Dear sir, I have read the entire of the Starbuck Chronicles, the Grail Quest series, the Last Kingdom and the Sharpe series. My two questions concern the Sharpe series: Firstly I am curious as to the respective army and Navy ranking system in the Napoleonic Era. It is often said in your books that Captain of a ship in the British Navy is equivalent to full colonel in the British Army, but with the marines and more junior officers I am still confused (I even read the entire Alexander Kent series in an attempt to help out). Is a naval Lt. equivalent (I.E who would he not have to adress as sir) to a major, captain, army Lt., etc. or can they not really be compared? Does a second Lt. in the navy constitute a lower equivalent army rank than a First Lt.? And while marines obviously use army names and ranks, is a Marines captain on par with a Naval Lt. or does he rank higher? Secondly in the Sharpe books the cavalry a always referred to as fancy rich boys (with the exception of the KGL Cavalry and sergeant Lockheart and his men) but I wondered as to their actual position. Is a cavalry private simply a poor man as any infantry private, simply one who can ride a horse, or would they have to have enough money to pay for all the expensive cavalry equipment. Would they be treated with more seniority than an infantry private? Yours sincerely, James Browne (P.S please write another Starbuck book)