1st July, 1809: Introduction to la Revenant 'The Ghost'

Pierre de Wulf doffed his newly made Captains hat, brushed the dust from the road off his newly tailored coat, dropped his bag at his feet and stared wide eyed at the wonder that was ‘la Revenant’. The paint was faded and peeling, the ropes were frayed and loose. The sails were yellowed and had tears in them… But it was his ship. He saw the beauty that she would be. He saw the ‘Ghost’ as she was known in all her glory. He saw the fear in the eyes of his enemies when they saw her sails on the horizon. Lost in his thoughts of future battles, he didn’t see the carriage that almost ran him over. Leaping out of the way he swore under his breath. Uncouth vagabonds. Only in a city would someone be so rude. He longed for the shore to be a distant memory. The rudeness of civilians and shore-folk was something he came to despise even though he was once one of them. Though that was a long time ago, before he knew the lure of the ocean.

Taking out his papers he flicked through them. Gun compliment he would get to later, AHA There it is. He found what he was looking for. The crew manifest. Until he put faces to every single one of the names on this list he would study it every night. Hopefully his officers were onboard when he got there and they weren’t too against having such a young captain. Either way he would prove himself just as he had on the corvette ‘Lynx’. The reason he had thought he gained this welcome opportunity. Recognising a name on the list he laughed. VanBang you old fox. How did you get this assignment? And more as he read down the list. Jean-Claude? And Jac? This isn’t going to be a boring ride at all! Papers and bag in hand de Wulf moved toward the gangway of la Revenant. His mind still reeling from the future glory he wanted her to have…

Walking along the wharf de Wulf passed a group of men who were talking quite loudly, overhearing a comment about the detailing of the ship, his ears pricked up and he dropped to one knee to pretend to tie a knot on his boots.

“Look at this wreck, it will take us weeks to do what the navy want us to do with it”

“The damn british have destroyed that beautiful vessel, look at the terrible sails and rig they have bastardised it with.”

De Wulf straightened and thought to himself. These men have a lot more pride in their work that most, I can use this quite well.

“Gentlemen, how are you this fine morning?” Wulf moved closer to them with his most disarming smile vibrant. “I couldn’t help but overhear that the brits have mangled my ship beyond repair?” He raised just one of his eyebrows in question.

“Not beyond repair sir, just needs a lot of work, pardon the grumbling sir but to tell the truth yes they butchered a beautiful ship to fit their purpose sir.” One of the men stepped forward head down and his hands wringing his hat before him nervously. Wulf looked the group of men over once more, they weren’t old men and they weren’t downtrodden either. Hmmm

“Where is your overseer, the man in charge of restoring my ship?” They all pointed toward a run-down shack next to the warehouse in the distance. Wulf smiled, “Thankyou gentlemen, we shall meet again”

He picked his bag up and set off toward the shack, the group of men starting to follow curious as to what he was up to, this man in the fine coat that called it his ship HAD to be the captain. But he was too young to be the captain they whispered to each other. Lets see what happens when he has to face the overseer… ‘de montagne’…

Jean-Claude stood on the quarterdeck and looked at the list in his hands;

Captain - Pierre De Wulf
1st Lt. - Enseigne de Vaisseau de deuxieme Classe Charles Jean-Claude St. Sauveur
Aspirant - Aurelien Vachot
Sailing master: Robert Du Bois
Boatswain:
Gunner - Jean Claude Van Bang
1st Mate:
2nd Mate - Second-Maitre Jac O'pont
Ships Clerk / Purser - Secretaire Bidet - NPC (at this time)
general crew - (ooc - NPC's at this time)
Rodrigo de Castel
Geordie MacFerran
Jean
Marcel Phillipe
Pierre
Charles Francois

She might be bigger than their old ship the Abelard, but atleast they had been able to transfer the core members of the crew over to this "Ghost" of the Portugal Coast. Ha Ha a nice ring that.

"Monsieur DuBois, attendez if you please. I see the Captain walking the pier so keep an eye on him and let me know when he starts aboard so we may render proper honours."

"Also as the ships officers and mates report aboard, have them report to moi, so I may give them their orders on putting the ship to rights."

She needed work, this Revenant of their's but with the good lord wiling up above it shouldn't take too long to have the work done, reprovisioned and fitted out.

Then it would be time to introduce the Ghost to the English.

