Customer Reviews

To Glory We Steer

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Though Richard Bolitho is old enough and experienced enough to be taking on his first frigate command as this book opens, it is in fact the first of the Bolitho novels to have been published. A tyrannical previous captain has driven the crew to the edge of mutiny and as Bolitho sails for the West Indies for the closing stages of the American War of Independence his own crew is as much a threat to him as is the enemy. A skilfully handled American Privateer almost brings Bolitho's career to a premature end and the identity of its captain is such as to rub salt in the wound. Despite all, Bolitho battles back with courage, indomitability and humane leadership and forges his crew and ship into a single weapon that comes victoriously through the decisive Battle of the Saintes, the last of the war. One stalwart supporter of Bolitho makes his exit in glory while another, Allday, makes his first appearance in a most dramatic way. All the best features of the other novels in the series - convincing characterisation, absorbing technical detail, exciting action sequences and a strong plot line - are apparent in this earliest-published adventure.

All of Alexander Kent's (a pen name) Richard Bolitho series are well-written. This one, they say was written first, but I suggest you read them in the chronological order of the protagonist's (Richard Bolitho) career. beginning with the one titled, Midshipman Bolitho. In that order this is number four, in which he is given command of a frigate, the Phalarope, his second command. Bolitho's naval career starts at the tender age of 12, but the first book in the series picks him up at the age of 16--already a veteran midshipman.

Kent is a first rate story-teller. His main concern is the story, rather than a mass of technical detail about ship's rigs, sails, etc., which are of interest to some of us, but of less interest, perhaps, to those who simply want to get on with the story. None of his stories drag. There is action a-plenty, including lurid descriptions of men getting their heads blown off and their limbs amputated. Hand-to-hand combat is common in boarding parties and on dry land expeditions.

I have some personal experience with sailing vessels, having built and sailed my own ketch-rigged sailboat on the Pacific with my family, and so far as I can tell Kent's sail handling descriptions, although necessarily abbreviated for the sake of the story, are technically accurate. I am more familiar with fore and aft rigs than square riggers, though.

This book concerns the end period of the American Revolution. Bolitho's Phalarope is operating in the West Indies. It is refreshing to see that war through the eyes of a British naval officer, and it rings with truth. The final battle, pitting the French Admiral De Grasse against the British George Rodney and Hood, at the sea battle known as the battle of the Saintes, in the Caribbean, ends in glory for Bolitho.

Bolitho is called upon to command the Phalarope after the death of a harsh captain who drove his crew to the edge of mutiny, and to make matters worse, his complement was filled out with rogues who were not wanted by other ships of the fleet, by an admiral who disliked him.

This is a very good book, which, if you are like me, you will enjoy and find it hard to put down.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

Alexander Kent is often compared to C.S. Forester, and the Bolitho books are a worthy successor to Hornblower's adventures. Richard Bolitho is somewhat like Hornblower, a sensitive, humanitarian officer, who often goes beyond the letter of his orders to storm his way to victory. He forms a lifelong friendship with Thomas Herrick, who first appears in the series and in this book, as Bush is a friend to Hornblower, but there are a number of differences. We see a lot more of Bolitho's family than we ever knew of Hornblower, his dad, who has been retired by injuries from the sea, a family with a long tradition of seamen, a brother who deserts and comes back to haunt Richard's path, and more family down the road. But one thing that dominates these books, and those who have run out of Hornblower books to read will love, is a wonderfully rich description of life on sailing ships in the Royal Navy, although this book, the earliest written, leaves us at the end with something of an anti-climax at the battle of the Saintes. That would really be my only criticism--but it is a wonderfully exciting tale of derring-do. Bolitho even has to contend, not just with a ship that has run away from battle at the start, before he assumed command, but he has to keep his ship from mutiny again as the story unfolds. I like Bolitho, I think, almost as well as Hornblower.

Alexander Kent was second after Dudley Pope to launch a naval series that followed in the wake of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower. Like Forester, Kent set the first novel when his hero had achieved captaincy and then filled in on both sides. From the beginning Kent established his Richard Bolitho as a stalwart hero in the mould of Hornblower or Pope's Ramage. Kent's novels would be defined by brutal realistic naval battles, action and the spirit of high adventure.

To Glory We Steer is set in the waning months of the American Revolution. Yorktown has been lost and the French under Admiral DeGrasse are looking to extend the victory and drive the British out of the Caribbean. Bolitho is sent to the Caribbean in command of a ship in which a mutiny was put down. The officers and men are all questionable. Can Richard Bolitho assume command, obtain the loyalty of his men and administer a caning to the French? Of course he can but the fun is in watching him do it.

The Bolitho novels are cast in the post-romantic mode. Kent excels at action as his titles imply. However, the author knows what real war is like and doesn't flinch in describing the effects of cutlasses and grapeshot on human flesh. Given that the novel was first published during the height of the Vietnam War, it's hard to imagine that Kent could have written To Glory We Steer any other way.

Kent keeps sex out of To Glory We Steer following MacLean's dictum that it interfers with the action. In fact, there are no women at all in the book. One sailor's wife has significance to the plot but she doesn't enter the action. To Glory We Steer is a manly book about manly men doing manly things.

