Across to America: A Tim Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 9) Read online

  Across to America

  by

  Richard Testrake

  Copyright 2015 Richard Testrake

  All rights reserved

  Dedicated to my wife Peggy, my daughter Lisa and my son Charles

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  EPILOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  On board HMS Andromeda, Land’s End bearing NNE, distance 2 leagues

  Captain Tim Phillips winced as another trickle of icy spray found its way under the sail-cloth covering he had spread over his body. It was time for the morning watch to come on deck, and he had spent the night in this frigid winter weather in a deck chair some hands had put together for him. Two of his officers stood on the lee side of the quarterdeck, wondering if it would be wise to approach him at this time. Lieutenant Gould was first officer while Lieutenant Darby was second. The third, Mister Goodrich, was below having stood the midnight watch.

  Gould was a perfectly good officer, but something of an old maid. He was curious why his captain felt it necessary to spend much of most nights on deck. Gould was privately concerned his captain was finding his officers lacking in their abilities. Perhaps he felt it necessary to check up on them.

  Phillips did have a perfectly good bed in his sleeping cabin, or at least what was left of it. He had been given command of this post ship just recently, his mission being to carry a diplomat to the Spanish Province of Venezuela on the South American continent. Apparently, insurgents were making a bid for independence from the Regency government of Spain, and HM government wished to have a representative there to view the situation.

  The diplomat, one Lord Forsythe, however proved to be a trial, in more than one way. First of all, his quarters, in view of the small size of this post ship, were in the place of the captain’s normal sleeping cabin. This housed the envoy and his servant. Captain Phillips removed himself to the adjoining space which had been used as his office.

  Secondly, Lord Forsythe proved to be a poor sailor. He had been sick since leaving Portsmouth, and had shown no signs of recovering. Only a thin temporary partition separated the two sleeping compartments. Whenever Phillips attempted to get some sleep in the tiny space he had left, he was kept awake by the sounds and aroma of a constantly retching man. No stranger to cold and wet surroundings, he had opted to spend much of the time in his deck chair, swathed in a boat cloak with an extra sail cloth cover.

  Finally, there were some strange orders regarding Forsythe’s mission. He had been given a packet with the seals of both the Admiralty and of the Foreign Office, with orders the seals were not to be broken until south of eighteen degrees north latitude in the presence of Forsythe personally.

  Lord Forsythe was to be delivered to the port of Caracas or such other port the envoy might select. In the absence of the envoy, for any reason, the ship should be put about and returned to the nearest British port.

  In the dim glow of the binnacle light he saw two, blue-coated men approaching his chair. One was Mister Harding, his sailing master, the other proved to be Doctor Baynes, the ship’s surgeon. The doctor had been spending much of his time with his most important patient, Lord Forsythe, avoiding as much as possible the routine medical difficulties of the crew. He regarded his special patient to be the reason for his being on this ship and avoided the remainder of the ship’s population as best he could. Fortunately, there was a man aboard Andromeda who had once served Phillip’s father as a loblolly boy on his ship. This man was assigned to the same position to serve the good doctor and was able to furnish much of the routine care the men expected.

  Phillips did not deem that patient’s comfort and well-being to be the most important of his own concerns. At the moment, Andromeda’s exact position in relation to nearby Land’s End was, and he spoke to Harding first.

  Harding had had leadsmen in the main chains all night, swinging the heavy lead weight on its line out ahead and measuring the depth by means of pieces of differing pieces of material knotted into the line a fathom apart. The leadsman was trained to identify each such piece using just the sense of touch in the dark, thus being capable of instantly calling out the depth. In addition to measuring the depth of the waters, a recess on the lead weight could be charged with tallow, which could collect samples of the bottom sediment...

  From his charts and own personal knowledge, Harding was able to determine with fair accuracy the ship’s likely location, just by the depth and the make-up of the sea bottom.

  The nightlong downpour of frigid rain had prevented any sight of land, but Harding reported the ship had fifteen fathoms under its keel and he estimated land to be two leagues to the NNE.

  Since Harding seemed to be presently satisfied as to their current relative safety, Phillips turned to the doctor.

  The surgeon, not a career ship’s doctor, had been produced by the Foreign Office specifically to tend to the medical needs of Lord Forsythe. The envoy, on land a perfectly healthy individual, readily admitted his absolute helplessness at sea.

  Doctor Baynes had been furnished a warrant as Ship’s Surgeon and found himself on the books with the task of administering not only to the envoy, but the entire ship’s crew. At least, that was the Royal Navy’s view. The doctor himself had the understanding that this voyage was to be a vacation with the only duty of tending to the envoy’s health. The Royal Navy’s opinion that he was also to see to the health of the ship’s crew was of no concern of his,

  He had not much idea of his real place in the ship’s hierarchy, considering himself one of the ranking members of the crew, perhaps subordinate only to the captain.

