Author Bas - Benc
Bass, Cynthia
Maiden Voyage. Village, 1996. 257 pages
A 12 year old boy who, in surviving the Titanic disaster, discovers something steely and enduring in himself.
Bassett, James E. (1912-1978)
Harm's way. World Pub. Co., 1962. 510 pages
Aboard USN cruiser "Old Swayback" in the Pacific during WW II, a regular Naval officer in the Pacific theater is assigned to command a "backwater" operation to seize a group of strategic islands from the Japanese, and has almost as much trouble from an entrenched and interfering area commander as from the enemy.
The Sky Suspended. Delacorte Press, 1968. 326 pages
A novel of naval mercenaries in Southeast Asia.
Cmdr. Prince, USN : a novel of the Pacific War. Simon & Schuster, 1971. 415 pages
Commander Prince, USN Naval commander who has served on staff positions is given command of a destroyer squadron in the Asiatic Fleet after the outbreak of WWII. He must overcome doubts about his competence and courage in the Java Sea, then fight an unequal battle with a Japanese cruiser and his former flagship -- captured by the IJN -- off the Solomons.
Bassett, Ronald (1924-1996)
The Tinfish Run. Harper & Row, 1977. 264 pages
Set in 1942, immediately after the ill-fated PQ17 convoy. An ancient British destroyer hunts subs, fights German aircraft in the Arctic. Bassett served in the Arctic aboard a British cruiser. He has made a serious attempt at to have the characters speak in the vernacular of the Royal Navy of the day and to this end includes a thirteen page glossary of Royal Navy lower-deck terminology and technical terms. There is also a two page synopsis of the events of the PQ17 convoy.
The Pierhead Jump. Macmillan, 1978. 224 pages
The American transport SUSQUEHANNA, bound from Oran to the USA with a cargo of Afrika Korps POWs, gets sunk by a German U-boat -- which then offers a truce so that survivors can be rescued. Loosely based on the sinking of the LACONIA.
The Neptune Landing. Macmillan, 1979. 214 pages
LCF49 -- Landing Craft, Flak -- goes to war against Germany in late 1943 through 1944, taking part in the Overlord Invasion, and its aftermath.
The Guns of Evening. Macmillan, 1980. 201 pages
Aboard the battle-cruiser INVINCIBLE at the Battle of Jutland.
Bassett, Sara Ware
The White Sail. Doubleday, 1949. 244 pages
Old-fashioned romance set on Cape Cod in the summer amidst sailing and fishing boats.
Bateman, Robert
Race Against the U-boats. J. Cape, 1963. 111 pages
When he is orphaned during the Second World War, an English youth signs on as cabin boy with a convoy of tramp steamers bound for Canada and experiences tense moments when German submarines threaten.
Bates, H. E. (1905-1974)
The Cruise of the Breadwinner. M. Joseph, 1946. 63 pages
WW II English fishing boat on patrol.
Bax, Roger [pseud. Paul Winterton] (1908-2001)
Two If By Sea. Harper, 1949. 245 pages
U.K. title: Came the Dawn. Two Englishmen on duty in Moscow during WW II marry Russian women, but are refused permission to take their wives home to England when they are reassigned. With the help of an American newspaperman, they hatch a plan to spirit the women out of the USSR by using a small sailing boat.
Baxter, John (1939- )
The Black Yacht. Jove, 1982. 341 pages
A tale of intrigue and suspense surrounding the America's Cup 12-meter style, complete with international assassins, Japanese challengers utilizing the latest in high-tech boat building techniques, and old 12-meters being used for Columbian drug running. The book is high on the mystery content and not-so high on the sailing aspects. Enjoyable if somewhat over the top in certain areas.
Bayer, John F.
The Omega Deception. Broadman & Holman, 2000. 310 pages
Posting as a soldier and loyal follower of Hitler, Michael Shaw is assigned to the Peenemunde research facility where he discovers the Germans are developing a sophisticated rocket propulsion system to launch chemical weapons from U- boats off the eastern coast of America. Finding a surprising confidante in civilian scientist Kurt Daleuge, Shaw must learn all he can about the upcoming attack targeted at Wall Street, and with Daleuge's's help, intercede before millions of Americans are killed.
Beach, Edward Latimer, Sr. (1867-1943)
An Annapolis Plebe. Penn, 1907. 435 pages
An Annapolis Youngster. Penn, 1908. 386 pages
An Annapolis Second Classman. Penn, 1909. 389 pages
An Annapolis First Classman. Penn, 1910. 367 pages
Ralph Osborn--Midshipman at Annapolis : a story of life at the U.S. Naval Academy. W.A. Wilde, 1909. 366 pages
Midshipman Ralph Osborn at Sea : a story of the U.S. Navy. W.A. Wilde, 1910. 330 pages
Ensign Ralph Osborn : the story of his trials and triumphs in a battleship's engine room. W.A. Wilde, 1911. 328 pages
Lieutenant Ralph Osborn aboard a torpedo boat destroyer : being the story of how Ralph Osborn became a lieutenant and of his cruise in an American torpedo boat destroyer in West Indian waters. W.A. Wilde, 1912. 342 pages
Roger Paulding, Apprentice Seaman. Penn, 1911. 355 pages
Roger Paulding, Gunner's Mate. Penn, 1912. 349 pages
Roger Paulding, Gunner. Penn, 1913. 351 pages
Roger Paulding, Ensign. Penn, 1914. 360 pages
Dan Quin of the Navy. Macmillan, 1922. 383 pages
Beach, Edward Latimer, Jr. (1918-2002)
Run Silent, Run Deep. Holt, 1955. 364 pages
WW II Pacific submarine action. Best sub novel ever written, some say.
