A found letter

A letter found on the Quarterdeck by the officer of the watch 

Sir Captain Rehme,

Sir,

Firstly we want to say that we are as loyal to the King and yourself as any ships company in the fleet and have no complaint against you or any of our officers.

Secondly we want to humbly beseech you to do what you can for Mr Batise that he don’t get hanged as he is a good surgeon what we all trust and he was trained my Dr Roberts and surgeons don’t come no better than him.

Thirdly we wish you to know that that Lobster what Mr Baiste shot had it coming and then some for he had insulted both Dr Roberts and his wife most villainously and the fact that Mr Baiste only wounded him not mortal  shows what a kindly fellow he is.

Fourthly we wish you to know that Mr Apple did not serve as secont to Mr Batiste as some have said and that is just a slanderous rumor.

Fifthly which  that we are much indidposed to have Frenchman for our new surgeon as how can a loyal subject of the King trust to a Frenchman even of he can sing God Save and such

Your loyal crew

A letter to Mother Linden

A portion of a letter from Volunteer First Class Samuel Linden to his mother

“So many changes! Just as we are beginning to become accustomed to the new Captain more things have happened to topple the egg basket!

Volunteer First Class Samuel Linden

Most recent Mr. Baptiste was promoted to acting surgeon as Doctor Roberts was to be gone for some time on some particular circumstance. The Mids all thought it very peculiar, but Mr. Baptiste told me he has done similar in the past. That is true I suppose, but they had not prompted Mr. Baptiste before.

Then Mr. Baptiste seen in the Lloyd’s list that the ship the Doctor was to travel on did not make the rendezvous with the convoy it was to travel with, although it had plenty of time to do so. This seemed to disconfigure him greatly, as he was very attached to the Doctor.

Then Mr. Baptiste fails to return from an errand ashore – and word is he has shot a Marine Sargent in a duel! It did not kill the fellow, but he is under arrest just the same.

Then a NEW surgeon shows up! Which shows that the Admiralty did not intend to let Mr. Baptiste keep that post anyway. On top of that he is a Frenchman- which did not set well with the crew! Mr. Baptiste was a Frenchman, and the crew liked him well enough, but Mr. Apple explained to me that Mr. Baptiste was a Creole, which is what they call a Frenchman born in America. He said that Mr. Baptiste was more like a Jonathan that a real Frenchman. He called him a counterfeit Frenchman at best.

This new surgeon is an old man and seems sad. Mr. Mooney says it is because of what is happening in France. I suppose that would make sad also if I were French. Like the Doctor he is interested in Natural History. He must have a particular fondness for tortoises.  In his dunnage was a box containing nothing but tortoise shells and bones. He come to the mids and said he would pay anyone who could make some sketches of the shells for him, as he said he had no such skill himself. I may try to do this, as a bit of extra coin would be nice when I am sent ashore on errands.

But back to Mr. Baptiste. They are holding him under arrest, and I suppose they will most likely hang him. Dueling is illegal in addition to shooting a Marine. Rumor is that he was once a second in a duel for our former firebrand lieutenant. I suppose that his how he knew about how to go about it. It makes me sad to think of him hung, as he was my friend and was kind to me. Please say a prayer for him when you are in church.”

A "damned unfortunate business".

Captain Sir Jas. Rehme, K.B.

His Majesty's Ship Acasta

St. Kitts, West Indies Station

Sir,

I'm afraid this must be brief, as I write to you in great haste. As you and I are of long-standing acquaintance, and I owe you my heartfelt thanks for having taken on my poor boy George (who you might remember was cut in twain by the wind of Spanish hot shot at Tenerife), I felt I might return the kindness by attempting to save the life of your surgeon, Monsieur Baptiste Girard, who was taken up by the local guard for duelling whilst on liberty.

As you well know, duelling has been recently outlawed, but it seems that from witness accounts, M. Girard took issue when a very drunk Sergeant-Major of the Royal Marines, Nicholas Cockburn, late of the frigate Boreas (now attached to the garrison here at Saint Kitts after she paid off and was towed to the yard in Jamaica for repairs), made very low and black remarks & accusations regarding your late surgeon, a Dr. Rbt. Alberts. Cockburn cast aspersions upon M Girard's loyalty to the Crown - he was publicly accused of being a French spy - and lastly, made vile and ungentlemanly remarks about the virtue of Dr. Albert's wife. I am afraid I am unacquainted with the doctor and his poor wife, but M. Girard spoke of them both most loyally and with a moving show of deep affection. Cockburn may be an idle drunk, and is given to wild stories, but he is an honourable sort of fellow - when sober - and a great asset to the garrison when kept out of the rum shops. Thus, appreciating the merits of each of the principle parties involved, you must see why I am so loathe to bring them up on charges for duelling. 

