Ramage 11 - Ramage's Signal by Dudley Pope

Author:Dudley Pope
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-04-26T23:00:00+00:00

He had searched the fo'c'sle and found half aparmigiano of an age, size and hardness, so Stafford claimed, making it suitable for repairing the stonework of St Paul's Cathedral. Certainly it withstood some violent cutlass blows from Rossi, who quickly found an axe and, later, a rasp in what was obviously the ship's tool chest.Parmigiano, he swore, was proof that there must be pasta somewhere in the ship and the ingredients for making some kind of sauce, and Ramage had given him fifteen minutes - until it was obvious that his skill was needed at the tiller - to find it. He had then discovered some spaghetti in a cask in the galley which, he declared, had not been completely eaten by weevils and from which he could make them a good supper. Several suppers, he had added, obviously hoping that would draw from the captain an indication of how long they would be in thePasse Partout.

Martin came aft to report that all six swivels could be fired and, thanks to a liberal application from the greasy slush found in the cook's slush bucket, the swivels now turned easily in the fittings in the bulwarks, and the trunnions of the guns moved freely in the swivels. There was no shot gauge to ensure that no shot was oversize or swollen by rust but it had been easy enough to try every shot in a gun: matter of rolling in the shot and then - with the muzzle inboard - tilting the barrel down so that the shot rolled out again into waiting hands. All the socket fittings for the swivels in the bulwarks looked sound enough. 'The guns have just been neglected for the past year: they were originally fitted well enough', Martin reported.

A year, Ramage thought: just a little less than the length of time the Royal Navy left the Mediterranean because of the demands for ships of war in other seas and other oceans. Clearly no Algerine pirates came far enough north to persuade this tartane's master that his swivels needed anything more than canvas covers by way of maintenance. Or, more likely, the tartane usually hugged the coast.

The schooner was still holding her course: obviously the Britons on board were either curious or uninterested in thetartane - staying on a course which would very soon have them crossing tracks could mean either.

Martin examined her with the glass, wiped the objective lens with a piece of cloth to remove specks of spray, and looked again.

'That hull hasn't seen a paintbrush for a year or two', he commented. 'And her jibs have an odd cut to them. Like flour bags, they belly so much.'

'I noticed that', Ramage said, taking another bearing of her across the top of thePassePartout's steering compass.

'And those quarterboats - they weren't built in a British yard: look more like bananas.'

'Probably lost her own months ago and took those from an Algerine prize.'

'Still, she has British colours, so we shouldn't have any problems, sir.'

Ramage looked astern

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