Sails Across the Sea: A Tim Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 8) (10 page)

Casualties were remarkably light. Not a single fatality among Badgers crew and only one serious injury. A gun carriage wheel had run over a crewman’s foot, crushing it badly. The surgeon expressed optimism that it might be saved, if only mortification could be averted. The only other casualties among the ship’s crew were a few cuts and contusions.

Badger resumed her patrol, finally taking advantage of what was left of the monsoon to sail out into the Indian Ocean. Mister Tringle warned his captain the monsoon winds would soon die, and the trade winds would return, winds that could easily carry them back to Cape Colony. Phillips was not anxious to return there, knowing he would then be tied to the governor’s apron strings so long as he remained in that area.

The winds had become fitful. It was becoming normal for the watch on deck to remain busy, the hands were kept constantly busy adjusting the trim of the sails to suit the changing wind. The sea was deserted, not a single sail in sight for days. Even the fishing boats coming out from Madagascar were absent.

One night, Phillips lay swinging in his hanging cop, catching up on his sleep. He woke to hear the midshipman of the watch arguing outside his door with the Marine sentry. Wide awake, and knowing he would never get back to sleep now, he went to the door in his night shirt to see what the controversy was all about.

Mister Hardesty was at the door, startled to see his captain in his sleeping attire. “Sir”, he reported, “Mister Tringle thinks we hear gunfire to the north east.”

Not bothering to snatch up his coat, Phillips rushed out on deck. It was an overcast night, and black as a coal mine. But he could very faintly hear the rumble of what sounded very like thunder, way off in the distance.

“What makes you think that noise is not thunder, Mister Tringle?”

The sailing master responded, “Sir, These clouds we have are not storm or thunder clouds, I’ll stake my reputation on that. If it is not thunder, then it has to be gunfire. Phillips was not convinced but ordered the ship put on a course that would bring them to the source of the commotion sooner or later.

It was later that night, when the sky began clearing, and moonlight showed through a break in the ceiling. One of the deck lookouts in the bows shouted, “Sail off the starboard bow!”

A night glass was in the rack by the binnacle and Phillips snatched it up. This had slightly better light gathering powers than one of the standard telescopes, but as a drawback, displayed its image upside down.

The image it showed, once Phillips deciphered it, was of a European built brig. One of dozens of trading vessels here in the East, many being locally built. It approached Badger slowly in the light fitful wind and closed to a cable’s length before someone on her deck noticed.

As shouts of alarm came from her, Phillips ordered a gun fired. The brig came to and waited to be boarded.

Hardesty was midshipman of the watch so he was sent in the launch with a boatload of armed seamen. The sun was coming up now and the deck crew watched the mid climb onto the brig’s deck, speak to a man in a dark coat, then the pair went down into the boat.

A heavy man in a plain coat climbed the battens and came through Badger’s port side entry port. Phillips met the man who identified himself as Captain Williams of the brig Louise, sailing out of Cape Colony for Bombay with a cargo of tanned hides.   

Phillips invited him into his cabin where he invited Williams to inform him of the latest news.

Captain Williams related his ship, the Louise had been sailing alone when she met with two Indiamen and an East India Company armed brig escorting them to the subcontinent. Williams accepted their offer to join the fleet for the purpose of mutual protection.

Two armed ships intercepted the convoy four days out. One was a brig Williams recognized. She was a country ship out of Bombay, taken by pirates the year before. The other was one of those big forty gun frigates the French were building these days. He reported he thought she had been a long way from a re-fit since the ship was all ahoo, her sails more patches than whole sailcloth. Anyway, the warships pursued them that day and into the night.

It was thought they had been left behind during the night but in the morning there they were, on the convoy’s beam, a few leagues off. The enemy were slow and sluggish, perhaps from weed growth, but the heavily laden Indiamen were slower still. The armed brig gamely stayed with the convoy but Williams, in the Louise, elected to use his superior speed to evade and seek help. He had occasionally heard the guns firing, and had a fair idea of the convoy’s location even though they had been left below the horizon.

This news presented a problem for Phillips. He really had no business taking his lightly-built sloop-of-war up against a frigate of this size, but his duty was to protect British shipping. Too, an armed brig of the East India Company was escorting the merchantmen and presumably she could be of assistance. The Indiamen themselves, were armed and should be able to put up a good defense, assuming that is, they had enough people on board to man their guns.

