VOLUME 1: A PRESS OF CANVAS:
When the merchant bark, Anne, is stopped by a British Royal Navy frigate, Isaac Biggs, captain of the foretop, and several shipmates are forcibly pressed into service on the Orpheus, which is actively engaged in England's long-running war with France. He will be faced with the hard choice of what to do when America declares war against Great Britain in 1812. Written from the aspect of the fo'c'sle rather than an officer's view and through the eyes of an American, it provides new perspectives and an exciting story from an often neglected period in American history.
VOLUME 2: A FINE TOPS'L BREEZE:
Isaac Biggs (from a Press of Canvas) ships as 3rd mate on the Salem Privateer General Washington in February 1813. His former shipmates and friends find berths on the US Navy frigate USS Constellation, but through a series of events, all but Isaac wind up on USS Chesapeake in Boston in time for her disastrous meeting with HMS Shannon. When the surviving crew is incarcerated in Melville Is. (Halifax) prison, Isaac and his crew of privateersmen play an important role in gaining their freedom. A combination of historical fiction and non-fiction woven seamlessly together to tell the story of the 2nd year in the War of 1812.
VOLUME 3: THE EVENING GUN:
The year is 1814, the final year of the War of 1812. With the Atlantic seaboard closed by the British blockade, Isaac Biggs, Jack Clements, and Jake Tate, fresh from their harrowing adventures in Canada, find berths with Joshua Barney's Gunboat Flotilla on the Chesapeake Bay. These swift, shallow draft little vessels are thorns in the side of the British fleet and the Royal Navy command is determined to destroy them. Chased up the Patuxent River by the British, the flotilla finds and uneasy refuge in Benedict MD, where Isaac falls in love with the daughter of a militia colonel. When the men of Barney's flotilla are called ashore to fight at the Battle of Bladensburg, they scuttle their boats and drag their guns ashore to help the militia. They will witness the burning of Washington and later, the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore in the company of Francis Scott Key.
Continuing the saga begun in A Press of Canvas and continued in A Fine Topsl Breeze, The Evening Gun is written from an American seaman's perspective and brings to life the final year of this little-known war, and the first time our country was invaded by a foreign power.
Clive Cussler, New York Times best-selling author said of the Trilogy: "Read the trials and tribulations of Isaac Biggs and enjoyed them immensely. Haven't read anything like this since Forester. You write better sea stories than I do!"
The books are now all available at www.AMAZON.COM, (link from www.seafiction.net also) refreshed and corrected (Yes, a few typos slipped through in the originals!) through the excellent work of Gina at Palazzo Graphic Design of Bradley Beach NJ. Her superior layout talents created a new look for the covers and found (I hope) all the little annoying errors from the first edition. Thanks Gina!
"On the starboard hand of every woe, there is a sure delight; and the higher the top of that delight, than the bottom of the woe is deep." Herman Meleville
Fair Winds,
Old Salt
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