In my new Austen inspired tale, several of the characters must travel between England and France in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars, specifically in 1813. There were multiple routes, some safer than others. At the beginning of the book, when Colonel Fitzwilliam is returning to Derbyshire, he takes a ship out of and lands in Northumberland, but what were the routes available?
To travel by ship from France to Northumberland, a person must cross the English Channel. Your exact route depends on whether you sail around the long western coast of the UK or take the most direct route.
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end.
It is about 560 kilometres (300 nautical miles; 350 statute miles) long and varies in width from 240 km (130 nmi; 150 mi) at its widest to 34 km (18 nmi; 21 mi) at its narrowest in the Strait of Dover] It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 square kilometres (22,000 square nautical miles; 29,000 square miles).
The two primary maritime paths used by those traveling between the two countries were:
The Direct Route (Eastern UK): The person would cross the English Channel from northern France (such as Calais) through the narrow Strait of Dover into the North Sea, and continue sailing north along the British coast until he reached Northumberland.
The Western Route: You will cross the English Channel from western or northern France, sail past Cornwall, head up the Irish Sea, and navigate around the top of Scotland and down into the North Sea to reach Northumberland.
Excerpt from Chapter Seventeen as they discuss the routes possible to bring Christiana’s mother and brother to England:
That evening had Fitzwilliam making arrangements for an early departure, the following day. They had several options, but none of them were without danger. His own mother would never listen to his plans, for her ladyship claimed the knowledge of his traveling the English Channel or the North Sea to reach the Continent was too frightening. “Both countries war vessels patrol the waterways and do not make me recite all the dangers smugglers bring to your plans. I refuse!”
“We could go to Jersey or Guernsey and travel overnight, but we must bypass the fortress. We can go to Gravelines and travel inland to Paris. If we take the Channel, we could land at Calais, which many English prefer. We could also choose Rouen, which is the capital of Normandy. Where we sit in will determine how many days we must be on the road once we reach Europe. None of the harbors are completely safe. How is your French, my lady? My lord?”
“Having lived there for nearly fifteen years,” she began, “both my understanding and usage are well developed.”
“Mine not so much,” Lord Kirkland admitted.
“Then you must constantly claim you cannot hear well. If we can find one, we might consider purchasing an ear horn.”
“No matter which route we choose, once we are on the Continent, it will take us at least three days to reach Paris and another three to return to the ship,” Edward explained again, making certain they all knew the dangers. “How did you come to England?” he asked Lady Christiana.
“We traveled north and then on to Guernsey, but that route must be executed at night, bypassing the main fortress and harbors in the dark. We used draft luggers for the shallows.”
Edward stared at her in admiration. “You are quite remarkable, my lady.”
“Then we agree to permit the yacht’s captain to choose where we land,” Kirkland confirmed, while essentially ignoring Edward’s admiration of the man’s granddaughter. “The weather and the French patrols mean we must be prepared to react to whatever comes our way. Guineas, correct?”
“No British bank notes. We take their currency, but that practice is not reversed on the Continent,” Edward reminded the man.
In the end, they permitted Darcy’s yacht crew to determine how close they would come to France proper, realizing some of the surrounding countries might be safer for travel, though it would be a longer trek to Paris. It would all depended onwhere they were permitted to sit in.”
Josiah Bartlett, the youngest of seven children, where his parents ran a farm called “The Lion’s Mouth,” was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1729. Josiah’s father was also a shoemaker. When Josiah was young he started to study Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Bartlett was extremely bright, and was well adversed in his schooling from a young age. When he was 17, he started to study medicine and became a local doctor’s assistant at the same time. By the age of 21, Josiah Bartlett moved to Rockingham County, New Hampshire, and started his own private practice
He rose to prominence in Delaware and served in the militia during the French and Indian War. After the war he served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
John Adams described Rodney as “…the oddest looking man in the world; he is tall, thin and slender as a reed, pale; his face is not bigger than a large apple, yet there is sense and fire, spirit, wit and humor in this countenance.” It was not an appearance to quicken the heart of a woman, however, and it is said that Rodney remained a bachelor because Molly Vining, the woman he loved, married a rector — and soon after died. 
His political engagement began in his interest in the law. He wrote and organized against a poll-tax originated by the royal governor just prior to the outbreak of hostilities. He was a local leader in the patriot movement in the late 1770s.
Charles Wilson Peale’s famous portrait of William Paca, painted in 1772, says much about the man. With arm akimbo, he is very much the self-assured diplomat, lawyer, planter, and patriot. An extremely attractive, tall, yet large, man, he exudes the charm, fashionable demeanor, and educated manner for which he was known. With a bust of Cicero beside him and his Annapolis garden and summerhouse in the background, Paca fills the seven and a half foot canvas with the presence and confidence that would help win independence for the colonies. Many years later, Peale described his famous commission in these words: “A handsome man, more than six feet high, of portly appearance, being well educated and accustomed to the best company, [Paca] was graceful in his movements and complaisant to everyone; in short, his manners were of the first polish. In the early period when the people’s eyes first became opened to their rights,[he] made the first stand for the Independence of the People.”
The relationship between Lee and his oldest brother steadily worsened over the next few years. In 1754 Lee and his siblings brought suit against Philip Lee for not immediately dividing Thomas Lee’s estate according to his will. The lawsuit failed—Philip Lee had wanted to settle his father’s debts before dividing up his property—but Francis Lee and his younger siblings did successfully petition the court to have their cousin Henry Lee appointed as their guardian. When the familial discord threatened to undermine the Lees’ social and political position in colonial Virginia, Francis Lee set aside his differences with his oldest brother and focused on restoring the family’s rank in the colony. Although Lee’s relationship with his oldest brother remained strained, he developed a close bond with his other siblings, brothers Thomas Ludwell Lee, Richard Henry Lee, William Lee, and Arthur Lee, and sisters Hannah Lee and Alice Lee. When Philip Lee finally gave Frank Lee the land he had inherited in far-off Loudoun County, he eagerly took up residence there and was soon called to public service.
In 1769, Lee married Rebecca Tayloe, the sixteen-year-old daughter of John Tayloe, of Mount Airy. Frank was in his thirties at the time. Rebecca Tayloe was one of the eight daughters of John Tayloe II. In providing his blessing, Rebecca’s father made a wedding gift to the couple of a plantation of 1,000 acres. Frank and Rebecca moved to Richmond County. He soon began overseeing the construction of a new residence, Menokin. That same year, residents of Richmond County elected him to the Virginia House of Burgesses; once again, he maintained an inactive role and attended sessions sporadically. He also served the county as a justice of the peace from 1770 until the collapse of Virginia’s colonial government in 1774, and, for a brief time in 1771, was justice of the peace for both Richmond and Loudoun counties.
He became a close associate of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, though he preferred library discussions and back-room strategy to the limelight of public debate. Frank’s contributions to the formation of the American Republic, though subtle and often overlooked, were nonetheless critical. His staid countenance offered stability to the sometimes fractious debate among the delegates and, importantly, he modulated the fiery and sometimes divisive speech of his brother, Richard Henry. “He was,” as his youngest brother Arthur attested, “calmness and philosophy itself.”
