Jacob Chase

Jacob 'Cob' Chase is an Able Seaman aboard HMS Terpsichore. He is a PC belonging to Keiju. His PB is an unknown extra from Hornblower: Fireships.

Family
Father: Jasper Chase

Mother: Doryty Chase (née Trengrouse)

Brothers: David, Hezekiah, Esau

Early Life
It was sea air that filled Jacob Chase's lungs when he was born and ever afterward his mother would claim it was that to blame for her youngest son going away to sea. His childhood was spent largely on the beaches near the village, when he was not hanging about the fishing docks. The harbour provided a welcome shelter for innumerable ships and watching them come and go often kept the boy enthralled for hours at a time. It meant he was seldom in his father's shop attending his chores, which never went down well.

Jasper Chase made his living as a cooper and had a fair reputation, which made his shop suitably busy. He relied upon his sons for assistance in the less skilled aspects of his trade and, with the except of young Jacob, he did not want for it. Matters were not helped by the fact that Jasper was a firm follower of the teachings of John Wesley and never ignored an opportunity to preach to his sons along that line and, when he deemed it necessary, to punish them for any transgressions he felt they had committed.

Perhaps because he was the youngest of the four, Jacob did not take as well to that situation as did his brothers. He took every chance to skive off and felt no regrets about leaving the dreary labourer's work to his brothers and his father's two apprentices. Only illness could keep him indoors, where his mother - a noticeably less wilful individual than his father - could fuss over him. Being confined inside was the greatest of torments, however, and it was never long before Jacob was out-of-doors again.

Going to Sea
He was ten years old when he first went to sea. There were two Navy ships at anchor in the outer harbour and shore parties from both were roaming the waterfront. Young Chase gawped at the sailors in their mostly-clean canvas trousers, blue woollen short jackets, and black tarred hats. To him, they were splendid-looking beings. Sailing men were a common sight in the village though Navy seamen, to Chase, had a particular appeal. It was a foregone conclusion that he would go to sea. What remained to be determined was how, but that question was answered when Chase boldly approached one of the shore parties and asked to serve.

The captain of HM Sloop Hazard required the permission of Chase's father before permitting the boy to join the ship, but this formality did not take long to dispense with. If the truth were known, Jasper Chase was only too happy to be rid of what he considered to be dead weight. When Hazard weighed anchor, Chase was aboard her. It was the happiest day of his life. Before then, he had only waded up to his knees in the surf at Porthcurnick beach. To finally be out sailing on the sea was an occasion of great joy. He had little true idea of what awaited him in his new life but it hardly mattered.

Any romantic illusions he might have had about life afloat began to be dispelled on his very first day aboard, for Captain Butterfield ordered him washed at once, an activity that resulted in a bowline loop being slung underneath the boy's arm pits, with a bristle brush then shoved into his hands. Before he knew what was happening, Chase was swayed up and out over the side and then down into the sea. He had never scrubbed himself clean so swiftly in his life. The indiginities were not ended. His shore clothes were disposed of and, to his horror, his untidy tousle of hair was unceremoniously shorn off, leaving him thoroughly bald. This was, according to Butterfield, to mark that he was a newborn son of the sea, and from then forward would have to earn everything that an able-bodied seaman possessed by right and experience.

After such a harsh introduction to the Navy, it was no surprise that Chase's first months at sea proved difficult and very demanding, but his determination to be a sailor helped him through the long days and constant loneliness. There were six other boys his age aboard and these became a rough sort of family. It was from these lads that Chase learned the most about how to survive aboard ship. He was fortunate in that and in his assignment to work for the ship's carpenter, cleaning that man's cabin and workspaces, and assisting with lesser tasks about the ship. This work gave him an appreciation for the importance of diligence to even the small details. Even if, as only a boy, he constantly yearned to be on deck with the working crew.

Hazard was on the Irish station and had a busy, largely successful time of it. Several prizes were taken and during one action with a French vessel, Chase was amongst the boarders who went over. He was only ten and had never wielded a weapon before, never mind in anger, but his eagerness to fight for his ship did not pass unnoticed. He and the other ship's boys began receiving instruction in the use of dirks and small axes shortly thereafter. Chase, however, had used a boarding axe during the brief action and would ever after have a preference for that weapon.

He left Hazard when he was thirteen, having been sent to join HM Sloop Hornet, 16, to make up that ship's complement before she sailed for the West Indies. Here, he found himself being put to work as an officer's servant, which quickly became a job he despised. He languished in this menial position until he was fifteen, when he was permitted to join the working crew as an ordinary seaman. It was what he'd been waiting for and he threw himself enthusiastically into his new duties. He stood watches as a waister, which work proved hard and demanding, especially for a boy, but Chase hardly cared. This was one step closer to realising his dream of becoming an able seaman.

