O'Brian Patrick - Aub-Mat 19 - The Hundred Days

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The Hundred Days
by Patrick O'Brian
Chapter One 1
The sudden rearmament that followed Napoleon's escape from Elba had done little to thin
the ranks of unemployed sea-officers by the early spring of 1815. A man-of-war stripped,
dismantled and laid up cannot be manned, equipped and made ready for sea in a matter
of weeks; and the best vantage-points in Gibraltar were now crowded with gentlemen on
half-pay who with others had gathered to watch the long-expected arrival of Commodore
Aubrey's squadron from Madeira, a squadron that would do something to refurnish the
great bare stretch of water inside the mole - an extraordinary nakedness emphasized by
the presence of a few hulks, the Royal Sovereign wearing the flag of the Commander-in-
Chief, and a couple of lonely seventyfours: no stream of liberty-boats plying to and fro,
almost no appearance of true wartime life.
It was a wonderfully beautiful day, with a slight and varying but reasonably
favourable breeze at last: the sun blazed on the various kinds of broom in flower, upon the
Rock, upon the cistuses and giant heath, while an uninterrupted stream of migrant birds,
honey-buzzards, black kites, all the European vultures, storks both black and white, bee-
eaters, hoopoes and countless hirundines flowed across the sky amidst a general
indifference; for all eyes were fixed upon the middle distance, where the squadron had
come about on the starboard tack. Among the earlier of the watchers, both carrying well-
worn telescopes, were two elderly naval lieutenants who could no longer bear the English
climate and who found that their £127 15s. 0d a year went much
farther here. 'The breeze is veering again,' said the first. 'It will be abaft the beam
directly.'
'They will be in on this leg, sure.'
'In at last, after all these weary days, poor souls. Briseis kept them hanging about in
Funchal until they almost grounded on their own beef-bones. She was always
overmasted; and even now I cannot congratulate her on that botched-together bowsprit.
Marsham has always oversteeved his bowsprits.'
'Nor on her new foretopmast: their bosun must have died.'
'Now they have steadied, and the line is as clear as can be. Briseis . . . Surprise -
she must have been called back into service - Pomone, wearing Commodore Jack
Aubrey's broad pennant - that must have put poor Wrangle's nose out of joint. Dover . . .
Ganymede. Dover . . . Ganymede. Dover was fitted as a troopship and now she is
changing herself back into a frigate as fast as ever she can. What a shambles!'
The breeze came aft and the whole squadron flashed out studdingsails, broad
wings set in a thoroughly seamanlike manner: a glorious sight. Yet now the current was
against them and in spite of their fine spread of canvas they made but little headway. They
were all of them sailing large, of course, all of them getting the last ounce of thrust from
the dying breeze with all the skill learnt in more than twenty years of war; a noble
spectacle, but one that after a while called for no particular comment, and presently the
old lieutenant, John Arrowsmith, two months senior to his friend Thomas Edwards, said,
'When I was young I always used to turn to the births and marriages in the Times as soon
as I had done with the promotions and dispatches; but now I turn to the deaths.'
'So do I,' said Edwards.
'. . . and with this last batch that came with the packet I found several names I
knew. The first was Admiral
Stranraer, Admiral Lord Stranraer, Captain Koop that was.'
'Oh, indeed? I sailed with him in the old Defender, a West Indies commission where
he taught us the spit and polish of those parts. Gloves at all times, whatever the weather;
Hessian boots with tassels, on the quarterdeck; up lower yards and cross topgallant yards
in under five minutes or watch out for squalls; no reply allowed to any rebuke. If it were not
that he is dead, I could tell you many a tale about him in Kingston.'
'Indeed, he was not a well-liked man at all, at all. They say his surgeon and another
medico killed him with a black draught or something of that kind: but slowly, you
understand me now, like the husband of one of those arsenic wives eager to be a widow
but not choosing to swing for it.'
'From my acquaintance with his lordship, what you say does not surprise me in the
least. On reflection, I believe I should offer each or either of the physical gentlemen a
glass of brandy, were the occasions to offer. Do you see Surprise start her stuns'l sheet
not to outrun her station?'
