A captured schooner gives Dick Valliant his first command—and a skipper he cannot trust. John Irving’s third Dick Valliant adventure follows the young midshipman through the disguises, dangers and difficult decisions of Britain’s wartime northern blockade.
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Dick Valliant has survived the Dardanelles, but his next appointment feels like a disappointment: a converted passenger liner assigned to the northern blockade. With his friend O’Malley posted elsewhere, he joins the Aztec expecting tedious patrols and little chance of action. A captured schooner changes that. Put in command of a small prize crew, Dick must bring her into port while handling an obstructive skipper, suspicious passengers and waters where the next encounter could be with an enemy submarine.
Shipboard banter gives way to boarding parties, concealed contraband and the hard work of keeping a sailing vessel under control. Dick’s friendship with the merchant-service officer Marriott carries the story into operations off Norway, where neutral waters protect enemy shipping and deception becomes a weapon. Irving makes practical seamanship part of the action: signals, charts, engines and sail handling matter as much as courage.
On the Northern Patrol is the third Dick Valliant novel by John Irving, following Naval Cadet and In the Dardanelles. It continues Dick’s First World War service, moving from the Mediterranean campaign to the blockade routes of the North Atlantic.
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Bundle +1Commander John Irving · Bundle · eBook
A boy determined to dodge school becomes a midshipman tested by war. Follow Dick Valliant from training-ship pranks to the Dardanelles and the northern blockade in three naval adventures by John Irving.
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PaperbackCommander John Irving · Paperback · 250pp
Dick Valliant threatens to run away to sea—and his father calls his bluff. Training-ship pranks, a dangerous bully and fierce sporting rivalries test the new cadet as his life turns towards the Navy and the crisis of 1914.
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PaperbackCommander John Irving · Paperback · 250pp
Dick Valliant and O’Malley want action. At the Dardanelles, they find it in night minesweeping and landing boats under fire. When capture cuts them off from their ship, the two friends must find their way back through enemy territory.
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HardcoverCommander John Irving · Hardcover · 200pp
Leave the road behind and explore Essex and Suffolk from the water. John Irving’s historical travel book follows tidal rivers, quiet creeks and working harbours, weaving local stories into a journey through East Anglia.
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