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Churchill’s Pirates
- Author
- Will Iredale
- Narrator
- Richard Burnip
- Publisher
- Ebury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 6 August 2026
- Run Time
- 15 hours 9 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE PATHFINDERS
Just after midnight on Saturday, 2 September 1939, under overcast skies at Wilhelmshaven naval base in north-west Germany, a German U-boat quietly slipped out of its berth and into the North Sea. This was the first of a concentrated onslaught of submarines and airplanes determined to win WW2 by transforming the peaceful shipping lanes and fishing spots around Britain into treacherous mine-studded waters.
As those first mines found their marks, capsizing innocent shipping vessels just off the coast, the nation called its men and women to join in its defence. The result was a rag-tag group of sailors and volunteers that came to form a ‘navy within a navy’ – the Royal Naval Patrol Service.
These motley crews grew into a force of 70,000 men and women manning and supporting a fleet of 6,000 ships. Using converted fishing vessels, pleasure yachts and trawlers, they cleared sea mines, escorted merchant vessels across frozen northern waters, hunted submarines off the coast of America, undertook secret missions in the Mediterranean and heroically rescued soldiers at Dunkirk, working day and night to keep Britain safe in her darkest hour.
Drawing on fascinating first-hand accounts with surviving veterans, exclusive interviews, original papers and new archive material, Will Iredale brings us onto the decks of these small brave ships, onto the beaches where boffins worked to crack German engineering and into clandestine war room meetings where Winston Churchill worked to coordinate the pivotal moments that transformed the war and helped secure victory for the allies to tell the defining story of an overlooked unit of ordinary people that played a pivotal role in saving the country and winning the war.
'SUPERB... RICH IN HUMAN DRAMA' James Holland | 'EXCITING AND IMPORTANT' Dan Snow | 'REVELATORY AND THRILLING' Saul David | 'HIS FINEST ACHIEVEMENT YET... THIS IS HISTORY AT FULL THROTTLE' Guy Walters | 'RIGOROUSLY RESEARCHED AND HIGHLY READABLE' Kate Jamieson
© Will Iredale 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
Critics Review
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Fantastic. Iredale masterfully explains how command of the sea required little ships with rugged, swash-buckling crews, just as much as the castles of steel. Exciting and important.
Dan Snow
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Iredale's brilliant new book tells the revelatory and thrilling nautical tale of the 70,000 men of Churchill's pirate fleet - the Royal Naval Patrol Service - who risked life and limb to keep Britain's sealanes safe and ports open, and the hundreds of Wrens who supported them. A hugely welcome addition to Britain's wartime story.
Saul David
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Will Iredale has carved out a formidable reputation as a chronicler of overlooked corners of the Second World War, and Churchill’s Pirates is his finest achievement yet. This is history at full throttle: deeply researched, richly peopled, and propelled by a narrative energy that reveals the work of those who should be regarded as central protagonists in Britain’s fight for survival
Guy Walters, author of 'Stealing Hitler's Rocket'
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This book breaks new ground whilst also building thoughtfully on existing scholarship. Drawing from a wide range of sources, this is both rigorously researched and highly readable. An engaging and valuable contribution to the field.
Kate Jamieson
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What a fabulous book! Will Iredale has done those forgotten heroes of Harry Tate’s navy a long overdue service, telling the story of these immensely courageous men - fishermen, coastal sailors and civilian seafarers - who toiled in often appalling conditions with little protection to protect our vital coastal waters. This is a tale, above all, of human endeavour, fortitude and ingenuity, told both compellingly and rich in human drama. Superb.
James Holland
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I became engrossed in a vivid book by Will Iredale, Churchill's Pirates ... Iredale details big wartime decisions and the halting, heartbreaking puzzle of every new device to rip a trawler to matchwood or sink a frigate. But in our soft and querulous age fascination lies in the words of seafarers, organisers or just women furiously knitting warm clothes and hats to keep the crews alive. It reminds you how, unlike us, Britain only had 20 years of peace after the parallel effort and toughness of the first war. People seemed conditioned to stand willingly together. Sentiment about this is often cheaply used, but moments of reality in this extraordinary account stop you dead...
The Times
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Details
- Author
- Will Iredale
- Narrator
- Richard Burnip
- Duration
- 15 hours 9 minutes
- Release Date
- 6 August 2026
- ISBN
- 9780753561294
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Ebury Publishing
- Genre
- Second World War, European history, Naval forces and warfare
Synopsis
BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE PATHFINDERSJust after midnight on Saturday, 2 September 1939, under overcast skies at Wilhelmshaven naval base in north-west Germany, a German U-boat quietly slipped out of its berth and into the North Sea. This was the first of a concentrated onslaught of submarines and airplanes determined to win WW2 by transforming the peaceful shipping lanes and fishing spots around Britain into treacherous mine-studded waters.As those first mines found their marks, capsizing innocent shipping vessels just off the coast, the nation called its men and women to join in its defence. The result was a rag-tag group of sailors and volunteers that came to form a ‘navy within a navy’ – the Royal Naval Patrol Service.These motley crews grew into a force of 70,000 men and women manning and supporting a fleet of 6,000 ships. Using converted fishing vessels, pleasure yachts and trawlers, they cleared sea mines, escorted merchant vessels across frozen northern waters, hunted submarines off the coast of America, undertook secret missions in the Mediterranean and heroically rescued soldiers at Dunkirk, working day and night to keep Britain safe in her darkest hour.Drawing on fascinating first-hand accounts with surviving veterans, exclusive interviews, original papers and new archive material, Will Iredale brings us onto the decks of these small brave ships, onto the beaches where boffins worked to crack German engineering and into clandestine war room meetings where Winston Churchill worked to coordinate the pivotal moments that transformed the war and helped secure victory for the allies to tell the defining story of an overlooked unit of ordinary people that played a pivotal role in saving the country and winning the war.'SUPERB... RICH IN HUMAN DRAMA' James Holland | 'EXCITING AND IMPORTANT' Dan Snow | 'REVELATORY AND THRILLING' Saul David | 'HIS FINEST ACHIEVEMENT YET... THIS IS HISTORY AT FULL THROTTLE' Guy Walters | 'RIGOROUSLY RESEARCHED AND HIGHLY READABLE' Kate Jamieson© Will Iredale 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
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