Dust on the Sea. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1972. 351 pages
American sub EEL in Japan's tightly guarded inland sea during WW II.
Cold is the Sea. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1978. 348 pages
15 years after WW II a nuclear submarine CUSHING goes on a secret mission to the arctic to test fire missiles from under the ice, collides with Russian submarine.
Beach, Rex (1877-1949)
The World in His Arms. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1946. 214 pages
Fur poacher Jonathan Clark loses his heart to Russian Countena Marina. Clark, finally caught in Russian waters, persuades the Russians to preserve the seal herds, and tries to sell Alaska to his own country.
Beard, G. S. (Gary)
Fury series:.
Mr. Midshipman Fury. Century, 2006. 309 pages
The year is 1792 - the start of the French Revolutionary Wars. A shadow hangs over John Thomas Fury in his first voyage as a midshipman aboard the 32-gun frigate, Amazon. As Amazon heads southwards on her voyage to India, Fury is involved in a shipboard accident and he finds himself working hard to prove that he isn't cursed just like his father.
Lieutenant Fury. Century, 2007. 396 pages
When Amazon left England nearly two years before the countries were not at war but any hopes that the peace still holds are shattered as the Frenchman unexpectedly opens fire - a bloody sea battle ensues resulting in both triumph and personal tragedy for Acting Lieutenant John Fury.
Beaver, Floyd
The Homeward Bounder and Other Sea Stories. Glencannon Press, 1995. 239 pages
Becklund, Jack
Golden Fleece. St. Martin's Press, 1990. 234 pages
Murder mystery involving disappearance of a sailboat in Lake Superior.
Beech, Webb
Make War in Madness. Fawcett Publications, 1965. 255 pages
Army Lieutenant commands PT boat on strange missions during the Korean war.
Beerbohm, Max, sir (1872-1956)
Zuleika Dobson: or, An Oxford Love Story. Heinemann, 1911. 350 pages
A fascinating young woman of extraordinary beauty arrives in Oxford, a privileged all-male academic society, and immediately devastates the student body, becoming first its icon and then its nemesis. Having fallen in love with Zuleika, the undergraduates, happy to die for what can never be theirs, plunge en masse into the Isis shouting "Zuleika"!
Behr, E. Thomas
Blood Brothers. CreateSpace, 2011. 406 pages
In 1805, in the war-ravaged Mediterranean, Henry Doyle, a soldier of fortune-and professional killer-arrives at a squalid tavern in the roughest section of Malta for a meeting with a man he should hate. His appointment: William Eaton, an American army officer, Indian fighter, and secret agent for Thomas Jefferson. Eaton is plotting a daring venture: the invasion of Tripoli to liberate three hundred Americans held hostage by the Pasha of Tripoli, place a pro-American ruler on Tripoli's throne, and bring freedom to a Muslim country that has known only tyranny. Eaton has money to spend–for a scout to lead his rag tag invading army of Arabs, European mercenaries, and seven US Marines across five hundred miles of merciless desert to attack an Arab army ten times their size.
Belcher, William, Sir (1799-1877)
Horatio Howard Brenton: A Naval Novel. Hurst and Blackett, 1856. 3 volumes
Horatio Howard Brenton can be plausibly argued to be the real model for C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower.
Belloc, Hilaire (1870-1953)
The Cruise of the NONA. Houghton Mifflin, 1825. 347 pages
Belloc's personal reminiscences interspersed with accounts of sailing on the his ship, the Nona
Benchley, Nathaniel (1915-1981)
Sail A Crooked Ship. McGraw-Hill, 1960. 230 pages
An aimless young man and his debutant fiancee end up shanghaied on a stolen, clapped-out, reserve fleet freighter that had been moored in New York Harbor. They find themselves held by an improbable collection of incompetent criminals, who take the ship to sea for use as a getaway vehicle for bank robberies. Instead they prove to be a seagoing gang that could not shoot straight. Set in the late 1950s. A real howler!
The Off-Islanders. McGraw-Hill, 1961. 238 pages
Russian nuclear submarine runs aground off a New England island the night that the island's High School football team wins its first game in years. Madcap farce. Basis of the movie The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!
Benchley, Peter (1940-2006)
Jaws. Doubleday, 1974. 311 pages
A great white shark terrorizes a beach resort.
The Deep. Doubleday, 1976. 301 pages
A young couple go to Bermuda on their honeymoon. They dive on the reefs offshore, looking for the wreck of a sunken ship. What they find lures them into a strange and increasingly terrifying encounter with past and present, a struggle for salvage and survival, along the floor of the sea.
The Island. Doubleday, 1979. 302 pages
Descendants of Caribbean pirates cause trouble in the present.
White Shark. Random House, 1994. 324 pages
Off modern-day Massachusetts, a freak accident revives a hideous Nazi experiment that had been entombed in the sea since WWII. A cross between SS storm trooper and a mechanized shark, the creature goes on the rampage sort of and a beleaguered marine scientist is the only one who realizes something unusual is going on.