The Baltic Gambit

Alan Lewrie #15

by Dewey Lambdin

January 1801, and Captain Alan Lewrie, RN, known as “St. Alan the Liberator” for freeing (stealing!) a dozen black slaves on Jamaica to man his frigate years before, is at last being brought to trial for it, with his life on the line. At the same time, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia are forming a League of Armed Neutrality, to Napoleon Bonaparte’s delight, to deny Great Britain their vital exports, even if it means war. England will need all her experienced sea dogs, but … even Alan Lewrie?

            Ultimately Lewis is acquitted, but he’s also ignored by the Navy, so it’s half-pay on “civvy street” for him, and with idle time on his mischievous hands, Lewrie is sure to get himself in trouble---again!---especially if there are young women and his wastrel public school friends involved…and they are! A brawl in a Panton Saint brothel, a drunk, infatuated young Russian count, precede Lewrie’s summons to Admiralty and the command of the Thermopylae frigate to replace an ill captain as the fleet gathers to face down the League of the North, and its instigator, the mad Tsar Paul.

            Lewrie must take the Thermopylae into the Baltic in the dead of winter, alone and with no support, to scout the enemy fleets and iced-in harbours, deal with a fellow officer who is less of a friend than he thought, and be saddled with a pair of Russian noblemen as a last-minute peace delegation, but if the wily Foreign Office spy-master, Zachariah Twigg, sent them, what else might their mission be?

            All that and the Battle of Copenhagen, too, and it’s broadsides at close quarters, and treachery for Lewrie, forcing him to use all his wiles to survive!

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

370 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 17, 2009

About the author

Dewey Lambdin (1945-2021 ) was an American nautical historical novelist. He was best known for his Alan Lewrie naval adventure series, set during the Napoleonic Wars. Besides the Alan Lewrie series, he was also the author of What Lies Buried: a novel of Old Cape Fear.

A self-proclaimed "Navy Brat," Lambdin spent a good deal of his early days on both coasts of the U.S.A., and overseas duty stations, with his father. His father enlisted as a Seaman Recruit in 1930, was "mustanged" from the lower deck (from Yeoman chief Petty Officer) at Notre Dame in '42, and was career Navy until May of 1954, when he was killed at sea aboard the USS Bennington CVA-20 (see below), on which he served as Administrative Officer, 5th in line-of-command (posthumous Lieutenant Commander).

Lambdin himself attended Castle Heights Military Academy, graduated in 1962, and was destined to be the family's first "ring-knocker" from the U.S. Naval Academy, "... until he realised that physics, calculus, and counting higher than ten were bigger than he was."[1] He studied at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, majoring in Liberal arts and Theatre, where he was published in The Theme Vault in 1963, also reprinted in a national textbook, which whetted his appetite for writing. However, he failed his degree. He finally graduated with a degree in Film & TV Production from Montana State University, Bozeman, in 1969. This was considered at the time to be the McHale's Navy of the academic set, so the nautical influence was still at work. He has worked for a network affiliate TV station as a producer/director for twelve years, an independent station as production manager and senior director/writer/ producer for three years, all in Memphis, and as a writer/producer with a Nashville advertising/production facility, or in free-lance camera, lighting and writing.

He has been a sailor since 1976 and spends his free time working and sailing on his beloved sloop Wind Dancer, with a special taste for cruising the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Lambdin has thus far resisted the temptation to trade his beloved typewriter for a computer. He lived in Nashville, Tennessee.

He was a member of the U.S. Naval Institute, a Friend of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England; Cousteau Society; the former American Film Institute; and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
-Wikipedia

Mr Lambdin passed away on July 26, 2021 at the age of 76.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/deweyl...