  Phillips had found himself explaining matters to his own first officer who had taken offense at the doctor giving him orders as to his duty. It seemed the good doctor had deemed the pitching and rolling of the ship injurious to the health of his patient and had ordered Lieutenant Gould to reduce the ship’s motion. Harsh words had resulted, and Captain Phillips had found himself attempting to pacify matters.

  The good doctor had difficulty understanding his actual status aboard ship was that of a relatively junior warrant officer rather than equivalent or superior to a commissioned officer like the ship’s lieutenants. Recognizing the doctor to be a very knowledgeable physician rather than one of the usual inept drunks they were often given to tend to the men’s health, he was inclined to allow affronts to his dignity to pass by unchallenged.

  Baynes was on deck now with the sailing master and as soon as Mister Harding finished his report, stepped up to deliver the latest prognosis. He felt Lord Forsythe would be all the better if he could be brought up on deck, if only for a few moments, and wondered if the weather would be conducive to that visit.

 
; A questioning look from Phillips, elicited that opinion from Harding; his view being the weather would moderate later in the day, with the slight chance of a little sun. Phillips by now, regarded Harding as a weather prophet, and assured the doctor he could count on fair weather later that day.

  Phillips was not anxiously awaiting the appearance of Lord Forsythe on deck. He happened to be in a delicate position. Last year, he had been tasked to attempt to locate the missing wife of Forsythe’s. She had been taken by Moorish pirates from a transport taking her home to deliver her unborn child in the peace and comfort of their home.

  Instead, she found herself violently abused by these rovers and sold into slavery to the local strongman of an island off the coast of Cyprus. Along the way, her fetus had aborted and she was then newly impregnated by the attentions of some pirate. Her new owner, assuming he was the father of the child born of this coupling, treated the infant with some parental attention, although similar attention was not afforded the mother-to-be. The mother was just another slave, suffering the kicks and blows of the other concubines and wives.

  After some searching and an inordinate amount of good fortune, her location had been discovered and Captain Phillips led a party ashore to rescue the woman. Lady Forsythe, believing, with good reason, she would be regarded with distain by her peers back in Britain and her child considered a bastard, initially refused to return, theorizing her child might have a better chance of a life in these surroundings, with this powerful father.

  Phillips, believing it his duty to return Lady Forsythe, had compelled her return, later inventing the story her child was her husband’s. The script being, she had merely been the slave of the strongman’s wives, and had not suffered any attentions by him. Her husband’s unborn child had never been aborted and here was the result.

  After the woman was reunited with her husband and family, there was much excitement in the press and some demand for Phillips to come forth and recount his exploits.

  The true nature of Lady Forsythe’s sufferings were known to only a very few people high in the Admiralty, and it was agreed the best course would be to keep Captain Phillips away from Britain until the furor had died. It was feared an enterprising reporter might somehow dig out the prurient details and ruin innocent lives.

  Accordingly, Phillips was promoted to the rank of post captain and given the mission to take an envoy to South America. This should keep him away from Britain for a lengthy period, during which time the press would surely find some other matter with which to excite themselves. Unfortunately, at the last minute, the envoy that had long been scheduled to make the voyage, suffered an accident involving his overturned coach and it was necessary to replace him.

  The official making that decision was not aware of the situation concerning Lord Forsythe’s family and at the very last moment, Forsythe appeared on Andromeda’s deck with his effects, as the newly designated envoy. Believing another change at the last moment could be suspicious, it was decided to go with this plan. Phillips was counselled to keep his distance from the envoy and to decline to elaborate on Lady Forsythe’s ordeal.

  Phillips had a certain amount of anxiety at first, certain Forsythe would be able to guess the true events and subject him to questioning that he was not certain he could answer.

  To his relief however, Forsythe became violently ill while being pulled out to Andromeda in choppy waters of the harbor, and immediately asked to be taken to his quarters.

  Apparently though, now was the time of reckoning. To evade the envoy as long as possible, the captain was tempted to go forward and inspect the starboard cat-head, or some other duty requiring intense concentration, but common civility had him remain aft.

  CHAPTER TWO

  It was a pale and weakened man helped to the quarterdeck by his servant and Doctor Baynes. Phillips had vacated the deck chair and Lord Forsythe was helped into it. The servant spread a fur robe over the official and Forsythe pronounced himself superbly comfortable.

  He began by apologizing profusely for his absence thus far because of his mal de mer and thanking his captain for the rescue of his wife and son from the clutches of the pirates.

