william Price and the Thetis 17

 Simon has two and a half chapters of 'The Unwanted Elves' left to write and I have 10 chapters of the steampunk/Ruritanian 'Trouble in Svardovia'. Lay your wagers, gentles all, on which of us finish first. 

I'll have a 3-chapter long Harry Lime SF to post if neither of us is finished by the time William is. 

Chapter 17

 

By the time the ships reached Freetown, with Robert Pigeon taking his turn as prize captain, Koomi had lost his right arm; gangrene had swiftly set in from the wound Scully had given him, and Amelia had amputated. 

It was the first time she had performed a full amputation, and she was violently sick afterwards and needed to cling to William.

“At least it wasn’t one of our own, and I’ve learned from it,” she had said, much later. “Now, I think I could do it better, and cause less damage, but I’ll be damned if I use a surgeon’s saw again, I’ll cut back the skin and flesh and ask for Wick to use a cutlass.”

“Good idea,” William had agreed. He could never understand why a surgeon would use a saw to cut through bone, sometimes taking many strokes to do it, when a good sharp cutlass could take off a limb in one strike.

Amelia had covered the stump with skin, as the best surgeons advocated, which was also good practise for her, and something she had been unable to do for Taff, with his arm cut clean off. If she regretted performing this act to relieve the discomfort of a man she disliked, and had been unable to do so for one she liked, she kept it to herself.

 

oOoOo

 

Charles William Maxwell, Governor of Freetown, had returned to his duties by this time, and Captain Henry Hyde introduced William.

“I need to convene five captains for a court martial,” said William, without preamble.

“Dear me! What’s the charge?”

“Mutiny with the intent of stealing a prize to his majesty’s fleet, with intent to turn pirate, and attempted murder of another hand.”

“How many are you charging?”

“Just the one; technically I have a ‘concealing mutinous design,’ but he was coerced, and came forward anyway, if a little late.”

“Definitely mutinous design, not some argument?”

“The bastard has been causing trouble since he signed on, and terrorising those of my men who signed on from the slave ships,” said William. “When I consider that we saved him, at some risk to those who swam out, and could not save so many others, I consider his actions to be particularly heinous.”

“I’ve a couple of beached captains here, if they’ll do; I’ll get your court martial convened. It’s none of my business, really, as it’s a naval matter, but I don’t mind using my position to get it organised. Though I’d like our local newspaper to have a representative; if you’re trying an ex slave the colonists will want to know it isn’t just a misunderstanding.”

“I wish it was,” said William, bitterly. “A proper translator would also be helpful, sir, if you can find me one.”

“I certainly shall,” said Maxwell. “Now, young man! You are smirking as you think of something else! What is it?”

William went red.

“I’m sorry, sir, it’s because of your name; I sailed with a most competent map maker named Maxwell, and how…” he explained Yarde, and his impudent song about Maxwell’s breeches.

Lieutenant-General Maxwell roared with laughter.

“Well, that has brightened my day since returning from a raid on a port used in the slave trade, and the rescue of many poor souls held in horrible conditions in factories there,” he said. “I shall never hear ‘Annie Laurie’ again without mirth. Thank you, my boy; I know you feel distressed to have thought of something funny when a man’s life is now likely to be snuffed out through judicial process, but you know yourself, in battle, things of extraordinary comic value occur amidst the killing, a comment, even the way an enemy falls over.”

“Yes, sir; and thank you for putting it in proportion for me,” said William, earnestly. “I can work with men I dislike, but I cannot see any other way forward.”

 

There were letters to be returned to England; William had letters for his father-in-law’s man of business, to see to the swift resolution of Cruft’s problem, and care for his children; and Amelia had a letter for Fanny.

My dear Fanny,

I have no idea where you get the idea that William ‘made’ me marry him ; and I assure you that we had very little opportunity at the time for any carnal lusts. It was a desire to be joined in the eyes of God with William for which I desired to marry as soon as we had an opportunity. And this was when we had rescued a British officer who was a ‘Proper Cleric of the Church of England’ which is not my religion, but I accepted it for William’s sake. I am a dissenter, and I consider it insulting that you do not accept me as a ‘real Christian,’ and I cannot think that any other Quaker would agree, since it is the Quakers who have been largely instrumental in opposing slavery. I think you should consider the huge numbers of chips you have been filling your eyes with before pointing out the motes in those of others.

I trust that this will not estrange us, but I cannot permit you to insult me, and William, and imply that we are not properly married. As a woman of colour, my children would be more vulnerable if anyone should accuse us of being improperly married, and it is not so, as I have the proof of our wedding and it was properly recorded too in the ship’s log. Learn a little Christian charity, Fanny, rather than speaking like a pharisee.

