Dudley Pope - Ramage and the Dido

Sarah, who had come home from India with her mother and father, travelling in an East Indiaman, laughed and said: 'You'd need to be an admiral and lucky with prize money to live as well as the captain of an East Indiaman.'

She finished writing the list and led the way back to the cabin.

'You know, I am really surprised by how much room you have.'

'Don't forget that in here I have to share the space with two 12-pounders, one each side, and there'll be a 12-pounder in the coach and another in the bedplace. Each has a barrel nine feet six inches long. Hang a cot in the bedplace and there's not much space. Put a desk, a couple of chairs and a gun in the coach, and I don't have much room. And with a long dining table, chairs, armchairs and a settee, wine cooler and a couple of guns, there won't be much room to do a quadrille in here.'

'Glasses,' Sarah said suddenly. 'You need plates, glasses and carafes. And cutlery. Darling, we've forgotten more things than we've written on the list. Napkins, table cloths, towels. And what about some small carpets - this black and white pattern is depressing.'

'No carpets,' Ramage said firmly. 'In a seaway they slip all over the place. Make sure you include a set of carvers with the cutlery.'

Sarah was adding to her list, writing standing up. 'What about lamps? There are none here.'

'Yes, I need lamps. Two for this cabin, and one each for the coach and bedplace. And plates and cups and so on.'

'Yes, I noted them down with the glasses and cutlery. Sheets for the cot?'

'Yes, four pairs. Silkin can't get them all washed at the right time if we have much rainy weather.'

'So you still have Silkin?'

'Yes. He's not the ideal captain's steward, but he knows my ways now, which is half the battle with having a steward.'

'And pillow cases?'

'What? Oh yes, four of them.'

Ramage looked carefully round the cabin, trying to think of other things he needed, but they seemed to have listed everything. In any case, there would still be time to get anything they had forgotten.

'Come on,' he said, 'let's show you the rest of the ship, and you can meet your old friends.'

The tour soon turned into something of a triumphal procession. Sarah met Martin and Kenton on the quarterdeck and stopped for a chat with them, frankly admitting to Martin that she had forgotten to bring him any music for his flute. 'Can you buy any in Portsmouth?' she asked.

'Yes, there is one shop in the High Street m'lady, and I've got a good selection now.'

Jackson and Stafford were squatting on the gangway, splicing rigging, and they put down their fids and stood up when Sarah came along. After the usual greetings, Sarah asked: 'Any regrets at leaving the Calypso?'

Both men nodded their heads. 'You get used to a ship,' Stafford said. 'I 'spect we'll get used to the Dido in time, but there's so much more to her.' He pointed to the coil of rope he was splicing and grinned. 'And so much more work to do!'

'And what about you, Jackson?'

'Well, the Calypso was small enough to be cosy. With a ship's company three times as big, we're going to lose some of that.'

'Come now,' Ramage said. 'You've got to help train the new men and that way you'll get to know them. You'll soon like having some fresh faces around.'

'More likely the place will be littered with clodhoppers, sir, with respect,' Jackson said. 'The ship will be a nursery, teaching them to knot and splice. They won't know a long splice from a long drink of water.'

'There are a couple of convoys due in, so we might get some prime seamen.'

Jackson sighed. 'That means we'll hear dozens of stories of how they've been cheated out of their wages by the masters of their ships.'

'Well, do your best with the new men,' Ramage said. 'I don't want the new and the old to split into two camps: that always means trouble.'

The four Frenchmen whom Sarah had got to know during their escape from Brest, when the war had broken out again while she and Nicholas were on their honeymoon in France, were on the fo'c'sle, splicing some standing rigging for the foremast. All four men were excited at seeing Sarah again.

'Well, Gilbert,' Sarah said, 'how do you find life in the Royal Navy after being the Count of Rennes' valet?'

Gilbert, who spoke very good English, grinned. 'It's different, my lady, but I like it. I like the comradeship. And always something new.'

She looked at Louis, who had started as a fisherman but, when his boat had been confiscated at the beginning of the Revolution, had become a gardener. 'How about you?'

'I prefer it to planting cabbages and fighting weeds, my lady, but I wish I was back fishing, my own master.'

Sarah nodded understandingly. 'Still, you are free of the Revolution.'

Louis nodded his head vigorously. 'The Royal Navy has no guillotine, and we eat regularly.'

Albert, who with Auguste had sold vegetables in the market at Brest before escaping, laughed and said: 'We eat regularly, yes, but always the same thing. I miss the fresh vegetables we used to sell.'

Sarah looked at Auguste. 'You feel the same?'

The Frenchman nodded. 'I am happy enough serving with his Lordship, but it would be nice to chew at a fresh carrot, or eat an apple. These I miss.'

'Don't we all,' Ramage said sympathetically.

Gilbert bowed slightly towards Sarah. 'There is no family yet, milady?'

Sarah blushed slightly and shook her head. 'Give us a year or two, Gilbert. Then what shall it be, two boys and a girl?'

'At least,' the Frenchman said emphatically. He thought and then added: 'Three sons and two daughters would be best. Then, when the girls get married, you have five sons.'

Sarah laughed musically. 'I'll talk it over with his lordship!'

It was curious, she thought, how when talking to the Frenchmen one referred to Nicholas as 'his lordship', because in the Navy Nicholas did not use his title, but the Frenchmen were always punctilious about it. Well, they had all worked for a titled Frenchman they loved and respected, and they had no sympathy with the Revolution, which had ruined their lives in France.

Sarah and Nicholas continued their stroll through the ship, with Nicholas pointing out things that were different or bigger than in a frigate. They found Rossi making up a set of footropes for the maintopsail yard, and he hurriedly dropped his fid and gave Sarah a courtly bow.

'Welcome to the Dido, milady,' he said. 'A much more fitting ship for you to visit than that little frigate!'

'I liked the Calypso," Sarah said. 'She had an air about her.'

'Ah yes, but a ship of the line is more fitting for the captain: he deserves her! Why, next it will be a three-decker, and he will be hoisting his flag as a rear-admiral.'

Sarah smiled at the Italian's enthusiasm and reflected that Nicholas was lucky to have such men serving him. 'All in good time, Rossi. It seems to me you have plenty to do getting this two-decker ready for sea.'

'Boh,' Rossi said with a shrug of his shoulders, 'a few more days and we'll be ready to sail.'

As they continued their walk along the gangway, Ramage reflected how well Sarah seemed to fit in. Although looking beautiful in her olive green dress and cloak, which would have been suitable for a stroll down Bond Street, she nevertheless adapted well on board the Dido, lifting her skirt to step across coils of rope and ducking under pieces of rigging strung up to the shrouds.

They found Southwick under the half deck, inspecting the barrel of the wheel. Apart from the brief greeting at the entry port, they had not had a chance to talk. 'How is the Marchesa?' he asked. 'Were you surprised to see her?'

'We thought Napoleon's men had murdered her in Paris, so you can imagine how surprised we were to find that she had escaped to Naples and that by chance you brought her back in the Calypso. She has been staying with the captain's parents, as you know, but at the moment she is with friends in the country. As you saw on the voyage from Naples, her dreadful experience in Paris has not affected her.'