HMS Athena: A Charles Mullins novel (Sea Command Book 4) (9 page)

Athena had to sail eastward to escape the influence of the northward flowing current. Then she made her way south to the latitude of the Spanish islands. Mullins was not quite certain what he could accomplish in these waters. His ship was certainly not powerful enough to defeat one of those Spanish battleships he was trying to locate. However, he would see what he might be able to find.

Mister Cartwright produced his charts for the area, and a quick examination convinced Captain Mullins two ports were candidates for examination. San Juan and Havana were the two important ports in the area and should be investigated.

Strong forts defended both San Juan and Havana harbors, and caution was needed when approaching either. The two harbors were on different islands, San Juan, on Puerto Rico, was upwind of Cuba, so they might as well begin there. Approaching the island from the north, they began encountering small craft. Wishing to close the harbor in an effort to view its interior, Mullins ordered the French tricolor flown. He hoped to convince the Spaniards into believing Athena was a harmless ally.

Athena might well convince the Spanish authorities she was indeed an allied warship, since she was originally built in a French yard. The flag aroused no curiosity, even when a Spanish guarda costa coastal defense craft approached. Other than dip her flag, she paid them no notice.

Altering course to remain clear of the patrol craft, Athena made landfall to the west of the entrance to the harbor. Steering eastward past the entrance, a fleeting glimpse was made of a portion of the port’s interior. As they passed within range of the guns of Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a number of warships appeared briefly in the inner harbor. All except two seemed harmless enough, their topmasts and yards down with no running rigging apparent. The two exceptions were a different story, however.

One was a three-decker, probably armed with close to a hundred guns. The other was a two-decked, third-rate line-of-battleship. Both had their yards crossed and appeared ready to take to the sea at short notice. While they were skirting the harbor entrance at dangerously close range, the fortress took notice of their presence. A drum began rattling, and then a single gun fired. Mister Cartwright put Athena about, taking her out on the blustery south-west wind.

As she fled, moments later more guns opened up. A few balls struck close to the ship, and then they were out of range. The commotion aroused the guarda costa vessel, which had ignored them before. A two-masted lugger, of the Spanish Royal Navy, armed with a few small guns to intimidate smugglers, set out after Athena. A fast one, the lugger followed Athena out, steadily banging away at Athena’s stern with her forward-mounted four pounders.

Mullins had no quarrel with the patrol boat and would have been glad to let her go on her way, but one of those four-pound balls, fired from extreme range smacked into Athena’s quarter gallery. It caused no major damage to the ship and the carpenter was able to make a quick repair after the excitement was over.

Captain Mullins however, well satisfied with the escape from the port’s defenses after gaining much needed intelligence, was sitting on his seat of ease in the quarter gallery when the ball struck. The side of the structure now had a gaping hole and splinters were driven into the captain’s sensitive nether anatomy.

Erupting out of the quarter gallery, his slop trousers at half-mast, he raged out onto the quarterdeck where he ordered Mister Drover to put the ship about.

The ship went about like lightning, although more than a few of the hands had to work with one hand in front of their faces to hide the wide grins.

Mister Howard took the deck while Drover went to command the guns. Athena closed rapidly with the guarda costa vessel until its commander suddenly decided it might be better if his patrol craft was somewhere else. He had to consider that chasing an interloper away from the island’s major harbor was one thing, facing a twenty-eight-gun ship of war armed with thirty-two pounder carronades, was something else again. The patrol craft put about, but Athena matched her turn and her gunners fired when each gun captain was sure of his aim. Deliberate, independent fire, not the crashing broadside some captains strived for, ended the little conflict.

At this range, only four balls struck the target, but those four did a disproportional amount of damage. One clipped the craft’s foremast, which immediately went over the side. Dead in the water now, she remained so while Athena surged up to her. Her commander, a teniente of maybe eighteen years of age, took one look at the glowering carronades and removed his white shirt, waving it furiously.

