What do you think?
Rate this book
Lord Ramage #17
Ramage & the Saracens
Ramage and the Calypso are sent to Sicily to track down Barbary Coast pirates—the Saraceni—who are capturing slaves and terrorizing fishing villages along the coast. Ramage is ordered to track the pirates to their home and destroy them before they can devastate another Sicilian town—and in the process, he and his crew must attempt to rescue hundreds of Italian prisoners!
302 pages, Paperback
First published October 3, 1988
53 people are currently reading
170 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 8, 2020
Not a bad story line, with Ramage being able to prove his new admiral (who is a bit of a yellow idiot) that he can easily complete the tasks the Admiral is to scared to fail upon himself. Some good action but some of the other characters are a little stiff. Usual annoyance of the constant recapping.
August 15, 2021
Spoilers all the way!
Though this book is named Ramage and the Saracens, it's really in 2 parts. In the first part, Ramage deals with a French squadron. First he meets 2 French 74's on the way to Naples. Due to not having a way to escape, he decides to ram them. The leading French ship tries to avoid him and crashes into the following ship so Ramage escapes.
Then he captures an anchored French frigate which has been damaged. Another French frigate shows up and he manages to trick it into running into a shoal and sinks it. He finally reports to Rear Admiral Rudd in Naples. Rudd already has favorites and Ramage isn't one of his. Rudd is angry that Ramage didn't report back right after his encounter with the 2 SOL's.
Second part: Villages on the southern coast of Sicily are being attacked by Barbary pirates. They kidnap able bodied men for their slave galleys and young women for their brothels. The King of Two Sicilies want this stopped. Rudd gives this task to Ramage thinking that he would fail. Ramage figures out where the pirates will attack next and sets up a trap in the next village with hidden carronades and men and defeats and kills them.
Rudd is a bit surprised that Ramage has succeeded. The King of 2S is happy but he also wants to enslaved men and women rescued. This time Rudd gives him another frigate, 2 sloops and 300 infantry to find the pirate's lair. This task force is a bit undermanned and it seems that Rudd will expect him to fail again. But Ramage questions some of the freed slaves from the first action and develops a map and plan from it. They find the pirates base and rescue the Sicilians.
Basically Ramage runs through the whole book in easy mode defeating everyone in sight. Pope must have taken heed of readers' complaints of everyone being Ramage's fan so he makes Admiral Rudd a non-fan. But even Rudd turns around in the end.
There is a lot of dialog, some of it advances the plot, some of it just seems to be filler and I fast read though it. Most of the dialog is from Ramage's old crew of Stafford, Rossi and Jackson. I'm not a big fan of dialog driven books, it's tedious to read.
There's also another bit on dockyard corruption. Pope already dealt with it in a previous book but he repeats a bit of it in this one.
Overall, an easy reading naval action book with lots of action.
Though this book is named Ramage and the Saracens, it's really in 2 parts. In the first part, Ramage deals with a French squadron. First he meets 2 French 74's on the way to Naples. Due to not having a way to escape, he decides to ram them. The leading French ship tries to avoid him and crashes into the following ship so Ramage escapes.
Then he captures an anchored French frigate which has been damaged. Another French frigate shows up and he manages to trick it into running into a shoal and sinks it. He finally reports to Rear Admiral Rudd in Naples. Rudd already has favorites and Ramage isn't one of his. Rudd is angry that Ramage didn't report back right after his encounter with the 2 SOL's.
Second part: Villages on the southern coast of Sicily are being attacked by Barbary pirates. They kidnap able bodied men for their slave galleys and young women for their brothels. The King of Two Sicilies want this stopped. Rudd gives this task to Ramage thinking that he would fail. Ramage figures out where the pirates will attack next and sets up a trap in the next village with hidden carronades and men and defeats and kills them.
Rudd is a bit surprised that Ramage has succeeded. The King of 2S is happy but he also wants to enslaved men and women rescued. This time Rudd gives him another frigate, 2 sloops and 300 infantry to find the pirate's lair. This task force is a bit undermanned and it seems that Rudd will expect him to fail again. But Ramage questions some of the freed slaves from the first action and develops a map and plan from it. They find the pirates base and rescue the Sicilians.
Basically Ramage runs through the whole book in easy mode defeating everyone in sight. Pope must have taken heed of readers' complaints of everyone being Ramage's fan so he makes Admiral Rudd a non-fan. But even Rudd turns around in the end.
There is a lot of dialog, some of it advances the plot, some of it just seems to be filler and I fast read though it. Most of the dialog is from Ramage's old crew of Stafford, Rossi and Jackson. I'm not a big fan of dialog driven books, it's tedious to read.
