Shores of Barbary

Duty and Destiny #12

by Andrew Wareham

Book Twelve – Shores of Frederick is slowly adapting to his debilitating injury, and to life ashore. After a period of reacquainting himself with his family, he is sent to the north-east of England, supposedly to put an end to smuggling. Later he is promoted and takes charge of a well-armed squadron. His orders are to stir up trouble on the Barbary Coast and ultimately, to thwart French ambitions in the area. The Duty and Destiny Series is a superbly-crafted collection of historical novels with a strong naval/seafaring theme. The series follows the naval career, loves and business dealings of Englishman, Frederick Harris, a brave but reluctant mariner. Despite his disinclination, he is seemingly destined to become a Master and Commander of his own ship. Books best read in series order. Published by The Electronic Book Company

Genres: Historical Fiction

198 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 30, 2017

Reviews

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts with the wounded and ill captain enjoying his home and family, but eventually is called upon to deal with smuggling off the eastern shores of England. The trick of course, is to not be too effective at stopping smuggling, but to discourage a certain sort.

Then, this book takes naval fiction into rarely examined territory; Captain Harris is now Admiral Harris, tasked with making the Barbary pirates uncomfortable and nervous, and hopefully damaging the French in the process.

Here we get to see a captain as an admiral instead, not active in the ship combat or raiding, but directing others and doing a lot of paperwork. So much paperwork. He has rash young captains in sloops out to make a name for themselves, or die trying. An old ship that was built like crap to begin with. He has to figure out how to deal with the pirates without harming other alliances. And he has to get used to being the guy moving pieces around on a board rather than being one of the key pieces.

But he does well, handling the different ships like tentacles on an octopus, using some for scouting, others for fighting, others for defensive screen, and others for support. Harris continues to show himself fairly ruthless and cold hearted, although he seems to enjoy it less with his advancing age.

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

As all of Wareham's books this is an excellent piece of historical fiction. It was well researched from all aspects, culturally, naval, geographically, etc. A good read about an exciting time in history..!

[clinton Littlefield · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great series. Love these books. Cannot wait for #13 to come out later this year. Read the series in about 3 weeks-12 books. My wife will be happy to have me back for a while.

[Michael Merry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Mr. Wareham, as usual, writes an entertaining story that keeps the reader asking for more. The sooner the better for this reader.