The French Admiral (alan Lewrie Naval Adventures)

The Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures #2 The French Admiral The Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures The King’s Coat The French Admiral The King’s Commission The King’s Privateer The Gun Ketch H.M.S. Cockerel A King’s Commander Jester’s Fortune King’s Captain Sea of Grey Havoc’s Sword The Captain’s Vengeance A King’s Trade The French Admiral DEWEY LAMBDIN The Alan Lewie Naval Adventures #2 MCBOOKS PRESS, INC. ITHACA, NEW YORK Published by McBooks Press 2002 Copyright © 1990 by Dewey Lambdin First published in 1990 by D.I. Fine, New York All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher. Requests for such permissions should be addressed to McBooks Press, Inc., ID Booth Building, 520 North Meadow St., Ithaca, NY 14850. Cover painting by Dennis Lyall, courtesy of Tall Ships Books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lambdin, Dewey. The French admiral / by Dewey Lambdin. p. cm. — (The naval adventures of Alan Lewrie : no. 2) ISBN 1-59013-021-9 (alk. paper) 1. Lewrie, Alan (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History, Naval—18th century—Fiction. 3. United States—History—Revolution, 1775-1783—Fiction. 4. Yorktown (Va.)—History—Siege, 1781—Fiction. 5. Midshipmen—Fiction. I. Title PS3562.A435 F74 2002 813’.54—dc21 2002000138 All McBooks Press publications can be ordered by calling toll-free 1-888-BOOKS11 (1-888-266-5711). Please call to request a free catalog. Visit the McBooks Press website at www.mcbooks.com. Printed in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 This one’s for DEREK ROOKE Former Lieutenant, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve A “Wavy Navy” fighter pilot, who first “got my feet wet” in ’76 aboard Seafire off Gulfport and Biloxi. See what you started? And for your good lady Louise, and Chris and Charlotte Rooke of Rooke Sails, Memphis. • • • But didn’t we look grand touched mahoghany by the sun with sweat salt and sea salt grit in that millpond quiet harbor, everything bagged and furled and the motor grumbling the pier with white eyes and white teeth beaming in the last glimmer of a scarlet sky as we laughed to finish fifth in class? Didn’t we share a conjurement a God-hell knockdown wonder And weren’t we so alive? Coelum non animum qui trans mare currunt. Those who cross the seas change climate but not their character. —Horace, Epistle I.xi. 27 The Southern Colonies Yorktown Jenkins Neck PROLOGUE T he French were out. Somewhere on the high seas, on their way to some deviltry in the Colonies, Admiral Comte de Grasse and as many as fourteen sail of the line were assembled. For the British, the Leeward Islands Squadron under Admiral Samuel Hood and the Saint Lucia group under Rear Admiral Francis Drake were already at sea in pursuit. Perhaps just over the horizon, the enemy could be found, and perhaps the British fleet was just hours away from one of those epic sea battles that would decide the fate of the Crown. Or, Midshipman Alan Lewrie thought sourly, we could fuck around out here ’til Doomsday. There had been a concerted rush to get under way from Antigua, and for a while it had been exciting to see so many ships gathered together with one fell purpose, but after a few days the iron grip of naval routine had canceled out the thrill. Scouting frigates could find nothing of