John Pearce Books
London: 1793. Young firebrand John Pearce, on the run from the authorities, is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican tavern into brutal life aboard HMS Brilliant, a frigate on its way to war. In the first few days Pearce discovers the Navy is a world in which he can prosper. But he is not alone; he is drawn to a group of men who eventually form an exclusive gun crew, the Pelicans, with Pearce their elected leader. Shipboard life is hard, brutal and dangerous. That anyone chooses it suggest that life ashore is worse. The Pelicans find solidarity in facing together the cruelty of their hard-nosed captain, Barclay, and the daily threat of bullying, flogging - even murder. The one light on the horizon is the captain's young, curvaceous wife, Emily. During an action-packed two weeks, as HMS Brilliant chases a French privateer across the English Channel, this disparate group of men form friendships that will last a lifetime.
Pressed into King George's Navy for the second time in a month, John Pearce and his Pelicans find themselves working aboard the HMS Brazen, sailing the Channel from Plymouth to Dover in search of the numerous French privateers that prey on English merchant shipping: her task to stop them and, if possible, to capture or destroy them. Pearce has greater things on his mind--he must rescue his ailing father from the dangers of revolutionary Paris and to do that he must somehow leave the ship. He tries mutiny, the crew being readied by failure, but Captain Benjamin Colbourne is quick and smartly promotes Pearce to Midshipman. Pearce is thereby freed to leave the ship immediately--which appears to the remaining Pelicans as though their leader has deserted them.
After a number of months, a whirlwind of the press gang, service at sea, wild storms, bitter battles with the enemy and a promotion, John Pearce finally finds himself free to follow his own wishes, rather than being forced to serve any longer in King George’s Navy. The same does not apply for the trio of Pearce’s closest friends who, with him as their leader, call themselves the Pelicans. Unaware of this, and arriving in Portsmouth, Pearce feels certain he can free his comrades. However, on arrival and seeking to liberate his fellow Pelicans, Pearce is informed that the trio have been shipped out on another vessel, condemned to service because of Pearce’s over-indulgence in the arms of a woman. Still haunted by his father’s execution at the guillotine, and his guilt at arriving too late in France to save him, Pearce is determined to keep to this vow of liberation. When help is refused from all higher powers and Pearce refuses to surrender, he embarks on an adventure to free his friends with or without aid.
John Pearce comes back from Corsica demanding that Captain Barclay of HMS Brilliant, the man who originally pressed him and his fellow Pelicans into the Navy, be tried at home by a civilian court. Against the background of the ongoing siege of Toulon and with the Revolutionary Army massing to attack, no-one in authority sees this as a good time to accede to his requests. Barclay’s patron Admiral Hotham contrives a way out of the dilemma. He staffs the ship Pearce captured in Corsica with members of the Revolutionary Navy refusing to serve under the Bourbon flag and gives it to Henry Digby, with Pearce and his Pelicans under him, so that they may transport the renegade French sailors to an Atlantic port and set them free. Whilst Pearce is gone Hotham fixes a court martial where Barclay is found innocent for lack of evidence, a ruse that leads to an open breach with his wife Emily. Pearce eventually returns to the siege having survived conflict on both land and water only to find Barclay acquitted and exempt from further trial under the law of double jeopardy. Despite clear warnings not to do so he begins a romance with Emily Barclay, but mayhem surrounds the evacuation of Toulon and the revolutionary forces, including Napoleon Bonaparte, are closing in to retake the port...
1794. Lieutenant John Pearce is caught between the constant feuding of a trio of admirals. Their demands put him in positions of extreme danger but, as they know, he will risk a lot to protect his friends. Pearce’s chances of constructing a perjury case against Admiral Ralph Barclay seem weak, especially when Barclay is willing to use any pawn to finally silence Pearce. Setting out for Tunis to garner support for the siege of Toulon, Pearce faces a different kind of danger--the wiles of the beautiful Lady Emma Hamilton. After escaping her clutches, and returning to France, Pearce has finally got the evidence he needs to nail Barclay, as well as secure the release of the Pelicans. But the siege is coming to a climax and time is running out for Pearce and his friends… Highly charged, packed with historical detail and loaded with action, The Admirals’ Game is a must-read for all nautical adventure fans. Entwining historical personages with fully-imagined characters, Donachie captures the action and the period precisely.
