23rd morning - arrival

When the boat arrived, and Glen climbed up to the ship, he was full with fears. His last ship was horrible; and he was glad that the Terpsie asked for a midshipman, and the officers chose him. He thought nothing can be worse than Confidence.
He was a fragile boy with brown hair and big, innocent gray eyes; about 13 and a half years. When he came to the Navy, he wasn't 12 yet; his father just lied about it.
He was pretty in the Middie uniform, and his noble blood betrayed itself; a aura of elegance was around him, although he never noticed.
Arriving aboard, he looked round for someone who could lead him to the captain or to a lieutenant.

Chandos and Kinsella, the eldest of the midshipmen aboard were just sorting out a few things before the men still asleep would be called up to take their hammocks down from their sleeping quarters and up to their place during the day. It was not as lively yet aboard, the men awake, feeling tired and worn.

They have received a note that they might soon carry on their ship a new midshipman. None knew which ship he might have come. The midshipmen knew more than Tars, the officers knew more than midshipmen of course and the captain was the one noone dared ask, but knew most about the new arrival.

While the Tars heaved the young lad's chest over onto the deck, they exchanged curious glances at the petite boy. He looked frightened.

Kinsella nudged Chandos and grinned, pointing in the lad's direction. ".. Your turn." He muttered under his breath, and Chandos rolled his eyes at his friend. He arrived early, that was certain.

Approaching the lad, the older midshipman allowed himself for a first impression and then nodded curtly in greeting.

When he saw the colleagues, he greeted them.

"Good morning. Glen Hamilton, transported from Confidance, ready to service."

His voice was gentle and harmonic, no sign of breaking yet. He knew the order well - on Confidance, it was beaten into everyone - and somehow, he felt better just from stepping on this deck. Confidance had a bad aura from the beginning. He told himself that Terpsy can only be better. And after all, Confidance was still better than his home...
It was really a wonder that he still had a little optimism after all his torments. But he was young and innocent, although he knew more about misery than many grown men.

"Kinsella, see if any of the lieutenants can spare a moment." Chandos shouted to the younger fellow, who was still a few years older than this fresh arrival. "You there." He called to two of the sailors in sight. "Get his chest below." With that out of the way he looked sceptically at young Mr. Hamilton. Too fresh was his memory of another midshipman arriving from the same ship. This allowed only for a feeling of reservation to be had, in the presence of another.

"How many years have you served, Mr. Hamilton?" His voice may have been intimidating a little, but it was fair, and calm. Something that would make good officers different from bullies.

"Two years, sir. This will be my second ship."

He was polite - maybe too polite, but on Confidance, with a psychotic Middie-leader, one learnt to be careful. And he was trained like that - he even called his own father "sir". Never "father".

Oxley, standing near the quarterdeck steps as duty drummer, nearly groaned. Not another one! It'd been bad enough when de Guarde first came aboard, from the same ship.

On the other hand this boy didn't look like the sort of bully de Guarde had been, but you never knew. He just looked sort of shy and over-awed, a far cry from being a bully.

He grinned, and hastily wiped the expression from his face as Kinsella glanced in his direction.

Chandos looked surprised. Comparing the impressions of another middy to this boy, he had already proved himself perhaps more timid, but also much more bearable. Atleast he did not carry himself with the importance of a lord and an air of superiority unbecoming even for a captain.

But looks could be deceiving. Only time could tell, if this boy was not only polite, because his cruel ways were reserved for the Tars. "Two years. " He repeated with a simple nod.

"It must mean you do know some about the ship of our size, don't you?" He asked, while Kinsella approached Oxley. There weren't any of the ship boys around, all busy, he assumed, with a task given to them. The rest of the men seemed as busy as ever, and Oxley did look to volunteer. If he was curious enough to make those faces, he could do something useful as well.

"Oxley. Would you be so kind as to fetch a lieutenant for us. Mr. Leat or Mr. Bush... preferably. " Though Deverel was only a last choice since the man was himself very fresh and new on their ship.

