Authors Jer - Ju
Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) (1859-1927)
Three Men in a Boat : Not To Mention the Dog. J.W. Arrowsmith, 1889. 315 pages
Classic comedy of a camping trip in a Thames skiff.
Jessup, Richard (1925-1982)
Sailor. Little, Brown, 1969. 471 pages
Twenty five years (1919-1943) in the life of an American mariner, Savannah native Howard Cadiz, as he moves from being a green boy of fourteen on his first voyage to service as captain of a World War 2 merchant vessel.
A Quiet Voyage Home. Little, Brown, 1970. 275 pages
A demagogue known as Indian provokes and leads an uprising by hundreds of young action-freaks (i.e. Hippies) aboard a luxury liner sailing from Le Harve to New York. Kids today.
Jewett, Roger
Navy Series
Navy Battle Stations. New American Library, 1988. 382 pages
Woven into this novel are a mafioso, admiral's son on PT boats, Jewish rabbi and Iowa farmboy, caught in the raging crosscurrents.
Navy Carrier War. New American Library, 1989. 314 pages
War in Pacific is over, and our heroes -- fighter pilot, sub skipper and commando -- go home, thinking it's all over. But then comes Korea.
Navy on Station. New American Library, 1989. 326 pages
Modern USN, now dealing with Cuba and Viet Nam, air and sea warfare, CIA and politics.
Jewett, Sara Orne (1849-1909)
The Tory Lover. Houghton, Mifflin, 1901. 405 pages
Also published as The Yankee Ranger. Man volunteers to serve with John Paul Jones to prove his patriotism after being accused of a being a Tory, but disappears under suspicious circumstances.
John, Owen (1918-1995)
The Shadow in the Sea. E.P. Dutton, 1972. 188 pages
British secret service vs. a Russian submarine.
Johnson, Charles R. (1948- )
Middle Passage. Atheneum, 1990. 209 pages
Rutherford Calhoun, freed slave, con man and n'er-do-well, escapes creditors and and blackmailers in 1830s New Orleans by stowing away on THE REPUBLIC, a slaver bound for the coast of Africa. Crewed by an assortment of social misfits, THE REPUBLIC takes on the last remants of the Allmuseri, a tribe of mystics (some say sorcerers), and a large, mysterious crate with the aura of the supernatural. The story is told through Calhoun's eyes, and traces his transformation as he confronts his private demons during what could only be described as the sea voyage from Hell. An engaging book which unfortunately suffers from sloppy editing, particularly in historic details.
Johnson, E. Van
Lost to the Sea
Orphaned; Apprenticed; Pressed and Prized. self published, 2013. 298 pages
Second edition published in 2015. James Johnson, the son of a fisherman, is orphaned when his entire family are drowned trying to launch thier fishing boat into the teeth of a north east gsale. Taken in by the church and educated, he is Apprenticed to a local shipping master and rises quickly, but falls foul of Thomas Brolin the owners nephew who sees James as a rival for the Captains daughter Annabel and plans to have him murdered. Instead, the highwayman sells him to the press gang.
Letters of Marque. self published, 2014. 320 pages
Second edition published in 2015. With his prize money James Johnson buys shares in the Stag line and sails as mate on the Schooner Annabel. When The Captain is injured he become a Captain in his own right.
A Colonial Venture. self published, 2015. 263 pages
Comissioned by the Duke to travel to the Colony of New York and investigate the true political situation as the Duke is alarmed by the talk of revolution in the air coupled with the French causing trouble across the river in Canada. En route James rescues four women shipwrecked in the Bay of Biscay only to discover much later that they are French spies.
Recalled to the Colours. self published, 2016. 328 pages
After a lapse of several years, James is 'Recalled to the Colours' and ordered to carry out a secret mission to find a suitable deep water naval base in America. He becomes embroiled in the Boston riots and later while making his way to report to the Admiral in Jamaica, he is attacked by pirates, then driven ashore during a hurricane. Later he meets Christiana, the half cast daughter of a Swedish slave master. Her mother was Nigerian and James agrees to take her as her father wants to expand his business.
An Indian Affair. self published, 2017. 224 pages
In order to help James recover from the loss of his family, Charles hires him to carry him to India. having neglected his business interests for some time, James calls at his island and finds it under attack by two naval sloops. Once peace is restored Thalia asks Christiana to act as her companion.
