1809 Ben Brown Rite of Passage

The story starts strangely enough with our hero as an old man dragged out of retirement to lead a flotilla to fight the Russians during the Crimean War. As the ship is leaving port, he befriends a scared young midshipman away from home for the first time. This reminded him of long forgotten memories when he was in a similar situation, especially when he finds out that the youngster is a relative of his old friend and mentor. From that point on, the reader is transferred back to the time whe...