HMS Valiant - 20. Chapter 20

October, 1799

HMS Valiant

Off Cadiz

Granger stared at the paper, looking at the letter he’d drafted to Caroline, and decided to be finished with it. He knew that they would almost certainly sight the Mediterranean Fleet today, so he had spent the evening hours laboring over his correspondence. Even as he summoned Winkler to bring him sealing wax, he re-read his literary effort.

Caroline,

I hope this letter finds you well, and the children healthy. I am writing to you off Cadiz, where we will no doubt encounter the Mediterranean Fleet, so I am taking this opportunity to update you on my travels thus far. I have had significant difficulties with Lady Elgin, much as was anticipated by Lords Spencer and Grenville. The woman is truly awful, with instances too often to transcribe onto paper, so I will describe only one, to illustrate what a burden she is.

She had the gall to tell me of a rumor she had heard, to the effect that you invited Major Treadway and Lord Frederick Cavendish to join you in the baths at Portland Place. Major Treadway was on hand to denounce such an unfounded assertion, and was so outraged that it almost became an affair of honor. Such is the behavior I must suffer from this woman who has not even the simplest faculties to be the wife of His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Sublime Porte.

Prior to my departure, I had requested that you spend the majority of your time at Brentwood, where it would be healthier for you and the children. In hindsight, that was an unfair request, because it will make it difficult for you to conduct our affairs in the City. I will leave it to your good judgment to determine where you spend your time while I am gone.

George.

Granger’s letter reflected two important things. The first was that it told Caroline that rumors of her tryst were reaching higher levels of society, and that he had actually had it thrown in his face. He knew that would horrify her, and make her feel guilty. Both of those reactions pleased him. The other issue was revoking his directive that she stay at Brentwood. Granger had largely written off the romantic aspects of his marriage, but he was firmly committed to the other part, the business and dynastic partnership they formed. Banning Caroline from spending time in London may handicap her efforts to look out for their interests. Granger was mindful of the havoc The Guild had wreaked on his life during his last voyage, and he was not willing to have his family’s position appear weak enough to be assailable by those cretins.

“My lord, we have sighted a sail,” Travers said, interrupting Granger’s thoughts. He’d been so absorbed; he hadn’t even heard Travers come in.

“I will come up shortly,” Granger said. “Please keep me informed.”

“Aye aye, my lord,” Travers said.

Winkler came in with the sealing wax, but Granger preempted that activity by changing into his best uniform. He left Winkler in his cabin to seal up the letter and include it with his dispatches, while he went on deck to see about this sail. “Sail off the bow, my lord,” Weston said. “The lookout thinks it’s an English frigate.”

“Excellent,” Granger said. “In any event, I will see for myself.” He climbed halfway up the fore shrouds, until he could see the sails with his naked eye. Granger gripped the shrouds with his left hand, even as he held his glass with his right. There was no mistaking the sails of the fleet that lay in front of them; it was the British Mediterranean Fleet.

“Mr. Kingsdale, please raise our number.”

“Aye aye sir,” Kingsdale said, and showed Valiant’s unique number to identify her to this fleet, even though they were undoubtedly aware of which ship Valiant was. They flew that signal until they were close enough to Queen Charlotte for them to read it. “Flag to Valiant: welcome, sir.”

“Acknowledge, and signal that we have dispatches,” Granger ordered. He watched the approaching fleet even as flags soared up Valiant’s mast.

“Flag has acknowledged, and is ordering you to appear aboard immediately, sir,” Kingsdale said.

“Acknowledge, Mr. Kingsdale,” Granger ordered. “Mr. Weston, please have my gig brought around.”

They both acknowledged his orders, even though Granger did not hear them; he was too focused on maneuvering Valiant up to the flagship. He was just about to give his orders to execute their turn, when Lady Elgin appeared. “I would like to go aboard the flagship,” she decreed.

“Mr. Weston, put us about and on a parallel course to the flagship,” Granger said, giving Weston control of the maneuver so he could focus on Lady Elgin.

“Aye aye, my lord,” he said, and began rattling off his orders. Valiant turned to run parallel to Queen Charlotte, but it was slightly sloppy, something that infuriated Granger.

