Review: The Sea-God at Sunrise by G. L. Tysk – Historic Naval Fiction

The Sea-God at Sunrise is about two young Japanese fishermen, Shima and his younger brother Takao, and their interaction with the crew of an American whaler which rescues them after they are shipwrecked by a typhoon.

At the time in which the book is set Japan is a closed country so the book follows attempts to repatriate the boys and their subsequent voyage on the whaler. Each side has little knowledge of the others lives and customs and of course language is initially a barrier. These basic facts enable Tysk to fully explore these differences and inform the reader as the perspective alternates between Shima and one of the ships officers.

If you are looking for detailed descriptions of ship handling this is a not a book for you as it is hardly mentioned and indeed there are a couple of minor errors and typos although these did not detract. However, that the author has researched whaling is evident and this aspect of shipboard life and the small boat hunts are fully and graphically depicted.

via Review: The Sea-God at Sunrise by G. L. Tysk – Historic Naval Fiction.

Elizabeth’s Sea Dogs (HC/K) – Historic Naval Fiction

Hugh Bicheno’s new book, Elizabeth’s Sea Dogs: How England’s Mariners Became the Scourge of the Seas, was released recently worldwide in hardcover and for Kindle.

Elizabeth’s Sea Dogs investigates the rise and fall of a unique group of adventurers – men like Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Martin Frobisher and Walter Raleigh. Seen by the English as heroes but by the Spanish as pirates, they were expert seafarers and controversial characters. This riveting new account reveals them for what they were: extremely tough men in extremely hard times. They sailed, fought, looted and whored their way across the globe; in the process, they established a lasting British presence in the Americas, defeated the Spanish Armada, and made Queen Elizabeth I very wealthy, if seldom grateful. Author Hugh Bicheno sets the Sea Dogs in historical context and reveals their lives and exploits through diligent historical research incorporating contemporary testimony. With additional appendices, colour plates, the author’s own maps and technical drawings, Elizabeth’s Sea Dogs tells their vivid, extraordinary story as it was lived, in the author’s trademark engaging style.

Tead More Elizabeth’s Sea Dogs (HC/K) – Historic Naval Fiction.

Ships of Oak – Guns of Iron (HC/K) – Historic Naval Fiction

Ronald D. Utt’s new book, Ships of Oak – Guns of Iron: The War of 1812 and the Forging of the American Navy, will be released in hardcover in the US and for Kindle on 4 December 2012. The UK release will be on 20 December 2012.

The War of 1812 is typically noted for a handful of events: the burning of the White House, the rise of the Star Spangled Banner, and the battle of New Orleans. But in fact the greatest consequence of that distant conflict was the birth of the U.S. Navy. During the War of 1812, America’s tiny fleet took on the mightiest naval power on earth, besting the British in a string of victories that stunned both nations.

In his new book, “Ships of Oak and Guns of Iron: The War of 1812 and the Birth of the American Navy,” author Dr. Ronald Utt not only sheds new light on the naval battles of the War of 1812 and how they gave birth to our nation’s great navy, but tells the story of the War of 1812 through the portraits of famous American war heroes. From the cunning Stephen Decatur to the fierce David Porter, “Ships of Oak and Guns of Iron” relates how thousands of American men and boys gave better than they got against the British Navy. The great age of fighting sail is as rich in heroic drama as any epoch.

Read More Ships of Oak – Guns of Iron (HC/K) – Historic Naval Fiction.

The Tainted Prize (PB/K) – Historic Naval Fiction

Author Margaret Muir’s new novel, The Tainted Prize, can now be downloaded worldwide for Kindle and will be available in paperback within the next few days.

The year is 1803 and aboard HM Frigate, Perpetual, Captain Quintrell heads south to the Southern Ocean. His orders are to find a missing ship even if it means sailing all the way to Peru. But in order to complete his mission, he must face the challenges of the Horn, an unnerving discovery, French privateers, political intrigue and even deception and unrest amongst his own crew.

Read More The Tainted Prize (PB/K) – Historic Naval Fiction.

Novella: Lewrie and the Hogsheads K – Historic Naval Fiction

If you are looking for that extra Christmas present Dewey Lambdin is releasing a short story for Kindle in the Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures, titled Lewrie and the Hogsheads. It will be released on 25 December 2012 and is now available for pre-order worldwide.Dewey Lambdin presents a new short story starring the most colorful captain of the Royal Navy, Alan Lewrie.Capt. Lewrie of the HMS Reliant has been stuck in Nassau Harbor, biding his time after ferreting out pirates on the coast of Spanish Florida. Until, that is, one of his brig sloops comes into harbor with an unexpected cargo of survivors from an American brig. Their ship, the Santee out of Charleston, South Carolina, has been taken by a Spanish privateer far down in the Bahamas near the Crooked Island passage.

Read More Novella: Lewrie and the Hogsheads K – Historic Naval Fiction.

At Drake’s Command (PB) – Historic Naval Fiction

Author David Wesley Hill’s new novel, At Drake’s Command: The Adventures of Peregrine James During the Second Circumnavigation of the World, has been released two weeks early and is now available worldwide in paperback.

It was as fine a day to be whipped as any he’d ever seen but the good weather didn’t make Peregrine James any happier with the situation he was in. Unfairly convicted of a crime he had not committed, the young cook was strung from the whipping post on the Plymouth quay side when he caught the eye of Francis Drake and managed to convince the charismatic sea captain to accept him among his crew.

Soon England was receding in their wake and Perry was serving an unsavory collection of sea dogs as the small fleet of fragile wood ships sailed across the brine. Their destination was secret, known to Drake alone. Few sailors believed the public avowal that the expedition was headed for Alexandria to trade in currants. Some men suspected Drake planned a raid across Panama to attack the Spanish in the Pacific. Others were sure the real plan was to round the Cape of Storms to break the Portuguese monopoly of the spice trade. The only thing Perry knew for certain was that they were bound for danger and that he must live by his wits if he were to survive serving at Drake’s command.

Read More At Drake’s Command (PB) – Historic Naval Fiction.

An alternate history for the early US Navy – Historic Naval Fiction

Assume that the American rebellion has failed, George Washington is dead and the few surviving revolutionaries, led by Andrew Jackson, have fled to the Spanish territory called Texas. There are still hopes for independance but how can they oppose the mighty forces of Spain? Then David Crockett meets John Paul Jones II and before long there is a  Texas Navy in the form of a ship called the Wasp.

This is the background to a new alternative history naval fiction novel by Jason Vail, released for Kindle in August, Lone Star Rising: The Voyage of the Wasp.

Read MoreAn alternate history for the early US Navy – Historic Naval Fiction.

Flinders: The man who mapped Australia (HC/K) – Historic Naval Fiction

Rob Mundle has a new book just released in hardcover in Australia and for Kindle elsewhere, Flinders: The man who mapped Australia.

Shipwreck, storms, death and danger – and the race to beat the French

Two hundred years ago, in the romantic age of exploration, Matthew Flinders became the first to circumnavigate and chart the treacherous Terra Australis coastline. Literally, he is the man who put Australia on the map.

Inspired to follow a life at sea after reading Robinson Crusoe, Flinders rose through the ranks of the British navy to become a great seafarer, an accomplished leader and an exceptional navigator and cartographer, often braving the boiling fury of a storm-lashed ocean in boats hardly seaworthy in the name of science and discovery.

Read More Flinders: The man who mapped Australia (HC/K) – Historic Naval Fiction.