Caribbee(63)

‘Then I accept, with thanks. Now, Mr Wilikins, what I’m about to tell you must be in the nature of a confidence. Pray do not speak of this to others.’ If rumours of a French fleet of predators got abroad, they would terrify Jamaica.

There was a pained look, but the man agreed.

‘Very well. You’re no doubt aware that we’ve suffered losses among our trade much above the usual.’

‘I am – Admiral Dacres speaks of little else,’ he said, with feeling.

‘In this matter I have a notion, a possibility only, of how such might have been achieved.’

‘Therefore it must of a surety be pursued, sir.’

‘Then do hear what I say now, Mr Wilikins. Your views will be valued.’

Renzi laid out his arguments for a secret fleet controlled by a master hand, an organisational genius able to provide supply and havens for his assets and a port of size able to contain his captures, until now undiscovered.

The clerk suddenly sat down, pale behind his neat spectacles. ‘Why, sir, that is quite an idea, some might say a flight of fancy.’

‘Nevertheless, it is one answer in logic to our dilemma.’

‘Yet a hard thing to prove, sir. What, may I ask, do you plan to do, should you take it further?’

‘Which I shall certainly do, Mr Wilikins. The admiral does not intend to move on this without he has evidence. If I can deduce the whereabouts of this base and it is shown to him, the theory turns to fact. He will then be able to strike at the heart of the operation and bring it to a close.’

‘I see. This will take some pains, I’m sure. How will you proceed?’

‘The time and place of each capture to be plotted, then related in terms of distance to each conceivable candidate locality in turn. You see, to achieve his successes he must have a network of information concerning the sailing of each victim. If we calculate the time necessary to alert and get response, and place it next to this, it will disqualify some and push others to prominence. We will find it on the basis of mathematical elimination, never fear.’

‘A daunting task,’ Wilikins murmured.

‘The stakes are great, sir.’

‘Most certainly, Mr Renzi! The idea is novel but has its features. Let us begin.’

‘Very good. Now, where to start – Haiti?’

They began with St Nicholas Mole, an old French port going back to the 1600s and well known in the past as a nest of corsairs, but immediately ran into difficulties. The casualty reports they were working to had in nearly every instance the actual position of capture only loosely defined. That a ship had sailed on this date, bound for a given port, had simply not arrived on schedule, the bracket of dates producing an unworkable margin of error.

‘Unfortunate. We shall have to think our way to another solution, Mr Wilikins,’ Renzi muttered.

A variation, perhaps, with the range of uncertainty represented by a line, a strip of paper, which could be overlaid one over the other for a visual match?

By evening they had gone over the permutations of only four of the possible harbours and there were many more to cover. The willing clerk offered to work on, but Renzi needed time to think and took his leave.

The next day he redoubled his efforts but, by the end of the afternoon, could see that he was not going to arrive at a computed solution. But what else was there?

With sympathy, Wilikins saw Renzi rub his eyes. ‘There’s one thing we may try, my friend,’ he offered hesitantly. ‘But it’s only my humble idea.’

‘Say on, my dear sir,’ Renzi said, eager for anything that could break through the morass facing him.

‘I’ve heard it answered in the days of the great Admiral Rodney.’

‘Please go on.’

‘Well, there were bad losses from privateers in those days. So many that, faced with ruin, Lloyd’s insurers sent an investigator from England to determine the facts. He came and immediately offered a great reward to any who could uncover their nest, their locus domesticus. In fact, one of their own came forward privily and informed, claiming the reward, which allowed the admiral to mount an operation to extirpate them.’

‘Umm. The power of venality to overcome loyalty is never to be scorned, sir.’

‘Unhappily I fear we have not the time to petition Lloyd’s, Mr Renzi.’

‘Ah. You may leave that to me, Mr Wilikins. I do believe we shall pursue your idea, sir. And not a word to a soul, remember.’

The clerk brightened. ‘Of course not. So gratified to be of assistance, Mr Renzi.’

‘An irregular proceeding, sir, most irregular!’ Dacres sat back and frowned. ‘In the character of a Lloyd’s man you’ll be offering a reward for the uncovering of a nest of privateers? What has this to do with a naval fleet operation?’