Chapter 18: Mondego Bay

June 2008

HMS Asia, 80, was still lying at anchor at Gibraltar, expecting orders from the squadron commander, Rear Admiral Maynard, but none were coming. The squadron was supposed to cover a large landing of British troops on the Portuguese coast in an attempt to drive the French occupation force out of Portugal, and they had spent the previous weeks identifying the most promising landing site. Now, however, Maynard had to convince the Army leadership of its suitability and extract some sort of time table from them.

The planning sessions of Admiral Maynard with Sir Hew Dalrymple and other Army officers were however plagued by Sir Hew’s indecisiveness, and Asia’s crew had already enjoyed a full two weeks at anchor in Gibraltar. Tony made the most of it, spending time with his wife Harriet and their two children. He also saw to it that Asia received as much repairs and cleaning as was possible. Bilges were fumed, water casks cleaned and refilled, and the seams between the planks carefully caulked.

After the first week of deliberations, Tony and the other captains even had the upper deck and quarter deck guns of their ships landed. Lightened by over 200 tons, the ships were laid carefully on their sides, and work groups attacked the seaweeds and barnacles that had accumulated along the waterlines. Once the work on the ship’s bottom was finished, new paint was applied whilst crews worked to install the ordnance again.

Using what space was available on shore, the sailmaker and his mates had aired and patched both sets of sails, whilst the boatswain and his mates had gone over the rigging. By the end of the deliberations, Asia and her consorts, HMS Malta, 80, and HMS Warspite, 74, had had a thorough overhaul.

In exchange for the hard work, the crew was granted shore leave by divisions. Even with a crew of pressed sailors, this was possible in a port such as Gibraltar where the men would have no place to hide or flee if they tried to desert. This made for good spirits which were furthered by the availability of fresh food, clean water, and plentiful wine offerings. Every night, Spanish smugglers entered Gibraltar’s harbour, ignoring the Continental Embargo imposed by Napoleon and his Spanish minions, and earning good money by supplying the British with fresh produce.

Finally, Captain Dougherty, in his Daring, made a run to Lisbon with dispatches for the Commander in Chief, Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, asking for his approval of the draft plans. It was July when the plans were finalised, and only a day later, the squadron received orders to sail for England.

A convoy of transports had been assembled, to carry Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Wellesley’s troops of Copenhagen fame to Central America, to support an uprising against Spain. With Spain on the verge of an uprising against Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother who had forcibly replaced King Ferdinand, these plans had been scrapped, but the Government decided to grasp the opportunity and send all available troops and their leaders to the Peninsula. Sir Arthur Wellesley as the most junior lieutenant general, Sir John Moore with his men from the Danish war, also junior, Sir Harry Burrard, and as the most senior and least qualified officer, Sir Hew Dalrymple.

With the planning done, Sir Anthony bade farewell to his family and had his ship weigh anchor. It fell to Maynard’s squadron to escort the transports with Wellesley’s troops from ports all along the English South Coast to Mondego Bay, on the Portuguese coast, a place Asia and her crew had scouted out as the best suited landing site. From what they could glean from the dispatches, the convoy would be over forty sail strong. Thus, three ships of the line, a frigate and a post ship were adequate for its protection. The three third-rates under Maynard’s command were well suited as they were exceptionally fast for the class, with above-standard ordnance. A frigate, detached from the Channel Fleet, would join them at Portsmouth.

The winds were accommodating, and the ships’ recently cleaned bottoms made for a good turn of speed. Within a week, the squadron entered the Channel. At this point, the ships split up to pick up their charges at the various ports where they were assembling. The semaphore telegraph system along the coast would aid in the coordination of this large scale operation. Asia was bound for Plymouth where she would pick up six Navy transports carrying provisions, ordnance and ammunition. Another three specialised transports carried the horses of the dragoons whilst the dragoons themselves sailed in yet another four ships.

Tony had never been to Plymouth before, and he found the Hamoaze crawling with shipping and boats. His charges were easily identified, for the stables on the upper decks of the horse transports made them stand out from the other shipping. After paying a courtesy call to the Commander in Chief, Devonport, Sir Everett Milton, Tony invited the masters of the transports to dinner in a harbour side inn, the Golden Hind. It was important to get an impression of the men and to learn of their state of readiness.

The news were good. Of course, the horses were not yet on board, and neither were the dragoons. However, all the stores, ammunition and ordnance had been stowed away already, and the live freight could follow within a day.

