Alexander Kent - THE INSHORE SQUADRON

Luckily, he had been able to hold on to a few of his old professionals from the Lysander, some of her `backbone' of skilled warrant and petty officers who, even now, after the previous night's howling gale, were to be heard bawling around the upper deck as they, like their captain, grew conscious of their responsibility and what the next hour would bring.

Herrick looked up at the mizzen masthead and felt the spray stinging his cheeks. Even at anchor it could be lively at Spithead. Soon now the flag of a rear-admiral would break at the mizzen truck. They would be together again. Different tasks, harder responsibility, but they would surely be unchanged.

Herrick walked to the hammock nettings and looked at the misty shoreline. Even without a glass he could see Portsmouth Point with its buildings crowded together as if fearful of toppling into the sea below. The church of Thomas a Becket, and somewhere to the left was the old George Inn.

He climbed on to a bollard and looked down at the swirling water alongside the stout black and buff hull. Boats were bobbing about, tackles rising and falling as last minute stores were swayed aboard. Brandy for the surgeon, wine for the marine officers, small comforts which would have to last them how long?

The past months had been not only demanding on Herrick but intensely rewarding, too. From a poor sea officer without influence or property he had become a man with roots. In Dulcie he had discovered a warmth and happiness he had not dreamed of, and to his utter surprise, which was typical of him, he had found himself to be married to a woman who, if not rich, was extremely well off.

She had stayed near the ship while the finishing touches had been completed. Yards crossed, fresh rigging blacked-down and made taut. Canvas spread, guns hoisted aboard, all seventy-four of them, and the miles of cordage, hundreds of blocks, tackles, crates, casks and equipment which turned a hull into the most modern, the most demanding and probably the most beautiful creation of man. Benbow was now a man-of-war, and not only

that, she was flagship of this small squadron anchored in Spit head's fleet anchorage.

He said sharply, Mr Aggett! Your glass, if you please!' Herrick had always been good at remembering names. It took him longer to know their owners.

The midshipman of the watch scurried across the quarterdeck and handed him the big signals telescope.

Herrick trained it across the starboard nettings, seeing the hazy humps of the Isle of Wight beyond the other anchored ships. He studied each vessel with slow, professional interest.

The other three two-deckers, looking almost bright in the dull glare, their closed gunports presenting a chequered pattern above the choppy wavecrests alongside. Indomitable, Captain Charles Keverne. With each ship Herrick pictured her captain in his mind's eye. Keverne had been Bolitho's first lieutenant in the big prize Euryalus. The Nicator, Captain Valentine Keen. They had served together in another ship on the far side of the earth.

Odin, a smaller two-decker of sixty-four guns. Herrick smiled despite his list of anxieties. Her captain was Francis Inch. He had never imagined that the eager, horse-faced Inch would ever have made post-rank. Any more than he had expected it for himself.

The two frigates, Relentless and Styx, were anchored further astern of the squadron, and the smaller sloop, Lookout, was showing her copper in the watery sunlight as she rolled sickeningly to her cable.

All in all it was a good squadron. Its officers and men lacked experience for the most part, but had the youth to make up for it. Herrick sighed. He was forty-three and senior for his rank, but he was content, although he would not have complained about dropping a few years from his age.

Feet thudded on the quarterdeck and he saw the first lieutenant, Henry Wolfe, striding to meet him. Herrick could not imagine what he would have done without Wolfe in the past months of commissioning Benbow. In appearance he was quite extraordinary. Very tall, well over six feet, he seemed to have difficulty in controlling his arms and legs. They, too, were gangling and lively, like the man. He had fists like hams and feet as bulky as swivel guns. Dominating all these things, his hair was bright ginger, jutting from beneath his cocked hat like two vivid wings.

He was old for his appointment,, and had served in merchantmen when laid off from naval service in peacetime. Collier brigs, speedy schooners with lace from Holland, men-of-war, he had been in them all. It was rumoured he had even been in the slave trade, and Herrick could well believe it.

Wolfe slid to a halt and touched his hat. He took several deep breaths, as if it was the only way he knew of controlling his energy, which was considerable.

'Ready she is, sir!' He had a harsh, toneless voice which made the nearby midshipman wince. `I've just about got everything in place an' a place for everything! Give us a few more hands an' we'll make her show her paces!'

Herrick asked, 'How many more?'

'Twenty prime seamen, or fifty idiots!'

Herrick added, Those I saw brought aboard yesterday by the press, are they useful?'

Wolfe rubbed his chin and watched a seaman sliding down a backstay to the deck.

