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Young Thomas Grey

by Peter Argonis

Published: 2024-11-02. 116,000 Words.

Categories: Fiction » Historical » United Kingdom

Format: EPUB

Content Rating: Older than 13

At 11 years of age, Thomas Grey goes to sea as a volunteer in a small sloop of war, commanded by his father, to learn seamanship prior to joining the Royal Naval Academy. Thomas has to mature beyond his years, surviving sea battles and yellow fever, but he joins the Academy as an accomplished sailor and leader in the making, finding friends for life in the process.
Young Thomas Grey is the story of an 11-year-old boy joining the crew of a small British sloop of war during the latter years of the French Revolutionary War. Under the tutelage of his father, who commands the sloop, Thomas has to learn the ways of the sea, but also face the horrors of sea battles in wooden ships and of the lurking fevers rampant in the West Indies. Step by step, he earns the respect and even friendship of the ship's crew, but he also finds out the consequences of misbehaving.
When peace is declared, Thomas returns to England and briefly joins the crew of an old, laid-up battle ship that serves as flagship, Portsmouth, where the Commander-in-Chief notices him and recognises his potential.
Soon after, he joins the Royal Naval Academy, Portsmouth, as a scholar. He faces challenges there, both by older scholars and by the demanding curriculum, but soon emerges as a leader of his class and finds loyal friends. He must overcome the death of his beloved grandfather, but is also introduced to the ways of the flesh in a gentleman's club, the membership coming to him as a bequest from his grandfather.
When he graduates early from the Academy, he serves on the Commander-in-Chief's staff, now as a warranted midshipman, and repeatedly shows his worth to his superiors, until in late 1805, he returns home for a last leave before joining his next ship.
This is the prequel to the novel The Return of Thomas Grey, which, first published in serialised form in 2017, is also available at Bookapy in an adapted and revised form.