Chapter 12

I want to thank my editor "Wires" for his assistance with this story. His efforts have greatly improved my submission. As always the errors remain mine however.

Finally, nearly a year after the sinking of the English Frigate and the capture of the surviving crew Roger decided it was time to make the trip to England. It was now 1606 and they had three of the new warships in commission. He took two of them on the mission along with a freighter carrying items the Captain thought would sell well in Great Britain. The cargo consisted of furs, some native handicrafts, oak mast timbers, samples of food, and some fish that had been salted down. Also included were several cases of citrus fruits.

Roger boarded a platoon of his finest troops along with their weapons for protection. The English Captain asked how long Roger thought the passage would take and was shocked when Roger replied "No longer than ten days I would expect. It all depends on fuel usage. We cannot obtain fuel for our ships in England so have to move at a pace that will conserve our on board supplies. We have enough on board to make the crossing to England and back with enough to spare for one more crossing if need arises. High seas and wind as well as high speed maneuvering would deplete the fuel faster."

"Amazing. Simply amazing."

The ships departed on the next high tide. The English Captain obtained a sextant somewhere and constantly took sightings that he plotted on a chart he kept with him. He walked around in a constant state of amazement from the speed with which they were crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

On the morning of the eighth day they came in sight of the mouth of the Thames River. Over the last two days ships of all sizes were seen by the NAU vessel. None of them were ever close enough to hail however. Some of them even looked as if they were beating away from the strange ships sailing down the channel without visible means of propulsion. When they entered the river heading for the anchorage at London Roger's NAU ships were finally confronted by two warships. Roger allowed the frigates to close with his ships. When the two English frigates came within hailing range the senior English Captain shouted, "Heave to, there. What manner of vessel are you that you can move without sails? I see no paddles for galley slaves. I demand to know from whence you come and the purpose of your visit."

"Roger once again spoke for his ships. "I am Admiral Roger Timmons from the North American Union. We are on a diplomatic mission from our country. We wish to arrange trade treaties and perhaps work out an agreement for some of your people to immigrate to our country. I also have aboard some of your countrymen that I am repatriating. I am afraid their ship was sunk and they had no way home until we were able to bring them."

After he finished talking Roger handed the megaphone to the English Captain. He took the device and said, "I am Captain Smyth, formerly of HMS Frightful. Unfortunately for us, we attacked King Roger's ship several months ago and came out the worse for it. He has graciously agreed to repatriate us as a show of goodwill. I carry a message for the King and Admiralty from him. We request permission for these three ships to move to an anchorage pending approval for him to go ashore and present his credentials to the representatives of the crown."

The Captain that had previously hailed said, "Permission to move to anchorage is granted. Follow us to your assigned anchorage point." The small flotilla proceeded under the watchful eyes of the two warships. It took until dusk for them to traverse the remaining distance to the assigned anchorage and make their ships secure.

After he finished talking to the senior officer on board the English Frigate, Captain Smyth handed the megaphone back to Roger. He smiled and said, "It is wonderful to be back in England, Your Majesty. If I had not taken the sightings and plotted the course myself though I do not think I would ever have believed the crossing from America to Great Britain could have been made as rapidly as your ships made it. Who would have believed you could cross the entire Atlantic Ocean in eight days? Certainly not I. Or, at least, I would not have believed it before you showed me it was possible. I wonder what other wonderful things you have in America that I have yet to see."

The English Captain opted to remain on board Roger's Flagship for one more night before he and his men returned to shore. His first duty the next day would be to report to the Admiralty and deliver a message for Roger as well as report on the failure of his mission. Of course, he assumed the merchant ship he was escorting made its way back home and reported the sinking of his frigate. The captain was also anxious to see his wife in the hopes she had enough faith in him to have remained waiting for his return.

After they anchored close together where they could mutually defend each other, Roger's ships set their anchor watches and armed guards. To the surprise of the other anchored ships, as darkness fell, great bright lights came on illuminating the three ships and the waters around them. Armed guards could be seen carefully watching the waters around the three strange ships.