Prison Ship Read Free

five hundred sailors and a hundred marines. The ship had its own chaplain, even its own band. I thought that six hundred souls must make us more of a small town. Robert Neville was right about feeling safer on a 74. She was formidable.
    I wondered how we would fare if we had to fight. Onlythe incessant cold took my mind off the battle we were sailing towards. I had been in combat barely two months before. Now when I heard the roll of the drum that called us to quarters I could vividly recall the stench of blood and gunpowder, and the screams of the dying. I wondered if this time it would be me who would be torn to pieces by chain shot or gutted in hand-to-hand fighting.
    Waiting for the order to drop the sail I strained my eyes towards the land, hoping to see a glimmer of light from a seashore cottage or even a town or village, but the fog was too thick. Close by, I knew, lay the coast of my home county Norfolk. I had heard we were near our assembly point at Yarmouth Roads, where the Royal Navy gathered its fleet to sail to the Baltic. This was as near as I had been to home since I was pressed the previous summer, and all at once I felt a great yearning for its familiar comforts and shelter. Far off in the darkness I heard the sound of cormorants calling to one another, and gannets and auks. Seabirds with nests by the shore. If I were one of them, I could fly in a straight line back to my sweetheart Rosie in Yarmouth, then still further north to Wroxham and home. If I were there now, I’d be tucked up in bed, instead of shivering up this mast, staring down at the grey waters crashing against the ship. The sea was cold enough to kill any man who fell into it in little more than a minute.
    * * *
    On the next day we met up with the other ships of the fleet. Up in the rigging again during a brief break in the fog, I counted over fifty vessels around us. I had never seen so many men-o’-war in one place in my life. Would being part of such a formidable armada make it less likely that I would be killed? The fleet was commanded by Vice Admiral Sir Hyde Parker. I knew very little about him. Much to the men’s excitement we were also sailing with Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson. He was aboard the
St George
and all of us hoped that he might pay our ship a visit sometime during the voyage, so we could get a glimpse of him.
    We stayed at anchor at Yarmouth Roads nearly a week before setting sail. As we pushed further north rumours swept through the fleet. Our destination, it was said, was to be Copenhagen. Diplomats were there even now, trying to persuade the Danes to give up their alliance with the Swedes, Russians and Prussians.
    I came across Robert Neville while I was on an errand to the orlop deck. Down there in the depths of the ship, we had some privacy and he could talk to me without formality.
    â€˜It’ll come to nothing I’m sure,’ said Robert. ‘The Danes are allies with the Prussians and the Swedes – two of their greatest enemies! Danes and Swedes fight like cats and dogs. The French won’t lift a finger to support the Danes either, although they’ve probably promisedthey will, and the Russians can’t help them because their fleet is always frozen in at this time of year. I’m sure that as soon as we poke our noses over the horizon at Copenhagen they’ll surrender right away.’
    This was all very reassuring and I presented this as my own opinion to my mess table later that day. They were all impressed.
    â€˜I hope you’re right Sam,’ said Tom tersely. ‘I ’eard we get most of our timber and rope from the Danes and the Swedes. If we’re at war with them both, then we’ll have a job building new warships.’
    The thought of us running out of material to make ships frightened me. As a small boy I had been taught that our Navy protected us from the French, who were our greatest enemies. I knew how narrow the English Channel was, and how, on a