The Midshipman Prince (47 page)

      
The ship’s various routines, including the flogging (which was not routine but certainly did happen) are, throughout the book, as accurate as I could make it.

CHAPTER TWO

      
Smith’s personal history, as well as that of his father, is all true. Included in that, in case you’re wondering, is the incident with the girl and the washtub boat. It happened exactly as described. Smith’s description of advancement in the Royal Navy is accurate, along with the Army’s policy of selling commissions.

      
The description of 18th Century shipboard medicine is as accurate as I could make it, along with the ease with which one could become a physician or surgeon in those days.

      
The British fleet that was on its way to Yorktown is accurate down to the ships names, respective sizes, and commanding officers.

CHAPTER THREE

      
The Battle of the Capes took place exactly as described including the ship names on both sides, their formations, the times, places, signals, actions, reactions, tactical quandaries, and mistakes. Admiral Graves and Admiral Hood literally spent the rest of their days blaming each other for the defeat in books, articles, and public appearances.

      
If the scenes of human carnage aboard the
Shrewbury
seem quite realistic, it’s because they are. I worked from 18th Century eyewitness accounts of casualties in other naval battles of the period, condensed them, and placed our hero in the middle. If it seems too gory and cruel to believe, it’s because it
was
too gory and cruel to believe. I did not make up any of it. It was the way things were.

      
Finally, Prince William Henry was indeed King George III’s third son. He was indeed a midshipman of some promise, and he was in New York on a morale tour during this period. I moved him down to Yorktown to thicken the plot, as it were. Prince William eventually became King William IV. If there had been no William the IV, there would have been no Queen Victoria, his successor, and 19th Century British and world history would, I believe, have been quite different.

CHAPTER FOUR

      
The Town of York was as described in 1781. Indeed, Nelson House, the Swan Tavern and Moore House not only existed, but still exist and can be toured as part of the Yorktown National Battlefield. I highly recommend you visit it if you are in the area (and my thanks to the caretaker who let me in to see Moore House, even though it was past hours).

      
The
Richmond
and the
Iris
were, in fact, dispatched back to Yorktown to destroy the French anchorage. They were both trapped by the returning French fleet and captured.

      
William Sidney Smith did indeed have two brothers named Charles and John; but his sister with the fancy name, Victoria Alexandrina, is fiction. I contrived it as a device to get Queen Victoria’s name into the story (and to show off that I knew her real name).

CHAPTER FIVE

      
The breakout along the beach is fictional, although the terrain, including the cove and sentry position, is correct. Our hero’s inability to swim the cove is not exceptional. Almost no one in the 18th Century Royal Navy could swim and they could not for the reasons given in the story. If your ship went down, to where would you swim? Rescue helicopters were in remarkably short supply back then.

      
The presence of profiteers during the War of Independence was certainly a fact and many of them did trail the Army to sell the army back its own goods. The term “blagger” is an old British slang word for a “con man.”

      
Susan’s home neighborhood of Portsmouth Common is historical along with the school she attended, Portsmouth Grammar School on Penny Street. Portsmouth Grammar was considered radical in its day for providing free education to the poor, the working class, and especially to girls.
 

      
The descriptions of the woods and the fields of daffodils in the vicinity of Gloucester are accurate. It seems that area of Virginia is the perfect environment for daffodils to flourish. Early settlers brought the bulbs with them from England where they got passed around and planted in all sorts of locations. One variety in particular, the Trumpet Major, seemed to thrive on neglect. In the 1930’s Gloucester was named the “Daffodil Capital of America” and, to this day, they hold a festival every spring to commemorate its history.

      
The description of Gloucestertown is historically correct including my descriptions of the Courthouse Tavern and the Debtor’s Prison. The “Tavern at the Gloucester Courthouse” was described in an advertisement in a 1774 edition of the Virginia Gazette. Amazingly, it really did have a billiard table. Both buildings still stand. The fishing village, however, is fictional even though there is a “Drum Point” and there is a road called “Bailey’s Wharf” in the vicinity.

      
Letters of Introduction were common requirements for travel in Colonial days and convicted criminals really were branded on the palms of their right hands. That is the origin of “raising your right hand” before giving testimony on a courtroom. The court is simply checking out your rap sheet.

      
The burley Hugh Hayes is a fictional character. Any resemblance between him and a certain All-State left tackle that played next to me on our high school football team is purely coincidental.

CHAPTER SIX

      
The Debtor’s Prison is as described and can still be seen in the town of Gloucester, where the barred rear windows do indeed face the street as described.

      
Captain Finch is fictional, but “Washington’s Wolfpack” is not. They were the U.S. Navy before there was a U.S. Navy. Unfortunately, few modern readers have ever heard of them (H-m-m-m, might be the grist for a novel there).

      
Hayes’ description of the lot of a pressed man was accurate. They were literally picked up off the streets and involuntarily whisked away to a waiting ship. Each was asked if they were willing to join rather than be pressed. The only difference was that if you joined you received a shilling (known as “Taking the King’s Coin”) and the word “Vol” was put after your name in the ships muster book. Either way, you were going.

