Pirates and Prisoners Chapter 4 Sailing into Trouble

[Jeff Thomas]

Chapter 4 Sailing into Trouble

Benjamin paced back and forth across the quarterdeck. He wouldn’t admit it to anybody, but he was nervous. The other ship plodded along without any change in course or speed. Still, it was a long chase.

“Odd,” Cunningham said as Benjamin’s pacing brought the two men into comfortable speaking distance. “He neither turns ; nor slows, or speeds up. He’s not running away or slowing down, so we can speak to him.”

“I see gunports, but he has not run his guns out.”

“So, he’s not going to fight us.” Cunningham eyed the other vessel, now only about only a mile away. “Seems to me, he’s resigned himself to whatever fate has in store for him.”

“I agree.”

Venus continued to close the range. When Finally, when he thought they were close enough, Benjamin hailed the other vessel through his speaking trumpet. “What ship is that?”

“MacDonald.”

“Wonderful,” Cunningham muttered, “more damn Scots.”

“Maybe they won’t be so bad.” ,” Benjamin answered. “And don’t forget Caitlin was the one that told us about the treasury ship.”

“I stand corrected, I will be more than happy to take a Scottish prize if it brings that kind of luck.”
Benjamin put the trumpet back to his mouth. “Stand to be boarded.”

The opposing captain waved an acknowledgment. Suddenly suspicion filled Benjamin’s mind. Could this be a trap?

“Is it a trap?” Garibaldi, who had joined the others on the quarterdeck, remarked.

“I was just wondering meself,” O’Reilly added.

“Mr. Cunningham, keep your eyes on his gunports. If he opens them, commence firing immediatelyat once. Mr. O’Reilly prepare a boarding party. Mr. Garibaldi, lay u alongside.”

All three acknowledged the orders. Seconds later, Cunningham yelled, “he’s opened a gunport.”

“Just one?” Benjamin asked, incredulously.

“Yes, sir. Shall I fire?”

Before Allen could answer him, MacDonald fired one cannon. The shot sounded odd and did not produce much smoke. “No, don’t fire. He fired a half charge with no shot.” Even as they turned to watch the other ship, Allen saw that MacDonald was striking her colors.

“That’s damn odd.” Benjamin muttered, “lay us alongside Mr. Cunningham.”

A few minutes later, the two vessels were tied together, MacDonald ‘s crew lined up deck as if they were piping an admiral aboard.

Two of O’Reilly’s boarding crew rigged a gangplank between the ships. As soon as they stepped back, Benjamin walked over to MacDonald. As he reached the other ship’s deck. tk, the whistle of a bo’s’n’s pipe startled him. The four men acting as side boys touched their knuckles to their foreheads.

Benjamin looked at the ship’s captain standing at the end of the gangplank. “Permission to come aboard?”

“Of course,” the man also saluted Benjamin. “I am Elijah Barclay, master of this ship. You are?”

“I am Benjamin Allen. You do know I’m not an Admiral.”

“Yes, I know. But I wish to make it clear I’m not going to fight you for this ship, or its cargo.”

“I can see that. I mean, no offense, but this ship doesn’t look to be worth a lot. What is your cargo?”

“Prisoners. I have two dozen pirates below deck, I’m; I’m taking them to New York for trial.”

“Pirates?”

“That is what the colonial governor called them when he hired me to transport them. They have Letters of Marque from the Continental Congress. Pieces of paper, worth about as much as their money. They are still pirates, but I’ll be damned if ITo me, they are still pirates, but I’ll be damned if I’ll die in a fight over them.”

“Is that the reason you only fired a token defense? Mr. Cunningham go below and confirm that.”

“Aye, aye, Sir.”

Cunningham pointed at a Venus crewman. “Come with me, we’ll; we’ll see what we’ve got. The two men took a ladder through the hatch to the lower deck. It was dark and stank Cunningham could hear labored breathing. After a moment, his eyes adjusted, and he could see rows of men chained to the walls. “Are there any Patriots here?” Hehe asked loudly.

Many voices tried to answer at once. “Yes,” “Here.” “I’m a Patriot.”

Cunningham turned to the sailor that came down with him. “Go get the keys to these chains.” The man saluted and left.

“Are you sailors? Is your captain here?”

“Most of us are sailors.” A man answered, holding up his arm so Cunningham could see him. “We don’t know what they’ve done with our officers. My name is Hobbs. I’m the senior man here.”

The two shook hands. As they shook hands, they heard noises from the deck above; several men were yelling and cursing. The sound of a fist hitting flesh. Moments later, the Venus man came back down the ladder and handed Cunningham a large key. “They didn’t want to give me this. Captain Allen convinced their captain to hand it over. I don’t think the man liked his methods.”

“What did Captain Allen do?”

“Told two crewmen to throw him over the side. There was shark circlingA shark was circling not far away. The man remembered right quick where the key was.”

“That’ll teach them,” a prisoner shouted, the; the others cheered.

As Cunningham brought the prisoners to the weather deck, Allen and MacDonald’s captain engaged in a loud argument. “I don’t care what those worthless pieces of paper say. You are pirates. Nothing more, nothing less. I am under no obligation to give you my name or explain why I chose not to fight you.”

“You seem not to like me, my men, or our missions,” Benjamin declared. “I understand, but why didn’t you fight us if you feel that wayif you feel that way why didn’t you fight us?”

Hobbs’ face turned red with rage. “Are you calling me a coward?”

“I can tell you why he didn’t fight,” Hobbs said, before he could answeranswering the captain’s accusation.

The captain turned and jabbed a finger at him. “You shut you your pie hole.”
Hobbs grinned. “I don’t have to take orders from you.” He Then, he looked at Benjamin and announced, “he didn’t fight because he has no ammunition.”

Benjamin shrugged. “That sounds possible. How did you come to be without ammunition.”

A long silence followed as MacDonald’s captain refused to say anything. Finally Then, finally, Hobbs broke the silence. “He doesn’t have any ammunition because the Royal Navy took it all.”

“They didn’t take it all.”

Hobbs laughed. “Since they didn’t leave you enough to fight, they might as well have taken it all.”

An hour-long argument followed, with MacDonald’s still unidentified captain railing against “lawless, unprincipled, uncivilized and greedy” pirates. When he finally had had enough, he ordered O’Reily O’Reilly to put the captain in irons and take him to his cabin.
Benjamin declared MacDonald a war prize. He appointed Hobbs Commander and ordered him to continue cruising in company with Venus. He transferred some ammunition so that Hobbs could fight and assigned the freed prisoners to function as his crew.
Benjamin had MacDonald’s captain confined to the lieutenant’s cabin. He First, he tasked the “cargo” of prisoners with cleaning and airing out the gundeck. He Next, he directed the ship’s cook to feed all hands the same food. “A bit easy on the prisoners, aren’t you?” Hobbs asked.

Benjamin thought for a minute before answering. “My father is held prisoner by the British. I will treat my prisoners the way I hope he is treated by his captorshis captors treat him.”

For a moment, Hobbs thought Benjamin would break into tears. “I’m sorry I raised old emotions. I did not know. I will help any way I can."

“Thank you. Follow me north, with; with your help, we can take more prizes to earn the money I’ll need to free my father.”

“Gladly.”

#

Thomas Phillips’ first command and cruise almost ended a week after it began. As the sun set, he took a turn around the deck, checking on the crew, and the condition of the shipship’s condition. His training program was taking longer than he had anticipated.

The ratio of able seamen to landsmen seemedIt seemed that the ratio of able seamen to landsmen was even worse than he had been told. Lacking the skilled men to instruct the newcomers, everything took longer. Fearful of running into a storm he had, he followed the chain of islands north. If he had to, he could find a harbor; or at least a sheltered cove in which to ride out a storm.

It did not help that the old hands yelled at the new recruits, swearing, and calling them names. At least one of the newcomers earned a night in the brig when he punched an older man who called him a “fool.” All told, it was not a happy ship.

Phillips wanted to return to his cabin but felt the need to check everything before he needed to check everything first so. It was quiet, so he walked aft to his cabin, hoping to get a decent night’s sleep. Instead, he spent about half an hour writing in his private diary and drinking a glass of sherry. “We are making progressprogressing in training, but much more slowly than I wished. I do not understand….” He drew a line through the last sentence and wrote another that better described his problem. “Too many of the men placedmen aboard this vessel do not understand the sea. They are not sailors in any sense of the word. This ship is unprepared for normal cruising, let alone battle.”

“Well,” he thought, “I hope the Navy Board never sees that sentence.” Complaining about one’s superiors was one of the fastest ways to end up off the promotions list. He needed to make sure no one saw his diary. He set it on his desk, blew out the lamp, and lay on his bed. The gentle rocking of the ship put him to sleep almost immediately.

He woke with a start, something; something; something was wrong. He looked around his cabin but could see nothing in the dark. He realized the ship was not moving at all but listed slightly to starboard. At the same moment, the drums started beating the crew to their handling stations. It only took seconds for Phillips to conclude that the ship had run aground. He pulled on his clothing and ran toward the companion waycompanionway to the quarter deck.

He ran into a midshipman at the top of the ladder. “What has happened?”

“We’re aground.” The boy, who was only about sixteen years old, replied. “We couldn’t help it, sir. There is nothing marked on the chart, and we saw no breaking waves or other sign signs of an obstruction. We…”

“Slow down, son. These things happen, but it is not yet a disaster. I suspect we will have to wait until dawn to do anything.” A quick walk around the deck confirmed Phillips’ hunch. “Tell the lieutenant to secure the anchor watch. We After that, we should get whatever sleep we can. Tomorrow will be busy.”

*

At dawn, the sun lunged above the horizon, sending red and gold highlights across the nearly flat ocean. Phillips took a turnturned around both sides of the deck, stopping every few feet to look over this side and estimate the scope of the problem.

