A Shot Rolling Ship [Hardcover]

David Donachie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 2005

Pressed into King George's Navy for the second time in a month, John Pearce and his Pelicans find themselves working aboard the HMS Brazen, sailing the Channel from Plymouth to Dover in search of the numerous French privateers that prey on English merchant shipping: her task to stop them and, if possible, to capture or destroy them

The Brazen is a slow and overcrowded ship, having a hard time capturing her prey and so the promised bounty fails to materialize. And Pearce has greater things on his mind--he must rescue his ailing father from the dangers of revolutionary Paris and to do that he must somehow leave the ship. He tries mutiny, the crew being readied by failure, but Captain Benjamin Colbourne is quick and smartly promotes Pearce to Midshipman. Pearce is thereby freed to leave the ship immediately--which appears to the remaining Pelicans as though their leader has deserted them.

Travelling to France, Pearce discovers that he is late to save his father, who died too weak to survive the rigors of prison. What else is Pearce to do but return to the Brazen and put right the appearance of betrayal with which he left, and to learn his seagoing trade in order to exact revenge . . .

Entwining historical facts with fictitious characters, David Donachie has once again created a masterpiece of nautical adventure fiction.

Editorial Reviews

Review

High adventure and detection; cunningly spliced battle scenes which reek of blood, brine, and excitements on terra firma to match. -- The Literary Review

About the Author

DAVID DONACHIE was born in Edinburgh in 1944 and has had a variety of jobs, including selling everything from business machines to soap. He has always had an abiding interest in the naval history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author of a number of bestselling books, he know lives in Deal with his wife, the novelist Sarah Grazebrook and their two children.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: Allison & Busby (December 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749082410
• ISBN-13: 978-0749082413
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,236,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Character Developement., October 1, 2007

By 

George Russell "Veteran" (Roseville, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: A Shot Rolling Ship (John Pearce) (John Pearce 2) (Paperback)

This second, in what I hope to be a long series, is most interesting in that the main character is so reluctant to take on what he has to do. He is swept along by unfolding history, and his own inate capabilities, to become more and more a leader and man of consequence. A rich read!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good All Around Naval Series, February 6, 2010

By 

David Manning (Near Gettysburg PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Shot Rolling Ship (Hardcover)

I have about 100 British naval series books and David Donachie has written two of the series. This series has some different perspectives about the 1770 to 1820 time period that the others do not have. A good enjoyable all around book. David is still writting and I have just recieved his newest which continues the saga of Lt. Pearce who doesn't want to be a lieutenant in the British navy. The only lieutenant in any of the series books who talks back to Admirals, because he doesn't care if they kick him out of the navy.