Chapter 23: The Barbary Coast Revisited

Seven days after arriving at Sant’Antioco, the British ships weighed anchor with three of the prizes. The other xebecs had to be burnt, being far too damaged by Unicorn and Northumberland’s broadsides to be restored to seaworthiness. Dido was not joining them. She needed a replacement of her lower mizzen mast and was sailing straight for Gibraltar.

She carried Mr. Treleven as passenger who had returned from the shore with a violent fever, no doubt caused by one of the dreaded agues that plagued the Mediterranean coasts. After two days, Dr. Fox recommended that he be sent home to England to recuperate. Mr. Hearn assumed the duties of 1st lieutenant, and this meant that Lt. Pons was now 2nd lieutenant and in charge of the main deck – an untenable situation for Thomas. He had sent a note to Hastings to this effect.

The diminished squadron and the captured xebecs set sails for Cagliari, the captured pirates locked into the ships’ holds and guarded heavily. It was but a short voyage, for they arrived before sunset. Signals were exchanged with a watch tower on the shore, and a pinnace soon came out. Thomas could see some officer in a heavily gilded uniform who went aboard the flagship.

An hour later, with the last light, the British ships anchored some two cable lengths from the shore. The last signal from Hastings indicated that there would be no activities until the next morning. Thomas had a fine dinner of Sardinian mutton roast prepared by Bartleby before he turned in, not however before inspecting the sentries watching over the pirates.

On the next morning, the commodore’s barge made its way to the shore with Hastings sitting in the stern in his Nº1 rear admiral’s uniform. They had affected all the necessary repairs after the fight at Sant’Antioco, and therefore the crew was kept busy with routine tasks. The midshipmen had classes under the sailing master whilst the landsmen and ship’s boys were taught the secrets of the long splice by the bosun, Mr. Walsh, and his mates.

Shortly before noon, a side boat left Northumberland ‘s side and headed for Unicorn. There was an officer sitting in the stern, and Thomas recognised Lt. Darby, Benning’s 3rd lieutenant. Upon entering through the port, he came aft to where Thomas was waiting.

“Lieutenant Roger Darby, Sir. Come aboard!”

“Good day, Mr. Darby,” Thomas answered politely. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“I was given orders by Commodore Hastings, Sir, to transfer to Unicorn as replacement for Mr. Treleven.”

He handed Thomas a sealed envelope.

“I see, Mr. Darby. What date is your commission?”

“August ‘07, Sir.”

“That’ll make you the Nº1, Mr. Darby.”

“Yes, Sir,” Darby answered with a hint of satisfaction. Thomas’s example to the contrary notwithstanding, being the 3rd lieutenant in a ship of the line offered little chance of promotion, much less anyway than being Nº1 in a frigate under Captain Thomas Grey. “I also brought orders for Mr. William Pons, Sir.”

“He is to leave Unicorn?”

“Yes, Sir. He’ll be Nº5 in Northumberland.”

“I see. A quid pro quo,” Thomas answered, successfully suppressing a smile. “Runner, pass the word for Mr. Pons!”

Strangely, Pons showed no dismay over the transfer from Nº2 in a frigate to Nº5 in a two-decker, but left the ship within a half hour. Thomas could understand the reasoning. Obviously, Hastings and even more so, Benning, were of the opinion that Pons posed less of a problem in Northumberland.

Lt. Hearn was less than pleased over being superseded by the new arrival whilst Eric Jameson could expect his acting lieutenancy to become permanent. Lying at anchor in Cagliari gave the new 1st lieutenant enough time to become familiar with his duties though, and that was a good thing.

It was evening and the light was fading before the commodore returned to his flagship. Minutes later, signal flags rose to the yards commanding the captains to Northumberland.

Hastings looked very satisfied when Thomas entered the cabin together with the other captains.

“Have a seat, gentlemen, so that I may fill you in with the new developments.” They all sat and two stewards rushed to fill glasses with a ruby red wine. “Gentlemen,” Hastings continued, “His Majesty, the King of Sardinia, is very pleased with our recent success at Sant’Antioco. At least that is what his minister said. His Britannic Majesty’s envoy to the court at Cagliari was equally delighted. He pointed out that our capture of the pirates may be even more beneficial than we anticipated. It would seem that the rascals have raided some other village further up north three weeks ago where they carried off over a hundred villagers, mostly boys and girls and some younger men and women. His Excellency is now of the opinion that we might effect an exchange of our prisoners against those youngsters.”

“Doesn’t this run against Admiralty regulations, Sir?” Captain Murtough asked. “We’re to string them up when we catch them.”

“Yes, indeed, but a case can be made that those cutthroats were sailing under their Bey’s letter of marque, making them regulars. Also, since we’re still buying grain from their masters, his Excellency thinks we should not string them up by the hundreds. The Sardinians have some fellow who trades with the Berbers and knows their lingo. He’ll speak to our prisoners to find out where they hail from and who might want to ransom them. We’ll have to effect such an exchange though. The Sardinians have only two sloops here.”

“That means that we are stuck here, Sir?” Melrose asked.

“Not completely. I shall detach you gentlemen, two at a time, to disrupt trade along the Italian coast. I imagine it will take some time to establish contact with the Berbers and to reach an agreement if at all. After all, they may just tell us to hang the lot and be done with them.”

“Can we get provisions here, Sir?” Thomas asked next.

“The chief minister assured me of that. Of course, there’s little beef to be had, but they’re raising pigs, goats and sheep. Cheese and bread can be found too. To provide food for over 1,600 hungry mouths may stretch their resources a bit. Let us see. Any more questions, gentlemen? No? Then let us toast to the success of this endeavour!”

The wine was something entirely else, dark red, heavy and of exquisite fullness. Thomas was no expert in wines, but he knew when he was tasting a good one. As if to answer his captains’ unasked question, Commodore Hastings gave the good news last.

“His Excellency, the Minister, promised to have a cask each delivered to our ships.”

Two days later, Unicorn and Thisbe were sent on detached duty, to cruise the Italian coastline and disrupt commerce. A merchant master from Cagliari who had some decent English, Signore Rossini, accompanied them since he knew the coast and all the little hiding places like the inside of his pocket. He lodged in the gunroom and was instantly accepted by the master’s mates and midshipmen for his endearing personality and his intimate knowledge of the sea.

Over the next three weeks, he directed the two frigates to a number of little known coves, and in three of those they were able to catch merchantmen at anchor. Along the coast up to Genova, they captured another two sail of 200 tons each by open pursuit, and they returned to Cagliari via the eastern coast of Corsica, catching another two sail out of Bastia. It was a very successful cruise by any standard, and Commodore Hastings expressed his satisfaction when Thomas reported to him.

As per agreement, prize crews were collected from all British ships and sent on their way towards Port Mahon where the Admiralty kept a prize court and where several prize agents had their offices.

Caroline and Circe were dispatched next whilst Unicorn and Thisbe‘s crews had time for rest and repairs, but two weeks later, an emissary sent to Algiers returned. This time, the captains joined Commodore Hastings on the shore where he met with the Royal Ministers and the British envoy, Lord Wheeler. Wine and cheese was served, and then the emissary, a Greek merchant from Rhodes, reported. Of course, the man spoke only Greek and Levantine Arab, and two translators were busy to relate his words to the Italian and English officers.

The leader of the attack on Sant’Antioco, one Moussaf Ben Hatir, was indeed a nephew of the Bey of Algiers as he had claimed, and his letter to his uncle, the Bey, had the desired effect of alarming the Bey’s officials. According to Mr. Georgopoulou, the Greek merchant, a long series of negotiations then took place before the Algerian side finally accepted the terms – two slaves, one male and one female, for every two slavers, and no more than one quarter of the slaves older than thirty years. There was a problem as the Bey’s representatives argued that they did not have over 400 slaves from Sardinia or Italy in their possession and barely any English slaves, but as instructed the emissary had agreed to accept slaves from any European nation up to one quarter of the total.

Thomas wondered about the efficiency of the Greek merchant, but Benning whispered to him that the man would receive head money from King Victor Emmanuel for every freed Savoyan or Sardinian slave.

The exchange would take place three weeks hence, three miles from the coast off Algiers. On questioning, the merchant revealed that he had not told the Algerians about the full strength of the squadron, instead maintaining that the English had only three ships at Cagliari when he left – the truth one could argue. That was significant if the Algerians were not playing fair – and nothing guaranteed that they would.

The King’s minister promised to send along their own two sloops of war, one of them arguably a post-ship, and to provide three merchantmen with supplies for the expedition. More contingency plans were made after the merchant had been escorted out, for Hastings was unwilling to rely on the man’s professed ignorance of the English language.

