With his finger he traced a line from Pointe des Nègres to the southern end of the island. 'Up and down, my lad, twenty-five miles. You'll be the terrier at the rabbit hole, and I don't want a French rabbit to get in or out without you taking him and sending him here with a prize crew on board.'
Ramage said nothing, puzzled at the shortness of the line the Admiral's finger had traced. The Admiral mistook his silence and said crossly: 'If it doesn't appeal to you, there's always convoy work.’
'Oh no, sir,' Ramage said hastily, rubbing one of the two scars on his right brow, 'it is just that -' he paused, wondering whether he was being indiscreet, and the Admiral said impatiently: 'Come on, out with it!'
Ramage pointed from Pointe des Nègres to Pointe des Salines. 'You made a point, sir, that I should be patrolling only between those two headlands, and I was -'
'You're wondering why I don't want you to patrol round the whole island? A good point, m'boy, since you don't know Martinique well. Luckily for us there's a deuce of a strong north-going current along the Caribbean side of the island, and when it's not going north it's going west.'
He ran his finger down the middle of the island. 'You can see it's mountainous: damned big peaks they are, too, and it means there's usually precious little wind on the west side. The island makes an enormous lee that often stretches twenty miles to the west. What does that tell you?'
'That with a light wind and a strong north-going current,' Ramage said, 'it must be almost impossible for merchant ships to come in from the Atlantic round the north end of the island and beat their way down to Fort Royal, sir.'
'Exactly. They never risk it, so it shuts one door. It forces 'em to come round the south end of the island, using the current to get 'em up to Fort Royal. But even then they're sometimes between the devil and the deep blue sea: if they stay offshore and there's any west in the current they get swept out into the Caribbean, and even when they get out to the lee they're too far to the west for merchantmen to stand a chance of beating back to Fort Royal. So they stay very close inshore, working the current and the offshore and onshore breezes, anchoring when necessary.'
He pointed to the Diamond Rock. 'They keep close to the coast and pass between the Rock and Diamond Hill, here on the mainland, through the Fours Channel. It acts as a funnel. That's where you catch 'em. Now' —he jabbed a finger on the coast north to Fort Royal - 'the only reason for patrolling as far north as Pointe des Nègres is to snap up anyone trying to use the current to give himself a lift to the north or west. You can go right into Fort Royal Bay often enough to see any ship preparing to sail.'
He took the weight off so the chart rolled up. 'Stop anything sailing by all means, but - and this will be in your orders - your main concern is to stop any ship arriving. Those Frenchmen are desperate for supplies: the Army is yelling out for powder and shot, tents and provisions; the Navy's desperate for masts, spars, canvas and cordage.'
He waved Ramage back to the chair and sat down again himself, picking up his drink. 'Watch out you don't get caught in that damned current yourself, though a frigate can beat back the minute she gets some wind.' He raised his glass as though in a toast. 'Diamond Rock and Diamond Hill - you may not find diamonds, but let's hope you find plenty of gold in the shape of prize money, eh? You can have a word with Captain Eames of the Alcmene: he's been patrolling the area for the past three months and has probably picked up a trick or two. I need the Alcmene for this special operation,' he added crossly, 'although I can ill spare him for such a long time.'
The Admiral stared at the rum in his glass, his brow furrowed and then glared at Ramage from under his bushy eyebrows. 'Your ship's company,' he said abruptly. ‘Any trouble with them?'
‘Why, no sir!' said a startled Ramage.
'No sign of disaffection, no troublemakers on board?'
'No sir, a happy ship's company.'
The Admiral nodded. 'Well, watch them. You know what happened to the Jocasta?’
'Yes, sir,' Ramage said, 'A year or two ago, wasn't it?'
‘Twenty months. Well, the mutineers took her into La Guaira and handed her over to the Spaniards. There's no work for 'em down there, and they're signing on in neutral merchantmen. We've caught a few of them, and some of the men who didn?t mutiny have managed to escape. Anyway, there's a lot of loose talk going round, and we've got to be on our guard: mutiny can spread like wildfire - you remember the Nore and Spithead ... So, be on your guard, and keep a sharp lookout for any former Jocastas in neutral ships.'
'Aye, aye, sir.'
'Very well. Provision and water for three months. Any defects that stop you sailing? No? Good, I'll send your orders, over in the morning.'
Back on board the Juno, Ramage waited in his cabin for Aitken and Southwick to join him. The steward came in, asking for instructions about supper, but was waved away: Ramage was too disappointed to have an appetite. Captain Eames and the Alcmene were to carry out the special operation, whatever it was, and the Juno was to be a terrier at a rabbit hole, according to the Admiral. Snapping at an island schooner here, chasing a lumbering little drogher there, tacking back and forth between Pointe des Salines and Pointe des Nègres, watching the current, wary of a calm . . . Capturing prizes - a few tons of sugar, some hogsheads of molasses, an occasional hundredweight of spices: so little that British privateers never bothered themselves.
When the First Lieutenant and Master came into the cabin Ramage gestured irritably towards the chairs and asked Southwick: 'Do you know Fort Royal at all well?'
The Master nodded. 'Aye, sir, I was in and out o' there dozens of times before the war.'
'Well, the pair of you will know it like the backs of your hands by Michaelmas,' Ramage said grimly, and went on to tell them of the news given him by Admiral Davis. 'I'll get my written orders tomorrow, but we provision for three months. That'll keep the ship's company busy with the boats for a day or two.'
'What about water, sir?’
'Three months, but if we need more we can run down to St Lucia for it; Captain Eames says they have plenty at Castries. Some powder, too, but no provisions to spare.’
'We need a tender,' Southwick commented.
‘The Admiral's already agreed to that, if we capture something suitable. Captain Eames took a small sloop and used it, but apparently he brought it back here and it's been sold as a prize.'
'Who is watching Fort Royal now, sir?' Aitken asked.
'The Welcome brig, but she's waiting to leave for Antigua the minute we relieve her.'
Southwick unrolled the chart and looked at it. 'One thing about it, there are plenty of sheltered anchorages if it comes on to blow hard. Grande Anse d'Arlet and Petite Anse d'Arlet by Cap Salomon; Diamond bay itself, off the village . . .'
'And if it blows a hurricane,' Ramage said with a grin, ‘we can either put to sea or join the French up in Fort Royaclass="underline" they'll be in such a state they won't notice us sneaking in and anchoring in the Salée River!'
Aitken gave a shiver. 'Let's hope we don't get any this year...'
Southwick rolled up the chart. 'Always a hurricane somewhere during the season. The last one the Captain and I experienced,' he said nonchalantly, 'started near here. About a hundred miles to the west, wasn't it, sir? Masts went by the board,' he told Aitken.
Ramage nodded and said cheerfully: 'Let's hope hurricanes are like lightning, never strike in the same place twice. Anyway, let's go over the requirements for this "terrier at the rabbit hole" business. There'll be a deal of detached boat work - Aitken, I want you to check with the gunner that we have enough boat guns, and at least two spare ones, in case of accidents. Boarding from boats is something we haven't practised, but we'll make up for that as soon as we are off Martinique. Musketry - I'm sure the Marines need little practice, but the seamen?'