An Eye of the Fleet

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, 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 show more 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

What this novel may lack in full, detailed narrative it makes up in authenticity and honest moral conflict. This 185 page book in the hands of an author who was a writer first and a sailor second, or not at all, would have been 400 pages long, but I'm not sure we would have been the better for it.

This novel introduces Nathaniel Drinkwater, the responsible son of a widow holding on to her gentile status by her fingernails due to the profligacy of her late husband. He enters the King's service as an adolescent midshipman during the latter part of the American Revolution, a refreshingly different time to begin a fictional naval career. Over the two year period of the story Nathaniel proves himself repeatedly, struggles with a major moral show more dilemma, meets the woman he hopes to marry, and grows up.

This is the finest nautical historical fiction I have read in a long time. I have ordered the next three books in the series and look forward to their arrival. show less

A gritty look at life on board a British frigate. The story centers around Nathaniel Drinkwater, the self-effacing hero, who matures into a lieutenant under trying conditions.

Tells of the rise in the 1780s of Nathanial Drinkwater to the rank of Lieutenant in the Navy. Prior to promotion he saves a young seaman from the brutal attentions of a depraved midshipman and in the process, wins the love of a parson's daughter.