Humble Launching, A Story of a Little Boy Growing Up at Sea (Book 1 of 9 in the Rundel Series)
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The Story of a Little Boy Growing Up at Sea, 1778
This is the first of a series of nine books about the life of one fictitious person, Benjamin Rundel. We experience the Napoleonic Wars through his eyes and those of his friend, Thomas Murphy.
Rundel was born in 1780 and is orphaned at age one. He is raised for a time by a friend of his mother’s but does not know his real name. When Auntie Jo has to leave to care for a sickly relative, Benji is cast adrift and wanders from one house to another.
Ben ends up in an orphanage and sees the horrors of the work house. He plans a careful escape and lives on his own for a time. After a serious illness, he realizes that he cannot make it on his own.
At age 7 he stows away aboard the Faithful, an Admiralty ship under Captain Bailey. He is such a sincere child that he quickly wins the love of the captain and entire crew, all except a leftenant who knows that Benji saw him stealing the captain’s spirits in the lazarette.
Ben goes on to learn many skills aboard ship, which will later make him a fine captain. He escapes from a French patrol on land and saves his shipmates from death by quick thinking. His serious nature gets him assigned to loblolly boy and later as surgeon’s mate. His surgical skills result in him being assigned to a most unhappy ship, the HMS Hawk, under corrupt Captain Sharpe.
This is the story of a young boy growing up at sea and facing many challenges from the four terrible ship’s boys to a vindictive leftenant. It is pumped with action and still shows the challenges that make Benji a fine captain under often near impossible odds.
Benji goes it on his own for a time, but after a severe illness, he realizes that he must find a better life. He stows away aboard the Faithful under a wise captain who has a son who will never be able to go to sea. Benji’s enthusiasm and eagerness to learn attract the captain’s attention and Ben finds himself on the way to being a midshipman. He saves his crew when they are pinned on a French strand by French soldiers. A vile leftenant is responsible for Benji being abandoned in a fishing boat on shore. The fishermen find him and take him to the local naval hospital where he learns more about medicine until he is rescued by his captain who does not know if he is a ‘run’ or has been the victim of foul play. Aboard ship he studies medicine with a fine surgeon and learns all that there is to know about sailing ships. Many sailors take him in hand and help with his education. His talent as a surgeon is responsible for his being traded to a most unhappy ship, the Hawk, which is sailing the fever-ridden Caribbean with no surgeon.
N. Beetham Stark
Nellie Beetham Stark was born November 20, 1933, in Norwich, Connecticut to Theodore and Dorothy Pendleton Beetham. She attended the Norwich Free Academy and later Connecticut College in New London, CT before graduating with a MA and a Ph.D. degree in Botany (Ecology) from Duke University.Stark worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a botanist for six years and then joined the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada where she worked on desert and forest ecology and later tropical nutrient cycling. She has consulted in many countries, working for some time in Russia, Australia and South America. She developed the theory that explains why tropical white sand soils cannot grow good food crops and described the decline processes of soils. She has also developed a science of surethology, or survival behavior which describes how humans must adapt to their environments if they hope to survive long term. She has 96 professional publications and has published in four languages.Her life long hobby has been English history, with emphasis on naval history. Her family came originally from Tristan Da Cunha in the South Atlantic in the early 1900’s. Her grandfather was a whale ship captain for a time which spurred her interest in naval history. She also paints pictures of sailing ships which she has used as covers for her historical novels. She has built several scale models of sailing ships and does extensive research on ships and naval history, traveling to England once yearly.Stark was awarded the Connecticut Medal by Connecticut College in 1986 and the Distinguished Native Daughter Award for South Eastern Connecticut in 1985. She was named outstanding Forestry Professor three times by the students of the University of Montana, School of Forestry.Today she writes historical novels, mostly set in England. She has published some 21 novels in the past twenty years, mostly on the internet. She lives on a farm in Oregon and raises hay and cows.Stark's two most popular book series are:Early Irish-English History1. The Twins of Torsh, 44 A.D. to 90 A.D.1. Rolf "The Red" MacCanna, 796-8462. An Irishman's Revenge, 1066-11124. Brothers 4, 1180-12165. Edward's Right Hand, 1272-13076. We Three Kings, 1377-1422The Napoleonic Wars at Sea (Benjamin Rundel)1. Humble Launching - A Story of a Little Boy Growing Up at Sea, 17872. Midshipman Rundel - The Wandering Midshipman, 17953. Mediterranean Madness - The Luckless Leftenant Rundel, 17974. The Adventures of Leftenant Rundel, 1797-17995. Forever Leftenant Rundel, 1800-18036. Captain Rundel I – Trafalgar and Beyond, 1803-18067. Captain Rundel II – Give Me a Fair Wind, 1806-18098. Captain Rundel III – Bend Me a Sail, 1810-18139. Admiral Rundel – 1814-1846
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