Basil Woollcombe: Midshipman — Brian Smith

Basil Woollcombe has passed his exams and is now a midshipman. After a ghostly thrill at home, he is posted to his ship. Life in the Royal Navy can be adventurous and good fun, but there are also strict discipline and harsh punishments - these are the days when sailors could still be flogged! But then a world of excitement awaits Basil as he must contend with pirates, King Neptune and bloodthirsty savages.Arthur Lee Knight (1852 - 7 Jul 1944) was a popular author of adventure books in the late 19th and early 20th century. Around 1868 he joined the Royal Navy at the age of sixteen as a junior midshipman, where he served on the 51-gun screw frigate HMS Forte.Having been a midshipman in the navy he was familiar with life in the navy and many of the episodes in his novels - such as hunting Arab slave traders - are clearly events he experienced himself and give unique insight into the world and people in the Victorian age. His readable and often racy stories are characterized by authentic navy language of the time and evocative descriptions of seascapes, distant countries and unusual people.