GENTLEMAN CAPTAIN

A sprightly fictionalized account of the fatal cleft in loyalties among seamen following Charles II’s restoration in 1660.

English historian Davies (Pepsy’s Navy, 2008, etc.) applies his impressive depth of knowledge of the 17th-century British navy to re-create the chaotic state of affairs that reigned when Cromwell’s Commonwealth collapsed and Charles II was invited back to the throne. The seas had been commanded handily over the previous 11 years by the Commonwealth seamen—the humble but capable “tarpaulins”—whose achievements included beating the Dutch in the maritime war of 1652–’54. These commanders were now regarded as having suspicious allegiances, and Charles needed captains loyal to king and throne—“gentlemen captains,” chosen by breeding rather than competence, such as our 21-year-old narrator Matthew Quinton, the younger brother of the current Earl of Ravensden. Summoned by the king for a new assignment, despite his disastrous previous commission as captain of the Happy Restoration, which ended in a shipwreck only months before, Quinton is ordered for immediate boarding of the Jupiter, which, along with its companion, Royal Martyr, is supposed to sail to the Scottish isles and intercept a huge arms shipment lest it fall into the hands of the restive Scottish clans. Ominously, the Jupiter’s previous captain, James Harker, died under shadowy circumstances. Davies, steeped in the language of the era, proceeds to depict the drama with confidence and verve, and he fashions a convincing crew of personalities and types, such as Quinton’s irreplaceable mate Kit Farrell, who teaches his master the ropes in exchange for learning to read and write. Along the way, Davies takes every opportunity to feed the reader some British dynastic history, but the writing is natural and well worth the instruction.

A delightful tale.