Noble, Edward (1857-1941)
The Edge of Circumstance : a story of the sea. Dodd, Mead, 1905. 361 pages
The Grain Carriers. W. Blackwood, 1908. 313 pages
Outposts of the Fleet : Stories of the Merchant Service in War and Peace. Houghton Mifflin, 1917. 181 pages
The Mandarin's Bell. Houghton Mifflin, 1925. 262 pages
Nordhoff, Charles (1830-1901)
Man of War Life : a boy's experience in the United States Navy, during a voyage around the world, in a ship of the line. Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co., 1856. 286 pages
A young sailor's impressions in the mid-1800's. Forms part of his Nine years a sailor.
The Merchant Vessel: a sailor boy's voyages to see the world. Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co., 1856. 288 pages
Also published as the second part of the author's Nine years a sailor.
Whaling & Fishing. Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co., 1856. 383 pages
Subsequently issued as part of his Nine years a sailor.
Nine years a sailor : being sketches of personal experience in the United States Naval Service, the American and British Merchant Marine and the whaling service. Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co., 1857. 1 volume
U.K. title: The Boys Own Sea Stories.
Nordhoff, Charles (1887-1947)
The Pearl Lagoon. Little, Brown, 1924. 224 pages
For young boys.
The Derelict : Further Adventures of Charles Selden and His Native Friends in the South Seas. Little, Brown, 1928. 284 pages
Sequel to The Pearl Lagoon. U.K. title: The Island Wreck: Methuen, 1929.
Nordhoff, Charles (1887-1947) and Hall, James Norman (1887-1951)
The Bounty Trilogy:
The voyage of the BOUNTY to Tahiti for breadfruit, her sojourn there, and the subsequent mutiny when she begins the voyage back to England.
The incredible 3,600 mile voyage in an open 23 foot boat of Captain Bligh and 18 loyal members of his crew, set adrift after the mutiny.
Some of the mutineers sail off in the BOUNTY with Fletcher Christian and their Tahitian wives and in-laws in search of an island where they can successfully hide from the inevitable pursuit by the Royal Navy. They find such a haven at Pitcairn's Island and settle down to their fate.
The Hurricane. Little, Brown, 1936. 257 pages
Polynesian convict escapes and returns to home atoll. Hurricane devastates island while he is evading recapture. Great tale of humans against the elements, and coping with the imposition of Western civilization at the same time. Made into a movie starring Jon Hall and Dorothy Lamour in the 1930s.
No More Gas. Little, Brown, 1940. 320 pages
The saga of a multitudinous family in Tahiti, and what happened to them when they suddenly became rich from salvaging a vessel. Made into a movie called "The Tuttles of Tahiti", starring Charles Laughton.
Botany Bay. Little, Brown, 1941. 374 pages
The story of Hugh Tallant, highwayman and the infamous penal colony established in Australia in 1788.
Men Without Country. Little, Brown, 1942. 122 pages
The war is just beginning and France has not yet surrendered to the Germans. A French vessel picks up five semi-conscious men in a canoe. All ex-convicts, they have escaped from Devil's Island to do their bit for France. The tensions aboard the Marseille-bound ship slowly build to a shattering clash of wills between the men and the ship's Nazi sympathizer. Filmed as "Passage to Marseille".
The High Barbaree. Little, Brown, 1945. 230 pages
Story of the dream of a young pilot whose plane is wrecked over the Pacific Ocean. Catalina flying boat is shot down in the South Pacific in 1943. After days of drifting, the lone survivor swims ashore on a mystic, uncharted island, where he finds his uncle and fiancee. Filmed in 1947.
Norman, Henry (ed.)
The broken shaft : tales in mid-ocean. D. Appleton, 1886. 223 pages
The upper berth / F. Marion Crawford -- Markheim / Robert Louis Stevenson -- Marjory / F. Anstey -- The action to the word / Walter Herries Pollock -- My fascinating friend / William Archer -- Riley, M.P. / Tighe Hopkins -- Love and lightning / Henry Norman. The celebrated "The Upper Berth" is a ghost story set on a steamer.
Norris, Frank (1870-1902)
Moran of the "Lady Letty" : a story of adventure off the California coast. Doubleday, 1898. 203 pages
Realistic sea romance. Later reprinted under the title Shanghaied.
Norton, André (1912-2005)
Scarface, Being the story of one Justin Blade, late of the pirate isle of Tortuga, and how fate did justly deal with him, to his great profit. Harcourt, Brace, 1948. 263 pages
Teenaged pirate Scarface is part of a raid on the English colony of Barbados. He wins the King's Pardon and finds a name and family. For young adults.
Norton, Roy (1869-1942)
Drowned Gold, Being the Story of a Sailor's Life. Houghton Mifflin, 1917. 268 pages
It's not really the story of a sailor's life-- it's the story of 3 million dollars in sunken gold, deep sea diving, piracy and young love, and all of the things which go to make up a good sea yarn.
Novik, Naomi (1973- )
Temeraire series:
U.K. title: Temeraire. Captain Will Laurence has been at sea since he was just twelve years old; finding a warmer berth in Nelson's navy than any he enjoyed as the youngest, least important son of Lord Allendale. Rising on merit to captain his own vessel, Laurence has earned himself a beautiful fiancee, society's esteem and a golden future. But the war is not going well. It seems Britain can only wait as Napoleon plans to overrun her shores. After a skirmish with a French ship, Laurence finds himself in charge of a rare cargo: a dragon egg bound for the Emperor himself. Dragons are much prized: properly trained, they can mount a fearsome attack from the skies. One of Laurence's men must take the beast in hand and join the aviators' cause, thus relinquishing all hope of a normal life. But when the newly-hatched dragon ignores the young midshipman Laurence chose as its keeper and decides to imprint itself on the horrified captain instead, Laurence's world falls apart. Gone is his golden future: gone his social standing, and soon his beautiful fiancee, as he is consigned to be the constant companion and trainer of the fighting dragon Temeraire!
