Wednesday, August 4, 1813
6:30 a.m.
(Morning Watch, Five Bells)
Aboard HMS Amethyst
In the Bay of Fundy
Ten-year-old Magpie, the little sailmaker, stood stock-still alongside the starboard rail, wishing the beats of his heart would quit banging on his eardrums. He was certain of what he had seen. Had no one else noticed it then, gliding past them silently like a gigantic alligator, studying the movements of its prey before going in for the kill?
With a darting glance around him, Magpie could see that the weather decks were mainly empty; most of the men had not yet been called from their cots, or if they had arisen before the bosun’s mate hollered, “Up all hammocks ahoy,” they were surely dressing below and contemplating their morning sustenance of cheese, oatmeal, buttered biscuit, and beer. The few who milled about above deck seemed — though sleepy-eyed and dragging their feet — to be completely absorbed in their chores, and the Officer of the Watch was nowhere in sight. Magpie was so shocked by the tranquillity of the Amethyst that he wondered if what he had seen had simply been a remnant of the frightful dream that had shaken him awake at this early hour.
Readjusting his new green eye-patch, Magpie again squinted into the fog bank that swirled around the hull and masts of the Amethyst like the wispy gauze of a woman’s evening gown, his little sweaty hands instinctively fingering the blades of the magnificent dirks — the ones the privateersman, Prosper Burgo, had given him — which he had hooked upon the length of rope tied at his waist to hold up his trousers. He gave them a reassuring pat. Should the Amethyst be so ill-fated as to be attacked by ruffian boarders this morning, he’d be ready. In the meantime, it was imperative … he had to alert someone. Leaving the rail, he forthwith ran into Mr. Austen, the former commander of HMS Isabelle.
“Magpie! Whatever are you doing up so early? Surely you’re not mending sails at this hour?”
“Oh, sir,” said Magpie breathlessly, “I couldn’t sleep. I had one o’ them bad dreams. Trevelyan had come sailin’ back in his Serendipity, and he was aimin’ to kill all o’ us.”
Fly Austen looked down at him with an expression in his eyes that Magpie longed to believe was affection. “And tell me, in this dream of yours, did you save me again, as you once did, by plunging your dirks into Trevelyan’s thighs?”
Magpie peeked up shyly at the man for whom he harboured such great respect. “I woke up first afore Trevelyan started the killin’,” he said. “But ya gotta know, sir, if need be … I would do it agin fer ya.”
Mr. Austen gave Magpie a warm smile. “But if it was only a dream, why is your breathing still laboured, and why are you trembling as if Trevelyan himself were standing behind you with a pistol directed at your head?”
“Oh! Sir! I think we need to clear the deck and beat to quarters.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Magpie pointed into the gloomy fog. “Just now, somethin’ … somethin’ went glidin’ past us.”
Mr. Austen swung around toward the rail, a note of alarm creeping into his voice. “Are you quite certain?”
“Aye, sir … it came so close.”
“What exactly, Magpie?”
“A ship, sir.”
“Could it have been a fishing vessel? We are sailing in popular fishing waters.”
“I seen its hull, and its gunports.”
“Gunports?”
Magpie nodded his curly head.
“One deck of them or two?”
“Could only see one, sir, on account of this low-lyin’ fog.”
“And were the gunports opened or closed?”
“Closed … I think … sir.”
“Were you able to determine its nationality?”
“Nay, sir, I didn’t see no masts nor shrouds. I didn’t see no distinguishin’ colours or pennants.”
Hastily Mr. Austen removed his bicorne hat, closed his eyes, and angled his head over the railing, as if he were listening to the sough of the fresh winds that ruffled his dark, wavy hair.
“What are ya hearin’, sir?”
Fly called out to the men working on the weather decks for silence, and then he put his finger to his lips and looked down at Magpie. “I’m wondering if it’s possible to hear the beating of their sails.”
Pleased to have an excuse to lay down their brooms, barrels, and ropes, the sailors abandoned their posts and prowled to the rail alongside Mr. Austen. Among them, Magpie spied Morgan Evans. Once the carpenter’s mate on the Isabelle, he had recently been given a promotion, and was presently the Amethyst’s head carpenter. A woolly thrum cap had replaced the knitted sock he once wore upon his head of shaggy hair, so that the men could easily spot him in the crowd. Morgan stood before Mr. Austen, bouncing from one foot to the other as he always did when his nerves had got the better of him. “Shall I fetch Captain Prickett, sir?”