Leaving Louise behind to attempt to garner more help, Badger continued on course toward the suspected location of the beleaguered convoy. Guided by the occasional sound of guns, she steadily gained on the quarry. The masthead lookout had just reported sails ahead when the sound of heavy bombardment erupted. The lookout reported the brig and a big frigate had become engaged.

Over the next glass, the guns continued their intense thunder. Mister Davison speculated the escort brig was surely getting the stuffing pounded from her. Phillips was more sanguine. “Since Commodore Rowley defeated the French in these parts last year, any surviving National ships have sailed a difficult course. With no port available to re-supply or to garner replacement crew, these warships will have a difficult time attempting to continue their missions. From Captain William’s report we learn the frigate may have allied herself with a pirate brig. We can speculate she has also taken aboard native crew to replace losses. We may infer the enemy may not be as efficient as she may have been in the past.”

Now closing on the embattled ships, matters became more clear. The brig had interposed herself between the frigate and the Indiamen but the pirate brig had come up with the trailing Indiamen and the two were going at it hammer and tongs. The frigate was exchanging fire with the escort brig, and as they observed on their approach, the brig’s main mast fell. The drag of the fallen gear brought the brig to, and the frigate lay athwart her bow, pounding fire down the length of the brig unmercifully. Unable to respond, the small brig lay there, absorbing the punishment.

Phillips ordered the red ensign flown along with the commission pennant. Both had become tattered with use, and he did not normally fly them now except in the presence of other shipping. He had expected the enemy might break off their action when they observed another warship entering the picture, but apparently a small sloop-of-war did not strike much fear in the enemy commanders.

The pirate brig was now close aboard the trailing Indiaman but the other merchantman came about and began firing at the brig’s dis-engaged side.

Seeing the pirate brig occupied for now, Phillips set Badger on to the frigate. Now lying on the escort’s bow, the big ship was still pounding the brig’s fragile hull with her heavy guns. The brig had managed to get a gun going in the bow to reply to the frigate’s fire, but this amounted to little more than a pinprick.

With all attention on the enemy’s quarterdeck seemingly directed at smashing the little protector, Badger put herself at long gun range on the frigate’s stern and opened fire. This woke them up, and the frigate wore around and came toward Badger. The large ship’s sails and rigging, as well as her hull, had been much battered by the heavy carronades of her previous opponent and she was unable to close Badger. After drawing the enemy away from the escort, Phillips put his ship about and went toward the pirate brig now lying between the two Indiamen. The pirate was trying to put boarders over onto her intended victim but both merchants had heavy guns which they were using with effect on the fragile pirate.

Badger came up astern and fired a full broadside into the brig’s stern, which essentially destroyed the small ship. She tried to pull away, but was hemmed in on both sides and no longer had enough intact canvas to pull ahead. Badger sat on her stern and pounded her mercilessly with grape and case shot.

When the former horde of pirates on her decks were mostly down, torn and bleeding, Badger turned away and made for the frigate again.

The enemy frigate had used this respite to get herself in some semblance of order again and came forward to meet Badger. Phillips had no idea of the state of affair aboard the enemy, but noted when her gun-ports opened, only about half of the guns appeared. The big ship had lost her main topmast in the previous fight and many of her remaining sails were nothing but holes and tatters.

Easily evading the frigate’s maneuvers, he sailed around her, again catching her with a bow rake, which did the frigate no good indeed. Again and again he punished the frigate relentlessly, pouring much of his shot supply into her.

The difficulty was, this shot was only nine pound ball, and the heavy frigate absorbed this with much less damage than a smaller ship might. Eventually, noting the former escort brig was on the verge of sinking, and one of the Indiamen was not much better, he decided to break off and see what he could do to assist.

The frigate could not be considered beaten, by any account. She was still a large, heavily-constructed ship with some powerful guns still extant. She had been pummeled so severely, however by both the escort brig, as well as Badger, that her captain no doubt considered it wise to leave the fight for a time and hopefully return to it later. By this time, she had lost a distressing number of her original crewmen that she had brought from France. Previously, it had been possible to replace them with native pirate crewmen of the area, but with the defeat of the pirate-crewed brig, this might no longer be possible. While eager to plunder lightly defended merchant ships, the pirate leaders of the area were not anxious to waste their men needlessly. Should he enter a pirate base for recruiting, the native South Asian members of his crew would certainly be consulted, by the pirate chieftains. Their advice might well be negative. When Badger gave up the engagement, the frigate did likewise.

