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Hell Around the Horn
by Rick Spilman
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The Beckoning Ice
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Category Archives: Reviews
Review of ‘Hell Around the Horn’ in the Navy Fiction Blog
A wonderful review of ‘Hell Around the Horn‘ in the Navy Fiction blog. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by Rick Spilman – actually his debut novel! Spilman knows ships and the sea. He has worked as a naval architect and … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Seastories
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Joan Druett’s The Beckoning Ice, A Wiki Coffin Mystery – A Review
Joan Druett’s The Beckoning Ice, the fifth in her series of Wiki Coffin nautical mysteries, begins in 1839, on the sealer Betsey of Stonington, homeward bound from “a short but very profitable season far south of Cape Horn.” The schooner is … Continue reading
Posted in Newbooks, Reviews, Seastories
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The Tainted Prize (Under Admiralty Orders – The Oliver Quintrell Series) by M.C. Muir : a Review
The Tainted Prize is Margaret Muir’s second book of the Oliver Quintrell series. After sending Captain Quintrell to the bottom of the world in pursuit of Floating Gold, the admiralty is confident in the good captain’s discretion. It is 1803. The Peace … Continue reading
Port Strike Ends & How Containerization Shaped the Modern World
The eight day port strike on the West Coast is over, thank goodness. On November 27th, a group of 450 clerks in the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, who had worked without a contract for over two years, walked out. … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea, Reviews, Rigging
Tagged containerization, port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Sir Harold Evans
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Alaric Bond Reviews Hell Around the Horn
It is highly gratifying to have my work reviewed favorably by an author that I admire. Alaric Bond, author of the Fighting Sail Series, is indeed such an author. (See our review of his latest, The Patriot’s Fate, here.) Bond recently reviewed … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea, Reviews, Seastories
Tagged Alaric Bond, Hell Around the Horn, Historical Naval Fiction
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The Patriot’s Fate by Alaric Bond – A Review
Alaric Bond’s The Patriot’s Fate, the fifth in his Fighting Sail series, is an exciting nautical adventure that is also a rich and fascinating voyage through the history, politics and complex divided loyalties of Britain at the end of the … Continue reading
Joan Druett’s “A Love of Adventure” – a Review
Many of the classics of nautical literature are stories of young men who set off to sea, often compelled, in equal parts, by necessity and a longing for adventure. Joan Druett’s “A Love of Adventure” is just such a tale, … Continue reading
America’s Privateer, Lynx and the War of 1812 — More than a Coffee Table Book, a Review by Linda Collison
We recently posted about an upcoming event at Mystic Seaport Museum honoring the bicentenial of the War of 1812 which features the privateer schooner Lynx. We also posted about an on-line documentary, the Privateer Lynx. While we are focussing on on the … Continue reading
Posted in Current, Reviews, Seastories, Ships
Tagged J. Dennis Robinson, Privateer Lynx, War of 1812
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Floating Gold by Margaret Muir – a Review
Margaret Muir’s novel, Floating Gold, was recently released in paperback. A great read, we never though that it got the attention that it deserved. Here is a repost of our review from May of 2010: Margaret Muir’s new novel, Floating Gold, is … Continue reading
The Perfect Wreck by Steven E. Maffeo – a review by Linda Collison
Linda Collison, author of Surgeon’s Mate and Star-Crossed, recently reviewed Steven E. Maffeo‘s new book The Perfect Wreck – Old Ironsides and HMS Java: A Story of 1812 in her blog Sea of Words. I enjoy reading Linda’s reviews almost as much … Continue reading
Jack Tar: Life in Nelson’s Navy by Roy & Leslie Adkins – A Review
Over the next several weeks, we will be reviewing a series of books about what life was like in Nelson’s navy. The first is Jack Tar: Life in Nelson’s Navy by Roy & Leslie Adkins, subtitled “the extraordinary lives of ordinary seamen … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea, Reviews, Seastories
Tagged Jack Tar: Life in Nelson's Navy, Leslie Adkins, Roy Adkins
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Deadly Straits by R.E. McDermott – A Review
For the sake of full disclosure, I am not a huge fans of thrillers, particularly thrillers involving ships. The plots often strike me as implausible and the descriptions of the ships and ship operations often border on the laughable. (Too … Continue reading
Posted in Newbooks, Reviews, Seastories
3 Comments
Dolphin Sunday – Part 1: Dolphin Tale, a Review
Today, we have three posts about dolphins and humans interacting. I went to high school on the Gulf Coast of Florida, which has some of the largest bottlenose dolphin populations in the world. When I am in Florida visiting family, I … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea, Reviews, Seastories
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Alaric Bond’s Cut and Run – A Review
Alaric Bond’s wonderful new book, Cut and Run, the fourth in his Fighting Sail series, steps away from the Royal Navy and takes us onto the decks of a merchantman – a ship of the Honorable East India Company. The ships of … Continue reading
Posted in Newbooks, Reviews, Seastories
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Gentleman Captain by J.D. Davies – A Review
Lord Macaulay wrote “There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy of Charles the Second. But the seamen were not gentlemen; and the gentlemen were not seaman.” Twenty one year old Matthew Quinton, captain of the Happy Restoration, … Continue reading
Posted in Newbooks, Reviews, Seastories
Tagged Gentlemen Captain, J D Davies, Matthew Quinton, restoration, Royal Navy
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SURGEON’S MATE by Linda Collison – A Review
Patrick McPherson is a 19 year surgeon’s mate in the Royal Navy. By all appearances, he is an upstanding young man with a promising future. The dark secret that the young mate carries is that he is indeed, a she. … Continue reading
Posted in Newbooks, Reviews, Seastories
Tagged Linda Collison, Star-Crossed, Surgeon's Mate
4 Comments
eNotated Edition of Joshua Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World – A Review
I was recently sent The eNotated Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum. Enotation is electronic annotation, where instead of footnotes or endnotes, there are embedded links in the text of an e-book. A book like Slocum’s which contains … Continue reading
Posted in Critiques, Reviews, Seastories
Tagged eNotated edition, Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone Around the World
2 Comments
The Fyddeye Guide to America’s Maritime History edited by Joe Follansbee, on Kindle – A Dual Review
I recently purchased Joe Follansbee’s The Fyddeye Guide to America’s Maritime History – 2,000+ Tall Ships, Lighthouses, Historic Ships, Maritime Museums, and More. Rather than purchasing a dead-tree version, I bought the guide as an e-book for Kindle. This is, … Continue reading
Posted in Lore of the Sea, Newbooks, Reviews, Seastories
Tagged Fyddeye Guide, Joe Follansbee
2 Comments
Fire on the Horizon: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster by John Konrad and Tom Shroder
When the Deepwater Horizon suffered a blowout, caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Mexico last April, it was only forty miles off the coast of Louisiana. Yet, in many respects, the world aboard the ill-fated rig was as … Continue reading
Posted in Newbooks, Reviews, Seastories
3 Comments
