Chapter 101: The Beagle Strikes!
Chapter 101: The Beagle Strikes!
“Arthur? It’s really you?”
Elder stared blankly at Arthur, suddenly as if remembering something.
He fumbled in his pants pocket for a while and spoke with a big grin, “I almost forgot to give this to you. Here, the list of merchant ships you asked for that left London for North America and France in the last few weeks, I went through a lot of trouble to compile it.”
Arthur originally just wanted to take a boat out to sea, but he didn’t expect to actually reap the unexpected benefits from Elder.
He quickly skimmed through the list of merchant ships, and flipped this handwritten document of Elder to the ranks of yesterday’s port departures.
Although there are a lot of London daily out of port merchant ships, but can meet the time and route, only one at 10:30 last night out of port, the route for the United Kingdom London – France Calais – West Indies St. Domingo – the United States of America Boston’s ‘Blackthorn’. ‘.
Arthur hastily glanced at the time on his watch, which was precisely 4:55 a.m., nearly six and a half hours after Fred’s departure.
He hurriedly asked, “How long does it take an ordinary merchant ship to get from London out to Calais?”
Elder scratched his head, “If you go to Calais from London, you should take the route that goes through the Thames via Dartford, Margate and then Dover, and finally cross the Strait of Dover. Considering the recent monsoon, it would probably take an ordinary merchant ship a day to get to France.”
Arthur pressed, “What about the Beagle?”
When Elder heard Arthur ask about the Beagle, he immediately raised his eyebrows and introduced, “This is the right person to ask! Since the Beagle has been refurbished, it can now reach a speed of 12 knots at the fastest if under full sail and full wind. If we are going to Calais, we only need half a day to arrive.”
Hearing this, Arthur couldn’t care less, he dragged Elder by the collar and yanked him towards the ship along the board.
His sudden movement startled Elder who shouted, “Arthur, are you crazy? What is this for?”
“There’s no time to explain so much, is Colonel Fitzroy here? I must see him at once!”
“What? You don’t want to work at Scotland Yard again? But hasn’t Colonel Fitzroy already turned you down? The museum scientist has Charles now, and if I can’t, I’m asking around for you, we’re still short of a repair and maintenance instrument on board.”
No sooner had Elder’s words left his mouth than he saw Colonel Fitzroy come out of the cabin, he lifted his breeches upwards and looked up to see Arthur.
Fitzroy pointed at him and said, “Wow! I remember you, young man, the boy who used to serve in the Army.”
Arthur came to the Colonel and saluted and spoke, “Mr. Colonel! I have an emergency to report to you!”
Fitzroy froze, “What is it? I’m a Navy captain, I don’t care about the Army.”
Arthur said, “This time the matter has nothing to do with the Navy or the Army. I’ve just received information that a merchant ship carrying members guilty of treasonous felonies is headed for France, and we’ve been ordered by the brass that we must stop that ship at all costs.
But the ship’s dispatch takes time, so I remembered that Elder needed to go out to sea today for sea training, so I came to the docks to take my chances, and I never thought I’d hit it. I would like to ask you to order that the sea training program be changed as soon as possible to the pursuit of the merchant ship ‘Blackthorn’.”
Fitzroy’s expression also became serious when he heard this, “Young man, did you bring a transfer order from the Ministry of Navy?”
Arthur shook his head, “Because of the suddenness of the incident, the transfer order from the Ministry of Navy is still being applied for.”
Hearing this, Fitzroy couldn’t help but shake his head, “I’m sorry, without a written document from the Admiralty, I don’t have the authority to change the training program. Young man, you have spent time in the Army and should know that soldiers must obey orders.
Besides, the Beagle’s situation is still special, we only follow the command of the Navy Headquarters, even other fleet commanders do not have the authority to dispatch us.”
Arthur couldn’t help but feel his heart sink when he heard this, just as he was thinking of ways to get around Fitzroy. The ever-unreliable Elder, however, jumped the gun, “Colonel, have you forgotten? The First Sea Lord, Thomas Hardy!”
Fitzroy was reminded of Arthur’s unfathomably strong background by him.
After all, this young man in front of him was someone who could make the First Sea Minister, Thomas Hardy, personally order not to be hired in his busy schedule.
Although he strongly denied that there was a blood relationship between himself and the Marquis of Hastings, Colonel Fitzroy would not believe it.
Besides, how bad could the family line be for someone who could befriend Elder?
Colonel Fitzroy couldn’t help but inhale softly as he thought of this.
This kind of young man shouldn’t be idly amusing me, right?
Besides, if what this young man said was true, and the Beagle hadn’t obeyed orders.
Although procedurally speaking, he had no responsibility, this kind of performance of missing the warplane would surely be seen by Admiral Thomas Hardy.
If he was looked down upon by Admiral Hardy, who controlled the life and death of Royal Navy officers, then he might not have a chance to be promoted to Admiral for the rest of his life.
On top of that, he would also offend a large group of members of the Marquis of Hastings family.
Moreover, a bunch of departments implicated in this matter might also hold a grudge against him because of this.
But if he listened to this young man’s words ……
Even if this young man called Arthur was telling lies, it was actually no big deal, just as a temporary change in the route of the sea training program.
As long as no one stirred this matter up and the headquarters of the Ministry of the Navy did not know about it, then everyone would still be doing what they should be doing, and everything would be happy.
Moreover, even if someone told the truth, the Ministry of the Navy would at most charge him with bringing someone on board privately, and fine him a month’s salary, which is almost the same.
But even if he was fined a month’s salary, wouldn’t he still be able to reap the Marquis of Hastings’ apology?
Judging from the reaction of Admiral Hardy’s last special order for Arthur not to be allowed to board the ship, the Marquis of Hastings and Admiral Hardy should have a very shallow relationship.
Since this is the case, if he took the blame for the Hastings family’s unproductive young master, then Mr. Marquis would still have to help him put in a good word in front of Admiral Hardy?
Colonel Fitzroy did not think about it, but when he did, he immediately felt that his thoughts were clear, and even his breathing was much smoother.
After all, this is just a trip to the sea with Mr. Hastings, what’s the big deal?
Thinking of this, Colonel Fitzroy immediately felt that he had no reason to refuse, this was simply a gift that fell from the sky and was a sure win!
Mr. Colonel couldn’t help but puff out his chest, even his face was filled with a confident smile.
What does it mean to use the Royal Navy’s ship and walk your own relations ah!
He affectionately patted Arthur’s shoulder, and then hurriedly shouted at the sailors, almost as if he was afraid that the other party would change his mind.
“All hands on deck, stop carrying supplies at once, and hoist anchor and sails! By order of the Admiralty, the Beagle is temporarily changing its sailing plan to the merchant ship ‘Blackthorn’, full speed ahead!”
(End of chapter)