A Darker Sea
Master Commandant Putnam and the War of 1812
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4.0 • 29 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The second installment of the gripping naval saga by award-winning historian James L. Haley, featuring Commander Bliven Putnam, chronicling the build up to the biggest military conflict between the United States and Britain after the Revolution—the War of 1812.
At the opening of the War of 1812, the British control the most powerful navy on earth, and Americans are again victims of piracy. Bliven Putnam, late of the Battle of Tripoli, is dispatched to Charleston to outfit and take command of a new 20-gun brig, the USS Tempest. Later, aboard the Constitution, he sails into the furious early fighting of the war.
Prowling the South Atlantic in the Tempest, Bliven takes prizes and disrupts British merchant shipping, until he is overhauled, overmatched, and disastrously defeated by the frigate HMS Java. Its captain proves to be Lord Arthur Kington, whom Bliven had so disastrously met in Naples. On board he also finds his old friend Sam Bandy, one of the Java's pressed American seamen kidnapped into British service. Their whispered plans to foment a mutiny among the captives may see them hang, when the Constitution looms over the horizon for one of the most famous battles of the War of 1812 in a gripping, high-wire conclusion. With exquisite detail and guns-blazing action, A Darker Sea illuminates an unforgettable period in American history.
Customer Reviews
Sailing at Its Best
The only good part of this book is there is no sex in it. Well worth reading.
Unrealistic
I love naval fiction. Patrick O’Brian is my favorite author. The Hornblower series is almost as good. Dewey Lambdin’s Alan Lewry series is good, but a notch or two down. I had high hopes for this series featuring Bliven Putnam since it features the fledgling US Navy and my favorite ship of all, the USS Constitution
I trust that the history is correct. It’s all well documented so it should be. It’s always fun to catch up on naval history. Unfortunately, the story line is way too unrealistic. And the author loses track of the chronology of the events. It’s is simply impossible that a young man could join the Navy as a midshipman, and three months later be promoted to Lieutenant. That process takes many years, sometimes decades, no matter how much bravery one demonstrates. It just wasn’t done. And the story is written as though there is only Putnam and the individual captains running the show. No mention of all the other senior midshipmen and lieutenants. As far as chronology is concerned, how can Putnam help save Sam’s life by performing some rudimentary form of CPR after they both jumped from the Java and were brought aboard the Connie, Sam basically dead. Remember, Putnam went aboard and took over the bow chasers, raked the Java’s quarterdeck killing the Captain and ending the battle. After all that, he had time to mosey on down to the sickbay and help revive Sam through CPR. Come on! You can do better than that! Two books, that’s enough for me from this series.