“Well, one piece of luck,” Goodewell, the boatswain, said as he walked up to Phillips after inspecting the cargo hold. “She’s on sand, not rock. The hull is undamaged.”

“Well, that is good news. I think out our best bet to get free is to kedge a stern anchor out as far as we can and pull her backwards backward until she’s free.”

“Hard work, sir. We may have to, uh, give the men some encouragement….”

“Mr. Goodewell, you will save your whip for an event that warrants using it. This doesn’t.”

“And how to think you’re going to motivate the men to do all that work.” Goodewell crumbled, then hastily added, “I mean no offenceoffense, Captain. I’m curious to see how you do it.”

“Call the assembly and watch.”

A few minutes later, the men stood in silent rows facing the raised quarterdeck. “Men,” Phillips began, “you all know we are aground and that we intend to kedge the ship looselose.” Several men groaned but were careful to make sure no officer identified them. “I know, it is a lot of work. If you pull us free today, I will give an extra ration of grog to everyman.” This induced grins and expressions of gratitude. This time the, no one hid their pleasure.

“Additionally, if you accomplish this task by, let’s say, eight bells in the forenoon watch, I will provide an extra ration at the noon meal.”
This brought outright cheers.

Phillips turned to Goodewell. “They’re all yours.”

Two longboats carried the stern anchor fifty yards from the ship and dropped it into the water slightly deeper than that under the ship. Men began to take shifts turning the great windlass to pull the ship. All morning they swore, dripped sweat, and rubbed blisters into their hands where they gripped the windlass. But most importantly, they put their hearts into the work. For Yet, for all that, they had almost nothing to show for it. The ship had barely moved, it; it still listed to starboard.

Just before six bells Goodewell walked up to Phillips, who watched the work from the quarterdeck. “Well, Mr. Goodewell, we aren’t making much progress.”

“No, sir. I have an idea.”

“Tell me.”

“Saw this once when I was a lad on my uncle’s ship. We went aground just like this, with the bow stuck on an obstruction. My uncle refused to lighten the ship, as he said, ‘by throwing the money overboard.’ He would have starved to death rather than dumpedI think he would have starved to death rather than dump the cargo.”

“Go ahead.” Phillips felt irritated at having to listen to a silly story for a momentFor a moment Phillips felt irritation at having to listen to a silly story, but decided he had nothing else to do, and perhaps Goodewell’s idea would work. “I’m all ears, nothing else to do.”

“We could move the forward battery aft; it would shift weight toward the end of the ship in deeper water.”

“You took soundings?”

“Of course,” Goodewell, snapped.

“Sorry, I wasn’t questioning your work, get; get started on it. We will find out soon enough if it works.”
Goodewell returned to the deck and organized teams to move the guns. When done, they would have moved several tons of metal.

Others continued to try to winch the ship free. . Finally, Phillips ordered the long boats that had taken the kedge anchor out to rig ropes to Siren’s stern, in hopes of pulling the ship sideways. Just as they began rowing, the ship’s bell ran seven times.

From his position on the quarterdeck, Phillips heard a man shout, “for the love of grog, put your backs in it.” This produced laughter and renewed attempt to haul on the windlass. For a time, nothing changed. “I thought I felt movement,” Goodewell said,

“I didn’t feel anything.” ,” Phillips responded.

Suddenly Siren lurched to starboard, and the masts swayed back to an upright positionupright. The crew cheered as the long boats pulled the ship away from the sand bar. At that moment, the bell rang again; Dong-dong, Dong-dong. Dong-dong, Dong-dong.

“You did well, men,” Phillips shouted, “stow the gear, and we will celebrate.”
The crew cheered this announcement. Spurred Then, spurred along by the knowledge of extra grog, the crew rapidly made Siren ready to resume cruising. The forward battery guns were returned to their proper location, long boats taken back aboard, and ropes coiled.

Goodewell and Phillips stood at the quarterdeck rail and watch watched the men as they received their grog. One Finally, one sailor jumped on a barrel and raised his cup. “To Captain Phillips and a successful hunt.” The others cheered and drank. Within the hour Siren cleared the area Siren cleared the area within the hour and cruised on a northward course. As he walked the deck, Goodewell noticed a change in the crew’s attitude. They laughed and joked; he noticed saw an old hand teaching knots to a half-dozen new newly caught men. Another experienced man drilled a new man on the names and purposes of the myriad ropes attached to the masts.

When he arrived aft, he climbed to the quarterdeck and approached Phillips. “I will get this over with, captain, your; your ways of doing things here work. I stand corrected.”

Phillips smiled. “I’m glad you see that. Now help me plan ways of dealing with these pirates.”

Book one of The Privateer series now for sale on Amazon
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[jemhouston]

Smart Captain.

[Belushi TD]

Very much so. However, completely atypical for the time period as I understand it. Its interesting how much nautical fiction from the age of sail has the crew respond to understanding rather than the officers just abusing the men.

I am liking this. Please keep it up!

Belushi TD