PIRATE: Privateer by Tim Severin Read Free Book Online Page A

produced the charter agreement that had been carefully drawn up between them.
    The filibustier captain read through the document carefully. Then he looked up. ‘It seems to be in order.’
    Hector felt a wave of relief. He had worried that the filibustier might find some excuse to delay them on the journey to Tortuga.
    ‘You say that you were born in Ireland?’ said de Graff.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘That makes you a subject of the King of England.’
    Hector could not understand why de Graff was so particular on this point.
    ‘Madame,’ the filibustier captain said, turning to Anne-Marie, ‘Monsieur Lynch tells me that you are the owner of the pinnace.’
    ‘Mademoiselle,’ Anne-Marie corrected him. ‘I am part-owner. I have equal shares with my brothers.’
    ‘And you are on your way to Tortille?’
    ‘That is correct.’
    ‘Umm . . .’ De Graff was looking across towards the pinnace. Hector began to have the first stirrings of concern. There was an undercurrent of deviousness to de Graff’s urbane
manner.
    They chatted on inconsequential matters until the petty officer returned from his inspection of
Morvaut
. De Graff took him to one side, and it was clear that he was listening to the
man’s report. Then the filibustier walked across to where Anne-Marie and Hector were waiting for him.
    ‘Monsieur Lynch,’ de Graff began, ‘I have to inform you that you are my prisoner.’
    Hector gaped with shock. ‘On what grounds?’ he demanded.
    ‘As an enemy combatant.’
    ‘How can that be?’ Hector’s mind was whirling.
    De Graff gave an apologetic shrug. ‘Perhaps the news reached Tortille after you had left on this fishing trip of yours.’
    Hector felt his throat go dry. ‘What news?’
    ‘England and France are at war.’
    ‘That’s impossible,’ Hector retorted. He was utterly taken aback. France and England were always wary of one another in the Caribbean but their mutual hostility towards Spain
had kept them in an uneasy alliance.
    De Graff smoothed his splendid moustache. He looked pleased with himself. ‘I’m not a politician but I gather that the war is to do with alliances in Europe. My lord, the Sun King
–’ de Graff allowed himself a mocking smile – ‘has aroused such envy among other sovereigns that several of the European nations have leagued against him. Even
Spain.’
    Hector decided his only course was to brazen it out. ‘I can’t see how that gives you the right to detain me—’ he began forcefully.
    ‘. . . You and your associates,’ interjected de Graff quietly. ‘Bring me my commission,’ he said to a junior officer.
    A little while later the man reappeared, carrying a large leather folder. De Graff took out a parchment. Without a word he handed it to Hector to read.
    In florid, formal French with its particular spellings the document stated that ‘Laurens-Cornille Baldran, sieur de Graff, lieutenant de roy en l’isle de Saint-Domingue’ was
appointed as ‘Capitaine de Fregate legere’. He was to carry out faithfully the instructions received from his superiors. The document bore the signature of the Seigneur de Cussy,
Governor pour le Roi du cote et isles de Saint-Domingue en l’Amerique sous le vent.
    De Graff waited for Hector to finish reading before he said silkily, ‘As you see, my instructions require me to detain enemy nationals and seize their goods and possessions.’
    To Hector’s surprise, Anne-Marie spoke up in his support. ‘Major de Graff, you have no right to detain Monsieur Lynch. He has a perfectly legitimate contract with me, a French
subject, to conduct salvage operations with a French vessel.’
    De Graff turned to Anne-Marie, and though his eyes expressed admiration, he spoke with the tone of someone who would allow no argument.
    ‘Mademoiselle Kergonan, I was coming to that. A vessel chartered by an enemy subject becomes, as it were, a ship of that nation.’
    Anne-Marie’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you telling me that you intend to