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Nautical Fiction Index

Authors F - Fl

Fabricius, Johan Wigmore (1899-1981)

Java Ho!: The Adventures of Three Boys Amid Fire, Storm and Shipwreck. Coward McCann, 1931. 358 pages

Translation of De Scheepsjongens van Bontekoe (1924). Off the Sumatra coast, a Dutch ship explodes, and three young survivors manage to reach the coast and set off to reach the Dutch colony of Batavia

 

 

 

 

Fabry, Joseph B. (1909-1999)

Swing shift : Building the Liberty ships. Strawberry Hill, 1982. 238 pages

Fictionalized dialogue reveals the human side of a shipyard gang which built Liberty ships at Permanente Metals Richmond [Calif. ] Shipyard, particularly the ROBERT E. PEARY, built in a record four days in November 1942.



 

 

 

Falkner, John Meade (1858-1932)

Moonfleet. Edward Arnold, 1898. 305 pages

Fifteen-year-old orphan gets caught with smugglers in Moonfleet, England, which leads to complications impelling him into a search for the cursed Mohune treasure. For 19th century young readers -- or 20th century adults that don't need sex to enjoy a plotline. Young readers today would probably find it too difficult.



 

 

 

Farnol, Jeffery (1878-1952)

Black Bartlemy's Treasure. Little, Brown, 1920. 368 pages

Martin Conisby, embittered by his five years of slavery on the Spanish galleon Esmeralda, escapes during a sea fight and makes his way back to England, determined to avenge himself on Richard Brandon, who was the cause of his father's death and his own ill- treatment. Broken in body and spirit, he arrives home just in time to save from the hands of robbers a beautiful girl, Lady Joan Brandon, the daughter of the man whom he has sworn to punish. In a tavern he meets a pal, Adam Penfeather, who unfolds to him the story of Black Bartlemy, an infamous pirate, and his treasure buried on an island--treasure of fabuous value that has been the dream and hope of roving adventurers along the Spanish Main for many years.


 

Martin Conisby's Vengeance. Little, Brown, 1921. 331 pages

A classic pirate tale of the Spanish Main, featuring the female pirate, Captain Jo, this continuation of "Black Bartelmy's Treasure" picks up the plot three years later.



 

 

 

Sir John Dering. Little, Brown, 1922. 443 pages

Pirate tale

 

 

 

 

Winds of Chance. Little, Brown, 1934. 373 pages

Pirate tale featuring an English girl, Ursula Revell. U.K. title Winds of Fortune

 

 

 

 

Adam Penfeather, Buccaneer : his early exploits, being a curious and intimate relation of his tribulations, joys and triumphs taken from notes of his journal and pages from his ship's log. Sampson Low, Marston, 1940. 344 pages

Fills out details mentioned in passing in Black Bartlemy's Treasure



 

 

 

Farrell, F. L.

Surface Raider : The story of the sinking of the Graf Spee. John Spencer, 1957. 162 pages

Routine novel of the pursuit of the German pocket-battleship GRAF SPEE by British cruisers across the South Atlantic to the showdown off Montevideo in December of 1939. Told in the first person by a seaman in the B-turret of HMS AJAX. A Badger Book. Similar to A.F. Barton's Those Who Serve and John T. Robertson's Corvette Patrol



 

 

 

Fast, Howard (1914-2003)

Patrick Henry and the Frigate's Keel : and other stories of a Young Nation. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1945. 283 pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faulkner, William (1897-1962)

Mosquitoes. Boni and Liveright, 1927. 349 pages

The title refers to the annoying people around whom the novel centers. Most of the story takes place on a short cruise from New Orleans.


 

 

 

Turnabout. Saturday Evening Post, March 5, 1932.

Short story: an American aviator in World War I who befriends a British torpedo-boat pilot and comes to see the war from a perspective that's less remote and abstract than that of the one he had as an aerial bomber. The story was the inspiration for Howard Hawks' 1933 film "Today We Live".



