Review

'Nautical novelist Richard Woodman arrives in New World ports with the first three of 14 installments in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series, previously released in the U.K. between 1981 and 1983 and compared by critics there to C. S. Forester's Hornblower saga. Part of the Mariner's Library Fiction Classics, An Eye of the Fleet, A King's Cutter, and A Brig of War are set in the late 18th Century and find hero Drinkwater caught up in revolutions on both sides of the Atlantic. Those looking for high seas action and historical intrigue are in luck but these are strictly for devotees of the genre.' --Publishers Weekly, May 2001

About the Author

As a professional sailor, Richard Woodman has progressed from apprentice to captain in a variety of ships. Along with the Drinkwater series, he has written nautical fiction about tea-clippers and cargo liners and is a member of the Society for Nautical Research. Woodman lives in England, and is considered one of the strongest voices in nautical fiction today.

Review

'Nautical novelist Richard Woodman arrives in New World ports with the first three of 14 installments in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series, previously released in the U.K. between 1981 and 1983 and compared by critics there to C. S. Forester's Hornblower saga. Part of the Mariner's Library Fiction Classics, An Eye of the Fleet, A King's Cutter and A Brig of War are set in the late 18th Century and find hero Drinkwater caught up in revolutions on both sides of the Atlantic. Those looking for high seas action and historical intrigue are in luck but these are strictly for devotees of the genre.' --Publishers Weekly, May 2001

About the Author

As a professional sailor, Richard Woodman has progressed from apprentice to captain in a variety of ships. Along with the Drinkwater series, he has written nautical fiction about tea-clippers and cargo liners and is a member of the Society for Nautical Research. Woodman lives in England, and is considered one of the strongest voices in nautical fiction today.

Drinkwater, in his fight to bring a half-armed ship safely to the Cape of Good Hope, is best with personal enmity and the violence of the sea.

From Publishers Weekly

Although there's some good sea action in Woodman's (Keepers of the Sea new adventure, the chief attraction is the vivid depiction of the politics of Europe and the Royal Navy in Lord Nelson's day. In 1800, Lieut. Nathaniel Drinkwater wangles a command for himself though it's only aboard the "bomb tender" Virago, a 40-year-old former mortar ship. After Drinkwater makes Virago shipshape, she plays an important role in the 1801 attack on Copenhagen. En route to this climactic battle, Drinkwater contends with Navy politics, a cowardly blackguard of a purser, his own fugitive brother and, not least, the Danish artillery. The corruption, snobbery and pigheadedness of the Navy Office, "those portals of perfidy and corruption," is nicely conveyed, as is the Navy lore, augmented by an interesting, low-key portrait of the great Nelson.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Lt. Drinkwater, of the British navy, takes part in the Baltic expedition of 1801. Though in command of a mere support ship for the bomb vessels (as mortar-firing ships were called), his initiative brings him to the notice of Lord Nelson. This leads to a fighting command at the bombardment of Copenhagen and promotion to commander. Drinkwater brings C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower to mind. Though quicker tempered and less introspective, Drinkwater has the same decisive nature and willingness to take risks. Also, like Forester, Woodman's technical knowledge of ships and tactics is extensive enough to satisfy the knowledgeable reader's desire for correct detail. The book is intended as part of a series but will stand alone as a good sea story. Recommended for public libraries. C. Robert Nixon, M.L.S, W. Lafayette, Ind.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The frozen splendor of the Arctic Ocean and the absorbing drama of a nineteenth century whale hunt unfold in The Corvette. Rewarded by promotion for his services at the Battle of Copenhagen, Commander Drinkwater is dispatched in haste to replace the captain of the MELUSINE, who has been shot in a duel. The ship sails as an escort to a whaling fleet on its annual expedition to the Greenland Sea in pursuit of right whales. During the whale hunt the loss of one of the vessels sets off a chain of misfortune. Disaster, death and treachery result. To repair his ship, Drinkwater seeks shelter off the Greenland coast and finds more hazards than the Arctic alone can produce. It is here that Drinkwater makes the most difficult decision of his career.

From Library Journal

This duo of sea adventures spans the historic to the contemporary. Written in 1988, Baltic Mission is an installment in Woodman's Nathaniel Drinkwater series. This episode finds the British sailor on a secret assignment for the crown while Napoleon continues to acquire real estate. Drinkwater is soon at odds with his crew and hamstrung by his drunken first mate. The Endangered Species of this 1992 title are both the British merchant fleet and Capt. John Mackinnon, skipper of the Matthew Flinders. On his last voyage before retirement, Mackinnon, too, finds himself facing a hostile crew, as well as a typhoon and a load of Vietnamese refugees he feels he must rescue and deliver to safety. Now that Patrick O'Brian is gone, this is a solid author to recommend.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

As a professional sailor, Richard Woodman has sailed in a variety of ships serving from apprentice to captain. Besides the Nathaniel Drinkwater series, he has written nautical fiction about tea-clippers and cargo liners and is a member of the Society for Nautical Research. His latest book is "The History of the Ship." Woodman lives in England and is considered one of the strongest voices in nautical fiction today.

The seventh book in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series.

