Mariners Library Fiction Classic
1 primary work • 18 total works
Book 1
Nathaniel Drinkwater's life at sea begins with the HMS CYCLOPS' capture of the SANTA TERESA during Admiral Rodney's dramatic Moonlight Battle of 1780. Subsequently, Drinkwater's courage and initiative are put to the test as the CYCLOPS pursues American privateers threatening British trade and is later dispatched to the swamps of South Carolina, where many lives are lost both at sea and ashore.
Gradually, Drinkwater matures into a capable and self-assured sailor. As he contends with enemy forces, the tyranny of the CYCLOPS's midshipman, and the stark contrast between the comfort of home life and the brutality of naval service, he finds strength and sustenance in the love of his beloved Elizabeth.
Gradually, Drinkwater matures into a capable and self-assured sailor. As he contends with enemy forces, the tyranny of the CYCLOPS's midshipman, and the stark contrast between the comfort of home life and the brutality of naval service, he finds strength and sustenance in the love of his beloved Elizabeth.
BALTIC MISSION
1807: HMS Antigone is ordered to the Baltic. Napoleon's relentless advance across Europe has brought him to the very brink of Holy Russia. And Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater is faced with the most perilous mission of his career.
IN DISTANT WATER
From the very start of her mission to the Pacific, when Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater has to hang a deserter, His Majesty's Cruiser Patrician is dogged by ill-luck. Mutiny is in the air, the seas of Cape Horn are cruel and Drinkwater's top-secret orders are infuriatingly vague.
A PRIVATE REVENGE
1808: In the aftermath of a typhoon Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater brings His Britannic Majesty's frigate Patrician - dangerously overcrowded with Russian prisoners - into the shelter of the Pearl River on the China coast. When an apparently routine task goes wrong, Drinkwater is forced is forced to take risks with his ship, his crew and his life...
This sequel to In Distant Waters is a story of treachery and greed set on board the frigate HM Patrician. Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater accepts an assignment to carry silver down the Chinese coast, but the ship is overcrowded with prisoners and a dramatic encounter is about to take place.;Other novels by Richard Woodman featuring Nathaniel Drinkwater include An Eye of the Fleet, A King's Cutter, The Bomb Vessel and Baltic Mission.
The year 1813. As the Grand Army of Napoleon faces defeat on the battlefields of Germany, Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater succeeds Lord Dungarth as head of the Royal Navy's Secret Department. Before long he is caught up in a vast intrigue which leads him into the most desperate mission of his career among the forbidding fjords of Norway. In a compelling narrative the author links the fate of one of Napoleon's most charismatic mashals with American privateers, escaped prisoners, the Danish navy and a violent confrontation set beneath the aurora.
The thirteenth in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series: It is 1814 and Napoleon has abdicated as Emperor of the French. King Louis XVIII is brought out of exile and escorted back to France by an Allied squadron. The Great War is at an end and Europe prepares to celebrate the return of legitimate monarchy. Or so it seems on the surface. But the victorious Allies are uncertain what to do with the emperor and suspicious of one another. Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, believes he is saviour of the world, while Great Britain remains at war with the USA. France's greatest survivor, Talleyrand, prepares to restore his beaten country to the forefront of European politics and, amid this upheaval, disconcerted Bonapartists plot to restore their leader. Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater receives alarming information of a threat to the peace and leaves his quiet retirement to risk life and reputation to prevent disaster befalling his country.
It is 1843 and Captain Sir Nathaniel Drinkwater embarks on the paddle-steamer Vestal for an inspection of lighthouses on the west coast of England. Bowed with age and honours, the old sea-officer has been drawn from retirement on half-pay to fulful his public duty. The following day, tragedy strikes, and Drinkwater is confronted with his past life: his sins and follies, his triumphs and his disasters. Drawing on a true incident, Richard Woodman deftly concludes the career of his sea-hero. Both punctilious sea-officer and sympathetic libertarian, Drinkwater's complex character is revealed in its entirety. Far fom being the reminiscences of an old man, the novel skilfully weaves the past with the present; and the personal tensions below decks, the straining creak of a man-of-war under sail, the crack of cannon-shot and the plaintive mews of the trailing gulls are never far away. To the end, Nathaniel Drinkwater's life is full of incident and the unexpected, so typical of the sea-officers of his day...