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

It involved ships and sailing and Alan Lewrie doing what he's best at - fighting! In all seriousness, this was much better than the previous shore-based story.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lewrie starts the Baltic Gambit on the beach, somewhat out of favor because of his trial for stealing slaves in Jamaica. He’s been acquitted but somewhat besmirched in the eyes of the Admiralty. There is a long, seemingly gratuitous scene in an upscale brothel. But we are introduced to a young Russian count and his loutish servant who try and storm the room of the young prostitute Lewrie is with. The count is obsessed but beaten back by the bully boys who protect the girls. The count turns up later as a passenger on Lewrie’s new frigate. Before that, however, Mr Twigg solves the problem of the poison pen letters that have ruined Lewrie’s marriage to Caroline. Well, one could argue that Lewrie is the one who ruined it but the letters brought his chronic ramcatting to her attention. Twigg comes up with a scheme to mollify Caroline while Lewrie cleverly enlists the help of a tabloid gossip columnist to ruin his Greek paramour (author of the letters) and father of one of his accumulating set of bastard children. Then, out of the blue he gets orders to take command of the frigate Thermopolyae and given the assignment of taking two Russian nobles to St Petersburg on a mission to convince the Czar not to align with Napoleon. Mr. Twigg seems to be the puppeteer behind the scene. Of course the younger of the two nobles in Count Anatoly who has smoked it that Lewrie was dallying with his favorite prostitute. He is a boorish, obnoxious, entitled young man who swears to kill Lewrie and actually sets his servant, the lunker Sasha, on to Lewrie as he and his uncle leave the ship near St Petersburg. Sasha, not surprisingly, is beaten and slashed near to death by the Marines guard, then Lewrie pushes him overboard where he cracks his head and dies. Rid of the Russians they rejoin the fleet and participate in the first battle of Copenhagen, a great victory for the British then learn that the Czar has been strangled in his bed leading Lewrie to wonder if he hadn’t carried assassins to Russia. There is a side plot involving Lewrie’s first lieutenant who formerly served under Lewrie in the Carribean. Lewrie thought they were friends but the Lieutenant harbors a grudge confusing Lewrie. In the battle Arthur, the lieutenant is killed. He leaves a letter excoriating Lewrie and his bad behavior against Caroline and giving hints that Arthur had secretly been in love with Caroline for many years.

The most interesting part of this book is the look at the management exercise that takes place in a new command. This frigate had a crew of 250 men and boys. Lewrie arrives with an entourage of only two people, his coxswain Desmond and Desmond’s pal Furfy. Lewrie must take charge and earn the respect of the crew. He is the CEO, Arthur the COO. The second and third lieutenants assist the first. Then there are several midshipmen who are essentially in an officer training program. There’s a sailing master who is the navigator, a purser operating as CFO, a medical officer and then department heads: carpenter, gunner, etc. Of course, Lewrie’s reputation proceeds him and since he is a fair and firm commander he quickly gains the respect and admiration of his crew particularly in the way that he dealt with Sasha and young Count Anatoly.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Alan Lewrie is once again caught up in Foreign Office intrigues and a new command which culminates in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. Britain must break apart of the Russian-backed League of Armed Neutrality, either by diplomacy or by force.

The events have to be understood against the larger French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. By 1800, Napoleon is now ascendant as the First Consul of France. He is not yet the Emperor, but he is continuing the war against Great Britain. In response, Britain has imposed a blockade and asserted the right to search neutral ships and seize cargo if the country is trading with France.

The overall mission and the Battle of Copenhagen are in the same vein as most historical fiction - a fictional character injected into story who meets the historical characters. Lambdin portrayed all the characters correctly; Sir Hyde Parker, the overall commander, was in his 60s and had achieved his rank through seniority and average ability. He was not a "bad" commander, but his age was catching up and he had just gotten married to someone more than a third of his age. Worse for Parker, according to military analysts, compared to his very aggressive and able boss and just as aggressive and able subordinate in Horatio Nelson, Parker comes out looking bad.

Readers will recall that Lewrie had already met Nelson in the Med a few years (and books) back. Back then, Nelson was just a Captain and had not quite learn his tactical lessons. Nelson had not yet learned when to be aggressive because he had pushed too far and too hard and got his famous wounds for his trouble - missing arm and eye. As for Lewrie, our lovable rogue was just as lucky, and bawdy as ever.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this bastid down! A fantastic edition in the Lewrie series. The book starts out with our hero nip and tuck trying to keep his giblets in place as he stands trial for Junteenth-ing some slaves in Jamaica to supplement his depleted crew from Yellow-Jack fever (a truly nasty malady). Well all hail our conquering hero who escapes with his giblets, as well as bait in tackle intact! Of course now realizing he has pissed off the lords of the admiralty our man is afraid he will be left shore bound on half-pay and not get an active command. A nice twist of fate has a new government come into power that is more amenable to Lewrie and his exploits and low and behold he is in command of a 38 gun frigate just in time for some derring-do in the Baltic sea. On a mission to help the "foreign" service i.e. nefarious spying shite Lewrie is to drop off a pair of Russkie aristo-krats near St Petersburg to help smoke the Tsar of Russia. With some mild hi-jinx it is mission accomplished just in time for Lewrie to participate in the Battle of Copenhagen with Admiral Nelson. After several hours of broadside exchanges the Danes fall to the implacable force that is Nelson and a resounding British victory is achieved. This is a fantastic entry in the Lewrie saga. Don't miss it!

[Terry Steinborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Lewrie is back in action, although it takes half the book to get him back at sea. This time, the Danes, the Swedes and the Russians have banded together against the British, thus aiding Bonaparte in his attempt to conquer Europe. Lewrie has to first go to court to defend his actions in freeing slaves in the Caribbean some years earlier, the his old nemesis/benefactor Twigg (Spymaster in the Foreign Department) gets him involved and back to sea. Of course Lewrie's involvement with various women presents problems, but then it wouldn't be a Lewrie book without that. The battle scene is rather short, and of course at the end the way is clear for future adventures.

[john temple · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read

This instalment is a bit slow in comparison to others in the series but is still worth reading. There is a bit too much detail in the tale about a romp with a prostitute, and the supposed possible duel over her is frankly unbelievable, but again the author as usual rescues the tale with the account of the battle of Copenhagen. All in all a good read and worth the money

[Sunhawk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have my standards gone up? Did reading this out of order take a little of the edge off?
The first half takes place in England and is kinda flat. The relationship with the lady of the night was sorta fun and predictably led to a later encounter, and, one presumes, this thread hasn't broken yet. Thed Battle of Copenhagen was good, as was the Baltic stuff, thought it didn't seem as substantial as the book before or the book after. I guess Dewey gets a mulligan.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess it's ok if you're into the long arc of the character. It's a mishmash of history (abolitionism), pornography, etc. Nothing very compelling. And the culminating naval battle was a reasonably well written, but very static, event. Lambin put a lot of effort into historical and nautical accuracy but as writing it falls as flat as his characters.

[jallioop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of book is on land, then a section on a naval reconnoiter of the Baltic and then a few hours' worth of naval battle. Land portion is entertaining because Lewrie is up to his usual antics, but the book only slightly qualifies as nautical fiction.

[PT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to wait for this one but got it, read it and wow.
Worth the wait to get back the Lewrie’s antics a truly brilliant book and series (16 of 20).
Wish there were many many more than 20 as I’m so near the end now......... or am I?????????

[Frank Mihlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A move eastward was just the right touch

Leslie's sojourn into the Baltic Sea was the perfect change of setting for a series that was beginning to take on a sense of sameness. The historical connections are fresh and interesting with just the proper amount of intrigue.

[Charlie Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as others of his.

[Oismiffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this, but not quite 5 stars because I find all the debauchery etc. on-shore rather boring. Once back as sea, a thoroughly enjoyable read.

[Mr.Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan gets in trouble no matter if he is following orders or if he makes up the orders on his own.

[David Hull · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific!

[Marc Altman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much 'private life', not enough 'action' for a higher rating.

[D.w. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have spent many years enjoying the adventures of Ram Cat Lewrie. He is a no holds barred man of the times, perhaps one that would not sit well in a typical regency romance, and his sexual escapades taking him further than any other Age of Sail protagonist we have come to know.

