Begeef je op een spannende reis door het turbulente late 18e-eeuwse tijdperk aan boord van schepen van de Royal Navy. Deze serie beschrijft de maritieme carrière en persoonlijke ontwikkeling van een vastberaden officier die geconfronteerd wordt met gevaarlijke gevechten en complexe morele keuzes. Ervaar de rauwe intensiteit van het zeevarende leven, van adembenemende actie op zee tot de ingewikkelde sociale dynamiek van die tijd, alles gericht op thema's als plicht, moed en leiderschap.
October 1772, Portsmouth. And sixteen-year-old Richard Bolitho waits to join the Gorgon ordered to sail to the west coast of Africa and to destroy those who challenge the King's Navy. For Bolitho, and for many of the crew, it is a severe and testing initiation into the game of seamanship.
Richard Bolitho, Fähnrich zur See
Dezember 1773: Nach vierzehn strapaziösen Monaten auf See an Bord der Gorgon kehrt Midshipman Richard Bolitho zurück nach England. Während das Linienschiff in Plymouth im Dock zur dringend notwendigen Überholung liegt, will er Weihnachten bei seinen Eltern in Falmouth verbringen. Doch daraus wird nichts, denn an der Küste Cornwalls treiben übelste Strandräuber, die gezielt Schiffsstrandungen herbeiführen, ihr Unwesen. Für Richard Bolitho heißt es, deren tödlichem Spuk ein Ende zu setzen.
In this, the long awaited conclusion of Alexander Kent's midshipman trilogy, the new year of 1774 seems to offer Richard Bolitho and his friend Martyn Dancer the culmination of a dream.
The year is 1774 and Bolitho is now a newly appointed third lieutenant joining the 28-gun frigate Destiny at Plymouth. It is a far step from midshipman's berth to wardroom - and at a time when most of the fleet is laid up Bolitho is considered fortunate. Bolitho's promotion is tinged by personal sadness, but his new captain soon points out that Bolitho's loyalty is to him, the ship and His Britannic Majesty - in that order. Despatched on a secret mission far south to Rio and then to the Caribbean, Destiny and her company face the hazards of conspiracy, treason and piracy - and, as the little ship sails on, Bolitho has to learn amid broadside battles at sea and the clash of swords in hand-to-hand actions how to accept his new responsibilities as a King's officer.
The tenth Richard Bolitho novel in Alexander Kent's spectacularly successful series deals with Bolitho's life as a young lieutenant aboard the Trojan, an eighty-gun ship of the line.
As the French enter the American War of Independence in earnest, young Richard Bolitho is given his first command, "Sparrow" - a fast, well-armed fighting sloop. At last he has the chance to prove his abilities as a junior captain. But he faces other challenges too.
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…
It is 1784, and His Majesty's frigate "Undine" sets sail from Spithead for India. Europe may be at peace, but in colonial waters the promises of statesmen count for little and the bloody struggle for supremacy goes on. Richard Bolitho undertakes a task that would be better handled by a squadron.
1789 – Auf Befehl des Gouverneurs der jungen britischen Kolonie Neusüdwales läuft Kapitän Richard Bolitho mit seiner Fregatte Tempest in den Südpazifik aus. Ganz auf sich allein gestellt, soll er mit seinem Schiff in Polynesien patrouillieren und die bedrohten Versorgungsrouten zwischen den einsamen Handelsposten sichern. Doch in dem scheinbaren Inselparadies grassieren Fieberseuchen, unter der Mannschaft kommt es zu einer Meuterei, und von Piraten aufgewiegelte Eingeborene bilden eine weitere Bedrohung. Richard Bolitho ist in jeder Hinsicht gefordert …
Bolitho steers the Tempest into the Great South Sea to protect English shipping lanes. He must face pirates and savage islanders. But he is menaced, too, by deeper fears-the men of the Bounty have mutinied in these same waters, and from distant France comes news of a revolution.
A troubled peace with France means that in the harbours and estuaries around England, the royal fleet has been left to rot. Even a frigate captain as famous as Richard Bolitho is forced to swallow his pride and visit the Admiralty daily to plead for a ship. As the clouds of war begin to rise once more over the Channel, he has no choice but to accept an appointment to the Nore. With his small flotilla of three topsail cutters Bolitho sets out to search the coast for seamen who have fled the harsh discipline of His Majesty's Navy for the more tempting rewards of smuggling. But the 'Brotherhood' he comes up against are brutal and dangerous with a secret, sinister trade in human misery. Treason is never far distant and murder commonplace. So when a King's ransom is in peril and Bolitho is ordered to proceed 'with all despatch' to recover it he will need all the loyalty and courage of his three gallant cutters if he is to fulfil his mission.
JUNE 1793, GIBRALTAR The gathering might of revolutionary France prepares to engulf Europe in another bloody war. As in the past, Britain will stand or fall by the fighting power of her fleet. For Richard Bolitho, the renewal of hostilities means a fresh command and the chance of action after long months of inactivity. However, his mission to support Lord Hood in the monarchist-inspired occupation of Toulon has gone awry. Bolitho and the crew of the Hyperion are trapped by the French near a dry Mediterranean island. The great ship-of-the-line's battered hull begins to groan as her sails snap in the hot wind.
Bolitho and the crew of the Hyperion are trapped by the French near a dry Mediterranean island. The great ship-of-the line’s battered hull begins to groan as her sails snap in the hot wind.