In the seventh tale of the highly acclaimed Drinkwater series, Captain Drinkwater's frigate, HMS ANTIGONE, is ordered to the Baltic Sea in the Spring of 1807 as Napoleon's grip has begun to reach across Europe to the borders of Holy Russia. As country after country falls under the weight of French domination, Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater is faced with the challenges brought about by military disaster and diplomatic intrigue.
On board the ANTIGONE, Drinkwater is threatened by the seething discontent of his crew and the instability of his drunken first lieutenant. Drinkwater's task is to cooperate with his country's allies and intelligence agents. When a coded message is intercepted, his mission suddenly becomes one of extreme personal danger. As the fate of Europe is being decided, Drinkwater must carry out his mission in the face of his old enemy. This final confrontation brings him to the brink of death.
On board the ANTIGONE, Drinkwater is threatened by the seething discontent of his crew and the instability of his drunken first lieutenant. Drinkwater's task is to cooperate with his country's allies and intelligence agents. When a coded message is intercepted, his mission suddenly becomes one of extreme personal danger. As the fate of Europe is being decided, Drinkwater must carry out his mission in the face of his old enemy. This final confrontation brings him to the brink of death.
In A Brig of War, Nathaniel Drinkwater is promoted lieutenant of the brig Hellebore. He finds routine convoy escort duties end abruptly when Admiral Nelson, pursuing the French fleet to Egypt, sends Hellebore to the Red Sea with an urgent warning to the British squadron there. However, Nelson's apprehensions over French ambitions in the East are more than justified. Edouard Santhonax, Drinkwater's old enemy, is already preparing for a French descent on India.
The hunt for this elusive Frenchman and his frigate is combined with British naval operations on the flank of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. It is during the attack on Kosseir that Drinkwater is left for dead. His escape and the subsequent desperate attack on Santhonax leads to a still more dangerous situation under Augustus Morris, former tyrant of the midshipmen's berth on HMS Cyclops.
Drinkwater's fight to bring a half-armed ship safely to the cape of Good Hope is beset with personal enmity, the activity of the French and the violence of the sea.
The hunt for this elusive Frenchman and his frigate is combined with British naval operations on the flank of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. It is during the attack on Kosseir that Drinkwater is left for dead. His escape and the subsequent desperate attack on Santhonax leads to a still more dangerous situation under Augustus Morris, former tyrant of the midshipmen's berth on HMS Cyclops.
Drinkwater's fight to bring a half-armed ship safely to the cape of Good Hope is beset with personal enmity, the activity of the French and the violence of the sea.
It is 1811 and Napoleon's French Empire dominates Europe. Desperate to stem the encroaching French tide and avert war with the emerging power of the United States, the Royal Navy orders Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater to the Chesapeake Bay to heal the rift between London and Washington.
Quite by chance, on the banks of the Potomac, Drinkwater discovers the first clue to a bold plan by which the U.S. could defeat the Royal Navy, collapse the British government and utterly destroy the British cause. Amid personal crisis, Drinkwater takes command of a squadron sent against the Americans in the South Atlantic, audaciously risking his reputation and, in a climactic confrontation, coming face-to-face with the horror of an interminable war.
Quite by chance, on the banks of the Potomac, Drinkwater discovers the first clue to a bold plan by which the U.S. could defeat the Royal Navy, collapse the British government and utterly destroy the British cause. Amid personal crisis, Drinkwater takes command of a squadron sent against the Americans in the South Atlantic, audaciously risking his reputation and, in a climactic confrontation, coming face-to-face with the horror of an interminable war.
Midshipman Drinkwater is back in the Navy in 1792, appointed to the 12-gun cutter Kestral. Off the French coast, the Kestral becomes involved in the secret and dangerous adventures linked with the rescuing of emigres. Drinkwater plays a vital role in the landing of agents.