“Pass the word for Lord Elgin,” Granger said, ignoring the man’s wife. Elgin came up quickly enough, and seeing his wife on the quarterdeck caused him to grimace briefly.

“You asked to see me, Granger?”

“Your wife chose to interrupt me while I was in the middle of a maneuver to align Valiant with Queen Charlotte,” Granger said firmly. “Her interference caused our course adjustment to look sloppy, and she has embarrassed this ship in the eyes of the entire fleet.”

“I must beg your pardon,” Elgin said.

“This is the last time I will overlook behavior like this from your wife. If she has something she requires, she is to convey that to Your Lordship. I am confident you are much more able to determine the appropriate time to ask questions, or to make requests.”

“We will have to hope that Her Ladyship understands Your Lordship’s orders,” Elgin said, glaring at his wife. She was even annoying him.

“Thank you,” Granger said. “Now if you will excuse me, I must go and interview Lord Keith.”

“I want to go with you,” Lady Elgin insisted.

Granger ignored her, and Elgin didn’t ask whether she could call on Keith. “You have the ship, Mr. Weston,” Granger said curtly, as he went over the side and into his gig. It was a thankfully short and dry trip to the Queen Charlotte.

Captain Todd was on hand to greet him, just as he had last time. “Welcome back, my lord,” he said in a friendly way. Granger took that as a good sign, since Todd would not be so pleasant if Keith did not like him.

“It is pleasant to see you again, Captain,” Granger said in an equally kind way. “There is mail for the fleet in my gig.”

“I will see that it is brought on board and distributed, my lord,” he said.

“Thank you,” Granger replied, and then he was ushered before Keith.

“Granger, what brings you back out here? Are you joining us this time?” Keith was much more pleasant than he’d been last time.

“Alas, sir, I am not,” Granger said. “It appears I am still running errands for Their Lordships.”

“And where are you off to this time?”

“I am tasked to take Lord and Lady Elgin to Constantinople, sir,” Granger said, forcing himself not to cringe. But Keith was Scottish, and he undoubtedly knew Elgin.

“First you are sent to retrieve St. Vincent, and now you are to be saddled with Lady Elgin all the way to Constantinople? I fear you have vexed Spencer, Granger.”

“I fear Your Lordship is correct,” Granger agreed ruefully. “I have also been instructed to stop in Sicily, and to deliver dispatches to Lord Nelson.”

Keith’s eyes narrowed at that, because he was not fond of Nelson, who tended to be a difficult subordinate when faced with a more rigid admiral. Keith was such an admiral. “I will use you to convey dispatches as well. That will require you to remain with us for a few hours.”

“I will be pleased to do as you order, sir,” Granger said.

“Your ship-handling was not as crisp as I have come to expect from you,” Keith admonished. Granger was mortified; this was the first time he’d ever been criticized for the way he handled his ship.

“I must beg your pardon, sir,” Granger said. “I was distracted at the last minute by Her Ladyship’s urgent request that she be allowed to call on Your Lordship.” Perhaps even more embarrassing than Keith’s admonishment was the fact that Granger allowed some of his frustration with Lady Elgin to leak through his shield.

Keith smiled. “I will make allowances for your conduct, based on whom you had to deal with.”

“I am most appreciative, sir,” Granger said, and then grinned slightly. “Would you like me to have Lady Elgin sent over to call upon you Your Lordship?”

“I fear there is no time for that, but you may convey my compliments to both Lord and Lady Elgin,” Keith said.

“I will do that, sir,” Granger said. Keith clearly intended their interview to be over, and seemed annoyed that Granger stayed. “We had an engagement with two Spanish frigates off Cape Finisterre, sir.”

“Indeed? You tackled two frigates?”

“I was assisted by three other British frigates, sir,” Granger said, and went on to describe the action with the Dons.

“Well, all of those frigates are attached to the Channel Fleet, so I’m sure Lord Bridport will be happy, although I daresay the Dons were probably knocked about too much to bring much in prize money.”

“The frigates were a bit worse for the wear, sir, but their cargo was quite valuable.” Keith looked at Granger, waiting for him to explain. “They were carrying gold and silver from the Americas. We estimated their value to be some six hundred thousand pounds.”

