A Darker Sea
Master Commandant Putnam and the War of 1812
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Narrated by:
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Paul Boehmer
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By:
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James L. Haley
About this listen
The second installment of the gripping naval saga by award-winning historian James L. Haley, featuring Commander Bliven Putnam, chronicling the buildup to the biggest military conflict between the United States and Britain after the Revolution - the War of 1812.
At the opening of the War of 1812, the British control the most powerful navy on earth, and Americans are again victims of piracy. Bliven Putnam, late of the Battle of Tripoli, is dispatched to Charleston to outfit and take command of a new 20-gun brig, the USS Tempest. Later, aboard the Constitution, he sails into the furious early fighting of the war.
Prowling the South Atlantic in the Tempest, Bliven takes prizes and disrupts British merchant shipping until he is overhauled, overmatched, and disastrously defeated by the frigate HMS Java. Its captain proves to be Lord Arthur Kington, whom Bliven had so disastrously met in Naples. Onboard he also finds his old friend Sam Bandy, one of the Java's pressed American seamen kidnapped into British service. Their whispered plans to foment a mutiny among the captives may see them hang when the Constitution looms over the horizon for one of the most famous battles of the War of 1812 in a gripping, high-wire conclusion. With exquisite detail and guns-blazing action, The Tempest illuminates an unforgettable period in American history.
©2017 James L. Haley (P)2017 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Haley is an erudite historian who can craft fiction so real that you're ready to pull the grapeshot-packed 18-pounder's lanyard.... Another real-enough-to-be-true, rollicking tale from the days of sail and sword." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Haley’s enthralling blend of well-drawn characters, nautical combat, and period detail will appeal to both Patrick O’Brian and American history enthusiasts." (Booklist)
"[O]ne discovers many little-known facts in this exciting and informative book. Strongly recommended." (Historical Novels Review)
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At the heart of this vibrant saga is an immense ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its purpose to fight China's vicious 19th-century Opium Wars. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts.
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ignorance may be bliss
- By Evelyn M Kloepper on 07-27-09
By: Amitav Ghosh
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Mutiny on the Bounty
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Michael Carman
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's truly great stories - a tale of human drama, intrigue and adventure of the highest order - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before. Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave.
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You don't know the whole story.
- By Justin Sluyter on 05-01-19
By: Peter FitzSimons
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By the Mast Divided
- John Pearce, Book 1
- By: David Donachie
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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London: 1793. Young firebrand John Pearce, on the run from the authorities, is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican tavern into brutal life aboard HMS Brilliant, a frigate on her way to war. In the first few days, Pearce discovers the Navy is a world in which he can prosper. And he is not alone; he is drawn to a group of men who eventually form an exclusive gun crew, the Pelicans, with Pearce their elected leader.
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Didn't work for me
- By Michael E on 07-23-08
By: David Donachie
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Bloody Jack
- By: L. A. Meyer
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Life as a ship's boy aboard HMS Dolphin is a dream come true for Jacky Faber. Gone are the days of scavenging for food and fighting for survival on the streets of 18th-century London. Instead, Jacky is becoming a skilled and respected sailor as the crew pursues pirates on the high seas. There's only one problem: Jacky is a girl. And she will have to use every bit of her spirit, wit, and courage to keep the crew from discovering her secret.
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Sometimes it clicks
- By Terry on 12-09-09
By: L. A. Meyer
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Burning Bright
- Extraordinaries Series, Book 1
- By: Melissa McShane
- Narrated by: Cat Gould
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Elinor is an Extraordinary and the only one in England capable of wielding fire in over 100 years. As an Extraordinary she is respected and feared, but to her father she represents power and prestige for himself. Mr. Pembroke, having spent his life studying magic, is determined to control Elinor and her talent by forcing her to marry whom he chooses, a marriage that will produce even more powerful offspring.
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Amazing story and narration!
- By sweetliks on 07-06-17
By: Melissa McShane
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Becoming Lady Lockwood
- By: Jennifer Moore
- Narrated by: Luone Ingram
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Amelia Beckett is delighted to be a widow. Married by proxy to a man she'd never met, Amelia recognizes that a fortuitous entry into widowhood frees her from meddlesome chaperones and matchmakers. Heiress to her mother's sugar plantation in Jamaica, she happily anticipates working in a man's world, with the additional credibility of her new title: Lady Lockwood. But with the arrival of Captain Sir William Drake, her plans quickly go awry...William has traversed the Atlantic with one purpose.
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I loved this book!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 05-19-18
By: Jennifer Moore
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Quillifer
- Quillifer, Book 1
- By: Walter Jon Williams
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Quillifer is young, serially in love, studying law, and living each day keenly aware that his beloved homeport of Ethlebight risks closure due to silting of the harbor. His concerns for the future become much more immediate when he returns from a summery assignation to find his city attacked by Aekoi pirates, leading to brigands in the streets and his family and friends in chains.
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The opposite of George R R Martin (in a good way)
- By A reader on 10-30-17
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The Bright and Breaking Sea
- Kit Brightling Series, Book 1
- By: Chloe Neill
- Narrated by: Danielle Cohen
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Kit Brightling, rescued as a foundling and raised in a home for talented girls, has worked hard to rise through the ranks of the Isles' Crown Command and become one of the few female captains in Queen Charlotte's fleet. Her ship is small, but she's fast - in part because of Kit's magical affinity to the sea. But the waters become perilous when the queen sends Kit on a special mission with a partner she never asked for. Rian Grant, Viscount Queenscliffe, may be a veteran of the Continental war, but Kit doesn't know him or his motives....
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It's really good, but not quite great
- By Mariya Joldzic on 11-29-20
By: Chloe Neill
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Badge of Glory
- By: Douglas Reeman
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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It was an age of empire, an age of contrast, and an age of dramatic change - and one which would determine the destinies of nations as well as of men. Captain Philip Blackwood of the Royal Marines rejoins his ship, HMS Audacious, in August of 1850, anxious to get back into action. "Per Mare - Per Terram" is the marines' motto. In the torturous heat of Africa, where they are sent to stamp out the remaining strongholds of slavery, and later, in the bitter war of the Crimea, Philip Blackwood and his men learn to obey it without question.
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Good story
- By Thomas Crawford on 05-29-23
By: Douglas Reeman
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Iron Dawn
- The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle That Changed History
- By: Richard Snow
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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No single sea battle has had more far-reaching consequences than the one fought in the harbor at Hampton Roads, Virginia, in March 1862. The Confederacy, with no fleet of its own, built an iron fort containing 10 heavy guns on the hull of a captured Union frigate named the Merrimack. The North got word of the project when it was already well along, and, in desperation, commissioned an eccentric inventor named John Ericsson to build the Monitor, an entirely revolutionary iron warship.
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Good book about an underreported area of the civil war
- By Brian on 11-09-16
By: Richard Snow
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Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates
- By: Howard Pyle, Merle Johnson
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Merle Johnson has here gathered together in one volume all of the nineteenth-century author-artist's classic pirate stories that had been scattered through many magazines and books. Well researched and with richly drawn characters, Pyle's work will appeal to students of history and adventure lovers alike.
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Fascinating and wonderfully read
- By Fletch on 09-08-06
By: Howard Pyle, and others
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John Paul Jones
- Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy
- By: Evan Thomas
- Narrated by: Dan Cashman
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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John Paul Jones is more than a great sea story. Jones is a character for the ages. John Adams called him the "most ambitious and intriguing officer in the American Navy." The renewed interest in the Founding Fathers reminds us of the great men who made this country, but John Paul Jones teaches us that it took fighters as well as thinkers, men driven by dreams of personal glory as well as high-minded principle to break free of the past and start a new world. Jones' spirit was classically American.
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Swashbuckler or Saviour
- By Bruce on 03-16-04
By: Evan Thomas
What listeners say about A Darker Sea
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon User
- 12-06-17
Superb
Would you consider the audio edition of A Darker Sea to be better than the print version?
The narrator's performance is excellent, enhancing the story. No maps with the audio version but the added value of the narrator is excellent.
What was one of the most memorable moments of A Darker Sea?
The very last of the story. Well Done! Economy of words to convey deep sentiments and meaning.
Which character – as performed by Paul Boehmer – was your favorite?
Yes, I will not distract by comparison with other narrators, Boehmer was outstanding, surpassed only by the story lines.
If you could take any character from A Darker Sea out to dinner, who would it be and why?
The author to collect insights in the story development and how specific details were selected.
Any additional comments?
A great book. My hope is that it becomes a national run away best selling series. The first book was equally as good.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Timothy
- 07-22-18
Great!
This book and the other one in the series are both outstanding reads.
I can’t wait for the next one.
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1 person found this helpful
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- David K.
- 01-26-20
Great, lively read, InterestIng fiction entombed in history. Worth the wait everytime.
Hard to set aside for needed rest! Worth the wait as one is quickly engaged in the exciting narrative Characters are believable and develop as naturally as the British Navy allows.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-29-22
Great Book
Well written very intriguing and captivating. I really enjoyed and i cannot wait to get the next book.
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- Kelly-Locke
- 08-25-18
A Darker Sea
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this engaging account of our early naval history and would wish everyone the opportunity to read it!
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- J. norton
- 03-21-19
Fascinating insights
..into details of life in that day and culture. And the accounts of the nautical engagements were very realistic without being gory. I can’t wait for his next book-I will definitely explore his histories while I wait.
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- BikeMeister
- 12-23-17
Not as good as the first book....
It wasn't as good as the first book, although the battle scenes were great. Too much delving into 21st century victimhood memes. IMHO the narration was very poor-- Boehmer does not do accents well. His Hawaiian accent sounded more like a West Indies accent while his New England Yankee accent sounded more British than Yankee.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 09-16-24
preachy dribble
author seemed more interested in women's rights, and preaching the evils of slavery , then naval History. I literally could not wait for the book to end.
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- P.W.
- 11-14-19
Not what I was hoping for.
The narrator was very good. Unfortunately I stopped listening at chapter 8. It started out well enough but I was hoping for a naval adventure type book. This , so far, is not that .
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mad Dog
- 11-26-17
DULL
Was just a running hodge podge of how Putman is the save all for the US Navy. the war of 1812 is forgotten. Amazes me how perfect him and his life are portrayed.
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3 people found this helpful