Chapter 5: A Friendly Visit

July 1820

The months of July was spent mostly wherever the Bermudians could find shade. The Greys had found a small beach a half mile to the West where they went often to cool down before supper, wading through the shallow water and watching the fishing boats in St. George Bay ply their trade. Most ships of the squadron had returned to St. George, and Robert often took his gig to their spot to spend time with the now pregnant Harriet-Anne. With some reluctance due to the still ongoing Yellow Fever spread, Thomas took out his squadron for two weeks of exercises. He already knew that the second half of his commanders would be replaced with the next supply ships arriving, and he planned to have another exercise once the new commanders had taken over.

It was early August when they cast anchor at St. George again, after having accomplished their aims and with the crews thoroughly tired out. For the next days, repairs were performed and fresh provisions taken, whilst Thomas, to his delight, found no new mail on his desk.

The air in St. George was even more oppressive than in July, even though the sky was not clear anymore. The glass was also dropping to the lowest reading of his stay in Bermuda so far. Usually, Bermuda was not in the path of the Atlantic hurricanes, but there had been a few severe cyclones in the past, and Thomas suspected that another one might be coming.

Consequently, Thomas took his squadron to sea again, after having the Navy House secured as best as possible. It was a sturdy stone building with a solid slate roof, built with cyclones in mind, and it would offer good protection for his family. Still, he felt bad going to sea and leaving them back, however much it was his duty to do so.

He sailed his squadron in north-eastern direction for two days before they were overtaken by a weather front that drenched ships and crews in a three-day-long deluge of rain. The front moved only slowly, and the winds never surpassed gale force, allowing them to ride out the storm hove-to under a small mizzen staysail.

When after three days the sun showed itself again, the squadron had come through the weak cyclone with only minimal damage, and Thomas ordered the return to St. George. At noon, they were able to shoot the sun and thereby determine their latitude, but also, using Salsette’s excellent chronometer, the longitude. It was easy then to lay a course for Bermuda, and they arrived there in the next afternoon, slightly worried about what they would find.

St. George Bay was awash with debris, mostly tree branches, but also offal and a few animal cadavers. Through his glass, Thomas saw some damage to roofs, and the traces of fast flowing water rivulets from the heights behind the town to the bay. Obviously, St. George had been exposed to the same torrential rains experienced by the squadron. Navy House, at least, looked unscathed to his eyes.

After the anchor was dropped and Salsette swung around it, Thomas sent flag signals to his squadron, ordering the repair of storm damage, and then had himself rowed to the shore together with Broderick. He could still see the sludge along the drying rivulets where the soil from the heights surrounding the town had been flushed downhill. Broken tree branches were strewn everywhere, and the servants were busy cleaning the path to Navy House with shovels and brooms. Entering, he could see no water damage, and this was soon confirmed when Mirabel came downstairs, a wry smile on her face.

“We made it through the the weather without major problems, dear,” she told him. “How did your squadron fare.”

“The same. Some minor damage to the rigging, and the pumps had to go for hours. Fortunately, those Indian shipwrights in Bombay had the Monsoon rains in mind when they built Salsette. You probably had the same downpours we experienced?”

“Oh, dear, yes! It certainly looked and sounded like the end of the world.”

“Are the others well?”

“Teresa and Catriona were out strolling, misreading the warning signs, and they were drenched to the bone. No real harm, but Teresa’s hat was ruined, and poor Catriona lost a shoe. Served them right, if you want my opinion.”

“The children?”

“Maggie spent three days watching the waters shoot by the house. She was fascinated. Theo slept through it all. He is a sleepy boy these days. Of course, the cisterns are full to the brim, but the cesspits overflowed. Fortunately, most of the muck was washed away before the rain ended and nothing ended up in the cisterns.”

“In other words, the weather improved St. George,” Thomas commented wryly. “Any word from Hamilton?”

“Harriet-Anne sent a note that her rented house has some water damage, but she is in good spirits. Was this a hurricane, Thomas?”

“Not quite, I think, but close. The rainfall was immense, but the winds were not overly high. Of course, this made the rain last even longer. Have there been fatalities in town?”

“A soldier was swept away by the rushing waters and badly injured, and a lot of the wooden buildings were swamped. Two sloops sank whilst at anchor, but close to the shore, so the crew made it to ... well, not to dry land, but to land.”

Thomas had to smile now. Mirabel was certainly not prone to the hysterics many women would have shown in the face of such an extreme weather. She could read his thoughts, too.

“Now that I passed muster, don’t I rate a kiss?”

With the depression past them and the sun coming out again, the islands slowly dried again. The tides slowly cleared the debris from St. George Bay, and the squadron had completed the necessary repairs and started the patrols again. For Thomas, life turned into quieter lanes, too.

There was the unpleasant business of Major Landis of course. In the presence of the commanding officers of the squadron and his own staff, Thomas received the surgeon’s formal apology. It was delivered with ill grace, and Lieutenant Colonel Smythe, the Army commander in the islands, had to prod his subordinate along. Admittedly, Thomas had not made it easy for Landis, having Mirabel and Teresa at his side, who both gave the man disdainful stares, as he hemmed and hawed through the pre-formulated words.

When Landis finished, therefore, Thomas just shrugged, not dignifying the man with a reply. He spoke to Smythe.

“My profound thanks, Colonel. I appreciate your efforts in the matter. Let us close the affair and not speak about this... person anymore.” He made ‘person’ sound like a swearword.

Smythe nodded. “I apologise in the name of the regiment.”

