From the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, from Calcutta to Canton, the Company ships were famous for their speed and daring. The "Bombay Buccaneers" who sailed them were the stuff of legend.For Percival Merewether, 1806 would be a year to remember. For in January of that year he was promoted from First Lieutenant to become the junior Captain in the Company’s Service and given the command of his first ship - the "Rapid."Armed with ten 9-pounders, the "Rapid" was a match for any pirate ship that crossed its bows, and in it Captain Merewether was to spend as action-packed and eventful a first year as any ambitious young sea-farer could have wished.Merewether had quick wits and daring to match his ambition. And with mutinies, diplomatic intrigues and skirmishes with the French to occupy him, he soon found that he needed both qualities as never before...About the Author: Ellis K. Meacham (1913-1998) was a Commander in the US Naval Reserve serving as a gunnery officer in the Pacific during the Second World War. He was an attorney in Chattanooga from 1937 to 1972, when he became a judge in the Chattanooga Municipal Court. He won the "Friends of American Writers Major Award in Fiction" in 1969 for THE EAST INDIAMAN.

    But England, Holland and France conspire to battle for freedom on the oceans set in days littered with the plunder of piracy. Ned Yorke, a loyal Royalist living in Barbados has a small vessel and devoted crew and together they sail, hunted by Roundheads and Spaniards, determined to pay whatever the price for freedom from tyranny. What transpires is a colourful, dramatic retelling of historical events surrounding the capture of Jamaica and the infamous raid on Santiago.

    But despite his abilities and his unshakable loyalty to Britain, Hayden's career is damned by his "mixed" heritage and lack of connections... which is how he finds himself assigned to the Themis, a frigate under the command of Captain Josiah Hart-- an officer reviled by his crew for both his brutality toward his men and his faint-heartedness in battle.As the Themis takes to sea in search of French warships, Hayden immediately senses the unrest of the crew. Even by the rough standards of seafaring, the Themis is a cruel and desperate place. Men have died under mysterious circumstances, and warring factions among the sailors put the ship at risk, just as the French press their attack. Caught between his superior and a crew pushed toward mutiny, Hayden finds himself in the middle of a revolution at sea, torn between honor and duty, as the magnificent British navy engages the French in a centuries-old struggle for power.

     In the spring of 1795 HMS Vigilant, a 64 gun ship-of-the-line, is about to leave Spithead as senior escort to a small, seemingly innocent, convoy. The crew is a jumble of trained seamen, volunteers, and the sweepings of the press; yet, somehow, the officers have to mold them into an effective fighting unit before the French discover the convoy’s true significance. Based on historical fact, His Majesty’s Ship will take you into the world of Nelson’s Navy, and captivate you all the way to it’s gripping conclusion. “Bond has an extraordinary talent for describing the sights and sounds of an 18th Century man-of-war. When you finish this book you genuinely feel like you have been there—and no novel can receive higher praise than that.” The First Book in the Fighting Sail Series. Second Edition

    He has just been decorated for extraordinary bravery under fire, been given command of the fourth-rate Drakkar, learned from his father's deathbed that he as a fully grown illegitimate brother, and will soon be dispatched on a special mission chasing pirates in the Caribbean…and that's just in the first fifteen pages! Honoring his dying father, the eponymous "Fighting James Anthony," Vice Admiral of the Blue, Gil takes his half-brother Gabriel into the ship's company as a senior midshipman. As Drakkar sails, Captain Anthony soon realizes having his brother aboard might not be the family reunion he hoped for when he encounters the resentment of one of his officers, Lieutenant Witzenfeld.But the real conflict lies ahead with the menacing pirate raiders who must be captured to end the depredations against peaceful English merchants. There Drakkar will find the feared pirate frigate Reaper and have her entire crew tested in savage combat!Boson Books also offers HMS Seawolf and Barracuda by Michael Aye. For an author bio, photo, and sample read visit bosonbooks.com

    Meanwhile—after a heated first encounter that nearly comes to a duel—Aubrey and a brilliant but down-on-his-luck physician, Stephen Maturin, strike up an unlikely rapport. On a whim, Aubrey invites Maturin to join his crew as the Sophie’s surgeon. And so begins the legendary friendship that anchors this beloved saga set against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.Through every ensuing adventure on which Aubrey and Maturin embark, from the witty parley of their lovers and enemies to the roar of broadsides as great ships close in battle around them, O’Brian “provides endlessly varying shocks and surprises—comic, grim, farcical and tragic.… [A] whole, solidly living world for the imagination to inhabit” (A. S. Byatt).

    The ship sails immediately and Kydd has to learn the harsh realities of shipboard life fast. Despite all that he goes through in danger of tempest and battle he comes to admire the skills and courage of the seamen - taking up the challenge himself to become a true sailor.Kydd launches a masterly new writing talent and a thrilling new series. Based on dramatic real events, it is classic storytelling at its very best, rich with action with exceptional characters and a page-turning narrative.

