HMS DREADNAUGHT: A John Phillips Novel

  HMS DREADNAUGHT

  by

  RICHARD J. TESTRAKE

  COPYRIGHT ©2014

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Copyright: 1markim / 123RF Stock Photo

  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

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  CHAPTER ONE

  At Sea

  HMS Dreadnaught, 64 guns, Captain Phillips; made her way in a freshening wind toward the Channel Island of Guernsey and its Saint Peter-Port. With her were four troop transports loaded with reinforcements for the island’s garrison.

  Three of the transports were over-age frigates that had most of their guns removed. Commanded by elderly lieutenants, they now served the Board of Transport for the Royal Navy. The ships’ purpose now was to transport men and material.

  The fourth ship, HMS Viceroy was a nominal 36 gun, eighteen pounder frigate, although with only half her guns aboard. Newly released from the yard after much needed repair, it was found there was a shortage of the appropriate weapons.

  Instead of waiting until production from the northern foundries caught up with demand, someone remembered an old ship of the line that had wrecked on a snag off Guernsey a year before.

  Given half of her normal complement of big guns and just enough men to sail her, it was decided to load Viceroy with soldiers and send her to Guernsey, along with the other transports under escort. There she could take aboard the weapons previously salvaged from the wreck.

  There was a problem when it came to appointing a captain. Since, at the moment, she was a transport, the command could have gone to an elderly lieutenant who was unable to find more active employment. However, when she took aboard her remaining guns, and the permanent captain reported aboard, that lieutenant would need to go, should he be deemed too ancient to be offered employment as first officer.

  Since she did have sixteen of her allotted armament aboard, she could have had a commander, since then she could be classed as a sloop of war, but the same problem existed. If command was offered to an experienced post captain, there was risk of an insult to such an officer to be offered a ship below the rates.

  Finally it was decided to offer the command to a recently appointed post captain, one who might not be above himself. Someone remembered Captain Mullins. He had been posted a year or so before, but had had only a short cruise on his ship, before she was judged unseaworthy.

  There was also the captain’s father. An important personage in Lords, he might be pleased by the appointment of his son to a potentially powerful frigate.

  In the meantime, Phillips had a problem of his own. His wife, who he loved dearly, had proved over the years to be difficult at times to live with. A familiar problem had her shrilling about his frequent absences from home.

  Although during these absences, he was doing his duty as a servant of the King, perhaps on the other side of the world; this did not justify his absence in his wife’s eyes. In her opinion, which was expressed nightly, he should be at home, managing the estate and its people, not off associating with who knows whom.

  There was now an added problem. Their twelve year old son had determined he wanted to be a Royal Navy officer like his father.

  With the increased strife at home, when the post brought the offer of a 64 gun third rate ship of the line, Phillips took not a moment to decide to accept. Phillips realized this was not the courageous thing to do, but he no longer wished to face the nightly conflict. One morning, he put his acceptance letter in the post, ordered up the carriage, and off father and son went to join their new ship. The first order of business had been to report to the Admiralty in London to make known his acceptance. While Timothy sat stiffly in the waiting room, under orders from his father to bother nobody, Phillips spent an hour with the Admiralty undersecretary in charge of personnel.

  Both he and the Royal Navy needed to make sure he and the ship were right for the job. Phillips had learned long before, while the Navy tried to select the proper ship for a given purpose, they also tended to add on various tasks for which ship, captain or crew might not be ideally qualified.

  The main purpose of this mission was simple enough. The Royal Navy, as the largest sea service on the world’s oceans, had exercised its superiority sometimes in a high handed fashion.

  A major difficulty was with the Americans. Before the American Revolution, British captains in need of experienced seamen had become used to stopping British ships at sea, and pressing whatever crew members of those ships the Navy captain wished. These, of course, included American ships and crew, which before the American Revolution, had also been British. Now, the US was an independent country but many RN captains had become accustomed to using that country’s merchant fleet as their private recruiting preserve.

  There was the excuse that many of the people forcibly removed from American shipping, really were British subjects, and subject to doing naval service for their King. It was very difficult sometimes to determine a man’s true nationality, and generally the RN officers failed to try all that hard.

  Although this was causing trouble on the diplomatic scene, most Royal Navy captains did not let it bother them. A captain several thousand miles away from London was not likely to pay much attention to diplomatic wrangling, when he needed trained seamen now.

  The American government however, irked beyond measure, had placed an embargo on shipping goods to European ports. This had greatly damaged the already stressed economy in Britain, as it was meant to. Of course, it was also damaging the economies in the various United States, especially those in the New England region.

