Galleon (35 page)

“Your wife might like some gems,” Ned said.

“My wife?” Couperin gave a laugh which combined cynicism with sorrow. “My wife threw a glass of wine in my face and returned to France three years ago.”

“I regret my clumsy question,” Ned said, unsure whether Couperin needed sympathy or congratulation.

Couperin waved his hand dismissively. “Thanks to you and Sir Thomas, I am now a rich man. A free one, too. But a jealous one.”

“Jealous?” Ned exclaimed. “Of whom? Of what?”

Couperin smiled. “Don’t sound so alarmed. I am jealous of you and Sir Thomas. Unfairly so, of course, because you deserve to have such wonderful–” he paused, to choose the precise English word, “–such wonderful companions.”

Ned nodded. “We were lucky, and I hope we bring you luck, too. Now, let’s go over and look at the bullion.”

Couperin held up his hand, motioning him and Thomas to remain seated. “You are reasonably certain that my quarter share will make me a rich man?”

Ned smiled and said: “It depends what you mean by a ‘rich man’, but you’ll be able to change the bullion into enough pistoles to buy any plantation that takes your fancy, as many slaves as you wish, live a life of luxury – and have as many ‘companions’ as you might reasonably need. That is, of course, unless you hand over your share to the King of France.”

“Yes, indeed,” Couperin agreed, “the choice will have to be made, and that is why I ask you to remain a few more minutes. What I am going to say – what I am going to ask you – must remain confidential: otherwise my life might be forfeit.”

“You have our word,” Ned said.

“Very well. In truth, I must tell you that being Governor General of these two islands is a task boring beyond belief. The people I rule are drunken fools: they have large plantations and enormous thirsts. Why do I stay here? Because I do not wish to return to France. The cold winters, the rain, the constant need to be at Court to stay in the King’s favour and the plotting and scheming that goes on there – I am tired of it. I like this climate, but it is dull. I have a great
ennui
. I have reached the stage where a routine visit to St Martin from St Christophe becomes an exciting expedition allowing me to get away from all the drunken planters in St Christophe. But within hours I find myself among the drunken planters of St Martin, listening to the same complaints and the same quarrels: only the place names differ.”

“Ah, sugar-cane, the evil mother of rumbullion, has much to answer for!” Ned said lightly.

“Yes, I am tired of it. Which brings me to my question, gentlemen. If I presented myself with a ship and a crew, could I join the Brethren of the Coast? What do I have to do to apply? Do I pay to become a member? Do I deposit a bond? Who decides – you, Mr Yorke?”

Ned, dumbfounded, looked helplessly at Thomas, who slapped his knee and gave a mirthless laugh.

“Let me explain who the Brethren are,” Thomas said. “Mr Yorke has been so responsible for their success that he is too shy to talk much about them. First, they can be any nationality. The captains own ships, but each differs from the other Brethren only because owning a ship means a larger share of the purchase: that is only fair, naturally.

“Each member of the Brethren, whether a cabin boy or a captain, is a volunteer. He follows the Admiral’s orders because he wants to, with this provision: he doesn’t
have
to join an expedition, but if he does, he then obeys the Admiral’s orders. Take the attack on Portobelo, about which you’ve obviously heard. That was Mr Yorke’s plan. All the Brethren followed him. But if before we’d started one of the captains hadn’t liked the plan he could have stayed in port.

“Everyone who comes gets a share of the purchase – so much for the captain, for the ship, for the mate, the carpenter, sailmaker and so on down to the cook and cabin boy. If any of them are wounded they get extra shares, depending on the wound – there is an agreed scale. If any are killed, well, that means more to share among the others.

“Every captain is responsible for the discipline of his own ship and once he agrees to join an expedition, then he also agrees to follow Mr Yorke. So far everyone has wanted to, anyway.”

“I understand, and I accept the terms, but do you accept me?”

“If you have a ship, yes,” Ned said, “and Sir Thomas didn’t make it clear that a buccaneer captain abandons his normal allegiances. Your allegiance would then be to the Brethren, and until recently the buccaneers in turn had been giving their allegiance to Jamaica because they use Port Royal as a base. Until recently they have been defending Jamaica, but now they are moving to Tortuga.”