'Aye. She was always a wonderfully swift sailor; and now they have done her
proud, as trim as a royal yacht. Webster saw her in young Seppings' yard where they were
fitting her out regardless, diagonal bracing and everything you can think of - fitting her out
for a hydrographical voyage. A lovely little craft.'
For some time they discussed the ship's perfections; their practised hands holding
her steady in their telescopes; but then, the line being perfectly re-established, a cable's
length apart, Arrowsmith clapped his glass to and said, 'Another death was of quite a
different kind of man: Governor Wood of Sierra Leone. He was a fine fellow, very popular
in the service, and he kept a noble table - invited whole wardrooms when the King's ships
came in; and youngsters too.'
'I remember him very well. John Kneller and I and nearly all our messmates dined
with him after some cruel weather
off the River Plate and weeks of damned short commons - a sprung butt had
drowned the bread-room. Lord, how we ate, and laughed, and sang! So he is dead. Well,
God rest him, say I. Though when everything is said and done, we must all come to it;
which may be some comfort to those that go before. A very handsome wife, as I recall, but
on the learned side, which made her neighbours shy.'
'The breeze is strengthening out there. Dover has let fly her foretop-gallant sheets.'
The gust - the series of gusts - disturbed the picture-book regularity for a while, but
it was restored after a remarkably short interval (all hands knew that they were being
watched not only by an uncommonly exigent commodore and the even more formidable
Commander-in-Chief Lord Keith, but also by an increasingly numerous band of highly
informed, highly-critical observers on shore) and presently the two lieutenants'
conversation resumed.
'And then there was another what you might call naval death, a good deal earlier
than the others but only now reported. Did you ever meet Dr Maturin?'
'I don't know that I did, but I have often heard of him. A very clever doctor, they say
- called in to treat Prince William - always sails with Jack Aubrey.'
'That's the man. Well, he has a wife. They live with the Aubreys at his big place in
Dorset - but of course you know it, being a Dorset man.'
'Yes. Woolcombe; or Woolhampton as some say. It is rather far for us and we do
not visit, but I have been to one or two of the Blackstone's meets there and we used to
see Mrs Aubrey and Mrs Maturin at the Dorchester assembly. Mrs Maturin breeds Arabs:
a very good horsewoman and an uncommon fine whip.'
'Well, yes. . . so they said. But do you know a place called Maiden Oscott?'
'Only too well, with its damned awkward bridge.'
'The report gives no details, but it seemed she pitched
over - the whole shooting-match, coach, horses and all,
pitched over right down into the river, and only the groom was brought out alive.'
'Oh, my God!' cried Edwards: and after a pause, 'My wife disliked her; but she was
a very beautiful woman. Some people said she was a demi-rep . . . she had some
astonishing jewels . . . there was some talk of a Colonel Cholmondeley
and it is said the marriage was not a happy one. But she is dead, God rest her. I
say no more. Yet I doubt I ever see her like again.'
They both reflected, gazing out over the brilliant sea with half-closed eyes as the
squadron drew inshore and the watching crowd increased; and Edwards said, 'When you
come to think of it, on looking about our shipmates and relations, can you think of any
marriage that could be called a happy one, after the first flush? There is something to be
said for a bachelor's existence, you know: turn in whenever you like, read in bed . .
'Offhand I cannot think of many - poor Wood in Sierra Leone for example: they
entertained without a pause, so as not to have to sit down at table alone. It is said that
Wood
- but he is dead. No, I cannot think of many without some discord or contention; but unless
it is very obvious, who can tell just where the balance lies? After all, as a philosopher said,
"Though matrimony has its pains, celibacy can have no pleasure".'
'I know nothing about philosophy, but I have met some philosophers - we often
used to go to Cambridge to see my brother the don - and a miserable set of . . .' He
checked the word at the sight of his friend's daughters - the elder charming, though rather
shabby - pushing through the crowd towards them, and went on in a disapproving tone, '...
though you always were a bookish fellow, even in Britannia's cockpit.'
'Oh Papa,' cried the elder girl, 'which is the Surprise?'
