A Certain Threat (The Merriman Chronicles Book 1) (13 page)

Captain Merriman tried to keep a straight face when his son arrived back home but he couldn’t prevent a grin spreading across his face.  “News James, news at last.  I saw the farmer this morning and he agreed to help.  He persuaded one of their servant girls to pretend to be Owen’s sister and he promised to pass on any messages as soon as possible.”

“
That’s a good start, all we have to do is wait for Owen to come here once more so that we can tell him not to risk coming here again.”

“
He was here shortly before mid-day, I’d just got back from the farm so I was able to put him right on that.  It seems that he’s been part of the crew of one of the boats the smugglers use to land contraband and he helped to transfer goods from a larger boat offshore which he is sure  was  French.”

“
Good head on his shoulders that man, keeps his mouth shut and his ears open.  Seems that he overheard the leader of the gang talking to one of the men on the French boat asking when ‘it’ was to take place, as the main plan was ready and they would know when the Royal Yacht would be sailing.  Unfortunately he didn’t hear the answer and we don’t know what ‘it’ is.”

“
The Royal Yacht?  What bearing can that have on the actions of these villains I wonder?” replied Merriman, “Maybe Mr. Grahame can suggest something when he returns.”

They fell to discussing the Royal Yacht and speculating what connection the French and the smuggling gang could have with it.

The Royal Yacht at that time was no longer used by Royalty but was reserved exclusively for the use of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Viceroy, and other notable personages by his permission.  The present one was the
Dorset,
built in 1753 specially for the Irish service.  Of one hundred and sixty four tons, carved and gilded and with three masts, she was commanded by a naval officer and was usually moored at Parkgate.

At this time, Neston town had given way in importa
nce to Parkgate as most of the passenger trade for Ireland, and most of the imports and exports for the area went through the port of Parkgate.  There was no quayside, ships grounded at low water or anchored offshore at Beerhouse Pool.   It was what was known as a “legal quay” and as such it had its own customs house with a staff afloat and ashore of some seventeen men.  There was a vast trade in goods from Mediterranean ports, the Baltic, Portugal, Spain and other parts of the British Isles.

The Parkgate Packet Boat Company offered very respectable accommodation and ran  at least six packet boats with daily sailings to the Isle of Man, Dublin
and elsewhere, always subject to the weather conditions,  These ferries were nearly all built in Parkgate and so the town had grown to house the supporting trades, shipwrights, carpenters, sailmakers and painters.

Because it was the main departure point f
or Ireland and in extreme weather conditions passengers  having to wait days or even weeks for a passage, there grew up hotels, inns and all their supporting trades of servants, horse and coach hirers, ostlers and blacksmiths.  Other services developed including an Assembly Room and as sea bathing had become the vogue there were also bath-houses on the shore.  Parkgate in the 1780s and early 1790s was a thriving, bustling small town at the peak of its importance.

“
James, do you imagine that the French may be contemplating some venture against the
Dorset
?  It is the only idea that comes to mind,” said the older man.

“
I really can’t see why they should, we aren’t at war and in any event doesn’t she have a naval escort when important people are aboard?”  Merriman was perplexed and unconsciously fell into his habit of tugging his ear when thinking.

“
Not now.  There was an escort when we were at war with America and France, but I suppose it wasn’t considered necessary after the peace was signed.”

The two men
started pacing up and down, hands clasped behind their back, brains furiously at work. Mrs. Merriman, who had entered the room almost unnoticed whilst the men talked, and had been sitting quietly beside the fire, suddenly spoke, “When we were in Chester at the theatre, I remember hearing some gossip to the effect that when the Lord Lieutenant goes to Ireland again in a week or two he will have with him many of the most important people in Ireland.  I think they came to London for discussions with Mr. Pitt.”

“
Mary my dear, you may have hit upon the answer.  What about that James?”

“
If these people are interested in the
Dorset
which is not a trading vessel carrying anything of value, then their interest must be in the passengers being carried.  But why would the French be interested?”

