Chapter 12: Commitment

Over the following 10 days, the Tollivers’ own staff and Charles’s dockyard household staff joined forces to prepare for the celebration of the dual birth and baptism. Not wanting to have the baptism performed at the garrison church in Valetta, and with the Santa Venera parish church strictly Catholic, Charles had rented a small chapel that had been desecrated under the French occupation. It was a mere half mile to the West. It still had a stone altar, a stone font and a wooden cross, and the garrison chaplain agreed to conduct the baptism there.

Both mothers were up and about again, but of course both still showed their pregnancy; in fact so much so, that Suzanne devised a ruse. Since Paulina would carry George and play the part of Lady Tolliver, she wore four layers of woollen shifts under her dress whilst Suzanne wore a single shift of thin cotton, thus giving the impression that she was much slimmer than her sister. Of course, for Paulina that was additional hardship in the warm summer weather, and she complained all during the brief carriage ride to the chapel.

Once in the chapel, with the eyes of the guests on them, Paulina switched on her most beaming smile whilst Suzanne acted almost demurely, walking behind her sister and carrying little Eileen. The chaplain, serving the British expatriate parish, conducted the baptism with an efficiency born of routine, naming first George and then Eileen, and then blessing them together. There was no choir, but Alice and her school mates sang two hymns under Miss Powell’s direction before the chaplain intoned the Our Father to close the service.

The guests, numbering over thirty and including the governor and Admiral Fanshawe, followed the Tollivers to the Casa Leoni and into the gardens where a festive dinner was waiting for them. The infants received a feeding and were peacefully asleep when Charles rose from his seat to welcome his guests.

“Your Excellency, Sir Arthur, dear guests! I welcome you to this dinner here in the gardens of the Casa Leoni so that we may celebrate the joyous event of my son and daughter’s baptism. I feel blessed by my good fortune and I ascribe the happiness I feel to my family: my dear wife, my granddaughter and also my dear wife’s sister. My son, whose baptism you witnessed, is named George Hector, after my father, the late Rear Admiral Sir George Tolliver, and my wife’s father, Mr Hector Millard. My little daughter Eileen Hannah is named after my first wife, Eileen, who passed on over twenty years ago, and after my dear wife’s mother, Mrs. Hannah Millard, who is remembered fondly by her daughters. They will all live on in our memories through their grandchildren.

“I must also thank you gentlemen and ladies for the kind welcome you gave us here in Malta, helping us to find this beautiful place to live, where we shall raise our children over the next years. Whilst we may miss the green of the Berkshire countryside at times, we also appreciate the climate that allows us to host you today, and hopefully on numerous future occasions, in this wonderful garden. For now, I ask you to feel at home and to enjoy what food and wine we managed to assemble on short notice!”

The guests applauded politely as Charles sat down next to Paulina, who moved uncomfortably, for the woollen shifts were itchy in the warm weather. Once the guests began to sample the foods, she and Suzanne disappeared into the house, and when they returned, Charles noticed immediately that they had swapped their clothing. It was Suzanne who sat down at his side, herself now uncomfortable.

“That must have been the stupidest idea I ever had,” she said under her breath. “Poor Polly has a terrible rash from those blasted wool shifts. We should have thought this out better.”

“I am so sorry, my dear,” Charles commiserated with his wife.

“Tell that to Polly,” Suzanne returned. “I put on all my linen shifts and only one wool garment. I should be fine.”

Nevertheless, their ruse seemingly worked, since nobody caught on to the swap and Paulina was not given much notice anyway. Charles noticed that she disappeared into the house after an hour, likely to rest and apply a soothing ointment to the skin of her waist.

It turned out to be long celebration, and the last guests left late in the night. By then, Suzanne had already claimed exhaustion and retired, and Paulina had never returned to the garden. Thus, it was Charles who saw the last well wishers off and who directed the preliminary cleaning efforts before turning in. It had been a taxing day, to say the least.

He was up before the rest of his family on the next morning, too, sitting down and composing an announcement that would go into the Gazette of London and into The Times of London. He tried a few approaches, but then settled on a simple text which he wrote down:

Rear Admiral Sir Charles Tolliver, Bt, Admiral Superintendent of the Royal Navy Dockyard, Valetta, Malta, and Lady Tolliver take great pleasure in announcing the births of their son George Hector Tolliver and their daughter Eileen Hannah Tolliver, on June 16, 1859, in Santa Venera, Malta.

He added instructions for his solicitor before closing the envelope and addressing it to Mr. William Makeworth, Esq., Solicitor in Maidenhead. The letter was then added to the other mail, to be picked up later in the day by Mr. Anson and sent with the next steam packet bound for England. The die was cast, and he was now committed to the charade of claiming Paulina’s little boy as his legitimate heir.

When he was done, the servants had completed the clean-up in the garden and laid the table for their breakfast. Both Suzanne and Paulina were wearing conspicuously loose fitting garments as they joined him at the table, kissing him in turn, and then sitting down with sighs. Alice appeared shortly afterwards, already wearing one of her school dresses, and giving her mother and aunt indulging smiles.

“How long were you up, Charles?” Paulina asked.

“Almost till midnight. I am afraid that my stock of spirits is now completely depleted. His Excellency is a hardy drinker, much like Fanshawe. How did you survive your ordeal?”

