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This is the 6th volume of the Dawlish Chronicles naval fiction series - action and adventure set in the age of transition from sail to steam in the 19th Century. It's 1881 and the British Empire's power seems unchallengeable. But now a group of revolutionaries threaten that power's economic basis. Their weapon is the invention of a naïve genius, their sense of grievance is implacable and their leader is already proven in the crucible of war. Protected by powerful political and business interests, conventional British military or naval power cannot touch them. A daring act of piracy drags the ambitious British naval officer, Nicholas Dawlish, into this deadly maelstrom. Drawn in too is his wife Florence, for whom a glimpse of a half-forgotten face evokes memories of earlier tragedy. For both a nightmare lies ahead, made worse by a weakness Dawlish never suspected he had. Amid the wealth and squalor of America's Gilded Age, and on a fever-ridden island ruled by savage tyranny, and manipulated ruthlessly from London by the shadowy Admiral Topcliffe, Nicholas and Florence Dawlish must make very strange alliances if they are to survive - and prevail. Britannia's Shark continues not just Nicholas Dawlish's story but that of his courageous and resourceful wife Florence. He fell in love with her in Britannia's Wolf and he has risked social ostracism and career limitation by marrying her. Now, faced with challenges that threaten to overwhelm him, he is more dependent on her than on any other. Daring and initiative have already bought him rapid advancement in the Royal Navy and he has hungered for more - but can the price be too high, not just for himself but for Florence too? Britannia's Shark is more than a work of historical naval fiction or a tale of war and military conflict. Revolutionary forces that will ultimately destroy the comfortable assumptions of the late-nineteenth century are already stirring and a lethal new technology which will be crucial in both World Wars is being born. Key roles are played in this tale of action and adventure by two real-life characters. John Phillip Holland, is obsessed with creation of a functional submarine and is prepared to look anywhere for the funding to make his dream reality. And Adam Worth, alias Henry Raymond, real-life model of Sherlock Holmes' fictional adversary Professor Moriarity, is prepared to facilitate Dawlish's efforts, though at a surprising price. The Dawlish Chronicles move naval fiction forward from the Age of Fighting Sail to the new world of steam, breech-loaders and torpedoes As a boy in the late 1850s Nicholas Dawlish joined a navy still commanded by veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, men familiar with sails, carronades and broadsides. But now, in the early 1880s sail is yielding to steam, new technologies are creating new weapons and established international power-balances are shifting. Against the background of real historical events Dawlish has to confront challenges inconceivable to earlier generations of officers. From a review in Quarterdeck Magazine, March-April 2015 "This historical spy thriller reveals attempts by the insurgents to design, build and operate the first submersible craft in a deadly underwater campaign, which thwarts the Royal Navy's conventional capabilities....... pace is fast and furious, with plot twists and turns, as Dawlish tries to capture the prototype submarine and ... as the plot turns to Cuba, the submarine ends up on a bay on the coast of Cuba in the middle of an insurrection against Spain. The author's narrative of Yellow Fever and its affects are realistic and horrifying..." Nautical author and historian Joan Druett has described Antoine Vanner as 'The Tom Clancy of historical naval fiction."

More riveting tales of shipwreck and survival from the author of Island of the Lost.

1877: Lieutenant Nicholas Dawlish is hungry for promotion. He has chosen service on the Royal Navy's hazardous Anti-Slavery patrol off East Africa for the opportunities it brings to make his name. But a shipment of slaves has slipped through his fingers and now his reputation, and his chance of promotion, are at risk. He'll stop at nothing to save them, even if the means are illegal . . . But greater events are underway in Europe. The Russian and Ottoman Empires are drifting ever closer to a war that could draw in other great powers. And Britain cannot stand aside - a Russian victory would spell disaster for her strategic links to India. The Royal Navy is preparing for a war that might never take place. Dozens of young officers, all as qualified as Dawlish, are hoping for their own commands. He's just one of many . . . and he lacks the advantages of patronage or family influence.>Far from civilisation, dependent on a new and as yet unproven weapon, he'll face a clever and ruthless enemy in unforeseeable and appalling circumstances. Only stubborn resolution - and unlikely allies -- can bring him through. But at what price? This volume in the Dawlish Chronicles series, Britannia's Guile, is set directly ahead of the action in Britannia's Wolf. It tells how Nicholas Dawlish came to meet several people who will have a massive impact on his future career. And they may not all be as they seem . . . Why The Dawlish Chronicles Series? "I've enjoyed historical naval fiction since I was introduced to C.S. Forester's Hornblower books when I was a boy," says author Antoine Vanner. "I've never tired since of stories of action and adventure by land and by sea. The Napoleonic era has however come to dominate the war and military fiction genre but the century that followed it was one no less exciting, an added attraction being the arrival and adoption of so much new technology. I've therefore chosen the late 19th Century - a time of massive political, social, economic, scientific and technological change - as the setting for the Dawlish Chronicles. My novels have as their settings actual events of the international power-games of the period and real-life personalities usually play significant roles. Britannia's Guile is no exception.

