Description

The year is 1813. Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater succeeds Lord Dungarth as head of the Royal Navy’s Secret Department. While the Grand Army of Napoleon faces defeat on the battlefields of Germany, the discovery of a secret treaty with America leads Drinkwater into the forbidding fjords of Norway, and one of the most desperate missions of his career.

Increasingly isolated and affected by the long war with France and her allies, Drinkwater pursues his personal odyssey against often daunting odds. In a compelling narrative, the author brings vividly to life conditions at sea during the Napoleonic Wars. The fate of one of Napoleon’s most charismatic marshals is linked with American privateers, escaped prisoners, and the Danish Navy, resulting in a violent confrontation set beneath the aurora.

About the author(s)

Captain Richard Martin Woodman retired in 1997 from a 37-year nautical career. Woodman's Nathaniel Drinkwater series is often compared to the work of the late Patrick O'Brian. Woodman is the author of some two dozen nautical novels, as well as several nonfiction books. Unlike many other modern naval historical novelists, such as C.S. Forester or O'Brian, he has served afloat. He went to sea at the age of sixteen as an indentured midshipman and spent eleven years in command. His experience ranges from cargo-liners to ocean weather ships and specialist support vessels to yachts, square-riggers, and trawlers. Said Lloyd's List of his work: "As always, Richard Woodman's story is closely based on actual historical events. All this we have come to expect—and he adds that special ambience of colourful credibility which makes his nautical novels such rattling good reads."

Reviews

Packed with exciting incident, worthy of wide appeal to those who love thrilling nautical encounters and the sea.

There is no doubt that Nathaniel Drinkwater rates up there with the best of the nautical world.

Rich in detail, historically accurate, and displaying a masterly knowledge of the technical aspects of ships under sail, Woodman's novel is comparable to sea fiction by masters such as C.S. Forester and Alexander Kent in its evocation of the past age of wooden ships and iron men. Highly recommended for public libraries.

Those looking for high seas action and historical intrigue are in luck . . .