Under False Colours

Nathaniel Drinkwater #10

by Richard Woodman

Acting for the Admiralty's Secret Department, Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater advertises his cargo of Russian military stores, thus embarking on a scheme to flout Napoleon's Continental System and antagonize the French Emperor's new ally, Czar Alexander.

Packed with exciting incident worthy of wide appeal to those who love thrilling nautical encounters and the sea. (Nautical Magazine)

Much of the enjoyment of Under False Colours is the fact that Woodman writes with such authority. His mariner s lingo is flawless, and at times, the reader is befuddled with his sheer virtuosity in the area. But the action fills in the terms that the reader may be unaware of, and there is no doubt that Nathaniel Drinkwater rates up there with the best of the nautical world. (Midwest Book Review)

Genres: Historical Fiction, Military Fiction, Nautical

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 1999

About the author

Captain Richard Martin Woodman was an English novelist and naval historian who retired in 1997 from a 37-year nautical career, mainly working for Trinity House, to write full-time.

Reviews

[David Eppenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the books of this genre a great deal. Woodman's Drinkwater series is a collection worthy of the company of Forester and O'Brian. However, this particular work wasn't quite as rousing as previous books. This book was more about clumsy political intrigues than about nautical adventure. It was still a good book but nothing special.

[Viva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another out of the box plot. A nice refreshing change from the usual action books from the host of Hornblower clones. Once again Woodman melds history to Drinkwater (ND). I found the book only somewhat interesting.

Spoilers ahead.

ND is back from fighting Russians and Spaniards on the Pacific Coast of America and Dayaks and Chinese in the South China Sea in the Patrician in the last two books. Without much of a rest, Lord Dungarth gives ND a very important task. He is to sow the seeds of doubt into Napoleon's mind by spreading the rumor that the Russians are breaking the continental blockade by accompanying a cargo of goods up the Baltic. ND is supercargo on the merchant ship and Lt Q and Frey accompany him as escort in an armed brig-sloop.

However due to a severe storm ND is wrecked near Heligoland (spelled as Helgoland in the book) and the brig is lost. The governor of the Heligoland (under British control at the time) refuses to believe him as he has no proof but the resident spy there, Nicholas believes him.

While he is cooling his heels Nicholas thinks up a scheme to deliver and sell the goods at Hamburg instead and also spread the rumor that the goods were originally for the Russians. The local burgomasters have been breaking the blockade already and the merchantmen and also ND wants to offload the goods. So they bring two ships in and talk to the local agents. Unfortunately the French commissioner has been recalled back to France for corruption and the local agent is wary.

They end up keeping the ships and ND and the master of the other ship. They are hidden by a local Jewish merchant who is part of a network of Jewish merchants smuggling goods in. However they are apprehended and taken to the military hospital at Altona (a suburb of Hamburg right on the River Elbe).

Once there they find the brig's crew who survived the storm and were cast ashore and now imprisoned there, both the wounded and unwounded. Lt. Q has had more of his arm amputated but is alive.

Here they meet Spanish Dr. Castenada. Here we get more history. He is part of the Spanish Army of the North which was volunteered to help Napoleon who was always short of troops and were stationed in Germany. When Napoleon deposed the rightful Spanish king and put his brother on the throne most of the Spanish troops wanted to quit and go back home. British Admiral Keats managed to transport back most of them when they escaped from Denmark. Keats used his ships of the line to transport them to Sweden where they were put aboard naval transports and sent back to Spain.

Napoleon dispersed the other Spanish troops among the regular troops. I actually read about them in the Hornblower book The Commodore. By that time Napoleon had invaded Russia (so ND had helped turn Napoleon against the Russians!). The Spanish troops were part of the invasion force. They were at the edge of the line and deserted to the Russians at Riga. Clausewitz(?) summoned Hornblower from his ship and paraded the Spaniards in front on him. I don't remember the German general's name but Hornblower described him as loyalty meant that he should always offer his services on the side that fought against Napoleon.

Anyway the Spanish gemeral asked for his help to transport them back to Spain. Hornblower's thought was that the small Spanish contingent didn't mean much in this continental conflict of massive amounts of men but they would mean a lot in the Peninsular War and the Spanish would be fighting in their own country so he agreed.

Getting back to the book, the brig's crew escapes in boats. ND stays behind to find Lt. Q and help him escape. The Spanish doctor goes with them because he is not sure Lt. Q would survive without him. They manage to steal a punt and spend days rowing down the Elbe in the cold and icy river. They finally reach the beacon at Cuxhaven on the coast and are saved by a patrolling British schooner. The escape down the Elbe was pretty epic and was as well written as Hornblower's escape down the Loire(?) with Bush and Brown in Flying Colors.

They go back home where ND's gold from the previous book was well invested and he is finally financially secure (somewhat) and Lt. Q finally gets married.

Not terribly exciting because of the limited scope of the plot but interesting historically and ties up a few loose ends.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that this book started off a bit slow. Drinkwater is in a funk over people that have died and he is blaming himself for their deaths. Talk about a pity party. But once he is back on board ship he starts to come out of his funk and the action picks up. This time the plot revolves around a plan to put France and Russia at odds after their treaty was made at Tilsit. The plan like all plans goes awry after it starts, but Drinkwater has a Plan B and it works fairly well. How well you may ask and I will say read the book and find out. But it is a close run event.

