On the King's Sea Service: A John Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 1) (9 page)

HMS Vigorous

In Portsmouth, Phillips first went to the naval outfitter he had obtained his provisions from earlier and made arrangements for cabin stores and other necessities. They were able to tell him right where the ship was anchored. He hired a wherry to take him out to the Vigorous. He was challenged properly by the anchor watch and was met by the carpenter and bosun.

These worthies said the ship had recently been pulled from the mud berth she had rested in for the past decade and had her new copper installed, before being towed out into the harbor. Just to make matters official, Phillips read himself in to the few men aboard.

Deciding his first need was to get some men, he hired a boat to take him to the receiving ship. An elderly lieutenant commanded the ship itself, but the hands on board that he needed were under the control of an officer of the Impress Service. This man agreed to furnish him with one hundred thirty men, supposedly from his old crew on the Exeter, but when they were brought up on deck, he found most were old, decrepit, lame or ruptured. None of them he had ever seen before.

Tearing Howe’s order from the man’s hand, Phillips made for the entry port without further ceremony. The lieutenant followed, protesting he needed the order in order to send him his men.

Phillips answered, “The men you are offering me are not my men. I see that I need to see the Port Admiral to obtain my people.”

Admitting the possibility of a mistake, the officer agreed to allow Phillips to search the ship for his crewmen. After a half hour of searching and finding nobody he recognized, he heard a voice, “Captain Phillips, sir.”

Turning, he saw one of his old surgeon’s loblolly boys, a ruptured former topman.

“Sir, I know where your men are.” After questioning the man, he discovered his seamen were ashore in a warehouse, guarded by a detachment of militia. The Impress officer was making extra money selling able seamen to desperate captains. Loosening the pistols in his pockets, he ordered the man, “Come with me.”

His hired boat had left, but a ship’s boat transporting a midshipman from a nearby ’74 had just hooked on at a larboard entry port. He politely asked the youngster if he could borrow the boat to carry him to the shore. The mid had been given strict instructions to let none of the boat crew out of his sight, but on the other hand, this was a god-like post captain with a reasonable request. Inspirationally, he offered, “Sir, I’d be glad to transport you ashore.” On the way ashore, the loblolly boy pointed out the warehouse his men were housed in.

“Sir, all the able bodied seamen are housed here. That Impress Service officer sells ‘em to any ship that will pay. All the sick, lame and ruptured, as well as the quota men are housed on the receiving ship to palm off on ships that can’t or won’t pay.

Straining his brain, Phillips finally remembered the man’s name. “Harkins, what about you. I know you are ruptured, but I remember you as a mighty valuable man. You certainly are not required to go back to sea, but I’d be glad to have you if you want.”

By the time the boat reached the row of warehouses on shore, it was established Harkins would like to go to sea with his captain. He had earned some prize money on the last voyage and the prospects of earning more seemed excellent. The work he did as loblolly boy was light compared with what he might need to do ashore.

On the beach, they climbed the stone steps to the warehouse, finding it locked with armed sentries patrolling their posts on all sides of the building. A group of soldiers off duty were gathered around a fire in from of the warehouse, with a cornet of about sixteen years seemingly in charge. He came forward and saluted, awestruck at Phillips uniform.

Phillips was not cognizant of the boy’s rank or uniform himself, so merely said, “Sir, I need to retrieve some of my men who I understand are in that warehouse under your care.”

“Sir”, offered the lad, “Those are Lieutenant Hanford’s men and can’t be released without an order from him.”

“Lad, as you see, I am of superior rank to your Lieutenant Hanford and besides I carry an order from Vice Admiral Howe for these men. I hope you are not going to try to prevent me from collecting them.”

The Cornet decided the matter was too far above his position for him to reconcile, so ordered a soldier to take him to his captain. The captain, even more impressed with the order from Howe than the cornet had been, ordered a servant to have horses brought up and told Phillips the colonel was at a party at the George Inn and he would take him there himself.

Now, Phillips had ridden before, but not well and not often. He clambered aboard though and followed the officer. The captain, recognizing the naval officer’s lack of confidence, kept to a walk.

They reined in at an imposing inn and entered. Inside were military officers of the army and navy. Among the party was a gaudily uniformed militia colonel dripping with gold lace. The captain approached him and explained. The colonel said, “Order from Admiral Howe, you say? Let us see.”

They approached an elderly white haired naval officer seated on the side and Phillips saw with a shock it was Vice Admiral Peter Parker, himself, the port admiral. The man had given him his step to commander a few months before. Now he would have to explain why he couldn’t man his new ship. His heart seemed to have dropped to the pit of his stomach.

