Success to the Brave

by Alexander Kent Book 17 in the Richard Bolitho series.

First published 1983

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In 1802, the Peace of Amiens requires Britain to return colonial possessions captured from France. Newly promoted Vice-Admiral Richard Bolitho leaves his pregnant wife to sail in the sixty-four-gun Achates from Boston to the Caribbean, where he must transfer the island of San Felipe to French control.

The apparently diplomatic assignment becomes a contest of threats, local resistance and concealed interests. Bolitho must preserve the peace without abandoning those who trusted British protection, while his isolated command remains vulnerable to forces willing to provoke a new war.

Amiens creates an unusual naval problem because Bolitho is ordered to surrender territory rather than capture it. Local inhabitants who relied on Britain during wartime may regard diplomatic compliance as betrayal, while French officers have reasons to test how firmly the handover will be enforced. The novel uses the brief peace to show how treaties can leave naval commanders responsible for consequences negotiated far from the people affected.