A reader rightly pointed out that I've been posting a la published book, with no content warnings, which is not generally the norm on these sites. Therefore I've added a content warning for what you can expect in the story just before chapter 1. I won't call out before each chapter that it's coming, although this chapter is one that has such content which is why I wanted to get the warning up.

Chapter 13

As the Caroline continued south, the weather grew still warmer and drier, so that Georgiana took to wearing the lightest of her muslin dresses and went more often to the quarterdeck, where the breeze made the air less stifling than it was in the cabin. She had, therefore, observed the ceremony of noon many times already, when the master would gather around him his mates and the midshipmen, and they would all look to the sun with their quadrants, note the time, and report it to Matthew.

Today, however, Mr. Travis looked to Matthew and said, "Noon, sir, and almost a'top the line."

"Very well, Mr. Travis. I expect Neptune shall hold court here this evening."

Any further conversation between them was drowned out by the boatswain piping the hands to dinner, their feet thundering across the deck and down below. Georgiana did not understand how they could stand to eat their dinner so early, and was glad the officers kept to a later dining hour, although it was still earlier than she had been used to on land.

This was one of the evenings in which she and Matthew dined alone in their little cabin, and when they were very nearly finished, lingering over the Derby sage – this and a few other of the delicacies that her brother had sent reminded Georgiana of home, and she had hoarded them for these private dinners so as to make them last longer – she asked Matthew what he had meant about Neptune holding court.

"Ah, yes, we have a ceremony that is performed when the ship crosses the equator, and the Caroline will have done so by now. You shall see when we go on deck. Oh, and do not wear a bonnet. A parasol may do, if the sun is still strong."

Georgiana thought it must be quite a ceremony indeed, if even females must keep their heads uncovered, but she was entirely unprepared for what she encountered on deck. She and Matthew took their places on the quarterdeck and were joined there by the officers and men of the embassy, as the seamen crowded in forward.

With a great deal of boisterous noise, one of the seamen came up from the side of the ship, wearing a wooden crown and a great long beard made of rope, with a trident in his hand. He was accompanied by another man, dressed as a woman with a wig made of rope, and some other ridiculously dressed companions. They were explained by Matthew as Neptune, his wife Amphitrite, his assistant Badger-Bag, and the rest of his court, and commenced dancing about merrily and splashing a good deal of water about them.

"All ye, who is not been across the line, come forth to be redeemed!" Neptune called out, stamping his trident on the deck.

Georgiana felt Matthew's hand upon her shoulder, urging her to step forward.

"Me?" she all but squeaked.

"Yes you, dearest, unless you have somehow neglected to tell me of another time you crossed the equator," he murmured.

Georgiana stepped forward, as did several of the men from the embassy. She felt, however, that much of the ship was looking at her, and soon enough Neptune came before her, bowing so deeply his beard flounced against the deck, to the laughter of all. Georgiana gave him a reasonable curtsey in return, her face hot at having the attention of the whole ship's company focused upon her, although she did not think anything too vexing could happen to her, the captain's wife.

The Caroline was comprised mostly of comparably wealthy seamen; many of them had followed Captain Stanton for years and had been with him through the capture of many prizes, so pewter was more common upon their dinner tables than wood, and it was a fine pewter cup that Neptune was handed, by Badger-Bag. Neptune looked over to the captain for his acquiescence, then proceeded to pour a small quantity of water upon the crown of Georgiana's head.

She coughed and spluttered as the salty water ran down her face, and listened to the ship's company laugh at her predicament. Georgiana felt, now, that she must not show herself to be delicate about what had happened to her, and in truth it was not nearly so bad as what she had been imagining. So she looked up at Neptune, then curtsied deeper than she ever had before – even when she had been presented to Queen Charlotte – and the men roared with laughter, applauding cheerfully as she stepped back towards Matthew and watched Neptune make his way to the first of the men in the embassy.

"You did well," Matthew said, looking amused, and handing Georgiana his handkerchief so she could mop at her face. "They will love you even more than they already do, for it."

"Is this why you told me not to wear a bonnet?" she asked.

"It was. Some men choose to pay a tribute, in lieu of a more watery redemption when they cross the line, but I was promised it would be a very little bit of water, and it is better luck to be doused."

"We should pay the tribute, regardless," she said. "I must assume it goes towards entertainment for Neptune's court, when next they go ashore."

"Indeed it does. They will be very pleased."

"Where is Moll?" Georgiana asked, glancing about the deck, where Mrs. McClare waited nervously for her turn in the festivities. The men of the embassy had now been lightly doused, and Neptune and his court had turned on the midshipmen, who faced a far worse fate than Georgiana had, for it seemed they were to be doused with a whole bucket of water, then shaved with naught but grease and a metal cask hoop.

