Thanks, as is always the case, are due many people. Thank you to Barry Clifford, Ken Kinkor, and especially Paul Perry for the information on St. Mary’s on Madagascar’s coast, a happy coincidence that they were researching the place-and going there-at the same time I was writing about it! Thanks as ever to Nat and Judith for all their help and support, and to Nancy Becker for the swordplay. And with deep appreciation I extend my thank-you to David Semanki at Harper-Collins and to Hugh Van Dusen, one of the last of the Renaissance men.
JAMES L. NELSON has served as a seaman, rigger, boatswain, and officer on a number of sailing vessels. He is the author of By Force of Arms, The Maddest Idea, The Continental Risque, Lords of the Ocean, and All the Brave Fellows-the five books of his Revolution at Sea saga, as well as The Guardship and The Blackbirder, the first two books of the Brethren of the Coast trilogy. He is also the author of Glory in the Name: A Novel of the Confederate Navy. He lives with his wife and children in Harpswell, Maine. His website is found at www.jameslnelson.com.