So Near So Far (13 page)

“Is he, by God? I heard something about the
Charlotte Dundas
but that scheme really depended on the Duke of Bridgwater, who has since died. So the
Nautilus
is another steam-vessel?”

“No, sir. She is a craft designed to travel under the surface of the water.”

“Your Mr Fulton must be a lunatic!”

“He appeared to be sane, sir, and I understand that the
Nautilus
has been on trials without disaster.”

“Propelled by what, for heaven's sake? By a steam-engine?”

“No, sir, by a hand-propelled screw.”

“And what is that?”

“Well sir. Imagine a small windmill, with sails about a foot long. It will revolve in the wind. Well, if you reverse the process in a dead calm, revolving the sails with a crank handle, you will produce an artificial breeze, a type of fan. Do the same thing under water and you can propel a vessel very much as with a pair of oars, with speed and range limited by the human strength that can be applied. I suppose the crew to number perhaps two or three. I should judge it to be quite feasible.”

“But what purpose is served? Supposing I approach your frigate under water and unobserved, what do I do next?”

“I understand, sir, that you would attach an explosive below the waterline of the target ship, set the fuse for, say, half an hour, and beat a speedy retreat.”

“But how, for God's sake? How could you even see what you were doing?”

”I have no idea, sir. These are problems which Mr Fulton claims to have solved.”

“He must be out of his mind. Anyway, I am grateful for the information. I can't see the
Nautilus
as a threat to our naval supremacy.”

“Nor can I, sir. I incline to take the steamship more seriously. It could be of material use in enabling the French flotilla to leave harbour under conditions of a flat calm.”

“I see what you mean. But this invasion, if and when they attempt it, will never happen in this vicinity. The short sea passage is opposite Calais and Boulogne. It has to be in the narrows, allowing the craft a quick turnabout and so back for another load.”

“So there are no invasion craft at Granville?”

“Not as far as we know. There are gunboats but they will probably go to Boulogne before the invasion attempt is made. I can't see, for that matter, what the
Nautilus
is doing at Granville. It is not a port of any importance. Perhaps the idea is to base this crazy vessel in a place we are unlikely to attack. It remains to see what Sir James thinks about it. He may decide to raid Granville and see what the French are doing there. It may be better to do that than do nothing.”

When Sir James Saumarez appeared his flag was flown in the frigate
Cerberus
(32) and he had left the remainder of his squadron at St Helier, Jersey. The purpose of his visit, as Delancey learnt from Clinton, was to hold a conference with Sir John Doyle, the Lieutenant-Governor. Rather to his surprise, Delancey was one of those summoned to Government House, along with Clinton, Captain Selby (flag captain), and Doyle's chief of staff. The Lieutenant-Governor lived in a house on the landward side of the town but so placed as to overlook the
harbour, affording a view beyond towards the islands of Herm and Sark. On this day it was also possible to glimpse the coast of France in the far distance. All this sunlit scene could be viewed from the bay windows of the room into which the visitors were shown. Sir John's writing desk was so placed as to afford him a view of this potential battlefield. He could see each ship in the anchorage and see whatever craft might be approaching.

When all were seated round the table Sir James explained that the French were developing a secret weapon at Granville. Captain Delancey had reported that it was a vessel capable of travelling below the surface and delivering an explosive device at some point below the waterline. It was the invention of an American, a Mr Fulton, who appeared to be working for the French Ministry of Marine. The question they had to consider was whether a raid on Granville would be justified, and what form such a raid should take.

“Why didn't Fulton offer his invention to us?” asked Selby.

“He did,” replied Delancey. “The Navy Board rejected it.”

“Which suggests,” said Sir John Doyle, “that Fulton's invention is of no great value.”

“That is a possible conclusion,” said the Admiral, “but Fulton may have improved upon his original design. The French, at least, appear to be interested. The ideal plan would be to inspect the vessel and then destroy her, and this would mean a conjunct expedition. Could you, Sir John, provide us with the troops—say, in battalion strength?”

