“You could get addicted to this series. Easily.”---The New York Times Book Review The year 1809 starts out badly for Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, and his ship, HMS Sapphire. They’ve extracted the sick, cold survivors of Sir John Moore’s army from disaster at Corunna, got hit by lightning while escorting the army to England, and suffered a shattered mainmast which may end Lewrie’s active commission if a replacement can’t be found or fashioned soon. Admiralty needs troopships, not slow, old Fourth Rate two-deckers, so Lewrie must beg, borrow, steal, and gild the facts most glibly if he wishes to keep her and her skilled crew together. Just when he imagines he’s succeeded, new orders come appointing him a Commodore over a wee squadron assigned to prey upon French seaborne supply convoys off the treacherous north coast of Spain, better known as the Costa da Morte, the Coast of Death, where the sea may be more dangerous to him and his ships than the French Navy! Basing out of newly won Lisbon, where Lewrie hopes his mistress from Gibraltar, Maddalena Covilhá, might move, he’s sure of one thing: It's going to be a rocky year that, hopefully, doesn’t involve wrecking on the rugged shores of Spain!
A legend meets up with his past and must redeem his name Dillen Genemer is a Basilean legend, his tale told by bards across the land of how he singlehandedly slayed an Abyssal Champion and met with the Green Lady to be personally dubbed her knight! During the Abyssal War, he was the key in uniting the Basilean forces with those of the Green Lady’s to turn the tide in the favor of good. Now, Dillen serves as a knight of the forest, working alongside those who once served the now severed Brotherhood. Beyond coming to terms with what it means to abandon civilization and fight as members of the Green Lady’s forces, Dillen struggles with the truth of his legacy. With every step he takes, a bloody path filled with regret and sorrow follows in his wake. Can he walk a path of redemption, or will he forever be cursed to sow discontent and pain?
Firsthand accounts of thrilling adventures on the high seas — of surviving on an uninhabited island, of narrowly escaping capture in the Pacific Islands where Capt. James Cook was killed, encounters with savage natives in the South Seas and more. A vivid picture of life aboard the "tall ships" of a century and more ago.
The second installment of the gripping naval saga by award-winning historian James L. Haley, featuring Commander Bliven Putnam, chronicling the build up to the biggest military conflict between the United States and Britain after the Revolution—the War of 1812. At the opening of the War of 1812, the British control the most powerful navy on earth, and Americans are again victims of piracy. Bliven Putnam, late of the Battle of Tripoli, is dispatched to Charleston to outfit and take command of a new 20-gun brig, the USS Tempest. Later, aboard the Constitution, he sails into the furious early fighting of the war. Prowling the South Atlantic in the Tempest, Bliven takes prizes and disrupts British merchant shipping, until he is overhauled, overmatched, and disastrously defeated by the frigate HMS Java. Its captain proves to be Lord Arthur Kington, whom Bliven had so disastrously met in Naples. On board he also finds his old friend Sam Bandy, one of the Java's pressed American seamen kidnapped into British service. Their whispered plans to foment a mutiny among the captives may see them hang, when the Constitution looms over the horizon for one of the most famous battles of the War of 1812 in a gripping, high-wire conclusion. With exquisite detail and guns-blazing action, A Darker Sea illuminates an unforgettable period in American history.
"Lambdin is closing on Patrick O'Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner." —Washington Times Dewey Lambdin presents a new short story, "Lewrie and the Hogsheads," starring the most colorful captain of the Royal Navy, Alan Lewrie. Capt. Lewrie of the HMS Reliant has been stuck in Nassau Harbor, biding his time after ferreting out pirates on the coast of Spanish Florida. Until, that is, one of his brig sloops comes into harbor with an unexpected cargo of survivors from an American brig. Their ship, the Santee out of Charleston, South Carolina, has been taken by a Spanish privateer far down in the Bahamas near the Crooked Island passage. With this news of more pirates at large, Lewrie has a chance to get out of dodge, have some fun, and maybe even capture a prize. But he's about to learn that there's another, much boozier side to the Americans' story.[Word Count: 10,470, Approximate Pages: 45] "Lewrie's a worthy shipmate for Aubrey and Hornblower." —Kirkus Reviews "Lewrie is an endearing character-hero, philanderer, smuggler, spy: a courageous naval officer unencumbered by high morals or indecision." —Publishers Weekly "You could get addicted to this series. Easily." —The New York Times Book Review "The best naval adventure series since C. S. Forester." —Library Journal "Stunning naval adventure, reeking of powder and mayhem. I wish I had written this series." —Bernard Cornwell "Lambdin is closing on Patrick O'Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner." —Washington Times Dewey Lambdin presents a new short story starring the most colorful captain of the Royal Navy, Alan Lewrie. Capt. Lewrie of the HMS Reliant has been stuck in Nassau Harbor, biding his time after ferreting out pirates on the coast of Spanish Florida. Until, that is, one of his brig sloops comes into harbor with an unexpected cargo of survivors from an American brig. Their ship, the Santee out of Charleston, South Carolina, has been taken by a Spanish privateer far down in the Bahamas near the Crooked Island passage. With this news of more pirates at large, Lewrie has a chance to get out of dodge, have some fun, and maybe even capture a prize. But he's about to learn that there's another, much boozier side to the Americans' story. "Lewrie's a worthy shipmate for Aubrey and Hornblower." —Kirkus Reviews "Lewrie is an endearing character-hero, philanderer, smuggler, spy: a courageous naval officer unencumbered by high morals or indecision." —Publishers Weekly "You could get addicted to this series. Easily." —The New York Times Book Review "The best naval adventure series since C. S. Forester." —Library Journal "Stunning naval adventure, reeking of powder and mayhem. I wish I had written this series." —Bernard Cornwell[Word Count: 10,470, Approximate Pages: 45]
