Richard Testrake - (Sea Command 2) (11 page)

“It would be better, for myself, if you women would form a court, try the prisoners properly, and if you decide they deserve death, to execute them by hanging, a form of punishment recognized in England.”

There was a period of controversy, while all of the women had their own say. Giuseppe was finally pressed into interpreting their view. Giuseppi spoke, “Signore, the women wish to know why it is fine to hang these men, but we should not cut them?”

Mullins explained the reason was probably foolish, but if it were found he had any hand in so treating the prisoners, the Navy would likely be very severe with him. If, however, he could say the pirates were found guilty in an island court, and subsequently hanged, there would likely be no difficulty at all.

After another discussion, the dominant woman came forward, gave an impassioned speech, grabbed Mullins and gave him a buss on both cheeks.

Deciding he had better go back to the ship until the festivities were over, he boarded the launch and left. Later, Giuseppe came out and requested some rope to hang the prisoners. Mullins handed him over to the bosun and retired to his cabin. He decided he needed some sleep. Next morning, when he looked at the beach through his glass, he saw thirty bodies hanging neatly from tripods made from saplings.

The freed captives were loaded on the ship anchored in the harbor. This was a French ship, taken earlier in the year. Her crew had all been executed or enslaved and Mullins seized the vessel as a good prize. The pirates had been using the ship for their own purposes and she was a shambles inside. Her cargo appeared to be Egyptian antiquities, of which many had been spoiled, but Mullins thought she might fetch a good price at her auction.

The remaining galley, left by the pirates was examined. Her hull damaged in a previous action, she had been in the process of being repaired when the action began. Decided it was not worth the trouble of finishing the repairs, Mullins ordered her torched.

The recovered captives were taken back to their old village and landed. The surviving inhabitants insisted on having a feast to celebrate their deliverance. The local wine was potent if strangely flavored, and there were thick heads among the seamen afterward.

After the festivities were over, the master and carpenter went over the ship closely. There had been some leakage recently, more than what might be deemed proper. Two of the surviving young women were sponge divers and volunteered to do a survey of the ship’s bottom in appreciation. These women could remain under water for an amazingly long time and were as nimble as young seals.

It was soon learned that a section of copper was missing up forward, and the planking underneath had become worm infested. This was not a happy time for the officers. Their cruise must certainly be cut short. Of course, the ship would not sink before reaching Gibraltar, but the dockyard there would likely take months to repair the damage.

Little had been seen of Giuseppe since the expedition against the pirates, but now he was back. He had gone to a neighboring village to visit a daughter, and now came out to the ship to inquire what her difficulty might be. One of the diving ladies had formed an attachment with a member of the crew, and was now on the foredeck chattering.

During his visit, Giuseppe discussed matters with the woman and later talked to one of the Sicilian hands. The bosun and then the sailing master became involved. That evening, Mister Danton came to the cabin and asked if he could speak to the captain. He explained what he had learned from some of the other crewmen.

“Sir, regarding the missing copper up forward. The people here think we can put the ship on her side. We could land all of our guns and stores. Then pull her over on her side. Then we would have a chance to get at the damaged wood and repair what we find necessary.”

Mullins commented, “What about the missing copper. I have no idea where we might find such copper in the Mediterranean.”

This metal was used to cover the hull to keep marine growth away from the wood. Left exposed to seawater, unprotected wood could soon be expected to become a target for barnacles, teredo worm, and other marine growth. Copper was toxic to such growth and had been used for the purpose for the past few decades.

Mullins added, “If a sudden squall should come up while we have the ship on her side, we could well lose her.”

After some discussion, it was decided to undertake the repair only when it was evident calm winds could be expected. There being no tide to speak of here in the Mediterranean, she would be hauled over in shallow water. along the sandy shore. It would be necessary to speed the repairs so the ship could be righted and taken back into safer waters, before bad weather endangered the ship.

Danton continued. “We have no source of supply that I know of for the copper sheet. But, in years past, pitch was considered adequate for the purpose. Mister Ralston believes if we coat the repaired hull thickly with pitch, that should serve until we reach home waters.

