The younger son (and seeming heir apparent) of the Earl of Aubigny, Harry Carey is serving as a lieutenant aboard one of his father's merchant ships, plying the waters between England and Spain, at the beginning of this gripping adventure story set in Elizabethan times. Evading capture in the Spanish port of Santander, he and his shipmates head home, where Harry is delighted to learn that his father and Uncle James, wanting to capture richer prizes upon the sea, have commissioned a great galleon to be built. Chosen by Captain Gideon Powell as his second, aboard the newly commissioned Hawk, Harry serves on a mission to Brazil, where the intent is to capture Portuguese ships laden with valuable cargo. Before he departs however, he is presented to Queen Elizabeth, and he finds, upon his return to England, that his help is needed to foil an assassination plot against her...

First published in 1967, The Hawk is the forth of Ronald Welch's Carey Family Chronicles,, a collection of loosely connected historical adventure stories, each of which includes a character from the noble Carey family, and which together cover some of the major episodes of British history, from the time of the Third Crusade to World War I. Although positioned fourth in the series, as it is today conceived of and presented, this was actually the eighth to be published, following upon other books that come after it in the historical chronology by which the books are now organized. It occurs at roughly the same time as the third in the series, The Galleon, in which Harry and his father have cameo appearances.

However that may be, this was an immensely engaging tale, one that I found every bit as engrossing as the previous three—Knight Crusader, Bowman of Crécy and The Galleon. Harry is an appealing hero, capable and yet not over-confident, noble of birth, and yet no snob. His desire to win his father's respect is depicted with sensitivity by Welch, who captures the poignancy of this quite natural wish, without ever descending into any kind of sentimentality. My only critique to the book, would be that the section involving the assassination plot was far too short, and felt rather rushed, like an epilogue to the rest of the story. I would have enjoyed seeing it fleshed out more, particularly as I liked the way in which Welch depicted Harry's growing regard for his ostensible co-conspirator, despite secretly working against him. Still, despite this flaw, I nevertheless found this one worthy of its predecessors, and look forward to reading the next in the series, set during the English Civil Wars. ( )

The Hawk is set at the same time as The Galleon, the previous Carey novel, and benefits similarly from Welch's enthusiasm for Elizabethan shipping and armaments. The plot, as usual, is a classic adventure yarn in the manner of Scott and Stevenson, and is filled with historical details that bring the period to life. Recommended. ( )