Customer Reviews

Honour Be Damned

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The author was obviously influenced by earlier authors. The story has similarities to the Sharpe series and traces of Alan Lewrie. It would appear that his main research was reading novels. It is doubtful that the Royal Navy would have been overly concerned about a past court martial acquital (Peter Heywood, a midshipman from the H.M.S. Bounty, was convicted of mutiny, sentenced to hang, pardoned, and later became a rear admiral). The Navy tolerated and even admired many rogues as long as they were successful (Admiral Lord Nelson had mistresses including the wife of Lord Hamilton).

While action in the book is interesting - the siege at Calvi, action against a French privateer, and a mission behind French lines - the details leave much to be desired. The Epilogue goes off the track. We are led to believe that, in a month's time, a wounded officer left behind French lines has already been transported across France, exchanged in a cartel at Calais, and word has magically reached the admiral in command at Corsica (this in 1794, when a healthy person traveling by express coach might have needed a week just to get across England). We are further led to believe that Admiral Hotham, in less than a month, has already engaged the French fleet several times. The author should do a little better research, both on timelines and technical details, and perhaps limit the side excursions in his stories.