Ronald Morton; or, the Fire Ships: A Story of the Last Naval War

No part of the British coast presents a harbour of beauty equal to that of Plymouth Sound, with its lofty banks covered with trees from the summit to the water's edge, its rocks...

When Edda Armytage discovered by whom the brig had been captured, her dread of the consequences, added to the grief and terror she had been experiencing, overcame her, and she f...

One of the most beautiful sights on the ocean, to the eye of a sailor, is the spectacle presented by a large fleet, when the signal for weighing is seen flying from the flag-shi...

The "Imperious," with a fine breeze from the southward, was standing across the Bay of Biscay. She had been actively engaged all the time she had been in the Mediterranean, chie...

When the "Osterley" left Calcutta she stood across the Bay of Bengal, and there appeared to be every prospect of a favourable commencement of the voyage. She had a good many pas...

THE FRIGATE ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE FROM THE FIRE-SHIP--THE BURNING FRIGATE-- DANGER OF THE PASSENGERS--ESCAPE FROM THE BURNING SHIP--ON BOARD THE "SCORPION"--LORD CLAYMORE ILL SUPPO...

The "Imperious" had been some time in the Mediterranean. She had not been idle, nor had her crew; that was not likely under such a captain as Lord Claymore. She had been up the...

For a long time after Hilda's return to Lunnasting, Bertha Eswick feared that the mind of her young mistress had gone for ever. All the aid which medical skill could afford appe...

Father Mendez, on reaching Lerwick, found a vessel about to sail for Leith. He might probably have taken a courteous farewell of the inhabitants of Lunnasting, had he not wished...

The sun had set some short time when Ronald, with his companions, reached the village where the guide told him he could obtain shelter and refreshment. The village itself was sm...

The winds whistled round the towers of Lunnasting, and the wild waves, as they were wont, washed the base of the rock on which it stood, and time sped on without any material ch...

To return again to the "Thisbe" and rescued "Osterley." The frigate and Indiaman were once more hove-to, at a short distance from each other. In the far distance appeared a grou...

Ronald Morton had gone through the usual vicissitudes of a midshipman's career, during the full swing of a hot and somewhat bloody war. He had run a good many chances of being k...

As the bright cheerful light of morning broke on the world of waters, there lay the two frigates, which, when the sun went down, looked so gallant and so trim--now shorn of thei...

"If I'd my way I'd break out of this here hole, knock the mounseers down that stands guard, and cut and run," observed Job Truefitt, as he woke up after a sound sleep on some st...

Navis Grind, or Navie Grind, the point towards which Morton and his friend directed their steps, is a high cliff forming the extreme western point of that part of Shetland calle...

"To my mind it wad ha' been better for one and a' of us, if Miss Hilda had gone and wed with a true, honest-hearted Shetlander, instead of this new-found foreigner, for all his...

For many days after the loss of her child, Hilda remained in a state of such utter prostration, that Bertha, who would allow no one but herself to watch her, often dreaded that...

"Land! land on the larboard bow!" The cry was uttered in a foreign tongue from the masthead of a corvette of twenty guns, a beautiful long, low, flush-decked craft with dark hul...

A few days after the "Imperious" reached the coast, a brig of war hove in sight. The frigate stood towards her, and when the two vessels had hove-to, the commander of the brig c...

Lunnasting Castle stood on a high rocky promontory, washed by the ocean on the south and east, and by a voe which ran up some way inland on the west. It was a somewhat extensive...

When morning dawned, and hunger reminded the escaped prisoners that it was time for breakfast, they looked about and discovered in the forepeak a supply of water and provisions,...

Hilda Wardhill, or rather Donna Hilda Escalante, was to be seen in her turret chamber in the same spot, and almost in the same position, as when first in her youth and glorious...

The Indiaman, under the skilful pilotage of old Doull and his companion Eagleshay, wound her devious way among the shoals and reefs which guarded the entrance to the bay. Many o...

In vain Lieutenant Calder and the prize crew of the "Concorde" attempted to resist the onslaught of the enemy. Several were killed, others were wounded, and they soon found them...

After Rolf Morton had left the "Saint Cecilia," and was steering for Yell Sound, he recollected that a long time had passed since he had paid a visit to an old friend, who had b...

The frigate continued her cruise further to the south; she touched at several places, and Lord Claymore or Morton went constantly on shore to urge the Spanish authorities and th...

"THISBE" IN SEARCH OF THE "OSTERLEY"--A CHASE--THE "OSTERLEY" OVERTAKEN--FOUND IN POSSESSION OF THE FRENCH--RETAKEN--THE PASSENGERS NOT ON BOARD--MORTON PLACED IN COMMAND OF THE...

Ronald Morton's heart beat high with hope when he rode back, and was able to announce to Mrs Armytage and Edda that he had recovered Colonel Armytage. "Though wounded and faint...

The heiress of Lunnasting was high-minded, unconscious of evil, confident of her own strength and resolution, and utterly ignorant of the world and of its deceits and wickedness...

Bertha Morton had been considered not only one of the prettiest girls in that part of Shetland where she was known, but as good and modest as she was pretty, which is saying muc...

Morton had been anticipating a delightful day: he was to have called, with Glover, on Mrs Edmonstone, and he hoped to have met Miss Armytage, who was staying with her; but his f...

With a heart agitated by a variety of conflicting feelings, Ronald Morton, the day after the "Scorpion" reached Eastling Sound, approached Lunnasting Castle. He was followed at...

"Morton, we ought to be content with the prizes we have made; we must now do something in the fighting way, or we shall be looked upon as mere buccaneers, who think of nothing b...

As the "Scorpion" required her rigging set up, Ronald had a good excuse for remaining in Eastling Sound longer than he might otherwise have done. He came on shore every day; and...

The chief anxiety of Captain Courtney when he ascertained that the approaching ship was an enemy, was to secure the escape of the prize. She would indeed have been of very littl...

The accounts which Don Hernan had received from various quarters while on shore at Lerwick about the inhabitants of Lunnasting Castle had excited his curiosity and interest to t...

Although the sun during the middle of the Shetland summer scarcely ceases to shine, the inhabitants of these isles, like other mortals, require sleep, and take it at the usual t...