Sea Adventures Fiction

WINNER OF THE 2025 WHITING AWARD FOR FICTION PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FINALIST ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE LONGLIST As wrenching and luminous as Omar El Akkad’s What Strange Paradise and Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, a searing exploration of the global migration crisis that moves from Nigeria to...

Wander to "where the song of the ocean / Meets the salty piece of land" with Tully Mars, washed up from Margaritaville and in the mood for monkeyshines—in the 20th anniversary edition of this shimmering Caribbean epic by the late king of tropical rock, Jimmy Buffett. It's not on any chart, but...

Winter, 1793—the Reign of Terror rips through revolutionary France. In Plymouth, England, Master and Commander Charles Hayden is given orders to return to the ill-fated HMS Themis as the British fight the French for control of thestrategically located island of Corsica. But within hours out of port, Hayden’s uncanny knack for attracting the attention of the French navy sees the Themis thrown back into action. When she lands in Corsica, and her men join forces with native insurgents, Hayden finds himself at the vanguard of a brutal clash of empires.

Hugh Redvers is supposed to be dead. So the appearance of the sun-bronzed giant with the piratical black eye patch is deeply disturbing to Lady Daphne Davenport. And her instant attraction to the notorious privateer is not only wildly inappropriate for a proper widow but potentially disastrous. Because he is also the man Daphne has secretly cheated of title, lands, and fortune. She could be his salvation. Daphne Redvers's distant, untouchable beauty and eminently touchable body are hard enough to resist.

Thomas Kydd, a hero of Trafalgar, holds the glory of being Post-Captain of the 32-gun frigate, L'Aurore. A Caribbean posting seems a welcome respite for the war hero, but when more and more merchantmen begin vanishing from the sea, fear starts to spread. Kydd must embark on a dangerous game of espionage in order to destroy this new and terrible danger to the Empire.

It is February 1813. With convoys from Canada and the Caribbean falling victim to American privateers, Sir Richard Bolitho returns to Halifax to pursue a war he knows will not be won, but which neither Britain nor the United States can afford to lose. England's youngest admiral desires only peace. But peace will not be found in the icy Canadian waters, where a young, angry nation asserts its identity and men who share a common heritage die in close and bloody action.

1904. The Russo-Japanese War has been raging for almost a year. When blacklisted former Royal Navy officer Marcus Baxter is offered the chance to spy on a Russian ship passing through the North Sea, he jumps at the chance to regain his commission. Accompanied by young Tommy Dunbar, desperate to earn his sea legs, Baxter is betrayed by the crew and captured by a Russian cruiser, the Yaroslavich, where both he and Tommy are held captive in an attempt to avoid escalating tension with Britain.

By sinking a fleet of Imperial Warships, the Pirate Supreme and their resistance fighters have struck a massive blow against the Emperor. Now allies from across the empire are readying themselves, hoping against hope to bring about the end of the conquerors’ rule and the rebirth of the Sea. But trust and truth are hard to come by in this complex world of mermaids, spies, warriors, and aristocrats. Who will Genevieve—lavishly dressed but washed up, half-dead, on the Wariuta island shore—turn out to be?

The oily and brackish waters of the Russian Northern Fleet submarine base part for the passage of the colossal special purpose Omega II-class submarine Belgorod, on a mission to hold the United States hostage. This gigantic submarine is armed with three Poseidon unmanned submersibles, each with a 10-megaton warhead. Her goal: placing them offshore in US ports in a nuclear-blackmail chess move.

The year is 2221, and humans have colonized an earthlike planet called Thetis in the Silver Foot Galaxy. After a tragic accident kills off dozens of teenage colonists, Thetis's leaders are desperate to repopulate. So the Mayflower 2, a state-of-the-art spaceship, sets off across the universe to bring 177 new recruits to the colony. For Jonah Lincoln, an orphaned teen who's bounced between foster homes and spent time on the streets of Cleveland, the voyage is a chance to reinvent himself.

Chairman of the Oregon, Juan Cabrillo, is on a rescue mission when a high-profile Russian prisoner warns of a weapon designed by one of America's greatest inventors in this #1 New York Times–bestselling series by the grand master of adventure. In October 1943, a US destroyer sailed out...

Talia and her companions, evading agents of her evil aunts (the Three Sisters, who seek to take the throne from Talia’s mother, Queen Zellandine), find their way to the sea of the First Fairies, where Talia gives birth to a daughter. Talia’s former love Bastile, now King of the Human Realm, is working in concert with the Three Sisters. Talia, seeking vengeance for an attack upon her company, takes actions which lead to a civil war within the fairy realm, with dire consequences for both her and all the other loyal Fairies.

The task ahead is clear: it's time for Fate to go to the floating continent of Galia to close the Door to Distant Lands at last. Libra has prepared a ship to take Fate and his friends there, but after boarding, they find Eris has been taken hostage! Even so, they have no choice but to continue on to Galia.

Egypt, 1908. George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, used to the grand opulence of the Cunard cruise line, are at first disappointed with the Marmora, a small, unimpressive ship owned by the P&O shipping line. Employed by P&O to be the ship’s detectives, Dillman and Masefield expect to encounter the usual assortment of petty thieves and confidence tricksters. But this cruise is certain to be unique as the Duke and Duchess of Fife and their children are aboard and the detectives will provide security for the royals. And when a dead body turns up, the voyage proves to be one to remember.

Seventeen-year-old Emma doesn't know who she is or where she came from. The not-exactly-legal merchant ship she was raised on is the only home she's ever known, and she's had enough of the captain's lies. Her plans to break free from her three-masted prison are thrown off course by a deadly mutiny, and she finds herself on the run with a target on her back. A charming naval officer becomes her unlikely companion, and though they're constantly running from danger, Emma is even more afraid of the feelings she's developing for a man she'll likely never see again—if she can ever make it home.

The son of a proud naval dynasty, Gabriel Hawkins leaves the Royal Navy in disgrace and is disowned by his family. As captain of his own ship, he’s earned his living in ways both legal and illegal, and his experience makes him the best choice to ransom an aristocratic beauty captured by Barbary pirates. Having avoided the traps of convention and marriage, Lady Aurora Lawrence is horrified by the prospect of spending her life as a harem slave. Her only hope of escape is a quiet, steely captain who has a history with her captor - and who will do anything to free Rory.

As the Titanic and her passengers sank slowly into the Atlantic Ocean after striking an iceberg late in the evening of April 14, 1912, a nearby ship looked on. Second Officer Herbert Stone, in charge of the midnight watch on the SS Californian sitting idly a few miles north, saw the distress rockets that the Titanic fired. He alerted the captain, Stanley Lord, who was sleeping in the chartroom below, but Lord did not come to the bridge.

A young Indian boy from Nipigon country in the Canadian wilderness carves a twelve-inch canoe with a kneeling Indian figure and frees it to undertake a journey to the Atlantic Ocean in his place. He must stay home and help his father, but yearns to learn about the world beyond his life in the village.

September 1804: England stands alone against France and the fleets of Spain, anticipating invasion. Vice-admiral Richard Bolitho has his own troubles to settle at home too. But his time on land is broken by an urgent summons from the King. Once more Bolitho hoists his flag above the veteran 74-gun ship Hyperion and sets sail - this time with a new squadron headed for the Caribbean.

Based on the famous mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh, commanding officer of the Bounty in 1789. It has been made into several films and a musical.