Eternal gratitude to my father, for smuggling me into the cinema to see The Three Musketeers (1973 version) and my first Bond Film, The Man with the Golden Gun, at an appallingly young and impressionable age; to George ‘He’s torn our carpet!’ MacDonald Fraser for giving the Victorians back their humanity; to John ‘The Guvnor’ Barry and David ‘The Heir-Apparent’ Arnold for the music; to Christopher Lloyd for giving me the original idea in The Royal Navy and the Slave Trade (London, 1949) and to Hugh Thomas for his exhaustive yet constantly fascinating history of the Atlantic slave trade, The Slave Trade (New York, 1997), which introduced me to Pedro Blanco and the Gallinas Barracoon; to Anne Williams and Sarah Keen at Headline for all their work and patience: to Richenda Todd for her excellent editing and fact-checking; to the staff of the S. S. Great Britain Project for their kind permission for me to be photographed on board Brunel’s masterpiece; and to James Hale for keeping faith while everyone else was jumping ship. Also, thanks to Alistair Wilson for advice on technical and other matters, and for putting me straight when my seamanship was at fault; it it’s right, it’s thanks to him; if it’s wrong, blame me!