Arrow Books Midshipman Bolitho Kent Alexander

1774: Bolitho is now a newly appointed third lieutenant joining the 28-gun frigate Destiny at Plymouth. It is a far step from midshipman's berth to wardroom - and, at a time when most of the fleet is laid up, Bolitho is considered fortunate • Bolitho's promotion is tinged by personal sadness, but his new captain soon points out that Bolitho's loyalty is to him, the ship and His Britannic Majesty - in that order • Despatched on a secret mission far south to Rio and then to the Caribbean, Destiny and her company face the hazards of conspiracy, treason and piracy - and, as the little ship sails on, Bolitho has to learn how to accept his new responsibilities as a King's officer • All amid broadside battles at sea and the clash of swords in hand-to-hand actions

Alexander Kinross is remembered in his native Scotland only as a shiftless boilermaker's apprentice. But when he writes from Australia to summon his bride, his relatives realize he is now a man to be reckoned with • Arriving in Sydney after a difficult voyage, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Drummond meets her husband-to-be and discovers that he frightens and repels her • Isolated in Alexander's great house, Elizabeth finds that marriage does not prompt her husband to enlighten her about his past life - nor his present one, in which his mistress, the sensuous, tough, outspoken Ruby Costevan, still plays a part • Will she be able to forge a happy new life in this new world?

Kent 1815 • Her heart led her to him, but will loyalty be enough to make her stay • When the beautiful but naive Grace Lennicker falls for Isaiah Feasey, son of a rival smuggling family and owner of a local tavern, her sisters try to intervene. But as tensions grow, there is another suitor also hoping to win her hand in marriage, the dashing and more favourable Albert Enderby, a young lieutenant in the Revenue • Grace is unwittingly drawn back into the world of smuggling that her sisters fought hard to leave behind, and as violence erupts, she finds herself unable to stand by, knowing the rival gangs will kill anyone who stands in their way • When her husband becomes involved, Grace is forced to make a difficult decision - turn him in and risk her life, or stay loyal and risk the lives of those she loves

1774: The new year seems to offer Richard Bolitho and his friend Martyn Dancer the culmination of a dream. Both have been recommended for promotion, although they have not yet gained the coveted lieutenant's commission • But a routine passage from Plymouth to Guernsey in an untried schooner becomes, for Bolitho, a passage from midshipman to King's officer, tempering the promise of the future with the bitter price of maturity • Will he rise to the occasion?

1778: a seminal year for the young Richard Bolitho... The American War of Independence changes to an all-out struggle for freedom from British rule - and Bolitho takes command of the Sparrow, a small, fast and well-armed sloop of war • As the pace of war increases, the Sparrow is called from one crisis to another - and when the great fleets of Britain and France convene on the Chesapeake, Bolitho has to throw aside the early dreams of his first command to find maturity in a sea battle that might decide the fate of a whole continent • Bolitho's adventures continue in To Glory We Steer

1782: British Captain Richard Bolitho is ordered to take the frigate Phalarope to the Caribbean, where the hard-pressed royal squadrons are fighting for their lives against the combined fleets of France and Spain and the upstart American privateers. It should have been a proud moment for so young and junior a captain - but the Phalarope has already been driven to near mutiny and she is regarded with shame and suspicion • But Bolitho is no ordinary man and his efforts to give the ship back her pride mark him apart from his contemporaries. As the little frigate sails under the blazing sun and battles enemies within and without, Bolitho spares neither himself nor his men - and in the final great battle of the Saintes, the chance comes to prove what both he and the Phalarope can achieve

1794: as the year draws to a close Richard Bolitho, commanding the old Hyperion, leaves Plymouth to join a squadron blockading the rising power of Revolutionary France. After six months of repairs his ship is ready to fight again, but her company is mostly raw and untrained • Unfortunately, Bolitho finds himself under a commodore who is no match for the French admiral, Lequiller, whose powerful squadron uses guile and ruthless determination to elude him and vanish into the Atlantic. Hyperion gives chase, the desperate voyage taking them from the Bay of Biscay's squall to the heat of the Caribbean - and for each mile sailed and every battle fought, Bolitho finds himself being forced into the ever more demanding role of strategist and squadron commander

1777: the revolution in America has erupted into a full-scale war • The navy's main task is to prevent military supplies from reaching Washington's armies and to destroy the fast-growing fleet of French and American privateers • As a junior officer Bolitho is often bewildered by swiftly changing events, but in a ship of the line, under a hard and determined captain, he has little opportunity for uncertainty. At a time of shortages and sudden death even a lieutenant can find himself faced with tasks and decisions more suitably given to officers of greater experience • As the Trojan goes about her affairs the threat to Bolitho and his companions makes itself felt from New York to the Caribbean

1789: NEW SOUTH WALES. Into Sydney, capital of Britain's infant colony, sails the frigate Tempest. She is one of His Majesty's ships employed in policing the new southern trade routes. Her captain is Richard Bolitho, who hopes to be ordered home to England • Instead he is despatched on a mission to the islands of the Great South Sea, where he must face hazards of fickle winds, pirates and native islanders • But he is menaced by deeper fears: the men of the Bounty have mutinied in these same waters and from distant Europe comes news of a revolution in France • Bolitho's adventures continue in With All Despatch

Memories are short on HMS Royston - they have to be • As mother ship to a battered, war-torn bunch of MTBs she must carry out her vital role whatever the conditions, whatever the risk • Sub-Lieutenant Royce is newly assigned to MTB 1991, joining a crew already seasoned by death and fear • Now with only three months' sea-experience behind him, Royce must learn the job the hard way - in the tough school of combat • A classic tale of naval warfare from Douglas Reeman, the all-time bestselling master of naval fiction, who served with the Royal Navy on convoy duty in the Atlantic, the Arctic and the North Sea. He has written dozens of naval books under his own name and the pseudonym Alexander Kent, including the famous Richard Bolitho books set during the Napoleonic Wars

1784: at a time when most of the fleet is laid up, His Majesty's frigate Undine weighs anchor at Spithead to begin a voyage to India and far beyond. As her new captain, Richard Bolitho is glad to go, despite the nature of his orders and the immensity of the voyage - for he is leaving an England still suffering from the aftermath of war • But he is to learn that signatures on proud documents do not necessarily make a lasting peace, and finds himself involved in a conflict as ruthless as the one which had given him his first command during the war with France • In an uneasy peace, the expansion of trade and colonial development in little-known areas of the East Indies soon push aside the pretence and bring the guns' fury into the open • There is no set line of battle or declared cause to rally Undine's small company, but the dangers and the endless demands have to be faced by the man who commands the only King's ship available

The dramatic World War Two maritime thriller novel from the bestselling author of naval historical fiction, including the hugely popular Richard Bolitho novels, written under the pseudonym of Alexander Kent. A must-buy for anyone interested in the Royal Navy and the perils of war at sea • The mine is an impartial killer, and a lethal challenge to any volunteer in the Special Countermeasures of the Royal Navy during the naval battles of the Second World War. They are brave, lonely men with something to prove or nothing left to lose. Lieutenant-Commander David Masters, haunted by a split second glimpse of the mine that destroyed his first and only command, H. M. Submarine Tornado, now defuses 'the beast' on land and teaches the same deadly science to others who too often die in the attempt