Richard Bolitho Books
Portsmouth, 1782. His Britannic Majesty's frigate Phalarope is ordered to assist the hard-pressed squadrons in the Caribbean. Aboard is her new commander—Richard Bolitho. To all appearances the Phalarope is everything a young captain could wish for, but beneath the surface she is a deeply unhappy ship—her wardroom torn by petty greed and ambition, her deckhands suspected of cowardice under fire and driven to near-mutiny by senseless ill-treatment.
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.
Aboard the Hyperion, Richard Bolitho sets sail with an untrained crew for blockade duty off France. Unfortunately, his superior, Commodore Mathias Pelham-Martin, is an incompetent egotist whose petty hostilities jeopardize the operation of an entire fleet.
April 1797, Falmouth Bay. As France continues her bitter struggle for supremacy on land and sea, the Royal Navy receives a crippling blow at home: the Great Mutiny. Returning home after eighteen-months' service, Flag Captain Richard Bolitho finds himself at the center of the crisis.
The year is 1778, the ship is the 18-gun HMS Sparrow, England's finest sloop of war, and the Captain is Richard Bolitho, sailing his command into the fury of battle. The American Revolution has turned the Atlantic coast into a refuge for privateers and marauding French warships, and it is up to young Bolitho to fight the colonial rebels, to stave off the treachery of a beautiful woman, and to overcome the dangerous incompetence of a senior officer before it is too late.
Spithead, 1784. His Majesty's Frigate Undine sets sail for India and the seas beyond. Europe may be at peace—but in colonial waters the promises of statesmen count for little and the bloody struggle for supremacy still goes on.
The year is 1798. Napoleon's naval forces are amassing in the Mediterranean, preparing to annex Egypt, and it is there the newly-promoted Commodore Richard Bolitho is sent with a small squadron of ships under his command.
The year is 1772, and Richard Bolitho is a sixteen-year-old midshipman about to undergo a severe initiation into the game of seamanship. The book follows young Bolitho's adventures as he intercepts and destroys a band of vicious pirates and then is swept away on a dangerous mission through the treacherous stamping ground of smugglers, wreckers, and murderers.
In 1774, Richard Bolitho is a newly appointed Third Lieutenant, joining the 28-gun frigate Destiny. Dispatched on a secret mission, Destiny and her company face the hazards of conspiracy, treason, and piracy. It is amidst the broadside battles and clashes of swords that Bolitho learns to accept his new responsibilities as a King's officer.
October 1789, and war clouds thunder over Europe when Richard Bolitho steers the Tempest into the perilous waters of the Great South Sea. To protect vulnerable English shipping lanes from her seagoing enemies, he must face the hazards of fickle winds, pirates, and savage islanders.
As the American Revolution rages on the mainland, the British Navy prepares for action at sea. Against a growing fleet of American and French privateers, the navy must maintain its blockade of Washington's vital military supplies. Caught up in the turmoil, junior officer Richard Bolitho finds himself having to make momentous decisions in the heat of battle—decisions that could affect the lives of many men and, perhaps, even the fate of nations.
Copenhagen, 1800. After seven years of cruel war against France, Britain's long-standing ally, Denmark, suddenly poses a threat. The scene of battle shifts to the Baltic where the British navy encounters the bitter hardship of blockade duty.
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 dramatically weaken the French cause. Rear-Admiral Bolitho must follow his flag's tradition of victory, even though—for the first time in his life—he is torn between the demands of public duty and personal need.
Spring 1802, and the Peace Treaty of Amiens, signed only a few weeks earlier, is already showing signs of collapse. Britain and France wrangle over the return of colonial possessions won and lost during their long, bloody war and in the little 64-gun Achates, Vice-Admiral Richard Bolitho sails for America and the Caribbean.
Falmouth, September 1803: As Bolitho faces the grim reality of war at close quarters, he will be called upon to anticipate the strategies of the French fleet. But the conflict has also taken on a personal note, reviving his vendetta with the French Admiral, Jobert, who once commanded the Argonaute.