Jac checks to see his glasses are on. He looks down at the crew manifest, and raises an eyebrow at a few. "Well, could be worse,"Jac grumbles. He looks t the la Reverent, and found he couldn't really compare he to the Aberland. The Aberland had certainly been newer, but had less guns, not to mention less crew. "Well, could very well be worse,"He mutters. Looking around to the havoc, he tries to find familiar faces, but there is simply to much going on to get a good glimpse at anyone. Jac leans on his musket, and thinks, well, the rest'll have to be at the ship. And with that certainty, he walks toward the ship.

Spotting the Second-Maitre on the pier Jean-Claude yells from the Quarterdeck "Mister O'pont hurry up if you please". "We have old sails to stow, the ship re-rigged and new sails to put up and the men could certainly use a firm hand in getting it done."

Du Bois went trough the lists again. Good god, there were more items that needed to be brought aboard then could possibly fit into the small sloop! And even while she was being repaired! Craftsmen where mixing in with the crew, creating even more chaos, and the new Premier Maitre of the sloop was losing his grasp of the situation.

Nevertheless, he kept calm, knowing that things would into shape with time. This time he would be on the shore, signing papers, then he would be on the deck, sending a band of sailors and workmen into the masts to bring down the shattered sails. One workman made the fatal mistake of trying and explain the sailing master it was only his job to repair the sails, not to take them off. The poor man was simply thrown into the rigging by Breton muscles.
"See?" Said Du Bois, as the man scaled the ropes faster then the sailors. "You're learning already!"

He was just about to go and proceed to another of his tasks, when someone called his name. He looked to the quater-deck, and saw the 1st lieutenant looking at him. What was his name again? Baveur? Saseur? It didn't matter, it was all 'sir' to him.

He listened to his orders and gave a quick salute as a sign of comprehension. But as soon as the officer looked away Du Bois couldn't help to roll his eyes. Not only had he to make sure the ship was fit for sea again, he had also been given the task of watch-boy. Well, his career was most certainly looking up!

"You there!" He shouted to a musket-armed man, standing on the land, which looked close enough to a sailor. In fact, his way of walking, careless and easy-going, was a silent testimony of the man's profession. At the other hand, he appeared to have a set of glasses, which would be illogical for a sailor. Not that one-eyed Du Bois was the one to speak. "If you are part of my crew, get on board, if not, get lost!"

Jaq was strolling along when he heard his name."Mister O'pont hurry up if you please". We have old sails to stow, the ship re-rigged and new sails to put up and the men could certainly use a firm hand in getting it done." Well, now's as good a time to get to work as any He cripsly salutes the 1st leutenant, and marches . Then he hears another voice call, and thinks now what:"If you are part of my crew, get on board, if not, get lost!" Jaq sees that he is a sailing master, and simply goes to work with a "Yes Sir."

Aurelien stopped a little short of the gangplank running up to the docked vessel and set down his bag of belongings with a grunt. In his other hand he had his official papers, issued by the Naval department, assigning him to the Revenant. So this was it.

It all looked a bit rundown, a disappointment really to the young man who had imagined a sleek clean well armed ship manned with sharply uniformed sailors and serenely confident officers. This....well, it looked like chaos.

Still, it was his new home and first posting, he knew he would have to make the best of it. And the most logical first step would be to find someone in authority he could report to. He couldn't help but wonder what the captain was going to be like, he hoped he would not be a tyrant.

Picking up his heavy bag, he headed up the gangplank.

Reaching the shack Wulf realised that he had a following of dockworkers behind him. He pointed toward the door of the shack and looked at the men who he met near the ship. They all nodded. OK then here we go. Wulf knocked on the door as it opened inward to a bellowing man coming out.

“Why are you all just…” his voice trailed off looking down at the finely dressed officer standing before him. Wulf looked up at probably the largest man he had ever seen. Easily over 6 foot 6 the man was as wide as the door and built like a brick fireplace. Strong and covered in soot. He was used to being one of the tallest men in the room, but he felt like a dwarf next to ‘de montagne’. He waited for the giant to speak.

“Who do we have here?” He looked Wulf over and smiled, “and why does he draw a,” his voice got louder to carry to everyone gathering around, “crowd of people who should be WORKING!” his last word came out at a bellow. The crowd scattered, leaving only the two men left in front of the shack. “Come in young sir, I would like to know the reason for a visit from a captain instead of one of his peons.” The man turned inside and held the door for Wulf to follow.” Obliging he walked into the dimly lit space.

