Richard Woodman

The year is 1659. Lord General George Monck has set up on camp on the River Tweed on the border of Scotland and England with his loyal army. He has plans to retire, to spend the rest of his years on his estates in Essex and Potheridge with his wife, Anne, and son, Kit. But the changing political climate in London forces him to march his army south to the capital and Monck isn't one to defy duty. In the Rump of the Long Parliament, the case is being made for an end to the Commonwealth and for the Restoration of the Monarchy. Some want Charles, the son of the previous King, to return from his exile in France whilst others would even have Monck, with his Plantagenet blood, as their King. When the Monarchy is restored, there is never a quiet moment for Monck. From commanding the English naval forces against the Dutch to leading the team trying to contain the Great Plague, Monck becomes Charles II's right hand man, equally adept at the difficult game of politics and the ways of the military both on land and at sea. Meanwhile, Anne is keen for the advancement of their son. He could become a courtier or the King's page-boy and so she urges Monck not to retire. But illness has always been strife in Monck's life and it seems to keep coming back... When his wife, Anne, tells him that he needs to slow down, will he listen?Or will his sense of duty to his country get in the way?In The Wielding, the third and final book in the Sword of the State trilogy, award-winning author Richard Woodman recreates the true story of George Monck, a giant of the 17th Century. Monck is all but forgotten today, yet his legacy is nothing less than the British monarchy and a famous regiment - the Coldstream Guards. Captain Richard Martin Woodman LVO is an English novelist and naval historian who retired in 1997 from a 37 year nautical career, mainly working for Trinity House, to write full-time. His main work is 14 volumes about the career of Nathaniel Drinkwater, and shorter series about James Dunbar and William Kite, but he also written a range of factual books about 18th century and WW2 history. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

Sword of State: the Wielding

Dan Conley

The part played in the Cold War by the Royal Navy's submarines still retains a great degree of mystery and, in the traditions of the 'Silent Service,' remains largely shrouded in secrecy. Cold War Command brings us as close as is possible to the realities of commanding nuclear hunter-killer submarines, routinely tasked to hunt out and covertly follow Soviet submarines in order to destroy them should there be any outbreak of hostilities. ??Dan Conley takes the reader through his early career in diesel submarines, prior to his transition to the complex and very demanding three-dimensional world of operating nuclear submarines; he describes the Royal Navy's shortcomings in ship and weapons procurement and delivers many insights into the procurement failures which led to the effective bankrupting of the Defence budget in the first decade of the 21st century. In command of the hunter killer submarines Courageous and Valient in the 1980s, he achieved exceptional success against Soviet submarines at the height of the Cold War. He was also involved in the initial deployment of the Trident nuclear weapon system, and divulges hitherto un-revealed facets of nuclear weapons strategy and policy during this period.??This gripping read takes you onboard a nuclear submarine and into the depths of the ocean, and relays the excitement and apprehensions experienced by British submariners confronted by a massive Soviet Navy.??As featured on White Horse News and in the Bath Chronicle.

The Dramatic Story of a Nuclear Submariner

Cold War Command

The year is 1813. Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater succeeds Lord Dungarth as head of the Royal Navy's Secret Department. While the Grand Army of Napoleon faces defeat on the battlefields of Germany, the discovery of a secret treaty with America leads Drinkwater into the forbidding fjords of Norway, and one of the most desperate missions of his career. Increasingly isolated and affected by the long war with France and her allies, Drinkwater pursues his personal odyssey against often daunting odds. In a compelling narrative, the author brings vividly to life conditions at sea during the Napoleonic Wars. The fate of one of Napoleon's most charismatic marshals is linked with American privateers, escaped prisoners, and the Danish Navy, resulting in a violent confrontation set beneath the aurora.

Beneath the Aurora

This book takes a comprehensive look at the ships of all ages, from dugout canoes to Nelson's ships-of-the-line, from great battleships and ocean liners to today's most sophisticated container ships, aircraft carriers, and supertankers. Intertwined with the history of ships and the men who sailed them is the story of the technological, political, and economic developments that have shaped the evolution of nautical vessels, which Woodman succinctly places within their proper contexts, creating one of the most fascinating histories of man as inventor, trader, and warrior ever written.

The Comprehensive Story of Seafaring from the Earliest Times to the Present Day

The History of the Ship

AN EYE OF THE FLEET Nathaniel Drinkwater is engaged in dramatic action off the coast of Spain in Admiral Rodney's famous Moonlight Battle and the capture of the Santa Teresa. But his adventures also bring rebellion on board and a perilous expedition into the Carolina swamps. A KING'S CUTTER Clandestine operations off the coast of France aboard the twelve-gun cutter Kestrel involves Drinkwater in the French Revolution, rescuing refugees from Madame Guillotine and helping British agents infiltrate France. A BRIG OF WAR At the request of Nelson himself, Drinkwater is despatched to the Red Sea on an urgent mission, and he soon finds himself on a thrilling naval operation on the flank of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign.

