Listen free for 30 days
-
H.M.S. Saracen
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £19.69
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Badge of Glory
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was an age of empire, an age of contrast, and an age of dramatic change - and one which would determine the destinies of nations as well as of men. Captain Philip Blackwood of the Royal Marines rejoins his ship, HMS Audacious, in August of 1850, anxious to get back into action. "Per Mare - Per Terram" is the marines' motto. In the torturous heat of Africa, where they are sent to stamp out the remaining strongholds of slavery, and later, in the bitter war of the Crimea, Philip Blackwood and his men learn to obey it without question.
-
-
oh dear.
- By Jaygee on 10-10-21
-
The Last Raider
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
December 1917. Germany opens the final, bitter round of the war with a new and deadly weapon in the struggle for the seas - the Vulcan sails from Kiel Harbour. To all appearances she is a harmless merchant vessel. But her peaceful lines conceal a merciless firepower; guns, mines and torpedoes that can be brought into play instantly. The Vulcan is a commerce raider and her mission is to bring chaos to the seaways.
-
-
from the hidden side
- By roo on 13-07-20
-
Go In and Sink
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
February 1943. As the balance of the war slowly shifts in Britain's favour, Lieutenant-Commander Steven Marshall brings his battle-scarred submarine into home port. Captain and crew are exhausted after 14 months' continuous service, but for most there can be no thought of leave. If the enemy collapse in North Africa is to be exploited, every experienced man will be needed. Marshall must return to the Mediterranean, but this time to a very different kind of war.
-
-
Good Story, shame about the “dust cover”
- By Dr Graham Wickens on 20-01-20
-
Battlecruiser
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Captain Guy Sherbrooke joins HMS Reliant in 1943, he knows he may be her last Captain. Sister battleships have been destroyed, and Sherbrooke cannot alter the bitter truth that there will be no half measures for HMS Reliant.
-
-
Not one of his best story plodded a bit.
- By Robert Turner on 13-01-18
-
Winged Escort
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Second World War progresses, the destruction of Allied shipping mounts. Fighter pilot Tim Rowan is posted to an escort carrier to help guard the precious convoys. His adventures take him first to the Arctic and then the Indian Ocean.
-
-
Fantastic Listen.
- By Steve on 20-12-09
-
Killing Ground
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Western Ocean, 1942... From the bridge of HMS Gladiator, Lieutenant-Commander David Howard’s orders were chillingly clear. There could be no mercy. To the men who fought to protect the vital, threatened Merchant Navy convoys in the Western Approaches, the Battle of the Atlantic was a full-scale war. A relentless, savage war against an ever-present enemy and a violent sea - in an arena known only to its embittered survivors as the killing ground. HMS Gladiator was part of that war.
-
-
Douglas Reeman hit story
- By VNHSUMMERS on 26-09-21
-
Badge of Glory
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was an age of empire, an age of contrast, and an age of dramatic change - and one which would determine the destinies of nations as well as of men. Captain Philip Blackwood of the Royal Marines rejoins his ship, HMS Audacious, in August of 1850, anxious to get back into action. "Per Mare - Per Terram" is the marines' motto. In the torturous heat of Africa, where they are sent to stamp out the remaining strongholds of slavery, and later, in the bitter war of the Crimea, Philip Blackwood and his men learn to obey it without question.
-
-
oh dear.
- By Jaygee on 10-10-21
-
The Last Raider
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
December 1917. Germany opens the final, bitter round of the war with a new and deadly weapon in the struggle for the seas - the Vulcan sails from Kiel Harbour. To all appearances she is a harmless merchant vessel. But her peaceful lines conceal a merciless firepower; guns, mines and torpedoes that can be brought into play instantly. The Vulcan is a commerce raider and her mission is to bring chaos to the seaways.
-
-
from the hidden side
- By roo on 13-07-20
-
Go In and Sink
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
February 1943. As the balance of the war slowly shifts in Britain's favour, Lieutenant-Commander Steven Marshall brings his battle-scarred submarine into home port. Captain and crew are exhausted after 14 months' continuous service, but for most there can be no thought of leave. If the enemy collapse in North Africa is to be exploited, every experienced man will be needed. Marshall must return to the Mediterranean, but this time to a very different kind of war.
-
-
Good Story, shame about the “dust cover”
- By Dr Graham Wickens on 20-01-20
-
Battlecruiser
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Captain Guy Sherbrooke joins HMS Reliant in 1943, he knows he may be her last Captain. Sister battleships have been destroyed, and Sherbrooke cannot alter the bitter truth that there will be no half measures for HMS Reliant.
-
-
Not one of his best story plodded a bit.
