Phew

Phew. A close call today. We are tacking in a somewhat choppy sea with a few blusteries to the north, off the coast of Scotland, and now that we have turned in our Royal Navy enseign and adopted French colours for a while to see if we can attract any French corvettes and maybe fire a few broadsides, so life is very interesting. A new scottish navy is emerging and we have seen a few scottish square rigs around the northern silver seas of Tacitus fame just by Ullapool. The scots - a very int lot. A new French warship has appeared on the distant horizons though, a very big brown three-tier gunner, called the SS Corbeille de L'eau which is built a little like the old Sovereign of the Seas, captained by a very thin-lipped mean miserly reptilian sort of napoleon-worshipper called Old Nick Kernet, nicknamed by the boys down below in our choir of happy lads as Capitaine Kernet the Frog. Grace a Dieu it is nearly night-time so we might slip into one of the islands to the north by the Shetlands for some supplies. Flying French colours is very attractive. A nice tricoloeur. And very big. Bigger these standard issues than we thought. We have all swapped uniforms too, but we must try to resist adopting revolutionary values too. This is only a fiction for the moment.   

Last we 'eard

Last we heard, there was another French corvette out there off the east coast of Canada carrying huron allies to the battle for Fort Bryan and its frosty environs. This ship, the SS Slipstreame, is captained by one of the most daring, dashing and devilish and scheming of all the doylieboy captains of the French Navy, a young petty officer rising through the ranks called Capt Audinette de Snape, one time sargeant in Napoleon's Iberian Army, but now transferred to the Imperial Revolutionary Navy. We have run into this one several times during the ins and outs of the 6 1/2 -year Indo-French Wars in Canada when the French made treaty with the Hurons and attacked a number of our British forts all along the frontier from Fort Michael in Columbia right along to Fort Andrew in Halifax and then along to Fort Brendan in Newfoundland. Capt Audinette de Snape is an able bodied seaman and with his cutlass he makes a difficult cuss of a snipe to snape. His superiors are a middle-aged and a middle ranking pair of officers called Chevalier Brian de Bolesy on board the SS Sous le Soleil and Capitaine Brian de Froste on board the SS Garcon Gris who like to make hay with the Hurons and the Crow and the Blackfoot, two evil scheming revolutionaries who have started many localised revolts around the colonies against the Royal Navy in the British Empire. A pair to watch. But not as dashing as Capt de Snape. Snape like his other half, Capitaine Garette de Galette-Walsh on the SS Bourgogne, is quite the done thing, quite the ticket, and recruiting many of our captains over to the Napoleonic Revolution. Am half tempted myself to go over to Napoleon. In my more insane moments. Still I might have lost my faith in Wellington but not my reason. Wellington always wins.    

Aha aha

Action today on the high seas. Approaches to the Sounds around Halifax. We sailed over sea graveyards of the icebergs and their victims on the approaches to Greenland too. No french anarchichies in sight all morning till this evening, when their lofty canonnades could be seen afflicting the canadian peoples along the coast. We raced to engage a corvette, the SS Bayewatch, and her beastboy captain, the infamous Capt Emin De Barlowe, but when we arrived the vessel had slipped away into a sea fog. Captain on the bridge, must go, oh and he has brought his little niece along, La Finistere, called as such we are told after some simple farm girl from Bretagne that was badly beaten up and mauled by the many French popes around Paris. Capt Johannes Teuton de Foxe of the American Navy has also sailed into view. A wonderful sailorman and a nice array of canons on deck. A real sharpshooter too we are told. Must go to greet.  

Aaaaaaaaaaaah this is the life

Aaaaaah there is nothing like sailing the Seven Seas. We are sailing between Ballycastle and Tarbert and hope to put inthere later, maybe at the Anchor Sailor's Inn on the quayside at Tarbert by the old Mull. Lovely weather, blue sea, lots of blue sky and sunshine, and a nice day for sailing with a brisque breeze to blow us over there to Scotland. Water supplies a bit low so we must put in somewhere and take some on board - maybe somewhere along Loch Fyne. See what the local belles have in mind, and herewith nextdoor we have a photo from our last visit to Scotland two summers ago, where Lauren and Andromeda supplied some fresh water for the ship's crew. Spotted a French sail the other day off the western coast of Ireland - it might be the devilish SS Ardent with the devious Capt Haddon on board - a schemer if ever there was one - an Irishman in the pay of the French and a close friend of Napoleon. Says he worked for Blucher once but he is definitely on the side of the French Revolution and its potty Napoleon. French colours. That devilish red and blue tricoloeur.

Mmm odd that

Odd that encounter with the Neptune and their captain. A deceptive sort of chappie. Still atop the crow's nest the cabin boy watch has just shouted and it seems another sighting of a whale out to starboard. The sea is very flat out here and the captain is not very pleased at our slow progress to the canadian pacific coast. We are almost becalmed for now. Nothing happening. Napoleon is snoozing. No other French corvettes. We have put the boys up on the mainsail atop for a careful watch as the French are notoriously opportunistic. They like to strike in the afternoons when everybody is snoozing on deck. We must keep an eye out for that SS Hudson. A real square rigger. We will have to watch for these as we approach the Canadian coast. All of Napoleon's fleet are deceptive. They sometimes run for shore and then double back and double across the backs, the backs of the Royal Navy. They even run home to British shores at times promising a defection that never actually happens. A dangerous unpredictable lot.

Well ahoy mateys

Well there she blows, off to starboard, the boy in the crow's nest shouted. And sure enough out jumped a huge white whale and against the reflection of this white whale that night our boys on the HMS Repulse suddenly glimpsed the shadow of a dastardly french man o war sliding up to out blind side during the night. All guns blazing then for a few panicked seconds. The french captain of the SS Neptune is renowned for playing possum. A deceptive ploy that many young sailors fall for. Ease up there laddie, we have just spotted him turn into the night and the fog. And there is where we will probably find him put up, in the hidden bays of San Francisco. Capt Antoninus de Moate is the dastardly captain of that ugly ill fated square rig. And one day we shall catch up with him. Ahoy there.

Ahoy gentlemen

Ahoy sailors. Here we are on the HMS Repulse. It is a great joy to sail the Seven Seas, and to host up the Royal Enseign atop the old mast on the quarterdeck. Yes this is the life. A life of freedom. Of eternal journey. This is what every young boy wants from the adventure playground that is the sea. This is life on board a Royal Navy vessel. And while we are chasing pirates off the Bahamas or running our skips ashore in the South Pacific, we shall let you know how we get on around the various coastlines of the world. Ahoy captain. Captain on the bridge, so must go, and bye for now.