Naval Historical Fiction

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 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.

1809. After his heroic actions during the retreat to Corunna, Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is the toast of London society. Here he falls in with the legendary frigate captain Lord Thomas Cochrane. So begins a relationship, professional and personal, that will be unlike any that Kydd has known: a relationship that will lead him, almost simultaneously, to first glory, then ruin.

Lady Katherine Wilde believes she has crushed any lingering romantic feelings toward Brandon Deverill, who spurned her six years ago. And now that the rough-edged rogue needs polishing to claim his inheritance, she's willing to strike a practical bargain: Kate will mold the brash privateer into an acceptable English nobleman if Deverill will safeguard her from brigands on a voyage to recover lost family treasure. However, the soul-melting kiss that seals their agreement just may reignite blazing passion.

The unsung story of superb naval ingenuity and heroism that came close to making the battle of Trafalgar unnecessary. If it hadn’t been for a drunken naval officer and a minor earthquake history would have been forever changed. 1803 and the Royal Navy dominate the Caribbean. However, Commodore Samuel Hood is short of ships. Diamond Rock is a small volcanic plug in the sea south of Martinique. Despite his men’s misgivings and against almost insurmountable odds, he lands a garrison and places cannon on the top. The Honourable Mathew Turner is in the Caribbean on a diplomatic mission and ...

"Combine elements of evil kings and dukes, Game of Thrones-style characters, and the horrific Bastille Prison, and you have everything set for an explosive medieval thriller novel. It's a great cast with very engaging characters. Fantastic dialogue that pulls you in. And there are already enough stakes within the story to keep you engaged.” - Reedsy Discovery A sacred artifact. An impossible rescue. And the threat of war hanging over all... During the height of the Renaissance, the Annunciation—a sacred painting said to protect the Republic of Florence from foreign invasion—is stolen ...

After a century of war, revolutions, and imperial conquests, 1790s Europe is still embroiled in a battle for control of the sea and colonies. Tall ships navigate familiar and foreign waters, and ambitious young men without rank or status seek their futures in naval commands. First Lieutenant Alexander Clay of the frigate Agrius is self-made, clever, and ready for the new age. But the old world, dominated by patronage, retains a tight hold on advancement.

They called the wind a sirocco, a wind borne sandstorm from the Sahara Desert that blackens the day. Donland called it a DEVIL’S WIND. It was just one of the perils he faces on The Slave Coast of Africa. He is on his own with only half of Oxford’s crew and with half of her guns. Upon arrival on the Slave Coast the newly married Donland is ordered by the tyrannical governor to dispatch a Spanish frigate captured by pirates who prey on the slave traders. How hard is it to hide a frigate? The Slave Coast of Africa is honeycombed with rivers and coves, each has to be searched and each holds...

Lewrie loses his ship and his command when he receives news that Vigilance must return to England to be decommissioned and turned over to the dockyards for a complete refit. Lewrie is grounded, put on half-pay, and his crew disperses to look for new positions. It's late autumn, and being ashore is heavenly, after a time. Lewrie spends time with his wife, Jessica, helps his son Hugh find a new ship, and happily marries off Charlotte. Life onshore is quiet until Lewrie finds himself once again in the headlines of the city papers.

Carrying out wartime patrols from Malta with the famous "Fighting Tenth" Submarine Flotilla, HM Submarine Rugged has orders to disrupt Axis supply convoys. Deep in enemy waters, Rugged encounters deadly mines, depth-charges, and torpedoes! Hunted down by the remorseless destroyers of the Trapani First Eleven, the crew of Rugged, fast running out of oxygen and slowly poisoned by carbon dioxide, must call on every ounce of their reserve if they are to evade the enemy and escape with their lives.

Coral Amherst is the middle child of a wealthy family, with fingers throughout the politics and laws of the magical Dalebloods and the Republic they lead. Skill and connections alike have propelled her to the highest ranks of the Republic’s Navy. Now, duty inexorably drags her into a mission to learn the fate of a long-lost magical city, once home to many of the people the Dalebloods rule. Storms of dark magic drove the Seablood from their ancient city and to the shores of the Republic—and those same storms now assail the Republic itself!

Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, is still in Gibraltar, his schemes for raids along the coast of Southern Spain shot to a halt. He is reduced to commanding a clutch of harbor-defense gunboats in the bay while his ship, HMS Sapphire, slowly grounds herself on a reef of beef bones! Until Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of peaceful Portugal and his so-called collaborative march into Spain change everything, freeing Sapphire to roam against the king's enemies once more!

The French called it La Forteresse Maudite, the Cursed Fortress. Louisbourg stood at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, massive and impregnable, a permanent provocation to the British colonies. It was Canada’s first line of defence, guarding the approaches to Quebec, from where all New France lay open to invasion.

The worst place for a sailor is to be on the beach. Lord Howe’s words, “You will not be forgotten,” seem nothing more than an empty promise. Now married and with a baby on the way, his finances are steadily dwindling, and he is left no choice but to seek employment with The Honorable East India Company. Hope of a naval career is fading. When all seems hopeless, Donland has his dream fulfilled; he is given command of Wessex, a frigate. His orders send him to patrol the Coasts of Florida in the year 1790. He is to uncover a plot to undermine English negotiations to purchase Florida from...

April 1945. The end of World War II finally appears to be nearing. The Nazis are collapsing in Europe, and the Americans are vastly overpowering the Japanese in the Pacific. For a group of pilots in their early 20s who were trained during the twilight of the war, the biggest concern is that they'll never actually see real action and will go home without having a chance to face the enemy.

Laura, an impoverished Cornish girl, meets her husband when they are both in service in Teignmouth in 1916. They have a baby, Charles, but Laura's husband returns home from the trenches a damaged man, already ill with the tuberculosis that will soon leave her a widow. In a small, class-obsessed town she raises her boy alone, working as a laundress and gradually becomes aware that he is some kind of genius.

Rocks and Shoals is the seventh of the Carlisle & Holbrooke naval adventures. The series follows Carlisle and his protégé George Holbrooke through the Seven Years War and into the period of turbulent relations between Britain and her American colonies in the 1760s.

Two seafaring tales filled with gripping action, tests of the human spirit, and life lessons from the author of The Mouse that Roared. WASHINGTON'S GUNPOWDER The Colonial Army led by George Washington has laid siege to the British forces in Boston at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, but they will have to withdraw unless they get more supplies—especially gunpowder. This exciting historical adventure tells the tale of George Royall (a young, reluctant lieutenant in the Colonial Navy) who is charged with sailing a secret cargo of gunpowder to Boston—a daring mission that involves ...

In the year 1282, after their daring heroics liberating Sicily, Esmeray and Bastone find a haven on the island of Favignana. But the War of the Sicilian Vespers reignites, dragging them into their prior roles as spies. Finding strength in each other, they once more join the patriots to rid the Angevins from Sicily. They return to their sanctuary in Favignana, sharing the welcome challenge of raising their adventurous daughter, Aspasia. Esmeray and Bastone, however, long for the open sea, and she accepts command of a trading vessel, but questions if the sea is the best home for their ...

Temeraire is a Celestial dragon, the most highly prized of all draconic breeds, famed for their intelligence, for their agility and most of all for the Divine Wind - their terrible roar, capable of shattering the heavy timbers of war ships and devastating woodland. Captured by the British, Temeraire was meant to be the companion of the Emperor Napoleon and not captained by a mere officer in the British Air Corps.

Vienna-June 1804. At the glittering debut of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, a Spanish diplomat meets with Captain Thomas Grey, agent of His Majesty's Secret Service. In exchange for a gigantic bribe, the Spaniard discloses Spain's most closely-held secret, the terms of its San Ildefonso Treaty with France. Spain's neutrality in Napoleon's war on Britain is only a ruse to keep the British navy from attacking the last great treasure-armada, now gathering in South America.