Project Gutenberg's The Log of a Privateersman, by Harry Collingwood

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Title: The Log of a Privateersman

Author: Harry Collingwood

Illustrator: W. Rainey, R.I.

Release Date: April 13, 2007 [EBook #21065]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

The Log of a Privateersman

By Harry Collingwood
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Another cleverly written and interesting book by this prolific author of
books about the sea for teenage boys. The time of the story is the very
beginning of the nineteenth century, at which time the British were at
war with France. The task of a privateersman is to act as a licensed
pirate, preying on enemy ships. The hero is very successful at all
this, and eventually is offered a permanent commission in the Royal
Navy. Makes a good audiobook.
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THE LOG OF A PRIVATEERSMAN

BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD

CHAPTER ONE.

THE CAPTURE OF THE WEYMOUTH--AND WHAT IT LED TO.

The French probably never did a more audacious thing than when, on the
night of October 26th, 1804, a party of forty odd of them left the
lugger _Belle Marie_ hove-to in Weymouth Roads and pulled, with muffled
oars, in three boats, into the harbour; from whence they succeeded in
carrying out to sea the newly-arrived West Indian trader _Weymouth_,
loaded with a full cargo of rum, sugar, and tobacco. The expedition was
admirably planned, the night chosen being that upon which the new moon
occurred; it was a dismal, rainy, and exceptionally dark night, with a
strong breeze blowing from the south-west; the hour was about two
o'clock a.m.; there was an ebb tide running; and the ship--which had
only arrived late in the afternoon of the previous day--was the outside
vessel in a tier of three; the Frenchman had, therefore, nothing
whatever to do but to cut the craft adrift and allow her to glide,
silent as a ghost, down the harbour with bare poles, under the combined
influence of the strong wind and the ebb tide. There was not