Set in the 1750’s ‘Lost to the Sea’ Book 1 charts the life of James Johnson; the son of a fisherman. Orphaned at twelve when his entire family are drowned, he is taken in by the church and educated. A year later, he is apprenticed to a local shipping master and sent to sea on a collier brig. He rises quickly and soon becomes senior Apprentice, but he falls foul of Thomas Brolin, the owner’s nephew who has designs on the family fortune and sees him as a rival for the owner’s daughter Annabel.
Brolin hires a highwayman to murder James, but the man sees more profit in selling him to the Press-gang. We follow his trials, tribulations and triumphs as he struggles to cope with the harsh life ‘Before the mast’ on a merchant brig, and later after being taken by the press gang, ‘Below decks’ on a sloop of war.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-sea-Book-1-Apprenticed-ebook/dp/B00G35EY4O/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Lost to the sea. Book 2. Another seagoing adventure set against the background of the Seven Years War of 1754/63. James Johnson is now a Captain in his own right. Bearing a ‘Letter of Marque’ from the Duke of Northumberland; he sets out to rescue his old Captain and crew who are being held captive by pirates.
By offering shares in the spoils, he raises enough money to buy the French prize brig Etoil, and arm her with cannon from Alnwick Castle. With his friend Charles as First mate and Charles’s cousin Rupert in command of the 200 troopers from the Dukes Regiment of Borderers, he sets out to enrich his backers and enhance his own fortune by capturing the pirate’s treasure.
En route, he becomes embroiled in the naval attack on the French port of Brest, and later, in the Government’s expedition to capture the French Colony of Senegal.
Kindle Available for $2.99
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-sea-Book-2-Letters-ebook/dp/B00LFIH9TQ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Also Nook Books and Createspace in paperback.
Reviews always welcome.