There's also another bit on dockyard corruption. Pope already dealt with it in a previous book but he repeats a bit of it in this one.
Overall, an easy reading naval action book with lots of action.
July 15, 2018
Mr Pope, What am I to do with you??
I have enjoyed this series of adventures, better than most. I've one more book and it is finished. I've already purchased the last book. I will be sorry to see it end. It's been one heck of a ride. My son in law has started the series as well.
I have enjoyed this series of adventures, better than most. I've one more book and it is finished. I've already purchased the last book. I will be sorry to see it end. It's been one heck of a ride. My son in law has started the series as well.
January 13, 2023
Another good Ramage book which picks up after the Battle of Trafalgar. Sent to Sicily in the Mediterranean he has encounters with some French warships and is then tasked with his new Admiral to stop Saracen pirates from raiding Sicily. After stopping the raids he is asked to take the fight to the Saracens themselves and rescue the men and women that had been carried off into slavery.
April 23, 2024
Par for the course
A lot of improbable action, but Ramage - as always - wins out. Only a few nameless seamen and soldiers pay the bill for Lord Ramage's adventures.
Ship: HMS Calypso
Crew: all of the familiar faces
Love Interest: Sarah is still in England. Much musing about the Marchesa.
A lot of improbable action, but Ramage - as always - wins out. Only a few nameless seamen and soldiers pay the bill for Lord Ramage's adventures.
Ship: HMS Calypso
Crew: all of the familiar faces
Love Interest: Sarah is still in England. Much musing about the Marchesa.
October 6, 2022
This one was a nice improvement from the last couple with a great deal more action in it. It'll be interesting to see if Pope ties up everything in the series in the next book, the last Ramage novel.
July 9, 2020
I decided to read this a chapter a night which worked until 2/3 the way through. It was so exciting I couldn’t put it down! Fighting the Saracens is scary...even today
March 26, 2022
The saracens aren’t mentioned until half way through the book.
November 25, 2025
Ramage to the rescue again! Unlike some other fans, I enjoy not having to worry about the outcome of Ramages battles! He is amazing and always pulls through! Love these books.
March 30, 2010
My first encounter with Lord Ramage is very likely to be my last. His Muslim villains are cardboard characters who make no sense at all and are easily defeated by our fine and manly hero, who is lusting after some chick we've never met because we aren't following the series. Yawn.
I'm trying to think of some good points, but I'm afraid they're damning with faint praise, eg, "Uses proper English grammar" (which in this day and age cannot be taken for granted). I also think that if a reviewer really hates a book, they ought to skip it. It's not a badly written book... it's just not an interesting book.
I'm trying to think of some good points, but I'm afraid they're damning with faint praise, eg, "Uses proper English grammar" (which in this day and age cannot be taken for granted). I also think that if a reviewer really hates a book, they ought to skip it. It's not a badly written book... it's just not an interesting book.
March 13, 2014
Of all the Damage novels thus far, this was far and away my least favorite. The story was disjointed, the supporting characters stale, and of course the ever present Ramage invincibility. There were quite a few descriptions of nautical terms, plans, and people that were repeated in different chapters. Overall I got the feeling the book was largely filler in the series between Trafalgar and the last book in the series. Could easily be skipped with no hiccup in the storyline. Still, if you have an interest in the Barbary Coast pirates or are a die hard Dudley Pope fan, you might enjoy it. On to the Dido for me.
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..
July 16, 2015
I'm very sad to be coming to the end of Dudley Pope's Ramage series. I've been spacing the books out one per year to make them last. Ramage and the Saracens is as gripping and readable as every book in the series. I actually found myself moved by the conclusion of this book.
December 12, 2016
Dudley Pope's Ramage books are a good set of books to read if you liked the C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin books. They aren't quite on the same level, but still quite enjoyable.
Read
July 28, 2009Enjoyed
November 29, 2015
Another great Pope read and Ramage adventure!
July 3, 2014
I enjoyed this entire series. It is a shame that Pope died before producing more of them. Clearly he had more stories in mind to tell here.
November 29, 2015
Another great Pope read and Ramage adventure!
November 6, 2016
Barbary pirates and a rescue mission what more could you ask for.
April 2, 2017
Once more, Ramage does it again!
Rampage is back in the Mediterranean, this time fighting the Barbary Pirates. With a but of luck (what else?) He carries off a,mission which is impossible. Furthermore, he is given a mission which he will find most enjoyable.
Rampage is back in the Mediterranean, this time fighting the Barbary Pirates. With a but of luck (what else?) He carries off a,mission which is impossible. Furthermore, he is given a mission which he will find most enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews