Armada

‘It was you,’ Seeley uttered. ‘You’re Young.’ He stopped rowing. The skiff began to rock violently in the swell. Seeley’s hand moved slowly to the hilt of his dagger.

Robert nodded, grief clouding his mind.

‘Your father was in league with the Spanish?’

Robert remained silent.

‘Captain!’

‘He was a …’ the word traitor came to Robert’s lips but he could not say it. ‘He was an exile, from the Northern Rebellion.’

‘A Roman Catholic traitor,’ Seeley hissed.

Robert’s face darkened and he leaned forward. Seeley whipped out his knife.

‘Don’t move, Captain. Not another inch.’

‘You would kill me?’

For a moment Seeley couldn’t answer. The captain was not the man he had always claimed to be, in name or faith. He was not Robert Varian. He was another, a Roman Catholic and therefore the enemy.

‘I vowed to find the traitor on board, not kill him,’ Seeley said. ‘Your fate lies in the hands of the authorities.’

‘So you would turn me over to be tortured and executed at the stake?’ Robert said angrily.

‘I have to.’ For a moment an image flashed in front of Seeley; of the captain stretched on the rack like the Catholic clerk, Bailey. He blenched from the sight.

‘Tomorrow we go into battle, Thomas. Do you truly believe that the Retribution, that England’s cause, will be better served if I am locked in irons?’

‘You cannot expect to command the Retribution now that I know who you are?’ Seeley said, realizing he was the only one who knew the captain’s real identity. Keeping his dagger charged he got up from the thwart and moved to the bow.

‘Take the oars,’ he said.

Robert complied, his face inscrutable in the dark. ‘Nothing has changed, Thomas. I am still the man I was and my loyalty has always been to Elizabeth.’

‘You cannot be loyal to her, you’re Roman Catholic.’

‘I am loyal, because I am an Englishman, and she is my Queen.’

Seeley was silenced by Robert’s reply. He thought of all the captain had achieved since taking command of the Retribution. He had proved himself over and over again to be loyal to England and the Crown. He had come to the attention of the Lord High Admiral himself and had been recognized for his bravery with a knighthood. He was Roman Catholic and yet loyal to a Protestant Queen. The two seemed irreconcilable.

Beyond the stern of the skiff the wind and tide were bearing the Hope onwards, her flames driving all before her. The ships of the Armada were abandoning their anchorage. Their defensive formation was no more and under the press of the prevailing wind the enemy fleet was being scattered eastwards. Dawn was still hours away. Eventually the sun would rise and with it the English fleet would weigh anchor and engage the enemy once more.

Perhaps the captain was right, Seeley thought, his mind in turmoil. The Retribution needed its captain now more than ever. Seeley knew he was not ready to take command, and the best available commanders were already in charge of other galleons. But the Spaniards were Roman Catholic. Their cause was blessed by the Pope. Could the captain’s loyalty to the Queen of England be such that he would continue to fight against his own kind, against a cause that his father had fought for?

The lines of loyalty that had always been so clear in Seeley’s mind began to blur. Men went to war for different reasons, he had long realized that. For some plunder was more important than faith, but he had always presumed that the men he fought with were all Protestant. Even when he had suspected the captain might be Roman Catholic he had dismissed it because of the bravery and loyalty he himself had witnessed. The captain claimed he was loyal to the Crown because he was an Englishman. Seeley’s faith was at the heart of his fealty but perhaps not every man needed that bond. Maybe for the captain it was enough that Spain was the enemy of England.

Seeley had to turn the captain over to the authorities. It was his duty, but as they neared the Retribution he decided he would defer that moment until the battle had been won. Silently he slipped his dagger back into its sheath. Nothing was written, the ultimate battle had yet to be fought. But if by dawn the enemy had failed to re-establish their formation, the English fleet would finally have a chance to slay the Spanish Armada. If they were to succeed then the best men needed to be in command of the most powerful warships. The Retribution was amongst that elite, and so was her captain.

CHAPTER 20

8th August 1588. The Battle of Gravelines.