The colonel asked Parker to examine the order to see if it was genuine and Parker took it and expostulated, “This order is from Lord Howe himself. I recognize his writing. I served with him before. What seems to be the problem?”

Phillips explained the situation to the admiral, about the men being imprisoned in a warehouse and sold to ship captains. Parker beckoned his flag lieutenant who was occupied with chatting up a likely looking young lady. He hurried over and Parker scribbled a note, telling him to take it to a senior post captain drinking port at a table with friends.

When the captain came over, Howe said, “Hardy, I want you to take a file of Marines to the receiving ship and bring back the Impress Service officer commanding there. I want to see him first thing in the morning. Then, I want you to delegate one of your officers to take temporary charge of the guard around the warehouse Captain Phillips will direct you to.”

“The men they will be guarding will be proper seamen of the Royal navy and are to be treated decently. Rations will be issued and they will be entered on the books to be paid at their proper rate.”

When the officer left, Parker questioned the colonel. “How did the Impress Service office come to engage your men?”

“Well, sir, he is paying us. A shilling per prisoner a week for the guard, he furnishes rations. We thought it a reasonable fee.”

“My Marines will take over from your men. I will have them out of that warehouse tomorrow.”

The captain with the horses having left, Parker gave Phillips a ride back to the warehouse in his carriage. The militia troops there were forming up to leave. A Lieutenant of Marines had already reported with a party and had taken over the guard. Nobody knew where the key to the lock on the door was located so Parker ordered it to be knocked off.

He went inside the dark building and spoke to the excited sailors gathered there. He assured them he was ashamed that decent British sailors had been treated in such a manner and those responsible would be handled in the appropriate manner. He asked the men to bear with their hardships for a few more hours until matters could be rectified.

Admiral Parker told Phillips, “I remember giving you Exeter. I was worried you were too inexperienced, but you proved me wrong. Now you are a post captain, commanding a fine frigate. What can I do for you?”

“Well sir, I have a ship, but no crew. Admiral Howe said I could have the crew off the Exeter, but I’m going to need more people to bring a thirty two gun frigate up to strength.”

“You are certainly entitled to your men. You may have what men you need to bring your ship up to full strength. How about officers. What do you need there?”

“I have no lieutenants, no master or surgeon. No purser either. I do have a gunner, bosun and cook on board.”

“The admiral thought, “I have lieutenants coming out of my ears. The trouble is, many haven’t worked in a decade and may have forgotten everything they ever knew. I’ll see what my staff can find. Need any mids?”

“Yes sir, senior ones if at all possible, to command gun sections and serve on the quarterdeck.”

“Well, find some people you know in this mess and sort out the people you need for your ship. Captains have been begging me for men for weeks and lo and behold, I find half a thousand in one warehouse. Captains will be swarming here tomorrow morning to take their pick, so don’t tarry.”

When Admiral Parker left in his gig, Harkins appeared from where ever he had been hiding. Phillips ordered the man to enter the warehouse and call out for the Exeter’s to come forward, adding, “We’ll need more people to man our next ship, the Vigorous. Anyone wanting to join us should come out to talk to me.”

As soon as the word started being passed, men, most being former Exeter’s, began crowding around. One young man he saw in the rear was the French speaking mid, Mister Mullins. Phillips asked the lad what he was doing among the seamen. The boy answered, “I went into town after the ship paid off and the press caught me. I tried to tell them I was a midshipman, but that Impress Service lieutenant said since I didn’t have a ship anymore, I wasn’t a mid either. They put me with the men.

“Well, you’re a mid now, if you want to sail with me aboard the Vigorous.”

“Oh yes sir.”

“First things first. Where’s your kit?”

It’s at the inn, sir. “But the Impress people took all my money, so now I can’t pay my bill.”

“How much did they take? Where is your inn?”

The boy pointed across the square at a shabby posting inn. “I had a pound note, a guinea and a pair of sixpence, sir.”

“Do you think you might have a pen and ink in your kit? “

“Yes sir, if the landlord will let me take it without paying my bill”, he said doubtfully.

Phillips pulled a pair of pound notes and a few shillings from his purse. Handing them to the boy, he asked, “Do you think that will pay your bill?”

“Yes sir, more than enough.”

“Very well, hurry there, fast as you like, then come back. I want you to make some lists for me. Tomorrow, I’ll try to find an officer who can accompany you to a magistrate, where you will file proper charges against the men who robbed you. Would you recognize them again?”

“Yes sir, they took money from some of the other men, too.”

