Chalker, Jack L. (1944-2005)
The Devil's Voyage. Doubleday, 1981. 328 pages
The sinking of USS INDIANAPOLIS during WW II.
Challoner, Robert (1924-1986)
Jamaica Passage. Penguin, 1982. 435 pages
Piracy and passion in the 1820s aboard the 8 gun ARGO, fastest ship afloat.
Oakshott series
Commander Lord Charles Oakshott sallies forth to war. He faces not one enemy but three. France, newly at war with England in the aftermath of the Revolution. His ship, grimy, down-at- heel, and riddled with death watch beetle. And the third is his crew, mutinous and very low on morale.
Lord Charles, having survived the French siege of Toulon, is assigned to carry a special British envoy aboard the sloop Daisy to Mameluke Egypt to try and thwart Napoleon's Oriental strategy. Calling at Naples, he meets Lady Emma Hamilton and her elderly husband Sir William, as well as the King and Queen of the Two Sicilies. After some unexpected scrapes, Oakshott finds himself witnessing the Battle of the Pyramids.
In March 1800 Lord Charles Oakshott, commanding the 32 gun frigate Javelin, is serving in the squadron of Commodore Sir James Freakley off the coast of Denmark. In a storm Javelin and and the flagship ground but are saved by a Danish 84 gun ship Odense. During a subsequent mission to Russia he is imprisoned but escapes in time to rejoin the fleet and serve under William Bligh aboard Glatton at the Battle of Copenhagen.
Chambers, Robert W. (1865-1933)
The Happy Parrot. D. Appleton, 1929. 344 pages
The hero is the captain of a slave ship. He thinks that the blacks are better off as slaves then they would be in Africa. A very disturbing book because of the matter of fact portrayal of the acceptance of slavery by almost all of the early 1800's society. It is hard to say if it was Chamber's intent to disturb and awaken or if he was just reporting the facts of history.
Chambliss, W. C. (William C.) (1908-1975)
Boomerang. Harcourt, Brace, 1944. 87 pages
Wartime wish fulfillment of a captured Japanese destroyer used as a secret weapon against Nippon
Chamier, Captain Frederick, R.N. (1796-1870)
Ben Brace : The Last of Nelson's Agamemnons. R. Bentley, 1836. 3 volumes
A nautical biography of Horatio Nelson as seen by a sailor who has been with him since his midshipman days. There several interesting passages relating to Emma. Ben Brace is said to be modeled on Nelson's coxswain. After Nelson's death Ben retires to Greenwhich; marries and lives an interesting life eventualy becoming wealthy.
Arethusa : A Naval Story. R. Bentley, 1837. 3 volumes
The Life of A Sailor. R. Bentley, 1832. 3 volumes
Autobiographical.
Jack Adams, the mutineer. H. Colburn, 1838. 3 volumes
Also published as: Jack Adams, the mutiny on the Bounty.
The Spitfire : a Tale of the Sea. H. Colburn, 1840. 3 volumes
Tom Bowling: A Tale of the Sea. H. Colburn, 1841. 3 volumes
Ten year old Tom is rescued from a drunken pedlar and taken in hand by the Rev. Mr Monckton, whose daughter Susan teaches Tom the 3 R's. At age twelve Tom goes to sea, where his courage, zeal, and education attract the patronage of Nelson and Collingwood and lead to rapid advancement. He is post captain at 20, marries Susan, and finds that he is really the stolen son of a noble family. Tom serves through the Napoleonic wars, and dies as Admiral Sir Thomas Bowling, Governor of Greenwich Hospital. The story contains detailed accounts of many real actions, and first-hand descriptions of conditions in the Royal Navy. Supposedly based on the life of Captain Richard Bowen, 1761-1797, who was killed in the action at Teneriffe in which Nelson lost his arm.
Chanukoff, Lon (1893-1958)
Submarine Z-1. Citadel, 1960. 221 pages
Translation from the Yiddish. Novel about a submarine disaster caused by a delusional captain which has trapped its crew in a battle for survival in a compartment at the bottom of the sea.
Charles, Robert
Sea Vengeance. Hale, 1974. 192 pages
A freighter is hijacked by the Viet Cong and comes under attack by both US and Vietnamese fighter planes.
Charrier, Larry
Tidelines. Great Wave, 1994. 194 pages
Contemporary, small time commercial fishing in Southeast Alaska , British Columbia and the Northwest. based on the author's experiences.
