Thunder On the Sea: A Tim Phillips novel (War at Sea Book 11) Read Online Free PDF Page B

but Phillips knew that he himself was considered by many as very young for his own position.
    After the requisite ceremonial greeting, Mister Cooper invited his captain to look over the ship. This occupied much of the afternoon and Phillips was tired when he at last looked inside his own quarters for the first time. The retiring life of a country gentleman was not conducive to clambering for hours around a King’s ship, above and below decks.
    He was surprised when he entered his cabin and noticed the state of his quarters. Knowing the ship had just been put back into commission, he had expected to find just bare, unfinished cabin. Instead, he had a bed, a desk, some storage cabinets and a sail cloth carpet.
    A thin little man made his appearance just then. “Sir”, he began. “My name is Ben Jacobs. I was Captain Warner’s servant on his last voyage. We paid off a year ago, and I was wondering if you could use my services.”
    Phillips wondered at the effrontery of Jacobs just walking into the captain’s cabin without any form of announcement. However, trained captain’s stewards were rather thin on the ground, and it might be worthwhile to try this one out. Phillips told the prospective steward they would do this on a trial basis. Should it all work out, he would ask the first officer to enter Jacob’s name in the ship’s books.
    As a test, Phillips counted out some coins from his purse and handed them to Jacobs. Addressing the prospective steward, he ordered him to report to the Master and request the use of a ship’s boat.
    Jacobs should go ashore and purchase whatever supplies were needed for the captain’s personal stores. It would be desirable if the boat could return to the ship without losing any man to desertion.
    Actually, it would be strange if any man deserted in this present time of peace. With so many warships lying in ordinary, there was a surplus of seamen. In these days of peace, King’s ships were not normally sent to sea for years at a time, as was the custom during the previous war. Most seamen, so long as they had a fairly humane captain, were happy to have a berth, and usually ignored any chance to desert.
    The ship already had nearly a complete crew. As soon as seamen on the beach learned of this post ship fitting out, they had come aboard in droves and volunteered. The major problem now was officers, he had none. The port admiral’s flag captain had informed him a request had been telegraphed to London and it was expected the new lieutenants would shortly post down.
    There were already hopeful midshipmen by the dozen making their way out to the ship requesting a berth. Busy with the mounds of paperwork, Phillips left the task of selecting midshipmen in the hands of the sailing master. This worthy knew well the necessity of only choosing those lads who had successfully completed at least one commission, preferably more.
    It could have proved to be advantageous had the captain taken a more active role in choosing his mids. Many of them had families of high social status, and a prominent family might be expected to further a captain’s career in exchange for taking a surplus boy off their hands.
    Captain Tim Phillips however, felt no need to seek favors. He was already at the pinnacle of his profession, a property owner with plenty of funds invested. He could afford to allow others to search for whatever favors were needed. 
    The captain was in his cabin, nearly hidden behind piles of statements of condition, and other interesting literature, when he heard the master’s mate of the watch challenge an approaching boat.
    The answer to the challenge was a vocal ‘Aye aye’, indicating at least one officer was aboard the approaching boat. This was enough to propel Captain Phillips from his cabin. He desperately needed officers to take the load from his own shoulders. Looking overside from his post on the quarterdeck, he saw a group of officers in the stern of an approaching barge. As they