Ramage's signal: A novel [Hardcover]

Dudley Pope (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1984

With Napoleon Bonaparte at the height of his powers, the Mediterranean can be safely considered exclusive French territory. So when Captain Ramage and his crew are sent alone into Mediterranean waters, they can expect to be outnumbered. But it is the French who discover they have an enemy they had not bargained for.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The excitement never slackens." -- The Sunday Times

"The first and still the favourite to Hornblower." -- Daily Mirror --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Dudley Pope is well known both as the creator of the Ramage novels and as a distinguished naval historian. Pope falsified his age in order to enlist in the British Merchant Navy during World War II. In action, his ship was torpedoed and he spent 14 days at sea in an open lifeboat. After being discharged due to the injuries he received, he worked as the naval and defense correspondent at the London Daily News. He turned to writing fiction at the urging of C. S. Forester, who viewed Pope as his creative heir. Author of ten scholarly works as well as the 18 books in the Ramage series, Dudley Pope died in 1997. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: Walker; Oz ed edition (1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802708110
• ISBN-13: 978-0802708113
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,916,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Piece of cake..., February 1, 2002

By 

tertius3 (MI United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ramage's Signal (The Lord Ramage Novels) (Volume 11) (Paperback)

This is a remarkable book-very odd in its way-a swashbuckler with hardly a dead man in sight. Pope seems to have challenged himself to imagine a string of seven actions which spill hardly a drop of blood and gore. A particularly telling scene, I think, is the night attempt to blow up a French 3rd rate in harbor: you see a mighty flash and are deafened, then...next chapter. Avast there, what happened, really? The emphasis is on the astonishing ingenuity of Ramage and his men to anticipate, out think, manipulate, and outmaneuver his enemies time and again during the second part of his independent cruise in the Mediterranean (a true continuation indeed of "The Ramage Touch"). Ramage comes up with one wiley ruse de guerre after another to humble and discomfit the French. Just think of the potentialities if you could get your hands on the new French semaphore towers ashore.... It takes extraordinary luck, very stupid or drunk enemies, and an inventive author to pull the capers off in an entertaining fashion. It's amazing to how much deviltry and destruction Pope can put Ramage in one book. The seamen enjoy the cruise enough to make good jokes, too.

In the course of the story we get to learn more about the types of Mediterranean winds, provisioning a landing party, muffling oars, how signalling worked, "nipping" the anchor cable, and how to "fish' a broken spar, plus gun powder and how to fuse it. Apparently it is beneath our dignity to count up the prize money Ramage and crew will rake in if they can successfully bring their captures back to Gibralter.

The entrapment plot on which this book is hung echoes the scenario of an earlier story, "Ramage's Diamond." Pope is particularly obvious this time hiding plot elements, like mere destinations, from us. Not only does Pope not tell us (OK), but Ramage doesn't tell his officers on not one but two of the dangerous missions he has cooked up in his vulnerable head! That's dereliction of duty. Unlike in Kent's Bolitho series, there's almost no crew turnover in these stories, certainly not in the core cast of characters, still alive and in the same crew from that intiial romp on the beach to save the queen in Tuscany! While Ramage's fame spreads rapidly, officers he has trained do not. Inspiring leadership plays a part (it's no wonder the whole crew re-ups in the next book). Three maps cover the early locales in the story. The usual elegant typography is here, with better proofing than in the Bolitho series also from McBooks. On the end papers is news of their reprinting of three (3) more nautical series, by Donachie, Stuart, and Parkinson. Hurrah!

4.0 out of 5 stars Ramage's resurgence after a couple of lackluster episodes, November 29, 2010

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ramage's Signal (The Lord Ramage Novels) (Volume 11) (Paperback)

This is the 11th episode in the adventures of Lord Nicholas Ramage, one of the youngest post captains on the Royal Navy list and possessed of an increasingly fearful reputation among French seamen, and it's a considerable improvement over the past couple of yarns. There's a tendency for an author to become bored or simply to lose his grip a bit as a series goes on, but perhaps Pope has snapped out of his growing malaise. This one picks up within hours of where the previous one left off, with Ramage holding the sort of Admiralty orders that would delight any frigate captain -- to enter the Mediterranean with his French-built ship on a three-month cruise and play merry hell with the enemy any way he can. This time, the inspection from sea of one of the coastal semaphore stations set up by the French navy between their headquarters at Toulon and the principal Spanish naval base at Cartagena suggests to him an interesting way of disrupting enemy communications. But when he takes a party ashore to destroy the installation, he reads the signals log and discovers that a French convoy is awaiting its escort at the western end of the Med. Since Ramage's CALYPSO is obviously a French frigate, maybe he could play Pied Piper and provide such an escort himself. Well, the reader soon understands where all this is headed and knows the enemy isn't going to enjoy the joke. Moreover, Ramage pulls it all off with hardly a shot being fired, which suits him fine. Pope is one of those authors who always likes to show off his specialized knowledge to his readers, and there's a fair amount of that, but it's a good story nonetheless. Ramage also has an unusually close relationship with his officers and men -- especially the half-dozen who have been with him since the series began -- and while the interplay is sometimes just a little too cheery to be believable, it makes for a multisided narrative. This isn't Patrick O'Brian but it's a lot of fun.

4.0 out of 5 stars Ramage's Signal No. 11, October 18, 2010

By 

Robert H. Spence - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ramage's Signal (The Lord Ramage Novels) (Volume 11) (Paperback)

Excellent detail. Makes history come alive. Believable characters who you wished you could have met.