Ramage

Lord Ramage #1

by Dudley Pope, Alexander Kent

It is 1796. Sea battles rage and an attack from the French has left third-lieutenant Ramage the sole officer in charge of his frigate. With orders from Nelson to be obeyed and a daring mission to be completed, young Nicholas Ramage must rise to the challenge. Despite the grave adversity of his situation, Ramage embarks upon an intrepid rescue with quite unforeseen consequences. This thrilling adventure is the first in Dudley Pope's popular and much-loved Ramage series.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Adventure, Nautical, War, Military Fiction

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 1964

About the author

Dudley 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.

Reviews

[The Pirate Ghost (Formerly known as the Curmudgeon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My, my, my...What a wonderful tale of wooden ships and Iron men, cannon and tall timber, courage and honor and dashing, gallant Naval Officers riding the wind on sleek wooden zephyrs that gallop over frothing seas and race the wind.

This is a wonderful book written in 1968 by Dudley Pope, a friend and protégée of C. S. Forester, author of the Horatio Hornblower Novels. Pope's dashing young hero, Nicholas Ramage, must outwit and out last all enemies foreign and domestic. Not only does he have to navigate the dangerous Mediterranean between Naples, Corsica and Civitavecchia (Livorno), and, outfox those dastardly Napoleonic French and the occasional Spanish Galleon, he must also out maneuver his father's rivals within the King's (George)Navy so he can rescue a beautiful Italian Countess from the guillotine.

Though the Ramage Novels may not have the following of Horatio Hornblower, there is a little something for everyone who loves high adventure and tales of dashing swashbuckling heroes in this pleasant book. Pope's gentlemanly writing style rings with all the pomp and circumstance of the Royal Navy in 1798 and words as velvety smooth as John Wyndham, H.G. Wells, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Between the covers of this book lies a tale of adventure, love, daring rescues, heroic feats, the heat of a good sea battle, and romantic clang sword on sword.

Wonderful Characters, from the slightly uptight but dashing Nicholas Ramage, to the beautiful, intelligent and feisty Lady Gianna and the rascally American Gunner's Mate named Jackson. Even when the old Boatswain's Mate from the HMS Sibella and Sibella's Carpenter testify over the sinking of the Sibella, they are colourful and funny. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the way Pope depicted Admiral Horatio Nelson himself as a proper, stiff backed Naval Officer with an odd sense of humor turned practical joker.

This is a romantic tale if there ever was one. I'm rating it 4 stars. I recommend it for anyone who likes action adventure, historical fiction, naval battles and good old fashioned romance (but not too much of it). My only complaint is that here and there it gets a bit bogged down in the details and mechanics of battle. Then again a story with lots of things that blow up, go boom and draw blood can't be too bad.

Warnings:

Hell, there's nothing to be worried about here. There are a few graphic descriptions of bodies damaged by grape and double shot and one of Nick's hands strays to a ladies breast, completely by accident...yeah, right... but even with that racy tawdry moment, this is a great YA read and good for anyone.

I suppose one warning should be that this was written in 1968. There is a subtle, but noticeable difference in writing styles between then and now. This story has a bit more narration and fewer dialogs, but it's a wonderful story.

A side note. I may be biased with this one, because of my own Naval Service where I was part of the commissioning crew on the USS Ramage (DDG61) named after Medal of Honor Winner from the Second World War Red Ramage. My first European port on my first ship's, first deployment (with me aboard) was in Civitavecchia (LaSpezia) Italy and I was stationed in Naples Italy for 3 years. I spent three Mediterranean deployments in the Med, doing rings around Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. This story is set in my "home away from home."

[Reni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ramage. You don't want to make him angry. He gets pretty adorable when he's angry.

A fun, straight-forward adventure story in the Age of Sail but with a hero who is simply a little too perfect to be true. The plot holds no surprises, but at least the plotting is fast paced and tight enough so that it never gets boring. I found I much prefer the straight-forward storytelling of this book, with a prominent arc of suspense, to the more slice-of-life, episodic narration found in the early Aubrey-Maturin novels.

The writing itself is a lot more streamlined and simplistic than O’Brian’s wordy prose, but it lends itself well to telling an uncomplicated, fun adventure plot without any frills. The book doesn’t teem with Austen-like detail on the period like O’Brian’s work, but not at any point did I consciously miss the detail.

