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Nautical Fiction Index

Authors White, S - Wib

White, Simon

Captain Jethro Cockerill ("Cocky") Penhaligon series:

  1. The English Captain. St. Martin's, 1977. 203 pages

    The year is 1800. "Cocky" Penhaligon is given command of the 32-gun frigate AVENGER by Horatio Nelson. Penhaligon is assigned the task of destroying the French 74 GIRONDE, which is preying on British shipping in the Med.

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  3. Clear for Action! St. Martin's, 1978. 188 pages

    The daughter of the admiral commanding Minorca elopes with Penhaligon. The admiral, angered, orders the AVENGER to the Western Med to harass French shipping. To eliminate the nuisance, the French send a squadron after him.

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  5. His Majesty's Frigate. St. Martin's, 1979. 223 pages

    Captain Penhaligon and AVENGER escort a convoy of East Indiamen to Madeira, fight French and Spanish.

 

 

 

 

 

White, Stewart Edward (1873-1946)

Skookum Chuck. Doubleday, Page, 1925. 286 pages

A novel about a weathy disillusioned young veteran who discovered a man who calls himself a Healer of Souls. They make an agreement in which the veteran must do everything the Healer of Souls tells him to do without question, unless he is morally opposed, for a period of three months. If he is not "cured" by then, he will owe the Healer of Souls $10,000.00. If he is "cured", he will owe him nothing. They set out on an adventure from Vancouver in the Healer's yacht.

 

 

 

White, William H.

War of 1812 Trilogy (Isaac Biggs):

  1. A Press of Canvas. Tiller, 2000. 256 pages

    Isaac Biggs of Marblehead, Massachusetts, sails from Boston as captain of the foretop aboard the bark Anne, bound for St. Barts in the West Indies in the fall of 1810. When the Anne is stopped by a British Royal Navy frigate, Isaac and several shipmates are forcibly pressed into service on the Orpheus, actively engaged in England's long-running war with France. The young Isaac faces the harsh life of a Royal Navy seaman and a harrowing war at sea. His new life is hard, with strange rules, floggings, and new dangers. Then the United States declares war on England and Isaac finds himself in an untenable position, facing the possibility of fighting his own countrymen. Revised by the author in 2014

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  3. A Fine Tops'l Breeze. Tiller, 2001. 288 pages

    Isaac Biggs ships as Third Mate on the Salem privateer General Washington in February 1813. At the same time, his friends from the British frigate Orpheus and the Baltimore schooner Glory find berths on the American warship USS Constellation and, eventually, they wind up on the USS Chesapeake in Boston just in time for her disastrous meeting with HMS Shannon. Throughout the spring of 1813, Isaac and the General Washington roam the waters between Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, taking prizes and harassing the British. When the American survivors of the Chesapeake / Shannon battle are confined in Melville Island Prison in Halifax, the General Washington and Isaac play an important role in securing their freedom. Revised by the author in 2014

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  5. The Evening Gun. Tiller, 2001. 288 pages

    The year is 1814, the final year of the War of 1812. With the Atlantic seaboard closed by the blockade, the action shifts to Joshua Barney's gunboats where Isaac and Jack Clements find themselves commanding sloop rigged raiders assisting the effort in Maryland. They witness the British landing at Benedict MD and the burning of our capital. Sent to Baltimore to assist with the preparations for the expected British invasion, they witness the bombardment of that city and the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. Revised by the author in 2014

 

 

 

Oliver Baldwin series:

  1. The Greater the Honor : a novel of the Barbary Wars. Tiller, 2003. 287 pages

    14 year-old midshipman Oliver Baldwin tells the story of fighting with the corsairs of the Barbary Coast from the deck of Captain Stephen Decatur's ship as the young man, like the young nation he represents, struggles to find his way on the course to manhood. Gunboat battles, duels, and storms encourage his personal growth and challenge his maturity as he learns his role as an officer-in-training of the United States Navy. Revised by the author in 2014

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  3. In Pursuit of Glory. Tiller, 2006. 352 pages

    Oliver Baldwin, recently back from the Barbary Wars, sets sail in the U.S. frigate Chesapeake on a routine patrol. The patrol becomes anything but routine when the ship is confronted by the 50-gun HMS Leopard outside the Virginia Capes. Commodore James Barron refuses the British captain's orders to produce Royal Navy deserters, and the Leopard fires into the American frigate with disastrous results. Following the ensuing court-martial, a new captain takes command of Chesapeake to enforce the Jeffersonian Embargoes on the Atlantic seaboard, with Oliver Baldwin still in his crew. Baldwin’s adventures continue, encountering more ships of the Royal Navy, going to battle with the HMS Macedonian, and, ultimately, witnessing the actual beginnings of the War of 1812. Revised by the author in 2015

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  5. In Hostile Waters: The Cruise of the USS Argus. Sea Fiction Press, 2015. 291 pages

    In 1813, United States Brig of War, Argus, commanded by W. Henry Allen, was tasked with carrying the U.S. Minister to France. Following the safe delivery of the minister, Argus was ordered to sail into British waters and become a commerce raider for as long as possible. Obviously, an open ended commission and one inherently perilous. Oliver Baldwin sails as 1st Lieutenant. Edward Ballantyne (see below) commands the British ship sent to stop them.

 

 

 

Edward Ballantyne series:

  1. When Fortune Frowns. Tiller, 2008. 343 pages

    Most people are aware of the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. Few, however, know what happened to the mutineers. They did not all sail to Pitcairn Island; indeed only nine of them did, leaving sixteen in Tahiti by their own choice. The Royal Navy was not about to let them remain at large and sent an armed frigate, HMS Pandora, to the Pacific to capture them and return them to England for trial. Revised by the author in 2015

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  3. Gun Bay. self, 2013. 248 pages

    In February 1794 ten ships, nine merchants and a Royal Navy frigate, wrecked on the reef at the east end of Grand Cayman Island. They were part of a convoy of fifty-eight ships that had left Jamaica only a few days prior and were bound for North America and England. Edward Ballantyne returns to tell the story of this disastrous event, still well-known in Cayman lore and, while the bones of the wrecked ships are no longer visible, several cannon from the Royal Navy frigate, HMS Convert can be found in the front yards of homes along the bluff above Gun Bay.

 

 

 

Whitehorne, Earl

Supercargo. Funk and Wagnalls, 1939. 315 pages

Novel based on a real nautical episode in which an abandoned ship discovered by the Japanese was discovered to contain 40 Chinese coolies in its hold, signs of a battle, and twelve thousand dollars worth of treasure onboard. The novel pieces together the events that led to this discovery.

 

 

 

 

 

Whiting, John D. (Downes) (1884-1977)

S.O.S.: a story of the war at sea. Bobbs, Merrill, 1928. 302 pages

Adventures of a sailor off the coast of Maine before and during WW I. Reprinted unter the title Convoy.

 

 

 

 

The Trail of Fire : a story of the famous Alabama. Bobbs, Merrill, 1930. 283 pages

The Civil War duel between the Alabama and the Kearsarge. For young adults

 

 

 

 

 

Whitson, George Thomas

We Sail with the Tide. Exposition, 1956. 143 pages

A lightly fictionalized recreation of a cruise around Europe, North Africa and the Near East.

 

 

 

 

 

Wibberley, Leonard (1915-1983)

Treegate Family series:

  1. John Treegate's Musket. Ariel, 1959. 188 pages

    In 1769, just after his pro-Royalist father has sailed for England on business, 11 year-old Peter Treegate of Boston unwittingly becomes involved in a dock murder. Fleeing arrest he takes refuge on an American cargo ship which is subsequently wrecked off the the South Carolina coast. Peter is rescued by a Scotsman who, in 1775, helps him rejoin his father, now an embattled American patriot, ready to fight at Bunker Hill.

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  3. Peter Treegate's War. Ariel, 1960. 156 pages

    Peter attempts to resolve the conflict between his loyalty to his real father and the Scottish clansman who has fostered him.

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  5. Sea Captain from Salem. Ariel, 1961. 186 pages

    Peace of God Manly, now in France with the brig-rigged sloop-of-war HORNET, takes to the seas against Perfidious Albion in 1777-78, to attack sink, and capture all British vessels found -- except fishing smacks -- as part of Franklin's efforts to encourage the French to enter the war on the side of the Colonials. The book has numerous historical innaccuracies -- e.g., a Royal Navy Captain "purchasing" his commission -- but is a fun read, nevertheless.

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  7. Treegate's Raiders. Ariel, 1962. 218 pages

    Peter Treegate and the sea captain, Peace of God Manly, finish out the war at Yorktown and return to Salem, Massachusetts, and a reunion with the sea captain's daughter.

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  9. Leopard's Prey. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971. 183 pages

    Manly Treegate accompanies his uncle on a routine trip to Norfolk, and is captured and pressed into service as a powderboy on HMS LEOPARD. Presumably takes place in period between 1806 and 1812. Young adult.

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  11. Red Pawns. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973. 183 pages

    Peter Treegate, now in his sixties, and a wealthy shipowner, goes to England in period immediately preceeding War of 1812 for economic and political talks aimed at averting the war. Meanwhile, his nephew Manly strikes out for the Northwest Territory where he becomes involved in the fighting involving Tecumseh. Young adult. Not primarily nautical, but part of a nautical series.

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  13. The Last Battle. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976. 197 pages

    Manly Treegate commands USN brig WILD DUCK in the War of 1812. With his brother Peter as a member of his crew, they act against British shipping in the West Indies, and join uncle Peter Treegate -- that 's right there are two Peter Treegates in this novel -- a US Army major to help Andrew Jackson repulse the British at the Battle of New Orleans. Concluding novel in series.

 

 

 

The King's Beard. Ariel, 1952. 198 pages

Philip II get his beard singed at Cadiz

 

 

 

 

The Hands of Cormac Joyce. Putnam, 1960. 125 pages

Storm off the County Galway coast

 

 

 

 

Flint's Island. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972. 165 pages

Inspired by, and somewhat a sequel to, Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND. The New England brig JANE stops at an island to repair storm damage. The island turns out to be Treasure Island, and they find Long John Silver, who has found Captain Flint's buried treasure. Mutiny and murder follow. For younger readers.

 

 

 


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