a talisman, a magic symbol to wave away fear of invasion. 'Drake is a mighty figure indeed. And captaining, of course, one of our new fine ships. Ships that can dip and weave across the waves like a dancer, sailing almost into the wind…'
In the face of bitter opposition, Hawkins, The Queen's Admiral, had cut down the huge castles that dominated the bow and stern of warships. Instead he had forced through new vessels with low, lean profiles, eminently more manoeuvrable and capable of sailing almost directly into the wind. The great castles had been for soldiers, so that they could pour down a musket fire on their enemy and then launch themselves down on their foe as they came alongside, grappled and boarded. Yet these vast castles fore and aft, their size almost a symbol of the ego of the ship's captain, caught the wind like a vast sail, made the ships almost unmanoeuvrable unless the wind was directly behind them.
We have ships that can stand off from an enemy and blow it out of the water. No boarding, no coming alongside.' It was Gresham taking over now. He had no need and no desire to offend Cecil, at least not until he knew what this man's game was. Yet if he was to become involved in the defence of England, it would be as wise to hear the answer from London to some obvious questions. 'But Drake has never commanded an English fleet in battle with another fleet. Even the Queen described him as her pirate,' Gresham said. A flicker of laughter went round the table. 'His only experience is in attacking primarily merchant vessels, or inferior forces, for the purpose of taking their cargo and enriching both the nation and himself. Glorious, certainly. But the Spaniards have fought pitched battles at sea, with several fleets.'
Though I wonder how glorious it really is, thought Gresham, or whether it is simply greed. And piracy.
'Our captains, even if they know how to use our ships and can resist the lure of treasure, are reported to be at each other's throats more often than they fight the enemy,' Gresham continued. It was known that Frobisher had threatened to tear Drake's heart out. 'Each ship in our fleet is a mere individual, operating at the whim of its captain. It's like an army where the officers are at war with each other, and each soldier takes a personal decision which enemy to fight!'
'I think,' said Cecil smoothly, 'that our captains can be trusted to unite in the face of any threat we might face from Spain. And if a young man such as yourself, with no experience of sea-faring, can identify these problems, think you not that those with all the experience in the world of seafaring, and their masters, are aware of them as well and have plans in hand to solve them?'
It was a good, telling point. There was a buzz of support from round the table. People needed to believe in this, Gresham realised. He also realised he had not added to the number of his friends by seeming to challenge the reassurance of Cecil, and the reputation of Drake. The thinnest possible glint in Cecil's eyes suggested that he knew he had scored an emotional victory, if not an intellectual one, with the Fellowship.
The knock on the door came shortly after Gresham returned to his rooms. Mannion had been dismissed and was no doubt now haunting one of the less respectable taverns in Cambridge. Cecil motioned his own servant away, ordering him to shut both the outer and the inner door. It was an unusual slip from a man Gresham suspected weighed every move. Gresham could have pointed out that these were his rooms and it was therefore his decision as to whether the doors were open or shut. He kept his counsel.
'It is kind of you to see me,' said Cecil, inclining his head to Gresham and knowing that Gresham had no option.
'It's an honour,' Gresham replied, inclining likewise and knowing that it was not.
'You argued your case well,' said Cecil. The man had small, gimlet eyes. The cut of the long cloak he had donned, and the doublet under it, obscured the crook in his back, and his hair was arranged so as to cover in part the indentation in the side of his head that his detractors said had been caused when his wet nurse had dropped him on to a stone floor.
Yet I lost it, thought Gresham. However well I argued, it was you who took the balance of the Fellowship with you. What had Walsingham once said to him? To admit weakness is sometimes to gain strength'.
'Had we been in formal disputation, I think we both know you would have won,' said Gresham. Formal debates were the meat and drink of Cambridge academic life, central to its academic processes.
'Those who say what the listeners wish to hear frequently defeat those who tell the truth,' replied Cecil, something akin to a dry smile passing his lips.