'The second in the line, my dear.'
The leading ships were now close enough for people to be seen - blue coats
and red on the quarterdeck, white trousered seamen taking in topsails and courses
together with jib and staysails - but scarcely to be distinguished. The young lady gently
took her father's telescope and trained it on the Surprise. 'Is that the famous Captain
Aubrey?' she asked. 'Why, he is short, fat and red-faced. I am disappointed.'
'No, booby,' said her father. 'The Commodore is where a Commodore ought to be,
aboard the pennant-ship, of course: Pomone. Come, child, don't you see the broad
pennant, hey?'
'Oh yes, sir, I see it,' she replied, training her glass on Pomone's quarterdeck. 'Pray
who is the very tall fair-haired man wearing a rear-admiral's uniform and holding his hat
under his arm?'
'Why, Lizzie, that is your famous Jack Aubrey. Commodores dress like rear-
admirals, you know: and they receive a flag-officer's return to their salute, as you will hear
in about ten seconds.'
'Oh, isn't he beautiful? Molly Butler had a coloured engraving of him in action with
the Turks - of his boarding the Torgud sword in hand, and all the great girls at school ...'
What all the great girls said or thought was lost in the Pomone's exactly-spaced
seventeen-gun salute to the Commander-in-Chief; and the echo of the last report and the
drift of powder-smoke had not disappeared before the towering flagship began her fifteen-
gun reply. When that too was done, Mr Arrowsmith said, 'Now in another ten seconds you
will see the signal break out Commodore repair aboard flag. His barge is already lowering
down.'
'Who is that little man beside him, in a black coat and drab breeches?'
'Oh, that will be his surgeon, Dr Maturin: they always sail together. He can whip off
an arm or a leg quicker than
any man in the service; and it is a joy to see him carve a saddle of mutton.'
'Oh fie, Papa!' cried the girl: her younger sister gave a coarse great laugh.
Aboard Pomone the proper ceremony for the occasion was well under way, and as
Jack walked out of the great cabin, stuffing a fresh handkerchief into his pocket and
pursued by Killick with a clothes-brush, flicking specks of dust from the back of his gold-
laced coat, he found his officers present on the quarterdeck, together with most of the
midshipmen, all either wearing gloves or concealing their hands behind their backs.
The side-boys offered him the sumptuous man-ropes, and following the reefer on
duty he ran down into his barge. All the bargemen knew him perfectly well - they had been
shipmates in many a commission, and two of them, Joe Plaice and Davies, had served in
his first command, the Sophie; but neither they nor Bonden, his coxswain, gave the least
sign of recognition as he settled in the stern-sheets, shifting his sword to give the
midshipman more room. They sat there in their formal bargeman's rig - broad-brimmed
white sennit hat with ribbons, white shirts, black silk Barcelona handkerchiefs tied round
their necks, snowy duck trousers - looking solemn: they were part of a ceremony, and
levity, winking, whispering, smiling, had no place in it. Bonden shoved off, said 'Give way',
and with exact timing, rowing dry with long grave strokes, they pulled the barge across to
the starboard accommodation-ladder of the flagship, where an even more impressive
ceremony took place. Jack, having been piped aboard, saluted the quarterdeck, shook
hands with the ship's captain and the master of the fleet, while the Royal Marines - scarlet
perfection under a brilliant sun - presented arms with a rhythmic clash and stamp.
A master's mate led the Pomone's youngster away, and Captain Buchan, who
commanded the Royal Sovereign,
ushered Jack Aubrey below, to the Admiral's splendid quarters: but rather than the
very large, grim and hoary Commander-in-Chief, there rose a diaphanous cloud of blue
tulle from the locker against the screen-bulkhead - tulle that enveloped a particularly tall
and elegant woman, very good looking but even more remarkable for her fine carriage and
amiable expression. 'Well, dearest Jack,' she said, they having kissed, 'how very happy I
am to see you wearing a broad pennant. It was a damned near-run thing that you were not
out of reach, half-way to Tierra del Fuego in a mere hydrographical tub, a hired vessel.
