hurricanes, with the
concentrated force of the German Ocean behind them, soon scourge the sea
into a whirlpool and extinguish every landmark in a pall of gray. For
centuries tumult and action have been other names for the Channel
Islands. It is no wonder that the inhabitants partake of the nature of
their surroundings. Contact with the elements produces a love for
combat. As this little book is largely a record of strife, and of one of
Guernsey's greatest fighting sons, it may be well to recall the efforts
that preceded the birth of our hero and influenced his career, and
through which Guernsey retained its liberties.

For centuries Guernsey had been whipped into strife. From the raid upon
her independence by David Bruce, the exiled King of Scotland, early in
1300, on through the centuries up to the seventeenth, piping times of
peace were few and far between. The resources of the island led to
frequent invasions from France, but while fighting and resistance did
not impair the loyalty of the islanders, it nourished a love of freedom,
and of hostility to any enemy who had the effrontery to assail it. As a
rule the sojourn of these invaders was brief. When sore pressed in a
pitched battle on the plateau above St. Peter's Port, the inhabitants
would retreat behind the buttresses of Castle Cornet, when, as in the
invasion by Charles V. of France, the fortress proving impregnable, the
besiegers would collect their belongings and sail away.

In the fourteenth century Henry VI. of England, in consideration of a
red rose as annual rental, conveyed the entire group to the Duke of
Warwick. But strange privileges were from time to time extended to these
audacious people. Queen Elizabeth proclaimed the islands a world's
sanctuary, and threw open the ports as free harbours of refuge in time
of war. She authorized protection to "a distance on the ocean as far as
the eye of man could reach." This act of grace was cancelled by George
the Third, who regarded it as a premium on piracy. In Cromwell's time
Admiral Blake had been instructed to raise the siege of Castle Cornet.
He brought its commander to his senses, but only after nine years of
assault, and not before 30,000 cannon-balls had been hurled into the
town.

Late in the fourteenth century, when the English were driven out of
France, not a few of those deported, who had the fighting propensity
well developed, made haste for the Channel Islands, where rare chances
offered to han