Shipwrecked. self published, 2019. 191 pages
Following immediately on from book 5, James leaves Christianna to arrange their wedding in Jamaica and sails for England. He rescues survivors from a sea fight between a pirate and a merchant schooner and hands them to a naval escort ship.
Marooned. self published, 2020. 168 pages
James has retired from the sea and is living in England, but when their child dies his wife she wants to return to Jamaica. He buys a fast tea clipper and sails for the island. On arrival he finds there has been a slave revolt and the platation is under siege. Because of the unrest in America, there are no troops available to quell the uprising and James takes it upon himself to restore order.
Johnson, Gerald S.
Tropical Furlough. Harrap, 1964. 264 pages
Lieutenant Jim Bradford is appointed supernumerary in the Royal Indian Navy freighter BANGALORE at Colombo in 1944. As the only other white man he shares the accommodation of the huge Russian captain on the voyage to Diego Garcia. She is caught by a typhoon, her machinery and radio destroyed. Left with a permanent list she is only afloat because of timely precautions. Six of her people are still alive and they drift, trying to escape the Great Oval Current of the Indian Ocean, for months. A Japanese raiding submarine sails from Singapore destroying any enemy commerce in her path including the steamer, CORAL QUEEN, that connects Diego Garcia with Mauritius leaving only a handful of survivors, aboard a lifeboat close to death. The scene is now set for the novel's conclusion.
Johnson, James Leonard (1927-1987)
The Nine Lives of Alphonse. Lippincott, 1968. 256 pages
2nd novel in the "Code Name Sebastian" series. Rev. Raymond Sebastian attempts to rescue Cuban defectors using an untested midget sub.
Johnson, Walter Reed
Oakhurst. New American Library, 1978. 343 pages
American Jeremy Beaufort is pressed into the RN, fights French, and becomes slaver in War of 1812.
Johnston, Mary (1870-1936)
1492. Little, Brown, 1922. 315 pages
This is the story of Columbus, but it is not told through the eyes of an academic or an historian. It is told by a simple sailor-a Christian of secret Jewish ancestry-whose hopes and fears not only makes the story more engaging, but all the more realistic.
The Slave Ship. Little, Brown, 1924. 330 pages
In the 17th century a Scotsman is shipped off to a Virginia plantation, escapes, signs onto slaver and takes up the trade.
Johnston, Ronald (1926- )
Inoco fleet series:
Collision Ahead. Doubleday, 1965. 232 pages
INOCO MONARCH, on her maiden voyage, collides with a T-2 Tanker in the English Channel in clear weather during daylight. Was the collision caused by the T-2's drunken captain or mechanical failure, or did the MONARCH's retiring captain show bad judgement?
The Angry Ocean. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968. 222 pages
A revolutionary 500,000 ton tanker is on its shakedown cruise when a nearby volcanic island erupts creating a 300-foot high tsunami. Survival is complicated by the need to rescue nearby Japanese fishermen, rather than running away from the wave at flank speed, and also by a structural flaw in the new supertanker and the fact that mangaement has saddled her with two captains!
Sea Story. Atheneum, 1980. 309 pages
James Bruce, forced out at INOCO and suffering a busted marriage, returns to the sea as the second officer of a gas tanker, SEAGAS II to salve his wounds. He discovers that the Seagas line is operating on a shoestring and cutting safety corners. After an accident aboard that kills the captain, he is put in command, and sets about both whipping his command in shape and saving Seagas.
Disaster at Dungeness. Collins, 1964. 225 pages
A supertanker makes her way up the English Channel on the completion of her maiden voyage. We follow her every move until the incident the title suggests occurs. This part is well done but at nearly forty years distance it already has an historic aspect. The ship itself is just over thirty thousand tons gross, there are no separation lanes, no Anglo-French Control and nowhere in the book do the words "ecological" and "environment" occur. The last third, and least satisfactory part of the book, deals with the Court of Enquiry that follows.
Red Sky in the Morning. Collins, 1965. 191 pages
A gun running yacht runs onto a reef on a tiny Caribbean island during a hurricane. The rescued Cuban crew prove more dangerous to the islanders than the weather.
The Stowaway. Harcourt, Brace, 1966. 191 pages
Stowaway on a British merchant ship is suspected of being a missing Soviet scientist whose secret weapon can destroy the world.
The Wrecking of Offshore Five. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968. 191 pages
A WW II mine emerges from the ooze of the North Sea and drifts down on a veteran oil rig with disastrous results.