"I do not see her – is she shirking her part in this?" he asked.

"I should hope not!" Georgiana exclaimed, for if she was to be doused, her maid must certainly be as well. She put a hand up to her wet, flattened hair and said, "I would rather put a bonnet on now, for my hair must look a fright. Perhaps she anticipated me and went down to our cabin."

"Come, I will go with you."

"Can you leave the ceremony?"

"For a quarter-hour or so, I can," he said, offering his arm and glancing over to where Rigby and Egerton were standing, giving a nod and receiving two in return.

Matthew went down the companion-ladder before her, but before he was halfway down, he shouted, "What the devil is this?" and leapt down the remainder of the stairs.

Georgiana, in an action she would later think of as impetuous and useless – for there was nothing she could do to aid in some manner of shipboard emergency taking place below-decks – followed quickly after him. She found there immediately the cause for his alarm, which was that John Taylor was kneeling on the prostrate body of Lieutenant Holmes, and thoroughly pummelling him with his fists.

With everyone else on deck watching the ceremony, it was left to Matthew to yell to Taylor to cease what he was about at once, and when this resulted in some hesitation on Taylor's part but not a complete cessation, to bodily haul the seaman off his lieutenant. Holmes stood, brushed absently at the blood flowing from his nose, and proceeded to launch into a litany of curses aimed at Taylor. It was as he was drawing a breath to continue his tirade that there came a sniffle from the shadows, between two of the gun carriages.

"Moll!" Georgiana exclaimed, and went to kneel beside where her maid was sitting on the deck, with her arms wrapped around her knees. Moll was bleeding from a cut on her mouth and had a generally dishevelled appearance, and Georgiana's heart sank for it.

The discovery of a third party involved in the altercation changed the tenor of the scene immediately. Matthew ordered both men to stand before him without moving, then looked expectantly at Georgiana. Of course, she realised, it would be better for her to ask Moll which of them it was who had attacked her – for it was clear enough one of them had. Georgiana was a woman, and although she was every bit as furious as Matthew appeared, she could set aside her anger and question Moll with sympathy. Let Matthew preserve his fury for the punishment that must certainly be meted out over this.

"Moll," she asked, gently, "did one of these men attack you?"

"Yes, milady," Moll whispered.

"Which one was it, that attacked you?" Georgiana asked, although she felt certain already whom it was Moll was going to name.

"It was Lieutenant Holmes, milady."

In a new spasm of anger, Georgiana glared at Lieutenant Holmes and found him glaring back at her, a gaze so filled with hatred that Georgiana knew at once that she had played an unwitting role in what had happened here. She had been the informer; she had told Matthew of how the ship had come to miss stays, and Holmes must surely have understood that the intelligence came from her. He hated her most intensely by the look of it, but rather than attack her, which would have been too rash and foolish even for Holmes – to attack his captain's wife, a baronet's wife, and the niece of two earls – he had gone after her maid.

Matthew once again ordered both men to remain still, and walked over to the companion-ladder just long enough to put his head above the deck and call out some orders. In moments, several marines stamped down the ladder, awaiting his command, which was: "Lieutenant Holmes is to be confined to his cabin until further notice. I will have two guards on the door at all times. And take Taylor to the bilboes." He turned to Georgiana and spoke more softly: "You had best take her to the cabin."

Georgiana encouraged Moll to stand with her and walk the short distance to the sleeping cabin – the great cabin felt too large for such a time, and she did not know if any of the men of the embassy had remained there, avoiding the ceremony. Once there, she encouraged Moll to sit, and was concerned by the quiet, timid way in which she did so. Georgiana poured a little water into the basin on the wash-table, wetted a piece of flannel, and used it to dab at the cut on Moll's mouth, vaguely aware as she did it that it felt strange to be waiting on her maid in this way, but that it felt right; it was the sort of comfort any female should give to another female who had been afflicted with what Moll had been afflicted with on this evening. Just what that was, Georgiana was yet unsure. Moll appeared little injured aside from the cut on her mouth, and Georgiana prayed Holmes had not gotten too far in his actions before Taylor must have come to Moll's defence.

"You was right, milady, to warn me off flirtin'," Moll said, when Georgiana had finished and was rinsing the flannel in the basin. "He said I was a flirt and should'a come to expect some man would take me to task for it."

"No, Moll," Georgiana said firmly. "You must not let yourself think that. What he did – whatever he did – was not justified by a little harmless flirting. No other man on this ship attempted such evils, even all those lower than his rank."

"He didn't rape me – I know you must be wonderin'. He was wantin' to, and much as I tried to fight him, I think he would've. I never was so a'feared in my life, 'till Taylor came along," Moll said. "Sorry, milady, I shouldn't have said rape. I'm sure you high-born ladies have some other way to say it that's more genteel an' all that."

