Mutiny

 

Chapter 10

 

_{No hard feelin’s, Mr Parker,’ said Hulme, after the vote.}

_{'None that a mort more trust wouldn't cure,' Parker said stiffly, reassuming his seat. The interruption, however, had allowed him to regain countenance, and he leaned forward in the old, confident way. 'It's clear that the soldiers are deploying to deny us the shore,' he said crisply. 'They have reinforced the garrison, and we've had reports from Pylades that there are parties of militia splashing about in the mud the other side of the Thames.'}

_{It brought laughter: if the intention was to surround them with troops, then there would be a lot more cursing, mud-soaked soldiers floundering about in the marshlands.}

_{'But we have to face it,' Parker continued. 'Ashore we're in danger anyway — they could cut us off and have us in irons in ho time. We're much safer snug on board in our fleet.'}

_{'Damme,' rumbled Blake, 'an' I was gettin' ter like th' marchin' up an' down wi' our red flag in front of th' ladies.'}

_{Parker's rejoinder was cut off by a piercing hail. 'Deck hooooo! Ships — men-o'-war, ships-o'-the-line — standin' toward!'}

_{There was a general scramble for the deck. The lookout in the maintop threw out an arm to the open sea to the north-east. On the horizon was a fleet - no modey collection of vessels, but a first-class squadron of ships-of-the-line in battle order. It was upon them: there was no more time to debate, to rationalise the fighting of fellow seamen — a decision had to be made.}

_{''They're flyin' the red flag!'}

_{'The North Sea squadron! They've come across, joining! Two, five, six — eight of their ship-o'-the-line! It's — it's marvellous!' Parker skipped about the deck in joy. 'Don't you see? We've lost three or four frigates and smaller, but now we've got eight - eight - of the line more.'}

_{'Doubles our force,' Kydd said. 'At last, th' shabs came across!'}

 

_{'An' I'm Joe Fearon, Leopard, an' this is Bill Wallis o' Standard - we come t' say we signed y' eight articles an' we mean to abide by 'em t' death.'}

_{Kydd responded warily: these were hard men and would need careful handling.}

_{'Thank you,' said Parker. 'There are many—'}

_{'An' we've brought a few of our own, like,' Fearon said flady.}

_{'Oh, may we hear them?'}

_{'Right. Fer the first we has this. Court martials on seamen ter be made o' foremast hands, not grunters.' 'Yes, well—'}

_{'Fer the second, we want prize-money three-fifths forrard, two-fifths aft.'}

_{There was no use in opposing: they had to hear it out. All told there were four articles, which had to be voted upon. Then it was insisted that they be taken ashore and presented to the admiral.}

_{'I do this from duty, Tom, not by choice. You stay here, my friend.'}

_{Kydd's spirits were low as he saw him off in the rain. They had doubled their force, but the Admiralty was not moving an iota towards meeting any of their grievances. Where was it all leading?}

_{When Parker returned, the fleet was in joyous mood, with singing and dancing on deck in the clear moonlit evening. But his face was deeply lined. Buckner had refused even to accept the articles, and the fear and chaos ashore were worse: now it was open hostility.}

 

_{Early the next day the seamen's Parliament met.}

_{'Brother Kydd, how d' we stan' in the matter o' vittles?' Hulme opened.}

_{Kydd had estimates: dry stores and those in cask could possibly be shared out among the ships that were running short, but there was already hardship. The difficult part was the usual problem of finding wood and water: cooking salt beef needed a good deal of both, and all had been held back.}

_{'We c'n hold out f'r another week or so. Then it's two upon four f'r another—'}

_{'Those fuckin' toads! It's insultin' to us. Th' admiral here commands thirteen o' the line — that's nigh-on what Old Jarvey had at St Vincent.' Hulme scowled.}

_{Parker sat quite still.}

_{'Why we has t' sit here, takin' all they wants ter dish out.. .' Hulme finished morosely.}

_{Parker's face animated suddenly. 'Perhaps we don't.'}

_{'Ah, how so?' Blake drawled, clearly reluctant for yet another of Parker's schemes.}

_{But Parker was energised and would not be stopped. 'Think of it, brothers, we could, with one stroke, win free of these shackles and at the same time force their lordships to accept our terms.'}

_{Conversations stopped around the table. 'Go on, then, cully, let's hear yez,' Fearon, of Leopard in the North Sea squadron, said.}

_{Parker waited until he had complete attention. 'We have all the means we need to call their lordships' bluff. If they don't want to come to us and talk — we'll force 'em.'}

_{Hulme sneered. 'Yair, you'll—'}

_{'We throw a blockade on London.'}

_{There was an appalled silence, then everyone spoke at once. Parker leaned back in his chair, a smile playing, while he waited for quiet. 'Indeed. We have the power to clamp our hold on the richest trade gateway in the land. No one would dare touch us while we stop every merchantman, arrest everything that sails. Trade comes to a standstill, the mills of industry stop for want of materials, companies fail for want of exports — the City collapses, the government falls.'}

_{'No!' Kydd burst out. 'This is madness! T' bring y'r country to its knees? We can't sink s' low we'd do this t' England.'}

_{'It would work.' Parker's reply was flat and final.}

 _{Returning to Queenborough along the bridlepath, Renzi's mind was preternaturally alert in a cold race of logic and action. The rhythm of walking helped focus his thoughts, and he settled to the task: to review and test the rationalisations that had brought him to this.}

_{At base, the principle of deception, his pose as a merchant, with an interest in an early resolution to the mutiny who was prepared to use agents of commercial intelligence to that end, was successful; Hartwell had been covetous of a clearly first-grade reliable source in place of the usual illiterate ramblings from disaffected sailors. The harder part was to make the intelligence convincing, without jeopardising either Kydd or doing violence to his conscience.}

_{His ground rules were settled: first, the overriding objective was the saving of Kydd, but only in so far as it did not require betrayal of his country. The next was harder: he would transmit nothing that could not be concluded by any intelligent observer for themselves, a hard thing to make convincing. And, finally, no names of individuals would go forward.}

_{They seemed sound, and Renzi lightened. For the immediate future he must acquire intelligence to establish his credentials. He had already found a suitable observation post: there was an elbow in the sea-wall going away from the fort, which obscured him from both the fort and the mile houses.}

_{He slid down the wall into the marsh grasses at the water's edge and watched the fleet's movements through a small brass telescope. If he was caught with the instrument he could well be taken up as a French spy, but there was no other way.}

_{But he had to get closer. 'Good day to you, gentlemen,' he greeted the oyster-fishermen. 'Do you think today is a good day for seeing the sights?' He fumbled absentmindedly for some shillings, squinting at the silver.}

_{'But o' course it be,' the nearest said. 'Where'd ye like t' go?'}

_{'Oh, do you think we might go past the, er, fleet in mutiny?' he asked breathlessly.}