Richard Testrake - (Sea Command 2)
Read Richard Testrake - (Sea Command 2) Online
Authors: Richard Testrake
Richard Testrake
This book dedicated to my wife Peggy, my daughter Lisa and my son Charles.
v.1.25.16
Commander Charles Mullins came on deck as the sun rose above the horizon. It was a clear morning in late August and the sloop-of-war, HMS Aphrodite, was on the starboard tack, beating against a stiff breeze from the southwest, on her way to join the blockade of Brest.
Mullin’s ship, much battered by enemy fire, had been sent to the dockyard for badly needed repairs, but she was as whole now as the yard could make her and was on her way to do harm to her enemies. There had been a period, a few weeks ago, when the captain had decided the chances of his taking the ship back to sea were slim, at best.
Apparently, a coterie of London politicians, enemies of Mullin’s father, who was a prominent member of the House of Lords, had decided to punish their political foe, by damaging the son’s career.
No actual damaging evidence of incompetence could be found against the young officer, but rumors were easily spread, and a few words in the right ears were enough to persuade an admiralty official to put Mullins on the beach. Another officer was found, more politically acceptable, to take command of Aphrodite, and the deed was done.
Unfortunately, for them however, Aphrodite’s captain had some powerful friends himself. When the officer intended to replace Mullins proved to be involved in some petty peculations, he was forced to resign and Mullins regained his command.
Restored to his command, and handed his orders, Mullins was instructed to sail as soon as wind and tide permitted for the Brest blockade. Given the urgency of these orders, he had not the time to give his new crew the training they so badly needed.
When Aphrodite originally entered the dockyards for her repairs, most of her crew were removed and sent to other ships. Just days before receiving sailing orders, she was furnished a draft of men from the receiving ship. These were men of all sorts, there were even a few seamen among them. Most however, must be rated landsmen, having never served at sea. Many in fact, were released prisoners, turned from their gaol cells to serve in the Royal Navy.
At this very moment, Lieutenant Andrews had both watches on deck practicing sail drill. Mister Lassiter, his sailing master, shook his head glumly at their antics. How these farmers would be able to cope in a bad Channel storm this autumn, he had not the slightest idea.
Mister Jones, the warrant gunner, was even more pessimistic. Normally, Captain Mullins purchased a supply of powder and shot with his own funds before sailing. Since the Admiralty frowned upon officers who expended the King’s ammunition on practice firing, careful captains with the necessary funds provided their own.
This time however, there had not been opportunity to locate a privately owned supply. Sailing as soon as the wind served obliged them to make do with the official ration of ammunition. Since many of the men had never before seen a great gun, let alone fired one, it was doubtful they could make any great impression on an enemy ship.
However, Captain Mullins had his crew practicing their skills at every waking moment. The guns were run out and then in again in ‘dumb show’. It was boring, mind numbing work, and Mullins was dubious of its effectiveness, but this was the only form of gunnery training he had available then.
At nearly eight bells in the morning watch, the masthead lookout reported a sail off the port bow. Ship-rigged, it was initially thought to be a frigate, but as she closed Aphrodite, it became known to the entire deck crew that this was HMS Rapid, Captain Forsythe. The ship was an elderly sloop of war from the last war.
Her captain was senior and required Mullins to report on board. The boat crew had not been well drilled this early in the commission and the sea was rough. An uncomfortable amount of water came on board the boat before reaching Rapid, thoroughly soaking the captain. Mullins soon found what news was exchanged, could just as well been signaled by flag.
He suspected Forsythe was bored with his own company and was glad to order another commander, junior to him, over to talk.
At any rate, Forsythe was able to fill him in on his probable duties and inform him he should report to Commodore Sir John Warren, flying his flag in HMS Canada somewhere off Brest. Rumor had it Warren was soon to be sent to watch the coast of Ireland to look for any sign of French incursion in that troubled country.
Continuing toward the Brittany coast, the next sails sighted were those of the blockading fleet.
After Valkyrie hung up her number, a third rate replied, informing everyone she was HMS Canada, and ordered Aphrodite to come under her lee and her captain to report aboard. The commodore was leading the fleet through a complex series of evolutions and it was some hours before the sloop could attain her desired station.
Mullins left the complex maneuvering in the hands of Lieutenant Andrews and Mister Lassiter, both of whom were sweating profusely by the time they neared Canada. Seaman Janders, the captain’s cox’n, had been able to drill his crew when the deficiencies became evident after the excursion to Rapid, and his gig’s approach to the big third rate was not unseemly.
Canada’s first officer met Mullins at the entry port and he was led immediately to the great cabin.
Sir John was gracious to the new officer, commenting favorably upon Aphrodite’s handling. He went on to explain what they were about.
“The French have a substantial fleet bottled up here in Brest’s harbor and we mean to keep them there. Your sloop should be able to get up right close to the coast and get advance warning of future activity by their fleet. This will be your task. You will spy out what the French are up to and report back to me. You must take a certain amount of risk with your ship, but you will not be foolhardy. Vice-Admiral Bridport has tasked me with these duties and I am passing them to you. Are there any questions?”
Receiving no reply, the commodore continued, “It is my intent to send HMS Rapid, another sloop-of-war in my stable back home to re-provision and refit. When she returns, she will relieve you and we will find other uses for your ship. I must tell you to avoid becoming too comfortable with these duties. We may be moving to other pastures very soon.”
Mullins was serves wine and biscuits, then Sir John excused himself. Realizing he had taken up enough of the commodore’s time, he left.
Back in Aphrodite, Mullins called the sailing master and first lieutenant to his quarters and went over the information he had gained from the Commodore. Lassiter was concerned over the state of his charts, commenting the coast was liberally punctuated with shallows and rocks.