 

 

 

Felsen, Henry Gregor (1916-1995)

Navy Diver. E.P. Dutton, 1942. 223 pages

 

Submarine Sailor. E. P. Dutton, 1943. 208 pages

With a 32 page supplement of submarine photographs.


 

 

 

Some Follow the Sea. E. P. Dutton, 1944. 192 pages

WW II convoy life in the North Atlantic and Murmansk Run. For young readers.



 

 

 

 

Felton, Harold W. [William] (1902-1991)

Bowleg Bill : Seagoing Cowpuncher. E.M. Hale, 1957. 174 pages

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Fink, Best of the Keelboatmen, being a Revealing and Trustworthy Account of Events in the Life of the Renowned Riverman. Dodd, Mead, 1960. 194 pages

 

 

 

 

True Tall Tales of Stormalong : Sailor of the Seven Seas. Prentice-Hall, 1968. 64 pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fender, J. E. (1942- )

Geoffrey Frost

  1. The Private Revolution of Geoffrey Frost : being an account of the life and times of Geoffrey Frost, mariner, of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, as faithfully translated from the Ming Tsun chronicles, and diligently compared with other contemporary histories. University Press of New England, 2002. 297 pages

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  3. Audacity, Privateer Out of Portsmouth : Continuing the Account of the Life and Times of Geoffrey Frost, Mariner, of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, as Faithfully Translated from the Ming Tsun Chronicles and Diligently Compared with other Contemporary Histories. University Press of New England, 2003. 298 pages

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  5. Our lives, our fortunes : continuing the account of the life and times of Geoffrey Frost, mariner, of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, as faithfully translated from the Ming Tsun chronicles, and diligently compared with other contemporary histories. University Press of New England, 2004. 309 pages

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  7. On the spur of speed : Continuing the account of the life and times of Groffrey Frost, Mariner, of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, as faithfully translated from the Ming Tsun chronicles, and incorporating an account of Joseph Frost's and Juby's conduct on Lake Champlain, all dilegently compared with other contemporary histories. University Press of New England, 2005. 246 pages

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  9. The Lucifer cypher : continuing the account of the life and times of Geoffrey Frost, mariner, of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, as faithfully translated from the Ming Tsun chronicles, and recounting the employment of a water machine designed by David Bushnell, all diligently compared with other contemporary histories. Broadsides, 2006. 262 pages

 

 

 

 

Fenn, George Manville (1831-1909)

Sail Ho! or, A boy at sea. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1893. 375 pages

Young Alison Dale's captain was not a pleasant man, and the crew mutiny, led by the half-French Jarette, and take over the ship. Eventually the drunken mutineers accidentally set fire to the vessel, and flee it. But the officers and passengers, previously cast adrift, come back and manage to put the fire out. The mutineers who have not gone far return and in the ensuing battle Jarette is killed.


 

The ocean cat's-paw : the story of a strange cruise. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1904. 510 pages

The adventures of a young boy on his uncle's ship.

 

 

 

 

Fenner, Phyllis Reid [editor] (1899-1982)

Pirates, Pirates, Pirates: Stories of cutlasses and corsairs, buried treasure and buccaneers, ships and swashbucklers. Watts, 1951. 287 pages

For young readers. Two chests of treasure / Merritt P. Allen -- Turn and turn about / Rupert Sargent Holland -- The capture of a brig / Stephen Meader -- Pirate gold / Charles Coppock -- Augustus, pirate / LeGrand -- Tom Chist and the treasure box / Howard Pyle -- The pirate rat / Jean Muir -- Cap'n Ezra, privateer / James D. Adams -- Blackbeard / Anne Malcomson -- Back in treasure island / Harold A. Calahan -- Mutineers be hanged / John F. Hinternhoff -- The pirates of Charles Town Harbor / Rupert Sargent Holland -- Black falcon / Armstrong Sperrry -- The Yankee captain in Patagonia / Charles Finger.

