Ramage and the Dido

Ramage shook his head. 'All I have at the moment is the commission. I found out she was at Portsmouth from Steel. I don't know whether commissioning just means assembling the ship's company and provisioning, or getting the masts in and rigging her.'

The earl smoothed down his white hair and held out his hand. 'Well, whatever it is, congratulations. It won't be long before they give you a second rate. Then you'll get your flag!'

Ramage shook his hand and both men sat down again. The earl looked round at Sarah. 'Well, my dear, so it is goodbye to frigates. What's it feel like now, being married to a man who is going to command a ship of the line?'

'He'll miss all the men on board the Calypso,' Sarah said. 'It seems a pity that the captain has to start all over again when he changes ships.'

'Yes, it is a big change,' the earl agreed. 'Six hundred or so men instead of a couple of hundred. A really big ship to handle.'

Sarah held up her hands apologetically. 'Nicholas has just explained to me what a "rate" is. But tell me, what is the difference between a frigate and a ship of the line, apart from its size and the number of men?'

'Its job, mainly,' the earl said. 'A frigate is a scout - it acts as the admiral's eyes when working with a fleet, or it does all those jobs that Nicholas has been doing for the past few years. But a ship of the line is just that - a ship which forms part of the line of battle when the fleet is in action. At Trafalgar, the frigates were supposed to stay out of the fight and repeat signals - the classic task for a frigate in battle, not getting involved in the shooting. Nicholas, of course, had to break the rules and get himself into the action, but normally the line of battle will be formed with ships of seventy-four guns or more. There are still a few sixty-fours around, but they are being replaced because they are not powerful enough to stand in the line of battle.'

'So if Nicholas had been given the Dido in time he could have been in the line of battle at Trafalgar?' Sarah asked.

'Yes. Being him he made up for it with the Calypso, but if there is another Trafalgar and Nicholas is part of the fleet concerned, yes, he will be in the line of battle.'

'It sounds a dangerous job.'

The earl laughed. 'No, on the contrary. A captain stands much more chance of being killed in a frigate action than the captain of a ship of the line in a battle like Trafalgar. Just think of the numbers - on board a frigate he is one of a couple of hundred; in a ship of the line he is one of six hundred or so.'

'Lord Nelson was killed,' Sarah pointed out.

'Yes,' the earl agreed soberly, 'but he would insist on wearing all his orders and decorations. He was an obvious target for French sharpshooters. Captain Hardy, who was walking the deck with him, was not scratched.'

'But Nicholas has been wounded so many times: it doesn't seem fair!'

Ramage said lightly: 'The important thing is that I've survived!'

'Does being given a ship of the line mean you won't be away for such long periods?' Sarah asked.

'Probably. Ships of the line are usually attached to fleets, and fleets are not usually at sea for such long periods. Unless I get put on the blockade of Brest - blockade work usually means being at sea for a long time. Still, we don't keep such a close blockade now ...'

Hanson came into the room again and said apologetically: 'There's another messenger from the Admiralty, sir: it is a question of you signing the man's receipt book.'

Impatiently Ramage got up from the table and went to the front door. He came back with the letter, picked up the paperknife and slid it under the seal. 'Their Lordships are keeping the clerks busy this morning,' he commented. 'They'd save on messengers if they wrote letters at the same time as they wrote commissions.'

'Well, what does it say?' demanded Sarah. 'They may have changed their minds about giving you the Dido.'

Ramage unfolded the sheet of paper and began to read. Sarah was watching his face and was surprised to see a look of pleasure. The trouble was, she knew, that at the moment Nicholas was more absorbed in his new command than in the fact that his leave was likely to be cut short.

'I've never heard of that before,' Ramage commented, passing the letter to his father. He turned to Sarah and shook his head disbelievingly.

'I'm not saying goodbye to the Calypsos after all. She is going to be paid off in Portsmouth before a thorough refit, and orders are being sent to Aitken to take all the officers and ship's company to the Dido. Nepean says that their Lordships have decided that in recognition of their past services, the commission, warrant and petty officers are transferred to the Dido without change in rank. So Aitken is my first lieutenant and I have Southwick as master!'

'Does that mean you still have Jackson and Stafford and Rossi, and the Frenchmen?'

'All of them,' Ramage said jubilantly. Then his face fell. 'It means I still have that damned gunner, too. Well, this time I am going to the Board of Ordnance to have him replaced. We could get by when he was responsible for only thirty-two guns, but now we shall have seventy-four, plus eight or a dozen carronades, and that is too many for that fool!'

'Eight or a dozen carronades? I don't understand,' Sarah said. 'I thought you said you have seventy-four guns.'

'I have,' Ramage explained patiently, 'but carronades are extra. For some reason I've never understood, carronades are not included in the total number of guns a ship carries. It doesn't matter if she's a frigate or a first rate. Carronades are a sort of bonus.'

Sarah shrugged her shoulders. 'It doesn't make sense - after all, a gun is a gun - it can kill people, even if it is a carronade.'

'I agree, darling, but even father can't explain the quirks of the Admiralty. Anyway, the main thing is that I've got my Calypsos.'

'Their Lordships are being very kind to you,' the earl said, folding the letter. 'I hope you realize that they're granting you an extreme favour. I've never heard of a similar case.'

'Nicholas deserves it,' Sarah said defensively. 'He's been in so many actions, and he's only just been given a seventy-four.'

'Whoa,' Ramage exclaimed with a grin, 'I'm still very young to get a seventy-four. You talk as if I'm an old man. I think I'm still younger than Lord Nelson was when he was given his first third rate. Anyway, she was a sixty-four, the Agamemnon.'

'I don't care,' Sarah said obstinately, 'you're only getting what you've long deserved. And it's only right that you take the Calypsos with you.'

'He still has to find another four hundred or so men,' the earl pointed out. 'I don't know what the Dido's complement is, but he only has 225 men in the Calypso and the Dido will be nearer 625. You're going to have a lot of pressed men to lick into shape!'

'Yes,' Ramage agreed, 'but it's always easier when you have a nucleus of good men to start with.'

'Remember Falstaff's words,' the earl reminded him. 'Although they were pressed for the Army, remember that he had "revolted tapsters, and ostlers trade-fall'n; the cankers of a calm world and a long peace". Remember, too, that he said that "A mad fellow met me on the way, and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets, and press'd the dead bodies..."'

Ramage laughed because the quotation, from Henry IV, was one of his favourites. 'Still, when they hear how much my fellows have made from prize money, I expect I'll get a few volunteers.'

The earl nodded in agreement. 'Mind you, you probably won't get as much with a seventy-four as you did with a frigate. By the way, that master of yours - Southwick, isn't it? - should be a wealthy man by now. He's been with you ever since you got your first command, the Kathleen cutter.'