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Charles Hayden sets off aboard the ill-fated HMS Themis with orders to destroy a French frigate and to gather intelligence from a royalist spy. On discovering French plans for an imminent invasion of England, Hayden must return to Portsmouth to give warning before it's too late. But the enemy has been lying in wait for him, and so begins a dangerous chase out into the Atlantic and into the clutches of a powerful French squadron…
Shaking off this label, a shy and lonely 17-year-old, Horatio Hornblower, embarks on a memorable career in Nelson's navy on HMS Justinian. In action, adventure, and battle he is forged into one of the most formidable junior officers in the service.
Mr. Midshipman Easy is the 1836 novel by Frederick Marryat, a retired Captain in the 19th century Royal Navy. The novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Marryat himself served with distinction. It was adapted twice into films in 1916 and in 1935 as Midshipman Easy. Captain Frederick Marryat (July 10, 1792 - August 9, 1848) was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story.
Master and Commander is the first of Patrick O’Brian’s now famous Aubrey-Maturin novels, regarded by many as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. It establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Stephen Maturin, who becomes his secretive ship’s surgeon and an intelligence agent. It displays the qualities which have put O’Brian far ahead of any of his competitors.
John Pearce is going home. But he has to avoid capture by an Algerine warship, having his Pelicans pressed into a British frigate, and that's before they are at risk of being hanged for desertion once home. Then there is the problem of Emily Barclay and their son, Adam. By cunning and bluff, he protects his friends but not his troubled love life. In a whirlwind of action, there are forged wills, devious trades, contrived murders and dangerous spy missions, with so much deceit that Pearce does not know whom to trust. All he can hope to do is survive.
1793 and Europe is ablaze with war. Thomas Paine Kydd, a young wig-maker from Guildford, is seized by the press gang to be a part of the crew of the 98-gun line-of-battle ship Duke William. The ship sails immediately and Kydd has to learn the harsh realities of shipboard life fast. Despite all that he goes through in danger of tempest and battle he comes to admire the skills and courage of the seamen - taking up the challenge himself to become a true sailor.
Charles Hayden sets off aboard the ill-fated HMS Themis with orders to destroy a French frigate and to gather intelligence from a royalist spy. On discovering French plans for an imminent invasion of England, Hayden must return to Portsmouth to give warning before it's too late. But the enemy has been lying in wait for him, and so begins a dangerous chase out into the Atlantic and into the clutches of a powerful French squadron…
Shaking off this label, a shy and lonely 17-year-old, Horatio Hornblower, embarks on a memorable career in Nelson's navy on HMS Justinian. In action, adventure, and battle he is forged into one of the most formidable junior officers in the service.
Mr. Midshipman Easy is the 1836 novel by Frederick Marryat, a retired Captain in the 19th century Royal Navy. The novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Marryat himself served with distinction. It was adapted twice into films in 1916 and in 1935 as Midshipman Easy. Captain Frederick Marryat (July 10, 1792 - August 9, 1848) was an English Royal Navy officer, novelist, and a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story.
Master and Commander is the first of Patrick O’Brian’s now famous Aubrey-Maturin novels, regarded by many as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. It establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Stephen Maturin, who becomes his secretive ship’s surgeon and an intelligence agent. It displays the qualities which have put O’Brian far ahead of any of his competitors.
John Pearce is going home. But he has to avoid capture by an Algerine warship, having his Pelicans pressed into a British frigate, and that's before they are at risk of being hanged for desertion once home. Then there is the problem of Emily Barclay and their son, Adam. By cunning and bluff, he protects his friends but not his troubled love life. In a whirlwind of action, there are forged wills, devious trades, contrived murders and dangerous spy missions, with so much deceit that Pearce does not know whom to trust. All he can hope to do is survive.
1793 and Europe is ablaze with war. Thomas Paine Kydd, a young wig-maker from Guildford, is seized by the press gang to be a part of the crew of the 98-gun line-of-battle ship Duke William. The ship sails immediately and Kydd has to learn the harsh realities of shipboard life fast. Despite all that he goes through in danger of tempest and battle he comes to admire the skills and courage of the seamen - taking up the challenge himself to become a true sailor.
