Sails on the Horizon, by Jay Worrall

May 29, 2009 by Nekkidblogger
Filed under: Charles Egdemont, Jay Worrall, Main character, book review, historical fiction, naval fiction

This is Worrall’s debut as a historical fiction writer. He tells the tale of Charles Edgemont, a very interesting and appealing hero who does naval battle with the French and their allies during the Napoleonic Wars.

In Sails on the Horizon, he starts out as a lowly lieutenant for a few pages. However, when his ship, the outdated line of the battle ship Argonaut, is ordered to sacrifice herself in an attempt to stall the Spanish fleet he is quickly elevated to master when his superiors fall in battle. Argonaut gives a good account of herself, even though she is completely wrecked. Edgemont refuses to strike his colors despite the overwhelming odds, and by holding out for a few crucial moments he influences the tide of the battle.

As a result of having done his job, young Charles finds himself a wealthy man due to the prize money he gets after the fight. As well, he is elevated to commander status on a permanent basis by Admiral Jarvis, even thought in his own eyes he does not deserve it.

He takes over a temporary command of a brig, whips her crew into shape and captures prizes while patrolling the Irish Sea. As well, he falls in love with a pretty and somewhat strange – but very interesting and beautiful – Quaker neighbor named Penelope Brown. And, being a rich man, he helps his brother out of his financial problems and buys himself a large property as well.

Aboard his new permanent command, the frigate, Louisa, Charles is assigned the task of making certain that the 40 gun Spanish frigate Santa Brigida is prevented from attacking British vessels outside the coast of Spain. As the Spanish ship outguns Charles frigate, he has to find a way of attacking the Spanish ship which can maximize his own odds, otherwise his chances will be slim indeed. He thinks he can see a way to do it, but will his plan hold?

Sails on the Horizon is very well-written, the battle scenes are engaging, the story is very appealing, and the hero and heroine are very likable. The book shows that Worrall has considerable expertise in ship and naval warfare history. The biggest minuses, to my mind, are perhaps that the plot is a little too smooth, and that there are some pretty historically unlikely events in the book. However, Sails on the Horizon is an excellent debut and a very, very entertaining read. Hardly a dull moment!

Links to Jay Worrall’s books at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.