"We do not, and even if we did I would not wish for you to concern yourself over such things. You have had enough to worry you, Moll. I am only glad Taylor came along when he did."

Here Moll, who had been far more subdued than her usual self but otherwise fairly composed, considering her ordeal, burst into tears. "What's to happen to him? Why did the captain say he was to be put in the bilboes? Taylor didn't do nothin' but help me!"

"I do not know, but I will ask Captain Stanton of it. He is very just; he must have had a reason for what he did."

Georgiana did not have a chance to ask Captain Stanton of it until much later in the evening, when they retired for bed. While the merriment on deck had continued, undoubtedly with some degree of curiosity by all as to what was happening below decks that had necessitated the ongoing attention of the captain and several marines, Georgiana had continued to look after Moll, and the captain had been engaged in a long and bitter discussion with Lieutenant Holmes. He told Georgiana this much but no more before supper, for they had invited the men of the embassy to take that meal in the cabin as a way of concluding the ceremony, and they could not very well rescind the invitation without drawing more attention to the incident.

So while Moll sat quietly in the sleeping cabin, Georgiana and Matthew were required to make their way amongst the men of the embassy and encourage them to take more claret, port, and kickshaws, and neither of them was of a temperament to make this encouragement very convincing when neither of their hearts were in such entertainments. It was almost a relief when one of the men asked if they would play a little music, and they chose one of Beethoven's lighter sonatas, which provided Georgiana with some distraction as well as a clear end to the evening, when they had finished.

Moll quietly carried her hammock into the great cabin, once it had cleared, and Georgiana wished to say something comforting to her, but could not think of the right words. In the end, she gave her maid a sympathetic glance and turned back into the sleeping cabin. Then, struck with a strange thought, she walked over to the washstand and scooped up some water in her hand. Returning to the great cabin, Georgiana said, "Moll, wait," and then walked over to her maid, raising her hand to dribble out on Moll's head what little had not run through her fingers onto the floor, saying, by way of explanation, "I understand it's tradition, when one crosses the line. I wouldn't want it to be – unlucky – that you had none of the ceremony."

For a moment, Moll showed a glimpse of her old spirit, and a smile that was small, but genuine. "Yes, thank you, milady. I don't want to tempt luck."

Georgiana returned her smile, and then stepped out of the cabin, closing the door. When she turned back towards Matthew, she found that the fury of earlier in the day had been replaced by hard, firm anger, and this was confirmed when finally he spoke:

"I told Holmes I was to bring him to court martial, when we reached the Cape. I have tolerated a great deal from him, but this is well beyond the pale. To attack a servant, a woman travelling under my protection – it is unconscionable. If it had been you – God help me," he said, in a tone that made Georgiana think it was more likely Lieutenant Holmes who would have needed the help.

"What will happen, when he is court-martialled?"

"He will not be court-martialled, however much I wish it."

"But what he did – "

"I see you wish for it as much as I do, but unfortunately there is a third in this incident, to whom I must give consideration."

"Yes, Taylor – why did you order him put in bilboes?"

"At first, to allow some cooling-off of all that had happened. He remains in the bilboes for the same reason I shall not bring Holmes to court-martial. Holmes threatened if I did, he would bring charges against Taylor, for striking him. You and I and any reasonable man would see that Taylor did so in defence of Moll, at least at first, and that if he carried on with it far longer than was necessary, it was only out of anger at seeing a woman treated thus. But it remains that he struck an officer, repeatedly, and it is not always reasonable men who sit in judgement of such matters. Taylor has been with me since my first command, and I will not gamble with his life – I would never forgive myself, to see him swing from the yard-arm. He will be punished here, on the ship, so Holmes cannot say later that Taylor's striking of him was overlooked."

"Punished – will he be flogged?" Such an event, a man being flogged, had only happened once since Georgiana had been on the Caroline – a case of extreme drunkenness – although she had of course been sent below so she would not witness it. She knew it was the most common form of naval punishment, and only rare on the Caroline because most of the ship's crew were veteran sailors and even amongst them, Matthew had enjoyed his choice of men, given the peace.

"Not if I can help it, but it will be a delicate matter."

"And Holmes is to go free, after what he has done?"

"He will go free, eventually, but he will not remain on this ship. After some negotiation, we have agreed that I will not bring charges against him, so long as he misses the Blue Peter when we are at Cape Town. There, he shall determine he has no way of catching up with the ship, and will return to England."

"It feels so wrong, that he should not be punished for what he attempted to do."

"It was only an attempt, then? He said it was, but I was not sure whether to believe him. Not that this lessens his guilt, for that was surely his intent. I hoped for her sake he was telling the truth."