It is 1801, and President Thomas Jefferson has assembled a deep-water navy to fight the growing threat of piracy, as American civilians are regularly kidnapped by Islamist brigands and held for ransom, enslaved, or killed, all at their captors' whim. The Berber States of North Africa, especially Tripoli, claimed their faith gave them the right to pillage anyone who did not submit to their religion.
Britain stands alone against the forces of Revolutionary France. A victorious French Army, led by the youthful Napoleon Bonaparte, is poised to invade Britain. And in his country's darkest hour, Captain Nathan Peake finds himself imprisoned by his own side on the Rock of Gibraltar - charged with treason. To prove his innocence Nathan must uncover the great deception that masks the French war aims. Is the great armada being assembled in Toulon bound for the shores of Great Britain - or Egypt?
Captain Nathan Peake survives a ferocious battle off Brittany, only to be cast into the even more dangerous waters of Post-Revolutionary Paris. There he encounters two of the most beautiful and scandalous courtesans in history and Napoleon Buonaparte. Returned to the command of the frigate Unicorn, Nathan is sent to join another young glory-seeker, Captain Horatio Nelson, in a bid to wreck Buonaparte’s plans for the invasion of Italy, and save its treasures from the invading French hordes.
Reunited with his crew aboard the frigate HMS Themis, Captain Charles Hayden is ordered by the Admiralty to the West Indies to carry war to the French among their own islands. Before he makes port in Barbados, the Themis intercepts a single boat adrift in the middle of the ocean - its sole occupants, two young Spanish noblemen. But not is all as it seems with Hayden’s unexpected guests.
London: 1793. Young firebrand John Pearce, on the run from the authorities, is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican tavern into brutal life aboard HMS Brilliant, a frigate on her way to war. In the first few days, Pearce discovers the Navy is a world in which he can prosper. And he is not alone; he is drawn to a group of men who eventually form an exclusive gun crew, the Pelicans, with Pearce their elected leader.
October 1772, Portsmouth. Sixteen-year-old Richard Bolitho waits to join the Gorgon, ordered to sail to the west coast of Africa and to destroy those who challenge the King's Navy. For Bolitho, and for many of the crew, it is a severe and testing initiation into the game of seamanship.
It is 1793, and Nathan Peake, Commander of the brig-sloop Nereus, is unhappy with his commission and is desperate for some real action. When revolutionary France declares war on England, he gets his chance. The French have killed their king and are about to embark on that violent period of bloodletting known as the Terror. Peake is entrusted with a vital mission to wreck the French economy by smuggling millions of French banknotes into the heart of Paris.
Perfect for fans of Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwell, and swashbuckling adventure during the great Age of Sail: The Iberian Flame will be the 20th novel in Julian Stockwin's acclaimed Thomas Kydd series.
Admiral Nelson has sent Captain Nathan Peake on a desperate journey to convey a grim warning to British India. Bonaparte's army is poised to deliver a fatal blow by marching overland to India. Arriving in Bombay, Nathan takes command of the East India Company's naval wing - the Bombay Marine - an under-armed and poorly crewed flotilla.
1796: Nathan Peake, captain of the frigate Unicorn is sent with a small squadron to help bring Venice into an Italian alliance against the French. He establishes a British naval presence, harrying the French corsairs that swarm out of Ancona. While Nathan confronts the politics in Venice, his mission is further complicated by the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte's aide-de-camp, Junot. Meanwhile, in Venice, French troops move into the city. Nathan learns that Bonaparte is negotiating a peace deal with the Austrians - Britain's only remaining ally. Worse, the Spanish are about to ally with the French.
From the author of The First to Land, a novel set during World War II. They called them the Scrapyard Flotilla. After a quarter of a century of service, the eight destroyers had seen all kinds of action. Now they were to be used in raids to open the way for the invasion of Occupied Europe.
Newly-promoted Captain Nathan Peake is despatched to the Caribbean to take command of the British navy's latest frigate, the 32-gun Unicorn. But the Unicorn already has a tragic history of mutiny - and murder. And her previous captain has washed up in New Orleans with his throat cut. Meanwhile the Revolutionary authorities in Paris have sent the best frigate in the French fleet, the 44-gun Virginie, on a secret mission to spread war, rebellion and mayhem from the shores of Cuba to the swamps of the Mississippi Delta.
Peter Simple is a towering tale from the great age of sail, filled with keen wit, vivid characters, and thrilling adventure.
OK, I'll break the ice here. This book is wonderfully entertaining. I hadn't heard of it before, but narrator Frederick Davidson never seems to pick a dud, so I gave it a listen. The book is 300 years old, if I remember correctly, but the language is fresh and easily understandable. Very funny, even to the modern reader, and not in that high-brow way in which we're supposed to think a 500-year-old Shakespeare comedy is funny. The depiction of a naval press gang at work is worth the price alone. Anyone who enjoyed the Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Brien will love this one, too.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful
I almost gave up on reading this, the story starts out slow... At least the first 1/2 hour. But after Peter goes to sea the story really picks up. I recommend to this for Nautical fiction fans of any stripe. Its hard to believe this book is 200+ years old. The humor is great, and very relevant. Just give it a half-hour, because the novel is totally worth it.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
This book was first published in 1834. Frederick Marryat (1792-1848) was a British Royal Naval officer, novelist and knew Charles Dickens. Marryat developed the widely used system of maritime flag signaling known as Marryat’s Code. He wrote a semiautobiographical novel “The Midshipman Easy.” He is famous as an early pioneer of sea stories.
This book is probably the most accurate account about life at sea in the Napoleonic era as it was mostly likely taken from the authors own experiences. Patrick O’Brian had stated he was inspired by Marryat’s writings.
Marryat writes with such vivid descriptions it makes the story most enjoyable. Peter Simple is a young British Midshipman sailing for fame and fortune in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War. Marryat writes with humor and the English is as it was in 1834. Marryat provides the reader with the slang of the sailing navy of the time along with the definitions. The social life reveals life as it was then including the prejudices and racism of the period. The author is a great story teller and he writes mainly of human nature.
If you enjoy sea stories of the Napoleonic era you will most certainly enjoy this story. Frederick Davidson narrated the book.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
I love British navy stories and this is as good as either the series by Patrick OBrien or the Alan Lewrie series. The good or bad point depending on your viewpoint is that there is only one of them. It is not a long series. This has more humor than the other two series and is quite funny at times. I enjoyed this and it was worth the one credit. If you have listened to all the other series or are tired of those characters try this one instead.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Frederick Davidson places a unique audible spin on this very funny and advanced tale when you discover how long ago it was penned. Peter Simple starts off in the most bumbling of fashions and through his many escapades discovers people who accept he is not the smartest but have high hopes for his improvement. What the narrator brings is a smug quirkiness and naive simplicity to the voice through what appears, at first listen, to be a monotonous delivery. He sounds bored but, given time, this very boredom IS the essence of the character. His Irish delivery is fast and very very funny.
If you like tales of the sea give this book a try for it will make you laugh but you have to get past the implied 'irritation' in the voice. When you get over that you find it is empirical to the tone of the whole tale.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Loved it so much that I listened to it two times in a row.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
There's a plot that chugs along to an inevitable conclusion, but that's OK. The humor, character development and description of life in the Royal Navy raise the book way above the formula. The narrator brings these good points forward. The more I listened, the more I liked it.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
If you are a fan of O’Brien you won’t want to miss this one. Similar adventures to Jack Aubrey with the same feelings of relationship with the main character’s best friend. So happy to have found! You will not be disappointed.
A bit contrived but a great read. A fast moving story with superb narration. FUN!
What a wonderful story....so well read by Fredrick Davidson.....what irony mr Davidson lost his voice...what a loss he and John Lee are my favorites....Great story if you like high seas adventures and all the literary accouterments you will enjoy this 200 year old novel.
Rex