Ramage & the Freebooters, by Dudley Pope

May 22, 2009 by Nekkidblogger
Filed under: Dudley Pope, Lord Ramage, Main character, book review, historical fiction, naval fiction, recommendation

(This book was published as The Triton Brig in USA) The first line of the book reads: “As Ramage’s carriage rattled along Whitehall he was surprised to see the long and wide street was almost deserted.” The reason is the Spithead mutiny. Lord Ramage is called to the Admiralty and given command as well as an urgent mission, but as the brig is part of the mutiny; his task is not an easy one and requires solving unusual problems. However, as we all know, this is Ramage’s forte!

If he gets away from Spithead, Ramage is to deliver three sealed dispatches to admirals off Brest and Cadiz, and in the Caribbean. If he fails, he will become a very convenient scapegoat.

This is how the third novel in the Ramage series starts. As the two previous ones, it is an extraordinarily exciting story which captures all the romance, mystery and adventure of the Caribbean in Nelson’s day.

Having arrived in the Caribbean, he is instructed to stop the mysterious loss of ships sailing from Grenada to Barbados after two frigate captains had previously failed to do so. A new puzzle, and again he is set up as a scapegoat. He has no choice, but must gamble that he will be successful. And, as it turns out, logical analysis and a keen understanding of the economics of piracy soon leads Lord Ramage in the direction of the freebooters.

Dudley Pope delivers excellent adventure yarn with delightful, well thought out plots. Few among the writers of naval historical fiction from the romantic Era of Sail knows (or knew) more about the times, the Navy and life in it than Dudley Pope. Pope has also written several non-fiction historical books of great value. He also has a cunning ability to convey how the best of the best handle emergency situations, and – as well – portrays these situations with realism and authenticity. Ramage and the Freebooters is very exciting. It is at least the equal of the first two books in this series. A great trill to read!

Link to Dudley Pope’s books at Ramage at amazon US, amazon UK, and at amazon CAN.