Nathaniel Drinkwater

Richard Woodman

A refreshingly different set of "Napoleonic" naval novels, Nathaniel Drinkwater is not only poor (like Hornblower) but his years as midshipman are unattended by the sort of luck which gave Horatio his start. As a result we get a vignette of life in the smaller ships of the Royal Navy; the sloops, cutters and brigs which did the tedious, and often dangerous, leg work for the fleets. Never rising beyond Captain, Drinkwater's career is charted in a series of fourteen novels from the day he joins as a midshipman to his death. The series is complete, there will be no more.

I only discovered this series recently, after a gap in my reading while my children were small (it is impossible to read seriously when you're interrupted every ten minutes). The early novels are out of print but luckily for me, they are currently being reissued in omnibus format. If Woodman has a flaw as a writer, it is in telegraphing important events in advance. "Little did X know that he would not survive another week ..." If a nice character has to die, I really don't want to know until it happens. So far I've only read the first two, so maybe Woodman will stop it.

Cover	Title	Pub	Set	Comments
2000	An Eye of the Fleet	1981	1779-1781	Rank: Midshipman Ship: Cyclops (36 Frigate, Hope) Location: Channel, American seaboard The young Nathaniel Drinkwater learns his trade during the American War of Independence.
	A King's Cutter	1982	1792-1797	Rank: Master Ship: Kestrel (12, Cutter, Lt Griffiths) Location: Channel, North Sea With Revolutionary France occupying the Austrian Netherlands and threatening Holland, the Scheldt estuary and the Dutch fleet it is only a matter of time before Britain is once agian at war.Drinkwater, now married to Elizabeth and employed by Trinity House, is called back to the service by an old colleague.
	A Brig of War	1983	1798-1800	Rank: Lieutenant
2001	The Bomb Vessel	1984	1800-1801	Rank: Lieutenant Ship: Virago (Bomb Vessel) Location: Baltic
	The Corvette	1985	1803	Rank: Commander Ship: Melusine (Corvette)
	1805	1985	1805-1806	Rank: Captain Ship: Antigone (36 Frigate) Location: Channel
Dec 2001 "Blaze of Glory"	Baltic Mission	1986	1807	Rank: Captain Ship: Antigone (36 Frigate) Location: Baltic
	In Distant Waters	1988	1807-1808	Rank: Captain Ship: Patrician (Heavy Frigate) Location: Pacific Coast, Nth America
	A Private Revenge	1989	1808-1809	Rank: Captain Ship: Patrician (Heavy Frigate) Location: China Sea
Dec. 2002 "Death or Damnation"	Under False Colours	1991	1809-1810	Rank: Captain (masquerading as Merchant Master) Ship: Galliwasp (Merchant Barque) Location: Baltic
	The Flying Squadron	1992	1811-1812	Rank: Captain Ship: Patrician (Heavy Frigate) Location: Atlantic & Chesapeake Bay
	Beneath the Aurora	1995	1813	Rank: Captain Ship: Andromeda ()
	The Shadow of the Eagle	1997	1814	Rank: Captain Ship: Andromeda
	Ebb Tide	1998	1843, 1781, 1815-1820

Richard Woodman has written two Nathaniel Drinkwater short stories for anthologies. "The Steeple Rock" is set in 1788, in between "An Eye of the Fleet" and "A King's Cutter". It was published in "The Mammoth Book of Men o' War" in 1999. "The Night Attack" is set in August 1801, in between "The Bomb Vessel" and "The Corvette". It was published in "The Mammoth Book of Hearts of Oak" in 2001.

The last two books have been release in "Distant Gunfire", the 5th Nathaniel Drinkwater Omnibus, together with the two short stories listed above.

Images on this page are used by kind permission of Time Warner Books

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