Before the ship could be careened, it was necessary she be emptied. Her guns were removed first and installed in a battery on shore. It took a massive effort to get the ship’s stores over the side and removed ashore. The water tuns did not have to be moved. The bungs were tapped and the water allowed to run into the bilges, where it was then pumped overboard.

When the ship was quite empty and riding high in the water, tackle was used to gingerly haul the sloop over on its port side, leaving the starboard high above the sea, where it was possible to do the necessary work.

The damage was instantly apparent, as was the cause. The bosun showed his captain the problem. The hull, where the copper had fallen away, was heavily overgrown with marine growth. Going to a copper sheet remaining, he gave it a gentle tug. It fell away readily.

Pointing to some stubs of nails still imbedded in the hull, he explained, “Sir, this is the reason the copper fell off. These are the remains of iron nails. It is necessary to use copper nails to hold copper on to wood in sea water. If iron nails are used, the iron just rots away.”

Mullins nodded. He thought he had learned this fact at one time, but did not understand quite why. “Why would the dockyard have substituted the iron nails for copper?”

The bosun answered. “Sir, I expect one of the workmen found he had no copper nails left. Rather than hunt up the genuine article, he just began using some nearby iron nails.

Once the area to be repaired was cleaned out, it was found necessary to remove some of the old wood and replace it with new.

A barrel of pitch was found among the stores that had been landed. Pieces were dug out and placed in an iron pot. A loggerhead was laid in a fire and used to melt the pitch. The tool consisted of two heavy iron balls connected by a long bar. When heated to the proper temperature in the galley fire, one of the balls was plunged into the pot of pitch chips. When the pitch was hot and runny, it was spread thickly over the uncovered wood. The repair could not be considered permanent, but it would serve until the ship could return to England.

The period the ship spent under repair was an idyllic one for many of the crew. Some of the men found companionship among the women of the village, and there was sadness when the time came to depart. It was a stressful undertaking to get the ship upright and afloat again. With this accomplished, Valkyrie was towed into deeper water and the loading commenced.

With the ship appearing professionally warlike again, she resumed her patrol into the Greek islands. Of course, these Greek waters were under the authority of the Turkish Porte in Constantinople, now being called Istanbul. Mullins was not impressed when they met the first Turkish frigate. It seemed hopelessly old-fashioned, reminding him of ancient British warships of the previous century.

A supercilious Turkish officer boarded Valkyrie accompanied by a Greek slave who appeared to be his interpreter. Unfortunately, the slave appeared to only know a bit of French, and no English at all. Midshipman Adolphus was brought to the quarterdeck for duty, but it seemed the version of French spoken by the interpreter was vastly different from that possessed by the prince.

Upon learning the slave was Greek, the prince addressed him in that language, but it seemed the Greek language that Prince Adolphus was familiar with was from two millennia earlier, much different from that spoken today.

As a result, little was learned from this exchange, and Mullins had the impression it might be wise for his ship to retire to the west.

Deciding there would be little opportunity to meet with French warships this far east, Mullins gave orders to take the ship south. As they approached the southern limits of Greece, ship’s tops were reported ahead. There seemed to be a pair of ship-rigged vessels. As they closed, rain showers popped up between the ships, making it difficult to determine exactly what they were looking at. Eventually though, Ben Saybrooke, the foremast lookout, with the aid of his midshipman’s glass, tentatively identified the leader as a corvette. Mullins called him down so he could discuss the ship with Saybrooke.

“Why would you say she is a French corvette, Saybrooke?”

“Well sir, it just looks like one. Her fore and mains’l are cut very low, like the French do. I’m sure she is French.”

“Very well, what about the other one?”

“Sir, that’s harder to say. I’d have said she might be French too, except for the lateen rig she has on her mizzen. She looks old fashioned, to me.”

“Maybe a Turk?”

“Could be sir, I don’t know about any Turks.”