Keith frowned at that, since the flag officer’s share would largely flow to Bridport. “I think, Granger, you will find yourself in demand to serve in any fleet, if only because of the avarice of us admirals. You appear to have a charm for earning prize money.”

“I am concerned that I would find myself stationed as you describe, sir, only to find that my luck had run out,” Granger said pleasantly, hoping Keith would not blame him for not being formally appointed to the Mediterranean Fleet by Spencer.

“Hopefully you will prove useful enough for that to be overlooked,” Keith noted, but with a twinkle in his eye. “I will send my dispatches over to you, and then you may proceed.”

“Aye aye sir,” Granger said, as he stood up. He bid goodbye to Todd, then heaved himself back into his gig for an equally uneventful return trip to Valiant. He found Lord and Lady Elgin on the quarterdeck, awaiting his return.

“Welcome back, my lord,” Weston said.

“Thank you, Mr. Weston. We will remain with the fleet until Lord Keith sends us his dispatches, then we will square away for Gibraltar.”

“Aye aye my lord,” Weston said.

“Then that should give me time to call on Lord Keith,” Lady Elgin said. Granger, and everyone else, pretended that they had not heard her.

“Will we be able to call on Lord Keith, Granger?” Elgin asked him politely.

“I conveyed to His Lordship that you wished an audience, but while His Lordship asked me to convey his compliments to both you and your wife, he was saddened to note that he would not have time to grant your request,” Granger said formally.

“He does not have time?” Lady Elgin asked, but no one responded.

Granger looked at Lord Elgin firmly. “I am sure His Lordship is occupied preparing his own correspondence for our transmittal.”

“Quite so,” Elgin said.

“I will also share with Your Lordship that Lord Keith noted that Valiant’s ship handling was not up to the level he had come to expect from us,” Granger said severely. He saw his officers become quite angry as he glanced at them from the corner of his eye.

“I must apologize for causing you distress in the eyes of the fleet,” Elgin said gallantly. Granger thought, yet again, that he was such a polished and educated man, it would have been quite pleasant to sail with just him.

“After I explained the circumstances, His Lordship was most understanding,” Granger said. He was impressed that his officers managed not to laugh at that, that Lady Elgin’s reputation was so well known that even admirals made allowance for her. “But thank you for your sentiments.”

Elgin gave him a slight bow, and then headed for the ladder. “Come along, my dear.” His wife followed him reluctantly.

“Presumably as a fellow Scotsman, Lord Keith is acquainted with Her Ladyship,” Clifton boldly observed.

Granger smiled at him. “Presumably.” Valiant sailed along with the Mediterranean Fleet blockading Cadiz for three hours, until a spruce looking midshipman from Queen Charlotte brought Granger Keith’s dispatches for Nelson. Then Valiant tacked on sail and headed for Gibraltar.

October, 1799

Gibraltar

“Let go!” Granger ordered. Valiant’s anchor splashed into the bay, and firmly held the ship in place, just off the King’s Bastion. The men furled the few sails Valiant had worn for the final leg of her journey to her anchorage, while the decks were somewhat chaotic as they prepared to swing the launch out.

“Granger, I would be obliged if you could designate a boat to take us ashore,” Elgin said, as he came on deck with his wife and entourage trailing him.

“I will be happy to oblige Your Lordship after I return from calling on the governor,” Granger said.

“What madness is this?” Lady Elgin demanded. “Why must we wait aboard?”

“Mr. Weston, I will return shortly,” Granger said. “In the meantime, no one is to come aboard or leave this ship.”

“Aye aye, my lord,” Weston said. Granger ignored the lot of them and descended into his gig for the brief trip to the shore. He had not worried that Lady Elgin would ruin his reputation in Lisbon, because he knew that Walpole was bereft of influence, and he didn’t like the Portuguese anyway. But having seen what she could do in that environment, he was determined to inoculate himself from her gossip by meeting with the shore authorities first.

