Essential Reading

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Authors Adams, Max Adkin, Mark Adkins, Roy Alexander, Bruce Aye, Michael Baker, Simon Ballantyne, R. M. Barrow, John Beard, G.S. Biddlecombe, George Blundern, Godfrey Bond, Alaric Bowling, Tom Brady, Cyrus Townsend Brook, Peter Burton, Anthony Bushnell, Oswald A. Campbell, Broos Cannadine, David Challoner, Robert Chamier, Frederick Clayton, Tim Coleman, Ron Collett, Bill Collingwood, Harry Connery, Tom Conrad, Joseph Cooper, James Fenimore Cordingly, David Cornwell, Bernard Crawford, A. Cross, Roy Davis, John de Lacy, D. A. Dismorr, A. R. Donachie, David Downer, Martyn Dowswell, Paul Eccles, Frank Edwards, J.C. Ellsberg, Edward Fender, J. E. Feuchtwanger, Lion Flannery, Tim Flannery, Tim Forester, C.S. Forrest, Anthony Forth, Dan Fraser, Edward Frye, Pearl Gardener, Derek Gardiner, Robert Garfield, Leon Garrett Smith, Hervey Gaunt, Michael Gerson, Noel Bertram Goodwin, Peter Hackforth-Jones, Gilbert Haislip, Harvey Hale, Edward Everett Hall, James Norman Hall, C.D. Hardy, Adam Harland, John Harvey, Robert Harvie, David I Hayward, Joel S. A. Heaps, Leo Henderson, James Henry, Chris Henty, G.A. Hepburn, Andrew Hibbert, Christopher Hill, Porter Hough, Richard Howard, Edward Hughes, Robert Humble, Richard Hungerford, Edward Buell Hunt, Geoff Hunter, Seth Hurst, Alex A. Icenhower, Joseph B. Innes, Hammond Jennings, John Jewett, Sara Orme Johnson, R.F. Johnson, Walter Reed Karig, Walter Keay, John Kennedy, Ludovic Kent, Alexander Kenyon, F.W. King, Dean Kingston, W.H.G. Kinsolving, William Koenig, William Konstam, Angus Laing, Alexander Kinnan Lambdin, Dewey Lambert, Andrew Lancaster, Bruce Lane, Carl Daniel Lavery, Brian Lees, James Lever, Darcy Lloyd, Christopher Lyon, David MacDonald, Janet Mack, William P Mallalieu, Joseph W. Mariner, John Marquardt, Karl Heinz Marryat, Frederick Masefield, John Mason, F. van Wyck Maynard, Kenneth Mays, Victor McGrigor, Mary McKay, John McLynn, Frank Meacham, Ellis K. Meader, Stephen Warren Melville, Herman Miller, Nathan Miller, David Monsarrat, Nicholas Moxon, Lloyd M. Murchie, Guy Needle, Jan Nelson, James Nicastro, Nicholas Nicholls, Jan Nordhoff, Charles Norwich, John Julius Novik, Naomi O'Brian, Patrick O'Steen, Joseph Owens, Peter Oxley, James Macdonald Padfield, Peter Parkinson, C. Northcote Parkinson, Dan Patrick, Joseph Perkins, Wilder Pickering, Edgar Pocock, Tom Pope, Dudley Porter, Roy Price, Anthony Raddall, Thomas Head Randier, Jean Rayner, Denys Arthur Roberts, Kenneth Rodger, N.A.M Russell, Sean Thomas Schoonover, Lawrence Shannon, Dell Shay, Edith Foley Shea, Philip Shellbarger, Samuel Smalley, Peter Smollett, Tobias Spector, Robert M. Sperry, Armstrong Staff, Jack Stevens, John Stockwin, Julian Styles, Showell Sugden, John Suthren, Victor Taylor, J.E. Thomas, Edwin Thompson, Ernst Victor Tilsey, Frank Toll, Ian Tolstoy, Nikolai Toner, Raymond John Tracy, Don Trelawny, Edward John Vail, Philip Vaughan, Carter A. Vignoles, Keith Villiers, Alan Vincent, Edward Wallace, Willard Mosher Walsh, Joseph Patrick Wanttaja, Ronald Wareham, Tom Webb, Alexander Weiser, Bruce Wenger, Susan Westcott, Jan White, C. D. White, Colin White, James Dillon White, Simon White, David White, William H. Wibberly, Leonard Williams, Jon Williams, Ben Avery Wilson, Erle Woodman, Richard Worrall, Jay Characters Nathaniel Drinkwater Horatio Nelson Fergus Kilburnie Daniel Winchip Richard Bolitho Jack Aubrey Nicholas Ramage William Kite Horatio Hornblower Richard Sharpe Richard Delancy George Markham Harry Ludlow Jacob Fletcher George Abercrombie Fox Alan Lewrie Lamb Kydd Septimus Quinn Fitton Paul Gallant Edward Mainwaring Isaac Biddlecomb Nate Lawton Roger Kelso James Dunbar Adam Horne Patrick Dalton Adam Bolitho Martin Jerrold None Nathan Beauchamp Christopher Norwood John Pearce Bartholemew Hoare John Fielding William Bentley Matty Graves Phillip Fairaday Geoffrey Frost John Thomas Fury Temeraire Charles Hayden Sam Witchall Nathan Peake Search For A Book

This list has been drawn up as a guide for people new to nautical fiction and who are wondering what is available. It is a very subjective list, but one that will hopefully give the reader an idea of what is currently available.

