Customer Reviews

Ramage's Mutiny

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wherein Capt. Ramage expects prize moneys (from #7 DIAMOND), fits out a captured frigate, attends a court martial, hears of mutiny and a mad captain, reconnoiters the Spanish Main (I'd always wondered what that was) on an impossible task, cleverly incites a "mutiny," enters an enemy harbor and mans another ship, sets off some fireworks, is hit by a storm, and searches for a bit of treasure. Just another West Indies adventure taken in stride by Lord Ramage!

An interesting facet of these middle books in the series (this is #8, and they're not so good if read out of order), is how Dudley Pope is using Ramage's officers as commentators on the qualities of superior leadership, exemplified by the inspiring Capt. Ramage of course. Here it is finely calibrated anticipation of enemy responses and "planned surprises" for them (a la the real Lord Cochrane's prescriptions, again). Pope skillfully lays out Ramage's plans but never spoils them with anticipatory details: you still have to guess 'em. The Admiral back in Antigua makes a fine foil for Ramage's audacity. The concluding chapters are something of an anticlimax.

The action scenes race along, and the storm fearsomely roars--a sudden calderete cascading from the Venezuelan mountain valleys. Another wrap around cover art by Paul Wright (but the sail plan depicted doesn't make sense to me). One map of the eastern Caribbean ("Cannibal") Sea, that would have been good to have back in volume 3 already.

Throughout this excellent series of Napoleon naval adventures, the author never makes the tactical mistake of trying to cram too many plot lines between the covers of each volume. He generally sticks to two or three main narrative threads, and that's the case here. Having essentially captured a French merchant fleet with only his own frigate and a couple of smaller French vessels which he had captured earlier, Capt. Lord Ramage, the youngest post captain in the Royal Navy, has developed quite a reputation and has been gazetted several times in rapid succession -- all of which isn't making him many friends among his superior officers, actually. But he has a way of interpreting his orders to do what he wants (or thinks he needs) to do anyway. This one starts with the court martial (described in great detail) of a handful of recaptured mutineers who had taken over the frigate JOCASTA two years before and turned her over to the Spanish. They were morally justified, probably, because of the psychopathic cruelty of their captain -- though mutiny is never justified in the navy's eyes, for very good reasons, even though the members of the court are appalled at the testimony of the accused. (All this is based on the true tragedy of the HERMIONE, whose company mutinied for much the same reasons.) But then Ramage receives orders to cut out and recover the JOCASTA from one of the most secure ports on the Main, following a failed attempt by the commanding admiral's favorite, and whom he intends to protect by sacrificing Ramage. Ramage, of course, has every intention of carrying out his hopeless task successfully, relying on surprise and originality of tactics and taking full advantage of whatever tools unexpectedly come his way. He even gets to show off his uncanny meteorological sixth sense. But Pope is going to have to arrange for his hero to fail at *something*, else he'll be on course to replace Nelson before the series even reaches Trafalgar.

My dad was very satisfied with the condition of the book and with the timely manner in which it was received.

Have been reading all his books and I can say thhat have liked them all up to now.

In this particular book, we find Ramage sailing around the Caribbean. He's given the task of retrieving a ship that mutineers have given over to the Spanish. One captain has already failed. The task is impossible. Can Ramage do it? Of course.

Ramage is a true hero in the old style tradition. You know he will succeed; the joy in these books is reading HOW he will succeed. Rarely is the answer obvious, so his plans are almost always a surprise.

I still think this series would have made (or make) a better TV or movie series than Hornblower. There's a lot of action and adventure here.