The 10th story in the life of Nathaniel Drinkwater. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, it takes the eponymous hero from the stews of London's dockland to the island of Heligoland on a daring mission to flout Napoleon's Continental System and drive a wedge between him and his ally the Tsar.
This modern seafaring epic follows the Martin family through nearly 70 years of British maritime history.
From the clash of mighty battleships at Jutland in 1916 to the cold splendor of the present-day Arctic, 'The Darkening Sea' traces the fortunes of the Martin family throughout nearly seventy years of British maritime history.
James and John Martin see varied action from service on battle-cruisers in the North Sea during the Great War to cargo-passenger ships on the exploited coast of 1930s China; from the war of corvette vs. U-boats in the North Atlantic to the long slog of Pacific Fleet protection in a WWII destroyer. Along the way, they find love, disillusion and fulfillment. The women in their lives --- sisters, wives and lovers --- also have their own ambitions in an ever-changing world.
From the clash of mighty battleships at Jutland in 1916 to the cold splendor of the present-day Arctic, 'The Darkening Sea' traces the fortunes of the Martin family throughout nearly seventy years of British maritime history.
James and John Martin see varied action from service on battle-cruisers in the North Sea during the Great War to cargo-passenger ships on the exploited coast of 1930s China; from the war of corvette vs. U-boats in the North Atlantic to the long slog of Pacific Fleet protection in a WWII destroyer. Along the way, they find love, disillusion and fulfillment. The women in their lives --- sisters, wives and lovers --- also have their own ambitions in an ever-changing world.
Wrenched by tragedy from a peaceful and respectable middle-class home in Victorian London, Hannah Kemball finds herself accompanying her father, Captain "Cracker Jack" Kemball, aboard the tea-clipper Erl King on a voyage to China.
It is 1869. In shanghai and Foochow, the crack British tea-clippers are loading the season's tea, preparing for the annual race to bring their valuable cargoes and the fortunes of their swaggering crews halfway around the world to the London market.
Unfortunately for Hannah, only one thing matters t the iron-willed captains about to pit their skills against the perils of three oceans: to be the first to make it home. Overconfident of victory, Captain Kemball strikes a wager with the sinister Captain Richards of the Seawitch. The stakes: Hannah's hand in marriage.
The race is on, and as the sails unfurl, so do the dangers for Hannah aboard her father's ship. As the fastest sailing vessels ever built storm across the world's oceans, she learns that this is a race with no rules, and that murder, mayhem and deceit are all part of the game.
It is 1869. In shanghai and Foochow, the crack British tea-clippers are loading the season's tea, preparing for the annual race to bring their valuable cargoes and the fortunes of their swaggering crews halfway around the world to the London market.
Unfortunately for Hannah, only one thing matters t the iron-willed captains about to pit their skills against the perils of three oceans: to be the first to make it home. Overconfident of victory, Captain Kemball strikes a wager with the sinister Captain Richards of the Seawitch. The stakes: Hannah's hand in marriage.
The race is on, and as the sails unfurl, so do the dangers for Hannah aboard her father's ship. As the fastest sailing vessels ever built storm across the world's oceans, she learns that this is a race with no rules, and that murder, mayhem and deceit are all part of the game.
A young captain Nathaniel Drinkwater is given command of an old Ship, the Virago, to be sent to the Baltic as a bomb vessel. Drinkwater's ambition is to turn it back into a fighting ship, but his plans are thwarted. At the same time, Drinkwater's brother appeals for help in his desperate attempt to escape the gallows. As Sir Hyde Parker's fleet approaches the Danish coast, the Virago joins the battle. Amid gales and ice, Drinkwater strives to save his ship and his brother.
It is 1801 and napoleon is reaching supreme power in France and has allied himself with Tsar Paul of Russia. Against this hazardous backdrop, Drinkwater's actions in the complex and bloody battle of Copenhagen are crucial.
It is 1801 and napoleon is reaching supreme power in France and has allied himself with Tsar Paul of Russia. Against this hazardous backdrop, Drinkwater's actions in the complex and bloody battle of Copenhagen are crucial.
The frozen splendor of the Arctic Ocean and the absorbing drama of a nineteenth century whale hunt unfold in The Corvette. Rewarded by promotion for his services at the Battle of Copenhagen, Commander Drinkwater is dispatched in haste to replace the captain of the MELUSINE, who has been shot in a duel. The ship sails as an escort to a whaling fleet on its annual expedition to the Greenland Sea in pursuit of right whales. During the whale hunt the loss of one of the vessels sets off a chain of misfortune. Disaster, death and treachery result. To repair his ship, Drinkwater seeks shelter off the Greenland coast and finds more hazards than the Arctic alone can produce. It is here that Drinkwater makes the most difficult decision of his career.
Captain John Mackinnon and his ship, the Matthew Flinders, are embarking on their last voyage. Both endangered species, they symbolize the irreversible, quiet decline of the British merchant fleet.
But this journey to Hong Kong will prove to be anything but quiet. Internal tensions among the crew provoke unrest and lead to a navigation error, steering them right into the violent, destructive path of Typhoon David. Suddenly the crew of the Matthew Flinders are no longer fighting for their livelihood, but for their very lives.
Yet on the same sears, other lives are at stake as well. When Mackinnon feels compelled to rescue a boatload of Vietnamese refugees fleeing to Hong Kong, he sets off an explosive chain of events that will lead to mutiny, confrontation with Hong Kong authorities, and the greatest challenge of his career.
But this journey to Hong Kong will prove to be anything but quiet. Internal tensions among the crew provoke unrest and lead to a navigation error, steering them right into the violent, destructive path of Typhoon David. Suddenly the crew of the Matthew Flinders are no longer fighting for their livelihood, but for their very lives.
Yet on the same sears, other lives are at stake as well. When Mackinnon feels compelled to rescue a boatload of Vietnamese refugees fleeing to Hong Kong, he sets off an explosive chain of events that will lead to mutiny, confrontation with Hong Kong authorities, and the greatest challenge of his career.
From the tide-torn waters of the Thames, where Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater is compelled to hand a deserter, to the seas off Cape Horn, storm-scoured gateway to the Pacific, the great cruiser PATRICIAN is tense with the threat of mutiny.
Despite this, Drinkwater captures a Spanish frigate and meets the stunning Dona Ana Maria, daughter of the Commandante of San Francisco. But, having disturbed a hornet's nest of colonial intrigue, Drinkwater finds that the Spanish are eager to humiliate him and the Royal navy. Moreover, a Russian battleship lurks somewhere offshore, pursuing Tsar Alexander's dark plans. Caught between two formidable enemies, Drinkwater's mission is made impossible by treachery.
But chance brings the aid of Dona Ana Maria and mysterious mountain man. In the distant waters of this beautiful and remote region, Drinkwater struggles to carry out his mission and is truck with ten most extraordinary twist of fortune in his eventful life.
Despite this, Drinkwater captures a Spanish frigate and meets the stunning Dona Ana Maria, daughter of the Commandante of San Francisco. But, having disturbed a hornet's nest of colonial intrigue, Drinkwater finds that the Spanish are eager to humiliate him and the Royal navy. Moreover, a Russian battleship lurks somewhere offshore, pursuing Tsar Alexander's dark plans. Caught between two formidable enemies, Drinkwater's mission is made impossible by treachery.
But chance brings the aid of Dona Ana Maria and mysterious mountain man. In the distant waters of this beautiful and remote region, Drinkwater struggles to carry out his mission and is truck with ten most extraordinary twist of fortune in his eventful life.
In the tradition of C.S. Forester, ex-sailor Richard Woodman brings history to life in a rousing tale of daring deeds and clashing cutlasses.It is the summer of 1804 and Napoleon is massing his vast army for the invasion of England. His powerful Combined Fleet is preparing to meet Admiral Nelson's British Fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar. In the annals of history this battle completely decimated the Combined Fleet, ranking second in destructiveness only to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.