Dick Valliant threatens to run away to sea—and his father calls his bluff. Training-ship pranks, a dangerous bully and fierce sporting rivalries test the new cadet as his life turns towards the Navy and the crisis of 1914.
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Expelled from school yet again, Dick Valliant threatens to run away to sea. His father takes him at his word—and even Dick’s attempts to sabotage the naval entrance examinations cannot undo the arrangement. He joins the training ship Formidable determined to prove a point.
Life aboard brings hammocks, practical jokes, strict hierarchies and a bully who resents Dick’s growing confidence. A friendship with the older cadet Marriott opens the way to rowing crews, cricket and boxing, while work in the rigging and a sea-boat’s duties demand more than schoolboy bravado. Dick’s mischievous streak survives, but he begins to discover what he wants to do with it.
At the Royal Naval College, engineering workshops and gun drill share his days with keenly fought cricket matches. Then fleet mobilisation interrupts the familiar routine, bringing the young cadets into a world whose dangers are becoming real.
This is the first Dick Valliant adventure by Lieutenant-Commander John Irving, R.N. It is followed by Dick Valliant in the Dardanelles.
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