But how we ever came to miss you on Common Hard I shall never understand - never,
though I have gone over it again and again. True, Keith was in a great taking about the
naval estimates, and I was turning some obscure lines of Ennius in my head without being
able to make any sense of them frontwards or backwards; but even so
'Nor shall I ever understand how I came to be such an oaf as to walk in here, ask
you how you did, and sit down by your side without the slightest word of congratulations
on being a viscountess: yet it had been in my head all the way across. Give you joy with
all my heart, dear Queenie,' he said, kissing her again; and they sat there very
companionably on the broad cushioned locker. Jack was taller than Queenie and far more
than twice as heavy; and having been in the wars for a great while and much battered, he
now looked older. He was in fact seven years her junior, and there had been a time when
he was a very little boy whose ears she boxed for impertinence, uncleanliness and greed,
and whose frequent nightmares she would soothe by taking him into her bed.
'By the way,' said Jack, 'does the Admiral prefer to be addressed as Lord Viscount
Keith like Nelson in his time or just as plain Lord K?'
'Oh, just plain Lord, I think. The other thing is formal court usage, to be sure, and I
know that dear Nelson loved
it; but I think it has died out among ordinary people. Anyway he does not give a
hoot for such things, you know. He values his flag extremely, of course, and I dare say he
would like the Garter; but the Keiths of Elphinstone go back to the night of time- they are
earl marischals of Scotland, and would not call Moses cousin.'
They sat smiling at one another. An odd pair: handsome creatures both, but they
might have been of the same sex or neither. Nor was it a brother and sister connection,
with all the possibilities of jealousy and competition so often found therein, but a steady
uncomplicated friendship and a pleasure in one another's company. Certainly, when Jack
was scarcely breeched and Queenie took care of him after his mother's death, she had
been somewhat authoritarian, insisting on due modesty and decent eating; but that was
long ago, and for a great while now they had been perfectly well together.
A cloud passed over her face, and putting her hand on Jack's knee she said, 'I was
so happy to see you - to have recovered you from Cape Horn at the very last moment -
that I overlooked more important things. Tell me, how is poor dear Maturin?'
'He looks older, and bent; but he bears up wonderfully, and it has not done away
with his love of music. He eats nothing, though, and when he came back to Funchal,
having attended to everything at Woolcombe, I lifted him out of the boat with one hand.'
'She was an extraordinarily handsome woman and she had prodigious style: I
admired her exceedingly. But she was not a wife for him; nor a mother for that dear little
girl. How is she? She was not in the coach, I collect?'
'No. The only other one on the box was Cholmondeley; my mother-in-law and her
companion inside, and Harry Willet, the groom, up behind - happily Padeen did not go that
day. And Brigid does not seem very gravely upset, from what I understand. She is very
deeply attached to Sophie, you know, and to Mrs Oakes.'
'I do not believe I know Mrs Oakes.'
'A sea-officer's widow who lives with us, a learned lady - not as learned as you,
Queenie, I am sure - but she teaches the children Latin and French. They are none of
them clever enough for Greek.'
A pause. 'If he does not eat, he will certainly grow weak and pine away,' said Lady
Keith. 'We have a famous cook aboard Royal Sovereign - he came back to England with
the Bourbons. Would an invitation be acceptable, do you think? Just us and the Physician
of the Fleet and a few very old friends. I have a crux in this passage of Ennius I should like
to show him. And of course he must have a conference with Keith's secretary and the
political adviser very soon . . . Oh, and Jack, there is something I must tell you, just
between ourselves. Another Mediterranean command would be too much for him, so we
are only here until Pellew comes out; though we shall stay in the Governor's cottage a little
while to enjoy the spring. Do you get along well with Pellew, Jackie?'
'I have a great admiration for him,' said Jack - and indeed Admiral Sir Edward
Pellew had been a remarkably dashing and successful frigate-captain - 'but not quite the
veneration I have for Lord Keith.'
'My dear Aubrey,' cried the Admiral, walking in from the coach, 'there you are! How
glad I am to see you.'
'And I to see you, my Lord Viscount, if I may so express myself. My heartiest
congratulations.'
