Showing titles in Sea Adventures

Unputdownable naval action from the master of the sea story - 'In Stockwin's hands the sea story will continue to entrance readers across the world' Guardian 1807. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd's famous sea action aboard Tyger has snatched his reputation from ignominy. He is the hero of the hour. But...

It is February 1818, and Adam Bolitho longs for marriage and a safe personal harbour. But with so much of Britain's fleet redundant, he knows he is fortunate to be offered HMS Onward, a new 38-gun frigate whose first mission is not war but diplomacy, as consort to the French frigate Nautilus.

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.

September 1804: England stands alone against France and the fleets of Spain, anticipating invasion. Vice-admiral Richard Bolitho has his own troubles to settle at home too. But his time on land is broken by an urgent summons from the King. Once more Bolitho hoists his flag above the veteran 74-gun ship Hyperion and sets sail - this time with a new squadron headed for the Caribbean.

A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK BBC CULTURE ‘BOOKS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2026’ A VOGUE BEST DEBUT 2026 ‘Profoundly moving’ Elif Shafak (on Instagram) ‘The horrors of 2004 are told with verve in this debut about a woman haunted by survivor guilt . . . there are stunning descriptions of island...

Hornblower becomes a national hero when he escapes a French firing squad. But the 'Terror of the Mediterranean' becomes Europe's most wanted man, forced to fight alone for England - and liberty.

The lieutenant is summoned by the admiralty and given command of the brig Triton. But like the rest of the Nnvy, Triton's crew has mutinied. Sympathizing with some of their complaints, Ramage also knows that if he fails to deliver three sealed dispatches to admirals off Brest and Cadiz and in the Caribbean, he will become a convenient scapegoat.

It is February 1942, and the war in the Atlantic looks grim for the Allied convoys. The Great Blackout has started, leaving the spy centre of Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire at a loss as to what the Nazis are planning. U-boat command has changed the Hydra cipher. The enigma cannot be broken. Cipher experts can no longer eavesdrop on Nazi command, which leaves convoys open for attack by packs of marauding Nazi submarines.

Mr Lloyd has decided to travel to the island by boat without engine - the authentic experience. Unbeknownst to him, Mr Masson will also soon be arriving for the summer. Both will strive to encapsulate the truth of this place - one in his paintings, the other with his faithful rendition of its speech, the language he hopes to preserve. But the people who live here on this rock - three miles wide and half-a-mile long - have their own views on what is being recorded, what is being taken and what is given in return.

The venue is booked, the dress is picked and senior midwife Anna Jones only has to say ‘I do!’ to the man she loves! Theirs might have been a whirlwind romance but Brae Penrose is everything Anna dreamed her husband would be, and she can’t wait to start a family with him. But as the big day approaches, Anna still isn’t pregnant and when disaster strikes, their perfect day looks destined not to happen at all! Is it a sign to slow things down?

The protagonist of this story is Peter Palafox, son of a poor Irish parson, who signs on as a midshipman, never before having seen a ship. He is a fellow who would have delighted the young Stephen Maturin or Jack Aubrey...and quarrelled with them as well. Together with his life-long friend Sean, Peter sets out to seek his fortune, embarking on a journey of danger, disappointment, foreign lands and excitement.

In late 1756, as the British government collapses in the aftermath of the loss of Minorca, and the country and navy are thrown into political chaos, a small force of ships is sent to the West Indies to reinforce the Leeward Islands Squadron. Captain Edward Carlisle and his first lieutenant George Holbrooke are fresh from the Mediterranean and their capture of a powerful French man-of-war. Their new frigate Medina has orders to join a squadron commanded by a terminally ill commodore. Their mission: a near-suicidal assault on a strong Caribbean island fortress.

Admiralty spies are hunting for British officers and allies trapped on the mainland, among them Ramage's first love, Gianna, the Marchesa di Volterra. Ramage returns to the Tuscan coast, where Bonaparte holds a group of hostages for an unknown fate.

1803. The Napoleonic Wars. A Royal Navy warship is ordered to pursue an enemy frigate to the icy waters far south in the Indian Ocean. There, it must capture the enemy ship and retrieve a mysterious sea chest, contents unknown, failure not permitted. For the determined young captain and his eager crew, this already dangerous mission turns into a battle with a mysterious vessel that appears not in the sea, but unbelievably, impossibly, in the sky above. But nothing could prepare the crew for what lay beyond the 50th latitude of south.

Inspired by a true story, this is a moving reimagining of loss, legacy and the fragile truth between memory and myth… She was never meant to be a symbol, but the world made her one In 1912, fourteen-year-old Helen ‘Melville’ Smith loses her father, Captain Edward J. Smith of the Titanic...

The United States is reeling from the terrible shock of December 7, 1942. In one terrible day, the nation finds itself at war while tending to a horrific wound. While the Navy scrambles to piece together its shattered fleet, one man and his carrier burn with a desire to wreak a terrible vengeance on the Empire of Japan.

Don't miss Veronica Henry's gloriously romantic new novel THIRTY DAYS IN PARIS, out now in paperback! 'A lush, inviting read that lifts the heart and spirits!' Adele Parks --------------------------------- Escape to Everdene Sands, where the sun is shining - but is the tide about to turn? Robyn...

Captain Lord Ramage and the Calypso return from Devil's Island, but Ramage's new wife, Sarah, is missing. The captain would like nothing better than to sail home immediately, but instead he is ordered to shepherd a lumbering convoy of merchant ships back to England. On the way bizarre events lead him to a full court-martial in Plymouth, presided over by his old nemesis, Rear Admiral Goddard. Ramage must clear his name--or face a sentence of death!

THE ISLES OF SCILLY MYSTERIES #7 ‘An absolute master of pace, plotting and character’ ELLY GRIFFITHS ON A REMOTE ISLAND When Jez Cardew’s boat is found drifting empty on the Atlantic Ocean, DI Ben Kitto and his fellow lifeboat crew members immediately fear the worst. After an extensive...

The gathering might of revolutionary France prepares to engulf Europe in another bloody war. As in the past, Britain will stand or fall by the fighting power of her fleet. For Richard Bolitho, the renewal of hostilities means a fresh command.