An Eye of the Fleet, A King's Cutter, A Brig of War

The Rising Gale: Nathaniel Drinkwater Omnibus 1

It is 1792 and Nathaniel Drinkwater is back in the Royal Navy, this time appointed to the 12-gun cutter Kestrel, commanded by the inscrutable Madoc Griffiths. With the gathering menace of the French Revolution, he is involved in secret and dangerous operations off the French Coast, including the rescue of émigrés and the landing of agents. As Europe plunges deeper into war, Kestrel takes part in the struggle for supremacy in the Channel and Drinkwater has some sinister encounters with Edouard Santhonax, a man who is stirring up interest with British government agents. Through Drinkwater’s initiative the network of intrigue is discovered, but the Royal Navy is paralyzed by mutiny. Will Kestrel have to stand alone between the Dutch Fleet and disaster? Events come to a climax at Camperdown, and in the aftermath of the bloody battle Drinkwater and his opponent come face to face.

A Nathaniel Drinkwater Novel

A King's Cutter

Although Nelson's stunning victory at Trafalgar did not immediately win the war, it gave the Royal Navy the freedom to exploit the unprecedented seapower it had achieved. The threat from the French battlefleet was never entirely eliminated, but the rigorous policy of blockading the main bases meant that Napoleon's navy was never able to mount a significant challenge to British supremacy. Thereafter British policy was to employ its seapower, first to defend the ever-increasing trade that paid for the war-effort, and second to strike back at the dominant military power of France and its satellite states whenever the opportunity arose. Often the two strategies were closely linked, as in the gradual takeover of the French Caribbean colonies and the elimination of Dutch power in the East Indies. The Navy also fought all around the periphery of Europe, and although not every amphibious operation was as successful as the 1807 assault on Copenhagen, the naval aspect was usually executed with skill and aplomb. Even Wellington admitted that the Navy's support won him the Peninsular War. The period 1806-1814 witnessed continual naval warfare--against the Danes, the Russians, the Turks, and ultimately the Americans, as well as the French and their Dutch and Italian allies--and the ultimate defeat of Napoleon; this volume describes the naval aspect of that defeat in vivid detail.

Winning the Napoleonic War 1806-1814

The Victory of Seapower

Captain Richard Woodman

It is the summer of 1964 during the Far Eastern war euphemistically called ‘Confrontation’. A British Royal Marine patrol has orders to penetrate Indonesian Borneo to locate a river thought by Allied intelligence to be being used by the Indonesians to build up supplies before launching a major attack on Sarawak. Charged with this mission, Lieutenant Charles Kirton makes a most extraordinary discovery amid the dense mangrove swamps bordering river in Borneo. Not only does this discovery enable Kirton to fulfil his mission but it is quite coincidentally intensely personal and unpleasantly macabre. From this highly-charged opening sequence, the story flashes back a century to 1867, revealing the truth behind this strange event, when young Henry Kirton, Second Officer of the auxiliary steam-ship River Tay, is dumped ashore in Singapore, badly injured by a fall in the rigging of his ship. Woodman’s compelling tale has echoes of Joseph Conrad.

A Tale of the East Indies

A River in Borneo

Among the coral outcrops of the island of Rota, lies the wreck of a Spanish galleon, the Santa Margarita - Spring 1601. This is a reconstruction of the Santa Margaritas disastrous last voyage, beset by an extraordinary sequence of typhoons and storms. Based on what little is known of the ships journey overloaded cargo, bad-blood amongst the crew and a curse we are told a story of greed, horror, deprivation and unimaginable hardship by the handful of survivors rescued from the wreck.

Disastrous Voyage of the Santa Margarita

In A Brig of War, Nathaniel Drinkwater is promoted lieutenant of the brig Hellebore. He finds routine convoy escort duties end abruptly when Admiral Nelson, pursuing the French fleet to Egypt, sends Hellebore to the Red Sea with an urgent warning to the British squadron there. However, Nelson’s apprehensions over French ambitions in the East are more than justified. Edouard Santhonax, Drinkwater’s old enemy, is already preparing for a French descent on India. The hunt for this elusive Frenchman and his frigate is combined with British naval operations on the flank of Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign. It is during the attack on Kosseir that Drinkwater is left for dead. His escape and the subsequent desperate attack on Santhonax leads to a still more dangerous situation under Augustus Morris, former tyrant of the midshipmen’s berth on HMS Cyclops. Drinkwater’s fight to bring a half-armed ship safely to the cape of Good Hope is beset with personal enmity, the activity of the French, and the violence of the sea.

A Brig of War

This modern seafaring epic follows the Martin family through nearly 70 years of British maritime history.

The Darkening Sea

Jane Wilson

The Lighthouses of Trinity House - by Richard Woodman and Jane Wilson - is a wonderful celebration of the traditional lighthouses of England and Wales which are all administered by Trinity House. Fascinating personal reminiscences of some of Britain's last lighthouse keepers are included, together with individual portraits of all the Trinity House Lighthouses and light vessels in service today.

