A MID OF THE NAVAL BRIGADE: Vivian Vansittart, V.C.

Vivian is an unruly boy who gives his schoolmaster plenty of headaches, and his readers plenty to laugh about. From a ship wrecked of the stormy coast of England to darkest Africa there is never a dull moment while following Vivian on his perilous adventures. But will he finally meet his match when he has to face an implacable foe bent on his destruction? Arthur Lee Knight (1852 - 7 Jul 1944) was a popular author of adventure books in the late 19th and early 20th century. Around 1868 he joined the Royal Navy at the age of sixteen as a junior midshipman, where he served on the 51-gun screw frigate HMS Forte. Having been a midshipman in the navy he was familiar with life in the navy and many of the episodes in his novels - such as hunting Arab slave traders - are clearly events he experienced himself and give unique insight into the world and people in the Victorian age. His readable and often racy stories are characterized by authentic navy language of the time and evocative descriptions of seascapes, distant countries and unusual people.