HMS Hazard

John Pearce, Book 16

By: David Donachie

Narrated by: John Telfer

1796. John Pearce is stuck with a difficult mission, a crew of Quota Men forced to enlist in the Royal Navy, four new midshipmen as well as Samuel Oliphant, companion cum spy, whom he finds a constant irritant.

In his favour, he commands HMS Hazard, a speedy warship, a pair of competent officers and, of course, his trusty friends the Pelicans. Their mission is to head for the Mediterranean Fleet and warn Admiral Sir John Jervis of impending danger he will face, fighting a combined French/Spanish fleet. But there is a serious distraction—the imminent arrival of a Spanish vessel from South America carrying silver, for which the Spaniards are waiting before declaring war.

Can John Pearce resist the lure of such a valuable capture and risk his ship in a dangerous battle to gain it, or will his duty come first?

©2021 David Donachie (P)2022 Soundings

New narrator

More progress in JP life, but now with new narrator.
New voices are stark change from previous and narrator sounds like reading to children that need to have the externalities hold their attention. Wil finish out the series, but this was unfortunate change.

Typically excellent story

Pearce’s Scottish accent was very distracting. I get that he’s Scottish but much preferred previous books in series where his accent was NOT. Smacks a little too much of political correctness which is unnecessary & distracting in a swashbuckling adventure story

The. character of Pierce and his pelicans and his fast thinking.

The Scottish accent is decidedly thick for Pierce as opposed to previous narrators. Sometimes it is a distraction to easy understanding of a fast moving narrative.