Most nautical fiction seems to have been written for the Napoleonic era - few other modern times give an author enough scope to develop his character over many novels, and provide enough foes to provide frequent promotions. Curiously, novels about the lower decks, while available, rarely can carry on  beyond a single volume, perhaps because the drama in a ship of war is concentrated in the hands of one man, and the rest of the ship's community has little room for freely chosen action.  CS Forester's Hornblower series was long the standard for other authors to approach, and none surpassed it until Patrick O'Brian.

Known mostly for his historical novels of 18th century colonial & revolutionary America, Kenneth Roberts' Lively Lady still holds up as a compelling story of privateers in the War of 1812.

The Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian is easily the best nautical series ever written -- far superior to Hornblower, Bolitho and the others. Read them in order, or out of sequence, each is a gem. O'Brian is to the nautical novel what Le Carre is to the spy genre - excelling in their chosen form, while creating literature.  O'Brian combines detailed seamanship with intricate plotting. All the characters develop as  the series progresses, and it's worth starting the series over  to see how much was foreshadowed in the early books.  Jack Aubrey's is probably a more typical career than Hornblower's, and he spends most of the books as a frigate commander or captain. While he takes part in some historical actions, most of the background plots involve the secret war undertaken by Stephen Maturin and his London spymasters.

These novels are  filled with carefully written dialog, often humorous, but ever in the style of the time. The relationships are perfect and filled with tiny details. [e.g., the employment of injured sailors as Jack's estate workmen, where they keep the home as spit polished and shipshape as any of Jack's oceangoing homes. ]  Stephen & Jack's musical diversions are sui generi - a clever yet telling development of friendship under wartime conditions.  The sailing and  action sequences remain the core of this genre and O'Brian never fails - the storms and other trials of Aubrey's seafaring abilities are ever novel and retain interest throughout the series.

C. Northcote Parkinson [of P's Law], wrote several entertaining novels in this genre, including "Devil to Pay" and "Fireship"

Julian Stockwin's tales of Thomas Kydd show the times from the view of a pressed landsman, starting at the bottom.  Unfortunately, they lack any compelling interest after the first volume; I started the second but couldn't get very far into it.

Bernard Cornwell -