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am indeed, we were midshipmen together in the Cyclops, I saw him last at the Cape when he commanded the Telemachus.’
    ‘I served with him in the Roisterer, brig. He was soon after posted to Telemachus.’
    ‘I have no doubt we shall get along, Mr Lettsom.’ Drinkwater riffled through the papers on his table. ‘I have some standing orders here for you. You will find the men in reasonable shape. I have had their clothes replaced and we may thus contain the ship-fever. As to diet I have obliged the purser to buy in a quantity of sauerkraut. Its stink is unpopular, but I am persuaded it is effective against the scurvy.’ Lettsom nodded and glanced at the documents. ‘You are a disciple of Lind, Mr Drinkwater, I congratulate you.’
    ‘I am of the opinion that much of the suffering of seamen in general is unnecessary.’
    Lettsom smiled wryly at the earnest Drinkwater. ‘I’ll do my best, sir, but mostly it depends upon the condition of the men:
    When people’s ill, they come to I,
    I physics, bleeds and sweat’s ‘em;
    Sometimes they live, sometimes they die,
    What’s that to I? I let’s ‘em.’
    For a second Drinkwater was taken aback, then he perceived the pun and began to laugh.
    ‘A verse my cousin uses as his own, sir,’ Lettsom explained, ‘he is a physician of some note among the fashionable, but of insufficient integrity not to claim the verse as his own. I regret that he plagiarised it from your humble servant.’ Lettsom made a mock bow.
    ‘Very well, Mr Lettsom, I think we shall get along
    Now gentlemen, if you will excuse me
    ‘
    He slit open Elizabeth’s letter impatiently and began to read, lost for a while to the cares of the ship.
    My Dearest Husband,
    It is with great sadness that I write to say I shall not see you at Christmastide. I am much troubled by sickness and anxious for the child whom, from the trouble he causes, I know to be a boy. Charlotte chatters incessantly
     
    There was a page of his daughter’s exploits and a curl of her hair. He learned that the lateness of Tregembo’s departure was caused by a delay in the preparation of his Christmas gift and that Louise Quilhampton was having her portrait painted by Gaston Bruilhac, a paroled French sous-officier, captured by Drinkwater in the Red Sea who had executed a much admired likeness of his captor during the homeward voyage. There was town gossip and Elizabeth’s disapproval of Mr Quilhampton’s recruiting methods. Then, saved in Elizabeth’s reserved manner for a position of importance in the penultimate paragraph, an oddly disquieting sentence:
    On Tuesday last I received an odd visitor, your brother Edward whom I have not seen these five or six years. He was in company with a lively and pretty French woman, some fugitive from the sans culottes. He spoke excellent French to her and was most anxious to see you on some private business. I explained your whereabouts but he would vouchsafe me no further confidences. I confess his manner made me uneasy
     
    Drinkwater looked up frowning only to find Quilhampton still in the cabin.
    ‘You wish to see me, Mr Q?’
    ‘Beg pardon, sir, but I am rather out of pocket. The expense of bringing the men, sir
    ‘
    Drinkwater sighed. ‘Yes, yes, of course. How much?’
    ‘Four pounds, seventeen shillings and four pence ha’penny, sir. I kept a strict account
    ‘
    The problem of the ship closed round him again, driving all thoughts of his brother from his mind.
     
    Mr Easton, the sailing master, with a brand new certificate from the Trinity House and an equally new warrant from the Navy Board joined them on the last day of the old century. Six days later Drinkwater welcomed his final warrant officer aboard. They had served together before. Mr Trussel was wizened, stoop-shouldered and yellow-skinned. Lank hair fell to his shoulders from the sides and back of his head, though his crown was bald.
    ‘Reporting for duty, Mr Drinkwater.’ A smile split his face from ear to