Historic Naval Fiction The Home of Naval Fiction Set in the Age of Sail

A sea drama of a battered old sailing ship that tried to run the blockade of the Royal Navy.

A story of smuggling in the New York/New Jersey area, set around 1711

From the Author : "It was a bold attempt to lay the scene of a work like this on the coast of America. We have had our Buccaneers on the water, and our Witches on the land, but we believe this is the first occasion on which the rule has been reversed." "The facts of this country are all so recent, and so familiar, that every innovation on them, by means of the imagination, is coldly received, if not absolutely frowned upon.

Perhaps it would have been safer to have written a work of this character without a reference to any particular locality. The few local allusions that were introduced are not essential to the plot, and might have been dispensed with without lessening the interest of the tale." "This is probably the most imaginative book every written by the author. Its fault is in blending too much of the real with the purely ideal." "This book, originally written in Italy, and first printed (in English) in Germany. To the last circumstance probably owes the great number of typographical errors that are to be found in it.

The American compositor, however, quite likely conceiving that he had a right to correct the blunders of a foreigner, has taken the law into his own hands, and exercised a sovereign power over our labors. That our good old-fashioned mode of spelling should receive the modern improvements was, perhaps, unavoidable; but surely, we never spelt "coamings" (of a hatch), "combings;" "rul-lock," "oar-lock" or "row-lock;" or made many other similar "longshore" blunders that are to be found in original edition of this book." " Care has been taken to do ourselves justice in these particulars, and we think that this book is more improved, in these respects than any other work that has passed through our hands."

Book 1: Miles Wallingford series

This narrative chronicles the adventures of Miles Wallingford, who runs away to sea to embark on a career as a merchant sailor. He runs the hazards of life at sea and intervals ashore involve him in the delights of romance and perils of legal and financial intrigue. Mainly set in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

(It is believed that this novel may be partly autobiographical)

Continues the adventures of Miles Wallingford, this time set in the Atlantic

Two schooners sealing in Antarctica must co-operate when over-wintering after they are caught in the ice.

1795

It's 1795 and 19-year-old Kerenza Vyvyan's estranged family has been missing for a year on a trading voyage to the Mediterranean.

When her father returns fo raise the ransom needed to free his wife and elder daughter held hostage in Tangier, he demands Kerenza sail back with him on the packet, Kestrel . But the Kestrel's commander is Nick Penrose, the man who broke Kerenza's heart.

Following an attack by a French privateer, and traumatic events on board, Kestrel reaches Tangier. But the dangers survived are only a taste of those to come. Tentatively reconciled, Kerenza and Nick draw strength from each other. Then tragic events force Kerenza to make a promise she fears will part them forever... until one final twist of fate.