The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Middy of the King, by Harry Collingwood

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Title: A Middy of the King
A Romance of the Old British Navy

Author: Harry Collingwood

Illustrator: Edward S. Hodgson

Release Date: February 14, 2008 [EBook #24615]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MIDDY OF THE KING ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

A Middy of the King, by Harry Collingwood.

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The young hero of this tale is Dick Delamere, who was already a
midshipman, on leave, but who receives a letter from the Captain of the
Europa, recalling him to join the ship at Portsmouth. The date of the
events that ensue is the very late eighteenth century.

The first few chapters cover the events while the Europa is on patrol in
the Chops of the Channel and the Bay of Biscay. The British are hostile
to the French and to the Dutch, and there are engagements with vessels
of these nations. Thereafter the vessel sails to the West Indies, where
one of the problems is to exterminate the pirates infesting those
waters. The book describes, possibly fairly accurately, the life of a
midshipman of those days and in those waters. At one point Dick
receives a very serious head-wound, but recovers with good treatment in
the Naval Hospital. On the whole the book has echoes of the immortal
works of Captain Marryat, which I am sure our author had studied very
carefully.

Collingwood has exceptional powers of description, and this book makes
a good read, and, of course, a good audiobook.

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A MIDDY OF THE KING, BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD.

CHAPTER ONE.

H.M.S. EUROPA.

I had just dismounted before the rather imposing main entrance to
Delamere Hall, situate close to the west Dorset coast, and had handed
over my horse to Tom Biddlecome, the groom who had accompanied me in my
before-breakfast ride down to the beach for my morning dip, when my
father appeared in the portico.

"Good morning, Dick," he greeted me. "I suppose you have been for your
swim, as usual. H