Richard Woodman (1944–2024)

In 1805 after a two year hiatus the Napoleonic War has restarted. Commander Nathaniel Drinkwater is hastily dispatched to Hull to take command of HMS Melusine whose captain has been shot in a duel. Soon after his arrival in the city the ship sets sail as an escort to a whaling fleet on its annual expedition to the Greenland Sea in pursuit of right whales.

During the whale hunt one of the whalers is captured by a marauding French corsair setting off a chain of misfortunes for the Melusine. To show more repair his ship, Drinkwater seeks shelter off the Greenland coast but finds treachery instead.

Although this is my third Woodman novel,( I'm a sucker for historical and especially nautical fiction), this is my first Nathaniel Drinkwater book despite it being the fifth in the series. I felt that the author wonderfully captured the beauty and peril of sailing in the Arctic in a wooden ship along with the excitement and cruelty of the primitive whale hunt giving a good insight into the industry far better than say Melville's more illustrious 'Moby Dick'. On the whole I found the story absorbing and the final climax exhilarating making it on a par with say the 'Master and Commander' series. I don't doubt that knowledge of the wider series might have helped but I also believe that it can certainly be enjoyed as a stand alone as I have done. show less

I was given this book by a friend as he knew I am a sucker for historical fiction and have read other works of this ilk. That said, Richard Woodman was a new author to me.

The book centres on two tea clippers, the Erl King and the Seawitch, bringing tea from Shanghai to London in 1869 and a wager between their respective captains, 'Cracker Jack' Kemble and Dandy Richard Richards. The first ship back to Britain carrying the first of the season's tea could expect to be paid a premium on arrival show more but at stake is Captain Kemble's daughter's, Hannah, hand in marriage to Captain Richards should the latter win. When Jack Kemble is killed by pirates early in the voyage Hannah, who is travelling on-board her father's ship, is forced to take command.

Now personally, I found the depictions of handling and the navigation of the ship over thousands of miles of barren sea and the difficulties that the men of sailing ships faced due to the vagaries of wind and weather rather exhilarating even if I didn't understand all the technical elements.

However, I found the characterization flimsy and improbable at best. I found the story's would-be heroine Hannah, completely unbelievable, she seemed to change her mind so often that she bordered on the psychopathic. Whilst I appreciate that she was supposed to be a woman in a man's world and that she was supposed to be changing from a dependant to a fully independent woman I just didn't buy it at all. Similarly, whilst I felt a little sympathy for the lovesick Munro, the ship's second officer, I found him staid and predictable. As for the "sinister" Welsh Captain of the Seawitch. The thought that he was so driven by lust for Hannah, a woman whom he had only met the once, that he would stake everything just to possess her, bordered on the ridiculous frankly. The other minor characters were little better IMHO although the Chinese prostitute travelling as a passenger under the protection of her rich Chinese protector did at least offer some light relief.

The genesis of this book, the races between the tea clippers to be the first back to port, on the face of it seems to be a neat idea, so on the whole I think that this was rather a missed opportunity. Overall, I found it generally poorly handled and the so called love angle totally unnecessary. show less

Woodman draws from actual events to bring the action in An Eye of the Fleet to life. His detailed descriptions of the various sailing vessels is extraordinary. Readers cannot say they do not know what a frigate looks like after reading An Eye of the Fleet. Beyond boats, readers will build an extensive lexicon of nautical terminology by the end of the book. Phrases like carrying canvas and yardarms blocks will become common knowledge. If you have ever wondered what a battle at sea sounded, show more looked, or even smelled like, Eye of the Fleet will take you there hook line and sinker.
Beyond a nautical education readers will meet Midshipman Nathaniel Drinkwater as he begins his nautical career aboard the HMS Cyclops. It is a thrilling coming of age of sorts as young Drinkwater helps his crewmates capture other vessels and battle privateers with cannons, pistols and hand to hand combat. The skirmishes are bloody and deadly but so is life aboard the HMS Cyclops. Drinkwater has to navigate relationships with his fellow sailors as well. One particular run-in with a bully forces Drinkwater to fight back with intensity. This antagonist adds tension beyond the battles at sea.
Gradually, Drinkwater comes into his own as a leader and a romantic. An Eye of the Fleet ends with Nathaniel dreaming of a young woman back in England. show less

I find it impossible to review Distant Gunfire as a stand alone volume of sea stories. The Nathaniel Drinkwater series is an extraordinary story broken into fourteen volumes, with two short stories, and completed with Richard Woodman's parting comments, "On Nathaniel Drinkwater: A valedictory essay".

The Nathaniel Drinkwater saga is the best seafaring series I have encountered. The author, Richard Woodman, is a seafarer first and an author second who has had a lifelong love of history, show more especially naval history. These attributes of the author bring an authenticity to the plot events, shipboard interactions and tensions, and ever present challenges of weather and tide. Above all, however, this is the biography of one British seaman in particular, the fictional Nathaniel Drinkwater. In his closing essay Woodman describes Drinkwater beautifully as, "a modest, unsung mover and shaker" from a "respectable" rather than from a genteel, or aristocratic background. Nothing comes easily for him. He is loyal, kind, highly responsible, restless, intuitive, energetic, and forever torn between his love for the sea and love for his wife and family.

I feel quite sad that I have finished this story. It has not, however, been a depressing story--as many of the seafaring stories are. It is set during wartime; there are dear friends lost along the way, but they are not forgotten. Drinkwater takes chances on people. His home gradually includes a cook who is the wife of his coxswain, a handyman who lost both legs in action, and others. Out of compassion he takes on a desperate former lieutenant when has the opportunity. He is an estimable man. He loves his wife though they don't really know each other very well until they've been married thirty years.

Nathaniel Drinkwater is fictional, but he is real. I am glad to have shared his journey. show less