devil are you about, Mr Kydd? Not yet finished?'
The sprightly sound of 'Roast Beef of Old England' on fife and drum echoed up from the main deck. The men had already taken their issue of grog and gone below for the high point of their noonday meal, leaving the deck to the officers and indispensables of the watch. As they returned to work, to part-of-ship for cleaning, Kydd thankfully answered the call and made his way to the wardroom.
The table was spread, wine was uncorked and splashing into glasses; expressions were easing after the morning's tensions. Laughter erupted at one end of the table and the fragrance of roast pork agreeably filled the air.
'Your good health, brother!' Renzi grinned at Kydd over his glass: he had done tolerably well at the mainmast that morning, avoiding the captain's wrath at the last moment by quick-thinking at the braces.
'Thank ye — and yours, old friend,' Kydd replied. There was a lot to think about, not the least of which was his standing in this world, so utterly different from that of the seaman.
An insistent tinkling intruded into his thoughts. It was the second lieutenant, tapping his glass with a spoon. 'Gentlemen, may I have your attention?' He waited until the talk died. 'I don't have to tell you that we shall soon be rejoining the fleet, which means, of course, that we shall need to provision against some months at sea.'
He looked pointedly at Kydd. 'There are some who are victualled 'bare Navy' but have nevertheless seen fit to accept the hospitality of this mess.' Mystified, Kydd turned to Adams, who merely raised his eyebrows. 'This is neither fair nor honourable. But be that as it may, in my humble post as mess caterer, I have calculated that we shall need to consider the sum of fifty pounds per annum as a minimum subscription.'
'Preposterous! That's more'n five poun' a head!' Bryant's glass trembled in mid-air. 'What do we get for that?'
Bampton heaved a theatrical sigh. 'The mess commensal wine by quarter cask is half a pint a day, captain to dinner once a month. We lay in the usual cheeses, barrel oysters, tea and raisins, other conveniences for the pantry, such as cloves, pickles, ginger and the like, and when we consider breakages in glasses and dishes . . .'
Kydd thought of the seaman's broadside mess, with its square wooden plates and pewter tankards, the men using their own knives. There was little that could be considered breakable, and even the petty officers carried few crockery items in their mess racks. He decided to lie low while discussions raged about the mess subscription. He himself was not pressed for money and he had taken the precaution of appointing an agent. The Caribbean prizes had long yielded their bounty, but Camperdown was promising not only a medal but gun money in surprising degree.
'That's settled, then.' Bampton made a pencil note and sat back. 'We agree to subscribe the sum of five guineas per head. The officers' wine store is near empty, and with the usual allowance I believe you shall find room for four dozen apiece—you will be laying in your own cabin stores, of course.
'Now, it is usual to empower the mess caterer to go ashore on the wardroom's behalf. I shall do so in Yarmouth, and will expect one guinea in advance from each officer.'
CHAPTER 3
OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS THE RUMBLE and squeak of gun trucks was a never-ending background to shipboard life. Not content with exercising the company of
Houghton had been on a gun-deck in the long-drawn-out battle of the Glorious First of June. 'Different ships, different long-splices,' was the saying before the mast: some captains were particularly keen on appearances, others favoured the niceties of seamanship. With this one it was gunnery, Kydd had realised quickly.
Then the awaited sailing orders came. Within minutes Houghton had summoned his officers to his cabin. 'I have here the Admiralty's instructions—and I have to say, they are not what I was expecting.' Houghton lifted his eyes from the paper, enjoying the suspense. 'Indeed not. It would seem that their lordships believe that after Camperdown the North Sea Fleet may be safely reduced, and therefore we are to be sent to join the North American station.'
Excited talk broke out. 'Sir, if we should fit foreign, then . . .' The first lieutenant needed details. Not only did there have to be a wholesale hold-restowing but there would, no doubt, be official impositions, from carrying mails to chests of specie for a garrison, to prickly passengers and returning prisoners.
'Now where in Hades do we find real foul-weather gear in Sheerness?' Pringle muttered. 'Gets cold as charity in Halifax.'
'Quite,' agreed Houghton, 'but we shall touch at Falmouth for a convoy. If my memory serves, there is adequate chandlery servicing the Atlantic packets. I'd advise you all to wait and procure your cabin stores there.'
'You've been to Halifax, sir?'
'I have. But not since His Highness took up his post.'
'Sir?'
'His Royal Highness Prince Edward. Our only overseas possession to boast a prince of the blood. Quite turned society on its head, I've heard.' Houghton stood up. 'Gentlemen, may I remind you there is not a moment to be lost? The first lieutenant will provide a list of actions that will result, I trust, in our being under way for the Downs in two days.'
A smack poled away from the sides of the ship, the tender now released from its workaday fetching and carrying. Her crew waved up at the big two-decker flying the Blue Peter at the fore masthead. She was outward bound to foreign parts, to mysterious worlds across the oceans, while they remained at home.
Kydd stood easy on the fo'c'sle, waiting with his party to bring the anchors to final sea stowage. Decks below, in the fetid gloom, the capstans would be manned and the fearsome job of winning her anchors would be acted out. Thankfully, this was not his concern.
The soft green of the land held a tinge of melancholy: how long before he would see these shores again? What adventures lay waiting? Just a brief stop in Falmouth to pick up the convoy, then he might be looking on his native England for the last time—deaths by disease and accident far exceeded those from enemy action.
