10 Dewey Lambdin Books That Show His Mastery of the Sea

The first of 25 installments in the Alan Lewrie Naval Adventures, The King’s Coat introduces the young Alan Lewrie as he sets sail for the first time. As a rebellious youth in need of discipline and direction, Alan joins the Navy at his father’s bequest. 

Aboard the Ariadne, Alan learns that he is a natural-born sailor, as at ease in the bustling ports as he is in battles fought at sea. His first journey is to the Americas, and he learns more than he ever imagined about himself during his war-torn voyage.

In The King’s Commission, Alan Lewrie graduates from midshipman to lieutenant and is commissioned as an officer of a brig of war. Lewrie sets sail to patrol the North American coast and attempt to sway native forces to the British side of the war against American rebels. 

As usual, there’s time for a rendezvous or two before Lewrie changes course, always sailing toward another battle on the horizon.

Alan Lewrie receives yet another promotion after his actions in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, finding himself thrust into a new role with much greater responsibility. 

There is not much time for Lewrie to learn the ropes of his new position before a mutiny forms within the fleet, and old enemies come calling with new fervor. In this battle, it is not just Lewrie’s job on the line; it is his life as well.

Now a captain, Alan Lewrie returns for yet another sea adventure in Sea of Grey. Captain Lewrie sails for the French colony of Saint Domingue, where the British forces are failing to intervene in a bloody slave rebellion led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, the father of Haitian independence. 

This is no easy task, and Captain Lewrie will need to use all of his courage, skill, and deviousness to navigate this battle fought in words and at sea.

Captain Lewrie and the crew of the Proteus frigate have a new adventure through the war-torn Caribbean ahead of them in Havoc’s Sword. Lewrie must uphold a friend’s honor in a duel to the death, and reckon with government agents out to use him as a pawn. 

The arrival of the newly reborn United States Navy brings uncertainty and a shocking surprise. Lewrie must rely on his cunning to survive the final battle against his archnemesis, Guillaume Choundas.

In The Captain’s Vengeance, Alan Lewrie has a mystery to solve. A French prize ship left in Dominica has gone missing, along with six members of Lewrie’s crew. 

The search for the missing sailors leads Lewrie from Hispaniola to Barbados, and eventually to the most vile band of pirates he’s ever encountered, hiding out in the Dry Tortugas. The threat of betrayal looms over Lewrie and his crew as they are sent on a mission to enemy-occupied New Orleans.

When Captain Alan Lewrie stole a dozen slaves from a Jamaican plantation to help man his crew and escape from their master, it had seemed like the perfect solution to his problems. Their master, however, has no plans to let Lewrie’s crimes go unpunished. 

The crew flees to England, where more trouble awaits as they are sent on a voyage through Cape Town and India. At the Cape of Good Hope, a circus book passage, Lewrie finds himself confronted not only with the punishment for his crime and the disapproval of former crewmates, but seductive actresses and acrobats. Some battles are harder fought than others.

Fresh from a victory in the South Atlantic, Captain Lewrie is enjoying the fruits of his labor and status as a hero. But Lewrie is not a man made to be landbound for too long, and trouble quickly seeks him out. The time has finally come for Lewrie to answer to the disgruntled slave owner he stole from years ago, and Hugh Beauman has come to collect. 

Another enemy emerges in the form of an anonymous figure who sends damning—though not altogether untrue—letters to Lewrie’s wife about his behavior. It’s not long before Lewrie is back aboard his ships, trading danger on land for danger at sea.

The war with Napoleon Bonaparte is finally over. But for Captain Lewrie, that means being stuck ashore, receiving half-pay, and being incredibly bored. With one war ended, Lewrie must decide where on land to settle while he waits for the next one to start. 

After being bound to the land for years, Lewrie is more than willing to take up the fight when war breaks out again in the spring of 1803. New orders, a new frigate, and a chance to punish the French. Only now, it’s personal.

Captain Alan Lewrie despises the French; that much is certain. So it’s a bit mystifying when he earns a reputation for saving them, not once, but twice. Captain Lewrie is awarded for his service to the Crown, and finds himself waging a new kind of battle in the ballrooms of court. 

But, much like trouble cannot seem to keep away from the Captain, the Captain can’t seem to keep away from the sea. Lewrie and his crew must conduct military experiments that may delay Napoleon Bonaparte's inevitable crossing of the English Channel.