“No, Admiral, I could not. My orders are to hold Guernsey, for which the present garrison is only barely sufficient. Now if I lose men in a raid on Granville, I may be thought to have endangered the place I have been ordered to defend.”

”I feared you would say that! In that case we can do no more than bombard the place. Two bomb vessels have been ordered to join me and we may be able to achieve something on our own.”

Soon afterwards the other officers were told to withdraw, leaving Sir John and Sir James together. “I know what's happening,” said Selby. “The Admiral is trying to make the Governor change his mind. I'd bet ten guineas that he won't succeed. What do you think of the bombardment plan, Delancey?”

“The target is insufficiently defined. For all we know, the
Nautilus
may be a mile inland. We have no recent intelligence about Granville, or none that I have seen. It would seem from the chart that we shall be firing at extreme range and aiming at nothing in particular.”

“What would you do then?” asked Clinton.

“I should spend a few evenings at various quayside taverns and talk to any smuggler who has recently been in Granville.”

“Good God!” exclaimed Selby. “Do you mean to tell me that there are men in St Peter Port who trade with the enemy?”

“I should be surprised if there aren't. How else are smugglers to live? They have to trade with somebody. But Sir James knows this as well as I do. My fear is that he is under orders from someone who knows a great deal less.”

Delancey was now able to establish Fiona ashore at Anneville Manor with a domestic staff presided over by an old manservant called Le Breton. She would be visited by many kind neighbours, Captain Savage being particularly attentive, and she was rapidly making Anneville a very comfortable home.

The heartbreaking moment came when the
Vengeance
had to sail, Fiona going down to the harbour to say goodbye.

”We are sailing no further than Jersey,” he comforted her. “We shan't be far away and will be back, I daresay, in a matter of days.”

Fiona was not deceived. “I know where you are going. All St Peter Port knows. But you won't be very near the target—Captain Savage says that the depth of water is insufficient.”

“The Admiral might just as well have called you into conference!”

“I should have told him, if he had, that the whole thing is foolishness—everyone says so.”

“Could you have told him where the
Nautilus
is?”

“No, but she's not at Granville. That information was false—that old seaman was not as drunk as he pretended to be.”

“Why do we bother about secret agents when our wives can tell us all we need to know? Goodbye, love, and take great care of yourself. You'll never know how much I love you because I've never been able to explain, and don't suppose that I shall ever find the words.”

“It's not a matter of words. I understand you well enough. Goodbye, my love, and run no foolish risks.”

He was presently in his gig and on his way out to
Vengeance.
He gave orders at once to up anchor and make sail. Fiona was still waving as he looked back. He waved in turn and then concentrated again on his work.

A few days later Sir James Saumarez collected his whole squadron off St Helier: the frigates
Cerberus
and
Vengeance,
the sloops
Charwell
and
Kite,
the bomb vessels
Sulphur
and
Terror,
the schooner
Ealing
and the cutter
Carteret.
To the assembled captains his orders were brief. “We have been instructed to bombard the town and port of Granville. It is said that this is the scene for the development of a new and secret type of
vessel called the
Nautilus.
Should this be so, we still lack any information as to where she is. Our only known targets are the gunboats in the harbour, perhaps twenty of them. Our chief danger arises from the tidal range, which is dramatic on that part of the French coast. If we put any vessel on a sandbank we had best do it on a rising tide. The operation will begin on 13 September, the frigates and sloops to lead the attack, the two bomb vessels to be covered by them, the
Ealing
and
Carteret
to remain under sail and go to the aid of anyone in trouble.” That was that and the captains remained for dinner on board the flagship. This gave Delancey the opportunity to have a private word with the Admiral.

“It is my belief, sir, that the
Nautilus
is not at Granville. I think we have been deceived about that.”

“What has led you, Delancey, to that conclusion?”