I belong to the family of the Merrys of Leicestershire. Our chief characteristic was well suited to our patronymic. ÒMerry by name and merry by nature,Ó was a common saying among us. Indeed, a more good-natured, laughing, happy set of people it would be difficult to find. Right jovial was the rattle of tongues and the cachinnation which went forward whenever we were assembled together either at breakfast or dinner or supper; our father and mother setting us the example, so that we began the day with a hearty laugh, and finished it with a heartier. ÒLaugh and grow fatÓ is an apothegm which all people cannot follow, but our mother did in the most satisfactory manner. Her skin was fair and most thoroughly comfortably filled out; her hair was light, and her contented spirit beamed out from a pair of large laughing blue eyes, so that it was a pleasure to look at her as she sat at the head of the table, serving out the viands to her hungry progeny. Our sisters were very like her, and came fairly under the denomination of jolly girls; and thoroughly jolly they were;Ñnone of them ever had a headache or a toothache, or any other ache that I know of. Our father was a good specimen of a thorough English country gentleman; he was thorough in everything, honest-faced, stout, and hearty, not over-refined, perhaps, but yet gentle in all his thoughts and acts; a hater of a lie and every thing dishonourable, hospitable and generous to the utmost of his means; a protector of the poor and helpless, and a friend to all his neighbours. Yes, and I may say more, both he and my mother were humble, sincere Christians, and made the law of the Bible their rule of life. He told a good story and laughed at it himself, and delighted to see our mother and us laugh at it also. Had he been bred a lawyer, and lived in London, he would have been looked upon as a first-rate wit; but I am certain that he was much happier with the lot awarded to him. He had a good estate; his tenants paid their rents regularly; and he had few or no cares to disturb his digestion or to keep him awake at night; and I am very certain that he would far rather have had us to hear his jokes, and laugh at them with him, than all the wits London ever produced. He delighted in joining in all our sports, either of the field or flood, and we always looked forward to certain amusement when he was able to accompany us. He was our companion and friend; we had no secrets from him,Ñwhy should we? He was always our best adviser, and if we got into scrapes, which one or the other of us was not unfrequently doing, we were very certain that no one could extricate us as well as he could. I donÕt mean to say that he forgot the proverb, ÒSpare the rod, spoil the child;Ó or that we were such pieces of perfection that we did not deserve punishment; but we had sense enough to see that he punished us for our good: he did it calmly, never angrily, and without any unnecessarily severe remark, and we certainly did not love him the less for the sharpest flogging he ever gave us. Directly afterwards, he would meet the culprit in his usual frank, hearty way, and seem to forget all about the matter.
"Three mismatched troop transports, lots of 29-foot barges, and an under-strength regiment of foot-- a waste of Royal Navy money, a doomed experiment, or a new way to bedevil Napoleon's army in Italy? Either way, it's Capt. Sir Alan Lewrie's idea, and it seems to be working, with successful raids all along the coast of Calabria. But it depends on timely information, and Lewrie must trust Don Julio Caesare, a lord of a Sicilian criminal underworld, and his minions, or the amateur efforts of a disorganized network of Calabrian partisans always in need of British arms and King George III's money. When at last the fourth transport arrives with reinforcement troops, what seems to be a blessing could turn out to be the ruin of the whole thing. Lewrie has been too successful in his career at sea and he's made bitter, jealous enemies with powerful patrons out to crush him and his novel squadron, no matter if it's succeeding. And there are doings back in England that Lewrie would prefer to deal with but can't"--
Following the success of his #1 New York Times bestseller Make Your Bed, which has sold over one million copies, Admiral William H. McRaven is back with amazing stories of bravery and heroism during his career as a Navy SEAL and commander of America's Special Operations Forces. Admiral William H. McRaven is a part of American military history, having been involved in some of the most famous missions in recent memory, including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, and the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. Sea Stories begins in 1963 at a French Officers' Club in France, where Allied officers and their wives gathered to have drinks and tell stories about their adventures during World War II-the place where a young Bill McRaven learned the value of a good story. Sea Stories is an unforgettable look back on one man's incredible life, from childhood days sneaking into high-security military sites to a day job of hunting terrorists and rescuing hostages. Action-packed, humorous, and full of valuable life lessons like those exemplified in McRaven's bestselling Make Your Bed, Sea Stories is a remarkable memoir from one of America's most accomplished leaders.
Dewey Lambdin, the reigning master of maritime fiction, continues the adventures of Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, from his days as a midshipman to captain of his own ship and, though on somewhat dubious grounds, a baronetcy in the 23rd book in the Alan Lewrie series, A Fine Retribution. Captain Alan Lewrie and his small squadron defeat four French frigates off northern Spain, winning honor, glory, and renown. So, why is such a successful captain suddenly without a ship, or another active commission? Why do rumors swirl that jealous foes’ powerful patrons are blighting his career? Months on end ashore, even in entertaining London setting up a household for himself and his retinue, getting his portrait painted, put him in serious sulks. Well, the artist is the sister of one of his midshipmen, a delightful and talented young lady of a modern outlook, but not modern enough to become Lewrie’s lover. Dare he risk a second marriage? Then, just when things are the rosiest, at last, Admiralty calls upon him to develop and command a plan to raid French-held coasts, not with sailors and Marines from his own ship, but with a battalion of Army troops carried in a squadron of transports. It’s intriguing, novel, and a way back to sea, but...can he part from the desirable Jessica Chenery? And if Lewrie does, will his foes allow him to succeed? Be certain that Alan Lewrie will prevail, scruples be damned!
