The novel refers to or draws from material in three short stories and one novel.
The Looe Die-hards
‘The Looe Die-hards’ is a short story from Wandering Heath of 1895. Thomas Bond and Jonathan Couch appear as AEneas Pond and the lieutenant doctor. It is set between 1808 and 1809.
There is a discussion of this story here.
Prisoners of War
‘Prisoners of War’ from Old Fires of 1900, which is based on the records of Thomas Williams and John Tregerthen Short of St. Ives.
King O’Prussia
‘King O’Prussia’ from The White Wolf of 1902, which is based on The Autobiography of a Cornish Smuggler, Captain Harry Carter of Prussia Cove, 1749-1809, edited by J.B. Cornish, a Penzance friend of Q’s. This writer’s great grandfather, Thomas Carter of Germoe, appears to have been a later member of the family.
Harry Revel
Harry Revel, a novel of 1903. Harry Revel was befriended by Bill Adams and Ben Jope, who had moved ship from the Vesuvius to the Bedford, thus dating the plot to post-1804. (See Chapters VIII to X.)
Bill Adams and Ben Jope reappear in ‘Merry Garden’ from Merry Garden and Other Stories of 1907, where they are still members of the Vesuvius. They finally appear, along with Captain Crang, Mr. Wapshott and the Vesuvius, in ‘The Cask Ashore’ from News of the Duchy of 1913.