As 1794 draws to a close Richard Bolitho, commanding the old seventy-four-gun ship of the line Hyperion, leaves Plymouth to join a squadron blockading the rising power of Revolutionary France. After six months of repairs his ship is ready to fight again, but her company is mostly raw and untrained. Unfortunately, Bolitho finds himself under a commodore who is no match for the French admiral, Lequiller, whose powerful squadron uses guile and ruthless determination to elude him and vanish into the Atlantic. Hyperion, as part of a small British force, gives chase, the desperate voyage taking them from the Bay of Biscay's squall to the heat of the Caribbean - and for each mile sailed and every battle fought Bolitho finds himself being forced into the ever more demanding role of strategist and squadron commander.
In the spring of 1797 Richard Bolitho brings the 100-gun Euryalus home to Falmouth to be flagship of the hastily formed squadron which has been chosen to make the first British re-entry to the Mediterranean for nearly a year.
1798 – vor Korfu und Alexandria: Niemand außer Kommodore Richard Bolitho ahnt, dass sich die französische Flotte unter Admiral de Brueys vor Korfu sammelt. Die Briten unter Nelson liegen dagegen weit entfernt bei Sizilien. Geführt vom Flaggschiff Lysander, spürt Bolithos Geschwader verräterische Helfershelfer auf, bis sich ihm die ganze Tragweite des französischen Ziels enthüllt: die Eroberung Ägyptens und damit der Zugang zum reichen Indien. In verzweifelten Gefechten kämpft sich der junge Kommodore zu Nelson durch und schont dabei weder sich selbst noch sein Schiff … Mehr über die Maritim-Reihe im Ullstein Taschenbuch unter: www.ullsteinbuchverlage.de/specials/maritim
Copenhagen, 1800, and after seven years of cruel war against France, Britain's long-standing ally, Denmark, suddenly poses a threat. The scene of battle shifts abruptly from Europe to the Baltic where Rear-Admiral Richard Bolitho is thrown immediately into a fierce struggle with the enemy.
After eight years of war between Britain and France there is at last a rumour of peace. But the old enemies are well aware that any settlement will be only a breathing space in which to recover from their terrible losses. To obtain the best terms the French muster a show of strength from Biscay to the Channel ports. This is the 14th Bolitho novel.
The year is 1801. After eight years of conflict, rumors of peace between Britain and France abound. But in the treacherous Bay of Biscay the harsh reality is war. Rear-admiral Richard Bolitho's small squadron is still repairing the scars of battle earned at Copenhagen. And Bolitho himself is more concerned for the young beauty waiting for him on shore than for the call of the sea. But when his orders come Bolitho's flag must lead, and his captains must follow--even to the brink of disaster...
With his wife expecting their first child, Bolitho is loath to quit land for the demands of duty. But with the Peace of Amiens already showing signs of strain, he is ordered to the Caribbean to hand over San Felipe to the French.
HISTORICAL FICTION. Colours Aloft!, the sixteenth Richard Bolitho novel, bears all the hallmarks of its best-selling predecessors. September 1803 Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho finds himself the new master of the Argonaute, a French flagship taken in battle. With the Peace of Armiens in ruins, he must leave the safety of Falmouth. What lies ahead is the grim reality of war at close quarters - where Bolitho who will be called upon to anticipate the overall intention of the French fleet. But the battle has also become a personal vendetta between himself and the French admiral who formerly sailed the Argonaute. Bolitho and his men are driven to a final rendezvous where no quarter is asked or given.
A historical maritime thriller featuring Vice-Admiral Richard Bolitho who is ordered by the king to plan and execute a daring raid on the Spanish Main. From the author of COLOURS ALOFT! and CROSS OF ST GEORGE.
FEBRUARY 1806The frigate carrying Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho drops anchor off the shores of southern Africa. Outside Europe few have yet heard of the battle of Trafalgar, and Bolitho's news is met with both optimism and disappointment as he reminds the senior officers that, despite the victory, Napolean's defeat is by no means assured.
The exciting sequel to the previous Bolitho adventure — The Only Victor — it is March 1808 as Napoleon holds Portugal and threatens his old ally Spain. Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho is dispatched once more to the Cape of Good Hope to establish a permanent naval force there.
The thrilling twenty-first naval adventure featuring Richard Bolitho where, as a result of an alliance between France and America, Admiral Bolitho is ordered to the Indian Ocean to protect British trade routes.
The 22nd novel in the Bolitho series. It is March 1811, and Admiral Richard Bolitho is once again summoned to London from Cornwall. In defence of an Empire, the Admiralty must quell the unrest in America or face war with those who were once friends.
In the bitter February of 1813, with convoys from Canada and the Caribbean falling victim to American privateers, Sir Richard Bolitho returns to Halifax to pursue a war he knows cannot be won, but which neither Britain nor the United States can afford to lose.
March 1814Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho returns to England from several months' rigorous patrolling off the North American coast.
The collection features three novellas that chronicle Richard Bolitho's formative years in the Royal Navy, including the latest installment, "Band of Brothers." Renowned for vivid depictions of ships at sea and intense 18th-century naval battles, the stories delve into the challenges of leadership amid the chaos of warfare. This omnibus serves as an engaging introduction to the Richard Bolitho series, replacing the previous starting point, "Midshipman Bolitho."