- By Robert Turner on 13-01-18
-
Winged Escort
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the Second World War progresses, the destruction of Allied shipping mounts. Fighter pilot Tim Rowan is posted to an escort carrier to help guard the precious convoys. His adventures take him first to the Arctic and then the Indian Ocean.
-
-
Fantastic Listen.
- By Steve on 20-12-09
-
Killing Ground
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Western Ocean, 1942... From the bridge of HMS Gladiator, Lieutenant-Commander David Howard’s orders were chillingly clear. There could be no mercy. To the men who fought to protect the vital, threatened Merchant Navy convoys in the Western Approaches, the Battle of the Atlantic was a full-scale war. A relentless, savage war against an ever-present enemy and a violent sea - in an arena known only to its embittered survivors as the killing ground. HMS Gladiator was part of that war.
-
-
Douglas Reeman hit story
- By VNHSUMMERS on 26-09-21
-
Rendezvous - South Atlantic
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1941, when she was turned into an armed merchant cruiser, the SS Benbecula was already old. Yet even she was needed to protect the vital Atlantic sea lanes. Commander Lindsay, her new captain, had to work desperately to mould the ship’s company - raw recruits and old-timers - into a fighting force. And better than anyone, Lindsay knew this could be his last command, his last chance.
-
-
South Atlantic
- By Dave on 15-04-13
-
To Risks Unknown
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year: 1943. Now there was to be no more retreat for Britain and her Allies. At last the war was to be carried into enemy territory. And from captured bases and makeshift harbours in North Africa, the Royal Navy's Special Force was to be the probe and the spearhead of the advance. To this unorthodox war came the corvette H. M. S. Thistle and her commanding officer, John Crispin.
-
-
for armchair warriors
- By alexander on 18-07-16
-
Sunset
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hong Kong, 1941... To the residents and defence forces of the Crown Colony of Hong Kong, the war in Europe remains remote. Even the massive build-up of Japanese forces on the Chinese border cannot dent their carefree optimism. Yet one man suspects the truth. Lieutenant-Commander Esmond Brooke, captain of HMS Serpent and a veteran of the cruel Atlantic, sees all too clearly the folly and incompetence of Hong Kong’s colonial administration. To Brooke, attack by Japan seems inevitable.
-
-
another classic Reeman yarn
- By Paul 1965 on 12-05-20
-
For Valour
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As captain of the crack Tribal Class destroyer HMS Hakka, Commander Graham Martineau must once again call from the ordinary seamen the ultimate in courage, and prepare to defend to the death vital convoys to Russia. No man and no ship is immortal.
-
-
Exciting, thrill a minet wartime action.
- By John Pearse on 25-11-20
-
The Destroyers
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
another Mans book
- By alexander on 10-03-16
-
Send a Gunboat
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
HMS Wagtail is a river gunboat, a ship seemingly at the end of her unusual life, lying in a Hong Kong dockyard awaiting her last summons to the breakers' yard. Commander Justin Rolfe is also seemingly at the end of his useful naval life, an embittered man, brooding and angry from a court-martial verdict. Then the offshore island of Santu is threatened with invasion from the Chinese mainland.
-
-
Another great listen.
- By StephenM on 26-12-21
-
The First to Land
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic sequel to Badge of Glory, China 1900. When the Boxer Rebellion erupts into bloody war. The Royal Marines, true to their motto, are the first to land - and the last to leave. Again, a Blackwood is in command.
-
-
A Ripping Good Yarn
- By D Lbenb on 23-05-22
-
A Ship Must Die
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
January, 1944. When the British light cruiser Andromeda arrives at Williamstown naval dockyard to be handed over to the Royal Australian Navy, she is already a legend - having earned her young captain, Richard Blake, the Victoria Cross in her last victory against overwhelming odds in the Mediterranean. Blake has grown to love Andromeda, so has few regrets when he is unexpectedly told to retain his command with a British and Australian ship’s company.
-
-
A Ship Must Die
- By John on 23-06-11
-
A Prayer for the Ship
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
HMS Royston, Coastal Forces Depot Ship, is mother ship to a battered, war-worn bunch of MTBs and MGBs. New on board is Sub-Lieutenant Royce: commissioned for three months, sea experience three months in an Asdic trawler, and aged 20. His commanding officer is Lieutenant Harston, aged 23.
His predecessor has been killed in action 48 hours earlier and is now hardly remembered. The crew are all young - some very young - but all old before their time....
-
-
Good
- By Dr on 26-07-15
-
A Dawn Like Thunder
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The human torpedo, or chariot, is the ultimate weapon in a war, and only men of extreme courage or recklessness volunteer for the special operations missions requiring its use. Reeman has also written 22 novels under the pseudonym Alexander Kent.