The Flying Dutchman. Macdonald, 1983. 221 pages
She was the first of her class; a nuclear powered big gas tanker. To her master and owners she was the ultimate and their future depended on her. But to the world's politicians she was vote and attention grabber supreme, and that made her a pariah hounded from port to port, never allowed to drop anchor.
Johnstone, Charles (c. 1719-1800)
Chrysal, or the Adventure of a Guinea : Wherein are exhibited views of several striking scenes, with curious and interested anecdotes of the most noted persons in every rank of life, whose hands it passed through. T. Becket, 1760-5. 4 volumes
Burlesque of Smollett's The Adventures of Roderick Random.
Jonas, Carl
Beachhead on the Wind. Little, Brown, 1945. 212 pages
Tensions on a US Navy ship as it heads home.
Jones, J. Farragut [pseud. Len Levinson] (1935- )
Silent Service
Waters Dark and Deep. Dell, 1981. 363 pages
Brilliant engineer Lt. Cdr. Ben Mount has two obstacles to overcome in his dream of being a submarine commander: he's Jewish in the American Navy of 1940, and he suffers from claustrophobia! He is ordered to England to work with the RN sub service. At the climax of the book, he sees his British friend get wounded, boards his British sub, takes over command(!), and accomplishes the mission in a way that truly defies suspension of disbelief.
Forty Fathoms Down. Dell, 1981. 378 pages
Fictionalized account of a US sub that sinks during pre-WW II peacetime operations, requiring rescue of its crew. Based very loosely on the SQUALUS incident.
The Scourge of Scapa Flow. Dell, 1981. 352 pages
Fictionalized account of Gunter Prein's raid on Scapa Flow, including assistance by German agent's ashore.
Pearl Harbor Periscopes. Dell, 1981. 332 pages
The USS STICKLEBACK is off to attack the Japanese fleet in home seas, create illusion of entire killer pack.
Tracking the Wolfpack. Dell, 1981. 319 pages
Germany's leading submarine ace versus a Royal Navy bent of revenge.
Jones, Robert F. (1934-2002)
Blood Tide. Atlantic Monthly, 1990. 272 pages
Young woman and her ex-Vietnam War POW father sail a schooner to the Philippines to recover her stolen ketch, encountering pirates and drug smugglers in the treacherous Flyaway Islands.
Jones, Tristan (1924-1995)
Dutch treat: a Novel of World War II. Andrews and McMeel, 1979. 271 pages
Thames barge at Dunkirk.
Aka. Macmillan, 1981. 205 pages
Dolphins try to save drowning solo yacht racer.
Jordan, Humfrey (1885-1963)
The Commander Shall --. Angus & Robertson, 1934. 280 pages
On Captain Gaunt's first voyage to Australia as commander of a fast passenger liner he has to deal with murder, a fire etc.
Ship By Herself. Hodder & Stoughton, 1938. 384 pages
Tide Still Flowing. Hodder & Stoughton, 1940. 383 pages
This Island Demands. Hodder & Stoughton, 1941. 320 pages
The Second World War has just started and Captain Pell is bound to Australia, in his cargo ship, where he embarks passengers anxious to return to the UK. Now familiar with the foibles and quirks of the passengers and crew, we read how, in the Indian Ocean, a German surface raider destroys the radio and damages the ship's propeller. Pell and his crew struggle to save the drifting freighter so she can continue her voyage to Britain. A novel of the time and for the time.
Decency of Hate. Hodder & Stoughton, 1943. 192 pages
Day Without Evening. Hodder & Stoughton, 1944. 240 pages
Spoiling for Mischief. Hodder & Stoughton, 1958. 223 pages
Joseph, Mark
To Kill The Potemkin. D.I. Fine, 1986. 255 pages
Submarine thriller, set in 1968, about conflict between a US SKIPJACK-class submarine and the first Soviet Alfa-class boat. Poor on technical detail, but some good characterisation and a nicely twisted plot.
Typhoon. Simon & Schuster, 1991. 300 pages
Russian faction plans nuclear incident to regain Soviet power. Other Russian sub commander tries to prevent it, while US sub watches and tries to figure out what's going on.
Judd, Denis (1938- )
The Adventures of Long John Silver. St. Martin's, 1977. 219 pages
A dying John Silver finds an adult Jim Hawkins, and tells the good doctor of his exploits prior to the events in Treasure Island.
Return to Treasure Island. St. Martin's, 1978. 209 pages
During a reunion with Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver tells of his tireless quest to recover the remaining treasure from Treasure Island.