  Captain Phillips was told the British government was now desperately trying to convince the Americans to give the matter another try. Commodities such as timber and cotton, produced in America, were badly needed in wartime Britain. He was to proceed first to Halifax, then to the US and offer to escort any convoy of American shipping willing to make the voyage. He had enough seniority to prevent most British captains from interfering with shipping he was protecting, and was armed with written orders from the First Sea Lord himself.

  Should a captain with more service than Phillips interfere, he had orders to prevent at all costs any more incidents with American ships. He was given permission in writing to fire into any ship that tried to force the issue.

  Phillips was told, with the war in a critical stage right now, it was deadly important that another war was not precipitated. Of course war could be prevented should the Royal Navy cease impressing American seamen, and the United States revoke their trade embargo. Since neither side was willing to make the first move, all were on a slippery slope indeed.


  To sweeten the request Captain Phillips was to present a number of seamen, previously pressed from American ships, that were to be placed aboard his ship, and handed over to the Americans when reaching their shores.

  This of course, was the primary mission, but others were added on. It was decided he may as well escort a troop convoy to Guernsey, and finishing there, pick up any mail or dispatches and deliver such to Gibraltar. If he was not delegated by another superior for another task, he was then free to proceed on his main mission.

  With the details of the mission settled, details that Captain Phillips decided he could live with, the Secretary asked him if he had any questions.

  “I do indeed. The letter I received merely mentioned a ’64 gun third-rate ship-of-the-line. I wonder which one of these ships is meant for me.”

  “I am indeed sorry, Captain Phillips for the confusion. There was some uncertainty what ship we would have for you. HMS Dreadnaught was recently released from the dockyard, and I am told she is as good as new.”

  Phillips nodded and said, “I just don’t remember ever hearing of her before.”

  “She was designed in the late seventies, and laid down in 1782. A few months later, with the end of the war imminent, she was covered while still on the stocks, and left. Shortly after, the previous ship of that name was taken from service. When the French Revolution came along, work was began again on the ship, although fitfully, because of the many ships in ordinary that needed to be readied. She was given the name ‘Dreadnaught’ at launching. After her final completion, she served on a few commissions, then was withdrawn from service to be modernized. This has been accomplished, and she awaits you now.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Manning the ship had been hell. He had gone aboard to essentially an empty ship, with only the standing officers on board. Officers and warrants came in dribbles, a few at a time. It was only when many of the chores had been completed that the first officer came aboard.

  Men had also come in dribbles. A few were seamen. Men who could look at a problem, and rectify it without constant supervision. Some were professional criminals, released from prisons if they would serve in the Royal Navy. Most were ordinary citizens, caught up in a war they did not fully understand, and forced to learn a new way to live.

  It had been up to Captain Phillips and his second officer to make her a living organism. Phillips had his son paired with that second officer on watches. Lieutenant Watkins was a serious officer who had received his commission ten years prior.

  He was perfectly placed to attain a commander’s billet; if only Lieutenant Beauford was out of the way. Beauford, the first lieutenant, was a pompous old fool who had never an original thought. Unfortunately, he was also the senior lieutenant aboard, and in all probability would reap any promotion coming their way.

  Had Phillips any early inklings of the character of this officer, he would have refused him, cost what it may. However, they had left port in a hurry, with no opportunity for second thinking, so now he was stuck with the man for the rest of the commission.

  Phillips was well aware of the numbers of post captains on the list with no qualifications or aptitude for the job. Should his ship emerge victorious in an equal ship to ship contest, it was not unknown for the first officer to be promoted.

  Given the first officer he had, though, Phillips was determined to do what he must to keep the man from gaining his own command.

  Watkins though, seemed a most professional and skilled officer. Phillips placed his son Timothy under him, so the lad could learn the art from a good officer. Every time Watkins was on watch, Timothy was to follow him around, running miscellaneous errands and learning what he could.

  Of course, that was only a small part of the young midshipman’s duty. Most of his time awake, he was at the beck and call of everyone senior to do their bidding. One of his duties was to learn the social graces required of a young officer.

  To that end, this morning, Captain Phillips invited the off-going officer of the watch, Lieutenant Watkins, and his understudy, Midshipman Phillips to his dining cabin for the breakfast. There, young Phillips would observe the etiquette required in an official setting, and be better prepared for the future.

  Uncharacteristically, the winds in the English Channel died during their passage, and the ship captains had a few hours to socialize while their ships were becalmed. All of the captains had occasion to visit HMS Dreadnaught, and under the influence of a few bottles, Phillips made his wishes known in the event the convoy did encounter the enemy. In previous commands, he had written down some signals that might serve to minimize confusion in case the enemy was encountered suddenly.