Amelia.

 

 

 

The trial of Koomi was swift, and retribution sure, as is the way of the Royal Navy.  Other captains of the anti-slave blockade were convened, and a certified translator took the depositions of those who had heard his words.

Koomi was found guilty of attempted murder and of mutiny, and intent to turn to piracy, which was not helped by his outpouring of vitriol on all whites, and the Dahomians as well, condemning himself out of his own mouth.

He was hanged the following dawn, which was perhaps suitably spectacularly red as the sun rose; and the ‘Thetis’ and her consort got under way. Yammi had been censured for concealing mutinous design, but the court-martial left any punishment to William. William considered that being subject to the rigours of Naval law was quite enough for any man. Under article twenty, concealing mutinous design could be punished by death; but William argued for Yammi that he believed he was under sentence of death if he did speak up, and decided to sacrifice himself, albeit a little late.

Yammi was much relieved that Koomi’s curse was not to come about through Naval law. He made a sign warding off the evil eye – William assumed – as Koomi was strung up.

The crew was subdued as they sailed away.

William ordered a sing-song. Nothing put heart into a man like a sing-song.

The negros in the crew were already genuinely happy, not having the English words to complain about Koomi, and glad to be rid of him. And Yammi spread the story of how the captain’s magic was better than some half-baked witch-doctor.

“Ain’t no bead-rattlin’ magician better’n our cap’n,” declared Yammi.

It led to the few Akan women on board asking the captain to touch their children and put a good luck charm on them; and William prayed as he touched each, and asked for a blessing on the child from the God he believed in quite as devoutly as his sister, if less sanctimoniously so.

 

It was hot; oppressively so, and seemed airless. The sails hung limp and lifeless, and William thought he knew how they felt, hanging upright with no urge to move or twitch at all. And yet the sea had an increased swell, which was most uncomfortable. The barometer was dropping at an alarming rate.

“Mr. Gubbins, make sure the lookout is experienced with tropical weather,” said William. “I fear we may be in for a storm or hurricane. And in this flat calm, we can’t get out of the way of it.”

“Aye, I won’t say you’re wrong, cap’n,” said Gubbins. He raised his voice.

“All hands experienced in tropical storms, ready to volunteer as lookouts, come aft.”

It was fewer than William might have hoped, but it did include Adou. Adou seemed delighted to be chosen; the attack on him, and Koomi’s subsequent hanging had upset the big man.

“Signal to Mr. Percival to pass within hail,” said William.  Little Lord rapidly bent on the signals, and the lugger ‘John and Betsy’ came up beside the ‘Thetis.’

“Frid, I think we’re in for a hurricane; and I’d like you and your crew on the ‘Thetis,’ which is better able to withstand it,” said William. “Strip all the canvas, and we’ll take ‘John and Betsy’ in tow.”

“Aye aye,” said Frid Percival. “Makes sense to have all the carpenters together caring for one ship as well.”

“I thought so,” said William.

He felt easier in his mind to have the small prize crew back on the ‘Thetis’ and on a more stable ship. Luggers were shallow-drafted coastal vessels, the workhorses of coastal trade, equipped with one or two lug-sails, an asymmetrical quadrilateral sail hung from a single spar, and easy to operate by a limited crew. It was even simpler than the Thames barge, or Norfolk Wherry, either of which was said to be able to be operated by a man, a boy, and his dog.  But in a hurricane, it could rapidly become nothing but shattered splinters. Frid had unshipped the spars from the masts, and lashed them down.

“Mr. Gubbins, I’ll trouble you to have our topmasts down, and double reef the sails,” said William. “Pass the word to the cook, a hot meal for every man before dowsing the galley fire. Both watches to eat, those aloft to come down in shifts and eat as best they can; and a skeleton crew in the rigging. Furl all but the mainsail on the main mast. Double-lash the spars, and have all the ship’s boats double lashed to avoid losing any.”

“Aye sir,” said Gubbins.

Sailors ate at their stations, grumbling to be given stew on a day so hot, until told by more experienced hands that they’d be glad of that hot food in an hour’s time.

“Compliments of McCready, sir, that’s the cook, sir, he’s cooked double rations and hunkered the stewpots in straw from the goat runs, sir, and wrapped it securely in hammocks to keep hot. It should stay hot for twelve hours or more, he says, sir,” said little Lord, standing on one leg.

“Please thank him for thinking of the future,” said William. If stew could be kept even a bit warm for the time being, it would help cold seamen. “Get the goats and chickens in their crates down below.”  Being on deck in heavy weather would kill them more surely than if the ship went down; the likelihood of surviving on wreckage in that case was low.

