Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (Outlander)(226)

A consul is a much less formal office, though also appointed by the government. A consul’s duties are to look after the welfare of British citizens in the country to which he’s appointed. He would assist with things like permits to do business, small trade agreements, the relief of British citizens who have run into trouble in the foreign country, and so on. He does not have full diplomatic powers but is generally regarded as part of the diplomatic service.

Now, Britain didn’t have a real ambassador to Cuba until sometime in the late 1800s. They did have consuls appointed for some time prior to the appointment of a real ambassador, though, and Malcolm Stubbs would have been one of these.





The Siege of Havana


The thing about a siege is that it’s usually rather a long-drawn-out affair. The 1762 siege of Havana (there was more than one, so we need to specify the date) took several weeks, beginning with the arrival of the Duke of Albemarle’s fleet (under the command of Admiral George Pocock—a real person, and, no, I have No Idea whether he might have anything to do with anyone else we’ve met recently…) on June 6 and ending on August 14, when the British entered the conquered city.

It was a fairly traditional siege, in that the British were obliged to throw up breastworks from which to fire. That’s the traditional way of referring to the act of erecting or digging barriers to shelter the besieging forces—and in some instances, it is pretty rapid. Others, not so much.

At Havana, the rock of the promontory on which the fortress of El Morro sat was impervious to digging and prevented a head-on advance. The British (or, rather, the American volunteers from Connecticut and New Hampshire—though, mark me, these men were still Englishmen at the time) had to blast trenches through the hard coral rock to approach from the sides and erect wooden breastworks above the trenches to cover the advance. This was naturally a tedious business, made worse by mosquitoes and yellow fever (which killed an enormous number of both besiegers and inhabitants of the city).

If you want an account of the actual siege, there are plenty of them available online, some with considerable detail. However…this particular story is not really about the siege (let alone how many ships of the line and how many men took part—21 ships of the line, 24 lesser warships, and 168 other vessels, mainly transports, carrying 14,000 seamen and marines, 3,000 hired sailors, and 12,862 regulars, if you do care) but about Lord John and his personal sense of honor and responsibility.

That being so, I’ve chosen to shorten the duration of the siege considerably rather than find a way for Lord John to spend an extra six weeks doing nothing.

Now, I will note that while the slave revolt at the Mendez and Saavedra plantations is a fictional one, there were several slave revolts on Cuba during the second half of the eighteenth century, and such an event would not be improbable in the least.

Likewise, while I found no account of the guns of El Morro being spiked, it is true that the siege was finally ended by a naval bombardment of the fortress—taking advantage of the sudden silence of most of the guns of the castle’s battery.

And there is a historical note that ninety slaves were given their freedom after the battle, in return for their services during the siege.





This book is dedicated with the greatest respect and gratitude to Karen Henry, Rita Meistrell, Vicki Pack, Sandy Parker, and Mandy Tidwell (collectively known as “the Cadre of Eyeball-Numbing Nitpickery”) for their invaluable help in spotting errors, inconsistencies, and assorted rubbish.

(Any errors remaining in the text are purely the responsibility of the author, who not only blithely ignores inconsistencies on occasion, but has been known to deliberately perpetrate others.)





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


I’d like to acknowledge…

The invaluable suggestions regarding the French bits of dialogue contributed by Bev LaFrance (France), Gilbert Sureau (French Canada), and a number of other nice people whose names I unfortunately didn’t write down at the time…

The assistance of Maria Syzbek in the delicate matter of Polish vulgarities (any errors in grammar, spelling, or accent marks are entirely mine) and of Douglas Watkins in the technical descriptions of small-plane maneuvers (also the valuable suggestion of the malfunction that brought Jerry’s Spitfire down)…

The help of several people in researching aspects of Jewish history, law, and custom for “Virgins”: Elle Druskin (author of To Catch a Cop), Sarah Meyer (registered midwife), Carol Krenz, Celia K. and her Reb mom, and especially Darlene Marshall (author of Castaway Dreams). I’m indebted also to Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s very helpful book Jewish Literacy. Any errors are mine…

Eve Ackermann and Elle Druskin for helpful notes and references regarding Sephardic wedding traditions and rituals…

Catherine MacGregor and her Francophone associates, especially Madame Claire Fluet, for unblushing help with the lascivious French bits…

Selina Walker and Cass DiBello for kind assistance with eighteenth-century London geography…

Simcha Meijer, for help with the Dutch language bits, and to a number of helpful Dutch readers on Facebook, for suggestions as to appropriate powdered sugar pastries for a pregnant lady…