 Written in 1988, Baltic Mission is an installment in Woodman's Nathaniel Drinkwater series. This episode finds the British sailor on a secret assignment for the crown while Napoleon continues to acquire real estate. Drinkwater is soon at odds with his crew and hamstrung by his drunken first mate.

The eighth book in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series.

The capture of a Spanish frigate augurs well for Drinkwater, but he has disturbed a hornets' nest of colonial intrigue. The Spanish are eager to humiliate him and he finds himself in solitary confinement and his ship a prize of the enemy.

Octubre de 1779. Nathaniel Drinkwater ingresa a sus catorce años en la Armada Real británica como guardiamarina. Su primer destino será la fragata Cyclops, de treinta y seis cañones. A partir de ese momento su vida dará un giro radical; aprenderá la dureza de la vida entrecubiertas, llegará su bautismo en combate frente a las costas del Cabo Santa María y llevará a cabo misiones en el Mediterráneo, en las islas del Canal y, finalmente, en las Carolinas justo en el momento en que los rebeldes americanos presionan más a las tropas leales a la Corona.

The first book in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series.

Tells of the rise in the 1780s of Nathanial Drinkwater to the rank of Lieutenant in the Navy. Prior to promotion he saves a young seaman from the brutal attentions of a depraved midshipman and in the process, wins the love of a parson's daughter.

The second book in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series.

Midshipman Drinkwater is back in the Navy in 1792, appointed to the 12-gun cutter Kestral. Off the French coast, the Kestral becomes involved in the secret and dangerous adventures linked with the rescuing of emigres. Drinkwater plays a vital role in the landing of agents.

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.

Analiza en este libro el proceso de transformación psicológica de aquellos que luchan por descubrir el lado femenino de su psique. Trabaja con obesos, bulímicos y otras adicciones como son la adicción al trabajo, al poder, etc… A través de su experiencia de analista junguiana nos muestra el camino para reencontrarnos con la parte femenina de nuestro ser que permanece aún virgen y permitir de este modo que nuestras acciones sean fruto de la autenticidad y no del deseo de agradar y de ser aceptados.

Octubre de 1792. Nathaniel Drinkwater ha pasado once años en la Trinity House después de que su nombramiento como teniente de la Armada Real Británica no se ratificara. Ahora, cuando creía que su carrera se había estancado, le llega una nueva oportunidad; el antiguo primer teniente de la Cyclops, Lord Dungarth, le reclama de vuelta para una misión muy especial: a bordo del Kestrel, cúter de doce cañones comandado por el singular Madoc Griffiths, deberá llevar a cabo una serie de operaciones secretas en las costas de la Francia revolucionaria. A medida que Europa se precipita hacia la guerra, el Kestrel participará en la lucha por el control del Canal de la Mancha y Drinkwater se cruzará por primera vez con el siniestro y escurridizo Edouard Santhonax, agente del Directorio y enemigo acérrimo de los británicos. Un motín generalizado que pretendía paralizar a la Armada Real, desembocará en la famosa batalla naval de Kamperduin, donde británicos y holandeses, estos últimos instigados por agentes de la vecina Francia, se enfrentarán en una batalla naval épica; y donde nuestro protagonista y Santhonax se enfrentarán finalmente cara a cara en un duelo singular.

Portentosa y atmosférica novela ambientada en la guerra de la independencia americana. Novela para lobos de mar, para aventureros, para grumetes y capitanes. Para todo aquel que disfrute con una lectura naval en todo el sentido de la palabra, casi escuchando el mar de fondo. Novela de acción para los amantes de las batallas navales, las maniobras y los abordajes.La novela, la primera de una saga, nos presenta las andanzas del Guardiamarina Drinkwater, curioso nombre por otra parte. Guardiamarina de la armada de su Majestad el Rey de Inglaterra. A bordo de la fragata Cyclops vivirá una serie de aventuras que harán las delicias de los amantes al género naval del siglo XVIII.Lo bueno de esta novela es que no es la típica novela naval, donde todo transcurre en la cubierta, a cañonazo limpio. Tenemos las vivencias del joven Drinkwater no solo en lo que a la acción y al zafarrancho de combate se refiere. Nos va contando como se vive debajo de las cubiertas, como son las relaciones humanas, tanto las buenas como las malas, los entresijos de las clases dentro del barco, los oficiales y la marinería. Incluso como se vivía una vez en puerto, esperando para partir, las costumbres y vivencias de los marineros en tierra firme.Con respecto a la acción, tenemos un poco de todo. Tenemos acción contra los Españoles, contra los Franceses y contra los Americanos. No hay que olvidar que es una fragata de la Royal Navy.

Un bergantín de guerra nos traslada al Mar Rojo donde la fragata Hellebore, cuyo segundo al mando del capitán Griffith es Drinkwater, llegará por orden de Nelson para impedir que tropas francesas traten de pasar a la India, una de las colonias más importantes de Inglaterra. Estamos ante la tercera entrega de esta serie de novelas sobre la marinería británica donde se mezclan personajes ficticios y reales; Richard Woodman respeta en todo momento acontecimientos históricos aunque lo que prima en su novela es, sobre todo en su segunda parte, la acción.