Gunboat Flotilla by Brian Withecombe

Author:Brian Withecombe [Withecombe, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brian Withecombe
Published: 2023-08-23T22:00:00+00:00

NINE

Rear-admiral Lord Courtenay looked around the expectant faces that returned his gaze and smiled. “Thank you for coming to another little conference gentlemen. I trust I have not inconvenienced you all too much!”

The gathering involved the usual people; the Captains of his ships, together with the Royal Marine officers, in the shape of his brother Timothy, his Adjutant Percy Maltravers and Venom’s own Captain Harding. The ships were at anchor a few miles off the coast, out of sight of land.

“You all know of course that we are bound for this inlet,” he pointed to the chart open on the desk in front of him, “where I hope we are going to find a lot of potential supplies in the town there together with ships. Whatever we do find will be destroyed in line with our orders. Now, I intend a slight alteration in how we will go about this. It is fair to consider the possibility that after our last attack, a message might have been passed further up the coast warning people that we are in the area, and what we are doing. If that is the case, we can of course expect some kind of resistance from whatever soldiers might be there and of course, if there are ships sheltering in those waters. They may have left however.”

“The Russian frigate that ran from the fight might have added to that sir.” added Captain Firbright of the Celeste, somewhat unnecessarily. Tom Hawkins raised his eyes to the ceiling of the cabin. Talk of stating the obvious!

“Of course Captain, and I had not overlooked the fact. It may even be the frigate has taken shelter there. Whatever the situation, we may have the means to get in there entirely unmolested and be in total charge before any kind of defence can be set up.” He paused as he saw his son William turn and look at his Uncle Timothy and give a huge smile. Timothy smiled back and nodded in agreement. They were Courtenays and they knew, because they had guessed, what was coming. “I intend that we shall make use of the captured Russian prize. Tatiana. It is quite simple. We will close the land during the hours of darkness. When we are within sufficient distance of our objective, the flotilla will heave-to and you, Colonel Courtenay, will transfer two of your companies, which I hope will be sufficient, into the three gunboats. As dawn rises, Mr Austin as prize-master of the Russian ship, will take her into the inlet, flying of course the Russian flag, closely followed by the three gunboats, all of whom will be flying the same flag.” He paused and looked at Hawkins. “My Flag-captain has checked and Tatiana was carrying sufficient spares so that they can be transferred to the gunboats. You, Captain Campbell, will follow Tatiana into the inlet and when all four ships are within point-blank range of any defences, you will haul down the Russian flag and run up our own colours, at the same time running out your guns.

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