Lieutenant Christopher [Paperback]

William P. MacK (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eighteen-year-old Matthew Christopher leaves his father's Annapolis shipyard for a warship in this straightforward historical sea adventure from Vice-Admiral (Ret.) Mack (South to Java). Christopher's swashbuckling days begin in 1775 under the command of Captain Nicholas Biddle of the Continental Navy, but he soon comes to the attention of John Paul Jones and serves as his aide on the frigate Ranger. After a brief, happy retirement with his new wife and baby son, Christopher fights alongside Jones again, this time aboard the Bonhomme Richard (where he gets to hear Jones announce "I have not yet begun to fight"). Despite anachronistic, wooden dialogue (the Christophers' marriage is a bland model of 1990s egalitarianism) and a surprising lack of general historical knowledge (his colonials read Dickens), Mack writes descriptions of shipbuilding and sea battles just vibrant enough to please maritime-adventure junkies.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Nautical & Aviation Pub Co of Amer; 1 edition (September 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1877853577
• ISBN-13: 978-1877853579
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,437,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing., November 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Lieutenant Christopher: A Novel of the Sea (Hardcover)

C.S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian have set a high bar for novels set in the "Age of Fighting Sail." Some authors such as Alexander Kent or James Nelson meet or get close to that bar. Unfortunately, William Mack does not. To be fair, I must admit that I have not read his series of novels set on a World War Two destroyer, so I can't say if this book is any better or worse. I can say that it suffers from rather flat characters, a lack of that descriptive "color" that makes the reader feel a participant in some grand historic event, and dialogue that sounds far too modern. The last is particularly jarring : one bit of dialogue refers to "kicking their butt"; another refers to English as "Brits," a twentieth-century term. At one point a character refers to "Texans." In 1777? Wasn't it called "Tejas" then? Recommended for real Fighting Sail enthusiasts only.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Extremely disappointing, May 15, 2001

By 

M. Werner (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lieutenant Christopher (Paperback)

This novel has so many flaws that it is impossible to list them all. However, the first page should have enough to deter any serious reader of sailing fiction or the American Revolution: Congress issuing letters of marque in March 1775, which is a month before the Battle of Lexington in April 1775 (see any history). A forty ton ship carrying sixteen 9-pounders,which should more appropriately be four or six 6-pounders maximum (see Chapelle, Millar, Eller, etc.). French influence on small ship design, which is questionable at best and only possibly applicable to Frigate design (see Chapelle).

Moreover, the numerous contemporary slang used in the novel were rediculous. I've read the fiction of Marryat, Styles, Forester, Kent (Reeman), Pope, O'Brian, Parkinson, Woodman, Hoyt, Llewellyn, Lambdin, Nelson, Cooper and others. All were able to accurately depict the times and moods of the period, so greatly so and some only moderately so. However, Lieutenant Christopher by Mack is a horrible failure and doesn't come close. I've destroyed my copy of the novel so that it doesn't fall into the hands of any unsuspecting reader.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Most Enjoyable, September 6, 2000

By 

Mandy (SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lieutenant Christopher (Paperback)

Mack's first novel about the Continental Navy is fast-paced and fun to read. The Christopher family of shipwrights on the Chesapeake Bay is believeable and skillfully portrayed. When father and son go privateering against the British, you are right on board with them, and when the son volunteers to serve under the legendary Captain John Paul Jones the patriots' cause comes alive. The author's description of shipbuilding supports this salty tale and is full of interesting information about America's first Navy.