Chapter 1: A passage to Egypt continued

I had seen many vessels on the River Thames propelled by steam.
The General Steam Navigation Company has a fleet of fifteen steamboats operating between London and Margate, with a regular ferry service, provided by steam driven, side paddle wheeled boats, that run from East India Dock to Gravesend and Margate.
I had not yet seen a sea going vessel of that type although read in the London Times that in April 1827 a Dutch owned, British built, steam ship, Curaco crossed the Atlantic from Rotterdam to Surinam.

The steamship, trailing a plume of black smoke behind her, which entered the Grand Harbour of Valetta that morning was the Golden Horn.
She was at least one hundred and twenty feet long, with a paddle wheel each side of the vessel, powered by twin steam engines housed amidships. A smokestack, to carry the smoke away from the vessel, towered over the deck and was stayed by cables. Two masts, one forward of the stack and the other at the stern, carried sails which provided extra motive power when required, and stabilised the vessel in rough seas, allowing the paddle wheels to keep in contact with the water.

Golden Horn was designed to carry passengers in luxurious comfort, with accommodation and dining facilities built on the upper deck. Below deck were the engine room, the crew’s quarters, storage for coal and cargo, and the galley, as a ship’s kitchen is called. The master of the vessel, whom I judged to be Bohemian or Moravian, was Captain Luther Pendragharz His crew consisted of Nubian stokers, Egyptian stewards, and Turkish seamen, with a Scot, Potto Mac Robert, as Chief Engineer.

Captain Pendragharz was naturally proud of his ship and gave me a full tour of the vessel. I was astonished at the opulence of the fittings and furnishings, and remarked so to him.
“Well, of course, Colonel. This vessel belongs to Mahmud the Second, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire!”
I thought I had misheard, for although Captain Pendragharz’s command of English was excellent his accent, and pronunciation of the language, made his speech sometimes difficult to decipher. However, his speech was less incomprehensible to me than that of the Chief Engineer, who had glared at me when introduced by his captain.
“A bluidy Sassenach! I’ll no be shaking the hand of my country’s oppressor.”
I was somewhat nonplussed by his remark as for the life of me I could not recall the last time I had oppressed a Scot.

Captain Pendragharz shrugged his shoulders as Mac Robert stumped back to the engine room. “I am sorry for the welcome afforded you by your compatriot, but there are mitigating circumstances. Potto, Mister Mac Robert, has run out of whisky and cannot replenish his stock until we return to Constantinople.”
“We are not compatriots, Captain. I am English and the Chief is Scottish...”
“But you are both British – is Britain not a country?”
I did not have the time, or the inclination, to explain how four disparate peoples became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, so gave the following explanation.
“When Britain finds itself at war then it is a case of all for one and one for all, but in the piping days of peace it is more of a free for all between the four different races of the islands.”

To change the subject I asked Captain Pendragharz how it was the Sultan’s steamship was being used to carry a foreign expedition to Egypt.
“It is due to a combination of several factors, the first being The Hajj...” he began before I interrupted him.
“The what?”
“The Hajj is the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, in Arabia. Every Moslem is expected to make the pilgrimage at least once in their lives. Some of the Sultan’s relatives are making the pilgrimage, and Golden Horn conveyed them from Constantinople to Damietta. They then chartered a felucca to carry them to Cairo, to join thousands of pilgrims travelling the road to Suez. From there the pilgrims take ship to Jeddah, whence they disembark for Mecca.”
The captain wiped his brow with a large red handkerchief. “It is damned hot in harbour after being at sea, where it is much cooler.” He put his handkerchief away and continued. “I intended leaving for Cyprus after off-loading my passengers at Damietta, but the Provincial Governor made me an offer I could not refuse, dare not refuse. He asked me to steam to Malta to pick up your expedition, and then return you to Damietta.”
“You say could not refuse his offer, Captain?”
“Ghandou Pasha is not a man one would wish to antagonise, Colonel, which is why I agreed to do his bidding. He has rewarded me with gold coin and young flesh – fifty sultani and four young slave girls. The fifty gold coins will fund my retirement, the girls I will sell on to a brothel in Constantinople, after I and my crew have had our fill of them.”
“Ghandou Pasha gives away members of his harem?”
“They are part of his harem but not members of his household, which consist of his wives – three at the moment – and his six concubines, who are the female relatives of important Egyptians. The remainder of the harem are the female slaves who carry out all the menial tasks applicable to a great house, besides being available to pleasure the Pasha’s guests, and those men he wishes to influence.”
“Are the slave girls presently on board?”
Pendragharz shook his head. “No, they will be handed over when we return to Damietta. Golden Horn will remain at Damietta until the return of the pilgrims from Mecca. By that time the crew and I will have worn the girls to a frazzle, but they, and we, will be able to recuperate on the voyage back to Constantinople.”

Mimi and I were accommodated in the opulent suite reserved for the most important of guests. Rollo had a small cabin along the corridor that Captain Pendragharz referred to as the Chief Eunuch’s quarters. The harem of the important guest would have been housed in a large room alongside the Chief Eunuch’s berth, but as I did not have, or desire, a harem this room was empty and was used as a sitting and withdrawing room. The Crudwrights opted for separate cabins, much to the astonishment of Captain Pendragharz. “Does the professor not mount his wife? She is quite comely, even if a bit skinny for my taste. I prefer a woman with plenty to grab hold of, although I have heard it said the nearer the bone the sweeter the meat. Is her husband a eunuch?”
I had no idea, nor wanted to know, of the sexual preferences of Professor and Mrs Crudwright so made some poor excuse for their sleeping arrangements. “I believe the professor snores so loudly his wife obtains little or no sleep when in the same room.”
“She should stuff her ears with wax,” Pendragharz said, then laughed. “Of course, if she did, and then occupied the same bed as the professor, perhaps she would still obtain little or no sleep!”

I had brought six bottles of Professor Potter’s Potent Prowess Providing Potion with me on the expedition, which I hoped would last me until returning to England. To date I had kept Mimi fully sated and satisfied without resorting to Professor Potter, but I knew Mimi had been holding herself in check during the journey, so as not to make too much noise and frighten the horses, so to speak. When out in the desert I knew she would exhibit a more uninhibited sexual behaviour, and Professor Potter’s assistance would be needed if I were to match her unbridled debauchery.
As my baggage was carried into our accommodation aboard Golden Horn two bottles of the potion clinked together.
Captain Pendragharz heard the sound. “If those are bottles of whisky, or bottles of any other alcohol, in your luggage I would be willing to purchase one. Potto is like a bear with a sore head, and I worry he might do something detrimental to his health if he does not soon quench his thirst.”
I explained the bottles were a tonic. “I could probably persuade the senior mess steward of the Officer’s Mess in Valletta to sell me a bottle of whisky, should there be any available,” I said. “However, I doubt the doughty Scot would accept a gift from a ‘bluidy Sassenach’.”
“Potto would embrace a cannibal if it meant a dram of whisky.” Said Pendragharz.