Mutiny (43 page)

_{'You
needs an orficer ter clap 'is scratch to these.'}

_{'An'
since when did we have t' do this?' Kydd snarled.}

_{'Steady,
Tom,' Parker muttered.}

_{'This's not th' business of a mutineer,'
the clerk said contemptuously.}

_{'You — you fawney
'longshore bugger, what d' you know about it?' Kydd seized the man's
none-too-clean coat and forced him to his knees. 'Why don't y' let us have our
vittles?'}

_{'H-help! M-murder!
Help!' The clerk's eyes rolled. Passing dockyard workers stopped. A few moved
warily towards Kydd.}

_{'Let
him go, the bastard!' hissed Parker.}

_{Kydd
dropped his hands and stepped back.}

_{The
man dusted himself down ostentatiously. 'Yair, well. Since y' must know, we
have orders,' he said, aggrieved but triumphant. 'An' the orders are fr'm the
Admiralty, an? they say no vittles t' any ship what wears th' Bloody Flag.'}

_{A sizeable group of
dockyard tradesmen gathered at the commotion. 'T' hell wi' the black mutineers!'
shouted one. 'In th' oggin wi' 'em!' yelled another.}

_{Kydd bunched his fists.
'First man wants t' have his toplights doused, I c'n oblige ye.'}

_{'Let's be back aboard, Tom,' Parker
said. 'It's as I thought. They're going to starve us out.'}

_{Even before they arrived back on
the ship they caught sight of the 38-gun frigate Espion slowly turning, her
slipped cables splashing into the water around her bows. Too quick for the
mutineer vessels to bring their guns to bear, she went in with the tide and
disappeared round the point.}

_{In sombre mood, Parker and Kydd
rejoined the Parliament in the Great Cabin. 'Reports,' Parker ordered.}

_{Davis, looking cast-down and ill,
opened: 'We now has Espion an' Niger in th' dockyard wi'out the red flag. I
have m' doubts on Clyde and San Fi as well. They wants out, we know. Th' fleet
istl, they don' know what ter do, an' when they gets noos of th' stoppin' of
vittles ...'}

_{'Brother
Bellamee?'}

_{This fo'c'sleman, a
shrunken gnome of a sailor, spent his time ashore, listening and observing. He
waited until it was quiet. 'Shipmates, th' sojers, they're on th' march,
hundreds on 'em, an' all marchin' this way. They got this}

_{Gen'ral Grey with 'em, an' he's a
tartar. Got 'em all stirred up, settin' guns across the river to th' north, an'
I heard he has clouds more of 'em all over in th' country —' 'Thank you, Mr
Bellamee.'}

_{— an' he's goin' ter
put two whole reggyments inter the fort. Dunno where they'll kip down, mates.
Word is, we can't go ashore any more, 'less we has a pass an' a flag o' truce.'}

_{The mood became black:
it didn't take much imagination to picture a country in arms against them,
relentlessly closing in.}

_{'I was in Mile Town,
mates, an' there was a sight.' Kydd had never heard MacLaurin of Director speak
before. 'See, all the folks think we's goin' to riot or somethin' fer they're
all in a pelt, women 'n' children an' all, a-leavin' town, carts 'n' coaches —
anythin' to get away.'}

_{Parker shot to his
feet. 'My God,' he choked, 'what are we doing?' His anguished cry cut through
the murmurs of comment. Astonished, all eyes turned to him. His head dropped to
his hands.}

_{'What's
wi' him?' Hulme demanded.}

_{Blake's eyes narrowed.
'Could be he's a-gettin' shy, mates!' Growls of discontent arose — there were
many who still distrusted Parker's educated tones. 'We doesn't have ter have
the same president all th' time, y' knows.'}

_{It
brought all the talking abruptly to a stop.}

_{'I
votes we has an election.'}

 
<sub>In the first possible coach, a
villainous unsprung monster of a previous age, Renzi headed away from
Rochester. Time was critical. The coach wound through fields and marshland,
across the Swale at King's Ferry and on to the island of Sheppey. Then it was
an atrocious journey over compacted, flint-shot chalk roads to his destination
- the ancient town of Queenborough, just two miles south from the dockyard but
unnoticed since Queen Anne's day.</sub>

_{There was only one inn,
the decrepit Shippe. With much of the population on the move away, there was no
questioning of the eccentric merchant with the fusty wig who chose to take
rooms just at that time.}

_{'I'm an abstemious man,' Renzi told the
landlord. 'It's my way to take the air regularly.' He was particularly pleased
with his affected high voice, and he had taken the precaution, for local
consumption, of laying out a reason for his presence — he was a merchant hoping
to do business with the dockyard, waiting out the tiresome mutiny at a safe
distance.}

_{The oyster-fishermen at
the tiny landing-hard were curious, but satisfied by Renzi's tale of gathering
sketches for a painting, and for a generous hand of coins agreed to show him
many wonderful views, the events of the Nore permitting. They had no fear of the
press-gang for the oyster-fishers of Queenborough carried protections whose
rights dated back to the third King Edward.}

_{Renzi strolled along the single
bridlepath that led to Sheerness. Behind his smoked glasses, his eyes darted
around — angles, lines of sight, coven the undulating marsh grass was possible,
but not easy.}

_{The road ended at the
intersection with that of Blue Town on the way out of the dockyard. He turned
left — his business was with the authorities.}

_{A stream of people were leaving:
old women, fearful men with family possessions on carts, stolid tradesmen at
the back of drays — and in the other direction troops of soldiers were on their
way to the garrison.}