When Midshipman Mullins returned, he sat him down with a length of scrap board on his lap and bade him start listing the individual men and the proposed ratings. As each man appeared before Phillips, he was asked his name and rate. Whenever he realized he needed a man who was not available from his Exeter people, he had trusted hands from the already selected people go back into the crowd to search for somebody who could fill that rate. It was a strange way to man a ship, but at least he had men.

One of his newly rated bosun’s mates sidled up to him. “Sir, is it true our new ship is empty? No hammocks or rations?”

“That’s right, Atkins. In the morning, we’ll start to draw what we need, but for now, we’ll have to live rough.”

“Sir, there’s some supplies in that warehouse. Bagged biscuit for one. That’s what we’ve been eating. And we’ve all been issued hammocks too, though we were told we’d have to give ‘em back when we were sent to a ship.”

“Atkins, if there is no officer from the impress service here in the morning to return your issue to, you will have to bring the hammocks with you. You men certainly don’t want to lose the King’s property now, would you? Better have some men carry some of that bagged biscuit. I don’t know what rations we have on the ship.”

“Nosir, I’ll pass the word.”

The list of crew was a mess when they finished. Names had been crossed out, new ones added in the margins, ink blots, et cetera. This jogged his memory. He shouted out, “Is there a man here that can write a fair hand? Maybe a former captain’s clerk?”

A frail looking middle aged man hesitantly came forward. Phillips could not understand how he came about to be in that gathering. All the others were fit, strong looking and confident seamen. “Clark, sir, Captain’s clerk aboard Indomitable.”

Clark was handed pen and paper and ordered to make a fair copy of the scribbled mass of papers Phillips handed him. He wrote quickly and accurately, his handwriting was easy to read. “Clark, would you like to sign on as captain’s clerk?”

When he agreed, Phillips ordered him to add his name and new rate to the roster. Then he had him write out an order to the cook onboard the Vigorous, telling him two hundred fifty men would be arriving shortly and to arrange to draw provisions for them. Signing the note, he handed the clerk some coins and told him to attempt to hire a shore boat to take him out to the ship.

Getting a Crew

Dawn had come to the harbor and Phillips was still standing on the quay, when a one horse chaise clattered onto the stone pavement and halted. The chaise lifted on its springs, when the ponderous post captain removed his twenty stone weight from the seat. The man had indeed apparently partied well and was in a cheerful mood when he walked up to Phillips. Looking around, he said, “Johnson here, Ariel. Where the devil did you get all these seamen? Want to trade? I need a dozen good topmen.”

Thinking quickly, Phillips said, “Captain, my name is Phillips, Vigorous. These men are spoken for, but there are plenty more where I got these, waiting to be entered on a ship’s books. You loan me a couple of boats to take these men to my ship and I’ll introduce you to the man in charge. Right now, I am in a bind, since I haven’t drawn my boats yet.”

Captain Johnson looked at the seamen wonderingly and said, “Phillips, you get me some topmen and I’ll row you to Halifax.” He pointed to a launch thrashing up to the quay. The boat hooked onto the quay and Johnson addressed the young mid in the stern. “Mister Halliday, you will please take as many of these men as you can put in your boat and take them to that fifth rate you see. Deliver them to Vigorous, except for a boat’s crew. Then go to the Ariel. Report to the officer of the deck and tell him I need the cutter. The boats crew you brought will man it. Then return here. The possibility exists that I may be bringing some men back.”

After the boat left, Phillips led Johnson over to the warehouse. The Marine lieutenant had rebuilt the fire left by the militia and was warming the seat of his breeches in the cold air of the early morning harbor shore. The door of the warehouse was open and men were trying to spill out, but the Marines held them back with difficulty. Phillips led Johnson to the officer and said, “Lieutenant, Captain Johnson here needs some men. Any objection if he looks them over?”

“Be my guest, sir. Take the whole lot if you want.”

The two captains walked over to the milling throng, held at bay by the bayonets of the Marines. After studying them for a while, he pointed at one burly middle aged man. “Ripley, is that you?”

The man came over, knuckling his forehead. “Ben Ripley, Captain Johnson. Captain of the maintop on my last ship, the Illustrious.”

“We served together on the American station years ago, did we not?”

“Aye sir; that we did. You need some good hands sir; we have some that would be proud to sail with you.”

Johnson walked among the men, questioning and selecting hands. When he finished, he asked the Marine officer, “What do I need to do to take delivery?”

“Sir, Just a note saying you are taking the men aboard your ship for duty. List their names and sign. That would do it, sir.”

As he scribbled on the paper, Johnson said, “Captains in this port have been sweating blood, trying to find seamen, including myself. Then you just walk up and steer me to as many as a man could ask for. I owe you sir.”

