He could go down to his cabin and continue his letter to Gianna: he tried to add a few paragraphs every day so that she had a sort of diary to read when it eventually arrived many weeks later. Or he could start a letter to his father, who would be interested to read about the problems he was facing over the Diamond . . . But he felt too fidgety to sit at his desk and anyway the moment he saw the Captain sitting there, the clerk would come trotting in with papers and reports for him to sign, Being a conscientious man, he would also have a list of trivial reports that Ramage should have made, or chased his officers into making.
He had only just come back from the Surcouf and if he returned there now Aitken would start worrying. If he went up to the foredeck Southwick, his white hair matted with perspiration and his temper getting short, would think that Ramage considered his men were not working fast enough.
His next look over the taffrail showed that the two cutters were now secured together and he realized thankfully that he had a job to do. It was not a job for the Captain, but one that had to be done, and mercifully Lacey was over at the Diamond with the carriage in tow.
'Haul round to the starboard side,' he called to Jackson, who was acting as coxswain of the two boats. 'Secure your painter and sternfasts so you are directly under the main yard.'
Two luff tackles were already hooked into the yard tackle pendant and secured to the slings round the gun lying on the deck. They had been used earlier to lift the gun off the carriage which was now being towed to the cove.
A hail to Southwick brought twenty men hurrying aft to man the luff tackles while more ran to the braces. Ramage went to the entry port at the gangway and watched until the two boats were secured alongside. As soon as they were ready he turned to the men at the luff tackles.
'Hoist away, now. You four, tail on those steadying lines, we don't want the gun swinging.'
The men heaved steadily, and slowly the gun lifted off the deck, hanging horizontally from the carefully-placed slings. Finally it was higher than the hammock nettings and Ramage signalled them to stop hoisting.
Another signal to the men at the braces and a hurried warning to the men holding the steadying lines brought the main yard swinging round a few degrees, back to its normal position. This swung the gun out over the bulwarks until it was suspended above the boats.
The men with the steadying lines climbed up into the hammock nettings so they could see down into the boats, and Ramage gave the order for the men at the luff tackles to begin lowering. The gun came down foot by foot at first, and then inch by inch. As it neared the boat, Ramage gave the signal for them to stop lowering. Now he had to make sure that the men at the steadying lines kept the gun parallel with the boats while he gave the final order which would swing the yard round a fraction more, so that the gun was precisely over the gap between them.
Jackson gave Ramage a signal that all was well and slowly the gun was lowered again. The men in each boat held up their hands in case it began twisting, obviously not trusting the men at the steadying lines. Then the gun was in the water between the two boats, its muzzle and breech clear of the spars and a moment later disappearing below it.
Ramage shouted to the men at the luff tackles to stop lowering and saw that Jackson was fully prepared. Four men at the bow of the two boats leaned over to the forward sling and then signalled to Ramage, who told the men at the forward tackle to lower gently. Now the top of the forward sling was almost level with the spar joining the two boats and swiftly the four men put on a rolling hitch, using a short piece of heavy rope. Then they secured the other end to the centre of the spar.
While they had been doing that, four men had been securing the after sling to the after spar while Jackson cast off the steadying lines. Now the gun, six feet long, was slung between the two spars and hanging three or four feet below the water, but the weight was still being taken by the luff tackles.
'All secure?' Ramage shouted, and when Jackson answered that it was, he signalled to the men at the tackles to slack away. Slowly, as the weight of the gun was transferred through the slings to the boats, they sank deeper in the water. But it was an even settling; neither was down by bow or stern. The whole twelve hundredweight of gun - which now weighed less in water - was slung under the two boats, and two seamen with boathooks jabbed at the hooks of the tackles to release them from the slings.
The heavy blocks soared up in the air, the yard was braced round again, and Ramage called to Jackson: 'Carry on then, and make for the cove: Mr Lacey will be waiting for you. And make sure the gun tackle is hooked into the cascabel ring and moused before you let go!'
;Aye, aye, sir,' Jackson grinned, 'otherwise we'll have to dive for it!'
The painter and sternfast were cast off and the two boats edged away from the Juno, the men rowing from the outboard side of each one. Progress was painfully slow but Jackson was careful to use the wind so that it helped them in their crabwise course towards the Diamond.
Ramage found Southwick beside him, watching the boats. 'You looked as though you were enjoying yourself, sir,' he said cheerfully, first making sure they were out of earshot of the men.
'I was,' Ramage admitted. 'It's deucedly tedious just marching up and down the quarterdeck like a sentry at the Horse Guards.'
Southwick nodded sympathetioally. 'The convoy will soon be here. We'll be busy enough then.'
Two hours later Ramage found an excuse for going over to the Diamond: the men with the jolly boat and two cutters had not returned and it would soon be dinner time, so he ordered the cook to prepare food for the men and had himself rowed over in one of the Surcouf’s boats. As an afterthought he had ordered the gunner to fetch up a lock and spare flint, carefully wrapped against the spray, a pricker, trigger line, wads, two round shot and two cartridges, the cylindrical wooden boxes being stowed in a canvas bag as a precaution against both spray and powder accidentally spilling. It was unlikely that the gun would be ready, but he warned Southwick not to be alarmed if he heard a shot.
As the boat rounded the Rock and the cove came into view he was pleasantly surprised to see that the carriage was up on the ledge and close to it what looked like a great letter A without the cross bar. The men had made sheers from the spars that had previously lashed the cutters together, and an oar provided the support. A heavy tackle slung from the sheers had hoisted the gun and several men were now manoeuvring the carriage directly under it.
By the time Ramage leapt on shore the gun had been lowered and he heard an excited yell from Lacey: ‘Throw over the cap-squares! Now, in with the bolts!'
The lieutenant pulled off the band of cloth he had been wearing round his brow to keep the perspiration from his eyes, snatched up his hat and jammed it on his head before saluting. 'You beat us by a quarter of an hour, sir,’ he said ruefully, gesturing at the men hurriedly unlashing the sheers.