Patric O'brian

[Calif.Ted]

Mr. Midshipman Easy was written by Fredrick Marryat in 1836, he was actually at Trafalgar, when I read it pre-internet the library had to order a copy for me from a college collection.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_Midshipman_Easy

[billknny]

Originally Posted by smith8273

John D MacDonald's character Travis McGee lives on a sailboat in Florida, and is always fighting bad guys, usually while boating. Fun reading. There is about 50 in the series, from the 70s I think.

I can't think of Travis McGee without wondering what he would think of Bahia Mar (the marina he lived in) these days. It has changed. A bit.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by billknny

I can't think of Travis McGee without wondering what he would think of Bahia Mar (the marina he lived in) these days. It has changed. A bit.

And not for the better in my opinion.

[dannc]

I prefer O' Brian's Aubrey/Maturin to Forester's Hornblower even though I have only read about half of the Aubrey books and have read the Hornblower series at least twice.

The Hornblower TV series from A&E, when A&E really was Arts and Entertainment, was excellent and a real shame they did not make more episodes.


Never read the Sharps books but did see a few of the movies/TV shows and it was pretty good. Need to see if we can stream that series...


Having said that, if you really want to read adventure stories go read history. O' Brian's stories weave his characters into actual historical events. Many of the characters in his stories, and I believe this is true with Forester, where real people who did deeds that were/are unbelievable. I read a book on British naval leaders during the Napoleonic wars and you could see where O' Brian got some of his characters and battles. What these guys did was unreal.


History is full of people who have done amazing things, that if written as fiction, would not be believed. And mostly what they have done goes pretty much unknown to most people.


Later,
Dan

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by smith8273

John D MacDonald's character Travis McGee lives on a sailboat in Florida, and is always fighting bad guys, usually while boating. Fun reading. There is about 50 in the series, from the 70s I think.

HERESY! Travis lived on "Busted Flush" which was a houseboat, not a sailboat. He did have some sailing experience, but many of the stories revolved about the use and enjoyment of the houseboat.

Travis remains as one of my favourite characters in fiction... sort of a precursor to Jack Reacher in many ways. I was sure sorry when MacDonald perished!

BTW, Busted Flush refers to a poker game, not a marine toilet!

Jim

[Allied39]

there's a bunch, but Dewey Lambdin is a great read. If the first one doesn't suck you in your barking up the wrong tree.

[smith8273]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

HERESY! Travis lived on "Busted Flush" which was a houseboat, not a sailboat. He did have some sailing experience, but many of the stories revolved about the use and enjoyment of the houseboat.

Travis remains as one of my favourite characters in fiction... sort of a precursor to Jack Reacher in many ways. I was sure sorry when MacDonald perished!

BTW, Busted Flush refers to a poker game, not a marine toilet!

Jim

Yikes! My bad, I knew it was a houseboat.

--

And Farley Mowat was mentioned in a post. His book 'The Boat that Wouldn't Float' was a great read.

[bcguy]

.... thanks to all for your worthy literary suggestions.



Gary

[Outlaw7]

I second Alexander Kent which is a pen name for Douglas Reeman who has a great number of good sea stories under his own name. Dudley Pope's Ramage series is a good read. He kept a sailboat in Roadtown Tortola for a while.

[hpeer]

Suprised no one mentioned Mitchner.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Outlaw7

I second Alexander Kent which is a pen name for Douglas Reeman who has a great number of good sea stories under his own name. Dudley Pope's Ramage series is a good read. He kept a sailboat in Roadtown Tortola for a while.

Yes, Kent writing under his real name has published numerous good stories, mostly WWII Navy settings. I've often wondered about his use of a nom de plume for the Napoleonic wars series... maybe he needed some sort of reminder to not have the ships of the line using radar!

Jim