“Aye, Mr. Evans. And perhaps you could also ask the bosun to awaken the men, and Biscuit to douse his breakfast fires, though he’ll grumble like the devil.”
Mr. Austen’s quietly spoken requests confirmed Magpie’s worst suspicions. His legs suddenly lost their strength, as if someone had thumped his knees with a mallet, and he had to lean against the ship’s side for support. The Amethysts had not seen action for a month, not since the day they had confronted Trevelyan and his ship, the USS Serendipity, off the coast of South Carolina. Since then, there had been several sightings of enemy flotillas and American warships, but always the chase had ended in a lucky escape.
In no time at all, the bosun had raised the dead with his cry, the drummer had beat the men to quarters, and soon the decks were swarming with officers and marines and ordinary sailors, all questioning — as they assumed their stations — what it was that had been sighted in the fog. Captain Prickett emerged from his great cabin and stomped about the quarterdeck, buttoning his waistcoat — with great difficulty — over his abundant belly, and barking orders at his dazed men:
“Reduce to fighting sail. Double reef the topsails. Where the hell is the cursed bosun? The canvas is his responsibility! And where is the master to tell me where the devil we are? Mr. Piper! Clean up this mess at once, and clear for action. Jim Beef … if that’s a can of grog I see in your hand, I suggest you dispense with it right away. Nay, man, not in your mouth. Over the side, if you please. I’ll not have you falling down drunk at your post.”
Close on Prickett’s heavy heels was First Lieutenant Lord Bridlington, his white hands clasped as if in prayer, shuffling his feet and continually biting his lower lip. “Mr. Austen, can you be quite certain it’s an enemy warship? The boy, Magpie, cannot be trusted. He only has one eye!”
“We cannot take any chances, Mr. Bridlington.”
“Mr. Austen’s right, Bridlington, we must prepare for the worst,” said Prickett, throwing back his shoulders, which only resulted in his belly becoming more conspicuous.
“But these mists! We cannot see a thing. What will we be shooting at?”
“We won’t take the first shot, Mr. Bridlington,” said Mr. Austen, restoring his bicorne hat to his head, “in the event they prove to be a friend, not a foe. We’ll wait to see from what direction their fire comes … if it comes at all.”
Lord Bridlington withered away with a cry, and tried to hide himself behind Captain Prickett, as if he hoped that — were shots to be fired — his corpulent superior would take the hits for him.
Despite all the turbulence around him, Magpie still cowered against the starboard rail, but soon spotted Morgan Evans, newly returned from conveying all of his messages, and most likely having had a hard time of it trying to convince Biscuit to smother the fires on his Brodie stove. “Magpie! Get yourself below. It’s too dangerous for you to linger here. Go and help Dr. Braden prepare his surgery table. He’ll appreciate your company.”
“I can’t move, sir. It’s like Jacko’s gone and pasted me feet with some o’ his shoemaker’s glue and I’m part o’ the deck.”
“I’ll carry you then.”
“Oh, no, everyone’ll be givin’ me a turrible hecklin’ if ya do that, sir.”
“You’ve got to get a move on.”
“Could ya let me lean on ya, sir, just ’til me legs work agin?”
Morgan offered him a supporting arm and together they forged their way through the congested quarterdeck, skirting the gun crews hunched over their long guns and carronades, and headed toward the fore ladder that would take them down to Dr. Braden’s hospital. All the while, Magpie could sense an eerie calm overspreading the Amethyst. The men had taken their positions, and their eyes closely observed the rising mists on the ship’s starboard side, their necks taut and extended as if hoping to be the first to glimpse the ghost ship. Magpie gazed up at the barefooted topmen, balancing on the yardarms — relieved he was not among them — and the men’s sweaty faces, particularly those pinched with trepidation, were soon branded onto his memory. With care, he released the dirks from his belt and carried them upright before him.
The fore ladder was a mere step beyond them when Magpie saw it again; this time slinking alongside the larboard rail, on the opposite side of the ship from where most everyone stood watch.
And this time … its gunports were opened.
