An Awkward Commission by David Donachie Page B

years, was steeped in the Classics, and knew nothing about such matters as geometry and spherical trigonometry, probably seeing them, though he was no zealot, as the work of the devil. Pearce continued to assert that, however interesting it was to be shown something new and instructed in matters outside his experience, it was only curiosity that made him attend to it; he had no notion to ever use it, a declaration at which McGann was quick to scoff.
    ‘But you ain’t got my drift, Mr Pearce. I am sayin’ such things is best left to those that are brought up to it.’ Responding to Pearce’s enquiring look he shook with humour once more. ‘Do you think all your braided officers know about navigation? Do you think they are all surewhich sails to set aloft to get the best out of a ship or where the rocks lie on a lee shore? Who is it that stows the hold and trims the barky so she sails smooth. It ain’t the captain that’s for certain.’
    ‘I suspect they must know about navigation, even if your late and unlamented Sir Cloudsley Shovell did not.’
    ‘There are those that do, and capital seamen they are, Cook and that fellow Bligh to name but two. I know it has become common these days to expect a commissioned officer to find his way about in all manner of things, but to my mind a wise man leaves such matters to the vessel’s master. When I first went to sea as a lad, near forty-year past, I admit in merchant service, a ship’s captain was just that, the fellow who saw to the running of the barky and made certain that each man was in the right place to carry out his given task, as well as to do it proper. It weren’t too different, from what I have heard, in the Navy.’
    ‘Is that not dangerous?’
    ‘Not if you has the right people, good people, and unlike that daft Shovell bugger, you listen to ’em. A wise captain has a good master, a wise master has good mates. That Bligh I mentioned started life as a master’s mate, and that was his rating on Cook’s first South Sea adventure, which not many seem to recall. That’s were he learnt his skills, not in a wardroom, or standing watch on the deck of a king’s ship.’
    ‘No doubt it was in those he learnt to ferment mutiny.’
    ‘Happen, for there are those who claim he brought it on hisself. Be that as it may, there is no doubt he is a capital seaman, has to be to sail four thousand miles in an open boat, and I would trust him to keep me safe if he was setting my course. That is not summat I would say to every naval captain I have come across.’
    ‘I am not sure what you are trying to say.’
    ‘What is a king’s ship for, sir?’ A cautiously raisedeyebrow forced McGann to continue. ‘Why it’s for fighting, is it not?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Then the job of a captain on a king’s ship is to make sure that when it comes to the moment of truth, when the enemy is beam on and firing broadsides, that his ship is set for the response. That does not require him to get it in the right place, or set the right suit of sails to do so, for he will have folk on board who know a damn sight more’n he does about such things. But he must have men on his cannon who can fire and reload, even if the air be full of metal and wood splinters. He must be the kind that can lead when boarding and fight with a cutlass, pistol and pike. Now you have been modest on the question of the Valmy , but you have yet to smoke that Portsmouth is my home. Ashore I am a man who likes to take a drink, and that I has a fair pair of lugs with which to hear what you might term chatter.’
    Seeing McGann tug at a fleshy lobe, emphasising that he did indeed have large and good ears, or lugs as he termed them, Pearce adopted a tone of voice larded with sarcasm. ‘No doubt there has been a certain amount of talk in the taverns. If my experience is anything to go by, most of it will be nonsense.’
    McGann’s face filled with blood and his body began to heave, which increased as he confirmed what