He straightened at his post, thinking at first that Kinsella was going to pass him and go up to the quarterdeck. He blinked as the young gentleman addressed him, instead. "Aye, aye, sir," he said, hastily unclipping his drum and setting it down before pulling off his crossbelt to leave that on top of it. If anyone needed to beat to Quarters, at least they'd have a drum and sticks to do it with.

He saluted before turning to clatter down the companionway to the wardroom, where he knocked nervously on Mister Bush's cabin door.

"Well, sir, I can say I know something, but I still have a lot to learn."

He admitted it - why not? He knew he was very young, and he never was too self-confidant. His father and his superior officers never missed the opportunity to say how worthless he is and how he knows nothing. But he knew more than they'd think. He learned quickly and read books way too serious for his age. Books were his best friends since he had learnt to read. The Bard, Homer and Plutarch, Livy and other historians. He knew more about Hellas and Rome than about his own era, although he had read much about Nelson too, and admired him.

"Enter!" Bush called and Oxley nervously opened the door and went in. "Sir, I... I was sent to say that that new middy's come aboard an'... an' your presence is requested on deck, sir, please." He swallowed at the look on Bush's face but the first Lieutenant said nothing, closing his book and reaching for his hat.

"Thank you, Private. Dismissed," he said, and Oxley swallowed again, saluted, and ran to get back to his place.

"Mister Kinsella, sir, Mister Bush is on his way," he said, saluting the older middy once he arrived back on deck.

A diplomatic answer. It could either be taken as an honest one or a trained sort, where it was meant to make the boy seem as timid, but it all be a simple lie.

"What do you make of sailors?" Chandos doubted for an honest answer this time, but atleast he could question the boy till a lieutenant was present to meet him.

Kinsella nodded to Oxley. "Thank you. Return to your post." He said eying the marine drummer with a serious look on his face.

"Aye, aye, sir," Oxley said, saluting again before pulling on his cross-belt and clipping his drum to it before taking up his post again.

The new middy certainly seemed to be an improvement on de Guarde, when he'd first come aboard. But you couldn't be sure. He just looked a lot younger, and a lot more nervous.

"I think they shall be treated like humans, sir, and they'll serve loyally."

This was something the Confidance lacked. Humans? Not even Middies were treatede like that. It was always close to mutiny, and Glen knew if it once happens, it would be more horrible than the Nore.

"Hm?" That was a surprise. He'd have expected that the boy would claim them to be creatures not worthy the title of human. And yet.

"That is your opinion then?" Chandos asked skeptically.

Kinsella approached the two midshipmen giving Chandos a quick nod. The Lieutenant would be arriving soon.

"If I may say, sir, on Confidance... they are threated badly. And that - God forbid - could lead to a disaster."

Maybe he shouldn't criticise his former superiors, but this was the truth. They had a lot of impressed men, and he thought the endless floggings were not the best method to make them Like the Navy. He always feared that one day there would be a mutiny - and the officers feared it too. But if they'd show the smallest sign of mercy, that would be weakness - and they could show no weakness before a bunch of cutthroats.

"So..." Interesting. The boy had not succumbed to the teachings of his late captain, nor his officers. But that all could still be a play, a lie that the boy might somehow know should be said. How he'd known that he wasn't sure. "I see.."

Where was the lieutenant? Taking his time, of course. But Chandos was not one to have an opinion , let alone voice it of someone superior of him. Wherever Bush was, he had a good reason he was not yet here.

"Your assignment here shall be, to get to know the sailors that shall serve under you. The men here are not the sort you've had on your ship, nor shall we tolerate any bullying done on your part. Understood?" Hie was was even, calm.

"Aye, sir. " He saluted.

It's much easier with men who do their duty and don't look at you like they'd stab you in the back anytime just because you are "one of those demmed bastards in unifrom", to quote one sailor from Confidance.

He never knew Confidance had so bad a reputation. So everyone knows what's going on there, and yet nobody moves a finger?

