Sea Stories - Reviews


The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert Redick – A Review

August 26, 2010

I recently had recommended to me Robert Redick’s The Red Wolf Conspiracy, a fantasy epic which is almost exclusively set aboard the Imperial Merchant Ship Chathard, a 600 year old sailing ship of immerse proportions and age that sets out on a mission of mystery and intrigue with a huge crew and equally large and varied [...]

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A Battle Won by S. Thomas Russell – A Review

August 11, 2010

The just released, A Battle Won by S. Thomas Russell, is classic nautical fiction – vivid, fast paced and full of drama, both on sea and land.  Master and Commander Charles Hayden is a gifted naval commander with extremely bad luck. In the previous book, Under Enemy Colors, he found himself serving aboard HMS Themis, [...]

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Sallee Rovers by M. Kei, A Review

July 21, 2010

Pirates of the Narrow Sea, Book 1 – Sallee Rovers by M. Kei is well written nautical adventure fiction with a twist or two, or perhaps three. The novel is not set during the Napoleonic wars and features, as the title suggests, Sallee Rovers, Barbary Coast corsairs, sailing from the Atlantic coast of what is [...]

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Schooner, Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard – A Review

July 13, 2010

In late May,  we posted about the publication of a beautiful new book by Alison Shaw and Tom Dunlop, Schooner – Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard.   We recently had the opportunity to read the book.  Our review: Schooner – Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard details, in prose and photographs, the story of [...]

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Julian Stockwin’s Victory – A Review

July 3, 2010

We have fallen way behind in our book reviews. Until we catch up, here is a review of Julian Stockwin’s new novel, Victory, republished with permission from Astrodene’s Historic Naval Fiction. Astrodene Review: Victory by Julian Stockwin Victory starts off with a major setback for Kydd and keeps up a fast pace throughout which makes it another page turner [...]

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Battle of Surigao Strait by Anthony P. Tully – a Review

May 30, 2010

A new look at the last battleship battle of  World War II and perhaps of all time.  A review by Steven Toby, republished with permission from the MarHst list. In this new book, Battle of Surigao Strait,  author Anthony P. Tully mines some hitherto little known Japanese sources to create a more even-handed account of the Battle [...]

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Floating Gold by Margaret Muir – a Review

May 27, 2010

Margaret Muir’s new novel, Floating Gold, is a wonderful blend of classic Georgian naval fiction, a mystery/thriller and a grand treasure hunt.   A rousing tale, well told. It is due to be released in the United States on May 31.  It is currently available in the UK. Captain Oliver Quintrell is on the beach, [...]

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True Colours by Alaric Bond, a Review

May 18, 2010

Alaric Bond is a frequent contributor to the Old Salt blog.  He is also a wonderful writer.   His latest novel True Colours has recently been published.  I liked it  - a lot.  A review: Alaric Bond’s new novel, True Colours, the third in his Fighting Sail series, is a fascinating and exciting look at a most [...]

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Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World – a Review

May 9, 2010

A few days ago, we posted about Ric Burns’ new documentary, Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World, which will be broadcast tomorrow, May 10, at 9PM on most PBS channel in the United States. I had the opportunity to watch the documentary – a review: Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World, is [...]

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Seized, A Sea Captains Adventures – Battling Scoundrels and Pirates while Recovering Stolen Ships in the World’s Most Troubled Waters

April 27, 2010

Max Hardberger’s Seized, a Sea Captains Adventures – Battling Scoundrels and Pirates while Recovering Stolen Ships in the World’s Most Troubled Waters is a fascinating account of one man’s remarkable career and personal journey. In addition to working professionally as a crop-duster, school teacher, lawyer, and ship’s captain, Max Hardberger developed the rather unusual specialty [...]

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Pirate Latitudes by Micheal Crichton, a Review

April 4, 2010

Pirate Latitudes by Micheal Crichton, published a year after his death, is a romp. It is full of swashbuckling action and completely familiar characters. There is a bold captain, who is either a privateer or a pirate; several fair and comely maidens of high birth and low; and a band of adventurers each with special [...]

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Under Sail : A Boy’s Voyage Around Cape Horn by Felix Reisenberg – A Review

March 8, 2010

Under Sail is a remarkable account of sixteen year old Felix Riesenberg’s first voyage on a square rigger from South Street Seaport in New York, to Honolulu and back. He sailed on the A.J. Fuller, a Bath built, copper clad, wooden hulled, three skysail yard medium clipper in the waning days of the age of [...]

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Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen by Christopher White – A Review

February 1, 2010

A review by Steven Toby, written for the Maritime History Listserv, included here with his kind permission.  Sounds like a fascinating book. Skipjack: The Story of America’s Last Sailing Oystermen by Christopher White is an excellent book on the last commercial fishing craft operating under sail in the US. The author has a journalistic rather than a scholarly [...]

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My River Chronicle – Rediscovering the America on the Hudson by Jessica DuLong – a Review

November 9, 2009

My River Chronicle – Rediscovering the America on the Hudson, is a fascinating voyage in the life of a young woman, who finds herself oddly quite at home in a most unlikely new job. It is also a journey through the history of America itself as it moves from an industrial past into an uncertain [...]

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John Stobart and the Ships of South Street

September 17, 2009

Last year the National Maritime Historical Society (NMHS) published a fascinating booklet, John Stobart and the Ships of South Street, which features the pre-eminent maritime artist’s paintings of ships arriving or departing from New York’s South Street docks. At first the presentation struck me as odd.  The NMHS describes it as a booklet rather than a book, which is apt, as it is [...]

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