They might be dead in an hour but, by God, this was a moment worth living for! He tried to mask his idiotic enthusiasm and turned aft to begin pacing the poop in an effort to repress his emotions and appear calm.
Bunting rose and broke from Elephant's yard arms as hard-pressed signalmen sweated to convey Nelson's last minute orders to the ships. Happily in the confusion none applied to the bomb vessels.
'Agamemnon's in trouble, sir,' remarked Rogers, nodding in the direction of the sixty-four.
'Damned current's too much for her, she ain't got enough headway…'
'She'll fall athwart Volcano's hawse if she ain't careful…'
'And ours by God! Veer cable Mr Matchett, veer cable!' They could see men on Volcano's fo'c's'le hurriedly letting out cable as the battleship tried to clear the little bomb vessel while the current set her rapidly north.
They watched helplessly as the big ship crabbed awkwardly across their own bow, failed to weather the mark vessel, Cruizer, and brought up to her anchor on the wrong side of the Middle Ground. Within minutes a flat-boat was ordered to her assistance, to carry out another anchor and enable her to haul herself to windward.
Edgar, with Mr Briarly at the con, began to draw ahead unsupported and bunting broke out again from Elephant's yards as Nelson ordered Polyphemus into the gap, followed by the old Isis. Drinkwater watched the next ship with some interest.
Bellona followed Isis, crossing close to Cruizer's bowsprit as she turned into the King's Deep. Drinkwater wondered if her pilot could see his marks and transits through the smoke of Edgar's fire as she engaged the Provesteenen, the most southerly Danish ship round which he and Hardy had sounded the night before. Beyond Isis Drinkwater could see Désirée which had got under way early and was already anchored and swinging to her spring to open a raking fire on the Provesteenen.
Russell, an old Camperdown ship and well-known to Drinkwater, was close behind Bellona, and Elephant's topmen were aloft as the admiral's flagship moved forward to take station astern of Russell. Ardent and Bligh's Glatton were setting sail.
'God's bones,' muttered Drinkwater, 'I think they are ignoring Briarly's advice.' Bellona appeared to have inclined to a slightly more easterly course than the first ships. As they watched a sudden gap opened up between Isis and Bellona. 'What the devil…?'
'Bellona's aground!' remarked Drinkwater grimly, 'hit the damned Middle Ground and look, by heaven, Russell's followed him!'
'That'll set the cat among the bloody pigeons,' said Rogers.
Chapter Eighteen
The Meteor Flag
To the watchers on Virago nothing was known of the little drama on Elephant's quarterdeck as Nelson took over the con of the battleship personally. Overhearing the pilots advising the master to leave the grounded Bellona and Russell to larboard the admiral ordered the helm put over the other way, leaving the stricken ships to starboard and averting complete catastrophe. All Drinkwater, Rogers and Easton could see were the leading British ships under their topsails, moving slowly north enveloped in a growing cloud of smoke as gun after gun in the Danish line bore on them. Tumilty and Lettsom had joined the knot of officers on the poop and the Virago's rail was crowded with her people as they watched the cannonade.
Following Elephant were Glatton, Monarch, Defiance and Ganges, weathering the south end of the Middle Ground, while Riou's frigates, led by Amazon, were in line ahead for the entrance to the King's Deep.
Rose's little gun-brigs each with their waspish names: Biter, Sparkler, Tickler, were shaking out their topsails; seemingly as anxious to get among the enemy fire as their larger consorts. Fremantle's flatboats were also active, three or four of them clustered around Agamemnon's bow assisting in carrying out her anchors, and converging on Bellona and Russell who were under fire from the Provesteenen and howitzer batteries on Amager.
'Hullo, old Parker's on the move.' The levelled telescopes swung to the north where the Commander-in-Chief's division was beating up to re-anchor at the north end of the Middle Ground.
'I wonder if he can see Bellona and Russell aground?' asked Easton.
'He'll have a damned fit if he can, two battleships out of the line is going to have quite an effect on the others,' offered Rogers.
'Your fire-eating brothers in Christ will have their whiskers singed, Mr Rogers,' said Lettsom philosophically. 'Here is a quatrain for you:
'See where the guns of England thunder
Giving blow for mighty blow,
Who was it that made the blunder,
Took 'em where they couldn't go?'
Rogers burst out laughing and even Drinkwater, keenly observing the progress of the action, could not repress a smile. He walked across to the deck log and looked at Easton's last entry: '10 o'clock, van ships engaged, cannonade became general as line of battle ships got into station.'
To the north of them most of Parker's squadron were reanchoring. But four of his battleships were beating up towards Copenhagen against wind and current to enter the action.
Astern of the bomb vessels, Jamaica and the gun brigs were having a similar problem. The crowded anchorage had not allowed all the ships to get sufficiently to the south to weather the Middle Ground in the wind now blowing, and though Drinkwater thought that the shallow draught gun-brigs could have chanced slipping inside Cruizer, it was clear that Parker's caution was now epidemic in the fleet.
'Explosion's signalling, sir, "Bombs General, weigh and form line of battle."'
The noise of the cannonade reached Mr Jex as he bent down in the hold. He was outboard of the great coils of spare cable, in the carpenter's walk against the ship's side. He had left the deck on the pretext of checking the sea inlet cock. From here water was drawn on deck by the fire engine, to spout from the two hoses his party had laid out on the deck. The spigot had been opened hours earlier and Jex merely crouched over it. His fear had reduced him to a trembling jelly. He could hear above the still distant sound of cannon the distinct chuckle of water alongside a hull under way: Virago was going into action.
For five minutes Jex huddled terrified against the ship's side before recovering himself. Standing uncertainly he began to make his way towards the spirit room.
Drinkwater stared through the vanes of his hand compass at the main mast of Cruizer.
'Damn! She won't weather Cruizer, Mr Easton, can you stretch the braces a little?'
Easton looked aloft then shook his head. 'Hard against the catharpings, sir.'
Rogers came and stood anxiously next to Drinkwater as he continued to stare through the brass vanes. He was swearing under his breath.