Age of sail/maritime read recommendations?

[TheTonEffect]

I'm having a lovely British holiday by the sea with some dramatic coastlines and am feeling like a book to accompany it!

Any recommendations?

I enjoyed A Respectable Trade by Philippa Gregory and also the romanticism of the first Pirates of the Caribbean film.

Not fussy on genre! Can be romantic, swashbuckling, historic or modern.

Have you read Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier? Many of her novels are set in Cornwall, some with historic settings. Also Frenchman's Creek or even Rebecca. Really good novels.

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd. Based on true events (but best not to look it up before you have read the book if you don’t want spoilers for the historic part).
A glorious combination of folk tale and heart-in-mouth modern day happenings.

Yes I love Jamaica Inn! I haven't read it for years though so great suggestion.

I've not heard of The Night Ship - will check it out, thank you

Got to be Th Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers

If you want something rather different and a bit dark, try The Terror

I’m really enjoying ‘Historic Shipwrecks of Wales’ - seriously! It’s fascinating and I can’t stop reading sections out to my husband.

For romance literotica, pirates,
Has many stories.

Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Brien

C S Forester's Hornblower series. Frederick Marryat's "Peter Simple" and "Mr Midshipman Easy". Marryat is a fascinating character. He was born into a wealthy family and repeatedly ran away from home as a boy to join the Navy. He did finally succeed, was present when Nelson died and was a Captain before retiring and writing books,which are worth a read as the author had genuine experience working his way up to Royal Navy Captain in the early 19th Century.

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex - it's a mystery about 3 lighthouse keepers who just seemingly disappear into thin air, really good

Hornblower! They're absolutely brilliant. My favourite is Hornblower and the Hotspur - it's full of seafaring cleverness and lots of action.

I'm currently reading Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, which is more of a laugh than Hornblower but not quite so coherent.

A totally different read is The Sea Wolf by Jack London. Wholeheartedly recommend - it is dark, vicious and unrelenting. Premise is that a man travelling by ship which sinks gets picked up by a seal-hunting ship, the captain of which is the Wolf in the title. I won't add spoilers, but if you like something a bit psychological/philosophical as well as seafaring then you can't go wrong.

I love CS Forester too, not so keen on Patrick O'Brian.

Moby-Dick is extraordinary, if not exactly an easy read.

The 'sea trilogy' by William Golding that begins with Rites Of Passage is absolutely brilliant.

Patrick O'Brians Jack Aubrey series. It's just brilliant. It is coherent just hard work until you get a grip on Georgian English and the sheer detail of the naval terminology. Then it's plain sailing all the way.