Summary
Summary of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea
The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 6 h 35 min5 h 15 min fast, 7 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 94,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1908by Alfred Ollivant
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A rough stranger earns Kit's respect
Kit Caryll meets Big Jerry Ram as a rude stranger arriving on a dying horse. The young midshipman teases him, then learns that Jerry bred, trained and loved the animal. Kit's shame opens the way to friendship, and the rider's desperate journey begins to make sense.
Jerry has been chasing a gentleman who carries Napoleon's dispatches across Sussex, protected by the Gap Gang. Now the chase must move to sea. As Kit approaches his first ship, the Tremendous, he begins learning that courage can hide beneath a rough manner.
Key idea 2
A captured lugger carries a secret
Black Diamond once had a future in the Navy, but punishment turned him into its enemy.
Start free to read
Key idea 3
Battle reveals courage and its cost
Two French privateers approach the Tremendous across a glassy sea.
Start free to read
Key idea 4
A dying commander gives Kit responsibility
The Tremendous lies broken on a reef, and Harding is badly wounded.
Start free to read
Key idea 5
An enemy refuses to kill Kit
With the Gap Gang blocking the shore and the tide rising, Kit climbs the white cliff with the bottle between his teeth.
Start free to read
Key idea 6
A hidden drain offers a chance
Grenadiers surround the flint cottage while the Gap Gang waits nearby.
Start free to read
Key idea 7
Faith gives courage somewhere to stand
Kit's courage is not freedom from terror.
Start free to read
Key idea 8
Honour reaches across opposing sides
The Gentleman unsettles any easy division between good allies and bad enemies.
Start free to read
Key idea 9
Small people carry a great trust
A note hidden in a scent bottle places a fifteen-year-old boy inside a plot against Nelson.
Start free to read
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest free
Who it’s for
Readers who love sea fights, sword duels and underdog stands will find plenty here. It suits anyone drawn to Nelson and to stories where faith and laughter share the page with danger.
What this book is
Picture a huge man on a grey horse, driving it down a Sussex lane in the August dusk, blood on his neckcloth. He reaches the harbour at Newhaven, and the horse drops dead beneath him. Why would one rider burst a loyal animal's heart? In The Gentleman, the answer is a plot to seize Lord Nelson in the summer of 1805, while Napoleon waits at Boulogne with an army.
Alfred Ollivant wrote this romance of the sea as a salute to the Royal Navy and to English courage. It follows Kit Caryll, a fifteen-year-old midshipman on his first night at sea. You get a drunken gunner, a cliff climb, a siege in a flint cottage, and a charming French general who quotes poetry.
In this summary
- 1A rough stranger earns Kit's respectFree
- 2A captured lugger carries a secret
- 3Battle reveals courage and its cost
- 4A dying commander gives Kit responsibility
- 5An enemy refuses to kill Kit
- 6A hidden drain offers a chance
- 7Faith gives courage somewhere to stand
- 8Honour reaches across opposing sides
- 9Small people carry a great trust
A rider's fury sends a boy to sea
The story opens above Boulogne in July 1805, with Napoleon looking across the sea toward England. A huge riding officer named Big Jerry Ram arrives on his dying grey, flings himself into a boat, and finds its helmsman is a cool young midshipman. The boy is Kit Caryll, and he has little patience for Jerry's rudeness.
Kit teases the big man about a ride for a drink. Jerry answers with plain dignity that he bred, broke and loved that horse. Kit is ashamed at once, and the two begin to like each other.
Jerry explains the chase. A gentleman on a blood-chestnut has been crossing Sussex for weeks, carrying dispatches for Napoleon, and smugglers called the Gap Gang keep the roads clear for him. The only way left to stop him is by sea. Kit listens wide-eyed at the helm as the boat approaches his first ship, the little sloop Tremendous.
Courage often hides inside rough, comic people.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Take this summary with you
Send to Kindle downloads the file and opens Amazon's page: drop the file there.
Check yourself
What mission does Harding give Kit?
Right. “Kit must reach Nelson with the note and trust no one.”Not quite. “Kit must reach Nelson with the note and trust no one.”
Why does the Gentleman complicate Kit's view of the enemy?
Right. “He spares the boy and lets a wounded rifleman run.”Not quite. “He spares the boy and lets a wounded rifleman run.”
What does faith offer Kit amid the horrors of war?
Right. “It gives him a place to stand.”Not quite. “It gives him a place to stand.”
Go deeper: the whole of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea
About 6 h 50 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 94,200 words
- Reading timeAbout 6 h 35 min
Questions about The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea
Who is the Gentleman in the book?
He is a French general of Irish blood, nicknamed Fighting Fitz, who rides across Sussex carrying dispatches for Napoleon. He is brave, witty and chivalrous, and he repeatedly spares Kit even though they are enemies.
Is The Gentleman a true story?
It is a novel, though set in the real summer of 1805, when Napoleon massed an invasion army at Boulogne and Nelson was hunting the French fleet. Nelson, Pitt and Napoleon appear, while Kit and his companions are invented.
Who are Parson Joy and Piper?
Harry Joy is a retired Black Borderers captain and swordsman who lives in a fortified cottage and calls his sword Polly. Ralph Piper is a legless old sailor who served under Nelson and mixes deep faith with sharp shooting.
What is the main message of the book?
The book argues that courage, laughter and faith can carry even a young person through great danger. It also praises honour among enemies and the loyalty of small, odd groups of people who stand together for a cause.
Cite this edition
Ollivant, Alfred. The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-gentleman-a-romance-of-the-sea.
Ollivant, A. (2026). The gentleman: A romance of the sea. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-gentleman-a-romance-of-the-sea (Original work published 1908)
Ollivant, Alfred. The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-gentleman-a-romance-of-the-sea.
@book{ollivant2026gentleman,
author = {Ollivant, Alfred},
title = {The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-gentleman-a-romance-of-the-sea},
note = {First published 1908}
}
Free for 3 months
Get the full summary of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea, free
- 200,000+ classics as eBooks, audiobooks and 15-minute summaries, and print and large print at cost
- Up to 5 readers in your home on one plan