[Ivan Benedict · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story begins in 1807, and continues with a voyage from England with the hope of getting to Russia with things that could be bought. There is a huge storm when people died. There are French people, German, people, and Dutch people, and even a couple of Jews. The captain suffers many kinds of problems with your include being shot at and fallen into the river, but finally he comes out just fine. It’s an interesting book.

[Sonny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it 4 stars on the benefit of the doubt because I enjoyed previous Drinkwater novels more. Not really enough action, too much emphasis on intrigue. But I'm still a fan of Drinkwater and look forward to reading the next installment.

[Gilbert Hatfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as some

Enjoyable book but not as good as his other books. I would have given it 3 1/2 , you can not give half stars. If his next book does not come up to his usual standards, I will not read any more of them.

[Dangerfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

With very little about sailing and far too much about a most unlikely spying activity, this was a very disappointing book. I hope the next title is very much better; it needs to be.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps, it’s poetic justice. In the past, I have praised the realism of the Nathaniel Drinkwater series. Where some novels about fighting sail are strings of beads of battle accounts connected by a bit of politics and romantic complications (how else to emulate the great Nelson?), Richard Woodman deals realistically with medical complications due gangrene, tropical diseases, and venereal diseases. Woodman effectively deals with the detail of a relatively frail human vessel versus the elements (capricious winds, fierce storms, perilous navigation, erroneous charts, etc.). His narrative “beats” hit the perfect rhythm when he describes the complications of being becalmed, the looming threats of court-martial whenever circumstances seem beyond one’s control, the duty of attempting escape as a prisoner-of-war, the steps in restoring a mast, and the process of pumping water and patching a hull).

In Under False Colours, Woodman adds the excruciating delays involved in the preparation for and execution of a covert mission and the Sword of Damocles where it was common practice to hang “spies” (particularly military personnel out-of-uniform) pour encourager les autres (ironically “to encourage the others” really means to encourage the others NOT to continue with their actions”).

There is an overarching tension related to the covert nature of Drinkwater’s mission (disguised as a merchant supercargo) to provoke Franco-Russian tension and his potential discovery and execution as a “spy.” There are also potential betrayals, unexpected betrayals, and ineffective betrayals. This is a fascinating mix and, to a large degree, the best reason for reading Under False Colours.

[Spoiler Alert:] Yet, even though I have criticized some fighting sail novels for being loosely constructed series of battles, one must wait almost the full length of the novel for anything resembling a naval battle in Under False Colours and that is primarily a boarding action (though, admittedly, there is some covering fire to deal with shore batteries). For me, this is a Catch-22. I like the realism, I am intrigued by the fact that all of the Drinkwater novels are not the same. I appreciate the craftsmanship of the story, but though there was significant tension as to whether Drinkwater would be exposed (including the semi-mysterious intervention of the femme fatale who has mesmerized Drinkwater since early in his efforts). Hence, this is why I am torn between the lowest rating I have ever given one of these novels and the rating upon which I decided. [Spoiler Alert Concluded]

I still enjoy the Drinkwater series more than the Jack Aubrey series, even though this particular volume disappoints and even though I know my preference for Drinkwater goes against the majority, those ranking the O’Brien books as superior to other fighting sail novels. And I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the series to anyone remotely interested in this era, though it is probably unnecessary to specify that I wouldn’t want a reader to start with Under False Colours. Without my previous “investment” in the characters (both protagonist and cast of supporting characters), I’m not sure I could even rate this as high as I did. But on the positive side, I believe Woodman has introduced some potential recurring villains who will add spice, color, and perhaps, the potential for revenge in future volumes.

[jonathan davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahead of other novels

I have read numerous series set in this era and appear to be addicted to the rise of a hero through the ranks of the Royal Navy in Napoleonic times.
My favourite is still Dewey Lambdin’s series featuring Alan Laurie, (BTW - when are these going to be finished!)but this series come a close second. Nathanial Drinkwater is a flawed hero who does not have the almost unbelievable luck of some others in similar novels. He ages and is no longer the bright eyed youngster he was in the beginning. His friends are not impervious to misfortune with his great friend and mentor suffering a terrible death.
The series has a realism to them and no doubt I will continue to the end - I do wish they would sell them in the omnibus versions - it is becoming expensive to buy them one by one.

[Aileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the weaker Heyer romances, due mainly to the character of Kit's mother. Although the reader is told repeatedly that she is charming, the character utterly fails to charm. As she is a central character, and Heyer seems fond of her, much of the book was spent gritting my teeth. Fun and likeable hero and heroine do make up for it a bit.

[RhC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the attitude adjustment Drinkwater needed as, after losing his quartermaster in the previous entry, he may well lose his friend Mr. Q.

Not only is he not the master of his own destiny, Nat finds himself hip deep in intrigue for the Secret Services far from home in a less than friendly, albeit pragmatic, environments.

[Malcolm]

Perhaps the darkest of all the writers of this sub group of historical fiction. The opening scenes in a brothel would never make it into a Hornblower novel but the subsequent events have a ring of authenticity and certainly show a more accurate picture of the events of its time.

[Marvin Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading the whole series for the nautical references and the historical interest. Good page-turners.

[Bill]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13667232

[f h turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Authentic

Usual authenticity please give the captain some recognition.perhaps a.knighthood and a two decker.having followed the suffering I am starting to feel damaged myself