Magpie’s brain had barely registered the ominous object when he was suddenly blinded by a cloudburst of red. The deafening explosion that followed rattled his teeth and jarred his bones. In a flash, Morgan’s strong hands were on Magpie’s head, shoving it down hard between his ankles, sending him and his heavy dirks tripping down the ladder.
7:30 a.m.
(Morning Watch, Seven Bells)
The Amethyst answered the mystery ship with a booming broadside, the powerful recoiling of the guns shaking every inch of the deck.
Magpie lay paralyzed in fear on the hospital floor, scarcely aware that someone in spectacles, rolled up sleeves, and dark breeches, was standing over him with an expression of concern etched upon his brow.
“Am I still livin’?” he squeaked, when he finally recognized the face peering down at him.
“You appear to be,” said Dr. Leander Braden, reaching down to pull him to his feet, “although your unorthodox entrance into my hospital with those portentous dirks could have killed you.” He led Magpie to a stool next to his operating table, and set him down upon it.
More alert now, Magpie looked around him in alarm. “Where’s Mr. Evans?”
“Most likely he’s in the hold, filling holes with oakum and pitch, so we stay afloat.”
“He told me to come help ya with yer prep’rations.” But Magpie could see that Dr. Braden had already laid out his frightening instruments of surgery upon a bloodstained square of cloth, which covered what was normally his writing desk. He didn’t like the look of the doctor’s inauspicious collection of knives — especially that big amputating saw — nor the peculiarity of the bone nippers and forceps: they acutely reminded him of the day he’d been laid out upon that table, Dr. Braden using some of those very instruments to remove his shattered eye.
A picture of twitching apprehension perched upon his stool, Magpie hooked the dirks onto his hempen belt, and listened to the now familiar tumult of war that thundered all around them. A choking black smoke wafted around his head, its acrid odour mixed with the foul smell of human fear, filling his nostrils. Above and below deck, there was so much shouting going on amongst the Amethysts, he could not decipher a single word spoken.
“It’s not Trevelyan agin, is it, sir?” he asked, barely able to put voice to his thoughts.
Dr. Braden removed his round spectacles and tucked them into a breast pocket of the black apron he wore over his linen shirt, and then gave Magpie a reassuring smile. “You won’t ever have to fear Thomas Trevelyan again. By now, he’ll be back in England, and before long he’ll be tried, found guilty, and executed.”
“But ’til then, ya don’t think he’ll try harmin’ Emily, do ya, sir?”
“The Duke of Clarence and his men will make certain she’s kept safe from him.”
“Are ya missin’ her, sir?”
Dr. Braden raised an eyebrow, as if he had not expected to be asked such a question, but he could not conceal the sadness that subsequently crept into his blue eyes. There was a sharp intake of breath before he replied. “Since her leave-taking … my hospital has not been quite the same.”
Not certain how to interpret his answer, Magpie dug around in his trouser pocket, produced a folded scrap of canvas, and unravelled it to reveal its secret contents: a gold-framed miniature of a young woman wearing a blue-velvet spencer jacket, pearls in her pale gold hair, and a mischievous smile upon her lips. He held it out to Dr. Braden. “Sir, I bin carryin’ it fer a while now. Why, it means everythin’ to me since I lost me blanket — the special one what Mrs. Jordan gave me when I were a climbin’ boy and workin’ fer Mr. Hardy in London.”
Dr. Braden’s face flushed as he took the miniature from Magpie and lowered his gaze upon Emeline Louisa Georgina Marie, the granddaughter of King George III; the only child of the Duke of Wessex.
“Well, sir, I bin thinkin’ … maybe ya’ll be needin’ it now.”
For a long time, Dr. Braden did not stir, but when at last he spoke again, his voice sounded strangely hoarse. “No … no, you keep it, Magpie.” He quickly handed the miniature back to Magpie, and turned away to fuss with the instruments already lying in their organized line upon his table. Carefully returning Emily’s picture in its bit of canvas to his warm pocket, Magpie wondered what he could say or do to cheer up the doctor, but at that moment a strident flock of men trudged down the fore ladder and into the sanctuary of the hospital. Led by Osmund Brockley, Dr. Braden’s assistant, the group had volunteered — nay, felt it their duty — to leave their comrades behind upon the weather decks to contend with the hail of enemy grapeshot and musket balls while they carried the whimpering wounded down to safety, each one of them in turn delivering an accounting of the various afflictions which required ministration.