'The usual, sir. Rough-knots and a few gallows-birds, but some good men also. They'll be fine when the boatswain has had his say.'

A tackle squeaked and some canvas covered cases were hauled up and over the gangway. Herrick saw Ozzard, Bolitho's personal servant, fussing around them and directing a party of seamen to carry them aft.

Wolfe followed his gaze and remarked, `Have no fear, sir.

Benbow'll not let you down today.' In his blunt fashion he. added, 'It's a new experience for me to serve under an admiral's flag, sir. I'll take whatever guidance you see fit to offer.'

Herrick studied him and said simply, 'Rear-Admiral Bolitho will tolerate no slackness, Mr Wolfe, no more than I will. But a fairer man I never met, nor a braver.' He walked aft again

adding, `Call me the moment you sight the barge, if you please.'

Wolfe watched him leave and said to himself, `Nor a better friend to you, I'll wager.'

Herrick went to his own quarters, aware of bustling figures, the smells of cooking and the stronger, unused scents of new timbers and tar, paintwork and cordage. She felt new all right. From keel to mainmast truck. And she was his.

He paused by the screen door and watched his wife sitting at the cabin table. She had pleasant, even features, and brown hair like his own. She was in her mid-thirties, and Herrick had given her his heart like a young lover to an angel.

The lieutenant with whom she had been speaking stood up instantly and faced the door.

Herrick nodded. 'Be easy, Adam. You are not required on deck as yet.'

Adam Pascoe, the Benbow's third lieutenant, was glad of the interruption. Not that he did not enjoy talking with Captain Herrick's lady, it was not that at all. But, like Herrick, he was very aware of today, what it could mean to him personally when his uncle's flag broke to the wind, what it might mean for them all later on.

He had been under Herrick's command in Lysander, beginning as the junior lieutenant, and because of the advancement or death of his superiors had risen to fourth lieutenant. Even now, as Benbow's third lieutenant, he was still only twenty years old. His emotions were torn between wanting to stay with Richard Bolitho or going elsewhere to a smaller, more independent vessel like a frigate or sloop.

Herrick watched his face and guessed most of what Pascoe was thinking.

He was a good-looking boy, he thought, slim and very dark like Bolitho, with the restlessness of an untrained colt. Had his father been alive he would have been proud of him.

Pascoe said, `I had better attend my division, sir. I'd not want anything to go badly today.' He bowed slightly to the woman. `If you'll excuse me, ma'am.'

Alone with his wife, Herrick said quietly, 'I worry about that one sometimes. He is still a boy and yet has seen more action and fearful sights than most of the squadron.'

She replied, 'We were speaking of his uncle. He means a lot to him.'

Herrick passed her chair and laid his hand on her shoulder. Oh dear God, I have to leave you soon. Aloud, he said, 'It is mutual, my love. But it is war, and a King's officer has his duty.'

She seized his hand and held it to her cheek without looking at him.

'Oh, stuff, Thomas! You are talking with me now, not one of your sailors!'

He bent over her, feeling awkward and protective at the same time. `You will take good care when we are away, Dulcie.'

She nodded firmly. `I will attend to everything. I shall see that your sister is provided for until her marriage. We shall have a lot to talk about until you return.' She faltered. `When may that be?'

Herrick's head had been so much in a turmoil with his new

command and his unexpected marriage that he had not thought much beyond sailing his ship from Plymouth to Spithead and assembling the little squadron together.

'It will be north, I believe. May take a few months.' He squeezed her hand gently. `Never fear, Dulcie, with our Dick's flag at the masthead we'll be in good hands.'

A voice yelled overhead, 'Secure the upper deck! Side party to muster!'

Calls shrilled like lost spirits between the decks and feet thudded on the planking as marines bustled from their quarters

to fall in at the entry port.

There was a sharp rap at the door and Midshipman Aggett, his wind-reddened eyes fixed on a half-eaten cake on the table, reported breathlessly, 'First lieutenant's respects, sir, and the barge has just shoved off from the sallyport.'

`Very well. I will come up.'

Herrick waited for the youth to leave and said, 'Now we will

know, my dear.'

He took his sword from its rack and clipped it to his belt. She stood up and walked across the cabin to adjust his neck

cloth and pat his white-lapelled coat into place.

`Dear Thomas. I'm so very proud of you.'

Herrick was not a tall man, but as he left the cabin to meet his admiral he felt like a giant.

Unaware of what was happening in his flagship, or indeed the whole squadron, Richard Bolitho sat very upright in the barge's sternsheets and watched the anchored vessels growing larger with each stroke of the oars.

