• Complain

Alexander Kent - Stand into Danger

Here you can read online Alexander Kent - Stand into Danger full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. genre: Adventure. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

No cover

Stand into Danger: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Stand into Danger" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

The year is 1774 and Bolitho is now a newly appointed third lieutenant joining the 28-gun frigate Destiny at Plymouth. It is a far step from midshipmans berth to wardroom and at a time when most of the fleet is laid up Bolitho is considered fortunate. Bolithos promotion is tinged by personal sadness, but his new captain soon points out that Bolithos loyalty is to him, the ship and His Britannic Majesty in that order. Despatched on a secret mission far south to Rio and then to the Caribbean, Destiny and her company face the hazards of conspiracy, treason and piracy and, as the little ship sails on, Bolitho has to learn amid broadside battles at sea and the clash of swords in hand-to-hand actions how to accept his new responsibilities as a Kings officer.

Alexander Kent: author's other books


Who wrote Stand into Danger? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Stand into Danger — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Stand into Danger" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Alexander Kent

Stand into Danger

(Bolitho 4)

Far away where sky met sea

A majestic figure grew,

Pushed along by Royal decree

Her aggressive pennants flew.

Blazing red, dark plumes of grey,

Destruction overall,

As shot and grape found its way

Into a human wall.

From A Mariners Tale

by Daniel Byrne

Welcome Aboard

RICHARD BOLITHO thrust some coins into the hand of the man who had carried his sea-chest to the jetty and shivered in the damp air. It was halfway through the forenoon, and yet much of the land and the sprawling houses of Plymouth were hidden in drifting mist. No wind at all to speak of, so that the mist made everything look eerie and dismal.

Bolitho squared his shoulders and stared across the swirling water of the Hamoaze. As he did so he felt the unfamiliar touch of his lieutenants uniform which, like everything in his sea-chest, was new: the white lapels of his coat, the cocked hat set squarely across his black hair. Even his breeches and shoes had come from the same shop in Falmouth, in his own county just across the river, from the tailor whose family had been making clothing for sea officers since anyone could remember.

It should be his proudest moment. All he had worked and hoped for. That first, seemingly impossible step from midshipmans berth to wardroom, to become a Kings officer.

He tugged his hat more firmly across his forehead as if to make himself believe it. It was his proudest moment.

Be you joinin th Destiny, zur?

Bolitho saw that the man who had carried the chest was still beside him. In the dull light he looked poor and ragged, but there was no mistaking what he had once been: a seaman.

Bolitho said, Yes, shes lying out there somewhere.

The man followed his glance across the water, his eyes faraway.

Fine frigate, zur. Only three years old, she be. He nodded sadly. Shes bin fittin out for months. Some say for a long voyage.

Bolitho thought of this man and all the hundreds like him who roamed the shorelines and harbours looking for work, yearning for the sea which theyd once cursed and damned with the best of them.

But this was February 1774, and to all accounts England had been at peace for years. Wars still erupted around the world, of course, but always in the name of trade or self-preservation. Only the old enemies remained the same, content to bide their time, to seek out the weakness which might one day be exploited.

Ships and men, once worth their weight in gold, were cast aside. The vessels to rot, the seamen, like this ragged figure with all the fingers missing from one hand and a scar on his cheek as deep as a knife, left without the means to live.

Bolitho asked, What were you in?

Astonishingly, the man seemed to expand and straighten his back as he answered, Th Torbay, zur. Capn Keppel. Just as quickly he slumped down again. Any chance of a berth in your ship, zur?

Bolitho shook his head. Im new. I dont know the state aboard Destiny as yet.

The man sighed. Ill call e a boat then, zur.

He put his good hand in his mouth and gave a piercing whistle. There was an answering clatter of oars in the mist and very slowly a watermans boat nudged towards the jetty.

Bolitho called, Destiny, if you please!

Then he turned to give some more coins to his ragged companion, but he had vanished into the mist. Like a ghost. Gone perhaps to join all the others.

Bolitho clambered into the boat and drew his new cloak around him, his sword gripped between his legs. The waiting was done. It was no longer the day after tomorrow and then tomorrow. It was now.