“
I don’t know James;  the only reason I can think of for their interest would perhaps be if they intend to capture them or kill them and as you said, why would the French want to be involved in that kind of thing?”

They
continued to pace up and down, brows furrowed in thought, but no solution to the problem presented itself to them.

“
When do you expect to see Mr. Grahame again James, perhaps he may have some ideas?”

“
We agreed to meet here tonight Father,
Aphrodite
will lie offshore tonight and tomorrow night waiting for our signal, so if he’s delayed he could come back here anytime before then.”

In the event, Grahame arrived back that night, both lathered horse and rider splashed with mud from head to toe
.  He asked that the two hired horses be prepared for the road immediately.  “I regret having to ride your animal so hard Captain, but it is imperative that your son and I are back aboard the ship as soon as possible.  I must be in Ireland tomorrow.”

Durin
g the fast ride back to Hoylake there was no time for discussing the information that Merriman had, especially as he was encumbered with the signal lantern and the package containing his new uniform and not being a very good rider at best, he found it difficult to keep up with  the pace that Grahame set, and he thanked his stars for the practice he’d had when last home.  Even when they reached the beach after a breathless scramble over the sand dunes and made the required signal out to sea, Grahame remained uncommunicative other than to wonder where the damned boat was.

The two shivering men stood waiting in the darkness for what seemed like an age but in reality was no more than a quarter of an hour, with Merriman flashing the signal every few minutes.  Gra
hame was irritable and impatient at the delay, but Merriman, with the patience learned in his years at sea stood calmly waiting, knowing that with the offshore breeze the boat’s crew would have a hard pull to reach the shore.

“
At last, your men will have to do better than this next time Mr.Merriman” complained Grahame as the boat loomed out of the darkness and ran up on the shingle.

Merriman sighed to himself, having learned long ago that it was better to simply accept that all senior officers were short te
mpered and not to worry about it.

“
Back to the ship now, fast as you can” he ordered as soon as they had clambered aboard the boat.

Climbing back on board the
Aphrodite
to the accompaniment of salutes from the officers and marine sentry, he called the first Lieutenant and the Master to him.

“
Mr.Jeavons, I’ll have the ship under way immediately with all the sail she can carry.   Mr.Cuthbert, a course for Ireland if you please.”  He swung round to Mr.Grahame.

“
Will Dublin suit you Sir?”

“
That will be ideal Captain.  If you can leave the deck, I need to know what you have learned today, and if your man can find me something to eat I would be grateful.”

Settled in Merriman
’s cramped cabin, Grahame demanded to know if Merriman had any news, whereupon Merriman recounted what he had learned from Mr.Flitwick about the cutter probably still being in the Irish sea, and also what Owen had reported about the French ship and the reference to the Royal Yacht
Dorset.

“
Great God!  The
Dorset,
is your man certain of that?  Could he be mistaken?”

“
I suppose it is possible, but knowing him as I do I would wager that he is right.”

“
This intelligence changes everything.”

Grahame stood up suddenly and crashing his head against a deck beam, subsided back i
nto his seat.  “Damn it, I always forget how low the ceilings are.”

“
Deckhead Sir” said Merriman automatically.  But Grahame didn’t hear.  He fell into deep thought, absently rubbing his head where it had hit the beam.

Merriman sat silently, knowing that G
rahame would tell him what he had learned when he was ready.

“
Mr Merriman, are you aware of the importance of the
Dorset
and her movements?”

“
No Sir, I mean I don’t know the details of her movements but I do know that she is only used for the passage of important people to and from Ireland.”

“
Exactly, so why would these villains be interested in the
Dorset
unless they were interested in the passengers?”

“
That’s what my Father and I agreed on, but we could think of no reason for their interest.”

“
I can Mr. Merriman, but I hope I’m wrong.  The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Westmorland, is in London at the moment with several of the biggest landowners of that country and has been there for several weeks.  Mr. Pitt is discussing with them ways and means of solving the Irish problem and dispensing with the unjust laws preventing free and fair trade between England and Ireland.  Unfortunately these very people are the ones who have the most to lose if the law is changed. They stand to lose their lucrative trading monopolies and their powerful positions in Parliament so that Mr.Pitt can make little headway.  Westmorland himself has to bribe many of the men of influence to get even the simplest measures adopted.  It’s certain that they will be returning to Ireland very soon.”

