The Middies' Berth

Thompson shook his head. "Never had one confined below durin' battle afore, sir. Not that I know of, anyway. An' it'd be a pretty dull thing not to talk to each other. For the both of us. I hope the talkin's helped, a bit, though, sir."

"... I enjoyed talkin' ...made t' time waitin' in 'ere a lot more bearable." He admitted and felt himself leaning against Thompson's leg, pulled slight by his arm. He was able to relax his muscles more, so he didn't mind.

"..m' not bored.. as one." He sighed and looked content. The most so ever since coming aboard with that stiff face and a glare at what came. "'t would be dull , aye.. but marines do that. Not talk when on guard. So.. you had middies ter guard before?" He leaned and looked curiously up at Thompson. " ye said ye never had one confined durin battle.. soo."

"Had to guard a couple o' middies once 'fore a court-martial. Weren't their fault, but they was on watch, or somethin'. And they try all the officers if a ship gets lost. Was just unlucky - a storm or some such, and they ran aground 'cause the weather was so bad. I think; I didn't understand it all." He looked at the middy curiously. "I don't mind you askin' 'bout me, y'know, sir. Um... personal-like stuff."

"Were they proven guilty, what happened to them?" He thought what he could ask, and grinned with himself knowing what any lad was considering, atleast once they were of age and well of enough.

"So.. then. Do you have a sweatheart someplace? A lass your heart goes ter.. n' you would be happy ter marry, if only ye had a chance?" He hesitated already considering what else he could ask, when the window for questions was turned wide open.

"No. The officers had done everything they could to save the ship and they was all let off, every one. 'Honourably acquitted' the officer in charge called it."

He grinned. He might've guessed that would come up. "No, I haven't, sir. I spend too long at sea all at one fer any girl t'be interested in marryin' me. I'd like to marry, but I don't reckon I ever will."

"Ye think ye won' live lon' enough ter marry, or that ye'll be travellin' too much to see a proper lass? Or are ye worried 'bout supplyin' her with ter money?" He smiled.

"N'.. were ye interested in any? s' not jus' t' lass that does t' lookin' ye know."

"I bin at sea since I were as old as you are now, all apart from a little bit durin' the Peace, sir. I don't reckon there's any girl would be happy with a fellow she won't see for three, four years together. Mebbe after war's done, though. And I reckon it'll last long enough that I can get a bit o' prize money. But I ain't seen any I liked, though. Not in that way, anyways."

"I see. " He smiled:".. Well if t' war don' kill us.. it will make all of them n' us rich men.. n' officers of high rank fer some." He looked at the door: "Did I ask ye ..what yer fears were? T' greatest one maybe.. or jus' any. I know yer not likin' ter die by drownin'. Ye said that. But is there other things.. like that? "

"Don't want to drown. Even thinkin' about it fair frits me. An' 'memberin' Sarn't Sweetman with his cane... there weren't nothin' sweet about him, that's for sure." He shrugged. "I don't mind the dark, or small spaces, like the hold, but the idea of gettin' locked down there - or anywhere -" he shivered a little. "Was on the receivin' ship at Chatham, guardin' the men the Press brought in, right after the end of the Peace. And they was all locked down in the hold, an' we had to sentry-go on 'em. Gave me nightmares for weeks, that did, sir."

"So ye 'fraid of bein' locked n' forgotten down below in t' dark then eh?" It was something that made sense, specially considering how narrow and small the innards of the ship could feel. Anybody with the fear of tight spaces would be driven mad and even a sane normal man had a lot of adapting to do.

"Tell me 'bit more about this.. sentry ye were doin'. What was it like? t' men .. what were they like, did they try anythin'? Like escapin' or bribin' ye?

"It was right at the end of the Peace like I said, sir. An' the Press went out to get men. They was... there was a lot of angry men, and some quiet, and some hopeful, an' others who knew what it meant, and knew there weren't anythin' they could do about it. They couldn't escape, 'cause we was standin' guard with muskets and everythin', and even if they got up on deck we was anchored right out in the river. And folks who've been caught by the Press don't have the money to bribe anyone. 'Sides, we was posted in pairs in case anyone did manage anythin'."

"n' then nobody did eh?.. know what happened with them? Met any of t' landsmen on yer ships? " Men pressed and made to leave their lives behind. It was a terrible thing to experience, when it could mean you would never return home at all, for the life at sea was a perilious thing and few were the lucky men that returned with all limbs in tact and money enough.

Not that he cared. He thought that all men should've not only been willing to come but would have to have that as their prime priority. Serve the King first! And then him.

"Hm..'s gettin' more silent now.. soon ter be over then. Hopefully.. we be t' winners."

"There's been landsmen on most of the ships I've served on, least to start with. Though the Press ain't supposed to take landsmen. They'm only supposed to take men what've 'used the sea' - merchantmen comin' home are favourite, even though they might've been away for years already. Or fishermen, which means their families are left to starve. Though they've been known to take bargemen, an' even whalers once or twice." He shook his head. "They've got a funny old idea of what it means to 'use the sea'," he said. "I only 'listed 'cause I'd've been caught by the Press in the end if I didn't, and I'd never so much as stepped on board a boat."

"I know, I know." He nodded to show that he knew which kind of men were a favourite. Of course, usually just the kind of men were hard to find and hid the best, ran the fastest and knew the most, where and when the navy was coming to find them.

