powerful ship, a questionable crew, and a mission that must succeed, In the spring ofHMS Vigilant, agun shipoftheline, 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 anth Century manofwar, When you finish this book you genuinely feel like you have been thereand no novel can receive higher praise than that, " The First Book in the Fighting Sail Series "Throughout the ship men began to prepare for battle, spreading stories and opinions about the French ships as they went.
The surgeon and his assistants started to move instruments and supplies from the sick berth down to the midshipmen's quarters on the orlop, A methodical man, who knew a little medicine and a lot of surgery, Wilson laid out and inspected his tools at leisure, while his loblolly boys checked needles and horsehair, gags, turpentine, and tow needed for the inevitable operations.
"
Plot: A British Naval captain takes a mixed crew protecting a convoy from England bound for the South Atlantic, They must pass through the English Channel and down the west coast of Europe where England is at war with France, The crew needs to mesh in order for the assignment to succeed, Many small things do not go right and the mission is put in jeopardy,
Ship to ship battles were the spicy sauce of the conflicts between France and England during the lateth and earlyth century.
There was probably no greater author than Patrick OBrian in making use of that era as background for his AubreyMaturin novels, But those novels were not primarily about history though they dont distort what was going on,
His Majestys Ship is all about the details, The plot which culminates in a magnificently detailed battle at sea is secondary, If I were at a point where I was considering dipping my toe in the sea of Napoleonic Era naval fiction, I would choose this book to begin.
No author, not OBrian, not Forester, sets this stage better than Bond, I thoroughly enjoyed the details of life aboard a British Navy ship, Every detail of mess, bedding, skylarking, surgery, battle, etc, is set out clearly and in great detail, Every role from new recruit to captain is explored and given its due,
Perhaps a shade below highly enjoyable, My thanks to V. E. Ulett for pointing me in this direction, While not quite as good at the Patrick O'Brian AubreyMaturin series, still a very engaging read, In his new novel His Majesty's Ship Alaric Bond once again grips readers with his detailed knowledge of the Georgian navy, In this prequel to The Jackass Frigate the earlier careers of crew members we have become familiar with are developed, From gundeck to quarterdeck, from powder monkey to Captain, we follow all divisions of the crew of HMS Vigilant, agun shipoftheline, as she is got ready for sea and then escorts a convoy.
Ending in a climactic battle, the book, first in the 'Fighting Sail' series, fulfils the authors promise to “give an insight into the world of the seamen and naval officers who fought during the Revolutionary war” and will delight all readers of historic naval fiction.
Entertaining Superb historic naval fiction wherein we get to know a cross section of the entire crew of agun ship of the line rather than the usual single character.
The characterisation was wellhandled despite the variety of pointsofview, Beautifully written and constructed. I think I enjoyed this book almost as much as when I first picked up O'Brien's "Master and Commander", A little more accessible than the Aubrey/Maturin series as the nautical nomenclature is somewhat more limited, At less thanpages it was a short read with most of the book describing a single drawn out action, I will be continuing with this series, I gather
the Fighting Sail series does not have a central character such as a Jack Aubrey or Horatio Hornblower but hopefully the characters I met will reappear in the subsequent books.
I enjoyed this book, in parts,
It started out very slowly as the first part of the book is general scene setting and getting to know the ship and the characters.
No bad thing but it did lack pace and could have been tightened up,
The detail is lovingly described sometimes a little bit too much so as it can detract from the story in places and the characters are realistic.
By the final third of the book we move to action and the author has settled into his style, If his following books are as good as the final section of this one I will look forward to reading them, Told from the perspective of too many underdeveloped characters, one after the other, Not worth your time. Another great Age of Sail book which seems both wellresearched and engaging, The author takes a kind of "ensemble cast" approach, which overall provides more insight, more interesting characters, and more perspective from all walks of life aboard ship.
It's a lot to swallow at the beginning but overall a worthwhile approach, While the tremendous battle may at times strain credulity overwhelming odds, anyone but who knows, maybe such a battle happened somewhere, its buildup and tension was riveting, and of course perfectly horrific in its detail.
Plus, I always like books where there is some kind of justice to be had, Everybody Has Had A Bad Supervisor, . .
but this is ridiculous! A sympathetic hero, with no shortage of bad luck, somehow manages to succeed, We appreciate him, and his subordinates love him, but he can't quite seem to convince management or himself that he has leadership potential, His selfdoubt wears a bit thin, even after he conquers every obstacle, Not great, but a fun read, with an interesting court marshal at the close, I wish all these books with naval battles had diagrams! Alaric Bond has written for television, radio and the stage but now focuses on historical nautical fiction with sixteen published novels, thirteen of which are in his acclaimed Fighting Sail series.
Set in Nelsons Navy of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, these have no central hero but feature characters from all ranks and stations an innovative approach that gives an exciting and realistic impression of life aboard a warship of the period.
Hellfire Corner is the first in an intended new series and marks a change in emphasis, although future Fighting Sail instalments are planned, .