Chapter 15: Getting Rich

Summer, 1812

Leaving Plymouth and Florence did not come easy to Thomas. Over the last three days of their stay, Thomas had spent every free minute with the young woman. On the last day, Florence had been miserable. Upon gentle probing, Thomas found out that she was disheartened over returning to her place of work in Corbley’s Revue. Having grown extremely fond of the girl but also under pressure to weigh anchor on the next morning, Thomas found a temporary solution. In a boarding house run by a respectable landlady, the Widow Pelham, Thomas rented a room for Florence. It came with full board and Thomas paid in advance for six months. He offered Florence an allowance too, to give her the time and means to ponder her options. He also wrote a letter to his solicitor arranging for future payments.

Florence rejected his offer at first, maintaining that the time they had spent together was too precious for her to cheapen it with the acceptance of his money, but Thomas persuaded her nonetheless. She promised to write him letters once every month to keep him informed of her life and her plans. They spent their last evening having dinner and discussing Florence’s future before Thomas returned to Dido, his mind at peace and his purse £58 lighter. Somehow he did not regret the expenditures.

Not surprisingly, the port admiral had assembled a small convoy to Gibraltar which Dido was to escort on her way to rejoin her squadron. Seven supply ships and three troop transports were sailing with her, slowing them down considerably. Thomas was philosophical about this. Almost every man-o’war on an outbound journey was burdened with escort duties after all, and the southerly wind that prevailed over the next days made it a pleasant summer journey. Again, not a single enemy sail was sighted, and Thomas delivered his charges at Gibraltar just six days after leaving Plymouth.

The troops were landed immediately, replacing parts of the garrison, and the transports would sail back with the relieved troops a few days later. This was not Thomas’s concern, however.

They spent half a day at The Rock to deliver mail and pick up any news from the squadron. There were none of the latter, so Thomas followed Melrose’s parting orders to sail along the Spanish coastline until he found the squadron. Of course, he and his crew also hoped to pick up a prize or two along the way.

The wind was coming from the Southwest when they sailed close to the Spanish coast past Marbella, Málaga and Almeria. They were just passing Almeria, when the lookout spotted a sail about to round the Cabo de Gata west of Almeria. It was a two-masted vessel rigged as a brigantine, and Thomas knew that the next coastal battery was at Carboneras, some 30 miles to the North-East, and he turned to his 1st lieutenant.

“Mr. Muir, let’s chase her down. All sails!”

Both watches were called and minutes later, Dido was cutting through the deep blue water under all plain sail.

“Have the stuns’ls set, Mr. Muir,” was Thomas’s next order, and over the next minutes, the topmen rigged the stunsail yards and set the additional canvas.

Having the southwesterly wind a few points off her quarter was a decided advantage for a full-rigged frigate over a brigantine. With every sail set to the stunsails, Dido managed to outrace the strange vessel. As they came nearer, Thomas saw more details of the brigantine. She was lying deep in the water, probably carrying a full cargo load, and she had only a small crew. She was not built for speed either like her sail plan suggested, but had a wide beam and bulky hull. Two hours after the chase began, Dido was in range of her intended prey. Thomas had the Red Ensign hoisted, but the other ship did not show her colours.

“Mr. Muir, a shot across her bows if you please,” Thomas ordered.

Dido was cleared for action already. Soon the larboard six-pounder on the forecastle barked and a water fountain jumped up a cable length from the brigantine’s bow. Thomas watched her through his glass. She showed no sign of heaving to but kept sailing doggedly.

“Another one, Mr. Muir!”

Again, the six-pounder discharged and by accident hit the forecastle of the small ship. Splinters were flying, but the brigantine kept her course. Dido was even closer now, and her main deck guns could bear. Thomas was hesitant to fire a broadside and risk sinking the frail vessel.

“They’re asking for it, Mr. Muir. Nine-pounders #1 to #3, fire at her rigging.”

As Dido raced along, her foremost gun ports opened and the nine-pounders were run out. The British long nine-pounder was by far the best gun in the service for accuracy, and Dido‘s gunners knew their business. The three guns were fired, and at least two shots were hits. The first holed the fore topsail, but the second hit the main top. Within seconds, the brigantine’s entire top hamper was gone. A few moments later, she hove to. A Tricolore was raised and lowered signalling her capitulation, and Dido’s crew raced aloft to shorten sail.

Dido hove to at a pistol shot’s distance from the brigantine with her larboard battery run out. Mr. Muir took the longboat and the cutter to take possession of the prize as the two ships swayed gently in the soft swell of the calm sea. Muir returned an hour later looking shaken.

“Sir, she’s the Belle Armande, bound for Narbonne. Sir, she’s carrying bullion, both silver and gold. Coined gold and silver too. She was chartered by some French general to transport his loot.”

