Customer Reviews

Under False Colours: A Nathaniel Drinkwater Novel (Mariner's Library Fiction Classics)

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Drinkwater plays a different role for the Royal Navy, acting on a special mission which involves unusual hazards, with great risks and little chance for personal gain. This mission takes him to Helgoland and the Elbe River during the winter of 1809-1810. This book covers an interesting facet of the war with Napolean's France. The book is well researched and well written. My main complaint is that I cannot obtain the Drinkwater books in chronological order.

This is the replay from Sheridan regarding the publishing orders:

=== It was a question of US Rights becoming available - a slow and difficult process. Next spring we will do the first three and the rest will follow in chronological order.

Sheridan House ====

Richard Woodman's Nathaniel Drinkwater series has always had a dark Gothic air about it. The darkest entry was undoubtedly Under False Colours' predecessor A Private Revenge. Series readers will be happy to know that this entry is nowhere near as dark and tragic as A Private Revenge. It is perhaps more similar and related to the earlier Baltic Mission. It's like Baltic Mission in that it is more cloak and dagger than sea story.

However, Under False Colours is not a rewrite of Baltic Mission in a different location. Much has happened to Nathaniel Drinkwater since Baltic Mission and Under False Colours is the conclusion of events that were initiated in Baltic Mission and which propelled the action through In Distant Waters and A Private Revenge. A Private Revenge left Drinkwater a deeply psychologically scarred man. In Under False Colours Drinkwater begins to heal the deep wounds left from the horrors of the earlier novel.

This entry begins with an attempt to deceive the French by getting them to believe that Britain is supplying military aid to the Czar in defiance of Napoleon's Continental System and his treaty with the Czar. Things go awry and Drinkwater leads a trading mission into Hamburg and as is typical of this series, twists and turns fall more twists and turns. The climax occurs at sea following a tense build up and chase.

Under False Colours does not have the same level of blood letting that some of the earlier entries in the series had and all Bolitho novels have. Instead it gradually builds up tension while exploring the conditions in Napoleonic Europe. What I found particularly interesting was the role of Jewish merchants in Hamburg and London. The Jews of Drinkwater's Europe have an underground communication system that acts as a conduit to and from the continent. Woodman nicely underplays Drinkwater's surprise at being treated so well by Jewish merchants. The kindness of the Jews would have come as a very pleasant surprise to a Christian of Drinkwater's era, not because we wouldn't expect them to be kind but because the Christians of that era wouldn't. One can see barriers beginning to fall, as paradigms are broken.

Under False Colours is an entertaining novel with some nice surprises in contrast to the nasty ones of A Private Revenge. It's a worthy entry in the series but not one of the best. I suspect that it is a bit of a respite from desperate action to follow in the last three years of the war as Woodman brings it home for the reader.

I bought all fourteen of these Nathaniel Drinkwater books sight unseen, purely because they were compared to O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series. If you think that's crazy, understand that I bought all twenty of the O'Brian books in the same manner, because they were compared favorably to the Hornblower novels. I was certainly never disappointed in the O'Brian books; so I thought this to be an acceptable gamble.

This series cannot live up to the richness of language in the O'Brian books; but I have to say I have not been disappointed in them at all. The characterizations are sharp and dependable, but not rigid. Humans are infinitely capable of surprising us. Drinkwater himself is thoroughly drawn and believable. The action is realistic, and historically-based.

I have read them in order, and without intervening books. I tend to do that with series', if I can. I have never been bored by them, and it is always a pleasant feeling to know that you have one of these books sitting on the bedside table with a bookmark in it.

This particular novel takes Drinkwater to the fledgling United States, before the breakout of the War of 1812. It's not the very best of the series; but it has great things to offer! I highly reccomend it.

Richard Woodman has spent most of his life at sea, is an eminent Naval historian and the author of several books on Naval history, plus many fictional books. This background and a superb command of the English language make his books a joy to read. His intimate knowledge of square-riggers takes you inside the ship - you are THERE with the crew, battling the elements or the enemy, feeling each blow.

This book expands on the theme of the struggle against Napoleon - Nathaniel Drinkwater, now Captain, is increasingly involved in espionage and subversion as the Secret Service draws on his special talents to undermine Napoleon's empire-building.

Following orders from Lord Dungarth, head of the Secret Service, Capt. Nathaniel Drinkwater adopts the disguise of a dissipated merchant mariner (almost too successfully) to sow the seeds of a threat to Napoleon's Russian alliance. It all turns sour and plans are wrought afresh, landing Nat in French custody and meeting an old female adversary. Not much in the way of action, but the tension and intrigue more than make up for that.

As usual, excellent descriptions and tension-building make the pages fly by - and the author's notes fill in the facts behind the tale. A series to read, savour and re-read.*****

Chapter 13 starts on page 154, and next page is 167 -- 13 pagesare missing. Please send me a new book with all the pages.
thank You.