Read HMS Aurora: A Charles Mullins Novel (Sea Command Book 3) for Free Online Page A

deck, he noticed the acknowledgement signal flying. Mister Daley hurried over and reported the flag had ordered Aurora to proceed and he had just acknowledged the signal.
    “Then, Mister Daley, it would seem the thing to do is prepare to sail. We might wish to win the anchor first, though.”
    Hands were called to man the capstan, and the end of the heavy anchor cable was fastened to the messenger cable with short lengths of line called nippers. The men at the capstan bars began pushing at their bars and the slack in the cable was slowly drawn up into the ship. The messenger cable ran between a large block and the capstan itself. Since the anchor cable was much too large to go around the capstan, it had to be seized to the messenger. Periodically, each nipper had to be freed and replaced farther along. Soon, enough cable had come aboard to have the cable end passed down through a hatch where it would go to the cable tier.
    Boys, also called nippers, followed the cable as it was carried by the messenger, replacing the ties as needed and renewing them farther along. Soon, the easily gained slack was on board and it was now necessary to pull the ship against the anchor. Every hand on the ship was needed for this task and even Hudson, his clerk, was sent to lend his meager back to the task.
    Topmen had been waiting their turn in the tops. When the bow of the ship was over the anchor, the master’s mate at the bow raised his arm and yelled, “At short stay!”
    Mister Daley immediately ordered the topmen to release the topsails on the fore and main masts. There was much creaking and strain as the wind and capstan did their part to pull the anchor from its hold on the bottom, but just before Mullins thought the ship would be put aback, the anchor broke free and the ship pulled ahead. The master’s mate at the bow called out, ‘Anchor’s apeak!” and now the anchor cable came rapidly through the hawse. The ship was free.
    Mullins left the ship to the first officer then stood by the helm where Sailing Master Davis was observing. Davis was a newly promoted former master’s mate. This would be his first commission as a duly warranted sailing master.
    Addressing the master, Mullins ordered, “Mister Davis, we will proceed directly out into the Channel. When we can no longer see land, I will open my sealed orders and we will determine where we must go.”
    With the ship running free, Mullins opted to go into the cabin to deal with some of the issues imposed upon him. Unable to deal with the sealed packets just yet, he decided to inspect the weapons. They were contained in a plain-looking box. It was necessary to use the tip of his sword to pry the top of the box loose and remove the contents.
    They were strange looking weapons. Neither had a wooden stock, as was common. The barrels were turned round and screwed into an iron frame on which was also mounted the cock, pan and frizzen system as well as the trigger mechanism. The weapons’ grips were also made of iron, with filed checkering to improve the handling qualities. There was a small box containing balls, which were not really balls, but rather, conically shaped bullets. Another container held fat paper cartridges of powder.
    Mullins could not quite understand how one was supposed to load this weapon. Holding one of the bullets against the muzzle, he could see the projectile seemed a bit too large to fit in the bore of the weapon. It would seem a heavy hammer would be required to pound a ball down the barrel, a slow and chancy business.
    Peering down the clean barrel, rifling lands and grooves could be seen inside. No hammer was present in the box, but a strange looking spanner was present. With some trials, it was found the spanner fit exactly some flats filed into the side of the barrels. A little force on the spanner turned the barrel nearly halfway around, then the barrel pulled right out of the gun’s frame. The pistol barrel and receiver had an interrupted thread,