      
The press might sound like a cruel and capricious institution and, in many ways, it was; but, it would be a mistake to judge it from the standpoint of our modern, social safety-netted, society. In 18th Century England, being “poor” did not mean you were unable to afford a color television—it meant you were unable to
eat
—and there was no shortage of poor people.

      
Yes, people were involuntarily swept up and placed on those ships. But they were also guaranteed three meals a day, clothing, a sheltered place to sleep, a tot of rum per day, and medical care—
all
of which was unheard of in the slums of London. And yes, being in His Majesty’s Navy was hard, dangerous, work where you could easily be killed or maimed. But that was equally true of working in the mines, mills and, later, the factories of the era. The very concept of OSHA would have been laughable in the 18th Century.

      
True, the Navy did not pay well, but you also had no immediate expenses and there was a possibility of growing relatively wealthy via the prize money you could earn.

      
Hayes’ description of his torn loyalties between living under the Crown and living in a free society were representative of thousands of people in the colonies. His statement: “We just want to be left alone. Is that too much to ask?” pretty much sums up most people’s attitude toward the whole war.

      
The first experimental military rockets were indeed developed by General Thomas Desaguliers (1683-1744) at the Royal Laboratory in Woolwich; but they proved to be too uncontrollable for practical use. After the period of this book, however, Thomas Congreve, Jr. perfected several versions that were more workable. Indeed, when we sing our national anthem and relive “the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air” over Fort McHenry—those were Congreve Rockets. The stabilizing system that Congreve used was a long pole trailing after the rocket, sort of like the “bottle rockets” kids (young and old) will set off today on the Fourth of July. It wasn’t until the fin was developed, however, that rockets became stable enough for practical use.

CHAPTER SEVEN

      
The
Tisiphone
was a real ship, which, under Captain James Saumarez, distinguished itself at the Bay of Biscay, and was selected to deliver the news to Admiral Hood in the West Indies.
 

      
Captain, later Admiral, Saumarez was to become one of the greatest fighting captains in the Royal Navy, some would say second only to the great Nelson (or Thomas Cochrane, or Sidney Smith—this topic will draw an argument every time among historians of the period). He distinguished himself in numerous major battles including being Nelson’s second-in-command at the Battle of the Nile. (See
The Temple
- Book 3 of the Sir Sidney Smith Series.)

      
Cornwallis’ surrender occurred as detailed including the alleged playing of the song: “The World Turned Upside Down.” Modern scholars, however, now doubt that particular piece of musical tradition because: a) it is not mentioned in any of the eyewitness accounts of the surrender, and b) as Saumarez points out—Cornwallis had no band in his army. However, it is true that Admiral Hood set forth to rescue Cornwallis on the very day he surrendered.

      
The Battle of Biscay (also known as the Second Battle of Ushant) occurred as described and dealt a crippling blow to France’s attempts to reinforce and re-supply DeGrasse.

      
Hiram Boult is a fictional character along with his approach to medicine. Any resemblance between him and a former colleague of mine from my medical school teaching days is purely coincidental—even if Chad would have loved to serve on one of those ships.

      
The governor of Antigua was indeed Sir Thomas Shirley and the port of English Harbor was as described. Fort Shirley was in fact being built during this period.

      
The attitude of Saumarez to slavery was not un-typical of his day; and the points he makes are all historically accurate.

CHAPTER EIGHT

      
There was indeed a mail packet ship called the
Badger
and it was indeed commanded by a Lieutenant Cornwallis (no relation to the famous family). There was also, historically, an action between the British ships
Torbay
and
London
versus the French
Diadem
and
Sibylle,
which the
Badger
witnessed. The skirmish proceeded as described. The only variance with historical fact was that the
Badger
was not captured in this battle. But, it was time to get my characters into trouble again so the
Badger
had to go.

      
Sir Charles Douglas was an important character in 18th Century British naval history. He personally introduced every one of the gunnery improvements mentioned in the chapter and he was captain of the
Formidable
at he Battle of the Saints described in chapters 10 and 11. All descriptions of gunnery procedures and equipment are accurate.

      
The
Diadem
was a real French ship and played a pivotal role in the Battle of the Saints. I think Captain De Monteclerc might have been her captain, but I cannot absolutely confirm that.
 

      
“Parole” was something offered captured officers on both sides. It simply meant you would not try to escape, nor would you fight again until you were exchanged. The wording of Cornwallis’s parole on behalf of himself and Walker/Smith is critical: “...until and unless this ship comes into armed conflict with one of our own.” This caveat was what allowed Smith and Walker to later take up arms again, with honor, while they were still prisoners.

CHAPTER NINE

      
The Battle of Frigate Bay occurred as described, including the laughter at the end of it and the timed escape the next morning. Although most people have never heard of it, the battle was an important event. It not only served notice that De Grasse could be beaten; but it allowed Hood to justify his actions at the Battle of the Capes. At Frigate Bay, Hood employed almost exactly the same tactics that he urged on Admiral Graves at Yorktown, but was rejected.