The Lighthouses of Trinity House

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 skilfully dissects the events of the war years, focussing 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 merchant ships. The whole magnificent sweep of this great struggle is set against its political background of the Napoleonic wars and the sea war with America.With this narrative come an extraordinary array of young, daring and hugely skilled frigate captains whose ability to grasp the chances offered by war made them household names in this savage age. Some, like Warren, Pellew, Cochrane and Collingwood, are still renowned; others are here rescued from under the shadow of Nelson as the author recounts their brave and brilliant exploits. rnAs well as the thrilling accounts of sea battles and single-ship actions, the author describes the darker side to life at sea the constant danger and harsh discipline, the wearying monotony of sea-keeping, the scourges of disease and the occasional outbreaks of mutiny. All this is brought together in a stirring narrative by one of the country's finest naval writers.

Fighting Captains and Frigate Warfare in the Age of Nelson

The Sea Warriors

Voyage East

Blue Funnel

It is 1801. Napoleon is reaching supreme power in France and has allied himself with Tsar Paul of Russia. Young captain Nathaniel Drinkwater is given command of an old ship, the Virago, to be sent to the Baltic as a bomb vessel. Drinkwater's ambition is to turn it back into a fighting ship, but his plans are thwarted. At the same time, Drinkwater's brother appeals for help in his desperate attempt to escape the gallows. As Sir Hyde Parker's fleet approaches the Danish coast, the Virago joins the battle. Amid gales and ice, Drinkwater strives to save his ship and his brother. But personal aims meet international war as, against the hazardous backdrop of Napoleon's onward march, Drinkwater's actions in the complex and bloody battle of Copenhagen become crucial.

Number 4 in series

The Bomb Vessel

This modern seafaring epic follows the Martin family through nearly 70 years of British maritime history. From the clash of mighty battleships at Jutland in 1916 to the cold splendor of the present-day Arctic, 'The Darkening Sea' traces the fortunes of the Martin family throughout nearly seventy years of British maritime history. James and John Martin see varied action from service on battle-cruisers in the North Sea during the Great War to cargo-passenger ships on the exploited coast of 1930s China; from the war of corvette vs. U-boats in the North Atlantic to the long slog of Pacific Fleet protection in a WWII destroyer. Along the way, they find love, disillusion and fulfillment. The women in their lives --- sisters, wives and lovers --- also have their own ambitions in an ever-changing world.

Nathaniel Drinkwater is promoted lieutenant of the brig Hellebore, and routine convoy escort duties end abruptly when Admiral Nelson, pursuing the French fleet to Egypt, sends Hellebore to the Red Sea with an urgent warning to the British squadron there. However, Nelson's apprehensions over French ambitions in the East are more than justified. Edouard Santhonax, Drinkwater's old enemy, is already preparing for a French descent on India. The hunt for this elusive Frenchman and his frigate combine with British naval operations on the flank of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. The attack on Kosseir spells near-fatal danger for the hero, and Drinkwater is left for dead, with victory over Santhonax a distant hope.

Number 3 in series

A Brig Of War

From the day Mussolini's Italy declared war on Britain in June 1940, the island of Malta was under siege. Its strategic importance was obvious to both sides, blocking as it did the supply route across the Mediterranean from Italy to the Axis armies in North Africa. It had to be bombed out of existence by the Axis powers and preserved at all costs by the British. That Malta survived was due to the courage and fortitude of her people and to the dauntless determination of the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy. Here Richard Woodman tells the full, terrifying story of how - at fearsome cost - the impossible was achieved.

Malta Convoys, 1940-1943

In A Brig of War, Nathaniel Drinkwater is promoted lieutenant of the brig Hellebore. He finds routine convoy escort duties end abruptly when Admiral Nelson, pursuing the French fleet to Egypt, sends Hellebore to the Red Sea with an urgent warning to the British squadron there. However, Nelson’s apprehensions over French ambitions in the East are more than justified. Edouard Santhonax, Drinkwater’s old enemy, is already preparing for a French descent on India. The hunt for this elusive Frenchman and his frigate is combined with British naval operations on the flank of Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign. It is during the attack on Kosseir that Drinkwater is left for dead. His escape and the subsequent desperate attack on Santhonax leads to a still more dangerous situation under Augustus Morris, former tyrant of the midshipmen’s berth on HMS Cyclops. Drinkwater’s fight to bring a half-armed ship safely to the cape of Good Hope is beset with personal enmity, the activity of the French and the violence of the sea.

#3 A Nathaniel Drinkwater Novel

Nathaniel Drinkwater's life at sea begins with the HMS CYCLOPS' capture of the SANTA TERESA during Admiral Rodney's dramatic Moonlight Battle of 1780. Subsequently, Drinkwater's courage and initiative are put to the test as the CYCLOPS pursues American privateers threatening British trade and is later dispatched to the swamps of South Carolina, where many lives are lost both at sea and ashore. Gradually, Drinkwater matures into a capable and self-assured sailor. As he contends with enemy forces, the tyranny of the CYCLOPS's midshipman, and the stark contrast between the comfort of home life and the brutality of naval service, he finds strength and sustenance in the love of his beloved Elizabeth.

Richard Woodman

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