“Mr. Piper’s got a mess o’ splinters stickin’ outta his legs, Doctor.”
“Mr. Beef took it on the head, sir. A riggin’ block knocked ’im silly.”
“This one’s gun jumped back on him and squashed his foot.”
“We got a few bad burns here, sir.”
“Young Sam went and regurgitated his vittles all over the ship’s bell.”
The last of the men to enter the hospital did not have escorts at his side. He was able to make his own way down the slippery rungs, although his face was as white as sea foam; there were beads of perspiration upon his forehead, and a large bloodstain on his starched and ruffled shirt.
In a voice as calm as a ship drifting in the doldrums, Dr. Braden first instructed the volunteers where to lay or leave the wounded, and then he addressed the straggler. “Lord Bridlington! What’s happened to you?”
A stupefied Bridlington stared at his left hand. “A bit of grapeshot … from nowhere … it took with it one of my fingers,” he stammered, looking quite as if he would faint dead away.
Realizing the first lieutenant’s injury was not life threatening, Dr. Braden concentrated on Mr. Piper, who convulsed in pain upon the blood-soaked table, and spelled out directions to Osmund Brockley — who stood there with a vacant expression upon his countenance, licking his lips with his oversized tongue.
“Please pay attention, Mr. Brockley,” said Leander sternly, “and do not make me rue the day I lost the skilful Joe Norlan to another Royal Navy ship.”
Magpie led Lord Bridlington to the stool he had just vacated, and fetched him a drink of water and a cloth bandage to wrap around his hand, but while doing so he could not help his welling resentment toward these men — wounded or not — as they would now command Dr. Braden’s undivided attention. Still, despite the agony of the injured and the bad smells, he wanted to stay and help if he could. Knowing the presence of sand on the floor was necessary to keep a ship’s surgeon and his knife steady, he hurried to scoop up a large cupful from the sand bucket and scatter it around Dr. Braden’s feet. When he was done, and had stood back to observe his efforts, he thought his chest would burst with elation, for not only had Dr. Braden been aware of his little initiative before he set to work on Mr. Piper, he smiled down at him and said, “Perhaps, Magpie … every so often … you would do me a kindness and show me her face.”
9:00 a.m.
(Forenoon Watch, Two Bells)
Leander Braden could not comprehend why the guns had ceased firing when — it seemed to him — they had only just begun.
Having changed his shirt and, against his better judgement, left his few patients in the incapable hands of Osmund Brockley, he headed above deck for an explanation. In no time at all he had spotted the distinguishing blue bicornes of Fly Austen and Captain Prickett as they stood in consultation beside the ship’s wheel. But even from a distance, Leander could see there was something in the manner in which the two men addressed one another that suggested all was not well.
As the sun had now completely burned off the morning mists, the mystery ship and its snowy-white sails were clearly visible, at two points off the larboard bow, too far away for the Amethyst’s guns to have further effect. The crew had been ordered to “stand down” and the activity on the weather decks had returned to normalcy. Even Meg Kettle, the laundress, had ventured from the safety of the orlop and come on deck to hang a few shirts and stockings on the rigging to dry — though it was not her usual wash day. She went about her tasks as she always did, swinging her prodigious hips provocatively, and openly flirting in between grumbling tirades on the subject of her aching back. If it were not for the sailors with their brooms and brushes, clearing the decks of splintered oak and little puddles of blood, and the foremast having been unburdened of its top half, one would hardly guess the day had had such an inauspicious beginning.
The Scottish cook, known only as Biscuit on account of his artistry in the baking of sea biscuits — his pinch of sugar and shot of rum placing them in good standing amongst the men who consumed them on a daily basis — buzzed around the quarterdeck, dispensing refreshments from a silver tray and jokey words to all of the officers who lingered there. His unkempt orange hair waved wildly about in the fresh winds, and his shirt was opened at the neck to proudly display his thick thatch of chest hairs. The moment he saw Leander approaching, he sprang forward to offer up a steaming mug of coffee.
“Ach, sir, ya look weary,” he said in welcome, his skewed eye rolling about in a most disturbing fashion. “This here’s fer yer pains.”
