Ramage’s Devil, by Dudley Pope

January 1, 2011

The Lord Ramage series by Dudley Pope is one of my personal favorites among the many good nautical fiction series. It’s clever, funny and full of action. Ramage’s Devil starts in 1803, during the short-lived Peace of Amiens, which lasted from March 1802 to May 1803. Ramage is now a newly married man. We find [...]

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Our Lives, Our Fortunes, by J. E. Fender

December 31, 2010

This is the third installment in the series often referred to as the Saga of Geoffrey Frost. In contrast to the previous two, however, this third novel mostly takes place on dry land, so it is not really a nautical fiction book. The nautical fiction in this book concerns a daring attack on the British [...]

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Galleon, by Dudley Pope – pirate fiction

December 30, 2010

Non-fiction books by Dudley Pope Dudley Pope was an acclaimed navy historian. His books shed considerable light on several key historical events. (links to amazon US) Flag 4: The Battle of Coastal Forces in the Mediterranean (1954) The Battle of the River Plate : The Hunt for the German Pocket Battleship Graf Spee (1956) 73 [...]

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HMS Saracen, by Douglas Reeman

December 29, 2010

This is an excellent naval novel by Douglas Reeman. Essentially it is a story about the relationship between a man and a ship, excellently described and told. The book has two parts. The first takes place in 1915, when young midshipman Richard Chesnaye serves aboard HMS Saracen. HMS Saracen is a strange bastard of a [...]

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Alexander Kent: Signal – Close Action!

December 28, 2010

In this installment in Alexander Kent’s excellent series about Richard Bolitho, the action takes place in 1798. Napoleon is concentrating his forces in the Mediterranean. He is preparing to annex Egypt. And now the newly promoted Commodore Richard Bolitho is sent to the Mediterranean with a small squadron of ships: three seventy-fours, a thirty-two gun [...]

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HMS Surprise, by Patrick O’Brian

December 27, 2010

This is the third book in Patrick O’Brian’s fabulous Aubrey/Maturin series of novels about the British Navy and Jack Aubrey & Steven Maturin during the early 19th Century. Captain Jack Aubrey, now a post captain, is temporarily in command of the large frigate HMS Lively. Political machinations have cost Jack some prize money he has [...]

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Touch and Go, by C. Northcote Parkinson

December 26, 2010

Richard Delancey has been called a “worthy successor to Horatio Hornblower”. I am not quite certain that this is true – but C. Northcote Parkinson’s series about Richard Delancey series is very good and well researched. Touch and Go is the fourth novel, chronologically speaking, in the series. The first, The Guernseyman, was about the [...]

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Governor Ramage, by Dudley Pope

December 25, 2010

The Lord Ramage series by Dudley Pope is one of my favorite series. It is very, very entertaining and full of clever naval action. A very imaginative and interesting series! In Governor Ramage, the fourth book in the Ramage series, Lieutenant Lord Nicholas Ramage, now commanding the Triton brig, is assigned to escort a convoy [...]

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