“The rash is almost gone,” Paulina answered. “We must regain our figures soon to dispense with that masquerade.”

“Are the two nurses working out?”

They had hired another young woman from a neighbouring village as nurse. Maria Caxaro had found her. She’d had a stillborn child just a week earlier, and her milk was flowing freely. As Charles understood, the milk from women who had grown up locally would make the children more hardy against the various agues that plagued the islands.

“Tamyra is a sweet girl. She is still sad over her little boy, but she is caring with our children,” Suzanne answered. “Maria is of course Maria. We could not have found a better nurse.”

Talk at the table then shifted to the planned fleet manoeuvres. Charles’s Colossus and the other ships were bound to leave Valetta one week hence for a twenty-day training cruise. A total of seven sail of the line, all built or converted to steam, five frigates with two of them steamers, and a number of smaller craft would practice sailing in formation, forming battle lines, gunnery, and yes, sail drill. Steam engines were prone to failure, and they might be forced to engage an enemy under sail.

Fanshawe’s plan was to take the fleet to the West and sail along the Italian coast and into the Golfe du Lion. It could not hurt to remind the Savoyards and the French that the Royal Navy was a major power in the Mediterranean. They would continue along the Spanish coast and then cruise along the Barbary Coast. Charles was of a mixed mind about the exercise. He appreciated the opportunity to sail under his own flag, the challenge of manoeuvring a sizeable fleet, and the chance to prove himself. Yet, to leave his family behind for at least three weeks was not easy, so shortly after the birth of his children.

The fleet went anchor-up on the morning of July 4 and left Grand Harbour with Colossus, 80, and her sister ship Goliath, 80, leading. The main force with Fanshawe’s huge Marlborough, 131, followed. As per his orders, Charles had the vanguard steam on a north-westerly course and heading for the Strait of Sicily. The wind was not favouring them, and the steam-powered ships had to reduce speed to allow the sail-only ships of the fleet to keep up.

It was noon of the next day, therefore, before the fleet rounded Cape San Vito and entered the Tyrrhenian Sea. With the wind on their beam, they sailed in a north-easterly direction, heading for Naples. The steam was lowered in the ships and they practiced evolutions under sail. This was clearly not the strong suit of the huge Marlborough with her 6,000 tons, but Colossus with her 2,600 tons was not a nimble ship under sail either. To Charles, a fleet combined of steam-powered men o’war and sail-only ships seemed like combining their worst characteristics, yet that was what Fanshawe and he had to keep together.

Their armament was also an odd mixture of heavy muzzle-loading 32-pounders, 68-pounder carronades, and a sprinkling of the new-fangled Paixhans guns. The latter fired explosive shells that could set an enemy ship ablaze, but had little penetrating power, necessitating the continued use of solid round shot 32-pounders. Nevertheless, the appearance of the Paixhans guns, to Charles’s mind, signalled the looming end of wooden battleships.

Gun drill was performed on a daily basis during their passage along the Italian coast line. Sailing close-hauled in north-north-westerly direction, the ships crept along in the hot summer weather, passing between Corsica and Elba by the end of their first week at sea. Once in the Ligurian Sea, Fanshawe kept his ships away from the coast to avoid a possible confrontation with Savoyard or French ships, who were in a quasi war with Austria over Lombardy. Instead, they raised steam and headed for the Spanish coast.

Charles suggested and Fanshawe agreed to send the sail-only ships to a rendezvous off Algiers, whilst the steamships followed the coastline against the prevailing wind. Fanshawe had them sail in various formations and battle lines, but they also practiced the conversion from steam to sail and vice versa, which necessitated the frequent removal and reattachment of the screw propellers, a tedious task for the crews.

Then, by the end of the second week at sea they reached the Barbary coast at Oran and turned eastward under sail. Off Algiers, they met the frigates and auxiliary ships, but also the colliers, which allowed them to refill their depleted coal bunkers. The auxiliary ships included two old, dilapidated sail brigs, and on the next day, the gunners were allowed three live shots per gun, aimed at those target ships. At a distance of two cable lengths, the 32-pounders scored some hits, but during the second salvo, one of the 8-inch Paixhans guns obliterated the target ship by setting it ablaze. The second target ship fared no better, falling victim to one of Colossus’s shells during the third salvo. There could be no doubt as to the devastating effect of explosive shells against wooden ships.

Twenty-three days after sailing from Valetta, the Mediterranean Fleet returned to their home port. Several smaller ships were immediately sent out on patrols, but the battleships anchored in the Grand Harbour and started the necessary overhauls.

Charles took his barge to Fanshawe’s flagship to deliver his final reports of their cruise. From up close, the 132-gun three-decker looked gargantuan, but Charles climbed up the Jacob’s ladder eschewing the boatswain’s chair to be received at the port by Captain Hearns.

“Welcome aboard, Sir Charles! Sir Arthur is awaiting you!”

Charles followed the chief of staff to the equally gargantuan admiral’s cabin on the upper deck where he found his commander in chief sitting in an upholstered chair with his bandaged left leg on a foot stool.

“Pardon me for not receiving you properly, my dear Tolliver,” Fanshawe said tiredly. “My gout has been acting up quite badly during our cruise. It’s no fun getting old.”

“I am sorry to hear that, Sir Arthur. Please let me know if I can be of help in any way,” Charles answered.