The Baltic Prize

Chapter 45

‘A wet trip back,’ Kydd sympathised, helping Dillon out of his damp oilskins. The night was as black as pitch and, with the driving rain, it would not have been pleasant for the lurking boat’s crew either.

‘And was it worthwhile?’ he asked down in his cabin, as Tysoe brought in a steaming toddy.

‘Yes,’ Dillon said. ‘I know how it’s done.’ He buried his face in the tankard and inhaled deeply.

‘Well?’

‘The whole business is controlled and overseen by the French, who make a thorough-going job of it. But a very risky yet effective chousing by my captain, I’m forced to admit.’

‘Bribery?’

‘False papers. When I left, it was with Boney’s minions crawling all over the vessel, trying in vain to find any evidence as will see the barky confiscated in open court. They couldn’t. The papers were pure white as driven snow so, whatever their suspicions, they had to let ’em go.’

‘Or if they didn’t, they’d start an international hullabaloo. Those papers must be good.’

‘They are. I saw them for a space and they’re a work of art. They’re not worn, well-used or other pretending. They don’t need to be. A court-of-law is just interested in what’s said on ’em.’

‘That the cargo-book agrees with the manifest.’

‘I was thinking more, for instance, that the port clearance from Reval, say, is signed off by the right name, one known to be in post. If they get that wrong, there’s all the evidence they need that the declaration is colourable.’

‘A devil of a risk. I wonder who’s forging the papers.’

‘It would have to be local or they wouldn’t know who’s in post where.’

‘Well, some get through using false papers. What can we do with that?’

‘Give them all false papers?’ Dillon said, with a sheepish grin.

Kydd chuckled, then stopped short. ‘At times, Edward …’ His mind pictured the scene. Ports up and down the Baltic with ships carrying English goods ready to be landed in the heart of Napoleon’s Continental empire. Others leaving with holds full of crucial exports of grain and hemp bound for Britain. The Baltic open for trade once again. ‘It could work …’

Then reality surged in. Dillon’s example of the wrong name would be all that was needed to condemn a ship out of hand. He’d seen a Prussian ship’s papers – they’d be well aware of names and other petty details and be sharing these with each other. A British ship with false papers would not have this advantage and could be caught out immediately.

Nevertheless, what if … they could share as well?

At the moment the Prussians seemed to have it all to themselves. Cargoes would follow those who could show they could deliver. It would get about as to whom that might be, and they could then charge what they liked for the service. But the merchantry would not like this. Who stood to benefit most if the freighting market was open to all? The same business-folk. Then persuade them to assist!

He looked up in satisfaction to see Dillon regarding him oddly. ‘You’ve a plan, yes? Storming ashore and setting all Boney’s finest to their heels, and-’

‘I have, old fellow. But a different idea, not so glory-bound.’

‘Sir?’

‘In every port not so long ago we had a consul to look after our interests. Local chap, knows all the nobs and those in the commercial line. Have you ever wondered what happened to them since the French took power? I wager they’d be there still, playing the market even if under a purser’s name.’

Dillon blinked in incomprehension. ‘I can’t see how-’

‘There we have it! He’s on the spot and knows just the same particulars that the Prussians have for that port. If he tells us what he knows, we can forge our own papers to that port, just the same.’

‘But if-’

‘In each port we find our man and desire him to set out these details – on a regular arrangement as keeps us informed. Then we use this to work up our false papers.’

‘It’ll never fadge. What if-’

‘If we give him, by way of return, details of all the other ports, then our man is in advance of all his competitors. Tell me any merchant cove who doesn’t wish this!’

Dillon gave a twisted smile. ‘Your idea is a rousing one, but there’s more than a few stumblers I can think of at once.’

‘Fire away.’

‘Right. The first, how are all these consuls going to talk to each other at the same time to effect the exchange, remembering their facts have to be right up to date?’

‘Umm. Any more?’

‘Your false papers. Who’s going to do the forging? Sir, I dare to say my Prussian scamp has his sources, but you’re requiring a motley fleet of hundreds, thousands, perhaps, to have them. And they each have to be perfection in the art.’

‘Yes, yes.’

‘And, of course, you will need to convey the forged works to the customer on the high seas.’

‘Is that all?’

‘One last snaffler. Your sainted Admiral Saumarez, known for his upright and god-fearing ways. How do you think he’ll entertain the idea that the whole world will know that his Baltic trade protection shall be, at base, deception and trickery, namely sailing under false colours?’