Regarding the particulars of the event in question, I am informed that the duel took place by the light of the moon on Sandy Point, between Charles Fort & the Fortress on Brimstone Hill. It seems Cockburn's pistol jammed, likely from sand kicked up by the winds, but your man Baptiste's ball struck Cockburn in the shoulder (not mortally wounding him, thank god, but taking him out of commission for a few weeks, surely.).

It's damned unfortunate business, but I cannot turn a blind eye to an incident of this nature; I must see them at least brought up on charges. Cockburn has family with money and thus might weasel his way out of the bilbows he is currently strapped to his hospital bed with, but M. Girard appears to have no connections on the island other than yourself whose influence may be brought to bear in his favour. 

You seem to be a captain who keeps to his ship, thus this message comes by my man Bartholomew, who has searched the whole of the island for you, having heard rumor you were about. I would take it as a kindness if you would see him fed, as he's had a long day of it, running notes to see this unfortunate event hushed up. 

Until the next, I remain, your friend & humble servant,

Wm. Jas. Severn, Port Admiral

HMS Ganges, Pump Bay

Brimstone Hill, St. Kitts

Wreck of the Medusa, a Review

A mini book review by Tony Gerard

Wreck of the Medusa- 

Mutiny, Murder, and Survival on the High Seas 

by Alexander McKee.

While technically outside the time period we portray (occurring in 1817), the wreck of the Medusa is an interesting and tragic story.  The Medusa was carrying a load of passengers, soldiers and dignitaries to Senegal at the end of the Napoleonic wars. Through a combination of inept leadership and poor judgment the ship ran aground on an extended sandbank off the coast of the Sahara desert. Through more poor judgment the ship is abandoned and about 150 people end up on a hastily constructed raft and are then abandoned. Fifteen of this group survive to be rescued two weeks later. The incident becomes an embarrassment for the new French government, which attempts an unsuccessful cover-up.

While I found the chapters about the voyage, wreck and the survival stories very interesting I have to confess I got bored with the politics of the coverup and only skim read most of this section. McKee also devotes a chapter to an English ship, the Alceste, which wrecked shortly after the Medusa and had many similarities. In this case the Captain made all the right decisions and didn't loose a man. I found this chapter really interesting. Another chapter is devoted to Savigny Gericault's painting of the Medusa raft survivors. Strangely the final chapter compares the Medusa case to a WWII shipwreck survivors, Airplane hijack victims in Jordan in the 1970s and even the famous soccer team airplane crash in the Andes. It was like the book tried to change from a story about history to a psychological analysis in mid stream. I kept waiting for some really relevant connection to be made here which, at least for me, never happened.

The Raft of the Méduse was painted by Théodore Géricault in 1819,

and is now displayed at the Louvre.'

Mr. N. Armitage

About half way through the North American commission our original purser left the ship. I never knew the reason. He was replaced by Mr. Armitage. Armitage right off made a show of using fair measures. "No more 14 ounce pounds" he says to me.  But here is how he got beyond it. 

He had a great fondness for gaming, and he was very good at it. Too good to be honest says many a tar that lost to him, but that did not keep them from coming back. I am sure the officers would not have approved, so he was sly about when he done it, and as you know mum is the word below decks. Many the time I seen a tar loose to him at a game the slops he had just bought. Some of them bought the same set of slops three or four times. So that is how he got beyond using fair measures. Pursers is all cut from the same cloth.

- James Cullen, Remembrances of Eight years before the Mast, 1834.

Lord Nelson and the Polar Bear

Bryan Austin as Admiral Lord Nelson at the Acasta dinner at the 2017 Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, KY. Lord Nelson entertains guests with a tale of one of his boyhood adventures!

Welcome Aboard!

The purpose of the HMS ACASTA and the ROYAL TARS of OLD ENGLAND is to accurately portray a crew of His Majesty's Royal Navy circa 1800-1810 for the educational benefit of the public and for the mutual research and enjoyment of the individual members.

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