Ransome had been extremely lucky in one thing? With the ship being commissioned on the Thames he had been able to secure the cream of the press. Men off incoming merchant ships, transfers from vessels laid up in ordinary, he had been in a position to complete his company with far less difficulty than most captains?

Against the apparent taut atmosphere in the ship was a rather negative list of reports in the log books? Only once had Sparrow been called to action in the two years since leaving England, and then as secondary reinforcement to a frigate attacking a blockade runner? It was little wonder that Midshipman Heyward had showed some concern at his remarks about the big bow chasers. He had probably imagined his words to be some sort of criticism at their lack of use?

There were the usual lists of men transferred to other ships because of promotion and the like. Their places had been filled by what Ransome had termed "local colonist volunteers" in his personal log. Bolitho had lingered a good deal on the previous captain's daily records. His comments were extremely brief and it was impossible to get even a feel of the man. As he paused to glance around the cabin from time to time Bolitho found himself wondering about Ransome. An experienced and competent officer, obviously a man ob good breeding and therefore influence, the cabin seemed at odds with his mental portrait. Extremely attractive, comfortable, yet just that too much removed from what you might expect in a ship-of-war?

He sighed and leaned back in the chair as his cabin servant, Fitch, padded into the shafted sunlight to remove the remains of his meal?

Fitch was tiny. A miserable scrap of a man, who had already confessed to having been a petty thief in his unfortunate past. Saved from transportation or worse by the timely arrival of a King's ship as he awaited sentence at the Assizes, he had accepted life at sea more as an extension to his punishment than any love of service. But he seemed a capable servant and was probably well pleased with his work. It kept him from the heavier tasks on deck, and provided his current master was a humane man he had little to fear?