In the next morning, Tony composed a short message to Portsmouth, care of Rear Admiral Maynard, which advised the squadron commander of the state of readiness in Plymouth. The semaphore system provided the answer within a day, advising Tony to weigh anchor on the 17th of July and to unite with the ships assembling at Falmouth, which were escorted by Daring. The whole convoy would then rendezvous at Falmouth Bay.

That left three days, and those were filled with stowing away horses and dragoons and topping off the water casks. Colonel Marston, commanding the dragoon regiment, accepted Tony’s invitation to sail in the Asia, together with three officers of his staff. This afforded Tony with the opportunity to discuss the disembarkation of horses and other issues. Tony already knew that he would be in charge of the initial landing, whilst Jeremy Masters and his Warspite would take possession of the forts of Figueira da Foz, which covered Mondego Bay.

As specified, the ships weighed anchor on the 17th, already trailing a cloud of stable odours to leeward, and they reached Falmouth in the late afternoon. Dougherty had left harbour already, and the seven ships from Falmouth merged with the thirteen from Plymouth whilst Asia and Daring positioned themselves to windward.

Dougherty had also been able to fill his ranks in Falmouth, and Daring had almost her full complement. Until recently, Dougherty had held an acting command, but now his posting had been confirmed, and he had to be the most junior captain in the Royal Navy.

The ships hove-to over night, but when dawn broke, the mastheads sighted the rest of the convoy. Admiral Maynard had lost no time at all, and by noon, the assembled convoy was sailing on a southwest course, much aided by the prevailing northwesterly wind. Given the limitations of the transports, the horse transporters in particular, the convoy made a decent progress during the next days. In all but eleven days, they reached a position off Porto, where they met two more ships from Sir Charles’ Mediterranean Fleet. HMS York and other transports were with them, carrying another five thousand troops and also placing a total of almost one thousand Royal Marines at their disposition.

Two days later, they rendezvoused a sloop, the Dasher, which carried the commanding Army officer, Sir Arthur Wellesley. They all assembled for dinner and planning in Maynard’s cabin. Sir Arthur and Tony greeted each other politely, having met before in London. The dinner was spent exchanging information from the various points of view. Then, over cigars and brandy, Maynard and Wellesley agreed to proceed with the landing immediately. Daring had returned from Figueira da Foz with the news that the fort commanding the mouth of the Mondego River was in the hands of young gentlemen, patriotic students from Coimbra University. There was no time to lose, and Maynard laid out his plans.

“Sir Arthur, Gentlemen, this is how I propose to proceed. Tomorrow morning, Captain Masters will land north of the mouth of the river with two hundred Marines and one hundred sailors to secure the Fort Santa Catarina. Those young gentlemen are no doubt brave and patriotic, but I shall feel more comfortable with the place in our hands.

“Once the fort is in our hands, Captain Carter will land another eight hundred Marines and secure the beach south of the river. This will be our primary landing site, as the shore is sandy and the troops will have a clear road to Lisbon. I am not happy with the strong surf, but that cannot be helped. If we’d land the troops at the town, they’d have to ford the river for a march on Lisbon. Once the beach is secure, we shall begin to land the first infantry regiment, whilst our men will erect fortifications and gun placements to secure the landing site.”

“Admiral Maynard, why do you plan to land your Marines first? I assure you that my troops are quite capable,” Wellesley put in.

“No doubt of that, Sir Arthur. Our Marines have trained for this since last year. As Captains Carter and Masters can tell you, they have conducted five temporary landings, and in three cases, they fended off superior French forces before they reembarked. It is simply a matter of using the best prepared troops for the initial beachhead.”

“Of course, Admiral. Forgive my asking,” Wellesley nodded.

“Not at all, Sir Arthur. Any comments, gentlemen?”

Tony cleared his throat and raised his hand.

“Sir, from what I learned from Colonel Marston, we should best have a pier, to land the dragoons and their horses. To land horses on the beach and in the current surf could prove a lengthy and tiring proposition.”

“Excellent point, Captain! This should be undertaken as soon as we have taken the town and the beach. The horse transports will need to sail upriver where we must erect piers. This will be your most urgent task after taking the beach. I understand that the Dragoons are crucial for Sir Arthur’s planned operations.”

Wellesley nodded. “Very important. I shall need them at the earliest for reconnaissance.”

After shuffling the maps, Maynard stood.

“Very well, gentlemen. We shall sail for Mondego Bay over night. The landing will commence immediately after daybreak. Please, make your preparations. All available boats of the squadron will be needed, but make sure to have spare boat crews. I imagine this may take a full week.”

“Such is my experience, Admiral Maynard,” Wellesley agreed. “When can we expect Sir Hew Dalrymple and his men?”

“As far as I know, his transport is being affected as we speak,” Maynard answered evasively. “Sir Hew is, hrhm, very careful in his planning.”

“Yes, I would imagine,” Sir Arthur sighed. “All the more reason to get my troops ashore soonest.”

With the first light of dawn, they were in position as planned. When the sun rose over the headland, the boats with Jeremy Masters and his first wave of marines were already close to the shore. No shot was fired, and they could see the Portuguese flag flying over the fort. After a half hour, the White Ensign was hoisted side by side with the Portuguese colours, and Tony gave the orders to start the disembarkation.

Major Applethorn of the Royal Marines was at Tony’s side when they landed on the beach, after braving the heavy surf. This would be ticklish, Tony conceded. His own launch had taken a lot of water whilst clearing the last cable length to the beach. Fortunately, the Marines were used to this, and they had held muskets and ammunition above their heads, keeping them dry.

Now Applethorn had the men swarm out, taking positions to landward whilst the boats returned. A second and a third wave of marines were landed and now Applethorn could report that the beach was reasonably secured. In the meantime, Tony had to deal with the problem of bringing the next boats through the surf. When the boats returned, they conveyed his order to take only thirty soldiers instead of fifty, and to double the crews instead. He hoped this would make the final approach through the surf quicker and more secure.

Indeed, when the first of Wellesley’s men landed, the changed loading helped the boats considerably, justifying the delays resulting from the changes. The green faced soldiers were more than happy with the solid ground under their feet, and their officers had them march inland immediately, to form a forward post.

Two of the boats had also brought a load of specialists, carpenters and boatswain’s mates, from the ships. These men set to work immediately, moving to the south where the beach was lined by a forest of pines and other conifers. The sounds of saws and axes could be heard soon, and Tony ordered two hundred of the Marines to take off their uniform coats and to carry the freshly cut logs to the river arm east of the beach.

More and more boat loads of soldiers landed, almost one thousand by noon, whilst the work parties toiled to assemble the material for a wooden pier. By early afternoon, enough logs were cut and the tired work party began the construction. Saws and hammers again sounded over the beach.

It was two hours into the afternoon when the first serious accident happened. One of the boats approaching the beach tilted heavily to port, causing the oars on that side to get stuck under water. Under this leverage, the boat turned to port and the next heavy breaker caught it sideways. The cutter capsized, and the crew and soldiers landed in the strong surf. The boat next to it tried to render help, but the struggling soldiers, in their panic, frantically tried to climb aboard. In the end, the other longboat capsized, too, albeit a little closer to the beach.

Alerted to the mishap, Tony ran for the beach and tore off his coat and shoes. Calling for others to help, he waded into the surf. Other soldiers and sailors followed, mostly from the boats already landed. Some smart boatswain’s mate brought a line, and the helpers were able to secure each other. With the violent waves breaking over them, they were able to help soldiers to their feet. The soldiers were soaked and loaded down with their boots, muskets and provisions, but once on their feet again and steadied by helping hands, they were able to make it to the shore, sputtering and wheezing.

Not all were that lucky. Using boat hooks, the men pulled twelve dead from the water, ten soldiers and two crew of the Warspite. Graves were dug hastily, and in an improvised ceremony, the men were buried. In the meantime, the boats continued to ferry soldiers to the beach, and by late afternoon, two complete infantry regiments were ashore. The surf abated a little in the evening, and the tired crews continued their toil until darkness fell. Two more boats had capsized, in spite of all precautions, bringing the total tally to twenty-seven drowned.

Fortunately, work on the wooden pier had progressed, and when darkness finally fell, the exhausted carpenters declared the pier ready for use.

It was dark, when the last boat took Tony back to the Asia where he spent another hour drafting a report of the first day. He was so tired that he first refused the food Grimm put on his table. His foot, sprained badly over two months before, hurt again, for the first time in weeks, and he felt miserable over the casualties they had suffered. At least, a jug of cold mint tea found his approval — a quart and a half — and he emptied it thirstily.