Britannia's Gamble is the 10th book in the Dawlish Chronicles series of historical naval adventure novels It's 1884 A fanatical Islamist revolt is sweeping all before it in the vast wastes of the Sudan and establishing a rule of persecution and terror. Only the city of Khartoum holds out, its defence masterminded by a British national hero, General Charles Gordon. His position is weakening by the day and a relief force, crawling up the Nile from Egypt, may not reach him in time to avert disaster.>A boyhood memory leaves the ambitious Royal Navy officer Nicholas Dawlish no option but to attempt it. The obstacles are daunting - barren mountains and parched deserts, tribal rivalries and merciless enemies - and this even before reaching the river that is key to the mission. Dawlish knows that every mile will be contested and that the siege at Khartoum is quickly moving towards its bloody climax. Outnumbered and isolated, with only ingenuity, courage and fierce allies to sustain them, with safety in Egypt far beyond the Nile's raging cataracts, Dawlish and his mixed force face brutal conflict on land and water as the Sudan descends into ever-worsening savagery. And for Dawlish himself, one unexpected and tragic event will change his life forever... Britannia's Gamble is a desperate one. The stakes are high, the odds heavily loaded against success. Has Dawlish accepted a mission that can only end in failure - and worse? This is the ninth volume of the Dawlish Chronicles series - action and adventure set in the age of transition from sail to steam in the last decades of the 19th Century. It can be enjoyed as part of the series or as a standalone story. Britannia's Gamble is more than a naval thriller, or a tale of war and military conflict, for it continues the story of Nicholas Dawlish, a Royal Navy officer who is more familiar with steam, breech-loaders and torpedoes than with sails, carronades and broadsides. Other volumes in this naval fiction series chart Dawlish's rise in the Royal Navy. As a boy in the late 1850s he joined a service still commanded by veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. But now, in the early 1880s, sail is yielding to steam, new technologies are creating new weapons and established international power-balances are shifting. Against the background of real historical events Dawlish has to confront challenges inconceivable to earlier generations of officers. Why this series? "I've enjoyed sea adventures since I was introduced to C.S. Forester's Hornblower books when I was a boy," says author Antoine Vanner, "and I've never tired since of stories of action and adventure by land and by sea. The Napoleonic era has however come to dominate the war and military fiction genre but the century that followed it was one no less exciting, an added attraction being the arrival and adoption of so much new technology. I've reflected this in the Dawlish Chronicles and for this reason I'm pleased that nautical author Joan Druett has described me as 'The Tom Clancy of historical naval fiction.' My novels have as their settings actual events of the international power-games of the period and real-life personalities usually play significant roles. Britannia's Gamble - in which General Charles Gordon is a key figure - is no exception."

A raging hurricane. A tiny fishing village in a distant land. A London nightclub dancer stumbles into the local clinic with the famous fire-fighter who carried her to New Zealand. The wife of an American shipping tycoon is on board his new luxury yacht as it battles the storm to reach the village. The young wife of a wine-maker struggles through mud, wind and rain to call for help, as her husband has been mortally hurt. All three women are in labor.All three women give birth to baby girls. The clinic is destroyed by the storm, so no records survive. No one knows which baby belongs to which mother.Twenty-one years later, the American billionaire kidnaps all three young women, along with the men who were there when they were born, and takes them to sea on his yacht, convinced that his wife claimed the wrong baby. He is determined to find which girl is really his daughter.But the mega-yacht is old, and breaks down easily. As the strange voyage progresses through tropical Polynesia to New Zealand, crisis after crisis overtakes them. They are being stalked by something malign. Storms arrive and the engines give out. Reefs and shoals threaten. There''s not just a question of identity at stake, but of survival, too.

Autumn 1941 and a fierce war rages amid the treacherous waters of the Dover Strait. It is fought by the gun and torpedo boats of Britain's Coastal Forces: fast, frail vessels that do battle against the best of Germany's Kriegsmarine. The crews are mainly volunteers; men plucked from civilian life and new to the maelstrom of brutal combat. Each take a different route to meet such a personal challenge and prove every bit as powerful, and vulnerable, as the craft in which they serve.The gripping naval action in Hellfire Corner is set against a backdrop of war-ravaged Dover, a town reeling from the terrors of nightly air raids and daily artillery bombardment.Authentic detail, tense personal dynamics and tales of individual heroism combine to give a rare and compelling insight into a fascinating aspect of World War Two history.

Summer, 1803: the uneasy peace with France is over, and Britain has once more been plunged into the turmoil of war. After a spell on the beach, Sir Richard Banks is appointed to HMS Prometheus, a seventy-four gun line-of-battleship which an eager Admiralty loses no time in ordering to sea. The ship is fresh from a major re-fit, but Banks has spent the last year with his wife and young family: will he prove himself worthy of such a powerful vessel, and can he rely on his officers to support him? With excitement both aboard ship and ashore, gripping sea battles, a daring rescue and intense personal intrigue, The Scent of Corruption is a non-stop nautical thriller in the best traditions of the genre. Number seven in the Fighting Sail series.

Autumn 1803, and Britain remains under the threat of invasion. HMS Prometheus is needed to reinforce Nelson''s squadron blockading the French off Toulon, but a major action has left her severely damaged and the British Fleet outnumbered. Prometheus must be brought back to fighting order without delay, and the work proves more than a simple refit.Barbary pirates, shore batteries and the powerful French Navy are conventional foes, although the men of Prometheus encounter equally dangerous enemies within their own ranks. A story that combines vivid action with sensitive character portrayal. Number eight in the Fighting Sail series.

The South Coast of England, and smuggling is rife...Autumn, 1801. Newly appointed to the local revenue cutter, Commander Griffin is determined to make his mark, and defeat a major gang of smugglers. But the country is still at war with France and it is an unequal struggle; can he depend on support from the local community, or are they yet another enemy for him to fight?With dramatic action on land and at sea, Turn a Blind Eye exposes the private war against the Treasury with gripping fact and fascinating detail.