1793. John Pearce and his Pelicans are going home to freedom and intent on putting the treacherous Captain Ralph Barclay in the dock. But in the confusion of the evacuation of Toulon, as citizens try to flee the Republican Army and the guillotine, Pearce must keep his wits about him in order to survive. Through unfortunate circumstances, Pearce finds himself on a ship back to England with Captain Barclay and his lovely wife Emily. In the end, the Pelicans may think they have reached the end of their troubles but it is Emily Barclay who holds the key to their hope of justice. But do her loyalties lie with her husband or her conscience?
Lieutenant John Pearce is in dangerous waters. He lacks funds, has lost the evidence of perjury he once held against his enemy Captain Ralph Barclay, and is being dogged by Barclay’s clerk Gherson, who is as keen as his employer to silence anyone who may cause unwanted revelations. But then a smiling stranger offers Pearce an opportunity he cannot refuse. Reunited with his old friends the Pelicans, he must fetch a ship laden with contraband back from France; an illegal, but very profitable, act. Yet is all as it seems? Are Pearce and his Pelicans sailing into prosperity – or danger?
Lieutenant John Pierce has managed to hold on to his freedom – but only just. Having been caught on smuggling charges, he escaped incarceration when two of his Pelicans ‘volunteered’ for service in his Majesty’s Navy; now, Pierce is determined to get them back. Aided by fellow Pelican Michael O’Hagan, Pierce heads to Dover to attempt a rescue, but not everything goes quite as planned. They are trailed across Kent by a gang of thugs who want revenge on Pierce for stealing their goods. Having fled to London, Pierce and O’Hagan discover that their friends have already shipped out, under the command of the Lieutenant’s old adversary, Ralph Barclay. Convinced that his old nemesis would never willingly let his two friends go Pearce and O’Hagan fear that all hope is lost - until the offer from First Minister Pitt himself seems to turn their luck around. The chance of a ship and crew might be just what Pierce needs to escape his pursuers, rescue the Pelicans and earn himself a small fortune…so long as his past doesn’t catch up with him first.
1794. In the wake of the Glorious 1st of June, an equivocal success for the British naval fleet against Revolutionary France, John Pearce has pressing matters to which he must attend. He has an urgent commission from Lord Hood, he must track down Midshipman Toby Burns and placate Emily who, estranged from her husband, Pearce’s enemy Captain Ralph Barclay, is now under his protection. Meanwhile, Pearce finds himself aboard HMS Agamemnon, and in series of actions and shore raids, impresses Horatio Nelson with his bold and brave manoeuvres.
Unbeknown to John Pearce, the private letter he is delivering on behalf of the prime minister carries the dismissal of the very man he is sailing to see. Politics intervene in matters of the sea and the need for a government majority to pursue the war with France means John Pearce must step down as Britain’s best sailor, regretfully relinquishing the position to the incompetent Admiral Hotham. Hotham is equally less than pleased about John Pearce, as he is the one person who knows the truth about his dishonest and wicked naval career. Pearce knows Hotham will try and destroy him any way he can to keep from being exposed, so he must navigate the dangerous waters whilst trying to return to Emily Barclay, the woman he loves.
Faced with a ship in need of repair, enemy attacks and the threat of wily Admiral Hotham, John Pearce is sailing into danger. Meanwhile Ralph Barclay is on his way to the Mediterranean. Thinking his wife still with Pearce and that he can repair his marriage by rescuing her, he sails in pursuit, Hotham half-hoping he suffers the same fate as the admiral has in store for Pearce. Can John Pearce fight to first save himself and his charges from captivity and then to be free from the enemy? It is a battle that will require all of his wits.
John Pearce, having negotiated the highly questionable sale of the two French prizes taken in The Devil to Pay, has left HMS Flirt, as well as the crew and the wounded Henry Digby in Brindisi and is headed for Naples to see his lover. In an uncomfortable journey he seeks to work out a way to best both Admiral Sir William Hotham and Captain Ralph Barclay, men who are his sworn enemies. All his calculations are thrown into turmoil when he discovers that Emily is pregnant which, while it is a cause for joy, is also a reason to worry; she is still married to Ralph Barclay and by the laws of the time he can claim the child as his own.
1796. Pearce and his wife Emily are in living in Bath, when Minister of War Henry Dundas turns up and suggests a second mission to the Vendee, this time as a liaison between the French emigres intending to land in Brittany and the British naval and military commanders who will accompany them. The proposed expedition looks promising and Pearce takes the bait. Once at sea, however, Pearce and his crew encounter a French fleet and an indecisive battle ensues off the Ile de Groix. Pearce, accompanied by his faithful Pelicans, must go ashore into dangerous territory to check the lay of the land, find the allies and seek to co-ordinate actions in a situation where the forces of the Republic are gathering to crush the rebels .