“Thank you, Biscuit.” Leander gratefully accepted the proffered mug and downed the hot contents in two gulps before fixing his attention on the fleeing vessel. “Do we know who our enemy was?” he asked Fly Austen.
There was no mistaking the hint of sarcasm in Fly’s tone. “A bold Yankee privateer with no more than fourteen guns and a crew of approximately forty, who, it is more than likely sure, mistook us for a merchantman.”
“Ha! And when that blighted fog finally lifted,” continued Captain Prickett, crossing his arms atop his belly, “and they had had an opportunity to observe our size and power, they ran off like a frightened rabbit. Why, in their haste to escape, we could see them dumping their guns over the side of their brig.”
“Either that or their leader was a paroled officer,” Fly added gravely, “and knew, should the day not end in his favour, we would hang him.”
Biscuit, ever ready with a quip (his impertinence rarely checked by any of the captains he had ever served — Captain Prickett included), had his own explanation for the privateer’s hasty retreat. “Or they done reminded one another o’ the prison hulks we got moored in the Thames and our disease-ridden prison here on Melville Island.”
Captain Prickett released a long sigh. “Aye, and here the lads were raring for a bit of hand-to-hand combat.”
Fly’s jaw tightened. “There’s still time to pursue them, sir. The winds are stiff and in our favour. Perhaps the lads may still have their fight.”
Appearing not to have heard Mr. Austen’s comment, Prickett helped himself to a sweet from Biscuit’s tray, chewed hard upon it, and assumed the aspect of one deep in meditation. Undaunted, Fly pressed his point. “It would bring the people of Halifax such pleasure to see us bring one in, even a small, inferior one. Aside from perhaps the Shannon’s victory over the Chesapeake, our record at sea has not been impressive, and these privateers are wreaking havoc on our trade. They must be stopped.”
Captain Prickett seemed determined to remain cheerful. “But, Mr. Austen, how quickly you forget our own splendid victory in bringing down Trevelyan and his Serendipity. We may travel a great distance on that sweet triumph for months to come.”
Leander could see that Fly’s hands had formed fists. “Sir, with respect, that was six weeks ago, and as for it being our victory … have you forgotten the crucial role played by Prosper Burgo and his Remarkables?”
“Mr. Austen, do not delude yourself into thinking that Mr. Burgo and his ruffians could ever have brought Trevelyan down if it had not been for our presence and the threat of our superior gun power.” Prickett gazed up at the blue sky. “Nay, I do not recommend further fighting on this fine morning; besides, that damned privateer blew away a portion of our foremast with those first feeble shots of hers.”
“But that is of little inconvenience. We could quickly replace what was lost with a jury-rigged mast, and then we …”
“Tut, tut, Mr. Austen,” interjected Prickett. “I’ll not have you being disagreeable, especially when Biscuit here has such exquisite plans for our breakfast feast!”
Fly’s nostrils flared as he took a second to gather his composure, and then he swung toward Leander with an obvious desire to change the subject. “Doctor! Tell us, my good man, what is the butcher’s bill?”
“Six wounded. No deaths, thank God.”
“Any serious wounds?”
“Jim Beef may require trepanning, as there is a swelling on his brain, but the others are fine.” Leander paused as Biscuit refilled his mug, and then glanced at Captain Prickett. “I’m afraid your first lieutenant, Mr. Bridlington, though he lost only one finger, is quite certain he’ll soon be meeting his maker.”
“That milksop!” barked Prickett. “I’ve a mind to leave him in Halifax when we dock. He’s not fit for the hearty life on a man-o’-war. I’ll recommend he take the first ship back to England, and take up the merchandising of women’s hosiery.”
“We’re heading back to port?”
Prickett clapped Leander on the back, dangerously close to the spot where Trevelyan’s bullet had entered his left shoulder. “Aye! I think we could all use two, perhaps three weeks in port to refit, collect fresh provisions, and find ourselves a sturdy new foremast.”
Fly’s eyebrows shot upward in disbelief, but this time he said nothing, allowing Prickett the courtesy of continuing.
“I say we all deserve a respite from our cares on the Atlantic, especially you, Doctor, for I have long been aware of a melancholy hanging around you like an over-starched neckcloth. Therefore, let us reward ourselves! A tavern stocked with ale, an excellent meal, and the delights of a brothel may do us all a world of good.”