_{Renzi clutched his bag
to him as though in alarm, and shuffled towards Red Barrier Gate. This was now
manned with a sergeant and four.}

_{'I've been asked to
attend upon the captain,' Renzi squeaked. The sentry gave him a hard look, then
let him through. Renzi passed the hulks, then the public wharf, which was
perilously crowded by those begging a passage on the next Chatham boat.}

_{The entrance to the
fort was also well guarded. A moustached sergeant was doubtful about his stated
mission and compromised by providing an escort. They set off for the
commissioner's house, the seat of operations.}

_{At the door, Renzi
instantly changed his demeanour; now he was in turn wordly and discreet,
knowing and calculating. He bowed to the flag lieutenant. 'Sir, I desire
audience with Captain Hartwell at your earliest convenience. I may have
information . ..'}

Chapter
10

_{No hard feelin’s, Mr
Parker,’ said Hulme, after the vote.}

_{'None that a mort more
trust wouldn't cure,' Parker said stiffly, reassuming his seat. The interruption,
however, had allowed him to regain countenance, and he leaned forward in the
old, confident way. 'It's clear that the soldiers are deploying to deny us the
shore,' he said crisply. 'They have reinforced the garrison, and we've had
reports from Pylades that there are parties of militia splashing about in the
mud the other side of the Thames.'}

_{It brought laughter: if
the intention was to surround them with troops, then there would be a lot more
cursing, mud-soaked soldiers floundering about in the marshlands.}

_{'But we have to face
it,' Parker continued. 'Ashore we're in danger anyway — they could cut us off
and have us in irons in ho time. We're much safer snug on board in our fleet.'}

_{'Damme,'
rumbled Blake, 'an' I was gettin' ter like th' marchin' up an' down wi' our red
flag in front of th' ladies.'}

_{Parker's rejoinder was
cut off by a piercing hail. 'Deck hooooo! Ships — men-o'-war, ships-o'-the-line
— standin' toward!'}

_{There
was a general scramble for the deck. The lookout in the maintop threw out an
arm to the open sea to the north-east. On the horizon was a fleet - no modey
collection of vessels, but a first-class squadron of ships-of-the-line in
battle order. It was upon them: there was no more time to debate, to
rationalise the fighting of fellow seamen — a decision had to be made.}

_{''They're
flyin' the red flag!'}

_{'The
North Sea squadron! They've come across, joining! Two, five, six — eight of
their ship-o'-the-line! It's — it's marvellous!' Parker skipped about the deck
in joy. 'Don't you see? We've lost three or four frigates and smaller, but now
we've got eight - eight - of the line more.'}

_{'Doubles
our force,' Kydd said. 'At last, th' shabs came across!'}

_{'An' I'm Joe Fearon, Leopard, an' this
is Bill Wallis o' Standard - we come t' say we signed y' eight articles an' we
mean to abide by 'em t' death.'}

_{Kydd responded warily: these were hard
men and would need careful handling.}

_{'Thank
you,' said Parker. 'There are many—'}

_{'An' we've brought a
few of our own, like,' Fearon said flady.}

_{'Oh,
may we hear them?'}

_{'Right.
Fer the first we has this. Court martials on seamen ter be made o' foremast
hands, not grunters.' 'Yes, well—'}

_{'Fer the second,
we want prize-money three-fifths forrard, two-fifths aft.'}

_{There was no use in
opposing: they had to hear it out. All told there were four articles, which had
to be voted upon. Then it was insisted that they be taken ashore and presented
to the admiral.}

_{'I do this from duty, Tom, not by
choice. You stay here, my friend.'}

_{Kydd's spirits were low
as he saw him off in the rain. They had doubled their force, but the Admiralty
was not moving an iota towards meeting any of their grievances. Where was it
all leading?}

_{When Parker returned,
the fleet was in joyous mood, with singing and dancing on deck in the clear
moonlit evening. But his face was deeply lined. Buckner had refused even to
accept the articles, and the fear and chaos ashore were worse: now it was open
hostility.}

_{Early the next day the seamen's
Parliament met.}

_{'Brother Kydd,
how d' we stan' in the matter o' vittles?' Hulme opened.}

_{Kydd had estimates: dry stores and
those in cask could possibly be shared out among the ships that were running
short, but there was already hardship. The difficult part was the usual problem
of finding wood and water: cooking salt beef needed a good deal of both, and
all had been held back.}

_{'We c'n hold out f'r
another week or so. Then it's two upon four f'r another—'}

_{'Those
fuckin' toads! It's insultin' to us. Th' admiral here commands thirteen o' the
line — that's nigh-on what Old Jarvey had at St Vincent.' Hulme scowled.}

_{Parker
sat quite still.}

_{'Why we has t' sit here, takin' all they
wants ter dish out.. .' Hulme finished morosely.}

_{Parker's
face animated suddenly. 'Perhaps we don't.'}

_{'Ah, how so?' Blake
drawled, clearly reluctant for yet another of Parker's schemes.}

_{But Parker was
energised and would not be stopped. 'Think of it, brothers, we could, with one
stroke, win free of these shackles and at the same time force their lordships
to accept our terms.'}

_{Conversations stopped
around the table. 'Go on, then, cully, let's hear yez,' Fearon, of Leopard in
the North Sea squadron, said.}

_{Parker waited until he
had complete attention. 'We have all the means we need to call their lordships'
bluff. If they don't want to come to us and talk — we'll force 'em.'}