 

 

Fenwick, Kenneth (1902-1961)

Coral Seas. A Romance of 1942. Hutchinson, 1943. 176 pages

 

 

 

 

 

Via Murmansk. Hutchinson, 1944. 159 pages

 

 

 

 

 

The Far-Off Ships. Hutchinson, 1946. 208 pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fernald, John

Destroyer from America. J. Cape, 1942. 127 pages

A fictionized account of the voyages of one destroyer taken over by the British, and a vivid picture of what the naval heroes of England, or of any nation, actually experience.



 

 

 

Feuchtwanger, Lion (1884-1958)

Proud Destiny. Viking, 1947. 625 pages

Intrigue, wit and folly involved in getting France to support the American rebels in 1776. Translation of Waffen für Amerika.



 

 

 

 

Feuille, Frank, III (1917-1984)

The Cotton Road. W. Morrow, 1954. 320 pages

Confederate blockade runners operating out of Texas

 

 

 

 

 

Finer, Alex

Deepwater. Doubleday, 1983. 180 pages

Deep diving sub explores an undersea volcano 6 miles down, with the CIA aboard looking for secrets.



 

 

 

 

Finger, Charles Joseph (1869-1941)

When Guns Thundered at Tripoli. Houghton Mifflin, 1937. 290 pages

For young readers.



 

 

 

Cape Horn Snorter : a story of the War of 1812, and of gallant days with Captain Porter of the U. S. frigate, Essex. Houghton Mifflin, 1939. 263 pages

For young readers.



 

 

 

Finney, Jack (1911-1995)

Assault on a Queen. Simon and Schuster, 1959. 244 pages

Six adventurers raise a WW I German U-Boat in the 50's, refurbish it, and use it to conduct an armed robbery of the QUEEN MARY. Made into a movie during the 60's.



 

 

 

Fisher, Leonard Everett (1924-2024)

Death of the Evening Star: The diary of a young New England Whaler. Doubleday, 1972. 125 pages

For young readers. Boy goes on whaling cruise in the Atlantic during 1840s, is sole survivor of shipwreck.



 

 

 

 

Fisher, Philip M. (1891-1973)

Vanishing Ships. M. S, Mill, 1943. 250 pages

Originally serialized in Holland’s Magazine as "The Radio Wreckers" (November 1925 - April 1926). This rewritten version changes the baddies to Nazis and the Japanese Empire. Pulp about ships captured using a radio wave that disrupts normal marine wireless transmissions.



 

 

 

Fisher, Steve (1912-1980)

Murder of the Admiral. Macaulay, 1936. 254 pages

 

 

 

 

 

Murder of the Pigboat Skipper. Hillman-Curl, 1937. 254 pages

These two novels feature Chief detective for U.S. Naval Intelligence, Lieutenant Commander Sheridan Doome from The Shadow pulp. The first was published under his Stephan Gould pseudonym

 

 

 

Destroyer. Appleton-Century, 1941. 236 pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fisher, William (1780-1852)

The Petrel: A Tale of the Sea. H. Colburn, 1850. 3 volumes

The Petrel is dispatched to search the Mozambique Channel, and the archipelgo to the north of it, for pirates. Originally published as "by a Naval Officer".



 

 

 

Fitchett, William Henry (1841-1928)

The Commander of the Hirondelle: A Tale of the Great Blockade. Smith, Elder, 1904. 390 pages

Lieutenant Harry Gaunt is given the task of capuring the Hirondelle. Having succeeded he is given command and the ship is variously employed, including being present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent.



 

 

 

Fitzgerald, F. Scott (1896-1940)

The Rough Crossing. The Saturday Evening Post, June 8, 1929

Short story set during a cruise to Europe.



 

 

 

Fitzgerald, Penelope (1916-2000)

Offshore. H. Holt, 1979. 141 pages

The story of a community living on converted barges and boats at a wharf in Battersea in the 1960s. The people are like the boats - half and half, neither truly of the land or the sea. Winner of the 1979 Booker Prize.



 

 

 

Flanagan, Thomas (1923-2002)

The Year of the French. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1978. 516 pages

A story of the Irish rebellion of 1798, the one Wolfe Tone was involved in, and the attempt by the French to support that rebellion with an invasion force.