He was pleased to find Harleton waiting to greet him with a carriage. Granger thought back to when he’d been stationed here by St. Vincent, and had arrived with Belvidera to no welcome at all. That had changed now, and Harleton and O’Hara were both friends. Of all the decisions Granger had made in his career, he was thankful that he’d overlooked the small smuggling operation here in Gibraltar. That had won him the gratitude of both these men. “What a pleasure to see you again, my lord!” Harleton said enthusiastically.

“The pleasure is most certainly mine,” Granger said, as he shook Harleton’s hand. They climbed into the carriage for the brief ride to Government House, while Harleton talked about events in Gibraltar, and about the procedure for giving Granger’s men leave.

He arrived to find Governor O’Hara waiting for him with a greeting as enthusiastic as Harleton’s. “What brings you back to Gibraltar, my lord?” he asked.

“I am conveying Lord and Lady Elgin to Constantinople, Your Excellency,” Granger replied. “Lady Elgin is with child, and that has meant that we must stop frequently to allow her to regain her health.”

“That is unfortunate,” he said. “I am surprised she is going along with Lord Elgin.”

“As am I,” Granger said. “I am not sure if it is her pregnancy, or her general disposition, but she has been a most unpleasant passenger. I hastened ashore before she could land, in the hopes that I could alert Your Excellency.”

“Normally, I would have offered them the hospitality of Government House, my lord,” O’Hara said cautiously.

“And I certainly would not want to preclude Your Excellency from doing just that, but I fear that if you did, you may very well live to regret that decision,” Granger said with a sly grin. O’Hara nodded.

“Harleton, see if you can find a suitable lodging for the Elgins and their entourage while they’re here,” O’Hara said, understanding perfectly what Granger was saying.

“I think, Your Excellency, that you will find Lord Elgin to be educated and interesting,” Granger added.

“Let us hope,” O’Hara said dubiously. “In any event, I will have to host them to a dinner. We can do that this afternoon. You can join us, Granger. That way I know I’ll have some charming company, with you and Harleton there.”

“Your Excellency is too kind,” Granger said. “With your permission, I will return to Valiant and make arrangements to land Lord and Lady Elgin.”

“I will see you this afternoon for dinner,” O’Hara said. Granger left, walking with Harleton.

“So this woman is a shrew?” Harleton asked.

“Most definitely,” Granger said with a rueful grin. Harleton chuckled.

“Perhaps after dinner, you would like to see how we’ve improved the defenses of this outpost?” Granger grinned at that. He had let Harleton fuck him once, when he’d first gotten to Gibraltar in Belvidera, but they had not been together since then. He could be fun.

“I would like that,” Granger agreed. Harleton dropped him off at the dock, and then Granger took his gig back to Valiant to find the Elgins to be quite agitated.

“Do we have your permission to disembark, Granger?” Elgin asked acidly.

“We will be happy to convey you ashore,” Granger said. “The Governor has invited us to dinner this afternoon, and his adjutant is preparing quarters for you in the town.”

“The governor did not see fit to invite us to stay with him?” Elgin asked, looking at Granger suspiciously.

“He did not,” Granger said. “His Excellency did not share with me his reason for not doing so, but I’m sure there are other suitable lodgings being prepared for you.”

“We will see you at dinner,” Elgin said, with a decided lack of friendliness. Within fifteen minutes, the ship was free of Lord Elgin and his band of followers, and it was as if the entire ship breathed a sigh of relief.

“Mr. Weston, you can arrange for parties of fifty men to have shore leave for twenty-four hours. We will be here for five days, so that will mean some will miss out. The others will get their chance in Port Mahon.”

“Aye aye, my lord,” he said.

Andrews was there to attract his attention. “My lord, with your permission, I am of a mind to see what is available in the market here, but I suspect I will be better served by a brief trip to Algeciras.”

“Do not get yourself captured, Mr. Andrews,” Granger joked. Andrews was quite resourceful in any port, even one controlled by the enemy.

“I suspect I will be fine, my lord,” Andrews said with a rare smile.

Granger went below to review some ledgers, which was the lot of a captain of one of His Majesty’s ships. Granger suspected that recordkeeping occupied at least a fourth of his time. When it was the hour for dinner, Granger had himself rowed ashore.