“How much bullion are we speaking of?” Thomas asked cautiously.

“Half a ton of gold at least, Sir. Two tons of bullion silver.”

Thomas briefly closed his eyes. A half ton of gold was easily worth £40,000. Two long tons of silver were not far behind that. Add the coinage and other cargoes...

“What else has she loaded? She’s lying deep,” Thomas asked.

“Brandies, Sir. Some 200 casks. They’re worth a mint too. And copper. Sixty tons of copper sheets, from naval stores I guess. That general must’ve stolen everything that wasn’t nailed down and some that was.”

“We had better turn around then and land the treasure in Gibraltar,” Thomas mused. “It would be too much of a risk to seek the squadron now.”

Muir looked relieved, but he started to speak. With a hand sign Thomas made him wait.

“We also transfer the coinage and the bullion to Dido.”

Muir beamed. “Aye-aye, Sir. I was going to suggest that too.”

“Then we are of a mind, Mr. Muir. Let’s bring out fenders and lay the prize alongside.”

It took Dido‘s crew all afternoon to transfer the bullion and the coinage to the frigate. Every stropping, every net, every block and rope used was examined by 1st lieutenant and boatswain before being used for the tasks, whilst the purser, Mr. Morgan, and Thomas’s secretary, Mr. Mills, carefully listed the items. A rough calculation estimated the value of the transferred valuables to over £85,000.

“Let’s hope that Captain Benning and the frigates were lucky too in our absence,” Thomas sighed. It would be hard for Dido‘s crew to share the prize money with the other frigates, but such was the agreement between the ships.

They remained hove-to over night. Whilst Thomas composed his detailed report of the capture, a noisy celebration was going on in the wardroom underneath his cabin. Even sharing with the other ships, the officers would each take almost £400 from this prize alone.

With the first light of the morning, Thomas was on deck. There was a little mist hovering over the water, but the mast head must have been above that. The lookout’s “Ship ho!” brought the entire crew to the deck in mere seconds.

“Eight sails, Sir! The leading one looks like the old Thisbe, Sir!”

“Mr. Muir, kindly make certain of that,” Thomas ordered. “All hands stand by to make sail!”

Muir raced aloft at a speed that would have made a sixteen year-old topman proud. He hailed down almost immediately.

“Sir, it’s Thisbe in the lead. I can make out Caroline, too. Circe is somewhere behind the other five sails. Those look like merchantmen.”

“Keep watching them for anything odd, Mr. Muir!” Thomas hailed back, and Muir made himself comfortable in the crow’s nest, his glass pointing due north where the other ships had to be.

Fortunately, the mist was eaten up by the sun now, and soon the approaching ships could be seen from the deck. Almost at the same moment, flags showed on Caroline‘s halliards.

“Caroline to squadron, Sir: all captains!” Midshipman Cameron reported.

“Mr. Muir, kindly return to the deck and take over whilst I visit with the Commodore,” Thomas hailed.

Moments later Muir was on the quarter deck. “At least they caught something too, Sir.”

Thomas nodded. There was Bartleby with Thomas’s hat and sword. Thomas collected his reports and put them into an oilskin bag folded twice to make it watertight. His gig was ready when the other ships hove to close by, and he was indeed the first to arrive at Caroline.

A strange captain was waiting for him at the port.

“Welcome aboard, Captain Grey! I relieved Captain Benning two weeks ago. He took a third-rate, the Northumberland. I am the senior captain on this station. Captain Geoffrey Clancy, at your service!”

“Delighted to make your acquaintance, Sir.”

“Thank you. I am equally pleased to meet you, Captain Grey. Did you deliver the prizes in good order?”

“Yes, Sir. The port admiral kept us for five extra days to assemble a convoy to Gibraltar, but he also gave us free rein in the dockyard. We’ve replaced a good part of the standing and running rigging. We also have twenty hands above complement for the squadron.”

Clancy nodded judiciously. “Nothing to complain about. Ah! Here’s Captain Woolcombe! Excuse me for a moment, Captain!”

A few moments later, Captain Woolcombe joined Thomas whilst Clancy stood ready to welcome Melrose.

“We’re sorry about this mess, Grey,” Woolcombe hissed through his teeth. “Melrose and I protested, but Clancy pulled rank. Damn it, he’s a mere month senior to me!”

“What mess, Sir?” Thomas hissed back.

“Clancy revoked our sharing agreement. You’ll be cut out from the prizes we caught.”

The thoughts were tumbling in Thomas’s head. Dido and her crew would not have to share the prize money from the Belle Armande. But then again, those five ships might be just as valuable.

“How much for those five ships?”

“Over £60,000; that’s for sure. They carried coin and bullion. Damn it! I feel like a cheater now.”