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.
It is 1792, over ten years since Britain's defeat by the American colonies, and the bitter humiliation still sticks in the Admiralty's craw. Now brutal smugglers, many of them naval deserters, occupy the Channel, plying their trade between England and France. Richard Bolitho's mission: to take three speedy topsail cutters and fight the treacherous raiders off the coast of Kent.
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 army that brave men do not die in vain.
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.
Soon after taking part in the dramatic capture of Martinique in the Caribbean, Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho is next despatched to the African coast to gather a flotilla and stop French attacks on British trade routes. But Bolitho must contend with more than Britain's old enemy—he must also face the hatred of his flag captain and betrayal by a man he once counted on as his friend.
War with Britain's former colony looms on the horizon, and Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho must lead a squadron against the powerful new ships of the United States navy. Supported by his loyal crew, Bolitho must use all his ingenuity to defeat one of America's great naval commanders, Nathan Beer.
February 1813: As American privateers pick off British and Canadian ships in the wake of the War of 1812, Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho returns to Halifax to defend Crown property. In the cold waters off Nova Scotia, he fights fruitless skirmishes with men of the frontier, all the while longing for peace.
Sir Richard Bolitho returns from a wearing campaign in North American waters to take up a command in Malta. As England's long war with Napoleon reaches its end, will Richard Bolitho's longing for peace—both public and personal—be fulfilled?
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.
Summoned to the Admiralty by Sir Edward Pellew, Captain Adam Bolitho is ordered to sail his 46-gun frigate Unrivalled into African waters to aid His Majesty's campaign against slave-runners. Preoccupied with avenging his uncle Richard's death while confronting an entrenched adversary and the aggressive opposition of the Algerian overlord, he fears he may be setting his crew on a course of doom.
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 the Caribbean.
Richard Bolitho returns in this captivating page-turner set on the high seas from multi-million copy seller Alexander Kent . Fans of Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester will not be disappointed! 'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' - THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Good characters, good story, good action.' -- ***** Reader review 'Leaves you wanting more' -- ***** Reader review 'Every 'Kent' book is a joy to read, immersing you in this bygone era of seafaring.' -- ***** Reader review 'Just good nautical escape-ism, with a solid basis in history.' -- ***** Reader review 'Band Of Brothers is a classic Kent/Bolitho epic which I hardly put down for days until it was reluctantly finished.' -- ***** Reader review ********************************************************************************** 1774 : The new year seems to offer Richard Bolitho and his friend Martyn Dancer the culmination of a dream. Both have been recommended for promotion, although they have not yet gained the coveted lieutenant's commission. But a routine passage from Plymouth to Guernsey in an untried schooner becomes, for Bolitho, a passage from midshipman to King's officer , tempering the promise of the future with the bitter price of maturity. Will he rise to the occasion? Richard Bolitho's adventures continue in Stand into Danger .
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 longs for a chance to marry the beautiful Lowenna and settle down on the Bolitho estate in Cornwall. Instead he must deal with the envy and ambition of his officers, hidden agendas among his men, and the former enemy's proximity. Then the Nautilus becomes a sacrificial offering on the altar of Empire, and the hunt is on for a treacherous foe. Suddenly every man must discover for himself whether the brotherhood of the sea can transcend old hatreds and an ocean of blood.
Filled with high-seas intrigue and sharp tensions, this nautical novel takes an intense voyage into the heart of Napoleonic-era Africa. The year is 1819 and Captain Adam Bolitho has been sent on an urgent but risky mission to make a fast passage from Plymouth to Freetown, West Africa, with secret orders for the senior officer stationed there. Due to the slave trade being declared illegal, ships in every harbor are waiting to be scrapped and officers have been cut loose without hope of future commands, thus Adam soon finds himself the object of envy and jealousy. In Africa he discovers unexpected allies and faces an enemy far more powerful and ruthless than any he has known before.