“The master of that brig knew about the
Nautilus
but he did not himself come from Granville. That brig sailed from Le Havre, and that, I suspect, sir, is where the
Nautilus
might be found.”

“But that is no more than a wild surmise.”

“Perhaps I flatter myself, sir, in preferring to think it an intelligent guess. The
Nautilus
was built in Paris, so much I know from Mr Fulton. If she were to undergo sea trials, the obvious place would be Le Havre. She could be taken down the river without difficulty and would have her mooring well up the estuary and beyond our reach.”

“Why did you say nothing about this when we met together in Guernsey?”

“I did not know then that the brig came from Le Havre.”

“If we accept your theory, one wonders why that Frenchman told his lie about Granville.”

”I expect he had a grudge against the harbour master. Perhaps his mother-in-law lives there near the quayside. Someone at Granville cheated him once over a barrel of fish.”

“Well, whatever the truth may be, we are committed to this attack. I can't cancel it now.”

“That I fully understand, sir.”

“And don't think that this bombardment or any other is a waste of effort. All round the coast of France, all round the coasts occupied by the French, there are garrisons, batteries, patrols, and sentries, a whole army of men with thousands of guns which Bonaparte could otherwise employ elsewhere. If we never did anything these garrisons would be weakened and his armies in the field would be correspondingly strengthened. I don't suppose we shall achieve anything at Granville. A few gunboats will be damaged, a few guns dismounted, a dozen men killed or wounded. But some general will report that his coastal defences are too weak. He doesn't know what place will be attacked next. How
can
he know?
We
don't know. We haven't decided. So more effort is made and more men wasted. Our allies sometimes complain that our military effort is too feeble. Whether that is true or not, our men-of-war are engaging the equivalent of an entire French army. I repeat, Delancey, that this attack will not be a waste of time.”

Delancey's letter to Fiona left for Guernsey in the packet
Swallow,
the master of which had the shock of his life while his men were making sail. An odd-looking vessel was attempting to enter the anchorage—against both wind and tide; a feat which any schoolboy knew to be impossible. Apart from that she seemed to be on fire. Clouds of black smoke were billowing out from somewhere amidships and it seemed only a question of time before the vessel blew up and sank. It was
then apparent, to him and others, that this extraordinary craft had sails but all of them furled. She was approaching for all that and had a bow wave to prove it.

“Cor, damme!” exclaimed the old seaman. “What in God's name is that supposed to be?”

The same question was being asked by everyone in sight and Delancey, among other captains, had an urgent message from Stirling, who was officer of the watch—would he come on deck immediately? He did this in a flash, telescope in hand, and focused at once on the on-coming vessel. It was the
Invention,
sure enough, the vessel he had last seen at Woolwich. He even had a glimpse of Mr Williams, dressed now as a privateer captain. There was probably no other man in the harbour or anchorage who had seen a steamship before and it would be evening before everybody knew that this astounding vessel was not, and had never been, on fire. The
Invention
dropped anchor and lowered a boat which headed for the
Cerberus.
Williams evidently meant to pay his respects to the Admiral and probably offer his services. That there was to be a raid next day on Granville was now a matter of common knowledge. It was obvious to him, if not to anyone else, that a steamship might, on this occasion, play an extremely useful role.

Later that day, after the
Invention's
funnel had ceased to smoke, the flagship signalled Delancey to come aboard. He found the Rear-Admiral at once puzzled and impressed.

“Ah, Delancey, I want to talk to you about this steam-vessel. I understand that you have seen her before and that Mr Williams is known to you. He has offered me his help in the bombardment of Granville—heaven knows how he came to know about it, the plan being secret, and I am a little disturbed to think that his two 32-pounders are heavier in fact than any
other guns we have. However, I must accept the fact that he has made me a generous offer of assistance. He stands to gain nothing and I don't suppose that any underwriter would have insured his vessel. I have still to decide whether I want his help. As you know more about steam-vessels than I do—and you could not possibly know less—it seemed proper that I should seek your advice. Shall I accept his help?”