“I am glad you got some men, Captain Johnson. I appreciate your help transporting my men to my ship. We don’t have our ship’s boats yet. Did you get as many topmen as you wished?”

“Got more. Twenty altogether. I’ll be over complement if I don’t get rid of some. I’ll probably let my sawbones discharge some of my ‘sick, lame and lazy’.

The morning was well advanced when the last of the men came aboard. When that confusion ended, a shore boat came alongside, carrying a pair of lieutenants. He had no sooner got them below in his cabin, each with a glass of wine, when he heard another boat being challenged.

Hearing the ‘Aye, Aye’, signifying an officer was aboard, he went back on deck. This boat carried another lieutenant, as well as Mister Avery, the former sailing master of the Exeter. The lieutenant carried a note from Admiral Parker’s flag lieutenant, indicating he was sending him three officers, along with Mister Avery, hoping all would be suitable.

Another boat approached, holding a pair of grown men, with a herd of boys of varying ages on board, apparently would-be midshipmen. Two boys were mere children, but four were of a more useful age. Handing the boys over to Mullins, he addressed the adults. One proved to be the surgeon and the other the purser. With a full ship’s company, now the main effort was to get it working efficiently. His new lieutenants had already sorted themselves out as to their commissioning dates.

The master and first officer (the senior lieutenant) set out to bring order out of chaos. The second officer was put in charge of the deck, while Phillips gave a signed requisition and some money to the third and ordered him to hire a shore boat to take to the boat pond ashore and try to obtain some ship’s boats.

“Better take a boat’s crew with you.” he advised. The purser likewise was sent ashore to obtain ship’s stores. Beer was especially needed. The men could rightfully expect to be issued a gallon each and every day and after their travails lately, he hated to disappoint them.

The third lieutenant soon appeared back alongside in a ship’s launch, towing a jolly boat behind. The shore boat was paid off and the new first lieutenant told off a crew for the jolly boat. Filling the boat with as many extra hands as possible, it set out for the boat pond and brought back another boat. Successive trips brought back all the boats they had been allotted.

Now it was time for the provisions. Previously arranged barges came alongside with barrels of salt pork and beef. Others carried bags of biscuit and dried peas, bales of sailcloth and hammocks. Casks of sauerkraut and vinegar were brought aboard, along with the kegs of beer. Butter and oatmeal, raisins and suet, all came aboard.

Big barges laden with the huge tuns of fresh water came along side. Empty water barrels were stowed right down in the hull and the water was pumped from the barge down through the hatches into the lower tiers, before the bungs were tamped home. The men were very interested when the rum came aboard. They knew they would not be issued any in home waters as long as the beer held out, but there was always hope for the future.

There was both an advantage and a disadvantage to the use of beer. To save expense, brewers tended to skimp on malt, ensuring a very low alcoholic content. However, the limited alcohol caused the brew to spoil rapidly, which required the much more valued rum to be issued in its place.

The beer brought aboard the Vigorous was mainly just hops flavored water, so the men knew they would soon be drinking rum. Unless, of course, they were sent to the Mediterranean, where wine was often issued.

With the provisioning of the ship well in hand, the ship itself got much needed attention. Topmasts and yards were floated out behind the boats and highly skilled seamen began putting everything together. Standing rigging was first attended to, then the running gear. Stays and shrouds received their attention, then it was time to bend on the sails. After the yards were crossed, the bundles of flaxen canvas were sent aloft. Installed and furled; the ship was almost ready to sail. First though, she needed to receive her
raison d’etre
.

The captain put the ship’s crew and capstan to work, hauling up the heavy anchor. She tested her wings, moving to the ordnance wharf. There she first loaded the wooden gun carriages, then the eighteen pounder guns were swung aboard, each being lowered from the yard right onto its carriage.

Four gun ports, two up forward and two aft, were filled with 36 pounder carronades. These guns, shorter and lighter than the standard long eighteen pounder guns, fired the much heavier standard round ball or grape load as used in the 36 pound long gun, but with a greatly reduced powder charge. This enabled the guns to be cast with less iron in the breech area. Coupled with the shortened barrel, this made a great saving of weight.

Phillips had never had experience with such weapons and discussed the matter with the ordnance officer who came aboard to insure they were installed correctly. He explained the rule now was to issue 32 pounder guns to those frigates that could handle them.

In this case, there were some 36 pounders on hand and it was thought they might be tried out on Vigorous as an experiment.

Few ships could withstand the impact of thirty six pounds of iron flying at hundreds of feet per second. The carronades were mainly useless at longer ranges, but at close range, they were deadly. The grapeshot loads would prove especially dangerous fired at personnel or rigging, much like a greatly enlarged shotgun.

