CHAPTER FOURTEEN - THE MEN OF POQUOSON
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - THE SELECT MEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - THE GUNNER
The officers of the Essex stood the watch on the aft deck as the early light from the Sun began to brighten the eastern sky. A cool south wind began to rise, Captain Lewis turned to his First Officer, Charles Howard, "Sound the bell, all hands on deck."
As the bell of the Essex began to rang, Mr. Hagney cried out "All hands on deck!"
The men of the Essex awoke from their slumber and with the best of speed assembled upon the deck. Captain Lewis stood over upon the aft deck overlooking the crew.
"Gentlemen, today we commence with our great endeavor to wage war upon the enemies of her majesty Queen Anne. Today is the day that the French and the Spanish have feared, the the Essex sets sail for Queen and country. And most importantly, my dear comrades, to fill our pockets with French silver and Spanish gold!"
At the mention of Queen Anne the crew had remained silent, however with the mention of silver and gold a cheer rang out among the men.
Captain Lewis smiled for he knew exactly why these men were aboard the Essex, not for Queen nor for country but for the gold and the silver. He gave the orders to set the sails and cast off the mooring lines as the Essex slowly turned away from the docks of Norfolk and into the harbor.
His men from the Concord had manned the rigging of the Essex to set the sails as few of the members of the crew were actually sailors. The men of Poquoson were on deck to trim the sails which they did with the skill and fashion of men who had spent days at sea. Behind the Essex, in tow were three rafts with a large square canvass mounted on each.
Captain Lewis accepted the fact that most of these men were not sailors, but he had just enough sailors to manage the ship, what he really needed to know was whether any of these men could fire a cannon. He knew that one well placed shot would be enough to make any merchantman surrender without much of a fight. Conversely, if he had no true gunners aboard any merchantman may be tempted to outrun the Essex or worse resist enough to force a boarding.
A boarding would mean hand to hand combat and death for many of his crew and the Essex had none to spare.
By mid day the Essex had left the confines of the bay behind her as she entered the vast Atlantic Ocean. Once into the deep waters of the Atlantic, Captain Lewis let loose the rafts with the large canvass targets mounted upon them. It was time to see if the men of the Essex could fire the cannons.
The crew nervously awaited their first test of live fire, would there be any gunners aboard the Essex. Each men knowing that if there were no gunners aboard their fortunes and their lives would be greatly diminished.
As the Essex silently sailed away from the rafts, Captain Lewis gave the command.
"Beat to quarters and roll out the guns!"
As the drum beat sounded the command the crew of the Essex ran to quarters. The guns were primed and loaded. Slowly the guns were rolled out over the the sides of the Essex prepared for fire. Each cannon was manned by four men, one to prime the cannon with powder, own to load the shell, one to fire and one to aim the cannon.
Mr. Crossland commanded the port guns and Mr. Marshall commanded the starboard guns. Both raced to be the first to give the cry of "primed and ready". It was Mr. Marshall who first gave the cry:
"Starboard guns primed and ready!"
Much to the chagrin of Mr. Crossland for he had barked the loudest at the crew but to no avail, for the more he yelled the slower the men moved.
Captain Lewis enjoyed the rivalry between his junior officers. However, since Mr. Marshall had been the first the starboard guns would be granted the honor of firing first. The Essex had twelve guns on each side of the ship, and these divided into four batteries of three cannons each. The Essex came about to bring the rafts into range with the starboard guns primed and ready.
Mr. Marshall, had some experience of firing cannons on land but had never fired a shot from a ship at sea. The Essex lurched up and down upon the waves of the Atlantic. As the targets came in range, Captain Lewis gave the command to Mr. Marshall fire.
"Battery one, fire!"
The cannons of the first battery fired and flashed in perfect unison. Smoke filled the air and the smell of gunpowder filled the nostrils of the men. Four cannon balls splashed far over the targets.
"Battery two, fire!"
Again the three cannons of battery two erupted with sound and fury, and yet not a single shot hit the target as the shells splashed far short of the targets. The rafts stood in perfect defiance of the cannons of the Essex unscathed by the fury of her cannons. Mr. Marshall personally began to sight the cannons of battery three, desperately trying to avoid the humiliation of missing the targets with every shot.
"Battery three, fire!"
The targets once again floated in the open waters at peace for all the shots went high over and fell harmlessly in the water. Although one of the cannonballs fell close enough to spray one of the targets of water, which the men of the battery three celebrated as if it were a direct hit. Down crested, Mr. Marshall looked over at the men of battery four and half-heartedly gave the command:
"Battery four, fire!"
Two of the cannons of battery four fired only to see their shots fall woefully short of the targets. One of the guns had not fired, for just as the cannoneer was about to set the flame to the primed cannon, the Dutchman had grabbed the torch from his hand.
Dutch had seen enough, he had aimed the cannon perfectly to hit the target. The Dutchman would not join in the humiliation. He stood upright staring at Mr. Marshall refusing to fire the cannon.
Mr. Marshall in somewhat dismay at this act of insubordination cried out:
"Fire!"
The Dutchman held his ground for a brief moment, staring at Mr. Marshall. He smiled at Mr. Marshall and without even looking at the target, lit the cannon which fired instantly.
The crew leaned forward to watch as the last shot of the starboard guns smashed into the last target with such force that the raft splintered apart, in a single shot.
The crew of the Essex gave out a great shout of joy! Even Captain Lewis who had remained silent and stoaic joined in the rousing "Huzzah!"
When all had once again grown silent, Captain Lewis made the call to come about to test the port guns.
"Dutch, if you please show Mr. Crossland how it is done." Captain Lewis commanded.
The Dutchman left his post on the starboard guns and stood beside Mr. Crossland. He moved his hand up and down in perfect rhythm of the Essex as she floated upon the waves, as both Mr. Crossland and Mr. Marshall watched on trying to understand his meaning. And at the very top of his upward motion the Dutchman would clench his fist.
As the targets came in range of the port guns, the Dutchman spoke in his thick accent:
"The waves sight the guns."
Both Mr. Marshall and Mr. Crossland smiled with delight, as they mimicked the Dutchman.
Mr. Crossland gave the order:
"Battery one, fire!"
The port cannons of battery one belched forth fire and smoke. Three shots flew through the air at the targets, all three smashed into the raft sending the second target into the sea.
With only one target left, Mr. Crossland in a bit of youthful exuberance gave the command:
"Batteries two, three and four, fire!"
The nine remaining guns of the port side fired at once, within moments the last remaining target splintered and shattered apart.
The Essex had a gunner, a gunner of extra-ordinary talent and skill, the man who the men of Poquoson called Dutch.