Raider of the Scottish Coast

by Marc Liebman

Which serves a Navy better? Tradition and hierarchy, or innovation and merit?

Two teenagers – Jaco Jacinto from Charleston, SC and Darren Smythe from Gosport, England – become midshipmen in their respective navies. Jacinto wants to help his countrymen win their freedom. Smythe has wanted to be a naval officer since he was a boy. From blockaded harbours and the cold northern waters off Nova Scotia and Scotland, to the islands of the Bahamas and Nassau, they serve with great leaders and bad ones through battles, politics and the school of naval hard knocks. Jacinto and Smythe are mortal enemies, but when they meet they become friends, even though they know they will be called again to battle one another.

“This is Marc Liebman’s first foray into the age of sail, and what a densely packed, rattling yarn he has produced... The twists and turns of the breathless plot see the two main protagonists cross again and again in a story that never lets up its pace.” ~ Philip Allan, author of the award-winning Alexander Clay series about the Royal Navy during the Age of Sail.

Email: marc@marcliebman.com
Publisher: Penmore Press LLC, 2020

Ordering Info: Amazon

A Call to the Sea: Captain Charles Stewart and the USS Constitution

by Claude Berube, John Rodgaard

Charles Stewart’s life of sailing and combat on the high seas rivals that of Patrick O’Brien’s Jack Aubrey. Stewart held more sea commands (eleven) than any other U.S. Navy captain and served longer (sixty-three years) than any officer in American naval history. He commanded every type of warship, from sloop to ship-of-the-line, and served every president from John Adams to Abraham Lincoln. Born in Philadelphia during the War for American Independence, Stewart had met President Washington and gone to sea as a cabin boy on a merchantman before age thirteen. In March 1798, at age nineteen, he received a commission one month before the formal establishment of the Department of the Navy. Stewart enjoyed an illustrious naval service. Thomas Jefferson recognized his exploits in the Mediterranean during the Barbary Wars, while James Madison sought his advice at the outset of the War of 1812. Stewart trained many future senior naval officers – including David Porter, David Dixon Porter and David Farragut. In his eighties, he served as a pallbearer at President Lincoln’s funeral. Yet, Stewart owed his reputation to the time spent as the most successful fighting commander of the USS Constitution. Undefeated in battle, including defeating the British warships HMS Cyane and Levant simultaneously, both ship and captain came to be known as “Old Ironsides”. Stewart’s service both mirrors and shaped the early history of the navy and country.

Auhor: john_rodgaard@yahoo.com

Publisher: Potomac Books, 2005

Ordering Info: Amazon, or directly from John Rodgaard at john_rodgaard@yahoo.com or 321.591.6123