I love the advice about taking in the spanker very quietly to avoid waking the skipper.
In thought this book might be particularly useful for Mal Nicholson, master of HMS Pickle. As it happens, it’s only a few days late for his birthday…
Author Lieutenant C Cradock seems to be the same gentleman as Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher “Kit” George Francis Maurice Cradock a British officer of the Royal Navy who earned a reputation for great gallantry.
If he is the same Naval officer, he died fighting the German fleet led by Admiral Maximilian von Spee’s during the Battle of Coronel off the Chilean coast along with the entire crews of HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth, who together numbered 1570 men. It is said that Cradock was outgunned and ill-equipped to fight Spee’s fleet.
These events followed soon after Rear-Admiral Ernest Troubridge was court martialled for failing to attack a superior enemy force.