Customer Reviews

Ramage's Trial

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Of all the fictional naval captains, Captain Lord Ramage is the most adored by his men. He is the alter ego of the real Admiral Lord Nelson, victor of Trafalgar and hero of the British Navy and of the English people. With his many victories and prizes, Ramage by now should be too rich to sail, but here he is in his 15th book and still only a Post Captain. But we'll allow that because frigate captains have all the fun, and admirals of advancing age equally late in their series, like Kent's Bolitho or O'Brian's Aubrey, have too many remote worries.

The main story line is a convoy back to England and its plodding operations overseen by Ramage, torn by a bizarre meet with another British frigate. Although newly married, Ramage struggles with an infatuation with a lady of the convoy. There's also the strangest case of mutiny I've ever read. Haled into court, Ramage is court martialled for his life, with an infuriatingly biased judge guiding his fate. Throughout there overhangs the disturbing worry that Ramage's bride (of the previous novel Ramage's Devil) has been lost at sea. Paul Wright's cover painting is the weakest in his series, a lethargic stern chase.

In this installment of Pope's Ramage series, our hero is escorting a convoy back to England from the Caribbean. Sometime during the voyage, another British frigate appears and fires on Ramage's ship, after which Ramage and the boys board the other ship, where they are met by the other captain, who steadfastly asserts that his ship did not fire on Ramage. Well, Ramage leaves one of his lieutenants on board for the rest of voyage (the new ship joins the convoy as an escort). When the convoy arrives in England, the other captain, or course, files charges against Ramage for Ramage having boarded his ship and removing him from his command. OK, then the trial.
The whole episode with the other ship and subsequent trial read like a thriller. The reader can hardly wait to find out why the other ship fired with the captain and crew all deny having done so. A suggestion that they're under a voodoo spell is not serious, but well taken. There really seems to be no explanation. Well, the trial is conducted by an old enemy of the Ramage's, who seems hellbent on finding Ramage guilty by disallowing any testimony that might explain Ramage's actions. Everything seems hopeless. Well, as always, there's a way out of the problem. As is the case with all of Pope's (and I suppose everyone's) books, it's not whether he'll get out of it, but how. Even though the story is captivating, I must admit I was a bit unsatisfied with the finale. The solution was not quite as Perry Mason-esque as I would have liked. I would have liked a bit more suspense and a few twists to explain everything. I won't give anything way, though--you'll have to read the book! So, maybe I should take off part of a star. But all in all, it was a very good read and I enjoyed it a lot. I'll keep going with the series.

This is the 14th novel in the Napoleonic Wars series featuring Capt. Lord Nicholas Ramage, and while it's not really a bad book, it's becoming clear that the author was beginning to flounder about somewhat in search of a new story. The CALYPSO frigate has just completed its historically impossible rescue of French royalists from Devil's Island on the coast of Guiana and is about to head home when news comes that the captured French ship that Ramage's prize crew was taking on the short hop from Brest back to Plymouth has gone missing -- and with it his new wife, who was a passenger. Was she sunk or captured? (Her fate evidently will have to wait until the next episode.) The Royal Navy never being wasteful of its captains' time, Ramage is detailed to provide escort for a convoy, since he's going their way -- a chore all Royal Navy officers loathe because of the sloppiness and independence of the merchant fleet. And partway back, they meet another British frigate -- which fires on them. Ramage is outraged and captures the interloper, assuming it's a French convoy-raider, but no. All this leads to the court martial that takes up the last third of the book, which is wrapped up by a very conveniently timed fit on public madness on the part of Ramage's accuser. A deus ex machina of this kind is a sign that the author has painted himself into a corner. There's also a love-interest (sex-interest, really) and a certain amount of snappy dialogue, but my main reaction to this chapter in the saga is "meh." Pope has done much better.