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"The year is 1813. captain Nathaniel Drinkwater succeeds Lord Dungarth as head of the Royal Navy's Secret Department. While the Grand Army of Napoleon faces defeat on the battlefields of Germany, the discovery of a secret treaty with America leads Drinkwater into forbidding fjords of Norway, and one of the most desperate mission of his career."--Back cover.Tags
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A gap in the Drinkwine series is finally filled. Too introspective to be a good spymaster, the captain is rushed to sea and returns to his HMS roots. Overmatched in ships and men, his bloody persistence prevails but at a great cost in lives on both sides of the battle.
Drinkwater pieces together some evidence and concludes the French are sending arms to the Yanks via Denmark. He bargains himself a command and sets off to break up the deal.
The second half of this book is an account of an unusually brutal battle, mainly between Drinkwater's frigate and a larger Danish cruiser. That part of the book is up to Woodman's usual fine standard, and quite fascinating, although the extremely heavy toll makes for painful reading.
Unfortunately, the first part of the book is not so well written. Throughout the book Woodman indulges far too often in his favorite stylistic quirk--he's prone to unnecessary foreshadowing. Usually it doesn't much bother me, but in this book it's pretty obtrusive.
This review is has also show more been published on a dabbler's journal. show less
The second half of this book is an account of an unusually brutal battle, mainly between Drinkwater's frigate and a larger Danish cruiser. That part of the book is up to Woodman's usual fine standard, and quite fascinating, although the extremely heavy toll makes for painful reading.
Unfortunately, the first part of the book is not so well written. Throughout the book Woodman indulges far too often in his favorite stylistic quirk--he's prone to unnecessary foreshadowing. Usually it doesn't much bother me, but in this book it's pretty obtrusive.
This review is has also show more been published on a dabbler's journal. show less
The 12th in the "Nathaniel Drinkwater" series. As Napoleon's army faces defeat on the battlefields of Germany, Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater succeeds Lord Dungarth as head of the Royal Navy's Secret Department. Before long he is caught up in intrigue and the most desperate mission of his career
Apr 4, 2012Dutch
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92+ Works 2,482 Members
Richard Woodman was born in London. England in 1944. He became an indentured midshipman in cargo liners at the age of 16, which resulted in a 37 year nautical career. He became captain in 1980. He spent 11 years in command at sea, 6 years in operational management ashore, and is currently a Board Member of Trinity House, the authority responsible show more for navigational safety round the coast. He is a regular correspondent for the shipping newspaper Lloyd's List. He has written over 50 books, a mixture of fiction and maritime history. His fiction works include the Nathaniel Drinkwater series, A Kit Faulkner Naval Adventure series, and The William Kite Trilogy. He received several awards including the Desmond Wettern Maritime Media Award in 2001 for his journalism, the Society of Nautical Research's Anderson Medal in 2005 for three major studies of convoy operations in the Second World War, and the Marine Society's Thomas Gray Medal in 2010 for his five-volume history of the British Merchant Navy. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Beneath the Aurora
- People/Characters
- Nathaniel Drinkwater
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- Members
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- Reviews
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- English, German
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- ISBNs
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- ASINs
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