There was no carriage waiting for him, but it was no matter. It was a lovely afternoon, and a short walk. As he was strolling along, a man came careening out of a tavern and landed in front of him. “Bloody hell,” he grumbled.

“And just what are you doing, Edwards?” Granger asked, recognizing this man as a member of the crew.

Edwards looked up at Granger, horrified at being caught in such a compromising position. Granger was impressed that he was sober enough to stand abruptly and salute. “I beg your pardon, my lord.”

“Quite so, but that does not answer my question,” Granger said.

“I ran out of money, and couldn’t pay the tavern keeper, my lord,” Edwards said.

Granger took a guinea out of his pocket and handed it to a stunned Edwards. “You will have to mind your finances better in the future.”

“Thank you, my lord,” Edwards said. He was too stunned to do more than smile happily. Granger just nodded and continued his walk. In Valiant, they watched out for their own.

He arrived at Government House to find he was the last one to do so, but he was still on time. He saw an exasperated Governor O’Hara in a conversation with the Elgins, and then caught Harleton’s eyes, which were twinkling in delight at seeing his boss dealing with Lady Elgin.

“Ah, Granger,” O’Hara said, using his arrival to break away from his unpleasant guests. “Now that you are here, we can start our dinner. I’ve had my chef prepare some new Spanish delicacies for you to try.”

“I expected you would, sir, and I have been looking forward to it as a result,” Granger said with a slight bow. O’Hara led them into the dining room, where they found place cards to indicate where they should sit. O’Hara had put Elgin next to him, with his wife on the other side of him, while Granger and Harleton sat across from them.

“I was just sharing with His Excellency how horrible our voyage has been,” she said to Granger.

“It has actually been quite smooth,” Granger said. “I am surprised that, at this time of year, we have not encountered storms.”

“It was not the sea conditions I was referring to,” she snapped. Granger was surprised that she did not appear to know O’Hara was a friend of his, and was thus ranting about him to an unsympathetic ear. He wondered if Walpole had been too afraid of her to share Granger’s comments about the governors they would meet.

“Your Ladyship is certainly quite welcome to seek a different conveyance to Constantinople,” Granger said. “Or back to Britain.”

“If there were another option, I would take it,” she said. “Anything must certainly be more comfortable than a cabin dominated by two 24-pound cannons.”

“A merchant ship with comfortable cabins is quite expensive, my lady,” Harleton cautioned. Elgin cringed at that.

“Her Ladyship is well-connected to the merchant community,” Granger said to Harleton, “so perhaps she can find reasonable accommodations.” Lady Elgin bristled at yet another reference by Granger to her common ancestry.

“I suspect that we are stuck with things as they are,” Elgin said to Granger. “We must thank you for the courtesies you have extended to us.”

“What courtesies?” Lady Elgin demanded. “He has all but banished us to our small, uncomfortable cabins; and he has refused to allow me any contact at all with his officers and crew; and despite the riches he has recently won while risking our lives in a battle, he refused to share his table with us.”

“Riches, Granger?” O’Hara asked, happy to change the topic. Granger smiled at how O’Hara had adopted a more informal tone with him, using his last name instead of ‘my lord’, to show the Elgins that he and Granger were friends. And it was hilarious that he completely ignored Lady Elgin’s diatribe.

“In conjunction with three other frigates, we captured two Spanish frigates carrying treasure from New Spain, sir,” Granger said. “The initial estimates are that the two ships are worth in excess of six hundred thousand pounds.”

O’Hara smiled, and so did Harleton. “That’s stupendous! Congratulations!”

“Thank you,” Granger said. Lady Elgin was positively fuming she was so angry. O’Hara made him describe the engagement, interrupting his story from time to time to point out some dish or another that he’d had prepared for them. They were all relatively spicy, and Granger noticed that Lady Elgin ate very little. Once she shut up, the dinner became quite pleasant.

“When will you want us back aboard?” Elgin asked, as the dinner concluded.

“The tide will not ebb until the early afternoon, so if you are aboard in the morning, five days from now, that should be adequate,” Granger said.

“Excellent,” Elgin said. “Come along, my dear. Let us go settle into our lodgings.”