Later that day, both the quarter gallery and the captain’s temper both now repaired, the Spanish lieutenant was invited to dinner at the captain’s table. Teniente Ramirez had already learned of Captain Mullin’s misfortune from a visit paid to his men, now imprisoned in Athena’s orlop. One of Athena’s Portuguese crewmembers had thought it pertinent to explain to the Spanish prisoners why Athena had turned on them so rapidly.

One of Athena’s spare topmasts replaced the spar shot away on the prize, and the pair was soon on their way to Jamaica to spread the word of the new warships in the area. Captain Mullins considered Mister Archer had performed acceptably while prize-master of the tartane earlier, so he was given command of this latter prize.

Captain Mullins reported to Rear Admiral Dacres immediately upon arriving at Jamaica Station where he had to explain his presence. Dacres had recently assumed command from Admiral Duckworth and was surprised with the orders given Mullins off Ferrol but was appreciative of the intelligence he brought.

“Captain Mullins, you should know Admiral Cochrane has assumed command of the Leeward Islands squadron. I am pleased to learn the location of the newly arrived Spanish line-of-battleships from Spain. One of Admiral Cochrane’s dispatch cutters has recently come into port. I will send word to the admiral of your recent escapades and the news you have brought us. At this moment, I do not know whether you will be assigned to the Leeward Island squadron or sent back to European waters. In the meantime, I have use for your ship.”

“It is important that we keep abreast of the location of our missing Spaniards, now that you have found them for us. Therefore, as soon as you have your ship in order, I will send you back to keep watch over San Juan Harbor. I will endeavor to send additional vessels as they become available. Of course, you will not be able to prevent the enemy ships sailing, but you may be able to follow them and send us word as to their destination. Of course, if Admiral Cochrane should give you contrary orders, you will obey his instructions.”

HMS Athena lay at anchor for a week, while stores were loaded and repairs completed. Mullins had expected to have his prize crew that was still aboard their prize returned, but this did not happen. From his quarterdeck, he could see men swarming over the prize. A new spar, floated over from the dockyard, was soon set up in lieu of the jury rig installed after her capture.

Curious, he took his gig over to her to see for himself what was occurring. As his boat approached the lugger, another boat approached from the direction of the flagship. Captain Wilton, Admiral Dacre’s flag captain, was sitting in the stern sheets. Knowing his place, Mullins ordered his cox’n to allow the superior officer to board first.

After the portly captain had climbed aboard and was greeted with what courtesies Midshipman Archer on the prize had to offer, Mullins pulled himself aboard by the manropes. One of the seamen was tootling on a bosun’s pipe as he came aboard.

Captain Wilton came over and welcomed him, explaining that he had been saved a trip to Athena, “Because Admiral Dacres desires you to have a tender to relay messages when you have gained further intelligence of your quarry, he has decided to purchase the lugger into the Navy. Her commissioning ceremony shall be this afternoon. It is my task to select a proper commander for her. Do you consider her present prize-master capable of handling the lugger, or should I look about for a more experienced officer?”

Mullins answered quickly. “This is Midshipman Archer’s second command. He commanded a tartane we took off the Spanish coast and took her into Lisbon. I trust the lad to handle the lugger competently.”

“Very well, we will leave him in place. It must be understood he will not go haring after prizes or entering into ill-judged combat with enemy vessels. His purpose is to transmit any intelligence discovered by you to Jamaica Station.”

HMS Athena and the lugger, now re-named HMS Havoc, set out for Puerto Rico to find if the Spanish warships were still in San Juan harbor. The defenses, alerted by Athena’s previous visit, fired upon the intruders whenever they approached within range. Unable to learn anything at first hand, Mullins opted to remain offshore where he might intercept ships leaving that port.

Nothing was learned for several weeks but one evening, a brig was seen coming from the direction of the port. Havoc cooperated with Athena to bring the vessel to heel. It proved to be a French trading vessel bound for Guadeloupe, laden with casks of salt pork.

