Why did Captain Hammond so much dislike Hornblower in the TV series? Jealousy alone seems a poor excuse. Intertwined with the ghastly short story of "Hornblower and the widow McCool". I own nothing of Hornblower. I'm just in love with the era... T, but rated M for safety.
Hope it will give those who never heard of it the wish to learn about 1798, the Year of the French, in Ireland.
'Wrap The Green Flag Round Me, Boys' is the title of a song by J.K. O'Reilly, that you can easily find on the Web. It was probably first sung by Irish fighting in the American Civil War, but carries the spirit of all Irish rebellions...
Please, review!
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Gibraltar, 1795
They never made it to the Calypso. The coastguards arrived on the scene at last and the three captains of the ill-fated examination board were swept to Lord Dalrymple's for report, abandoning the boat to Hornblower who quietly returned to the Indefatigable. That fire ship attack was the boldest move of the Dons so far, and had to be addressed immediately. Gibraltar was a vital post for England and had to be defended at all costs.
On learning of the quarrel between Foster and Hammond at such an hour of danger, the Governor had given them a severe dressing down, though separately. Of course, he could not ask any of them to retract in a matter of honour, and nobody knew exactly what had passed - only that Foster and then Hammond had stormed out of Governor's House in a very foul mood.
Both captains were acknowledged good shots, especially Hammond, yet both unaccountably missed when they finally met on the duelling ground. Honour was satisfied, and it ended there. Foster left rather glowering and very stiff but it might have been because he was very much in pain from his burns. "Black Charlie" Hammond looked as sour and dour as ever, and didn't even salute the seconds, deeply resenting the whole affair and all the people who had been implicated in it.
Captain Pellew didn't give the story and his fellow captains more than a passing thought, since he was much more concerned with curing his crew of scurvy after weeks of privations, though he encountered both at a general meeting of officers. So, he missed the rather courteous exchange between his escorting acting Lieutenant and Foster, as well as the frozen hostile salute Hammond bestowed on a very self conscious Hornblower.
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Ireland, 1798
"May I see Ireland free and without oppression
And the green flag flying on high,
With every treacherous foreign tyrant
In hell and with no protection from God. " (Mícheál Óg Ó Longáin)
Upraise. Civil war. Repression.
So much blood.
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HMS Calypso, Cape Town, South Africa, 1798
Calypso was something of a floating miracle, when she drifted rather than sailed in the shelter of Cape Town's port with jury masts, broken bowsprit, four feet of water in the hold. When at last she dropped anchor and Captain Hammond dragged himself from his cabin to go report the damage his ship had suffered in that unexpectedly early monsoon hurricane, the crew cheered him. Those who were not at the pumps, or dead asleep. Black Charlie was a hell of a seaman, and they had made it by the grace of God.
Six months out of the East Indian Station, three months repairs... What could have happened home since they left?
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HMS Renown, Bay of Biscay, 1800
Lieutenant Hornblower of His Majesty's Ship Renown had been saddled by Captain Sawyer with the unsavoury task of carrying out the execution of the rebel McCool on the charge of desertion, and to ensure that the bloody Irish leader would raise no scandal or call to mutiny before his hanging.
Hornblower had struck a bargain with McCool: since a deserter's belongings were usually thrown into the sea or confiscated, he would ensure the return of his sea chest and farewell letter to his beloved wife if he behaved himself and remained silent. Truth to be told, it was McCool who had asked for it.
After the hanging in Tor Bay, Hornblower had discovered that McCool was a bachelor, and that he had been tricked.
The sea chest contained a list of contacts and a treasure of war for his fellow conspirators. Still aghast at that hanging business, and the prospect of another hunting down for Irish rebels, he had kept silent, but had thrown everything overboard.
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Kingston, Jamaica Station, January 1802
"Foolhardy actions. Rash judgements. Irresponsible adventures. Is it to be the measure of your career, Mr Hornblower?"
Commodore Pellew winced. Hammond was making clear to every one he was going for Hornblower's head. That their Lordships of the Admiralty wished for a scapegoat to answer for Sawyer's removal of command was nobody's secret: no possible mercy with the still fresh memory of the '97 mutinies, but every hint of disobedience was to be dealt with, quickly and severely. That Hammond was well-connected and had more powerful friends than himself was also true - yet, he was still the highest ranking officer of the board, and Collins was a fair man.