Captain William Laurence of the British Air Corps and his dragon, Temeraire, begin their slow voyage to China, fearful that upon landing they will be forced to part by Imperial decree. Temeraire is a Celestial dragon, the most highly-prized of all draconic breeds; famed for their intelligence, agility and most of all for the Divine Wind -- their terrible roar capable of shattering the heavy timbers of war ships, shattering woodland and destroying other dragons mid-flight. Temeraire's egg was captured and claimed by the British at sea, but he was meant to be the companion of the Emperor Napoleon and not captained by a mere officer in the British Air Corps. The Chinese have demanded his return and the British cannot refuse them -- they cannot afford to provoke the asian super-power into allying themselves with the French -- even if it costs them the most powerful weapon in their arsenal and inflicts the most unimaginable pain upon Laurence and his dragon.
Before Captain Will Laurence can prepare his crew for the slow voyage home from China, new orders arrive for him and his dragon, Temeraire: they must fly home immediately, stopping only in Istanbul to collect three priceless dragon eggs, purchased by the British government from the Ottoman Empire. But the cross-continental journey is fraught with danger; not only will they have to scale mountains and traverse vast hostile deserts, but a Machiavellian herald precedes them, spreading political menace in her wake. Holding Temeraire responsible for the death of her princely companion, Lien has absconded from China consumed by vengeance. If she can, she will destroy everything and everyone Temeraire loves.
Laurence and Temeraire made a daring journey across vast and inhospitable continents to bring home a rare Turkish dragon from the treacherous Ottoman Empire. Kazilik dragons are firebreathers, and Britain is in greater need of protection than ever, for while Laurence and Temeraire were away, an epidemic struck British shores and is killing off her greatest defence -- her dragon air force is slowly dying. The dreadful truth must be kept from Napoleon at all costs. Allied with the white Chinese dragon, Lien, he would not hestitate to take advantage of Britain's weakness and launch a devasting invasion. Hope lies with the only remaining healthy dragon -- Temeraire cannot stay at home, but must once again venture into the unknown to help his friends and seek out a cure in darkest Africa.
Laurence waits to be hanged as a traitor to the Crown, and Temeraire is confined to the breeding grounds as Napoleon invades Britain, and takes London. Laurence and Temeraire have betrayed the British. They have foiled their attempts to inflict death upon the French dragons by sharing the cure they found in Africa with their enemy. But following their conscience has a price. Laurence feels he must return to face the consequences, and as soon as they land they are taken into custody. Laurence is condemned to the gallows and Temeraire faces a life of captivity in the breeding grounds. None of their friends or allies can come to their aid, for every hand is needed elsewhere. Britain is completely unprepared for Bonaparte invasion and the advanced tactics of his own celestial dragon -- Temeraire's mortal enemy -- Lien.
Laurence and Temeraire have been banished from the country they've fought so hard to protect - and the friends they have made in the British Aerial Corps. Found guilty of treason, man and dragon have been deported to Australia to start a new life and many new adventures. They must navigate treacherous political waters to protect three dragon eggs.
For Laurence and Temeraire, put out to pasture in Australia, it seems their part in the war has come to an end just when they are needed most. Newly allied with the powerful African empire of the Tswana, the French have occupied Spain and brought revolution and bloodshed to Brazil, threatening Britain's last desperate hope to defeat Napoleon. So the British government dispatches Arthur Hammond from China to enlist Laurence and Temeraire to negotiate a peace with the angry Tswana, who have besieged the Portuguese royal family in Rio—and as bait, Hammond bears an offer to reinstate Laurence to his former rank and seniority as a captain in the Aerial Corps. Temeraire is delighted by this sudden reversal of fortune, but Laurence is by no means sanguine, knowing from experience that personal honor and duty to one's country do not always run on parallel tracks.
Shipwrecked and cast ashore in Japan with no memory of Temeraire or his own experiences as an English aviator, Laurence finds himself tangled in deadly political intrigues that threaten not only his own life but England's already precarious position in the Far East. Age-old enmities and suspicions have turned the entire region into a powder keg ready to erupt at the slightest spark—a spark that Laurence and Temeraire may unwittingly provide, leaving Britain faced with new enemies just when they most desperately need allies instead.
Napoleon's invasion of Russia has been roundly thwarted. But even as Capt. William Laurence and the dragon Temeraire pursue the retreating enemy through an unforgiving winter, Napoleon is raising a new force, and he'll soon have enough men and dragons to resume the offensive. While the emperor regroups, the allies have an opportunity to strike first and defeat him once and for all--if internal struggles and petty squabbles don't tear them apart. Aware of his weakened position, Napoleon has promised the dragons of every country--and the ferals, loyal only to themselves--vast new rights and powers if they fight under his banner. It is an offer eagerly embraced from Asia to Africa--and even by England, whose dragons have long rankled at their disrespectful treatment. But Laurence and his faithful dragon soon discover that the wily Napoleon has one more gambit at the ready--one that that may win him the war, and the world.
Nye, Robert
The Voyage of the Destiny. Putnam's, 1982. 387 pages
Fiction about Sir Walter Raleigh's voyage to South American. Tudor period piece.
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