JULIAN STOCKWIN

Quarterdeck

Kydd sea Adventure

MCBOOKS PRESS, INC. ITHACA, NEW YORK

Published by McBooks Press 2005 Copyright © 2004 by Julian Stockwin

First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Hodder and Stoughton A division of Hodder Headline

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher. Requests for such permissions should be addressed to McBooks Press, Inc., ID Booth Building, 520 North Meadow St., Ithaca, NY 14850.

Cover painting by Geoff Hunt

Cover and interior designed by Panda Musgrove

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stockwin, Julian. Quarterdeck : a Kydd sea adventure / by Julian Stockwin.

p. cm.

ISBN 1-59013-115-0 (hc. : alk. paper) 978-1-59013-128-2, 1-59013-128-2 (trade pbk : alk. paper) 1. Kydd, Thomas (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History, Naval—18th century—Fiction. 3. Seafaring life—Fiction. 4. Sailors—Fiction. I. Title.

PR6119.T66Q37 2005

823'.92—dc22 2005010741

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Printed in the United States of America

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

In recent memory of Lieutenant Chris Walklett, RN A true heart of oak

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PROLOGUE

A CLOCK TICKED LOUDLY IN THE SILENCE. The three commissioners, experienced sea captains all, stared implacably at the candidate, waiting for his answer.

Acting Lieutenant Thomas Kydd had every reason to feel the terror that froze his bowels: failure at this examination would see him stripped of his temporary rank and returned ingloriously to his old shipmates.