Fiction

These books cover a range of authors:

	Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander	Buy at Amazon
	Notes: Master and Commander is the first in the Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin series, and may well be one of the finest sea stories ever written. Master and Commander also introduces us to most of the characters who will feature throughout the series. As well as the two main protagonists we meet Preserved Killick the steward, Barret Bonden, Aubrey?s coxswain, as well as those sterling fellows Pullings, Mowet, and Babbington. The story starts with the first meeting between Aubrey, a large, bluff, hearty naval officer, and Maturin, a small, dark physician. After a shaky start, they soon become friends, and after Aubrey is promoted to Master and Commander and given command of the sloop Sophie he persuades Maturin to join the ship as surgeon. O?Brian uses Maturin?s ignorance of all things nautical to describe the vessel to the reader. At one point he has Mowet, a master?s mate, show Maturin round the vessel, and any time things are getting a little technical, we have Maturin to ask the questions we would ask if only we could. The cruise of the Sophie is firmly based on that of Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald in the Speedysloop. Given his head, Aubrey cruises the Mediterranean, capturing many enemy ships, including a Spanish frigate, many time the size of the Sophie, until the enemy finally catches up with them and the Sophie's career is brought to an end. Being the first in the series Master and Commander sees Aubrey and Maturin in their youth, and enjoying themselves in the Mediterranean. Fate has given Jack Aubrey the one thing he was put on this Earth for - command of a warship, whilst Maturin has been given the opportunity to explore the world, and carry out his work as an agent for Naval Intelligence in the company of a man who, whilst a complete booby ashore, is a tower of strength in his element, the sea. Essential reading!

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	C.S. Forester Young Hornblower
	Notes:

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	Alexander Kent Sloop of War	Buy at Amazon
	Notes: As the French enter the American War of Independence in earnest, young Richard Bolitho is given his first command, "Sparrow" - a fast, well-armed fighting sloop. At last he has the chance to prove his abilities as a junior captain. But he faces other challenges too.

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	Richard Woodman First Nathaniel Drinkwater Omnibus	Buy at Amazon
	Notes: Contains "Eye of the Fleet", "A King's Cutter" and "Brig of War".

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	Dudley Pope Ramage's Diamond	Buy at Amazon
	Notes: Nicholas Ramage, newly promoted to Post Captain, is given command of the Juno frigate, with orders for the West Indies. Juno's previous captain had been removed for drunkeness, and Ramage finds the ship in a rather dishevelled state and the First Lieutenant also a drunkard. Ramage has arranged for his old colleagues Southwick to join as Master and Bowen as Surgeon, as well as transferring some of his crew from the Triton brig. With a new set officers and midshipmen, Ramage takes the Juno to sea and sets about bringing the ship and her crew up to scratch. On arriving in the West Indies Juno is given the job of blockading the French on Martinique. On arriving off Fort Royal, the Juno captures two schooners sent to capture her and then cuts out one of the frigates lying in Fort Royal. Learning that a convoy is expected Ramage decides to capture it if at all possible. To do this he manages to mount guns on Diamond Rock, and then to force the French convoy to pass between this rock anf the coast of Martinique. When it arrives the convoy of seven merchant ships is escorted by four frigates, and Ramage knows that his two under-manned frigates cannot hope to beat them, so rather than a straight fight he opts to out manouevre them. This he manages to do, which allows the guns on Diamond Rock to sink one frigate and damage another. At the end of the action Ramage and his crews have captured a third frigate and badly damaged the remaining two, as well as capturing the merchant ships.

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Reference

These books will provide the reader with a good solid introduction to the period and naval life at that time.

	Dudley Pope Life in Nelson's Navy	Buy at Amazon
	Notes: An excellent description of Nelson's navy.

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	N.A.M Rodger The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy	Buy at Amazon
	Notes: The Wooden World details the Royal Navy of an earlier generation - it is the navy that Anson would have known. It discusses in detail the men and the ships of the time - how the ships were built and how the men who manned them were recruited and trained. It describes the background of the dreaded press, the use of corporal punishment, the usual social backgrounds of the commissioned officers, warrent officers and seamen of the navy.

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	David Miller The Prize of All the Oceans	Buy at Amazon
	Notes: The story of Anson's voyage around the world and the capture of the Acapulco Galleon.

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	Richard Hough Captain Bligh and Mr.Christian: The Men and the Mutiny	Buy at Amazon
	Notes: The story of most famous mutiny of them all - that of the Bounty.

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	Alan Villiers Captain Cook: The Seaman's Seaman	Buy at Amazon
	Notes: A biography of Britain's finest seaman.

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