Dead Reckoning

by C. Northcote Parkinson

Book Overview

Captain Richard Delancey heads for the East Indies on the 32-gun frigate Laura to take part in the capture of the Cape of Good Hope. His ingenious tactics gain the attention of his superiors, who recruit him for a high-stakes mission: to seek out and destroy the French privateer Subtile.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395271150
• ISBN13: 9780395271155
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Dead Reconing

This author ranks with the best of the Napoleonic sea war authors. As good as any of them out there. need to read this series from the start as each book uses its predessessor for its basis

DeLancey survives fever ports, pirates, and battles

The year is 1805 and England is at war. At the end of the last novel, "Touch and Go," Richard DeLancey was a commander returning home to England as a peace treaty was signed. This novel (copyright 1978) finds DeLancey married to Fiona, a former actress. He has just been brought back onto active service, promoted to captain, and been given the older 32-gun frigate Laura for service at the Cape, in the Far East, and in the Indian Ocean. He must part from his young wife for an unknown period of time.He has the usual assignments, including convoy escort, and is given a special assignment to chase down a French privateer. He also seeks his long-lost brother. He has exploits in escorting a convoy of East Indiamen attacked by French ships, and participating in the capture of Mauritius (repeated to some extent by the fictional James Aubrey in later novels written by Patrick O'Brien). After taking command of a different frigate, DeLancey finds a creative way to bring the ship's crew up to full strength (losses from disease and battles had been high). He then wins honors for himself and his crew in a final confrontation with the French.