However, I found the conflict in this novel a bit too smooth to be called really good story telling. All of the obstacles in our hero’s way evaporate a little too quickly for the reader to really fear for the protagonists. Even when a plan does not go smoothly for once, Ramage immediately comes up with at least three other options to escape his predicament. When one way is barred to him, another option presents itself, and at least two other characters will throw themselves at our hero to help.

Because our hero is beloved by all, except by the cartoonish villains. And this is another complaint I have also had with the Aubrey-Maturin books so far: The villains are too two-dimensional. Say what you will about Forester’s writing being too clinical, but he, at least, treated all of his characters with respect – even mad foil El Supremo! He would never have written a Captain Croucher into one of his stories.

Case in point: Most of Ramage’s problems stem from a couple of political enemies he inherited from his father. A bunch of corrupt, arrogant, backstabbing captains and admirals and their lickspittles, who would rather put a knife in someone’s back than fight them openly and who, despite their titles and money backing them, are jealous of real talent. *yawn*. Nothing to see here, move on!

It should also be noted that the writing tends to be a bit classist in places, and by that I don’t mean our aristocratic hero! No, the narration itself on occasion mentions “peasant thinking” and describes more than one rating as “simple”.


Another problem is our hero himself.

Meet Lt. Nicholas Ramage:

He is young, rich, extremely good at his job, and HE IS HOT (and don’t you forget it). The ratings adore him because he is a good seaman (and looks good without a shirt on, thank you, Jackson) and because he never has to resort to physical violence to enforce discipline. Not even starting: According to the seamen he doesn’t even have to threaten to have them started. One look into his brown doe eyes and every seaman will do as is expected of him. Yes, apparently he never ever even has a drunken man in his division. And even the freshly pressed men fall in love with him on sight and accept their fate, so there is never a reason to have a man flogged.

Ramage is that perfect.

He is also proficient with a ridiculously impractical weapon for his setting: He is a killer with a throwing knife! On a crowded ship! Yep, that is going to come in handy when he has to lead a boarding party. Not.

And it gets even more ridiculous: Our hero doesn’t simply have throwing knives, he has a throwing knife. As in, he’s got a single one. And he carries it around in his boot. If you think the plot has to bend over backwards to make that weapon useful you are right. He has to forget his sword in a boat in one scene for the throwing knife to come in handy: Our Hero - the pride of the Royal Navy, ladies and gentlemen.

You really cannot tell me the author had him be a knife-nut for any other reason than that he thought throwing knives were cool.

And when, at the climax of the book, as contact with the enemy is imminent, Ramage is offered a perfectly balanced, brand new sword, he refuses it in favour of his throwing knife. I can’t even put into words how stupid this is. Ok, so he does not, in the end, actually have to use either one in that particular confrontation, but what the hell stops a person from carrying both a sword and a throwing knife?

And to top it off, he gets to romance his childhood friend, who has grown up to inherit huge tracts of land. Yes. Both kinds. She is also blessed with long, raven hair, and full, red lips, and a complexion to die for. Oh, and she is headstrong and brave and kind and fiery and she knows how to ride a horse and how to handle pistols and swords, and she falls head over heels for our hero and STOP IT! Yes, we know, she is just as perfect as Ramage.

Let’s face it, poor Nico is simply too perfect. His only “flaws” are that he isn’t quick with his mathematics (although he still manages to do a good enough job of number crunching while his ship is sinking under him, in order to pull off a narrow escape from a French ship of the line!) and that he suffers from an amusing speech impediment once he gets angry or excited.

Those aren’t flaws, dear authors. The last one, I thought, if anything makes him even cuter ("Aw, look, there goes Mr. Ramage again, talking like a six year old. Isn’t he cute when he gets angry?"). Sure, you could argue it could damage an officer’s authority, but, seriously, loyalty has (had) people overlook much weirder things in real life. And seamen apparently really friggin’ love him on sight anyway (perhaps because he is so cute?), so I don’t see how this would handicap him in any way.

However, as I wrote, I really liked the pacing in this book. So even though it’s not great literature, and the prose isn’t nearly as thick and beautiful as the prose of Patrick O’Brian, at least the series is promising a lot of good action and a couple of quick, entertaining reads. And I immediately took to some of the secondary characters (rare as they are), especially Jackson - now Ramage’s coxswain - who I wouldn’t mind meeting again in another volume of the series. Also, when he isn’t being obnoxious, or ridiculously in love with his own abilities, I guess, Ramage himself is kind of cute too. Plus, apparently the series is taking place in the same reality as Hornblower, and I’d like to see if it gets referenced again.

Also, apparently the next book will feature the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, and I really want to read how the author handled that one (and a cameo from John Jervis? Maybe? Pretty please?). So, yeah, I will definitely give Ramage another chance soon (but first it’s back to Aubrey, and perhaps a Bolitho or two).

[Alex Stinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pope's novels, though writing in the tradition of the Hornblower or Aubrey-Maturin novels, doesn't quite capture the romance nor the wholistic approach to representing the period that the other two series offer. With prose and thematic concerns more like Bernard Cornwell's novels, focused on a raw depiction of a rough and tumble world, the novels focus on trying to capture a raw masculinity rather then to contextualize that masculinity in a more well rounded world. The first novel only moves a few short months, with little depth of character development.

[Nooilforpacifists · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first in this series begins with a bang, but the author’s skill is not yet up to the challenge. Books two and three steadily improve. By book four, Pope is as good as C.S. Forester.

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ramage series by Dudley Pope is another installment in the Age of Sails historical fiction genre. I thought I’d give it a try and I’m pleased that I did. Pope’s writing style is completely different from C.S. Forester’s or Patrick O’Brian’s, more accessible and casual. That’s not to say that the book lacks historical authenticity or expert naval details, because Pope exercises command over both of these vital skills. He also excels at writing action scenes, notably the action in the opening pages of the book, which immediately drew me into the book. It seems that Pope had personal experience to draw on for the action and sailing details, seeing as he was in the merchant marine in the second World War (his ship was torpedoed) and considering that he wrote these books while living and sailing on a yacht.

The protagonist and namesake of the series, Lieutenant Nicholas Ramage, is a likeable junior lieutenant who is thrust into an unexpected command in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Tuscany. His adventures, which take place on both land and sea are confined to this area of which Ramage has some family history with. Pope’s descriptions of the landscape of Tuscany were just as well-written as his action scenes. The plot is entertaining and kept me engaged throughout the book. The cast of secondary characters is well drawn even if they are not too complex. As other reviewers have pointed out, Ramage is just a little too lucky and perfect.

There is some romance present, but it didn’t feel too contrived which is the most important thing to me. There’s practically nothing worse than the obligatory love interest which serves no purpose, in my opinion.

My first foray into the Ramage series brings to mind Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series. They both possess great action and authentic historical detail. They lack the depth of more serious literature, but that doesn’t take away from their enjoyability. Ramage is a fun and entertaining escape to the early years of the Napoleonic Wars. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you've exhausted C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian, Dudley Pope is the one you might try next. And he's good. Good, but not great, even though the blurbs will lead you to believe otherwise. The Ramage series is set in the same time frame as Aubrey/Maturin and Hornblower, and the nautical writing is just as good (and sometimes just as impenetrable to us landlubbers), but Pope doesn't quite measure up either to O'Brian or Forester in plot development, writing skills, or character depth. Still, Ramage is stirring, and for those who can't get enough of that historical period, well worth the ride--especially if you've sadly finished Forester and O'Brian and have nowhere else to turn.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a perfectly good, indeed quite good, naval story in terms of action and pace. Pope also seems to have a fairly good appreciation for the details of naval sailing in the period. But the book fails on the personal level - we don't even really get a good sense of the title character, even though we see the action through him. His characterisation elsewhere is even weaker, and the romantic attachment is shallow and feels forced.

It is quite possible that I've been spoiled by Patrick O'Brien, but this is clearly a major step below that standard.

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't very impressed with the first Ramage novel. the first chunk takes place on a gig and on land, which I thought was an odd choice for a naval adventure novel. Then, it becomes a legal drama and almost totally lost me. Finally, at the end of the novel, we finally get a bit of naval action.

[Antje · Rating 2 out of 5]

Auf der Rückseite der Unionsverlag-Ausgabe lockt das Zitat der New York Times "Man kann nur jubeln: Eine klaffende Lücke wird gefüllt." zum Lesen, vor allem LiebhaberInnen von Seefahrtsromanen. Nur bleibt für mich am Ende die Frage offen, welche klaffende Lücke damit gemeint ist. Ich habe mit Rafael Sabatinis "Captain Blood" oder Alexandre Dumas' "Schiffbrüche" bei weitem besser erzählte und konstruierte Geschichten gelesen.

Die Handlung las sich durchaus flüssig und nicht uninteressant. Die Kampfeshandlungen auf den Schiffen und die Schiffe selbst waren gut vorstellbar. Allerdings blieben mir die Charaktere, allen voran Leutnant Ramage, zu oberflächlich und unglaubwürdig skizziert. Zudem war mir die ganze Geschichte zu vorhersehbar und hielt keinerlei Überraschung parat. Ramage soll sechs Personen aus einer misslichen Lage erretten und natürlich muss sich darunter eine junge Frau befinden. Und natürlich verlieben sie sich ineinander. Der Roman hätte eine viel bessere Figur ohne all diesen Liebesschmus abgegeben.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tale of naval heroism is not the best but it is by no means the worst.

Ramage is left in command of a sinking ship when all the senior officers are killed in action with the French. Having abandoned his ship he knows that he must carry out the orders if he wants to avoid a court martial. Ramage rescues the Marchesa di Volterr from the Italian coast and must stand trail for the loss of the Sibella and on a charge of cowardice.

I liked Ramage as a character, though I did find there was too much time spent on the romance between him and the Marchessa.

[Murat · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a gem. Thanks to Mark, his rating made me try to read it and I loved it.

[Stifynsemons · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.4 stars, I like it, and quite likely will read it again some day]

Lord Ramage is like Hornblower, and yet, so unlike him. Like him, because he represents the best of the British fighting captains, and yet unlike him because he comes from a different part of British society. They've met in this fictional world and make terrible whist partners.

This first novel in the series has rescues, sinking ships, boarding actions, ships aground, court martials, and political intrigue.

On the whole, I suspect Ramage will make a more interesting captain than Jack Aubrey. Onward to the next in the series.

[Rich Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable stuff. I absolutely loved the court drama and the romance. The ship battles were great. The imagery and plot were top notch. Really easy to read and I always love the Nelson vs Napoleon setting. Maybe not high literature but still can't wait to read the next one

[Michael Koch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ramage is the first in a series of exciting Napoleonic War era naval stories. This series provides great reads and I rate almost all of the books at five stars. This particular book while thrilling and fast paced might make it only to four stars. However, Pope spends time introducing his main character Nicholas Ramage, a secondary character Jonathon Jackson and a love interest Gianna the Marchesa di Volterra. These characters have real depth that continues to be fleshed out in later books to provide extra richness to the stories.

The book opens with the junior Lieutenant Ramage slowly waking from a head wound to find himself the only officer in the middle of a one-sided battle between his tiny cutter and a full-sized French frigate. Two thirds of the crew is dead or badly wounded and the ship, beyond saving, is sinking quickly. Fortunately, the sun has now set, giving scope for the less obvious. After breaking into the Captain’s desk to find the ships orders, Ramage executes a tricky maneuver to leave the wreck and the wounded to the French and make off in the ship’s boats with the rest of the crew. (The French will tend to the wounded.)

The story follows Ramage as he proceeds to execute the cutter’s orders with just her boats and a small portion of her crew. There are a number of exciting scenes: finding and rescuing influential Italians before they are captured by the advancing Napoleon, returning to occupied Italy to find a doctor and getting back to Corsica with just the ships boats. Once that is all over, he is given another, even smaller cutter to rescue the crew of a British frigate run aground against a cliff on Corsica and now surrounded by French soldiers.

I believe Pope writes under at least two aliases: Douglas Reeman and Bernard Cornwell. Under Reeman he also covers naval battles and the sea, however in this case his focus is the Second World War and the Cold War. Unlike the Ramage series, his Reeman stories are all independent of each other. Under Cornwell, he writes about the Napoleonic wars; he tells those stories using a Rifleman by the name of Richard Sharpe. His books are all good, mostly four and five stars. I enjoy the Ramage series under his own name the most. They are all fast, exciting, interesting, surprising without being off the wall and they have a unique shipboard feel.

These books are all family friendly. Language is somewhat of the times but they are not difficult and they are all child safe. Pope writes with old fashioned attitudes and his writing seems most comfortable with that. Cornwell is also old fashioned but a little less genteel. Reeman is in a time of societal change and writes awkwardly on the subject of relationships; fortunately this is a minor aspect of each book.

A very good book, exciting and readable. Four stars.

[Bernard Windwillow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rollicking jolly story. Unfortunately it was entirely too predictable. The descriptive phrases were palpable. The emotional hooks were a little contrived. References to more modern time were inappropriate. They detracted from the scene settings. This would be an excellent book for adolescents.

[Wyatt Earp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ramage is too normal-hero fodder for me, especially after reading the Hornblower novels. I was looking for a character with the kind of depth that Forester developed, and just wasn't getting that out of Pope. This first book in the series will be my last. On to Bolitho...

[sarg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave this 4 stars. I have read the original Ramage series ( this Ramages father) many years ago. He is a CS Forrester "Hornblower" like Character. This was a good read if you like "Horratio Hornblower" 18th century British naval escapades you will like this one. 

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 4 out of 5]

These aren’t the most historically accurate books and at times ‘Ramage’ can be almost ‘super-human’, but they are extremely easy to read, and there is a definite flow to the narrative.

[Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about beginning a story in media res! Nicholas Ramage returns to consciousness on the lower deck of the frigate on which he serves as Third Lieutenant to find that his captain and the two superior lieutenants have been killed by shot from the French 74 that waylaid them a few minutes before. Like it or not, he’s now in command -- and half the crew is dead, many of the guns are dismounted, and they’re taking water at the rate of a foot every fifteen minutes. The groggy Ramage takes a round turn on himself, however, and manages to get the survivors of the crew away in a boat and out of their fix without being captured. Then he opens the captain’s orders and finds that they were on a mission to rescue some aristocratic Italians who are trying to escape from Bonaparte’s invasion of the peninsula -- it’s 1796 and they’re patrolling off the coast of Tuscany -- and Ramage discovers that he knows one of them. He’s the heir to an earldom and he mostly grew up in Italy after his admiral father left England in disgrace, having been the victim of a highly political trial a decade before.

That’s the set-up and Pope, who had written several previous books of history about the Napoleonic Wars at sea, does a good job with it. Pope is post-Hornblower but pre-Aubrey, so he didn’t have a great deal of competition when he was writing this series, which, unfortunately, was allowed to go out of print for a couple of decades. Ramage is a likeable character, competent and courageous, though somewhat lacking in self-confidence. The love story part of the narrative (you knew there would be one) is couched in Jane-Austen-like terms and is perfectly believable. The book doesn’t overreach in terms of plot, focusing instead on the rescue of the refugees and then on the rescue of a crew from a frigate that went aground up the coast -- for the purposes of which Lieut. Ramage gets command of a nice little cutter. In between those two episodes, he has to get through the court martial that is required whenever a ship is lost, even though no decision he was able to make had anything to do with the loss, really. But the vendetta against his father is being visited upon the son, in the way of naval politics, and Ramage comports himself well. Nelson has a part as a supporting player and there’s an American coxswain who obviously is destined to become Ramage’s sidekick. All in all, it’s a good yarn, though not a patch on O’Brian or Forester in terms of quality. I read this book shortly after it first appeared and I had forgotten nearly all the details, but now I’m going to have to try to locate the others in the series.

[Alex Helling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lord Nicholas Ramage is a Lieutenant on a Royal Navy Frigate which unfortunately gets sunk. As the most senior surviving officer it falls to him to carry out the mission previously allotted to a full frigate with just a handful of sailors and a couple of small row boats and skiffs. Fortunately the mission does not involve taking a ship of the line but in rescuing some Italian aristocrats, and it happens that Ramage both speaks fluent Italian and knows some of the aristocrats in question - he is the perfect man for the job!

There is plenty of action, both on land and at sea which is clear and easy to follow, only a few naval terms so it is unlikely to make things particularly difficult for anyone who is new to age of sail adventure or history. The plot is fairly simple and obvious where it is going which probably suits a plain action and adventure story. There is some, slightly awkward, romance but that reflects the inexperience of our hero and the position he finds himself in - so it is intentional. Ramage is a likeable main character (despite being an aristocrat he is not fabulously wealthy or arrogant - indeed he is perhaps too empathetic for someone of his station). The novel is fast paced and everything seems to go by very quickly, but then it is a short novel, nice and easy to read over a couple of days (I'm a pretty slow reader so I dare say many would read it in one).

Quite apart from the convenience of having the perfect mission for him fall into his hands there were elements that I was not entirely convinced by; one of the aristocrats immediately hates Ramage and sets about destroying his chances at a court martial but the rationale is quite thin. It is even thinner for the captains on the court - essentially internal navy politics, but it is unclear to me that clear eyed captains in a relatively (for the time) meritocratic service would truly see the son entirely through the lens of the father. As such the enemies at home to me felt a little too plain and obvious, which could have been done more convincingly and more subtly.

Ramage is the first in a pretty long series of more than a dozen books so if you like this one there is plenty more to come (though I have yet to buy them!) Not as good as the O’Brian Aubrey series, but then those are some of my all time favourite novels so in my view of course it isn’t! Nonetheless for your fix of age of sail naval action this is pretty good stuff.

[R Sticklee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb opening, don’t care for the romantic pairing

This book had a superb opening! Ramage is the lowest ranking officer on the frigate Sibelius and the only officer still living. In the midst of a battle with a French first rate, Ramage is fuddled from a concussion. Nevertheless he must make a host of critical decisions for which he will later be held accountable by a hostile court martial.

What I liked: The backstory was interesting and had a profound influence on how Ramage’s decisions are perceived. The Italian setting was fresh. The fact that Ramage spent most of his childhood in Italy (despite both parents being English) was central to the story. I liked Ramage, and Jackson, a warrant officer. I liked the characterization of the ordinary and able seamen.

What I didn’t like: I didn’t care for Gianna, Marchesa di Volterra. I didn’t care for the characters being either good or evil. If evil, they tended to also be very unattractive physically. What wasn’t mentioned, perhaps it will figure in later stories, was the religion of Ramage and the Marchesa. Ramage is a member of the Church of England. She would be Roman Catholic. I find it hard to believe that a relationship (potential union) would be encouraged between the two.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sep 1796 off Italy. ReRd. I forgot how Pope could make even a disaster funny. How his hero, though he claims mathematical incompetence, can whiz convert inches of water rising in the hold to minutes left afloat. British frigate has 14 light guns broadside out of ammo vs 74 heavy guns, out-manned by French.

Pope finds clever ways to save people. All officers senior to Lt Nick are killed. Some 1/4 of men are left able to abandon rapidly sinking ship. American Jackson can lend a hand, if Nick can figure orders for the hands.

Pope can subtly introduce romance, then build suspense despite possible stuffiness in legal charges. The fiery Marchesa leaps to defend Nick, a Lord off-board. Her cousin Count Pisano accuses Nick of cowardice. Old enemies, who wrongly drummed his father out of the Navy, use the lying Italian, set up Nick for a court-martial. People surprise me, yet act in keeping with characters at moment.

Typos
Ch 5 p 122 dumps IS clumps
7 p 162 vhis IS This
12 p 289 discusss IS discuss

[Viva · Rating 4 out of 5]

CS Forester and HH is my gold standard in historical naval fiction. When I finished the series years ago I looked around and found Ramage, Bolitho and Aubrey/Maturin. I tried but found all 3 series lacking and never followed them.

Fast forward to decades later, I found the Lowrie and Kydd series, finished one and quit on the other. I decided to try the old clones again. I found Ramage to not be too bad. The writing isn't up to the same standard as CSF, the writing isn't as readable but still ok.

Spoilers ahead:
I found the plot to be very interesting. Most of the others have a fairly standard start where they begin at the beginning, first day on board the ship, etc. This one literally starts in the middle of action where Ramage has been knocked out in a ship to ship action and is woken up to command when all the other superior officers are killed.

And whereas most of the other books all have a plethora of ship to ship action, the plot here is a bit unusual. After Ramage wakes up, he decides to abandon his new command, since his frigate is rapidly sinking and most of his men are dead or injured. Using a ruse he abandons and escapes with his unwounded men in the ship's boats. He reads the secret orders which are to rescue several Italian nobles from Italy.

He manages to rescue them and bring them back to the British base in Bastia, Corsica. Once there he is accused of cowardice and has a court martial. The court martial (which is a long boring piece) is interrupted when Commodore Nelson appears. Ramage is then given command of a small sloop and given the task of rescuing a nearby beached British frigate. There is a bit of action and he is successful.

He goes back to Bastia where Nelson figures out is he falsely accused and then given the task of transporting the Italians (down to 2) to Gibraltar. There is another long boring segment (which I fast read) where Ramage stays with some diplomats. A big part of the book is also about his romance with one of the Italians who happens to be a young and pretty countess.

Considering this book was written in 1965, it's not bad. The plot is a bit strange and not your usual guns and sails naval fiction since most of it does not take place on the sea. There's a bit too much of Ramage's father's previous issues with the Admiralty and other off-topic stuff. But I give it 4 stars for a good try and the readable parts. I'm reading #2 in the series now.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this. I am a fan of historical fiction and have read several of the Master and Commander books (can't think of the actual series name right now) and I enjoyed those but I think now that I prefer the Ramage novels. The characters were a bit more likable while still feeling authentic and the writing was very easy to follow. One of my complaints with the other series was that it took some time and effort to understand the old language being used and this was so much easier and more enjoyable to read. That and the story moved along at a brisk pace that kept me interested and entertained. I can easily recommend this to fans of historical sea faring fiction.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this first volume in the Ramage series and look forward to reading more. While covering the same time period as Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, I found this author to be an easier read as a non-sailing proficient reader. I was able to focus much more on reading the story and not having to stop every 15 seconds to look up sailing terms or study charts and maps. Apparently C.S. Forester encouraged Dudley Pope to undertake these novels, so it was interesting to see a couple of references to the Horatio Hornblower character in this novel. If you enjoy good military historic fiction and the Napoleonic Era, I can definitely recommend giving this one a try.

[Clinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started to read the first few pages, just to get a feel for the book. The book opens in the middle of a desperate fight with a French ship of the line and things are not going well. I kept reading to find out how Ramage was going to get out of this affair and found myself hooked. There is a confusing subplot involving his father, of which I never understood the purpose, but the action moves at a good pace. It was good enough to interest me in the series. I'm down to my last Hornblower now and will be moving on to the Ramage story next.

[Coleen Dailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. Nicholas Ramage is a young officer who tackles a terrible task, saving the lives of the crew that he finds himself in charge of after the death of the senior officers, saving refugess in Italy twice, and finally obtaining command of his own vessel. The descriptions of the boat sailing , the wind in the sails and the rise and fall of the ocean remind me of times I have spent on a sailboat. This book is the first in a series and I look forward to reading the rest.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars. This was an entertaining naval tale set during the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars with Lieutenant Lord Nicholas Ramage as the title hero. The story was crafted nicely and written well, however the fact that Nicholas falls in love with the Marchesa Gianna almost at first sight was not very credible. My main criticism is that there was not enough swashbuckling involved and Ramage's honor as a man and officer could have been displayed better. I would say this is a stable start to the series but it's definitely not a worthy competitor of C.S. Forester's Hornblower.

[Jack Sakalauskas · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ramage" is the first in a series of sea novels. The story opens up with a sea battle and our ship sinking. Our hero becomes the captain of a sinking ship and the start of his troubles. Ramage is likable, perhaps too much so with the crew. I found some parts boring, too much description about putting up sails. Another part that annoyed me was his reaction to the lady in the story. A bit overdone. He sounded like a wide eyed schoolboy. I'm hoping it doesn't take him too long to become a adult.

[Jon Schwarz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been looking for a new series to scratch my Hornblower itch for a while now. I was hopeful that Ramage was going to be that series and while it’s okay, it is simply okay. The action is fine and the Ramage is a fine character, but everything else is pretty weak. I’ve seen it said elsewhere that the author had a habit of making all the bad characters super ugly, which I just found super lazy. The writing itself is also pretty weak. It’s another clean burn, I was well enough entertained while reading it but it left no residual memories in my mind after in finishing the book. Even though I have published the next book, I probably won’t read it anytime soon. The best thing about this book honestly, was that it made me start rereading the Hornblower books again which I’m thoroughly enjoying.