To Glory We Steer is not as polished as the novels that followed and in my view suffers from one climax too many. The Battle of the Saintes should be the climax of the novel and it loses some of its punch because of earlier action. Also, there are some opportunities missed because Kent wrote the series out of chronological order. For instance, he meets another officer named Dancer. Having read Richard Bolitho-Midshipman and Richard Bolitho and the `Avenger', my first thought was that Bolitho would say, "I served with a Martyn Dancer..." or something to that effect. However, there is no mention of the earlier Dancer. These are minor foibles.

It's a little rough around the edges but it's still a great start to great series. Kent novels make an excellent guilty pleasure.

I have read the Alexander Kent bolitho series since I was in college. I personally think them superior to the Hornblower series, and they undoubtedly are the best of the genre. Exciting, accurate, well-written, and full of adventure against enemy and sea, they give a superb picture of life and warfare at sea in the age of sail.

This volume is my favorite. Kent knows his business regarding both seamanship and ships, and leadership, both routine and in combat. He has created a world that encompassess heroes and villains, veterans and neophytes, graceful frigates and ponderous ships of the line, and the darting sloops and brigs that did most of the dirty work.

The characters are unforgettable, from Richard Bolitho, Thomas Herrick who becomes his friend and loyal 1st Lieutenant, to Captain Rennie of the ship's marine detachment. And of course, there is John Allday, veteran seaman, pressed man, and who becomes perhaps Bolitho's closestThe ship herself is a main character, and no one who ever reads this book will forget the frigate HMS Phalarope. To those who 'go down to the sea in ships' the vessels themselves are alive, which undoubtedly they are, and this frigate is unforgettable, gallant, and as enduring as her crew.

This novel is superb, a tale of high deeds, mutiny, loyalty, friendship, and the horror of combat. Read in conjunction with Robert Gardiner's factual, well illustrated books on the age of sail, they are an unbeatable combination.

"To Glory We Steer" is the fifth installment of the "Richard Bolitho" series of naval fiction novels. This one sees Captain Bolitho take command of a frigate. The vessel has been plagued by tyrannical bad leadership and it is Bolitho's task to set things right. Easier said than done, as he faces a hostile Admiral, determined American and French enemies, and more besides. This novel presents Bolitho with difficult decisions about leadership and how to enforce discipline without undue cruelty--not an easy balance to strike in the 18th Century British navy.

There is plenty of action in this novel, and it seems to me that the author's writing gets clearer as one progresses through the Bolitho series. I am reading these novels in order, and the early ones occasionally lose the reader in the fast-moving action scenes. In this one I was always clear on what was going on. The story is linear and interesting, and holds the reader's interest throughout, with not a few surprises along the way. Recommended. RJB.

This installment of Richard Bolitho's adventures is a great read.
Bolitho must face mutiny and whip his crew into shape. Can he prevail? Of course, but there is a lot of action along the way. Kent's novels are just packed with action and fighting, so if that's what you want in a naval fiction series, then this is the series to read. The books are also easy to read--not too much jargon and the stories move along at a quick pace.
One other thing that I like about the Bolitho series is that there is a bit more realism with respect to the battles than in some of the other series I've read. No one in Bolitho's posse is safe--many of his closest buddies get blown away. I was actually sad when his beloved cox'n bought it in this one. For some reason, I had just thought he'd be there through the entire series. So, any particular character may be there for a while, but then disappear, only to be replaced by someone else. I guess the navy must have been like that at the time.
Very good read; you'll enjoy it.

Great story of adventure on the high seas. Good descriptions of period naval battles and interesting historical information.

It's a very good book in a very good series. For some reason, it just keeps getting sadder, but I like it anyway. This one's quite so sad yet, but it's getting there. Also, there's an important character with the same name as me, and that's always fun, unless that person dies. Then it's kind of scary. I liked Bolitho better when he was younger, though. He's happier. Read it. You'll enjoy it.

Opening with a mutiny and then a horrific battle scene, this is the hardest, grimmest Dick Bolitho novel yet. As the preceding Sloop of War was a masterful study in types of command, this is raw battle, ferociously repeated. Glory is also a novel of loyalties, of officer to seaman, and especially the types of loyalty and disloyalty possible from the lower decks to the poop.The crew Bolitho inherits is already reluctant and mutinous, so his admiral adds all the rogues from the rest of the fleet on the West Indies Station! His lieutenants are contentious, and can be suspected of worse intent than the disgraced previous captain. And then while still trying to mold his crew into a fighting team Bolitho meets his brother, in command of a fierce American privateer, who becomes his nemesis before the climactic 1782 Battle of the Saintes with the entire French Caribbean fleet trying to steal a march on the British during their preoccupation with the American Revolution.

Kent is great on fighting action, each novel having three or four battles at sea, and often one overland. Bolitho is "lucky" in this as well as his success, because I'm sure real captains, even Lord Cochrane, could hardly have had so many in a full career, With these two powerful novels, Sloop and Glory, Kent becomes a real contender in naval fiction. Interestingly, they are among the first written in the series. After tour de force novels like these, it's difficult to imagine how Kent will keep it up for the rest of the way in this very long series (now pushing $400 to buy, if you become hooked).