Cover

Dedication

To all the exuberantly tall men in the Frampton Admiration Queue. Thank you for the inspiration.

Report from Africa

The HMS Albert, steam-sloop, Captain Griffith Davies, captured a valuable slaver, based in Brazil, off the coast of Monrovia on February 17 of this year. The slaver attempted to evade its captors through nefarious deception, but the brave and courageous sailors aboard the man-of-war noticed the ship’s suspicious activity and boarded after exchanging a volley of shots. None of the British crew was wounded, although two of the slaver’s sailors were slightly wounded. Captain Davies and his crew liberated the men on board and brought the ship’s captain and crew to the Brazilian authorities in Monrovia for judgment. It remains to be seen if the British authorities will reprimand Captain Davies as he did not follow proper procedure.

Chapter 1

April 4, 1851

London, The Mermaid’s Arms, a not-so-respectable pub on the dock serving mediocre porter.

“I think we should get some more ale,” Griffith said to his first mate, Clark, as he downed the rest of his drink. “That’s proper procedure,” he snorted ruefully.

Proper procedure in this pub meant that he would get more beer. But proper procedure, at least according to Her Majesty’s government, meant that innocent people would likely die, caught in the conflict between nations. Proper procedure meant that women and children would live in a ship’s hold for months, with meager provisions and unsanitary living circumstances.

So he’d acted improperly, according to the naval authorities. It smarted, being told he’d done wrong. But he had acted entirely properly when it came to Griffith’s own law, which demanded that people be free to live as they wish, not kept in captivity.

It was one of the many reasons, and the most altruistic, that he’d run off to sea when he was sixteen—he’d seen the inequity of his family’s situation, that they were blessed with wealth and land and power, and the families that worked for them were entirely dependent on their largesse. He would not stand by and benefit merely because of the lucky circumstance of his birth. Especially if he could do something about other people’s unlucky circumstances. That he would eventually have to claim his duties because of his lineage was a truth he refused to acknowledge.

Also there was the fact that he and his parents had not agreed on anything. They wanted him to follow in the footsteps of all the Davies sons before him, which meant getting the best education and then forgetting entirely about it since it wasn’t seemly to appear too intelligent.

Not that Griffith believed himself to be too intelligent—school had been difficult for him. He wanted to be outside all the time, moving his body rather than sitting in a wooden chair for hours.

Although after several months at sea, this chair in the pub felt quite comfortable.