Well now! Two sets of truth following on one from the other! At this rate we'll be in bed together by midnight and married in the morning, thought Gresham. 'I'm forgetting my manners,' he said aloud. 'Can I tempt you to some wine?'
'How kind,' replied Cecil. The voice was thin, reedy, but with the strength of wire. Gresham got up and poured the wine into a fine Venetian glass. If Cecil noticed how expensive his drinking vessel was he did not show it, merely toying with the stem as if distracted. Gresham decided to say nothing. It was Cecil who broke the silence. 'Unfortunately you are correct. We have no proper army to defend our shores. Drake is unreliable. Our ships are individuals, not a unified fleet such as the Spanish possess, with tactics they have tried out in battle.'
Gresham was able to control his face. Here was an admission indeed — an admission that could be taken to come direct from the Queen's Chief Minister.
'You will condemn me, no doubt,' said Cecil. Was he aware of the shock he had caused? It was difficult to know; the man was a courtier and a politician, bred to hide his feelings, as Gresham had been forced to learn to do. 'Condemn me for seeking to defeat your arguments tonight in front of your Fellowship when I knew them to be correct.' Was there the slightest hint of pleasure that he had been victorious?
'I condemn no one,' said Gresham, 'I leave that to judges and to politicians.'
'It is an instinct for one such as myself to calm fears,' said Cecil. 'Even more so if they are true.'
'I am no sailor,' said Gresham, repeating what he had said to Walsingham. 'What role can I play in these great events?'
'From what little I know, you can act as eyes and ears for our country in Lisbon. And I believe for some while you have acted as an… agent, for Walsingham?'
'You must know I have,' answered Gresham simply.
'A spy? Are we allowed to use the word?' In using it Cecil had allowed a degree of venom to creep into his voice.
'If you don't, others will. And spies are necessary, after all,' said Gresham. 'As are dogs. And even lice must be necessary, or surely God would not have created them?'
'Very necessary,' said Cecil with the same distaste as one might describe the fellow who cleared out the midden. Both men were resisting an urge to scratch. 'In any event, here are the papers Sir Francis wished you to have. He requested that. I urge caution on you. As I am sure you know, such orders as he has chosen to give you will mean your death if they are found on your person in a foreign country. Sir Francis suggests-'
'That I destroy them once they are read. It is an order with which I'm familiar,' said Gresham with a thin smile.
'Indeed,' said Cecil, pleasantly. Why did his pleasantness worry Gresham? 'And I wish you well on the voyage. I understand Sir Francis is hoping for a great victory related to barrel staves.'
'Barrel staves?' said Gresham incredulously. A sense of humour was not a feature he associated with Robert Cecil. 'Are we going to acquire large quantities of barrel staves and beat the Spaniards over the head with them? I would have thought pikes and muskets were a more conventional-'
Cecil refused to rise to Gresham's sarcasm. He interrupted Gresham.
'My lord believes we can cripple the Armada through barrel staves as much as through cannon fire. A great Armada of ships requires thousands of tons of food, of wine of water, of powder — all stored in barrels. Where else can such commodities be stored? Have you tasted beer from a barrel made of unseasoned staves?'
Sour beer! Of course! Water was a dangerous drink, and the brewing process seemed to take the badness out of water. Even Gresham knew what happened on board ship if a barrel was broached and the contents poisoned through unseasoned timber. Such timber also bent and shrank, letting out the contents. Mind you, so few hops were used in brewing the beer for the Queen's ships that the stuff was rumoured to be rotten before it got into the barrels. Cecil continued, as if lecturing a child.
'Because the wood for staves has to season and, because Spain needs far more barrels than are currently available, the order has gone out for suitable wood across Europe. Small boats, mainly, in their hundreds. Heading for Lisbon. Walsingham believes if we can sink or capture enough of these vessels, we will give the Spaniards gut rot for food and poison for their drink. Drake's instructions are to patrol off Lisbon or Cadiz, attack if he can. If not,
