Authors Mat - Mea
Mather, Berkeley (1909-1996)
The Road and the Star. Scribner, 1965. 306 pages
Lord Benforth joins the "Men of the Middle Passage" - pirates operating near the tip of Africa.
The Gold of Malabar. Scribner, 1967. 213 pages
Dealing with a legendary lost treasure of gold ingots dating back to 1941 in the days of Japanese occupation in the East Indies.
Matteson, Stefanie (1946- )
Murder Under the Palms. Berkley Prime Crime, 1997. 245 pages
Former movie star Charlotte Graham has turned sleuthing into a second career. An extended vacation to Florida turns into a trip down memory lane when Charlotte attends a glamorous charity ball inspired by the opulent French passenger ship, Normandie. The ship holds a special place in Charlotte's heart. Not long before it was destroyed by fire, she had enjoyed a tender shipboard romance on the famed luxury liner. The highlight of Charlotte's evening is her reunion with famed band leader and balladeer Eddie Norwood--the man she fell in love with during her 1939 voyage. The evening seems perfect until a world-renowned jewelry designer is found stabbed to death at the party. Charlotte knows that almost any guest could be the murderer. And she is determined to find the killer--before he or she claims another victim.
Matthiessen, Peter (1927-2014)
Raditzer. Viking, 1961. 152 pages
An almost allegorical tale of a restless, artistically minded son of wealth - Charlie Stark - who goes to sea "unable to answer his own questions, and nursing ill-defined resentments" and finds himself irresistibly drawn to Raditzer, a weasel of a man who inspires distaste in everyone including Stark. Eventually, Stark's revulsion turns into responsibility as he see Raditzer as his shadow self.
Far Tortuga. Random House, 1975. 408 pages
The western Caribbean Sea and its sailors depicted by award-winning novelist. An outstanding book.
Maule, Hamilton
Rub-a-Dub-Dub. Crown, 1968. 217 pages
Take McHale's Navy out of uniform and plop them into the Merchant Marines and you'll have the slapstick effect intended. The novel is set aboard a Liberty ship during a ninety day round-trip voyage from New Orleans to New York and across the North Atlantic in convoy to Liverpool.
Mayer, Albert I.
Follow the River. Doubleday, 1969. 402 pages
A Philadelphia schoolteacher travels along the Ohio River valley during the Indian Wars in post-Revolutionary America
Maynard, Kenneth ( -1987)
Lamb series:
Lieutenant Lamb. St. Martin's, 1984. 191 pages
It's 1798. After six years in the Royal Navy, and four months after receiving his lieutenant's commission, Lamb joins HMS STURDY, to serve as junior lieutenant under a whiskey soaked captain and a vicious first officer. In additon, he battles ruthless privateers and the hated French, finding time along the way to sow some wild oats in exotic ports, eventually having a run-in with the mighty French frigate TROMPEUR.
First Lieutenant. St. Martin's, 1985. 214 pages
Lamb serves as First Lieutenant of the frigate HMS ADROIT in the West Indies.
Lamb In Command. St. Martin's, 1986. 199 pages
Lamb gains his first command, the mail packet HERON, seeing service in the Caribbean.
Lamb's Mixed Fortunes. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987. 193 pages
Deals with the British invasion of Egypt. Lamb's ship, the ADROIT strikes to the French. Maynard died after this book was written, so several cliffhangers are unresolved.
Mayrant, Drayton (1890-1969)
The Land Beyond the Tempest. Coward-McCann, 1960. 282 pages
Tamar leaves her sweetheart in Cornwall and sails with her father on the "Sea Venture", bound for Bermuda and the new colony at Jamestown. The plot parallels The Tempest by Shakespeare
Mays, Victor (1927-2015)
Action Starboard. Houghton Mifflin, 1956. 280 pages
War of 1812 adventure for young readers.
Dead Reckoning. Houghton Mifflin, 1967. 188 pages
A teenager stumbles upon a spy ring, discovers what his father has been doing for the navy, and gets the FBI and Coast Guard to help out.
Meacham, Ellis K. (1913-1998)
Percival Merewether series:
Of the Honorable East India Company's Bombay Marine during the Napoleonic Wars. These stories take place within the world of Hornblower. The three books form a coherent whole, with all questions having answers by the end of the third book.
The East Indiaman. Little, Brown, 1968. 337 pages
Percival Merewether is placed in command of HEIC RAPID, and rescues the Governor Designate of Madras from a pirate, puts down a mutiny of sepoys in Vellore, and maneuvers the Chinese government into allowing HEIC ships to sail from Canton.
On the Company's Service. Little, Brown, 1971. 343 pages
1806-07, Merewether commands HEICS RAPID, serves as HEIC Commodore.
For King and Company. Little, Brown, 1976. 336 pages
1807-08, Merewether becomes senior captain of Bombay Marine, commands HEICS PITT.
Meade, Everard
The Dignity of Danger : a novel of the Pacific War. Burning Gate, 1993. 168 pages
Covers both sides of the Japanese kamikaze attacks in Pacific. One minute you're in a Japanese airplane, looking for a target, and the next you're with a gunner aboard ship. Author was with ComAirPac.
Meader, Stephen Warren (1892-1977)
The Black Buccaneer. Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920. 281 pages
While guarding sheep on an island off the coast of Maine, Jeremy is kidnapped by Captain Stede Bonnet and other pirates who had been using the island as a base. Jeremy survives a perilous trip to the West Indies but is very lonesome until the son of a prominent man in the Carolinas is also captured. Together the boys try to escape and return home.
Down the Big River. Harcourt, Brace, 1924. 270 pages
Mississippi in the days of the keelboat
Away to Sea. Harcourt, Brace, 1931. 233 pages
One spring day back in 1821, Jim Slater stole out of his father's farmhouse before daybreak and ran away to Providence to become a sailor. He signed up with the first ship he could find, and it was only when they were six days out at sea that he discovered he was one of the crew of a slave ship bound for Africa for its cargo.
Clear for Action! Harcourt, Brace, 1940. 323 pages
Story of a young man impressed into service on a British warship slightly before the start of the war of 1812.
Shadow in the Pines. Harcourt, Brace, 1942. 281 pages
Nazi spies on the New Jersey shore. Includes an Interesting sequence showing a US Coast Guard station during wartime, and a ship battle in Chesapeake Bay!
The Sea Snake. Harcourt, Brace, 1943. 255 pages
A teenager is abducted aboard a U-boat, escapes, and helps a USAAF bomber crew find and destroy it in the Caribbean.
Whaler 'Round the Horn. Harcourt, Brace, 1950. 244 pages
Life on whaling ship and in Hawaii.
Guns for the Saratoga. Harcourt, Brace, 1955. 207 pages
A young man whose father owns a foundry and make guns for a new warship, the SARATOGA, experiences adventures aboard her as a midshipman.
Everglades Adventure. Harcourt, Brace, 1957. 192 pages
Florida after the Civil War
The Commodore's Cup. Harcourt, Brace, 1958. 192 pages
Sailboat racing in Chesapeake Bay.
The Voyage of the Javelin. Harcourt, Brace, 1959. 189 pages
A young man on sails in a clipper ship from the East coast to San Francisco around the horn during the California gold rush days.
Phantom of the Blockade. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962. 190 pages
Story of a young man on a blockade runner during the American civil war.
A Blow for Liberty. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965. 187 pages
Sixteen-year-old Jed Starbuck, a young Nantucketer, had lost his father when their whaler went down in a storm off Cape May, at the southern tip of New Jersey. The orphaned boy had been indentured to a Quaker farmer who treated him with strict fairness. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Jed had a burning ambition to do his part, but what chance did a "bound" boy have to strike a blow for liberty?
Topsail Island Treasure. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966. 189 pages
Polio stricken boy vs. modern day pirates
The Cape May Packet. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969. 218 pages
During the War of 1812 a young boy sails with his father on dangerous missions in their boat which has been converted from a pilot and packet boat to a privateer.