Paul Gerrard, Cabin Boy

# Paul Gerrard, the Cabin Boy

by W.H.G. Kingston

A maritime adventure novel set in the late eighteenth century. The narrative follows Paul Gerrard, a fourteen-year-old cabin boy aboard HMS Cerberus, a 42-gun frigate under Captain Walford bound for a distant station. Paul comes from genteel origins—his family lost its fortune in a lawsuit against the Devereux family—and has sought a life at sea to support his widowed mother and siblings, hoping to earn prize money and advancement.

The opening depicts the rough conditions aboard ship and the hardships of a cabin boy's service. Paul serves quarrelsome midshipmen and mates, including the dissolute Tony Noakes. A comical incident occurs when he loses control of a salt beef joint that strikes Irish midshipman O'Grady. The episode establishes both Paul's difficult position and the character of midshipman Devereux, his social equal by birth despite current circumstances. Paul's internal reflections reveal his ambitions to work upward from his humble shipboard role despite the harsh realities confronting him.