    Adam Bolitho, Admiral Richard Bolitho's nephew and heir, finds himself in command of Unrivalled, a new kind of frigate—sleek, fast, and heavily armed.

    Young firebrand John Pearce, on the run from the authorities, is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican tavern into brutal life aboard HMS Brilliant, a frigate on its way to war. In the first few days Pearce discovers the Navy is a world in which he can prosper. But he is not alone; he is drawn to a group of men who eventually form an exclusive gun crew, the Pelicans, with Pearce their elected leader.Shipboard life is hard, brutal and dangerous. That anyone chooses it suggest that life ashore is worse. The Pelicans find solidarity in facing together the cruelty of their hard-nosed captain, Barclay, and the daily threat of bullying, flogging - even murder. The one light on the horizon is the captain's young, curvaceous wife, Emily.During an action-packed two weeks, as HMS Brilliant chases a French privateer across the English Channel, this disparate group of men form friendships that will last a lifetime.

    Napoleon Bonaparte is racking up impressive wins in the field against the enemies of revolutionary France, while on the seas England is putting up a staunch resistance. Twenty-five-year-old Charles Edgemont is second lieutenant aboard the British ship Argonaut. When orders come for the Argonaut to engage in an all-but-suicidal maneuver to prevent the escape of Spanish ships off the coast of Portugal, he leads his gun crews bravely–until the deaths of the captain and first lieutenant elevate him to commander. For refusing to yield to enemy fire, Charles is permanently promoted and generously rewarded by the Admiralty, becoming wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Yet upon his return home, his newfound riches prove no help when it comes to winning the heart of Penelope Brown, who regards war as sinful and soldiers as little better than murderers. Changing Penelope’s mind may just be the hardest battle Charles has ever fought–at least until fresh orders send him back to sea, where he faces a formidable adversary in a series of stirring battles of will and might.

    Bullied and forced into a duel, he takes an even chance. And then he has many more chances to show his skills and ingenuities - from sailing a ship full of wetted and swelling rice to imprisonment and saving the lives of shipwrecked sailors. And along the way, he fights galleys, feeds cattle, stays out of the way of the guillotine, and makes friends with a Duchess. Here Hornblower becomes a man and develops the strength of character which will make him a hero to his men, and to all England.

    Idealistic young naval officer Kit Killigrew wants to stop them. With the aid of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Napier, Killigrew hatches a daring plan to infiltrate the slavers and discover the whereabouts of the biggest slave market in West Africa. But Kit will also need find out the identity of a shadowy British figure, one of the slave trade’s major investors. A veteran of campaigns in Syria and China, Killigrew now sets out on a perilous high-seas adventure that will challenge him to his very limits… Full of sea-salt, gunpowder and nail-biting naval action, this is the first in the extraordinary Killigrew naval dramas, perfect for fans of C.S. Forester, Patrick O’Brian and Julian Stockwin. Praise for the Killigrew Novels ‘A hero to rival any Horatio Hornblower. Swashbuckling? You bet’ Belfast Telegraph‘If you revel in the Hornblower and the Sharpe books, grab a copy of Jonathan Lunn’ Bolton Evening News‘A new naval hero who will delight lovers of seafaring yarns’ Manchester Evening News The Kit Killigrew Naval Series Killigrew of the Royal Navy Killigrew and the Golden Dragon Killigrew and the Incorrigibles Killigrew and the North-West Passage Killigrew’s Run Killigrew and the Sea Devil Please note this novel was previously published as  Killigrew R.N .

    for the first time, a post-WWII story of the war brides who crossed the seas by the thousands to face their unknown futures.1946. World War II has ended and all over the world, young women are beginning to fulfill the promises made to the men they wed in wartime. In Sydney, Australia, four women join 650 other war brides on an extraordinary voyage to England—aboard HMS Victoria, which still carries not just arms and aircraft but a thousand naval officers. Rules are strictly enforced, from the aircraft carrier’s captain down to the lowliest young deckhand. But the men and the brides will find their lives intertwined despite the Navy’s ironclad sanctions. And for Frances Mackenzie, the complicated young woman whose past comes back to haunt her far from home, the journey will change her life in ways she never could have predicted—forever.

    So much so that his callous father believes a bit of navy discipline will turn the boy around. Fresh aboard the tall-masted Ariadne, Midshipman Lewrie heads for the war-torn Americas, finding--rather unexpectedly--that he is a born sailor, equally at home with the randy pleasures of the port and the raging battles on the high seas. But in a hail of cannonballs comes a bawdy surprise. . . .

    In 1799, the young U.S. Navy faces France in an undeclared Quasi-War for the Caribbean. Matty Graves is caught up in escalating violence as he serves aboard the Rattle-Snake under his drunken cousin, Billy. Matty already knows how to handle the sails and fight a ship. Now, with the sarcastic Lieutenant Peter Wickett as his mentor and nemesis, he faces the ironies of a war where telling friend from foe is no mean trick.