HMS Valkyrie sailed closer to the pair, with no firm plans on the quarterdeck as to dealing with them. Now, it was obvious the corvette was French, sailing under that flag as she was. Her consort was definitely a third-rate but as she flew no flag, there was no way to tell if she was a foe.

The corvette was now cracking on sail and had run out her starboard broadside. That could mean she intended to turn to starboard when she closed and fire those guns into Valkyrie. It could also mean something else, with an effort to confuse her enemy.

She was not trying to confuse however, making her turn almost out of range. Her guns fired in a stuttering broadside, only one ball of which reached the ship. Mullins had drilled his gun crews in long-distance firing on the voyage east and had better expectations of his men. The shots, when they came, were all grouped around the corvette, with at least several reaching their target. After ten minutes of fire, the British ship was getting three balls on target as opposed to two for the Frenchman. Just as his brain calculated this data, a ball from the forward nine-pounder struck a French gun full on the muzzle and tore it from its carriage.

The enemy commander evidently did not care for the way the fight was going and ran up some signal flags. The third-rate set more sail and began to cautiously creep up on the fighting. A few upper deck guns were run out, which Mullins decided to remain well away from. These guns could be twelve or eighteen pounder guns, neither of which he wished to pound on his ship.

The next broadside brought the corvette’s foremast right down, giving Valkyrie the opportunity to get clear before the third-rate was ready to inflict her punishment. Turning away from the fighting momentarily, the crew had its chance to snatch a drink and renew their shot rack. The corvette also tried to edge away, but then Valkyrie went back into action again, this time against the liner. It was becoming obvious the liner was not fully armed, probably armed ‘
en-flute’
with her empty gun ports reminding one of the holes in a flute.

The nine-pound balls from the sloop-of-war were obviously not damaging the massive ship-of-the-line excessively, but her captain was learning to be cautious, so Valkyrie went back after the corvette. The fighting raged all afternoon. Mister Weems took advantage of a momentary lull to report to the bridge and announce he was nearly out of nine-pound shot. He explained he still had plenty of grape and even a little dismantling shot, which he was going to begin sending up.

With her fore down, the corvette was nearly helpless and her captain gave it up first. When her flag came down, that of the liner did also. She ran up the first flag Mullins had seen on her all day, then pulled it right down again. That flag was the tricolor.

Mister Danton took crews around to both ships to determine what needed done. The mystery of the third-rate was explained when Danton learned the Turks had loaned the French commodore one of the Sublime-Porte’s big battleships. The ship was to be used to transport hundreds of French soldiers. A junior French officer was commanding this troop transport when it engaged in combat with her British opponent.

Since, as far as Mullins knew, the Turks were not at war with Britain, some awkward questions were going to be asked shortly. Heads were indeed likely to roll, over this episode, Mullins felt. In his bones, he had a feeling the transport would likely be handed back to Istanbul. This was far over his head though, so he would just sail his prizes to Sicily and see what transpired there.

With much of his crew away on the prizes, the ships made their way westward. Luckily nothing interfered and the inhabitants of Palermo were treated to the sight of captured enemy ships sailing into harbor.

After his initial interview, it was determined both Valkyrie and the corvette would sail for Britain, while the old line-of-battleship would remain in harbor until it was learned what should be done with the old relic.

There was some discussion about the status of Valkyrie. Her repairs back on the Greek Island were made note of, and it was decided she must have a survey in one of HM dockyards. Accordingly, many of her crew was removed, being transferred to other ships. Mullins was left with a skeleton staff, just sufficient crew to sail her home.

With delays at Sicily, then Gibraltar, it was months before Valkyrie sailed into port. The news had arrived ahead of her weeks ago and now little notice was made of her arrival. A discussion with the dockyard superintendent revealed the reports initially had HMS Valkyrie capturing a French 74-gun third rate in fair combat.

After the press had their tumult over the news, it was revealed the ship had virtually no armament and her nationality was in doubt. The superintendent assured Captain Mullins that had he managed to return during that initial euphoria, his post captaincy would have been assured.

Since Valkyrie needed a complete survey after the problem with her copper, Mullins was granted leave to visit his father.