“It would have been much easier if we had just stayed here,” she said, throwing a barb at O’Hara for not offering to house them.

“I am sorry I was not able to extend an offer of hospitality to Your Ladyship,” O’Hara lied.

“As am I,” she said coldly. “Thank you for dinner.”

“You are welcome, my lady,” O’Hara said. He stood up and escorted them out of the room, and the house, a marked sign of courtesy, but Granger suspected it was more to make sure they had actually left. Granger and Harleton said nothing until O’Hara returned. “Granger, I am in your debt for your cautionary words this morning.”

Granger and Harleton laughed, as did the governor. “I had hoped that would be further proof of my friendship, sir.”

“Indeed,” O’Hara said. “And so it was.”

“I had planned to show His Lordship the modifications we made to the fortifications in the caves, Your Excellency,” Harleton said.

“We are so entrenched here, Granger, that the Spanish haven’t even tried to attack us,” O’Hara said. He had been forced to surrender both at Yorktown during the American War, and at Toulon during the opening stages of this one. It seemed that he would not have to do that here.

“I am glad to hear it, sir, but I never doubted that you would not do the utmost to defend Gibraltar,” Granger said smoothly. Then Harleton led him off to a cave, and reminded Granger that he could be a fun sexual partner.

October, 1799

Portland Place

Caroline Granger sat in the study, reviewing the ledgers showing their extensive holdings in properties and industries. She had just learned of a mining opportunity in Northern England, and was of a mind to invest in it, but she was trying to decide from where to pull funds to do so. She had followed Granger’s directive that she only be in London for a week each month, but it had been difficult. She was worried that she would not be able to do as he wished and still watch over their empire, such as it was.

She heard a bit of noise at the front door, indicating that someone had arrived, but she did not stir. Cheevers would tell her if it was important. She continued to pore over the books until the door opened, and Cheevers entered. “I am sorry to disturb you, my lady, but a messenger from the Admiralty has just arrived.”

Caroline restrained herself from jumping up and rushing to grab the message from Cheevers’ hand, and instead waited for him to bring it to her. There were two letters, one from Spencer and one from George. “Thank you, Cheevers,” she said, dismissing him. Regardless of the news, she would prefer to receive it in privacy.

She opened the letter from George first. She cringed at how terse it was, and how he put so little feeling into it. He said he’d won a battle, and earned a considerable amount of prize money, and asked her to sequester half of it away for him to invest or spend. Caroline paused to consider the implications of his letter. Before he left, he had written her a brief note, telling her that he was sorry for how rudely he’d treated her, and that had given her hope. But this letter was entirely different. With this one communiqué, Granger had told his wife that she was his partner in founding a dynasty and building a sizeable estate, and nothing more. Caroline could not stop the tear the fell out of her eye, even though she wiped it away quickly enough.

She put that aside and opened the other letter, this one from Spencer. George had told her that he’d won some prize money, but Spencer’s letter expanded on that, and suggested that the value of the captured ships was in excess of six hundred thousand pounds. Caroline stopped and re-read those words, stunned at how huge this victory was, and how much money they would receive as a result.

Spencer suggested that, while the Admiralty Courts had not ruled on the prizes yet, since Granger was on detached duty, he would be eligible to receive the flag officer’s share of his portion of the money. That meant he would receive somewhere in the neighborhood of sixty thousand pounds. It was a staggering amount of money.

Caroline put down Spencer’s letter and picked up George’s again. He hadn’t even suggested how much money was involved, and had shown no enthusiasm over this victory. His words were terse and businesslike. In the past, he would have penned a fulsome note, describing things in great detail. This was merely a notice.

She put both letters in her top desk drawer, and strode out of the study, managing to maintain her composure. Cheevers was standing there, as if waiting for her to say something about these communications, which irritated Caroline. She was of a mind to leave him in suspense, but that would simply take too much effort at this point.

“His Lordship won a great victory over the Spanish,” she told him. “I would be obliged if you would have someone obtain the newspaper articles about it.”

“Of course, my lady,” Cheevers said. She would have to find out the details of this battle from the press, just like every other ordinary Briton.