Old Bahama Straits

 In writing about an earlier book in this series I noted how author Chris Durbin's choice to begin his hero's adventures during the Seven Years War of the 1750s and 1760s gave him so many more un-sailed seas in which to maneuver. The Napoleonic era is replete with series hashing and re-hashing the different events of that conflict to the degree that readers might actually be able to prepare a quality research paper on the subject using only fictional works as sources.

Durbin's 15th volume makes the advantages of the choice as clear as could be, as Virginia-born Edward Carlisle captains his fourth-rate, 50-gun ship of the line Dartmouth during the English invasion and capture of Havana. A secret treaty between the kings of France and Spain brought the latter into the war, making the capital of the Spanish territory an obvious target.

What isn't obvious is how to attack Havana, which rests at a confluence of straits and currents that allows it to see attacking fleets from a distance and have its own naval forces enter battle at an advantage. But one of our heroes, Edward Carlisle, has successfully (more or less) navigated the treacherous Old Bahama Straits and on the orders of the admiralty devises a clever plan to guide the invasion fleet through them. Success will bring them upon the city before its defenders can respond, and allow the English and colonial forces to lay siege and then force Havana's surrender.

One of the features of the Carlisle-Holbrook series has been the way that Carlisle's mind rapidly calculates the solution to a problem before him. Whether it's capturing a wandering Spanish brig (that turns out to contain a very important messenger) or altering a ship's angle so its guns can reach much higher than ordinary, he sizes up situations quickly, deduces a course of action and puts it into motion, usually faster than the enemy can cope. It's on full display in this volume, which may be one of the best of what is a high-quality series. Characterizations, action sequences and sea battles all fall neatly into place in what is a truly great read.

The reviewer has set aside following several other historical naval fiction series as they have become dull, repetitive and have a shadow of their earlier flash. Now fifteen books into his own work, Durbin has yet to disappoint, and finishing number 15 only begins the waiting for number 16.