Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England The Three Admirals. Life in the Royal Navy in the 1860s. By W.H.G. Kingston. ________________________________________________________________________ This is the fourth in Kingston's tetralogy that begins with The Three Midshipmen, and ends with The Three Admirals. These books were among the first written by Kingston, and were published serially in weekly magazines. Kingston's reputation was made by these books, that first appeared about 1860, and dealt with an officer's life in the Navy at about that time. By an extraordinary co-incidence, the three young men who had met as midshipmen, get postings that enable them to keep their friendships live even when they are Admirals. Another old friend is Admiral Triton, who, is now dead and buries on the Isle of Wight, but they get to visit his grave. This is actually quite a long book, but it is full of adventures, and you will love it as much as you loved its predecessors. ________________________________________________________________________ THE THREE ADMIRALS. LIFE IN THE ROYAL NAVY IN THE 1860s. BY W.H.G. KINGSTON. CHAPTER ONE. THE DRAGON OFF THE BONINS--A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TOM ROGERS AND ARCHIE GORDON--GERALD DESMOND ON THE SICK-LIST--THREATENINGS OF A TYPHOON--IT STRIKES THE SHIP--SHE RUNS BEFORE IT--THE SHIP HOVE TO--THE BOWSPRIT CARRIED AWAY--A MARINE WILL-O'-THE-WISP--ENTER A BAY IN ONE OF THE BONIN ISLANDS--TOM, GERALD, AND BILLY GET LEAVE TO VISIT THE SHORE--A BEAUTIFUL CAVERN--LAND ON THE ISLAND--THEIR DISCOVERIES--FISHING-- INTERRUPTED BY SHARKS--A PICNIC--BOAT DRIFTS AWAY FROM THE SHORE--TOM SWIMS OFF--NARROW ESCAPE FROM A SHARK--SEE THE SHIP IN THE OFFING--PULL AFTER HER--A HURRICANE COMING ON--FEARFUL DANGER WHEN RE-ENTERING THE HARBOUR. Her Majesty's corvette _Dragon_, lately commanded by our old friend Jack Rogers, who had been superseded by Commander Rawson, was on her passage across the wide Pacific, bound for Esquimault harbour, Vancouver's Island, from Japan, to which she had been sent with despatches. The wind being fair, the screw was at rest, and she was under all sail, looking as trim and taunt a little man-of-war as a sailor's heart could desire. Her stay in Japan had been short, so that no leave had been granted, and even the officers had seen little of the country and people; though, as they hoped to return before long, that did not much matter. As it was of no great importance that the _Dragon_ should soon get back to Vancouver's Island, Commander Rawson had received directions to visit the Ladrone Islands, somewhat to the southward of his course, in order to obtain particulars of an outrage, said to have been committed on an English subject by some of the mongrel inhabitants of those islands, which have for some centuries belonged to Spain.