“
Then there is the reason we are looking for Sir.  The Irish rebels would love to get their hands on these people to either kill or hold as hostages to force the government to give Ireland its freedom and Catholic emancipation, and the French would be happy to help them achieve that goal.   A free Ireland as their ally would allow them to attack this country from two sides, three, with a foothold in the Dutch Netherlands.”

“
I believe we have it Mr. Merriman!  The reason I’m anxious to be in Dublin is that my agent there sent a message asking me to go over there urgently as he had important news concerning the Lord Lieutenant.  It’s not impossible that he has some knowledge of this.  I’d be obliged if you could land me at a place just south of Dublin as soon as maybe.”

“
The wind is fair Sir, so you will be there in only a few hours to meet your agent.”

They were not to know that Mr.
Grahame’s agent was even then lying in a ditch with his throat cut.

“Pick me up here two nights hence Captain, same signal, before midnight.  If I’m not there try again the following night.  If I fail to appear then you will have to do what you think best about what we discussed” said Grahame.   He was obviously worried as he had requested the loan of a brace of heavy pistols and spent almost an hour checking them over and loading them with extreme care.  He also drew the charges and reloaded a small double-barreled pocket pistol and asked that his sword be sharpened.

“
It is obvious that you are expecting trouble then Sir,” remarked Merriman.

“
I always do Captain, Ireland is a hotbed of sedition and my people must perforce enter places of doubtful character.”

Grahame was pu
t ashore on a deserted beach in Ireland and as soon as the boat was hoisted inboard again Merriman set a course out into Liverpool Bay.  He had nearly two days before meeting Grahame and as there was now no reason to try and hide
Aphrodite’s
presence he determined to do what Admiral Edwards had instructed him to do, that is to stop and search any vessels he thought to be suspicious.

The Irish sea was full of seaborne traffic, small fishing boats, small coasting traders, large trading ships from the Baltic,
France, Ireland, the Americas, the West Indies and faraway places in India and the far east. Not to mention the regular ferry boats plying between the various ports on the surrounding coasts.

The busiest port
was Liverpool which was overtaking Chester and Parkgate as the premier trading centre. Much of the traffic from Liverpool and some from Chester, was involved in the infamous Triangle Trade, in which vessels left England with cargoes of cotton goods, cheap metalware and pottery destined for areas of west Africa.  Once there, many were loaded with live cargo, captive negroes.

The ships would then head west on the so-called middle passage to the West Indies and America, where the cargo of human misery, those t
hat survived the hellish voyage, would be sold into slavery.  The ships then returned to their home port laden with Molasses, rum, sugar and tobacco, making their owners rich men.

It was not long before
Aphrodite
came across a dirty looking, bluff bowed, deeply laden brig heading north towards the Isle of Man.

“
Have the gunner send a shot across her bows if you please Mr. Andrews.”

“
Aye-aye Sir” replied the young lieutenant who was officer of the watch.

The ball splashed down only half a cable ahead of the
brig whereupon the ship’s master could be seen shaking his fist at the
Aphrodite
but making no effort to heave to or shorten sail in the face of the universally known signal.

“
Bring her within hailing distance Mr. Andrews.”

Using a speaking trumpet Merrima
n shouted across “Heave to Captain or my next shot may do some damage.”  The threat brought instant compliance although the master continued to shake his fist at the King’s ship.

“
Mr. Andrews, take a small armed party and go aboard.  Look at his bill of lading and check it as far as you can against the contents of the hold.  And Mr. Andrews, call the captain into his cabin and apologize, tell him some story that there have been one or two cases of piracy and a brig was involved.  Tell him he has nothing to fear if he is an honest trader. Take Mr. Shrigley with you.”

“
Aye-aye Sir, but am I looking for anything in particular Sir?”

“
Nothing specific, a shifty expression, a reluctance to allow you to look around, contraband goods, I don’t know what.  If there are any passengers find out who they are and where they are from.”

Andrews returned to report that he found nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary and the brig was allowed to proceed.  The
Aphrodite
stopped two more ships but  nothing was found except the odd few bottles of rum and brandy which could not have been called contraband cargo as there were so few of them.

The fourth ship stopped provided the crew of
Aphrodite
with the first amusement of the day.  When the boat returned poor Shrigley climbed aboard to reveal his clothing, hands and face covered in fish scales and smelling to high heaven.  Merriman struggled to keep the smile off his face while the officers and crew whose duties kept them on the upper deck stood around grinning and laughing at the boy’s discomfiture.

“
All right Mr.Andrews, tell me what happened.”

Nothing to report about the ship Sir, but when they opened the hold which was full of fish Mr.Shrigley fell in.
”

“
No Sir I didn’t.  Somebody pushed me when I leaned over the hatchway,” complained the little midshipman.

“
Well we’d better have you cleaned up Mr.Shrigley.  Mr.Laing, have a pump rigged and give him a good sluicing down before he goes below for fresh clothes.”

Shrigley
gasped and capered under the jet of ice cold seawater applied willingly by two grinning seamen before escaping to the warmth of the gunroom.

Merriman suddenly realized that he was still dressed
in the grubby trousers and ill-fitting coat he had borrowed for his nocturnal run ashore so he decided that it was about time he appeared on deck properly dressed.  In his cabin he changed into his new uniform which was quite a good fit, surprisingly so, considering the haste with which the tailor in London had measured him whilst Grahame had fidgeted and complained about the delay.  Peters had managed to remove most of the creases and hovered round trying to do his best to help his Captain get dressed.

“
Stop fussing man” said Merriman irritably, “I can manage.”

Feel
ing a little self-conscious in the new coat he picked up his new cocked hat and went back on deck.

After the fifth ship had been examined, Mr
. Andrews climbed wearily back on board to again report that there was nothing to report.  “Although I must admit that I’ve learned a lot Sir.  I thought that the crew of a Royal Navy ship knew how to swear but they are amateurs alongside some of the captains aboard these trading ships.  This one never stopped or repeated himself all the time I was aboard.”

“
Well done Mr. Andrews.  I think we’ll move nearer to the Welsh coast to see what we can find there.”

“
Yes Sir, and Sir if I may presume, I don’t think I’ve congratulated you on your promotion.  It was seeing your uniform that reminded me.”

“
Thank you, I’d almost forgotten it myself.”

Later that day, after dark, Merriman cl
osed as near as he dared to the Welsh coast to the west of the Great Orme.  It was a pitch dark night with only stars to be seen and the
Aphrodite
was ghosting along under topsails and jibs only.  Merriman had a man in the chains with a leadline and his calls were repeated by a chain of men back to the quarter-deck. Merriman and Mr. Cuthbert had spent some time studying the chart which showed that the coast had many sand banks to trap the unwary mariner.

It was Merriman
’s hope that they would encounter any vessel unloading a cargo, either ashore or into smaller boats.  He had called the ship’s company to action stations shortly before although the guns were not run out. “Merely a precaution” he told himself, not being able to rid his mind of what had happened to the Revenue cutter along this stretch of coast. “Anyway, it is all good practice for the men.”

“
Mr. Jeavons, it’s a cold night, have a tot of rum issued to each man and I’ll allow half the men to sleep with their weapons handy.”

But although the
Aphrodite
cruised along the coast all night, nothing was seen.

The next morning found the ship becalmed only a few miles off the
coast   As dawn broke all hands were at action stations as was required by naval regulations but there were no other ships in sight apart from a few small coasting vessels also becalmed some distance away.

The First Lieutenant approached him. 
“Sir, I wonder if we can tell the men something of our purpose here and what we are looking for.  There is a lot of talk about smugglers, but nobody really knows anything.”

“
Right Mr. Jeavons, call the men aft and I’ll tell them.”