Mullins remarked their sojourn on the enemy coast would give Lassiter and their midshipmen ample opportunity to correct their charts. “At the end of our cruise, Aphrodite will have the best charts of this coast in existence. I am sure Admiralty will recognize your efforts.”
Aphrodite spent the next weeks patrolling the Brittany coastline, navigating among the rocks and shoals. Nothing worthwhile was seen during the early days, but their time was not wasted.
Lassiter and some intelligent mids spent hours in hidden coves in the launch while Aphrodite laid at anchor nearby. They used the boat to make accurate soundings, marking their positions with painstaking bearings to various landmarks.
Eventually, a gaff-rigged coaster appeared, creeping along the shore. Upon spotting Andromeda, she tried to make for a coastal shore battery protecting a small cove, but Lassiter, now well versed on the bottom in this area, was able to con the ship into a position where she could cut the craft off. With no other option, the coaster let fly her sheets and wallowed to a halt.
She was laden with a battery of military field guns and their equipment. This included a supply of ammunition. Gunner Jones was happy to take possession of a supply of powder cartridges for these guns. He could use this powder to make up cartridges to fit their own guns, allowing the gun crews to get a little practice, without using their own limited supply. Given a small crew, she sailed to rendezvous with the offshore fleet.
They had been blessed with fine weather up until now, but the day came when the glass in the great cabin began to drop, signifying some foul weather might soon be upon them. Accordingly, the ship sent up her storm canvas and set course to get out to sea. That evening, the gale struck and the ship, close-hauled, strained to make her offing. Aphrodite labored all night, with little chance for the watch below to snatch a little rest or even to dry their sodden clothing.
Near the end of the mid-watch, the worst of the storm was over, although the sea state was still high. Then, just before first light, a deck lookout spotted something alongside and gave a panicked warning.
Mullins, sleeping in his quarters, woke instantly and put on a pair of seaman’s slop trousers he kept there to avoid soaking his good breeches in the wet weather. He made it out on deck to see a monstrous hull close aboard. Shouts in French from that hull warned him Aphrodite had been seen and he gave the quartermaster instructions to veer away from the enemy ship.
As they started their turn, a gun from the ship fired, its flash revealing some unpleasant information. The ship firing at them was a French third rate, a 74-gun line-of-battle ship which they could not hope to withstand. Perhaps they could hide in the darkness.
This was a false hope though, since the very first hints of sunrise were now evident in the east. The liner fired again, a whole section of lower deck guns, probably 32-pounders. If that were not enough trouble, another ship ahead began firing. From the gun flashes, Mullins took her to be a 40-gun frigate. Whatever she was, her fire was deadly accurate and her heavy balls began smashing into the sloop’s fragile bow area. These balls could travel the length of the ship, tearing and rending.
It took only moments for Aphrodite’s gun crews to man their weapons, but by then many of the guns had already been put out of action. Men were falling in scores and now the third rate had the range, pumping her massive balls into her. First the foremast fell, then the main. The helm was destroyed early on and both Mister Lassiter and the first officer were cut down. With so many things happening at once, Mullins had just time to order a terrified midshipman to go into his cabin and dispose of all of the ship’s papers, when he too was struck down.
A musket ball grazed the side of his head, rendering him unconscious. When the mid emerged on deck, his arms full of weighted pouches, he dropped them over the side, realizing as he did so, he was the only one alive on the quarterdeck.
Another broadside came from the battleship on their beam and the midshipman realized Aphrodite had only a short time remaining. She was sinking, her starboard beam beaten in and her bow area a wreck. Midshipman Holsworth, finished now with his brief command of a warship, slashed the halyard to the colors with his dirk, then grabbed his captain’s heels and dragged him to the ship’s side. A whole section of rail had been shot away, and the rapidly settling ship now had her upper deck very close to the water.
A few members of the crew, still doing their duty, were dropping items into the sea to serve to support those that could not swim. Holsworth dropped his captain’s unconscious body into the sea close to a floating hatch cover. Dropping in himself, he vainly attempted to get Mullins onto the hatch.
Now, others were dropping into the sea and some began helping the lad. It was a lengthy period before the victors of the battle began to assist the survivors, during which time many perished from drowning or shock.
A few others in the water did survive. The jolly boat had been towing behind the Aphrodite. During the action, the boat came adrift and settled as she took on water from a grape-shot hole in her side. A few of the men floundering in the water made it to her and hid behind the boat. The crew of the French battle-ship had other matters to attend to than inspecting a sinking boat, so it was left behind, unmolested.
Hours later, after the enemy had departed, one of the survivors, Mister Midshipman Raynor, took charge and had his few men pull the boat over to a tangle of wreckage in the water. Mullin’s man Edward, one of the survivors, saw a familiar face clinging to the wreckage, Bill was alive but chilled to the bone through the long hours in the cold water.
Neither Edward or Bill could be called a seaman. They were employees on the estate owned by Mullin’s father and had been sent by him to watch over his son. On a previous ship, Mullins had been uncertain over the loyalty of some of his men. These powerful men provided a certain amout of trustworthy protection in those circumstances. Now though, they were as helpless as any of the others.
The survivors were able to stop up the shot hole and rig a mast and sail, salvaged from the wreckage. Raynor took the helm and sailed back out to sea, where two days later she met with a British fishing boat out of St. Peter-Port. Six men made it back to relate the loss of Aphrodite.
Mullins awoke the next day in the third-rate’s wardroom, which had been transformed into an operating theater. The French surgeon had not considered his head wound to be serious and after his scalp was sewn together, he was left on the deck while the more serious patients were dealt with. As his intellects recovered, he realized his captors did not realize he was the former commander of the ship they had just defeated. He was clad only in a torn pair of seaman’s slop trousers, and was probably regarded as a common seaman.