The Sword And The Dagger

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Supplies on the Ghost were getting low and Bantry Bay on the west coast of Ireland was a pleasant place in late August. Fial anchored the Ghost close to where he had tended cattle with his father along the rocky, green slopes. Contact was made with the local Society members and supplies of meat, vegetables, potatoes, water, black powder and cannon ball trickled to the longboat on a daily basis. The bay was patrolled by British men of war but Fial did not worry about being found there; the cumbersome ships of the line would be sitting ducks in the tight bay only three miles across.

  Fishing vessels and horses and wagons with sight-seers came regularly to the bay to see the now infamous Ghost of McMurrin and her dagger figurehead. Fial knew it was only a matter of time before information on his location was leaked to the loyalists. Officially declared a pirate he had a price on his head of five thousand pounds. This would have privateers and Corsairs from all directions after the bounty and the ship that was faster than the wind. Fial awaited the first privateer to confront him and did not have to wait long. Early on Sunday the thirty-first of August the Dutch privateer Augustine, a class five frigate under Captain Valentine, was spotted. Valentine was a Dutch defector from the Dutch navy who had nothing to lose and everything to gain. He had sailed from Cork after hearing the Ghost was in the bay, paying well for the information.

  Fial had anchored the Ghost in deep water just off the rocky shoreline of the south western tip of Whiddy Island in the middle of the bay, opposite Bantry town. No ship could get to her starboard side as there was not enough room between the Ghost and the rock island shoreline. The port side of the ship was exposed to the bay and with a strong south easterly wind the Ghost could take flight in a jiff to the north toward Glengariff Harbour inlet, a tight area only good for ships that could manoeuvre easily. However on summing up the situation Fial planned to take the Augustine without firing a shot.

  He observed the Augustine as she entered the harbour struggling from the west in the south easterly wind; her cannon ports were open and she was heading well south along the shore as close as she could to turn with the wind and deliver a broadside to the Ghost. She had the black flag raised. Fial and the crew went over the starboard side armed with knives and daggers, waiting submerged and out of sight. The longboat was taken from the stern and hidden on the edge of the island yards to the starboard of the ship, which was left looking like it was not manned. The Augustine sported one hundred and twenty men so they would have to get it right.

  Fial was counting on Captain Valentine wanting to board the Ghost with a raiding party once they found the ship was abandoned, hopefully laying the Augustine calm next to the Ghost and dropping anchor. They were too close to the island for the Augustine to grapple hook the Ghost as they may drift into the rocks, so she would have to drop anchor. He also knew that to get the five thousand pounds Fial would have to be alive when delivered to the British, plus they would not be keen on sinking a ship they could take as booty. Fial and his crew waited.

  Captain Valentine scanned the deck of the Ghost with his long glass but could see no one and the gun ports were shut. No flags flew on the Ghost but he could at last see her name and figurehead. "Wij hebben gevangen hen van bewaak mijn vrienden, zondag morgen zij zijn vermoedelijk in kerk. Bocht over te zetten wanneer in bereik en druppelzeil en vijftig yards van haar havenzijde wij te ankeren zullen haar logeren. Schiet aan haar niet tenzij geschoten op onszelf". "We have caught them off guard my friends, Sunday morning they are probably in church. Turn to port when in range and drop sail and anchor fifty yards from her port side; we will board her. Do not fire on her unless fired on ourselves."

  Fial and the crew heard the anchor hit the water and they began their long swim underwater to the port side of the Augustine while Captain Valentine was busy lowering a longboat and organising a boarding party of twenty of the best of his crew. Fial and his crew were on the way up the side of the Augustine's port boarding rigging when Captain Valentine was half way to the Ghost. Fial peered over the railing of the Augustine and saw all the crew lined up along the starboard side looking towards the Ghost, the lookout in the crow’s nest also studying the progress of his captain. Fial and his crew quietly boarded the deck of the Augustine taking charge of the port side railing cannon and muskets leaning up against the quarterdeck; they trained them on the crew of the Augustine and opened fire. The railing cannon were scatter guns loaded with shot and the crew was decimated from behind, many falling wounded or dead. Some jumped over the side into the sea and the few that stayed were looking down the barrel of muskets.

  Fial shouted at the top of his voice to those still on the ship. "I am Fial McMurrin, captain of the Ghost of McMurrin and you are all my prisoners!" The black seamen of the Ghost put the fear of the devil into the crew of the Augustine as they were painted with white lines on their faces and body signifying the marks of warriors of their homeland.

  A shot rang out from the crow’s nest barely missing Number Five. Fial signalled with a nod of his head and the warrior started climbing the main mast to the crow’s nest. The lookout fumbled trying to reload his musket but he was too late, his throat being slit by the powerful African after which he fell to his death on the deck in front of his crewmen.

  The crew were herded onto the quarterdeck and Fial used the small rail mounted scatter cannon on the port side of the ship to lay waste some of the crew floundering in the sea. Four of the African seamen went below and lined up the longboat with one of the Augustine's cannon, falling just short of the longboat now heading back to the Augustine but tipping the small vessel over. They then used two adjacent cannon to decimate the landing party in the sea. The water around the Augustine flowed red.

  Fial shot the captain dead in the sea with a musket below the Augustine as he floundered, attempting to reboard the ship and yelling for mercy but none was shown. The remaining members of the crew were tied up on the quarterdeck, and the Augustine was put to sail and her anchor was drawn. Fial and the crew abandoned the ship after setting fire to her; the Augustine began to make speed heading north as Fial and his crew swam back to the Ghost. They retrieved the longboat and after hiding a small, black chest in a cave on Whiddy Island, they made sail leaving the bay just as the Augustine struck rocks on the north side of the bay and began to break up in the surf. A few crewmen would survive to tell the tale.