Authors W - Wat
Wadelton, Tommy (Thomas Dorrington) (1926-1975)
Silver Buckles on His Knee. Coward-McCann, 1945. 167 pages
Typical WW II boater.
Wakeman, Frederic (1909-1998)
Shore Leave. Farrar & Rinehart, 1944. 310 pages
Three decorated Navy pilots finagle a four day leave in San Francisco. They procure a posh suite at the hotel and Commander Crewson, a master of procurement, arranges to populate it with party people.
Waldock, Sarah J., Mrs.
William Price and the 'Thrush'. CreateSpace, 2012. 224 pages
Inspired by Jane Austen's Mansfield Park this introduces William Price, just promoted to Lieutenant, who finds his new commission places him on a ship sailing under sealed orders and a potentially mutinous crew.
Wales, Ken (1938- ) and Poling, David
Sea of glory : a novel : based on the true WW II story of the four chaplains and the U.S.A.T. Dorchester. Broadman & Holman, 2001. 357 pages
In the early morning hours of February 3, 1943, a German submarine torpedoes the American troop ship Dorchester en route to a top-secret radar installation in Greenland. The four Army chaplains on board could scarcely be more different from each other: Methodist pastor and war veteran George Fox: intellectual and athletic Rabbi Alex Goode; scholar, poet and Dutch Reformed minister Clark Poling: baseball fan and "regular guy" Father John Washington. yet in the terror and confusion following the attack by a deadly U- boat wolfpack, the chaplains unite in a final triumphant sacrifice that transforms the life of every survivor who lives to tell of it.
Wall, Bill (William) (1955- )
Donal Long series:
The Powder Monkey: A 1798 Story. Mercer, 1996. 160 pages
Set in the troubled days of the 1798 Rebellion, The Powder Monkey is the story of a boy, Donal Long, who steals a boat to escape his violent uncle and is picked up by a British warship. He is adopted by the ship's crew and becomes the "powder monkey" whose job it is to carry powder to the guns.
The Slave Coast. Mercer, 1997. 144 pages
Taken on as cabin boy aboard an American ship, Donal makes his escape from the tragic Ireland of 1798. But the Provident of Boston is not a normal trading vessel, the ship is bound for Africa to pick up slaves.
The Cove of Cork. Mercer, 1998. 144 pages
In 1813, Donal Long and his shipmates are made prisoners of war after a sea battle with a British ship. To his surprise he is brought back to Ireland, to the Cove of Cork, close to his birthplace. Paroled as an officer, Donal's past is waiting in the wings to catch up with him.
Wallace, Willard Mosher (1911-2000)
East to Bagaduce. H. Regnery, 1963. 318 pages
Based on a true event. US Navy lays siege to Maine town during the Revolutionary War, but effort ends in humiliating disaster. Not for sunshine patriots.
Jonathan Dearborn; a novel of the War of 1812. Little, Brown, 1967. 376 pages
American privateers.
The Raiders: a novel of the Civil War at sea. Little, Brown, 1970. 470 pages
Cruise of the Confederate raider ALABAMA, as seen by Lieutenant Scott Pettigrew from Maine.
Wallenius, Kurt Martti (1893-1984)
Men from the Sea. Oxford University Press, 1955. 268 pages
Five tales of Scandinavian and Finnish Lapland, held together by a common theme -- the impact of the Arctic ruggedness on its people ... Always present is the struggle for survival, the dependence on the sea, the helplessness of these people before the elements, and their familiarity with death. Translation of Miesten meri, 1954.
Wallop, Douglass (1920-1985)
Regatta. Norton, 1981. 285 pages
A crack international yachtsman steps down in class to race his fifty-eight foot yacht against ordinary weekend sailors in a thirty mile, 150-boat sailing race on Chesapeake bay. His chief adversary, in a much smaller sloop, gives him all he can handle.
Walmsley, Leo (1892-1966)
Three Fevers. Knopf, 1932. 284 pages
The struggles of the "Lunns" and the "Fosdyks", rival inshore fisherman in North Yorkshire coastal village of "Bramblewick". The book is actually semi-autobiographical, and is based around real families who lived in the early part of this century at Robin Hood's Bay. Leo Walmsley wrote several such books, mainly based around his experiences in Robin Hood's Bay, and also the time he spent living in Fowey, Cornwall, where he eventually died. The book was adapted into the first film made by Arthur Rank, and was released as TURN OF THE TIDE.
Walsh, Jill Paton (1937-2020)
The Dolphin Crossing. Macmillan, 1967. 134 pages
In wartime England two boys, too young to fight, take part in the evacuation from Dunkirk
Walton, Elizabeth Cheatham
Voices in the Fog. Abelard-Schuman, 1968. 160 pages
Twin girls rebel at being separated when their parents move to Martha's Vineyard, leaving one of them with relatives on Cape Cod. Their ocean travels to reunite lead to the capture of a gang of thieves
Walz, Jay (1907-1991) & Walz, Audrey (1906-1983)
The Undiscovered Country. Duell, 1958. 390 pages
The affair between the famous Arctic explorer, Elisha Kane and Maggie Fox, the pretty and notorious spiritualist
Wambaugh, Joseph (1937- )
Floaters. Bantam, 1996. 293 pages
Set in San Diego's Mission Bay during America's Cup '95, water cops Mickey Fortney and his partner Leeds are on the trail of Cup saboteurs. This one is worth reading just for the commentary on the Cup scene. Fast paced & funny.
Wanttaja, Ron
The Key to Honor. Royal Fireworks, 1996. 188 pages
15 year old Midshipman Nate Lawton reports to USS CHESAPEAKE, blockaded in Boston by HMS SHANNON. Fatherless and seeking revenge because seven years earlier the English had impressed his father (and impoverished his family). Hiding a shameful secret and groping for truths he might have learned from his father, Nate immediately runs athwartship 2nd Lieutenant Westcott who abhors Nate's blind acceptance of natural gifts for which "others worked so hard." But it's Westcott that starts Nate on his search for honor. Of course, the CHESAPEAKE goes out and fights the SHANNON. Whether intentionally or not, the book is Patrick O'Brianish in every good sense: it demonstrates civility and honor, teaches leadership, teaches the nautical stuff along the way, is a bit better than reality, has a happy ending, and feels authentic. For young readers.
The Price of Command. Royal Fireworks, 1998. 330 pages
Midshipman Nate Lawton of The Key to Honor continues his adventures and maturing by joining Oliver Hazard Perry on Lake Erie right smack in the center of the Perry-Elliot controversy. Chance has thrown Nate into second in command and his captain moves to make him a scapegoat as well. For young adults 12 and up.
Wareham, Andrew
The Call of the Sea:
The Man From Bere. self, 2021. 1 volume
The First Lieutenant. self, 2021. 282 pages
England, Home and ... self, 2022. 281 pages
Newly Made A Gentleman. self, 2022. 290 pages
The Africa Hand. self, 2022. 276 pages
A Pretty Fortune. self, 2022. 291 pages
The Middle Sea. self, 2023. 280 pages
Distant Waters. self, 2023. 289 pages
The Great South Sea. self, 2023. 285 pages
Warga, Wayne (1938-1994)
Singapore Transfer. Viking, 1991. 151 pages
A rare-book dealer gets mixed up in smuggling and a murder mystery in Singapore involving junks, an ocean liner and the wreckage of USS ARIZONA at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.
Waters, Don
Vengeance Reef. Saturday Evening Post. June 1, 1940
Shipwrecked sailor single handedly destroys the dastardly german submarine that sank his ship - c.f. Forester's Brown on Resolution.
Waters, Kenneth
Sea Officer. Blacksmith, 1996. 266 pages
Novel based on the Black River Raid, the burning of Hampton and the great Atlantic storm of 1861. Our hero, Jonathon Comstock, fights for the Union aboard the sloop of war BENNINGTON. This was intended to be the first of a series of historical novels based upon naval actions during the American Civil War.
Watkins, Paul (1964- )
Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn. Houghton Mifflin, 1989. 280 pages
Young man expelled from college joins the crew of a fishing boat against the wishes of his fisherman father. Takes place on the Rhode Island Shoreline.
Watkins, Richard (1895-1980)
Crocodile Crew. Harcourt, Brace, 1949. 248 pages
Hurricane's Secret. Harcourt, Brace, 1950. 244 pages
When Rock Ide, son of a captain in the U.S. Merchant Marine, worked under Captain Anderson on the East Coast of Florida, he learned a great deal about navigation and sailing. This know-how comes into play when Rock and his friend Danny trace Captain Anderson - believed shanghaied - and run into a treasure mystery.
Thunder Beach. Thomas Nelson, 1954. 189 pages
Sailor Rudd. Thomas Nelson, 1955. 191 pages
Sandy Rudd is accused of wrecking Bart, a local boy's boat. Tough old Mahogany Slocum gives him a job at his boat yard. The work puts him into close contact with Bart, whom Sandy knows to have let his boat go adrift in the first place.
Milliken's Ark. Thomas Nelson, 1956. 125 pages
The Mystery of Willet. Thomas Nelson, 1959. 167 pages
The Willet was a new design, sloop prototype, which disappeared with her builder, Mr. Howard, aboard. Dot sympathized with Clark as he searched for his missing father and resented what others were saying about the Howards, but she was bewildered at her brother's reaction: Doug was saying it served Mr. Howard right for trying to sail in a storm!
Watson, Helen H.
Andrew Goodfellow: a tale of 1805. Macmillan, 1906. 358 pages
A Royal Navy lieutenant finds romance and action leading up to Trafalgar
Watson, John
The Iron Man. Warner, 1998. 488 pages
Captain Jakob Zof, disappointed by events that have reduced the Soviet Navy to a shambles, seeks to restore some of his pride by allowing himself to be persuaded to commission a WW II battleship. This is no ordinary battleship; named after Stalin, it was to have been the culmination of Russian naval design and construction. It has been hidden from the world for years in a Vladivostok backwater. It’s not long before the STALIN is committing acts of piracy in the Pacific but it soon becomes apparent that there is an even more sinister motive. Another novel where heavy armour does not readily succumb to modern weaponry.
The Final Act. Warner, 2000. 500 pages
Nineteen-year-old Otto Heine is forced to board the Hindenberg, a secret sister ship to the notorious Bismarck, on a mission both simple and extraordinary – to sail to Washington and shell the White House. But Heine has no interest in such a suicide mission, and leads a mutiny against Captain Erich Bach. There he discovers the secret consignment the ship is carrying…. Fifty-five years later, an American businessman has found the wreck of the Hindenberg on the coast of Greenland, and plans to turn it into a floating theme park. What he doesn’t know is the cargo the ship contains. Now, at last, he has a chance to retrieve it.
Watson, Sally (1924-2022)
Jade. Holt, 1969. 270 pages
A sixteen-year-old girl joins Anne Boney's pirate crew. Part of her English family tree series
Watt, Lauchlan MacLean (1867-1957)
The House of Sands. Martin Secker, 1913. 312 pages
The Barbary Pirates vs. a Scotsman adventurer
Watt, W. M.
Home from Callao in a Hoodoo Ship : an Epic of the Sea. Cranton, 1933. 193 pages