“I understand that you are the overseer of the restoration of ‘la revenant’” Wulf started as he walked inside. Not giving the mountain a chance to accept or deny he continued on, “I would like to have a word with you on a few changes I would like to make to her while the restoration is continuing.” Wulf sat down on the chair in front of the stained and beaten desk. “If you would permit me a scrap of paper and some ink I will explain.”

Curious to what the confident young man was talking about the overseer grabs the paper and ink, sits down on the opposite side of the desk and waits. Not having spoken a word since returning inside.

“Now I know that the Ghost has 20 guns on her deck, 10 to port and 10 to starboard,” He made a few scribbles on the paper, “I was hoping we could change a few things around to encompass this idea…” Wulf stopped and turned the paper around so it was facing ‘le montagne’, waiting on his response.

Looking over the paper and the sketch of what the young man wanted the overseer smiled. Crafty little bastard, the English have no idea what they are up against. Nodding he looked back up and laughed heartily.

“You do know that this will add a bit of weight to what you already have?” he questioned.

Wulf smiled back, his eyes dancing over the paper.

“With the amount of weight she has already, this will lower her draft but not by much. And it will do nothing to her speed through the waves.” He leaned back on his chair and it groaned under the pressure. “So ‘le montagne’ What do you think of my plan?”

The man on the other side of the table stopped, he had thought that he heard the dockworkers call him that just out of earshot, but this man seemed to use it as a compliment. The Mountain. I like it. He held his hand out to the idea riddled captain. And smiled as he found the handshake to be strong and firm unlike most of the officers who he had seen in his days.

“Sir you have a deal, I like the way you think and I’ll be damned if you don’t make some of those Englishmen squeal when they try to come up against you.”
Wulf laughed.

“I plan on it my friend, I definitely plan on it. Another thing though while I have you here, do you have a skilled woodcarver amongst your dockworkers…?”


10 minutes later they both emerged from the shack into the brightness of the day. The crowd having gathered once more to the dismay of the mountain. He bellowed out a name and a thin man stepped forward, guesturing into the shack Wulf turned and started walking to the ship, glad that he could have piqued the interest of the one man on this dock who could help him. The bag of gold that he had thumped on the desk after the discussion seemed to help his cause even more.

Wulf once again regarded ‘le Revenant’. It was going to be the thorn in the side of the English for many years to come…

And now the officers baggage was being delivered. Mon Dieu, why couldn't they carry it to their quaters themselve? And why do officers need tables, decks and hand-craved chairs? Not only had Du Bois to sign for them, he also had to get crewmembers to carry them to those quaters, and with a good deal of the crew still unaccounted for, that certainly wasn't something high on the sailing master's list. Yet, he knew better then to let officers wait for their baggage.

He signed for it, not forgetting to share his opinion on useless baggage with the men who had carried the baggage to the dock. They laughed and left with the signature which would get them paid. Du Bois turned around and marched up the gangplank. He had carried his own items on board the moment he arrived, and to him being unable to carry whatever you wanted at your disposal was simply a sign of spoiledness!

And then he bumped into someone. Had Du Bois been in a good mood, he would have just grunted and walked on, but he was not in a good mood. Even though it was completly his fault. No time for being reasonable.

"Watch where you are going, you!" He shouted to the man, which turned out to be only a lad, and just before he was going to add some unfriendly remarks about the lad and his family, he recognized the unmistakeable cut of an officers uniform - Well, in the navy one could be sure anyone wearing an uniform held a commisioned rank. There was something unusual about the coat, though, but the sailing master couldn't quite recognize it. So he was another officer?, Du Bois thought. Like he didn't have enough things to worry about already!

"Who are you?" He asked, in a slightly less brunt way. Du Bois was supposed to saulte any officer, but whoever this lad was, he was only a lad, un garcon, and nobody would get a salute from Du Bois until he knew the name, rank and position of whoever he was supposed to salute!

Once his freshly polished shoes were planted on the firm deck of the ship, Aurelien paused to gape about. Everyone was bustling about, there was much work to do to get this ship in a state where it could actually leave port, that much was obvious. His observations were cut short though when he felt a good bump from behind. As he turned to see a deep gruff voice blamed him for the collision, such as it was.