Of course, they would not sail for Algiers before the other frigates had returned. The Bey of Algier supposedly maintained a two-decker and two frigates, but also a multitude of xebecs and smaller craft. None of those was a threat individually, but a mass attack would pose a problem for single men of war. Hastings was of the opinion that the massive presence of eight men o’war would nib any treachery in the bud.

Caroline and Circe returned to Cagliari eight days later, followed by another four prizes caught along the Corsican coast. Melrose and Murtough were filled in on the plans, and when Dido rejoined the squadron on the next day after finishing her repairs at Gibraltar, preparations started for the expedition. The two Sardinian sloops made ready as well, and the whole flotilla of eleven ships weighed anchor in time for the planned exchange.

The return of Dido also meant that mail arrived. There were over ten letters for Thomas, three of them alone from Mr. Conway, the caretaker of the Grey’s lands. Thomas forced himself to read the official letters first, the confirmation of his command of Unicorn, a commission for Newnam, the purser, more letters from the prize agents, a statement from his bank in Guildford, and some more.

The letter in Mirabel’s handwriting was kept for last, and he sat on a bench under the stern windows to read it.

My dearest Thomas, he read. It was not a bad start he thought.

The letter made Thomas smile with happiness. He’d had some weeks to think about Mirabel, and some of her reservations had also come to his mind. Yet, he did not regret sending her his letter. As she had pointed out, he was in a secure position. He was a post captain and would inevitably advance to flag rank by simple seniority. His land holdings would easily support him and Mirabel, even without the additional lands he would acquire (Mr. Conway had listed two opportunities to the south of Guildford). If anybody would take exception to his choice of a wife, he could live with that far easier than facing a life without Mirabel in it.

If anything, her letter enforced his desire for her. They had known each other for many years, and Mirabel herself confessed that he had always been the man she wanted. Still smiling, he began a letter in which he assured her that he had not changed his mind, that she should consider herself as his intended, and that she should abstain from any teas with Mrs. Oakenshaw lest she encouraged the lady. He was still smiling when he folded and sealed the letter and put it into his pile of outgoing mail.

The passage was slow against a westerly wind, but the squadron covered the almost 350 leagues in a little over three days, arriving off Algiers by early afternoon. Here, they hove to whilst Caroline‘s cutter took off under White Flag to bring Mr. Georgopoulou to the shore. The cutter returned without him shortly before dark. Following Commodore Hastings’ orders, Thomas had the ship cleared for action and boarding nets brought out. The guns were loaded, but not run out, and the crews would sleep on deck. Every ship contributed boats that circled the squadron during the night, to prevent foul play.

Come the morning, a small xebec was coming out from the city under White Flag, heading for Northumberland. Mr. Georgopoulou could be seen on its deck. Still, Benning had some upper deck guns run out as a warning before he sent out a boat to pick up the Greek. A half hour later, the Xebec sailed back to the city after Georgopoulou shouted something.

Immediately after, the captains were summoned. It was awkward to climb over the rail under the boarding net, but Thomas managed to get down into his gig. He was the second by rank and had to wait for Melrose before his gig hooked on, but soon they were all assembled on Northumberland‘s quarter deck.

“Gentlemen, it would seem that our Algerian friends were dismayed to discover our numbers and strength. According to Mr. Georgopoulou, whom we have to thank for his excellent service, they have only now started to assemble their captives for the exchange. This cannot be completed today and therefore, we shall leave for now and return tomorrow. Should the Algerians be ready tomorrow, we shall proceed with the exchange as planned. Have you instructed your officers about the procedures?”

They all nodded.

“Very well then. We shall beat to northwest until out of sight from the coast and spend a day practising evolutions. Captain Grey, you will stay behind in Unicorn and watch the city. Maintain your distance and use your judgement. I’ll want to know what happens around the harbour today. Come the darkness, put some distance between your ship and the shore. We’ll rendezvous here at sunrise.”

Thomas nodded. “Aye-aye, Sir!”

They returned to their ships. Thomas gave orders to stay hove-to whilst the rest of the squadron went to the wind and sailed away. Then, when the last sail became a speck of white over the horizon, Thomas had the topsails set and commenced a steady patrol across the approaches to Algiers. Given the good visibility and the absence of any threat, Thomas relased the crew from the stations and had the bulkheads raised again.