If you love C. S. Forester and Patrick O’Brian and “sea stories” you’ll enjoy V. A. Stuart’s Philip Hazard series. What makes this series unusual is that V. A. Stuart is actually Vivian Stuart. A woman writing nautical fiction is a bit of a rarity. But I found Stuart’s novels of Philip Hazard’s adventures in the Crimean and the Sepoys in India grand entertainment. Phillip Hazard of the Royal Navy captures the Hornblower excitement. And, if you like The Valiant Sailors, Vivian Stuart wrote seven more Philip Hazard novels just as good. I can recommend them all.
Phillip Hazard Series
1. The Valiant Sailors (1966)
2. The Brave Captains (1968)
3. Black Sea Frigate (1971) aka Hazard’s Command
4. Hazard of Huntress (1972)
5. Victory at Sebastopol (1973) aka Hazard in Circassia
6. Hazard to the Rescue (1974)
7. Guns to the Far East (1975) aka Shannon’s Brigade
8. Escape from Hell (1976) aka Sailors on Horseback
I saw the film version of a Patrick O’Brien book. Do I get any points?
Yes, you get points, Patti. There used to be more interest in sea stories in the 1940s and 1950s. Now, the closest we come is the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN series.
Sure, Patti – though Master and Command is far from the best of the O’Brian books, and the film cut a lot out, but still, not a terrible movie for what it was trying to do.They did change the ending.
I have read a few of the Hornblower books, back when I was in college, perhaps, and have read the first two Bolitho novels by Alexander Kent, but that’s about it for sea fiction, until I read the first few O’Brian novels about ten years ago. They were a little too detailed and authentic for my taste. These may be of interest. I wonder if Frank Denton has read these?
As I recall, Rick, Frank Denton was a fan of the Alexander Kent series. I’m fond of the Dewey Lambdin series, too.
My second choice to Hornblower is the Richard Bolitho series by Alexander Kent. O’Brian’s good too, of course, though literary pretensions sometimes get in the way of the adventure. I’ve yet to try one of these, but I will.
McBooks of Ithaca NY has a nice set of reprints of this series, Evan. Maybe you can get your local library to buy all eight volumes.