The Honour of the Flag

On the banks of the Thames, a retired tailor fires an annual cannon salute on the anniversary of his wife's death, while an old sailor spends his unexpected fortune on a cutter of his own. These are the opening figures in William Clark Russell's collection of sea stories. John Sloper's house overlooks the busy river near Erith; Joseph Westlake outfits the Tom Bowling with guns, recruits three sailors and devises a flag suited to his grand idea of command.

The collection moves from this comic river setting into stranger and more dangerous nautical situations. In one passage, a navigator studies Pacific charts for a group of convicts who want islands where they can wait for a means of escape. Their bargain depends on his skill and on promises he has reason to question. Russell's shipboard conversations, descriptions of sailing craft and attention to maritime customs give readers both the pleasures of a sailor's yarn and the uncertainty of life afloat.