'Thankee, thankee, Aubrey,' said the Admiral, more pleasant than quite suited his
wife. 'But I must say that I deserve to be degraded for having put in that foolish proviso in
your orders about waiting for Briseis. I should have said
but never mind what I should have said. The fact is that at that time I merely
wanted your squadron to guard the passage of the Straits: now, at the present moment,
the situation is much more complex. Six hundred thousand people cheered Napoleon
when he entered Paris - Ney has joined
him - a hundred and fifty thousand King's troops, well-equipped, drilled and
officered, have done the same - he has countless seasoned men who were prisoners of
war in England and Russia and all over Europe at his devotion, flooding to the colours -
the Emperor's colours. There is the Devil to pay and no tar hot. Is Dr Maturin with you?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Is he up to talking about all this with my secretary and the politicos?'
'I believe so, my Lord. Although he shuns ordinary company he is dead set on the
war and seizes upon any means whatsoever of informing himself - newspapers,
correspondence and so on - and I have known him talk for three hours on end with a
French officer - royalist of course - whose brig was in company with us during a flat calm
off Bugio.'
'He would sooner not dine aboard Royal Sovereign, I gather.'
'I believe not, sir. But he will discuss the international situation and the means of
bringing Napoleon down with the utmost vigour. That is what keeps him alive, it seems to
me.'
'I am glad he has so great a resource at such a dreadful time, poor dear man. I
have a great regard for him: as you will remember, I proposed he should be Physician of
the Fleet at one time. Aye, aye, so I did. Well, I shall not pain him with an invitation he
might find difficult to refuse. But if, in the course of duty, you could require him to report
aboard just after the evening gun, when I hope for an overland packet by courier, he may
learn still more about the international situation. A damned complex situation, upon my
word. As I said, when first I sent for you I thought your squadron would be enough, at a
pinch, to guard the passage of the Straits - at a pinch, for you see how pitifully little we
have here. But now, now, you will have to cut yourself in three to do half the things I want
you to do. Heugh, heugh,
a damned complex situation as the Doctor will learn when he comes here: he will
be finely amazed. I will give you the broadest view just for the now . .
Lady Keith gathered up her belongings and said, 'My dear, I will leave you to it. But
do not tire yourself: you have a meeting with Gonzalez this evening. I will send Geordie
with a dish of tea directly.'
The broadest view, stripped of the Admiral's great authority and of his distinctive
northern accent, generally pleasing to an English ear though sometimes impenetrably
obscure, was very roughly this: Wellington, with ninety three thousand British and Dutch
troops, and Blucher, with a hundred and sixteen thousand Prussians, were in the Low
Countries, waiting until Schwarzenberg, with two hundred and ten thousand Austrians,
and Barclay de Tolly, slowly advancing with a hundred and fifty thousand Russians,
should reach the Rhine, when in principle the Allies were to invade France. For his part
Napoleon had about three hundred and sixty thousand men: they were made up of five
corps along the northern frontier, the Imperial Guard in Paris, and some thirty thousand
more stationed on the southeast frontier and in the Vendée.
Both men made their additions: both made their allowances for unity of command,
the great value of a common language, and the stimulus of fighting on one's own soil
under the orders of a man who had battered Prussians, Austrians and Russians again and
again, fighting with extraordinary tactical skill against odds far greater than these.
Jack could not with propriety ask about the zeal or even the good faith of the
Austrians and Prussians at this juncture, still less about the efficiency of their mobilization
and equipment; but the Admiral's worn, anxious face told him a great deal. 'Still,' said Lord
Keith, 'this is all the soldiers' business: we have our own concern to deal with. How I wish
Geordie would come along with that tea - why, Geordie, put the tray down here, ye
thrawn, ill-feckit gaberlunzie.'
A pause. 'How I value a cup of tea,' he said. 'May I pour you another?'
'Thank you, sir,' said Jack, shaking his head. 'I have done admirably well already.'
