The Phillip Hazard Novels - Books on Google Play

November 1853: Sailing beneath the ominous cloud of war between Turkey and Russia, the 300-horsepower, 31-gun steam frigate Trojan is on her way to the Crimea with a large Royal Navy Fleet to deal with the Russian Black Sea fleet and support the conquest of Sevastopol. The Trojan is carrying on board a mysterious passenger: a young woman whose identity must be concealed by orders of the Admiralty. Although First Lieutenant Phillip Hazard is captivated by the charming young woman, he has a far more pressing concern: the Trojan's captain is a sadistic despot—and quite possibly insane.

With The Valiant Sailors, Stuart introduces her 8-volume series, which presents an exciting and authentic picture of naval operations during the Crimean War.

The Brave Captains

October 1854: Admidst brutal cannonade and flashing sabers, the Plain of Balaclava thundered to two of the most incredible military maneuvers of all time—the charge of the Heavy and Light Brigades. As the Russian cavalry prepares to launch a full-scale attack to seize Balaclava, the British find themselves in desperate straits. Dangerously outnumbered, they are hoping for reinforcements, but in the meantime they must hold their ground, calling for heroism that will test the courage of even the bravest man. Dodging bursting shells and Russian Cossacks, Hazard proves that the bluejackets fight as well on land as they do at sea.

The Crimean War is at its peak as the winter of 1854 sets in, and Commander Phillip Hazard of the 31-gun, steam-screw frigate Trojan is sent to bring troop reinforcements from Constantinople to Eupatoria. On the way, he must handle an overbearing young nobleman with a taste for blood and the pitiless power of a raging storm.

The Crimean War rages on. Determined to break the stalemate, the British decide to send a spy into Odessa. And who better for this perilous mission than Captain Phillip Hazard, newly promoted to command of the steam-powered Huntress and fluent in Russian? Hazard bravely takes on the task, but saddled with a surly first lieutenant whose previous captain died mysteriously and with his crew plagued by an unknown illness, Hazard soon finds he must depend on his own resourcefulness to survive.

To break the stalemate in the Crimea, where the Russian city of Sebastopol still stands strong against the allies' siege, the British must search for unlikely help among the self-reliant mountain people of Circassia. Commander Phillip Hazard of HMS Huntress is dispatched with a select handful of his crew to seek out the guerrilla leader Serfir Pasha and win him over as an ally.

Victory at Sebastopol

Spring 1855: At the height of the Crimean War, the siege of the Russian city of Sebastopol continues. In a desperate attempt to cut the Russians' supply line at the Sea of Azoff, the Allies commit 15,000 troops, 5 batteries of artillery, and virtually every ship of their Black Sea fleets. Commander Phillip Hazard and HMS Huntress undertake the crucial mission of marking a new channel for the Allies' attack under the formidable shore batteries guarding the Strait of Yenikale. Forced to make some hard decisions, Hazard faces court martial afterwards.

The Crimean War has ended at last, and Phillip Hazard finds himself in China, serving under the fiery Commodore Keppel. The British pull off a rousing victory against a Chinese junk fleet at Fatsham Creek, but later Hazard is dismayed to hear of the Great Mutiny in India. Worried that his two sisters are caught up in the brutal conflict, he joins British relief forces fighting to reach the besieged northern Indian towns of Cawnpore and Lucknow. Arriving in Cawnpore at last, Hazard faces a diabolical vengeance, and in Lucknow he must take on the blazing guns of the angry sepoys.

With the Sepoy Mutiny still threatening British lives in India, Commander Phillip Hazard volunteers to accompany a special army force to rescue the besieged British garrison at Ghorabad. Hazard and the men of the Shannon's Naval Brigade are put under the command of Colonel Cockayne, a cavalry officer whose own wife and daughter are among those caught in the siege. In this final book of the Hazard series, Hazard finds himself in the thick of the battle, desperately trying to rescue survivors and facing the dangers and betrayals that come with command and war.