Alexander Kent - THE INSHORE SQUADRON

'Aye. In some ways it feels like beginning all over again.'

He glanced at himself in the wall mirror near the entrance, much as he had done when he had gone out to take command of the frigate Phalarope, younger then than any captain in his new squadron.

He thought suddenly of the country house where he had been staying, recalling one of the housemaids, a pretty girl with flaxen hair and a trim figure. He had seen Allday with her on several occasions and the thought troubled him. Allday had risked his life and had saved Bolitho's many times. Now they were off again, and Allday, because of his dogged loyalty, was being taken from the land once more.

Bolitho toyed with the idea of offering him a chance of freedom. To send him to Falmouth where he could live in peace, to stroll the foreshore and drink ale with other seafaring men. He had done more than his share for England, and there were plenty who never risked life and limb aloft in a gale or standing to the guns while the air was rent by the enemy's iron.

He saw Allday's face and decided against it. It would hurt and anger him. He would have felt the same way.

Bolitho said, `There'll be a few fathers looking for the sailor who wronged their daughters, eh, Allday?'

Their eyes met. It was a game they had learned to play very well.

Allday grinned. 'My thoughts, too, sir. It's time for a change.'

Captain Thomas Herrick walked from beneath the poop and stood with his hands behind his back while he allowed his mind and body to adjust to the ship and the cold, damp wind which dappled her decks with spray.

The forenoon was almost over, and with practised eye Herrick noted that the many seamen working about the decks and gangways, or high overhead on the yards, were moving more slowly, probably dwelling on the midday meal, the thoughts of rum, a moment's respite in the crowded life between decks.

Herrick let his gaze stray around the broad quarterdeck, the stiff-backed midshipman of the watch, obviously conscious of his captain's presence, the neat lines of guns, everything. He still could not get used to the ship. He had brought his old command, the Lysander of seventy-four guns, home after many months of continuous service. Age, storm-damage and the heavier strains of battle had left deep wounds in the old ship, and it had been no surprise to Herrick to be told to pay off his command and be prepared to turn Lysander over to the dockyard. He had gone through a lot in that ship, had learned even more about himself, his limitations and his skills. As flag captain to Commodore Richard Bolitho he had discovered more paths of duty than he had known existed.

Lysander would never stand in, the line of battle again. Too much damage had taken its toll, and her many years of service would probably be ignored and she would end her days as a store-ship, or worse, a prison hulk.

Her complement had been scattered throughout the fleet in an effort to feed the unending appetite of a navy at war. Herrick had seen it all before, and had wondered more than once what his own fate would be. To his astonishment he had been given this ship. His Britannic Majesty's seventy-four-gun ship of the line Benbow, absolutely new from her builders in the main dockyard at Devonport, the first new vessel Herrick had ever served in, let alone commanded.

He had been with her for months, worrying and working while the dockyard completed their part and Benbow grew and grew to her present appearance.

Everything was strange and untried, not least the men who were gathered into her eighteen-hundred-ton hull, and Herrick had blessed every ounce of experience which he had gained on his long climb up the ladder of advancement and service.

Luckily, he had been able to hold on to a few of his old professionals from the Lysander, some of her `backbone' of skilled warrant and petty officers who, even now, after the previous night's howling gale, were to be heard bawling around the upper deck as they, like their captain, grew conscious of their responsibility and what the next hour would bring.

Herrick looked up at the mizzen masthead and felt the spray stinging his cheeks. Even at anchor it could be lively at Spithead. Soon now the flag of a rear-admiral would break at the mizzen truck. They would be together again. Different tasks, harder responsibility, but they would surely be unchanged.

Herrick walked to the hammock nettings and looked at the misty shoreline. Even without a glass he could see Portsmouth Point with its buildings crowded together as if fearful of toppling into the sea below. The church of Thomas a Becket, and somewhere to the left was the old George Inn.

He climbed on to a bollard and looked down at the swirling water alongside the stout black and buff hull. Boats were bobbing about, tackles rising and falling as last minute stores were swayed aboard. Brandy for the surgeon, wine for the marine officers, small comforts which would have to last them how long?

The past months had been not only demanding on Herrick but intensely rewarding, too. From a poor sea officer without influence or property he had become a man with roots. In Dulcie he had discovered a warmth and happiness he had not dreamed of, and to his utter surprise, which was typical of him, he had found himself to be married to a woman who, if not rich, was extremely well off.

She had stayed near the ship while the finishing touches had been completed. Yards crossed, fresh rigging blacked-down and made taut. Canvas spread, guns hoisted aboard, all seventy-four of them, and the miles of cordage, hundreds of blocks, tackles, crates, casks and equipment which turned a hull into the most modern, the most demanding and probably the most beautiful creation of man. Benbow was now a man-of-war, and not only

that, she was flagship of this small squadron anchored in Spit head's fleet anchorage.

He said sharply, Mr Aggett! Your glass, if you please!' Herrick had always been good at remembering names. It took him longer to know their owners.

The midshipman of the watch scurried across the quarterdeck and handed him the big signals telescope.