He had recognized several of his old bargemen from the Lysander as he had stepped aboard, back at sea again probably without even a sight of their homes and families.

Allday sat near him, his eyes everywhere as he watched the white-painted oars rising and falling like polished bones. A lieutenant no less was in charge of the boat, Benbow's most junior officer, and he seemed as much ill at ease under Allday's scrutiny as he did in his admiral's company.

Bolitho was wrapped completely in his boat-cloak, with even his hat held firmly beneath it to prevent it from being whipped into the sea.

He watched the leading two-decker, recalling what he knew of her as she took on form and substance through the blown spray.

A third-rate, the strength in any sea fight, she was slightly larger than Lysander. She looked very splendid, he thought, and guessed that Herrick must be equally impressed. He saw the figurehead standing out as if to signal the barge with its raised sword. Vice-Admiral Sir John Benbow, who had died in 1702 after losing a leg by chain-shot. But not before he had lived to see the execution of his captains who had deserted him in battle. It was a fine figurehead, much as the dead admiral must have been. Grave-eyed, with flowing hair, and wearing a shining breastplate of the period. It had been carved by old Izod Lambe of Plymouth, who although said to be nearly blind was still one of the finest in his trade.

How many times he had wanted to go across from Falmouth to see Herrick in the final stages of getting his ship ready for sea. But Herrick might have taken it as lack of trust in his ability. Bolitho more than once had been made to accept that a ship was no longer his direct concern. Like his flag, he was above it. He felt a shiver lance up his spine as he studied the other members of his squadron. Four ships of the line, two frigates and a sloop of war. In all nearly three thousand officers, seamen and marines, and everything which that implied.

The squadron might be new, but many of the faces would be friends. He thought of Keverne and Inch, Neale and Keen, and of the sloop's new commander, Matthew Veitch. He had been Herrick's first lieutenant. Admiral Sir George Beauchamp had kept his word, now it was up to him to do his part.

With men he knew and trusted, who had shared and done so much together.

He smiled in spite of his excitement as he thought of his new flag lieutenant when he had tried to tell him his feelings.

The lieutenant had said, `You make it sound exclusive, sir. As the bard would have it. We happy few.'

Perhaps he had been truer than he had understood.

The barge turned, swaying over a trough, as the lieutenant headed towards the flagship's glistening side.

There they all were. Red coats and cross-belts, the blue and white of the officers, the mass of seamen beyond. Above them all, towering as if to control and embrace them, the three great masts and yards, the mass of shrouds, stays and rigging which were incomprehensible to any landsman but represented the speed and agility of any ship. Benbow, by any standard, was something to be reckoned with.

The oars rose as one while the bowman hooked on to the main chains.

Bolitho handed his cloak to Allday and jammed his hat firmly athwartships across his head.

Everything had gone very quiet, and apart from the surge of the tide between the ship and the swaying barge it seemed almost peaceful.

Allday was standing, too, and had removed his hat while he watched and waited to lend a hand should Bolitho miss his footing.

Then Bolitho stepped out and upwards and hauled himself swiftly towards the entry port.

He was aware of the sudden bark of orders, the slap and stamp of marines presenting arms simultaneously with the fifers breaking into Heart o f Oak.

Faces, blurred and vague, loomed to meet him as he stepped on to the deck, and as the calls shrilled and died in salute, Bolitho removed his hat to the quarterdeck and to the ship's captain as he strode to greet him.

Herrick removed his hat 'and swallowed hard. 'Welcome aboard, sir.'

They both stared up as some halliards were jerked taut by the signal party.

There it was, a symbol and a statement, Bolitho's own flag streaming from the mizzen like a banner.

The nearest onlookers would have watched for some extra sign as the youthful-looking rear-admiral replaced his hat and shook hands with their captain.

But that was all they saw, for what Bolitho.and Herrick shared at that moment was invisible but to each other.

2. Flagship

By dawn the following day the wind had backed considerably, and once again the Solent was alive with angry wavecrests. Aboard the flagship, and all the rest of Bolitho's small squadron, the motion was uncomfortable as each vessel tugged at her anchor as if determined to drive aground.

When the first dull light gave colour to the glistening ships, Bolitho sat in his stern cabin re-reading his carefully worded instructions and trying at the same time to detach his mind from the sounds of a ship preparing for a new day. He knew Herrick had been on deck since dawn, and that if he went up to join him it would only hamper the business of getting Benbow and the rest of his command ready to weigh.