“I have nothing to say Sir.” Cobb responded, his voice ragged, rage broiling under the surface.
“Very well then. Master at Arms, remove Cobb’s jacket. Alexander Cobb, you are hereby relieved of the rank of Lieutenant. You will receive twelve lashings and serve aboard as an able seaman from this day forth. You shall be paid as an able seaman and receive no promotion for one year.” Grimes rattled out. The Master at Arms and his petty officers removed Cobb’s jacket and began binding his hands to a wooden lattice to receive the corporal portion of his discipline. He was given a doubled over leather strap to bite into. Every man aboard not on duty was required to watch as Cobb received exactly twelve reminders of the hierarchy aboard ship and forever embedding the consequence of lying to his commanding officer. The first two lashes of the cat of nine tails were met with a nothing more than a silent grimace from Cobb. He looked through the lattice he was bound to, hanging aloft just feet away and overhead was a hangman’s noose. Captain Grimes’ not so subtle indicator of the grave consequences when discipline broke down. The third lash broke the skin and Cobb let a gasp and writhed from the pain, a fourth followed shortly scattering blood on the petty officer wielding the whip. Cobb cried out and a fifth stoke hit him as his voice rose into the rigging. William could feel the skin on his back crawl and his stomach was in knots. On the sixth hit Cobb lost his footing, he received the rest of his punishment dangling by his wrists bound to the wooden lattice. By the twelfth and final lash Cobb was in a state of shock, barely conscious with his back dripping blood, inflamed and his limbs trembling beyond control. He was cut down and assisted by two sailors to the ship’s doctor to be bandaged up.
“Mr. Shelton, approach.” Captain Grimes commanded. Will’s hair stood up on the backs of his arms, his neck felt a sudden swelter and legs a tremble. Midshipman Shelton presented himself before the quarterdeck, slightly pale and visibly nervous himself. “Mr. Shelton, I have been informed of your behavior before the enemy on the gun line. It seems that if it weren’t for your quick thinking this ship would have suffered grave consequence, both to the ship and her crew. Remove your coat lad, you’ve new rank to go on it. I won’t have a man show such mettle and remain a mid a day longer on my watch. It just so happens there is a vacant billet aboard this vessel.” Will could not help but smile, if not for the young man whose face was also beaming with pride, but also for his ridiculous inclination that Grimes was about to punish him. Though William had seen injustices aboard ship, hanging the accused midshipman would have been the gravest. Mutinies occurred over less.
Will entered the Captain’s cabin to find Johnathan Grimes brooding. The day had turned hot as the afternoon wore on and a shift of the wind, while favorable for the course they were sailing, gave rise to the worries of foul weather. The captain had a chart and the ship’s log spread out on the table he was seated at. Johnathan had entrenched himself into the charts on the table and scarcely looked up at William as he approached.
“The key to this Will, is going to be finding a route into Nassau that won’t leave us exposed or at a disadvantage should that French sloop reappear.” Johnathan muttered. “We can’t afford to be caught off guard, but we most certainly must take on fresh water in Nassau. I tinkered with the idea of bypassing her and making sail straight for Kingston, but if we wind up engaged, we could find ourselves in bad footing, half ration of fresh water in the Caribbean in late summer. That won’t do.”
“Nassau seems our best option Sir.” Will offered, looking at the chart. “The Frenchman likely came to his senses, they did witness us defeat two ships in one encounter, one considerably out of our class. Perhaps we crossed out of their limits of engagement even. I doubt we should see that particular warship again Sir.”
“I agree with your assessment Lieutenant, but we must consider all possibilities. Something else has been troubling me though and I want to discuss it with you. See to it there is no lurker listening outside the door.” Johnathan said. William silently got up and checked the gangway outside the door to find no one, he shut the door and returned into the cabin wondering at his Captain’s odd behavior.
“No one Sir. Is everything quite alright?” Will asked.
“I’m unsure Will and growing more so every day. We discussed our ship’s orders the day we left port and I fear that I didn’t level with you entirely on my concern about the standoff orders for East India Company ships. It’s just odd. Our tasking involves escorting them, stopping French interference in trade, but we cannot approach. Why? Why in the bloody imagining would we be restricted from aiding them if they are in distress?” Johnathan pondered aloud. William realized it was not a rhetorical question as he looked up from the charts and saw Johnathan was looking directly at him, awaiting a reply.
“I couldn’t say for sure Sir. I thought the order odd when you mentioned
