The Corvette by Richard Woodman

admire their energy. He did not share the contempt ofmany of his contemporaries for French abilities. The Republican Navy had given the Royal Navy a bloody nose from time to time, he recalled, thinking that even the great Sir Edward Berry, one of Nelson’s Band of Brothers, had nearly caught a tartar in the
Guillaume Tell
off Malta in 1800. And the corsairs were of greater resource than the Republican Navy. What of those Breton ships that had sailed north? Where were they now?
    He looked at the chart. The huge area of the Greenland Sea was imperfectly surveyed. Hill had added every scrap of detail he could glean but it was little enough. Drinkwater concentrated on the problem from the French point of view. If the intention of the privateers was to harass British whalers then they would probably hide in the fiords of Iceland or around Cape Farewell. The former, ice free on its southern and eastern coasts would threaten the Greenland fishery whilst the less hospitable coast of Greenland would permit a descent upon the trade in the Davis Strait. Either station would give the ships a favourable cast well to the windward of British cruisers in the Western Approaches and a clear passage back to the French coast where they had only to run the British blockade to reach safety. And given the fact that they were unlikely to be making for the great French naval arsenals this would be relatively simple. It was clear that if the Hull ships were determined to fish in the Greenland Sea he must conceive the greater threat, if it existed at all, would come from Iceland and that he should support the whalers on the ice-edge.
    â€˜I shall make known to you that I shall cruise upon the ice-edge in company with the majority of ships. I would ask you therefore that you appoint one of your number to consult and advise me as to your intentions, that we may not be at cross-purposes.’
    â€˜That matter has already been settled, Captain. Abel Sawyers, here, has been elected to be our commodore.’ Harvey’s ugly face smiled.
    â€˜Then that is most satisfactory . . .’
    â€˜There is one thing, Captain.’ Waller’s apparent insignificance was enhanced by a thin voice with an insinuating quality.
    â€˜What is that, Captain Waller?’
    â€˜I do not think you understand the diversity of individual method employed by masters in the whale-fishery. We do not expect to be constrained by you in
any
way. We wish to be free to chase fish wherever we think it to our advantage.’
    Drinkwater shrugged, irritated by the man’s pedantic manner.Alone among the whale-ship masters Waller seemed the least appropriate to his calling.
    â€˜Captain Waller, I have my orders and they are to
extend to you
the protection of a ship of war. I cannot prevent you from hunting the whale wherever you desire, but I can and have arranged a rendezvous and a distress signal to use if you are attacked.’
    â€˜And what do you propose?’
    â€˜My gunner is preparing Blue Lights for you. A Blue Light shot into the sky and accompanied by two guns may transmit your distress over a large distance and if this signal is used whenever strange sails are sighted I am sanguine that
Melusine
may be deployed to cover you.’
    â€˜And if we are attacked from two directions simultaneously?’ asked Waller.
    â€˜I shall deal with hypothetical situations when they become real, sir, you ain’t the only people used to active operations with boats, Captain.’
    â€˜And you are not the only people fitted with cannon. There have been instances where whale-ships have driven off an enemy . . .’
    â€˜Chiefly, I believe,’ snapped Drinkwater, ‘when the enemy was one of their own kind disputing the possession of a fish. Frankly, Captain Waller, since you have made it clear that you intend to fish off Spitzbergen I cannot see why you wish to enquire into the methods I intend to employ to protect the