Lords of the Ocean (Revolution at Sea Saga, Book 4) - Hardcover

Nelson, James L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671034901 ISBN 13: 9780671034900

Publisher: Atria, 1999

Synopsis

After successfully ferrying Washington's troops across the East River and through the battle of Long Island, Captain Isaac Biddlecomb is given the dangerous task of transporting Dr. Benjamin Franklin to France on a mission to bring the French into the Revolutionary War on the side of the American colonists.

About this title

About the Author:

James L. Nelson is a native of Maine and a former professional square-rig sailor. He now lives Down East with his wife and children, where he continues to write and maintain his involvement with traditional sail. He is the author of By Force of Arms, The Maddest Idea, and The Continental Risque.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Chapter One

After three days men grow Weary,
Of a Wench, a Guest, & Weather Rainy.
-- POOR RICHARD'S ALMANACK, 1733

Capt. Isaac Biddlecomb stood in the pouring rain, his shoes firmly fixed in the thick mud underfoot, the water running in three rivulets out of the corners of his cocked hat. His clothing was soaked through entirely, right down to his skin. He was more wet than he could recall ever having been while on land -- it could not be called dry land -- and had it been any later in the season, he might have been chilled as well, which would have made his discomfort complete.

Fortunately it was only the twenty-ninth of August, the end of the summer of 1776, and the evenings were still fairly warm in the former Crown colony of New York, which meant he was spared the misery of being both wet and cold.

He stood in the gathering dusk, confused and uncertain, while around him rushed dozens of men, hundreds of men, all of them even more confused and uncertain than he, an army apparently in full retreat. They were heavy laden with haversacks and cartridge boxes and soaked blankets tied in bundles, and they clutched muskets rendered useless by the rain.

"13th Pennsylvania, form up here! Form up!" a sergeant cried, waving his hat over his head to attract the attention of the men who streamed by, but no one paid any attention to him.

"Pardon me Biddlecomb took a step toward the sergeant, and as he did so, he was bumped hard from behind. He stumbled but his shoe stayed put, held fast in the mud, and his now stocking-clad foot came forward and sank inches deep in the muck. "Son of a bitch..."

"Keep clear, you stupid whoreson," said the man who had bumped him. The man rushed on past, bearing the head of a litter on which lay a soldier, thrashing and moaning, his formerly white breeches soaked with dirt, rain, and blood.

Biddlecomb extracted his foot from the mud, pushed it back into the shoe, and made his way over to the sergeant who had managed to round up three of the 13th Pennsylvania and was calling for more.

"Pardon me, pardon me, where might I find General Washington's staff?"

The sergeant did not look at him but jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Tent, over yonder."

Biddlecomb looked in the direction the sergeant was pointing. A cluster of tents stood one hundred yards away, a group of smaller ones surrounding one much larger. They looked gray and indistinct through the rain and the failing light. "Thank you."

"If you see anyone of any rank worth piss," the sergeant said, meeting Biddlecomb's eyes, "tell him my men skirmished with some pickets that was thrown out in front of the sappers. Them saps are extending out northeasterly, about three hundred yards now, and they're still digging like fucking badgers."

"Yes, indeed..." Biddlecomb began to ask for an explanation of the sergeant's words, less than half of which he understood, but the man had returned to calling for his troops, so Biddlecomb left him and made his way toward the distant tent.

He was on the Brooklyn Heights, the high, wooded ridge that stood between the little town of Brooklyn, which he could see in glimpses through the trees down and to his right, and the rest of Long Island to his left. From where he stood he could just see the East River, but Manhattan Island and the harbor of New York were both lost in the poor visibility.

Still, he knew what was there. He knew that on Manhattan Island, behind hastily constructed fortifications, were huddled the few reserves from Washington's army, those who had not been thrown into the battle on Long Island. And he knew that in the harbor by Staten Island there were dozens of British transports, while just through the Narrows in Gowanus Bay were ten British ships of the line, twenty frigates, and hundreds more transports, the greatest expeditionary force ever mounted by the British military.

He had seen them both that morning, and had heard about the fleet beyond the Narrows, during a break in the weather, as he stood on the landing at the tip of Manhattan trying with great difficulty to find someone to ferry him across the river to Long Island.

It had taken him five days to get that far, five days from Philadelphia, which was not above ninety miles away.

The first part of the journey had been undertaken by coach, the coach that was supposed to go clear to Manhattan, crossing the Hudson at Jeffery's Hook, well north of the known British positions. The driver, however, had gone as far as Harlem and refused to go farther, swearing that he would not risk getting killed or having his horses requisitioned by plunging into the middle of a fight between them damnable German murderers and them godforsaken Whig rascals.

Biddlecomb had then been forced to walk the length of Manhattan Island, only to be stopped from his mission of seeing General Washington by the East River, which stood between him and the commander in chief.

"You don't want to go over there," said the soldier guarding the landing, turning and spitting into the East River in the general direction of Long Island. "Goddamned army's on the run. Goddamned Cornwallis marched right around the left flank, sent the bastards running. I'm just thanking the Good Lord that I ain't over there, and you should too."

But in point of fact Biddlecomb did want to go over there. He had come all of that way to see General Washington and he would not be stopped just short of accomplishing that.

Of course, when he had left Philadelphia, it had not occurred to him that he would find the general in the midst of such a crisis. After all, the British and the Americans had done nothing but stare at one another across New York Harbor for almost two months now. Only during his trip had he begun to hear disquieting rumors about British activity and the possibility of actual fighting. But he had not been dissuaded then and he would not be now.

A few hours short of nightfall, he managed to find a boat to take him across the fast-moving river.

And now, at long last, General Washington was in sight. Or General Washington's tent, at least.

He trudged on across the great expanse of mud that had once been a grassy field, pausing to let a column of men march past. They shuffled and muttered curses and their shoes made squishing sounds in the mud, but they possessed the closest thing to military order he had seen since reaching Long Island.

He could see the flare of a lantern being lit in the big tent, and then another, and soon the canvas glowed from within, an image of warmth and dryness. He looked at it longingly.

The column of men moved past and Biddlecomb continued on. He very much wanted to get in that tent and get some relief from the incessant rain, rain that he had endured with only brief respites for two solid days.

He entered the cluster of tents and crossed, it seemed, some invisible divide. On the battlefield it was all confusion and disorganization, with wounded and frightened men rushing in panic. But in the cluster of tents a calm if urgent efficiency seemed to prevail. Messengers hurried in and out, and majors issued orders to captains, who issued orders to lieutenants, who moved frenetically through the headquarters. But there was no sense of panic, no sense of pending disaster. There was only the need to see things done, and quickly.

Biddlecomb paused outside the big tent, unsure whether he should enter. He took a breath and pushed the flap aside and stepped in, out of the driving rain and into the lantern light and the musty air within.

The tent was crammed with small tables, ringing the edges of the space, and at each sat a clerk scratching out copies of orders. Another dozen men at least milled around, talking in low tones, water running off their long cloaks and mixing with the mud with which the floor of

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0671034901
• ISBN 13: 9780671034900
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368