Patric O'brian

[bcguy]

Aubrey/Maturin series was a joy. PO is a Shakespeare as a naval historical fiction writer with a genius for character creation. I have been through the series x 2. Before I go for 3 just wondering if anyone else does adventure writing as good. Not necessarily have to be ocean based just good writing with an adventure bent.



Greetings to all you lucky ones not snowed in by a 49th parallel vicinity winter.


... thank you

[Benz]

Try out CS Forester's "Hornblower" series. Far superior, IMO: better writing; better plots; classier. Not that PO's not extremely enjoyable--but it you like him, you'll love CS Forester. Read also (not in that series), "The Gun" and "Death to the French." Of course, "The African Queen" is a classic as well.

Another superstar of nautical writing is, of course, Joseph Conrad. Esp. "Nostromo" "Victory," for full-length books, and "Typhoon," "The End of the Tether," and "The Secret Sharer" for short stories.

[heysteve]

Give Dewey Lambdin a try. The protagonist is a bit more of a rascal but the series is full of adventure.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Benz

Try out CS Forester's "Hornblower" series. Far superior, IMO

Bwahahahahaha! Not even in the same league.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Bwahahahahaha! Not even in the same league.

Well I wouldn't put it quite so harshly, but having read both I do think that O'Brian's works are more sophisticated and historically accurate (from a maritime point of view) than the Hornblower books.

That being said, CS Forester is well worth the read.

Might also find the works of Alistair Maclean somewhat interesting.

[roverhi]

I'll second Dewey Lambdin. Even though O'brian's books were/are great reads and well researched apparently he had little if any experience at sea. Interesting write up on Latitude 38 from someone who took O'brian for a short cruise. https://www.latitude38.com/features/O%27Brian.htm

[jt11791]

Hammond Innes. His books are more modern, mid twentieth century, and they are not all set on the ocean, but many are and they are all good.
"The Wreck of the Mary Deare" is maybe the best known, but there are others of equal quality.

[Pelagic]

I enjoyed the Master Mariner by Nicholas Monssarat
Master Mariner https://g.co/kgs/PiQMJD

[Jim Cate]

Add Alexander Kent to the list... more stories of the Brits defeating the Froggies.

Interesting aside: According to a long ago story in Lat 38, Patrick O was invited on a European cruise on a very large sailing yacht. He was reported to be rather unfamiliar with life at sea and with sailboats difficulty in maintaining a schedule... made a disgruntled and unhappy passenger, and caused the yacht to put him ashore at an unscheduled stop. But his knowledge of 18th century seamanship seems pretty good to me (not that I know all that much about it!).

Jim

I see that RoverHi has referenced the same article above,and I see that I remembered the story somewhat incorrectly. I apologize for the inaccuracy, but he somehow still didn't seem to live up to his reputation. thanks to PeterO for finding the original and linking it.

[HopCar]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Bwahahahahaha! Not even in the same league.

I’ve read both, O’Brian is great but Forester is better.

Bernard Cornwell also writes great historical novels. His Sharpe’s Rifles series is great. He even pays homage to Forester by having one of Forester’s characters appear in one of his books.

I just recently reread The Ship by Forester as I heard that Tom Hanks was making a movie of it. It’s a WW2 story.

[JPA Cate]

List of authors in the order (more or less) that I thought of them: Farley Mowat, Hammond Innes, Desmond Bageley, Alistair Maclean, Neville Shute (whose biography, Slide RuleI really enjoyed), and Douglas Freeman. For 18th & 19th century history, I've mostly concentrated on Patrick O'Brian, and Alexander Kent, even though the Hornblower books hove across my bow first and am interested in what everybody likes so much about them, maybe time for a re-read? eh?

Ann

PS: "The Riddle of the Sands", Erskine Childers

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

PS: "The Riddle of the Sands", Erskine Childers

One of my all time favorites Ann

[Wayne hoath]

The shipping news or anything by E Annie Proulx who is brilliant.

[psk125]

For an adventure read, try The Nagle Journal,(https://www.amazon.com/Nagle-Journal.../dp/B002JHEUNK)

A first-hand account, it starts out with him in a gun crew at the Battle of Brandywine, (his father was an army colonel) and ends up with him in Ohio in 1841, by way of the Caribbean, London, Mediterranean, Sydney, and a lot of other places. A true story: Congress even awarded him a pension for his service during the Revolution.

[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.