The heavy projectiles, eighteen and thirty six pound iron balls, as well as grape and canister shot assemblies were carried aboard with much effort and struck below. Bar shot was also brought aboard to be used to fire into the masts and rigging of enemy ships.

The gunner and his mates went around each gun, checking to make sure the gun could not come loose in a heavy sea and the gun tackle was secure. Few things were more dangerous than a runaway gun on a rolling or pitching deck.

When the gunner, as well as the first lieutenant, was satisfied with the armament, the ship moved out in the harbor. Away from other shipping, the powder hoy came creeping out, propelled by long sweeps, resembling from afar, a large water beetle. All flames aboard ship were extinguished. All crew on deck were in their bare feet and water was dashed liberally on the deck.

Swabs and buckets of seawater were placed around the deck, so any spilled powder could be swiftly be mopped up. The gunner’s crew was prepared to stow the casks of gunpowder in the powder room, where no ferrous metals were permitted. Even the metal bands on the powder casks were either copper or brass so no spark could possibly be struck.

When the job was finished and the ‘Danger.’ flag lowered, the third officer, acting as ship signal officer, reported the flag had hoisted the signal, ‘Captain, repair on board’. Since Vigorous’ number had been hoisted with the signal, Phillips knew the signal was directed at him.

Gathering some last minute reports he had spent half the preceding evening preparing, he dropped into the boat his premier had ready for him. At the flagship, the flag captain told him it was the Med for him. He was to carry dispatches to the Mediterranean and to report to Lord Hood, commanding off the Mediterranean coast of France.

He was permitted to make a brief stop at Gibraltar, to see If there was any news there of Hood’s actual location. If Admiral Hood was not present, he should use his best efforts to find his fleet. If all else failed, he should locate Ambassador Hammond, probably in Naples, where he was attached to the court of King Ferdinand and deliver the pouch addressed to him. After fulfilling his orders, the Vigorous would come under the command of Hood.

“Very well sir. Should I depart immediately, or should I stay and make my manners with the admiral?”

“Admiral Parker is in London now. In the pouch that came early today, it was emphasized the Importance of delivery as soon as possible. You are required to sail as soon as the state of your ship and the wind and tide permits. We have learned by reports from agents that some French cities are revolting from the excesses of the Directory. Marseille and Toulon are especially mentioned. It is desired to get this information into Lord Hood’s hands as soon as possible.”

Phillips left the flag and told his coxswain to get them back to Vigorous immediately. Phillips noticed a naval transport, an old frigate near the end of her days, stripped of her guns and commanded by a lieutenant, pulling away. His mind full of the implications of sailing to a destination he had never been to before, he paid no attention. Probably a last minute delivery of purser’s supplies.

He clambered aboard the Vigorous to the twittering of boatswain’s pipes and lifted his hat in salute to the quarterdeck. The deck officer, seeing him distracted, moved away after lifting his own hat, but the first lieutenant, being made of sterner material intercepted him and said, “Sir, the arms have come aboard and I had them struck below.”

“Struck what below, Mister Burns?”

“Muskets sir, two hundred of them, with ammunition and accoutrements.”

“I know of no muskets, Mister Burns. Show them to me.”

The lieutenant led him below, where the captain of the hold was busy with his party jamming pieces of firewood being used as dunnage between the crates of muskets and other cargo stowed there to prevent it from shifting. “The gunner has the ammunition”, reported Lieutenant Burns. Carefully lettered text on one box, now crossed out, stated it was the property of Colonel the Lord Viscount Fitzhugh of HMS Exeter. A later paper label tacked onto the wood crate said, ‘Forward to HMS Vigorous, Captain Phillips’.

Phillips recalled after being unable to find Fitzhugh’s heir, he had simply left the muskets on board the Exeter when the ship paid off. He assumed the Royal Navy would assume custody and send the arms to their proper destination. Instead, the ever efficient service had forwarded the weapons on to him in his new command.

He had assumed the muskets, being cast off Army weapons of little value, if charged to him, probably would not cost him a large sum. He had held on to Fitzhugh’s rifle, which he thought was worth a good deal and had better be properly safeguarded. Shaking his head, he told Burns he had learned what he needed and went to the gunner to see about the ammunition.

Mister Hodges advised him the musket ammunition, although being made for the Army’s Land Pattern muskets, was identical to the ammunition carried for the Sea Service muskets aboard ship and could be used in them. The Army muskets could be used also, but were really not needed since the ship already carried all such weapons she could use.