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Lord Ramage #13
Ramage's Devil
Captain Lord Ramage's honeymoon in France is interrupted by a sudden end to the Peace of Amiens. Finding themselves on unfriendly soil just hours before hostilities commence, Ramage and his bride elude the grasp of Napoleon's secret police.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
47 people are currently reading
168 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 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 28, 2021
At 10% of this book and only 2 more books to finish the series I decided to dnf this book and the series.
Pope is a fairly good writer. The action is well done and he does a good job of exposing bad practices in the navy at that time such as dockyard corruption, interest/favoritism/nepotism, poor conditions for the sailors, mutiny, etc. I learned quite a bit from this series.
Against that we have Pope's loose writing or long writing, lots of dialog filler, overdone Ramage worship, repetitive repetition of old themes from previous books, etc.
Unfortunately my first naval series was Hornblower and I tend to judge every series against that, which is impossible because CSF is a superb writer, one whom I have yet to find an equal to. CSF's character studies are superb and is the heart of his books. When I was a kid I read them for the action but as I got older I realized that the gems were the little vignettes scattered throughout his books that I could read over and over again.
Anyway, as I started reading this book, I started to get bored with the obvious filler in the first few chapters, the stilted banter, the forced interaction to set up the plot of this book I realized that I was forcing myself to continue to read it and decided not to finish. It's quite a sigh of relief that I no longer have to continue. A lot of the series was fun but I think it's time to try something else.
Pope is a fairly good writer. The action is well done and he does a good job of exposing bad practices in the navy at that time such as dockyard corruption, interest/favoritism/nepotism, poor conditions for the sailors, mutiny, etc. I learned quite a bit from this series.
Against that we have Pope's loose writing or long writing, lots of dialog filler, overdone Ramage worship, repetitive repetition of old themes from previous books, etc.
Unfortunately my first naval series was Hornblower and I tend to judge every series against that, which is impossible because CSF is a superb writer, one whom I have yet to find an equal to. CSF's character studies are superb and is the heart of his books. When I was a kid I read them for the action but as I got older I realized that the gems were the little vignettes scattered throughout his books that I could read over and over again.
Anyway, as I started reading this book, I started to get bored with the obvious filler in the first few chapters, the stilted banter, the forced interaction to set up the plot of this book I realized that I was forcing myself to continue to read it and decided not to finish. It's quite a sigh of relief that I no longer have to continue. A lot of the series was fun but I think it's time to try something else.
May 8, 2020
The writing in this was slightly better than in the last few books of the series. Whilst the constant recapping was still there it wasn't as relentless as normal and there was more character development than normal for the series.
Ramage gets caught up in france on honeymoon when war breaks out again. He manages to enlist the help of some french republicans who help him capture a brig who's crew has mutinied and hence escape from Brest. In doing so they come across the english fleet where of course the admiral lets him retake command of his old ship and dash off on an independant cruise to cayene to try and capture the french frigate carrying the detained french (which of course he does plus another frigate in the process!).
Ramage gets caught up in france on honeymoon when war breaks out again. He manages to enlist the help of some french republicans who help him capture a brig who's crew has mutinied and hence escape from Brest. In doing so they come across the english fleet where of course the admiral lets him retake command of his old ship and dash off on an independant cruise to cayene to try and capture the french frigate carrying the detained french (which of course he does plus another frigate in the process!).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2024
There’s nothing really left to say about this setup. Pope imagines a wholly implausible adventure and we the readers get to enjoy it. I suppose the only thing we learned this time around is that Pope is a “breast man” based on his frequent description of the female bust.
The details:
Ship: HMS Murex, HMS Calypso
Crew: enter three Frenchmen to augment the Calypsos
Love Interest: a few fond thoughts on the Marchesa, but Ramage put a ring on Lady Sara, who in a few cringeworthy scenes can’t keep her unmentionables stowed away.
The details:
Ship: HMS Murex, HMS Calypso
Crew: enter three Frenchmen to augment the Calypsos
Love Interest: a few fond thoughts on the Marchesa, but Ramage put a ring on Lady Sara, who in a few cringeworthy scenes can’t keep her unmentionables stowed away.
September 22, 2022
The Marchesa is out and Lady Ramage is in. This book picks up several months at least after the last book ended. The peace is still on and Ramage and Sarah are married spending time with a friend of the family. The peace ends and the friend is taken into custody by Bonaparte, luckily the Ramage's escape and reunited with the Calypso Ramage will try to intercept before he ends up on Devil's Island. Not nearly as much action as most of the prior books but an okay read.
