Richard Castle and the USS Santa Barbara
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Except for the true parts, this is fiction. Rating: K, mostly. Time: The turn of the 20th Century.
USS Santa Barbara
Shanghai, China
September 8, 1899.
"There's a naval launch approaching, sir. Looks like Captain Mallory is in the stern."
Castle headed down to the gangway to greet the captain. The captain came aboard, the sideboys saluted and the bosun's pipe piped him aboard. Castle saluted him.
"We'll go to your cabin, Castle. You're ready to steam at a moment's notice?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Give orders to prepare to get under way."
Castle had to do no more than to turn to Lieutenant Franklin.
"You heard that?"
"Aye, aye, sir. Get under way."
Once in Castle's cabin, Mallory explained the rush.
"There's a large mission station this side of Wuhan. They're Protestants, Anglicans, I think. Call their mission China Light. Bringing light to the heathen Chinese or some such nonsense. There's a large force of Boxers headed their way. They've asked us to evacuate their Chinese converts. Naturally, they waited until the last minute. The Catholic Church has a fast steamer and they've agreed to use it to evacuate the Chinese. You'll take the missionaries aboard and protect the Saint Brendan."
"You have your orders, Captain Castle. Now I shall get off while I can." He took a step away and then turned back to Castle. "You'll be taking a Catholic priest with you. A German. A Father Schuster, I believe. He speaks little if any English."
And then Mallory was gone.
Castle sighed. If this priest spoke little English, that meant that Kate would have to translate. He had hoped that for once, he could leave her safely behind in Shanghai.
He returned to the bridge to find Kate in conversation with a priest.
"Guten tag." The priest said.
"Do you speak any English?" Castle asked.
"Yes."
"Oh, good. What do you know about China Light?"
"Yes."
"Do you know anything more than "yes."?"
"Goodbye."
"I'm afraid that's about the limit of his English, Captain Castle." Kate said with a smirk. "It looks like I'll be going with you."
"Then please stay on the bridge."
"I wouldn't dream of leaving you alone."
As the ship got under way, Castle looked over the Saint Brendan. She was a sleek looking vessel and was already starting to outpace the Santa Barbara.
"Please ask Father Schuster how fast the Saint Brendan is."
Kate and the priest had a quick conversation.
"He says she'll do 18 knots."
"Good. We'll do at least twenty now that the bottom has been cleaned and the engines overhauled. We'll have no trouble keeping together."
The two ships sailed up river, staying to the center of the river as much as possible. That did not stop the occasional rifle shot from either shore, nor the occasional volley. Aside from scratching the paint, no harm was done.
"Boxers." Said Franklin. "They're not using their rifle sights so they're shooting low."
"No point in trying to shoot back." Castle said. "They're all mixed in with civilians who we don't want to kill, although we'll be blamed for killing hundreds I suppose."
As they went further up the river, the rifle fire increased, but not its accuracy. Still, it was unpleasant, to say the least, to be a target and not be able to shoot back.
Suddenly, there was a fountain of water to the starboard and the crash and bang of artillery. In seconds, another shell hit some hundreds of yards to the starboard.
"Can anyone see them?" Castle demanded.
"I thought I saw a flash of…Yes, there, sir." Someone yelled. "Just in front of the large blue building."
"Them we'll shoot at. Man the five inch guns that'll bear, and the same for the 57mm guns. And signal the Saint Brendan to come up on our port side so that we're between her and the guns."
They saw four flashes from the shore, followed by the roar of the guns and four splashes. The splashes were still short of the Santa Barbara, but had been headed right for the ship.
"Captain," Kate said, "Father Schuster says the guns are probably manned by Boxers and not by Imperial regulars. The untrained Boxers don't understand about leading a target, nor do they understand how to increase the range of the guns by raising the barrels. They just point the gun at us and fire."
"Then we'll give them some lessons." He turned to Franklin. "Why haven't we opened fire?"
No sooner hand he spoken than the three five-inch guns roared out in unison.
"Short by a good hundred yards." Castle estimated. Then he could hear the smaller 57mm guns begin to fire.
"I think we got a hit on one gun." Cried Ensign Potter. "They put bamboo on top of the guns to hide them. I saw bamboo and gunners tossed around, sir."
The Santa Barbara's gunners now had the range and the Boxers' guns were soon silenced. In minutes, both ships had gone around a bend in the river and lost sight of the hidden battery.
As darkness approached, there was less fire from the shore, and no more artillery.
Castle made a decision.
"Signal the Saint Brendan that we'll slow to fourteen knots. There'll be no moon tonight until almost dawn and we don't need to run aground. When the moon comes up, we'll go back to full speed."
When the moon rose, the ships sped up and by dawn they were making good time towards the China Light Mission.
"Bridge. More artillery ahead." Said the lookout high above the bridge." To port this time, sir."
Kate had a brief conversation with Father Schuster.
"Rick, he says those are Imperial regulars. And they probably have infantry dug in on the banks as well. They know how to shoot, unlike the Boxers.
Castle made a quick decision.
"Send the gun crews to their stations, but don't aim any weapons at the Imperials. We won't do anything to give them an excuse to open fire."
He went to the bridge wing and studied the Chinese positions through his binoculars. He could see several mounted Chinese officers studying him through their binoculars. They did not look friendly, but they managed to pass them with no gunfire.
"They're not hostile, apparently." Franklin said.
"Unless they decided to wait to attack us when we're coming down the river loaded down with refugees." Castle said.
Finally, they arrived at China Light. It was chaotic. Hundreds of Chinese Christians were all trying to clamber aboard the Saint Brendan, and a few in boats were trying to board the Santa Barbara.
Father Schuster may not have spoken any English, but he spoke Chinese and he bellowed at them to go to the Saint Brendan.
Castle saw that Kate was blushing.
"What is it?"
"I never thought I'd hear that kind of language from a Catholic priest."
"What did he say?"
Kate said nothing, but did glare at him.
"That bad?"
She nodded.
It turned out there was enough room for the Chinese Christians on the Saint Brendan, which allowed the missionaries to come aboard the Santa Barbara.
Their leader, a tall, balding and somewhat overweight man climbed up the ladder and stood on the bridge, trying to catch his breath.
"Are you all right, sir?" Castle asked.
The man puffed several times more and then spoke.
"And you are, young man?"
"Captain Richard Castle. This is my ship, USS Santa Barbara."
"Good God! We're in the hands of the Butcher of Chengdu?"
"My butchery has been highly exaggerated by the Chinese press, sir. I'm not a butcher. But, if you feel so badly about being aboard, you can go aboard the Saint Brendan, or back on shore."
"I suppose I have no choice but to stay here."
"I just gave you three possible choices." Castle said with a cold smile. "And you are?"
"Bishop William Renfrew. China Light is my mission." Renfrew looked around. "Ah, I see one rumor was correct, you do have a common woman of the streets as your mistress aboard ship. I shall report that and your incivility to the proper authorities. I am not without influence in the Church of England."
Castle took a step towards Renfrew, but Kate beat him to it.
"My name is Katherine Beckett. I came to the Philippines as a teacher and was sent on this mission because I speak several languages, including several Chinese dialects. I am also Captain Castle's fiancé. And you have ten seconds to apologize to me, or I'll slap you face so hard you'll end up on the deck below."
Renfrew turned to Castle.
"Are you going to allow this threat to me?"
"Miss Beckett is a civilian. I have no authority over her. And do you really expect me to interfere when you've grievously insulted my fiancé?"
"One, two, three…" Kate began, walking towards Renfrew.
"Father! You owe Miss Beckett an apology. I've told you before, you identify far too closely with the Chinese and with the anti-foreign Chinese at that. Now apologize."
Renfrew's daughter must have taken after her mother as she was tall, slender, blonde and quite attractive.
"You have my sincere apologies, Miss Beckett." Renfrew said, although he didn't sound too sincere.
"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Mrs. Ann Hastings. My husband is a doctor attached to the mission. He's…"Ann looked around. "He's down below us, helping others. We should go."
Castle never saw Bishop Renfrew again, and the trip back down the river was relatively uneventful.
US Naval Headquarters
Shanghai, China
September 28, 1899
"Come in, Captain Castle. Come in. No need for formality. Sit, my boy. And I have some nice lemonade for you." Captain Mallory said.
"You wished to see me, sir?" Castle said once the lemonade had been served.
"I'm very much afraid Bishop Renfrew is displeased with you. He's sent me an official complaint about your actions. Remarkably complete, if I do say. He doesn't seem to have found out anything you may have done at the Academy, or before, but your record of slaughtering innocent Filipinos, Chinese, Tonkinese and assorted other races is all laid out here." Mallory tapped a very thick report on his desk.
"He also sent a complaint to the British government as well as the Anglican Church."
"In that case, I demand a court martial to clear my name, sir." Castle said angrily.
"Not necessary." Mallory said with a laugh. "I fear that the good Bishop's report was so violently pro-Boxer that he's been recalled in disgrace. The British have asked us to ignore the complaint."
Mallory took the report and dropped it into the waste paper basket.
"Done. Have a good day, Captain Castle. I think we can schedule some maintenance for the Santa Barbara as the excitement around here has died down." Mallory frowned. "Not the same up north, I fear. But we shall see."
American Club
Shanghai, China
11:45 PM, December 31, 1899.
"Are you ready for New Years, Mrs. Castle?"
"Rick! I'm not Mrs. Castle. I won't be until tomorrow."
"Just practicing." He said and was given a soft kiss for a reward.
"Keep practicing, but soon it won't be for practice."
"Just think, we'll be starting our life together tomorrow and beginning a new century."
"No, we won't." She said, then quickly added, "We'll be starting our life, but not a new century."
"What do you mean. Tomorrow it'll be the year 1900. Everyone says that's the start of a new century."
The nineteenth century won't be over until the last day of the one hundredth year of the century is gone. This century won't end until December 31, 1900 and the new century will begin on January 1, 1901."
Castle thought about it.
"You're right."
"Of course, I am." She teased. "I just hope that the new century will be more peaceful than the nineteenth century."
"it's not starting well. Here in China, the Boxers are growing bolder in northern China, and the British are at war in South Africa. The French and the Germans are growling at each other, as usual. But, we can only hope for the best for the twentieth century."
"So, while we wait for midnight, why don't we dance?"
"Why, Mrs. Castle, I thought you'd never ask."
TBC