On the King's Sea Service: A John Phillips Novel (War at Sea Book 1) Read Online Free
Author: Richard Testrake
impressed by Phillips’ uniform and paperwork, let them in. Phillips hoped that the superintendent might have put out the necessary barrels of beef, pork, cheese, dried peas and other provisions out for them, but this had not happened.
In the absence of any crew around, Phillips asked the master to witness that he had placed the proper chits under the super’s locked door, then ordered the men to start moving barrels.
They rolled the casks out to the dock, then used tackle to swing the material on board. While the men were working, Phillips realized the sun was setting. It would take hours for the cook to prepare a meal from the salted and dried rations. Standing on the quarterdeck, he spotted a man, a boy and a dog driving a small herd of cattle along the dockside road.
Looking around, he saw the young midshipman that had come to them from the Athena. He sent Midshipman Horton, along with a senior hand to approach the drover and see if he would sell one of his charges. When the pair came back, the boy said the man would indeed sell a bullock. The hand interjected. “His price was way too high, Yer Honor. He wanted seven Spanish dollars. I told him you would pay five.”
Sending the pair out again, this time bearing the required Spanish dollars from his dwindling hoard, they returned driving a terrified bullock, one who definitely did not want to leave its comrades. A gang of hands soon had the animal dispatched, cut up into mess sized chunks and dropped into the cook’s copper. It would still be a lengthy wait for the meat to cook, but the men would not need to wait until the salt had been soaked from the preserved beef in cask and the men were able to smell the cooking meat while they worked.
Phillips decided the men would have a double ration of rum after they finished their work. This at least would put them in a better frame of mind.
The Vixen still had no gunner, but he had discovered a gunner’s mate on the General Washington, that he suspected would do well.
A Marine messenger brought a note from Captain Edwards. Phillips was ordered to report to the Diana frigate and advise him concerning his activities and any further items the cutter might require; Edwards still acting in lieu of the commodore who was at sea.
The next week saw them hurriedly getting the cutter ready for departure, after receiving repeated queries from Diana and the shore. When Vixen was finally ready in all respects and had received her pouches from Government House, she set sail as ordered. Sailing up the Leeward Islands, the crew had to be constantly alert for enemy privateers.
Both French and Spanish corsairs abounded in these waters, more or less legally. At least Sailing Master Jenkins thought most of them carried letters of marque. Any vessel caught preying on shipping, whether merchant or naval that did not have such a document was liable to be considered a pirate and treated accordingly.
Vixen dodged two such suspicious vessels on her way out of the dangerous region. Finally slipping past Cuba out into the Atlantic, Phillips felt more at ease. Following the Gulf Stream up the East Coast, they saw remarkably few ships, except for one French privateer who chased them for most of a day.
Their cutter being faster and able to sail closer to the wind, they finally ran his topsails under the horizon and sailed farther out to sea. The cutter had begun taking on water up forward as she sailed north and upon reaching Halifax, as soon as all the pouches had been landed, Phillips made arrangements to have the Vixen surveyed for underwater damage.
As it developed, the cutter had lost some copper up forward, probably months ago and the hull had become wormed in that area. It was necessary to empty the cutter, send the people to quarters on land and lay her on her beam on a sand beach so they could get at the leak. New wood, caulking and copper repaired the problem and finally they were able to refloat the cutter, fill her again
In the absence of any crew around, Phillips asked the master to witness that he had placed the proper chits under the super’s locked door, then ordered the men to start moving barrels.
They rolled the casks out to the dock, then used tackle to swing the material on board. While the men were working, Phillips realized the sun was setting. It would take hours for the cook to prepare a meal from the salted and dried rations. Standing on the quarterdeck, he spotted a man, a boy and a dog driving a small herd of cattle along the dockside road.
Looking around, he saw the young midshipman that had come to them from the Athena. He sent Midshipman Horton, along with a senior hand to approach the drover and see if he would sell one of his charges. When the pair came back, the boy said the man would indeed sell a bullock. The hand interjected. “His price was way too high, Yer Honor. He wanted seven Spanish dollars. I told him you would pay five.”
Sending the pair out again, this time bearing the required Spanish dollars from his dwindling hoard, they returned driving a terrified bullock, one who definitely did not want to leave its comrades. A gang of hands soon had the animal dispatched, cut up into mess sized chunks and dropped into the cook’s copper. It would still be a lengthy wait for the meat to cook, but the men would not need to wait until the salt had been soaked from the preserved beef in cask and the men were able to smell the cooking meat while they worked.
Phillips decided the men would have a double ration of rum after they finished their work. This at least would put them in a better frame of mind.
The Vixen still had no gunner, but he had discovered a gunner’s mate on the General Washington, that he suspected would do well.
A Marine messenger brought a note from Captain Edwards. Phillips was ordered to report to the Diana frigate and advise him concerning his activities and any further items the cutter might require; Edwards still acting in lieu of the commodore who was at sea.
The next week saw them hurriedly getting the cutter ready for departure, after receiving repeated queries from Diana and the shore. When Vixen was finally ready in all respects and had received her pouches from Government House, she set sail as ordered. Sailing up the Leeward Islands, the crew had to be constantly alert for enemy privateers.
Both French and Spanish corsairs abounded in these waters, more or less legally. At least Sailing Master Jenkins thought most of them carried letters of marque. Any vessel caught preying on shipping, whether merchant or naval that did not have such a document was liable to be considered a pirate and treated accordingly.
Vixen dodged two such suspicious vessels on her way out of the dangerous region. Finally slipping past Cuba out into the Atlantic, Phillips felt more at ease. Following the Gulf Stream up the East Coast, they saw remarkably few ships, except for one French privateer who chased them for most of a day.
Their cutter being faster and able to sail closer to the wind, they finally ran his topsails under the horizon and sailed farther out to sea. The cutter had begun taking on water up forward as she sailed north and upon reaching Halifax, as soon as all the pouches had been landed, Phillips made arrangements to have the Vixen surveyed for underwater damage.
As it developed, the cutter had lost some copper up forward, probably months ago and the hull had become wormed in that area. It was necessary to empty the cutter, send the people to quarters on land and lay her on her beam on a sand beach so they could get at the leak. New wood, caulking and copper repaired the problem and finally they were able to refloat the cutter, fill her again
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