Reefs and Shoals

ships were brigs or brigantines, most moored further up the mouth of the river nearer Turtle Island, and the few larger three-masted, full-rigged ships were anchored below Cockspur Island in deeper water. One of them had barge-like hoys and sailing lighters nestled alongside her, as if her master was loath to sail all the way up-river to Savannah’s docks, and was lading or discharging his cargo here; perhaps Savannah’s exports and imports were handled in that way, for ships which couldn’t find enough depth?

As light as the sundown wind was, it was sufficient to stream Reliant ’s large Union flag to advert her nationality to one and all. All the other anchored ships, both big and small, displayed the blue- and-starry canton, and the red and white horizontal stripes, of America.

Lewrie heaved a small, wary snort. He had used the ruse of flying a false flag in the past to stride up within pistol-shot of an enemy ship, before whipping it down and hoisting true colours at the last instant. What he, or any other nation, could do, anyone else could do, be they a merchantman or a privateer. Might one of the brigs or brigantines be a Frenchman in disguise, this very moment?

Two Bells were struck on the ship’s bell; it was half past six, and one half-hour into the short Second Dog Watch. Marine Lieutenant Simcock was mustering and inspecting his sentries in the waist before posting them at the forecastle, on the gangways, and the taffrails to guard against hostile raiders or deserters willing to try a long swim to freedom.

Time for a drink, Lewrie told himself; for it’s been a long and depressin’ day.

“I will be aft and below,” Lewrie told the Midshipman of the harbour watch, Mr. Warburton. On his way to the starboard ladderway, he stepped on something both squishy and crunchy. He picked it up; it was one of the shrimp that his cats had slapped about, then abandoned un-eaten. Toulon’s, most-like, Lewrie thought as he heaved it over the side; I’m sure Chalky managed his.

He looked round for the pestiferous ship’s dog, but there was no sign of it. Bisquit was likely below on the mess deck or in the Mid’s cockpit, begging affection… or in the warm galley with Mr. Cooke, awaiting his evening tucker. It was safe for Lewrie to open the door to his cabins!

“Evening, sir,” Pettus greeted him, looking up from the dining table where he was laying a place for one. “Care for a glass of something before supper, sir?”

“A nice, cool white wine, Pettus, thankee,” Lewrie said, going to the starboard-side settee to fling himself down on it and prop his booted legs atop the round brass Hindoo tray table. “It’s seafood, tonight, so a white’ll do main- well. Here, lads! Here, cats!”

“Right away, sir,” Pettus replied, going to the wine-cabinet to rummage round ’til he found the right bottle. “Yeovill said he was preparing something new for your sweets, sir… a pie that he and Mister Cooke discovered at Charleston. Sold on the streets by Black ladies, he said, and it took quite a lot to worm the receipt from them on how to prepare it, he said. What Yeovill called pecan pie, sir.”

“Oh, I had a slice o’ that when I dined ashore, aye!” Lewrie enthused. “ Sinful -good, it was, and so sweet and gooey, it could make your teeth hurt. I’m lookin’ forward t’that.”

Pettus brought him a glass of Rhenish, though it was hard to take a sip once he got it, for Toulon and Chalky had swarmed his lap, stomach, and chest, purring and shoving their heads under his hands for long-delayed affection.

A hellish task I’ve been set, t’peek into all these damned inlets and sounds, Lewrie told himself; but, at the end of the day, at last, there’s pleasant rewards.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Lewrie had heard of the beauty and elegance of Savannah, but at first impression, the moment that his barge ghosted up to the teeming commercial docks, it looked as dowdy as any seaport. And, so many miles inland from Tybee Roads and the reach of a fresh sea-wind, the place had a reek about it. Add to that the fact that it was by then late May and the climate was warm, humid, and almost steamy, and Captain Alan Lewrie would have gladly avoided the place, if he could.

He had brought along the Ship’s Purser, Mr. Cadbury, of course, to purchase fresh victuals, though there was little the ship needed at present, after their previous stops, and in the course of that, to spy out the commercial trade to see if any war materiel might be stocked for sale to privateers… on the sly, if Cadbury could manage it.

He had also brought along Mr. Midshipman, the Honourable Albert Entwhistle, who was by then a seasoned, and most presentable, twenty-year-old. His barge was manned by his Cox’n, Liam Desmond, with stroke oar Patrick Furfy, and the same hands who’d accompanied him up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington. Lewrie, Cadbury, and Entwhistle could possibly be lodged with their consul’s residence, and the hands in his coach house; if not, Lewrie had come prepared with a full coin purse for food and lodging.

Their consul, though…

There had been no time to send an introductory letter up-river after anchoring the evening before, so Lewrie and his party arrived as a surprise. Once the boat was secured at a riverfront chandlery, he and his men set out to find the consul’s residence, or his offices. A clerk at the chandlery assured them where Mr. Hereford could be found, in an office behind the sprawling docks and warehouses, not two blocks off… though the clerk did not sound all that respectful.

Lewrie discovered the reason for that dis-respect when he got to the given address, and found that Mr. Hereford kept a small office in a brick building full of lawyers, a pre-Revolution mansion that had seen better days, and had been sub-divided into a nasty warren of tiny suites. An upper-storey door to one suite bore a painted wood plaque announcing “Mr. R. L. E. Hereford, Esq., H.M. Consul”, and Lewrie rapped on it several times, with no response. He tried the door knob and it opened easily, so he swung the door fully open and stepped in.

“Excuse me. Anyone in?” he called out as he entered a small anteroom filled with bookcases, a desk, chair, and a sitting area off to one side. There was a settee there, and from it sprang a liveried Black servant, his white periwig askew, and his eyes as wide as saucers. He emitted an “ Eep! ”, gulped twice, and looked as if he would run, given the chance.

“Captain Alan Lewrie,” he told that quaking worthy. “I’m come to speak with the British Consul. Is he in?”

“ Eep! ” the servant reiterated, twitching his clothing back to good order, and fussing with his wig. “Mistah… Mistah Hereford, he’s in, sah… Cap’m sah… but…!”

“Announce me if you will, there’s a good fellow,” Lewrie said.

“Yassuh, yassuh, right away,” the servant said, going to the other door at the back of the anteroom and slipping inside, closing it behind him.

“Damn’ odd way to maintain offices, sir,” Midshipman Warburton said in a sidelong mutter. “Must not do much business here.”

Lewrie thought much the same, for the book cases were crammed with piles of loose correspondence angled any-old-how, legal books in piles on the floor, on the small outer-office desk, and all filmed with a noticeable coating of dust, as if nothing of import had taken place in a month of Sundays. From behind that second door, Lewrie could hear water being splashed, some impatient mutters, and then the sound of gargling and spitting. The door was opened again, and the liveried Black servant stepped through to the anteroom, shutting it at once, softly. “His Excellency, Mistuh Hereford, will be with ya sho’tly, Cap’m.” He then stood by the doorway, waiting, eyes half-shut.

His “Excellency”, mine arse. Lewrie scoffed to himself.

After a long wait, the door to the inner office opened, and a gentleman stepped through it. Mr. Hereford’s reaction to the sight of a Royal Navy officer was most unlike his servant’s; the fellow scowled and squinted as if Lewrie’s presence was a bother.

“Richard Hereford, your servant, sir,” the fellow announced as he performed a slight bow from the waist. “My man said you are Captain… uhm?” he prompted, with a brow up and hand waved in the air.

“Alan Lewrie, captain of the Reliant frigate, Mister Hereford,” Lewrie told him, performing a deeper bow. “My pardons for not sending word of my arrival in Tybee Roads last evening, sir, but the