The Boy who sailed with Blake

Boy who sailed with Blake, by
W.H.G. Kingston

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Title: The Boy who sailed with Blake
Author: W.H.G. Kingston
Release Date: May 16, 2007 [EBook #21487]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY
WHO SAILED WITH BLAKE ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

The Boy who sailed with Blake, by W.H.G. Kingston.
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Another vintage Kingston book, this time with a background of the
1650s, when Cromwell and the Roundheads were in power.
With acknowledgement to Chamber's Biographical Dictionary we read:
Blake, Robert (1599-1657) English naval commander, the son of a
merchant. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford, he continued his
father's business and led the life of a quiet country gentleman until he
was 40. Returned for Bridgwater in 1640 to the short Parliament, he
cast in his lot with the Parliamentarians. In the Civil War he took part
in the defence of Bristol (1643) and Lyme Regis (1644), and his defence
of Taunton (1644-45) against overwhelming odds proved a turning
point in the war. Appointed Admiral in 1649, he destroyed Prince
Rupert's fleet and captured the Scilly Isles and Jersey. In the first Dutch
War (1652-54) he defeated Tromp at the battle of Portland and
shattered Dutch supremacy at sea. He destroyed the Barbary Coast
pirate fleet off Tunis (1655) and in 1657 destroyed a Spanish treasure
fleet at Santa Cruz off Teneriffe. He died as his ship entered Plymouth,
and was buried in Westminster Abbey, but his body was removed at the
Restoration. He is considered one of the greatest of English admirals,
second only to Nelson.
That was the background to this story. The only thing that upset your
transcriber is that he is by nature on the side of the Cavaliers and the
Monarchy, rather than that of the Roundheads.
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THE BOY WHO SAILED WITH BLAKE, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON.
The following story is not one of reckless adventure, nor one in which
fighting and bloodshed are introduced to fan a spurious spirit of
heroism. It is the reproduction of a page of history, and a most
important one, when good men held not their lives dear to uphold and
defend that which was dearer than life--civil and religious liberty.
The example of Blake is held up to the boys of to-day, not because he

fought and conquered, but because he was a conscientious,
God-fearing man, and his conscience told him that the best interests of
his country demanded resistance to the Stuart rule. Such a man as
Blake was a hero everywhere, and needed not a quarter-deck to display
his heroism.
CHAPTER ONE.
MY FRIENDS AND I.
"Hark! the bells of Saint Michael's are sending forth a jovial peal!"
exclaimed Lancelot Kerridge, as he, Dick Harvey, and I were one day
on board his boat fishing for mackerel, about two miles off the sea-port
town of Lyme. "What they are saying I should mightily like to know,
for depend on't it's something of importance. Haul in the lines, Ben!" he
continued, addressing me; "and, Dick, put an oar out to windward. I'll
take the helm. We shall fetch the Cob by keeping our luff."
The wind was off shore, but as we were to the westward of the Cob,
and the tide was making in the same direction, we could easily fetch it.
The water was smooth, the sea blue and bright as the eyes of sweet
Cicely Kerridge, my friend Lancelot's young sister, while scarcely a
cloud dimmed the clear sky overhead.
Lyme, then containing but one thousand inhabitants, where my two
companions and I lived, is situated in Dorsetshire, near its western
border, on the northern shore of a wide bay, formed by the Bill of
Portland on the east and the Start Point on the west. Along the coast are
several other towns, of which Dartmouth, owing to its excellent
harbour, is the most considerable, besides numerous villages, including
Charmouth and Uplyme. A line of cliffs of no great height extends
away on either side of Lyme, which stands at the bottom of a valley;
while beyond it rise the green slopes of Colway and Uplyme, hills
overlooking the town.
On the eastern side was the house of my father, Captain Roger
Bracewell. He had commanded several of the trading ships of Master
Humphrey Blake, of Bridgwater, at one time a merchant of renown,

and the father of Captain Robert Blake, who had already made his
name famous