That said, in this volume, we are let down a tad following the man. We are present at the battle of Copenhagen, yet it takes more than 80% of the book to get there. And the first half of the book is far more concerned with time on land than life aboard ship. Further, Lambdin seems to have taken every opportunity to use the dictionary of Cant from the times to inflect such into all the writing, which causes some switching back and forth between modern narration and then a faux period dialogue. Even with Russian translation as footnotes in the latter half.

As another reviewer points, out, the reader is also presented with what stands today on the site of a coffee house that Lewrie was visiting in the 18th century. A factoid that Lewrie wouldn't know but of course Lambdin certainly does.

Lewrie as a hero exists to have adventures and be a fighting captain, making an enemy or two, who are not particularly French, along the way, whilst being heroic on one hand and on the other getting further embroiled in trouble. A hero who if he had not found the sea would have no skills he could exploit and long since would have been skewered in a duel on land for little or no reason. That essence is what makes Lewrie a character with legs! Here, away for far too long from the sea, with a minor subplot that Lambdin wanted to develop, and loose ends from previous books to tie up, the saga looses its steam. So much so that I had to start this story 3 times before being able to push on to the end.

For fans of the series, but not a good place to start.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dewey Lambdin's Alan Lewrie Naval Adventure series is a great work of writing. Each book follows the exploits of Alan Lewrie, a Naval Officer in the late 1700 early 1800's when England ruled the world and Horatio Nelson was a great leader. Similar to the Bolitho novels of Alexander Kent a/k/a Douglas Reeman, but more bawdy these novels caputre the essence of shipboard life and life of an English officer in war and on shore.

In this latest adventure, the novel opens up with Lewrie on trial for his part in freeing some slaves during the prior book. Through the deft work of his counsel, Lewrie is freed but the Admiralty is not interested in hiring him so he spends his days on shore where he is being pursued by two fetching ladies, a Russian and a Greek, one of whom has been waging an underhanded war of words against him. Lewrie, who has the sobriquet of the Ram Cat, and not only for his actions asea, is also involved with the young Tess, a doxy from Madam Baston's house.

Much of the early action in this novel takes place ashore, and if you like the vernacular and the versimiltude of this England, you will like this part of the novel.

It could have been a little less of the novel.

Finally, Lewrie is granted captaincy in a frigate, where he is sent on a secret mission to drop off some Russian nobles, who are supposedly to negotiate a peace with the Tsar as well as check the harbors in the Baltic to see wha ships are there.

Finally, in the end, Lewrie takes his crew and meets up with Nelson and fights in the Battle of Copenhagen.

Lambdin is a master of shipboard life and his language and dialogue of the main characters and all of the others is just spot on.

I would have liked to have spent more time at sea (as I like the Naval part) to predominate, but if you are a fan, you will like this book.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now working my way through the latter books in this generally entertaining series after a long absence.

As a "naval adventure" it comes up fairly short, as it takes Lewrie half the book to get out of London and onto a ship. And the only naval action occurs way at the end. So, if you like the main character, you will probably enjoy this entry, even though it feels more like an interlude than a full story. If you are looking for the usual, straight forward naval adventure, like Alexander Kent's, you are likely to be disappointed.

[Aspen Junge · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the entire series largely back-to-back (my local public library is well-stocked). One of the great things about this series is that we get to watch Alan Lewrie, the main character, grow up from a callow, self-indulgent teenager to a mature, thoughtful, and responsible adult.

[Eytan Yammer · Rating 3 out of 5]

not his best

I am partial to the stories with more time at sea and less on shore.

I felt that the side story with Tess was less than interesting. Nonetheless well written and somewhat interesting.

I learned something of the history of the Russian involvement.

[Patrick Fennelly]

The latest in a rollicking sea adventure featuring title character Captain Alan Lewrie.

[M_latimer]

I'll keep reading this series as long as Dewey Lambdin keeps writing them. He is not Patrick O'Brian, but the books are quite entertaining.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flowed easier than prior book in series.

[Michael Rhode · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much action, but it wrapped up a lot of earlier plot threads which had been dragging on and culminated in the Battle of Copenhagen, which is good.

[Stephen]

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