Lady Hamilton was in a most foul mood. She had no warning that married life was to be like this! She had always imagined she would be a spinstress for the remainder of her life. With a face shaped much like her favorite horse and a body reminiscent of the village blacksmith back home, she had never imagined a man would wish to marry her. She had been her father’s pride and joy since her mother’s death early in her childhood.

Riding to the hounds with her father was her most favorite pastime in her youth, until a bad jump left her parent bedridden for the remnant of his life. She spent the rest of her youth caring for him, spurning the few potential suitors available, letting all thoughts of marriage or children pass by. One of the father’s last acts though, knowing he was in the final weeks of life, was to arrange a marriage with a young cavalry officer home on leave from service with an East Indian cavalry unit. The father well knew the young man was not the ideal mate for his beloved daughter, but he well knew he did not have the time left to search for another. Besides, he knew his daughter was a most determined woman, one not inclined to be ruled by a man younger than herself.

The lad was younger than she by a good many years. He had joined the forces since his older brother was in line to inherit the title. Following the demise of the officer’s parent though, the brother too passed after eating some bad oysters in his London club. The new Lord Hamilton, after succeeding to the title, found he was impoverished, his father and brother having squandered the bulk of the estate in high living. He had a title and a respected name but the family lands were mortgaged to the hilt and he needed more than his Indian Army pay to support the expenses a cavalry officer must service.

The no-longer young woman brought forward for his inspection, like a potential brood mare, was certainly not the type of bride most young men dreamed of but she was rich, and brought a substantial dowry to their union. This would pay off most of the estate’s debts and purchase his captaincy. For this, he was willing to sacrifice beauty. After all, there were plenty of beautiful, willing women available in India.

Lady Hamilton had no thoughts either of love for her new husband, but her father had wanted her to marry and she was determined to make it a success. She knew well the marriage was strictly a business transaction, In effect, her virginity and fortune were being traded for a noble name and title.

The new Lord Hamilton decided he would like to return to the colors in India, where he could use the funds his wife had brought to the marriage to amass an even larger fortune as well as providing entertainment of a more sensual nature. His new wife had other ideas though. From other officer’s wives she had met, she had learned of the escapades young officers were apt to indulge in with the young native women there.

She had no intention that she should follow her husband’s wishes for her to stay in England while he went off to sow his wild oats with her money. Accordingly, against his protests, she accompanied him on the voyage east on the East India Company ship, Guildford.

She had never been of a delicate constitution, and she was not bothered in the beginnings by sea sickness, unlike many of her fellow passengers, both male and female. However, nearing the Cape of Good Hope, she began having attacks of nausea, enough so that she began foregoing meals in the wardroom and began taking what little food she could bear in her cabin. Her maid divulged her difficulty with other servants and soon the pregnancy was common knowledge around the ship, although she herself was completely unaware of the problem.

In addition to her constant nausea, the irritating activity aboard ship and the occasional sound of gunfire in the distance was now bothering her. Her maid told her pirate ships were pursuing but she was not concerned by that. Did they not have a powerful warship to protect them, as well as numerous Indian Army officers aboard who would see them safe?

Another day later, she learned there was indeed cause for alarm. One of the pursuing ships was a powerful French National ship with much more force than the little escort brig. As the pursuers approached, the escort brig went out to greet them. Initially, the smaller stranger attempted to engage the escort. The escort skillfully dodged the attempted attack by the enemy and fired into the pirate. However the enemy might dodge, the sail handling abilities of the escort were superior to those of the enemy vessel.

Meanwhile, the larger enemy frigate closed within gun range of the closer of the John Company ships. Firing at long range, she scored a few hits and there was pandemonium among that ship’s passengers, as the heavy iron balls smashed through everything encountered. Then, apparently seeing her consort was being roughly handled by the escort, the big frigate broke away and went to the rescue.

Again, the brig was able to keep away from the clutches of the frigate, occasionally striking some blows of her own. But the frigate, with more and heavier guns, was able to connect with a few of its own, and the escort was not able to withstand this punishment. She tried to keep her distance and fight from afar, since clearly the frigate’s gunnery was not effective at long range. She kept this up till late afternoon, when damage aloft prevented the little ship from evading the frigate any longer.