Merriman climbed up onto a pinrail a
nd looked down at the sea of eager faces in front of him.  “You’re all wondering what we are doing here and why we are stopping harmless traders.  First of all we’re looking for any sign of smuggling but more importantly we need to find out who it was that seized a Revenue cutter near here  whilst it was at anchor.  They crept alongside and murdered every man of the crew in the middle of the night.”

There were growls, muttering and the shuffling of feet as the men listened and an unknown voice called out
“We’ll do for them buggers Cap’n, just you lead us to ‘em.”  More growls of approval.

“
We believe that the cutter is still in these waters and it’s our duty to find her and when we do you can be sure that there will be the chance to avenge those poor seamen.”

He jumped down as the same voice called out
“Hurrah for the Cap’n lads” and the crew erupted in loud cheers to the dismay of the scandalised petty officers who tried to silence them.

“
Sorry about that Sir” said Jeavons “I’ll try and find the ringleader and-----”.

“
Belay that John, it’s harmless.  We can feel thankful that we are not looking for the ringleader of something worse.  Now then, we had no luck yesterday so as soon as the wind returns I want to cruise where we might intercept one or more of the packet boats sailing between Parkgate and Dublin.  Have a word with the Master and decide where the best area will be.  I shall be below.”

Two packet boats were stopped to the indignation of the captains and the consternatio
n of the passengers, but Lieutenant Andrews was by now a past master at smoothing ruffled feelings and neither boat produced passenger names which meant anything to Merriman, except for one, a Sir William Forrester.

“
That name rings a bell,”
mused Merriman, 
“I must have met him at some time.”
  Merriman continued to ponder on it until the answer hit him.  His father had introduced them many years ago at the Merriman house and it was the man who had been with the lawyer in Chester and who had seemed vaguely familiar before being rushed out.  Merriman felt a brief moment of disquiet,
“Why would a man like that be meeting his lawyer at that time of night
              Later in the day they sighted another small trading ship, a single masted cutter off the starboard bow and on a course which would take it to the Dee Estuary.  The wind had increased and Merriman had changed into his old weathered Lieutenant’s coat to save his new coat from flying spray.  Idly he picked up a telescope from the box by the binnacle and trained it on the other vessel.  It took him a few moments to catch it in the lens but then unconscious habit kept it in view.

As he watched it seemed to him that the vessel was gradually, almost imperceptibly altering course to open the bearing between them.  Watchi
ng for a few minutes more he was sure of it.  “Mr. Jeavons, I’ll have the reefs out of the tops’ls, I want to catch that ship and stop her.”

“
Aye-aye Sir” responded the First Lieutenant, turning away to bawl orders which caused hands to boil up from below and climb like monkeys into the rigging.  As the reefs were shaken out the ship heeled to the extra pressure and another dollop of spray hissed over the weather rail. Merriman took another look as they crept close enough for him to see the faces of some of the people aboard.  His gaze swept over them, then he drew in his breath sharply as one face seemed to stand out from the rest.

“
Mr. Jeavons, I want you to take command on deck. To the people over there it must seem that you are the captain.   Mr. Andrews, when you go aboard, take particular note of the people there, their names, reason for travelling, and be ready to give me a description of each of them.  I believe that I know a person aboard that ship and I can’t  think of any good reason why that person should be travelling on a common trading vessel.  I shall remain below out of sight.”

In his cabin waiting for Andrews to return, Merriman was quite unable to relax.  He fidgeted with items on the desk, tried to walk up and down but hampered by the lack
of space, flung himself back into the chair his mind in a turmoil.   Aboard that other ship was—no, he must be mistaken.  What would he be doing on such a craft?  One for his creature comforts to look at him, a man unlikely to put up with the primitive conditions found on a small trader.

Desperate to know what was happening, Merriman wanted to rush on deck but he knew that he must maintain his reputation for impeturbability in front of his subordinates.

At last he heard the boat bump alongside and Andrews’ feet clattering down the companionway.  A knock on the door announced his arrival.