The Midshipman Prince (25 page)

      
The group was quiet for a moment, lost in embarrassed silence, not knowing how to break the news to Walker. Finally, Smith piped up.

      
“Lucas, people in the Royal Navy have been talking about rockets for years. The Fire Master at the Royal Laboratory in Woolwich, General Desaguliers, has actually experimented with them and William Congreve—the son, not the father—will talk your ear off about them. But I’ve seen them tested, Lucas; and they don’t work. They’re a bust; everyone knows that.

      
“Sure, in theory, they sound great, but they’re uncontrollable. They fly all over the place and no one, but
no
one knows where they’re going to land. I’ve personally seen rockets actually double back and attack the people that fired them. What’s going to keep your rockets from doing the same thing?” Smith finally asked.

      
“Nothing,” Walker replied to the now silent group. After a pause he continued. “My friend thought that the mistake was that the stabilizing poles were not long enough. He calculated that they needed to be at least four times the length of the rocket body. Well, that’s what I’ve done. I made the poles four times the length of the body.”

      
“Did he ever try out his calculations?” Susan asked.

      
“No. Not that I know of; but come on... what else have we got?”

      
The group fell silent again, until Susan again spoke up. “All right then, what the ‘ell. Let’s give it a go.”

      
Sidney, entering into the spirit of things agreed. “Absolutely. We’ll show them what a little ingenuity can do. But, Lucas... ah... how do you fire the bloody things?

      
Walker held on to his sample rocket. “Step over here, my friends, and all shall be made known.”

      
He took the group to the ancient swivel gun that was mounted on the fo’c’sle. Tied to the top of it were the results of Walker’s activities below decks while the others were building the rockets. It was an extremely simple mechanism consisting of a sheet of copper hull plating about six inches wide and curved along its length into a “U” shape. It looked like a long pipe that had been cut in half along its long axis.

      
“We’ll have three people manning this launcher. One person places the rocket into this copper tray, like so. You have to make sure that the pole is on top and not obstructed. That person then steps back to get another rocket.

      
“The second person points the swivel gun just as if he were going to fire a ball at the other ship. When he…”

      
“Or she,” Susan chimed in.

      
“Or she,” Walker continued without missing a beat, “is happy with the aim he… or she… will lock the gun’s barrel by putting this shim in the swivel, and get out of the way. The third man will quickly light the short engine fuse with a slow match.

      
“Any questions?”

      
The group was silent for a moment, and then Hanover spoke up.
 

      
“Will it work?”

Sir Sidney Smith

Two 32-gun Royal Navy frigates, similar to the

HMS
Richmond

The Battle of the Capes - UK

(Battle of the Chesapeake - US)

Swan Taven - Where Smith and Walker first met

Prince William

Moore House - Where the team of Smith, Walker

and Whitney first formed

Admiral Thomas Graves

Admiral Samuel Hood

Count François de Grasse

Captain James Saumarez