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Authors: Richard Woodman
Tags: Historical
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importance to the shipâs company of
Cyclops
. All the weary voyage from the Mediterranean the ship had buzzed as every mess speculated on the likely value of the prize.
There was not a man in the entire crew who did not imagine himself in some state of luxury or gross debauch as a result of the purchase of
Santa Teresa
into the Royal Navy. For Henry Hope it meant security in old age; for Devaux the means of re-entering society and, hopefully, contracting an advantageous marriage. To men like Morris, Tregembo and OâMalley fantasies of splendid proportions rose in their imaginations as they prepared to make obeisance at the temples of Bacchus and Aphrodite.
But as the two frigates and their empty convoy sailed northward the initial excitement passed. Arguments broke out as to how much hard money was involved and, more important, how much each man would receive. Rumour, speculation and conjecture rippled through the ship like wind through standing corn. A chance remark made by an officer, overheard by a quartermaster and passed along the lower deck, sparked off fresh waves of debate based on no single thread of fact but by mountains of wishful thinking. Only the previous year frigates like
Cyclops
had taken the annual treasure fleet from the Spanish Indies. It had made their captains fabulously wealthy; even able seamen had received the sum of
£
182. But it was not always visions of untold wealth that occupied the imaginations of her people. As the frigate drew north other rumours gained currency. Perhaps
Santa Teresa
had been retaken by theSpaniards who were once again besieging Gibraltar. Or sunk by shell-fire, or burned by fireships . . .
If the Spanish could not take her would they not have made an attempt to redress their honour by destroying at least some of the prizes in Gibraltar Bay?
Gloom spread throughout
Cyclops
and as the days passed the talk of prize money occurred less and less frequently. By the time
Cyclops
sighted the Lizard all discussions on the subject had become taboo. A strange superstition had seized the hands, including the officers. A feeling that if the subject were mentioned their greed would raise the ire of the fate that ruled their lives with such arbitrary harshness. No seaman, irrespective of his class or station, could admit the philosophical contention that Atropos, Lachesis or Clotho and their elemental agents acted with impartiality. His own experience continually proved the contrary.
Gales, battles, leaks, dismastings, disease and death; Acts of God, Acts of My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and all the other factors which combined to cause maritime discomfort, seemed to direct the whole weight of their malice at Jack Tar. Hardship was a necessary function of existence and the brief appearance of a golden ladder to a haven of wealth and ease became regarded with the deepest suspicion.
When
Cyclops
âs cable rumbled through the hawse and she brought up to her bower at Spithead no man dared mention
Santa Teresa
. But when the first lieutenant called away the captainâs gig there was not a soul on board whose heartbeat did not quicken.
Hope was absent from the ship for three hours.
Even when he returned to the boat lying at Kingâs Stairs the gigâs crew were unable to read anything from his facial expression. Drinkwater was coxswain of the gig and set himself the task of conning her through the maze of small craft that thronged Portsmouth Harbour. In fact Drinkwater had thought less than most about the prize money. Money was something he had no experience of. There had been enough, barely enough, in his home and in his interest in his new profession had both prevented him from dwelling on the subject of poverty or from realising how little he had. As yet the disturbance of lust had been a confused experience in which the romantic concepts imparted by a rudimentary education wereat sharp variance with the world he found around him. He had not
Cyclops
. All the weary voyage from the Mediterranean the ship had buzzed as every mess speculated on the likely value of the prize.
There was not a man in the entire crew who did not imagine himself in some state of luxury or gross debauch as a result of the purchase of
Santa Teresa
into the Royal Navy. For Henry Hope it meant security in old age; for Devaux the means of re-entering society and, hopefully, contracting an advantageous marriage. To men like Morris, Tregembo and OâMalley fantasies of splendid proportions rose in their imaginations as they prepared to make obeisance at the temples of Bacchus and Aphrodite.
But as the two frigates and their empty convoy sailed northward the initial excitement passed. Arguments broke out as to how much hard money was involved and, more important, how much each man would receive. Rumour, speculation and conjecture rippled through the ship like wind through standing corn. A chance remark made by an officer, overheard by a quartermaster and passed along the lower deck, sparked off fresh waves of debate based on no single thread of fact but by mountains of wishful thinking. Only the previous year frigates like
Cyclops
had taken the annual treasure fleet from the Spanish Indies. It had made their captains fabulously wealthy; even able seamen had received the sum of
£
182. But it was not always visions of untold wealth that occupied the imaginations of her people. As the frigate drew north other rumours gained currency. Perhaps
Santa Teresa
had been retaken by theSpaniards who were once again besieging Gibraltar. Or sunk by shell-fire, or burned by fireships . . .
If the Spanish could not take her would they not have made an attempt to redress their honour by destroying at least some of the prizes in Gibraltar Bay?
Gloom spread throughout
Cyclops
and as the days passed the talk of prize money occurred less and less frequently. By the time
Cyclops
sighted the Lizard all discussions on the subject had become taboo. A strange superstition had seized the hands, including the officers. A feeling that if the subject were mentioned their greed would raise the ire of the fate that ruled their lives with such arbitrary harshness. No seaman, irrespective of his class or station, could admit the philosophical contention that Atropos, Lachesis or Clotho and their elemental agents acted with impartiality. His own experience continually proved the contrary.
Gales, battles, leaks, dismastings, disease and death; Acts of God, Acts of My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and all the other factors which combined to cause maritime discomfort, seemed to direct the whole weight of their malice at Jack Tar. Hardship was a necessary function of existence and the brief appearance of a golden ladder to a haven of wealth and ease became regarded with the deepest suspicion.
When
Cyclops
âs cable rumbled through the hawse and she brought up to her bower at Spithead no man dared mention
Santa Teresa
. But when the first lieutenant called away the captainâs gig there was not a soul on board whose heartbeat did not quicken.
Hope was absent from the ship for three hours.
Even when he returned to the boat lying at Kingâs Stairs the gigâs crew were unable to read anything from his facial expression. Drinkwater was coxswain of the gig and set himself the task of conning her through the maze of small craft that thronged Portsmouth Harbour. In fact Drinkwater had thought less than most about the prize money. Money was something he had no experience of. There had been enough, barely enough, in his home and in his interest in his new profession had both prevented him from dwelling on the subject of poverty or from realising how little he had. As yet the disturbance of lust had been a confused experience in which the romantic concepts imparted by a rudimentary education wereat sharp variance with the world he found around him. He had not
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