The Bolitho novels not only have cameo appearances of Britain’s great naval hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson, in the background, but the events of Bolitho’s life tend to parallel the life of the grand hero more and more as the series continued. At first, Alexander Kent (I will use his nom de plume fo...
My first exposure to an Alexander Kent book and it was a fairly enjoyable experience. The story is short and there are many scenes of seafaring action which the author writes with aplomb. We watch as ships of war tear each other apart and villains are dispatched gruesomely. All through this, the ...
After the war with France has ended in 1818, Captain Adam Bolitho is given command of the newly commissioned frigate Onward and sent to North Africa on a diplomatic mission to accompany the French frigate Nautilus in a show of solidarity. He knows he is lucky—the voyage should be easy; but Adam l...
Treasure, Treachery and Forbidden Love - 3 Stars Stand into Danger is the fourth book is the series about Richard Bolitho, a young officer in the Royal Navy. Although it was not the fourth written by Alexander Kent, it is fourth based on the internal chronology. Plot summary Richard once agai...
Next up... picked up from the town transfer station of course. My paperback is from 1978 and not pictured in the lookup. No cover anyway...Finally got into it last night. Pretty darned "meaty' so far!And now the meat has gotten well-bloodied as the first encounter with a privateer has taken place...
Originally published on my blog here in September 2000.Another one of Kent's conventional naval adventures starring Richard Bolitho. Reading three or four of these in a few months makes them seem quite tedious in the end; the background plot details may move on (a new rank for Bolitho, for exampl...
This is book 23 in a series about the fictional character Richard Bolitho in the British navy. This book takes place during the time Napolean was imprisoned on Elba. The main character is not portrayed as perfect, and is not an action hero. The ending of the book, as is in the author's style s...
February 1806: Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho carries the news of Trafalgar to southern Africa, where he is to aid British ground forces in any way he can to retake Cape Town from the Dutch. Impatient to be home, Bolitho decides yet again that the boldest measures are best, and proves to the ar...
March 1806: Napoleon holds Portugal and threatens his old ally Spain. Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho is dispatched once more to the Cape of Good Hope to establish a permanent naval force.
I discovered this book quite by accident while I was walking through the library looking for something else. I noticed a display on naval stories and picked this one up. It looked quite good and so I checked it out. I read the entire thing in two days. I decided to look online to see if the a...
Richard Bolitho - Midshipman is the first book of Alexander Kent’s (Douglas Reeman’s) Bolitho series. Published in 1975, it introduces the reader to 16 year old Richard Bolitho as he boards his second ship, the HMS Gorgon. The time is 1772 and England is at peace but that doesn’t mean that the of...
In September 1804, as England stands alone against France and the fleets of Spain, Vice-Admiral Richard Bolitho hoists his flag above the veteran Hyperion and sets sail with a new squadron for the Caribbean. His orders are to plan and execute a daring dawn raid on the Spanish Main.
In 1817 every harbor and estuary in Antigua is filled with ghostly ships, superfluous in the aftermath of war. In this uneasy peace, Adam Bolitho is offered the 74-gun Athena, a notoriously "unlucky" ship, and as flag-captain to Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Bethune he once more follows his destiny to ...
In the days immediately following Waterloo, the British fleet confronts a new threat: Algerian pirates preying on hapless merchant ships. Adam Bolitho, Admiral Richard Bolitho's nephew and heir, finds himself in command of Unrivalled, a new kind of frigate—sleek, fast, and heavily armed.
Should be titled "relentless retelling." This book rehashes most of the pertinent details from the many previous books about Richard Bolitho. If you really enjoyed that series, stop now and don't bother with this one or those following it. It's like kissing your sister. There is still a some sea ...
Plymouth, July 1801: Richard Bolitho's small squadron, still repairing the scars of battle earned in heavy action at Copenhagen, has been months away from the sea. After eight years of war with France, Britain must make a gesture that will show strength and determination—and one which will dramat...
The year is 1793, and England is once again at war. For Richard Bolitho, the renewal of hostilities with France means a fresh command and the chance for action after months of inactivity.
1756 born Falmouth, son of James Bolitho 1768 entered the King's service as a Midshipman on Manxman 1772 Midshipman, Gorgon (Richard Bolitho - Midshipman and Midshipman Bolitho and the 'Avenger') promoted Lieutenant, Destiny; Rio and the Caribbean (Stand into Danger) Lieutenant, Trojan, during th...
By the time they all became used to the commandeered schooner the whole affair would be over. He tugged down his hat to shade his eyes from the reflected glare and examined her critically. She was about eighty feet in length and twenty at her beam. He stifled a yawn, and it was not even the foren...
The wind, although hot and without freshness, mounted in power, and as moon and stars vanished beyond low layers of scudding cloud Tempest prepared to fight it out. Even Bolitho found it an eerie experience. After heat and searing glare, the slow and patient changes of tac...
Hull down with the early sunlight were two ships, and at first it seemed likely that the enemy had somehow found the means to frustrate any attempt of evacuation. But as the vessels tacked this way and that, drawing nearer and nearer to land with each change of course, they were both identified a...
Had he really been asleep? The realization shocked him into immediate alertness. “What is it, man?” Lieutenant Mountsteven watched him curiously, as if he did not really believe he was sharing a small rough gully with his vice-admiral. &...
And thea were well overdue for that. Despite her coppered hullB Sparrow's speed had been reduced by a full knot i[ otherwise perfect sailing conditions by long clingin^ weed which defied the copper and their efforts to movO it. He would buy some wine perhaps. Good wine, noU the bitter-tasting muc...
When I saw you ride in just now I thought, well, for a moment …” He shook his head admiringly. “What a pity John Allday is not here to see you!”Captain Adam Bolitho walked into the great room, his eyes taking in everything, noticing small changes. The hand of a lady.He said, “I hear he has been i...