title: The Privateersman (Classics of Naval Fiction)
author: Captain Frederick Marryat
description: ". . . [Marryat's] greatness is undeniable." -- <i>Joseph Conrad</i><br /><br />"Marryat has the power to set us in the midst of ships and men and sea and sky all vivid, authentic." -- <i>Virginia Woolf</i><br /><br />"This was Marryat's navy, his world, and no one brings it to us with greater authenticity." -- <i>Review</i><br /><br />"When your [Patrick] O'Brians are out, recommend Marryat." -- <i>Library Journal</i>
zlib_text: An Element of Chance By David Donachie
  
  
  Synopsis:
  
  
  1795\. Hunting for prizes off the French coast, privateer Harry Ludlow suffers
  a rude interruption courtesy of the Royal Navy. Intercepted by the frigate
  Endymion, commanded by the ferocious and paranoid Captain Toner, Harry loses
  half of his crew and his loyal servant Pender at a stroke; illegally pressed
  into the King’s service.
  
  
  Vowing to get their men back, Harry and his brother James set off in pursuit
  only to learn that Toner is bound for the West Indies. And meanwhile Pender
  and the others must learn to survive on a ship driven to the point of mutiny
  by the blind brutality of its commander.
  
  
  Arriving in the West Indies Toner and Harry sail into a maelstrom of piracy,
  corruption and murder as the French and British battle for control over the
  riches of the most profitable trade routes in the world. A French privateer is
  running riot amongst the neutral traders who ply their goods between the
  islands, and the British officer i