Chase, Mary Ellen (1887-1973)
Silas Crockett. Macmillan, 1935. 404 pages
Set in Maine covering the history of the Crockett family from 1830 to 1933, and the fate of each of the many Crocketts as they descended the scale from clipper ships to schooners, to coastwise steamers, to fishing smacks, to ferryboats.
Chase-Riboud, Barbara (1939- )
Echo of Lions. Morrow, 1989. 381 pages
Novel based on the AMISTAD incident in 1839, when a cargo of slaves captured the vessel they in which they were being transported.
Chatterton, E. (Edward) Keble (1878–1944)
Across the Seven Seas. Lippincott, 1933. 251 pages
Adventures of a 15 ton yacht through the Panama Canal.
Through Sea and Sky. Lippincott, 1929. 259 pages
In Great Waters. Lippincott, 1929. 282 pages
Scouts of the Sky: a Story of High Adventures through the Ages. Frederick Warne 1933. 255 pages
U.S. title The Sky Raiders.
Below the Surface: a Naval Novel. Hurst & Blackett, 1934. 286 pages
Novelization of a play by J.L.F. Hunt and H.G. Stoker.
Sea Spy: a Naval Novel. Hurst & Blackett, 1937. 287 pages
Secret Ship. Hurst & Blackett, 1939. 256 pages
Chekhov, Anton (1860-1904)
At Sea - a Sailor's Story. Mirskoi Tolk, 1883
Two rather dissolute sailors, father and son, win the "honor" of looking through two peepholes drilled into the wall of a cabin that happen to be occupied by honeymooners. Chekhov's first story published under his own name.
Cheney, Theodore A. Rees (1928-2008)
Day of Fate. Popham, 1981. 259 pages
Chinese get a copy of a US super sub and set out for Hudson Bay to destroy America.
Chester, Alan
The Cygnet Adventure. Rigby, 1984. 264 pages
A dramatisation/fictionalised account of William Dampier's historically factual 1680s adventures in the Philippines, Sumatra, north coast of Australia and the Andaman Islands. Rollicking good tale full of blood and thunder.
Chidsey, Donald Barr (1902-1981)
Stronghold. Doubleday, 1948. 343 pages
Action, color, romance and drama, set against the danger-filled days of the War of 1912.
Captain Adam. Crown, 1953. 318 pages
A Romantic tale of pirates, smugglers, war and love, in the day of Queen Anne. The Hero is a recently freed indentured servant, who became Captain of a trading ship plying between the Caribbean and Rhode Island.
Captain Crossbones. Ace, 1958. 191 pages
The pirate from Philadelphia and the wench from Gallow's End -- a swashbuckling novel of the Spanish Main.
Reluctant Cavalier. Crown, 1960. 287 pages
16th-century adventurer, embroiled in political intrigue between England and Spain, escapes to a life of further adventure on the high seas with Sir Frances Drake
Edge of Piracy. Crown, 1964. 284 pages
Set during the American Revolutionary War.
Legion of the Lost. Crown, 1967. 246 pages
Captain Kidd and Madagascar
Childers, Robert Erskine (1870-1922)
The Riddle of the Sands : a record of secret service recently achieved. Simth, Elder, 1903. 336 pages
Pre Great War yachtsmen find German military preparations. One of the Best. The classic adventure of cruising along the sand banks of the North Sea. Compare to Maurice Griffith's non- fiction books about the same areas.
Christopher, John [pseud. Samuel Youd] (1922-2012)
The White Voyage. Simon and Schuster, 1960. 212 pages
UK Title: The Long Voyage. Danish freighter-passenger vessel sailing from Dublin to Copenhagen experiences rudder and hatch failure during a storm on the North Sea. After the panicked crew abandons the ship during the height of the storm, the officers and passengers work together to survive an arctic shipwreck.
Chute, Arthur Hunt (1888-1929)
Mutiny of the Flying Spray. J. H. Sears, 1927. 308 pages
Grim tale of a clipper rounding The Horn. Serialized in Boy's Life
Far Gold. J. H. Sears, 1927. 307 pages
Sprott Gabereau makes his last excursion to the Southern Ocean as a sealer but his real motive is to find the treasure of the pirate Andrea Ferrara. Serialized in Argosy
The Crested Seas. J. H. Sears, 1928. 258 pages
Initiation adventures aboard a fishing boat. Serialized in Boy's Life
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