Alexander Kent - Success to the Brave (The Bolitho Novels) (Vol 15)

The stirring story of the life and times of Richard Bolitho is told in Alexander Kent's bestselling novels.

1756 Born Falmouth, son of James Bolitho 1768 Entered the King's service as a Midshipman on Manxman

1772 Midshipman, Gorgon {Midshipman B olitho) 1774 Promoted Lieutenant, Destiny: Rio and the Caribbean {Stand into Danger)

1775-7 Lieutenant, Trojan, during the American Revolution. Later appointed prizemaster {In Gallant Company)

1778 Promoted Commander, Sparrow. Battle of the Chesapeake {Sloop of War)

1782 Promoted Captain, Phalarope; West Indies: Battle of Saintes {To Glory We Steer)

1784 Captain, Undine; India and East Indies {Command a King's Ship)

1787 Captain, Tempest; Great South Sea; Tahiti; suffered serious fever {Passage to Mutiny)

Captain, the Nore; Recruiting ( With All Despatch)

Captain, Hyperion; Mediterranean; Bay of Biscay; West Indies {Form Line of Battle! and Enemy in Sight)

1795 Promoted Flag Captain, Euryalus; involved in the Great Mutiny; Mediterranean; Promoted Commodore {The Flag Captain)

1798 Battle of the Nile {Signal - Close Action!)

Promoted Rear-Admiral; Baltic; {The Inshore Squadron)

Biscay. Prisoner of war {A Tradition of Victory)

Promoted Vice-Admiral; West Indies {Success to the Brave)

Mediterranean {Colours Aloft!)

1805 Battle of Trafalgar {Honour This Day)

1806-7 Good Hope and the second battle of Copenhagen

{The Only Victor)

1808 Shipwrecked off Africa {Beyond The Reef)

1809-10 Mauritius campaign {The Darkening Sea)

1812 Promoted Admiral; Second American War {For My

Country's Freedom)

1814 Defence of Canada {Sword of Honour)

Alexander Kent is the author of twenty-three books featuring Richard Bolitho. Under his own name, Douglas Reeman has written thirty-one novels and two non-fiction books.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Papers used by Random House are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin

ISBN 0 09 936370 4

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading, Berkshire

For Winifred with my love. Until we meet again

Contents

Flag at the Fore11

Old Katie'

Man of Action37

A Place to Meet53

'There may be thunder...

No Easy Way82

To Start a War97

Faith

A Close Thing128

The Face of Loyalty144

Revenge

The Letter

A Holy Day188

No Better Sentiment205

Last Farewell2 17

The Secret

Fair Warning246

How Sleep the Brave.

Epilogue

How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, By all their country's wishes blest!

WILLIAM COLLINS. 1746

Flag at the Fore

Richard Bolitho leaned his palms on the sill of an open window and stared across the courtyard to the far wall and the sea beyond.

It should have been a perfect May day, and even the squat silhouette of Pendennis Castle which guarded the Falmouth approaches and the entrance to Carrick Roads seemed less formidable. After nine years of war with France and her allies England was at peace. It was still hard to accept. When a strange sail appeared off the coast the young men of Falmouth no longer stood to arms in case it was an enemy raider, or hurried inland with less enthusiasm if the newcomer proved to be a King's ship. The latter always meant the arrival of the hated press-gangs and men snatched from their homes to serve at sea, perhaps never to return. No wonder it was hard to believe it was all over.

He watched the carriage resting in the shadows near the stables. It was nearly t ime. Soon the horses would be led out and harnessed. It was no longer next week or even tomorrow. It was now.

Bolitho turned and waited for his eyes to grow accustomed to the room after the reflected sunlight. The big grey house which had served the Bolitho family for generations was very still, as if it too was holding its breath, trying to hold back the inevitable.

It had been seven months since he had returned here after the battle which had destroyed the enemy's hopes of an invasion and had equally crippled the French bargaining power at the peace negotiations. Seven months since he had married Belinda and had known a sublime happiness which he had never expected.

He walked to the foot of the great staircase and glanced at the shadowy family portraits. They must all have stood here at such a moment, he thought. Wondering when or if they would ever see the house again. His great, great grandfather, Captain Daniel Bolitho, on the deck of his blazing ship. He had died in the War of the Protestant Alliance. The Bolitho features were very clear in the portrait. Like Bolitho's father and his brother Hugh, also dead, and all the others.

Now he was off to sea again and the past few months seemed to have gone in the turning of an hour-glass. When he had been summoned to the Admiralty in London he had not known what to expect. With the Peace of Amiens signed and apparently holding, it seemed as if all the bitterly won lessons had been thrown aside. Most of the fleet had been laid up and thousands of officers and men discharged to fend as best they could.

Posts for junior flag-officers would be few and handed out as favours by the lords of admiralty. Bolitho had been astonished when he had been told of his orders to sail with a minimum of delay for America and then the Caribbean. Not in command of another squadron, but in a small two-decker with a mere frigate for communications and general escort.

He had been courteously if formally received by Admiral Sir Hayward Sheaffe who had succeeded old Admiral Beauchamp. He had seemed to stamp the difference between war and peace, Bolitho thought. Beauchamp, worn out by illness, had died in harness without knowing his last strategy had succeeded with the French invasion fleet's destruction. Sheaffe was cool, practical, the perfect administrator. It had been hard to imagine his ever being through the mill from midshipman to his present lofty appointment.

In this quiet room Bolitho could recall Sheaffe's words as if they had just been uttered.

'I know this must seem a hard decision, Bolitho. After your escape from an enemy prison and your subsequent victory over the French admiral, Remond, you will have been expecting, and many would say rightly so, a more stable appointment. However ..." His voice had lingered on the word. 'War does not end with the last ball fired. Their lordships require a man of tact as well as action for this task. It is not without reward, I think. You are to be promoted to Vice-Admiral of the Red.' His eyes had studied Bolitho's features to seek his reaction. "The youngest and most junior on the Navy List." He had added dryly, 'Apart from Nelson, that is, the nation's darling.'