Today, July 8, 2011, Boson Books of Raleigh, North
Carolina released the worldwide ebook Scarborough Fair by British author Chris Scott Wilson.
Better known for his gritty westerns, Scarborough Fair shows that when
Wilson forsakes the land for the
sea, he is still very much at home spinning yarns to make even salty sailors
smile. In Scarborough Fair he tells
the story of how John Paul Jones became
America’s first
great naval hero.
With the onset of the War of
Independence in 1775, a young
America flexed
her muscles to throw off the shackles that bound her to the mother country
England. The US
Congress desperately needed to break
England’s
domination of the seas and cripple her trade routes. The French, knowing any
such disorder could only benefit them too, were eager to help. King Louis XVI
promised to furnish and arm a ship commanded by an American officer who would
have free access to French ports.
John Paul Jones, originally from
Scotland, served
his apprenticeship on the high seas, working his way up to captain. His ambition
was to own plantations in
Virginia, the most important and
prosperous colony. When war was declared against
England, Paul
Jones immediately volunteered to serve his adopted nation. Three years later, he
was ordered to Paris where one of
the most prominent American founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, became his
greatest ally. Offering constant reassurance,
Franklin guided Jones though the
murky political waters of the French Marine Ministry in his quest to secure a
ship to fight the English. When the task appeared hopeless, he eventually
devised a plot to force the purchase of a suitable vessel.
In recognition of
Franklin’s efforts, Jones renamed
his new command Bonhomme Richard,
Franklin’s pen name. Promoted to
commodore, John Paul Jones began to harry the English in their own territorial
waters while battling the treachery of insubordinate French officers who
commanded the other ships in his small flotilla. A year later, just south of
Scarborough on
England’s
Yorkshire coast, he tackled a brand new enemy frigate.
They fought within sight of the very shores of
England, a
nation whose proud boast was its invincible navy. It was at the Battle of
Flamborough Head in 1779, that John Paul Jones became a
legend.
The
author, Chris Scott Wilson, comments, “Jones was an extraordinary man whose
famous cry was, ‘Surrender? I have not yet begun to fight.’ And he never gave
up. It seems astounding these days to think he was only 31 years old when he
fought that great battle. His courage, grit and determination inspired other
commanders to fight and defend their beliefs and encouraged his adopted homeland
to seek a bold new future.”
The
best-selling author Clive Cussler, himself interested in Paul Jones to the point
of financing several searches in the North Sea for the
wreckage of Bonhomme Richard, wrote
to Chris: “Scarborough Fair is a terrific story. Of course, you English
always had a better command of the language than we colonists. The Serapis and Bonhomme Richard battle was always a great adventure tale and
you did it proud.”
Scarborough Fair by Chris Scott Wilson is now available in
ebook format from all leading online retailers. For a sample read and purchasing
details, visit http://www.cmonline.com/boson/ and follow Fiction> Historical fiction, or visit the
author’s website http://chrisscottwilson.co.uk. where Chris would be pleased to welcome you.
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