  He had copies made and gave one to each captain in the convoy. Captain Phillips also took the opportunity to deliver some of his personal stock of powder and shot to the lightly armed transports. Since Admiralty frowned on utilizing the King’s ammunition for practice firing, many wealthy captains, like Phillips, purchased their own. Soon after he returned to his own ship, the little armada began thundering away.

  Approaching the coast of France, they met a French convoy much like theirs. A French line of battle ship, mounting 74 guns, as well as a few carronades, was escorting some merchant ships down the channel. Among the merchantmen was another warship, a brig, pierced for sixteen guns. Wearing a commissioning pennant, she was another escort to consider.

  The liner displayed its new construction to the world. Phillips doubted it could have been in commission for long. Its sails were new, and its hull was freshly painted. Of course this evidence counted for nothing, but the ship acted new. Her crew was obviously new and untrained, and perhaps her officers needed instruction themselves.

  When she wore around to face Dreadnaught, her sail drill was atrocious. There seemed to be confusion on her deck, as her crew attempted to trim her sails to the wind.

  Captain Phillips was almost embarrassed to challenge the ship, as he watched a struggle on her deck, with men attempting to brace her yards in different directions. She was a third rate line of battle ship though, flying a commission pennant, and eventually got herself in order, coming around to meet Dreadnaught.

  There was a competition as to which ship would win the weather gauge. In the British service, most commanders faced with combat, attempted to enter that to windward of the enemy.

  A captain in that position could decide if or when he wished to fight, while a ship in the leeward position was apt to have combat forced upon him, no matter his wishes.

  The Frenchman probably would have gained the windward position, excepting for the continuing confusion on her deck. As the ships converged, Dreadnaught just managed to get her bow ahead of her enemy. A little faster too; the French liner was going to have to watch herself if she did not want to be bow raked.

  Beauford came to his captain on the windward rail of the quarterdeck, wondering if his captain really was planning to pit Dreadnaught against a 74. The new 74 gun ship, not only had more guns than Dreadnaught, but those she had were of larger caliber. Phillips assured his premier that they were indeed about to challenge a superior third rate ship of the line. He said he would be pleased if Beauford would bring the ship to quarters and clear for action.

  Shaking his head, the officer went off to his duty. A duty his heart was clearly not into. He felt they should remove themselves from the scene, and find assistance. After all the enemy was more powerful. There would be no dishonor if they left. If they fought and lost, the action could affect the first officer’s career for years to come.

  Dreadnaught, under the skilled direction of the second officer who had the watch and was now ahead of the enemy by a bit, simply shouldered the two decker out of his way, and prepared to fire.

  The two ships, just yards apart had still not fired. Out of the corner of his eye, Phillips noticed the French brig approaching the line of frigates. Calling the signal midshipman over, he ordered a sequence of signal flags flown which had been discussed at dinner yesterday.

&n
bsp; The idea was: all the troopers were in fact frigates of the Royal Navy. Under gunned and undermanned to be sure, but still on the list; if only on that of the Transport Board. Each and every one carried a commission officer aboard in command. Each had at least a few guns manned and ready to fire. Each had the heavier scantlings of a warship, rather than the flimsier frame of a merchant vessel. And, of course, each of the transports were crammed with armed soldiers. Men who could man the bulwarks with their muskets, and perhaps man the few big guns, if need be.

  Ordinarily, it would be considered folly for a transport frigate to consider attacking a warship. The problem was manning the guns. In this case, the Army troops on board could be expected to give a good account of themselves.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The signal ordered the troopers to form up, in line ahead, then go after the enemy. Captain Mullins of HMS Viceroy would control that part of the battle.

  They would, of course, stay clear of the 74; that being Dreadnaught’s task. However, Viceroy alone should be more than a match for the French brig. The other ships, with their few guns each could assist Viceroy, or perhaps cut out one or two prizes from the enemy merchant fleet. With no time left to study that oncoming action he saw the port bow of the French liner coming up to starboard. Thinking to himself it would be a crime to ravage that beautifully oiled and painted expanse, he told the second officer, “You may fire when ready, Watkins.”

  An instant later, guns began going off individually as they bore on their target. Another instant later, the Frenchman fired off his broadside, all thirty seven guns at one blast.

  Unfortunately for the enemy, the French captain fired before many of his guns were aligned with the target. Many of his projectiles went off into the blue, astern of the Dreadnaught, doing harm only to miscellaneous sea creatures down range. There was damage enough though. Her lower deck guns were the French equivalent of the British 32 pounders. Men on Dreadnaught’ decks were down; dead or wounded. Guns were upset, and rigging destroyed. However, Dreadnaught was still a functioning, efficient ship.