Julian Stockwin: 19 The Baltic Prize (Thomas Kydd #19)

Contents

Also by Julian Stockwin

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Maps

Dramatis Personae

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Author’s Note

Glossary

Also by Julian Stockwin

Kydd

Artemis

Seaflower

Mutiny

Quarterdeck

Tenacious

Command

The Admiral’s Daughter

Treachery (US title: The Privateer’s Revenge)

Invasion

Victory

Conquest

Betrayal

Caribbee

Pasha

Tyger

Inferno

Persephone

www.hodder.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in 2017 by Hodder & Stoughton

An Hachette UK company

Copyright © Julian Stockwin 2017

The right of Julian Stockwin to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 473 64098 6

Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

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www.hodder.co.uk

Admiral Sir James Saumarez

Guernseyman, fighting admiral, diplomat

in respect

Dramatis Personae

*indicates fictitious character

*Sir Thomas Kydd, captain of HMS Tyger , a.k.a. Tom Cutlass

*Nicholas Renzi, Earl of Farndon, friend and former confidential secretary

Tyger, ship’s company

*Bowden, second lieutenant

*Bray, first lieutenant

*Brice, third lieutenant

*Clinton, captain, Royal Marines

*Darby, gunner

*Dillon, Kydd’s confidential secretary

*Doud, quartermaster’s mate

*Gilpin, midshipman

*Halgren, coxswain

*Harman, purser

*Herne, boatswain

*Joyce, sailing master

*Leckie, able seaman

*Maynard, master’s mate

*Rowan, midshipman

*Stirk, gunner’s mate

*Teague, midshipman

*Tysoe, Kydd’s valet

Others

*Applebys, Combe Tavy caretakers

Barrett, captain, Africa

*Bazely, captain, Fenella

Bille, commodore, Danish Navy

*Bissen, firebrand Danish poet

Bruun, Danish gunboat captain

Canning, British foreign secretary

Castlereagh, British secretary of state for war

*Cecilia, Kydd’s sister and Countess of Farndon

Cronstedt, admiral, commandant of Sveaborg fortress

Dumaresq, flagship captain, Victory

Fältherre d’Ahrenheim, adjutant general of Sweden

*Garland, captain, Snipe

Graves, captain, Brunswick

Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden

Hood, rear admiral

Jägerhorn, colonel, vice commander of Sveaborg fortress

Jessen, captain, Prinds Christian Frederik

Jørgensen, self-styled King of Iceland

Keats, rear admiral

Khanykov, Russian Grand Admiral

Krieger, gunboat leader, Danish Navy

*Kydd, Walter and Fanny, Kydd’s parents

Lagerhjelm, Swedish colonel

Martin, captain, Implacable

*Mason, captain, Riposte

Moore, lieutenant general, commander of the Northern Expedition

Mulgrave, first lord of the Admiralty

Nauckhoff, Swedish admiral

Oakley, secretary of the legation

Parker, captain, Stately

Perceval, British chancellor of the exchequer

*Perrot, boatswain of the Guildford Naval Academy

*Persephone, Kydd’s wife

Portland, British prime minister

Puget, captain, Goliath

Rosen, governor of Gothenburg

Russell, admiral, commander of the North Sea Squadron

Saumarez, vice admiral, commander-in-chief of the Baltic Fleet

Saunders, captain, Tribune

*Strömsson, captain, Krigare

Swenson, Danish gunboat captain

Thornton, envoy to the Swedish king

Trampe, count, Danish governor of Iceland

Upton, captain, Sybille

Van Suchtelen, Russian commander

Willemoes, first lieutenant, PrindsChristian Frederik

Wood, lieutenant

Prologue

White’s, London, spring 1808

‘In fine, I really don’t see how we can go on for much longer.’

The words cut through the drone of talk at the table like a knife. ‘You may leave us,’ one of the diners told the steward of the exclusive London club. The man bowed and retired, drawing the double doors of the private dining room firmly closed.

‘Charles, you choose the most awkward times to make your opinions known.’ Cuthbert Hertford, a portly man in blue and buff, drew appreciatively on his Havana and, with a droll glance at the speaker, added, ‘Even if we’d no doubt be entertained to hear it.’

‘I mean it, sir.’

The others paid wary attention to Charles Brougham, the elegantly dressed individual whose features held the ruthless austerity to be expected of the head of one of the oldest and largest trading firms on the floor of the London Stock Exchange.

‘How so?’

‘Do I need to spell it out? Here we have the Continental System, Boney’s answer to Trafalgar. And it’s working, God help us.’ He lifted his port glass and peered into it as though it were a crystal ball. Bonaparte’s sweeping declaration of a state of blockade against Great Britain had included savage penalty for any nation trading with her, and after his recent crushing successes on the Continent, few dared.

‘Now the French have taken Lisbon we have to accept that the entire shore of Europe, from Cádiz to Königsberg is shut in our faces. Near all our natural market denied us – we can’t import what we need and, worse, our undoubted leadership in manufacturing and industry is as dross if we can’t place our goods in the marketplace.’