“Keep your fingers crossed,” Lewrie cautioned. “And carry on, Geoffrey. I think I’ll go below and see if there’s any coffee.”
* * *
Thankfully, Puerto Banús had no Spanish military presence beyond the artillerists who had manned the battery, and the rest of the morning was spent merrily destroying as much as they could. The windmills were stone towers, but the upperworks, the rooves, mill vanes, and all the gearing that drove the grist milling stones were wood, and the landing parties turned those tall towers into roaring chimneys. The large granary, pitifully low on flour or un-milled wheat in sign of the devastation which Napoleon Bonaparte’s Continental System had wrought upon the Spanish people, was lined with several levels of wood storage racks, and they burned quite nicely, too, so hot a fire that the slate roof caved in and the granary shed slabs from its eaves.
The smaller fishermens’ boats drawn up on the shingle for the night succumbed to boarding axes, their bottoms smashed in, then run into the slack harbour waters to sink. Wood rudders, oars, and fishing nets were gathered up to make a fine bonfire. Landing boats penetrated the inner harbour without a shot being fired, or a single Spaniard to be seen, and armed parties boarded the larger boats to tow them out to the middle of the harbour and set them alight.
Lastly, all but a few of the troops were rowed back to their transport and the small number that remained ashore dealt with the battery and its guns. The guns were spiked at the touch-holes, trunnions blown off with borrowed Spanish gunpowder, and their wooden truck-carriages set afire. The long wooden barracks and the smaller officers quarters behind the battery were set afire, and a long length of slow-match laid to the powder magazine beneath the battery.
When the last shore party was about a cable offshore, the magazine exploded, heaving stone blocks from the parapet and the thick flagstones of the battery high in the sky, flinging heavy guns aloft, and all in a great gout of flame and sickly yellow-tinged white smoke.
The boat crews and the Marines returned to Sapphire just in time for “Clear Decks And Up Spirits” to be piped for the rum issue, which raised a great, self-congratulating cheer. There was an even greater one when Lewrie ordered “Splice The Mainbrace!” for full measures for all hands, with no debts to be paid to “sippers and gulpers” for any favours rendered. The same signal was made to Harmony, with similar good cheer among the men of the 77th.
* * *
“Leftenant Keane t’see th’ Cap’m, SAH!” the Marine sentry at Lewrie’s cabin door shouted, stamping his boots and musket hutt.
“Enter,” Lewrie called back.
“Good afternoon, sir,” Lt. Keane said as he approached the day-cabin portion, where Lewrie was sprawled on his settee with Chalky in his lap.
“Good afternoon to you, Mister Keane,” Lewrie said, waving a hand at one of the chairs. “Take a pew, and let me express my congratulations, again, for a fine day’s work.”
“Ehm, thank you, sir,” Keane replied, seating himself primly, with his hat on one knee, his expression stony.
“A glass of something for you, sir?” Lewrie offered. “Wine, or might ye try my cool tea?”
“I believe I will assay your tea, sir,” Keane decided. “I have not tasted it before.”
“Pettus, a glass of tea for Mister Keane,” Lewrie called out to his steward. “Now, why the long face, Mister Keane? You look as if ye have something serious in your mind.”
“You have not begun your report to Admiralty, sir?” Keane hesitantly asked.
“Not yet, no,” Lewrie told him. “I thought I’d do that once we get back to Gibraltar, and combine our part with Major Hughes’s.”
“Upon that head, sir…” Keane said, then paused as if summoning up his courage. “Things did not go quite as well ashore as it may have appeared. The Army lot…”
“Landed too far left of the battery, aye,” Lewrie finished for him. “Even though all they had to do was row for the lanthorns on the parapet, and had to run t’get in the right place.”
“Well, there is that, sir,” Keane allowed, “but, once there, and in place alongside us, they just … stalled. There were no more than three or four sentries on watch in the battery, and the rest were asleep in the barracks. Hughes could have crept up and taken them at once, or he could have sent his companies in at a rush, and the battery would have been ours with hardly a shot fired, and the Spaniards in the barracks captured. Instead, he ordered his men to form line and load, the sentries heard him … I think the town could have … the sentries fired at him and his men, ran to wake the rest, and then the 77th began to volley by platoons, trading massive fire with only a few, no more than four or five, enemy soldiers, sir.”
“Damme, just blazin’ away at nothing?” Lewrie said, frowning. “How long did that go on?”
“Long enough for the Spanish to load and fire one of their guns and turn out of barracks, sir,” Keane said, looking angry, appalled by poor tactics. “We did not fire on the Spanish, so I doubt if they were even aware my party was there, it was still so dark. I took my Marines round the right side of the battery, fixed bayonets, and made a charge into them after serving them a volley. We shot a few, skewered a few more, and the rest of them threw up their hands, and some dropped their weapons or gun tools and ran off. At that point, it got quiet enough that I could shout, ‘take the bloody battery, charge’ and the soldiers finally moved.”
He spat “soldiers” like a curse.
“Good, quick thinking, Mister Keane,” Lewrie said, “as I will say in my report.”
“I fear that Major Hughes was none too pleased with my action, sir,” Keane said, allowing himself the faintest grin. “After we rounded up the Spanish prisoners, he made it plain that it was he who was in command ashore, and that I should have kept my men in line with his and … ‘what the Hell does a Marine know of infantry tactics?’ was how he put it, placing a great emphasis upon the difference between a Major and a mere Leftenant.”
Lewrie stroked his cat slowly, mulling that over for a minute or two whilst Keane got his tea and took a few sips.
“What Admiralty wishes to know is whether the attack was successful, Mister Keane,” Lewrie finally said. “Not the tactical, or personal disputes. It may be a good idea, though, once we’re back in port, to get Hughes, his company commanders, and you together for a re-hash, under the guise of what worked, and what we could do better. Just how big is a platoon, anyway, Mister Keane? How many are there?”
“Well, in our case, I’d say the same number as we have boats, sir,” Keane informed him. “For the 77th, that would be about eighteen or nineteen men plus non-commissioned and one officer. As many men as can be crammed into each of their larger boats.”
“So, their two Lieutenants, two Ensigns, and two senior Sergeants could command their six platoons, the Captains could oversee them, and Hughes would direct them all?” Lewrie asked.
“Lord, you speak heresy, sir!” Lt. Keane exclaimed, laughing and making a mock shiver. “The Army would never give such responsibility to Sergeants or Corporals, nor to boy Ensigns, either. That duty is for gentleman officers only, and experienced ones of proper rank. They drill, march, and fight in well-ordered battalions, regiments, and brigades. A light company can be sent out ahead of the line on their own, but only to skirmish for a while before returning to the left of the regimental line. They might form foraging parties in small lots, but that’s about it.”
“Damn!” Lewrie groused, and gave out a sigh. “My fault. When we planned the raid, I didn’t stress going round the battery by companies, or the companies acting on their own.”
“That could be raised during the review, sir,” Keane allowed, “but you may find it hard to impart. The Army simply doesn’t think that way. We might have been better off with an all-Marine force.”
“If wishes were horses, we’d all ride thouroughbreds,” Lewrie scoffed. “We’re stuck with what we have, and lucky t’ve gotten them. And, it ain’t as if they’re a bad lot. I gather that most of their officers have gotten the hang of what we’re doing, and we’ve taught their men new skills. Perhaps we can bring them round to a little more … flexibility.”