 

 

 

Flannery, Sean [pseud. David Hagberg q.v.] (1942-2019)

Winner Take All. Forge, 1994. 378 pages

To mark the end of the Cold War, Russia and the U. S. plan a massive war game while hidden conspirators connive to sabotage the operation. When a sabotaged U. S. spy sub is supposedly sunk by the Russians, only National Security Agency spy Bill Lane can defuse the crisis.


 

 

 

Kilo Option. Forge, 1996. 383 pages

National Security Agency spy Bill Lane races to avert a nuclear war in the Middle East. He has uncovered a plot to annihilate Tel Aviv by terrorists using a stolen Iranian submarine, armed with nuclear missiles.



 

 

 

Fleischman, Albert Sidney (1920-2010)

Blood Alley. Gold Medal, 1955. 160 pages

A merchant mariner must escape from Chinese Communists in a wood-burning, stern wheeler, capable of a top speed of about eight knots. Released in conjunction with the film.



 

 

 

Fleming, Thomas James (1927-2017)

Time and tide. Simon and Schuster, 1987. 754 pages

US cruiser JEFFERSON CITY flees disaster at the battle of Savo Island, but makes up for it in adventures across the Pacific in this WW II novel.



 

 

 

Fletcher, Inglis (Clark) (1879-1969)

Carolina Chronicles

Only the maritime related novels in this series are included


  1. Raleigh's Eden. Bobbs-Merrill, 1940. 662 pages

    The main thread follows the life of Adam Rutledge, his invalided and destructive wife, and Mary, the woman he loves. Filled with pictures of the gracious life combining with the new country's ways, the problem of the non-ruling classes, national and regional struggles, racy figures from Flora MacDonald to pirates to slavers.


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  3. Men of Albemarle. Bobbs-Merrill, 1942. 566 pages

    In the years 1710-1712, pirates sailed openly off the coast of North Carolina. This includes the love stories of two women of the Stuart family, diverse religious elements, Indian attacks, and vivid frontier life.

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  5. Lusty Wind for Carolina. Bobbs-Merrill, 1944. 509 pages

    Captain Woodes Rogers fights pirates in the early 18th century Carolina colonies.

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  7. Toil of the Brave. Bobbs-Merrill, 1946. 547 pages

    Starts on the river plantation in North Carolina of Senator Ferrier. The Senator had married a Spanish woman with a child, an eighteen-year-old beauty named Angela. England and the colonies have been at war for four years, the year is 1779. But some of the freeholders in North Carolina are still clinging to the hope that the war will be over soon.


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  9. Roanoke Hundred. Bobbs-Merrill, 1948. 492 pages

    Sir Richard Grenville is the hero of this novel about the first attempted settlement of Roanoke Island (1585-1586)


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  11. Bennett's Welcome. Bobbs-Merrill, 1950. 451 pages

    Effect of a period of great change in England on the Colonists in Virginia and North Carolina in 1651.


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  13. Cormorant's Brood. Lippincott, 1959. 345 pages

    Romance, adventure and intrigue in early 18th century North Carolina.


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  15. Rogue's Harbor. Bobbs-Merrill, 1964. 242 pages

    Colonists in 17th century North Carolina try to practice free trade and evade taxes. One family's son joins a merchant captain, another is captured by pirates.



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Fletcher, J. S. [Joseph Smith] (1863-1935)

In the Days of Drake : being the adventures of Humphrey Salkeld : how he was kidnapped and carried away to Mexico, how he there underwent many torments at the hands of inquisitors, and finally, how he fell in with the great captain, Francis Drake, and escaped to England (A.D. 1578-1580). Blackie, 1896. 192 pages

 

Fletcher, Lucille (1912-2000)

The Strange Blue Yawl. Random House, 1964. 168 pages

Jack Leeds, a musician, and his considerably younger wife Mary take a house on the Chesapeake where Mary Witnesses the murder of a woman on a blue yawl, to be followed by some phone calls. While the case remains unsolved, Mary makes some solo sorties in the vicinity and investigates several blue yawl owners.


 

 

 


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