John Pearce is going home. But he has to avoid capture by an Algerine warship, having his Pelicans pressed into a British frigate and that’s before they are at risk of being hanged for desertion once home. Then there is the problem of Emily Barclay and their son Adam. By cunning and bluff he protects his friends, but not his troubled love life. In a whirlwind of action, there are forged wills, devious trades, contrived murders and dangerous spy missions, with so much deceit that Pearce does not know who to trust. All he can hope to do is survive.
1796. Lieutenant John Pearce is hiding in the smugglers' hub of Gravelines with his mysterious companion, known only to him as Oliphant, trapped in French territory with no way out. Although they find a crew willing to take them to England, they discover on the journey that Pearce's old enemies, the Tolland brothers, are still active on the route and danger may be lurking close to shore. While being on his homeland brings Pearce closer to Emily Barclay and their young son, Adam, the constant need for discretion is an additional strain on their already fragile relationship. Then, just as things may be looking up, it seems Henry Dundas has another role for him and Oliphant: a mission to north-east Spain.
The sixteenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas 1796: John Pearce is stuck with a difficult mission – a raw crew of Quota Men forced to enlist in the Royal Navy and four brand-new midshipmen as well as Samuel Oliphant, companion cum spy, whom he finds a constant irritant. In his favour he commands the sound and speedy warship HMS Hazard, a pair of competent officers and, of course, his trusty old friends the Pelicans. Their primary mission is to head for the Mediterranean Fleet and warn Admiral Sir John Jervis of impending danger he will face fighting a combined French/Spanish fleet. But there is a serious distraction: the imminent arrival of a Spanish vessel from South America carrying silver, for which the Spaniards are waiting before declaring war. Stop that and they will lack the funds to truly engage as an enemy of Britannia – but it is a distraction from Pearce's main task and specific orders. Can he resist the lure of such a valuable capture and risk his ship in a dangerous battle to gain it, or will his duty come first?
The seventeenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas John Pearce discovers that Madrid plans to desert the British-led coalition and join the enemy. In company with Lord Langholm, he has taken a Spanish treasure ship. But a violent Atlantic westerly forces them into a deep bay overlooked by Spaniards, who have created a trap with cannon on the heights aimed at the narrow entrance. Pearce must take the lead, exposed to plunging fire, lucky the guns do not quite have the range. Then, having succeeded, he must get Langholm’s frigate and the damaged Santa Leocadia through the same bottleneck. Only quick thinking and an act of sheer inspiration make it possible. His orders take him via Gibraltar, then on to Admiral Jervis, who hates him, to warn of Spanish duplicity. Finally, Jervis sends him to Bastia in Corsica, where the Viceroy, Sir Gilbert Elliot, is seeking to hold the island for Britannia in the face of Napoleon’s successes in Italy. In night actions, outnumbered on land and sea, Pearce must fight the Francophile Corsicans, who are arming themselves for an insurrection. Will he succeed, or will he, HMS Hazard , and the Pelicans pay the ultimate price of failure?
The eighteenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas John Pearce faces a court martial, but will cowardly Toby Burns, chief witness, stand up to questioning? With the matter unresolved, HMS Hazard is put under the command of Horatio Nelson, with whom any cruise is bound to be eventful. Sure enough, battle is joined with two Spanish frigates, though success is short-lived and flight in the face of a superior foe becomes the only option. In London, the government denies prize money for the cargo of silver Pearce took off the Santa Leocadia, claiming it as property of the Crown. Pearce’s prize agent seeks to fight this, only to be outmanoeuvred by the devious Henry Dundas. Worse, some very bad pennies from the past have come back to haunt the life of Emily Barclay and the thief-taker Walter Hodgson. From Elba, Pearce is sent on a mission to collect fleeing members of the Corsican government – an assignment which seems simple but proves to be anything but. Seeking a solution which will not imperil his ship, he sets out to negotiate the aid of a local clan chief, inadvertently putting himself, his crew, and his rescued charges in jeopardy. Pearce finds himself trapped in a deep Corsican bay, facing odds of two to one, which he can only overcome by employing devious tactics. And even if he is successful, he will be forced to make a decision: to follow his instincts or to obey his orders.