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?'
Aitken shook his head ruefully. 'At the moment I'm afraid they're more of a danger to themselves than an enemy, sir.'
'Very well, give 'em plenty of exercise with small arms, and remember they'll be using both muskets and pistols at night, and one gun going off accidentally can raise the alarm. Exercise them at rowing with muffled oars - oh yes, you look surprised, but believe me, Aitken, it's harder than it sounds. It isn't just frapping oars with bits of canvas, it's the whole attitude of the men in the boat - not to bellow an oath if they stub their toes, not to smuggle drink into the boat on the pretext of drinking it to keep warm . . .’he glanced at Southwick as the Master nodded vigorously.
'More boat operations have been wrecked by drink than anything else, sir,' Southwick said. 'The men hoard their tot and take it with them. They don't realize when they've drunk too much and the officer doesn't see it going on, and then they get stupid or quarrelsome . . . Search every man a'fore they get into the boat, sir, 'tis the only way.'
‘The boat guns,' Ramage said. 'Loading, aiming and firing those little brutes is difficult work in anything of a sea. Spray all over the place, shot roll into the bilge, the lock gets wet, and the slow match goes out. Something else to exercise the men at, Aitken.'
'Hoisting out and recovering, sir,' Southwick prompted. 'Oh yes,' Ramage said. 'Easy enough to hoist out a boat with the stay tackle in harbour, and sometimes more difficult at Spithead. But with a sea running . . .'
'I'll see the lieutenants are warned, and with your permission I'll exercise them at it as soon as we can,' said Aitken, his face getting longer and longer.
'Night work with boats means using a compass and knowing where the devil you are,' Ramage went on relentlessly, anxious to make sure that Aitken realized that the Juno would soon be engaged on a type of operation of which the First Lieutenant had no experience. 'It means developing a sense of - well, of position, more than navigation. On a night when cloud hides the stars, most men completely lose their sense of position after a boat has rowed round in a circle a couple of times. I don't mean simply knowing you are still off a certain headland, that's obvious even to a blockhead. I'll give you an example: supposing you are leading three boats in a cutting out expedition against a ship of war at anchor in Fort Royal Bay, and you run into some guard boats and have to dodge. It's being able to keep in your mind the relative positions of the rest of the boats that matters. Like playing chess when you are blindfolded after the first four moves.'
Southwick looked startled. 'Please don't say anything like that in front of Bowen, sir,' he said pleadingly. 'That is just the sort of thing that would appeal to him, an' I'm glad to say he hasn't thought of it yet.'