The Corvette

longboat had gained. Meanwhile Mr Quilhampton was urging his boat's crew to further efforts, but Melusine seemed unwilling to move. On the last occasion this had occurred they had bounced off the remains of Narwhal. This time they did not have such help.

'Mr Bourne!' The lieutenant's face turned anxiously towards him.

'Sir?'

'Man the larboard guns, two divisions to fire unshotted cartridges alternately. The breechings to be set up tight. We'll use the recoil to throw the ship off.'

'Aye, aye, sir! Larbowlines! Larboard battery make ready…!'

It took several minutes, much longer than if the men had been at their stations for action. But there was no-one on deck, except perhaps Meetuck, who was not seaman enough to appreciate the nature of their situation. Hill was dragging a pudding fender aft to heave over the larboard quarter.

'Well done, Mr Hill…'

Drinkwater watched the dog-vanes, his stomach churning. He felt his isolation from the comforting expertise of the whale-ship masters acutely. It prompted him to hail the mainmasthead.

'Masthead there!'

Glencross's head appeared. 'D'you have anything in sight?'

'No, sir! There seems to be clear water to leeward of this floe, but no sails, sir.'

'Very well.' Drinkwater directed his thoughts to the fate of the Faithful. In which direction should he chase once he got clear of their present situation? He tried not to think of the possibility of their failing to clear the floe. Melusine was not fit for such work in these latitudes. He began to see the weaknesses of St Vincent's reforms undertaken in a mere temporary truce, while the protagonists of this great war caught their breath. But he had no time for further considerations. Bourne reported the guns ready.

'Very well. Forward battery to fire first and to reload as fast as possible. Fastest guns' crew will receive a double tot of rum. But no rolling fire, Mr Bourne, half broadsides only, to make best use of the recoil.'

'Aye, aye sir. I took the liberty of double-loading…'

'Have a care then, one round only doubled, Mr Bourne. See to it yourself and open fire without delay.'

Drinkwater clasped his hands behind his back with anxiety as Bourne ran along the deck. It would certainly make the ship recoil, double charging the guns like that. But it might also blow the chambers of the guns ..

'Fire!' The forward division of guns jerked back against their lashed breechings and their crews leapt round them, swabs and rammers plied as Melusine trembled. Drinkwater leaned over the side to see the rope to the longboat curve slightly.

'Pull, Mr Q! Pull!'

He saw Quilhampton wave as a sea swept over the bow of the boat. The after division of the larboard battery roared, the guns leaping against the capsquares on the restrained carriages.

Drinkwater strode to the larboard side and looked overboard. There was a slight gap between the Melusine's tumblehome and the ice edge. He raised his glance forward to see Gorton rigging out another foot of spare spar. They would not lose what they had gained. He must remember to congratulate Gorton on his initiative.

'Fire!' The forward division of six pounders roared again and this time Drinkwater saw the sloop move, her head falling off as Gorton rigged out his spar a little more. Aft, Hill let the fender down so that the larboard quarter could set in on the ice, increasing the angle with the floe. If they could achieve an angle of two points, twenty-two and a half degrees, they might theoretically sail off, but in practise a greater angle would be required, for they would fall back towards the ice as they got the ship underway. The after division fired a second time.

There was no doubt that they were gaining on the wind! But that too was increasing. The forward division fired a third time.

Gorton's spar jerked out again, but Drinkwater could see the strain it was bearing.

'Mr Bourne! Hold the after battery and reload the forrard. All guns to fire simultaneously!'

'Tops there! Let fall the instant the guns discharge!' The three midshipmen acknowledged. 'And, Mr Hill, direct the sheets to be hove to the yardarms the instant the buntlines are slackened!'

'Very well, sir!'

Drinkwater was sweating with excitement despite the numbness of his hands. Quilhampton's boat was a liability now, but he dare not cast if off just yet.

'Ready sir.'

'Very well, Mr Bourne. Fire!'

Melusine shuddered throughout her entire length. Somewhere amidships an ominous crack sounded. But it was not the spar. Gorton's party grunted and swore with effort as their yard, hove out with an extempore tackle at its heel, took up two feet of increased gap. Astern Melusine's larboard quarter ground against the pudding-fender.

Above his head the sails creaked and cracked with ice as the men at the sheets hove down on the frozen canvas.

'Hoist away fore and aft!' The staysail rose from the fo'c's'le head and behind him the spanker was hauled out upon its gaff and boom.

'I can't hold her, sir!' Gorton cried from forward. Drinkwater's heart thumped with anxiety as Melusine gathered way.

'No matter, Mr Gorton…' The last words were drowned in the splitting crack that came from Gorton's breaking topgallant yard. Melusine's head fell back towards the floe, but she was already gaining speed.

'Mr Gorton, cut the longboat free and hoist the jib!'

Drinkwater stared forward. 'Steady, keep her full and bye, quartermaster. Not an inch to loo'ard.'

'Nothing to loo'ard, sir, aye, aye.'

But she was falling back. The gap between the ice and Melusine's hull was narrowing.

It was too late to order another broadside prepared. He gritted his teeth and watched the inevitable occur. The shock of collision was jarring, knocking some unsuspecting men to the deck, but Melusine bounced clear and began to stand off the ice. Half an hour later she hove-to in comparatively clear water and waited for the longboat to come up.

Drinkwater looked up from the chart and tapped it with the dividers. Bourne and Hill bent over the table at the broken and imperfect line that delineated the east coast of Greenland. There were a few identifiable names far to the south, Cape Farewell and Cape Discord, then innumerable gaps until Hudson's anchorage of Hold with Hope.

'I believe our present situation to be here, some sixty leagues west-nor'-west of Trinity Island.

'I believe that the enemy approached from, and retired to, the south-west. We should have seen him earlier had he attacked from any other quarter and it argues favourably to my theory that it was Faithful he took, the ship most advanced into that quarter. In addition the last sighting of him and his prize was to the southwest and sailing on the same point. I therefore propose that we chase in that direction. It is inconceivable that he did not experience the fog and south-westerly gale that we have just had and it may be that he is not far away.'

'What about the other whale ships, sir?' asked the cautious Bourne.

Drinkwater looked at the young man. 'There are times when it is necessary to take risks, Mr Bourne. They are armed and alerted to the presence of enemy cruisers while Faithful was unarmed and is a prize. It argues for our honour as well as our duty that we pursue Faithful with a view to retaking her.'

'D'you think there are more French cruisers in the area, sir?'

'It's a possibility that there are. I have reason to believe there may be.'

'You were aware of the possibility?' asked Hill.

'Yes,' Drinkwater nodded. 'That is why Melusine was appointed escort to the whale-fleet.'

Drinkwater understood what Hill was implying. It made the capture of Faithful highly discreditable to Melusine and her commander, despite the practical impossibilities