"It was only an attempt because of Taylor. I suppose if he must go free to protect Taylor, it is the best thing that can be done in such a situation."

"I am glad you agree with me, dearest. I will admit there is a part of me which wishes to trumpet to all the service that Holmes is neither a gentleman, nor an officer, nor even a seaman, and that he is instead the worst of men. But even if it were not for Taylor, I think after some reflection I would have been hesitant to have this incident made public."

"Why?"

"This sort of scandal always seems to attach itself better to the woman involved rather than the man who commits the crime. I would have wished to ensure her anonymity for her own sake, but beyond that, Moll is your maid. If anonymity had been successful and it got out that a woman travelling on the Caroline had been violated – well, there are only four women travelling on this ship, and you are one of them."

"I do not know that I want a man of Holmes's proclivities to go free, merely for care of my own reputation."

"Well, perhaps fortunately, perhaps not, that is not the choice at hand. It is Taylor's life at stake, not Moll's or your reputation."

Moll seemed a little better in the morning, but still of such a subdued demeanour that she reminded Georgiana more of her elder sister than herself. Such a thing might have been a positive development, for Sarah Kelly was of generally impeccable manners, but for what had clearly precipitated the change.

The day being fine, Georgiana spent the requisite time breaking her fast in the great cabin with some of the men of the embassy, then went on deck. There was no sign of Matthew, whom she recalled vaguely having left their cabin very early in the morning, before she had gone back to sleep. Georgiana spent some time at the railing, gazing out at the endless expanse of blue before her, before Bowden approached her, did his awkward combination of forelock tug and salute, and said, "Milady, the captain called for defaulters at six bells, and if'n ye don't wish to witness punishment I'll take ye down when it's time."

"Thank you, Bowden, I think I will stay on deck, but near enough the companion-ladder that you may escort me down if anything is called for that a lady should not witness."

"Very good, milady," said Bowden, and now that Georgiana studied him, she realised he looked a little relieved. This made sense – Taylor was his messmate, and Georgiana's indication that it was possible there should be no punishment she could not witness must have buoyed his hopes that his friend would not be flogged.

Six bells, and the ship's company assembling on deck. Moll came up and went to stand by Mrs. McClare, who, it seemed, had been informed of at least something of the incident, for she put her arm around her friend's shoulders as they stood there, watching the seamen line up in their divisions. Whether Lieutenant Holmes was still under marine guard or simply did not wish to appear could not be told, but he did not make an appearance on deck.

Matthew did, however, looking harried as he watched the marines bring up Taylor, walking stiffly from having spent the night in the bilboes and presenting two well-scraped sets of knuckles. Matthew, when all had assembled, and the bell had rung – pom-pom, pom-pom, pom-pom – opened up the Articles of War, and commenced a full reading of them, with even more than his usual gravity.

When he had done, he paused for a moment, then said, "We have one defaulter this morning. John Taylor has been witnessed striking a superior officer. Have any of his officers anything to say on his behalf?"

"I do," said Lieutenant Rigby. "Taylor served in my division, when I was a mid on the old Victor, and I knew him then and ever since as a good, reliable man. I understand there was a severe provocation leading to his actions, which few good men could have failed to respond to."

"I do as well," said Midshipman Grant, whose best uniform still seemed a little ill-fitting on him. "Taylor served in my division, during the American war. It is my understanding that Taylor came upon the – the – officer in question in conduct quite – err – unbecoming of an officer – and any violence that occurred came as a result of wishing to stop the – err – conduct."

"He fought courageously during the battle with the Polonais, and then worked tirelessly to repair both the Jupiter and the Polonais, following the battle," said Lieutenant Egerton. "He would not sleep until he was sure we would bring them both in with their bows above the waterline."

"Aye," said old Mr. Randle, the carpenter. "He been a good mate for me, ne'er shirks 'is duty, alwus sober an' reliable. Hard worker. Good man."

Others stepped forward. Travis, Ashton, and several other midshipmen all spoke, until it became clear to Georgiana that Matthew's apparent exhaustion had come from being up and about early, to ensure that anyone who might have had anything good to say about Taylor would say it. His officers would not inform on Holmes, but neither would they see a good man punished for stopping his misconduct. When last it seemed that no one else was to step forward – and perhaps there was truly no one left to step forward – Matthew said:

"Well, this has been an exceedingly positive account of Taylor's conduct, and given there were – extenuating circumstances – involved in this incident, I am inclined to be lenient. Taylor is to have his grog stopped for a week."

Georgiana exhaled in relief, and then smiled, that Matthew should have made this come as right as it could be made to. She glanced over at Moll and saw her maid was too relieved to smile, and was instead threatening tears.

A note: bilboes were a sort of leg iron that could be used to hold a seaman awaiting punishment.