"How did you come up to such a conclusion, lad? You look awfully young to have been on two ships already. You say Confidence was your last. Correct? "

Kinsella narrowed his eyes a little on the younger boy." Mind your language. You are a gentleman." He said sharply, while Chandos glanced at the drummer. He wasn't being more curious than was healthy, he would hope. The lad was on duty.

"It was the only, sir, as I said. How? Sir, I saw floggings all the time. And nothing good came out of it. Only hate and more violence. Men didn't trust each other and they hated their officers, and the officers feared them. I don't think tormenting the crew would lead to loyalty, sir."

He didn't want to say the word "mutiny". Nobody on Confidance mentioned it - it was like saying Macbeth. But it was in the air.

"Right. Of course." Chandos nodded, glancing at Kinsella. The midshipman shrugged, for he had neither the answer when Bush would arrive, nor the time to wait with them for much longer.

"I will take my leave." The younger than Chandos, yet older than Glen, midshipman said. "You will be introduced to our berth later. Might I suggest that you study on the aspects of the ship on which you shall be staying as soon as you are able. We are still a midshipman short." One left for he was not cut for the hard life of the sea, atleast in Kinsella's opinion, and another was killed regretfully. Of course the third's loss was far from regretful and his absence from the berth was rather a blessing. The arrival of a second new middie sadly though set them with youngsters aplenty and few experienced or atleast elder lads.

"Will see you at breakfast." Chandos nodded to Kinsella who left the two boys.

The senior midshipman turned to look at the younger lad. "....What you've said, is true. We have .. er had another midshipman from your ship, and his beliefs were far from your own. There might be a reserve shown towards you. Mr. Hamilton, till you have proven yourself. ..Should you however continue with such manner and speak ,..Terpsy is glad to have you." He gave the lad an encouraging smile.

"Thank you, sir. Oh, I know - De Guarde, I knew him. What happened to him?"

He noticed the past tense and shuddered. De Guarde was not very kind, but still, he was a young boy, and if... no, it cannot be.

Not many men would come with such beliefs from a hellish ship like the Confidance, but the boy had read many books - and he believed in the human rights. Of course, not the the French way - but he has read even the Bible different than his father. His father believed in the vengeful Old Testament God - and Glen believed in a merciful, loving God. God cannot be like his father - God cannot be evil.

"He is no longer a midshipman." He sounded nonchalant, stating a mere fact, without an emotion attached to it.

" I expect that you should do better, if your answers are anything to go by." He studied the lad, to see what he thought of his fellow former Confidence. A reaction that he could read would have been a blessing.

"So he got in trouble again." He sighed and didn't look surprised. It was so typical for De Guarde. But at least he was alive.

"Drinking again, did he, sir?" he asked.

He knew very well the problems. Of course, on Confidance nobody cared about it, but he thought a boy of their age should not drink too much. A little grog sometimes, but no more.

He glanced at the new young lad. He seemed very different from de Guarde already, which could only be good. Though de Guarde had improved recently, of course... it would have been hard not to.

He wondered what the lads would think of each other now... and swallowed when he realised Mister Chandos was watching him. It wasn't as though he'd been properly daydreaming and hadn't heard an order, though. There wasn't generally much for the duty drummer to do, of course.

He hoped the new middy would prove to be more like Terpsy's young gentlemen than the sort of middy de Guarde had been.

"Again?" It did not exactly surprise him either. The lad had shown himself anything but an example while aboard Terpsy. He was however surprised that the boy seemed to look as if he was relieved to know that,... oh he probably thought he'd been dead.

"What do you mean by it Mr. Hamilton?" He glanced past the boy and towards the direction in which the lieutenant was expected to arrive. Not there yet. His eyes stopped again on the young drummer. Not too much to do, what with no enemy in sight and breakfast away for a short while longer.

He was tempted to ask him to see whether the lieutenant had a visitor in his cabin, not address him of course, but just head there, or whether it would have been better to take the middie in the direction of the lieutenant himself. This was becoming a better option for the young lad and soon to be an accepted choice.