Tenacious(68)
He looked soberly round the room. ‘It is particularly regrettable that there are so few officers of seniority available in this part of the Mediterranean, but haste is necessary in this instance. I refer, in fact, to the sailing orders that I have just received.
‘Gentlemen, Tenacious being in all respects ready for sea, she will be proceeding to a secret rendezvous to assist in an enterprise of great importance, the nature of which I may not divulge to you until we are ten leagues to seaward.’
Chapter 8
‘Minorca! Of course…’
‘It has t’ be,’ agreed Kydd, offering the remaining whitebait to Renzi. It did not take much deliberation to understand why an invasion of the easternmost of the three main islands of the Balearics was thought so necessary. Britain had re-entered the Mediterranean, but her victorious fleet was alone in a hostile sea; it was urgent that a forward base be established to maintain it. In Port Mahon there was a compendious harbour and a fine dockyard – and Minorca was an island, therefore defensible once taken. And, unlike Gibraltar, with reliable winds.
Kydd glanced up the table. It was odd to see Bampton at the head, president of the mess. He looked to the other end where their new junior mess member sat quietly. ‘Mr Dugdale, did y’ ever visit Minorca at all?’
‘Why, yes, Mr Kydd,’ the man said warily, reluctant to imperil his position with any ill-considered move. He was older than almost all of the other officers, far from the green newly promoted midshipman they had expected. He had found a place as a midshipman in the last war, then been left without a ship at its end, and had eked out a penurious existence ashore until the outbreak of the present war. Only now had he the good fortune to secure an acting lieutenancy.
‘Well, spit it out, man!’ Kydd said, helping himself to the last of the haunch of rabbit.
‘It was only a brief visit, sir. As you’ll know, it had been British for twenty years before. The people were used to our ways and, dare I say it, contented with their lot, for the Spanish rule was not always welcome to your average Minorcan. There are two main towns – Ciudadela to the west and Port Mahon to the east. The Spanish kept mainly behind the city walls of Ciudadela while we were happy with Mahon. A first-class harbour, it is, splendid careening and repair, fine quarters ashore in English style and guarded by great forts. Should this be our base in the future, why, I cannot think of a finer.’
Bampton stirred. ‘If it becomes so. You’re rather forgetting that it’s been in the hands of the Spanish these sixteen years and they’re not about to present their fortresses to us upon our request. We shall have to fight for them – and this means nothing less than an assault, an amphibious landing. Has anyone here had the joy of going into battle with the army? No?’
Kydd kept quiet, the ill-fated descent on Guadeloupe in the Caribbean he had experienced as a young petty officer would probably not count.
‘Then consider yourselves fortunate. An opinionated and ignorant tribe, I fancy we’ll need every mort of patience we can muster on the day.’
‘How’s th’ island defended?’ Kydd asked Dugdale.
His brow wrinkled. ‘There are big forts on each side of the entrance to Mahon. The biggest as I remember is Fort St Philip, which would stand next to any in Europe, and many minor forts and batteries around and about.’
Bampton gave a thin smile. ‘It’s as well, then, that I can tell you this is not our task. We shall not be going ashore,’ he announced flatly.
‘Thank God for that,’ murmured Adams. ‘But how do you know this?’
‘The captain has seen fit to entrust me with certain confidences,’ Bampton said smoothly, ‘and I’m able to tell you that the main task of our squadron under Commodore Duckworth is to defend the landing against any ships of force that the enemy sees fit to send to oppose the assault. We shall see out the operation at sea.’
Dugdale opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing.
‘What is it, Mr Dugdale?’ Bampton said caustically.
‘Er, after the late complete destruction of the French at the Nile, surely they have nothing left to throw at us?’
‘You are forgetting Cartagena,’ Bampton said heavily, ‘the Spanish battle fleet.’
‘And Mallorca,’ added Renzi. ‘It would be strange if the Spanish do not maintain a standing force there for mutual protection – and less than eight leagues to the west from Minorca, half a day’s sail. This could do us a real mischief at the time of our landing even if we have the advantage of surprise. Cartagena is ten times the distance and the issue could be decided before they receive any intelligence and are able to respond.’