But the case was awfully tricky. Hornblower was so clearly the only officer of the Renown with leading charisma and the ability for planning action, that the presumptions were damning.
The scapegoat turned to be a sacrificial lamb, with a dying Kennedy giving a dramatic turn to the trial by a public confession of the crime. Pellew hastened to end that tragedy, before another scandal or another sacrifice.
Hammond wasn't satisfied with the outcome but, then, nobody was.
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HMS Hotspur, Cape Clear, South West Ireland, march 1802
"English rule is Ireland's curse" said the Irish deserter to an uncomprehending Hornblower. "And if the French offer us a hand, we'll take it!"
Peace was signed. Another death wouldn't change anything.
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HMS Hotspur, off Ushant, France, 1804
"Don't tar all Irishmen with the same brush" said Midshipman Orrock to Matthews - with uncharacteristic, overflowing bitterness.
Irishness could still be bitterness these days. At least in the Navy.
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Bay of Brest, France, 1804
And came that fateful day when Hornblower found himself face to face with Black Charlie Hammond, and engaged with him, in the midst of a shore engagement, in what turned very much into their own private duel.
"You thought the enemy within would be a Frenchman", had taunted Hammond, who didn't look sour any more.
"I thought, you, sir, had sworn an oath to your king"
"He's no king of mine. I serve Ireland and her people. I knew my opportunity would come, and you, Hornblower, very nearly ruined it twice."
Hornblower was at a loss to understand "Twice?"
"Today and when you got rid of McCool's chest. The money was mostly mine, years of prize money... And the names... McCool had been knitting together sympathisers and activists for years. I had contacts on Renown who would have retrieved the chest, or would have blackmailed you to get it back. But Mr Hornblower saw himself as the Almighty and threw everything overboard. It took us months to rebuilt a network and tears of blood to finance it."
Then the firing squad, the timely arrival of the shore party, Pellew's second attack on Brest, and his own fight with Hammond...
"Enough, Hornblower" had said Hammond... before blowing his brains right in front of him.
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HMS Hotspur, English Channel, 1804
There had been a moment in eternity, when he had had his pistol aimed at Simpson - and he had deloped.
When he had learned what Simpson really inflicted to Archie, he had regretted it.
Now, Hammond's reputation was in his hand. He could deprive him of his good name, just like Archie had been stripped of his. Archie's shattered honour. Hammond's guilt.
Justice.
Truth.
What would happen when the story of Hammond's treason would be known?
Justice?
Truth?
Bonaparte had nothing to offer Ireland but misery and bloodshed. But misery and bloodshed had already been Ireland's lot. In '98, tens of hunted Irish rebels had "volunteered" to the Army and the Royal Navy to escape death, so that one fourth of the fleet was Irish. Men who were now fighting Boney.
Hornblower had never forgotten McCool's hanging, the gruesome vision of the body at the yardarm and the distorted face had haunted him for months. In Kingston, he had had a nightmare: McCool's corpse was putting the rope around his neck.
The only comfort he had found at Archie's death was that at least he died in a bed and they wouldn't hang him... How would he have been able to live with himself if he had had to watch them hang Archie ?
War, Hornblower could understand. But Irish affairs were another story, and he had seen enough of mutiny in Jamaica and of civil war in Muzillac for a lifetime.
The filthy rags of men's justice.
He remembered the Spanish shore, the pistol in his hand, the hurt in his shoulder. And Simpson's face.
And then Hammond's shattered head on that French shore.
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HMS Tonnant, Portsmouth, 1804
"Captain Hammond blamed himself for the failure of his assault on the battery..." Admiral Pellew was discovering Hornblower's report "...he insisted on dying with honour... " Well, it sure was a creative way to tell that story. Not exactly lying, but... He sighed. Clearly, the time of innocence was over for Hornblower. Now had come the harder time of keeping the balance between good and evil.
The man would soon be ready for the next step in responsibility and command. He was proud of him, but was he really glad of it? Pellew sighed again. As time would go by, Hornblower would need to find new reasons to go on fighting. Not just for King and Country.
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"I fight for Ireland" had said Commandant Wolfe to Hornblower.
What have you got in your hand?
A green bough.
Where did it first grow?
In America.
Where did it bud?
In France.
Where are you going to plant it?
In the crown of Great Britain.
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Pilate said to Him: "What is truth?" (John 18:38)