"I wasn't going anyplace," he responded neither all that loudly nor confidently. The fellow, who reminded him of some sort of pirate at first glance what with the eyepatch and beard, had afterall run into him.

And now the old man, for that is certainly what he was to 15 year old Aurelien, was demanding to know his identity.

"I am Aurelien Vachot, aspirant, I have been assigned to this ship," he declared puffing up his flat chest just a little and trying to sound very official.

As proof, he held up the folded letter in his hand, "I have my papers right here."

Du Bois looked suspicious at the lad. He looked the part at least, with his long hair and considerable height. His face ruined the picture however. How old was this lad? 14? Maybe 15? Well, there were plenty of young sailors at that age.
This was not the first time he had met an aspirant, either. There had been plenty of them on the 74-gunner he had served on four years ago.

When offered the letter, which was not a inexcusable mistake as the sailing master looked close enough to an officer in his full dress coat, Du Bois stared at it as if the lad was offering him a piece of horse dung. Then at the lad himself, for just a few painful seconds, and the moment Du Bois saw a flickering of nervousness in the aspirants eyes, he slowly began to talk. His Breton accent was as thick as could be.

"Well then, Monsieur Vachot. I am Robert Du Bois, sailing master. I presume you know what that is, in which case you shall understand it is not my place to open your papers. The captain is not yet on board; You shall find the first lieutenant on the quater-deck." Just before he turned away to his next task, he added: "Don't let him wait, monsieur aspirant.", then touched the side of his hat as a salute. He recognized his younger self a bit in the lad, and he was not sure that was a good thing. Well then, on to the next subject on his list.

The man addressed him and Aurelien suddenly found out who this old fellow was, the sailing master not a pirate, at least he must have plenty of experience which any ship could use. And the man could use a shave, the lad silently noted.

"Monsieur Du Bois," Aurelien replied in acknowledgement but quite sure he didn't need to salute the veteran.

"Thank you for letting me know about our captain, but I was not offering you my papers," he pointed out in growing confidence, "and I shall certainly seek out the lieutenant immediately."

The man touched the side of his hat and Aurelien nodded, "Thankyou and carry on with whatever you were doing."

With that bit of advice, it was time to go speak to this lieutenant, he was excited to meet one of the officers he would serving under.

Du Bois mimed the lads voice as he walked away. "And carry on with whatever you were doing" he said, in a fake high-pitched voice which was not even close to the aspirant's. Soft enough that none of the officers heard it.
He could swore the lad had held the letters forward. He blamed it on poor one-eyed-sight, as he did with most of the few mistakes he made, once in a while.

"I shall indeed carry on with whatever I'm doing, which is making sure this ship will sail again, so you can learn things I knew at your age already!" he grumbled as he walked over the deck.
"I'll make sure you have a very pleasant trip, aspirant of..." he continued, until he found a dozen sailors staring at him. He was lost for words for a moment, managed to trow out a quick and barely understandable "Carry on!" before folding his hands behind his back and walking on, his mood dark as night.

Behind his back, some sailors were asking eachother question about their new sailing master. Had they been given an old man who was losing his wits?

Aurelian now made his way directly to the quarterdeck as advised by the grim DuBois and sure enough there was a man in lieutenant's uniform standing there, no doubt supervising some of the work going on at the moment. Clearing his throat first, the boy composed himself for just an instant then walked right up to the officer and saluted.

"Excus moi, lieutenant, I am Aurelien Vachot, aspirant, assigned to the Revenant, reporting for duty, sir!"

In his hand he held his papers confirming the assignment should the officer demand such a thing, if not he would wait to present it to the captain when that fellow made his appearance.

Here let me look over your orders young Aspirant. Taking the papers and flicking through them with a hmmm here and there, he finally hands them back.

Mais oui, hold onto them and pass them to the Captain when you report to him upon his arrival.

I am the 1st LT, second in command of this vessel, Lieutenant de vaisseau Charles Jean-Claude St. Sauveur. One's such as you may call me 'Sir'.
As 1st LT all the heavy work falls on my shoulders but does not stay there as I pass it on to the likes of sailors like you.

As our first Aspirant, you are assigned battle and watch duties of Signals Aspirant in additional to all your other duties. As such it will be your job to know inside and out the signals book so you may quickly pass on any orders from command or our information we need to pass to command.

Do not expect to get much sleep for a awhile until we are once again at sea.

