The Mad Interpreter

The British cruiser Ariadne is on the East Indian station. Her mission: to intercept Arab slave dhows and free the wretched African slaves that are being taken from East Africa to be sold on slave markets in the Middle East.

On board the Ariadne is midshipman Everard Brooke. When they are in port in Muscat some disturbing intelligence reaches him. The ship's interpreter Hassan has heard that two dhows full of slaves are on their way to Arabia. There is also a rumour that the French are in secret negotiations with the sultan of Muscat.

Will the Royal Navy be able to meet all the challenges ahead? And what is Hassan's role in all of this?

Arthur Lee Knight (1852 - 7 Jul 1944) was a popular author of adventure books in the late 19th and early 20th century. Around 1868 he joined the Royal Navy at the age of sixteen as a junior midshipman, where he served on the 51-gun screw frigate HMS Forte.

Having been a midshipman in the navy he was familiar with life in the navy and many of the episodes in his novels - such as hunting Arab slave traders - are clearly events he experienced himself and give unique insight into the world and people in the Victorian age. His readable and often racy stories are characterized by authentic navy language of the time and evocative descriptions of seascapes, distant countries and unusual people.