The Guinea Thief - Chapter 13 - the merciless

Visitors were not encouraged to the prison hulks, they were run as a private enterprise for profit and the less inspection they received from the members of the public or anyone else for that matter the better the owners liked it. However Albert had managed to use his connections with some of the guards in the dockyard, to bribe the watch to allow Jack and Delphine on board the Merciless on a Sunday when the prisoners had a break from their labours in the rope house and the Captain was home visiting his family. He would be gone for the whole day. Rather than going by land they borrowed a small sailing boat. But that morning the wind was flat and a heavy fog hung in the air. They were going to have to row the five miles from the north west tip of city to the south east corner of Porstea island. Fortunately they were able to take advantage of the incoming tide to help carry them the final three miles down the east side of the Island to Farlington marsh. The current ripped along past Eastney point and soon they were presented with their first view of the hulk.
His Majesty’s Prison Ship The Merciless was a dilapidated old naval ship, too wrecked to be of serviceable use at sea. Sometimes the prison hulks were spoils of war, French prizes won in the Caribbean that had limped back to English ports and were stripped of anything that could be of use. But the Merciless did not even have that claim to fame. She had spent most of her life at Woolwich and the balmy oceans of the Caribbean had never lapped against her timbers. Perhaps if they had she would have been a prouder ship. This was a ship that would never return to sea again. Her gun ports had been blocked off, her masts removed, laundry hung limply from the stumps of the masts that remained. She would finish her days languishing in the mud of Langstone harbour, caught adrift between the sea and land, belonging to neither, claimed by no-one.
On that foggy morning Delphine could not imagine that Robert had been living on board this travesty of a ship for a month already. They arrived alongside and hailed the watch. A rope ladder was thrown over and Jack quickly ascended and waited for Delphine at the top. As Delphine climbed the slippery ladder she wished again that women were able to wear trousers. Trying hard not to step on her skirt as she climbed up one rung at a time, she thought back fondly of the night she had borrowed Jack’s clothes. It had been so liberating to dress as a boy. Wishing that things could be different her concentration wavered and her foot slipped. She grabbed the sides of the ladder and regained her footing.
“Merde.”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, yes I’m fine. It’s my dress. Don’t worry.”
Delphine could not help being angry with herself. She liked to think she could handle herself as well as any man. But she knew in truth there were times when they had basic advantages that she did not. Like the ability to wear the right clothing. Carefully she climbed the final rungs, Jack stretched out his hand and pulled her in.
“Merci Jack.”
“My pleasure. I’m sorry I should have thought about how you would get on board.”
“I had assumed there would be a gangplank, but I see we’re too low in the water for that.”
“Don’t worry, you’re here now. They’re going to bring Robert up to us, the guard said to wait over there.”
Jack gestured towards the bow of the ship.
“Apparently if we stay up wind the smell from the pig sty is not so bad. I wonder if it’s any better when there’s more wind? ”
As they made their way to the bow they saw goats and sheep tethered by the poop deck, a run of chickens nailed to the starboard gunwale and from the smell and noise they could tell that on the port side was the pig sty. The sty was hidden from view by an accommodation block which had been built on the top deck for the guards, as no-one would have lived and worked in the conditions the prisoners had to endure. After a few minutes the guard returned with Robert. His feet were shackled together with heavy irons, his beard was bedraggled, his hair had gone noticeably grey, his eyes were watery like an old mans and his skin was a strange yellow colour.
Delphine tried hard not to gasp at the change in his appearance.
“Hello Jack, Delphine. Thank you for coming. It’s such a pleasure to see a friendly face.”
Delphine went to kiss him but Robert took a step back and held up his hand.
“I’m not going to kiss you and I advise you not to get too close.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want you to catch anything. The ship is rife with hulk fever. Nearly every other man has it, including me. Last winter it carried off almost a quarter of the ship.”
“My God. I knew it was not good in prison, but this is terrible.” said Jack.
“It saves them having to feed us, if we’re sick we don’t eat so much and the guards get to eat our rations, or sell them on the shore.”
“How is the food?” asked Jack.
“Dreadful. Rice soup for breakfast, barley soup for supper. Sometimes they add peas to the barley. On Sundays we get salt beef or salt pork and a pint of beer. Sometimes if we’re lucky we get a beef broth. We always look forward to Sundays; prayers, pork and a pint.” Robert winked at him. “I do miss Eliza’s roast. How is she holding up?”
“She’s fine. She’s keeping busy, spending time with Rosie getting things ready for the baby.”
“Already?”
“It’s not due till Spring, but Eliza needs something to do and Rosie is quite happy to let her.”
“And you two? How are you? Albert’s been able to pass on some messages. I’d heard that you’d got away alright on the night and made it to Sheet.”
“Yes we did. And then Matthew arrived and told us what had happened to you. I couldn’t believe it when he told me.” said Jack
“I couldn’t leave him and I knew that the excise weren’t far behind us. So it wasn’t much of a surprise to me. My biggest surprise was Davy being shot. Who would do a terrible thing like that?”
“You mean you don’t know?” asked Delphine.
“No I don’t. Do you?”
“Georges shot him.”
“Georges, but he was on his way to London?”
“He was on the path by the shore when he must have heard us coming. He stopped, saw Davy’s uniform took out his gun and shot him.”

“Ah. Well at last it makes sense. Poor Davy. If he had been a few moments later all would have been well.”
“Robert I am so sorry. You are here in this awful place because of my brother. I went to him in London. I begged him to come back and say that you were innocent, that he had killed Davy. But he refused. He told me I was silly little fool, that I didn’t understand. But I do understand. He is a coward.”
“Delphine, I know Georges is your brother, but frankly I wouldn’t have expected him to say or do anything else.” said Robert.
“But he knows that without your help he would not have been able to get the guineas out of France and without the guineas he would not be able to raise his army. So he has agreed to get you a lawyer, the best in London and he will pay for everything.” said Jack.
“Yes he can afford to be so generous with his stolen gold.” said Delphine.
“Delphine, remember what he said. He doesn’t have to do anything. He is choosing to help and we must take that help.”
“A lawyer, to defend me I assume? Well that’s a novelty not many people get to have.”
“Le Comte is arranging everything. He says he knows the best lawyers. And I believe him. He has power and money, and he is well connected. He will find out who the right man is.” said Delphine.
“For now we just have to wait till we hear from the lawyer, and then we will sort out the best defense to set you free.”
“Well I guess now all I’ll have to do is stay alive long enough to go on trial.”
“Yes, you will. And to help you with that, Eliza has sent you some food and some brandy, it’s in the boat with Fred. It’s not much but I’ll bet you it’s better than anything you’ve had for a while.” said Jack.
“Wonderful. The brandy’ll go down a treat. Not sure how I’m going to be able to hide that from the others. If I share it out, it’ll be gone by tonight.”
“If I was you I’d keep it where no-one would expect. Maybe you could find a place in the pig house, no-one would look there.”
“Delphine you can be most cunning. It’s a good idea, I’ll do that. If someone finds it there good luck to them. ”
“I’ll go get the basket.” said Delphine.
Delphine ran back to the side of the ship where Fred was waiting patiently, fishing. It looked like he had caught himself a mullet.
Delphine called down, “Fred, we are ready for the basket now.”
Fred put down his rod.
“Right ho, send down the rope. Don’t be too much longer, the tide has already started to turn. Without any wind it’s going to be a long hard row back if we miss the tide.”
Delphine threw down the slender hemp rope which had been coiled neatly next to the rope ladder. Fred caught the end, knotted it around the handle of the basket, pulled it once to ensure it was secure and Delphine pulled it up, hand over hand, the way her father had taught her many years before. She untied the rope and coiled it back carefully as it had been before. Delphine returned with the basket.
“What have I got inside here then?” Robert rifled through the basket. “Rum, tea, sugar, baccy, fruit cake, cheese and a roast chicken. A feast. Do you mind if I sit down and eat something now. Only I’m starving and this smells so good.”
“Of course.”
“Eliza says the fruit cake and cheese’ll keep for ages if you can find somewhere clean to put them.”
“If I pass the cook some baccy he might stash this lot in the galley for me. But I won’t tell him about the brandy.”
“Fred says we should go soon. The tide has turned.”
“Best get going then. Better to go at high water, then you don’t have to worry about hitting a wreck or running aground. Take care both of you. You look well Jack.”
“I’m managing fine. Between Eliza and Delphine, I’m well looked after.”
“Good. Make sure you look after them in return. You’re the man of the house now.”
“I know it’s strange to be back. I almost miss the island.”
“Ah but you’ve got two good reasons to stay now. I can see that.”
“Three if you count Eliza’s cakes!”
“Off you go now. Thank you for doing this for me. I think it could make all the difference in the world.”
“I hope it does.” said Jack.
“Me too. A bientot Robert.”
“Au revoir Delphine.”
Delphine descended the ladder first, tucking in her skirts into her bloomers and hoping that Fred was not looking up at her. When she dropped into the boat, Fred looked away while she untucked them and tidied herself up. Jack dropped into the boat a moment later and grinned at Fred. Fred pulled his ear, and Jack let out a yelp.
“What did you do that for?”
“To remind you of your manners. Now sit down and take an oar.”
“Yes Fred.”
They rowed away from the hulk and soon it was just a dot on the horizon, and then it was gone, but the memory of Robert’s emaciated face remained.