Under the Chilian Flag: A Tale of War Between Chili and Peru
1909
Two young English sailors have had enough of their tyrannical captain. When the steamer Pericles drops anchor in Valparaiso and rumors of war begin to spread, Jim Douglas and his friend Terence O'Meara see their chance. They slip away from their ship and enlist in the Chilean Navy, swapping the monotony of merchant life for the promise of fortune and adventure under a foreign flag. What follows is a rousing tale of naval combat, unlikely camaraderie, and the brutal realities of the war between Chile and Peru. Collingwood, writing in 1909, captures the romance of sea voyages and the thrill of young men reinventing themselves in wartime. The novel transports readers to the nitrate ports and Pacific battles of the 1870s, where the stakes are nothing less than national survival and personal fortune. For readers who love Horatio Hornblower or C.S. Forester, this is old-school adventure fiction at its finest: swashbuckling, energetic, and utterly unapologetic about its heroes' thirst for glory.
