inspect Captain Mullins. Even in spite of the increasingly healthy patient, Hazlet was still insisting on the need for amputation.

The matter became moot, when a sudden storm came up and the two brigs separated from Leviathan. This was not altogether by accident. Shrike’s captain, Lieutenant Andrews had been hearing reports that Captain Hennings was going to insist Mullins be transferred over to the big 74. Once there, Doctor Hazlet would be his surgeon, and the amputation almost assured.

Andrews had voiced his misgiving to Lieutenant Wilkins, commanding Ferret. Since Andrews had gained his commission a few months before Wilkins, he was senior, so when Leviathan was lost to sight in the storm, he was able to signal Ferret to go on the port tack.

While this was not the probable course to intercept the third-rate, it would appear believable in the brig’s log. When the visibility returned, Leviathan was no longer in sight.

By the time the brigs reached Gibraltar, Mullins was in fine health. His pain was greatly reduced and he no longer was required to take the laudanum. His only difficulty was learning how to stump around on the crutches the ship’s carpenter had made for him.

His thigh had been bound up with splints and his leg muscles had shrunk. He was beginning to despair of ever walking normally again. Suffering from melancholia, he wrote his feelings in a letter to Mrs. Cooper. This lady, in her capacity as the head housekeeper of the London house, had often given him valuable advice as a child, and in his despair he reached out to her now.

Of course, at sea here in the Mediterranean, the letter could not be posted, but it was put into the mailbag so it would be ready when the ship made port again. With the entry into Gibraltar harbor, Mullins was set ashore, as was the mailbag. The mailbag was immediately placed in the mail packet soon to depart, but Captain Mullins was taken in hand by the garrison surgeon, who wished to see what he could do for Mullin’s melancholia.

Fortunately, Mullin’s leg had mended to the extent that any idea of amputation was ridiculous, but this surgeon did not have the belief that many others did, that required a patient to remain in bed until completely cured. He required his patient to spend increasing amounts of time every day walking about on his crutches. At first, extremely painful, the exercise soon improved his mental status, and as the muscle tone returned, the pain lessened.

Soon he was able to put the crutches down and walk around on his own feet. The day came when HMS Lively came in, on her way to Portsmouth. Calling on her captain, he found that Lively was short an officer, and if Mullins was not too proud to live in the wardroom with the ship’s officers and perhaps stand a watch occasionally, he would be welcome aboard on the voyage to Portsmouth.

The Lively anchored in Spithead and Mullins persuaded the master of a victualler to take him to Portsmouth. There he made his manners with the port admiral by calling on him. The port admiral was not present, but his flag lieutenant produced a letter that had been posted in care of that office.

It was a letter from Mrs. Cooper in reply to his own, written several months before. In it, she mentioned that her cousin Agnes, in service for retired Admiral Davis, had been able to learn from him that Lively was expected to call in Gibraltar soon, bound for Spithead. She was told the possibility existed that Captain Mullins might well take this opportunity to sail to Portsmouth in her. Therefore, she had addressed this letter to that official and hoped to see Captain Mullins shortly.

She would borrow the Whitbread’s coach, a marvelously well-sprung vehicle to carry him home in more comfort that he could expect from the mail coach. She and her companion would stay at the Sign of the Bull and Bear.

Mullins was not pleased to hear this. He felt himself perfectly able to make the trip in the mail coach and besides, Saul Whitbread had been trying to convince him ever since he had gained his first command to take his twelve-year-old grandson on as midshipman.

The vessels Mullins had previously commanded had very limited accommodations for midshipmen and Mullins wished to take only older ones who had gained a modicum of knowledge. By traveling in Whitbread’s coach, Mullins would owe the man a favor, which he would probably have to repay by taking on the useless boy.

The frustrated captain hired a cabriolet to the Bull and Bear on the outskirts of town. Finding from the proprietor that Mrs. Cooper was indeed in the building, Mullins sent up word that he had arrived. Judging he had a long wait, he bought a quart of porter.

He was astonished when Mrs. Cooper came down the stairs with Miss Doris Walker almost immediately. No longer girlish, as she may have appeared in their earlier acquaintance, Doris now seemed to be a lovely young woman in a most fetching gown, showing off a bit more bodice than Mullins might have wished a woman friend to display in public.

Upon boarding the coach, somehow Doris was placed at his side. This promised to be a very short journey.