Publisher's Synopsis
Returning to Portsmouth with the explicit intention of leaving naval service I met by chance with my godfather who although failing to recognise me immediately initiated a change enabling my life to move forward in a manner that I had not considered possible. What I had believed to be ingratitude on the part of Admiralty was revealed to have been considered by senior officers to have been in the interest of the nation's security. From the very moment that I took the advice of Vice Admiral Sir Richard Wooderson my naval career moved forward at an incredible pace. I shall always be indebted to him for his sound advice. Allegiance to the Crown covers a tour of duty not uncommon in the early eighteen hundreds, leaving English shores for long periods, in which serving men experienced events that many who remained at home could only dream of but could never feel the horror of being involved in such events. Adventure on the high seas was not without its dangers death could arrive in an instant during battle or more slowly on the operating table a result of shock from the pain of amputation with only a leather strap to bite down on. As an officer aboard a Kings ship I found to my own cost that life aboard a fighting ship was not without danger. After all during the eighteen hundreds the grim reaper was never far away.