"I've never ...been on a ship meself.. before I came on Confidant. ..Havn't even been on a boat. Like t' tiny one.." He shook his head:" Hadn' even seen one.... we didn' live close ter sea." He flushed red. "Bu' that's more important fer me... than 'tis fer you..bein' a marine. Yer don't need ter man t' ship, or know what goes where and what's what.. and how t' ship would do.. if you did that or this.. we'll have to know that, we need ter know her..starboard n' larboard. aft n'... Well ye know."

"Yates don't know that. How long 'as he been on t' ship now? He ought ter be knowing more 'bout his ship!" He did feel awkward at voicing disapproval about a fellow midshipman to a private, but he was still upset with the boy, so that counted.

"He ain't been aboard that long, sir, an' he's learnin' right quick," Thompson said. He rather liked the lad; he'd seemed plucky enough when the Marine had fished him out from the scuppers during the storm earlier, despite the blow to his head and his broken arm.

"I'm sorry you don't like him, sir," he said and wondered if they could learn to get along with each other. "An' we do help with the sailin' a bit - haulin' on tacks and sheets, mostly, and the braces, o' course. Not proper sailorin' stuff, of course, but when there's ropes that need pullin'."

"Aye.. what with t' landsmen could do too.. jus' such." He shook his head sharply, before resting it back against the marine's shoulder. They were still safe here, behind the door, so he could relax.

"He's learnin' quick?.. He couldn't give me a proper tour 'bout t' ship. ..he shoulda' known that firs' above all things. Know t' ship like it were his lass!" He tapped a hand against the wooden floors. " not ter be all child's game n' thought." He shook his head.

Thompson shrugged. "I dunno 'bout that, sir. Takes time to learn everythin', it does. And Terpsy ain't so small as my first ship. Well, Vixen was a sloop, really, not a ship, and it still took me a bit to learn me way round her. Can't learn every'thin' all at once, and you young gentlemen have to learn an awful lot, seems to me, sir."

"We do.. bu' that's no excuse! Ye 'ave ter learn fast. No babyin' around t' ship. Yates's no child now.. but a gentleman.. n' a midshipman. N' he should be puttin' all his efforts into knowing t' ship! Fast, .. shoulda known' 'er week before he'd even been stationed on 'er.. that fast! " He nodded sharply. "'s how it is with middies... slackin' leaves him a middie he is.. now. N'.. that's bad fer Terpsy. 's like with Fletcher.." He shrugged his shoulders some.

"..I'll be havin' ter learn with Chase.. though I already know mos' of t' ship meself. But t' .. Bush said that he ought ter teach me like i was on me first day here.." He shrugged his shoulders again.".. well.. think I'll be doin' that once they be lettin' me back up!...Dreadful so.." He made a face, for he did not want to do anything much with Chase, the man he had flogged.

"Was that how it was on Confidence?" Thompson asked the question gently. "Cause Terpsy ain't her, and she've got her own ways to do things, y'know. It ain't better, or worse. Just different."

"Well of course it was. It's how..." he paused and looked at Thompson. ".....'s how a ship ...." He turned silent completely then turning away. Perhaps Thompson thought that his ship was strange and though he was sure it was the right way to go, he didn't want to argue his case now. Different.. yes, that was the word used to put it mildly.

"I'm sorry, sir," Thompson said, feeling awkward. "Din't mean to upset you, like."

"Didn' upset me.." He spoke after a few minutes and then slowly he relaxed again. "..jus'. .you don't understand me ship, n' ye say different as if it were a bad thing. ..even if yer try to say it nice, I know what yer thinkin'. ..n' you should know me former ship was right..never had a threat ter a middie though. Not like on this one. I mean, the threat of bein' put before the mast. No. 's punishment yes, but not turning one into a common Jack Tar. ..that was an unwritten rule like. Never ter happen.. because if it could, then we'd be lenient with t' sailors, for fear we may end up with 'em... n' without protection'.. so was a smart thing we didn't get threatened like that."

He sighed and shook his head:" ..that's why our ship wos better. Middies needn't ter fear."

"I don't mean it to sound like it's bad, sir. Or that I think your first ship was bad. I wasn't there, after all, so how could I know? But I want to help you a bit, sir, only what with what happened to you... why should you want to like us, or become one of us?" He was thinking as he spoke, trying to find a way of explaining what he meant.

"If... if you think I sound like I'm blamin' you, sir, I ain't, an' I hope you understand that. Only, you came aboard from Confidence, your first ship, and didn't know Terpsy don't do things different. So you were doing what you'd been taught. And you didn't know why it didn't work. And nobody explained why. So you got in trouble without knowing why, acause nobody explained how Terpsy does things? Am I right, sir?"

"I jus' know t' Terpsy's too young ter know better. I did things right...n' by how it is done. Not written rules mind you.. not like in the articles. But how things go."

He frowned. He wasn't doing something wrong, he was sure of it. It was the lieutenants and captain who were doing it wrong, and the sailors who were not doing it right. But he, it wasn't his fault at all. Nor was it his other ship's. Atleast there he knew how things went, here sailors were allowed to escape without punishment. Now if something was wrong, it was that.

"You did things right, by how Confidence does them. Only, Terpsy's different from her. All ships are different, because every Captain's different. Some like gunnery practise every day, some like sail drill, and some like every speck of brass to be so bright you c'n see your face in it." He sighed.

"If - if - you get turned afore the mast, sir, I don't think it's really a punishment. Just... a way of helpin' you understand the different way Terpsy works. And that we don't need to have the cat out every day for there to be discipline. And I know that 'cause of what happened, you might not think we've got any sort of discipline here. We do, only it's different like the ships are. Do you... do you understand what I'm tryin' to say, sir? Even a little bit?"