ây.â âItâs off the Brazilian coast, seven hundred and fifty miles east-north-east of Rio de Janeiro and seven hundred from Bahia.â
âDoes it belong to Spain or Portugal, sir?â
âWhat I am going to tell you remains secret until you open your orders. At present itâIâm referring to the service upon which you are being sentâis known to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State, myself and Nepean, who wrote the orders. As far as your family and your shipâs company are concerned, you are bound for the South Seas.â
âBut forgive me, sir, is it Spain or Portugal?â
âHave you read the full text of the new Treaty with Bonaparte?â
âYes, sir. At least, what was published in the
Gazette.
There might have been secret clauses â¦â
âThere were none,â St Vincent said shortly. âDid you see any reference to Trinidade?â
âNo, sir, just Trinidad, which Spain loses and we keep.â âYes, one of the few places Bonaparte allowed us,â St Vincent said with the first indication of his own views about the terms of the treaty, although it was quite clear to Ramage that he welcomed the peace. âNow, have you Trinidade placed in your mind?â
âYes, sir. A thousand miles or so south of St Paul Rocks and Fernando de Noronha, and about the same distance west of St Helena.â
âPrecisely. An isosceles triangle would have St Paul Rocks and Fernando de Noronha as its apex, Trinidade on the left of the base and St Helena on the right. Now, what strikes you about its position?â
âIf it has water, then it is a perfect place for the Kingâs and John Company ships to call on their way to or from the Cape of Good Hope. At presentâor, rather, in the warâthe Honourable East India Company were very nervous of having their ships call at St Helena for water because both French national ships and privateers usually lurked close to it. Trinidade would be a good alternative.â
St Vincent nodded with his rare wintry smile. âAnd a good rendezvous for the trade bound to or from Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires, as well as the Cape. It has water, by the way.â
âWho owns it, then, sir?â Ramage asked for the third time, guessing from the spelling it had been named by the Portuguese.
âNo one,â St Vincent said. âWe used it occasionally in this late war and can claim to have captured it, but it belonged to Portugal before that. It is not mentioned in the Treaty.â
âSo whoever notices the omission and gets there first â¦â
âExactly,â St Vincent replied. âSpeed and secrecy, my dear Ramage. You have a fast ship and a good crew. Now go and claim it for His Britannic Majesty.â
CHAPTER FOUR
T HE HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE was simply a small room: Dalrymple sat on one side of a table and his assistant, Walker, on the other. One wall was taken up with what appeared to be tall chests of drawers, the drawers being wide but shallow, and each labelled. A small table at the far end of the room was piled high with volumes which Ramage recognized as mastersâ logs, and he recalled a paragraph from the Regulations and Instructions concerning masters: âHe is duly to observe the appearances of coasts; and if he discovers any new shoals, or rocks under water, to note them down in his journal, with their bearing and depth of water.â
A conscientious master usually did better than that. Many were skilled with a paintbox, enjoying making sketches of unfrequented coastlines and preparing good line and wash illustrations. Often a master would make two sketches, one to go into his own collection of charts and views, the other to be inserted in his log, which had in due course to be sent to the Navy Office. One of Dalrympleâs most difficult tasks, Ramage guessed, was getting logs from the Navy Office: the Navy Board had a
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