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 |
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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.
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Last update 5/10/03