The Admiral reflected, carefully put more hot water to the teapot, and went on, 'In
the first place there is the difficulty about the French Navy, their attitude varies from port to
port, ship to ship. They are of course extremely susceptible and any untoward incident -
so easily brought about
- might have disastrous results. But far worse is this building of French men-of-war in the
obscure Adriatic ports:
obscure, but filled with prime timber and capital shipwrights
- country you know very well. This continued building, more or less disguised, is a great
evil; and all the greater as Bonapartist officers and men are said to be standing by to take
them over.'
'But payment, sir? Even a corvette costs a very great deal of money, and there is
talk of frigates, even of two or three heavy frigates.'
'Aye. There is something very odd about it all. Our intelligence people see a Muslim
influence, possibly Turkish, possibly the Barbary states, or even of all of them combined.
At this very moment there is much greater activity in
Algiers, Tunis and down the Moroccan coast, fomented by Napoleonic renegadoes with
native craft and vessels up to
the size of a sloop of war: it is almost impossible to deal with it, our naval strength being
so reduced and so tied up. Already it is most harmful to Allied trade, particularly to ours,
and it is likely to grow worse.'
The Admiral stirred his tea, contemplated, and said, 'If Napoleon Bonaparte with his
three hundred thousand very well trained men and his usual brilliant cavalry and artillery,
can knock out say the Russians or part of the Austrians, the French navy may sweep us
out of the Mediterranean again, above all as the Maltese and the Moroccans are so
ungrateful as to hate us and as there is a real possibility of a French
alliance with Tunis, Algeria and the other piratical states, to say nothing of the
Emperor of Morocco and even the Sultan himself. For you know, Aubrey, do you not, that
Bonaparte turned Turk? During the Egyptian campaign I think it was; but Turk in any
case.'
'I heard of it, sir, of course; but no one has ever asserted that he recoiled from
swine's flesh or a bottle of wine. I put it down to one of those foolish things a man says
when he wishes to be elected to Parliament, such as "give me your votes, and I undertake
to do away with the National Debt in eighteen months." I do not believe he is any more a
Mussulman than I am. You have to be circumcised to be a Turk.'
'For my own part I have no knowledge of the gentleman's soul, or heart, or private
parts: all I am sure of is that the statement was made, and that at this juncture it may be of
capital importance. But we are prating away like a couple of old women. . .' He was
interrupted by his secretary, who said, 'I beg pardon, my Lord, but the courier is just come
aboard with his budget.'
Jack had started to his feet, and now he said, 'May I wait upon you later, sir, when
you are less engaged?'
'Is there anything urgent, Mr Campbell?' asked Lord Keith, with a temporizing wave.
'Tedious and toilsome, rather than immediate, apart from one enclosure that I have
already sent on.'
'Very good, very good. Thank you, Mr Campbell. Sit down, Aubrey. I will just run
through the heads of these, then attend to your statements of the squadron's condition,
and give you some notion of what I should like you to do.' A pause, during which the
Admiral's long-practised hand ran through the dockets, already marked with Campbell's
secret mark of importance: none rated above c3, and putting them down he said, 'Well,
Aubrey, in the first place you must allot a force adequate for the protection of the
Constantinople trade. Convoys have been re-introduced, you know one is due within the
week - and the Algerians in particular have grown very bold, though some vessels are
also to be expected from Tripoli, Tunis and the rest, while other corsairs push up from
Sallee and pass the Straits in the dark of the moon. Then you must prevent any
unauthorized outward or inward movement to the best of your ability. But your most
important task by far is to look into those Adriatic ports you know so well. Even the small
places are capable of building a frigate, and we have reports of actual ships of the line on
the stocks in four places whose names Campbell will give you. If any of the two-
deckershave openly declared for Napoleon you must not venture upon an action but send
to me without the loss of a moment. Where frigates, corvettes or sloops are concerned,
摘要:

TheHundredDaysbyPatrickO'BrianChapterOne1ThesuddenrearmamentthatfollowedNapoleon'sescapefromElbahaddonelittletothintheranksofunemployedsea-officersbytheearlyspringof1815.Aman-of-warstripped,dismantledandlaidupcannotbemanned,equippedandmadereadyforseainamatterofweeks;andthebestvantage-pointsinGibralt...

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