Dear Mr Cornwell, I love your books especially the Warlord Chronicles. I read that you have a Cornish crabber called Royalist. Is that a gaff-rigged boat? I have come across Morecambe Bay shrimpers and they’re gaff-rigged. Did you sail her to the US yourself? If you’re ever short of crew then my fiance and I would love to come and help out. He and I are RYA Coastal Skipper and Yachtmaster(theory) respectively. Unfortunately we live in Essex, (actually just around the corner from the Essex Regiment Museum which has some great artifacts that Sharpe would have been familiar with) so I’m afraid it’s probably not a very practical offer. With best wishes for fair winds, Helen