A Ship for the King

by Richard Woodman Book 1 in the Kit Faulkner Naval Adventures series.

First published 2011

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Bristol, 1618. Kit Faulkner is a homeless orphan surviving around the docks when two gentlemen recognise his potential and take him aboard the merchant ship *Swallow*. Shipboard discipline, navigation and trade offer an education unavailable on shore and give Kit a route out of poverty.

As he rises through the crew, voyages expose him to pirates and French corsairs as well as the risks of commerce at sea. His growing competence binds his future to the maritime world just as political tensions within the Stuart kingdoms begin to sharpen. The novel follows a boy becoming a professional seaman whose loyalties will eventually matter in a country moving toward civil conflict.