The Delfe Treasure

59. Rescue

The steady loud ringing of Elizabeth's bell brought a stream of men up through the hatches onto deck. Within a minute, the Master stood on the quarterdeck shouting orders to furl the square sails. Hands scrambled up the rattlings to the yards, the jib sheets were let fly, the helm was ordered hard to starboard, and the ship gradually lost way.

When the frenzied rush had eased, Aldrick called for attention. "Hoy there! Hear here! A ship has foundered." He pointed toward the field of flotsam. "Men have been sighted clinging to the wreckage, and as you are aware, all honourable mariners render assistance to those in distress at sea."

He watched the activity for a while, then he shouted, "Mainmast, point the hull."

"Two points abaft the port beam, Sir."

"Thank you, Lad." Aldrick turned to the Master. "Mister Moore, inform me when it is safe to come about and approach the wreck."

"Aye, Sir. Should be another three or four minutes."

Aldrick beckoned for Franklin to join him at the rail of the quarterdeck, and he said to him, "We will launch both longboats, one to recover those alive and the other to control our position. You go with the rescue boat, and we will endeavour to afford you lee."

"Aye, Sir."

"When hands are relieved from the sails, confer with the Coxswain to select those you both think most capable for the task."

"Aye, Sir. And the other boat?"

"We will have the Coxswain take charge of that. Tell him come see me when we have settled on an approach course."

"Aye, Sir."

After Franklin had rushed away, Aldrick took one of the telescopes from the hutch and walked aft to survey the flotsam. Within half a minute, Elizabeth emerged from the coaming, still adjusting her clothing as she asked, "What is happening? What was the ringing? The noise?"

Aldrick pointed over the port quarter. "A ship has foundered. Some are still alive, and we are preparing to assist."

"Oh!" She lifted a hand to her mouth and grimaced. "Where is it?"

He pointed again. "There are its masts, spars and sails. The hull is two miles or more beyond, all but occasionally hidden by the seas and the swell. Plain from up the masts. Here, take a look through the glass; I will fetch another."

When he returned, they examined the flotsam in silence for a long while, then she said, "Visible only when both we and the hull rise on swells at the same time. Could that be Avenger, or whatever they call their new ship?"

"They departed ten hours before us. And even although they are slower than we, they would be much farther ahead than this."

She nodded and resumed her examination. Then she tilted her head and asked, "Why is the hull so far away from its masts and sails?"

"The wind blows it westward, but the spars, sails and cordage have no similar profile for the wind to catch, and they would move at little more than the speed of the current."

"So, it could be Avenger, then."

"Why think you this?"

"How long for the hull to blow two miles beyond its rigging?"

Aldrick bobbed his head, pursing his lips in silence. Then he said, "Again, your logic, Beth."

She shrugged and smiled, then raised the glass to her eye.

He was about to speak when Charles approached and said, "Sir, we are ready to get underway again, and Mister Moore wishes direction,"

"Thank you, Mister Charles."

Aldrick hastened forward to greet the Master. "Well done, Mister Moore. We wish to lay to windward of the hulk to afford lee to a longboat as it goes alongside. You shall have the Coxswain in the other boat for your use in adjusting our lay."

"Aye, Sir. We shall make that happen."

Once they had settled on a course toward the wreck, Aldrick had the crew gather below the fore rail of the quarterdeck, and he addressed them, "We suspect that is the Avenger crew, and if this is fact, in the next while, we will bring aboard men who have shown us violence, and who have threatened murder. We must remember to make no mention near them of the treasure. None whatsoever. Your future ease and comfort depend upon this."

Seven bells had rung when nearly half an hour later, Elizabeth lay rolling in beam seas less than a hundred feet to windward of the dismasted hull, the hands manning her starboard swivel guns keeping aim with the motion. As Franklin directed the longboat toward the remains of the schooner, Aldrick shouted across to it, "Good morning, Captain Peters. We are saddened to see you in this state."

Andrews raised a fist and shook it at Aldrick. "You caused this. T'was part of your plan."

Peters pushed the fist down. "No, Andrews, it was you who caused this. Your greed, your ignorance, your lack of respect, your disobedience."

Andrews raised his fist toward Peters. "No, you arsehole, twas you and your haughty know-it-all —"

"Gentlemen! Enough!" Aldrick raised his voice to be heard above the animosity and the creaking of the rigging as Elizabeth rolled. "We are here to rescue you, not to debate."

"Then why the manned guns?" Andrews shouted back.

"Safety. In case this is a ruse, an old pirate's ploy to entrap honourable mariners. Do you speak for all, Andrews, or only for yourself?"

As Andrews hesitated, Peters replied, "He speaks for but three now; himself and two. The rest were crushed or swept away when they followed his idiotic orders."

Aldrick shouted above Andrews' attempt to respond, "How many are you?"

"Nine, but one will not make it. He begs to be thrown into the sea to end his suffering."

"We have a surgeon aboard. Lower your injured first."

A short while later, when the longboat had been pulled alongside the hull, Aldrick watched from Elizabeth's starboard rail as a man wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket was slung over the side and lowered to the waiting crew. Two more were lowered on ropes looped under their arms around their chests and guided aboard. Then one by one, the remaining six climbed down a rope and timed their letting-go with the tossing of the boats in the seas.

Aldrick pointed as he spoke to Charles, "Notice that Andrews chose to go first among the able, and Peters chose to leave the wreck last."

"I saw that, Sir. The difference between self-importance and a leader."

The men on the sweeps made short work of the pull back to Elizabeth, and hands waiting on the platform at the bottom of the accommodation ladder carried the bundled man quickly up and laid him on deck for Doc Haines to examine. Andrews followed them up while Peters and another assisted the two walking injured up the ladder.

When the last of the shipwrecked was aboard, Aldrick said, "Mister Charles, have the boats recovered. Unrig and stow the ladder. Prepare to get underway."

"Aye, Sir. Boats, ladder and prepare to sail."

Aldrick spoke with the Master, then he walked to the forward rail to survey the scene below in the waist of the ship. After a few moments of contemplation, he called down, "Andrews, up here. Now! Captain Peters, when you are free, please join us."