A blur of half-spoken farewells to his fellow wardroommates and a mad dash to gather his personal belongings and transport them to the pier along with his sea chest made up the little time he had left. Although he had not had a chance to explain his situation to any of the other officers, his fellow officers could clearly see that he was in shock. He suffered greatly as a result of being compelled to essentially disregard the suggestions made by his peers and friends, but there was no allowing for it. As he tried to focus on this, the latest challenge he faced as an officer in His Majesty's Navy, Allison sometimes felt as though he had to swallow hard to hold back tears.When it was finally time for him to disembark, he was somewhat reassured by the fact that his closest friend on the Praetorian, Lieutenant Tolbert Henry, was officer of the watch. He was saluted as Allison, dressed appropriately in overcoat and uniform, approached him amidships. Henry saluted back, gave him permission

Despite the fact that there was not a single building visible on that pitch-black section of New Jersey road, Allison was content to be outside of that cursed carriage.He was desperate to eat something and get a good night's sleep. However, despite the fact that he had been informed that everything would be arranged, despite the tasty and filling food, there were still no available rooms. The landlady offered to ask one of her guests to sleep in the common room that night and expressed her sincere regret for the oversight. But the gentlemanly aspects of Allison's character wouldn't let him hear about it, so he said he would do it himself, tired as he was.However, Allison decided to take a break from the cold on the veranda before retiring for the night. He was still experiencing some restlessness as a result of the day's far-reaching events.To think that just a few hours earlier, he was sitting in the wardroom of a line ship, confident about his future! Everything had apparently vani

Allison was depleted when the edges of Trenton showed up through his window, embracing the Allisons of the wide Delaware Stream. He felt as though he wouldn't be able to do anything for at least another half day due to the difficulties he had endured over the past two days. He was nevertheless reminded that he still had an important engagement that evening that he had to keep regardless of the circumstances by the sight of the red and orange swaths covering the western sky as the sun began to set. Thankfully, it had stopped raining since then.Fortunately, Trenton was a large enough town to provide him with better, more frequent lodging options, and Allison was pleased to see his carriage pull up to an inn that appeared to be of high quality. He was even more pleased to learn that the innkeeper had apparently prepared for his arrival and had provided him with lodging for the night. Allison apologized for his dirty appearance and asked to have his belongings moved to his room. He also

Holding her southerly course, HMS Philadelphia soon found herself once again beneath clear skies with her decks awash in bright sunlight. It wasn’t quite as warm as one might have liked since autumn was upon them, but the weather was more than fair and the voyage would not in any way be impeded.Bright though the decks were on that sunny day, some of the crew applied themselves to enhancing that effect, scrubbing them down with holystones. The ship’s carpenter, Stanwill, and his mates were making a thorough inspection of supports, frames and seams down below to ensure the ship had made it through her first storm at sea without taking too much strain. A distinctive clanking noise could be heard from below as a few men were once again working at the pumps, expelling seawater from the bilges. Still others were at work stitching and preparing new lengths of canvas for whenever they might be needed. Altogether, things aboard Philadelphia were running in clockwork fashion.From a personal s

“I’ll grant you, Mr. Allison , that it certainly wouldn’t have won the war in the Americas for them, but as far as usefulness is concerned, do not make assumptions of that nature. We don’t know exactly what the French have learned since this conflict began. We don’t know how deep their efforts at intrigue and subterfuge have managed to permeate or what they’ve gained as a result; but I can tell you I have it from General Sir William Johnson himself that the Indian tribes who have thrown in their lot with the French have been involved in a great many similar underhanded ploys. Our own native allies amongst the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederation have confirmed as much.”Allison could only stand by and look concerned as Maxwell went on.“Lieutenant, had this message gotten to our enemies they would have known your name, my name – which aggravates me to no end – and the fact we are involved in an activity centered on Trenton and Philadelphia which we want to keep secret. Only the