Ramage's Prize: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
→top: curly apostrophe |
redirect as per WP:NBOOKS Tag: New redirect |
||
| (One intermediate revision by one other user not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| ⚫ | |||
{{More citations needed|date=August 2020}} |
|||
{{Infobox book |
|||
| name = Ramage's Prize |
|||
| title_orig = |
|||
| translator = |
|||
| image = |
|||
| caption = First edition |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| illustrator = |
|||
| cover_artist = |
|||
| country = United Kingdom |
|||
| language = English |
|||
| series = [[Lord Ramage|Lord Ramage novels]] |
|||
| genre = Naval [[historical novels]] |
|||
| publisher = [[Secker & Warburg]] |
|||
| pub_date = 1974 |
|||
| english_pub_date = |
|||
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]]) |
|||
| pages = |
|||
| isbn = 0006163432 |
|||
| oclc = |
|||
| preceded_by = [[Governor Ramage R.N.]] |
|||
| followed_by = [[Ramage and the Guillotine]] |
|||
}} |
|||
'''''Ramage's Prize''''' is an [[historical novel]] by [[Dudley Pope]], set during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]]. It is the fifth of the [[Lord Ramage|Ramage novels]], following on from ''[[Governor Ramage R.N.]]''. |
|||
==Plot== |
|||
After the loss of the ''Triton'' brig, Ramage has been promised a fresh command in exchange for not embarrassing the Navy by taking legal action against Admiral Goddard for perjury, but no ship is presently available. Instead he is directed to investigate a mystery: [[Post Office Packet Service|Post Office packet vessels]] are being captured in increasing numbers, damaging communications between the Admiralty and foreign stations. Ramage buys passage on the ''Lady Arabella'', a packet bound for England, along with his ship-owner friend Sidney Yorke, and is able to have some of his own ship’s company transferred to the packet. |
|||
He finds that the packet’s owner and crew alike have little interest in avoiding capture and less in fighting off French privateers, and despite his best efforts the ''Arabella'' is indeed captured. Ramage is able to persuade their captor, Captain Kerguelen, to take the packet to Lisbon, a neutral port. There he sends a report to London, suggesting that the packet be ransomed and also enlisting Yorke’s assistance in case the Government is not forthcoming and they must buy back the ship with their own money. In fact, the Marchesa di Volterra soon arrives with the news that the Government will pay, and Ramage sails for England to make his report. But when the packetsmen mutiny and take the Marchesa di Volterra hostage, only the unexpected intervention of one of the mutineers is able to rescue her. |
|||
Ramage’s report explains that Post Office packetsmen have been deliberately surrendering their vessels in pursuit of insurance swindles, as they have been investing in “ventures” (mildly-illegal private freight) and finding it profitable to make fraudulent claims for their supposed losses. The ''Arabella'' 's owner had an additional incentive: his ship’s stern was rotten, and he hoped to replace her with a new ship with the compensation for the loss of his vessel. |
|||
Initially Ramage’s report is rejected by the Admiralty, until they read his final report with news of the mutiny. Steps are then taken both to punish the mutineers and to clamp down on "ventures", removing the temptation to surrender packets. |
|||
==Characters== |
|||
* [[Nicholas Ramage]] – lieutenant, formerly commanding the ''Triton'' brig |
|||
* Thomas Jackson - Ramage's American coxswain |
|||
* Henry Southwick – Ramage's sailing master on ''Triton'' |
|||
* James Bowen – Ramage's medical officer, recovering alcoholic now six months sober |
|||
* Will Stafford – Cockney locksmith and occasional burglar, one of Ramage’s most trusted crewmen |
|||
* Alberto Rossi – Genovese cut-throat, one of Ramage's most trusted crewmen |
|||
* William Maxton – one of Ramage's most trusted crewmen, a native of Grenada (inconsistently named "Maxwell" elsewhere in the series) |
|||
* Captain Kerguelen – French privateer captain of the schooner ''Rossignol'' |
|||
* Gianna, Marchesa di Volterra – Ramage’s beautiful, headstrong and high-ranking Italian lover |
|||
* Sidney Yorke – merchant, former owner of ''Topaz'' |
|||
==Ships== |
|||
* ''Lady Arabella'', privately owned packet [[brig]] chartered to the Post Office |
|||
* ''Rossignol'', French privateer [[schooner]] out of [[St Malo]] |
|||
==Critical reception== |
|||
{{Empty section|date=August 2020}} |
|||
==Notes== |
|||
Pope explains that this plot is taken from real life;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ageofsail.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/the-packet-service-scandal/|title=The Packet Service Scandal|date=September 3, 2009}}</ref> during the Napoleonic Wars, Post Office packets were indeed surrendered for the reasons given here. |
|||
==References== |
|||
{{Reflist}} |
|||
==External links== |
|||
[[Category:1974 British novels]] |
|||
[[Category:Novels set during the French Revolutionary War]] |
|||
[[Category:Novels by Dudley Pope]] |
|||
[[Category:Fiction set in 1798]] |
|||
[[Category:Weidenfeld & Nicolson books]] |
|||
[[Category:Novels set on ships]] |
|||
[[Category:Novels set on islands]] |
|||
Latest revision as of 12:53, 6 November 2020
Redirect to: