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Lord Ramage #9
Ramage & the Rebels
Setting off on a sweep for freebooters in the waters off Jamaica, Ramage and the crew of the Calypso stumble upon a scene of a sinking British ship, her crew and passengers—men and women alike—ruthlessly murdered at the hands of a French privateer. Supported by his men in a thirst for righteous vengeance, Ramage ferrets out the brigand's name and sets sail to bring him in.
318 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1978
52 people are currently reading
203 people want to read
About the author
Dudley Pope
130 books93 followersDudley Pope was born in Ashford, Kent.
By concealing his age, Pope joined the Home Guard aged 14 and at age 16 joined the Merchant Navy as a cadet. His ship was torpedoed the next year (1942). Afterwards, he spent two weeks in a lifeboat with the few other survivors.
After he was invalided out of the Merchant Navy, the only obvious sign of the injuries Pope had suffered was a joint missing from one finger due to gangrene. Pope then went to work for a Kentish newspaper, then in 1944 moved to The Evening News in London, where he was the naval and defence correspondent. From there he turned to reading and writing naval history.
Pope's first book, "Flag 4", was published in 1954, followed by several other historical accounts. C. S. Forester, the creator of the famed Horatio Hornblower novels, encouraged Pope to add fiction to his repertoire. In 1965, "Ramage" appeared, the first of what was to become an 18-novel series.
Pope took to living on boats from 1953 on; when he married Kay Pope in 1954, they lived on a William Fife 8-meter named Concerto, then at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy in 1959 with a 42-foot ketch Tokay. In 1963 he and Kay moved to a 53-foot cutter Golden Dragon, on which they moved to Barbados in 1965. In 1968 they moved onto a 54-foot wooden yacht named Ramage, aboard which he wrote all of his stories until 1985.
Pope died April 25, 1997 in Marigot, St. Martin. Both his wife and his daughter, Jane Victoria survived him.
By concealing his age, Pope joined the Home Guard aged 14 and at age 16 joined the Merchant Navy as a cadet. His ship was torpedoed the next year (1942). Afterwards, he spent two weeks in a lifeboat with the few other survivors.
After he was invalided out of the Merchant Navy, the only obvious sign of the injuries Pope had suffered was a joint missing from one finger due to gangrene. Pope then went to work for a Kentish newspaper, then in 1944 moved to The Evening News in London, where he was the naval and defence correspondent. From there he turned to reading and writing naval history.
Pope's first book, "Flag 4", was published in 1954, followed by several other historical accounts. C. S. Forester, the creator of the famed Horatio Hornblower novels, encouraged Pope to add fiction to his repertoire. In 1965, "Ramage" appeared, the first of what was to become an 18-novel series.
Pope took to living on boats from 1953 on; when he married Kay Pope in 1954, they lived on a William Fife 8-meter named Concerto, then at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy in 1959 with a 42-foot ketch Tokay. In 1963 he and Kay moved to a 53-foot cutter Golden Dragon, on which they moved to Barbados in 1965. In 1968 they moved onto a 54-foot wooden yacht named Ramage, aboard which he wrote all of his stories until 1985.
Pope died April 25, 1997 in Marigot, St. Martin. Both his wife and his daughter, Jane Victoria survived him.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 2, 2024
This is the ninth adventure of Lord Nicholas Ramage in the Royal Navy at the time of Napoleon. Britain’s war with revolutionary France is being waged. Ramage is Captain of His Majesty’s frigate Calypso under Admiral Foxe-Foote of the Jamaica station. His admiral is trying to control rebels and pirates in order to keep communication and transit safe and trade functional. As always there are not nearly enough naval vessels and Foxe-Foote’s fleet is unable to succeed. Ramage as recently arrived, and Foxe-Foote would like him to also fail and become the whipping boy for the Admiralty.
Ramage is given little useful information as to the location and names of the pirates. The Calypso finds and interrupts a pirate in action. As expected, the privateer flees in a much faster boat and the Calypso finds the crew and passengers of the sinking merchantman raped and killed. This, of course, infuriates his crew and the privateer is followed. Observing the privateer’s course and examining maps to find likely locations, Ramage arrives at the Dutch island Curaçao. The Dutch are allies under France’s control along with Spain. Curaçao holds 10 or privateer ships however there appear to be few of their crewmen or of soldiers.
As Ramage closes slowly, the white flag is shown from the town and its forts. The Governor comes aboard and seeks to surrender Curaçao to his solidary frigate. The Governor communicates his concerns and also asks Ramage to help with the dispersion or killing of the privateers and rebel soldiers. The rebels want to overpower the Governor in place of a more revolutionary leader and kill him and the civilians. Ramage agrees and the fighting begins. As the Calypsos return, Ramage discovers the lying and terrible reversal of the Governor’s plans.
This book gives an excellent picture of the life and action of how people live during this period and how close they all are to death. Battle is close and brutal, and civilians are regularly looted by soldiers and privateers who have no regular supplies or armaments. This was a good story. There was plenty of planning and battle, both on shore and on the water. Pope is adept at ensuring there is always a sense of dramatic tension. Four stars.
Ramage is given little useful information as to the location and names of the pirates. The Calypso finds and interrupts a pirate in action. As expected, the privateer flees in a much faster boat and the Calypso finds the crew and passengers of the sinking merchantman raped and killed. This, of course, infuriates his crew and the privateer is followed. Observing the privateer’s course and examining maps to find likely locations, Ramage arrives at the Dutch island Curaçao. The Dutch are allies under France’s control along with Spain. Curaçao holds 10 or privateer ships however there appear to be few of their crewmen or of soldiers.
As Ramage closes slowly, the white flag is shown from the town and its forts. The Governor comes aboard and seeks to surrender Curaçao to his solidary frigate. The Governor communicates his concerns and also asks Ramage to help with the dispersion or killing of the privateers and rebel soldiers. The rebels want to overpower the Governor in place of a more revolutionary leader and kill him and the civilians. Ramage agrees and the fighting begins. As the Calypsos return, Ramage discovers the lying and terrible reversal of the Governor’s plans.
This book gives an excellent picture of the life and action of how people live during this period and how close they all are to death. Battle is close and brutal, and civilians are regularly looted by soldiers and privateers who have no regular supplies or armaments. This was a good story. There was plenty of planning and battle, both on shore and on the water. Pope is adept at ensuring there is always a sense of dramatic tension. Four stars.
September 21, 2021
Spoilers ahead. I'm on the next book now so my memory is a bit hazy regarding the specifics or the quality of the writing.
Summary/spoilers:
Ramage is given orders to root out privateers in the Spanish Main and is also given the schooner La Creole as a tender with Lt. Lacey as commander to do this job. As per the description at the beginning they interrupt a privateer attacking a merchantmen. By the time they get close enough to board the privateer has escaped by they found that everyone on board has been murdered.
Next, they are able to capture the French frigate La Perle using subterfuge by tricking their captain to come aboard, then they just board the leaderless frigate and compel the lieutenants to surrender in the confusion. However they find that the La Perle has been badly maintained and is sinking by itself. He sends the frigate off to ground itself on a remote Spanish coast with Lacey following because he did not want 300+ French prisoners.
In the second half of the story he visits the Dutch island of Curacao where 10 privateers are hiding in the port. The Dutch have been taken over by the French and are uneasy allies of them. As the Dutch governor of the island says, he has 3 choices, he either goes over to the British, wholeheartedly supports the new regime or pretends to support the new regime so that the French don't put a real gung-ho republican governor on the island. But in reality he (van Someran) is a realist and looks after himself first.
Van Someran is actually in dire straits because the French privateers have been refused credit by the Dutch tradesmen. Not having supplies and the ability to sail, they have decided to ravage the island instead. Numbering 350 men, they are joined by 150 Dutch rebels. Since van S. only has about 100 troops, he decides to surrender the island to Ramage after explaining his situation.
Ramage accepts the surrender and strips his ship of men to attack the rampaging mob. He defeats them after a couple of days of action. When he goes back to the port, he finds that a Dutch frigate has arrived from the Netherlands and van S. goes back on his word daring Ramage to fight the frigate and the guns of the fort. Ramage doesn't waste any time and that night fills one of the privateers with powder, sails it next to the Dutch frigate and explodes it destroying it. Van S. is taken prisoner and sent to Barbados.
The surrender of Curacao to the British (a Captain Watkins) was based on a real incident and is referenced to in the postscript. However, the wikipedia entry of the same event directly contradicts it. The wiki entry paints Watkins as the one who goes back on his word. According to the wiki, French forces were invading the island and 2 American frigates were sent to protect American interests (ships and specie). Watkins was also there to fight the French. He teamed up with the Americans to defeat the French. However after the French defeat, Watkins seized the American property instead of protecting it and releasing the ships. The British government was not happy with his actions and cashiered him and returned the goods when his new commander arrived from Britain.
Overall the book is not bad. There is a lot of action, though Ramage's streak of wins on easy mode is sometimes a bit laughable. As usual, there is a lot of Ramage worship from everyone he meets, dialog filler from the crew, repeat hashes of the beautiful Marchesa and past events.
To be honest I'm reading the books now to finish the series, not because it's a great series. There is a huge difference between Hornblower and this series. CSF is a greatly talented writer, better in many times of magnitude. I can see that Pope tries, but he just isn't on the same level. Another thing with CSF is that you can see his writing improve from the first book to the last one. With Pope, it stays roughly at the same level, which is better than Stockwin and Lambdin, whose writing got worse and I abandoned those 2 series before I finished them.
