Ramage’s Diamond, by Dudley Pope

June 7, 2009 by Nekkidblogger · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Dudley Pope, Lord Ramage, Main character, book review, historical fiction 

Ramage has now been made post and is sent to the Caribbean as captain of the frigate HMS Juno. He takes over Juno from a captain that has been given court martial for drunkenness, and has to whip one of the sloppiest crews and ships he has ever seen into shape on the journey from England to Martinique. Ramage's Diamond, by Dudley Pope And what a delightful and interesting journey it is – Pope has never before let Lord Ramage run this loose. It is like a tale of the unexpected, or as Lord Ramage himself says: “Ships sink for unexpected reasons”. So he sets out not only to whip some discipline into the ship, make the seaman perform to Navy standards, but also to prepare the ship for the unexpected!

The main action takes place at Martinique in the summer of 1804.Having arrived, Ramage, as the most junior captain of the station, is assigned a seeming boring task. But with Ramage, it does not get boring: Rather he performs surprising actions on a routine basis (actually based on historical events, an action performed by Commodore Samuel Hood), and Ramage’s Diamond retells the story of a tremendous feat of martial engineering. As well, Ramage captures frigates and schooners, and quickly builds his own little fleet. Seeing the importance of controlling the shipping lanes in and out of Fort de France, he mounts batteries on a towering rock (the Diamond). Then, utilizing the batteries, and his little fleet, and some very clever tactics, he manages to defeat a much larger French fleet and supply convoy. Ramage sink, burns or captures the entire convoy!

This is an incredibly good and wonderful book. Generally the books in the Ramage series are of excellent quality and with lots of extremely interesting – sometimes ingenious – action. Even so, Ramage’s Diamond is a cut above the rest of the books in the series that I have read so far. An impressive book and a great joy to read, especially for people reading the whole series!

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

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Ramage & the Freebooters, by Dudley Pope

May 22, 2009 by Nekkidblogger · Leave a Comment
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.” Ramage and the Freebooters, by Dudley Pope 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.

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