Kings and Emperors (54 page)
Read Kings and Emperors Online
Authors: Dewey Lambdin
Napoleon's expected quick conquest was turning into a steaming pile of
merde.
His trusted Marshal Junot had his can kicked at Roliça and Vimeiro, his other Marshals had retreated to the North of Spain, and his lacklustre brother, Joseph Bonaparte, now King of Spain, had to abandon Madrid and run for his life!
Enter the unfortunate General Sir John Moore. He didn't ask, and no one told him, how desolate central Spain could be in the middle of Winter, or just how bad the roads were. Mr. John Hookham Frere took all the empty Spanish promises as Gospel, and eagerly passed them on to Moore; his only qualification for his important post at Madrid as a diplomat to the Supreme Junta was his friendship with Foreign Secretary George Canning! “Old School Tie,” or “Arse-Hole Buddies,” don't make the most effective, or useful, representatives.
Actually, HM Government in London thought that invading Spain would be as easy as a stroll in Hyde Park ⦠minus the rain! When Moore and Sir David Baird's separated wings of the army realised at last that Napoleon had come to Spain himself with massive re-enforcements, they had no choice but to retreat to the coast and try to save the army, especially when Napoleon realised that he might be facing Sir John Moore, and got on a tear to be after him, thirsting for a victory over the British. He pushed his troops so hard, in the same horrid conditions as Moore and Baird experienced, that he was stranded for hours in a raging blizzard in a mountain pass, urging his men on, and earned a shout of “Convicts suffer worse than we do. Shoot him down, damn him!”
The glittering prize of destroying a British field army was too tempting. Napoleon abandoned any plans to continue marching South to polish off the Spanish rebellion, which left half the country free of him, which in the long run proved fatal. Then, after sitting before the city of Benavente for two days waiting for bridge repairs, and getting urgent despatches from Paris warning him of new problems with the Austrians, Napoleon turned the pursuit over to Marshal Soult and left Spain forever, never to return.
With the excellent help of the Royal Navy, Moore's army was plucked from disaster, from Vigo and from Corunna in an operation likened to the miraculous evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France in 1940, Dunkirk.
By drawing Napoleon upon him, Moore saved Spain from utter disaster and collapse in the last month of 1808, and January of 1809. Historians reckon that the resistance, and the introduction of a new British army into Spain under the returned Sir Arthur Wellesley in the Spring of 1809, created a “Spanish Ulcer” that was the turning point in the long Napoleonic Wars, and cost France more in the long run than the disasters in Russia of 1812!
Even if the Spanish never could do much to aid that eventual victory; Wellesley, later Lord Wellington, never could quite trust them to do what they boasted.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
Lewrie, and the crew of HMS
Sapphire,
are not to know this; as they sail away through stormy seas from Corunna to land their transports in English harbours, and shelter, the whole thing looks as revolting as a stray dog's dinner, and yet another shameful defeat at the hands of the “Corsican Ogre” and his invincible armies. Moore is dead, a sacrificial hero slain at the moment of his last success, the best hope of Britain gone. His Majesty's Government may toss up their hands and cut their losses, abandoning both Spain
and
Portugal to their own devices.
Will Alan Lewrie get a few days of shore leave, long enough to catch up with doings in Anglesgreen, post those letters from Viscount Percy, or, if Percy fell in the fighting at Corruna, must he deliver them by hand to help Percy's widow, Eudoxia, and his sister, Lydia, grieve?
Might he have time to really catch up with his son, Hugh, who seems to be doing quite well at his early naval career, or discover what's up with his other son, Sewallis, and all his talk of
dancing,
carousing at subscription balls, and taking aboard strong
drink
? Is he no longer serving willingly, and might want out of the Navy?
Once back in England, and in Admiralty's clutches, what fresh orders might await him, and where might they send him, this time? No more Independent Orders, no being seconded to the needs of Secret Branch, and Thomas Mountjoy's whims or needs ⦠no more returning to Gibraltar, and Maddalena Covilh
Ä
! Why, his new duties might be as bad as commanding that squadron of bloody gunboats,
without
the comfort of a fond and affectionate young woman!
And what's that rot about “high-mindedness,” and getting the “Stink Eye” from the upright and high-minded Captain Chalmers? Has Respectability reared its ugly head, again, and when back in England, what social changes might Lewrie encounter. Will he be in the same bad odour as his father, Sir Hugo?
Hint-hint!
Fare-well, and adieu, to you, ladies of Spain,
For we've received orders to sail for Old England,
but we hope very shortly to see you, again!
Lewrie may be a cad, but he's a useful cad. This time, though, he may have enough sense to stay aboard ship and not go haring ashore with the Army ⦠maybe. You'll simply have to wait and see.
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DEWEY LAMBDIN
is the author of twenty previous Alan Lewrie novels. A member of the U.S. Naval Institute and a Friend of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, he spends his free time working and sailing. He makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee, but would much prefer Margaritaville or Murrells Inlet. You can sign up for email updates
here
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Also by
Dewey Lambdin
The French Admiral
The Gun Ketch
H.M.S. Cockerel
A King's Commander
Jester's Fortune
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CONTENTS
Diagram of Points of Sail and 32-Point Wind-Rose
Map of Battle of Vimeiro and Battle of Corunna
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin's Press.
KINGS AND EMPERORS.
Copyright © 2015 by Dewey Lambdin. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Maps copyright © 2015 by Cameron MacLeod Jones
Cover design by David Curtis
Cover art:
Battle of Camperdown,
October 11, 1797, painting by George Chambers (1803-1840), 1830, oil on canvas. Detail. French Revolutionary Wars, Holland, 18th century © De Agostini Picture Library / G. Nimatallah / Bridgeman Images
Cover photographs: parchment © Tischenko Irina / Shutterstock.com; compass © rangizzz / Shutterstock.com
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978- 1-250-03006-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-03007-8 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781250030078
First Edition: February 2015