Arctic treachery Book

While The Corvette isn't Moby Dick, it isn't the typical Nathaniel Drinkwater story either. There is no surreptitious spy endeavor and the expected sea battles don't appear until very late in the game. Rather, it is a tale of escort duty in Arctic regions where icebergs, ice floes, and icing over are as dangerous to Drinkwater's converted French corvette as the rumored French privateers from which he is supposed to protect his convoy of whaling ships. And, since the astute reader has now figured out my Moby Dick comparison, I will admit that I read the most about whaling that I have since reading that Melville classic an that the whales themselves become a threat to the ship's integrity.

I liked the fact that the author appeared to set up the usual officer who achieved his post through connections versus officer rising through experience competition, only to have the expected showdown attenuated by one officer's illness and an unexpected answer to the problem from that officer. Indeed, one later discovers that not all officers who gained their rank by virtue of privileged connections are incompetent fools. They may not have the same leadership styles as the Richard Bolitho of Alexander Kent's novels or Drinkwater's in these novels, but they aren't incompetent.

Instead of struggles against the aristocracy (though there is still enough for some potential spice), there are interesting verbal jousts between Drinkwater, his officers, the whaling masters, and a missionary who wants to preach the gospel to the Eskimos. The conversations do a great job of considering the perspectives of all the characters, as well as the tendency to try to tell your captain what he wants to hear. There is definite tension between the fanatical missionary, the Quaker captain, and Drinkwater on the subject of "Providence," but I rather like the way it resolved. Of course, with all of this shipboard conversation, the first part of The Corvette reads more like the Jack Aubrey novels of Patrick O' Brian than the Drinkwater novels read previously.

If you're looking for the break-neck combat of some of the other novels, you're not getting it here. But if you're looking for a balanced "fighting sail" novel with a different perspective and flavor from the typical breed of the genre, The Corvette may find you volunteering for another tour of duty.