Sea Adventures 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.

It’s the winter of 1776, a year that brings with it a fiery new spirit of colonial independence. Tensions simmering over a decade have finally come to a boil, and the rebel government in Philadelphia, determined to cast off the chains of British tyranny, has authorized the creation of the United States Navy—a brazen act of American aggression against the greatest maritime power in the world.

James Culdee, a career US Navy noncom who has served his country with distinction for 20 years, is suddenly and unfairly forced into a disgraceful retirement. Devastated, Culdee retreats into alcoholism until he is rescued by his daughter, Miranda, a charter boat skipper whose sloop, the Seamark, has been stolen. When Miranda learns that the Seamark has been sighted in the dangerous and primitive Flyaway Islands of the Philippines, father and daughter sail off in pursuit, on a voyage that will carry them across the Pacific.

William McCloskey’s best-selling novel Highliners established him as an authority on the dangers and hardships of the Alaskan fishing industry. Now in an epic sequel, Breakers returns to Kodiak to chart the fortunes of McCloskey’s beloved characters as they make their living from the sea.

Olivia Johnson needs to get a life. She hates her job, hasn't seen her friends in ages, hasn't had a date since university and has no idea what her purpose should be. After a particularly bad day at work she decides to quit her job and take an impromptu holiday to Cornwall. Once there, she finds she doesn't want to leave...so she makes the spontaneous decision to up sticks, despite the fact that she doesn't know anyone in St. Ives and is now unemployed. Did she make the right decision or will she come to regret leaving London?

Spring 1802. Richard Bolitho is summoned to the Admiralty to receive his orders for a difficult and thankless mission.... The recent Peace of Amiens is already showing signs of strain as old enemies wrangle over colonies won and lost during the war. In the little 64-gun Achates, Bolitho sails west for the Caribbean, to hand over the island of San Felipe to the French. But diplomacy is not enough.

In this adventure, Lewrie is promoted for his quick action in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, but before he's even had a chance to settle into his new role, a mutiny rages through the fleet, and the sudden reappearance of an old enemy has Lewrie fighting not just for his command, but for his life.

It is 1793. John Pearce and his Pelicans are going home - to gain their freedom and put the treacherous Captain Ralph Barclay in the dock. Emily Barclay discovers Pearce has papers that would ruin her husband’s career and her future security. And then comes that dread thing, a fire aboard a wooden ship of war! Cast adrift, Pearce and his Pelicans find help from an unlikely source.

HMS Rose had a history of tragedy. The old sailors, who could remember her past, said that she was jinxed and ought never sail again. But in the last days of 1940, as the phony war drew to an end, Britain needed every ship she could lay her hands on, to challenge the might of Hitler's Kriegsmarine. So it was that Lieutenant-Commander John Lamb found himself commanding the old destroyer Rose, with a crew of misfits and troublemakers, and set sail across the dark and icy seas in a desperate race to prevent the German invasion of Norway.

The Barbary Coast, 1621. A mysterious vessel floats silently on the water. It is known only as the Ghost Ship. For months it has hunted pirates to liberate those enslaved by corsairs, manned by a courageous crew of mariners from Italy and France, Holland and the Canary Islands. But the bravest among them are not who they seem. The stakes could not be higher. If arrested, they will be hanged for their crimes. Can they survive the journey and escape their fate?

Patrick O'Brian transports you to the high seas of the Napoleonic era when the French demagogue is making a desperate attempt to control the European world. While Napoleon pursues the British across Europe, rumors fly about him forging a secret link with the forces of Islam. Soon an ominous horde of Muslim mercenaries gather.

In February, 1806, the frigate carrying Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho drops anchor off the shores of southern Africa. Bolitho's instructions are to assist in hastening the campaign in Africa where an expeditionary force is attempting to recapture Cape Town from the Dutch. Bolitho is still brooding over the loss of his flagship, and hi socntinuing personal troubles are only brightened by his love for Catherine, Lady Somervell.

Jon had a simple and solitary life as a dock inspector in the city of Southvale. That was until a ship with elves arrived. Now, he must contend with a group of beautiful elves that have no idea how to say no or behave in his world. They take what they want, drink what they want, and party how they want. When Jon discovers they are pirates, his life will be turned into a maelstrom of action, intrigue, romance, and seaside humor from which none of them can steer away.

John Pearce faces a court martial, but will a cowardly chief witness stand up to questioning? With the matter unresolved, HMS Hazard is put under the command of Horatio Nelson. In London, the government denies prize money for the cargo of silver Pearce took off the Santa Leocadia, claiming it as property of the Crown. Pearce’s prize agent seeks to fight this, only to be outmanoeuvred by devious Henry Dundas. From Elba, Pearce is sent on a mission to collect fleeing members of the Corsican government.

Long before Hank Crawford arrived in the waters of Ketchikan, his partners and compatriots were already in love with its shores. Following the final, crushing moments of World War II, Japanese officer Kiyoshi Tsurifune, Sergeant Jones Henry, and Resistance fighter Swede Scorden struggle to regain normalcy and any contact with the shimmering, fish-filled sea. Lost honor, fallen friends, their cultural identities gone in the wake of a nuclear blast - these fishermen-turned-soldiers have a long way to go till they regain the waters in which they feel most at home.

Former SAS Sergeant Major John Carr is relaxing on a Spanish beach, when a man with dark eyes attracts his attention. Fixated on a group of young Britons, the man doesn’t notice Carr and soon moves on. Within the hour, the Costa del Sol will be plunged into one of the most audacious and horrifying terrorist attacks Europe has ever seen. In a co-ordinated strike, armed men storm both the beach and a cruise ship anchored further up the coast. But the terrorists - hiding personal greed under the veil of religious extremism - have an even bolder plan.

When the CIA needed a fall guy, Dugan was the one it betrayed. Forsaken by those he’d trusted and with nowhere to turn, he’s made it his mission to stop the miscreants who ruined his life before they can destroy anyone else’s. From human-trafficking rings and remorseless hit men to byzantine plots to alter the world order, Dugan must outwit those chartered with terminating him while battling overwhelming odds.

It's been two years since John Spencer and his father were shipwrecked and nearly murdered by unscrupulous scavengers. Now the Spencers have a new ship, the Dragon, and 16-year-old John is elated to be making the new schooner's maiden voyage to London. But not long out to sea, John realizes that the captain and crew of the Dragon are not who they pretended to be.

Highliners are the elite of the fishing world, the skippers and crews who make the biggest catches—salmon, king crab, halibut, shrimp—and deliver them first to the bustling canneries of Kodiak and Dutch Harbor. For these men—and for their women—the safe eight-hour day does not exist. It never will. Some fishermen get rich, many die broke. But they find a special joy in their work that can never be matched by the easier world of the landsman.

1794. Lieutenant John Pearce is caught between a feuding trio of admirals. One puts him in a position of danger while another asks him to undertake a hazardous commission in order to protect his friends, the Pelicans. Meanwhile, Pearce is also trying to construct a perjury case against Admiral Ralph Barclay.