“Which is French,” Couperin said.

“France claims it,” Ned said, “but can’t hold it.”

“True,” Couperin acknowledged, “and that of course is the basis of everyone’s quarrel with Spain: she claims all these islands but cannot control or use them.”

“Well, if you have a ship, understand the conditions, and still want to join the Brethren, then welcome!”

“Thank you,” Couperin said simply but sincerely. “Let’s go and inspect the ‘purchase’ then,” savouring the word as though it was a fine wine. “So now I am a buccaneer!”

“One thing occurs to me,” Ned said. “You are getting a quarter share, and we offered that to save us from any interference by the French authorities.
After
we had agreed, we discovered that the French authorities – you, in other words – were in no position to interfere anyway. However, we had made a bargain, and that’s that. But I want you to be clear at what point you become a buccaneer, and at what point you recruit your men, because they too are going to join the Brethren and will be entitled to a share in future purchases, and I don’t want them coming to me in the future and claiming a share in this one.”

“You are shrewd as well as
drôle
,” Couperin said, “but rest assured that the men who helped me drive the Spaniards into the hills are going to be rewarded separately – we all agreed on a price, which comes out of my own pocket. Don’t forget, at the time I hired them we did not know whether or not the galleon carried plate.

“They are also the men I shall bring with me when I get my ship back. It was only after finding I could lead them and they would follow that I considered seriously asking to join the Brethren.”

“Good, it’s always worth having men around you that have smelled powder,” Ned said, “and those muskets we lent you – keep them as a present. If you don’t get your ship back from the Spaniards when they return from Cartagena…”

Couperin shrugged his shoulders. “I have two others to choose from. Neither is very big, but will do until we capture something larger.”

Again Thomas slapped his knee and bellowed with laughter. “Spoken like a true buccaneer,” he exclaimed. “The Dons build fine ships. The Hollanders are not so good because they have so little wood in the Netherlands and build for shallow waters. The French – yes, they’re all right, as long as they don’t build with that damned larch or Spanish oak. An English ship of English oak – that’s the best of course.”

“Of course,” Couperin said politely, picking up his hat as he stood up and ripping off the black mourning band.

***

Lobb had found a small table and chair somewhere and set them up just inside the strongroom door, ready with paper, quill and ink. Saxby had already sailed the
Griffin
and
Phoenix
round to Gallows Bay and was anchored a hundred yards to windward of the galleon. Now he waited with Lobb to begin the inventory.

Couperin walked from one pile of crates and chests to the other, reading the words painted on the sides. Occasionally he slapped the flat of his hand against a crate, as if still not believing what he saw.

He turned to Ned. “This was all here, and I sat in my house afraid that the Spanish captain would start bombarding Marigot…and while I waited you were coming from Jamaica… And because of you…” He slapped another crate. “And those chests; gold and silver, it says so on the sides. There must be an emerald for every mistress in the world in those pouches.”

“That’s the way,” Thomas said encouragingly, “always take the grand view! The buccaneer’s secret (thanks to Ned) is to think on the grand scale. The Spanish shipment of silver and gems for the whole year is waiting at Portobelo? Right, let’s go and capture it! All the guns defending Jamaica come from Santiago de Cuba which was regarded as impregnable by the Dons until Ned here decided we needed those guns.”

“The grand view – yes. It reminds me of distant horizons. I have sat in my house in St Christophe for too long and seen only Nevis to the south and St Eustatius and Saba to the north; and when I’m here in Marigot I stare at the sea, but Anguilla is the only horizon,” Couperin exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Be careful,” Thomas warned, “sudden freedom can affect you like a very good but very strong wine…”

“Let’s get the
Peleus
round here,” Ned said, “then Mitchell can help Saxby, Lobb and Simpson with this inventory. By the way,” he explained to Couperin, “usually each ship sends her mate along to watch an inventory being taken: that prevents any misunderstandings. Do you want to stay and watch – or send someone on your behalf?”

“What to the mates usually do?” Couperin asked.

