Set during the War of 1812, A Darker Sea, by James L. Haley, is one such. Although the novel does not focus exclusively on Old Ironsides, the legendary ship does assume a starring role in its pages.
Sometimes dubbed “a most fortunate ship,” the Constitution in Haley’s novel eludes capture by a British flotilla during a 57-hour chase, as she did in real life. She goes on to destroy the frigate HMS Guerriere and, later still, HMS Java as well. Both victories are well-documented in the historical record. The novel's high-powered scenes of smoke-filled broadsides and horrific shipboard casualties are unforgettable.
A Darker Sea is the second book in Haley’s Bliven Putnam Naval Adventure Series, the first of which, The Shores of Tripoli, was published in 2016. The Shores of Tripoli introduced Bliven Putnam, a Connecticut farm boy, who found himself serving aboard a U.S. Navy schooner during the war against the Barbary pirates.
In that first novel, Putnam and his close friend, fellow midshipman Sam Bandy, were promoted to lieutenant and reassigned to the Constitution. In A Darker Sea, Bandy is impressed (i.e., kidnapped) from an American merchant vessel by a Royal Navy captain who falsely claims that Bandy is a Canadian deserter. As for Putnam, he is newly married, freshly promoted, and poised to take command of a 20-gun U.S. Navy sloop-of-war.
The pacing of A Darker Sea picks up speed when the United States finally declares war on Britain. The tiny American Navy is woefully ill-prepared to do battle with the all-powerful Royal Navy, but spirits are running high among the outgunned and outnumbered American sailors. As a U.S. Marine lieutenant says when war is declared: “Well, now we’re in for it, but when they tangle with us, they will feel it.”
Initially ordered to enlist sailors in New York while his sloop is being prepared for sea in South Carolina, Putnam instead boards the Constitution for a time, under Capt. Isaac Hull. Action on the high seas is at the heart of A Darker Sea, of course, but Haley covers a lot of territory in the novel, providing intriguing perspectives from the home front as well.
The reader is privy to religious disputes among Christian sects, stiff opposition to the war among New England business interests, conflicting regional attitudes toward slavery, the relative merits of beeswax versus tallow candles and the growing popularity of American wood pencils in the early 19th century. (No ink, so no risk of spills.)
We even learn, as Putnam does in his travels, that there’s a small town in South Carolina named Awendaw (formerly, Wappetaw) settled in 1696 by residents of Salem, Mass., who relocated in disgust after the Salem Witch Trials.
Putnam is a well-drawn character: thoughtful, highly intelligent, observant, honorable, literate and devoted to his wife. Haley cleverly manages to place the fictional Putnam and Bandy aboard historical vessels during pivotal moments that actually occurred in the War of 1812.
That conflict may be largely forgotten now, but it has been argued that the War of 1812 finally secured America’s independence from Britain once and for all, putting an end to any lingering British hopes of reclaiming the upstart former colonies. Old Ironsides played a pivotal role in accomplishing that goal.
To date, there are four books in the Bliven Putnam series. In addition to The Shores of Tripoli and A Darker Sea, the most recent entries are The Devil in Paradise (2019) and Captain Putnam for the Republic of Texas (2021).
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