Billy Ruffian

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This book is based on the marvellous collection of Admiralty documents held by the Public Record Office at Kew, in particular the ships' logs, captains' letters, minutes of Navy Board meetings, progress books, court martial reports and documents relating to the dockyards. It is also heavily dependent on the books of other writers and maritime historians past and present and I would particularly like to acknowledge my debt to the works of Brian Lavery, Tom Pocock, N.A.M. Rodger, Oliver Warner and the many fine books produced and edited by Robert Gardiner.

I am most grateful to Colin White and Brian Lavery for answering numerous questions and for generously drawing my attention to material I would otherwise have overlooked. Pieter van der Merwe has, as always, proved a mine of information and was particularly helpful in the matter of the last days of the Bellerophon. I would like to thank Pascal Cariss for his ideas and input, and Nicholas Blake for checking the dates, ships, figures and nautical terminology for errors and maritime howlers but would stress that I am responsible for any errors that remain. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Derek Barnard, the author of Merrily to Frindsbury, who has shared his local knowledge and with whom I spent an enjoyable day trying to find the exact spot where the Bellerophon was built. I would also like to thank Sir Malcolm and Lady Pasley, and Alan Maitland for their hospitality and for the information which they provided about their illustrious ancestors. My thanks also to all those people who have kindly supplied me with information and answered my queries, especially Bob Todd, Stephen Humphrey, Rev. Hilary W.

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