The Baltic Prize

Chapter 46

‘Thank you, Sir Thomas. An entirely satisfactory report of your southern cruise,’ Admiral Saumarez told Kydd. ‘There will be more than a few masters blessing you for ridding the seas of your abominable privateer.’ He handed the report to his flag-lieutenant and added formally, ‘Is there any other matter you wish to discuss?’

‘There is, sir, should you have time to hear me. Of a … a confidential nature.’

Saumarez raised an eyebrow, then told the lieutenant, ‘Spare us some time together, Flags.’ He waited until they were alone, then said, ‘If your matter is of a personal nature you can be assured it will go no further than-’

‘No, sir, it pertains to our conduct of the war.’ He hadn’t meant it to come out like that.

The admiral frowned. ‘Sir, if you intend to make observation on elements of my dispositions when you cannot possibly be in possession of all the facts then be warned – I will not tolerate them, in private or any other.’

‘Sir, merely a suggestion,’ Kydd said hastily, ‘as occurred to me during my late cruise.’

‘A suggestion?’

‘A plan as will allow our ships direct access to Bonaparte’s ports.’

‘I’d be no doubt entertained to hear it.’

‘Quantities of our ships have been taken in port, confiscated out of hand, while some individuals have been free to come and go. I wondered much at this, and then my confidential secretary, who is in the first rank of those with languages, volunteered to learn why. He took passage in a Prussian to Konigsberg and contrived to discover how it was accomplished.’

Saumarez sat up in sudden interest. ‘An intrepid act. My own questioning of successful masters has not been fruitful for reasons of commercial advantage and I’d be most interested to know how.’

‘False colours.’

Disappointed, Saumarez sagged back. ‘Ah, yes. Deception, trickery. An act more to be seen in vessels of the minor nations lost to honour.’

‘Sir. Consider the dire conditions of the Baltic trade at the moment. We convoy hundreds through the Sound and into the Baltic – to what end? With Boney’s Continental System starting to clamp in, only some can find a port to discharge. And then-’

‘Quite so, you have no need to remind me of such things, Sir Thomas.’

‘Then I ask you, sir, what is the method used in general in these days? Naught but a species of smuggling. Landing a cargo in secret, to be taken up by smugglers who convey it away in double-bottomed carts, sugar disguised as sand, hemp as-’

‘Yes, yes, I am made aware of these,’ Saumarez said wearily, ‘but I will have no part in it.’

Kydd remembered that, as naval commander in Guernsey, it was mainly Saumarez who had been responsible for its suppression as a smugglers’ haven. ‘Sir. The principal problem is the volume of trade we must sustain. Unless we have a method that allows large numbers to dock safely we’re in the same situation as if the Sound were closed to us.’

‘You have a plan, you said,’ Saumarez said heavily, steepling his fingers.

‘Sir. It is this.’ Kydd paused to recruit his courage. Here, in the great cabin of Victory, which had seen the gathering of Nelson’s band of brothers in desperate but noble conclave, he was about to suggest prevailing over the enemy by illegal, underhanded means.

‘Sir, there is no question that false papers do achieve their object. I simply propose we regularise their use by-’

‘Sir Thomas!’ Saumarez gasped. ‘Am I to understand you wish to persuade me to a course of chicanery in the regulating of the Baltic trade?’

This was the nub of the whole matter but Kydd was prepared. ‘No, sir,’ he said emphatically. ‘The merchant ships will find their own salvation. The choice is theirs. Yours is only not to enquire or condemn.’

‘To tolerate-’

‘If you do not, your prime duty is made impossible and the Baltic trade fails.’

‘And if I do, the world will know that-’

‘It will not, sir. That you can be very sure of, as it is in the interest of every master to keep this affair quite secret.’

Saumarez stood up, his face troubled. ‘Yet you speak of regularising. This implies an active role, a measure of direction. I will not have it.’

‘Regularising – yes, sir. To bring all to an equal footing, so none by reason of possession of these papers has unfair advantage of those without.’

‘I cannot see how this can possibly be achieved, sir.’

Kydd breathed a little easier. His head was still on his shoulders and they were still talking. ‘In the line of duty you make use of such intelligence as crosses your desk, sir. There is no dishonour in that. What we do make possible is that intelligence of the soundest kind is made available to the producers of our false papers such that all may voyage in confidence.’

‘How?’

‘I propose that our retired consuls in each port are given the task of drawing up an exact account of the state of their port with the names and titles of all those in authority and so forth as may assist us. The navy’s only part is to send a dispatch cutter up the coast regularly, say once a week, to collect these. The information is consolidated and passed on to those that have the requirement.’

‘Hmm. Such would have additional value – market conditions and similar as well as reports of a military nature. Simple, I’ll grant, and well thought out.’ There was a glimmer of a smile. ‘With but one fatal flaw.’

‘Sir?’

‘Consider. You are asking a merchant-ship master to fly a foreign flag to deliver a cargo directly into a port controlled by the French. If that does not fit any description of the crime of “trading with the enemy” it is difficult to find a better.’

Trading with the enemy. A mortal crime since the outbreak of war and with the penalty for treason. Kydd hadn’t thought of this … and there was no answer to it. ‘Um, it seems that-’

‘Sir Thomas. Allow me to say that this conceit has its merits, which I cannot and will not deny. You were right to bring it to me in confidence for there are many who would misconstrue it. I desire to bring it forward but there are two impediments that bring pause. The one, trading with the enemy. This you will leave with me.

‘The other – your consul fellows. How can you be sure we shall receive intelligence that shall be timely and true if there are temptations of a mercantile, a material nature involved? To this end you will select a trading port, find your consul and return to me with a modus pactum that demonstrably proves their sincerity.’

‘Now, sir?’

‘A few days to settle the matter I think not too great a burden. You shall leave immediately. Good day to you, Sir Thomas.’