Love At The Helm

Author’s NoteThe Earl Mountbatten of Burma helped me with the historical background of many of my novels, especially those that concerned the Navy. The proceeds of The Dream and The Glory, for which he supplied the details of English and French ships at the time of the surrender of Malta, were given to the St. John Ambulance Brigade. Lord Mountbatten wrote the preface and supplied some hilarious snippets for Barbara Cartland’s Book of Useless Information, sold in aid of the United World Colleges. Just before he went to Ireland for a holiday, where he was brutally assassinated, we had planned a novel with a Naval background, which was to be sold for another of the many charities that were so dear to his heart. After his death the Prince of Wales set up the Mountbatten Memorial Trust and the proceeds of this novel will be in support of this fund. I discussed the plot with Lord Mountbatten and he gave me information relating to the American privateers, the sea battles and the duties and discipline at the time on a British two-decker. I am also extremely grateful to Mr. John Barratt, Controller and friend of Lord Mountbatten for many years, who was himself in the Royal Navy, for correcting the final proofs. When I was in Antigua a few years ago, I visited Clarence House, the Admiral’s House and Nelson’s Dockyard. They were fascinating, as was the beautiful island with its perfect climate, lovely beaches and waving palms. When in 1814 the war between Britain and the United States came to an end, it had brought nothing but loss to both sides. British Naval supremacy had inflicted great damage in the States and also brought American overseas trade almost to a halt. On the other hand, American privateers, of which 515 had been commissioned, had played havoc with British ocean trade, capturing at least 1,345 craft of all kinds. Privateering continued on a small scale until the war with France ended a year later and then ceased for over fifty years.