September 20, 2021
Just ok. The book assumes that all of Ramage’s enemy adversaries are stupid, therefore, his tricks always work. Gets a little boring and monotonous. It would be nice if just once he met someone his equal in wiles, cleverness, or luck.
May 6, 2023
The war between Britain and France has begun while Ramage is on his honeymoon in France. He and his wife manage to escape and while on their way home he comes across the blockade fleet and his old ship. He takes back his ship and goes on a rescue mission across the Atlantic.
August 16, 2018
This was one of my least favorite in the series. Seemed a bit slow in many parts. Still entertaining if you enjoy the series. I will say I seem to have gotten out of sequence.
December 24, 2022
More like a short story but satisfactory!
June 23, 2025
A little far fetched in places, but the new wife lends an interesting change from the usual story
March 31, 2021
This 13th adventure in the career of Capt. Lord Nicholas Ramage of the Royal Navy follows the pattern of the previous several volumes in taking what could have been two or three short stories, each with its own entirely separate plot, and sort of jamming them together to form a somewhat disjointed novel that’s not entirely successful.
Ramage, the Protestant heir to an earldom, has finally come to terms with the reality that Gianna, the gorgeous young Catholic Italian countess he rescued from Bonaparte’s cavalry a dozen books ago, is not going to be someone he could ever marry -- and, in any case, she’s taken advantage of the lull in the war resulting from the ill-advised Treaty of Amiens (1801) to try to slip back into Volterra and resume ruling her little country. Ramage, meanwhile, while dealing with privateers turned pirate in the last episode, met and fell in love with the equally lovely but quite different Sarah, the daughter of a marquis, and therefore perfectly acceptable as a wife. In fact, they’re enjoying their honeymoon traveling through France and are staying with a Breton nobleman near Brest who is an old friend of the Ramage family (and who also has been living in exile in England), when news suddenly comes that the war is back on and that Bonaparte is arresting every returned royalist and visiting Englishman he can grab.
So, naturally, the first plotline concerns Nicholas and Sarah escaping from France before they end up in a French prison, which they manage with the help of the count’s valet and several local fishermen who don’t like the Revolution or Bonaparte even a little bit. The Count of Rennes, meanwhile, has been arrested and put on a frigate in Brest’s harbor that is bound for Devil’s Island on the coast of French Guiana. Ramage feels obligated, as a matter of honor, to attempt a rescue -- but if he returns to England in the brig he (and his wife) have hijacked, in order to rejoin his own ship, he’ll never catch up with the French frigate. Ah ha! Coincidence to the rescue! Just outside Brest, Ramage runs into the Channel Squadron, which is resuming its blockade duties in keeping the French penned up in harbor. And there’s Calypso, attached to the squadron, complete with all his handpicked officers and crew -- except for a new captain who should never have been made post.
The second (rather short) plotline, therefore, involves Ramage regaining his command, in the process of which the author digresses rather widely on the medical and psychiatric aspects of the evils of drink. (One has to wonder if some of this preaching is autobiographical.) And then begins the long chase across the Atlantic to try to catch the French frigate filled with political prisoners, because once they’re disembarked at Devil’s Island, Ramage will have no chance at all of carrying out a rescue. Again, as in recent episodes in the series, much of the voyage is spent describing meteorology and sailing conditions in the tropics, and the history of Guiana, and the everyday business of running a King’s ship. All of which is well written and interesting to fans of the genre like me, but it really doesn’t advance the story that much.
The final plotline is (you guessed it) the ingenious plan Ramage comes up with to not only rescue his friend but to capture the French frigate -- which this time will involve a thoroughly bloody boarding and hand-to-hand fight, since he can hardly fire into the enemy and kill the prisoners as well. The story ends abruptly, which makes me think the next volume will pick up five minutes later, but the episodic nature of the story means it will probably work out okay. One has the impression that Pope had rather run out of steam by this point in the series, merely using Ramage as a vehicle to ramble on about bits of naval history and business of interest to him -- not to mention that the author has rewritten history regarding the establishment of the penal colony in Guiana in the first place -- but the writing itself is enjoyable and I shall continue on, the lack of major drama notwithstanding.
Ramage, the Protestant heir to an earldom, has finally come to terms with the reality that Gianna, the gorgeous young Catholic Italian countess he rescued from Bonaparte’s cavalry a dozen books ago, is not going to be someone he could ever marry -- and, in any case, she’s taken advantage of the lull in the war resulting from the ill-advised Treaty of Amiens (1801) to try to slip back into Volterra and resume ruling her little country. Ramage, meanwhile, while dealing with privateers turned pirate in the last episode, met and fell in love with the equally lovely but quite different Sarah, the daughter of a marquis, and therefore perfectly acceptable as a wife. In fact, they’re enjoying their honeymoon traveling through France and are staying with a Breton nobleman near Brest who is an old friend of the Ramage family (and who also has been living in exile in England), when news suddenly comes that the war is back on and that Bonaparte is arresting every returned royalist and visiting Englishman he can grab.
So, naturally, the first plotline concerns Nicholas and Sarah escaping from France before they end up in a French prison, which they manage with the help of the count’s valet and several local fishermen who don’t like the Revolution or Bonaparte even a little bit. The Count of Rennes, meanwhile, has been arrested and put on a frigate in Brest’s harbor that is bound for Devil’s Island on the coast of French Guiana. Ramage feels obligated, as a matter of honor, to attempt a rescue -- but if he returns to England in the brig he (and his wife) have hijacked, in order to rejoin his own ship, he’ll never catch up with the French frigate. Ah ha! Coincidence to the rescue! Just outside Brest, Ramage runs into the Channel Squadron, which is resuming its blockade duties in keeping the French penned up in harbor. And there’s Calypso, attached to the squadron, complete with all his handpicked officers and crew -- except for a new captain who should never have been made post.
The second (rather short) plotline, therefore, involves Ramage regaining his command, in the process of which the author digresses rather widely on the medical and psychiatric aspects of the evils of drink. (One has to wonder if some of this preaching is autobiographical.) And then begins the long chase across the Atlantic to try to catch the French frigate filled with political prisoners, because once they’re disembarked at Devil’s Island, Ramage will have no chance at all of carrying out a rescue. Again, as in recent episodes in the series, much of the voyage is spent describing meteorology and sailing conditions in the tropics, and the history of Guiana, and the everyday business of running a King’s ship. All of which is well written and interesting to fans of the genre like me, but it really doesn’t advance the story that much.
The final plotline is (you guessed it) the ingenious plan Ramage comes up with to not only rescue his friend but to capture the French frigate -- which this time will involve a thoroughly bloody boarding and hand-to-hand fight, since he can hardly fire into the enemy and kill the prisoners as well. The story ends abruptly, which makes me think the next volume will pick up five minutes later, but the episodic nature of the story means it will probably work out okay. One has the impression that Pope had rather run out of steam by this point in the series, merely using Ramage as a vehicle to ramble on about bits of naval history and business of interest to him -- not to mention that the author has rewritten history regarding the establishment of the penal colony in Guiana in the first place -- but the writing itself is enjoyable and I shall continue on, the lack of major drama notwithstanding.
May 2, 2016
As Ramage and his bride honeymoon in France Bonaparte ends the Treaty of Amiens and war begins anew. The couple are visiting an old family friend and are lucky to escape when the friend is arrested by the Republicans. Eventually they make their way back to England under rather fortunate/unbelievable circumstances. Typical Ramage escapades. Then our hero has to try to come up with a scheme to rescue the friend who is being shipped to the notorious Devil's Island.
This isn't a bad read although it does help to suspend one's critical thinking.
This isn't a bad read although it does help to suspend one's critical thinking.
July 23, 2019
The story starts with Britain and France at peace and Ramage on is honeymoon. Unfortunately the war begins again while he and is bride are still in France.
His first job is to escape and then to find a way to rescue his friend Jean-Jacques. There is very little naval action in this story and at times it was a little slow, but it is still had enough to keep it interesting.
His first job is to escape and then to find a way to rescue his friend Jean-Jacques. There is very little naval action in this story and at times it was a little slow, but it is still had enough to keep it interesting.
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
July 10, 2014
Another good story in the Lord Ramage series--didn't like the start so much, but it set up for a good finish. Looking forward to next episode!
May 31, 2016
Just a great adventure with a bit of humor thrown in. Another book I liked.
Read
May 14, 2019I finished this a while ago! Fantastic story about France after the treaty w/England, which they revoked after a little more than a year! Had to go to Devil's Island to rescue a friend.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews