Many Weary Months - 2

[jessamygriffith]

Notes:

Apologies in this section for huge amounts of footnotes - this part just had a lot of historical detail. Do read about the capture of the Cuyahoga - it is based on a real account of that action.

-----

[Break in the letter, apparently continued at a later time.]

Excuse the break, I was called up for my watch. Despite this being only a small ship, and on the Detroit River instead of the sea off France or Spain or even the Indies, shipboard discipline continues.

I have just received welcome tidings - Captain Hall has just informed me that I am to return to Plymouth, having first ransomed our American prisoners.(As brave and gentlemanly set of officers as any I've met.) From Halifax, I am to take the first ship or packet across.

John, I have my promotion at last! And at my own behest, although that action between the Queen Charlotte¹ and the Cuyahoga² would certainly have helped if it had occurred sooner. Finally, my skills as a seaman and leader are recognised. I will be 'Captain Holmes,' and be made master and commander of a ship of my own at long last.

How M~ will be discomfited he didn't have a hand in it. And how Captain Wilkes will rage! But for the code of the Service, I would certainly have called that black-guard out. You remember that nightmare of a cruise aboard the Viper. His disgusting hypocrisy concerning certain Articles of War³, his abuses and vicious temper, his advances toward yourself and the insinuations he made - intolerable!⁴ Yet even my vilest insults failed to draw the coward out, and thus, my posting in the Lakes of Canada⁵. I only thank God you found another ship as quickly as you did, and escaped his esurience. Though a skilled physician as yourself would be welcome even aboard the Victory⁶. You are entirely too modest about your skills, Saint-John. But that is one of your many charms, my dear.⁷

I shudder to think how close I came all those years ago as a young middy⁸ to falling for Wilkes' blandishments when he and I were both posted on the Isis under Captain Walker. How sheltered I was! But not a fool, except in understanding the depths of his spite. For one such as I to be be flogged for a misdeed that was all Wilkes and be sent to serve before the mast... Have I told you this before, John?⁹ It's not a tale I bring up willingly - it was mortifying to that not-inconsiderable pride you chivvy me about. Suffice it to say, there was some chaff over the Captain's missing pocket watch, which simple logic could have told the meanest idiot that only Wilkes could have taken, yet the item turned up in my sea-chest. Where Wilkes said it would be, having manfully and tearfully confessed how he'd witnessed my heinous crime to Captain Walker.

The doddering old fool sent me before the mast¹⁰, and Wilkes was sent on to take his test to become lieutenant before me, his revenge for my rejection. My career was set back years over that little trick, and not even brother M~ could do aught. I hope my new captaincy chokes Wilkes. Not that my time of punishment was wasted! You remember well my habits of observation, Saint-John. For true understanding of the common fore-mast jack one must become one. To you only, John, will I confess the unwilling tears I shed at night. Not only was my pride hurt, but I was afraid, a young gentleman's son thrust into the fearful hurly-burly of the lower orders. But they were kinder to me than I ever had been to them in my own mind, and shielded me as well as they could. My fear was for aught and my prejudice against the rough crew unfounded. My new understanding and friendship with them forged through shared hardships enlarged my mind. And so, in some ways, I can almost be thankful to Wilkes. I learned more in three months before the mast of how men think than I could have learned in three years as a lieutenant.

It does me some good to tell you this, John. You have always been the best repository of secrets, with your good sense and habit of grand silences when I needed them most.

-----

Footnotes

1The Queen Charlotte was the flagship of the Provincial Marine Navy, built at the King's Navy Yard in Amherstburg. She was a square-rigged three masted sloop with 16 gun ports, and was intended only for fresh-water cruises on the Lakes.

2The taking of the Cuyahoga was relatively bloodless. Lt. Holmes, a bold and quick-thinking officer, saw the ship making its way up the Detroit River and quickly gathered six armed men into a longboat, rowed out and boarded the vessel, demanding its surrender. Luckily for Lt. Holmes, all the Cuyahoga's arms were stowed below decks and the thirty Americans aboard had no choice but to surrender. As Holmes ordered everyone taken below to be locked up, he informed the captain of the Cuyahoga, Beall, that the news of the United States' declaration of war had arrived in Amherstburg only the previous evening.

According to a fanciful account of the story (see 'Local Legends and Tales of Essex County, Big Creek Press, 1982,)  as a final touch, Holmes discovered a stash of musical instruments amongst the supplies meant for transport. He then proceeded to sail the Cuyahoga into Amherstburg while the humbled Americans played "God Save The King."

The real prize within the captured goods was the American General Hull's correspondence, detailing the army marching to Detroit, the state of the supply lines, his concerns about facing native warriors in battle and his possible offensive strategy. Using these, British General Sir Isaac Brock was able to develop his strategy for the coming war. The capture of the ship and its papers was the type of action that gained attention and was lauded by the Admiralty, and though it did not affect his promotion to commander, Lt. Holmes deserved his step up.

3The Articles of War were set of regulations drawn up to govern the conduct of England's naval forces, and detailed behaviour and punishments. The Article Lt. Holmes is referring to is Article XXIX, 'If any person in the fleet shall commit the unnatural and detestable sin of buggery and sodomy with man or beast, he shall be punished with death by the sentence of a court martial.' Despite the draconian punishment, homosexual relations tended to be overlooked by officers, who knew that life in the Service was hard, dangerous and kept men in close quarters at sea for months on end.

4It is an unfortunate truth that those who served under a captain who was cruel, despotic or insane had little recourse to hope for justice. To mutiny was to face hanging, and it is testament to Captain Wilkes' character that he was killed in such an uprising by his crew not seven years later on a cruise in the Indies. Reference: National Archives, London

5Insulting a superior officer, not to mention attempting to fight a duel, brought Lt. Holmes under Article XXIII, 'If any person in the fleet shall quarrel or fight with any other person in the fleet, or use reproachful or provoking speeches or gestures, tending to make any quarrel or disturbance, he shall, upon being convicted thereof, suffer such punishment as the offence shall deserve, and a court martial shall impose.' No court martial is mentioned but his subsequent posting in Upper Canada, far from the arena of war in Europe where the chances of promotion were higher, would have been a great set-back to his career. It says much of Lt. Holmes' friendship with Doctor Watson that he would seek to protect him from Captain Wilkes in this way.

6The Victory was Admiral Nelson's flagship.

7As odd as such endearments may seem to modern readers, they were common between men who were good friends in the 19th century.

8Middy : midshipman, a commissioned officer of the lowest rank. Midshipmen often started their careers as boys, and were taught school lessons on-board. After three years of 'apprenticeship' learning their trade, they could then attempt the exam to become a third lieutenant. From Lt. Holmes’ comments, both he and Wilkes were midshipmen at the same time on the Isis.

9The change from 'Saint-John' to the more personal 'John' in the letter is indicative of the degree of friendship and intimacy Lt. Holmes and Doctor Watson shared. To use a person's given name was a symbol of high regard, and the diminutive more so.

10Theft fell under Article XXX, and Holmes was lucky not to be put to death according to Naval law. Despite being a Lord's son, his punishment may have included flogging. To be put 'before the mast', or to be de-rated to serve as a common seaman is an uncommon punishment.

(Author's note - No, of course there is no such thing as  'Local Legends and Tales of Essex County, Big Creek Press. I just needed some versimilitude, and grew up next to Big Creek, catching catfish in the summer and playing pick-up games of hockey badly on it in the winter.)

Part One // Part Two // Part Three // Part Four // Part Five - Appendices