Herrick trained it across the starboard nettings, seeing the hazy humps of the Isle of Wight beyond the other anchored ships. He studied each vessel with slow, professional interest.

The other three two-deckers, looking almost bright in the dull glare, their closed gunports presenting a chequered pattern above the choppy wavecrests alongside. Indomitable, Captain Charles Keverne. With each ship Herrick pictured her captain in his mind's eye. Keverne had been Bolitho's first lieutenant in the big prize Euryalus. The Nicator, Captain Valentine Keen. They had served together in another ship on the far side of the earth.

Odin, a smaller two-decker of sixty-four guns. Herrick smiled despite his list of anxieties. Her captain was Francis Inch. He had never imagined that the eager, horse-faced Inch would ever have made post-rank. Any more than he had expected it for himself.

The two frigates, Relentless and Styx, were anchored further astern of the squadron, and the smaller sloop, Lookout, was showing her copper in the watery sunlight as she rolled sickeningly to her cable.

All in all it was a good squadron. Its officers and men lacked experience for the most part, but had the youth to make up for it. Herrick sighed. He was forty-three and senior for his rank, but he was content, although he would not have complained about dropping a few years from his age.

Feet thudded on the quarterdeck and he saw the first lieutenant, Henry Wolfe, striding to meet him. Herrick could not imagine what he would have done without Wolfe in the past months of commissioning Benbow. In appearance he was quite extraordinary. Very tall, well over six feet, he seemed to have difficulty in controlling his arms and legs. They, too, were gangling and lively, like the man. He had fists like hams and feet as bulky as swivel guns. Dominating all these things, his hair was bright ginger, jutting from beneath his cocked hat like two vivid wings.

He was old for his appointment,, and had served in merchantmen when laid off from naval service in peacetime. Collier brigs, speedy schooners with lace from Holland, men-of-war, he had been in them all. It was rumoured he had even been in the slave trade, and Herrick could well believe it.

Wolfe slid to a halt and touched his hat. He took several deep breaths, as if it was the only way he knew of controlling his energy, which was considerable.

'Ready she is, sir!' He had a harsh, toneless voice which made the nearby midshipman wince. `I've just about got everything in place an' a place for everything! Give us a few more hands an' we'll make her show her paces!'

Herrick asked, 'How many more?'

'Twenty prime seamen, or fifty idiots!'

Herrick added, Those I saw brought aboard yesterday by the press, are they useful?'

Wolfe rubbed his chin and watched a seaman sliding down a backstay to the deck.

'The usual, sir. Rough-knots and a few gallows-birds, but some good men also. They'll be fine when the boatswain has had his say.'

A tackle squeaked and some canvas covered cases were hauled up and over the gangway. Herrick saw Ozzard, Bolitho's personal servant, fussing around them and directing a party of seamen to carry them aft.

Wolfe followed his gaze and remarked, `Have no fear, sir.

Benbow'll not let you down today.' In his blunt fashion he. added, 'It's a new experience for me to serve under an admiral's flag, sir. I'll take whatever guidance you see fit to offer.'

Herrick studied him and said simply, 'Rear-Admiral Bolitho will tolerate no slackness, Mr Wolfe, no more than I will. But a fairer man I never met, nor a braver.' He walked aft again

adding, `Call me the moment you sight the barge, if you please.'

Wolfe watched him leave and said to himself, `Nor a better friend to you, I'll wager.'

Herrick went to his own quarters, aware of bustling figures, the smells of cooking and the stronger, unused scents of new timbers and tar, paintwork and cordage. She felt new all right. From keel to mainmast truck. And she was his.

He paused by the screen door and watched his wife sitting at the cabin table. She had pleasant, even features, and brown hair like his own. She was in her mid-thirties, and Herrick had given her his heart like a young lover to an angel.

The lieutenant with whom she had been speaking stood up instantly and faced the door.

Herrick nodded. 'Be easy, Adam. You are not required on deck as yet.'

Adam Pascoe, the Benbow's third lieutenant, was glad of the interruption. Not that he did not enjoy talking with Captain Herrick's lady, it was not that at all. But, like Herrick, he was very aware of today, what it could mean to him personally when his uncle's flag broke to the wind, what it might mean for them all later on.

He had been under Herrick's command in Lysander, beginning as the junior lieutenant, and because of the advancement or death of his superiors had risen to fourth lieutenant. Even now, as Benbow's third lieutenant, he was still only twenty years old. His emotions were torn between wanting to stay with Richard Bolitho or going elsewhere to a smaller, more independent vessel like a frigate or sloop.

Herrick watched his face and guessed most of what Pascoe was thinking.

He was a good-looking boy, he thought, slim and very dark like Bolitho, with the restlessness of an untrained colt. Had his father been alive he would have been proud of him.

Pascoe said, `I had better attend my division, sir. I'd not want anything to go badly today.' He bowed slightly to the woman. `If you'll excuse me, ma'am.'

Alone with his wife, Herrick said quietly, 'I worry about that one sometimes. He is still a boy and yet has seen more action and fearful sights than most of the squadron.'