He was sixteen when he left Hornet, as part of a draft ordered to join HMS Donegal, 74, which was fitting out for a cruise to the Mediterranean. Though still an ordinary seaman, he was a steady hand and well on his way to mastering the duties of a waister. He had been aloft only a few times but longed to become a topman, the elite of any ship’s company. This distinction did not come until after he turned seventeen, shortly before Donegal reached her assigned station. To his unending pleasure, he joined the foretop crew, with an older sailor named Jonny Dickson directed to be his mentor. From Dickson, Chase's education in the seaman's craft truly began.

Bad luck shortly began to plague Chase's career. He had missed the great fleet actions of the Glorious First of June and later Camperdown and the Nile, and by sheer chance was away from Donegal with a prize when the battle of San Domingo was fought. Further misfortune came when Chase and a handful of other seamen were sent ashore to hospital in Plymouth, having fallen ill with fever. It was a brief end to several years of constant time at sea and it nearly drove the young sailor out of his mind.

Upon being discharged from Haslar Hospital, Chase spent a couple of weeks on the beach, not having a ship to return to. It was a stroke of good luck that got him aboard HMS Terpsichore, 32, when she touched in Plymouth briefly before sailing to join the squadron operating off the coast of Portugal. To his delight, he was put in the foretop, a distinction that, to him, best shows his worth as a sailor.

Life as a Terpsichore
Chase's service aboard the frigate was largely uneventful until Terpsichore joined the Portuguese squadron. A new midshipman, Mathew de Guarde, joined the ship from HMS Confidence and almost at once caused a stir. Soon after taking the young midshipman's dunnage below, Chase was on the gundeck with Billy Barrow and Will Taylor, discussing their new young gentleman  when de Guarde himself spotted them. The trio were accused of being drunk and idle, with an added insult of being called lazy and insubordinate. Mister de Guarde promised to have them all flogged these offences, despite their denials of them or perhaps because of those denials. He had never been one to tolerate slander, even from an officer-in-training, so Chase took it upon himself to call the boatswain to the gundeck. If he was going to be flogged, even for such a flimsy reason, he saw no reason to delay the inevitable arrest.

Unfortunately for de Guarde, the incident was witnessed by Lieutenant Leat, who, being Chase's divisional officer, took exception to the goings-on. Meanwhile, Billy Barrow took advantage of his position as Captain Bolitho's personal coxswain to report the incident to Bolitho. The outcome could not be avoided though, lest discipline be negatively affected. At any rate, it was all right with Chase, who was fairly cheerful about the whole mess even while biding the time away in the leg-irons. His only real gripe was that the irons made his ankles itch. Billy Barrow brought a tankard of grog and a ship's biscuit, which Thompson, the prisoners' sentry, allowed him to give to Chase. Such was his upbeat mood that he shared half the biscuit with Thompson as the two discussed floggings they'd each had in the past.

He bore his flogging stoically though the surgeon's offering of a mirror so Chase could see his flayed back was a bit much. His visit to the sickberth drew a mixed crowd, which Mister Crozier, the surgeon, shooed away. Later in the dogwatches that evening, Chase joined the rest of the crew in a skylark on the foc's'le. It was a lively time with a bit of lighthearted mischief involved on the part of seamen and Marines both  All was not complete merriment though, as after the dancing had ended, Mister Midshipman de Guarde came rushing on deck to vomit over the side. It was a spectacle Chase regarded with a cold sort of pleasure.

That night, somebody manhandled Mister de Guarde topside and threw him over the side. Chase was part of the boat crew that went to the rescue, despite the painful state of his back. It wasn't known who was responsible for giving the midshipman a Jonah lift but suspicion fell on Chase because of the events earlier in the day. The following morning found him back to work, albeit on light duties. It wasn't long before Mister de Guarde, smarting after an uncomfortable interview with the captain, picked him out for harrassment. He was stoutly resistant to the midshipman's attempts to provoke him, despite being ordered to clean the ship's heads - a task beneath a topman's dignity. Both the surgeon and Lieutenant Leat intervened, which did little to ease the midshipman's targetting of Chase.

A storm blew in that afternoon, which brought amusement and annoyance with it. During an attempt to hammer a horseshoe to the mainmast for good luck, a ship was sighted and the crew was called to quarters. A confrontation happened on the gundeck when de Guarde demanded to know why Chase was present with his guncrew and not making himself useful. The midshipman then demanded that Chase tell him who was responsible for throwing him overboard, knowledge that Chase didn't have. When Chase refused to tell what he didn't know, the midshipman tried to shove him but Chase called for another midshipman to stop the attack. Shortly thereafter, Chase and de Guarde were summoned by Lieutenant Bush, who decided, to their mutual surprise (and perhaps disbelief), that Chase was to be de Guarde's sea-daddy, or mentor, to help him adjust to the way things were done in Terpsichore. On their way back to the gundeck, they were stopped by Lieutenant Leat, who took de Guarde aft again. The rest of the day was largely taken up by engaging and capturing the other ship, which was a French frigate called Victorieuse.