By Conduct and Courage: A Story of the Days of Nelson

by G.A. Henty

In the last book published before his death, George Henty takes us to several of the key sea battles of the Napoleonic Wars-battles that kept those kinds of sea-based invasions from happening. Will Gilmore is a young man from a small village called Scarcombe, a place whose primary industries are fishing and smuggling. Rather than pursue either career, he joins the Royal Navy as a ship's boy. His rise in the navy begins rather quickly when he distinguishes himself in a battle against the French, and he is promoted to midshipman. This promotion begins a career which includes battles with pirates, being captured and escaping from the enemy no less than three times, and participation in both the Battle of Cape St. Vincent and the Battle of Camperdown. His final adventure involves him with none other than Admiral Horatio Nelson, where his resolve and persistence pay off.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction

242 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

George Alfred Henty, better known as G.A. Henty, began his storytelling career with his own children. After dinner, he would spend and hour or two in telling them a story that would continue the next day. Some stories took weeks! A friend was present one day and watched the spell-bound reaction of his children suggesting Henty write down his stories so others could enjoy them. He did. Henty wrote approximately 144 books in addition to stories for magazines and was known as "The Prince of Story-Tellers" and "The Boy's Own Historian." One of Mr. Henty's secretaries reported that he would quickly pace back and forth in his study dictating stories as fast as the secretary could record them.

Henty's stories revolve around fictional boy heroes during fascinating periods of history. His heroes are diligent, intelligent, and dedicated to their country and cause in the face, at times, of great peril... Henty's heroes fight wars, sail the seas, discover land, conquer evil empires, prospect for gold, and a host of other exciting adventures. Along the way, they meet famous personages... In short, Henty's heroes live through tumultuous historic eras meeting leaders of that time. Understanding the culture of the time period becomes second nature as well as comparing/contrasting the society of various cultures.

Reviews

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 stars & 4/10 hearts. This is one of my favourite Henty books. I love all the excitement of the Navy, and Will’s adventures are always interesting, if not thrilling. There is quite a big discrimination against blacks; also a girl kisses and hugs Will (with her father’s tacit permission though) after he saves her life; and he kisses another girl (engaged to another man) when she does him a great favour; and later he holds a conversation about those kisses with the first girl. .5 stars removed for the above content plus mentions of drinking & smoking, much lying & stealing concerning prisoners’ escapes; and disparaging terms for/attitude towards blacks (which can easily be edited out). However, it is very exciting and quite humorous, and it still stands as one of my favourite Henty stories.

A Favourite Quote: “Will admired equally the tapering spars and the more graceful lines of the frigates and corvettes, and his heart thrilled with pride as he felt that he too was a sailor, and a portion, however insignificant, of one of these mighty engines of war.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “‘It is clear that we must communicate with Port Royal somehow,’ the captain said, ‘but it certainly isn’t clear how we are to do it.’”

*review to be updated*

[Viva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going through about 60 Henty books I downloaded from Amazon. They're all pretty much the same: disadvantaged young English boy makes good with high IQ, strong initiative and hard work. There's usually some history but this part can get boring. I'm mostly interested in the personal story. There's also always a secondary character(s), someone who the protagonist saves or helps but this character always hero worships him and sticks with him for the rest of the book.

In this book an itinerant flute player with a young child dies in a fishing/smuggling village. The villagers decide to place the child with a childless couple instead of sending him to an orphanage. The kid is pretty intelligent and spends time studying with the parson's daughter instead of mucking around. During this time he has also been working as a lookout for the smugglers. However he quits when the parson's daughter tells him it's wrong and illegal.

The other villagers take umbrage at that and think he's been squealing to the revenue guards so he has to flee for his life. He joins the Royal Navy with his friend Tim Stevens who he saves from drowning (Henty's protagonists does that a lot and always gains a lifelong friend/follower).

Anyway, due to his intelligence, ability to read and hard work his is quickly promoted up the commissioned officer ladder and he brings his friend Stevens and another seaman with him. He goes through a lot of sea actions in the European theater as well as the Carribean. Everything is done in easy mode and in the end he gains a lot of prize money as well as a bride. He also finds that his itinerant father was the son of a baronet so everything ends well. This is the gist of the book.

This is supposed to inspire a lot of English boys into working hard and being brave, basically everything that the protagonist does, except for the aristocracy part of course. I rated the book highly not on any of this but on the action and setting, which was pretty interesting.

[Brandon Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars simply for being my favorite Henty story. I enjoyed a /lot/ of these growing up, but this one was by far the most amazing.

[Josiah Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read

G A Henty did A great job of this book grand book it was full of action and courage best I've read

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Standard Henty character doing his bit for Britain, but the sea battles are interesting.