Richard Woodman is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 novelist and naval historian who retired in 1997 from a 37 year nautical career, mainly working for Trinity House

Trinity House

The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and other British territorial waters...

, to write full time. His main work is 14 volumes about the career of Nathaniel Drinkwater

Nathaniel Drinkwater

Nathaniel Drinkwater is a fictional character, the protagonist of a series of novels by Richard Woodman. In the series, he is an officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.- Life :...

, and shorter series about James Dunbar and William Kite, but he also written a range of factual books about 18th century and WW2 history. These include a trilogy of studies of convoys in the Second World War. Unlike many other modern naval historical novelists, such as C.S. Forester or Patrick O'Brian

Patrick O'Brian

Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...

, he has served afloat. He went to sea at the age of sixteen as a indentured midshipman and has spent eleven years in command. His experience ranges from cargo-liners to ocean weather ships and specialist support vessels as well as yachts, square-riggers, and trawlers.
Richard Woodman is a regular correspondent for the shipping newspaper Lloyd's List and continues his close association with the sea as a keen yachtsman. He also serves on the Corporate Board of Trinity House. He has won several awards including the Society for Nautical Research's Anderson Medal in 2005 and the Marine Society's Harmer Award in 1978.

Nathaniel Drinkwater

Nathaniel Drinkwater

Nathaniel Drinkwater is a fictional character, the protagonist of a series of novels by Richard Woodman. In the series, he is an officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.- Life :...

series

1. An Eye of the Fleet
2. A King's Cutter
3. A Brig of War
4. The Bomb Vessel
5. The Corvette
6. 1805
7. Baltic Mission
8. In Distant Waters
9. A Private Revenge
10. Under False Colours
11. The Flying Squadron
12. Beneath the Aurora
13. The Shadow of the Eagle
14. Ebb Tide

Other fiction

• The Ice Mask
• Dead Man Talking
• Wager
• Endangered Species
• The Darkening Sea
• Voyage East or The Antigone
• The Accident
• Act of Terror
• Captain of the Caryatid
• The Cruise of the Commissioner

Non-Fiction

• The Sea Warriors
• The Victory of Seapower, 1806 - 1814
• Keepers of the Sea: The Yachts and Tenders of Trinity House
• The Lighthouses of Trinity House
• A Brief History of Mutiny
• View from the Sea
• Arctic Convoys, 1941 - 1945
• Malta Convoys
• The Real Cruel Sea, The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic, 1939 - 1943
• The History of the Ship
• The Story of Sail (co-author)
• ...Of Daring Temper, The History of The Marine Society
• "Decision at Trafalgar" (1985)