The enemy then closed right in and fired off two broadsides which effectively put the escort out of action.

During this action, the pirate brig, although much battered, had closed in on the Company ships again, attacking the Guildford this time. Firing from a distance at first, she moved in closer when she realized this big ship’s gunnery practice was not up to standard. Lady Hamilton, aboard Guildford, noticed some officers pointing off to the west and saw a three-masted ship flying a red ensign and commission pennant approaching.

The officers and crew of the pair of Company ships became emboldened with the sight of a rescuing ship and began to take action. As the pirate closed on Guildford, the other Company ship wore around and approached on her other beam.

The gunners of both ship’s had gained their confidence by now and the gunnery practice improved dramatically. Neither of the big Indiamen had a large number of guns but those they did have were of large caliber. The Company ship’s gun crews were limited, with little training, but there were plenty of men aboard serving in the Forces who did not complain about lending their skills to serve a gun.

As the pirate ran aboard Guildford, her horde of boarders began howling aboard. As they did, the forewarned passengers and crew met them with whatever weapons came to hand. Lord Hamilton had dashed briefly to their cabin and Lady Hamilton had a moment of panic. When he came back on deck though, he was armed with a pair of ornate horse pistols and a richly engraved cavalry saber his father had given him when he entered military service with the Company. Handing one pistol to his wife, he entered the fray armed with his other pistol and the saber.

No one needed to show Lady Hamilton how to use a firearm. She had been shooting since she was ten. She opened the frizzen to check the priming, then steeled herself for action. It came sooner than she wished. As her husband lunged at a pirate with his saber, the thug stepped inside and thrust a long-bladed kris to the hilt into Hamilton’s stomach.

Without a word being said, Lord Hamilton had meant for his wife to use the pistol as a last resort, in case the ship was taken and she was about to be dragged off into slavery or worse. No one needed to tell Lady Hamilton her duty.

Without uttering a word, Lady Hamilton stepped forward, thrust the pistol into the pirates own stomach and fired. She then stooped across her victim and picked up her mortally wounded husband’s sword.

It was not common in that day and age for women to be proficient in the use of such a weapon. Her father though, was an unconventional man who had no son, and did not worry about the conventions of society. He taught his daughter to fence when she was but a girl. It had been some years since she had practiced, but she still remembered the feel of a blade in her hand.

As pirates swarmed aboard, she lunged and parried with abandon, her mind red with rage at these murderers! She was a naturally strong woman and the thought of her husband dying now because he had tried to protect her gave her added strength. Seeing her fell several pirates with the blade led others to join her. An elderly woman whom Hamilton knew only as Lady Argyle’s companion had somehow acquired a musket and presented, fired and re-loaded the weapon as though she was an infantry soldier firing at the butts. More than one person reflected this woman might be useful to Wellington on the Peninsula.

Others, more used to the cut and thrust of combat, came too. A Major of Light Infantry was there with his batman. The major had a pair of expensive fowling pieces which the batman loaded for him, while he calmly picked off the swarming pirates. Seamen, both Native Indian and British came forward with cutlasses and pikes. The deck of the Indiaman was higher than the pirate brig, which was anyway low in the water from battle damage. The pirates were forced to scramble up the sides of the big merchant ship, and there the passengers and crew of the Guildford awaited them. If a pirate’s hand grasped the railing to clamber aboard, it was apt to be slashed by a cutlass or an ornate epee. Many of the Lascar crew were armed with pikes, with which they were adept. Soon it was hard to find a pirate still on his feet on the bloody decks.

The crashing of guns woke Lady Hamilton from her preoccupation with killing pirates. That little British ship had come up and fired into the pirate brig, again and again. Every shot seemed to down a whole swath of the enemy. When the little ship had reduced the population of pirates greatly, she left to engage the big frigate.

When Badger returned later, the fighting was over. Seamen and passengers from both ships had boarded the pirate, which was so damaged that it was in a sinking condition. No one was of a mind to take any prisoners, so those living were either dispatched promptly or consigned to the deep.

Lady Hamilton was sad and proud and glad. She was sad because the husband whom she had earlier disparaged was dead, in her defense. She was proud of her activities during the conflict and she was glad because the ship’s doctor, after examining her for injuries, had explained the reason for her recurring nausea. She was pregnant.