“Deck thah!” called Adou. “Dem mares’ tails clouds on de horizon, an’ de big wide waves.”

“What direction?” called William.

“Dat’s ahead of us, and to the west, sah!” called Adou.

“Mr. Gubbins, we need to turn to try to get back into Freetown; I think our best chance is to let the wind carry us north, and set the sails to carry us east as well, with this flat calm we have no hope of making it into the Gulf of Guinea which hurricanes pass by.  If we fail to get into Freetown, perhaps we can get amongst the islands of Cape Verde, so the wind is broken, and get in the wind shadow of one of them,”

“Aye aye, sir, I can’t think of a better plan,” said Gubbins. He relayed the orders.

“Sail handlers, when down from aloft, shelter under the chickens’ upturned boat,” ordered William. “It’ll give you some little respite. Try not to hatch any eggs.”

It was a feeble sally, but it wrung a laugh from the men. The upturned boat would provide a brief rest, as they would not need to be out on the spars all the time, if the sails were set to run before the wind with some easterly travel. At worst, they would ground on the shores of Africa, so long as they were not dragged into the maelstrom of the hurricane’s maw and hurled westward and northwards. And if they were hurled into the mid Atlantic? Well, they had spare spars and masts, plenty of good casks of water, lime juice, evaporated milk, and juice in canned fruit. And it was water which was vital. The ship’s boats each had emergency supplies, and William called Lord to ensure the same was brought up to store in the chickens’ boat in case they had to take to boats.  Once the sail was set, William called the men down from aloft, and lashed the rudder.

And then the wind hit, like a buffet.

William had just got into his oilskins, brought by Kwasi, as the spiteful rain and spray surged into him with the same feeling as being hit by a wave. He stumbled, but recovered himself. If they could only go enough east of the wind to make some kind of anchorage… if not, well, the old hands always said to keep the wind on  your quarter, and essentially that was what he was doing, just looking for an opportunity to come a point or two further away from the wind, and head, essentially, perpendicularly away from it, a race of Achilles and the tortoise, where Achilles was the rage of the storm, and the tortoise must creep away a few cables at a time to look for somewhere to hibernate, as it were. Essentially they were going sideways at the edges of the hurricane, and hoping to avoid its full blast.

Now they must just ride out the buffeting, bucking seas, and let nature do its worst.

 

 

“Bring the sail away from the wind a point,” William waited as long as he could before giving the order.

Adou shouted something from aloft, but it was lost in the wind. He swiftly made the knots needed and climbed down fast, without being ordered down.

“Sah! Dere’s a boat!” he said. “If you tie me on a line, I can get the line on it an’ bring it inboard.”

“Adou, the sea is too rough,” said William.

“Mistah Price, it was not too rough for Admiral Pellew when he made de swim of his life,” said Adou. “Adou can do it.”

It was against William’s better judgement, but he sent Adou off with two cables, telling him one was for the boat if he could not get aboard; in reality, hoping that if Adou had two, one would not part in the heavy seas.

All he could do was to watch the darker blob which was Adou’s head appearing and disappearing in the tumultuous waves.

And then there was a tug on the line, and many willing men to pull, for Adou was popular.  And the line slowly but surely bringing in a little cockleshell of a boat, with Adou in it, and three smaller figures.

How they got the boat inboard, William could never later say; but as the figures plainly became those of a woman with two children, the sailors put their hearts into the rescue. And when a Jack Tar puts his heart into a matter, it gets done. And Adou helping the tiny dark-haired woman in battered silken finery and her children out of the boat.

“Get them below and send for the surgeon, Adou, explanations can come later,” said William.

“Gracias,” the woman managed.

 

 

“It’s diminishing,” said William, to Scully. “And if I’m not mistaken, there’s land ahead.”

“How can you tell in this muck?” said Scully.

“The odd whiff of vegetation and wood smoke,” said William. “It should be blown the other way, but the land will break the wind into eddies.”

“I’ll take the telescope up,” said Scully.

“John, go up bare foot, it’ll be safer,” said William.

Scully paused.

“The dignity of an officer….”

“The men respect you, they’ll respect you more for putting your life and the ship over false dignity,” said William.

Scully nodded, and swiftly stripped his shoes and stockings.

He was back ten minutes later.

“Land it is,” he said. “We want to come a point to starboard.”

“Thank God,” said William. “Hands aloft now! Going a point to starboard into the lee of land!”

An hour and a half later, and the ‘Thetis’ was anchored off what William believed to be Cape Verde, having gone further north than they might have hoped.

He called for the food that had been kept hot to be served, and went below to see who his passengers might be.