Summary/spoilers:
Ramage is given orders to root out privateers in the Spanish Main and is also given the schooner La Creole as a tender with Lt. Lacey as commander to do this job. As per the description at the beginning they interrupt a privateer attacking a merchantmen. By the time they get close enough to board the privateer has escaped by they found that everyone on board has been murdered.
Next, they are able to capture the French frigate La Perle using subterfuge by tricking their captain to come aboard, then they just board the leaderless frigate and compel the lieutenants to surrender in the confusion. However they find that the La Perle has been badly maintained and is sinking by itself. He sends the frigate off to ground itself on a remote Spanish coast with Lacey following because he did not want 300+ French prisoners.
In the second half of the story he visits the Dutch island of Curacao where 10 privateers are hiding in the port. The Dutch have been taken over by the French and are uneasy allies of them. As the Dutch governor of the island says, he has 3 choices, he either goes over to the British, wholeheartedly supports the new regime or pretends to support the new regime so that the French don't put a real gung-ho republican governor on the island. But in reality he (van Someran) is a realist and looks after himself first.
Van Someran is actually in dire straits because the French privateers have been refused credit by the Dutch tradesmen. Not having supplies and the ability to sail, they have decided to ravage the island instead. Numbering 350 men, they are joined by 150 Dutch rebels. Since van S. only has about 100 troops, he decides to surrender the island to Ramage after explaining his situation.
Ramage accepts the surrender and strips his ship of men to attack the rampaging mob. He defeats them after a couple of days of action. When he goes back to the port, he finds that a Dutch frigate has arrived from the Netherlands and van S. goes back on his word daring Ramage to fight the frigate and the guns of the fort. Ramage doesn't waste any time and that night fills one of the privateers with powder, sails it next to the Dutch frigate and explodes it destroying it. Van S. is taken prisoner and sent to Barbados.
The surrender of Curacao to the British (a Captain Watkins) was based on a real incident and is referenced to in the postscript. However, the wikipedia entry of the same event directly contradicts it. The wiki entry paints Watkins as the one who goes back on his word. According to the wiki, French forces were invading the island and 2 American frigates were sent to protect American interests (ships and specie). Watkins was also there to fight the French. He teamed up with the Americans to defeat the French. However after the French defeat, Watkins seized the American property instead of protecting it and releasing the ships. The British government was not happy with his actions and cashiered him and returned the goods when his new commander arrived from Britain.
Overall the book is not bad. There is a lot of action, though Ramage's streak of wins on easy mode is sometimes a bit laughable. As usual, there is a lot of Ramage worship from everyone he meets, dialog filler from the crew, repeat hashes of the beautiful Marchesa and past events.
To be honest I'm reading the books now to finish the series, not because it's a great series. There is a huge difference between Hornblower and this series. CSF is a greatly talented writer, better in many times of magnitude. I can see that Pope tries, but he just isn't on the same level. Another thing with CSF is that you can see his writing improve from the first book to the last one. With Pope, it stays roughly at the same level, which is better than Stockwin and Lambdin, whose writing got worse and I abandoned those 2 series before I finished them.
March 7, 2024
Ramage is like a fever dream. There is a long literary canon of adventurers who wander through a lifetime of excitement by making nearly every correct choice and winning nearly every gamble. With Ramage, you can remove the adverb “nearly” and everything will just turn out. Not only will it come out right, but do so in the best possible way. A bit of a spoiler here, a named character is lost in this one, but over the last eight novels, it may be the first.
It’s so unnecessary and so uninteresting. Pope has done a good job building some intricate scenarios. By pulling through with the best possible outcome and the occasional scar (which in turn seems to help with the ladies) there is no growth. The books still tell a compelling story, but the endings are always, “he bested them all, made a ton of prize money, everyone got promoted, and his lady love is none the wiser to his most recent dalliance.”
Anyway, here are the raw numbers on this one:
Ship: HMS Calypso in concert with HMS La Creole
Crew: everyone is back
Romantic Interest: ostensibly the Marchesa, but enter a Dutch girl named Maria
It’s so unnecessary and so uninteresting. Pope has done a good job building some intricate scenarios. By pulling through with the best possible outcome and the occasional scar (which in turn seems to help with the ladies) there is no growth. The books still tell a compelling story, but the endings are always, “he bested them all, made a ton of prize money, everyone got promoted, and his lady love is none the wiser to his most recent dalliance.”
Anyway, here are the raw numbers on this one:
Ship: HMS Calypso in concert with HMS La Creole
Crew: everyone is back
Romantic Interest: ostensibly the Marchesa, but enter a Dutch girl named Maria
April 2, 2022
As a citizen of the Caribbean island Curaçao I have to point out that our capital is Willemstad and not Amsterdam. Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands (Holland). Other than this the description of the sites, villages and the names used to describe the capital are accurate. The story itself is very interesting and gives a nearly realistic account of historical events that more or less happened about that time. It is a book worthwhile reading. Mr. Pope certainly knows how to entertain his readers.
May 28, 2022
Another good Ramage book. Still in the Caribbean he is tasked with the new Admiral with taking on Privateers that are attacking British shipping. On patrol he and his ship come across a ship where the Privateers had massacred everyone. When they are asked by the governor of Curacao to help with a rebellion against them Ramage decides to help even though technically they are at war with Holland.
June 6, 2021
The plot rambles a bit, but nevertheless, enjoyable. I like how the author takes a relatively obscure bit of history, and weaves a plot around it. I also like how the author shifts perspectives and tenses, seeing certain actions in the present through the eyes of different characters ( like Orsini). It makes for an interesting read.
July 6, 2017
Interesting story based on the incident published in the Fourth Edition of Steel's Naval chronologist of the Late War published in 1806, in which the island of Curacao was surrendered to the Nereid in September of 1800.
January 29, 2018
Swashbuckling!
July 7, 2018
3.5. I hope the series starts to pick back up in a better direction, otherwise I may end up ODing.
April 15, 2019
Based on real event, island surrender because of rebel disruption. A whole book from a few lines. Wow.
June 28, 2022
Always love these books although this one spent more time on land than the sea. It takes a historical fact and creates an entire adventure.
October 13, 2022
Excitement and surprises! Way to go, Ramage!
December 11, 2024
Apart from a bit too much of sailing technique snd sail handling, this was up to Pope’s good story telling.
March 31, 2021
Like many in this first-rate series of sea stories set in the Napoleonic wars, the plot this time is based on a real incident: The surrender of the Dutch colony of Curaçao in 1800 to a Royal Navy frigate -- which puts it slightly out of historical sequence with the rest of the series, but most readers probably won’t notice or care. The Netherlands had been invaded and occupied by revolutionary France, which renamed it the Batavian Republic, and the island’s reluctant governor had managed to avoid the guillotine and keep his job -- though he was continually in danger from the young Jacobins among his own people. More than that, Curaçao had become the favored harbor and marketplace for French privateers in the Caribbean, which put even more pressure on the local Dutch. Ramage, meanwhile, has a new admiral, a thoroughly venal character who doesn’t care how many officers and men he loses, as long as they bring in the prize money (of which the commander in chief gets one-eighth) so he can bribe his way into the peerage. Ramage has orders to capture those privateers; not to sink them, but to bring them back for sale. And he and his ship’s company are strongly motivated by their discovery of an atrocity perpetrated by a privateering schooner. Ramage is startled to be asked to negotiate the island’s surrender -- which he can’t do, legally, but he can “capture” the island -- and then discovers that if he wants to keep Britain’s new prize he’s going to have to deal with the privateers and local revolutionaries, who are on the point of destroying the island. Ramage is a sailor, not a soldier, but with a little help by his Marine lieutenant, he manages, though the action bogs down a bit and impatiently skips over some things. (And while there’s a lot of good stuff here, as always, I think Pope misses a couple of good bets. For instance, I would have had the captured brother of the main villain turn out to be the Bad Guy himself, who is lying his head off.)
November 6, 2016
Ramage would have been a pirate or bucaneer had he been boron in the early eighteen hundreds. This one has Ramage going after privateers on the Spanish Main, but as usual things don't go as planned. This one has duplicity on the part of people that Ramage is trying to help in a crisis. There is a revenge element to the story that does show how men can be effected by the horrors of war. Anyone, who reads stories like this, will enjoy this story.
July 8, 2019
Another enjoyable swashbuckling story, although the author did tend to ‘ramble on’ a bit in this book. Numerous characters seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time deliberating and wavering over decisions and many of the descriptions seemed overly long-winded, however it was still well worth four stars.
May 18, 2013
This was a disappointing read. The series seems to be becoming a soap opera ala Alexander Kent's Bolitho series. Lord Ramage, as usual, is far and away the most clever character in the book. He can outwit career politicians and tell trained marines how to do their jobs even he admits ignorance to land tactics. It' just too much to accept.
May 5, 2012
The first of the Ramage books - all of which are exciting and well written. The Ramage series ranks 3rd with me behind Hornblower and Bolitho for age of sail excitement. Ramage is just a little too good and nothing is impossible..
Read
July 28, 2009Enjoyed
September 3, 2013
Another really good Lord Ramage historical novel--Pope continues to find new ways for Ramage to confound the French, the Spanish and now the Dutch . . .
October 22, 2013
good. not as good as some of the others
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews