Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780099493877
ISBN number: 009949387X
Label: Arrow
Manufacturer: Arrow
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: February 28, 2006
Publishing house: Arrow
Release Date: February 28, 2006
Sale Popularity Level: 1076770
Studio: Arrow
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Product Description:
H.M.S. Phalarope is ordered to the Caribbean but the most deadly enemy is already aboard her.
January 1782, Portsmouth: His Britannic Majesty's frigate Phalarope is ordered to the assistance of the hard-pressed squadrons in the Carribean. Aboard is her new commander — Richard Bolitho. To all appearances the Phalarope is everything a young captain could wish for. But beneath the surface she is a deeply unhappy ship — her wardroom torn by petty greed and ambition, her deckhands driven to near-mutiny by senseless ill-treatment…
From the Paperback edition.
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Rated by buyers 
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This installment of Richard Bolitho's adventures is a great read.
Bolitho must face mutiny and whip his crew into shape. Can he prevail? Of course, but there is a lot of action along the way. Kent's novels are just packed with action and fighting, so if that's what you want in a naval fiction series, then this is the series to read. The books are also easy to read--not too much jargon and the stories move along at a quick pace.
One other thing that I like about the Bolitho series is that there is a bit more realism with respect to the battles than in some of the other series I've read. No one in Bolitho's posse is safe--many of his closest buddies get blown away. I was actually sad when his beloved cox'n bought it in this one. For some reason, I had just thought he'd be there through the entire series. So, any particular character may be there for a while, but then disappear, only to be replaced by someone else. I guess the navy must have been like that at the time.
Very good read; you'll enjoy it.
Rated by buyers -
Great story of adventure on the high seas. Good descriptions of period naval battles and interesting historical information.
Rated by buyers -
It's a very good book in a very good series. For some reason, it just keeps getting sadder, but I like it anyway. This one's quite so sad yet, but it's getting there. Also, there's an important character with the same name as me, and that's always fun, unless that person dies. Then it's kind of scary. I liked Bolitho better when he was younger, though. He's happier. Read it. You'll enjoy it.
Rated by buyers 
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After reading this I agree that Kent's story is better than the Hornblower novels.
But is that saying much?
This is still schoolboy stuff.
You can get just as much action and adventure on the high seas, but well written with real backbone and depth reading the work of Patrick O'Brian.
Do yourself a favour naval history fans and google PATRICK O'BRIAN
Rated by buyers -
All of Alexander Kent's (a pen name) Richard Bolitho series are well-written. This one, they say was written first, but I suggest you read them in the chronological order of the protagonist's (Richard Bolitho) career. beginning with the one titled, Midshipman Bolitho. In that order this is number four, in which he is given command of a frigate, the Phalarope, his second command. Bolitho's naval career starts at the tender age of 12, but the very first book in the series picks him up at the age of 16--already a veteran midshipman.
Kent is a very first rate story-teller. His main concern is the story, rather than a mass of technical detail about ship's rigs, sails, etc., which are of interest to some of us, but of less interest, perhaps, to those who simply want to get on with the story. None of his stories drag. There is action a-plenty, including lurid descriptions of men getting their heads blown off and their limbs amputated. Hand-to-hand combat is common in boarding parties and on dry land expeditions.
I have some personal experience with sailing vessels, having built and sailed my own ketch-rigged sailboat on the Pacific with my family, and so far as I can tell Kent's sail handling descriptions, although necessarily abbreviated for the sake of the story, are technically accurate. I am more familiar with fore and aft rigs than square riggers, though.
This book concerns the end period of the American Revolution. Bolitho's Phalarope is operating in the West Indies. It is refreshing to see that war through the eyes of a British naval officer, and it rings with truth. The final battle, pitting the French Admiral De Grasse against the British George Rodney and Hood, at the sea battle known as the battle of the Saintes, in the Caribbean, ends in glory for Bolitho.
Bolitho is called upon to command the Phalarope after the death of a harsh captain who drove his crew to the edge of mutiny, and to make matters worse, his complement was filled out with rogues who were not wanted by other ships of the fleet, by an admiral who disliked him.
This is a very good book, which, if you are like me, you will enjoy and find it hard to put down.
Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)
author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books
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