THESE FEW WORDS from the pen of Alexander Kent presented Captain Richard Bolitho to readers on both sides of the Atlantic for the first time in 1968, with the launch of To Glory We Steer. Nearly half a century later, the the intrepid British naval officer and his nephew Adam continue to thrill naval fiction enthusiasts around the world.
Over twenty-eight novels, Richard and Adam stand tall in the King’s Navy, evincing courage, patriotism, guile at sea and ashore, and a strong sense of humanity in Britain’s conflicts, from the American Revolution to the war with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.
Early in the series, the publicity director at Kent’s London publisher, Hutchinson & Co, Ltd, asked him to create a timeline roughly outlining Bolitho’s biography, which is detailed in Richard Bolitho — A Life. Although the novels were not written in chronological order, the series begins with young Midshipman Richard Bolitho and carries through to his days as an admiral.
At the outset, Alexander Kent selected Falmouth on England’s coast in Cornwall as Richard Bolitho’s home. Bolitho’s World is dedicated to the sites in England in which Richard and Adam Bolitho live within the pages of Alexander Kent's novels, including the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth and HMS Victory.
In 1971, with the publication of The Flag Captain, Alexander Kent launched The Richard Bolitho Newsletter (now The Bolitho Newsletter), which has been distributed with the release of each succeeding title in the series. Back issues of the publication are now archived on this website in The Bolitho Newsletter section.
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‘Captain Richard Bolitho pushed open the door of the George Inn and stood for a few moments to allow the drowsy heat to enfold him like a blanket. Without a word he handed his cloak to a servant and tucked his cocked hat beneath his arm. Through a door to his right he could see a welcoming fire in the coffee room, where a noisy throng of naval officers, interspersed with a few bright scarlet uniforms of the military, were taking their ease . . .’