Saxby laughed and answered for Ned. “They usually find the ship’s spirit room and stay there getting happily drunk, leaving Lobb and me to count while a couple of men open the crates and chests for us and another couple seal ’em again.”

“I won’t bother,” Couperin said. “I want to have a talk with my men and explain what you’ve been telling me. And I must get my ship ready. My ship, that is, if the Spaniards don’t bring my original one back from Cartagena in time.”

“Which will you choose?” Ned asked.

“The
Sans Peur
. You took the best one, the
Didon
,” he added dolefully, “so I’ll have to make do with what’s left…”

“I thought all three ships belonged to friends of yours,” Ned said, remembering a remark Couperin had made several days earlier.

“Ah yes, they belonged to friends of the Governor General. But he’s become a buccaneer now, and buccaneers have no friends!” He thought for a moment. “The two sloops are your prizes – I forgot. Can I buy one?”

When Ned and Thomas went back on board the smoke-blackened galleon after anchoring the
Peleus
close to the
Griffin
and
Phoenix
, they found the strongroom sounding like a busy carpenter’s shop.

All the men were stripped to the waist, working in breeches and hose by the light of lanterns whose guttering wicks added to the heat. While two seamen levered open one crate, two others were busy hammering in nails to seal another.

“How is it going?” Ned asked Saxby, who gestured at the pile of papers on Lobb’s table which were held down by a cake of silver, weighing about a pound and almost covered in assay marks and the Spanish royal stamp.

Lobb grinned and turned the sheet he was writing on so that Ned could read it. It was in fact the running total of gold, silver, emeralds and pearls.

“We’re a third of the way through counting the silver, sir, and we’ve finished the gold.” He gestured to the pair of small scales beside the pile of paper. “We’ve checked one chest of emeralds and one of pearls. Even allowing that the emeralds are rough and a lot will be lost in cutting, I’ve never seen such fine gems.”

Ned had been reading the totals as Lobb talked. “Not as big as Portobelo, but it’ll do – unless you find the remaining crates are filled with rocks.”

Lobb grinned as he began writing down the number of sugar loaves, wedges and cakes of silver that the two men were taking out of the crate they had just opened. It needed both of them to reach down to lift out the sugar loaves, which weighed seventy pounds each, while the wedges turned the scales at about ten pounds. “How much longer will you need?” Ned asked Saxby, who looked at the rest of the crates and chests.

“About four hours, I reckon.”

“Then we can share out?”

Saxby looked at Ned and then at Thomas. “Am I right in thinking you’re in a hurry to get out of here, sir?”

Ned nodded. “We’ve no idea what ships the Dons will bring from Cartagena to collect their bullion. If there happens to be a galleon available, they might come in that. Perhaps a frigate or two; maybe three or four
petachas
and a frigate. But they’re liable to cause us trouble.”

“So if we could get clear of Marigot by nightfall…?”

“That would be fine, because I don’t think the Dons can get here from Cartagena before tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Dividing all this plate and the gems among the three ships – four if you include that Frenchman – will take time. Supposing we brought the
Griffin
alongside – I went round taking the depths with the leadline as soon as I came on board: these galleons draw three times as much as the
Griffin
. And with all her yards burned there’s no chance of them catching in yours, sir.”

All the plate and gems would be on board the
Griffin
. It was the custom to share out the purchase before returning to port, but Saxby seemed quite content with what was his own idea. Ned looked at Thomas. “What about you and your people?”

Thomas gave a lopsided grin. “I think I can speak for them and assure you they’ll trust you. We’ll all meet in Port Royal and make the division there.

As the four ships ran down the outside of the giant cocked thumb forming the flat and sandy peninsula of the Palisades, the long spit protecting the wide and sheltered Port Royal anchorage on the inshore side of it, Ned was thankful that the batteries which he had forced General Heffer to build (supplying him with the cannons for them after raiding Santiago) were still intact.

They were sailing close enough inshore to see that, except for a few small trading sloops, the anchorage was empty, so the rest of the buccaneers were either still attacking the Main or had moved to Tortuga. And there was no sign of damage to batteries or buildings, so there had not been any attack by the Spanish.