-
Dive in the Sun
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adriatic, 1940s... Curtis was the pro. He could steer a sub through a saloon and no one would notice. Duncan was the grumbler, more at home in the Aussie Outback than twenty fathoms under the Adriatic. Jervis was the spit-and-polish man, who knew the correct way to die. And George, the Cockney, was the toughest of them all. Four men in the Royal Navy’s smallest sub, preparing the way for history’s largest invasion.
-
-
I expected to World War II adventure I’ve got a mills and Boone!
- By Andrswal on 17-02-22
-
In Danger's Hour
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Mediterranean, 1943... The HMS Rob Roy. A tiny machine, just 230 feet from stem to stern. In peacetime she would have trawled for cod. Now her catch is deadlier by far. Lieutenant-Commander Ian Ransome is a veteran of the treacherous front line of naval combat. Under sealed orders in the battle-tossed waters of the Mediterranean, he and his jack-tired crew face one final test of their courage....
-
-
Interesting
- By Barbara on 11-03-12
Summary
Malta 1941. To most people H.M.S. Saracen is just an ugly, obsolete ship with an equally ugly recent history: her last commander is due for court-martial after shelling the troops he was sent to protect.
But to Captain Richard Chesnaye she brings back memories - memories of the First World War when he and the old monitor went through the Gallipoli campaign together. It seems that captain and ship are both past their best. But as the war enters a new phase Chesnaye senses the possibility of a fresh, significant role - for him and the Saracen.
More from the same
What listeners say about H.M.S. Saracen
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Ceri
- 17-10-12
Ripping stuff
I started reading Douglass Reeman/Alexander Kent novels since I started working for one of his print publishers twenty or so years ago, and enjoyed them all. Unfortunately, since losing the greater part of my sight last year, I've relied on audiobooks. I was more than happy to see so many of his books on Audible.
H.M.S. Saracen was not a let down at all, and is amongst his best. The climactic sea battle was particulrly enthralling; so much so that I stood up to listen to it.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nick
- 10-01-20
Well worth a listen
My first Douglas Reeman book and glad I chose it too. Split into two parts between First and Second World Wars where the main character takes different roles in the same ship. Very atmospheric and bloody at times with a sad surprising ending perfectly performed by David Rintoul.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stephen
- 13-03-18
the best
Just one of my favourites i cried 40 years ago i cried today. the best
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Angus
- 26-06-21
A cut above most other Reeman books
I love Douglas Reeman. Some of his books can be quite samey and formulaic - same characters, different ship, different theatre. This is still familiar Reeman stuff but it’s a cut above the others. The Gallipoli narrative is pretty thrilling and the conclusion is Reeman at his best. You’re right there on the bridge.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 31-05-21
predictable
formulaic, knew what would happen before it did. no more by this author, well read though.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ian
- 01-01-21
Pure excellence
First class story told by an experienced narrator.
Douglas Reeman knows how to write a story
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- greg archer
- 01-01-21
Superb.... Typical Reeman stuff.
Action packed, stirring and uplifting.
Clever twist at the end.
All good stuff.
Not my first by this author, not my last either.....
Keep it up Doug
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John Pearse
- 12-07-20
A gripping tale of valour and a long relationship
A strong relationship of a ship and man over two conflicts, a tale of faith in each other.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert Turner
- 15-02-20
Good listening
I read this book a long time ago. So I choose to listen to it on audible. David Rintoul is a brilliant narrator and brings the story alive. I have read most of Douglas's reemans books years ago and I am enjoying them once again on aubible. This is indeed one of my favourites it goes from ww1 to ww2 good characters, great action. Highly recommended.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andy H.
- 10-10-19
Amongst the best of the genre
A superb yarn, well told and we'll read. Any fan of WW2 military fiction will enjoy this ripping rollicking read!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ghostgundam
- 11-09-12
Different kind of War Story
Would you listen to H.M.S. Saracen again? Why?
Yes I would because it was a good read/listen. I am also going to look into more of his books because I am very interested in WWI and WWII naval ships and battles.
What did you like best about this story?
I like the first part of the story about how the the ship and the crew were brought to life. The English might be a little hard at first, but that is because we don't use the English language like it was used back then.Also that it was written long before I was born. I feel that this book helped bring alive some of the old romance from back when Naval battles where more interesting than watching a missile on a CCTV screen.
Any additional comments?
If you are a younger reader/listener like I am, give this book a chance if you are a naval history buff. It was refreshing pace from my normal science fiction and modern day thrillers. I recommend it.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Gabrial
- 10-04-17
A classic long overlooked
This plucky malformed ship and crew and the tumult of two wars are the stuff that legends are made of. With great characterization and the throng of battle at sea it's a compelling work of fiction informed by the authors own service at sea.