Jupiter Amidships

I wished I had read the Author’s note which appears at the end of the book before reading this novel as it was difficult to believe in a submarine being used in 1803, but indeed it was and its appearance adds greatly to the excitement and enjoyment of this swashbuckling sea story. In this second story about Jupiter, he and his brother Patrick are on a Royal Navy ship having been pressed into service. Jupiter falls foul of Midshipman Edward Hines and starts the story tied to the mainmast, and Patrick is set to be flogged after an unfortunate incident on the bowsprit, but is saved by the attack of a French ship. Here the story does get very gory indeed as Jupiter ends up being the surgeon onboard having removed splinters from the real surgeon’s eyes. The Captain then asks Patrick and Jupiter to undertake a dangerous mission in ‘The Turtle’ (submarine) which they do but drift alarmingly before being rescued and taken to their old home in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Here the story acquires considerable depth as Jupiter’s family are black but discover that folk at home are beginning to take on the white man’s ways which are attitudes that do not sit easily with Jupiter. We leave him preparing to rejoin the navy possibly as a midshipman thus providing material for a third story.

According to the Author’s note, the story is based loosely on a black family who moved from Canada to Sierra Leone, and the fact that there were many nationalities employed in the Royal Navy at this time. From these facts the author has woven an enjoyable story, full of excitement and adventure, and of course the submarine!