For now go down to the Foremast and let Second-maître O'pont know are in charge of his job of getting down the old sails and rerigging the ship in proper fashion. I expect you to ask questions and learn the lines O'pont's lads are working on.

If there are no questions, stow your gear below in aspirant berthing and then hop to your work.

Go!

Aurelien stood at attention as the man examined the papers, they seemed to prove satisfactory to the lieutenant who then handed them back.

"Merci," Aurelien nodded, folding them and putting them into his coat pocket.

The man introduced himself then and the boy made a point to remember the name.
But then he began to inform Aurelien the sort of duties he could expect to have to perform. It seemed he was the first aspirant to report so he suddenly found himself being named the Signals aspirant.

Aurelien blinked but merely nodded. Signals, that would mean a lot of studying and needing to do that in a short period of time too. It was an important duty, no doubt, but one with a big responsibility also. Misreading a signal could someday mean disaster. He swallowed but then there was still more.

The aspirant was to find some a Second-maître O'pont and let the man he was in charge of replacing the sails. While doing that, he was to learn the names of the lines the sailors were working on.

Mon dieu! It all sounded quite overwhelming but what could he say?

"Yessir, no questions for now, sir," he started to salute once more but the man snapped an almost urgent "Go!"

Aurelien took hold of his long bag of belongings, all he had for the next couple years most likely, and spun about then headed to find his berth below decks. And then he'd need to find this O'Pont.

Jean Claude Van bang walked leisurely down the street, his stride relaxed and self-assured as he scanned the shopfronts and establishments he past. He was carrying his kit bag over his left shoulder, a musket with what looked like a brass tube running along the top, was slung across his back and he had a satchel slung from his left shoulder to hang across his right hip. His eyes continuously scanned the street and shops as he sauntered along.
Van Bang noticed an establishments sign swinging in the slight sea breeze that came from the bay, it depicted a sail with and anchor diagonally across it. The door adjacent to the sign had seen better days, there was grimy red paint flaking of the wood, as if seeking to escape to anywhere but where it had been slapped on haphazardly years before. Now that looks like my kind of place, wine, women and games of chance. And i hope they are all easy he thought with a twinkle in his piercing blue eyes and a wry smile on his clean shaven face that pulled slightly at the scar running across his jawline. Ill be spending some time in there before we set sail, and ill bet 10 shillings on that
Van Bang continued on down the busy street as it opened up to display the busy docks area. And there she was, Le Revenant, his home for as long as the admiralty sees fit to keep him onboard.
The first thing he noted was the 10 gun ports facing the wharf, she was meant to have a complement of 14 - 32lb cannonades and 6 - 8lb long guns onboard. It will be fun checking out her armaments he thought as he made his way through the bustling activity on the wharf.
He noticed the sleek lines of the corvette She looks to be able to put on a turn of speed, hopefully as fast as the Abelard was, which is good as its a real blessing to know you can get out of trouble as fast as you can get into it mused Van bang as he glanced up at the masts and rigging. Well glaze me blue and call me a chamber pot, you couldn’t even catch a whale with that mess of rigging let alone set a sail. That will have to come down and be replaced with reliable French rigging
Van Bang made his way onto the gangway with the confidence born of many years experience I wonder if I’ll know anyone onboard he wondered as he saluted the ship and stepped onto the deck.
Besides the hustle and bustle of a ship in refit, he noticed a gruff looking old salt wandering away to the left shaking his head and muttering to himself. He looks like a veteran, wonder who got under his skin? he thought as he glancing to the right noticed a young fresh officer moving away smartly from an older officer on the quarterdeck Your bloody joking thought Van Bang and a smile creased his face as he noticed the face of the older officer.

De Wulf walked along the wharf past all the dockworkers that had gathered around the shack and headed toward the ship. HIS ship. The thought still made him giddy with excitement.

Watching the bustle of activity on the decks he mused that they must have had most if not all crew aboard. Making his way slowly toward the ship he watched as people started to recognise him and pass the word around. Being a captain is going to be different . He was still wondering what he wanted his first impression from the crew to be. A tyrant? A gentle soul? A pirate? The words will come to me.

Taking a deep breath he took his first step onto the gangplank of Le Revenant.