  “Captain Phillips, had it not been for your action, my family would have suffered a dreadful fate. I owe you much, sir!”

  Phillips responded, assuring the envoy any naval officer would have done as much, probably a good bit faster.

  Forsythe was not convinced for a moment. “Sir, it was you that saved the life of my son and wife, and no one can convince me differently. I tell you, I am not without influence at Court, and I made it known to the Crown that you should be given proper recognition. However, it seemed you were away on the other side of the world and could not be produced.”

  Captain Phillips escaped with the declaration he must go forward at this time to inspect the foremast backstay. In the following days, it became necessary for the captain to spend much of the time whenever the envoy was on deck inspecting the various elements of the standing and running rigging. The deck officers were given orders to approach when conversation between captain and passenger became intense and request Phillip’s guidance upon some point.

  Andromeda continued on course. The weather did improve to some extent in the coming days. Early in the afternoon watch one day, the sails of an approaching convoy were seen. Too far away for signals to be read, Phillips ordered the course altered a few points in order to make his manners with its escort.

  Closing in, it became evident there was some disarray. As soon as signals from the leading escort frigate could be read, she was revealed her to be HMS Alceste, 38 guns, Captain Murray commanding. The signal, repeated from HMS Stately, further indicated the convoy was under attack by the enemy and assistance was required.

  With the Marine drummer hammering away, Andromeda cleared for action. All partitions were knocked down, including the envoy’s quarters. Lord Forsythe appeared on the quarterdeck with a wicked looking epee in his hand, and his manservant clutching an ornate fowling piece. He approached Captain Phillips and informed him that he was at his service.

  “My man informs me pirates are in the vicinity. Where would you like me posted, Captain?”

  Captain Phillips had to gather his thoughts.“Milord, I suspect our enemy will more likely be French privateers out to try to make off with a ship from that convoy we are approaching. If you wish to look through my glass, you will see the flock scattering.”

  The convoy was indeed breaking up. There now appeared to be three escorts for about a forty ship convoy. One was a stodgy old 64. Another was the Alceste and finally a non-rated brig. There appeared to be two predators after the convoy. One a sleek schooner, probably packed with men and a brig. Both were agile craft and dangerous indeed to any lightly armed merchantman they came up against.

  The two larger escorts would have a difficult time dealing with the enemy privateers. Philips explained to Forsythe the problem. “Milord, a consortium of French businessmen will purchase a fast ship, pack it full of men and give it a few guns for armament and a letter of marque. These men will not be paid. They will be fighting for shares in the value of any prize they take, so there isn’t all that much expense involved.”

  “I think we have two privateers to contend with today. Their plan doubtless is to frighten the individual ship masters of the convoy and scatter them. At that point, they will attempt to close a ship that has separated from the convoy, swarm her with masses of boarders and sail her off before the escorts can interfere. They will rightly assume the escorts will be too busy with getting the convoy back into order to pursue them.”

  “But Captain Phillips, I understand there are three powerful King’s ships protecting the convoy. Surely they can handle a pair of poorly armed small craft?”

  “Lord Forsythe, you would indeed think so. However, the difficulty arises in the escorts themselves. We have a powerful 64 gun ship-of-the line, capable of handling almost any French National ship now at sea. However, she is old and slow, un
able to maneuver with the predators. Then there is the frigate which is also a most capable ship with her eighteen pounder long guns and thirty two pounder carronades. But, she also is not nearly as agile as the privateers, and a capable captain and crew on one of those could give the frigate a difficult time.”

  “The escort brig should be a capable enough craft, but it will not like coming up against one of the privateers by itself. Each of them probably have many more men than the escort does, and if the brig cannot get in some severe blows before closing, there is the danger of the escort herself being taken. It would be well to remember, these escorts have, perhaps, forty merchantmen to protect. When they scatter, the escorts have the devil’s own time protecting them.”

  “I intend to try to close one of these vessels. With our efforts, along with those of the escorts, I hope to repel the attack. Perhaps if we are fortunate, we may indeed be able to take one of them, or possibly cause some important damage. If we can at least disable one, the rest of us should be able to negate the other.”

  “If you wish, Milord, you are welcome to go up on the mizzen top and engage any close targets with your fowling piece, should we close.”

  Lord Forsythe glanced up at the little platform far above the deck and slowly shook his head. “I am afraid I have a poor head for heights, Captain. Perhaps I should remain here on deck.”

  “You would indeed be welcome to remain here, Milord. However, for the record, let it be said I have asked you to go below for safety. There may be shot flying soon, and I would not want it said that I prevented you from going to a place of safety.”