“And I accept the apology of a true gentleman with full satisfaction, Colonel!”

That closed the matter, and by late September, Landis had been shipped back to England, with a recommendation for a court-martial for wilful insubordination added to his papers by the governor.

The packet ship that conveyed Landis back to England also brought orders for Thomas. He was informed that his command of the Bermuda Station would come to an end in February, and that he would be succeeded by his old friend Alexander Melrose. He was also advised that Captain Sir Anthony Carter, KCB, would step down as Lieutenant Governor of the Royal Naval College in April, and that Their Lordships had decided to offer the position to Thomas, ‘in light of your long-standing ties to the institution’, as Moore had written. It would be a well-paid sinecure, and Thomas affirmed his acceptance in his next letter to Their Lordships. It was active duty, moderately prestigious, and only a half day travel from his home. Perhaps they could rent the Portsmouth house owned by Alice, or he could likely commandeer comfortable accommodations in the Royal Dockyard.

Mirabel was delighted, too. Being the wife of a Navy captain often meant being left behind for months or years. Having Thomas posted in Portsmouth would keep him in easy distance for the foreseeable future and a steady presence in the lives of their children.

Unsurprisingly, Robert would also be relieved of Salsette’s command and settle down in Harriet-Anne’s former and now his manor house. With Harriet-Anne’s pregnancy close to term, they would return to England as a family.

Still, Thomas’s command would last for another four months, and he applied himself to his duties with undiminished vigour. Four new commanders had arrived to replace four long-serving commanders, and as soon as the changes in commands were effected, Thomas took Salsette and part of his squadron to sea for exercises. Following an invitation conveyed by Mister Lansing, they would sail to Baltimore, there to be received with honours for an official visit. After conferring with the governor, Thomas had accepted, and now the small flotilla was making its way to the American coast close-hauled against a south-western wind. It took them six days to reach Norfolk, and another two days to sail up Chesapeake Bay until they cast anchor in Baltimore Harbour. For six days, Thomas and Robert were wined and dined by the Maryland State Governor, the United States Navy Commander-in-Chief, the mayor of Baltimore, but also by some prominent citizens, all of them desirous to talk trade and cooperation.

Salsette’s sailors did not quite meet with the same degree of welcome in a port city that had suffered in many ways under the British blockade, but at least the Navy officers were courteous. It was helpful that neither Thomas nor Robert had served on the American coast, and given the enmity of the Americans towards the Berber coast pirates, Thomas’s exploits against the Algerians made him almost an ally. His stance on slavery, by contrast, did not meet with much approval in the capital of Maryland, but he and his hosts politely agreed to disagree on the matter.

All in all, it was a pleasant visit, and Mister Lansing, who had accompanied them in the Salsette, was quite pleased with the outcome. He and his superiors had obviously hoped to restore some measure of goodwill, and in that, they had succeeded. For Mister Lansing, impressing the brother of the woman he was wooing, was also an issue, and even in that, he had made progress. Of course, for Robert, his sister’s happiness was of paramount consideration, and Mister Lansing was a far more sociable man than his other brother in law.

On their last day in Baltimore, Mister Lansing received a large envelope that looked official enough to make Thomas and Robert curious. Lansing must have read it before they went ashore for a final reception by a Mister Swain, the owner of a shipping line, and on the way back to Salsette he informed them of the envelope’s contents.

“I have received orders. My father has been able to arrange for my next posting. I shall serve as a consulary agent at our embassy in London. I shall be on the embassy staff for at least three years.”

“Somehow, this makes me assume that you will next ask me for my permission to woo my sister?” Robert smiled.

“Indeed, Captain Bryce. I have come to admire your sister and more. She is warmhearted and witty, loyal to her friends and family, and — forgive me — of a natural beauty that has captured my heart. As you may have gathered, my family wields some influence around our capital, burnt as it still may be, and I have means to support the daughter of a Laird in proper style. I do hope that you will not hold my service in the United States Navy against me.”

“I shall have to ask my sister whether she returns those feelings you have, and we must not forget that my father, the Laird, will have a say, too.”

“I understand that, but your own support would mean a lot, seeing how fond your sister is of you and Lady Harriet.” He looked at Thomas. “I shall also have to ask for permission from Miss Grey.”

“Yes, Teresa has us all wrapped around her fingers,” Thomas said drily, a little distracted already, since they were nearing Salsette’s side. “Perhaps we can further this discussion over a few glasses of Madeira?”

To this, they agreed, and then Thomas had to get ready to climb the Jacob’s ladder onto Salsette’s main deck, where he was received with the proper ceremonial. He imagined that their last months in St. George would be lively.

During Thomas’s absence, two American ships out of Savannah had been caught unloading their cargoes of tobacco in Long Baya, with Commander Brighton coordinating the catch with the Army garrison, thus apprehending the Bermudian traders, too. It had been a well executed action, and Thomas did not spare with praise for Brighton.

The culprits had spent over a week locked up at King’s Castle already, and Justice Penwright was about to start the proceedings, charging the Bermudian merchants with smuggling. The two American skippers were to be tried for the same charge, but separately, and they were given the opportunity to post bail, with the help of Mister Lansing, who had been given funds for that purpose by his government. Sure enough, the skippers fled the island, forfeiting the bail, and thus leaving the governor with discretionary funds. Mister Lansing took this in stride, and Thomas understood that nobody wanted to jail Americans in Bermuda, but that the forfeited bail, the seized ships and the cargoes were the fines for their attempted smuggling.