Du Bois was inspecting the new sails that had just been brought aboard. While most sails would be repaired, there would inevitable be a few that would have to replaced.
He let the strong fiber flow trough his hands, and he nodded. The carpenter was standing next to him, waiting for the inspection to be done. Du Bois took his time however; after all, the ships survival depended on the strength of the sails, and the master pulled, fell and even smelled every square centimeter.

"Bon", he simply expressed. The sails were top quality, there was no doubt. He put the sails back, and would have discussed the repairing of the rest of the sails, had he not recognized the man with the unmistakeable amount of gold-braid on his uniform.

At once he ran back, and shouted from the weatherdeck to the 1st lieutenant:"Captain's coming aboard!". At the same time he took out his boatswain whistle. It was more of a sign of rank than a practical item for a master, but with no boatswain in sight, there was little choice. He took a deep breath, and the high notes reached over the entire ship. Sailors dropped whatever they were doing and ran to their parade-position. Du Bois himself raced up the quaterdeck, where his proper station was, shouting the sailors to look lively and for the civilian laborers to make way.

Van Bang was making his way towards the quarterdeck with all his kit when he heard the boatswains call pipe the side. christ on a crutch don't tell me the captain has just arrived? I've not even had the time to stow my kit.
He rushed up to the quarterdeck where the senior sailors were normally positioned. He found a likely spot for the master gunner to fall in, unslung his kit in a pile behind him and stood to attention.
Well at least ill find out pretty bloody quickly who the seniors and commissioned officers are onboard. thought Van Bang as he waited And ill get to find out who my new capitaine is. I hope he didn't expect ceremonial dress, as he will be sorely disappointed a wry smile creasing his scared face as he faced the gangway in the comfortably worn naval work uniform he crossed the gangway in only moments before.

Jean-Claude stepped up to the gangway as the Captaine came aboard and greeted him. "Welcome aboard sir, good to see you".

"As you can see she's still a bit of a mess" "plus we're still missing some of the more imortant positions aboard" handing him the current muster list.

"The Sailing Master seems a strong sort and a number of the old hands have come over from the Aberlad."

"We're working our darnest to get her ready for sea."

Aurelien was just putting down his meager belongings when he heard the sharp whistle above on deck, their captain was coming on board. It had to be. He raced back up and saw both officers and crew forming up. He quickstepped over to a reasonable distance from the lieutenant and stood at attention and waited. He would say something only if called upon to. He knew his place.

As the captain reached the lieutenant, he eyed the man. He was surprisingly young looking? So this was their captain? He had expected....well, not this fellow. Perhaps a bit more grey hair, weatherworn face, a hard expression. No matter, who was he to question the decisions of the Navy.

Walking across the Gangway and saluting 'Le Revenant' as custom called he heard the bosun call ring out over the deck. Ahh, How i missed that sound. Watching the crew scrabble into position he saw that it wasn't the most experienced bunch of sailors he could have had but they knew where they needed to be. He would have them all squared away properly before they left or he wasn't fit for the job he was assigned.

Recognising St. Sauveur he smiled, remembering the manifest he had in his bag and the names he had seen on it. Looking around he saw Van Bang in his old dusty uniform. Wonder if he ever changed that damn thing. The older man with the eyepatch seemed to be the one who blew the bosun call. Weathered like the deck of a frigate the man oozed confidence about his job. That had to be the voice i heard whipping the boys into line on the rigging He would be the one he needed most during this trip. Du boyd..? Du bound...? Ah Du Bois! that was it. he nodded to the grizzled veteran. Noticing the young lad close by he assumed this was one of his aspirants for the ship. Winking at the lad he turned to Sauveur.

"Welcome aboard sir, good to see you".

"As you can see she's still a bit of a mess," Wulf watched him pause, "plus we're still missing some of the more imortant positions aboard".

"The Sailing Master seems a strong sort and a number of the old hands have come over from the Aberlad."

"We're working our darnest to get her ready for sea."

Wulf nodded.

"Good work Lieutenant, it seems that you have most everything in order, unfortunately she isnt in the best shape after what the Lobsters did with her. I wont keep you and the men from what you were doing. Though i would like to see yourself, the Sailing Master and the Master Gunner in my cabin after the next watchbell rings. Carry on." He decided that this wasnt the time to address the men as he hadn't all of them, and didn't want his words to be garbled by second telling of the crew. Pausing he waited for his first orders onboard his first command to be acknowledged.

Oui mon Capitane. Permission to dismiss the crew to continue work?