The fourteenth tale in Dewey Lambdin’s classic naval adventure series Spring of 1800, and Captain Alan Lewrie, fresh from victory in the South Atlantic, is reckoned a hero on a par with Nelson in all the papers. Back in England, he’s fitting out his new frigate, HMS Savage, the fruits of that victory, the largest and best-armed frigate he’s ever commanded. But you can’t leave Lewrie ashore too long without trouble arising.A Jamaica court has tried him in absentia and sentenced him to hang for the theft of a dozen Black slaves to man his old ship, HMS Proteus. A crime, or was it liberation, as his London barrister argues? The vengeful slaveowner, Hugh Beauman, has come to London to seek Lewrie’s end . . . with or without the majesty of the Law!Then there’s the matter of those anonymous letters sent to his wife, Caroline, portraying him as a faithless rakehell and serving up the most florid lies .
