'Rip-roaring...a rollicking yarn with razor-sharp dialogue, introducing a hilarious protagonist'

'Will fill the gaping hole stoved in the timbers of the sea-saga genre by the sad death of Patrick O'Brian...Jerrold swashes his buckles and splices his mainbraces to good effect'

'At last, the nautical Flashman! Martin Jerrold looks set to become one of the great British anti-heroes, boozing and lusting his way through Regency England'

'This is a great book, exciting and utterly unique. Edwin Thomas's portrayal of the 18th Century is spot on, from his depiction of the smugglers' underworld to life aboard a small British navy man-of-war. And while other writers have achieved the same, Thomas has created in Lt. Martin Jerrold someone whom the reader of nautical fiction has never seen before - a character we love despite ourselves, and despite his many faults, faults to which he himself happy admits. Jerrold is no dashing and fearless naval hero, he revels in and celebrates his own shortcomings and ineptitude and he takes us happily along on that wild and hilarious ride. For the lover of naval fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, this book has it all. I eagerly await the next.'