The Project Gutenberg EBook of John Deane of Nottingham, by W.H.G. Kingston

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Title: John Deane of Nottingham
Historic Adventures by Land and Sea

Author: W.H.G. Kingston

Illustrator: A.H.C. and W. Cheshire

Release Date: October 31, 2007 [EBook #23273]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN DEANE OF NOTTINGHAM ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

John Deane of Nottingham--Historic Adventures by Land and Sea, By W.H.G.
Kingston.

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According to the author in his preface, John Deane really existed and
had an interesting and successful life in a variety of roles. He was
born in 1679, of well-to-do parents, but started his working life as a
drover, that is to say a person who drove great herds of cattle from the
countryside to the great cities like London, for consumption there. He
then joined the Navy and rose to become a ship's captain. After a spell
as a Merchant Adventurer, he commanded a vessel in the Russian navy of
Alexander the Great. Later he became British Consul at Ostend, on the
coast of Belgium, quite close to south-east England. Finally he came
back home to live in a village near Nottingham, receiving civic honours
in that city. He died in 1760.

This book could therefore be called a historical novel, but written with
the style and genius of Kingston it becomes far more than that. You
will enjoy it.

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JOHN DEANE OF NOTTINGHAM--HISTORIC ADVENTURES BY LAND AND SEA, BY W.H.G.
KINGSTON.

PREFACE.

John Deane was a real person, and I hope that the readers of this my
book about him will be as much pleased with it as I was with the history
of his adventures, placed in my hands by a friend who long resided at
Nottingham. He was born at that town A.D. 1679. Though of gentle
parentage, in his early days he followed the occupation of a drover. He
then went to sea, and became a Captain in the Navy; after that he was a
Merchant Adventurer. He next took service under Peter the Great, and
commanded a Russian ship-