The boat dipped and gurgled in a cross-current, the oarsman watching Bolitho with little enthusiasm. Another young luff going to make some poor jacks life hell, he thought. He wondered if the young officer with the grave features and black hair tied to the nape of his neck was so new he would not know the proper watermans fare. But then again, this one had a West Country touch in his voice, and even if he was a foreigner from across the border in Cornwall, he would not be fooled.

Bolitho went over all that he had discovered about his new ship. Three years old, the ragged man had said. He would know. All Plymouth probably pondered over the care which was being taken to equip and man a frigate in these hard times.

Twenty-eight guns, fast and agile, Destiny was what most young officers dreamed of. In time of war, free of the fleets apron strings, swifter than any larger vessel, and more heavily armed than anything smaller, a frigate was a force to be reckoned with. Better hopes of promotion, too, and if you were lucky enough ever to reach the lofty peak of command, so too would a frigate offer the chance of action and prize-money.

Bolitho thought of his last ship, the seventy-four-gun Gorgon. Huge, slow-moving, a teeming world of people, miles of rigging, vast spans of canvas, and the spars to carry it. It was also a schoolroom, where the young midshipmen learned how to control and sustain their unwieldy charge, and they learned the hard way.

Bolitho looked up as the waterman said, Should be seeing her about now, sir.

Bolitho peered ahead, glad of the interruption to his thoughts. As his mother had said when he had left her in the big grey house at Falmouth, Put it behind you, Dick. You cannot bring him back. So take care of yourself now. The sea is no place for the unwary.

The mist darkened and edged aside as the anchored ship loomed into view. The boat was approaching her starboard bow and past the long tapering jib-boom. Like Bolithos new uniform on the wet jetty, the Destiny seemed to shine through the drifting murk.

From her lithe black and buff hull to her three mastheads she was a thoroughbred. All her shrouds and standing rigging were freshly blacked down, her yards crossed, and each sail neatly furled to match its neighbour.

Bolitho raised his eyes to the figurehead as it reached out as if to greet him. It was the most beautiful one he had ever seen. A bare-breasted girl with her out-thrust arm pointing to the next horizon. In her hand she held the victors crown of laurels. Only the laurels and her unwavering blue stare had been inserted to break her white purity.

The waterman said between pulls, They say that the woodcarver used his young bride to copy for that, sir. He showed his teeth in what might have been a grin. I reckon he had to fight a few away from her!

Bolitho watched the frigate slipping past the boat, the occasional activity on her nearest gangway and high above the deck.

She was a beautiful ship. He was lucky.

Boat ahoy!

The waterman bawled in reply, Aye, aye!

Bolitho saw some movement at the entry port, but not enough to excite much attention. The watermans answer to the challenge had said it all. An officer was joining the ship, but nobody senior enough to bother about, let alone her captain.

Bolitho stood up as two seamen leapt into the boat to help make fast and to collect his chest. Bolitho glanced at them quickly. He was not fully eighteen years old, but he had been at sea since he was twelve and had learned to assess and measure the skills of sailormen.

They looked tough and hardy, but the hull of a ship could hide a lot. The sweepings of jails and assize courts, being sent to sea to serve the King rather than face deportation or a hangmans halter.

The seamen stood aside in the pitching boat as Bolitho handed the oarsman some money.

The man pushed it into his jerkin and grinned. Thankee, sir. Good luck!

Bolitho climbed up the frigates tumblehome and stepped through the entry port. He was astonished at the difference even though hed been expecting it. After a ship of the line, the Destiny seemed crowded to a point of confusion. From the twenty 12pounders on her gun deck to the smaller weapons further aft every inch of space seemed to have a purpose and to be in use. Neatly flaked lines, halliards and braces, tiered boats and racks of pikes at the foot of each mast, while in and around every item were men he must soon know by name.

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Stand into Danger»

Look at similar books to Stand into Danger. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
No cover
No cover
ALEXANDER KENT
No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
No cover
No cover
Alexander Kent
Reviews about «Stand into Danger»

Discussion, reviews of the book Stand into Danger and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.