Dudley Bernard Egerton Pope (29 December 1925 – 25 April 1997) was a British writer of both nautical fiction and history, most notable for his Lord Ramage series of historical novels. Greatly inspired by C.S. Forester, Pope was one of the most successful authors to explore the genre of nautical fiction, often compared to

Patrick O'Brian Patrick O'Brian (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series. These sea novels are set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and ...

Life

Dudley Pope was born in Ashford, Kent. By concealing his age he joined the Home Guard aged 14 and at age 16 joined the merchant navy as a

cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

. His ship was

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

ed the next year (1942). Afterwards, he spent two weeks in a lifeboat with the few other survivors. After he was invalided out the only obvious sign of the injuries he had suffered was a joint missing from one finger due to gangrene. Pope then went to work for a Kentish newspaper, then in 1944 moved to '' The Evening News'' in London, where he was the naval and defence correspondent. From there he turned to reading and writing naval history. His first book, '' Flag 4'', was published in 1954, followed by several other historical accounts. C. S. Forester, the creator of the famed Horatio Hornblower novels, encouraged Pope to add fiction to his repertoire. In 1965, '' Ramage'' appeared, the first of what was to become an 18-novel series. He took to living on boats from 1953 on; when he married Kay Pope in 1954, they lived on a William Fife 8-meter named ''Concerto'', then at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy in 1959 with a 42-foot ketch ''Tokay''. In 1963 he and Kay moved to a 53-foot cutter ''Golden Dragon'', on which they moved to

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

in 1965. In 1968 they moved onto a 54-foot wooden

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

named ''Ramage'', aboard which he wrote all of his stories until 1985. Pope died 25 April 1997 in Marigot, Saint Martin. Both his wife and his daughter, Jane Victoria survive him.

Bibliography

Ramage series

Most of the novels are based on real events in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The year of these events is shown before the book title. The year of publication between 1965 and 1989 is shown after the title. # 1796 – '' Ramage'' (1965) # 1797 – '' Ramage and the Drumbeat'' (1967) # 1797 – '' Ramage and the Freebooters'' ublished in the U.S. as ''The Triton Brig''(1969) # 1797 – '' Governor Ramage R.N.'' (1973) # 1798 – ''Ramage's Prize'' (1974) # 1798 – ''Ramage and the Guillotine'' (1975) # 1799 – ''Ramage's Diamond'' (1976) # 1799 – ''Ramage's Mutiny'' (1977) # 1800 – ''Ramage and the Rebels'' (1978) # 1800 – ''The Ramage Touch'' (1979) # 1800 – '' Ramage's Signal'' (1980) # 1802 – ''Ramage and the Renegades'' (1981) # 1803 – ''Ramage's Devil'' (1982) # 1803 – ''Ramage's Trial'' (1984) # 1803 – ''Ramage's Challenge'' (1985) # 1805 – ''Ramage at Trafalgar'' (1986) # 1806 – ''Ramage and the Saracens'' (1988) # 1806 – ''Ramage and the Dido'' (1989)

Yorke series

# ''Buccaneer'' (1981) # ''Admiral'' (1982) # ''Galleon'' (1986) # ''Corsair'' (1987)

Other novels

# ''Convoy'' (1979) # ''Decoy'' (1983)

Nonfiction

# ''Flag 4: The Battle of Coastal Forces in the Mediterranean'' (1954) # '' The Battle of the River Plate'' (1956) # ''73 North: The Battle of the Barents Sea 1942'' (1958) # ''Decision at Trafalgar'' (1959) # ''England Expects'' (1959) # '' The Black Ship'' (1963) # ''Harry Morgan's Way: Biography of Sir Henry Morgan 1635–1688'' (1977), Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd, # ''The Great Gamble: Nelson at Copenhagen'' (1978) # ''Life in Nelson's Navy'' (1981) # ''The Devil Himself: The Mutiny of 1800'' (1988) – this is the story of HMS ''Danae'' and the mutiny aboard her. # ''At 12 Mr Byng Was Shot'' (1962) # ''Guns'' (1965)

References

External links

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Bio from ''Book and Magazine Collector''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Dudley 1925 births 1997 deaths English historical novelists British Merchant Navy personnel of World War II People from Ashford, Kent English naval historians Nautical historical novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English historians British Home Guard soldiers Shipwreck survivors