Betrayal tk-13 Read online

  A year after they had arrived, the British finally sailed away for ever.

  The subsequent fate of the main players varied.

  Popham’s court-martial resulted in a severe reprimand but it seems not to have affected his career, he at the same time being presented with a sword of honour by the City of London for his efforts to open up the markets of the River Plate. In future Kydd tales you shall see more of this intelligent, manipulative, gifted and controversial figure.

  Beresford escaped in a manner much like Kydd did, taking the same line on parole. Later, he led in the capture of Madeira, where he so won the confidence of the Portuguese that he was given the command of their armies following the invasion of Portugal by Napoleon. Like so many military in this book – Pack, the 71st itself, other officers – he went on to distinction in the Peninsular War.

  The bluff and energetic Baird, however, was caught up in the recriminations and ended under recall, losing his governorship of the Cape. He was never employed at that level again.

  Santiago de Liniers, twice victor, was hailed as viceroy to replace the cowardly Sobremonte, but in the growing divisions between loyalists and patriots, as a royalist and French by birth he was suspected of treason and executed barely a year later.

  In a stroke of irony, Spanish and Argentinian sources both freely admit that it was the barely known fringe act of empire portrayed in this book that produced the spark that set South America ablaze to achieve independence, by demonstrating the fragility of the Spanish hold on their old colonies, while Miranda’s descent on Caracas failed. This struggle for independence beginning three years after the British left saw other bonaerense such as Pueyrredon, Guemes and Belgrano take forward roles, and the colonial South America that Kydd knew was quickly swept away.

  Buenos Aires, never before and never since under threat from the outside, is now the capital of Argentina. The city bears little resemblance to what it was in those days: vastly bigger and with only the Plaza Mayor itself barely recognisable, the fort long gone and the waterfront an altogether healthier prospect. The River Chuelo, in which seamen swam heroically to build their bridge of boats, is now straddled by a vast dock area, while Ensenada de Barragan is a naval base and the Perdriel ranch has been swallowed by the suburbs.

  The northern shore is now Uruguay but Colonia del Sacramento still has a defiant Portuguese colonial feel to it, the little bastion at the water’s edge attracting curious visitors.

  Of this whole South American episode there are very few relics remaining but in the down-town church of Santo Domingo a visitor to Buenos Aires may stand before the actual colours of the 71st Regiment of Highlanders, surrendered on that fateful day by General Beresford.

  As usual, for space reasons, I am unable to acknowledge everyone I consulted in the process of writing this book, but to all I owe my deep thanks. Special mention, however, must be made of Sarah Callejo in Madrid who gave unstintingly of her time in respect of various queries on Spanish sources. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the staff of the British Library and the University of London Library.

  And, as ever, my huge appreciation must go to my wife and literary partner, Kathy, my agent Carole Blake and my editor Oliver Johnson.

  Glossary

  agent-victualler

  Admiralty-appointed port agent for supplying naval victuals

  aguardiente

  rough Spanish brandy

  avast

  stop or desist an action

  aviso

  dispatch vessel

  balandra

  cutter or sloop-rigged South American privateer or fishing boat

  beakhead

  the ornamented support and small deck around the bowsprit

  becket

  piece of rope to secure loose gear

  Blaauwberg, battle of

  defining battle in 1806 that secured Cape Town for the British

  blandengues

  South American colonial militia

  block

  a sea-going pulley

  boomkin

  spar under the bowsprit to take the block to stretch the foresail to windward

  bridle

  rope span attached to leech cringles to tauten the sail when close-hauled

  caballero

  Spanish honorific for gentleman, literally horseman

  calesa

  two-wheeled carriage for notables

  canister

  small iron balls in a tin case fired by cannon for anti-personnel effect

  carronade

  short-barrelled, large-calibre gun for use at close range

  catblash

  nonsense

  coxswain

  in charge of a boat; captain’s coxswain is in charge of the captain’s barge

  crow

  a bar with claws to lever around the great guns in aiming

  cruiser

  an independent vessel, normally a frigate, sent to annoy the enemy’s trade

  cutting out

  a daring raid by boats into an enemy harbour to capture or destroy enemy shipping

  davit

  a boat hoist in place of the usual midship stay tackle

  distinction

  bringing to notice by exceptional courage or achievement

  duck

  a fine strong white cloth made from untwilled linen, much favoured by sailors

  falucho

  decked craft local to the River Plate, used in coastal defence and trade

  Felucca

  small lateen-rigged cargo carrier, corsair

  fo’c’sleman

  the division of men stationed on the fore-deck; the most experienced seamen

  gasket

  rope to secure furled sail to the yard

  grape-shot

  intermediate between canister and solid shot, tiers of smaller balls separated by discs fired as one shot

  gunroom

  wardroom of a frigate

  half-pistol-shot

  twenty-five yards range

  hawse

  the point where the anchor cable leaves the ship

  Indiaman

  ship of the East India Company

  jabberknowl

  gossip, rantings of a fool

  jonkheer

  Dutch honorific for a person of note or high birth

  littoral

  that part of the land adjoining the sea

  maulstick

  a wooden stick with a soft head, used by painters to support the hand that holds the brush

  mijnheer

  Mr in Dutch

  moil

  close-in scrimmage

  mongseer

  sailor slang for a Frenchman

  negus

  a drink of port mixed with hot water, spiced and sugared

  pampero

  characteristic storm of wind from the Pampas about the River Plate

  Panjandrum

  high ruler, from eighteenth-century Samuel Foote play

  Partidarios Leales

  party of the loyalists

  patricio

  patrician, high-born person

  pinnace

  one of the smaller of the ship’s boats

  poniard

  small dagger

  priddy

  seventeenth-century term for prettifying

  projector

  promoter of a scheme

  purser

  appointed by the Admiralty for the supply of provision and slops; was an independent businessman

  quintal

  an imperial ‘hundredweight’ or 100 pounds in weight

  quoin

  a wedge of wood at the breech to cause elevation or depression in a gun

  real

  eight to the Spanish silver dollar

  reis

  Portuguese real since 1480

  rixdollar rijksdaalder

  : main currency of the Cape of Good Hope

  sailing master

  attends to the navigation a
nd working of a ship under the captain

  schildknaap

  Dutch honorific – squire

  sea fencibles

  land-based naval auxiliaries, local to Britain

  sea-anchor

  device to drag in the sea to orient the ship

  sheave

  the wheel on which the rope works in a block

  supercargo

  an agent aboard a merchant ship responsible for cargo and commercial affairs

  veduta

  highly detailed landscape in the style of Canaletto

  Viceroyalty

  that province ruled by a viceroy appointed directly by the Spanish king

  volunteers of the first class

  educated boys intended to be midshipmen but too young

  whiffler

  slang for glancing blow

  wight

  a creature, person

  yaw

  a deviation to right or left of a ship’s proper course

  FB2 document info

  Document ID: fbd-94835e-492b-6240-63b5-d143-477a-d0e54a

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  Document creation date: 01.03.2013

  Created using: calibre 0.9.21, Fiction Book Designer software

  Document authors :

  Julian Stockwin

  Source URLs :

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