The Baltic Convoy
By (Author) Lt. Commander Showell Styles F.R.G.S.
Faber & Faber
Faber & Faber
29th May 2008
Main
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
FIC
190
Width 126mm, Height 198mm, Spine 14mm
208g
First published in 1979 The Baltic Convoy continues the adventures of Showell Styless hero Michael Fitton. Now past middle-age and still only a lieutenant the widowed Michael Fitton is in command of the gun-brig Cracker and has sailed to the Baltics to escort a convoy bringing timber back to Britain. This is an important mission for Fitton for without the timber Britains chances of winning the war with France are greatly reduced as too many of its fleet need substantial repairs and wood is scarce. The task is made doubly dangerous as Britain is also at war with Denmark. Having to navigate the eight vessels through enemy-occupied waters Fitton has an unexpected coup when he takes the vessel Amalie prisoner and discovers Baron La Haye the most powerful Frenchman in Denmark and his daughter Madame Brennier on board. Double-crossed and with his ship in peril Fitton must fight to get the convoy back to safety, even if it means losing the woman he loves for ever.
Showell Styles was born Frank Showell Styles in 1908. His childhood was spent in the Welsh hills and he became an avid mountaineer and explorer. During the war, Styles joined the Navy and was posted in the Mediterranean, but even there he walked and climbed as much as he could. An aspiring writer, Styles already had articles published in Punch, before setting out to make his living as an author. His first novel, Traitor's Mountain, was a murder mystery set on and around Tryfan in Wales. He became a prolific writer with over 160 books published. As well as books on mountains such as The Mountaineer's Weekend Book, he wrote detective fiction under the pseudonym of Glyn Carr, and humorous pieces as C.L. Inker. Showell Styles died in 2005.