19
The Royal Navy waited off Cape St Nicholas, with Hispaniola to the east and Cuba to the west. The merchantmen and troop transports lay in massive columns, with red-coated soldiers lining the decks, gesticulating and staring at each new arrival as their flags drooping idly. Bustling around the transports, the frigates and smaller craft of the Navy fussed over details, gave orders that the merchantmen occasionally obeyed, and scoured the surrounding seas for the enemy.
The Rangers crowded Dolphin’s deck, mingling with the crew as they joined the fleet.
“Admiral Pocock must expect trouble from the Spanish,” Maxwell said. “There’s Namur, 98. I’ve never seen a 98-gun ship before. Namur is Pocock’s flagship. And there’s Valiant and Culloden, both 74s, and Cambridge, she’s an 80.”
To MacKi