The brig was given a master’s mate and a few seamen. Before she left for Jamaica, her original crew was brought aboard Athena and interviewed. All declined to answer any questions save for their cook. A former slave of mixed ancestry, Pierre Dupret had been freed early on in the French Revolution, but now it was reported that Napoleon had reversed the former decision to free all slaves. With the possibility of slavery returning to the French islands, Dupret was terrified that he might be enslaved again.

He thought there could be no escape. Even if he could find his way to a British island, he thought he might just escape bondage to a French master to become a slave to an English one. Lieutenant Howard explained the law to him. If he were to volunteer to serve in the Royal Navy, he would automatically be free of any question of servitude to a former master. Of course, it might be said he had merely exchanged the possibility of servitude to a French owner to the certainty of servitude in the Royal Navy.

With the first officer’s assurance of freedom from the Navy at the end of the war, Dupret immediately began to volunteer what information he had. A native of Saint Dominique, he spoke French, Spanish and Creole interchangeably. His ship had stopped in San Juan on passage to Guadeloupe. Having spent a few hours onshore, he had heard the locals gossiping about the newly arrived ships.

There were serious problems with both. The larger one was seriously infected with rot in her timbers below decks. With no facilities locally to make repairs and unfit for service at sea, it had been decided to keep her in position for harbor defense. The smaller third-rate, San Francisco de Asturia, also had her own difficulties. An old ship, her timbers were strained. She was suffering from what the British would call ‘hogging’. Her frame was sagging from the weight of her armament and it was believed she could no longer serve as a ship of war.

Therefore, it was decided to transform her into a transport, for which there was an urgent need. Most of her guns were removed to reinforce the defenses of San Juan while the ship itself was prepared to transport soldiers to Spanish Hispaniola, where a slave revolt was in progress.

Dupret had no knowledge of the actual sailing date but thought it must be soon. The workers assigned to do temporary repairs on her hull had been sent ashore just before his ship left port. A thirty-two-gun Spanish frigate, idle for years, had been hastily refurbished and would serve as escort to the old transport on the short voyage to Hispaniola. The Estrella del Mar was also old and in poor repair, but it was thought she could perform this one last duty.

Electing to send his information in to Admiral Dacres by the prize, Mullins kept Havoc in loose company with him. While Athena waited well off-shore for activity, her tender made periodic sorties into inshore Spanish waters in attempts to gather information.

This strategy proved successful one evening when another guarda costa vessel appeared on the heels of Havoc, who was returning from one of her looks into San Juan harbor, the guard boat peppering her with fire from her forward guns. Presenting her beam to the enemy, Athena loosed her port broadside at the nuisance, causing little or no damage, but the little craft went about, returning to San Juan, satisfied with driving the spy away.

During the night, both Athena and Havoc set sail toward San Juan Harbor, hoping to catch the enemy off-guard. They were rewarded when, at first light, they saw the dis-armed third-rate and her protector, the old thirty-two-gun Spanish frigate. These ships had apparently worked their way out of the harbor the evening before and were now proceeding eastward toward Hispaniola.

Mullins decided to keep Havoc with him for now. It was only a short passage for the enemy to her destination and there would be insufficient time for Havoc to obtain help before the transport landed her troops. Neither of the enemy ships were fast, but the old frigate seemed painfully slow. Moored for years at her berth in San Juan harbor, she had grown an astonishing crop of weed and other growth on her hull. The dis-armed third-rate had to continuously shorten sail to avoid running away from her consort.

Athena’s objective was the transport with its load of soldiers and their equipment, but the frigate interposed itself between the transport and her abuser and began to close with the post ship. Mullins did not wish to become involved in a slugging match with the more powerful frigate, but he soon learned the gunnery practice of the enemy warship was abysmally poor, as was her sail handling. Despite dozens of shot expended, not one came close to the post ship. Mullins suspected her hands had been summarily dragooned aboard the ship from the docks, wharves and posadas of the port, regardless of their seamanship ability. He doubted this crew had any experience with gunnery.