Richard Woodman

In the aftermath of a typhoon, Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater brings his Britannic Majesty's frigate Patrician into the shelter of the Pearl River upon the China Coast. He is entangled in bizarre events following the British occupation of Macao and Admiral Drury's attack on Canton. Initially relieved to be assigned the duty of a convoy escort to Penang, Drinkwater discovers that the enemy's cargo contains a mysterious quantity of silver and a single

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Fear and fighting on the High Seas. When William Kite runs away to sea to escape a charge of murder, he finds himself aboard the Enterprize, a Liverpool Guineaman, or slave ship, destined for the coast of West Africa. Once loaded with slaves, the ship then crosses the Atlantic, bound for the sugar plantations of the West Indies. Despite the accusation hanging over him, Kite's compassion for the slaves' helplessness finds him serving as a surgeon...

A stirring tale of life aboard ship during the last great days of the Merchant Navy New junior officer Laddie signs on to the cargo liner Antigone on a voyage to the Far East. He finds himself part of a crew who all have their own stories to tell about life at sea. Over the course of the eventful journey to Hong Kong and Singapore, he comes to know them all, from Captain 'China Dick' Richards and the experienced and remote Master to the vulnerable...

For the British, the Battle of the Atlantic was a fight for survival. They depended on the safe transit of hundreds of convoys of merchant ships laden with food, raw materials and munitions from America to feed the country and to keep the war effort going, and they had to export manufactured goods to pay for it all. So Britain's merchant navy, a disparate collection of private vessels, became the country's lifeline, while its seamen, officially non-combatants,...

The second instalment of The William Kite Naval Adventures, full of battle and intrigue. The Seven Years War is over, and William Kite is now a successful ship-owner in Liverpool, happily married and gradually taking over the running of the business. But tranquility can only last so long. When deception and tragedy strike, the devastated Kite goes back to sea. Far from recovering his fortune, Kite becomes enmeshed in the beginnings of the American...

A wartime attack on a defenceless merchant convoy brings the intent of the Admiralty into question. Was it merely a bad tactical decision or something more sinister? Why did Admiral Dudley Pound scatter Convoy PQ17 in the Barents Sea on the evening of 4th July 1942? Most of the merchant ships were destroyed while not a single one of the warships assigned to protect them was lost, casting a long shadow over subsequent events. Why did Pound act as...

The nation is at arms… he must decide where his loyalty lies. 1649. England has been torn asunder by a civil war that has pitted Parliamentarians against Royalists. Captain Kit Faulkner, bound to the Royalist cause, has been living in exile for the past four years, and must support himself with only the tiny rump of the Royal Navy that remains loyal. But when the predatory nature of Prince Charles becomes ever more obvious, Kit finds his loyalties...

The Sea Warriors is the true story of the great frigate captains of the Nelsonic Royal Navy who spent long and arduous years away from their homes fighting for king and country, to win and hold control of the seas. Richard Woodman skillfully dissects the events of the war years, focusing on the cruiser war, that war between opposing frigates which entailed the blockade of enemy ports, the interception of enemy trade and the protection of Britain's...